CHAPTER XIX.

1844–1845.

ANNEXATION OF TEXAS—ELECTION OF PRESIDENT POLK—THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE ACCEPTED BY MR. BUCHANAN.

In the Presidential election of 1844, there was a third party in the field. By this time, the anti-slavery sentiment in some of the Northern States had taken the form of a political organization, which called itself the “Liberty” party, and was called by the others the party of the “Abolitionists.” Their candidate for the Presidency was Mr. James G. Birney, of Ohio, a gentleman who had taken a leading part in organizing “The American Anti-Slavery Society,” and was at this time its secretary. He had never held a public office. Texas, which had in 1836 made itself independent of Mexico, had been for more than nine years a slaveholding country, with a republican form of government. Between that government and the United States a secret treaty was negotiated, after Mr. Tyler became President, for the annexation of Texas to this Union. It had been submitted to the Senate, and had been rejected, chiefly because Texas claimed to carry her western boundary to the Rio Grande; and to incorporate her with the United States and to adopt that claim would, it was supposed, give Mexico a just cause for war. After the sudden death of Mr. Upshur,[89] who became Secretary of State when Mr. Webster retired from President Tyler’s cabinet, Mr. Calhoun, who succeeded him, took up and carried out a new negotiation, which Mr. Upshur had begun, for making Texas a part of the United States by the action of Congress. This project was pending, and more or less suspected, or believed not to have been relinquished, when the three parties made their nominations for the Presidency. The Democratic party, by the nomination of Mr. Polk, and by their avowed declarations, made the annexation of Texas distinctly one of their party measures. The Whigs, in nominating Mr. Clay, selected a candidate who was understood to oppose the annexation, not because Texas was a slaveholding country, but because it might lead to a war with Mexico. They did not proclaim it as a part of the policy of their party to prevent the annexation of any more slave territory. This was one of the principal reasons why Mr. Birney drew many votes away from Mr. Clay. As Mr. Polk obtained a majority of sixty-five electoral votes over Mr. Clay, and as six of the States which voted for him were Northern and non-slaveholding States, including both Pennsylvania and New York, the Democratic party claimed a right to say that the country had pronounced for the annexation of Texas, its slavery notwithstanding. The correspondence between the Government of the United States and Texas was submitted to Congress by President Tyler, in December, 1844. Joint resolutions for the annexation of Texas were finally adopted by Congress on the 1st of March, 1845. They admitted Texas into the Union, as a State whose constitution recognized slavery, and they also pledged the faith of the United States to allow of the future formation of four more States out of Texas, and to admit them into the Union, either with or without slavery, as their constitutions might require, if formed below the Missouri compromise line of 36° 30′, but if formed above that line, slavery was to be excluded. In the Senate, there were twenty-seven votes for the admission of Texas on these conditions, and twenty-five votes against it; of the affirmative votes, thirteen were from free States, and four of these were from New England. The Missouri compromise line was extended through Texas; the “Wilmot Proviso,” which aimed to exclude slavery from the whole of this newly acquired region, came up a year later.

Mr. Buchanan’s course as a Senator, on these resolutions, can easily be inferred from what has already appeared in regard to his sentiments on the whole subject of Texan independence, and the relations of that country to the United States. But the official record shows, with entire distinctness, that against the constitutional objection which maintained that new States could not be admitted into the Union unless they had lawfully arisen within the United States, he held with those who rejected this restriction, and who maintained that a foreign State could be made a member of the Union. After the joint resolutions had come before the Senate from the House of Representatives, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, by a majority report, recommended their rejection. Mr. Buchanan, who was a member of that committee, did not make a minority report, but on the 27th of February (1845), he said:

He did not rise to debate the question. He had heard some of his respected friends on this side of the Senate, in whose sincerity he had the most entire confidence, observe that if these resolutions should pass the Senate, the Constitution would receive a mortal stab. If Mr. B. thought so, great as was the acquisition we were about to make, he should be the last man in existence to acquire the richest benefit the world could hold out to our grasp at such a price.

