Compromise of 1790

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The Compromise of 1790 was the first of three great political compromises made in the United States by the Northern and Southern states, occurring every thirty years, in an attempt to keep the Union together and prevent civil war.

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson, with the backing of George Washington, arranged the compromise. This included passage of the Residence Act in July and the Funding Act in August. Central to this was an agreement that several Southerners would change their votes and support the federal assumption of state debts in return for a bill locating the US capital on the Potomac River after a ten year temporary residence at Philadelphia. ^[1]

This implied that the North would not raise objections to slavery, since the capital would be located in two slave states, Maryland and Virginia. Although political leaders knew differences between North and South would remain, they hoped they had created an indissoluble bond: a democratic empire, fueled by Northern financial and commercial capitalism, with its capital in the agrarian, slave-holding South. As the turbulent second session closed, congressmen as well as the press urged Americans to support the compromise. During the third session, Congress passed several laws confirming its terms.

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[edit] See Also

Bowling, Kenneth R. The Creation of Washington, D.C.: The Idea and Location of the American Capital. Fairfax, Va.: George Mason University Press, 1991.
Cooke, Jacob E. "The Compromise of 1790." William and Mary Quarterly 27 (October 1970): 523–545.
Risjord, Norman K. "The Compromise of 1790: New Evidence on the Dinner Table Bargain." William and Mary Quarterly 33 (April 1976): 309–314.