Lincoln-douglas Debates

The seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858, also known as the Great Debates of 1858. were of great significance in American history. Although the debates served as a way for the two candidates to run for the Senate of Illinois, they exerted a nation-wide influence. The influence of the Great Debates of 1858 also stretched to the presidential election of 1860, which was a decisive victory for both Lincoln and the Republican Party.The preservation of the union and the issue of slavery were two of the biggest concerns for all people in America, and the Great Debates of 1858 highly concentrated on these two issues. Lincoln presented himself to the country as a staunch defender of the unity of the nation. Lincoln considered slavery to be morally wrong because it violated the statement in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal". He believed that a country could not stand as half free and half slave and feared that the expansion of slavery would gradually divide the nation. Therefore, Lincoln regarded the ultimate extinction of slavery to be the way to preserve the union. Douglas, however, was more concerned with the implementation of his "popular sovereignty" idea, which allowed the territories to decide for themselves whether they wished to have slavery. Douglas believed that under the Constitution, slavery was a normal phenomenon and should be managed as each state saw fit. The two men’s different attitudes were derived from their political ideologies-nationalism for Lincoln and constitutionalism for Douglas.This thesis closely examines the text of the seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858, with further analysis on some important concepts and events that were brought up during the debates-The Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, the Dred Scott Decision and the Declaration of Independence. The author also identifies aspects of Lincoln’s nationalism and Douglas’s constitutionalism as reflected in these important issues during the debates.