Politics and Regional Interests Practice Test

A secondary account of the 1840s argues that the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War intensified sectional tensions because each new territory raised the question of whether slavery would expand. The author notes that proposed solutions included banning slavery in all lands taken from Mexico. Which proposal is the author referencing?

A historian notes that northern states’ growing population increased their representation in the House, while the Senate remained a critical arena for sectional balance. The author argues that this reality made Southerners especially sensitive to the admission of new free states. Which political calculation best explains this sensitivity?