Issue is joined before jury in Coffin v. Palmer et al. in U.S. Circuit Court, Lincoln and Smith for plaintiff. Court adjourns before arguments are finished. Record.

In the evening, Lincoln is in Springfield, where he delivers a speech "in reply to the speech recently made by Judge [Stephen] Douglas." Lincoln takes issue with Douglas's support of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision. Lincoln asserts, "That decision declares two propositions—first, that a negro cannot sue in the U.S. Courts; and secondly, that Congress cannot prohibit slavery in the Territories. . . . [W]e think the . . . decision is erroneous. We know the court that made it, has often over-ruled its own decisions, and we shall do what we can to have it to over-rule this." Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 29 June 1857, 2:1; Speech at Springfield, Illinois, 26 June 1857, CW, 2:398-410.