The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 resolved the divisions over slavery in the territories gained in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) It contained laws admitting California as a free state, creating Utah and New Mexico territories with the question of slavery in each to be determined by popular sovereignty, settling a Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute in the former’s favor, ending the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and making it easier for southerners to recover fugitive slaves. The creation of the Compromise of 1850 was caused by ongoing disputes over slavery that started due to the nation’s additional land in the West involving disputes over the expansion of slavery. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky was trying to resolve additional issues between free and slave states (after helping the dispute in Missouri involving the Missouri Compromise, and the nullification crisis.) The formation of the Compromise of 1850 was partially caused by and specifically followed California’s rapid population growth because of the California gold rush. As a result, the Compromise of 1850 lead to the establishment of the Fugitive Slave Act that made it a crime to help runaway slaves, and allowed officers to arrest those slaves in free areas.