The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It stated that slavery would not be permitted north of Missouri's southern border or the 36th parallel. The Missouri Compromise set a precedent for admitting states two at a time to maintain a political balance. The Compromise of 1850 consisted of acts passed by the US Congress in an attempt to keep the peace between free and slave states. It consisted of 5 acts that collectively established the social and geographical boundaries of slavery in America. The 5 acts were the following: Established California as a free state, Compelled Texas to abandon its claim on Mexican cession territory, Gave the territories of Utah and New Mexico the right to vote on whether they would allow slavery or not,
Outlawed the slave trade within Washington, D.C., Enacted a strict law aimed at recapturing enslaved people who had escaped.
While the compromise managed to maintain political peace for another decade, these laws evidenced the massive division between north and south. The Fugitive Slave Act altered an existing law that required all free citizens to assist the alleged owners of people believed to have escaped from slavery, even in free states. Even former slaves living in free states could be captured & forced back into slavery. The anti-slavery book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," sells as many copies in the 1850s as "Harry Potter" in our time!