User reviews

This documentary features four historians discussing the background, presentation, and after-effects of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, perhaps the most famous and consequential debates in American history. Responsible both for clarifying the stakes in the battle over slavery and for giving a national profile to a previously little-known country lawyer, the debates were reprinted and discussed nationally. The historians lay out the arguments made in each of the seven debates, though sadly there is far more commentary about the debates than there is actual quoting of the debates. While actors represent Lincoln and Douglas, it's all in pantomime with the historians commenting, rather than hearing Lincoln and Douglas actually making their arguments. At the end, a book written by each historian is featured; the "host" historian has a full-length book on the debates which is obviously the foundation for this documentary. Nonetheless, it's a good introduction to the debates and the larger societal debate of the time.