Question

What did California and Maine have in common when they became territories of the United States?

Both states had land above and below the Missouri Compromise line.

Both were admitted as states where citizens could vote on whether to allow slavery.

Both were admitted as a free state at the same time that a slave holding state was added.

Both were admitted at the same time; in California slavery was legal, in Maine it was not.

Answer 1

Why was admitting California as a free state a problem?

*There was a dispute over land: Texas claimed that its territory extended all the way to Santa Fe.

*Finally, there was Washington, D.C. Not only did the nation's capital allow slavery, it was home to the largest slave market in North America.

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 people who lived in the territory 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.

Source: http://mrkash.com/activities/compromise.html

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