And yet, he attended Lincoln’s inaugural, while others in his party plotted to assassinate Lincoln before he took the oath.
In fact, he held Lincoln’s hat while he spoke at the Inaugural.
I’ve read all the Lincoln-Douglas debates. He was a very eloquent and honorable man, IMO, just very mistaken.
After the first returns came in and it was obvious Lincoln would be elected, Douglas toured the South, including the Deep South, trying by his words to calm the fervor in that section. It was done at great personal risk, and damage to his health from which he never recovered.
In fact, it’s not entirely inaccurate to say that he worked himself to death trying to save the Union and prevent war. When secession came anyway, he opposed it strongly, and when war started, he did everything he could to rally Democrats to support the war effort. When Lincoln was working on his proclamation calling for 75,000 troops, Douglas suggested he call instead for 200,000.
He died shortly thereafter.