The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, vol 5 | Page 7

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."
Judge Douglas makes use of the above quotation, and finds a great deal
of fault with it. He deals unfairly with me, and tries to make the people
of this State believe that I advocated dangerous doctrines in my
Springfield speech. Let us see if that portion of my Springfield speech
of which Judge Douglas complains so bitterly, is as objectionable to
others as it is to him. We are, certainly, far into the fifth year since a
policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of
putting an end to slavery agitation. On the fourth day of January, 1854,
Judge Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He initiated a new
policy, and that policy, so he says, was to put an end to the agitation of
the slavery question. Whether that was his object or not I will not stop
to discuss, but at all events some kind of a policy was initiated; and
what has been the result? Instead of the quiet and good feeling which
were promised us by the self-styled author of Popular Sovereignty, we
have had nothing but ill-feeling and agitation. According to Judge
Douglas, the passage of the Nebraska bill would tranquilize the whole
country-- there would be no more slavery agitation in or out of
Congress, and the vexed question would be left entirely to the people of
the Territories. Such was the opinion of Judge Douglas, and such were
the opinions of the leading men of the Democratic Party. Even as late
as the spring of 1856 Mr. Buchanan said, a short time subsequent to his
nomination by the Cincinnati convention, that the territory of Kansas
would be tranquil in less than six weeks. Perhaps he thought so, but
Kansas has not been and is not tranquil, and it may be a long time

before she may be so.
We all know how fierce the agitation was in Congress last winter, and
what a narrow escape Kansas had from being admitted into the Union
with a constitution that was detested by ninety-nine hundredths of her
citizens. Did the angry debates which took place at Washington during
the last season of Congress lead you to suppose that the slavery
agitation was settled?
An election was held in Kansas in the month of August, and the
constitution which was submitted to the people was voted down by a
large majority. So Kansas is still out of the Union, and there is a
probability that she will remain out for some time. But Judge Douglas
says the slavery question is settled. He says the bill he introduced into
the Senate of the United States on the 4th day of January, 1854, settled
the slavery question forever! Perhaps he can tell us how that bill settled
the slavery question, for if he is able to settle a question of such great
magnitude he ought to be able to explain the manner in which he does
it. He knows and you know that the question is not settled, and that his
ill-timed experiment to settle it has made it worse than it ever was
before.
And now let me say a few words in regard to Douglas's great hobby of
negro equality. He thinks--he says at least--that the Republican party is
in favor of allowing whites and blacks to intermarry, and that a man
can't be a good Republican unless he is willing to elevate black men to
office and to associate with them on terms of perfect equality. He
knows that we advocate no such doctrines as these, but he cares not
how much he misrepresents us if he can gain a few votes by so doing.
To show you what my opinion of negro equality was in times past, and
to prove to you that I stand on that question where I always stood, I will
read you a few extracts from a speech that was made by me in Peoria in
1854. It was made in reply to one of Judge Douglas's speeches.
(Mr. Lincoln then read a number of extracts which had the ring of the
true metal. We have rarely heard anything with which we have been
more pleased. And the audience after hearing the extracts read, and
comparing their conservative sentiments with those now advocated by
Mr. Lincoln, testified their approval by loud applause. How any
reasonable man can hear one of Mr. Lincoln's speeches without being
converted to Republicanism is something that we can't account for. Ed.)

Slavery, continued Mr. Lincoln, is not a matter of little importance, it
overshadows