Galusha Grow, Pennsylvania, Republican
Thomas Harris, Illinois, Democrat, friend of Douglas
Philemon Herbert, California, Democrat
Laurence M. Keitt, South Carolina, Democrat
Edwin Morgan, New York, Republican
James L. Orr, South Carolina, Democrat, Speaker of the House
Roger Pryor, Virginia, Democrat
William Richardson, Illinois, Democrat, friend of Douglas
John Sherman, Ohio, Republican
Alexander H. Stephens, Georgia, Whig/Democrat
Thaddeus Stevens, Pennsylvania, Whig/Republican
Eli Thayer, Massachusetts, Republican, founder of New England Emigrant Aid Society
Robert Toombs, Georgia, Whig/Democrat
Clement Vallandigham, Ohio, Democrat
Elihu Washburne, Illinois, Republican, friend of Lincoln
David Wilmot, Pennsylvania, Democrat/Republican
Robert C. Winthrop, Massachusetts, Whig, Speaker of the House
ALABAMA
John Forsyth, editor of the Mobile Register
William Lowndes Yancey, fire-eater, author of the Alabama Platform
ILLINOIS
William B. Archer, former state legislator, Whig/Know Nothing/Republican
Edward L. Baker, editor of the Illinois State Journal
William H. Bissell, former Democrat, first Republican governor
Orville Hickman Browning, lawyer, former state legislator, Whig/Republican
Jacob Bunn, merchant, funder of Lincoln’s campaigns
John Whitfield Bunn, merchant, funder of Lincoln’s campaigns
Theodore Canisius, editor of the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger secretly owned by Lincoln
J.O. Cunningham, editor of the Urbana Union, Republican
David Davis, judge of the Eighth Circuit, Lincoln’s convention manager
T. Lyle Dickey, judge, Whig
Adele Cutts Douglas, wife of Stephen A. Douglas, grand-niece of Dolley Madison
Jesse K. DuBois, former state legislator, Whig/Republican, state auditor
Zebina Eastman, abolitionist editor of the Free West
Jesse W. Fell, lawyer, publisher of the Bloomington Pantagraph, educator, abolitionist, Whig/Republican
Joseph Gillespie, former state legislator, Whig/Know Nothing/Republican
Jackson Grimshaw, lawyer, Republican
Ozias Hatch, former state legislator, state secretary of state, Republican
Friedrich Hecker, German revolutionary, Republican presidential elector
William Henry Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner
Abraham Jonas, former state legislator, Lincoln law associate
Norman Judd, state senator from Chicago, chairman Republican State Central Committee
Gustave Koerner, German American leader, former judge on the state Supreme Court, lieutenant governor, Democrat/Republican
Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln law associate
Stephen Trigg Logan, Lincoln’s former law partner, Whig/Republican
Owen Lovejoy, abolitionist, Republican and congressman
James H. Matheny, Springfield lawyer, Lincoln’s best man at his wedding, Whig/Know Nothing
Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune
Richard J. Oglesby, lawyer, planner of the Illinois Republican convention 1860
John M. Palmer, former state legislator, Democrat/Republican
Ebenezer Peck, state legislator, Republican
Henry B. Rankin, Lincoln-Herndon law clerk
Charles H. Ray, editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune
George Schneider, editor of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung
John Locke Scripps, reporter for the Chicago Democratic Press, records Lincoln’s autobiography
James W. Sheahan, editor of the Chicago Times
John Todd Stuart, Lincoln’s former law partner, Whig
Leonard Swett, Lincoln law associate
Leonard Volk, sculptor
John “Long John” Wentworth, mayor of Chicago, Democrat/Republican
Henry Clay Whitney, Lincoln law associate
Richard Yates, congressman, governor, Whig/Republican
KANSAS
George W. Brown, editor of the Herald of Freedom
John Calhoun, proslavery surveyor general
Mark Delahay, free state newspaper editor, Lincoln’s distant cousin
John W. Geary, third territorial governor
Samuel Jones, proslavery sheriff
Samuel Lecompte, proslavery judge
Andrew Reeder, first territorial governor
Charles Robinson, free state governor
Sara Robinson, wife of Charles Robinson
Wilson Shannon, second territorial governor
Frederick P. Stanton, deputy to Governor Walker
Robert J. Walker, fourth territorial governor, former U.S. senator from Mississippi, former secretary of the treasury
