USA > Illinois > The era of the Civil War, 1848-1870 > Part 6
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55 Aurora Guardian, December 9, 1853; Carlinville Statesman, July 8, 1852, clipped in Illinois State Register, July 15, 1852; Hillsboro Mirror clipped in ibid., March 31, 1853.
56 Review of the Commerce of Chicago, 31; Alton Courier, September 18, 1852, April 4, 1853.
OCT 8 1952
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
arrangement permitted the work to be completed.57 While Alton and St. Louis continued their squabbles over the Ohio and Mississippi and over the "Brough railroad," other rail- roads were being constructed, and these cities suffered greater and greater losses to the metropolis on the lake.
Not Alton, but Chicago-the key to the railroad system of the northwest-was to succeed to the economic leadership of St. Louis. Railroads reënforced the canal and even com- peted with it for the lighter freights.58 When the rail con- nections with Rock Island and Peoria were completed, the process of making the Illinois valley tributary to Chicago was rounded out. The Chicago and Galena diverted from St. Louis and the Mississippi route the lead traffic and the agri- cultural products trade of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Iowa as well as of northwestern Illinois. The Illinois Central brought forward to Chicago quantities of products from cen- tral Illinois, though it carried enough to Cairo to threaten to build up another rival to St. Louis at the southern extremity of the state.59 At the beginning of the decade with five-eighths of the agricultural trade of St. Louis drawn from Illinois and with Illinoisians taking in return nearly three-fourths of the merchandise sold in St. Louis, the Missouri legislature was able to levy a tax of $4.50 on every $1,000 worth of foreign products and merchandise sold in that state and on articles purchased by outsiders ; in the closing years St. Louis bent all her energies toward saving what remnants she could from the grasp of Chicago.60
With Chicago as the hub of a vast transportation system, Illinois promised to become the great railroad center as it was the geographical center of the nation. Prophets felt little boldness in predicting a leading rôle in the future for Illinois.61
57 Reynolds to French, June 17, 1848, Reynolds et al. to French, June 23, 1848, Reynolds, Koerner, P. Fouke, William H. Underwood et al. to French, July 12, 1852, French manuscripts. Correspondence covering every side of the dyke controversy may be found in this collection.
58 See E. S. Prescott to W. H. Swift, January 30, 1851, Swift manuscripts.
59 St. Louis Republican clipped in Illinois State Register, May 8, 1851; St. Louis Intelligencer in ibid., May 22, 1851 ; see also DeBow's Review, 24: 212.
60 Illinois State Register, October 30, 1849, January 17, 1850; Belleville Advocate, November 29, 1849.
81 Lee, " Transportation : A Factor in the Development of Northern Illinois previous to 1860," Illinois State Historical Society, Journal, 10: 17-85.
III. AGITATION AND COMPROMISE, 1848-1852
I IN THE midst of the excitement of a successful war, with the distractions attendant upon a heated agitation of the slavery question, Illinois in 1848 entered upon a new era in her political development. Forces of more recent origin, how- ever, were relegated to the background while old party align- ment and orthodox political issues were revived in the discussion of candidates for the presidential office. In the country at large, as well as in Illinois, all omens pointed to the success of the democratic party, which, having generously fed the people's voracious appetite for expansion, had a claim to grati- tude not to be matched by their empty-handed opponents. Party leaders for a long time would admit an uncertainty only as to who should represent the democracy in receiving from the tribunal of public opinion a formal recognition of the party's valued services.
