Changes

In 1852, and again in 1856, Douglas was a candidate for the presidential nomination in the national Democratic convention, and though on both occasions he was unsuccessful, he received strong support. When the [[Know Nothing]] movement grew strong he crusaded against it, but hoped it would split the opposition.  In 1858 he won significant support in many former Know-Nothing strongholds.<ref>Hansen and Nygard</ref>  In 1857, he broke with President [[James Buchanan|Buchanan]] and the "administration" Democrats and lost much of his support in the [[Southern United States]], but partially restored himself to favor in the North, and especially in Illinois, by his vigorous opposition to the method of voting on the [[Lecompton constitution]], which he saw as fraudulent, and (in 1858) to the admission of Kansas into the Union under this constitution.<ref>Johannsen (1973)</ref>

In 1852, and again in 1856, Douglas was a candidate for the presidential nomination in the national Democratic convention, and though on both occasions he was unsuccessful, he received strong support. When the [[Know Nothing]] movement grew strong he crusaded against it, but hoped it would split the opposition.  In 1858 he won significant support in many former Know-Nothing strongholds.<ref>Hansen and Nygard</ref>  In 1857, he broke with President [[James Buchanan|Buchanan]] and the "administration" Democrats and lost much of his support in the [[Southern United States]], but partially restored himself to favor in the North, and especially in Illinois, by his vigorous opposition to the method of voting on the [[Lecompton constitution]], which he saw as fraudulent, and (in 1858) to the admission of Kansas into the Union under this constitution.<ref>Johannsen (1973)</ref>

In 1858, when the Supreme Court, after the vote of Kansas against the Lecompton constitution, had decided that Kansas was a "slave" territory, thus quashing Douglas’s theory of "[[popular sovereignty]]", he engaged in Illinois in a close and very exciting contest for the Senate seat with [[Abraham Lincoln]], the Republican candidate, whom he met in a series of seven famous debates which became known as the [[Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858|Lincoln-Douglas debates]]. In the second of the debates, Douglas was led to declare that any territory, by "unfriendly legislation", could exclude slavery, no matter what the action of the Supreme Court. Having already lost the support of a large element of his party in the South, his association with this famous [[Freeport Doctrine]] made it anathema to many southerners, including [[Jefferson Davis]], who would have otherwise supported it.  

In 1858, when the Supreme Court, after the vote of Kansas against the Lecompton constitution, had decided that Kansas was a "slave" territory, thus quashing Douglas’s theory of "[[popular sovereignty]]", he engaged in Illinois in a close and very exciting contest for the Senate seat with [[Abraham Lincoln]], the Republican candidate, whom he met in a series of seven famous debates which became known as the [[Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858|Lincoln-Douglas debates]]. In the second of the debates, Douglas was led to declare that any territory, by "unfriendly legislation", could exclude slavery, no matter what the action of the Supreme Court. Having already lost the support of a large element of his party in the South, his association with this famous [[Freeport Doctrine]] made it [[anathema]] to many southerners, including [[Jefferson Davis]], who would have otherwise supported it.  

Before and during the debates, Douglas repeatedly invoked racist rhetoric, claiming Lincoln was for black equality and saying at Galesburg that the authors of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] did not intend to include blacks.  "This Government was made by our fathers on the white basis . . . made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever," he said.<ref>David Donald, ''Lincoln''.  (1995) p 222</ref>  Lincoln pointedly denied Douglas' assertion that the Declaration of Independence did not include minorities.<ref>Donald, 222</ref>

Before and during the debates, Douglas repeatedly invoked racist rhetoric, claiming Lincoln was for black equality and saying at Galesburg that the authors of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] did not intend to include blacks.  "This Government was made by our fathers on the white basis . . . made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever," he said.<ref>David Donald, ''Lincoln''.  (1995) p 222</ref>  Lincoln pointedly denied Douglas' assertion that the Declaration of Independence did not include minorities.<ref>Donald, 222</ref>