Debate Quote by Allen C. Guelzo

“Lincoln characterized Stephen Douglas's argument as "a specious and fantastic arrangement of words, by which a man can prove a horse chestnut to be…

— Abraham Lincoln

“I have found, though, that all the evidence shows that Douglas's conduct at the time, however impulsive and ill-advised, was honourable and courageous in…

— Rupert Croft-Cooke

One thing which Stephen A. Douglas was temperamentally incapable of doing was admitting he was wrong. He always believed that 'popular sovereignty' - the…

— Allen C. Guelzo

There was nothing in all Douglas's powerful effort that appealed to the higher instincts of human nature, while Lincoln always touched sympathetic cords. Lincoln's…

— Henry Villard

Lincoln had no such person that he could talk with. Often, as a result, he debated with himself, and he would draw up a…

— David Herbert Donald

Lincoln was the Twain of our politics.

— Fred Kaplan

“Lincoln had a masterful grasp of great subjects. He was able to look at events from all sides, so as to appreciate how they…

— Henry Ketcham

I also know that every person faces adversity in life. Abraham Lincoln held this seat in Congress in one term. But few faced as…

— Aaron Schock

“Lincoln, Douglas and their contemporaries struggled to decide what the words “all men are created equal” really meant. Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln…

— Georgiann Baldino

He [Stephen Douglas] is blowing out the moral lights around us, when he contends that whoever wants slaves has a right to hold them;…

— Abraham Lincoln

One of the people I most admired was Christopher Hitchens. He was extremely polarizing but extremely honest, to a fault sometimes, but I respected…

— Matthew Hussey

“As he had done so many times before, Lincoln withstood the storm of defeat by replacing anguish over an unchangeable past with hope in…

— Doris Kearns Goodwin