Part 13

When Van Buren was nominated, Wilmot openly declared himself as a Free-Soil Democrat, but he received the regular Democratic nomination for Congress in his district. The Cass pro-slavery Democrats bolted and nominated Jonah Brewster as a Simon-pure Democrat, and the Whigs nominated Henry W. Tracy, confidently expecting to elect him. Wilmot was triumphantly elected, receiving 8597 votes to 4795 for Tracy, Whig, and 922 for Brewster, Cass Democrat. He also nearly evenly divided the Democratic vote of Bradford and Tioga between Cass and Van Buren, giving Taylor a large plurality over Cass in the district.

While the Wilmot Free-Soil Democrats bolted on the Democratic national ticket, they generally supported Morris Longstreth, the Democratic candidate for Governor, who was defeated by Johnson in October by 305 majority. The re-election of Wilmot in one of the strong Democratic districts of Pennsylvania greatly strengthened the antislavery cause throughout the country. He and his followers fell back into the regular Democratic line in 1852 in support of Pierce, and they finally severed their relations with the Democratic party in 1854, provoked by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and in 1856 they carried the Northern counties of the State by large majorities for Fremont.

Cass carried every State west of the Pennsylvania line, including Ohio, where the antislavery sentiment of the Western Reserve was unwilling to accept a large slaveholder as a candidate for President. Corwin, the most brilliant and impressive of the stump-speakers of that day, made desperate efforts to save the State, but Van Buren received over 35,000 votes, and Cass won the electors by a plurality of over 16,000. I once heard Corwin in his inimitable way tell the story of that campaign. The people of Ohio in that day were taught their politics by mass-meetings, and any one of the audience was entirely at liberty to interrogate the speaker. Corwin, in his plausible and fascinating way, was trying to explain how the antislavery cause would be best served by electing a slaveholder President, when a tall, lank countryman, sitting on the fence, put a very pointed question to him, that he felt unable to answer. He tried to meet it in a humorous way, but only aroused his interrogator to make a more pointed inquiry of him, that Corwin could not answer. He was one of the few orators who could convulse an audience with his superb humor, and his facial expression was at times even more mirth provoking than his language. The question involved the negro issue, and Corwin had an unusually swarthy complexion, and he unhorsed his inquirer by saying to his audience with an expression that powerfully accentuated his remark: “I submit, fellow-citizens, whether it is proper to put such a question to a man of my complexion,” and the dispute ended in boisterous laughter and cheers for Corwin. The Whigs won easy victories in all the debatable States of the South; and General Taylor came to the Presidency knowing less about how his election had been accomplished than any man who had ever been called to the Chief Magistracy of the Republic. Thus was Martin Van Buren avenged for the Southern betrayal of 1844.

THE PIERCE-SCOTT CONTEST

1852

While the Whigs were apprehensive as to General Taylor’s fidelity to an aggressive Whig policy both before and after his election, when he came to the selection of his Cabinet he quieted all doubts by appointing a positive Whig Cabinet, with John M. Clayton, one of the ablest of the Whig leaders of that day and an eminently practical politician, to the Premiership. Taylor had little fitness for responsible civil duties, and charged his Cabinet, that was made up of eminently able men, with the administration of their different departments. The slavery question was uppermost in the politics of the day, and the Taylor Cabinet finally decided upon a policy to solve the delicate problem by admitting none of the newly acquired Mexican possessions as Territories, but leaving the question of slavery to be determined by themselves when they came to admission as States.

This policy was antagonized by the ultra antislavery people, who wanted the distinct prohibition of slavery in Territorial organizations, and also by the extreme slavery Whigs, who desired them admitted as Territories without any expression on slavery, believing that slaves could be taken into any Territory south of the Missouri Compromise line unless prohibited by the organic law. Clay had returned to the Senate, and being neither more nor less than human, he had little inclination to harmonize with an accidental Whig President who filled the position to which Clay felt he was justly entitled. As opposed to the policy of the President, Clay came in as pacificator and proposed what then became known, and what have since been known as the Compromise Measures of 1850. It is doubtful whether either the administration or the Clay Compromise policy could have been successful had the President lived. Certainly the Compromise bill would have failed, but it is uncertain whether the administration could have wielded sufficient power to carry its policy through Congress. Its policy was a negative one, postponing the slave issue in the new acquisitions until the people could act in their sovereign capacity in the creation of States.

President Taylor died July 9, 1850, and Millard Fillmore became President by virtue of his office as Vice-President. Taylor’s death changed the political purposes of the administration in the earnest struggle then in Congress to meet the question of slavery in the newly acquired territory. Fillmore, like nearly all Vice-Presidents, was not in harmony with the President, and when he became President himself he reversed the policy of the administration.