Mr. B. said he might have assumed the privilege of reply which belonged to him from the position he occupied on the Committee on Foreign Relations; but he waived it. Not because the arguments on the other side had not been exceedingly ingenious and plausible, and urged with great ability; but because all the reasoning in the world could not abolish the plain language of the Constitution, which declared that “new States might be admitted by Congress into the Union.” But what new States? The convention had answered that question in letters of light, by rejecting the proposed limitation of this grant, which would have confined it to States lawfully arising within the United States. The clause was introduced with this limitation, and, after full discussion, it ended in the shape it now held, without limitation or restriction of any kind. This was a historical fact. It could not be denied. Planting himself upon that fact, and having heard no argument which shook the position—believing, as he most conscientiously did believe, that the Constitution would not be violated in the least by the adoption of the pending resolutions, he here entered his solemn protest against the solemn protests which had been made on the other side, and which went almost the length of implying that he, and the advocates of these resolutions, were knowingly and of design violating the Constitution and their oaths, to secure a favorite political measure. This was the greatest public act in which Mr. Buchanan had ever had the honor of taking an humble part; he should do it cheerfully, gladly, gloriously, because he believed that his vote would confer blessings innumerable upon his fellow-men. now, henceforward, and forever.

Mr. Berrien said he would not consent that this debate should close with the declaration of the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Buchanan), that the convention had not determined the sense of the term “new States.”

Mr. Buchanan rose to explain. What the Senator from Pennsylvania did say was, that at first the clause granting power to Congress to admit new States into the Union had been confined to States arising within the United States; but that after debate and a full discussion, the Constitution was adopted with the clause in its present clear unrestricted form, written as in letters of light.

After some further remarks from other Senators, and some attempts to amend the resolutions, they were passed and engrossed on the same day. President Tyler, on the 3d of March, announced by special message to the Senate, that he had approved and signed them.[90]

The electoral college of Pennsylvania, when the votes of that State were given to Mr. Polk, united in a strong recommendation to him to make Mr. Buchanan Secretary of State. Mr. Buchanan took no steps to influence the newly-elected President in regard to this or any other cabinet appointment. He maintained a dignified reserve in his personal relations to Mr. Polk, both during and after the election. Certainly there were very strong reasons of fitness, which should have led Mr. Polk to desire that Mr. Buchanan would accept the Department of State. His qualifications for it were far greater than those of any other public man in the Democratic party; and, if such a consideration could have any weight, he personally deserved at the hands of Mr. Polk all that a President could bestow of opportunity to render further service to the country. In looking back over Mr. Buchanan’s public life, now covering a period of nearly twenty-five years, one can perceive the intellectual growth of an American statesman, who had not been taken suddenly from private pursuits to fill an important public position, but who had been trained by the regular gradations of office for the affairs of government. To have a constituency who can appreciate the value of such a training, and can support a public servant in the devotion of his time and abilities to the public service, is a great advantage. This advantage Mr. Buchanan had enjoyed for twenty-five years, and he had well repaid the devotion of his friends. The people of Pennsylvania had but once in twenty years swerved from the party in which Mr. Buchanan was a distinguished leader, and they had now returned to it. His experience, his aptitude for public life, his solid, though not brilliant abilities, and the weight of the great State which had kept him in the Senate, marked him as the fittest person to be at the head of Mr. Polk’s cabinet. Mr. Polk, however, while conscious of the propriety of offering this position to Mr. Buchanan, and while he felt the need of his services, seems to have had a fear lest his administration might be disturbed by Mr. Buchanan’s ambition to become his successor. He took the somewhat singular step of asking from Mr. Buchanan a promise that he would retire from the cabinet, if he should be a candidate for the Presidency in 1848. There is no good reason for attributing this to personal jealousy of Buchanan, for Mr. Polk did not expect to become a candidate for re-election. He was a sagacious man, who took a just view of his own situation, he knew quite well that he had become President because the conflicting claims of others had rendered it necessary to compromise upon an unexpected and far from conspicuous candidate. But he desired, and wisely desired, to avoid all internal difficulties, by freeing his administration from complications about the succession. Every one will commend the spirit of the following letter, and every one, it should seem, will commend the manner in which it was met by Mr. Buchanan, who could hardly be expected to say that he would renounce all idea of becoming a candidate for the Presidency in 1848, since he could not tell what his public duty might require of him.

