Chris G. answered • 05/20/21
Experienced English and History Teacher Available for Tutoring
The short answer is that it amplified existing tensions and led to actual bloodshed between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in what is known as "Bleeding Kansas." The fighting stemmed from the concept of "popular sovereignty," which meant the people living in a territory could decide for themselves if their territory were to enter the union as either a free or a slave state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act applied popular sovereignty to the Kansas and Nebraska territories, which was a big problem for abolitionists in the North because it essentially repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The Missouri Compromise stipulated that slavery would be banned north of latitude 36º 30’ in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. The Kansas and Nebraska territories were north of that line. Now people could actually vote to have slavery in those territories when they became states. Nebraska was seen as most likely to enter as a free state, but Kansas wasn't so certain. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups swarmed into Kansas as settlers, each hoping to sway the vote to their side. Armed conflict erupted and this further inflamed tensions between the North and the South. It had political implications as well, because it helped lead to the breakup of the Democratic Party, which split along sectional lines, and helped lead to the formation of the Republican Party. This was all a prelude to breakup of the Union. So it did not quite "create" division between the North and the South; it was rather one of many crucial steps toward the Civil War.
