In March 1857, two days after the inauguration of President Buchanan, the Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott Decision, and the whole country as aflame. The Court decided slaves were property and property could not be excluded from a territory by Congress. This meant the Missouri Compromise, which had forbidden slavery above the 36'-30' line had been unconstitutional. It also meant that under the Constitution there was no way to keep slavery out of a territory and a man could not be deprived of his property unless by due process of law. It further meant that the territories belonged to all the people of the United States, therefore, man could take his property anywhere in the territory.

The Dred Scott Decision and its meaning for the future was uppermost in the minds of the people when Abraham Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas to a series of debates in 1858. A debate was held in each of the seven congressional districts with Freeport being the second and the most remembered of the seven.

It was here on August 27, 1858 that Lincoln asked Douglas, "Can the people of a United States territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a state constitution?" Mr. Douglas' answer was, "In my opinion the people of a territory can by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of the state constitution..."

The answer displeased the South and split the Democratic party. They called it "The Freeport Heresy." His words saved his Senate seat in Illinois but lost him the presidency in 1860.

On June 3, 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the boulder at the northeast corner of State and Douglas Streets (then Mechanic and Clark) which marks the approximate site of the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Choosing the site and the boulder to mark the spot was a 1901 project of the Freeport Woman's Club. In his dedication speech the President said, "Here was sounded the keynote of the struggle which, after convulsing the nation, made it in fact what it had only been in name--at once united and free."

August 27, 1929, the 71st anniversary of the debate, was the dedication date of a statue called "Lincoln the Debater," representing Abraham Lincoln in mid-manhood. It was W.T. Rawleigh's gift to the City of Freeport and was the work of Leonard Crunelle, a former pupil of Lorado Taft. It stands in Taylor Park, a little north of the entrance on East Stephenson Street.

In August 1958, the centennial year of the debate, a week-long celebration commemorated the event. There was a two-hour parade with historical-type floats; there was a play given at Krape Park which was written by Donald Breed, former editor of the Journal-Standard; and Norman Corwin's play "The Rivalry" with a nationally known cast was presented, as well as other events all week. The entire celebration is recorded in narrative and picture in a hardcover book published by the Lincoln-Douglas Society of Freeport called "The Freeport Debate and its Centennial Commemoration."

On August 27, 1983 an informal celebration was held at the Historical Society Museum grounds to mark the 125th anniversary of the debate. There was a potluck meal at noon but no formal program was planned. Much reminiscing about the 1958 event took place, and memorabilia in the form of scrapbooks and films were there for all to see.

The Lincoln-Douglas diorama is the result of long hours of careful research and work by Merl A. Blackwood and his wife Gladys Rourke Blackwood, Freeport artists. They visited the workshops of the Museum of Natural History in Chicago in preparation for the Freeport project and spent hours watching the skilled artists who built the Chicago Museum's dioramas. The Lincoln-Douglas Society funded the debate diorama at the time of the centennial observance in August 1958.

Mr. Blackwood concentrated his research and work on the background of the diorama while Mrs. Blackwood's center of attention was devoted to the figures. Besides carefully forming the boughs, leaves and grass, Mr. Blackwood built the speaker's platform and made the small "captain's chairs" for the speakers, all to scale.

After making the figures (also to scale) Mrs. Blackwood clothed them in fashions of 1858 which she had carefully researched. You will note the tight basques, long full skirts, bonnets and shawls which were popular then for women. Coats, vests, trousers and hats were made for the men. Accessories such as baskets, parasols and canes were researched as to type and sculpted. Then, figures and accessories were painted to bring out the detail.