Graham A. Peck is a professor of History at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. He is the writer, director, and producer of Stephen A. Douglas and the Fate of American Democracy , an award-winning documentary that aired on PBS. His film, podcasts, and publications are available at civilwarprof.com.

Maps ix
Introduction 1
Prelude: An Inheritance of Slavery 13
1. The Nation’s Conflict over Slavery in Miniature:
Illinois, 1818–1824 17
2. Democrats, Whigs, and Party Conflict, 1825–1842 34
3. Manifest Destiny, Slavery, and the Rupture
of the Democratic Party, 1843–1847 54
4. Advocates for an Antislavery Nation, 1837–1848 72
5. Stephen A. Douglas and the Northern Democratic Origins
of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1849–1854 97
6. The Collapse of the Douglas Democracy, 1854–1860 123
7. Abraham Lincoln and the Triumph of
an Antislavery Nationalism, 1854–1860 156
Conclusion: The Northern Democrats’ Dilemma
over Slavery 184
Acknowledgments 195
Appendix 199
Notes 205
Index 253

Graham A. Peck is the Wepner Distinguished Professor of Lincoln Studies in the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Springfield. He is the writer, director, and producer of the award-winning documentary Stephen A. Douglas and the Fate of American Democracy. His film, podcasts, and publications are available at civilwarprof.com.