Stephen Douglas Quotes


Having formed this new party for the benefit of deserters from Whiggery, and deserters from Democracy, and having laid down the Abolition platform which I have read, Lincoln now takes his stand and proclaims his Abolition doctrines


Context

This was the first of the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The men were contesting for the U. S. Senate. Douglas won the election. Lincoln was one of the new Republicans, a third party that had been formed by appealing to people who had been dissatisfied with either of the two major parties—the Whigs and the Democrats—and joined the new Party. Neither of the two traditional parties could just cope with .the national polarization caused by the slavery issue. They had “kicked the can down the road” until there was violence breaking out in Kansas and elsewhere.


Citations

Stephen Douglas, 1813-1861, U. S. Congressman & U. S. Senator (Democrat, IL), First Debate with Abraham Lincoln, Ottawa, Illinois, August 21, 1858

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

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Stephen Douglas
Stephen Douglas
  • Born: April 23, 1813
  • Died: June 3, 1861
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Politician

Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. He was one of two Democratic Party nominees for president in the 1860 presidential election, which was won by Republican Abraham Lincoln. Douglas had previously defeated Lincoln in the 1858 United States Senate election in Illinois, known for the Lincoln–Douglas debates. During the 1850s, Douglas was one of the foremost advocates of popular sovereignty, which held that each territory should be allowed to determine whether to permit slavery within its borders. Douglas was nicknamed the "Little Giant" and "Stevie D" because he was short in physical stature but a forceful and dominant figure in politics.