There are very few men, particularly
those whose active lives have been passed in a period of political
struggle and civil war, whose correspondence could stand such a test.
There never came to Lincoln requirement to say to his correspondent,
"Burn this letter."
III
THE FIGHT AGAINST THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY
In 1856, the Supreme Court, under the headship of Judge Taney, gave out
the decision of the Dred Scott case. The purport of this decision was
that a negro was not to be considered as a person but as a chattel; and
that the taking of such negro chattel into free territory did not cancel
or impair the property rights of the master. It appeared to the men of
the North as if under this decision the entire country, including in
addition to the national territories the independent States which had
excluded slavery, was to be thrown open to the invasion of the
institution. The Dred Scott decision, taken in connection with the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise (and the two acts were doubtless a
part of one thoroughly considered policy), foreshadowed as their logical
and almost inevitable consequence the bringing of the entire nation
under the control of slavery. The men of the future State of Kansas made
during 1856-57 a plucky fight to keep slavery out of their borders.
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