Diminutive in stature, a man of fiery speech and conviction, Stephen Douglas was known as "The Little Giant" for the prowess he displayed in political battles.

As a boy, Douglas was unusually self-reliant and confident of his abilities. Even as he worked to put himself through school in Vermont, he realized that his destiny, like the nation's, was to move west. At the age of twenty he went to Illinois as a young lawyer and plunged into the politics of that bustling frontier state. At twenty-seven he was a state Supreme Court justice; at thirty a U.S. congressman; and at thirty-four a senator in Washington.

Like his hero, Andrew Jackson, Douglas spoke eloquently on behalf of the rights of the people. He championed all causes that promised to increase the prestige and size of the United States, including the growth of railroads, the war with Mexico, the Missouri Compromise. He supported "popular sovereignty" so that the nation might flourish and grow strong without disruption. When his stand aroused the wrath of both slaveholders and Abolitionists, Douglas elaborated upon his beliefs in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates and was promptly re-elected to the Senate. Later he opposed the secession of the southern states as vehemently as did Lincoln. When Lincoln defeated him in the presidential race of 1860, Douglas offered his services to his former adversary and helped in the preservation of the union they both loved.

The Little Giant's spirit and principles were closely interwoven with the spirit of vigor and expansion that makes his era so memorable, and in these pages both the man and the age come vibrantly alive.

Included are excerpts from the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

From the dust jacket