In the mid-1800s, the Fugitive Slave Act and Kansas-Nebraska Act greatly angered people in the North for several reasons. Firstly, the Fugitive Slave Act required northerners to assist in the capture and return of escaped slaves, going against their beliefs in freedom and abolition. This act intensified tensions between the North and the South regarding the issue of slavery.
Secondly, the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery or not. This act led to violent conflicts such as "Bleeding Kansas," where pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces clashed over the fate of slavery in the region.
Additionally, the passage of these acts was seen as a betrayal of previous compromises like the Missouri Compromise, which sought to maintain a balance between free and slave states. The perceived expansion of slavery into new territories fueled anti-slavery sentiments in the North and deepened the divide between the two regions.
Furthermore, the Fugitive Slave Act and Kansas-Nebraska Act represented a shift towards favoring the interests of slave states, alarming many in the North who saw these acts as a threat to the principles of liberty and equality. The combination of these factors incited widespread outrage and resistance among northerners, contributing to the growing tensions that eventually led to the Civil War.
