Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/497

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 491 and Nebraska is competent to govern himself, but I deny his right to govern any other per- son without that person's consent." In the republican national convention of 1856 the Il- linois delegation presented Mr. Lincoln's name for the vice presidency, and on the informal ballot he received 110 votes, standing next to the Hon. William L. Dayton, who was nomi- nated. Lincoln was placed at the head of the electoral ticket in Illinois, and canvassed the state. In June, 1858, the republican conven- tion at Springfield nominated him for United States senator in place of Stephen A. Douglas, who was a candidate for reelection. In accept- ing the nomination he delivered before the convention a carefully prepared speech, which opened as follows : " If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an nd to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government can- not 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 do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, north as well as south." This became famous as the " house-divided- against-itself speech." On a challenge from Lincoln he and Douglas canvassed the state together, speaking in joint debate seven times. The main question under discussion was wheth- er Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a free state or as a slave state ; the struggle was at its height, the Dred Scott decision had intensified public interest, and the debate drew the attention of the whole country. In the course of it, in reply to questions from his an- tagonist, Lincoln said : " I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the uncondi- tional repeal of the fugitive slave law. I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more slave states into the Union. I do not stand pledged against the admission of a new state into the Union with such a con- stitution as the people of that state may see fit to make. I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. I do not stand pledged to the prohibi- tion of the slave trade between the diiferent states. I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of congress to prohibit slavery in all the United States territories." Douglas's continual assumptions of superior- ity and sneers at Lincoln's early poverty and occupations were met with humorous retorts and sharp exposures of sophistry ; and his an- tagonist finally drove him to the necessity of taking ground against the Dred Scott decision, which ultimately prevented his harmonious nomination by the democratic party, and con- sequently his elevation to the presidency. It was generally conceded that Lincoln had the best of the argument, and on the popular vote he had a plurality of more than 4,000 over Douglas ; but the legislative districts were so arranged that the democrats returned a major- ity of eight members, and Douglas was there- fore reflected. In the autumn of 1859 Lincoln was called to Ohio to reply to Douglas, who had entered the canvass for the democratic state ticket. The latter had published in " Harper's Magazine " an elaborate exposition of his doctrine of "popular sovereignty," and Lincoln's speech included a masterly review of the article. Later in the year he visited Kan- sas, where he was received enthusiastically and spoke at various places. In February, 1860, he addressed a large meeting in Cooper insti- tute, New York, making one of his most memorable speeches, in which he showed the subsequent action of the framers of the con- stitution in reference to slavery. He then visited New England, speaking at several places. The republican national convention met in Chicago on May 16, adopted a platform on the 17th, which denied "the authority of congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals to give legal existence to sla- very in any territory of the United States," and balloted for candidates on the 18th. On the first ballot William H. Seward received 173| votes, Abraham Lincoln 102, and the others were divided among several candidates ; on the second ballot Seward had 184 and Lincoln 181 ; the third gave Lincoln 231, lacking but 2 of a majority, and before the result was announced four votes of the Ohio delegation were changed in his favor ; other votes were changed rapidly, and the nomination of Lin- coln was declared. Hannibal Hamlin was then nominated for vice president. The democratic party was divided ; the extreme southern wing nominated John C. Breckenridge for the presi- dency, and the northern wing Stephen A. Douglas, while John Bell received the nomina- tion of the "constitutional union" party, com- posed of anti-Lecompton democrats, "know- nothings," and old-line whigs. The canvass in some respects resembled the famous one of 1840; the log-cabin emblems of the one were paralleled by the rail-splitting figures of the other, and " honest old Abe " was a familiar watchword. Yet beneath all the noise and nonsense was an almost universal conviction that a great crisis had been reached. For more than 20 years Mr. Lincoln had constantly come into political collision with Mr. Douglas, and in this last contest, for the highest prize in the gift of the nation, he found him once more his chief competitor. The election, held on Nov. 6, resulted in the following popular vote: in favor of Lincoln, 1,866,452; Douglas, 1,291,- 574; Breckenridge, 850,082; Bell, 646,124. The electoral, vote gave Lincoln 180, Brecken- ridge 72, Bell 39, and Douglas 12. The period between Lincoln's election and inauguration was full of unusual perplexity. Fjom the pecu- liar state of public feeling, and his own pre- eminent good nature, he desired to fill some of the more important offices with able men chosen from among his opponents; but this