The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

During the 19th century, slavery expanded geographically and demographically in the South and Southwest of America, generating a wave of abolitionist movements. These events provoked a different response in the country’s society, since not everyone shared the same definition of slavery and freedom. These concepts started to get involved in almost every part of American sociopolitical life, creating differing points of view that would later conform the two sides in the Civil War of America: The Union in the north, and Confederacy in the south.

As time passed the rapidly changing society in the nineteenth century, in 1820 the north and south began to have serious conflicting problems that were proved unfixable by compromise. During this time, the north underwent major social, economic, and industrial changes known as the Antebellum Period. While the south generally clung to king cotton and slavery and thus remained essentially the same. This arose a manifold of controversies with how issues such as tariffs, slavery, and land should be handled. Both the Union and the Confederacy tried to create compromises to resolve these problems, yet both sides were never completely satisfied no matter how hard they tried. This made it very close to impossible for them to completely put their

The Political Disputes of 1820-1860 compromised and then broke down.In the 1800’s slavery was the main conflict between the states. The compromise began to break down when slavery began in the North and the South. The Anti-Slavery Convention report that an American citizen who owns a human being into involuntary and is forced to be his property is a Man Stealer, which means immoral people. (Doc.B) Senator Henry Clay said that it is impossible that South Carolina ever desired a moment to become a separate and independent state.(Doc.A). Senator Daniel Webster’s Judgment is that the South is right and the North is wrong.(Doc.C). Georgia thinks all northern, and especially the New England, states are devoid of society fitted for well-bred Southern gentlemen.(Doc.E) Abraham Lincoln ambitious Northern politicians. (Doc.F) Henry Clay, National

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were the Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. Their debates are admittedly the most famous political debates in American history. The biggest topic of debate during this time was slavery, therefore Lincoln and Douglas not only differed in their views on slavery, but also attempted to discredit the other candidate’s views by bringing up past speeches. Slavery was not the only topic during these debates, there were also debates on equality and state power over slavery.

The debates were a controversial time, which the proslavery, and antislavery rights people argued over. Both wanted a seat in the senate, but had many problems with people choosing who was fit to take that senate seat. The debates took a long time, and was a period of seven debates. The important subjects in the paper are causes of the debates, content of the debates, and the results of the debates. The causes of the debates were not only disagreement of Lincoln and Douglas, but also the big changes happening in the nations.

territory could prohibit slavery despite the recent ruling of U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott Case. After spawning great debate from the ruling, the Illinois Senate race between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas sought to divide political sides on the question of decision’s guarantying that slave owners could take slaves into a territory without losing their slaves (Levin, 2010). Through the Freeport Doctrine we saw the Lincoln-Douglass Debates explore the stance from the Democratic Douglas who insisted that slavery expansion was a local issue and should be decided by indigenous populations (Levin, 2010). Abraham Lincoln then alienated Southern Democrats, through the debates, who were pushing for a territorial slave code and annoyed Northern Democrats who were opposed to slavery on moral grounds (Levin, 2010). The debates set up his stage for Senate nomination and eventual presidential run. The Scott Case, Freeport Doctrine and Lincoln-Douglass debates separated the parties in Congress and fueled the underlining tension of North and South stances for the upcoming Civil

First we see the causes of the debates. Both Lincoln and Douglas were running for a place in the United States Senate

The debates between Lincoln and Douglas were conducted over several months at seven different locations throughout the state of Illinois and they attracted large crowds at every location and, eventually, drew interest from newspapers throughout the country. Although there were a variety of issues discussed during these debates, the primary issue revolved around the issue of

In the effort to secure their own appointments to the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas squared off in a series of seven debates in 1858. In the 1850s, America was facing a political crisis, and slavery was threatening to tear the nation apart. There were seven debates that took place between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. The two candidates for Senate challenged the other's ideas about many topics but the most import was, slavery and its future in the United States. Before the first debate took place, Abraham Lincoln addressed a crowd in Chicago, which is known famously as the House Divided Speech. In his speech, Lincoln attacked the doctrine of popular sovereignty. He said that it had clearly failed in its goal of ending

