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The Lincoln-Douglas Debate in "Egypt"
Jackson Foote It was a sticky day, hot and humid, on Wednesday, September 15, 1858, when Stephen A. Douglas got up in Jonesboro, Illinois, to speak in the U.S. Senate race and the crowd burst into cheers. Then came Abraham Lincoln. Only a few claps could be heard. Southern Illinois was hostile territory for Abraham Lincoln, and he risked a lot by going there to debate his opponent in what would become the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. When Lincoln left "Egypt," as Southern Illinois was nicknamed, for the next debate he had turned some heads and maybe even gained some support. There was no question, however, that Douglas was the favorite. Lincoln was not popular in Egypt, because it was very much Democratic territory. One of Lincoln's friends in Southern Illinois thought it would be wasteful to debate Senator Douglas in the heart of Egypt, but Lincoln reasoned he had to. If he did not, he would not have been able to have a successful debate in Ottawa and Freeport, where he was popular. Lincoln knew he was not favored, and he even joked about it during the debate. "Don't be mean, the few friends I have here," Lincoln said. Lincoln was treated in Jonesboro much like Douglas was in Galesburg. A local citizen recalled that the fiddlers played so loud that it was hard to hear Lincoln. About fifteen hundred people attended the Jonesboro debate from Cairo and smaller towns like Mound City and from the neighboring territories of Kentucky and Missouri. Jonesboro was 350 miles away from Chicago and 33 miles away from Cairo; thus, getting to Jonesboro was not easy. People came by train and ox carriage. For many, the Lincoln-Douglas debates were a big event, but most people worked on Wednesdays so they could not attend. Because Lincoln did not have many friends in Southern Illinois, he traveled with a small group of supporters who followed him to Egypt. In Jonesboro, Lincoln also relied on the mayor of Jonesboro who supported him. Lincoln clearly did not want to make a fool of himself by showing that he had no local support. At the end of the debate, Lincoln tried to appeal to the audience by showing that by being born in neighboring southern Indiana he had something in common with southern Illinoisans. Lincoln said, "I was raised just a little east of here. I am one of these people." Lincoln went to Jonesboro from Anna the night before the debate after a big meal in his honor. He stayed at the Union Hotel in Jonesboro. The morning of the debate, Lincoln took a horse tour of the Ozarks. Later that morning, Lincoln went to visit a friend who could not go to the debate because she was eighty years old. Then he went to the debate site. Lincoln left quietly and spent the night in Anna with the Phillips family before going to the state fair the next day. Slavery and topics directly related to it were issues most debated. In Jonesboro Lincoln accused Douglas of being unfaithful to the framers' intentions in
the Constitution. Douglas said, "Thomas Jefferson meant only English people when he said, 'All men are created equal and all men should be free.' " Lincoln said it was meant for all people, black and white. Stephen Douglas said, "A negro is naught and ought naught to be an American citizen." Most of the crowd agreed with this statement, including Lincoln. Lincoln seemed to agree much more with Douglas in Southern Illinois than when he spoke in the northern part of the state. Many people who have read about the Jonesboro debate are surprised by some of the things Lincoln said in it. At Jonesboro, Lincoln also criticized his opponent for taking two sides: "Douglas shifts his ground." Douglas believed that the territories should decide for themselves about slavery. Lincoln thought the Supreme Court should decide until the territories became states. The Supreme Court had already ruled that there should be no slavery in the territories. Lincoln asked, "Why, when we had peace under the Missouri Compromise, could you not let it alone?" Lincoln also argued that the territories did not have the same right that the states do. Illinois did not have slavery, but a black was not allowed citizenship. One reason Lincoln was so disliked in Southern Illinois was because many thought he was an abolitionist. Lincoln made it very clear in Jonesboro, however, that he was not an abolitionist. Although Lincoln lost the senatorial election to Douglas in 1858, Lincoln made a national mark. He and Douglas ran against each other for President of the United States in 1860. Lincoln had the 1858 debate texts published in a book for the 1860 election allowing many people throughout America to learn the debates firsthand. Many people think "Honest Abe" would not have won the 1860 Presidential race if he had not run for the Senate. It probably helped Abraham Lincoln be a stronger speaker and presidential candidate to have gone into hostile territory like Jonesboro. Surely, as Lincoln campaigned in 1860, there were places like Jonesboro where few people liked what he had to say.—[From George Smith, When Lincoln Came to Egypt; John Splaine, A Companion to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates; student historian's interview with John Splaine, September 16, 1994.]
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