Omnibus Issues

The Compromise of 1850 was a series of laws to regulate the spread of slavery in the territories acquired during the Mexican-American War (1846–48). more...

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United States

In five laws balancing the interests of the slaveholding states of the American South and the free states, California was admitted as a free state, Texas received financial compensation for relinquishing claim to lands east of the Rio Grande in what is now New Mexico, the territory of New Mexico (including present-day Arizona and Utah) was organized without any specific prohibition of slavery, the slave trade (but not slavery itself) was abolished in Washington, D.C., and the stringent Fugitive Slave Law was passed, requiring all U.S. citizens to assist in the return of runaway slaves.

The measures, designed by Whig Senator Henry Clay (who failed to get them through) were shepherded to passage by Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas. Whig Senator Daniel Webster helped passage, which was opposed by Senator John C. Calhoun. The Compromise was possible after the death of President Zachary Taylor, who was in opposition. It temporarily defused sectional tensions in the United States, postponing the secession crisis and the American Civil War. The Compromise dropped the Wilmot Proviso, which never became law but would have banned slavery in territory acquired from Mexico. Instead the Compromise further endorsed the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty" for the New Mexico Territory. The various compromises lessened political contention for four years, until the relative lull was shattered by the divisive Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Issues

Texas

One issue was the dispute over the western boundary of Texas. The Republic of Texas, which had seceded from Mexico, had been admitted to the United States and claimed territory that now comprises New Mexico. Texas also had $10 million in state debts it could not easily pay. The compromise solution was for the U.S. to pay the debts, while Texas allowed New Mexico to become a territory.

California

Another main issue was California's statehood. Settlers who had flocked to California after the discovery of gold in 1848 adopted an antislavery state constitution on October 13, 1849 and applied for admission into the Union as a free state. The admission of California would disturb the longtime balance between free and slave states in the Senate. The question was whether to accept California's admission as a free state or divide California into two states with a free state in the north and a slave state in the south. (Later on, dividing the state was ruled out because Southern California's environment is unsuitable to grow crops that were grown by the plantation owners in the Southeast.)

Read more at Wikipedia.org