“During the 1850s, the controversy over the spread of slavery to the West froze America’s territorial expansion” (Shultz, 2014, p. 235). Southern Democrats were demanding that all new territories should allow slavery. The Northerners were saying that if the western territories were to allow slavery, the rich southern plantation owners would buy up all the new land.
The Northern Democrats may have not been for slavery but they were definitely racist. The Northern Democrats were openly against living amongst blacks. Both Southern and Northern Democrats were racist; the difference came of why they were. Southern Democrats were racist and for slavery whereas Northern Democrats were racist because they did not want to be around blacks.…show more content… The southerners worried that if California became a state they would vote to be a free state and eventually this would lead to other states following suit. This would mean that in the future Free states could outnumber the slave states and this could lead to abolishing slavery. The compromise would consist of 5 parts. The first was that California be admitted as a free state. The second was that the remaining acquired land be divided into two new territories, New Mexico and Utah. These states would remain open for slavery until they applied to become a state, at which time the state legislature would vote on the issue. The third thing was that slave auctions but not slavery itself would be banned in Washington D.C. The forth thing was that Texas would receive $10 million in compensation but be prohibited from influencing New Mexico. The fifth thing was for southerners. The federal government would create a stricter fugitive slave law. This would include white northerners being punished for assisting slaves. This was put in place in hopes of protecting the slave system. The Compromise passed when Taylor died and Fillmore took over office. Fillmore was for the
