Dallas County, Texas - The whole text, 1892 (part 2 of 32)

In 1828 Jackson was triumphantly elected President over Adams after a campaign of unparalleled bitterness. He was inaugurated March 4, 1829, and at once removed from office all the incumbents belonging to the opposite party - a procedure new to American politics, but which naturally became a precedent.

His first term was characterized by quarrels Taetween the Vice-President, Calhoun, and the Secretary of State, Van Buren, attended by a cabinet crisis originating in scandals connected with the name of Mrs. General Eaton, wife of the Secretary of War; by the beginning of his war upon the United States Bank, and by his vigorous action against the partisans of Calhoun, who, in South Carolina, threatened to nullify the acts of Congress, establishing a protective tariff.

Jackson received 219 out of 288 electoral votes, his competitor being Mr. Clay, while Mr. Wirt, on an Anti-AIasonic platform, received the vote of Vermont alone. In 1833 President Jackson jemoved the Government deposits from the United States bank, thereb}- incurring a vote of censure from the Senate, which was, however, expunged four years later. During this second term of office the Cherokees, Choctaws and Creeks were removed, not without difficulty, from Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, to the Indian Territory; the National debt was extinguished; Arkansas and Michigan were admitted as States to the Union; the Seminole war was renewed; the anti-slavery agitation first, acquired importance; the Mormon delusion, which had organized in 1829, attained considerable proportions in Ohio and Missouri, and the country experienced its greatest pecuniary panic.

Railroads with locomotive propulsion were introduced into America during Jackson's first term, and had become an important element of national life before the close of his second term. For many reasons, therefore, the administration of President Jackson formed an era in American historv, political, social and industrial. He succeeded in effecting the election of his friend Van Buren as his successor, retired from the Presidency March 4, 1837; and led a tranquil life at the Hermitage until his death, which occurred June 8,

During his closing years he was a professed Christian and a member of the Presbyterian church. No American of this century has been the subject of such opposite judgments. He was loved and hated with equal vehemence during his life, but at the present distance of time from his career, while opinions still vary as to the merits of his public acts, few of his countrymen will question that he was a warmhearted, brave, patriotic, honest and sincere man. If his distinguishing qualities were not such as constitute statesmanship, in the highest sense, he at least never pretended to other merits than such as were written to his credit on the page of American history - not attempting to disguise the demerits which were equally legible. The majority of his countrymen accepted and honored him, in spite of all that calumny as well as truth could allege against him. His faults may therefore be truly said to have been those of his time; his magnificent virtues may also, with the same justice, be considered as typical of a state of society which has nearly passed away.

ARTIN VAN BUREN, the eighth l^v President of the United States, 1837- '41, was born at Kinderhook, New York, December 5, 1782. His ancestors were of Dutch origin, and were among the earliest emigrants from Holland to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a tavern-keeper, as well as a farmer, and a very decided Democrat. °* Martin commenced the study of law at the age of fourteen, and took an active part in politics before he had reached the age of twenty. In 1803 he commenced the practice of law in his native village. In 1809 he removed to Hudson, the shire town of his county, where he spent seven years, gaining strength by contending in the courts with some of' the ablest men who have adorned the bar of his State. The heroic example of John Ouincy Adams in retaining in office every faithful man, without regard to his political preferences, had been thoroughly repudiated by General Jackson. The unfortunate principle was now fully established, that " to the victor belong the spoils." Still, this principle, to which Mr. Van Buren gave his adherence, was not devoid of inconveniences. When, subsequently, he attained power which placed vast patronage in his hands, he was heard to.say: "I prefer an office that has no patronage. When I give a man an office I offend his disappointed competitors and their friends. Nor am I certain of gaining a friend in the man I appoint, for, in all probability, he expected something better."

In 1812 Mr. Van Buren was elected to the State Senate. In 1 8 1 5 he was appointed Attorney-General, and in i8i6tothe Senate a second time. In 1818 there was a great split in the Democratic party in New York, and Mr. Van Buren took the lead in organizing that portion of the party called the Albany Regency, which is said to have swayed the destinies of the State for a quarter of a centurj-.

In 1 82 1 he was chosen a member of the convention for revising the State Constitution, in which he advocated an extension of the franchise, but opposed universal suffrage, and also favored the proposal that colored persons, in order to vote, should have freehold property to the amount of $250. In this year he was also elected to the United States Senate, and at the conclusion of his term, in 1827, was re-elected, but resigned the following year, having been chosen Governor of the State. In March, 1829, he was appointed Secretary oJ

Martin Van Bur En

State by President Jackson, but resigned in April, 1831, and during the recess of Congress was appointed minister to England, whither he proceeded in September, but the Senate, when convened in December, refused to ratify the appointment.

In May, 1832, Mr. Van Buren was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Vice- President, and elected in the following November. Ma\' 26, 1836, he received the nomination to succeed General Jackson as President, and received 170 electoral votes, out of 283.

Scarcely had he taken his seat in the Presidential chair when a financial panic swept over the land. Many attributed this to the war which General Jackson had waged on the banks, and to his endeavor to secure an almost exclusive specie currency. Nearly every bank in the country was compelled to suspend specie payment, and ruin pervaded ail our great cities. Not less than 254 houses failed in New York in one week. All public works were brought to a stand, and there was a general state of dismay. President Van Buren urged the adoption of the independent treasury system, which was twice passed in the Senate and defeated in the House, but finally became a law near the close of his administration.

Another important measure was the passage of a pre-emption law, giving actual settlers the preference in the purchase of public lands. The question of slavery, also, now began to assume great prominence in national politics, and after an elaborate anti-slavery speech by Mr. Slade, of Vermont, in the House of Representatives, the Southern members withdrew for a separate consultation, at which Mr. Rhett, of South Carolina, proposed to declare it expedient that the Union should be dissolved ; but the matter was tided over by the passage of a resolution that no petitions or papers relating to slavery should be in any way considered or acted upon.

In the Presidential election of 1840 Mr. Van Buren was nominated, without opposition, as the Democratic candidate, William H. Harrison being the candidate of the Whig party. The Democrats carried only seven States, and out of 294 electoral votes only sixty were for Mr. Van Buren, the remaining 234 being for his opponent. The Whig popular majority, however, was not large, the elections in many of the States being very close.

March 4, 1841, Mr. Van Buren retired from the Presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwald he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics of the country. In 1844 he was again proposed as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, and a majority of the delegates of the nominating convention were in his favor ; but, owing to his opposition to the proposed annexation of Texas, he could not secure the requisite two-thirds vote. His name was at length withdrawn by his friends, and Mr. Polk received the nomination, and was elected.

In 1848 Mr. Cass was the regular Democratic candidate. A schism, however, sprang up in the party, upon the question of the permission of slavery in the newlyacquired territory, and a portion of the party, taking the name of " Free-Soilers," nominated Mr. Van Buren. The)' drew away sufificient votes to secure the election of General Taylor, the Whig candidate. After this Mr. Van Buren retired to his estate at Kinderhook, where the remainder of his life was passed, with the exception of a European tour in 1853. He died at Kinderhook, July 24, 1862, at the age of eighty years.

Martin Van Buren was a great and good man, and no one will question his right to a high position among those who have been the successors of Washington in the faithful occupancy of the Presidential chair.

LIAiM HENRY HARRISON, the ninth President of the United States, I S4 I, was born February g, 1773, in Charles Coiintv, Virginia, at Berkeley, the residence of his father, Governor Benjamin Harrison. He studied at Hampden, Sidney College, with a view of entering the medical profession. After graduation he went to Philadelphia to study medicine under the instruction of Dr. Rush. George Washington was then President :>{ the United States. The Indians were committing fearful ravages on our Northwestern frontier. Young Harrison, either lured by the love of adventure, or moved by the sufferings of families exposed to the most horrible outrages, abandoned his medical studies and entered the army, having obtained a commission of ensign from President Washington. The first duty assigned him was to take a train of pack-horses bound to Fort Hamilton, on the Miami River, about forty miles from Fort Washington. He was soon promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and joined the army which Washington had placed under the command of General Wayne to prosecute more vigorously the war with the Indians. Lieutenant Harrison received great commendation from his commanding officer, and was promoted to the rank of Captain, and placed in coiumand at Fort Washington, now Cincmnati, Ohio.

About this time he married a daughter of John Cleves Symmes, one of the frontiersmen who had established a thriving settlement on the bank of the Maumee.

In 1797 Captain Harrison resigned his commission in the army and was appointed Secretary of the Northwest Territory, and cx-officio Lieutenant-Governor, General St. Clair being then Governor of the Territory. At that time the law in reference to the disposal of the public lands was such that no one could purchase in tracts less than 4,000 acres. Captain Harrison, in the face of violent opposition, succeeded in obtaining so much of a modification of this unjust law that the land was sold in alternate tracts of 640 and 320 acres. The Northwest Territory vas then entitled to one delegate in C(»ngress, and Captain Harrison was chosen to fill that office. In 1800 he was appointed Governor of Indiana Territory and soon after of Upper Louisiana. He was also Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and so well did lie fulfill these duties that he was four times appointed to this office. During his administration he effected thirteen treaties with the Indians, by which the United States acquired 60,000,000 acres of land. In 1804 he obtained a cession from the Indians of all the land between the Illinois River and the Mississippi.

