Debaters

Stephen A. Douglas

    Born on April 23, 1813 in Vermont, Douglas grew up to be a well-known, Democratic politician. He was a U.S. representative, senator, and presidential nomineee.

    Douglas was known as "The Little Giant," a tiny man with staunch, fervent beliefs. One of the ideas he stood by was that people were the final say in all things, a Social Contract-esque belief, including whether or not they wanted to be a slave or free state. This would be known, as he called it, popular sovereignty.

    In the 1850s, the U.S. had expanded West, and Douglas put forth a bill known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act. At first, the Act was simply to create two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, but there was also a clause on popular sovereignty, which said that the residents of these territories should decide whether or not they wanted to be a slave state or a free state.

    From this, pro and anti-slavery believers rushed in to vote in favor of their respective beliefs. Such tensions eventually led to Bleeding Kansas.

Abraham Lincoln

 

    Abrham Lincoln had humble beginnings. He was born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Kentucky. His father died when he was young, and he worked hard to survive out in the frontier. Sometime later, he began to get involved in politics.

    He became a representative in the Illinois General Assembly, and later, a representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. During the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858, Lincoln competes with Douglas for a seat in the Senate, but he loses to Douglas' Freeport Doctrine, but the debates made Lincoln a well-known contender for his presidential campaign in 1860.

    He lost the Senate seat, but he won the campaign for presidency, and he became the 16th President of the United States. As president, he led the Union through the bloodiest American Civil War to this day, abolishing slavery and preserving a fragile union.

    He served as president for 4 years until he was assasinated by John Wilks Booth in Ford's Theater.