and I, as in duty bound by my oath of fidelity to the Constitution, would do all in my power to aid the government of the United States in maintaining the supremacy of the laws against all resistance to them, come from whatever quarter it might....  I hold that the Constitution has a remedy for every grievance that may arise within the limits of the Union....  The mere inauguration of a President of the United States, whose political opinions were, in my judgment, hostile to the Constitution and safety of the Union, without an overt act on his part, without striking a blow at our institutions or our rights, is not such a grievance as would justify revolution or secession.”  But for the disunionists at the South, Douglas went on to say, “I would have beaten Lincoln in every State but Vermont and Massachusetts.  As it is I think I will beat him in almost all of them yet."[867] And now these disunionists come forward and ask aid in dissolving the Union.  “I tell them ‘no—­never on earth!’”

Widely quoted, this bold defiance of disunion made a profound impression through the South.  At Raleigh, North Carolina, Douglas entered into collusion with a friend, in order to have the questions repeated.[868] And again he stated his attitude in unequivocal language.  “I am in favor of executing, in good faith, every clause and provision of the Constitution, and of protecting every right under it, and then hanging every man who takes up arms against it.  Yes, my friends, I would hang every man higher than Haman who would attempt to resist by force the execution of any provision of the Constitution which our fathers made and bequeathed to us."[869]

He touched many hearts when he reminded his hearers that in the great Northwest, Northerners and Southerners met and married, bequeathing the choice gifts of both sections to their children.  “When their children grow up, the child of the same parents has a grandfather in North Carolina and another in Vermont, and that child does not like to hear either of those States abused....  He will never consent that this Union shall be dissolved so that he will be compelled to obtain a passport and get it vised to enter a foreign land to visit the graves of his ancestors.  You cannot sever this Union unless you cut the heart strings that bind father to son, daughter to mother, and brother to sister, in all our new States and territories.”  And the heart of the speaker went out to his kindred and his boys, who were almost within hearing of his voice.  “I love my children,” he exclaimed, “but I do not desire to see them survive this Union.”