every other mercenary possession. Its ownership betokened not only the
possession of wealth, but indicated the gentleman of leisure who was
above and scorned labor."(5)

It was because of these views, because he saw slavery allying itself
with the spread of plutocratic ideals, that Lincoln entered the battle
to prevent its extension. He did so in his usual cool, determined way.

Though his first reply to Douglas was not recorded, his second, made
at Peoria twelve days later, still exists.(6) It is a landmark in his
career. It sums up all his long, slow development in political science,
lays the abiding foundation of everything he thought thereafter. In
this great speech, the end of his novitiate, he rings the changes on the
white man's charter of freedom. He argues that the extension of slavery
tends to discredit republican institutions, and to disappoint "the
Liberal party throughout the world." The heart of his argument is:

"Whether slavery shall go into Nebraska or other new Territories is not
a matter of exclusive concern to the people who may go there. The
whole nation is interested that the best use shall be made of these
Territories. We want them for homes for free white people. This they can
not be to any considerable extent, if slavery shall be planted within
them. Slave States are places for poor white people to remove from, not
remove to. New Free States are the places for poor people to go to
and better their condition. For this use the nation needs these
Territories."

The speech was a masterpiece of simplicity, of lucidity. It showed
the great jury; lawyer at his best. Its temper was as admirable as its
logic; not a touch of anger nor of vituperation.