In 1812 he was made Major-General of Kentucky militia and Brigadier-Genera! m the army, with the command of the Northwest frontier. In 181 3 he was made Major-General, and as such won much renown by the defense of Fort Meigs, and the battle of the Thames, Octobers, 1813. In 1814 he left the army and was employed in Indian affairs by the Government.

In 1816 General Harrison was chosen a member of the National House of Representatives to represent the district of Ohio. In the contest which preceded his election he was accused of corruption in respect to the commissariat of the army. Immediately upon taking his seat, he called for an investigation of the charge. A committee was appointed, and his vindication was triumphant. A high compliment was paid to his patriotism, disinterestedness and devotion to the public service. For these services a gold medal was presented to him with the thanks of Congress.

In 1 8 19 he was elected to the Senate of Ohio, and in 1824, as one of the Presidential electors of that State, he gave his vote to Henry Clay. In the same year he was elected to the Senate of the United States. In 1828 he was appointed by President Adams minister plenipotentiary to Colombia, but was recalled by General Jackson immediately after the inauguration of the Jatter.

North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio, sixteen miles below Cincinnati, where for twelve years he was clerk of the County Court. He once owned a distillery, but perceiving the sad effects of whisky upon the surrounding population, he promptlyabandoned his business at great pecuniary sacrifice.

In 1836 General Harrison was brought forward as a candidate for the Presidency. Van Buren was the administration candidate; the opposite party could not unite, and four candidates were brought forward. General Harrison received seventy-three electoral votes without any general concert among his friends. The Democratic party triumphed and Mr. \'an Buren was chosen President. In 1839 General Harrison was again nominated for the Presidency by the Whigs, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Mr. Van Buren being the Democratic candidate. General Harrison received 234 electoral votes against sixty for his opponent. This election is memorable chiefly for the then extraordinary means employed during the canvass for popular votes. Mass meetings and processions were introduced, and the watchwords " log cabin " and " hard cider " were effectually used b)- the Whigs, and aroused a popular enthusiasm.

A vast concourse of people attended his inauguration. His address on that occasion was in accordance with his antecedents, and gave great satisfaction. A short time after he took his seat, he was seized by a pleurisyfever, and after a few days of violent sickness, died April 4, just one short month after his inauguration. H is death was universally regarded as one of the greatest of National calamities. Never, since the death of Washington, were there, throughout one land, such demonstrations of sorrow. Not one single spot can be found to sully his fame; and through all ages Americans wili pronounce with love and reverence the name of William Henrv Harrison.

OHN TYLER, the tenth President of the United States, was born in Charles City County, Virginia, March 29, 1790. His father. Judge John Tyler, possessed large landed estates in Virginia, and was one of the most distinguished men of his day, filling the offices of Speaker of the House of Delegates, Judge of the Supreme Court and Governor of the State. At the early age of twelve young John entered William and Mary College, and graduated with honor when but seventeen years old. He then closely apphed himself to the study of law, and at nineteen years of age commenced the practice of his profession. When only twentyone he was elected to a seat in the State Legislature. He acted with the Democratic party and advocated the measures of Jefferson and Madison. For five years he was elected to the Legislature, receiving nearly the unanimous vote of his county.

When but twenty-six years of age he was elected a member of Congress. He advocated a strict construction of the Constitution and the most careful vigilance over

State rights. He was soon compelled to resign his seat in Congress, owing to ill health, but afterward took his seat in the State Legislature, where he exerted a powerful influence in promoting public works of great utility.

In 1825 Mr. Tyler was chosen Governor of his State - a high honor, for Virginia had many able men as competitors for the prize. His administration was signally a successful one. He urged forward internal improvements and strove to remove sectional jealousies. His popularity secured his re-election. In 1827 he was elected United States Senator, and upon taking his seat jomed the ranks of the opposition. He opposed the tariff, voted against the bank as unconstitutional, opposed all restrictions upon slavery, resisted all projects of internal improvements by the General Government, avowed his sympathy with Mr. Calhoun's views of nullification, and declared that General Jackson, b}' his opposition to the nullifiers, had abandoned the principles of the Democratic party. Such was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress.

This hostility to Jackson caused Mr. Tyler's retirement from the Senate, after his election to a second term. He soon after removed to Williamsburg for the better education of his children, and again took his seat in the Legislature.

John Tyler

In 1839 he was sent to the National Convention at Harrisburg to nominate a President. General Harrison received a majority of votes, much to the disappointment of the South, who had wished for Henry Clay. In order to concil'ate the Southern Whigs, John Tj'lcr was nominated for Vice-President. Harrison and Tyler were inaugurated March 4, 1841. In one short month from that time President Harrison died, and Mr. Tyler, to his own surprise as well as that of the nation, found himself an occupant of the Presidential chair. His position was an exceedingly difficult one, as he was opposed to the main principles of the party which had brought him into power. General Harrison had selected a Whig cabinet Should he retain them, and thus surround himself with councilors whose views were antagonistic to his own? or should he turn against the party that had elected him, and select a cabinet in harmony with himself? This was his fearful dilemma.

President Tyler deserves more charity than he has received. He issued an address to the people, which gave general satisfaction. He retained the cabinet General Harrison had selected. His veto of a bill chartering a new national bank led to an open quarrel with the party which elected him, and to a resignation of the entire cabinet, except Daniel Webster, Secretary of State.

President Tyler attempted to conciliate. He appointed a new cabinet, leaving out all strong party men, but the Whig members of Congress were not satisfied, and they published a manifesto September 13, breaking off all political relations. The Democrats had a majoritv in the House ; the Whigs in the Senate. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary to resign, being forced out by the pressure of his Whig friends.

April 12, 1844, President Tyler concluded, rhrough Mr. Calhoun, a treaty for the annexation of Texas, which was rejected by the Senate ; but he effected his object in the closing da^-s of his administration by the passage of the joint resolution of March i

He was nominated for the Presidency by an informal Democratic Convention, held at Baltimore in May, 1844, but soon withdrew from the canvass, perceiving that he had not gained the confidence of the Democrats at large.

Mr. Tyler's administration was particularly unfortunate. No one was satisfied. Whigs and Democrats alike assailed him. Situated as he was, it is more than can be expected of human nature that he should, in all cases, have acted in the wisest manner ; but it will probably be the verdict of all candid men, in a careful review of his career, that John Tjdcr was placed in a position of such difficulty that he could not pursue any course which would not expose him to severe censure and denunciation.

In 181 3 Mr. Tyler married Letitia Christian, who bore him three sons and three daughters, and died in Washington in 1842. June 26, 1844, he contracted a second marriage with Miss Julia Gardner, of New York. He lived in almost complete retirement from politics until February, 1861, when he was a member of the abortive " peace convention," held at Washington, and was chosen its President. Soon after he renounced his allegiance to the United States and was elected to the Confederate Congress. He died at Richmond, January 17, 1862, after a short iilness.

Unfortunately for his memory the name of John Tyler must forever be associated with all the misery of that terrible Rebellion, whose cause he openly espoused. It is with sorrow that history records that a President of the United States died while defending the flag of rebellion, which was arrayed against the national banner in deadly warfare

'AMES KNOX POLK, the eleventh President of y^fi^^ the United States, 1845- 7d , :'' '49, was born in Mecklenburg Count}', North Carolina, November 2, 1795. He was the eldest son of a family of six sons and four daughters, and was a grand-nephew of Colonel Thomas Polk, celebrated in connection with the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.

In 1806 his father, Samuel Polk, emigrated with his family two or three hundred miles west to the valley of the Duck River. He was a surveyor as well as farmer, and gradually increased in wealth until he became one of the leading men of the region.

In the common schools James rapidly became proficient in all the common branches of an English education. In 1813 he was sent to Murfreesboro Academy, and in the autumn of 181 5 entered the sophomore class in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, graduating in 1818. After a short season of recreation he went to Nashville and entered the law office of Felix I Grundy. As soon as he had his finished 1

James K. Polk ever adhered to the political faith of his father, which was that of a Jeffersonian Republican. In 1823 he was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee. As a " strict constructionist," he did not think that the Constitution empowered the General Government to carr\' on a system of internal improvements in the States, but deemed it important that it should have that power, and wished the Constitution amended that it might be conferred. Subsequently, however, he became alarmed lest the General Government become so strong as to undertake to interfere with slavery. He therefore gave all his influence to strengthen the State governments, and to check the growth of the central power.

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Mary Childress, of Rutherford County, Tennessee. Had some one then whispered to him that he was destined to become President of the United States, and that he must select for his companion one who would adorn that distinguished station, he could not have made a more fitting choice. She was truly a lady of rare beauty and culture.

