California, with the gold rush bringing in new settlers, wanted to become a state. Whether it would support slavery or be a free state was questionable. Zachary Taylor, once in office, tried to grant California and New Mexico as states, leaving out any information about slavery. The south didn’t like this, fearing California would vote to be a free
state and leading to more free states in Congress, doing away with slavery (Shultz, 2013).
This led to Henry Clay creating the Compromise of 1850 bill. This would enter California into a free state, the land left over from the Mexican-American was would be open to slavery till they were states allowing people to vote, banning slave trade in Washington DC, allotting Texas $10 million to keep them from influencing New Mexico on slavery, and the souths federal government enforcing a law punishing northerners who helped slaves escape in hopes to protect the slave system (Schultz, 2013).
The Compromise of 1850 bill set a political controversy. The slave-state was still an issue and the compromise for the south stepped on some toes. President Taylor was ready to pull the plug on the compromise, but after his passing Millard Fillmore took his place favoring the compromise. In 1850 it became the law. The north opposed the Fugitive Slave Law and decided to pass the Personal Liberty Laws helping to protect slaves (Shultz, 2013).
Reference
The Compromise of 1850. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-5/apush-sectional-tension-1850s/a/compromise-of-1850
Schultz, K. M. (2013). HIST. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. doi: https://www.betheluniversityonline.net/cps/default.aspx?SectionID=5022&tabid=154#4