WI: Stephen Douglas defects to the Republicans

Apparently in 1857, there was a real risk that Stephen Douglas was going to leave the Democratic Party and become a Republican. The trigger was when he broke with James Buchanan over the issue of Bleeding Kansas, and due to the formers perceived disloyalty, Buchanan went forward and pressured the Senate to take away most of Douglas's responsibilities. Many expected, with dread or with glee, that this would drive him into the arms of the Republicans.

Course, he remained loyal to the Democratic Party in the end.

However, for the sake of discussion, suppose he indeed jump ship and became a Republican. What would be the effects on not only his political career, but on the nation as a whole?
 
Off the top of my head: the Democratic Party doesn't split in 1860, for starters. Since the main reason Douglas got the nomination was the feeling (his and others') that it was his turn, with him out of the picture, the party just nominates someone acceptable to the Southern hardliners. If said nominee is so pro-Southern (or just Southern) that the Republicans win the election, we probably get the Civil War anyway. Although if you could butterfly away Dred Scott, John Brown....

(Someone should move this to pre-1900, obviously....)
 
Off the top of my head: the Democratic Party doesn't split in 1860, for starters. Since the main reason Douglas got the nomination was the feeling (his and others') that it was his turn, with him out of the picture, the party just nominates someone acceptable to the Southern hardliners. If said nominee is so pro-Southern (or just Southern) that the Republicans win the election, we probably get the Civil War anyway. Although if you could butterfly away Dred Scott, John Brown....

(Someone should move this to pre-1900, obviously....)
Messaged a MOD about that already, but he hasn't responded yet.

Given Douglas's pull, it is quite possible that more than a few Democrats follow him into the Republican Party; this not only make them stronger in future elections but also serve to moderate their views, simply by pulling in less dedicated Abolitionists.

However this would likely serve to kill the Democratic Party, since their Platform, now likely controlled by the Fire-Eaters, would be exclusively one seeking to advance the cause of Slavery. Might run a Breckinridge/Dickinson ticket.

Lincoln would be politically dead since Douglas would now be secure, meaning that Seward would more than likely become the Republican nominee in 1860. Douglas would be pressured onto the ticket by some delegates but I doubt he would be an acceptable choice unless Seward openly asked him to do so; laughable prospect.

The Constitutional Union Party would likely still form given the visible divide now between the two Parties, and I don't see Senator Crittenden remaining on the sidelines this time around, and he will be their nominee. Not sure as to their Vice Presidential nominee, but I am leaning towards Sam Houston.

The election would be quite chaotic.
 
Apparently in 1857, there was a real risk that Stephen Douglas was going to leave the Democratic Party and become a Republican. The trigger was when he broke with James Buchanan over the issue of Bleeding Kansas, and due to the formers perceived disloyalty, Buchanan went forward and pressured the Senate to take away most of Douglas's responsibilities. Many expected, with dread or with glee, that this would drive him into the arms of the Republicans.

Course, he remained loyal to the Democratic Party in the end.

However, for the sake of discussion, suppose he indeed jump ship and became a Republican. What would be the effects on not only his political career, but on the nation as a whole?


Their wasn't any chance of Douglass joining the Republicans. Despite what Buchanan thought of him, Douglass was the mainstream of the Northern Democrats and his differences with the Republicans were too great. The Republican Party was formed in reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Douglass championed. He equivocated on the Dred Scott decision and said that he did not care whether or or not a territory became a free or a slave state and he only opposed the admission of Kansas as a slave state because popular sovereignty was being violated there.
 

Japhy

Banned
It was mentioned in a book I had recently come across, "Almost President". I have not been able to find a source accessible over the internet however.

Well Sean Mulligan laid out the entire argument for me questioning this. One has to remember party is alot more fluid at the time then a simple strait, Democrats vs Republicans sort of fight. While Douglas might have pondered a walk out of the Democrats he might simply have sat with the Opposition Party, or prehaps simply have an open break with the President without renouncing the Democratic Party.

The conflict was one between Douglas and the Doughfaces, an open break does not require Douglas to join the Democrats, though it most likely means that Douglas take at least some level of an Anti-Slavery stance, as a break completely denies him the chance at an 1860 nomination.
 
I've heard of this more as a suggestion made in some Republican circles and rejected by the party's stauncher Abolitionist wing than something Douglas himself every seriously considered. For instance, from Gardner's 1905 Life of Stephen A. Douglas:
He [Lincoln] repelled the suggestion made in some quarters that the Republicans ought to cease their fight on Douglas and rally to his support in his contest with the slavery propagandists. He reminded them that the very essence of Republican faith was hostility to slavery, while Douglas frankly declared that he did not care whether it was voted up or voted down. The cause must be entrusted to those whose hearts were in the work and who did care for the result.
 
I've heard of this more as a suggestion made in some Republican circles and rejected by the party's stauncher Abolitionist wing than something Douglas himself every seriously considered. For instance, from Gardner's 1905 Life of Stephen A. Douglas:
Looking it over, it appears that I misinterpreted what was written. What you have stated is what happened for the most part.
 
Off the top of my head: the Democratic Party doesn't split in 1860, for starters. Since the main reason Douglas got the nomination was the feeling (his and others') that it was his turn, with him out of the picture, the party just nominates someone acceptable to the Southern hardliners.

The split was over the party platform, and took place before selecting a candidate. The Democrats could still split over whether support of slavery is in the program. The Republicans, southern Democrats, and Consitutional Union parties probably nominate the same men as in OTL. The northern Democrats probably nominate James Guthrie of Kentucky. Douglas ends up as Vice President or a member of Lincoln's cabinet.
 
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