USA > Illinois > Brown County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 6
USA > Illinois > Cass County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 6
USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 6
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At the early age of twelve young John entered William and Mary College, and graduated with honor when but seventeen years old. He then closely applied himself to the study of law, and at nineteen years of age commenced the prac- tice of his profession. When only twenty- one he was elected to a seat in the State Legislature. He acted with the Demo- cratic party and advocated the measures of Jefferson and Madison. For five years he was elected to the Legislature, receiving nearly the unanimous vote of his county.
When but twenty-six years of age he was elected a member of Congress. He advo- cated a strict construction of the Constitu- tion and the most careful vigilance over
State rights. He was soon compelled to resign his seat in Congress, owing to ill health, but afterward took his seat in the State Legislature, where he exerted a . powerful influence in promoting public works of great utility.
In 1825 Mr. Tyler was chosen Governor of his State-a high honor, for Virginia had many able men as competitors for the prize. His administration was signally a successful one. He urged forward inter- nal improvements and strove to remove sectional jealousies. His popularity secured his re-election. In 1827 he was elected United States Senator, and upon taking his seat joined the ranks of the opposition. He opposed the tariff, voted against the bank as unconstitutional, opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resisted all projects of inter- nal improvements by the General Govern- ment, avowed his sympathy with Mr. Cal- houn's views of nullification, and declared that General Jackson, by his opposition to the nullifiers, had abandoned the principles of the Democratic party. Such was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress.
This hostility to Jackson caused Mr. Tyler's retirement from the Senate, after his election to a second term. He soon after removed to Williamsburg for the better education of his children, and again took his seat in the Legislature.
John Tylen
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In 1839 he was sent to the National Con- vention at Harrisburg to nominate a Presi- dent. General Harrison received a majority of votes, much to the disappointment of the South, who had wished for Henry Clay. In order to conciliate the Southern Whigs, John Tyler was nominated for Vice-Presi- dent. Harrison and Tyler were inaugu- rated March 4, 1841. In one short month from that time President Harrison died, and Mr. Tyler, to his own surprise as well as that of the nation, found himself an occupant of the Presidential chair. His position was an exceedingly difficult one, as he was opposed to the main principles of the party which had brought him into power. General Harrison had selected a Whig cabinet Should he retain them, and thus surround himself with councilors whose views were antagonistic to his own? or should he turn against the party that had elected him, and select a cabinet in harmony with himself? This was his fear- ful dilemma.
President Tyler deserves more charity than he has received. He issued an address to the people, which gave general satisfac- tion. He retained the cabinet General Harrison had selected. His veto of a bill chartering a new national bank led to an open quarrel with the party which elected him, and to a resignation of the entire cabinet, except Daniel Webster, Secretary of State.
President Tyler attempted to conciliate. He appointed a new cabinet, leaving out all strong party men, but the Whig members of Congress were not satisfied, and they published a manifesto September 13, break- ing off all political relations. The Demo- crats had a majority in the House; the Whigs in the Senate. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary to resign, being forced out by the pressure of his Whig friends.
April 12, 1844, President Tyler concluded, through Mr. Calhoun, a treaty for the an-
nexation of Texas, which was rejected by the Senate; but he effected his object in the closing days of his administration by the passage of the joint resolution of March I 1845.
He was nominated for the Presidency by an informal Democratic Convention, held at Baltimore in May, 1844, but soon with- drew from the canvass, perceiving that he had not gained the confidence of the Demo- crats at large.
Mr. Tyler's administration was particu- larly unfortunate. No one was satisfied. Whigs and Democrats alike assailed him. Situated as he was, it is more than can be expected of human nature that he should, in all cases, have acted in the wisest manner ; but it will probably be the verdict of all candid men, in a careful review of his career, that John Tyler was placed in a position of such difficulty that he could not pursue any course which would not expose him to severe censure and denunciation.
"In 1813 Mr. Tyler married Letitia Chris- tian, who bore him three sons-and three daughters, and died in Washington in 1842. June 26, 1844, he contracted a second mar- riage with Miss Julia Gardner, of New York. He lived in almost complete retire- ment from politics until February, 1861, when he was a member of the abortive " peace convention," held at Washington, and was chosen its President. Soon after he renounced his allegiance to the United States and was elected to the Confederate Congress. He died at Richmond, January 17, 1862, after a short iilness.
