Lincoln/Douglas debate

[Craig Hipkins]

(02-03-2013 05:14 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  If we were to give all Americans one question to answer - Who won the 1858 Illinois race for Senate, Abraham Lincoln or Stephen A. Douglas - I wonder what percentage would get it right. And, for extra credit, ask whether Senators were elected by the people or the state legislatures.

Roger, It is sad to say, but I would guess that most of the public has never even heard of Stephen Douglas. Speaking about Douglas, I recommend a great book to the readers of this forum that I read a number of years ago. It is a biography of Douglas by H.M. Flint. It also contains a number of his debates on the Senate floor regarding the Kansas/Nebraska question. This is really interesting, because there are some of the big heavy hitters of the time involved in the discussion (Seward, Chase, Sumner and others)
The copy of the book I own is probably 100 years old so I am sure that it is out of print, but it might be available on Google books.

Craig