Compromise of 1850

Cultural

A set of laws, passed in the midst of fierce wrangling between groups favoring slavery and groups opposing it, that attempted to give something to both sides. The compromise admitted California to the United States as a “free” (no slavery) state but allowed some newly acquired territories to decide on slavery for themselves. Part of the Compromise included the Fugitive Slave Act, which proved highly unpopular in the North. Senator Henry Clay was a force behind the passage of the compromise.

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The Compromise of 1850 shows how difficult it was to accommodate the two sides of the slavery question. It failed to prevent the Civil War, which broke out just over ten years later.

Example Sentences

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Congress passed a series of laws, the Compromise of 1850, which dealt with issues of slavery in America’s new territories.

From Literature

Neither side, proslavery or antislavery, South or North, was satisfied with the Compromise of 1850.

From Literature

Pierce, a Northerner, believed that the Compromise of 1850 had solved the slavery issue, declaring, “We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis …” He wanted Americans to concentrate on prosperity and peace.

From Literature

But as governor he protected fugitive slaves who reached New York, and during the fierce Senate debate over the Compromise of 1850, he notoriously asserted that there was a “higher law” than the Constitution, a moral one, which demanded a halt to the expansion of slavery.

From The Wall Street Journal

These events prompted a slavery debate in Congress—and may have influenced one piece of the Compromise of 1850, which ended the slave trade in the District of Columbia.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023