Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858

In 1858, a series of seven debates for the Illinois State Senate were held across the state of Illinois between Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln and Democratic nominee Stephen Douglas. The debates served as a precursor for the issues that Lincoln would face in the 1860 presidential election. The debates were well-attended and covered heavily by the press throughout the state. After ;losing the election, Lincoln edited the transcripts for the debates and published them into a book. The success of this publication helped Lincoln secure the Republican party's nomination in the 1860 race. Use the links in the navigational bar to your left in order to read newspaper accounts of the debates as well as commentary by newspaper reporters. 

Funding for this project was provided by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

Debate Text from Nicolay and Hay

John Nicolay and John Hay, two of Lincoln's secretaries while president, compiled available Lincoln writings for an 1894 publication, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. These works included texts from the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, and are available from this website. Since the debates themselves were not written down by Lincoln and Douglas, Nicolay and Hay relied on newspaper accounts. Other newspaper accounts of the debates are available under Debate Texts from Newspapers.

Click on a city to link to the Nicolay and Hay version of that debate:

• Ottawa — August 21, 1858.
• Freeport — August 27, 1858.
• Jonesboro — September 15, 1858.
• Charleston — September 18, 1858.
• Galesburg — October 7, 1858.
• Quincy — October 13, 1858.
• Alton — October 15, 1858.

Click on an article to read other materials from the campaign published by Nicolay and Hay:

• Speech Delivered at Bloomington, Ill., by Senator S. A. Douglas (7/16/1858)
• Speech Delivered at Springfield, Ill, by Senator S. A. Douglas (7/17/1858)
• Preliminary Correspondence to the Joint Debates (7/29/1858, 7/30/1858, 7/31/1858)
• Fragment: Notes for Speeches (10/1/1858)
• Fragment: Notes for Speeches (10/1/1858)
• Fragment: Notes for Speeches (10/1/1858)
• Fragment: Notes for Speeches (10/1/1858)
• Fragment: Notes for Speeches (10/1/1858)
• Fragment: Notes for Speeches (9/16/1858)
• Speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858 (7/10/1858)

Debate Text from Newspapers

Since neither Lincoln nor Douglas wrote down the complete text of their speeches, citizens relied on newspaper accounts. In general, newspapers at that time were expressly party-affiliated, so accounts differed based upon which candidate the reporter was rooting for. It is interesting to examine these debates by comparing the texts offered by Republican (R) and Democratic (D) newspapers. This site offers debate texts from a wide variety of newspapers throughout the state including debate-city papers: Freeport Weekly Bulletin (D), Freeport Weekly Journal (R), Galesburg Semi-Weekly Democrat (R), Quincy Daily Whig and Republican (R), Alton Weekly Courier (R), as well as papers from other towns: Galena's Weekly North-Western Gazette (R), Rockford Republican (R), Bloomington's The Daily Pantagraph (R), Urbana's Central Illinois Gazette (D), Paris' Prairie Beacon News (R), Springfield's Illinois State Journal (R), The Jacksonville Sentinel (D), Dixon's Republican and Telegraph (R), and the Weekly Belleville Advocate (R).

Ottawa Debate — August 21, 1858.

The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois. (R)

• Hon. A. Lincoln's Speech at Ottawa (8/25/1858)
• Hon. A. Lincoln's Speech at Ottawa, Continued (8/26/1858)
• Hon. A. Lincoln's Speech at Ottawa, Continued (8/27/1858)
• Hon. A. Lincoln's Speech at Ottawa, Concluded (8/28/1858)

Weekly North-Western Gazette, Galena, Illinois. (R)

• Lincoln and Douglas at Ottawa (8/31/1858)
• The Ottawa Fraud — How Lincoln is to be Assailed (8/31/1858)

The Jacksonville Sentinel (D)

• Douglas and Lincoln at Ottawa — The "Dead Lion" Skins the "Living Dog" (8/27/1858)
• Douglas' Reply to Lincoln at Ottawa (9/3/1858)

Quincy Daily Whig and Republican (R)

• Speech of Hon. Abraham Lincoln at Ottawa 3 articles (8/28/1858,
• Speech of Hon. Abraham Lincoln at Ottawa, Continued (8/30/1858)
• Speech of Hon. Abraham Lincoln at Ottawa, Concluded (8/31/1858)

Rockford Republican (R)

• Extract from Lincoln's Speech From Ottawa (8/26/1858)

Illinois State Journal, Springfield, Illinois. (R)

• More of the Ottawa Forgery — Harris and Lanphier in a Split Stick (8/30/1858)

Freeport Debate — August 27, 1858.

