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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Democratic party. (search)
n, and Monroe were members of the then dominant party, and under the last-named President party lines for a short time disappeared in the so-called era of good feeling. Soon afterwards the Democrats came under the leadership of Jackson, and were opposed to the National Republicans and Whigs. Jackson's successor, Van Buren, was a Democrat. A Whig interval (1841-45) ensued. Then followed the Democratic administration of Polk, succeeded (1849-53) by another Whig administration. Pierce and Buchanan were the last Presidents elected by the party for a long period. In the general confusion caused by the increasing prominence of slavery the Democrats at first profited, while the Whigs disappeared. In the Civil War many war Democrats acted temporarily with the Republicans. McClellan, though defeated, received a large popular vote in 1864. Seymour in 1868, Greeley in 1872 were defeated. In 1876 the Democrats came near success (see electoral commission; Hayes, Rutherford Birchard; Tilde
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Dix, John Adams, 1798-1879 (search)
Chiefly through his exertions public libraries were introduced into the school districts of the State and the school laws systematized. In 1842 he was a member of the New York Assembly, and from 1845 to 1849 of the United States Senate. In the discussion of the question of the annexation of Texas and of slavery he expressed the views of the small Free Soil party whose candidate for governor he was in 1848. In 1859 he was appointed postmaster of New York City; and when in January, 1861, Buchanan's cabinet was dissolved, he was called to the post of Secretary of the Treasury. In that capacity he issued a famous order under the following circumstances: He found the department in a wretched condition, and proceeded with energy in the administration of it. Hearing of the tendency in the slave-labor States to seize United States property within their borders, he sent a special agent of his department (Hemphill Jones) to secure for service revenue cutters at Mobile and New Orleans. He
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Douglas, Stephen Arnold, 1813-1861 (search)
was United States Senator from 1847 to 1861. He advanced and supported the doctrine of popular sovereignty in relation to slavery in the Territories, and was the author of the Kansas-Nebraska bill (q. v. ); and in 1856 was a rival candidate of Buchanan for the nomination for the Presidency. He took sides in favor of freedom in Kansas, and so became involved in controversy with President Buchanan. He was a candidate of the Democratic party in 1860 for President of the United States, but was dPresident Buchanan. He was a candidate of the Democratic party in 1860 for President of the United States, but was defeated by Abraham Lincoln. He died in Chicago, Ill., June 3, 1861. See Kansas. The Douglas-Lincoln debate. In opening this famous debate, in Ottawa, Ill., on Aug. 21, 1858, Mr. Douglas spoke as follows: Ladies and Gentlemen,—I appear before you to-day for the purpose of discussing the leading political topics which now agitate the public mind. By an arrangement between Mr. Lincoln and myself, we are present here to-day for the purpose of having a joint discussion, as the represen
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Dred Scott case, the. 1856- (search)
Dred Scott case, the. 1856- At about the time that Mr. Buchanan became President-elect of the republic, a case of much moment was adjudicated by the Supreme Court of the United States. A negro named Dred Scott had been the slave of a United States army officer living in Missouri. He was taken by his master to a military post in Illinois, to which the latter had been ordered in the year 1834. There Scott married the female slave of another officer, with the consent of their respective masat the decision was final; that slavery was a national institution, having the right to exist anywhere in the Union, and that the boast of a Georgia politician that he should yet count his slaves on Bunker Hill might be legally carried out. President Buchanan, who had been informed of this decision before its promulgation, foreshadowed his course in the matter in his inaugural address (March 4, 1857), in which he spoke of the measure as one which would speedily and finally settle the slavery que
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Edward vii., Albert Edward, 1841- (search)
Edward vii., Albert Edward, 1841- King of Great Britain and Emperor of India; born in Buckingham Palace, Nov. 9, 1841; eldest son of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort; created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester a month after his birth; educated by private tutors, at Christ Church, Oxford, and at Cambridge. In 1860, under the guidance of the Duke of Newcastle, he visited the United States, where he received an enthusiastic welcome. President Buchanan and his official family extended to him a grand entertainment at the national capital, and the cities which he visited vied with one another in paying him high honors. The courtesies so generously extended to him laid the foundation for the strong friendship which he always afterwards manifested for Americans. After this trip he travelled in Germany, Italy, and the Holy Land. In 1863 he married the Princess Alexandra, daughter of Christian IV., King of Denmark, and after his marriage he made prolonged tours in many foreign c
