APUSH 5.4 ~ The Compromise of 1850 (Heimler's History)

What was the Wilmot Proviso (1848) about?

• It proposed that any lands gained from war with Mexico would allow slavery

• It proposed the extension of slavery to the Pacific Ocean

• It proposed the ban on the slave trade in Washington D.C.

• It proposed that any lands gained from war with Mexico would not allow slavery

What was the Southern Position on slavery?

• Advocated for free soil in new territories

• Wanted to extend the 36°30′ line of slavery to the Pacific Ocean

• Sought to ban slavery everywhere

• Viewed slavery as a constitutional right

What did the Free Soil Movement want in new territories?

• They wanted to ban slavery everywhere

• They wanted to extend the 36°30′ line of slavery to the Pacific Ocean

• They wanted to allow slavery in all new territories

• They wanted NO SLAVERY in the new territorries.

What did the Popular Sovereignty (pop. sov.) position advocate for?

• Viewed slavery as a constitutional right

• Advocated for the people living in each territory to decide the slavery question

• Sought to ban slavery everywhere

• Wanted to extend the 36°30′ line of slavery to the Pacific Ocean

What was the Compromise of 1850 about?

• Admission of California as a slave state

• Division of the Mexican Cession into Utah and New Mexico territories with popular sovereignty

• Stricter enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law

• Ban on the slave trade in Washington D.C.

What was the significance of the Missouri Compromise for the South?

• It promised that slavery would be allowed in all new territories

• It promised that slavery, and their economy and way of life would continue, untouched below the line

• It proposed the ban on the slave trade in Washington D.C.

• It advocated for free soil in new territories

What did the Free Soil Movement want in new territories?

• They wanted free soil (no slavery)

• They wanted to extend the 36°30′ line of slavery to the Pacific Ocean

• They wanted to ban slavery everywhere

• They wanted to allow slavery in all new territories

What was the outcome of the Mexican-American War in relation to slavery?

• Ban on the slave trade in Washington D.C.

• Stricter enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law

• Admission of California as a slave state

• Admission of California and New Mexico as free states

What was the purpose of the Compromise of 1850?

• It was an attempt to prevent the breakup of the Union

• It was an attempt to extend the 36°30′ line of slavery to the Pacific Ocean

• It was an attempt to ban slavery everywhere

• It was an attempt to allow slavery in all new territories

“Mr. President, it was solemnly asserted on this floor, some time ago, that all parties in the non-slaveholding States had come to a fixed and solemn determination upon two propositions. One was that there should be no further admission of any States into this Union which permitted, by their constitutions, the existence of slavery; and the other was that slavery shall not hereafter exist in any of the territories of the United States, the effect of which would be to give to the non-slaveholding States the monopoly of the public domain. . . . The subject has been agitated in the other House [of Congress], and they have sent up a bill ‘prohibiting the extension of slavery . . . to any territory which may be acquired by the United States hereafter.’ At the same time, two resolutions which have been moved to extend the compromise line from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, during the present session, have been rejected by a decided majority.

“Sir, there is no mistaking the signs of the times; and it is high time that the Southern States—the slaveholding States—should inquire what is now their relative strength in this Union, and what it will be if this determination is carried into effect hereafter.”

John C. Calhoun, senator, speech in the United States Senate, 1847

Question

The excerpt best provides evidence about which of the following historical situations in the late 1840s?

• Increased conflict between urban immigrants and nativists

• Compromises between the Supreme Court and national leaders

• The expanding influence of the Northern abolitionist movement

• Growing sectional tensions caused by the Mexican-American War

Answer explanation

The aftermath of the Mexican-American War led to heated controversies over whether to allow slavery in the newly acquired territories, which increased sectional tensions between the North and the South.