How did the Compromise of 1850 attempt to balance the interests of pro-slavery and antislavery Americans?
In 1848, the United States gained vast stretches of Western land after winning the Mexican-American War. The following year, thousands of Americans moved to California in the hope of striking it rich in the Gold Rush. Seemingly overnight, California's population boomed, making the territory eligible for statehood. Once again Americans had to debate whether slavery would be allowed to expand into the West.
In another attempt to balance the interests of pro-slavery and antislavery Americans, Congress approved the Compromise of 1850. This compromise was not one bill, but several separate laws steered through Congress by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois. This compromise allowed California to join the U.S. as a free state, and it prohibited the slave trade in Washington, D.C. To balance these measures, it also opened the remaining lands gained from Mexico, including present-day New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, to popular sovereignty. This meant that settlers in these territories would be allowed to vote whether or not to permit slavery. Finally, the compromise created the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which greatly strengthened the ability of slave owners to capture escaped slaves and return them to slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 angered many Northerners. It made them feel that slavery was no longer confined to the South, but had now extended its reach throughout the nation. The Compromise of 1850, like previous efforts to juggle the issue of slavery, only made matters worse: although it was designed to please both sides, it included provisions that angered both pro-slavery and antislavery Americans.