| | On May 30, 1854, Congress passed the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/kanneb.htm], which created the territories of [[Kansas]] and Nebraska, divided at the 40th parallel, and gave them [[popular sovereignty]],<ref>[http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/kansas-nebraska_act.htm]</ref> that is, the right to decide whether to allow slavery or not. This act had been proposed by Senator [[Stephen Douglas]] of [[Illinois]], and angered slavery opponents because it allowed for the possibility of slavery north of the line drawn in the 1820 [[Missouri Compromise]]. The Kansas-Nebraska Act led to violence in Kansas, known as Bleeding Kansas. Despite the fact that such violence did not take place in Nebraska, Nebraska had to wait until March 1, 1867 to enter the Union. | | On May 30, 1854, Congress passed the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/kanneb.htm], which created the territories of [[Kansas]] and Nebraska, divided at the 40th parallel, and gave them [[popular sovereignty]],<ref>[http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/kansas-nebraska_act.htm]</ref> that is, the right to decide whether to allow slavery or not. This act had been proposed by Senator [[Stephen Douglas]] of [[Illinois]], and angered slavery opponents because it allowed for the possibility of slavery north of the line drawn in the 1820 [[Missouri Compromise]]. The Kansas-Nebraska Act led to violence in Kansas, known as Bleeding Kansas. Despite the fact that such violence did not take place in Nebraska, Nebraska had to wait until March 1, 1867 to enter the Union. |