right of the people of that territory to permit slavery within its
borders. The situation of the state and its population precluded
the possibility of establishing slavery within its borders.

It will be perceived by the compromise measures of 1820 and 1850,
the existence or prohibition of slavery was fixed by express laws,
or by conditions which it was fondly believed defined the limits
of slavery, and thus set at rest the only question that threatened
the union of the states. This settlement was indorsed and ratified
by the two great parties in their national platforms of 1852, with
the solemn pledge of both parties that they would resist the re-
opening of these questions.

The Senate of the 33rd Congress was composed of 36 Democrats, 20
Whigs and 2 Free Soilers. The House was composed of 159 Democrats,
71 Whigs, and 4 Free Soilers, with Franklin Pierce as President of
the United States.

I need not narrate the long struggle in both Houses over the bill
to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas. It was a direct
invitation for a physical struggle between the north and south for
the control of these territories, but it finally passed on the 30th
of May, 1854.

This act repealed in express terms the Missouri Compromise of 1820,
and falsely stated the terms of the compromise of 1850, which, as
I have shown, had no reference whatever to the Territories of
Nebraska and Kansas. It re-opened, in the most dangerous form,
the struggle between freedom and slavery in the western territories,
and was the congressional beginning of the contest which culminated
in the War of the Rebellion.

It is difficult, at this distance of time, to describe the effect
of the act of 1854 upon popular opinion in the northern states.
The repeal was met in Ohio by an overwhelming sentiment of opposition.
All who voted for the bill were either refused a nomination or were
defeated by the people at the polls. Party lines were obliterated.
In every congressional district a fusion was formed of Democrats,
Whigs and Free Soilers, and candidates for Congress were nominated
solely upon the issues made by the Kansas and Nebraska bill.

I had carefully observed the progress of the bill, had read the
arguments for and against it, and was strongly convinced that it
was the duty of every patriotic citizen to oppose its provisions.
The firm resolve was declared by the state convention of Ohio,
composed of men of all parties, that the in