Besides, during his long
public career he had made enemies. It was evident that those who thought
Seward's nomination too hazardous an experiment would consider Chase
unavailable for the same reason. They would then look round for an
"available" man; and among the "available" men Abraham Lincoln was easily
discovered to stand foremost. His great debate with Douglas had given
him a national reputation. The people of the East being eager to see the
hero of so dramatic a contest, he had been induced to visit several
Eastern cities, and had astonished and delighted large and distinguished
audiences with speeches of singular power and originality. An address
delivered by him in the Cooper Institute in New York, before an audience
containing a large number of important persons, was then, and has ever
since been, especially praised as one of the most logical and convincing
political speeches ever made in this country. The people of the West had
grown proud of him as a distinctively Western great man, and his
popularity at home had some peculiar features which could be expected to
exercise a potent charm.
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