Kansas-Nebraska Act

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Kansas-Nebraska Act

United States [1854]

Also known as: An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, Nebraska Bill

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 • Article History

Category: History & Society

Officially:: An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas

On the Web:: United States Senate - The Kansas-Nebraska Act (Mar. 22, 2024)

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Kansas-Nebraska Act, in the antebellum period of U.S. history, critical national policy change concerning the expansion of slavery into the territories, affirming the concept of popular sovereignty over congressional edict. In 1820 the Missouri Compromise had excluded slavery from that part of the Louisiana Purchase (except Missouri) north of the 36°30′ parallel. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, provided for the territorial organization of Kansas and Nebraska under the principle of popular sovereignty, which had been applied to New Mexico and Utah in the Compromise of 1850. Pres. Franklin Pierce signed An Act to Organize the ...(100 of 210 words)

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