Which state was admitted to the Union as a free state as part of the Compromise of 1850?

Which state was admitted to the Union as a free state as part of the Compromise of 1850?

• A. California
• B. Texas
• C. New Mexico
• D. Utah

Answer: (A)

The main idea is how the Compromise of 1850 tried to ease sectional tensions over slavery by adjusting how new parts of the country would be governed. California’s rapid population growth from the Gold Rush pushed it to seek statehood sooner rather than later, and admitting California as a free state shifted the balance in Congress toward free states. The rest of the plan organized the western lands into the territories of New Mexico and Utah with popular sovereignty to decide slavery, resolved Texas’s finances by having the federal government assume its debt, and included a stricter Fugitive Slave Act plus the abolition of the domestic slave trade in Washington, D.C. Taken together, these provisions aimed to quell disputes over whether new states would be free or slave. California fits as the state admitted as a free state.

The main idea is how the Compromise of 1850 tried to ease sectional tensions over slavery by adjusting how new parts of the country would be governed. California’s rapid population growth from the Gold Rush pushed it to seek statehood sooner rather than later, and admitting California as a free state shifted the balance in Congress toward free states. The rest of the plan organized the western lands into the territories of New Mexico and Utah with popular sovereignty to decide slavery, resolved Texas’s finances by having the federal government assume its debt, and included a stricter Fugitive Slave Act plus the abolition of the domestic slave trade in Washington, D.C. Taken together, these provisions aimed to quell disputes over whether new states would be free or slave. California fits as the state admitted as a free state.