Beginning in the late 1840s, there was talk of creating a railroad that would run from the East Coast to the West Coast. This would make it faster and easier  to ship people and goods to California. By early1854, there were two routes that were being considered, one had the railroad starting in Chicago then heading West to California, the other route began at New Orleans and would travel through Texas before heading south through New Mexico and Arizona. The railroad would bring millions of dollars to what ever city became the home to it and would guarantee business for local factories and new jobs for residents. Business leaders and politicians of Chicago saw the transcontinental railroad to fuel the continuing growth of their city. Senator Stephen Douglas faced the daunting task of convincing Southern Congressmen to approve of Chicago's request to be the starting point of the railroad and abandon the New Orleans railway bid.  Southern Senators agreed to abandon the proposition of a southern if the remaining territory from the Louisiana Purchase would be open to slavery.

              In February 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois proposed a Bill to Congress that would divide the remaining land of the Louisiana Purchase into two territories: Kansas and Nebraska. The Bill also mentioned that the citizens of those territories would get to decide if they were to become slave states or free states.  By using popular sovereignty to decide the issue of slavery, Douglas was essentially killing the Missouri Compromise and stating that the power to make a decision on slavery is from the states not the Federal Government.   Douglas was hoping that once the Bill was passed then he would 

get enough votes for the Transcontinental  Railroad to go through Chicago.

        Douglas was one of the leading Democrats in the Senate. He used his influence in Washington to get the Bill to pass the House and the Senate with ease. Many people in the North were outraged over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Kansas and Nebraska Territories were both north of the 36 30 line from the Missouri Compromise. This land had been declared off limits to slave owners in 1820, now the National Government was overturning the Missouri Compromise.

         Across the nation Pro-Slavery and Anti-Slavery groups attempted to get the settlers into Kansas. Since the residents of Kansas were going to decide if the territory would be a slave state or a free state, thousands of emigrants traveled to Kansas. The New England Emigrant Society sent "Free Soilers" to Kansas hoping that the land would become slave free. "Border Ruffians" from the South traveled to Kansas to ensure that Kansas would become a slave state. Both groups were passionate about their beliefs prepared to fight for their cause.

        In March of 1855, there was elections held to form the legislative branch of the Territory of Kansas. In Missouri (slave state) groups were formed that took thousands of men from Missouri into Kansas to vote for pro-slavery members of the government. Since there was no clear way of deciding if the people voting were actual residents of Kansas, the people from Missouri were able to decide the fate of Kansas. Voter fraud was rampant in Kansas for that election, with both pro-slavery and anti-slavery residents and non-residents voting more than once.

A Pro-Slavery government was elected and those that opposed slavery established their own government in Lawrence Kansas.