battleBATTLE OF CERRO GORDO."Captain Lee led the way, and showed the men just what to do. They lowered the cannons by ropes down the steep cliffs and hauled them up on the opposite hillside."
BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO."Captain Lee led the way, and showed the men just what to do. They lowered the cannons by ropes down the steep cliffs and hauled them up on the opposite hillside."
Early in August the American army had been increased to 11,000 men, and, leaving a small garrison at Puebla, Scott set out for the beautiful city of Mexico. No serious resistance offered until they reached Ayotla, fifteen miles from the capital. There it was found that the regular road bristled with forts, and, although there was no doubt that all could be carried, the American commander wisely decided to move his army around to the south, where he could advance over a comparatively undefended route. Without any difficulty he reached San Augustine, which was within ten miles of the capital.
Had the positions been changed, a force ten times as great as the Americans could not have captured the city of Mexico, and yet it fell before a force only one-third as numerous as the defenders.
A DAY OF VICTORIES.
The fighting began before sunrise, August 20, 1847, and when night came five distinct victories had been won. The fortified camp of Contreras was captured in about fifteen minutes. Shortly after the fortified village of San Antonio was taken by another division of the army. Almost at the same time, a division stormed one of the fortified heights of Churubusco, while still another captured the second height. Seeing the danger of his garrisons, Santa Anna moved out of the city and attacked the Americans. The reserves immediately assailed, drove him back, and chased him to the walls of the capital, into which the whole Mexican force crowded themselves at night.
It was in accordance with the nature of Santa Anna that he should set 2,000 convicts loose that night on the promise that they would fight against the Americans. Then he stole out of the city, whose authorities sent a delegation to Scott to treat for peace. This trick had been resorted to so many times by the Mexicans, who never kept faith, that the American commander refused to listen to them. An advance was made, and in a short time the city was completely in our possession.
SANTA ANNA.
At Puebla there were 2,000 Americans in the hospital under charge of a small guard. Santa Anna attacked them, thinking that at last he had found a foe whom he could beat; but he was mistaken, for reinforcements arrived in time to drive him away. This terminated for a time the career of the treacherous Santa Anna, with whom the Mexican people were thoroughly disgusted.
It is proper to state at this point that Santa Anna while in command of the Mexican army made a direct offer to General Taylor to betray his cause for a large sum of money, and he actually received an installment, but circumstances prevented the completeness of the bargain. This miscreant was president and dictator of Mexico in 1853-55, was banished and returned several times, and was still plotting to recover his power when he died, in his eighty-second year.
The capture of the capital of Mexico completed the victorious campaign. The entrance into the city was made September 14, 1847, the American flag raised over the palace, and General Scott, with a sweep of his sword over his head, while his massive frame made a striking picture in front of the palace, proclaimed the conquest of the country. All that remained was to arrange the terms of peace.
TERMS OF PEACE.
In the following winter, American ambassadors met the Mexican congress in session at Guadalupe Hidalgo, so named from the small town where it was situated. There was a good deal of discussion over the terms; our ambassadors insisting that Mexico should surrender the northern provinces, which included the present States of California, Nevada, Utah, and the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico and portions of Colorado and Wyoming, as indemnity for the war. Mexico would not consent, and matters drifted along until the 2d of February, 1848, when the new Mexican government agreed to these terms. The treaty was modified to a slight extent by the United States Senate, adopted on the 10th of March, ratified by the Mexican congress sitting at Queretaro, May 30th, and proclaimed by President Polk on the 4th of July. Thus ended our war with Mexico.
By the terms of the treaty, the United States was to pay Mexico $15,000,000, and assume debts to the extent of $3,000,000 due to American citizens from Mexico. These sums were in payment for the immense territory ceded to us. This cession, the annexation of Texas, and a purchase south of the Gila River in 1853, added almost a million square miles to our possessions, nearly equaling the Louisiana purchase and exceeding the whole area of the United States in 1783.
It may sound strange, but it is a fact, that the governing of the new territory caused so much trouble that more than once it was seriously proposed in Congress that Mexico should be asked to take it back again. General Sherman was credited with the declaration that if the identity of the man who caused the annexation of Texas could be established, he ought to be court-martialed and shot. However, all this changed when the vast capabilities and immeasurable worth of the new countries were understood. The section speedily developed a wealth, enterprise, and industry of which no one had before dreamed.
THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
The real peril involved in the acquisition of so much territory lay in the certainty that it would revive the slavery quarrel that had been put to sleep by the Missouri Compromise, nearly thirty years before. The North demanded that slavery should be excluded from the new territory, because it was so excluded by Mexican law, and to legalize it would keep out emigrants from the free States. The South demanded the authorization of slavery, since Southern emigrants would not go thither without their slaves. Still others proposed to divide the new territory by the Missouri Compromise line. This would have cut California in two near the middle, and made one part of the province slave and the other free. Altogether, it will be seen that trouble was at hand.
Before the outbreak of the Mexican War, Congressman David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, introduced the Proviso known by his name. It was a proposal to purchase the territory from Mexico, provided slavery was excluded. The introduction of the bill produced much discussion, and it was defeated by the opposition of the South.
THE OREGON BOUNDARY DISPUTE.
Great Britain and the United States had jointly occupied Oregon for twenty years, under the agreement that the occupancy could be ended by either country under a year's notice to the other. Many angry debates took place in Congress over the question whether such notice should be given. The United States claimed a strip of territory reaching to Alaska, latitude 54° 40', while Great Britain claimed the territory south of the line to the Columbia River. Congress as usual had plenty of wordy patriots who raised the cry of "Fifty-four forty or fight," and it was repeated throughout the country. Cooler and wiser counsels prevailed, each party yielded a part of its claims, and made a middle line the boundary. A minor dispute over the course of the boundary line after it reached the Pacific islets was amicably adjusted by another treaty in 1871.
STATES ADMITTED.
It has been stated that the bill for the admission of Iowa did not become operative until 1846. It was the fourth State formed from the Louisiana purchase, and was first settled by the French at Dubuque; but the post died, and no further settlements were made until the close of the Black Hawk War of 1832, after which the population increased with great rapidity.
Wisconsin was the last State formed from the old Northwest Territory. A few weak settlements were made by the French as early as 1668, but, as in the case of Iowa, its real settlement began after the Black Hawk War.
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.
James Smithson of England, when he died in 1829, bequeathed his large estate for the purpose of founding the Smithsonian Institution at Washington "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." In 1838, his estate, amounting to more than half a million dollars, was secured by a government agent and deposited in the mint. John Quincy Adams prepared a plan of organization, which was adopted.
The Smithsonian Institution, so named in honor of its founder, was placed under the immediate control of a board of regents, composed of the President, Vice-President, judges of the supreme court, and other principal officers of the government. It was provided that the entire sum, amounting with accrued interest to $625,000, should be loaned forever to the United States government at six per cent.; that from the proceeds, together with congressional appropriations and private gifts, proper buildings should be erected for containing a museum of natural history, a cabinet of minerals, a chemical laboratory, a gallery of art, and a library. The plan of organization was carried out, and Professor Joseph Henry of Princeton College, the real inventor of the electro-magnetic telegraph, was chosen secretary.
smithsonianTHE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.
For many years hardy hunters and trappers had penetrated the vast wilderness of the West and Northwest in their hunt for game and peltries. Some of these were in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company, whose grounds extended as far toward the Arctic Circle as the rugged men and toughened Indians could penetrate on their snowshoes.
At points hundreds of miles apart in the gloomy solitudes were erected trading posts to which the red men brought furs to exchange for trinkets, blankets, firearms, and firewater, and whither the white trappers made their way, after an absence of months in the dismal solitudes. Further south, among the rugged mountains and beside the almost unknown streams, other men set their traps for the beaver, fox, and various fur-bearing animals. Passing the Rocky Mountains and Cascade Range they pursued their perilous avocation along the headwaters of the rivers flowing through California. They toiled amid the snows and storms of the Sierras, facing perils from the Indians, savage beasts, and the weather, for pay that often did not amount to the wages received by an ordinary day laborer.
Little did those men suspect they were walking, sleeping, and toiling over a treasure bed; that instead of tramping through snow and over ice and facing the arctic blasts and vengeful red men, if they had dug into the ground, they would have found wealth beyond estimate.
gold sluiceGOLD WASHING—THE SLUICE.
GOLD WASHING—THE SLUICE.
