It got so widespread because it was introduced during a period when secular rationalism was an influential topic. People's dependency on the church to be their central focus began to dwindle. U.S. states were religiously divided and ministers like George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards began preaching on how humans were sinners and people needed to ask forgiveness. Overall message was to reawaken the Christian faith and go back to the times when religion was the center focus of peoples' lives. This encouraged everyone to be close to God not just a minister. New religious denominations formed from this event. This unified the colonies but caused division to those that didn't support it.
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation.
The Kansas Nebraska Act affected the border states because the Kansas Nebraska Act was set in motion a plan that was supposed to decide the Kansas question through a peaceful democratic process. Hope this helps
