I )( ire LAS
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
^. yr{}ptuv6t^ .
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-
