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On January16, while the bill was still pending, Archibald Dixon, one of the senators from Kentucky, gave notice that when the proper time came he intended to offer an amendment to the bill declaring the provisions of the Missouri Compromise excluding slavery north of the line 36° 30' should "not be construed as to apply to the territory contemplated in this act, or to any other territory of the United States; but that the citizens of the several states and territories shall be at liberty to take and hold their slaves in the territory as if the Missouri Compromise act had never been passed."

To avoid the open rupture between the North and South, which would be certain to follow the introduction of such an amendment, Mr. Douglas secured the re-committal of the bill to his committee, ostensibly for further consideration, but really that the features suggested by Senator Dixon might be incorporated in such a way as to accomplish the repeal of the Missouri Compromise without arousing determined opposition.

Slavery by W.J. Morgan, 1876.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act would eventually lead to the

Kansas-Missouri Border War

Section 23 provided that "Every free white male inhabitant above the age of twenty-one years, who shall be an actual resident of said territory, and shall possess the qualifications hereinafter prescribed, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be eligible to any office within said territory; but the qualifications of voters, and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, shall be such as shall be prescribed by the legislative assembly." The section then goes on to declare that citizens of the United States, or those who might announce their intention of becoming such, should be entitled to vote, but that no soldier or seaman, or other person belonging to the army or navy of the United States should have the right of suffrage in the territory.

Section 24 related to the powers of the legislature and the veto power of the governor, and the next section defined the authority of the executive in the matter of appointments.

Section 26 set forth that no member of the legislature should be eligible to any office created during the session of which he might be a member, and that all Federal officers except postmasters should be ineligible for members of the legislature.

Section 27 related to the territorial and inferior courts, the manner in which they should be established, their jurisdictions, etc.

Section 28 declared the fugitive slave laws of 1793 and 1850 to be in full force and effect within the territorial limits.

Section 29 provided for the appointment of a district attorney and marshal for the territory, each to be appointed for a term of four years, unless sooner removed, and defined their duties.

Section 30 provided for the appointment of all territorial officers by the president, "by and with the advice and consent of the senate," and fixed the salaries as follows: "Governor, $2,500 per annum; justices, $2,000; secretary, $2,000; marshal, $200 and fees the same as the marshal of Utah Territory; district attorney, fees similar to those of the district attorney of the Territory of Utah. Members of the legislature were to receive $3 per day for the time actually employed in the discharge of their duties, and $3 for every twenty miles traveled in connection therewith.

Section 31 fixed the temporary seat of government at Leavenworth, the permanent seat of government to be established by act of the legislature.

Section 32 contained the features of the bill that caused all the trouble. In addition to providing for the election of a delegate to Congress, it contained the provision for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to-wit: "That the constitution and all laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Kansas as elsewhere within the United States, except the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which being inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the states and territories as recognized by the legislature of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void; it being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any territory or state, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitution of the United States. Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation which may have existed prior to the act of the 6th of March, 1820, either protecting, establishing, prohibiting or abolishing slavery."

The remaining five sections of the bill related to matters of minor detail. Section 33 appropriated money for the erection of public buildings and the establishment of a library; section 34 set apart two sections of land (16 and 36) in each Congressional township for the benefit of the public schools; section 35 provided that the governor should divide the territory into judicial districts, which should be recognized until the legislature should change them; section 36 provided that officers appointed by the governor should give bond; and section 37 stipulated that all laws and treaties with the Indians in the territory should "be faithfully and rigidly observed."

In section 32 the slave power overreached itself. Under the influence of the Congressmen from the slave states the Missouri Compromise had become a law in 1820. Thirty-four years later, when the law stood in the way of the extension of slavery, the same influence was brought into requisition to secure its defeat. This had the effect of crystallizing the sentiment in opposition to slavery, with the result that the institution was finally abolished after one of the most sanguinary wars in the world's history. During the debate on the bill in the United States senate, the situation was well summed up by Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, when, as though endowed with the spirit of prophecy, he said:

"Sir, the bill which you are now about to pass is at once the worst and the best bill on which Congress ever acted. It is the worst bill as it s a present victory of slavery. In a Christian land, and in an age of civilization, a time-honored statute of freedom is struck down, opening the way to all the countless woes and wrongs of human bondage. . . . It is the best bill on which Congress ever acted, for it prepares the way for that 'All hail hereafter,' when slavery must disappear. It annuls all past compromises with slavery, and makes all future compromises impossible. Thus it puts freedom and slavery face to face and bids them grapple. Who can doubt the result? . . . Everywhere within the sphere of Congress, the great Northern Hammer will descend to smite the wrong, and the irresistible cry will break forth, 'No more slave states!' Thus, sir, now standing at the very grave of freedom in Kansas and Nebraska, I find assurances in that happy resurrection, by which freedom will be secured hereafter, not only in these territories, out everywhere under the national government. Sorrowfully I bend before the wrong you are about to perpetrate. Joyfully I welcome all the promises of the future."