page_title: Lincoln–Douglas debates
hierarchical_section_title: Lincoln–Douglas debates
caption_attribution_description: English: From Metropolitan Museum of Art: This photograph, made in Springfield, Illinois, on May 20, 1860, was the first portrait taken of Abraham Lincoln after he had received the nomination for president at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. It is one of five photographs taken by William Marsh for Marcus L. Ward, a delegate from Newark, New Jersey. Although many in the East had read Lincoln's impassioned speeches, few had actually seen the senator from Illinois. At fifty-one years old, Lincoln appears much younger in this photograph, innocent as yet of the great toll the presidency would take on him. His face is an odd contra diction of parts: his right eye typically wanders, his large right ear flaps behind a high cheekbone and sunken cheek, and his hair, described by Sir William Howard Russell as a "thatch of wild Republican hair," is loosely combed. He did not grow his characteristic beard until October 1860. The first president of the United States to wear a beard, Lincoln appears cleanshaven in only one-third of the more than one hundred known photographs. Yet Lincoln is ruggedly handsome. Marsh presents the face of the prairie lawyer from the backwoods of Kentucky, the man who would declare, in support of the Union, "A house divided against itself cannot stand"; the man who only two years after this photograph was made would deliver the Emancipation Proclamation, and who, in his second inaugural address in 1865, spoke of reconstructing a vital, new country from the ashes of the South, "With malice toward none; with charity for all." This is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modifications: cropped border, removed some artifacts, adjusted contrast. Modifications made by Scewing. The original can be found here.
context_page_description: The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. Until the 17th Constitutional Amendment of 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures, so Lincoln and Douglas were trying to win control of the Illinois General Assembly for their respective parties. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln later faced after his victory in the 1860 presidential election. Illinois was a free state, and the main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery in the United States, particularly its future expansion into new territories.
  Lincoln and Douglas decided to hold one debate in each of the nine congressional districts in Illinois. Both candidates had already spoken in Springfield and Chicago within a day of each other, so they decided that their joint appearances would be held in the remaining seven districts. Each debate lasted 3 hours. The format was that one candidate spoke for 60 minutes, then the other candidate spoke for 90 minutes, and then the first candidate was allowed a 30-minute rejoinder.
context_section_description: The Lincoln–Douglas debates (also known as The Great Debates of 1858) were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. Until the 17th Constitutional Amendment of 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures, so Lincoln and Douglas were trying to win control of the Illinois General Assembly for their respective parties.  The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln later faced after his victory in the 1860 presidential election. Illinois was a free state, and the main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery in the United States, particularly its future expansion into new territories.
  Lincoln and Douglas decided to hold one debate in each of the nine congressional districts in Illinois. Both candidates had already spoken in Springfield and Chicago within a day of each other, so they decided that their joint appearances would be held in the remaining seven districts. Each debate lasted 3 hours. The format was that one candidate spoke for 60 minutes, then the other candidate spoke for 90 minutes, and then the first candidate was allowed a 30-minute rejoinder. The candidates alternated speaking first. As the incumbent, Douglas spoke first in four of the debates. The debates near Illinois's borders (Freeport, Quincy, and Alton) drew large numbers of people from neighboring states, as the issue of slavery was of national importance to citizens throughout the nation. According to the Chicago Daily Times, there were 5,000 to 10,000 present at the Alton debate.
  Newspaper coverage of the debates was intense. They were widely reported on nationally; major papers from Chicago sent stenographers to create complete texts of each debate, which newspapers reprinted in full throughout the country, using the recently invented telegraph. Newspapers that supported Douglas edited his speeches to remove any errors made by the stenographers and to correct grammatical errors, while they left Lincoln's speeches in the rough form in which they had been transcribed. In the same way, pro-Lincoln papers edited Lincoln's speeches, but left the Douglas texts as reported. Some of the debate addresses were also published as pamphlets.
  The widespread press coverage of the debates turned Lincoln into a national figure. As part of his 1860 campaign for president he edited the texts of all the debates and had them published in a book. The book sold well, and helped him get the Republican Party's nomination for president at the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago.
caption: Abraham Lincoln, photo by William March, May 1860
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