Part 11 (1/2)

IF THE EFFIE AFTON EFFIE AFTON case was about the future, in the fall of 1857 Lincoln was drawn back to his past in a case growing out of the behavior of some rowdies at a religious revival. In August, a two-week evangelistic camp meeting was held at Virgin's Grove near the site of New Salem, which had been abandoned by 1840. On August 29, at a makes.h.i.+ft bar on the outskirts of the meetings, William ”Duff” Armstrong, twenty-four-year-old son of Jack Armstrong, Lincoln's wrestling friend from New Salem, and another young man named James Norris got into a fracas with James Metzker. Norris struck Metzker with a three-foot block of wood while Armstrong hit him with a slungshot, a lead weight wrapped in a leather pouch and fastened to thongs. Metzker died while attempting to escape on his horse. Duff Armstrong and James Norris were charged with murder. Duff's mother, Hannah, appealed to Lincoln, asking if he would help. He said he would. case was about the future, in the fall of 1857 Lincoln was drawn back to his past in a case growing out of the behavior of some rowdies at a religious revival. In August, a two-week evangelistic camp meeting was held at Virgin's Grove near the site of New Salem, which had been abandoned by 1840. On August 29, at a makes.h.i.+ft bar on the outskirts of the meetings, William ”Duff” Armstrong, twenty-four-year-old son of Jack Armstrong, Lincoln's wrestling friend from New Salem, and another young man named James Norris got into a fracas with James Metzker. Norris struck Metzker with a three-foot block of wood while Armstrong hit him with a slungshot, a lead weight wrapped in a leather pouch and fastened to thongs. Metzker died while attempting to escape on his horse. Duff Armstrong and James Norris were charged with murder. Duff's mother, Hannah, appealed to Lincoln, asking if he would help. He said he would.

Duff Armstrong's case came to trial on May 7, 1858. Norris had already been convicted in an earlier, separate trial. In the courtroom, on the second floor of the Ca.s.s County courthouse in Beardstown, Lincoln took great care in selecting the jury, preferring young men in their twenties who might sympathize with another, admittedly wild young man. Charles Allen, the key witness, swore that from a distance of thirty yards, at eleven o'clock in the evening, he saw clearly how the fight developed. When asked how he could be so certain, he answered that the moon was s.h.i.+ning directly above. At that moment the outlook seemed dim for the defendant.

Lincoln defended Duff Armstrong, son of his old wrestling partner, Jack Armstrong in a murder trial in 1858.

Lincoln's cross-examination of Allen began in an understated way. He enticed from the witness, through different questions, the repeated a.s.sertion that he had seen clearly what had happened. Lincoln, who had been speaking in a conversational tone, suddenly changed his demeanor and approach. In a dramatic moment, he called for an almanac, which a court officer brought him. Lincoln read from Jayne's Almanac from Jayne's Almanac the decisive sentence that the moon had already set before the fight ensued on the evening of August 29, 1857. The witness could not have seen what he a.s.serted he saw. As several members of the jury stated later, ”The almanac floored the witness.” the decisive sentence that the moon had already set before the fight ensued on the evening of August 29, 1857. The witness could not have seen what he a.s.serted he saw. As several members of the jury stated later, ”The almanac floored the witness.”

There were tears in Lincoln's eyes when in his closing argument he told the jury ”of his once being a poor, friendless boy; that Armstrong's father took him into his house, fed and clothed him & gave him a home.” William Walker, Lincoln's cocounsel in the trial, remembered that Lincoln spoke ”of his kind feelings toward the mother of the prisoner, a widow.” J. Henry Shaw, who prosecuted the case for the state, believed, ”It was generally admitted that Lincoln's speech and personal appeal to the jury saved Armstrong.”

When the trial was over Lincoln went down to Beardstown to visit Duff's mother. She asked him what she owed him for his legal services. He replied, ”Why-Hannah, I shant charge you a cent-never.”

WHILE LINCOLN, IN 1857, was enjoying the most productive year in his legal career, he kept one eye on the latest news about Stephen Doug las. The calm that seemed to have settled in over Kansas was deceptive. In Lecompton, the territorial capital, located on the south bank of the Kansas River between Topeka and Lawrence, a const.i.tutional convention convened on September 7 on the second floor of a new black-walnut clapboard building. The delegates had been selected in an election on June 15, but nearly all the antislavery men, who distrusted the territorial legislature, had boycotted it. The results of the sham election were trickling in just as Lincoln was answering Douglas at Spring-field on June 26. Lincoln, in his speech, called the voting in Kansas ”altogether the most exquisite farce ever enacted.”

The meeting at Lecompton proposed two options. Voters could choose to endorse a const.i.tution with ”no slavery” but that legalized slavery for those already there-about two hundred slaves-and their progeny. Or voters could choose a const.i.tution ”with slavery” that legalized new slaves brought into the territory as well as those who were already there. The convention proposed that there be an election, not on the whole const.i.tution, but only on the plank on slavery. When the election was held in December the vote for slavery-again with most antislavery men boycotting-was 6,143 to 569.

President Buchanan, who had wished the vote had been on the entire const.i.tution, nevertheless offered his endors.e.m.e.nt and encouraged Congress to move forward quickly to admit Kansas as a new slave state. When the new Congress a.s.sembled in December, Buchanan, who was lobbied by Southern leaders, offered his first annual message to an expectant Congress. In it he praised ”the great principle of popular sovereignty” as he embraced the provisions in the Lecompton Const.i.tution.

The next day, December 9, 1857, Stephen Douglas answered the president. He condemned the Lecompton arrangement as a sham. Furthermore, he announced he would fight Buchanan and his allies over it. Why? Lecompton, an effort by a small minority, went completely against the principles of popular sovereignty. He accused Buchanan of misinterpreting the meaning of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. To be sure, Douglas was unhappy with the Buchanan administration; he had learned early on that he would not be the trusted adviser and dealmaker he expected to be. But the real issue for Douglas was popular sovereignty. ”I have spent too much strength and breadth and health, too, to establish this great principle in the popular heart, now to see it frittered away.”

When the Senate reconvened in January 1858, an unlikely spectacle began taking place. Douglas, who in 1854 had served as floor manager of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, now allied himself with Republican senators Salmon Chase, Henry Wilson, and Benjamin Wade. Wilson, an antislavery senator from Ma.s.sachusetts, opined that if Douglas would cross the aisle and become a Republican, it would ”bring more weight to our cause than any ten men in the country.”

Douglas's sudden change prompted the question in all quarters: What was he up to? Horace Greeley, ever the kingmaker, editorialized in the Tribune, Tribune, ”His course has not been merely right, it has been conspicuously, courageously, eminently so.” Greeley counseled Republicans that they throw in with Douglas or face certain defeat in the upcoming senatorial election. Following Greeley's lead, a Republicans for Douglas movement began to gather momentum in the East. ”His course has not been merely right, it has been conspicuously, courageously, eminently so.” Greeley counseled Republicans that they throw in with Douglas or face certain defeat in the upcoming senatorial election. Following Greeley's lead, a Republicans for Douglas movement began to gather momentum in the East.

Lincoln, with his ear ever attuned to the latest political news, was deeply alarmed. At the end of 1857, he wrote three letters to Senator Lyman Trumbull. He asked, what is ”your general view of the then present aspect of affairs?” On December 28, Lincoln wrote, ”What does the New-York Tribune Tribune mean by its constant eulogising, and admiring, and magnifying Douglas?” Did Greeley speak for ”the sentiments of the republicans in Was.h.i.+ngton”? Had leaders in Was.h.i.+ngton ”concluded that the republican cause, generally, can be best promoted by sacrificing us here in Illinois”? Lincoln acknowledged to Trumbull that he had heard of ”no republican here going over to Douglas,” but he was concerned that ”if the Tribune continues to din his praises into the ears of its five or ten thousand republican readers in Illinois, it is more than can be hoped that all will stand firm.” Lincoln's plans for a Senate race against Douglas in 1858 were suddenly being challenged. The usually patient Lincoln was plainly fretful. mean by its constant eulogising, and admiring, and magnifying Douglas?” Did Greeley speak for ”the sentiments of the republicans in Was.h.i.+ngton”? Had leaders in Was.h.i.+ngton ”concluded that the republican cause, generally, can be best promoted by sacrificing us here in Illinois”? Lincoln acknowledged to Trumbull that he had heard of ”no republican here going over to Douglas,” but he was concerned that ”if the Tribune continues to din his praises into the ears of its five or ten thousand republican readers in Illinois, it is more than can be hoped that all will stand firm.” Lincoln's plans for a Senate race against Douglas in 1858 were suddenly being challenged. The usually patient Lincoln was plainly fretful.

