Freeport Doctrine: Douglas' response to Lincoln in the most famous of the debates at Freeport, Illinois was known as the "Freeport Doctrine." Lincoln's question was "Suppose the people of a territory should vote slavery down? The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision had decreed that they could not. Who would prevail, the Court of the people?" Douglas responded with "No matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down and this resulted in the defeat of Lincoln for the Senate seat.
In the election of 1860, southerners regarded Douglas as a traitor for his stand on the Freeport Doctrine
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