45 / 64
45
Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska
In early 1854, U.S.
Senator Stephen
Douglas of Illinois
introduced a bill in
Congress that divided
the land west of
Missouri into two terri-
tories, Kansas and
Nebraska. Both of
these territories
should have been
“free” states under the
terms of the 1820
Missouri Compromise,
which had outlawed
slavery above the 36º
30’ latitude. However,
Douglas proposed
that settlers in each of
the territories should
decide whether slav-
ery would be permit-
ted, a doctrine he
called “popular sover-
eignty.” The legislation,
officially titled “An Act
to Organize the
Territories of
Nebraska and
Kansas,” reignited the
national debate over
slavery in the western
territories.