The 1860s became a time of tension and conflict among the northern and southern states. Both sides argued over states' rights, slavery, and expanding west. Each had radically different views on how the government should be run. It was this that would lead America into its first civil war. All this fighting was slowly but surely building up pressure amongst Americans, and Congress had to act soon. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act to create compromise. It permitted slavery in the newly discovered western lands by popular vote instead of congressional edict. Disapproval of the act resulted in the creation of the Republican Party, which was founded on the disfavor of slavery in the west. Rivalry increased and would lead to “Bleeding Kansas”. This was the nickname of a series of vicious political encounters between pro and anti-slavery forces on the Kansas Territory. The fighting worsened when the Dred Scott Case of 1857 permitted slavery anywhere westward. Abraham Lincoln's Presidential election of 1860 was the last action that provoked South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas to secede from the Union and initiate the Confederate States, officially starting the war.