Lincoln And Douglas Debate

The slavery system survived after the foundation of the United States. With the development of the country, it was becoming a big problem that influenced the unification and stability of the United States. There was a series of struggles between the slave owners in the south and the bourgeoisies in the north. In order to keep the unity of the States, they reached many compromises such as the Missouri Compromise and the 1850 Compromise, etc. But in the 1850s, With the expansion of slavery, the balance of power between the north and the south was gradually broken,the contradiction between them became irreconcilable day by day, and the slavery is the crucial factor. The compromise could not settle the contradictions any longer. The struggles on the slavery were increasing obviously and rigorously. Under this background the debates between Lincoln and Douglas took place. In the autumn of the year 1858, a Debates between Lincoln and Douglas was held in seven places in Illinois, which was directly originated by the senator election. In the debate, Lincoln advocated that slavery should be put where the ancestors put them—in the process of dying out. While Douglas held the point that slavery should be kept in the States with half slavery and half free. During the debates, Lincoln and Douglas probed and expressed their ideas on a series of political events concerned by both the south and the north, such as the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott Decision, and so on.Besides, they both recalled their former standpoints which they released in their speeches before, like Lincoln's Peoria Speech,"House Divided"Speech, and Douglas's Chicago Speech. All these speeches made up the main points that they stated in the debates.Lincoln's main point is to maintain the unification and democracy of the States. While Douglas insisted the"people's sovereign rights". The theme of the debate was slavery which was concerned by the whole nation, including the freemen and the black slaves.Undoubtedly, Lincoln and Douglas both were noted speechmakers, whose remarkable speeches added to the famous debate itself. More importantly, the theme that they debated was the most significant political problem—the slavery problem. And all these made the debate one of the most famous debates with its political and historical value in American history. Although Douglas won the election at last, this debate made Lincoln well known—from a speechmaker known by some to a political celebraty throughout the nation. And the debate paved the way for Lincoln winning the 1860 president election. This article focuses on several aspects of the debate: the background, the process, the main views of both sides and the impacts of this significant historical event. A complete and thorough analysis is given as a result.