James K. Polk

ously re-elected until 1839. He then withdrew, only that he might accept the gubernatorial chair of his native State. He was a warm friend of General Jackson, who had been defeated in the electoral contest by John Quincy Adams. This latter gentleman had just taken his seat in the Presidential chair when Mr. Polk took his seat in the House of Representatives. He immediately united himself with the opponents of Mr. Adams, and was soon regarded as the leader of the Jackson party in the House.

The four years of Mr. Adams' administration passed away, and General Jackson took tne Presidential chair. Mr. Polk had now become a man of great influence in Congress, and was chairman of its most important committee - that of Ways and Means. Eloquently he sustained General Jackson in all his measures - in his hostility to internal improvements, to the banks, and to the tariff. Eight years of General Jackson's administration passed away, and the powers he had wielded passed into the hands of Martin Van Buren ; and still Mr. Polk remained in the House, the advocate of that type of Democracy which those distinguished men upheld.

During five sessions of Congress Mr. Polk was speaker of the House. He performed his arduous duties to general satisfaction, and a unanimous vote of thanks to him was passed by the House as he withdrew, March 4, 1839. He was elected Governor by a large majority, and took the oath of office at Nashville, October 14, 1839. He was a candidate for re-election in 1841, but was defeated. In the meantime a wonderful revolution had swept over the country. W. H. Harrison, the Whig candidate, had been called to the Presidential chair, and in Tennessee the Whig ticket had been carried by over 12,000 majority. Under these circumstances Mr. Polk's success was hopeless. Still he canvassed the

State with his Whig competitor, Mr. Jones, traveling in the most friendly manner together, often in the same carriage, and at one time sleeping in the same bed. Mr. Jones was elected by 3,000 majoritj-.

And now the question of the annexation of Texas to our country agitated the whole land. When this question became national Mr. Polk, as the avowed champion of annexation, became the Presidential candidate of the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party, and George M. Dallas their candidate for the Vice-Presidency. They were elected by a large majority, and were inaugurated March 4, 1845.

President Polk formed an able cabinet, consisting of James Buchanan, Robert J. Walker, William L. Marcy, George Ban croft. Cave Johnson and John Y. Mason. The Oregon boundar}- question was settled, the Department of the Interior was created, the low tariff ol 1846 was carried, the financial system of the Government was reorganized, the Mexican war was conducted, which resulted in the acquisition of California and New Mexico, and had farreaching consequences upon the later fortunes of the republic. Peace was made. We had wrested from Mexico territory equal to four times the empire of France, and five times that of Spain. In the prosecution of this war we expended 20,000 lives and more than $100,000,000. Of this money $15,000,000 were paid to Mexico.

Declining to seek a renomination, Mr. Polk retired from the Presidency March 4, 1849, when he was succeeded by General Zachary Ta3'lor. He retired to Nashville, and died there June 19, 1849, '" the fiftyfourth year of his age. His funeral was attended the following dav, in Nashville, with every demonstration of respect. He left no children. Without being possessed of extraordinar)' talent, Mr. Polk was a capable administrator of public affairs, and irreproachable in private life.

ACHARY TAYLOR, the twelfth President of the United States, 1 849-' 50, was born in Orange County, Virginia, Septem- 1784. His father, Richard Taylor, was Colonel of a Virginia regiment in the Revolutionary war, and removed to Kentucky in 1785 ; purchased a large plantation near Louisville and became an influential citizen ; was a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of Kentucky: served in both branches of the Legislature ; was Collector of the port of Louisville under President Washington ; as a Presidential elector, voted for Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Clay; died January 19,1829.

Zachary remained on his father's plantation until 1808, in which year (May 3) he was appointed First Lieutenant in the Seventh Infantry, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of his elder brother, Hancock. Up to this point he had received but a limited education.

was attacked with yellow fever, with nearly fatal termination. In November, 18 10, he was promoted to Captain, and in the summer of 181 2 he was in command of Fort Harrison, on the left bank of the Wabash River, near the present site of Terre Haute, his successful defense of which with but a handful of men against a large force of Indians which had attacked him was one of the first marked military achievements of the war. He was then brevetted Major, and in 1814 promoted to the full rank.

During the remainder of the war Taylor was actively employed on the Western frontier. In the peace organization of 181 5 he was retained as Captain, but soon after resigned and settled near Louisville. In May, 1816, however, he re-entered the army as Major of the Third Infantry ; became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighth Infantry in 1819. and in 1832 attained the Colonelcy of the First Infantry, of which he had beer^ Lieutenant-Colonel since 1 82 1 . On different occasions he had been called to Washington as member of a military board for organizing the militia of the Union, and to aid the Government with his knowledge in the organization of the Indian Bureau, having for many years discharged the duties ot Indian agent over large tracts of Western country. He served through the Black Hawk war in 1832, and in 1837 was ordered to take command in Florida, then the scene of war with the Indians.

In 1846 he was transferred to the command of the Army of the Southwest, from which he was relieved the same year at his own request. Subsequently he was stationed on the Arkansas frontier at Forts Gibbon, Smith and Jesup, which latter work nad been built under his direction in 1822.

May 28, 1845, he received a dispatch from the Secretary of War informing him of the receipt of information by the President " that Texas would shortly accede to the terms of annexation," in which event he was instructed to defend and protect her from "foreign invasion and Indian incursions." He proceeded, upon the annexation of Texas, with about 1,500 men to Corpus Chnsti, where his force was increased to some 4,000.

Taylor was brevetted Major-General May 28, and a month later, June 29, 1846, his full commission to that grade was issued. After needed rest and reinforcement, he advanced in September on Monterey, which city capitulated after three-days stubborn resistance. Here he took up his winter quarters. The plan for the invasion of Mexico, by way of Vera Cruz, with General Scott in command, was now determined upon by the Govenrment, and at the moment Ta3lor was about to resume active operations, he received orders to send the larger part of his force to reinforce the army of General Scott at Vera Cruz. Though subsequently reinforced by raw recruits, yet after providing a garrison for Monterey and Saltillo he had but about 5,300 effective troops, of which but 500 or 600 were regulars. In this weakened condition, however, he was destined to achieve his greatest victory. Confidently relying upon his strength at Vera Cruz to resist the enemy for a long time. Santa Anna directed his entire army against Taylor to overwhelm him, and then to return to oppose the advance of Scott's more formidable invasion. The battle of Buena Vista was fought February 22 and 23, 1847. Taylor received the thanks of Congress and a gold medal, and " Old Rough and Ready," the sobriquet given him in the army, became a household word. He remained in quiet possession of the Rio Grande Valley until November, when he returned to the United States.

In the Whig convention which met at Philadelphia,June 7, 1848, Taylor was nominated on the fourth ballot as candidate ji the Whig parly for Fresideiu, over Henry Clay, General Scott and Daniel Webster. In November Taylor received a majority of electoral votes, and a popular vote of 1,360,752, against 1,219,962 for Cass and Butler, and 291,342 for Van Buren and Adams. General Taylor was inaugurated March 4, 1849.

The free and slave States being then equal in number, the struggle for supremacy on the part of the leaders in Congress was violent and bitter. In the summer of 1849 California adopted in convention a Constitution prohibiting slavery within its borders. Taylor advocated the immediate admission of California with her Constitution, and the postponement of the question as to the other Territories until they could hold conventions and decide for themselves whether slavery should exist within their borders. This policy ultimately prevailed through the celebrated "Compromise Measures" of Henry Clay ; but not during the life of the brave soldier and patriot statesman. July 5 he was taken suddenly ill with a bilious fever, which proved fatal, his death occurring July 9, 1850. One of his daughters married C(jlonel W. W. S. Bliss, his Adjutant-General and Chief of Stafif in Florida and Mexico, and Private Secretary during his Presidency. Another daughter was married to Jefferson Davis.

Illard Fill

ILLARD FILL- '^ MORE, the thirds!;.' teenth President of the United ^j_. States, iS5o-'3, was "''"'' yv^ born in Summer Hill, Cayuga County, New York, January 7, i8oo. He was of New England ancestr}', and his educational advantages were limited. He earl}^ learned the clothiers' trade, but spent all his leisure time in study. At nineteen years of age he was induced by Judge Walter Wood to abandon his trade and commence the study of law. Upon learning that the young man was entirely destitute of means, he took him into his own office and loaned him such money as he needed. That he might not be heavily burdened with debt, young Fillmore taught school during the winter months, and in various other ways helped himself along. At the age of twenty-three he was admitted to the Court of Common Pleas, and commenced the practice of his profession in the village of Aurora, situated on the eastern bank of the Caj'uga Lake. In 1825 he married Miss Abigail Powers, daughter of Rev. Lemuel Powers, a lady of great moral worth. In 1S35 he took his seat in the House of Assembly of his native State, as Representative from Erie County, whither he had recently moved.

Though he had never taken a very active part in politics his vote and his sympathies were with the Whig party. The State was then Democratic, but his courtesy, ability and integrity won the respect of his associates. In 1832 he was elected to a seat in the United States Congress. At the close of his term he returned to his law practice, and in two years more he was again elected to Congress.

