PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1853-1857.
The new chief magistrate was a native of New Hampshire, a graduate of
Bowdoin College, and a statesman of considerable abilities. On account
of ill health, Mr. King, the Vice-president, was sojourning in Cuba.
Growing more feeble, he returned to Alabama, where he died in April,
1853. William L. Marcy of New York was chosen as Secretary of State.
[Illustration: Franklin Pierce.]
2. In 1853 a corps of engineers was sent out to explore the route for a
PACIFIC RAILROAD. The enterprise was at first regarded as visionary and
impossible. In the same year, the southwestern boundary was settled, by
purchase of the claim of Mexico. The territory thus acquired is known
as the GADSDEN PURCHASE.
[Sidenote: =Perry in Japan.=]
3. In the same year intercourse was opened between the United States
and Japan. Hitherto the Japanese ports had been closed against the
vessels of Christian nations. In order to remove this restriction,
Commodore Perry sailed into the Bay of Yeddo, and prepared the way for
a treaty, by which the privileges of commerce were granted to American
merchantmen.
4. On the very day of Perry's introduction to the Emperor, the Crystal
Palace was opened in New York for the WORLD'S FAIR. The palace was
built of iron and glass. Specimens of the arts and manufactures of all
nations were put on exhibition within the building.
[Sidenote: The Kansas-Nebraska Bill.]
5. In January of 1854, Senator Douglas of Illinois brought forward a
proposition to organize Kansas and Nebraska. A clause was inserted in
the bill providing that the people of the territories _should decide
for themselves_ whether the new States should be free or slaveholding.
This was a repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1821. After several
months' debate, Mr. Douglas's KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL, was finally passed.
[Sidenote: Disturbances in Kansas.]
6. Whether Kansas should admit slavery now depended upon the vote of
the people. The territory was soon filled with an agitated mass of
people, thousands of whom had been sent thither _to vote_. In the
elections of 1854-55, the pro-slavery party was triumphant. The State
Legislature at Lecompton framed a constitution permitting slavery.
The Free Soil party, declaring the elections to have been illegal,
assembled at Topeka, and framed a constitution excluding slavery. Civil
war broke out between the factions. The hostile parties were quieted,
but the agitation extended to all parts of the Union. The Kansas
question became the issue in the presidential election of 1856.
7. James Buchanan of Pennsylvania was nominated as the Democratic
candidate. He planted himself on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and secured
a heavy vote both North and South. As the candidate of the Free Soil
or People's party, John C. Fremont of California was brought forward.
The exclusion of slavery from all the Territories was the principle of
the Free Soil platform. The American or Know Nothing party nominated
Millard Fillmore. Mr. Buchanan was elected by a large majority, while
the choice for the Vice-presidency fell on John C. Breckinridge of
Kentucky.