Lincoln/Douglas debate

[Thomas Thorne]

(02-02-2013 11:32 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  . Overall, the debates provided Lincoln the exposure that would help propel him to the presidency-and at the same time doom Douglas for the same.

I agree with you that the debates were indispensable in electing Lincoln to the presidency in 1860 but would amiably dissent from the idea they doomed Douglas.

Does not this view overly rely on the idea that Lincoln cleverly trapped Douglas at Freeport by asking him-contrary to the wishes of his advisers according to the myth -whether or not the inhabitants of a United States territory could lawfully prohibit slavery in their midst in the aftermath of Dred Scott. The myth says Lincoln realized that if Douglas said "no" he would enrage Illinois voters and lose the 1858 Illinois senate election but the shrewd Lincoln believed that a "yes" answer would destroy Douglas' credit among Southerners and help elect a Republican to the White House in 1860.

Douglas had already given his "yes" answer well before he repeated at Freeport what is known as the "Freeport Doctrine"-slavery could not exist anywhere unless it was protected by local law regardless of Dred Scott. The Dred Scott decision never explicitly ruled on the question of whether or not a territory could prohibit slavery. Adherents of Douglas and his Freeport doctrine were the only Americans who simultaneously supported the Dred Scott decision but believed territories could prohibit slavery well before the state making process.

Douglas had further ruined his appeal to Southerners in the winter of 1858 by leading the revolt of many Northern Democrats against the Buchanan Administration's unsuccessful efforts to make Kansas a slave state.

Douglas' efforts so impressed several Eastern Republicans that they tried to convince Illinois Republicans to support Douglas for re-election which provoked howls of outrage from Lincoln and Illinois Republicans who had spent their lives being defeated by Douglas and the Illinois democracy.
Tom