The 1994 reenactments of the Lincoln–Douglas Debates took place between August 20 and October 15, 1994, and were facilitated and aired by C-SPAN. They featured historical reenactors presenting, in their entireties, the series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas that took place during the 1858 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois. The debate reenactments were held in the same seven cities as were the 1858 debates, and were performed on dates very close to the anniversaries of the original debates. They were broadcast live on C-SPAN, and have been rebroadcast periodically ever since.
Background The inspiration for the series came from the book The Lincoln–Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text, edited by Harold Holzer. Holzer had been interviewed about that book the previous year on the C-SPAN series Booknotes.
In 1993, C-SPAN staff approached the mayors of the seven cities in Illinois where the 1858 debates had been held (Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton) and arranged with each city to recreate the debates using their own local resources. Subsequently, C-SPAN spent over $300,000 on the promotion and coverage of the debates and on the creation of related educational materials.
The C-SPAN School Bus was used as a traveling television studio at each of the debate locations. Prof. John Splaine of the University of Maryland, College Park, was a consultant to C-SPAN and provided commentary on each of the debates.
Debates Original air date(links to video of debate)1858 debate dateLocationDebatepreviewDebatereviewPrimary reenactorsParticipants in pre- and post-debate discussionsAugust 20, 1994August 21Ottawa, IllinoisPreviewReviewMax Daniels as Abraham LincolnJim Gayan as Stephen A. DouglasHarold HolzerAugust 27, 1994August 27Freeport, IllinoisPreviewReviewGeorge Buss as Abraham LincolnRichard Sokup as Stephen A. DouglasSen. Paul Simon, Rep. Don Manzullo, Roger Wilkins, Stephen OatesSeptember 17, 1994September 15Jonesboro, IllinoisPreviewReviewGeorge Buss as Abraham LincolnRichard Sokup as Stephen A. DouglasEdna Greene Medford, John Y. Simon, Howard DeanSeptember 18, 1994September 18Charleston, IllinoisPreviewReviewB.F. McClerran as Abraham LincolnRussel Brazzel as Stephen A. DouglasRep. Glenn Poshard, Donald A. Ritchie, David ZarefskyOctober 8, 1994October 7Galesburg, IllinoisPreviewReviewMichael Krebs as Abraham LincolnLarry Diemer as Stephen A. DouglasRoger Wilkins, Douglas L. WilsonOctober 9, 1994October 13Quincy, IllinoisPreviewReviewJack Inghram as Abraham LincolnGary DeClue as Stephen A. DouglasHarold Holzer, Sen. Carol Moseley-BraunOctober 15, 1994October 15Alton, IllinoisPreviewReviewScott Mandrell as Abraham LincolnDonald Lowery as Stephen A. DouglasEdna Greene Medford, Sen. Paul Simon
References
External links Lincoln-Douglas Debates programs from 1994 Photographs of Michael Krebs's portrayal of Lincoln at Galesburg Examples of commemorative artwork by William L. Brown Booknotes interview with Holzer on The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, August 22, 1993.