an individual
opinion. Five supported the Chief Justice on the main points as to the
status of the African race and the validity of the Missouri Compromise.
Judge Nelson registered a protest against the entrance of the Court
into the political arena. Curtis and McLean wrote elaborate dissenting
opinions. Not only did the decision have no tendency to allay party
debate, but it added greatly to the acrimony of the discussion.
Republicans accepted the dissenting opinions of Curtis and McLean as a
complete refutation of the arguments of the Chief Justice; and the
Court itself, through division among its members, became a partizan
institution. The arguments of the justices thus present a complete
summary of the views of the proslavery and anti-slavery parties, and the
opposing opinions stand as permanent evidence of the impossibility of
reconciling slavery and freedom in the same government.

It was through the masterful leadership of Stephen A. Douglas that the
Lecompton Constitution was defeated. In 1858 an election was to be held
in Illinois to determine whether or not Douglas should be reelected
to the United States Senate. The Buchanan Administration was using its
utmost influence to insure Douglas's defeat. Many eastern Republicans
believed that in this emergency Illinois Republicans should support
Douglas, or at least that they should do nothing to diminish his chances
for reelection; but Illinois Republicans decided otherwise and nominated
Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the senatorship. Then followed
the memorable Lincoln-Douglas debates.

This is not the place for any extended account of the famous duel
between the rival leaders, but a few facts must be stated. Lincoln
had slowly come to the perception that a large portion of the people
abhorred slavery, and that the weak point in the armor of Douglas was to
be found in the fact that he did not recognize this growing moral sense.
Douglas had never been a defender of slavery on ethical grounds, nor
had he expressed any distinct aversion to the system. In support of his
policy of popular sovereignty his favorite dictum had been, "I do not
care whether slavery is voted up or voted down."

This apparent moral obtuseness furnished to Lincoln his great
opportunity, for his opponent was apparently without a conscience in
respect to the great question of the day. Lincoln, on the contrary, had
reached the conclusion not only that slavery was wrong, but that the
re