Key Events and Figures of the Kansas-Nebraska Act Era

Kansas-Nebraska Act

An 1854 law allowing settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to determine via popular sovereignty whether to allow slavery, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise.

John Brown

A radical abolitionist who led violent anti-slavery actions, including the Pottawatomie Creek massacre and the Harpers Ferry raid.

Pottawatomie Creek

The site where John Brown and his followers killed five pro-slavery settlers in 1856 as part of the Bleeding Kansas conflict.

Sumner-Brooks Incident

A violent 1856 attack in which Congressman Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner with a cane over an anti-slavery speech criticizing Brooks' uncle.

Know-Nothing Party

A nativist political party in the 1850s opposed to immigration and Catholic influence, officially known as the American Party.

Republican Party (creation)

Founded in 1854 by anti-slavery Whigs, Democrats, and Free Soilers to oppose the expansion of slavery.

James Buchanan

The 15th U.S. president (1857-1861), criticized for his inaction as tensions over slavery escalated toward the Civil War.

Lecompton Constitution

A pro-slavery Kansas constitution drafted in 1857, rejected by Congress and Kansas voters due to widespread opposition.

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

A Supreme Court case ruling that African Americans were not citizens and Congress had no power to restrict slavery in the territories.

Roger Taney

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who delivered the pro-slavery majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sanford.

Abraham Lincoln (pre-presidency)

An Illinois lawyer and former congressman who gained national attention through his anti-slavery stance and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Freeport Doctrine

Stephen Douglas' assertion during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates that territories could effectively exclude slavery by refusing to enact laws protecting it.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

A series of seven debates in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas over slavery's expansion, pivotal in Lincoln's rise to prominence.

Stephen Douglas

A senator from Illinois who authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act and advocated for popular sovereignty in deciding slavery's expansion.

Bleeding Kansas

Violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas from 1854-1859, sparked by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.