EQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES 547 



Lincoln distinguished sharply between the sense in which he opposed 

 the Dred Scott decision and the sense in which he did not. He dis- 

 claimed any intention of resisting the decision in so far as it affected 

 Dred Scott. " We let this property abide by the decision, but we will 

 try to reverse that decision. We will try to put it where Judge Douglas 

 would not object, for he says he will obey it until it is reversed. Some- 

 body has to reverse that decision, since it is made, and we mean to 

 reverse it, and we mean to do it peaceably." ^^ Lincoln did not indicate 

 how far he would go to attain his end. Judge Douglas charged him with 

 intending to pack the court.^^ I am not aware that Lincoln ever 

 entered a denial. 



The controversy between Lincoln and Douglas in 1858 suggests pres- 

 ent-day conditions. The Republican party at its origin was an uprising 

 against those extremists who considered the right to property in slaves 

 paramount to the rights of man. The stand which it took against the 

 Dred Scott decision contributed much to its growth and influence. 

 With its advent to power, however, the party became more and more 

 closely identified with the clandestine work of arranging tariff sched- 

 ules, getting valuable franchises for a song, looking after the "pork" 

 in river and harbor and public building bills, and with voting the public 

 money for pensions. The leadership of the party suffered the inevitable 

 consequences of long years in power. The moral enthusiasm which at- 

 tended its origin grew less and less. In striking contrast to 1860, the 

 tendency to emphasize the rights of property and to object to any and 

 all criticisms of court decisions which uphold property rights became 

 more and more pronounced. With Lincoln's arraignment of Douglas 

 for accepting a court decision not at all " on its merits," but because " it 

 is to him a ' Thus saith the Lord,' " the party came to have less and less 

 sympathy. The leadership more and more approximated that of Doug- 

 las, who cared not whether slavery was voted up or voted down, and 

 nothing so well describes it as Lincoln's characterization of his distin- 

 guished opponent. Said Mr. Lincoln : 



Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious politicians of his 

 party, or who have been of his party for years past, have been looking upon him 

 certainly, at no distant day, to be President of the United States. They have 

 seen in his round, jolly, fruitful face, post-offices, land-offices, marshallships and 

 cabinet appointments, chargeships and foreign missions, bursting and sprouting 

 out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by his greedy hands. . . , 

 On the contrary, nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, 

 lank face, nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out.is 



Happily, in recent years many of the more prominent leaders in the 

 Democratic as well as in the Republican party who answered to this de- 



16 Hid., p. 20. 



17 Hid., pp. 33-34. 

 ^s Ibid., p. 55. 



