And I could be on neither.
Douglas' birthday, April the 23d, saw the opening of the fateful
deliberations. He was destined to have no peace and no rest. Others
might find shelter from the storm. He was compelled after his great
labors in the years before to walk through the lightning and have it
gather about his head. His doctrines on slavery had alienated the whole
South from him. But he had the West, save California and Oregon, which
acted with the South. Yet he was their son too. He had strength all
through the North, because of the West. That West which he had done so
much to create, which he had prophesied would stand as a balance between
the North and the South, was for its son and its prophet--save
California and Oregon.
But of the whole thirty-three states, seventeen were against him. The
West fought the South and fought for Douglas. The South made a common
cause of opposition to the North and the West. But the new Giant put
through the Douglas principles in the platform.
Then Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas
seceded from the convention. The West had won but it had lost the South.
And now in the balloting Douglas could not be nominated. He needed 202
votes, he could only poll 152-1/2. The heat grew intense. The delegates,
trying to accommodate their interests, wandered about the old city
talking seriously and not excitedly.
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