Biography:

Stephen Douglas, nicknamed the “Little Giant” for his short stature and forceful personality, was a US Representative and Senator from Illinois who lost the historically significant presidential election of 1860 to Abraham Lincoln.
Douglas was born in Vermont in 1813, studied law, and eventually settled in Illinois, where he served as a member of the state house of representatives, register of the land office, secretary of the state, and judge of the state supreme court before being elected to the US House of Representatives from 1834 until 1847. He was elected to the US Senate in 1847 and served until his death in 1861. As chairman for the Senate Committee on Territories, Douglas helped bring about the Compromise of 1850, which limited the spread of slavery in the United States territories, and was the architect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed settlers in new United States territories to decide whether to allow slavery by popular vote.
Douglas ran for president of the United States on the Democratic ticket in 1852 and 1856 but was not nominated by his party in either race. In 1860, he again ran for president and this time was selected as the presidential nominee by the Democratic Party. Hardline pro-slavery Democrats rejected Douglas as the presidential candidate, however, and formed the Southern Democratic Party, nominating then vice president John C. Breckinridge as their presidential candidate. During the run-up to the presidential election of 1860, Douglas traveled throughout the country in order to deliver campaign speeches, actions which at the time were considered undignified for a presidential candidate. In spite of his efforts, Douglas lost the election to Abraham Lincoln. In the secession crisis that followed Lincoln’s election, Douglas urged compromise and denounced secession. He died of typhoid fever only a few months after the start of the Civil War.