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Chapter 65 Descent Into Hell
Chapter 65 Descent Into Hell
"Boy am I glad that I left Tennessee when I had the chance."- President Davy Crockett 1859
"I'm innocent I tell you. What I did was save this country from the foul machinations of a brutal tyrant who seeks to put you all in chains. Emancipation is the will of God and I am his enforcer."- Last words of John Brown 1859
"Looking back I sometimes wonder what had started this whole mess, and whether or not the country could have still been saved. It's very easy to target specific events such as the Oregon Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska, Dred Scott, or the Douglas assassination; but there are still plenty of events of a similar level that occur in other nations and yet they are still standing. Looking back in my childhood I think I can see the tensions begin even there as my parents referred to themselves as Virginians first and Americans second. It was always these United states and not the United States. Even when looking back at the founding fathers the tension was still there with the northern colonies having a completely seperate culture form the southern ones. Slavery, states rights, Republicans and Democrats, these are all mere tiny sparks that formed into one grand explosion to light the powder keg of America. Perhaps this war was not only inevitable, but necessary."- General Robert E. Lee 1864
In the aftermath of the 1856 Presidential Elections there was still a high hope across the United States that the current crisis could be fixed and it would soon fade away, becoming nothing more than a bad memory in the analogues of American history. True the United States had faced several hardships of a nearly similar level such as the Articles Era, the Johnson Era and the rise of the Whigs, the Nullification Crises, and both the War of 1812 and the Oregon War. At the end of the day it seemed that the United States had always pulled out on top so this was seen as no exception. Unfortunately they were wrong. To this day it is widely debated whether or not the election of John Fremont would have actually solved the current conflict or have brought the civil war four years early. Whatever the case, the election of Stephen Douglas to a second term would be proven to be far from the correct answer as America dropped lower into the abyss with the slavery question strengthening the divide. All of it only leading to the darkest period in the nation's history when the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.
The first major issue that came up in 1857 that would forever scar Douglas' legacy was the infamous Dred Scott case. The Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford was a peculiar case of the time as it was one that resulted of a slave suing for his freedom. The slave in question, Dred Scott, was a 62 year old slave at the time of the ruling and had been pursuing his freedom for nearly two decades within the court system. The whole affair originated in 1836 when Scott was sold to Dr. John Emerson and was brought to the territory of Wisconsin, a place where slavery was illegal, and was kept there as Emerson's property for four years until Emerson's death in 1840. Afterwords Scott came into the possession of Irene Emerson, where she still kept Scott in Wisconsin and hired his services, further going against the current law at the time. In 1847 Scott then took his case to court with the aid of abolitionist lawyers and tried to sue for his and his families freedom from their owners, his daughter being technically free under law due to her birth in Wisconsin. While many believed the Scott's would win in the Missouri court, a shocking turn of events led to the court ruling against Scott and saying that he did not have the right to sue and was still Mrs. Emerson's slave. The case was dragged on for ten years and over time Scott started losing support from the abolitionist cause due to their low success in the appeals courts. Hope remained however as the case reached the Supreme Court in 1856 where it was hoped that the supreme law of the land would finally rule in favor to Scott according to constitutional and federal law. On March 6th, 1857, shortly after President Douglas' second inaugural address where he called for national unity and a final solution to the slavery problem, the Dred Scott case was finally decided in court, the result being something that no one had expected. To the delight of the south the court led by Chief Justice Roger Taney, a appointee by Jackson, ruled in 6-3 that Scott did not have the right to sue due to his status as a slave, with property not being able to sue against citizens of the United States. While many thought it would be said and done there, they were wrong. The court went further beyond its regulated powers and in a subsequent ruling, stated that federal laws that banned slavery in American territories were unconstitutional by going against the right to free commerce, therefore for the rest of time all territories of the United States shall now be open to slavery. With the drop of a gavel the efforts of Douglas, the Republicans, and some Northern Democrats had all been for naught. Slavery had won the day.
Dred Scott, the man who turned the nation upside down with his Supreme Court case. While Scott may have lost the battle he was fortunately freed in mid 1857 due to immense pressure from the North on the Emerson family. He lived out the rest of his days serving as a bellhop in Baltimore until 1866, living long enough to see Lincoln abolish slavery.
