III

THE FIGHT AGAINST THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY

In 1856, the Supreme Court, under the headship of Judge Taney, gave out the decision of the Dred Scott case.  The purport of this decision was that a negro was not to be considered as a person but as a chattel; and that the taking of such negro chattel into free territory did not cancel or impair the property rights of the master.  It appeared to the men of the North as if under this decision the entire country, including in addition to the national territories the independent States which had excluded slavery, was to be thrown open to the invasion of the institution.  The Dred Scott decision, taken in connection with the repeal of the Missouri Compromise (and the two acts were doubtless a part of one thoroughly considered policy), foreshadowed as their logical and almost inevitable consequence the bringing of the entire nation under the control of slavery.  The men of the future State of Kansas made during 1856-57 a plucky fight to keep slavery out of their borders.  The so-called Lecompton Constitution undertook to force slavery upon Kansas.  This constitution was declared by the administration (that of President Buchanan) to have been adopted, but the fraudulent character of the voting was so evident that Walker, the Democratic Governor, although a sympathiser with slavery, felt compelled to repudiate it.  This constitution was repudiated also by Douglas, although Douglas had declared that the State ought to be thrown open to slavery.  Jefferson Davis, at that time Secretary of War, declared that “Kansas was in a state of rebellion and that the rebellion must be crushed.”  Armed bands from Missouri crossed the river to Kansas for the purpose of casting fraudulent votes and for the further purpose of keeping the Free-soil settlers away from the polls.

This fight for freedom in Kansas gave a further basis for Lincoln’s statement “that a house divided against itself cannot stand; this government cannot endure half slave and half free.”  It was with this statement as his starting-point that Lincoln entered into his famous Senatorial campaign with Douglas.  Douglas had already represented Illinois in the Senate for two terms and had, therefore, the advantage of possession and of a substantial control of the machinery of the State.  He had the repute at the time of being the leading political debater in the country.  He was shrewd, forcible, courageous, and, in the matter of convictions, unprincipled.  He knew admirably how to cater to the prejudices of the masses.  His career thus far had been one of unbroken success.  His Senatorial fight was, in his hope and expectation, to be but a step towards the Presidency.  The Democratic party, with an absolute control south of Mason and Dixon’s Line and with a very substantial support in the Northern States, was in a position, if unbroken, to control with practical certainty the Presidential election of 1860.  Douglas seemed to be the natural leader of the party.  It was necessary for him, however, while retaining the support of the Democrats of the North, to make clear to those of the South that his influence would work for the maintenance and for the extension of slavery.