ffice quietly enough. But in 1854 Senator Douglas of Illinois brought
in a bill to organize the Territory of Nebraska. It will be remembered
that in 1820 Missouri had been admitted to the Union as a slave state.
In 1848 Iowa had been admitted as a free state. North of Iowa was the
free Territory of Minnesota. Westward from Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota
was an immense region without any government of any kind. It all lay
north of the compromise line of 1820 (p. 222), and had been forever
devoted to freedom by that compromise. But Douglas said that the
Compromise of 1820 had been repealed by the Compromise of 1850. So he
proposed that the settlers of Nebraska should say whether that territory
should be free soil or slave soil, precisely as if the Compromise of
1820 had never been passed. Instantly there was a tremendous uproar.

[Illustration: FRANKLIN PIERCE.]

[Sidenote: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854.]

[Sidenote: Antislavery senators attack the bill.]

[Sidenote: The Independent Democrats.]

351. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854.--Douglas now changed his bill
so as to provide for the formation of two territories. One of these he
named Kansas. It had nearly the same boundaries as the present state of
Kansas, except that it extended westward to the Rocky Mountains. The
other territory was named Nebraska. It included all the land north of
Kansas and between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. The
antislavery leaders in the North attacked the bill with great fury.
Chase of Ohio said that it was a violation of faith. Sumner of
Massachusetts rejoiced in the fight, for he said men must now take sides
for freedom or for slavery. Some, independent Democrats published "An
Appeal." They asked their fellow-citizens to take their maps and see
what an immense region Douglas had proposed to open to slavery. They
denied that the Missouri Compromise had been repealed. Nevertheless, the
bill passed Congress and was signed by President Pierce.

[Illustration: Territory opened to slavery.]

[Sidenote: Abraham Lincoln, _Hero Tales_, 325-335.]

[Sidenote: Aroused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.]

352. Abraham Lincoln.--Born in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln went with
his parents to Indiana and then to Illinois. As a boy he was very poor
and had to work hard. But he lost no opportunity to read and to study.
At the plow or in the long evenings at home by the firelight he was ever
thinking and studying. Growing to manhood he became a lawy