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Douglass Vs Abraham Lincoln Essay

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The United States was divided in the ideas of slavery,freedom of slaves, or the choice for states to decide whether that slaves would be be free or not. Many citizens in America were also disagreeing on the person rights for slaves as whether they should be considered citizens, have the right to own property,or if they should have the right to vote for political issues. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809. He lived his childhood in the Kentucky and Indian frontier. Later on in his house when he was a young adult he moved to Illinois. Lincoln worked many different types of jobs in Illinois such as fighting in the Blackhawk War, being a postmaster, and practicing law. Lincoln was very little known around the community and the state …show more content…

“For four months Lincoln and Douglas crisscrossed Illinois, traveling nearly 10,000 miles and participating in seven face-to-face debates before crowds of up to 15,000.” (digitalhistory.uh.edu). The outcome of the debates and the election caught national attention because many people thought who everyone won would decide the ability of the Democratic party to stay strong together with the problems with sectionalism and the issues on slavery. Also people thought the outcome would decide if the Union was viable for the people supporting it. In the debates Douglas’s goal was to paint Lincoln to the people as a “Black Republican”. This meant he wanted people to think Lincoln was for the Nation to go into a civil war and that we wanted to make slaves have the same right as the free white citizens. Lincoln was not a full on abolitionist but did believe that slavery was morally wrong and did not want slavery spreading to the new western territories. His opponent,Douglas, believed in the idea of popular sovereignty which allowed states to determine if there state should have slaves or not. In the debates the would argue over the Kansas-Nebraska act,The decision over Dred Scott, and over slavery in state. In one debate Lincoln would set up Douglas by asking him “if people of a territory could legally exclude slavery before achieving statehood”(textbook pg ). If Douglas said yes he would be

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