=428. Lincoln and Douglas.=—The people of the settled portions of the country were more interested in a picturesque political campaign than in the pacification of a far-off territory. The term of Senator Douglas was to expire in 1859, and he appealed to public opinion in Illinois for reëlection. The Republicans put forward Abraham Lincoln as their representative to oppose him. The men were unlike in almost every respect. Douglas[191] in early life had come from Vermont to Illinois, where he had risen to distinction as a lawyer and a debater. In public speech he was keen, ingenious, and powerful, and his leadership of the movement in behalf of Popular Sovereignty had given him a national reputation. Lincoln,[192] on the other hand, had been born to the most abject poverty in Kentucky, and in early life had moved with his parents to Indiana, and then to Illinois. In his boyhood he had lived in a log hut, and had picked up almost the whole of his education by reading and study at odd moments. At length he studied law, and, though never a learned lawyer, he early showed remarkable power in discovering the turning point of a case, and presenting it with such clearness and force that he was very successful. By a careful study of a few of the best writers, he made himself a master of accurate and powerful English speech. He also became very skillful as a judge of human nature and in the art of persuading an audience. To these great qualities he added the still greater one of an honesty and integrity of thought and character so pronounced and transparent that he was generally respected and loved. At the time of this senatorial contest, Lincoln was forty-nine years of age; Douglas was forty-five. =429. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.=—In the spring of 1858, Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of public debates on the great questions of the day. They arranged for seven meetings in different parts of Illinois, and those meetings are memorable for the thoroughness with which questions then agitating the nation were discussed. Lincoln at the outset announced the Republican doctrine that slavery was entitled to the protection of Congress where it existed, but that it could and ought to be prevented from going into the territories where it did not already exist. Douglas, throughout the discussion, held that the Dred Scott Decision was binding, and tried to reconcile it with the notion of Popular Sovereignty. Lincoln very shrewdly saw the impossibility of reconciling these two views, and used his advantage with great skill and vigor. [Illustration: A TYPICAL PIONEER’S CABIN. Built by Lincoln’s father when he moved to Illinois.]