Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/32

The policy of Pierce's administration upon the question of slavery evoked an extraordinary amount of popular excitement, and led to tremendous and lasting results. That policy was based on the theory that the institution of slavery was imbedded in and guaranteed by the constitution of the United States, and that therefore it was the duty of the National government to protect it. The two chief measures in support of such a policy, which originated with and were supported by Pierce's administration, were the conference of Ainni' .111 diplomatists that promulgated the " Ostend mani- festo," and the opening of the territories of Kan-a- and Nebraska to slavery. Filibustering expeditions from the United States to Cuba under Lopez, in 1850 and 1851, aroused anxiety in Europe as to the attitude of our government toward such enterprises. In 1S53 Great Britain and France proposed to the United States a tripartite treaty by which the three powers should disclaim all intention of acquiring Cuba, and discountenance such an attempt by any power. On 1 Dec., 1852, Edward Everett, who was then secretary of state, declined to act. declaring, however, that our government would never question Spam's title to the island. On IB Aug., 1854, President Pierce directed James Buchanan, John Y. Mason, and Pierre Soule, the American ministers to Great Britain, France, and Spain, to meet and discuss the Cuban question. They met at Ostend. 9 Oct., and afterward at Aix la Chapelle, and sent to their government that famous despatch known as the "Ostend manifesto." It declared that if Spain should obstinately refuse to sell Cuba, self- pre-ervation would make it incumbent on the United States to wrest it from her and prevent it from being Africanized into a second Santo Do- mingo. But the hostile attitude of the great European powers, and the Kansas and Nebraska excitement, shelved the Cuban question till 1858, when a feeble and abortive attempt was made in congress to authorize its purchase for $30,000,000.

President Pierce, in his first message to congress, December, 1853, spoke of the repose that had fol- lowed the compromises of 1850, and said : " That this repose is to suffer no shock during my official term if I have power to prevent it, those who placed me here may be assured." Doubtless such was then his hope and belief. In the following January, Mr. Douglas, chairman of the senate com- mittee on the territories, introduced a bill to or- ganize the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, which permitted slavery north of the parallel of 36 30' in a region from which it had been forever excluded by the Missouri compromise of 1820. That bill was Mr. Douglas's bid for the presidency. Southern politicians could not reject it and retain their influence at home. Northern politicians who opposed it gave up all hope of national preferment, which then seemed to depend on southern support. The defeat of the bill seemed likely to sever and destroy the Democratic organization, a result which many believed would lead to civil war and the dissolution of the Union. Borne onward by the aggressive spirit of slavery, by political ambi- tion, by the force of party discipline, and the dread of sectional discord, the bill was passed by con- gress, and on 31 May received the signature of the president. Slavery had won, but there never was a more costly victory. The remainder of Pierce's term was embittered by civil war in Kaiisa- and the disasters of his party in the free states. In 1854, with a Democratic majority in both houses of ilir New Hampshire legislature, the influence of the national administration could not secure the election of a Democratic U. S. senator, and at the next election in 1855 the Democracy lost control of the state. The repeal of the .Missouri compro- mise was soon followed by organized efforts in the free states to fill Kansas with anti-slavery settlers. To such movements the south responded by armed invasions. On 30 March. 1855, a territorial legis- lature was elected in Kansas by armed bands from Missouri, who crossed the border to vote and then returned to their homes. That initiative gave to the pro-slavery men a tech- nical advantage, which the Democratic leaders were swift to recognize. The pro- slavery legislature thus el< > -t - fd met at Pawnee on 2 July, 1855, and enacted an intol- erant and oppressive slave- code, which was mainly a transcript of the laws of Missouri. The free-state set- tlers thereupon called a con- stitutional convention, which met on 23 Oct., 1855, and framed a state constitution, which was adopted by the people by a vote of 1,731 to

46. A general assembly was

then elected under such constitution, which, after passing some preliminary acts, appointed a committee to frame a code of laws, and took measures to apply to congress for the admission of Kansas into the Union as a state. Andrew H. Reecler was elected by the free-state men their delegate to congress. A majority of the actual settlers of Kansas were in favor of her ad- mission into the Union as a free state ; but all their efforts to that end were treated by their opponents in the territory, and by the Democratic national ad- ministration, as rebellion against lawful authority. This couflict kept the territory in a state of con- fusion and bloodshed, and excited party feeling throughout the country tu lever heat. It remained unsettled, to vex Buchanan's administration and further develop the germs of disunion and civil war.

On 2 June. 1856, the National Democratic con- vention met at Cincinnati to nominate a can- didate for president. On the. first ballot James Bu- chanan hail 135 votes, Pierce 122, Douglas 33. ('a>s li. Pierce's vote gradually diminished, and on tin' 17th ballot Buchanan was nominated unani- mously. In August the house of representa- tives attached to the army appropriation bill a proviso that no part of the army should be em- ployed to enforce the laws of the Kansas territorial legislature until congress should have declared its validity. The senate refused to concur, and con- gress adjourned without passing the bill. It was immediately convened by proclamation, and pa"ed the bill without the proviso. The president's mes- sage in December following was mainly devoted to Kansas affairs, and was intensely hostile to t he free-state party. His term ended on 4 March, 1S57. and he returned to his home in Concord. Soon afterward he vi-ited .Madeira, and extended his travels to Great Britain and the continent of Kn- rope. He remained abroad nearly three years, re- turning to Concord early in I860. In the pn^i- dential election of that year he took no active part, but his influence was cast against Douglas and in favor of Breckinridge.

In a Inter addressed to Jefferson Davis, under date of 6 Jan., 1860, he wrote; without discussing the question of right, of abstract power to secede, I have never believed that actual disruption of the Union can occur without bloodshed; and