A Political History of the State of NewYork.
by DeAlva Stanwood Alexander.
VOL. II
1833-1861
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. VAN BUREN AND ABOLITION. 1833-1837
II. SEWARD ELECTED GOVERNOR. 1836-1838
III. THE DEFEAT OF VAN BUREN FOR PRESIDENT. 1840
IV. HUMILIATION OF THE WHIGS. 1841-1842
V. DEMOCRATS DIVIDE INTO FACTIONS. 1842-1844
VI. VAN BUREN DEFEATED AT BALTIMORE. 1844
VII. SILAS WRIGHT AND MILLARD FILLMORE. 1844
VIII. THE RISE OF JOHN YOUNG. 1845-1846
IX. FOURTH CONSt.i.tUTIONAL CONVENTION. 1846
X. DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SILAS WRIGHT. 1846-1847
XI. THE FREE-SOIL CAMPAIGN. 1847-1848
XII. SEWARD SPLITS THE WHIG PARTY. 1849-1850
XIII. THE WHIGS" WATERLOO. 1850-1852
XIV. THE HARDS AND THE SOFTS. 1853
XV. A BREAKING-UP OF PARTY TIES. 1854
XVI. FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 1854-1855
XVII. FIRST REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR. 1856
XVIII. THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 1857-1858
XIX. SEWARD"S BID FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 1859-1860
XX. DEAN RICHMOND"S LEADERSHIP AT CHARLESTON. 1860
XXI. SEWARD DEFEATED AT CHICAGO. 1860
XXII. NEW YORK"S CONTROL AT BALTIMORE. 1860
XXIII. RAYMOND, GREELEY, AND WEED. 1860
XXIV. FIGHT OF THE FUSIONISTS. 1860
XXV. GREELEY, WEED, AND SECESSION. 1860-1861
XXVI. SEYMOUR AND THE PEACE DEMOCRATS. 1860-1861
XXVII. WEED"S REVENGE UPON GREELEY. 1861
XXVIII. LINCOLN, SEWARD, AND THE UNION. 1860-1861
XXIX. THE WEED MACHINE CRIPPLED. 1861
A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
CHAPTER I
VAN BUREN AND ABOLITION
1833-1837
After Van Buren"s inauguration as Vice President, he made Washington his permanent residence, and again became the President"s chief adviser. His eye was now intently fixed upon the White House, and the long, rapid strides, encouraged by Jackson, carried him swiftly toward the goal of his ambition. He was surrounded by powerful friends.
Edward Livingston, the able and accomplished brother of the Chancellor, still held the office of secretary of state; Benjamin F.
Butler, his personal friend and former law partner, was attorney-general; Silas Wright, the successor of Marcy, and Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, the eloquent successor of the amiable Dudley, were in the United States Senate. Among the members of the House, Samuel Beardsley and Churchill C. Cambreling, firm and irrepressible, led the Administration"s forces with conspicuous ability. At Albany, Marcy was governor, Charles L. Livingston was speaker of the a.s.sembly, Azariah C. Flagg state comptroller, John A. Dix secretary of state, Abraham Keyser state treasurer, Edwin Croswell state printer and editor of the _Argus_, and Thomas W. Olcott the able financier of the Regency.
All were displaying a devotion to the President, guided by infinite tact, that distinguished them as the organisers and disciplinarians of the party. "I do not believe," wrote Thurlow Weed, "that a stronger political organisation ever existed at any state capital, or even at the national capital. They were men of great ability, great industry, indomitable courage, and strict personal integrity."[283]
[Footnote 283: _Autobiography of Thurlow Weed_, p. 103.]
John A. Dix seemed destined from the first to leave an abiding mark in history. Very early in life he was distinguished for executive ability. Although but a boy, he saw active service throughout the War of 1812, having been appointed a cadet at fourteen, an ensign at fifteen, and a second lieutenant at sixteen. After the war, he served as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Brown, living at Fortress Monroe and at Washington, until feeble health led to his resignation in 1828. Then he began the practice of law at Cooperstown. In 1830, when Governor Throop made him adjutant-general, he removed to Albany.
He was now twenty-six years old, an accomplished writer, a vigorous speaker, and as prompt and bold in his decisions as in 1861, when he struck the high, clear-ringing note for the Union in his order to shoot the first man who attempted to haul down the American flag. He was not afraid of any enterprise; he was not abashed by the stoutest opposition; he was not even depressed by failure. When the call came, he leaped up to sudden political action, and very soon was installed as a member of the Regency.
Dix had one great advantage over most of his contemporaries in political life--he was able to write editorials for the _Argus_. It took a keen pen to find an open way to its columns. Croswell needed a.s.sistance in these days of financial quakings and threatened party divisions, but he would accept it only from a master. Until this time, Wright and Marcy had aided him. Their love for variety of subject, characteristic, perhaps, of the gifted writer, presented widely differing themes, flavoured with humour and satire, making the paper attractive if not spectacular. To this work Dix, who had already published a _Sketch of the Resources of the City of New York_, now brought the freshness of a strong personality and the training of a scholar and linguist. He had come into public life under the influence of Calhoun, for whom the army expressed a decided preference in 1828; but he never accepted the South Carolinian"s theory of nullification.
Dix had inherited loyalty from his father, an officer in the United States army, and he was quick to strike for his country when South Carolina raised the standard of rebellion in 1861.
There was something particularly attractive about John A. Dix in these earlier years. He had endured hardships and encountered dangers, but he had never known poverty; and after his marriage he no longer depended upon the law or upon office for life"s necessities. Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, at the College of Montreal, and at St.