Stephen A. Douglas: A Study in American Politics Part 35

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 775: Weiss, Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, II, p. 243.]

[Footnote 776: Rhodes, History of the United States, II, p. 355.]

[Footnote 777: Memphis _Avalanche_, November 30, 1858, quoted by Chicago _Times_, December 8, 1858.]

[Footnote 778: New Orleans _Delta_, December 8, 1858, quoted by Chicago _Times_, December 19, 1858.]

[Footnote 779: Rhodes, History of United States, II, p. 355.]

[Footnote 780: See reported conversation of Douglas with the editor of the Chicago _Press and Tribune_, Hollister, Life of Colfax, p. 123.]

[Footnote 781: Letcher to Crittenden; Coleman. Life of John J.

Crittenden, II, p. 171; Hollister, Colfax, p. 124.]

[Footnote 782: New Orleans _Delta_, December 8, 1858.]

[Footnote 783: _Globe_, 35 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 1243.]

[Footnote 784: _Globe_, 35 Cong., 2: Sess., p. 1245.]

[Footnote 785: _Ibid._, pp. 1247-1248.]

[Footnote 786: _Globe_, 35 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 1259.]

[Footnote 787: _Ibid._, p. 1258.]

[Footnote 788: _Globe_, 35 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 1256.]

[Footnote 789: _Ibid._, p. 1243.]

[Footnote 790: Rhodes, History of the United States, II, p. 371.]

[Footnote 791: _Ibid._, pp. 369-370.]

[Footnote 792: Letter to J.B. Dorr, June 22, 1859; Flint, Douglas, pp.

168-169.]

[Footnote 793: Letter to J.L. Peyton, August 2, 1859; Sheahan, Douglas, pp. 465-466.]

[Footnote 794: Speech at Columbus, Ohio, September, 1859; see Debates, p. 250.]

[Footnote 795: On his return to Washington after the debates, Douglas said to Wilson, "He [Lincoln] is an able and honest man, one of the ablest of the nation. I have been in Congress sixteen years, and there is not a man in the Senate I would not rather encounter in debate."

Wilson, Slave Power in America, II, p. 577.]

[Footnote 796: It does not seem likely that Douglas hoped to reach the people of the South through _Harper's Magazine_, as it never had a large circulation south of Mason and Dixon's line. See Smith, Parties and Slavery, p. 292.]

[Footnote 797: _Harper's Magazine_, XIX, p. 527.]

[Footnote 798: Compare the quotation in _Harper's_, p. 531, with the opinion of the Court, U.S. Supreme Court Reports, 19 How., p. 720. The clause beginning "And if the Const.i.tution recognizes" is taken from its own paragraph and put in the middle of the following paragraph.]

[Footnote 799: _Globe_, 36 Cong., 1 Sess., p. 2152. This statement was confirmed by Reverdy Johnson, who was one of the lawyers that argued the case. See the speech of Reverdy Johnson, June 7, 1860.]

[Footnote 800: Rhodes, History of the United States, II., p. 374.]

[Footnote 801: Washington _Const.i.tution_, September 10, 1859. The article was afterward published in a collection of his essays and speeches.]

[Footnote 802: Flint, Douglas, p. 181.]

[Footnote 803: One of the most interesting commentaries on Black's argument is his defense of the people of Utah, many years later, against the Anti-Polygamy Laws, when he used Douglas's argument without the slightest qualms. See Essays and Speeches, pp. 603, 604, 609.]

[Footnote 804: Flint, Douglas, pp. 172-181 gives extracts from these pamphlets.]

[Footnote 805: Rhodes History of United States, II, p. 381.]

[Footnote 806: _Ibid._, p. 382.]

[Footnote 807: New York _Times_, September 9, 1859.]

[Footnote 808: _Ibid._, September 9, 1859.]

[Footnote 809: Rhodes, History of the United States, II, pp.

374-379.]

CHAPTER XVIII

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1860

Deeds of violence are the inevitable precursors of an approaching war.

They are so many expressions of that estrangement which is at the root of all sectional conflicts. The raid of John Brown upon Harper's Ferry, like his earlier lawless acts in Kansas, was less the crime of an individual than the manifestation of a deep social unrest.

