The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War (40 page)

23. Manisha Sinha,
The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 2000), 81–82; Cleo Hearon,
Mississippi and the Compromise of 1850
(Oxford, Miss., 1913), 39–68; Thelma Jennings,
The Nashville Convention: Southern Movement for Unity, 1848–1851
(Memphis, 1980), 25–27, 35–40.

24. Robert E. May,
John A. Quitman: Old South Crusader
(Baton Rouge, La., 1985); John McCardell, “John A. Quitman and the Compromise of 1850 in Mississippi,”
Journal of Mississippi History
37 (1975), 239–66; J. F. H. Claiborne,
Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman, Major-General, U.S.A., and Governor of the State of Mississippi,
2 vols. (New York, 1860).

25. “Inaugural Address of Gov. John A. Quitman, Delivered Before Both Houses of the Mississippi Legislature, January 10th, 1850,” in Claiborne,
Quitman,
2:21–25.

26. Jefferson Davis et al. to Quitman, Jan. 21, 1850, in Dunbar Rowland, ed.,
Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers, and Speeches,
10 vols. ( Jackson, Miss., 1923), 1:261, 601–2;
Congressional Globe,
31st Cong., 1st sess., 1849–50, app., 586.

27. Hearon,
Mississippi and the Compromise of 1850,
77, 83–86; Claiborne,
Quitman,
2:34.

28.
Congressional Globe,
31st Cong., 1st sess., 1849–50, 200–5; T. L. Clingman,
Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Hon. Thomas L. Clingman, of North Carolina
(Raleigh, N.C., 1877), 232–33; John S. Bassett, “The Congressional Career of Thomas L. Clingman,”
Trinity College Historical Papers,
ser. 4 (1900), 48–63; Don E. Fehrenbacher,
The South in Three Sectional Crises
(Baton Rouge, La., 1980), 40.

29. Of the many Davis biographies, I am most indebted to Clement Eaton,
Jefferson Davis
(New York, 1977); William C. Davis,
Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour
(New York, 1991); and William J. Cooper, Jr.,
Jefferson Davis, American
(New York, 2000).

30. Jefferson Davis, “Speech at Holly Springs, October 25, 1849,” and “Remarks on Henry Clay’s Resolutions, January 29, 1850,” in Lynda Lasswell Crist, Mary Seaton Dix, and Richard E. Beringer, eds.,
The Papers of Jefferson Davis
(Baton Rouge, La., 1983), 4:49, 66, 67, 69;
Washington Union,
Jan. 30, 1850.

31. Davis to William R. Cannon, Jan. 8, 1850, in Crist, Dix, and Beringer,
Papers of Davis,
4:56.

32. Davis, “Remarks on Henry Clay’s Resolutions, January 29, 1850,” ibid., 4:66, 67.

33.
Congressional Globe,
29th Cong., 2nd sess., 1846–47, 455; Chaplain W. Morrison,
Democratic Politics and Sectionalism: The Wilmot Proviso Controversy
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1967), 34–35; William J. Cooper, Jr.,
The South and the Politics of Slavery, 1828–1856
(Baton Rouge, La., 1978), 253–54.

34.
Congressional Globe,
31st Cong., 1st sess., 1849–50, app., 149–57; Davis, “Speech on Slavery,” in Rowland,
Davis Papers,
1:263–308.

35. In 1851, a year after Calhoun’s death, they would appear in print as
A Dis
quisition on Government
and
A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States.

36.
Congressional Globe,
31st Cong., 1st sess., 1849–50, 451–55; Richard K. Cralle, ed.,
The Works of John C. Calhoun,
6 vols. (New York, 1854–61), 4:542–73.

37. John Wentworth,
Congressional Reminiscences: Adams, Benton, Clay, Calhoun, and Webster
(Chicago, 1882), 23–24.

38. Henry S. Foote,
Casket of Reminiscences
(Washington, D.C., 1874), 81.

39. Ibid., passim; John E. Gonzales, “Henry Stuart Foote: A Forgotten Unionist of the Fifties,”
Southern Quarterly
1 (1963), 129–39.

40.
Congressional Globe,
31st Cong., 1st sess., 1849–50, 603, app. 267, 1485; Gonzales, “Foote,” 129–39; William W. Freehling,
The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776–1854
(New York, 1990), 505–7.

41.
Congressional Globe,
31st Cong., 1st sess., 1849–50, 365–69, 416–17, 517–18.

42. Ibid., 760–63; Holman Hamilton,
Prologue to Conflict: The Crisis and Compromise of 1850
(New York, 1966), 92–94; L. A. Gobright,
Recollection of Men and Things at Washington, During the Third of a Century
(Philadelphia, 1869), 114–18; George W. Julian,
Political Recollections, 1840–1872
(Chicago, 1884), 91–92.

