Stephen A. Douglas: The Political Apprenticeship, 1833-1843

When newly elected Illinois State Representative Abraham Lincoln first saw 5’4” Stephen A. Douglas, he sized him up as “the least man I ever saw.” With the introduction of Douglas’s first bill in 1834, Lincoln soon thought differently. The General Assembly not only passed the bill, it appointed the 21-year-old Douglas State’s Attorney of Illinois’ largest judicial district, replacing John J. Hardin, one of Lincoln’s most powerful political allies. It was the first of many Douglas-Lincoln contests in the decade ahead. Struggles over banking, internal improvements, party organizations, the seat of government and slavery—even romantic rivalry—put them on opposing sides long before the 1860 presidential election. These battles were Douglas’s political apprenticeship and he would use what he learned to obstruct Lincoln—his friend and nemesis—while becoming the most powerful Democrat in the nation.