Final answer:
The Compromise of 1850 was a multipart legislative effort that attempted, but ultimately failed, to resolve the sectional conflict over slavery, leading instead to increased tensions culminating in the Civil War.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Compromise of 1850 provides insight into the complexities of the sectional conflicts that plagued the United States in the mid-19th century. It was a series of five legislative measures intended to defuse political confrontations between the slave-holding South and the free North over the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War. The Compromise made several key provisions: it admitted California as a free state; introduced the Fugitive Slave Act, which made it a federal crime to assist escaping slaves and required citizens to aid in their capture; resolved boundary disputes favoring New Mexico over Texas; abolished the slave trade in Washington, D.C., although slavery itself persisted; and enacted the principle of popular sovereignty in the New Mexico and Utah territories, leaving the decision of slavery to the residents. While these measures temporarily calmed the tensions between North and South, they eventually exacerbated the divide, as evidenced by the outbreak of the Civil War a decade later.