Mr. Lincoln was willing to lose the Senatorial contest if Douglas could be defeated for the Presidency, and he gained his point, although his friends did not immediately see the strength of it. Senator Douglas, in an artful reply to this searching question, put forward his doctrine of Popular Sovereignty by asserting that the people could, by "unfriendly legislation," effectually prevent the introduction of slavery into their midst. When the South read this declaration, so contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court, Douglas' fate was sealed as a presidential candidate. Owing to a totally unfair apportionment of the Senatorial Districts, which had been made by a Democratic Legislature, Mr. Lincoln lost the contest with Senator Douglas, who had a majority of eight on the joint ballot in the new Legislature, but the Republican Ticket won in the popular vote by 4000.
Mr. Lincoln was forty-nine years old and Senator Douglas forty-five when they met in these memorable debates. They had been thrown together for more than twenty years by a most remarkable combination of circumstances. They had both wooed the same woman, Mary Todd, and Lincoln won; both craved for success in politics, and as Douglas belonged to the dominant party in Illinois, he met with early success, and ran the gamut of political honors and was a great national figure before Lincoln was known. Douglas had been Attorney-General, Secretary of State and Judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois; in 1843 he was elected to the National House of Representatives and served until 1847, when he was sent to the Senate, where he served until 1861; his name had been presented for the presidential nomination to the Democratic Conventions of 1852 and 1856. Compared to this series of political successes those of Lincoln were indeed meagre. He had served in the Illinois Legislature; in 1847 was sent to Congress, but served only one term, and from 1849 to 1854 he had devoted himself, with the exception of some canvassing done for Scott in the Campaign of 1852, almost exclusively to his law practice. It was Senator Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska Bill that brought Lincoln again into politics, with emphatic protests and strong arguments against the outrage. When Mr. Douglas returned to Illinois in 1854, he attempted, with much difficulty, to justify his action, and the debates between him and Mr. Lincoln really began in that year. Lincoln met his arguments, and after a few speeches Mr. Douglas was ready to quit, and made an agreement with Mr. Lincoln that neither of them should speak again in the campaign. In 1854 Mr. Lincoln was the choice for United States Senator, but yielded his place to Lyman Trumbull. He took an active part in the formation of the Republican Party in Illinois, and at the Bloomington Convention in 1856, which chose delegates to the first Republican National Convention, he made a strong speech that attracted the attention of the Republicans of Illinois to him and made him the State leader. He labored earnestly in Illinois for the success of Fremont and Dayton. Throughout 1857 he grew stronger with the party, with the result that he was the unanimous and only choice in 1858 as the successor to Douglas.
Douglas secured the shadow of a victory, but Mr. Lincoln, and the Republican Party throughout the North, had the substance, and the fall elections in 1858 were decidedly in favor of the Republicans. The Autumn campaigns of 1859 were of the utmost importance, and the Democrats made great efforts in the North, especially in Ohio. Senator Douglas went personally into that State, and at the earnest invitation of the Republican Committee, Mr. Lincoln spoke at Columbus on September 16th and at Cincinnati on September 17th. Mr. Dennison, the Republican candidate in Ohio, was elected, and the Republicans were successful in Pennsylvania and Iowa.
A few days after the October elections the entire country was thrown into a state of great excitement by John Brown's invasion of Virginia and his capture of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He had hoped for a general uprising of the slaves, but it did not occur, and Brown was captured by Robert E. Lee, then a Colonel in the United States Army, and after a trial on a charge of murder and treason against the State of Virginia, was found guilty and hanged December 2, 1859. This affair aroused the Slave Power to a frenzy of excitement, and they immediately demanded an investigation, and strong attempts were made to fix the conspiracy on members of the Republican Party, but it signally failed.
Three days after John Brown's execution, the Thirty-sixth Congress assembled. In the Senate there were thirty-eight Democrats, twenty-five Republicans, and two Americans; the Republicans had gained five Senators. In the House there were one hundred and nine Republicans, eighty-eight administration Democrats, thirteen anti-Lecompton Democrats, and twenty-seven Americans, all of the latter, except four, from the South. The contest for the Speakership developed the deep animosity felt by the South, and threats of disunion and personal violence abounded throughout the session. The Republicans generally remained silent, only taking part in the debates when absolutely necessary. On the first ballots the Republicans divided their votes between Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, and John Sherman, of Ohio; Mr. Grow having received the fewer number of votes, withdrew, under an agreement, and the contest continued between Mr. Sherman and Mr. Bocock, of Virginia. On January 4, 1860, Sherman was within three votes of an election, but he finally withdrew in favor of William Pennington, a Republican, of New Jersey, who was elected on February 1, 1860, and the House secured a Republican organization. During the debate attendant upon this election, Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, declared, "We will never submit to the inauguration of a black Republican President," and this remark, with others of a like nature, was often repeated. Many of the members of Congress attended the session fully armed, and it often appeared that the Civil War would probably begin in the House of Representatives.
In the decade between 1840 and 1850, the number of slaves in the South increased 800,000; and in the decade between 1850 and 1860, 700,000. The increase of white population in the South was very small compared to that of the North. The census of 1850 showed the population of the country to be 23,191,876, divided as follows:
White. Free Black. Slave.
North ……… 13,269,149 196,262 262
South ……… 6,283,965 238,187 3,204,051
The tremendous increase of slave population and the rapid gain of the North over the South in free population is shown by a comparison of the census of 1850 with that of 1860, when the total population was 31,443,322, divided between the two sections as follows:
White. Free Black. Slave.
North ……… 18,791,159 225,967 64
South ……… 8,182,684 262,003 3,953,696
Owing to the large crops in the South the demand for slaves exceeded the supply, and the market price of negroes in the decade between 1850 and 1860 was very high. Three results followed the increased demand and the high prices—the Domestic Slave Trade between the States was largely increased; attempts to smuggle in slaves contrary to the Slave Trade Laws were numerous and often successful, and the South began, in Buchanan's administration, to consider the re-establishment of the African slave trade.