USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume III > Part 24
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The elections in 1854 and 1855 throughout the North indi- cated the constantly growing dissatisfaction with the administra- tion. If Douglas hoped to win the presidency by his Kansas- Nebraska Act, he was doomed to disappointment. So far as the renomination of Pierce was concerned, it would have made little difference whether he signed or vetoed the Act. In either case renomination and re-election would have been impossible. He has been charged with inconsistency in approving the Act after his pledge in his message to Congress in 1853, but the charge does not hold good.
Franklin Pierce regarded the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document on the explicit observance of which the integrity of free institutions depended. Above all things else he was devotedly loyal to the Union of the States. The Con- stitution, strictly constructed, and the Union had been and still were the guiding stars of his public and political life. There was more than a hint in the Compromise measures of 1850, that the Missouri Act of 1820 was unconstitutional, and when Pierce was once convinced by the presentation of the case by his attor- ney-general Caleb Cushing, that the hint of 1850 was based on actual fact, and was further convinced by his Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, that a veto of the Act would mean secession and disunion, there was but one course open to him : he signed the act, and at the same time signed the warrant for his defeat for renomination and re-election.
The Democratic National Convention to nominate a candi- date for president met in Cincinnati June 2, 1856. James Buchanan had been out of the country as Minister to Great Britain, and fortunately for himself was without record on the burning Kansas-Nebraska question. On the first ballot for a presidential candidate he received 135 votes, Pierce 122, Douglas 33 and Cass 6. Of the Pierce vote 72 were from the Southern States and 50 from the Northern. The hopelessness of electing
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Pierce even were he nominated was evident from the start. The vote for Pierce gradually diminished and on the seventeenth ballot Buchanan was unanimously nominated.
At the conclusion of his term of office Gen. Pierce returned to his New Hampshire home and after a three-years' visit abroad he again returned to Concord, where he lived in dignified and honorable retirement, beloved by his personal friends, until his death, October 8, 1869.
His administration was a pivotal one. It marked the be- ginning of the end of American slavery. His personal integrity and fidelity to conviction were never questioned. His administra- tion stood for economy and frugality in public affairs, and offi- cials were held to a strict accountability to their constituents. He was a true patriot, and devoted lover of his country. But for slavery and the questions growing out of it, his administration would have passed into history as one of the most successful in our national life, yet his attitude toward that institution was at all times based on well-grounded conviction and was thoroughly consistent, without trace or suspicion of demagogy. Maligned, caluminated for such consistency, he is finally beginning to be appreciated at his real worth, and his statue in bronze, placed in 1914 in the park fronting the State House is the partial answer of his state to his calumniators and vilifiers, and a fitting tribute by his state, in its capacity as such, to one of her most dis- tinguished sons, and to her only representative in the honored and exalted line of Presidents of the United States.
Chapter XVII SONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE
Chapter XVII SONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE.
Charles G. Atherton-Henry W. Blair-Henry E. Burnham-Lewis Cass -John Chandler-William E. Chandler-Zachariah Chandler-Daniel Clark-Dudley Chase-Charles Cutts-John A. Dix-William P. Fes- senden-George G. Fogg-Jacob H. Gallinger-James W. Grimes- Henry F. Hollis-Benning W. Jenness-Gilman Marston-Moses Norris -Nahum Parker-James W. Patterson-Austin F. Pike-Edward H. Rollins-James Sheafe-Thomas W. Thompson-Bainbridge Wadleigh -John S. Wells-Henry Wilson-Leonard Wilcox-Paine Wingate.
S OME of the distinguished sons of the Granite State have filled so many positions of honor that it is difficult to classify them. Therefore in other chapters sketches may be found of some senators who represented this and other states at the national capital.1 In this chapter are grouped alphabetically the remaining senators who were born in New Hampshire, or rep- resented this state.
