Kansas+Nebraska+Act

Historical Context In 1854, the territories of Kanasa and Nebraska were open for settlement, allowing new farms and transcontinental railroads. The Kansas Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromised did not allow slavery in unorganized territories. The Act, designed by Democratic Senator Stephan A Douglas, stated that the settlers could determine whether or not slavery should be permitted in the territories, known as Popular Sovereignty. Popular Sovereignty caused problems because tensions between voters for and against slavery rose. "//A conflict more strictly sectional and hence more dangerous to the peace & security of the Union than any in our past history seems to me to be inevitable"- President Pierce.// This disagreement, caused by the Kansas Nebraska Act, led way to a bloody civil war.

Thesis The Kansas Nebraska Act increased tensions over the disagreement of slave and anti-slave beliveing people after repealing the Missouri Compromise and allowing Popular Sovereignty to decide whether or not Kansas and Nebraska should have slaves, causing a greater unnationalistic division in the Union.

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