Stephen A. Douglas And The Compromise Of 1850

Stephen A. Douglas was a key member of the group that created the Compromise of 1850. This compromise was a combination of five laws. The Fugitive Slave Act was to appease the south, the addition of California as a free state for the north, set a disputed boundary between New Mexico and Texas, abolished slave trade in the District of Columbia, and organized land acquired from Mexico into the new territories of New Mexico and Utah (Henretta, Edwards, & Self, 2012). Douglas also introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1954. The act was to create a transcontinental railroad for expansion west, the creation of a Nebraska territory, and he hoped, to settle the differences between the north and south. The House passed the act however the Senate refused to vote on the issue due to slavery issues (Ohio History Central, n.d. ). Douglas continued to edit the act until he finally gained enough support to get his bill to pass in the Senate, however he then ran into opposition from then President Franklin Pierce due to the bills repeal of the Missouri Compromise. This angered some southern Senators and they gave the President an ultimatum of either support the

This conflict between northern and southern Whig’s led to the end of the party. Additionally it disrupted the Democratic Party. The Democrats that opposed the act joined Free-Soilers and abolitionists to form what is now known as the Republican Party (Henretta, Edwards, & Self, 2012). This was key as Douglas faced off against Abraham Lincoln twice in elections. Once for the Senate, which he won and the other, the 1860 presidential election. During the election, Lincoln represented the Republicans and Douglas the Northern Democrats. The Democratic Party had split with the Northern Democrats opposed to slavery and the Southern in favor (Ohio History Central, n.d. ). There was also the Constitutional Party involved in this