THE KANSAS NEBRASKA ACT

Just as Congress was debating the Gadsden Purchase, they were faced with another dilemma: what to do about the land west of Missouri. Senator Stephen Douglas wanted to build a northern transcontinental railroad that would go through Chicago. In order to do so, western territories would first need to be incorporated into the union.

Douglas proposed that the land be split into two territories: Kansas and Nebraska. In an effort to win southern support, Douglas argued that the settlers living in the territory should have the right to decide whether to allow slavery or not, this idea of letting people decide was known as popular sovereignty.

Southerners were thrilled, Northerners were in enraged. According to the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery should not have been allowed in either Kansas or Nebraska. Opening up these territories to popular sovereignty was like ripping up the compromise altogether. After heated debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in May 1854. But the agreement that Douglas hoped would promote a peaceful compromise instead send the nation into turmoil.