The Infamous Lincoln-Douglas Disputations The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 hold great significance in America's political history. These seven debates for Senate drew tens of thousands of attendees to several cities around Illinois. Its main arguments brought forth slavery's complex division in America as well as the separation of the union because of it. Although Lincoln did not win the election, these debates proved to be the platform for Lincoln's principles and helped his rise towards presidency. Both Lincoln and Douglas argued differing opinions surrounding what they construe the meaning regarding certain parts of slavery and freedom to be. Douglas starts the debate by asking the fellow attendees questions regarding negroes. He understands
Sectional Tensions Gadsden Purchase: The Gadsden Purchase was a treaty made in 1853 by James Gadsden of South Carolina. Gadsden was appointed by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to secure a chunk of Mexico for a railway route. He was able to negotiate land along the southern tips of current day Arizona and New Mexico, the northern border of Mexico, for $10 million from Spaniard Santa Anna. The land Gadsden had managed to obtain would have made making a southern railroad much more simple than cutting through more northern mountains.
At Freeport, Illinois, on August 27, 1858, in the second of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas stated that “slavery” could legally be barred from the territories if the territorial legislatures simply refused to enact the type of police regulations necessary to make slavery work. Without a legal framework and enforcement officials, slavery would be excluded” (Freeport Doctrine n.d.). This statement, though not too popular with the South, was listed as one of the reason that Douglas was able to retain his current seat in the U.S.
Where a not so well known Republican, Abraham Lincoln, challenged the reputable Democrat, Stephen A. Douglas, to a series of seven open-air debates to be done throughout Illinois on the issue of slavery in territories. Douglas supported popular sovereignty, which is the allowing of inhabitants of a territory to vote for or against slavery in that territory. He also held that slavery was not immoral, but thought an unsuitable labor system for some places. Lincoln, on the other hand, held that slavery was immoral, and a labor system based on greed. The main difference between Lincoln and Douglas was that Douglas believed popular sovereignty would inevitably lead to slavery ceasing on its own, while Lincoln saw the only way to end slavery was through legislation.
During Abraham Lincoln’s presidency at the start of the 1860, an issue that had divided the nation was slavery. Lincoln’s election to presidency as a republic was not received well by the Southern slave states, as they thought that as a republican he was out to abolish slavery. In an effort to calm southern states and keep them from seceding from the United States, he attempts to ease them with his First Inaugural Address. In his First Inaugural Address his key points are to clam southern leaders of slave states, keep the states from seceding, and make them at ease as he enters presidency.
In 1858 in Illinois state election there was about seven debates that took place there. These seven debates were called the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The two main people that were involved in these debates were Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. A very short summary of what the Lincoln-Douglas Debates were about is that they were mainly discussing two main topics. These two topics were slavery and State Rights.
The issue of slavery discussed during the debates continued to divide the nation, but a new viewpoint on this issue was now introduced. Ultimately, the Lincoln-Douglas debates challenged the disunion of the nation over slavery and encouraged the country to accept the idea that a nation divided against itself cannot
Lincoln also spoke out to the legislatures about outlawing slavery. Both candidates fired back at each other about who was right and who wasn’t, they also seemed to like “calling out” each other's plans and futuristic
Stephen Douglas, an advocate of popular sovereignty, and Abraham Lincoln, a Republican candidate, were both running to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. These two men met in a sequence of seven debates before they battled for office of presidency in the election of 1858. Slavery eventually became the main issue discussed repeatedly in each of the debates, due to the Mexican War adding new territories left to be assessed as free soil or not. During this time, the Compromise of 1850 was a temporary fix to the sectional issues for the states that made the decision to participate in the extension of slavery. However, the Missouri Compromise of 1854 brought the issue back up again.
This excerpt appeared in the Appendix of his autobiography and labeled the trends that he detailed in previous sections with examples from his own masters. As a freed slave, Douglas remarked on his experience in order to further the anti-slavery movement and did so by stripping down the religious defenses that were appealed to as justification for the slaveholding religion. In highlighting the hypocrisy, he was able to influence a larger audience with logic and first-hand accounts of pain and sorrow, bruising many peoples’ conceptions of the United States. His work reached the United Kingdom and was translated into other languages. The distinctions that were outlined were not made to exaggerate aspects of the institution but to share a conclusion based on explicit evidence, and it made audiences uncomfortable.
Abraham Lincoln, Frederic Douglass, were one of the most appealing well-known speakers, people who did believe that slavery was morally wrong and devote their lives to fight for freedom. However, there are several differences between the view of the Constitution’s position differences between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Kansas-Nebraska Act indicated that the recognition of slavery should be determined by the decision of these residents (popular or squatter sovereignty). This act itself conflicted heavily with the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, which was essentially seen as the admittance of slavery anywhere in the country. This act made a political issue of confrontation between North and South.
douglas tried to show the people that blacks were intelligent and as talented as white were and deserved freedom. Douglass thought that he wasn't the only one that deserved to be free, so instead of retiring, he had joined the abolitionist and worked with Lincoln so they could do what was right for the black people. This later made him believe that the constitution was a pro slavery document because the decision of 1875 of the supreme court gave the ability to slave owner to have possession of their slaves even i f slavery was illegal in some places. This made him believe that the union was going to break up. frederick thought this way because his country needed a new constitution and it was going to happen even if it did
he uses bold words and biting criticism to call attention to the gross injustices and hypocrisy of slavery in the United States. In the opening remarks of his speech, Douglas provides heart-wrenching descriptions to pull his audience into the lives of their fellow
Coming from slavery himself, he despised the Fugitive Slave Law for the simple fact that slavery “has no right to exist anywhere.” I find a critical part of his speech, is the attention getting device. Since this speech was given on the Fourth of July, Douglas starts off his speech by sharing gratitude for our nation’s founding fathers.
There were many important Compromises between the years of 1820 and 1860, some that worked completely and some that didn’t. In the early nineteenth century, people were good at compromising and making things work for everyone. How long did perfect compromising actually last? Slavery began to split the nation apart, causing compromising to become hard to do.
First, Frederick Douglass uses rhetorical questions to elucidate to the listener the many social inequalities between black and white people. For example, Frederick Douglass says, “Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice embodied in the Declaration of Independence extended to us?” (para. 1). He is implying that the rights stated in the Declaration of Independence are not given to those of African American race. The audience will begin to realize that they are not treated with the same liberties as those who are considered free.