The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War (43 page)

23.
Congressional Globe,
35th Cong., 1st sess., 1857–58, 163–64.

24. For the diverse appeal of the free-soil movement, see Eric Foner, “Racial Attitudes of New York Free Soilers,”
New York History
46 (Oct. 1965), 311–29; Eric Foner, “Politics and Prejudice: The Free Soil Party and the Negro, 1849–1852,”
Journal of Negro History
50 (Oct. 1965), 239–56; Eugene H. Berwanger,
The Frontier Against Slavery
(Urbana, Ill., 1967); Leonard L. Richards,
“Gentlemen of Property and Standing”: Anti-Abolition Mobs in Jacksonian America
(New York, 1970), 163–65; Frederick J. Blue,
The Free Soilers: Third Party Politics, 1848–54
(Urbana, Ill., 1973); John Mayfield,
Rehearsal for Republicanism: Free Soil and the Politics of Antislavery
(Port Washington, N.Y., 1980); Jonathan H. Earle,
Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2004).

25.
Senate Journal,
1st sess., 1852, 347; Cardinal Goodwin,
The Establishment of State Government in California, 1846–1850
(New York, 1914), 266–67, 318–23; Hubert Howe Bancroft,
History of California, 1848–1859,
6 vols. (San Francisco, 1888), 6:312–13; David A. Williams,
David C. Broderick: A Political Portrait
(San Marino, Calif., 1969), 34–35; Paul Finkelman, “The Law of Slavery and Freedom in California, 1848–1860,”
California Western Law Review
17 (1981), 451; Peter H. Burnett,
An Old California Pioneer
(Oakland, 1946), 127–31; Lucile Eaves,
A History of California Labor Legislation
(Berkeley, Calif., 1910), 89–90; James A. Fisher, “The Struggle for Negro Testimony in California, 1851–1853,”
Southern California Quarterly
51 (Dec. 1969), 313–24.

26.
Senate Journal,
1st sess., 1850, 372–80.

27. Josiah Royce, “The Squatter Riot of ’50 in Sacramento,”
Overland Monthly
6 (Sept. 1885), 225–46; C. E. Montgomery, “The Lost Journals of a Pioneer,”
Overland Monthly
7 (1886), 173–81; W. W. Robinson,
Land in California
(Berkeley, Calif., 1948), 114–16; Frank W. Blackmar,
The Life of Charles Robinson
(Topeka, Kans., 1901), 43–47; Erwin G. Gudde,
Sutter’s Own Story: The Life of General John Augustus Sutter and the History of New Helvetia in the Sacramento Valley
(New York, 1936), 227.

28.
Alta California,
March 15–22, 1851;
Senate Journal,
2nd sess., 1851, 313–37.

29. For the details, see Leonard L. Richards,
The Slave Power: The Free North and Southern Domination, 1780–1860
(Baton Rouge, La., 2000).

30.
Alta California,
April 8–10, 1852;
Statutes of California, 1852,
67–69; Stanley, “Slavery and the Origins of the Republican Party in California,” 1–16; Cole,
Memoirs,
112.

31. Williams,
Broderick,
74–75; Bancroft,
History of California,
6:673–74; Gwin to Millard Fillmore, Jan. 31, 1853; Gwin to Franklin Pierce, March 18, 1853, California Appointment Papers, RG 56, National Archives; Etta Olive Powell, “Southern Influences in California Politics Before 1864” (master’s thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1929), 74–75.

32.
San Francisco News,
Aug. 18, 1859. See also Williams,
Broderick,
227–28; Powell, “Southern Influences in California Politics Before 1864,” 74–75.
The San Francisco News,
on June 8, provided a list of hundreds of postmasters who held office thanks to Chivs and, on June 24, still another long list of Chiv members who held federal appointments.

33. John Bigler to William Bigler, March 31, April 14, 1854, Bigler Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, microfilm.

34. Winfield J. Davis,
History of Political Conventions in California, 1849–1892
(Sacramento, Calif., 1893), 24–25.

35. Archibald C. Peachy to J. L. Folsom, Aug. 14, 1853, Leidesdorff Papers, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.; James W. Wilson to James W. Mandeville, Aug. 21, 1853, Mandeville Papers, Huntington Library;
Alta California,
Sept. 6, 15, 23, 1853; Powell, “Southern Influences in California Politics Before 1864,” 83–84.

36. Williams,
Broderick,
76; Governor’s Appointments, 1850–1940, drawer 1, California State Archives, Sacramento.

37. Roger W. Lotchin,
San Francisco, 1846–1856; From Hamlet to City
(New York, 1974), 221–22;
Alta California,
Aug. 15, 1853, March 30, 1855, Dec. 31, 1856.

38. Afffidavit of George Wilkes, Bancroft Library, Berkeley;
The Address of the Majority of the Democratic Members of Both Branches of the Legislature
(San Francisco, 1854), copy, Bancroft Library;
Wilkes’s Spirit of the Times,
Oct. 22, 1859.

