Stephen A. Douglas
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Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A Democrat, he served in the United States Senate for fourteen years and defeated Abraham Lincoln to win reelection in 1858,
Douglas at the age of 17 or 18
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas, photograph by Mathew Brady
Abraham Lincoln was Douglas's opponent in both the 1858 Senate election in Illinois and the 1860 presidential election.
Mary Todd Lincoln
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Mary Ann Todd Lincoln was First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865.
Stephen A. Douglas
…candidate), he felt that its discussion as a moral question would place it on a dangerous level of abstraction." Douglas was among the many suitors of Mary Ann Todd, whom he met in 1837. They rekindled their courtship during a period when her relationship with Lincoln, another suitor, had cooled. Todd and Lincoln…
Lincoln in 1861
The Todd family home, now preserved as the Mary Todd Lincoln House at 578 West Main Street in Lexington, Kentucky
State historical marker at the Todd house, noting Mary's residence years (1832–1839)
Abraham Lincoln in 1846