US History
Kansas – Nebraska Act
Kansas – Nebraska Act
 Senator Stephen Douglas (Chicago) wanted to build a continental railroad
 Douglas wanted his town of Chicago to be the center of where the
railroad was built
 Could not be made w/o land grants and land grants were only given if the
Western region it passed through was already a state not a territory
Stephen Douglas
Kansas – Nebraska Act – cont.
 Douglas proposed a bill to have the Kansas – Nebraska Territory
 He proposed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of
1850 be replaced with popular sovereignty to determine whether the
territory should be free of slave states
Kansas – Nebraska Act – cont.
 Popular Sovereignty – the vote of the people living in a specific area –
popular vote wins
 This is how he got the southern vote
 Kansas – Nebraska Act passed in 1854
 Northerners were not happy
Expansion and Slavery
2 reasons Northerners wanted no slavery
Because they believed slavery was wrong
They opposed it spreading to territories b/c
they did not want to live or compete w/
blacks
Several Midwestern states (like IL,IN) put
bans on blacks moving to their states in
their constitution
Republican Party
 People who wanted no slavery became the
Republicans
 Named after the Jefferson’s Democratic – Republicans –
which had been dropped by the Democrats
 Party was launched on July 6, 1854
 Declared slavery was an evil
 Demanded the KS-NB Act and Fugitive Slave Act be
abolished
 Sink all political differences until slavery was abolished
Political Parties
There were now 3 main political
parties
Democrats
Republicans
Know-Nothing Party
Know-Nothing Party
 Wanted to keep foreigners out
 Especially Roman Catholics
 Real name was the American Party
 Called this because members replied “I don’t know” when asked about
party activities
Bleeding Kansas
 When KS-NB Act was passed Northerners and Southerners rushed into
territories to gain the popular sovereignty vote
 It became violent
 Even religious groups tried to solve the slavery issue violently
Bleeding Kansas – cont.
 May 1856 – proslavery sheriff led a mob into anti-slavery Lawrence and
burnt it
 John Brown led a counter attack along the Pottawatomie River on May 24,
1856
 He slaughtered 5 men
 He admitted to it but nothing was done about it
John Brown
Violence in the Senate
 May 19th Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner for two
days verbally attacked pro-slavery congressman
especially Andrew P Butler, an aged senator from South
Carolina.
 May 22nd Butler’s nephew Preston S. Brooks walked into
the chamber and up to Sumner telling him of his distaste
for the speech and striking Sumner over and over again
resulting in brain damage and three years out of the
senate.
 Southerners commended Brooks giving him canes
inscribed with “hit him again” and northerners were
appalled seeing this as another attack by southerners to
condemn freedom of speech, tensions were on the rise.