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ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: October 15, 1858 The seventh and final Lincoln-Douglas debate. October 15th 1858, the Railsplitter shared a stage with incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas. Six thousand people attended the event, at a park in Alton, Illinois. Contrasting himself with his pro-slavery Democrat opponent, the Republican nominee denounced efforts to: "dehumanize the negro, to take away from him the right of ever striving to be a man." Lincoln also called slavery "a great evil" and noted that the Founding Fathers had expected it to fade away. His words were printed by newspapers nationwide. Though the Democrat-controlled legislature re-elected Douglas, Lincoln emerged as a strong contender for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination. https://rumble.com/v7063bs-the-russell-senate-office-building-named-for-a-segregati