Lincoln Douglas Debate Topics Primary Source Quotes with questions Missouri Compromise: What was the origin of the Missouri difficulty and the Missouri Compromise? The people of Missouri formed a constitution as a slave State, and asked admission into the Union, but the Free-soil party of the North, being in a majority, refused to admit her because she had slavery as one of her institutions. ~ Stephen Douglas speech at Ottawa 1. Douglas believes the Missouri Compromise had to be made because demanded it. A. Both the North and South B. The President C. The Free Soil Party in Congress D. The people in Missouri Have we ever had any peace on this slavery question? When are we to have peace upon it if it is kept in the position it now occupies? How are we ever to have peace upon it? That is an important question. To be sure, if we will all stop and allow Judge Douglas and his friends to march on in their present career until they plant the institution all over the nation, here and wherever else our flag waves, [then].there will be peace. But let me ask Judge Douglas how he is going to get the people to do that? They have been wrangling over this question for at least forty years. This was the cause of the agitation resulting in the Missouri Compromise; this produced the troubles at the annexation of Texas, in the acquisition of the territory acquired in the Mexican war. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Charleston 2. Lincoln believes the Missouri Compromise had to be made because demanded it. A. Both the North and South B. The President C. The Free Soil Party in Congress D. The people in Missouri Compromise of 1850 Quote 1: The Democratic party jointly adopted the compromise measures of 1850 as the basis of a proper and just solution of the slavery question in all its forms. ~ Stephen Douglas speech at Ottawa Quote 2: [Congress and its Compromise of 1850] declared that the States might come into the Union with slavery, or without, as they pleased. ~ Stephen Douglas speech at Quincy 3. Douglas believed the compromise established a rule or precedent for A. popular sovereignty B. abolitionism C. capturing fugitive slaves D. compromise over slavery 1
Compromise of 1850 - continued When [the Compromise of 1850] was made, it did not repeal the old Missouri Compromise. It left a region of United States territory half as large as the present territory of the United States, north of the line of 36 degrees 30 minutes, in which slavery was prohibited by act of Congress. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Jonesboro 4. Lincoln mentions in this quote that the Compromise of 1850 (select two) A. Still outlawed slavery in a large portion of the US B. Did not undo the Missouri Compromise C. Contained the Fugitive Slave Act Fugitive Slave Act I desire to know whether Mr. Lincoln today stands as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the fugitive-slave law. I desire him to answer. ~ Stephen Douglas speech at Ottawa 5. Douglas wants to know if would overturn the Fugitive Slave Act. A. Congress B. Lincoln and his Republican Party C. Abolitionists D. Kansas When they remind us of their constitutional rights, I acknowledge them, not grudgingly, but fully and fairly; and I would give them any legislation for the reclaiming of their fugitives, which should not, in its stringency, be more likely to carry a free man into slavery, than our ordinary criminal laws are to hang an innocent one. ~Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Ottawa As to the first one, in regard to the fugitive slave law, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of the Southern States are entitled to a congressional fugitive-slave law. ~Abraham Lincoln s speech at Freeport 6. True or False: Lincoln supported the Fugitive Slave Act. 7. What part of the Fugitive Slave Act does Abraham Lincoln seem to be concerned about? A. The law may make slavery legal everywhere. B. The law may have loop holes that allow free men to be taken into slavery unlawfully from the north. C. The law allows slave catchers to go into the North where they have not been allowed before. 2
Popular Sovereignty..If the sovereign State of New York chooses to make [a] distinction [about blacks] it is her business and not mine, and I will not quarrel with her for it. She can do as she pleases on this question if she minds her own business, and we will do the same thing. ~ Stephen Douglas s speech at Ottawa D. Douglas believes states should slavery. A. outlaw B. allow C. decide (vote) for themselves about..it became Judge Douglas's duty, as he thought (and I find no fault with him), as chairman of the Committee on Territories, to bring in a bill for the organization of a territorial government -- first of one, then of two Territories north of that line. When he did so it ended in his inserting a provision substantially repealing the Missouri Compromise. