explain the lincoln and douglas debate about the slavery issue in illinois?

Question

could someone try to explain this in simpler phrasing then the text book?

i really appreciate it. thanks

Answer 1

The Lincoln-Douglas debate(S) (there were 6) had three main effects.

First they launched Lincoln into the 'national spotlight'. While Lincoln lost the senate race, he gained significant popularity in the Republican party and was in a solid position to run for president in 1860.

The second, and less heralded, impact of the debates was that they effectively ended Douglas's chances of becoming president. Lincoln forced Douglas to declare his belief in the superiority of the white man. This made Douglas unelectable in most of the northern states.

The final effect of the debates was that they made Lincoln look pro-abolitionist. It was these debates that made many southerners fear (with cause) that Lincoln would attempt to force an immediate end slavery.

There is a lot more to the debates, but thats the basics.

Answer 2

Since you were polite enough to thank me in advance:

The Lincoln Douglas Debates

The debates became important because Lincoln and Douglas led the nation's thinking from different points of view argued most competently the case for keeping slavery confined with certain limits.
Douglas sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which proposed to admit part of Louisiana Territory as two states and let their constitutions decide whether they would enter the Union woth or without slaves. When this act was signed by President Pierce in 1854, it practically made the Missouri Compromise inoperative. This became known as "popular sovereignty", or "squatter sovereignty," because settlers could fill the state with partisans.

Lincoln opposed the extension of slavery to new territories. Douglas said each state should make its own laws. Lincoln declared popular sovereignty was proslavery or noncommittal at best, and inconsistent with the Supreme Court decision on Dred Scott. Lincoln also said Chief Justice Roger B. Taney was the first man to say the Declaration of Independence did not include Negroes when it mentioned "all men," and Douglas was the second.
Lincoln said his 'House Divided' speech was not abolitionist. He intended to resist the further spread of slavery, wanted new territories kept free, and considered slavery a moral, social, and political wrong.

The debates attracted national attention, and thousands of people came to the debates.