"Despite the onset in 1857 of an economic downturn whose effects still lingered in Illinois, the candidates completely ignored economic matters. As Blaine recounted, they did not mention "protection, free trade, internal improvements, the subtreasury, all the issues, in short, which had divided parties for a long series of years." The debates focused on "one issue" and one alone, Blaine continued, thus reflecting "the public mind" of the late 1850s. Indeed, in Lincoln's correspondence with constituents and party leaders in 1858, slavery and the rights of blacks were virtually the only matters to receive attention. Overall, the debates offered a serious public discussion of the most fundamental problem dividing the nation and the first real gauge of the impact of the Dred Scott decision on American politics. As a Washington newspaper observed, thanks to the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Illinois "becomes, as it were, the Union."22"