Ari Gilder, 3-201L

SS HW #5

1. a) Missouri’s application for admission to the Union created a conflict because if Missouri entered as a slave state as it wished, it would upset the balance of power in the senate, giving more votes to the South.

b) The compromise was that Maine would be admitted as a free state and states above the line 36º30´ could only be free.

2. The phrase “balanced power” means an equal number of votes on both sides of opposition over an issue. The North was worried that Missouri would imbalance the power and tip the scales to the favor of the South.
3. The Compromise of 1850 stated that California was to be admitted as a free state, the territories from the Mexican Cession would decide to be free or slave via popular sovereignty (popular opinion of the people), the US will pay $10 million to Texas to abandon its claims to New Mexico, the abolition of the slave trade and a more effective fugitive slave law.
4. Congress enacting things that ignored the 36º30´ line because gradually the south became more powerful in the Senate and the need for stronger compromise became necessary. Also, it expediated the process of building a transcontinental railroad.
5. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed both Kansas and Nebraska popular sovereignty in deciding to be free or slave states, which makes the South able to have more power in the senate if they become slave states.
6. As a result, violence erupted in “bleeding Kansas” – pro-slavery people and abolitionists often got into conflicts, ending up in death and murder. At least 200 people were killed as a direct result of this.