oism of a fanatic.
Emerson and Longfellow talked some amazing nonsense about him which is
frequently quoted. Lincoln talked some excellent sense which is hardly
ever quoted. And the Republican party was careful to insert in its
platform a vigorous denunciation of his Harper's Ferry exploit.

Both sides now began to prepare for the Presidential Election of 1860.
The selection of a Republican candidate was debated at a large and
stormy Convention held in Chicago. Seward was the most prominent
Republican politician, but he had enemies, and for many reasons it was
thought that his adoption would mean the loss of available votes. Chase
was the favourite of the Radical wing of the party, but it was feared
that the selection of a man who was thought to lean to Abolitionism
would alienate the moderates. To secure the West was an important
element in the electoral problem, and this, together with the zealous
backing of his own State, within whose borders the Convention met, and
the fact that he was recognized as a "moderate," probably determined the
choice of Lincoln. It does not appear that any of those who chose him
knew that they were choosing a great man. Some acute observers had
doubtless noted the ability he displayed in his debates with Douglas,
but in the main he seems to have been recommended to the Chicago
Convention, as afterwards to the country, mainly on the strength of his
humble origin, his skill as a rail-splitter, and his alleged ability to
bend a poker between his fingers.

While the Republicans were thus choosing their champion, much fiercer
quarrels were rending the opposite party, whose Convention met at
Charleston. The great majority of the Northern delegates were for
choosing Douglas as candidate, and fighting on a programme of "popular
sovereignty." But the Southerners would not hear of either candidate or
programme. His attitude on the Lecompton business was no longer the only
count against Douglas. The excellent controversial strategy of Lincoln
had forced from him during the Illinois debates an interpretation of
"popular sovereignty" equally offensive to the South. Lincoln had asked
him how a territory whose inhabitants desired to exclude Slavery could,
if the Dred Scott decision were to be accepted, lawfully exclude it.
Douglas had answered that it could for practical purposes exclude it by
withholding legislation in its support and adopting "unfriendly
legislation" towards it. Lincoln at once pointe