In June 1858, the Illinois Republican Convention nominated Abraham Lincoln to challenge Stephen A. Douglas for the U.S. Senate. With this invitation, Lincoln set the stage for what would become one of the most famous local political contests in U.S. history and a precursor to the 1860 presidential election. Prior to the seven debates between Lincoln and Douglas, Lincoln had already made sixty-three speeches in 1858, and Douglas claimed to have made 130. Douglas, the incumbent, was more widely known than Lincoln and had the numeric advantage of the Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly, which selected U.S. senators in those days. He also represented a divided party and faced a growing population in northern Illinois that was hostile to slavery. Lincoln, on the other hand, had the advantage of a united Republican party, a growing antipathy toward slavery in the state, and a reputation for integrity. Nevertheless, his views on racial issues were unpopular, as was his stand on the Mexican War. The debates would highlight the fundamental differences in the men’s characters and focus on the main issues of the day, the expansion of slavery and racial equality. While the immediate effect of the debates was the re-election of Douglas, the long-term results were the opposite. Lincoln was catapulted to national prominence, allowing him to run for president in 1860, and Douglas’s campaign against Lincoln diminished his chances of future success. See 1858 Federal Election; Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

This accusation of Douglas that Lincoln had found a Buchanan/National Democratic candidate and would insist on his inclusion in the proposed debates was pure fiction. A rumor of the possibility of the candidacy of Sidney Breese did appear in several Republican newspapers, but Lincoln had no connection to the idea. Understandably, Douglas was actively trying to avoid being labeled a coward, as the Republican Chicago Daily Press and Tribune seemed primed to do. In its July 26 edition, the Press noted that such debates between political opponents, “is the usual, almost universal western style of conducting a political campaign, and it has been justly held that the candidate who refused to speak in that way had no better reason than cowardice for declining the challenge.” Lincoln denied the accusation in his response to Douglas.

Lincoln offered his reasoning in his response to this letter, noting that he made the proposal as soon as he “resolved to make it,” and that he had waited respectfully for a challenge from Douglas. He wrote, “It may have been well known to you that you went to Springfield for the purpose of agreeing on the plan of campaign; but it was not so known to me–”