The Compromise of 1850

[For more on the territorial provisions of the Compromise, see the interactive Map; click on the Map to see changes).
  1. California was to be admitted as a state (bypassing the territorial stage) on her own terms as to slavery, i. e. as a free state.

  2. The claims of Texas to the Rio Grande as its western boundary were rejected, the territory west of the new boundary to be joined to New Mexico. In compensation, Texas was to have her debt as a republic assumed by the federal government.

  3. The territory recently acquired from Mexico and lying between California and Texas was to be organized into New Mexico and Utah Territories, "without the adoption of any restriction or condition on the subject of slavery," i. e. no Wilmot Proviso.

  4. The transportation of slaves into the District of Columbia for purposes of sale and transfer was prohibited.

  5. Enforcement of the constitutional provisions requiring the return of fugitive slaves to their masters was strengthened, denying alleged fugitives the right to a jury trial or a court hearing; providing for commissioners to hear fugitive slave cases; allowing said commissioners to receive as fees $10 if the accused fugitive was handed over, but only $5 if he was not; and authorizing federal marshals to require the assistance of any citizen in the apprehension of an alleged fugitive.