Title: States Slavery Percentages in United States in 1860 Census
Headings: 1860 U.S. Census Percentages  of Slaves and Slavery by State
Introduction
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Content: In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was  elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history. What carried this one-term  congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country's most formidable  politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. Lincoln challenged Douglas  directly in one of his greatest speeches -- "A house divided against itself cannot stand" -- and confronted Douglas on the  questions of slavery and the inviolability of the Union in seven fierce debates. As this  brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his  party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation. Continued below...
Of course,  the great issue between Lincoln and Douglas was slavery. Douglas was the champion of "popular sovereignty," of letting states and territories decide  for themselves whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln drew a  moral line, arguing that slavery was a violation both of natural law and of the principles expressed in the Declaration of  Independence. No majority could ever make slavery right, he argued. Lincoln lost that Senate  race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the "Little Giant," whom almost everyone  thought was unbeatable.