973.66 Douglas, Stephen A. 
 D74s Speech delivered at 
 
 Bloomington July 16, 1858
 
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 READ AND HAND TO YOUR NEIGHBORS. 
 
 THE JSSITJESf OX* 1OGO. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 Delivered at Bloomington, 111., July 16th, 1858. 
 
 SENATOR DOUGLAS said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman, and fellow citizens of McLean county to say that I am 
 profoundly touched by the hearty welcome you have extended me, and by the 
 kind and complimentary sentiments you have expressed towards me is but^a 
 feeble expression of the feelings of my heart. 
 
 I appear before you this evening for the purpose of vindicating the course 
 which I have felt it my duty to pursue in the Senate of the United States, upon 
 the great public questions which have agitated the country since I last ad- 
 dressed you. I am aware that my Senatorial course has been arraigned, not 
 only by political foes, but by a few men pretending to belong to the Demo- 
 cratic party, and yet acting in alliance with the enemies of that party, for the 
 purpose of electing Republicans to Congress in this State, in place of the pre- 
 seni. Democratic delegation. I desire your attention whilst I address you, and 
 then I will ask your verdict, whether I have not in all things acted in entire 
 good faith, and honestly carried out the principles, the professions, and the 
 avowals which [ made before my constitu tents, previous to my going to the 
 Senate. 
 
 During the last session of Congress, the great question of controversy has 
 been the admission of Kansas into the Union under the Lecompton Constitution, 
 I need not inform you that from the beginning to the end I took bold, deter- 
 mined, and unrelenting ground in opposition to that Lecompton Constitution. 
 My reason for that course is contained in the fact that that instrument 
 was not the act and deed of the people of Kansas, and did not embody their 
 will. I hold it to be a fundamental principle in all free governments a prin- 
 ciple asserted in the Declaration of Independence, and underlying the Consti- 
 tution of the United States, as well as the Constitution of every State of the 
 Union that every people ought to have the right to form, adopt and ratify 
 the Constitution under which they are to live. (" Good, good,'' and three 
 cheers.) "VVbfcn I introduced the Nebraska bill in the Senate of the United 
 States, in 1854, 1 incorporated in it the provision that it was the true intent and 
 meaning of the bill, not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, or to 
 exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form an<3
 
 regulate their own domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the 
 Constitution of the United States. (" That's the doctrine.") In that bill the 
 pledge was distinctly made that the people of Kansas should be left not only 
 free, but perfectly free to form and regulate their own domestic institutions 
 to suit themselves ; and the question arose, when the Lecompton Constitution 
 was sent into Congress, and the admission of Kansas not only asked, but at- 
 tempted to be forced under it, whether or not that Constitution wa* the free 
 act and deed of the people of Kausas ? No man pretends that it embodied 
 their will. Every man in America knows that it was rejected by the people 
 of Kansas, by a majority of over ten thousand, before the attempt was made 
 in Congress to force the Territory into the Union under that Constitution. I 
 resisted, therefore, the LecomptoH Constitution because it was a violation of 
 the great principle of self-government, upon which all our institutions rest. I 
 do not wish to mislead you, or to leave you in doubt as to the motives of my 
 action. I did not oppose the Lecompton Constitution upon the ground of the 
 slavery clause contained in it . I made my speech against that instrument be- 
 fore the vote was taken on the slavery clause. At the time I made it I did not 
 know whether that clause would be voted in or out; whether it would be 
 included in the Constitution, or excluded from it, and it made no difference 
 with me what the result of the vote was, for the reason that I was contending 
 for a principle, under which you have DO more right to force a free State upon 
 a people against their will, than yon have to for^e a slave State upon them 
 without their consent. (Great enthusiasm.) The error consisted in attempt- 
 ing to control the free action of the people of Kansas in any respect whatever. 
 It is no argument with me to say that such and such a clause of the Constitu- 
 tion was not palatable, that you did not like it ; it is a matter of no conse- 
 quence whether you in Illinois like any clause in the Kansas Constitution or 
 not ; it is not a question for you, but it is a question for the people of Kansas . 
 They have the right to make a Constitution in accordance with their own 
 wishes, and if you do not like it you are not bound to go there and live under 
 it. We in Illinois have made a Constitution to suit ourselves, and we think we 
 have a tolerably good one ; but whether we have or not, it is nobody's busi- 
 ness but our own . If the people in Kentucky do not like it, they need not 
 come here to live under it ; if the people of Indiana are not satisfied with it 
 what matters it to us? We, and we alone, have the right to a voice in its 
 adoption or rejection. Reasoning thus, my friends, my efforts were directed to 
 the vindication of the great principle involving the right of the people of each 
 State and each Territory to form and regulate their own domestic institutions 
 to suit themselves, subject only to the Constitution of our common country. 
 (Applause.) I am rejoiced to be enabled to say to you that we fought that 
 battle until we forced the advocates of the Lecompton instrument to abandon 
 the attempt of inflicting it upon the people of Kausas, without first giving them 
 an opportunity of rejecting it. When we compelled them to abandon that 
 effort, they resorted to a scheme. They agreed to refer the Constitution back 
 to the people of Kansas, thus conceding the correctness ef the principle for 
 which I had contended, and granting all I had desired, provided the mode of 
 that reference, and the mode of submission to the people had been just, 
 fair and equal. I did not consider the mode of submission provided, in what 
 is known as the " English" bill, a fair submission, and for this simple reason, 
 among others : It provided, in effect, that if the people of Kansas would accept 
 the Lecompton Constitution that they might come in with 35,000 inhabitants, 
 but that, it they rejected it, in order that they might form a constitution 
 agreeable to their owu feelings, and conformable to their own principles, that 
 they should not be received into the Union until they had 93,420 inhabitants. 
 In other words, it said to the people, if you will come into the Union as a 
 slaveholding State, you shall be admitted with 35,000 inhabitants, but if you 
 insist on being a free State, you shall not be admitted until you have 93,420. 
 was not willing to discriminate between free States and slave States in this 
 onfederacy. I will not put a restriction upon a slave State that I would uot 
 put upon a free State, and I will not permit, if I can prevent it, a restriction 
 eing put upon a free State which is not applied with the same force to the
 