The priests lived in the adobe haciendas that the Spanish had erected centuries before, and, as they counted their beads and dozed in calm happiness, they became rich in flocks and the tributes received from the simple-minded red men. Sometimes they wondered in a mild way at the golden trinkets and ornaments brought in by the Indians and were puzzled to know where they came from, but it seemed never to have occurred to the good men that they could obtain the same precious metal by using the pick and shovel. The years came and passed, and red men and white men continued to walk over California without dreaming of the immeasurable riches that had been nestling for ages under their feet.
One day in February, 1848, James W. Marshall, who had come to California from New Jersey some years before, and had been doing only moderately well with such odd jobs as he could pick up, was working with a companion at building a sawmill for Colonel John A. Sutter, who had immigrated to this country from Baden in 1834. Going westward, he founded a settlement on the present site of Sacramento in 1841. He built Fort Sutter on the Sacramento, where he was visited by Fremont on his exploring expedition in 1846.
Marshall and his companion were engaged in deepening the mill-race, the former being just in front of the other. Happening to look around, he asked:
"What is that shining near your boot?"
His friend reached his hand down into the clear water and picked up a bright, yellow fragment and held it between his fingers.
"It is brass," he said; "but how bright it is!"
"It can't be brass," replied Marshall, "for there isn't a piece of brass within fifty miles of us."
The other turned it over again and again in his hand, put it in his mouth and bit it, and then held it up once more to the light. Suddenly he exclaimed:
"I believe it's gold!"
"I wonder if that's possible," said Marshall, beginning to think his companion was right; "how can we find out?"
"My wife can tell; she has made some lye from wood-ashes and will test it."
gold cradleGOLD WASHING—THE CRADLE.
GOLD WASHING—THE CRADLE.
The man took the fragment to his wife, who was busy washing, and, at his request, she boiled it for several hours with the lye. Had it been brass—the only other metal it possibly could have been—it would have turned a greenish-black. When examined again, however, its beautiful bright lustre was undiminished. There was scarcely a doubt that it was pure gold.
The two men returned to the mill-race with pans, and washed out probably fifty dollars' worth of gold. Despite the certainty of his friend, Marshall was troubled by a fear that the fragment was neither brass nor gold, but some worthless metal of which he knew nothing. He carefully tied up all that had been gathered, mounted a fleet horse, and rode to Sutter's store, thirty miles down the American River.
Here he took Colonel Sutter into a private room and showed him what he had found, saying that he believed it to be gold. Sutter read up the account of gold in an encyclopedia, tested the substance with aqua fortis, weighed it, and decided that Marshall was right, and that the material he had found was undoubtedly gold.
It was a momentous discovery, repeated nearly a half-century later, when the same metal was found in enormous quantities in the Klondike region. Colonel Sutter and his companions tried to keep the matter a secret, but it was impossible. Marshall, being first on the ground, enriched himself, but by bad management lost all he had gained and died a poor man. Colonel Sutter tried to keep intruders off his property, but they came like the swarms of locusts that plagued Egypt. They literally overran him, and when he died, in 1880, he was without any means whatever; but California has since erected a handsome statue to his memory.
For the following ten or twenty years, it may be said, the eyes of the civilized world were upon California, and men rushed thither from every quarter of the globe. There was an endless procession of emigrant trains across the plains; the ships that fought the storms on their way around Cape Horn were crowded almost to gunwales, while thousands halved the voyage by trudging, across the Isthmus of Panama to the waiting ships on the other side. California became a mining camp and millions upon millions of gold were taken from her soil.
THE MORMONS.
By this time the Mormons engaged much public attention. Joseph Smith, of Sharon, Vermont, and Palmyra, New York, was the founder of the sect. He claimed to have found in a cave a number of engraved plates, containing the Mormon Bible, which was his guide in the formation of a new form of religious belief. Although polygamy was not commended, it was afterward added to their peculiar faith, which is that sins are remitted through baptism, and that the will of God was revealed to his prophet, Smith, as it was to be revealed to his successors.
The most grotesque farce in the name of religion is sure to find believers, and they soon gathered about Smith. The first Mormon conference was held at Fayette, N.Y., in 1830. As their number increased, they saw that the West offered the best opportunity for growth and expansion, and, when there were nearly 2,000 of them, they removed to Jackson, Missouri, where they made a settlement. Their practices angered the people, and, as soon as they could find a good pretext, the militia were called out and they were ordered to "move on."
