The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 Essay

Lincoln used his background as an outlet when making most of his decisions. During two occasions, he addressed his respect for Kentucky and its citizens, but needed them to stand behind his vision. In Sept of 1859, he addressed how he believed slavery was wrong and wish for it not to spread . In 1860, Lincoln wanted to succeed Pennsylvania. In Feb of 1861, he had the same speech. Many people were concerned about what Lincoln could actually do. They did not forget that Lincoln had little to no experience with law. He only had up to eighteen months of formal schooling. Despite these facts, Lincoln was regarded as “Candidate of pride, wealth and aristocratic family distinction”. Better than most union leaders he appreciated conditions in the south… and the advantages of being able to call on the old southern leaders. He was very generous and considerate. Lincoln was for the North but he was also connected to the South fundamentally and emotionally. In 1864, a northern delegation conferred with him concerning escaped slaves coming within union lines. Lincoln was once again facing issues he did not see coming his way. From left to right, people were expecting him to back up his word. He had to prove to them he could get the job done, regardless of the obstacles he may

Lincoln ran unsuccessfully for the Illinois legislature in 1832. Two years later he was elected to the lower house for the first of four successive terms (until 1841) as a Whig. His membership in the Whig Party was natural. Lincoln's father was a Whig, and the party's ambitious program of national economic development was the perfect solution to the problems Lincoln had seen in his rural, hardscrabble Indiana past. His first platform (1832) announced that "Time and experience . . . verified . . . that the poorest and most thinly populated countries would be greatly benefitted by the opening of good roads, and in the clearing of navigable streams. . . . There cannot justly be any objection to having rail roads and canals."

When Abraham Lincoln was elected as the first republican president, he only received 40% of the popular votes; he also beat three other candidates on top of that. Lincoln was responsible for a lot of changes and is also known as an icon in American History. Lincoln was a Kentucky-born lawyer and a former Whig Representative to the Congress. Lincoln was going up against Stephen Douglas in the Senate race; Douglas argued that the states should have a right to be a slave state or a free state, while Lincoln argued against slavery and the spread of it. Unsurprisingly, Lincoln had lost the Senate race, but his campaign against slavery brought national attention to the Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln had won the Republican party’s nomination

Lincoln served four successive terms in the Illinois House of Representatives as a Whig representative from Sangamon County. He was known for his "free soil" stance of opposing both slavery and abolitionism. As a congressman, he supported laws that would have banned slavery. He first articulated this saying, "The Institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils."

Stephen was the one who repealed the Missouri Compromise’s ban on slavery in the territories of Nebraska and Kansas. Then doctrine was replaced with a thing called popular sovereignty and that meant that people could decide for themselves is they would allow slavery. Abraham would say that popular sovereignty would be nationalized and carry on with slavery. Stephen would argue about the Whigs and the Democrats because they both believed in the popular sovereignty. Abraham said the national policy was to be able to limit the spread of slavery and he mentioned the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, and the Northwest Ordinance banned slavery from a large part of modern-day Midwest. Since Stephen A. Douglas supported the Dred Scott decision, which meant that he compared slaves to property. Douglas argued about Lincoln being an abolitionist and he hoped to end slavery altogether. Douglas used fear, so he can fight against Lincoln calling that if he won that the freed black would end up moving to Illinois and taking jobs from white people. Abraham Lincoln argued that when he wanted to end the extension of slavery into the US territories Lincoln wasn’t fighting for political or social equality for black people. Abraham Lincoln was able to then place Stephen A. Douglas in a no-win political position, and he did this by forcing him to explain his support for popular sovereignty. Stephen A. Douglas did this, which is what is known as the Freeport

While living in New Salem he and a business partner decided to start a store. Unfortunately the store failed and Lincoln was left with years of debt that he referred to as “the National debt”. His next career was being elected captain of a militia unit during the Blackhawk War in 1832. This was a turning point in his life not because of the election, but because he met and befriended John Todd Stuart. Lincoln was becoming more and more interested in politics and law. Lincoln was persuaded by his friend John Stuart to run for the Illinois General Assembly. Although Lincoln lost that particular election and his friend Stuart won, he did go on to win a seat during the 1834 election, and was re-elected in 1836, 1838, 1840, and 1844. Over the years Stuart, who was an accomplished attorney, took time to teach Lincoln and even shared his law books with him so he could learn. In 1836, Lincoln received his license to practice law despite never having received a law degree. In fact, he became a very well known and trusted lawyer who did quite a bit of work for the Illinois Central

