Stephen
Arnold Douglas was
born in Brandon, Vermont, in 1813. He became attorney-general of Illinois
in 1834, member of the legislature in 1835, secretary of state in
1840, and judge of the supreme court in 1841 and member of the House
of Representatives in 1847.
In 1854 Douglas introduced his Kansas-Nebraska
bill to the Senate. These states could now enter the Union with or
without slavery. Frederick Douglass
warned that the bill was "an open invitation to a fierce and
bitter strife".
The result of this legislation was to open the
territory to organised migrations of pro-slave and anti-slave groups.
Southerners now entered the area with their slaves while active members
of the Anti-Slavery Society also
arrived. Henry Ward Beecher, condemned
the bill from his pulpit and helped to raise funds to supply weapons
to those willing to oppose slavery in these territories. These rifles
became known as Beecher's Bibles. John
Brown and five of his sons, were some of the volunteers who headed
for Kansas.
In 1858 Abraham Lincoln challenged Douglas
for his seat in the Senate. He was opposed to Douglas's proposal that
the people living in the Louisiana Purchase (Louisiana, Arkansas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, Montana,
and parts of Minnesota, Colorado and Wyoming) should be allowed to
own slaves. Lincoln argued that the territories must be kept free
for "poor people to go and better their condition". The
two men took part in a series of seven public debates on the issue
of slavery.
The debates, each three hours long, started on 21st August and finished
on 15th October. Douglas attempted to brand Lincoln as a dangerous
radical who was advocating racial equality. Whereas Lincoln concentrated
on the immorality of slavery and attempts to restrict its growth.
The
Democratic Party that met in Charleston
in April, 1860, were deeply divided. Most delegates from the Deep
South argued that the Congress had no power to legislate over slavery
in their territory. The Northerners disagreed and won the vote. As
a result the Southerners walked out of the convention and another
meeting was held in Baltimore.
Again the Southerners walked out over the issue of slavery. With only
the Northern delegates left, Douglas won the nomination.
Southern
delegates now held another meeting in Richmond and John
Beckenridge
was selected
as their candidate. The situation was further complicated by the formation
of the Constitutional Union Party and the nomination of John
Bell of Tennessee.
Abraham Lincoln won the presidential
election with with 1,866,462 votes (18 free states) and beat Douglas
(1,375,157 - 1 slave state), John
Beckenridge
(847,953
- 13 slave states) and John Bell (589,581
- 3 slave states). Between election day in November, 1860 and inauguration
the following March, seven states seceded from the Union: South Carolina,
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Stephen
Douglas
died in 1861.
(1)
The journalist, Henry Villard, described
the Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln
debate at Ottawa, Illinois, on 21st August, 1858.
The
first joint debate between Douglas and Lincoln, which I attended,
took place on the afternoon of August 21, 1858, at Ottawa, Illinois.
It was the great event of the day, and attracted an immense concourse
of people from all parts of the State.
Senator Douglas was very small, not over four and a half feet height,
and there was a noticeable disproportion between the long trunk of
his body and his short legs. His chest was broad and indicated great
strength of lungs. It took but a glance at his face and head to convince
one that they belonged to no ordinary man. No beard hid any part of
his remarkable, swarthy features. His mouth, nose, and chin were all
large and clearly expressive of much boldness and power of will. The
broad, high forehead proclaimed itself the shield of a great brain.
The head, covered with an abundance of flowing black hair just beginning
to show a tinge of grey, impressed one with its massiveness and leonine
expression. His brows were shaggy, his eyes a brilliant black.
Douglas spoke first for an hour, followed by Lincoln for an hour and
a half; upon which the former closed in another half hour. The Democratic
spokesman commanded a strong, sonorous voice, a rapid, vigorous utterance,
a telling play of countenance, impressive gestures, and all the other
arts of the practiced speaker.
As far as all external conditions were concerned, there was nothing
in favour of Lincoln. He had a lean, lank, indescribably gawky figure,
an odd-featured, wrinkled, inexpressive, and altogether uncomely face.
He used singularly awkward, almost absurd, up-and-down and sidewise
movements of his body to give emphasis to his arguments. His voice
was naturally good, but he frequently raised it to an unnatural pitch.
Yet the unprejudiced mind felt at once that, while there was on the
one side a skillful dialectician and debater arguing a wrong and weak
cause, there was on the other a thoroughly earnest and truthful man,
inspired by sound convictions in consonance with the true spirit of
American institutions. There was nothing in all Douglas's powerful
effort that appealed to the higher instincts of human nature, while
Lincoln always touched sympathetic cords. Lincoln's speech excited
and sustained the enthusiasm of his audience to the end.
(2)
Stephen A. Douglas, speech in Alton, Illinois (15th October, 1858)
We
ought to extend to the negro race all the rights, all the privileges,
and all the immunities which they can exercise consistently with
the safety of society. Humanity requires that we should give them
all these privileges; Christianity commands that we should extend
those privileges to them. The question then arises, "What
are those privileges, and what is the nature and extent of them?"
My answer is, that is a question which each State must answer
for itself.
(3)
Abraham
Lincoln,
speech in
Alton, Illinois (15th
October, 1858)
Stephen Douglas assumes
that I am in favor of introducing a perfect social and political
equality between the white and black races. These are false issues.
The real issue in this controversy is the sentiment on the part
of one class that looks upon the institution of slavery as a wrong,
and of another class that does not look upon it as a wrong. One
of the methods of treating it as a wrong is to make provision
that it shall grow no larger.
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