The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Assigned by 2 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1858
- Language
- English
- Length
- Long · 400 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Lincoln-Douglas DebatesFordham University Press, 2004Harold Holzer's edition prints each speaker from the opposing party's newspaper transcript, the closest we can come to what was actually said.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
Seven three-hour public debates held across Illinois in the autumn of 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Senator Stephen A. Douglas, contesting Douglas's Senate seat. The central question was whether slavery should be allowed to spread into the western territories. Douglas defended popular sovereignty, the right of settlers to decide, and accused Lincoln of favouring racial equality. Lincoln argued that slavery was a moral wrong that the founders had expected to die out and that a house divided could not stand. Douglas won the seat; the debates made Lincoln a national figure.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Lincoln-Douglas Debates are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
