Lincoln-Douglas Debate Podcasts

In the podcast series The Real Issue - The Real Debates, Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson, co-directors of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College, discuss each of the historic Lincoln-Douglas Debates. 

Their book, The Lincoln Douglas Debates: The Lincoln Studies Center Edition, is the first critical edition of the debate texts ever published. Drawing on their expertise and decades of research on Lincoln and Illinois history, they examine all the existing texts and bring us as close as possible to what Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas actually said in the most important series of debates in American history.

The podcasts are in MP3 format, each less than 10 minutes long. 

Ottawa
The debates between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln began August 21, 1858, in Ottawa, in north-central Illinois. Douglas opened with a series of questions about slavery that showcased his skill as an aggressive debater and put Lincoln on the defensive. 

Freeport
The second debate was held in Freeport, in heavily Republican northwest Illinois. Here, in response to a question from Lincoln, Douglas stated that slavery was acceptable if voters approved -- a position, called the Freeport Doctrine, that historians believe later cost Douglas the Presidency. 

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Jonesboro
The third debate was in Jonesboro, and marks a new phase in the series. Even though the area is Democratic, Douglas is not popular. Lincoln, meanwhile, has nothing to lose by being aggressive, and is able to gain confidence in responding to Douglas's attacks.  

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Charleston
Davis and Wilson place the fourth debate at Charleston in the same phase as the prior one at Jonesboro. Douglas repeats his charge that Lincoln supports "negro equality." While Lincoln acknowledges inequality, he also argues that belief in inequality does not justify slavery. 

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Galesburg
Davis and Wilson see the Galesburg debate on October 7 as a turning point in the series, when Lincoln began to express his opposition to slavery in moral terms. It was possibly the best-attended debate, with an estimated audience of more than 10,000 at Old Main on the Knox College campus. 

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Quincy
A week after the Galesburg debate, Douglas at Quincy repeats his position that "each state has a right to do as it pleases on the subject of slavery." Lincoln combines moral and political arguments, when he states that slavery can be ended "when all men who believe that slavery is wrong [will] stand and act with us..." 

Alton
At the seventh and final debate, Douglas, who has visibly weakened in the six-month series, repeats his familiar race-baiting accusations, while Lincoln builds toward a conclusion that frames the argument over slavery in terms of "the eternal struggle between... right and wrong."

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Conclusion
 In a concluding Lincoln-Douglas Debate podcast, Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson talk about the debates, and how they edited the debate texts for their book The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The Lincoln Studies Center Edition.