The Anti-Nebraska Men was a name given to the American Northern Whigs to distinguish them from the Southern Whigs in respect of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. The Anti-Nebraska Men were joined by Anti-Slavery Democrats and gained control of the House in the Thirty-Fourth Congress before becoming the Republican Party. Research Anti-Nebraska Men
The Free Soil Party was an American political party which came into existence in 1848 and advocated non-extension of slavery in the newly acquired territory of the United States. It was composed of Abolitionists - formerly Democrats and Whigs, who had left their party conventions upon their failure to support that issue. Their first convention was held in 1848 when they polled a large popular vote, but secured no electoral count. Their second convention in 1852 was held at Pittsburgh and secured them less votes than before. In 1854 they opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and in 1856 became absorbed in the newly-formed Republican party. Research Free Soil Party
The Kansas-Nebraska Bill was an American Act of Congress. Under the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which was passed by Congress on May the 22nd, 1854, Kansas and Nebraska were separated And organized into Territories. The importance of this bill lay in the fact that it practically repealed the Missouri Compromise. In the bill as reported by Stephen A Douglas, the question of slavery in the two Territories was to be settled within the Territories, and if adopted the fugitive slave law was to apply. The status of Nebraska was easily settled as a free Territory, but the question caused much trouble in Kansas. The passage of the act had much to do with bringing on the American Civil War. Research Kansas-Nebraska Bill
The New England Emigrant Company was a corporation formed at Boston in 1855 to control emigration to the newly formed Territory of Kansas in the interest of the anti-slavery party. Slavery in Kansas had been made possible by the adoption of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and slavery advocates in Missouri were actively at work for its establishment. The Emigrant Company aided immeasurably in making Kansas a free State. Research New England Emigrant Company
The term popular sovereignty originated in America about the time of the acquisition of additional territory from Mexico in 1848. A suggestion was made of a middle course between the Wilmot Proviso, which prohibited the introduction of slavery into newly acquired or organized territories, and the positive permission of slavery under federal legislative enactment; namely, the question was to be settled by the inhabitants of the territories. The Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 purported to enforce the popular sovereignty idea. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 decided against it. The Democratic National Convention of 1856 approved of non-interference by Congress. with slavery in the Territories. Douglas, of Illinois, was an ardentadvocate of this policy, and he vainly defended it against the Dred Scott decision. The popular sovereignty idea disappeared with the outbreak of the rebellion. It was called in derision " squatter sovereignty". Research Popular Sovereignty
On October the 23rd, 1855, a constitutional convention, representing the anti-slavery population of Kansas, met at Topeka. This convention adopted the boundaries set by the Kansas-Nebraska bill, prohibited slavery after July, 1857, and conferred the right of suffrage on 'white male citizens' and on 'every civilized male Indian who has adopted the habits of the white man'. This free State convention was dispersed by Federal troops. The bill to admit Kansas to the Union under the provisions of the Topeka constitution passed the House, but failed in the Senate. Research Topeka Constitution
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician. He was born in 1813 at Brandon, Vermont and died in 1861. He worked on a farm, taught school, and at the age of twenty-one began the practice of law in Illinois. Soon afterward he was Attorney-General of the State, member of the Legislature, and an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress. In 1840 he became Secretary of State of Illinois, and in 1841, Judge of the Supreme Court of the State. Judge Douglas was in the House of Representatives from 1843 to 1847, and in the Senate from 1847 to 1861. During this period, when the slavery issue came to overshadow all other questions, the 'Little Giant', as Stephen Douglas was affectionately styled, became one of the leaders of his party. In Congress he favoured the acquisition of the whole of Oregon, and was chairman of the important Committee on Territories. He advocated the compromise of 1850, and formulated the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty. In accordance with the latter idea he reported in December, 1853, the famous Kansas-Nebraska Bill. His name was presented to the Democratic National Conventions in 1852 and 1856. While running for re-election to the Senate in 1858, he carried on a joint debate with Abraham Lincoln, which brought the latter into national prominence. Douglas was nominated for President by the Northern wing of the Democratic party in 1860, but received only twelve electoral votes although a large popular vote was thrown for him. He survived the outbreak of the Civil War but a few months, supporting to the end the cause of the Union. Research Stephen Douglas
William Pitt Fessenden was an American politician. He was born in 1806 at New Hampshire and died in 1869. He was admitted to the bar in 1827, and soon began practice in Portland, Maine. He served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1832 until 1840, 1845 until 1846, and 1853 until 1854. He was a member of the Whig National Conventions of 1840, 1848 and 1852, and became one of the founders of the Republican party. He was elected to the US Congress from 1841 to 1843, and served in the US Senate from 1854 until 1864, when he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Abraham Lincoln, and served until 1865. He was again a US Senator from 1865 until 1869. While in the Senate he made a famous speech against the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and in 1861 was appointed chairman of the Finance Committee, where he very ably sustained the national credit. He was one of the seven Republican Senators who voted for the acquittal of President Johnson in the impeachment trial of 1867. Research William Fessenden
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Anti-Nebraska Men
