What was the Kansas and nebraskas act?

Answer 1

It was a deal to appease the South, so that they would agree to allow the first coast-to-coast railroad to go via Chicago rather than the New Mexico route that they were hoping for.

Under this Act, every new state could vote whether to be slave or free. So the South could see some prospect of extending slavery - which had been getting more difficult.

But nobody foresaw the danger of letting new states vote individually. When Kansas became the first state to vote, every bully-boy from both sides descended on thinly-populated Kansas, to intimidate voters and declare the results to be rigged.

There was a lot of violence, and this unhappy period was called 'Bleeding Kansas'.

Answer 2

It allowed Kansas Territory to vote on whether or not it would have legal slavery. Of course, people on both sides of the issue went to Kansas to vote and the tension escalated to violence.