Licking Township (part 2 of 42)

While he was acknowledged as one of the most prominent leaders of the Democratic party, he had the moral courage to avow that true democracy did not require that "universal suffrage' ' which admits the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the right of governing the State. In true consistency with his democratic principles, he contended that, while the path leading to the privilege of voting should be open to every man without distinction, no one should be invested with that sacred prerogative unless he were in some degree qualified for it by intelligence, virtue, and some property interests in the welfare of the State.

In 1 82 1 he was elected a member of the United States Senate, and in the same year he took a seat in the convention to revise the Constitution of his native State. His course in this convention secured the approval of men of all parties. No one could doubt the singleness of his endeavors to promote the interests of all classes in the community. In the Senate of the United States, he rose at once to a conspicuous position as an active and useful legislator.

In 1827, John Quincy Adams being then in the Presidential chair, Mr. Van Bureu was re-elected to the Senate. He had been from the beginning a determined opposer of the administration, adopting the "State Rights" view in opposition to what was deemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams.

Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen Governor of the State of New York, and accordingly resigned his seat in the Senate. Probably no one in the United States contributed so much towards ejecting John Q. Adams from the Presidential chair, and placing in it Andrew Jackson, as did Martin Van Bureu. Whether entitled to the reputation or not, he certainly was regarded throughout the United States as one of the most skillful, sagacious and cunning of politicians. It was supposed that no one knew so well as he how to touch the secret springs of action, how to pull all the wires to put his machinery in motion, and how to organize a political army which would secretly and stealthily accomplish the most gigantic results. By these powers it is said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay, and Mr. Webster, and secured results which Jew then thought could be accomplished.

When Andrew Jackson was elected President he appointed Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. This position he resigned in 1831, and was immediately appointed Minister to England, where he went the same autumn. The Senate, however, when it met, refused to ratify the nomination, and he returned home, apparently untroubled. Later he was nominated Vice-President in the place of Calhoun, at the re-election of President Jackson, and with smiles for all and frowns for none, he took his place at the head of that Senate which had refused to confirm his nomination as ambassador.

His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal of President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated favorite; and this, probably, more than any other cause secured his elevation to the chair of the Chief Executive. On the 20th of May, 1836, Mr. Van Buren received the Democratic nomination to succeed Gen. Jackson as President of the United States. He was elected by a handsome majority, to the delight of the retiring President. ' 'Leaving New York out of the canvass," says Mr. Parton, "the election of Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency was as much the act of Gen. Jackson as though the Constitution had conferred upon him the power to appoint a successor. ' '

His administration was filled with exciting events. The insurrection in Canada, which threatened to involve this country in war with England, the agitation of the slavery question, and finally the great commercial panic which spread over the country, all were trials of his wisdom. The financial distress was attributed to the management of the Democratic party, and brought the President into such disfavor that he failed of re-election, and on the 4th of March, 1 841, he retired from the presidency.

With the exception of being nominated for the Presidency by the "Free Soil" Democrats in 1848, Mr. Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate until his death. He had ever been a prudent man, of frugal habits, and, living within his income, had now fortunately a competence for his declining years. From his fine estate at Lindenwald, he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics of the country. From this time until his death, on the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty years, he resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of leisure, of culture and wealth, enjoying in a healthy old age probably far more happiness than he had before experienced amid the stormy scenes of his active life.

William Henry Harrison

©QlLUAM HENRY HARRISON, the ninth \KJ Piesident of the United States, was born V Y at Berkeley, Va., February 9, 1773. His father, Benjamin Harrison, was in comparatively opulent circumstances, and was one of the most distinguished men of his day. He was an intimate friend of George Washington, was early elected a member of the Continental Congress, and was conspicuous among the patriots of Virginia in resisting the encroachments of the British crown. In the celebrated Congress of 1775, Benjamin Harrison and John Hancock were both candidates for the office of Speaker.

Mr. Harrison was subsequently chosen Governor of Virginia, and was twice re-elected. His son William Henry, of course, enjoyed in childhood all the advantages which wealth and intellectual and cultivated society could give. Having received a thorough common-school education, he entered Hampden Sidney College, where he graduated with honor soon after the death of his father. He then repaired to Philadelphia to study medicine under the instructions of Dr. Rush and the guardianship of Robert Morris, both of whom were, with his father, signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, he abandoned his medical studies and entered the army, having obtained a commission as Ensign from President Washington. He was then but nineteen years old. From that time he passed gradually upward hi rank until he became aide to Gen. Wayne, after whose death he resigned his commission. He was then appointed Secretary of the Northwestern Territory. This Territory was then entitled to but one member in Congress, and Harrison was chosen to fill that position. In the spring of 1800 the Northwestern Territory was divided by Congress into two portions. The eastern portion, comprising the region now embraced in the State of Ohio, was called ' ' The Territory northwest of the Ohio. ' ' The western portion, which included what is now called Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, was called "the Indiana Territory." William Henry Harrison, then twenty -seven years of age, was appointed by John Adams Governor of the Indiana Territory, and immediately after also Governor of Upper Louisiana. He was thus ruler over almost as extensive a realm as any sovereign upon the globe. He was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and was invested with powers nearly dictatorial over the then rapidly increasing white population. The ability and fidelity with which he discharged these responsible duties may be inferred from the fact that he was four times appointed to this office - first by John Adams, twice by Tbomas Jefferson, and afterwards by President Madison.

When he began his administration there were but three white settlements in that almost boundless region, now crowded with cities and resounding with all the tumult of wealth and traffic. One of these settlements was on the Ohio, nearly opposite Louisville; one at Vincennes, on the Wabash; and the third was a French settlement.

The vast wilderness over which Gov. Harrison reigned was filled with many tribes of Indians. About the year 1806, two extraordinary men, twin brothers of the Shawnee tribe, rose among them. One of these was called Tecumseh, or "the Crouching Panther;" the other Ollivvacheca, or "the Prophet." Tecumseh was not only an Indian warrior, but a man of great sagac- ity, far-reaching foresight and indomitable perseverance in any enterprise in which he might engage. His brother, the Prophet, was an orator, who could sway the feelings of the untutored Indians as the gale tossed the tree-tops beneath which they dwelt. With an enthusiasm unsurpassed by Peter the Hermit rousing Europe to the crusades, he went from tribe to tribe, assuming that he was specially sent by the Great Spirit.

Gov. Harrison made many attempts to conciliate the Indians, but at last war came, and at Tippecanoe the Indians were routed with great slaughter. October 28, 1812, his army began its march. When near the Prophet's town, three Indians of rank made their appearance and inquired why Gov. Harrison was approaching them in so hostile an attitude. After a short conference, arrangements were made for a meeting the next day to agree upon terms of peace.

But Gov. Harrison was too well acquainted with the Indian character to be deceived by such protestations. Selecting a favorable spot for his night's encampment, he took every precaution against surprise. His troops were posted in a hollow square and slept upon their arms. The wakeful Governor, between three and four o'clock in the morning, had risen, and was sitting in conversation with his aides by the embers of a waning fire. It was a chill, cloudy morning, with a drizzling rain. In the darkness, the Indians had crept as near as possible, and just then, with a savage yell, rushed, with all the desperation which superstition and passion most highly inflamed could give, upon the left flank of the little army. The savages had been amply provided with guns and ammunition by the English, and their war-whoop was accompanied by a shower of bullets.

The camp-fires were instantly extinguished, as the light aided the Indians in their aim, and Gen. Harrison's troops stood as immovable as the rocks around them until day dawned, when they made a simultaneous charge with the bayonet and swept everything before them, completely routing the foe.

Canadas, were of themselves a very formidable force, but with their savage allies rushing like wolves from the forest, burning, plundering, scalping, torturing, the wide frontier was plunged into a state of consternation which even the most vivid imagination can but faintly conceive. Gen. Hull had made an ignominious surrender of his forces at Detroit. Under these despairing circumstances, Gov. Harrison was appointed by President Madison Commander-in-Chief of the Northwestern Army, with orders to retake Detroit and to protect the frontiers. It would be difficult to place a man in a situation demanding more energy, sagacity and courage, but he was found equal to the position, and nobly and triumphantly did he meet all the responsibilities.

In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member of the National House of Representatives, to represent the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved an active member, and whenever he spoke it was with a force of reason and power of eloquence which arrested the attention of all the members.

In 18 1 9, Harrison was elected to the Senate of Ohio, and in 1 824, as one of the Presidential Electors of that State, he gave his vote for Henry Clay. The same year he was chosen to the United States Senate. In 1836 his friends brought him forward as a candidate for the Presidency against Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the close of Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nominated by his party, and Mr. Harrison was unanimously nominated by the Whigs, with John Tyler for the Vice-Presidency. The contest was very animated. Gen. Jackson gave all his influence to prevent Harrison's election, but his triumph was signal.

