Lincoln vs. Douglas: The Debates Over Slavery in Illinois

Created by: Jade Hayslip

Grade: 8

Teacher: Ms. Breiner

What was life like back then?

• Life in 1850’s was divided by the northern U.S. and the southern U.S.

• In the North, people had metal and wood textiles and about a 20 million people

• In the South, agriculture and farming was done by slaves on plantations. Approximately 4 million people lived here.

• The North• Because of the Industrial

Revolution, railroads and factories were huge.

• Factories were in horrible conditions; nonetheless, it greatly improved the economy.

• Trains were just invented and provided a new and faster way of transportation of people and goods.

• The South• Southerners didn’t have

as much knowledge of industry as the North, so they relied on farming.

• The climate and soil were perfect for planting crops, mainly tobacco and cotton.

• Since agriculture was hard work, people had slaves to do the work for them.

Political Life

• Back then, the United States also had two main parties: the Democrats and the Whigs.

• Democrats were mostly supportive with farming and slavery.

• Whigs supported anti-slavery. However, when asked this questioned, no one wanted to answer and risk their political career. The party disappeared completely after the Civil War.

• The Republican party formed as the new anti-slavery party when the Whigs didn’t respond. It is now one of the most famous parties today.

The Social Life

• Ordinary people in the 1850’s lived in isolated log cabins or crowded cities.

• For income, men either worked in different kinds of factories or farmed.

• Women either worked in sewing factories or stayed home to look after the children and tend to the house.

Economics in the 1850’s

• Dollar bills were larger back than and were produced by different banking companies.

• Coins were made of usually gold and silver.

• Even if it was foreign coins, people still weighted them for their value.

Abraham Lincoln

• Lincoln was part of the new Republican party.

• However, Radical Republicans also attacked him.

• They wanted harsher treatment on the people of the South, but Lincoln didn’t agree with that.

• Douglas was a Democrat Senator for Illinois.

• Before the debates, Douglas designed the Kansas-Nebraska act (it was passed) in 1854.

• The act said that states had a right to choose whether or not to legalize slavery or not.

Stephen A. Douglas

The Debates of 1858: Part 1

• In 1858, both Lincoln and Douglas ran for Senator.

• Both agreed to have seven debates in seven different cities throughout Illinois.

• This event would, no matter what, turn around the U.S. government for both better and worse.

• Each debate gained great media coverage, making sure anybody knew what was happening.

The Debates of 1858: Part 2

• In every debate, the main idea was slavery and how it should be handled in then-modern society.

• Douglas often claimed Lincoln wanted to over-power laws about slavery because they hold no equal rights for blacks.

• Lincoln countered back by arguing for humane equality, but not social.

The Debates of 1858: Part 3• Probably the most famous debate was the one at

Freeport, the one in which Douglas recited the infamous “Freeport Doctrine”.

• Lincoln asked an important question at Freeport, one that asked Douglas to decided between sovereignty of the people or the Dred Scott case in the U.S. Supreme Court.

• Douglas responded by saying despite the Supreme Court ruling, slavery could be chosen by the people whether it is legal or not in different states, which greatly out-casted Douglas in the South because he technically supported anti-slavery by going with popular sovereignty.

The Theme: Debate

• Lincoln was was arguing his point about slavery to Douglas in these debates and Douglas was arguing his point; therefore, the two were engaged in a debate, particularly about slavery.

• Debate is easily proven in this PowerPoint due to the fact that Lincoln and Douglas pointing out two different sides to one idea. That is the definition of debate, which is a political aspect.

• Since the topic is a debate, it is directly related to the theme. It is almost impossible to prove it is a debate when it already is.

The Theme: Diplomacy

• The definition of diplomacy: the conduct of government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations.

• Stephen A. Douglas was still technically Senator of Illinois, so he was a government official discussing negotiations about slavery to someone who’s in the running to become a government official.

The Civil War• After Lincoln lost the senate seat, the debates still

made him famous, which helped him win presidency by 485,706 votes against Douglas.

• After many southern states seceded from the Union, the Civil War began.

• The war lasted 4 years, sadly, almost all of Lincoln’s time in office.

• It ended when Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant in 1865.

• Unfortunately, John Wilkes Booth shot and killed Lincoln while he was attending a play.

• Booth and his co-conspirators were later captured, tried, found guilty, and hung.

Racial Equality• Although the law declared slaves free, voting was still

restricted by many racists by threats and law restrictions.

• It wasn’t until the 1960’s, almost 100 years later, that racial equality was reached.

• Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech was spoken during the Washington March on August 28, 1963, declaring equality of races.

• The Civil Rights Act, created by John F. Kennedy and passed by Lyndon Johnson, made it a law that no segregation could happen and could be punishable by law.

The End

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