for appeals from the territorial courts to the Supreme Court of the United States that would finally decide the question as to the status of slavery in the territories. Thomas Ewing stated that the compromise bill (would have forever ended the quarrel between the North and the South) was defeated by the treason of Alexander Hamilton Stephens and seven other calculating demagogues from six different Southern states, and representing the strong whig districts. To put it simply, the compromise stated that the congress should organize territorial governments for the country acquired from Mexico, neither admitting nor excluding the introduction of slavery into any portion of it. It would leave slavery to spread itself all over again. Whether these laws did or did not abolish it, or if they did, whether they were still in force were questions under the Clayton Compromise left to the decision of the Supreme Court. Background History In the 19th century, manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand westward across North America. Mexican–American War was fought between United States of America and United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Mexico ceded parts of the modern day Southwest United States to the U.S. Mexican cession led to debate over slavery. Wilmot Proviso in 1848 was a result of the Mexican–American War that banned slavery in Mexican Cession, which was another choice other than the Clayton Compromise. After the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute in 1846, U.S. gained territory south of the 49th parallel line. Acquisition of Oregon territory in 1848 led to debate over slavery as well. When established, the territory encompassed an area that included the current states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of Wyoming and Montana. In the compromise Clayton compromise was a bill the committee reported on July 18, 1848. It created a territorial government for Oregon, which allowed the unofficial provisional government's antislavery ban to continue in effect until the new territorial legislature ruled for or against slavery. But the Compromise explicitly banned the territorial government for New Mexico and California from taking any action either establishing or prohibiting slavery. The decision was left to the federal judiciary (Supreme Court of the United States). The Clayton Compromise passed the senate but failed in the House, which refused to recede