He now began to have a national reputation. His labors were very arduous. To draft resolutions in the committee room, and then to defend them against the most skillful opponents on the floor of the House requires readiness of mind, mental resources and skill in debate such as few possess. Weary with these exhausting labors, and pressed by the claims of his private affairs, Mr. Fillmore wrote a letter to his constituents and declined to be a candidate for reelection. Notwithstanding this cemmwniu.

cation his friends met in convention and renominated him by acclamation. Though gratified by this proof of their appreciation of his labors he adhered to his resolve and returned to his home.

In 1847 Mr. Fillmore was elected to the important office of comptroller of the State. In entering upon the very responsible duties which this situation demanded, it was necessary for him to abandon his profession, and he removed to the city of Albany. In this 3'ear, also, the Whigs were looking around to find suitable candidates for the President and Vice-President at the approaching election, and the names of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore became the rallying cry of the Whigs. On the 4th of March, 1849, General Taylor was inaugurated President and Millard Fillmore Vice-President of the United States.

The great question of slavery had assumed enormous proportions, and permeated ever}' subject that was brought before Congress. It was evident that the strength of our institutions was to be severely tried. July 9, 1850, President Taylor died, and, by the Constitution, Vice-President Fillmore became President of the United States. The agitated condition of the country brought questions of great delicacy before him. He was bound by his oath of office to execute the laws of the United States. One of these laws was understood to be, that if a slave, escaping from bondage, should reach a free State, the United States was bound to do its utmost to capture him and return hiin to his master. Most Christian men loathed this law. President Fillmore felt bound by his oath rigidly to see it enforced. Slavery was organizing armies to invade Cuba as it had invaded Texas, and annex it to the United States. President Fillmore gave all the influence of his exalted station against the atrocious enterprise.

contend with, since the opposition had a majority in both Houses. He did everything in his power to conciliate the South, but the pro-slavery party in that section felt the inadequency of all measures of tran. sient conciliation. The population of the free States was so rapidly increasing over that of the slave States, that it was 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.

March 4, 1853, having served one term, President Fillmore retired from office. He then took a long tour through the South, where he met with quite an enthusiastic reception. In a speech at Vicksburg, alluding to the rapid growth of the country, he said:

" Canada is knocking for admission, and Mexico would be glad to come in, and without saying whether it would be right or wrong, we stand with open arms to receive them; for it is the manifest destiny of this Government to embrace the whole North American Continent."

In 1855 Mr. Fillmore went to Europe where he was received with those marked attentions which his position and character merited. Returning to this country in 1856 he was nominated for the Presidency by the "Know-Nothing" party. Mr. Buchanan, the Democratic candidate was the successful competitor. Mr. Fillmore ever afterward lived in retirement. During the conflict of civil war he was mostly silent. It was generally supposed, however, that his sympathy was with the Southern Confederacy. He kept aloof from the conflict without any words of cheer to the one party or the other. For this reason he was forgotten by both. He died of paralysis, in Buffalo, New York, March 8, 1874.

Ranklin Pierce

RANKLIN PIERCE, the fourteenth President of the United States, was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, November 23, 1804. His father, Governor Benjamin Pierce, was a Revolutionary soldier, a man of rigid integrity ; was for several years in the State Legislature, a member of the Governor's council and a General of the militia. Franklin was the sixth of eight children. As a boy he listened eagerly to the arguments of his father, enforced by strong and ready utterance and earnest gesture. It was in the days of intense political excitement, when, all over the New England States, Federalists and Democrats were arrayed so fiercely against each other.

In 1820 he entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Maine, and graduated in 1824, and commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Woodbury, a very distinguished lawyer, and in 1827 was admitted to the bar. He practiced with great success in Hillsborough and Concord. He served

In 1833 he was elected a member of Congress. In 1837 he was elected to the United States Senate, just as Mr. Van Buren commenced his administration.

In 1834 he married Miss Jane Means Appleton, a lady admirably fitted to adorn every station with which her husband was honored. Three sons born to them all found an early grave.

Upon his accession to office. President Polk 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. About the same time he also 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, Rhode Island, May 27, 1847. He served during this war, and distinguished himself by his bravery, skill and excellent judgment. When he reached his home in his native State he was enthusiastically received by the advocates of the war, and coldly by its opponents. He resumed the practice of his profession, frequently taking an active part in political questions, and giving his support to the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party.

June 12, 1852, tlic Democratic convention met in Baltimore to nominate a candidate for the Presidenc}-. For four da3-s they continued in session, and in thirty-five ballotmgs no one had received the requisite two-thirds vote. Not a vote had been thrown thus far for General Pierce. Then the Virginia delegation brought forward his name. There were fourteen more ballotings, during which General Pierce gained strength, until, at the forty-ninth ballot, he received 282 votes, and all other candidates eleven. General Winfield Scott was the Whig candidate. General Pierce was elected with great unanimity. Only four States - Vermont, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee - cast their electoral votes against him. March 4, 1853, he was inaugurated President of the United States, and William R. King, Vice-President.

President Pierce's cabinet consisted of William S. Marcv, James Guthrie, Jefferson Davis, James C. Dobbin, Robert McClelland, James Campbell and Caleb Cushing.

At the demand of slavery the Missouri Compromise was repealed, and all the Territories of the Union were thrown open to slavery. The Territory of Kansas, west of Missouri, was settled by emigrants mainly from the North. According to law, they were about to meet and decide whether slavery or freedom should be the law of that realm. Slavery in Missouri and other Southern States rallied her armed legions, marched them into Kansas, took possession of the polls, drove awa}- the citizens, deposited their own votes by handfuls, went through the farce of counting them, and then declared that, by an overwhelming majority, slavery was established in Kan.sas. These facts nobody denied, and yet President Pierce's adminis tration felt bound to respect the decision obtained by such votes. The citizens of Kansas, the majority of whom were free- State men, met in convention and adopted the following resolve:

"Resolved, That the body of men who, for the past two months, have been passing laws for the people of our Territory, moved, counseled and dictated to by the demagogues of other States, are to us a foreign body, representing only the lawless invaders who elected them, and not the people of this Territory ; that we repudiate their action as the monstrous consummation of an act of violence, usurpation and fraud unparalleled in the history of the Union."

The free-State people of Kansas also sent a petition to the General Government, imploring its protection. In reply the President issued a proclamation, declaring that Legislature thus created must be recognized as the legitimate Legislature of Kansas, and that its laws were binding upon the people, and that, if necessary, the whole force of the Governmental arm would be put forth to inforce those laws.

James Buchanan succeeded him in the Presidenc)-, and, March 4, 1857, President Pierce retired to his home in Concord, New Hampshire. When the Rebellion burst forth Mr. Pierce remained steadfast to the principles he had always cherished, and gave his sympathies to the pro-slavery party, with which he had ever been allied. He declined to do anything, either by voice or pen, to strengthen the hands ol the National Government. He resided in Concord until his death, which occurred in October, 1869. He was one of the most genial and social of men, generous to a fault, and contributed liberally of his moderate means for the alleviation of suffering and want. He was an honored communicant of the Episcopal church.

United States. i857-'6i, was bom in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1791. The o ;. a c e where his father's cabin stood was called Stony Batter, and it was situated in a wild, romantic soot, in a gorge of mountii -S vith towering sam- : iing all around. He _ .: Irish ancestry, his father having emigrated in- 1783, with verr little property, save his own strong arms.

James remained in his secluded home for eight years enjoying veiy- few social or intellectual advantages. His parents were industrious, frugal, prosperous and intelligent. In 1799 his father removed to Mercersburg, where James was placed in school and commenced a course in English, Greek and Latin. His prepress was rapid and in 1801 he entered Dickinson College at Carlisle. Here he took his stand among the first scholars in the institution, and was able to master the most abstruse subjects with facility. In 1809 he graduated with the highest honors in his class.

graceful and in vigorous health, fond ol 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 1812. He rose very rapidly in his profession and at once took undisputed stand with the ablest lawyers of the State. When but twenty-six years of age, unaided by counsel, be successfully defended before the State Senate one of the Judges of the State, who was tried upon articles of impeachment. At the age of thirty it was generally admitted that he stood at the head of the bar, and there was no lawyer in the State who had a more extensive or lucrative practice.

In 18 1 2, just after Mr. Buchanan had entered upon the practice of the law, our second war w4th England occurred. With all his powers he sustained the Government, eloquently urging the rigorous prosecution of the wan and even enlisnng as a private soldier to assist in repelling the British, who had sacked Washington and were threatening Baltimore. He was at that time a Federalist, but when the Constitution was adopted by both parties, Jefferson trulv said, " We are all Federalists: we are all Republicans."

tion laws of John Adams, brought the party into dispute, and the name of Federalist became a reproach. Mr. Buchanan almost immediately upon entering Congress began to incline more and more to the Republicans. In the storm)' Presidential election of 1824, in which Jackson, Clay, Crawford and John Quincy Adams were candidates, Mr. Buchanan espoused the cause of General Jackson and unrelentingly opposed the administration of Mr. Adams.

