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The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates in 1858 between
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
, the Republican Party candidate for the
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
from
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, and incumbent Senator
Stephen Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas ( né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party to run for president in the 1860 ...
, the Democratic Party candidate. Until the
Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Seventeenth Amendment (Amendment XVII) to the United States Constitution established the direct election of United States Senate, United States senators in each state. The amendment supersedes Article One of the United States Constitution# ...
, which provides that senators shall be elected by the people of their states, was ratified in 1913, senators were elected by their respective state legislatures. Therefore, Lincoln and Douglas were trying to win the people's votes for legislators in the
Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...
, aligned with their respective political parties. The debates were designed to generate publicity—some of the first examples of what in modern parlance would be characterized as "
media event A media event, also known as a pseudo-event, is an event, activity, or experience conducted for the purpose of creating media publicity. It may also be any event that is covered in the mass media or was hosted largely with the media in mind. Etym ...
s". For Lincoln, they were an opportunity to raise both his state and national profile and that of the burgeoning Republican Party, newly organized four years before in
Ripon, Wisconsin Ripon () is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,863 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is surrounded by the Ripon (town), Wisconsin, Town of Ripon. Ripon is home to the Little White S ...
, in 1854. For Senator Douglas, they were an opportunity to defend his record—especially his role in promoting the doctrine of
popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the leaders of a state and its government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associativ ...
in regard to the issue of American black slavery and its role in the passage of the
Kansas–Nebraska Act The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 () was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law b ...
of 1854. The candidates spoke in each of Illinois's nine congressional districts. They had already spoken in the state capital of Springfield and in the state's largest city of
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
within a day of each other, so they decided that their future joint appearances would be held in the remaining seven congressional districts. Since Douglas was the incumbent, he had very little to gain from these debates. However, Lincoln, only a one-term
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
(congressman) a decade before, was gaining support, having spoken the day after Douglas spoke in Chicago, and thus presenting a rejoinder Douglas could not answer back with a rebuttal. Each debate lasted about three hours, with each candidate speaking for sixty minutes, followed by a ninety-minute response and a final thirty-minute rejoinder by the first candidate. As the incumbent, Douglas spoke first in four of the debates, and Douglas and Lincoln alternated who spoke first at the remaining debates. They were held outdoors, weather permitting, from about 2 to 5 p.m. The debates focused on slavery, specifically on whether it should be allowed in the new states to be formed from the western federal territories acquired through the
Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...
of 1803 and the
Mexican Cession The Mexican Cession () is the region in the modern-day Western United States that Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United S ...
of 1849. Douglas, as the Democratic candidate, held that the decision should be made by the white residents of the new states rather than by the federal government ("popular sovereignty"). Lincoln argued against the expansion of slavery, yet stressed that he was not advocating its abolition where it already existed. Never in American history had there been widespread newspaper coverage of political debates. Both candidates felt they were speaking to the whole nation. New technology had become available in recent years: railroad networks, the
electric telegraph Electrical telegraphy is Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecom ...
with its
Morse code Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...
, and Pitman shorthand writing, at that time called "phonography". The state's largest newspapers, based in Chicago, sent phonographers—now known as stenographers—to copy and report complete texts of each debate; thanks to the new railroads, the debates were not hard to reach from Chicago. Halfway through each debate and series of speeches, runners were handed the stenographers' notes. They raced to meet the next train to Chicago, handing the notes to railway riding stenographers who during the journey converted the shorthand symbols and abbreviations back into their original words, producing a transcript ready for the Chicago typesetters printing presses, and for the telegrapher, who sent the texts to the rest of the country east of the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
, which was as far as the telegraph wires reached. The next train would deliver the conclusion of the debate. The papers published the speeches in full, sometimes within hours of their delivery. Some newspapers helped their preferred candidate with minor corrections, reports on the audience's positive reaction, or tendentious headlines ("New and Powerful Argument by Mr. Lincoln–Douglas Tells the Same Old Story"). The
newswire A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...
of the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, then only a decade old, sent messages simultaneously to multiple points, enabling newspapers and magazines east of the Rockies to print the debates soon after they occurred, which led to the debates rapidly becoming nationally followed events. They were later republished as pamphlets. The debates took place between August and October of 1858. Newspapers reported 12,000 in attendance in Ottawa (Illinois), 16,000 to 18,000 in Galesburg, 15,000 in Freeport, 12,000 in Quincy, and at the last debate in Alton, 5,000 to 10,000. The debates near Illinois's borders ( Freeport, Quincy, and Alton) drew large numbers of people from neighboring states. A number travelled within Illinois to follow the debates. Douglas was re-elected by the Illinois General Assembly, 54–46. But Lincoln's party had won the popular vote in what historian Allen Guelzo labels "an upset, not just in terms of those voting statistics", but in making Lincoln a national figure and laying the groundwork for his 1860 presidential campaign. As part of that endeavor, Lincoln edited the texts of all the debates and had them published in a book. It sold well and helped him receive the Republican Party's nomination for president at the
1860 Republican National Convention The 1860 Republican National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention that met May 16–18 in Chicago, Illinois. It was held to nominate the Republican Party (United States), Republic ...
in Chicago.


