Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America
From two-time Lincoln Prize winner Allen C. Guelzo comes this definitive account of the 1858 Senate debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas—the political confrontation that transformed Lincoln from an Illinois lawyer into a national figure and set the stage for the Civil War.
The Campaign That Changed American History
In the summer and fall of 1858, Abraham Lincoln mounted an unprecedented challenge against Stephen A. Douglas, the country's most formidable politician, for the United States Senate seat. Though Lincoln lost the election, these debates elevated him from regional obscurity to national prominence, establishing him as the leader of the Republican Party and positioning him for the presidency two years later.
Guelzo's narrative brings alive the seven face-to-face debates and the broader campaign that defined the central conflict of American democracy: Does democracy exist to satisfy majority desires, or to achieve a just and moral public order? This question, debated in 1858, led directly to the Civil War and remains relevant to American political discourse today.
Award-Winning Scholarship
Allen C. Guelzo, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, has won the prestigious Lincoln Prize twice—for Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and the Journal of American History.
What This Book Covers
This historical biography examines the 1858 Illinois Senate race in comprehensive detail, analyzing how Lincoln came close to toppling the "Little Giant" Douglas. The book explores the political strategies, rhetorical brilliance, and fundamental disagreements over slavery that characterized these encounters. Guelzo demonstrates how the debates engaged the core question of democracy's purpose and underscores their centrality in America's greatest conflict.
Published by Simon & Schuster as part of their Lincoln Library collection, this paperback edition provides essential reading for understanding antebellum American politics, the Republican Party's formation, and the ideological divisions that would tear the nation apart.
