territories. He used his power in the Senate to help the Illinois &
Central Railroad because he thought this rail line would help
Illinois. He wanted the railroad to start in Chicago and extend all
the way to Mobile , Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico. To get the
funding for this project Douglas made a deal with the Senators
from Mississippi. The line was successfully completed and is
still in operation today. Millions of dollar in profit have come to
Illinois because of Senator Douglas’ efforts to get this railroad
built. He also supported the construction of a railroad that would
extend to the Pacific Ocean and he wanted it to take a northern
route through Illinois. He knew that this would help the state
become the crossroads of the nation. This project was not
completed until after the Civil War.
While Senator Douglas worked to promote projects that
were good for Illinois, he also worked very hard to keep both
sides of the slavery issue talking and working toward a solution
for the problem. During the first half of the 1800s, America was
getting bigger as territories in the west were granted statehood.
The big question each time a state was added was whether it
would be a free state or a slave state. A
few people, like Senator Douglas,
wanted to find a compromise. People
were deeply divided over slavery. Some
thought it was wrong while others saw it
as right and necessary.
In 1858, Douglas faced Abraham
Lincoln as his opponent in the race for
U.S. Senator from Illinois. The two
candidates debated the issue of slavery
in seven different Illinois cities. People
paid attention to the Lincoln-Douglas
debates because both men were
respected for their opinions and political
ideas. Douglas stood for popular
sovereignty while Lincoln argued that
America could not survive half slave
and half free states. Although Douglas won the election, the
debates let Abraham Lincoln tell to the whole country his views
on the important issues facing the nation.
Once again, in the presidential election of 1860, Douglas
ran as the Democratic candidate against Lincoln. Because of the
debate - a discussion
with each side
presenting opinions
and support for their
ideas
popular sovereignty -
a way for the settlers
in each territory to
vote before
becoming a state as
to whether that state
would or would not
allow slavery.
Election results in the 1858 election for
United States Senate. Courtesy Abraham
Lincoln Digitization Project, Northern Illinois
University Libraries, <http://
lincoln.lib.niu.edu>.
