But just then his time was drawing near.
The peace promised, and apparently inaugurated, by the Compromise of 1850
was rudely broken by the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in
1854. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, opening the Territories of
the United States, the heritage of coming generations, to the invasion of
slavery, suddenly revealed the whole significance of the slavery question
to the people of the free States, and thrust itself into the politics of
the country as the paramount issue. Something like an electric shock
flashed through the North. Men who but a short time before had been
absorbed by their business pursuits, and deprecated all political
agitation, were startled out of their security by a sudden alarm, and
excitedly took sides. That restless trouble of conscience about slavery,
which even in times of apparent repose had secretly disturbed the souls
of Northern people, broke forth in an utterance louder than ever. The
bonds of accustomed party allegiance gave way. Antislavery Democrats and
antislavery Whigs felt themselves drawn together by a common overpowering
sentiment, and soon they began to rally in a new organization.
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