VOA慢速英语 废奴运动中堪萨斯州采取措施改变状况

　　Thirty years later, another political compromise made the situation less clear.

　　(MUSIC)

　　VOICE ONE:

　　The compromise of eighteen fifty made slavery a local issue, instead of a national issue, in several western territories. It said the people in those territories had the right to decide for themselves if slavery would be legal or illegal.

　　Within a few years, that law caused a new debate in Congress. Lawmakers argued: was the peoples' right to decide the issue of slavery restricted only to the territories named in the compromise of eighteen fifty? Or was the right extended to the people of all future territories?

　　VOICE TWO:

　　The answer came in eighteen fifty-four. In that year, Congress debated a proposal to create two territories from one large area in the west. The northern part would be known as the Nebraska territory. The southern part would be known as the Kansas territory. Settlers in both new territories would have the right to decide the question of slavery.

　　President Pierce did not like the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He feared it would re-open the bitter, national debate about slavery. He did not want to have to deal with the results. Tensions were increasing. Violence was increasingly possible.