Why did the Kansas-Nebraska Act upset the North?

Answer 1

The Kansas-Nebraska Act can be better understood if some background information is provided. After gaining Texas and the territories it received as a result of the war with Mexico, commercial interests began to compete for the right to build a transcontinental railroad that would link the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. This idea was agreed to by almost everyone. The matter of dispute was where the rail link would be located. In the South, they wanted the link to begin in the south to facilitate the introduction of slavery into the new western lands.Northern politicians, however had their own plan. The famous Illinois senator from Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas introduced a bill that have the new railroad begin in Chicago and connect to California.

The South, of course, objected.

In order to get things moving, Douglas then redrafted his bill which proposed that the territories of Kansas and Nebraska should be incorporated into the US, and that as they advanced to statehood, the settlers in both regions should exercise what he called " popular sovereignty ".

This would allow the citizens there to determine among themselves to be free states or slave states. The South want more, however, and Douglas added to repeal the 1850 Missouri Compromise.

The entire idea was agreeable to the politicians of the North and the South.

It did not upset the North. It did upset the abolitionists in the North who wanted no more slave states.

Answer 2

The Kansas-Nebraska Act can be better understood if some background information is provided. After gaining Texas and the territories it received as a result of the war with Mexico, commercial interests began to compete for the right to build a transcontinental railroad that would link the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. This idea was agreed to by almost everyone. The matter of dispute was where the rail link would be located. In the South, they wanted the link to begin in the south to facilitate the introduction of slavery into the new western lands.Northern politicians, however had their own plan. The famous Illinois senator from Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas introduced a bill that have the new railroad begin in Chicago and connect to California.

The South, of course, objected.

In order to get things moving, Douglas then redrafted his bill which proposed that the territories of Kansas and Nebraska should be incorporated into the US, and that as they advanced to statehood, the settlers in both regions should exercise what he called " popular sovereignty ".

This would allow the citizens there to determine among themselves to be free states or slave states. The South want more, however, and Douglas added to repeal the 1850 Missouri Compromise.

The entire idea was agreeable to the politicians of the North and the South.

It did not upset the North. It did upset the abolitionists in the North who wanted no more slave states.