<P> The Fugitive Slave Act was essential to meet Southern demands . In terms of public opinion in the North, the critical provision was that ordinary citizens were required to aid slave catchers . Many northerners deeply resented that requirement to help slavery personally . Resentment towards the Act continued to heighten tensions between the North and South, which were inflamed further by abolitionists such as Harriet Beecher Stowe . Her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, stressed the horrors of recapturing escaped slaves and outraged Southerners . </P> <P> The fifth law, enacted on September 20, 1850, prohibited the slave trade but allowed slavery itself in the District of Columbia . Southerners in Congress were unanimous in opposing that provision, which was seen as a concession to the abolitionists, but they were outvoted . </P>

Who created the compromise of 1850 and how long did it take to craft this compromise