 
 slaveholding States. (Cheers.) Equality among the States is a cardinal and 
 fundamental principle in our confederacy, and cannot be violated without over- 
 turning our system of government. (Cheers.) Hence I demanded that the 
 free States and the slaveholding States should be kept on an exact equality, 
 one with the other, as the Constitution of the United States had placed them. 
 If the people of Kansas want a slaveholding State, let them have it, and if 
 they want a free State they have a right to it, and it is not for the people of 
 Illinois or Missouri, or New York, or Kentucky, to complain, whatever the 
 decision of the people of Kansas may be upon that point. 
 
 But while I was not content with the mode of submission contained in 
 the English bill, and while I could not sanction it for the reason that in my 
 opinion it violated the great principle of equality among the different States, 
 yet when it became the law of the land, and under it the question was referred 
 back to the people of Kansas for their decision at an election to be held on the 
 first Monday in August next, I bowed in deference, because whatever decision 
 the people shall make at that election must be final and conclusive of the whole 
 question. If the people of Kansas accept the proposition submitted by Con- 
 gress, from that moment Kansas will become a State of the Union and there is 
 no way of keeping her ont if you should try. The act of admission would then 
 become irrepealable; Kansas would be a State, and there would be an end of 
 the controversy. On the other hand, if at that election the people of Kansas 
 shall reject the proposition, as it is now generally thought will be the case, from 
 that moment the Lecompton Constitution is dead, and again there is an end of 
 the controversy. So you see that either way, on the 3d of August next, the 
 Lecompton controversy ceases and terminates forever ; and a similar question 
 can never arise unless some man shall attempt to play the Lecompton game 
 over again. But my fellow citizens I am well convinced that that game will 
 never be attempted again ; it has been so solemnly and thoroughly rebuked 
 during the last session of Congress that it will find but few advocates in the 
 future . The President of the United States in his annual message expressly 
 recommends that the example of the Minnesota case, wherein Congress required 
 the Constitution to be submitted to the vote of the people for ratification or re- 
 jection, shall be followed in all future cases; (Gooi!) and all we have to do is 
 to sustain as one man that recommendation, and the Kansas controversy can 
 never again arise. 
 
 My friends, I do not desire you to understand me as claiming for myself 
 any special merit for the course I have pursued on this question. I simply did 
 my duty, a duty enjoined by fidelity, by honor, by patriotism; a duty which I 
 could not have shrunk from in ray opinion without dishonor and faithlessness 
 to my constituency. Besides I only did what it was in the power of any one 
 man to do. There were others, men of eminent ability, men of wide reputation 
 renowned all over Americ^ who led the van and are entitled to the greatest 
 share of the credit Foremost among them all, as he was head and shoulders 
 above them all, was Kentucky's great and gallant statesman, John J. Critten- 
 den. (Good, good, and cheers.) By his course upon this question he has 
 shown himself a worthy successor of the immortal Clay, and well may Kentucky 
 be proud of him. (Applause. ) I will not withhold, either, the meed of praise 
 due the Republican party in Congress for the course which they pursued. In 
 the language of the N. Y. Tribune they camu to the Douglas platform, aban- 
 doning their own, ('cheers,) believing that under the peculiar circumstances 
 they would in that mode best subserve the interests of the country. (Good, 
 good, and applause.) My friends, when I am battling for a great principle I 
 want aid and support from what ever quarter I can get it in order to carry out 
 that principle. (" That's right.") I never hesitate in my course when I find 
 those who on all former occasions differed from me upon the principle finally 
 comiug to its support. Nor is it for me to inquire into the motives which ani- 
 mated the Republican members of Congress in supporting the Crittenden-Mont- 
 gomery Bill. It is enough for me thac in that case they came square up and 
 endorsed the great principle of the Kansas, Nebraska Bill, which declared that 
 Kansas should be received into the Union, with slavery or without, as its con- 
 stitution should prescribe. (Cheers.) I was the more rejoiced at the action
 
 of the Republicans on that occasion for another reason. I could not forget, 
 you will not soon forget, how unanimous that party was in 1854 in declaring 
 that never should another slave State be admitted into this Union under any 
 circumstances whatever, and yet we find that during this last winter they came 
 np and voted to a man declaring that Kansas should come in as ;i State with 
 slavery under the Lecompton Constitution, if her people desired it, and that if 
 they did not that they might form a new constitution with slavery or without, 
 just as they pleaded. I do not question the motive when men do a good act; 
 I give them credit for the act ; and if they will stand by that principle in the 
 future, and abandon their heresy of " no more slave States even if the people 
 want them," I will then give them still more credit. I am afraid though that 
 they will not stand by it in the future. (Laughter.) If they do, I will freely 
 forgive them all the abuse they heaped upon me in 1854, for having advocated 
 and carried out that same principle in the Kansas Nebraska bill. 
 
