THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES.
"Can the people of a United States territory in any lawful way, against
the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its
limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution?"
_Lincoln to Douglas_, _Freeport Debate_, _August_ 27, 1858.
The Buchanan Administration began on March 4, 1857, and the Slave Power,
through the Democratic Party, found itself in complete and absolute
control of every branch of the Government, legislative, executive and
judicial. Two days after the inauguration came the famous Dred Scott
decision. The arguments in this case had been heard before the election,
but the court adjourned until after the election. The decision,
delivered by Chief Justice Taney, fixed the legal status of the negro in
the United States, and declared that he could not claim any of the
rights and privileges of a citizen, and "had no rights which the white
man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully
be reduced to slavery for his benefit." Then, traveling out of the
record, the Court declared that the Missouri Compromise was unauthorized
by the Constitution, and was null and void, and that Congress had no
right to keep slavery out of any Territory. It was apparent at once that
this decision completely nullified Douglas' doctrine of popular
sovereignty, and the South lost no time in abandoning that doctrine, and
declaring that she would insist as a Constitutional right that slaves
taken into any Territory must be protected like any other property. The
North was stunned for the moment by this sweeping decision; the South
was jubilant beyond all bounds, and instantly prepared to take advantage
of the new dogma to the utmost. While under this decision the Slave
Power seemed all triumphant, it was, in fact, to produce its
destruction, and slavery was to lose its power by the very thing which
seemed to strengthen it. The Dred Scott decision was bound to produce a
split in the Democratic Party and the moment that occurred the success
of the Republican Party was assured. The South spread thousands of
copies of the decision throughout the country, and when the North
recovered from the shock and saw what a revolution the decision would
cause in the Democratic Party, it joined in giving it the utmost
publicity.
The attempt to force Kansas into the Union as a slave State under the
infamous Lecompton Constitution now began. In that Territory the
Free-State settlers had rapidly been gaining in strength, and the Slave
Power, in desperate straits, resorted to trickery. Several attempts of
the Free-State Legislature to meet were prevented by the Federal troops,
but finally, in 1857, the Free-State men voted at the regular election
and obtained control of the Territorial Legislature; but before they
could act, a pro-slavery Convention, previously chosen, concluded its
work at Lecompton and submitted the Lecompton Constitution to the
people, not permitting them, however, to vote for or against the
Constitution, but "For the Constitution with Slavery," or "For the
Constitution without Slavery." The Free-State men refused to vote at
this election, and the Lecompton Constitution was adopted, with Slavery.
When Congress assembled, on December 7, 1859, President Buchanan, in his
message, approved the Lecompton Constitution, and recommended the
admission of Kansas under it. It had been rumored for some time that
Senator Douglas would oppose the Administration in its attempt to force
the Lecompton Constitution upon the people of Kansas, and this, indeed,
proved to be true, when, on December 9th, Douglas announced his
opposition to the action of the Administration as contrary to his
doctrine of popular sovereignty. It is unnecessary to go into the
motives that actuated Senator Douglas, but it may be stated that his
re-election to the Senate was to depend on the election in Illinois in
1858, and unless he did something to counteract the feeling against him
he was almost certain of defeat. The apostasy of Douglas was as a
thunderbolt to the South, but the North received it with great delight,
and in the early months of 1858 Douglas was easily the most popular man
in the North. The new Legislature in Kansas met in December and ordered
another election at which the people of the Territory could vote for or
against the Lecompton Constitution, and on January 9, 1858, that
Constitution was rejected by ten thousand majority. Notwithstanding this
emphatic condemnation by the people of the Territory, the Administration
persisted in its course to force Kansas in under the Lecompton
Constitution. The Senate was for the admission of Kansas, but the House
opposed it, and in a joint conference the infamous English Bill was
agreed on, in which the people of Kansas were offered a bribe in the
form of large land grants if they would accept the Lecompton
Constitution. This they subsequently refused to do by a large majority,
and Kansas remained a Territory until 1861. The Dred Scott decision and
the attempt to force in Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution helped
the Republican Party greatly, and its prospects were brighter in 1858
than they had been in 1857, in which year there was a reaction from the
enthusiasm created by the presidential campaign of the preceding year.
A legislature was to be chosen in Illinois in 1858 which would select
the successor to Senator Douglas. Douglas' action in opposing the
Administration had aroused public interest in him in the North, and many
of the Republican leaders desired that he should have no opposition in
Illinois, but the Republicans of that State were not of that opinion.
