The Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858, also known as The Great Debates of 1858, were seven different political debates. These debates were between the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln and the Democratic Party candidate, Stephen A. Douglas. During this period of time, United States senators were elected by the state legislatures. Due to the fact the state legislatures elect the United States senator, both Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas are fighting for themselves to prove to the Illinois legislatures that they deserve the spot.
Each and every one of the different seven debates dealt with both of these men in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats. They both had to agree upon debating in seven of the nine Illinois Congressional Districts. They chose the seven specific areas to debate because they wanted somewhere that
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Douglas would start the debate with one hour to state whatever it is they want. The other person, that didn’t speak first, would then be given and hour and a half to say what they want. It then goes back for thirty more minutes to the person who spoke first to give their rebuttal. Due to the fact there was an odd number of debates one of them went first one more time than the other person. Stephen A. Douglas was the guy who went first four times meaning Abraham Lincoln only went first 3 times.
Even tho Illinois was a free state, the main issue they discussed was slavery in the United States, particularly stopping the expansion of slavery in the territories. In the First debate, in Ottawa, as many as twelve thousand people showed up. Douglas mainly stated, “You, sir, are a radical abolitionist who wants to turn Illinois into a colony for free blacks!” Lincoln’s main argument was, “No, I'm not! You want to expand slavery across the entire nation!” In the second debate, Lincoln spoke first, he started off by answering some direct questions that Douglas proposed in the first debate. Lincoln then
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.
Senate, however there are those who believe that it was actually Lincoln who won the debates, because even though Lincoln failed to win a Senate seat, his battle with Douglas had placed him into the national spotlight, and made him a serious presidential candidate for the US Presidency in 1861. More support for those who believe Lincoln won the debates was when Lincoln did go on to win the Presidential Election and become the 16th President of the United State. It is noted regarding the debates with Douglas that Lincoln himself said “his defeat was a slip and not a fall" (Digital History ID 3284,
In Lincoln’s First inaugural Address he attacks this immense problem of slavery. He begins with a promise that states that although he is a republican
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.
Events such as Harpers ferry, The Lecompton Constitution, and the debate between Lincoln and Douglas heightened sectional conflicts. White abolitionist, John Brown, initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over the United States weaponry , at Harper 's Ferry Virginia. The Lecompton Constitution allowed Kansas to be admitted into the Union as a slave State which brought more conflicts between the North and the South. Lincoln 's and Douglas debate was a debate in a campaign for one of Illinois two United States senate seats. The main issues discussed in all seven debates was slavery.
Through this discussion, both sides of politics and science nearly outdid each other in stating facts about IQ and race. Many times the two in this discussion would bring up the suffering of African Americans and how their IQs were at a low. But through the two different debates of Sam Harris and Ezra Klein. They use their styles of speaking to try and educate yet persuade the audience on IQ scores with race. The debate itself was interesting due to both strong characters.
Abraham Lincoln was, overall, a confident man. It is common knowledge to most that he was always telling stories and reeling audiences in with speeches. In the case of this presidential election, though, Lincoln was very certain that McClellan would win the election. Not only did he not have the support of half of the democrats, but he also would be the first president of nine to win reelection to serve his second term, according to USHistory.org. Andrew Jackson was the last president to serve his second term as the president of the United States, and Lincoln was very uncertain he would be the next to carry his presidency into his second
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis The purpose of this speech is detailed in the time period. This speech was written/spoken at the end of the American Civil war. It is President Lincoln’s way of putting a tentative end to the war and a start to the recovery period. He is still oppressing the south in his diction when he states “Both parties deprecated war: but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.
President Abraham Lincoln uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in his Second Inaugural Address to pose an argument to the American people regarding the division in the country between the northern states and the southern states. Lincoln gives this address during the American Civil War, when politics were highly debated and there was a lot of disagreement. Lincoln calls for the people of America to overcome their differences to reunite as one whole nation once more. Lincoln begins his Second Inaugural Address by discussing the American Civil War and its ramifications.
In this election, Lincoln and Douglas had some series of debates over slavery. Although Lincoln never exactly stated that he wanted to abolish slavery, much of the South believed he was an Abolitionist. At his speech in 1858 in Springfield Illinois, Lincoln wanted the nation to be one thing or another, meaning all free or all slave, because it couldn’t keep going on how it was, else it would fall apart. In his speech, Lincoln said, “...but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other” (Doc G).
President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.
The Great Debaters is an intriguing film set in the 1930s about a professor that goes by the name of Melvin Tolson who teaches students from Wiley College, in Texas, the fundamentals of debating. During this day in age, if an African American didn’t “stay in their place” they would be ridiculed for such insane behavior. One can only imagine how difficult it must have been for them to get through a debate without caring if they had crossed the line on a touchy subject. But through it all this debate team became one of the most successful teams in America. They were undefeated after they won national championships over Harvard University.
The Great Debaters resembles the true story of four debaters (Samantha Brooke, Henry Lowe, Hamilton Burgess & James Farmer) of Wylie College lead by the visionary professor Tolson. Different historical issues such as the Jim Crow laws in the south, federal assistance, racial segregation, and even communism are debated during the movie. The movie depicts development from amateur apprentices to word debaters in an era of hate and fear in the United States as well as other nations on the globe. The Wylie College begins the season challenging Paul Quinn College; the latter argues the need to end welfare when the Depression is over and the former argues the negative.
Sonika Rathi Period: 9 Topic 1: Movie Topic Intro Movie Name: The Great Debaters Prominent Stars: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, and Denzel Whitaker Basic Setting: The setting took place during 1930’s at American South, Wiley College Texas. During this time period Jim Crow law as well as lynch mobs was very common against the black. Type of film: Drama based on true story Topic 2: Plot Summary • Professor Tolson inviting some of his students to his house to make a debate team auditions. At the auditions some students show up.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter discusses the introduction of the study containing background of the study, problem of the study, objectives of the study and definition of key terms 1.1 Background of the Study Debate is a discussion about an issue or problem. The formal debate consists of two sides: one supporting the issue and one that opposes it. “Debating involves... [parties] in expressing their opinions from two different perspectives with the goal of contradicting each other’s arguments” (Chang & Cho, 2010 p,1). Thus, debate is an activity of conveying arguments between two or more parties, either individually or in groups, in context and in decisions (Tarigan, 1990 p, 120).