Question

In what ways did the Compromise of 1850 affect slavery laws? Select all that apply.

Answer 1

The correct answers are the first and second options.

The Compromise of 1850 consisted of five laws passed dealt with the issue of slavery. In 1849, California had requested permission to enter the Union as an antislavery state, potentially upsetting the balance between the antislavery and proslavery states in the U.S. Senate. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions seeking a compromise and trying to avert a crisis between North and South. Some of the resolutions were the amnedment of the Fugitive Slave Act and the admission of California to the Union.

The Fugitive Slave Act demands the arrest of all runaway slaves. The Fugitive Slave Act was amended as part of the Compromise of 1850, it allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States; officials who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave were penalized.

California is admitted to the Union as antislavery state. As part of the Compromise, California entered the Union as a free state, with its current boundaries, upsetting the equilibrium that had long prevailed in the Senate.