What are the 'Compromise measures of 1850' as discussed in the first debate between Lincoln and Douglas?

Answer 1

The Compromise of 1850 was a series of laws that resolved the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American War (1846–48). The five laws balanced the interests of the slaveholding states of the South and the free states. California was admitted as a free state, Texas received financial compensation for relinquishing claim to lands east of the Rio Grande in what is now New Mexico, the territory of New Mexico (including present-day Arizona and Utah) was organized without any specific prohibition of slavery, the slave trade (but not slavery itself) was abolished in Washington, D.C., and the stringent Fugitive Slave Law was passed, requiring all U.S. citizens to assist in the return of runaway slaves.

The measures, designed by Whig Senator Henry Clay (who failed to get them through) were shepherded to passage by Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas. Whig Senator Daniel Webster helped passage, which was opposed by Senator John C. Calhoun. The Compromise was possible after the death of President Zachary Taylor, who was in opposition. Succeeding President Taylor was a strong supporter of the compromise, Vice President Millard Fillmore. It temporarily defused sectional tensions in the United States, postponing the secession crisis and the American Civil War. The Compromise dropped the Wilmot Proviso, which never became law but would have banned slavery in territory acquired from Mexico. Instead the Compromise further endorsed the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty" for the New Mexico Territory. The various compromises lessened political contention for four years, until the relative lull was shattered by the divisive Kansas-Nebraska Act.