F. Lincoln advocates the identical principle asserted by George III and the Tories of the Revolution, for
I. He wants Congress to pass laws controlling the property and domestic concerns of the people in the territories, without their consent and against their will.
G. Douglas’s principle of local option on the slavery question is sufficient to preserve peace, for
I. It preserves peace on all other local questions.
Conclusion
The only remedy and safety is that we stand by the Constitution as our fathers made it, obey the laws as they are passed, while they stand the proper test, and sustain the decisions of the Supreme Court and the constituted authorities.
APPENDIX C
Lincoln’s Address at Cooper Institute
[February 27, 1860]
Mr. President and Fellow-citizens of New York: The facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly old and familiar; nor is there anything new in the general use I shall make of them. If there shall be any novelty, it will be in the mode of presenting the facts, and the inferences and observations following that presentation. In his speech last Autumn at Columbus, Ohio, as reported in the New York “Times,” Senator Douglas said:
“Our fathers, when they framed the government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now.”