Douglas and Abraham Lincoln Debate of 

1858

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BackgroundStephen A. Douglas was a Democrat incumbent in the

election for a seat in the U.S. Senate, since he had earlier been elected a senator in the year 1948.

Abraham Lincoln was relatively unknown, despite serving a single term in the United States House of representatives from 1847 to 1849.

United States constitution, as originally drafted, provided for the election of United States Senators by the state legislatures, rather than the general electorate.

Douglas and Lincoln were conducting campaigns for the election of state representatives.

Elected representatives would later support their respective candidates for the senator’s seat.

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Features of the debateOn slavery, Lincoln made a call for Republicans to unite

against what he expressed as a slave power conspiracy in his speech, “House Divided”.

He portrayed Douglas as the chief conspirator who aimed at extending slavery throughout the territories and the states of the Union.

Douglas defended his struggle to keep slavery out of Kansas by citing the “great principle of self-government”, on which his political beliefs were based.

He held beliefs that people of each state and territory had a right to decide for themselves the domestic institutions that they wanted, including slavery.

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Features of the debateThe Missouri Compromise, enacted in 1820, kept

featuring in the Douglas and Lincoln debate.Was a series of laws that limited slavery in parts

of the Louisiana Purchase.Stated that slavery could not be permitted in the

lines north of the southern border of Missouri.Douglas had led Senators from the south in

repealing the section of the Missouri Compromise that had limited the spread of slavery.

The action had given the residents of Kansas and Nebraska popular sovereignty.

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Features of the debateLincoln had argued that the Declaration of

Independence and its Equality clause meant that all people in America were equal regardless of race

Need of eliminating the slavery of African Americans.

Douglas had argued that Lincoln’s appeals on the Equality clause were misplaced as the signers of the Independence Declaration never meant to include blacks in the Equality clause.

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Features of the debateDouglas believed that freeing the slaves

could lead to a civil war.He had warned Lincoln to stop campaigning

for the abolishment of slavery.Douglas emphasized that the people in every

state and territory had the right to choose for themselves their domestic institutions, including slavery.

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Features of the debateThe Lecompton constitution, drawn up in 1857

by the proslavery Kansas state to admit the territory into the United States as a slave state, was another focus of the debate.

Douglas’ opposition to the constitution made him popular with some Republicans in Illinois.

The situation disappointed Lincoln, as he did not want Douglas to influence the Republican Party.

The development further influenced Lincoln to challenge Douglas for the United States senate seat.

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Fallout from the DebateResulted in divisions between the states over

the slavery question, which was the main subject of debate in Illinois.

Democrats, led by Douglas, were viewed by Republicans as being responsible for the spread of slavery across the United States.

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