Upon his elevation to the Presidency, General Jackson appointed Mr. Buchanan, minister to Russia. 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, and defended the course of the President in his unprecedented and wholesale removals from office of those who were not the supporters of his administration. Upon this question he was brought into direct collision with Henry Clay. In the discussion of the question respecting the admission of Michigan and Arkansas into the Union, Mr. Buchanan defined his position by saying:

M. de Tocqueville, in his renowned work upon " Democracy in America," foresaw the trouble which was inevitable from the doctrine of State sovereignt}- as held by Calhoun and Buchanan. He was convinced that the National Government was losing that strength which was essential to its own existence, and that the States were assuming powers which threatened the perpetuity of the Union. Mr. Buchanan received the book in the Senate and declared the fears of De Tocqueville to be groundless, and yet he lived to sit in the Presidential chair and see State after State, in accordance with his own views of State rights, breaking from the Union, thus crumbling our Republic into ruins; while the unhappy old man folded his arms in despair, declaring that the National Consti - tution invested him with no power to arrest the destruction.

Upon Mr. Polk's accession to the Presidency, Mr. Buchanan became Secretary of State, and as such took his share of thf responsibility in the conduct of the Mexican war. At the close of Mr. Polk's administration, Mr. Buchanan retired to private life; but his intelligence, and his great ability as a statesman, enabled him to exert a powerful influence in National affairs.

Mr. Pierce, upon his election to the Presidency, honored Mr. Buchanan with the mission to England. In the year 1856 the 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. On the 4th of March, 1857, Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated President. His cabinet were Lewis Cass, Howell Cobb, J. B. Floyd, Isaac Toucey, Jacob Thompson, A. V. Brown and J. S. Black.

The disruption of the Democratic party, in consequence of the manner in which the issue of the nationality of slavery was pressed by the Southern wing, occurred at the National convention, held at Charleston in April, i860, for the nomination of Mr. Buchanan's successor, when the majority of Southern delegates withdrew upon the passage of a resolution declaring that the constitutional status of slavery should be determined by the Supreme Court.

In the next Presidential canvass Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the oppo- *nents of Mr. Buchanan's administration. Mr. Buchanan remained in Washington long enough to see his successor installed and then retired to his home in Wheatland. He died June i, 1868, aged seventy-seven years.

B R A H A M LINCOLN, the sixteenth President of the United States, i86i-'5, was born February 12, 1809, in Larue (then Hardin) County, Kentucky, in a cabin on Nolan Creek, three miles west of Hudgensville. H i s parents were Thomas and Nancy (Hanks) Lincoln. Of his ancestry and early years the little that is known may best be given in his own language : " M}' parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families - second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now remain in Adams, and others in Macon County, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockbridge County, Virginia, to Kentucky in 1781 or 1782, where, a year or two later, he was killed by Indians - not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks County, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New England family of the same name ended in n(3thing more definite than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham and the like. My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up, literally, without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with bears and other wild animals stiU in the woods. There I grew to manhood.

" There were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher bevond ' readin', writin', and cipherin' to the rule of three.' If a straggler, supposed to understand Latin, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothinsf to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write and cipher to the rule of three, and that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity. I was raised to farm-work, which

Abraham Lincoln

I continued till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois and passed the first year in Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store.

"Then came the Black Hawk war, and I was elected a Captain of volunteers - a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went the campaign, was elated ; ran for the Legislature the same year (183J) and was beaten, the only time I have ever been beaten by the people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections I was elected to the Legislature, and was never a candidate afterward.

" During this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to .Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was elected to the Lower House of Congress ; was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to '854, inclusive, I practiced the law more assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics, and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active canvasses, I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise roused me again. What I have done since is pretty well known."

The early residence of Lincoln in Indiana was sixteen miles north of the Ohio River, on Little Pigeon Creek, one and a half miles east of Gentryville, within the present township of Carter. Here his mother died October 5, 18 18, and the next year his father married Mrs. Sail}' (Bush) Johnston, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. She was an affectionate foster-parent, to whom Abraham was indebted for his first encouragement to study. He became an eager reader, and the few books owned in the vicinity were many times perused. He worked frequently for the neighbors as a farm laborer ; was for some time clerk in a store at Gentryville; and became famous throughout that region for his athletic powers, his fondness for argument, his inexhaustible fund of humerous anecdote, as well as for mock oratory and the composition of rude satirical verses. In 1828 he made a trading voyage to New Orleans as " bow-hand " on a fiatboat ; removed to Illinois in 1830; helped his father build a log house and clear a farm on the north fork of Sangamon River, ten miles west of Decatur, and was for some time employed in splitting rails for the fences - a fact which was prominently brought forward for a political purpose thirty 3'ears later.

In the spring of 1851 he, with two of his relatives, was hired to build a flatboat on the Sangamon River and navigate it to New Orleans. The boat " stuck " on a mill-dam, and was got off with great labor through an ingenious mechanical device which some 3ears later led to Lincoln's taking out a patent for "an im[)roved method for lifting vessels over shoals." This voyage was memorable for another reason - the sight of slaves chained, maltreated and flogged at New Orleans was the origin of his deep convictions upon the slavery question.

Returning from this voyage he became a resident for several vears at New Salem, a recently settled village on the Sangamon, where he was successively a clerk, grocer, surveyor and postmaster, and acted as pilot to the first steamboat that ascended the Sangamon. Here he studied law, interested himself in local politics after his return from the Black Hawk war, and became known as an effective " stump speaker." The subject of his first political speech was the improvement of the channel of the Sangamon, and the chief ground on which he announced himself (1833) a candidate for the Legislatuie was his advocacy of this popular measure, on which subject his practical experience made him the highest authority.

Henry Clay Whig." he rapidlv acquired that command of language and that homely but forcible rhetoric which, added to his intimate knowledge of the people from which he sprang, made him more than a match in debate for his few well-educated opponents.

Admitted to the bar in 1S37 he soon established himself at Springfield, where the State capital was located in 1839, iargely through his influence; became a successful pleader in the State. Circuit and District Courts ; married in 1842 a lady belonging to a prominent familv in Lexington. Kentucky: took an active part in the Presidential campaigns of 1S40 and 1S44 as candidate for elector on the Harrison and Clav tickets, and in 1S46 was elected to the United States House of Representatives over the celebrated Peter Cartwright. During his single terra in Congress he did not attain any prominence.

He voted for the reception of anti-slaverv petitions for the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia and for the Wilmot pro\*iso; but was chiefly remembered for the stand he took against the Mexican war. For several years thereafter he took comparatively little interest in politics, but gained a leading position at the Springtaeld bar. Two or three nonpolitical lectures and an eulogy on Henry Clay 1 1S521 added nothing to his reputation.

In 1854 the repeal of the Missouri Compromise by the Kansas-Nebraska act aroused Lincoln from his indifference, and in attacking that measure he had the immense advantage of knowing perfectly well the motives and the record of its author. Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, then popularly designated as the " Little Giant." The latter came to Springfield in October. 1S54. on the occasion of the State Fair, to vindicate his policv in the Senate, and the " Anti- Xebraska" Whigs, remembering that Lincoln had often measured his strength with

Douglas in the Illinois Legislature and before the Springfield Courts, engaged him to improvise a reply. This speech, in the opinion of those who heard it, was one of the greatest efforts of Lincoln's life ; certainly the most effective in his whole career. It took the audience by storm, and from that moment it was felt that Douglas had met his match. Lincoln was accordinglv selected as the Anti-Xebraska candidate for the L'nited States Senate in place of General Shields, whose term expired March 4, 1S55. and led to several ballots: but Trumbull was ultimately chosen.

The second conflict on the soil of Kansas, which Lincoln had predicted, soon began. The result was the disruption of the Whig and the formation of the Republican party. At the Bloomington State Convention in iS;6. where the new partv first assumed form in Illinois. Lincoln made an impressive address, in which for the first time he took distinctive ground against slavery in itself.

At the National Republican Convention at Philadelphia, June 17, after the nomination of Fremont. Lincoln was put forward by the Illinois delegation for the Vice-Presidency, and received on the first ballot no votes against 259 for William L Dayton. He took a prominent part in the canvass, being on the electoral ticket.

In 1S58 Lincoln was unanimoush- nominated by the Republican State Convention as its candidate for the L'nited States Senate in place of Douglas, and in his speech of acceptance used the celebrated illustration of a "house divided against itself " on the slavery question, which was. perhaps, the cause of his defeat. The great debate carried on at all the principal towns of Illinois between Lincoln and Douglas as rival Senatorial candidates resulted at the time in the election of the latter ; but being widely circulated as a campaign document, it fixed the attention of the country upon the

Early in 1859 lie began to be named in Illinois as a suitable Republican candidate for tiie Presidential campaign of the ensuing year, and a political address delivered at the Cooper Institute, New York, February 27, i860, followed by similar speeches at New Haven, Hartford and elsewhere in New England, first made him known to the Eastern States in the light by which he had long been regarded at home. By the Republican State Convention, which met at Decatur, Illinois, May 9 and 10, Lincoln was unanimousl)- endorsed for the Presidency. It was on this occasion that two rails, said to have been split by his hands thirty years before, were brought into the convention, and the incident contributed much to his popularit)-. The National Republican Convention at Chicago, after spirited efforts made in favor of Seward, Chase and Bates, nominated Lincoln for the Presidency, with Hannibal Hamlin for Vice-President, at the same time adopting a vigorous anti-slavery platform.

