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XVIII.

THE DEMOCRATS REUNITED.

QUESTIONS Connected with slavery had been gradually but surely acquiring an overshadowing importance in national politics, until they split the Democratic party in the North almost in twain. In the election of 1848 more than one fourth of the Democrats of the North had voted for an independent candidate rather than support the party nominee, who had committed himself against the Wilmot proviso. The Whig party was also divided into two factions, and found safety only in silence. The power of slavery lay, however, rather in the weakness, the timidity, and the division of its opponents, than in its own inherent strength. It was to discover this fact later, but for the time being it was strongly intrenched. It governed the Democratic party; and the Northern section of the Whig party, though stronger than the Southern, did not dare to try to govern it.

It became the business of the new Whig administration to organize the vast territory acquired from Mexico, and this not only made the subject of slavery in the Territories the leading issue in politics, but it reopened the whole question for agitation and contest. The result was the "compromise" measures of 1850,- all originally included in a single measure known as the "omnibus bill," but subsequently separated, when each matter was passed upon by itself. Slavery was not to be abolished in the District of Columbia; California was to be admitted as a State without restriction as to slavery; a new and more strin

gent fugitive slave law was to be enacted; Texas was to receive ten million dollars for yielding her claim to New Mexico; Utah and New Mexico were to be organized as new Territories. To the passage of these measures Whigs and Democrats alike bent their energies, opposed on the one hand by the extremists among the Southern men, and on the other by the Anti-Slavery party of the North. General Taylor died while the measures were pending; but Mr. Fillmore, who succeeded him, was decidedly in favor of them, and promptly signed all the bills. Those who carried them through Congress, and those who supported them on the stump and in the press, deluded themselves with the idea that they were a finality; that they took away all matters of difference, or at least established the principles upon which all future questions arising out of them were to be decided; and that the people would regard a reopening of the agitation as unpatriotic and meddlesome.

Acquiescence in the settlement was really quite general in the Democratic party. The two wings of the party reunited, and carried most of the elections, as against the Whigs, who lost the unswerving Abolition and AntiSlavery vote. It was evident that the Democrats would go into the election of 1852 a united party, provided a candidate unobjectionable to both wings could be found. It was equally evident that anything like a hearty union of Whigs was out of the question.

There was much preparation, and there was a great deal of discussion and intrigue, in each party, months before the time of nomination. The leading candidate on the Democratic side was General Cass, who had been defeated four years before. Mr. James Buchanan, however, was very strongly supported; and Stephen A. Douglas and William L. Marcy each had many friends. But it does

not seem to have been confidently anticipated that either of these gentlemen would succeed in securing the neces sary two thirds, and the experience of 1844 was frequently in men's minds.

The Whigs were in a worse case. Mr. Webster was the greatest of their statesmen, but after his 7th of March speech he was impossible as a candidate to that wing of the party which regarded the compromise measures of 1850 with abhorrence. On the other hand, the Southern members of the party were firmly resolved not to accept any candidate who was not in favor of those measures. Mr. Fillmore, although an accidental President, had stood by them, and they were in favor of nominating him for re-election. But as General Taylor had loomed up four years before as a colorless and non-committal candidate, so now there was a strong movement in favor of General Winfield Scott. No one knew what was his position on the subject of the "compromises," and there was a careful and successful effort to keep the Whig public in the dark. But, as has happened before and since that time, the most energetic movements in favor of the candidate who was eventually to be nominated came from States which could not be expected to give him an electoral vote. Yet it is not easy to see what course could have been taken to avert the fate which awaited the Whigs in 1852. Had a candidate been chosen who was identified with the compromise of 1850, like Mr. Webster or Mr. Fillmore, he would have been slaughtered remorselessly in the North; had an oppo nent of these measures been selected, he would have failed to secure an electoral vote in the South; and no other non-committal candidate would have succeeded any better than General Scott did.

The Democratic convention was held, first, on June 1, 1852, at Baltimore. It was a protracted convention, for it

did not adjourn until the 6th of the month, but it was not very interesting. John W. Davis of Indiana was the presi dent. After a short contest, the two-thirds rule was adopted by an overwhelming majority. The struggle over the nomination was protracted. On the first ballot, General Cass had 116; James Buchanan, 93; William L. Marcy, 27; Stephen A. Douglas, 20; Joseph Lane, 13; Samuel Houston, 8; and there were 4 scattering. The number necessary to a choice was 188. In the succeeding ballots the vote for Mr. Cass fell off, while the number of delegates who voted for Mr. Douglas steadily increased, until, on the twenty-ninth trial, the votes were: for Cass, 27; for Buchanan, 93; for Douglas, 91; and no other candidate had more than 26. At this point Cass began to recover his strength, and reached his largest number on the thirty-fifth trial, namely, 131. On that same ballot, Virginia gave 15 votes to Franklin Pierce. Mr. Pierce gained 15 more votes on the thirty-sixth trial; but at that point his increase ceased, and was then slowly resumed, as the weary repetition of balloting without effect went on. The forty-eighth trial resulted as follows: For Cass, 73; for Buchanan, 28; for Douglas, 33; for Marcy, 90; for Pierce, 55; for all others, 8. The forty-ninth trial was the last. There was a "stampede" for Pierce, and he received 282 votes to 6 for all others.

Ten persons were voted for in the nomination of a candidate for Vice-President,- William R. King of Alabama had 126; S. U. Downs of Louisiana, 30; John B. Weller of California, 28; William O. Butler of Kentucky, 27; Gideon J. Pillow of Tennessee, 25; David R. Atchison of Missouri, 25; Robert Strange of North Carolina, 23; T. J. Rusk of Texas, 12; Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, 2; Howell Cobb of Georgia, 2. On the second ballot, William R. King of Alabama was unanimously nominated.

OP TI

The platform adopted was made up of the previous platforms of the party, with some additions. It was identical with that of 1848, up to and including the resolution respecting slavery,— that numbered seven in the platform of 1840 (p. 134), following which are these two resolu tions:

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

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