Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/314

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DOUGLAS

DOUGLAS, Silas Hamilton, chemist, was born in FiViioiiia. N.Y.. Oct. Hi, l><l<i; son of Benjamin and Liu-y i^Townsoud) Douj^las; grandson of Daniel and Lyilia (Donglas) Douj^Ias, iind of Samuel and Lyilia (Dyer) Townsend; and a descendant of Willianx (1G10-16S2) and Anne (Mattle) Douglas of Scotland, afterward of New London. Conn. He attended the academy in his native place and received the degree of M.D. from tlie College of physicians and surgeons, Baltimore. Md., in 184'2. He i)ractised medicine jn Dear born, Mich., 184:1-44; .served as assistant to the professor of ciiemistry at the Univer- sity of Micliigan. 1844-45; lecturer on chemis- try an.l geology, 184rM6; i)rofessorof chemistry, mineralogy and geology, 1846-51; of chemistry, pharmacy, medical juris;>rudence, geology and mineralogy. 1851-55; of chemistry, mineralogy, pharmacy and toxicology, 1855-70 ; of chemistrj-, 1870-75; and of metallurgy and chemical tech- nology, 1875-77. From 1870 to 1877 he was direc- tor of the chemical laboratory. He resigned liis college duties in 1877. He published: Tables for Qualitative Chemical Analysis (1864) ; and Quali- tative Chemical Analysis (with Prof. Albert B. Prescott, 1873; 3d ed., 1880). He died at Ann Arbor, Mich.. Aug. 26, 1890.

DOUGLAS, Stephen Arnold, statesman, was born in Brandon, Vt.. April 2:5, 1813; only son of Steplien Arnold and Sarah (Fisk) Douglas, and the fifth Stephen Arnold Douglas in direct line in tiie Douglas family. His father died suddenly of heart failure when his son was two months old and while holding the infant in his arms. His mother removed with the family to a farm where Stephen attended the district school and was brouglit up after the manner of farmers' sons. When fifteen years old he appren- ticed himself to a cab- inet maker and with the money earned by eighteen months'

work he attended the Brandon academy one year. His mother about this time was mar- ried to Hezekiah Granger, and his sister to ft son of his ster>-father and the two families removed to a farm near Clifton Springs, N.Y.. where Stephen entered the Canandaigua academy and pursued his law studies. In 1833 he visited Cleveland. Cincinnati. Louisville. St. Louis, and other towns in the new west, seeking a desirable field to complete his law studies and practise

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his chosen profession. At Winchester, TIL. he opened a school which he conducted for tiiree months, devoting Ids evenings to study. In March, 1834, he was licensed to practi.se law and opened an office in Jacksonville. He became well known as a political orator, and delivered an address, sustaining the administrative conduct of President Jackson, that commanded the attention of politicians. The legislature of Illinois elected him attorney-general of the state in 1835, which office he resigned in December, 1835, having been elected a state representative by the Demo- crats of Morgan county. In 1837 President Van Buren appointed him register of the land office at Springfield, 111., and he held the office two years. He was an unsuccessful candidate for representative in the 25th congress in 1837, being defeated \>y live votes after fifty votes for him had been rejected, his name on the ballot being misspelled. At this time the state had but three representatives in congress. In 1840 he entered the presidential campaign as a supporter of Martin Van Buren, during which he addressed over two hundred public meetings, mostly- in the open air. and as a result Van Buren carried the state. In December, 1840, he was appointed sec- retary of the state of Illinois and in February, 1841, was elected by the legislature a judge of the supreme court. In 1843 he resigned his .seat on the bench to become the Democratic candidate for representative in congress and he was elected to the 28th and re-elected to the 29th congresses, serving 1843-47. He was re-elected to the 30th congress in 1846, but before that congress assem- bled. Dec. 6, 1847, he was elected by the state legislature a senator in congress for six j'ears from March 4, 1847. He was re-elected in 1853 and again in 1859, after a memorable joint can- vass of the state with Abraham Lincoln, the Re- publican candidate, serving in tiie United States senate, 1847-61. In the house of representatives he opposed the demands of Great Britain in the Oregon controversj-, advocated the annexation of Texas, and sustained the administration of President Polk. He opposed the Cla^ton-Bulwer treaty and favored the annexation of Cuba if it could be accomplished lawfully and honorably. In 1854 Senator Douglas introduced and advo- cated the Kansas-Nebraska bill and incurred the bitter hatred of all abolitionists as well as extreme pro-slavery men Xty declaring slavery a question to be regulated by popular .sovereignty and not by Federal legislation. In the debates on the compromise measures of 1850, which he supported, he stood the peer of Clay and Webster. In 1858 and again in 1860 he travelled through the .southern states and encouraged the Union .sentiment in every way, denying the right of secession and counselling moderation and consti-