A legislature was to be chosen in Illinois in 1858 which would select the successor to Senator Douglas. Douglas' action in opposing the Administration had aroused public interest in him in the North, and many of the Republican leaders desired that he should have no opposition in Illinois, but the Republicans of that State were not of that opinion. The Democratic Convention in Illinois met in April and endorsed Douglas; the Republican Convention, on June 16th, resolved "That Abraham Lincoln is the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the United States Senate, as the successor of Stephen A. Douglas." In his speech that evening to the Convention Mr. Lincoln made the remarkable and daring statement, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other." Senator Douglas reached Chicago on July 9th, and, amid the plaudits of his friends, delivered an elaborate speech, which was listened to with great interest by Mr. Lincoln, who was present; on the next evening Mr. Lincoln answered in the presence of a large and enthusiastic audience. Senator Douglas then spoke at Bloomington, and was answered by Mr. Lincoln at Springfield, and the public interest that had been aroused, not only in Illinois but throughout the country, caused the Republican leaders to induce Mr. Lincoln to challenge Senator Douglas to a series of debates on the great question of the hour. Privately Senator Douglas was averse to meeting Mr. Lincoln in this manner, but publicly he promptly accepted the challenge and named seven places in different Congressional Districts in which neither had spoken, as the places where the debates were to be held. These great debates began at Ottawa on August 21, 1858, and were followed by meetings at Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and concluded on October 15th at Alton, the entire State having been traversed. As they read and pondered on the arguments of Mr. Lincoln, it gradually dawned upon the people of the North that a great leader had been found, for it was early seen and felt that Senator Douglas was not holding his own. No greater or clearer exposition of the Northern views of slavery and the questions connected with it had ever been pronounced than Mr. Lincoln's, and the great contest in Illinois was watched with eagerness and interest by the entire North, and Mr. Lincoln, from a comparatively unknown State leader, became a great national character.