The cabinet which he formed, with Daniel Webster at its head as Secretary of State, was one of the most brilliant with which any President had ever been surrounded. Never were the prospects of an administration more flattering, or the hopes of the country more sanguine. In the midst of these bright and joyous prospects, Gen. Harrison was seized by a pleurisy-fever, and after a few days of violent sickness died, on the 4th of April, just one month after his inauguration as President of the United States.

John Tyler

flOHN TYLER, the tenth President of the I United States, and was born in Charles G) City County, Va., March 29, 1790. He was the favored child of affluence and high social position. At the early age of twelve, John entered William and Mary College, and graduated with much honor when but seventeen years old. After graduating, he devoted himself with great assiduity to the study of law, partly with his father and partly with Edmund Randolph, one of the most distinguished lawyers of Virginia.

At nineteen years of age, he commenced the practice of law. His success was rapid and astonishing. It is said that three months had not elapsed ere there was scarcely a case on the docket of the court in which he was not retained. When but twenty-one years of age, he was almost unanimously elected to a seat in the State Legislature. He connected himself with the Democratic party, and warmly advocated the measures of Jefferson and Madison. For five successive 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. Here he acted earnestly and ably with the Democratic party, opposing a national bank, internal improvements by the General Government, and a protective tariff; advocating a strict construction of the Constitution and the most careful vigilance over State rights. His labors in Congress were so arduous that before the close of his second term he found it necessary to resign and retire to his estate in Charles City County to recruit his health. He, however, soon after consented to take his seat in the State Legislature, where his influence was powerful in promoting public works of great utility. With a reputation thus constantly increasing, he was chosen by a very large majority of votes Governor of his native State. His administration was a signally successful one, and his popularity secured his re-election.

John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of the United States. A portion of the Democratic party was displeased with Mr. Randolph's wayward course, and brought forward John Tyler as his opponent, considering him the only man in Virginia of sufficient popularity to succeed against the renowned orator of Roanoke. Mr. Tyler was the victor.

In accordance with his professions, upon taking his seat in the Senate he joined the ranks of the opposition. He opposed the tariff, and spoke against and voted against the bank as unconstitutional; he strenuously opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resisting all projects of internal improvements by the General Government, and avowed his sympathy with Mr. Calhoun's view of nullification; he declared that Gen. Jackson, by his opposition to the nullifiers, had abandoned the principles of the Democratic party. Such was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress - a record in perfect accordance with the principles which he had always avowed.

Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice of his profession. There was a split in the Democratic party. His friends still regarded him as a true Jeffersonian, gave him a dinner, and showered compliments upon him. He had now attained the age of forty-six, and his career had been very brilliant. In consequence of his devotion to public business, his private affairs had fallen into some disorder, and it was not without satisfaction that he resumed the practice of law, and devoted himself to the cultivation of his plantation. Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, for the better education of his children, and he again took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia.

By the southern Whigs he was sent to the national convention at Harrisburg in 1839 to nominate a President. The majority of votes were given to Gen Harrison, a genuine Whig, much to the disappointment of the South, which wished for Henry Clay. To conciliate the southern Whigs and to secure their vote, the convention then nominated John Tyler for Vice-President. It was well known that he was not in sympathy with the Whig party in the North; but the Vice- President has very little power in the Government, his main and almost only duty being to preside over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it happened that a Whig President and, in reality, a Democratic Vice-President were chosen.

In 1841, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice- President of the United States. In one short month from that time, President Harrison died, and Mr. Tyler thus found himself, to his own surprise and that of the whole nation, an occupant of the Presidential chair. Hastening from Williamsburg to Washington, on the 6th of April he was inaugurated to the high and responsible office. He was placed in a position of exceeding delicacy and difficulty. All his long life he had been opposed to the main principles of the party which had brought him into power. He had ever been a consistent, honest man, with an unblemished record. Gen. Harrison had selected a Whig cabinet. Should he retain them, and thus surround himself with counselors whose views were antagonistic to his own ? or, on the other hand, should he turn against the party which had elected him, and select a cabinet in harmony with himself, and which would oppose all those views which the Whigs deemed essential to the public welfare ? This was his fearful dilemma. He invited the cabinet which President Harrison had selected to retain their seats, and recommended a day of fasting and prayer, that God would guide and bless us.

The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for the incorporation of a fiscal bank of ;he United States. The President, after ten days' delay, returned it with his veto. He suggested, however, that he would approve of a bill drawn up upon such a plan as he proposed. Such a bill was accordingly prepared, and privately submitted to him. He gave it his approval. It was passed without alteration, and he sent it back with his veto. Here commenced the open rupture. It is said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this measure by a published letter from the Hon. John M. Botts, a distinguished Virginia Whig, who severely touched the pride of the President.

The opposition now exultingly received the President into their arms. The party which elected him denounced him bitterly. All the members of his cabinet, excepting Mr. Webster, resigned. The Whigs of Congress, both the Senate and the House, held a meeting and issued an address to the people of the United States, proclaiming that all political alliance between the Whigs and President Tyler was at an end.

Still the President attempted to conciliate. He appointed a new cabinet of distinguished Whigs and Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong party men. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary to resign, forced out by the pressure of his Whig friends. Thus the four years of Mr. Tyler's unfortunate administration passed sadly away. No one was satisfied. The land was filled with murmurs and vituperation. Whigs and Democrats alike assailed him. More and more, however, he brought himself into sympathy with his old friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his term he gave his whole influence to the support of Mr. Polk, the Democratic candidate for his successor.

On the 4th of March, 1845, President Tyler retired from the harassments of office, to the regret of neither party, and probably to his own unspeakable relief. The remainder of his days were passed mainly in the retirement of his beautiful home - Sherwood Forest, Charles City County, Va. His first wife, Miss Letitia Christian, died in Washington in 1842; and in June, 1844, he was again married, at New York, to Miss Julia Gardiner, a young lady of many personal and intellectual accomplishments.

When the great Rebellion rose, which the State Rights and nullifying doctrines of John C. Calhoun had inaugurated, President Tyler renounced his allegiance to the United States, and joined the Confederates. He was chosen a member of their Congress, and while engaged in active measures to destroy, by force of arms, the Government over which he had once presided, he was taken sick and soon died.

James K. Polk

(TAMES K. POLK, the eleventh President of I the United States, was born in Meeklenburgh (2/ County, N. C, November 2, 1795. His parents were Samuel and Jane (Knox) Polk, the former a son of Col. Thomas Polk, who located at the above place, as one of the first pioneers, in 1735. In 1806, with his wife and children, and soon after followed by most of the members of the Polk family, Samuel Polk emigrated some two or three hundred miles farther west, to the rich valley of the Duck River. Here, in the midst of the wilderness, in a region which was subsequently called Maury County, they erected their log huts and established their homes. In the hard toil of a new farm in the wilderness, James K. Polk spent the early years of his childhood and youth. His father, adding the pursuit of a surveyor to that of a farmer, gradually increased in wealth, until he became one of the leading men of the region. His mother was a superior woman, of strong common sense and earnest piety.

Very earl}- in life James developed a taste for reading, and expressed the strongest desire to obtain a liberal education. His mother's training had made him methodical in his habits, had taught him punctuality and industry, and had inspired him with lofty principles of morality. His health was frail, and his father, fearing that he might not be able to endure a sedentary iife, got a situation for him behind the counter, hoping to fit him for commercial pursuits.

This was to James a bitter disappointment. He had no taste for these duties, and his daily tasks were irksome in the extreme. He remained in this uncongenial occupation but a few v;eks, when, at his earnest solicitation, his father removed him and made arrangements for him to prosecute his studies. Soon after he sent him to Murfreesboro Academy. With ardor which could scarcely be surpassed, he pressed forward in his studies, and in less than two and a-half years, in the autumn of 18 15, entered the sophomore class in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplar}- of scholars, punctual in every exercise, never allowing himself to be absent from a recitation or a religious service.

Mr. Polk graduated in 18 18, with the highest honors, being deemed the best scholar of his class, both in mathematics and the classics. He was then twenty -three years of age. His health was at this time much impaired by the assiduity with which he had prosecuted his studies. After a short season of relaxation, he went to Nashville, and entered the office of Felix Grundy, to study law. Here Mr. Polk renewed his acquaintance with Andrew Jackson, who resided on his plantation, the "Hermitage," but a few miles from Nashville. They had probably been slightly acquainted before.

Mr. Polk's father was a Jeffersonian Republican and James K. adhered to the same political faith. He was a popular public speaker, and was constantly called upon to address the meetings of his party friends. His skill as a speaker was such that he was popularly called the Napoleon of the stump. He was a man of unblemished morals, genial and courteous in his bearing, and with that sympathetic nature in the joys and griefs of others which gave him hosts of friends. In 1823, he was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee, and gave his strong influence toward the election of his friend, Mr. Jackson, to the Presidency of the United States.

