I didn't know it. Parts of the speeches are very similar.
Lincoln made the comment that blacks were included in the Declaration of Independence, and had a right to the fruits of their labor at Ottowa. At Charleston, he toned down this considerably, saying something to the effect that just because the negro didn't get everything didn't mean he got nothing. That is pretty watered down.
Charleston, I believe, is a lot further south than Ottowa. I'll grant that Lincoln played to the more southern audience in Charleston.
But he was still taking a position much advanced from most people of the day, and the SCV was still quoting the record in a skewed fashion to support an ahistorical interpretation. They preach honor, and then act dishonorably.
Walt
Then I apologize for my harshness. I assumed you knew the debates were a traveling roadshow, of sorts, with each reading virtually the same speeches at each place. There were minor variations here and there.
Lincoln made the comment that blacks were included in the Declaration of Independence, and had a right to the fruits of their labor at Ottowa...
Yes, he did, and I believe he stated that at each location, IIRC. I'd have to look again, but I think he made that point at Charleston too. Douglas would not omit mentioning it there. His belief that the black man was endowed with freedom just like whites was the basis for his anti-slavery stance. But within the same speeches he also made it abundantly clear that he did NOT mean he advocated the two races to co-exist, and that he thought blacks inferior, a common idea of the day. He felt the black man would never truly be able to excercise his rights and flourish if he were to live amongst "superior" whites. It's all there if you go through the whole speeches. Most books only use the "good" snippets, which often misleads the reader. Everytime I have mentioned this, I have done so only to put his words back into perspective. Read the speeches in their entirety, and you will see. He was always against slavery, and always thought blacks had the right of freedom, even if he also thought them inferior and preferred separation of the races. It was the 1850s, after all.
But he was still taking a position much advanced from most people of the day,
He was more advanced than the average American, that is absolutely true, but by the same token, he was nowhere near the top of the ladder, either. To abolitionists and some other republicans he was way down there. Once again, I only point these things out to prevent distortion of history. Historical perspective.
and the SCV was still quoting the record in a skewed fashion to support an a historical interpretation. They preach honor, and then act dishonorably.
That's not true. The debate it came from was wrong, but the quote was correct as to his words, and it was given to provide Lincoln's own words to show how skewed many "historians" have made "history". The fantasy that Lincoln didn't have race prejudice has grown to the point of absurdity. Just look at the works of people like Jaffa (actually, don't. his excuse making goes beyond fantasy). That quote was provided that way as a reaction to revisionism, the enemy of truth. Defending truth is an honorable thing.