MASSACHUSETTS
Charles Francis Adams, Conscience Whig, son of President John Quincy Adams
John A. Andrew, lawyer, Republican, governor
Frank W. Bird, businessman, Republican power broker
Caleb Cushing, Pierce’s attorney general, chairman of the Democratic national convention 1860
Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher, abolitionist
Edward Everett, former governor, senator, and president of Harvard
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Unitarian minister, member of the Secret Six
Samuel Gridley Howe, social reformer, member of the Secret Six
Abbott Lawrence, industrialist, influential Whig
Amos A. Lawrence, industrialist, funder of the New England Emigrant Aid Society
Theodore Parker, Unitarian minister, member of the Secret Six
Benjamin Roberts, African American lawyer
George Luther Stearns, industrialist, abolitionist donor, member of the Secret Six
Henry David Thoreau, writer, abolitionist
George Ticknor, Harvard professor, social arbiter of Boston
NEW YORK
August Belmont, U.S. head of Rothschild bank, uncle of John Slidell’s wife, Buchanan’s campaign manager 1856
John Bigelow, editor of the New York Evening Post
William Cullen Bryant, editor of the New York Evening Post
Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune
James S. Pike, reporter for the New York Tribune
Henry J. Raymond, editor of the New York Times, lieutenant governor of New York
Dean Richmond, cochairman of the New York Central Railroad, Democratic power broker
Henry Villard, reporter for the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, New York Tribune, and New York Herald
Thurlow Weed, editor of the Albany Evening Journal, Seward intimate, Whig, and Republican political boss
Walt Whitman, former editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, author Leaves of Grass
Fernando Wood, mayor of New York City, grand sachem of Tammany Hall
SOUTH CAROLINA
Christopher G. Memminger, commissioner for secession
Robert Barnwell Rhett, editor of the Charleston Mercury
VIRGINIA
John Minor Botts, former congressman, Whig/Know Nothing, Unionist
George Fitzhugh, editor of the Richmond Enquirer, author of Sociology for the South, or The Failure of Free Society
Edmund Ruffin, fire-eater, author, agronomist
Henry A. Wise, governor
SLAVES AND FREE BLACKS
Mary Mildred Botts, child emancipated by Charles Sumner
Anthony Burns, fugitive slave captured in Boston
Frederick Douglass, fugitive slave, author, abolitionist, confidant of John Brown
Margaret Garner, fugitive slave who killed her child rather than submit her family to slavery
Polly Mack, free black in Springfield who sought out Lincoln to free her son about to be sold as a slave in New Orleans
John Shelby, free black from Springfield, he
ld captive in New Orleans to be sold as a slave, his liberty purchased by Lincoln; son of Polly Mack
ABOLITIONISTS
Gamaliel Bailey, editor of The National Era newspaper in Washington, D.C.
Henry Ward Beecher, pastor of the Plymouth Church of Brooklyn
Lydia Maria Child, Boston abolitionist, poet, author, journalist
Margaret Douglass, Virginia schoolteacher jailed for educating blacks
William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator
Julia Ward Howe, abolitionist, wife of Samuel Gridley Howe
Wendell Phillips, Boston abolitionist
Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Theodore Weld, assistant to Congressman John Quincy Adams, author, organizer
JOHN BROWN’S RAID
Jeremiah G. Anderson, white member of Brown’s band, killed
Osborne Perry Anderson, free black member of band, escaped
Fontaine Beckham, mayor of Harpers Ferry and B&O agent, killed by Brown’s men
Thomas Boerley, grocer, killed by Brown’s men
John Brown, revolutionist, executed
Oliver Brown, son of John Brown, member of band, killed
Owen Brown, son of John Brown, member of band, escaped
Watson Brown, son of John Brown, member of band, killed
John Edwin Cook, white member of the band, executed
John Anthony Copeland, Jr., free black, student at Oberlin College, executed
Barclay Coppoc, white member of the band, escaped
Edwin Coppoc, white member of the band, killed Mayor Beckham, executed
Hugh Forbes, English soldier of fortune
Shields Green, fugitive slave member of the band, executed
