ABSTRACT
The demise of the Whigs was hastened by one of the most misbegotten pieces of legislation in American history, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, seeking to organize a huge territory west of his state, presented a bill that created two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. In order to win southern support, Douglas's bill allowed popular sovereignty to decide the fate of slavery in these new territories, and repealed the section of the Missouri Compromise that prohibited slavery above the 36° 30' line.
