and Buchanan administrations, all added to the strength of the anti-slavery party of the North. And a new event now came to favor its increase. Two days after the inauguration of President Buchanan the Supreme Court of the United States rendered a judgment which added greatly to the stringency of public feeling. The Dred Scott Case.-Dred Scott was a slave whose owner lived in Missouri. In 1834 he was taken by his master to the free State of Illinois, where they lived for the succeeding four years, and then removed into what was afterward the State of Minnesota. After their return to Missouri Scott was whipped for some fault, and brought suit for assault and battery, claiming to be free from his long residence on free soil, and asserting that the bringing him back to Missouri did not make him a slave. This case was tried in several courts, one of which gave judgment in Scott's favor. At length it reached the Supreme Court of the United States. That body decided that Scott was not a citizen and had no right to bring suit. It was further decided that slave-owners had a right to take their slaves where they pleased, just as they could take any other article of property, as a watch or a horse.1 This decision startled the North. It opened a new field for the extension of slavery. Under it slave-owners might dwell in what State or Territory they pleased and keep as many slaves with them as they chose. The John Brown Raid.—An event of still more startling significance happened two years afterward. John Brown, 1 Chief Justice Taney declared that when the Constitution was adopted negroes had long been regarded as beings of a lower order than the whites, "and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." of whose leadership in the Kansas trouble we have spoken, was an old man who had become fanatical in his abolition sentiments. He moved to Kansas in 1855, and was there very active in the work of bloodshed. In the summer of 1859 he made his way to the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, in Virginia, moved by the wild purpose of starting an insurrection among the slaves. He believed that if they had a leader, and promise of freedom, they would rise against their masters and start a war against slavery. Much brooding over his ideas had made the fanatical old man nearly insane. He was brave, but his project was hopeless. One night in October, with about twenty followers, whom he had won over to his views, he attacked the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, hoping to make this a rallying-place for slaves, whom he expected to come in numbers to his aid. Failure of the Raid.-The slaves did not come, the arsenal was captured, some of its defenders were killed, others made prisoners. Brown was tried by the State of Virginia and hanged. Six of his followers were hanged. Two only of the band made their escape. This attempt found little support in the North, many ardent abolitionists looking upon it as an act of madness. In the South it aroused fears of the horrors of a negro insurrection, and did much to increase the stringency of the situation. At a later date John Brown was regarded by many as the pioneer of the war, and a song to his memory became popular with the Union soldiers. New States.-Three new States were admitted to the Union during the Buchanan administration, Minnesota in 1858, Oregon in 1859, and Kansas, in which the anti-slavery forces had completely won, in 1861. These were all free States, and added to the majority of the North in the Senate. A Business Panic.-In the midst of the threatening situation a new trouble came suddenly upon the people. A large business house failed in Cincinnati in August, 1857. It was a result of over-speculation and too great stimulation of business, arising in a measure from the discovery of gold in California and the rapid growth of wealth in consequence. More railroads had been built than were wanted; more goods were being made than could be sold; merchants had filled their stores with goods bought on credit; the whole business of the country was in an unhealthy condition. The one failure soon brought others. The host of State banks had taken part in the speculative movement, and nearly the whole of them failed. Money almost disappeared from circulation, for the bank-notes became worthless. Thousands of business men were ruined, and multitudes of working-men were brought to the verge of beggary. The experience of 1837 was repeated, several years passing before prosperity returned to the country. Ocean Telegraph Cable.-For several years Cyrus W. Field, an enterprising citizen of New York, had been actively engaged in a project to lay a telegraph line under the Atlantic Ocean. In 1846 a message had been sent under the Hudson River, on a wire coated with gutta-percha. If this could be done for a short, why not for a long distance? The ocean was sounded between Ireland and Newfoundland, and found to be nowhere more than two and a half miles deep, while its bottom was nearly level. At length, after many experiments, a telegraph cable was laid in 1858. A few messages were sent across it and then it failed to work. But its possibility had been proved, and Mr. Field continued his efforts until a successful cable was laid in 1866. The Lincoln and Douglas Debate.-During the period under consideration two citizens of Illinois came into national prominence. One of these was Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic Senator from Illinois who had introduced the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He was again a candidate for election to the Senate, and was opposed by Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, and a man who had risen by force of character from poverty and hard labor to the Illinois legislature and the United States Congress. Lincoln was remarkably able in debate, and he "took the stump" against Douglas, also an able speaker. They went from town to town of Illinois, speaking on national politics. In this debate Lincoln grew famous. He forced Douglas to make statements about the Dred Scott decision which lost him favor in the South and ruined his hopes of the Presidency, though he was elected Senator by a small majority. During the debate Lincoln took such a decided stand on the slavery question as to make him the favorite of the Republican party, and to gain him the Presidency in the coming election. The Election of 1860.-In 1860 came the most momentous Presidential election in the history of the United States. The feeling of hostility between the two sections of the country had grown so intense that open threats of secession of the Southern States were made in the event of the election of a Republican President. Yet the Democratic party took a step which rendered defeat highly probable. It divided into two sections, the strong pro-slavery men nominating John C. Breckenridge, the moderate section of the party nominating Stephen A. Douglas. The Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln as their candidate, with Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, for Vice-President. A remnant of Whigs and Know-Nothings in the South, calling themselves the Constitutional Union party, nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts. The break among the Democrats assured the election of Lincoln. He received one hundred and eighty of the three hundred and three electoral votes. Breckenridge received seventy-two, Bell thirty-nine, and Douglas twelve. Douglas had a very large popular vote, but lost the electoral vote of nearly all the Northern States. Secession. The election of Lincoln produced the threatened effect. As soon as it was known the South Carolina Senators and office-holders resigned. A convention was called by the legislature of that State, and on December 20 an ordinance of secession from the Union was passed. The example thus given was quickly followed. Before the end of January, 1861, five other States had seceded,Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Texas followed in February. |