The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of debates by future anti-slavery president Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, a pro-popular sovereignty supporting slavery United States senator. Consisting of seven long and tedious debates, the topics included the discussion of the Kansas-Nebraska act, the Dred Scott decision, along with broad talks about slavery and equality throughout the nation. Garnering extensive crowd and media attention, these debates acted as a broadcast of political ideas and interests before the era of electronic media, shaping the thoughts of most Americans at the time. …show more content…
These initial ideas, sparked by the debate, would eventually lead to the ideas transpiring to create the Kansas-Nebraska act to be signed and the consequences of Bleeding Kansas to be revealed causing unnecessary violence and separation throughout the American people. This controversial topic would later explode into the main cause of the American Civil War where the southern states claimed general sovereignty, supporting slavery by seceding from the union to create the Confederate states of