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“I ask you to look into these things, and then tell me whether the Democracy or the Abolitionists are right. The point upon which Chief Justice Taney expresses his opinion is simply this, that slaves being property, stand on an equal footing with other property, and consequently that the owner has the same right to carry that property into a Territory that he has any other, subject to the same conditions. Suppose that one of your merchants was to take fifty or one hundred thousand dollars' worth of liquors to Kansas. He has a right to go there under that decision, but when he gets there he finds the Maine liquor law in force, and what can he do with his property after he gets it there? He cannot sell it, he cannot use it, it is subject to the local law, and that law is against him, and the best thing he can do with it is to bring it back into Missouri or Illinois and sell it. If you take negroes to Kansas, as Col. Jeff. Davis said in his Bangor speech, from which I have quoted to-day, you must take them there subject to the local law. If the people want the institution of slavery they will protect and encourage it; but if they do not want it they will withhold that protection, and the absence of local legislation protecting slavery excludes it as completely as a positive prohibition. You slaveholders of Missouri might as well understand what you know practically, that you cannot carry slavery where the people do not want it. All you have a right to ask is that the people shall do as they please; if they want slavery let them have it; if they do not want it, allow them to refuse to encourage it.” -Stephen Douglas
“My friends, if, as I have said before, we will only live up to this great fundamental principle, there will be peace between the North and the South. Mr. Lincoln admits that under the Constitution on all domestic questions, except slavery, we ought not to interfere with the people of each State. What right have we to interfere with slavery any more than we have to interfere with any other question? He says that this slavery question is now the bone of contention. Why? Simply because agitators have combined in all the free States to make war upon it. Suppose the agitators in the States should combine in one-half of the Union to make war upon the railroad system of the other half? They would thus be driven to the same sectional strife. Suppose one section makes war upon any other peculiar institution of the opposite section, and the same strife is produced. The only remedy and safety is that we shall stand by the Constitution as our fathers made it, obey the laws as they are passed, while they stand the proper test and sustain the decisions of the Supreme Court and the constituted authorities” - Stephen Douglas
"The Undecided Political Prize Fight" ran in HARPER'S WEEKLY in 1860. It features three of the leading presidential hopefuls. At center, Democrat Steven Douglas (left) boxes with Republican Abe Lincoln (right). A man in a top hat and coat coaches Douglas; we assume he is a representative of Douglas' Irish support base. Lincoln is attended to by a kneeling black man, a reference to Lincoln's antislavery sentiments. While these two battle it out, a third candidate, John Breckenridge, thumbs his nose and heads for the White House, with a line of supporters leading the way.
On the day before the sack of Lawrence, Republican senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts delivered a bombastic and wrathful speech, "The Crime Against Kansas," in which he verbally whipped most of the U.S. Senate for complicity in slavery. Sumner singled out Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina…Two days later, a relative of Butler, Democratic representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina, strode into the Senate chamber, found Sumner at his desk, and struck him repeatedly with a cane. The hollow can broke after five or six blows, but Sumner required stitches, experienced shock, and did not return to the Senate for three years. Brooks became an instant hero in the South, and the fragments of his weapon were "begged as sacred relics." A new cane, presented to Brooks by the city of Charleston, bore the inscription "Hit him again."
Former U.S. President Millard Fillmore ran for a non-consecutive second term in 1856 as a level-headed third party candidate who could mediate between the abolitionists and pro-slavery forces. In this cartoon, Fillmore stands between the armed and hostile Republican candidate John C. Fremont (left) and the club-wielding Democrat James Buchanan.
Come on, then, gentlemen of the slave states. Since there is no escaping your challenge, we accept it in the name of freedom. We will engage in competition for the virgin soil of Kansas, and God give the victory to the side which is stronger in numbers, as it is in right. -Senator William Seward, on the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, May 1854 They may kill me, but they cannot kill the principles I fight for. If they take Lawrence, they must do it over my dead body. --G.W. Bell, Douglas County Clerk, Kansas God sees it, I have only a short time to live--only one death to die and I will die fighting for this cause, there will be no more peace in this land until slavery is done for. -John Brown to his son, as they watched Osawatomie burn, on August 30, 1856
Election Results of 1848 Welcome: Florida, Iowa, Texas and Wisconsin become states during this election cycle First Election Day using current date: Tuesday following first Monday in November Vice-Presidential Succession: Taylor died July 9, 1850, replaced by Millard Fillmore Issues of the Day: Slavery, War with Mexico
Election Results of 1852 Welcome: California becomes a state during this election cycle Final Presidential election with a candidate of the Whig party Issues of the Day: Slavery (Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act)
Election Results of 1856 Winner Buchanan received only about 45% of the popular vote John C. Fremont is first candidate of new Republican Party, organized largely around the opposition to slavery Issues of the Day: Slavery (Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas)
Election Results of 1860 Welcome: Minnesota and Oregon become states during this election cycle Original 13 States control fewer than 50% of total Electoral Votes for first time Lincoln received only about 40% of the popular vote in a divided nation on the brink of Civil War New Jersey Electors split their vote: 4 for Lincoln, 3 for Douglas; Douglas had won popular vote Issues of the Day: Slavery (Dred Scott decision, Secession)
Native American Party candidate is at left, standing on the Union Rock, Republican candidate John Fremont is holding the exploding rifle and Democratic candidate James Buchanan is represented by the deer running towards the White House.
