Legislation1850
California Admitted as 31st State
California was admitted as a free state as part of the Compromise of 1850, which also included a stricter Fugitive Slave Act and popular sovereignty in the Utah and New Mexico territories. The compromise attempted to maintain the balance between free and slave states.
Why It Matters
California's admission and the Compromise of 1850 temporarily averted a national crisis over slavery, but the compromises proved unstable and contributed to the tensions that led to the Civil War a decade later.