The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-08-14
For the National Era
WHO ARE SECTIONAL d?
BY GEO. M. WESTON

| rOT tho National Era.
WHO ARE SECTIONAL?
BY GEO. NJ WESTON.
1t is objected to the Republican party. that
Its candidates for both the Presidency and Vice
Presidency are taken from the North; that il
exists, as an effective organization, only in the
free States, and will present electoral tickets in
only two or three slave States; that its trium oh
would be sectional triumph of the North over
the South; and that its success will be equiva
lent to dissolution of the Union, because the
slave States will certainly not submit to it. and
perhaps ought not to submit to it. This obiec-
ton, already taken in many quarters, has re.
ceived the special endorsement of one who has
hlleo the highest position in our Government.
Mr.: Fillmore, In the many addresses he has
delivered to his fellow-citzens, who have as
sembled at various places to welcome his return
from Europe, has made this his capital, most
emphatic, and, indeed, most fatal objection to
the Republican party. AT Albany, Mr. Fillmore
said
We see political party presenting candi.
dates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency.
selected tor the first time from the free States
alone, with the avowed purpose of electing
these candidates by SURFACES of one part of
the Union only, to rule over the whole United
States. Can it be possible that those who are
engaged In such q measure can have seri.
ously reflected upon the consequences which
must inevitably follow, in case of success D.?
Cheers. Can they have the madness or the
folly to believe that our Southern brethren
would submit to be governed by such Chief
Magistrate? Cheers. Would he be required
TO follow the same rule prescribed by those
who elected him in making his appointments :?
If man living south of Mason and Dixon's
line be not worthy to be President or Vice
President, would it be proper to select one
from the same quarter, as one of his Cabinet
Council, or to represent the nation in a foreign
country? Or, indeed, to collect the revenue,
or administer the laws of the United States
dsSafd IN shsed sR Sm Hne pTfSS eese
are serious but practical questions, and, in
order to appreciate them fully, it is only ne
cessary to turn the tables upon ourselves.
Suppose that the South, having a majority of
the electoral votes, should declare that they
would only have shareholders for President
and Vice President, and should elect such by
their exclusive suffrages to rule over us at the
North. Do you think we would submit TO it?
: No, not for moment Applause. And do
you believe that your Southern brethren are
less sensitive on this subject than you are, or
less jealous of their rights? Tremendous
are mistaken. And, therefore, you must see
that if this sectional party succeeds, it leads
inevitably to the destruction of this beautiful
fabric, reared by our forefathers, cemented by
their blood, and bequeathed to US as a price
less inheritance"
Undoubtedly, the practice has been COM
mon, in selecting candidates for the Presidency
and Vice Presidency, to take one from the free
States and the other from the slave States, but
the practice has been by no means uniform
and when Mr.. Fillmore undertook to say that
what had been done by the Philadelphia Con-
vention had been done for the first time" he
exhibited strange ignorance of, or total mat
tention to, the history of the country. In the
election of 1928, one of the parties presented
General Jackson, of Tennessee, for the Presi-
dency, and Mr.. Calhoun, of South Carolina, for
the Vice Presidency; while the other party pre-
sented Mr.. Adams, of Massachusetts, for the
Presidency, and Mr.. Rush, of Pennsylvania,
for the Vice Presidency; and the lastnamed
ticket doubtless received the support of Mr..
Fillmore himself.
AT the preceding election, that of 1924, the
votes were not divided between two parties, but
scattered upon many candidates. However,
of 26l votes thrown for President, III were
given to Southern men, and Of 260 votes thrown
for Vice President, 22l were given to South
ern men, so that, in most Of the States, the
votes must have been given to candidates from
the South for both Offices.
In 1886, the candidates of the Wing party
were General Harrison, of Ohio, for the Presi-
dency, and Mr.. Granger, of New York, for the
second Office, except in Massachusetts, which
supported Mr.. Webster for the Presidency, and
Mr.. Granger for the second office. Mr.. Fill
more, undoubtedly, voted the Harrison and
Granger ticket. At the same election, South
Carolina voted for Mangum, of North Carolina,
for President, and Tyler, of Virginia. for the
second Office. AT the same election, Georgia
and Tennessee voted for Judge White, of Ten
nessee, for President, and Tyler, of Virginia,
for the second Office. 1t is not recollected that
any of the individuals, or parties, or States con-
cerned in these transactions, were charged with
the design of overthrowing the Union.
MIR. Bright, of Indiana, has been elected
President of the present Senate, in the place Of
Vice President King, deceased. Mr.. Bright is
therefore, TO all intents and purposes, Vice
President of the United States, performs the
present duties of that office, and would sue
coed to the first Office, upon the same contin-
gencies as would a Vice President elected by
the people. We now have therefore, both the
President and Vice President from the free
States-the very thing pronounced by Mr.. FIJI
more to be SO unprecedented and 80 dangerous.
Or does Mr.. Fillmore hold that to be unlawful,
when proposed to be done by " Black RepuJli-
cans" which is entirely lawful when done by
anybody else?
Mr.. Fillmore is equally at fault in suggest
ing, either that Col. Fremont would ostracse
Southern applicants for Office, provided they
possess the JefFersonian qualifications, or that
Southern men would refuse to take office un.
der him. The prediction may safely be ven
tured, that enough men from Virginia alone
viii be on their knees to Colonel Fremont for
office, to exhaust all his patronage. Mr.. Fill.
more's own experience should have enlighten-
ed him on that point. Nobody knows better
than he does, what vast numbers of his old
Abolition associates were transformed into i'm.
FASHIONED Unionsavers, by the golden touch of
patronage The incumbent of the Presidency,
be he who he may, or conduct as he may, win
always have as many supporters as he can CON-
fortably provide for.
The assumption that the slave States must
have the candidate for the Presidency or