Response to Lincoln’s call for troops after Ft. Sumter • “With us it is a matter of necessity that the Union be preserved; but how to do it is a problem which I cannot solve. Our territorial limits are so contracted that, should the Union be dissolved, it is impossible for Delaware to exist as an independent Sovereignty. I do not know the feelings of the people of this State whether in the event of dissolution, it would be better to go to the North or to the South: most if not all of our trade is with the North.” – William Burton, Governor of Delaware [in correspondence with Maryland’s Governor Hicks, after Maryland ensures Union loyalty] • "There can be, I apprehend, no doubt that these men are intended to make war upon the seceded States. Your requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary in its objects, inhuman and diabolical, and can not be complied with. Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on such an unholy crusade. –Clairborne Jackson, Governor of Missouri [in response to Lincoln’s call for troops in the border states] • "Your dispatch is received. I say emphatically that Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern states." – Beriah Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky [in response to Lincoln’s call for troops in the border states]
NO MORE WORDS! [Boston, April, 1861] by Franklin Lushington No more words; Try it with your swords! Try it with the arms of your bravest and your best! You are proud of your manhood, now put it to the test; Not another word; Try it by the sword! No more notes; Try it by the throats Of the cannon that will roar till the earth and air be shaken; For they speak what they mean, and they cannot be mistaken; No more doubt; Come -- fight it out! No child's play! Waste not a day; Serve out the deadliest weapons that you know; Let them pitilessly hail on the faces of the foe; No blind strife; Waste not one life. You that in the front Bear the battle's brunt -- When the sun gleams at dawn on the bayonets abreast, Remember 'tis for government and country you contest; For love of all you guard, Stand, and strike hard! You at home that stay, From danger far away, Leave not a jot to chance, while you rest in quiet ease; Quick! forge the bolts of death; quick! ship them o'er the seas; If War's feet are lame, Yours will be the blame, You, my lads abroad, "Steady" be your word; You at home, be the anchor of your soldiers young and brave; Spare no cost, none is lost, that may strengthen or may save; Sloth were sin and shame; Now play out the game!
Augusta Jan'y 21. 1861. Dear Sir, From the reports in the newspapers, I am led to fear that there is some reason to believe that Genl Cameron may be a member of your Cabinet. I have no feeling of personal unkindness towards Genl C. & never had cause or occasion for any; but it is my fixed belief -- & being so, I am constrained to say it -- that is is scarcely possible for a selection to be made that would be so badly received by the country as this would be. The world (of the U. S.) believes that Genl Cameron is a politician of the lower law school of tactics & practices, whose disciples hold that administration is chiefly desirable for its benefits to those who participate in it -- & it would be difficult to make it understood how any one could be ignorant of this reputation, or doubt its essential justice. The earnest, honest, vital men of the Republican party who desire & mean to give your administration their most sincere & effective support, & upon whom it must depend, will be embarassed more than I can tell, should one of its first acts be to place the Treasury of the U. S. in the keeping of one whose name has the burden of so great a prejudice as the Penna Senator's--I know that unbidden guests have no place for sitting, & that unsolicited advice generally deserves short commons. But I feel that you need no assurance that I have taken it upon me to write you on this subject from any motive or purpose that do not have the sanction of my honest judgment-I have strong convictions as to who, taking all things into account, would make the best Secretary of the Treasury, but my purpose in writing you covers no suggestions of that character. But what troubles me more than the Cabinet question, is the apprehension that many of the Republicans are unequal to the exigencies of the time. They are blind & cannot see -- weak & they cannot stand. If they would only be patient & have faith in what is true, & strong & eternal -- if they would be firm & act as men, all would come right; but if they will not all will be wrong, & the election of Breckenridge would have been a smaller calamity than these people will make yours. There are laws stronger than Representatives & Senators, than party leaders, nay than parties themselves, which make the permanent actual secession of one or more of the slave States a practical impossibility-- The Union is to remain: it may be the old Union for freedom & right, or a new one for Slavery & wrong. If the North does not back down & give the Union to Slavery, the South will & leave it to freedom-- I fear however that our weak & unbelieving men will not give slavery a chance to back down -- their facility for degradation is of fabulous proportions, & nothing but the clear, strong, reassuring tones of the brave men of principle -- & who are always the truly successful men -- can keep them from courses which would lead logically & certainly to the demoralization of the party which is