The Kansas Nebraska act was the act which made slavery possible everywhere, and this made the North feel frightened because they felt that it would make slavery spread more and more throughout the country. It ultimately repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed the spread of slavery to be north of the 36 and 30 degree border that the Mason-Dixie line had previously set. After it was passed in 1854, the act caused many disputes between slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas. The Kansas-Nebraska act also stated that popular consent would decide whether a state would be a slave state or not by a state-wide vote. The unhappy southerners from the south who disagreed with the Mason-Dixie line started this act, and it led to the founding of more slave states near the northern areas.
The Dred Scott case led to much tension between the north and south as well. Dred Scott, a slave who had gone to live in Wisconsin for a few years, was recalled by his master, who claimed he was his property despite living in free territory, which Scott disagreed with. The case went to the supreme court, which decided that Scott was still property of the government. This made southerners happy to see the fugitive slave act, which led to the conflict, being upheld, but it enraged northern abolitionists. It was a big contributing factor in the civil war.
Dred Scott
www.learnnc.org
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/kansas.html
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