Summary: The Compromise Of Henry Clay

slave state, while also adding Maine to the nation as a free state to maintain balance. However, this compromise also states that any state north of the Mason-Dixon line, “contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited.” It effectively divided the country by geography, and it indirectly splits people into a demographic. The Compromise of 1850 eventually overturned the Missouri Compromise, when Texas applies for statehood after the Mexican-American War. Henry Clay, also known as “The Great Compromiser” allowed Texas to be declared a slave state, by writing this. To balance out the addition of a slave state to
James Henry Hammond, a passionate supporter of slavery, delivered a speech about the importance of cotton to the economy. This speech, named “Cotton is King” discussed the indistinguishable divide between the Northern industry, and Southern plantations. The Southern plantations produced cotton that the industrial North later spun, sewed, and stitched before exporting to trade partners. At the time that this speech was delivered, the United States consumed cotton at an alarming rate, so the South attempted to use this argument to justify their ownership of slaves. However, the North had twice the amount of economic prosperity in population, commodity output, farm acreage, factories, and railroad mileage. The North’s economic stability shows that it didn’t rely on the South, debunking the myth claimed in “Cotton is King” and falsifying another argument in favor of slavery. The failure of the Constitution to mention slavery, or slavery in relation to the economy, allowed the South to argue the use of slavery because of its positive benefit to the national