When Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas compelled the Kansas-Nebraska Act's passage, Lincoln was a little-known former congressman who was actively practicing law. Although Lincoln and Douglas had been friends for almost 20 years, the act to organize the massive northern portion of the Louisiana Purchase made them enemies in the eyes of the American people.
By repealing the Missouri Compromise's 1820 ban on slavery above the 36' 30 parallel, the Kansas-Nebraska Act reignited the debate over the spread of slavery. To organize the regions for settlement and to enable the building of a transcontinental railroad, Douglas believed the modification was required.
According to Lincoln, the shift undid years of established national policy that had put slavery on the verge of "final destruction.
Lincoln believed that the "equality clause" of the Declaration of Independence, America's founding document, was inextricably linked to the future of Kansas. Lincoln was adamant that the Founders wanted to abolish slavery gradually. The Kansas-Nebraska Act's passage put slavery on the path to growth rather than its eventual abolition.
For Lincoln, slavery was unbearable because it was morally wrong. Slavery was politically undesirable because it violated the Declaration's tenet that "all men are created equal."
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