the cock that crows and won't fight is despised by the hens and even by the pullets, who know a thing or two instinctively. [Great laughter.] His chivalric spurs dwindle before the charges of the valorous gout, and his place is-out of sight. I feel, sir, that "the blood more stirs to hunt the lion than to chase the hare"; but, if my quondam friend has any ambition, under the directions of the Chevalier Webb, to play the "patriot," let him or le preux chevalier, separately or together, or backed by the whole Black Republican crew, come take the life which they say is forfeited.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I have nearly finished what I intended to say. If my opponents, who have pursued me with unparalleled bitterness, are satisfied with the present conditions of this affair, I am. I return my thanks to my friends, and especially to those who are from non-slaveholding States, who have magnanimously sustained me, and felt that it was a higher honor to themselves to be just in their judgment of a gentleman than to be a member of Congress for life. In taking my leave, I feel that it is proper that I should say that I believe some of the votes which have been cast against me have been extorted by an outside pressure at home, and that their votes do not express the feelings or opinions of the members who gave them.

To such of these as have given their votes and made their speeches on the constitutional principles involved, and, without indulging in personal vilification, I owe my respect. But, sir, they have written me down upon the history of the country as worthy of expulsion and in no unkindness I must tell them that for all future time my self-respect requires that I shall pass them as strangers.

And now, Mr. Speaker, I announce to you and to this House that I am no longer a member of the Thirty-Fourth Congress. Mr. Brooks then walked out of the House of Representatives.

Shortly after his resignation Brooks selected from his detractors Anson Burlingame, the Representative from Massachusetts who had particularly charged him with cowardice, and challenged him to a duel, which Burlingame accepted. The affair was arranged to take place on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in order to be out of the jurisdiction of this country, most of the States of which had passed laws against dueling. Brooks finally declined to fight at the place designated, for the reason that to reach it he would have to pass

through a State (New York) which was inimical to him. Brooks was sent back to Congress by his constituents and took an active part in its deliberations before his career was cut short by death, which occurred in the following year (1857).

Senator Sumner never entirely recovered from the assault-indeed, it hastened his death. It was not until December, 1859, that he resumed his seat; he took little part in the debates until the middle of the session, when he delivered a notable speech on the "Barbarism of Slavery," which aroused, if possible, even greater animosity against him on the part of the South than he had brought upon himself by his speech on "The Crime Against Kansas."

IV-24

CHAPTER X

THE DRED SCOTT DECISION

Presidential Campaign of 1856 Fought on the Popular Sovereignty IssuePresident Pierce Writes a Message on "The Defeat of Sectionalism”— Reply by John P. Hale [N. H.]-President Buchanan, in His Inaugural Address, Prepares the Public to Accept the Forthcoming Dred Scott Decision by the Supreme Court-Horace Greeley's Account of the Case: Opinions of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, and of Other Justices, Who Concurred in the Decision; Opinions of Justices John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis, Who Dissented from the Decision-Senator Stephen A. Douglas Accepts the Decision in a Speech at Springfield, Ill.—Abraham Lincoln Replies to Him: "The Sacredness of Judicial Decisions.''

I

N the Presidential campaign of 1856 the question of popular sovereignty was the chief issue. The American (Know Nothing) convention, which met in Philadelphia on February 22, declared for this principle, causing about fifty "anti-Nebraska" delegates to secede. Ex-President Millard Fillmore [N. Y.], noted for his deprecation of "sectionalism," was nominated for President, and Andrew Jackson Donelson [Tenn.] for Vice-President.

The Democratic national convention met at Cincinnati, O., on June 2. James Buchanan [Pa.] was nominated for President and John C. Breckinridge [Ky.] for Vice-President. The platform declared in favor of popular sovereignty in the Territories, "as embodying the only sound and safe solution of the slavery question, upon which the great national idea of the people of this whole country can repose in its determined conservation of the Union," and in favor of "non-interference of Congress with slavery in the Territories or in the District of Columbia."

The Republican national convention was held at Philadelphia on June 17. John C. Frémont [Cal.] was nominated for President on the first ballot. William

L. Dayton [N. J.] was nominated for Vice-President on the first ballot by 259 votes to 110 cast for Abraham Lincoln [Ill.] and 180 scattering. The platform contained, among other resolutions, the following:

"Resolved, That, with our republican fathers, we hold it to be a self-evident truth that all men are endowed with the in

THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE RIGHT PLACE

Frémont on left, Fillmore in center, Buchanan on right

From the collection of the New York Historical Society

alienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and that the primary object and ulterior design of our Federal Government were to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive jurisdiction; that, as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it for the purpose of establishing slavery in any territory of the United States by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence and extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, of any individual or association of

individuals to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States while the present Constitution shall be maintained.

"Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the Territories of the United States for their government; and that, in the exercise of this power, it is both. the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism-polygamy and slavery."

In the ensuing election 174 Democratic and 114 Republican electors were chosen, and the American party carried Maryland with 8 electoral votes.

In his annual message at the opening of Congress, December 2, 1856, President Pierce began, not with the discussion of foreign affairs, as had been the custom, but with the burning question of the hour, the Kansas situation. This he treated from an extreme partisan point of view, justifying the course of the Administration in the matter, denouncing the policy of the opposition, and exulting over its defeat in the presidential election.

THE DEFEAT OF SECTIONALISM

PRESIDENT PIERCE

It is impossible to misapprehend the great principles which, by their recent political action, the people of the United States. have sanctioned and announced.

They have asserted the constitutional equality of each and all of the States of the Union as States; they have affirmed the constitutional equality of each and all of the citizens of the United States as citizens, whatever their religion, wherever their birth, or their residence; they have maintained the inviolability of the constitutional rights of the different sections of the Union; and they have proclaimed their devoted and unalterable attachment to the Union and the Constitution, as objects of interest superior to all subjects of local or sectional controversy, as the safeguard of the rights of all, as the spirit and the essence of the liberty, peace, and greatness of the Republic.

In doing this, they have, at the same time, emphatically condemned the idea of organizing in these United States mere