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah Childress, of Rutherford County, Tenn. His bride was altogether worthy of him - a lady of beauty and culture. In the fall of 1825 Mr. Polk was chosen a member of Congress, and the satisfaction he gave his constituents may be inferred from the fact, that for fourteen successive years, or until 1839, he was continued in that office. He then voluntarily withdrew, only that he might accept the Gubernatorial chair of Tennessee. In Congress he was a laborious member, a frequent and a popular speaker. He was always in his seat, always courteous, and whenever he spoke it was always to the point, without any ambitious rhetorical display.

During five sessions of Congress Mr. Polk was Speaker of the House. Strong passions were roused and stormy scenes were witnessed, but he performed his arduous duties to a very general satisfaction, and a unanimous vote of thanks to him was passed by the House as he withdrew on the 4th of March, 1839.

In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk, as a candidate for Governor, canvassed the State. He was elected by a large majority, and on October 14, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. In 1 841 his term of office expired, and he was again the candidate of the Democratic party, but was defeated.

On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugurated President of the United States. The verdict of the country in favor of the annexation of Texas exerted its influence upon Congress, and the last act of the administration of President Tyler was to affix his signature to a joint resolution of Congress, passed on the 3d of March, approving of the annexation of Texas to the Union. As Mexico still claimed Texas as one of her provinces, the Mexican Minister, Almonte, immediately demanded his passports and left the country, declaring the act of the annexation to be an act hostile to Mexico.

In his first message, President Polk urged that Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be received into the Union on the same footing with the other States. In the mean time, Gen. Taylor was sent with an army into Texas to hold the country. He was first sent to Nueces, which the Mexicans said was the western boundary of Texas. Then he was sent nearly two hundred miles further west, to the Rio Grande, where he erected batteries which commanded the Mexican city of Matamoras, which was situated on the western banks. The anticipated collision soon took place, and war was declared against Mexico by President Polk. The war was pushed forward by his administration with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, whose army was first called one of ' ' observation, ' ' then of "occupation," then of " invasion," was sent forward to Monterey. The feeble Mexicans in every encounter were hopelessly slaughtered. The day of judgment alone can reveal the misery which this war caused. It was by the ingenuity of Mr. Polk's administration that the war was brought on.

' ' To the victors belong the spoils. ' ' Mexico was prostrate before us. Her capital was in our hands. We now consented to peace upon the condition that Mexico should surrender to us, in addition to Texas, all of New Mexico, and all of Upper and Lower California. This new demand embraced, exclusive of Texas, eight hundred thousand square miles. This was an extent of territory equal to nine States of the size of New York. Thus slavery was securing eighteen majestic States to be added to the Union. There were some Americans who thought it all right; there were others who thought it all wrong. In the prosecution of this war we expended twenty thousand lives and more than $100,000,000. Of this money $15,000,000 Were paid to Mexico.

On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk retired from office, having served one term. The next day was Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to the Capitol in the same carriage with Gen. Taylor, and the same evening, with Mrs. Polk, he commenced his return to Tennessee. He was then but fifty-four years of age. He had always been strictly temperate in all his habits, and his health was good. With an ample fortune, a choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic ties of the dearest nature, it seemed as though long years of tranquillity and happiness were before him. But the cholera - that fearful scourge - was then sweeping up the Valley of the Mississippi, and he contracted the disease, dying on the 15th of June, 1849, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, greatly mourned by his countrymen.

Zachary Taylor

G7ACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth President of I. the United States, was born on the 24th of /y) November, 1784, in Orange County, Va. His father, Col. Taylor, was a Virginian of note, and a distinguished patriot and soldier of the Revolution. When Zachary was an infant, his father, with his wife and two children, emigrated to Kentucky, where he settled in the pathless wilderness, a few miles from Louisville. In this frontier home, away from civilization and all its refinements, young Zachary could enjoy but few social and educational advantages. When six years of age he attended a common school, and was then regarded as a bright, active boy, rather remarkable for bluntness and decision of character. He was strong, fearless and self-reliant, and manifested a strong desire to enter the army to fight the Indians, who were ravaging the frontiers. There is little to be recorded of the uneventful years of his childhood on his father's large but lonely plantation.

In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining for him a commission as Lieutenant in the United States arm}-, and he joined the troops which were stationed at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. Soon after this he married Miss Margaret Smith, a young lady from one of the first families of Maryland.

Immediately after the declaration of war with England, in 1812, Capt. Taylor (for he had then been promoted to that rank) was put in command of Ft. Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles above Vincennes. This fort had been built in the wilderness by Gen. Harrison, on his march tc> Tippecanoe. It was one of the first points of attack by the Indians, led by Tecumseh. Its garrison consisted of a broken company of infantry, numbering fifty men, many of whom were sick.

fort. Their approach was first indicated by the murder of two soldiers just outside of the stockade. Capt. Taylor made every possible preparation to meet the anticipated assault. On the 4th of September, a band of fort}' painted and plumed savages came to the fort, waving a white flag, and informed Capt. Taylor that in the morning their chief would come to have a talk with him. It was evident that their object was merely to ascertain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, kept them at a distance.

The sun went down; the savages disappeared; the garrison slept upon their arms. One hour before midnight the war-whoop burst from a thousand lips in the forest around, followed by the discharge of musketry and the rush of the foe. Every man, sick and well, sprang to his post. Every man knew that defeat was not merely death, but, in the case of capture, death by the most agonizing and prolonged torture. No pen can describe, no imagination can conceive, the scenes which ensued. The savages succeeded in setting fire to one of the block-houses. Until six o'clock in the morning this awful conflict continued, when the savages, baffled at every point and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired. Capt. Taylor, for this gallant defense, was promoted to the rank of Major by brevet.

Until the close of the war, Maj. Taylor was placed in such situations that he saw but little more of active service. He was sent far away into the depths of the wilderness to Ft. Crawford, on Fox River, which empties into Green Bay. Here there was little to be done but to wear away the tedious hours as one best could. There were no books, no society, no intellectual stimulus. Thus with him the uneventful years rolled on. Gradually he rose to the rank of Colonel. In the Black Hawk War, which re-

For twenty-four years Col. Taylor was engaged in the defense of the frontiers, in scenes so remote, and in employments so obscure, that his name was unknown beyond the limits of his own immediate acquaintance. In the year 1836, he was sent to Florida to compel the Seminole Indians to vacate that region, and retire beyond the Mississippi, as their chiefs by treaty had promised they should do. The services rendered here secured for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of the Government, and as a reward he was elevated to the high rank of Brigadier- General by brevet, and soon after, in May, 1838, was appointed to the chief command of the United States troops in Florida.

After two years of wearisome employment amidst the everglades of the Peninsula, Gen. Taylor obtained, at his own request, a change of command, and was stationed over the Department of the Southwest. This field embraced Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Establishing his headquarters at Ft. Jessup, in Louisiana, he removed his family to a plantation which he purchased near Baton Rouge. Here he remained for five years, buried, as it were, from the world, but faithfully discharging every duty imposed upon him.

In 1846, Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the land between the Nueces and Rio Grande, the latter river being the boundary of Texas, which was then claimed by the United States. Soon the war with Mexico was brought on, and at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Gen. Taylor won brilliant victories over the Mexicans. The rank of Major-General by brevet was then conferred upon Gen. Taylor, and his name was received with enthusiasm almost everywhere in the nation. Then came the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista, in which he won signal victories over forces much larger than he commanded.

The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena Vista spread the wildest enthusiasm over the country. The name of Gen. Taylor was on every one's lips. The Whig party decided to take advantage of this wonderful popularity in bringing forward the unpolished, unlettered, honest soldier as their candidate for the Presidency. Gen. Taylor was astonished at the announcement, and for a time would not listen to it, declaring that he was not at all qualified for such an office. So little interest had he taken in politics, that for forty years he had not cast a vote. It was not without chagrin that several distinguished statesmen, who had been long years in the public service, found their claims set aside in behalf of one whose name had never been heard of, save in connection with Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista. It is said that Daniel Webster, in his haste, remarked, " It is a nomination not fit to be made."

Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a fine writer. His friends took possession of him, and prepared such few communications as it was needful should be presented to the public. The popularity of the successful warrior swept the land. He was triumphantly elected over two opposing candidates, - Gen. Cass and Ex-President Martin Van Buren. Though he selected an excellent cabinet, the good old man found himself in a very uncongenial position, and was at times sorely perplexed and harassed. His mental sufferings were very severe, and probably tended to hasten his death. The pro-slavery party was pushing its claims with tireless energy; expeditions were fitting out to capture Cuba; California was pleading for admission to the Union, while slavery stood at the door to bar her out. Gen. Taylor found the political conflicts in Washington to be far more trying to the nerves than battles with Mexicans or Indians.

