Stephen douglas biography

Early Life and Political Career

Born April 23, 1813, in Brandon, Vermont, Douglas’s father, a doctor, died when he was a baby, and his mother moved the family to her brother’s nearby farm, and later to western New York, where he studied at the Canandaigua Academy and practiced debate.

Apprenticing as a cabinetmaker as a teen, he was inspired by President Andrew Jackson’s 1828 election campaign and became a devoted follower of Jacksonian Democracy and its  “era of the common man” ideals.

In New York, Douglas clerked at a law firm, then moved to Cleveland, where he continued to study law before moving to Illinois in 1833, at age 20, where he worked as a schoolmaster before earning a law license in 1834 and setting up a law practice in Jacksonville, about 35 miles west of the state Capitol.

Did you know?

After moving to Illinois in the 1830s, Stephen A. Douglas briefly courted Mary Todd, who went on to marry his future rival, Abraham Lincoln.

In 1836, Douglas was elected t