Slavery through unfriendly legislation and the use of police power, in spite of the Supreme Court decision. Douglas believed that only a state, through the voice of its inhabitants and their elected legislatures, had the right to decide to allow slavery within its borders. Douglas argued that slavery was a dying institution that had reached its natural limits and could not thrive where climate and soil were inhospitable.
Douglas argued that slavery was a dying institution that had reached its natural limits and could not thrive where climate and soil were inhospitable. He asserted that the problem of slavery could best be resolved if it were treated as essentially a local problem