Stephen Douglas championed the railroad industry. As a senator, Douglas lobbied hard for a railroad with a terminus in Chicago. Douglas eventually sold land he owned in Chicago to the Illinois Central Railroad for its right-of-way.

Paige E. Wassel
Robinson High School, Robinson

Stephen A. Douglas was one of the most majestic figures in American history. . . He envisioned. . . the westward march of an adventurous people to the redemption of the wilderness. . .It was his statesmanship that made the States and Territories and ushered them into the council chamber of the nation; it was his prescience that planned the binding of the East and West with bands of steel, and it was he who led the way.

Claude G. Bowers, historian and diplomat

The great age of the railroad marked a turning point in American history. Land previously unreachable or unsettled became accessible for settlement, growth, and activity because of the railroad. Illinois particularly benefited from the prosperity of the railroad. However, without the help of a U.S. senator from Illinois, the railroad might never have reached its height of success in Illinois or perhaps across the United States. That senator's name was Stephen A. Douglas.

In the 1830s, the state of Illinois was caught up in "the craze for internal improvements" that was sweeping through many states, wrote historian Paul Gates. By 1837 the state legislature had drafted the Internal Improvement Bill providing more than $10 million for fifteen different projects to improve Illinois. Among these projects was the provision for a railroad that would stretch from the northwestern corner of the state to the southernmost point of the state. It would have been the longest line in the country at the time. Unfortunately, shortly after construction began, many factors discouraged its progress. The venture was deemed "too burdensome for a frontier state such as Illinois to undertake. . . " to use Gates's words, and little work was done for the money spent. Additionally, a depression left the state in debt, discouraged immigration into Illinois, and forced a tax increase.

Perhaps a part of this economic depression was due to the actions of individuals such as Darius B. Holbrook, John Hacker, and Sidney Breese, who were associated with the Great Western Railway Company. About 1836 these men planned to build a railroad from Galena to Cairo and used the Internal Improvement Bill as a means to collect funds for their project. In three years, $1 million of state funds had been spent on construction, yielding few results. The route chosen for the railroad avoided more populous towns and went through unsettled prairie regions. Bad choices had left the project in a shambles, and the state decided to stop its support. Unfortunately, by 1843, U.S. Senator Sidney Breese began to push in Congress a preemption bill proposed by Holbrook. This bill would have allowed the railroad company to act as a government agent; the company could force land owners to sell sections of land along the intended railroad line and the increase in property value would help to pay back the government loan. This scheme

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would cost the government more than $3 million. Stephen A. Douglas's opposition to the bill prevented it from passing.

Douglas saw two major problems with Holbrook's vision. First, a route from Cairo to Galena was not the most beneficial route for the people of Illinois. With the rise of Chicago as an industrial and urban force, it was clearly a better choice for the northern terminus of the railroad as opposed to Galena. Also it was suspected that Holbrook's chief concern in making Cairo the southern terminus was an attempt to protect his own land interests. Secondly, Douglas believed that preemption rights would fail to pay for railroad costs, and money would be better invested if the land was granted to the state instead of the railroad company. With these thoughts in mind, Douglas introduced his own bill for the expansion of the Illinois Central Railroad. He insisted that a direct grant of land to the state was necessary, and he supported a road from Galena to Cairo with the provision that a branch to Chicago be included. This bill failed in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Douglas lobbied for an alternate route by garnering support from Southern and Eastern delegates to Congress. Douglas redrafted the bill with the northern terminus of the line at Dubuque, Iowa, instead of Galena, thereby gaining Iowa's political support. He also proposed that the government would own alternate sections of land on the line, and the initial price on these sections would be raised since less land would need to be purchased. It was this redraft that was signed by the White House on September 20, 1850, marking "the first land-grant act of the federal government to aid the building of a railroad," in the words of historian Carlton Corliss.

Stephen Douglas was nicknamed "The Little Giant," for his diminutive stature and colossal political savvy.

The far-reaching effects of this act were unseen at the time but would be played out in the coming years. Growth in railway construction swept like a wildfire, stemming from the grant policy initiated by Douglas. The state of Illinois, once known for its prairie frontier, soon became known for its railroads, and its untamed prairie became settled and populated. Today, the Illinois Central Railroad's lines extend from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Stephen A. Douglas dreamed of a great westward expansion; unfortunately when he died, all his efforts to move the country west apparently had little influence. However, through his historic land-grant policy, he began a movement that eventually attracted people to the West. For more than twenty years the federal government continued to make land grants for the development of railway lines. Railway systems such as the Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Northern Pacific, the North Western, the Burlington, the Rock Island, and the Sante Fe became the most prominent lines in the United States. They owe their existence to Douglas, who according to Corliss, bound "the East and West with bands of steel."—[From Gerald M. Capers, Stephen A. Douglas; Carlton J. Corliss, Main Line of Mid-America; William Ferguson, "Illinois by Rail, 1855," Robert P. Sutton, ed., The Prairie State; Paul W. Gates, "Frontier Landlords and Pioneer Tenants" Clyde C. Walton, ed., An Illinois Reader; Paul W. Gates, The Illinois Central Railroad; George M. McConnel, "The Coming of the First Railroads," Robert P. Sutton, ed., The Prairie State; Fredrick Merk, History of the Westward Movement; Allan Nevins, "Stephen A. Douglas: His Weaknessess and His Greatness," Clyde C. Walton, ed.. An Illinois Reader.]

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