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Indiana University 
issue, and Illinois continued its sectional quarrels over rail- 
road development. Only in Wisconsin had the opposition 
saved enough from the disaster of 1852 to afford the Demo- 
crats a real contest. In 1853 the remnants of the Whig 
party backed the “People’s Ticket”, in opposition to William 
A. Barstow, but were unable to prevent a Democratic victory. 
The “People’s Ticket” as a fusion effort had come too late, 
but it gave Wisconsin the advantage of a start which proved 
effective before another year had passed. In Michigan the 
increasing tendency for radical Whigs and Free Soilers to 
unite had indicated the diminishing strength of the barrier 
between them. Whenever a sufficient force should draw 
closer to them the radical faction of the Democrats, in Michi- 
gan as well as in Wisconsin, would they be able to over- 
throw the old Democrats. 
Between the breakdown of the Free Soil and Whig parties 
and the birth of the Republican party, many groups and men 
were at political loose end. Such a condition made 
possible the short but interesting career of the Know-Nothing 
party in the Northwest. The Democrats, who had profited so 
largely by the Irish and German votes, vigorously attacked 
the new organization as an insidious conspiracy. It was into 
this flux of parties and fusions that Douglas threw the bomb 
which jarred the loose elements into a united organization, 
split the Democracy along sectional lines, and led to civil war. 
The bill which repealed the Missouri Compromise was pre- 
sented in January, 1854, and by February the hue and cry 
had been raised by Whig and neutral papers, to be followed 
shortly by many old Democratic faithfuls. Mass meetings 
were held in all sections. The pulpit thundered forth its con- 
demnation and Douglas was burned in effigy.®^ On the final 
vote for the bill 16 Democrats of the Northwest, influenced 
largely by pressure from bosses back home or by the adminis- 
tration, voted for the bill. For weeks the names of these 
men were run in a black box in many of the papers as the 
“roll of infamy”. 
From newspaper protest and mass meetings to political ac- 
tion was but a step. Indiana Anti-Nebraska men got to- 
For expression of opinion on the bill, see list of meetings, extracts, etc., in 
Arthur C. Cole, The Era of the Civil War, 18^8-1870 (Springfield, 1919), 116 ff. ; Floyd 
B. Streeter, Political Parties in Michigan, 1837-1860 (Lansing, 1918), 182 ff. ; Charles 
Zimmerman, “The Origin and Rise of the Republican Party in Indiana from 1854 to 
I860”, in Indiana Magazine of History, XIII, 220 ff. 
