Our Presidents and how we make them

by Alexander K. McClure

14. That river and harbor improvements, when necessary to the safety and convenience of commerce with foreign nations or among the several States, are objects of national concern; and it is the duty of Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to provide for the same.

15. That emigrants and exiles from the Old World should find a cordial welcome to homes of comfort and fields of enterprise in the New; and every attempt to abridge their privilege of becoming citizens and owners of soil among us ought to be resisted with inflexible determination.

16. That every nation has a clear right to alter or change its own government, and to administer its own concerns, in such a manner as may best secure the rights and promote the happiness of the people; and foreign interference with that right is a dangerous violation of the laws of nations, against which all independent governments should protest, and endeavor by all proper means to prevent; and especially is it the duty of the American Government, representing the chief republic of the world, to protest against, and by all proper means to prevent, the intervention of kings and emperors against nations seeking to establish for themselves republican or constitutional governments.

17. That the independence of Hayti ought to be recognized by our Government, and our commercial relations with it placed on a footing of the most favored nation.

18. That as, by the Constitution, the “citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States,” the practice of imprisoning colored seamen of other States, while the vessels to which they belong lie in port, and refusing the exercise of the right to bring such cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, to test the legality of such proceedings, is a flagrant violation of the Constitution, and an invasion of the rights of the citizens of other States, utterly inconsistent with the professions made by the slaveholders, that they wish the provisions of the Constitution faithfully observed by every State in the Union.

19. That we recommend the introduction into all treaties hereafter to be negotiated between the United States and foreign nations, of some provision for the amicable settlement of difficulties by a resort to decisive arbitration.

20. That the Free Democratic party is not organized to aid either the Whig or the Democratic wing of the great slave-compromise party of the nation, but to defeat them both; and that, repudiating and renouncing both as hopelessly corrupt and utterly unworthy of confidence, the purpose of the Free Democracy is to take possession of the Federal Government, and administer it for the better protection of the rights and interests of the whole people.

21. That we inscribe on our banner, “Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men!” and under it will fight on and fight ever until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions.

22. That upon this platform the convention presents to the American people as a candidate for the office of President of the United States, John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and as a candidate for the office of Vice-President of the United States, George W. Julian, of Indiana, and earnestly commends them to the support of all free men and all parties.

The contest of 1852 was a hopeless one for the Whigs from the start. General Scott had great faith in his own election, but he stood almost entirely alone in that confidence. After the disastrous October elections he took the stump against the advice of his more discreet friends, and delivered a number of campaign speeches, which are now remembered chiefly because of his flattery to the foreign vote, complimenting the “rich Irish brogue” and “the sweet German accent” of many of his supporters. The result was that Pierce, a man who had never been discussed for the Presidency, but had been brought out as the “dark horse” at the national convention, carried every State in the Union but four—Massachusetts and Vermont, in the North, and Kentucky and Tennessee, in the South. The following is the popular and electoral vote: