[00:00.00]51VOA.COM [00:11.58]Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION [00:14.03]American history in VOA Special English. [00:18.11]In the summer of eighteen fifty-eight, [00:21.40]two candidates campaigned [00:23.39]across the state of Illinois for a seat [00:26.07]in the United States Senate. [00:28.06]That seat belonged to Stephen Douglas [00:31.09]from the Democratic Party. [00:32.83]He was seeking re-election. [00:35.23]His opponent was a lawyer [00:37.85]from the newly established Republican Party. [00:41.00]His name was Abraham Lincoln. [00:43.97]This week in our series, [00:46.75]Frank Oliver and Larry West tell us [00:50.14]about this campaign of statewide [00:52.82]but also national importance. [00:55.64]£¨MUSIC£© [01:18.32]Abraham Lincoln proposed [01:20.29]that he and Stephen Douglas [01:22.50]hold several debates. [01:25.02]The rules for each debate would be the same. [01:29.07]One man would speak for an hour. [01:32.76]His opponent would speak for an hour and a half. [01:37.10]Then the first man would speak [01:40.03]for half an hour to close the debate. [01:43.05]Douglas agreed. [01:45.68]There were seven debates in all. [01:49.38]They were held in towns throughout Illinois. [01:53.94]In some places, [01:55.91]there was great interest [01:57.86]in what the two candidates had to say. [02:00.73]Thousands of people attended. [02:03.50]Douglas was a short,heavy man. [02:08.94]One reporter said he looked like a fierce bulldog. [02:13.05]Douglas's friends and supporters [02:16.21]called him "the little giant." [02:18.39]Lincoln was just the opposite. [02:22.17]He was very tall and thin, [02:25.53]with long arms and legs. [02:28.40]His clothes did not fit well. [02:31.20]And he had a plain face, [02:34.35]one which many thought was ugly. [02:37.20]He looked more like a simple farmer [02:41.00]than a candidate for the United States Senate. [02:45.22]£¨MUSIC£© [03:01.07]The Lincoln-Douglas debates [03:03.00]covered party politics [03:05.17]and the future of the nation. [03:08.02]But everything the two men discussed [03:12.45]was tied to one issue: slavery. [03:18.14]Douglas spoke first at the first debate. [03:21.98]He questioned a statement [03:24.89]made in one of Lincoln's campaign speeches. [03:28.74]Lincoln had said that the United States [03:33.00]could not continue to permit slavery [03:36.72]in some areas, [03:38.08]while banning it in others. [03:40.77]He said the Union could not stand so divided. [03:46.54]It must either permit slavery everywhere [03:50.07]or nowhere. [03:52.12]Douglas did not agree. [03:55.50]He noted that the country had been half-slave [04:00.43]and half-free for seventy years. [04:04.16]Why then,he asked, [04:07.31]should it not continue to exist that way. [04:11.04]The United States was a big country. [04:14.49]What was best for one part [04:17.98]might not be best for another. [04:21.03]Then Douglas questioned Lincoln's statement [04:25.86]on the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision. [04:29.05]Lincoln had said he opposed the decision, [04:32.77]because it did not permit Negroes [04:35.57]to enjoy the rights of citizenship. [04:38.15]Douglas said [04:40.19]he believed the decision was correct. [04:43.07]He said it was clear [04:45.24]that the government had been made by white men, [04:48.46]for white men. [04:50.52]He said he opposed Negro citizenship. [04:54.73]"I do not accept the Negro as my equal," [04:59.65]Douglas said. [05:00.78]"And I deny that he is my brother. [05:04.01]However," he said, [05:06.70]"this does not mean I believe [05:09.23]that Negroes should be slaves. [05:11.41]Negroes should enjoy every possible right [05:15.47]that does not threaten the safety [05:18.06]of the society in which they live." [05:20.75]"Every state and territory must decide [05:25.19]for itself what these rights will be. [05:29.33]Illinois decided [05:30.61]that Negroes will not be citizens, [05:33.01]but that it will protect their life, [05:36.20]property,and civil rights. [05:38.82]It keeps from Negroes only political rights, [05:42.96]and refuses to make Negroes equal to white men. [05:46.76]That policy satisfies me," Douglas said. [05:51.10]"And,it satisfies the Democratic Party." [05:54.88]Then Lincoln spoke. [05:59.37]First,he denied that the Republican Party [06:04.25]was an Abolitionist party. [06:06.39]" I have no purpose," he said, [06:09.99]"either directly or indirectly, [06:12.88]to interfere with slavery where it exists. [06:17.36]I believe I have no legal right to do so. [06:22.16]Nor do I wish to do so. [06:25.06]I do not," Lincoln said, [06:28.33]"wish to propose political and social equality [06:33.25]between the white and black races." [06:36.21]"But," he went on, [06:39.02]"there is no reason in the world [06:42.39]why Negroes should not have all [06:46.03]the natural rights listed [06:48.23]in the Declaration of Independence. [06:50.46]The right to life,liberty, [06:53.46]and the pursuit of happiness. [06:55.66]"I agree with Judge Douglas," Lincoln said, [06:59.92]"that the Negro is not my equal in many ways [07:04.57]certainly not in color, [07:06.50]perhaps not mentally or morally. [07:10.10]But in the right to eat the bread [07:14.77]that his own hand earns, [07:17.51]he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, [07:22.24]and