These debates occupied seven different evenings of three hours each.
The speeches were afterwards published in book form and had a wide
circulation. These speeches, numbering twenty-one in all, filled a
large volume. It is not the purpose of this chapter to give an outline
of the debates, it is only to give a general idea of their result. But
out of them came one prominent fact, which so influenced the careers of
the two men that it must be briefly recorded. This went by the name of
"the Freeport doctrine."

In the first debate Douglas had asked Lincoln a series of questions.
The villainy of these questions was in the innuendo. They began, "I
desire to know whether Lincoln stands to-day, as he did in 1854, in
favor of," etc. Douglas then quoted from the platform of a convention
which Lincoln had not attended, and with which he had nothing to do.
Lincoln denied these insinuations, and said that he had never favored
those doctrines; but the trick succeeded, and the impression was made
that Douglas had cornered him. The questions, to all intents and
purposes, were a forgery. This forgery was quickly exposed by a Chicago
paper, and the result was not helpful to Douglas. It was made manifest
that he was not conducting the debates in a fair and manly way.

Further than this, the fact that these questions had been asked gave
Lincoln, in turn, the right to ask questions of Douglas. This right he
used. For the next debate, which was to be at Freeport, he prepared,
among others, the following question: "Can the people of a United
States territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of
the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the
formation of a state constitution?" If this were answered "No," it
would alienate the citizens of Illinois. If it were answered "Yes," it