That constitution was now before the Senate for approval.

President Pierce, Stephen A.Douglas, and all the Southern leaders had decided to treat as treasonable acts the efforts of Kansas settlers to secure an orderly government.

Their plans for the arrest of the leaders were well advanced and the arrests were actually made on the day after Sumner had concluded his speech.
A paragraph in the address is prophetic of what occurred within a week.
Douglas had introduced a bill recognizing the Legislature chosen by the Missourians as the legal Government and providing for the formation of a constitution under its initiative at some future date.

After describing this proposed action as a continuation of the crime against Kansas, Sumner declared: "Sir, you cannot expect that the people of Kansas will submit to the usurpation which this bill sets up and bids them bow before, as the Austrian tyrant set up the ducal hat in the Swiss market-place.

If you madly persevere, Kansas will not be without her William Tell, who will refuse at all hazards to recognize the tyrannical edict; and this will be the beginning of civil war." To keep historical sequence clear at this point, all thought of John Brown should be eliminated, for he was then unknown to the public.