HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

FROM THE COMPROMISE OF 1850

TO

THE FINAL RESTORATION OF HOME RULE AT THE SOUTH IN 1877 VOL. II

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 TO THE FINAL RESTORATION OF HOME RULE AT THE SOUTH IN 1877 BT JAMES FORD RHODES, LL.D., Litt.D. MEMBER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Vol. I 1850-1854

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 1910 All rights reserved


COPYRIGHT, 1893, By JAMES FORD RHODES. First published elsewhere. Reprinted December, 190a; March, 1902; October, 1904; October, 1906; November, 1907; January, 1910. Berwick & Smith, Norwood, Mast., U.S.A.

CONTENTS

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME

CHAPTER VI

Diplomatic costume 1

The Gadsden treaty 7

The Reciprocity treaty with Canada 8

Bombardment of San Juan 9

The desire to obtain Cuba 10

Soule's position at Madrid H Soule's difficulty 12

Duel with Turgot 13

The Black Warrior affair 16

Soule's ultimatum 19

Calderon's reply 20

War between the United States and Spain considered probable 22

Public sentiment in the United States 23

Filibusters at work 27

War with Spain imminent 28

War with Spain avoided 31

Marcy still hoping to acquire Cuba 34

Marcy and Soule 35

The Ostend manifesto 38

Soule resigns the Spanish mission 42

The Ostend manifesto 42

CHAPTER VII

Shall a new party be formed? 45

Action towards forming a new party 47

The Republican State convention of Michigan 48

The temperance question 49

The Know-nothing movement 50

The year one of excitement and lawlessness 56

The verdict of the Northern people on the Kansas-Nebraska act, as evidenced in the elections 58

