Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DOUGLAS, STEPHEN ARNOLD (18,3–1861)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 447 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DOUGLAS, See also:STEPHEN See also:ARNOLD (18,3–1861) , See also:American statesman, was See also:born at See also:Brandon, See also:Vermont, on the 23rd of See also:April 1813.. His See also:father, a physician, died in See also:July 1813, and the boy was under the care of a See also:bachelor See also:uncle until he was fourteen, when his uncle married and Douglas was thrown upon his own resources. He was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker in See also:Middlebury, Vt., and then to another in Brandon, but soon abandoned this See also:trade. He attended See also:schools at Brandon and See also:Canandaigua (N.Y.), and began the study of See also:law. In 1833 he went See also:West, and finally settled in See also:Jacksonville, See also:Illinois, where he was admitted to the See also:bar in See also:March 1834, and obtained a large practice. From the first he took an active See also:interest in politics, identifying himself with the See also:Jackson Democrats, and his rise was remarkably rapid even for the See also:Middle West of that See also:period. In See also:February 1835 he was elected public prosecutor of the first judicial See also:circuit, the most important at that See also:time in Illinois; in 1835 he was one of several Democrats in See also:Morgan See also:county to favour a See also:state Democratic See also:convention to elect delegates to the See also:national convention of 1836—an important move toward party regularity; in See also:December 1836 he became a member of the state legislature. In 1837 he was appointed by See also:President See also:Van Buren registrar of the. See also:land See also:office at See also:Springfield, which had just become the state See also:capital. In 184o he did. much to carry the state for Van Buren; and for a few months he was secretary of state of Illinois. He was a See also:judge of the supreme See also:court of Illinois from x841 to 1843. In 1843 he was elected to the national See also:House of Representatives. In See also:Congress, though one of the youngest members, See also:heat once sprang into prominence by his See also:clever See also:defence of Jackson during the See also:consideration by the House of a See also:bill remitting the See also:fine imposed on Jackson for contempt of court in New See also:Orleans.

He was soon recognized as one of the ablest and most energetic of the Democratic leaders. An enthusiastic believer in the destiny of his See also:

country and more especially of the West, and a thorough-going expansionist, he heartily favoured in Congress the See also:measures which resulted in the See also:annexation of See also:Texas and in the Mexican War—in the discussion of the annexation of Texas he suggested as See also:early as 1845 that the states to be admitted should come in slave or See also:free, as their See also:people should See also:vote when they applied to Congress for See also:admission, thus foreshadowing his See also:doctrine of "Popular See also:Sovereignty." He took an active See also:share in the See also:Oregon controversy, asserting his unalterable determination, in spite of President See also:Polk's faltering from the See also:declaration of his party's See also:platform; not to." yield up one See also:inch " of the territory to See also:Great See also:Britain, and advocating its occupation by a military force; indeed he consistently regarded Great Britain as the natural and foremost See also:rival of the See also:United States, the interests of the two nations, he thought, being always opposed, and few senators fought more vigorously the See also:Clayton-Bulwer Treaty or Great Britain's reassertion of the right of See also:search on the high seas. He ardently supported the policy of making Federal appropriations (of land, but not of See also:money) for See also:internal improvements of a national See also:character, being. a prominent See also:advocate of the construction, by See also:government aid, of a trans-See also:continental railway, and the See also:chief See also:promoter (1850) of the Illinois Central; in 1854 he suggested that Congress should impose See also:tonnage duties from which towns and cities might themselves pay for See also:harbour improvement, &c. To him as chairman of the See also:committee on territories, at first in the House, and. then in the See also:Senate, of which he became a member in December. 1847, it See also:fell to introduce the bills for admitting Texas, See also:Florida, See also:Iowa, See also:Wisconsin, See also:Minnesota, See also:California and Oregon into the See also:Union, and for organizing the territories of Minnesota, Oregon, New See also:Mexico, See also:Utah, See also:Washington, See also:Kansas and See also:Nebraska. In 1848 he introduced a bill proposing that all the territory acquired from Mexico should be admitted into the Union as a single state, and upon the defeat of this bill proposed others providing for the immediate admission of. parts of this territory. In the See also:bitter debates concerning the keenly disputed question of the permission of. See also:slavery in the territories, Douglas was particularly prominent. Against slavery itself he seems never to have had any moral antipathy; he married (1847) the daughters of a slaveholder, See also:Colonel See also:Robert See also:Martin of See also:North Carolina, and a See also:cousin of Douglas's colleague in Congress, D. S. See also:Reid; and his wife and See also:children were by See also:inheritance the owners of slaves, though he himself never was. He did more probably than any other one See also:man, except See also:Henry See also:Clay, to secure the See also:adoption of the See also:Compromise Measures of 185o. In 1849 the Illinois legislature demanded that its representatives and senators should vote for the See also:prohibition of slavery in the Mexican cession, but next See also:year this sentiment in Illinois had grown much weaker, and, both there and in Congress, Douglas's name was soon to become identified with the so-called " popular sovereignty " or " squatter sovereignty " theory, previously enunciated by See also:Lewis See also:Cass, by which each territory was to be:See also:left to decide for itself whether it should or should not have slavery.

