Although, as the Southern leaders realized, the free States had flanked them by the admission of California with an anti-slavery constitution, the Southern acquisition of Kansas would pierce the very centre of the army of freedom, and would enable the South thenceforth to dictate terms to the North.
Instead of the line of 36 deg.

30', upon which they had so frequently offered to compromise, as a permanent continental division, they would have carried the northern boundary of slave territory to the 40th parallel of latitude and even beyond.

They slave States in pursuing this policy were directed by men who had other designs than those which lay on the surface.

Since the struggle of 1850 the dissolution of the Union had been in the minds of many Southern leaders, and, as the older class of statesmen passed away, this design grew and strengthened until it became a fixed policy.

They felt that when the time came to strike, it was of the first importance that they should have support and popular strength beyond the Mississippi.