foot of
a slave, whether you have the legal power to secure the release of this
boy or not."

HELPS TO ORGANIZE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

The year after Mr. Trumbull's election to the Senate the Republican
party was formally organized. A state convention of that party was
called to meet at Bloomington May 29, 1856. The call for this convention
was signed by many Springfield Whigs, and among the names was that of
Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln's name had been signed to the call by his
law partner, but when he was informed of this action he endorsed it
fully. Among the famous men who took part in this convention were
Abraham Lincoln, Lyman Trumbull, David Davis, Leonard Swett, Richard
Yates, Norman, B. Judd and Owen Lovejoy, the Alton editor, whose life,
like Lincoln's, finally paid the penalty for his Abolition views. The
party nominated for Governor, Wm. H. Bissell, a veteran of the Mexican
War, and adopted a platform ringing with anti-slavery sentiment.

Mr. Lincoln was the greatest power in the campaign that followed. He was
one of the Fremont Presidential electors, and he went to work with all
his might to spread the new party gospel and make votes for the old
"Path-Finder of the Rocky Mountains."

An amusing incident followed close after the Bloomington convention. A
meeting was called at Springfield to ratify the action at Bloomington.
Only three persons attended--Mr. Lincoln, his law partner and a man
named John Paine. Mr. Lincoln made a speech to his colleagues, in which,
among other things, he said: "While all seems dead, the age itself is
not. It liveth as sure as our Maker liveth."

In this campaign Mr. Lincoln was in general demand not only in his own
state, but in Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin as well.

The result of that Presidential campaign was the election of Buchanan
as President, Bissell as Governor, leaving Mr. Lincoln the undisputed
leader of the new party. Hence it was that two years later he was the
inevitable man to oppose Judge Douglas in the campaign for United States
Senator.

THE RAIL-SPLITTER vs. THE LITTLE GIANT.

No record of Abraham Lincoln's career would be complete without the
story of the memorable joint debates between the "Rail-Splitter of
the Sangamon Valley" and the "Little Giant." The opening lines in Mr.
Lincoln's speech to the Republican Convention were not only prophetic
of the coming rebellion, but they clearly made the issue between the
Republican and Democratic