Stephen Douglas : : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / / Damon Wells.
Stephen Douglas and the old Union lived out their last years together. It was the most critical time in the life of both the Illinois senator and his country. During most of the period 1857–1861 the American nation could still choose between adjustment of its sectional differences and civil war, and...
Saved in:
Superior document: | Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000 |
---|---|
VerfasserIn: | |
Place / Publishing House: | Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2014] ©1971 |
Year of Publication: | 2014 |
Language: | English |
Online Access: | |
Physical Description: | 1 online resource (374 p.) |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
id |
9780292741980 |
---|---|
ctrlnum |
(DE-B1597)586652 (OCoLC)1286806346 |
collection |
bib_alma |
record_format |
marc |
spelling |
Wells, Damon, author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut Stephen Douglas : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / Damon Wells. Austin : University of Texas Press, [2014] ©1971 1 online resource (374 p.) text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier text file PDF rda Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. The Return of a Champion -- 2. Douglas and Goliath -- 3. Popular Sovereignty -- 4. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates -- 5. 1859: The House Dividing -- 6. 1860: Victory, Defeat, Greatness -- 7. The Union Forever -- 8. The Summing Up -- Critical Essay on Sources -- Bibliography -- Index restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec online access with authorization star Stephen Douglas and the old Union lived out their last years together. It was the most critical time in the life of both the Illinois senator and his country. During most of the period 1857–1861 the American nation could still choose between adjustment of its sectional differences and civil war, and the man they called the Little Giant seemed the one statesman most likely to lead the country onto a course of compromise and reconciliation. But Douglas’ intense involvement with the American political scene—his great accomplishments in enacting the Compromises of 1850 and 1854, and his victory in the senatorial campaign of 1858—tended at times to disguise a growing alienation from the mainstream of American political life. By 1857 that alienation had reached acute proportions. In part, Douglas fell victim to his own virtues. He sought to be a nationalist in an age of sectionalism; he preached the value of compromise when most Americans questioned its worth. In other respects, Douglas’ political failures are less excusable. His attempt to convert an apparently amoral attitude toward slavery into a principle—popular sovereignty—found him dismissed by antislavery citizens as immoral and by proslavery citizens as unreliable. For too long, Douglas, professing to “care not” about the future of slavery, overlooked how much Americans could care once their consciences had been aroused or their way of life supposedly threatened. Douglas failed to win the presidential campaign of 1860 largely because he could satisfy neither the proponents nor the enemies of slavery. Yet if the last years of Douglas’ life were marred by failure, he was not ultimately the tragic figure some historians have suggested. During the campaign of 1860 a profound change began to take place in Stephen Douglas. The outmoded nationalism he had preached for so long began to give way to Unionism. In his eventual support of Lincoln and his defense of the Union, Douglas at last found a policy worthy of his great talents. Damon Wells first became interested in Stephen Douglas in 1959 after seeing a Broadway dramatization of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Later, his studies convinced him that playwright and historian alike were often unfair to Douglas. If Lincoln was to be a hero, then Douglas had to be cast as a villain. This study fills the need for a fresh and dispassionate look at Douglas and provides a fairer assessment than can be reached by simply endorsing contradictory views of apologists and critics. It places particular emphasis on the Little Giant’s struggle with President James Buchanan, the debates with Lincoln, the presidential campaign of 1860, Douglas’ complex relationship with the South, and a careful analysis of the elusive and at times exasperating principle of popular sovereignty. Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web. In English. Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Apr 2024) Douglas, Stephen A. (Stephen Arnold), 1813-1861. BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General. bisacsh Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000 9783110745351 https://doi.org/10.7560/701182 https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780292741980 Cover https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780292741980/original |
language |
English |
format |
eBook |
author |
Wells, Damon, Wells, Damon, |
spellingShingle |
Wells, Damon, Wells, Damon, Stephen Douglas : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. The Return of a Champion -- 2. Douglas and Goliath -- 3. Popular Sovereignty -- 4. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates -- 5. 1859: The House Dividing -- 6. 1860: Victory, Defeat, Greatness -- 7. The Union Forever -- 8. The Summing Up -- Critical Essay on Sources -- Bibliography -- Index |
author_facet |
Wells, Damon, Wells, Damon, |
author_variant |
d w dw d w dw |
author_role |
VerfasserIn VerfasserIn |
author_sort |
Wells, Damon, |
title |
Stephen Douglas : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / |
title_sub |
The Last Years, 1857–1861 / |
title_full |
Stephen Douglas : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / Damon Wells. |
title_fullStr |
Stephen Douglas : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / Damon Wells. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Stephen Douglas : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / Damon Wells. |
title_auth |
