The Compromise of 1850, a package of…

The Compromise of 1850, a package of five separate bills introduced by Whig Senator Henry Clay (who failed to get them through himself; they had been shepherded to passage in Congress by Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas and Whig Senator Daniel Webster), attempts to resolve the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American War.

Opposed by Senator John C. Calhoun, the Compromise was possible after the death of President Zachary Taylor, who was in opposition also.

Succeeding President Taylor is his Vice President, Millard Fillmore, who is a strong supporter of the compromise.

The five laws balance the interests of the slave states of the South and the free states.

California is admitted as a free state on September 9; Texas receives financial compensation for relinquishing claim to lands west of the Rio Grande in what is now New Mexico; the territory of New Mexico (including present-day Arizona and Utah) is organized without any specific prohibition of slavery; the slave trade (but not slavery itself) is abolished in Washington, D.C.; and the stringent Fugitive Slave Law is passed on September 18, requiring all U.S. citizens to assist in the return of runaway slaves.

Although the Compromise temporarily defuses sectional tensions in the United States, postponing the secession crisis and the American Civil War, California’s admission to the Union upsets the balance between slave and free states.

The Compromise drops the Wilmot Proviso, which never became law but would have banned slavery in territory acquired from Mexico.

Instead the Compromise further endorses the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty" for the New Mexico Territory.