A Democratic Senator from Illinois by the name of Stephen Douglas had good intentions. But since the Transcontinental Railroad was involved too, I can't help but wonder if some palms were greased when Douglas proposed the act. No, I haven't done any research on that particular fact, but the more research I do on the era the more I find the railroad was a tad ruthless.
Seriously though, Douglas had hoped to ease the escalating tension between the North and the South. Hmm hmm, sure... he was a Southerner after all. Recall in the previous post that the Missouri Compromise had just been passed four years earlier, which prohibited slavery north of the parrellel 36 degree 30' except within the state of Missouri. Some people were irate. Mainly all those Northerners who thought the Missouri would last forever. I'm seriously scratching my head here. Strong opposition came against the proposal obviously not enough believing that such an Act would eventually nationalize slavery.
The Northerners saw the balances tipping hard and fast. The Southerners were rubbing their hands together in eager anticipation. Soon, pro-slavery states would outweigh the hypocritical anti-slavery states. Uh huh, right! Of course, there was a lot of bickering back and forth that went on for quite some time (think Lincoln-Douglas debate, I'm not even going there). It was beginning to look like more and more settlers would be able to vote on this issue. That's a good thing, right? Well, Missouri started shoving people west of the state line, all in the name of slavery. 
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