1852.]

GENERAL PIERCE ELECTED PRESIDENT.

367

The ships were frozen fast on the coast of Greenland, where they passed the first winter. During the following summer the shores of that desolate region were explored to a greater extent than ever before, but the ships could neither advance nor withdraw. The winter of 1854-55 was one of fearful suffering, many of the explorers dying of hunger and disease. The vessels not returning, an expedition was sent in search of Kane.

Meanwhile, Kane, finding his vessels could not be extricated, set out with his men in open boats, and after a voyage of thirteen hundred miles reached a Danish settlement in Greenland, where they were found by the relief expedition. They arrived in New York, October 11, 1855, bringing no tidings of Sir John Franklin, but adding greatly to our store of knowledge of those inhospitable regions.

During the early part of Lieutenant De Haven's absence, Captain McClure, who had been dispatched by England to search for Franklin, entered the Arctic Ocean from the Pacific, through Behring's Strait, and pushing eastward, discovered the long-sought north-west passage round the Arctic coast of America. The country, however, is so blocked with ice and is so desolate that the route can never be of any practical use.

The democratic convention for the nomination of a candidate for the presidency met in Baltimore on the 1st of June, 1852. The chief candidates were James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, Lewis Cass of Michigan, William L. Marcy of New York and Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. At the beginning, Buchanan led, but at the forty-ninth ballot General Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire received all the votes but six. As compared with the others, it may be said he was unknown. When his nomination was telegraphed throughout the country, there were tens of thousands that had never heard of him. Those who knew him recalled that his main distinction was gained as a commander of the New Hampshire volunteers during the Mexican war. William R. King of Alabama was the nominee for the vice-presidency.

The whig convention met in the same city on the 16th of June. Daniel Webster, General Scott and President Fillmore were put in nomination, and it was not until the fifty-ninth ballot that General Scott received a majority. William A. Graham of North Carolina, a member of the president's cabinet, was nominated for the vice-presidency.

A third convention, called by the men that were dissatisfied with the various compromise measures adopted by Congress, and who believed that slavery was a great question before the country, met at Pittsburg on the 11th of August. John Parker Hale of New Hampshire was nominated for president, and George W. Julian of Indiana for vicepresident.

A great many believed that General Scott's fame as a military leader would carry him successfully through the canvass, but he was overwhelmingly defeated, receiving only forty-two electoral votes, those of Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee, while Pierce was given the vote of all the other states, amounting to two hundred and fifty-four.

CHAPTER XXXII.

ADMINISTRATION OF PIERCE. 1853-1857.

RANKLIN PIERCE, when he became president of the United States, was forty

FRA

eight years old. Born in New Hampshire, he had been a member of the state legislature and afterward of both branches of Congress. He was a graduate of Bowdoin College, a lawyer and politician, and a brigadier-general under Scott during the Mexican war. He was an ardent democrat of the Jackson school, and possessed considerable ability.

President Pierce was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1853. the occasion being marked by a great deal of military display. A notable incident was the presence of the aged George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of George Washington. He had been present at the inauguration of every president of the United States since the formation of the federal government in 1789.

Mr. King was in such failing health, that at the time of his nomination for the vicepresidency he was in Cuba. It was there he took the oath of office, but he grew more feeble, and, returning to his native state, died April 18, 1853.

Several overland expeditions were sent across the continent with a view of learning the best route for a Pacific railway. Late in the autumn of 1853, Colonel Fremont fitted out an expedition at his own expense to explore the Cochatope Pass, with a view of learning whether the snow would permit railway traveling during the winter months. The men were subjected to extreme suffering. For forty-five days they were compelled to eat mules, and the hardiest mountaineers succumbed to the fearful cold. The explorers were rescued by a relief party in February, 1854.

In the January preceding, Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, chairman of the senate committee on territories, introduced a bill intended to deal with that enormous unorganized region lying between Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota on the one hand, and the Pacific territories on the other, embracing one-fourth of all the public lands of the United States. Mr. Douglas proposed to erect this region into two territories, the southern portion situated below the fortieth parallel of north latitude to be called Kansas, and the northern portion to be known as Nebraska.

The northern representatives opposed the measure because it violated the compromise agreements of 1821 and 1850, by permitting the establishment of slavery in both the proposed territories, although almost the entire area of Nebraska lay above the parallel named in the Missouri Compromise. Numerous meetings were held in the North and vehement protests made against the passage of the bill. Nevertheless it passed the senate on the 7th of March by a vote of 37 to 14. It was bitterly fought in the house, but finally went through by a vote of 113 to 100. It received several amend

1854.]

REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.

369

ments to which the senate agreed, and the president signed it on the 31st of May. Thus the Missouri Compromise was repealed, and the inhabitants of the territories named were left free to do as they chose about establishing slavery.

While the important act was pending in Congress, the Homestead bill became law. This was designed to encourage emigration to the territories named. It provided that any free white male citizen, or any one who prior to the passage of the act had declared

his intention of becoming a citizen, might select a hundred and sixty acres out of the public domain, and on proof being given that he had occupied and cultivated it for five years, should receive a title to it without payment. Before final adoption, the bill was changed so as to fix a graduated price for all public lands that might be sold.

