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Nation more symmetrical, and has thrown under. one flag the slopes of the great Mississippi and Missouri valleys. Who will say that by the acquisition of this 900,000 square miles of territory the controlling influence in North America, and perhaps in the Western Hemisphere, did not pass to the United States?

Very soon after the purchase Congress took steps to form the country into one or more territories, and to extend the laws formally over the land. From that time the maps showed various divisions, but until the prairies were peopled the changes were of small importance. It was mostly "Indian Country" until 1854.

II. THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT.1

The beginning of the history of Nebraska as a erritory must be studied in the records of Congress. Long before there were white people enough in the valley of the Platte to make a small

1This was called the Nebraska and Kansas Bill, or the Nebraska Bill, during the debates upon it in Congress. The name Nebraska was first suggested as a name for the Territory by William Wilkins, Secretary of War, in his annual report, on November 30, 1844. He wrote: "The Platt or Nebraska, being the central stream leading into or from the Great South Pass, would very properly furnish a name for the Territory, which I propose suggesting to be erected into a territorial gov. ernment." Congressional Globe, 1st Sess., 33d Cong., App., p. 715.

In connection with this, it is interesting to note that the colony of Wyandotte, which had located as an Indian colony near the present site of Kansas City, in 1843 (Stat at Large, Indian Tre ties, p. 608, App. 5) with thirty-nine sections of land, organized a government of its own and sent a delegate to Congress in 1852. This delegate was A belard Guthrie, and his mission was to represent Nebraska Territory. But little attention was given his claim, the objection being that there was no such territory as Nebraska Territory, Cong. Globe, Vol. 26, pp. 85, 1127, 2d Sess., 32d Cong. Nebraska is a Siouan word for "broadwater", the Ne meaning water. So also Vi, in Niobrara, running-water, and in Niagara, falling-water.

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dinner party, the law-makers at Washington had begun to think about forming a territory. Government was not needed there yet. TORY It was a political matter. The questions IN POL- about the Oregon boundary, the settleITICS ments in California, the Republic of Texas, and the new territory acquired from Mexico constantly drew the attention of Congress to matters beyond the Mississippi River. The subject of a new territory at the mouth of the Platte River arose in 1844, ten years before a bill establishing it was really passed by Congress and signed by the president. Efforts were made several times between 1844 and 1854 to bring this about, and chief among the men interested in it was Stephen A. Douglas. He was a democrat, and a very shrewd politician. He began PHEN A. his career in Congress in 1843 as a repreLAS sentative from Illinois. In 1847 he entered the Senate, where he served for twelve years. Mr. Douglas was very prominent in the discussions which led to the organization of Nebraska, and a study of the bill by which this was done rightly begins with a study of him.

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DOUG

He was prime mover in urging the subject upon Congress. His motives, his ambition, his schemes, all are a part of the history of Nebraska. The influence of this man and the acts of Congress from 1844 to 1854 are not alone sufficient to show the reason why Nebraska became a territory when it did. The subject of slavery entered

almost everything that was done in Congress for years before Nebraska was organized. Trouble arose in Congress whenever new territories were made, because slave-holders wanted slavery allowed and the opposers of slavery at the North desired to prohibit the whole evil. MISSOU.There had been an agreement in Congress PRO- in 1820, which readers of American History are familiar with under the name of the Missouri Compromise.

SLAV-
ERY

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By this bill anti-slavery men in Congress had consented not to interfere with the question of slavery in the Southwest. On the other hand, the slavery men had agreed not to introduce slavery into the Louisiana Purchase, north of the parallel of latitude 36° 30'. Although Missouri is north of that line, slavery was not pro hibited within its limits. Mr. Douglas claimed that the Compromise of 1850 took the place of the Missouri Compromise, because, as he said, the former allowed a territory to have slaves MISE or not, just as it chose. This was not true, but it served as his pretext. He was the chairman of the Committee on Territories, and reported to the Senate on January 23, 1854, a bill which provided for two territories. In the previous bills only one was mentioned. Mr. Douglas was the author of the section of the bill which contained the idea of a territory regTER ulating slavery within its own boundaries. EIGNTY This doctrine is called "Popular Sovereignty" or "Squatter Sovereignty". From the

OF 1850

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time when the news of the bill spread through the country, every community was stirred up over the subject. In Congress the

EFFECT
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(a) On Congress

People

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BRASKA greatest struggle in its history took place. Why should this bill cause such a com(b) On the motion?" may be asked. It re-opened the question of slavery, which many supposed to have been settled by the compromises. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, as it is called, brought on the contest between the supporters and the opposers of slavery. It destroyed the Whig party, and divided the people on the subject of slavery alone. The new Republican Party, whose purpose at first was to prevent the spread of slavery and afterwards to stop it altogether, dates from this time. Inhabitants of Nebraska probably Parties are not proud of the fact that the bill which organized the valley of the Platte into a territory came from those who upheld slavery, and that it was passed by their votes.' But they may be glad that the schemes of Mr. Douglas helped only to unite the parties of the North against the one great curse of the Nation, and led directly to the freedom of the slaves. The idea of Popular Sovereignty is not that splendid principle that the will of a people shall rule supreme, but only a mockery of it.

(c) On

1 In its final form, the Kansas-Nebraska bill passed the House May 22, 1854, by a vote of 113 to 100. The Senate approved it three days later by a vote of 35 to 13, and the President signed it on May 30, 18:4.

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III. THE PROVISIONS OF THE BILL.'

The law passed by Congress to organize the territory of Nebraska resembles an old law of the Continental Congress. Indeed, every time that Congress has passed a law to form a terOF ritory, the Ordinance of 1787, as this old law is called, has been the model for it. An act or law which organizes a territorial government, naming the boundaries, the officers, and the manner of their appointment, is called the Organic Act. Such for our territory was the part

1787

ORGAN

of the Kansas-Nebraska act which relates IC ACT to Nebraska. The whole bill consists of thirty-seven sections, of which the first eighteen apply to Nebraska alone. Three departments

EXECU

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were made, just as in the constitutions of the United States and of each state. The general plan is the same everywhere in this Republic, and the territorial constitution, as might have been expected, provided for governor, legislature, and supreme court. The first governor of a territory in the United States was appointed by TIVE the President and Senate, and this mode CERS of appointment has not been changed. In the same manner, a secretary, attorney, and marshal received their offices. The secretary had a term of five years, but the others, including the governor, had one of but four years. It is interesting to note that since the time of the Ordinance of 1787 these terms of office had increased by one year.

1 United States Statutes, X., 277.

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