A Political History of the State of New York Volume II Part 1

A Political History of the State of NewYork.

by DeAlva Stanwood Alexander.

VOL. II

1833-1861

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. VAN BUREN AND ABOLITION. 1833-1837

II. SEWARD ELECTED GOVERNOR. 1836-1838

III. THE DEFEAT OF VAN BUREN FOR PRESIDENT. 1840

IV. HUMILIATION OF THE WHIGS. 1841-1842

V. DEMOCRATS DIVIDE INTO FACTIONS. 1842-1844

VI. VAN BUREN DEFEATED AT BALTIMORE. 1844

VII. SILAS WRIGHT AND MILLARD FILLMORE. 1844

VIII. THE RISE OF JOHN YOUNG. 1845-1846

IX. FOURTH CONSt.i.tUTIONAL CONVENTION. 1846

X. DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SILAS WRIGHT. 1846-1847

XI. THE FREE-SOIL CAMPAIGN. 1847-1848

XII. SEWARD SPLITS THE WHIG PARTY. 1849-1850

XIII. THE WHIGS' WATERLOO. 1850-1852

XIV. THE HARDS AND THE SOFTS. 1853

XV. A BREAKING-UP OF PARTY TIES. 1854

XVI. FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 1854-1855

XVII. FIRST REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR. 1856

XVIII. THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 1857-1858

XIX. SEWARD'S BID FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 1859-1860

XX. DEAN RICHMOND'S LEADERSHIP AT CHARLESTON. 1860

XXI. SEWARD DEFEATED AT CHICAGO. 1860

XXII. NEW YORK'S CONTROL AT BALTIMORE. 1860

XXIII. RAYMOND, GREELEY, AND WEED. 1860

XXIV. FIGHT OF THE FUSIONISTS. 1860

XXV. GREELEY, WEED, AND SECESSION. 1860-1861

XXVI. SEYMOUR AND THE PEACE DEMOCRATS. 1860-1861

XXVII. WEED'S REVENGE UPON GREELEY. 1861

XXVIII. LINCOLN, SEWARD, AND THE UNION. 1860-1861

XXIX. THE WEED MACHINE CRIPPLED. 1861

A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

CHAPTER I

VAN BUREN AND ABOLITION

1833-1837

After Van Buren's inauguration as Vice President, he made Washington his permanent residence, and again became the President's chief adviser. His eye was now intently fixed upon the White House, and the long, rapid strides, encouraged by Jackson, carried him swiftly toward the goal of his ambition. He was surrounded by powerful friends.

Edward Livingston, the able and accomplished brother of the Chancellor, still held the office of secretary of state; Benjamin F.

Butler, his personal friend and former law partner, was attorney-general; Silas Wright, the successor of Marcy, and Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, the eloquent successor of the amiable Dudley, were in the United States Senate. Among the members of the House, Samuel Beardsley and Churchill C. Cambreling, firm and irrepressible, led the Administration's forces with conspicuous ability. At Albany, Marcy was governor, Charles L. Livingston was speaker of the a.s.sembly, Azariah C. Flagg state comptroller, John A. Dix secretary of state, Abraham Keyser state treasurer, Edwin Croswell state printer and editor of the _Argus_, and Thomas W. Olcott the able financier of the Regency.

All were displaying a devotion to the President, guided by infinite tact, that distinguished them as the organisers and disciplinarians of the party. "I do not believe," wrote Thurlow Weed, "that a stronger political organisation ever existed at any state capital, or even at the national capital. They were men of great ability, great industry, indomitable courage, and strict personal integrity."[283]

[Footnote 283: _Autobiography of Thurlow Weed_, p. 103.]

John A. Dix seemed destined from the first to leave an abiding mark in history. Very early in life he was distinguished for executive ability. Although but a boy, he saw active service throughout the War of 1812, having been appointed a cadet at fourteen, an ensign at fifteen, and a second lieutenant at sixteen. After the war, he served as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Brown, living at Fortress Monroe and at Washington, until feeble health led to his resignation in 1828. Then he began the practice of law at Cooperstown. In 1830, when Governor Throop made him adjutant-general, he removed to Albany.

He was now twenty-six years old, an accomplished writer, a vigorous speaker, and as prompt and bold in his decisions as in 1861, when he struck the high, clear-ringing note for the Union in his order to shoot the first man who attempted to haul down the American flag. He was not afraid of any enterprise; he was not abashed by the stoutest opposition; he was not even depressed by failure. When the call came, he leaped up to sudden political action, and very soon was installed as a member of the Regency.

Dix had one great advantage over most of his contemporaries in political life--he was able to write editorials for the _Argus_. It took a keen pen to find an open way to its columns. Croswell needed a.s.sistance in these days of financial quakings and threatened party divisions, but he would accept it only from a master. Until this time, Wright and Marcy had aided him. Their love for variety of subject, characteristic, perhaps, of the gifted writer, presented widely differing themes, flavoured with humour and satire, making the paper attractive if not spectacular. To this work Dix, who had already published a _Sketch of the Resources of the City of New York_, now brought the freshness of a strong personality and the training of a scholar and linguist. He had come into public life under the influence of Calhoun, for whom the army expressed a decided preference in 1828; but he never accepted the South Carolinian's theory of nullification.

Dix had inherited loyalty from his father, an officer in the United States army, and he was quick to strike for his country when South Carolina raised the standard of rebellion in 1861.

There was something particularly attractive about John A. Dix in these earlier years. He had endured hardships and encountered dangers, but he had never known poverty; and after his marriage he no longer depended upon the law or upon office for life's necessities. Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, at the College of Montreal, and at St.