Franklin Pierce, Part 2

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2004-10-6

Christine Johnson

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This is Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Rich Kleinfeldt with the VOA Special English history
program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Today,we continue the story of
America's fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Franklin Pierce was elected in eighteen-fifty-two. He was a
compromise candidate of the Democratic Party. He was well-liked. But
he was not considered a strong leader.

The eighteen-fifties were an increasingly tense time in the
United States. Most of the population lived east of the Mississippi
River. However, more and more people were moving west. As western
areas became populated, they became official territories and then
new states.

What kind of laws would the new territories and states have.
Would the laws be decided by the Congress in Washington. Or would
they be voted on by the people living there.

The biggest legal question affecting western lands was slavery.

VOICE TWO:

Owning another human being was legal in many parts of the United
States at that time. Slaves were considered property, like furniture
and farm animals.

People who owned negro slaves wanted to take all their property
-- including the slaves -- with them when they moved west. People
who opposed slavery did not want it to spread. Some of them
considered slavery a moral issue. They believed it violated the laws
of God. An increasing number of white Americans, however, saw
slavery as an economic issue. They wanted new states to be free from
slavery, so they would not have to compete with slave labor.

VOICE ONE:

The United States had been established as a democracy. Yet
slavery existed. America's early leaders knew that trying to end
slavery probably would split the nation in two. So they looked for
compromises. They decided it was better to save the Union...even if
it was not perfect...than to watch the Union end.

Like other presidents, Franklin
Pierce hoped to avoid the issue. He also believed that earlier
legislation had settled the debate. In eighteen-twenty, Congress had
passed the Missouri Compromise. It extended a line across the map of
the United States. South of the line, slavery was legal. North of
the line, slavery was not legal, except in Missouri.

Thirty years later, another political compromise made the
situation less clear.

VOICE TWO:

The compromise of eighteen-fifty made slavery a local issue,
instead of a national issue, in several western territories. It said
the people in those territories had the right to decide for
themselves if slavery would be legal or illegal.

Within a few years, that law caused a new debate in Congress.
Lawmakers argued: was the peoples' right to decide the issue of
slavery restricted only to the territories named in the compromise
of eighteen-fifty? Or was the right extended to the people of all
future territories?

VOICE ONE:

The answer came in eighteen-fifty-four. In that year, Congress
debated a proposal to create two territories from one large area in
the west. The northern part would be known as the Nebraska
territory. The southern part would be known as the Kansas territory.
Settlers in both new territories would have the right to decide the
question of slavery.

President Pierce did not like the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He feared
it would re-open the bitter, national debate about slavery. He did
not want to have to deal with the results. Tensions were increasing.
Violence was increasingly possible.

The Kansas-Nebraska bill had a lot of support in the Senate. It
passed easily. The bill had less support in the House of
Representatives. The vote there was close, but the measure passed.
President Pierce finally agreed to sign it. In exchange,
congressional leaders promised to approve several presidential
appointments.

Supporters of the Kansas-Nebraska bill celebrated their victory.
They fired cannons as the city of Washington was waking to a new
day. Two senators who opposed the bill heard the noise as they
walked down the steps of the capitol building. One of them said:
"They celebrate a victory now. But the echoes they awake will never
rest until slavery itself is dead."

VOICE TWO:

The new bill gave the people of Kansas and Nebraska the right to
decide if slavery would be legal or illegal. The vote would depend
on who settled in the territories. It was not likely that people who
owned slaves would settle in Nebraska. However, there was a good
chance that they would settle in Kansas.

Groups in the south organized quickly to help pro-slavery
settlers move to Kansas. At the same time, groups in the north
helped free-state settlers move there, too.

VOICE ONE:

Some of the northern groups were companies called emigrant aid
societies. Shares of these companies were sold to the public. The
money was used to help build towns and farms in Kansas. Owners of
the companies hoped to make a lot of money from the development.

The southern effort to settle Kansas was led mostly by
slave-owning farmers in Missouri. They believed that peace in
Missouri depended on what happened in Kansas. They did not want to
live next to a territory where slavery was not legal.

VOICE TWO:

In Washington, President Pierce announced the appointment of
Andrew Reeder to be governor of the Kansas territory. Pro-slavery
settlers urged Reeder to hold immediate elections for a territorial
legislature. They believed they were in the majority. They wanted a
vote before too many free-state settlers moved in. The legislature
would have the power to keep the territory open to slavery and, in
time, help it become a slave state.

VOICE ONE:

Governor Reeder rejected the demands. He decided to hold an
election, but only for a territorial representative to the national
Congress. On election day, hundreds of men from Missouri crossed the
border into Kansas. They voted illegally, and the pro-slavery
candidate won.

The same thing happened when Kansas finally held an election for
a legislature. Governor Reeder took steps to make the voting fair.
His efforts were not completely successful. Once again, men from
Missouri crossed the border into Kansas. Many of them carried guns.
They forced election officials to count their illegal votes. As a
result, almost every pro-slavery candidate was elected to the new
legislature.

VOICE TWO:

The governor ordered an investigation. The investigation showed
evidence of wrong-doing in six areas, and new elections were held in
those areas. This time, when only legal votes were counted, many of
the pro-slavery candidates were defeated. Yet there were still
enough pro-slavery candidates to have a majority.

VOICE ONE:

Andrew Reeder was governor of a bitterly divided territory. He
wanted to warn President pierce about what was happening.

Reeder went to Washington. He met with Pierce almost every day
for two weeks. He described how pro-slavery groups in Missouri were
interfering in Kansas. He said if the state of Missouri refused to
deal with the trouble-makers, then the national government must deal
with them. He asked the president to do something.

VOICE TWO:

Pierce agreed that Kansas was a serious problem. He seemed ready
to act. So reeder returned home and opened the first meeting of the
territorial legislature. The pro-slavery majority quickly voted to
move to a town close to the Missouri border. It also approved
several pro-slavery measures.

Governor Reeder vetoed these bills. But there were enough votes
to reject his veto and pass the new laws.

VOICE ONE:

The Kansas legislature also sent a message to President Pierce.
It wanted him to remove Andrew Reeder as governor. Political
pressure was strong, and the president agreed. He named a new
governor, Wilson Shannon. Shannon supported the pro-slavery laws of
the legislature. He also said Kansas should become a slave state,
like Missouri.

Free-state leaders were extremely angry. They felt they could not
get fair treatment from either the president or the new governor. So
they took an unusual step. They met and formed their own government
in opposition to the elected government of the territory. It would
not be long before the situation in Kansas became violent. That will
be our story next week.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Today's program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by
Christine Johnson. This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Shirley Griffith. Join us again next time for another
VOA Special English report about the history of the United States.