Lincoln on Democracy

Introduction

Introduction BY CHARLES B. STROZIER The year 1858 was a turning point for Abraham Lincoln. Forced by his own ambition and the approaching senatorial election, Lincoln clarified and focused his developing ideas on democracy. His thinking evolved in the swirl of political debate, especially as a product of his extended dialogue with Stephen A. Douglas. The year began inauspiciously. Lincoln was busy with his law practice during the winter and spring. As usual he rode the circuit and, with his partner, William Herndon, handled numerous cases. Lincoln was now a leading lawyer, able to command large fees and, through his briefs and arguments, shape law on the frontier. One ofhis most famous trial cases occurred that spring, when he defended Duff Armstrong in a murder trial. Lincoln interrogated the prime prosecution witness in a particularly clever way. He first had the witness repeat his assertion that he had seen Duff Armstrong commit the murder by the light of the moon. Lincoln then produced an almanac from the period when the murder was supposedly committed, and showed that the moon was barely up in the sky on the night in question. Armstrong was acquitted. In politics things were going less well. Lincoln was relegated to the role of an observer. He gave no major speeches, and national Republican leaders like William Seward and the influential editor of the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley, ignored him. Events seemed to be pushing Lincoln aside. His old colleague and political foe, Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, one ofthe country's leading Democratic politicians , had the limelight. Douglas was the champion of what he called "popular sovereignty," 98 LINCOLN ON DEMOCRACY or the right of local citizens in the territories to decide for themselves on the social and political institutions under which they would live in ways consistent with the Constitution. Douglas had been trying for several years to apply the principle of popular sovereignty to the fierce debate over slavery in the territories as a way of calming tensions-and catapulting himself to the presidency in 1860. His principles-and his ambitions-locked him in mortal combat with the Democratic president , James Buchanan. The immediate issue was Kansas. There citizens were actually shedding blood over which constitution fairly represented them as they made a bid for statehood. A spurious constitution allowing slavery had been forced through by a handful of unrepresentative electors at Lecompton , the territorial capital. In the fall of 1857, President Buchanan wanted to accept the Lecompton Constitution and move rapidly to make Kansas a state. Free Soilers (those who believed new territories should be secured for free white labor), old Whigs, new Republicans, and a host of others-including Abraham Lincoln-were aghast at what such a development meant, both politically, in terms of shifting power to the South, and symbolically, in giving new life and land for the expansion of the odious institution of slavery. Douglas opposed Buchanan on the acceptance of the Lecompton Constitution, on the grounds that such a document subverted the principle of popular sovereignty. Douglas made this opposition the heart of a political strategy to redefine the Democratic Party and to gather to himself support from Free Soilers drifting into Republican ranks. Throughout Illinois and the nation, the political debate centered on Douglas and his fierce rivalry with Buchanan. Eastern leaders of the Republican Party came increasingly to feel that Douglas could be a tremendous asset in their campaign to consolidate Northern support for Republicans. They felt it was in their own interest to have Douglas around, keeping the Democratic Party deeply divided. As a result, eastern party leaders did not want Lincoln to oppose Douglas in his upcoming bid for reelection to the United States Senate. Lincoln opposed this accommodation to Douglas for several reasons. He wanted badly to be a senator in the great tradition ofhis hero, Henry Clay. From personal experience Lincoln was also aware of the ready opportunism of his old foe, whom he had known since the 1830s. Douglas might well take the prize but once elected do more harm than Lincoln and the House Divided, 1858 99 good for Republican principles. Lincoln knew of the fragility of the Republican Party, which had only taken shape in the mid-1850s. If it waffled on slavery it would lose all sense of its integrity. Lincoln believed strongly that Douglas's doctrine of popular sovereignty was a disastrous and inappropriate policy...