Compromise of 1850: Slave Trade Ended in DC, Slavery Protected

The Compromise of 1850 included five bills: California admitted as free state; popular sovereignty in New Mexico and Utah territories; Texas boundary settled; the slave trade (but not slavery itself) abolished in Washington D.C.; and a dramatically strengthened Fugitive Slave Act. The end of the public slave trade in D.C. was largely symbolic — enslaved people were still held and sold privately there. The new Fugitive Slave Act, which required Northern citizens to assist in capturing freedom-seekers, was the South's key demand and proved the most explosive element, radicalizing Northern opinion.