<Li> A more stringent Fugitive Slave Law was enacted . </Li> <P> The Compromise became possible after the sudden death of President Zachary Taylor, who, although a slave owner, wanted to exclude slavery from the Southwest . Whig leader Henry Clay designed a compromise, which failed to pass in early 1850 because of opposition by both pro-slavery southern Democrats, led by John C. Calhoun, and anti-slavery northern Whigs . Upon Clay's instruction, Douglas then divided Clay's bill into several smaller pieces and narrowly won their passage, over the opposition of radicals on both sides . </P> <P> Soon after the start of the Mexican War, when the extent of the contested territories was still unclear, the question of whether to allow slavery in those territories polarized the Northern and the Southern United States in the most bitter sectional conflict until then . A state the size of Texas attracted interest from both state residents and pro-slavery and anti-slavery camps on a national scale . Texas claimed land north of the 36 ° 30' demarcation line for slavery, set by the 1820 Missouri Compromise . </P> <P> The Texas Annexation resolution had required that if any new states were formed out of Texas' lands, those north of the Missouri Compromise line would become free states . </P>

The following were included in the compromise of 1850 except