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Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)


In his campaign to win election to the U.S. Senate in 1858, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois challenged the incumbent, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, to a series of seven debates, which took place throughout the state between August 21 and October 15. These Lincoln-Douglas debates centered on the question of slavery and its expansion into the western states and territories. While Lincoln adamantly opposed its extension, Douglas defended his concept of popular sovereignty, the doctrine of letting the settlers decide for themselves the issue of slavery. Although Lincoln would lose the election, he gained valuable national exposure and showed himself to be a viable political contender for future public office.

This ambrotype was taken of Lincoln in Monmouth on October 11, 1858, two days before the next to last debate with Douglas.


William Judkins Thomson (lifedates unknown)
Ambrotype, 1858
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

 

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