Alton Weekly Courier (R)

• Douglas' Chicago Speech vs. his Freeport Speech (9/9/1858)
• The Lincoln and Douglas Debate at Freeport (9/2/1858)

Weekly Belleville Advocate (R)

• Mr. Douglas Answered (9/22/1858)

Freeport Weekly Bulletin (D)

• The Senatorial Canvass (9/2/1858)

Weekly North-Western Gazette, Galena, Illinois. (R)

• The Discussion at Freeport — Synopsis of the Speeches (9/7/1858)

Galesburg Semi-weekly Democrat (R)

• "The Debate at Freeport — 15,000 to 20,000 People Present! (9/1/1858)

The Jacksonville Sentinel (D)

• Beauties of Black Republicanism — Lincoln's Friends Indorse Fred Douglas and Negro Equality (9/3/1858)
• The Freeport Discussion (9/10/1858)

Quincy Daily Whig and Republican (R)

• Lincoln and Douglas at Freeport (9/1/1858)

Illinois State Journal, Springfield, Illinois. (R)

• Mr. Lincoln's Speech (9/1/1858)
• Mr. Lincoln Rejoinder (9/3/1858)
• Great Debate Between Lincoln and Douglas at Freeport (8/30/1858)
• Great Debate Between Lincoln and Douglas at Freeport (9/3/1858)
• Lincoln Stands on the Old Whig Platform (9/6/1858)

Jonesboro Debate — September 15, 1858.

Weekly North-Western Gazette, Galena, Illinois. (R)

• The Third Debate (9/21/1858)
• Douglas in Character (9/28/1858)

Illinois State Journal, Springfield, Illinois. (R)

• Great Debate Between Lincoln and Douglas at Jonesboro (9/20/1858)

Charleston Debate — September 18, 1858.

Weekly Belleville Advocate (R)

• Abraham Lincoln (9/29/1858)

Quincy Daily Whig and Republican (R)

• Lincoln and Douglas at Charleston (9/23/1858)

Rockford Republican (R)

• The Fourth Joint Debate Between Lincoln and Douglas (10/7/1858)

Galesburg Debate — October 7, 1858.

The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois. (R)

• The Galesburg Debate (10/13/1858)

Galesburg Semi-Weekly Democrat (R)

• Galesburg Debate. Great Oupouring of the People! 20,000 Persons Present! (10/9/1858)

Quincy Debate — October 13, 1858.

In the newspapers reviewed by this site, there were no articles which published transcriptions of the Quincy debate.

Alton Debate — October 15, 1858.

The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois. (R)

• The Real Issue from Lincoln's Speech at the Alton Debate, Oct. 15th (10/15/1858)

Campaign speeches from other cities

Alton Weekly Courier (R)

• Douglas' Chicago Speech vs. his Freeport Speech (9/9/1858)

The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois. (R)

• Conflicting Opinions by Mr. Douglas (10/13/1858)

Republican and Telegraph, Dixon, Illinois. (R)

• Douglas Soliloquizing (9/30/1858)
• Conflicting Opinions by Mr. Douglas (10/14/1858)

Freeport Weekly Bulletin (D)

• Douglas at Clinton (8/12/1858)

Weekly North-Western Gazette, Galena, Illinois. (R)

• Douglas at Galena (8/31/1858)

Illinois State Journal, Springfield, Illinois. (R)

• The "Conspiracy" Charge Renewed and Cliched (8/19/1858)

Lapsley, Arthur Brooks, ed. The Writings of Abraham Lincoln. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1905.

• Speech of Senator Douglas
• Fragment of a Speech at Edwardsville (9/13/1858)
• Fragment of a Speech at Paris, Illinois (9/8/1858)
• Letter to C. H. Ray (11/20/1858)

Browne, Francis, F. The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: N.D. Thompson, 1886.

• This biography of Lincoln contains speeches of Lincoln relating to the campaign of 1858.