Many Republicans, including Abraham Lincoln, who was rapidly becoming the leading Republican in Illinois, regarded the decision as part of a plot to expand and eventually impose the legalization of slavery throughout all of the states. Some southern extremists admitted that they wanted all states to recognize slavery as a constitutional right. At the same time, Southern Democrats characterized Republicans as lawless rebels, provoking disunion by their unwillingness to accept the Supreme Court's decision as the law of the land. Many northern opponents of slavery offered a legalistic argument for refusing to recognize the "Dred Scott" decision as binding. As they noted, the Supreme Court's decision began with the proposition that the federal courts did not have jurisdiction to hear Scott's case because he was not a citizen of Missouri. Therefore, the opponents argued, the remainder of the decision concerning the Missouri Compromise was unnecessary and beyond the Supreme Court's power to decide and so was a passing remark rather than an authoritative interpretation of the law ("obiter dictum"). Douglas attacked that position in the Lincoln–Douglas debates: