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The Appeasement of 1850
- Ohio University Press
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36 Paul Finkelman The Appeasement of The Compromise of 1850 has always been seen as a classic moment ofAmericanpoliticalhistory.Historianswaxeloquentaboutthebrilliance of the debate, the selXess dedication to the Union of some of the participants,andparticularlytheheroicroleofHenryClayincomingout of retirement to craft a compromise in 1850, as he had done in 1820. The traditionalworksalsoacknowledgetheother“heroic”menoftheagewho worked with Clay, especially Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun. Thus thehistorianRobertReminihasarguedinhisrecentbookonthecompromise that“oncethegreatmenoftheantebellumerapassedaway—men suchasAndrewJackson,HenryClay,DanielWebster,andJohnC.Calhoun —the nation lacked individuals in positions of power who were passionately devotedtotheUnion.”Reminiarguesthatthecrisisof1850 was averted “becausetherewereanumberof meninCongresswhowerewillingto compromise—and not simply on one issue, like slavery, but on many related issuesthatdividedNorthandSouth,suchascongressionalcontroloverthe territories, the admission of California, the New Mexico boundary, and the Texas debt.”1 Thisheroicanalysisofthecompromiseisproblematic.Reminiarguesthat the Compromise of 1850preventedtheAmericanUnionfrombeing“irreparably smashed” and says the compromise “is a prime example of how close this nation came to a catastrophic smash-up” and that his heroes in 1 Robert Remini, At the Edge of the Precipice: Henry Clay and the Compromise That Saved the Union (New York, 2010), pp. xi–xii. The Appeasement of 37 Congress“avoidedthatdisaster—justintime.”2 But of course, the catastrophic smash-up in fact occurred anyway, with a cost of 625,000 or so lives andhundredsofthousandsmorewoundedanddamaged,andproperty costs in the billions of dollars. The Union was not “irreparably smashed” whentheCivilWarbegan,butthelegacyofthatconXict still haunts the nation as we mark the war’s sesquicentennial. Remini implicitly concedes thatthecompromisewasintheendafailure,andhavingpraisedCongress anditsleaders,hethenretreatstosayingtherealsuccessofthecompromise wasthatit“gavetheNorthtenyearstobuilditsindustrialstrengthandenable it to overpower the South when the war Wnally broke out.” He asserts that it was in this decade that the North expanded its industrial capacity but thatwhenthewarbegantheSouth“didnothavearailroadsystembywhich to move men and material to the areas where they were most needed.” He furtherclaimsthatthecompromisealsogavetheNorth“tenyearstoWnd a leader who could save the Union.”3 Theseargumentsare,intheend,notpersuasive.Remini’slistof men “passionately devoted to the Union” includes John C. Calhoun, who left Jackson’s administration over nulliWcation and in 1850 asserted that the Union wasexpendable.Heopposedanycompromiseandhadalongrecordofdefending theconstitutionalityandtheexpediencyofsecession.AtrueUnionist believed that secession was always unconstitutional and unacceptable. In 1850 Southern senators like Clay, Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, and Sam Houston of Texas believed secession could never be on the table. They were slaveownerswhodespisedabolitionists,buttheydidnotbelieveinbreaking up the Union. Similarly, northern senators like William Henry Seward of New York, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine were passionately opposed to slavery but were also passionately devoted to the Union. They opposed the compromise because itwasoverwhelminglyproslavery,buttheydidnotreturntotheNorth andcampaignforsecession.ButsouthernSenatorswhohadbeenacolytes of John C. Calhoun, like Henry S. Foote of Mississippi, R. Barnwell Rhett ofSouthCarolina,JamesM.MasonofVirginia,andDavidLevyYuleeof Florida,werestilltalkingaboutsecessionafterthecompromise,eventhough theywonalmosteverythingtheywantedinthecompromise.Ratherthan 2 Ibid., p. xi. 3 Ibid., pp. xiii, 158. [18.226.93.209] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 19:55 GMT) 38 Paul Finkelman stiXe secessionist talk, the compromise emboldened southern nationalists to pushformoreconcessionsforslavery,whilealsostimulatingthemtopush theirdisunionagenda. The Wnalcompromisewas,asI...