The Popular Sovereignty and Slavery doctrine was then incorporated in the Compromise of 1850 which had been drafted by Henry Clay and Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt to defuse the 4 year confrontation between the free states of the North and the slave states of the South regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War. The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to be admitted as a free state and the admission of New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory with slavery was left to popular sovereignty.