How did popular sovereignty address slavery in the Kansas and Nebraska territories?

The doctrine of popular sovereignty addressed the issue of slavery in the Kansas and Nebraska territories by empowering the residents of those territories to decide for themselves whether to permit or prohibit the institution, rather than relying on a congressional mandate.12

Enacted through the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, this policy effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had previously prohibited slavery in that region. Proponents intended for this approach to resolve the escalating sectional conflict by removing the slavery question from national politics.123

However, the application of popular sovereignty failed to achieve peace. Instead, it triggered a violent struggle for control as both proslavery and antislavery factions migrated to the Kansas Territory to influence the outcome. This period of intense political chaos and armed conflict, known as Bleeding Kansas, demonstrated the inability of popular sovereignty to serve as a viable compromise between the deeply divided North and South.123