In the midst of all these troubles, Gen. Taylor, after he had occupied the Presidential chair but little over a year, took cold, and after a brief sickness of but little over five days, died, on the 9th of July, 1850. His last words were, "I am not afraid to die. I am ready. I have endeavored to do my duty." He died universally respected and beloved. An honest, unpretending man, he had been steadily growing in the affections of the people, and the Nation bitterly lamented his death.

Millard Fillmore

ILLARD FILLMORE, thirteenth President of the United States, was born at Summer Hill, Cayuga County, N. Y., on the 7th of January, 1800. His father was a farmer, and, owing to misfortune, in humble circumstances. Of his mother, the daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, of Pittsfield, Mass., it has been said that she possessed an intellect of a high order, united with much personal loveliness, sweetness of disposition, graceful manners and exquisite sensibilities. She died in 1831, having lived to see her son a young man of distinguished promise, though she was not permitted to witness the high dignity which he finally attained.

In consequence of the secluded home and limited means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender advantages for education in his early years. The common schools, which he occasionally attended, were very imperfect institutions, and books were scarce and expensive. There was nothing then in his character to indicate the brilliant career upon which he was about to enter. He was a plain farmer's boy - intelligent, good-looking, kind-hearted. The sacred iufluences of home had taught him to revere the Bible, and had laid the foundations of an upright character. When fourteen years of age, his father sent him some hundred miles from home to the then wilds of Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier. Near the mill there was a small village, where some enterprising man had commenced the collection of a village library. This proved an inestimable blessing to young Fillmore. His evenings were spent in reading. Soon every leisure moment was occupied with books. His thirst for knowledge became insatiate, and the selections which he made were continually more elevating and instructive. He read history, biography, orator)', and thus gradually there was enkindled

The young clothier had now attained the age of nineteen years, and was of fine personal appearance and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so happened that there was a gentleman in the neighborhood of ample pecuniary means and of benevolence, - Judge Walter Wood, - who was struck with the prepossessing appearance of young Fillmore. He made his acquaintance, and was so much impressed with his ability and attainments that he advised him to abandon his trade and devote himself to the study of the law. The young man replied that he had no means of his own, no friends to help him, and that his previous education had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood had so much confidence in him that he kindly offered to take him into his own office, and to lend him such money as he needed. Most gratefully the generous offer was accepted.

There is in many minds a strange delusion about a collegiate education. A young man is supposed to be liberally educated if he has graduated at some college. But many a boy who loiters through university halls and then enters a law office is by no means as well prepared to prosecute his legal studies as was Millard Fillmore when he graduated at the clothing-mill at the end of four years of manual labor, during which every leisure moment had been devoted to intense mental culture.

In 1823, when twenty-three years of age, he was admitted to the Court of Common Pleas. He then went to the village of Aurora, and commenced the practice of law. In this secluded, quiet region, his practice, of course, was limited, and there was no opportunity for a sudden rise in fortune or in fame. Here, in 1826, he married a lady of great moral worth, and one capable of

His elevation of character, his untiring industry, his legal acquirements, and his skill as an advocate, gradually attracted attention, and he was invited to enter into partnership, under highly advantageous circumstances, with an elder member of the Bar in Buffalo. Just before removing to Buffalo, in 1829, he took his seat in the House of Assembly of the State of New York, as a Representative from Erie County. Though he had never taken a very active part in politics, his vote and sympathies were with the Whig party. The State was then Democratic, and he found himself in a helpless minority in the Legislature; still the testimony comes from all parties that his courtesy, ability and integrity won, to a very unusual degree, the respect of his associates.

In the autumn of 1832, he was elected to a seat in the United States Congress. He entered that troubled arena in the most tumultuous hours of our national history, when the great conflict respecting the national bank and the removal of the deposits was raging.

His term of two years closed, and he returned to his profession, which he pursued with increasing reputation and success. After a lapse of two years he again became a candidate for Congress; was re-elected, and took his seat in 1837. His past experience as a Representative gave him strength and confidence. The first term of service in Congress to any man can be but little more than an introduction. He was now prepared for active duty. All his energies were brought to bear upon the public good. Every measure received his impress.

Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, and his popularity filled the State. In the year 1847, when he had attained the age of fortyseven years, he was elected Comptroller of the State. His labors at the Bar, in the Legislature, in Congress and as Comptroller, had given him very considerable fame. The Whigs were casting about to find suitable candidates for President and Vice-President at the approaching election. Far away on the waters of the Rio Grande, there was a rough old soldier, who had fought one or two successful battles with the Mexicans, which had caused his name to be proclaimed in trumpet-tones all over the land as a candidate for the presidency. But it was necessary to associate with him on the same ticket some man of reputation as a statesman.

Under the influence of these considerations, the names of Zaehary Taylor and Millard Fillmore became the rallying-cry of the Whigs, as their candidates for President and Vice-President. The Whig ticket was signally triumphant. On the 4th of March, 1849, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated President, and Millard Fillmore Vice-President, of the United States.

On the 9th of July, 1850, President Taylor, about one year and four months after his inauguration, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the Constitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus became President. He appointed a very able cabinet, of which the illustrious Daniel Webster was Secretary of State; nevertheless, he had serious difficulties to contend with, since the opposition had a majority in both Houses. He did all in his power to conciliate the South; but the pro-slavery party in the South felt the inadequacy of all measures of transient conciliation. The population of the free States was so rapidly increasing over that of the slave States, that it was inevitable 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 administration, and the Japan expedition was sent out. On the 4th of March, 1853, he, having served one term, retired.

In 1856, Mr. Fillmore was nominated for the Presidency by the "Know-Nothing" party, but was beaten by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr. Fillmore lived in retirement. During the terrible conflict of civil war, he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed that his sympathies were rather with those who were endeavoring to overthrow our institutions. President Fillmore kept aloof from the conflict, without any cordial words of cheer to one party or the other. He was thus forgotten by both. He lived to a ripe old age, and died in Buffalo, N. Y., March 8, 1874.

Franklin Pierce

fRANKUN PIERCE, the fourteenth Presir^ dent of the United States, was born in Hills- | * borough, N. H., November 23, 1804. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, who with his own strong arm hewed out a home in the wilderness. He was a man of inflexible integrity, of strong, though uncultivated, mind, and was an uncompromising Democrat. The mother of Franklin Pierce was all that a son could desire - an intelligent, prudent, affectionate, Christian woman.

Franklin, who was the sixth of eight children, was a remarkably bright and handsome boy, generous, warm-hearted and brave. He won alike the love of old and young. The boys on the play-ground loved him. His teachers loved him. The neighbors looked upon him with pride and affection. He was by instinct a gentleman, always speaking kind words, and doing kind deeds, with a peculiar, unstudied tact which taught him what was agreeable. Without developing any precocity of genius, or any unnatural devotion to books, he was a good scholar, and in body and mind a finely developed boy.

When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, he entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me. He was one of die most popular young men in the college. The purity of his moral character, the unvarying courtesy of his demeanor, his rank as a scholar, and genial nature, rendered him a universal favorite. There was something peculiarly winning in his address, and it was evidently not in the slightest degree studied - it was the simple outgushing of his own magnanimous and loving nature.

Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin Pierce commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Woodbury, one of the most distinguished lawyers of the State, and a man of great private worth. The eminent social qualities of the young lawyer, his father's prominence as a public man, and the brilliant political career into which Judge Woodbury was entering, all tended to entice Mr. Pierce into the fascinating yet perilous path of political life. With all the ardor of his nature he espoused the cause of Gen. Jackson for the Presidency. He commenced the practice of law in Hillsborough, and was soon elected to represent the town in the State Legislature. Here he served for four years. The last two years he was chosen Speaker of the House by a very large vote.

In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was elected a member of Congress. In 1837, being then but thirty-three years old, he was elected to the Senate, taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren commenced his administration. He was the youngest member in the Senate. In the year 1834, he married Miss Jane Means Appleton, a lady of rare beauty and accomplishments, and one admirably fitted to adorn ever}' station with which her husband was honored. Of the three sons who were born to them, all now sleep with their parents in the grave.

In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing fame and increasing business as a lawyer, took up his residence in Concord, the capital of New Hampshire. President Polk, upon his accession to office, appointed Mr. Pierce Attorney-General of the United States; but the offer was declined in consequence of numerous professional engagements at home, and the precarious state of Mrs. Pierce's health. He also, about the same time, declined the nomination for Governor by the Democratic party. The war with Mexico called

Mr. Pierce into the army. Receiving the appointment of Brigadier-General, he embarked with a portion of his troops at Newport, R. I., on the 27th of May, 1847. He took an important part in this war, proving himself a brave and true soldier.

