For years, historians have held up the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 as the gold standard of political discourse. But at the time, critics were not so kind. Journalists complained that the debates were 'not interactive enough' and suffered from 'boring optics'; still others hungered for a debate that would 'change the narrative of the race.'
Responding to the criticism, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas agreed to participate in a debate that used the just-invented 'town hall' format, with both candidates taking questions from the audience.
Collection
[
|
...
]