 Illinois stands proudly forward as a State which early took her position in 
 favor of the principle of popular sovereignty as applied to the Territories of 
 the United States, When the compromise measure of 1850 passed, predicated 
 upon that principle, you recollect the excitement which prevailed throughout 
 the northern portion of this State. I vindicated those measures then, and de- 
 fended myself for having voted for them, upon the ground that they embodied 
 the principle that every people ought to have the privilege of forming and reg- 
 ulating their own institutions to suit themselves that each State had that 
 right, and I saw no reason why it should not be extended to the Territories. 
 When the people of Illinois had an opportunity of passing judgment upon 
 those measures they endorsed them by a vote of their representatives in the 
 Legislature sixty-one in the affirmative and only four in the negative in 
 which they asserted that the principle embodied in the measures was the birth- 
 right of freemen, the gift of Heaven, a principle vindicated by our revolution- 
 ary fathers, and that no limitation should ever be placed upon it, either in the 
 organization of a Territorial government or the admission of a State into the 
 Union. That resolution still stands unrepealed on the journals of the Legisla- 
 t ure of Illinois. In obedience to it, and in exact conformity with the principle, 
 I brought in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, requiring that the people should be 
 left perfectly free in the formation of their institutions, and in the organization 
 of their goverument. I now submit to you whether I have not in good faith 
 redeemed that pledge that the people of Kansas should be left perfectly free to 
 form and regulate their institutions to suit themselves. (" You have," and 
 cheers.) And yet, while no man can arise in any crowd and deny that I have 
 been faithful to my principles, and redeemed my pledge, we find those who are 
 struggling to crush and defeat me, for the very reason that I have been faithful 
 in carrying out those measures. (" They can't do it," and great cheers. ) We 
 find the Republican leaders forming an alliance with professed Lecompton men 
 to defeat every Democratic nominee and elect Republicans in their places, and 
 aiding and defending them in order to help them breakdown Anti-Lecompton 
 men, whom they acknowledge did right in their opposition to Lecompton. 
 (" They can't do it.") The only hope that Mr. Lincoln has of defeating me 
 for the Senatf rests in the fact, that I was faithful to my principles, and that 
 he may be aLle in consequence of that fact to form a coalition with Lecompton 
 men, who wish to defeat me for that fidelity. (" They will never do i" 
 " Never in the State of Illinois," and cheers.) 
 
 This is one element of strength upon which he relies to accomplish his ob- 
 ject. He hopes he can secure the few men claiming to be friends of the Le- 
 compton Constitution, and for that reason you will find he does not say a word 
 against the Lecompton Constitution or its supporters. He is as silent as the 
 grave upou that subject Behold Mr. Lincoln courting Lecompton votes, in 
 order that he may go to the Senate as the Representative of Republican prin- 
 ciples ! (Laughter.^ You know that the alliance exists. I think you will 
 find that it will ooze out before the contest is over. (" That's my opinion," 
 and cheers.) 
 
 Every Republican paper takes ground with my Lecompton enemies, en- 
 couraging them, stimulating them in their opposition to me and styling my
 
 friends bolters from the Democratic party and their Lecompton allies the true 
 Democratic party of the country. If they think that they can mislead and de- 
 ceive the people of Illinois or the Democracy of Illinois, by that sort of an un 
 natural and unholy alliance, I think they show very little sagacity, or give the 
 people very little credit for intelligence. (" That's so," and cheers.) It must 
 be ft contest of principle. Either the radical abolition principles of Mr. Lincoln 
 must be maintained, or the strong, constitutional, national Democratic princi- 
 ples with which I am identified must be carried out. 
 
 There can be but two great political parties in this country. The contest 
 this year and in 1860 must necessarily be between the Democracy and the Re- 
 publicans, if we can judge from present indications. My whole life has been 
 identified with the Democratic party. (CheersJ I have devoted all of my 
 energies to advocating its principles and sustaining its organization. In this 
 State the party was never better united or more harmonious than at this time. 
 (Cheers.) The State convention which assembled on the 2d of April and nom- 
 inated FONDEY AND FRENCH was regularly called by the State Central Committee, 
 appointed by the previous State convention for that purpose. The meetings 
 in each county in the State for the appointment of delegates to the convention 
 were regularly called by the county committees, and the proceedings in every 
 county in the State, as well as in the State convention were regular in all re- 
 spects, No convention was ever more harmonious in its action, or showed a 
 more tolerant and just spirit towards brother Democrats. The leaders of the 
 party there assembled declared their unalterable attachment to the time hon- 
 ored principles and organization of the Democratic party, and to the Cincin- 
 nati platform. They declared that that platform was the only authoritive ex- 
 position of Democratic principles, and that it must so stand until changed by 
 another national convention; that in the meantime they would make no new 
 tests, and submit to none ; that they would proscribe no Democrat or permit 
 the proscription of Democrats because of their opinion upon Lecomptonism, or 
 upon any other issue which has arisen ; but would recognize all men as Demo- 
 crats who remained inside of the organization, preserved the usages of the par- 
 ty, and supported its nominees. (Great applause.) These bolting Democrats 
 who now claim to be the peculiar friends of the National Administration, and 
 have formed an alliance with Mr. Lincoln and the Republicans for the pur- 
 pose of defeating the Democratic party, have ceased to claim fellows! ip with 
 the Democratic organization; have entirely separated themselves from it, and 
 are endeavoring to build up a faction in the State, not with the hope or expec- 
 tation of electing any one man who professes to be a Democrat to office in any 
 county in the State, but merely to secure the defeat of the Democratic nomi- 
 nees and the election of Republicans in their places. What excuse can any 
 honest Democrat have for abandoning the Democratic organization and joining 
 with the Republicans, (" none") to defeat our nominees in view of the platform 
 established by the State convention ? They cannot pretend that they were 
 proscribed because of their opinions upon Lecompton or any other question, 
 for the convention expressly declared that they recogniz*! all as good Demo- 
 crats who remained inside of the organization and abided by the nominations. 
 If the question is settled or is to be considered as finally disposed of by the 
 vote on the 3d of August, what possible excuse can any good Democrat make 
 for keeping up a division for the purpose of prostrating his party, alter that 
 election is over and the controversy has terminated? It is evident that all 
 who shall keep up this warfare for the purpose of dividing and destroying the 
 party have made up their minds to abandon the Democratic organization for 
 ever, and to join those for whose benefit they are now trying to distract our 
 party, and elect Republicans in the place of the Democratic nominees. 
 