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Jonesboro 8. Lincoln rejected or opposed the Kansas Nebraska Act because it A. undid the Missouri Compromise B. undid the Compromise of 1850 C. ignored the Declaration of Independence D. Ignored the Constitution I object to [popular sovereignty] because it assumes that there can be moral right in the enslaving of one man by another. ~Abraham Lincoln s the day after his speech at Alton 9. Lincoln thinks slavery is A. is morally right B. is morally wrong C. up to each person. It can be right and it can be wrong. Natural Law Now, I say to you, my fellow-citizens, that in my opinion the signers of the Declaration had no reference to the negro whatever, when they declared all men to be created equal. They desired to express by that phrase white men, men of European birth and European descent, and had no reference either to the negro, the savage Indians, the Fee-Jee, the Malay, or any other inferior and degraded race, when they spoke of the equality of men. ~Stephen Douglas speech at Jonesboro 10. True or False: Douglas believes that the Declaration applies to all people. I hold that there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence -the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Ottawa 11. True or False: Lincoln believes that the Declaration applies to all people. 3
Should the federal government control Slavery? Quote 1: Now, my friends, if we will only act conscientiously and rigidly upon this great principle of popular sovereignty, which guarantees to each State and Territory the right to do as it pleases on all things, local and domestic, instead of Congress interfering, we will continue at peace one with another. ~ Stephen Douglas speech at Ottawa Quote 2: If we wish to preserve our institutions in their purity and transmit them unimpaired to our latest posterity, we must preserve with religious good faith that great principle of self-government which guarantees to each and every State, old and new, the right to make just such constitutions as they desire, and come into the Union with their own constitution, and not one palmed upon them. Whenever you sanction the doctrine that Congress may crowd a constitution down the throats of an unwilling people, against their consent, you will subvert the great fundamental principle upon which all our free institutions rest. ~ Stephen Douglas speech at Jonesboro 12. From quote 1: Who does Douglas want to control slavery Congress or the local State governments? 13. From quote 2: Douglas believes all good government rests on what political idea? A. natural rights B. self-government C. the US Constitution D. the Bill of Rights 14. From quotes 1 and 2: Douglas implies that peace will only exist in the Union if..what? A. self-government exists B. the states control slavery C. the federal government stays out of slavery D. All of the above "I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the United States, North as well as South of the Missouri Compromise line?" ~Stephen Douglas speech at Freeport I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all the United States Territories. ~Abraham Lincoln s speech at Freeport 15. True or False: Lincoln believes Congress has the authority to prevent slavery in all US Territories. 16. Lincoln s belief would go against what major event that said slaves were property? A. The Missouri Compromise B. The Compromise of 1850 C. the Dred Scott case D. The Wilmot Proviso 4
Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case? In the first place, the Supreme Court of the United States has decided that any congressional prohibition [outlaw] of slavery in the Territories is unconstitutional -- they have reached this proposition that the Constitution of the United States expressly recognizes property in slaves.and that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law. Hence they reach the conclusion that as the Constitution of the United States expressly recognizes property in slaves, and prohibits any person from being deprived of property without due process of law, to pass an act of Congress by which a man who owned a slave on one side of a line would be deprived of him if he took him on the other side is depriving him of that property without due process of law. That I understand to be the decision of the Supreme Court. I understand also that Judge Douglas adheres most firmly to that decision; and the difficulty is, how is it possible for any power to exclude slavery from the Territory unless in violation of that decision? That is the difficulty. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Jonesboro 17. Lincoln s viewpoint of the case was that the Supreme Court decided in the Dred Scott case? 20a. Slaves are property or people. (Circle the word that applies to Lincoln s quote) 20b. A person s property cannot be taken away from them without due process of law. This refers to the constitutional amendment. A. 1 st amendment (freedom of assembly) B. 2 nd amendment (right to bear arms) C. 4 th amendment (illegal search and seizure of property without a warrant) D. 5 th amendment (right to remain silent) 18. True or False: Lincoln believes the government cannot outlaw slavery in one part of the US because it would violate a person s property rights. 