Clay's Compromise of 1850

Clay’s Compromise of 1850 was a set of legislative measures aimed at resolving conflicts between free and slave states in the United States. It included admitting California as a free state, establishing territorial governments in New Mexico and Utah without restrictions on slavery, ending the slave trade in Washington D.C., and enacting a stricter Fugitive Slave Law. These agreements sought to balance regional interests, ease tensions, and preserve the Union temporarily, but also intensified debates over slavery that contributed to the Civil War.