The Year 2008

The year began with much of the United States mired in an economic recession known as the Panic of 1857.  The dire economic circumstances, however, were quickly overshadowed (in Washington at least) by an emerging feud between the nation's two leading Democrats --President James Buchanan and Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas.  It was this feud that set the stage for the unprecedented Lincoln-Douglas campaign of 1858 and their famous debates.  Without Douglas's rupture with Buchanan, largely driven by differences over the Lecompton Constitution and the fate of popular sovereignty in the territories, the Republicans in Illinois would not have felt compelled to violate custom and nominate anyone for a Senate contest that was still decided in those years by legislators and not the general public.