When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his native State, he was received enthusiastically by the advocates of the Mexican War, and coldly by his opponents. He resumed the practice of his profession, very frequently taking an active part in political questions, giving his cordial support to the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party. The compromise measures met cordially with his approval, and he strenuously advocated the enforcement of the infamous Fugitive Slave Law, which so shocked the religious sensibilities of the North. He thus became distinguished as a ' ' Northern man with Southern principles. ' ' The strong partisans of slavery in the South consequently regarded him as a man whom they could safely trust in office to carry out their plans.

On the 12th of June, 1852, the Democratic convention met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate for the Presidency. For four days they continued in session, and in thirty -five ballotings no one had obtained a two-thirds vote. Not a vote thus far had been thrown for Gen. Pierce. Then the Virginia delegation brought forward his name. There were fourteen more ballotings, during which Gen. Pierce constantly gained strength, until, at the forty-ninth ballot, he received two hundred and eighty-two votes, and all other candidates eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was the Whig candidate. Gen. Pierce was chosen with great unanimity. Only four States - Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee - cast their electoral votes against him. Gen. Franklin Pierce was therefore inaugurated President of the United States on the 4th of March, 1853.

His administration proved one of the most stormy our country had ever experienced. The controversy between slavery and freedom was then approaching its culminating point. It became evident that there was to be an irrepressible conflict between them, and that this nation could not long exist " half slave and half free."

President Pierce, during the whole of his administration, did everything he could to conciliate the South; but it was all in vain. The conflict every year grew more violent, and threats of the dissolution of the Union were borne to the North on every Southern breeze.

Such was the condition of affairs when President Pierce approached the close of his fouryears term of office. The North had become thoroughly alienated from him. The anti-slavery sentiment, goaded by great outrages, had been rapidly increasing; all the intellectual ability and social worth of President Pierce were forgotten in deep reprehension of his administrative acts. The slaveholders of the South also, unmindful of the fidelity with which he had advocated those measures of Government which they approved, and perhaps feeling that he had rendered himself so unpopular as no longer to be able to acceptably serve them, ungratefully dropped him, and nominated James Buchanan to succeed him.

On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce returned to his home in Concord. His three children were all dead, his last surviving child having been killed before his eyes in a railroad accident; and his wife, one of the most estimable and accomplished of ladies, was rapidly sinking in consumption. The hour of dreadful gloom soon came, and he was left alone in the world without wife or child.

When the terrible Rebellion burst forth which divided our country into two parties, and two only, Mr. Pierce remained steadfast in the principles which he had always cherished, and gave his sympathies to that pro-slavery party with which he had ever been allied. He declined to do anything, either by voice or pen, to strengthen the hand of the National Government. He continued to reside in Concord until the time of his death, which occurred in October, 1869. He was one of the most genial and social of men, an honored communicant of the Episcopal Church, and one of the kindest of neighbors. Generous to a fault, he contributed liberally toward the alleviation of suffering and want, and many of his towns-people were often gladdened by his material bounty.

James Buchanan

(TAMES BUCHANAN, the fifteenth President I of the United States, was born in a small © frontier town, at the foot of the eastern ridge of the Alleghanies, in Franklin County, Pa., on the 23d of April, 1791. The place where the humble cabin home stood was called Stony Batter. His father was a native of the north of Ireland, who had emigrated in 1783, with little property save his own strong arms. Five years afterward he married Elizabeth Spear, the daughter of a respectable farmer, and, with his young bride, plunged into the wilderness, staked his claim, reared his log hut, opened a clearing with his axe, and settled down there to perform his obscure part in the drama of life. When James was eight years of age, his father removed to the village of Mercersburg, where his son was placed at school, and commenced a course of study in English, Latin and Greek. His progress was rapid, and at the age of fourteen he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle. Here he developed remarkable talent, and took his stand among the first scholars in the institution.

In the year 1809, he graduated with the highest honors of his class. He was then eighteen years of age; tall and graceful, vigorous in health, fond of athletic sports, an unerring shot, and enlivened with an exuberant flow of animal spirits. He immediately commenced the study of law in the city of Lancaster, and was admitted to the Bar in 181 2, when he was but twenty-one years of age.

In 1820, he reluctantly consented to run as a candidate for Congress. He was elected, and for ten years he remained a member of the Lower House. During the vacations of Congress, he

Gen. Jackson, upon his elevation to the Presidency, appointed Mr. Buchanan Minister to Russia. The duties of his mission he performed with ability, and gave satisfaction to all parties. Upon his return, in 1833, he was elected to a seat in the United States Senate. He there met as his associates Webster, Clay, Wright and Calhoun. He advocated the measures proposed by President Jackson, of making reprisals against France to enforce the payment of our claims against that country, and defended the course of the President in his unprecedented and wholesale removal from office of those who were not the supporters of his administration. Upon this question he was brought into direct collision with Henry Clay. He also, with voice and vote, advocated expunging from the journal of the Senate the vote of censure against Gen. Jackson for removing the deposits. Earnestly he opposed the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and urged the prohibition of the circulation of anti-slavery documents by the United States mails. As to petitions on the subject of slavery, he advocated that they should be respectfully received, and that the reply should be returned that Congress had no power to legislate upon the subject. "Congress," said he, "might as well undertake to interfere with slavery under a foreign government as in any of the States where it now exists. ' '

Upon Mr. Polk's accession to the Presidency, Mr. Buchanan became Secretary of State, and as such took his share of the responsibility in the conduct of the Mexican War. Mr. Polk assumed that crossing the Nueces by the American troops into the disputed territory was not wrong, but for the Mexicans to cross the Rio Grande into Texas was a declaration of war. No candid man can read with pleasure the account of the course our Government pursued in that movement. Mr. Buchanan identified himself thoroughly with the party devoted to the perpetuation and extension of slavery, and brought all the energies of his mind to bear against the Wilmot Proviso. He gave his cordial approval to the compromise measures of 1850, which included the Fugitive Slave Law. Mr. Pierce, upon his election to the Presidency, honored Mr. Buchanan with the mission to England.

In the year 1856, a national Democratic Convention nominated Mr. Buchanan for the Presidency. The political conflict was one of the most severe in which our country has ever engaged. All the friends of slavery were on one side; all the advocates of its restriction and final abolition on the other. Mr. Fremont, the candidate of the enemies of slavery, received one hundred and fourteen electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan received one hundred and seventy-four, and was elected. The popular vote stood 1,340,618 for Fremont, 1,224,750 for Buchanan. On March 4, 1857, the latter was inaugurated.

Mr. Buchanan was far advanced in life. Only four years were wanting to fill up his three-score years and ten. His own friends, those with whom he had been allied in political principles and action for years, were seeking the destruction of the Government, that they might rear upon the ruins of our free institutions a nation whose corner-stone should be human slavery. In this emergency, Mr. Buchanan was hopelessly bewildered. He could not, with his long-avowed principles, consistently oppose the State Rights party in their assumptions. As President of the United States, bound by his oath faithfully to administer the laws, he could not, without perjury of the grossest kind, unite with those endeavoring to overthrow the Republic. He therefore did nothing. The opponents of Mr. Buchanan's administration nominated Abraham Lincoln as their standard-bearer in the next Presidential canvass. The pro-slavery party declared that if he were elected and the control of the Government were thus taken from their hands, they would secede from the Union, taking with them as they retired the National Capitol at Washington and the lion's share of the territory of the United States.

As the storm increased in violence, the slaveholders claiming the right to secede, and Mr. Buchanan avowing that Congress had no power to prevent it, one of the most pitiable exhibitions of governmental imbecility was exhibited that the world has ever seen. He declared that Congress had no power to enforce its laws in any State which had withdrawn, or which was attempting to withdraw, from the Union. This was not the doctrine of Andrew Jackson, when, with his hand upon his sword-hilt, he exclaimed: "The Union must and shall be preserved!"

South Carolina seceded in December, i860, nearly three months before the inauguration of President Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in listless despair. The rebel flag was raised in Charleston; Ft. Sumter was besieged; our forts, navy-yards and arsenals were seized; our depots of military stores were plundered, and our custom-houses and post-offices were appropriated by the rebels.

The energy of the rebels and the imbecility of our Executive were alike marvelous. The nation looked on in agony, waiting for the slow weeks to glide away and close the administration, so terrible in its weakness. At length the longlooked-for hour of deliverance came, when Abraham Lincoln was to receive the scepter.

