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Popular Sovereignty In Stephen Douglas's The Lincoln-Douglas Debate

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Answer choice A is false. Throughout the duration of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Stephen Douglas stuck to his guns with the idea of popular sovereignty. In the PBS videos, he argued that the act of enslaving black Americans should be "put to a vote in the new states and territories." Popular sovereignty is the belief that the authority of a state and its government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives, who are the source of all political power. By supporting the voting power of the people in the matter of slavery, Stephen indirectly advocated for popular sovereignty. Additionally, our textbook states: "Douglas championed popular sovereignty, whereby voters in each new territory would decide whether to allow slavery." This proves that Stephen Douglas was a strong supporter of popular sovereignty. …show more content…
The PBS videos establish the truth that the Lincoln nomination was a slightly uphill battle with the Republican party: "His job was to convince the Republican press that he was a viable alternative to Seward- not someone who spat in spitoon and told jokes, as the reputation was from the Lincoln-Douglas debates." Furthermore, "in the Lincoln-Douglas debates, people said that Lincoln was two-faced," the PBS videos said. In conclusion, the debates did the opposite of what the answer choice says.

Answer choice C is also wrong. This is because the book states, on page 518, "Douglas won the close election, but Lincoln's energetic underdog campaign made him a national figure." The senatorial election concluded with Stephen Douglas' attainment of achieving office; with Lincoln becoming a major political figure (which kept him on the scene for the presidential election of

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