Lecture Notes Available: www.tomrichey.net/blog/compro...
Tom Richey explains the Compromise of 1850, which was put together by Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas in order to try to settle sectional disputes over how to organize the Mexican Cession and the extent to which slavery would be allowed in these territories acquired by Mexico. When California applied for admission to the Union as a free state, Congress was at an impasse.
In order to gain support from some Southern congressmen for admitting California as a free state, Henry Clay proposed a stronger Fugitive Slave Act, which placed the federal government directly in charge of returning runaway slaves. The Fugitive Slave Act would become the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 because of its denial of a jury trial to alleged runaways.
The status of slavery was in the New Mexico and Utah territories was to be determined by popular sovereignty (also known as squatter sovereignty), which allowed the settlers to decide the status of slavery rather than Congress. A dispute between the federal government and Texas was also settled regarding land claims that Texas had in the Mexican Cession. In return for $10 million to pay off the state's remaining war debt, Texas relinquished its land claims in the Santa Fe region.
Finally, the slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C., although slavery remained legal there.
Because each provision was controversial in its own way, Henry Clay was not able to put everything into a single bill and Stephen Douglas put together a majority to pass each individual piece of the compromise.
Although Henry Clay and Daniel Webster supported the Compromise, John C. Calhoun did not. Calhoun predicted that the Union would be dissolved and a civil war would ensue as a result of the Compromise, which is exactly what happened after perhaps the most tumultuous decade in the history of the United States: the 1850s.
The content of this video aligns with Period 5 in the AP US History Course Description. This lecture by Tom Richey is more than a crash course - it is a lesson taught by an experienced teacher.