The documentary focuses on the 1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. As Claremont's Charles Kesler explains, "the Lincoln-Douglas debates were a local election for Senate from the state of Illinois, but they were on a national stage and... [were] transcribed in the newspapers and apparently eagerly read, not just in Illinois, but reprinted elsewhere in the country and noticed even in New York newspapers."
The "most famous debates in American history" transformed an obscure Illinois lawyer into “into the nation's first political mass media sensation" and a presidential contender. Watch the trailer below:
