The Lincoln-Douglas Debate

How many debates did Lincoln and Douglas participate in?

• The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of stately administrative debates between the challenger, Abraham Lincoln, and the incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats. Although Lincoln lost the election, these debates started him into national fame which soon led to his election as President of the United States. Lincoln and Douglas agreed to debate in seven of the nine Illinois Congressional Districts

Debate 1

• Ottawa, Illinois
• It was dry and dusty, between 10,000 and 12,000 people were in presence when the debate began at 2:00 p.m. There were no seats or bleachers.
• Lincoln during his turn did not answer to the questions and was on the defensive denying the claims Douglas had made. Lincoln charged Douglas with trying to nationalize slavery.

Debate 2

• Freeport, Illinois
• It was a cloudy, cool, and damp day. Special trains brought people from Galena, Chicago, Rockford, and other cities in northern Illinois. Estimates as high as 15,000 were to show up in various newspaper accounts.
• Lincoln answered the seven questions Douglas posed at Ottawa and then asked four of his own. Douglas' response became known as the Freeport Doctrine which had effects at the 1860 Democratic National Convention.

Debate 3

• Jonesboro, Illinois
• Approximately 1,500 from the sparsely populated heavily Democratic area attended. Most of those in attendance had moved to the area from slave-holding states or were descendants of people who had moved from slave-holding states.
• Douglas charged Lincoln and the Republicans said one thing in nothern Illinois, something different in central Illinois, and something all together different again in southern illinois. Douglas charged Lincoln stood for racial equality. Lincoln denied he said different things in different parts of the state and then quoted various documents and speeches by Democrats to prove they said different things in different parts of the states.

Debate 4

• Charleston, Illinois
• Answering Douglas' charge made in Jonosboro that he favored racial equality Lincoln explained his views on race. Lincoln then charged that Douglas was plotting to create a constitution for Kansas without allowing it to be voted upon by the people of Kansas. Lincoln gave a detailed "history" of the 'Nebraska Bill' [Kansas-Nebraska Act] and explained a conspiracy existed to nationalize slavery.
• Douglas denied any conspiracy with Roger Taney, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanon and restated the charge that Lincoln favored equality of the races.

Debate 5

• More than 15,000 people jammed the campus of Knox College. Heavy rain had fallen the day before and a raw wind blew during the debate.
• Douglas went to great length to explain his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution and his opposition to any compromise on the subject. He made his typical statement concerning the Declaration of Independence being written by white men and meant to apply only to white men.
• Lincoln emphasized the Declaration of Independence was meant to apply to all men.

Debate 6

• Quincy, Illinois
• Many of the approximately 12,000 in attendance were 'Old Whigs' and they listened as both Lincoln and Douglas claimed to be the 'political descendent' of Whig Henry Clay.
• Lincoln denied he said different things in different parts of the state. Lincoln emphasized that slavery was morally wrong and promised Republicans would attack slavery only where the Constitution allowed--in the territories
• Douglas denied there was a conspiracy to nationalize slavery and refused to argue whether slavery was right or wrong insisting that each local area should decide the slavery issue for itself.

Debate 7

• People were charged one dollar for a round trip ticket to ride a steamboat from St. Louis. It was a cloudy day with only 5,000 in attendance despite the fact that the Chicago and Alton Railroad offered half price fare from Springfield and other locations.
• Douglas attacked Lincoln's House Divided Speech and championed Popular Sovereignty.
• Lincoln pointed out the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed Henry Clay's Missouri Compromise [many 'Old Whigs' in attendance]. Lincoln used Clay's statements that slavery was evil and Lincoln charged that by excluding the Negro from the Declaration of Independence Douglas de-humanized and took away from the Negro "the right of striving to be a man."

Objective

• In the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Abraham Lincoln accused Democrats of wanting to spread slavery in the West.