James Buchanan (left) vs. Stephen Douglas (right)
(Dickinson College and Library of Congress Prints
and Photographs Division)
By rigidly supporting "popular sovereignty" in the western
territories, Senator Douglas found himself at odds with leaders of
his own party. In late 1857, President James Buchanan endorsed a proslavery
constitution for Kansas, but Douglas refused to go along. This rupture
between leading Democrats shocked the nation's political community.
