Which of the following increased sectional tensions in the 1850s?

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required people in free states to help capture and return escaped enslaved people, angering many Northerners and intensifying conflict between North and South. The Mexican Cession and California’s admission also contributed to debates over slavery, but the Fugitive Slave Act directly provoked strong sectional opposition in the 1850s.

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