How black and white scholars have interpreted the 200th Anniversary of the Compromise of 1850 - Essay Example

How Black and White Scholars have interpreted the 200th Anniversary of the Compromise of 1850 .             Arguments for the Compromise of 1850After the United States gained victory over Mexico and took over new territories from Mexico, there were controversies over the slavery state of these new territories. The compromise of 1850 solved these controversies by giving the territories of New Mexico the option of choosing for or against slavery. It also reduced the slave state of Texas and allowed California to be admitted as a free state.

The District of Columbia was favored by the Compromise of 1850 since it experienced the end slave trade. The Compromise of 1850 also introduced a law called for the capture of escaped slaves who sought refuge in the free states. The North expressed its resistance to the law and its resistance against the law gave power to the South. The North was against the law because it was becoming revolutionized by education and urbanization that was facilitated by industrialization. Such resistance sparked the Civil War that led to the end of slavery1.

The Compromise of 1850 experienced heated debates over the course of action against runaway slaves and the leadership of the free states and the states under slavery. Senator Calhoun proposed the election of two presidents; one for the enslaved states and the other for the free states. Senator Clay and Webster were against the extension of slavery. The Fugitive Slave Law sparked many ideas about the future of the states. The 1850s was characterized by tensional reactions to the state of slavery.

The Southerners wanted unification of all territories as a common property of all states. The Northerners wanted industrialization and development which was the reason for their support for the election of President Lincoln. The debates continued until the Civil War which was followed by President Abraham Lincoln who brought the reunion of the states3.           Arguments against the Compromise of 1850The Compromise of 1850 allowed the entry of California being a free state into the union while the other two territories of New Mexico and Utah had the option of choosing their slavery status.

Thereafter the Kansas- Nebraska Act reignited the controversies surrounding slavery. In a bid to gain support of the South, a Democrat senator, Stephen Douglas revoked restriction on slavery that was agreed upon in the Missouri Compromise. The Northerners reacted arguing that slave power was taking advantage of free labor to monopolize all the territories. The arguments led to the splitting and collapsing of many parties including the Whig Party. The Dread Scott ruling of the 1857 further weakened fight against slavery by indicating that the Congress did not have constitutional power to abolish slavery4.

The introduction of Fugitive Slave Law following the Compromise of the 1850 meant that slavery was still in place in the South. The fight against the law from the North was dealt blows by the Dread Scott Ruling. This meant that slavery had been strengthened since the Congress was not within the jurisdiction to stop slavery. The ruling made northern democrats lose their trust in the southern counterparts. This was the reason they supported the Kansas-Nebraska. The betrayal by southerners weakened the union of leaders that were fighting against slavery.

All these setbacks in the fight against slavery can be attributed to the Compromise of the 1850 and its introduction of the Fugitive Slave Law 2Work CitedRemini, Robert V. 2010. "CLAYS COMPROMISE." American Heritage 60, no. 2: 23. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 2, 2014).Finkelman, Paul. “The Cost of Compromise And The Covenant with Death.” Pepperdine Law Review 38.(2011):845. Supplemental Index. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.