Lincoln supported the Whig Party, was frequently asked to speak at various events and was often sought out for advice. He had definite opinions and people that knew him knew well where he stood on political topics. The scope of the country was changing and the opinions of slavery and sectional tensions were growing. The passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 allowed residents to decide if they wanted their state to be free or accept slavery. Even the Supreme Court was getting involved and ruling that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution did not apply to African Americans. Our nation was dividing right before Lincoln’s eyes. Lincoln was not in favor of slavery, but he also did not favor abolitionists. He is quoted as saying “In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.” “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” In 1850 he delivered a speech about the issue of slavery and his personal opinion. “We must not disturb slavery in the states where it exists, because the Constitution, and the peace of the country both forbid us – We must not withhold an

The issue was not slavery itself, but who, either the central government or the states, decided whether slavery was acceptable. Political divisions over governing the country between the North and the South was especially relevant with the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Stephen Douglas, a Democrat running against Lincoln, was the founder of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This act divided Nebraska and Kansas, with a government that “pushed the Plains Indians farther west, making way for farmers and railroads,” (Roark, 365). The act created new territories that would allow the state to use popular sovereignty to determine if they would be slave or free states. During the Illinois state elections, Lincoln and Douglas debated their beliefs of a more

The Lincoln and Douglas debates started when Abraham Lincoln ran for Stephen A. Douglas’s seat on the United States Senate. Douglas and Lincoln were on opposing sides of the slavery issue. They differed in the ways that each man wanted to use in order to stop the spread of slavery to the territories. Douglas wanted to use the principle of popular sovereignty and Lincoln wanted to simply forbid slavery in the territories by federal authority.The debates were not all about ending slavery, they were about whether to prevent slavery from spreading to new states and new territories. Usually when Douglas scheduled a speaking engagement, often times Lincoln was present and offered a rebuttal speech. There were 7 total debates between the two men.

The debates were reported by newspapers across the entire nation followed by all Americans. As many as 12,000 people showed up for the first debate in Ottawa. More people came to watch the second debate in Freeport and just 1,500 people showed up to the third debate in Jonesboro. (Lutz 2) The Illinois Senate race of 1858 had a major impact on the presidential campaign of 1860. Lincoln became a national figure and a contender for the Republican nomination in 1860. The debates weakened Douglas in the South. According to Douglas, the essence of Democracy means process, which creates a happy, free, and prosperous society. Democracy should enable people to get happiness, freedom and prosperity in their life but for Lincoln, Democracy was principle. Douglas accused Lincoln that his aim was to dissolve the Whig party and the Democratic Party and combine them into an Abolition party and make it under the name of the Republican

Lincoln suggests that the institution of slavery be contained by preventing the spread of it to the new territories and Free states, although he had no interest in interfering with the already entitled slave states. He agrees that it was the right of the state to make its own decisions, not the federal government. Although Lincoln did not favor getting involved with abolishing slavery in the already declared slave states, he did favor total abolition in the distant future. He was first worried about stopping the expansion of slavery and then the next step to be taken would have been the "ultimate extinction" of it throughout the states. Lincoln did believe that every white man had no more equality than another. For this is one of the main reasons why at this time a resolution needed to be found in order to keep this equality in the new territories. Lincoln made a valid point in his speech that if slave holders were to settle in a new territory along with people opposed to slavery, which party has the right to decide what type of territory and future state it will be declared as? As for the rights of slaves, Lincoln agreed with Douglas that slaves did not have the same individual rights as everyone else, but he did believe that the liberties given under the Declaration of Independence involved such slaves. It is obvious that the Republicans of this time find slavery as being a "moral, social, and political wrong",

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States taking presidency in 1861, but he was looked down upon long before he took office. He was demonized as a “black republican” and pictured as an abolitionist during the 4-way campaign in 1860. He avoided adding fuel to the flames in 1860 campaign by refraining from making any policy pronouncements for the fear of misconstruction in both regions. Abraham Lincoln’s election as president in November 1860 finally pushed secessionists over the edge. Many southerners felt that his goal was to ignore states’ rights and remove their ability to own slaves.