It is July 16, 1858.

Abraham Lincoln is in Bloomington, Illinois, sitting in an audience which has gathered to hear Senator Stephen A. Douglas speak.

Douglas, a Democrat, is running for reelection and Lincoln has emerged as his main challenger.

The long-simmering issue of slavery has been shoved to the front burner with the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Dred Scott case.

‘Black people are not citizens,’ the Court had said, ‘and the federal government has no power to prohibit slavery in US territories.’

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