In this case, moreover, the inadequate conception of democracy was much more traditionally American than was an exclusive preoccupation either with natural or legal rights; and according to its chief advocate it would have the magical result of permitting the expansion of slavery, and of preserving the Constitutional Union, without doing any harm to democracy.
This was the theory of Popular Sovereignty, whose ablest exponent was Stephen Douglas.

About 1850, he became the official leader of the Western Democracy.

This section of the party no longer controlled the organization as it did in the days of Jackson; but it was still powerful and influential.

It persisted in its loyalty to the Union coupled with its dislike of nationalizing organization; and it persisted, also, in its dislike of any interference with the individual so long as he was making lawful money.

The legal right to own slaves was from their point of view a right like another; and not only could it not be taken away from the Southern states, but no individual should be deprived of it by the national government.