Today in History
What went down and why you should care.
aug 21 Learn More Lincoln-Douglas Debates Begin
The Lincoln-Douglas debates kicked off on this day in 1858, and they were pretty different than the ones we see on TV today. For starters, calling them "debates" is a bit of a stretch. They were more like speeches. Each candidate got to talk at attention-testing length: one candidate spoke for an hour, his opponent spoke for an hour-and-a-half, and then the first candidate got another half-an-hour. Newspapers also printed up the full text of each candidate's speech, albeit with plenty of partisan edits. In other words, pro-Lincoln papers would publish an amended version of Honest Abe's speech that took out anything unflattering. Then they'd print Douglas's speech as is, oratorical warts and all. Douglas-doting papers would do the opposite.
CLICK HERE to learn more.