Lincoln-Douglas Debates (Todd, 1986)

Douglas was a skillfull politician. His answer to Lincoln became known as the Freeport Doctrine, after the Illinois town where the debate took place. Douglas cleverly replied that the legislature of a territory could refuse to pass a law supporting slavery and in effect could exclude slavery from the territory. Douglas' statement met with enough approval in Illinois to elect him Senator. Nevertheless, the Freeport Doctrine weakened Douglas in the South. By doing so, it also cost him the nomination for the Presidency in 1860 by a united Democratic party. Southerners began to realize that Douglas' popular sovereignty did not mean that he favored the expansion of slavery.