illinois lawyer who famously debated stephen a. douglass in 1858

by Mr. Travon Nolan IV 10 min read

Abraham Lincoln

Was Stephen Douglas personally opposed to slavery?

Aug 18, 2008 · July 1858: Lincoln Confronts and Challenges Douglas. Lincoln had been speaking out against Douglas since the passage of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lacking an advance team, Lincoln would show up when Douglas would speak in Illinois, talking after him and providing, as Lincoln put it, a "concluding speech."

Who was Stephen Douglas's opponent in the 1858 Senate election?

Stephen A. Douglas (1813-61) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843 and to the Senate in 1846, where he emerged as a nationally prominent spokesman for the Democratic Party. He is best known for the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. Running for his third term in the Senate, Douglas was challenged by Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer from Springfield who had …

Why did Abraham Lincoln run against Stephen Douglas in 1858?

Aug 21, 2018 · From August to October of 1858, Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Illinois, took on the incumbent Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas in a series of seven debates.

What were the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858?

Douglas, Stephen A. (Douglass) b. April 23, 1813, in Brandon, Vermont; d. June 3, 1861, in Chicago, Illinois. ... In 1858, he won reelection to the United State Senate over his opponent Abraham Lincoln. ... This heated campaign included the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates that gave Lincoln national recognition. In 1860, Douglas ran against ...

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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of formal political debates between the challenger, Abraham Lincoln, and the incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats. Although Lincoln lost the election, these debates launched him into national prominence which eventually led to his …

Who debated Stephen Douglas in 1858?

Abraham Lincoln
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of formal political debates between the challenger, Abraham Lincoln, and the incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats.Feb 16, 2017

Who won the debate between Lincoln and Douglas?

In the end, Douglas triumphed over Lincoln with Democrats gaining forty-six seats to the Republican's forty-one. However, while Douglas might have won the battle, Lincoln won the true war: the 1860 Presidential Election.

What happened in the Lincoln-Douglas debate?

In the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates—all about three hours along—Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery while Douglas maintained that each territory should have the right to decide whether it would become free or allow slavery.

What was the significance of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858?

Impact of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Despite his loss, Lincoln's commanding performance in the debates with Douglas, and his eloquent and bold statement of the Republican Party's position on slavery, established him as a figure of national importance.
Jun 14, 2021

Who did Frederick Douglass debate?

Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln-Douglas debates, series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories.Apr 19, 2022

What did Douglas accuse Lincoln of during the debates?

The debates consisted of Douglas accusing Lincoln of being an abolitionist while Lincoln accused Douglas of wanting to nationalize slavery. These main topics were reflective of the major issues that the country was facing at a national level with both sides battling for what they thought would better the Union.

Who won the Illinois Senate seat between Douglas and Lincoln?

However, during the Senate race, Republicans did not have sufficient votes in the Illinois Legislature to elect Abraham Lincoln to the US Senate. Instead Douglas received 54 votes and was elected for another 6 years, while Lincoln received 46.

How did Abraham Lincoln become a lawyer?

He rigorously studied by reading a large selection of previous legal cases and law books, and in 1836, at the young age of 25, he obtained his law license. He began by writing legal forms and doing simple cases, but he became a partner with a local lawyer named John T. Stuart in 1837.

What were two results of the Lincoln-Douglas debates?

The immediate result of the debates was indeed inconclusive. Senators were then chosen by state legislatures, and in the 1858 legislative election, Illinois Republican candidates slightly outpolled their Democratic rivals.May 13, 1987

What were the 7 Lincoln-Douglas debates?

The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate.

What did Stephen Douglas do in 1833?