Background

Douglas was elected to the
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
in 1846, and he was seeking re-election for a third term in 1858. The issue of slavery was raised several times during his tenure in the Senate, particularly with respect to the
Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that temporarily defused tensions between slave and free states during the years leading up to the American Civil War. Designe ...
. As chairman of the committee on
U.S. territories Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indian reservations in th ...
, he argued for an approach to slavery called
popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the leaders of a state and its government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associativ ...
: electorates in the territories would vote whether to adopt or reject slavery. Decisions previously had been made at the federal level concerning slavery in the territories. Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in the Senate. It became law on May 30, 1854, repealing the
Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise (also known as the Compromise of 1820) was federal legislation of the United States that balanced the desires of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand ...
and "substituting for the ban on slavery what Douglas called 'popular sovereignty' ... arous nga storm of protest throughout the North". The
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was founded in New York City by businessmen-philanthropists Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman, Lewis E. Lehrman in 1994 to promote the study and interest in American history. The Institute serves te ...
's ''Mr. Lincoln and Friends Society'' notes that prominent
Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...
resident Jesse W. Fell, a local real estate developer who founded the '' Bloomington Pantagraph'' and who befriended Lincoln in 1834, had suggested the debates in 1854. Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846, and he served a two-year term in the House of Representatives. During his tenure in the Congress, he disagreed with Douglas and supported the
Wilmot Proviso The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot Proviso was one of the major events leading to the ...
, which sought to ban slavery in any new territory. He returned to politics in the 1850s to oppose the Kansas–Nebraska Act and to help develop the new Republican Party. Before the debates, Lincoln charged that Douglas was encouraging fears of amalgamation of the races, with enough success to drive thousands of people away from the Republican Party. Douglas replied that Lincoln was an
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...
for saying that the
United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...
applied to both blacks and
whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...
. Lincoln argued in his House Divided Speech that Douglas was part of a conspiracy to nationalize slavery. Lincoln said that ending the
Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise (also known as the Compromise of 1820) was federal legislation of the United States that balanced the desires of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand ...
ban on slavery in Kansas and Nebraska was the first step in this nationalizing and that the
Dred Scott decision ''Dred Scott v. Sandford'', 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, and therefore they ...
was another step in the direction of spreading slavery into Northern territories. He expressed the fear that any similar Supreme Court decision would turn Illinois into a slave state. Much has been written of Lincoln's rhetorical style but, going into the debates, Douglas's reputation was a daunting one. As James G. Blaine later wrote:


The debates

When Lincoln made the debates into a book, in 1860, he included the following material as preliminaries: * Speech at Springfield by Lincoln, June 16, the " Lincoln's House Divided Speech" speech (in the volume, the erroneous date June 17 is given) * Speech at
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
by Douglas, July 9 * Speech at Chicago by Lincoln, July 10 * Speech at Bloomington by Douglas, July 16 * Speech at Springfield by Douglas, July 17 (Lincoln was not present) * Speech at Springfield by Lincoln, July 17 (Douglas was not present) * Preliminary correspondence of Lincoln and Douglas, July 24–31 The debates were held in seven towns in the state of Illinois: *
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
on August 21 * Freeport on August 27 * Jonesboro on September 15 * Charleston on September 18 * Galesburg on October 7 * Quincy on October 13 * Alton on October 15 Slavery was the main theme of the Lincoln–Douglas debates, particularly the issue of slavery's expansion into the
territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...
. Douglas's
Kansas–Nebraska Act The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 () was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law b ...
repealed the
Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise (also known as the Compromise of 1820) was federal legislation of the United States that balanced the desires of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand ...
's ban on slavery in the territories of
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
and
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
and replaced it with the doctrine of
popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the leaders of a state and its government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associativ ...
, which meant that the people of a territory would vote as to whether to allow slavery. During the debates, both Lincoln and Douglas appealed to the "Fathers" (
Founding Fathers The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the War of Independence ...
) to bolster their cases.


