The underlying source of tension in westward expansion during the 1850s was primarily whether newly added territories should allow slavery. This issue was central to the political debates of the time, leading to significant conflicts such as the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed the settlers of those territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery (a concept known as "popular sovereignty"). The contentious nature of this debate contributed to the larger sectional conflicts that eventually culminated in the American Civil War.
What was an underlying source of tension in westward expansion during the 1850s?
The inflation of goods
A sharp decrease in population
Whether newly added territories should allow slavery
Disagreement over whether the economy of new territories be based on farming or factories
1 answer