Question

"I have heard something said about allegiance to the South. I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance... The Union, sir, is my country." - Henry Clay, speech in the US Senate, 1850 This quote describes what issue being debated by the United States Congress in 1850? A) if freed slaves should become U.S. citizens B) if newly added states should be free or slave states C) whether or not the United States should admit Texas as a state Eliminate D) whether or not the United States should break all ties from Great Britain

Answer 1

The correct answer is B. This quote by Kentucky Senator Henry Clay is part of the so-called Compromise of 1850, which brought together - although not completely and only temporarily - the north and the south with the goal of making the Union stronger and maintaining peace. As part of the Compromise, the north received a new free state, California, but the fugitive slave law (which allowed the capture and return of fugitive slaves to their owners) was protected in the south, so the balance between abolitionists and supporters of slavery was not completely achieved.

Answer 2

Henry Clay was a United States senator who redacted The Compromise of 1850.

The Compromise of 1850 was a set of five separate bills that were approved by the US Congress. The approval eased the political confrontation between Slave States and Free States on the status of the acquired territories during the Mexican–American War.

So, we can conclude that Henry Clay's speech was referring to the issue of whether the acquired states should be Slave States or Free States, claiming that the territory of The Union was only one, therefore it should be unified on these matters.

Taking this into account, we can determine that the correct answer is B: if newly added states should be Free or Slave States.