The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: Why not McCain vs. Obama?

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a series of seven formal meetings during the Illinois senatorial campaign of 1858, in which Republican Abraham Lincoln argued the issue of slavery with the Democratic incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas.

On July 24 Lincoln issued a formal challenge. "Will it be agreeable to you," he wrote to Douglas, "to make an arrangement for you and myself to divide time, and address the same audiences during the present canvass?" With some reluctance, since he was the better-known candidate, Douglas accepted, and the terms were agreed upon. The first of these debates was held on August 21, 1858 in Ottawa, Illinois and the last in Alton on October 18. The success of Lincoln in these debates was instrumental in launching him as a candidate for the Presidency in 1860, which he won.

On June 4 In front of hundreds of Baton Rouge residents, Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee for President, pleaded his case to become the next president. At the meeting, McCain announced he had sent a letter to Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, asking Obama to join him in a series of 10 town-hall debates across the country. These informal town hall style debates would remove the "spectacle of formal debates," and give more opportunity for the candidates to question each other on the issues.

McCain said the idea of joint town hall debates was first introduced in 1963 by Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., and President John F. Kennedy. The first would be held in New York City at Federal Hall - the place where George Washington took the oath of office as the nation's first president. Obama has shown interest in participating but wants to reduce the number of debates now that both are destined to be the official nominees for their party.

Pathfinder:
Click the Topics tab, select Slavery and Politics (c. 1851 - 1860), then click The Rise of Lincoln for resources on the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Students should select and cite at least three resources that address the assigned essential questions below or you can create others. Reports should be approximately 200 words. Here are some examples of essential questions for critical thinking (teachers may want to add or substitute others).

• How do the issues of the Lincoln-Douglas debates compare to the major issues that will probably be discussed by McCain and Obama?
• How do the arguments presented by Lincoln and Douglas on slavery compare with the philosophy of the arguments of Obama and McCain on any similar issue?
• Which position in the L-D debates would Obama most likely argue and why?
• Which position in the L-D debates would McCain most likely argue and why?
• Which two issues of today would Lincoln likely argue and what would he say?

Essential questions for critical thinking are the teacher tools that turn ProQuest research activities from traditional and boring scavenger hunts for facts into exciting ways for students to learn and express their own reasoned opinions and original thought. These questions are examples that teachers should assign; or they may want to create others that also integrate the process of critical thinking and the Bloom Taxonomy. These questions are the key to real student learning and the transfer of that learning to other areas of the curriculum.



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