Ottawa

Lincoln said at Ottawa: Lincoln said in the first debate, in Ottawa, that popular sovereignty would nationalize and perpetuate slavery. Douglas replied that both Whigs and Democrats believed in popular sovereignty and that the
Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that temporarily defused tensions between slave and free states during the years leading up to the American Civil War. Designe ...
was an example of this. Lincoln said that the national policy was to limit the spread of slavery, and he mentioned the
Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...
of 1787 as an example of this policy, which banned slavery from a large part of the Midwest. The Compromise of 1850 allowed the territories of
Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
and
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
to decide for or against slavery, but it also allowed the admission of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
as a free state, reduced the size of the slave state of
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
by adjusting the boundary, and ended the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in the
District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
. In return, the South got the
Fugitive Slave Law The fugitive slave laws were laws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state into another state or territory. The idea of the fugitive slave law was derived from the Fugi ...
, which was stronger than the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was an Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution ( Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3), which was later superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment, and to al ...
. Douglas said that the Compromise of 1850 replaced the Missouri Compromise's ban on slavery in the
Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...
territory north and west of the state of
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
, while Lincoln said—a topic he went back to in the Jonesboro debate—that Douglas was mistaken in seeing "Popular Sovereignty" and the ''
Dred Scott Dred Scott ( – September 17, 1858) was an enslaved African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for the freedom of themselves and their two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, in the '' Dred Scott v. Sandford'' case ...
'' decision as being in harmony with the Compromise of 1850. To the contrary, "Popular Sovereignty" would nationalize slavery. There were partisan remarks, such as Douglas's accusations that members of the "Black Republican" party were abolitionists, including Lincoln, and he cited as proof Lincoln's House Divided Speech, in which he said, "I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free."First Debate: Ottawa, Illinois, Douglas quote, August 21, 1858. Douglas also charged Lincoln with opposing the ''
Dred Scott Dred Scott ( – September 17, 1858) was an enslaved African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for the freedom of themselves and their two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, in the '' Dred Scott v. Sandford'' case ...
'' decision because "it deprives the negro of the rights and privileges of citizenship." Lincoln responded that "the next Dred Scott decision" could bring about "the nationalization of slavery". Douglas accused Lincoln of wanting to overthrow state laws, which were popular with the northern Democrats, that excluded Black people from states such as Illinois. Lincoln did not argue for complete social equality, but he did say that Douglas ignored the basic humanity of Black people and that slaves did have an equal right to liberty, stating, "I agree with Judge Douglas he is not my equal in many respects—certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment. But in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, ''he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man''". Lincoln said that he did not know how emancipation should happen. He believed in colonization in Africa by emancipated slaves, but admitted that it was impractical. He said that it would be wrong for emancipated slaves to be treated as "underlings", but that there was a large opposition to social and political equality and that "a universal feeling, whether well or ill-founded, cannot be safely disregarded." He said that Douglas's public indifference would result in the expansion of slavery because it would mold public sentiment to accept it. As Lincoln said, "public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed." He said that Douglas "cares not whether slavery is voted down or voted up," and that he would "blow out the moral lights around us" and eradicate the love of liberty.


