120-841: Gila River Indian Reservation was a reservation established in 1859 by the United States government in New Mexico Territory , to set aside the lands of the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and the Piipaash (Maricopa) people along the Gila River , in what is now Pinal County, Arizona . The self-government of the reservation as the Gila River Indian Community was established by Congress in 1939. The Pima Villages and some of their lands were included in
240-552: A New England Historical and Genealogical Register article that was captured in a collection of Connecticut genealogies. The remaining persons, and a few additional dates, all come from online sources which are found under "External links." Douglas was re-elected to the House of Representatives in 1846, but the state legislature elected him to the United States Senate in early 1847. The United States defeated Mexico in
360-428: A sectional crisis; to further deal with the volatile issue of extending slavery into the territories, Douglas became the foremost advocate of popular sovereignty , which held that each territory should be allowed to determine whether to permit slavery within its borders. This attempt to address the issue was rejected by both pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates. Douglas was nicknamed the " Little Giant " because he
480-505: A Douglas ally, with Lyman Trumbull , an anti-slavery Democrat. After the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers flocked to Kansas Territory to influence whether Kansas would be a free state or a slave state. A series of violent clashes, known as Bleeding Kansas , broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces in the territory, and the two sides established competing governments. Douglas issued
600-677: A break-up of the United States. He joined a special committee of thirteen senators, led by John J. Crittenden , which sought a legislative solution to the growing sectional tensions between the North and South. He supported the Crittenden Compromise , which called for a series of constitutional amendments that would enshrine the Missouri Compromise line in the constitution, but the Crittenden Compromise
720-400: A candidacy that many regarded as a lost cause. Few newspapers endorsed Douglas, with the major exception being James Gordon Bennett Sr. 's New York Herald . [James Buchanan] remarked to him [Douglas] that it was very perilous for a public man to put himself in opposition to his party—and that he must take the liberty of reminding him of the fate of Rives and Tallmadge, who rebelled against
840-612: A committee report that endorsed the pro-slavery government as the legitimate government of Kansas and denounced anti-slavery forces as the primary cause of the violence. Anti-slavery activists like Charles Sumner attacked Douglas for the report; one Northern paper wrote, "Douglas has brains, but so has the Devil , so had Judas and Benedict Arnold ." As the crisis in Kansas continued, the Whig Party collapsed, and many former Whigs joined
960-487: A concession of one iota of principle." Following a long-established precedent, Douglas himself did not attend the convention, and the pro-Douglas forces at the convention were led by William Alexander Richardson. The remaining delegates were split into two broad factions: allies of Buchanan, led by a quartet of senators, and the Fire-Eaters , an extremist group of Southern delegates led by William Lowndes Yancey . After
1080-435: A contentious battle over the inclusion of popular sovereignty or a federal slave code in the party platform, several Southern delegations walked out of the convention. The convention subsequently held several rounds of presidential balloting, and while Douglas received by far the most support of any of the candidates, he fell well short of the necessary two-thirds majority of delegates. After nearly sixty ballots failed to produce
1200-485: A daughter, Ellen, who lived only a few weeks. After Douglas' death, Adele married General Robert Williams and had 6 children. Douglas's immediate ancestors were almost entirely from New England . His Douglas ancestors, upon emigrating from England in the early 1600s, settled in Connecticut where they lived for several generations until his grandfather, Benajah Douglas, moved to Stephentown, New York . From there
1320-500: A distance that Douglas traveled on foot. After acquiring enough money and a license to practice law, Douglas moved back to Jacksonville. Morgan County was then only sparsely populated and still very much 'wild country'. The open prairie lands were a revelation to Douglas. Having grown up in the hills of Vermont, he found these lands to be like nothing he had previously seen. Years later he said, "I found my mind liberalized and my opinions enlarged when I got on these broad prairies, with only
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#17327732132171440-563: A dozen. As one of the final attempts at compromise to avoid the Civil War , in December 1860, a U.S. House of Representatives committee proposed to admit New Mexico as a slave state immediately. Although the measure was approved by the committee on December 29, 1860, Southern representatives did not take up this offer. Many had already left Congress due to the imminent declarations of secession by their states. On February 24, 1863, during
1560-803: A few days, however, he was stricken with malarial typhoid and was very ill for four months. He very easily could have died. After paying all of his bills, he still had forty dollars left. Douglas decided to push farther west. He took a canal boat from Cleveland to the southern Ohio town of Portsmouth, then went west to Cincinnati. Douglas still had no well-defined purpose and drifted from city to city, stopping in Louisville and St. Louis. His money now almost all spent, he had to find work soon. Finding no luck in St. Louis, he became convinced that he must find some small country town. Upon hearing that Jacksonville in Illinois
1680-606: A leading contender for the Democratic nomination in the 1860 presidential election . His support was concentrated in the North, especially the Midwest, though some unionist Southerners, like Alexander H. Stephens , were sympathetic to his cause. Douglas remained on poor terms with President Buchanan, and his Freeport Doctrine had further alienated many Southern senators. At the start of the 36th United States Congress , Buchanan and his Southern allies removed Douglas as chairman of
1800-514: A more easily constructed route for a future southern transcontinental railroad line (second of the routes) for the future Southern Pacific Railroad , constructed later in 1881/1883. The Colorado Territory was established by the " Colorado Organic Act " on February 28, 1861, with the same boundaries that would ultimately constitute the State of Colorado . This Act removed the Colorado lands from