When Stephen Douglas learned of the ruling of Dred Scott he became infuriated with the Supreme Court. According to reports from the Douglas cabinet, the man marched straight to the Supreme Court capitol and lashed out and berated Taney for "making the most retarded decisions in our nations history that has undone all the good work of popular sovereignty which I have taken." Taney did not budge one bit during the President's tantrum and simply told him that he had done his job as the high judge of the land and had solved the problem of slavery that the president couldn't make any progress in his last four years. If Taney somehow thought that the nation would universally praise his decision then he was dead wrong. All across the North riots erupted over the ruling of Dred Scott with violent protests taking place in every major city, American flags being burned, dummies of Douglas and Taney being hanged on street posts, resulting in a case that was far worse than what happened after the Sumner Caning and Kansas-Nebraska. The Army had to be deployed constantly throughout the year to quell unrest on both sides while Kansas firmly disintegrated with what little law holding the territory now being lost completely. In the minds of the radical abolitionists, if slavery was now legal in Kansas then the best thing to do was to make the south pay with blood for their ignorance. Neighboring nations Texas and Quebec looked on in horror as their once might and proud neighbor was turning against itself. Both Texas and Quebec shifted to closer relations with France in order to ward off moves from Britain while the Texas Congress began the path of peacefully solving its own slave problem.
Inside Washington any semblance of bipartisan unity had been shattered. The Democratic Party had virtually split into two with Vice Presidents Toombs and Secretary of State James Buchanan leading the Southern Democrats to install a takeover of the Senate and block any and all legislature which could've repealed Dred Scott. The Northern Democrats led by Douglas tried their best to hold the party together and push forward popular sovereignty as the alternate solution. They were rebuked every time by the emboldened Southern Democrats, causing a virtual civil war within the party itself. There would be many times where weeks would go by without either Douglas or Toombs speaking to each other and both leaders trying to lead the party in their own manner. Whenever there was legislation introduced that had nothing to do with slavery by a Democrat in one wing, the other wing would block said piece out of pure spite and a desire not to let the other succeed. All the while the Republicans were gaining strength as their party was unified and now had a clear goal to work towards and a common enemy to unite their supporters. Republican officials cited the increasing unrest that was poorly handled by Douglas and his haphazard handling of the slavery issue as clear signs that the Democrats were a failed party and should not be given another term in office, lest the nation spill into further chaos under their rule. While many outsiders had hoped for a coalition to be created with both Republicans and Northern Democrats, these hopes were dashed when Douglas refused to work with the GOP as he saw them as radicals that would only make the situation far worse instead of solving it. With offers of a coalition rebuked by the president, the Republicans instead looked towards consolidating their base and gaining further electoral success. The Republicans managed to find this very success with the 1858 midterm elections gaining them a plurality in the Senate with 31 seats versus the split hold of the Democrats while the Republicans managed to gain a majority in the house with 133 Representatives to the Democrats now lessened 113 Representatives, Massachusetts representative Nathaniel Banks becoming Speaker of the House for the Republicans while Abraham Lincoln became Republican Minority Leader and unofficial majority leader due to the North and South Wings refusing to listen to their senatorial heads. In the years leading up to the Civil War this makeup lead to a very despotic run congress where no side could gain a majority support in order to pass laws for the nation. The only thing that even received support at this time was the federal budget, which itself could take weeks of debate in order to finalize. Many state legislatures tried to fill in the gaps and instead passed their own laws to meet the current issues of the day while congress bickered from 9 to 5.
View attachment 308528
Political Cartoon of Douglas and Lincoln tearing the nation apart over slavery.
