Political text-book for 1860 : comprising a brief view of presidential nominations and elections, including all the national platforms ever yet adopted ... with the most notable speeches and letters of Messrs. Lincoln, Douglas, Bell, Cass, Seward, Everett, Breckinridge, H.V. Johnson, etc., etc., touching the questions of the day : and returns of all presidential elections since 1836

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) us A rotr'l'ICAL TF.XT-DOOK FOR 1860. such ri~~1t is nffi••metl ill the instrument by implication, IL would be open to othcrH to show that neither the word "slave" nor "::lltLVery" is to IJe found in the Co n ~titli· ti o n, nor the word ·'prop erty" cvon, in any connect ion witll t.hc language nlluding to the thinb"l! lll:tve, or 'l:n 'ci'Yl and that wherever in that ln~trum c nt the ~lave is alludct to, he is called a "person i" and where'lcr hL~ m:l:>ter ·s kgnl right in r elation to him Is alludod to, it is spoken of as "service or labor due,'' ll!l t\ "debt" paya iJle iu Rcrvice or labor. Also, it would be open to ~ h o w, by contemp oraneous hbto ry, that this mod e of allulling to slave::~ and Silwery, instead of 3peaklng of them, wa:~ cu­ploy eJ on purpo~c to cxcluue from the Co us tllutiou the iuea that there could be t>roperty It: man. To show all this is easy and certain. When this ob'llous mistako of the Judges shall be brought to thdr n otice, IL ill not r easonable to expect that th ey will wlthdmw the mistaken statemen t , nud roconsiuer the conclusion based upon It? And th en it is to be remembc•·cd that ·' our f11.thcr·s, who framed the Govcmment under which we live" - the men who m:tde the Co n~titutio n ·- decided this same Con titu­Uonal question in our favor, long ago - dcddcu it wi thout a divis ion among themselves, when making the u ccision; witho ut divis ion among thcrmclves about the meaning of it a ft er it was maLic, and so f:u· as any e viuence is loft, wit.hout l.Jasing it upon any mistaken s tat ement of f11cts. Under all th c~c circumstances, do y on r eally feel your:1clvcs justitictl to break up this Oo I'Cr:rmcnt, un­less s uch ~L court <lecision as y our:! i~; sha ll be at o nce submltteu to as a conclusi vc and tlnul rule of p olitical action? Dut y ou will not abide the election of n ltcpublican President In that suppO:!t•d event, you 1:1ay, you will d estroy the Union; and th en, y ou say , the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us? l'hat is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol lo my car, and mut tct·s th rough hi:1 teeth, "stand anti d e liv er or I shall kill you, and th en you will be a murde er !" ' '1'o be sure, what the rohbcr d emanded o f me-my !lloney~was rny own ; and 1 had a c lear right to keep 1t; but 1t was no mrlrc 1uy own than my vote is my own ; and the threat of d ea th to me to extort my money :1. 11 tl the tlu·cat of destru ction t o the l!nion, to extor~ my vo te, can sc:Lrcely be d b tin gu i~ h cd in pr·inci pl e. A. fe1v word3 now to Jtepub!ican:;. It is ex cccd ingi.Y des1mi.Jie that all p:l r ts of th 1 ~ great Confed eracy s hall IJc at peace, and in harm ony , o ne with anoth er. Let u~ Jtepublicans clo our part to have it so. J•: vcn though much provoked, let u ~ <lo noth ing thro ugh passion and Ill t c111 per . . l•:vcn Lh uugh the ~ ou th em people will n ot so much as hstcn to us, let us c almly consid et· th eir d e rn :uH1~, a nd yielu to th em if, in our d elib erat e view of our duty, wo po::ss .h!Y <·an. Judijinc; hy all th ey sa.v and d? , and by tltc sub; ~ct and nat u r:~ of th eir contrOI'C!'l:ly wtth u , let us d eternunc, 1f we can, what will sat isfy them? Will lh~y b~ :!atl:t tied if tl •e '1\: rrito n es l>e unconditio n­ally ~u r rer Hl c rt: d to the•n? We know lht•y \Till not. ln all tlrc~ r presc~ll· c nrnpl:d nt ~ again:.t u ~, thu l'e r ri torie.i a re ~c1u·cc1 y me ntiOII <:tl. l nva,lons and iu s urrccti o n~ a rc the rag<J u uw. \VIII it a tb ly th c111 1f1 in thc futur~ we have no thing to do Wlt.h in V:L,io iiS and i n surrecti ~ns ? We kn ow It will not. \\'e ~o kn ow het·ansu we kno 1v we never hat! a ny thing to tlo w1 th i nva ~io n s and insurrections · and ye t this total u.l,:s tai1t.ing d ues HOt cx ~: mpt us from th~ charge and the d c iiU IICIUti on. 'L'he qn e~ Li o n r ecurs, what will sali fy them ? Simply ~h i s: We 1nu s ~ not o nly lut Ll> c lll alon e, b ut we mus t, 11omehow, con v•ncc thc111 that we do let them al one. This we lw?w IJy cxpe.l'ience . is nu ca~y ta~ lc. We have h ee 1~ liO try111g ~ 0 COIIVlnCe lhem, fr0111 lhC Vt: f'y be"inning Ot' <lUI' o rgtllll~au o n, bnt With no s uece:ll:l. ln ali our plat­forms !l lll l llpceche!l we have t:onst :l lllly protCd l t:tl our pur­po~ e .to lt::L th em alo r~c ; but t1 11~ haa had no t enden cy to COII\' Ince th em. Al1ke uuavailing to convince them i~ the f:~ct that tl11!y hav ~ ll t:Yer tl etc~o::~:d a lll lln of ~in any att cmpt Lo uisturll lln:m. 1\!le30 n~LturaJ, and apparently adeqUate means &11 fan ing, what will convince t hem? 'l'his, aiH.I this onl . ct;fL~e tu call Sl~l very wro"g, and j oin them in cnllin/i1 t ' L(Jht. Anti tl11::1 must be t.l one th oro ughly - <lunu in act, lli lf.:ll :1:1 111 word11. Silence will not be tolc ra t~:1t-we lllll~t pl:.l :c our:;ul Yes llVOI\'Cdly With th ~m . Douglas's ~ t c w scd1t1on law IIIU:It be enactetl a nd en forcccl, suppresi- 111); all d .:clar:ltiunl:l lhat Slavery is wro1Jg, whether 111au in pullt ic:~, in p rel!scs, lu pulpits , or in pnvate. We mus~ arrc:~ t and ret uru their fugiti vc sl tt Vl'S wit), grccu pl e a s ure. Wt: 111u ~ t. pull u own our Jf ree Sta te COIJstit utionl1l. The whu!e. atmo."phcre must be d is in fec te1l from all tainl of o pp 11~ 1t10n t•> Slavery, before they will cease to believe tha.t all th eir trt~nbh·s proceed from us. , 1 :L.III quite awaru th~:y <.lo not state their e a~e precisely 111 thl:i way. 1\l ost of· them woulu proba bly ~ uy to us " Lt: t u~ alo ne, 1lo no thing t.o us, urHI say what you pleM~ a~>uu t $1 :lvt:ry." But we tlo let th em alon c--havo never d •sturbetl lll c iii-SO that, a fter all, It is what we sny which dissat b f1es Lhe 111. They will contiuue to a ccuse u~ of d oi n:;, u nl II we cc a::~e saying. I an• al :~o u.w :u·l! th ey ha ve not, as yet in terms d emanded the o ve rth row of our l!'rec Sta te co'nstitutions' Yet those constiwtions decla re the wrong of Slnvcry with more solemn e1nphasis, t ha.n do a ll o ther aaying; against it; aud when all these oth e r sayings ~ hall have bt:cn si lenced , the o ve r throw of these constit utions will he <i e lllllnd cd, nn1l no th ing be left to r esist the ucmnnd It I~ nothing Lt) the co nt rary , that they lio not demand th~ whole of Lids ju~t now. Dcmantl ing what they do, and fur the rc a:-~o n th ey (io, they c a u volun tarily !topnowhere ~ h o rt of th is commmn1ation. lloldinl(, :.s they do, thnt Slavery 1!:! morally r ight, anti socially c ie vtlting, they can· not Ct:<~se t.o d em:Lnd a full rmtio n al r ecognition of It 113 a legal nght, and a !inc ial bl es sing. ' Nor can we j u~ tifl ;lhly withhold tills, on nny grountl ~:l vo.: our con vi.:th)U 1 hat ::lla very is wrong. Ir tllal'ery Is n ~-:h t, a ll w o rd :~ , a c t~ , laws , and cons ti t uti on ngainsLit, arc thc u1scl vcs wrong, and sh ould be s ilunceu, a nti swcpl a way. J f it i:1 n ght. we can uot j u~ tly obj ect to its nl)tion· a lil y - i111 Ulliycr,-alll y ; if it is wrong, th ey cannnt justly in s is! upon it:1 •·xl er ls lon-its e nla rgen1ent. AllthtJy nsk, we could r e.u llly ~r an t , if we th ought 'lavery right ; all we a~k, th ey could as r ead ily graut , if they thought II wru ng. 'J'hdr th inking it r ight, and our t hi nk ing 11 IH <• u g~ is the precise fa ct upon which tl c pe n <l ~ th ~: \Yiloia t:ontro ver sy . 'l'h iukinglt right, as they do, they are nol t11 blnlllc for tle~ inn g itl:l full r ecog n it ion, t\S bei ng rlghl ; hut1 think i n ~ it wrong, as we d o, can we yield to th ~m? Ua n lfe c ast our vo tos with their view, a nd a g:ti nijt ou1 own? In view of our 1110nLl, s ocitli, a nd politicaltesptHI· si hili t ics, can we do thi:J ? Wrt)l)g a~ we think !::!lavery is, we can yet a lford to let it alone who.: re it is, b ccau e that much is due to the n ece~si ty ari:11ng from Its a ctual presence in the nution ; but ca11 Wt· , willie our votes will p re ven t it, allow it to spread int u the National Territor it:s, a nti to ov~ rrun us he r t: in the<~e .!<'reo States f lf our sc n ~o of l.i11ty fo rbids this, then let us stnncl by our duty, fo.:arlessly and e lfectlvcly. Let us be diverted hy n one ot those sophistical contrivances wher ewith we aro so i ndu ~ trl o usly pl iccl anti belabo t·ctl-con trivauces such as g roping for some midule ground between the right ami the wrung, vain us the search fo t· a wan who should bo neither a liv ing man n or a deau man-such as a policy uf" d ()n't care" on o. question a bout \Vhich LLll tru.: men do care-such a!l Union appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunionist!!, reversing the Llivluc rule, allLI calling, not the sinners, but the ri ghteous to repent­ance-- such as In vocations to Washington, i111ploring men to unsny what WtJ.:!lliugton saitl, a nd u uuo what Washing· LOll uid. Ne ither let us be sla.nd er ecl fr om our duty !Jy fnl~e accu ·ati ous a gainst us, n or frig hten eel rrorn it by menaces of de~tru c tion to th ~ Gov ~: nrm e nt, n or of dnng~t>ns to oursdves. Let us have 'ait\1 that r ight makes might, and in that faith, let us, tG '.ht! tntl 1 tlar~ to do our uuty, .S we understaud IL. DRED SCOTT-MISSOD RI COMPROMISE. }lR. BHECKINitiDGl~ ON NATIONAL l)OLITICS. --···-- '~ PE~ Oll AT l!"'RANKFOR'l\ IrY. THE It o:-~. J o liN C. lltn:cKtN ttLDO ~: d 'Ji ,·crcu the f'ollowiu rr Kpcc<.:h on t he ~ •n ·ral political topic. of Lhc ~l ay u ' fore liH• L Pgi ·ltttlln! of K~ll­tuckv at Frankfor t. in D ~c. 18;>H. Mr. llr~c~on­rili< rl! had bt•en n•~.:e ntl y clt'<.:tcu to the Unt t.cd ~t:~cK ~~· 11ate, lly the K cn w~.:ky Lcgi.la ~nr.c; nnd :tft r reLttrniug his th;wks fo r the dl:-~l m­gui" hed honor, and promi::ling to ~c rv c ~ h e • 't a te to LllC l ll' i-IL of l1it~ aiJ iliLy, h ~\tw.A.l--tts fol+ews : 'The elccLiou took p lace on !\Ion <lay. 'f he day b e fore I 1eccive<l a IdLer Higned by a number or gentlemen in the Legi~l.u. u rc, as k i n~ u1y opinion in r efe rence to the U1ow :'COl r d.:c.sion, in reference to 'l'er rito rial Sover ­eignty aut! the power o f Con gre~s to p ro I cct the p roperty or ci ti~erw within the 'l'erritori ~s . 