An approach used by Congress in the mid 1800s to determine whether a federal territory would be a free state or slave state
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What people helped start this movement?
Lewis Cass and Stephen Douglas
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Who supported this movement?
Congressmen, senators, and people of power
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What groups of people opposed this movement?
African American people and white citizens
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What was the consequence of popular sovereignty?
Popular sovereignty assumed how the states would vote on slavery, so conflict arose between people
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Who wrote the doctrine "Popular Sovereignty"?
General Lewis Cass
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Who was Stephen Douglas?
A U.S. senator who supported popular sovereignty
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Why did Congressmen support this idea?
Congress had the power to determine which states were free or not, based on the consent of the people
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Why were African American people against this movement?
This right claimed to be on the basis of the people, but the African American people had no rights in this decision
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What war did popular sovereignty kickstart?
The Civil War
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What did the popular sovereignty doctrine explain?
It explained that the ruling people of a territory would determine the status of slavery in each state.
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What was Stephen Douglas' speech about?
Stephen Douglas made a speech about Kansas being forced to give up their slaves
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How did Congress get consent from the people?
The government used representatives from each state to determine how the state would vote
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Why did white people oppose this act?
Although they originally supported it, the government started taking away their consent in this act
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Why did popular sovereignty fail to bring the nation together?
Lawmakers failed to address the nation's political and ideological problems. People became violent over different opinions, and this idea did not stop it.
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What is sovereign people?
The ruling people
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Why did Stephen Douglas support popular sovereignty?
He though popular sovereignty would solve the problem of slavery by having territories decide if they want to be a free or slave state
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How did Congressmen think that this policy would support our nation?
The people can put in their input on whether their state should be free or not. This way there's no discord between states.
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What is an example where people opposed this act?
Congress assumed that Nebraska wanted to be a free state and Kansas wanted to be a slave state. Congress made these assumptions without the consent of the people. These assumptions lead to people's rights being taken away.
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How did the original idea of popular sovereignty differentiate from how it actually turned out?
Originally, it was by the people for the people. In certain cases, the government didn't listen to the consent of the people.