Stephen A. Douglas

Best known today as the two-time electoral opponent of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas was the dominant American politician of the 1850s. In this book, Robert Johannsen provides a highly detailed examination of Douglas's life and career, from his childhood in Vermont to his early career as a lawyer and politician in Illinois and his subsequent role on the national stage. Though stronger on narrative than on analysis, Johannsen does show Douglas to be a capable and ambitious politician whose stance on popular sovereignty was a position sincerely held and not the product of cynical calculation. This served as the basis for the compromises that established Douglas's prominence in the fractious politics in the 1850s, though as Johannsen demonstrates his position ultimately too moderate for the Southerners who dominated his party to accept him as the Democrats' nominee for the presidency. It is this combination of detail and insight which makes Johannsen's book the definitive work on Douglas, one that is essential reading for anyone wishing to learn about "the Little Giant."