Who Was Abraham Lincoln 林肯 Chapter 4 The Great Debater

What brought Lincoln back to politics was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. For a long time, Americans had been arguing about slavery. Should it be legal? And if so, where? In 1820, Missouri had become a state. Slavery was legal there. At that time, Congress had declared that this was as far north as slavery could go. In any land north of the Missouri border, slavery would never be allowed.
Then, in 1854, Congress went back on that decision. The Kansas-Nebraska territory was north of the border limiting slavery. But now Congress said that when the territory became two separate states, the people there could decide about slavery. They could make it legal if they wanted. Had Congress broken its promise? Abolitionists— people who were fighting to make slavery illegal—thought so. They hated the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Lincoln did, too, even though he was not exactly an abolitionist. He hated slavery and wanted it to end. But he thought the Constitution said slavery was legal in the United States. He was afraid that if Congress tried to force slave owners to give up their slaves, it would just lead to violence. And so, although slavery went against his own values, he supported the legal rights of slave owners.
Lincoln thought slavery could end another way. He thought slavery should only be allowed in the part of the United States where it was already legal. But it should not be allowed into any new territory. Then it would die out in time. People would come to see that slavery was bad for the country. They would be willing to end it without fighting. To Lincoln, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was a terrible step in the wrong direction. Congress was opening up huge new areas of the country to slavery.
So Lincoln returned to politics. The man responsible for the Kansas-Nebraska Act was Senator Stephen Douglas from Illinois. Lincoln and Douglas had been rivals for years—ever since they were in the state legislature together.
ABOLITIONISTS
MOVEMENTS OPPOSING SLAVERY BEGAN In AMERICA WHILE THE COLONIES WERE STILL UNDER BRITISH CONTROL. BY 1804, SLAVERY HAD BEEN MADE ILLEGAL In ALL THE NORTHERN STATES.
In THE 1830S And 40S, An ACTIVE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT DEVELOPED In THE UNITED STATES. ABOLITIONISTS BELIEVED THAT SLAVERY WAS EVIL And SHOULD BE COMPLETELY ILLEGAL EVERYWHERE. MANY WROTE ARTICLES And PRESSURED THE GOVERNMENT FOR REFORM. SOME WERE ACTIVE On THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD—THE SECRET NETWORK THAT HELPED SLAVES ESCAPE TO FREEDOM.
NOT EVERYONE WHO WAS AGAINST SLAVERY WAS An ABOLITIONIST. SOME PEOPLE WERE AFRAID THAT ABOLITIONISTS WERE DANGEROUS. THEY WANTEd TO MAKE BIG CHANGES TOO QUICKLY. THE MOST EXTREME ABOLITIONIST WAS JOHN BROWN. HE TRIED TO START An ARMED SLAVE REBELLION, BUT HE WAS CAPTURED And HANGED.
STEPHEN DOUGLAS
Douglas had become famous, while Lincoln was still relatively¹ unknown. Now Lincoln was eager to challenge him.
Douglas, however, refused to set up a debate. So Lincoln followed him to an open-air speech in Springfield. Douglas defended the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He said that in America, people had the right to decide how they wanted to be governed. This meant that the people of every state should be able to decide freely whether or not to allow slavery. When Douglas had finished, Lincoln yelled to the crowd that tomorrow he would explain why Douglas was wrong.
The next day, a huge audience gathered. Lincoln spoke² for three hours. Douglas’s arguments, he said, only made sense if you didn’t think of blacks as people. Lincoln thought blacks should have the same right to decide about their lives as white people. He said that America had been founded on the belief that “no man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent,” no matter what color the person was.
DRED SCOTT DECISION
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT WAS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT MADE LINCOLN AFRAID THE COUNTRY WAS MOVING In THE WRONG DIRECTION. In 1857, THE SUPREME³ COURT HAD DECIDED⁴ On THE CASE OF DRED SCOTT. SCOTT WAS A SLAVE WHOSE MASTER HAD BROUGHT HIM TO LIVE In ILLINOIS And In WISCONSIN TERRITORY. SLAVERY WAS ILLEGAL In BOTH PLACES. SCOTT SAID THIS MEANT HE WAS NOW FREE. THE COURT DECIDED AGAINST HIM. THEY SAID IF A SLAVE HAD BEEN BOUGHT LEGALLY, HE WAS STILL A SLAVE, NO MATTER WHERE HE WAS. In EXPLAINING THEIR DECISION, ONE OF THE JUSTICES WROTE THAT BLACK PEOPLE “HAD NO RIGHTS WHICH THE WHITE MAN WAS BOUND TO RESPECT.”
DRED SCOTT
Lincoln’s speech made him famous. In 1854, he decided to run for Senate. He came very close, but was not elected. In the meantime, the important issues of the day were breaking up the old political parties. There were many issues, but slavery was the one on everyone’s mind. Many Democrats⁵ had left their party in anger over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Whigs, too, were split on the issue of slavery. Lincoln was no longer sure where he fit in.
A new political party was being founded in order to fight slavery. Its members called themselves Republicans. Lincoln had been a loyal Whig all his life. But now he became a leader in the new party. Their first presidential candidate was the explorer and military leader John C. Frémont. Lincoln was almost chosen as the candidate for vice⁶ president, but he didn’t quite make it. In any case, Frémont lost. James Buchanan, who supported slavery, became president.
Refusing to be discouraged, Lincoln challenged Douglas for his seat in the Senate. The Illinois Republicans nominated him unanimously. His acceptance speech was based on a quotation⁷ from the Bible. The phrase became one of his favorites: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” The United States, he said, could not continue as half-free and half-slave. Either slavery would end, or it would take over the whole country. Or the country would be destroyed.
 

1 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。