Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Some of the most famous debates in American history, the Lincoln-Douglas political debates were each three hours long and took place in seven different towns in Illinois from August through October 1858.

As you learn about the men, the issues, and the debates, you will practice evaluating how the debaters presented their arguments and whether they backed up the claims they made.

• Who were Lincoln and Douglas, and what did they debate about?

Lincoln

You probably know Abraham Lincoln as the U.S. President who led America through the Civil War.

If you had known Lincoln as a child, you might have found it unbelievable that this poor young farmer's son, born in a one-room log cabin, could rise to the top leadership position in the country.

But Lincoln was smart, loved to read and study, and worked hard. As a young man, he worked on a steamboat, at a general store, and then at a post office.

He got involved in local politics and won an election to become an Illinois state legislator. He taught himself the law, passed an exam to become a lawyer, and then decided to run for the Senate.

Douglas

Known as the Little Giant due to his height of only 5' 4" and his big impact on the American political scene, Stephen Douglas was born in Vermont and moved to Illinois at age twenty.

Like Lincoln, Douglas also studied to become a lawyer. Interestingly, he also briefly courted Mary Todd, who became Lincoln's wife! Unlike Lincoln, who belonged to the Whig party, Douglas became heavily involved in the Democratic party, which helped him become more organized and well-run.

Douglas was elected to the House of Representatives and, later, to the U.S. Senate. He was running for re-election as senator when Lincoln challenged him on the issues, and they began their famous debates.

The Issue

• Did you correctly guess that slavery was the most important issue when Lincoln and Douglas debated?

Some of the U.S. states were slave states, allowing slavery, and some were free states, where slavery was not allowed. The country was growing and adding new states and territories, and each time a new entity came in, there was debate about whether it would be slave or free.

Douglas devised a plan he called popular sovereignty, which was the idea that the settlers in each territory should decide the issue for themselves.

Lincoln became part of the newly-created Republican Party, which opposed slavery being allowed in any of the new western territories. In a 1858 speech before the Republican State Convention, Lincoln quoted the Bible when he said the following.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

The Debates

Watch a short video that explains more about the issues and the debates.

As you saw in the video, the debates greatly impacted the country.

Now that you've learned about the Lincoln-Douglas debates, move to the Got It? section to review and practice analyzing the arguments of these two powerful and persuasive speakers.