Compromise of 1850

Questions for Further Study

• 1. In supporting the Compromise of 1850, leaders like Henry Clay and Daniel Webster made the preservation of the Union their highest priority. Was this the best position to take at the time? Analyze this topic from both the northern and southern perspectives.
• 2. Write a critique of the compromise measures from any of these points of view: (a) a citizen who opposes slavery, (b) a slaveholder, (c) a unionist without strong opinions about slavery, (d) a slave.
• 3. At the time of the passage of the Compromise of 1850, many Americans thought that the legislation could hold the nation together indefinitely. If the citizens of the North had obeyed the Fugitive Slave Act more consistently, would the bloodshed of the Civil War have been avoided? Specifically consider if the war should have been avoided, given the stakes involved.
• 4. Have any political compromises been made to avert wars or other crises in recent times? Are such compromises still possible, or are political choices—both in the United States and elsewhere—more black and white today? If so, is the world consequently a more dangerous place?
• 5. As discussed earlier, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 disallowed any alleged runaway slave from testifying on his own behalf. Describe how such a rule could affect an ordinary person in a modern-day legal situation.
• 6. Extremists in both the proslavery and antislavery camps opposed the Compromise of 1850. Is extremism ever productive in politics? Consider what forms of extremism—in the debates over abortion, the environment, and gay rights, for instance—might be justifiable today.