The Democratic party having been disorganized and presenting two candidates, Douglas and Brcckenridge, anB the remnant of the " American" party having put forward John Bell, of Tennessee, the Republican victory was an easy one, Lincoln being elected November 6 by a large plurality, comprehending nearly all the Northern States, but none of the Southern. The secession of South Carolina and the Gulf States was the immediate result, followed a few months later by that of the border slave States and the outbreak of the great civil war.

The life of Abraham Lincoln became thenceforth merged in the history of his country. None of the details of the vast conflict which filled the remainder of Lincoln's life can here be given. Narrowly escaping assassination by avoiding Baltimore on his way to the capital, he reached Washington February 23, and was inaugurated President of the United States March

In his inaugural address he said: " I hold, that in contemplation of universal law and the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied if not e.Kpressed in the fundamental laws of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution enjoins upon me, that the laws of the United States be extended in all the States. In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power conferred to me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties and imports, but beyond what may be necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destro}- the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it."

He called to his cabinet his principal rivals for the Presidential nomination - Seward, Chase, Cameron and Bates; secured the co-operation of the Union Democrats, headed by Douglas ; called out 75,000 militia from the several States upon the first tidings of the bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 15; proclaimed a blockade of the Southern posts April 19; called an extra session of Congress for July 4, from which he asked and obtained 400,000 men and $400,000,000 for the war; placed McClellan at the head of the Federal army on General Scott's resignation, October 31; appointed Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of War, January 14, 1862, and September 22, 1862, issued a proclamation declaring the freedom of all slaves in the States and parts of States then in rebellion from and after January i, 1863. This was the crowning act of Lincoln's career - the act by which he will be chiefly known through all future time - and it decided the war.

October 16, 1863, President Lincoln called for 300,000 volunteers to replace those whose term of enlistment had expired ; made a celebrated and touching, though brief, address at the dedication of the Gettysburg military cemetery, November 19, 1863; commissioned Ulysses S. Grant Lieutenant-General and Commander-in- Chief of the armies of the United States, March 9, 1864; was re-elected President in November of the same year, by a large majority over General McClellan, with Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, as Vice- President; delivered a very remarkable address at his second inauguration, March 4, 1865; visited the army before Richmond the same month; entered the capital of the Confederacy the day after its fall, and upon the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's army, April 9, was actively engaged in devising generous plans for the reconstruction of the Union, when, on the evening of Good Friday, April 14, he was shot in his box at Ford's Theatre, Washington, by John Wilkes Booth, a fanatical actor, and expired early on the following morning, April 15. Almost simultaneously a murderous attack was made upon Wilham H. Seward, Secretary of State.

Johnson assumed the Presidency, and active measures were taken which resulted in the death of Booth and the execution of his principal accomplices.

The funeral of President Lincoln was conducted with unexampled solemnity and magnificence. Impressive services were held in Washington, after which the sad procession proceeded over the same route he had traveled four years before, from Springfield to Washington. In Philadelphia his body lay in state in Independence Hall, in which he had declared before his first inauguration "that I would sooner be assassinated than to give up the principles of the Declaration of Independence." He was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Springfield, Illinois, on May 4, where a monument emblematic of the emancipation of the slaves and the restoration of the Union mark his resting place.

The leaders and citizens of the expiring Confederac}' expressed genuine indignation at the murder of a generous political adversary. Foreign nations took part in mourning the death of a statesman who had proved himself a true representative of American nationality. The freedmen of the South almost worshiped the memory of their deliverer; and the general sentiment of the great Nation he had saved awarded him a place in its affections, second only to that held by Washington.

The characteristics of Abraham Lincoln have been familiarly known throughout the civilized world. His tall, gaunt, ungainly figure, homely countenance, and his shrewd mother-wit, shown in his celebrated conversations overflowing in humorous and pointed anecdote, combined with an accurate, intuitive appreciation of the questions of the time, are recognized as forming the best type of a period of American historyno w rapidly passing away.

Andrew Johnson

the seventeenth President of the United States, 1865-9, was born at Raleigh, > North Carolina, De- ''i'i^ cember 29, i8o8. His father died when he was four years old, and in his eleventh year he was apprenticed to a tailor. He never attended school, and did not learn to read until late in his apprenticeship, when he suddenly acquired a passion for obtaining knowledge, and devoted all his spare time to reading.

After working two years as a journeyman tailor at Lauren's Court-House, South Carolina, he removed, in 1826, to Greenville, Tennessee, where he worked at his trade and married. Under his wife's instructions he made rapid progress in his education, and manifested such an intelligent interest in local politics as to be elected as " workingmen's candidate " alderman, in 1828, and mayor in 1830, being twice re-elected to each office.

debating society, consisting largely of students of Greenville College. In 1835, and again in 1839, ^^ ^^'^^ chosen to the lower house of the Legislature, as a Democrat. In 1 84 1 he was elected State Senator, and in 1843, Representative in Congress, being re-elected four successive periods, until 1853, when he was chosen Governor of Tennessee. In Congress he supported the administrations of Tyler and Polk in their chief measures, especially the annexation of Texas, the adjustment of the Oregon boundary, the Mexican war, and the tariff of 1846.

In 1855 Mr. Johnson was re elected Governor, and in 1857 entered the United States Senate, where he was conspicuous as an advocate of retrenchment and of the Homestead bill, and as an opponent of the Pacific Railroad. He was supported by the Tennessee delegation to the Democratic convention in i860 for the Presidential nomination, and lent his influence to the Breckenridgc wing of that party.

When the election of Lincoln had brought about the first attempt at secession in December, i860, Johnson took in the Senate a firm attitude for the Union, and in Mav, i86t, on returning to Tennessee, he was in imminent peril of suffering from popular violence for his loyalty to the " old flag." He was the leader of the Loyalists' convention of East Tennessee, and during the following winter was very active in organizing relief for the destitute loyal refugees from that region, his own family being among those compelled to leave.

By his course in this crisis Johnson came prominently before the Northern public, and when in March, 1862, he was appointed by President Lincoln military Governor of Tennessee, with the rank of Brigadier-General, he increased in popularity b\' the vigorous and successful manner in which he labored to restore order, protect Union men and punish marauders. On the approach of the Presidential campaign of 1864, the termination of the war being plainly foreseen, and several Southern States being partially reconstructed, it was felt that the Vice-Presidency should be given to a Southern man of conspicuous loyalty, and Governor Johnson was elected on the same platform and ticket as President Lincoln; and on the assassination of the latter succeeded to the Presidency, April 15, 1865. In a public 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. In our peaceful history treason has been almost unknown. The people must understand that it is the blackest of crimes, and will be punished." He then added the ominous sentence: " In regard to my future course, I make no promises, no pledges." President Johnson retained the cabinet of Lincoln, and exhibited considerable severity toward traitors in his earlier acts and speeches, but he soon inaugurated a policy of reconstruction, proclaiming a general amnesty to the late Confederates, and successively establishing provisional Governments in the Southern States.

These States accordingly claimed representation in Congress in the following December, and the momentous question of what should be the polic}' of the victorious Union toward its late armed opponents was forced upon that body.

Two considerations impelled the Republican majority to reject the policy of Presi. dent Johnson: First, an apprehension that the chief magistrate intended to undo the results of the war in regard to slavery; and, second, the sullen attitude of the South, which seemed to be plotting to regain the policy which arms had lost. The credentials of the Southern members elect were laid on the table, a civil rights bill and a bill extending the sphere of the Freedmen's Bureau were passed over the executive veto, and the two highest branches of the Government were soon in open antagonism. The action of Congress was characterized bv the President as a " new rebellion." In July the cabinet was reconstructed, Messrs. Randall, Stanbury and Browning taking the places of Messrs. Denison, Speed and Harlan, and an unsuccessful attempt was made by means of a general convention in Philadelphia to form a new party on the basis of the administration policy.

In an excursion to Chicago for the purpose of laying a corner-stone of the monument to Stephen A. Douglas, President Johnson, accompanied b}' several members of the cabinet, passed through Philadelphia, New York and Albany, in each of which cities, and in other places along the route, he made speeches justifying and explaining his own policy, and violently denouncing the action of Congress.

August 12, 1867, President Johnson removed the Secretary of War, replacing him by General Grant. Secretary Stanton retired under protest, based upon the tenure-of-office act which had been passed the preceding March. The President then issued a proclamation declaring the insurrec- tion at an end, and that " peace, order, tranquility and civil authority existed in and throughout the United States." Another proclamation enjoined obedience to the Constitution and the laws, and an amnesty was published September 7, relieving nearly all the participants in the late Rebellion from the disabilities thereby incurred, on condition of taking the oath to support the Constitution and the laws.