[MR. POLK TO MR. BUCHANAN.]

WASHINGTON CITY, February 17, 1845.

SIR:—

The principles and policy which will be observed and maintained during my administration are embodied in the resolutions adopted by the Democratic National Convention of delegates, assembled at Baltimore in Maryland, and in the inaugural address which I propose to deliver to my fellow-citizens on assuming the duties of President of the United States, and which is herewith handed to you for your perusal.

In making up my cabinet, I desire to select gentlemen who will agree with me in opinion, and who will cordially co-operate with me in carrying out these principles and policy.

In my official action I will take no part between gentlemen of the Democratic party who may become aspirants or candidates to succeed me in the Presidential office, and desire that no member of my cabinet shall do so. Individual preferences it is not expected or desired to limit or restrain. It is official interference by the dispensation of public patronage or otherwise that I desire to guard against. Should any member of my cabinet become a candidate for the Presidency or Vice Presidency of the United States, it will be expected upon the happening of such an event, that he will retire from the cabinet.

I disapprove the practice which has sometimes prevailed, of cabinet officers absenting themselves for long periods of time from the seat of Government and leaving the management of their department to chief clerks; or other less responsible persons than themselves. I expect myself to remain constantly at Washington, unless it may be that no public duty requires my presence, when I may be occasionally absent, but then only for a short time. It is by conforming to this rule that the President and his cabinet can have any assurance that absences will be prevented, and that the subordinate executive officers connected with them respectively will faithfully perform their duty.

If sir, you concur with me in these opinions and views, I shall be pleased to have your assistance in my administration, as a member of my cabinet, and now tender to you the office of Secretary of State, and invite you to take charge of that department.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

JAMES K. POLK.

[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. POLK.]

WASHINGTON, February 18, 1845.

MY DEAR SIR:—

I feel greatly honored by your kind invitation to accept the station of Secretary of State in your cabinet; and I cheerfully and cordially approve the terms on which this offer has been made, as they have been presented in your note of yesterday. To prevent, however, any possible misunderstanding between us hereafter, I desire to make an explanation in regard to that portion of your letter which requires that any member of your cabinet shall retire upon becoming a candidate for the Presidency.

Before I had anticipated that you would do me the honor of inviting me to a seat in your cabinet, I had publicly presented my views on the subject of agitating the question of the next Presidency in the strongest colors. Both patriotism and policy, the success of the party as well as that of your administration, require that we should have repose from the strife of making Presidents. I am, therefore, utterly opposed to the agitation of this question in any shape or form, and shall exercise any influence which I may possess to prevent it, both in regard to myself and others. Nay, more, I think the welfare of your administration requires that in every prudent and appropriate manner this principle should be maintained by it; and the patronage of the Government ought to be dispensed, not to favor any individual aspirant, but solely for the good of the country and the Democratic party.

I do not know that I shall ever desire to be a candidate for the Presidency. Most certainly I never yet strongly felt such an inclination; and I have been willing, and should at this moment be willing, to accept a station which would, in my estimation of what is proper, deprive me of any prospect of reaching that office. Still, I could not, and would not, accept the high and honorable office to which you have called me, at the expense of self-ostracism. My friends would unanimously condemn me were I to pursue this course. I cannot proclaim to the world that in no contingency shall I be a candidate for the Presidency in 1848; nor in the meantime can I be held responsible for the action of occasional county meetings, in my own or other States, preceding general elections, which, without my previous knowledge or consent, might present my name in connection with this office. I can answer for myself that as I have never yet raised a finger or stirred a step, towards the attainment of this station; so I never shall make any personal exertions for that purpose without your express permission, so long as I remain a member of your cabinet. If, however, unexpectedly to myself, the people should by a State or national convention present me as their candidate, I cannot declare in advance that I would not accede to their wishes; but in that event I would retire from your cabinet, unless you should desire me to remain.