The administration of President Buchanan was certainly the most calamitous our country has experienced. His best friends can not recall it with pleasure. And still more deplorable it is for his fame, that in that dreadful conflict which rolled its billows of flame and blood over our whole land, no word came from his lips to indicate his wish that our country's banner should triumph over the flag of the Rebellion. He died at his Wheatland retreat, June 1, 1868.

Abraham Lincoln

(31 BRAHAM LINCOLN, the sixteenth Presi- LA dent of the United States, was born in Hardin (1 County, Ky., February 12, 1809. About the year 1780, a man by the name of Abraham Lincoln left Virginia with his family and moved into the then wilds of Kentucky. Only two years after this emigration, and while still a young man, he was working one day in a field, when an Indian stealthily approached and killed him. His widow was left in extreme poverty with five little children, three boys and two girls. Thomas, the youngest of the boys, and the father of President Abraham Lincoln, was four years of age at his father's death.

When twenty-eight years old, Thomas Lincoln built a log cabin, and married Nancy Hanks, the daughter of another family of poor Kentucky emigrants, who had also come from Virginia. Their second child was Abraham Lincoln, the subject of this sketch. The mother of Abraham was a noble woman, gentle, loving, pensive, created to adorn a palace, but doomed to toil and pine, and die in a hovel. " All that I am, or hope to be," exclaimed the grateful son, " I owe to my angelmother. ' ' When he was eight years ot age, his father sold his cabin and small farm and moved to Indiana, where two years later his mother died.

As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly family was the usual lot of humanity. There were joys and griefs, weddings and funerals. Abraham's sister Sarah, to whom he was tenderly attached, was married when a child of but fourteen years of age, and soon died. The family was gradually scattered, and Thomas Lincoln sold out his squatter's claim in 1830, and emigrated to Macon County, 111.

Abraham Lincoln was then twenty-one years of age. With vigorous hands he aided his father in rearing another log cabin, and worked quite diligently at this until he saw the family comfortably settled, and their small lot of enclosed prairie planted with corn, when he announced to his father his intention to leave home, and to gc out into the world and seek his fortune. LiUk did he or his friends imagine how brilliant that fortune was to be. He saw the value of education and was intensely earnest to improve his mind to the utmost of his power. Religion he revered. His morals were pure, and he was uncontaminated by a single vice.

Young Abraham worked for a time as a hired laborer among the farmers. Then he went to Springfield, where he was employed in building a large flat-boat. In this he took a herd of swine, floated them down the Sangamon to Illinois, and thence by the Mississippi to New Orleans. Whatever Abraham Lincoln undertook, he performed so faithfully as to give great satisfaction to his emplo5rers. In this adventure the latter were so well pleased, that upon his return they placed a store and mill under his care.

In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk War, he enlisted and was chosen Captain of a company. He returned to Sangamon County, and, although only twenty-three years of age, was a candidate for the Legislature, but was defeated. He soon after received from Andrew Jackson the appointment of Postmaster of New Salem. His only post-office was his hat. All the letters he received he carried there, ready to deliver to those he chanced to meet. He studied sun-eying, and soon made this his business. In 1834 he again became a candidate for the Legislature and was elected. Mr. Stuart, of Springfield, advised him to study law. He walked from New Salem to Springfield, borrowed of Mr. Stuart a load of books, carried them back, and began his legal studies. When the Legislature assembled, he trudged on foot with his pack on his back one hundred miles to Vandalia, then the capital. In 1836 he was re-elected to the Legislature. Here it was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. In 1839 he removed to Springfield and began the practice of law. His success with the jury was so great

In 1854 the great discussion began between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas on the slavery question. In the organization of the Republican party in Illinois, in 1856, he took an active part, and at once became one of the leaders in that party. Mr. Lincoln's speeches in opposition to Senator Douglas in the contest in 1858 for a seat in the Senate, form a most notable part of his history. The issue was on the slavery question, and he took the broad ground of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal. Mr. Lincoln was defeated in this contest, but won a far higher prize.

The great Republican Convention met at Chicago on the 1 6th of June, i860. The delegates and strangers who crowded the city amounted to twenty-five thousand. An immense building called " The Wigwam," was reared to accommodate the convention. There were eleven candidates for whom votes were thrown. William H. Seward, a man whose fame as a statesman had long filled the land, was the most prominent. It was generally supposed he would be the nominee. Abraham Lincoln, however, received the nomination on the third ballot.

Election day came, and Mr. Lincoln received one hundred and eighty electoral votes out of two hundred and three cast, and was, therefore, constitutionally elected President of the United States. The tirade of abuse that was poured upon this good and merciful man, especially by the slaveholders, was greater than upon any other man ever elected to this high position. In February, 1 861, Mr. Lincoln started for Washington, stopping in all the large cities on his way, making speeches. The whole journey was fraught with much danger. Many of the Southern States had already seceded, and several attempts at assassination were afterward brought to light. A gang in Baltimore had arranged upon his arrival to "get up a row," and in the confusion to make sure of his death with revolvers and hand-grenades. A detective unravelled the plot. A secret and special train was provided to take him from Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an unexpected hour of the night. The train started at half-past ten, and to prevent any possible communication on the part of the Secessionists with their Confederate gang in Baltimore, as soon as the train had started the telegraph-wires were cut. Mr. Lincoln reached Washington in safety and was inaugurated, although great anxiety was felt by all loyal people.

In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln gave to Mr. Seward the Department of State, and to other prominent opponents before the convention he gave important positions; but during no other administration had the duties devolving upon the President been so manifold, and the responsibilities so great, as those which fell to his lot. Knowing this, and feeling his own weakness and inability to meet, and in his own strength to cope with, the difficulties, he learned early to seek Divine wisdom and guidance in determining his plans, and Divine comfort in all his trials, both personal and national. Contrary to his own estimate of himself, Mr. Lincoln was one of the most courageous of men. He went directly into the rebel capital just as the retreating foe was leaving, with no guard but a few sailors. From the time he had left Springfield, in 1861, however, plans had been made for his assassination, and he at last fell a victim to one of them. April 14, 1S65, he, with Gen. Grant, was urgently invited to attend Ford's Theatre. It was announced that they would be present. Gen. Grant, however, left the city. President Lincoln, feeling, with his characteristic kindliness of heart, that it would be a disappointment if he should fail them, very reluctantly consented to go. While listening to the play, an actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth entered the box where the President and family were seated, and fired a bullet into his brain. He died the next morning at seven o'clock.

Never before in the history of the world was a nation plunged into such deep grief by the death of its ruler Strong men met in the streets and wept in speechless anguish. His was a life which will fitly become a model. His name as the Savior of his country will live with that of Washington's, its Father.

Andrew Johnson

Gl NDREW JOHNSON, seventeenth President LJ of the United States. The early life of An- / I drew Johnson contains but the record of poverty, destitution and friendlessness. He was born December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, N. C. His parents, belonging to the class of "poor whites" of the South, -were in such circumstances that they could not confer even the slightest advantages of education upon their child. When Andrew was five years of age, his father accidentally lost his life, while heroically endeavoring to save a friend from drowning. Until ten years of age, Andrew was a ragged boy about the streets, supported by the labor of his mother, who obtained her living with her own hands.

He then, having never attended a school one day, and being unable either to read or write, was apprenticed to a tailor in his native town. A gentleman was in the habit of going to the tailor's shop occasionally, and reading to the boys at work there. He often read from the speeches of distinguished British statesmen. Andrew, who was endowed with a mind of more than ordinary ability, became much interested in these speeches; his ambition was roused, and he was inspired with a strong desire to learn to read.

He accordingly applied himself to the alphabet, and with the assistance of some of his fellowworkmen learned his letters. He then called upon the gentleman to borrow the book of speeches. The owner, pleased with his zeal, not only gave him the book, but assisted him in learning to combine the letters into words. Under such difficulties he pressed onward laboriously, spending usually ten or twelve hours at work in the shop, and then robbing himself of rest and recreation to devote such time as he could to reading.

Greenville, where he married a young lady who possessed some education. Under her instructions he learned to write and cipher. He became prominent in the village debating society, and a favorite with the students of Greenville College. In 1828, he organized a working man's party, which elected him Alderman, and in 1830 elected him Mayor, which position he held three years.

He now began to take a lively interest in political affairs, identifying himself with the working-class, to which he belonged. In 1835, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of Tennessee. He was then just twentyseven years of age. He became a very active member of the Legislature, gave his support to the Democratic party, and in 1840 "stumped the State," advocating Martin Van Buren's claims to the Presidency, in opposition to those of Gen. Harrison. In this campaign he acquired much readiness as a speaker, and extended and increased his reputation.

In 1841, he was elected State Senator; in 1843, he was elected a Member of Congress, and by successive elections held that important post for ten years. In 1853, he was elected Governor of Tennessee, and was re-elected in 1855. In all these responsible positions, he discharged his duties with distinguished ability, and proved himself the warm friend of the working classes. In 1857, Mr. Johnson was elected United States Senator.

