The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas-Nebraska Act The creation of the Kansas-Nebraska Act also known as “Popular Sovereignty” caused major conflict because of the such opposite views of people. The act caused a deeper divide between the South and North, lead to the rise of Abraham Lincoln, and Bleeding Kansas.
Slave owners living in Missouri did not want people to Kansas and Nebraska to become free states and if the Missouri Compromise stayed than both states would become free states, because they are both above the longitude line that decides if a state is a slave owning state or not. If both states became free states than Missouri might have been forced to change from slave owning state to free but the people from Missouri in government did not allow the development …show more content…
of Kansas and Nebraska. However, with the passing of “Popular Sovereignty” states could then decide if they were slave or free states. Also, with the passing of “Popular Sovereignty” the Whig Party dissolved and the Republican Party rose. The Republican Party main objective was to not allow slavery in any of the territories; their first nomination for President was a man named John Fremont. He did not win the election, but the party had gained more supporters including Abraham Lincoln (Sectional Conflict 1).
There was a huge divide in the decision about Kansas and Nebraska because the North wanted both of them to free states so they could build a railroad from Chicago to the West, but the South did not want for two states to join the Union because it would make the North more powerful in the government because they had more people in the House and Congress (Monroe 1). Before the Kansas-Nebraska Act the law was that “In all the territory of the United States now held, or hereafter acquired, situated north of latitude 36 ° 30', slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain under territorial government” (The Avalon Project). Meaning that any state above that line of latitude was prohibited to own slaves and any state under that line was allowed to own slaves.
There were two major people involved with the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Stephen A. Douglas created the Kansas-Nebraska Act because if he wanted Nebraska as a state so he could build a railroad that would make Chicago a hub for trading but southern states did not want to because it would come in as a free state and so he said that people of the Kansas and Nebraska could decide if they want to the state to be a slave owning state or not and called it “Popular Sovereignty.” Abraham Lincoln decided to come out of “retirement” and so object this idea publicly saying that people should not be offered the choice to own slaves. To prevent the expansion of slavery it needs to be completely banned and he also said the idea is good theoretically but people are not good enough morally and argued for the humanity of the slaves (Monroe …show more content…
1).
With the decision to decide if Kansas was going to become a slave or free state riots started to break out all over Kansas.
With settlers from New England and settlers from Missouri, Kentucky, and other Southern states (Price) different beliefs led to riots. John Brown led a raid on a pro-slavery farm where the settlers were beat to death by corn knives (Price). In 1856, a group of proslavery settlers attacked Lawrence. They burned down buildings, looted stores, destroyed two newspaper buildings, and brutally beat citizens of the city (Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas). By 1858, Kansas was basically at war with itself; Guerrilla warfare was the tactic of the settlers. (Price). All of the riots and raids were a direct cause of the Kansas-Nebraska
Act.
Work Cited
Monroe R.D. "The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1854-1856."Lincoln/Net: The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1854-1856 | Lincoln / Net. N.p., 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
"Sectional Conflict." Sectional Conflict. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
Price, Jay. "Bleeding Kansas." SOCIETY OF PUBLIC HISTORIANS - Wichita State University. Wichita State, 29 Oct. 2003. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
"The Lost Museum Archive." Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
Crittenden, John J. "Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden : December 18, 1860." Avalon Project - Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden : December 18, 1860. Yale University, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017
Slave owners living in Missouri did not want people to Kansas and Nebraska to become free states and if the Missouri Compromise stayed than both states would become free states, because they are both above the longitude line that decides if a state is a slave owning state or not. If both states became free states than Missouri might have been forced to change from slave owning state to free but the people from Missouri in government did not allow the development …show more content…
of Kansas and Nebraska. However, with the passing of “Popular Sovereignty” states could then decide if they were slave or free states. Also, with the passing of “Popular Sovereignty” the Whig Party dissolved and the Republican Party rose. The Republican Party main objective was to not allow slavery in any of the territories; their first nomination for President was a man named John Fremont. He did not win the election, but the party had gained more supporters including Abraham Lincoln (Sectional Conflict 1).
There was a huge divide in the decision about Kansas and Nebraska because the North wanted both of them to free states so they could build a railroad from Chicago to the West, but the South did not want for two states to join the Union because it would make the North more powerful in the government because they had more people in the House and Congress (Monroe 1). Before the Kansas-Nebraska Act the law was that “In all the territory of the United States now held, or hereafter acquired, situated north of latitude 36 ° 30', slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain under territorial government” (The Avalon Project). Meaning that any state above that line of latitude was prohibited to own slaves and any state under that line was allowed to own slaves.
There were two major people involved with the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Stephen A. Douglas created the Kansas-Nebraska Act because if he wanted Nebraska as a state so he could build a railroad that would make Chicago a hub for trading but southern states did not want to because it would come in as a free state and so he said that people of the Kansas and Nebraska could decide if they want to the state to be a slave owning state or not and called it “Popular Sovereignty.” Abraham Lincoln decided to come out of “retirement” and so object this idea publicly saying that people should not be offered the choice to own slaves. To prevent the expansion of slavery it needs to be completely banned and he also said the idea is good theoretically but people are not good enough morally and argued for the humanity of the slaves (Monroe …show more content…
1).
With the decision to decide if Kansas was going to become a slave or free state riots started to break out all over Kansas.
With settlers from New England and settlers from Missouri, Kentucky, and other Southern states (Price) different beliefs led to riots. John Brown led a raid on a pro-slavery farm where the settlers were beat to death by corn knives (Price). In 1856, a group of proslavery settlers attacked Lawrence. They burned down buildings, looted stores, destroyed two newspaper buildings, and brutally beat citizens of the city (Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas). By 1858, Kansas was basically at war with itself; Guerrilla warfare was the tactic of the settlers. (Price). All of the riots and raids were a direct cause of the Kansas-Nebraska
Act.
Work Cited
Monroe R.D. "The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1854-1856."Lincoln/Net: The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1854-1856 | Lincoln / Net. N.p., 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
"Sectional Conflict." Sectional Conflict. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
Price, Jay. "Bleeding Kansas." SOCIETY OF PUBLIC HISTORIANS - Wichita State University. Wichita State, 29 Oct. 2003. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
"The Lost Museum Archive." Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
Crittenden, John J. "Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden : December 18, 1860." Avalon Project - Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden : December 18, 1860. Yale University, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017