Popular sovereignty, also called squatter sovereignty, in U.S. history, a controversial political doctrine according to which the people of federal territories should decide for themselves whether their territories would enter the Union as free or slave states. Its enemies, especially in New England, called it “squatter sovereignty.”
The Willapa Hills parallel the coast from Grays Harbor to the Columbia River in the southwest. Gentle forested slopes descend to an indented Pacific coastline and, north and east of the hills, to the fertile Chehalis and Cowlitz valleys.
