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.
