y. It was
made up of men from all the other parties who agreed in opposing
Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska policy. Slowly they began to think of
themselves as a party and to adopt the name of the old party of
Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe--Republican.

[Sidenote: Presidential candidates, 1856.]

[Sidenote: Buchanan.]

[Sidenote: Fremont.]

356. Buchanan elected President, 1856.--The Whigs and the
Know-Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore for President and said nothing
about slavery. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan of Pennsylvania
for President and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for Vice-President.
They declared their approval of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and favored a
strict construction of the Constitution. The Republicans nominated John
C. Fremont. They protested against the extension of slavery and declared
for a policy of internal improvements at the expense of the nation. The
Democrats won; but the Republicans carried all the Northern states
save four.

[Sidenote: Dred Scott decision, 1857. _McMaster_, 355-357;
_Source-Book_, 290-291]

[Sidenote: Opinions of the judges.]

357. The Dred Scott Decision, 1857.--The Supreme Court of the
United States now gave a decision in the Dred Scott case that put an end
to all hope of compromise on the slavery question. Dred Scott had been
born a slave. The majority of the judges declared that a person once a
slave could never become a citizen of the United States and bring suit
in the United States courts. They also declared that the Missouri
Compromise was unlawful. Slave owners had a clear right to carry their
property, including slaves, into the territories, and Congress could not
stop them.

[Sidenote: Lincoln's policy.]

[Sidenote: His debates with Douglas. _McMaster_, 388-389; _Source-Book_,
290-294.]

358. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates, 1858.--The question of the
reelection of Douglas to the Senate now came before the people of
Illinois. Abraham Lincoln stepped forward to contest the election with
him. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," said Lincoln. "This
government cannot endure half slave and half free.... It will become all
one thing or all the other." He challenged Douglas to debate the issues
with him before the people, and Douglas accepted the challenge. Seven
joint debates were held in the presence of immense crowds. Lincoln
forced Douglas to defend the doctrine of "popular sovereignty." This
Douglas did by declaring that the legislatu