Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-06-18
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1850.


over the slavery question. The
Southern States were determined tol
resist all further assresHions against
the continuance OF their prized In
stitntion. and based their contentious
ON the Constitution OF the United
a,ates. hut throughout the North
and the West the anti-siavery feeling
was growine. Not 10 the extent Of
demanding the abolition Of slavery.
but with firm insistence upon a rigid
bar tu Its further extension The
Democratic party wns in bitter dlvi-
sion over the situation. but ths. future
showed that a majority of It's voters
favored stern restriction of slavery
within the limits Of the territory IN
which it prevailed. unless sanctioned
or tolerated I'm new territory By the
people thereof. Delaware felt the ex
cite,nent and turmoil of the situation.
rs we'll as other states.
So widely divergent were opinions
and demands with respect 20 the
treatment of the slavery question.
that four political parties were ia
the field when the campaign settled
down. The regular Democratic organ.
ization, favoring the right of the
people To determine whether they
should have slavery or not was repre-
sented by stephen A. Douglas of 1lll-
nois--the Little Giant'--for presi-
dent and Herschei v. Johnson of
Georgia for Vice-p President. The
Southern wing of the Democratic
party, bolting from the national con-
vention at which Douglas was chosen.
l ~ - -.
Kentucly--then e-presidetit--for
President and Joseph Lane of Oregon
for yiee-president The Republican
party. by that time a formidable ag-
gregation, continually growing since
its initial national campaign four
| years before. nominated Abraham
Lincoln OF Illinois for President and
| Hannibal Hamlin of Maine Tor Vice
President. The American. or KNOW
| nothing party had about given up
the ghost. but its survivors. entering
| into the spirit Of the times aud lie.
iieving they could uffer settlement uf
the vexed question. transformed II
into the Constitutional Union nartA,
with John Bell Of Tennessee fur presl.
dent and Edward Everett uf Masaa.
chusetts for Vice President. on 4 niat4
form Of 'the Union as It was. the
| Constitution az it il" tts leaders
were mainly actuated by tho henp that
the divided state Of the people would
result in throwing the election of
President into the Houhe Of Hanre.
sentatises, with ronaeauent Htfng.
ale I'm which their candidate might win
as a compromises.
Democratic Division.
The meet interesting preliminary
event of the year was the Democratic
National Convention. which Assem-.
bled al Charleston. s g. April "a
| 1850, and after bitter contest oyer q
platform declaration in respect oi
slavery, adopted. hy a small ma
iority. compromise declaration. sub.
mitted by a majority of the repolutIon,
committee. to the effect that "ths
Democratic party will abide By tn.
decisions of the Supreme Court of TN.
United States upon questions of Con.
| siHuunnal law. The decision of fhe
court IN the Dred Scott case. shori
time before. thoroughly sustaining TIL,
right OF property in slaves. was re.
garded as a victory by the souther,
wing OF the party, but others wer.
greatly dissatisfied. week and !
Gay were expended i'm reaching thf.
accomplishment, and then came thres
Gays OF inehectual balloting for can.
didate for President, with Mr.. Doug.
las IN the majority, but lacking IN.
necessary two-thirds vote. after whic,
the convention adjourned 10 reessen.
bic in Baltimore on June rs.
AT Baltimore the contest vae 70.
uewed. with additional comnIicattons
During the exciting platform st,,,g
gle at Charleston. numerous deleeata,
from Southern States. of axtren,,
slavery views. had withdrawn. an.
most OF these vacancies had been mn.
ed, meanwhile, by the selectian ~
men OF more moderate views. n,
this means the Douglas Democrat.
were able TO get the upper hand Al
baltimore. and all attempts to unsea,
these new delegates proved aboftivn
Then the extreme Southern Da,noerat !.
and their followers withdrew. and IN,
powerful organization of tho Denaa
cratic party was split in twain. Eacl
faction nominated it's presidentla
hNhttt as given ABOVE.
Direct Effect In Delaware.
This bitter faetisnal division of tn
national Democratic party had III
effect on the party in Delaware. an,
the rancorous contentious were In
tensif1ed by an incident at the BaIti
more convention that affected man,
, partisans here. Among those who at
tended We're Colonel William q
Whiteley and the redoubtable sam
Townsend of Appoquinimink. White
ley was for Breckinridge, while Town
send was a stalwart supporter q
Douglas and .'Saratter Sovereignty.
Early one morning they met in tn
basement of the Barnum Hotel a popti
lar gathering place for Democrats. an
after a heated argument became in
volyed in a fierce fight, from whic
Townsend emerged a winner. He in
sisted. then and afterwards, tina
/ Whiteley had drawn a pistol and or:
, deavorcd 10 shoot him, but this wa
, denied by Whiteley's friends. Town
send, however, continued a bitter en-
emy to Whiteiey for a long while. an
how he finally forgave him. in a fin
, manner, will be told later.
II Delaware at that time was a thor
) oughly Democratic State. with jaime
A. Bayard and willard Salisbury i
the United States Senate and willfar
I q. Whiteley in the House of Repre-
/. sentatives. The State administrative
{ was Democratic and notwithstandin
/ the extreme wing of the national par
| ty was In the poeitfos, f,f "a h,,lta,. ~,