whenever it should be admitted to statehood, to decide
for themselves whether they would have slavery or not. The eighth
section of the Compromise Act of 1820 provided that slavery should never
exist anywhere in the Louisiana Purchase north of 36 deg. 30', North
latitude, save in the State of Missouri.

In the report which accompanied the bill, Douglas declared that it was
based on the principles of the compromise measures of 1850. Those
measures, he maintained, affirmed three propositions: questions relating
to slavery in the Territories and in States to be formed out of them
should be left to the people thereof; cases involving title to slaves
and questions of personal freedom should be left to the local courts,
with a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States; the
mandate of the Constitution concerning fugitive slaves applied to
Territories as well as States. Three days later, these propositions were
incorporated in the bill.

January 16, Archibald Dixon, a senator from Kentucky, offered an
amendment expressly repealing the eighth section of the Missouri
Compromise law. Douglas remonstrated, but in a few days he called on
Dixon, the two senators went for a drive, and in the course of it
Douglas promised to accept the amendment. He was satisfied, so Dixon
reported his conversation, that the Missouri Compromise was
unconstitutional and that it was unfair to the South. "This proceeding,"
he said, "may end my political career, but, acting under the sense of
duty which animates me, I am prepared to make the sacrifice. I will do
it." January 22, with several other congressmen, he called on Jefferson
Davis, Secretary of War, and was by him conducted to the White House.
Contrary to his usage, for it was Sunday, the President granted them an
interview. At the end of it, he promised to support the repeal. The next
day, Douglas reported a substitute for the Nebraska bill. It provided
for two Territories, Kansas and Nebraska, instead of one; and it
declared the eighth section of the Missouri Compromise law to be
inoperative because it was "superseded by" the principles of the
compromise of 1850.

At the report and the bill in its first form the anti-slavery men in
Congress took instant alarm. By the time the substitute was presented,
the whole country knew that something extraordinary was afoot. Without
a sign of any popular demand, without preliminary agitation or debate,
Douglas, of Illinois, had set himsel