The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 proposed which principle for deciding slavery in new territories?

• A. Manifest Destiny Expansion
• B. Popular Sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska
• C. A Federal Railroad Route Through the Territories
• D. Abolition of Slavery Everywhere

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is deciding whether slavery would be legal in new territories by allowing the people who lived there to vote on it. This approach is called popular sovereignty. The Kansas-Nebraska Act put this principle into practice for the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, letting their residents decide the status of slavery through popular vote.

This was a change from the earlier Missouri Compromise line, which had prohibited slavery in certain northern areas. By letting settlers determine the issue themselves, the act effectively opened the door for both pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces to move into those territories and campaign for their side, which is why “Bleeding Kansas” emerged as factions clashed. The act was tied to Stephen A. Douglas’s push to organize the territories and facilitate a railroad project, but the key point it established was that the question of slavery would be decided by the people in each territory, not by a federal ban or approval.

So the principle being tested is popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska. The other options don’t fit because they describe broader expansion ideas, infrastructure goals, or the opposite of what the act did.