Advocates and Opponents of California Statehood: Key Figures in the 1850 Debate

Encouraging Statehood

• John C. Frémont – Explorer, Senator, military leader
• Thomas Larkin – U.S. Consul in Monterey
• William T. Sherman – Future Civil War general, then adjutant
• Abel Stearns – Merchant, politician
• Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo – Californio ranchero, statesman
• José Castro – Californio military leader
• Juan Bautista Alvarado – Former Mexican governor

Discouraging Statehood

• Lewis Cass – Senator (MI), Sec. of State; wanted territorial status longer
• Stephen A. Douglas – Senator (IL); popular sovereignty advocate
• Robert Toombs – Senator (GA); pro-slavery, feared free-state balance
• John H. Reagan – Congressman (TX)
• James Mason – Senator (VA)
• Robert M.T. Hunter – Senator (VA)
• Jefferson Davis – Senator (MS), later Confederate President

Core Conflict

Free vs. slave state balance. California’s anti-slavery constitution (1849) forced the Compromise of 1850. Admitted September 9, 1850.