douglas doesn t open on the issue of slavery. instead he plays to the crowd. ladies and gentlemen, i do not question mr. lincoln s conscientious belief that the negro is his equal, but i do not regard the negro as my equal. douglas was not one to talk about legalizing slavery in the territories so much as he wants to paint lincoln as a pro-negro politician. he is, in other words, playing the race card and playing it in the most shameless fashion imaginable. but the prairie lawyer is not going to be deflected from his mission to see the end of slavery in america. lincoln had always said that if slavery isn t wrong, then