Trumbull replied on January 3, 1858, attempting to calm Lincoln's anxieties. He began by admitting to Lincoln that ”the unexpected course of Douglas has taken us all somewhat by surprise.” He told Lincoln of the responses of some Republicans. ”Some of our friends here act like fools in running & flattering Douglas.” Trumbull wrote that Douglas ”encourages it & invites such men as Wilson, Seward,” and others ”to confer with him & they seem wonderfully pleased to go.” Trumbull did not want Lincoln to take these reports at face value, but to understand that William Seward's motivation in offering public praise for Douglas was to further fuel the division growing in the Democratic Party. Trumbull a.s.sured Lincoln, ”I have no sort of idea of making Douglas our leader either here or in Ills. He has done nothing as yet to commend him to any honest Republican.”

This letter revealed Trumbull's admiration for Lincoln, the man he had defeated for the Senate three years earlier in January 1855. Trumbull concluded by a.s.suring Lincoln that he would work for the election to the Senate ”of that Friend Friend who was instrumental in promoting my own.” After he signed his letter, Trumbull added a final sentence. His wife, Julia Jayne Trumbull, who was once one of Mary Lincoln's dearest friends before the rupture caused by the 1855 Senate race, was sitting by her husband as he completed the letter. She admired Lincoln and told her husband that Lincoln was ”too modest to understand whom I mean by 'that friend.' ” Heeding his wife's advice, Trumbull added that Lincoln was the friend ”who magnanimously requested his friends just at the right moment to cast their votes for me.” who was instrumental in promoting my own.” After he signed his letter, Trumbull added a final sentence. His wife, Julia Jayne Trumbull, who was once one of Mary Lincoln's dearest friends before the rupture caused by the 1855 Senate race, was sitting by her husband as he completed the letter. She admired Lincoln and told her husband that Lincoln was ”too modest to understand whom I mean by 'that friend.' ” Heeding his wife's advice, Trumbull added that Lincoln was the friend ”who magnanimously requested his friends just at the right moment to cast their votes for me.”

AS THE WINTER OF 1858 slowly turned into spring, the air began to go out of Douglas's balloon. Republicans in Illinois increasingly resented the intrusion of Greeley and other eastern Republicans in their affairs. Joseph Medill's slowly turned into spring, the air began to go out of Douglas's balloon. Republicans in Illinois increasingly resented the intrusion of Greeley and other eastern Republicans in their affairs. Joseph Medill's Chicago Press &Tribune Chicago Press &Tribune fumed, ”There seems to be a considerable notion pervading the brains of political wet-nurses at the East, that the barbarians of Illinois cannot take care of themselves.” fumed, ”There seems to be a considerable notion pervading the brains of political wet-nurses at the East, that the barbarians of Illinois cannot take care of themselves.”

To the observant eye, Lincoln's bid for the Senate, despite the winter panic over Douglas, was coming into focus in the spring for important reasons. First, while being an old-line Whig had hurt Lincoln in his Senate bid in 1855, it was helping him in 1858. Both Governor Bissell and Senator Trumbull were former old-line Democrats. There was a general consensus that it was time to honor an old-line Whig with the other Illinois Senate seat. Second, Lincoln rose to the top of the available former Whigs because of the ”sacrifice” of his candidacy three years earlier that had led to the election of Trumbull. Trumbull had personally recognized the debt, but it was also being spoken of by other politicians as well as the editors of Republican newspapers.

In the midst of pressure from eastern Republicans to embrace Doug las, Illinois Republicans came up with a novel idea. Up until this time, the legislature would select the nominee from a variety of candidates. Why not short-circuit that process by holding a convention and agreeing upon only one candidate, whom everyone could then rally around? As German-American leader Gustave Koerner put it, ”We must make them understand that Lincoln Lincoln is our man.” Lincoln endorsed the idea of a convention in an April 24, 1858, letter to Illinois secretary of state Ozias Hatch. ”Let us have a state convention in which we can have a full consultation: and till which, let us stand firm, making no committals as to strange and new combinations.” Lincoln, although confident, remembered that he had lost out in 1855 to a new combination, even as some Republicans were still talking about combining with Douglas. is our man.” Lincoln endorsed the idea of a convention in an April 24, 1858, letter to Illinois secretary of state Ozias Hatch. ”Let us have a state convention in which we can have a full consultation: and till which, let us stand firm, making no committals as to strange and new combinations.” Lincoln, although confident, remembered that he had lost out in 1855 to a new combination, even as some Republicans were still talking about combining with Douglas.

