By allowing the people of each new state to vote on whether it would be a slave-state or free soil.
That sounded reasonable enough. But if only one state was voting at a time, that one state would attract every terrorist from both sides to try to influence the vote.
That's what happened in Kansas - and the result was called 'Bleeding Kansas'.
Kansas
Kansas
Between 1854 and 1861, the area of territory open to slavery expanded significantly due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed new territories to decide on the legality of slavery through popular sovereignty. This led to violent conflicts known as "Bleeding Kansas" as pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers rushed into the territories. Additionally, the Dred Scott decision in 1857 further entrenched the status of slavery, declaring that Congress had no power to regulate slavery in the territories. By 1861, the political landscape was increasingly polarized, with more territories and states aligning with the institution of slavery.
Dred Scott v. Sanford
The event that determined the status of slavery during the 1850s was the Wilmot Proviso. It was also a major cause of the Civil War.
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of laws passed by the U.S. Congress to address the issue of slavery in newly acquired territories from the Mexican-American War. The compromise included California being admitted as a free state, the Fugitive Slave Act to return escaped slaves to their owners, and popular sovereignty to determine slave or free status in other territories.
Kansas
Kansas
s
Under popular sovereignty, the decision on whether slavery would be allowed in a territory is typically made by the residents of that territory through a vote or referendum. This allows the people living in the area to determine the status of slavery based on majority rule.
Stephen Douglas
Stephen Douglas
Under the 1850 Compromise, New Mexico and Utah were allowed in as slave-states, in exchange for California as free soil. After that, Kansas and Nebraska were to be admitted on a local vote on slavery ('Popular Sovereignty'). This resulted in bloodshed that foreshadowed the Civil War.
The territories belonging to the US outside of its borders include Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. These territories have varying degrees of self-governance and political status but are ultimately under the sovereignty of the United States.
The characteristics of sovereignty in the Philippines are absoluteness, permanence and inalienability. This is a status of the Philippines that says that Philippines is a state of sovereign.
The Basques current political status is that they are still desiring independence - they are fighting for sovereignty.
part of the British territories