Lecture 1 Kansas Nebraska Act

Lecture 1: Kansas-Nebraska Act

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Lecture 1 Key Points

• Know the details of the Kansas-Nebraska Act as a key event leading to the Civil War

• Provide good details about the different points of view concerning the Kan-Neb Act

Word Cloud

Type a few words about the American Civil War.

Background

The Missouri Compromise

The question of slavery had long fueled debate in the United States. Each time this debate flared, the nation's leaders struck some form of compromise.

For example, in 1820 the Missouri Compromise preserved the balance between slave and free states in the Senate. It also brought about a temporary stop in the debate over slavery.

After war with Mexico, the nation gained new territory. Soon people from slave and free states would move into these areas. Each settler wanted to bring their own way of life with them.

United States expands, 1848

Introduced a law that stated all new territory gained from Mexico would prohibit slavery. This was known as the Wilmont Proviso. The bill failed to be passed into law.

David Wilmont, Pennsylvania

Offered another idea, saying that neither Congress nor any territorial government could ban slavery from a territory or regulate it. This bill also failed to become law.

John C. Calhoun, South Carolina

​Competing Ideas about new territory

Neither presidential candidate took a stance on the issue of slavery. Some voters were angry about this. These voters supported a new political party. The Free-Soil Party.

Election of 1848

Other events

In 1849 California applied to become a state—without slavery. If California became a free state, however, slave states would be outvoted in the Senate.

​California statehood

Anyone who helped a fugitive could be fined or imprisoned. Some Northerners refused to obey the new law.

​Fugitive Slave Act

• Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

if the law "requires you to be the agent [cause] of injustice to another, then I say, break the law." 

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Key Details of the law

In 1854 Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill to settle the issue of slavery in the territories. It organized the region west of Missouri and Iowa as the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Both were north of 36°30' N latitude, the line that limited slavery. Before the law they would have been free, giving the free states more votes in the Senate and angering the South.

Douglas hoped to make his plan acceptable to both the North and South. He proposed repealing the Missouri Compromise and letting the voters in each territory vote on whether to allow slavery. He called his proposal "popular sovereignty."

Let Voters Choose

Central to the American system of government, means that the people are the source of all government power. Douglas's popular sovereignty came to mean a particular method for deciding the question of slavery in a place. Such as new states.

​Democracy

Northerners protested. The plan allowed slavery in areas that had been free for years.

Northerners

Southerners supported the bill. They expected Kansas to be settled mostly by slaveholders from Missouri. They would, of course, vote to keep slavery legal.

​​Southerners

​Reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Armed pro-slavery supporters known as border ruffians crossed the border from Missouri just to vote. When elections took place, only about 1,500 voters lived in Kansas, but more than 6,000 people voted. The pro-slavery group won.

Pro-Slavery

In May 1856, slavery supporters attacked the town of Lawrence, an antislavery stronghold. Antislavery forces retaliated. John Brown led an attack that killed five supporters of slavery. Newspapers wrote about "Bleeding Kansas" and "the Civil War in Kansas." A civil war is war between citizens of the same country. In October 1856, federal troops arrived to stop the bloodshed.

​Anti-Slavery

Match

Match the following

• Pro-Slavery

• Anti-Slavery

• Underground Railroad

• Abolitionist Movement

• Dred Scott Decision

supported popular sovereignty

opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act

secret network to help slaves escape

advocated for immediate emancipation

ruled African Americans were not citizens

• supported popular sovereignty

• opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act

• secret network to help slaves escape

• advocated for immediate emancipation

• ruled African Americans were not citizens

Multiple Choice

How did California statehood play a role in the events leading the Civil War?

• intensified the debate over the expansion of slavery

• California statehood led to increased unity among the states
• California statehood had no impact on the events leading to the Civil War
• California statehood resulted in the immediate abolition of slavery

Multiple Choice

What was the Missouri Compromise of 1820?

• The Missouri Compromise of 1820 abolished slavery in all states
• established a line across the Louisiana Territory to regulate the extension of slavery

• The Missouri Compromise of 1820 allowed slavery in all states
• The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a military agreement between Missouri and Maine

Multiple Choice

Who were the border ruffians?

• Anti-slavery activists from eastern Missouri who crossed the border into Kansas
• Pro-slavery activists from western Missouri who crossed the border into Kansas
• Native American tribes who lived along the Kansas-Missouri border
• European immigrants who settled in Kansas during the 1850s

Multiple Choice

Who was John Brown?

• A Russian composer famous for his ballets
• A British explorer who discovered the source of the Nile River
• A French painter known for his impressionist style
• An American abolitionist

Multiple Choice

How did Steven A. Douglas play an important part in the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

• Opposed the concept of popular sovereignty
• Advocated for the expansion of slavery into new territories
• Proposed the idea of popular sovereignty
• Introduced the idea of direct popular vote

Multiple Choice

How did northerners react to the Fugitive Slave Act?

• Northerners were indifferent to the Fugitive Slave Act.
• Northerners supported and embraced the Fugitive Slave Act.
• Northerners were unaware of the Fugitive Slave Act.
• Northerners reacted with opposition and resistance.

Multiple Choice

How did Henry David Thoreau suggest people react to unfair laws?

• Follow them blindly
• Start a violent revolution
• Ignore them completely
• Practice civil disobedience

Did you know?

Trivia

The Kansas-Nebraska Act had other implications in addition to an attempt to balance the number of slave states and free states. One of these other issues caused well-known politician Stephen Douglas to come out of retirement. Douglas wanted a transcontinental railroad that would take a northern route with a stop in his home city of Chicago. The South and the North were in conflict over whether the railroad should end in the North or in the South. Douglas thought the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the popular sovereignty idea would quiet the slavery debate, which he believed distracted the nation from more important work. He hoped both would please Southerners, who might then support the northern route for the railroad.

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