Lincoln, Brady and the Cooper Union Photograph

Lincoln of Illinois

In February 1860, Abraham Lincoln, a country lawyer from Illinois was little known outside of his home state. He was fifty-one years old and a former Whig. Despite having served in the state legislature while he was still in his twenties, he had done little else to attract high political recognition past a single term in Congress in 1847-8.

But in 1858, he made a strong Republican challenge for Illinois’ Senate seat, held by Stephen A. Douglas, a well-known Democrat, who had served on a national level for more than a decade, and was considered a political force to be reckoned with.

In a startling and headline-grabbing campaign, tall and lanky Lincoln vied with “the Little Giant” (a full foot shorter than Lincoln) in a series of seven debates throughout Illinois. Thousands…