Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 fails to pass

On May 12, 1854, Virginia Representative Harry A. Edmunson, in a drunken state and in the midst of a vicious debate with Ohio Representative Lewis Campbell on the floor of the House pulls out a pistol and shoots Representative Cambell dead. (IOTL he was prevented from doing so.) Edmunson is quickly arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the House is immediately adjourned. As a result of the assault, Northern Democrats, who had been almost evenly split on the measure swing solidly into opposition and the measure fails to pass. As a result the Missouri Compromise remains in effect, and Illinois railroad lawyer Abe Lincoln never debates Stephen Douglass on the issue of slavery in the now-defunct bill.
 
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Is the Dredd Scott decision butterflied away? Because the ruling would probably eliminate the Missouri Compromise anyways.
 
Is the Dredd Scott decision butterflied away?

Presumably, given that the supreme court's decision was not handed down until 1857.

I suppose the reaction in the north is crucial. Normally, i would say that gunning down a representative on Capitol Hill would be an intolerable act. But the reaction to the assault on Senator Sumner a few years later leaves some question (IIRC, Edmundson was also present at Brooks' side during that incident). Then again, murder on the House floor is another matter altogether. Do the southern states rally behind Edmundson, or disown him?
 
Edmunson would doubtless have stood trial for murder. If he was tried in Virginia he might even have gotten off, given the passions of the day, but it seems possible that he would lose his seat. The issue of slavery in the Territories would not go away but Free Soil Democrats might well have used the act to strengthen their position
 
So the U.S. remains divided, with no "popular sovreignty" and the Indian Territory and New Mexico Territory below the compromise line

1850compromise.gif
 
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