How did Abraham Lincoln's opinions on slavery differ from those of Stephen Douglas?
Not much, really, but there were differences. Both men did not want slavery to spread to the western territories, nor to be forced on the northern states (as the Dred Scott decision threatened to do). Both men were ready to accept slavery in the states of the old south for the time being, hoping it would die out by itself eventually. They differed in the ways they wanted to use in order to contain the spread of slavery to the territories. Douglas wanted to use the principle of popular sovereignty (i.e., the settlers in the territories would vote slavery out) and clung to that policy even after the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision cut the ground under him. Lincoln wanted to ignore the Dred Scott decision and simply forbid slavery in the territories by federal authority. Notice that by the time of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas's proposal had already proved its uselessness in Kansas. Lincoln and Douglas also differed in their view of the future of slavery in the southern states. Lincoln envisaged Blacks in the South as eventually free and provided with civil (but not political) rights. Douglas expected them to remain slaves until eventually repatriated to Africa. Both men saw the end of slavery in the South as far away in the future.Apart from their policy proposals, it is clear that the two men differed in the amount of sympathy they had for Blacks. For Douglas, Negroes were a nuisance and slavery was an obstacle to progress. For Lincoln, slavery was a heart-rending injustice and Negroes were the pathetic victims of it. Both Douglas and Lincoln thought that Negroes were hopelessly inferior to the other races. That inferiority called for some special compassionate (but unequal) treatment, according to Lincoln; for confinement and avoidance, according to Douglas. Douglas died in 1861, so we don't know how his ideas would have eventually evolved. Lincoln was forced by the events to free Blacks immediately and unconditionally, but remained undecided as to what their future would be. On receiving a group of Negro leaders in the White House in 1863 or 1864 (I don't remember precisely which year) he encouraged them to make the most of their just-won freedom, but told them not to hope they would ever be the equal of whites. You can learn a lot about Lincoln's and Douglas's ideas and the national debate about slavery by reading this book: The Impending Crisis, by David M. Potter. It is comprehensive and well documented.
Why was sectional compromise impossible in 1860, when such compromises had previously worked in 1820 and 1850?
A major factor was the Dred Scott decision. The objective of most Northerners, including Lincoln, was not to eliminate slavery, but to restrict its spread into new states and territories. Southerners felt, probably correctly, that such restrictions would in the end lead to a Congress that was overwhelmingly anti-slavery and would make slavery impractical in any state. However, the steps they took to prevent this ultimately led to the abolition of slavery much earlier than would have happened otherwise. The Supreme Court in Scott held that Congress couldn't bar slavery from a territory being organized for eventual statehood. That infuriated Northerners for many reasons, not the least being that it was plainly contrary to the actual understanding of the Founding Fathers in writing the Constitution, as was shown brilliantly and at great length by Lincoln in his Cooper Institute speech, the speech which made him a favorite for the Republican nomination. It made it almost impossible for the free states to exercise a brake on the spread of slavery, and made compromise much harder. Furthermore, the slave holders in 1860 were arrogant in their assumption of their own powers and uninterested in compromise. Most of the states which seceded did so, not on the basis of Lincoln's actions, but merely on his election before he was inaugurated, without waiting to see what actions he would take.
What was the comprimise of 1850?
Compromise of 1850 was a series of compromises to help relive tensions in the states. It gave concessions to both sides, but all-in-all it favored the north since the south's main concession, the fugitive slave law, wasn't enforced. Concessions to The North 1.) California Admitted as a free state 2.)Territory disputed by Texas and New Mexico to be surrendered to New Mexico (New Mexico was open to popular sovereignty, so it had a chance to be free) 3.) Abolition of the slave trade (but not slavery) in the District of Columbia Concessions to the South 1.) The remainder of Mexican Cession area to be formed into the territories of New Mexico and Utah (open to popular sovereignty, so still had a chance to be slave) 2.) Texas to receive $10 million from the federal government as compensation 3.) A more stringent Fugitive Slave Law, going beyond that of 1793
PLEASE HELP!! what were the lincoln douglas debates about?
The Lincoln Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas (the Little Giant from Illinois) for the open Illinois Senate seat. The main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery, especially the issue of slavery's expansion into the territories. It was Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act that repealed the Missouri Compromise's ban on slavery in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and replaced it with the doctrine of popular sovereignty, which meant that the people of a territory could decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. Lincoln said that popular sovereignty would nationalize and perpetuate slavery. Douglas argued that both Whigs and Democrats believed in popular sovereignty and that the Compromise of 1850 was an example of this. Lincoln said that the national policy was to limit the spread of slavery, and mentioned (both at Jonesboro and later in his Cooper Union Address) the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which banned slavery from a large part of the modern-day Midwest, as an example of this policy.
Tell me if my history answers are right? 15 minutes! VERY IMPORTANT! First good answer gets best answer!?
Yep looks good to me. Btw i have just finished history at Uni :)