# Question on Lincoln-Douglas Debates **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-lincoln-douglas-debates/739385 "2015-12-04T04:46:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![montag01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@montag01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/montag01)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-lincoln-douglas-debates/739385/1 "2015-12-04T04:46:41Z")
Were the Lincoln-Douglas debates written down and simply read by the participants, or were both Lincoln and Douglas speaking extemporaneously the entire time? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-lincoln-douglas-debates/739385/2 "2015-12-04T13:52:15Z")
I don’t know how much, if any, written notes the debaters used; but the text we have of the debates was taken down at the time by stenographers. From an [interview](http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/49145-1/Harold+Holzer.aspx) with the man who edited the "most reliable, unedited record available of the debates ": > [@](#): > > the previous versions of the Lincoln-Douglas debates – and there have been about 40 of them, and they were all but canonized exactly this way in “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln,” published about 40 years ago – all of them relied on texts that were taken down at the time by what I call partisan stenographers, stenographers hired by the respective political parties. The Republicans hired stenographers to work for the Republican newspapers. The Democrats hired stenographers to work for the Democratic newspapers. It was Lincoln who decided, after these debates were published in the newspapers, to have them published in book form. He then used the approved text of his speeches, the approved text of Douglas’ speeches, did some more editing himself and produced the version of the debates that we know to this day. > > The problem with that is that they differ markedly from the opposition transcripts. The Democratic transcribers also took down what Lincoln said, and the Republican transcribers also took down what Douglas said. The purpose was that two or three days after each debate, the full text of the debate appeared in the newspapers, and, of course, there was no recording equipment at the time and no other way to get the text except to have the shorthand reporters take down the debates. But what had never been looked at was the Democratic version of what Lincoln said, the Republican version of what Douglas said. ---
**Author:** ![Nelson\_Pike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Nelson\_Pike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nelson_Pike)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-lincoln-douglas-debates/739385/3 "2015-12-04T15:08:36Z")
Decades ago I bought a copy of the full debates. The editor said that _Lincoln’s words_ were taken _from pro-Democrat publishers_, and _Douglas’s words_ were taken _from pro-Republican publishers._ I read enough of the debates to be impressed with the very high quality of both candidates’ debating ability, even though I was reading text published by their opponents. If there was any distortion it was too subtle for me to notice. Of course I now cannot put my hand on the book but some googling might locate it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-lincoln-douglas-debates/739385/4 "2015-12-04T15:18:10Z")
They were speaking extemporaneously. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-lincoln-douglas-debates/739385/5 "2015-12-04T16:59:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > They were speaking extemporaneously. That’s what I was taught in school… but I wasn’t there to confirm it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-lincoln-douglas-debates/739385/6 "2015-12-04T18:27:51Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > That’s what I was taught in school… but I wasn’t there to confirm it. I’m a lot older than you.