Lincoln was supporting Wilmot Proviso, which was a failed attempt to ban slavery.
When Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas met in a series of seven debates as they ran for Illinois Senate seat, they heatedly debated a critical issue that day, slavery.
Debates raised Lincoln's profile, helping to encourage him to run for president two years later.
However, Douglas will actually win the 1858 Senate election.
The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures.
