Why did so many Americans closely follow the Lincoln-Douglas debates?

Many Americans followed the Lincoln-Douglas debates as it discussed several important points of American Politics and would also shape the future of the course of American Politics and policies.

Explanation:

Slavery was a big issue in the States and after the independence, Abraham Lincoln was the first President who waged a political war for the complete abolition of slavery. Douglas, on the other hand, gave the territories the freedom to choose if they wanted to keep on having slavery or not unlike Lincoln. There were a total of seven debates in between Lincoln and Douglas where afterwards Abraham Lincoln won the elections and subsequently abolished slavery for once and all. The win of Abraham Lincoln was also supported by the majority of the Americans and soon after America emerged as one of the biggest Republics and a politically powerful nation closely watched by the Americans.