SUMMARY
1. The Compromise of 1850 was supposed to settle the slavery issues, and the two great parties pledged themselves to support it.
2. But the issues were not settled, and in 1854 the organization of Kansas and Nebraska reopened the struggle.
3. The Kansas-Nebraska bill and the contest over Kansas split both the Whig party and the Democratic party, and by the union of those who left them, with the Free-soilers, the Republican party was made, 1854-56.
4. In 1857 the Supreme Court declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, and opened all territories to slavery.
5. In 1858 this decision and other slavery issues were debated by Lincoln and Douglas.
6. This debate made Lincoln a national character, and in 1860 he was elected President by the Republican party.
[Illustration: SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE MOUNTAINS, USED BY BROWN AS AN ARSENAL.
Contemporary drawing.]