Q 01/05

Which woman did both Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln court years before the two men debated in 1858?

A) Ann Rutledge

B) Mary Todd

C) Julia Dent

D) Harriet Lane

Answer · why

B) Mary Todd

Mary Todd had Douglas among her suitors before she married Lincoln in 1842, so the rivals had competed for a wife long before they competed for a Sena...

Q 02/05

How did Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas reach the platform for their 1858 debate at Galesburg's Old Main?

A) Up a rope ladder

B) Across a hay wagon

C) Through a window

D) On supporters' shoulders

Answer · why

C) Through a window

Through a window is how both men stepped onto the stage, where the abolitionist-founded school had hung a banner declaring itself for Lincoln.

Q 03/05

Abraham Lincoln mocked a Stephen Douglas argument as soup made by boiling the shadow of which starved bird?

A) A crow

B) A sparrow

C) A chicken

D) A pigeon

Answer · why

D) A pigeon

A pigeon that had starved to death, Lincoln said at Quincy, would cast a shadow about as nourishing as Douglas's claim that settlers could still keep ...

Q 04/05

Which nickname did Stephen Douglas, a foot shorter than Abraham Lincoln, carry into their 1858 debates?

A) Little Giant

B) Little Magician

C) Little Mac

D) Little Corporal

Answer · why

A) Little Giant

Little Giant fit a man of five feet four who dominated the Senate; Lincoln, at six feet four, towered over him on every platform.

Q 05/05

What happened to Stephen Douglas's Senate seat after his 1858 debates with challenger Abraham Lincoln?

A) Lincoln won it

B) He kept it

C) It stayed vacant

D) He resigned it

Answer · why

B) He kept it

He kept it, winning a third term by 54 votes to 46 in January 1859, even though Lincoln's side had drawn more votes across the state.