ssional prohibition. This opened all the
National territory to slavery, and was the first point gained.

But, so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement by the people,
real or apparent, was indispensable to save the point already gained, and
give chance for more.

This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as well
as might be, in the notable argument of "squatter sovereignty," otherwise
called "sacred right of self-government," which latter phrase, though
expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so perverted
in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if any one man
choose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to object. That
argument was incorporated into the Nebraska Bill itself, in the language
which follows:

"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."

Then opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of "squatter
sovereignty," and "sacred right of self-government." "But," said
opposition members, "let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare
that the people of the Territory may exclude slavery." "Not we," said the
friends of the measure, and down they voted the amendment.

While the Nebraska Bill was passing through Congress, a law case,
involving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner having
voluntarily taken him first into a free State, and then into a territory
covered by the Congressional Prohibition, and held him as a slave for a
long time in each, was passing through the United States Circuit Court for
the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska Bill and lawsuit were brought
to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The negro's name was "Dred
Scott," which name now designates the decision finally made in the case.
Before the then next Presidential election, the law case came to, and was
argued in, the Supreme Court of the United States; but the decision of it
was deferred until after the election. Still, before the election, Senator
Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, requested the leading advocate of
the Nebraska Bill to state his opinion whether the people of a territory
can constitutionally exclude slavery from their limits; and the latte