Stephen A. Douglas and the Dilemmas of Democratic Equality

Download or read book Stephen A. Douglas and the Dilemmas of Democratic Equality written by James L. Huston and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2007 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this engaging new biography, James L. Huston explores the political life of Stephen A. Douglas and his definition and promotion of the ideal of democratic equality. By placing Douglas in the current historiographical controversies of the antebellum period, Huston updates our understanding of Douglas and the battles that he fought over the meaning democracy and its institutional framework in the building of the Democratic party, the struggle over slavery's extension into the West, the meaning of popular sovereignty and the legitimacy of peaceful secession from the Union.