This day marked the beginning of the famous debates in Illinois between Abraham Lincoln, Republican Party nominee for the U.S. Senate, and incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas of the Democratic Party. Lincoln in his acceptance speech said that “A house divided against itself cannot stand” and “this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” Douglas thereupon attacked Lincoln as a radical who threatened the continued stability of the Union. Lincoln, who opposed Douglas's support of popular sovereignty, challenged Douglas to a series of three-hour debates, and the two eventually agreed to hold joint encounters in seven Illinois congressional districts.
| 1991: | | Latvia declared its independence from the Soviet Union. |
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| 1959: | | Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state. |
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| 1831: | | | Nat Turner began an unsuccessful slave rebellion in the American South, eventually killing 60 people before being stopped by a 3,000-man militia. |
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| 1808: | | | British General Arthur Wellesley (later duke of Wellington) defeated French General Andoche Junot at Vimeiro, Portugal. |
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