Arrangements were at once made for a joint debate between the leading
Democrats and Whigs to take place in a local church. The Democrats were
represented by Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn and Thomas. The Whig speakers
were Judge Logan, Colonel E. D. Baker, Mr. Browning and Lincoln. This
discussion was the forerunner of the famous joint-debate between
Lincoln and Douglas, which took place some years later and attracted
the attention of the people throughout the United States. Although Mr.
Lincoln was the last speaker in the first discussion held, his speech
attracted more attention than any of the others and added much to his
reputation as a public debater.
Mr. Lincoln’s last campaign for the Legislature was in 1840. In the same
year he was made an elector on the Harrison presidential ticket, and
in his canvass of the State frequently met the Democratic champion,
Douglas, in debate. After 1840 Mr. Lincoln declined re-election to the
Legislature, but he was a presidential elector on the Whig tickets of
1844 and 1852, and on the Republican ticket for the State at large in
1856.