By the People, For the People—But Only Some People, Of Course
- When 1854 started, slavery was illegal in half the states. That changed four days later.
- Once the Kansas-Nebraska Act was introduced, it started a battle that ended up dismantling the power of Congress to prohibit slavery.
- Point for the pro-slavery team.
- In order for that point to count, though, slavery needed support of the people.
- In theory, "squatter sovereignty" (a.k.a. popular sovereignty) was the means by which people could provide or take away that support.
- Popular sovereignty ended up being a twisted version of the American ideal of self-government, designed to help enslave others.
- Some people tried to get language into the Kansas bill expressly giving people there the power to prohibit slavery—they were denied.