The Compromise of 1850 addressed the issue of whether new western territories gained from Mexico would be slave or free states. With California seeking statehood, the balance of power between free and slave states was at risk of being disrupted. The Compromise proposed that California would join the Union as a free state, popular sovereignty would determine the status of other territories, the slave trade was banned in Washington D.C., and a new fugitive slave law was passed requiring Northerners to assist in returning runaway slaves. However, the compromise only temporarily resolved conflicts over slavery and the balance of power between North and South.