liberty laws in an effort to help the slaves escape. Even though this measure was taken by certain northern areas, the South was happy to be insured that their economically important property would be returned. This compromise also said that the territory east of California given to the United States by Mexico was divided into the territories of New Mexico and Utah, and they were opened to settlement by both slaveholders and antislavery settlers. This measure outdated the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Each of these compromise resulted in a gradual intensification of the hostility between the slave and free states. Again another law was passed in 1854 called the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It authorized the creation of Kansas and Nebraska, west of Missouri and Iowa. It repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that had prohibited slavery in the territories north of 36 30', and stated that the inhabitants of the territories should decide for themselves the legality of slave holding. The Democratic senator of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas sponsored this act. He hoped to simplify construction of a transcontinental railroad through these states rather than through the southern part of the country. The removal of the restriction on the expansion of slavery ensured southern support for the bill, which was signed into law by President Franklin Pierce on May 30, 1854. A conflict soon developed in Kansas between pro-slavery settlers from Missouri and antislavery newcomers who began to move into the territory from the northeastern states. The settlers waged a bloody battle to determine the fate of Kansas. It was referred to as "Bleeding Kansas." The ratification of the act split the Democratic Party and destroyed the Whig Party as well. Abraham Lincoln, who was a member of the Whig Party, best voiced the opinions and views of many thousands of people when he wrote that, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused him as he had never been before.Soon aft...
