The Great Debate is Over But is Medill Advice Finally Being Used?

It has been five years since Douglas and Lincoln had their Freeport debate, and it's still being used by Republicans. Lincoln was able to show Douglas and Illinois throughout the debate that he truly is a unique republican. Douglas was vulnerable from the beginning. He had nothing to gain from debating Lincoln and had a lot to lose by first agreeing to Lincoln’s request.

Lincoln wasn’t well known and was having difficulty gaining attention, which was great for Douglas. Once Douglas agreed to the daring opportunity, he was giving Lincoln publicity with nothing to really gain. Lincoln was able to credit the debate at Freeport for recognition as a candidate. Though at the time Douglas’s campaign wasn't injured, it did eventually lead to further injury in his national standing amongst the south.

Lincoln did make some mistakes in preparing for the debate in Freeport. One was that he did not take the advice that he received from Joseph Medill, editor and publisher of The Chicago Tribune. Medill’s advice was to use the Declaration of Independence. Medill’s suggestions stated “And wind up your last half hour after noting his replies with a peroration to the Declaration of Independence such as your Lewis town speech.”

One reason that he didn’t take the advice may be that he was trying to appeal more towards the next two stops on the debate tour, which were in southern and central Illinois. By not using the Declaration of Independence Lincoln was acting more with a political tactic then being a statesman using statesman tactics.

In the past, 81% of southern Illinois’s votes where for the Democratic candidate. He made the mistake of not using the Declarations of Independence and by denying that there were any inconsistancies in his statements. It backfired when the Democrats pointed out that his Ottawa and Charleston speeches were not consistent with what Lincoln had stated early on in his campaign in Chicago.

If he had used the advice given to him by Medill, his supporters would have been able to use more of his rhetorical devices to support themselves in debate. It's interesting to see that Lincoln, who just delivered his address at Gettysburg, came across using his strongest political strategy: The Declaration of Independence.

Whether or not this reveals Lincoln’s new change in rhetoric strategy, we must wait and see. We do know that this allusion to the Declaration of Independence made the difference in Lincoln’s short delivery today at Gettysburg.

Lincoln on the Defensive

The Chicago Tribune made a positive view on the first Lincoln-Douglas debate “The Ottawa debate gave great satisfaction to our side. Mr. Lincoln, we thought, had the better of the arguments, and we all came away encouraged. But the Douglas men were encouraged also. In his concluding half hour, Douglas spoke with great rapidity and animation, and yet with perfect distinctness, and his supporters cheered him wildly.”

On Saturday we saw the crowds come in by every form of transportation. Lincoln came by railroad and Douglas by carriage in order to meet together in the public square.

“At two o’clock the multitude gathered in the public square, the sun shining down with great intensity, and the few trees affording but little shade. It would seem that the most exposed part of the city was selected for the speaking .” –Chicago Press and Tribune, August 23, 1858

Douglas said in his first hour and half of the debate, “That we believe this truth to be self-evident, that when parties become subversive of the ends for which they are established, or incapable of restoring the government to the true principles of the constitution, it is the right and duty of the people to dissolve the political bands by which they may have been connected therewith, and to organize new parties upon such principles and with such views as the circumstances and exigencies of the nation may demand.”Douglas had to reach a common ground with his audience that was vastly represented by Republicans.

Stephen Douglas had a well developed strategy for the debate, making Lincoln come across as an extremist. Towards the end Douglas sets Lincoln up by stating rhetorical questions over and over. As Douglas concluded, the Republicans hung their heads as the audience gave Douglas a roar of applause. When Lincoln approached his audience, he was generously welcomed by his supporters. In order to rebuttal the extremist strategy that Douglass used against him, he went off topic from his original intended speech and spent a large sum of time reading from his 1854 speeches. Douglass had used the argument previously that “I desire to know whether Mr. Lincoln today stands as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the fugitive slave law.”The vivid headlines ran in the Chicago Times as “Lincoln’s Heart Fails Him! Lincoln’s Legs Fail Him! Lincoln’s Tongue Fails Him!”

Lincoln’s strategy for debate was not well developed and as a result, came across as being very defensive . He didn’t come across well trying to exchange arguments and counter-arguments respectively towards Douglass.The Chicago Times made a stab on Lincoln’s dialectic “his acquaintance with dialectics is quite equal to his knowledge of logic. And his rhetoric is worse than either.”