NYPL RESEARCH LiBRARIES

3 3433 08181641 9

ffiMLfawwrnr<M<rjm»>^.i.-».-^m .« i'-'aXI' l. ^ a.

\

\

V

\ ^y •»-•*

\<

\S^

•••• — v-.-»_.^

..^ .^ ,±^ ,±^ .^ .V-.

£.

M

Portrait and ^

^-@^_

BIOGRAPHICAL

'i^i^ ■

OF

LACKAWANNA COUNTY

PENNSYLVANIA

Containing Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative

Citizens of the County.

Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the Presidents of the

United States.

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO:
CHAPMAN PUBLISHING CO.

1897.

THE N'EV/ YO.-^K'

408640A

A«roR, Lsnoy. amb

preface:

HE greatest of English historians, Macaulay, and one of the most brilliant writers of the
present century, has said: "The history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its
_ people." In conformity with this idea, the Portrait and Biographical Record of this
county has been prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and taking therefrom dry statistical
matter that can be appreciated by but few, our corps of writers have gone to the people, the men
and women who have, by their enterprise and industry, brought the county to a rank second to none
among those comprising this great and noble state, and from their lips have the story of their life
struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelligent public.
In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the imitation of coming
generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by industry and economy have
accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited advantages for securing an education, have
become learned men and women, with an influence extending throughout the length and breadth of
the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and
whose names have become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to
succeed, and records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very
many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued "the even tenor of their way,"
content to have it said of them, as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy— "They have
done what they could." It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left
the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession,
and at their country's call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the
Union was restored and peace once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every
woman is a lesson that should not be lost upon those who follow after.

Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the
fact that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records, and which would
otherwise be inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the work, and every
opportunity possible given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and
the publishers flatter themselves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence.
In addition to the biographical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given.

The faces of some, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this
the publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give
the information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some
member of the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of
the interested one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though
repeated calls were made at their residences or places of business.

Chapman Publishing Co.

April, 1897. ;

';

\i^'^^

Portraits and Biographies

OF THE

PRg§ID§NT§

OF THE

UNITBD STATKS

(•.]■( )KGK WASHINGTON

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

HE Father of our Country was born in West-
moreland County, Va., February- 22, 1732.
His parents were Augustine and Marj' (Ball)
Washinglon. The family to which he belonged
has not been satisfactorily traced in England.
His great-grandfather, John Washington, emi-
grated to Virginia about 1657, and became a
prosperous planter. He had two sons, Lawrence
and John. The former married Mildred Wanier,
and had three children, John, Augustine and
Mildred. Augustine, the father of George, first
married Jane Butler, who bore him four children,
two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, reached
maturity. Of six children by his second mar-
'••-•riage, George was the eldest, the others being
Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles and
Mildred.

Augustine Washington, the father of George,
died in 1743, leaving a large landed property.
To his eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an
estate on the Potomac, afterwards known as Mt.
Vernon, and to George he left the parental resi-
dence. George received onh- such education as
the neighborhood schools afforded, save for a
short time after he left school, when he received
private instruction in mathematics. His .spelling
was rather defective. Remarkable stories are
told of his great phj-sical .strength and develop-
ment at an early age. He was an acknowledged
\eader among his companions, and was early
acted for that nobleness of character, fairne.ss and
veracity which characterized his whole life.

When George was fourteen years old he had a
desire to go to sea, and a midshipman's warrant
was .secured for him, but through the opposition
of his mother the idea was abandoned. Two

years later he was appointed surveyor to the im-
mense estate of Lord Fairfax. In this business
he spent three years in a rough frontier life,
gaining experience which afterwards proved very
essential to him. In 1751, though only nineteen
years of age, he was appointed Adjutant, with the
rank of Major, in the Virginia militia, then being
trained for active service against the French and
Indians. Soon after this he sailed to the West
Indies with his brother Lawrence, who went there
to restore his health. They soon returned, and
in the summer of 1752 Lawrence died, leaving a
large fortune to an infant daughter, who did not
long survive him. On her demise the estate of
Mt. Vernon was given to George.

Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddle as Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia
was reorganized, and the province divided into
four military districts, of which the northern was
assigned to Washington as Adjutant-General.
Shortly after this a ver\' perilous mission, which
others had refused, was assigned him and ac-
cepted. This was to proceed to the French post
near Lake Erie, in northwestern Pennsylvania.
The distance to be traversed was about six hun-
dred miles. Winter was at hand, and the journey
was to be made without military escort, through
a territory occupied by Indians. The trip was a
perilous one, and several times he nearly lost his
life, but he returned in safety and furnished a full
and useful report of his expedition. A regiment
of three hundred men was raised in Virginia and
put in command of Col. Joshua Fry, and Maj.
Washington was commissioned Lieutenant-Colo-
nel. Active war was then begun against the
French and Indians, in which Washington took

ao

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

a most important part. In the memorable event
of July 9, 1755, known as "Braddock'.s defeat,"
Washington was almost the only officer of dis-
tinction who escaped from the calamities of the
day with life and honor.

Having been for five years in the military serv--
ice, and having vainly sought promotion in the
royal army, he took advantage of the fall of Ft. Du-
quesne and the expulsion of the French from the
valley of the Ohio to resign his commission. Soon
after he entered the Legislature, where, although
not a leader, he took an active and important
part. January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha
(Dandridge) Custis, the w^ealthy widow of John
Parke Cu.stis.

When the British Parliament had clo.sed the
port of Boston, the cry went up throughout the
provinces, ' ' The cause ot Boston is the cause of
us all! " It was then, at the suggestion of Vir-
ginia, that a congress of all the colonies was
called to meet at Philadelphia September 5,
1774, to secure their common liberties, peaceably
if possible. To this congress Col. Washington
was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the
congress re-assembled, when the hostile inten-
tions of England were plainly apparent. The
battles of Concord and Lexington had been fought,
and among the first acts of this congress was the
election of a commander-in-chief of the Colonial
forces. This high and responsible office was con-
ferred upon W'ashington, who was still a member
of the congress. He accepted it on June 19, but
upon the express condition that he receive no sal-
ary. He would keep an exact account of ex-
penses, and expect congress to pay them and
nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch
to trace the military acts of Washington, to whom
the fortunes and liberties of the people of this
country were so long confided. Tlie war was
conducted by him under every possible disadvan-
tage; and while his forces often met witli reverses,
yet he overcame every obstacle, and after seven
years of heroic devotion and matchless skill he
gained liberty for the greatest nation of earth.
On December 23, 1783, Washington, in a parting
address of suryjassing beauty, resigned his com-
mission as Commander-in-Chief of the army to the

Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. He
retired immediately to Mt. Vernon and resumed
his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning
all connection with public life.

In February, 1789, Washington was unani-
mously elected President, and at the expiration
of his first term he was unanimously re-elected.
At the end of this term many were anxious that he
be re-elected, but he absolutely refused a third
nomination. On March 4, 1797, at the expiration
of his second term as President, he returned to his
home, hoping to pass there his few remaining
years free from the annoyances of public life.
Later in the year, however, his repose seemed
likely to be interrupted by war with France. At
the prospect of such a war he was again urged to
take command of the army, but he chose his sub-
ordinate officers and left them the charge of mat-
ters in the field, which he .superintended from his
home. In accepting the command, he made the
reservation that he was not to be in the field until
it was necessary. In the midst of these prepara-
tions his life was suddenly cut ofi". December 12
he took a severe cold from a ride in the rain,
which, settling in his throat, produced inflamma-
tion, and terminated fatally on the night of the
14th. On the 1 8th his body was borne with mili-
tar\- honors to its final resting-place, and interred
in the family vault at Mt. Vernon.

Of the character of Washington it is impossible
to speak but in terms of the highest respect and
admiration. The more we see of the operations
of our government, and the more deeply we feel
the difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common
Interest, the more highly we must estimate the
force of his talent and character, which have been
able to challenge the reverence of all parties,
and principles, and nations, and to win a fame as
extended as the 'imits of the globe, and which we
cannot but believe will be as lasting as the exist-
ence of man.

In person, Washington was unusually tall, erect
and well proportioned, and his .nu.scular .strength
was great. His features were of a beausiful sym-
metry. He connnanded respect without any ap-
pearance of haughtiness, and was ever serious
without being dull.

JOHN ADAMS

JOHN ADAMS.

(John ADAMS, the second President and the
I first Vice-President of the United States, was
v2/ born in Braintree (now Quincy) Mass., and
about ten miles from Boston, October 19, 1735.
His great-grandfather, Henry Adams, emigrated
from England about 1640, with a family of eight
sons, and settled at Braintree. The parents of
John were John and Susannah (Boylston)
Adams. His father, who was a farmer of limited
means, also engaged in the business of shoe-
making. He gave his eldest son, John, a classical
education at Harvard College. John graduated
in 1755, and at once took charge of the school at
Worcester, Mass. This he found but a ' ' school
of affliction, ' ' from which he endeavored to gain
relief by devoting himself, in addition, tc the
study of law. For this purpose he placed himself
under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town.
He had thought seriously of the clerical profes-
sion, but seems to have been turned from this by
what he termed " the frightful engines of ecclesi-
astical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvin-
istic good nature, ' ' of the operations of which he
had been a witne.ss in his native town. He was
well fitted for the legal profession, possessing a
clear, sonorous voice, being ready and fluent of
speech, and having quick perceptive powers. He
gradually gained a practice, and in 1764 married
Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, and a
lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his
marriage, in 1765, the attempt at parliamentarj-
taxation turned him from law to politics. He
took initial steps toward holding a town meeting,
and the resolutions he offered on the subject be-
came ver>' popular throughout the province, and
were adopted word for word bj' over forty differ-
ent towns. He moved to Boston in 1768, and
became one of the most courageous and promi-
nent advocates of the popidar cause, and was
chosen a member of the General Court (the Leg-
islature) in 1770.

Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first dele-

gates from Massachusetts to the first Continent-
al Congress, which met m 1774. Here he di.s-
tingui-shed himself by his capacity for business
and for debate, and advocated the movement for
independence against the majority of the mem-
bers. In May, 1776, he moved and carried a res-
olution in Congress that the Colonies should
assume the duties of self-government. He was a
prominent member of the committee of five ap-
pointed June 1 1 to prepare a declaration of inde-
pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson,
but on Adams devolved the task of battling it
through Congress in a three-days debate.

On the day after the Declaration of Independ-
ence was passed, while his soul was yet warm
with the glow of excited feeling, he wrote a letter
to his wife, which, as we read it now, seems to
have been dictated by the spirit of prophecy.
"Yesterday," he says, "the greatest question
was decided that ever was debated in America;
and greater, perhaps, never was or will be de-
cided among men. A resolution was passed
without one dissenting colony, 'that these United
States are, and of right ought to be, free and in-
dependent states.' The day is passed. The
Fourth of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch
in the history of America. I am apt to believe it
will be celebrated by succeeding generations as
the great anniversary festival. It ought to be
commemorated as the day of deliverance by
solemn acts of de\'otion to Almighty God. It
ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games,
sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations
from one end of the continent to the other, from
this time forward forever. You will think me
transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I
am well aware of the toil and blood and treas-
ure that it will cost to maintain this declaration
and support and defend these States; yet, through
all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and
glor\-. I can see that the end is worth more than
all the means, and that posterity will triumph,

24

JOHN ADAMS.

although you and I may rue, which I hope we
shall not."

In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed
a delegate to France, and to co-operate with Ben-
jamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then
in Paris, in the endeavor to obtain assistance in
arms and money from the French government.
This was a severe trial to his patriotism, as it
separated him from his hcjme, compelled him to
cross the ocean in winter, and exposed him to
great peril of capture by the British cruisers, who
were seeking him. lie left France June 17,
1779. In September of the same year he was
again chosen to go to Paris, and there hold him-
self in readiness to negotiate a treaty of peace and
of commerce with Great Britain, as soon as the
British cabinet might be found willing to listen
to .such proposals. He sailed for France in No-
vember, and from there he went to Holland, where
he negotiated important loans and formed im-
portant commercial treaties.

Finally, a treatj- of peace with England was
signed, January 21, 17.83. The re-action from the
excitement, toil and anxiety through which Mr.
Adams had passed threw him into a fever. After
suffering from a continued fever and becoming
feeble and emaciated, he was advised to go to
England to drink the waters of Bath. While in
England, still drooping and desponding, he re-
ceived dispatches from his own government urg-
ing the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to
negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health
was delicate, yet he immediately set out, and
through storm, on .sea, on horseback and foot, he
made the trip.

February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr.
Adams envoy to the Court of St. James. Here
he met face to face the King of England, who
had so long regarded him as a traitor. As Eng-
land did not condescend to appoint a minister to
the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he
was accompli.shing but little, he sought permis-
sion to return to his own country, where he ar-
rived in June, 1788.

