power; no matter how many Dred-Scott decisions they might obtain; no matter how many John Browns they might hang; their institution was doomed. The election declared with unmistakable emphasis that slavery was wrong and must be put in course of ultimate extinction. In blind anger and desperate defiance eleven southern states seceded and began Civil War, and tried to justify their course by the candid declaration of Alexander H. Stephens that their confederate government was built on slavery as its corner-stone. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, with the irresistible fiat of war, and the thirteenth amendment, with the omnipotent voice of the people, swept away that corner-stone, and the confederate government fell.

If, in the Bloomington convention of 1856, we were called upon to deplore that an eminent citizen and senator of Illinois had so prominent a share in repealing the Missouri Compromise, and renewing the slavery contest, we in this commemorative meeting of 1900 may proudly rejoice that another eminent Illinoisian, president of the United States, corrected the error and brought the problem to a real and permanent finality.

Very truly yours,

JNO. G. NICOLAY.

Pres. Davis:

The Whigs and Whig Leaders of Illinois.

Two of the members of the convention were Dr. Thomas Worthington, delegate from Pike county, and Isaac L. Morrison, delegate from Morgan county. At the request of the committee Mr. Morrison has prepared a paper on "The Whigs and Whig Leaders." Mr. Morrison has prepared his paper, but on account of ill health is unable to be present; but the son of Dr. Worthington, who is also the son-in-law of Mr. Morrison, is present and will read Mr. Morrison's paper.

I introduce to you Hon. Thomas Worthington, of Jacksonville.

BY ISAAC L. MORRISON, JACKSONVILLE, ILL.

"The Whigs and Whig Leaders of Illinois" has been suggested as a theme for consideration in connection with the present occasion. To properly portray "The Whig Leaders of Illinois" would require "the pen of a ready writer." I do not pretend to have that power.

This assemblage has been convened for the purpose of commemorating a political convention held in the city of Bloomington forty-four years ago today. The two great political parties existing in the United States had been known, the one as the Democratic party, the other as the Whig party, for about twenty-five years preceding that date. There were distinctive principles of political economy, that of the Whig party being in favor of the principal of protection, the Democratic party opposed; and the ever present question of slavery presented itself.

The Democratic party had been in control of the state of Illinois for many years next preceding the holding of this convention. The Whig party was a minority party in the

Isaac L. Morrison, lawyer and legislator, born in Barren county, Ky., 1826. Was educated in the common schools and the Masonic Seminary of his native state. Admitted to the bar and came to Illinois in 1851, locating at Jacksonville where he became a leader of the bar and of the Republican party, which he assisted to organize as a member of its first State convention at Bloomington, in 1856. He was also a delegate to the Republican National convention of 1864 that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency a second time. Mr. Morrison was three times elected to the lower house of the General Assembly (1876, '78 and '82) and by his clear judgment and incisive powers as a public speaker, took a high rank as a leader in that body. Of late years he has given his attention solely to the practice of his profession in Jacksonville.-Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois 386.

Mr. Morrison previous to the organization of the republican party was a Whig.

state, and, I might say, a minority party in the United States, also.

The movement having in view the acquisition of Texas was primarily a move by the Democratic party of the south in order to acquire that territory and bring it into the Union as a slave state, thereby giving to that party increased power in the United States senate. Mr. Calhoun, while secretary of state under Mr. Tyler, instructed our minister, Mr. King, representing the United States at the Court of France, to obtain the consent, if possible, of that power to the acquisition of Texas by the United States, in the interest of slavery. Mr. Clay, the great leader of the Whig party, was opposed to the project on the ground that it would increase the slave territory of the Union. In his letter to the National Intelligencer on the subject, in 1844, he expressed his opposition to the acquisition of Texas on that ground, claiming that it would produce a war with Mexico, and that he was opposed to the acquisition of any more slave territory.

Mr. Webster, in a speech delivered at Niblo's Garden, elaborately argued the question to show that Texas ought not to be admitted into the Union, because of the existence of slavery within her boundaries. Mr. Van Buren, in his letter to Mr. Hemmert, of Mississippi, declared himself opposed to the acquisition of Texas at that time, and opposed to the extension of slavery. It was this letter, written and published by him, which lost him the nomination by the Democratic party in the convention of 1844. He had a majority of that convention in his favor, but was unable to obtain a two-thirds vote under the rules of the Democratic party, and was, therefore, defeated. Mr. Polk was an advocate of slavery and in favor of admitting Texas into the Union as a slave state. He was nominated by that party and elected to the presidency of the United States.

The Whig party was then opposed to the extension of slavery and all but three of the Whig senators in congress from the "Free States" voted against the admission of Texas. Texas, however, was admitted as a slave state.

In 1848 Mr. Webster declared that the Whig party was the "Free Soil" party of the Union. He objected to the Whig party being absorbed by the "Barn burners' Party" of New York, because, as he said, it would put Mr. Van Buren at the head of the Whigs.

Mr. Seward, in a speech delivered in October, 1848, at Cleveland, urged the Western Reserve people of Ohio to vote for General Taylor on the ground that he represented the "Free Soil" party.

The legislature of the state of Illinois in 1849 passed a resolution instructing our senators and requesting our representatives in congress to vote against any and all legislation favorable to the introduction of slavery into any of the territory acquired from Mexico by the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo. Every Whig elected to that general assembly voted for the passage of that joint resolution, and a sufficient number of Democrats joined them in the vote to pass it. The Whigs of Illinois were thereby committed to the doctrine of "Free Soil," so far as a unanimous vote of their members of that general assembly could commit them. Mr. Clay, in a speech in the United States senate in March, 1850, defining the resolutions introduced by him with a view to a compromise of the questions then under consideration, declared that no power on earth could compel him to vote to introduce or extend slavery into territory then free.

The discovery of gold in California and the great rush of people to that territory, soon increased its population to such an extent as to give it a claim upon the United States government for admission into the Union under a state organization. A convention was assembled there, without an enabling act by Congress, and a constitution was framed and adopted by the people, representatives elected and senators appointed, and application made to the Congress of the United States for admission.

By the admission of Texas, the slave power gained two senators, but by the admission of California so soon thereafter, the power thus gained by the south was neutralized by