)
ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL;
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 8, 1854
I will not take up the time of the Senate by going over the somewhat
embarrassing and perplexed history of the bill, from its first entry
into the Senate until the present time. I will take it as it now stands,
as it is printed on our tables, and with the amendment which was offered
by the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) yesterday, and which, iI
suppose, is now printed, and on our tables; and I will state, as briefly
as I can, the difficulties which I have found in giving my support to
this bill, either as it stands, or as it will stand when the amendment
shall be adopted. My chief objections are to the provisions on the
subject of slavery, and especially to the exception which is contained
in the 14th section, in the following words:
"Except the 8th section of the act preparatory to the admission of
Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which was superseded
by the principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly called the
compromise measures, and is hereby declared inoperative."
On the day before yesterday the chairman of the Committee on Territories
proposed to change the words "superseded by" to "inconsistent with,"
as expressing more distinctly all that he meant to convey by that
impression.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44