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Abraham Lincoln Vs. Douglas Debates

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Abraham Lincoln and Douglas competed for the 1858 presidential position. Douglas, the incumbent, had varying ideas about slavery from that of his opponent. Lincoln believed that slavery was morally wrong. Douglas on the other hand thought slavery was fine as long as the people wanted it. It was possible for them to both believe that slavery should not be taking place. “The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a defining event in American Politics”(Goldfield,389). Lincoln was a prominent lawyer in the years prior to being elected president and returned after his presidency. Lincoln represented blacks in courts where he fought for their rights to remain free, but also during the 1830s and 1840s represented slave owners. He occasionally expressed views that it was wrong to own humans, but as politician during that time, he knew he couldn’t run on a position that emphasized slavery(Black). He even said it to be a minor issue for him prior to 1854. After his switch to the Republican Party, Lincoln brought his ideas to …show more content…

Douglas didn’t believe that his feeling on slavery should have any input on slavery, but rather should reside at the local level. It should be up to the voters (white males) on whether slavery was necessary for that location. Douglas disagreed with Lincoln that trying to resolve this moral issue on the political level was going to create a civil war(Goldfield). It wasn’t up to the state to make over arching decisions on moral issues that should reflect that the wishes of the local people. The Lincoln-Douglas debates took place during the Illinois state election. It was a series of 7 debates that took place all across Illinois. During the debates the two opponents discussed issues that were important to the conflict over slavery and states’ rights(History.com). The topics discussed would continue long after the debates were over. Lincoln’s goal was to keep Illinois republicans from buying into Douglas ideals by showing the moral issues with

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Abe met and married Mary Todd Lincoln during this point of his life. He joined the new Republican Party in 1856 which led to a series of debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858 over Slavery. This led to national prominence as an anti-slavery politician. Many Southerners were enraged with his 1860 presidential nomination for this

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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.

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Lincoln's views were consistent with most of Northerners, those of them who discriminated against free blacks. Even Abraham’s home state, Illinois was prohibiting the emigration of blacks into the northern states (4). The racial equality issues were a war itself within the states. However, a war was not necessary to free the slaves (9). But, that is not the only war Abraham Lincoln had started.

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Abraham Lincoln would lead the Republican Party even though he did not win the south over in the election. He promised that he would save the Union no matter what the cost. This disconnect in policy would later lay the basis for the Civil War, which started in 1861. He never envisioned a proclamation or ending slavery but he was ultimately committed to saving the Union from the succeeding south. Lincoln gave into the antislavery Republicans toward the end of the war and finally decided to make slavery the true basis of the war.

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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.

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The Lincoln and Douglas debates were a series of seven political debates that took place in 1858 Illinois between Abraham Lincoln, (the challenger) and Stephen A. Douglas (incumbent), in a campaign for one of the two Illinois Senate seats. These debates were performed in seven of the nine Illinois Congressional Districts. There many causes but the main one was slavery territory. A large part of the debate were to address the concerning issue of slavery extension into the territories.

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You can see this in Document B, wherein 1858 Lincoln says this: “I have no purpose . . . to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists . . .” Later on in the same document he also states, “There is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights . . . in the Declaration of Independence- the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” While Lincoln was running for president, he promised to leave slavery alone in the South, but he also stays true to his personal morals through his time, that slavery

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He was largely self-educated and became a successful lawyer and politician, serving in the Illinois state legislature and the US House of Representatives before being elected President in 1860. During his presidency, Lincoln faced the daunting challenge of leading the country through the Civil War, which ultimately resulted in the abolition of slavery and the preservation of the Union. He is also known for his powerful speeches, including the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address. While both Douglass and Lincoln fought for the rights of African Americans, they had different approaches to achieving that goal. Douglass was a radical abolitionist who believed in immediate and complete emancipation, while Lincoln initially advocated for gradual emancipation and colonization of freed slaves.

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Lincoln and Douglass were self-made, self-educated, and ambitious, and each rose to success from humble backgrounds. Douglass, of course, was an escaped slave. Douglass certainly and Lincoln most likely detested slavery from his youngest days. But Lincoln from his young manhood was a consummate politician devoted to compromise, consensus-building, moderation and indirection. Douglass was a reformer who spoke and wrote eloquently and with passion for the abolition of slavery

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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.

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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).

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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.

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Vu Pham Professor Sunshine McClain History 170 May 22, 2016 Abraham Lincoln Does Not Deserve To be The Great Emancipator Abolition of slavery was a big controversy in the United State of America in the nineteenth century due to the different stances between northern and southern states which led to the American Civil war. At the present time, Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United States who supported the north (Union) thought that free the slave could help him united all the states. As the result, he passed out the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, which give freedom to slaves in the states that the Union did not control. After the war, he issued the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6, 1865, to free all slaves.

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“Buchanan, a Democrat who was morally opposed to slavery but believed it was protected by the U.S. Constitution, was elected”( Source #5)This quote explains how another president had the same mindset of Abraham but still couldn't officially end slavery. ”Taylor entered the White House at a time when the issue of slavery and its extension into the new western territories (including Texas) had caused a major rift between the North and South”(Source #7). This quote quote explains how other presidents made slavery worst. Although having different ideas than other presidents Abrahams’ assassination was unjustified because other American presidents did not make much changes or just made it worst. While Abraham Lincoln made on of the most important decisions by freeing the slaves.

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Lincoln also brings to surface the most natural difference mankind has ever known: race. It's a hard thing to deny especially when we learn about slavery based on skin color, and use words that negatively describe a person of a certain race. The sickening, but true fact is that people are judged, and receive unequal treatment based on what color they see when they look into the mirror. Even though we have no control over what color we see, America has faced this racist mind set since its existence. From slavery, to African American segregation in the and 60’s, skin color has caused people to be treated unfairly, all because of the choices nature has made for us.

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