When Washington was first chosen President,
John Adams, rendered illustrious by his signal
services at home and abroad, was chosen Vice-

President. Again, at the .second election of Wash-
ington as President, Adams was chosen Vice-
President. In 1796, Washington retired from
public life, and Mr. Adams was elected President,
though not without much opposition. Serving
in this office four \ears, he was succeeded by Mr.
Jefferson, his opponent in politics.

While Mr. Adams was Vice-President the
great French Revolution shook the continent of
Europe, and it was upon this point that he was
at i.ssue with the majority of his countrymen, led
by Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams felt no sympathy
with the French people in their struggle, for he
had no confidence in their power of self-govern-
ment, and he utterly abhorred the class of atheist
philosophers who, he claimed, caused it. On the
other hand, Jefferson's sympathies were strongly
enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence
originated the alienation between these distin-
tinguished men, and the two powerful parties were
thus soon organized, with Adams at the head of
the one whose sympathies were with England,
and Jefferson leading the other in sympathy with
France.

The Fourth of July, 1826, which completed the
half-century .since the signing of the Declaration
of Independence, arrived, and there were but
three of the signers of that immortal instnunent
left upon the earth to hail its morning light.
And, as it is well known, on that day two of
these finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coinci-
dence so remarkable as to seem miraculous. For
a few days before Mr. Adams had been rapidly
failing, and on the morning of the Fourth he
found himself too weak to rise from his bed. On
being requested to name a toast for the cus-
tomary celebration of the day, he exclaimed
"Independence forever!" When the day was
ushered in by the ringing of bells and the firing
of camions, he was a.sked by one of his attend-
ants if he knew what daj' it was? He replied,
"O yes, it is the glorious Fourth of July — God
bless it — God bless you all!" In the course of
the day he said, "It is a great and glorious
day." The last words he uttered were, "Jeffe:*
son survives." But he had, at one o'clock,
resigned his spirit into the hands of his God.

THOMAS JEKFERSON

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

HOMAS JEFFERSON was boru April 2,
1743, at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Va.
His parents were Peter and Jane (Ran-
dolphj JeflFerson, the former a native of Wales,
and the latter born in London. To them were
bom six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas
was the elder. When fourteen j-ears of age his
father died. He received a most liberal educa-
tion, having been kept diligentlj- at school from
the time he was five years of age. In 1 760 he
entered William and Mary College. Williams-
burg was then the seat of the Colonial court, and
it was the abode of fashion and splendor. Young
Jefferson, who was then seventeen years old, lived
somewhat expensively, keeping fine horses, and
going much into gay .societj*; yet he was ear-
nestly devoted to his studies, and irreproachable in
his morals. In the second year of his college
course, moved by some unexplained impulse, he
di.scarded his old companions and pursuits, and
often devoted fifteen hours a day to hard study.
He thus attained very high intellectual culture,
and a like excellence in philosophy and the lan-
guages.

Immediately upon leaving college he began the
study of law. For the short time he continued
in the practice of his profession he rose rapidly,
and distinguished himself by his energy and
acuteness as a lawj-er. But the times called for
greater action . The policy of England had awak-
ened the spirit of resistance in the American Col-
onies, and the enlarged views which Jefferson had
ever entertained soon led him into active politi-
cal life. In 1769 he was chosen a member of the
Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1772 he mar-

ried Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beautiful,
wealthj-, and highly accomplished young widow.

In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress,
where, though a silent member, his abilities as a
writer and a reasoner soon become known, and he
was placed upon a number of important com-
mittees, and was chairman of the one appointed
for the drawing up of a declaration of independ-
ence. This committee consisted of Thomas Jef-
ferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger
Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson,
as chairman, was appointed to draw up the paper.
Franklin and Adams suggested a few verbal
changes before it was .submitted to Congress. On
June 28, a few slight changes were made in it b3f
Congress, and it was passed and signed July 4,
1776.

In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to
Patrick Henrj- as Governor of Virginia. At one
time the British officer Tarleton .sent a secret
expedition to Monticello to capture the Governor.
Scarcely five minutes elapsed after the hurried
escape of Mr. Jefferson and his family ere his
mansion was in possession of the British troops.
His wife's health, never very good, was much
injured by this excitement, and in the summer
of 1782 she died.

Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783.
Two years later he was appointed Minister Pleni-
potentiary to France. Returning to the United
States in September, 1789, he became Secretarj-
of State in Wa.shington's cabinet. This position
he resigned January i, 1794. In 1797, he was
chosen Vice-President, and four years later was
elected President over Mr. Adams, with Aaron

28

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

Burr as Vice-President. In 1S04 he was re-
elected with wonderful unanimity, George Clin-
ton being elected Vice-President.

The earlj- part of Mr. Jefferson's second ad-
Tiinistration was disturbed by an event which
threatened the tranquillity and peace of the Union;
this was the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated
in the late election to the Vice-Presidency, and
led on by an unprincipled ambition, this extraor-
dinary man funned the plan of a military ex-
pedition into the Spanish territories on our south-
western frontier, for the purpose of forming there
a new republic. This was generally supposed
to ha\-e been a mere pretext; and although it has
not been generally known what his real plans
were, there is no doubt that they were of a far
more dangerous character.

In 1S09, at the expiration of the second tenn
for which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he de-
termined to retire from political life. For a period
of nearly forty years he had been continually be-
fore the public, and all that time had been em-
ployed in ofiices of the greatest trust and respon-
sibility. Having thus devoted the best part of
his life to the serv'ice of his countrj-, he now felt
desirous of that rest which his declining years re-
quired, and upon the organization of the new ad-
ministration, in March, 1809, he bade farewell for-
■«ver to public life and retired to Monticello, his
famous country' home, which, next to Mt. Vernon,
was the most distinguished residence in the land.

The Fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth an-
niversary of the Declaration of American Inde-
pendence, great preparations were made in every
part of the Union for its celebration as the nation's
jubilee, and the citizens of Wa.shington, to add to
the solemnity of the occasion, invited Mr. Jeffer-
son, as the framer and one of the few surviving
signers of the Declaration, to participate in their
festivities. But an illness, which had been of
several weeks' duration and had been continually
increasing, compelled him to decline the invita-
tion.

On the 2d of July the disease under which he
was laboring left him, but in such a reduced
state that his medical attendants entertained no
hope of his recovery. From this time he was

perfectly sensible that his last hour was at hand.
On the next day, which was Mondaj-, he asked
of those around him the day of the month, and
oil being told it was the 3d of July, he ex-
pressed the earnest wish that he might be per-
mitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniver-
sary-. His prayer was heard — that day whose
dawn was hailed with such rapture through our
land burst upon his ejes, and then they were
closed forever. And what a noble consummation
of a noble life! To die on that day — the birth-
day of a nation — the day v.'hich his own name
and his own act had rendered glorious, to die
amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole
nation, who looked up to him as the author, un-
der God, of their greatest blessings, was all that
was wanting to fill up the recurd of his life.

Almost at the same hour of his death, the kin-
dred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear
him company, left the scene of his earthly honors.
Hand in hand they had stood forth, the cham-
pions of freedom; hand in hand, during the dark
and desperate struggle of the Revolution, they
had cheered and animated their desponding coun-
trymen; for half a century they had labored to-
gether for the good of the country, and now hand
in hand they departed. In their lives they had
been united in the same great cause of liberty,
and in their deaths they were not divided.

In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather
above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes
were light, his hair, originally red, in after life be-
came white and silver}-, his complexion was fair,
his forehead broad, and his whole countenance
intelligent and thoughtful. He possessed great
fortitude of mind as well as personal courage, and
his command of temper was such that his oldest
and most intimate friends never recollected to
have seen him in a passion. His manners, though
dignified, were simple and unafiected, and his
hospitality was so unbounded that all found at
his house a ready welcome. In conversation he
was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic, and his
language was remarkably pure and correct. He
was a finished clas.sical .scholar, and in his writ-
ings is discernible the care with which lie formed
his style upon the best models of antiqviity.

UiS'

\

JAMKS MADISON

JAMES MADISON.

(Tames MADISON, "Father of the Consti- ,

I tutiou," and fourth President of the United
Q) States, was born March i6, 1757, and died
at his home in Virginia June 28, 1836. The
name of James Madison is inseparably connected
with most of the important events in that heroic
period of our country- during which the founda-
tions of this great republic were laid. He was
the last of the founders of the Constitution of the
United States to be called to his eternal reward.

The Madison family were among the early emi-
grants to the New World, landing upon the shores
of the Chesapeake but fifteen years after the settle-
ment of Jamestown. The father of James Madison
was an opulent planter, residing upon a very fine
estate called Montpelier, in Orange County, Va.
It was but twenty-five miles from the home of Jef-
ferson at Monticello, and the closest personal and
political attachment existed between these illustri-
ous men from their early youth until death.

The early education of Mr. Madison was con-
ducted mostly at home under a private tutor. At
the age of eighteen he was sent to Princeton Col-
lege, in New Jersey. Here he applied himself to
study with the most imprudent zeal, allowing him-
self for months but three hours' sleep out of the
twenty-four. His health thus became so seriously
impaired that he ne\er recovered any vigor of
constitution. He graduated in 1 77 1 , with a feeble
body, but with a character of utmost purity, and
a mind highly disciplined and richly stored with
learning, which embellished and gave efficiency
to his subsequent career.

Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study
of law and a coutse of extensive and systematic
reading. This educational course, the spirit of
the times in which he lived, and the society with
which he associated, all combined to inspire him
with a strong love of liberty, and to train him for
his life-work as a statesman.

In the spring of 1776, when twenty -six years of

age, he was elected a member of the Virginia Con-
vention to frame the constitution of the State. The
next j-ear (1777), he was a candidate for the Gen-
eral Assembly. He refused to treat the whisky-lov-
ing voters, and consequently lost his election ; but
those who had witnessed the talent, energy and
public spirit of the modest young man enlisted
themselves in his behalf, and he was appointed to
the Executive Council.

Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were
Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison re-
mained member of the Council, and their apprecia-
tion of his intellectual, social and moral worth
contributed not a little to his subsequent eminence.
In the year 1780 he was elected a member of the
Continental Congress. Here he met the most il-
lustrious men in our land, and he was immediately
assigned to one ot the most conspicuous positions
among them. For three years he continued in Con-
gress, one of its most active and influential mem-
bers. In 1784, his term having expired, he was
elected a member of the Virginia Legislature.

No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the
utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no
national government, and no power to form trea-
ties which would be binding, or to enforce law.
There was not any State more prominent than
Virginia in the declaration that an efficient na-
tional government must be formed. In January,
1786, Mr. Madison carried a resolution through
the General Assembl}- of Virginia, inviting the
other States to appoint commissioners to meet in
convention at Annapolis to discuss this subject.
Five States onlj- were represented. The conven-
tion, however, issued another call, drawn up by
Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their
delegates to Philadelphia in May, 1787, to draft
a Constitution for the United States, to take the
place of the Confederate League. The delegates
met at the time appointed. Every State but
Rhode Island was represented. George Washing-

32

JAMES MADISON.

ton Tvas chosen president of the convention, and the
present Constitution of the United States was then
and there formed. There was, perhaps, no mind
and no pen more active in framing this immortal
document than the mind and the pen of James
Madison.
The Constitution, adopted by a vote of ejghty-one
to seventy-nine, was to be presented to the several
States for acceptance. But grave solicitude was
felt. Should it be rejected, we should be left but a
.'onglomeration of independent States, with but
Httle power at home and little respect abroad. Mr.
Madison was elected by the convention to draw up
an address to the people of the United States, ex-
pounding the principles of the Constitution, and
urging its adoption. There was great opposition
to it at first, but at length it triumphed over all,
and vv'ent into effect in 1789.

Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Repre-
sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became
the avowed leader of the Republican party. While
in New York attending Congress, he met Mrs.
Todd, a young widow of remarkable power of fas-
cination, whom he married. She was in person
and character queenly, and probaby no lady has
thus far occupied so prominent a position in the
very peculiar societj' which has constituted our
republican court as did Mrs. Madison.

Mr. Madison served as Secretar>- of State under
Jefferson, and at the close of his administration
was chosen President. Atthis time the encroach-
ments of England had brought us to the verge of
war. British orders in council destroyed our com-
merce, and our flag was exposed to constant insult.
Mr. Madison was a man of peace. Scholarly in
his taste, retiring in his dispo.sition, war had no
charms for him. But the meekest spirit can be
roused. It makes one's blood boil, even now, to
think of an American ship brought to upon the
ocean by the guns of an iinglish cruis'jr. A
young lieutenant steps on boa*''^ an6 orders the
crew to be paraded before him. With great non-
chalance he selects any number whom he may
please to designate as British subjects, orders them
down the ship's side into his boat, and places them
on the gundeck of his man-of-war, to fight, by
compulsion, the battles of England. This right

of search and impressment no efforts of our Gov-
erinnent could induce the British cabinet to re-
linquisli.

