Online Seminar Series: American Rhetoric

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There has never been anything like them, before or since. It is not the least part of the Lincoln-Douglas debates’ uniqueness that the texts of the debates were formed from what was a new phenomenon at the time, namely newspaper transcripts of entire speeches. In brackets within the texts of the two men’s speeches appear notes of crowd response or quotes of crowd members’ comments. There were no moderators, no restrictions on what was to be discussed, no buzzers, no mute buttons. Although there were no constraints on the subjects to be taken up, and although many matters arose in the course of the debates, the only subject really under consideration was slavery, which as Lincoln said, was the only problem which ever threatened the very existence of the United States.

In one of the greatest examples of the exercise of free speech in all our history, the burning issue at stake was freedom itself, and whether it could prevail against its hideous opposite, its negation. The initial speaker spoke for an hour; the other replied for an hour and a half; the first spoke again, in rejoinder, for half an hour. The first debate was held in the heat of late summer, the last in the chill of autumn, a few weeks before the election. Some of the debates were rather sparsely attended; others drew thousands.  We invite you to join us as we read and discuss all eight debates, roughly one month apart.

March 22 Reading:

Freeport Debate (August 27, 1858) – pages 44-82

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The Lincoln Studies Center Edition

University of Illinois Press; First Edition (July  2014)

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0252079924

Schedule:

12:00-2:00PM PDT

Tutor: 

Eric Stull

Location: 

Online. Register to receive the link.