In 185o his See also:

power of specious See also:argument won back to `him his See also:Chicago constituents who had violently attacked him for not opposing the Fugitive Slave Law. The bill for organizing the' territories of Kansas and Nebraska, which Douglas reported in See also:January 1854 and which in amended See also:form was signed by the president on the 3oth of May, reopened the whole slavery dispute—wantonly, his enemies charged, for the purpose of securing See also:Southern support,—and caused great popular excitement, as it repealed the See also:Missouri Compromise, and declared the people of any state or territory "" free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." The passage of this Kansas-Nebraska Bill, one of the most momentous in its consequences ever passed by the Federal Congress, was largely a See also:personal See also:triumph for Douglas, who showed marvellous See also:energy, adroitness and resourcefulness, and a See also:genius for leadership. There was great indignation throughout the free states; and even in Chicago Douglas was unable to win for himself a See also:hearing before a public See also:meeting. In 1852, and again in 1856, he was a See also:candidate for the presidential nomination in the national Democratic convention, and though on both occasions he was unsuccessful, he received strong support. In 1857 he See also:broke with President See also:Buchanan and the " See also:administration " Democrats and lost much of his See also:prestige in the See also:South, but partially restored himself to favour in the North, and especially in Illinois, by his vigorous opposition to the method of voting on the Lecompton constitution, which he maintained to be fraudulent, and (in 1858) to the admission of Kansas into the Union under this constitution. In 1858, when the Supreme Court, after the vote of Kansas against the Lecompton constitution, had decided that Kansas was a " slave " territory, thus quashing Douglas's theory of " popular sovereignty," he engaged in Illinois in a See also:close and very exciting contest for the senatorship with See also:Abraham See also:Lincoln, the Republican candidate, whom he met in a See also:series of debates (at See also:Ottawa, See also:Freeport, Jonesboro, See also:Charleston, See also:Galesburg, See also:Quincy and See also:Alton), in one of which, that at Freeport, Douglas was led to declare that any territory, by " unfriendly s Her See also:death in 18S3 was a great See also:blow to him and embittered him. In See also:November 1856 he married Adele Cutts, a See also:Maryland belle, a See also:grand-niece of Dolly See also:Madison, and a- See also:Roman See also:Catholic, who became the See also:leader of Washington. society, especially in the whiter of 1887-1858, when Douglas was in revolt against Buchanan.legislation," could exclude slavery, no See also:matter what the See also:action of the Supreme Court. This, the famous " Freeport Doctrine," lost to Douglas the support of a large See also:element of his party in the South, and in Illinois his followers did not See also:poll so large a vote as Lincoln's. Douglas; however, won the senatorship by a vote in the legislature of 54 to 46. In the Senate he was not reappointed chairman of the committee on territories. In 186o in the Democratic national convention in Charleston the adoption of Douglas's platform brought about the withdrawal from the convention of See also:Alabama, See also:Mississippi, See also:Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, Texas and See also:Arkansas. The convention adjourned to See also:Baltimore, where the See also:Virginia, North Carolina, See also:Tennessee, See also:Kentucky and Maryland delegations left it, and where Douglas was nominated for the See also:presidency by the See also:Northern Democrats; he campaigned vigorously but hopelessly, boldly' attacking disunion, and in the See also:election, though he received a popular vote of 1,376,957, he received an electoral vote of only 12—Lincoln receiving 180.

Douglas urged the South to acquiesce in Lincoln's election. On the outbreak of the See also:

Civil. See also:War, he denounced See also:secession as criminal, and was one of the strongest See also:advocates of maintaining the integrity of the Union at all hazards. At Lincoln's See also:request he undertook a See also:mission to the border states and the North-west to rouse the spirit of Unionism.; he spoke in West Virginia, See also:Ohio and Illinois. He died on the 3rd of See also:June 1861 at Chicago, where he was buried on the See also:shore of See also:Lake See also:Michigan; the site was afterwards bought by the state, and an imposing See also:monument with a statue by Leonard See also:Volk now stands over his See also:grave. In See also:person Douglas was conspicuously small, being hardly five feet in height, but his large See also:head and massive See also:chest and shoulders gave him the popular See also:sobriquet " The Little See also:Giant." His See also:voice was strong and carried far, he had little See also:grace of delivery, and his gestures were often violent. As a resourceful See also:political leader, and an adroit, ready, skilful tactician in debate, he has had few equals in American See also:history. See See also:Allen See also:Johnson's Stephen A. Douglas: A Study in American Politics (New See also:York, 1908), W. G. See also:Brown's Stephen Arnold Douglas (See also:Boston, x902), and an excellent See also:review of his later See also:life in See also:James See also:Ford See also:Rhodes's History of the United States from the Compromise of 185o (New York, 1893–1906) ; also P. O.

See also:

Ray, See also:Repeal of the Missouri Compromise (See also:Cleveland, Ohio, 1909), and E. C. Carr, Stephen A. Douglas (Chicago, 190.9).

End of Article: DOUGLAS, STEPHEN ARNOLD (18,3–1861)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DOUGLAS, SIR HOWARD 		[next]
DOUGLASS, FREDERICK (1817-1895)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries