Why Did Abraham Lincoln Determine The Expansion Of Slavery?

The 1858 Illinois senate race between Whig candidate Abraham Lincoln and Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas emphasized the opposing views dividing the Northern and Southern states regarding the expansion of slavery and the rights laid out by the founding fathers. Lincoln did not believe that slavery should be allowed to spread outside of the slave states that were already in place. He argued that the founding fathers had already set slavery on a path to extinction by prohibiting the extension of slavery into new territory where it had not existed and wanted a return to that ideology. Douglas, however, was a firm believer in local self-governance, removed from interference from Congress. He thought that local governments should decide the slavery issue for themselves, as they had done since the nation’s founding. He felt that local laws could determine the acceptability of slavery within each

He believed that every man deserved a chance to better their condition and that Africans were equals in that they possess a “natural right” to the fruits of their labor. (Foner, 487). In tune with the ideology of the era, Lincoln did not go as far as granting Africans full rights as they applied to whites. For instance, he promoted the idea of transferring liberated slaves out of the country and was against giving them the right to vote or serve on juries. (Foner, 488, 491).
On the other hand, Douglas did not consider blacks American citizens, therefore they were undeserving the same rights and protection as whites. There was a prevailing view that Africans were beneath Anglo-Saxons in both character and intellect. He stated that the U.S. government was created “by white men for the benefit of white men.” (Foner, 488). It was Douglas’ opinion that by all men, the founders really meant all white