# The Lincoln-Douglas debates, what was the point?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lincoln-douglas-debates-what-was-the-point/696804>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 28, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lincoln-douglas-debates-what-was-the-point/696804 "2014-08-28T22:03:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lincoln-douglas-debates-what-was-the-point/696804/1 "2014-08-28T22:03:40Z")

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The debates predated popular election of Senators by 55 years, so why were the debates held, and why given the above, did they attract so much public attention?

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lincoln-douglas-debates-what-was-the-point/696804/2 "2014-08-28T22:08:33Z")

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The Master speaks - [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/97/why-did-lincoln-and-douglas-debate](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/97/why-did-lincoln-and-douglas-debate)

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**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lincoln-douglas-debates-what-was-the-point/696804/3 "2014-08-28T22:13:24Z")

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OF COURSE the Master has all the answers.