John C. Calhoun is associated with which policy in the 1830s that affected the Northern and Southern states?

• A. Fugitive Slave Law
• B. Emancipation Proclamation
• C. Homestead Act
• D. Monroe Doctrine

Answer: (A)

This question centers on how Southern leaders like John C. Calhoun pushed for policies that protected slavery across the United States and required broad cooperation between states. The policy described involves enforcing the return of enslaved people who escaped to free states, which intensified the conflict between Northern free states and Southern slaveholding states. Calhoun supported measures that strengthened federal authority to compel free states to aid in capturing and returning fugitive enslaved people, reinforcing the institution of slavery and the South’s economic and political interests.

The other options don’t fit this focus: emancipation and acts tied to settlement are from different eras and contexts, and the Monroe Doctrine is about foreign policy, not domestic enforcement of slavery.