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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates During The Civil War

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The Civil War is arguably the most devastating war that has ever befallen the United States. Nearly 1,264,000 soldiers have died in the nation’s wars – and almost half of them, roughly 620,000 people, died during the Civil war. Ironically, the bloodiest war in American history occurred between the citizens of the country. The Civil War occurred due to the opposing viewpoints of those who resided in the Union. The North believed that the South had too much representation in the Congress and Supreme Court, while the South believed that the North had too much influence in the House of Representatives. Due to this each group was afraid that the latter would have too much influence over the government and fought each other at every step. The fights …show more content…

Stephan A. Douglas was for the Democratic Party and was also the designer of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He urged the point that people should be able to choose if a territory is a slave state or a free state, as well as pointing out much evidence in the Constitution that suggested that the Founding Fathers were not against the concept of slavery as many of them owned slaves. However, Lincoln took the moral route and stated that this was a war between right and wrong and Douglas was advocating for the wrong side. Because of this, the public was divided on who to vote …show more content…

Dred Scott was a slave who sought citizenship through the American legal system, and his case ended up in the Supreme Court. The Dred Scott Decision, in 1857, denied Scott’s decision to become a citizen by stating that no person with African blood has the right to become a U.S citizen. Besides denying citizenship to African-Americans, it also overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had restricted slavery in certain U.S. territories. However, even before that there were many “amendments” or new laws put in place which had effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise. For example, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The Act stated that the white males who moved in to populate the territories would have the right to vote and with popular sovereignty have the right to decide whether or not to allow slavery in the

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Douglas won the Illinois senate seat with his answer that later became known as the Freeport Doctrine. The only drawback was that his answer further alienated the South which led to him being stripped of power in the Senate and also contributed to the division of the Democratic

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Unlike many other historian’s accounts of the Lincoln and Douglas debates Allen C. Guelzo analyzes the debates by placing them into a balanced perspective, in The Debates That Defined America. For one reason, Guelzo was not bias in portrayal of either Lincoln or Douglas, their campaigns, or the political state of Illinois. Most importantly it was Guelzo’s attention to the entire state of Illinois. Along with its political happenings surrounding the time of the senatorial election and debates. Debates, as argued by Allen C. Guelzo, that would prove to be more influential in shaping american politics than deciding Illinois Senatorial Election of 1858.

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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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Tensions between the north and the south were building up prior to the Civil War as slavery became a heated issue between those two regions. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 required

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This act had limited the spread of slavery into the new territories. Dred was influenced to become who he is from all the hardships he’s faced as a slave and as a social activist suing for his freedom. Dred Scott became more noticed and popular when he fought in court against Sandford to gain his freedom (Dred Scott v Sandford). Dred had to overcome many things in his life to become who he was. For example, Dred scott’s guardian ms.ermon sold him to her brother; he had been a slave for a long time until he battled in court for his

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For Lincoln, one of these main occurrences that influenced him was the Dred Scott decision handed down by Justice Roger B. Taney. In his final decision, Taney concluded that no African-American could truly become an American citizen. This decision was in opposition to the beliefs of a large section of the American populous, Lincoln and his Republican party included. Lincoln’s ideals as a Republican were fighting to stop the spread of slavery, not the abolishment of the institution as a whole. Lincoln epitomizes this when he wrote “peaceful extinction of slavery…” this meant Lincoln did not necessarily see the need behind the ending of slavery completely rather then its complete existence being

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Another example of growing sectional divisions over the issue of slavery spreading is the Dred Scott Decision of 1857 (Doc 9). In this court case, the U.S. supreme court ruled that slaves have no rights, and that slavery was free to expand into the territories. This decision pleased southern defenders of slavery, and angered northern abolitionists, further dividing the

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The Civil War is characterized as the bloodiest war in American History. From 1861 to 1865, the North and South fought over several of disagreements and encounters. The Civil War caused hundreds and thousands of men to lose their life, about 620,000 soldiers had died. The Civil War was fought in Pennsylvania, Texas, New Mexico, and Florida. Civil War began because the North wanted to abolish slavery, the South seceded from the Union, and the North overpowered the South.

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In 1847 Dred Scott sued his slave owners widow for his freedom. Scott’s argument was that since he had previously been a residence of the free state of Illinois he was a free man. Scott eventually lost the case when, in 1857, it was brought to the Supreme Court who ruled in a 7-2 majority against Scott. The court stated that due to the fact that Scott was of African descent he could not be an American citizen, and therefore not sue in federal courts. The court also ruled that the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional, effectively allowing slavery in all states and territories.

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In 1858, Abraham Lincoln lost a U.S. Senate race to Stephen A. Douglas after a series of debates on slavery. In 1859, Lincoln and Douglas delivered speeches on the Ohio Statehouse grounds. Lincoln came to Columbus in support of William Dennison, the Republican candidate for Ohio Governor. In his first Ohio speech, Lincoln spoke to a small crowd of fifty people on the east terrace of the Statehouse.

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man we later saw running for the presidency of the United States with the Republican Party ticket, and his name was Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln believed in the equality of all Americans, whether black or white. As pointed in the “Lincoln Douglas debate” reading, where his argument was quoted, Abraham Lincoln referred to the United States of America as “House divide”. It was divided between the opponents and advocates of slavery, he believed the idea of everyone being free and entitled to their rights and the institution of slavery could not both exist under the same roof- morally, socially or legally under one nation. It was either slavery or no slavery, but he was rooting for a slave free nation.

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My dad often tells me of how the civil war killed some of his friends and family and left others destitute. It also forced him to take his wife and child to America. The Roman civil war had a similar effect killing hundreds of thousands and leading to the autocratic Roman Empire. Text-to-Text: Fall of Rome

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The Civil War The Civil War was the deadliest war in American history with over 600000 American deaths reported. This war was fought to keep the Confederate States from leaving the Union. The Union won because they had a telegraph system and had more resources. The effect of the Union victory has had a large impact on society.

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Their progressive view in the academic circles at once dominant position broadly speaking, the civil war was the deadliest conflict in American history. However, our traditional measure of the impact of War (casualties of war) is not sufficient to reflect the losses caused by the war. The first is the environmental disaster, which continues for a long time after the fighting subsides. Even say, never die. All wars bring disaster to the environment.

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Causes of the Civil War “No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide,” - Abraham Lincoln. The Civil War is known as one of the greatest tragedies in American history. With over 620,000 deaths, it is by far the most devastating war (“Civil War Facts”). When studying the Civil War, one must question why it even happened in the first place.

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