Page "Abraham Lincoln" Paragraph 35

Though the Republican legislative candidates won more popular votes, the Democrats won more seats, and the legislature re-elected Douglas to the Senate.

Despite the bitterness of the defeat for Lincoln, his articulation of the issues gave him a national political reputation.

In May 1859, Lincoln purchased the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger, a German-language newspaper which was consistently supportive ; most of the state's 130, 000 German Americans voted Democratic but there was Republican support that a German-language paper could mobilize.