lation between slavery and freedom was such that they could not be
harmonized within the same government. In the debates he again put forth
his famous utterance, "A house divided against itself cannot stand,"
with the explanation that in course of time either this country would
become all slave territory or slavery would be restricted and placed
in a position which would involve its final extinction. In other
words, Lincoln's position was similar to that of the conservative
abolitionists. As we know, Birney had given expression to a similar
conviction of the impossibility of maintaining both liberty and slavery
in this country, but Lincoln spoke at a time when the whole country
had been aroused upon the great question; when it was still uncertain
whether slavery would not be forced upon the people of Kansas; when the
highest court in the land had rendered a decision which was apparently
intended to legalize slavery in all Territories; and when the alarming
question had been raised whether the next step would not be legalization
in all the States.

Lincoln was a long-headed politician, as well as a man of sincere moral
judgments. He was defining issues for the campaign of 1860 and was
putting Douglas on record so that it would be impossible for him, as
the candidate of his party, to become President. Douglas had many an
uncomfortable hour as Lincoln exposed his vain efforts to reconcile his
popular sovereignty doctrine with the Dred Scott decision. As Lincoln
expected, Douglas won the senatorship, but he lost the greater prize.

The crusade against slavery was nearing its final stage. Under the
leadership of such men as Sumner, Seward, and Lincoln, a political party
was being formed whose policies were based upon the assumption that
slavery is both a moral and a political evil. Even at this stage the
party had assumed such proportions that it was likely to carry the
ensuing presidential election. Davis and Yancey, the chief defenders of
slavery, were at the same time reaching a definite conclusion as to
what should follow the election of a Republican President. And that
conclusion involved nothing less than the fate of the Union.

CHAPTER XIV. JOHN BROWN

The crusade against slavery was based upon the assumption that slavery,
like war, is an abnormal state of society. As the tyrant produces the
assassin, so on a larger scale slavery calls forth servile insurrection,
or, as in the United States, an implacable strug