Kansas-Nebraska Act

Speech of John M. Clayton, of Delaware, on the Bill to Organize Territorial Governments in Nebraska and Kansas; Discussing the Missouri Compromise and the Doctrine of Non-Intervention delivered in the Senate of the United States; March 1 and 2 1854.

Washington: Printed at the Congressional Glove Office, 1854.

Price: $250.00


About the item

First edition. pp. 22. 1 vols. 8vo. Kansas-Nebraska Act. Self wrappers, unsewn as issued. Some browning and spotting, wear along spine and edges, but a very good copy. Sabin 13576n.

Item #26154

Primarily concerning the issue of slavery in the territories, this speech was part of the debates for the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The act, initiated by Douglas, ultimately repealed the Missouri Compromise allowed the local residents to determine whether the area was free or slave territory, allowed for “the doctrine of popular sovereignty of the two territories” and laid the way for a transcontental railroad. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in the Senate on the 3rd of March. Clayton was a lawyer, noted agriculturist and long-time member of Congress who was Secretary of State under President Taylor. As Secretary of State he is best remembered for having negotiated the Clayton-Bulwer treaty with Great Britain which provided for a neutral international canal across Central America and “contained pledges which ultimately forced Great Britain to withdraw from large tracts of territory which…it had been occupying on the Isthmus.” (DAB).