On February 27, 1860 Abraham Lincoln, at the invitation of an organization calling itself "The Young Men's Central Republican Union", delivered a masterful speech in the Great Hall at The Cooper Union that would cement his candidacy for president. The western politian's introduction to the east, the speech argues against allowing the spread of slavery into the western territories and includes the line, "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."  It became a sensation and was "the most pivital public appearance of his career," according to Harold Holzer, in his book Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech that Made Abraham Lincoln President.  For more about the speech and its impact see the Columbia Journalism Review.

On the 144th anniversary of the occasion actor Sam Waterston reenacted the speech in the Great Hall.  The recording by C-SPAN2 can be viewed below.