BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION.
The great contest of 1856 was coming on. A President was to be chosen.
The relations of the sections were more strained every day. The
elections of 1854 had emboldened the antislavery men to form the
Republican party, and to put out, as their candidate, John C. Fremont,
"pioneer and pathfinder," who had saved California to the Union. Fremont
was not a statesman, but a hero of the kind who dazzled men, and was
thought to be especially available as a presidential candidate. "Free
soil, Free men, Fremont" was the cry, and it was evident that the
Abolitionists had swept all the wavering Whigs into their lines and
would make a determined fight. The American party nominated Millard
Fillmore, and the Democracy, with a wealth of material and a
non-sectional following, wheeled into line. President Pierce was willing
to succeed himself. Stephen A. Douglas, who had rushed into the
convention of 1852 with such reckless dash to put aside "the old fogies"
of the party, was an avowed candidate. His championship of the
Kansas-Nebraska bill had made him a favorite in the South, although it
injured his chances at the North. It is not a little remarkable that
Douglas, whose candidacy had the effect of setting aside Buchanan for
Pierce in 1852, should afterward have been the means of turning down
Pierce for Buchanan.
James Buchanan of Pennsylvania had just returned from London, where he
had served with dignity as American Minister. Free from recent
animosities, he entered the field, fresh and full of prestige. He was
nominated for President on the fifth day of the Democratic Convention,
Georgia casting her vote for him. The Cincinnati platform adopted this
plank:
"_Resolved_: That we recognize the right of the people of the
Territories, including Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally
and fairly expressed will of a majority of the actual residents, and
whenever the number of their inhabitants justifies it, to form a
Constitution, either with or without domestic slavery, and to be
admitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with all the
other States."
Among the causes contributing to the current bitterness was the assault
made upon Charles Sumner, senator from Massachusetts, by Preston S.
Brooks, a representative from South Carolina. This happened in May,
1856, while Mr. Sumner was sitting at his desk, after the Senate had
adjourned. Mr. Brooks took exception to some remarks printed in Mr.
Sumner's speech, entitled "The Crime against Kansas." In this speech,
the senator had referred, in rather caustic terms, to Senator Butler of
South Carolina. The latter was a kinsman of Mr. Brooks. The weapon used
by Mr. Brooks was a gutta-percha cane, and Senator Sumner, who was a
large, powerful man, in his effort to rise from his seat, forced his
desk from its hinges and fell heavily to the floor. The assault created
an immense sensation. It was associated in the heated minds at the North
with the "slavery aggressions of the South." At the South, it was
generally excused as the resentment of an impetuous young man to an
insult offered an elderly kinsman. Northern men denounced the assault in
unmeasured terms on the floor of the House and Senate. The affair led to
several challenges between the representatives of both sections.
Congressman Brooks resigned his seat, but was immediately reelected.
When Senator Sumner made his statement of the attack, he said that,
after he was taken from the floor, he saw his assailant standing between
Senator Douglas and Senator Toombs. This led to the assertion by some
parties that the attack was premeditated, and that the senator from
Illinois and the senator from Georgia, who were strong political
antagonists of Mr. Sumner, were aiding and abetting it. Both senators
denied this from their places.
The political activity was not confined to the North. There was a large
element in Georgia which disapproved of the Kansas-Nebraska bill as an
unwise concession on the part of the South. This class, combined with
the American party, presented an active front against the party led by
Senator Toombs. No contest was ever waged more vigorously in Georgia.
New blood and new issues were infused into the fight. Mr. Toombs was at
the maximum of his greatness. He took redoubled interest in the campaign
in that the legislature to be chosen in 1857 was to elect his successor
to the Senate, and because the principles in this national contest were
taking shape for a State campaign the following year.