Enlightenment is an effect of cultural diffusion because while cultures were spreading their influence, they were encouraging many people to follow their paths to what they believe to be enlightenment. Enlightenment can be described in a different way to many different cultures, but in most cultures, it is described as being comfortable in an individual's belief, and finding what one believes to be the truth. Whether it be finding nirvana, or an intellectual level of enlightenment, it is finding peace and the answers. In a religious case, often to philosophical and theological questions. The spread of cultures to new regions, gave people more of a choice in religion and beliefs. It spread the religious beliefs to more people, and gave them a chance to attempt enlightenment and to adjust their morals and guidelines.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an 1854 bill that mandated “popular sovereignty”–allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state’s borders
