Saturday, July 3, 2010

Abraham Lincoln in Quincy Illinois

I don't know how well you can read it, but on the bottom part of the sign, it reads, "Douglas courted the Mormons". The fact that there were 12,000 citizens in Nauvoo earlier made them "a force to be reckoned with". According to the sign, Stephen A. Douglas was instrumental in getting property rights for the Great Basin for the early Saints. One side note, Mr. Douglas died in 1861, so even if he had been elected, he wouldn't have lived long enough to see the War Between the States come to an end. It's certainly something to ponder when you think of American History. What if Abraham Lincoln had not been elected the 16th President of the United States?

Monument that stands on the spot where one of the Lincoln/Douglas Debates took place in Adams County, Illinois. Stephen A. Douglas was a judge in Adam's County and knew the town well. Surrounding the monument are statements made by each of the presidential candidates in response to questions about the slavery issue. One, in particular, was interesting to me, concerning the Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision. Justice Douglas responded that the courts had that right to make the decision and he supported the courts. Soon-to-be President Lincoln responded that it was morally wrong and he hoped it would soon be overturned.

This is the picture of the Old Adam's County Courthhouse. It was on this site that one of the seven Lincoln/Douglas Debates took place. The courthouse stands no more, but there is a monument to the event in its place, but I thought it was interesting to see what it looked like.


1 comment:

Mr C said...

Hey, they let you out without a costume on??? Good information, especially on this Independence weekend! We celebrated it here in Mongolia with 700 people! Nice!