The enforcement of the Fugitive Slave act deepened the hostility between the North and South. I have told you about the Underground Railroad, as it was called, by which the abolitionists helped escaping slaves to Canada, where they were safe

against recapture. Only a few days after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, the arrest in Boston of Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave, caused a riot. A deputy-marshal was shot dead. Federal troops were summoned from Rhode Island to aid the civil officers, and it was necessary for a military force to protect the court until the prisoner should be tried. The decision went against him and he was conveyed back to Virginia on board a United States revenue cutter sent by President Pierce for that purpose. The military cleared the streets, the banks and other places of business on the line of march were closed, and flags draped in mourning were in many places hung at half

mast.

Congress quietly made treaties with the Indian tribes in the West, by which they gave up their claims to Kansas and Nebraska; but when the first New England colony reached the former territory, not all the titles of the Indians had been extinguished. The settlers, therefore, planted themselves at Lawrence, the first desirable point free from Indian claims. A. H. Reeder of Pennsylvania was appointed governor of the territory, and arrived there in the month of October.

And now Kansas became the battle-ground between the friends and the enemies of slavery. Northern societies sent emigrants to the territory, and furnished many of them with Bibles and rifles; bands crossed over from Missouri and terrorized the elections; armed men fought each other with the fury of tigers; and revolting outrages were perpetrated on both sides, though the friends of slavery were generally the aggressors.

A territorial legislature was formed in March, 1855, at which time civil war was raging. During the election for the legislative assembly in that month, hundreds of Missourians entered Kansas, voted for pro-slavery candidates and then re-crossed the Missouri. In some cases candidates were given majorities in excess of the whole number entitled to vote. Finding it impossible to stop the anarchy, Governor Reeder, in April, went to Washington to take counsel with the federal government. While there he was nominated by the free-state men as a delegate to Congress. The pro-slavery party, aided by the Missourians, elected General Whitfield to the same office.

Two rival delegates now knocked at the door of Congress, and since both could not be admitted, that body had to decide which one should be allowed to come in. Not only that, but Kansas adopted two state constitutions. The pro-slavery legislature assembled at Lecompton in March and adopted a constitution permitting slavery. The free-soilers met in the town of Lawrence on the 15th of August, and elected delegates which assembled at Topeka on the 23d of October. The constitution which they adopted became known as the Topeka Constitution. Being submitted to the people, they proceeded on the 17th of January, 1856, to hold elections under it.

A week later, President Pierce sent a special message to Congress, in which he pronounced the formation of a free-state government in Kansas as an act of rebellion, while that of the previous March he declared to be valid. Governor Reeder having been superseded, Wilson Shannon was appointed in his place.

The scenes of violence increased in Kansas, and the situation became so critical, that Congress took an unusual step. On the 19th of March a committee of three was appointed to go to the disturbed districts, investigate and report. This report was made

1855.]

BROOKS'S ASSAULT ON SUMNER.

371

on the 1st of July, and was to the effect that neither election was regular, but that the various elections held by the people in the territory preliminary to the formation of the state government had been as nearly legal as the disturbed condition would allow, and that the constitution passed by the convention-that is the pro-slavery one-embodied the will of a majority of the people. Only two of the committee agreed to the report, and the course taken by Congress, therefore, did no good.

The civil war continued.

A free-soil government with General Lane at the head, and with a small and regularly organized army, was established at Lawrence. This town. was sacked and almost destroyed May 20th, 1856. On the 4th of July, the free-state legislature at Topeka was broken up by companies of artillery and dragoons of the federal army, by order of the national government.

Governor Shannon failing to bring the free-state party to terms, gave way to John W. Geary, of Pennsylvania. When he reached Kansas, he called on both parties to disarm, but they scoffed at him. After a time, finding President Pierce would not support him in his vigorous measures, Governor Geary resigned and Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, succeeded him. He showed a disposition to do what he believed was right, and was turned out to make room for J. W. Denver. He resigned in turn and was succeeded by Samuel Medary. The struggle that followed did not last long. Seeing the impossibility of forcing a pro-slavery constitution on Kansas, the task was given up. A constitution prohibiting slavery was ratified in 1859, and Charles Robinson was chosen. governor.

Nebraska, lying to the north, was free from the outrages which drenched the plains of Kansas with blood. But Congress more than once was disgraced by personal collisions, which were the result of the fight between slavery and freedom in the distant territory. On the 19th and 20th of May, 1855, Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, delivered a speech which, when published, he called " The Crime Against Kansas." He was answered by Senators Cass, Douglas, Mason, and by Butler, of South Carolina, who assailed Sumner with such violence that he retaliated in equally intemperate language.

Two days later, after the adjournment of the senate, Sumner sat at his desk writing. Preston S. Brooks, a representative from South Carolina, accompanied by Mr. L. M. Keitt, another member from that state, approached the desk. Addressing Mr. Sumner, the former said: “I have read your speech twice over carefully; it is a libel upon South Carolina, and upon Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine." Brooks then quickly raised a heavy stick with which he struck Sumner violent and rapid blows over the head until he fell insensible and bleeding to the floor. His injuries were of such a dangerous character that he was obliged to go abroad for medical treatment, and it was not until the end of four years that he was able to resume his seat, which had remained empty all that time.

Brooks was lionized for what he had done. The necessary two-thirds vote could not be secured to expel him (ayes, 121; nays, 95), but he resigned, and Keitt, being censured, did the same. They were treated with the greatest honor in South Carolina, where Brooks received numerous testimonials. He was welcomed at a large public meeting in Columbia, when the mayor, as the representative of authority, gave him a cane and other