The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and repealed the Missouri Compromise, causing widespread violence and the formation of the Republican Party. Senator Douglas pushed for the act to benefit Illinois and enhance his presidential ambitions. The act allowed for “popular sovereignty” on the slavery issue, leading to Kansas becoming a battleground and the impasse between North and South that eventually led to the Civil War.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a bill that passed into law in 1854 and established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska in the United States. It also had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had banned slavery in much of the country. Spurred by the efforts of Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Southern Democrats who wanted to extend slavery into unresolved parts of the United States, the law widened the rift between the North and South and was a major catalyst for the Civil War American. Short-term effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act included the formation of a new Republican party by those upset by the bill and widespread violence in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces.
In the mid-19th century, the vast area west of Iowa and Missouri was one of the most attractive tracts of uncultivated land in the United States. Establishing the area was a necessity if the United States was to build a transcontinental railroad through the center of the country. Senator Douglas, who chaired the Senate Lands Committee, wanted the area settled so that his home state of Illinois could benefit from a potential railroad. He also saw an opportunity to enhance his presidential ambitions by accomplishing such an important feat.
Pressured by Southern senators who declared they would never allow the area to be settled without slavery being permitted, Douglas relied on the Compromise of 1850, which settled California and New Mexico while allowing both sides of the slavery, insisting that Kansas and Nebraska be governed by “popular sovereignty.” This meant that each territory could make its own decision on the slavery issue. The implication of this would be that Nebraska would likely have belonged to the “free filthiers” who opposed slavery and Kansas would have become a slave territory.
Although initially reluctant to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had banned slavery in all areas north of 36° 30′ latitude, President Franklin Pierce caved to pressure from the Democratic Party and eventually endorsed the bill. Debate over the bill ended up being divided more along territorial than party lines, with most Whigs and some moderate Northern Democrats uniting to attempt to defeat the bill against support from the strongly democratic. After months of debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act gained enough support to be signed into law on May 30, 1854.
The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act so enraged some Northern politicians that they formed a new Republican Party, which would eventually replace the Whigs to become the second dominant party in the country. Kansas immediately became a battleground, as settlers on both sides of the slavery debate rushed to form a territorial government. The violence that erupted caused the territory to be known as “Bloody” Kansas. On a larger scale, the furor the act stirred up helped turn the long-standing rift between North and South into an irrevocable impasse, setting the stage for the American Civil War in 1861.
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