Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln/Douglas debates- The Lincoln/Douglas debates was a series of seven debates that took place in Illinois between Abraham (republican candidate) who challenged senator Stephen Douglas (Democratic candidate) in 7 of the 9 Illinois congressional districts during 1858. The debates were for two of the United States senate seats. In each debate one of the competitors would open with a hour long address then then afterwards the other candidate would have a hour and a half to give their speech and then the first candidate had a 30 min. time period to debate the other candidates views. The main topic was slavery, Lincoln was anti-slavery and Douglas was pro-slavery. Douglas ended up winning but Lincoln was put on the map and the aftermath of his presidential victory in 1860 the same topics were debated. The reason that the Lincoln/Douglas debates were so important was because even though Lincoln lost he was put on the map and because of these debates Lincoln was nominated for presidency in 1860 and ended up winning and if not for these debates Lincoln might not have bin nominated for presidency in 1860 and slavery might not have been abolished in some states.
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