The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1858-07-29
speech Of Hon. a. Lincoln 1T Spring
Held. HIS, July l7ah.

/ CONCLUDED.
Now ss to the bred Scott decision for
| upon that he makes his last point upon mo.
lie boldly takes ground in favor Of that do
cision.
This 10 one half the onslaught. and one
third Of the entire plan Of the campaign. /
am opposed to that decision in a certain
sense. hut not in the sense which he puts on
| it. say that in so far as it decided in favor
Of Dred SCOTS master and Against Drsd
Scott and his family, do not propose to dis
turb or resist the decision.
/ never have proposed to do any such
thing. think, that in respect for judicial
authority, my humble history wosld not SUI
fer in a comparison with that Of Judge
Douglas. lie would have the citisen con-
form his vote to that decision the member
Of Congress, his; the President hi, use Of
the veto power. He would make it rule Of
political action for the people and oil the de-
| partments Of the government. would mot.
BY resisting it as political rule, disturb
no right Of property, create no disorder, ex-
cite no mobs.
When he spoke at Chicago on Friday eve
ming of last week, no made this same point
upon me. On Saturday evening l replied,
| and reminded him Of . Supreme Court de.
cision which he opposed for at least several
years. Last night At Bloomington he took
some notice Of that reply but entirely for
got to remember that part Of II.
lie renews his onslSughts upon me, forget
ting to remember that have turned the ia
bles against himself on that very point. l
renew the effort to draw his attention to it.
| wish to stand erect before the country as
we'll as before Judge Douglas on this ques.
ton Of judicial authority; and therefore |
add something to the authority in favor Of
my own position. wish TO show that am
sustained by authority, in addition to that
heretofore presented. do not expect to
convince the Judge. 1t is part OF the plan
Of his campaign, and he viii cling to it with
o desperate grippe. Even turn it upon him
turn the sharp point against him, and gaff
him through-he will still cling to it till he
| can invent some new dodge TO take the place
Of it.
In public speaking it is tedious reading
from documents but must beg to indulge
the practice to limited extent. l shall read
! from letter written by MIR. Jefferson in
| 1920, and now TO be found in the seventh
volume OF his correspondence, at page III.
| II seems he had been presented by gentle
man OF the name of Jarvis with book, or
essay, or periodical, called the Republican,,
and he was writing in acknowledgment OF
| the present, and noting some Of its contents.
After expressing the hope that the work will
produce favorable effect upon the minds Of
the young, he proceeds to say:
THAT il will have this tendency may be expect
cd, aud for that reason feel nm urgency 10 note
what deem an error in ii, the more requiring no
tee your opinion is strengthened by that of many
others You seem, in p iges "a and lao to consid.
CT the Judges ~ the unlimited arbitors Of all Con-
! sttu;onsl qucstions--a vary dangerous doctrine
indeed, and one which would place us under the
uespGiism OF an oiigArchy. Our Judges arc as
honest us other me n, and not more SO. They have
with others the same passions for party, Tor pow
er, aud the privilege for their corps. Their maxim
is, 'boni judcis est ampliare Jurisdictonsm and
their power tn, more dangerous as they are in once
for itc and not response be NJ tho other function
aries arc To the elective CONTROL The Constitution
has erected such single tribunal, knowing that
to whatever hands cohhjed, with the corruptions Of
time aad party, its mem bers would become dcspots
1t has more wisely made all the departments CO.
equal aud CO. sovereign within themselves"
Thus we see the power claimed for the
Supreme Court by Judge Douglas, Mr.. JEFF
ferson holds, would reduce US to the despot-
ism of an oligarchy.
Now, have said no more than this--ip
fact, never quite so much as this--at least,
am sustained by Jefferson.
LeI.us go little further. You remember we
once had national bank. Some man owed
the bank debt, be was sued, and sought to
avoidpayment on the ground that the bank
was unconstitutional. Tho oase went to the
Supreme Court, and then II was decided
that tho bank was constitutional. The whole
Democratic party revolted ugainst that de-
cison. Gen. Jackson himself asserted that
he, as President, would not be bound TO hold
q national bank to be constitutional, even
though the court had decided it to be so. He
fell in precisely with the view OF Jefferson,
and acted upon it under his official oath, in
vetoing charter for . national bank. The
declaration that Congress does not possess
this constitutional power to charter bank,
has gone into the Democratic platforms, Ut
their national conventions, and was brought
forward. and rs-afirmcd in their last conven-
ton Mt Cincinnati. They have commended
for that declaration, in the very teeth Of the
Supreme Court, for more than quarter Of
a century. In fact, they have reduced the
decision TO IN absolute nullity. That de-
cision, repeat, 10 rcpudiated in the Cincin-
matt platform; and still, - il to show that
cfirontery can go no farther, Judge Douglas
vaunts in the very speeches in which he de-
nounces me for opposing the bred Scott do.
! cision, that be stands on the Cincinnati plat
form.
Now, wish to know what the Judge can
charge upon me, with respect to the decisions
Of the Supreme Court, which does not lie in
all its length, breadth, and proportions, at
his own door. The plain truth 10 simply
this: Judge Douglas is for Supreme Court
decisions when he Ikea Thorn and against
them when he does not like them. Hc 10 for
the bred Scott decision because II tcnds to
nationalizs slavery because it is part OF the
| original combination for that object.
1t 50 happens, singularly enough, that nov
er stood opposed to . decision Of the Su.
preme Court till this. On the contrary,
have no recollection that he was ever par
ticularly in favor Of one till this. lie never
was in favor Of any; nor opposed to any till
the present one, which helps TO Nationalist
| slavery.
Free men Of Sangamon free men Of ILL
nos-free men everywhere--judge 70 be-
tween him and me, upon this issue.
lie says this bred Scott case 10 a very
small matter at most-that it has no praoti .
cal effect that At best, or rather, suppose,
ut worst, it 10 but An abstraction. submit
that the proposition that the thing which do.
termines whether man 10 free or slave. il
rather concrete than abstrdct. think YOU
would conclude that it was il your liberty