FOOTNOTES:

[4] Israel Washburn in an address at Bangor, Me.

[5] The Senator from Virginia has stated that the Republican party originated in New England, from Know Nothingism. It is not true, sir; it had no such origin; it originated in no such place and from no such source. The Republican party was born in Michigan, on the sixth day of July, 1854. It had no origin from Know Nothingism or any other thing, except the outrageous, the infamous repeal of the time-honored Missouri compromise by the Congress of that year. It was christened the Republican party at its birth. It is perfectly evident the Senator from Virginia knows nothing at all about the Republican party, its origin, its ends, or its aims. He does not know anything about its birth or its principles. I merely wish to correct the misapprehension on his part that it was born in New England or anywhere else out of the State of Michigan. There is where it was born, sir; and we glory in the production of such a child.—Mr. Chandler in the Senate, December 14, 1859, in reply to Senator Mason, of Virginia.

[6] Wilson's "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," volume 2, page 412.

CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRST ELECTION TO THE SENATE.

The abrogation of the Missouri compromise was followed by the arbitrary enforcement of the Fugitive Slave act in important Northern cities, and by a determined struggle between freedom and slavery for the possession of the virgin soil of Kansas. These phases of "the irrepressible conflict" were attended by many exciting incidents which constantly strengthened the new anti-slavery party in the North and in the end made it the main competitor of the Democracy in the presidential election of 1856. The decisive character of its victory in Michigan in 1854 made Republicanism especially strong in that State, and the events of each successive month of 1855 and 1856 added to its power both in numbers and in sentiment. Throughout this period Mr. Chandler labored, in public and in private, and with earnestness and effect, to inspire the new party with vigor of conviction and unflinching firmness of purpose. No man did more than he to make it thoroughly "radical," and his former prominence as a Whig rendered his efforts especially fruitful. His earliest Republican speeches did not differ from his latest in courage of opinion, in plainness of expression, or in manifest sincerity of conviction. On September 12, 1855, he addressed, with Henry Wilson, an immense mass-meeting at Kalamazoo, and denounced the border-ruffian crimes in Kansas in the strongest terms. On the 30th of May, 1856, he was one of the speakers at a large meeting held in the city of Detroit to consider the assault of Preston Brooks upon Charles Sumner. He there gave expression to Republican indignation in the plainest language. After fitly describing the era of pro-slavery murder in Kansas, and the recent crime of "a cowardly assassin on the very floor of the Senate of the United States," he offered two resolutions, one demanding the impeachment of Franklin Pierce for his action in relation to Kansas, and a second to expel Rust, of Arkansas, for his attack upon Horace Greeley, and Preston Brooks for his assault on Mr. Sumner. Then he said in substance:

This is not a time for argument. It is a time for action, for speaking boldly and fearlessly.... This assault is upon the entire North. So long have craven doughface representatives sat in her places in Congress that the South has come to doubt our manhood.... We should uphold the hands of our representatives, and tell them that an indignity offered to them is an indignity offered to us. [Applause.] ... The resolution calling for the impeachment of the President is one proper to be offered. He has connived at and aided all this Kansas treachery and wrong. He supports the bogus Legislature of Kansas and orders its odious laws enforced. If Thomas Jefferson was to read his preamble to the Declaration of Independence in Kansas, he could be condemned by those laws to imprisonment in the penitentiary for two years.... What the British did at Lexington, the United States troops, under the orders of President Pierce, did at Lawrence. Our fathers resisted by all means in their power. We should imitate their example. What should we do?... We should send enough men there to put Kansas in a peaceable condition.

Mr. Chandler also said: "Had I been on the floor of the Senate when that assault occurred, so help me God, that ruffian's blood would have flowed," and he closed by declaring that Detroit should send one hundred men to Kansas, and by pledging himself, if that was done, to devote his entire income while they were there to aiding in their maintenance. He also made a forcible speech at a Kansas relief meeting, held in Detroit, to greet Gov. Andrew H. Reeder, on June 2, 1856, and then headed a subscription paper for the aid of the struggling Free State men of that territory with the sum of $10,000. Actions and utterances of this kind in the plastic days of Michigan Republicanism gave to it that resolute and robust character which has been the source of its power.

