It would have allowed each new state to vote whether to be slave or free.
This sounded nice and orderly, but the result was just the opposite. When Kansas became the first state to vote, every bully-boy from both sides descended on Kansas to intimidate the voters and interrupt the elections. They called it 'Bleeding Kansas'.
Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act that opened lands for settlement. He believed that if the government allowed the white settlers in those states to decide through popular sovereignty whether they want to be slave state or free would end the debates.
Political doctrine that allowed the settlers of U.S. federal territories to decide whether to enter the Union as free or slave states. It was applied by Sen. stephen-a-douglasas a means to reach a compromise through passage of the kansas-nebraska-act. Critics of the doctrine called it "squatter sovereignty." The resulting violence between pro- and antislavery factions (see bleeding-kansas) showed its failure as a workable compromise.Read more: popular-sovereignty
Popular sovereignty is when a majority vote within a region or state determines its policies. The Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 allowed popular sovereignty to decide whether a territory was to be a free state or a slave state.
Popular Sovereignty
Popular Sovereignty. -ssm466
Popular sovereignty was well supported because it allowed the local citizens of a territory to decide if slavery was to be allowed or illegal. Stephen A. Douglas pushed for popular sovereignty during the 1840's.
Stephan A. Douglas proposed the Kansas Nebraska Act in 1854.
Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act that opened lands for settlement. He believed that if the government allowed the white settlers in those states to decide through popular sovereignty whether they want to be slave state or free would end the debates.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Democratic senator from Illinois, Stephen Douglas is most associated with the idea of popular sovereignty. His Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed citizens in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to vote on the slavery issue before the territory applied for statehood.
Stephen A. Douglas was an American politician from Illinois and the designed of the Nebraska-Kansas Act. The act wanted to create a sovereign nation that allowed male white settlers whether they would allow slavery in those nations.Ê
Stephen A. Douglas was an American politician from Illinois and the designed of the Nebraska-Kansas Act. The act wanted to create a sovereign nation that allowed male white settlers whether they would allow slavery in those nations.Ê
Stephen A. Douglas was an American politician from Illinois and the designed of the Nebraska-Kansas Act. The act wanted to create a sovereign nation that allowed male white settlers whether they would allow slavery in those nations.Ê
Voting is a word related to popular sovereignty. As an example of this in American history there is an antebellum law passed by the US Congress involving this term. In 1854, the US Congress passed the Kansas - Nebraska Act. At the time this was backed a leading US Senator, Stephen A. Douglas. The Act was given the tag of popular sovereignty as it allowed the citizens of both these then US Territories to vote whether the territories would be slave States or free States when they applied for Statehood in the United States.
Senator Stephen A. Douglas was not an abolitionist. He thought that the slavery debate would never be resolved peacefully in its current form. So he proposed that each new state, before it applied for statehood, should be allowed to vote on whether to be slave or free. The result was the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. This was based on his belief in popular sovereignty. Douglas was a nationally known leader who also hoped the transcontinental railroad would start from Chicago, Illinois, his home state.
Neither Lincoln nor Douglas supported slavery. The difference was that Lincoln and the Republican Party was dedicated to have slavery in the US abolished. Douglas believed that the people in each state should decide the slavery issue. His policy was called popular sovereignty.
Under popular sovereignty, the residents of the territory would ultimately decide whether slavery would be allowed. This principle meant that the people living in a particular territory would determine their own laws and institutions, including the decision on the legality of slavery.