The Freeport Doctrine was enacted by Stephen Douglas and stated that essentially slavery could be ended by the territories themselves. The uninformed refusal of the voters to enact laws to protect slave “property”. Essentially the territories not pushing for laws protecting their “property” means that slavery could ultimately be ended. If the people of a territory supported slavery, legislation should ultimately be provided for its continuation. Stephen Douglas this all during the Lincoln-Douglass debates, eventually it led to his loss in the 1860 presidential election. This was a retort to a question that Lincoln asked Douglas, and the South would recognize that Douglas did not truly support their ideals. Douglas was a Senator from Illinois,
