2004-9-22
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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I'm Harry Monroe. Today, Kay Gallant and I continue the history
of the United States in the middle of the last century.
In eighteen-fifty, President
Zachary Taylor died after serving about a year and a half in office.
Taylor's Vice President, Millard Fillmore, took his place. Early in
his administration, President Fillmore signed the compromise of
eighteen-fifty. That compromise helped settle a national dispute
over slavery and the western territories. It ended a crisis between
northern and southern states. It prevented a civil war. The
eighteen-fifty compromise did not, however, end slavery in the
United States. So the issue did not really die. It continued to
affect the nation. And it was the most important issue of Millard
Fillmore's presidency.
VOICE TWO:
In eighteen-fifty-two, an American woman published a book about
slavery. She called it Uncle Tom's Cabin. The woman, Harriet Beecher
Stowe, wrote the book for one reason. She wanted to show how cruel
slavery was. Stowe's words painted a picture of slavery that most
people in the north had never seen. They were shocked.
Public pressure to end slavery
grew strong. Abolitionists wanted to free all slaves immediately.
Even if that could be done, there was the question of what to do
with the freed slaves. Their rights as citizens were limited. Some
states closed their borders to negroes. Other states permitted
negroes, but said they could not vote. In many places, it seemed
impossible that negroes and whites could live together peacefully,
in freedom. The best answer, many people thought, was to free the
slaves and help them return to Africa.
VOICE ONE:
It was not a new idea. Forty years earlier, a group of leading
Americans had formed an organization for that purpose. They called
it the American Colonization Society.
In eighteen-twenty, the Society began helping send negroes to
Africa. The negroes formed a government of their own. In
eighteen-forty-seven, they declared themselves independent. They
called their new country the Republic of Liberia. The new country
had a constitution like that of the United States.
By eighteen-fifty-four, nine-thousand negroes from the United
States had been sent to Liberia. Some had technical skills. They
knew how to make iron. They knew how to use steam engines and other
machinery. The Colonization Society hoped these negroes would use
their skills to help improve life for the people of Africa. The
Society's plan ended a cruel life of slavery for many negroes.
But it could not be denied that the plan was a way to get black
people out of the United States. Many whites refused to accept the
fact that most free negroes did not want to go to Africa. The
negroes had grown up in the United States. It was their home.
VOICE TWO:
Negro slaves took great chances to escape to freedom. Many gained
their freedom through the so-called "underground railroad." That was
not a real railroad. It was an organization of people who secretly
helped slaves escape to the north.
An escaped slave would be hidden during the day by a member of
the organization. Then at night, the negro would be taken to another
hiding place farther north. The process was repeated every day and
night until the escaped slave was safe in New England or even
Canada.
VOICE ONE:
The year eighteen-fifty-two was a presidential election year in
the United States. The eighteen-fifty compromise was a major issue
in the campaign. A number of men wanted to be the presidential
candidate of the Democratic Party. They included Senators Lewis Cass
of Michigan and Stephen Douglas of Illinois.
Another was former Secretary of State James Buchanan. Cass and
Douglas supported the idea of letting the people of a territory
decide if slavery would be permitted in that territory. Buchanan
opposed the anti-slavery movements of the north. Because of this, he
had many supporters in the south.
VOICE TWO:
The Democrats opened their presidential nominating convention in
Baltimore on the first of June, eighteen-fifty-two. The delegates
agreed that a man must win two-thirds of the convention's votes to
be the party's candidate. On the first ballot, no one got two-thirds
of the vote. So the voting continued. Finally, on the forty-seventh
ballot, support began to increase for one of the minor candidates.
His name was Franklin Pierce.
Pierce was from the northeastern state of New Hampshire. He had
served as a congressman and senator. On the forty-ninth ballot,
Pierce won. He would be the Democratic Party's candidate for
president.
VOICE ONE:
The Whig party held its presidential nominating convention in
Baltimore two weeks after the Democrats. Three whigs wanted to be
nominated: President Millard Fillmore, Secretary of State Daniel
Webster, and General Winfield Scott.
The same thing that happened at the democratic convention now
happened at the Whig convention. Delegates voted over and over
again. But no man got enough votes to win. It took fifty-three
ballots before one of the men -- General Scott -- won the
nomination.
VOICE TWO:
The presidential campaign lasted about five months. The election
was in November. Pierce, the Democrat, won a crushing victory over
Scott, the Whig. The Democratic victory was so great that many
people thought the Whig Party was finished. In fact, many Whigs
themselves hoped their party had been destroyed. Northern Whigs
wanted to form a new anti-slavery party. And southern Whigs wanted
to form a party that would better represent their interests. The
Democrats won the election, because they were able to bridge the
differences between their northern and southern members. The Whigs
were not able to do that.
VOICE ONE:
The new president, Franklin
Pierce, was a charming man. He made friends easily. Those who knew
Pierce best worried about this. They knew that under all his
friendly charm, he was a weak man. They feared that the duties and
problems of the presidency would be too great for him to deal with.
As president in eighteen-fifty-three, Pierce was forced to choose
between two policies on the issue of slavery.
He could support the compromise of eighteen-fifty and declare it
to be the final settlement of the problem. That would lead to a
fight with northern and southern extremists. Or he could compromise
with the extremists and give them jobs in his administration. That
would be the easy way to satisfy their demands. And that was the
policy pierce chose.
VOICE TWO:
In putting together his cabinet, President Pierce tried to
include men from every group in the Democratic Party. He named
William Marcy of New York to be Secretary of State. Marcy opposed
the spread of slavery and all talk of splitting the Union. Jefferson
Davis of Mississippi was named Secretary of War. Davis, more than
any other man, represented the southern extremists. He had
threatened to take the south out of the Union if any limits were put
on slavery. Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts was named Attorney
General. Although a northerner, Cushing was a friend of many
southern extremists. He was a very able man, but his loyalties were
not clear. James Buchanan of Pennsylvania was named Minister to
Britain.
VOICE ONE:
All of these men had strong ideas about the future of the United
States. President Pierce found it difficult to control them. One
senator said the administration should not have been called the
Pierce administration, because Pierce did not lead it. He said it
was an administration of enemies of the Union who used the
president's name and power for their own purposes.
VOICE TWO:
For a time, things were peaceful. The dispute over slavery had
cooled. But thoughtful people did not believe that peace would last
long. No permanent solution had been found to settle differences
over slavery and the right of states to leave the Union.
One northerner wrote: "It was said hundreds of years ago that a
house divided against itself cannot stand. The truth of this saying
is written on every page in history. It is likely that the history
of our own country may offer fresh examples to teach this truth to
future ages."
We will continue our story of the presidency of Franklin Pierce
next week.
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VOICE ONE:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry
Monroe.