THE

CONSTITUTIONAL

AND

POLITICAL HISTORY

OF THE

UNITED STATES.

BY

DR. II. VON HOLST,

PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN

BY JOHN J. LALOR.

1856-1859.

BUCHANAN'S ELECTION-END OF 35TH CONGRESS.

CHICAGO:

CALLAGHAN AND COMPANY.

1889.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-nine BY CALLAGHAN AND COMPANY,

in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.

DAVID ATWOOD,
PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER,

MADISON, WIS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

--

CHAPTER I.

THE DRED SCOTT DECISION.

Annual Message of December 2, 1856.- Uncertainty of Parties.—

Buchanan's Difficult Position.- Buchanan's Blindness.- The

Inaugural Address. The Address and the Dred Scott Decis-

ion. History of the Development of the Federal Supreme

Court. Slavery and the Supreme Court of the United States.-

The Dred Scott Case.- History of the Dred Scott Decision.—

Justice Wayne's Statement.-Taney's Statement of the Case

and His Hypotheses. -- Can Persons of Color Become Citi-

zens? The Decision Goes Beyond the Record. Taney's Soph-

isms on the Jurisdiction of Appellate Courts.- Taney and the

Constitution on the Question of Property.-The Decision a

Political Enormity

- 1

CHAPTER II.

THE LECOMPTON CONVENTION.

Split in the Democratic Party.- The Cabinet.- The Situation in

Kansas. Calling of the Constitutional Convention.- Gov-

ernor Walker.- The Census.-Walker's Intermediation.- Elec-

tions to the Convention.-- Buchanan's Letter of the 12th of

July to Walker.- Buchanan's Letter of August 15th to the

Connecticut Clergy.-- Adjournment of the Convention.- The

Fraudulent Election Lists.- Buchanan's Attitude towards

Walker. — Activity of the Convention.- The Lecompton Con-

stitution.-- Buchanan's Embarrassment. - Stanton Calls the

Legislature

CHAPTER III.

THE ANNUAL MESSAGE OF DECEMBER 8, 1857.

The Message on the Economic Situation.-The New Economic

Life in the United States.- Railway Construction.- The Bank-

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