Provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act do? The provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act were:
The new territories were established as Kansas in the south and Nebraska in the north opening new lands for settlement
Their boundaries and limits Kansas and Nebraska were defined
The settlers would decide (popular sovereignty) whether or not to have slavery
What was the reason for Kansas-Nebraska Act? The existing area was organized as a territory and settlers would not move move westward into Nebraska and Kansas because they could not legally hold a claim on the land. The Kansas-Nebraska Act would allow them to claim ownership.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act related to the issue of existing Free States and the existing Slave States.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 had declared that Missouri be admitted as a slave state and and Maine be admitted as a slave state, maintaining a balance between 'free soil' and 'slave soil'. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 also prohibited the extension of slavery north of the 36°30′ latitude, as indicated on the map
The Compromise of 1850 provided that California be admitted as a free state and The territories of Utah and New Mexico had been opened to the people to decide by Popular Sovereignty whether their states favored or opposed slavery as indicated on the map, contravening the Missouri Compromise
In 1854 the Kansas and Nebraska territories were the next areas subjected to a dispute over the issue of slavery
