Compromise of 1850 and the Georgia Platform

The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 began with the entry of California as a U.S. state. California had become highly populated because of the gold rush, but because it wanted to be admitted as  a free state, Southerners insisted on the admission of a slave state to the Union. To solve this problem, the United States makes a deal with Texas, in which the U.S. rid Texas of its debt in return for possession of Texas territory. After this, Texas territory was sorted into four states: New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Also around this time, the Fugitive Slave act was enacted. This law was very controversial  because it required citizens to help recover fugitive slaves, made it easier to claim slaves if found, and required federal officials to enforce the act. 

Poster Warning Fugitive Slaves

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elycefeliz/7611662426/

Georgia Platform
The Georgia Platform was Georgia's reaction to the Compromise of 1850. The Platform was drafted by Charles Jones Jenkins in Milledgeville, Georgia.

http://www.bestplaces.net/city/georgia/milledgeville

Charles Jenkins

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Multimedia.jsp?id=m-1649

The group of people supporting the Platform included Robert Toombs, Alexander Stephens, Howell Cobb and other prominent Georgians. They persuaded Georgia to accept the Missouri Compromise and promised that Georgia would remain in the Union if the Fugitive Slave act was never abolished.