Crossing the Mississippi into Illinois, they laid out a city which they named Nauvoo. Some of them were wealthy, and, as they held their means in common, they were able to erect a beautiful temple and numerous residences. Converts now flocked to them until they numbered fully 10,000. Their neighbors were displeased with their presence, and the feeling grew into indignation when the Mormons not only refused to obey the State laws, but defied them and passed laws of their own in open opposition. In the excitement that followed, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyram were arrested and lodged in jail at Carthage. Lynch-law was as popular in the West as it is to-day in the South, and a mob broke into the jail and killed the Smith brothers. This took place in June, 1844, and the Illinois Legislature annulled the charter of Nauvoo.
salt lake cityGREAT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.
GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.
The experience of the Mormons convinced them that they would never be allowed to maintain their organization in any of the States. They, therefore, gathered up their worldly goods, and, in 1846, set out on the long journey to the far West. Reaching the Basin of Utah, they founded Great Salt Lake City, which is one of the handsomest, best governed, and cleanest (in a physical sense) cities in the world.
While referring to these peculiar people, we may as well complete their history by anticipating events that followed.
In 1857, our government attempted to extend its judicial system over Utah Territory. Brigham Young, the successor of Joseph Smith, until then had not been disturbed, and he did not mean to be interfered with by any government. He insulted the Federal judges sent thither and drove them out of the Territory, his pretext being that the objectionable character of the judges justified the step. Our government, which is always patient in such matters, could not accept this explanation, and Alfred Cumming, superintendent of Indian affairs on the Upper Missouri, was made governor of Utah and Judge Delano Eckels, of Indiana, was appointed chief justice of the Territory. Knowing that he would be resisted, Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston was sent thither to compel obedience to the laws.
The United States troops, numbering 2,500, entered the Territory in October and were attacked by the Mormons, who destroyed their supply train and compelled the men to seek winter quarters near Fort Bridges. Affairs were in this critical state when a messenger from the President, in the spring of 1858, carried a conciliatory letter to Brigham Young, which did much to soothe his ruffled feelings. Then, by-and-by, Governor Powell of Kentucky and Major McCulloch of Texas appeared with a proclamation of pardon to all who would submit to Federal authority. The Mormons were satisfied, accepted the terms, and in May, 1860, the United States troops were withdrawn from the Territory.
Since that time our government has had many difficulties in dealing with the Mormons. Although polygamy is forbidden by the laws of the States and Territories, the sect continued to practice it. In March, 1882, Congress passed what is known as the Edmunds Act, which excluded Mormons from local offices which they had hitherto wholly controlled. Many persons were indicted and punished for the practice of polygamy, while others abandoned it. Brigham Young, who had become governor of Deseret in 1849, and two years later was appointed governor of Utah, died in 1877, at which time he was president of the Mormon church. The practice of polygamy was never fully eradicated, and Utah, at this writing, is represented in the United States Senate by men who make no attempt at concealing the fact that they are polygamists.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1848.
The former Democrats and Whigs who were friendly to the Wilmot Proviso formed the Free Soil party in 1848, to which also the Abolitionists naturally attached themselves. The regular Whigs and Democrats refused to support the Wilmot Proviso, through fear of alienating the South. The Free Soilers named as their nominees Martin Van Buren, for President, and Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President; the Democrats selected Louis Cass, of Michigan, for President, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky, for Vice-President; the Whig candidates were General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for President, and Millard Fillmore, of New York, for Vice-President. At the electoral vote Zachary Taylor was elected President and Millard Fillmore Vice-President.
Zachary Taylor—The "Irrepressible Conflict" in Congress—The Omnibus Bill—Death of President Taylor—Millard Fillmore—Death of the Old Leaders and Debut of the New—The Census of 1850—Surveys for a Railway to the Pacific—Presidential Election of 1852—Franklin Pierce—Death of Vice-President King—A Commercial Treaty Made with Japan—Filibustering Expeditions—The Ostend Manifesto—The "Know Nothing" Party—The Kansas Nebraska Bill and Repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
ZACHARY TAYLOR.
taylorZACHARY TAYLOR. (1784-1850.)One partial term, 1849-1850.
