Talk:Freeport Doctrine

Douglas & 1860 Election

Time for a few comments -- MrG 4.228.21.74 18:52, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

James MacPherson's BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM strongly attacks the idea that Douglas lost the election of 1860 because he came out in favor of popular sovereignty. MacPherson points out that he had pretty much lost his chances when he came out against the bogus Lecompton Constitution of Kansas in early 1858. MrG 4.228.21.74 18:55, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Some older views — that Lincoln craftily "trapped" Douglas into making a statement at Freeport which directly and solely lost him the support of southern Democrats — were certainly melodramatic and oversimplified. However, the Freeport Doctrine, in the form of the demand for the insertion of a congressional slave code plank in the Democratic platform, was the immediate cause of the split at Charleston in 1860... AnonMoos (talk) 07:38, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

P.S. The idea that Popular Sovereignty was any kind of "compromise" between pro-slavery and anti-slavery positions was of course vehemently rejected by anti-slavery advocates, since in practice Pop.Sov. required those opposed to slavery to give up previously-won protections and gains (such as the Missouri compromise line), while receiving absolutely nothing in return -- and furthermore, the events following the Kansas-Nebraska act seemed to set off a flood of ever-increasing and ever more extreme Southern demands... AnonMoos (talk) 07:38, 17 November 2010 (UTC)