What caused the Kansas-Nebraska Act to be proposed?    

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mkoren | Middle School Teacher | (Level 3) Senior Educator

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The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was proposed for a few reasons. The law created two new territories. These territories were Kansas and Nebraska. In order for people to be able to claim the land, the government had to establish territories. Unless an area was organized into a territory, people wouldn’t be able to claim the land. In order to build the transcontinental railroad, we needed people to move to these areas. Stephen Douglas, the bill’s author, wanted the transcontinental railroad to run through the North, as this would benefit his home state of Illinois. Thus, this Act was proposed.

Southern states were not happy with the idea of creating two territories that would possibly lead to more free states joining the Union. The issue over the spread of slavery was heating up, and the southerners were worried there would be too many free states. Thus, as a form of a compromise, the law allowed the people of these territories to decide if slavery would or wouldn’t exist. This concept, known as popular sovereignty, allows people to decide an issue. This provision basically ended the Missouri Compromise. However, instead of keeping things calm, there was fierce fighting in Kansas over the spread of slavery in that territory. There were various reasons for passing this law.


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pohnpei397 | College Teacher | (Level 3) Distinguished Educator

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