Already in
June he had made a speech that greatly impressed his hearers. "A
house divided against itself cannot stand," he told them. "I
believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and
half free. 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"; and he
went on to say that there was grave danger it might become all
slave. He showed how, little by little, slavery had been gaining
ground, until all it lacked now was another Supreme Court
decision to make it alike lawful in all the States, North as well
as South. The warning came home to the people of the North with
startling force, and thereafter all eyes "were fixed upon the
senatorial campaign in Illinois.
The battle continued for nearly three months. Besides the seven
great joint debates, each man spoke daily, sometimes two or three
times a day, at meetings of his own. Once before their audiences,
Douglas's dignity as a senator afforded him no advantage,
Lincoln's popularity gave him little help. Face to face with the
followers of each, gathered in immense numbers and alert with
jealous watchfulness, there was no escaping the rigid test of
skill in argument and truth in principle. The processions and
banners, the music and fireworks, of both parties were stilled
and forgotten while the people listened to the three hours'
battle of mind against mind.
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