Douglas, Stephen Arnold 1813-61
US judge and politician

Born in Brandon, Vermont, he studied law and moved to Illinois in 1833. He rose rapidly in state Democratic politics, then served in the US House of Representatives (1843-47) and the Senate (1847-61). Known as 'the Little Giant' because of his short stature, forceful presence and boundless energy, he argued for westward expansion and manifest destiny, supporting US claims to Oregon, the annexation of Texas and the Mexican War. On the question of slavery he maintained that each territory should decide whether to be a free or a slave state, and he helped win passage of the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. His 1858 campaign for re-election to the Senate against Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln became the occasion for a series of famous debates in which Lincoln returned again and again to the issue of slavery, and though Douglas won the election his effort to find a middle-ground on the subject only succeeded in alienating the South and eroding his popularity as a national political figure. He was the Democratic nominee for President in 1860 but was narrowly defeated by Lincoln.