 I submit the question to you whether I have been right or wrong in the 
 course I have pursued in Congress. ( <l Right! right!" in one unanimous shout.) 
 And I submit, also, whether I have not redeemed in good faith i very pledge I 
 have made to yon? ("Yon have.") Then my friends, the question recurg 
 whether I shall be sustained or rejected? (" Sustained.") If yon are of the 
 opinion that Mr. Lincoln will a ivance the interests of Illinois better than I 
 can; that he will sustain her honor and her dignity higher than it has been in
 
 ti 
 
 my power to do; that your interests, and the interests of jour children require 
 his election instead of mine, it is your duty to give him your support, (" We 
 don't think so.") If, on the contrary, you think that my adherence to these 
 great fundamental principles upon which our government is founded is the true 
 mode of sustaining the peace and harmony of the country, and maintaining the 
 perpetuity of the republic, I then ask you to stand by me in the efforts I have 
 made to that end. (" We will do it f" " We will stand by you!") 
 
 And this brings me to the consideration of the two points at issue between 
 
 Mr. Lincoln and myself. The Republican convention when it assembled at 
 
 Springfield, did me and the country the honor of indicating the man who was 
 
 to be their standard bearer, and the embodiment of their principles in this 
 
 State. I owe them my gratitude for thus making up a direct issue between 
 
 Mr. Lincoln and myself. I shall have no controversies of a personal charac- \ j 
 
 ter with Mr. Lincoln. I have known him well for a quarter of a century. I I/ 
 
 "have known him, as you all know him, a kind-hearted, amiable gentleman, a 
 
 ' right good fellow, a worthy citizen, of eminent ability as a lawyer, and I have 
 
 no doubt, sufficient ability to make a good Senator. The question, then, for 
 
 ' - you to decide is whether his principles are more in accordance with the genius 
 
 of our free institutions, the peace and harmony of the republic than those 
 
 which I advocate. ("No!" "no!" Stephen A. Douglas, forever!") He 
 
 tells you, in his speech made at Springfield, before the Convention which gave 
 
 him his unanimous nomination, that: 
 
 " A house divided against itself cannot stand." 
 
 " I believe this Government cannot endure permanently, half slave and 
 half free." 
 
 " I do not expect the Union to be dissolved 1 don't 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." 
 
 That is the fundamental principle upon which he sets out in this campaign. 
 (" We don't believe one word of it, no, never.",) Well, I do not suppose you 
 will believe one word of it when you come to examine it carefully, and see its 
 consequences. Although the Republic has existed from 1789 to this day, 
 divided into free States and slave States, yet we are told that in the future it 
 cannot endure unless they shall become all free or all slave (" all free.") For 
 that reason he says, as the gentleman in the crowd says, that they must be all 
 free (" no, no.") He wishes to go to the Senate of the United States in order 
 to carry out that line of public policy which will compel all the States in the 
 south to become free. How is he going to do it ? (Laughter.) Has Con- 
 gress any power over the subject of slavery in Kentucky, or Virginia, or any 
 other State of this Union ? How, then, is Mr. Lincoln going to carry out 
 that principle which he says is essential to the existence of tbis Union, to wit: 
 that slavery must be abolished in all the States of the Union, or must be 
 established in them all. You convince the South that they must either estab- 
 lish slavery in Illinois, and in every other free State, or submit to its abolition 
 in every Southern State, and you invite them to make a warfare upon the 
 Northern States in order to establish slavery, for the sake of perpetuating it 
 at home. Thus, Mr . Lincoln invites, by his proposition, a war of sections, 
 a war between Illinois and Kentucky, a war between the free States and the 
 slave States, a war between the North and the South, for the purpose of either 
 exterminating slavery in every Southern State, or planting it in every North- 
 ern State. He tells you that the safety of this Republic, that the existence 
 of this Union depends upon that warfare being carried on until one section or 
 the other shall be entirely subdued. The States must all be free or slave, for 
 a house divided against itself cannot stand. That is Mr. Lincoln's argument 
 upon that question. My friends, is it possible to preserve peace between the 
 North and the South if such a doctrine shall prevail in either section of the 
 Union ? Will you ever submit to a warfare waged by the Southern States to 
 establish slavery in Illinois ? (" No.") What man in Illinois would not lose 
 the last drop of his heart's blood before he would submit to the institution of 
 slavery being forced upon us by the other States, against our will ? And if 
 that be true of us, what Southern man would not shed the last drop of his
 
 the country ? ("No, never.") If the Republican party cannot trust Democratic 
 Judges, how can they expect us to trust Republican Judges, when they have 
 been selected in advance for the purpose of packing a decision in the event ot a 
 case arising. My fellow citizens, whenever partisan politics shall be carried on 
 to the bench; whenever the Judges shall be arraigned upon the stump, and their 
 judicial conduct reviewed in town meetings and caucuses ; whenever the inde- 
 pendence and integrity of the judiciary shall be tampered with to the extent of 
 rendering them partial, blind, and suppliant tools, what security will you have for 
 
 ^ your rights and your liberties ? ("None.") I therefore take issue with Mr. Lin- 
 
 coln directly in regard to this warfare upon the Supreme Court of the United 
 
 *\ States. I accept the decision of that Court as it was pronounced. Whatever 
 
 my individual opinions may be, I, as a good citizen, am bound by the laws of 
 
 $ the land as the Legislature makes them, as the Court expounds them, and as th 
 
 executive officers administer them. I am bound by our Constitution as our 
 
 w*^ fathers made it, and as it is our duty to support it. I am bound, as a good citi- 
 
 ^ zen, to sustain the constituted authorities, and to resist, discourage, and beat 
 
 down, by all lawful and peaceful means, all attempts at exciting mobs, or vio- 
 lence, or any other revolutionary proceedings against the Constitution and the 
 constituted authorities of the country. (" Good, good," cheers.) 
 
