Stephen Douglas believed in standard sovereignty, the precept that the residents of every territory ought to resolve the query of slavery for themselves by way of their territorial legislatures. This contrasted sharply with the positions of abolitionists, who sought a nationwide ban on slavery, and a few Southern Democrats who believed settlers had a constitutional proper to carry enslaved individuals into the territories. Douglas argued that standard sovereignty finest embodied the American superb of self-government and was a sensible compromise to take care of nationwide unity within the face of rising sectional tensions.
This precept grew to become a central tenet of Douglas’s political profession and a key component of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This act successfully repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had restricted the enlargement of slavery. The appliance of standard sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska led to violent battle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, a interval referred to as “Bleeding Kansas.” This battle underscored the restrictions and inherent contradictions of standard sovereignty as an answer to the slavery concern, and contributed considerably to the polarization that in the end led to the Civil Conflict.
