Final answer:
The Compromise of 1850 included key provisions that both appeased and angered the North and South, failing to resolve the issue of slavery's expansion and setting the stage for the Civil War.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of legislative measures aimed at resolving the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American War (1846-48). It included five main provisions: the Fugitive Slave Act, admitting California as a free state, settling Texas boundary disputes, the abolition of the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in Washington D.C., and allowing popular sovereignty in the territories of New Mexico and Utah. This compromise initially appeared to ease tensions; however, it eventually exacerbated regional conflicts, leading to heightened hostilities between the North and the South over the extension of slavery into new territories. These escalating tensions, along with related issues such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott decision, set the stage for the Civil War.