Essay on The Role Kansas and Nebraska Played in the Civil War

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was created and proposed by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who greatly supported the railroad system. Douglas was excited to have a railroad system that reached from his home city, Chicago, all the way to California. However, the

In 1954, the Kansas- Nebraska Act was passed. Northern Democrat Steven Douglass in an attempt to build a transcontinental railroad petitioned the Kansas-Nebraska act on the bases that the Compromise of 1850 validated popular sovereignty. In Douglass’s opinion the Compromise of 1850 made the Missouri Compromise of 1820 void. There was opposition from Northern politicians who believed that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a sacred pact made by previous lawmakers during the union’s long history of compromises. For Southern politicians the Kansas- Nebraska Act would help the extension of slavery which most of the Northerners were against. Ignoring the wishes of the Northerners and pushing the Democratic agenda which wanted not only the

The Kansas and Nebraska Act was also a major cause of political conflicts. It pressured popular sovereignty over those new territories. Kansas, according to the Northerners, was being pressured into becoming a slave state by having acts of violence be done against them. As well, people from Missouri were going into Kansas and using their power to vote for it as a slave state, and the North

He therefore bowed to Southern wishes and proposed a bill for organizing Nebraska-Kansas which stated that the slavery question would be decided by popular sovereignty. He assumed that settlers there would never choose slavery, but did not anticipate the vehemence of the Northern response. This bill, if made into law, would repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which said that slavery could not extend above the 36' 30" line. It would open the North to slavery. Northerners were outraged; Southerners were overjoyed.

At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. In the years leading up to the Missouri Compromise of 1820, tensions began to rise between proslavery and antislavery factions within the U.S. Congress and across the country. They reached a boiling point after Missouri’s 1819 request for admission to the Union as a slave state, which threatened to upset the delicate balance between slave states and free states. To keep the peace, Congress came up with a two-part compromise, granting Missouri’s request but also admitting Maine as a free state. It also passed an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory, establishing a boundary between free and slave regions that remained the law of the land until it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

In the early 1800s, it appeared that these political battles could be decided with congressional compromises. Document A, also known as the Missouri Compromise, was created in 1820 to address the new state of Missouri. Whether or not Missouri was a slave state or free would be a watershed event, as from the onset it appeared one side would have more power in Congress. However, Henry Clay, one of the most famous congressmen of the time, was able to split up Massachusetts in order to create a new free state, Maine. With Maine being free, Missouri could join as a slave state, and both sides were appeased. However, no side was ever truly appeased, with Kansas-Nebraska act eventually repealing the Missouri compromise in 1854, only 34 years later. It is true that many more states were added into the union in those 34 years, such as Texas, California, and New Mexico. However, the Missouri compromise itself was not thought out for the long term, as it designated a single latitude line to divide the slave and free

territory. As northern settlers poured into Kansas, however, in 1861 it qualified for admission to the union as a state where slavery was illegal. So many Northerners were distraught over the Kansas-Nebraska Act that they founded a new, purely northern, purely anti-slavery political party. the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opened new lands, repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and allowed settlers in those territories to determine if they would allow slavery within their boundaries. The initial purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was to create opportunities for a Transcontinental Railroad. It was not problematic until popular jurisdiction was written into the proposal. The act was designed by Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. The act established that settlers could vote to decide whether to allow slavery, in the name of "popular sovereignty" or rule of the people. Douglas hoped it would ease relations in both North and South, because the South could expand slavery to new territories but the North still had the right to abolish slavery in their states. He was wrong; opponents denounced the law as a privilege to the slave power of the South. The new Republican Party, which was created in opposition to the act, aimed to stop the expansion of slavery, and soon emerged as the dominant force throughout the

