The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Of all the steps on the road to Civil War, perhaps none had a more profound effect than the Kansas-Nebraska Act. A bill pushed through Congress in 1854 by Senator Stephen Douglas, whose real intent was to help the railroads expand westward, the legislation created two new territories and was supposed to reduce tensions over slavery.

The pugnacious Douglas actually wound up inflaming passions over slavery. What's worse, his bill also incited what editor Horace Greeley, with characteristic drama, referred to as "Bleeding Kansas." The bloodshed in the new territory eventually spread to the halls of Congress.

In Douglas's home state, a lawyer who had put aside political aspirations, Abraham Lincoln, was inspired to return to the stump. He denounced Douglas and his Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, and their famed debates four years later would put Lincoln on the road to the White House.

Acts of Congress have been known to have unintended consequences, but nothing really compares to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Image: Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois/Library of Congress