# Canonical recap data for Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)
# Source: https://recap.at/1858/lincoln-douglas-debates
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: lincoln-douglas-debates
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1858/lincoln-douglas-debates"
title: Lincoln-Douglas Debates
subtitle: Seven public debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas over slavery's expansion galvanized American political discourse and elevated Lincoln toward the presidency.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1859-01-05
datePrecision: day
year: 1858
decade: 1850
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: "The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. Until the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides "
summaryLong: The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. Until the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that senators shall be elected by the people of their states, was ratified in 1913, senators were elected by their respective state legislatures. Therefore, Lincoln and Douglas were trying to win the people's votes for legislators in the Illinois General Assembly, aligned with their respective political parties.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Lincoln_Douglas_Debates_1958_issue-4c.jpg/1280px-Lincoln_Douglas_Debates_1958_issue-4c.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Lincoln–Douglas debates"
importance: 79
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates"
  title: Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- election
metaDescription: The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party candidate for the United States Senate from Ill
wikidataQid: Q622354
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260604023811/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-04
  label: Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates"
