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What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act? What happened?
The phrase Kansas coined during this period, 'Bloody Kansas", was due to the extreme violence in the territory which later proved to be a preview of the upcoming civil war. The people became hostile when the time came to vote upon whether or not slavery would be allowed in the state. Fights began to break out, especially after 1200 New England abolitionists and hundreds of southern proslaverites settled the area in hopes of swaying the vote.
What is the impact of both the Kansas-Nebraska Act and "Bloody Kansas" on the politics of the day? Who was involved?
John Brown was a radical abolitionist. He was a man willing to die for his cause, as well as kill for it. He became a martyr to some, and a devil to others. In Southeastern Kansas lies a small town known as Pottawatomie Creek. It was at this location where John Brown contributed most to the many killings in "Bloody Kansas." He slaughtered five people at the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre just because they were in favor of slavery.Brown also attacked a Federal Arsenal with his five sons and was later convicted of treason and given the death penalty. He was one of many to contribute to the blood spilled in Kansas over th e issue of slavery.
Impact on the growing disunity within the nation:
This greatly impacted the growing disunity within the United Sates. Popular sovereignty backfired on Congress; the idea itself seemed ideal, after all it did allow for the people to decide their own fate. However, it was assumed that the balance of congressional votes from pro- and anti-slavery states would remain equal. This assumption was based off of the idea that Nebraska would enter as a free state and Kansas would in turn enter as a slave state. However, congress had not anticipated the overflow of New England Abolitionist who had settled the area and voted, as well as preached their antislavery ideals to other settlers. This would throw off the balance politically.

This also greatly impacted political parties. The Whig party was completely split over the issue. They became split on every controvertible issue from this point forw ard. Due to this lack of ability to say what they will and will not stand for, the party was eventually disbanded.This left the Democratic Party being the only political party with both ties to the North and South, thus having both Northern and Southern interests at heart.

The act greatly displeased many northerners. In fact, a great majority of the Northern population was greatly opposed to the Kansas- Nebraska Act. This was due to the fact that is nullified the Missouri Compromise, thus allowing for slavery in territories above the Mason Dixon line. This meant that there was potential for the practice of slavery to spread further north. Also, it completely ignored all previous compromises, the Compromise of 1820 and Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 hit hardest. If the government was willing to ignore the compromise the North was more than willing to ignore the Fugitive Slave Act that had come along with it.The north became more willing to hide slaves on their journey to Canada, despite the fact that under the fugitive slave laws they were obligated to have their houses searched without a warrant or the fact that they were legally obligated to help search for a lost slave. With the lack of respect for the Compromise, came a lack of respect for the Fugitive Slave Laws that were passed with it.

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Kansas-Nebraska Act - The Railroad Express

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What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act? What happened? The phrase Kansas coined during this period, 'Bloody Kansas", was due to the extreme violence in the territory which later proved to be a preview of the upcoming civil war. The people became hostile when the time came to vote upon whether or not slavery would be allowed in the state.

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Because of the unbalanced of power, the South began to break from the Union. Abraham Lincoln hopes for them to reconnect, but he knows it won't happen without a fight. The tension between the North and the South is at its breaking point, the beginning of the civil war.

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11. Abraham Lincoln's claim to Presidency

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11. Abraham Lincoln's claim to Presidency

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In the voting for presidency, Lincoln won, even though he received only 40 percent of the U.S's votes. The rest of the votes were split among two candidates in the South. There was also, for some reason, an extra voting slot for a party, though that was mainly ignored. This brought the South to fear the North, mainly because now they had the power to end slavery.

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The debate between Lincoln and Douglas for the senate seat of Illinois was pretty heated. Although Douglas won the debate by the ballot, Lincoln's popularity grew among the North, where anti-slavery continued to grow. (You can see Douglas scowling at Lincoln in the back there XD )

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The Dred-Scott Decision was one made by the Supreme Court over the suing Dred Scott placed on his owner. The Court supported their ruling, which was Dred Scott's sue was invalid, by saying that Dred-Scott was property, so he had no rights(meaning he can't sue). The Court's other argument is that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, so Wisconsin can't be considered a free state.

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Overtime, Congress became more and more divided because of the Compromises and Acts(listed above.) A specific event is when Charles Summer was in the Senate, sending hateful and insulting words to pro-slavery representatives. The nephew of Andrew Butler later beats Summer up with a cane, proving how broken up the United States were.

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The Nebraska-Kansas Act caused Kansas to be fought between slavery and free. People moved there to help one side or the other. However, this caused the state to be greatly divided, and people turned to violence.

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The Act allowed Nebraska and Kansas to decide whether they were free states or if they were slave states. It was an attempt to calm the Missouri Compromise, which said slavery above a
certain Longitude and Latitude was abolished.

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The act placed was meant for slave owners to get their slaves back, but it failed. Southerners wanted the act to be better because only a handful of slaves were returned. Meanwhile, Northerners didn't want to support the act. The Act just made tensions grow.

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The compromise at this time was created by Henry Clay to try to please everyone. It stated for California to be a free state, New Mexico and Utah would decide their side, slave markets in Washington D.C. would be banned, and a law to retrieve slaves would be placed. However, instead of pleasing everyone, almost everyone was displeased. The Fugitive Slave Act was basically useless, and the market banning made Southerners more angry.

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The fugitive slaves were slaves that escaped their owners. These slaves held rebellions or ran away to safety in other states. Most Southerners wanted their slaves back with a law.

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Basically, the Northerners began to protest more after the Missouri Compromise. With the Second Great Awakening, abolitionists were determined to end slavery, but the government put the "gag rule," where the talk of abolition was ended.

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The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was the compromise the government made to try to preserve the balance of power in the Congress. The power balance was equal amounts of slave states to free states. The decision was to make Missouri a slave state.