Albert Hazlett, white member of band
George H. Hoyt, Brown’s defense attorney
Thomas Jackson, major and professor, Virginia Military Institute
John Henry Kagi, white member of the band, killed
Lewis Leary, free black member of the band, killed
Robert E. Lee, colonel of U.S. Marines
Willie H. Leeman, white member of the band, killed
Francis Jackson Meriam, white member of Brown’s band, conduit to the Secret Six, escaped
Dangerfield Newby, black member of the band, killed
James Redpath, reporter for the New York Tribune
Franklin Sanborn, secretary of the Massachusetts Kansas Aid Committee, member of the Secret Six
Hayward Shepherd, black railway porter killed by Brown’s men
Gerrit Smith, funder of abolitionist causes and John Brown, member of the Secret Six
Aaron Stevens, white member of Brown’s band, executed
J.E.B. Stuart, lieutenant of U.S. Marines
Stewart Taylor, white member of band, killed
Dauphin Thompson, white member of band, killed
Will Thompson, white member of band, killed
Charles Plummer Tidd, white member of band, escaped
Lewis W. Washington, great-grandnephew of George Washington, held as hostage
REPUBLICANS
Edward Bates, St. Louis lawyer, Whig/Know Nothing, candidate for Republican presidential nomination 1860
Francis Preston Blair, member of President Andrew Jackson’s Kitchen Cabinet, founder of the national Republican Party
Lewis Clephane, business editor of The National Era, organizer of the Republican Club of Washington, D.C.
Andrew G. Curtin, Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, Lincoln supporter
William Dayton, former U.S. senator from New Jersey, Republican candidate for vice president 1856
Jessie Benton Frémont, daughter of Thomas Hart Benton, wife of John C. Frémont, campaign manager
Hinton Rowan Helper, author, The Impending Crisis: How to Meet It
Henry S. Lane, Republican candidate for governor of Indiana 1860, Lincoln supporter
Alexander K. McClure, Pennsylvania newspaper editor and Curtin’s campaign manager
Carl Schurz, German language newspaper editor, friend of Lincoln
Caleb Smith, former congressman from Indiana, Lincoln supporter
Gideon Welles, editor of the Hartford Press, Democrat/Republican, Lincoln supporter
DRED SCOTT CASE
Montgomery Blair, son of Francis P. Blair, Dred Scott’s attorney
Taylor Blow, son of Dred Scott’s original owner, who emancipated him after the decision
John Catron, associate justice of the Supreme Court, friend of James Buchanan
Benjamin R. Curtis, associate justice of the Supreme Court, dissenter in the Dred Scott case
Robert C. Grier, associate justice of the Supreme Court, friend of James Buchanan
Reverdy Johnson, defense attorney in the case before the Supreme Court, former attorney general
John McLean, associate justice of the Supreme Court, Republican candidate for president in 1856, dissenter in the Dred Scott case
John Sanford, owner of Dred Scott
Dred Scott, slave who sued for his freedom
Harriet Scott, slave, Dred Scott’s wife
Roger Taney, chief justice of the Supreme Court, author of the Dred Scott decision
THE BUCHANAN ADMINISTRATION AND ENTOURAGE
Samuel L.M. Barlow, Wall Street financier and political funder
Jeremiah Black, attorney general, former judge on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
John C. Breckinridge, vice president, former member of Congress, presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party 1860
Lewis Cass, secretary of state, former senator from Michigan
Howell Cobb, secretary of the treasury, former governor of Georgia, former Speaker of the House
John B. Floyd, secretary of war, former governor of Virginia
John W. Forney, Pennsylvania newspaper editor and political operative
Harriet Lane, niece of Buchanan and acting first lady
Jacob Thompson, secretary of the interior, former congressman from Mississippi
Isaac Toucey, secretary of the navy, former congressman from Connecticut
LINCOLN’S FAMILY
Ninian Edwards, Jr., brother-in-law, married to Mary’s sister, Whig/Democrat
John Hanks, cousin
Mary Lincoln, wife
Robert Todd Lincoln, son
Thomas “Tad” Lincoln, son
William Wallace “Willie” Lincoln, son
PART ONE
THE PRESENT CRISIS
“We see dimly in the Present what is small and what is great . . .”
