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Lincoln-Douglas Debate Essay examples

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Every single moment that takes place in history arguably leaves an effect that lasts much longer than just the initial outcome. The Lincoln Douglas Debates are by far one of the truest examples of this happening. The seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas that took place in 1858 had extreme importance in Illinois that created effects that decided the presidential election of 1860.
The Lincoln Douglas debates were a series of several debates that took place all over the state of Illinois. In these debates, two men argued in order to express their beliefs and standpoints on certain issues, primarily slavery, in an attempt to be elected into a seat in the U.S. Senate. The two men that participated in these debates were …show more content…

Abraham Lincoln began as a lawyer born in Kentucky who gained attention to himself through having contrasting beliefs to Douglas over the topic of slavery. Through the Lincoln Douglas debates, Lincoln morphed into a candidate prepared to become an unforgettable president (History).
On June 16, 1858 made the statement “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” in a speech about slavery, deeply contrasting with Douglas’s views and speaking about the conspiracy of the democratic plot to get slavery legalized in every state. This conspiracy, of course, was being partly conspired by Stephen Douglas. Three weeks later, Stephen Douglas refuted these claims while also calling Abraham Lincoln a dangerous abolitionist (Looking for Lincoln). Being an abolitionist at the time held a very negative connotation because abolitionists were often irrational extremists (Morel 4). The following evening, in the exact same place as Douglas had spoken, Lincoln spoke once more.
The Lincoln Douglas debates all began due to the fact that Douglas had been travelling all over the state of Illinois making speeches in order to increase the likelihood of his chance to be reelected into the U.S. Senate. More often than not, less than a week later, sometimes the very same night, the annoying Republican candidate, Lincoln would follow suit and speak to the same group of

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