Kansas Nebraska Act, 1854

Acts
Kansas Nebraska Act, 1854
By Congress
Aug 11, 2006, 6:06pm

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which spawned "Bleeding Kansas," was another dramatic episode in the struggle between pro- and antislavery advocates. Ushered through Congress by Illinois Senator Stephen Douglass, the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which drew the regional line between free and slave states.

This act permitted the people of each territory to decide the slave issue for themselves. Kansas became a battleground between pro- and anti- slave forces that rushed to the state. Proslavery forces from Missouri managed to pass the Lecompton Constitution, which made slavery legal in the territory. Abolitionists came to Kansas to stem the influence of proslavery advocates, and many of those used the chaos in the territory to mask Underground Railroad efforts.

Source: National Park Service

Read a transcript of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Source: NARA - Our Documents