Immediately after the Chicago speeches the two candidates set out on the tour of Illinois which soon became a three months’ continuation of joint debates. As a result Douglas went back to the Senate, but he went back a weakened man to a divided party. Two years later, while he was being nominated for the presidency by one wing of his party, Lincoln was being nominated for the same office by the Republicans at Chicago. When it was decided to hold the National Republican Convention in that city, the people set about providing a building for the occasion. At Pittsburg in 1856 a hall for two thousand was large enough. At the corner of Lake and Market streets the Republicans erected a huge oblong wooden building which would hold ten thousand men, and as the event proved it was not large enough by a third, and twenty thousand more clamored in the streets for admittance. This structure was absolutely bare, its walls being broken by two rows of windows, and its two front corners surmounted by small square towers with flagstaffs. Over the door was an arched front bearing the words “Republican Wigwam”. It cost seven thousand dollars and its great virtue was the excellence of its acoustic properties. Thousands of men came to the city for the convention and the excitement was tremendous. During the first two days of the gathering the time was given up to framing the platform and to other business, and it was not till the third day that the four hundred and sixty-five delegates proceeded to balloting. The New Yorkers were jubilant in their assurance of the success of their nominee, Mr. Seward, and had created the same impression in many circles. As a last demonstration the Seward men held a great parade on the morning of the third day, the 18th of May; but by this act they lost more than they gained, for while they were marching about with bands the Lincoln men filled up the Wigwam, and when the Seward men arrived they had to take back seats.