Lincoln: The Second Political Debate

Lincoln: The Second Political Debate Between Lincoln and Douglas

The primary subject of the second debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas was that of slavery, specifically how it related to the addition of new territories to the evolving American union. At the time, the proponents and antagonists of American slavery who still wished to preserve the Union were attempting to strike a balance between the number of slave states in the American Congress and the number of abolitionist states. However, as more territories were incorporated into the union, this balanced policy proved increasingly difficult. Both Lincoln and Douglas wished to preserve the Union. However, Douglas advocated allowing states such as Kansas into the Union as slave state, even though this would imbalance the representation of pro and anti-slave states in Congress.

During the first of Lincoln's rejoinders to Douglas, Lincoln stated that: "I hold that the Union cannot permanently exist half slave and half free." Lincoln also defended himself against his opponent's charge that he could not be an able politician in a nation where slavery was still a legal institution, stating that abolition was not his immediate goal and he would still preserve the Union and uphold the laws of the land as his primary objective. Douglas stated that he would vote for the admission of any state with any form of the Constitution ratified by the territory's people. If the people showed that they wanted slavery, they should have it, he said, if the people prohibited slavery it should be prohibited. Of course, the entire voting population all the territories were free, white men. Still, Douglas saw this as an effective and moderate compromise and attempted to paint Lincoln as an abolitionist radical.