Which act established that residents of new territories could vote to determine whether slavery would be legal there?

• A. Abolition Movement
• B. Ostend Manifesto
• C. Kansas-Nebraska Act
• D. Dred Scott Decision

Answer: (C)

Popular sovereignty is the idea that residents of a territory should decide, through voting, whether a policy—like the legality of slavery—will exist there. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 put this into practice for the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska, letting the people decide by vote whether slavery would be legal. It also overturned the Missouri Compromise’s restriction that had kept slavery out of parts of the region north of a specific line, expanding the debate over slavery into new lands. This approach aimed to settle the issue peacefully, but it led to fierce local clashes in Kansas as pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions fought to control the outcome. The other options don’t fit because they involve abolition efforts, a plan to expand slavery elsewhere, or a Supreme Court decision, none of which created the voting process for slavery in a territory.