 Mr. Lincoln is alarmed for fear that, under the Dred Scott decision, slavery 
 wiil go into all the Territories of the United States. All I have to say is that, 
 with or without that decision, slavery will go juat where the people want it, and 
 not one inch further. You have had experience upon that subject in the case 
 of Kansas. You have been told by the Republican party that from 1854, when 
 the Kansas-Nebraska bill passed, down to last winter, that slavery was sustained 
 and supported in Kansas by the laws of what they called a " bogus" legislature. 
 And how many slaves were there in the Territory at the end of last winter ? 
 Not as many at the end of that period as there were on the day the Kansas Ne- 
 braska bill passed. There was quite a number of slaves in Kansas, taken there 
 under the Missouri Compromise, and in spite of it, before the Kansas Nebraska 
 bill passed, and now it is asserted that there are not as many there as there were 
 before the passage of the bill, notwithstanding that they had local laws sustain- 
 ing and encouraging it enacted, as the Republicans say, by a " bogus" Legisla- 
 ture, imposed upon Kansas, by an invasion from Missouri. Why has not slavery 
 obtained a foothold in Kansas under these circumstances? Simply because there 
 was a majority of her people opposed to slavery, and everv slave holder knew that 
 if he took his slaves there, the moment that majority got possesion of the ballot 
 'boxes, and a fair election was held, that moment slavery would be abolished and 
 he would lose them. For that reason, such owners as took their slaves there 
 brought them back to Missouri, fearing that if they remained they would be 
 emancipated. Thus you see that under the principle of popular sovereignty, 
 slavery has been kept out of Kansas, notwithstanding the fact that for the first 
 three years they had a Legislature in that Territory favorable to it. I tell you, 
 my friends, it is impossible under our institutions to force slavery on an unwil- 
 ling people. If this principle of popular sovereignty asserted in the Ne- 
 braska bill be fairly carried out, by letting the people decide the question for 
 themselves, by a fair vote, at a fair election, and with honest returns, slavery 
 will never exist one day, or one hour, in any Territory against the unfriendly 
 legislation of an unfriendly people. I care not how the Dred Scott decision may 
 have settled the abstract question so far as the practical result is concerned ; for, 
 to use the language of an eminent southern Senator, on this very question 
 
 " I do not care a fig which way the decision shall be, for it is of no partic- 
 ular consequence ; slavery cannot exist a day, or an hour in any Territory or 
 State, unless it has affirmative laws sustaining and supporting it, furnishing po- 
 lice regulations and remedies, and an omission to furnish them, would be as fatal 
 as a constitutional prohibition. Without affirmative legislation in its favor, sla- 
 very could not exist any longer than a new born infant could survive under the 
 heat of the sun, on a barren roek without protection. It would wilt and die for 
 the want of support." 
 
 Hen 3, it th<> people of a Territory want slavery they will encourage it by 
 passing affirmatory laws, and the necessary police regulations, patrol laws and
 
 12 
 
 slave code; if they do not want it they will withhold that legislation, and by 
 withholding it slavery is as dead as if it was prohibited by a Constitutional pro- 
 hibition, (cheers,) especially if in addition their legislation is unfriendly, as it 
 would be, if they were opposed to it. They could pass such local laws and po- 
 lice regulations as would drive slavery out in one day, or one hour, if they were 
 opposed to it, and therefore, so far as the question of slavery in the Territories is 
 concerned, so far as the principle of popular sovereignty is concerned, in its prac- 
 tical operation, it matters not how the Dred Scott case may be decided with re- 
 ference to the Territories. My own opinion on that law point is well known. It 
 is shown by my votes and speeches in Congress. But be it as it may, the 
 question was an abstract question, inviting no practical results, and whether sla- 
 very shall exist or shall not exist in any State or Territory, will depend upon 
 whether the people are for it or against it, and which ever way they shall decide 
 it in any Territory or in any State, will be entirely satisfactory to me. (Cheers.) 
 But I must now bestow a few words upon Mr. Lincoln's main objection to 
 the Dred Scott decision. He is not going to submit to it. Not that he is go- 
 ing to make war upon it with force of arms. But he is going to appeal and re- 
 verse it in some way ; he cannot tell us how. I reckon not by a writ of error, 
 because I do not know where he would prosecute that, except before an abolition 
 society. (" That's it," and applause.) And when he appeals, he does not ex- 
 actly tell us to whom he will appeal, except it be the Republican party, and I 
 have yet to learn that the Republican party, under the Constitution, has judicial 
 powers; but he is going to appeal from it and reverse it either by an act of Con- 
 gress,or by turning out the judges, or in some other way . And why ? Be- 
 cause he says that that decision deprives the negro of the benfits of that clause 
 of the Constitution of the United States which entitles the citizens of each State 
 to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States. Well, it 
 is very true that the decision does have that effect By deciding that a negro is 
 not a citizen, of course it denies to him the rights and privileges awarded to cit- 
 izens of the United States. It is this that Mr. Lincoln will not submit to. 
 Why ? For the palpable reason that he wishes to confer upon the negro all 
 the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens of the several States. I will not 
 quarrel with Mr. Lincoln for his views on that subject. I have no doubt he is 
 conscientious in them. I have not the slightest idea but that he conscientiously 
 believes that a negro ought to enjoy and exercise all the rights and privileges 
 given to white men, but I do not agree with him, and hence I ca> not concur 
 with him. I believe that this government of ours was founded on"the white basis. 
 (Prolonged cheering.) I believe that it was established by white men. (Ap- 
 plause.) hymen of European birth or descended of European races, for the 
 benefit of white men and their posterity in all time to come. (" Hear," hear.**) 
 I do not believe that it was the design or intention of the signers of the declara- 
 tion of Independence or the framers of the Constitution to include negroes, Indi- 
 ana or other inferior races with white men as citizens. (Cheers.) Our fathers 
 had at that day seen the evil consequences o/ conferring civil and political rights 
 upon the Indian and Negro in the Spanish and French colonies on the Ameri- 
 can continent and the adjacent islands. In Mexico, in Central America, in South 
 America and in the West India islands, where the Indian, the Negro, and men 
 of all colon> and all races are put on an equality by law, the effect of political 
 amalgamation can be seen. Ask any of those gallant young men in your own 
 county, who went to Mexico to fight the battles of their country, in what friend 
 Lincoln considers an unjust and unholy war, and hear w^at they will tell you in 
 regard to the amalgamation of races in that country. Amalgamation there, 
 first political, then social, has led to demoralization and degradation, until it has 
 reduced that people below the point of capacity for self government Our fathers 
 knew what the effect of it would be, and from the time they planted foot on the 
 American continent, not only those who landed at Jamestown, but at Plymouth 
 Rock and all other points on the coast, they pursued the policy of confining civil 
 and political rights to the white race, and excluding the negro in all cases, 
 Stilt Mr. Lincoln conscientiously believes that it is his duty to advocate negro 
 citizenship. He wants to give the negro the privilege of citizenship. 
 He quotes Scripture again and says: " As your father in Heaven is perfect,
 
