Stephen A. Douglas by Allen Johnson

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By this time agreement had been reached in the caucus, so that Douglas
was quite willing to modify the phraseology of the bill. "We see,"
said he, "that the difference here is only a difference as to the
appropriate word to be used. We all agree in the principle which we
now propose to establish." As he was not satisfied with the phrases
suggested, he desired some time to consult with friends of the bill,
as to which word would best "carry out the idea which we are intending
to put into practical operation by this bill."[473]

On the following day, February 7th, Douglas reported, not merely "the
appropriate word," but an entirely new clause, the product of the
caucus deliberations.

The eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri
into the Union is no longer said to be superseded, but "being
inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by Congress with
slavery in the States and Territories, as recognized by the
legislation of 1850, (commonly called the Compromise Measures) is
hereby declared inoperative and void, it being the true intent and
meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or
State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof
perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in
their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United
States."[474]

This part of the bill had now assumed its final form. _Subject only to
the Constitution of the United States_. The words were clear; but
what was their implication? A few days later, Douglas wrote to his
Springfield confidant, "The Democratic party is committed in the most
solemn manner to the principle of congressional non-interference with
slavery in the States and Territories. The administration is committed
to the Nebraska bill and will stand by it at all hazards.... The
principle of this bill will form the test of parties, and the only
alternative is either to stand with the Democracy or rally under
Seward, John Van Buren & Co.... We shall pass the Nebraska bill in
both Houses by decisive majorities and the party will then be stronger
than ever, for it will be united upon principle."[475]

Yet there were dissentient opinions. What was in the background of
Southern consciousness was expressed bluntly by Brown of Mississippi,
who refused to admit that the right of the people of a Territory to
regulate their domestic institutions, including slavery, was a right
to destroy. "If I thought in voting for the bill as it now stands, I
was conceding the right of the people in the territory, during their
territorial existence, to exclude slavery, I would withhold my
vote.... It leaves the question where I am quite willing it should be
left--to the ultimate decision of the courts."[476] Chase also, though
for widely different reasons, disputed the power of the people of a
Territory to exclude slavery, under the terms of this bill.[477] And
Senator Clayton pointed out that non-interference was a delusion, so
long as it lay within the power of any member of Congress to move a
repeal of any and every territorial law which came up for approval,
for the bill expressly provided for congressional approval of
territorial laws.[478]

Douglas was irritated by these aspersions on his cherished principle.
He declared again, in defiant tones, that the right of the people to
permit or exclude was clearly included in the wording of the measure.
He was not willing to be lectured about indirectness. He had heard
cavil enough about his amendments.[479]

In the course of a debate on March 2d, another unforeseen difficulty
loomed up in the distance. If the Missouri Compromise were repealed,
would not the original laws of Louisiana, which legalized slavery, be
revived? How then could the people of the Territories be free to
legislate against slavery? It was a knotty question, testing the best
legal minds in the Senate; and it was dispatched only by an amendment
which stated that the repeal of the Missouri Compromise should not
revive any antecedent law respecting slavery.[480]

The objection raised by Clayton still remained: how was it possible to
reconcile congressional non-intervention with the right of Congress to
revise territorial laws? Now Douglas had never contended that the
right of the people to self-government in the Territories was complete
as against the power of Congress. He had never sought to confer upon
them more than a relative degree of self-government--"the power to
regulate their domestic institutions." He could not, and he did not,
deny the truth and awkwardness of Clayton's contention. Where, then,
demanded his critics, was the guarantee that the Kansas-Nebraska bill
would banish the slavery controversies from Congress? This challenge
could not go unanswered. Without other explanation, Douglas moved to
strike out the provision requiring all territorial laws to be
submitted to Congress.[481] But did this divest Congress of the power
of revision? On this point Douglas preserved a discreet silence.

Recognizing also the incongruity of giving an absolute veto power to a
governor who would be appointed by the President, Douglas proposed a
suspensive, in place of an absolute, veto power. A two-thirds vote in
each branch of the territorial legislature would override the
governor's negative.[482] Chase now tried to push Douglas one step
farther on the same slippery road. "Can it be said," he asked, "that
the people of a territory will enjoy self-government when they elect
only their legislators and are subject to a governor, judges, and a
secretary appointed by the Federal Executive?" He would amend by
making all these officers elective.[483] Douglas extricated himself
from this predicament by saying simply that these officers were
charged with federal rather than with territorial duties.[484] The
amendment was promptly negatived. Yet seven years later, this very
proposition was indorsed by Douglas under peculiar circumstances. At
this time in 1854, it would have effected nothing short of a
revolution in American territorial policy; and it might have altered
the whole history of Kansas.

