Lincoln-Douglas re-enactment highlights 150 years of rhetoric

(Oct. 6, 2008) The Colorado Center for Public Humanities staged a re-enactment of the historic Lincoln-Douglas debates, followed by a discussion about how political rhetoric and campaigning have evolved the past 150 years. The event commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858—a series of formal political debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in a campaign for one of two United States Senate seats in Illinois—and was timed to coincide with  to the first Barak Obama-John McCain debate.

Philip Joseph, assistant professor in English at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and director of the center, kicked off the event with introduction of the players – Douglas was played by Associate Professor Stephen Hartnett, chair of communications, CLAS; Dan Hiester, a local Shakespearean actor played a very animated and boastful Abraham Lincoln; and they were joined by a “heckler in the crowd,” Carol Bloom, from the College of Arts and Media. 

Hartnett noted the event aimed “to deepen the context and understanding of political campaigns and debate as a part of a deep history that goes back 150 years and to showcase the evolution of American political rhetoric.”

Assistant Professor of English Gillian Silverman provided additional context about the historical debates:  They were three hour extravaganzas, with the first contender speaking for 60 minutes, the second for 90, followed by a 30 minute rebuttal.  They were held outdoors, in a festival-like atmosphere. People brought their families, their dogs; they ate and drank; and while they listened intently, they did not necessarily listen respectfully.  Frequent shouts and rants were heard.  They were “forums of popular entertainment,” Anderson noted, saying politics was participatory and communal.

Assistant Professor of Philosophy David Hildebrand led the conversation after the re-enactment.  The discussion showcased clips (off YouTube) of other historical debates:  Reagan-Carter 1980 (“There you go again…”), Bentsen-Quayle 1988 (“Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy”), Obama-McCain.  Through these clips they discussed the history of debate, how one-liners/quips aren’t as prevalent as they might once have been, and what were they really saying in the first Obama-McCain debate. 

Photos: Stephen Hartnett, top left, and Dan Hiester, played Douglas and Lincoln. Carol Bloom, bottom photo, played a heckler in the crowd.