Black Leaders Respond to Kansas-Nebraska Act with Escalated Activism

The Kansas-Nebraska Act's repeal of the Missouri Compromise and introduction of 'popular sovereignty' — potentially extending slavery to new territories — galvanized Black political organizing. The National Negro Convention system intensified; emigration societies expanded; Black Ohioans, Pennsylvanians, and New Yorkers formed new vigilance committees. Frederick Douglass called it 'a gross infraction of a sacred pledge' and accelerated his political radicalization.