The Kansas Nebraska Act was enacted in 1854 by the US Congress and it created and delimited the territories of Kansas and Nebraska during the presidency of Franklin Pierce. It was issued with the ultimate aim of creating thousands of new farms and of constructing the first Transcontinental Railroad.
Popular sovereignty was granted by this act to Kansas, in order to decide on whether its citizens preferred a pro or anti slavery stance. Such provision have rise to civil disorder in the events known as Bleeding Kansas