On the iSth of June, 1812, President Madison
gave his approval to an act of Congress declaring
war against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the
bitter hostility of the t'ederal party to the war, the
country in general approved; and Mr. Madison,
on the 4th of March, 181 3, was re-elected by a
large majorit}', and entered upon his second term
of office. This is not the place to describe the
various adventures of this war on the land and on
the water. Our infant navy then laid the found-
ations of its renown in grappling with the most
formidable power which ever swept the seas. The
contest commenced in earnest by the appearance
of a British fleet, early in Februar>% 18 13, in
Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole coast
of the United States under blockade.

The Emperor of Russia ofiered his services as
mediator. America accepted; England refused.
A British force of five thousand men landed on tlie
banks of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into
Chesapeake Bay, and marched rapidh*, bj- waj- of
Bladensburg, upon Wa.shington.

The straggling little city of Washington was
thrown into consternation. The cannon of the
brief conflict at Bladensburg echoed through the
streets of the metropolis. The whole population
fled from the city. The President, leaving Mrs.
Madi.son in the White House, with her carriage
drawn up at the door to await his speedy return,
hurried to meet the officers in a council of war.
He met our troops utterly routed, and he could not
go back without danger of being captured. But
few hours elapsed ere the Presidential Mansion,
the Capitol, and all the public buildings in Wash-
ington were in flames.

The war closed after two years of fighting, and
on Febmar\' 13, 18 15, the treaty of peace was
signed at Ghent. On the 4th of March, 18 17, his
second term of office expired, and he resigned the
Presidential chair to his friend, James Monroe.
He retired to his beautiful home at Montpelier, and
there passed the remainder of his days. On June
28, 1836, at the age of eighty-five years, he fell
asleep in death. Mrs Madison died July 12, 1849.

r

JAMHS MOXROK

JAMES MONROE.

(TAMEIS MONROE, the fifth President of the
I United States, was born in Westmoreland
C) County, Va., April 28, 1758. His early life
was passed at the place of his nativity. His an-
cestors had for many yeafs resided in the province
in which he was born. When he was seventeen
years old, and in process of completing his educa-
tion at William and Mary College, the Colonial
Congress, assembled at Philadelphia to deliberate
upon the unjust and manifold oppressions of Great
Britain, declared the separation , of the Colonies,
and promulgated the Declaration of Independence.
Had he been born ten years before, it is highly
probable that he would have been one of the
signers of that celebrated instrument. At this
time he left school and enlisted among the pa-
triots.

He joined the army when everything looked
hopeless and gloomy. The number of deserters
increased from day to daj-. The invading armies
came pouring in, and the Tories not only favored
the cause of the mother countrj', but disheartened
the new recruits, who were sufficiently terrified
at the prospect of contending with an enemy
whom they had been taught to deem invincible.
To such brave spirits as James Monroe, who went
right onward undismayed through difficulty and
danger, the United States owe their political
emancipation. The young cadet joined the ranks
and espoused the cause of his injured country,
with a firm determination to live or die in her
strife for liberty. Firml}^ yet sadly, he shared in
the melancholy retreat from Harlem Heights
and White Plains, and accompanied the dispirited
army as it fled before its foes through New Jersey.
In four months after the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, the patriots had been beaten in seven
battles. At the battle of Trenton he led the van-
guard, and in the act of charging upon the enemy
he received a wound in the left shoulder.

As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was
promoted to be captain of infantry, and, having re-
covered from his wounds, he rejoined the army.
He, however, receded from the line of promotion
by becoming an officer on the staff of L,ord Ster-
ling. During the campaigns of 1777 and 1778,
in the actions of Brandywine, Germantown and
Monmouth, he continued aide-de-camp; but be-
coming desirous to regain his position in the
army, he exerted himself to collect a regiment for
the Virginia line. This scheme failed, owing to
the exhausted condition of the State. Upon this
failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at
that period Governor, and pursued with consid-
erable ardor the study of common law. He did
not, however, entirely lay aside the knapsack for
the green bag, but on the invasion of the enemy
served as a volunteer during the two years of his
legal pursuits.

In 1782 he was elected from King George
County a member of the Legislature of Virginia,
and by that body he was elevated to a seat in the
Executive Council. He was thus honored with
the confidence of his fellow-citizens at twenty-
three years of age, and having at this early period
displayed some of that ability and aptitude foi
legislation which were afterward employed with
unremitting energy for the public good, he was
in the succeeding year chosen a member of the
Congress of the United States.

Deeply as Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of
the old Confederacy, he was opposed to the new
Constitution, thinking, with many others of the
Republican party, that it gave too much power to
the Central Government, and not enough to the
individual States. Still he retained the esteem
of his friends who were its warm supporters, and
who, notwithstanding his opposition, secured its
adoption. In 1789 he became a member of the
United States Senate, which office he held for

36

JAMES MONROE.

four years. Every month the Une of distinction
between the two great parties which divided the
nation, the Federal and the Republican, was
growing more distinct. The dififerences which
now separated them lay in the fact that the Repub-
lican party was in sympathy with France, and
also in favor of such a strict construction of the
Constitution as to give the Central Government as
hitle power, and the State Govermntnts as much
power, as the Constitution would warrant; while
the Federalists sympathized with England, and
were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con-
stitution, which would give as much power to the
Central Government as that document could pos-
sibly authorize.

Washington was then President. England had
espoused the cause of the Bourbons against the
principles of the French Revolution. All Europe
was drawn into the conflict. We were feeble and
far away. Washington issued a proclamation of
neutrality between these contending powers.
France had helped us in the struggles for our
liberties. All the despotisms of Europe were now
combined to prevent the French from escaping
from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse than that
which we had endured. Col. Monroe, more mag-
nanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at
whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in
their extremity. It was the impulse of a gener-
ous and noble nature, and Washington, who could
appreciate such a character, showed his calm, se-
rene, almost divine, greatness, by appointing that
very James Monroe who was denouncing the pol-
icy of the Government, as the minister of that
Government to the Republic of France. Mr.
Monroe was welcomed by the National Conven-
tion in France with the most enthusiastic dem-
onstration.

Shortly after his return to this country', Mr.
Monroe was elected Governor of Virginia, and
held the oflSce for three years. He was again
sent to France to co-operate with Chancellor Liv-
ingston in obtaining the vast territory then known
as the province of Louisiana, which France had
but shortly before obtained from Spain. Their
united efforts were successful. For the compara-
tively small sum of fifteen millions of dollars, the

entire territory of Orleans and district of Loui-
siana were added to the United States. This was
probably the largest transfer of real estate which
was ever made in all the history of the world.

From France Mr. Monroe went to England to
obtain from that country some recognition of our
rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against
those odious impressments of our seamen. But
England was unrelenting. He again returned to
England on the same mission, but could receive
no redress. He returned to his home and was
again chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon
resigned to accept the position of Secretary of
vState under Madison. While in this office war
with England was declared, the Secretary of War
resigned, and during these trying times the
duties of the War Department were al.so put upon
him. He was truly the armor-bearer of President
Madison, and the most efficient business man in
his cabinet. Upon the return of peace he re-
signed the Department of War, but continued in
the office of Secretary of State imtil the expira-
tion of Mr. Madison's administration. At the
election held the previous autunni, Mr. Monroe
himself had been chosen President with but little
opposition, and upon March 4, 1817, he was in-
augurated. F^our years later he was elected for
a second term.

Among the important measures of his Presi-
dency were the cession of Florida to the United
States, the Missouri Compromise, and the famous
" Monroe doctrine." This doctrine was enun-
ciated by him in 1823, and was as follows: " That
we should consider any attempt on the part of
European powers to extend their system to any
portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our
peace and safety," and that " we could not view
any interposition for the purpose of oppressing or
controlling American governments or provinces
in any other light than as a manifestation by
European powers of an unfriendly disposition
toward the United States."

At the end of his .second term, Mr. Monroe re-
tired to his home in Virginia, where he lived un-
til 1830, when he went to New York to live with
his son-in-law. In that city he died, on the 4th
of July, 1831.

•^

ff^

"^

m

■^

L

k^

^

a

n

'■''W^^^

1

1

1

1

1

-

1

sfe,^

JOHN yriXCV ADAMS

JOHN OUINCY ADAMS.

QOHN QUINCY ADAMS, the sixth President

I of the United States, was born in the rural
\Z/ home of his honored father, John Adams, in
Quincy, Mass., on the nth of July, 1767. His
mother, a woman of exalted worth, watched over
his childhood during the almost constant ab-
sence of his father. When but eight years of
age, he stood with his mother on an eminence,
listening to the booming of the great battle on
Bunker's Hill, and gazing out upon the smoke
and flames billowing up from the conflagration of
Charlestown.

When but eleven years old he took a tearful
adieu of his mother, to sail with his father for Eu-
rope, through a fleet of hostile British cruisers.
The bright, animated boy spent a year and a-half
in Paris, where his father was associated with
Franklin and Lee as Minister Plenipotentiary.
His intelligence attracted the notice of these dis-
tinguished men, and he received from them flat-
tering marks of attention.

John Adams had scarcely returned to this
country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad.
Again John Quincy accompanied his father. At
Paris he applied himself to study with great dil-
igence for six months, and then accompanied his
father to Holland, where he entered first a school
in Amsterdam, then the University at Ley den.
About a year from this time, in 1781, when the
manly boy was but fourteen years of age, he was
selected by Mr. Dana, our Minister to the Rus-
sian court, as his private secretary. [

In this school of incessant labor and of ennobl- 1
ing culture he spent fourteen months, and then !
returned to Holland, through Sweden, Denmark, \
Hamburg and Bremen. This long journey he
took alone in the winter, when in his sixteenth
year. Again he resumed his .studies, under a pri-
vate tutor, at The Hague. Then, in the spring of
1782, he accompanied his father to Paris, travel-
ing leisurely, and forming acquaintances with the
most distinguished men on the continent, examin-

ing architectural remains, galleries of paintings,
and all renowned works of art. At Paris he
again became associated with the most illustrious
men of all lands in the contemplation of the
loftiest temporal themes which can engross the
human mind. After a short visit to England he
returned to Paris, and consecrated all his energies
to study until May, 1785, when he returned to
America to finish his education.

Upon leaving Harvard College at the age of
twenty, he .studied law for three years. In Jvne,
1794, being then but twenty-seven years of age,
he was appointed by Washington Resident Min-
ister at the Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in
July, he reached London in October, where he
was immediately admitted to the deliberations of
Messrs. Jay & Pinckney, assisting them in nego-
tiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain.
After thus spending a fortnight in London, he
proceeded to The Hague.

In July, 1797, he left The Hague to go to Por-
tugal as Minister Plenipotentiary. On his way to
Portugal, upon arriving in London, he met with
despatches directing him to the court of Berlin, but
requesting him to remain in London until he
should receive his instructions. While waiting
he was married to an American lad}', to whom he
had been previously engaged — Miss Louisa Cath-
erine Johnson, a daughter of Jo.shua Johnson,
American Consul in London, and a lady en-
dowed with that beauty and those accomplish-
ments which eminently fitted her to move in the
elevated sphere for which she was destined. He
reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797,
where he remained until July, 1799, when, hav-
ing fulfilled all the purposes of his mission, he so
licited his recall.

Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen
to the Senate of Massachusetts from Boston, and
then was elected Senator of the United States for
six years, from the 4th of March, 1804. His rep-
utation, his ability and his experience placed

40

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

him immediately among the most prominent and
influential members of that body.

In 1809, Madison succeeded Jeiferson in the
Presidential chair, and he immediately nominated
John Quincy Adams Minister to St. Petersbura;h.
Resigning his professorship in Harvard Col-
lege, he embarked at Boston in August, 1809.

While in Rus.sia, Mr. Adams was an intense
Student. He devoted his attention to the lan-
guage and history of Russia; to the Chinese trade;
to the European s>-stem of weights, measures and
coins; to the climate and a.stronomical observa-
tions; while he kept up a familiar acquaintance
with the Greek and I^atin classics. In all the
universities of Europe, a more accomplished
scholar could scarcely be found. All through
life the Bible constituted an important part of his
studies. It was his rule to read five chapters
every daj'.

On the 4th of March, 181 7, Mr. Monroe took
the Presidential chair, and immediately appointed
Mr. Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of
his mimerous friends in public and private life in
Europe, he .sailed in June, 18 19, for the United
States. On the i8th of August, he again crossed
the threshold of his home in Ouincy. During the
eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration, Mr.
Adams continued Secretary of State.

Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's
second term of office, new candidates began to be
presented for the Presidency. The friends of Mr.
Adams brought forward his name. It was an
exciting campaign, and party spirit was never
more bitter. Two hundred and sixty electoral
votes were cast. Andrew Jackson received ninety-
nine; John Quincy Adams eifhty-four; William
H. Crawford forty-one; and Henry Clay thirty-
seven. As there was no choice bj' the people,
the question went to the House of Representa-
tives. Mr. Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to
Mr. Adams, and he was elected.

The friends of all the disappointed candidates
now combined in a venomous and persistent as-
sault upon Mr. Adams. There is nothing more
disgraceful in the past history of our countrv- than
the abuse which was poured in one uninterrupted
stream upon this high-minded, upright and pa-

triotic man. There never was an administration
more pure in principles, more conscientiously de-
voted to the best interests of the country, than
that of John Quincy Adams; and never, perhaps,
was there an administration more unscrupulously
and outrageously assailed.

On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams retired
from the Presidency, and was succeeded by An-
drew Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected
Vice-President. The slavery question now be-
gan to assume portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams
returned to Quincy and to his .studies, which he
pursued with unabated zeal. But he was not
long permitted to remain in retirement. In No-
vember, 1830, he was elected Representative in
Congress. For seventeen years, or until his death,
he occupied the post as Representative, towering
above all his peers, ever ready to do brave battle
for freedom, and winning the title of "the Old
Man Eloquent." Upon taking his seat in the
House, he announced that he should hold him-
self bound to no party. Probably there never
was a member more devoted to his duties. He
was usually the first in his place in the morning,
and the last to leave his seat in the evening.
Not a measure could be brought forward and es-
cape his scrutiny. The battle which Mr. Adams
fought, almost singly, against the pro-slavery
party in the Government was sublime in its
moral daring and heroism. For persisting in
presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery,
he was threatened with indictment by the grand
jury, with expulsion from the House, with assas-
sination; but no threats could intimidate him, and
his final triumph was complete.

On the 2ist of Fel)ruary, 1848, he rose on the
floor of Congress with a paper in his hand, to
address the .speaker. Suddenly he fell, again
.stricken by paralysis, and was caught in the arms
of those armnul him. F'or a time he was sense-
less, as he was con\-eyed to the sofa in the ro-
tunda. With reviving consciousness, he opened
his eyes, looked calmly around and said "This
is the end of earth;" then after a moment's pau.se
he added, " I am content." These were the last
words of the grand ' ' Old Man Eloquent. ' '

<•;-■«?"

AXDRl'W JACKSON

ANDREW JACKSON.

GlNDREW JACKSON, the seventh President
Ll of the United States, was bom in Waxhaw
/ I settlement, N. C, March 15, 1767, a few
days after his father's death. His parents were
poor emigrants from Ireland, and took up their
abode in Waxhaw settlement, where they lived
in deepest poverty.

Andrew, or Andy, as he was universally called,
grew up a verj' rough, rude, turbulent boy. His
features were coarse, his form ungainl}-, and there
was but very little in his character made visible
which was attractive.

When only thirteen years old he joined the
volunteers of Carolina against the British invasion.
In 1 78 1, he and his brother Robert were captured
and imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British
officer ordered him to brush his mud-spattered
boots. "lam a prisoner of war, not your serv-
ant," was the reply of the dauntless boy.

Andrew supported himself in various ways, such
as working at the saddler's trade, teaching school,
and clerking in a general store, until 1784, when
he entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He,
however, gave more attention to the wild amuse-
ments of the times than to his studies. In 1788,
he was appointed solicitor for the Western District
of North Carolina, of which Tennessee was then
a part. This involved many long journeys amid
dangers of every- kind, but Andrew Jackson never
knew fear, and the Indians had no desire to re-
peat a skirmish with "Sharp Knife."

In 1 79 1, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman
who supposed herself divorced from her former
husband. Great was the surprise of both parties,
two years later, to find that the conditions of the
divorce had just been definitely settled by the
first husband. The marriage ceremony was per-
formed a second time, but the occurrence was
often used by his enemies to bring Mr. Jackson
into disfavor.

In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee
then containing nearly eighty thousand inhabi-
tants, the people met in convention at Knoxville
to frame a constitution. Five were sent from
each of the eleven counties. Andrew Jackson
was one of the delegates. The new State was
entitled to but one member in the National House
of Representatives. Andrew Jackson was chosen
that member. Mounting his horse, he rode to
Philadelphia, where Congress then held its ses-
sions, a distance of about eight hundred miles.

Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo-
cratic party, and Jefferson was his idol. He ad-
mired Bonaparte, loved France, and hated Eng-
land. As Mr. Jackson took his seat. Gen. Wash-
ington, whose second term of office was then
expiring, delivered his last speech to Congress.
A committee drew up a complimentary address in
reply. Andrew Jackson did not approve of the
address, and was one of the twelve who voted
against it. He was not willing to say that Gen.
Washington's administration had been "wise,
firm and patriotic. ' '

Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States
Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned
home. Soon after he was chosen Judge of the
Supreme Court of his State, which position he
held for six years.

When the War of 181 2 with Great Britain com-
menced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair.
Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there
was an unknown man in the West, Andrew Jack-
son, who would do credit to a commission if one
were conferred upon him. Just at that time Gen.
Jackson offered his services and those of twenty-
five hundred volunteers. His offer was accepted,
and the troops were assembled at Nashville.

As the British were hourly expected to make
an attack upon New Orleans, where Gen. Wil-
kinson was in command, he was ordered io de-

44

ANDREW JACKSON.

scend the river with fifteen hundred troops to aid
Wilkinson. The expedition reached Natchez,
and after a delay of several weeks there without
accomplishing anything, the men were ordered
back to their homes. But the energy Gen. Jack-
son had displayed, and his entire devotion to the
comfort of his soldiers, won for him golden opin-
ions, and he became the most popular man in the
State. It was in this expedition that his tough-
ness gave him the nickname of "Old Hickory."

Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip
Col. Thomas Benton for a remark that gentleman
made about his taking part as second in a duel
in which a younger brother of Benton's was en-
gaged, he received two severe pistol wounds.
While he was lingering upon a bed of suffering,
news came that the Indians, who had combined
under Tecumseh from Florida to the Lakes to ex-
terminate the white settlers, were committing the
most awful ravages. Decisive action became nec-
essary. Gen. Jackson, with his fractured bone
just beginning to heal, his arm in a sling, and
unable to mount his horse without assistance,
gave his amazing energies to the raising of an
army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Ala.

The Creek Indians had established a strong
fort on one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River,
near the center of Alabama, about fifty miles be-
low Ft. Strother. With an army of two thousand
men, Gen. Jackson traversed the pathless wilder-
ness in a march of eleven days. He reached their
fort, called Tohopeka or Horse-shoe, on the 27th
of March, 18 14. The bend of the river enclosed
nearly one hundred acres of tangled forest and
wild ravine. Across the narrow neck the Indians
had constructed a formidable breastwork of logs
and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, with
an ample supply of arms, were assembled.

The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly
desperate. Not an Indian would accept quarter.
When bleeding and dj'ing, they would fight those
who endeavored to spare their lives. From ten
in the morning until dark the battle raged. The
carnage was awful and re\'olting. Some threw
themselves into the river; but the unerring bul-
lets struck their heads as thev swam. Nearly
every one of the nine hundred warriors was

killed. A few, probably, in the night swam
the river and escaped. This ended the war.

This closing of the Creek War enabled us to
concentrate all our militia upon the British, who
were the allies of the Indians. No man of less
resolute will than Gen. Jackson could have con-
ducted this Indian campaign to so successful an
issue. Immediately he was appointed Major-
General.

I^ate in August, with an army of two thousand
men on a rushing march, Gen. Jackson went to
Mobile. A British fleet went from Pensacola.
landed a force upon the beach, anchored near the
little fort, and from both ship and shore com-
menced a furious assault. The battle was long
and doubtful. At length one of the ships was
blown up and the rest retired.

Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his
little army, he moved his troops to New Orleans,
and the battle of New Orleans, which soon ensued,
was in reality a very arduous campaign. This
won for Gen. Jackson an imperishable name.
Here his troops, which numbered about four
thousand men, won a signal victory over the
British army of about nine thousand. His loss
was but thirteen, while the loss of the British was
twenty-six hundred.

The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be
mentioned in connection with the Presidency,
but in 1824 he was defeated by Mr. Adams.
He was, however, successful in the election of
1828, and was re-elected for a second term in
1832. In 1829, just before he assumed the reins
of government, he met with the most terrible
affliction of his life in the death of his wife, whom
he had loved with a devotion which has perhaps
never been surjjassed. From the shock of her
death he never recovered.

His administration was one of the most mem-
orable in the annals of our countrs* — applauded
by one party, condemned by the other. No man
had more bitter enemies or warmer friends. At
the expiration of his two terms of office he retired
to the Hermitage, where he died June 8, 1S45. The
last years of Mr. Jackson's life were those of a de-
voted Christian man.

MARTIN VAN HlKl'-N

MARTIN VAN BUREN.

yyi ARTIN VAN BUREN, the eighth Presi-

y dent of the United States, was born at Kin-
CS derhook, N. Y. , December 5, 1782. He
died at the same place, July 24, 1862. His body
rests in the cemetery at Kinderhook. Above it is
a plain granite shaft, fifteen feet high, bearing a
simple inscription about half-way up on one face.
The lot is unfenced, unbordere'd or unbounded
by shrub or flower.

There is but little in the life of Martin Van
Buren of romantic interest. He fought no battles,
engaged in no wild adventures. Though his life
was stormy in political and intellectual conflicts,
and he gained many signal victories, his days
passed uneventful in those incidents which give
zest to biography. His ancestors, as his name indi-
cates, were of Dutch origin, and were among the
earliest emigrants from Holland to the banks of
the Hudson. His father was a farmer, residing
in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, also
of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel-
ligence and exemplary piety.

He was decidedly a precocious boy, developing
unusual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At
the age of fourteen, he had finished his academic
studies in his native village, and commenced the
study of law. As he had not a collegiate educa-
tion, .seven years of study in a law-office were re-
quired of him before he could be admitted to the
Bar. Inspired with a lofty ambition, and con-
scious of his powers, he pursued his studies with
indefatigable industry. After spending six years
in an ofiice in his native village, he went to the city
of New York, and pro.secuted his studies for the
seventh year.

In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty -one years

of age, commenced the practice of law in his na-
tive village. The great conflict between the Federal
and Republican parties was then at its height.
Mr. Van Buren was from the beginning a politi-
cian. He had, perhaps, imbibed that spirit while
listening to the many discussions which had been
carried on in his father's hotel. He was in cordial
sympathy with Jefferson, and earnestly and elo-
quently espoused the cause of State Rights, though
at that time the Federal party held the supremacy
both in his town and State.

His success and increasing reputation led him
after six years of practice to remove to Hudson,
the county seat of his county. Here he spent
seven years, constantly gaining strength by con-
tending in the courts with some of the ablest men
who have adonied the Bar of his State.

Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mr.
Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for
beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short
years she sank into the grave, a victim of con-
sumption, leaving her husband and four sons to
weep over her lo,ss. For twenty-five years, Mr.
Van Buren was an earnest, successful, assiduous
lawyer. The record of those years is barren in
items of public interest. In 1812, when thirty
years of age, he was chosen to the State Senate,
and gave his .strenuous support to Mr. Madison's
administration. In 18 15, he was appointed At-
torney-General, and the next year moved to Al-
bany, the capital of the State.

While he was acknowledged as one of the most
prominent leaders of the Democratic party, he had
the moral courage to avow that true democracy did
not require that "universal suffrage' ' which admits
the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the righ;

48

MARTIN VAN BUREN.

of governing the State. In true consistency with
his democratic principles, he contended tliat, while
the path leading to the privilege of voting should
be open to every man without distinction, no one
should be invested with that sacred prerogative
unless he were in some degree qualified for it by
intelligence, virtue, and some property interests in
the welfare of the State.

In 182 1 he was elected a member of the United
States Senate, and in the same year he took a
seat in the convention to revise the Constitution of
his native State. His course in this convention
secured the approval of men of all parties. No
one could doubt the singleness of his endeavors to
promote the interests of all classes in the com-
munity. In the Senate of the United States, he
rose at once to a conspicuous position as an active
and useful legislator.

In 1827, John Quincy Adams being then in the
Presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected
to the Senate. He had been from the beginning
a determined opposer of the administration, adopt-
ing the "State Rights" view in opposition to what
was deemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams.

Soon after this, in 1S28, he was chosen Governor
of the State of New York, and accordingly resigned
his seat in the Senate. Probably no one in the
United States contributed so much towards eject-
ing John Q. Adams from the Presidential chair,
and placing in it Andrew Jackson, as did Martin
Vari Buren. Whether entitled to the reputation
or not, he certainly was regarded throughout the
United States as one of the most skillful, sagacious
and cunning of politicians. It was supposed that
no one knew .so well as he how to touch the secret
springs of action, how to pull all the wires to
j)ut his machinery in motion, and how to organize
a political army which would secretly and stealth-
ily accomplish the most gigantic results. By these
powers it is said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, Mr.
Clay, and Mr. Webster, and .secured results which
:ew then thought could l)e accomplished.

When Andrew Jackson was elected President
he appointed Mr. Van ]5uren Secretary of State.
This position he resigned in 1S31, and was im-
mediatelv appointed Mini.stcr to luigland, where
he went the same autumn. The Senate, however,

when it met, refused to ratify the nomination, and
he returned home, apparently untroubled. Later
he was nominated Vice-President in the place of
Calhoun, at the re-election of President Jackson,
and with smiles for all and frowns for none, he
took his place at the head of that Senate which had
refused to confirm his nomination as ambassador.

