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y。 In Kentucky they deny the negro all political and civil rights。 Each is a sovereign State and has a right to do as it pleases。 Let us mind our own business and not interfere with them。 Lincoln is not going into Kentucky； but will plant his batteries on this side of the Ohio and throw his bomb shellshis Abolition documentsover the River and will carry on the political warfare and get up strife between the North and South until he elects a sectional President； 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 be all free or all slave； and that； as we in the North are in the majority； we will not permit them to be all slave and therefore they in the South must consent to the States being all free。
〃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 struggle in which the Whigs and the Democrats united upon a common platform of patriotism and the Constitution。 * * * And when I stood beside the death…bed of Mr。 Clay and heard him 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 Compromise of 1850； the principle of the Nebraska bill； the doctrine of leaving 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 perpetuated。 I pledged him on that death…bed of his that so long as I lived my energy should be devoted to the vindication of that principle and of his fame as connected with it。 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 eminent statesmen have I failed on any occasion to vindicate the principle with which the last great crowning acts of their lives were identified。 * * * And now my life and energy are devoted to this work as the means of preserving this Union。 * * * 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 perpetuated。 Let that be done； and this Republic which began with thirteen States 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。 * * * * 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 Republic will endure forever。〃
On the following day he spoke at Springfield； repeating his Bloomington speech with slight abridgment。
In the evening； Lincoln； who had attended Douglas' Bloomington meeting and accompanied him to Springfield； spoke to a large audience。 He twitted him for his noisy； spectacular campaign； 〃the thunderings of cannon； the marching and music； the fizzle…gigs and fireworks。 * * *
〃Does Judge Douglas；〃 he asked； 〃when he says that several of the past years of his life have been devoted to the question of popular sovereignty and that all the remainder of his life shall be devoted to it； mean to say that he has been devoting his life to securing to the people of the territories the right to exclude slavery？ * * * He and every one knows that the decision of the Supreme Court； which he approves and makes a special ground of attack upon me for disapproving； forbids the people of a Territory to exclude slavery。 This covers the whole ground from the settlement of a Territory till it reaches the degree of maturity entitling it to form a State Constitution。 So far as all that ground is concerned； the Judge is not sustaining popular sovereignty； but absolutely opposing it。 He sustains the decision which declares that the popular will of the Territory has no constitutional power to exclude slavery during their territorial existence。 This being so； the period of time from the first settlement of the Territory till it reaches the point of forming a State Constitution is not the thing that the Judge is fighting for； but； on the contrary； he is fighting for the thing that annihilates and crushes out that same popular sovereignty。 * * * He is contending for the right of the people； when they come to make a State Constitution； to make it for themselves and precisely as best suits themselves。 That is quixotic。 Nobody is opposing or has opposed the right of the people when they form a Constitution to form it for themselves。 This being so； what is he going to spend his life for？ Is he going to spend it in maintaining a principle that nobody on earth opposes？ Does he expect to stand up in majestic dignity and go through this apothesis and become a god in maintaining a principle that neither man nor mouse in all God's creation opposes？ * * * What is there in the opposition of Judge Douglas to the Lecompton Constitution that entitles him to be considered the only opponent to it； * * * the very quintessence of that opposition？ * * *
He in the Senate and his class of men there formed the number of about twenty。 It took one hundred and twenty to defeat the measure。 There were six Americans and ninety…four Republicans。 Why is it that twenty should be entitled to all the credit for doing that work and the hundred to none？ Does he place his superior claim to credit on the ground that he has performed a good act that was never expected of him？ Perhaps he places himself somewhat on the ground of the parable of the lost sheep which went astray upon the mountains； and when the owner of the hundred sheep found the one that was lost； there was more rejoicing over the one sheep that was lost and had been found than over the ninety…and…nine in the fold。〃
In opposing the Dred Scott decision； he said； he was sustained by the authority of Mr。 Jefferson； who denounced the doctrine that the Judges were the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions as dangerous and tending to oligarchic despotism and insisted that； while they were as honest as other men； they were not more so； having the common passion for party； for power and the privilege of their crops； and ought not to be trusted with the dangerous power of deciding the great questions of State。 The Supreme Court once decided that the national back was constitutional。 The Democratic party revolted against the decision。 Jackson himself asserted that he would not hold a national back to be constitutional； even though the Court had decided it to be so。 The declaration that Congress had not power to establish a bank was contained in every Democratic platform since that time； in defiance of the solemn ruling of the Court。 In fact； they had reduced the decision to an absolute nullity。 And still Douglas boasted in the very speeches in which he denounced others for opposing the Dred Scott decision that he stood on the Cincinnati platform which repudiated and condemned the old bank decision。 He was for Supreme Court decisions when he liked them and against them when he did not like them。 Would he not graciously allow the Republicans to do with the Dred Scott decision what they did with the bank decision？
Springfield was Lincoln's home。 He knew his audience and met it with confidence。 He now felt that he was Douglas' equal in the field in which he had hitherto eclipsed all rivals。
But it was evident that the current was running with Douglas。 The great reception at Chicago had been a glorious opening。 His journeys through the State were triumphal processions。 Special