The life and public services of Abraham Lincoln ... together with his state papers, including his speeches, addresses, messages, letters, and proclamations, and the closing scenes connected with his life and death. By Henry J. Raymond. To which are added anecdotes and personal reminiscences of President Lincoln, by Frank B. Carpenter.

STATE PAPERS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 63
otherwise called " sacred right of self-government;" which latter phrase,
though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so
perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if
any one man choose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to
object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska bill itself, in
the language which follows: "It being the true intent and meaning of
this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude
it therefrom; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and
regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the
Constitution of the United States." Then opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of "squatter sovereignty," and "sacred right of selt-government." "But," said opposition members, "let us amend the bill so
as to expressly declare that the people of the Territory may exclude
slavery." "Not we," said the friends of the measure; and down they
voted the amendment.
While the Nebraska bill was passing through Congress, a law-oae, involving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner having
voluntarily taken him first into a free State and then into a Territory covered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a slave for a long
time in each, was passing through the United States Circuit Court for the
District of Missouri; and both Nebraska bill and lawsuit were brought
to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The negro's name was
"Dred Scott," which name now designates the decision finally made in
the case. Before the then next presidential election, the law-case came
to, and was argued in, the Supreme Court of the United States; but the
decision of it was deferred until after the election. Still, before the election, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, requested the leading
advocate of the Nebraska bill to state his opinion whether the people of a
Territory can constitutionally exclude slavery from their limits; and the
latter answers: "That is a question for the Supreme Court."
The election came. Mr. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement,
such as it was, secured. That was the second point gained. The indorsement, however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly
four hundred thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly
reliable and satisfactory. The outgoing president, in his last annual
message, as impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the
weight and authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again;
did not announce their decision, but ordered a re-argument. The presidential inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the
incoming President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the
people to abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever it might be.
Then, in a few days, came the decision.
The reputed author of the Nebraska bill finds an early occasion to maxe
a speech at this capital, indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and vehemently
denouncing all opposition to it. The new president, too, seizes the early