Iowa 59

Maine; Vermont 59

Pennsylvania; Ohio; Indiana 60

Illinois 61

Douglas in the canvass 61

New York 63

Massachusetts 65

Michigan; Wisconsin 66

The elections considered 66

Seward 68

Lincoln 69

The press 71

Personal liberty laws 73

The underground railroad 74

Kansas 78

The Kansas election of March 30th, 1855 81

Indignation in the free States 83

Southern sympathy with the Missourians 84

Governor Reeder 85

The Know-nothings 87

The Republican movement gaining strength 92

The fall elections of 1855 93

Henry Wilson 96

Republican opinions 97

Kansas 98

The Wakarusa war 105

The Thirty-fourth Congress 107

The contest for speaker 108

Banks elected speaker 115

The Republican National convention at Pittsburgh, February 22d, 1856 118

Relations with England 120

The President's message on Kansas 122

Reports of Douglas and Collamer 125

Description of Douglas by Mrs. Stowe 127

Speech of Douglas 129

The Republican senators on Kansas 130

Sumner's speech, "The Crime against Kansas" 131

Sumner and Butler 134

Sumner and Douglas 137

Brooks assaults Sumner 139

Character of Sumner 141

Northern sentiment 143

Southern sentiment 144

Wilson and Burlingame 145

Explanation of Brooks 146

The affair before Congress 148

Kansas 150

The destruction of Lawrence 158

John Brown 161

The massacre on the Pottawatomie 162

Civil War in Kansas 166

CHAPTER VIII

President-making 169

The Democratic National convention 171

Nomination of Buchanan 172

Seward and Chase 175

Fremont 177

McLean 179

Fremont 181

The Republican National convention 182

Nomination of Fremont 184

Crampton, the English minister, dismissed 186

Kansas question in Congress 189

The Toombs bill 189

"Bleeding Kansas" 196

The Howard report 196

Oliver's report 197

Strife between the Senate and the House 201

The Presidential campaign 202

"The Union in danger" 203

Threats of Southerners 204

Letter of Rufus Choate 206

"Southern gasconade" 209

The Republicans 210

Speech of George W. Curtis 212

Fillmore's nomination endorsed by the Whigs 215

Kansas 215

Influence of Kansas in the presidential canvass 218

An educational campaign 220

The presidential campaign 221

The early State elections 226

Pennsylvania 226

Kansas 229

Pennsylvania 230

The Democrats carry Pennsylvania 233

Election of Buchanan 235

CHAPTER IX

Peace in Kansas 237

Governor Geary 239

The meaning of Buchanan's election 241

Character of Buchanan 244

Buchanan's inaugural 245

The cabinet 246

Rotation in office 248

The United States Supreme Court 249

Chief-Justice Taney 250

Justice Curtis 251

The Dred Scott case 251

The Dred Scott decision 255

The dissenting opinion of Curtis 257

Taney 260

Curtis 262

Public opinion 263

Douglas on the Dred Scott decision 264

Lincoln on the Dred Scott decision 266

Seward makes the charge of conspiracy 268

Lincoln on the alleged conspiracy 270

Robert J. Walker 271

Buchanan endorses the Calhoun doctrine 276

The Lecompton convention 278

The panic of 1857 281

Revolt of Northern Democrats against the Lecompton scheme. 282

Douglas opposes it 282

The Kansas elections 289

Walker's filibustering expedition 289

Buchanan recommends the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton constitution 291

The debate in the Senate 293

Denunciation of Douglas 296

Action of Congress 297

The English bill 299

CHAPTER X

Republican prospects 302

Seward on the Army bill 303

Seward on popular sovereignty 305

Prominence of Douglas 307

Protest of Chase 307

Protest of Lincoln 308

Character of Lincoln 308

Lincoln and Douglas 313

Lincoln nominated for Senator; opens the campaign 314

"A house divided against itself cannot stand" 315

Douglas's first speech of the campaign 318

The senatorial campaign of 1858 320

The Lincoln-Douglas debates 321

The work and excitement of the campaign 337

Success of Douglas 339

Lincoln 339

Douglas 340

The October elections 343

Seward and "The Irrepressible Conflict" 344

The November elections 346

Douglas; Seward; Lincoln; Jefferson Davis 347

The President's message 349

The Cuba bill 351

Douglas 355

Jefferson Davis 357

The Fugitive Slave law 360

The Oberlin-Wellington rescue 361

The African slave-trade 367

Speech of Davis 372

Letter of Douglas 333

The Harper's Magazine article 373

Broderick 375

The Ohio fall election 380

John Brown's raid into Virginia 384

The attack made 393

Brown taken prisoner 396

Brown catechised 397

The Republican leaders 402

Trial of Brown 403

Letters of Brown 406

Execution of Brown 408

Public sentiment 410

Opinions of statesmen 411

Opinions of philosophers and poets 413

An estimate of John Brown and his work 414

 

CHAPTER XI

Assembling of the Thirty-sixth Congress 417

The contest for speaker; Helper's "Impending Crisis" 418

Election of Pennington 426

The Union in danger 428

Douglas 429

Jefferson Davis. 430

Lincoln's Cooper Institute speech 430

Seward's speech in the Senate 433

The abolitionists 434

Seward and Lincoln 436

Lovejoy 437

Potter and Pryor 439

Democratic National convention at Charleston 440

The Douglas platform adopted 450

Secession of the delegates from the cotton States 451

The convention of the Constitutional Union party 454

Debate between Davis and Douglas 455

The Republican National convention 456

The platform 464

Convention work 465

The balloting 469

Nomination of Lincoln 470

The Baltimore convention 473

Nomination of Douglas 475

Nomination of Breckinridge 475

The work of Congress 475

The Presidential campaign 477

Pennsylvania 479

The African slave-trade 481

Campaign work 483

Douglas; threats of disunion 487

Seward 493

New York 497

Election of Lincoln 500



Source: Rhodes, James Ford. History of the United States; from the compromise of 1850 to the final restoration of home rule at the south in 1877, v.2. New York: Macmillan, 1910 [c1892].