During the summer of 1858 Lincoln delivered two important anti-slavery
speeches at Springfield. The first and more important of these was
made June 16,[*] at the close of the Republican State Convention, at
which Lincoln was declared the party candidate for the United States
Senate. The second, delivered a month later, is in part a defence and
explanation of the earlier speech, which had been severely criticised
by Lincoln's old opponent Judge Douglas. The first Springfield speech
was very carefully prepared and the MS. was submitted to several of
Lincoln's friends, all of whom objected to the opening statement as
being impolitic and sure to lose the speaker the position for which he
was a candidate. Lincoln refused to make any change, however, saying
that he preferred to go down linked with truth, if that was necessary.
[*]By Herndon the date is given as June 17.
"_A house divided against itself_." Suggested by Matthew xii. 25, and
Mark iii. 25. This quotation had already been used in 1843 in a Whig
circular signed by Lincoln and two others, and in a letter written in
1863 Lincoln speaks of the government as a house divided against itself.
_Nebraska doctrine_. The doctrine of "squatter sovereignty" was
recognized in the bill, introduced in the Senate January 4, 1854, by
Douglas, to give territorial government to the district west of
Missouri and Iowa known as Nebraska. A similar bill had been
introduced the year before by Douglas. In its original form the bill
contained no reference to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, but in
the form in which it was passed it declared the Missouri Compromise to
be null and void. Under the terms of this compromise slavery had been
restricted to the territory south of 36 degrees 30 minutes.
_Dred Scott decision_. This decision was rendered March 6, 1857.
_Silliman letter_. A statement on the situation in Kansas by the
electors of Connecticut, which received its name from Professor
Silliman of Yale College, by whom it was in the main drawn up.
_Lecompton Constitution_. In 1857 a convention was held at Lecompton,
Kan., to draw up a state constitution. In this convention the
advocates of slavery were in the majority and the instrument was so
prepared as not to interfere with slavery wherever it already existed
in the territory. The free-soil advocates refused to accept this
constitution. When the question of admitting Kansas under the
Lecompton Constitution was presented before Congress, Douglas, in
accordance with his principles of popular sovereignty, broke with his
party and opposed the effort. From our present point of view Lincoln
does not seem to do Douglas justice.
_Stephen, Franklin, etc._ The reference is to Stephen A. Douglas,
President Franklin Pierce, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, and James
Buchanan. Lincoln's perfectly sincere belief in a deliberate
conspiracy among these men to perpetuate slavery, which was shared by
many Republicans of that time, is not sustained by the impartial
investigations of later historians.
_McLean or Curtis_. John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis were the only
justices who were strongly opposed to the Dred Scott decision. Curtis,
who was a Whig from Massachusetts and who resigned the same year, wrote
a minority decision.
_Chase and Mace_. Salmon P. Chase was at that time Senator from Ohio.
Daniel Mace was a Democrat representative, who was opposed to the
Nebraska Bill.
_Judge Nelson_. Samuel Nelson, a justice of the Supreme Court.
"_A living dog is better than a dead lion_." Ecclesiastes ix. 4.