Collected from scattered sources throughout the United States, these letters cover the years of Douglas' mature life, from 1833, when the twenty-year-old Douglas, newly arrived in Illinois, recorded the first impressions of his new home, to 1861, three weeks before his death, when as a national leader he sought to rally his section and his party to the cause of the Union. They extol the virtues of Illinois as an agricultural state ; discuss the Mormons'...

In their political effect, the debates were of far-reaching importance. As important as their effect on the fortunes of the contestants was the part played by the debates in crystallizing public opinion. The issues the two candidates discussed were national, not local: the extension of slavery to the national territories, the status of the Negro, and the power of the states and territories to regulate their "domestic institutions"--Meaning slavery...