Years before, in 1845, he had warmly advocated the annexation of Texas, stating, however, as his reason, that he thought this annexation would probably prove "to be the gateway out of which the sable sons of Africa are to pass from bondage to freedom, and become merged in a population congenial to themselves." In 1850, he also supported the compromise measures, the two essen- tial features of which were, that the white people of the Territories should be permitted to decide for themselves whether they would enslave the colored people or not, and that the free States of the North should return to the South persons who attempted to escape from slavery.

Mr. Johnson was never ashamed of his lowly origin: on the contrary, he often took pride in avowing that he owed his distinction to his own exertions. "Sir," said he on the floor of the Senate, "I do not forget that I am a mechanic; neither do I forget that Adam was a tailor and sewed fig-leaves, and that our Savior was the son of a carpenter. ' '

In the Charleston-Baltimore convention of i860, he was the choice of the Tennessee Democrats for the Presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of the Southern Democracy became apparent, he took a decided stand in favor of the Union, and held that "slavery must be held subordinate to the Union at whatever cost. ' ' He returned to Tennessee, and repeatedly imperiled his own life to protect the Unionists of that State. Tennessee having seceded from the Union, President Lincoln, on March 4, 1862, appointed him Military Governor of the State, and he established the most stringent military rule. His numerous proclamations attracted wride attention. In 1864, he was elected Vice-President of the United States, and upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, 1865, became President. In a speech two days later he said, "The American people must be taught, if they do not already feel, that treason is a crime and must be punished; that the Government will not always bear with its enemies; that it is strong not only to protect, but to punish. * * The people must understand that it (treason) is the blackest of crimes, and will surely be punished." Yet his whole administration, the history of which is so well known, was in utter inconsistency with, and in the most violent opposition to, the principles laid down in that speech.

In his loose policy of reconstruction and general amnesty, he was opposed by Congress, and he characterized Congress as a new rebellion, and lawlessly defied it in everything possible to the utmost. In the beginning of 1868, on account of

"High crimes and misdemeanors," the principal of which was the removal of Secretary Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act, articles of impeachment were preferred against him, and the trial began March 23.

It was very tedious, continuing for nearly three months. A test article of the impeachment was at length submitted to the court for its action. It was certain that as the court voted upon that article so would it vote upon all. Thirty-four voices pronounced the President guilty. As a two-thirds vote was necessary to his condemnation, he was pronounced acquitted, notwithstanding the great majority against him. The change of one vote from the not guilty side would have sustained the impeachment.

The President, for the remainder of his term, was but little regarded. He continued, though impotently, his conflict with Congress. His own party did not think it expedient to renominate him for the Presidency. The Nation rallied with enthusiasm, unparalleled since the days of Washington, around the name of Gen. Grant. Andrew Johnson was forgotten. The bullet of the assassin introduced him to the President's chair. Notwithstanding this, never was there presented to a man a better opportunity to immortalize his name, and to win the gratitude of a nation. He failed utterly. He retired to his home in Greenville, Tenn. , taking no very active part in politics until 1875. On January 26, after an exciting struggle, he was chosen by the Legislature of Tennessee United States Senator in the Forty-fourth Congess, and took his seat in that body, at the special session convened by President Grant, on the 5th of March. On the 27th of Jul}', 1875, the ex-President made a visit to his daughter's home, near Carter Station, Tenn. When he started on his journey, he was apparently in his usual vigorous health, but on reaching the residence of his child the following day, he was stricken with paralysis, which rendered him unconscious. He rallied occasionally, but finally passed away at 2 a. m., July 31 , aged sixty-seven years. His funeral was held at Greenville, on the 3d of August, with every demonstration of respect.

Ulysses S. Grant

HLYSSES S. GRANT, the eighteenth President of the United States, was born on the 29th of April, 1822, of Christian parents, in a humble home at Point Pleasant, on the banks of the Ohio. Shortly after, his father moved to Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio. In this remote frontier hamlet, Ulysses received a commonschool education. At the age of seventeen, in the year 1839, he entered the Military Academy at West Point. Here he was regarded as a solid, sensible young man, of fair ability, and of sturdy, honest character. He took respectable rank as a scholar. In June, 1843, he graduated about the middle in his class, and was sent as Lieutenant of Infantry to one of the distant military posts in the Missouri Territory. Two years he passed in these dreary solitudes, watching the vagabond Indians.

The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His first battle was at Palo Alto. There was no chance here for the exhibition of either skill or heroism, nor at Resaca de la Palma, his second battle. At the battle of Monterey, his third engagement, it is said that he performed a signal service of daring and skillful horsemanship.

At the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant returned with his regiment to New York, and was again sent to one of the military posts on the frontier. The discovery of gold in California causing an immense tide of emigration to flow to the Pacific shores, Capt. Grant was sent with a battalion to Ft. Dallas, in Oregon, for the protection of the interests of the immigrants. But life was wearisome in those wilds, and he resigned his commission and returned to the States. Having married, he entered upon the cultivation of a small farm near St, Louis, Mo., but having little skill as a farmer, and finding his toil not remunerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering into the leather business, with a younger brother at Galena, 111. This was in the year i860. As the tidings of the rebels firing on Ft. Sumter reached the ears of Capt. Grant in his countingroom, he said: "Uncle Sam has educated me for the army; though I have served him through one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid the debt. I am still ready to discharge my obligations. I shall therefore buckle on my sword and see Uncle Sam through this war too. ' '

He went into the streets, raised a company of volunteers, and led them as their Captain to Springfield, the capital of the State, where their services were offered to Gov. Yates. The Governor, impressed by the zeal and straightforward executive ability of Capt. Grant, gave him a desk in his office to assist in the volunteer organization that was being formed in the State in behalf of the Government. On the 15th of June, 1861, Capt. Grant received a commission as Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. His merits as a West Point graduate, who had served for fifteen years in the regular army, were such that he was soon promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, and was placed in command at Cairo. The rebels raised their banner at Paducah, near the mouth of the Tennessee River. Scarcely had its folds appeared in the breeze ere Gen. Grant was there. The rebels fled, their banner fell, and the Stars and Stripes were unfurled in its stead.

He entered the service with great determination and immediately began active duty. This was the beginning, and until the surrender of Lee at Richmond he was ever pushing the enemy with great vigor and effectiveness. At Belmont, a few days later, he surprised and routed the rebels, then at Ft. Henry won another victory. Then came the brilliant fight at Ft. Donelson. The nation was electrified by the victory, and the brave leader of the boys in blue was immediately made a Major-General, and the military district of Tennessee was assigned to him.

Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew well how to secure the results of victory. He immediately pushed on to the enemies' lines. Then came the terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. Pemberton made an unconditional surrender of the city with over thirty thousand men and one hundred and seventy-two cannon. The fall of Vicksburg was by far the most severe blow which the rebels had thus far encountered, and opened up the Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf.

Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate with Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and proceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown from his horse, and received severe injuries, from which he was laid up for months. He then rushed to the aid of Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas at Chattanooga, and by a wonderful series of strategic and technical measures put the Union army in fighting condition. Then followed the bloody battles at Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in which the rebels were routed with great loss. This won for him unbounded praise in the North. On the 4th of February, 1864, Congress revived the grade of lieutenant-general, and the rank was conferred on Gen. Grant. He repaired to Washington to receive his credentials and enter upon the duties of his new office.

Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took charge of the army to concentrate the widely-dispersed National troops for an attack upon Richmond, the nominal capital of the rebellion, and endeavor there to destroy the rebel armies which would be promptly assembled from all quarters for its defense. The whole continent seemed to tremble under the tramp of these majestic armies, rushing to the decisive battle-field. Steamers were crowded with troops. Railway trains were burdened with closely-packed thousands. His plans were comprehensive, and involved a series of campaigns, which were executed with remarkable energy and ability, and were consummated at the surrender of Lee, April 9, 1865.

The war was ended. The Union was saved. The almost unanimous voice of the nation declared Gen. Grant to be the most prominept instrument in its salvation. The eminent sendees he had thus rendered the country brought him conspicuously forward as the Republican candidate for the Presidential chair.

At the Republican Convention held at Chicago, May 21, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the Presidency, and at the autumn election received a majority of the popular vote, and two hundred and fourteen out of two hundred and ninety-four electoral votes.

The National Convention of the Republican party, which met at Philadelphia on the 5th 01 June, 1872, placed Gen. Grant in nomination for a second term by a unanimous vote. The selection was emphatically indorsed by the people five months later, two hundred and ninety-two electoral votes being cast for him.

