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.”

Lincoln Builds on His Credibility Making a Recovery in Freeport

A crowd gathered in the sum of what was estimated to be 20,000 in Freeport on August 27, 1858. In Freeport, Lincoln used Douglas's own words to put emphasis on his rebuttals. Lincoln used an appeal to logos to make a strong use of dialectics. Lincoln stated early in his hour and a half of time to speak, "I now propose that I will answer any of the interrogatories, upon condition that he will answer questions from me not exceeding the same number. I give him an opportunity to respond. The Judge remains silent. I now say that I will answer his interrogatories, whether he answers mine or not; and that after I have done so, I shall propound mine to him."

After answering all of his questions Lincoln went ahead and asked Douglass his own set of questions. The odd thing was that once Douglas had answered his set of question, Lincoln did not pursue the answers any further after Douglas had concluded. However, according to most sources Lincoln add little to gain from obtaining local support that day but he did gain the attention of the of a much larger audience. Douglas made it clear that he would support popular sovereignty in the extent that was for freedom. Lincoln was able to turn the tables on his opponent making him an extremist in his own campaign. He used this strategy his and was able to clash the bond that Douglas had made during the debate in Ottwa on August 21. Although this debate had greater attendance, more media coverage, and contain better use of symbolic meaning towards the campaign, it didn't make an change the votes for the candidates

Bibliography

Bibliography
Einhorn, Lois. (1992) Abraham Lincoln the Orator: Penetrating the Lincoln Legend. Connecticut: Greenwood Press

Fehrenbacher, D.E.(1961). Lincoln, Douglas, and the "Freeport Question"The American Historical Review ,66, 599-617. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762%28196104%2966%3A3%3C599%3ALDAT%22Q%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S

Good, Timothy. (2007) The Lincoln-Douglas Debates and the Making of a President. North Carolina: McFarland & Company.

Gross, Alan G. (2004). Lincoln's Use of Constitutive Metaphors
Rhetoric & Public Affairs , 7, 173-189.

Heckma, Richard (1967) Lincoln vs. Douglas: The Great Debates Campaign. Washington D.C. Public Affairs Press

Kauffeld, Fred J. (1994). Veracity, Accusation and Conspiracy in Lincoln's Campaign, Senate Rhetoric Society Quarterly ,24 , 5-26. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0277-3945%28199424%2F21%2924%3A1%2F2%3C5%3AVAACIL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P

Mitgang, Herbert. (1989) Abraham Lincoln, a press portrait. Georgia: University of Georgia Press

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858, From the National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Website:http://www.nps.gov/archive/liho/debates.htm

Zarefsky, David.(1990) Lincoln, Douglas, and salary: in the crucible of public debate. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press


Photo Credit:
From Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitations Project Website http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/gal/browne286.jpg

Douglas Lacks an Answer to Lincoln's Morality Argument

In the last debate at Alton, Douglas takes the stand that slavery is a matter of economics. If slavery produced a profit then it was reasonable: if it exhausted the economy, Douglas was opposed. He stated his views in a very matter-of-fact way.

On the other hand Lincoln stated his view that the prohibition of the African slave trade was a moral conviction. Douglas undervalued the moral importance that was being place on this issue. Douglas took scripture from the book of Genesis and attempted to the moral aspect our of slavery by trying to focus on who had the right to determine whether something is moral.
Douglas used jurisdiction as part of the issue. With each stop Douglas continued to explain the need for states to stay diversified and the threat that uniformity might have on the states. His interest was bureaucratic and wanted to say within procedural correctness.

Lovejoy had written Lincoln during the debates making the observation that if slavery was like economic interest then why do these economics not put a society into chaos. The moral argument could easily put Douglas into argument against himself. Douglas was taking the position of not caring about the morality of slavery.

Lincoln uses his position of not caring about the issue for opportunity to use a logic argument against Douglas. Lincoln states, “Any many can say that who does not see a wrong in it; because no man can logically say he don’t care whether a wrong is voted up or voted down, but he must logically have a choice between a right thing and a wrong thing.”

By bringing up attacks towards Douglas for moral indifference, the Republicans had found the weakness of their opponent. Lincoln made the effort to promote his moral argument against slavery as long as he could. Lincoln hadn’t developed all of his views on the issue until their last debate in Alton. The reader, however, was clearly able to tell that the morality of slavery was one of Lincoln’s most fundamental desires.