39.
Alta California,
March 1, 1854;
California Chronicle,
March 7, 10, 1854; Williams,
Broderick,
87–88; Andrew J. Hatch to James W. Mandeville, March 3, 1854; George W. Whitman to Mandeville, March 13, 1854; Mandeville to D. A. Enyart, March 15, 1854, Mandeville Papers.

40. Davis,
History of Political Conventions in California,
29–34, 605–64; Delmatier et al.,
Rumble of California Politics,
19; Williams,
Broderick,
92–98; James J. Ayers,
Gold and Sunshine: Reminiscences of Early California
(Boston, 1922), 120.

41. L. A. Gobright,
Recollection of Men and Things at Washington, During the Third of a Century
(Philadelphia, 1869), 160–64.

42. The literature on the 1856 Vigilance Committee is large. Among the more useful accounts are Doyce Nunis,
The San Francisco Vigilance Com
mittee of 1856
(Los Angeles, 1971); Richard Maxwell Brown,
Strain of Violence: Historical Studies of American Violence and Vigilantism
(New York, 1975), 134–43; Robert Senkewicz,
Vigilantes in Gold Rush San Francisco
(Stanford, Calif., 1985).

43.
Alta California,
Aug. 26, 1856; Burchell,
San Francisco Irish,
129–30.

44.
Alta California,
June 29, 1856; Burchell,
San Francisco Irish,
131; Ned McGowan,
McGowan vs. the Vigilantes
(Oakland, 1946);
Memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman, by Himself
(New York, 1875), 143.

45. Gerritt W. Ryckman, statement, 18–20, Bancroft Library; Ethel May Tinneman, “The Opposition to the San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1856” (master’s thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1941).

46.
Alta California,
Nov. 2–11, 1856;
San Francisco Herald,
Nov. 5, 1856.

47. Broderick to de la Guerra, Sept. 26, 1856, de la Guerra Papers, Santa Barbara Mission Archives, microfilm.

48. Latham to James W. Mandeville, Nov. 18, 1856, Mandeville Papers.

49. A. C. Blaine to James W. Mandeville, Nov. 11, 1856; anonymous to William Gwin, Nov. 10, 1856, in Gwin to Mandeville, Nov. 11, 1856—all in Mandeville Papers.

50. J. S. Watkins to James W. Mandeville, Nov. 22, 1856; B. D. Wilson to William Gwin, Dec. 5, 1856; Gwin to Mandeville, Dec. 13, 19, 1856; Joseph Walkup to Gwin, Dec. 23, 1856; P. L. Solomon to Mandeville, Dec. 28, 1856—all in Mandeville Papers.

51. Gwin to James W. Mandeville, Dec. 22, 25, 1856, Mandeville Papers.

52. Statements of D. Mahoney, Charles S. Scott, and J. M. Pindell, Jan. 13–14, 1857—all in Milton S. Latham Papers, California Historical Society, San Francisco.

53. James O’Meara,
Broderick and Gwin
(San Francisco, 1881), 184–87. Given the details of O’Meara’s account, he was most likely the “friend” who accompanied Gwin. For the letter, see also Jeremiah Lynch,
A Senator of the Fifties: David C. Broderick of California
(San Francisco, 1911), 156, 182–84; Lately Thomas,
Between Two Empires: The Life Story of California’s First Senator, William McKendree Gwin
(Boston, 1969), 140–41, 173–74; Williams,
Broderick,
221–22.

54. F. Amyx to James W. Mandeville, Big Oak Flat, Jan. 16, 1857, Mandeville Papers; C. T. Botts to R. M. T. Hunter, Jan. 15, 1857, California State Library, Sacramento; John C. Hyatt to Dr. C. M. Hitchcock, Jan. 20, 1857, Hitchcock Family Correspondence, Bancroft Library.

55. Many Chivs seemed to have a general idea of what Gwin agreed to. See, for example, W. R. Isaacs MacKay to Jefferson Davis, Jan. 13, 1857, in Lynda Lasswell Crist and Mary Seaton Dix, eds.,
The Papers of Jefferson Davis
(Baton Rouge, La., 1989), 6:99–101.

56. Lynch,
A Senator of the Fifties,
182–84; Thomas,
Gwin,
140–41, 173–74; Williams,
Broderick,
221–22.

CHAPTER 8

1. The standard biography of Buchanan is Philip S. Klein,
President James Buchanan
(University Park, Pa., 1962). Klein’s interpretation, needless to say, differs from mine, but I have drawn on his fine book for many details. I also relied extensively on Elbert B. Smith,
The Presidency of James Buchanan
(Lawrence, Kans., 1975).

2. For excellent accounts of the Ostend Manifesto, see Amos Aschbach Ettinger,
The Mission to Spain of Pierre Soulé, 1853–1855: A Study in the Cuban Diplomacy of the United States
(New Haven, Conn., 1932), 339–412; Robert E. May,
The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire, 1854–1861
(Baton Rouge, La., 1973), 67–74.