1 received that Jetter with profound re~pt:~· t, and ouly regret it d.id not come t-o my h and~ in tin•c, that l might answer 1t before tho oicction. U11t yet l al!l ~lad that I co uld not iUiswcr it before th:Lt d:ty, for y our c ho ice h; a sor t of indo1 scment or my souu luc:;s u pon those questiotts. I confess l was s.Hu~:: wlmt !!mtiucd that t he e lection took pl ac ~ be fore 1 ha.l tho~e (J lle:.tio ns to a nswer. lt was u t t erly unp~ssl­I. Jh: fur nte 1 o have r c t.ume tl an a nswer before th e t11ne fi xed IJy your law fur UlC e lectio n, but, I n e v e~ iutcnrled to fail in tliit~ aw;wer. I never should 111we fatle<l. Had it hccn one who sig ned it, instead of twenty , the r esult wo uld IHtve been precisely the same. Hc~itles this it would hn ve been of b ut little conse­quence, lie th~ answer be fore or after . I be long to that scliool of po litics tha t belie ves in im;t•:uction, .nud when­ever l 1un not ready to r e ceive the 1nstruct10ns of t l.te bta tc, l t~tau d ready to give back the trust confided 111 rny hauds. ,/ Tin: D n ~: D SCOTT D ~:CISfO N. ~ GQDI)r>~l l bow tQ tJw_d~~lsion.o.f.th_e.SU,pr~e..Coll...t ~~ 1a ~ upQn e very uestion .wit hin Its pr.opcr j urisuictiou, whethe r it ccnTes sJo n a~:~ w1th my pr}­va. te opi.nlon or n ot · o nly I b ow a. trifle lower when tt hlW.UIYUUo uo so, ns' the d bcision in tho Drcrl Scott c1tse d~. I Jlpprove it in all It:~ p <t rtS n~; a ~;ountl exposition of the l1tw and constitutional r igh ts of the States, and t.:itlzcns that in htLbit them. (Appla use.) It ~my n ot ~ e improper fot· me here to add thtLt so grc1~t an tnt c rest d 1d 1 take in tluLt d ecision and in its p ri n ci ple~ b eing s us­tained ancl undcr:~too ~l in the commonwealth of K en­tucky tha.t [ took the trouble a t my own cost, t o p rint or hu've prinll•d a l:Lrgc ecliti ~n of that d ecision to. sca t­ter it over the 'LtLtc , and unless the mail,; have m•s.car­ricd, there Is ~:~carcc ly a memuer e lected to the Lcgll! la.­ture who has not r eceived a copy with my frank. 'l'o approve the d ~:cisi o n of the Supreme Court In ~h e Dreu 'cot t case would seem to settle the whole qnest 10n ol •ren-ito ria l ~o ~ e •·eignty as I think will p r esent ly a p­pett. r i but, 1n o rll c t· th•~L no o ne may misunden tnnd 111y views on that question, I will. wi th y our leav e, li e­NUn you wi th o. b r ief r e view of what was done as to the Slavl!ry qnesLion up to the time o r that d ecision, r e fer­ring alwo to the tlutie1:1 imposed by it. Till<; MIS~O U RI LI N!<:. pealed, a nd we passe<.! the act knr,\Vn as the I\nnsa!rr.c­hmska bill. 'l'he Abolition, or qttalii Abolition Jl!Lrty or the United States were constantly contendlnl{ tha t it was the r ight of Congress to prohliJit Sla vt• ry iu the common 'l'l!rritorles of the Union. '!'he Democratic p:lrt.r, aided by most of the gentlemen from the ~o uth, took the opposite view of the case. Our obj ect was, if p os~ib l e , to withdraw that question from the Ha lls of UonJ:ircss, aud pla ce l~ where lt coulrl no longer rb;k tile public welfa re uutl the public inte rest. ln the Congre~s of the Uuited ::ltn tcs it had been agitated a ll the ti1ne, to the cli:mdvuntage of the 'outh · a ccordingly ( l have 110t n copy of the IJill he fore me no~v but I rcmemuer lts leading pro1•islons ), 1\ bill \\ ai p assed, 'repealing the Ml:-~ ·ouri li ue, and lcavi11g those 'l'er­ritoric.' S upon the contmct and the a~~ e r tion th a t the bill made. Did we intend hy It to legisla te Slavery inlo l(a n­sas and Nebraska? We denied t hnt, a nd denied it upou the face of t he hill Itself. 'l'he settl ·m •nt tlllls ma de, af­terward received the approval of the people of tile wholt· count ry. 