... a sectional divide that would split the Union in the years to come. The origins of the Kansas-Nebraska Act lie in the uncontroversial issue of the advancement of Midwestern settlement. Farm families in Iowa and Missouri had longed to expand into the great frontier to the west, but this region had yet to be organized into a territory. Plus, many advocates of ... of building a railroad linking the coasts together. Conscience Whigs and Free-Soil Democrats from the North believed the Kansas-Nebraska Act violated the Missouri Compromise and that it was a Southern plot to spread slavery. Plus...

• Word Count: 690
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate