USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The act established that in these territories, the principle of popular sovereignty would apply, meaning that the white residents of each territory would vote on whether to permit slavery when applying for statehood.

Detailed explanation-2: -popular sovereignty, also called squatter sovereignty, in U.S. history, a controversial political doctrine according to which the people of federal territories should decide for themselves whether their territories would enter the Union as free or slave states.

Detailed explanation-3: -The idea of popular sovereignty as it pertains to the extension of slavery to the territories in the antebellum era was a political concept that allowed the residents of the territories themselves, rather than Congress, to determine whether to permit or prohibit slavery.

Detailed explanation-4: -Lewis Cass of Michigan, Democratic candidate for President in the election of 1848, coined the term “popular sovereignty.” In the heat of the Wilmot Proviso debate, many southern lawmakers began to question the right of Congress to determine the status of slavery in any territory.