Stephen Douglas

Stephen Douglas (1813-1861) was a politician in the United States in the period leading up to the War of Secession. A Democrat, Douglas's career closely coincided with that of Abraham Lincoln, and the two were lifelong rivals. They ran against one another in elections for a wide variety of elected offices and even competed for the hand of Mary Todd.

In 1860, Douglas lost the Presidential election to Lincoln. Douglas urged the South to accept the result of the election and denounced secession as criminal. He promised to support Lincoln during the War of Secession, ensuring that the war would be a bipartisan effort--and that the Democratic Party would not be branded as the party of treason, allowing it to take a hard line against the Confederate States in later generations. Douglas died of typhoid very shortly after the war began.

In later generations, many Americans believed Douglas to have been a reasonable man who could have prevented the War of Secession had he won the 1860 election. However, this position is extremely problematic given the political conditions of the time and Douglas's own record for acquiescing to Southern interests.