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troops between the town of Lawrence and | Whig party had been broken to pieces by the hostile force and prevented another conflict. its defeat in 1852, and had now entirely disappeared.

Matters had reached this stage when the Presidential campaign opened in 1856. The struggle in the Territories had greatly weakened the Democratic party, and had given rise to a new party which called itself Republican, and which was based upon an avowed hostility to the extension of slavery. A third party, called the American, or Know Nothing, also took part in the campaign, and was based upon the doctrine that the political offices of the country should be held only by persons of American birth. The Democratic party nominated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, for the Presidency, and John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, for the Vice-Presidency. The Republican nominee for the Presidency was John C. Fremont, of California; for the VicePresidency William L. Dayton, of New Jersey. The American party supported Millard Fillmore, of New York, for the Presidency, and Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennessee, for the Vice-Presidency. The

men.

Slavery was the principal question in disThe canvass was unusually excited. pute. Party ties had little influence upon had been outraged by the repeal of the MisThe sentiment of the nation at large crats, desiring to rebuke their party for its souri Compromise, and thousands of Demowith the Republican party, which declared course in bringing about this repeal, united right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in as its leading principle that it was "both the the Territories those twin relics of barbarism-polygamy and slavery."

James Buchanan, the candidate of the DemThe elections resulted in the triumph of ocratic party. Mr. Buchanan received 174 electoral votes to 114 cast for Fremont. Though a majority of the American people sustained the action of the Democratic party, the significant fact remained that 1,341,264 of the voters of the country had recorded their condemnation of it by casting their votes for Fremont and Dayton.

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CHAPTER XL

The Administration of James Buchanan.

'nauguration of Mr. Buchanan-The Mormon Rebellion-The Financial Crisis of 1857—Laying of the Atlantic Tele graphic Cable-Minnesota Admitted Into the Union-The San Juan Affair-Admission of Oregon Into the UnionThe Kansas Question-The Lecompton Constitution—Its Defeat—The Wyandotte Constitution—Admission of Kan sas Into the Union-The John Brown Raid-Prompt Action of the Government-Brown and His Companions Surrendered to the State of Virginia—Their Trial and Execution-Presidential Campaign of 1860—Rupture of the Demc. cratic Party-Abraham Lincoln Elected President of the United States-Secession of South Carolina-Reasons for this Act-Secession of the Other Cotton States-Major Anderson Occupies Fort Sumter-Trying Position of the General Government-Course of Mr. Buchanan-The "Star of the West" Fired Upon by the South Carolina BatteriesOrganization of the Confederate States of America—Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Southern Republic-The Peace Congress-Its Failure.

J

AMES BUCHANAN, the fifteenth | President of the United States, was inaugurated at Washington on the fourth of March, 1857. He was in his sixty-sixth year, and was a statesman of great accomplishments and ripe experience. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1791, and was by profession a lawyer. He had served his State in Congress as a representative and a senator, had been minister to Russia under President Jackson, and had been a member of the cabinet of President Polk as secretary of state. During the four years previous to his election to the Presidency he had resided abroad as the minister of the United States to Great Britain, and in that capacity had greatly added to his reputation as a states

man.

He avowed the object of his administration to be "to destroy any sectional party, whether North or South, and to restore, if possible, that national fraternal feeling between the different States that had existed during the early days of the republic." The intense sectional feeling which the discussion of the slavery question had aroused had alarmed patriotic men in all parts of the Union, and it was earnestly hoped that Mr. Buchanan's administration would be able to

effect a peaceful settlement of the quarrel. Mr. Buchanan selected his cabinet from the leading men of the Democratic party, and placed at its head as secretary of state Lewis Cass, of Michigan.

We have in a previous portion of this work noticed the rise and growth of the Mormon sect, and their settlement in the region of the Great Salt lake, then a part of the Mexican republic. They were not at all pleased with their transfer to the United States by the cession of the territory occupied by them by the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo. Their object in emigrating to Utah had been to place themselves beyond the limits of the United States, where they could enjoy without molestation their religious practices, and maintain among themselves the institution of polygamy, to which they were attached as the foundation of their faith. They were not disturbed by the Mexican government, which was indeed scarcely aware of their existence, and thus unnoticed devoted their energies to building up the country they had occupied.

