The debates were both a serious discussion of the issues and a form of communal entertainment. People arrived early, held picnics and parades, and greeted the arrival of their candidate with frenzied enthusiasm. The debates themselves were carefully managed, however. Timekeepers were strict, and audience demonstrations of anger or applause were discouraged lest they consume time allocated to either candidate. The audiences, in general, did remain attentive for three hours of political debate.

The first debate was on August 21, at Ottawa. The town was solidly Republican; its congressman was Owen Lovejoy, an abolitionist seeking reelection, and Douglas’s biographer has estimated that Republicans made up two-thirds of the audience. Addressing a hostile audience, Douglas sought common ground, and he did so by isolating Lincoln from the political mainstream. He south to implicate is challenger in the development of an extremist document alleged to be the state Republican platform of 1854. The week before the debate, Douglas had written his friend Charles H.

But instead of disappointment, the prevailing mood seemed to be surprise. Although Douglas had carefully targeted his attacks by appealing to the worst fears of undecided Whigs, the remarkable fact of the day was how well Lincoln had done. “I can recall only one fact the debates,” one survivor of the audience said to Ida Tarbell four decades later, “that I felt so sorry for Lincoln while Douglas was speaking, and then to my surprise I felt so sorry for Douglas when Lincoln replied.” Even Lincoln sounded a little taken aback.