The powerful speech he made,
which was intended as a warning to the North, expressed the deep and
sincere conviction of the aged statesman that the break-up of the Union
was at hand. He made a strong plea that the agitation against slavery
should stop, and that the South, which, he said, was the weaker section,
should be treated fairly by her stronger antagonist, the North.
Having made this last supreme effort in defense of the section which he
loved as he loved his own life, the pro-slavery veteran, supported by two
of his friends, passed out of the Senate Chamber.
But in spite of Calhoun's opposition, the Compromise of 1850 passed. "Let
California come in as a free State," it said. This pleased the North. "Let
the people in all the rest of the territory which we got from Mexico
decide for themselves whether they shall have slavery or freedom." This
pleased the South. It also adopted the Fugitive Slave Law, which said:
"When slaves run away from the South into the Northern States, they shall
be returned to their masters; and when Northern people are called upon to
help to capture them, they shall do so."
A month after his speech on this compromise Calhoun died.
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