Their missionaries were sent into the various countries of Europe, and converts were made with extraordinary success and rapidity. They built up a thriving town on the

borders of the great lake, to which they gave the name of Salt Lake City, and founded other towns in various parts of the Territory. By the year 1850 the population of the Territory had increased to 11,380. Being on the highway to California, the greater part

JAMES BUCHANAN.

of the overland traffic and travel to the Pacific passed through Salt Lake City, and was a source of considerable profit to the Mormons.

In 1850 the Territory of Utah was organized, and Brigham Young, who had suc

ceeded Joe Smith as the prophet or leader of the Mormons, was appointed by President Fillmore governor of the Territory. His appointment was renewed by President Pierce, and the Mormons were left during these two administrations to manage their

affairs very much in their own way. Relying upon the immense distance which separated them from the States, they paid but little regard to the authority of the United States, and finally ventured openly to resist the officers of the general government, and expelled the federal judge from the Territory.

President Buchanan thereupon removed Brigham Young from his office of governor, and appointed a Mr. Cumming his successor. The Mormons having declared that the new governor should not enter the Territory, General Harney was ordered to accompany him. with a large body of troops and compel the submission of the people of Utah to the au

thority of the federal government.

Under the leadership of Brigham Young the Mormons took up arms and prepared to dispute the entrance of the troops into the Territory. They declared that their settlement and civilization of Utah had given them

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the sole right to the Territory, and that they
owed no allegiance to the United States.
Their resistance was so formidable that the
force under General Harney was largely
increased, and the command was conferred
upon Brigadier-
General Albert Sid-
ney Johnston, who
was considered the
most efficient offi-
cer in the service.
General Johnston
joined his troops
at Fort Bridger,
about one hundred
miles from Salt
Lake City, in Sep-
tember, 1857. The
Mormons in heavy
force occupied the
passes leading to
the valley of the
Great Salt lake.
The season was so
far advanced at the
time of his arrival
that General Johns-
ton concluded to
pass the winter at
Fort Bridger. The
Mormons were
very active during
the winter in cut-
ting off the trains of
the federal troops.
It was General
Johnston's inten-
tion to move upon
Salt Lake City im-

inducing the Mormons to lay down their arms and submit. Governor Cumming and the federal officers then entered Salt Lake City and assumed the offices to which they had been appointed, and a force of federal troops was

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THE MORMON TEMPLE, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

mediately upon the opening of the spring, but | encamped near the city to render them such before that season arrived the matter was settled through the efforts of a Mr. Kane, of Philadelphia. He was sent out to Salt Lake City by the government, and succeeded in

assistance as should be found necessary. President Buchanan then issued a proclamation granting a free pardon "to all, for the seditions and treasons by them committed."

The

Subsequently it transpired that a horrible | New York on the thirteenth of October, and atrocity of the most cruel and bloody descrip- by those of Boston on the fourteenth. tion had been committed. On the eighteenth failures in the United States for the year ending of September, 1857, one hundred and thirty- December 6, 1857, are said to have reached six emigrants, who were said to have offended the enormous aggregate of $291,750,000. the Mormons, were massacred in cold blood at Mountain Meadow, Utah. Many years Many years later Rishop Lee, of the Mormon Church, was accused of having ordered this wholesale murder. Brigham Young was exonerated in 1875. Bishop Lee was convicted, sen

The Western States suffered in a marked degree from the effects of this "crisis;" but the South was comparatively unharmed by it. Various causes were assigned for the panic, the principal of which were the large speculations in western lands and a heavy fall in the value

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of railway stocks. The New York banks resumed specie payments on the twelfth of December, 1857; the Boston banks on the fourteenth of December of that year; and those of Philadelphia in April, 1858. Specie payments were gradually resumed in other parts of the country, but the depression of business continued until during the course of the year 1859.

In the fall of 1857 the general business of the country was thrown into confusion by a sudden financial panic, which seriously embarrassed all commercial and industrial enterprises and caused general distress. On the twenty-sixth of September the banks of Philadelphia suspended specie payments; and In 1858 occurred an event second only their example was followed by the banks of in importance to the invention of the

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