Excerpt from Speeches of Carl Schurz The decade which elapsed between the years 1854 and 1864 will stand in the history of this country as its second revolutionary period. It commenced with the passage of 'thefkansas Nebraska Bill, the re-open ing of the slavery question by a pro-slavery measure; and it closed with the second' election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, the solemn and emphatic declara tion by a large majority; of the loyal people, that the slavery question must be finally disposed of by the total abolition of slavery itself. The interval is filled With the fiercest struggles this country ever witnessed, in the domain of political discussion, as well as on the field of battle. The military campaigns of the great civil war will certainly live in history; but those who are in the habit of inquiring into the causes and results of historical events, will study with no less interest the rapid movement of ideas which marks this memorable period. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.