How one piece of legislation divided a nation - Ben Labaree, Jr.

You may think that things are heated in Washington today, but the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 had members of Congress so angry they pulled out their weapons -- and formed the Republican Party. The issues? Slavery and states' rights, which led the divided nation straight into the Civil War. Ben Labaree, Jr. explains how Abraham Lincoln's party emerged amidst the madness.

Lesson by Ben Labaree, Jr., animation by Qa'ed Mai.

[paulwalsh]

"Hey look that's my state! Go Kansas"
*halfway through video"
"Well...that's not good"

[alphyd]

If history could be explained like this all the time I'd be an expert by now. Well done!

[IMIGHTBEJIM]

Am I the only one who enjoys the beautifully and masterfully edited sequences just as much as the information being presented? I mean, I like learning, but wow... The visuals might be just as good as the information itself.

Kudos to Qa'ed Mai.

[sonic]

Where's the part where he has to fight vampires?

[janey]

Who here are watching Ted-Ed because of online school?

[Figgy_Jub]

Contemporary standards at the time say slavery is bad. I can't sympathize with the South at all if there argument of freedom is "I want to own people".

[AndroidNerd]

It hurts to see Kansas not being a part of the kansas territory

[patrickfrymark]

They referred to Kansas Territory but used the Arkansas Territory on the map.

[alokozay]

"It's my right to own people!"
Can't believe they're still waving their flags 170 years later after losing.

[HienNguyenHMN]

When history is in bite-sized pieces like this, it makes it more interesting.

[tretheo]

Those vibrations, in the music, at the end make watching the video thru-'n-thru so much more fulfilling.

[lifeisonlyoptional]

The piece of paper that almost split America in two.

[patrickhodson]

Pottawatomie is pronounced "Pot - uh - WATT - uh- mee"
Kind of like "not a lot of me" if you replace n with p and l with w.
I'm from kansas. There's lakes and towns and all sorts of stuff named after it.

[rockforever]

I enjoyed the lesson, like always, but I feel it vastly oversimplifies the literal dozens of problems that America had already been facing. The piece of legislation discussed in this lesson seems like an arbitrary point to start. I also find it quite telling that piece closely follows the lesson on Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson probably did more to divide the nation than this piece of legislation! Other major points are the Mexican American War and the Annexation of Texas. The Wilmont Provisio as legislation, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott, The idea of Manifest Destiny and its effect on Nation building. If we are talking about whether the Civil War was inevitable, the 1850's are well past that date.

[pexfmezccle]

The Kansas Nebraska Act was only the last straw.

The most consequential legislations were the Vermont Constitution in 1777, the Pennsylvania abolition act in 1780, the 1784 Congressional rejection of Jefferson's slavery ban, and lastly the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

These laws divided the nation long before Stephen Douglas came on the scene.

[howtubeable]

Gee whiz, this video isn't biased at all. 

How did anti-slavery voters go from 33% of the vote in 1856 to a 100% war on slavery in 1860?   It seems highly unlikely that Northerners would have become that radical that quickly.  There must have been other reasons for Northerners to fight in the Civil War besides slavery.  But the winners always re-write history to their own liking. 

[ashleyhyatt]

William H. Seward actually brought more followers to the nascent Republican party than Lincoln. He was enormously popular, well-connected, and capable. His election as the first Republican president seemed inevitable even to his opponents. Lincoln was a relatively unknown moderate. The fact that he defeated Seward at the convention came as a shock to nearly everyone. Unfortunately, he is all but forgotten except for his push to have the US purchase the Russian colonial territory of Alaska from the Russian empire.

[deetmapping]

The "Kansas Territory" you showed has actually the ARKANSAS Territory.

[terraleo]

"Sir, look at these numbers!"
"Yes?"
"We got a 400 percent voter turnout!"
"What?"
"400 percent for slavery!"
"Alright do it"

[heyseed]

What I want to know is how the animator screwed up Arkansas-Oklahoma with Kansas territory.