Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lincoln & the Franchise M. Kelly Tillery, Esq. “The most fundamental right in America is the right to vote—and to have it counted. And it’s under assault. In state after state, new laws have been passed, not only to suppress...

Moderated by Harold Holzer A public sensation in the seven Illinois towns that hosted them—reprinted in the press at the time, in book form shortly thereafter, and in many edi­tions since—the 1858 Lincoln-Doug­las debates are remembered today, 160 years after...

By Ed Breen Charleston Joe Judd sat behind the counter of his used book store at 303 Lincoln Avenue on the west side of Charleston, Illinois,  and talked about what it meant to him and others in town that their...

By Harold Holzer As most readers of 19th-century history know, the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates sparked an explosion of public interest in Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, and the sport of political debating itself.  The encounters not only riveted the tens...

Sara Gabbard:  In 1858, was there already a precedent for debates between competing candidates for political office? Harold Holzer:  Not much of one, really.  Certainly the 1830 Webster-Hayne debates over the tariff had long been famous nationwide, but these took...