Whig leaders, in desperation, consequently began to cast about for the most effective means of recovering their recent losses. "All the elements of party strife will bubble in the caldron," warned Orlando B. Ficklin, congressman from the third district. "War, pestilence, and famine, slavery & free- dom, military and civil claims, will each and all lend their influence to the strife of '48." 1 The democrats, shaken in their confidence of victory, set about to rally their full strength about their strongest candidates. President Polk, though the official party leader in those days of storm and stress, was not the authoritative embodiment of democratic principles : there was little reason why he should be continued in the executive office in the face of the natural ambitions of party chiefs like Lewis Cass and James Buchanan. He had seriously offended many elements in the northern states by his silence on land reform and by his veto of the river and harbor bill as well as
1 Ficklin to French, January 6, 1848, French manuscripts.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
by his subserviency to the south.2 Nevertheless, since he had not allowed himself to become entangled in the Wilmot proviso issue, he could still run a fair race. If Cass and Buchanan should wear each other out, those who opposed Polk's nomi- nation feared that he might forget his declared lack of ambition for reelection and avail himself of the opportunity to come up from behind as a compromise candidate; Congressman "Long John" Wentworth thought he detected a skillful Polk elec- tioneering campaign on the part of Springfield politicians.3 Wentworth himself advocated Douglas as a representative of the youthful spirit of the west which alone could carry the party to victory. But "Long John's " aggressive personality had created strong enemies within the party, who seem to have gradually gained the ear of even the cautious Governor French, and they combined with the Springfield machine politicians, who, disgusted by Wentworth's antislavery activities, were determined to block his control at all hazards.
Soon a contest developed in which the two factions meas- ured their strength against each other. The point at issue was the manner of selecting delegates to the national conven- tion. Wentworth wanted to have them elected by conventions in each judicial circuit, while the members of the state machine insisted on a state convention. The latter would secure a har- monious, unified delegation to represent the state on the prin- ciple of majority control; the district scheme, on the other hand, recognized a situation which clearly existed: the demo- crats of the state were radically divided on many questions and each district would in this way have the right of self- determination.4 "We Barnburners believe in free opinion, free speech & free discussion as well as free labor and free soil," said Wentworth.5 In the northern section of the state democrats were strongly devoted to the Jeffersonian slavery restriction policy initiated in 1787; they declared frankly in favor of "free soil once, free soil forever," 6 and for river
2 Congressional Globe, 29 congress, I session, 1181.
3 Wentworth to French, March 5, April 13, 1848, French manuscripts.
4 Chicago Democrat, January 31, 1848; Wentworth to French, March 5, 1848, French manuscripts.
5 Wentworth to French, April 13, 1848, ibid.
6 Chicago Democrat, April 18, 1848.
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AGITATION AND COMPROMISE
and harbor improvements without qualification. As one left the northern region, however, for the middle and southern counties, increasing democratic hostility to all these proposi- tions appeared.
Wentworth and his following succeeded in controlling the local party organizations in the vicinity of Chicago but failed to secure the recognition of his principle of " live and let live," worked out through district conventions. The state convention, accordingly, met on April 24 and 25 to perform the work of selecting delegates to Baltimore, as well as to place a state ticket and an electoral ticket in the field. The convention expressed a decided preference for General Cass but did not formally instruct the delegation to support him. The resolu- tions adopted condemned all intemperate discussion and unnec- essary agitation of the slavery question and ignored other issues over which democrats differed. The state ticket sched- uled Augustus C. French for reelection as governor and William McMurty for lieutenant governor.7 The state plat- form was not at all satisfactory to antislavery democrats, and the national convention a month later, by nominating Lewis Cass on a platform silent as to slavery, added to their unrest.
Democratic dissensions gave little encouragement to the whigs, who faced even more serious embarrassment. They, too, were divided on the slavery issue. There were "con- science whigs " or "wooly-heads," who rallied to the Wilmot proviso standard; but in the state, as in the nation, they were outnumbered by those who would avoid new and distracting issues. The whig party, moreover, already suffering from regularity of defeat, had further declined in prestige as a result of its opposition to the Mexican War and to territorial expansion.
Under these circumstances it was not easy to map out a program. Orthodox whigs felt that a consistent adherence to party principles and existing leadership would carry the day; these were Henry Clay men who hoped that the war had so weakened the democracy that Clay could easily swing the win- ning vote in 1848. Others felt that a policy of opportunism under a standard bearer who possessed real "availability" 7 Illinois State Register, April 28, 1848.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
was the only course to pursue. The brilliant exploits of Generals Taylor and Scott had given them a popularity that promised an assured response to their leadership. Early in 1847, therefore, promptly after the battle of Buena Vista, papers like the Quincy Whig and the Morgan Journal hoisted the name of General Taylor as a candidate for the presidency. Lincoln was one of the active group of Taylor congressmen who upheld the general's cause at the national capital.
