Advanced Placement US History (AP US History) Practice Exam

What significant legislative act resulted in the formation of territories with popular sovereignty?

1. The California Gold Rush Act

2. The Kansas-Nebraska Act

3. The Wilmot Proviso

4. The Compromise of 1850

The correct answer is: The Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act is significant because it introduced the concept of popular sovereignty in determining the status of slavery in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This act, passed in 1854, allowed the settlers of those territories to decide for themselves whether they would allow slavery, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise, which had previously prohibited slavery in that region. The idea behind popular sovereignty was to provide a democratic method for the residents of the territories to make decisions about their laws and social structures, including the contentious issue of slavery. This principle intensified the sectional conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, ultimately contributing to the outbreak of violence known as "Bleeding Kansas." The other legislative acts mentioned do not involve the establishment of territories through popular sovereignty. The California Gold Rush Act primarily dealt with the influx of people to California post-1849, the Wilmot Proviso sought to ban slavery in territories acquired from Mexico but did not create any territories, and the Compromise of 1850 included various measures affecting California and the Southwest but did not employ the principle of popular sovereignty in the same way that the Kansas-Nebraska Act did.