douglas on the circuit. the candidates agreed to a series of debates across the state. >> and in this debates, you have to remember that stephen douglas' platform was white supremacy. >> i think it was absolutely important to lincoln that he had douglas in the state as a foil, that it was important for lincoln to become a national figure, that he had a national figure already with whom he could do battle. >> narrator: lincoln lost the senate seat to douglas. accounts of the lincoln-douglas debates were published across the country. now that lincoln was known on the national political stage, his old friends from the circuit pushed him to run for a higher office. >> when he's beginning to think about running for president, these men have cemented a friendship that allows them to work together as a team and support lincoln when lincoln needs their help. >> narrator: in may of 1860, his circuit friends gathered in chicago at the national republican convention. >> those were the guys that went to chicago at the invitation of davis, organized by davis, and took the nomination away from the rest of the country. >> davis becomes his c

stephen douglas and henry clay. you didn't mention stephen douglas by name but it done and a lot of legwork to get -- >> i'm sorry, the relationship between -- >> stephen douglas and henry clay. >> and -- >> henry clay. >> stephen douglas by the way, in case i didn't mention it, is the man who then took over after clay left washington to go bathing up in rhode island. that relationship was perfectly -- it wasn't close. douglas disagreed with the omnibus solution, and said so, and walked away from it. but as soon as the omnibus went down to defeat, he jumps up and takes control and gets all of those bills passed. so he deserves a great deal of credit for the compromise of 1850. and as such, he became a leading presidential candidate. and in 1860, he ran against abraham lincoln and lost. thank god. sir. >> a couple of quick questions. given the clays -- given the clays perspective on slavery, what was his relationship of the abolitionists in congress? and the second question i just quickly, i didn't quite understand how slavery in the district of columbia became part of one of those resolutions. i was under the impressi