The Kansas-Nebraska Bill (1854),by Lee Lawrie, East Facade.

Pictured here is the setting for the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which in 1854 established "popular sovereignity" over Kansas and Nebraska Territories. This meant that settlers in these Territories upon statehood,would decide whether to adopt or prohibit slavery therein.

The question of slavery in the expanding country was addressed through other acts, the Missouri Comproimise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850 which admitted California as a free state, and organized the territories of New Mexico and Utah.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed for immediate settlement of the Territories and the eventual building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

But it also contributed to violence in the area over the issue of slavery, known as Bleeding Kansas.

Pictured in the relief are Stephen A. Douglas (standing,) Charles A. Stuart, Secretary of State Asbury Dickens, Senator William H. Seward, President Franklin Pierce. Standing to Douglas's left, Senator Charles Sumner is the speaker in the center. Behind him from left to right are Andrew P. Putler, James M. Mason, Salmon P. Chase and seated, Benjamin F. Wade.