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Lincoln, Douglas tussle in debate reenactment at Debate Days · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Lincoln Douglas tussle in debate reenactment at Debate Days written
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  Speaker 1: by Matthias Werner, This article is being read by an
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  Speaker 1: automated voice brought to you by Everlett. One hundred and
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  Speaker 1: sixty eight years after Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas traded
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  Speaker 1: barbes at the podium in Ottawa, the duo was back
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  Speaker 1: at it Saturday evening at Washington Square Park. The reenactment
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  Speaker 1: drew hundreds of spectators, far fewer than the estimated ten
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  Speaker 1: thousand who attended the original to see the famous first
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  Speaker 1: debate between the Republican and Democratic candidates for a US
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  Speaker 1: Senate seat. This event is important because we have to
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  Speaker 1: recognize that Ottawa truly had a piece of American history
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  Speaker 1: written right here. Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director
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  Speaker 1: Jay McCracken said Ottawa saw one of the most important
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  Speaker 1: debates that has occurred in our world, let alone our nation.
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  Speaker 1: TU twenty first, eighteen fifty eight debate between Lincoln and
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  Speaker 1: Douglas marked the beginning of a series of debates held
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  Speaker 1: across the state and focused on slavery, among other topics.
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  Speaker 1: In the condensed one hour production, cut from the original
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  Speaker 1: three hours. The reenactors focused on the eighteen fifty Missouri Compromise,
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  Speaker 1: the eighteen fifty four Kansas Nebraska Act, the formation of
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  Speaker 1: the Republican Party, and the eighteen fifty seven Dread Scott Ruling,
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  Speaker 1: all as they related to slavery. I do not question
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln's conscientious beliefs. But why can it not exist divided
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  Speaker 1: into free end slave states. Why can it not exist
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  Speaker 1: on the same principles on which our founding fathers made it?
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  Speaker 1: Douglas said they knew when they framed the Constitution. In
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  Speaker 1: a country as wide and as broad as this, with
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  Speaker 1: such a variety of climate production and interests, the people
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  Speaker 1: necessarily required different laws and institutions in different localities. Following
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  Speaker 1: Douglas's opening remarks, Lincoln rebutted, I have no particular prejudice
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  Speaker 1: against Southern people. I believe they are just what we
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  Speaker 1: would have been had we been put in their circumstance.
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln said, I mean no disrespect to Judge Douglas when
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  Speaker 1: I say that he holds on to slavery and the
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  Speaker 1: dread to Scott Ruling like an obstinate animal. The consensus
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  Speaker 1: following the debate in Ottawa at the time was that Douglas,
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  Speaker 1: the incumbent senator, had won the first debate, and he
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  Speaker 1: in fact went on to win the Senate race in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty eight. In the long run, however, Lincoln reaped
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  Speaker 1: the political rewards of the series, vaulting into national prominence
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  Speaker 1: and becoming the sixteenth President of the United States two
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  Speaker 1: years later. I think the debate is such a great
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  Speaker 1: piece of importance in the course of our nation, and
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  Speaker 1: that importance is why we celebrate and commemorate it, McCracken said.
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  Speaker 1: We've had a lot of great things happen in Ottawa,
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  Speaker 1: but nothing of national importance like this debate. Many spectators
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  Speaker 1: noted the contrast between the debate's civility and today's political climate.
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  Speaker 1: After the renal enactment, organizers shared stories of Lincoln and
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  Speaker 1: Douglas's cordiality toward each other. Others said the reenactment brought
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  Speaker 1: the debate to life, giving faces and voices to the
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  Speaker 1: event for which Ottawa is widely known. Acting as the
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  Speaker 1: MC for the debate, dressed in full reenactment attire, McCracken
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  Speaker 1: opened the proceedings with a message to the crowd at
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  Speaker 1: Washington Square Park. Funny, how some issues like states rights
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  Speaker 1: versus federal rights, majority rule versus minority rights, and strict
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  Speaker 1: constitutional interpretation are still a part of the national debate.
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  Speaker 1: As the divide seems to widen between parties, we honor
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  Speaker 1: the tradition of civil discourse. McCracken said. It is only
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  Speaker 1: through civil and respectful debate and compromise that our democracy
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  Speaker 1: can move forward. The Debate reenactment was just one event
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  Speaker 1: as part of a nine day celebration of Debate Days
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  Speaker 1: in Ottawa, culminating with the USA two hundred and fiftieth
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  Speaker 1: Anniversary Parade on Sunday, August twenty three.