Abraham Lincoln saw himself as the tortoise in a hopeless race against Stephen Douglas, the charismatic hare. Lincoln was perpetually in Douglas's shadow. They'd been friends and colleagues since they first met in the Illinois legislature in 1835. Douglas became the boy wonder of American politics while Lincoln failed in his one term in the House of Representatives. In 1849, believing his political career to be over, Lincoln returned to Springfield to resume his law practice. Douglas was reelected to the US Senate. This is where the story begins in Jan Jacobi's third book, Lincoln and Douglas. In the 1850s, Lincoln and Douglas became bitter rivals as they took different positions on the slavery issue that was tearing the country apart. Their rivalry became more intense when Lincoln challenged Douglas in the senate election of 1858. Although Lincoln lost, he forged on to challenge Douglas once again as a dark horse candidate for the presidency in 1860. In Lincoln and Douglas, Lincoln shows the courage, determination, and self-understanding that will ultimately make him a great president.