Unfortunately for his memory the name of John Tyler must forever be associated with all the misery of that terrible Re- bellion, whose cause he openly espoused. It is with sorrow that history records that a President of the United States died while defending the flag of rebellion, which was arrayed against the national banner in deadly warfare.
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PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
+JAMES K. POLK.
AMES KNOX POLK, the eleventh President of the United States, 1845- '49, was born in Meck- lenburg County, North Carolina, November 2, 1795. He was the eldest son of a family of six sons and four daughters, and was a grand-nephew of Colonel Thomas Polk, celebrated in connection with the Meck- lenburg Declaration of In- dependence.
In 1806 his father, Samuel Polk, emigrated with his fam- ily two or three hundred miles west to the valley of the Duck River. He was a sur- veyor as well as farmer, and gradually in- creased in wealth until he became one of the leading men of the region.
In the common schools James rapidly be- came proficient in all the common branches of an English education. In 1813 he was sent to Murfreesboro Academy, and in the autumn of 1815 entered the sophomore class in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, graduating in 1818. After a short season of recreation he went to Nash- ville and entered the law office of Felix Grundy. As soon as he had his finished
legal studies and been admitted to the bar, he returned to Columbia, the shire town of Maury County, and opened an office.
James K. Polk ever adhered to the polit- ical faith of his father, which was that of a Jeffersonian Republican. In 1823 he was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee. As a " strict constructionist," he did not think that the Constitution empowered the Gen- eral Government to carry on a system of internal improvements in the States, but deemed it important that it should have that power, and wished the Constitution amended that it might be conferred. Sub- sequently, however, he became alarmed lest the General Government become so strong as to undertake to interfere with slavery. He therefore gave all his influence to strengthen the State governments, and to check the growth of the central power.
In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss, Mary Childress, of Rutherford County, Ten- nessce. Had some one then whispered to him that he was destined to become Presi- dent of the United States, and that he must select for his companion one who would adorn that distinguished station, he could not have made a more fitting choice. She was truly a lady of rare beauty and culture.
In the fall of 1825 Mr. Polk was chosen a member of Congress, and was continu.
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GAMES K. POLK.
ously re-elected until 1839. He then with- drew, only that he might accept the gubernatorial chair of his native State. He was a warm friend of General Jackson, who had been defeated in the electoral contest by John Quincy Adams. This latter gentleman had just taken his seat in the Presidential chair when Mr. Polk took his seat in the House of Representatives. He immediately united himself with the opponents of Mr. Adams, and was soon regarded as the leader of the Jackson party in the House.
The four years of Mr. Adams' adminis- tration passed away, and General Jackson took the Presidential chair. Mr. Polk had now become a man of great influence in Congress, and was chairman of its most important committee-that of Ways and Means. Eloquently he sustained General Jackson in all his measures-in his hostility to internal improvements, to the banks, and to the tariff. Eight years of General Jack- son's administration passed away; and the powers he had wielded passed into the hands of Martin Van Buren ; and still Mr. Polk remained in the House, the advocate of that type of Democracy which those distinguished men upheld.
During five sessions of Congress Mr. Polk was speaker of the House. He per- formed his arduous duties to general satis- faction, and a unanimous vote of thanks to him was passed by the House as he with- drew, March 4, 1839. He was elected Governor by a large majority, and took the oath of office at Nashville, October 14, 1839. He was a candidate for re-election in 1841, but was defeated. In the mean- time a wonderful revolution had swept over the country. W. H. Harrison, the Whig candidate, had been called to the Presiden- tial chair, and in Tennessee the Whig ticket had been carried by over 12,000 majority. Under these circumstances Mr. Polk's suc- cess was hopeless. Still he canvassed the
State with his Whig competitor, Mr. Jones, traveling in the most friendly manner to- gether, often in the same carriage, and at one time sleeping in the same bed. Mr. Jones was elected by 3,000 majority.