Soon after the close of his second term, Gen. Grant started upon his famous trip around the world. He visited almost every country of the civilized world, and was everywhere received with such ovations and demonstrations of respect and honor, private as well as public and official, as were never before bestowed upon any citizen of the United States.

He was the most prominent candidate before the Republican National Convention in 1880 for a renominatiou for President. He went to New York and embarked in the brokerage business under the firm name of Grant & Ward. The latter proved a villain, wrecked Grant's fortune, and for larceny was sent to the penitentiary. The General was attacked with cancer in the throat, but suffered in his stoic-like manner, never complaining. He was re-instated as General of the Army, and retired by Congress. The cancer soon finished its deadly work, and July 23, 1885, the nation went in mourning over the death 01 the illustrious General.

Rutherford B. Hayes

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, the nineteenth President of the United States, was born in Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822, almost three months after the death of his father, Rutherford Hayes. His ancestry on both the paternal and maternal sides was of the most honorable character. It can be traced, it is said, as far back as 1280, when Hayes and Rutherford were two Scottish chieftains, fighting side by side with Baliol, William Wallace and Robert Bruce. Both families belonged to the nobility, owned extensive estates, and had a large following. Misfortune overtaking the family, George Hayes left Scotland in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son George was born in Windsor, and remained there during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, married Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of his marriage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. Ezekiel, son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was a manufacturer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. Rutherford Hayes, son of Ezekiel and grandfather of President Hayes, was born in New Haven, in August, 1756. He was a farmer, blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He emigrated to Vermont at an unknown date, settling in Brattleboro, where he established a hotel. Here his son, Rutherford Hayes, the father of President Hayes, was born. He was married, in September, 1813, to Sophia Birchard, of Wilmington, Vt., whose ancestors emigrated thither from Connecticut, they having been among the wealthiest and best families of Norwich. Her ancestry on the male side is traced back to 1635, to John Birchard, one of the principal founders of Norwich. Both of her grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

mechanical turn of mind, and could mend a plow, knit a stocking, or do almost anything else that he chose to undertake. He was a member of the church, active in all the benevolent enterprises of the town, and conducted his business on Christian principles. After the close of the War of 181 2, for reasons inexplicable to his neighbors, he resolved to emigrate to Ohio.

The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day, when there were no canals, steamers, or railways, was a very serious affair. A tour of inspection was first made, occupying four months. Mr. Hayes decided to move to Delaware, where the family arrived in 181 7. He died July 22, 1822, a victim of malarial fever, less than three months before the birth of the son of whom we write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore bereavement, found the support she so much needed in her brother Sardis, who had been a member of the household from the day of its departure from Vermont, and in an orphan girl, whom she had adopted some time before as an act of charity.

Rutherford was seven years old before he went to school. His education, however, was not neglected. He probably learned as much from his mother and sister as he would have done at school. His sports were almost wholly within doors, his playmates being his sister and her associates. These circumstances tended, no doubt, to foster that gentleness of disposition and that delicate consideration for the feelings of others which were marked traits of his character.

His uncle, Sardis Birchard, took the deepest interest in his education; and as the boy's health had improved, and he was making good progress in his studies, he proposed to send him to college. His preparation commenced with a tutor at home; but he was afterwards sent for one year to a professor in the Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. He entered Kenyon College in 1838, at the age of sixteen, and was graduated at the head of his class in 1842.

Immediately after his graduation he began the study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, Esq., in Columbus. Finding his opportunities for study in Columbus somewhat limited, he determined to enter the Law School at Cambridge, Mass., where he remained two 3^ears.

In 1845, after graduating at the Law School, he was admitted to the Bar at Marietta, Ohio, and shortly afterward went into practice as an attorney-at-law with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fremont. Here he remained three years, acquiring but a limited practice, and apparently unambitious of distinction in his profession.

In 1849 he moved to Cincinnati, where his ambition found a new stimulus. For several years, however, his progress was slow. Two events occurring at this period had a powerful influence upon his subsequent life. One of these was his marriage with Miss Lucy Ware Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of Chillicothe; the other was his introduction to the Cincinnati Literary Out}, a body embracing among its members such men as Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Gen. John Pope, Gov. Edward F. Noyes, and many others hardly less distinguished in after life. The marriage was a fortunate one in every respect, as everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of our Presidents was more universally admired, reverenced and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and no one did more than she to reflect honor upon American womanhood. The LiteraryClub brought Mr. Hayes into constant association with young men of high character and noble aims, and lured him to display the qualities so long hidden by his bashfulness and modesty.

In 1856 he was nominated to the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but he declined to accept the nomination. Two years later, the office of City Solicitor becoming vacant, the City Council elected him for the unexpired term.

His military record was bright and illustrious. In October, 1861, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel, and in August, 1862, promoted Colonel of the Seventy-ninth Ohio Regiment, but he refused to leave his old comrades and go among strangers. Subsequently, however, he was made Colonel of his old regiment. At the battle of South Mountain he received a wound, and while faint and bleeding displayed courage and fortitude that won admiration from all.

Col. Hayes was detached from his regiment, after his recovery, to act as Brigadier-General, and placed in command of the celebrated Kanawha division, and for gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, he was promoted Brigadier-General. He was also breveted Major- General, "for gallant and distinguished services during the campaigns of 1864, in West Virginia." In the course of his arduous services, four horses were shot from under him, and he was wounded four times.

In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to Congress from the Second Ohio District, which had long been Democratic. He was not present during the campaign, and after the election was importuned to resign his commission in the army; but he finally declared, " I shall never come to Washington until I can come by way of Richmond." He was re-elected in 1866.

In 1867, Gen. Hayes was elected Governor of Ohio, over Hon. Allen G. Thurman, a popular Democrat, and in 1869 was re-elected over George H. Pendleton. He was elected Governor for the third term in 1875.

In 1876 he was the standard-bearer of the Republican party in the Presidential contest, and after a hard, long contest was chosen President, and was inaugurated Monday, March 5, 1877. He served his full term, not, however, with satisfaction to his part}', but his administration was an average one. The remaining years of his life were passed quietly in his Ohio home, where he passed away January 17, 1893.

James A. Garfield

HAMES A. GARFIELD, twentieth President I of the United States, was born November 19, (2? 1 83 1, in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. His parents were Abram and Eliza (Ballou) Garfield, both of New England ancestry, and from families well known in the early history of that section of our country, but who had moved to the Western Reserve, in Ohio, early in its settlement.

The house in which James A. was born was not unlike the houses of poor Ohio farmers of that day. It was about 20 x 30 feet, built of logs, with the spaces between the logs filled with clay. His father was a hard-working farmer, and he soon had his fields cleared, an orchard planted, and a log barn built. The household comprised the father and mother and their four children, Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and James. In May, 1823, the father died from a cold contracted in helping to put out a forest fire. At this time James was about eighteen months old, and Thomas about ten years old. No one, perhaps, can tell how much James was indebted to his brother's toil and self-sacrifice during the twenty years succeeding his father's death. He now lives in Michigan, and the two sisters live in Solon, Ohio, near their birthplace.

The early educational advantages young Garfield enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the most of them. He labored at farm work for others, did carpenter work, chopped wood, or did anything that would bring in a few dollars to aid his widowed mother in her struggles to keep the little family together. Nor was Gen. Garfield ever ashamed of his origin, and he never forgot the friends of his struggling childhood, youth and manhood; neither did they ever forget him. When in the highest seats of honor, the humblest friend of his boyhood was as kindly greeted as ever. The poorest laborer was sure of the sympathy of one who had known all the bitterness of

The highest ambition of young Garfield until he was about sixteen years old was to be captain of a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious to go aboard a vessel, but this his mother strongly opposed. She finally consented to his going to Cleveland, with the understanding, however, that he should try to obtain some other kind of employment. He walked all the way to Cleveland. This was his first visit to the city. After making many applications for work, and trying to get aboard a lake vessel and not meeting with success, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos Letcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. He remained at this work but a short time, when he went home, and attended the seminary at Chester for about three years. He then entered Hiram and the Eclectic Institute, teaching a few terms of school in the mean time, and doing other work. This school was started by the Disciples of Christ in 1850, of which body he was then a member. He became janitor and bell-ringer in order to help pay his way. He then became both teacher and pupil. Soon " exhausting Hiram," and needing a higher education, in the fall of 1854 he entered Williams College, from which he graduated in 1856, taking one of the highest honors of his class. He afterwards returned to Hiram College as its President. As above stated, he early united with the Christian, or Disciples, Church at Hiram, and was ever after a devoted, zealous member, often preaching in its pulpit and places where he happened to be.

Mr. Garfield was united in marriage, November 11, 1858, with Miss Lucretia Rudolph, who proved herself worthy as the wife of one whom all the world loved. To them were born seven children, five of whom are still living, four boys and one girl.