In April, the pace of events quickened. Republican leaders, including William Herndon, who represented Lincoln, met in Chicago and endorsed the idea of holding a convention in Springfield on June 16, 1858.

AS LINCOLN WAS GEARING UP to run for the Senate, he was also exploring an additional career as a public lecturer. He was inspired by the traveling lecturers who began coming to Springfield in the 1850s. Lincoln heard two of Ralph Waldo Emerson's three lectures at the statehouse in January 1853. Bayard Taylor, a renowned world traveler, had lectured on ”the Arabs” in 1854, and, by popular demand, returned in 1855 to lecture on j.a.pan, India, and ”the Philosophy of Travel.” Other lecturers included Horace Greeley, Henry Ward Beecher, and New England Unitarian minister Theodore Parker. The biggest crowds turned out to hear (and see) Lola Montez, an actress and dancer, lecture on ”Fas.h.i.+on.” to run for the Senate, he was also exploring an additional career as a public lecturer. He was inspired by the traveling lecturers who began coming to Springfield in the 1850s. Lincoln heard two of Ralph Waldo Emerson's three lectures at the statehouse in January 1853. Bayard Taylor, a renowned world traveler, had lectured on ”the Arabs” in 1854, and, by popular demand, returned in 1855 to lecture on j.a.pan, India, and ”the Philosophy of Travel.” Other lecturers included Horace Greeley, Henry Ward Beecher, and New England Unitarian minister Theodore Parker. The biggest crowds turned out to hear (and see) Lola Montez, an actress and dancer, lecture on ”Fas.h.i.+on.”

Lincoln decided to try his hand as a homegrown lecturer. On April 6, 1858, Lincoln delivered a lecture on ”Discovery and Inventions” in Bloomington. Lincoln's thesis was that of all the creatures on Earth, man ”is the only one who improves improves his workmans.h.i.+p.” He then traced innumerable inventions and discoveries that were of ”peculiar value” because of their ”efficiency in facilitating other inventions and discoveries.” As an example, he trumpeted the printing press, which ”gave ten thousand copies of any written matter, quite as cheaply as ten were given before. Consequently a thousand minds were brought into the field where there was but one before.” his workmans.h.i.+p.” He then traced innumerable inventions and discoveries that were of ”peculiar value” because of their ”efficiency in facilitating other inventions and discoveries.” As an example, he trumpeted the printing press, which ”gave ten thousand copies of any written matter, quite as cheaply as ten were given before. Consequently a thousand minds were brought into the field where there was but one before.”

Lincoln delivered this same lecture again nearly one year later in February 1859, in Jacksonville, Decatur, and Springfield. It demonstrated Lincoln's commitment to progress, especially his appreciation of the changing arts of communication, although much of his material was cobbled together from Old Testament references and Encyclopedia Americana Encyclopedia Americana articles. Despite Lincoln's personal and political popularity, his general public lectures never caught fire with the small audiences in attendance. articles. Despite Lincoln's personal and political popularity, his general public lectures never caught fire with the small audiences in attendance.

IN THE MONTHS LEADING UP to the Republicans' June nominating convention, Lincoln turned down all speaking invitations and started the most extensive preparation for any speech he had ever made. Yes, he would be building on all of his speeches since 1854, but this time he decided to write out the speech in its entirety. He wrestled with ideas on sc.r.a.ps of paper and the backs of envelopes. The Lincoln who returned from Congress in 1849 not knowing if he could ever be elected again, who had been defeated for the Senate in 1855 when he and his friends thought surely he would win, well understood that this was his last opportunity to win election to the Senate, his highest aspiration to public office. Behind closed doors, Lincoln wrote, revised, and edited what he intended to say at the historic state convention. to the Republicans' June nominating convention, Lincoln turned down all speaking invitations and started the most extensive preparation for any speech he had ever made. Yes, he would be building on all of his speeches since 1854, but this time he decided to write out the speech in its entirety. He wrestled with ideas on sc.r.a.ps of paper and the backs of envelopes. The Lincoln who returned from Congress in 1849 not knowing if he could ever be elected again, who had been defeated for the Senate in 1855 when he and his friends thought surely he would win, well understood that this was his last opportunity to win election to the Senate, his highest aspiration to public office. Behind closed doors, Lincoln wrote, revised, and edited what he intended to say at the historic state convention.

