Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/31

Rh In 1850 Gen. Pierce was elected to represent the city of Concord in a constitutional convention, and when that body met he was chosen its president by a nearly unanimous vote. During its session he made strenuous and successful efforts to procure the adoption of an amendment abolishing the relig- ious test that made none but Protestants eligible to office. But that amendment failed of adoption by the people, though practically and by common consent the restriction was disregarded. From 1847 till 1852 Gen. Pierce was arduously engaged in his profession. As an advocate he was never surpassed, if ever equalled, at the New Hampshire bar. He had the external advantages of an orator, a handsome, expressive face, an elegant figure, graceful and impressive gesticulation, and a clear, musical voice, which kindled the blood of his hearers like the notes of a trumpet, or melted them l.i tears l>y its pathos. His manner had a courtesy that sprang from the kindness of his heart and contributed much to his political and professional success. His perceptions were keen, and his mind seized at once the vital points of a case, while his ready command of language enabled him to present them to an audience so clearly that they could not be misunderstood. He had an intuitive knowledge of human nature, and the numerous illustrations that lie drew from the daily lives of his strong- minded auditors made his speeches doubly effective. He was not a diligent student, nor a reader of many books, yet the keenness of his intellect and his natural capacity for reasoning often enabled him, with but little preparation, to argue success- fully intricate questions of law.

The masses of the Democratic party in the free states so strongly favored the exclusion of slavery from the territory ceded by Mexico that their leaders were compelled to yield, and from 1847 till 1850 their resolutions and platforms advocated free-soil prin- ciples. This was especially the case in New Hamp- shire, and even Gen. Pierce's great popularity could not stem the tide. But in 1850 the passage of the so-called ' compromise measures " by congress, the chief of which were the fugitive-slave law and the admission of California as a free state, raised a new issue. Adherence to those measures became to a great extent a test of party fidelity in both the Whig and Democratic parties. Gen. Pierce zealously championed them in New Hampshire, and at a dinner given to him and other personal friends by Daniel Webster at his farm-house in Franklin, N. H., Pierce, in an eloquent speech, -assured the great Whig statesman that if his own party rejected him for his 7th of March speech, the Democracy would " lift him so high that his feet would not touch the stars." Finally the masses of both the great parties gave to the compromise meas- ures a sullen acquiescence, on the ground that they were a final settlement of the slavery question. The Democratic national convention met at Balti- more. 13 June, 1852. After thirty-five ballotings for a candidate for president, in which Gen. Pierce's name did not appear, the Virginia delegation brought it forward, and on the 49th ballot he was nominated by 282 votes to 11 for all others. James Buchanan, Stephen A. Douglas, Lewis Cass, and William L. Marcy were his chief rivals. Gen. Win- field Scott, the W v hig candidate, was unsatisfactory both to the north and to the south. Webster and his friends leaned toward Pierce, and in the elec- tion in November. Scott carried only Massachu- setts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with 42 votes, while Pierce carried all the other states with 254 votes. The Whig party had received its death- stroke, and dissolved.

In his inaugural address. 4 March, 1853, President Pierce maintained the constitutionality of slavery and the fugitive-slave law, denounced slavery agi- tation, and hoped that "no sectional or ambitious or fanatical excitement might again threaten the durability of our institutions, or obscure the light of our prosperity." On 7 March he announced as his cabinet William L. Marcy, of New York, secre- tary of state ; James Guthrie, of Kentucky, secretary of the treasury; Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, secretary of war; James C. Dobbin, of North Caro- lina, secretary of the navy; Robert McClelland, of Michigan, secretary of the interior ; James Camp- bell, of Pennsylvania, postmaster-general ; and Caleb dishing, of Massachusetts, attorney-general. This cabinet was one of eminent ability, and is the only one in our history that remained" unchanged for four years. In 1853 a boundary dispute arose between the United States and Mexico, which was settled by negotiation and resulted in the acquisi- tion of a part of the territory, which was organized under the name of Arizona in 1863. Proposed routes for a railroad to the Pacific were explored, and voluminous reports thereon published under the direction of the war department. A controversy with Great Britain respecting the fisheries was ad- justed by mutual concessions. The affair of Martin Koszta, a Hungarian refugee, who was seized at Smyrna by an Austrian vessel and given up on the demand of the captain of an American ship-of-war. excited great interest in Europe and redounded to the credit of our government. (See INGRAHAM, DUNCAN NATHANIEL.) In 1854 a treaty was negoti- ated at Washington between the United States and Great Britain providing for commercial reciprocity for ten years between the former country and the Canadian provinces. That treaty and one negoti- ated by Com. Perry with Japan, which opened the ports of that hitherto unknown country to com- merce, were ratified at the same session of the senate. In the spring of 1854. Greytown in Nicara- gua was bombarded and mostly burned by the U. S. frigate "Cyane," in retaliation for the refusal of the authorities to make reparation for the property of American citizens residing there, which had been stolen. In the following year William Walker, with a party of filibusters, invaded Nicaragua, and in the autumn of 1856 won an ephemeral success, which induced President Pierce to recognize the minister sent by him to Washington. In the win- ter of 1854-'5, and in the spring of the latter year, by the sanction of Mr. Crampton, the British min- ister at Washington, recruits for the British army in the Crimea were secretly enlisted in this country. President Pierce demanded Mr. C'rampton's recall, which being refused, the president dismissed not only the minister, but also the British consuls at New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati, for their complicity in such enlistments. The difficulty was finally adjusted by negotiation, and a new British legation was sent to Washington. In 1855 Presi- dent Pierce signed bills to reorganize the diplo- matic and consular system of the United States, to organize the court of claims, to provide a retired list for the navy, and to confer the title of lieu- tenant-general on Winfield Scott. President Pierce adhered to that strict construction of the constitu- tion which Jefferson and Jackson had insisted on. In 1S54 he vetoed a bill making appropriations for public works, and another granting 10.000.000 acres of public lands to the states for relief of indigent insane. In February, 1855, he vetoed a bill for payment of the French spoliation claims, and in the following month another increasing the appro- priation for the Collins line of steamers.