The Abraham Lincoln-Douglas Debates

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In 1858, Abraham Lincoln lost a U.S. Senate race to Stephen A. Douglas after a series of debates on slavery. In 1859, Lincoln and Douglas delivered speeches on the Ohio Statehouse grounds. Lincoln came to Columbus in support of William Dennison, the Republican candidate for Ohio Governor. In his first Ohio speech, Lincoln spoke to a small crowd of fifty people on the east terrace of the Statehouse. His speech on the slavery question and the preservation of the Union lasted more than two hours. The speech was circulated as an addendum to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and helped Lincoln establish a strong position for the Republican Party in the 1860 election. After Lincoln defeated Douglas in the presidential election of 1860, he returned