The first national convention of the Republican party was held at Pittsburg on the 22d of February, 1856, under a call issued by the chairmen of the Republican committees of Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It was attended by delegates representing twenty-seven States and territories, and provided for the national organization of the Republican party by creating a general executive committee and calling a convention, to meet at Philadelphia on June 17, to nominate a presidential ticket. Michigan was represented at Pittsburg by a delegation of eighteen, headed by Zachariah Chandler, and including Kinsley S. Bingham, Jacob M. Howard, and Fernando C. Beaman. Mr. Chandler was also a member of the committee which reported the plan for the national organization of the Republican party, and he participated briefly in the debates of that important gathering. The Michigan convention to elect delegates to Philadelphia was held at Ann Arbor, on March 8, 1856, and was addressed by Mr. Chandler and other prominent Republicans. He was a member of the Philadelphia convention, acting as an alternate for Charles T. Gorham, and, after Fremont was nominated, formally promised that the electoral vote of Michigan should be given for the ticket. He was there made the member for his State of the first Republican National Committee. The Michigan delegation at Philadelphia originally supported Mr. Seward for the presidency, but finally joined in the movement to nominate General Fremont on the first ballot. For the vice-presidency the majority of the delegation supported William L. Dayton, but Mr. Chandler, with four others, voted for Abraham Lincoln.

In the following campaign Mr. Chandler was among the most active of the Republican leaders. He aided liberally in the work of organizing the party throughout the State, and spoke at Detroit several times, and at Kalamazoo, Lapeer, Port Huron, Adrian, Coldwater, and other of the important cities and towns of Michigan. He also held one joint discussion with Alpheus Felch, at Olivet, on October 16. The tone of his public utterances in 1856 will appear from these extracts from his speech at Kalamazoo (on August 27) before an immense mass-meeting, which was also addressed by Abraham Lincoln and Jacob M. Howard:

The Republicans of Michigan stand by the constitution, and when their defamers proclaim that they are a disunion party, as they do so often, they publish what they know to be a falsehood.... We are determined to stand by the constitution in all its parts, and, more than that, to make our adversaries stand by it in all and every part.... Our opponents have ignored this constitution with but a single exception. And what is that exception? It is the key to their character and their principles. In this whole instrument they acknowledge but one clause, and that is the right to reclaim fugitive slaves from their hard-earned freedom!

We intend to make our opponents stand by this clause: "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to the privileges of all the States." But how is this at present on the Missouri? The citizens of Massachusetts, of New Jersey, of Pennsylvania or of Michigan, if they but presume to enter Kansas, are sent back with a guard or murdered in cold blood, while the citizens of the South are aided on their way to plant in that beautiful territory the accursed blight of slavery. We will make them stand by the constitution in all its parts, or, by the Eternal, we will have a different state of things here. The oak shall bear other fruit than acorns if the constitution be not upheld.

Here is another clause of that instrument: "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or the press." How is it in Kansas to-day regarding this? If any man shall dare to deny the right to hold slaves in that territory he is imprisoned for a term of five years.

Our opponents must also stand by this clause of the constitution: "A well-regulated militia being necessary of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." That clause of the constitution is trampled under foot, and the Democratic platform in sustaining Pierce's administration virtually sustains and endorses the disgraceful outrage.

Here is another clause: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." The whole history of the Kansas matter shows how shamefully this clause has been rejected by those who uphold the administration.

There are but two candidates for the Presidency and but two platforms. The issue—the only issue—is: Shall slavery be national? Shall it be under our protection, or shall it be under the protection of the slave States only? The whole question of platforms is in that. It is the only question.... The policy of this government for twenty-five years has been pro-slavery. The first act toward breaking that policy was the election of Banks as Speaker last winter. It was the first of what I hope will be a series of victories.