Douglass didn’t have an answer to the questions being asked by Lincoln regarding the immorality of slavery. Although he did not make an attempt to rebuke the arguments that Lincoln made, he benefited himself by gaining insight into his opponents campaign.

The effects the 1858 Lincoln versus Douglas Debates On American Debate Strategies

At a time when face to face senatorial debates were not common, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas made history as they made their debate tour through Illinois. Although Lincoln was not elected in 1858, the debates of 1858 served as a milestone that lead to Lincoln’s presidency. Many debates today serve the same purpose in American politics. Now, debating is expected to occur not just at national elections but all the way down to even local contests during a secondary election.

The focus that has been put on the Lincoln-Douglas Debate is often form a historical point of view but there can and should be more emphasis put on the value of their rhetorical use. By having open discussion on the issues of the day, they created the possibility that candidates could attempt to persuade an audience. The arguments that were used were very practical and created a pragmatic approach to politics.

It is interesting to see how the arguments, audiences, and interaction among arguments are carried differently from debate to debate. The debates of Lincoln and Douglas show how different themes and appeals change over time in a election campaign. In 1858 people had strong apposing opinions on the civil rights of black men. As a country we are currently experiencing different opposing opinions on the civil rights of homosexual marriage.

The point of this is that many of the arguments that have been brought up in today’s discussion are based on the same rhetorical devices that were used during the Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Recently it has been reported by many news sources that Senator Hillary Clinton called for a Lincoln-Douglas style of debates against her rival, Senator Barack Obama. Clinton has made the comment that people love seeing debates and discussion, just as Lincoln and Douglas were able to draw a crowd during their debate.

The political strategy Clinton is using is similar to that of Lincoln’s. Lincoln wasn’t receiving the attention he needed and by calling a debate he was able to receive very positive attention from a much wider audience. If Clinton had called Obama to this style of debate earlier it may be that it would have created attention and as a result might have been a very different race thus far.

With Obama turning down the offer for a Lincoln-Douglas style of debate, Obama is doing something that may be a sign of weakness and is opening up the question whether debates are a good thing in the political system.

Lincoln Uses Logic to Defeat the Legal Argument

Lincoln uses graphic examples in order to build denotative reasons for the legal argument addressed in the debates regarding the interpretation of the Dred Scott decision. This issue of debate put both Douglas and Lincoln in a vulnerable position.

Lincoln first expressed his opinion when he spoke earlier in Springfield by stating, "We know the court that made it has often over-ruled this. We offer no resistance to it." Republicans would have taken every chance to challenge the decision but many of them did not want to come across as being radical abolitionists. He makes it clear that Douglas supported the Dred Scott decision because the decision was in the Supreme Court and not because of the qualities of the case.

Douglas came back with the following statement made at Freeport, "Then again, I wish to call his attention to the fact that at the time the Nebraska bill was passed, the Dred Scott case was not before the Supreme Court at all; it was not upon the docket of the Supreme Court; it had not been brought there, and the Judges in all probability knew nothing of it. Thus the history of the country proves the charge to be false against them." Douglas argues back against the logic Lincoln had place against Douglas and states that he would speak out if he did differ with the president.

Douglas also made the statement towards Lincoln's interrogatives that he feels the unfriendly legislation wouldn't prevent the introduction of slavery. Lincoln in reply uses another logical argument stating that territorial legislatures are not to bring down the Constitution but are sworn to uphold the Constitution.

As a reply he asks Douglas the rhetorical question, "How dare they legislate unfriendly to right sguaranteed by the Constitution?"

Douglas continues to use this rhetorical questions of logical arguments in the Jonesboro debate. Jonesboro, located in southern Illinois is highly populated with democrats at this time. He makes this brave claim in Jonesboro stating that if anyone is in support of Dred Scott they must also support friendly legislation. By stating this, Lincoln is making a great argument that would enable Republicans to come up with friendly local legislation that Douglas would have to support in order to say true to his doctrine. Lincoln made Douglas come across as a radical because of evidence of Douglas's opposing the federal slave code. If Douglas had of established support of making a distinction between abstract and concrete rights, Douglas would have to say that in order to act effectively, Northern states like Illinois would have to cancel out the fugitive slave law. Lincoln was able to show that Douglas's legal argument was could be objected.