Chapter XXXII: Appendix: B

THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE AT ALTON

(Prepared as an exercise in briefing by a class in written
argumentation)

_Senator Douglas’s Speech_

Proposition: Vote for Douglas and the Democratic Party

_Introduction_

Douglas states that there are three points at issue between Lincoln and himself:

1. Whether the Union can exist half slave and half free.

2. Whether the Supreme Court was in error in the Dred Scott Decision.

3. Whether the Declaration of Independence included the negroes.

_Proof_

Proposition: (Repeated) Vote for Douglas and the Democratic Party, because

A. The Republican creed is wrong for the reason that it cannot be
advocated everywhere, for

I. Any creed is radically wrong that cannot be proclaimed alike in
every state in the Union.

B. Refutation: The argument that this government cannot exist half
slave and half free is unsound, for

I. Each state decides upon its own institutions, for

a. Each state is sovereign.

II. If the makers of the Constitution had believed Lincoln’s
doctrine, they would have made a provision establishing
slavery, for

a. At that time twelve out of thirteen states were slave
holding states.

III. It would be unjust for the Northern states to attack slavery
in the slave states, for

a. When the free states were in the minority the slave states
did not interfere with them.

b. It would violate the sovereignty of the states which is
guaranteed them in the Constitution.

C. Lincoln is undecided about the admission of more slave states, for

I. He would not answer at Ottawa.

II. At Freeport he said he would be very sorry to be put in a
position to decide that question.

III. He has not answered my question directly, for

a. His answer depended upon whether slavery had been kept out
during the state’s whole territorial existence, etc.

IV. He has not said, and will not say, whether, if elected to
Congress, he will vote to admit any territory now in existence
with such a Constitution as her people may provide.

V. He will not say whether he will redeem our pledge with Texas.

D. Douglas takes a clear and just stand on these questions, for

I. He plainly states that he will let the people of any territory
come into the Union slave or free as they decide.

E. Douglas has stood by the principles he advocated, for

I. He opposed the Lecompton Constitution because it did not
represent the will of the people, for

a. When it was submitted to the people of Kansas last August
it was rejected by a vote of ten to one.

II. He refused to support the English bill, for

a. He was right and honest in his opposition to the Lecompton
Constitution.

b. He believed that whenever Kansas had enough people for a
slave state she had enough people for a free state but the
English bill was directly opposed to this principle, for

1. The bill provided that if Kansas came in as a slave
state it would be admitted with a population of 35,000,
but if it desired admission as a free state it must
have 93,420 inhabitants.

III. He opposes the attempt on the part of the Executive to
control the Senate, for

a. It will lead to despotism.

IV. He stands on the same platform now that he stood on in 1850,
1854, and 1856, for

a. Even the Washington Union admits this.

F. The principle of letting the people of each state decide for
themselves about slavery is the right principle, for

I. It is the principle advocated by our leading statesmen and
patriots, for

a. James Buchanan advocates it, for

1. He said so in his letter of acceptance after he
received the Democratic nomination for the Presidency
in 1856.

b. Chief Justice Taney does not deny this principle.

c. The Honorable Jefferson Davis took the same view in his
speech at Bangor, Maine.

d. The Speaker of the House, Mr. Orr, holds the same view.

e. Alex. H. Stephens puts the same construction upon it that
Douglas does.

II. The people believe it is right, for

a. The people made James Buchanan president on this same
principle.

III. It is the principle that can bring peace to the Union, for

a. If the people of all the states will act on this great
principle, and each state mind its own business, take care
of its own negroes, and not meddle with its neighbors,
there will be no cause for dissension.

_Conclusion_

A. A plea for peace by adopting the principles presented in the proof.

B. A denunciation of those who seek to turn this public controversy to
their own personal advantage.

MR. LINCOLN’S REPLY

Proposition: Vote for Lincoln and the Republican party.

_Introduction_

A. Lincoln advises Judge Douglas to continue the war upon the other
wing of his party.

B. Douglas should not make too much of Buchanan’s inconsistency
because he is inconsistent himself, for he once championed the
Missouri Compromise but now he opposes it.

_Proof_

Proposition: (Repeated) Vote for Lincoln and the Republican party, because

A. Refutation: The statement that I have complained that the Supreme
Court in the Dred Scott case had decided that a negro could never
be a citizen of the United States is untrue, for

I. No such idea can be found in my speech.

II. The truth is that I mentioned the Dred Scott Decision only as
part of a conspiracy to make slavery national.

B. Douglas misrepresents my position on the Declaration of
Independence, for

I. He has garbled my Chicago speech, for

a. He omitted between two quotations four sentences necessary
to my meaning.

II. Douglas has taken no notice of an extract from my Springfield
speech in which my views are clearly expressed.

III. My position is the same as that of Henry Clay, for

a. Clay declared the Declaration as an abstract principle is
true and the new proposition of the Dred Scott Decision is
intended to make the negro nothing but property in all the
states.

b. Refutation: The statement that Henry Clay held that the
negro was not included in the Declaration of Independence
is untrue, for

1. He never expressed this belief.

2. The speech referred to in the Chicago Times as showing
that this was Mr. Clay’s view shows precisely the
opposite view, for

(a) He says that it is true as an abstract principle
that all men are created equal, but that we cannot
practically apply it in all cases.