It was on this issue that Webster wrecked himself. He was in the confidence of the Taylor administration, and was chosen to be the champion of its policy for meeting the slavery issue in the Territories. He personally conferred with the Cabinet forty-eight hours before he delivered his memorable seventh-of-March speech, in which he cast his lot with Clay and the pro-slavery wing of the party, and neither the President nor any Cabinet officer had any notice of his purpose to change until they were astounded by hearing the views he expressed in his speech. William M. Meredith, of Philadelphia, was then Secretary of the Treasury, and he was so much offended by what he regarded as Webster’s perfidy that he never spoke to him thereafter.

Fillmore was the second Vice-President who had succeeded to the Presidency by the death of the President, and, like Tyler, he reversed the policy of the party, and estranged the Whigs of the North very generally from him. After he became President the Compromise Measures were revived, and Clay made the last great battle of his life as pacificator. With the power of the administration added, the Clay Compromise Measures passed both branches of Congress, and were promptly approved by the President. They declared, first, against the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia; second, in favor of the admission of California as a Free State; third, in favor of a severely stringent Fugitive Slave law; fourth, for the payment to Texas of $10,000,000 for yielding her claims to New Mexico, and fifth, in favor of the admission of Utah and New Mexico as Territories without restrictions as to slavery.

The passage of the Compromise Measures practically united the Democratic party, as the friends of slavery extension had won a substantial triumph, and the Democrats of the North were generally in harmony with that policy, but it greatly weakened the Whigs in the North without strengthening them in the South, and Fillmore, and Webster, then Secretary of State, became rival candidates for the Whig nomination, while the anti-Compromise or antislavery element of the Whigs united on General Scott.

When the Democratic National Convention met at Baltimore, June 1, 1852, the leaders were entirely confident of electing their candidates. John W. Davis, of Indiana, was made President, and the two-thirds rule reaffirmed. The sessions of the convention were protracted, lasting six days, but there was little angry dispute as to either candidates or measures. There were 49 ballots for President, Cass and Buchanan being the leading competitors at the start. The Virginia delegation, that was always potential in Democratic conventions, had become weary of the hopeless contest between the candidates, and on the 35th ballot cast a solid vote for Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, whose name had not up to that time been before the convention. The friends of Cass made an earnest rally, but were unable to concentrate sufficient strength to approach the two-thirds vote, and Marcy finally loomed up as the leading competitor of Pierce. The following table gives the detail vote on each ballot:

════════╤═════╤═════════╤════════╤══════╤═══════╤════════╤══════╤═════╤══════════╤═══════ BALLOTS.│Cass.│Buchanan.│Douglas.│Marcy.│Butler.│Houston.│Dodge.│Lane.│Dickinson.│Pierce. ────────┼─────┼─────────┼────────┼──────┼───────┼────────┼──────┼─────┼──────────┼─────── 1 │ 116 │ 93 │ 20 │ 27 │ 2 │ 8 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 2 │ 118 │ 95 │ 23 │ 27 │ 1 │ 6 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 3 │ 119 │ 94 │ 21 │ 26 │ 1 │ 7 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 4 │ 115 │ 89 │ 31 │ 25 │ 1 │ 7 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 5 │ 114 │ 88 │ 34 │ 26 │ 1 │ 8 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 6 │ 114 │ 88 │ 34 │ 26 │ 1 │ 8 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 7 │ 113 │ 88 │ 34 │ 26 │ 1 │ 9 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 8 │ 113 │ 88 │ 34 │ 26 │ 1 │ 9 │ 3 │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 9 │ 112 │ 87 │ 39 │ 27 │ 1 │ 8 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 10 │ 111 │ 86 │ 40 │ 27 │ 1 │ 8 │ ―― │ 14 │ 1 │ ―― 11 │ 101 │ 87 │ 50 │ 27 │ 1 │ 8 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 12 │ 98 │ 88 │ 51 │ 27 │ 1 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 13 │ 98 │ 88 │ 51 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 14 │ 99 │ 87 │ 51 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 15 │ 99 │ 87 │ 51 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 16 │ 99 │ 87 │ 51 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 17 │ 99 │ 87 │ 50 │ 26 │ 1 │ 11 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 18 │ 96 │ 85 │ 56 │ 25 │ 1 │ 11 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 19 │ 89 │ 85 │ 63 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 20 │ 81 │ 92 │ 64 │ 26 │ 1 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 21 │ 60 │ 102 │ 64 │ 26 │ 13 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 22 │ 53 │ 104 │ 77 │ 26 │ 15 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 23 │ 37 │ 103 │ 78 │ 26 │ 19 │ 11 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 24 │ 33 │ 103 │ 80 │ 26 │ 23 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 25 │ 34 │ 101 │ 81 │ 26 │ 24 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 26 │ 33 │ 101 │ 80 │ 26 │ 24 │ 10 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 27 │ 32 │ 98 │ 85 │ 26 │ 24 │ 9 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 28 │ 28 │ 96 │ 88 │ 26 │ 25 │ 11 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 29 │ 27 │ 93 │ 91 │ 26 │ 25 │ 12 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 30 │ 33 │ 91 │ 92 │ 26 │ 20 │ 12 │ ―― │ 13 │ 1 │ ―― 31 │ 64 │ 79 │ 92 │ 26 │ 16 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― 32 │ 98 │ 74 │ 80 │ 26 │ 1 │ 8 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― 33 │ 123 │ 72 │ 60 │ 25 │ 2 │ 6 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― 34 │ 130 │ 49 │ 53 │ 23 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 16 │ ―― 35 │ 131 │ 39 │ 52 │ 44 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 15 36 │ 122 │ 28 │ 43 │ 58 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 30 37 │ 120 │ 28 │ 37 │ 70 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 38 │ 107 │ 28 │ 33 │ 84 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 39 │ 106 │ 28 │ 33 │ 85 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 40 │ 106 │ 27 │ 33 │ 85 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 41 │ 107 │ 27 │ 33 │ 85 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 42 │ 101 │ 27 │ 33 │ 91 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 43 │ 101 │ 27 │ 33 │ 91 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 44 │ 101 │ 27 │ 33 │ 91 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 45 │ 96 │ 27 │ 32 │ 97 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 29 46 │ 78 │ 28 │ 32 │ 97 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 44 47 │ 75 │ 28 │ 33 │ 95 │ 1 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 49 48 │ 73 │ 28 │ 33 │ 90 │ 1 │ 6 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 55 49 │ 2 │ ―― │ 2 │ ―― │ 2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 282 ════════╧═════╧═════════╧════════╧══════╧═══════╧════════╧══════╧═════╧══════════╧═══════

