“I have supposed myself, since the organization of the Republican party at Bloomington, in May, 1856, bound as a party man by the platforms of the party, then and since. If in any interrogatories which I shall answer I go beyond the scope of what is within these platforms, it will be perceived that no one is responsible but myself.
“Having said this much, I will take up the Judge’s interrogatories as I find them printed in the Chicago Times, and answer them seriatim. In order that there may be no mistake about it, I have copied the interrogatories in writing, and also my answers to them. The first one of these interrogatories is in these words:
Question 1—‘I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day stands, as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law?’
Answer—I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law.
Question 2—‘I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against the admission of any more Slave States into the Union even if the people want them?’
Answer—I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more Slave States into the Union.
Question 3—‘I want to know whether he stands pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union with such a Constitution as the people of that state may see fit to make?’
Answer—I do not stand pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union, with such a Constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make.
Question 4—‘I want to know whether he stands to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia?’
Answer—I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.