confidence in popular sovereignty as an integrating force in national
and local politics increased, and his public utterances became more
assured and positive.[326] By the close of the year 1850, he had the
satisfaction of seeing the collapse of the Free-Soil party in
Illinois, and of knowing that the joint resolutions had been repealed
which had so nearly accomplished his overthrow. A political storm had
been weathered. Yet the diverse currents in Illinois society might
again roil local politics. So long as a bitter commercial rivalry
divided northern and southern Illinois, and social differences held
the sections apart, misunderstandings dangerous to party and State
alike would inevitably follow. How could these diverse elements be
fused into a true and enduring union? To this task Douglas set his
hand. The ways and means which he employed, form one of the most
striking episodes in his career.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 294: Reid was afterward Governor of North Carolina and
United States Senator.]

[Footnote 295: For many of the facts relating to Douglas's courtship
and marriage, I am indebted to his son, Judge Robert Martin Douglas,
of North Carolina.]

[Footnote 296: At the death of Colonel Martin, this plantation was
worked by some seventeen slaves, according to his will.]

[Footnote 297: This impression is fully confirmed by the terms of his
will.]

[Footnote 298: He was himself fully conscious of this influence. See
his speech at Raleigh, August 30, 1860.]

[Footnote 299: The facts are so stated in Colonel Martin's will, for a
transcript of which I am indebted to Judge R.M. Douglas.]

[Footnote 300: Extract from the will of Colonel Martin.]

[Footnote 301: This letter, dated August 3, 1850, is in the possession
of Mrs. James W. Patton of Springfield, Illinois.]

[Footnote 302: The characteristics of Illinois as a constituency in
1850 are set forth in greater detail, in an article by the writer in
the _Iowa Journal of History and Politics_, July, 1905.]

[Footnote 303: See Patterson, Early Society in Southern Illinois in
the Fergus Historical Series, No. 14. Also Ford, History of Illinois,
pp. 38, 279-280; and Greene, Sectional forces in the History of
Illinois--in the Publications of Illinois Historical Library, 1903.]

[Footnote 304: Between 1818 and 1840, fifty-seven new counties were
organized, of which fourteen lay in the region given to Illinois by
the