A few years ago there was great commotion in the land. We were told "the Union is in danger." "What shall be done?" That was the first question. What was the answer of the men in power? "Use the utmost power of the government; the Union must be saved." Armed men went through the streets of Boston. Troops were ordered there in great numbers. Ships of war were sent to Massachusetts Bay. What was the terrible danger of the Union? There was a Negro lost! A slave had run away! A poor African had escaped from his master and—lo, the Union was in danger! "Use all the power of the government; the laws must be enforced." Other troops were ordered there. The militia were called out. They surrounded the jail. A sloop of war was sent. Burns was borne back to his master and the Union was saved!

There came a later cry, "the Union is in danger." This time it was heard from bleeding Kansas. Armed bands were committing daily depredations. This appeal reached the government, and what answer is made by the party in power? "I see nothing to call for executive interference." "Nothing?" Yet an empire is being crushed. "Nothing?" Yet houses are being robbed and burned, and helpless women and children murdered! "No cause for interference?" The reason is plain. There was no Negro lost.

Michigan fulfilled the pledge made in her behalf at Philadelphia by Mr. Chandler, and gave to the Fremont electors 71,762 votes, while the Buchanan ticket received but 52,136 and the Fillmore strength was only 1,660. The Republicans thus more than trebled their majority of 1854, and in this year carried all of the four Congressional districts of the State. Their victory in the legislative districts was overwhelming, and they elected twenty-nine of the thirty-one Senators, and sixty-three of the eighty Representatives. The term of Lewis Cass as Senator of the United States expired on the 4th of the following March, and his State had thus decided that he should give place to a representative of its earnest and aggressive Republican sentiment. Mr. Chandler was at once recognized as the leading candidate for the position by reason of his positive qualities, his personal strength with the business classes of the State and the masses of the people, and his prominence as a representative of the strong Whig element in the Republican ranks. The senatorial canvass was an earnest one, but it was from the outset clear that Mr. Chandler was the first choice of decidedly the largest number of legislators, and that no other man possessed his popular following. Some unavailing efforts were made to combine against him the friends of all other candidates, but the fact that he was also "the second choice" of many members defeated this plan, and the Republican caucus met at Lansing on January 8, 1857, with his marked lead in the contest still unimpaired. Three ballots were taken at its first session, the third giving Mr. Chandler a clear majority of all the votes cast. The caucus then adjourned until the following day, when he received a still stronger support on the fourth ballot and was formally nominated on the fifth. The following is the record of the balloting:

FIRST SESSION.SECOND SESSION.
First
Informal
Ballot.		Second
Informal
Ballot.		Third
Informal
Ballot.		Fourth
Informal
Ballot.		First
Formal
Ballot.
Zachariah Chandler,3745495480
Isaac P. Christiancy,17212233—
Austin Blair,1876——
Moses Wisner,12910——
Jacob M. Howard,—663—
Kinsley S. Bingham,372——
George A. Coe,4————
James V. Campbell,1————
Halmer H. Emmons,———1—
Blank,——1——
Scattering,————8
Total,9295969188

This result was received with the heartiest enthusiasm by the Republicans, and the caucus greeted its nominee, when he came before it to return his thanks, with prolonged cheering. The scene which followed has been thus described by an eyewitness: "This was the only time in an acquaintance of nearly thirty years that I ever saw Mr. Chandler abashed. When brought before the caucus he trembled with emotion, and it was several minutes before he could compose himself to even briefly return his thanks. He has often said that it was the only time that his courage and nerve absolutely failed him and that he completely broke down. The rejoicing was so hearty and unselfish that it overcame him, and he trembled like a child." On the 10th of January the two branches of the Legislature voted for Senator, the Democrats complimenting General Cass with their ineffectual votes. The record of the balloting was as follows:

SENATE.HOUSE.TOTAL.
Zachariah Chandler,276289
Lewis Cass,21416
Blank,—11

In the following joint convention of the two Houses the resolution, reciting the action taken separately and finally recording Mr. Chandler's election, was adopted without any dissent. Among the members of the Legislature whose votes made him the first Republican Senator from Michigan were Thomas W. Ferry, in later years his colleague in the Senate, Omar D. Conger, who became afterward a Republican leader in the lower branch of Congress, and George Jerome, a most intimate political and personal friend throughout life.

