On May 30, 1854, President Franklin Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act into law. The act had been created to settle tensions over slavery and open new lands for development, but instead only proved to create more division and move America closer to Civil War. In the 1850s, Congress was deeply divided over the issue of slavery. This was particularly true over the fate of new US territories – there was a great struggle to see whether the practice of slavery would be allowed in the new territories or not. Earlier laws had been passed to address this. The Compromise of 1850 had, in part, left the issue of slavery up to the settlers of each territory (popular sovereignty). Additionally, the Missouri Compromise banned slavery in territories north of the 36°30′ parallel.