History

The Compromise of 1850 determined how the anti-slavery North and the pro-slavery South would deal with new territories in the United States California wanted to be a free state . After the end of the United States /Mexico War , Texas was claiming land as far away as Santa Fe , New Mexico . People weren 't sure if the new territories won from the Mexican War would be free states or slave states . And the nation 's capital Washington DC , was a slave state ' with the largest slave auction house in North America

Henry Clay

, a senator from Kentucky , came up with a compromise . Two other senators , Daniel Webster from Massachusetts and John C . Calhoun from South Carolina , along with Stephen Douglass , an orator from Illinois , debated this issue for eight months . At the end of the debate several things were determined and eventually passed into law . The new territories from the Mexican War , Utah , Arizona , Nevada and New Mexico would be allowed to decide on their own if they were free or slave states . Texas had to give up the disputed land in New Mexico but was given 10 million to settle debts with Mexico . Slavery was still permitted in Washington DC but the slave trade was abolished there California was allowed to be a free state but to appease the pro-slavery states , the Fugitive Slave Act was passed

The most controversial aspect of this bill was the slave act . More federal officials would have to be involved in state affairs and...