now fully organized, and it nominated as its candidates John C. Fremont of California and William L. Dayton of New Jersey. The Democratic candidates were James Buchanan of Pennsylvania and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. The Democrats were successful in the contest, carrying 174 votes to 114 for Fremont.

CHAPTER LXIX.

SECESSION. 1857-1861.

529. Dred Scott. - Immediately upon the inauguration of President Buchanan, March 4th, 1857, the slavery question, which Mr. Douglas had hoped was settled by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, showed itself still the live issue of the day. An important decision of the Supreme Court gave even more alarm to the antislavery element than any previous action in the history of the government.

James Buchanan was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, in 1791, and died in 1868. He was a member of Congress from 1820 to 1831; minister to Russia, 1832 to 1834; and senator, 1834 to 1845. During the administration of President Polk, he was Secretary of State. In 1853, President Pierce appointed him minister to England. On his return from England, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for President.

Dred Scott was a Missouri slave who had claimed his freedom because his master had previously taken him into a free State. The matter came up by appeal to the United States Supreme Court, which decided that he was not a citizen, and therefore had no standing in courts of law. The Supreme Court also rendered decisions that affected the whole status of the negro. In substance, the negro was judged to be no more than property, and therefore the same protection must be accorded by the United States to slave as to any other personal property. This decision would seem to outdo even the Kansas-Nebraska Act, as by it citizens might carry their slaves into any of the territories.

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530. Kansas Again. Strong pressure was brought to bear upon Congress to admit Kansas to the Union with what was called the Lecompton Constitution. This had been framed by the proslavery legislature of the Territory just before its term expired, and contained a clause permitting slavery. Congress realized, however, that the

majority of the inhabitants did not desire the Lecompton Constitution, and failed to pass the bill. Not until January 29th, 1861, and after the secession of six Southern States (1 535), was Kansas admitted to the Union. Meanwhile, Minnesota, May 11th, 1858, and Oregon, February 14th, 1859, were admitted as free States.

Minnesota, or the "Gopher State," was first settled in 1819, though the French established trading-posts there in 1680 Most of the Territory was obtained by the Louisiana purchase, but the part east of the Mississippi River was a portion of the Northwest Territory. The leading industry of the State is agriculture, but the advantages for manufacturing industries are excellent. It has had the usual rapid growth in population, gaining from six thousand in 1850 to thirteen hundred thousand in 1890.

531. Lincoln and Douglas.-The position of the two parties in the North on the slavery question in 1858 can be quite well shown by what were called the Lincoln-Douglas debates. These two citizens of Illinois were rival candidates for election to the United States Senate, and during the campaign the two men made a series of speeches from the same platforms. Mr. Douglas had the difficult task of trying to reconcile the Dred Scott decision with his own doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty," and proved himself a strong representative of the northern wing of the Democratic party.

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Abraham Lincoln (T 550) took the ground of the moderate antislavery men, in opposition both to Douglas in the Kansas-Nebraska

Oregon. The region called Oregon, the cause of so much discussion between the United States and Great Britain, was given a territorial government in 1848. On the admission of Oregon, the rest of the Territory was reorganized, and called Washington. Agriculture and manufactures are in a flourishing condition, but the most interesting industry is the salmon-fishing in the Columbia River. The population of the "Beaver State" is over three hundred thousand.

Act, and to Chief-Justice Taney in the Dred Scott decision. He showed himself an able opponent of the great orator, and his brilliant speeches brought him before the public as a strong candidate for the nomination of the Republican party for President. Mr. Douglas was elected senator, but by so small a majority as to weaken his chances of ever attaining the Presidency.

532. John Brown. While legislative and judicial proceedings on the slavery question were keeping the people on the tiptoe of expectancy, a foolhardy attempt to obtain immediate freedom for the slaves rendered the excitement more intense. John Brown had been one of the most zealous of the antislavery settlers of Kansas, and had been compelled to flee from the Territory with a price on his head. Later he conceived the idea of

freeing and arming some slaves and starting an insurrection, probably with the hope of frightening the South into granting the slaves their freedom.