His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal
of President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated
favorite; and this, probably, more than any other
cause secured his elevation to the chair of the
Chief Executive. On the 20th of May, 1836, Mr.
Van Buren received the Democratic nomination
to succeed Gen. Jackson as President of the United
States. He was elected by a handsome majority,
to the delight of the retiring President. ' 'Leaving
New York out of the canvass," says Mr. Parton,
"the election of Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency
was as nuich the act of Gen. Jackson as though
the Constitution had conferred upon him the power
to appoint a successor. ' '

His administration was filled with exciting
events. The insurrection in Canada, which
threatened to involve this country in war with
England, the agitation of the .slavery question,
and finally the great commercial panic which
spread over the country, all were trials of his wis-
dom. The financial di.stress was attributed to
the management of the Democratic party, and
brought the President into such disfavor that he
failed of re-election, and on the 4th of March,
1 84 1, he retired from the presidency.

With the exception of being nominated for the
Presidency by the "FreCvSoil" Democrats in 1848,
Mr. Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate until
his death. He had ever been a prudent man, of
frugal habits, and, living within his income, had
now fortunately a competence for his declining
years. From his fine estate at Lindenwald, he
still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics
of the country. From this time until his death,
on the 24th of July, 1S62, at the age of eighty
years, he resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of
leisure, of culture and wealth, enjoying in a
healthy old age ])robably far more happiness than
hi had before experienced amid the stormy scenes
of his active life.

WII.IJAM III'NRV HARRISON

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, the ninth
President of the United States, was born
at Berkeley, Va., February 9, 1773. His
father, Benjamin Harrison, was in comparatively
opulent circumstances, and was one of the most
distinguished men of his day. He was an inti-
mate friend of George Washington, was early
elected a member of the Continental Congress,
and was conspicuous among the patriots of Vir-
ginia in resisting the encroachments of the British
crown. In the celebrated Congress of 1775, Ben-
jamin Harrison and John Hancock were both
candidates for the office of Speaker.

Mr. Harrison was subsequently chosen Gov-
ernor of Virginia, and was twice re-elected. His
son William Henry, of course, enjoyed in child-
hood all the advantages which wealth and intel-
lectual and cultivated society could give. Hav-
ing received a thorough common-school educa-
tion, he entered Hampden Sidney College, where
he graduated with honor soon after the death of
his father. He then repaired to Philadelphia to
study medicine under the instructions of Dr. Rush
and the guardianship of Robert Morris, both of
whom were, with his father, signers of the Dec-
laration of Independence.

Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and
notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends,
he abandoned his medical studies and entered the
army, having obtained a commission as Ensign
from President W^ashington. He was then but
nineteen years old. From that time he passed
gradually upward in rank until he became aide
to Gen. Wayne, after whose death he resigned
his commission. He was then appointed Secre-
tary of the Northwestern Territory. This Terri-
tory was then entitled to but one member in Con-

gress, and Harrison was chosen to fill that position.
In the spring of iSoo the Northwestern Terri-
tory was divided by Congress into two portions.
The eastern portion, comprising the region now-
embraced in the State of Ohio, was called "The
Territor>' northwest of the Ohio." The western
portion, which included what is now called Indi-
ana, Illinois and Wisconsin, was called "the Indi-
ana Tern torj'." William Henr>' Harrison, then
twenty-seven years of age, was appointed by John
Adams Governor of the Indiana Territory', and
immediately after also Governor of Upper Loui-
siana. He was thus ruler over almost as exten-
sive a realm as any sovereign upon the globe.
He was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and
was invested with powers nearly dictatorial over
the then rapidly increasing white population. The
ability and fidelity with which he discharged
these responsible duties may be inferred from the
fact that he was four times appointed to this
office — first by John Adams, twice by Thomas
Jefferson, and afterwards by President Madison.

When he began his administration there were
but three white settlements in that almost bound-
less region, now crowded with cities and resound-
ing with all the tumult of wealth and traffic.
One of these settlements was on the Ohio, nearly
opposite Loui.sville; one at Vincennes, on the
Wabash; and the third was a French settlement.

The vast wilderness over which Gov. Harrison
reigned was filled with many tribes of Indians.
About the year 1806, two extraordinary men,
twin brothers of the Shawnee tribe, rose among
them. One of the.se was called Tecumseh, or
"the Crouching Panther;" the other Olliwa-
checa, or ' ' the Prophet. ' ' Tecumseh was not
only an Indian warrior, but a man of great sagac-

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

ily. far-n-achiiig lorcsighl and indoniitable perse-
veraiict in any cntfrprise in which he might en-
gage. Hi.s brother, the Prophet, was an orator,
who could sway the feelings of the untntored In-
dians as the gale tossed the tree-tops beneath
wlrich they dwelt. With an enthusia.sm unsur-
pa.sse<l by Peter the Hermit rousing luirope to the
cni-sades, he went from tribe to tribe, a.ssuming
that he was specially sent by the Great Spirit.

Gov. Harris).)!! made man>- attempts to con-
ciliate the India!!s, but at la.st war came, and at
Tippecanoe the Indians were routed with great
slaughter. Octolx-r 28, 18 12, his army began its
inarch. When !iear the Prophet's town, three
Indians of rank !nade their appearance and in-
quired why Gov. Harri.son was approaching them
in so hostile a!! attitude. After a short confer-
ence, arrangements were made for a meeting the
next day to agree upon teri!is of peace.

But Gov. Harris<J!i was too well acquainted
with the Indian character to be deceived by such
protestations. Selecting a favorable spot for his
night's encamjji!ie!!t, he took every precaution
against surprise. His troops were posted in a
hollow stpiare and slept upon their arms. The
wakeful Gover!!or, betwee!i three and four o'clock
in the moniiiig, had risen, and was sitting
in co!iver.satio!! with his aides by the embers
of a waning fire. It was a chill, cloudy moniing,
with a drizzling rain. In the darkness, the In-
diai!s had crept as !iear as po.ssible, and ju.st then,
with a .savage yell, rushed, with all the despera-
tio!! which superstition a!id jjassion mo.st highly
iiiflametl could give, upo!i the left flank of the
little an!iy. The savages had been amply pro-
viilol with guns and ammunition by theKngli.sh,
and their war-whoop was acco!upanied by a
sliower of bullets.

The camp-fires were instantly e.xtinguished, as
the light aided the Indians in their aim, and
Gen. Harri.son's troops stood as immovable as
■ - around llicm until day dawned, when
'■ a simullaneous charge with the bayo-
net and swept everything before them, completely
rout) " : ,u.

<■ ^"11 now had all his energies tasked

to the utmost. The British, descending from the

Canadas, were of themselves a ven,- formidable
force, but with their .savage allies rushing like
wolves from the forest, burning, plundering, scalp-
ing torturing, the wide frontier was plunged into
a state of consternation which even the most vivid
imagination can but faintly conceive. Gen. Hull
had made an ignominious surrender of his forces at
Detroit. Under these despairing circumstances,
Gov. Harrison was appointed bj' President Madi-
son Commander-in-Chief of the Nortlnvestern
Army, with orders to retake Detroit and to protect
the frontiers. It would be difficult to place a man
in a situation demanding more energy, sagacity
and courage, but he was found equal to the
po.sition, and nobl\- and triumphantly did he meet
all the responsibilities.

In 18 16, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member
of the National House of Representatives, to rep-
resent the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved
an active member, and whenever he spoke it was
with a force of reason and power of eloquence
which arrested the attention of all the members.

In 18 1 g, Harrison was elected to the Senate of
Ohio, and in 1824, as one of the Presidential Elec-
tors of that State, he gave his vote for Henry
Clay. The same year he was chosen to the Uni-
ted States Senate. In 1S36 his friends brought
him forward as a candidate for the Presidency
again.st Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the
close of Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nom-
inated by his party, and Mr. Harrison was unani-
mously nominated by the Whigs, with John Tyler
for the Vice-Presidency. The contest was very
animated. Gen. Jackson gave all his influence to
prevent Harrison's election, but his triumph was
signal.

The cabinet which he foraied, with Daniel W^eb-
ster at its head as Secretary of State, was one of
the most brilliant with which ain- President had
ever been surrounded. Never were the prospects
of an admini.stration more flattering, or the hopes
of the country more .sanguine. In the midst of
these bright and joyous pro.spects. Gen. Harrison
was seized by a pleurisy-fever, and after a few
days of violent sickness died, on the 4tli of April,
just one month after his inauguration as President
of the United States.

JOHN TVIJ.R

JOHN TYLER.

(John TYLER, the tenth President of the
I United States, and was born in Charles
Q) City Count}-, Va., March 29, 1790. He was
the favored child of affluence and high social po-
sition. At the early age of twelve, John entered
William and Mary College, and graduated with
much honor when but seventeen years old. After
graduating, he devoted himself with great assi-
duity to the study of law, partly with his father
and partly with Edmund Randolph, one of the
most distinguished lawyers of Virginia.

At nineteen years of age, he commenced the
practice of law. His success was rapid and as-
tonishing. It is said that three months had not
elapsed ere there was scarcely a case on the
docket of the court in which he was not retained.
When but twenty -one years of age, he was almost
unanimously elected to a seat in the State Legis-
lature. He connected himself with the Demo-
cratic party, and warmly advocated the measures
of Jefferson and Madison. For five successive
3'ears he was elected to the Legislature, receiving
nearly the unanimous vote of his county.

When but twenty-six years of age, he was
elected a Member of Congress. Here he acted ear-
ne.stly andabl}' with the Democratic party, oppos-
ing a national bank, internal improvements by
the General Government, and a protective tariff;
advocating a .strict construction of the Constitu-
tion and the most careful vigilance over State
rights. His labors in Congress were so arduous
that before the close of his second term he found
it necessary' to resign and retire to his estate in
Charles City County to recruit his health. He,
however, soon after consented to take his seat in
the vState Legislature, where his influence was
powerful in promoting public works of great
utility. With a reputation thus constantly in-
creasing, he was chosen by a verj- large majority
of votes Governor of his native State. His ad-
ministration was a signally successflil one, and his
popularity secured his re-election.

John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed
man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of
the United States. A portion of the Democratic
party was di.spleased with Mr. Randolph's way-
ward course, and brought forward John Tyler as
his opponent, considering him the only man in
Virginia of .sufficient popularity to .succeed
against the renowned orator of Roanoke. Mr.
Tyler was the victor.

In accordance with his professions, upon tak-
ing his seat in the Senate he joined the ranks of
the opposition. He opposed the tariff, and spoke
against and voted against the bank as unconsti-
tutional; he strenuously opposed all restrictions
upon slavery, resisting all projects of internal im-
provements Dy the General Government, and
avowed his sympathy with Mr. Calhoun's view
of nullification; he declared that Gen. Jackson,
by his opposition to the nullifiers, had abandoned
the principles of the Democratic party. Such
was Mr. Tyler's record in Congres.s — a record in
perfect accordance with the principles which he
had always avowed.

Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice
of his profession. There was a split in the Demo-
cratic party. His friends still regarded him as a
true Jeffersonian, gave him a dinner, and show-
ered compliments upon him. He had now at-
tained the age of forty-six, and tiis career had been
ven." brilliant. In consequence of his devotion to
public business, his private affairs had fallen into
some disorder, and it was not without satisfac-
tion that he resumed the practice of law, and de-
voted himself to the cultivation of his plantation.
Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, for
the better education of his children, and he again
took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia.

By the southern Whigs he was sent to the
national convention at Harrisburg in 1 839 to nom-
inate a President. The majority of votes were
given to Gen Harrison, a genuine Whig, much
to the disappointment of the South, which wished

56

JOHN TYLER.

for Henry Clay. To conciliate the southern
Whig.s and to secure their vote, the convention
then noniinatfd John Tyler for Vice-President.
It was well known that he was not in sympathy
with the Whig party in the North; but the Vice-
President has very little power in the Govern-
ment, his main and almost only duty being to
preside over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it
happened that a Whig President and, in realitj',
a Democratic \'ice-President were chosen.

In 1841, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice-
Pre.sident of the United States. In one short
month from that time, President Harrison died,
and Mr: Tyler thus found himself, to his own
surprise and that of the whole nation, an occu-
pant of the Presidential chair. Hastening from
Williamsburg to Wa.shington, on the 6th of
April he was inaugurated to the high and re-
sponsible office. He was placed in a position of
exceeding delicacy and difficulty. All his long
life he had been opposed to the main principles of
the party which had brought him into power.
He had ever been a consistent, honest man, with
an unblemished record. Gen. Harrison had se-
lected a Whig cabinet. Should he retain them,
and thus surround him.self with counselors whose
views were antagonistic to his own ? or, on the
other hand, should he turn against the party
which had elected him, and select a cabinet in
harmony with himself and which would oppose
all those views which the Whigs deemed essen-
tial to the public welfare ? This was his fearful
dilemma. He invited the cabinet which Presi-
dent Harrison had selected to retain their .seats,
and recommended a day of fasting and prayer,
that God would guide and bless us.