The evening before the convention, Lincoln shared his speech with a dozen friends. After asking them to sit down at a round table, Lincoln read his entire address slowly. He asked each man for his response ”to its wisdom or polity.” One by one each responded. One, unnamed, burst out, a ”d.a.m.ned fool utterance.” John Armstrong, a Sangamon County builder, declared that the speech ”was too far in advance of the times.” Still another voiced his concern that the speech would ”drive away a good many voters fresh from the Democratic ranks.” Only William Herndon, who had heard an earlier version of the speech, offered his affirmation. Armstrong remembered that Herndon, while admitting that perhaps the speech was ahead of its time, urged Lincoln to ”lift the people to the level of this Speech.” Lincoln sat silently. He then rose, walked back and forth, and responded, ”The time has come when these sentiments should be uttered.” His friends feared the speech would be heard as too radical, but by now Lincoln had learned to trust his own judgment.

JUNE 16, 1858, dawned a ”lovely” day in Springfield. Euphoric Republicans, sensing victory in the air, strolled around the state capital in grand spirits. For only the second time in the history of the nation a state convention was gathering to nominate a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Because there were no hard-and-fast rules on credentials, about one thousand delegates poured into Springfield.

The nomination of Lincoln began with the Chicago delegation bringing their banner into the hall as the crowd cheered: ”Cook County Is for Abraham Lincoln.” A delegate from Peoria moved that the convention adopt the motto ”Illinois Is for Abraham Lincoln.”

”Hurrahs” shook the statehouse. By the close of the afternoon, the editor of the Chicago Journal Chicago Journal submitted an endors.e.m.e.nt: ”Resolved that Abraham Lincoln is the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the United States Senate, as the successor of Stephen A. Douglas.” The cheers and hurrahs went on and on. Finally, the convention, still in a celebratory mood, adjourned for dinner. submitted an endors.e.m.e.nt: ”Resolved that Abraham Lincoln is the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the United States Senate, as the successor of Stephen A. Douglas.” The cheers and hurrahs went on and on. Finally, the convention, still in a celebratory mood, adjourned for dinner.

The convention reconvened at eight o'clock. On a terribly warm and humid evening, with not nearly enough chairs to accommodate everyone, the Hall of Representatives became ”crowded almost to suffocation.” The angular Lincoln, at age forty-nine, rose and walked the few steps to the table at the front of the hall. He turned to face an audience that suddenly became silent. Although thoroughly prepared, Lincoln had decided to speak without his ma.n.u.script. He was, as always in delivering a speech, nervous. He began: If we could first know where where we are, and we are, and whither whither we are tending, we could then better judge we are tending, we could then better judge what what to do, and to do, and how how to do it. to do it.We are now far into the fifth fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed avowed object, and object, and confident confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation.Under the operation of that policy, agitation has not only, not ceased, ceased, but has but has constantly augmented. constantly augmented.In my my opinion, it opinion, it will will not cease, until a not cease, until a crisis crisis shall have been reached, and pa.s.sed. shall have been reached, and pa.s.sed.”A house divided against itself cannot stand.”I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave slave and half and half free. free.I do not expect the Union to be dissolved- dissolved-I do not expect the house to fall- to fall-but I do do expect it will cease to be divided. expect it will cease to be divided.It will become all one thing, or all the other.Either the opponents opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old old as well as as well as new-North new-North as well as as well as South. South.Have we no tendency to the latter condition?

Lincoln began the most important address of his political career with short brushstrokes, painting the state of affairs of the nation in the middle of 1858. It was ”the fifth ”the fifth year” since a ”policy was initiated”-the policy was unnamed but everyone present knew it was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. A year” since a ”policy was initiated”-the policy was unnamed but everyone present knew it was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. A ”confident ”confident promise” had been put forth that there would be an ”end to slavery agitation.” The promise had been offered by President Buchanan in his inaugural address fifteen months earlier. The repet.i.tion of the word ”agitation” conjured up in the imaginations of Lincoln's listeners the cacophony of events symbolized in ”bleeding Kansas.” promise” had been put forth that there would be an ”end to slavery agitation.” The promise had been offered by President Buchanan in his inaugural address fifteen months earlier. The repet.i.tion of the word ”agitation” conjured up in the imaginations of Lincoln's listeners the cacophony of events symbolized in ”bleeding Kansas.”

