The issue of slavery in the new territories is seemingly settled by the Compromise of 1850, brokered by Whig Henry Clay and Democrat Stephen Douglas; the Compromise includes the admission of California as a free state in exchange for no federal restrictions on slavery placed on Utah or New Mexico.

The point of contention is the Fugitive Slave Act, which increases federal enforcement and requires even free states to cooperate in turning over fugitive slaves to their owners

Abolitionists pounce on the Act to attack slavery, as in the best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.