Stephen Arnold Douglas (23 April 1813-3 June 1861) was a Democratic US Senator from Illinois from 4 March 1847 to 3 June 1861, succeeding James Semple and preceding Orville H. Browning.
Biography[]
Stephen Arnold Douglas was born in Brandon, Vermont on 23 April 1813, and he studied law at Canandaigua Academy. In 1833, Douglas moved to Winchester, Illinois to become a schoolteacher, and he became a state's attorney in 1834. Douglas would rise to become a leader of the powerful Democratic Party in Illinois, and he became an associate justice of the Illinois Supreme Court in 1841. In 1843, Douglas was elected to the US House of Representatives, and he supported the Mexican-American War and American territorial expansion. In 1850, Douglas and Henry Clay negotiated the Compromise of 1850, which delayed the inevitable violent conclusion to the slavery debate. In 1852, Franklin Pierce was chosen as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, forcing Douglas to wait his turn. Douglas continued to be re-elected to the senate, and he helped in the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which was seen as a major victory for slavery.
Douglas versus Lincoln[]
Matthew Brady's photograph of Douglas
In 1858, he challenged US Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln during the next round of senatorial elections, and they engaged in the Lincoln-Douglas debates over the issue of slavery. Douglas supported popular sovereignty over morals, and he won the senatorial election; however, Lincoln's stances won him the presidency when he ran against Douglas in 1860. Douglas found himself supported only by northern Democrats, with the Southern Democrats supporting John C. Breckinridge, who took a hardline approach towards slavery. Douglas won only 12 electoral votes, compared to Lincoln's 180. During his last few months, he attempted to convince the Democrats of the American South to accept Lincoln as the new president, and he died of typhoid fever in Chicago on 3 June 1861 at the age of 48.
Gallery[]