Charles Gordon Atherton was born in Amherst, July 4, 1804, grandson of Hon. Joshua Atherton. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1822 and after studying law in the office of his brother was admitted to the bar in 1825 and began practice in Dunbarton, now Nashua. He represented Dunbarton in the lower branch of the legislature in 1831 and 1833-36, the last three years being Speaker of the House. He had served in 1831-2 as clerk of the Senate. He was elected as a Democrat to the 25th, 26th and 27th congresses, 1837-43, and took an active part in debates, always as friendly to southern policy. In 1838 he introduced the resolu- tion which remained in force till 1845, declaring that all bills and petitions, of whatever kind, on the subject of slavery should be tabled without debate and should not be taken again from
1 The senators from New Hampshire not included in this chapter were Joseph C. Abbott, Josiah Bartlett, Charles Henry Bell, James Bell, Samuel Bell, Salmon P. Chase, Nicholas Gilman, Isaac Hill, John Langdon, Wood- bury Langdon, Samuel Livermore, Jeremiah Mason, David Lawrence Morrill, Simeon Olcott, John Page, Franklin Pierce, William Plumer, Daniel Webster, and Levi Woodbury.
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the table. This was called "the Atherton gag," and he was known as "Gag Atherton." Nevertheless his Democratic parti- sans stood by him, and he was elected to the United States Senate in 1843 and re-elected in 1852, serving as chairman of the finance committee. He took a prominent part in the Constitu- tional Convention of 1850. While attending court at Manchester he suffered a stroke of paralysis and died November 15, 1853. His abilities were not underrated by his political opponents. He was well versed in history and classical literature, cool, ready, logical and forceful in his addresses, sometimes impassioned as an orator and intensely partisan in politics. He was more devoted to the letter of the national Constitution than to the rights of humanity. He was naturally a leader but sometimes led the wrong way. His place was in the front rank of lawyers and politicians, not to say statesmen.
Henry William Blair was born in Compton, December 6, 1834. His father died and left the family in poor circumstances. Young Blair worked on a farm till the age of seventeen and then canvassed, taught school, went to an academy and studied till impaired health forced him to abandon his cherished plan of a collegiate education. He studied law at Plymouth and began practice there in 1859. Soon the Civil War broke out and he enlisted as a private but was commissioned captain before leaving the State. He took part in the Louisiana expedition and was promoted to major and lieutenant-colonel. In the battle of Port Hudson he was wounded in the right arm, sent to a hospital, but after two or three days returned with his arm in a sling to lead his regiment again into battle. Another bullet struck the same arm, tearing open the former wound. He returned with his regiment and such was his physical condition that his life hung in the balance for some time. After recovery he resumed the practice of law at Plymouth and represented that town both in the House and Senate of his State. He was elected as a Republican to the 44th and 45th congresses, 1875-79. He took his seat in the United States Senate June 20, 1879, and served till March 3, 1885. Subsequently he was re-elected and served till March 3, 1891. He was known throughout the nation as a champion of reforms. A proposition to amend the national Constitution so as to prohibit the manufacture and sale of dis- tilled liquors after 1890 was introduced by him. He also advo-
Dewhat
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cated the right of women to the ballot. A hundred thousand copies of his speech on Free Schools were distributed, and three times the Senate approved his proposal to devote $37,000,000 to the abolition of illiteracy, but the bill was defeated in the house. The Greenback craze met in him a study opponent. In 1891 he was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister pleni- potentiary to China, but resigned on account of objections made by the Chinese government. Again he was elected to congress, the 33rd, 1893-95, and after his term expired engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D. C. His books on "The Tem- perance Movement, or the Conflict of Men with Alcohol" and "The Future of the Temperance Reform" were widely read. He must be numbered among the practical reformers in the ranks of statesmen.
Henry Eben Burnham was born in Dunbarton, November 8, 1844. He prepared for college at Kimball Union Academy and was graduated with high honors at Dartmouth in 1865. He studied law in Concord and Manchester and began its practice in the latter city. The fact that he was judge of probate in Hillsborough county from 1876 to 1879 gave him his popular name, Judge Burnham. He was a member of the lower house of the state legislature in 1873, 1874 and again in 1900. He served also for a time as treasurer of Hillsborough county. As a member of the constitutional convention of 1889 he took an active part. Another office he held was that of ballot-law com- missioner. He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1901, and was re-elected in 1906, serving till 1913. He was chairman of the committee on Cuban relations. His integrity and ability have been recog- nized in the varied offices he has held.
Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, October 9, 1782, son of Jonathan Cass, a revolutionary soldier. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy. His father became a major in the army and in 1800 removed to Marietta, Ohio. A year later the family settled in Zanesville, Ohio, Lewis remaining at Marietta to study law. He was the first one admitted to the bar after Ohio became a State, practicing at Zanesville. He took a promi- nent part in defeating the plans of Aaron Burr, when the latter sought to establish a nation of his own in the West. President Jefferson appointed him United States marshal of Ohio, which
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office he filled from 1807 to 1813. In the War of 1812 he served first as colonel and later as brigadier-general. For many years he served as governor of Michigan and superintendent of Indian affairs, when the Indians were many and troublesome in that region. He was called by them "the Great Father of Detroit." He traveled in a canoe five thousand miles in exploring the upper Mississippi. President Jackson gave him a place in his cabinet as Secretary of War, in 1831, and he directed affairs in the Black Hawk War. He was appointed minister to Paris and resigned that post in 1842. On his return he was given a recep- tion in Faneuil Hall, Boston. In 1845 he was elected United States senator from Michigan. As candidate for the presidency in 1848 he was defeated, remaining in the senate. President Buchanan made him Secretary of State, but he could not agree with the president and so resigned his office. He died at Detroit, June 17, 1866. Few men have reflected more honor upon the State of their birth. Lewis Cass was a man of brains and energy, worthy of trust and fitted to fill very responsible and critical positions. He was a leader and commander of men.
William Eaton Chandler was born in Concord, December 25, 1835. He was educated in the public schools and the academies at Thetford, Vermont, and Pembroke, N. H. He was graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1854 and soon began the prac- tice of law at Concord. In 1859 he was appointed reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of New Hampshire, and he edited five volumes of reports. He was secretary of the Republican state committee in 1858 and later was its chairman. From 1862 to 1864 he was a member of the state house of representatives and served as speaker during the last two years. In 1864 he was employed by the navy department as special counsel to prosecute the Philadelphia navy yard frauds and the folowing year Presi- dent Lincoln appointed him solicitor and judge advocate general of the navy department. He became first assistant secretary of the treasury, June 17, 1865, and resigned that office November 30, 1867. In the state constitutional convention of 1876 he took a prominent part. He was delegate at large from New Hampshire to the Republican national convention of 1868 and secretary of the national committee, conducting the political campaigns of 1868 and 1872. Meanwhile he was interested financially and otherwise in the New Hampshire Statesman and the Monitor. Again he
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was a member of the state house of representatives in 1881. He was counsel for the Hayes electors before the canvassing board of Florida and before the electoral commission chosen to arbitrate and decide upon the vote for President of the United States. In the Chicago convention of 1880 Mr. Chandler was a delegate in favor of the nomination of James G. Blaine. He was himself nominated by President Garfield, March 23, 1881, as solicitor general in the department of justice and was rejected by five votes. In the state legislature he strongly opposed the misuse of free railroad passes and was in favor of regulation by law of railroad fares and freight charges. President Arthur appointed him, April 12, 1882, secretary of the navy and he served till March 7, 1885. He was elected as a Republican to the United States senate to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Austin F. Pike and served from June 14, 1887 to March 3, 1889. He was re-elected June 18, 1889 and again January 16, 1895, serving until March 3, 1901. President Mckinley appointed him, in 1901, president of the Spanish Claims Commission. He resigned in 1908 and re- sumed the practice of law in Concord, N. H. and Washington, D. C.
Perhaps no native of New Hampshire has held so great a variety of public offices, extending through nearly half a cen- tury. In the varied positions of trust and responsibility he has shown a wonderful grasp of details and essentials and displayed unusual genius for organization, especially in the wise selection of subordinate agents. He has been fearless in the expression of criticism wherever he thought it was needed and has not courted the political favor of any. He has been loyal to his con- victions, to his friends and to his country. His whole political and private life has been free from suspicion. He is a man of genial, social nature, who likes good books, pleasant scenery and converse with friends. It has been his habit for many years to entertain at his summer home, at Waterloo, and there to enjoy ease with dignity. To his social good nature may be attributed much of his success in life.
