The Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 primarily focused on which issue?

The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 primarily centered on the issue of the expansion of slavery into Western territories, making this the correct response. During these debates, Abraham Lincoln, a member of the Republican Party, and Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat, engaged in a series of discussions where they articulated their opposing views on how the nation should deal with slavery’s potential spread into the newly acquired territories from the Mexican-American War.

Lincoln argued against the expansion of slavery, believing that it was morally wrong and detrimental to the American republic's ideals of freedom and equality. In contrast, Douglas advocated for popular sovereignty, suggesting that the settlers of each territory should determine whether or not to allow slavery. This fundamental disagreement about slavery's expansion was a critical point of contention, as it was closely linked to larger issues of national identity and balance between free and slave states.

While the other options touch on relevant themes of the period, such as the constitutional aspects of secession, the violence faced by abolitionists, and the implications of the Dred Scott decision, they were not the primary focus of the Lincoln-Douglas debates themselves. The main thrust of these debates was the immediate and practical question of whether slavery would spread into new territories, a debate which