Douglas supported the doctorine of popular sovereignty.
The Northern and Southern Democrats differed over the party's platform on slavery in 1860 since the southerners wanted the party to defend slavery in the platform and Northerners wanted the platform to support popular sovereignty as a way of deciding whether a territory became a free state or a slave state.
popular sovereignty is the belief that the legitimacy of the state is created by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of every political power and the constitution does support it.
Popular sovereignty
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Because back around that time, there was no real divide between "Liberal" and "Conservative". Instead, the Republicans were most popular in the Northern States while the Democrats were most popular in the South, regardless of wealth. After the Civil War there was no slavery to support, but the 'Dixiecrats' (Southern Democrats) continued to refuse to support equal rights for freed slaves. For some time, Black Americans used to vote for Republicans because of Abraham Lincoln. It was Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal which persuaded them to support the Democrats, but the Democrats maintain the support of (racist) White Southerners until the 1960s.
In a lot of cases, almost all political parties try to fit popular sovereignty in some of their issues but want the government to solve others. For example, Democrats think people should be able to marry the same sex but shouldn't have a say in taxes. Republicans believe the opposite.
The independent
Northern Democrats supported civil rights and social welfare programs, while Southern Democrats supported segregation and states' rights. In the 1960s, Northern Democrats supported candidates like John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, while Southern Democrats supported candidates like George Wallace and Strom Thurmond.
The possibility of the spread of slavery in the US.
Popular sovereignty is the idea that the government is of the people. It means citizens are in power. Limited government stems from this idea that government is there to protect the people and popular sovereignty.
They thought that granting popular sovereignty would allow slavery