Before Lincoln became president, he started out in congress running for a senate position in 1858. His competitor,

Lincoln became a Whig of the Legislator and loyal to politics. As a Whig, part of his job was to debate on issues as leaders, so Lincoln participated in a seven-round debate with Stephen Douglas. Abraham then received indeed conspicuous rumors of his name. He also then became a leader of freedom to all. Slavery began to be perturbation in the United States which lead Lincoln to make it an issue during the debate.

This gained him the respect of the Republicans in Congress and also the support of his reelction as Senate. While one party was supportive of him, the other was completely unsupportive and against him. President Buchanan and the southerns explicitily argued against him and talked highly of their support for Lincoln as Senate. This gave Lincoln a big foot up and all he had to do to keep it was steer the Republicans away from supporting Douglas. He did this by exposing the moral state that separated them from their prior senator.

These debates were the start of Lincoln’s career in national politics. They were the turning point that ultimately led to the extinction of slavery in the United States. Had Lincoln and Douglas not debated, Lincoln may have never been President. Consider that for a moment. These debates propelled Lincoln onto the national stage and showed him as a viable candidate, not only for the Senate seat, but also for the presidency.

Lincoln ran for president in 1860, and ended up winning. He was inaugurated in March of the next year.

It was in the early 1830s that Lincoln got the itch to run for public office. Initially, he ran for and failed to obtain a seat in the Illinois state legislature. Undeterred, Lincoln became the Post Master of New Salem and decided to run for the State Assembly again in 1834. Lincoln ran as a Whig, the precursor to the Republican Party, and was elected to the Illinois State Assembly. Lincoln would stay in the Illinois House for four terms and would use his burgeoning popularity to start his true

House of Representatives and began his term the following year, he became unpopular with Illinois voters because of his stand against the war with Mexico. In 1849 he returned to Springfield promising not to seek reelection. After several unfortunate decisions were made in terms of slavery laws, Lincoln decided to return to national politics. With his belief that the nation cannot be half free and half slave, he ran for senate and was unsuccessful but his debates with the opposers made him famous. He eventually was selected by the Republicans to be their candidate for presidency. He was motivating the people and brought the qualities of the leader they were searching for. March 1861 marked the beginning of Lincoln’s term, although he had little experience under his belt in regards to battle, the nation was on the verge of a civil war. He impressed the nation with his swift action and began taking control of the war. Throughout his presidency he was a light and an answered prayers to thousands of slaves who earned their freedom because of his bravery and

Without this much-needed drive and ambition, it is unlikely that Lincoln would have accomplished what he during his life. What truly sparked Lincoln’s ambition was the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This act created the states of Kansas and Nebraska and essentially repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 is what almost single handedly got Lincoln back into politics and pushed him to become a much bigger activist in the abolitionist movement. “But then there came in 1854 an event that would pull his antislavery convictions to the center of his politics and ‘arouse’ the universalism and egalitarianism, and the moral concept of the nation, that they rested upon” (Miller 230). Lincoln would go on to condemn the “monstrous injustice of slavery itself’, naming it as a “vast moral evil”. Lincoln felt that slavery threatened the basic human rights of all Americans: personal liberty, self-government, and the enjoyment of the fruits of one’s labor. One of Lincoln’s most shining examples of his ambition would be during the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Lincoln was aiming for the Senate seat that was currently held by Stephen Douglas. This was certainly no easy task as Douglas at the time was quite popular in Illinois and was considered one of the best debaters. Douglas was initially resistant to Lincoln’s offer to debate but he

His political career started with two years (one term) spent as a Congressman. Just after that Abraham Lincoln made a decision to run for the presidential chair. Before that time everyone already knew his reputation of the opponent of the slavery.