By Courtney P.
Description: Stephen Douglas
Image copyright: http://www.mcmahanphoto.com/lc409.html
(1813-1861)
Brandon, Vermont
Douglas, Stephen will be remembered for working on the Kansas / Nebraska Act. 1. Stephen Douglas was born on April 23,1813 in Brandon, Vermont. He was born on a farm. His father was a doctor and he died when Stephen was only 2 months old. His full name is Stephen Arnold Douglas. He didn’t attend school. 2. Became a lawyer in Illinois at the age of 20, March 1834. 3. His first election to be public officer in 1836, and served in Illinois legislature along with Abraham Lincoln. Douglas was judge of Supreme Court of Illinois from 1841 – 1843. He served in U.S. Senate 1843 until death in 1861. 4. Douglas was involved in all major legislation involving new western territory. Douglas did not have deep convictions about slavery. In private, he denounced slavery, but in political life he generally defended the institution. 5. Douglas married Martha Denny Martin in 1847. Douglas had 2 sons with Martha. Martha died in 1853 and Douglas married Adele Cutts three years later in 1856. 6. Lincoln and Douglas agreed to a series of seven debates across Illinois from August to October 1858. Douglas had great ambition to run for President. Lincoln won the election and Douglas tried to find some compromise to prevent the southern states from seceding. So of course Lincoln won for President. Douglas threw his support behind Lincoln in the earliest days of the Civil War, but died soon after. 7. Douglas died in Chicago Illinois from typhoid fever on June 3, 1861. He was buried on the Shore of Lake Michigan.