In December Congress refused to confirm the removal of Secretary Stanton, who thereupon resumed the e.xercise of his office; but February 21, 1868, President Johnson again attempted to remove him, appointing General Lorenzo Thomas in his place. Stanton refused to vacate his post, and was sustained b}' the Senate.

February 24 the House of Representatives voted to impeach the President for " high crime and misdemeanors," and March 5 presented eleven articles of impeachment on the ground of his resistance to the execution of the acts of Congress, alleging, in addition to the offense lately committed, his public expressions of contempt for Congress, in " certain intemperate, inflammator}' and scandalous harangues" pronounced in August and September, 1866, and thereafter declaring that the Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States was not a competent legislative body, and denying its power to propose Constitutional amendments. March 23 the impeachment trial began, the President appearing hy counsel, and resulted in acquittal, the vote lacking

The remainder of President Johnson s term of office was passed without any such conflicts as might have been anticipated. He failed to obtain a nomination for reelection by the Democratic party, though receiving sixty-five votes on the first ballot. July 4 and December 25 new proclamations of pardon to the participants in the late Rebellion were issuer^, but were of little effect. On the accession of General Grant to the Presidency, March 4, 1869, Johnson returned to Greenville, Tennessee. Unsuccessful in 1870 and 1872 as a candidate respective!)^ for United States Senator and Representative, he was finall\- elected to the Senate in 1875, and took his seat in the extra session of March, in which his speeches were comparatively temperate. He died Julv 31, 1875, and was buried at Greenville.

President Johnson's administration was a peculiarly unfortunate one. That he should so soon become involved in bitter feud with the Republican m?joritv in Congress was certainly a surprising and deplorable incident; yet, in reviewing the circumstances after a lapse of so many years, it is easy to find ample room for a charitable judgment of both the parties in the heated controversy, since it cannot be doubted that any President, even Lincoln himself, had he lived, must have sacrificed a large portion of his popularity in carrying out any possible scheme of reconstruction.

Presidents Of The Uni Ted States

^LYSSES SIMPSON GRANT, the eighteenth President of the United States, i869-'77, was born April 27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio. His father was of Scotch descent, and a dealer in leather. At the age of seventeen he entered the Military Academy at West Point, and four years later graduated twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine, receiving the commission of Brevet Second Lieutenant. He was assigned to the Fourth Infantry and remained in the army eleven years. He was engaged in every battle of the Mexican war except that of Buena Vista, and received two brevets for gallantry.

In 1848 Mr. Grant married Julia.daughter of Frederick Dent, a prominent merchant of St. Louis, and in 1854, having reached the grade of Captain, he resigned his commission in the army. For several years he followed farming near St. Louis, but unsuccessfully : and in i860 he entered the leather trade with his father at Galena, Illinois.

any personal acquaintance with great affairs. President Lincoln's first call for troops was made on the 15th of April, and on the 19th Grant was drilling a company of volunteers at Galena. He also offered his services to the Adiutant-General of the army, but received no reply. The Governor of Illinois, however, emploj'ed him in the organization of volunteer troops, and at the end of five weeks he was appointed Colonel of the Twenty-first Infantry. He took command of his regiment in June, and reported first to General Pope in Missouri. His superior knowledge of military life rather surprised his superior officers, who had never before even heard of him, and they were thus led to place him on the road to rapid advancement. August 7 he was commissioned a Brigadier-General of volunteers, the apbeen made without his had been unanimously the Congressmen from of whom had been his

September i he was placed in command of the District of Southeast Missouri, with headquarters at Cairo, and on the 6th, without orders, he seized Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee River, and commanding the Ohio. This stroke secured Kentucky to the Union ; for the State Legislature, which had until then affected to be neutral, at once declared in favor of the Government. In November following, according to orders, he made a demonstration about eighteen miles below Cairo, preventing the crossing of hostile troops into Missouri ; but in order to accomplish this purpose he had to do some fighting, and that, too, with only 3,000 raw recruits, against 7,000 Confederates. Grant carried off two pieces of artillery and 200 prisoners.

After repeated applications to General Halleck, his immediate superior, he was allowed, in February, 1862, to move up the Tennessee River against Fort Henry, in conjunction with a naval force. The gunboats silenced the fort, and Grant immediately made preparations to attack Fort Donelson, about twelve miles distant, on the Cumberland River. Without waiting for orders he moved his troops there, and with 15,000 men began the siege. The fort, garrisoned with 21,000 men, was a strong one, but after hard fighting on three successive days Grant forced an " Unconditional Surrender " (an alliteration upon the initials of his name). The prize he captured consisted of sixty-five cannon, 17,600 small arms and 14,623 soldiers. About 4,- 000 of the garrison had escaped in the night, and 2,500 were killed or wounded. Grant's entire loss was less than 2,000. This was the first important success won by the national troops during the war, and its strategic results were marked, as the entire States of Kentucky and Tennessee at once fell into the National hands. Our hero was made a Major-General of Volunteers and placed in command of the District of West Tennessee.

In March, 1862, he was ordered to move up the Tennessee River toward Corinth, where the Confederates were concentrating a large army ; but he was directed not to attack. His forces, now numbering 38.- 000, were accordingly encamped near Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, to await the arrival of General Buell with 40,000 more; but April 6 the Confederates came out from Corinth 50,000 strong and attacked Grant violently, hoping to overwhelm him before Buell could arrive ; 5,000 of his troops were beyond supporting distance, so that he was largely outnumbered and forced back to the river, where, however, he held out until dark, when the head of Buell's column came upon the field. The next day the Confederates were driven back to Corinth, nineteen miles. The loss was heavy on both sides ; Grant, being senior in rank to Buell, commanded on both days. Two days afterward Halleck arrived at the front and assumed command of the army. Grant remaining at the head of the right wing and the reserve. On May 30 Corinth was evacuated by the Confederates. In July Halleck was made General-in-Chief, and Grant succeeded him in command of the Department of the Tennessee. September 19 the battle of luka was fought, where, owing to Rosecrans's fault, only an incomplete victory was obtained.

Ne.vt, Grant, with 30,000 men, moved down into Mississippi and threatened Vicksburg, while Sherman, with 40,000 men, was sent by way of the river to attack that place in front; but, owing to Colonel Murphy's surrendering Holly Springs to the Confederates, Grant was so weakened that he had to retire to Corinth, and then Sherman failed to sustain his intended attack.

In January, 1863, General Grant took command in person of all the troops in the Mississippi Valley, and spent several months in fruitless attempts to compel the surrender or evacuation of Vicksburg; but July 4, following, the place surrendered, with 31,- 600 men and 172 cannon, and the Mississippi River thus fell permanently into the hands of the Government. Grant was made a

Major-General in the regular army, and in October following he was placed in command of the Division of the Mississippi. The same month he went to Chattanooga and saved the Army of the Cumberland from starvation, and drove Bragg from that part of the country. This victory overthrew the last important hostile force west of the AUeghanies and opened the way for the National armies into Georgia and Sherman's march to the sea.

The remarkable series of successes which Grant had now achieved pointed him out as the appropriate leader of the National armies, and accordingly, in February, 1864, the rank of Lieutenant-General was created for him by Congress, and on March 17 he assumed command of the armies of the United States. Planning the grand final campaign, he sent Sherman into Georgia, Sigel into the valley of Virginia, and Butler to capture Richmond, while he fought his own way from the Rapidan to the James. The costly but victorious battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna and Cold Harbor were fought, more for the purpose of annihilating Lee than to capture any particular point. In June, 1864, the siege of Richmond was begun. Sherman, meanwhile, was marching and fighting daily in Georgia and steadily advancing toward Atlanta ; but Sigel had been defeated in the valley of Virginia, and was superseded b}- Hunter. Lee sent Early to threaten the National capital ; whereupon Grant gathered up a force which he placed under Sheridan, and that commander rapidly drove Early, in a succession of battles, through the valley of Virginia and destroyed his army as an organized force. The siege of Richmond went on, and Grant made numerous attacks, but was only partially successful. The people of the North grew impatient, and even the Government advised him to abandon the attempt to take Richmond or crush the Confederacy- in that way ; but he

By September Sherman had made his way to Atlanta, and Grant then sent him on his famous " march to the sea," a route which the chief had designed six months before. He made Sherman's success possible, not only by holding Lee in front of Richmond, but also by sending reinforcements to Thomas, who then drew off and defeated the only army which could have confronted Sherman. Thus the latter was left unopposed, and, with Thomas and Sheridan, was used in the furtherance of Grant's plans. Each executed his part in the great design and contributed his share to the result at which Grant was aiming. Sherman finally reached Savannah, Schofield beat the enemy at Franklin, Thomas at Nashville, and Sheridan wherever he met him ; and all this while General Grant was holding Lee, with the principal Confederate army, near Richmond, as it were chained and helpless. Then Schofield was brought from the West, and Fort Fisher and Wilmington were captured on the sea-coast, so as to afford him a foothold ; from here he was sent into the interior of North Carolina, and Sherman was ordered to move northward to join him. When all this was effected, and Sheridan could find no one else to fight in the Shenandoah Valley, Grant brought the cavalry leader to the front of Richmond, and, making a last effort, drove Lee from his entrenchments and captured Richmond.

