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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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I'm Harry Monroe. Today, Kay Gallant and I continue the historyof the United States in the middle of the last century.

In eighteen-fifty, PresidentZachary Taylor died after serving about a year and a half in office.Taylor's Vice President, Millard Fillmore, took his place. Early inhis administration, President Fillmore signed the compromise ofeighteen-fifty. That compromise helped settle a national disputeover slavery and the western territories. It ended a crisis betweennorthern and southern states. It prevented a civil war. Theeighteen-fifty compromise did not, however, end slavery in theUnited States. So the issue did not really die. It continued toaffect the nation. And it was the most important issue of MillardFillmore's presidency.

VOICE TWO:

In eighteen-fifty-two, an American woman published a book aboutslavery. She called it Uncle Tom's Cabin. The woman, Harriet BeecherStowe, wrote the book for one reason. She wanted to show how cruelslavery was. Stowe's words painted a picture of slavery that mostpeople in the north had never seen. They were shocked.

Public pressure to end slaverygrew strong. Abolitionists wanted to free all slaves immediately.Even if that could be done, there was the question of what to dowith the freed slaves. Their rights as citizens were limited. Somestates closed their borders to negroes. Other states permittednegroes, but said they could not vote. In many places, it seemedimpossible that negroes and whites could live together peacefully,in freedom. The best answer, many people thought, was to free theslaves and help them return to Africa.

VOICE ONE:

It was not a new idea. Forty years earlier, a group of leadingAmericans had formed an organization for that purpose. They calledit the American Colonization Society.

In eighteen-twenty, the Society began helping send negroes toAfrica. The negroes formed a government of their own. Ineighteen-forty-seven, they declared themselves independent. Theycalled their new country the Republic of Liberia. The new countryhad a constitution like that of the United States.

By eighteen-fifty-four, nine-thousand negroes from the UnitedStates had been sent to Liberia. Some had technical skills. Theyknew how to make iron. They knew how to use steam engines and othermachinery. The Colonization Society hoped these negroes would usetheir skills to help improve life for the people of Africa. TheSociety's plan ended a cruel life of slavery for many negroes.

But it could not be denied that the plan was a way to get blackpeople out of the United States. Many whites refused to accept thefact that most free negroes did not want to go to Africa. Thenegroes had grown up in the United States. It was their home.

VOICE TWO:

Negro slaves took great chances to escape to freedom. Many gainedtheir freedom through the so-called "underground railroad." That wasnot a real railroad. It was an organization of people who secretlyhelped slaves escape to the north.

An escaped slave would be hidden during the day by a member ofthe organization. Then at night, the negro would be taken to anotherhiding place farther north. The process was repeated every day andnight until the escaped slave was safe in New England or evenCanada.

VOICE ONE:

The year eighteen-fifty-two was a presidential election year inthe United States. The eighteen-fifty compromise was a major issuein the campaign. A number of men wanted to be the presidentialcandidate of the Democratic Party. They included Senators Lewis Cassof Michigan and Stephen Douglas of Illinois.

Another was former Secretary of State James Buchanan. Cass andDouglas supported the idea of letting the people of a territorydecide if slavery would be permitted in that territory. Buchananopposed the anti-slavery movements of the north. Because of this, hehad many supporters in the south.

VOICE TWO:

The Democrats opened their presidential nominating convention inBaltimore on the first of June, eighteen-fifty-two. The delegatesagreed that a man must win two-thirds of the convention's votes tobe the party's candidate. On the first ballot, no one got two-thirdsof the vote. So the voting continued. Finally, on the forty-seventhballot, support began to increase for one of the minor candidates.His name was Franklin Pierce.

Pierce was from the northeastern state of New Hampshire. He hadserved as a congressman and senator. On the forty-ninth ballot,Pierce won. He would be the Democratic Party's candidate forpresident.

VOICE ONE:

The Whig party held its presidential nominating convention inBaltimore two weeks after the Democrats. Three whigs wanted to benominated: President Millard Fillmore, Secretary of State DanielWebster, and General Winfield Scott.

The same thing that happened at the democratic convention nowhappened at the Whig convention. Delegates voted over and overagain. But no man got enough votes to win. It took fifty-threeballots before one of the men -- General Scott -- won thenomination.

VOICE TWO:

The presidential campaign lasted about five months. The electionwas in November. Pierce, the Democrat, won a crushing victory overScott, the Whig. The Democratic victory was so great that manypeople thought the Whig Party was finished. In fact, many Whigsthemselves hoped their party had been destroyed. Northern Whigswanted to form a new anti-slavery party. And southern Whigs wantedto form a party that would better represent their interests. TheDemocrats won the election, because they were able to bridge thedifferences between their northern and southern members. The Whigswere not able to do that.

VOICE ONE:

The new president, FranklinPierce, was a charming man. He made friends easily. Those who knewPierce best worried about this. They knew that under all hisfriendly charm, he was a weak man. They feared that the duties andproblems of the presidency would be too great for him to deal with.As president in eighteen-fifty-three, Pierce was forced to choosebetween two policies on the issue of slavery.

He could support the compromise of eighteen-fifty and declare itto be the final settlement of the problem. That would lead to afight with northern and southern extremists. Or he could compromisewith the extremists and give them jobs in his administration. Thatwould be the easy way to satisfy their demands. And that was thepolicy pierce chose.

VOICE TWO:

In putting together his cabinet, President Pierce tried toinclude men from every group in the Democratic Party. He namedWilliam Marcy of New York to be Secretary of State. Marcy opposedthe spread of slavery and all talk of splitting the Union. JeffersonDavis of Mississippi was named Secretary of War. Davis, more thanany other man, represented the southern extremists. He hadthreatened to take the south out of the Union if any limits were puton slavery. Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts was named AttorneyGeneral. Although a northerner, Cushing was a friend of manysouthern extremists. He was a very able man, but his loyalties werenot clear. James Buchanan of Pennsylvania was named Minister toBritain.

VOICE ONE:

All of these men had strong ideas about the future of the UnitedStates. President Pierce found it difficult to control them. Onesenator said the administration should not have been called thePierce administration, because Pierce did not lead it. He said itwas an administration of enemies of the Union who used thepresident's name and power for their own purposes.

VOICE TWO:

For a time, things were peaceful. The dispute over slavery hadcooled. But thoughtful people did not believe that peace would lastlong. No permanent solution had been found to settle differencesover slavery and the right of states to leave the Union.

One northerner wrote: "It was said hundreds of years ago that ahouse divided against itself cannot stand. The truth of this sayingis written on every page in history. It is likely that the historyof our own country may offer fresh examples to teach this truth tofuture ages."

We will continue our story of the presidency of Franklin Piercenext week.

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VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THEMAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Kay Gallant and HarryMonroe.