This research indicated that <span>ordinary citizens are ill-informed about political issues, ill-equipped to understand politics, and quite fickle in how they stand on issues. The majority of people tend to believe everything the press told them while ignoring the facts that all of the news outlets tend to have biased political leanings in their reporting.</span>
a Fugitive Slave Law was passed, requiring northerners to return runaway slaves to their owners under penalty of law. The Compromise of 1850 overturned the Missouri Compromise and left the overall issue of slavery unsettled.