The Lincoln-Douglas debates had some eloquence, lots of repetition and much in the way of grubby politicking. Stephen Douglas hit hard at Abraham Lincoln in the first contest in Ottawa, and Lincoln hit back at the second in Freeport.
Sources used:
Blumenthal, Sidney: All The Powers of Earth. Simon and Schuster, 2019.
Burlingame, Michael, Abraham Lincoln: A Life. (Vol. 1). The John Hopkins University Press, 1995.
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. 1953 Edition hosted by the University of Michigan.
Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln. University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed. Herndon on Lincoln: Letters. Knox College Lincoln Studies Center, 2016.
Davis, Rodney and Wilson, Douglas, ed., The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Knox-CollegeLincoln Studies Center, 2008.
Donald, David Herbert, Lincoln: A Biography. Simon and Schuster, 1995.
Finkleman, Paul, Dred Scott v. Sandford: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford Books, 1997.
Foner, Eric, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. W.W. Norton and Company, 2011.
Guelzo, Alan, Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America. Simon and Schuster, 2008.
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