alternatehistory.com

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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