And now the question of the annexation of Texas to our country agitated the whole land. When this question became national Mr. Polk, as the avowed champion of an- nexation, became the Presidential candidate of the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party, and George M. Dallas their candi- date for the Vice-Presidency. They were elected by a large majority, and were in- augurated March 4, 1845.
President Polk formed an able cabinet, consisting of James Buchanan, Robert J. Walker, William L. Marcy, George Ban- croft, Cave Johnson and John Y. Mason. The Oregon boundary question was settled, the Department of the Interior was created, the low tariff of 1846 was carried, the financial system of the Government was reorganized, the Mexican war was con- ducted, which resulted in the acquisition of California and New Mexico, and had far- reaching consequences upon the later fort- unes of the republic. Peace was made. We had wrested from Mcxico territory equal to four times the empire of France, and five times that of Spain. In the prose- cution of this war we expended 20,000 lives and more than $100,000,000. Of this money $15,000,000 were paid to Mexico.
Declining to seek a renomination, Mr. Polk retired from the Presidency March 4, 1849, when he was succeeded by General Zachary Taylor. He retired to Nashville, and died there June 19, 1849, in the fifty. fourth year of his age. His funeral was at- tended the following day, in Nashville, with every demonstration of respect. He left no children. Without being possessed of extraordinary talent, Mr. Polk was a capable administrator of public affairs, and irre- proachable in private life.
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PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
ZACHARY TAYLOR.
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ACHARY TAY- LOR, the twelfth President of the United States, 1849-'50, was born in Orange County, Virginia, Septem- ber 24, 1784. His father, Richard Taylor, was Colo- nel of a Virginia regiment in the Revolutionary war, and removed to Kentucky in 1785; purchased a large plantation near Louisville and became an influential cit- izen ; was a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of Kentucky; served in both branches of the Legislature; was Collector of the port of Louisville under President Washington; as a Presidential elector, voted for Jefferson, Madison, Mon- roe and Clay ; died January 19, 1829.
Zachary remained on his father's planta- tion until 1808, in which year (May 3) he was appointed First Lieutenant in the Seventh Infantry, to fill a vacancy oc- casioned by the death of his elder brother, Hancock. Up to this point he had received but a limited education.
Joining his regiment at New Orleans, hc
was attacked with yellow fever, with nearly fatal termination. In November, 1810, he was promoted to Captain, and in the sum- mer of 1812 he was in command of Fort Harrison, on the left bank of the Wabash River, near the present site of Terre Haute, his successful defense of which with but a handful of men against a large force of Indians which had attacked him was one of the first marked military achievements of the war. He was then brevetted Major, and in 1814 promoted to the full rank.
During the remainder of the war Taylor was actively employed on the Western frontier. In the peace organization of 1815 he was retained as Captain, but soon after resigned and settled near Louisville. In May, 1816, however, he re-entered the army as Major of the Third Infantry ; became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighth Infantry in 1819, and in 1832 attained the Colonelcy of the First Infantry, of which he had been Lieutenant-Colonel since 1821. On different occasions he had been called to Washington as member of a military board for organiz- ing the militia of the Union, and to aid the Government with his knowledge in the organization of the Indian Bureau, having for many years discharged the duties of Indian agent over large tracts of Western
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country. He served through the Black Hawk war in 1832, and in 1837 was ordered to take command in Florida, then the scene of war with the Indians.
In 1846 he was transferred to the eom- mand of the Army of the South west, from which he was relieved the same year at his own request. Subsequently he was sta- tioned on the Arkansas frontier at Forts Gibbon, Smith and Jesup, which latter work had been built under his direction in 1822.
May 28, 1845, he received a dispatch from the Secretary of War informing him of the receipt of information by the President "that Texas would shortly aeeede to the terms of annexation," in which event he was instrueted to defend and proteet her from " foreign invasion and Indian ineur- sions." He proceeded, upon the annexation of Texas, with about 1,500 men to Corpus Christi, where his foree was inereased to some 4,000.
