had not entirely squelched out this popular
sovereignty. I do not propose, in regard to this argument drawn from
the history of former times, to enter into a detailed examination of the
historical statements he has made. I have the impression that they are
inaccurate in a great many instances,--sometimes in positive statement,
but very much more inaccurate by the suppression of statements that really
belong to the history. But I do not propose to affirm that this is so to
any very great extent, or to enter into a very minute examination of his
historical statements. I avoid doing so upon this principle,--that if it
were important for me to pass out of this lot in the least period of time
possible, and I came to that fence, and saw by a calculation of my known
strength and agility that I could clear it at a bound, it would be folly
for me to stop and consider whether I could or not crawl through a crack.
So I say of the whole history contained in his essay where he endeavored
to link the men of the Revolution to popular sovereignty. It only requires
an effort to leap out of it, a single bound to be entirely successful.
If you read it over, you will find that he quotes here and there from
documents of the Revolutionary times, tending to show that the people of
the colonies were desirous of regulating their own concerns in their own
way, that the British Government should not interfere; that at one time
they struggled with the British Government to be permitted to exclude
the African slave trade,--if not directly, to be permitted to exclude
it indirectly, by taxation sufficient to discourage and destroy it. From
these and many things of this sort, judge Douglas argues that they were
in favor of the people of our own Territories excluding slavery if they
wanted to, or planting it there if they wanted to, doing just as they
pleased from the time they settled upon the Territory. Now, however his
history may apply and whatever of his argument there may be that is sound
and accurate or unsound and inaccurate, if we can find out what these men
did themselves do upon this very question of slavery in the Territories,
does it not end the whole thing? If, after all this labor and effort
to show that the men of the Revolution were in favor of his popular
sovereignty and his mode of dealing with slavery in the Territories, we
can show that these very men took hold of that subject, and dealt with
it, we can see for ourselves how they dea