The Greater Republic Part 33

FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

The enforcement of the fugitive slave law was resisted in the North and numerous conflicts took place. During the attempted arrest of Anthony Burns in Boston a deputy-sheriff was shot dead, and Federal troops from Rhode Island had to be summoned before Burns could be returned to slavery. Former political opponents began uniting in both sections. In the North the opponents of slavery, comprising Democrats, Free-Soilers, Know Nothings, Whigs, and Abolitionists, joined in the formation of the "Anti-Nebraska Men," and under that name they elected, in 1854, a majority of the House of Representatives for the next Congress. Soon after the election, the new organization took the name of Republicans, by which they are known to-day. Its members, with a few exceptions among the Germans in Missouri and the Ohio settlers in western Virginia, belonged wholly to the North.

CIVIL WAR IN KANSAS.

Kansas became for the time the battle-ground between slavery and freedom. Societies in the North sent emigrants into Kansas, first furnishing them with Bibles and rifles, while the pro-slavery men swarmed thither from Missouri, and the two parties fought each other like Apache Indians. In the midst of the civil war, a territorial legislature was formed, and in many instances the majority of the candidates elected was double that of the voting population in the district. Governor A.H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, had been appointed governor of the Territory, and, finding himself powerless to check the anarchy, went to Washington in April, 1855, to consult with the government. While there he was nominated for Congress, and defeated by the fraudulent votes of the pro-slavery men.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HENRY WARD BEECHER.

The Great Pulpit Orator and Anti-Slavery Agitator.]

Meanwhile, two State governments had been formed. The pro-slavery men met at Lecompton, in March, and adopted a Const.i.tution permitting slavery. Their opponents a.s.sembled in Lawrence, August 15th, and elected delegates, who came together in October and ratified the Topeka Const.i.tution, which forbade slavery. In January, 1856, the people held an election under this Const.i.tution. In the same month President Pierce sent a message to Congress, in which he declared the formation of a free State government in Kansas an act of rebellion, while that adopted at Lecompton was the valid government. Governor Reeder was superseded by William Shannon. A committee sent by Congress into the Territory to investigate and report could not agree, and nothing came of it.

The civil war grew worse. A free State government, with General Joseph Lane as its head and supported by a well-armed force, was formed at Lawrence. The town was sacked and almost destroyed, May 20, 1856. On the 4th of July following, the free State Legislature was dispersed by Federal troops, upon order of the national government.

John W. Geary now tried his hand as governor. His first step was to call upon both parties to disarm, and neither paid any attention to him. Finding he could not have the support of the President in the vigorous policy he wished to adopt, Governor Geary resigned and was succeeded by Robert J. Walker of Mississippi. He showed a disposition to be fair to all concerned, but, before he could accomplish anything, he was turned out to make room for J.W. Denver. He was soon disgusted and gave way to Samuel Medary. Before long, it became evident that the influx of northern settlers must overcome the pro-slavery men, and the struggle was given up by the latter. A const.i.tution prohibiting slavery was ratified in 1859 and Charles Robinson elected governor.

VIOLENT SCENES IN CONGRESS.

Nebraska lies so far north that it was not disturbed. Acts of disgraceful violence took place in Congress, challenges to duels being exchanged, personal collisions occurring on the floor, while most of the members went armed, not knowing what minute they would be a.s.saulted. In May, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner, of Ma.s.sachusetts, for utterances made in debate, was savagely a.s.saulted by Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, and received injuries from which he did not recover for several years. Brooks was lionized in the South for his brutal act and re-elected to Congress by an overwhelming majority.

The Republican party was growing rapidly in strength, and in 1856 it placed its candidates in the field and astonished the rest of the country by the vote it rolled up, as shown in the following statistics:

James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, Democrat, 174; John C. Fremont, of California, Republican, 114; Millard Fillmore, of New York, Native American, 8. For Vice-President, John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, Democrat, 174; William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, Republican, 114; A.J.

Donelson, of Tennessee, Native American, 8.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAMES BUCHANAN.

(1791-1868.) One term, 1857-1861.]

