Abraham lincoln sat on the edge of his bed talking to Lyle Dickey. The day had been a hard one on the Illinois Circuit. Dickey blinked sleepily at the yellow candle flame, but Lincoln wanted to talk. News of the pas sage of the kansas-nebraska Act by Congress had just been received, and Lincoln's deliberate mind would not rest. He had deserted the hustings for the more lucrative practice of law, but this act aroused his indignation and tempted him to re-enter politics. Dickey fell asleep. Next morning, when he awoke, Lincoln sat propped up in bed still talking as though the conversation had been uninterrupted.

Lincoln had watched excitement grow over the Kansas - Nebraska bill since its introduction on January 4, 1854, by his political antagonist of twenty years' standing, Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The Little Giant, as he was called, had concocted the measure to end political turmoil over slavery, make him the leader of a reunited Democratic Party and, perhaps, President of thé United States. His bill's panacea was simple: Quit dis criminating against Slaveholding pioneers; open all territories to settlers from both North and South, and let them decide by vote whether to ex clude or countenance slavery. What could be fairer than that?

Douglas understood the rules of equity better than he did the temper of the American people. He failed, utterly, to foresee that this doctrine of squatter sovereignty would ignite a civil war.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.