The Kansas-Nebraska Act...
The act was thought up by the Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas wanted the land out west to be opened up so that a Transcontinental Railroad could be built. Douglas wanted the railroad to have a more northern route with a major terminus in Chicago to benefit his business there. The southern states obviously preferred a more southern route. In order to appease the southern states to insure that they would vote for the act, Douglas suggested that the two states Kansas and Nebraska would be allowed to decide by popular sovereignty to be free or slave states. The act was passed and many northern abolitionists were not content. They felt that the act was essentially submitting and surrendering to the evils of slavery. This furthered tensions even more between the north and the south during the time leading up to the Civil War.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas–Nebraska_Act
No comments:
Post a Comment