Lincoln-Douglas Debate Essay Example

In the year 1858, both Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln ran for the senate seat in Illinois. Several debates were held in various cities between the two competitors. Lincoln and Douglas were opposed to one another, Lincoln was a Republican and Douglas was a Democrat, so they both had different opinions on what should happen to slavery. The Southerners were against the abolition of slavery because slavery was the foundation of their economy, so they feared Lincolns chances at presidency.

Stephen Douglas was a Democrat who supported the Southerners of the United States. He was pro-slavery and didn’t consider it an issue. Douglas also supported the Dred Scott decision which was when the United States Supreme Court decided that slavery would be upheld in the US territories and the legality of the blacks citizenship was denied which made slaves property. The Dred Scott decision also claimed that the Missouri compromise, which didn’t allow the southerners to have a chance of expanding their land North, was unconstitutional. Douglas was also someone who used popular sovereignty. He was challenged many times to explain what popular sovereignty was, so he responded with the Freeport Doctrine. The Freeport Doctrine explained Douglas’s belief about how people in the state (new territory) should have the ability to decide whether that new territory would be considered a slave or free state. This was a situation that affected both the Northerners and the Southerners because the Northerners still wouldn’t get their full shot of destroying slavery, and the Southerners were upset that there was even a possibility of getting rid of slavery. When it came time for the citizens to vote on who would take place in the senate seat, Douglas twists his words about Lincolns opinion on slavery and tells the locals that Lincoln is against slavery, he does this so that he can gain pro-slavery supporters. In the end, Douglas ended up winning the senate seat in Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln was a Republican who supported the Northerners of the United States. He wanted to stop the expansion of slaver, especially out westward, but he wasn’t fighting for any social and political equality for the blacks. Lincoln was okay with what the current issue of slavery was at the time, but he was unwilling to let it continue into other states. Lincolns idea was to keep slavery where it was at that moment in time and fight against any expansion. He later became Paresident of the United States two years after he lost the running for the Illinois senate position. Many people in the South feared Abraham Lincoln because of his siding with the North. The end of slavery would mean that the Southerners’ economy would plummet downhill. Since President Lincoln sided with the North, the South felt as if they had no voice in the federal government. The South also relied on slavery because they used slaves to work their fields to keep their economy growing. But Lincoln wanted to free slaves whenever he could, which made the Southerners threaten to break away from the US nation. In the end, slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment which president Lincoln accepted.

Lincoln and Douglas competed against each other and had different views about what should happen about the issue of slavery. When Abraham Lincoln became president two years after he ran against Douglas for the senate seat, he was able to completely abolish slavery and it has been kept that way from then on. This removal of slavery upset the Southerners because slavery was what kept increasing their economy. The debates for the senate position at the time showed people the drastic differences between Republicans and Democrats.