The Kansas Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise allowing slavery North of the 36º 30' parallel.
Th Kansas Nebraska Act introduced by Stephen Douglas of Illinois, stipulated that the issue of slavery would be decided by the residents of each territory, a concept known as popular sovereignty. After the bill passed on May 30, 1854, violence errupted in Kansas between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers - a prelude to the Civil War. This act opened lands west of the Missouri to settlement. Previously this land was reserved for the Native American tribes.