Hist552 Wk1 2nd Forum from proffesor

  This is the question from professor Ward: What eventually happened to Kansas? What government was set up? When and how did it become a state? He asked that question from my post below: Impact of Kansas Nebraska Act The Kansas Nebraska act was regarded as a controversial bill that led to the further split between North and South.[1] The suggested bill enables the natives to decide whether they would allow slavery or not. This was buried within a bill that was all about the future transcontinental railway, farmland and new territories. Stephen A. Douglas started the bill at the Congress with the intention of establishing a territory in the Midwest. The terms and conditions set by Missouri Comprise guaranteed a Free State territory because of the location of the territory. Due to his desire to garner votes of the Southerners at the Congress, Douglas made it clear that the territory ought to be divided into two divisions: Kansas and Nebraska. This enabled him to propose that the natives of the southerners be allowed to decide on their own if they would allow slavery or not. This was popularly known as the popular sovereignty. Kansas became active slavery. Tensions spread from the northern opposition. Abolitionist opposed the bill. Those who owned slaves moved to Kansas and abolitions also settled in Kansas in opposition.[2] This led to the establishment of the official legislature and unofficial legislature was too established in the opposition. Murder became rampant. Abolitionist John Brown killed farmers who were pro-slavery and this eventually led to the breaking of the fight between abolitionists and those who hold a strong belief in slavery. This was a war on the small scale and would later be termed as Bleeding Kansas. The tensions from these events led to the further rifting of northern and southern states which eventually bore the civil war. Bibliography Etcheson, Nicole. "Where Popular Sovereignty Worked:" The Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854, 2014, 159-182. ________________________________________ [1] Nicole Etcheson, "Where Popular Sovereignty Worked," The Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854, 2014, 159. [2] Etcheson, “Popular Sovereignty”, 166.