Two ballots were had for Vice-President, the first resulting as follows:

Wm. R. King, Ala. 126 Gideon J. Pillow, Tenn. 25 D. R. Atchison, Mo. 25 T. J. Rusk, Texas 12 Jefferson Davis, Miss. 2 Wm. O. Butler, Ky. 27 Robert Strange, N. C. 23 S. U. Downs, La. 30 J. B. Weller, Cal. 28 Howell Cobb, Ga. 2

The 2d ballot ended with the unanimous nomination of Mr. King.

The party platform was precisely that of 1848, all embodied in full text, with two new resolutions added on the subject of slavery and additional resolutions relating to other national issues. The Democratic platform of 1852, therefore, embraced all the previous Democratic platforms with the following added:

_Resolved_, That the foregoing proposition covers, and is intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitated in Congress; and therefore the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this national platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known as the “Compromise” Measures settled by the last Congress—the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor included; which act, being designed to carry out an express provision of the Constitution, cannot with fidelity thereto be repealed, nor so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency.

_Resolved_, That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made.

Then follow the resolutions in former platforms respecting the distribution of the proceeds of land sales, that respecting the veto power, and these additions:

_Resolved_, That the Democratic party will faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1792 and 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia Legislature in 1799; that it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and import.

_Resolved_, That the war with Mexico, upon all the principles of patriotism and the law of nations, was a just and necessary war on our part in which no American citizen should have shown himself opposed to his country, and neither morally nor physically, by word or deed, given aid and comfort to the enemy.

_Resolved_, That we rejoice at the restoration of friendly relations with our sister republic of Mexico, and earnestly desire for her all the blessings and prosperity which we enjoy under republican institutions, and we congratulate the American people on the results of that war, which have so manifestly justified the policy and conduct of the Democratic party, and insured to the United States indemnity for the past and security for the future.

_Resolved_, That, in view of the condition of popular institutions in the Old World, a high and sacred duty is devolved, with increased responsibility, upon the Democracy of this country, as the party of the people, to uphold and maintain the rights of every State, and thereby the union of States, and to sustain and advance among them constitutional liberty, by continuing to resist all monopolies and exclusive legislation for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and by a vigilant and constant adherence to those principles and compromises of the Constitution which are broad enough and strong enough to embrace and uphold the Union as it is, and the Union as it should be, in the full expansion of the energies and capacity of this great and progressive people.

The nomination of Pierce was received very generally by the Democrats with great enthusiasm. The spirit of young Democracy had grown up in the party and become very formidable. The _Democratic Review_, the monthly organ of Democracy, had been reorganized with an able and most aggressive staff devoted to the overthrow of “old fogyism” in the party, and when Pierce was nominated the boys who do the shouting were almost wholly in sympathy with the young Democracy, and the old-timers had to fall in the rear of the procession. With the Democratic party united on candidates who were free from factional complication, and with the Compromise Measures, on which they could unite both the North and South, they started in the contest with every advantage and maintained it until election day, when the Whig party suffered its Waterloo.

