plendid lawyer, and a
ready speaker at public gatherings.

In 1836 he first met Stephen A. Douglas who was destined to be his
adversary in the political arena for the next twenty years. Stephen A.
Douglas was, or soon became the leader of the Democracy in Illinois and
Lincoln spoke for the Whigs as against Douglas. In 1847 Lincoln was sent
to Congress, being chosen over the renowned Peter Cartwright, who was
the Democratic candidate. In Congress he vigorously opposed President
Polk and the Mexican war, and proposed a bill to abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia, provided the inhabitants would vote for it. In
1855 he withdrew from the contest for the United States Senatorship in
favor of Mr. Trumbull, whom he knew would draw away many Democratic
votes and to Lincoln was due Trumbull's election. During the canvass he
met Stephen A. Douglas in debate at Springfield, where he exploded the
theory of 'Squatter Sovereignty' in one sentence, namely: "I admit that
the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska is competent to govern himself, but
I deny his right to govern any other person without that person's
consent."

In 1858 he had his great contest for the United States Senatorship with
Douglas. At that time Judge Douglas was renowned throughout the nation
as one of the ablest, if not the ablest of American speakers. Horace
Greeley well said, "The man who stumps a State with Stephen A. Douglas
and meets him day after day before the people has got to be no fool."
The tremendous political excitement growing out of the 'Kansas-Nebraska
Act,' and the agitation of the slavery question, in its relation to the
vast territory of Kansas and Nebraska, convulsed the nation. The
interest was greatly heightened from the fact that these two great
gladiators, Stephen A. Douglas, the great mouth-piece of the Democratic
party and champion of 'Squatter Sovereignty,' and Abraham Lincoln, a
prominent lawyer, but otherwise comparatively unknown, the opponent of
that popular measure and the coming champion of the anti-slavery party.

The question at issue was immense--permanent, not transient--universal,
not local, and the debate attracted profound attention on the part of
the people, whether Democratic or Free Soil, from the Kennebec to the
Rio Grande. Mr. Douglas held that the vote of the majority of the
people of a territory should decide this as well as all other questions
concerning their domestic or internal affairs. Mr. Lincoln, on the
con