County of marker: Douglas County
Location of marker: Broad St. & Bowden St., Douglasville
Erected: 1954
Erected by: Georgia Historical Commission
The Person:
"Stephen A. Douglas, in full Stephen Arnold Douglas, (born April 23, 1813, Brandon, Vt., U.S.—died June 3, 1861, Chicago, Ill.), American politician, leader of the Democratic Party, and orator who espoused the cause of popular sovereignty in relation to the issue of slavery in the territories before the American Civil War (1861–65). He was reelected senator from Illinois in 1858 after a series of eloquent debates with the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, who defeated him in the presidential race two years later.
"Douglas left New England at the age of 20 to settle in Jacksonville, Ill., where he quickly rose to a position of leadership in the Illinois Democratic Party. In 1843 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; one of its youngest members, Douglas gained early prominence as a dedicated worker and gifted speaker. Heavyset and only five feet four inches tall, he was dubbed the “Little Giant” by his contemporaries.
"Douglas embraced a lifelong enthusiasm for national expansion, giving consistent support to the annexation of Texas (1845), the Mexican War (1846–48), taking a vigorous stance toward Great Britain in the Oregon boundary dispute (1846), and advocating both government land grants to promote transcontinental railroad construction and a free homestead policy for settlers.
"Douglas was elected in 1846 to the U.S. Senate, in which he served until his death; there he became deeply involved in the nation’s search for a solution to the slavery problem. As chairman of the Committee on Territories, he was particularly prominent in the bitter debates between North and South on the extension of slavery westward. Trying to remove the onus from Congress, he developed the theory of popular sovereignty (originally called squatter sovereignty), under which the people in a territory would themselves decide whether to permit slavery within their region’s boundaries. Douglas himself was not a slaveholder, though his wife was. He was influential in the passage of the Compromise of 1850 (which tried to maintain a congressional balance between free and slave states), and the organization of the Utah and New Mexico territories under popular sovereignty was a victory for his doctrine.
The climax of Douglas’s theory was reached in the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which substituted local options toward slavery in the Kansas and Nebraska territories for that of congressional mandate, thus repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The act’s passage was a triumph for Douglas, although he was bitterly condemned and vilified by antislavery forces. A strong contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in both 1852 and 1856, he was too outspoken to be chosen by a party that was still trying to bridge the sectional gap.
"The Supreme Court struck indirectly at popular sovereignty in the Dred Scott Decision (1857), which held that neither the Congress nor territorial legislatures could prohibit slavery in a territory. The following year Douglas engaged in a number of widely publicized debates with Lincoln in a close contest for the Senate seat in Illinois, and although Lincoln won the popular vote, Douglas was elected 54 to 46 by the legislature. In the debates, Douglas enunciated his famous “Freeport Doctrine,” which stated that the territories could still determine the existence of slavery through unfriendly legislation and the use of police power, in spite of the Supreme Court decision. As a result, Southern opposition to Douglas intensified, and he was denied reappointment to the committee chairmanship he had previously held in the Senate.
When the “regular” (Northern) Democrats nominated him for president in 1860, the Southern wing broke away and supported a separate ticket headed by John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. Although Douglas received only 12 electoral votes, he was second to Lincoln in the number of popular votes polled. Douglas then urged the South to acquiesce in the results of the election. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he denounced secession as criminal and was one of the strongest advocates of maintaining the integrity of the Union at all costs. At Pres. Lincoln’s request, he undertook a mission to the Border States and to the Northwest to rouse Unionist sentiments among their citizenry. Douglas’s early and unexpected death was partly the result of these last exertions on behalf of the Union." ~ Encyclopedia Britannica
The Place:
"Douglas County, the state's 133rd county, is located in the metropolitan Atlanta area west of Fulton County. Created on October 17, 1870, by an act of the state legislature, the county was named for Stephen A. Douglas, the Illinois Democrat who lost the 1860 U.S. presidential race to Abraham Lincoln. Carved out of Campbell (now defunct) and Carroll counties, Douglas encompasses 199 square miles and is one of the fifty fastest-growing counties in the United States.
"Douglasville, named after the county, was established as the county seat on February 25, 1875, after a four-year dispute. Originally known as "Skinned" or "Skint" Chestnut in reference to a chestnut tree used as an Indian marker, Douglasville was originally chosen as the county seat by newly elected officials, although a majority of citizens had voted for a more centrally located site. The case went to the Supreme Court of Georgia, which ruled in favor of the citizens, but in a subsequent election the selection of Douglasville was upheld.
"Mississippian Indian ceremonial mounds are located throughout Douglas County, and many Native American artifacts, including pottery, tools, and weapons, have been found there. For many years before it was settled by whites, the area was inhabited by Creek and Cherokee Indians. Owing to continuing hostilities, the government drew a boundary line, about one mile east of Douglasville, between the Indians, with the Cherokees confined to the north and the Creeks to the south. In 1830 the Indians were forced to cede all their lands east of the Mississippi River to the federal government, and by 1838 they had been expelled from the land and forced to march to present-day Oklahoma along what became known as the Trail of Tears.
"In 1881, the Georgia Western Railroad, now the Pacific Railway Company, began construction on a railroad that would stretch from Atlanta to Birmingham, Alabama. The construction had been delayed owing to the Civil War (1861-65) and the bankruptcy of the original owners. The railroad, which ran through Douglas County, was finally completed in 1883.
"Around the turn of the twentieth century, therapeutic mineral waters in Lithia Springs attracted many wealthy people to the area until 1912, when the resort hotel there was destroyed by fire.
"Douglas County boasts the beautiful Sweetwater Creek State Park, which was acquired for the state in the late 1960s by the Georgia Conservancy. The park offers fishing, boating, and hiking. Several Civil War battle sites are also located in the county. The ruins of the New Manchester Manufacturing Company's textile factory, destroyed by Union troops during Sherman's march to the sea, remain along the banks of Sweetwater Creek. The entire town of New Manchester and the mills there were burned by Sherman's troops on July 9, 1864.
"As a result of its proximity to Atlanta, Douglas County has experienced phenomenal growth. Interstate 20 runs through the county, thus allowing a short commute to Atlanta for many residents who work in the city. According to the 2010 U.S. census, the county's population is 132,403, a significant increase over the 2000 population of 92,174.
"A satellite campus of West Georgia Technical College and a branch of Mercer University are located in Douglas County. MCI operates a major switching center there. Annual events include A Taste of Douglasville, Hunter Harvest Arts and Crafts Festival, Pioneer Days, Kris Kringle Market and Tour of Homes, and the New Manchester Days." ~ New Georgia Encyclopedia