the equal of every living man." [07:26.90] [07:29.66]Lincoln then defended his statement [07:31.95]that the United States [07:33.60]could not continue half slave and half free. [07:37.68]He said he did not mean [07:40.31]that customs or institutions must be the same [07:43.79]in every state. [07:45.24]He said it was healthy and necessary [07:48.70]for differences to exist in a country so large. [07:52.63]He said different customs and institutions [07:56.24]helped unite the country, [07:58.06]not divide it. [07:59.62]But Lincoln questioned [08:01.76]if slavery was such an institution. [08:04.58]He said slavery had not tied [08:07.81]the states of the Union together, [08:10.22]but had always been an issue that divided them. [08:14.12]How had the country existed half-slave [08:18.58]and half-free for so many years, [08:21.36]Lincoln asked. [08:22.67]Because,he said, [08:24.69]the men who created the government [08:27.51]believed that slavery was only temporary. [08:31.21]Once people understood [08:33.66]that slavery was not permanent, [08:35.81]the crisis would pass. [08:37.93]Slavery could be left alone in the South [08:41.42]until it slowly died. [08:44.00]That way,Lincoln said,would be best [08:46.80]for both the white and black races. [08:50.77](MUSIC) [09:06.46]Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln [09:08.81]were campaigning for a Senate seat [09:11.65]from the state of Illinois. [09:13.72]But their debates had national importance,too. [09:18.07]Douglas expected to be the Democratic candidate [09:22.42]for president in eighteen sixty. [09:25.12]His statements could win or lose him support [09:29.54]for that contest. [09:30.80]Whenever possible, [09:32.87]he tried to show [09:34.78]that he was a man of the people, [09:37.55]like Lincoln. [09:39.05]He tried to show [09:40.90]that his Democratic Party was a national party, [09:44.96]while the Republican Party [09:47.39]was a party only of the North. [09:50.43]And he tried to show that Lincoln's policies [09:54.93]would lead to civil war. [09:57.35]Lincoln,for his part, [10:00.91]may have looked like a simple farmer. [10:03.58]But he was a very smart lawyer and politician. [10:07.98]He asked questions [10:10.04]which he knew would cause trouble for Douglas. [10:13.28]He wanted to create a split [10:16.17]between Douglas and his supporters [10:19.07]in the South. [10:20.07]Lincoln also wanted to keep alive the debate [10:24.60]over slavery. [10:25.95]"That," he said, [10:27.73]"is the real issue. [10:29.42]That is the issue that will continue [10:32.58]in this country when these poor tongues [10:35.99]of Judge Douglas and myself are silent. [10:39.38]It is the eternal struggle [10:41.81]between right and wrong." [10:44.99](MUSIC) [10:58.19]In Illinois in eighteen fifty-eight, [11:01.04]the state legislature chose the men [11:04.39]who would represent the state [11:06.09]in the national Senate. [11:07.91]So Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln [11:11.72]had to depend on legislative support [11:14.89]to get to Washington. [11:16.73]On election day, [11:19.35]the legislative candidates supporting Lincoln [11:22.44]won four thousand more popular votes [11:27.02]than the candidates supporting Douglas. [11:29.41]But because of the way election areas [11:32.77]had been organized, [11:33.90]the Douglas Democrats won a majority of seats. [11:38.20]The newly elected legislature [11:41.35]chose him to be senator. [11:44.39]Lincoln was sad that he had not won. [11:48.80]But he said he was glad to have tried. [11:52.15]The campaign,he said, [11:54.37]"gave me a hearing [11:55.89]on the great question of the age, [11:58.31]which I could have had in no other way. [12:01.69]And though I now sink out of view [12:05.07]and shall be forgotten, [12:06.75]I believe I have made some marks [12:09.74]which will tell for the cause [12:11.95]of civil liberty long after I have gone." [12:15.83]Many people,however, [12:18.41]did not think Abraham Lincoln [12:20.22]would be forgotten. [12:21.47]His campaign speeches had been published [12:24.93]everywhere in the East. [12:26.91]His name was becoming widely known. [12:30.31]People began to speak of him [12:33.06]as a presidential candidate. [12:36.01]To win the presidential election [12:39.45]of eighteen sixty, [12:40.86]the Republican Party had decided [12:43.44]it needed a man of the people. [12:45.89]He must be a good politician and leader. [12:50.05]He must be opposed to slavery, [12:52.74]but not too extreme. [12:55.12]Many people thought Lincoln could be that man. [12:59.37]After the election in Illinois, [13:03.63]Lincoln made several speaking trips [13:07.32]in the western states. [13:08.99]In none of his speeches did he say [13:12.03]he might be a candidate for president [13:14.79]in eighteen sixty. [13:16.53]If anyone said anything [13:19.13]about "Lincoln for president," [13:21.08]he would answer [13:22.70]that he did not have the ability. [13:24.93]Or he would say there were better men [13:28.75]in the party than himself. [13:30.52]Lincoln said: [13:32.55]"Only events can make a president." [13:36.70]He would wait for those events. [13:40.08](MUSIC) [13:52.80]Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. [13:55.53]The narrators were Frank Oliver [13:58.05]and Larry West.