At the beginning of the final campaign Lee had collected 73,000 fighting men in the lines at Richmond, besides the local militia and the gunboat crews, amounting to 5,000 more. Including Sheridan's force Grant had 1 10,000 men in the works before Petersburg and Richmond. Petersburg fell on the 2d of April, and Richmond on the 3d, and Lee fled in the direction of L3'nchburg. Grant pursued with remorseless energy, only stopping to strike fresh blows, and Lee at last found himself not only outfought but also out-marched and out-generaled. Being completely surrounded, he surrendered on the 9th of April, 1865, at Appomattox Court-House, in the open field, with 27,000 men, all that remained of his army. This act virtuall)' ended the war. Thus, in ten days Grant had captured Petersburg and Richmond, fought, by his subordinates, the battles of Five Forks and Sailor's Creek, besides numerous smaller ones, captured 20,000 men in actual battle, and received the surrender of 27,000 more at Appomattox, absolutely annihilating an army of 70,000 soldiers.

General Grant returned at once to Washington to superintend the disbandment of the armies, but this pleasurable work was scarcely begun when President Lincoln was assassinated. It had doubtless been intended to inflict the same fate upon Grant; but he, fortunately, on account of leaving Washington early in the evening, declined an invitation to accompany the President to the theater where the murder was committed. This event made Andrew Johnson President, but left Grant by far the most conspicuous figure in the public life of the country. He became the object of an enthusiasm greater than had ever been known in America. Every possible honor was heaped upon him; the grade of General was created for him b)' Congress; houses were presented to him by citizens; towns were illuminated on his entrance into them ; and, to cap tiie climax, when he made his tour around the world, "all nations did him honor" as they had never before honored a foreigner.

The General, as Commander-in-Chief, was placed in an embarrassing position by the opposition of President Johnson to the measures of Congress : but he directly manifested his characteristic loyalty by obeying Congress rather than the disaffected President, although for a short time he had served in his cabinet as Secretary of War. Of course, everybody thought of General Grant as the next President of the United States, and he was accordingly elected as such in 1868 "by a large majority," and four years later re-elected by a much larger majority - the most overwhelming ever given by the people of this country. His first administration was distinguished by a cessation of the strifes which sprang from the war, by a large reduction of the National debt, and by a settlement of the difficulties with England which had grown out of the depredations committed by privateers fitted out in England during the war. This last settlement was made by the famous " Geneva arbitration," which saved to this Government $1 5,000,000, but, more than all, prevented a war with England. " Let us have peace," was Grant's motto. And this i is the most appropriate place to remark I that above all Presidents whom this Govj ernment has ever had, General Grant was the most non-partisan. He regarded the Executive office as purely and exclusively j executive of the laws of Congress, irrespective of "politics." But every great man has jealous, bitter enemies, a fact Grant was well aware of.

After the close of his Presidency, our General made his famous tour around the world, already referred to, and soon afterward, in company with Ferdinand Ward, of New York City, he engaged in banking and stock brokerage, which business was made disastrous to Grant, as well as to himself, by his rascality. By this time an incurable cancer of the tongue developed itself in the person of the afflicted ex- President, which ended his unrequited life July 23, 1885. Thus passed away from earth's turmoils the man, the General, who was as truly the " father of this regenerated country" as was Washington the father of the infant nation.

Utherford Birch

?5iS^^' ^^l^^^^'"^' Ohio, Oc- '^"^^^p^ tober 4, 1822. His ancestry can be traced 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. The Hayes family had, for a coat of-arms, a shield, barred and surmounted by a flying eagle. There was a circle of stars about the eagle and above the shield, while on a scroll underneath the shield was inscribed the motto, " Recte." Misfortune overtaking the family, George Hayes left Scotland in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Connecticut. He was an industrious worker in wood and iron, having a mechanical genius and a cultivated mind. His son George was born in Windsor and remained there during his life.

Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, married Sarah Lee, and lived in Sirasbury, Connecticut. Ezekiel, son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was a manufacturer of scythes at Bradford, Connecticut. Rutherford Hayes, son of Ezekiel and grandfather of President Ha3^es, was born in New Haven, in August, 1756. He was a famous blacksmith and tavern-keeper. He immigrated to Vermont at an unknown date, settling in Brattleboro where he established a hotel. Here his son Rutherford, father of President Hayes, was born. In September, 1813, he married Sophia Birchard, of Wilmington, Vermont, whose 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.

The father of President Hayes was of a mechanical turn, and could mend a plow, knit a stocking, or do almost anything that he might undertake. He was prosperous in business, a member of the church and active in all the benevolent enterprises of the town. After the close of the war of 1 8 1 2 he immigrated to Ohio, and purchased a farm near the present town of Delaware. His family then consisted of his wife and two children, and an orphan girl whom he had adopted.

farm, Mr. Hayes concluded to enter into business in the village. He purchased an interest in a distillery, a business then as respectable as it was profitable. His capital and recognized ability assured him the highest social position in the communit\'. He (lied Jul}- 22, 1822, less than three months before the birth of the son that was destined to fill the office of President of the United States.

Mrs. Hayes at this period was very weak, and the subject of this sketch was so feeble at birth that he was not e.vpected to live beyond a month or two at most. As the months went by he grew weaker and weaker so that the neighbors were in the habit of inquiring from time to time " if Mrs. Hayes's baby died last night." On one occasion a neighbor, who was on friendly terms with the family, after alluding to the boy's big head and the mother's assiduous care of him, said to her, in a bantering way, "That's right! Stick to him. You have got him along so far, and I shouldn't wonder if he would really come to something yet." " You need not laugh," said Mrs. Hayes, " you wait and see. You can't tell but I shall make him President of the United States yet."

The boy lived, in spite of the universal predictions of his speedy death; and when, in 1825, his elder brother was drowned, he became, if possible, still dearer to his mother. He was seven years old before he was placed in school. His education, however, was not neglected. 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 are marked traits of his character. At school lie was ardently devoted to his studies, obedient to the teacher, and careful to avoid the quarrels in which many of his schoolmates were involved. He was always waiting at the school-house door when it opened in the morning, and never late in returning to his seat at recess. His sister Fannie was his constant companion, and their affection for each other excited the admiration of their friends.

In 1838 young Hayes entered Kenyon College and graduated in 1842. He then began the study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow at Columbus. His health was now well established, his figure robust, his mind vigorous and alert. In a short time he determined to enter the law school at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where for two years he pursued his studies with great diligence.

In 1845 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 limited practice, and apparently unambitir)us o( distinction in his profession. His bachelor uncle, Sardis Birchard, who had always manifested great interest in his nephew and rendered him assistance in boyhood, was now a wealth)' banker, and it was understood that the young man would be his heir. It is possible that this expectation may have made Mr. Hayes more indifferent to the attainment of wealth than he would otherwise have been, but he was led into no extravagance or vices on this account.

In 1849 1^6 removed to Cincinnati where his ambition found new stimulus. Two events occurring at this period had a powerful influence upon his subsequent life. One of them was his marriage to Miss Lucy Ware Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of Cincinnati; the other was his introduction to the Cincinnati Literary Club, a body embracing such men as Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, General John Pope and Governor Edward F. Noyes. The marriage was a fortunate one as every bod)' knows. Not one of all the wives ol our Presidents was more universally admired, reverenced and beloved than is Mrs. Hayes, and no one has done more than she to reflect honor upon American womanhood.

In 1856 Mr. Hayes was nominated to the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but declined to accept the nomination. Two years later he was chosen to the office of City Solicitor.

In 1861, when the Rebellion broke out, he was eager to take up arms in the defense of his country. His military life was bright and illustrious. June 7, 1861, he was appointed Major of the Twenty-third Ohio Infantry. In July the regiment was sent to Virginia. October 15, 1861, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of his regiment, and in August, 1862, was promoted Colonel of the Seventy-ninth Ohio Regiment, but refused to leave his old comrades. He was wounded at the battle of South Mountain, and suffered severely, being unable to enter upon active duty for several weeks. November 30, 1862, he rejoined his regiment as its Colonel, having been promoted October 15.

December 25, 1862, he was placed in command of the Kanawha division, and for meritorious service in several battles was promoted Brigadier-General. He was also brevetted Major-General for distinguished

Mr. Hayes was first a Whig in politics, and was among the first to unite with the Free-Soil and Republican parties. In 1864 he was elected to Congress from che Second Ohio District, which had always been Democratic, receiving a majority of 3,098. In 1866 he was renominated for Congress and was a second time elected. In 1867 he was elected Governor over Allen G. Thurman, the Democratic candidate, and reelected in 1869. In 1874 Sardis Birchard died, leaving his large estate to General Hayes.