Stephen A. Douglas’s First Speech of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)
In 1858 Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, opponents in a race for the U.S. Senate, agreed to hold a series of six debates, now collectively known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. The debates were held at various cities across Illinois throughout the late summer and fall leading up to the elections for the state legislature. Senators were still elected by the state legislatures rather than by direct election, and the only hope Republican Lincoln had of defeating incumbent Douglas was to change the balance in the predominantly Democratic Illinois House and Senate. Inasmuch as Lincoln had electrified the nation with his House Divided Speech to begin the campaign and was challenging the most powerful U.S. senator and the one most directly responsible for the extension of slavery (in reality or possibility), the debates were closely followed by the entire country and set the stage for the presidential election of 1860 between the same two candidates.
In Douglas's...
