The American Civil War: The Kansas Nebraska Act

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The Kansas Nebraska Act was a bill in 1854 that mandated "popular sovereignty." This allowed people settling in a territory to decide whether to have slavery or not within their borders. This Act was proposed by Stephan A.Douglas. Douglas was also Abraham Lincoln's opponent in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The bill overturned the boundary by latitude to separate slave territory and free territory. "Bleeding Kansas" was the nickname given to the conflicts the came about this time and helped pave a path for the American Civil War.

Douglas stated that he wanted to see Nebraska form into a territory and band with the southern states and allow slavery. If Kansas was to allow slavery, that would break the rules of the Missouri Compromise. For the