43. Ronald C. Woolsey, “A Southern Dilemma: Slavery Expansion and the California Statehood Issue in 1850—A Reconsideration,”
Southern California Quarterly
65 (Summer 1983), app. C, 140; Hamilton,
Prologue to Conflict,
apps. A and C, 190–91, 195–200.

44. See, for example,
Charleston Mercury, Athens Southern Banner, Mobile Daily Register, Jackson Mississippian, Natchez Free Trader, Yazoo (Miss.) Democrat, New Orleans Daily Delta
—all, Sept.–Nov. 1850.

45. John Barnwell,
Love of Order: South Carolina’s First Secession Crisis
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1982), 138; Laura A. White,
Robert Barnwell Rhett: Father of Secession
(New York, 1931), 128; William C. Davis,
A Fire-Eater Remembers: The Confederate Memoir of Robert Barnwell Rhett
(Columbia, S.C., 2000), 185; Betty L. Mitchell,
Edmund Ruffin: A Biography
(Bloomington, Ind., 1981), 73–74; speech of R. B. Rhett, in
Charleston Mercury,
Sept. 25, 1850;
Charleston Mercury,
Sept. 13, Oct. 3–4, 1850.

46.
Columbus Sentinel,
Sept. 2, 1850, quoted in Robert P. Brooks, “Howell Cobb and the Crisis of 1850,”
Mississippi Valley Historical Review
4 (Dec. 1917), 289.

47. 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), 116ff.; J. Preston Moore, “Pierre Soulé: Southern Expansionist and Promoter,”
Journal of Southern History
21 (May 1955), 205–15; C. Stanley Urban, “The Ideology of Southern Imperialism: New Orleans and the Caribbean, 1845–1860,”
Louisiana Historical Quarterly
39 ( Jan. 1956), 48–73.

48. Quitman to J. J. McRae, Sept. 28, 1850, in Claiborne,
Quitman,
2:44–46; McCardell, “Quitman and the Compromise of 1850,” 245–46; Claiborne,
Quitman,
2:35–37; Hearon,
Mississippi and the Compromise of 1850,
157–58.

49. Seabrook to Quitman, Sept. 20, Oct. 23, 1850, in Claiborne,
Quitman,
2:36–38.

50. Quitman’s Message to the Legislature, Nov. 18, 1850, in Claiborne,
Quitman,
2:46–51.

51. Foote,
Casket of Reminiscences,
356; Reuben Davis,
Reminiscences of Mississippi and Mississippians
(Boston, 1889), 317; Christopher J. Olsen,
Political Culture and Secession in Mississippi: Masculinity, Honor, and the Antiparty Tradition, 1830–1860
(New York, 2000), 44–46.

52. May,
Quitman,
263–64.

53. Lillian Adele Kibler,
Benjamin F. Perry: South Carolina Unionist
(Durham, N.C., 1946), 263.

54. A. M. Friedenberg, “Solomon Heydenfeldt,” JewishEncyclopedia.com;
Huntsville Democrat,
Jan. 13, 1849; Oscar T. Shuck,
History of the Bench and Bar of California
(Los Angeles, 1901), 457–59; Arthur Quinn,
The Rivals: William Gwin, David Broderick, and the Birth of California
(New York, 1994), 100–2; Herbert C. Jones,
The First Legislature of California
(Sacramento, Calif., 1950), 10, 13.

55. William H. Ellison,
A Self-Governing Dominion: California, 1849–1860
(Berkeley, Calif., 1950), 271, 276; Royce D. Delmatier et al.,
The Rumble of California Politics, 1848–1970
(New York, 1970), 15; Quinn,
Rivals,
92–93; David A. Williams,
David C. Broderick: A Political Portrait
(San Marino, Calif., 1969), 55–56.

56. James O’Meara,
Broderick and Gwin
(San Francisco, 1881), 42–43, later claimed that Gwin’s role in patronage appointments was much exaggerated and that men like Richard P. Hammond obtained federal posts largely because of their own political connections. The federal records, however, don’t support O’Meara’s claim. See California Appointment Papers, RG 56, National Archives. The
San Francisco News,
June 8, 24, Aug. 18, 1859, ran a series listing some hundred officials who held office because of Gwin. See also Powell, “Southern Influences in California Politics Before 1864,” 74–75; Williams,
Broderick,
227–28; Bancroft,
History of California,
6:673–74.

57.
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–1971
(Washington, D.C., 1971);
Alta California,
Aug. 4, 1857;
Hutchings California Magazine,
March 1858, 186–87; James McHall Jones Papers, Bancroft Library; Lewis P. Lesley, “The International Boundary Survey from San Diego to the Gila River,”
California Historical Society Quarterly
9 (March 1930), 2–15;
Re-union of the Passengers;
Ellison,
Self-Governing Dominion,
272, 276; Delmatier et al.,
Rumble of California Politics,
15.

58. Gwin’s support of Southern independence is well documented by all his biographers. For Weller, see
Speech of Ex-governor John B. Weller Delivered Before the Democratic Club at Petaluma, Cal., June 6, 1863,
Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.