 13 
 
 be ye also perfect," and he applies that Scriptural quotation to all classes, 
 not that he expects us all to be as perfect as our master, but as nearly 
 perfect as possible. In other words, he is willing to give the negro an equality 
 under the law, in order that he may approach as near perfection or an equality 
 with the white man as possible. To this same end he quotes the Declaration of 
 Independence in these words: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all 
 men were created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
 rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;" and goes on 
 to argue that the negro was included, or intended to be included in that declara- 
 tion by the signers of the paper. He says that by the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, therefore, all kinds of men, negroes included, were created equal and 
 endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and further, that the 
 right of the negro to be on an equality with the white man is a divine right 
 conferred by the Almighty, and rendered inalienable according to the Declaration 
 of Independence. Hence no human law or constitution can deprive the negro 
 of that equality with the white man to which he is entitled by divine law. 
 (" Higher law.") Yes, higher law. Now, I do not question Mr. Lincoln's 
 sincerity on this point. He believes that the negro, by the Divine law, is cre- 
 ated the equal of the white man, and that no human law can deprive him of 
 that equality, thus secured ; and he contends that the negro ought therefore to 
 have all the rights and privileges of citizenship on an equality with the white 
 man. In order to accomplish this the first thing that would have to be done in this 
 State would be to blot out of our State Constitution that clause which prohibits 
 negroes from coming into this State, and making it an African colony, and per- 
 mit them to come and spread over these charming prairies until in midday they 
 shall look black as night. When our friend Lincoln gets all his colored brethern 
 around him here, he will then raise them to perfection as fast as possible, and 
 place them on an equality with the white man, first removing all legal restrictions, 
 because they are our equals by Divine law, and there should be no such restric- 
 tions. He wants them to vote. I am opposed to it. If they had a vote I 
 reckon they would all vote for him in preference to me, entertaining the views I 
 do. (Laughter.) But that matters not. The position he has taken on this 
 question not only presents him as claiming for them the right to vote, but their 
 right under the Divine law and the Declaration of Independence, to be elected 
 to office, to become members of the Legislature, to go to Congress, to become 
 Governors, or United States Senators, (laughter and cheers,) or Judges of the 
 Supreme Court ; and I suppose that when they control that Court they will 
 probably reverse the Dred Scott Decision. (Laughter.) He is going to bring 
 negroes here, and give them the right of citizenship, the right of voting, and the 
 right of holding office and sitting on juries, and what else/ Why, he would 
 permit them to marry, would he not? And if he gives them that right, I sup- 
 pose he will let them marry whom they please, provided they marry their equals. 
 (Laughter.) If the Divine law declares that the white man is the equal of the 
 negro woman that they are on a perfect equality, I suppose he admits the 
 right of the negro woman to marry the white man. (Renewed laughter.) In 
 other words, his doctrine that the negro, by Divine law, is placed on a perfect 
 equality with the white man, and that that equality is recognized by the Decla- 
 tion of Independence, leads him necessarily to establish negro equality under 
 the law; but whether even then they would be so in fact would depend upon 
 the degree of viitue and intelligence they possessed, and certain other 
 qualities that are matters of taste rather than of law. (Laughter ) I do 
 not understand Mr. Lincoln as saying that he expects to make them our equals 
 socially, or by intelligence, nor in fact as citizens, but that he wishes to make 
 them our equals under the law, and then say to them, "as your masterin Heaven 
 is perfect be ye also perfect." Well, I confess to you my fellow citizens, that I 
 am utterly opposed to that system of abol tion philosophy (" So am I," and 
 cheers.) 1 do not believe that the signers of the Declaration of Independence had 
 any reference to negroes when they used the expression that all men were created 
 equal, or that they had any reference to the Chinese or Coolies, the Indians, the 
 Japanese, or any other inferior race . They were speaking of the white race, the 
 European race on this continent, and their decendants, and emigrants who should
 
