today we're looking at Stephen Douglas
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the questions down in the description Stephen A Douglas nicknamed The Little Giant was a
politician and Congressman that would be a huge figure in American politics throughout
the mid-1800s as the issue of slavery and western expansion was at the Forefront in
the American Experience although Douglas never was elected president his influence would play
a major role in the direction America would take Stephen Douglas was born April 23 1813 in
Brandon Vermont to Stephen Douglas senior and his wife Sarah Fisk when Douglas was only two
months old his father died and soon he his mother and his older sister moved to a farm just outside
of Brandon as a child Douglas attended the local elementary school and by his early teenage years
he began to Apprentice as a cabinet maker while working as an apprentice Douglas began to become
very interested in politics especially he began to follow the political career of Andrew Jackson
by the age of 17 in 1830 his family moved to Western New York where he began to attend
the Canandaigua academy Douglas began to have Ambitions of becoming an attorney and began to
study under Levi Hubble a local attorney however just three years later in 1833 Douglas decided
it was time for him to strike out on his own and he headed west despite not completing his studies
he believed he could establish himself more easily as a lawyer in western states Douglas
briefly stopped in Cleveland Ohio Louisville Kentucky and St Louis Missouri on his way to
eventually settling in Jacksonville Illinois by November of 1833. the following year Douglas
was admitted to the Illinois State Bar as an attorney Douglas continued his fervent support
of Andrew Jackson and the Democratic party and by 1835 had decided to abandon his law career
and focus more on politics in 1836 he was elected to the Illinois State House Representatives while
serving in the house he met fellow Illinois House member Abraham Lincoln the two would
have a personal and political career that would many times pit them against one another in fact
Douglas briefly courted Lincoln's future wife Mary Todd during this time Douglas's political
career continued to rise as he was appointed the Illinois Secretary of State in 1840 then
was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court in 1841 and then to the United States House of
Representatives in 1843 and then finally Douglas was elected to the U.S Senate in 1847. during his
time in Congress Douglas supported annexing Texas and going to war with Mexico and he was
one of only four Northern Senators to reject the Wilmot Proviso Banning slavery in newly acquired
territories after the Mexican-American war in 1847 he married Martha Martin and together they
would have two sons Martin's father soon after their marriage died leaving Douglas
a large Plantation and over 100 enslaved people in Mississippi Douglas being a northern Senator
did not want to be seen as a slave owner but did want the prophet from the plantation so he hired
a manager for the plantation and continued to operate it while the enslaved people remained
in slavery in 1853 Martha died while in childbirth along with Douglas's newborn daughter a few years
later in 1856 Douglas married 20-year-old Adele Cuts in 1850 Douglas took the lead in getting the
Compromise of 1850 pushed through Congress which was a set of bills that admitted California as a
free state but also included the notorious Fugitive Slave Act Douglas's leadership in
getting the bills passed established him as one of the leaders in Congress and standing
at only five foot four inches tall earned him the nickname The Little Giant being a strong
supporter of western expansion in 1854 Douglas pushed through the Kansas-Nebraska Act which
organized the territories of Kansas and Nebraska so that railroads could begin Construction West
however the issue of whether slavery would be allowed in these new territories was not clear
and Douglas argued that popular sovereignty or in other words allowing citizens in the territories
to vote and decide for themselves about the issue was the solution this idea infuriated many in the
country as now slavery could expand anywhere one person who was infuriated was Republican
Abraham Lincoln who challenged Douglas for his senate seat in 1858 the two would engage in a
series of debates across the state of Illinois that would become legendary as Douglas argued
for popular sovereignty and allowing slavery to expand while Lincoln argued against any
expansion of slavery Douglas won the election but the debates thrust Lincoln into the national
Spotlight a few years later in 1860 Douglas won the northern Democratic nomination for president
as the Democratic party had split between northern and southern factions by this point
in a four-way race against Republican Abraham Lincoln Southern Democrat John C Breckenridge
and Constitutional Union Party candidate John Bell Douglas only received 12 electoral votes
coming in last among the candidates with Lincoln winning the presidency
Douglas returned to the Senate and fought to try to keep the union together as the nation
was clearly on a course to Civil War however just as the first shots of the Civil War were
being fired Douglas contracted typhoid fever and died June 3rd 1861 at the age of 48. so
with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching all right quick shout out
here to the students at Pioneer Middle School in Wenatchee Washington thanks for watching foreign