Despite asseverations to the contrary, there were Southern men in
Congress who nourished the tacit hope that another slave State might
be gained west of the Missouri. There was a growing conviction among
Southern people that the possession of Kansas at least might be
successfully contested.[485] At all events, no barrier to Southern
immigration into the Territory was allowed to remain in the bill.
Objection was raised to the provision, common to nearly all
territorial bills, that aliens, who had declared their intention of
becoming citizens, should be permitted to vote in territorial
elections. In a contest with the North for the possession of the
territorial government, the South would be at an obvious disadvantage,
if the homeless aliens in the North could be colonized in Kansas, for
there was no appreciable alien population in the Southern States.[486]
So it was that Clayton's amendment, to restrict the right to vote and
to hold office to citizens of the United States, received the solid
vote of the South in the Senate. It is significant that Douglas voted
with his section on this important issue. There can be no better proof
of his desire that freedom should prevail in the new Territories. The
Clayton amendment, however, passed the Senate by a close vote.[487]

On the 2d of March the Kansas-Nebraska bill went to a third reading by
a vote of twenty-nine to twelve; its passage was thus assured.[488]
Debate continued, however, during the afternoon and evening of the
next day. Friends of the bill had agreed that it should be brought to
a vote on this night. The privilege of closing the debate belonged to
the chairman of the Committee on Territories; but in view of the
lateness of the hour, he offered to waive his privilege and let a vote
be taken. Voices were raised in protest, however, and Douglas yielded
to the urgent request of his friends.[489]

The speech of Douglas was a characteristic performance. It abounded in
repetitions, and it can hardly be said to have contributed much to the
understanding of the issues. Yet it was a memorable effort, because it
exhibited the magnificent fighting qualities of the man. He was
completely master of himself. He permitted interruptions by his
opponents; he invited them; indeed, at times, he welcomed them; but at
no time was he at a loss for a reply. Dialectically he was on this
occasion more than a match for Chase and Seward. There were no studied
effects in his oratory. Knowing himself to be addressing a wider
audience than the Senate chamber and its crowded galleries, he
appealed with intuitive keenness to certain fundamental traits in his
constituents. Americans admire self-reliance even in an opponent, and
the spectacle of a man fighting against personal injustice is often
likely to make them forget the principle for which he stands. So
Seward, who surely had no love for Douglas and no respect for his
political creed, was moved to exclaim in frank admiration, "I hope the
Senator will yield for a moment, because I have never had so much
respect for him as I have tonight." When Chase assured Douglas that he
always purposed to treat the Senator from Illinois with entire
courtesy, Douglas retorted: "The Senator says that he never intended
to do me injustice.... Sir, did he not say in the same document to
which I have already alluded, that I was engaged, with others, 'in a
criminal betrayal of precious rights,' 'in an atrocious plot'?... Did
he not say everything calculated to produce and bring upon my head all
the insults to which I have been subjected publicly and privately--not
even excepting the insulting letters which I have received from his
constituents, rejoicing at my domestic bereavements, and praying that
other and similar calamities may befall me!"[490]

In much the same way, he turned upon Sumner, as the collaborator of
the _Appeal_. Here was one who had begun his career as an Abolitionist
in the Senate, with the words "Strike but hear me first," but who had
helped to close the doors of Faneuil Hall against Webster, when he
sought to speak in self-defense in 1850, and who now--such was the
implication--was denying simple justice to another patriot.[491]

Personalities aside, the burden of his speech was the reassertion of
his principle of popular sovereignty. He showed how far he had
traveled since the Fourth of January in no way more strikingly, than
when he called in question the substantive character of the Missouri
Compromise. In his discussion of the legislative history of the
Missouri acts, he easily convicted both Chase and Seward of
misapprehensions; but he refused to recognize the truth of Chase's
words, that "the facts of the transaction taken together and as
understood by the country for more than thirty years, constitute a
compact binding in moral force," though expressed only in the terms of
ordinary statutes. So far had Douglas gone in his advocacy of his
measure that he had lost the measure of popular sentiment. He was so
confident of himself and his cause, so well-assured that he had
sacrificed nothing but an empty form, in repealing the slavery
restriction, that he forgot the popular mind does not so readily cast
aside its prejudices and grasp substance in preference to form. The
combative instinct in him was strong. He had entered upon a quarrel;
he would acquit himself well. Besides, he had supreme confidence that
popular intelligence would slowly approve his course.

