The Kansas-Nebraska Act Douglas wanted to create a new territory to be called Nebraska, west of Missouri and Iowa, to build the transcontinental railroad through. The eastern terminus, or ending point, would be located in Chicago. Stephen Douglas, a Democratic Senator from Illinois, knew that any attempt to repeal the Missouri Compromise would divide the country. Douglas first proposed that the Nebraska territory would be allowed to exercise popular sovereignty on slavery. Southern leaders didn’t bite. Next, Douglas proposed that the region should be divided into two territories. Nebraska would be on the north, next to the free state of Iowa, and Kansas would be on the south, west of the slave state of Missouri.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act Douglas’ bill outraged Northern Democrats and Whigs. Democrats in Congress won enough support to pass the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Bleeding Kansas Kansas became the first battle ground between those favoring the extension of slavery and those opposing it. Thousands of “border ruffians” from Missouri crossed into Kansas and voted illegally for slavery. Later, the ruffians attacked the town of Lawrence, a stronghold of antislavery settlers. By the end of 1856, 200 people had died and two million dollars worth of property had been destroyed.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Caning in Congress Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, a fiery abolitionist, delivered a speech accusing pro-slavery senators of forcing Kansas into the ranks of slave states. Sumner singled out Andrew Butler of South Carolina. On May 22, 1856 Butler’s second cousin, Representative Preston Brooks, approached Sumner at his desk in the Senate chamber and beat him with a cane.