Eric Foner Quote
Despite the onset in 1857 of an economic downturn whose effects still lingered in Illinois, the candidates completely ignored economic matters. As Blaine recounted, they did not mention protection, free trade, internal improvements, the subtreasury, all the issues, in short, which had divided parties for a long series of years. The debates focused on one issue and one alone, Blaine continued, thus reflecting the public mind of the late 1850s. Indeed, in Lincoln’s correspondence with constituents and party leaders in 1858, slavery and the rights of blacks were virtually the only matters to receive attention. Overall, the debates offered a serious public discussion of the most fundamental problem dividing the nation and the first real gauge of the impact of the Dred Scott decision on American politics. As a Washington newspaper observed, thanks to the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Illinois becomes, as it were, the Union.22
Despite the onset in 1857 of an economic downturn whose effects still lingered in Illinois, the candidates completely ignored economic matters. As Blaine recounted, they did not mention protection, free trade, internal improvements, the subtreasury, all the issues, in short, which had divided parties for a long series of years. The debates focused on one issue and one alone, Blaine continued, thus reflecting the public mind of the late 1850s. Indeed, in Lincoln’s correspondence with constituents and party leaders in 1858, slavery and the rights of blacks were virtually the only matters to receive attention. Overall, the debates offered a serious public discussion of the most fundamental problem dividing the nation and the first real gauge of the impact of the Dred Scott decision on American politics. As a Washington newspaper observed, thanks to the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Illinois becomes, as it were, the Union.22
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About Eric Foner
Foner has published several books on the Reconstruction period, starting with
Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 in 1988. His online courses on "The Civil War and Reconstruction", published in 2014, are available from Columbia University on ColumbiaX.
In 2011, Foner's The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010) won the Pulitzer Prize for History, the Lincoln Prize, and the Bancroft Prize. Foner previously won the Bancroft Prize in 1989 for his book Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution - 1863–1877. In 2000, he was elected president of the American Historical Association. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.