1920-689: A national party leader during the 1850s. Along with Whig Henry Clay , he led the effort to pass the Compromise of 1850, which settled some of the territorial issues arising from the Mexican–American War. Douglas was a candidate for president at the 1852 Democratic National Convention but lost the nomination to Franklin Pierce . Seeking to open the west for expansion, Douglas introduced the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854. Though Douglas had hoped
2040-609: A nominee, delegates agreed to adjourn the convention and reconvene in Baltimore in June. In the weeks leading up to second Democratic convention, a group of former Whigs and Know Nothings formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell for president. Bell campaigned on a simple platform that emphasized unionism and sought to minimize the role of slavery, but he received little support outside of
2160-479: A slave state as Georgia and South Carolina." After meeting with Walker, Douglas broke with Buchanan and declared that the constitution was a "fraudulent submission," promising to "resist it to the last". Despite Douglas's efforts, the Buchanan administration won congressional approval to admit Kansas as a slave state. Frustrating Buchanan's plans, the newly elected, anti-slavery Kansas legislature rejected admission as
2280-505: A slave state in April 1858. In the South, Douglas received much of the blame for Kansas's rejection of admission; one paper wrote that Douglas had severed "the ties which have hitherto bound this able statesman and the people of the South together in such a cordial alliance". After his defeat by Lyman Trumbull in the 1854 Senate election, Abraham Lincoln began planning to run against Douglas in
2400-526: A state charter for the Mormon settlement of Nauvoo . In 1841, Douglas successfully spearheaded the passage of Illinois state court packing legislation. He leveraged the government trifecta that Illinois Democrats had to pass legislation that expanded the Illinois Supreme Court from four to nine justices. Since justices at the time were appointed by the state legislature, this allowed
2520-608: A state constitution that prohibited slavery . The request was approved at the same time that the Utah Territory was created to the north. The proposed state boundaries were to extend as far east as the 100th meridian West and as far north as the Arkansas River , thus encompassing the present-day Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and parts of present-day Kansas , Colorado , Utah , and Arizona , as well as most of present-day New Mexico . The state of Texas (admitted to
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#17327732132172640-824: A transcontinental country connected by railroads and waterways, with Illinois serving as the gateway to the West. "There is a power in this nation greater than either the North or the South ;... that power is the country known as the great West," he stated. Though he publicly denied interest in running in the 1852 presidential election , Douglas worked behind the scenes to build a base of support. The 1852 Democratic National Convention held several presidential ballots, with delegates split between Douglas, former Secretary of State James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, 1848 presidential nominee Lewis Cass of Michigan, and former Secretary of War William L. Marcy of New York. Nomination required
2760-575: A year. Douglas moved back in with his mother and decided to enroll as a student at Brandon Academy in order to pursue a professional career. Soon, however, his sister married a man from western New York. Stephen's mother later married this man's father, Gehazi Granger. The whole family then relocated to the Granger estate in New York, Stephen included. He was 17 years old at that time, and soon continued his education at nearby Canandaigua Academy. He began
2880-538: Is unknown if these two events were connected. Douglas's paternal ancestors had migrated to New England in the 17th century, and his paternal grandfather, Benajah Douglass, served several terms in the Vermont House of Representatives . Douglas's father died when Douglas was just two months old. Douglas, his mother, and older sister moved to the farm she and her bachelor brother, Edward Fisk, had inherited from their father. Douglas received an elementary education at
3000-525: The Dred Scott decision , which declared that slavery could not be legally excluded from the federal territories. Though the ruling was unpopular with many in the North, Douglas urged Americans to respect it, saying "whoever resists the final decision of the highest judicial tribunal aims a deadly blow at our whole republican system of government." He approved of another aspect of the ruling, which held that African-Americans could not be citizens, stating that
3120-609: The Confederate States in 1861 as the newly organized Confederate Territory of Arizona , with a representative delegate to the Confederate Congress in the capital of Richmond . This territory consisted of the southern half of the earlier Federal New Mexico Territory of 1851 and was in contrast to the later Federal Arizona Territory established by the Union in 1863, which was the western half split off from
3240-721: The Federals with their Union Army . However, the government and leadership of Confederate Arizona persisted until the end of the Civil War in June 1865 with the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department , living in exile in El Paso, Texas with its delegate still in Richmond. A coat of arms of New Mexico was adopted by the territorial legislature in 1887, formalizing an earlier design, introduced in
3360-600: The Founding Fathers "referred to the white race alone, and not the African, when they declared men to have been created free and equal". In late 1857, the pro-slavery state legislature in Lecompton, Kansas organized a constitutional referendum on the future of slavery. Anti-slavery forces boycotted the referendum because both options presented required that slaves already in the state remain slaves regardless of
3480-550: The Freeport Doctrine , holding that the people in federal territories had "the lawful means to introduce [slavery] or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the local legislature; and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that body who will by unfriendly legislation effectually prevent
