[Footnote 496: That the President believed with Douglas that the benefits of the Act would inure to freedom, is vouched for by ex-Senator Clemens of Alabama. See Illinois _State Register_, April 6, 1854.] [Footnote 497: _Globe_, 33 Cong., 1 Sess., pp. 618, 621.] [Footnote 498: _Ibid._, App., p. 654.] [Footnote 499: _Ibid._, App., pp. 657-661.] [Footnote 500: _Globe_, 33 Cong., 1 Sess., App., p. 661.] [Footnote 501: Speech at Wooster, Ohio, 1859, Philadelphia _Press_, September 26, 1859.] [Footnote 502: Rhodes, History of the United States, I, p. 496.] [Footnote 503: Cutts, Constitutional and Party Questions, p. 98.] [Footnote 504: "I speak to the people of Chicago on Friday next, September 1, on Nebraska. They threaten a mob but I have no fears. All will be right.... Come up if you can and bring our friends with you." MS. Letter, Douglas to Lanphier, August 25, 1854.] [Footnote 505: Davidson and Stuve, History of Illinois, p. 640.] [Footnote 506: Sheahan, Douglas, pp. 271-273. Cutts, Constitutional and Party Questions, pp. 98-101. New York _Times_, September 6, 1854.] CHAPTER XII BLACK REPUBLICANISM The passing of the Whig party after its defeat in the election of 1852, must be counted among the most momentous facts in our political history. Whatever were its errors, whatever its shortcomings, it was at least a national organization, with a membership that embraced anti-slavery Northerners and slave-holding Southerners, Easterners and Westerners. As events proved, there was no national organization to take its place. One of the two political ties had snapped that had held together North and South. The Democratic party alone could lay claim to a national organization and membership.