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\fs24\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903
In 1859 Abraham Lincoln reluctantly returned to the practice of law, which quickly proved
far less exciting than rhetorical combat with }
}}{\fldrslt {\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \cs16\ul\cf2\insrsid9200903 Stephen A. Douglas}}}\sectd
\ltrsect \linex0\endnhere\sectlinegrid360\sectdefaultcl\sectrsid9840608\sftnbj
{\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903 . Despite his electoral setback, Lincoln
remained a leading Repu blican spokesman, and he continued to maintain
"that slavery is wrong and ought to be dealt with as wrong" as a bedrock Republican principle.
For his part, the victorious }{\field\fldedit{\*\fldinst {\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903
\cs16\ul\cf2\insrsid9200903 Stephen A. Douglas}}}\sectd \ltrsect\linex0\endnhere\sectlinegrid360\sectdefaultcl\sectrsid9840608\sftnbj
{\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903 continued to present
popular sovereignty as the best solution to the slavery question in American politics.
\par }\pard\plain \ltrpar\s15\ql \li0\ri0\sb100\sa100\sbauto1\saauto1\widctlpar\wrapdefault\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid9200903 \rtlch\fcs1 \af0\afs24\alang1025 \ltrch\fcs0
\fs24\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903
Both men agreed to campaign for their respective parties in Ohio prior to the 1859 elections,
and while they did not make joint appearances as they had i
n 1858, they in essence continued their debates. Speaking in Columbus, Dayton, Hamilton and
Cincinnati, Lincoln ridiculed popular sovereignty, which he characterized "as a principle,...
if one man chooses to make a slave of another man, neither that other
man nor anybody else has a right to object." Lincoln declared that Douglas's professed
indifference to slavery would lead inexorably to its nationalization, and that Douglas'
anti-black rhetoric was preparing the public mind for such an outcome by dehuman
izing the slaves. Further, Lincoln worried that as slavery spread, thanks to Douglas,
free labor would find itself at a competitive disadvantage.
\par Lincoln's dramatic performance in 1858, and the positive reaction to his 1859 efforts,
sparked speculation on his prospects as a presidential nominee in
1860. Lincoln was well aware of his limitations and initially was inclined to dismiss talk
of his candidacy. His qualifications seemed dubious - he had failed to be elected senator
twice of late, had never held a significant government administrative post,
had served only a single term in the House of Representatives, had scant formal education
and no web of national political contacts. \par Nonetheless, other candidates had their
own problems, and Lincoln decided to t ake some measures to move the possibility
of his candidacy forward. He had the 1858 debates collected and published, prepared
a campaign autobiography, and accepted an invitation to speak in New York City. The
latter effort, at the Cooper Union in Manhatt a
n on February 27, 1860, was a personal and political triumph that prompted many in the
East to begin thinking seriously of Lincoln as a potential president. The speech covered
familiar ground, condemning popular sovereignty and urging Republicans not to c
ompromise on their opposition to the extension of slavery. After the Cooper Union success,
Lincoln toured New England, giving speeches to some acclaim.
\par On May 10, 1860, a united Illinois Republican Party chose Lincoln as its presidential candidate,
dubbing him the "Rail Splitter," a nickname that harkened to Lincoln's humble frontier
origins. The Republican National Convention subsequently turned to Lincoln after the supporters
of William H. Seward of New York, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania and Edwa
rd Bates of Missouri failed to resolve their differences.
\par The Democratic Party split into northern and southern wings, and each faction chose
its own presidential candidate, }{\field\fldedit{\*\fldinst {\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903
HYPERLINK "http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/bio/stephan.html" }
}{\fldrslt {\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \cs16\ul\cf2\insrsid9200903 Stephen A. Douglas}}}\sectd \ltrsect\linex0\endnhere\sectlinegrid360\sectdefaultcl\sectrsid9840608\sftnbj
the northerners and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for the southrons. A third party
candidate, John Bell, emerged to represent conservatives, mostly former Whigs, who were
dissatisfied with the other parties. \par The campaign of 1860 proved to be the
most spectacular of the century. The deepening
sectional crisis dominated public debate. Four candidates brought their diverse appeals
to the voting public, yet none managed to forge a broad coalition from a badly fractured
electorate. \par Lincoln focused his campaign on the northern
and western states, and rightly considered himself }{\rtlch\fcs1 \ai\af0 \ltrch\fcs0
\i\insrsid9200903 persona non grata}{\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903
in the slaveholding South. Breckinridge similarly built upon a strong base in the southern states,
but was widely reviled in the North. Bell spoke for his core consti
tuency of aging Whigs and other conservatives who believed the sectional crisis would go
away if they merely ignored it. Douglas meanwhile exhausted himself by taking the unprecedented
step of delivering campaign addresses on his own behalf. In this era c
andidates themselves maintained a dignified silence while party stump speakers delivered
their message to the voters on the local level. \par Douglas toured both the North (where
he was a popular candidate) and the South (where fevered southern-rights advocates
increasingly viewed his doctrine of popular sovereignty as a betrayal of their demands).