As Lincoln painted the problem, the audience grew eager to hear his answer. He offered his solution by switching from an opening ”we” to an ”In my my opinion.” Lincoln told them: ”A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He had quickly reached his thesis sentence. Lincoln declared, by the use of a biblical metaphor drawn from Jesus admonis.h.i.+ng the Pharisees (Matthew 12:25), that there was no longer any middle position between slavery and freedom. opinion.” Lincoln told them: ”A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He had quickly reached his thesis sentence. Lincoln declared, by the use of a biblical metaphor drawn from Jesus admonis.h.i.+ng the Pharisees (Matthew 12:25), that there was no longer any middle position between slavery and freedom.

As with all of Lincoln's best ideas, he had worked with this ”house divided” metaphor on several occasions stretching back fifteen years. He employed it in a Whig campaign circular in 1843. He put it as a question in his philosophical letter to George Robertson of Transylvania University in 1855. Judge T. Lyle d.i.c.key, who had shared the platform with Lincoln at a speech in Bloomington on September 12, 1856, remembered that he used it on that evening. Whatever its past use, this scriptural image would become the signature theme of this address and the senatorial campaign to follow.

The Bible, for Lincoln, always possessed a present dimension. The invocation of this biblical metaphor pointed beyond itself and allowed him to make several points. First, he declared that the status quo on slavery was no longer acceptable. He qualified this a.s.sertion with the historical modifier ”permanently.” Lincoln was offering a forecast, but not a timetable, for the future of slavery in America. Second, the logical Lincoln told his audience: 1. He did ”not expect the Union to be dissolved. ” dissolved. ”

2. He did ”not expect the house to fall.” fall.”

3. But he did ”expect it will cease to be divided.”

In his developing speaking style, Lincoln relished repet.i.tion. He twice told the audience what he did not expect. But it was actually the same thought, stated first literally (Union) and then figuratively (house). Telling the audience what he did not did not expect increased their antic.i.p.ation for what he expect increased their antic.i.p.ation for what he did did expect. He predicted, boldly, that the nation would cease to be divided. expect. He predicted, boldly, that the nation would cease to be divided.

How would this come to be? Lincoln offered more than one possibility. At first, it might sound as if Lincoln was repeating what he had been saying since 1854, namely that his only goal was to ”arrest” the spread of slavery into the territories. Furthermore, Lincoln stated that extinction would follow from restriction. He believed he was saying nothing more than Jefferson had said, but this provocative part of his introduction quickly became open to misunderstanding.

Although Herndon suggested Lincoln wrote the ”House Divided” speech in the weeks immediately prior to its delivery, Lincoln had actually laid the foundation of the address seven months before in one of his most extensive private notes. The impetus for the note, about three-quarters as long as the speech itself, may have been the suggestion that Republicans support Douglas for reelection to the Senate in 1858. About three-quarters of the way through his private reflection, Lincoln noted that this ”angry agitation” over the extension of slavery was not confined to the political arena. He chose one example to ill.u.s.trate the growing problem. ”Presbyterian a.s.semblies, Methodist conferences, Unitarian gatherings, and single churches to an indefinite extent, are wrangling, and cracking, and going to pieces on the same question.”

He then crafted the idea in a way that would link this private rumination to his future public speech.

I believe the government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I expressed this belief a year ago; and subsequent developments have but confirmed me. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and put it in course of ultimate extinction; or advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new. Do you doubt it? Study the Dred Scott decision, and then see how little even now remains to be done.

In Lincoln's speech seven months later, some whole sentences are drawn word for word from his extended private note. The major difference between the note and the speech is its rhetorical structure. Whereas Lincoln employed the ”house divided” metaphor toward the end of the note, as the culmination of the logic of his thinking, in the speech he moved it up to the beginning, as the thesis that undergirded the specifics that would follow from it.

