Sometimes, a decision seems like a fantastic idea at the time, but eventually you realize it's actually terrible. Like hair crimping, or From Justin to Kelly. Okay, everyone knew that last one was bad at the time, so maybe it's not the best example.

The Compromise of 1850, though, was never popular. It passed through some fancy political shenanigans that let senators not have to vote for the parts they didn't like. So the parts that were controversial never got bipartisan support. The new Fugitive Slave Act, especially, caused a huge uproar, and even a violent riot immediately after it became law.

An October, 1850 article in the The Anti-Slavery Bugle quoted one congressman's response to it:

Is it not outrageous that in the middle of the 19th century, in the United States of America, a bill should be passed which would almost have disgraced the 'dark ages!' Our National Legislature has struck down the bulwarks erected around Freedom by our English ancestors […] Our Constitution, otherwise so perfect, contains one blot, but […] we should […] not allow ourselves to be transformed from men into slave catchers. (Source)

Considering what came after—the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Election of 1860, the Civil War, etc.—historians recognize the Compromise as something that just temporarily forestalled the breakup of the Union. From the perspective of history, the South lost a lot more than it gained. For one thing, the new and definitely-not-improved Fugitive Slave Act mobilized the abolitionists to become more activist and stop sitting around on the sidelines watching all this stuff go down.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin after hearing about the new Fugitive Slave Act. Plus, lots of people who were on the fence about slavery finally got off the fence (source) as the true horrors of the sitch were out there for all to see.

Second, the northern states used those ten years of (kinda) peace, to ramp up industry and production. When war finally came, they were better equipped to make and transport weapons than the mostly agrarian South.

Finally, Texas wasn't allowed to get any bigger than it already was—can you imagine the flight delays getting out of DFW if the Compromise hadn't passed?

Looking back, it's easy to see the huge flaws in this compromise. But Henry Clay and his young buddy Stephen Douglas are still getting some props in drawing up the legislation and managing to get it passed even with nobody being completely happy about it. But after all, that's what a compromise is.