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Stephen Douglass Abolitionism Essay

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Stephen Douglas: Abolitionist, Proslaveryite, or both?
Francesca Scola Stephen Douglas's purposeful political ambiguity and avid pursuit of self-aggrandisement demonstrated through his stance on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lecompton Constitution, and Freeport Doctrine, ultimately cost him the 1860 election.
Through his stance on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lecompton Constitution, and Freeport Doctrine, Stephen Douglas’s purposeful ambiguity and avid pursuit of self-aggrandisement ultimately cost him the 1860 election. Born in Brandon Vermont on April 23, 1818, Stephen A. Douglas would soon become a powerful leader of the Democratic Party. As a young child, Douglas admired Andrew Jackson and later built his career as a Jacksonian. He played …show more content…
Although bloodshed between Northern abolitionists and pro-slavery Southerners in the Kansas Territory caused tensions, Kansas applied for statehood in 1857. The Lecompton Constitution, devised by pro-slavery forces, allowed the inhabitants of Kansas to vote for the Constitution with or without slavery. However, this proposal came with a clearly illogical twist, which evidently enraged anti-slavery Northerners: if the residents of the Kansas Territory should vote the constitution without slavery, already slaveholding owners would be protected. As a result, several infuriated Northerners refused to vote for the constitution allowing Southerners to come in with a sweeping pro-slavery victory. Despite President Buchanan’s support for the Lecompton Constitution with slavery, Douglas strongly disagreed with him. Instead, he proposed that the Lecompton Constitution be based on popular sovereignty. In doing so, he deliberately tossed away his strong support in the South for the presidency. Moreover as a result of his antagonization of Douglas’s supporters, President Buchanan caused the splitting of the last political party left: The Democratic …show more content…
Douglas along with some supporters answered the Freeport question with the proposal of the Freeport Doctrine. This stated that if the people voted slavery down in a territory, it would stay down unless the territorial Legislature passed laws protecting it. This ultimately won Douglas the campaign for Illinois Senate, but would later cost him the 1860

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