The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-13


 the old Free-soilers, the Abolitionists. the Northern ,Anti-Nebraska Demo crats and the Wings, displayed re- maPkabIe strength by carrying every State but four in the North. It failed to elect Fremont to the presidency but from that date it gave earnest of it's subsequent strength and was re- garded as the most formidable party in American politics.
 ssThe Democratic party, rent asun- der by the stubbornness and impetu- osity of the slave-holders and by the it's staunchest defenders to swell the ranks of the rising power in political life.
 Among the foremost leaders of Democracy at this time was man, re- markable for his magnetism and in tellectua1 powers, Senator Stephen Ar mold Douglas of Illinois, the little giant of the West He had taken a prominent part in the agitation con- corning slavery. in Congress, and 1t was largely his influence that lead to the repeal of the Missouri Compro- mise which allowed the inhabitants of Kansas and Nebraska to establish or exclude slavery as they saw fit and rendered imperative the Congression- al Act of 1920 forbfdding slavery in the territory north of the parallel 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude, acquired from France in 1903.
 .In 1858, Senator Douglas appeared before his constituents in Illinois, Lin co1n's own state also, seeking re-elec- ton to the Senate of the United States and having in mind the pres tdency in 1s6O- Abraham Lincoln. nominated as his opponent by the Republican state convention of I1lin- ois, immediately stepped forward to do battle with the little giant and then and there began campaign the most memorable in all the political annals of America.
 '+On the very night of the conven- ton, Lincoln startled his colleagues by the b1untness and frankness with which he discussed the subject of slavery in the eloquent speech which has since been significant in it's pro- phetic strength:
 "A house divided against itself cannot stand.sI believe this govern slave and half free. do not ex- pect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but do expect it will cease to be divided It will become all one thing or all the other-either the opponents of sIav- cry will arrest the further spread of it. and place 1t where the public mind shall rest in the belief that It is in the course Of uItiTnatH extfHctfon crrits advocates will push it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new. North as well as South.
 .-Immediate1y the issue was forced before the people of the United States in it's pIainest truth. Judge Douglas, flushed with his triumph in the Sen ate and with the power of an challenged leadership in the Demo- cratic party, was now compelled at the challenge of Lincoln, to defend his attitude on slavery in a series of sew en debates, which were held in differ ent places in the State of Illinois. At last this victorious statesman, this in vincible orator, this powerful debat- CT matched against the unknown. hard-neaded. truth-loving, plain spoken lawyer had met foeman worthy of his steel. He prepared himself herofca1ly for the ordeal, but was unequal to it.
 With unerring aim the logic of Ldn- coln's arguments, charged to the fulI- est with the truth, sincerity and pa triotism of the man himself, pierced the arnor of his. opponents defence. ridd1ed his adroit sophistries, wrought 1 conviction from unwilling minds and carried the case before the jury of | the people. In the contest the best
 qualities of each leader were display
 ed, but in the matching of wits. in- coin showed himself the superior by submitting the capital leading ques- l ton involving Douglas in the dilemma l of interpreting the Dred Scott decis- ion, which allowed slave holders the | privilege of transferring slaves to free states and of holding them in sub- | lection.
 l Against the urgent admonitions of l his friends, Lincoln submitted the fa- 1 tai question in the second debate at l F'reeport: Can the people of a Unit l ed States Territory, in any lawful way, = fv,esf y4rT1 1f of f1o | United States, exclude slavery from Iits limits 2 To this question Doug
 las replied in the affirmative. thereby satisfying his Northern friends, but
 forever losing his hold upon the Dem ocrats in the South who maintained that loyalty to their interests should have constrained him to uphold the Dred Scott decision which guaranteed protection to slave property as con- IstitutfonaI right.
 l ''In the election that followed the campaign, Douglas was returned to the Senate by the Democratic 1egis1a- ture of his state, but the answer to the question propounded by Lincoln lost him the presidency two years la- ter Lincoln, on the other hand, conn paratively unknown up to this time by
 the vast electorate grew gradually in l the esteem and love of his country
 men, quietly biding his time until the
 solemn call of duty summoned him to p1AOL the 0nlp OA 0CdtS IAA1OOSAA the
 frightfu1 storm that threatened to sub-
 merge it.
 "No man assumed his duties as
 President of the United States under
 more trying circumstances than Abra- ham Lincoln. With the land rent by
 civil strife and verging on civil war; with the leading members of his cab tinet-Chase, Seward and Cameron and Stanton later on, unfriendly, if not openly hostile; with seven of the southern states in unlawful secession and four more to follow in their wake
 with the Capitol overrun with south
 ern sympathizers, many of whom
 openly threatened assassination; witt almost every public-spirited citizel l lost in the maze of irresolution ant inaction: with the government. il