which Judge Douglas thinks that he has invented. I suppose
that Judge Douglas will claim, in a little while, that he is the inventor
of the idea that the people should govern themselves; that nobody ever
thought of such a thing until he brought it forward. We do not remember
that in that old Declaration of Independence it is said that:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to
secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed."

There is the origin of popular sovereignty. Who, then, shall come in at
this day and claim that he invented it?

The Lecompton Constitution connects itself with this question, for it is
in this matter of the Lecompton Constitution that our friend Judge
Douglas claims such vast credit. I agree that in opposing the Lecompton
Constitution, so far as I can perceive, he was right. I do not deny that
at all; and, gentlemen, you will readily see why I could not deny it,
even if I wanted to. But I do not wish to; for all the Republicans in the
nation opposed it, and they would have opposed it just as much without
Judge Douglas's aid as with it. They had all taken ground against it long
before he did. Why, the reason that he urges against that constitution I
urged against him a year before. I have the printed speech in my hand. The
argument that he makes, why that constitution should not be adopted, that
the people were not fairly represented nor allowed to vote, I pointed out
in a speech a year ago, which I hold in my hand now, that no fair chance
was to be given to the people. ["Read it, Read it."] I shall not waste
your time by trying to read it. ["Read it, Read it."] Gentlemen, reading
from speeches is a very tedious business, particularly for an old man that
has to put on spectacles, and more so if the man be so tall that he has to
bend over to the light.

A little more, now, as to this matter of popular sovereignty and the
Lecompton Constitution. The Lecompton Constitution, as the Judge tells us,
was defeated. The defeat of it was a good thing or it was not. He thinks
the defeat of it was a good thing, and so do I, and we agree in that. Who
defeated it?

[A voice: Judge Douglas.]

Yes, he furnished himself, and if you suppose he controlled the other