The Whig convention met in Baltimore on the 16th of June with every State represented, and John G. Chapman, of Maryland, was made the presiding officer. The Southern delegates fortified themselves before the meeting of the convention by a caucus declaration of the party platform, and it was an open secret that if the convention accepted the platform, enough Southern men would support Scott to give him the nomination. They knew that Fillmore could not be elected, and that Webster was even weaker than Fillmore, and they were willing to accept Scott, who was the candidate of the antislavery element of the party, if the Compromise Measures were squarely affirmed by the party convention, while Scott was willing to accept the nomination with any platform the convention might formulate. Fillmore had carried the Compromise Measures and forced the Whigs to accept them in the party platform, but the insincerity of that expression was manifested by the refusal to nominate Fillmore, and by the nomination of Scott, who represented the anti-Compromise Whigs of the country. There were 53 ballots for President, but during the long struggle there was little exhibition of ill-temper. Scott started with 131 to 133 for Fillmore and 29 for Webster, and ended with 159 for Scott to 112 for Fillmore and 21 for Webster. The following table presents the ballots in detail:

═════════╤════════╤═══════════╤═════════ BALLOTS. │ Scott. │ Fillmore. │ Webster. ─────────┼────────┼───────────┼───────── 1 │ 131 │ 133 │ 29 2 │ 133 │ 131 │ 29 3 │ 133 │ 131 │ 29 4 │ 134 │ 130 │ 29 5 │ 130 │ 133 │ 30 6 │ 133 │ 131 │ 29 7 │ 131 │ 133 │ 28 8 │ 133 │ 131 │ 28 9 │ 133 │ 133 │ 29 10 │ 135 │ 130 │ 29 11 │ 134 │ 131 │ 28 12 │ 134 │ 130 │ 28 13 │ 134 │ 130 │ 28 14 │ 133 │ 130 │ 29 15 │ 133 │ 130 │ 29 16 │ 135 │ 129 │ 28 17 │ 132 │ 131 │ 29 18 │ 132 │ 131 │ 28 19 │ 132 │ 131 │ 29 20 │ 132 │ 131 │ 29 21 │ 133 │ 131 │ 28 22 │ 132 │ 130 │ 30 23 │ 132 │ 130 │ 30 24 │ 133 │ 129 │ 30 25 │ 133 │ 128 │ 31 26 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 27 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 28 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 29 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 30 │ 134 │ 128 │ 29 31 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 32 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 33 │ 134 │ 128 │ 29 34 │ 134 │ 126 │ 28 35 │ 134 │ 128 │ 28 36 │ 136 │ 127 │ 28 37 │ 133 │ 128 │ 28 38 │ 136 │ 127 │ 29 39 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 40 │ 132 │ 129 │ 32 41 │ 132 │ 129 │ 32 42 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 43 │ 134 │ 128 │ 30 44 │ 133 │ 129 │ 30 45 │ 133 │ 127 │ 32 46 │ 134 │ 127 │ 31 47 │ 135 │ 129 │ 29 48 │ 137 │ 124 │ 30 49 │ 139 │ 122 │ 30 50 │ 142 │ 122 │ 28 51 │ 142 │ 120 │ 29 52 │ 146 │ 119 │ 27 53 │ 159 │ 112 │ 21 Necessary to choose, 147 ════════════════════════════════════════

The nomination of Scott was made unanimous, and William A. Graham, of North Carolina, who was Secretary of the Navy under the Fillmore administration, was given a unanimous nomination for Vice-President on the 2d ballot. The following platform was adopted without opposition, excepting as to the eighth and last, affirming the new and stringent Fugitive Slave law. After an earnest debate it was adopted by a vote of 212 to 70. Many of the friends of General Scott voted for that resolution from considerations of expediency. General Scott in his letter of acceptance broadly affirmed the platform in its entirety.

The Whigs of the United States, in convention assembled, adhering to the great conservative principles by which they are controlled and governed, and now, as ever, relying upon the intelligence of the American people, with an abiding confidence in their capacity for self-government, and their devotion to the Constitution and the Union, do proclaim the following as the political sentiments and determination for the establishment and maintenance of which their national organization as a party was effected:

_First._ The Government of the United States is of a limited character, and it is confined to the exercise of powers expressly granted by the Constitution, and such as may be necessary and proper for carrying the granted powers into full execution, and that powers not granted or necessarily implied are reserved to the States respectively and to the people.

_Second._ The State governments should be held secure to their reserved rights, and the General Government sustained on its constitutional powers, and that the Union should be revered and watched over as the palladium of our liberties.