Democratic Senator from Illinois, famous for Lincoln-Douglas debates. Presidential Candidate.
Stephen Arnold Douglas (born Douglass) was born to Stephen Arnold Douglass and Sarah Fisk on 23 April, 1813 at Brandon, Vermont. Douglas dropped the second "s" from his name some years later. He migrated to Winchester, Illinois in 1833[2] Stephen was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature, but a forceful and dominant figure in politics. His height is given in various sources as being in the range between 5 feet to 5 feet 4 inches; 5'4" is reported most often.[3]
1834 - 1836 : Appointed as State's Attorney of Morgan County (the Fifth District of Illinois)
1836 - 1840: Elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, was appointed registrar of the Springfield Land Office, became Illinois Secretary of State
1839: Became a member of the Masonic fraternity in Springfield Lodge No. 4 in Springfield, Illinois
1841: Appointed an associate justice of the Illinois Supreme Court at age 27
1843: Elected US Representative
1844: Re-elected US Representative
1846: Changed spelling of last name from Douglass, to Douglas.
1846: Elected US Senator by the Illinois General Assembly
1847: Married Martha Martin, the 21-year-old daughter of wealthy Colonel Robert Martin of North Carolina.
1848: Martha's father, Colonel Robert Martin, died and bequeathed his daughter a 2,500-acre cotton plantation with 100 slaves on the Pearl River in Lawrence County, Mississippi. He appointed Douglas the property manager but, as a senator of a free state and with presidential aspirations, Douglas found the Southern plantation presented difficulties. He created distance by hiring a manager to operate the plantation, while using his allocated 20 percent of the income to advance his political career.
1850: Douglas stepped in and divided the parts of the Compromise of 1850 into separate bills, each of which had majority support, though a different majority for each, and thus the Compromise was passed
1852: Considered one of the Democrats' national leaders, he contended for the Democratic presidential nomination, but was passed over for Franklin Pierce
1853: Reelected to the Senate
1854: Reopened the slavery question with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened some previously prohibited territories to slavery under popular sovereignty. Opposition to this led to the formation of the Republican Party.[4]
1856: Married a second time, to 20-year-old Adele Cutts, daughter of James Madison Cutts of Washington, D.C., nephew of President James Madison, and Ellen O'Neal, sister of Rose O'Neal Greenhow.
1857: Initially endorsed the Dred Scott decision.
1858: Douglas-Lincoln Debates. During this Senate campaign, Douglas argued Dred Scott's effect could be negated by popular sovereignty. He also opposed the efforts of President James Buchanan and his Southern allies to enact a Federal slave code and impose the Lecompton Constitution on Kansas.
1860: Ran against Abraham Lincoln. The conflict over slavery led to the split in the Democratic Party in the 1860 Convention. Hardline pro-slavery Southerners rejected Douglas, and nominated their own candidate, Vice President John C. Breckinridge, while the Northern Democrats nominated Douglas.
1861: When civil war came in April, Douglas rallied his supporters to the Union cause with all his energies, but he died of typhoid fever a few weeks later. He was buried on the shore of Lake Michigan.
Legacy
Twelve US states have named counties in his honor. They are: Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin.
Sources
↑ Died in office, vacant June 3, 1861 – June 26, 1861 when successor appointed.
↑ Wells, Damon. Stephen Douglas: The Last Years, 1857–1861. p. 5
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Stephen by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Stephen:
Quoting from the biography -- "Stephen Arnold Douglas (born Douglass) was born to Stephen Arnold Douglass and Sarah Fisk on 23 April, 1813 at Brandon, Vermont. Douglas dropped the second "s" from his name some years later."
He is not a descendant of the traitor Benedict Arnold. He is a descendant of Benedict Arnold, the Governor. The traitor Benedict Arnold was a cousin of his.
I think it is just a little sad that this is all we have written about Mr. Douglas, and that he is not even connected to any family. Here is just a bit about his ancestry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Douglas_ancestry He is a descendant of Benedict Arnold!
Quoting from the biography -- "Stephen Arnold Douglas (born Douglass) was born to Stephen Arnold Douglass and Sarah Fisk on 23 April, 1813 at Brandon, Vermont. Douglas dropped the second "s" from his name some years later."
Douglas belongs in the Current Last Name field.