Stephen A. Douglas

Stephen Arnold Douglas (; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A Democrat, he served in the United States Senate for fourteen years and defeated Abraham Lincoln to win reelection in 1858, a campaign known for the pivotal Lincoln–Douglas debates. He was the representative of the Northern Democrats in the 1860 United States presidential election; with the Democrats split between northern and southern factions in the leadup to the American Civil War, he was defeated by Lincoln, the Republican nominee. During his senate career, Douglas was one of the brokers of the Compromise of 1850, which sought to avert a sectional crisis over the issue of slavery. To deal with the volatile issue of whether to extend slavery into US territories, Douglas became the foremost advocate of popular sovereignty, which held that the voters of each territory should be allowed to decide. At just tall, Douglas was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature but a forceful and dominant figure in politics.

Born in Brandon, Vermont, Douglas migrated to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1833 to establish a legal practice. He experienced early success in politics as a member of the newly formed Democratic Party, serving in the Illinois House of Representatives and various other positions. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1841. In 1843, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Douglas became an ally of President James K. Polk and favored Texas annexation and US involvement in the Mexican–American War. He was one of four Northern Democrats in the House to vote against the Wilmot Proviso, which would have banned slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico.

The Illinois legislature elected Douglas to the U.S. Senate in 1847, and he emerged as a national leader during the 1850s. Along with Senator Henry Clay of the Whig Party, he led the effort to pass the Compromise of 1850, which attempted to settle the slavery issues that arose after the Mexican–American War. Douglas was a candidate for president at the 1852 Democratic National Convention but lost the nomination to Franklin Pierce, who won the election. Seeking to open western territories for expansion, Douglas introduced the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854. Though Douglas had hoped the act would ease sectional tensions, it helped fuel the rise of the anti-slavery Republican Party. Douglas once again sought the presidency in 1856, but the Democratic convention nominated James Buchanan, who went on to win the election. Buchanan and Douglas split over the admission of Kansas as a slave state, and Douglas helped block admission, accusing the pro-slavery Kansas legislature of conducting an illegitimate election. Kansas eventually came into the Union as a free state.

During the Lincoln–Douglas debates, Douglas articulated the Freeport Doctrine, which held that territories could effectively exclude slavery despite the Supreme Court's ruling in the 1857 case of ''Dred Scott v. Sandford''. Disagreements over slavery led Southern delegates to bolt from the 1860 Democratic National Convention. The rump convention of Northern delegates nominated Douglas for president, while Southern Democrats threw their support behind John C. Breckinridge, Buchanan's vice president. In the 1860 election, Lincoln and Douglas were the main candidates in the North, while most Southerners supported either Breckinridge or John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party. Campaigning throughout the country during the election, Douglas warned of the dangers of secession and urged audiences to stay loyal to the United States. Lincoln's strong support in the North led to his victory. After the Battle of Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil War, Douglas rallied support for the Union, but he died in June 1861. Provided by Wikipedia