William Alexander Richardson was a prominent Illinois Democratic politician before and during the American Civil War. A protege of Stephen Douglas Richardson was an ardent proponent of Jacksonian Democracy, Popular sovereignty, and Strict constructionism. During the American Civil War he initially supported the conflict, but soon became a member of the Copperhead wing of the Democratic party and a bitter critic of President Abraham Lincoln.

Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln. Douglas had previously defeated Lincoln in the 1858 United States Senate election in Illinois, known for the pivotal Lincoln–Douglas debates. He was one of the brokers of the Compromise of 1850 which sought to avert a sectional crisis; to further deal with the volatile issue of extending slavery into the territories, Douglas became the foremost advocate of popular sovereignty, which held that each territory should be allowed to determine whether to permit slavery within its borders. This attempt to address the issue was rejected by both pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates. Douglas was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature but a forceful and dominant figure in politics.