he Lincoln-Douglas debates took place in Illinois from August to October, 1858. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were competing for a seat in the U.S. Senate. The debates centered on Douglas’s belief in popular sovereignty and Lincoln’s belief in the equality of mankind. While Lincoln did not win the Senate seat, the debates shot him into the national spotlight and assisted in his presidential election in 1860, a consequence of which was North Carolina’s succession from the Union and the beginning of the Civil War.