Cotton is that strong."
Douglas was full of fight and energy. He intended to canvass the entire
country. He was going into the South to point out the dangers of a
divided country. "They are terribly mad at me down there. But I have
never feared an audience yet. I intend to face them--and win them."
No Presidential nominee had ever made a speaking tour before. Lincoln
stayed quietly in Springfield. Seward made a speaking campaign,
traveling on a special train. At Springfield he stayed in his car and
did not show Lincoln the courtesy of calling upon him. Lincoln, without
standing on any pride, went to see Seward, edging his way through the
crowd to the car.
Douglas fought everywhere to the last. If in his Senatorial days and
before he had been complaisant to the slavocracy, the Charleston
convention would not have seceded from him. His course now in the
campaign silenced men like Hale and Seward who had nagged him for years
with their depreciations and suspicions. He went into Virginia and there
while speaking he was heckled by a Breckenridge follower. He was asked
if the Southern States would be justified in seceding if Lincoln should
be elected President. "No," thundered Douglas. "The election of a man
to the Presidency of the American people, in conformity to the
Constitution of the United States, would not justify any attempt at
dissolving this glorious confederacy.
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