Thus to the combat of intellectual skill was added a severe ordeal of physical endurance.[2] Lincoln entered upon the task which his party friends had devised with neither bravado nor misgiving.

He had not sought these public discussions; neither did he shrink from them.

Throughout his whole life he appears to have been singularly correct in his estimate of difficulties to be encountered and of his own powers for overcoming them.

Each of these seven meetings, comprising both the Republican and Democratic voters of the neighboring counties, formed a vast, eager, and attentive assemblage.

It needed only the first day's experience to show the wisdom of the Republican leaders in forcing a joint discussion upon Douglas.