General Taylor had no real political interests or beliefs; party lines had thus far concerned him but little, and there had already arisen an increasing nonpartisan demand for his nomination. Here was a candidate to offer the nation. "Old Zach" was the hero of the Mexican War; hampered as he had been by official democratic jealousy, he was the man to wipe out the whig stigma of opposition to a popular war. A struggle was soon under way between availability, as repre- sented by Taylor, and orthodoxy, as identified with Clay; the result was a Taylor victory and a grave disappointment for Clay supporters.
Whig energy in Illinois was directed exclusively toward the national convention; after the ticket of Taylor and Fillmore was launched in June, it was discovered that no preparations had been made to contest the state election. This reflected the prevailing disorganization; the Illinois Journal frankly admitted that the party had no hope of carrying the state election in August, and that a defeat would detract from whig strength in the November election.8 On the other hand, many whigs objected to letting the state election go by default because it would keep them from ascertaining the actual strength of the party; accordingly the Quincy Whig and other papers hoisted the names of Pierre Menard for governor and J. L. D. Morrison for lieutenant governor.9
The administration of Governor French had been emi- nently satisfactory to all impartial men of the state. He had displayed no unfair partisanship, with the result that even many whigs desired his reëlection.1º He had, moreover, kept
8 Illinois Journal, June 19, 1848.
9 Quincy Whig, June 6, 1848.
10 Turner to French, no date, 1848, French manuscripts.
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AGITATION AND COMPROMISE
fairly clear of the factionalism that had prevailed in his own party. Even John Wentworth, the ubiquitous critic, approved the absence of official dictation and pointed to the unwonted harmony in the ranks of the state democracy as justification of French's reelection.11 When finally the cry of "Springfield clique" was raised, it seems to have referred to the Illinois State Register following rather than to the state administra- tion. For all these reasons, the opposition to the French state ticket was very feeble and the election in August went off very quietly.
The newly elected legislature was strongly democratic; anti-war whiggery proved a millstone for the whig legislative triumvirate, Stephen T. Logan, Isaac Williams, and William Thomas, who sank in political waters normally favorable for a plunge.12 The complexion of the Illinois congressional dele- gation was unchanged, Edward D. Baker being elected as the lone whig member. Thomas L. Harris, a democrat, was elected to Lincoln's seat in a close contest; William H. Bissell without opposition replaced Robert Smith in the first; John A. McClernand, Wentworth, and William A. Richardson were all reelected over their opponents, with Timothy R. Young in the third district.
The atmosphere having thus been cleared, all energies were thrown into the presidential canvass. The whig leaders set out to develop a dramatic hero worship of General Taylor, the "people's candidate." The spirit of 1840 was revived in their ranks. Processions, mass meetings, and barbecues became the order of the day. The rank and file were urged to keep up the "grape" that the hero of Buena Vista, the general who " never surrenders," might bring the enemy to his knees.13 The disaffection of Clay whigs gradually subsided and termi- nated when Clay formally declined to allow his name to be used independently. Little was said of concrete whig prin- ciples. The bank issue was declared obsolete; since the land warrants of Mexican War veterans would absorb the public domain for years to come, there would be no proceeds of the 11 Wentworth to French, December 19, 1847, April 13, 1848, French manu- scripts.