Vainly Douglas argued that he was the only national candidate and the candidate able
to avoid disunion. \par Both Breckinridge and Douglas Democrats
mounted a withering a ttack on the Republican Party's perceived
advocacy of African-American social and political equality. One Democratic newspaper argued
that if Lincoln was elected "hundreds of thousands" of fugitive slaves would immediately "emigrate
to their friends - the
Republicans - (in the) North, and be placed by them side by side in competition with white
men." Other attacks employed graphic racial slurs to cow northern voters. Many Republicans
found these sorts of attacks compelling, and local Republican organizatio
ns across the North often downplayed slavery as a moral issue and returned to attacks upon
the familiar "slave power." \par The antebellum political system's participatory
pageantry reached its apex with the campaign of 1860. Close electoral competition obliged
the parties to rely upon high voter turnout to secure elections. In an era before mass
media politics, the parties relied upon stump speakers and mass publications like campaign
song books to inspire partisan picnics, parades and rallies. These events of
ten provided the faithful with free food and drink, served to whip up party fervor, and
encouraged voter turnout. \par Republicans marshaled their armies of
electoral activists, many of them young men organized into groups known as "Wide Awakes."
Clad in oilclo ths and caps, the Wide Awakes mounted a succession
of torchlight parades which took Lincoln's message to the streets. Here they often met
up with Democratic flying squadrons and other rivals.
\par When the dust settled, Lincoln was elected president with a mere thirty-nine percent
of the vote. He carried no state south of the Mason-Dixon line.
\par After his victory Lincoln refrained from commenting on the secession crisis. But southern
leaders interpreted Lincoln's victory as the final repudiation of their rights,
and organized a secession movement. As southern states left the Union one by one, the president-elect
remained mute. Privately he resisted compromise efforts that would have permitted any extension
of slavery. Reinstating the Missouri Compromise line, fo
r example, and extending it to the Pacific Ocean, would necessarily have given over some
territory to slavery. That Lincoln would not countenance.
\par Lincoln remained hopeful that southern Unionists, i.e., those in the South devoted
to Union, would reassert t hemselves as they had done in earlier sectional
crises and restore their states to the Union. But this faith was misplaced. With a few notable
exceptions, southerners united behind secession. \par Lincoln departed his beloved Springfield
on February 11, 1861, pausing in the railroad depot to deliver a
short farewell address. Conscious of the unprecented situation, he said, "I go to assume a task
more difficult than that which has devolved upon General Washington." He felt great sadness
at leaving the town that
had been home for more than twenty-five years. "Here I have lived from my youth until now
I am an old man. Here the most sacred ties of earth were assumed; here all my children
were born; and here one of them lies buried. To you, dear friends, I owe all t
hat I have, all that I am." \par Lincoln boarded the inaugural train and
embarked upon a nearly two week journey that amounted to a whistle stop tour, as he ended
his silence with speeches in towns large and small, before state legislatures and from
hotel balco nies. He stressed his fealty to the Union,
and he urged Americans to remain calm. He characterized the secession crisis as an artificial
dilemma created by "designing politicians." He also made clear his firmness of purpose,
solemnly vowing "There is noth ing that can ever bring me willingly to consent
to the destruction of this Union." \par Lincoln's first inaugural address, delivered
on March 4, 1861, was criticized at the time in the North for being too conciliatory and
in the South for being a call to war. H e assured the Southern states they had nothing
to fear from a Republican president. He disavowed any intention to meddle with slavery in the
South, tepidly endorsed a constitutional amendment to that effect, and pledged to enforce the
fugitive slave act.
\par Lincoln recognized no right to secession. The Union was "perpetual;" it predated the
Constitution and could not be sundered. While he affirmed his intention to execute federal
laws and hold federal property as his oath of office required, Lincoln pledged
not to be the first to break the peace. "In }{\rtlch\fcs1 \ai\af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \i\insrsid9200903
your}{\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903 hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen,
and not }{\rtlch\fcs1 \ai\af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \i\insrsid9200903 mine}
{\rtlch\fcs1 \af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903 , is the momentous issue of civil war. The
government will not assail }{\rtlch\fcs1 \ai\af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \i\insrsid9200903 you}{\rtlch\fcs1
\af0 \ltrch\fcs0 \insrsid9200903 . You can have no conflict, without being
yourselves the aggressors." \par Perhaps th
e country was too polarized to hear it, but Lincoln closed his inaugural with an eloquent
plea for a renewal of sectional harmony. "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not
be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of a
f fection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching
from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all
over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely
they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
\par A little more than a month later, cannon fire in Charleston harbor heralded the opening
of the Civil War, a conflict that would end with Lincoln's martyrdom and apotheosis.
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