The Kansas-Nebraska Act During The Civil War

The Kansas-Nebraska Act set the stage for what began “Bleeding Kansas” and ultimately the Civil War. As settlers began moving west of the Mississippi River, they moved into the area which is present-day Nebraska. Since the area was not yet a structured state, the people could not live there. The area that was wanted was located in a part of the United States that had outlawed slavery due to the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This, in turn, caused representatives in Congress to have no interest in creating a Nebraska territory. Senator Stephen A. Douglas was the driving factor behind the Kansas-Nebraska Act. With the goal in mind that Nebraska would become a territory, the Kansas- Nebraska Act would allow each territory the ability to choose whether or not they supported slavery. With this being enacted, it was a direct violation of the Missouri Compromise. The bill that allowed territories to decide for or against slavery, also known as popular sovereignty, split the Whig party into two different groups; the northern Whigs and the southern Whigs with the northerners organizing the Republican Party. The Kansas-Nebraska Act caused a great amount of turmoil between settlers within Kansas. With the question hanging in the air whether or not the territory would be for
If a person was caught, the punishment would include fines and time spent in prison. If a person assisted a slave in escaping, they would be given the death penalty. It also legalized the act of voting in a state that you do not live in in order to justify the Border Ruffians’ fraudulent votes. Although the votes favored slavery, the number of people who actually supported slavery fell in comparison to the number of people who did not support it. This caused anti-slavery supporters to elect their own figurehead and establish their own state constitution. This caused significant problems within the