The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for
the incorporation of a fi.scal bank of ,:he United
States. The President, after ten days' delay, re-
turned it with his veto. He suggested, however,
that he would approve of a bill drawn up upon
such a plan as he proposed. Such a bill was ac-
cordingly prepared, and privately submitted to
him. He gave it his approval. It was passed
without alteration, and he sent it back with his
veto. Here commenced the open rupture. It is
said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this meas-

ure by a pubHshed letter from the Hon. John M.
Botts, a distinguished Virginia Whig, who se-
verely touched the pride of the President.

The opjjosition now exultingly received the
President into their arms. The party which
elected him denounced him bitterly. All the
members of his cabinet, excepting Mr. Webster,
resigned. The Whigs of Congress, both the
Senate and the House, held a meeting and i.ssued
an address to the people of the United States,
proclaiming that all political alliance between the
Whigs and President Tyler was at an end.

Still the President attempted to conciliate. He
appointed a new cabinet of distinguished Whigs
and Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong
party men. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary
to resign, forced out by the pressure of his Whig
friends. Thus the four years of Mr. Tyler's un-
fortunate administration passed sadly away. No
one was satisfied. The land was filled with mur-
murs and \ituperation. Whigs and Democrats
alike assailed him. More and more, however, he
brought himself into sympathy with his okl
friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his
term he gave his whole influence to the support
of Mr. Polk, the Democratic candidate for his
successor.

On the 4th of March, 1845, President Tyler re-
tired from the harassments of oiSce, to the regret
of neither party, and probably to his own unspeak-
able relief The remainder of his days were
passed mainly in the retirement of his beautiful
home — Sherwood Forest, Charles City County,
Va. His first wife. Miss Letitia Christian, died
in Washington in 1842; and in June, 1844,
he was again married, at New York, to Miss Julia
Gardiner, a young lady of many personal and
intellectual accomplishments.

When the great Rebellion rose, which the
State Rights and nullifying doctrines of John C.
Calhoun had inaugurated. President Tyler re-
nounced his allegiance to the United vStates, and
joined the Confederates. He was cho.sen a mem-
ber of their Congress, and while engaged in
active measures to destroy, by force of arms, the
Government over which he had once presided, he
was taken sick and .soon died.

JAMHS K. I'OI.K

JAMES K. POLK.

(Tames K. polk, the eleventh President of
I the United States, was born in Mecklenburgh
Q) County, N. C, November 2, 1795. His
parents were Samuel and Jane (Knoxj Polk, the
former a son of Col. Thomas Polk, who located
at the above place, as one of the first pioneers, in
1735. In 1806, with his wife and children, and
soon after followed by most of the members of the j
Polk family, Samuel Polk emigrated .some two or
three hundred miles farther we.st, to the rich val-
ley of the Duck River. Here, in the midst of the
wilderness, in a region which was subsequently
called Maury County, they erected their log huts
and established their homes. In the hard toil of
a new farm in the wilderness, James K. Polk
spent the early years of his childliood and j'outh.
His father, adding the pursuit of a surveyor to
that of a farmer, gradually increased in wealth,
until he became one of the leading men of the
region. His mother was a superior woman, of
strong common sense and earnest piety.

Very early in life James developed a taste for
reading, and expressed the strongest desire to ob-
tain a liberal education. His mother's training
had made him methodical in his habits, had taught
him punctuality and industry, and had inspired
him with lofty principles of morality. His health
was frail, and his father, fearing that he might not
be able to endure a sedentary life, got a situation
for him behind the counter, hoping to fit him for
commercial pursuits. i

This was to James a bitter disappointment. He !
had no ta.ste for these duties, and his aaily tasKS '
were irksome in the extreme. He remained in this
uncongenial occupation but a few v^eks, when,
at his earnest solicitation, his faiHer removed
him and made arrangements for him to pros-
ecute his studies. Soon after he sent him to Mur-
freesboro Academy. With ardor which could
scarcely be surpassed, he pressed forward in his

studies, and in less than two and a-half years, in
the autumn of 18 15, entered the sophomore class
in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel
Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplarj- of
scholars, punctual in every exerci.se, never allow-
ing him.self to be absent from a recitation or a
religious ser\-ice.

Mr. Polk graduated in 18 18, with the highest
honors, being deemed the best scholar of his class,
both in mathematics and the cla.ssics. He was
then twenty-three years of age. His health was
at this time much impaired by the assiduity with
which he had prosecuted his studies. After a
short season of relaxation, he went to Nashville,
and entered the office of Felix Grundy, to study
law. Here Mr. Polk renewed his acquaintance
with Andrew Jackson, who resided on his planta-
tion, the " Hermitage," but a few miles from
Nashville. They had probably been slightly ac-
quainted before.

Mr. Polk's father was a Jeffersonian Republican
and James K. adhered to the same political faith.
He was a popular public speaker, and was con-
stantly called upon to address the meetings of his
party friends. His skill as a speaker was such
that he was popularly called the Napoleon of the
stump. He was a man of unblemished morals,
genial and courteous in his bearing, and with that
sympathetic nature in the joys and griefs of oth-
ers which gave him hosts of friends. In 1823,
he was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee,
and gave his strong influence toward the election
of his friend, Mr. Jackson, to the Presidency of
the United States.

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married MissSarah
Childress, of Rutherford County, Tenn. His
bride was altogether worthy of him — a lady of
beauty and culture. In the fall of 1825 Mr. Polk
was chosen a member of Congress, and the satis-
faction he gave his constituents may be inferred

6o

JAMES K. POLK.

from the fact, that for fourteen successive years,
or until 1839, he was continued in that office. He
then vohnitarily withdrew, onlj- that he might
accept the Gubernatorial chair of Tennessee. In
Congress he was a laborious member, a frequent
and a popular speaker. He was always in his
seat, always courteous, and whenever he spoke
it was always to the point, without any ambitious
rhetorical display.

During five sessions of Congress Mr. Polk was
Speaker of the House. Strong passions were
roused and stormj' .scenes were witnessed, but he
performed, his arduous duties to a very general
satisfaction, and a unanimous vote of thanks to
him was passed by the House as he withdrew on
the- 4th of March, 1839.

In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk,
as a candidate for Governor, canvassed the State.
He was elected by a large majority, and on Octo-
ber 14, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville.
In 1 841 his term of office expired, and he was
again the candidate of the Democratic party, but
was defeated.

On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was in-
augurated President of the United States. The
verdict of the country in favor of the annexation
of Texas exerted its influence upon Congress,
and the last act of the administration of President
Tyler was to affix his .signature to a joint resolu-
tion of Congress, passed on the 3d of March, ap-
proving of the annexation of Texas to the Union.
As Mexico still claimed Texas as one of her
provinces, the Mexican Minister, Almonte, im-
mediately demanded his passports and left the
country, declaring the act of the annexation to be
an act hostile to Mexico.

In his first message, President Polk urged that
Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be
received into the Union on the .same footing with
the other vStates. In the mean time. Gen. Taylor
was .sent with an army into Texas to hold the
coinitry. He was first .sent to Nueces, which the
Mexicans said was the western Ijoundary of Tex-
as. Then he was sent nearly two hundred miles
further west, to the Rio Grande, where he erected
batteries which comnuuided the Mexican city of
Matamoras, which was situated on the western

banks. The anticipated collision soon took place,
and war was declared against Mexico by President
Polk. The war was pushed forward by his ad-
ministration with great vigor. Gen. Taj'lor,
who.se army was first called one of " observation,"
then of "occupation," then of "invasion," was
sent forward to Monterey. The feeble Mexicans
in every encounter were hopelessly slaughtered.
The day of judgment alone can reveal the misery-
which this war caused. It was by the ingenuity
of Mr. Polk's administration that the war was
brought on.

' ' To the victors belong the spoils. ' ' Mexico
was prostrate before us. Her capital was in our
hands. We now consented to peace upon the
condition that Mexico should surrender to us, in
addition to Te.Kas, all of New Mexico, and all of
Upper and Lower Califoniia. This new demand
embraced, exclusive of Texas, eight hundred
thousand square miles. This was an extent of
territory equal to nine States of the size of New
York. Thus slavery was securing eighteen ma-
jestic States to be added to the Union. There
were some Americans who thought it all right;
there were others who thought it all wrong. In
the pro.secution of this war we expended twenty
thousand lives and more than $100,000,000. Of
this money $15,000,000 were paid to Mexico.

On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk retired
from office, having ser\'ed one term.. The next
day was Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was
inaugurated as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to
the Capitol in the same carriage with Gen. Tay-
lor, and the same evening, with Mrs. Polk, he
commenced his return to Tennessee. He was-,
then Init fifty-four years of age. He had always
been .strictly temperate in all his habits, and his
health was good. With an ample fortune, a
choice librar}', a cultivated mind, and domestic
ties of the dearest nature, it seemed as though
long years of tranquillity and happiness were be-
fore him. But the cholera — that fearfiil scourge
— was then sweeping up the Valley of the Missis-
sippi, and he contracted the disease, dying on the
15th of June, 1S49, in the fifty-fourth year of his
age, greatly mourned by his countrymen.

/ACHAKV TAVI.OR

ZACHARY TAYLOR.

^ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth President of
A the United States, was born on the 24th of
/^ November, 1784, in Orange County, Va.
His father, Col. Taylor, was a Yirginian of
note, and a distinguished patriot and soldier of
the Revolution. When Zachary was an infant,
his father, with his wife and two children, emi-
grated to Kentucky, where he settled in the path-
less wilderness, a few miles from Louisville. In
this frontier home, away from civilization and all
its refinements, young Zachary could enjoy but
few social and educational advantages. When
six years of age he attended a common school,
and was then regarded as a bright, active boy,
rather remarkable for bluntness and decision of
character. He was strong, fearless and self-reli-
ant, and manifested a strong desire to enter the
army to fight the Indians, who were ravaging the
frontiers. There is little to be recorded of the
uneventful years of his childhood on his father's
large but lonely plantation.

In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining for
him a commission as Lieutenant in the United
vStates ami)-, and he joined the troops which were
stationed at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson.
Soon after this he married Miss Margaret Smith,
a young lady from one of the first families of
Maryland.

Immediately after the declaration of war with
England, in 1812, Capt. Taylor (for he had then
been promoted to that rank) was put in command
of Ft. Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles
above Vincennes. This fort had been built in the
wilderness by Gen. Harrison, on his march to
Tippecanoe. It was one of the first points of at-
tack by the Indians, led by Tecumseh. Its garri-
son consisted of a broken company of infantry,
numbering fifty men, many of whom were sick.

Early in the autumn of 181 2, the Indians,
stealthily, and in large numbers, moved upon the

fort. Their approach was first indicated by ..he
murder of two soldiers just outside of the stockade.
Capt. Taylor made every possible preparation to
meet the anticipated assault. On the 4th of Sep-
tember, a band of forty painted and plumed sav-
ages came to the fort, waving a white flag, and
informed Capt. Taylor that in the morning their
chief would come to have a talk with him. It
was evident that their object was merely to ascer-
tain the state of things at the fort, and Capt.
Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages,
kept them at a distance.

The sun went down; the savages disappeared;
the garrison slept upon their arms. One hour
before midnight the war-whoop burst from a
thousand lips in the forest around, followed by
the discharge of musketry and the rush of the
foe. Every man, sick and well, sprang to his
post. Every man knew that defeat was not
merely death, but, in the case of capture, death by
the most agonizing and prolonged torture. No
pen can describe, no imagination can conceive, the
scenes which ensued. The savages succeeded in
setting fire to one of the block-houses. Until six
o'clock in the morning this awful conflict con-
tinued, when the savages, baffled at every point
and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired.
Capt. Taylor, for this gallant defense, was pro-
moted to the rank of Major by brevet.

Until the close of the war, Maj. Taylor was
placed in such situations that he saw but little
more of active service. He was sent far away
into the depths of the wilderness to Ft. Craw-
ford, on Fox Ri\'er, which empties into Green
Bay. Here there was little to be done but to
wear away the tedious hours as one best could.
There were no books, no society, no intellectual
stimulus. Thus with him the uneventful years
rolled on. Gradually he rose to the rank of
Colonel. In the Black Hawk War, which re-

64

ZACHARY TAYLOR.

suited in the capture of that renowned chieftain,
Col. Taylor took a subordinate, but a brave and
efficient, part.

For t\vent\--four >ears Col. Taylor was engaged
in the defense of the frontiers, in scenes so re-
mote, and in employments so obscure, that his
name was unknown beyond the limits of his own
immediate acquaintance. In the year 1836, he
was sent to Florida to compel the Seminole Indi-
ans to vacate that region, and retire bej-ond the
Mississippi, as their chiefs by treaty had prom-
ised they should do. The ser\'ices rendered here
secured for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of
the Government, and as a reward he was ele-
vated to the high rank of Brigadier- General by
brevet, and soon after, in May, 1838, was ap-
pointed to the chief command of the United
States troops in Florida.

