c. The Honorable Jefferson Davis took the same view in his

speech at Bangor, Maine.

d. The Speaker of the House, Mr. Orr, holds the same view.

e. Alex. H. Stephens puts the same construction upon it that Douglas does.

II. The people believe it is right, for

a. The people made James Buchanan president on this same principle.

III. It is the principle that can bring peace to the Union, for

a. If the people of all the states will act on this great principle, and each state mind its own business, take care of its own negroes, and not meddle with its neighbors, there will be no cause for dissension.

_Conclusion_

A. A plea for peace by adopting the principles presented in the proof.

B. A denunciation of those who seek to turn this public controversy to their own personal advantage.

MR. LINCOLN’S REPLY

Proposition: Vote for Lincoln and the Republican party.

_Introduction_

A. Lincoln advises Judge Douglas to continue the war upon the other wing of his party.

B. Douglas should not make too much of Buchanan’s inconsistency because he is inconsistent himself, for he once championed the Missouri Compromise but now he opposes it.

_Proof_

Proposition: (Repeated) Vote for Lincoln and the Republican party, because

A. Refutation: The statement that I have complained that the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case had decided that a negro could never be a citizen of the United States is untrue, for

I. No such idea can be found in my speech.

II. The truth is that I mentioned the Dred Scott Decision only as part of a conspiracy to make slavery national.

B. Douglas misrepresents my position on the Declaration of Independence, for

I. He has garbled my Chicago speech, for

a. He omitted between two quotations four sentences necessary to my meaning.

II. Douglas has taken no notice of an extract from my Springfield speech in which my views are clearly expressed.

III. My position is the same as that of Henry Clay, for

a. Clay declared the Declaration as an abstract principle is true and the new proposition of the Dred Scott Decision is intended to make the negro nothing but property in all the states.

b. Refutation: The statement that Henry Clay held that the negro was not included in the Declaration of Independence is untrue, for

1. He never expressed this belief.

2. The speech referred to in the Chicago Times as showing that this was Mr. Clay’s view shows precisely the opposite view, for

(a) He says that it is true as an abstract principle that all men are created equal, but that we cannot practically apply it in all cases.

C. Lincoln still says that the proposition that “A house divided against itself cannot stand” is true, for

I. The agitation over slavery will not cease, for

a. Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska bill has stirred up the whole discussion again, for

1. Although the Kansas-Nebraska bill was declared to be the end it has stirred up strife in the last Congress and throughout the entire country.

b. In its pretense to confer local self-government the Kansas-Nebraska bill proved to be a lie.

II. The framers of the Constitution hoped to put slavery in a course of extinction, for

a. They provided that the slave trade should cease after twenty years.

b. The Constitution does not contain the words “slavery” or “negro race,” for

1. Its framers thought slavery a temporary thing.

2. Fugitive slaves are not mentioned.

3. The representation clause avoids using these words.

III. Refutation: The statement that the framers of the Constitution introduced slavery is not true, for

a. They found it but marked it with their disapproval.

IV. Lincoln wishes to return to the policy of the framers of the Constitution, for

a. Refutation: The charge that the Constitution has stirred up this agitation over slavery is false, for

1. The agitation has been stirred up by Judge Douglas and his friends.

b. Other local laws have not caused strife, for

1. The cranberry laws of Indiana caused no strife.

2. The oyster laws of Virginia have not caused strife.