The Compromise of 1850 and Slave Act

Senator Stephen A. Douglas (Delaware, Illinois) split up Clay’s measures, passed several using separate coalitions
“The Compromise of 1850”
- California admitted as a free state
- Utah and New Mexico decide slavery via popular sovereignty
- a popular vote
- slave trade abolished in DC
- Fugitive Slave Act was passed

fugitive slave cases taken from state courts → federal commissioners
- no jury or testimony, captives couldn’t speak
- commissioners paid according to outcome
- $5 per case if captive was ruled free
- $10 per case if returned to slavery
- during the 1850s, 332 were sent South, 11 were released
Northern Black communities terrorized
Northern Whites witnessed seizures of Black neighbors
- white northerners see slavery’s violence firsthand
- pushed moderates to actively oppose slavery
anti-slavery activists resisted and publicized:
- framed as Southerners using federal power to undermine Northern law

1853, a bill banning slavery in Nebraska territory was passed in the House, but blocked in the Senate
1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas (Delaware, Illinois) reintroduced the bill with changes:
- splits Nebraska territory in two:
- Nebraska to the north
- Kansas to the south
- popular sovereignty to decide slavery in both
- explicitly repealed the Missouri Compromise
with Missouri next door, slavery in Kansas seemed possible