John Chandler was of the fifth generation from William Chan- dler, who settled in Roxbury, Mass., in 1637. He was born in Ep- ping, February 1, 1762, son of Capt. Joseph and Lydia (Eastman) Chandler. His father was a blacksmith, and John was taught the same trade. At the age of fifteen he enlisted and was present at the
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surrender of Gen. Burgoyne. Later he walked to Newburyport and shipped as a privateer on the "Arnold," which was captured. After enduring for a while the tortures of a prison ship he and some others managed to escape and land near Savannah, Ga. Thence he walked home to Epping and the following June, 1780, he enlisted again in the Revolutionary army for six months. On attaining his majority he started out to make his fortune, rode to New Gloucester, Maine, and thence walked to Readfield, guided by spotted trees. He soon found a farm in Monmouth, the adjoining town, and bought a hundred acres for four hundred dollars. Then he married Mary Whittier of Nottingham, and together they carried on a farm and kept a tavern. General Washington made him postmaster in 1794 and he held that office twenty-four years. He represented Monmouth in the general court of Massachusetts in 1799 and 1802 and was a member of the senate in 1803, 1804 and 1819. He was chief justice of the court of sessions in 1807-8 and sheriff of Kennebec county in 1809. He became major-gen- eral of Maine's militia and in the War of 1812 served as brigadier- general, being wounded and captured at the battle of Stony Creek, Canada, after having a horse shot under him. He urged the separation of Maine from Massachusetts and was elected as one of Maine's first senators, the other being John Holmes. He was one of the committee of thirty-three to prepare the Constitution of Maine. Governor King appointed him one of the trustees of Bowdoin College. In 1827 he was made collector of the port of Portland. Removing thence to Augusta, he died there September 26, 1841. He was a member of the Masonic order and of the Unitarian church. (See article in the Granite Monthly, VII. 5-12.)
Zachariah Chandler, son of Samuel and Margaret (Orr) Chandler and descended from William Chandler of Roxbury, was born in Bedford, December 10, 1813. His youth was spent in doing farm work and picking up what education the public schools then gave. He taught a term or two, but his mind inclined to business rather than to book-lore. When he became of age he was offered his choice, to receive a thousand dollars or a college education. He chose the former and went to Detroit, opened a small store, and slept on the counter. In twenty years he became the leading merchant of Detroit and was a man of wealth. He was mayor of the city at the age of thirty-eight and
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the next year he was Whig candidate for governor of the State. Always in favor of human freedom he helped fugitive slaves by the "underground railroad" to Canada, and he contributed ten thousand dollars to help settle free-soilers in Kansas. In 1857 he was elected United States senator, and was re-elected three times. He was reckoned among the radicals in his opposition to slavery and secession. When it was proposed to put Jefferson Davis on the pension list of the War of 1812, Senator Chandler's brief speech crushed the proposal as though a trip hammer had fallen upon it. He remembered well the former talk and schemes of Davis, when they were associated in the senate before the Civil War. During that conflict Chandler bent all his strength toward organizing troops in Michigan. President Grant took him into his cabinet as Secretary of the Interior. He died in Washington, November 1, 1879, while he was a member of the Senate. A daughter of his married Senator Eugene Hale of Maine. Business ability, integrity, and education in the school of life pushed him to the front.
Daniel Clark was chosen to fill out the term of Senator James Bell. He was born at Stratham, October 24, 1809. He was educated at Hampton Academy and Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1834 at the head of his class. He began the practice of law at Epping in 1837 and removed to Manchester ten years later. Five times he was sent to the legislature as representative. In the anti-slavery crusade of 1854-5 he stumped the State in the cause of freedom. He was a member of the Republican convention at Philadelphia in 1856, and as presi- dential elector voted for John C. Fremont. At the expiration of his term of office he was re-elected senator and acted as presi- dent pro tempore of the senate in 1864-5. In 1866 he resigned his seat in the senate in order to accept the appointment of President Johnson to the office of judge of the United States District Court of New Hampshire, and he continued in that office twenty-four years, much approved for his legal learning, ability and honesty. Dartmouth College gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, and he was president of the constitu- tional convention of 1876. His death occurred in Manchester, January 2, 1891.