12 Illinois State Register, August 18, 25, 1848.
13 Beardstown Gazette, September 13, 1848.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
public land for distribution; with the heavy demands created by war debt, the tariff could no longer be a party matter. The great and vital issue, therefore, was the question whether the people or one man should rule. In the past the vetoes of democratic presidents had thwarted the public will; had not Polk in this way defeated a crying need for river and harbor improvement ? 14
The democrats replied by challenging the meager qualifi- cations of the whig candidate for political preferment. Wilmot provisoists were reminded of the fallacy of voting for a planter and slaveholder. The German and Irish were played upon by the customary charge of whig hostility to foreigners; Taylor, it was claimed, was in league with the nativists.15
In counter attacks the whigs ridiculed the attempt of the democrats to write General Cass into a military hero. Abra- ham Lincoln from the floor of the house of representatives made a burlesque of his own military exploits and those of General Cass, drolly suggesting that neither had seriously qualified for the presidency on that score.16 Cass's position was declared to be no more satisfactory on the slavery ques- tion. Originally inclined toward the Wilmot proviso doctrine he had found it expedient to expound in his canvass a non- committal doctrine of popular sovereignty for the territories, a doctrine which was promptly attacked as a Janus-faced appeal to both antislavery and proslavery democrats. The genuine- ness of his democracy was challenged by referring to a state- ment in which he was alleged to have favored "whipping and selling poor white men and stubborn servants." 17
With the increasing seriousness of the sectional contro- versy, it became evident that the restless antislavery elements would hold the balance of power. There was widespread dis- content with both national parties for their consistent evasion of the slavery issue; both in their national conventions had just rejected propositions to check the extension of slavery's domain. In New York, where an explosion had been threat- ening for some time, the antislavery democrats, or "barn-
14 Beardstown Gazette, October 4, 11, November 1, 1848.
15 Chicago Democrat, June 22, 1848.
16 Works of Abraham Lincoln, 2 : 104.
17 Illinois Journal, September 16, 1848.
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AGITATION AND COMPROMISE
burners," were so disgusted with the proceedings of the national convention that they launched an independent move- ment, summoning all antislavery forces to meet in convention to agree upon common cause. The result was the organiza- tion of the free soil or free democratic party at Buffalo on the ninth of August, 1848.
Illinois delegates led by Owen Lovejoy, Isaac N. Arnold, C. D. Wells, Samuel J. Lowe, C. Sedgwick, and Charles V. Dyer, attended this convention but took no conspicuous part in the proceedings.18 Immediately, therefore, the question arose as to whether or not the movement would take root in Illinois, where the weak and despised liberty party polled only 4,000 votes.19 The "barnburner " movement, however, quickly gathered strength. An Illinois free soil convention, with sixteen counties represented, assembled at Ottawa on August 29; they prepared an electoral ticket of their own and made ready to take an active part in the canvass.2º Five or six new papers were started to advocate the election of the free soil candidates, Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams. 21
Shrewd political prophets predicted a free soil vote of 20,000 in Illinois. Managers of both old parties were deeply concerned over the inroads that were being made into their ranks: which would suffer most heavily ? 22 Democrats were frightened to see some of their best men, like Norman B. Judd, Dr. Daniel Brainard, Isaac N. Arnold, Mahlon D. Ogden, and Joseph O. Glover bolt the Baltimore nominations to go for Van Buren. 23 When Wentworth was renominated by a district convention controlled by " barnburners" which refused
18 Gem of the Prairie, August 12, 1848; cf. Smith, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest, 142.
19 Illinois Journal, September 6, 1848. This was the congressional vote of 1848, just the size of Birney's vote in 1844. Owen Lovejoy polled 3,130 votes in the Chicago district.
20 Illinois State Register, September 8, 1848; Beardstown Gazette, Sep- tember 13, 1848.
21 Prospectus of Alton Monitor in Shurtleff College scrapbook. A free soil league at Chicago fitted up a club with a reading room and displayed considerable activity. Chicago Democrat, September 8, 1848.
