the united states constitution established the guidelines by which new states would be added to the united states.
the united states constitution established the guidelines by which new states would be added to the united states.
which established the guidelines by which new states would be added to the united states?
the united states constitution
at the 1787 constitutional convention, a proposal to include the phrase, "new states shall be admitted on the same terms with the original states", was defeated. it was feared that the political power of future new western states would eventually overwhelm that of the established eastern states. once the new constitution went into effect, however, congress admitted vermont and kentucky on equal terms and thereafter formalized the condition in its acts of admission for subsequent states, declaring that the new state enters "on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever." thus the congress, utilizing the discretion allowed by the framers, adopted a policy of equal status for all newly admitted states. with the growth of states' rights advocacy during the antebellum period, the supreme court asserted, in "lessee of pollard v. hagan" (1845), that the constitution mandated admission of new states on the basis of equality.
article four of the united states constitution
the "dred scott" decision, then, represented a culmination of what many at that time considered a push to expand slavery. southerners at the time, who had grown uncomfortable with the kansas-nebraska act, argued that they had a right, under the federal constitution, to bring slaves into the territories, regardless of any decision by a territorial legislature on the subject. the "dred scott" decision seemed to endorse that view. the expansion of slavery into the territories and resulting admission of new states would mean a loss of political power for the north, as many of the new states would be admitted as slave states. counting three-fifths of the slave population for apportionment would add to the slave holding states' political representation in congress.
dred scott v. sandford