Douglas in
the discussion, with his eye for the concrete, pointed out that the
ordinance of 1787, and the Missouri Compromise as well, were practically
dead letters. As to the free law respecting Oregon, Oregon had
previously fixed the freedom status for herself. As to the fantastic
proposition of striking a balance between the North and the South,
giving them equal new states of freedom and slavery, he pointed out that
that was a moral and physical impossibility. The cause of freedom had
steadily advanced, the cause of slavery steadily failed. "We all look
forward with confidence to the time when Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
Kentucky, and Missouri, and probably North Carolina and Tennessee, will
adopt a gradual system of emancipation. In the meantime we have a vast
territory, stretching from the Mississippi to the Pacific, which is
rapidly filling up with a hardy, enterprising, and industrious
population, large enough to form at least seventeen new free states.
Now, let me inquire, where are you to find the slave territory with
which to balance these seventeen free territories, or even any one of
them?"
This was not exactly placating the South. Douglas missed his opportunity
as a demagogue.
Turning to Webster Douglas said: "California came in free according to
those laws of nature and God to which the Senator of Massachusetts
alluded.
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