Stephen Arnold Douglas

The presidential election of 1860 was the second time that Stephen Douglas had faced Abraham Lincoln in a political contest. The first had occurred in 1858, when Lincoln unsuccessfully tried to take Douglas's seat in the U.S. Senate. This carving is thought to be a memento of that occasion, and its unknown maker probably intended it as a mate to a similar surviving carving of Lincoln. A contemporary once described Douglas as a "lively five-footer full of brains, bounce, and swagger." Despite its primitive aspect, the carving seems to bear out that description.