I do not deny that I would be as much pleased to accept the station of Secretary of State from yourself as from any man living. I entertain a strong conviction that under the controlling direction of your wisdom, prudence and firmness, I might be useful to you in conducting the Department of State, and I know from your established character, so far as it is given to mortals to know anything, that our social and personal intercourse would be of the most friendly and agreeable character.

If under these explanations, you are willing to confer upon me the office of Secretary of State, I shall accept it with gratitude, and exert my best efforts to do my duty to the country and to yourself.

With sentiments of the highest and most sincere respect, I remain.

Your friend,

JAMES BUCHANAN.

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In 1858, there again came about rumors of General Jackson’s hostility to Mr. Buchanan. The following letter written by a citizen of Nashville to a friend, gives decisive evidence on General Jackson’s feelings towards Mr. Buchanan, at the time when the latter became Secretary of State.

[MR. JOHNSON TO GENERAL ANDERSON.]

NASHVILLE, Oct. 6th, 1858.

DEAR SIR:—

I received your letter of the 5th inst., making inquiries of my recollection as to the feelings entertained by General Jackson towards Mr. Buchanan at the time of the nomination of Mr. Polk and the appointment of Mr. Buchanan as Secretary. I do not remember to have met General Jackson after the election of Mr. Polk, but was upon the most intimate terms with President Polk, both before and after his election. General Jackson was the avowed and open friend of Mr. Van Buren, and when it was ascertained that Mr. Van Buren could not get the nomination, he expressed himself to many friends favorable to the nomination of Mr. Buchanan, as the true and proper course of the Democratic party, before Mr. Polk’s name was known to be before the convention for the Presidency. This I have heard from so many sources as to entertain no doubt of the fact. Mr. Polk, it is well known, consulted with him freely as to the individuals who should compose his cabinet, and the appointment of Mr. Buchanan as Secretary of State met his decided approbation, as did all the other individuals composing the cabinet, excepting the Secretary of the Treasury. He had some misgivings and apprehensions as to the propriety of the selection, as did many others of the friends of President Polk.

These are my recollections from the most free and unreserved intercourse with President Polk, and my recollection now is that I have seen letters from General Jackson to President Polk confirming substantially the above statement.

General Jackson was known to have strong feelings—warm towards his friends, bitter towards his enemies—and in the exciting canvasses for the Presidency may have used, and even written, harsh expressions about many prominent friends of his own, founded upon _perversions_ and _misrepresentations_ of their conduct by those toadies with whom he was beset, and often deceived by them as to the conduct and expressions of leading and prominent men in the Democratic party, and by none of them so often as by —— and ——, who never deserved his confidence or merited the favors bestowed on them.

The General, however, never hesitated to do justice to any man when the truth was ascertained as to his conduct.

From the whole of my intercourse with General Jackson and Mr. Polk, after the second election of General Jackson, I never had reason to suppose that he ever had any unkind feelings toward Mr. Buchanan. On the contrary, Mr. Buchanan was considered in the Senate one among his most active and confidential friends, as President Polk was in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Polk, or Buchanan, could neither be used nor controlled by such men as —— and ——, and hence their hostility to them after the second election of General Jackson, which was manifested in various ways which I could specify.

I am, very respectfully, your friend,

E. JOHNSON.

Footnote 89:

Mr. Upshur was killed by the explosion on board the Princeton, in February, 1844. See _ante_, p. 521.

Footnote 90:

Congressional Globe, Vol. 14, pp. 240, 271, 362. The resolutions may be found at page 332.