Was the Compromise of 1850 bad or good? Why?

Question

You can't be on the fence about this. It's either good or bad.

Answer 1

I see it as a good thing. Both sides got what they wanted. Hence the name compromise.
Sorry to the first answerer, people did not consider prolonging the suffering of the AA back then. Why should they, you and most like you do not even know what it was like. The slaves had it better then a lot of people in the industrialized north, where children died in mines and factories daily. Talk about suffering. I am no saying slavery is right or good. It is just an historical fact. Like it or not it happened here and is happening today all over the world.
The slaves were treated well for the most part, despite Hollywood. They were property and an investment. You do not abuse or mistreat a horse or cow, they were thought of as the same thing.
I may get thumbed down or even reported but this is not my idea, this is a bit of reality for your save the world attitudes.
The compromise assured peace and lack of conflict. Anytime you can put off war, it is a good thing.

Answer 2

Overall, I would say good.

You have to remember that there were a number of different component bills to the compromise. Among them that California entered the Union as a free state, that New Mexico and Utah were able to decide the issue of slavery for themselves, and that the slave trade was abolished in Washington DC. The real problematic bill was the Fugitive Slave Act (FSA).

Yes, the Compromise did raise the issue of popular sovreignty, which Steven A Douglas then applied with rather disasterous results to Kansas and Nebraska. Yes, the Compomise enacted a tougher fugitive slave law (the FSA), which was, in the eyes of many, a complete mockery of justice. The results of those provisions aside, the Compromise did help to prolong the inevitable division of the union.

The two sides had been hardening on the question of slavery expansion into the territories for decades. After the passage of the Missouri Compromise in 1820, that expansion "like a firebell in the night, awakened me with terror. I considered it at once the knell of the union."

So, I think that the Compromise itself was good. In part because it kept the union together a little while longer. In my opinion in fact, the FSA was just about the only part of it that was out and out BAD in its own right.

Answer 3

none of the compromises made to ensure that slavery wasn't an issue that would lead to a war were good. the compromise of 1850, the missouri compromise etc only prolonged the suffering of the african americans and caused more outrage and conflict upon things that would have never otherwise been given a second thought.

Answer 4

Mostly bad. It was a compromise that allowed the continued existence of slavery. It resulted in the Fugitive Slave Act by which escaped even some freed slaves were returned to the South.

But it was a compromise! How can you not be on the fence?

Answer 5

It all depends on which side your on, doesn't it?