After two years of wearisome employment
amidst the everglades of the Peninsula, Gen. Tay-
lor obtained, at his own request, a change of
command, and was stationed over the Department
of the Southwest. This field embraced Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. E.stablishing
his headquarters at Ft. Je.ssup, in Louisiana, he
removed his family to a plantation which he pur-
chased near Baton Rouge. Here he remained
for five years, buried, as it were, from the world,
but faithfully discharging every duty imposed
upon him.

In 1846, Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the
land between the Nueces and Rio Grande, the
latter river being the boundarj- of Texas, which
was then claimed by the United States. Soon
the war with Mexico was brought on, and at Palo
Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Gen. Taylor won
brilliant victories over the Mexicans. The rank
of Major-General by brevet was then conferred
upon Gen. Taylor, and his name was received
with enthusiasm almost everywhere in the na-
tion. Then came the battles of Monterey and
Buena Vista, in which he won signal victories
over forces much larger than he commanded.

The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena
Vista .spread the wildest enthusiasm over the
country. The name of Gen. Taylor was on
every one's lips. The Whig party decided to

take advantage of this wonderful popularity in
bringing forward the unpolished, unlettered, hon-
est .soldier as their candidate for the Presidency.
Gen. Taylor was astonished at the announce-
ment, and for a time would not listen to it, de-
claring that he was not at all qualified for such
an office. So little interest had he taken in poli-
tics, that for fort)' years he had not cast a vote.
It was not without chagrin that several distin-
guished .statesmen, who had been long years in
the public senuce, found their claims set aside in
behalf of one whose name had never been heard
of, .save in connection with Palo Alto, Resaca de
la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista. It is said
that Daniel Webster, in his haste, remarked, " It
is a nomination not fit to be made."

Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a
fine writer. His friends took posses.sion of him,
and prepared such few communications as it was
needful should be presented to the public. The
popularity of the successful warrior swept the
land. He was triumphantly elected over two
opposing candidates, — Gen. Cass and Ex-Presi-
dent Martin Van Buren. Though he selected an
excellent cabinet, the good old man found himself
in a very uncongenial position, and was at times
sorely perplexed and harassed. His mental suf-
ferings were very severe, and probably tended to
hasten his death. The pro-slavery party was
pushing its claims with tireless energ>-; expedi-
tions were fitting out to capture Cuba; California
was pleading for admission to the Union, while
slavery .stood at the door to bar her out. Gen.
Taylor found the political conflicts in Washington
to be far more trying to the nerves than battles
with Mexicans or Indians.

In the midst of all these troubles. Gen. Taylor,
after he had occupied the Presidential chair but
little over a year, took cold, and after a brief
sickness of but little over five days, died, on the
gtli of July, 1850. His last words were, "I am
not afraid to die. I am read)-. I have endeav-
ored to do my duty." He died universally re-
.spected and beloved. An honest, unpretending
man, he had been steadil)' growing in the affec-
tions of the people, and the Nation bitterly la-
mented his death.

MILLARD 1-ILLMORK

MILLARD FILLMORE.

y^ILLARD FILLMORE, thirteenth President
y of the United States, was born at Summer
(^ Hill, Cayuga County, N. Y., on the yth of
Januan,-, 1800. His father was a farmer, and, owing
to misfortune, in humble circumstances. Of his
mother, the daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, of
Pittsfield, Mass., it has been said that .she pos-
sessed an intellect of a high order, united with
much personal loveliness, sweetness of disposi-
tion, graceful manners and exquisite sensibilities.
She died in 1831, having lived to see her son a
young man of distinguished promise, though she
was not permitted to witness the high dignity
which he finally attained.

In consequence of the secluded home and limited
means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender
advantages for education in his early years. The
common schools, which he occasionallj- attended,
were very imperfect institutions, and books were
scarce and expensive. There was nothing then
in his character to indicate the brilliant career
upon which he was about to enter. He was a
plain farmer's boy — intelligent, good-looking,
kind-hearted. The sacred iufiuences of home
had taught him to revere the Bible, and had laid
the foundations of an upright character. When
fourteen years of age, his father sent him some
hundred miles from home to the then wilds of
Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier.
Near the mill there was a small village, where
some enterprising man had commenced the col-
lection of a village library. This proved an in-
estimable bles.sing to young Fillmore. His even-
ings were spent in reading. Soon every leisure
moment was occupied with books. His thirst for
knowledge became insatiate, and the selections
which he made were continually more elevating
and instructive. He read history, biography,
orator}', and thus gradually there was enkindled

in his heart a desire to be something more than a
mere worker with his hands.

The \oung clothier had now attained the age
of nineteen years, and was of fine personal appear-
ance and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so hap-
pened that there was a gentleman in the neigh-
borhood of ample pecuniary means and of benev-
olence, — ^Judge Walter Wood, — who was struck
with the prepossessing appearance of young Fill-
more. He made his acquaintance, and was so
much impressed with his ability and attainments
that he advised him to abandon his trade and de-
vote himself to the study of the law. The young
man replied that he had no means of his own,
no friends to help him, and that his previous edu-
cation had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood
had so much confidence in him that he kindly
offered to take him into his own office, and to
lend him such money as he needed. Most grate-
fully the generous offer was accepted.

There is in many minds a strange delusion
about a collegiate education. A young man is
supposed to be liberally educated if he has gradu-
ated at some college. But many a boy who loi-
ters through university halls and then enters a
law office is by no means as well prepared to
prosecute his legal studies as was Millard Fill-
more when he graduated at the clothing-mill at
the end of four years of manual labor, during
which ever>- leisure moment had been devoted to
intense mental culture.

In 1823, when twenty-three years of age, he
was admitted to the Court of Common Pleas.
He then went to the village of Aurora, and com-
menced the practice of law. In this secluded,
quiet region, his practice, of course, was limited,
and there was no opportunity for a sudden rise in
fortune or in fame. Here, in 1826, he married a
lady of great moral worth, and one capable of

08

MILLARD FILLMORE.

adorning anj- station she might be called to fill, —
Miss Abigail Powers.

His elevation of character, his untiring industrj',
his legal ac(iuircnients, and his skill as an advo-
cate, gradually attracted attention, and he was
invited to enter into partnership, under highly ad-
vantageous circumstances, with an elder member
of the Bar in Buffalo. Just before removing to
Buffalo, in 1S29, he took his seat in the House of
Assembly of the vState of New York, as a Repre-
sentative from Erie County. Though he had
never taken a very active part in politics, his vote
and sympathies were with the Whig party. The
State was then Democratic, and he found himself
in a helpless minority in the Legislature; still the
testimony comes from all parties that his courtesy,
ability and integrity won, to a verj- unusual de-
gree, the respect of his associates.

In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to a
seat in the United States Congress. He entered
that troubled arena in the most tumultuous hours
of our national historj', when the great conflict
respecting the national bank and the removal of
the depo.sits was raging.

His term of two years closed, and he returned
to his profession, which he pursued with increas-
ing reputation and success. After a lapse of two
years he again became a candidate for Congress;
was re-elected, and took his seat in 1837. His
past experience as a Representative gave him
.strength and confidence. The first term of service
in Congress to any man can be but little more
than an introduction. He was now prepared for
active duty. All his energies were brought to
bear upon the public good. E\'er>' measure re-
ceived his impress.

Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute,
and his popularity filled the State. In the year
1847, when he had attained the age of forty-
seven 3'ears, he was elected Comptroller of the
State. His labors at the Bar, in the Legisla-
ture, in Congress and as Comptroller, had given
him very considerable fame. The Whigs were
casting about to find suitable candidates for Presi-
dent and Vice-President at the approaching elec-
tion. Far away on the waters of the Rio Grande,
there was a rough old soldier, who had fought

one or two successful battles with the Mexicans,
which had caused his name to be proclaimed in
trampet-tones all over the land as a candidate for
the presidency. But it was necessan,' to associate
with him on the same ticket some man of repu-
tation as a statesman.

Under the influence of these considerations, the
names of Zachan,- Taylor and Millard Fillmore
became the ralhing-cry of the Whigs, as their
candidates for President and \'ice-President. The
Whig ticket was signally triumphant. On the
4th of March, 1849, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated
President, and Millard Fillmore Vice-President,
of the United States.

On the 9th of July, 1850, President Taylor,
about one year and four months after his inaugura-
tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the
Constitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus be-
came President. He appointed a vers- able cabi-
net, of which the illustrious Daniel Webster was
Secretary of State; nevertheless, he had serious
difficulties to contend with, .since the opposition
had a majority in both Hou.ses. He did all in his
power to conciliate the South; but the pro-slavery
party in the South felt the inadequacy of all
measures of tran.sient conciliation. The popula-
tion of the free States was so rapidly increasing
over that of the .slave States, that it was inevitable
that the power of the Government should soon
pass into the hands of the free States. The fa-
mous compromise measures were adopted under
Mr. Fillmore's administration, and the Japan ex-
pedition was sent out. On the 4th of March,
1853, he, having .served one term, retired.

In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the
Presidency by the "Know-Nothing" party, but
was beaten by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr.
Fillmore lived in retirement. During the terri-
ble conflict of civil war, he was mo.stly .silent. It
was generally supposed that his sympathies were
rather with those who were endeavoring to over-
throw our institutions. President Fillmore kept
aloof from the conflict, witliout any cordial words
of cheer to one party or the other. He was thus
forgotten by both. He lived to a ripe old age,
and died in Buffalo, N. Y., March 8, 1S74.

FRANKLIN l'n':RCE

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

["RANKLIN pierce, the fourteenth Presi-
JM dent of the United States, was born in Hills-
I ^ borough, N. H., November 23, 1804. His
father was a Revolutionary- soldier, who with his
own strong arm hewed out a home in the wilder-
ness. He was a man of inflexible integrity, of
strong, though uncultivated, mind, and was an un-
compromising Democrat. The mother of Frank-
lin Pierce was all that a son could desire — an in-
telligent, prudent, affectionate, Chri.stian woman.

Franklin, who was the sixth of eight children,
was a remarkably bright and handsome boy,
generous, warm-hearted and brave. He won
alike the love of old and young. The boys on
the play-ground loved him. His teachers loved
him. The neighbors looked upon him with pride
and affection. He was by instinct a gentleman,
always speaking kind words, and doing kind
deeds, with a peculiar, unstudied tact which
taught him what was agreeable. Without de-
veloping any precocity of genius, or any unnatural
devotion to books, he was a good scholar, and in
body and mind a finely developed boy.

When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820,
he entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me.
He was one of the most popular young men in
the college. The purity of his moral character,
the unvarying courtesy of his demeanor, his rank
as a scholar, and genial nature, rendered him a
universal favorite. There was something pe-
culiarly winning in his address, and it was evi-
dently not in the slightest degree studied — it was
the simple outgu.shing of his own magnanimous
and loving nature.

Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin
Pierce commenced the study of law in the office
of Judge Woodbury, one of the most distinguished

lawyers of the State, and a man of great private
worth. The eminent social qualities of the young
lawyer, his father'.s prominence as a public man,
and the brilliant political career into which Judge
Woodbury was entering, all tended to entice Mr.
Pierce into the fa.scinating yet perilous path of
political life. With all the ardor of his nature he
espoused the cause of Gen. Jackson for the Presi-
dency. He commenced the practice of law in
Hillsborough, and was soon elected to represent
the town in the State Legislature. Here he
served for four years. The last two years he was
chosen Speaker of the House by a very large
vote.

In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was
elected a member of Congress. In 1837, being
then but thirty-three years old, he was elected to
the Senate, taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren
commenced his administration. He was the
youngest member in the Senate. In the year
1834, he married Miss Jane Means Appleton, a
lady of rare beauty and accomplishments, and one
admirably fitted to adorn every station with which
her hu.sband was honored. Of the three sons who
were born to them, all now sleep with their par-
ents in the grave.

In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing
fame and increasing business as a lawyer, took up
his residence in Concord, the capital of New
Hampshire. President Polk, upon his accession
to office, appointed Mr. Pierce Attorney-General
of the United States; but the offer was declined
in consequence of numerous professional engage-
ments at home, and the precarious state of Mrs.
Pierce's health. He also, about the same time,
declined the nomination for Governor by the
Democratic party. The war with Mexico called

72

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

Mr. Pierce into the armj-. Receiving the appoint-
ment of Brigadier-General, he embarked with a
portion of his troops at Newport, R. I., on the
27th of May, 1847. He took an important part
in this war, proving himself a brave and true sol-
dier.

When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his na-
tive State, he was received entlui.siastically by the
advocates of the Mexican War, and coldly by his
opponents. He resumed the practice of his pro-
fession, very freqnentl\' taking an active part in
political questions, giving his cordial support to
the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party.
The compromise measures met cordially with his
approval, and he .streiniously advocated the en-
forcement of the infamous Fugitive Slave Law,
which so shocked the religious sensibilities of the
North. He thus became distinguished as a
' ' Northern man with Southern principles. ' ' The
strong partisans of slavery in the South conse-
quently regarded him as a man whom they could
safely trust in office to carry out their plans.

