"God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil, for which we are not responsible, and we must endure it, till we can get rid of it without destroying the last hope of free government in the world."
Millard Fillmore, 13th President, 1850-1853. From a letter to Daniel Webster on October 23, after signing the The Fugitive Slave Act on September 18, 1850. Fillmore, Zachary Taylor's Vice President, ascended to the Presidency when Taylor suddenly passed away in the summer of 1850. Tensions between the North and the South were already high at that time. The Missouri Compromise was passed which admitted California as a free state, Utah and New Mexico were admitted as territories with the residents given the right to vote on whether slavery would be legal or not. Also the buying and selling of slaves was abolished in Washington, D.C., and The Fugitive Slave Act was passed and signed, stating captured slaves must be returned to their "owners", no matter in what part of the country they were found. Neither side favored all of the Compromise, as Northerners did not intend to abide by The Fugitive Slave Act and Southerners were unhappy that they would not be able to expand slavery into the new territories. The compromise did not stop the South from attempting to secede from the Union, but only delayed it.
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