Stephen A. Douglas was born in Brandon, Vermont in 1813, where, he later recalled, he “first learned to love liberty.” In November 1833 he moved to the “western country,” where he took up residence in Jacksonville, Illinois. He soon became involved in the rough and tumble politics of the frontier. In his first decade in Illinois, he served as state’s attorney, member of the state legislature, register of the federal land office, secretary of state, and, at the age of 27, justice of the state supreme court.
In 1843 he was elected to Congress. He served two terms in the House of Representatives, and was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1847. Standing only five feet four inches, Douglas soon became known as the “Little Giant.” He sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and became a firm believer in the concept of “popular sovereignty.” He argued that the right of the people of an organized territory to govern themselves with respect to their own domestic affairs, without intervention by the national government, was paramount. In practical terms, the residents of Kansas and Nebraska could vote as to whether to allow slavery in their territories.
Following his failed bid for the presidency in 1860, Douglas became a leading voice in trying to find compromise to prevent the breakup of the Union. Having failed to do so, he returned to Chicago where, worn out physically and broken in spirit, he died on June 3, 1861.
