The proposed direct admission of California into the Union, without passing through territorial status, was dangerously controversial because
a. the territory was in a condition of complete lawlessness and anarchy.
b. the Mexicans were threatening renewed warfare if California joined the Union.
c. California's admission as a free state would destroy the equal balance of slave and free states in the U.S. Senate.
d. there was a growing movement to declare California an independent nation.
e. southern California and northern California did not want to be part of the same state.
Answer: C