60 The U.S. Civil War 4A | Abraham Lincoln
Show image 4A-5: U.S. map in 1858
Should slavery be allowed to expand to new states? That was
the true heart of the debate. In 1858, when he was running for the
Senate, Abraham Lincoln said he just wanted to stop slavery from
spreading to new areas of the country in the West. In other words,
Lincoln did not support abolishing, or ending, slavery where it
already existed in the South. At that time, the United States was
made up of the North, where slavery was illegal, or not allowed
by law, and the South, where slavery was legal, or allowed by law.
The United States was only just beginning to grow into a bigger
country, spreading west across the Mississippi River.^13
That wide and mighty river, fl owing from Minnesota all the way
down to the Gulf of Mexico, ran right past the town of Alton. Just
across the river was the state of Missouri, which had only been
a state since 1821. Slavery was legal in Missouri, as it was in the
nearby state of Kentucky, but slavery was illegal in Illinois.
There was a lot of land beyond Missouri, but there were not many
states, at least not yet. A huge portion of that land was still divided
into territories, regions that were organized with a government of
their own, but were not yet a state or states under the national
government. The Kansas Territory was one example. Lots of people
were moving west to settle in Kansas, and it was on its way to
becoming a new state. The people of Kansas would be able to vote
on whether or not to allow slavery to expand to their new state.^14
However, the people in Kansas were divided on the issue of slavery.
They were so divided, in fact, that the Kansas Territory was known
for its severe fi ghting over whether slavery should be allowed.
Show image 4A-6: Lincoln standing to debate Douglas
At last, the two candidates, 15 Abraham Lincoln and Stephen
Douglas, appeared on the stage. The crowd applauded and then
settled down to listen to the debate. Both men had become
rather famous over the past few months, not just in Illinois and
surrounding states, but all over the country. The Lincoln-Douglas14 So, what is the diff erence between
a state and a territory?
15 or people running against each
other for a position
13 [Point to the Mississippi River and
the various states and territories as
they are mentioned in the next two
paragraphs.]