3600-481: The Rocky Mountains . In January 1854, he proposed to organize two new territories: Nebraska Territory , located west of Iowa, and Kansas Territory , located south of Nebraska Territory and west of Missouri. Under the doctrine of popular sovereignty , the citizens of each territory would determine the status of slavery. Douglas also reluctantly agreed to an amendment that would provide for the formal repeal of
3720-599: The Supreme Court of Illinois . Douglas became an ally of President James K. Polk and favored the annexation of Texas and the Mexican–American War . He was one of four Northern Democrats in the House to vote against the Wilmot Proviso , which would have banned slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico . The Illinois legislature elected Douglas to the U.S. Senate in 1847, and Douglas emerged as
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3840-481: The "Venta de La Mesilla" or the "Sale of La Mesilla"), arranged by the then-American ambassador to Mexico, James Gadsden . This added today's southern strip of Arizona and a smaller area in today's southwestern New Mexico to the New Mexico Territory, bringing its land area to the maximum size achieved in its history as an organized territory. The land of 29,640 square miles (76,800 km ) provided
3960-403: The 1856 Illinois gubernatorial election. Douglas and Buchanan had a long-standing enmity, but Douglas hoped that his efforts for Buchanan in the 1856 election would be rewarded with influence in the new administration. However, as had been the case in the Pierce administration, Buchanan largely ignored Douglas in making appointments. Shortly after Buchanan took office, the Supreme Court issued
4080-467: The 1856 presidential election, Democrats won 54 of the 100 seats in the state legislature. Despite the split with Buchanan and the strong challenge from Lincoln, the state legislature elected Senator Douglas to a third term in January 1859. Following the elections, Douglas toured the South. He warned against sectionalism and secession, telling one crowd, "if you deem it treason for abolitionists to appeal to
4200-534: The 1858 Senate election. Lincoln strongly rejected proposals to cooperate with Douglas against Buchanan, and he won the Republican nomination to oppose Douglas. Accepting the nomination, Lincoln delivered his House Divided Speech , saying "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect
4320-413: The 1860 election, Lincoln and Douglas were the main candidates in the North, while most Southerners supported either Breckinridge or John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party . Campaigning throughout the country during the election, Douglas warned of the dangers of secession and urged his audiences to stay loyal to the United States. Ultimately, Lincoln's strong support in the North led to his victory in
4440-550: The Civil War, Congress passed the " Arizona Organic Act ", which split off the western portion of the 12-year-old New Mexico Territory, establishing the new Arizona Territory , where it abolished slavery. As in New Mexico, slavery was already extremely limited, due to earlier Mexican traditions, laws, and patterns of settlement. The northwestern corner of New Mexico Territory was included in Arizona Territory until it
4560-741: The Gila River Indian Reservation in 1859. An Indian Agency was established at Casa Blanca with Silas St. John , (station agent of the Butterfield Overland Mail at Casa Blanca Station ), appointed on February 18, 1859, as Special Agent for the Pima and Maricopa Indians. Agent St. John also conducted a census of the villages later that year. 33°09′16″N 111°55′36″W / 33.15444°N 111.92667°W / 33.15444; -111.92667 New Mexico Territory The Territory of New Mexico
4680-545: The House of Representatives. In both the House and the Senate, every Northern Whig voted against the Kansas–Nebraska Act, while just under half of the Northern Democrats and the vast majority of Southern congressmen of both parties voted for the act. Northern opponents of the act saw it as a triumph for the hated Slave Power . Douglas had hoped that the Kansas–Nebraska Act would help ease sectional tensions, and he
4800-436: The House to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other." Douglas rejected Lincoln's notion that the United States could not continue to be divided into free states and slave states, and warned that Lincoln called for "a war of secession, a war of the North against the South, of the free states against the slave states". Lincoln and his entourage began following Douglas around
4920-420: The Kansas–Nebraska Act would ease sectional tensions, it elicited a strong reaction in the North and helped fuel the rise of the anti-slavery Republican Party. Douglas once again sought the presidency in 1856, but the 1856 Democratic National Convention instead nominated James Buchanan , who went on to win the election. Buchanan and Douglas split over the admission of Kansas as a slave state, as Douglas accused
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5040-686: The Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of Almighty upon you; and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you; for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life. Douglas won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1842. After decisively winning re-election in August 1844, Douglas campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate James K. Polk . During one of his first campaign appearances outside of Illinois, Douglas denounced high tariff rates, saying that they constituted "an act for
5160-491: The Mexican–American War and acquired the Mexican Cession in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . After the war, Douglas attempted to avoid the debate over the Wilmot Proviso by immediately admitting the territory acquired from Mexico as one single, huge state. His proposal would have allowed the inhabitants of the new state to determine the status of slavery themselves, but Northerners and Southerners alike rejected
5280-399: The Missouri Compromise. Aided by Jefferson Davis, Douglas convinced President Pierce to support his proposal. Douglas's proposal, which would come to be known as the Kansas–Nebraska Act , provoked a strong reaction in the North, where the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was unpopular. Douglas argued that the Compromise of 1850 had already superseded the Missouri Compromise, and argued that
5400-537: The New Mexico Territory were Catholic . In the 1910 United States census , 26 counties in the New Mexico Territory reported the following population counts (after 7 reported the following counts in the 1850 United States census ): As the route to California , New Mexico Territory was disputed territory during the American Civil War . Settlers in the southern part of the Territory willingly joined