Taylor was brevetted Major-General May 28, and a month later, June 29, 1846, his full commission to that grade was issued. After needed rest and reinforcement, he advaneed in September on Monterey, which city ea- pitulated after three-days stubborn resist- anee. Here he took up his winter quarters. The plan for the invasion of Mexico, by way of Vera Cruz, with General Seott in command, was now determined upon by the Govenrment, and at the moment Taylor was about to resume aetive operations, he received orders to send the larger part of his force to reinforee the army of General Seott at Vera Cruz. Though subsequently reinforeed by raw recruits, yet after pro- viding a garrison for Monterey and Saltillo he had but about 5,300 effective troops, of which but 500 or 600 were regulars. In this weakened condition, however, he was destined to achieve his greatest vietory. Confidently relying upon his strength at Vera Cruz to resist the enemy for a long time, Santa Anna direeted his entire army
against Taylor to overwhelm him, and then to return to oppose the advanee of Seott's more formidable invasion. The battle of Buena Vista was fought February 22 and 23, 1847. Taylor received the thanks of Congress and a gold medal, and " Old Rough and Ready," the sobriquet given him in the army, became a household word. He remained in quiet possession of the Rio Grande Valley until November, when he returned to the United States.
In the Whig convention which met at Philadelphia, June 7, 1848, Taylor was nomi- nated on the fourth ballot as candidate of the Whig party for President, over Henry Clay, General Seott and Daniel Webster. In November Taylor received a majority of electoral votes, and a popular vote of 1,360,752, against 1,219,962 for Cass and Butler, and 291,342 for Van Buren and Adams. General Taylor was inaugurated Mareh 4, 1849.
The free and slave States being then equal in number, the struggle for supremaey on the part of the leaders in Congress was violent and bitter. In the summer of 1849 California adopted in convention a Consti- tution prohibiting slavery within its borders. Taylor advocated the immediate admission of California with her Constitution, and the postponement of the question as to the other Territories until they could hold eonven- tions and deeide for themselves whether slavery should exist within their borders. This policy ultimately prevailed through the celebrated "Compromise Measures" of Henry Clay ; but not during the life of the brave soldier and patriot statesman. July 5 he was taken suddenly ill with a . bilious fever, which proved fatal, his death oeeur- ring July 9, 1850. One of his daughters married Colonel W. W. S. Bliss, his Adju- tant-General and Chief of Staff in Florida and Mexico, and Private Secretary during his Presideney. Another daughter was married to Jefferson Davis.
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PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
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MILLARD FILLMORE.
ILLARD FILL- MORE, the thir- teenth President of the United States, 1850-'3, was born in Summer Hill, Cayuga County, New York, Janu- ary 7, 1800. He was of New England ancestry, and his educational advantages were limited. He early
learned the clothiers' trade, but spent all his leisure time in study. At nineteen years of age he was induced by Judge Walter Wood to abandon his trade and commence the study of law. Upon learning that the young man was entirely destitute of means, he took him into his own office and loaned him such money as he needed. That he might not be heavily burdened with debt, young Fillmore taught school during the winter months, and in various other ways helped himself along.
At the age of twenty-three he was ad- mitted to the Court of Common Pleas, and commenced the practice of his profession in the village of Aurora, situated on the
eastern bank of the Cayuga Lake. In 1825 he married Miss Abigail Powers, daughter of Rev. Lemuel. Powers, a lady of great moral worth. In 1825 he took his seat in the House of Assembly of his native State, as Representative from Erie County, whither he had recently moved.
Though he had never taken a very active part in politics his vote and his sym- pathies were with the Whig party. The State was then Democratic, but his cour- tesy, ability and integrity won the respect of his associates. In 1832 he was elected to a seat in the United States Congress. At the close of his term he returned to his law practice, and in two years more he was again elected to Congress.
He now began to have a national reputa- tion. His labors were very arduous. To draft resolutions in the committee room, and then to defend them against the most skillful opponents on the floor of the House requires readiness of mind, mental resources and skill in debate such as few possess. Weary with these exhausting labors, and pressed by the claims of his private affairs, Mr. Fillmore wrote a letter to his constitu- ents and declined to be a candidate for re- election. Notwithstanding this communi-
Milano Fellow
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cation his friends met in convention and renominated him by acclamation. Though gratified by this proof of their appreciation of his labors he adhered to his resolve and returned to his home.
