Lincoln-Douglas Debate and freeport doctrine?

Question

What was the Lincoln-Douglas Debate (I know it's Lincoln and Douglas) but what happened exactly and what was the freeport doctrine & what did it have to do witht he debate?
1 hour ago - 3 days left to answer.

Answer 1

The key issue in ALL of these --the raging party issue from the end of the Mexican-American War till the election of 1860-- was that of SLAVERY in the TERRITORIES.

Lincoln and Douglas held a series of seven debates, all around Illinois, as part of the 1858 campaign for the U.S. Senate seat then occupied by Douglas.

(Note that at that time Senators were chosen by the state legislature, so in effect their debate was meant to effect who was elected to the state legislature and hence able to DECIDE the Senator for the next term. In fact, NOT ALL state legislators faced election that fall -- Lincoln won a large number of those races, but not quite enough to overcome the Democrats not up for election. Thus Douglas kept his seat, and Lincoln gained national attention.)

The disposition of slavery in the TERRITORIES was a major election issue, and all the more so after the 1857 Dred Scott decision had stated that neither Congress nor the people of a territory had the right to pass laws to keep slavery OUT of any U.S. territory. Now DOUGLAS had been the leading proponent of the notion of "popular sovereignty", according to which the RESIDENTS of a territory would get to vote on whether the territory would be slave or free. That was the core idea behind the "Kansas-Nebraska Act" Douglas had proposed and put through Congress in 1854.

(Northern and Southern Whigs split over this bill, and it became the final step in the dissolution of that national party. In the North the brand new Republican Party was formed and picked up the Northern Whigs along with some other groups, esp those against the expansion of slavery.)

On the other side, Republicans continued to hold the earlier consensus, that Congress could make this decision. They ALSO argued that Congress SHOULD vote to prevent the expansion of slavery into the territories, while leaving it alone in states where it existed, with the hope that those states would in time decide to end it themselves.

Lincoln made it clear that this whole issue would be central to his campaign when he accepted the state Republican Party's nomination for the Senate seat.with his famous "House Divided Speech". (Such a nomination, like the debates themselves, was highly unusual in the time before Senators were directly elected.)


THE DEBATES & FREEPORT DOCTRINE

When the debates began, Lincoln pressured Douglas to reconcile his idea of "popular sovereignty" with the Dred Scott decision which seemed to destroy it. Douglas insisted that NO Supreme Court decision could keep the people from deciding whether slavery would or would not be welcome in their territory. They COULD effectively keep it out if they chose to.

It was in his speech at Freeport, Illinois as part of the second of their debates, on August 27, 1858, that Douglas first laid out his explanation of HOW that might work, in a position soon dubbed the "Freeport Doctrine".

Here is his full answer:

"The next question propounded to me by Mr. Lincoln is, Can the people of a Territory in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State constitution? I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that in my opinion the people of a Territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State constitution. Mr Lincoln knew that I had answered that question over and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska bill on that principle all over the State in 1854, in 1855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse for pretending to be in doubt as to my position on that question. It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the local legislature; and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that body who will by unfriendly legislation effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract question, still the right of the people to make a Slave Territory or a Free Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln deems my answer satisfactory on that point."
http://www.bartleby.com/251/22.html


RESULTS OF THE FREEPORT DOCTRINE

This was a MAJOR turning point. Douglas was the front-runner for the Democratic Party's Presidential nomination in 1860. But with this position he alienated many Southern Democrats who vowed they would not support him unless he changed his position on this matter. At the Democratic convention they began by presenting their OWN agenda, the "Alabama Platform" (produced by William Yancey of Alabama, a leading pro-slavery, pro-secession "fire-eater"), which DEMANDED that

When the convention rejected the Alabama Platform, several Southern delegation WALKED OUT of the convention. Efforts to bring them back failed, and after the main part of the party chose Douglas as its nominee, this group chose their own nominee. Had they held together the party would almost certainly have succeeded in electing Douglas as President (hence no secession, no Civil War). As it was, their split virtually handed the election to the Republican nominee -- Lincoln! as it turned out. And then, as they had threatened to do if ANY Republican were elected President, leaders of several Southern states led their states to secede. (Thus the critical act of "secession " was actually that of this faction from the Democratic Party Convention.)

In short, the Lincoln-Douglas debates played an ENORMOUS role in the coming of the Civil War, gaining Lincoln to stature to become a nominee and getting Douglas into trouble with the Freeport Doctrine. (If you wish to go back one step, you can blame these troubles on the Dred Scott decision, which went much further than it ever had to to settle the specific case.)

Answer 2

Freeport Doctrine 1858

Answer 3

Well, the main issue in the 1860 election (and so I think the debate, I just don't remember if this was THE debate, but I think so) was the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Being Republican, Lincoln believed that it shouldn't happen, whereas Douglas wanted to apply the ideology of popular sovereignty (people vote if slave or not). However, Lincoln challenged this issue, leaving Douglas with in a less ideal position. Sorry, I don't know too much about the arguments themselves...

Answer 4

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RE:
Lincoln-Douglas Debate and freeport doctrine?
What was the Lincoln-Douglas Debate (I know it's Lincoln and Douglas) but what happened exactly and what was the freeport doctrine & what did it have to do witht he debate?
1 hour ago - 3 days left to answer.

Answer 5

WHAT was it?
A speech by Stephen A. Douglas at the second of the Lincoln-Douglas debates on August 27, 1858, in Freeport, Illinois.

WHY is it significant?
This extreme stance in support of nullification eventually undermined Douglas's political credibility, rendering him a martyr to his own cause of popular sovereignty.
It alienated many southern slaveowners from Douglas
It was the be key reason he lost the 1860 presidential election.