Scholarship
David Zarefsky, Lincoln, Douglas, and Slavery: In the Crucible of Public Debate (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990), 63.
Six days after Galesburg, the candidates met again at Quincy, a town in west-central Illinois that at one time had been Douglas’s home district. Adams County was regarded as “Democratic, though not overwhelmingly so.” Located in the disputed central Illinois area, it was a crucial battleground for both sides, and both saw reasonable prospects of victory. There was not much evolution of arguments between Galesburg and Quincy, although Lincoln was more explicit in his delineation of the moral issue. The campaign was taking a physical toll on Douglas, and the Republican papers gloated over his fatigue.