CHAPTER IX.
Lincoln and Slavery--The Issue Becoming More Sharply Defined--Resistance to the Spread of Slavery--Views Expressed by Lincoln in 1850--His Mind Made Up--Lincoln as a Party Leader--The Kansas Struggle--Crossing Swords with Douglas--A Notable Speech by Lincoln--Advice to Kansas Belligerents--Honor in Politics--Anecdote of Lincoln and Yates--Contest for the U.S.Senate in 1855--Lincoln's Defeat--Sketched by Members of the Legislature.
At the death of Henry Clay, in June, 1852, Lincoln was invited to deliver a eulogy on Clay's life and character before the citizens of Springfield.

He complied with the request on the 16th of July.

The same season he made a speech before the Scott Club of Springfield, in reply to the addresses with which Douglas had opened his extended campaign of that summer, at Richmond, Virginia.

Except on these two occasions, Lincoln took but little part in politics until the passage of the Nebraska Bill by Congress in 1854.

The enactment of this measure impelled him to take a firmer stand upon the question of slavery than he had yet assumed.