5520-538: The New Mexico Territory with boundaries identical to the eventual State of New Mexico for a half-century until admitted to the Union in 1912 as the 47th state (followed just under six weeks later by the Arizona Territory / State of Arizona , which became the 48th state, finally filling out the coast-to-coast continental expanse of the United States). In 1850, all 73 churches with regular services in
5640-493: The New Mexico Territory. The creation of the Union Arizona Territory (two years after the ill-fated Confederate Arizona Territory ) by the " Arizona Organic Act " on February 24, 1863, removed all the land west of the 109th meridian from the New Mexico Territory, i.e. the entire present-day State of Arizona plus the land that would become the southern part of the State of Nevada in 1864. This Act left
5760-696: The Republican Party, the Know Nothings, or, in the South, the Democratic Party. In early 1856 Douglas inserted himself and the debate surrounding the Kansas–Nebraska Act into the Chicago mayoral election , where Douglas strongly backed pro-Nebraska Democrat Thomas Dyer . Dyer ultimately won the election. Bleeding Kansas badly damaged Pierce's standing among the Democratic Party leaders, and Pierce, Douglas, and Buchanan competed for
5880-645: The Senate Committee on Territories. Douglas helped defeat an attempt to pass a federal slave code, but saw his own bill to establish agricultural land-grant colleges vetoed by Buchanan. The 1860 Democratic National Convention opened in Charleston, South Carolina , on April 23, 1860. Newspapers in the city attacked Douglas as the "Demagogue of Illinois," but Douglas was determined to uphold his doctrine of popular sovereignty, telling one supporter "I do not intend to make peace with my enemies, nor to make
6000-487: The Senate in late 1853, Douglas initially sought to avoid taking center stage in national debates, but he once again became involved in sectional disputes stemming from the issue of slavery in the territories. In order to provide for western expansion and the completion of a transcontinental railroad , Douglas favored incorporating parts of the vast unorganized territory located west of the Missouri River and east of
6120-427: The Senate. After the election, Douglas expected to have influence in the selection of Pierce's cabinet, and possibly to receive a cabinet appointment himself. Defying those expectations, Pierce largely ignored Douglas and instead gave key positions to rivals of Douglas, including Buchanan and Jefferson Davis . After the death of his daughter in early 1853, Douglas went on a five-month-long tour of Europe. Returning to
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#17327732132176240-641: The South and Lincoln and Douglas competing for the North. Douglas broke with the precedent that presidential candidates did not campaign, and he gave speeches across the Northeastern United States after he won the nomination. Sensing an opportunity in the Upper South, he also campaigned in Virginia and North Carolina before campaigning in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. While many Republicans did not take
6360-695: The South. The 1860 Republican National Convention passed over the initial front-runner, William Seward, and nominated Douglas's old opponent, Abraham Lincoln. The Democratic convention reconvened in Baltimore on June 18, and most Southern delegates once again bolted the convention. The rump Democratic convention nominated Douglas by an overwhelming margin. The party initially offered the vice presidential nomination to Benjamin Fitzpatrick , but after Fitzpatrick declined, Herschel Vespasian Johnson of Georgia agreed to serve as Douglas's running mate. Meanwhile,
6480-438: The South. He suggested that, despite the public break between Douglas and Buchanan over Kansas, the two Democrats had worked together to extend and perpetuate slavery. Lincoln disclaimed the radical-for-the-time views on racial equality attributed to him by Douglas, arguing only for the right of African Americans to personal liberty and to earn their own livings. He stated, "I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters of
6600-570: The Southern Democrats held their own convention in Baltimore and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president. Breckinridge himself did not openly support secession, but he received the support of Fire-Eaters like Jefferson Davis. Douglas rejected efforts to cooperate with Breckinridge, arguing that "any compromise with the secessionists would ... give every Northern state to Lincoln." The 1860 election essentially became two contests, with Breckinridge and Bell contesting
6720-599: The US in 1845) strongly criticized this plan, as it claimed much of the same territory, although it did not control these lands. In addition, slaveholders worried about not being able to expand slavery to the west of their current slave states. The Compromise of 1850 put an end to the push for immediate New Mexico statehood. Approved by the United States Congress in September 1850, the legislation provided for
6840-466: The Wilmot Proviso and attacked the fugitive slave provision, and Southerners like John C. Calhoun , who opposed the creation of new free states. With the help of President Millard Fillmore , Douglas put together a bipartisan coalition of Whigs and Democrats that passed the compromise in the Senate. Along with Fillmore and other supporters of the compromise, Douglas's lobbying helped ensure that
6960-400: The apparent collapse of the bill, Clay took a temporary leave from the Senate, and Douglas took the lead in advocating for a compromise based largely on Clay's proposals. Rather than passing the proposals as one bill, as Clay had originally sought to do, Douglas would seek to pass each proposal one-by-one. The compromise faced strong opposition from Northerners like William Seward , who favored
7080-617: The bar and he was eager to begin his professional career. And so, with his purposes only partially formed and only enough money for immediate needs, he began his westerly drift. After a short stay in Buffalo, NY, and a visit to Niagara Falls, Douglas took a steamboat to Cleveland, OH. He had initially hoped to establish himself there, knowing it would only take him a year to gain admission to the bar in Ohio as opposed to four years in Vermont. Within
7200-435: The citizens of the territories should have the right to determine the status of slavery. Opponents of popular sovereignty attacked its supposed fairness; Abraham Lincoln claimed that Douglas "has no very vivid impression that the Negro is human; and consequently has no idea that there can be any moral question in legislating about him". Nonetheless, the Kansas–Nebraska Act won passage in both houses of Congress, albeit narrowly in
