This very fact,
however, meant a greater stability in the political equilibrium.
Upon the western borders the feeling of unrest now became most
marked; and, more swiftly than was generally recognized, important
matters there were going forward; but even in that direction,
declared the prophets of peace, all now was more calm than it had
been for years.
Six years before this time Mr. Wilkins, secretary of war, had
proposed to organize Nebraska Territory and to extend thither the
army posts; and in that same year Stephen A. Douglas, then of the
House, had introduced a bill for the organization of Nebraska; but
neither effort had had result. Two years later, Douglas, then in
the Senate, once more sought to test the Squatter Sovereignty idea
regarding the new western lands, but once more a cold silence met
his attempts. Six months after that time the same bill, with the
intent of attaching Nebraska to the state of Arkansas, was killed
by Congress, because held to be dangerous.
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