What were the similarities and differences in how the regional attitudes affected federal policy in the period after the Mexican-American War?

The Notherners were interested in stopping the expansion of slaves states after the war ended, since the Mexican-American War resulted in the annexation of Texas to the United States, as a slave state, something that changed the balance between free state and slave states in favor of the latter.

Southerners were interested in the opposite, after the annexation of Texas, they wanted to continue expanding slavery to the Western United States, something that the Northerners opposed. In the end, this would be the main spark that ignited the American Civil War just a decade later.

affirmative action refers to the policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in order to promote equal opportunity.

employers subject to title vii are prohibited from taking race or sex into account in any employment decisions. aa is a penalty for having any job group substantially statistically "underutilized" in any race or either sex. the employer must take steps to eliminate the underutilization, then stop, ending its aa efforts