Bryant Cottage State Historic Site - Stephen A. Douglas

Stephen A. Douglas

As an incumbent member of the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1858, Douglas had not expected to have to make a case directly to the people. Under Article I of the U.S. Constitution then in effect, members of the federal Senate were chosen by the state legislatures, not by the voters.

However, Douglas's central position in the growing crisis of American slavery made the election of 1858 extraordinary. Fervent emotions among both Democrats and members of the newly formed Republican party led to a demand that both candidates for the Senate campaign directly among the people of Illinois.

The Republicans nominated Springfield, Illinois lawyer Abraham Lincoln, who wrote to Douglas on July 24, 1858 challenging him to meet and hold a series of nine debates at sites across Illinois. Lincoln renewed this challenge when the two men met in person on the Bement-Monticello road, now Illinois Route 105, on July 29.

The campaigning Douglas was at the time going southward to Bement, where he would spend the night in the Bryant Cottage. It was during this one-night stay that Douglas decided to accept most of Lincoln's challenge and debate him seven times. Douglas wrote Lincoln from Bement on the morning of July 30, suggesting that the two men debate in Ottawa, Illinois, Freeport, Illinois, Jonesboro, Illinois, Charleston, Illinois, Galesburg, Illinois, Quincy, Illinois, and Alton, Illinois.

Lincoln accepted these terms in a letter dated July 31.