Question

which position was taken by stephen douglas in the lincoln-douglas debates? group of answer choices local self-government was essential in order for american to truly be a free country only the national government had the right to decide whether slavery was legal blacks would eventually achieve the same rights as whites, but the time was not yet right slavery was a moral wrong, but the government had no right to outlaw it slavery needed to be extended to the west coast to ensure the freedom of southerners

Answer 1

Stephen Douglas favored popular sovereignty during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, arguing that the decision to permit or prohibit slavery should be made by the residents of each territory, a stance embedded in the Freeport Doctrine.

Step-by-step explanation:

Stephen Douglas's Position in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

During the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, Stephen Douglas championed the idea of popular sovereignty. This concept held that the residents of a territory should have the right to decide whether to allow slavery. Douglas's stance, known as the Freeport Doctrine, suggested that while a territory might have the ability to deny slavery by not passing laws necessary for its establishment, it was a position that caused significant controversy within the Democratic Party and played a part in splitting it. The core of Douglas’s position was that local self-government was essential for America's freedom, allowing each territory to decide the legality of slavery for itself.

Douglas's adherence to popular sovereignty put him in conflict with the Dred Scott decision, which stated that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. His views also drove a wedge between northern and southern Democrats, as the latter were largely pro-slavery and felt threatened by any mechanism that could lead to slavery's prohibition in new territories.