<P> Most Northern Whigs, led by William Henry Seward, who delivered his famous "Higher Law" speech during the controversy, opposed the Compromise as well because it would apply the Wilmot Proviso to the western territories and because of the pressing of ordinary citizens into duty on slave - hunting patrols . That provision was inserted by Democratic Virginia Senator James M. Mason to entice border - state Whigs, who faced the greatest danger of losing slaves as fugitives but were lukewarm on general sectional issues related to the South on Texas's land claims . </P> <P> Zachary Taylor avoided the issue as the Whig candidate during the 1848 US presidential election but then as President, he attempted to sidestep the entire controversy by pushing to admit California and New Mexico as free states immediately to avoid the entire territorial process and the Wilmot Proviso question . Taylor was one of the few Southerners to support that idea . </P> <P> Northern Democrats and Southern Whigs supported the Compromise . Southern Whigs, many of whom were from the border states, supported the stronger fugitive slave law . </P> <P> On April 17, a "Committee of Thirteen" agreed on the border of Texas as part of Clay's plan . The dimensions were later changed . That same day, during debates on the measures in the Senate, Vice President Fillmore and Senator Benton verbally sparred, with Fillmore charging that the Missourian was "out of order," During the heated debates, Compromise floor leader Henry S. Foote of Mississippi drew a pistol on Benton . </P>

When did the compromise of 1850 start and end