The Senate of the Thirty-fifth Congress met in special session at Washington, on March 4, 1857, Franklin Pierce having convened it at the request of his successor, who was inaugurated on that day. The names upon its rolls were these:

THE NATIONAL CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON.

This Senate met in the old chamber now occupied by the Supreme Court, but around which then clustered fresh memories of Clay, Webster, Calhoun and their cotemporaries. The Secretary, Asbury Dickins, called the body to order, and in the absence of John C. Breckenridge, Vice-President elect, James M. Mason of Virginia was chosen to preside temporarily. After the roll was called of the members with unexpired terms, the list of newly-elected Senators was read. As they responded to their names they advanced to the front of the presiding officer's desk, in groups of four, to take the oath of office. The first group were Bates, Bayard, Bright and Broderick; the second consisted of Simon Cameron, Zachariah Chandler, Jefferson Davis and James Dixon. This scene was the subject, twenty-two years later,[7] of the most effective speech ever delivered by Mr. Chandler; probably no speech ever uttered in the Senate more thoroughly touched the popular heart or was more widely read. Of the men who were then United States Senators, parts and witnesses of this scene, Fitzpatrick, Sebastian, Broderick, Dixon, Bates, Mallory, Iverson, Douglas, Bright, Crittenden, Thompson, Slidell, Fessenden, Kennedy, Pearce, Sumner, Wilson, Green, Hale, Thomson, Wright, King, Seward, Pugh, Wade, Allen, Simmons, Evans, Butler, John Bell, Jas. Bell, Andrew Johnson, Houston, Rusk, Collamer, Foot, Mason and Durkee (perhaps others) preceded Mr. Chandler to the grave. Of this number, one (Broderick) was killed in a duel and two committed suicide (Rusk killed himself at Nacogdoches, Tex., on July 29, 1857, and Preston King on August 15, 1865, and while collector of the port of New York, jumped heavily weighted into the Hudson river).

Of the members of this Senate Hamlin, Wilson (his original name was Jeremiah Jones Colbath) and Johnson became Vice-Presidents, and Johnson, on the death of Abraham Lincoln, became President. Mr. Hamlin was the only one still in the Senate at the time of Mr. Chandler's death, and his service had not been continuous but was broken by his Vice-Presidential term. Sons of Cameron and Bayard were in 1879 in the seats occupied by their fathers in 1857. Seward became Secretary of State, Cameron Secretary of War, Fessenden Secretary of the Treasury, and Harlan and Chandler Secretaries of the Interior. Durkee became Governor of Utah, Jones Minister to Colombia and Cameron Minister to Russia. Jones was, on his return from Colombia, arrested for treason and confined in Fort Warren. Bright was expelled for treasonable correspondence with the enemy; Polk was expelled for treason, and Sebastian, who retired from the Senate when Arkansas seceded from the Union, was also expelled, but after the war, ample proof being furnished that he was and always remained true to the Union, the resolution of expulsion was rescinded. Doolittle, Trumbull, Dixon and Foster, who were Republicans in 1857, afterward joined the Democracy, and Mr. Seward also ceased to be in sympathy with the party to which he was indebted for his greatest honors. Gwin identified himself with the Confederacy, then became aide to the unfortunate Maximilian, by whom he was created "Duke of Sonora," and is back again at Washington as a lobbyist. Douglas and John Bell were defeated candidates for the Presidency in 1860. Houston was Governor of Texas when the ordinance of secession passed and was deposed from his office by the disunion convention.

Jefferson Davis, who swore to support the constitution and the Union at the same instant with Mr. Chandler, within four years rebelled against the government and became President of the so-called "Southern Confederacy." Slidell, the most skilful of the disunion leaders, and Mason were appointed by the rebel government Commissioners to Great Britain, and while on their way across the ocean were seized by Captain Wilkes, commanding the United States steamer San Jacinto, taken from the British vessel Trent, and carried to Boston harbor, where they were confined in Fort Warren on a charge of treason. This seizure the Department of State declined to uphold, and on the demand of Great Britain the "embassadors" were released. Slidell died abroad in merited obscurity. Benjamin became Secretary of War of the Confederacy, and after its downfall emigrated to England, became a British citizen, and is a prosperous lawyer in London. Toombs was Confederate Secretary of State, and is still living in Georgia, crying as he did in 1861 "death to the Union." Mallory was Confederate Secretary of the Navy, and for a time after the war was imprisoned in Fort Lafayette. Hunter was also Secretary of State of the Confederacy; since the war he has been Treasurer of Virginia, but with the political revolution of 1879 retired to private life and poverty. Clay was a Confederate Senator and diplomatic agent; in 1865 he was imprisoned in Fortress Monroe. Fitzpatrick was the original nominee for Vice-President on the Douglas ticket in 1860, but declined; he became a rebel but without prominence. Robert W. Johnson was a Confederate Senator and afterward practiced law in Washington. Yulee (whose original name was David Levy) retired from the Senate to join the Confederacy, ceased to be conspicuous, and is now president of a railroad in Florida. Iverson was a Brigadier-General in the rebel army, as was also Toombs. Brown was Captain in the Confederate army and a member of the Confederate Senate. Butler died during the following recess of Congress, and Evans, his colleague, died before the war. All of these Southern Senators, who retired with their States in 1861 were afterward formally expelled from the Senate.

When Mr. Chandler entered the Senate the House of Representatives was controlled by the Democrats, but out of 234 members ninety-two were filled with the fresh blood of the Republican party. Some of these men were then distinguished, and others have become so since, but of the entire number of Representatives only twelve yet remain in either branch of Congress. Henry L. Dawes is a Senator from Massachusetts, Lafayette Grover from Oregon, Justin S. Morill from Vermont, Zebulon B. Vance from North Carolina, George H. Pendleton from Ohio, and L. Q. C. Lamar from Mississippi. Samuel S. Cox, a Representative from Ohio in 1857, is now a Representative from New York. Alex. H. Stephens of Georgia, Alfred M. Scales of North Carolina, John H. Reagan of Texas, Otho R. Singleton of Mississippi, and John D. C. Atkins of Tennessee are again members of the House. Stephens was Vice-President of the Confederacy; Scales was Captain, Colonel and Brigadier-General in the rebel army; Singleton was Aid-de-camp to Gen. Robert E. Lee; and Atkins was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Confederate Tennessee regiment, and afterward a member of the Confederate Congress.

Others who were members of the House in 1857 afterward added to the reputations they then enjoyed. Schuyler Colfax has been Vice-President. A. H. Cragin, R. E. Fenton, Thomas L. Clingman, Frank P. Blair, Jr., John W. Stevenson, Edwin D. Morgan, Joshua Hill, and George S. Houston have been United States Senators. Israel Washburn has been Governor of Maine, John Letcher of Virginia, and C. C. Washburn of Wisconsin. N. P. Banks was a General in the Union army, and is United States Marshal of Massachusetts. Daniel E. Sickles was also a General in the Union army and afterward Minister to Spain. Francis E. Spinner was for many years Treasurer of the United States. John Sherman has been a Senator, and is Secretary of the Treasury. Elihu B. Washburne was Minister to France. John A. Bingham is Minister to Japan, and Horace Maynard to Turkey. Anson Burlingame was Minister to China, and afterward the embassador of that empire to negotiate treaties with foreign powers. William A. Howard is Governor of Dakota, and John S. Phelps of Missouri. The roll of the dead of the Thirty-fifth House of Representatives far exceeds that of the living.

Zachariah Chandler entered the Senate of the United States with an abiding faith in Northern civilization and its right to supremacy, with a wise distrust of Southern professions, with a just hatred of institutions poisoned by slavery, with a determination to attack treason wherever found, with an unquestioning belief that his cause was right and its defeat impossible, and with as resolute a spirit as ever crossed the threshold of the Senate chamber. His nature was without an atom of compromise, and was strong in the rugged qualities of courage, honesty, sincerity, firmness, and moral intrepidity.