Perhaps Douglas's greatest achievement on this occasion was in coining
a phrase which was to become a veritable slogan in succeeding years.
That which had hitherto been dubbed "squatter sovereignty," Douglas
now dignified with the name "popular sovereignty," and provided with a
pedigree. "This was the principle upon which the colonies separated
from the crown of Great Britain, the principle upon which the battles
of the Revolution were fought, and the principle upon which our
republican system was founded.... The Revolution grew out of the
assertion of the right on the part of the imperial government to
interfere with the internal affairs and domestic concerns of the
colonies.... I will not weary the Senate in multiplying evidence upon
this point. It is apparent that the Declaration of Independence had
its origin in the violation of the great fundamental principle which
secured to the people of the colonies the right to regulate their own
domestic affairs in their own way; and that the Revolution resulted in
the triumph of that principle, and the recognition of the right
asserted by it."[492]

In conclusion, Douglas said with perfect truthfulness: "I have not
brought this question forward as a Northern man or as a Southern man.
I am unwilling to recognize such divisions and distinctions. I have
brought it forward as an American Senator, representing a State which
is true to this principle, and which has approved of my action in
respect to the Nebraska bill. I have brought it forward not as an act
of justice to the South more than to the North. I have presented it
especially as an act of justice to the people of those Territories,
and of the States to be formed therefrom, now and in all time to
come."[493]

Nor did he seem to entertain a doubt as to the universal appeal which
his principle would make: "I say frankly that, in my opinion, this
measure will be as popular at the North as at the South, when its
provisions and principles shall have been fully developed and become
well understood. The people at the North are attached to the
principles of self-government; and you cannot convince them that that
is self-government which deprives a people of the right of legislating
for themselves, and compels them to receive laws which are forced upon
them by a legislature in which they are not represented."[494]

The rising indignation at the North against the Kansas-Nebraska bill
was felt much more directly in the House than in the Senate. So strong
was the counter-current that the Senate bill was at first referred to
the Committee of the Whole, and thus buried for weeks under a mass of
other bills. Many believed that the bill had received a quietus for
the session. Not so Douglas and his friend Richardson of Illinois, who
was chairman of the Committee on Territories. With a patience born of
long parliamentary experience, they bided their time. In the
meantime, every possible influence was brought to bear upon
recalcitrant Democrats. And just here the wisdom of Douglas, in first
securing the support of the administration, was vindicated. All those
devices were invoked which President and cabinet could employ through
the use of the Federal patronage, so that when Richardson, on the 8th
of May, called upon the House to lay aside one by one the eighteen
bills which preceded the Kansas-Nebraska bill, he was assured of a
working majority. The House bill having thus been reached, Richardson
substituted for it the Senate bill, minus the Clayton amendment. When
he then announced that only four days would be allowed for debate, the
obstructionists could no longer contain themselves. Scenes of wild
excitement followed. In the end, the friends of the bill yielded to
the demand for longer discussion. Debate was prolonged until May 22d,
when the bill passed by a vote of 113 to 110, in the face of bitter
opposition.

Through all these exciting days, Douglas was constantly at
Richardson's side, cautioning and advising. He was well within the
truth when he said, in confidential chat with Madison Cutts, "I passed
the Kansas-Nebraska Act myself. I had the authority and power of a
dictator throughout the whole controversy in both houses. The speeches
were nothing. It was the marshalling and directing of men, and
guarding from attacks, and with a ceaseless vigilance preventing
surprises."[495]

