Douglas, Stephen Arnold

Douglas, Stephen Arnold (1813–61),Vermont‐born Illinois lawyer, early became a prominent Democrat and state official. He was a congressman (1843–47), and thereafter served in the U.S. Senate. As chairman of the Committee on Territories, he drafted bills for the government of New Mexico and Utah expressing his doctrine of “popular sovereignty,” which allowed territorial governments to decide all legislative policies, including those on slavery. He was largely responsible for the Kansas‐Nebraska Bill, based on the same principle. He failed to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 1852 and 1856 when his attempts at compromise between Northern and Southern party factions were unsuccessful. In the 1858 campaign for U.S. senator he spoke in seven debates against Lincoln, maintaining his “popular sovereignty” thesis, while Lincoln upheld his declaration that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Although Douglas won the election, his power in the Democratic party waned because he opposed intervention in behalf of territorial slaveholders. He was the Democratic presidential candidate in 1860, but Southern delegates bolted in favor of Breckinridge, and the resulting schism won the election for Lincoln. Douglas continued to work for compromise, but from the outbreak of the Civil War gave his support to Lincoln's policies. Because of his slight stature and great personal vigor, Douglas was popularly known as the Little Giant. He figures frequently in literature, as in Masters's Children of the Market Place and Sherwood's Abe Lincoln in Illinois.