The Democratic Convention in Illinois met in April and endorsed Douglas;
the Republican Convention, on June 16th, resolved "That Abraham Lincoln
is the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the
United States Senate, as the successor of Stephen A. Douglas." In his
speech that evening to the Convention Mr. Lincoln made the remarkable
and daring statement, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I
believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half
free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the
house to fall; but I expect it will cease to be divided. It will become
all one thing or all the other."
Senator Douglas reached Chicago on July 9th, and, amid the plaudits of
his friends, delivered an elaborate speech, which was listened to with
great interest by Mr. Lincoln, who was present; on the next evening Mr.
Lincoln answered in the presence of a large and enthusiastic audience.
Senator Douglas then spoke at Bloomington, and was answered by Mr.
Lincoln at Springfield, and the public interest that had been aroused,
not only in Illinois but throughout the country, caused the Republican
leaders to induce Mr. Lincoln to challenge Senator Douglas to a series
of debates on the great question of the hour. Privately Senator Douglas
was averse to meeting Mr. Lincoln in this manner, but publicly he
promptly accepted the challenge and named seven places in different
Congressional Districts in which neither had spoken, as the places where
the debates were to be held. These great debates began at Ottawa on
August 21, 1858, and were followed by meetings at Freeport, Jonesboro,
Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and concluded on October 15th at Alton,
the entire State having been traversed.
As they read and pondered on the arguments of Mr. Lincoln, it gradually
dawned upon the people of the North that a great leader had been found,
for it was early seen and felt that Senator Douglas was not holding his
own. No greater or clearer exposition of the Northern views of slavery
and the questions connected with it had ever been pronounced than Mr.
Lincoln's, and the great contest in Illinois was watched with eagerness
and interest by the entire North, and Mr. Lincoln, from a comparatively
unknown State leader, became a great national character.
At Freeport, Mr. Lincoln, contrary to the advice of all his friends,
asked the question which forced Douglas into a labored attempt to
reconcile his doctrine of popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott
decision. It was plain that the question, "Can the people of a United
States Territory in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of
the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the
formation of a State Constitution?" could not be answered without
antagonizing either the North or the South. There was absolutely no
middle ground on which Senator Douglas could stand for any length of
time.
Mr. Lincoln was willing to lose the Senatorial contest if Douglas could
be defeated for the Presidency, and he gained his point, although his
friends did not immediately see the strength of it. Senator Douglas, in
an artful reply to this searching question, put forward his doctrine of
Popular Sovereignty by asserting that the people could, by "unfriendly
legislation," effectually prevent the introduction of slavery into their
midst. When the South read this declaration, so contrary to the decision
of the Supreme Court, Douglas' fate was sealed as a presidential
candidate. Owing to a totally unfair apportionment of the Senatorial
Districts, which had been made by a Democratic Legislature, Mr. Lincoln
lost the contest with Senator Douglas, who had a majority of eight on
the joint ballot in the new Legislature, but the Republican Ticket won
in the popular vote by 4000.
Mr. Lincoln was forty-nine years old and Senator Douglas forty-five when
they met in these memorable debates. They had been thrown together for
more than twenty years by a most remarkable combination of
circumstances. They had both wooed the same woman, Mary Todd, and
Lincoln won; both craved for success in politics, and as Douglas
belonged to the dominant party in Illinois, he met with early success,
and ran the gamut of political honors and was a great national figure
before Lincoln was known. Douglas had been Attorney-General, Secretary
of State and Judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois; in 1843 he was
elected to the National House of Representatives and served until 1847,
when he was sent to the Senate, where he served until 1861; his name had
been presented for the presidential nomination to the Democratic
Conventions of 1852 and 1856. Compared to this series of political
successes those of Lincoln were indeed meagre. He had served in the
Illinois Legislature; in 1847 was sent to Congress, but served only one
term, and from 1849 to 1854 he had devoted himself, with the exception
of some canvassing done for Scott in the Campaign of 1852, almost
exclusively to his law practice. It was Senator Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska
Bill that brought Lincoln again into politics, with emphatic protests
and strong arguments against the outrage. When Mr. Douglas returned to
Illinois in 1854, he attempted, with much difficulty, to justify his
action, and the debates between him and Mr. Lincoln really began in that
year. Lincoln met his arguments, and after a few speeches Mr. Douglas
was ready to quit, and made an agreement with Mr. Lincoln that neither
of them should speak again in the campaign. In 1854 Mr. Lincoln was the
choice for United States Senator, but yielded his place to Lyman
Trumbull. He took an active part in the formation of the Republican
Party in Illinois, and at the Bloomington Convention in 1856, which
chose delegates to the first Republican National Convention, he made a
strong speech that attracted the attention of the Republicans of
Illinois to him and made him the State leader. He labored earnestly in
Illinois for the success of Fremont and Dayton. Throughout 1857 he grew
stronger with the party, with the result that he was the unanimous and
only choice in 1858 as the successor to Douglas.
