The Appeasement of 1850

This book chapter examines the history of the passage of the Compromise of 1850 and the nature of the Compromise. The chapter argues that the Compromise almost entirely favored slavery, and that rather than a compromise, it was an appeasement of the slave South. By any measure, the Compromise of 1850 failed to achieve its major goal - to defuse sectional conflict over slavery. The compromise stimulated a decade of confrontations between northerners and the federal government over the fugitive slave law and even led to Northerns making states' rights arguments.