3. Virginia Clay-Clopton,
A Belle of the Fifties: Memoirs of Mrs. Clay, of Alabama, Covering Social and Political Life in Washington and the South, 1853–66, Put into Narrative Form by Ada Sterling
(New York, 1905), 86, 126–37; John von Sonntag de Havilland,
A Metrical Description of a Fancy Ball Given at Washington, 9th April, 1858, Dedicated to Mrs. Senator Gwin
(Washington, D.C., 1858).

4. See, for example, Buchanan to Mrs. W. M. Gwin, May 4, 1861, in John Bassett Moore, ed.,
The Works of James Buchanan
(Philadelphia, 1908–11), 11:187. See also Buchanan to Miss Lane, May 14, June 10, 1859, ibid., 10:319–20, 323–24.

5.
Washington Union,
March 6, 11, 12, 21, 28, 1857.

6.
New York Tribune,
March 7, 9–12, 21, 25, Sept. 23–25, 1857; Don E. Fehrenbacher,
The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics
(New York, 1978), 417–48.

7. Philip G. Auchampaugh, “Buchanan, the Court, and the Dred Scott Case,”
Tennessee Historical Magazine
11 (1926), 231–40; Fehrenbacher,
Dred Scott,
311–12.

8. Forney to Buchanan, n.d., James Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, microfilm.

9. Broderick to Buchanan, March 8, 11, 1857, Treasury Department Applications, RG 56, National Archives; Broderick to Buchanan, March 19, 1857, Department of Justice Appointment Papers, RG 60, National Archives.

10. Latham to Buchanan, Jan. 20, 1857, Treasury Department Applications, RG 56, National Archives; Latham to Buchanan, Feb. 14, 1857, Department of Justice Appointment Papers, Northern California, RG 60, National Archives; Paschal Bequette to Howell Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, March 17, 1857, Treasury Department Applications, RG 56, National Archives; Charles Scott to James W. Mandeville, March 18, 1857, William Gwin to Mandeville, March 19, April 3, 5, 1857, James W. Mandeville Papers, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. See also Roy S. Bloss, “Biography of William McKendree Gwin and Supporting Documents, 1856–1873,” MS, 223–24, Bancroft Library, Berkeley Calif. Generally speaking, those who claim that Gwin honored his pledge also imply that Broderick himself was largely responsible for the rift with Buchanan, in that he had made so many promises to friends that he didn’t want to put his recommendations in writing. See, for example, William H. Ellison,
A Self-Governing Dominion: California, 1849–1860
(Berkeley, Calif., 1950), 294–95; James O’Meara,
Broderick and Gwin
(San Francisco, 1881), 196–98; and Jeremiah Lynch,
The Life of David C. Broderick
(New York, 1911), 163. In my judgment, the evidence doesn’t support this interpretation. Broderick clearly put his recommendations in writing, and Gwin clearly did not honor his pledge.

11. Broderick to Buchanan, March 8, 1857, Treasury Department Applications, RG 56, National Archives; William Bigler to Buchanan, March 11, 1857, Buchanan Papers (microfilm).

12.
Alta California,
April 30, 1857.

13.
Alta California,
May 1, 1857; Gwin to James W. Mandeville, April 3, 5, 1857, Mandeville Papers; O’Meara,
Broderick and Gwin,
199; Kenneth Stampp,
America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink
(New York, 1990), 78.

14. Peyton Hurt, “The Rise and Fall of the ‘Know Nothings’ in California,”
California Historical Society Quarterly
9 ( June 1930), 111–13; John D. Carter, “Henry Stuart Foote in California Politics, 1854–1857,”
Journal of Southern History
9 (May 1943), 234–35.

15. Winfield J. Davis,
History of Political Conventions in California, 1849–1892
(Sacramento, Calif., 1893), 77;
Alta California,
July 14–16, 1857.

16. Weller to Douglas, Nov. 18, 1857, Stephen A. Douglas Papers, University of Chicago, microfilm.

17.
Congressional Globe,
35th Cong., 1st sess., 1857–58, 1907, 2068–70, 2108, 2902, 2455–56, 2643, 2645;
Congressional Globe,
35th Cong., 2nd sess., 1858–59, 577, 1240.

18. Of the many fine studies of the Kansas controversy, I am indebted especially to Stampp,
America in 1857,
chaps. 10–12; Robert W. Johannsen,
Stephen A. Douglas
(New York, 1973), 576–631; Fehrenbacher,
Dred Scott,
chap. 19; and James Rawley,
Race and Politics: “Bleeding Kansas” and the Coming of the Civil War
(Philadelphia, 1969).

19. Daniel W. Wilder,
The Annals of Kansas
(Topeka, Kans., 1875), 140, 146.

20.
Washington Union,
Nov. 18, 24, 29, 1857.