ZACHARY TAYLOR. (1784-1850.)One partial term, 1849-1850.
General Zachary Taylor, twelfth President of the United States, was born at Orange Court-House, Virginia, September 24, 1784, but, while an infant, his parents removed to Kentucky. His school education was slight, but he possessed fine military instincts and developed into one of the best of soldiers. His services in the war of 1812 and in that with Mexico have been told in their proper place. His defense of Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, during the last war with England, won him the title of major by brevet, that being the first time the honor was conferred in the American army.
No man could have been less a politician than "Old Rough and Ready," for he had not cast a vote in forty years. Daniel Webster characterized him as an "ignorant frontier colonel," and did not conceal his disgust over his nomination by the great party of which the New England orator was the leader. It was Taylor's brilliant services in Mexico, that made him popular above all others with the masses, who are the ones that make and unmake presidents. Besides, a great many felt that Taylor had not been generously treated by the government, and this sentiment had much to do with his nomination and election.
THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT.
The "irrepressible conflict" between slavery and freedom could not be postponed, and when, on the 13th of February, 1850, the President sent to Congress the petition of California for admission as a State, the quarrel broke out afresh. The peculiar character of the problem has already been stated. A part of California lay north and a part south of 36° 30', the dividing line between slavery and freedom as defined by the Missouri Compromise, thirty years, before. Congress, therefore, had not the power to exclude slavery, and the question had to be decided by the people themselves. They had already done so by inserting a clause in the Constitution which prohibited slavery.
There were violent scenes on the floor of Congress. General Foote, of Mississippi, was on the point of discharging a pistol at Colonel Benton, of Missouri, when bystanders seized his arm and prevented. Weapons were frequently drawn, and nearly every member went about armed and ready for a deadly affray. The South threatened to secede from the Union, and we stood on the brink of civil war.
THE COMPROMISE OF 1850.
It was at this fearful juncture that Henry Clay, now an old man, submitted to the Senate his famous "Omnibus Bill," so called because of its many features, which proposed a series of compromises as follows: the admission of California as a State, with the Constitution adopted by her people (which prohibited slavery); the establishment of territorial governments over all the other newly acquired Territories, with no reference to slavery; the abolishment of all traffic in slaves in the District of Columbia, but declaring it inexpedient to abolish slavery there without the consent of the inhabitants and also of Maryland; the assumption of the debts of Texas; while all fugitive slaves in the free States should be liable to arrest and return to slavery.
John C. Calhoun, the Southern leader, was earnestly opposed to the compromise, but he was ill and within a few weeks of death, and his argument was read in the Senate by Senator Mason. Daniel Webster supported the measure with all his logic and eloquence, and it was his aid extended to Clay that brought about the passage of the bill, all the sections becoming laws in September, 1850, and California, conquered from Mexico in 1846, took her place among the sisterhood of States. Webster's support of the fugitive slave law lost him many friends in the North, and, has been stated, rendered his election to the presidency impossible.
On the 4th of July, 1850, the remains from Kosciusko's tomb were deposited in the monument in Washington, and President Taylor was present at the ceremonies. The heat was terrific and caused him great distress. On his return home he drank large quantities of ice-water and milk, though he was warned against the danger of doing so. A fatal illness followed, and he died on the 9th of July. Vice-President Fillmore was sworn into office on the following day.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
fillmoreMILLARD FILLMORE. (1800-1874.)One partial term, 1850-53.
MILLARD FILLMORE. (1800-1874.)One partial term, 1850-53.
Millard Fillmore, the thirteenth President, was born at Summer Hill, New York, February 7, 1800. He learned the fuller's trade, afterward taught school, and, studying law, was admitted to the bar in Buffalo, where he attained marked success. He was State comptroller for one term and served in Congress for four terms. He died in Buffalo, March 7, 1874. Fillmore was a man of good ability, but the inferior of many of those who preceded him in the exalted office. He was a believer in the compromise measures of Clay, and performed his duties conscientiously and acceptably.
