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The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed for popular sovereignty in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and was one of the major events leading up to the Civil War.
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Introduction
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1854 and created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The act was a victory for supporters of slavery, as it opened up new territory in which slavery could potentially be practiced. The act was also a blow to the fledgling Republican Party, as it angered many northern voters who had been supporters of the party. In the end, the Kansas-Nebraska Act served to further divide the nation and helped set the stage for the Civil War.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was a bill that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The bill also repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had prohibited slavery in most of the western territories. The Kansas-Nebraska Act sparked controversy and led to the outbreak of violence in Kansas, known as “Bleeding Kansas.” The Kansas-Nebraska Act also paved the way for the Civil War.
The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opened new lands for settlement, and repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had prohibited slavery in all remaining Louisiana Purchase lands north of 36° 30′ latitude. The bill was introduced by Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois on January 4, 1854. Though initial reaction to the bill was mixed, it passed Congress with little difficulty and was signed by President Franklin Pierce on May 30, 1854.
The repeal of the Missouri Compromise incited violence in Kansas Territory between proslavery and antislavery settlers vying for control over the territory’s fate. This led to a Congressional investigation known as the “Bleeding Kansas” crisis, which further intensified sectional tensions between North and South. In 1857, the violence in Kansas boiled over into the tragic sacks of Lawrence and Pottawatomomie Creek, which were led by pro-slavery Senator David Rice Atchison and “Border Ruffian” Sheriff Samuel Jones. These events helped fuel Abraham Lincoln’s election as president in 1860 and precipitated the secession crisis that led southern states to secede from the Union and form the Confederate States of America.
The Creation of Kansas and Nebraska
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was supposed to be a simple piece of legislation that would organizers the territory in the central United States. However, the act had far-reaching and long-lasting effects, most notably the exacerbation of sectionalism between the North and the South and ultimately leading to the American Civil War.
Prior to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 had established that slavery would be prohibited in any new territories north of latitude 36°30′. The Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively nullified this compromise by giving Popular Sovereignty—or letting each territory decide for itself whether or not slavery would be allowed—to the residents of those two new territories. This repeal of the Missouri Compromise led directly to violence in “Bleeding Kansas” as Northerners and Southerners rushed into the territory to ensure their preferred side won the battle for control.
In addition to increasing sectionalism, the Kansas-Nebraska Act also served to increase tensions between whites and Native Americans. The newly created Nebraska Territory included all of present-day Nebraska, most of South Dakota, and parts of North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana—lands that had been previously set aside for Native American tribes under various treaties. However, with Nebraska now open to white settlement, those treaties were effectively rendered null and void. This led to increased conflict between settlers and Native Americans as more and more whites encroached on tribal lands.
Ultimately, the Kansas-Nebraska Act served only to further divide an already divided nation and set events in motion that would lead inexorably to civil war.
The Immediate Aftermath of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act had a few effects, some of which were long-lasting. The most immediate effect was violence. The Kansas-Nebraska Act led to “Bloody Kansas,” a period of intense violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in Kansas Territory. The violence in Kansas Territory became so bad that it helped lead to the Civil War.
The Bleeding Kansas Crisis
In the 1850s, settler communities in the Kansas Territory were torn apart by violent confrontations over the issue of slavery. The violence in “Bleeding Kansas” was a prelude to the Civil War, and it illustrated the futility of attempts to peaceful compromise on the issue of slavery.
The violence in Kansas resulted from the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. This law created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and it opened these new territories to settlement. The law also included a provision that allowed settlers in these territories to decide for themselves whether or not they wanted slavery to be legal.
The competition for control of Kansas turned violent when proslavery and antislavery settlers rushed into the territory with the intent of swaying the vote in favor of their respective positions. There were a series of bloody confrontations, most notably at the town of Lawrence, which was burned by a proslavery mob. These confrontations led to further divisions between North and South, and they hardened each side’s resolve to fight for its own vision of America’s future.
The Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was a document drafted in 1857 to admit Kansas into the United States as a slave state. The issue of slavery had been highly contentious in the area, with pro- and anti-slavery factions both attempting to control the new territory. Ultimately, the pro-slavery faction succeeded in drafting a constitution that included provisions for slavery, sparking outrage among abolitionists and leading to the eventual collapse of the pro-slavery movement in Kansas.
The Long-Term Effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act had a number of long-term effects on the United States, both good and bad. The Act led to an increase in immigration to the United States, as well as a significant increase in the amount of new farmland that was available. However, the Act also led to increased tensions between the North and the South, which eventually led to the Civil War. Let’s take a closer look at the long-term effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
The Civil War
The Act was one of the primary causes of the Civil War. By allowing slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, it inclined more states to slaveholding, and more northern states to abolition. This increased sectionalism throughout the country — the divide between north and south — and led directly to the secession of 11 southern states and the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.
The Emancipation Proclamation
In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all slaves in rebel states were to be “forever free.” This bold stroke not only changed the course of the war but also set the United States on the road to becoming a more perfect union.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a wartime measure, designed to cripple the Confederacy by depriving it of its labor force. It did not apply to slaves in Union-controlled territory or to those in rebel states that had already been occupied by Union troops. And it did not address the issue of slavery itself, which remained legal in much of the country.
Nonetheless, the proclamation was an important step forward for social justice and human rights in America. It paved the way for the eventual adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery nationwide. And it inspired generations of activists who continued to fight for racial equality long after the Civil War had ended.
Conclusion
The Kansas-Nebraska Act did not directly cause the Civil War, but it did contribute to the growing divide between the North and the South. The act upset many Northerners because it reopened the question of slavery, which had been settled by the Compromise of 1850. The act also angered Northerners because it violated the principle of popular sovereignty, which said that the people who lived in a territory should decide whether or not it would allow slavery.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act led to violence in Kansas, as proslavery and antislavery settlers fought for control of the territory. This violence helped to fuel sectional tensions and to further divide the country. The Kansas-Nebraska Act also led to the formation of new political parties, as Northerners and Southerners began to realign themselves along sectional lines. These regional divisions would eventually lead to war.
