rom the Republic of Mexico...neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory," releasing the "pent-up ire" of northern Democrats, many of whom cared less about the slavery issue itself than about their own power within the party. However, the northern Whigs, who had a more consistent antislavery 'record', volunteered support for the proviso. "This bipartisan northern coalition in the House passed it over the united opposition of southern Democrats and Whigs." Normally, as in cases dealing with tariffs, the Bank, and federal aid for internal improvement, Congress would have been divided along party lines. "This was a dire omen."
             In 1854, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed the division of the Territory of Nebraska into two territories, that of Kansas and Nebraska. "Their status regarding slavery would be settled by popular sovereignty-a democratic concept to which Douglas and his western constituents were deeply attached." It was the general assumption that, due to the slavery standing of the surrounding states, that Kansas and Nebraska would become a slave state and a free state, respectively. This "Kansas-Nebraska scheme
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