<P> Through the Missouri Compromise of 1820 , Congress kept a tenuous balance of political power between North and South . In May 1854 , the Kansas -- Nebraska Act , created from unorganized Indian lands and territories of Kansas and Nebraska , permitted residency by U.S. citizens , who were to determine their state 's slavery status and seek admission to the Union . Immigrants supporting both sides of the question arrived in Kansas to establish residency and gain the right to vote . However , Kansas Territory officials were appointed ( 1854 ) by the pro-slavery administration of President Franklin Pierce ( in office 1853 -- 1857 ) , and thousands of non-resident pro-slavery Missourians entered Kansas with the goal of winning elections . They captured territorial elections , sometimes by fraud and intimidation . In response , Northern abolitionist elements flooded Kansas with `` free - soilers . '' Anti-slavery Kansas residents wrote the first Kansas Constitution ( 1855 ) and elected the Free State legislature in Topeka ; this stood in opposition to the pro-slavery government in Lecompton . The two Territorial governments increased as well as symbolized the strife of Bleeding Kansas . </P>
<P> Through the Missouri Compromise of 1820 , Congress kept a tenuous balance of political power between North and South . In May 1854 , the Kansas -- Nebraska Act , created from unorganized Indian lands and territories of Kansas and Nebraska , permitted residency by U.S. citizens , who were to determine their state 's slavery status and seek admission to the Union . Immigrants supporting both sides of the question arrived in Kansas to establish residency and gain the right to vote . However , Kansas Territory officials were appointed ( 1854 ) by the pro-slavery administration of President Franklin Pierce ( in office 1853 -- 1857 ) , and thousands of non-resident pro-slavery Missourians entered Kansas with the goal of winning elections . They captured territorial elections , sometimes by fraud and intimidation . In response , Northern abolitionist elements flooded Kansas with `` free - soilers . '' Anti-slavery Kansas residents wrote the first Kansas Constitution ( 1855 ) and elected the Free State legislature in Topeka ; this stood in opposition to the pro-slavery government in Lecompton . The two Territorial governments increased as well as symbolized the strife of Bleeding Kansas . </P>
what came first bleeding kansas or kansas nebraska act
what came first bleeding kansas or kansas nebraska act
the Kansas -- Nebraska Act
the Kansas -- Nebraska Act