In 1833, at just age 20, Douglas decided he had had enough of New York and wanted to seek his fortunes out West , which was full of opportunity for an enterprising young man. Despite his mother’s protests and the fact that he had not yet completed his studies at the academy, Stephen ventured out on his own. The newer states of the west had easier conditions for admission to the bar and he was eager to begin his professional career. And so, with his purposes only partially formed and only enough money for immediate needs, he began his westerly drift. After a short stay in Buffalo, NY, and a visit to Niagara Falls, Douglas took a steamboat down to Cleveland, OH. He had initially hoped to establish himself there, it would only take him a year to gain admission to the bar in Ohio, as opposed to four years in Vermont. Within a few days, however, he was stricken with malarial typhoid and was very ill for four months. He could very easily have died. After paying all his bills, he still had forty dollars left. Douglas decided to push further west.

Where did Douglas go?

Douglas decided to push further west. He took a canal boat from Cleveland to the southern Ohio town of Portsmouth, then went west to Cincinnati. Douglas still had no well-defined purpose and drifted from city to city, stopping in Louisville and St. Louis. His money was now almost all spent, he had to find work soon.

How many children did Martha Douglas have?

They had two sons: Robert M. Douglas (1849–1917) and Stephen Arnold Douglas, Jr., (1850–1908). Martha Douglas died on January 19, 1853, after the birth of her third child, a daughter. The girl died a few weeks later, and Douglas and the two boys were bereft.

How many seats did the Democrats win in the 1856 election?

In an election that saw higher turnout than that of the 1856 presidential election, Democrats won 54 of the 100 seats in the state legislature. Despite the split with Buchanan and the strong challenge from Lincoln, the state legislature elected Senator Douglas to a third term in January 1859.

Why is Douglas Park named Douglas Park?

In 1869, a large park in Chicago was named Douglas Park in honor of the senator. In 2020 the park was renamed Douglass Park, after the abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Anna Murray Douglass.

Why was Douglas called the Little Giant?

Douglas was nicknamed the " Little Giant " because he was short in physical stature but a forceful and dominant figure in politics. Born in Brandon, Vermont, Douglas migrated to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1833 to establish a legal practice.

What did Clay do after the collapse of the bill?

After the apparent collapse of the bill, Clay took a temporary leave from the Senate, and Douglas took the lead in advocating for a compromise based largely on Clay's proposals. Rather than passing the proposals as one bill, as Clay had originally sought to do, Douglas would seek to pass each proposal one-by-one.

How many times did Douglas go first in the debates?

In the seven debates, Douglas, as the incumbent, was allowed to go first four times. We are deeply indebted to the work of the Abraham Lincoln Association in collecting Lincoln's writings and publishing them as The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln.

Who was the opponent of Lincoln in the 1858 debate?

The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of formal political debates between the challenger, Abraham Lincoln, and the incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats.

How many Illinois congressional districts did Lincoln and Douglas debate?

Lincoln and Douglas agreed to debate in seven of the nine Illinois Congressional Districts; the seven where Douglas had not already spoken.

Who owns the copyright to the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln?

The copyright to The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln is owned by the Abraham Lincoln Association, and any further copying or use of these debate transcripts must be with their permission. First Debate Ottawa, Illinois, August 21, 1858. Second Debate Freeport, Illinois, August 27, 1858.

The Lincoln-Douglass Debates

No, there is no misspelling in the title. We all remember the Lincoln-Douglas Debates from school. They were a series of face-to-face encounters all over Illinois in 1858. Abraham Lincoln challenged Sen. Stephen A. Douglas to debate on the burning issue of the day – the extension of slavery into the territories. Sen.

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What was the Lincoln-Douglas debate?

Lincoln-Douglas debates, series of seven debates between the Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories. The slavery extension question had seemingly been settled by the Missouri Compromise nearly ...

What did Lincoln challenge Douglas to do?

At Freeport Lincoln challenged Douglas to reconcile popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott decision. Douglas replied that settlers could circumvent the decision by not establishing the local police regulations—i.e., a slave code—that protected a master’s property.

What did Lincoln say in his acceptance speech?

When Lincoln received the Republican nomination to run against Douglas, he said in his acceptance speech that “A house divided against itself cannot stand” and that “this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.”.