7320-469: The compromise also passed the House of Representatives. Fillmore signed the compromise bills into law, ending the sectional crisis. Douglas's role in passing the compromise gave him the stature of a national leader, and he enjoyed the support of the Young America movement , which favored expansionary policies. Douglas helped pass a bill granting rights-of-way to the Illinois Central Railroad , which would connect Chicago to Mobile, Alabama . He envisioned
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#17327732132177440-511: The country." Despite denunciations from various local newspapers, he continued his journey South, speaking against secession in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Ultimately, Missouri was the only state Douglas carried, though he also won three of the seven electoral votes in New Jersey. Bell won Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee; Breckinridge swept the remaining Southern states, and Lincoln won California, Oregon, and every Northern elector outside of New Jersey. Though Douglas finished in last place in
7560-420: The eagles, and above that, on a scroll, the motto: Crescit Eundo . That the great seal of the territory have the coat of arms thereon, being the same seal now used by the secretary of the territory, and that the same be adopted and established as the official seal and coat of arms of the territory of New Mexico. The "American" bald eagle 's outstretched wings over the smaller "Mexican" harpy eagle represents
7680-456: The early 1840s, Douglas dined with Joseph Smith , the Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . At Douglas's request, President Smith recounted a history of the Missouri persecutions, to which Douglas expressed sympathy. Joseph Smith then pronounced the following prophecy on the head of Stephen A. Douglas: Judge, you will aspire to the presidency of the United States; and if ever you turn your hand against me or
7800-484: The early 1860s, already used in the territory's great seal . The legislation, titled "An Act adopting and establishing the coat of arms and great seal of the territory", was approved by Governor Edmund G. Ross on February 1: The coat of arms of the territory of New Mexico shall be the Mexican Eagle grasping a serpent in its beak, the cactus in its talons, shielded by the American eagle with outspread wings, and grasping arrows in its talons. The date MDCCCL [1850], under
7920-450: The eastern corners of NM southern bootheel ( Hidalgo County ) at 31°47′02″N 108°12′31″W / 31.78378°N 108.20854°W / 31.78378; -108.20854 , and the west bank of Rio Grande at 31°47′02″N 106°31′43″W / 31.78377°N 106.52864°W / 31.78377; -106.52864 . The boundaries of the New Mexico Territory at the time of establishment (September 9, 1850) contained most of
8040-409: The election. After the Battle of Fort Sumter , Douglas rallied support for the Union , but he died in June 1861. He was born Stephen Arnold Douglass in Brandon, Vermont , on April 23, 1813, to physician Stephen Arnold Douglass and his wife, Sarah Fisk. The younger Douglas would drop the second "s" from his name in 1846, the year after the publication of Frederick Douglass 's first autobiography; it
8160-421: The electoral vote, he won the second-highest popular vote total and was the lone candidate to win electoral votes from both a free state and a slave state. Following Lincoln's victory, many in the South began making plans for secession. One Douglas associate in the South wrote to him, "with your defeat, the cause of the Union was lost." After the election, Douglas returned to the Senate, where he sought to prevent
8280-433: The establishment of New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory . It also defined the disputed western boundary of Texas . During the territorial period, the status of slavery provoked considerable debate. Congress was sharply divided on the slavery issue, with Southern representatives determined to protect their options for expansion of slavery in the West. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and others maintained that
8400-400: The family moved to Brandon, Vermont , where Stephen A. Douglas was born. Both of Douglas's grandmothers were Arnolds, and both of them descend from early Providence proprietor William Arnold , each through a different one of his sons. His paternal grandmother, Martha (Arnold) Douglas, was the daughter of Stephen Arnold who left Rhode Island to settle in Stephentown, New York. Stephen was
8520-463: The favorite place of my adoption." Douglas became aligned with the "whole hog" Democrats , who strongly supported President Jackson. In 1834, with the support of the Democratic state legislator who represented Jacksonville, Douglas was elected as the State's Attorney for the First District, which encompassed eight counties in western Illinois. Douglas quickly became uninterested in practicing law, choosing instead to focus on politics. He helped arrange
8640-828: The first government in the Rhode Island colony , they being Samuel Wilbore and John Porter . He also descends from Wilbore's son, Samuel Wilbur, Jr. who was mentioned by name in the Royal Charter of 1663, and who, with Porter, was an original purchaser of the Pettaquamscutt lands that became the town of South Kingstown , Rhode Island. Additionally, through his paternal grandmother, Douglas descends from Indian captive Susanna Cole and her famous mother, Anne Hutchinson , as well as early Newport settler George Gardiner and his common-law wife Herodias Gardiner . Douglas' maternal grandmother, Sarah (Arnold) Fisk,
8760-560: The first-ever state Democratic convention in late 1835, and the convention pledged to support Jackson's chosen successor, Martin Van Buren , in the 1836 presidential election . In 1836, he won election to the Illinois House of Representatives , defeating Whig Party candidate John J. Hardin . Douglas joined a legislature that included five future senators, seven future congressmen, and one future president: Abraham Lincoln , who
8880-569: The heavens to bound my vision, instead of having them circumscribed by the little ridges that surrounded the valley where I was born." Douglas settled in Jacksonville in November 1833. Douglas was admitted to the state bar in Illinois in March 1834. To his family, Douglas wrote, "I have become a Western man, have imbibed Western feelings, principles, and interests and have selected Illinois as
