g admitted to the bar during the following year, 1834, he
opened an office and began practicing in the higher courts where he was
eminently successful, acquiring a lucrative practice, and HE WAS ELECTED
ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE STATE BEFORE HE WAS TWENTY-TWO.

He soon became a member of the legislature, taking his seat as the
youngest member in that body. He was the Democratic nominee for
Congress before he had acquired the required age, however, his
twenty-fifth birthday occurred before election, thus this obstacle was
removed. In his district a most spirited canvass took place, and out of
over thirty-five thousand votes cast, his opponent was declared elected
by only five. He was appointed register of the land office at
Springfield, but resigned this position in 1889. He became Secretary of
State the following year, and in 1841 was elected a judge of the Supreme
Court at the age of twenty-eight. This position he also resigned two
years after to represent his district in congress where he was returned
by successive elections until 1848.

He was recognized as one of the able members while in the national
legislature, and his speeches on the Oregon question are models. He next
became a Senator from his State, and supported President Polk in the
Mexican war. As is well-known he was the father of the Kansas-Nebraska
act, popularly known as 'Squatter Sovereignty,' carrying the measure
through in spite of great opposition.

He was a strong candidate for the Democratic nomination for the
presidency in 1852, and his strength was still more developed four years
later when he was the favorite candidate save one, James Buchanan, who
finally received the honor. At the end of the next four years he was
nominated by the convention meeting at Charleston, and was the unanimous
choice of the northern wing of the Democracy, but bitterly opposed by
the Southern faction, who nominated Mr. Breckinridge at a separate
convention. This caused a split in the Democratic vote, and Mr. Lincoln
was elected on a minority of the total vote cast.

Stephen A. Douglass however, like Webster and Clay, needed not the
honor of occupying the presidential chair to make his name illustrious.
He was remarkably successful in the promotion of his State's interest in
Congress. To him is due the credit of securing the splendid grant of
land which brought about the successful operation of the Illinois
Central railroad which contributed so much toward the weakene