{"title":"Reg Ankrom","description":"Reg Ankrom is a frequent writer and speaker about pre-Civil War Illinois and is working on two additional books on Stephen A. Douglas. He lives in Jacksonville, Illinois.","products":[{"product_id":"stephen-a-douglas-western-man-the-early-years-in-congress-1844-1850-paperback","title":"Stephen A. Douglas, Western Man: The Early Years in Congress, 1844-1850 - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e It didn't take long for freshman Congressman Stephen A. Douglas to see the truth of Senator Thomas Hart Benton's warning: slavery attached itself to every measure that came before the U.S. Congress. Douglas wanted to expand the nation into an ocean-bound republic. Yet slavery and the violent conflicts it stirred always interfered, as it did in 1844 with his first bill to organize Nebraska. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In 1848, when America acquired 550,000 square miles after the Mexican War, the fight began over whether the territory would be free or slave. Henry Clay, a slave owner who favored gradual emancipation, packaged territorial bills from Douglas's committee with four others. But Clay's \"Omnibus Bill\" failed. Exhausted, he left the Senate, leaving Douglas in control. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Within two weeks, Douglas won passage of all eight bills, and President Millard Fillmore signed the Compromise of 1850. It was Douglas's greatest legislative achievement. This book, a sequel to the author's \u003ci\u003eStephen A. Douglas: The Political Apprenticeship, 1833-1843\u003c\/i\u003e, fully details Douglas's early congressional career. The text chronicles how Douglas moved the issue of slavery from Congress to the ballot box.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67950968144095,"sku":"9781476673769","price":89.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ZgbAd4UBZo9781476673769.webp?v=1791600729"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/reg-ankrom.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}