Question

In 1854, why did Senator Stephen A. Douglas introduce a bill to extinguish Native American rights in the Great Plains and organize the northern segment of the Louisiana Purchase into a large territory called Nebraska?

a. He wanted to negate the Missouri Compromise and open the area to slaveholders.
b. He wanted to build a transcontinental railroad from Chicago to Northern California.
c. He wanted to win support for his presidential candidacy among northern Democrats.
d. He wanted to disprove the allegation that the Great Plains area was a desert and thus unsuitable for settlement.

Answer 1

The answer is: b. He wanted to build a transcontinental railroad from Chicago to Northern California.

Explanation:

He was a U.S. politician, leader of the Democratic Party, and orator who espoused the cause of popular sovereignty in relation to the issue of slavery in the territories before the American Civil War.

One of his first legislative proposals was a program that included territorial expansion, the construction of a Pacific railroad, a free land (homestead) policy, and the organization of territorial governments. ‘You cannot fix bounds to the onward march of this great and growing country,’ he declared.