Freeport

At the debate at Freeport, Lincoln forced Douglas to choose between two options, either of which would damage Douglas's popularity and chances of getting reelected. He asked Douglas to reconcile popular sovereignty with the Supreme Court's ''Dred Scott'' decision. Douglas responded that the people of a territory could keep slavery out even though the Supreme Court said that the
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
had no authority to exclude slavery, simply by refusing to pass a slave code and other legislation needed to protect slavery. Douglas alienated Southerners with this Freeport Doctrine, which damaged his chances of winning the presidency in 1860. As a result, Southern politicians used their demand for a slave code to drive a wedge between the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party, splitting the majority political party in 1858. Douglas failed to gain support in all sections of the country through popular sovereignty. By allowing slavery where the majority wanted it, he lost the support of Republicans led by Lincoln, who thought that Douglas was unprincipled. He lost the support of the South by rejecting the pro-slavery
Lecompton Constitution The Lecompton Constitution (1858) was the second of four proposed state constitutions of Kansas. Named for the city of Lecompton, Kansas where it was drafted, it was strongly pro-slavery. It never went into effect. History Purpose The Lecompton ...
and advocating a Freeport Doctrine to stop slavery in Kansas, where the majority were anti-slavery.


Jonesboro

In his address in Jonesboro, Lincoln said that the expansion of slavery would endanger the Union, and mentioned the controversies over slavery in Missouri in 1820, in the territories conquered from Mexico that led to the Compromise of 1850, and again with the
Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...
controversy. He said that the crisis would be reached and passed when slavery was put "in the course of ultimate extinction."


Charleston

Before the debate at Charleston, Democrats held up a banner that read "Negro equality" with a picture of a white man, a negro woman, and a
mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...
child. Lincoln began his address by clarifying that his concerns about slavery did not equate to support for
racial equality Racial equality is when people of all Race (human categorization), races and Ethnic group, ethnicities are treated in an egalitarian/equal manner. Racial equality occurs when institutions give individuals legal, moral, and Civil and political r ...
. He stated: In his subsequent response, Stephen Douglas said that Lincoln had an ally in Frederick Douglass in preaching "abolition doctrines." He said that Frederick Douglass told "all the friends of negro equality and negro citizenship to rally as one man around Abraham Lincoln." He also charged Lincoln with a lack of consistency when speaking on the issue of racial equality (in the Charleston debate) and cited Lincoln's previous statements that the declaration that
all men are created equal The quotation "all men are created equal" is found in the United States Declaration of Independence and is a phrase that has come to be seen as emblematic of America's founding ideals. The final form of the sentence was stylized by Benjamin Fran ...
applies to blacks as well as whites. In response to Douglas's questioning of Lincoln's support of negro citizenship, if not full equality, Lincoln further clarified in his rejoinder: "I tell him very frankly that I am not in favor of negro citizenship."


Galesburg

At Galesburg, using quotes from Lincoln's Chicago address, Douglas sought again to prove that Lincoln was an abolitionist because of his insistence upon the principle that "all men are equal".


Quincy

The debate in Quincy was held on October 13.


Alton

At Alton, Lincoln tried to reconcile his statements on equality. He said that the authors of the Declaration of Independence "intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects." As Lincoln said, "They meant to set up a standard maxim for the free society which should be familiar to all,—constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere." He contrasted his support for the Declaration with opposing statements made by
John C. Calhoun John Caldwell Calhoun (; March 18, 1782March 31, 1850) was an American statesman and political theorist who served as the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. Born in South Carolina, he adamantly defended American s ...
and Senator John Pettit of Indiana, who called the Declaration "a self-evident lie". Lincoln said that Chief Justice Roger Taney and Stephen Douglas were opposing
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
's self-evident truth, dehumanizing blacks and preparing the public mind to think of them as only property. Lincoln thought that slavery had to be treated as a wrong and kept from growing. As Lincoln said at Alton: These words were set to music by
Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...
in his '' Lincoln Portrait''. Lincoln used a number of colorful phrases in the debates. He said that one argument by Douglas made a horse chestnut into a chestnut horse, and he compared an evasion by Douglas to the sepia cloud from a cuttlefish. In Quincy, Lincoln said that Douglas's Freeport Doctrine was do-nothing sovereignty that was "as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death."


The role of technology

Recent improvements in technology were fundamental to the debates' success and popularity. New railroads connected major cities at high speeds—a message that on a horse would have taken a week arrived in hours. A forgotten "soft" technology, Pitman shorthand, allowed writing to keep up with speech, far closer to a recording than had been possible before. Finally, messages could now be sent via the
electrical telegraph Electrical telegraphy is point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most wid ...
, anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains. "The combination of shorthand, the telegraph and the railroad changed everything," wrote Allen C. Guelzo, author of ''Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America''. "It was unprecedented. Lincoln and Douglas knew they were speaking to the whole nation. It was like
JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until Assassination of John F. Kennedy, his assassination in 1963. He was the first Catholic Chur ...
in 1960 coming to grips with the presence of the vast new television audience."


