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Fascinating Campaign Document Praising John C. Fremont with James Buchanan’s Testimony
Fascinating Campaign Document Praising John C. Fremont with James Buchanan’s Testimony
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John C. Fremont
New York, NY, ca. 1856
Fascinating Campaign Document Praising John C. Fremont with James Buchanan's Testimony
Pamphlet/Booklet
[JOHN C. FREMONT]. Col. Fremont's Private and Public Character Vindicated by James Buchanan. Printed Pamphlet. New York: John W. Oliver, [1856]. 4 pp., 5.75" x 9". Disbound; light toning and staining.

This campaign pamphlet, issued by the Young Men's Fremont and Dayton Central Union of the City of New York, responds to charges that Republican presidential candidate John C. Fremont did little to conquer California and had avoided paying just debts arising from his military actions in California in 1847. It takes the interesting tactic of quoting from a deposition by James Buchanan, who served as Secretary of State during the Mexican War and was Fremont's chief rival in the 1856 presidential campaign. Three commissioners took Buchanan's testimony in Pennsylvania in 1852 for the case of Gibbs v. Fremont, in which several creditors sued Fremont in London for payment of supplies provided to his California Battalion in 1847.

Excerpts
"Just at the close of the last session of Congress, two inquiries were instituted by Administration Senators, one of which was designed to strip Col. Fremont of a portion of his well-earned laurels as a military officer, and the other, to destroy his character as a man of integrity and trustworthiness." (p1)

"The witness whom we propose to call to the stand held the office of Secretary of State during the Mexican war, was the author of the instructions under which Colonel Fremont acted in California, and was in a position to know more precisely the merits and demerits of Mr. Fremont's services at that time than any other living man. He is at present the candidate of the administration party for the Presidency. The reader will perceive from these facts that our witness is a highly respectable man, and we trust that they will treat his testimony with respect." (p2)

"we shall consider the following facts established:
"First. That Colonel Fremont ‘is better entitled to be called the conqueror of California than any other man.'
"Second—That no battle was fought after he signed the treaty with the enemy at Couenga.
"Third—That the forage and supplies alleged by him to have been furnished to his troops were necessary, and that no appropriation had been made for them by Congress, because Congress could not anticipate his accomplishing such prodigious results ‘by his own personal exertions, and without previous instructions.'
"Fourth—That Colonel Fremont, to the best of Mr. Buchanan's knowledge and belief, never received for himself individually, or for his private use, any consideration whatever for the bills drawn against the Secretary of State for said forage and supplies.
"Fifth—That he considered the drafts properly drawn against and payable by the government, and he would have paid them all while Secretary of State, if Congress had made any appropriation to meet them." (p2)

Historical Background
Conflict in the Kansas territory over the extension of slavery made President Franklin Pierce unpopular even in his own party. In a rare circumstance, the Democratic National Convention in Cincinnati refused to re-nominate the incumbent President, and a contest emerged between Stephen Douglas of Illinois and James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. Pierce threw his support behind Douglas, but Douglas withdrew his name after Buchanan agreed not to seek reelection in 1860. Buchanan received the nomination on the seventeenth ballot. The convention then nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky as the vice-presidential candidate.

The Republican Party had emerged as a party in opposition to the expansion of slavery and drew strength from former Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats. At its convention in Philadelphia, the party nominated John C. Frémont of California and Senator William L. Dayton of New Jersey for its presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

The nativist American Party (Know Nothings) competed with the Republican Party for former Whigs and emphasized anti-immigration and anti-Catholic policies while ignoring the divisive issue of slavery. At their convention in Philadelphia, the American Party nominated former President Millard Fillmore of New York and Andrew Jackson Donelson of Tennessee as its candidates.

In the election, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was a central issue. Democrats endorsed its popular sovereignty methodology for dealing with slavery in the territories, while the Republicans opposed any further extension of slavery, leading Democrats to denounce them as extremists and "black abolitionists." Know Nothings presented themselves as the only party capable of appealing to the nation as a whole, largely by avoiding slavery.

In the election on November 4, 1856, Buchanan won a plurality of 45.3 percent of the popular vote to Fremont's 33.1 percent and Fillmore's 21.5 percent. Buchanan carried 19 states (all slave states except 1 and 5 northern states) with 174 electoral votes. Frémont won 11 northern states and 114 electoral votes, while Fillmore carried only Maryland with its 8 electoral votes. Buchanan's popular vote margin of 12.2 percent was the greatest margin between 1836 and 1904, but the shift of a few thousand votes to Fillmore in three southern states would have sent the election to the House of Representatives.

The Know Nothings soon collapsed as a national political party, and most of its anti-slavery members joined the Republican Party.

John C. Fremont (1813-1890) was born in Savannah, Georgia, to a married woman and her French-Canadian tutor, who had fled from her husband in Virginia. When his father died in 1818, his mother raised him and his siblings in Charleston, South Carolina. He attended Charleston College from 1829 to 1831 but was expelled for irregular attendance. He taught mathematics aboard a U.S. Navy sloop in 1833 and then joined the U.S. Topographical Corps. His experiences in the Carolina and Georgia mountains increased his desire to become an explorer. He accompanied French explorer Joseph Nicollet in explorations of the lands between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, where he honed his topographical skills. In 1841, he eloped with and married Jessie Benton, the teenage daughter of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. His new father-in-law provided the political patronage to support three expeditions into the American West from 1842 to 1845, earning him the nickname, "the Pathfinder." He briefly served as military governor of California in 1847 before being court-martialed. Although reinstated by President James K. Polk, Frémont resigned in protest and settled in California, where he purchased seventy square miles in the Sierra foothills. When gold was discovered on his property, he became a wealthy man. From September 1850 to March 1851, he served as one of California's first U.S. Senators as a Free Soil Democrat. In 1856, he was the first presidential candidate of the new Republican Party. He carried eleven states but lost the election to Democratic candidate James Buchanan. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Frémont as a major general and commander of the Department of the West. In August 1861, Frémont issued a proclamation placing Missouri under martial law and emancipating slaves of rebels. President Lincoln revoked Frémont's emancipation order and removed him from command in November. In March, Lincoln placed Frémont in command of the Mountain Department in western Virginia and eastern Kentucky, but after three months he withdrew from service rather than join the Army of Virginia under General John Pope. After losing much of his wealth in the Panic of 1873, Frémont served as territorial governor of Arizona from 1878 to 1881, then resigned to relative poverty in New York City. Three months before his death, he was reappointed as a major general and added to the Army's retired list, qualifying him for a pension.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 5.75" x 9"
  • Medium: Pamphlet/Booklet

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