During the various joint discussions held between the eloquent political
orators who were chosen to represent the Anti-Slavery and Democratic
parties, it may fairly be asserted that Lincoln opposed, while Douglas
defended, directly or indirectly, the slave interests of the country.
The former always felt that slavery was wrong, and in seeking a remedy
for the existing evil he followed in the footprints of Henry Clay. He
advocated gradual emancipation, with the consent of the people of the
slave States, and at the expense of the General Government. In his great
speech against the Kansas and Nebraska bill, he said, "Much as I hate
slavery, I would consent to its extension rather than see the Union
dissolved, just as I would consent to any great evil to avoid a greater
one."
The debates between Lincoln and Douglas, especially those of the year
1858, were unquestionably the most important in American history. The
speeches of Mr. Lincoln, as well as of the "Little Giant" who opposed
him, were circulated and read throughout the Union, and did more than
any other agency to create the public opinion which prepared the way for
the overthrow of slavery. As another has said, "The speeches of John
Quincy Adams and of Charles Sumner were more scholarly; those of Lovejoy
and Wendell Phillips were more vehement and impassioned; Senators
Seward, Hale, Trumbull, and Chase spoke from a more conspicuous forum;
but Lincoln's were more philosophical, while as able and earnest as any,
and his manner had a simplicity and directness, a clearness of statement
and felicity of illustration, and his language a plainness and
Anglo-Saxon strength, better adapted than any other to reach and
influence the common people,--the mass of the voters.
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