 u 
 
 ome here. They were speaking only of the white race, and never dreamed thai 
 their language would be construed to include the negro. (Cheers.) And now 
 for the evidence of that faot. At the time the Declaration of Independence waa 
 put forth, declaring the equality of all men, every one of the thirteen colonies was 
 a slaveholding colony, and every man who signed that Declaration represented a 
 sdaveholding constituency. Did they intend, when they put their signatures to 
 that instrument, to declare that their own slaves were on au equality with them; 
 that they were made their equals by divine law, and that any human law reducing 
 them to an inferior position, was void, as being in violation of divine law ? Was 
 that the meaning of the signers of the Declaration of Independence ? Did 
 JEFFERSON and HENRY, and LEE did any of the signers of that instrument, or 
 all of them, on the day they signed it give their slaves freedom ? History records 
 that they did not . Did they go further, and put the negro on an equality with 
 the white man throughout the country ? They did not. And yet if they had 
 understood that Declaration as including the negro, which Mr. Lincoln holds they 
 did, they would have been bound, as conscientious men, to have restored the 
 negro to that equality which he thinks the Almighly intended they should occupy 
 with the white man. They did not do it. Slavery was abolished in only one 
 State before the adoptioa of the Constitution in 1789, and then in others gradu- 
 ally, down to the time this abolition agitation began, and it has not been abol- 
 ished in one since. The history of the country shows that neither the signers of 
 the Declaration, or the framers of the Constitution ever supposed it possible that 
 their language would be used in an attempt to make this nation a mixed nation 
 of Indians, negroes, whites and mongrels. I repeat, that our whole history 
 confirms the proposition that from the earliest settlement of the colonies down to 
 the Declaration of Independence and the adoption of the Constitution of the 
 United States, our fathers proceeded on the white basis, making the white people 
 the governing race, but conceding to the Indian and negro, and all inferior races, 
 all the rights and all the privileges they could enjoy consistent with the safety 
 of the society in which they lived. (" That's right.") That is my opinion now. 
 (" It is right.") I told you that humanity, philanthropy, justice and sound 
 policy required that we should give the negro every right, every privilege, 
 every immunity consistent with the safety and welfare of the State. The question 
 then naturally arises what are those rights and privileges, and what is the nature 
 and extent of them. My answer is that that is a question which each State and 
 each Territory must decide for itself. We have decided that question. We have 
 said that in this State tne negro shall not be a slave, but that he shall enjoy no 
 political rights that negro equality shall not exist I am content with that posi- 
 tion. (" Right.") My friend Lincoln is not. He thinks that our policy and 
 our laws on that subject are contrary to the Declaration of Independence. He 
 thinks that the Almighty made the negro his equal and his brother. ('Laughter 
 and cheers .) For my part I do not consider the negro any kin to me, (great 
 applause.) nor to any other white man ; but I would still carry my humanity 
 and my philanthropy to the extent of giving him every privilege and every im- 
 munity that he could enjoy, consistent with our own good. We in Illinois have 
 the right to decide upon that question for ourselves, and we are bound to allow 
 every other State to do the same. Maine allows the negro to vote on an equality 
 with the white man. I do not quarrel with our friends in Maine for that. If 
 .they think it wise and proper in Maine to put the negro on an equality with the 
 white man, and allow him to go to the polls and negative the vote of a white 
 man, it is their business and not mine. On the other hand, New York permits 
 a negro to vote provided he owns $250 worth of property. New York thinks 
 that a negro ought to be permitted to vote, provided he is rich, but not otherwise. 
 They allow the aristocratic negro to vote there. ( Laughter. ) I never saw the 
 wisdom, the propriety or the justice of that decision on the part of New York, 
 and yet it never occurred to me that I had a right to find fault with that State. 
 It is her business; she is a sovereign State, and has a right to do as she pleases, 
 and if she will take care of her own negroes, making such regulations concerning 
 them as suit her, and let us alone : I will mind my business, and not interfere 
 with her. In Kentucky they will not give a negro any political or any civil rights. 
 I shall not argue the question whether Kentucky In so doing has decided right
 
 15 
 
 or wrong, wisely or unwisely. It is a question for Kentucky to deciae for herself. 
 I believe that the Kentackians have consciences as well as ourselves ; they have 
 as keen a perception of their religious, moral and social duties s we have, and 
 I am willing that they shall decide this slavery question for themselves, and be 
 accountable to their God for their action. It is not for me to arraign them for 
 what they do. I will not judge them lest I shall be judged. Let Kentucky 
 mind her own business, and take care of her negroes, and we attend to our own 
 affairs, and take care of our negroes, and we will be the best of friends ; but il 
 Kentucky attempts to interfere with us, or we with her, there will be strife, there 
 will be discord, there will be relentless hatred, there will be everything but frater- 
 nal feeling and brotherly love. It is not necessary that you should enter Kentucky 
 and interfere in that State, to use the language of Mr. Lincoln. It is just as 
 offensive to interfere from this State, or send your missies over there. I care not 
 whether an enemy, if he is going to assault us, shall actually come into our State, 
 or come along the line, and throw his bomb-shells over to explode in our midst. 
 Suppose England should plant a battery on the Canadian side of the Niagara 
 river, opposite Buffalo, and throw bomb-shells over, which would explode in 
 Main street, in that city, and destroy the buildings, and that, when we protested, 
 she would say, in the language of Mr. Lincoln, that she never dreamed o f coming 
 into the United States to interfere with us, and that she was just throwing her 
 bombs over the line from her own side, which she had a right to do, would that 
 explanation satisfy us ? (" No ;" " Strike him again.") So it is with Mr. Lincoln, 
 He is not going into Kentucky, but he will plant his batteries on this side of the 
 Ohio, where he is safe and secure for a retreat, and will throw his bomb shells his 
 abolition documents over the river, and will carry on a political warfare, and 
 get up strife between the North and the South until he elects a sectional Presi- 
 dent, reduces the South to the condition of dependent colonies, raises the negro 
 to an equality, and forces the South to submit to the doctrine that a house divided 
 against itself cannot stand that the Union divided into half slave States and 
 half free cannot endure that they must all be slave or they must all be free, 
 and that as we in the North ar in the majority, we will not permit them to be 
 all slave, and therefore they in the South must consent to the States all being free. 
 (Laughter.) Now, fellow-citizens, I submit to you whether these doctrines are con- 
 sistent with the peace and harmony of this Union. (' No, no.") I submit to 
 yon whether they are consistent with our duties as citizens of a common confed- 
 eracy ; whether they are consistent with the principles which ought to govern 
 brethern of the same family ? I recognize all the people of these States, North 
 and South, East and West, old or new, Atlantic or Pacific, as our brethern, 
 flesh of one flesh, and I will do no act unto them that I would not be willing 
 they should do unto us . I would apply the same Christian rule to the States 
 of this Union that we are taught to apply to individuals, " do unto others as you 
 would have others do unto you," and this would secure peace Why should this 
 slavery agitation be kept up ? Does it benefit the white man or the slave ? Who 
 does it benefit except the Republican politicians, who use it as their hobby to 
 ride into office. (Cheers.) Why, I repeat, should it be continued ? Why 
 cannot we be content to administer this government as it was made a confed- 
 eracy of sovereign and independent States ? Let us recognize the sovereignty 
 and independence of each State, refrain from interfering with the domestic insti- 
 tutions and regulations of other States, permit the Territories and new States to 
 decide their institutions for themselves, as we did when we were in their con- 
 dition ; blot out these lines of North and South, and resort back to these lines 
 of State boundaries which the Constitution has marked out, and engraved upon 
 the face of the country; have no other dividing lines but these, and we will be one 
 united, harmonious people, with fraternal feelings, and no discord or dissension^ 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 These are my views and these are the principles to which I have devoted 
 all my energies since 1850, when I acted side by side with the immortal Clay 
 and the God-like Webster in that memorable straggle in which Whigs and Dem- 
 ocrats united upon a common platform of patriotism and the Constitution, throw- 
 ing aside partizau feelings in order to restore peace and harmony to a distracted 
 country. And when I stood beside the death bed of Mr. Clay, and heard him
 