The refusal of the House to accept the Clayton amendment brought the
Kansas-Nebraska measure again before the Senate. Knowing that a
refusal to concur would probably defeat the measure for the session,
Southern senators were disposed to waive their objections to allowing
aliens to vote in the new Territories. Even Atchison was now disposed
to think the matter of little consequence. Foreigners were not the
pioneers in the Territories; they followed the pioneers. He did not
complete his thought, but it is unmistakable: therefore, native
citizens as first-comers, rather than foreigners, would probably
decide the question of slavery in the Territories forever. And so,
after two days of debate, Douglas again had his way: the Senate voted
to recede from the Clayton amendment. On May 30th, the President
signed the Kansas-Nebraska bill and it became law.[496]

The outburst of wrath at the North which accompanied the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise did not augur well for the future repose of the
country. Douglas had anticipated angry demonstrations; but even he was
disturbed by the vehemence of the protestations which penetrated to
the Senate chamber. Had he failed to gauge the depth of Northern
public opinion? Senator Everett disturbed the momentary quiet of
Congress by presenting a memorial signed by over three thousand New
England clergymen, who, "in the name of Almighty God," protested
against the Kansas-Nebraska Act as a great moral wrong and as a breach
of faith. This brought Douglas to his feet. With fierce invective he
declared this whole movement was instigated by the circulars sent out
by the Abolition confederates in the Senate. These preachers had been
led by an atrocious falsehood "to desecrate the pulpit, and prostitute
the sacred desk to the miserable and corrupting influence of party
politics." What right had these misguided men to speak in the name of
Almighty God upon a political question? It was an attempt to establish
in this country the doctrine that clergymen have a peculiar right to
determine the will of God in legislative matters. This was
theocracy.[497]

Some weeks later, Douglas himself presented another protest, signed by
over five hundred clergymen of the Northwest and accompanied by
resolutions which denounced the Senator from Illinois for his "want of
courtesy and reverence toward man and God."[498] His comments upon
this protest were not calculated to restore him to favor among these
"divinely appointed ministers for the declaration and enforcement of
God's will." His public letter to them, however, was much more
creditable, for in it he avoided abusive language and appealed frankly
to the sober sense of the clergy.[499] Of the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise, he said again that it was necessary, "in order to
recognize the great principle of self-government and State equality.
It does not vary the question in any degree, that human slavery, in
your opinion, is a great moral wrong. If so, it is not the only wrong
upon which the people of each of the States and Territories of this
Union are called upon to act.... You think you are abundantly
competent to decide this question now and forever. If you should
remove to Nebraska, with a view of making it your permanent home,
would you be any less competent to decide it when you should have
arrived in the country?"[500]

The obloquy which Douglas encountered in Washington was mere child's
play, as compared with the storm of abuse that met him on his return
to Chicago. He afterwards said that he could travel from Boston to
Chicago by the light of his own effigies.[501] "Traitor,"
"Arnold,"--with a suggestion that he had the blood of Benedict Arnold
in his veins,--"Judas," were epithets hurled at him from desk and
pulpit. He was presented with thirty pieces of silver by some
indignant females in an Ohio village.[502] So incensed were the people
of Chicago, that his friends advised him not to return, fearing that
he would be assaulted.[503] But fear was a sensation that he had never
experienced. He went to Chicago confident that he could silence
opposition as he had done four years before.[504]

Three or four days after his return, he announced that on the night of
September 1st, he would address his constituents in front of North
Market Hall. The announcement occasioned great excitement. The
opposition press cautioned their readers not to be deceived by his
sophistries, and hinted broadly at the advisability of breaking up the
meeting.[505] Many friends of Douglas believed that personal violence
was threatened. During the afternoon flags were hung at half mast on
the lake boats; bells were tolled, as the crowds began to gather in
the dusk of the evening; some public calamity seemed to impend. At a
quarter past eight, Douglas began to address the people. He was
greeted with hisses. He paused until these had subsided. But no sooner
did he begin again than bedlam broke loose. For over two hours he
wrestled with the mob, appealing to their sense of fairness; but he
could not gain a hearing. Finally, for the first time in his career,
he was forced to admit defeat. Drawing his watch from his pocket and
observing that the hour was late, he shouted, in an interval of
comparative quiet, "It is now Sunday morning--I'll go to church, and
you may go to Hell!" At the imminent risk of his life, he went to his
carriage and was driven through the crowds to his hotel.[506]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 415: House Bill No. 444; 28 Cong., 2 Sess.]

[Footnote 416: Executive Docs., 32 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 124.]

[Footnote 417: House Bill, No. 170; 30 Cong., 1 Sess.]

[Footnote 418: _Globe_, 32 Cong., 1 Sess., p. 1161.]

[Footnote 419: _Ibid._, pp. 1684-1685.]

[Footnote 420: _Ibid._, p. 1760. Clingman afterward admitted that the
Southern opposition was motived by reluctance to admit new free
Territories. "This feeling was felt rather than expressed in words."
Clingman, Speeches and Writings, p. 334.]

[Footnote 421: _Globe_, 32 Cong., 1 Sess., p. 1762.]

[Footnote 422: See Davis, Union Pacific Railway, Chap. 3.]

[Footnote 423: See Benton's remarks in the House, _Globe_, 31 Cong., 2
Sess., p. 56.]

[Footnote 424: Connelley, The Provisional Government of the Nebraska
Territory, published by the Nebraska State Historical Society, pp.
23-24.]

[Footnote 425: Connelley, Provisional Government, p. 28.]

[Footnote 426: _Globe_, 31 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 56-58.]

[Footnote 427: House Bill No. 353; 32 Cong., 2 Sess.]

[Footnote 428: _Globe_, 32 Cong., 2 Sess., p. 558.]

[Footnote 429: _Ibid._, p. 560.]

[Footnote 430: _Ibid._, p. 565.]

[Footnote 431: _Ibid._, p. 1020.]

[Footnote 432: _Globe_ 32 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 1116-1117.]

[Footnote 433: _Ibid._, p. 1113.]

[Footnote 434: Connelley, Provisional Government, pp. 43 ff.]

[Footnote 435: _Ibid._, pp. 37-41.]

[Footnote 436: Pike, First Blows of the Civil War, p. 183; Connelley,
pp. 70-77.]

[Footnote 437: See Hadley D. Johnson's account in the Transactions of
the Nebraska Historical Society, Vol. II.]

[Footnote 438: Illinois _State Register_, December 22, 1853.]

[Footnote 439: MS. Letter to the editors of the Illinois _State
Register_, dated November 11, 1853.]

[Footnote 440: Washington _Union_, December 3, 1853. See also item
showing the interest in Nebraska, in the issue of November 26.]

[Footnote 441: Senate Bill No. 22. The bounds were fixed at 43 deg. on the
north; 36 deg. 30' on the south, except where the boundary of New Mexico
marked the line; the western line of Iowa and Missouri on the east;
and the Rocky Mountains on the west.]

[Footnote 442: Illinois _State Register_, December 22, 1853.]

[Footnote 443: New York _Journal of Commerce_, December 30, 1853.]

[Footnote 444: Two years later, Douglas flatly denied that he had
brought in the bill at the dictation of Atchison or any one else; and
I see no good ground on which to doubt his word. His own statement was
that he first consulted with Senator Bright and one other Senator from
the Northwest, and then took counsel with Southern friends. See
_Globe_, 34 Cong., 1 Sess., App., pp. 392-393; also Rhodes, History of
the United States, I, pp. 431-432. Mr. Rhodes is no doubt correct,
when he says "the committee on territories was Douglas."]

[Footnote 445: Senate Report No. 15, 33 Cong., 1 Sess.]

[Footnote 446: The northern boundary was extended to the 49th
parallel.]

[Footnote 447: The first twenty sections are written on white paper,
in the handwriting of a copyist. In pencil at the end are the words:
"Douglas reports Bill & read I & to 2 reading special report Print
agreed." The blue paper in Douglas's handwriting covers part of these
last words. The sheet has been torn in halves, but pasted together
again and attached by sealing wax to the main draft. The handwriting
betrays haste.]

[Footnote 448: _Globe,_34 Cong., 1 Sess., p. 1374.]

[Footnote 449: See his speech of March, 1850, quoted above. In a
letter to the editor of _State Capital Reporter_ (Concord, N.H.),
February 16, 1854, Douglas intimated as strongly as he then dared--the
bill was still pending,--that "the sons of New England" in the West
would exclude slavery from that region which lay in the same latitude
as New York and Pennsylvania, and for much the same reasons that
slavery had been abolished! in those States; see also Transactions of
Illinois State Historical Society, 1900, pp. 48-49.]

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