incompatible with freedom in the Union would hazard the political chances of any public man in the North. But Lincoln was inflexible. “It is true,” said he, “and I will deliver it as written. … I would rather be defeated with these expressions in my speech held up and discussed before the people than be victorious without them.” The statesman was right in his far-seeing judgment and his conscientious statement of the truth, but the practical politicians were also right in their prediction of the immediate effect. Douglas instantly seized upon the declaration that a house divided against itself cannot stand as the main objective point of his attack, interpreting it as an incitement to a “relentless sectional war,” and there is no doubt that the persistent reiteration of this charge served to frighten not a few timid souls.
Lincoln constantly endeavored to bring the moral and philosophical side of the subject to the foreground. “Slavery is