After Lincoln's tightly written thesis, he muses about a conspiracy that would make slavery a national inst.i.tution. He goes into great detail to describe the ”working ”working points of that machinery” by employing a house-building a.n.a.logy that would have been familiar to nearly everyone in his audience: ”When we see a lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and places and by different workmen-Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James ...” Suddenly, dramatically, Lincoln moves from metaphor to naming names. Everyone in the audience knew he was speaking of Senator Stephen Douglas, ex-president Franklin Pierce, Chief Justice Roger Taney, and President James Buchanan. As the audience took in these names, Lincoln completed the scaffolding by hammering in the last nail. ”We find it impossible to not points of that machinery” by employing a house-building a.n.a.logy that would have been familiar to nearly everyone in his audience: ”When we see a lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and places and by different workmen-Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James ...” Suddenly, dramatically, Lincoln moves from metaphor to naming names. Everyone in the audience knew he was speaking of Senator Stephen Douglas, ex-president Franklin Pierce, Chief Justice Roger Taney, and President James Buchanan. As the audience took in these names, Lincoln completed the scaffolding by hammering in the last nail. ”We find it impossible to not believe believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a common that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a common plan plan or or draft draft before the first lick was struck.” before the first lick was struck.”

He concluded this section by suggesting that this unholy conspiracy was working toward a second Dred Scott decision ”declaring that the Const.i.tution of the United States does not permit a state state to exclude slavery from its limits.” He told his audience that such a result grew from chief carpenter Douglas's ”doctrine of 'care not whether slavery be voted down or voted up.' ” Lincoln is arguing that no one should be misled that this controversy is only about the territories. One day people in the North will wake up to discover that the proponents of the Dred Scott decision wish to open the doors to slavery in the supposed free states. to exclude slavery from its limits.” He told his audience that such a result grew from chief carpenter Douglas's ”doctrine of 'care not whether slavery be voted down or voted up.' ” Lincoln is arguing that no one should be misled that this controversy is only about the territories. One day people in the North will wake up to discover that the proponents of the Dred Scott decision wish to open the doors to slavery in the supposed free states.

In the third section, still concerned that Douglas might draw off some Republicans in the upcoming election, Lincoln sought to portray Douglas, despite his opposition to the Lecompton Const.i.tution, as no friend of the Republican cause. He told his audience he had heard people whisper ”softly, ”softly, that Douglas is the that Douglas is the aptest aptest instrument” to oppose that ”dynasty” that is the Buchanan administration because ”he has regularly voted with us” against the charade of the Lecompton Const.i.tution. These nameless friends ”remind us that instrument” to oppose that ”dynasty” that is the Buchanan administration because ”he has regularly voted with us” against the charade of the Lecompton Const.i.tution. These nameless friends ”remind us that he he is a very is a very great man, great man, and that the largest of and that the largest of us us are very small ones.” At this point, in high drama, with his right arm outstretched, Lincoln thundered, ”But 'a are very small ones.” At this point, in high drama, with his right arm outstretched, Lincoln thundered, ”But 'a living dog living dog is better than a is better than a dead lion.' dead lion.' ” Here Lincoln was turning again to the Bible, this time quoting from Ecclesiastes 9:4, ”For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” This ancient Jewish declaration received its meaning from the contrast between the lowest and highest of animals. Lincoln knew he could never claim Doug las's exalted status, but pointed beyond himself to the exalted cause he served. ” Here Lincoln was turning again to the Bible, this time quoting from Ecclesiastes 9:4, ”For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” This ancient Jewish declaration received its meaning from the contrast between the lowest and highest of animals. Lincoln knew he could never claim Doug las's exalted status, but pointed beyond himself to the exalted cause he served.

He declared that Douglas, despite his popularity, was ”a caged caged and and toothless” toothless” leader, because he was on the wrong side of the moral issue of slavery. ”How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don't leader, because he was on the wrong side of the moral issue of slavery. ”How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don't care care anything about it.” Popular sovereignty was an empty promise if in the end it had nothing to say about one man owning another man. Resorting to irony, Lincoln identified himself in the phrase ”the largest of anything about it.” Popular sovereignty was an empty promise if in the end it had nothing to say about one man owning another man. Resorting to irony, Lincoln identified himself in the phrase ”the largest of us us are very small ones”-Lincoln may be tall in height but knew he was small in public stature compared to Douglas-but the cause he represented would bring him the victory. are very small ones”-Lincoln may be tall in height but knew he was small in public stature compared to Douglas-but the cause he represented would bring him the victory.