the last hope of Liberty & Union-- These men seek all occasions & pretexts for concessions & humiliations -- they are playing the same endless role -- it played out the Whig party with Clay & Webster -- & if they can have their way it will play out the Republican party -- they profess to make MrSewards late speech, which was, truly read, a protest agt compromises -- for he shows in detail that there are no allowable & practical concessions to be made, & that only masterly inactivity coupled with fidelity are wanted -- the excuse for hurrying up concession after concession. I fear these men & their influence-- I know them -- some of them were the followers of Douglas two years ago-- They have hankered for popular sovereignty -- for any thing so it was not pure Republicanism-- One of them, I am told, is getting Congressmen to solicit his appointment to a place in your Cabinet, as if one fit for such a place should find it necessary to do this-- There is not in my poor judgment any fear but from the counsels of these men-- If we can only pass the 4' of March & yr inauguration & keep Sumter & the other forts, without having yielded our principles or or neglected our duties, but a few months will elapse before the country will be quiet, & all the States will be loyal. But excuse me this screed -- & believe me to beVery truly yours, I. Washburn Jr
Staunton Spectator: October 18, 1859 (Virginia) Rumored Insurrection Rumors reached this place last night, about 8 o clock, by telegraph, of a negro insurrection at Harper's Ferry. The dispatch was from the operator at Richmond, and stated that the negroes, under the lead of white men, had taken possession of the arsenal, and sent wagon loads of muskets and rifles to slaves in the surrounding country, and that large numbers had been killed.--They had cut and destroyed the telegraph wires. It is further stated that Gov. Wise had left Richmond with several miliary companies, and that two companies from Washington with three twelve pounders had gone from that city with orders to take the bridge at all hazards by midnight. Troops from Old Point Comfort had also been ordered out, and companies from Baltimore had also repaired to Harper's Ferry. The payhouse is said to have been robbed of a large sum of money. These rumors may be exaggerated in some particulars, but there seems to be no doubt, from what we learn of Mr. Baskin, the operator at this place, of the fact of the insurrection. We think it probable, however, that a rebellion among the white operatives at the Armory has been mistaken for slave insurrection; though it is probable that some negroes may have been induced to join them.
Staunton Spectator: November 8, 1859 (Virginia) The Result of the Trial The trial of Capt. Brown at Charlestown has resulted as everybody anticipated it would, and the prisoner has been sentenced to be hung on the 2nd of December. It is probable, however, that the case will be taken up to the Court of Appeals on a point of law, and if the objection is sustained a new trial will be ordered. We, for one, shall not regret any delay in the execution of the sentence which the laws authorized, as we wish the country to see that the State of Virginia is acting calmly and deliberately, and not under the influence of passion or alarm. So far, the proceedings have been conducted in admirable style, and Judge Parker is commended on all hands for his dignity and impartiality. We are glad that even the whims of the prisoner have been treated with the utmost forebearance. The State guarantees a fair trial to every man accused of crime, and that Brown had one he is obliged himself to confess, notwithstanding his complaints at the outset. In his address to the Court, when called upon as usual to say why sentence should not be pronounced, he remarked: "I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received at my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been more generous than I expected." The prisoner complained, however, of his sentences, because he was convicted of capital offenses--treason, murder and conspiracy with negroes--when he only intended peacefully to run off slaves; and if lives were sacrificed it was the fault of those who interfered with him! Such an apology is, of course, very absurd, but why did Brown provide so many rifles and pikes if he did not contemplate violence and bloodshed? He was, no doubt, deceived in reference to the assistance which he expected, both from the free and slave States. He calculated upon large accessions to his force from the North, as Cook admits, and the fact that, after all his preparations for months beforehand, he could muster only seventeen white men and five negroes, goes far to prove that the number of such fanatics,is very small. He also, according to his own statement, expected assistance from Maryland, Virginia, and other slave States. Upon what this expectation was founded does not appear.--It may be that he had read in the newspapers the charges of abolitionism, or unsoundness upon the slavery question, preferred against each other by the two political parties, and that these criminations and re- criminations, which are well understood here, really induced him to believe that hundreds of white men in the slave States were prepared to join his standard.--Whether this be so or not, it is high time that the sort of party warfare alluded to were discontinued. It is certainly calculated to do great injury, by giving aid and comfort to outside fanaticism.
