Missouri Compromise
When the territory of Missouri applied for admission to statehood, the
Congress and the nation were confronted with a unique substantive question that
had far-reaching implications both for the settlement and for the future
political status of all the states that might be carved from the vast area
acquired from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
Should slavery be allowed in the new state of Missouri? The fact that southern
slaveholders had already migrated into the Missouri territory made the question
more than academic. When the bill for admission came before the House,
Congressman James Tallmadge of New York offered an amendment that would have
prohibited the further introduction of slavery and would have eventually freed
the progeny of slaves then in the territory. Tallmadge's remarks in defense of
his amendment refer to the excitement and bitterness that his proposition
elicited from slavery advocates. While he justified his position on the grounds
of Congressional authority, there was also an indication of northern reluctance
to see the extension of southern political advantage by inflated representation
(tied to the three-fifths compromise of the federal Constitution). The Tallmadge
amendment passed the House but was rejected by the Senate.
The issue was resolved by a two-part compromise. First, Missouri gained
admission to the Union as a slave state, with a provision that portions of the
Louisiana Territory lying north of 36' 30' north latitude would be free. (This
limitation was later overturned by the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act and by the 1857
Dred Scott case, 19 How. 393 ) Second, Maine was simultaneously admitted to
statehood, which enabled the Senate to maintain the balance between slave and
free state representation -- twelve of each. The enabling act of March 6, 1820,
made it clear, however, that fugitive slaves could be apprehended north of the
compromise line and returned to their owners.
The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act
Henry Clay, U.S. senator from Kentucky, was determined to find a solution. In
1820 he had resolved a fiery debate over the spread of slavery with his Missouri
Compromise. Now, thirty years later, the matter surfaced again within the walls
of the Capitol. But this time the stakes were higher -- nothing less than
keeping the Union together.
There were several points at issue:
€ The United States had recently acquired a vast territory -- the result of its
war with Mexico. Should the territory allow slavery, or should it be declared
free? Or maybe the inhabitants should be allowed to choose for themselves?
€ California -- a territory that had grown tremendously with the gold rush of
1849, had recently petitioned Congress to enter the Union as a free state.
Should this be allowed? Ever since the Missouri Compromise, the balance between
slave states and free states had been maintained; any proposal that threatened
this balance would almost certainly not win approval.
€ There was a dispute over land: Texas claimed that its territory extended all
the way to Santa Fe.
€ Finally, there was Washington, D.C. Not only did the nation's capital allow
slavery, it was home to the largest slave market in North America.
On January 29, 1850, the 70-year-old Clay presented a compromise. For eight
months members of Congress, led by Clay, Daniel Webster, Senator from
Massachusetts, and John C. Calhoun, senator from South Carolina, debated the
compromise. With the help of Stephen Douglas, a young Democrat from Illinois, a
series of bills that would make up the compromise were ushered through Congress.
According to the compromise, Texas would relinquish the land in dispute but, in
compensation, be given 10 million dollars -- money it would use to pay off its
debt to Mexico. Also, the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah
would be organized without mention of slavery. (The decision would be made by
the territories' inhabitants later, when they applied for statehood.) Regarding
Washington, the slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia,
although slavery would still be permitted. Finally, California would be admitted
as a free state. To pacify slave-state politicians, who would have objected to
the imbalance created by adding another free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was
passed.
Of all the bills that made up the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was
the most controversial. It required citizens to assist in the recovery of
fugitive slaves. It denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. (Cases would
instead be handled by special commisioners -- commisioners who would be paid $5
if an alleged fugitive were released and $10 if he or she were sent away with
the claimant.) The act called for changes in filing for a claim, making the
process easier for slaveowners. Also, according to the act, there would be more
federal officials responsible for enforcing the law.
For slaves attempting to build lives in the North, the new law was disaster.
Many left their homes and fled to Canada. During the next ten years, an
estimated 20,000 blacks moved to the neighboring country. For Harriet Jacobs, a
fugitive living in New York, passage of the law was "the beginning of a reign of
terror to the colored population." She stayed put, even after learning that
slave catchers were hired to track her down. Anthony Burns, a fugitive living in
Boston, was one of many who were captured and returned to slavery. Free blacks,
too, were captured and sent to the South. With no legal right to plead their
cases, they were completely defenseless.
Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act made abolitionists all the more resolved to
put an end to slavery. The Underground Railroad became more active, reaching its
peak between 1850 and 1860. The act also brought the subject of slavery before
the nation. Many who had previously been ambivalent about slavery now took a
definitive stance against the institution.
The Compromise of 1850 accomplished what it set out to do -- it kept the nation
united -- but the solution was only temporary. Over the following decade the
country's citizens became further divided over the issue of slavery. The rift
would continue to grow until the nation itself divided.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to wit: beginning at a point in the Missouri River where the fortieth parallel of north latitude crosses the same; then west on said parallel to the east boundary of the Territory of Utah, the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence on said summit northwest to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the territory of Minnesota; thence southward on said boundary to the Missouri River; thence down the main channel of said river to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory Nebraska; and when admitted as a State or States, the said Territory or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of the admission: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such tin as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching a portion of said Territory to any other State or Territory of the United States: Provided further, That nothing in this act contained shall construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining the Indians in said Territory' so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or include any territory which, by treaty with any Indian tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included within the territorial line or jurisdiction of any State or Territory; but all such territory shall excepted out of the boundaries, and constitute no part of the Territory of Nebraska, until said tribe shall signify their assent to the President of the United States to be included within the said Territory of Nebraska. or to affect the authority of the government of the United States make any regulations respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights, by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been competent to the government to make if this act had never passed....
SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That every free white male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years who shall be an actual resident of said Territory, and shall possess the qualifications hereinafter prescribed, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said Territory; but the qualifications of voters, and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, shall be such as shall be prescribed by the Legislative Assembly: Provided, That the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States and those who shall have declared on oath their intention to become such, and shall have taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act: And provided further, That no officer, soldier, seaman, or marine, or other person in the army or navy of the United States, or attached to troops in the service of the United States, shall be allowed to vote or hold office in said Territory, by reason of being on service therein....
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the judicial power of said Territory shall be vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and in Justices of the Peace. The Supreme Court shall consist of a chief justice and two associate justices, any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, and who shall hold a term at the seat of government of said Territory annually, and they shall hold their offices during the period of four years, and until their successor shall be appointed and qualified. The said Territory shall be divided into three judicial districts, and a district court shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the Supreme Court, at such times and places as may be prescribed by of law; and the said judges shall, after their appointments, respectively, reside in the districts which shall be assigned them. The jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that of the probate courts and of justices of the peace, shall be as limited by law: Provided, That justices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction of any matter in controversy when the title or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or where the debt or sum claimed shall exceed one hundred dollars; and the said supreme and districts courts, respectively, shall possess chancery as well as common law jurisdiction. Each District Court, or the judge thereof, shall appoint its clerk, who shall also be the register in chancery, and shall keep his office at the place where the court may, be held. Writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals, shall be allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said district courts to the Supreme Court, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law; but in no case removed to the Supreme Court shall trial by jury be allowed in said court. The Supreme Court, or the justices thereof, shall appoint its own clerk, and every clerk shall hold his office at the pleasure of the court for which he shall have been appointed. Writs of error, and appeals from the final decisions of said Supreme Court, shall be allowed, and may be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the same manner and under the same regulations as from the circuit courts of the United States, where the value of the property, or the amount in controversy, to be ascertained by the oath or affirmation of either party, or other competent witness, shall exceed one thousand dollars; except only that in all cases involving title to slaves, the said writs of error, or appeals shall be allowed and decided by the said Supreme Court, without regard to the value of the matter, property, or title in controversy; and except also that a writ of error or appeal shall also be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, from the decision of the said Supreme Court created by this act, or of any judge thereof, or of the district courts created by this act, or of any judge thereof, upon any writ of habeas corpus, involving the question of personal freedom: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to apply to or affect the provisions to the " act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters," approved February twelfth, seventeen hundred and ninety-three, and the " act to amend and supplementary to the aforesaid act," approved September eighteen, eighteen hundred and fifty; and each of the said district courts shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction in all cases arising under the Constitution and Laws of the United States as is vested in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States; and the said Supreme and District Courts of the said Territory, and the respective judges thereof, shall and may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are granted by the judges of the United States in the District of Columbia; and the first six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the said constitution and laws, and writs of error and appeal in all such cases shall be made to the Supreme Court of said Territory, the same as in other cases. The said clerk shall receive in all such cases the same fees which the clerks of the district courts of Utah Territory now receive for similar services.
SEC. 10. And Be it further enacted, That the provisions of an act entitled "An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters," approved February twelve, seventeen hundred and ninety-three, and the provisions of the act entitled " An act to amend, and supplementary to, the aforesaid act," approved September eighteen, eighteen hundred and fifty, be, and the same are hereby, declared to extend to and be in full force within the limits of said Territory of Nebraska.
SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That a delegate to the House of Representatives of the United States, to serve for the term of two years, who shall be a citizen of the United States, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the Legislative Assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the delegates from the several other Territories of the United States to the said House of Representatives, but the delegate first elected shall hold his seat only during the term of the Congress to which he shall be elected. The first election shall be held at such time and places, and be conducted in such manner, as the Governor shall appoint and direct; and at all subsequent elections the times, places, and manner of holding the elections, shall be prescribed by law. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be declared by the Governor to be duly elected; and a certificate thereof shall be given accordingly. That the Constitution, and all Laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Nebraska as elsewhere within the United States, except the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union approved March sixth, eighteen hundred and twenty, which, being inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by Congress with slaves in the States and Territories, as recognized by the legislation of eighteen hundred and fifty, commonly called the Compromise Measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void; it being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form an regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation which may have existed prior to the act of sixth March, eighteen hundred and twenty, either protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery....
SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That all that part of the Territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to wit, beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri, where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight; thence following said boundary westward to the east boundary of the Territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of latitude, thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the State of Missouri; thence south with the western boundary of said State to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Kansas; and when admitted as a State or States, the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their Constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion of said Territory to any other State or Territory of the United States: Provided further, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said Territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to include any territory which, by treaty with any Indian tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory; but all such territory shall be excepted out of the boundaries, and constitute no part of the Territory of Kansas, until said tribe shall signify their assent to the President of the United States to be included within the said Territory of Kansas, or to affect the authority of the government of the United States to make any regulation respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights, by treaty, law, or otherwise, which it would have been competent to the government to make if this act had never passed....
SEC. 23. And be it further enacted, That every free white male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years, who shall be an actual resident of said Territory, and shall possess the qualifications hereinafter prescribed, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said Territory; but the qualifications of voters, and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, shall be such as shall be prescribed by the Legislative Assembly: Provided, That the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States, and those who shall have declared, on oath, their intention to become such, and shall have taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act: And, provided further, That no officer, soldier, seaman, or marine, or other person in the army or navy of the United States, or attached to troops in the service of the United States, shall be allowed to vote or hold office in said Territory by reason of being on service therein....
SEC. 28. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the act entitled "An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from, the service of their masters," approved February twelfth, seventeen hundred and ninety-three, and the provisions of the act entitled "An act to amend, and supplementary to, the aforesaid act," approved September eighteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty, be, and the same are hereby, declared to extend to and be in full force within the limits of the said Territory of Kansas....
Approved, May 30, 1854.