65. Reagan vs Lincoln X: A Slip

“The winner of the Lincoln-Douglas battles,” the announcer declared, “is [The Little Giant], Stephanie Douglas!”

The crowd roared with Douglas’s name. She greeted the audience with a proud smile, but on the inside, doubt clouded her mind.

I won the majority of matches, she thought, but Lincoln won all his fights with far greater margins than mine…it’s quite the stretch to say that I was the better fighter.

She turned to Lincoln as he rose off the ground. He stepped forward but slipped over his own feet. He jerked back, catching himself just before he fell. Lincoln blinked, staring transfixed at the ground beneath him.

“It’s a slip,” he mumbled, “and not a fall…”

Douglas watched for a moment longer, then shook her head.

I won the battle…that’s the only thing that matters.

After this, Douglas would continue propelling through her Party until she obtained the high honor of Party Head within a few short years. However, she was entirely unprepared for the trouble that lay brooding within her own ranks.

“What did you say?” Douglas asked incredulously.

“I said,” replied Willy Yancey with his slow, southern drawl, “that the southerners in our Party won’t be following your orders without my consent.”

“That’s absurd!” Douglas screeched. “The people have chosen me to be their leader!”

“And?” Yancey replied expectantly.

Douglas gave a growl.

“I shall not concede one iota of principle to you, Yancy! One way or another, I’ll make your troops fall in line.”

Yancey gave a polite smile.

“Good luck with that, darling.”

Douglas clenched her fists.

I can’t believe this “gentleman” is showing such insubordination before our big battle with the National Union Party! She gave a sigh. Our only saving grace is that regardless of who ends up leading the National Union, their Party will be just as divided as ours, if not more so…

“They’re here!” a voice shouted from the camp.

Douglas looked across to see an army approaching their position.

“Move out!” she shouted to her troops.

Her soldiers walked forward, half of them in step, half purposefully offbeat from her. Douglas held her tongue, focusing her attention on the enemy.

As expected, the National Union army was spearheaded by their Party’s strongest warriors: Seward, Chase, and Bates. One of them had to be their Party Head, Douglas was sure of that. But, strangely, the trio walked in unison, as if declaring that none of them stood as their Party’s leader.

“…who is your Head?” Douglas shouted as the armies stood face to face with each other.

The trio of warriors smiled as they stepped aside, allowing for a towering figure to step in front of them.

“No way…” Douglas spoke, her jaw dropped, “Lincoln?”

She glanced between him and the group of legendary warriors standing behind him.

“Your leader is Lincoln? Why would great fighters like yourselves bow down to a loser like him!”

“Well, it’s what we ought to do,” Seward replied matter-of-factly, “he beat us fair and square after all. Plus,” he said with a bashful smile, “he told me my experience would be vital to our Party’s victory.”

“Same here,” Bates nodded in agreement. “He told me my presence was necessary for our Party’s success, so here I am!”

“Personally,” Chase added with a cocky grin, “I don’t give a crap about the fight going on here. But Lincoln practically begged me for my help, so I figured I’d throw the poor boy a bone.”

Douglas looked over the National Union Party. Every one of their soldiers turned to Lincoln, eagerly waiting his orders. She clenched her fists.

Our shattered army doesn’t stand a chance against a united force like theirs…

She looked down, taking in a breath.

…nevertheless…

She tilted her head up, her eyes locked onto Lincoln.

“Charge!” she screamed as the two armies collided against one another.

A few minutes later, Douglas lay across the ground, her fragmented forces torn to shreds by the opposition.

“You okay?” Lincoln asked as Douglas raised herself off the floor.

“I’m fine.” she muttered, her eyes refusing to meet Lincoln’s gaze.

“You put up a good fight,” Lincoln spoke with sincerity. “The outcome could have easily been reversed if Yancey’s forces hadn’t retreated partway through.”

Douglas gave a shallow snort.

“I only wish they’d left sooner,” she grumbled. “Seriously, for him to not only accuse you of foul play, but to declare war on the entire nation at the same time? Yancy’s a madman if I’ve ever seen one.”

“His sanity notwithstanding,” Lincoln interjected, “it seems he and I are destined to clash together once more. And while you have every right to keep yourself neutral,” he said, extending out his hand to Douglas, “it would be a great reassurance to me if someone as great as yourself were to join us in this fight.”

Douglas gave Lincoln a look of perplexion.

“Are you an idiot?” she asked. “You say I can remain neutral in a situation like this?” she shook her head. “No, there can be no neutrals in this war; only patriots and traitors.”

She threw her arm forward, firmly grasping Lincoln’s extended hand.

“And I’m a patriot through and through!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Six!” Taft shouted, “Seven!”

“…Lincoln,” Douglas finally spoke next to Grant, “has gone and failed more times than there are stars in the sky.”

“Eight!” Taft continued.

“…but,” Douglas went on, “…by the same token…”

As she spoke, Lincoln slowly but firmly lifted himself off the ground.

“…that man doesn’t know how to give up!”

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Lincoln’s Flashback II. Stephen Douglas “won” the Lincoln-Douglas debates, in the sense that more of his state legislators won their races (and hence he won him the senate seat over Abraham), but Abraham Lincoln had a larger total number of votes for his legislators.

In the Presidential election of 1860, William Yancey (who demanded slavery in all of the territories, as opposed to Stephen who only thought the people in each territory should decide the issue for themselves) caused a rift in the Democratic Party. In contrast, Abraham Lincoln not only achieved a dark horse nomination from the newly formed Republican Party, but he also managed to successfully stroke the egos of all the Party leaders he defeated, giving the Republicans the ultimate win in the election (see also the excellent book “Team of Rivals” for more on this). After the south seceded from the Union, Stephen Douglas said “there can be no neutrals in this war, only patriots or traitors,” before joining firmly with the Union.

Slip, not a Fall. Abraham Lincoln wrote about the night he lost against Stephen Douglas saying “I had been reading the returns, and had ascertained that we had lost the Legislature and started to go home…My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other one out of the way, but I recovered myself & lit square: and I said to myself, ‘It’s a slip and not a fall.’”