Compromise of 1850

Henry Clay stepped forward with the Missouri compromise, believing it had something for everyone . It admitted California into the union as  free state.  It pleased the north that it would be a free state . It also divided the rest of the Southwest into two territories –New Mexico and Utah which were opened both for slavery. This pleased the south. It also ended slave trade in Washington D.C but allowed existing slaveholders to keep their current slaves. Thought this would please both north and south, but it didn’t . Clay and Webster (Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts opposed slavery but agreed to support Clay’s compromise)would hope this compromise would pacify both sides and ease the tensions over slavery, But it never did. The compromise included a strong Fugitive Slave Law, which was one of the reasons the north disliked the compromise. Because any escaped save was told to return to their owners. Those who didn’t or helped house them would be fined or jailed . The north didn’t want to follow this law and refused to obey it . The norths resistance to this law outraged the south.