What were the major issues of debate in the presidential election of 1860?

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Rebecca

New member
I'm doing a project on Abraham Lincoln & I need to know the main points of his campaign for Pres, as well as those of his opponents, Stephen A. Douglas, John Breckenridge, and John Bell. Our group has to create both a positive campaign ad that promotes Lincoln (via video) and a negative one that bashes his opponents. Thanks for any help!
 
Wow. Cool assignment. The Lincoln vs. Douglas debates were all about slavery. That black smudge on the American soul had finally percolated to the forefront of our consciousness. The push west was now a race between slave state and free state. And the issue was finally coming to a head. Douglas stood for maintaining the status quo. Keep slavery a firmly entrenched institution. And Lincoln represented change. The eloquence of their debates is of vital importance to understand. First because it is the pinnacle moment in American history, and the debates were epic. But much more than that, they prove that American representative democracy was once a shining light in the dismal world of brutal dictators and corrupt monarchies. The level of intelligent discourse was sublime. And what we have today is an embarrassment by comparison.
 
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