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Florida, (search)
ton; but, notwithstanding the State had withdrawn from the Union, they remained in their seats, for reasons given in a letter to Joseph Finnegan, written by Senator David L. Yulee from his desk in the Senate chamber. It seemed to be the opinion, he said, that if we left here, force, loan, and volunteer bills might be passed, which would put Mr. Lincoln in immediate condition for hostilities; whereas, by remaining in our places until the 4th of March, it is thought we can keep the hands of Mr. Buchanan tied, and disable the Republicans from effecting any legislation which will strengthen the hands of the incoming administration. Senators from other States wrote similar letters under their official franks. The convention was addressed by L. W. Spratt, of South Carolina, an eminent advocate for reopening the African slavetrade. Delegates were appointed to a general convention to assemble at Montgomery, Ala., and other measures were taken to secure the sovereignty of Florida. The legis
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Floyd, John Buchanan 1807- (search)
Floyd, John Buchanan 1807- Statesman; born in Blacksburg, Va., June 1, 1807; was admitted to the bar in 1828; practised law in Helena, Ark.; and in 1839 settled in Washington county, in his native State. He served in the Virginia legislature several terms, and was governor of the State in 1850-53. His father, John, had been governor of Virginia. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed him Secretary of War. While in the cabinet, he was detected, by a committee of the House of Representatives, in the act of stripping the Northern arsenals of arms and ammunition and filling those of the South with those munitions of war. As early as Dec. 29, 1859, a year before, according to the report of the committee, he had ordered the transfer of 65,000 percussion muskets, 40,000 muskets altered to percussion, and 10,000 percussion rifles from the armory at Springfield, Mass., and the arsenals at Watervliet, N. Y., and Watertown, Mass., to the arsenals at Fayetteville, N. C., Charleston, S. C.,
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Fremont, John Charles 1813-1890 (search)
For his scientific researches, Fremont received, in 1850, a gold medal from the King of Prussia, and another from the Royal Geographical Society of London. He had already received from his countrymen the significant title of The Pathfinder. At his own expense he made a fifth exploration, in 1853, and found a new route to the Pacific. In 1856, the newly formed Republican party nominated him for the Presidency of the United States, and he received 114 electoral votes against 174 given for Buchanan. Returning from Europe in May, 1861, and being appointed a major-general in the United States army, he was assigned to command the Western Department; but, John Charles Fremont. through the intrigues of ambitious politicians, was removed from the co mand in the course of six months, while successfully prosecuting a campaign he had planned. He was in command of another department, but resigned in 1862, declining to serve under an officer inferior to him in rank. Radical Republicans nomi
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Hart, Albert Bushnell 1854- (search)
the West against what they believe to be an undue advantage of Eastern capital, a feeling which is as yet too little understood or heeded by the older sections of the Union. Internal improvements are a Western necessity, and the expenditure of national money upon roads and canals has always commended itself to the West. That the system of river and harbor improvement, neglected by Jefferson, disliked by Madison, vetoed by Monroe, frowned upon by Jackson, set back by Polk and Pierce and Buchanan, should nevertheless have become a permanent part of the national activities is a striking proof of the immense political force of the West. The protective tariff has also for many years owed its strength in the country to the Western vote; the attitude of Kentucky and Ohio made possible the tariffs of 1816, 1828, and 1832; and the revival of the protective system at the beginning of the Civil War, and its continuance at the present day, have depended upon the votes of the great Northweste
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Holt, Joseph 1807-1894 (search)
Holt, Joseph 1807-1894 Jurist; born in Breckenridge county, Ky., Jan. 6, 1807; acquired a collegiate education; and entered upon the practice of law in 1828. He followed his profession in Kentucky and Mississippi until 1857, when President Buchanan appointed him commissioner of patents, and, in 1859, Postmaster-General. When John B. Floyd left the cabinet at the close of 1860, Mr. Holt assumed charge of the War Department, in which post he was watchful and efficient. In 1863 he was appointed judge-advocate of the army, and was a thorough supporter of Lincoln's administration throughout. In 1864 he was placed at the head of the bureau of military justice, and declined the cabinet appointment of Attorney-General. He was brevetted major-general of the United States army in March, 1865, and was retired, Dec. 1, 1875. He died in Washington, D. C., Aug. 1, 1894.
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