may 30, 1854 - Kansas-Nebraska Act

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In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed for the states conquered from Mexico to decide if slavery should be legal in their territory by referendum. In the violence that followed, the Whigs split into the Free Soil Party and Republican Party, both of whom felt that the Whigs had not done enough to support slavery. By contrast, a split began to occur in the Democrats between the pro-popular sovereignty, soft on slavery Northern Democrats and the explicitly pro-slavery Southern Democrats.

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