CHAPTER 5

1. Robert E. May,
John A. Quitman: Old South Crusader
(Baton Rouge, La., 1985), 236.

2. Romulus M. Saunders to Buchanan, Dec. 14, 1848, in W. R. Manning, ed.,
Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States: Inter-American Affairs, 1831–1860,
12 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1932–39), 11:456–59.

3. C. Stanley Urban, “The Ideology of Southern Imperialism: New Orleans and the Caribbean, 1845–1860,”
Louisiana Historical Quarterly
39 ( Jan. 1956), 53, 55, 57.

4.
New Orleans Daily Delta,
Sept. 13, Nov. 5, 11, 1850, Aug. 1, 1851. See also
New Orleans Bulletin,
May 9, 1851;
New Orleans Louisiana Courier,
Oct. 21, 1850, June 27, July 1, Aug. 1, 19, 1851.

5. Mrs. Jefferson Davis,
Jefferson Davis: A Memoir by His Wife,
2 vols. (New York, 1891), 1:412.

6. For information on López and his adventures, see Tom Chaffin,
Fatal Glory: Narciso López and the First Clandestine U.S. War Against Cuba
(Charlottesville, Va., 1996); Robert E. May,
The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire, 1854–1861
(Athens, Ga., 1989), 25–29; Charles H. Brown,
Agents of Manifest Destiny
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1980), 42–88.

7. May,
Quitman,
239.

8. Brown,
Agents of Manifest Destiny,
94–95, 103–31; “Articles Between Cuban Junta and General Quitman,” in J. F. H. Claiborne,
Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman, Major-General, U.S.A., and Governor of the State of Mississippi,
2 vols. (New York, 1860), 2:389.

9.
Congressional Globe,
32nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1852–53, 338–39.

10.
New York Evening Post,
Aug. 6, 1853;
New York Herald,
Aug. 6, 1853.

11. C. Stanley Urban, “The Africanization of Cuba Scare, 1853–1855,”
Hispanic American Historical Review
37 (Feb. 1957), 29–45; Resolution of the Louisiana Legislature, in
Senate Miscellaneous Documents,
33rd Cong., 1st sess., 1853–54, no. 63; Quitman to the Cuban Junta, April 16, 1854, in Claiborne,
Quitman,
2:391.

12. Marcy to Soulé, April 3, 1854, in Manning,
Diplomatic Correspondence: Inter-American Affairs,
11:175–78.

13. Claiborne,
Quitman,
2:195–209, 391–92.

14. Marcy to Soulé, June 24, 1854, Soulé to Marcy, Oct. 15, 1854, in Manning,
Diplomatic Correspondence: Inter-American Affairs,
11:189–90, 825–26; text of manifesto, Oct. 18, 1824, ibid., 7:579–85.

15. Some accounts indicate that Northern Democrats started out with ninety-one seats and ended up with twenty-five. The disparity in the tallies stems largely from discrepancies in the sources and the turmoil that characterized the 1854 election. For the discrepancies in the records, see Kenneth C. Martis,
The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789–1989
(New York, 1989), 380–90.

16. Jared Ingersoll to Marcy, Jan. 17, 1855, Lewis Cass to Marcy, March 24, April 9, 1855, G. A. Worth to Marcy, March 27, 1855, P. M. Wetmore to Marcy, March 31, 1855, Robert H. Morris to Marcy, April 14, 1855, George Bancroft to Marcy, April 17, 1855, William L. Marcy Papers, Library of Congress;
New-York Tribune,
March 7, 1855;
New York Evening Post,
March 6, 7, 13, April 11, 14, 1855;
Philadelphia Ledger,
March 9, April 9, 1855; Ivor Spencer,
The Victor and the Spoils: A Life of William L. Marcy
(Providence, 1959), 325–28; 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), 394–412.

17. For biographical information on Gadsden, see Paul Neff Garber,
The Gadsden Treaty
(Philadelphia, 1923), 76–80 and passim; J. Fred Rippy,
James Gadsden: Biographical Essay
(Farmington Hills, Mich., 2004), 1–2.

18.
DeBow’s Commercial Review
1 ( Jan. 1846), 27–33; 3 (Feb. 1847), 485; Jere W. Roberson, “The South and the Pacific Railroad, 1845–1855,”
Western Historical Quarterly
5 (April 1974), 164–66.

19. Gadsden to Green, Dec. 7, 1851, William Leidesdorff Papers, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.; Gadsden to Amos Estes, Dec. 10, 1851,
Charleston Daily Courier,
Feb. 7, 1852; John C. Parish, “A Project for a California Slave Colony in 1851,”
Huntington Library Bulletin
8 (Oct. 1935), 171–75; Nathaniel Wright Stevenson, “California and the Compromise of 1850,”
Pacific Historical Review
4 ( June 1935), 114.