I was witness to the decline and fall of the old Whig Party and the rise of the Republican Party.

There was a brief lull in sectional excitement after the Compromise Measures of 1850, but the overwhelming defeat of the Whigs in 1852 and the dominancy of Mr.Jefferson Davis in the cabinet of Mr.
Pierce brought the agitation back again.

Mr.Davis was a follower of Mr.
Calhoun--though it may be doubted whether Mr.Calhoun would ever have been willing to go to the length of secession--and Mr.Pierce being by temperament a Southerner as well as in opinions a pro-slavery Democrat, his Administration fell under the spell of the ultra Southern wing of the party.

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill was originally harmless enough, but the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which on Mr.Davis' insistence was made a part of it, let slip the dogs of war.
In Stephen A.Douglas was found an able and pliant instrument.

Like Clay, Webster and Calhoun before him, Judge Douglas had the presidential bee in his bonnet.