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Historical question (1858): Should the federal government keep slavery out of the western territories, or should the people of each territory decide?

The seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, the most famous political debates in American history, turned on whether slavery should be allowed to spread into the territories. Study how each man made his case.

Background

A note before you read. Slavery was a grave moral wrong; it was abolished in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. This page is history: it shows how two candidates argued in 1858, so you can study the reasoning, the rhetoric and why the debates mattered. Both men also said things about race that were wrong and are offensive by today’s standards; historians record them, and you’ll meet them if you read the full texts. Treat this page as a case study for analysis, not as a resolution for a practice round. [2][1]

In 1858, Illinois voters chose a state legislature that would elect a U.S. senator. The Democratic incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, was one of the country’s best-known politicians; the Republican challenger, Abraham Lincoln, was a lawyer who had served one term in Congress. They held seven debates across Illinois between August 21 and October 15. In each, one spoke for an hour, the other for an hour and a half, and the first then answered for half an hour. Lincoln-Douglas debate, the high school format, is named for them. [1]

The central question was whether slavery should be allowed to expand into the western territories. Douglas championed popular sovereignty: let the residents of each territory decide. Lincoln and the Republicans held that slavery was a moral wrong that federal policy should keep from spreading, placing it, as Lincoln put it, on a course of “ultimate extinction.” The Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision had declared that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories, which sharpened the clash. Democrats won the legislature, 46 seats to 41, so Douglas kept his seat; but the debates made Lincoln nationally known and helped lead to his presidential nomination in 1860. [1]

Key terms

Popular sovereignty
Douglas’s principle that the settlers of each territory should decide for themselves whether to allow slavery.
Free soil
The Republican position that slavery should not expand into the territories.
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
A Supreme Court decision holding that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories and that Black Americans could not be citizens; overturned by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Freeport Doctrine
Douglas’s answer at Freeport that settlers could still keep slavery out in practice by refusing to pass local laws to protect it.
"House Divided"
Lincoln’s June 1858 speech arguing the nation could not endure permanently half slave and half free.

Both sides at their strongest

Each argument is written the way its best advocates would make it, followed by the strongest answer from the other side. Use them to build your case and to prepare for the other one.

Lincoln's position

Slavery is a moral wrong; the nation should stop its spread and put it on the road to ultimate extinction.

  1. A1 Slavery is wrong, and policy should treat it as wrong.

    Why A policy of indifference, letting each territory vote slavery “up or down,” treats a moral wrong as a matter of local taste. A nation must decide whether something is right or wrong.

    Evidence Lincoln’s debate speeches criticizing Douglas’s “don’t care” stance; Republican platform statements.

    Best answer Douglas answered that the people of each territory, not Congress, had the right to make that decision, and that forcing one view risked tearing the Union apart.

  2. A2 The Declaration of Independence applies to all people.

    Why “All men are created equal” with rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is the nation’s founding principle; slavery contradicts it.

    Evidence Lincoln’s appeals to the Declaration throughout the debates and his earlier speeches.

    Best answer Douglas argued that the signers had not meant to include enslaved people and that the government was made for the existing political community.

  3. A3 The founders meant to limit slavery’s spread.

    Why The founders banned slavery in the Northwest Territory and ended the foreign slave trade, showing they expected slavery to die out; Lincoln wanted to return to that course.

    Evidence The Northwest Ordinance (1787); the 1808 ban on the international slave trade.

    Best answer Douglas replied that the founders left each state free to decide its own institutions, the principle he defended.

  4. A4 A house divided against itself cannot stand.

    Why The nation was drifting toward making slavery lawful everywhere; only by stopping its spread could the country become all free over time.

    Evidence The “House Divided” speech (June 1858); the Dred Scott decision as evidence of the drift.

    Best answer Douglas called this a doctrine of sectional conflict, insisting the nation had existed half slave and half free since its founding and could continue to.

Douglas's position

The people of each territory should decide for themselves; Congress should not impose one answer.

  1. N1 Self-government means local decision.

    Why Americans had fought for the right to govern themselves; settlers of a territory, like citizens of a state, should make their own laws.

    Evidence Douglas’s speeches on popular sovereignty; the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which he wrote.

    Best answer Lincoln answered that no one has a right to do wrong, and that self-government could not include the right to govern other people without their consent.

  2. N2 Pressing the issue nationally threatened the Union.

    Why Forcing one section’s view on the other risked secession and war; leaving the question local kept the country together.

    Evidence Douglas’s warnings that Lincoln’s “House Divided” doctrine meant conflict between the sections.

    Best answer Lincoln replied that the division already existed and would not end until the nation set slavery on the path to extinction.

  3. N3 The courts had settled the law.

    Why The Supreme Court had ruled in Dred Scott; respecting the Court’s decisions was part of the rule of law.

    Evidence The Dred Scott decision (1857); Douglas’s criticism of Lincoln for opposing the Court.

    Best answer Lincoln argued the decision was wrong, that the Court could reverse itself, and that citizens could oppose a decision by lawful political means.

  4. N4 In practice, settlers could keep slavery out.

    Why Slavery needed local laws to protect it; if settlers refused to pass them, it could not take root, so popular sovereignty was workable even after Dred Scott.

    Evidence The Freeport Doctrine (August 27, 1858).

    Best answer Lincoln pressed that this contradicted Dred Scott, which Douglas also endorsed, and the answer cost Douglas support in the South.

Strawman or steelman?

A strawman is a weak copy of the other side’s view, easy to knock down and unfair to the people who hold it. A steelman is that view at its strongest. Answer the steelman, and you’ve answered the real argument. (More on steelmanning.)

Lincoln's position

Strawman “Lincoln just wanted to start a war with the South.”

Why it’s unfair In 1858 Lincoln said he did not seek to interfere with slavery where it already existed; his aim was to stop its spread.

Steelman Slavery is a moral wrong contrary to the Declaration; the founders limited its spread, and the nation should do so again to place it on the course of ultimate extinction.

Douglas's position

Strawman “Douglas wanted to spread slavery to every state.”

Why it’s unfair Douglas said he did not care whether slavery was voted up or down; his principle was local decision, and he opposed the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution in Kansas.

Steelman Each territory’s people should govern themselves, the courts had spoken, and treating the issue as national risked breaking the Union.

Weak arguments to avoid

Lincoln's position

  • “Lincoln in 1858 called for full equality and immediate emancipation.” Historically inaccurate; Lincoln ran on stopping slavery’s spread and made statements about race that historians record as reflecting the prejudices of his time.

Douglas's position

  • “Douglas’s position was neutral and harmed no one.” Indifference to slavery’s spread left enslaved people’s fate to others’ votes; that was exactly Lincoln’s objection, and it can’t be waved away.

Questions for cross-examination

Ask the Lincoln's position

  1. (Questions Douglas pressed) If the founders allowed slavery in some states, why can’t a territory choose it?
  2. Wouldn’t your doctrine set the sections against each other?
  3. Will you obey the Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott?

Ask the Douglas's position

  1. (Questions Lincoln pressed) Can the people of a territory lawfully exclude slavery before forming a state constitution?
  2. Is slavery right or wrong?
  3. Does anyone have a right to do a wrong?

Reading on both sides

Read at least one source from each side before you debate. Look up each source’s author and publisher too: who wrote it is part of the evidence.

Background and overviews

Both sides in one place

Mostly Lincoln's position

Mostly Douglas's position

Study this debate

Sources for the background

  1. Lincoln-Douglas Debates, American Battlefield Trust. Accessed 2026-10-25.
  2. Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-10-25.

This page presents a historical debate for study. Updated 2026-10-25.

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