An ocean-bound republic!
As for slavery, it did not enter into Douglas' calculations. I knew,
however, that in spite of what any one said, he was not a protagonist of
slavery. He simply subordinated it to the interests of expansion. He was
willing to leave it to the new states to determine for themselves
whether they should have slavery or not. With the impetuosity of his
thirty-two years he slipped into a recognition of the Missouri
Compromise, and was willing that slavery should be prohibited north of
this line. He was generating a plague for himself which would come back
upon him later.
But if Douglas' advocacy of the Texas expansion exposed him to charges
of a slave adherency, nothing could be said against his cry for the
taking of Oregon. The Mormons whom he had befriended without any
dishonor to himself had set forth into the untraveled land of Utah.
Already a band of young men from Peoria had gone into the Far West.
Therefore, when he now spoke for Oregon he had a responsive ear among
his own people in Illinois. If the eastern people, the dwellers in the
old communities, did not kindle to Oregon, it was because they had
neither the flare nor did they see the urge of this emigration and
occupancy. With the rapid extension of railroads, how soon would the
whole vast land be bound together in quick communication!
So it was, Douglas was offering bills in Congress for creating the
territory of Nebraska, for establishing military posts in Oregon, and
for extending settlements across the West under military protection.
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