In the execution of his plan, on the 16th of October, 1859, Brown and his sons captured the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry,

Kansas. -The history of Kansas as

a Territory forms a very important part of the history of the United States. The soil and climate of the "Sunflower State" are well adapted to the agriculturist, the fruit-grower, and the stockraiser. Available water-power is one of the most valuable possessions of Kansas. The numerous railroads of the State give abundant opportunity for transportation to eastern markets. The population of Kansas is about a million and a half.

on the Potomac River, and armed a

few negroes. He was easily overpowered, and after a speedy trial by a Virginia court was hanged as a "traitor." Though very few, even of the most ardent abolitionists, sympathized with Brown in his attempt, the South was unable to realize the true situation. The Southerners were afraid of slave insurrections, and did not attempt to conceal their hatred of the abolitionists

of the North. They failed to perceive that there were few who desired immediate abolition of slavery and fewer still who approved of any insurrection for that purpose. All antislavery men were classed by them as abolitionists, and Southern Democrats had only scorn and contempt for the "Black Republicans," as they afterward called them.

A New Party. A convention held by the conservative men of all parties, who desired to ignore the whole troublesome question, adopted a platform which demanded merely the upholding of the Constitution, the Union, and the laws. This was called the "Constitutional Union" and party, had John Bell of Tennessee as its candidate.

533. The Campaign of 1860. — The political divisions in 1860 were based upon the different views on the question of extension or restriction of slavery. The Democratic party could not unite upon a candidate, and split into two wings. The strong proslavery men met and nominated Vice-President John C. Breckinridge for President. The more moderate men of the party met in a separate convention and nominated Stephen A. Douglas. The Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln of Illinois and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine to head their ticket. The break among the Democrats, together with the presence of a fourth party, gave the Republicans a great advantage, and Lincoln and Hamlin received 180 of the votes cast by the 303 electors.

They carried every Northern State except a por

tion of New Jersey, while Breckenridge obtained most of the Southern States. The Constitutional Union party carried three of the border States, while Douglas received but twelve electoral

votes.

534. The Effect upon the South. Mr. Lincoln was the first candidate ever elected President by the votes of a section, and also the first to be elected on a distinctively antislavery platform. The fear and hatred that the Southern leaders had for the abolitionists and the

"Black Republicans" made their disappointment at the result of the election almost unbearable. The advocates of slavery thought that the Republican party would leave no stone unturned to deprive them of their established institution, and therefore decided that the time had come to take very radical measures for the preservation of slavery.

535. Secession. When South Carolina received the news of the election of Lincoln, its legislature called a State convention, which on December 20th, 1860, passed an ordinance of "secession." This act

repealed the former acts of the State in ratifying the Constitution of the United States, and declared the connection of South Carolina

with the rest of the Union at an end. Within two months, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas had followed the lead of South Carolina and had "seceded" from the Union.

536.

"Confederate States."-It was not the plan of the secessionists that each of the Southern States should exist as an independent nation. In February, 1861, a convention was held in Montgomery, Alabama, consisting of delegates from the "seceding" States, which formed a new Union, called the "Confederate States of America." Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia Vice-President of the Confederacy. One of the essential features of the Constitution adopted in March was the section which forbade forever any attempt to emancipate the slaves.

Jefferson Davis.

The effect

Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, was born in Kentucky, June 3d, 1808. He was graduated from West Point in 1828, resigned his commission in 1835, and entered Congress in 1845, but soon joined General Taylor's army in Mexico. He was elected senator in 1847. He became President Pierce's Secretary of War, and in 1857 was returned to the Senate. He left that body, January 21st, 1861, after announcing the secession of his State, Mississippi. Mr. Davis was imprisoned in Fortress Monroe for two years after the war was over, but was then released without trial. After 1867 he lived very quietly at his home in Mississippi. He died at New Orleans, Dec. 6, 1889.

537. President Buchanan. of this extreme action of the Southern States upon the country as a whole was such as almost to paralyze the government. Southern leaders daily left Washington; Southern officers were continually giving up their commissions in the army. The materials of war that had been gradually carried into the Southern States were everywhere confiscated, and United States forts and arsenals were turned over to the State governments. President Buchanan was surrounded by Southern advisers, and was unable to decide what ought to be done under the existing circum