The act had a number of significant consequences:
* It intensified the debate over slavery and led to increased tensions between the North and the South.
* It led to the formation of the Republican Party, which was opposed to the expansion of slavery.
* It sparked a wave of violence in Kansas, known as "Bleeding Kansas," as pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces battled for control of the territory.
* It helped to bring about the Civil War.
If the Kansas-Nebraska Act had not been passed, it is possible that the Civil War would not have occurred. The act was a key event in the lead-up to the war and helped to create the conditions that made the war inevitable.