Page:California Digital Library (IA historyofkansas00hollrich).pdf/70



By the compromise measure of 1820 slavery was forever prohibited north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude from the territory of the Louisiana purchase, except that portion included in the State of Missouri. As this Compromise was a Southern movement and maintained by Southern votes, it would seem that they were most fairly and solemnly bound to this compact. The opponents of slavery extension were bitterly opposed to the Compromise, because it yielded up the extensive domain of Missouri to slavery; whereas the spirit and teachings of our Government demanded an inhibition of this curse; but after it was legitimately approved of by the legislative councils of the nation, they regarded it with that veneration which is due to a law of the land.

The first infraction of this Compromise occurred in 1836 when a triangular piece of territory, lying between the then existing boundary of the State of Missouri and the Missouri River, was annexed to the former. The original western boundary of Missouri was a line drawn due north and south from the point where the Kansas River enters the Missouri. This was an exceedingly fertile tract of country, from which was formed seven counties of largest size and capable of sustaining the densest population, which numbered in 1860, 70,505 souls. This work was effected so quickly and dextrously by Colonel Benton that it attracted little attention at the time.