Episode 6: The Railsplitter's Shadow

The Also-Rans

The Also-Rans
Episode 6: The Railsplitter's Shadow
Nov 17, 2021 Season 1 Episode 6
Mark A. Lempke

Just about everything we know about Stephen Douglas can be tied back to the man who defeated him for the presidency, Abraham Lincoln. No other also-ran is defined, in popular memory, by his opponent quite so much as he. With help from special guest Tim Connors, we will look at Douglas as a frontier stump-speaker, an advocate of American expansion, and finally, a staunch defender of the Union at the onset of civil war.