Which best explains why california’s application for statehood caused a sectional crisis?

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a law that tried to address growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery. By passing the law, which President James Monroe signed, the U.S. Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery, and Maine as a free state. It also banned slavery from the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands located north of the 36º 30’ parallel (the southern border of Missouri). The Missouri Compromise would remain in force for just over 30 years before it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott decision that the compromise was unconstitutional, setting the stage for the Civil War.

Pro- and Anti-Slavery Factions in Congress

When the Missouri Territory first applied for statehood in 1818, it was clear that many in the territory wanted to allow slavery in the new state. Part of the more than 800,000 square miles bought from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Missouri was known as the Louisiana Territory until 1812, when it was renamed to avoid confusion with the newly admitted state of Louisiana.

Missouri’s bid to become the first state west of the Mississippi River, and to allow slavery within its borders, set off a bitter debate in a Congress that was—like the nation itself—already divided into pro- and anti-slavery factions.

In the North, where abolitionist sentiment was growing, many people opposed the extension of the institution of slavery into new territory, and worried that adding Missouri as a slave state would upset the balance that currently existed between slave and free states in the Union. Pro-slavery Southerners, meanwhile, argued that new states, like the original 13, should be given the freedom to choose whether to permit slavery or not.

During the debate, Rep. James Tallmadge of New York proposed an amendment to the statehood bill that would have eventually ended slavery in Missouri and set free the existing enslaved workers living there. The amended bill passed narrowly in the House of Representatives, where Northerners held a slight edge. But in the Senate, where free and slave states had exactly the same number of senators, the pro-slavery faction managed to strike out Tallmadge’s amendment, and the House refused to pass the bill without it.

Maine and Missouri: A Two-Part Compromise

After this stalemate, Missouri renewed its application for statehood in late 1819. This time, Speaker of the House Henry Clay proposed that Congress admit Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery, but at the same time admit Maine (which at the time was part of Massachusetts) as a free state.

In February 1820, the Senate added a second part to the joint statehood bill: With the exception of Missouri, slavery would be banned in all of the former Louisiana Purchase lands north of the 36º 30’ latitude, which ran along Missouri’s southern border.

On March 3, 1820, the House passed the Senate version of the bill, and President James Monroe signed it into law four days later. The following month, the former President Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that the “Missouri question...like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.”

Shortcomings of the Missouri Compromise

Though the Missouri Compromise managed to keep the peace—for the moment—it failed to resolve the pressing question of slavery and its place in the nation’s future. Southerners who opposed the Missouri Compromise did so because it set a precedent for Congress to make laws concerning slavery, while Northerners disliked the law because it meant slavery was expanding into new territory.

In the decades after 1820, as westward expansion continued, and more of the Louisiana Purchase lands were organized as territories, the question of slavery’s extension continued to divide the nation. The Compromise of 1850, which admitted California to the Union as a free state, required California to send one pro-slavery senator to maintain the balance of power in the Senate.

In 1854, during the organization of Kansas and Nebraska Territories, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois spearheaded the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which mandated that the settlers of each territory should decide the issue of slavery for themselves, a principle known as popular sovereignty.

READ MORE: The 1860 Compromise That Would Have Preserved Slavery in the US Constitution

The controversial law effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise by allowing slavery north of the 36º 30’ parallel. Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act sparked violence between pro- and anti-slavery settlers in “Bleeding Kansas,” delaying Kansas’ admission to the Union. Opposition to the act led to the formation of the Republican Party, and the emergence to national prominence of Douglas’s Illinois rival, a formerly obscure lawyer named Abraham Lincoln.

Bitter controversy also surrounded the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. According to Chief Justice Roger B. Taney and six other justices, Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories, as the Fifth Amendment guaranteed owners of the enslaved could not be deprived of their property without due process of law. The 14th Amendment, passed in 1865 after the conclusion of the Civil War, would later overturn major parts of the Dred Scott decision. 

READ MORE: How Slavery Became the Economic Engine of the South

Which best explains why California’s application for statehood caused a sectional crisis? California’s entrance as a free state would cause enslaved people there to be freed automatically.

Why did California application for statehood cause a sectional crisis?

Its entrance as a free state would upset the balance in favor of the North. Its entrance as a slave state would upset the balance in favor of the South. Its entrance a slave state would cause free African Americans there to lose their freedom.

