Sometimes Douglas "threw dust" in the eyes of his audience. No man equaled

him in making "the

worse appear the better

The statue of Lincoln by Augustus St. Gaudens, in Lincoln Park, Chicago

looked down on Lin

coln. In this speech he

began by saying that Lincoln was "a kindhearted man, a goodnatured gentleman, a right good fellow, of great ability as a lawyer, and I have no doubt he has ability to become a United States Senator!"

He declared Lincoln in his speech was inviting the North and the South to make war on each other, and that Lincoln was guilty of opposing the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. Douglas tore the speech to pieces, at least so he

believed, and so the Democrats believed.

On the next night Lincoln made answer. He began in a playful way, saying that "Senator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the anxious politicians of his party, or who have been of his party for years past, have been looking upon him certainly, at no distant day, to be President of the United States. They have seen in his round, jolly, fruitful face, post-offices, landoffices, marshalships . . . foreign missions, bursting and sprouting out in wonderful exuberance ready to be their greedy hands. . . . nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, lank face nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out.”

laid hold of by On the contrary

On the

Lincoln said that Douglas had not quoted his speech fairly. He denied that he ever meant to urge a war between the North and the South, and declared he had said many times that no one had a right to meddle with slavery in the states where it already existed. He was

opposed to the Dred Scott Decision, and all who believed in the Declaration of Independence ought to be opposed to that decision. The Republicans were greatly pleased, and once in the middle of his speech he had to stop while they gave "three cheers for Lincoln."

In a few days Douglas carried his campaigning right into Lincoln's own town of Springfield. He came with much pomp and show. Brass bands and cannon gave the signals that the great man was there. He attacked Lincoln's "House-Divided against - Itself" speech with more vigor than ever.

Lincoln made a reply that stirred the people. They began to talk of a "joint debate," in which the debaters took turns, while the audience listened. Douglas should have challenged Lincoln, because he was a more famous man. He had been a United States Senator for a long time. He had traveled in Europe, and had been twice before the National Democratic Convention for President.

But Douglas did not wish to challenge Lincoln. He knew that for many years Illinois had been solidly Democratic, and he did not want to be the means of drawing Democrats to hear him speak and then have Lincoln make Republicans out of them.

Finally Lincoln's friends told him that he must challenge Douglas. He did so, and Douglas said he would agree to seven joint debates on seven Saturdays in the towns of Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton.

The battle opened in August. Almost everybody in Illinois tried to be at one of the meetings. People traveled long distances; many came a day or two before, and filled the hotels and boarding houses. They camped in the streets and in the groves around the towns.

On the day of the debate the people came in wagons all covered with banners and carrying mottoes. They came by the hundreds and by the thousands. All over the country, as well as in Illinois,