Outside of slavery the other developments in American society at the time did not improve the situation at all. The worse case of this being the Panic of 1857. The Panic of 1857 was a worldwide economic recession, though the primary victim was the United States as many European nations were not affected at the time. Said Panic began in September of 1857, only a half a year after Dred Scott, and would last until the beginning of the Civil War. There are multiple causes linking to the beginning of the Panic, having primarily attributed to overspeculation in Western territories, the unregulated railroad growth, overextending of credit by several national banks, and the overconsumption of European goods due to the continental growth that occurred in Germany and France after the 1846 Revolutions. In terms of economic damage the 1857 Panic did far less damage then what had occurred previously in the 1837 Panic and had it taken place today it would have been a minor economic nuisance that would've seen the Wall Street stock market stabilize after little over half a year. However, since the country was in domestic turmoil due to the slavery crisis the affects came out far worse than what had been projected and led to a huge spike in federal deficit to $21 million dollars by 1860 and an unemployment rate of about 8.5%. Many Republicans used this for their electoral purposes and pointed how the last two great economic crises had been carelessly caused by the Democrats while under the Whigs there had been numerous growth. To be fully honest the truth of the matter is that like many other leaders little blame can be shifted towards Douglas besides maybe his role in the railroads. Still the public did not care as they needed someone to shift their problems to. Other major occurrences in 1857-1859 that plagued the country were an increase in Indian attacks on the frontier, a minor drought in the Great Lakes states in mid 1858, border conflicts with British Canada, rise of the Underground Railroad, immigration riots in New York in 1858 due to the endless waves of Irish, and the beginning of a drop in cotton prices in the south. The only area that the United States could successfully say they had done well at the time was in the field of foreign affairs due to little external conflicts besides the Sepoy Rebellion and the Opium Wars occurring at the time, and the opening of Asian trade to Oregon. Through all of this as the United States limped its way to the next election, the people looked towards President Douglas to see if the man could come up with some kind of miracle to fix the countries problems. In order to unite the country Douglas in 1859 was seriously considering a possible merger with the Republicans or the passing of a constitutional amendment that would forever decide the issue of slavery. Whatever plans the man had would be brutally put to a halt by the actions of John Brown.
In the 1850's John Brown had become a household name across the United States due to his various activities in pursuit of the realization of emancipation. To many he was a freedom fighter, to others he was a rogue outlaw that needed to be put down. Whatever the case John Brown soon became a common conversation topic as the man's exploits in Kansas became widespread across the country through the papers, soon gaining a cult following of like minded individuals who joined him in Kansas. Despite the man's high popularity, Brown was found to be somewhat of a pariah within the anti-slavery movement as many found his militant actions to radical and were disgusted by the frequent killings he enacted of slave owners. Fredrick Douglas once shared his opinion on Brown by stating, "The man is nothing more than a rabid dog who while has the best intentions, will only result in more harm than good for the cause." For many years Brown led the free settlers of Topeka in a grand crusade to combat the evils of slavery from reaching Kansas. During that time Brown believed he was doing good and making a difference to better America. However at the same time Brown was slowly growing mentally ill as he would go into constant ravings of the "satanic evils of the slavers" and soon saw everyone as an obstacle that he had to overcome if he was ever to complete his mission of emancipation. When Brown learned of the Dred Scott ruling he went on a spree of terror in Kansas for the rest of 1857 that caused hundreds of dead and resulted in him getting chased out of the territory by federal troops. Brown was livid that the Supreme Court had in his view become so corrupted that they went against the wishes of the people and now made the great evil of slavery legal across the nation. The ever irrational Brown pointed all his troubles to Douglas as the man had appointed two Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of the ruling and had caused the nation to slide to this point with his support of popular sovereignty. In Brown's view there was only one clear action to take. Kill Douglas and save the nation. Gathering many of his supporters across the country along with the aid of his family, Brown set out to launch a grand conspiracy that would cut off the head of the snake and restore Washington to its righteous place.
Over the course of two years Brown and his conspirators planned meticulously to bring down Douglas. Each time they attempted to carry out an attempt they were met with some form of resistance by the Presidential Guard or had some external factor come into their way. It wasn't until late 1859 that Brown came up with a solution when President Douglas announced that he was planning a trip to Richmond, Virginia. Douglas' reason for traveling to what many considered the heart of the south being to attend a convention to promote the growth of the railways in the south and encourage industrialization, with the hopeful goal of gaining support of the Southern Democrats. Brown insisted on this trip being where he would make his assassination due to it being in what he considered the center of slavery where they could deal a firm blow to the south. Weeks of planning went underway as Brown and co. traveled to Virginia where they planned with sympathizers from both the President's detail and the Richmond community to take action against Douglas. The general plan was one where Brown would launch an attack on Dogulas as he made a speech in front of the state capitol. At the same time his son's would launch a raid on the nearby federal depot at Harper's Ferry to gather enough weapons from the armory to start a slave revolt across the entirety of the south, while distracting nearby federal forces from Brown's attempt. The plan was launched on October 17th, 1859, the day of Douglas' speech. On the night of October 16th Owen Brown led a small force of 32 men to overtake the armory and begin launching the slave revolt. Overnight his group managed to cut communications, stop nearby trains, and seize all federal arms within the armory. While they were met with resistance by the local millitia, the Brown group was able to fend them off and inflict high casualties on the militia, forcing them to retreat back to the town. Early morning on the 17th attempts were made to incite a slave rebellion. Unfortunately for Brown the slaves were not alerted of the possible revolt before the previous night and as such were kept by a lockdown by their masters, though the situation looked stable for the most as they still had control of the armory. During breakfast Douglas was informed by his aide of the nearby break-in and was advised by his Guard to head back to Washington and postpone the speech. Douglas saw the men as nothing more than a rogue force that was miles away and could not affect him. So he insisted on carrying on with the speech while orders were given to Colonel Robert E. Lee to lead a detachment of marines to retake the armory. Around high noon was when the speech began and everything was proceeding according to plan as Douglas spoke to a crowd of around 10,000 people and began listing his plans for southern development. Then at 12:54 P.M, the assassination attempt officially started as a sniper in a nearby oak tree took a shot directed towards Douglas bit missed and hit his aide standing next towards him. The crowd went in full-blown panic as dozens of Brown's men, including John Brown himself, filled the area and started shooting guns blazing while the Presidential Guard tried to escort Douglas inside the capitol for protection. A firefight started to ensue for the next half hour as the small Presidential Guard contingent of roughly 15 men along with the local police were slowly overwhelmed by Brown's forces. Fortunately Governor Henry Wise made the wise choice to alert the state militia with the telegram in his office and they began mobilizing to defend the President. Around forty minutes after the fighting began the first millitia units began arriving and started pushing the abolitionist terrorists away from the capitol. Unfortunately as the situation looked to be soon resolved, it took an instant turn for the worst when John Brown managed to sneak his way into the capitol through a back door and fired three shots into Douglas' side while the president was being held in the governor's office. Douglas' Guard detail sprung into action and managed to shot Brown in the leg while they subdued the man for a further trial. When word spread of Brown's capture, the abolitionists lost morale and started surrendering to the state militia, though some were executed on sight for the treason they committed. Shortly after the fighting ended the millitia's cheering turned into somber depression as news reached that Douglas had been shot and was in critical condition. The cities best doctors trying everything they could to save their country's leader.
U.S Marines leading the assault on Harper's Ferry (Left) John Brown beginning his attack on Richmond (Right)
At the same time while Brown's assassination of Douglas somewhat succeeded, Lee was able to lead the local marine detachment into storming the federal armory and capturing all of Harper's Ferry by the next day. While the abolitionists had near unlimited ammunition, they were outnumbered by the marines 5 to 1 and were poor in fighting quality when compared to that of the Marine Corps. 22 of Owen Brown's men were killed in the attack while the rest, including Brown, were taken as prisoners to be tried for national treason. When Lee arrived in his hometown of Richmond he became horrified when receiving news from his wife that the President was on the verge of possibly dying. For the next three weeks the President fought on to the edge of life as many congressman and Americans from across the country arrived in Richmond to try and watch the President, most praying for his safe recovery. On October 25th John Brown along with his son and 31 other conspirators were executed by mass hanging under the supervision of Robert E. Lee for the highest offense of treason and attempted murder of the President. While justice had been dealt the president's condition was getting worse every day as his wound was increasingly infected and he soon became diagnosed with typhoid fever. On November 7th Abraham Lincoln was in Douglas' room to look over his old friend and political rival when the man began shouting in immense pain, knowing that he would die. Lincoln called for the doctors to come in and try and help but Douglas dismissed them as he knew his time was come. Douglas asked Lincoln if he could possibly enact the man his last rites which Lincoln did unquestioningly. After Lincoln read Douglas his last rites and offered a prayer for his entrance into heaven, Douglas turned to Lincoln and said his last words which would soon prove to be prophetic, "Abe, you have to save the Union. Finish what I started. America needs you." Whether this was an unofficial encouragement by Douglas for Lincoln to run for President or perhaps him asking Lincoln to continue his work in the Senate is hotly debated by historians to this day. After a few moments of saying his last words and Douglas' last conscious actions hearing Lincoln swear to keep his promise, the president died in his bed at the age of 46, the second president to be killed in office. The doctors rushed in to find that Lincoln was holding onto a lifeless Douglas and spread the news throughout the next hour that the president was deceased. Outside Lee led the state millitia to perform a 21 gun salute as church bells rang throughout Richmond to signify the President's passing. At 5:00 P.M later that day Chief Justice Taney delivered the Oath of Office to Robert Toombs, making him the 13th President of the United States of America. Despite the wished of the nation, the situation would only get worse from here.
View attachment 308529View attachment 308531
Douglas' funeral train on its journey to Springfield (Left) Robert Toombs, 13th President of the United States who would soon be known in American History as the "Judas President" (Right)
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"Boy am I glad that I left Tennessee when I had the chance."- President Davy Crockett 1859
"I'm innocent I tell you. What I did was save this country from the foul machinations of a brutal tyrant who seeks to put you all in chains. Emancipation is the will of God and I am his enforcer."- Last words of John Brown 1859
"Looking back I sometimes wonder what had started this whole mess, and whether or not the country could have still been saved. It's very easy to target specific events such as the Oregon Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska, Dred Scott, or the Douglas assassination; but there are still plenty of events of a similar level that occur in other nations and yet they are still standing. Looking back in my childhood I think I can see the tensions begin even there as my parents referred to themselves as Virginians first and Americans second. It was always these United states and not the United States. Even when looking back at the founding fathers the tension was still there with the northern colonies having a completely seperate culture form the southern ones. Slavery, states rights, Republicans and Democrats, these are all mere tiny sparks that formed into one grand explosion to light the powder keg of America. Perhaps this war was not only inevitable, but necessary."- General Robert E. Lee 1864
In the aftermath of the 1856 Presidential Elections there was still a high hope across the United States that the current crisis could be fixed and it would soon fade away, becoming nothing more than a bad memory in the analogues of American history. True the United States had faced several hardships of a nearly similar level such as the Articles Era, the Johnson Era and the rise of the Whigs, the Nullification Crises, and both the War of 1812 and the Oregon War. At the end of the day it seemed that the United States had always pulled out on top so this was seen as no exception. Unfortunately they were wrong. To this day it is widely debated whether or not the election of John Fremont would have actually solved the current conflict or have brought the civil war four years early. Whatever the case, the election of Stephen Douglas to a second term would be proven to be far from the correct answer as America dropped lower into the abyss with the slavery question strengthening the divide. All of it only leading to the darkest period in the nation's history when the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.
The first major issue that came up in 1857 that would forever scar Douglas' legacy was the infamous Dred Scott case. The Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford was a peculiar case of the time as it was one that resulted of a slave suing for his freedom. The slave in question, Dred Scott, was a 62 year old slave at the time of the ruling and had been pursuing his freedom for nearly two decades within the court system. The whole affair originated in 1836 when Scott was sold to Dr. John Emerson and was brought to the territory of Wisconsin, a place where slavery was illegal, and was kept there as Emerson's property for four years until Emerson's death in 1840. Afterwords Scott came into the possession of Irene Emerson, where she still kept Scott in Wisconsin and hired his services, further going against the current law at the time. In 1847 Scott then took his case to court with the aid of abolitionist lawyers and tried to sue for his and his families freedom from their owners, his daughter being technically free under law due to her birth in Wisconsin. While many believed the Scott's would win in the Missouri court, a shocking turn of events led to the court ruling against Scott and saying that he did not have the right to sue and was still Mrs. Emerson's slave. The case was dragged on for ten years and over time Scott started losing support from the abolitionist cause due to their low success in the appeals courts. Hope remained however as the case reached the Supreme Court in 1856 where it was hoped that the supreme law of the land would finally rule in favor to Scott according to constitutional and federal law. On March 6th, 1857, shortly after President Douglas' second inaugural address where he called for national unity and a final solution to the slavery problem, the Dred Scott case was finally decided in court, the result being something that no one had expected. To the delight of the south the court led by Chief Justice Roger Taney, a appointee by Jackson, ruled in 6-3 that Scott did not have the right to sue due to his status as a slave, with property not being able to sue against citizens of the United States. While many thought it would be said and done there, they were wrong. The court went further beyond its regulated powers and in a subsequent ruling, stated that federal laws that banned slavery in American territories were unconstitutional by going against the right to free commerce, therefore for the rest of time all territories of the United States shall now be open to slavery. With the drop of a gavel the efforts of Douglas, the Republicans, and some Northern Democrats had all been for naught. Slavery had won the day.
Dred Scott, the man who turned the nation upside down with his Supreme Court case. While Scott may have lost the battle he was fortunately freed in mid 1857 due to immense pressure from the North on the Emerson family. He lived out the rest of his days serving as a bellhop in Baltimore until 1866, living long enough to see Lincoln abolish slavery.
When Stephen Douglas learned of the ruling of Dred Scott he became infuriated with the Supreme Court. According to reports from the Douglas cabinet, the man marched straight to the Supreme Court capitol and lashed out and berated Taney for "making the most retarded decisions in our nations history that has undone all the good work of popular sovereignty which I have taken." Taney did not budge one bit during the President's tantrum and simply told him that he had done his job as the high judge of the land and had solved the problem of slavery that the president couldn't make any progress in his last four years. If Taney somehow thought that the nation would universally praise his decision then he was dead wrong. All across the North riots erupted over the ruling of Dred Scott with violent protests taking place in every major city, American flags being burned, dummies of Douglas and Taney being hanged on street posts, resulting in a case that was far worse than what happened after the Sumner Caning and Kansas-Nebraska. The Army had to be deployed constantly throughout the year to quell unrest on both sides while Kansas firmly disintegrated with what little law holding the territory now being lost completely. In the minds of the radical abolitionists, if slavery was now legal in Kansas then the best thing to do was to make the south pay with blood for their ignorance. Neighboring nations Texas and Quebec looked on in horror as their once might and proud neighbor was turning against itself. Both Texas and Quebec shifted to closer relations with France in order to ward off moves from Britain while the Texas Congress began the path of peacefully solving its own slave problem.
Inside Washington any semblance of bipartisan unity had been shattered. The Democratic Party had virtually split into two with Vice Presidents Toombs and Secretary of State James Buchanan leading the Southern Democrats to install a takeover of the Senate and block any and all legislature which could've repealed Dred Scott. The Northern Democrats led by Douglas tried their best to hold the party together and push forward popular sovereignty as the alternate solution. They were rebuked every time by the emboldened Southern Democrats, causing a virtual civil war within the party itself. There would be many times where weeks would go by without either Douglas or Toombs speaking to each other and both leaders trying to lead the party in their own manner. Whenever there was legislation introduced that had nothing to do with slavery by a Democrat in one wing, the other wing would block said piece out of pure spite and a desire not to let the other succeed. All the while the Republicans were gaining strength as their party was unified and now had a clear goal to work towards and a common enemy to unite their supporters. Republican officials cited the increasing unrest that was poorly handled by Douglas and his haphazard handling of the slavery issue as clear signs that the Democrats were a failed party and should not be given another term in office, lest the nation spill into further chaos under their rule. While many outsiders had hoped for a coalition to be created with both Republicans and Northern Democrats, these hopes were dashed when Douglas refused to work with the GOP as he saw them as radicals that would only make the situation far worse instead of solving it. With offers of a coalition rebuked by the president, the Republicans instead looked towards consolidating their base and gaining further electoral success. The Republicans managed to find this very success with the 1858 midterm elections gaining them a plurality in the Senate with 31 seats versus the split hold of the Democrats while the Republicans managed to gain a majority in the house with 133 Representatives to the Democrats now lessened 113 Representatives, Massachusetts representative Nathaniel Banks becoming Speaker of the House for the Republicans while Abraham Lincoln became Republican Minority Leader and unofficial majority leader due to the North and South Wings refusing to listen to their senatorial heads. In the years leading up to the Civil War this makeup lead to a very despotic run congress where no side could gain a majority support in order to pass laws for the nation. The only thing that even received support at this time was the federal budget, which itself could take weeks of debate in order to finalize. Many state legislatures tried to fill in the gaps and instead passed their own laws to meet the current issues of the day while congress bickered from 9 to 5.
View attachment 308528
Political Cartoon of Douglas and Lincoln tearing the nation apart over slavery.
Outside of slavery the other developments in American society at the time did not improve the situation at all. The worse case of this being the Panic of 1857. The Panic of 1857 was a worldwide economic recession, though the primary victim was the United States as many European nations were not affected at the time. Said Panic began in September of 1857, only a half a year after Dred Scott, and would last until the beginning of the Civil War. There are multiple causes linking to the beginning of the Panic, having primarily attributed to overspeculation in Western territories, the unregulated railroad growth, overextending of credit by several national banks, and the overconsumption of European goods due to the continental growth that occurred in Germany and France after the 1846 Revolutions. In terms of economic damage the 1857 Panic did far less damage then what had occurred previously in the 1837 Panic and had it taken place today it would have been a minor economic nuisance that would've seen the Wall Street stock market stabilize after little over half a year. However, since the country was in domestic turmoil due to the slavery crisis the affects came out far worse than what had been projected and led to a huge spike in federal deficit to $21 million dollars by 1860 and an unemployment rate of about 8.5%. Many Republicans used this for their electoral purposes and pointed how the last two great economic crises had been carelessly caused by the Democrats while under the Whigs there had been numerous growth. To be fully honest the truth of the matter is that like many other leaders little blame can be shifted towards Douglas besides maybe his role in the railroads. Still the public did not care as they needed someone to shift their problems to. Other major occurrences in 1857-1859 that plagued the country were an increase in Indian attacks on the frontier, a minor drought in the Great Lakes states in mid 1858, border conflicts with British Canada, rise of the Underground Railroad, immigration riots in New York in 1858 due to the endless waves of Irish, and the beginning of a drop in cotton prices in the south. The only area that the United States could successfully say they had done well at the time was in the field of foreign affairs due to little external conflicts besides the Sepoy Rebellion and the Opium Wars occurring at the time, and the opening of Asian trade to Oregon. Through all of this as the United States limped its way to the next election, the people looked towards President Douglas to see if the man could come up with some kind of miracle to fix the countries problems. In order to unite the country Douglas in 1859 was seriously considering a possible merger with the Republicans or the passing of a constitutional amendment that would forever decide the issue of slavery. Whatever plans the man had would be brutally put to a halt by the actions of John Brown.
In the 1850's John Brown had become a household name across the United States due to his various activities in pursuit of the realization of emancipation. To many he was a freedom fighter, to others he was a rogue outlaw that needed to be put down. Whatever the case John Brown soon became a common conversation topic as the man's exploits in Kansas became widespread across the country through the papers, soon gaining a cult following of like minded individuals who joined him in Kansas. Despite the man's high popularity, Brown was found to be somewhat of a pariah within the anti-slavery movement as many found his militant actions to radical and were disgusted by the frequent killings he enacted of slave owners. Fredrick Douglas once shared his opinion on Brown by stating, "The man is nothing more than a rabid dog who while has the best intentions, will only result in more harm than good for the cause." For many years Brown led the free settlers of Topeka in a grand crusade to combat the evils of slavery from reaching Kansas. During that time Brown believed he was doing good and making a difference to better America. However at the same time Brown was slowly growing mentally ill as he would go into constant ravings of the "satanic evils of the slavers" and soon saw everyone as an obstacle that he had to overcome if he was ever to complete his mission of emancipation. When Brown learned of the Dred Scott ruling he went on a spree of terror in Kansas for the rest of 1857 that caused hundreds of dead and resulted in him getting chased out of the territory by federal troops. Brown was livid that the Supreme Court had in his view become so corrupted that they went against the wishes of the people and now made the great evil of slavery legal across the nation. The ever irrational Brown pointed all his troubles to Douglas as the man had appointed two Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of the ruling and had caused the nation to slide to this point with his support of popular sovereignty. In Brown's view there was only one clear action to take. Kill Douglas and save the nation. Gathering many of his supporters across the country along with the aid of his family, Brown set out to launch a grand conspiracy that would cut off the head of the snake and restore Washington to its righteous place.
Over the course of two years Brown and his conspirators planned meticulously to bring down Douglas. Each time they attempted to carry out an attempt they were met with some form of resistance by the Presidential Guard or had some external factor come into their way. It wasn't until late 1859 that Brown came up with a solution when President Douglas announced that he was planning a trip to Richmond, Virginia. Douglas' reason for traveling to what many considered the heart of the south being to attend a convention to promote the growth of the railways in the south and encourage industrialization, with the hopeful goal of gaining support of the Southern Democrats. Brown insisted on this trip being where he would make his assassination due to it being in what he considered the center of slavery where they could deal a firm blow to the south. Weeks of planning went underway as Brown and co. traveled to Virginia where they planned with sympathizers from both the President's detail and the Richmond community to take action against Douglas. The general plan was one where Brown would launch an attack on Dogulas as he made a speech in front of the state capitol. At the same time his son's would launch a raid on the nearby federal depot at Harper's Ferry to gather enough weapons from the armory to start a slave revolt across the entirety of the south, while distracting nearby federal forces from Brown's attempt. The plan was launched on October 17th, 1859, the day of Douglas' speech. On the night of October 16th Owen Brown led a small force of 32 men to overtake the armory and begin launching the slave revolt. Overnight his group managed to cut communications, stop nearby trains, and seize all federal arms within the armory. While they were met with resistance by the local millitia, the Brown group was able to fend them off and inflict high casualties on the militia, forcing them to retreat back to the town. Early morning on the 17th attempts were made to incite a slave rebellion. Unfortunately for Brown the slaves were not alerted of the possible revolt before the previous night and as such were kept by a lockdown by their masters, though the situation looked stable for the most as they still had control of the armory. During breakfast Douglas was informed by his aide of the nearby break-in and was advised by his Guard to head back to Washington and postpone the speech. Douglas saw the men as nothing more than a rogue force that was miles away and could not affect him. So he insisted on carrying on with the speech while orders were given to Colonel Robert E. Lee to lead a detachment of marines to retake the armory. Around high noon was when the speech began and everything was proceeding according to plan as Douglas spoke to a crowd of around 10,000 people and began listing his plans for southern development. Then at 12:54 P.M, the assassination attempt officially started as a sniper in a nearby oak tree took a shot directed towards Douglas bit missed and hit his aide standing next towards him. The crowd went in full-blown panic as dozens of Brown's men, including John Brown himself, filled the area and started shooting guns blazing while the Presidential Guard tried to escort Douglas inside the capitol for protection. A firefight started to ensue for the next half hour as the small Presidential Guard contingent of roughly 15 men along with the local police were slowly overwhelmed by Brown's forces. Fortunately Governor Henry Wise made the wise choice to alert the state militia with the telegram in his office and they began mobilizing to defend the President. Around forty minutes after the fighting began the first millitia units began arriving and started pushing the abolitionist terrorists away from the capitol. Unfortunately as the situation looked to be soon resolved, it took an instant turn for the worst when John Brown managed to sneak his way into the capitol through a back door and fired three shots into Douglas' side while the president was being held in the governor's office. Douglas' Guard detail sprung into action and managed to shot Brown in the leg while they subdued the man for a further trial. When word spread of Brown's capture, the abolitionists lost morale and started surrendering to the state militia, though some were executed on sight for the treason they committed. Shortly after the fighting ended the millitia's cheering turned into somber depression as news reached that Douglas had been shot and was in critical condition. The cities best doctors trying everything they could to save their country's leader.
U.S Marines leading the assault on Harper's Ferry (Left) John Brown beginning his attack on Richmond (Right)
At the same time while Brown's assassination of Douglas somewhat succeeded, Lee was able to lead the local marine detachment into storming the federal armory and capturing all of Harper's Ferry by the next day. While the abolitionists had near unlimited ammunition, they were outnumbered by the marines 5 to 1 and were poor in fighting quality when compared to that of the Marine Corps. 22 of Owen Brown's men were killed in the attack while the rest, including Brown, were taken as prisoners to be tried for national treason. When Lee arrived in his hometown of Richmond he became horrified when receiving news from his wife that the President was on the verge of possibly dying. For the next three weeks the President fought on to the edge of life as many congressman and Americans from across the country arrived in Richmond to try and watch the President, most praying for his safe recovery. On October 25th John Brown along with his son and 31 other conspirators were executed by mass hanging under the supervision of Robert E. Lee for the highest offense of treason and attempted murder of the President. While justice had been dealt the president's condition was getting worse every day as his wound was increasingly infected and he soon became diagnosed with typhoid fever. On November 7th Abraham Lincoln was in Douglas' room to look over his old friend and political rival when the man began shouting in immense pain, knowing that he would die. Lincoln called for the doctors to come in and try and help but Douglas dismissed them as he knew his time was come. Douglas asked Lincoln if he could possibly enact the man his last rites which Lincoln did unquestioningly. After Lincoln read Douglas his last rites and offered a prayer for his entrance into heaven, Douglas turned to Lincoln and said his last words which would soon prove to be prophetic, "Abe, you have to save the Union. Finish what I started. America needs you." Whether this was an unofficial encouragement by Douglas for Lincoln to run for President or perhaps him asking Lincoln to continue his work in the Senate is hotly debated by historians to this day. After a few moments of saying his last words and Douglas' last conscious actions hearing Lincoln swear to keep his promise, the president died in his bed at the age of 46, the second president to be killed in office. The doctors rushed in to find that Lincoln was holding onto a lifeless Douglas and spread the news throughout the next hour that the president was deceased. Outside Lee led the state millitia to perform a 21 gun salute as church bells rang throughout Richmond to signify the President's passing. At 5:00 P.M later that day Chief Justice Taney delivered the Oath of Office to Robert Toombs, making him the 13th President of the United States of America. Despite the wished of the nation, the situation would only get worse from here.
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Douglas' funeral train on its journey to Springfield (Left) Robert Toombs, 13th President of the United States who would soon be known in American History as the "Judas President" (Right)
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