Most of these immigrants settled in the free country of the North, and as the railways were now so hurriedly crowding westward, it was to be seen that the ancient strife between North and South must grow and not lessen, for these new-comers were bitterly opposed to slavery.

Swiftly the idea national was growing.

The idea democratic, the idea of an actual self-government--what, now, was to be its history?
North of the fated compromise line, west of the admitted slave state of Missouri, lay other rich lands ripe for the plow, ready for Americans who had never paid more than a dollar an acre for land, or for aliens who had never been able to own any land at all.
Kansas and Nebraska, names conceived but not yet born,--what would they be?
Would the compromise of this last summer of 1850 hold the balances of power even?
Could it save this republic, still young and needy, for yet a time in the cause of peace and growth?
Many devoutly hoped it.

Many devoutly espoused the cause of compromise merely for the sake of gaining time.

As neither of the great political parties of the day filled its ranks from either section, so in both sections there were many who espoused, as many who denied, the right of men to own slaves.