In 1847 Mr. Fillmore was elected to the important office of comptroller of the State. In entering upon the very responsible duties which this situation demanded, it was nec- essary for him to abandon his profession, and he removed to the city of Albany. In this year, also, the Whigs were looking around to find suitable candidates for the President and Vice-President at the ap- proaching election, and the names of Zach- ary Taylor and Millard Fillmore became the rallying cry of the Whigs. On the 4th of March, 1849, General Taylor was inaug- urated President and Millard Fillmore Vice-President of the United States.
The great question of slavery had as- sumed enormous proportions, and pernie- ated every subject that was brought before Congress. It was evident that the strength of our institutions was to be severely tried. July 9, 1850, President Taylor died, and, by the Constitution, Vice-President Fillmore became President of the United States. The agitated condition of the country brought questions of great delicacy before him. He was bound by his oath of office to execute the laws of the United States. One of these laws was understood to be, that if a slave, escaping from bondage, should reach a free State, the United States was bound to do its utmost to capture him and return him to his master. Most Chris. tian men loathed this law. President Fill- more felt bound by his oath rigidly to see it enforced. Slavery was organizing armies to invade Cuba as it had invaded Texas, and annex it to the United States. Presi- dent Fillmore gave all the influence of his exalted station against the atrocious enter- prise.
Mr. Fillmore had serious difficulties to
contend with, since the opposition had a majority in both Houses. He did every- thing in his power to conciliate the South, but the pro-slavery party in that section felt the inadequency of all measures of tran- sient conciliation. The population of the free States was so rapidly increasing over . that of the slave States, that it was inevita- ble that the power of the Government should soon pass into the hands of the free States. The famous compromise measures were adopted under Mr. Fillmore's admin- istration, and the Japan expedition was sent out.
March 4, 1853, having served one term, President Fillmore retired from office. He then took a long tour through the South, where he met with quite an enthusiastic reception. In a speech at Vicksburg, al- luding to the rapid growth of the country, he said:
" Canada is knocking for admission, and Mexico would be glad to come in, and without saying whether it would be right or wrong, we stand with open arms to re- ceive them; for it is the manifest destiny of this Government to embrace the whole North American Continent."
In 1855 Mr. Fillmore went to Europe where he was received with those marked attentions which his position and character merited. Returning to this country in 1856 he was nominated for the Presidency by. the " Know-Nothing " party. Mr. Bu- chanan, the Democratic candidate was the successful competitor. Mr. Fillmore ever afterward lived in retirement. Dur- ing the conflict of civil war he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed, how- ever, that his sympathy was with the South- ern Confederacy. He kept aloof from the conflict without any words of cheer to the one party or the other. For this reason he was forgotten by both. He died of paralysis, in Buffalo, New York, March 8, 1874.
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PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
RANKLIN PIERCE, the fourteenth Presi- 0 dent of the United States, was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, Novem- ber 23, 1804. His father, Governor Benjamin Pierce, was a Rev- olutionary soldier, a man of rigid integrity ; was for sev- eral years in the State Legis- lature, a member of the Gov- ernor's council and a General of the militia.
Franklin was the sixth of eight children. As a boy he listened eagerly to the argu- ments of his father, enforced by strong and ready utterance and earnest gesture. It was in the days of intense political excite- ment, when, all over the New England States, Federalists and Democrats were ar- rayed so fiercely against each other.
In 1820 he entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Maine, and graduated in 1824, and commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Woodbury, a very distin- guished lawyer, and in 1827 was admitted to the bar. He practiced with great success in Hillsborough and Concord. He served
in the State Legislature four years, the last two of which he was chosen Speaker of the House by a very large vote.
In 1833 he was elected a member of Con- gress. In 1837 he was elected to the United States Senate, just as Mr. Van Buren com- menced his administration.
In 1834 he married Miss Jane Means Appleton, a lady admirably fitted to adorn every station with which her husband was honored. Three sons born to them all found an early grave.
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