Why did southerners support the kansas nebraska act a: it supported the ban on slavery in the louisiana purchase territory b: it repealed the ban on slavery in the louisiana purchase territory c: it said kansas and nebraska would both become slave states d: it supported the power of the federal government to determine state slave status

The correct answer is B. Southerners supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act because it repealed the ban on slavery in the Louisiana Purchase territory.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was the law promulgated in the United States, in 1854, for the creation of the states of Nebraska and Kansas, in territories of the old French Louisiana. It was driven by the senator and leader of the Democratic party Stephen Arnold Douglas, of Illinois.

The situation of the two states north of the line defined in the Missouri Compromise meant that both should be states in which slavery was not allowed. However, the contiguity of Kansas with the slave state of Missouri and the search by Senator Douglas for southern support for a railroad in his state caused the law to include the provision that, in order to decide on the issue of slaves, citizens could exercise "popular sovereignty" and, therefore, be able to decide whether to be a slave state.