Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas–Nebraska Act was an Act of Congress in 1854 organizing the remaining territory within the Louisiana Purchase for settlement before its admission to the Union. It was contrived by and passed by those legislators who favored the political standpoint of the use of popular sovereignty to decide if a territory would be open to slavery. Its passage only exacerbated the rift between the Northern and Southern states over the issue of slavery and added fuel to the fire that became the American Civil War.

The question of slavery

At the time of passage of the act, slavery supporters were somewhat more numerous than their opponents among the settlers in Kansas. There was no significant support for the institution of slavery in Nebraska. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, both pro- and anti-slavery supporters attempted to muster settlers of their own persuasion to settle in Kansas. The anti-slavery New England Emigrant Aid Company, headed by Amos Adams Lawrence, was highly successful in this project, and a nucleus of anti-slavery sentiment was established about the town of Lawrence, Kansas, which was also named after Amos Adams Lawrence himself.

Related Topics:
New England Emigrant Aid Company - Amos Adams Lawrence - Lawrence, Kansas

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Pro-slavery settlers migrated to Kansas mainly from Missouri.

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Their influence in territorial elections was often bolstered by resident Missourians who crossed the border into Kansas purely for the purpose of voting in such ballots. These interlopers were called border ruffians by their opponents, a term coined by Horace Greeley.

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The territorial capital of Lecompton, Kansas was the target of this agitation, and it consequently became such a hostile environment for Free-Soilers that they set up their own unofficial legislature at Topeka.

Related Topics:
Lecompton, Kansas - Free-Soilers - Topeka

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The hostilities between the factions reached a state of low-intensity civil war which was extremely embarrassing to the U.S. federal government, especially as the nascent Republican Party sought to capitalise on the scandal of Bleeding Kansas. Successive territorial governors attempted to maintain the peace. They were usually sympathetic to slavery, but found themselves unable to countenance the routine ballot-rigging and intimidation that was practiced far more intensively by pro-slavery settlers as they lost the race to populate the territory.

Related Topics:
Federal government - Republican Party - Bleeding Kansas

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The pro-slavery territorial legislature ultimately proposed a state constitution for approval by referendum. The constitution was offered in two alternative forms, neither of which unambiguously made slavery illegal. Free-Soil settlers boycotted the legislature's referendum and organized their own which approved a free state constitution. The results of the competing referendums were sent to Washington D.C. by the territorial governor.

Related Topics:
Free-Soil - Washington D.C.

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