Paper Example - Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858

In the year 1858, the United States moved closer to disunion as two prominent politicians attracted the attention of the country through debates across their Illinois state. The debates started on 21st August to 15th October in a face-to-face conversation (Moslander, 2015). More so, the debates were series of formal seven political debates that occurred between the incumbent senator Stephen Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln, who was a challenger. The paper discusses the overview of the debates, the causes of the debates, the major issues addressed in the debates, and the consequences of the debates.

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Overview of the Debates

The debate happened in a campaign for one of two U.S. Senate seats. Even though Stephen Douglas won the election, the debates launched Abraham Lincoln into national prominence, which later assisted him in winning the 1860 presidential election. Both of them agreed to debate in seven of the total nine Congressional Districts of Illinois; Douglas had not spoken in the seven districts (Moslander, 2015). In every debate, either of them opened with an address that took one hour. The next person will then speak for one and a half hours, making the first person rebut by 30 minutes. Because Douglas was incumbent, he was allowed to start in four of the seven debates.

The spectators of the debates came from all over the state of Illinois and the neighboring states, and they traveled to the seven debate locations by canal boat, train, buggy, wagon, and by horseback. The spectators coming from other towns and outside the state nearly surpassed the population of the cities that hosted the debates. Audiences participated in the debates by cheering as they shouted out questions at the same time they applauded and laughed with the other parts of the country watching. The debates attracted thousands of newspaper reporters and voters all over the nation.

Causes of the Debates

The major discussion of the debates was the issue of extending slavery into territories, which was raised by Stephen Douglas. The question of slavery extension was at first settled in about 40 years earlier by the Missouri Compromise. New territories were then added by the Mexican War, making the issue arise again in the 1840s (Berry, 2016). Then followed the 1850 Compromise, which provided temporary relief from the sectional strife. However, in 1854, Douglas sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which brought the issue of slavery extension back again. Douglas, through the bill, offered popular sovereignty to replace the ban against slavery in the Missouri Compromise (Moslander, 2015). The popular sovereignty doctrine stated that the fate of slavery is decided by actual settlers who live in the territories not to be decided by Congress. It was the Kansas-Nebraska, which led to the creation of the Republican party to keep slavery out of territories, especially the western part of the nation. Then the Supreme Court in 1857, through Dred Scott's decision, invalidated the stand concerning free soil by the Republicans and stand on popular sovereignty by Douglas by starting that neither territorial legislature or Congress could dismiss slavery from a territory.

However, in 1858 when Douglas and Lincoln were addressing the issue, they were debating a problem that has caused disunity in the nation into two camps that are hostile to each other, treating the existence of a Union (Eysturlid, 2013). When Abraham Lincoln nominated to run for the U.S Senate representing Illinois, he clearly stated that the government could not permanently run with a notion of a half free and half slave. He also stated that no stand exists in a house that is divided. Then Douglas attacked Lincoln, referring to him as a radical and threatened the continued Union stability. It was then when the Lincoln challenged Douglas to several debates across the state, and they both agreed to hold seven joint debates which convened in Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and lastly Alton.

The Major Issues Addressed in the Debates

During the debates, the incumbent senator Douglas advocated for popular sovereignty that maintained citizens' right of territory to either prohibit or permit slavery. Douglas maintained that the right in terms of self-government is sacred. On the other hand, Lincoln debated that the position of Douglas challenges the decision of Dred Scott that prohibits citizens from such power. Another topic they debated was on the rights of blacks, where Lincoln holds that the rights found in the Declaration of Independence are entitled to blacks; such rights are the pursuit of happiness, life, and liberty (Berry, 2016). But on the same matter, Douglas argued that the founders of the United States' independence did not intend such inclusion for black individuals.

Douglas, throughout the debates, branded Lincoln as a radicalistic individual who advocates only for racial equality and is looking forward to disrupting the Union that existed in the nation. Then, to counter the allegations, Lincoln attacked Douglas stand on popular sovereignty for bad outcomes it produced in Kansas and placed more emphasis on the moral evil of slavery.

Consequences of the Debates

The debates resulted in some positive and negative outcomes for the two individuals and the state of Illinois and the United States in general. Douglas won the election in a close range by after getting 54 from state legislators, whereas Lincoln got 46 votes in his favor (Eysturlid, 2013). The debates went bad on the side of Douglas despite winning the election, as his stature as Democratic Party national leader was diminished. On the other hand, Lincoln, despite losing the election the debates propelled his political career, making him an eloquent Republican spokesperson, and two years later, in 1860, he secured the highest stakes possible, making him the United States President (Jaffa, 2012). Also, in general, the position of Douglas was not accepted by all Democrats. The northern Democrats accepted the position, but the Southerners were angered, resulting in the division of the national political institution that remained that time, which is the Democratic Party (Moslander, 2015). The debates were then printed in 1860 as a book ad utilized as an essential document for the campaign in that year's presidential context which was between the two of them, Lincoln a Republican and Douglas a Democrat who was running a Party that was divided making him finish the second in the race but at a distance to the triumphant Lincoln.

In conclusion, neither Douglas nor Lincoln won a popular election that year as the rules that govern United States Senate elections hold that voters only vote for local legislators who later choose a Senator. The Democrats wore the majority of the district contests, and they then returned Douglas to Washington. After that, the whole nation saw a rising star in Lincoln as the Illinois drama unfolded two years later in 1860 with the highest stakes that made Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States. The debates propelled the political career of Lincoln into the national spotlight, while that of Douglas was stifled.

References

Berry, S. W. (2016). A House Dividing: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. Oxford University Press.

Eysturlid, L. W. (2013). The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858: Why what you say matters. https://works.bepress.com/lee_eysturlid/7/download/

Jaffa, H. V. (2012). Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. University of Chicago Press.\

Moslander, M. E. (2015). Natural rights or history? The Lincoln-Douglas debates and the moral foundations of liberalism (Doctoral dissertation). https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/39206