practice law, though not yet twenty-one years of age. He had opened an
office in the courthouse at Jacksonville. His sharp wit, pugnacity,
self-reliance, had already excited rivalry and envy. He had suddenly
leaped into the political arena, carrying a defiant banner.

Affairs in America were no more tranquil than they were in England.
President Jackson had stirred the country profoundly by his imperious
attitude toward the banking interests on the one hand, and the matter of
South Carolina's nullification of the tariff law on the other hand. This
had weakened the Democratic party in Illinois. And as there was to be an
election in the fall of state officials, it was necessary to success to
satisfy the electorate that President Jackson had not betrayed his
leadership.

Bantering words went around to the effect that Douglas was seizing the
opportunity of this debate to make himself known, to get a start as a
lawyer, and a lift in politics. When a chance to make a hit fits the
orator's opportunity and convictions, it would be difficult for a man of
Douglas' enterprise and audacity to resist it.

For Douglas had, in spite of everything, captured the town. His name was
on every one's tongue. He had lauded President Jackson and his policies
with as much fervor as he had with virulence and vehemence denounced the
humbugging Whigs, as he had characterized them. The village paper, a
Whig publication, had sat upon him. It had dubbed him a turkey gobbler,
a little giant, a Yankee fire-eater. But Douglas gave no quarter to any
one. He returned blow for blow. He had become a terror. He must be
subdued.

John J. Wyatt, a man of ready speech, in the full maturity of his