Lincoln-Douglas Assignment


Essay due by Friday February 11. (Week Five)
Write a four page interpretation of your reading of the first of the 1858 Lincoln and Douglas debates for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois.  Interpret the divergence in viewpoint between Lincoln and Douglas on slavery.  


Questions to consider for your essay:
To what extent are competing theories of labor and colonization or settlement of the West advocated by Lincoln and Douglas.Why or to what extent does Lincoln distance himself from Douglas' assertion that Lincoln was an abolitionist? Why and in what context is race inscribed into the debates?  Why does Douglas refer to Lincoln as a 'Black Republican'?  The texts of that first debate are also available as external links from the Course Documents section of the Blackboard  or at the following website: http://www.bartleby.com/251/


You only need to read and write on the first debate.  Here they are:


First Joint Debate at Ottawa, Illinois, 
Mr. Douglas’s Speech
Mr. Lincoln’s Reply
Mr. Douglas’s Reply
Email the essay to the instructor at pkane@clatsopcc.edu


No comments:

Post a Comment