9000-691: The introduction of it into their midst." Thus, Douglas argued that territories could effectively exclude slavery despite the Dred Scott decision. At another appearance, Douglas reiterated his belief that the Declaration of Independence was not meant to apply to non-whites. He said, "this government was made by our fathers on the white basis ... made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever". For his part, Lincoln criticized Douglas for his moral indifference to slavery, but denied any intention of interference with slavery in
9120-432: The lead on the sixteenth ballot, Douglas withdrew from the race, and the convention nominated Buchanan. As in 1852, Douglas accepted defeat and campaigned for the Democratic nominee. In a three-person race, Buchanan defeated Republican nominee John C. Frémont and Know Nothing nominee Millard Fillmore. Buchanan dominated in the South, but Frémont won several Northern states and Douglas ally William Alexander Richardson lost
9240-592: The local school in Brandon. As a teenager, Stephen left the family farm for Middlebury, Vermont, and apprenticed himself to a cabinetmaker named Nahum Parker. He began reading political literature and engaging in discussions with his employer and other young men. Douglas came to have great admiration for Andrew Jackson. He left Middlebury and returned to Brandon after he grew dissatisfied with his employer. He began another apprenticeship with another cabinetmaker, Deacon Caleb Knowlton, but also quit this employer after less than
9360-450: The nationwide presidential election, and these results were taken as predictive of the mood of the electorate in the lower North. Douglas recognized that victory in the election was impossible without those states. Frustrated and facing certain defeat, in a rally at Milwaukee , on October 13, he lashed out at President Buchanan, who had endorsed the rival Democrat candidate Breckinridge, by telling an anecdote about how he, Douglas, had defied
9480-406: The negroes, or jurors, or qualifying them to hold office, or having them to marry with white people." At another debate, Lincoln stated, "I believe that slavery is wrong ... There is the difference between Judge Douglas and his friends and the Republican Party." Following the final debate, Illinois voters headed to the polls for Election Day. In an election that saw higher turnout than that of
9600-590: The oppression and plunder of the American laborer for the benefit of a few large capitalists". Ultimately, Polk narrowly defeated Whig nominee Henry Clay in the close 1844 presidential election . Douglas strongly supported the annexation of Texas , and in May 1846 he voted to declare war on Mexico after U.S. and Mexican forces clashed near the Rio Grande River . Douglas considered volunteering to serve in
9720-457: The original U.S. New Mexico Territory. The short-lived Confederate Arizona Territory was the first American territorial entity to be called "Arizona". The Battle of Glorieta Pass in May 1862, following the retreat of Texan Confederate forces back south to El Paso , placed the area of the Rio Grande valley and eastern New Mexico Territory with the capital of Santa Fe under the control of
9840-487: The outcome of the vote. Territorial Governor Robert J. Walker denounced the referendum as a "vile fraud," and many Northern Democrats joined with Republicans in opposing the referendum. Nonetheless, the state legislature presented the Lecompton Constitution to President Buchanan, who endorsed the constitution and called on Congress to ratify it. Buchanan stated, "Kansas is therefore at this moment as much
9960-554: The parallel of 31° 20' north latitude; thence along the said parallel of 31° 20' to the 111th meridian of longitude west of Greenwich 31°20′N 111°0′W / 31.333°N 111.000°W / 31.333; -111.000 ; thence in a straight line to a point on the Colorado River twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers; thence up the middle of the said river Colorado until it intersects
10080-606: The passions and prejudices of the North, how much less treason is it, my friends, for southern men to appeal to the passions with the same end?" According to the Springfield Republican , in 1857 Douglas "was, next to General Cass , the richest man in public life"; by the end of 1859, after extravagant political spending and disappointing investments, he was near bankrupt. "Two months ago [before John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry ] he seemed to have more political power and popularity than any other American; everybody
10200-621: The plan. In 1850, Senator Henry Clay introduced a multi-part proposal to admit California as a free state, establish the New Mexico and Utah territories, ban the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and pass a more stringent fugitive slave law . The proposal, which would form the basis of what would eventually be known as the Compromise of 1850 , also required Texas to cede its claims on New Mexico in return for debt relief. After
10320-571: The policy of Gen. Jackson. "Permit me, Mr. President," Douglas replied, "permit me to remind you that General Jackson is dead ." Henry Jarvis Raymond , The New York Times , March 26, 1858 The split in Pennsylvania between supporters of Douglas and supporters of Buchanan helped deliver that state to Lincoln, and Republicans also won Ohio and Indiana. Each of those states held elections for state offices in October, one month ahead of
10440-709: The present line between the United States and Mexico." The new border included a few miles of the Colorado River at the western end; the remaining land portion consisted of line segments between points, including 32°29′38″N 114°48′47″W / 32.49399°N 114.813043°W / 32.49399; -114.813043 at the Colorado River, west of Nogales at 31°19′56″N 111°04′27″W / 31.33214°N 111.07423°W / 31.33214; -111.07423 , near AZ-NM-Mexico tripoint at 31°19′56″N 109°03′02″W / 31.332099°N 109.05047°W / 31.332099; -109.05047 ,
10560-445: The present-day State of New Mexico , more than half of the present-day State of Arizona , and portions of the present-day states of Colorado and Nevada . Although this area was smaller than what had been included in the failed statehood proposal of early 1850, the boundary disputes with Texas had been dispelled by the Compromise of 1850 . The Gadsden Purchase was acquired by the United States from Mexico in 1853/1854 (known as
10680-417: The president during a private meeting about Bleeding Kansas and the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution (the story's literal veracity is disputed—a report resembling Douglas's Milwaukee anecdote had been first published by Henry Jarvis Raymond , a Republican journalist, in 1858, and earlier in the 1860 campaign Douglas told a different anecdote about the meeting involving Buchanan making a different threat, which
