THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATUS.
A. D. 1852 TO 1859.
The election of General Franklin Pierce to the Presidency, in
1852, was considered by many as a rebuke to those who had been so
clamorous in the North against the compromise of 1850. He was a
warm supporter of the rights of the individual States, and the
knowledge of this fact brought repose to the minds of Southern
men.
2. North Carolina had just entered upon a career of rapid
development in her mineral resources. The incorporation of a
clause extending the right of suffrage in the State Constitution,
the completion of the great central railway, the opening of the
asylums and the large addition to the number of schools, were
evidences of progress and widespread prosperity. Capitalists,
for the first time, began to invest their wealth in cotton and
woolen factories.
1853.
3. The creation of the office of Superintendent of Common
Schools, in 1853, and the appointment of Calvin H. Wiley, of
Guilford, to that position, marked an extraordinary advance in
the matter of popular education. Mr. Wiley soon evinced so much
discretion and devotion to his duties that his propositions of
improvement were adopted, and his views and wishes soon became
those of the State government. The same year was further
signalized by the Normal School, under charge of Mr. Craven,
being empowered by the Legislature to grant literary degrees and
the assumption of the full dignities of a college. After nearly
thirty years of usefulness, this institution, now known as
Trinity College, is still accomplishing great good under the
auspices of the Methodists of the State.
4. With the new lines of railway and the restoration of the old
routes, there was a large advance in the value of real estate and
in the amount of productions sent abroad. The use of Peruvian
Guano and other concentrated fertilizers was just being
introduced, and the example of Edgecombe county in the use of
compost heaps was being followed in every direction and adding
immensely to the yield of exhausted fields.
5. It was a notable thing in the political history of the
country, that in the Presidential contest of 1852 the candidates
for Vice-President, of both the Whig and Democratic parties, were
born in North Carolina and educated at Chapel Hill. Ex-Governor
William R. King, Democrat, then of Alabama, was chosen over ex-
Governor Graham, who had been Secretary of the Navy in the
Cabinet of President Fillmore.
6. The churches were prospering under their increased attentions
to education. A larger culture was coming to those who filled
the pulpits at home, and devoted men like Dr. Matthew T. Yates
were going to heathen lands to spend their lives for the good of
other races. The Episcopal Church had abundant compensation in
the wisdom and virtues of Bishop Atkinson for the loss of Bishop
Ives, upon his leaving that communion for the Church of Rome.
The great slavery controversy was bringing trouble and division
to the Baptists and Methodists, and thus, not only statesmen and
politicians, but ministers of the Gospel, were also set at
variance.
1854.
7. From Massachusetts was sent, at this period, a new and
startling impulse to the Northern pulpits and hustings. It had
been the peculiar glory of the American people that they were the
originators of the great doctrine and practice of religious
liberty. A new party, calling themselves the "KnowNothings," had
carried that State and were proclaiming their opposition to all
Roman Catholics as public officers. The "Know-Nothings" were
also called the "American Party," and their motto was "America
for Americans."
8. This was to prove a short-lived and pernicious movement. It
not only contravened the noblest American precedents, but at once
combined all the ends and fragments of parties which had
previously opposed the great organization that had been led by
Jefferson and Jackson. Besides their hostility to the Roman
Catholic religion, they inculcated one other principle; this was
opposition to the naturalization of foreign immigrants until
after a residence of twenty-one years within the borders of the
United States. The success of this new party ended in the
Virginia campaign between Governor Wise and T. S. Flournoy.
1855.
9. About this time another party began to be prominent in the
Northern States. It was called the "Republican Party," and was
the outgrowth of the notorious controversy over the passage of
the Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress. This statute was, in
effect, but a continuance of the legislation in regard to
California, and amounted to little beyond transferring the
question of slave or free territory from Congress to the new
States. The North, however, was fanatically bent on the
destruction of slavery everywhere within the United States, and
would not consent that each new State should settle the question
for itself. On the contrary, it was determined to prohibit the
spread of slavery whether the people in the new States and
Territories desired it or not.
10. It was soon seen, therefore, in the bloody conflicts between
the settlers from the North and those from the South, especially
in Kansas, that "Squatter Sovereignty" would neither afford
protection to Southern immigrants in removing with their property
there, nor any prospect of a fair solution of a vexed question.
1857.
11. On June 27th, 1857, an event occurred in North Carolina
which brought sadness to the whole State. Rev. Elisha Mitchell,
D. D., while making researches and surveys upon Black Mountain,
in the darkness of night, lost his way and fell over a very steep
precipice and waterfall, and was killed. His remains were found,
eleven days after the accident, in a pool of clear water at the
foot of the waterfall. They are now resting on the highest point
of the mountain, and the spot is known as "Mitchell's Peak." Dr.
Mitchell found, by measurement, that the Black Mountain was the
highest point of land east of the Rocky Mountains. "Mitchell's
Peak" is 6,672 feet above the level of the sea, and 244 feet
higher than Mount Washington, in New Hampshire.
12. After the defeat of Charles Manly by David S. Reid, of
Rockingham, for Governor in 1852, the Democrats continued to gain
in strength in each succeeding election. In 1854, Governor Bragg
was elected to succeed Governor Reid, by an increased majority,
over Hon. John A. Gilmer, the Whig candidate. Messrs. Mangum and
Badger were succeeded by Governor Reid and Colonel Asa Biggs, of
Martin, as United States Senators; and when, in 1858, another
Governor was to be chosen, both Judge John W. Ellis, of Rowan,
and his competitor, Duncan K. MacRae, of Cumberland, claimed to
be defenders of the Democratic faith. The differences between
the North and the South were fast bringing the people of North
Carolina to one mind.
QUESTIONS.
1. Of what does this chapter treat ? How was the election of
President, Pierce considered ?
2. What is said of internal improvements?
3. What educational progress was being made?
4. How was the value of lands increasing?
5. What is said of the Presidential campaign of 1852?
6. In what condition were religious matters?
8. How was the question of slavery affecting some of the
religious denominations?
7. What new party was organized in Massachusetts? What was the
main policy of the "Know-Nothings"?
8. What is said of this new party?
9. What party next originated?
10. How was the South affected by "Squatter Sovereignty"?
11. What fatal accident befell Dr. Elisha Mitchell in 1857?
12. What changes in the government of the State are now mentioned?