 16 
 
 refer with feelings and emotions of the deepest solicitude to the welfare of the 
 country, and saw that he looked upon the principle embodied in the great Com- 
 promise measures of 1850, the principle of the Nebraska bill, the doctrine of leav- 
 ing each State and Territory free to decide its institutions for itself, as the only 
 means by which the peace of the country could be preserved and the Union per- 
 petuated, I pledged him, on that death bed of his, that so long as I lived my 
 energies should be devoted to the vindication of that principle, and of his fame as 
 connected with it. (" Hear," " hear," and great enthusiasm.) I gave the same 
 pledge to the great expounder of the Constitution, he who has been called the 
 " God-like Webster." I looked up to Clay and him as a son would to a father, 
 and I call upon the people of Illinois, and the people of the whole Union to bear 
 testimony that never since the sod has been laid upon the graves .of these em- 
 inent statesmen have I failed on any occasion to vindicate the principle with 
 which the last great, crowning acts of their lives were identified, or to vindi- 
 cate their names whenever they have been assailed ; and now my life and ener- 
 gy are devoted to this great work as the means of preserving this Union. 
 (Cheers. ) This Union can only be preserved by maintaining the fraternal 
 feeling between the North and the South, the East and the West. If that 
 good feeling can be preserved, the Union will be as perpetual as the fame of its 
 great founders. It can be maintained by preserving the Sovereignty of the 
 States, the right of each State and each Territory to settle its domestic concerns 
 for itself, and the duty of each to refrain from interfering with the other in any 
 of its local or domestic institutions. Let that be done and the Union will be 
 perpetual ; let that be done, and this Republic, which began with thirteen Spates 
 and which now numbers thirty-two ; which when it began only extended from 
 the Atlantic to the Mississippi, but now reaches to the Pacific, may yet expand 
 North and South, until it covers the whole Continent, and becomes one vast 
 ocean-bound confederacy. (Great cheering.) Then, my friends, the path of 
 duty, of honor, of patriotism is plain. There are a few simple principles to be 
 preserved. Bear in mind the dividing line between State rights and federal 
 authority; let us maintain the great principles of popular sovereignty, of State 
 rights, and of the Federal Union as the Constitution has made it, and this re- 
 public will endure forever. 
 
 I thank you kindly for the patience with which you have listened to me. 
 I fear I have wearied you. (" No, no," " Go on.") I have a heavy day's 
 work before me to morrow. I have several speeches to make. My friends, in 
 whose hands I am, are taxing me beyond human endurance, but I shall take the 
 helm and control them hereafter. 1 am profoundly grateful to the people of 
 McLean for the reception they have given me, and the kindness with which 
 they have listened to me. I remember that when I first came among you here, 
 twenty-five years ago, that I was prosecuting attorney in this district, and that 
 my earliest efforts were made here, when my deficiencies were too apparent, I 
 am afraid, to be concealed from any one. I remember the courtesy and kind- 
 ness with which I was uniformly treated by you all, and whenever I can recog- 
 nize the face of one of your old citizens it is like meeting an old and cherished 
 friend. I come among you with a heart filled with gratitude for past favors. 
 I have been with you but little for the past few years ou account of my official 
 duties. I intend to visit you again before the campaign is over. I wish to 
 speak to your whole people. I wish them to pass judgment upon the correct- 
 ness of my course, and the soundness of the principles which I have proclaimed 
 If you do not approve my principles I cannot ask your support. Ifiiyou believe 
 that the election of Mr. Lincoln would contribute more to preserve the harmo- 
 ny of the country, to perpetuate the Union, and more to the prosperity and 
 the honor and the glory of the State, then it is your duty to give him the pref- 
 erence. If, on the contrary, yon believe that I have been faithful to my trust, 
 and that by sustaining me you will give greater strength and efficiency to the 
 principles which I have expounded, I shall then be grateful for your support-. 
 ("You have our support." "We'll stand by you," &c., &c.) I renew my 
 profound thanks for your attention.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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