Editing Compromise of 1850 (section)

===Debate and results===
[[File:US Slave Free 1789-1861.gif|thumb|upright=1.1|An animation showing [[slave and free states]] and territories, 1789–1861]]

On April 17, a "Committee of Thirteen" agreed on the border of Texas as part of Clay's plan. The dimensions were later changed. That same day, during debates on the measures in the Senate, Vice President Fillmore and Senator Benton verbally sparred, with Fillmore charging that the Missourian was "out of order." During the heated debates, Compromise floor leader [[Henry S. Foote]] of [[Mississippi]] drew a pistol on Benton.

In early June, nine slave-holding Southern states sent delegates to the [[Nashville Convention]] to determine their course of action if the compromise passed. While some delegates preached [[secession]], the moderates ruled and proposed a series of compromises, including extending the dividing line designated by the [[Missouri Compromise]] of 1820 to the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific Coast]].

Taylor died in July 1850, and was succeeded by Vice President Fillmore, who had privately come to support Clay's proposal.{{sfn|Smith|1988|pp=158, 165–166}} The various bills were initially combined into one "omnibus" bill. Despite Clay's efforts, it failed in a crucial vote on July 31, opposed by southern Democrats and by northern Whigs. He announced on the Senate floor the next day that he intended to pass each part of the bill. The 73-year-old Clay, however, was physically exhausted as the effects of [[tuberculosis]], which would eventually kill him, began to take their toll. Clay left the Senate to recuperate in [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], [[Rhode Island]], and Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]] took the lead in attempting to pass Clay's proposals through the Senate.<ref>Eaton (1957) pp. 192–193. Remini (1991) pp. 756–759</ref>

Fillmore, anxious to find a quick solution to the conflict in Texas over the border with New Mexico, which threatened to become an armed conflict between Texas militia and the federal soldiers, reversed the administration's position late in July and threw its support to the compromise measures.<ref>Michael Holt, ''The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party'' (1999), pp. 529–530: "only rapid passage of the omnibus bill appeared to offer a timely escape from the crisis."</ref> At the same time, Fillmore denied Texas's claims to New Mexico, asserting that the United States had promised to protect the territorial integrity of New Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.{{sfn|Smith|1988|pp=181–184}} Fillmore's forceful response helped convince Texas's U.S. Senators, [[Sam Houston]] and [[Thomas Jefferson Rusk]], to support Stephen Douglas's compromise. With their support, a Senate bill providing for a final settlement of Texas's borders won passage days after Fillmore delivered his message. Under the terms of the bill, the U.S. would assume Texas's debts, while Texas's northern border was set at the 36° 30' parallel north (the Missouri Compromise line) and much of its western border followed the 103rd meridian. The bill attracted the support of a bipartisan coalition of Whigs and Democrats from both sections, though most opposition to the bill came from the South.{{sfn|Bordewich|2012|pp=306–313}} The Senate quickly moved on to the other major issues, passing bills that provided for the admission of California, the organization of New Mexico Territory, and the establishment of a new fugitive slave law.{{sfn|Bordewich|2012|pp=314–316, 329}}

The debate then moved to the House of Representatives, where Fillmore, Senator Daniel Webster, Douglas, Representative [[Linn Boyd]], and Speaker of the House [[Howell Cobb]] took the lead in convincing members to support the compromise bills that had been passed in the Senate.{{sfn|Bordewich|2012|pp=333–334}} The Senate's proposed settlement of the Texas-New Mexico boundary faced intense opposition from many Southerners, as well as from some Northerners who believed that Texas did not deserve monetary compensation. After a series of close votes that nearly delayed consideration of the issue, the House voted to approve a Texas bill similar to that which had been passed by the Senate.{{sfn|Smith|1988|pp=186–188}} Following that vote, the House and the Senate quickly agreed on each of the major issues, including the banning of the slave trade in Washington.{{sfn|Smith|1988|pp=188–189}} The president quickly signed each bill into law save for the [[Fugitive Slave Act of 1850]]; he ultimately signed that law as well after Attorney General Crittenden assured him that the law was constitutional.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} Though some in Texas still favored sending a military expedition into New Mexico, in November 1850 the state legislature voted to accept the compromise.{{sfn|Bordewich|2012|pp=347–348, 359–360}}