Stephen Douglas and Kansas Nebraska Act

Stephen Douglas And The Kansas-Nebraska Act Democracy is often something Americans take for granted. Living in a free, democratic society is something that is often not thought about until something happens to rock our pillar of security. The definition of democracy as a practical form of government was questioned when Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Stephen Douglas introduced this Act. Douglas included in his bill a provision for "popular sovereignty" in Kansas and Nebraska.

This provision stated that all questions of slavery in the new territories were to be decided by the settlers rather than by Congress. This idea that the settlers - the people - would decide rather than Congress brought about much debate. Democracy is defined first and foremost as "government by the people, rule of the majority." Douglas took the position that democracy was a process bit an outcome and he argued for this process.

His position - Democracy by Process - was countered by the ministers and others who maintained a Democracy by Scripture. The people have been given power or authority by the government from our Nation's formative years. The problem - for lack of a better word - lies in the fact that people do not all think the same. Believe the same or follow the same moral code. Slavery was a moral issue just as much, if not more so, than a political issue.

Politically it became an issue because the people themselves could not make a unified majority decision. They needed a higher entity - such as Congress - to decide for them. Many people simply needed direction or someone to tell them what to do. The distinction between God's law and civil law soon became an issue that is still not settled. In Douglas' time there was slavery. People were bought and sold and forced to work without any regard to them as people.

Today, babies are slaughtered without any respect to human life. Slavery was legal. Abortion is legal. How "civil" a society are we that we allow mothers to kill their own fetal children? How "civil" were we in Douglas' time that we allowed people to become a commodity? The position of Democracy by Scripture brought to light another debate. If God's law was supreme, why bother to vote? Why was citizen participation even necessary? Was it not just a pretense? Even Abraham Lincoln questioned this in his Second Inaugural Address.

He stated, "The judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether." Self-government, Lincoln asserted, meant that no one person could own another. He stated, "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy." Slavery was an issue that was either right or wrong - in a political sense - depending on how the people voted. However, slaves could not vote so their voices were never heard. Their votes were never counted.

This meant that others were deciding the futures of the slaves. Democracy - of or by the people. A majority vote. Personally, rather than question democracy by.