The right guaranteed to these territories in the Compromise of 1850 to come in as slave States was, therefore, as Mr.Webster had maintained, a concession of form and not of substance to the South.

Seeing slavery thus hemmed in on all sides by nature as well as law, and sincerely believing that in such a position its final extinction was but a question of time, the Southern leaders determined to break the bonds that bound them.

From their own point of reasoning they were correct.

To stand still was certain though slow destruction to slavery.

To move was indeed hazardous, but it gave them a chance to re-establish their equality in the administration of the government, and for this they determined to risk every thing.
To the westward and north-westward of Missouri and Iowa lay a vast territory which in 1854 was not only unsettled but had no form of civil government whatever.