Question

How did Henry Clay propose to admit California to the Union without upsetting the balance between slave states and free states

Answer 1

Prior to the Civil War, the issue of slavery was considered one of the main problems facing the Union. This was because some states in the nation allowed slavery, while some others were "free states." The numbers of each side needed to remain equal in order for a balance of power to be maintained. The addition of any other territory threatened such an order.

California was such a state. It had grown tremendously due to the gold rush, and it now petitioned to join the Union as a free state. A compromise was presented by senator Henry Clay. He proposed to accept California as a free state. However, in order to pacify politicians from slave states, he also proposed the Fugitive Slave Act. The act required citizens (including those living in free states) to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. This compromise was known as the Compromise of 1850.

Answer 2

On January 29, 1850, the 70-year-old Clay presented a compromise. For eight months members of Congress, led by Clay, Daniel Webster, Senator from Massachusetts, and John C. Calhoun, senator from South Carolina, debated the compromise. With the help of Stephen Douglas, a young Democrat from Illinois, a series of bills that would make up the compromise were ushered through Congress.

According to the compromise, Texas would relinquish the land in dispute but, in compensation, be given 10 million dollars -- money it would use to pay off its debt to Mexico. Also, the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized without mention of slavery. (The decision would be made by the territories' inhabitants later, when they applied for statehood.) Regarding Washington, the slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, although slavery would still be permitted. Finally, California would be admitted as a free state. To pacify slave-state politicians, who would have objected to the imbalance created by adding another free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed.