a state constitution?" If Douglas should answer, "No,"
he would alienate Illinois; and if he should answer "Yes," he would
alienate the South. In a remarkably adroit manner Douglas answered,
"Yes," and delighted his friends in Illinois; but later the effect in
the South was clearly against him.

In the United States Senate Douglas had proved a match for the best
debaters in the land, but he remarked after his series of debates with
Lincoln that in all his sixteen years in the Senate he had not met one
whom he would not rather encounter than Lincoln.

To the very end of the debate Lincoln kept the argument pitched on a
very high plane of dignified logical search for clear truth; which was
something unusual in political contests. He kept referring to such ideas
as, "Is slavery right or wrong?" "It is the eternal struggle between
right and wrong." Lincoln was pleading for humanity.

The debates were continued in seven of the largest cities of the states,
and between the joint engagements the protagonists were speaking daily
under circumstances of great strain. The prestige of being a Senator
gave to Douglas comforts of travel not always accorded to Lincoln and at
the end of the campaign he was worn out. When the election was over the
popular vote was very close, but the members of the legislature gave
Douglas a majority and he was returned to the Senate. But the campaign
split the Democratic party and made Lincoln a national figure.

Lincoln, tired and disappointed and financially embarrassed by his
personal expenses, could still cheer his friends with a joke. He said,
"I am like the boy that stumped his toe--it hurt too bad to laugh, but
he was too big to cry." He added, "However, I am glad I made the race.
It gave me a hearing on the great and durable question of the age which
I could have had in no other way; and though I shall now sink from view
and be forgotten, I believe that I have made some marks for the cause of
civil liberty which will endure long after I am gone."

But he was not to be forgotten. He received congratulations from all
parts of the nation. He got many calls to come and speak in the largest
cities, most of which he declined, because he must return to his law
practice and earn some money. However, when Douglas appeared in the
Gubernatorial contest in Ohio, the temptation was too great, and he
accepted calls to reply in Columbus and Cincinnati before very large
audiences. He also accepted a call t