Lincoln-Douglas debates

Cultural  

1. A series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858, when both were campaigning for election to the United States Senate from Illinois. Much of the debating concerned slavery and its extension into territories such as Kansas. The debates transformed Lincoln into a national figure and led to his election to the presidency in 1860.

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Example Sentences

In the previous weeks, the candidates had barnstormed across District 14 in their own version of the Lincoln-Douglas debates — but even more bitter.

From Los Angeles Times

Also sold at Saturday’s auction was a Lincoln-signed first edition of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, which fetched nearly $594,000.

From Seattle Times

Consider the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which Lincoln, as the anti-slavery Republican candidate for an Illinois seat in the U.S.

From Washington Post

In the past eight years, the program has produced 128 original songs, including an ambitious work of almost operatic scope called “Lincoln Portrait” — a collection of deeply researched songs highlighting Abraham Lincoln’s speeches and the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

From Washington Post

“I learned more about the Lincoln-Douglas debates from the inmates than I did from any book or course,” he told me.

From Washington Post