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, “THE PRESENT CRISIS”
CHAPTER ONE
THINGS FALL APART
In 1850, the Union was proclaimed to have been saved again in a great compromise that removed slavery as a controversy from national politics. President Millard Fillmore declared it nothing less than “the final settlement.” The issue tearing the country apart, whether the vast territory conquered in the Mexican War would be slave or free, was no longer to be a matter of debate. “We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis,” Franklin Pierce announced at his inauguration on March 4, 1853.
Franklin Pierce
The Compromise of 1850 admitted Texas as a slave state and California a free one, and avoided determining the status of New Mexico until far into the future. Only a few agitators trying to shield fugitive slaves from being returned to their masters under the new federal law continued to be nuisances. Slavery as a question that would divide the country was now safely consigned to the past as it had once before.
Most importantly, this new compromise left sacrosanct the Compromise of 1820, the Missouri Compromise, the original “final settlement.” The Missouri crisis had aroused all the issues and arguments revived in the crisis in the aftermath of the Mexican War. The admission of Missouri as a state would increase the proslavery bloc in the Senate to a four-seat majority. Its admittance would also establish a precedent for admitting fu
rther Western states as slave states. The Northern objection was mirrored in Southern fears that the entire West would be denied to slavery and the balance of power inevitably shifted. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams wrote in his diary that the Missouri problem was “a flaming sword . . . a mere preamble—a title page to a great tragic volume.” He believed it was based in the Constitution’s “dishonorable compromise with slavery,” a “bargain between freedom and slavery” that was “morally vicious, inconsistent with the principles upon which alone our revolution can be justified.” He prophesied that “the seeds of the Declaration are yet maturing” and that its promise of equality would become “the precipice into which the slave-holding planters of his country sooner or later much fall.” In the Senate, the Southerners’ anxiety that slavery might be prohibited in the territories assumed a hostility congealed into ideology against the egalitarian premise of the Declaration of Independence. Senator Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina, the former Speaker of the House, posed the question, “A clause in the Declaration of Independence has been read declaring that ‘all men are created equal’; follow that sentiment and does it not lead to universal emancipation?” The Declaration, Macon stated, “is not part of the Constitution or of any other book” and there was “no place for the free blacks in the United States.” Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky managed to hammer together a narrow majority for a compromise that brought in Maine as a free state to balance the slave state of Missouri and established a line restricting slavery north of 36°31’ latitude excepting Missouri. The debate inspired a sense of panic in Thomas Jefferson retired at Monticello. “This momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union.”
Jefferson’s nightmare hung over the Senate debate of the Compromise of 1850, filled with frightful images of death, premonitions of catastrophe, and curses of doom if slavery were allowed to persist as a vital issue. The Great Triumvirate of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun, the representative political men of their age, hurled lightning bolts from their Olympian heights. Henry Clay, young Abraham Lincoln’s “beau ideal of a statesman,” who invented the power of the Speaker of the House, who as a senator crafted the Compromise of 1820, who served as secretary of state, and who was nearly elected president, warned that the nation stood “at the edge of the precipice before the fearful and leap is taken in the yawning abyss below, which will inevitably lead to certain and irretrievable destruction.” Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, the Godlike Daniel, the voice of “liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,” whose framed picture hung in Lincoln’s law office, cautioned, “Secession! Peaceable secession! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle. The dismemberment of this vast country without convulsion! . . . Sir, he who sees these States, now revolving in harmony around a common center, can expect to see them quit their places and fly off without convulsion, may look the next hour to see the heavenly bodies rush from their spheres and jostle against each other in the realms of space without producing a crash of the universe.” John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, whose stunning career included every office—congressman, senator, secretary of war, vice president, secretary of state—but the one he coveted most—president of the United States—sat wrapped wraithlike in a black cape on the Senate floor. The great nullifier, who insisted the states had preeminent authority over the federal government, objected to any compromise that would thwart the extension of slavery anywhere in the country, an “injustice” which he called the “oppression” of the South. “No, sir,” he prophesied, “the Union can be broken.” Calhoun’s acolyte, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, in opposing the admission of California as a free state, threatened, “If sir, this spirit of sectional aggrandizement, or if gentlemen prefer, this love they bear for the African race, shall cause the disruption of these states, the last chapter of our history will be a sad commentary upon the justice and the wisdom of our people.” Calhoun died less than a month after his final appearance in the Senate. Clay and Webster were dead within two years. The old order passed. By then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis was the power behind the president.
All the Powers of Earth Page 2