'J'he bill said within Itself, not tli a t we intcn u t.o legislate Slavery into the 'J'errl tories1 hut t? leave the 1~eo· p le free to fo•·rn their own domeilt•c lm;l ltutlons, suhJt:et only to the Constit ution of the Ur1ited 'tate~ . 'l'hat was as much as we cou lu agree upon. 'l'here was a point u pou which we could not agree. A consldcm l>le 1~ortion of ~h e North ern Democracy held that Ia v_cry was rn tl crol(:~L~on of common right, and coult.l only cxt~t h:Y fo r.ce of !J lllllLJvc la w. 'l'hey conten1lcd that. the UonstttulJon d11l n o~ furu\;;h that law and th;Lt the slav •holtler could not go 1n to t ht• 'l'crritori~s with hb~ siJtvcs with the Constitution to auth,or­izc him in holding his slaves as property, or to p rotect huu. 'J' hc Sou th genera lly without d i~tiucUon of part y, heltl the opposlte ~iew. 'J'h cy held that the ci ~izcns of all the States may go with wh;\tever was rccoglllzcd by the Con­stitution as p rop erty, an ti enjoy it. 'J'hat <lid not seem to be uenle<l to a ny artic le of pnJperty e:- ccpt sla vcs. Ac­conJin gly t he bill contained the provision, that any (\UC8- tion ln reference to lavery shonl!l be r eferred to the court of t he nited 'tates, and the u nderstanding was, tlm~ what ­ever the j udicia l dcci~ion should IJe, it would be bmd.U.g u pon a ll parties, not only by .v~ rtue of the agreement, bu\ under the ob li~atlon of the c1t1zens to r espect the a uthor­ity of the legally constituted courts of the country. WllAT lH: SAID JN 185(). It was under th ese ci rcumstan ces, while the Territory of Kansas was in a st.ate or commotion, a nd when tllat quetl­tion had not been uetermlned by t he courts, t hut the can­vass of 1 5G c1une on. lt became my uuty, by th? r e­quest of my friend!!, to vlRit the Stut c1:1 of (~hio, Jndtana, l\lichi an aucl Pennsylvania. In a ll those lutes l made , f s l n all those States I utt.crc<l the same oplnioll.l ~l~~~~~~l~rcd the same p rinciples tha t 1 have ever done in Lhe commonwealth of Kentucky , ami am ready to do a.ga.W.. None other I · t r u t has been charged that the Democrat ic par Yo re co~ntry and particula rly of the South, clesircu to employ tl Fcd~ral Governrucnt for the purpo~e o: propagatln~ s:: vcr and slave legislation In the 'J.'crn torrc~. 1 denied t h·\t t lrc Dl!rnocra tlc p:"Lrty desired to usc the l•et.l eral Oov- ~mcnt for the propagation of Sllwer.v, aud J n: ver con­c~ d 11 what we bclievetl to he our constltutlt~n ;d. ng-ht to lt:s ce c . l what the decision of the i;:ulH cmc CoUJ ~ prot ectiOn, a n< • our rl rht I sa id- yes! I did say liHLt the has allow~d to ~cty of tl~is 'country In Its federal aspect, l)~:moc•rilal ttc p tuP ro-ShLvery nor nn 'A ntl•- ~I l\VeJ. j. y..u · ty , b ~~ t l ~liS in...!.lle C..Q.nj,[[W_ or tlre United States when that ~Ouril\ne Wtl !l r(;p eale\1. cevte~e~:--v~ YO&ed for Aey bill organiz i n~ the T crrltMy o · · ~~~lt ()dlous stigm·t u pon our in:~li tutlo n!! i'ema1n d upon the tta!.~ok . I voLuu •Jheerfully for Its r epe •~l, 1\nd 1n tlu­ing that l cast no rdlectlon upon tho wi!le pntrio t~ who ac\jwcsce<l iu it a t the time il was establlihcJ . It wail r e · was ne, )e~ 11 • nd r r epeat lt here to-ml-:ht. (A p-i\ const1tuttonal p,trtyll tl 't 1 1 •lo not believe that the 1·1 a l15~·1) OIo vdeor unmote nllet weavse o 1r gsa.n lzcc'l for either purpose, but e e~~tect the rights a rlj udicalerl by the courts. All to P , to the tt\tes thernsell·es . th;~e belon~ the decla ra tions that 1 malle, of which some­. r hesbe wetbeeeu heard In all the Sta tes. I made tho thiog a.s