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The Seven Lincoln Douglas Debates

Decent Essays

The Seven Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of political debates for a Senate seat of Illinois between Abraham Lincoln, Illinois lawyer and the Republican candidate, and Stephen A. Douglas, senator from Illinois since 1847, for the Democratic Party. Lincoln and Douglas held one debate in each in seven congressional districts in Illinois. The first debate was held on August 21, 1858. Ottawa, north-central Illinois, The debates centered on the issue of slavery. Douglas accused Lincoln with trying to “abolitionize” the Whig and Democratic Parties and he also charged Lincoln as a radical abolitionist while Lincoln accused Douglas most importantly trying to nationalize slavery actively conspiring with the south. Veracity, Accusation and Conspiracy in Lincoln 's Campaign for the Senate by Fred J. Kauffeld, Edgewood College, illustrates Lincoln accusation of Douglas being an active conspirator or a tool for Southern leadership is doubtful while Stephen A. Douglas and the South by Robert W. Johannsen, University of Illinois investigates the root history, desires and political association of Douglas with southern states of United states.
According to Kauffeld, Abraham Lincoln indicted his opponent, Douglas, as he was active in a conspiracy with the south to ensure the permanence of slavery and to extend it throughout to the Free States. Which Kauffeld finds it “surprising and disheartening” and believe it was consequences of Douglas 's policies such as Popular Sovereignty. As

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