Did the north or south benefit from the Compromise of 1850?

Most of it benefited the North, so there had to be a big act of appeasement to the South.

Congress couldn't offer them much hope of new slave-states. So they promised to crack down on runaways with the Fugitive Slave Act. This obliged every citizen to report anyone who looked as though he might be a runaway, on pain of a heavy fine. The Northern public was outraged, and 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was written as a protest against it.

That bestselling novel caused a new rush of enthusiasm for Abolitionism, and encouraged support for the Underground Railroad.