On the Brink of Civil War: The Compromise of 1850 and How It Changed the Course of American History

by John C. Waugh

Years before the Civil War began, another dark conflict threatened to shatter the Union. It was December 1849. The U.S.-Mexican War had just ended, doubling the size of the country. A grave problem whether slavery should be admitted into the new territories that were to be carved out of the vast new domain resulting from the war. This dilemma strained the relationship between the slave-holding South and the antislavery North. Other issues loomed as where to draw the Texas boundary line with the New Mexico territory, how to settle the Texas debt claims, and what to do about the problem of fugitive slaves escaping to the North and the slavetrade in the District of Columbia. The nation was on the brink of secession, dissolution, and civil war. On the Brink of Civil War tells the dramatic story of what happened when a handful of senators-towering figures in nineteenth-century American history-tried to hammer out a compromise to save the Union. The characters in this critical political drama included Henry Clay, seasoned politician and statesman known as the "Great Pacificator," who formulated an agreement in the Senate and would fight to get it through Congress; the gifted orator Daniel Webster, who helped Clay in his efforts by delivering the "Seventh of March" compromise speech on the Senate floor, one of the most memorable speeches in American history; and John C. Calhoun, a fervent defender of slavery and the South who, though nearing death, spoke to the Senate and demanded equal rights for the South in the new Western territories. Four young senators stepped into the fray to play their own unique, important Henry Seward, the Whig from New York who many say controlled President Zachary Taylor and who opposed compromise; Stephen A. Douglas, the dynamic "Little Giant" from Illinois who favored agreement; Salmon P. Chase, the voice of the Free-Soilers and foe of compromise and concessions to the South; and Jefferson Davis, Mexican War hero and second only to Calhoun as the V

Genres: Civil War, History, Nonfiction, American History

218 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

A Brief Self-Serving Bio

I'm a journalist turned historical reporter:

1956–1973, staff correspondent and bureau chief on The Christian Science Monitor. Honors included the American Bar Association’s 1972 Silver Gavel Award for the best national reporting, for a series on American prisons.
1973–1976, media specialist on the staff of Republican Vice President Nelson Rockefeller of New York.
1983–1988, press secretary to Democratic U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.
Since 1989, writing about history full-time — books on the Civil War era.
Covering the past is not unlike covering the present, except all my sources are dead (I prefer it that way). It also means I can return to my favorite century, the 19th, on a daily basis.

Between stints in the newspaper and political worlds, and since, I've contributed to periodicals, including Civil War History, American Heritage, Civil War Times Illustrated, Columbiad, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times, The New Republic, The Nation, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald American, and Country Magazine.

Over the years I've also been a consultant to various organizations — National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Atlantic Richfield Company, President’s Council on Environmental Quality, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and West Virginia Public Radio.

My first book, The Class of 1846, published in 1994, won the New York Civil War Round Table’s Fletcher Pratt Literary Award for the best non-fiction book of that year.

I have now written 11 books since flunking retirement in 1989. Number 12 will be out in October 2014. I have discovered over the years that if you put one word after another long enough, they add up.

I was born in California, reared in Arizona, and now live in North Texas. I'm a product of the Tucson public schools and the University of Arizona (1951, journalism major, history minor) plus graduate work in history and political science at UCLA and St. Johns College. I'm married to Kathleen Dianne Lively, a social work administrator and a Texan. We have two grown children, Daniel, a lawyer in Providence, Rhode Island, and Eliza, a teacher in Austin, Texas, and four grandchildren.

Reviews

[John Wetterholt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The congressional session of 1849-1850 tackled the vexing question of how to incorporate into the United States the lands won in the Mexican War. Of particular concern was the question of whether or not slavery was to be permitted in these territories and any states that they would form. Enter Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, the Great Pacificator, arguably the most powerful and spellbinding legislator of the era. Clay presented a series of proposals aimed to putting to rest the slavery issue, which occupied the Senate for the better part of a year. Both North and South believed they were the put upon region, giving away advantages to the other side while keeping none for itself. Finally, after ten months, and the deft intervention of Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, the bills collectively called the Compromise of 1850 passed Congress and were signed by President Millard Fillmore. Clay’s vision of a single comprehensive bill gave way to Douglas’s more practicable piecemeal approach, and the issue of disunion appeared to be averted. It would last less than a decade but Clay, along with Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun, the “Great Triumvirate,” closed their public careers content in having advocated righteously for their principles and their country.

Author John C. Waugh includes profiles of many of the other principal players in the saga of the Compromise, among them Douglas, Thomas Hart Benton, William Seward, and Henry Foote, as well as Presidents Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, and a host of influential members of the House of Representatives, to offer a fuller appreciation of the scope of the task. All too often, the drama in the Senate receives a majority of the attention, and then the focus often does not deviate far from Clay, Calhoun, and Webster. Though Waugh’s discussions of the Triumvirate, Clay in particular, lunge headlong into hagiography, the writing at times florid bordering on tabloid theatrical, the broadened spotlight is most welcome.

The swiftness with which the Compromise became law after Douglas assumed the helm and segmented the “Omnibus Bill” into individual pieces of legislation, makes one wonder if the debates on the comprehensive bill represented time well spent. Clay was persuasive in arguing for the Omnibus, but Douglas’ parliamentary deftness saved the day. Though the Compromise wound up being a temporary panacea, it showed the workings of Congress, guided by an adherence to steadfast principle, at their most legendary.

[Josh Liller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a college research paper.

For a short history (under 200 pages) of the Compromise of 1850 this seems like a decent book. However, at times I disliked the author's writing style due to some silly smilies and some feeling of repetitiveness. The bibliography was quite useful for me.