Fillmore's administration is notable for the fact that it saw the passing away of the foremost leaders, Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, with others of less prominence. They were succeeded in Congress by the anti-slavery champions, William H. Seward, of New York; Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts; and Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio. From the South, too, came able men, in Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi; John Y. Mason, of Louisiana; and others. The giants had departed and their mantles fell upon shoulders that were not always able to wear them as fittingly as their predecessors.
The slavery agitation produced its natural effect in driving many of the Southern Whigs into the Democratic party, while a few Northern Democrats united with the Whigs, who, however, were so disrupted that the organization crumbled to pieces after the presidential election of 1852, and, for a time, no effective opposition to the Democratic party seemed possible.
THE NEED OF A TRANS-CONTINENTAL RAILROAD.
The population of the United States in 1840 was 23,191,876. General prosperity prevailed, but all felt the urgent need of a railroad connecting Missouri and California. The Pacific coast had become a leading part of the Union and its importance was growing every year. But the building of such a railway, through thousands of miles of wilderness, across lofty mountains and large rivers, was an undertaking so gigantic and expensive as to be beyond the reach of private parties, without congressional assistance. Still all felt that the road must be built, and, in 1853, Congress ordered surveys to be made in order to find the best route. The building of the railway, however, did not begin until the War for the Union was well under way.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1852.
When the time arrived for presidential nominations, the Democratic convention met in Baltimore, June 12, 1852. The most prominent candidates were James Buchanan, Stephen A. Douglas, Lewis Cass, and William L. Marcy. There was little variance in their strength for thirty-five ballots, and everybody seemed to be at sea, when the Virginia delegation, on the next ballot, presented the name of Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire.
"Who is Franklin Pierce?" was the question that went round the hall, but, on the forty-ninth ballot, he received 282 votes to 11 for all the others, and the question was repeated throughout the United States. Pierce's opponent was General Winfield Scott, the commander-in-chief in the Mexican War, who had done fine service in the War of 1812, and ranks among the foremost military leaders of our country. But, personally, he was unpopular, overbearing in his manners, a martinet, and without any personal magnetism. No doubt he regarded it as an act of impertinence for Pierce, who had been his subordinate in Mexico, to presume to pit himself against him in the political field. But the story told by the November election was an astounding one and read as follows:
Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, Democrat, 254; Winfield Scott, of New Jersey, Whig, 42; John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, Free Democrat, 0; Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, Whig, 0. For Vice-President: William R. King, of Alabama, Democrat, 254; William A. Graham, of North Carolina, Whig, 42; George W. Julian, of Indiana, Free Democrat, 0.
The Whig convention which put Scott in nomination met also in Baltimore, a few days after the Democratic convention. Webster was confident of receiving the nomination, and it was the disappointment of his life that he failed. The "Free Democrats," who placed candidates in nomination, represented those who were dissatisfied with the various compromise measures that had been adopted by Congress. The only States carried by Scott were Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
pierceFRANKLIN PIERCE. (1804-1869.)One term, 1853-1857.
FRANKLIN PIERCE. (1804-1869.)One term, 1853-1857.
Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth President, was born at Hillsborough, New Hampshire, November 23, 1804. Upon his graduation from Bowdoin College, he became a successful lawyer. He always showed a fondness for military matters, though not to the extent of neglecting politics and his profession. He was elected to his State Legislature and was a member of Congress from 1833 to 1837, and, entering the Senate in 1839, he remained until 1842, afterward declining a cabinet appointment from President Polk. He volunteered in the Mexican War, commanded a brigade, and showed great gallantry in several battles. He died October 8, 1869.
Mr. King, the Vice-President, was in such feeble health that he took the oath of office in Cuba, and, returning to his native State, died April 18, 1853, being the first vice-president to die in office. One remarkable fact should be stated regarding the administration of Pierce: there was not a change in his cabinet throughout his whole term, the only instance of the kind thus far in our history.
A TREATY WITH JAPAN.
It seems strange that until a few years, Japan was a closed nation to the world. Its people refused to have anything to do with any other country, and wished nothing from them except to be let alone. In 1854, Commodore M.C. Perry visited Japan with an American fleet and induced the government to make a commercial treaty with our own. This was the beginning of the marvelous progress of that country in civilization and education, which forms one of the most astonishing records in the history of mankind. Japan's overwhelming defeat of China, whose population is ten times as great as our own; her acceptance of the most advanced ideas of civilization, and the wisdom of her rulers have carried her in a few years to a rank among the leading powers and justified the appellation of the "Yankees of the East," which is sometimes applied to her people.