Valley Spirit: December 7, 1859 (Pennsylvania) Admiration for Old Brown The Republican journals in this State, and many of them elsewhere, pretend not to approve of old Brown's armed invasion of Virginia for the purpose of murdering slaveholders and liberating their slaves. The Transcript of the 23d ult. had the modesty to say that "the worst enemies the South now has in this country--not even excepting the handful of abolitionists scattered over the land--are those self-styled Democratic papers and office hunting patriots who are endeavoring to create an impression that the recent rebellion at Harper's Ferry is a result of Republican doctrine on the question of slavery, and that the scheme was aided and abetted by republican leaders." The proof is too strong to admit of contradiction, that Republican leaders contributed to Brown's Harper's Ferry enterprise, as they had before contributed to keep him at his bloody work in Kansas. And since his arrest and conviction, not only has the bloody murderer been soothed by individual expression of sympathy and regard, but in New England public meetings, presided over by very prominent Republicans, have endorsed the murderer's conduct and taken measures to provide for his family as a special mark of their admiration for the man. At one of these meetings, held in the city of Boston and presided over by the author of the resolution adopted by the late Republican State Convention of Massachusetts, the shocking declaration was made by one of the speakers, that the hanging of Brown "would make the gallows as glorious as the cross." Thus it will be seen that in the very heart of New England, the stronghold of Republicanism, a Republican speaker, addressing a Republican meeting, put JOHN BROWN the murderer on a level with JESUS CHRIST the Saviour of mankind. But we need not go to Boston for evidence of Republican sympathy for the old scoundrel who has just expiated his unparalleled crimes on the gallows. The Transcript of the date we have already named is brim-ful of admiration for BROWN. It has borrowed an editorial from the New York Independent entitled "JOHN BROWN'S Speech from the Scaffold," and printed it in the shape of original matter under an editorial head on its first page. This article is full of insult to Virginia, full of malice to the South, and full of admiration for the condemned murderer. The Transcript has no fear that "JOHN BROWN will make any concession or retraction," or "do anything but vindicate the principle upon which he has acted, and condemn to the last the system of slavery which he aimed to overthrow."--We presume he has died just as the Transcript hoped he would die, and just as the impenitent thief died. Criminals who reach BROWN'S degree of guilt seldom confess their crimes on the scaffold. It will not surprise us to hear that BROWN swung off with the lie on his lips that he told at his trial, that while he meant to free slaves, he did not mean to murder their master--a falsehood refuted by the murderous preparations he had made. Such is the Transcript's admiration for BROWN, that it endorses his "Speech from the Scaffold" without waiting to see what he says. Cordially approving what he has done in the way of robbery and murder, it is willing to take his dying speech upon trust--to endorse it before its delivery. It says--"The speech he will utter from the scaffold will become historical--taking rank with those dying words of patriots, heroes and martyrs, which have become the watchwords of after-generations in the great conflicts and triumphs of freedom and truth." And for fear the "cowardice" of the people of Virginia might lead them not to "suffer BROWN to speak at all before the fatal noose is tied," the Transcript advises him "to deposit his last testimony in writing with some trusty friend who will see that it reaches the public eye." It would hardly be so extremely anxious to secure his dying speech as a "watchword for after-generations," if it did not approve of the robberies, murders and treason he has committed. It is possible the whole Republican party of Franklin county will recognize as their organ a paper which thus openly expresses its approval of the invasion of a neighboring State and the murder of peaceable citizens? Are the Republicans of Franklin county in favor of extending an invitation to another gang of scoundrels to come to Chambersburg with boxes of rifles and pikes, and here organize and arrange for an attack on Harper's Ferry, Hagerstown or some other point South of the Pennsylvania line? It is time for peaceably-disposed and law-abiding Republicans-- and we presume there are a few of this sort in our county--to reflect whether it is not their solemn duty to abandon a party whose organ eulogizes as a "patriot, hero and martyr," a scoundrel whose only claim to admiration is that he stole upon their neighbors at the dead hour of mid-night and killed them without the smallest provocation. If it is right for the people of Franklin county to countenance assaults upon Hagerstown, it would also be right for the people of Washington county to countenance assaults upon Chambersburg. All who do not want to involve us in war with our neighbors across the line, must assist to put down such crazy and malignant Republicanism as the Transcript has run into. The citizens of Franklin county who will concur with the Transcript in calling JOHN BROWN a "patriot, hero and martyr," because he went to Harper's Ferry to steal slaves and murder their masters, would have nothing to complain of if a band of Marylanders or Virginians were to come over here to steal his horses and cattle--still less if the people of Washington county were to seize and hold his team if he sent it to Hagerstown or Williamsport with a load of flour or grain. If our people want it to come to this, let them sustain the Transcript in pronouncing the liar, thief, traitor and murderer BROWN a "patriot, hero and martyr."
