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Question 4

Lincoln was an abolitionist who was against the institution of slavery. Stephen Douglas had a different opinion; those new territories should be allowed to decide if slavery would be permitted in their states. The two men were quite different. Abraham Lincoln was a political aspirant who had given up on politics while Stephen Douglas was the Illinois Senator. They were brought together by a common topic, the fight to end slavery during the Civil War. Lincoln is widely remembered for the Emancipation Declaration that outlawed slavery. The declaration divided the country sharply into two; the Southerners who were in support of slavery and the Northerners against it (Lincoln & Douglas). This disagreement is what led to the Civil War. The South made up the Union Army and fought to keep slavery alive.

Lincoln opposed of the views that Douglass had. He believed that all men were created equal and therefore they should be free. Slavery was a violation of the equality of men and their right to be free. The Emancipation Declaration showed Lincoln’s beliefs regarding slavery which were met with fierce opposition from the South and support from the North. During Lincoln’s “Address at a Sanitary Fair,” he took cognizance of the fact that during the civil war, the word liberty was used by both sides; those who wanted the slaves freed and those who wanted them kept in bondage. The two sides had different meanings of the term.

The two men engaged in what is referred to as the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Douglas opposed the abolitionist views held by Lincoln and others like him. Douglas believed that slavery should be a choice that each state made for itself (Lincoln & Douglas). The opposers of slavery wanted it abolished, and they were also against the westward expansion of the United States because it would further enhance the spread of slavery.

Works Cited

Lincoln, Abraham, and Stephen A. Douglas. The complete Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. University of Chicago Press, 1991.