ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the Kansas-Nebraska Act,

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the plainest vaudeville show of all time.

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Okay, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 marked

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what legislative change in the western territories?

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These things over here.

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ elephant trumpets ]

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Okay.

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What exactly is this question asking, people?

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Well, we know the Kansas-Nebraska Act

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shook things up by allowing settlers to vote on whether or not

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they wanted slavery in the newly created territories

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of Kansas and Nebraska. So let's see

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which answer best describes the ramifications

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of such a big decision.

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Did the Kansas-Nebraska Act

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A - invalidate the idea of popular sovereignty?

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Well, actually, the Act was a huge boost

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for popular sovereignty, which is the right

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to make a decision through voting.

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In fact, when the Act was passed, a huge number

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of settlers rushed into the state, hoping

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to have their say in whether Kansas would tilt towards slavery

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or toward freedom. So that knocks out A and D.

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Did the Kansas-Nebraska Act shake things up because C -

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it temporarily granted Blacks the right to vote?

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Hmm. Well, Blacks were not granted the right to vote

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until after the Civil War, so we're about

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ten years early on that one.

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Which means the Kansas-Nebraska Act's biggest legislative impact was

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B - it effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

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Well, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 forbade slavery in

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any territory north of the latitude line that marked

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the southern border of Missouri.

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This one, right here.

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But Kansas and Nebraska are both north of that line.

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And by opening the issue to a popular vote,

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the Kansas-Nebraska Act invalidated the Compromise.

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So B is the right answer.

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And that must have made Missouri pretty, well,

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Missouri-able.

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