Which of the following was a provision of the Compromise of 1850 that appealed to Northerns?

On January 29, 1850, Henry Clay rose in the Old Senate Chamber to begin the most important debate of his career and to forge one last compromise. A Whig from Kentucky, the “Great Compromiser” entered the Senate in 1806, served intermittently over four decades, and became a leading voice in the Senate. He resigned in 1842 to run for president but returned in 1849 to seek a compromise solution to the nation’s growing sectional strife—to avoid civil war.

Showing the effects of age and tuberculosis, the 72-year-old statesman proposed eight resolutions to settle the dispute over territories acquired from the Mexican War. The key issue, of course, was whether states carved out of those territories would allow or prohibit slavery. As Clay explained, he proposed an “amicable arrangement of all questions in controversy between the free and slave States.” Adding drama to the occasion, Clay produced an unusual prop. He had recently called for the federal government to buy George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. In gratitude, a supporter had presented Clay with a fragment of wood from Washington’s coffin. Was it portentous that this object had been presented to him, Clay asked? Was it a sign that the nation founded by Washington was dying? “No, sir, no,” thundered Clay, holding up the relic. “It was a warning voice, coming from the grave to the Congress ... to beware, to pause, to reflect before they lend themselves to any purposes which shall destroy the Union.”

For six long months, Clay led the contentious debate. Mississippi senator Henry Foote suggested combining the resolutions into a single bill, which Clay referred to as a “sort of omnibus” into which Foote introduced “all sorts of things and every kind of passenger.” The idea took hold, and Clay endorsed the Senate’s first “omnibus bill.” He proclaimed it to be “neither southern nor northern. It is equal; it is fair; it is a compromise.” On July 22, Clay delivered his last major speech in the Senate, calling for passage of the omnibus bill. If passed, the North would gain California as a free state and an end to the slave trade in Washington, D.C., while the South would get a stronger fugitive slave law and the possibility of western slavery through popular sovereignty. This compromise, Clay insisted, represented the “reunion of [the] Union.”

One week later, the Senate rejected Clay’s proposal. “The omnibus is overturned,” cried opponents. The omnibus strategy had failed—rather than solidifying support, it unified opposition. Southerners protested any restriction on slavery, and Northerners fumed at the idea of returning fugitive slaves. A disheartened Henry Clay headed north to restore his failing health.

The omnibus bill died, but Clay’s Compromise of 1850 survived. The cause was adopted by Stephen Douglas of Illinois, who disassembled the omnibus and repackaged it into five separate bills, winning enactment of each major provision. Clay’s last compromise helped to stave off civil war for another decade, but only by allowing for the continuation of slavery. When the Old Kentuckian died in 1852, he went to his grave believing his compromise had saved the Union.

Until 1845, it had seemed likely that slavery would be confined to the areas where it already existed. It had been given limits by the Missouri Compromise in 1820 and had no opportunity to overstep them. The new territories made renewed expansion of slavery a real likelihood.

Many Northerners believed that if not allowed to spread, slavery would ultimately decline and die. To justify their opposition to adding new slave states, they pointed to the statements of Washington and Jefferson, and to the Ordinance of 1787, which forbade the extension of slavery into the Northwest. Texas, which already permitted slavery, naturally entered the Union as a slave state. But the California, New Mexico, and Utah territories did not have slavery. From the beginning, there were strongly conflicting opinions on whether they should.

Southerners urged that all the lands acquired from Mexico should be thrown open to slave holders. Antislavery Northerners demanded that all the new regions be closed to slavery. One group of moderates suggested that the Missouri Compromise line be extended to the Pacific with free states north of it and slave states to the south. Another group proposed that the question be left to "popular sovereignty." The government should permit settlers to enter the new territory with or without slaves as they pleased. When the time came to organize the region into states, the people themselves could decide.

Despite the vitality of the abolitionist movement, most Northerners were unwilling to challenge the existence of slavery in the South. Many, however, were against its expansion. In 1848 nearly 300,000 men voted for the candidates of a new Free Soil Party, which declared that the best policy was "to limit, localize, and discourage slavery." In the immediate aftermath of the war with Mexico, however, popular sovereignty had considerable appeal.

In January 1848 the discovery of gold in California precipitated a headlong rush of settlers, more than 80,000 in the single year of 1849. Congress had to determine the status of this new region quickly in order to establish an organized government. The venerable Kentucky Senator Henry Clay, who twice before in times of crisis had come forward with compromise arrangements, advanced a complicated and carefully balanced plan. His old Massachusetts rival, Daniel Webster, supported it. Illinois Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the leading advocate of popular sovereignty, did much of the work in guiding it through Congress.

The Compromise of 1850 contained the following provisions: (1) California was admitted to the Union as a free state; (2) the remainder of the Mexican cession was divided into the two territories of New Mexico and Utah and organized without mention of slavery; (3) the claim of Texas to a portion of New Mexico was satisfied by a payment of $10 million; (4) new legislation (the Fugitive Slave Act) was passed to apprehend runaway slaves and return them to their masters; and (5) the buying and selling of slaves (but not slavery) was abolished in the District of Columbia.

The country breathed a sigh of relief. For the next three years, the compromise seemed to settle nearly all differences. The new Fugitive Slave Law, however, was an immediate source of tension. It deeply offended many Northerners, who refused to have any part in catching slaves. Some actively and violently obstructed its enforcement. The Underground Railroad became more efficient and daring than ever.

Which of the following was a provision of the Compromise of 1850 that appealed to the northerners?

Which of the following was a provision of the Compromise of 1850 that appealed to southerners?

Which of the following was a provision of the Compromise of 1850?

What part of the Compromise of 1850 infuriated Northerns the most?