Milford chronicle., 1928-10-26
Car7lpdign

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L mont! With this catchy bat
tfecry the newborn Republican
party in 1856 pitched with zeal INTO
lis first national campaign, which
for enthusiasm and excitement was
L. surpass any Presidential canvass
sthe nation had seen since the pic
turesuue "lOg cabin and hard cider"
contest that took place in 1910.
. The campaign of "TippecanOe ana
Tyler too" had been waged by the
Wings in a spirit of hilarious jolllty.
But while the Republicans of 1886
sang, hurrahed and paraded with
equal gustO. there was an overlone
of deep gravity in the political de-
velOpments of that summer and au-
tumn. The issue of slavery eXten-
Sion or freedom lent an unusual
moral fervOr to the contest.
Z In the West there were but two
parties. the Democratic and the Re
~pubican. In the East the skeletons
of the Whig and the Know Nothing
,Darties still ratified. The main bat
tie soon was seen to be between the
Democrats. whose nominee was
~James Buchanan, and the newly
hatched Republicans with their ap-
. pealing western hero, General Ere
mont, who had planted the Stars
I, and Stripes on the highest peak of
the Rocky mountains and with
whom they hoped to plant their
standard VIGOROUSLY on the White
House. Ex-President Millard Fill
more, as nominee of the Wings and
KnOw-NOthings. was destined to be
mere "alsO-ran."
The paramount issue for the Re-
publicans was in truth as well as
. fguratively a burning and bleeding
one. In Kansas and Missouri the
guerilla warfare between slavery
and antislavery forces struggling
for dominance under the Douglas
scheme of "squatter sovereignty"
was raging, with murders and plum
dering on both sides. Republicans
pointed with horror to 'bleeding
Kansas"
Southern Democrats protested
that their Republican opponents
were trying to elect their ticket by
"shrieks for freedom" The .abO-
nuonists had aroused genuine ap-
prehensinn in the slave states. Rep
resentative southern statesmen and
newspapers uttered the threat,
which they were grimly to carryl
out five years later, that Repub
lican victory would be followed by
southern secession. Real fears
that FremOnts election would mean
the end of the Union caused thou
sands in the North to vote for Bu-
chanan, who was pledged not TO stir
UP the slavery question.
But the Republicans, deriding
southern secession threats as pO-
litical bluff" swung with keener
enthusiasm into their long torch
light parades led by pioneers bear
ing cleaning axes, reminiscent of
FremOnt's exploits as a western
"pathlinder," or Justify joined
Rocky Mountain glee clubs in sing
ing Fremont campaign songs, or lis
tening in sOberer mood in great
mass meetings to eXhOrtatiOns by
publicists, preachers and poets.
Clergymen, professors and lit
erary men, especially those in New
England, the abOlitionist strong
hold. furnished to a marked degree
the Republican leadership The
moral aspect of the slavery ques-
tiOn made a strong appeal to them.
Bryant and Emerson entered active
ly into the campaign. LongfellOw
cancelled a trip to Europe in or
der to be in America to vote. Whit
tier begged votes for Fremont in
passionate verse. Harriet Beecher
Stowe, who previously had stirred
up so much abolitiOnist sentiment
with her famous "Uncle Toms
Cabin" published another. anti
slavery novel.
SOutherners, convinced that the,
institution of slavery was a benef-
cent one, were wounded by the bit
terness of these northern leaders
denodncing their system, and felt
that the North was displaying IA
natical hatred when northern
preachers thundered antislavery
sermons from their pulpits and ut
tered public prayers for Buchanan's
defeat.
Southern fears of "Black Repub-
liean" victory, while not wholly
idle, proved to be premature. The
election went against the Republic
ans. But the popular vote of 1,341,-
264 for Fremont as against 1885,
169 for Buchanan was a surprising
demonstration of strength by a new
party in its first national election.
1t gave promise of future success
and inspired heightened apprehen-