The Lincoln/Douglas Debates of 1858 were seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, each one held in a congressional district in Illinois. The issues that the two discussed were focused around slavery and states’ rights. Stephen Douglas was a democrat that supported slavery, and Abraham Lincoln was a republican who wanted to end the extension of slavery in the United States. In 1854 Douglas had sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The act replaced the Missouri Compromise, lifting the ban of slavery in territories north of 36°30′ latitude. Douglas supported popular sovereignty in place of the ban. Popular sovereignty allowed the settlers in a territory decide if slavery should be allowed.
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