Compromise of 1790

The Compromise of 1790 was the first of three great political compromises^a 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.

History and nature of the agreement

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][2]

This implied that the North would not raise objections to slavery because the capital, Washington, D.C., would be located in territory donated by two slave states, Maryland and Virginia.

Because the capital was not moved from Philadelphia to the Potomac River, many Southerners were angered. The Southerners were also angry about the fact that the Northerners wanted the federal government to assume all of the state debts from the Revolutionary War. The Southerners' reaction to these controversial issues annoyed the Northerners. The dissension between the North and South gave politicians such as George Washington and John Adams good reason to worry about preserving the Union and preventing a civil war.

Although political leaders knew differences between North and South would remain, they hoped they had created an indissoluble bond: a republic fueled by Northern financial and commercial capitalism with its capital city in the agrarian, slave-holding South. As the turbulent 2nd Congress closed, congressmen as well as the press urged Americans to support the compromise. Many Northerners were frustrated, thus, they openly shared how they felt on April 12th, when the House rejected the assumption of the state debts. Northern reaction to the House's decision on the state debts so angered Henry Lee of Virginia that he wrote to Madison, essentially saying he would rather perish in war and lose everything he valued, than to live under the laws of Northerners.^{[citation needed]} Thomas Cushing of Salem, Massachusetts informed his congressmen of the disunion that was present in the North.^{[citation needed]}

The First Congress' third session was held in Philadelphia. A federal bank, a tax on domestically manufactured alcohol, and a supplemental residence act that allowed Washington to include his hometown of Alexandria, VA as part of the federal district were the three measures that confirmed the compromise.

The Excise Act eventually led to the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania in 1794. The excise was made because of all of the war debts that needed to be paid off. Most of the congressmen who voted for the tax were Northerners, except for six Southerners.

Organizers

• Alexander Hamilton - United States Secretary of the Treasury
• James Madison - Congressman
• Thomas Jefferson - United States Secretary of State
• George Washington - President of the United States

See Also

• First Report on the Public Credit
• Residence Act

Notes

^a See Compromise of 1820 and Compromise of 1850.

References

1. ^ Bowling, Kenneth R. (1991). The Creation of Washington, D.C.: The Idea and Location of the American Capital. Fairfax, Virginia: George Mason University Press. 
2. ^ Chernow, Ron (2010). Washington: A Life. New York: The Penguin Press. p. 631. ISBN 978-1-59420-266-7. LCCN 2010-19154. 

• 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.

External links

• Compromise of 1790
• Answers.com article