10800-411: The president publicly denied). With no hope of victory in the election, Douglas decided to take another tour of the South to speak against secession. "Mr. Lincoln is the president", he stated, "We must try to save the Union. I will go South." In St. Louis, he told the audience, "I am not here tonight to ask for your votes for the presidency. I am here to make an appeal to you for the Union and the peace of
10920-476: The presidential nomination at the 1856 Democratic National Convention . Buchanan's greatest advantage over his rivals was that he had been in Britain for most of Pierce's presidency, and thereby had avoided becoming involved in the debate over the Kansas–Nebraska Act. After Buchanan led the first fourteen ballots of the convention, Pierce dropped out of the race and endorsed Douglas. After he was unable to pull into
11040-690: The pro-slavery Kansas legislature of having conducted an unfair election. During the Lincoln–Douglas debates, Douglas articulated the Freeport Doctrine , which held that territories could effectively exclude slavery despite the Supreme Court's ruling in the 1857 case of Dred Scott v. Sandford . Disagreements over slavery led to the bolt of Southern delegates at the 1860 Democratic National Convention . The rump convention of Northern delegates nominated Douglas for president, while Southern Democrats threw their support behind John C. Breckinridge . In
11160-564: The property manager but, as a senator of the free state of Illinois, and with presidential aspirations, Douglas found the Southern plantation presented difficulties. He created distance by hiring a manager to operate the plantation while using his allocated 20 percent of the income to advance his political career. His sole lengthy visit to Mississippi was in 1848, and he made only brief emergency trips thereafter. The newlyweds moved their Illinois home from Springfield to fast-growing Chicago in
11280-529: The son of Joseph Arnold of North Kingstown and Exeter, Rhode Island who links Douglas with several prominent colonial Rhode Islanders. Through Joseph Arnold, Douglas descends from Benedict Arnold , the first governor of the Rhode Island colony under the Royal Charter of 1663 , and the older son of William Arnold. In this line he also descends from two signers of the compact that established
11400-528: The state for President Van Buren, and he frequently debated with Lincoln and other Whigs. Though Van Buren lost his re-election bid to Whig candidate William Henry Harrison , Illinois was one of seven states to vote for Van Buren. After the election, Governor Thomas Carlin appointed Douglas as the Illinois Secretary of State , making Douglas the youngest individual to hold the post. During his brief tenure as secretary of state, Douglas helped arrange
11520-477: The state's Democrats to transform the composition of the court from a 3–4 Whig -aligned majority to a 6–3 Democrat-aligned majority. Soon after in early 1841, Douglas accepted an appointment to one of these newly-created judgeships on the state supreme court. He served on the court until 1843, when he resigned in order to serve in the United States House of Representatives. During one evening in
11640-499: The state, campaigning in the senator's wake. Eventually, Douglas agreed to debate Lincoln in seven different venues across the state. The format of the Lincoln-Douglas debates called for one candidate to make a one-hour opening speech, followed by the other candidate delivering a ninety-minute rebuttal, followed by the first candidate delivering a half hour closing remark; Lincoln and Douglas agreed to rotate who would speak in
11760-498: The study of Latin and Greek and showed particular skill as a debater. At this point, he may have already been looking forward to a career as a politician. At Canandaigua Academy, Douglas frequently gave speeches supporting Andrew Jackson and Jackson's Democratic Party . A prominent local attorney, Levi Hubbell, allowed Douglas to study under him and while a student in Hubbell's office, Douglas became friendly with Henry B. Payne , who
11880-407: The summer of 1847. They had two sons: Robert M. Douglas (1849–1917) and Stephen Arnold Douglas, Jr., (1850–1908). Martha Douglas died on January 19, 1853, after the birth of her third child, a daughter. The girl died a few weeks later, and Douglas and the two boys were bereft. On November 20, 1856, Douglas married a second time, to 20-year-old Adele Cutts, a southern woman from Washington, D.C. She
12000-510: The support of two-thirds of the delegates, and none of the major candidates won that level of support. On the 49th ballot, the convention nominated a dark horse candidate, former Senator Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. Despite his disappointment at losing the nomination, Douglas campaigned for Pierce across the Midwest. Pierce went on to defeat the Whig candidate, Winfield Scott , in the 1852 presidential election, while Douglas won re-election to
12120-478: The talk of secession seriously, Douglas warned that some Southern leaders would seek immediate secession after the election. At Raleigh, North Carolina, he said "I am in favor of executing in good faith every clause and provision of the Constitution and protecting every right under it—and then hanging every man who takes up arms against it!" His campaign treasurer, August Belmont , struggled to raise funds for
12240-518: The territory could not restrict slavery, as under the earlier Missouri Compromise . Others, including Abraham Lincoln , insisted that older Mexican Republic legal traditions of the territory, which abolished black slavery in 1834, took precedence and should be continued. (Indian slavery had been abolished in Spanish colonies in 1769.) Regardless of the official status, slavery was rare in antebellum New Mexico. Black slaves never numbered more than about
12360-433: The territory's change of sovereignty. The territorial motto, Crescit eundo ( Latin for 'It grows as it goes'), was later added to the seal. The same design was later adapted for use in the seal of the new state of New Mexico in 1913. Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas ( né Douglass ; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois . A U.S. Senator , he
12480-537: The town of Meredosia for a steamboat that would take him to Pekin via the Illinois River. Douglas waited a week until learning the only boat expected on the river at that time of year had blown up. Broke and in desperate need of employment, Douglas rode with a farmer to the village of Exeter to open a school. The townspeople informed Douglas that a school could probably be opened in Winchester, ten miles away;
12600-419: The two slots. The debates focused on the issue of slavery in the territories, and, more broadly, the meaning of republicanism in the United States. Douglas favored popular sovereignty and emphasized the concept of self-government, though his vision of self-government only encompassed whites. Lincoln, meanwhile, emphasized human equality and economic opportunity for all. In the second debate, Douglas articulated
