>>5471050 The transitive verb 'to raise' has been used since at least the 14th century to mean 'to conjure up; to cause a spirit to appear by means of incantations'. Geoffrey Chaucer made use of that meaning in The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, circa 1395:
I haue yow told ynowe To reyse a feend al looke he neuere so rowe.
In Modern English - [I have told you enough already to raise a fiend, look he never so savage.]
If you make trouble you are raising, that is, conjuring up, the accursed spirit of Cain. This is similar to several phrases that allude to calling-up or 'raising' the Devil. There's 'raise the Devil' of course and also 'raise hob' and 'raise hell'.
The phrase is American and is first found there in the late 19th century; for example, this little pun on the word 'raised' from the St. Louis' Daily Pennant, May 1840:
"Why have we every reason to believe that Adam and Eve were both rowdies? Because they both raised Cain."