"All that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to wit, Beginning at a point in the Missouri river where the fortieth parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the summit of the highlands separating the waters flowing into the Green river or Colorado of the West from the waters flowing into the Great Basin; thence northward on the said highlands to the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence on said summit northward to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude; thence west on said parallel to the western boundary of the territory of Minnesota; thence southward on said boundary to the Missouri river; thence down the main channel of said river to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Nebraska."

Another section in the substitute provided that

"All that part of the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions. thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this act, to wit, Beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri where the thirtyseventh parallel of north latitude crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude thirty-eight; thence following said boundary westward to the summit of the highlands dividing the waters flowing into the Colorado of the West, or Green river, from the waters flowing into the Great Basin; thence northward on said summit to the fortieth parallel of latitude; thence east on said parallel to the western boundary of the State of Missouri; thence south with the western boundary of said state to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, created into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of Kanzas."

The section providing for the election of a delegate was

MR. DOUGLAS'S ARGUMENT.

189

amended by adding to the words "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 as elsewhere in the United States," the following:

"Except the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which was superseded by the principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures, and is declared inoperative.”

By the time that the debate upon the bill in this form was at last commenced in the Senate, on the 30th of January, great excitement pervaded many parts of the North on the subject of the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise, and an address had been issued by Messrs. Chase and Sumner, of the Senate, and several members of the House of Representatives, denouncing the measure in the strongest terms, “as a gross violation of a sacred pledge; as a criminal betrayal of precious rights; as part and parcel of an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccupied region emigrants from the old world, and free laborers from our own states, and to convert it into a dreary region of despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves."

Mr. Douglas opened his argument for the bill by a denunciation of this address and its authors, no less violent and personal than the document itself, and from this commencement till its close long after in the other house, the struggle in Congress on the one side and the other with regard to this measure, heated and made more intense by constant

appeals from without, made by memorials, public meetings, and newspaper arguments, was carried on with a vehemence and passion rarely exhibited in deliberative bodies. The discussion was continued in the Senate until the first of March, when nearly every Senator had spoken upon the bill. On that day it was amended, on motion of Mr. BADGER, of North Carolina, so as to provide that it should not "revive or put in force any law or regulation which may have existed prior to the act of March, 1820, either protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery; and also on motion of Mr. CLAYTON, of Delaware, so that the proviso on the right of suffrage, etc., should read, "that the right of suffrage shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States." The bill thus amended was then ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, by a vote of twenty-nine to twelve.

The next day, March 3d, the bill came up for its final passage, and a number of Senators took occasion to make further speeches upon it; so that the session was protracted till nearly five o'clock in the morning, when the question was taken, and the bill passed, yeas thirty-seven, nays fourteen.

On the 21st the bill came up in the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES in order. It was read twice by its title, and then referred, after an animated debate, to the committee of the whole. As more than fifty bills and resolves had precedence of it, this reference, which prevailed by a vote of

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE.

191

one hundred and ten to ninety-five, was pronounced, by its friends, an "indirect defeat" of it. This was not its end, however. The excitement and interest in Congress and throughout the country were continually on the increase, and all the members were prepared for an ardent and protracted struggle, when, on the 8th of May, Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, moved that that House resolve itself into the committee of the whole, with the view of laying aside all business until the committee reach the Nebraska-Kanzas bill. This not without objection

was done, and nearly twenty bills on the calendar having been, one by one, laid aside, the committee took up the "Bill to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kanzas." This was a bill formerly reported by the territorial committee of the House, and not the Senate bill; but Mr. Richardson immediately moved as a substitute a new bill, which was the Senate bill, with the omission of Mr. Clayton's amendment, just above noted, and a few verbal amend

ments.

The question being in this position, was discussed in committee of the whole on that day and the two following, and on the 11th Mr. Richardson, according to notice, introduced a resolution closing the debate on the ensuing day. This proposition to cut off at once a discussion regarded as of so much importance, excited the strongest feeling, and all the methods in the power of a minority to stave off taking a question were adopted, in a session continued for thirty-six

hours, when the House adjourned, after midnight, on the 12th. On the next day Mr. Richardson expressed a willingness to modify his motion, and on Monday, the 15th, a resolution was passed, directing that the vote should be taken on Saturday, May 20th.

The debate was continued throughout the week, and on Saturday the committee proceeded to the consideration of amendments proposed, with five-minute speeches under the

rule.

bill.

Mr. Richardson offered a substitute for the whole

Pending the discussion of amendments to this, the House adjourned to the next Monday. On that day, after many amendments had been proposed, and the business of the committee of the whole had become much involved by various questions of order, Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, a friend of the bill, moved to strike out the enacting clause. This motion takes place of all motions to amend, and if carried is considered equivalent to a rejection. The friends of the bill voted for this motion in committee, in order to cut off amendments, but when that fact was reported to the House they refused to adopt the recommendation of the committee of the whole, replaced the enacting clause, and Mr. Richardson proposed his substitute. This was adopted by a vote of one hundred and fifteen to ninety. The bill was then ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, by a vote of one hundred and twelve to ninety-nine, and was finally passed, by a vote of one