James Buchanan, fifteenth President, was born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1791, and graduated from d.i.c.kinson College in 1809. He became a lawyer, was elected to the State Legislature and to Congress in 1821. Thenceforward, he was almost continuously in office.

President Jackson appointed him minister to Russia in 1832, but, soon returning home, he was elected to the United States Senate in 1834. He left that body, in 1845, to become Polk's secretary of State. In 1853, he was appointed minister to England, where he remained until his election to the presidency in 1856. He died at his home in Lancaster, June 1, 1868. The many honors conferred upon Buchanan prove his ability, though he has been often accused of showing timidity during his term of office, which was of the most trying nature. He was the only bachelor among our Presidents.

STATES ADMITTED.

Minnesota was admitted to the Union in 1858. It was a part of the Louisiana purchase. Troubles over the Indian t.i.tles delayed its settlement until 1851, after which its growth was wonderfully rapid.

Oregon was admitted in 1859. The streams of emigration to California overflowed into Oregon, where some of the precious metal was found. It was learned, however, in time that Oregon's most valuable treasure mine was in her wheat, which is exported to all parts of the world. Kansas, of which we have given an account in the preceding pages, was quietly admitted, directly after the seceding Senators abandoned their seats, their votes having kept it out up to that time. The population of the United States in 1860 was 31,443,321. Prosperity prevailed everywhere, and, but for the darkening shadows of civil war, the condition of no people could have been more happy and promising.

THE DRED SCOTT DECISION.

Dred Scott was the negro slave of Dr. Emerson, of Missouri, a surgeon in the United States army. In the discharge of his duty, his owner took him to military posts in Illinois and Minnesota. Scott married a negro woman in Minnesota, and both were sold by Dr. Emerson upon his return to Missouri. The negro brought suit for his freedom on the ground that he had been taken into territory where slavery was forbidden. The case pa.s.sed through the various State courts, and, reaching the United States Supreme Court, that body made its decision in March, 1857.

This decision was to the effect that negro slaves were not citizens, and no means existed by which they could become such; they were simply property like household goods and chattels, and their owner could take them into any State in the Union without forfeiting his ownership in them. It followed also from this important decision that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 were null and void, since it was beyond the power of the contracting parties to make such agreements. Six of the justices concurred in this decision and two dissented.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LUCRETIA MOTT PROTECTING THE NEGRO DANGERFIELD FROM THE MOB IN PHILADELPHIA.

When Daniel Dangerfield, a fugitive slave, was tried in Philadelphia, Lucretia Mott sat during all his trial by the side of the prisoner. When the trial was ended Dangerfield was set at liberty, and Mrs. Mott walked out of the court-room and through the mob which threatened to lynch him, her hand on the colored man's arm, and that little hand was a sure protector, for no one dared to touch him.]

This decision was received with delight in the South and repudiated in the North. The contention there was that the Const.i.tution regarded slaves as "persons held to labor" and not as property, and that they were property only by State law.

JOHN BROWN'S RAID.

While the chasm between the North and South was rapidly growing wider, a startling occurrence took place. John Brown was a fanatic who believed Heaven had appointed him its agent for freeing the slaves in the South.

He was one of the most active partisans on the side of freedom in the civil war in Kansas, and had been brooding over the subject for years, until his belief in his mission became unshakable.

Brown's plan was simple, being that of invading Virginia with a small armed force and calling upon the slaves to rise. He believed they would flock around him, and he fixed upon Harper's Ferry as the point to begin his crusade.

Secretly gathering a band of twenty men, in the month of October, 1859, he held them ready on the Maryland sh.o.r.e. Late on Sunday night, the 16th, they crossed the railway bridge over the Potomac, seized the Federal armory at Harper's Ferry, stopped all railroad trains, arrested a number of citizens, set free such slaves as they came across, and held complete possession of the town for twenty-four hours.

Brown acted with vigor. He threw out pickets, cut the telegraph wires, and sent word to the slaves that their day of deliverance had come and they were summoned to rise. By this time the citizens had themselves risen, and, attacking the invaders, drove them into the armory, from which they maintained fire until it became clear that they must succ.u.mb.

