1850] Compromise of 1850 461 He Seventh of March Rhodes's United tecting herself." He did not define a plan to bring about this political equilibrium between the two classes of states. After his death, it appeared that what he had in mind was the repeal of all laws which had established a national government, and the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution providing for the election of two presidents, one by the slave, the other by the free states, and each to approve of all acts of Congress before they became laws. Webster Webster's presented the views of many Northern conservatives. approved the compromise plan: slavery was already "ex- Speech. cluded from the territories by the law of nature, of physical geography." Webster spoke on March 7, 1850, and his speech is always referred to as the "Seventh of March Speech." These opinions were those of the leaders who had governed the country since the War of 1812; they all died within three years. New men were coming to the front, among them William H. Seward, senator from New York. Seward's He denounced the proposed compromise as in the interests of slavery" all measures which fortify slavery or extend it, tend to the consummation of violence, all that check its extension and abate its strength, tend to its peaceful extirpation." Thrusting aside historical subtleties and constitutional distinctions, he declared that "there is a higher law than the Constitution," which he described as "the law of nature written on the hearts and consciences of freemen." 161-201. assertion. Rhodes's United States, I, 162. There was a majority in both houses for each of Clay's The propositions taken by itself; but the voters for and Compromise. of 1850. against the several parts of the scheme were different. It resulted from this that the propositions in bulk failed to pass, and also when grouped together in three bills. Meantime, Taylor had been managing matters in his own straightforward fashion. Had he lived a few months longer, California would probably have been admitted without any compromise. Suddenly, on July 9, 1850, he died, and Fillmore, Seward's political rival in New York, became President. Webster became Secretary of State, and the compromise measures were passed, though not in their original form. Southern Schouler's As finally effected, the Compromise of 1850 provided for (1) the admission of California to the Union as a free state, (2) the prohibition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia, (3) the organization of Utah and New Mexico as territories with no restriction as to slavery, (4) the payment of ten million dollars to Texas in satisfaction of her claims to a portion of New Mexico, and (5) the passage of a severe fugitive slave law. 308. Fugitive Slaves. Whatever good results might have followed from the Compromise of 1850 without the Fugitive Slave Law were more than offset by the passage of that measure. There could be no "union of hearts" in face of it. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act was one of the worst blunders in the long series of errors which led to the perpetuation of slavery in the South. Every day that slavery existed, the South grew weaker morally, materially, and politically. As it was, Southern policy clearly demanded that the slave owners should avoid every irritating question and should seek to discover the best means by which slavery could be checked and brought to an end. In place of so doing, they seized every occasion to push the further extension of slavery and to fasten the institution on themselves and their posterity; they lost no opportunity to bring the matter prominently before the people of the North, and compel them to think about it whether they would or not. The execution of the Fugitive Slave Law did more to arouse the moral sentiment of the Northerners than the arguments of the abolitionists had done in twenty years. It may be asserted that the people of the free states whether for freedom or slavery in the South or in the territories were unanimous for freedom on their own soil. Furthermore, the execution of the law brought the people of the North face to face with certain phases of slavery in whose existence most of them had persistently refused to believe. Moreover, there seems to have been no adequate reason for the passage of the law. It has been stated that only one thirtieth of one per cent of 1850] Fugitive Slaves 463 the slaves escaped in any one year. Some scheme of insurance against slave escapes would have fully protected every Southern slave owner at trifling cost. Slave Act. United Sumner's The act itself appears to have been drawn with the ex- The Fugitive press object of humbling the Northerners. The right to at jury trial was denied to the person designated as a fugitive slave; the affidavit of the person claiming the negro was sufficient evidence of ownership; the writ of habeas corpus was denied to the reclaimed negro; and the act was ex post repeal of this facto. The authors of the bill forgot, however, that while a jury trial was denied to the negro claimed as a fugitive, neither it nor the writ of habeas corpus was or could be denied to the rescuer of the negro from the clutches of the fugitive slave hunter; nor were any means provided by which a state could be punished for placing obstacles in the way of the carrying out of the act. act is in Johnston's Orations, II, 268-340. 1851-59. Schouler's United States, V, 204, 294; Rhodes's States, I, 208, 222, 499. Agents of the slave owners soon appeared in the Northern Rescues of states, and more seizures of fugitives occurred in one year fugitives, after the passage of the act than in all the sixty years before. Except in a few cases, it was found to be impossible to secure and retain possession of the runaways. State after state passed "personal liberty laws" which practically nullified the operation of the act. Some of these laws imposed heavy fines on state officers who in any way assisted the pursuers of fugitives; others prohibited lawyers who prosecuted in these cases from the practice of their profession; and still others forbade the confinement of fugitives in state prisons. The most famous cases of rescue and attempted rescue were those of Shadrach, the Christiana riot (1851), Burns (1854), the Oberlin-Wellington rescue (1858), and the legal struggle which occurred in Wisconsin in 1858–59. Perhaps the most dramatic episode was the attempt of Thomas Wentworth Higginson and others to rescue Anthony Burns; it failed, but it is said to have cost the gov ernment one hundred thousand dollars to return this one fugitive to his master. Another result was a great increase in the facility for escape offered to fugitives in the Northern Uncle Tom's Cabin. States, I, 278. Election of 1852. Stanwood's Elections, States, V, states. This was popularly known as the "underground railroad," and its activity and efficacy increased enormously. Bearing all these things in mind, it is no doubt true, as Senator Benton declared, that the act "has been worth but little to the slave states in recovering their property." 309. Election of 1852.- Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in the summer of 1852. Its great war." This story may not be true, but it is certain that Uncle Tom exercised a tremendous influence in arousing public opinion in the North. It is remarkable, however, that the Democrats were successful in the election which followed immediately on its appearance. The Democrats nominated a comparatively unknown man, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire; the Whigs chose as their standard bearer the most successful soldier in the country, Winfield Scott. The Free-soilers also had a candidate in the field, but their strength had declined since 1848. The Democrats were now united, while the attempt 1852] Election of 1852 465 of the Whigs to avoid expressing an opinion on the slavery question had weakened them in the North without increasing their strength in the South. The Free-soilers, by attracting Whig voters, really aided the Democrats. Ridicule was heaped on Scott, who was a man of pretentious habits, and not always happy in the use of language. The real reason for the Democratic success, however, was a mistaken feel ing that with that party in control of the government, less would be heard of the contest over slavery. The Kansas- Schouler's United *Rhodes's 310. The Kansas-Nebraska Act. For ten years since Act, 1854. 1854, Stephen Arnold Douglas, senator from Illinois, had been anxious to secure a territorial organization for the region west of Iowa and Missouri. Unless this were done, it might become an Indian reservation, which he undoubtedly thought would be a sacrifice. In January, 1854, Douglas introduced a bill to provide for the organization, as the territory of Nebraska, of all the Louisiana Purchase north of the States, V, Orations, III, 50-87. |