Which situation was affected depending on whether a state was admitted as a free state or a slave state.
The situation affected by whether a state was admitted as a free state or a slave state was primarily the balance of power between free states and slave states in the United States Congress.
In the early years of the United States, this balance of power was crucial as it determined the number of representatives each side had in the House of Representatives and the number of senators in the Senate. The more representatives and senators a state had, the more influence it had in shaping national policies and legislation.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 sought to maintain this balance by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state simultaneously. It also established an imaginary line, the 36°30' parallel, where slavery would be prohibited in all new states north of that line.
However, this balance was disrupted with the acquisition of new territories after the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). The issue of whether these territories would be admitted as free or slave states intensified sectional tensions between the North and the South.
The Compromise of 1850 attempted to ease these tensions by admitting California as a free state, but it also strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, which compelled the return of escaped slaves in free states to their owners in slave states. This led to further conflicts and divisions between the North and the South.
Eventually, the balance was shattered with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This act allowed popular sovereignty in the territories, which meant that the settlers themselves could decide whether to permit slavery. This resulted in violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the Kansas Territory, known as "Bleeding Kansas."
The situation ultimately led to the American Civil War (1861-1865), with the admission of new states and territories playing a significant role in the ongoing debate over whether slavery should be permitted or abolished. Ultimately, the Civil War ended with the defeat of the Confederate States, the abolition of slavery, and the preservation of the United States as a single, indivisible nation.