Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated for the Illinois Senate seat seven times between August and October 1858.
In 1858, Stephen Douglas, the two-term Senator from Illinois, ran for a third term against a former one-term congressman and lawyer named Abraham Lincoln. The two would debate seven times in seven different congressional districts across Illinois. The format was the same for each. The first speaker would begin with a one-hour address to the assembled crowd. The other would then follow with an hour and a half address. Finally, the first speaker would finish with a half-hour rebuttal. Douglas went first in four of the seven debates.
The contrast between the two men was apparent not only in the appearances of the short and stocky Douglas and the tall and thin Lincoln. Although the debates discussed many issues, including states’ rights, the principal issue was slavery and whether it should be allowed to expand into the U.S. territories.
Douglas argued for the idea of popular sovereignty, which meant that the people of each territory should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. He contended that if given the choice to decide, the territories would choose to be free. Lincoln took the position that slavery was a “moral, social, and political wrong” and, therefore, opposed any expansion of it.
Lincoln stated:
“It is the eternal struggle between two principles. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same spirit that says, “You toil and work and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.” No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.”
The debates had a significant influence on American history as Lincoln rose from relative obscurity to become president of the United States two years later. His knowledge of history, philosophy, and law was apparent from the beginning of the debates. Although he lost the election to Douglas, as state legislatures chose Senators at the time, he quickly rose to national prominence.
Today, the phrase “Lincoln-Douglas style” debate refers to a debate with no moderator in which the participants can talk without interruption. The actual Lincoln-Douglas debates were the most important since the country’s founding, as both men laid out visions for what America was and where it should go moving forward. Ultimately, they led to Lincoln being elected president at the country’s most challenging time.