Why did California’s application for statehood cause a sectional crisis quizlet?

California’s application for statehood caused an uproar because it was applying as a non-slave state. The slave states and non-slave states avoided conflict by always having an equal amount of slave and non-slave states, however, California would upset this balance.

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What was the South’s greatest concern when California applied for statehood quizlet?

The South feared enslaved workers would run away to the new state. The South feared it would have to pass laws to maintain slavery.

Which states application for statehood brought on the Compromise of 1850 quizlet?

California’s request for statehood caused alarm among southerners because California’s new constitution forbid slavery. How did the compromise of 1850 seek to satisfy both the North and South? To satisfy the North, the compromise provided that California would be admitted as a free state.

Why did California’s application for statehood?

With the Gold Rush came a huge increase in population and a pressing need for civil government. In 1849, Californians sought statehood and, after heated debate in the U.S. Congress arising out of the slavery issue, California entered the Union as a free, nonslavery state by the Compromise of 1850.

How did California’s application for statehood increase tensions between the North and the South?

The compromise of 1850 which allowed the admission of California as a state greatly increased sectional conflict. In return for the admission of an extra free state the slave state got a much stronger fugitive slave act, and the removal of the barrier to slavery north of the Madison Dixon Line.

Which of the following occurred in response to California’s application for statehood in 1850?

Which of the following occurred in response to California’s application for statehood in 1850? Several New England states threatened to secede from the Union if California was admitted as a slave state. Which of the following is true of expansionists who supported the War with Mexico?

Why did California’s request to be admitted to the Union cause a problem?

California’s request for statehood caused alarm among southerners because California’s new constitution forbid slavery.To satisfy the North, the compromise provided that California would be admitted as a free state. To satisfy the South, the compromise proposed a new and more effective fugitive slave law.

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Why were Southerners upset about California’s application to join the union check all that apply?

Why were Southerners upset about California’s application to join the Union?Californians approved a constitution that banned slavery, Free states would gain a majority over slave states in the Senate, Other western territories might follow California’s example of entering as a free state.

Why was the South’s greatest concern when California applied for statehood?

What was the South’s greatest concern when California applied for statehood? The South feared it would lose power and influence in the Senate. The South feared enslaved workers would run away to the new state.

How did the US government respond to California’s independence from Mexico in 1846?

How did the US government respond to California’s independence from Mexico in 1846?The government sent troops to acquire California and make it part of the US.

What did the South gain from the Compromise of 1850 quizlet?

What did the South gain from the Compromise of 1850? Congress would pass the Fugitive Slave Act.Any state east of Missouri would be allowed to vote on slavery.

Why did the northerners in Congress accept California’s application for statehood while southerners rejected it?

Southerners rejected it? Northerners in Congress accepted California’s application for statehood and Southerners rejected it because California had applied as a free state. ` Northerners often helped runaway slaves to freedom. This angered Southerners, who regarded these Northerners as thieves.

Why did Northerners in Congress accept California’s application for statehood while southerners rejected it quizlet?

Why did northerners in congress accept California’s application for statehood while the southerners rejected it? The northerners accepted it because California wanted to be a free state in the union and the southerners rejected it because then it wouldn’t be an even number on both sides.

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What was Senator Henry Clay’s proposed solution to the slavery question created by California’s application for statehood?

Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished.

What is California’s statehood?

September 9, 1850The area of California was never organized as a territory, but was administered from 1848 to statehood by a federal military authority. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state.

What steps did Californians take to apply for statehood when was California admitted?

when was California admitted? To apply for statehood, the Californians first had to write and approve their constitution. Once it was approved, the people elected a governor and state legislators. California was admitted as a state in September 1850.

When California applied for statehood Southern states feared the addition of a free state?

When California applied for statehood southern states feared that the balance between slave states and free states would be disrupted. Per the terms of the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state.

Why did the South oppose California’s admission as a free state?

Why were southerners against California’s admission to the Union as a free state? Because they wanted to spread slavery all across the nation.He strongly supported slavery to be allowed anywhere in the nation and for any fugitive slaves to be returned from the North.

How did the United States acquire California?

The state of California was acquired by the United States as part of the Mexican Cession – the land ceded by Mexico to the US in 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war, and gave territory to the US.