Years ago Salmon P. Chase had dared to say that, if
the courts would not overthrow the pro-slavery construction
of the Constitution, the people would do so, even
if it should be “necessary to overthrow the courts
also.” Warden’s Life of Chase,
313.
[82] For Lincoln’s explanation of his position
concerning the Dred Scott decision, see Lincoln
and Douglas Deb. 20.
[83] A nickname for the southern part of Illinois.
[84] Henry Wilson has made his criticism in the words
that “some of his [Lincoln’s] assertions
and admissions were both unsatisfactory and offensive
to anti-slavery men; betrayed too much of the spirit
of caste and prejudice against color, and sound harshly
dissonant by the side of the Proclamation of Emancipation
and the grand utterances of his later state papers.”
Rise and Fall of the Slave Power, ii. 576.
[85] Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, i. 145
[86] N. and H. ii. 159, 160, 163; Arnold, 151; Lamon,
415, 416, and see 406; Holland, 189; Wilson, Rise
and Fall of the Slave Power, ii. 576; Blaine,
Twenty Years of Congress, i. 148.
[87] Arnold, 144. This writer speaks with discriminating
praise concerning Lincoln’s oratory, p. 139.
It is an illustration of Lincoln’s habit of
adopting for permanent use any expression that pleased
him, that this same phrase had been used by him in
a speech made two years before this time. Holland,
151.
[88] Published in Columbus, in 1860, for campaign
purposes, from copies furnished by Lincoln; see his
letter to Central Exec. Comm., December 19, 1859,
on fly-leaf.
[89] Many tributes have been paid to Douglas by writers
who oppose his opinions; e.g., Arnold says:
“There is, on the whole, hardly any greater
personal triumph in the history of American politics
than his reelection,” pp. 149, 150; Blaine,
Twenty Years of Congress, i. 149.
[90] See Lincoln’s letter to Judd, quoted N.
and H. ii. 167; also Ibid. 169.
[91] Raymond, 76.
[92] The Senate showed 14 Democrats, 11 Republicans;
the House, 40 Democrats, 35 Republicans.
[93] In September, 1859. These are included in
the volume of The Lincoln and Douglas Debates,
printed at Columbus, 1860.
[94] The Mirror, quoted by Lamon, 442.
ELECTION
Mr. J.W. Fell, a leading citizen of Illinois,
says that after the debates of 1858 he urged Lincoln
to seek the Republican nomination for the presidency
in 1860. Lincoln, however, replied curtly that
men like Seward and Chase were entitled to take precedence,
and that no such “good luck” was in store
for him. In March, 1859, he wrote to another
person: “In regard to the other matter that
you speak of, I beg that you will not give it further
mention. I do not think I am fit for the presidency.”
