National Events That Influenced Lowellians'
Views on Slavery and Abolition
Document 4

Document 4: “An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas” and Map, 1854

"An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas” repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had outlawed slavery above the 36º30' latitude in the Louisiana territories (approximately the southern border of Missouri) and reopened the national struggle over slavery in the western territories. In January 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill that divided the land immediately west of Missouri into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. He argued in favor of popular sovereignty, or the idea that the settlers of the new territories should decide by voting if slavery would be legal there. Antislavery supporters were outraged because, under the terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery would have been outlawed in both territories since they were both north of the 36º30' N dividing line between "slave" and "free" states.

After months of Congressional debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed on May 30, 1854. Almost immediately, pro-slavery and antislavery settlers rushed to Kansas, each side hoping to determine the results of the first election held after the law went into effect. The conflict turned violent, earning the nickname "Bleeding Kansas." The act aggravated the split between North and South on the issue of slavery, to the point that a resolution seemed impossible. Opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act helped found the Republican Party, which opposed the spread of slavery into the territories. As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the United States moved closer to civil war.

Vocabulary

To wit: Shorthand way of saying “that is to say” or "namely"

AN ACT To organize the Territory of Nebraska and Kansas ---

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That all that part of the territory of the United States included
within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are herein-
after expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to wit: beginning
at a point in the Missouri River where the fortieth parallel of north la-
titude crosses the same; then west on said parallel to the east boun-
dary of the Territory of Utah, the summit of the Rocky Mountains;
thence on said summit northwest to the forty-ninth parallel of north
latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the ter-
ritory of Minnesota; thence southward on said boundary to the Missouri River; thence down the main channel of said river to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory Nebraska; and when admitted as a State or
States, the said Territory or any portion of the same, shall be received in-
to the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe
at the time of the admission ….

Text-Dependent Questions

What was the purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
At what point must the new states decide whether they will allow slavery?
Why do you think the law spelled out the geographic boundaries in such detail?
What story is the map telling? How does the map differ from the modern US map?

Discussion Questions

Make a list of pros and cons about Douglas’s idea of leaving the decision on slavery to settlers as opposed to other measures.
What do these documents together show about how the debates over slavery evolved over time?

Print document and transcript

CitationDocument: "An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,” 1856U.S. National Archives, Docs Teach, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/kansas-nebraska-act-1854Map: “Reynolds's political map of the United States, designed to exhibit the comparative area of the free and slave states and the territory open to slavery or freedom by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise,” 1856Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2003627003/

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