Stephen Douglas believed in popular sovereignty, the principle that the residents of each territory should decide the question of slavery for themselves through their territorial legislatures. This contrasted sharply with the positions of abolitionists, who sought a nationwide ban on slavery, and some Southern Democrats who believed settlers had a constitutional right to bring enslaved people into the territories. Douglas argued that popular sovereignty best embodied the American ideal of self-government and was a practical compromise to maintain national unity in the face of growing sectional tensions.
This principle became a central tenet of Douglas’s political career and a key element of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This act effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had restricted the expansion of slavery. The application of popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska led to violent conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, a period known as “Bleeding Kansas.” This conflict underscored the limitations and inherent contradictions of popular sovereignty as a solution to the slavery issue, and contributed significantly to the polarization that ultimately led to the Civil War.
