What factors caused the different political parties to take the stance on slavery that took?

Question

I'am talking about the Lincoln-Douglas Debate of 1858.

Answer 1

Poltical expediency and nothing else.Slavery was being abolished all over the globe,and there was certainly no need of a civil war to get rid of it.And it didn't become an issue until the war was well underway.The war was about unjust tariffs and states' rights. http://www.sweetliberty.org/s1.htm

Answer 2

Lincoln indeed firmly believed that slavery was wrong, though he didn't immediately abolished it. In 1862 he declared that, on the 1.1.1863, all slaves in Southern territories will be officially regarded as "free people", while slavery in places in the North-where it existed-was abolished later.
Douglas believed, or convinced himself to believe, that the Black people were like children, who have to be guided by others, so that wouldn't be a harm to society.

Answer 3

Follow the money.