The Fiery Trial_ Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery - Eric Foner [67]
Perhaps half our people…are men who have come from Europe—German, Irish, French and Scandinavian…finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those [revolutionary] days by blood, they find they have none,…but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence…they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men…. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together,…as long as the love of freedom exists.
Douglas’s repudiation of the Declaration’s universality, Lincoln continued, threatened the foundations of democratic government:
It does not stop with the negro…. So I say in relation to the principle that all men are created equal, let it be as nearly reached as we can…. Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man—this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position…. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal…. I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.20
These words, with which Lincoln ended his speech, constituted the most forthright affirmation of equality of Lincoln’s entire career.
Lincoln’s practice of following Douglas around Illinois to respond to his speeches struck Republicans as demeaning. Soon after the Chicago speech and a similar encounter in Springfield, Lincoln challenged Douglas to meet him in a series of debates. They quickly agreed on a series of seven encounters to take place between late August and mid-October in towns scattered across Illinois. The Great Debates attracted immense national attention as they were taking place and became part of the lore of American politics. Newspapers from throughout the country sent reporters to cover them, and transcripts quickly appeared in the press. Thousands of listeners attended each debate.
The two candidates could not have cut more different figures. The short, stocky Douglas dressed in elegantly tailored suits, spoke with great force, tried to be constantly on the attack, and appealed unabashedly to the racial prejudices of his listeners. Accompanied by his fashionable second wife, Adele, a grand-niece of first lady Dolley Madison and at twenty-two less than half his age, Douglas arrived at each debate in a private railcar and was greeted by the firing of cannons by his supporters. Lincoln, tall and angular, and often dressed in rumpled clothing, traveled alone, seated with the regular passengers. Having long perfected ways of establishing rapport with his audience, Lincoln self-consciously adopted the persona of the judicious and rational underdog. His “appearance is not comely,” one newspaper commented, but “he has no superior as a stump speaker.”21
Unlike modern presidential debates where the candidates offer brief, pre-programmed answers to questions posed by a moderator or members of the audience, the Lincoln-Douglas debates consisted of a series of set speeches. One candidate opened with an hour-long address. The other responded for an hour and a half. The first then had thirty minutes to reply. The speeches were