“ The Kansas-Nebraska Bill is chiefly significant in American history from its having caused a renewal of the contest between the North and the South over the slavery question, which had been regarded as settled, for many years at least, by the compromise measures of 1820 and 1850. ”

“ The combined Territories, thus organized, comprised a region which now constitutes Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and part of Colorado—a total area of nearly 500,000 square miles. ”