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Why Was The Kansas Nebraska Act Important To American History

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”There are only two sides to this question. Every man must be for the United States or against it. There can be no neutrals in this war; only patriots and traitors” once said by Stephen Douglas of Illinois. He was a man known for creating an act that could be the most significant thing leading up to the civil war. He wrote The Kansas-Nebraska Act which let the people of the territory vote for or against slavery. There was only two things you could have your mind set on the one or the other.The Kansas-Nebraska Act was important to American History and it led to the Civil War. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was significant to American history, it was the breakup the lead to the Democratic and Republican Parties and it led to the civil war because …show more content…

During 1850, a Democratic Senator from Illinois named Stephen Douglas had idea for an Act that is known to follow popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is where people vote to decide on laws and other things that need to be decided on. He was trying to spread the country westward. First you need to know that Kansas and Nebraska were originally one territory but the Act broke them in two. It is best Understood as the breakup of the Democratic Party. Anti slavery democrats were merging into the Republican Party which started up the breakup of the country. This Act stated that the people would have the right to vote whether it was going to be a slave state or not. This Act repealed the Missouri Compromise which said that slavery was outlawed above the 36* 30’ latitude line. Once the Act passed on May 30th, 1854 the Kansas and and Nebraska territory took a vote to decide the future of the state.When the Kansans voted and resulted in having slavery to the territory some of them decided to act out and that lead to the civil war .Some of the citizens were upset and they were arguing about why they had slavery. This relates to the Civil War because it was a battle to end or to keep slavery and in this some of the Kansans were mad and didn’t want slavery while others wanted …show more content…

Since the Kansas-Nebraska act let the Kansas and Nebraska territories vote for whether the were going to become a slave state or not, it really started the breakup of the Democratic Party. There were already some democrats who liked slavery and there were also some that would rather not have it. These people with different thoughts were starting to break apart already but the Kansas-Nebraska really drew the line. When the Act was passed the anti-slavery democrats were furious and split into the Republican Party. They were mad because it repealed the Missouri Compromise which was outlawing slavery above the 36*30’ line. What upset them even more was when the Kansans took their vote and they ended up as a slave territory. This is why we have two parties but they aren’t split over slavery anymore. That’s not all since the act stated that the citizens of the territories would vote on what they would have in the future that is Popular Sovereignty. Popular Sovereignty is where the people vote for this to be put in place. This is significant because now America runs in Popular Sovereignty. We even vote for the

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