C. Lincoln still says that the proposition that “A house divided
against itself cannot stand” is true, for

I. The agitation over slavery will not cease, for

a. Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska bill has stirred up the whole
discussion again, for

1. Although the Kansas-Nebraska bill was declared to be
the end it has stirred up strife in the last Congress
and throughout the entire country.

b. In its pretense to confer local self-government the
Kansas-Nebraska bill proved to be a lie.

II. The framers of the Constitution hoped to put slavery in a
course of extinction, for

a. They provided that the slave trade should cease after
twenty years.

b. The Constitution does not contain the words “slavery” or
“negro race,” for

1. Its framers thought slavery a temporary thing.

2. Fugitive slaves are not mentioned.

3. The representation clause avoids using these words.

III. Refutation: The statement that the framers of the
Constitution introduced slavery is not true, for

a. They found it but marked it with their disapproval.

IV. Lincoln wishes to return to the policy of the framers of the
Constitution, for

a. Refutation: The charge that the Constitution has stirred up
this agitation over slavery is false, for

1. The agitation has been stirred up by Judge Douglas and
his friends.

b. Other local laws have not caused strife, for

1. The cranberry laws of Indiana caused no strife.

2. The oyster laws of Virginia have not caused strife.

c. The slave traffic has caused trouble whenever it has
attempted to extend itself, for

1. The Missouri Compromise and the Annexation of Texas
prove this.

2. Slavery has divided political parties and churches.

D. The real issue between Lincoln and Douglas is not as to states, it
is whether Congress shall exclude slavery from the territories
while in a territorial condition, for

I. I agree with Douglas that the states have a right to determine
for themselves about slavery.

II. I differ from Douglas as to the right of the people to take
slaves into the territories of the United States, for

a. We must preserve the territories for free white people the
world over.

E. Fundamentally this controversy means that the Republicans believe
slavery to be wrong and the Democrats believe it to be right, for

I. The Republicans insist that slavery shall grow no larger.

II. The Democrats never treat slavery as wrong, for

a. When the proposition to abolish slavery in Missouri failed
the Democrats rejoiced.

b. Douglas, unlike Clay, does not care whether slavery is
voted up or down.

c. Douglas looks to no end of the institution of slavery.

d. Douglas has been the most prominent instrument in placing
slavery upon “Brooks’ cotton-gin basis” where he openly
confesses he has no desire to see it ended.

F. Judge Douglas’ position on the Dred Scott Decision is a doctrine of
lawlessness, for

I. Before the Dred Scott decision Douglas said constantly, that
whether or not the people of the territories could exclude
slavery was a question for the Supreme Court to decide. Now he
says it is not a question for the Supreme Court, but for the
people.

II. Douglas’s doctrine of local police regulation is contrary to
the Constitution, for

a. The territories cannot withhold the legislation which a man
needs for the enjoyment of a right fixed in his favor by
the Constitution.

III. If such a right as Judge Douglas holds to be a right really
exists then the fugitive slave law can be made of no effect by
the same kind of action.

MR. DOUGLAS’S REJOINDER

Proposition: Vote for Douglas and the Democratic party, because

A. Mr. Lincoln’s tendency is toward abolitionism.

B. Lincoln’s course in Congress with reference to the Mexican War was
unpatriotic, for

I. He voted that it was unnecessary, unconstitutional, and unjust,
after it had been begun.

C. Refutation: Lincoln’s claim to be an old line Clay Whig is false,
for

I. In a caucus in 1847 Lincoln wanted to throw Henry Clay
overboard and take up General Taylor in his place.

II. Lincoln was the bitter enemy of Clay in the National
Convention at Philadelphia.

III. Singleton says that Lincoln rejoiced greatly at Clay’s
defeat.

IV. Lincoln never supported any of Clay’s policies, for

a. Lincoln voted forty-two times for the Wilmot Proviso,
whereas Clay opposed it.

D. Refutation: Lincoln’s statement that the slavery question is the
only thing that ever threatened the Union is false, for

I. Nullification threatened the Union in 1832.

II. In 1813 the Hartford Convention threatened the Union.

E. The fathers made this government divided into free and slave
states, recognizing the right of each to decide all its local
questions for itself, for

I. They did not abolish or establish slavery in any of the states.

II. Refutation: The statement that conditions have changed does
not affect the question, for

a. Changed conditions do not change the principles of the
government.

F. Lincoln advocates the identical principle asserted by George III
and the Tories of the Revolution, for

I. He wants Congress to pass laws controlling the property and
domestic concerns of the people in the territories, without
their consent and against their will.

G. Douglas’s principle of local option on the slavery question is
sufficient to preserve peace, for

I. It preserves peace on all other local questions.

_Conclusion_

The only remedy and safety is that we stand by the Constitution as our fathers made it, obey the laws as they are passed, while they stand the proper test, and sustain the decisions of the Supreme Court and the constituted authorities.