VOA慢速英语2014 Lincoln-Douglas Debates Set the Stage for the 1860 Election

 

Lincoln-Douglas Debates Set the Stage for the 1860 Election

From VOA Learning English, this is The Making of a Nation.

I’m Katherine Cole.

And I’m Jonathan Evans.

In the summer of 1858, Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln campaigned for a Senate seat from the state of Illinois. But their debates had national importance, too.

In the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the two men discussed party politics and the future of the nation. But everything the two men debated was tied to one issue: slavery.

Douglas was a short, heavy man. One reporter said he looked like a fierce bulldog. Douglas's friends and supporters called him “the little giant.”

Lincoln was just the opposite. He was very tall and thin, with long arms and legs. His clothes did not fit well. And he had a plain face, one which many thought was ugly. He looked more like a simple farmer than a candidate for the United States Senate.

Lincoln had said that the United States could not continue to permit slavery in some areas while banning it in others. He said the Union could not stand so divided. It must either permit slavery everywhere -- or nowhere.

Douglas did not agree. He noted¹ that the country had been half-slave and half-free for 70 years. Why then, he asked, should it not continue to exist that way? The United States was a big country. What was best for one part might not be best for another.

Stephen Douglas also questioned Lincoln’s statement on the Supreme² Court’s Dred Scott decision. Lincoln had said he opposed the decision because it did not permit black people the rights of citizenship³.

Douglas said he believed the decision was correct. He said it was clear that the government had been made by white men, for white men. Douglas said each state, not the federal government, should decide what rights black people had.

And, Douglas said, the Democratic Party supported his view.

Lincoln answered that the Republican Party was not trying to force the South to end slavery. Nor, he said, did he want political and social equality between whites and blacks. But Lincoln said they both had the natural rights listed in the Declaration of Independence: the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Slavery could be left alone in the South until it slowly died, Lincoln said. That way, he believed, would be best for everyone.

On election day, Lincoln won the popular vote by 4000 ballots⁴. But because of the way election areas had been organized, the Douglas Democrats⁵ won a majority of seats in the legislature. The newly elected legislature chose him to be their senator.

Lincoln was sad that he had not won. Many people, however, did not think Abraham Lincoln would be forgotten. His campaign speeches had been published everywhere in the East. His name was becoming widely known. People began to speak of him as a presidential candidate in the election of 1860.

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

4 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》