What is the term that was coined about a belief stated by Stephen Douglas that slavery could leagally...?

Question

be barred from the territories if the territorial legislatures simply refused to enact the type of police regulations necessary to make slavery work?

Answer 1

It was called the "Freeport Doctrine", because Douglas first articulated it in the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Freeport, Illinois (the second stop in their seven-city debate series), on August 27, 1858.

Douglas was responding to a challenge from Lincoln, who had pointed out that the Dred Scott decision of 1857 --which had said that Congress could NOT legislate about slavery in the territories -- undercut the "popular sovereignty" approach Douglas had been pushing for years, and which had been the basis for his "Kansas-Nebraska Act" in 1854. ("Popular" or "squatter sovereignty" meant that Congress allowed the RESIDENTS of a territory to decide whether it would be slave or free.)

In other words, Douglas was trying to RESCUE the "popular sovereignty" idea that the people could decide whether slavery would be allowed in or NOT.
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Here is Douglas's statement at Freeport:

". . . The next question propounded to me by Mr. Lincoln is, Can the people of a Territory in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State constitution? I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that in my opinion the people of a Territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State constitution. Mr Lincoln knew that I had answered that question over and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska bill on that principle all over the State in 1854, in 1855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse for pretending to be in doubt as to my position on that question. It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the local legislature; and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that body who will by unfriendly legislation effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract question, still the right of the people to make a Slave Territory or a Free Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln deems my answer satisfactory on that point."
http://www.bartleby.com/251/22.html

Note that this statement greatly angered many Southern Democrats (who were already upset with him for not agreeing with them, as President Buchanan had, in supporting the bogus pro-slavery "Lecompton Constitution" for Kansas). So much so that they set out to destroy his bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1860. Douglas had a clear majority, and would very likely have won the election (hence no Republican President, no secession, no Civil War), but this group organized a walkout by Southern delegations when THEIR Platform (which demanded that states' strongly support slavery) was not adopted... The split in the party (the Southern group chose its own nominee) handed the election to Lincoln.

More about the Freeport Doctrine
http://www.irakrakow.com/constitution/category/dred-scott/
http://militaryhistory.wetpaint.com/page/Battle+Of+Gettysburg?t=anon

Answer 2

I think you're referring to his philosopy of popular sovereignty.