Senatorial Campaign Essay

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Using at least three sources (an encyclopedia, the Internet, or other resources), research the. Use your information to write a 750-word report. For your three main points, discuss: 1. the causes of the debates Senatorial campaign 2. The content of the debates slavery and extensions into other territories 3. The results of the debates Lincoln lost 54 to 46 During the year 1858 Abraham Lincoln, at the time a Republican candidate for the Senate in Illinois, and Senator Stephen Douglas of the Democratic Party participated in a sequence of seven debates. Slavery would become the main issue discussed repeatedly in each debate, due to the Mexican War adding new territories left to be assessed as free soil or not. During this time, the Compromise of 1850 was a temporary fix to the sectional…show more content…
Moreover, both Lincoln and Douglas agreed for the debates for senate to be held in the seven districts of Illinois, excluding Springfield and Chicago. Debates soon came following one another: The Ottawa Debate August 27th, Jonesboro September 15th, Charleston September 18th, Galesburg October 7th, Quincy October 13th, and Alton October 5th. Upon accepting the Republican nomination, Lincoln voiced his opinion saying, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," in which Douglas was not in agreement. From Douglas's perception, Lincoln was threatening the union and his way of popular sovereignty. Douglas had a strong held belief that balance could be brought to the union of popular sovereignty and the Dred Scott decision through the Freeport Doctrine, which allowed protection of a master's property under mining the Supreme Court decisions. Like Douglas, Lincoln held true to his values and feelings towards blacks and their rights to equality. To further support his beliefs, he quoted a line from the Declaration of Independence stating that all men are created equal; This quote was used as a building block for his next question of who are they as
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