Editing Abraham Lincoln (section)

===Emergence as Republican leader===
{{Further|Slave states and free states|Abraham Lincoln and slavery}}
[[File:Face_detail,_Abraham_Lincoln_O-10_by_Jackson,_1858_(cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Lincoln in 1858, the year of [[Lincoln–Douglas debates|his debates]] with [[Stephen A. Douglas|Stephen Douglas]] over slavery]]

The [[Compromise of 1850]] failed to alleviate tensions over slavery between the slave-holding South and the free North.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=175–176}} As the slavery debate in the [[Nebraska Territory|Nebraska]] and [[Kansas Territory|Kansas]] territories became particularly acrimonious, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed [[Popular sovereignty in the United States#Emergence of the term "popular sovereignty" and its pejorative connotation|popular sovereignty]] as a compromise; the measure would allow the electorate of each territory to decide the status of slavery. The legislation alarmed many Northerners, who sought to prevent the spread of slavery, but Douglas's [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]] narrowly passed Congress in May 1854.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=188–190}} Lincoln's [[Abraham Lincoln's Peoria speech|Peoria Speech]] of October 1854, in which he declared his opposition to slavery,{{sfn|Thomas|2008|pp=148–152}} was one of over 170 speeches he delivered in the next six years on the topic of excluding slavery from the territories.<ref name=anb/> Lincoln's attacks on the Kansas–Nebraska Act marked his return to political life.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=203–205}}

Nationally, the Whigs were irreparably split by the Kansas–Nebraska Act and other ineffective efforts to compromise on the slavery issue. Reflecting on the demise of his party, Lincoln wrote in 1855, "I think I am a whig; but others say there are no whigs, and that I am an abolitionist.... I now do no more than oppose the ''extension'' of slavery."{{sfn|White|2009|p=215}} The new [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] was formed as a northern party dedicated to anti-slavery, drawing from the anti-slavery wing of the Whig Party and combining [[Free Soil Party|Free Soil]], [[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty]], and anti-slavery [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] members,{{sfn|McGovern|2009|pp=38–39}} Lincoln resisted early Republican entreaties, fearing that the new party would become a platform for extreme abolitionists.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=203–204}} Lincoln held out hope for rejuvenating the Whigs, though he lamented his party's growing closeness with the nativist [[Know Nothing]] movement.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=191–194}} In 1854, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature, but before the term began he declined to take his seat so that he would be eligible to run in the upcoming U.S. Senate election.{{sfnm|White|2009|1pp=203–205|Burlingame|2008|2loc=v. 1 pp. 390, 392}} At that time, senators were elected by state legislatures. After leading in the first six rounds of voting, Lincoln was unable to obtain a majority. Lincoln instructed his backers to vote for [[Lyman Trumbull]], an anti-slavery Democrat who had received few votes in the earlier ballots. Lincoln's decision to withdraw enabled his Whig supporters and Trumbull's anti-slavery Democrats to combine and defeat the mainstream Democratic candidate, [[Joel Aldrich Matteson]].{{sfn|White|2009|pp=205–208}}

==== 1856 campaign ====
[[Bleeding Kansas|Violent political confrontations in Kansas]] continued, and opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act remained strong throughout the North. As the [[1856 United States elections|1856 elections]] approached, Lincoln joined the Republicans and attended the [[Bloomington Convention]], where the [[Illinois Republican Party]] was established. The convention platform endorsed Congress's right to regulate slavery in the territories and backed the admission of Kansas as a free state. Lincoln gave the [[Lincoln's Lost Speech|final speech]] of the convention, calling for the preservation of the Union.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=216–221}} At the June [[1856 Republican National Convention]], Lincoln received support to run as vice president, but ultimately the party put forward a ticket of [[John C. Frémont]] and [[William Dayton]], which Lincoln supported throughout Illinois. The Democrats nominated [[James Buchanan]] and the Know Nothings nominated [[Millard Fillmore]].{{sfn|White|2009|pp=224–228}} Buchanan prevailed, while Republican [[William Henry Bissell]] won election as Governor of Illinois, and Lincoln became a leading Republican in Illinois.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=229–230}}{{efn|[[Eric Foner]] contrasts the abolitionists and anti-slavery Radical Republicans of the Northeast, who saw slavery as a sin, with the conservative Republicans, who thought it was bad because it hurt [[White people]] and blocked progress. Foner argues that Lincoln was in the middle, opposing slavery primarily because it violated the [[republicanism in the United States|republicanism principles]] of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]], especially the equality of all men and democratic self-government as expressed in the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].{{sfn|Foner|2010|pp=84–88}}}}

==== ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'' ====
{{Main|Dred Scott v. Sandford}}
[[Dred Scott]] was a slave whose master took him from a slave state to a territory that was free as a result of the [[Missouri Compromise]]. After Scott was returned to the slave state, he petitioned a federal court for his freedom. His petition was denied in ''[[Dred Scott v. Sandford]]'' (1857).<ref>{{Cite journal| last=Vishneski|first=John| year=1988| title=What the court decided in Dred Scott v. Sandford|journal= The American Journal of Legal History|volume=32|issue=4|pages=373–390|jstor= 845743|doi=10.2307/845743}}</ref> Supreme Court Chief Justice [[Roger B. Taney]] wrote in his opinion that Black people were not citizens and derived no rights from the Constitution, and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional for infringing upon slave owners' "property" rights. While many Democrats hoped that ''Dred Scott'' would end the dispute over slavery in the territories, the decision sparked further outrage in the North.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=236–238}} Lincoln denounced it as the product of a conspiracy of Democrats to support the [[Slave Power]].{{sfn|Zarefsky|1993|pp=69–110}} He argued that the decision was at variance with the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], which stated that "all men are created equal ... with certain unalienable rights", among them "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".{{sfn|Jaffa|2000|pp=299–300}}