Several made a break, but were shot down. Brown retreated to an engine-house with his wounded and prisoners and held his a.s.sailants at bay all through Monday and the night following.

News having been sent to Washington, Colonel Robert E. Lee arrived Tuesday morning with a force of marines and land troops. The local militia of Virginia had also been called out. The situation of Brown was hopeless, but he refused to surrender. Colonel Lee managed matters with such skill that only one of his men was shot, while Brown was wounded several times, his two sons killed, and others slain. The door of the engine-house was battered in and the desperate men overpowered. The enraged citizens would have rended them to pieces, had they been allowed, but Colonel Lee protected and turned them over to the civil authorities. Brown and his six companions were placed on trial, found guilty of what was certainly an unpardonable crime, and hanged on the 2d of December, 1859.

Many in the South believed that the act of Brown was planned and supported by leading Republicans, but such was not the fact, and they were as earnest in condemnation of the mad proceeding as the extreme slavery men, but John Brown's raid served to fan the spark of civil war that was already kindled and fast growing into a flame.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HARPER'S FERRY]

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860.

The presidential campaigns that had been pressed heretofore with a certain philosophic good nature, now a.s.sumed a tragic character. The South saw the growing preponderance of the North. New States were continually forming out of the enormous territory in the West, the opposition to slavery was intensifying, and its overthrow was certain.

Senator Seward had announced the "irrepressible conflict" between freedom and the inst.i.tution, and the only remedy the South saw lay in secession from the Union, for they loved that less than slavery. They announced their unalterable intention of seceding in the event of the election of a president of Republican principles. The Republicans placed Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, in nomination. Jefferson Davis saw that the only way of defeating him was by uniting all the opposing parties into one. He urged such a union, but the elements would not fuse.

The Democratic convention a.s.sembled in Charleston in April, 1860, and had hardly come together when the members began quarreling over slavery.

Some of the radicals insisted upon the adoption of a resolution favoring the opening of the slave trade, in retaliation for the refusal of the North to obey the fugitive slave law. This measure, however, was voted down, and many were in favor of adopting compromises and making concessions for the sake of the Union. Stephen A. Douglas was their candidate, but no agreement could be made, and the convention split apart. The extremists were not satisfied with "squatter sovereignty,"

and, determined to prevent the nomination of Douglas, they withdrew from the convention. Those who remained, after balloting some time without result, adjourned to Baltimore, where, on the 18th of June, they placed Douglas in nomination, with Herschel V. Johnson as the nominee for Vice-President. Their platform was the doctrine that the people of each Territory should settle the question of slavery for themselves, but they expressed a willingness to abide by the decision of the Supreme Court.

The seceding delegates adjourned to Richmond, and again to Baltimore, where, June 28th, they nominated John C. Breckinridge for President and Joseph Lane for Vice-President. Their platform declared unequivocally in favor of slavery being protected in all parts of the Union, where the owners chose to take their slaves.

The American party, which called themselves Const.i.tutional Unionists, had already met in Baltimore, and nominated John Bell for President and Edward Everett for Vice-President. Their platform favored the "Const.i.tution, the Union, and the enforcement of the laws." This platform was of the milk-and-water variety, appealing too weakly to the friends and opponents of slavery to develop great strength. The question of African slavery had become the burning one before the country, and the people demanded that the political platforms should give out no uncertain sound.

Amid uncontrollable excitement, the presidential election took place with the following result:

Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, Republican, 180; Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, Democrat, 12; John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, Democrat, 72; John Bell, of Tennessee, Union, 39. For Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, Republican, 180; Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, Democrat, 12; Joseph Lane, of Oregon, Democrat, 72; Edward Everett, of Ma.s.sachusetts, Union, 39.

On the popular vote, Lincoln received 866,352; Douglas, 1,375,157; Breckinridge, 845,763; Bell, 589,581. Lincoln had the electoral votes of all the Northern States, except a part of New Jersey; Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee supported Bell, while most of the Southern States voted for Breckinridge. The Democratic party, which, with the exception of the break in 1840 and 1848, had controlled the country for sixty years, was now driven from the field.