Stephen Douglas and Kansas Nebraska Act Term Paper

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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.

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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….....

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