Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas.
- Creator(s):
- Lincoln, Abraham; Douglas, Stephen.
- Title:
- Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas.
- Description:
- During the 1858 Senate campaign, Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas to a series of debates. They focused on the issues uppermost in the public mind: slavery and the rights of Black people. Though Lincoln refused to embrace equal social and political rights for Black people, abolitionists and radicals praised him for his strong moral critique of slavery. Lincoln lost the election, but the Lincoln-Douglas debates established Lincoln’s reputation nationally as a public expositor against slavery. The debate orations were printed in newspapers nationwide and collected in the above book. Its editor is not named, but it was Lincoln himself who assembled it, as a vehicle to gain further recognition. Some 30,000 copies sold in the first year.
- Source:
- Photograph by Vincent Dilio. Courtesy of David M. Rubenstein.
- Citation:
- Lincoln, Abraham; Douglas, Stephen. Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas. Columbus (OH): Follett, Foster and Company, 1860.