“We Rejoice in its Success:” The Covington Journal Reacts to the Kansas-Nebraska Act

I’m going to take a brief break from my soldier profiles to share three local articles I found about the       Kansas-Nebraska Act.

This act was among the most famous (or infamous) events of the 1850s. Given its effects on the potential expansion of slavery, its motivation of Abraham Lincoln to return to politics, and its influence on the formation of the Republican party, the Kansas-Nebraska Act clearly was a key event leading to the Civil War.

This short account appeared in the Covington Journal of May 27, 1854. This paper was in Covington, Kentucky. Covington is in the very northernmost part of the state, still a part of a slave state.

I will soon publish two more posts on how the Cincinnati Enquirer - in a free state and city just across the Ohio River from Covington - reacted to this same news.  

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After full discussion and the most determined opposition the Nebraska bill passed the House by a vote of 113 yeas to 100 nays. Believing the principle embodied in the bill to be just and equitable, we rejoice in its success.

The final vote is thus classified:
Ayes - Democrats 95
         - Whigs        18
                             -113

Nays - Democrats     47
            Whigs           47
             Free Soilers 6
                                - 100

Eleven Southern men voted nay.

The Nebraska bill as it has passed the House is the same as the Senate bill with the exception of the "Clayton amendment," which precludes unnaturalized foreigners from voting in the Territory. That has been stricken out, and therefore the bill goes back to the Senate for concurrence.