a series of legislative measures aimed at maintaining the balance between free and slave states in the United States. Key provisions of the compromise included the admission of California as a free state, the organization of the territories of New Mexico and Utah without restrictions on slavery, the abolition of the slave trade in Washington D.C., and the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. The compromise was seen as a temporary solution to the growing tensions between North and South over the issue of slavery, but ultimately failed to prevent the outbreak of the Civil War.
