Which provision of the Compromise of 1850 addressed the status of the slave trade in the capital?

• A. Abolishing slavery in Washington, D.C.
• B. Granting Washington, D.C. statehood
• C. Establishing a federal fugitive slave law for all territories
• D. Ending the slave trade in Washington, D.C.

Answer: (D)

The main idea is how the Compromise of 1850 tried to ease tensions over slavery by addressing its presence in key places, including Washington, D.C. The provision that ends the slave trade in the capital directly targets the practice of buying and selling enslaved people in the city. This move was meant to remove the public spectacle of a capital slave market and to placate Northern anti-slavery sentiment, while leaving slavery legal in the District itself. The other options don’t fit as neatly: abolishing slavery in D.C. would have ended slavery outright, which the Compromise did not do; making D.C. a state wasn’t part of these measures; and while there was a stronger federal fugitive slave law, that concerns recapture of escaped enslaved people rather than banning the slave trade in D.C. The specific, direct action of ending the slave trade in Washington, D.C. is why that choice is the correct one.