Outcome:
Although the Compromise of 1850 was made for the intent of relieving the tension between the North and South, in a way, it only made things worse. Both sides believed that the Compromise was too lenient to the other. This caused people to foster increasingly negative feelings toward the opposite side. The South, however, was a more justified in harboring dismissive feelings toward the North. Though North may have gotten less benefits on paper, but the advantages they did get were much more substantial and impacting. One way this is true is because of the boundary dispute with Texas. This guaranteed the end of slavery expansion in the United States. The North essentially stopped the spread of the Southern economies labor force. It should also be noted that the biggest victory for the South, the Fugitive Slave Act, was largely ignored by the North. This was because of the large number of abolitionists in the North who refused to force African Americans back into slavery. Also, some Northern states made laws to nullify the Fugitive Slave Act and its effects. Even non-abolitionist Northerners ignored the Fugitive Slave Act out of anger of being forced to protect something the South needed. Another substantial advantage for the North was California being entered as a free state. This made the once-equal balance of slave to free states become disrupted. The North now had more land, giving them more power over the North. This made the slave states a minority in Congress.
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“The Constitution regulates our stewardship; the Constitution devotes the domain to union, to justice, to defense, to welfare, and to liberty. But there is a higher law than the Constitution, which regulates our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the same noble purposes.”
~William H. Seward, Senate Speech of March 11, 1850
All in all, the Compromise of 1850 satisfied neither side. Both sides felt betrayed by the other and by the government. The nation was still divided and tensions between the North and South continued to grow. In reality, the Compromise of 1850 only kept the peace for 10 years before the fighting could no longer be stopped. The Compromise of 1850 actually increased national division with things like the Fugitive Slave Act and the imbalance of power. All the Compromise did was postpone the Civil War, which is another advantage for the North. The North became more industrialized during this period while the South still remained largely agrarian. This was a considerable difference in the end result of the Civil War. To conclude, the North had a significant advantage over the South as a result of the Compromise of 1850, both because of the bigger advantages and their refusal to enforce the Southern concessions. |