not his will, consenting, and, before debate was finished, he comes with the bill from the Senate, which had then become a law, before it was decided whether the House would reconsider it at my motion or not, which motion [should have] nailed the bill to the table until it should be disposed of."

The bill was sent to President Monroe. He took the advice of all of his cabinet as to its constitutionality, as has appeared from Mr. Adams's journal. All the members having signified their opinion in its favor, he signed it, on the 6th of March, 1820, and it became a law.

The celebrated "Compromise provision" which thus settled, as was then supposed, forever, the character of the domestic institutions of Kanzas and Nebraska, with regard to slavery, is in these words:

"SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, that in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36° 30′ north, not included within the limits of the state contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be and hereby is forever prohibited."

By the treaty of boundary with Spain, the boundary between the United States and the Spanish or Mexican provinces is the western bank of the Sabine to the 32d degree of north latitude; thence a meridian line due north to the crossing of the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches or Red river;

ENLARGEMENT OF MISSOURI.

183

thence following the course of the Rio Roxo to the meridian of 100° west; thence crossing the Red river by that meridian to the Arkansas; thence following the southern bank of the Arkansas to its source; thence north to the parallel of 42° N., thence by that parallel to the Pacific. An inspection of the map will show that some parts of Kanzas have been since added under the arrangements by which the United States acquired Texas and New Mexico.

The only change in the political arrangements for the territories made by Congress, after the act of 1820, was the remarkable act, which seems to have passed without comment, by which, on the 7th of June, 1836, the triangle between the Missouri and the west line of the State of Missouri was ceded to that state. By the "Compromise," this land was to be forever free from slavery. Slaves have, however, been held there ever since it was a part of Missouri, of which it is one of the richest parts. This was the first distinct violation of "the Compromise," and passed Congress without any opposition. The author "Lynceus," already alluded to, holds that the four thousand five hundred and fifty-eight slaves in that region, if they could bring suit for freedom, would be freed by a decision of the United States Court, under the act of March 6, 1820.

Meanwhile the Indian policy of the government has been gradually removing into these regions tribes from the east of the Mississippi. As early as 1803, Congress authorized the President to exchange tracts of land west of the Missis

sippi for tracts east of it, owned by Indians. In 1825 the Kanzas and Osage Indians, reserving some lands for themselves, which have been described, ceded to the United States all their claim to the lands on both sides of the Kanzas river. In 1833, by the treaty alluded to in our account of the Pawnees, they ceded to the United States all their claims south of the Nebraska. Other smaller tribes ceded their claims to lands south of the Arkansas.

Into the lands thus acquired, the government, since 1830, has removed the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminoles and Cherokees, who occupy the lands south of Kanzas. Into Kanzas and Nebraska have been removed those emigrant tribes already described.

The constant diminution of these tribes left the country, however, almost desert, as has been already stated. And as early as 1849, the Indian department suggested the expediency of new treaties with these tribes, which might open the country to settlements by the whites. In 1853 an act was introduced into Congress, which passed one house, providing for the organization of one territory over the whole region. This act contemplated an adherence to the Missouri Compromise. In the summer of that year Mr. Manypenny, the head of the Indian department, visited the country, held councils with most of the tribes, and made treaties with one or two of the smallest. He was generally unsuccessful. The neighboring states were already greatly interested in plans of emigration, and the Indians had obtained very exaggerated notions of the value of their land.

In this position were the affairs of the territory when Congress met in December, 1853. Of the celebrated debate which followed, we do not attempt any minute account. Its general character and many of its details are too familiar to readers of the present day to need repetition now, and a proper account of it for the pages of history would require more space, and a closer analysis of the motives and actions of living men, than can properly be given to such matters in this work. The following mere summary of motions and dates will enable the reader desirous of so doing to examine upon record the history of the act under which the territories of Nebraska and Kanzas are to be organized.

In the Senate, 14th of December, 1853, two days after the appointment of the standing committees of the Senate, Mr. DODGE, of Iowa, according to previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce a bill to organize the territory of Nebraska, and the bill having been read a first and second time by unanimous consent, was referred to the committee on territories, consisting of Messrs. Douglas (chairman), Houston, Johnson, Bell, Jones of Iowa, and Everett. On the 4th of January, 1854, Mr. DOUGLAS, of Illinois, from this committee, reported back this bill with important amendments.

On the 16th of January, Mr. DIXON, of Kentucky, gave notice that, when the bill came up, he should move as an amendment an additional section repealing the eighth section of the act of March 6, 1820, and providing that citizens may

hold slaves in any territory, as if that act had not been passed.

On the 17th, Mr. Douglas gave notice that he should call up the bill on the ensuing Monday, and on the same day Mr. SUMNER, of Massachusetts, gave notice that he should then move as an amendment an additional section, declaring that the act does not abrogate or contravene the Missouri act restriction on the subject of slavery.

On the day named, January 23, Mr. Douglas reported from the committee on territories a substitute for the original bill submitted by him, and it was ordered to be printed.

The bill, as originally introduced by Mr. Dodge, of Iowa, provided that all that part of the territory of the United States included between the summit of the Rocky Mountains on the west, the states of Missouri and Iowa on the east, the 43° 30′ north latitude on the north, and the territory of New Mexico and the parallel of 36° 30′ north latitude on the south, should be organized into a temporary government, by the name of the Territory of Nebraska; but nothing in the act to be construed to impair the right of persons or property now pertaining to the Indians in that territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to include any territory which, by treaty with any Indian tribe, is not, without their consent, to be included within the territorial limits of any state or territory. The usual provision was made for the appointment of executive