sacrifices in the cause of "Liberty in Kansas," begs for support individually and collectively, and asks the newspapers to give his appeal multiplied publicity. Brown appeared before the National Kansas Committee at New York, and as the result of his petition for aid to equip a company of one hundred men, that body resolved on January 24, 1857: "That such arms and supplies as the Committee may have and which may be needed by Capt. Brown be appropriated to his use, provided that the arms and supplies be not more than enough for one hundred men; and that a letter of approbation be given him by this Committee." Though considerable amounts and supplies were forthcoming as the result of his mission, it is evident that the outcome was not satisfactory to Brown, for in April he issued from Boston a reproachful and somewhat sarcastic address which he termed "Old Brown's Farewell to the Plymouth Rocks, Bunker Hill Monuments, Charter Tree Oaks, and Uncle Thom's Cabbins," in which he complains of the disappointing results of his appeals for aid. That Brown enjoyed the confidence and support of Kansas free State leaders at this time may be inferred from Governor Robinson's letter to him dated September 14, 1856, which reads in part as follows: "I cheerfully accord to you my heartfelt thanks for your prompt, efficient, and timely action against the invaders of our rights and the murderers of our citizens. History will give your name a proud place on her pages, and posterity will pay homage to your heroism in the cause of God and Humanity."

Through all the conditions of social disorder the Topeka party kept up its organization, and its legislature assembled on July 4th. It was held, however, under military supervision, as Colonel Sumner, under requisition of the secretary of the Territory, who was acting governor, went to Topeka with a considerable force. He ordered the legislators to disperse, but this action was objectionable to the administration at Washington. The president and his Cabinet regarded the assemblage as a "town meeting," and did not

care to suffer the implication of its dispersion under their authority by government troops. Such were the political conditions in Kansas when the presidential election of 1856 was impending. In those conditions are to be found the germs of the social conflict which was to constitute the grave problem of the Buchanan administration.

CHAPTER XIV

BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION

JAMES BUCHANAN, when he took the oath of office on March 4, 1857, did so under conditions as portentous as ever had confronted a president of these United States. In his address, Buchanan pledged his best efforts to the task of restoring harmony and reëstablishing among the people of the several States their former friendship and to the safeguarding of free institutions. He avowed his belief that he owed his election to the love of the American people for the Constitution and the Union. He declared the not novel tenet of one term in the presidential office, and expressed his intention of administering the affairs of government in such a manner as to deserve the good opinion of his fellow citizens. He dwelt upon the readiness of the American people to abide by the will of the majority, and saw in this the condition for the settlement of all controverted questions. Remarking that, under the Constitution, slavery in a State was beyond the reach of any human power except that of the State concerned, he added: "May we not, then, hope that the long agitation on this subject is approaching its end, and that the geographical parties to which it has given birth, so much dreaded by the Father of his Country, will speedily become extinct? Most happy will it be for the country when the public mind shall be diverted from this question to others of more pressing and practical importance."

On March 6th, President Buchanan sent in his Cabinet nominations, and all were promptly confirmed. Lewis Cass,

of Michigan, became secretary of state; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, secretary of the treasury; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, secretary of war; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, secretary of the navy; Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, secretary of the interior; Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, postmastergeneral; and Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, attorneygeneral. This Cabinet, notwithstanding its geographical distribution, was a strongly Southern group of men. Those who represented Northern States were, with the exception of Cass, not of the conservative type which in the previous Cabinet had been represented by Everett and Choate. Both Cass and Toucey had been in the Senate, but had lost their places to Republican senators. Black, the third of the Northern men, was a new man in national politics. Floyd had been governor of his own State. Thompson had espoused the doctrine of States Rights in 1850. Brown was a faithful and industrious Democrat, who had served his State as governor. Howell Cobb, while a strong Union man, was deeply imbued with the righteousness of the doctrine of the supremacy of the State.

The slavery question had appealed for settlement to every tribunal the nation afforded, with the one exception of the highest judiciary. But on the very day that Buchanan sent in the names of his Cabinet officers to the Senate, an important decision was rendered by the Supreme Court, whose effect was hardly less influential than the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. At this time the Supreme Court was composed of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, Justices James M. Wayne, Peter V. Daniel, John Catron, John A. Campbell, all Democrats from the slave States, Robert C. Grier and Samuel Nelson, Democrats, and John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis, Republicans, from the free States. The chief justice was the representative of an old Maryland family, and had attained to a place of eminence at the Maryland bar. He had been appointed attorney-general by President Jackson, to whom he sustained the relation of a trusted and confidential adviser. He had supported Jackson