While Taylor believed that the Union was not threatened by this decision, it became alarmingly apparent that the North and South ideas would differ greatly. The conflict had escalated regarding the slavery laws and the newly added territories that some of the Southern senators at the time -- Jefferson Davis, John C. Calhoun, and William H. Seward -- would fight for "equal position in the territories," to protect the citizens of the Southern states "against abolitionists" ("Compromise").

This dispute became further aggravated by Henry Clay's proposition of a bill to the Senate, which would certainly admit California as a free state, with no mention of whether the New Mexico and Utah territories would be allowed slaves. The bill also proposed a prohibition of the slave trade in the capital District of Columbia, as well as a stricter set of fugitive slave law. Once more, slave and territory disputes came hand...
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