tories themselves when they were ready to be admitted as states (this formula came to be known as popular sovereignty); the prohibition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia; a more stringent fugitive slave law; and the settlement of Texas boundary claims by federal payment of $10 million on the debt contracted by the republic of Texas. These proposals faced great opposition, but Daniel Webster greatly enhanced the chances for their acceptance by his famous speech on March 7, 1850. Taylor's death and the accession of conservative Millard Fillmore to the presidency made the compromise more feasible. After long debates and failure to pass the omnibus bill, Congress passed the measures as separate bills in September, 1850. Many people, North and South, hailed the compromise as a final solution to the question of slavery in the territories. However, the issue reemerged in 1854 with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and seven years later the factions were fighting the Civil War....
