of "rotation" between
localities. When roused to new activity by the anti-Nebraska campaign in
1854, he was the favorite candidate of his party for the senatorship;
but seeing that the knot of men who held the balance of power were
gravitating to the other side, he insisted on withdrawing in favor of
Lyman Trumbull, as a stronger candidate, who accordingly won the day.
Before the revival of the slavery issue, there had been nothing in the
old-time Whig and Democratic contests to appeal to the deeper elements
in Lincoln's nature, and personal ambition alone was not strong enough
to push him to eminence. Though he could handle men skillfully, he had a
distaste for the petty arts of the politician's trade. "Politics," he
said, "is the combination of individual meannesses for the general
good." And he had small relish for the game, until "the general good"
loomed clear and large.

His attitude on slavery was typical of the men at the North who were at
once humane and regardful of the established order. He gave his general
position, in homely and graphic fashion, in a letter to his old friend,
Joshua F. Speed, of Kentucky, in 1855. This was at the time he referred
to when he wrote: "I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise roused me again." To Speed he wrote: "I
acknowledge your rights and my obligations under the Constitution in
regard to your slaves. I confess I hate to see the poor creatures hunted
down and caught, and carried back to their stripes and unrequited toils;
but I bite my lips and keep quiet. In 1841, you and I had together a
tedious low-water trip in a steamboat from Louisville to St. Louis. You
may remember, as well as I do, that from Louisville to the mouth of the
Ohio there were on board ten or a dozen slaves shackled together with
irons. That sight was a continued torment to me; and I see something
like it every time I touch the Ohio or any other slave border. It is not
fair for you to assume that I have no interest in a thing which has, and
continually exercises, the power of making me miserable. You ought
rather to appreciate how much the great body of the Northern people do
crucify their feelings, in order to maintain their loyalty to the
Constitution and the Union. I do oppose the extension of slavery,
because my judgment and feelings so prompt me; and I am under no
obligations to the contrary."

It was this strong regard for the established law of the land which