Impactful Events in History: Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act

In the early stages of U.S. history American politics always wanted to have a say on Westward expansion. Mostly because they argued over which nation would have more power over the other would be the South or the North. An event that triggered some tension between the two nations is likely to be the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 as there were some against kicking the Native Americans out of their land and some for it so in the end, I acted as a catalyst for more upcoming events.

Events such as the Compromise of 1850 had a great deal of importance because it caused a great deal of change both politically, and geographically. It opened the gateway into adding California to the Union as a free state. Which inevitably angered the southerners because of the gold that was found in California most of the southerners wanted to gain California as a slave state to profit from it more. The compromise held a good deal of controversy over ending the slave trade in Washington DC but yet still allowing slaveholders to keep their slaves which was a very confusing decision to make and could be a little too late in terms of trying to make a change or trying to take a step forward in abolishing slavery. Because of the new states that were opening up the southerners felt as if they weren't given much respect for authority, so they gained the Fugitive Slave Law that gave them the right to report about any Runaway/ fugitive slaves, so they could be returned to their owners and it even caused more tension because if a free slave was to be found in the north by Southerner, the Southerner would still hold power in accusing a free slave of being a runaway and could subsequently end up a slave due to the lack of rights African Americans held at that time.

As people became more and more divided as more states were being added to the union and in the time were more tension arose between the south and the north, in an attempt taken by the northerners to try and take advantage and create a stronger federal government they created the “Republican Party” which also helped be in favor of the opposition of slavery in the western states. The southerners did not like the new party because it was an opposition to everything they believed in. and when Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 as a member of the Republican Party it became clear that the south would lose and suffer under his rule, which fortunately led to the section of the south from the union. And even though Abraham Lincoln's intentions were focused on trying to unite the union instead of break it, his efforts went to waste because after the south succeeded it became known what the clear solution was a war to finally put an end to the dispute in the nation.

In an attempt to try and ease the growing tension popular sovereignty was put into place to help the decision process of adding the new western states as free or slave state senator lewis Cass suggested its usage. While in the Kansas -Nebraska act in 1854 Stephen Douglas tried to introduce its used to help the southerners and the pro-slavery movement. Both anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces gathered rushingly in an attachment to make sure each other’s votes are less than others but Popular sovereignty successfully added both Kansas and Nebraska slave states which angered the northerners and the abolitionists. Angry abolitionists like John Brown led a raid on pro-slavery thinkers and ended up killing approximately 60 people in Kansas and the incident became known as “Bleeding Kansas'. 

In conclusion, impactful events that happened between the years of 1844 to 1861 that caused even more tension between politics in America are events such as, the major Compromise of 1850, a minor event like the formation of a new political party known as the” Republic” in 1854, and a major the Kansas-Nebraska Act that led to a lot of controversies due to the decision of” popular sovereignty”. Such events have a deep effect on creating what is now known as America and in altering the US fundamentally in territory, politics, views, and understanding.