Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 42, number 3, spring, 1959

              The Historical Significance of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates*
by D. E. Fehrenbacher
pjECAUSE IT WAS without precedent and •*-' because one of the candidates had become the key figure in American politics, the sena¬ torial campaign of 1858 in Illinois attracted much attention throughout the country. Still, no one at the time would have picked this spirited local contest as the most memorable event of a year which also saw the bitter Le¬ compton controversy in Congress, the continu¬ ation of a severe economic depression, the climax of the so-called "Mormon War," the laying of the Atlantic cable, a remarkable re¬ ligious awakening, two gold rushes, and a knockdown brawl in the House of Representa¬ tives.
The full significance and the irony of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates was not revealed un¬ til 1860, when Fortune whimsically bestowed its generous consolation prize upon the man who had been denied the senatorship. Lincoln's election to the presidency rounded off the his¬ tory of his dramatic rivalry with Douglas— and at the same time seriously distorted it; for the Debates, although held in 1858, have been interpreted and evaluated in the light of what happened two years later. In retrospect, the tall form of Lincoln inevitably dominates the scene: Douglas, originally the star of the show, is relegated to second billing; and the hard-fought batde for a Senate seat shrinks to the proportions of a dress rehearsal. His¬ toriography thus inverts history and makes yesterday the determinant of the day before. The primary significance of the Lincoln- Douglas contest must indeed be sought in its consequences (with due precaution, always, against the post hoc traps scattered over the ground of inquiry). But the words that were spoken, and the purposes that inspired them, can be understood best when they are studied in the immediate context of their delivery. The House-Divided speech, for example, un¬ doubtedly contributed to Lincoln's emergence as a presidential contender; yet it is utterly misleading to write, as Albert J. Beveridge did, that the speech was "his most impor¬ tant move in the game for the Presidency."'^ The tendency to explain motives by consulting
results, and to mistake mere sequence for cause and effect, has cast a veil of legend over a well- documented historical event. Even though the record of the campaign is unusually full and has been frequently examined, this is one aspect of the "Lincoln theme" that is certainly not yet exhausted.
TT HAS BEEN the fashion at times to be- ¦*- little the actual content of the Debates. They are, to be sure, burdened with tiresome repetition and trivial dispute. But their worst faults derive from the circumstances of their presentation, which did not encourage com¬ pactness, unvarying relevancy, or logical pro¬ gression. Intended for the ears of clamorous partisans in seven separate meetings, and not for the eyes of one reader, these twenty-one hours of oratory deserve to be judged by their heights of eloquence and wisdom and wit, rather than by the average level of the dis¬ cussion. And at their best they have profound meaning and enduring value.
Although the debaters confined themselves almost exclusively to the slavery issue, they ransacked the history of the Republic for ar¬ guments, while examining the principles of human liberty and constitutional government. They also explored a problem that is especially pertinent one hundred years later: the status of the Negro race in a predominantly white society. "It was precisely this question," says Bruce Cation, "which ultimately had to be handled," and he considers it "tragic" that neither man was ready to "come to grips" with the subject, that "nothing in the classic de¬ bates is of much help to us" in our present dilemma.^ But this, surely, is asking too much of a past generation—that it solve our prob-
* A slightly different version of this article was read at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association in Washington, D. C, on December 29, 1958.
'Albert J. Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln. 1809-1858 (2 vols., Boston, 1928) H, 585.
^ Bruce Catton, "Beyond the Slavery Question," in the Saturday Review, February 8, 1958, pp. 14-15, a review of Paul M. Angle, ed.. Created Equal?: The Complete Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (Chicago, 1958).
193