AP US History in 1 Minute Daily: Kansas-Nebraska Act (Day 131/309)

Hey APUSHers, let’s chat about the Kansas-Nebraska Act as part of my series- APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!

Extension of Slavery, Britannica

Efforts at compromise over the issue of slavery had temporarily eased tensions since the nation’s founding. However, sectional tensions continued to rise throughout the 1850s.

Extension of Slavery, Britannica

In 1854, In an effort to better organize western territories, Senator Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It would ignore the Missouri Compromise by applying popular sovereignty to each territory. This would allow residents to determine the status of slavery in each region.

Border Ruffians Invading Kansas, Wikimedia Commons

As a result, both proslavery and free-state settlers flooded to Kansas to vote in the election to determine the territory’s status. With profuse voter fraud, both groups declared victory and two divergent governments emerged.

Lawrence Massacre, Wikimedia Commons

Violence erupted in what became known as “Bleeding Kansas,” essentially a civil war in the region. The brutality demonstrated intensifying tensions over the issue of the slavery when compromise had been sought.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act ignored prior federal policy by allowing settlers in the regions to determine the status of slavery. This led to rising tensions and increased conflict in “Bleeding Kansas.”

Join me tomorrow as I explain the Dred Scott Decision in the next APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!