Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum Expands hours

Learn more about the 6th Lincoln-Douglas Debate and how it became the turning point in Lincoln’s political career, launching him on the path to the presidency. State-of-the-art videos and professional exhibits bring history to life. Exhibits include:
• A Slave Nation Exhibit

 Quincy, the Turning Point (featured video)
• The Turning Point Gallery
• L-D Debates ALPLM Exhibit
• Looking for Lincoln Information and Wayside Map
• Douglas (Exhibit and video)
• Lincoln and Brownings (video and exhibit)
• Quincy in the Lincoln Era (video and exhibit)
• Lincoln-era Adams County Courthouse Mural

Quincy at the Time of Lincoln
When Lincoln walked its streets, Quincy was the third largest city in Illinois with a population of more than 12,000 in 1858, a port of entry and a railroad terminus. Approximately 3,000 steamboats docked along the city’s riverfront each year. A map at the museum depicts footprints that marks Quincy sites of significance during Lincoln’s visits.
The Turning Point Gallery features story board panels that explain how the sixth Lincoln-Douglas Debate was a defining moment for our country and Abraham Lincoln. The theme of all seven debates was slavery, in particular its expansion into the territories. The issue had sent the country into chaos. 
Quincy’s debate was a true battleground during the campaign because of it’s location within the state of Illinois, that it was Douglas’ home district, it was adjacent to a slave state and its population consisted of different heritages including German and Irish segments and a small population of African Americans. 
The debate on Washington Square on October 13, 1858 was attended by thousands. By the time the two candidates met in Quincy, the long campaign trail had shortened tempers and produced a flurry of harsh denunciations on both sides. Lincoln emphasized that slavery was immoral. The eye-witness accounts by newspaper reporters, Carl Schurz and Levi M. Dort, helped Lincoln gain national prominence and propel him into the presidency. 
Leading abolitionists Dr. Richard Eells and Dr. David Nelson, called Quincy home. In 1835, 65 members had chartered the Adams County Anti-Slavery Society, the first in Illinois. 

Looking for Lincoln? ​Lincoln Heritage Trail
• 18 L4L Wayside Exhibits

Lincoln-Related Attractions
• L-D Debate Center & Debate Site
• Lincoln-era Log Cabin Village
• Governor John Wood Mansion
• Dr. Richard Eells Home
• Stephen Douglas Marker
• History Museum
• John Wood Statue
• Adams County Civil War Monument
• Lincoln Gallery 
• All Wars Museum