In a paragraph, describe three compromises that were made over the practice of slavery during the expansion of the United States into western areas. Identify the details in each act designed to appeal to the South. (no plagiarism)

Answer 1

During the expansion of the United States into western territories, several key compromises were made regarding the practice of slavery, notably the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state while Maine was admitted as a free state, thus maintaining the balance of power between North and South; it also established the 36°30′ parallel as the boundary for slavery in the Louisiana Territory, explicitly appealing to Southern interests by permitting slavery in designated regions. The Compromise of 1850 included provisions such as the admission of California as a free state, but crucially strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, which mandated that escaped slaves captured in free states be returned to their owners in the South, thereby safeguarding Southern slaveholding rights. Finally, the Kansas-Nebraska Act introduced the principle of popular sovereignty, allowing new territories to decide for themselves whether to permit slavery, thereby directly benefiting the South by opening up new lands for potential slaveholding and fostering conflicts that could lead to the expansion of slavery into those territories.