The civil war was one of the most intense and destructive wars the U.S have ever experienced, the war left over 640,000 soldiers dead, 476,000 wounded and 400,000 missing, this resulting in about 2% of the population dead. Whilst the war brought violence and destruction it also resolved two important questions that were unable to be resolved by the revolution these include; weather the United States was going to be made up of many independent states or a united nation with an independent government, and weather the United States was going to remain as the largest slaveholding country. Before the war the division between the north and south was a rising problem, which reached its peak at the outbreak war, the division was based around the different …show more content…
Such collapse was due to the Kansas Nebraska act 1854 which was introduced by a democratic senator from Illinoi named Stephan A Douglas. The act was brought about due to The Missouri compromise 1820, the compromise was made to balance the number of free states and slave states, it allowed slavery in Missouri but made it off limits in the remaining federally administered Louisiana territory. In source 1.0 it shows how the states were divided, the green states are the free states, which were closed to slavery, and the orange states are the slave states, which were open to slavery. The Missouri compromise was considered inconvenient for Douglas, as an advocate of western expansion he wanted to build a transcontinental railroad. Going against the Missouri compromise he believed for the railroad to work, the territories in which the railroad passed through would have to be formally organised. Douglas also being a believer in popular sovereignty started arguing that residents rather than congress should decide the status of slavery in a territory. In order to fulfil his wishes he created the Kansas Nebraska act 1954, the act divided the large chuck of incorporated land into Nebraska and …show more content…
Northerners recognised the bill as the repeal of the 34 year old Missouri compromises and feared that the bills true intentions was to extend slavery to the entire nation. Congress was able to pass the Kansas Nebraska act but resulted in a severe division between the nation with 91% of the opposition coming from northerners, not only did it make the division bigger between the north and south but also caused the house of representatives to fight due to their different view points. Soon enough the issues revolving around the act and slavery divided the Whigs and democrats, with congressman from both parties acting for and against the act. An Illinoi Whig named Abraham Lincoln spoke out about how monstrous slavey was in an 1854 speech. By this time the Whigs ceased to exist due to them being split between their northern and southern factions. Soon after the republicans party was founded from the anti-slavery element from both the Whigs and democrats. The majority of the party was made up of northern Whigs and democrats; Abraham Lincoln was a key figure in the support of the republicans helping them find new members. The Kansas Nebraska act participated greatly in the lead up to war as it created disputes between parties as well as the ending of the Whigs, before the act Whigs and democrats united around various issues to come up with and outcome but the act forced the