Results

The October surprise of the election was former Whig John J. Crittenden's endorsement of Douglas. Non-Republican former Whigs comprised the biggest block of
swing vote A swing vote is a vote that is seen as potentially going to any one of a number of candidates in an election, or, in a two-party system, may go to either of the two dominant political parties. It usually comes from voters who are 'undecided' or ...
rs, and Crittenden's endorsement of Douglas rather than Lincoln reduced Lincoln's chances of winning. The districts were drawn to favor Douglas's party, and the Democrats won 40 seats in the state House of Representatives while the Republicans won 35. In the State Senate, Republicans held 11 seats and Democrats held 14. Douglas was re-elected by the legislature 54–46, even though Republican candidates for the state legislature together received 24,094 more votes than candidates supporting Douglas. However, the widespread media coverage of the debates greatly raised Lincoln's national profile, making him a viable candidate for nomination as the Republican candidate in the upcoming
1860 presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 1860. The History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin emerged victoriou ...
. Ohio Republican committee chairman George Parsons put Lincoln in touch with Ohio's main political publisher, Follett and Foster, in
Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
It published copies of the text in ''Political Debates Between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas in the Celebrated Campaign of 1858, in Illinois.'' Four printings were made, and the fourth sold 16,000 copies.


Commemoration

The debate locations in Illinois feature plaques and statuary of Douglas and Lincoln. There is a Lincoln–Douglas Debate Museum in Charleston. In 1994,
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
aired a series of re-enactments of the debates filmed on location. In 2008, BBC Audiobooks America recorded
David Strathairn David Russell Strathairn (; born January 26, 1949) is an American actor. Known for his leading roles on stage and screen, he has often portrayed historical figures such as Edward R. Murrow, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William H. Seward, and John D ...
(Lincoln) and
Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss ( ; Dreyfus; born October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He emerged from the New Hollywood wave of American cinema, finding fame with a succession of leading man parts in the 1970s. He has received an Academy Award, a ...
(Douglas) reenacting the debates.


See also

*
Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* In 2009 BBC Audiobooks America, published the first complete recording of the Lincoln–Douglas Debates, starring actors
David Strathairn David Russell Strathairn (; born January 26, 1949) is an American actor. Known for his leading roles on stage and screen, he has often portrayed historical figures such as Edward R. Murrow, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William H. Seward, and John D ...
as Abraham Lincoln and
Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss ( ; Dreyfus; born October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He emerged from the New Hollywood wave of American cinema, finding fame with a succession of leading man parts in the 1970s. He has received an Academy Award, a ...
as Stephen Douglas with an introduction by Allen C. Guelzo, Henry R. Luce III Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College. The text of the recording was provided courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Association as presented i
''The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln''
* Jaffa, Harry V. (1957). "Expediency and Morality in The Lincoln–Douglas Debates," ''The Anchor Review'', No. 2, pp. 177–204. * * * Judge, Ben (September 2, 2025). ''The Lincoln-Douglas Debates''. Encounter Books.


External links


Website of the Stephen A. Douglas Association

Original Manuscripts and Primary Sources: Lincoln-Douglas Debates, First Edition 1860
Shapell Manuscript Foundation
Digital History
(archived link)
Bartleby Etext: ''Political Debates Between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas''



Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: Lincoln–Douglas Debates

Abraham Lincoln: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress

Free audio book of "Noted Speeches of Abraham Lincoln," including the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

''Booknotes'' interview with Harold Holzer on ''The Lincoln-Douglas Debates'', August 22, 1993.

Lincoln Douglas Debate Transcripts
on the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Conceptions of race central to Lincoln-Douglas debates – Pantagraph
(Bloomington, Illinois newspaper) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln-Douglas Debates Of 1858 Political history of Illinois 1858 United States Senate elections Speeches by Abraham Lincoln Political debates Presidents of the United States and slavery Alton, Illinois Coles County, Illinois Freeport, Illinois Galesburg, Illinois Ottawa, Illinois Quincy, Illinois Union County, Illinois 1858 in Illinois Origins of the American Civil War 1858 in the United States Legal history of Kansas Abraham Lincoln Stephen A. Douglas