Occurring on the eve of a momentous presidential election, it threw doubts upon the finality of any appeal to the ballot. The antagonism between North and South was such as to make an appeal to arms seem a probable last resort. The political question of the year 1860 was whether the law-abiding habit of the American people and the traditional mode of effecting changes in governmental policy, would be strong enough to withstand the primitive instinct to decide the question of right by an appeal to might. To actors in the drama the question a.s.sumed this simple, concrete form: could the national Democratic party maintain its integrity and achieve another victory over parties which were distinctly sectional?

The pa.s.sions aroused by the Harper's Ferry episode had no time to cool before Congress met. They were again inflamed by the indors.e.m.e.nt of Helper's "Impending Crisis" by influential Republicans. As the author was a poor white of North Carolina who hated slavery and desired to prove that the inst.i.tution was inimical to the interests of his cla.s.s, the book was regarded by slave-holders as an incendiary publication, conceived in the same spirit as John Brown's raid. The contest for the Speakership of the House turned upon the att.i.tude of candidates toward this book. At the North "The Impending Crisis" had great vogue, pa.s.sing through many editions. All events seemed to conspire to prevent sobriety of judgment and moderation in speech.

From a legislative point of view, this exciting session of Congress was barren of results. The paramount consideration was the approaching party conventions. What principles and policies would control the action of the Democratic convention at Charleston, depended very largely upon who should control the great body of delegates. Early in January various State conventions in the Northwest expressed their choice. Illinois took the lead with a series of resolutions which rang clear and true on all the cardinal points of the Douglas creed.[810]

Within the next sixty days every State in the greater Northwest had chosen delegates to the national Democratic convention, pledged to support the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas.[811] It was with the knowledge, then, that he spoke for the Democracy of the Northwest that Douglas took issue with those Southern senators who plumed themselves on their party orthodoxy.

In a debate which was precipitated by a resolution of Senator Pugh, the old sores were rent open. Senator Davis of Mississippi was particularly irritating in his allusions to the Freeport, and other recent, heresies of the Senator from Illinois. In the give and take which followed, Douglas was beset behind and before. But his fighting blood was up and he promised to return blow for blow, with interest.

Let every man make his a.s.sault, and when all were through, he would "fire into the lump."[812] "I am not seeking a nomination," he declared, "I am willing to take one provided I can a.s.sume it on principles that I believe to be sound; but in the event of your making a platform that I could not conscientiously execute in good faith if I were elected, I will not stand upon it and be a candidate." For his part he would like to know "who it is that has the right to say who is in the party and who not?" He believed that he was backed by two-thirds of the Democracy of the United States. Did one-third of the Democratic party propose to read out the remaining two-thirds? "I have no grievances, but I have no concessions. I have no abandonment of position or principle; no recantation to make to any man or body of men on earth."[813]

Some days later Douglas made it equally clear that he had no recantation to make for the sake of Republican support. Speaking of the need of some measure by which the States might be protected against acts of violence like the Harper's Ferry affair, he roundly denounced that outrage as "the natural, logical, inevitable result of the doctrines and teachings of the Republican party, as explained and enforced in their platform, their partisan presses, their pamphlets and books, and especially in the speeches of their leaders in and out of Congress."[814] True, they disavowed the _act_ of John Brown, but they should also repudiate and denounce the doctrines and teachings which produced the act. Fraternal peace was possible only upon "that good old golden principle which teaches all men to mind their own business and let their neighbors' alone." When men so act, the Union can endure forever as the fathers made it, composed of free and slave States.[815] "Then the senator is really indifferent to slavery, as he is reported to have said?" queried Fessenden. "Sir," replied Douglas, "I hold the doctrine that a statesman will adapt his laws to the wants, conditions, and interests of the people to be governed by them.

Slavery may be very essential in one climate and totally useless in another. If I were a citizen of Louisiana I would vote for retaining and maintaining slavery, because I believe the good of the people would require it. As a citizen of Illinois I am utterly opposed to it, because our interests would not be promoted by it."[816]