Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Galesburg Debate (Zarefsky, 1990)

The fifth debate took place in Galesburg, three weeks after the Charleston meeting. In the mid-1850s, Galesburg was a central hub of Illinois abolitionism. Settled by immigrants between 1840 and the early 1850s, it was a solid bastion of Republicanism. It also produced the highest attendance, between fifteen and twenty thousand. Douglas opened the debate, and, although he brought up Lincoln’s Charleston proclamations against racial equality as a way to embarrass his challenger, he and Lincoln both addressed issues of principle rather than personality. Perhaps they thought that the voters of Knox County expected an intelligent discussion; perhaps they thought that their earlier positions were now vulnerable; perhaps the first four debates had exhausted the foreplay. In any case, beginning in Galesburg, the debates took on a new tone, with candidates addressing matters of principle. It was in the debate that Lincoln syllogistically “deduced” a second Dred Scott decision and foreshadowed his moral argument against slavery. For his part, Douglas strongly articulated the principle of local community self-determination and crystallized his view of Lecompton, the English bill, and the relationship between Buchanan and the Republicans. The last item received special attention, perhaps because the local postmaster had been ousted in a patronage feud.