Stephen Douglas : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / |
title_alt |
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. The Return of a Champion -- 2. Douglas and Goliath -- 3. Popular Sovereignty -- 4. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates -- 5. 1859: The House Dividing -- 6. 1860: Victory, Defeat, Greatness -- 7. The Union Forever -- 8. The Summing Up -- Critical Essay on Sources -- Bibliography -- Index |
title_new |
Stephen Douglas : |
title_sort |
stephen douglas : the last years, 1857–1861 / |
publisher |
University of Texas Press, |
publishDate |
2014 |
physical |
1 online resource (374 p.) |
contents |
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. The Return of a Champion -- 2. Douglas and Goliath -- 3. Popular Sovereignty -- 4. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates -- 5. 1859: The House Dividing -- 6. 1860: Victory, Defeat, Greatness -- 7. The Union Forever -- 8. The Summing Up -- Critical Essay on Sources -- Bibliography -- Index |
isbn |
9780292741980 9783110745351 |
callnumber-first |
E - United States History |
callnumber-subject |
E - United States History |
callnumber-label |
E415 |
callnumber-sort |
E 3415.9 D73 W4 41971 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7560/701182 https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780292741980 https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780292741980/original |
illustrated |
Not Illustrated |
dewey-hundreds |
900 - History & geography |
dewey-tens |
970 - History of North America |
dewey-ones |
973 - United States |
dewey-full |
973.6/8/0924 |
dewey-sort |
3973.6 18 3924 |
dewey-raw |
973.6/8/0924 |
dewey-search |
973.6/8/0924 |
doi_str_mv |
10.7560/701182 |
oclc_num |
1286806346 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT wellsdamon stephendouglasthelastyears18571861 |
status_str |
n |
ids_txt_mv |
(DE-B1597)586652 (OCoLC)1286806346 |
carrierType_str_mv |
cr |
hierarchy_parent_title |
Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000 |
is_hierarchy_title |
Stephen Douglas : The Last Years, 1857–1861 / |
container_title |
Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000 |
_version_ |
1806143135786467328 |
fullrecord |
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><collection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/MARC21/slim"><record><leader>05410nam a2200601Ia 4500</leader><controlfield tag="001">9780292741980</controlfield><controlfield tag="003">DE-B1597</controlfield><controlfield tag="005">20240426104009.0</controlfield><controlfield tag="006">m|||||o||d||||||||</controlfield><controlfield tag="007">cr || ||||||||</controlfield><controlfield tag="008">240426t20141971txu fo d z eng d</controlfield><datafield tag="020" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">9780292741980</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="024" ind1="7" ind2=" "><subfield code="a">10.7560/701182</subfield><subfield code="2">doi</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="035" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">(DE-B1597)586652</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="035" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">(OCoLC)1286806346</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="040" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">DE-B1597</subfield><subfield code="b">eng</subfield><subfield code="c">DE-B1597</subfield><subfield code="e">rda</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="041" ind1="0" ind2=" "><subfield code="a">eng</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="044" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">txu</subfield><subfield code="c">US-TX</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="050" ind1=" " ind2="4"><subfield code="a">E415.9.D73</subfield><subfield code="b">W4 1971</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="072" ind1=" " ind2="7"><subfield code="a">BIO000000</subfield><subfield code="2">bisacsh</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="082" ind1="0" ind2="4"><subfield code="a">973.6/8/0924</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="100" ind1="1" ind2=" "><subfield code="a">Wells, Damon, </subfield><subfield code="e">author.</subfield><subfield code="4">aut</subfield><subfield code="4">http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="245" ind1="1" ind2="0"><subfield code="a">Stephen Douglas :</subfield><subfield code="b">The Last Years, 1857–1861 /</subfield><subfield code="c">Damon Wells.</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="264" ind1=" " ind2="1"><subfield code="a">Austin : </subfield><subfield code="b">University of Texas Press, </subfield><subfield code="c">[2014]</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="264" ind1=" " ind2="4"><subfield code="c">©1971</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="300" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">1 online resource (374 p.)</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="336" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">text</subfield><subfield code="b">txt</subfield><subfield code="2">rdacontent</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="337" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">computer</subfield><subfield code="b">c</subfield><subfield code="2">rdamedia</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="338" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">online resource</subfield><subfield code="b">cr</subfield><subfield code="2">rdacarrier</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="347" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">text file</subfield><subfield code="b">PDF</subfield><subfield code="2">rda</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="505" ind1="0" ind2="0"><subfield code="t">Frontmatter -- </subfield><subfield code="t">CONTENTS -- </subfield><subfield code="t">ILLUSTRATIONS -- </subfield><subfield code="t">Preface -- </subfield><subfield code="t">Acknowledgments -- </subfield><subfield code="t">1. The Return of a Champion -- </subfield><subfield code="t">2. Douglas and Goliath -- </subfield><subfield code="t">3. Popular Sovereignty -- </subfield><subfield code="t">4. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates -- </subfield><subfield code="t">5. 1859: The House Dividing -- </subfield><subfield code="t">6. 1860: Victory, Defeat, Greatness -- </subfield><subfield code="t">7. The Union Forever -- </subfield><subfield code="t">8. The Summing Up -- </subfield><subfield code="t">Critical Essay on Sources -- </subfield><subfield code="t">Bibliography -- </subfield><subfield code="t">Index</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="506" ind1="0" ind2=" "><subfield code="a">restricted access</subfield><subfield code="u">http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec</subfield><subfield code="f">online access with authorization</subfield><subfield code="2">star</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="520" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">Stephen Douglas and the old Union lived out their last years together. It was the most critical time in the life of both the Illinois senator and his country. During most of the period 1857–1861 the American nation could still choose between adjustment of its sectional differences and civil war, and the man they called the Little Giant seemed the one statesman most likely to lead the country onto a course of compromise and reconciliation. But Douglas’ intense involvement with the American political scene—his great accomplishments in enacting the Compromises of 1850 and 1854, and his victory in the senatorial campaign of 1858—tended at times to disguise a growing alienation from the mainstream of American political life. By 1857 that alienation had reached acute proportions. In part, Douglas fell victim to his own virtues. He sought to be a nationalist in an age of sectionalism; he preached the value of compromise when most Americans questioned its worth. In other respects, Douglas’ political failures are less excusable. His attempt to convert an apparently amoral attitude toward slavery into a principle—popular sovereignty—found him dismissed by antislavery citizens as immoral and by proslavery citizens as unreliable. For too long, Douglas, professing to “care not” about the future of slavery, overlooked how much Americans could care once their consciences had been aroused or their way of life supposedly threatened. Douglas failed to win the presidential campaign of 1860 largely because he could satisfy neither the proponents nor the enemies of slavery. Yet if the last years of Douglas’ life were marred by failure, he was not ultimately the tragic figure some historians have suggested. During the campaign of 1860 a profound change began to take place in Stephen Douglas. The outmoded nationalism he had preached for so long began to give way to Unionism. In his eventual support of Lincoln and his defense of the Union, Douglas at last found a policy worthy of his great talents. Damon Wells first became interested in Stephen Douglas in 1959 after seeing a Broadway dramatization of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Later, his studies convinced him that playwright and historian alike were often unfair to Douglas. If Lincoln was to be a hero, then Douglas had to be cast as a villain. This study fills the need for a fresh and dispassionate look at Douglas and provides a fairer assessment than can be reached by simply endorsing contradictory views of apologists and critics. It places particular emphasis on the Little Giant’s struggle with President James Buchanan, the debates with Lincoln, the presidential campaign of 1860, Douglas’ complex relationship with the South, and a careful analysis of the elusive and at times exasperating principle of popular sovereignty.</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="538" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="546" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">In English.</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="588" ind1="0" ind2=" "><subfield code="a">Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Apr 2024)</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="650" ind1=" " ind2="0"><subfield code="a">Douglas, Stephen A. (Stephen Arnold), 1813-1861.</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="650" ind1=" " ind2="7"><subfield code="a">BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General.</subfield><subfield code="2">bisacsh</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="773" ind1="0" ind2="8"><subfield code="i">Title is part of eBook package:</subfield><subfield code="d">De Gruyter</subfield><subfield code="t">University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000</subfield><subfield code="z">9783110745351</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="856" ind1="4" ind2="0"><subfield code="u">https://doi.org/10.7560/701182</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="856" ind1="4" ind2="0"><subfield code="u">https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780292741980</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="856" ind1="4" ind2="2"><subfield code="3">Cover</subfield><subfield code="u">https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780292741980/original</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">978-3-11-074535-1 University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2000</subfield><subfield code="b">2000</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_BACKALL</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_CL_LT</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_EBACKALL</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_EBKALL</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_ECL_LT</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_EEBKALL</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_ESSHALL</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_PPALL</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">EBA_SSHALL</subfield></datafield><datafield tag="912" ind1=" " ind2=" "><subfield code="a">GBV-deGruyter-alles</subfield></datafield></record></collection> |