Freeport Doctrine

• Author: Dennis J. Mahoney
• Pages: 1148-1149

Page 1148

During the LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES of 1858, Senator STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS attacked ABRAHAM LINCOLN and the Republicans for their unwillingness to accept the Supreme Court's decision in DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD (1857), which held that Congress could not proscribe SLAVERY in federal territories. But at the same time, Douglas and the Northern Democrats contended that the issue of slavery was to

Page 1149

be decided by the people who lived in each territory, a position for which Douglas appropriated the name POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY. At Freeport, Lincoln asked Douglas: "Can the people of a United States territory, in any lawful way, ? exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a state constitution?"

Douglas's reply is known as the "Freeport Doctrine." It was that "slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulation." In other words, a territorial legislature could exclude slavery by "unfriendly legislation" or simply by failing to pass the laws necessary to enforce slaveholding. The Freeport Doctrine appeared intended to neutralize the Dred Scott decision, and it effectively cut Douglas off from the slave-holding interests and divided the Democratic party.

DENNIS J. MAHONEY

(1986)

Bibliography

JAFFA, HARRY V....