Which of the following did congress attempt in the mid-1800s?
a. establishing a balance of free and slave states
b. creating more free states than slave states
c. creating more slave states than free states
d. forming new political parties to address slavery

A. Establishing a balance of free and slave states

Congress attempted to do this with the Missouri Compromise (1920) which stated that for every slave state, there must be one free state. The Compromise was the result of long debates in Congress over the issue of whether to admit Missouri to the Union as a slave state or not. At the time, the United States had 22 states, 11 were free and 11 were slaves. The admission of Missouri as a slave state would shift the balance, it would mean that Congress would support more the expansion of slavery, and that would've angered the abolitionists.

The Missouri Compromise was the solution to the conflict. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine, which was originally part of Massachusetts, as a free state; and stated that slavery was to be excluded from the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30′ (except for Missouri).

social contract theory basically says that all individuals are born equal, and provided a god given right to consent to be governed. american government is based of this

thomas hobbes and john locke said that we are selfish, individualistic, and constantly at war with each other, therefore we need to be controlled. 

government is defined as the legitimate use of force to control human behavior within territorial boundaries, here comes in hobbes and locke.

hobbes takes the part about controlling human behavior. while locke takes the part of legitimate use of force, since force is not legitimate unless there is consent of the people. 

there are basically 3 goals of the government: 1) maintain order by protecting life and property. 2) providing public goods, those which are typically not provided by the public sector, such as roads and education. 3) promote equality be it political, opportunist or outcome equality. 

fill in the blank

is slave