Which act allowed slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories?

Which act allowed slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories?

• A. Kansas-Nebraska Act
• B. Missouri Compromise
• C. Compromise of 1850
• D. Dred Scott decision

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is popular sovereignty—the notion that residents of a territory should decide for themselves whether slavery would be legal there. The Kansas-Nebraska Act did just that: it carved out two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and allowed the people living there to vote on the legality of slavery. By doing this, it overturned the Missouri Compromise’s line that had kept slavery out of much of that region, opening the door for pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions to clash as each side tried to influence the vote. This set the stage for the violence known as Bleeding Kansas in the years that followed. The other options don’t fit because they either established a geographic boundary restricting slavery (the Missouri Compromise), addressed different issues or territories (the Compromise of 1850), or involved a Supreme Court ruling about the powers of Congress in new territories (the Dred Scott decision), none of which created the popular-sovereignty framework for Kansas and Nebraska.

The main idea here is popular sovereignty—the notion that residents of a territory should decide for themselves whether slavery would be legal there. The Kansas-Nebraska Act did just that: it carved out two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and allowed the people living there to vote on the legality of slavery. By doing this, it overturned the Missouri Compromise’s line that had kept slavery out of much of that region, opening the door for pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions to clash as each side tried to influence the vote. This set the stage for the violence known as Bleeding Kansas in the years that followed.

The other options don’t fit because they either established a geographic boundary restricting slavery (the Missouri Compromise), addressed different issues or territories (the Compromise of 1850), or involved a Supreme Court ruling about the powers of Congress in new territories (the Dred Scott decision), none of which created the popular-sovereignty framework for Kansas and Nebraska.