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Stephen Douglas
because Stephen Douglas was a supporter of popular sovereighty
Stephen Douglas believed in popular sovereignty. He said in the debate, "I ask you to reflect on these things, for I tell you that there is a conspiracy to carry this election for the Black Republicans by slander, and not by fair means."http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/the-lincoln-douglas-debates-4th-debate-part-i/https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/debate1.htm
Lincoln argued that slavery was wrong. Douglas said that the founding fathers had slaves and that local people should be able to decide if they want slavery or not. Douglas labeled Lincoln as a radical. Lincoln said that how could Douglas say it was popular sovereignty if Northern States had to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law.
Stephen Douglas's idea of popular sovereignty for the expansion of slavery was not in a document, but rather came out in his debates with Abraham Lincoln.
Douglas. But Lincoln had gotten Douglas staked out to some positions perceived as pro-slavery in their debates, and this hurt Douglas in 1860 when they opposed each other for president. Douglas was hurt worse in 1860 by the divisions in the Democratic Party, though, which saw southern Democrats nominate and run John C. Breckenridge, and a breakaway faction nominate and run John Bell. So the Democrats divided their vote three ways in 1860, and Lincoln "won" with less than 40% of the popular vote.
In the mid-1850's Douglas and Lincoln began one of the most famous political feuds in American history, it became known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates but the debates actually had began many years earlier. In Illinois's fourth capital, the Vandalia State House is where Douglas and Lincoln had their first debate around 1837. They continued with more debates in early 1840's above Joshua Speed's dry goods store, "where many aspirants politicians met" in Springfield, Illinois. During the 1840 presidential election Douglas made the decision to take their debates outside in the street, which lasted a week. Douglas enjoyed political fights and that is how he got his nickname the "Little Giant". Another reason was the many debates became more personal over Mary Todd "Lincoln's future wife and Douglas's past girlfriend". The famous Lincoln-Douglas debates was in mid-1850's and began over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, that under-minded the Missouri Compromise. Douglas saw it as "Manifest Destiny" but Lincoln saw it as a deliberate spread of slavery into Kansas and other once free-territories. Lincoln was Illinois Republican Party's nomination for senator, and ran against Douglas but even though Lincoln won the debates he still lost the senate to Douglas. Until the Presidential campaign of 1860. With the Democratic Party split, a Republican was sure to win. Lincoln was reserved in his campaign and stayed at home, allowing his supporters to speak for him. Douglas however did not, he campaigned furiously but Lincoln still won both popular and electoral college votes. I
Stephen Douglas was a senator from Illinois. He and Abraham Lincoln had a series of debates in Illinois that made Abraham Liincoln a contender for president. Stephen Douglas wanted to compromise on slavery with the concept of popular soverneignty.
Maybe their lack of live TV coverage? They were well covered by newspapers all over the country and more widely read than similar debates today. Maybe from Lincoln's point of view they failed, since he lost the election, but since his point of view eventually prevailed and Douglas's popular sovereignty position did not work in Kansas, maybe Lincoln did not fail. In short, I am saying that I think the debates were really very successful and I wonder what failures you are looking for.
Lincoln was not elected to the Senate after the Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858. US Senators were still elected by state legislatures. The Republicans won a slender majority in popular vote, but the malapportioned Illinois state-senate seats resulted in a majority for Stephen Douglas. The Lincoln-Douglas debates were widely reprinted throughout the country, and Lincoln gained invitations for speaking engagements. Major speeches like the 1859 Cooper Union speech set the groundwork for his presidential run in 1860.
According to an article in Wikipedia, during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln tried to get Douglas to announce whether he supported the way slavery was treated in his belief in popular sovereignty, as declared in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, or by the Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott Case, in which a slave was declared personal property and could be taken anywhere in the US. Douglas indicated that