For a decade, Stephen A. Douglas held the Illinois U.S. Senate seat and was one of the most famous politicians of his time until Abraham Lincoln, then a little-known country lawyer, challenged him to a series of debates. The seventh and final debate took place in front of Alton's old city hall on October 15, 1858, drew national attention, and brought about 6,000 visitors from across Illinois and neighboring states. It summarized arguments that had begun four months earlier. Douglas spoke first and repeated his belief in Popular Sovereignty, the right of each state to do as it pleased about slavery and other issues. Lincoln argued that the conflict was a struggle between two eternal principles, right and wrong, declaring that a house divided against itself cannot stand and that the government could not endure permanently half slave and half free. Douglas won the Senate seat, but the debates launched Lincoln into the national spotlight, and two years later Lincoln defeated Douglas in the 1860 presidential election.