LD is an acronym for Lincoln Douglas.  The name refers to the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois in 1858. Seven debates were held. Although Lincoln lost the Senate race in 1858, he beat Douglas in the 1860 race for the US Presidency.

As you might imagine, LD debate has not been around that long. In fact the predecessor of LD was Policy debate (also called Cross Examination debate). The story goes that Policy debate got so fast and indiscernible that funding was threatened. As a result many would argue that LD is meant to be the slower-paced and more user-friendly debate but LD has also become complicated and fast-paced in many cases.

The most important distinction between LD and Policy debate is in the questions that are debated. Questions can be divided into three different categories. First, questions of fact are topics that can be answered with a definitive “yes” or “no”. The statement: the earth is round, is a question of fact. Neither LD nor Policy debate uses questions of fact. If they did, one side would always be able to win if they were able to obtain the right information. Since every debater must debate both sides of the question, debaters would be forced to lose half of their rounds regardless of their skill or talent. This would defeat the purpose of debate as a learning activity that develops analytical and thinking skills.

Next, LD debaters debate questions of value, or questions that have some moral focus which cannot be answered with an absolute “yes” or “no”. Debaters often debate the meaning of life (Resolved: Sanctity of life ought to be valued above quality of life), the morality of actions (Resolved: Capital punishment is morally justified), and the justness of government (Resolved: Violent revolution is a just response to oppression). Debaters argue right or wrong with philosophy and logic but do not propose solutions to problems.

Last, Policy debaters examine questions of policy. Questions of policy invite individuals to examine a current problem, present a solution to that problem and use research to back up arguments.

The second and most visual difference between LD and policy is that LD rounds involve one debater debating against one other debater. Policy debate involves two debaters (one team) debating against two other debaters (the other team). Although Policy debaters “have their partner to fall back on” each debater in a Policy round must give half of the speeches representing their side of the topic. As an LDer you will debate on your own, without a partner. Although this may sound scary, LD rounds tend to be less research intensive, with slower and shorter speeches.