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The Missouri Compromise more or less remained dormant for over 30 years.

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But in 1854, the dam broke.

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Not even the Little Dutch Boy could save the day.

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Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas is the guy who opened the floodgates.

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He introduced a bill that would establish formal governments in the Kansas and Nebraska territories.

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The thing was that both of these states were north of the ol' 36º30' line there.

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Why was that a thing?

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Because Douglas wanted the settlers in the territories to vote on whether or not slavery would be legal there.

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This completely undid the Missouri Compromise, which forbid states north of 36º30' to have slaves even if they wanted 'em.

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Despite this fact, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed into law.

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And let's just say that the anti-slavery faction was none-too-pleased.

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It was like somebody had given them a kinda crappy bowl of

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ice cream that they sorta had to be okay with, and then that

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person had taken away even that crappy ice cream.

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Poor Douglas, for some whacky reason, thought this act would dial down

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tensions between the North and the South.

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Instead, it jacked up regional tensions

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and shattered the American political landscape.

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And that's how Stephen Douglas earned seven years bad luck.

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Yeah, you know, the mirror breaking thing?

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Controversy over the Kansas-Nebraska Act drove a huge wedge in the Democratic Party.

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And it exploded the Whig party.

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Whig party…sounds like something Ru Paul would organize.

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Out of the ashes of all this political upheaval, came a new crew of politicians.

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Chances are everybody out there has heard of them...

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They called themselves, what, what is it...? Yes, Republicans.

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And that's still what they call themselves.

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When they first came together, the Republicans' main thing was antislavery.

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Unlike the Democrats, who wanted slavery.

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One of their earliest, most out-spoken leaders was

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a funny-bearded fella named Abraham Lincoln.

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Abraham Lincoln was one of the many Whig Party members who abandoned

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his old posse for one that took the anti-slavery thing to the next level.

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The new Republican Party was a perfect fit.

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Lincoln was all about battling the nationalization of slavery.

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And he had no problems with the federal government calling the shots on the issue.

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So what if the states didn't like it?

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Well...so what?

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By the late 1850s, Lincoln was one of the biggest deal

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Republican leaders in the country.

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Lincoln locked down support of different factions in the North and Northwest,

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and he won the 1860 presidential election without breaking a sweat.

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The trouble was that people down South were dripping with sweat.

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And not just because it was hot down there. Because they were ticked.

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Lincoln actually didn't get one measly vote in the South.

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Not only that, but seven southern states seceded from the

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Union as a direct response to his election.

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They were like…"oh, Mr. Antislavery is President, huh? Well, not for us."

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President Lincoln tried his darndest to bring the Union back

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together peacefully, but all his negotiations failed.

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And not long after he was elected, the nation plunged into full-blown civil war.

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Let's all remember Lincoln next time we think we're

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having a stressful first day on the job.

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