On the 12th of June, 1852, the Democratic con-
vention met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate
for the Presidency. For four days they contin-
ued in .session, and in thirty-five ballotings no one
had obtained a two-thirds vote. Not a vote thus
far had been thrown for Gen. Pierce. Then the
Virginia delegation brought forward his name.
There were fourteen more ballotings, during which
Gen. Pierce constantly gained strength, until, at
the forty-ninth ballot, he received two hundred
and eighty-two votes, and all other candidates
eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was the Whig can-
didate. Gen. Pierce was chosen with great una-
nimity. Only four States — Vermont, Massachu-
setts, Kentucky and Tennessee — ca.st their elec-
toral votes again.st him. Gen. Franklin Pierce
was therefore inaugurated President of the United
States on the 4th of March, 1853.

His administration proved one of the most
stormy our country had ever experienced. The
controversy between slavery and freedom was
then approaching its culminating point. It be-
came evident that there was to be an irrepressible
conflict between them, and that this nation
could not long exist " half slave and half free."

President Pierce, during the whole of his admin-
istration, did every thing he could to conciliate the
South; but it was all in vain. The conflict every
year grew more violent, and threats of the disso-
lution of the Union were borne to the North on
every Southern breeze.

Such was the condition of affairs when Presi-
dent Pierce approached the clo.se of his four-
years term of office. The North had become
thoroughly alienated from him. The anti-.slavery
sentiment, goaded by great outrages, had been
rapidly increasing; all the intellectual ability and
.social worth of President Pierce were forgotten in
deep reprehension of his administrative acts. The
slaveholders of the South also, unmindful of the
fidelity with which he had advocated tho.se meas-
ures of Government which they approved, and
perhaps feeling that he had rendered himself
so unpopular as no longer to be able to accepta-
bly serve them, ungratefully dropped him, and
nominated James Buchanan to succeed him.

On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce re-
turned to his home in Concord. His three chil-
dren were all dead, his last surviving child hav-
ing been killed before his eyes in a railroad acci-
dent; and his wife, one of the most estimable and
accomplished of ladies, was rapidly sinking in
consumption. The hour of dreadful gloom soon
came, and he was left alone in the world without
wife or child.

When the terrible Rebellion burst forth which
divided our country into two parties, and two
only, Mr. Pierce remained steadfast in the prin-
ciples which he had always cherished, and gave
his sympathies to that pro-slaverj- party with
which he had ever been allied. He declined to
do anything, either by voice or pen, to strengthen
the hand of the National Government. He con-
tinued to reside in Concord until the time of his
death, which occurred in October, 1869. He was
one of the most genial and social of men, an hon-
ored communicant of the Episcopal Church, and
one of the kindest of neighbors. Generous to a
fault, he contributed liberally toward the allevia-
tion of suffering and want, and many of his
towns-people were often gladdened by his material
bounty.

JAMES lire II A NAN

JAMES BUCHANAN.

(Tames BUCHANAN, the fifteenth President
I of the United States, was born in a small
(2/ frontier town, at the foot of the eastern ridge
of the Alleghanies, in Franklin County, Pa., on
the 23d of April, 1791. The place where the
humble cabin home stood was called Ston}- Bat-
ter. His father was a native of the north of Ire-
land, who had emigrated in 1783, with little prop-
erty save his own strong arms. Five years after-
ward he married Elizabeth Spear, the daughter
of a respectable farmer, and, with his young bride,
plunged into the wilderness, staked his claim,
reared his log hut, opened a clearing with his
axe, and settled down there to perform his obscure
part in the drama of life. When James was eight
years of age, his father removed to the village of
Mercersburg, where his son was placed at school,
and commenced a course of study in English,
Eatin and Greek. His progress was rapid, and
at the age of fourteen he entered Dickinson Col-
lege, at Carlisle. Here he developed remarkable
talent, and took his stand among the first scholars
in the institution.

In the year 1809, he graduated with the high-
est honors of his class. He was then eighteen
years of age; tall and graceful, vigorous in health,
fond of athletic sports, an unerring shot, and en-
livened with an exuberant flow of animal spirits.
He immediately commenced the .study of law in
the city of Lancaster, and was admitted to the
Bar in 181 2, when he was but twenty -one years
of age.

In 1820, he reluctantly consented to run as a
candidate for Congress. He was elected, and for
ten years he remained a member of the Eovver
House. During the vacations of Congress, he

occasionally tried some important case. In 1831
he retired altogether from the toils of his profes-
sion, having acquired an ample fortune.

Gen. Jack-son, upon his elevation to the Presi-
dency, appointed Mr. Buchanan Minister to Rus-
sia. The duties of his mission he performed
with ability, and gave satisfaction to all parties.
Upon his return, in 1833, he was elected to a seat
in the United States Senate. He there met as
his associates Webster, Clay, Wright and Cal-
houn. He advocated the measures proposed bj-
President Jackson, of making reprisals against
France to enforce the payment of our claims
against that country, and defended the course of
the President in his unprecedented and wholesale
removal from office of those who were not the
supporters of his administration. Upon this
question he was brought into direct collision with
Henry Clay. He also, with \oice and vote, ad-
vocated expunging from the journal of the Senate
the vote of censure against Gen. Jackson for re-
moving the deposits. Earnestly he opposed the
abolition of slaverj' in the District of Columbia,
and urged the prohibition of the circulation of
anti-slavery documents by the United .States
mails. As to petitions on the .subject of .slavery,
he advocated that they should be re.spectfully re-
ceived, and that the reply should l)e returned
that Congress had no power to legi.slate upon the
subject. " Congress," said he, "might as well
undertake to interfere with slaver\- under a for-
eign government as in any of the vStates where it
now exi.sts. ' '

Upon Mr. Polk's accession to the Presidency,
Mr. Buchanan became Secretary of State, and a?
such took his share of the respousibilitj- in the

76

JAMES BUCHANAN.

conduct of the Mexican War. Mr. Polk assumed
that cro.ssing the Nueces by the American
troops into the disputed territory was not wrong,
but for the Mexicans to cro.ss the Rio Grande
into Texas was a declaration of war. No candid
man can read with pleasure the account of the
cour.se our Govennnent pursued in that movement.

Mr. Buchanan identified himself thoroughly
with the part}' devoted to the perpetuation and
extension of slavery, and brought all the energies
of his mind to bear against the Wilmot Proviso.
He gave his cordial approval to the compromise
measures of 1850, which included the Fugitive
vSlave L,aw. Mr. Pierce, upon his election to the
Presidency, honored Mr. Buchanan with the mis-
sion to England.

In the year 1856, a national Democratic Con-
vention nominated Mr. Buchanan for the Presi-
dency. The political conflict was one of the most
severe in which our country has ever engaged.
All the friends of slavery were on one side; all
the advocates of its restriction and final abolition
on the other. Mr. Fremont, the candidate of the
enemies of slavery, received one hundred and
fourteen electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan received
one hundred and seventy-four, and was elected.
The popular vote stood 1,340,618 for Fremont,
1,224,750 for Buchanan. On March 4, 1857,
the latter was inaugurated.

Mr. Buchanan was far advanced in life. Only
four years were wanting to fill up his three-score
years and ten. His own friends, those with
whom he had been allied in political principles
and action for j'ears, were .seeking the destruc-
tion of the Government, that they might rear
upon the ruins of our free institutions a nation
who.se corner-stone .should be human .slavery. In
this emergency, Mr. Buchanan was hoiDele.ssly
bewildered. He could not, with his long-avowed
principles, consistently oppose the vState Rights
party in their a.ssumptions. As President of the
United .States, bound by his oath faithfully to
administer the laws, lie cdnld not, williont per-
jury of tlie grossest kind, unite with those en-
deavoring to overthrow the Republic. He there-
fore did nnthing.

The opponents of Mr. Buchanan's administra-

tion nominated Abraham Lincoln as their .stand-
ard-bearer in the next Presidential canvass.
The pro-slavery party declared that if he were
elected and the control of the Government were
thus taken from their hands, thej' would .secede
from the Union, taking with them as they retired
the National Capitol at Washington and the
lion's share of the territory of the United States.

As the storm increa.sed in violence, the slave-
holders claiming the right to .secede, and Mr.
Buchanan avowing that Congress had no power
to prevent it, one of the mo.st pitiable exhibitions
of governmental imbecility was exhibited that the
world has ever seen. He declared that Congress
had no power to enforce its laws in any State
which had withdrawn, or which was attempting
to withdraw, from the Union. This was not the
doctrine of Andrew Jackson, when, with his hand
upon his sword-hilt, he exclaimed: "The Union
must and shall be preserved!"

South Carolina seceded in December, i860,
nearly three months before the inauguration of
President Uincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in
listless despair. The rebel flag was raised in
Charleston; Ft. vSuuiter was besieged; our forts,
navy-yards and arsenals were .seized; our depots
of military stores were plundered, and our cus-
tom-houses and post-offices were appropriated by
the rebels.

The energy of the rebels and the nnbecility of
our Executive were alike marvelous. The na-
tion looked on in agony, waiting for the .slow
weeks to glide away and close the administration,
so terrible in its weakness. At length the long-
looked-for hour of deliverance came, when Abra-
ham I.,incoln was to receive the .scepter.

The administration of President Buchanan was
certainly the most calamitous our country has ex-
perienced. His best friends can not recall it with
pleasure. And still more deplorable it is for his
fame, that in th:it dreadful conflict which rolled
its billows of flame and blood over our whole
land, no WH)ril came from his lips to indicate his
wish that our country's banner .should triumph
over the flag of the Rebellion. He died at his
Wheatland retreat, June i, 1868.

AliRAIIAM LINCOLN

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

(pi BRAHAM LINCOIvN, the sixteenth Presi-
ll dent of the United States, was born in Hardin
/ I County, K)-., February 12, 1809. Alwut
theyeariySo, a man by the name of Abraham
Lincohi left Virginia with his family and moved
into the then wilds of Kentucky. Onlj' two j-ears
after this emigration, and while .still a joung man,
he was working one day in a field, when an Indian
stealthily approached and killed him. His widow
was left in extreme poverty with five little chil-
dren, three boys and two girls. Thomas, the
youngest of the boys, and the father of President
Abraham Lincoln, was four years of age at his
father's death.

When twenty-eight j-ears old, Thomas Lincoln
built a log cabin, and married Nanc\' Hanks, the
daughter of another family of poor Kentucky
emigrants, who had also come from Virginia.
Their second child was Abraham Lincoln, the sub-
ject of this sketch. The mother of Abraham was
a noble woman, gentle, loving, pensive, created
to adorn a palace, but doomed to toil and pine, and
die in a hovel. " All that I am, or hope to be,"
exclaimed the grateful son, " I owe to my angel-
mother." When he was eight years ot age, his
father sold his cabin and small farm and moved
to Indiana, where two years later his mother died.
As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly
family was the usual lot of humanity. There
were joys and griefs, weddings and funerals.
Abraham's sister Sarah, to whom he was tenderly
attached, was married when a child of but four-
teen years of age, and soon died. The family
was gradually .scattered, and Thomas Lincoln
sold out his squatter's claim in 1830, and emi-
grated to Macon Count}^ 111.

Abraham Lincoln was then twenty -one years
of age. With vigorous hands he aided his father
in rearing another log cabin, and worked quite
diligently at this until he saw the family com-
fortably .settled, and their small lot of enclosed
prairie planted with corn, when he announced to

his father his intention to leave home, and to go
out into the world and seek his fortune. Little
did he or his friends imagine how brilliant that
fortune was to be. He saw the value of educa-
tion and was intensely earnest to improve his
mind to the utnuxst of his jjower. Religion he
re\-ered. His morals were pure, and he w'as un-
contaminated by a single vice.

Young Abraham worked for a time as a hired
laborer among the farmers. Then he went to
Springfield, where he was employed in building
a large flat-boat. In this he took a herd of swine,
floated them down the .Sangamon to Illinois, and
thence by the Mississippi to New Orleans. What-
ever Abraham Lincoln undertook, he performed
so faithfully as to give great satisfaction to his
employers. In this adventure the latter w'ere
so well pleased, that u])i>n his return they placed
a .store and mill under his care.

In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk
War, he enlisted and was chosen Captain of a
company. He returned to Sangamon County,
and, although only twenty-three years of age, was
a candidate for the Legislature, but was defeated.
He soon after received from Andrew Jackson the
appointment of Po.stmastcr of New Salem. His
only post-office was his hat. All the letters he
received he carried there, read\- to deliver to those
he chanced to meet. He studied sune\ing, and
.soon made this his busine.ss. In 1834 he again
became a candidate for the Legislature and was
elected. Mr. Stuart, of Springfield, advi.sed liim
to .study law. He walked from New Salem to
Springfield