Assignment 10

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1773 aroused both strong opposition in both the North and South. The Republican Party dedicated itself to stop the extension of slavery but they lacked constitutional authority to interfere with slavery in the south. After the victory of the Mexican war there were fifteen slave states. The large amount of land acquired left a question of whether or not slavery would be extended to the new land. Congress could not bar slavery’s expansion. The decision would be taken out of national hands and let each new territory make the decision. This did not please free-soil nor pro-slavery extremists. The states sought admission as a free or slave states. This was opening an expansion of slavery in the new territory. President Zachary Taylor left the decision to the states whether to be a free state or slave. The balance of free states verses slave states was also affecting the nation. The southern states did not like that slavery could never take root in California. Henry clay proposed a compromise. The Bill would resolve several issues, the admission of California as a free state. The division of the remainder of the Mexican cession into two territories, New Mexico and Utah without federal restriction slavery, the settlement of Texas.-New Mexico boundary dispute on terms favorable to new Mexico: as incentive for Texas, an agreement that the Federal government would assume the states large public debt: continuation of slavery in the District of Columbia but abolish slave trade there. And last a more effective fugitive slave law. Taylor died shortly after and new President Fillmore supported Clays Compromise. The compromise ultimately failed. It failed to solve the differences between the North and South. They both gained and lost with the compromise. The fugitive slave act allowed harsh measure to recapture slaves. The