The record-union., 1896-10-11

erce, that "all men are created equal,
with certain inalienable rights. among
which are life. liberty and the pursuit
of happiness" The compromises of
1920, of 1850, and of Douglas, were
recognitions by positive law Of an in
stitution so odious that it was con-
demned by every moral and political
principle. With each compromise it
gained strength and power, until 1t
was nearly prepared for a life and
death struggle with liberty and union.
The specious scheme Of Douglas start
ed race between the free and slave
State people to capture Kansas. Bold
raiders from Missouri poured over the
border carrying murder and Dillage
among the free State settlers. Governor
after Governor was appointed and dis
missed by Presidents Pierce and Bu-
chanan because they would not assist
the slave holding minority in driving
out of the territory the vast majority
who were opposed to slavery. Civil
war with all its horrors ragged on the
plains of Kansas, and Henry Ward
Beecher, then a religious and political
force Of unparalleled power, set the
North afiame by hotly informing the
domestic missions that what Kansas
and liberty wanted was not Bibles, but
rifles. The novel of ''Uncle Toms
Cabin written by his sister, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, and circulated and read
beyond any book ever published in the
country, filled every household with
tears and horror, intensifying the sem
timent against slavery more than the
press or the pulpit, or the mobbing and
murder of Abolitionists.
The slave power, intrenched in the
White House and Senate, the House of
Representatives and the courts, con-
trolling the machinery of the Demc-
cratic and largely of the Whig parties.
and repeatedly and recently sustained
in the elections, felt confident that ex-
treme measures for securing Kansas
could be safely pushed. With the whole
strength of the Administration behind
he conspirators, the Lecompton Con-
stitution fastening slavery on the new
State was fraudulently adopted against
the protest clearly and emphatically ex-
pressed, Of four-fifhs of the voters and
sent to Congress for approval. Douglas,
alone, of the Democratic leaders, felt
the force of the rising tide of popular
indignation and awakening conscience.
Against the threats and opposition of
the President and the Southern Sena-
tors he opposed the Endorsement of the
Lecompton Constitution, broke from his
party organization and demanded that
under every safeguard for a fair cleo
ton the Constitution should be sub
mitted to the people of Kansas. He
stood boldly by his principle of squat
ter sovereignty and rallied the masses
OF the Democratic party of the North.
While Douglas had satisfied the North
with the doctrine that the verdict of
the people upon their State Government
should prevail, he had appeased the
South with the understanding that the
whole question was subject to the de-
cjsiOn of the courts. The pro-slavery
leaders, who never took a step in the
dark, knew that a decision in an unno-
ticed case before the Supreme Court
would be decided in their favor. Doug
las was hailed by the Northern wing
of the party as its savior, and rode tri-
umphantly as the Little Giant" upon
the wave of popular approval, when the
Dred Scott decision demolished his
beautiful fabric of squatter sovereignty
and a less reSOurceful or weaker man
would have been buried in it's ruins.
Dred Scott, a slave, had been carried by
his master into the free State of Illinois,
and also into the territory where slav-
cry was prohibited by the ordinance of
llSI. The master was for years a res
ident of these places. Dred Scott mar
ried there and had two daughters. Nov
ing subsequently into Missouri himself
and family were reinslaved. He claimed
that if the master took his slave into a
free State voluntarily and made that
his residence the slave became free by
operation of law, and demanded the re-
lease of himself and family. The Eng
lish courts from Mansfelds time had
SO decided and such had been the uni
form course Of American decisions, with
the modification that the owner had a
right Of transit through a free State to
another slave State. The case had been
for several years in the courts without
attracting any attention. With 10000
free and 1000 slave State voters, and
the demand of Douglas for a fair cleo
ton on this question becoming too for
midable to be resisted, Kansas seemed
speedily destined to join the Union free,
and the Little Giant" to be the hero of
the hour. Suddenly the country was
amazed and shocked by the opinion of
Chief Justice Taney, concurred in by
the four Judges from the slave States.
Not only were all previous decisions re-
versed and Dred Scott, his wife and
daughters condemned to slavery, but
the court declared that property in
slaves was recognized by the Constitu-
ton; that neither Congress nor the peo-
pie Of the Territories had the power to
prohibit it: that the negro was excepted
from the Declaration of Independence;
was property as sacred as any other
form Of legal possession, and had no
rights which a white man was bound to
respect.
Such were the political conditions
when Douglas entered the lists for re-
election to the Senate from Illinois.
President Buchanan and his admins
tration and all the influence of the
Southern leaders were arrayed against
him. But the Democracy of Illinois 10y
ally supported him, and John j. Critten-
den, the leader of the Southern Wings,
with Horace Greeley, the leader of the
anti-slavery forces in the North, and
many other men of commanding influ-
ence favored his election on the ground
that it would hopelessly divide the Demo-
cratic party and force Douglas to go
with the anti-slavery party. The con-
test became national issue of the first
Importance and an overwhelming vic
tory and triumDhal re-entry into the
Senate seemed sure for Douglas. One
man blocked the way, and with such
tremendous force and superb ability
that his effort consolidated the free SEN
timent Of the country and saved the
Union. That man was Abraham Lin
coin.
Lincoln and Douglas were rivals in
youth for tho hand of the 196v who