Lincoln-Douglas
Debates
Format of the Debate
Each debate followed a series of guidelines. “The first contestant
spoke for an hour, followed by a one-and-a-half-hour response,
after which the man who had gone first would deliver a halfhour rebuttal.” The massive crowds were immersed for the full
three hours, often throwing in comments, applauding their
campaigner, and “grumbling the jabs of his opponent.” Doris
Goodwin, The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 2005), 201
The First Joint Debate
• Ottawa, Illinois Salle
County, August 21st,
1858
• Over 10,000 attendants
• Controversy of slavery
and state rights
Douglas Views
•
•
•
•
Democratic Party
Pro-Slavery
Popular Sovereignty
States Rights
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Douglas used the Dred Scott v. Sandford case to indicate
that African Americans, slave or not, could not be an American
citizen.
Douglas thought that black equality will lead to the
demise and deconstruction of the Union.
Continued
Douglas was convinced that no candidate who admitted a belief
in the equality of blacks and whites could ever carry Illinois,
where an established set of Black Laws prevented blacks from
“voting, holding political office, giving testimony against whites,
and sitting on juries.”
Closing Comments
Douglas argued that, “They are trying to array all the Northern
States in one body against the South, to excite a sectional war
between the free states and the slave states, in order that the
one or the other may be driven to the wall.”
Lincoln’s Views
•
•
•
•
Republic Party
Anti-Slavery
Black Equality
Declaration of Independence
Declaration
of
Independence
As Lincoln repetitively said in many conferences, “slavery was a
violation of the Declaration Independence.
Throughout the debates, Lincoln carried a small note book that
contained clippings along with his opening lines of paragraph of
the Declaration of the Independence proclaiming that “all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness.” Ibid., 498-500
Division of the Union
Lincoln referred back to his Springfield speech multiple times
within the debate. His claim that “"A house divided against itself
cannot stand.” He believed that a government cannot undergo
“permanently half slave and half free.” He also affirms that he
does not expect the “Union to be dissolved, but he expects it
will be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”
Doris Goodwin, The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (New
York: Simon and Schuster, 2005), 202
• Ibid., 203
Last Joint Debate
The seventh and last debate was held in Alton , Illinois.
Although there was little new in the Alton debate, many people
believed that Lincoln’s speech included “some of the finest
passages he ever made.” The “real issue”, Lincoln disputed, is
the “eternal struggle between right and wrong”; the mutual
rights of humankind that has been instilled into our nation by
obligation to maintain natural rights for all.
Ibid.,209
Ibid.,208
Poll Results
November 2, 1858, voters of Illinois went to the polls. The
names of Lincoln and Douglas did not appear on the ballot, since
the state legislature would choose the next senator. Though the
Republicans had won the popular vote, the Democrats had
retained control of the state legislature, thereby ensuring
Douglas’s reelection.
The Impact of 19th century
The Lincoln-Douglas debates served as a national catalyst for the
white American public to witness Lincoln’s passionate views
upon slavery and states’ rights. Lincoln had lost the election but
he had won the war. He accomplished his goals that he was set
out to do. The deliberated issues were of “critical importance to
the sectional conflict over slavery and states' rights but also
touched deeper questions that would continue to influence
political discourse” As Lincoln said, the issues would be
discussed long after "these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and
myself shall be silent." Ibid.,208
bid.,210
Images Cited
http://mjfellright.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/
http://ronmwangaguhunga.blogspot.com/2012_10_01_archive.
html
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/lincolndebate.html
http://www.lib.niu.edu/2001/iht820111.html
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/abraham-lincoln/lincolndouglas-debate.htm
http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/aboutus/newsevents/archivedne
wsevents/20082009news/hum_prof_debate_lincoln/index.shtml