This led to violent conflict in Kansas and other undecided states, as well as the formation of the Republican Party, which opposed slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, according to History.com.

On December 14, 1853, Augustus C. Dodge of Iowa introduced a bill in the Senate. The bill proposed organizing the Nebraska territory, which also included an area that would become the state of Kansas.

A Hell of a Storm: The Battle for Kansas, the End of Compromise, and the Coming of the Civil War David S. Brown. Scribner, $32 (352p) ISBN 978-1-6680-2281-8 ...