22 Quincy Whig, September 5, October 10, 24, 1848; Illinois State Register, September 15, 1848.
23 Reddick to French, July 12, 1848, French manuscripts; Joliet Signal, October 16, 1848; Rockford Forum, October 24, 1848.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
to sustain the national ticket,24 it was rumored that he, too, had bolted the Baltimore nominations. Wentworth at once replied, however, that since he believed in making his objec- tions before a convention and not afterwards, he had never even considered bolting; he also declared that he preferred Cass to Taylor on the slavery question.25 Under democratic representation that David Wilmot and all true Wilmot proviso men were supporting Cass and that Van Buren stood no chance of election, former democrats like David Kennison of Chicago, the 112-year-old survivor of the Boston tea party, gave up their free soil predilections to sustain Cass. 26
Whigs reversed the argument to favor their candidates : Van Buren was an ancient ally of slavery; every vote given by a whig to Van Buren was half a vote given to Cass. "The abolition party under the cloak of Van Burenism," they de- clared, " are attempting to play the same game " that defeated Clay in 1844;27 the free soil question "is a cardinal prin- ciple of the Whig party." 28 Abraham Lincoln, campaigning in behalf of General Taylor, stressed these points in indicating the policy and duty of all anti-extensionists. Many old liberty party men, it was boldly suggested, "prefer Gen. Taylor to Van Buren-believing him sounder and entitled to more confidence on the free soil question, than the Buffalo conven- tion." 29
These paradoxical and unconvincing arguments reflected the fears of party politicians as to the outcome of the election. Cheered by the encouraging results of the October elections in Pennsylvania, whigs counted the chances of carrying Illinois. Several items were listed in their favor; a hostile Mormon vote of 3,000 had been withdrawn from the state, the "barn- burners " were expected to carry off thousands from Cass, while his position on river and harbor improvement and other issues would cause further democratic losses.30 Even the least san- guine democrats, however, relied upon being able to hold their
24 Galloway to French, June 9, 1848, French manuscripts.
25 Wentworth to French, June 23, 1848, ibid.
26 Chicago Democrat, November 6, 1848.
27 Aurora Beacon, September 27, 1848.
28 Beardstown Gazette, November 1, 1848.
29 Quincy Whig, October 31, 1848.
30 Ibid., August 15, 1848 ; Aurora Beacon, September 13, 1848.
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AGITATION AND COMPROMISE
existing strength and upon using a normal democratic majority to carry the state.
The returns showed that Taylor had carried the nation. The whigs of Springfield celebrated this victory with bonfires, cannon, a torchlight celebration, and an illumination of whig residences and places of business. Nevertheless, in the state the democrats had been correct in their calculations. Cass was given a plurality of 3,099-less by 9,000 than that for Polk four years before. Both parties suffered heavy losses to the free soil movement, which netted 15,702 votes. In the vicinity of Chicago the Van Buren vote was especially heavy ; a free soil plurality was returned in the city and in Cook and seven adjacent counties, besides many other single precincts. This was largely at democratic expense, the result, said Went- worth, of Cass' announcement, at the dictation of Georgia politicians, of the doctrine of popular sovereignty.31
The logical result of the campaign that had just closed was a demand for concrete and tangible evidence of the much heralded devotion of both old parties to the principle of the Wilmot proviso. The free soil whigs promptly undertook to place the legislature on record in this matter. A drastic whig proviso resolution, however, was rejected in the house by a party vote, only a dozen democrats voting with the whig dele- gation. A long debate began on the Wilmot proviso and kindred propositions. Several resolutions were discussed; finally a mild resolution offered by Senator Ames was adopted in the senate by a vote of fifteen to ten. The house accepted the joint resolution and it was spread on the record.32 It was voted, however, that it was not a resolution of instruction relating to any specific proposition then before congress ; 33 accordingly Douglas, despite the clamors of the whig press at this " rank federalism," quietly ignored it.
It was the task of this legislature to elect a successor to Senator Sidney Breese. The whigs were clearly out of the race and democratic sentiment was divided between Breese and
31 Hereafter, he urged, "let the North stand firm and she will compel southern men to announce themselves against slavery extension in order to get northern votes." Chicago Democrat, November 20, 1848.
32 I Laws of 1849, p. 234.
33 Quincy Whig, January 16, 1849.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
General Shields. Breese was an experienced legislator but not a statesman of eminence; Shields laid claim to neither quali- fication but had powerful personal friends, popularity as an Irish champion of liberty, and the reputation of a military hero in the Mexican War. Breese was the favorite of the conserva- tive Egyptian democracy and found favor with the national administration at Washington; Shields was popular with Wilmot provisoists and with advocates of river and harbor improvement in the northern portion of the state.34 As a result, this immigrant from the Emerald Isle, still ready, when Ireland should prepare to strike for liberty, to aid in the redemption of his native land, secured the nomination in the democratic caucus and was promptly elected by the legislature.
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