Ch. 4.6. Primary Source: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
In January 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a bill that divided the land west of Missouri into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. He argued for popular sovereignty, which would allow the settlers of the new territories to decide if slavery would be legal there. Antislavery supporters were outraged because, under the terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery would have been outlawed in both territories.
After months of debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed on May 30, 1854. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers rushed to Kansas, each side hoping to determine the results of the first election held after the law went into effect. The conflict turned violent, in a situation that became known as “Bleeding Kansas,” aggravating the split between North and South.
Opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act became the catalyst for the founding of the Republican Party, which opposed the spread of slavery into the territories. Some of the first advocates of founding a new party of this name and with this central focus met in Ripon, Wisconsin, in March, 1854–two months before the Kansas-Nebraska bill was passed. The new party quickly coalesced, drawing on former members of other parties, including Whigs, Free-Soilers, Know-Nothings, and Democrats. Its first candidate for the presidency, John Frémont, lost the 1856 election to Democrat James Buchanan.
This law first addresses the Nebraska Territory (sections 1-18), and then repeats virtually identical provisions for the Kansas Territory (sections 19-36). The excerpts here concern just the Nebraska Territory.
An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas. May 30, 1854
Be it enacted…, That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted…, to wit: beginning at a point in the Missouri River where the fortieth parallel of north latitude crosses the same; then west on said parallel to the east boundary of the Territory of Utah, the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence on said summit northwest to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the territory of Minnesota; thence southward on said boundary to the Missouri River; thence down the main channel of said river to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory Nebraska;
and when admitted as a State or States, the said Territory or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of the admission…
Provided..., That nothing in this act contained shall construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said Territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty…; but all such territory shall excepted out of the boundaries, and constitute no part of the Territory of Nebraska…
SEC. 2. … That the executive power and authority in and over said Territory of Nebraska shall be vested in a Governor who shall hold his office for four years…
SEC. 3. … That there shall be a Secretary of said Territory, who shall reside therein, and hold his office for five years…
SEC 4. … That the legislative power and authority of said Territory shall be vested in the Governor and a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly shall consist of a Council and House of Representatives. The Council shall consist of thirteen members, having the qualifications of voters, as hereinafter prescribed, whose term of service shall continue two years. The House of Representatives shall, at its first session, consist of twenty-six members, possessing the same qualifications as prescribed for members of the Council, and whose term of service shall continue one year…
SEC. 5. … That every free white male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years who shall be an actual resident of said Territory, and shall possess the qualifications hereinafter prescribed, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said Territory; but the qualifications of voters, and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, shall be such as shall be prescribed by the Legislative Assembly: Provided, That the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States and those who shall have declared on oath their intention to become such, and shall have taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this act…
SEC. 6. … That… no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States…
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the judicial power of said Territory shall be vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and in Justices of the Peace…
SEC. 10. … That the provisions of an act entitled “An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters,” approved February twelve, seventeen hundred and ninety-three, and the provisions of the act entitled ” An act to amend, and supplementary to, the aforesaid act,” approved September eighteen, eighteen hundred and fifty, be, and the same are hereby, declared to extend to and be in full force within the limits of said Territory of Nebraska.
SEC. 12. … That the Governor, Secretary, Chief Justice, and Associate Justices, Attorney and Marshal, shall be nominated, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed by the President of the United States…
SEC. 14… That the Constitution, and all Laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Nebraska as elsewhere within the United States, except the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union approved March sixth, eighteen hundred and twenty, which, being inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by Congress with slaves in the States and Territories, as recognized by the legislation of eighteen hundred and fifty, commonly called the Compromise Measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void;
it being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form an regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation which may have existed prior to the act of sixth March, eighteen hundred and twenty, either protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery…
Approved, May 30, 1854.
Sources: the National Archives site, “Our Documents,” under the Kansas-Nebraska Act (from which the above introductory comments are adapted); the Library of Congress’s site on “Primary Documents of American History,” under the Kansas-Nebraska Act (with many related documents and additional sources); and Teaching American History.org, under the Kansas-Nebraska Act (text only).