Dudley Chase was born in Cornish, December 30, 1771, son of Deacon Dudley and Alice (Corbet) Chase, being of the fifth
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generation from Aquila Chase, one of the first settlers of Newbury, Mass. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1791, studied law and began to practice in Randolph, Vermont, in 1793. Here was his home the remainder of his life. He was attorney for Orange county from 1803 to 1811. Though elected in 1813 to the United States senate for six years, he resigned his office in 1817 in order to accept the office of judge of the supreme court of Vermont, which position he held four years, so that ever afterward he was called Judge Chase of Randolph. Several times he represented his town in the legislature and was Speaker of the House, 1823-24. Again he was elected to the United States senate in 1825 and remained there the full term of six years. He then returned to private life and the practice of his profession at Randolph. He exerted great and good influence in the legislature of Vermont and in the national senate. As a judge he was a stickler for the dignity of the court. His honesty was never questioned. His recreation was farming and gardening, in which he excelled. He was a brother of Bishop Philander Chase, founder of Kenyon and Jubilee col- leges. He had no children, and so adopted and educated twelve or more, a practice which the childless might well imitate. He died February 23, 1846.
Charles Cutts, born in Portsmouth, January 30, 1769, was graduated at Harvard in 1789. He was a member of the lower branch of the legislature from 1803 to 1810, serving as Speaker of the House three years. He was elected United States Senator to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nahum Parker and served from June 21, 1810, to March 3, 1813. Directly afterward he was appointed senator by the governor to fill a vacancy during a recess of the legislature and served from April 2, 1813, to June 10, 1813. He became secretary of the United States Senate, serving from October II, 1814, to December 12, 1825. He never returned to New Hampshire after his senatorial term of office. He married Lucy Henry Southall of Virginia, niece of the wife of President James Monroe and a descendant of Patrick Henry. He died in Fairfax, Virginia, January 25, 1846. It is said that he owed his political elevation to winning traits of character, or personal popularity.
John Adams Dix was born in Boscawen, July 24, 1798, son of Lieut .- Col. Timothy Dix who died while in active service in
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ORIGINAL DIN HOUSE AT DIXVILLE NOTCH Photo taken about 1878
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the War of 1812. He fitted for college at Salisbury Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy, and in 1811 entered the college of Montreal in order to acquire the French language. In 1812 all Americans in Canada were ordered to leave, and young Dix continued his studies under private tutors in Boston. In March, 1813, he received the commission of ensign in his father's regi- ment and joined him at Sackett's Harbor. Before he was fifteen years old he was acting adjutant of an independent battalion of the army, commanded by Major Timothy Upham. While in the army he gave his spare moments to the study of law and after- ward studied with the Hon. William Wirt in Washington, where he was admitted to the bar in 1820. Soon after he was appointed special commissioner to Copenhagen.
General Dix, for by this title he is best known, commenced the practice of law at Cooperstown, N. Y., in 1828, and two years later removed to Albany. He was appointed adjutant general, secretary of state, and superintendent of common schools suc- cessively. He also planned the geologic survey of New York. He helped to establish and edit the Northern Light. From 1842 to 1844 he lived in Europe. In January, 1845, he was elected senator of the United States and his speeches there on the Oregon question, the Mexican War and slavery placed him in the front rank of statesmen and orators. In 1853 he accepted the appointment of President Pierce as assistant treasurer in the city of New York, and in 1860 he was made postmaster of that city. After about a year of service in that capacity he was called by President Buchanan to be secretary of the treasury in his cabinet. It was while serving in this office that he gave the famous order to a lieutenant of a revenue cutter to arrest his captain, who was insubordinate, and to treat him as a mutineer if he resisted, closing his dispatch with the well known words, "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot."
General Dix was appointed major-general of United States volunteers May 16, 1861, and after superintending the raising of eleven regiments in New York he was assigned to the de- partment embracing Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, with headquarters at Baltimore. His judicious conduct contributed much toward keeping Maryland from seceding with the South, and he drove the confederate army out of the eastern shore of
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