The first of the Lincoln/Douglas Debates happened 154 years ago today August 21, 1858. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were campaigning for the same US Senate seat.
The theme of slavery ran throughout the course of the debates, but the August 21 debate in Ottawa, IL predominately dealt with the abolitionist stance of Lincoln’s Republican Party. The other debates happened in: Freeport on August 27, Jonesboro on September 15, Charleston on September 18, Galesburg on October 7, Quincy on October 13, and Alton on October 15.
Learn more about Stephen Douglas in this previous blog post.
Find out more about the Lincoln Douglas Debates at the library. Look up books, or search in our databases.
Read the actual account and transcript in our Chicago Tribune Historical database. Look up the edition from August 23, 1858.
This post is part of a series related to the One Book, One College selection Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. Please attend our first event: an open book discussion, September 5 at noon, in the library.