The Lincoln - Douglas Debates The most scorching series of debates in the 1850s is the Lincoln - Douglas Debates (which some people now call the Great Debates of '58)! The two candidates for President, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Arnold Douglas, have been going at each other now for almost three months now. If you have not heard, Abraham Lincoln is the Republican candidate, and Stephen Douglas is the Democratic candidate. The series of debates started on August 21, in Ottawa, Illinois, and is still going on (as in October 1858). Lincoln's view is very different from Douglas's, of course. Stephen Douglas wants to allow the states to choose for themselves if they want slavery in their state or not, but Lincoln