Douglas secured the shadow of a victory, but Mr. Lincoln, and the
Republican Party throughout the North, had the substance, and the fall
elections in 1858 were decidedly in favor of the Republicans. The Autumn
campaigns of 1859 were of the utmost importance, and the Democrats made
great efforts in the North, especially in Ohio. Senator Douglas went
personally into that State, and at the earnest invitation of the
Republican Committee, Mr. Lincoln spoke at Columbus on September 16th
and at Cincinnati on September 17th. Mr. Dennison, the Republican
candidate in Ohio, was elected, and the Republicans were successful in
Pennsylvania and Iowa.
A few days after the October elections the entire country was thrown
into a state of great excitement by John Brown's invasion of Virginia
and his capture of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He had
hoped for a general uprising of the slaves, but it did not occur, and
Brown was captured by Robert E. Lee, then a Colonel in the United States
Army, and after a trial on a charge of murder and treason against the
State of Virginia, was found guilty and hanged December 2, 1859. This
affair aroused the Slave Power to a frenzy of excitement, and they
immediately demanded an investigation, and strong attempts were made to
fix the conspiracy on members of the Republican Party, but it signally
failed.
Three days after John Brown's execution, the Thirty-sixth Congress
assembled. In the Senate there were thirty-eight Democrats, twenty-five
Republicans, and two Americans; the Republicans had gained five
Senators. In the House there were one hundred and nine Republicans,
eighty-eight administration Democrats, thirteen anti-Lecompton
Democrats, and twenty-seven Americans, all of the latter, except four,
from the South. The contest for the Speakership developed the deep
animosity felt by the South, and threats of disunion and personal
violence abounded throughout the session. The Republicans generally
remained silent, only taking part in the debates when absolutely
necessary. On the first ballots the Republicans divided their votes
between Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, and John Sherman, of Ohio; Mr.
Grow having received the fewer number of votes, withdrew, under an
agreement, and the contest continued between Mr. Sherman and Mr. Bocock,
of Virginia. On January 4, 1860, Sherman was within three votes of an
election, but he finally withdrew in favor of William Pennington, a
Republican, of New Jersey, who was elected on February 1, 1860, and the
House secured a Republican organization. During the debate attendant
upon this election, Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, declared, "We will never
submit to the inauguration of a black Republican President," and this
remark, with others of a like nature, was often repeated. Many of the
members of Congress attended the session fully armed, and it often
appeared that the Civil War would probably begin in the House of
Representatives.
In the decade between 1840 and 1850, the number of slaves in the South
increased 800,000; and in the decade between 1850 and 1860, 700,000. The
increase of white population in the South was very small compared to
that of the North. The census of 1850 showed the population of the
country to be 23,191,876, divided as follows:
White. Free Black. Slave.
North ......... 13,269,149 196,262 262
South ......... 6,283,965 238,187 3,204,051
The tremendous increase of slave population and the rapid gain of the
North over the South in free population is shown by a comparison of the
census of 1850 with that of 1860, when the total population was
31,443,322, divided between the two sections as follows:
White. Free Black. Slave.
North ......... 18,791,159 225,967 64
South ......... 8,182,684 262,003 3,953,696
Owing to the large crops in the South the demand for slaves exceeded the
supply, and the market price of negroes in the decade between 1850 and
1860 was very high. Three results followed the increased demand and the
high prices--the Domestic Slave Trade between the States was largely
increased; attempts to smuggle in slaves contrary to the Slave Trade
Laws were numerous and often successful, and the South began, in
Buchanan's administration, to consider the re-establishment of the
African slave trade.
During the last years of Buchanan's administration politics were
dominated by virtually three parties: the Republicans with their
opposition to slavery extension--the leaders being Mr. Lincoln and Mr.
Seward; the Northern Democrats, led by Senator Douglas, with his idea of
Popular Sovereignty; and the Southern Democrats, with their purpose of
slavery extension and protection under the decision of the Supreme Court
and the Acts of Congress, their leader being Jefferson Davis, of
Mississippi. The schism in the Democratic Party was seen more clearly
late in February, 1859, when Senators Douglas and Davis, representing
the opposite principles advocated by the Democratic Party, engaged in a
bitter debate, which forecasted clearly a division in the Democratic
Party in 1860, and the probable election of a Republican President, but
who would he be, and what would be the course of the South on his
election?