PIERCE 





PIERCE 



ground, into winch pio-lavery and :mtislavery 

 men were poured by hundred-. Tin- hi-toiy ol 

 Kan-a- 'which Bee) (luring thi> period 

 or.l of civil \v.-ir. <>rgani/ed mob- too 



.-ion Of polling place- ;tll.| r:imrl e]< .-nous. 



ELECTION MAP, 1852 



The states shown in black chose Democratic 

 (Pierce) Hectors : those shaded urn- \\"hif.r. ami 

 voted for Scott. The white area was unorganised 



.ry. 



I.iwrence and Osawatomie. tin- two chief anti- 

 -l.ivery settlements. were raided and .-acked. 

 .ml legi.-latures were dispersed by force. Then 

 two rival state governments, one 

 proslavery, the other anti.-lavery. 



!' w acts more fateful in character than the 

 Kansas-Nebraska Bill ever pa.^-ed the Conn 

 t" the United States, for it set in motion tin- 

 train of circumstances which led inevitably to 

 the War of Secession. It was the direct c 

 of a radical change in political sentiment in the 

 North. It brought about the complete failure 

 if the compromising policy of which Pierce him- 

 M-|f was in favor, and, lastly, it de-tro\d tin- 

 old national political parties. For this >udden. 

 i ckle-s di>turl>anee Pierce has 1>< n veiely 

 critici/. .1. In In- lir-t annual message to Con- 

 h. congratulated the country on it- calm, 

 idihnu. Th at tin- n -pose is to- suffer no shock 

 during my official trim if I have tin- power to 

 It. th(k-e \\lio placed tile here may DC 8S- 



i " A far-ighted statesman .-hould I. 

 foreseen the dangers which the repeal of the 

 Missouri Compromise would invoke Hut 

 Pierce was not far.-ight' ,|. and In- was not a 



t statesman; he was a n. 



.nd \ceileiit intentions, but was doniinat'-d l>\ 

 th |, a. I. rs of his p:i: 



Assault on Sumner. On I-'el)niai\ 11. Iv'^i. 

 I- !:' I'n-rce issued a proclamation calling 



halt t.i tin- \ mlnicr and di-ordrr r\;>tini: 

 in K.HI--I- and appealed t<> 1\ tin- 



Liu- Tin- j'lod mi ation \\ i- toUoWl 'I in M i\ 

 by n raid on : \lino-- 



tune there occurred in Congrrs- an opi- 

 which stirred the nation to new depths. On 

 May 19 Senator Sumner of Ma>sachu-", de- 

 livered a fiery speech, which he called Th. 

 Crime Again-' \- one historian - 



SuiniH r fir, d his mind in a B] off< n-i\ 



ami insulting to the South as the fertile imagi- 

 nation of the author could possibly make it." 

 In the cour>e of the speech Sumner made 

 eral >neering allusions to Southern leader-, espe- 

 cially Senator Butler of South Carolina. T\\.. 

 days later Butler's nephew. Representative 

 I': ton S. Brooks, attacked Sumner ,-eaied at 

 hi> de>k, and beat him to insensibility with a 

 cane. The North was impressed by the at- 

 tack on a man under such a disadvantage, but 

 it ignored the provocation; the South saw that 

 an Abolitionist had been soundly thrashed, and 

 it ignored the circumstances. 



Birth of the Republican Party. Far more 

 important than such violent spasms of partisan 

 feeling was the birth of a new political partv. 

 the new. long-dreaded sectional party. The cir- 

 cumstances of n- organization are given in de- 

 tail elx-where ( -ee IU:iM lil.K \N IV\RTY),:ind it 1> 

 Only Iiece--:ilY here to point to the fait that 

 the Kan>a. Nebra>ka Bill was directly n-pon-i- 

 lle for it- existence. 



Foreign Relations. During Pierce's adminis- 

 tration the foreign relations of the United 

 < were characterized by the same sense of 

 national importance which brought about tin- 

 annexation of Texas. It was an age of a crude 

 belief in the universal superiority of American- 

 and American institutions, and an equally 

 ,-tronir contempt for the monarchical m-titu- 

 tiotis of Kurope. An amusing -ule to thi< con- 

 tempt wa> >hown by a circular. iued -hortlv 



after Ma rev became Seen t.nv of State. It ad- 

 rfltjd \lnerican diplomatic lepie-elitat i\ . - a! 



foreign court.- not to wear ceremonial court 

 uniforms, but to appear "like Franklin, in the 

 Minple costume of an American citizen." Thus 

 Buchanan, then mim-ter at London, had some 

 difficult ie> with the Master of Con moiiie-. but 

 Was finally allowed to attend "in the ordi: 



dress of an American citizen." But hi- biog- 

 rapher add.- that to tin- die--, "in oidi I to di-- 

 tmgui.-li lum-i If from the court servant", lie 

 thoughtfully added a -mall sword." 



In it- more -eiiou- diplomatic dealing- : 

 -imil. u -pu-it \\a- e\idnt. In 1S.">;{ Martin I. 

 II Q political n lugee. retUTl 



.king out hi- final naturali- 



||, \\ ly the rom- 



mander of an \u-tiiati war-hip in i Turki-h 



