Lincoln Douglas Debate

Timeline of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lincoln Douglas Debates Summary

In 1820, the United States Congress admitted the territory of Missouri into the Union as its 24th state. Missouri requested its statehood without any slavery restrictions. In response to this, when the territory of Maine requested its statehood, attorney Henry Clay created a compromise that allowed Missouri to be a slave state while Maine would be entered as a free state. Maine had originally been a part of Massachusetts, a free northern state, so the state was required to be entered into the Union as such. This was implemented to keep the balance between slave and free states within the country; any territory north of the 36°30 Louisiana Purchase line was not allowed to be a slave state. This compromise between the states of Missouri and Maine would be known as “The Missouri Compromise''.

Upon implementing the Missouri Compromise, Kansas and Nebraska were required to ban slavery within their territories, as it was not yet determined if slavery could continue to move West. In response, senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed the “Kansas-Nebraska Act” in 1854. This proposal stated that the territory of Kansas should have the right to decide whether to be a slave or a free state. This proposal ignited outrage amongst the Abolitionists and nearly began a civil war within Kansas.

Lincoln Douglas Debates: Topics

Slavery

As the sitting Senator of Illinois since 1847, Stephen A. Douglas was challenged for his position in 1858 by Republican representative Abraham Lincoln. It was decided between the two candidates that there would be a total of 7 debates held in the state's Congressional district; each would be 3 hours long.

Fig. 2 - Abraham Lincoln.

States Rights

Throughout their debates, Abraham Lincoln emphasized his views on the injustice of slavery, attacking Stephen A. Douglas for his proposed “Kansas-Nebraska Act” and his “Freeport Doctrine,” which he introduced at their debate in Freeport, Illinois. Both the Act and the Doctrine highlighted Douglas’s idea of “popular sovereignty”, or allowing states to decide whether slavery would be a part of their territory upon joining the Union. Knowing that the Dred Scott Decision challenged this new Doctrine, Lincoln asked Douglas how he would defend this idea given the standing decision of the United States Supreme Court. Douglas replied that the decisions made by the residents of the states are more important than the Supreme Court's word.

Fig. 3 - Stephen A. Douglas

Lincoln Douglas Debates: Effects

Despite gaining enormous popularity and becoming widely known for his public speaking, Abraham Lincoln lost the senatorial election of Illinois to Stephen A. Douglas (54-46) in October of 1858. In 1860 however, Lincoln was elected president of the United States due to his new reputation. As Lincoln had predicted, the country could not withstand such heavy tensions between its Northern and Southern states. The country had finally reached its breaking point, resulting in the Civil War's beginning in April of 1861.

Lincoln Douglas Debates: Significance

Though Stephen A. Douglas won the debates and kept his Senatorial seat, he lost much of his support from Southern Democrats who undyingly supported slavery and its expansion into the West. Douglas took a more neutral stance on slavery, leaving it up to the state members to decide; in turn, leaving many slave owners at a disadvantage knowing they would soon be outnumbered by the rising Abolitionist ideology from the North.

Effects of the Debates

Upon losing his support from Southern Democrats, when the Democratic Party held their convention in 1860 to determine a Presidential candidate, Southern Democratic delegates walked out upon realizing that Douglas was their front-runner. Southern Democrats wanted a candidate that would firmly place their beliefs and party stance on slavery, with no compromises. The Party would eventually split into 3 separate groups with 3 separate candidates, giving Abraham Lincoln, the only Republican candidate, a significant advantage. Now the Democratic supporters' votes would be split into 3, making it much more difficult to overtake the opponent.

When Lincoln won the election with 180 electoral votes, the country rapidly fell apart, with states claiming their secession as early as one month after his official election. The Civil War would begin soon after, and Lincoln would lead the country for two terms through its long and bitter battles.