By Josephine Norris, Staff Photographer.
As audience members stepped into the Lecture Theater they stepped back in time. Back in 1858, politicians Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas are running for the Illinois State Senate. In order gain support, they hold a series of debates was held across the state.
The main topic of focus in the debates was the issue of slavery. Democrat Stephen Douglas voiced his opposition to support of slavery in the United States, while his Republican opponent, Lincoln, sought the emancipation of slaves everywhere.
In celebration of the “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” traveling exhibit visiting Delta College’s campus, reenactors Len Steinberg and Fred Priebe as Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, respectively, brought these famous debates to life.
Event organizer Heidi Helgren was thrilled with the timing of the event, “We have an election coming up – and many community members and/or students have probably seen debates on TV.” She went on to say that the modern day style debates varied greatly from Lincoln’s time.
In Lincoln’s day, the first opponent would speak for 60 minutes, followed by the second opponent for 90 minutes, then back to the first for a 30 minute rebuttal time.
However, the reenactment wasn’t totally historically accurate in the sense that a compilation of the original debates was presented by Steinberg and Priebe, instead of a 3 hour debate. A question and answer portion was also added to the reenacted debates.
Many students, faculty members, and community members came to travel back and time and hear Lincoln and Douglas debate the issue of slavery.
Student Shannon Hardy, 20, of Bay City, commented, “I thought it was interesting and well done, especially the question and answer portion. Both reenactors knew their roles and what they were talking about.”
Fellow student Mason Christianson, 19, of Breckenridge was also impressed. “I had already known a little bit about the debates. I thought it was cool.”
This event served as a finale to the series of Lincoln events held by Delta College in collaboration with the “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” traveling exhibit hosted by Delta College.