FILIBUSTERING.
Pierce's administration was marked by a number of filibustering expeditions against Spanish possessions in the West Indies. None of them succeeded, and a number of the leaders were shot by the Spanish authorities. The American government offered to purchase Cuba of Spain, but that country indignantly replied that the mints of the world had not coined enough gold to buy it. Could she have foreseen the events of 1898, no doubt she would have sold out for a moderate price.
In August, 1854, President Pierce directed Mr. Buchanan, minister to England, Mr. Mason, minister to France, and Mr. Soule, envoy to Spain, to meet at some convenient place and discuss the question of obtaining possession of Cuba. These distinguished gentlemen met at Ostend on the 9th of October, and adjourned to Aix-la-Chapelle, from which place they issued, on the 18th of October, what is known as the "Ostend Manifesto or Circular," in which they recommended the purchase of Cuba, declaring that, if Spain refused to sell, the United States would be justified "by every law, human and divine," in wresting it from her. This declaration, for which there was no justification whatever, caused angry protest in Europe and in the free States of our country, but was ardently applauded in the South. Nothing came of it, and the country soon became so absorbed in the slavery agitation that it was forgotten.
THE "KNOW NOTHINGS."
Patriotic men, who feared what was coming, did all in their power to avert it. One of these attempts was the formation of the "Know Nothing" party, which grew up like a mushroom and speedily acquired a power that enabled it to carry many local elections in the various States. It was a secret organization, the members of which were bound by oath to oppose the election of foreign-born citizens to office. The salutation, when one member met another, was, "Have you seen Sam?" If one of them was questioned about the order, his reply was that he knew nothing, from which the name was given to what was really the Native American party. It soon ran its course, but has been succeeded in its cardinal principles by the American Protective Association of the present day.
mottLUCRETIA MOTT (1793-1880.)The advance agent of emancipation.
LUCRETIA MOTT (1793-1880.)The advance agent of emancipation.
Meanwhile, the slavery question was busy at its work of disintegration. The Democratic party was held together for a time by the Compromise of 1850, to the effect that the inhabitants of the new Territories of New Mexico and Utah should be left to decide for themselves the question of slavery. In a few years the settlements in Nebraska and Kansas made it necessary to erect territorial governments there, and the question of slavery was thus brought before Congress again. The Missouri Compromise forbade slavery forever in those sections, for both of them lie to the north parallel of 36° 30'. Stephen A. Douglas, however, and a number of other Democratic leaders in Congress claimed that the Compromise of 1850 nullified this agreement, and that the same freedom of choice should be given to the citizens of Kansas and Nebraska as was given to those in Utah and New Mexico. This policy was called "Squatter Sovereignty."
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
The bill was bitterly fought in Congress, but it passed the Senate by a vote of thirty-seven to fourteen, and after another fierce struggle was adopted in the House by a vote of 113 to 100. It received several amendments, and the President signed it May 31, 1854. Thus the Missouri Compromise was repealed and the first note of civil war sounded. The question of slavery was opened anew, and could never be closed without the shedding of blood to an extent that no one dreamed.
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.
beecherHENRY WARD BEECHER.The Great Pulpit Orator andAnti-Slavery Agitator.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.The Great Pulpit Orator andAnti-Slavery Agitator.
Meanwhile, two State governments had been formed. The pro-slavery men met at Lecompton, in March, and adopted a Constitution permitting slavery. Their opponents assembled in Lawrence, August 15th, and elected delegates, who came together in October and ratified the Topeka Constitution, which forbade slavery. In January, 1856, the people held an election under this Constitution. 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 constitution 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 assaulted. In May, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, for utterances made in debate, was savagely assaulted 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.
buchananJAMES BUCHANAN. (1791-1868.)One term, 1857-1861.
JAMES BUCHANAN. (1791-1868.)One term, 1857-1861.
James Buchanan, fifteenth President, was born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1791, and graduated from Dickinson 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 titles 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 passed 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.
mottLUCRETIA 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.
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 Constitution 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 shore. 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 succumb. Several made a break, but were shot down. Brown retreated to an engine-house with his wounded and prisoners and held his assailants 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.