Which Supreme Court case invalidated the popular sovereignty doctrine?

Both Douglas’s doctrine of popular sovereignty and the Republican stand on free soil were seemingly invalidated by the Dred Scott decision of 1857, in which the Supreme Court said that neither Congress nor the territorial legislature could exclude slavery from a territory.

Who was the radical who advocated racial equality and disruption of the Union?

Lincoln emphasized the moral iniquity of slavery and attacked popular sovereignty for the bloody results it had produced in Kansas. Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.

Who attacked Lincoln?

Douglas thereupon attacked Lincoln as a radical, threatening the continued stability of the Union. Lincoln then challenged Douglas to a series of debates, and the two eventually agreed to hold joint encounters in seven Illinois congressional districts. Abraham Lincoln.

Who was the Republican candidate in the 1860 presidential debate?

Lincoln, on the other hand, lost the election but won acclaim as an eloquent spokesman for the Republican cause. In 1860 the Lincoln-Douglas debates were printed as a book and used as an important campaign document in the presidential contest that year, which once again pitted Republican Lincoln against Democrat Douglas.

Early Life and Education

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He was born Stephen Arnold Douglass in Brandon, Vermont, on April 23, 1813, to physician Stephen Arnold Douglass and his wife, Sarah Fisk. The younger Douglas would drop the second "s" from his name in 1846, the year after the publication of Frederick Douglass's first autobiography; it is unknown if these two events were c…
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Early Career

  • Illinois politician
    Douglas became aligned with the "whole hog" Democrats, who strongly supported President Jackson. In 1834, with the support of the Democratic state legislator who represented Jacksonville, Douglas was elected as the State's Attorney for the First District, which encompass…
  • House of Representatives
    After decisively winning re-election in August 1844, Douglas campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate James K. Polk. During one of his first campaign appearances outside of Illinois, Douglas denounced high tariff rates, saying that they constituted "an act for the oppressi…
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Marriage and Family

  • In March 1847, he married Martha Martin, the 21-year-old daughter of wealthy Colonel Robert Martin of North Carolina. The year after their marriage, Martha's father died and bequeathed her a 2,500-acre cotton plantation with 100 slaves on the Pearl River in Lawrence County, Mississippi. He appointed Douglas the property manager but, as a senator of the free state of Illinois, and wit…
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Senator

  • Early years
    Douglas was re-elected to the House of Representatives in 1846, but the state legislature elected him to the United States Senate in early 1847. The United States defeated Mexico in the Mexican–American War and acquired the Mexican Cession in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hid…
  • Pierce administration
    After the election, Douglas expected to have influence in the selection of Pierce's cabinet, and possibly to receive a cabinet appointment himself. Defying those expectations, Pierce largely ignored Douglas and instead gave key positions to rivals of Douglas, including Buchanan and Je…
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Death

  • Douglas was struck by illness in May 1861 and was confined to his bed. Though his supporters initially expected a quick recovery, Douglas contracted typhoid fever and suffered from several other afflictions (see above). He died on June 3, coincidentally on the same day as the Battle of Philippi, the first skirmish of the American Civil War. On June 4, Secretary of War Simon Camero…
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Legacy

  • Historical reputation
    According to biographer Roy Morris Jr., Douglas "is remembered, if at all, for a hard-fought election victory that most people believe mistakenly was a defeat". Morris adds, however, that "for the better part of two decades, Douglas was the most famous and controversial politician in the …
  • Old University of Chicago
    Douglas endowed land on which a group of Baptists built the Old University of Chicago.
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See Also

Popular Culture

  • In 1861, George W. Hewitt wrote a piano piece entitled "Douglas' Funeral March" with a picture of Stephen Douglas on the cover. A funereal poem, "Bury Me in the Morning", is attributed to Douglas by some sourcesbut not by others. Jerimiah F. O'Sullivan 1. United States Congress. "Stephen A. Douglas (id: D000457)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 2. Project Gutenb…
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