Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/269

 STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS IN THE FIRST DEBATE WITH LINCOLN^ (1858) Bom in 1813, died in 1861 ; elected Supreme Court Judge in Dlinois in 1841; member of Congress in 1843; United States Senator in 1847 and 1853; reported the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854; had a notable debate with Lincoln in 1858; an unsuccessful candidate against Lin- coln in 1860. Prior to 1854 this country was divided into two great political parties, known as the Whig and Democratic parties. Both were national and patriotic, advocating principles that were universal in their application. An old-time Wliig could proclaim his principles in Louisiana and Massachusetts alike. Whig principles had no boundary sectional line — they were not lim- ited by the Ohio River, nor by the Potomac, nor by the line of the free and slave States, but applied and were proclaimed wherever the Constitution ruled or the American flag waved over the American soil. So it was, and so it is with the great Demo- cratic party, which, from the days of Jefferson until this period, has proven itself to be the historic party of this nation. While the Whig and Democratic parties differed in regard to » At Ottawa, niinois, August 21, 1858. The Nicolay and Hay version, used here by permission of the Century Company. 259