The answer is <u>b) It increased federal intervention in the affairs of independent states.</u>
By the time these federal Acts were enacted in the U.S., several Northern states had already abolished slavery but it was legal in the Southern states. The Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States, aiming to prevent that the Northern states would become safe havens for runaway slaves.
The last act was more rigid in their provision and stated more regulation, including the guarantee of harsher punishments for anyone interfering in runaways slave's capture, the right of slave owners and their “agents” to search for escaped slaves within the borders of free states and compelled citizens to assist in their capture as well. It also denied slaves the right to a jury trial, among others.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 implied much government's intervention in the state's affairs, and this angered most northern states. They responded by intentionally neglecting the law or creating acts that nullified or that protected black people, the so-called "personal liberty laws", and by making great efforts to assist runaway slaves, among others.
Britain influenced China by establishing a British government in Hong Kong, in its quest for opium and fine products from Asia. Great Britain and some European countries began the trade of opium paying with gold for this one, since the European products had a low demand in China; this was part of the trade imbalance with China. There was a huge demand in Europe for Chinese tea, silks and porcelain pottery, which led to two wars, called the Opium Wars, in which China lost and had to accept the terms of Europe, while its population began to become addicted to opium. The British way of life and the addiction to opium, plus intervention in the Chinese government, only ended with the arrival of the Communists.
Hello! Ceuta was a Spanish territory located in the northern coast of Africa. Persian Gulf is between Saudi Arabia and Iran, plus it also connects to the Indian Ocean. That is not even close to the Mediterranean Sea, or Spain. C is out. Southern Africa is way too far deep and far away from where Ceuta is located. D is out. A is out, because Siberia is a part of Russia, and Ceuta had nothing to do with Russia. Therefore, the answer is D.
