Question

1. What effect did Congress’s ban (outlaw) on the African slave trade have on the domestic (in US only) slave trade and the slave population?
2. What effect did the Nat Turner Slave Revolt have on supporters of slavery?


3 The Kansas-Nebraska Act asserted “popular sovereignty” to all new American territories. Use the definitions to help you explain what it means in context of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.


• The popular sovereignty principle is one of the underlying ideas of the United States Constitution, and it argues that the source of governmental power (sovereignty) lies with the people (popular).


• It is the idea that the government is created by, and gains its power from, its people, and that it must operate in conformity to the will of the people.


• Popular sovereignty is the idea that the people of a certain region should be able to decide for themselves who is going to represent them in their government.

Answer 1

1. The slave population continued to rise, ultimately reaching 4 million.

2. Turner’s revolt made slaves seem violent, hindering support.

3. Popular sovereignty allowed territories to have a choice whether to allow slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska act allowed the territories to have slaves.