12720-648: The war, but President Polk convinced him to remain in Congress, where he would serve as an advocate for Polk's policies. He was one of four Northern Democrats to vote against the Wilmot Proviso , which would have banned slavery from any land ceded by Mexico. Douglas instead favored extending the Missouri Compromise , which had banned slavery north of the parallel 36°30′ north in the Louisiana Purchase , to all U.S. territories, but his proposal
12840-413: Was a descendant of William Arnold through his younger son, Stephen Arnold. She also descends from early Rhode Island Baptist minister Pardon Tillinghast . In the following ancestral chart, persons 1–7, 10–11, 14–15, 20–23, and 28–31 are all documented in the book The Arnold Memorial , published in 1935 by Elisha Stephen Arnold, a fairly close relative of Douglas. Persons 8-9 and 16-17 are documented in
12960-440: Was a thriving settlement, he decided to try his luck there. In Jacksonville, Douglas befriended attorney Murray McConnel, a friendship that would continue throughout Douglas' life. McConnel, having no employment to offer Douglas, advised him to go to the town of Pekin, Illinois, and open a law office there, believing Pekin was destined to become a major shipping and marketing hub. With books gifted to him by McConnel, Douglas waited in
13080-502: Was added to the southernmost part of the newly admitted State of Nevada in 1864. Eventually, Arizona Territory was admitted in 1912 as the State of Arizona . The Purchase treaty defined the new border as "up the middle of that river (the Rio Grande ) to the point where the parallel of 31° 47' north latitude crosses the same 31°47′0″N 106°31′41.5″W / 31.78333°N 106.528194°W / 31.78333; -106.528194 ; thence due west one hundred miles; thence south to
13200-545: Was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico , as a result of Nuevo México becoming part of the American frontier after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . It existed with varying boundaries until the territory was admitted to the Union as the U.S. state of New Mexico in 1912. This jurisdiction
13320-610: Was an organized, incorporated territory of the US for nearly 62 years, the longest period of any territory in the contiguous United States. In 1846, during the Mexican–American War , the United States established a provisional government of New Mexico . Territorial boundaries were somewhat ambiguous. After the Mexican Republic formally ceded the region to the United States in 1848, this temporary wartime/military government operated until September 9, 1850. Earlier in 1850, organizers proposing New Mexico for statehood had drafted
13440-588: Was at that time a member of the Whig Party. While continuing to serve in the state legislature and as a state's attorney, Douglas was appointed by President Van Buren as the registrar of the Springfield Land Office. Douglas sought election to the United States House of Representatives in 1838, but lost by a 36-vote margin to Whig candidate John T. Stuart . During the presidential election of 1840 , Douglas campaigned throughout
13560-626: Was defeated by Northern congressmen. Despite being a supporter of Polk's policies, he voted against the Walker Tariff . In March 1847, he married Martha Martin, the 21-year-old daughter of wealthy Colonel Robert Martin of North Carolina . The year after their marriage, Martha's father died and bequeathed her a 2,500-acre cotton plantation with 100 slaves on the Pearl River in Lawrence County, Mississippi . He appointed Douglas
13680-406: Was defeated in committee by a combination of Republicans and Southern extremists. As late as Christmas 1860, Douglas wrote to Alexander H. Stephens and offered to support the annexation of Mexico as slave territory to avert secession. South Carolina voted to secede on December 20, 1860, and five other Southern states had done the same by mid-January. In February 1861, Jefferson Davis took office as
13800-401: Was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party to run for president in the 1860 presidential election , which was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln . Douglas had previously defeated Lincoln in the 1858 United States Senate election in Illinois , known for the pivotal Lincoln–Douglas debates . He was one of the brokers of the Compromise of 1850 , which sought to avert
13920-511: Was short in physical stature but a forceful and dominant figure in politics. Born in Brandon, Vermont , Douglas migrated to Jacksonville, Illinois , in 1833 to establish a legal practice. He experienced early success in politics as a member of the newly formed Democratic Party, serving in the Illinois House of Representatives and various other positions. In 1843, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and therefore resigned from
14040-437: Was studying law at the nearby office of John C. Spencer . In 1833, aged just 20, Douglas decided he had had enough of New York and wanted to seek his fortunes out West, which was full of opportunity for an enterprising young man. Despite his mother's protests and the fact that he had not yet completed his studies at the academy, Stephen ventured out on his own. The newer states of the west had easier conditions for admission to
14160-407: Was surprised by the intensity of Northern backlash to his proposal and to Douglas himself. He later remembered, "I could travel from Boston to Chicago by the light of my own effigy." Democrats suffered major losses in the 1854 elections , which saw the emergence of the nativist Know Nothing movement and the anti-slavery Republican Party . The Illinois legislature replaced Senator James Shields ,
14280-609: Was talking about him, and his chances for the Presidency were hopefully discussed by his friends, and reluctantly conceded by his enemies—but now ... the Southern Democracy have ceased to fear him; and the Northern to worship him." He contracted a serious illness, "gout in the stomach", described as "almost always fatal". He would be dead in less than 2 years. Douglas's 1858 re-election solidified his standing as
14400-401: Was the daughter of James Madison Cutts, a nephew of former President James Madison , and Ellen O'Neal, a niece of Rose O'Neal Greenhow . Her mother was from a Maryland Catholic family and raised Adele as a Catholic. With Stephen's approval, she had his two sons baptized as Catholic and reared in that faith. She had a miscarriage in 1858 and became ill. The following year, Adele gave birth to
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