The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a very big thing in the United States. People came from all over the country to hear them speak. See what happened was Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had different ideas of how the country should be run and government should operate at this point and time in history. They were both going for a position in the Senate and they were the choice candidates who had it out for each other for that seat. Abraham Lincoln felt as if he had the upper-hand, "Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas to war of ideas." When the nation heard of this everyone was curious as to how it would turn out, traveling far across a wide expanse of the country people came from all over to Illinois in order to hear them debate at a specific 7 spots in Illinois. Douglas felt that whatever the Supreme Court decided was not as important as what the citizens and therefore, could not over rule them. ["Time and time again, Lincoln made that point that "A HOUSE DIVIDED COULD NOT STAND." Douglas refuted this by noting that the founders, "left each state perfectly free to do as it pleased on the subject."] In the end Lincoln ended up losing the debates but still has his principles still standing to this day. His ideas still stand? Who wouldn't have seen that coming from our future President. When Douglas ran for President in 1860, his ideas during these debates hurt him very badly and he lost.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/32b.asp
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