In 1820 Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state. Since it would ruin the balance between Slave states and Free states in the Senate, Henry Clay came up with the Missouri compromise. What it did was make Missouri a Slave state and Maine a free state. “This law prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30´ latitude line.”(Bibliography source #2) It also allowed the owners to recapture runaway slaves that fled to the North, like wanted posters describing them and how much for the reward. “Runaway from the subscriber, on the night of Thursday, the 30th of September” (Bibliography#3) They limited themselves by only applying the Compromise to the states gained in the Louisiana Purchase, this than led to the fighting after the Mexican war when America gained new territories in the West. This ruined the Missouri Compromise. Historians believe that if the Compromise had been applied to all

In 1854 another problem arose which resulted in Congress passing the Kansas-Nebraska Act which repealed the Missouri Compromise, this act was introduced by Stephen A. Douglas a chairman of Committee on Territories, this act allowed the people of Kansas and Nebraska to choose rather they wanted slavery in their boundary or not through the power of popular sovereignty, the Pro-slavery settlers won the election but were charged with accusations that they cheated, in order to make sure that the vote was right they ordered a re-election but the Pro-slavery refused and the refusal resulted into a battle. John Brown an Anti-slavery leader who believed that he was sent here by god to kill anyone who was pro-slavery. He led the anti-slavery force which gained the nickname “Bleeding Kansas”. The fight was soon stopped, and a final election was held, this time the anti-slavery settlers won the vote and was announced that Kansas would become a free state in 1861. In conclusion the Compromises and Acts may have had their flaws but it they some how manage to solve the slavery issues.

A leading example of the struggles of slavery in the western states was the struggle over slavery in Kansas. Document F depicts a political cartoon basically stating that Stephen Douglas, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan all attempted intentionally or unintentionally to spread slavery to the West. Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in which the Midwest Nebraska territory would be divided into two states Kansas and Nebraska and the issue of slavery would be determined by in state vote known as "popular sovereignty". Franklin Pierce aided with the signing of the bill. The results upon this bill was harsh fighting between pro-slavery supporters and non-slavery supporters in Kansas over this issue. It also led to the non-reelection of Pierce and the end to the Whig party, along with the introduction of the sectional Republican party, who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. An attempt at forcing slavery into

closer to the Civil War. Passed in 1854 as a compromise bill, the KansasNebraska Act established popular sovereignty in the two territories of Kansas and Nebraska, sparking a fight over

The Kansas-Nebraska act (1854) was a U.S. law that authorized the creation of Kansas and Nebraska, west of the states of Missouri and Iowa and divided by the 40th parallel. It repealed a provision of the Missouri compromise of 1820 that prohibited slavery in the territories north of 36 degrees and 30' and stipulated that the inhabitant of the territories should decide for themselves the legality of slave holding. Democratic senator of Illinois Stephen A. Douglas pushed the Kansas-Nebraska bill.

The Missouri Compromise is accounted for to have been passed in 1820 to keep up an adjust of energy in Congress between the slavery and bondage Free States. The law showed Missouri as a slave state and Maine a sans slave state. Moreover, the law consumed bondage in Louisiana region. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 canceled the law and after three years the Supreme Court controlled the Missouri trade off law as unlawful and the Congress had no expert at an opportunity to consume slavery in the domains.

The controversial issue raised at the Congress was whether these new states would be free from slavery or not. Under the Missouri compromise, states above 36 ° 30 latitudes would be free, but the Southerners would not accept this. Thinking strategically and do not want to lose the support of the Southerners in future elections, the Democrats decided to apply the principle of popular sovereignty repealing the Missouri Compromise. This act was known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854. Northerners considered Douglas's decision as a "gross violation of a sacred pledge," and made many pros and cons slavery migrated to the added territory to vote for the establishment or not of slavery.

In May of 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska act bill was passed by the U.S Congress. The bill was introduced by Senator Stephen A. Douglas (Discovering our Past; The History of the United States Early Years p.431 and 432). The bill gives the people of Kansas and Nebraska territory popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is letting the people of the Kansas and Nebraska territory choose whether to allow slavery or not. The textbook(Discovering our Past; The History of the United States Early Years p. 432) states that “Douglas hoped to make his plans acceptable to both the North and South. He propose repealing the Missouri Compromise and letting the voters in each territory vote on whether or not to allow slavery” (notes) Kansas with slavery would