Kansas-Nebraska
Act, May 30th 1854
SEC.14 And be it further enacted, … That the Constitution, and all laws of the
United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and
effect within the United States, except the eighth section of the act
preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6,
1820, which, being inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by
Congress with slavery in the States and
Territories, as recognized by the legislation off eighteen hundred and fifty,
commonly called the Compromise Measures, is hereby declared inoperative and
void; it being the true meaning and intent of this act not to legislate slavery
into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the
people thereof perfectly free form and regulate
their domestic regulations in their own way, subject only to the
Constitution of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained
shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation which may
have existed prior to the act of March 6, 1820, either protecting,
establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery.