The Jonesboro debate is notable for two things, the location and Lincoln playing to the national audience again.  Barley already told you that Jonesboro was not a friendly spot for Lincoln.  Lincoln acknowledges that during the debate, but always treats the audience with respect.  Always.  Even though the Jonesboro audience was small, Lincoln understood that the debates were being followed nationally.  So he follows up his Freeport question with a similar one at Jonesboro.  He asks Douglas, “ Would you vote for or against legislation for the protection of slave property in the territories, if slaveholders demanded such legislation?” Douglas did not expect Congress to protect slavery in the territories if local law didn’t pass laws protecting it.  He didn’t expect that.  This again signaled to the South that Douglas would not intervene for slavery’s expansion.