19. YOUR THINKING: Lincoln is interpreting the Dred Scott case here. What did the case actually say? The Dred Scott case said the US Congress could not outlaw slavery in all of the US or just in US territories. (Circle the word that applies) 20. True or False: Lincoln thinks the case makes slavery legal in all of the US. Stephen Douglas viewpoint: [The Supreme Court] had claimed that slavery had a right to go into the free States, and that any provision in the constitution or laws of the free States to the contrary was null and void. I denounced it in the Senate, as I said before, and I was the first man who did. ~Stephen Douglas speech at Freeport 21. True or False: Douglas agreed with the Dred Scott decision. 22. True or False: Douglas react this way to the Dred Scott decision because he felt it ignored the rights of states to vote over slavery 5
How will the two men respond to the Dred Scott case? It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere unless it is supported by the local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the local legislature, and if the people are opposed to slavery they will elect representatives to that body who will by unfriendly legislation effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst. ~ Stephen Douglas speech at Freeport 23. Douglas believes that the people can ignore the Dred Scott decision because has to enforce it. A. Police and State legislation B. The Federal government C. Southern political leaders D. Northern political leaders 24. INFERENCE: True or False: Douglas believes it is okay for the people to ignore national laws. Quote 1: Let reverence for the laws become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Lyceum, 1838 Quote 2: Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Lyceum, 1838 25. Quote 1: True or False: Lincoln believed the law should be respected by all people. 26. Quote 2: Lincoln believed would solve the current conflict. A. Ignoring bad laws B. Reason C. Passionate emotions D. Strong Belief in right and wrong 6
Should slavery spread West? I answer that whenever it becomes necessary, in our growth and progress, to acquire more territory, that I am in favor of it, without reference to the question of slavery, and when we have acquired it, I will leave the people free to do as they please, either to make it slave or free territory, as they prefer. ~ Stephen Douglas speech at Freeport 27. Douglas believes new territories should A. outlaw slavery B. follow the Dred Scott decision which allowed slavery in all US territories C. vote on the issue of allowing or banning slavery (popular sovereignty) 28. Douglas proposal goes against which said blacks were property and could not be taken away without due process. A. The Missouri Compromise B. The Compromise of 1850 C. the Dred Scott case D. The Wilmot Proviso I account for it by looking at the position in which our fathers originally placed it -- restricting it from the new territories where it had not gone, and legislating to cut off its source by the abrogation of the slave-trade, thus putting the seal of legislation against its spread. The public mind did rest in the belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Ottawa I have no purpose, either directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Ottawa 29. INFERENCE: Lincoln believes slavery should not spread West because A. it is unconstitutional B. it is against the pattern established by the founders and the Missouri Compromise C. it violates the Declaration of Independence 30. INFERENCE: Lincoln here is referring to A. 4 th amendment property rights B. the Constitutional statement that outlawed the slave trade in 1809 and the Missouri Compromise C. the Northwest Ordinance which outlawed slavery in new states like Ohio and Indiana. D. A and B E. B and C 7
How does the person see their opponent and his political party? There was a tendency, if not a conspiracy, among those who have engineered this slavery question for the last four or five years, to make slavery perpetual [permanent] and universal [everywhere] in this nation. ~ Abraham Lincoln s speech at Ottawa The whole abolition agitation arose on that doctrine of prohibiting a State from coming in with slavery or not, as it pleased, and that same doctrine is here in this Republican platform of 1854; it has never been repealed; and every Black Republican stands pledged by that platform never to vote for any man who is not in of it. ~Stephen Douglas speech at Ottawa 35. True or False: Lincoln has a strong distrust in slave owners and those who support slavery. He believes they are trying to take over American politics and push their ideas across America. 36. In Douglas opinion, what single topic is every Republican voter using to disqualify politicians by? A. The Missouri Compromise B. Slavery and popular sovereignty C. the Dred Scott case D. The Wilmot Proviso 8