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Wonderful German-Language Campaign Biography of John C. Frémont
Wonderful German-Language Campaign Biography of John C. Frémont
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John C. Fremont
New York, NY, ca. 1856
Wonderful German-Language Campaign Biography of John C. Frémont
Pamphlet/Booklet
[JOHN C. FRÉMONT]. Das Leben des Obersten Fremont (The Life of Colonel Fremont), Printed Pamphlet. New York: Greeley & M'Elrath, 1856. 32 pp., 5.75" x 8.75". Disbound; light toning; very good.

This German-language pamphlet provides an overview of the life and exploits of Republican presidential candidate John C. Frémont to German voters in the 1856 presidential election. The anti-immigrant Know Nothing Party had little appeal to German immigrants, but Catholic Germans largely supported Democratic candidate James Buchanan. Protestant Germans generally supported the antislavery Republican candidate Frémont.

Excerpts (from English version)
"Mr. Fremont was fond of adventure."

"Fremont has conducted five Exploring Expeditions—the first to the Rocky Mountains, and the four subsequent ones as far as California."

"In the cool of the morning, a little after sunrise, Col. Fremont and four or five others were riding leisurely along, a little ahead of the rest of the party, when they discovered three young grizzly bears up some oak trees, apparently eating acorns. There happened to be at hand, leading in the direction of the trees, and past them, a deep, ditch-like gully. They all jumped off their horses and ran along up the gully towards the trees. As they approached, the young bears discovered them, and seeming greatly agitated, commenced running down the trees, and then up again. Col. Fremont and his men were at a loss to understand the meaning of this. As they raised themselves up to shoot they were in their turn somewhat surprised at observing four or five overgrown old bears around the foot of the nearest tree. A bear has a quick eye, and the discovery was mutual. The agitation of the young bears was explained at once. The large ones were too heavy to climb, and it appears, had sent up the young ones, who were industriously engaged in breaking off branches, and throwing them down with the acorns to their parents, who drove them back up the trees as fast as they came down, not then having perceived the cause of their alarm. It was a case now of catching not merely a Tartar, but a good many of them. Fremont and his companions instantly charged upon the large bears. The firing became so rapid that the party in the rear rode up, thinking they were engaged with the Spaniards. Re-inforcements came in on all sides. The bears gathered about as fast as the men.... The huge creatures repeatedly attempted to charge upon their assailants, but the fire of so many rifles at once, proved too heavy for them. At last, they retired, leaving twelve dead upon the field.... Although, in this instance, no quarter was shown to the four-legged enemies thus unexpectedly encountered, a different policy was generally adopted toward other foes."

"After 144 ballots, Col. Fremont was defeated as a candidate for re-election to the Senate, in 1851. He was too strongly anti-slavery for the State at that time."

"The genuineness, simplicity, and strength of his character inspire those around him with regard and esteem.... Almost the sole object of this brief sketch of the life of Col. Fremont has been to promote his election to the Presidency. It has been written in the confident belief that all that is requisite to secure his choice to that office, is to make his character and principles generally known and understood by the voters of the United States."

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 Frémont'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. Frémont (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 8.75"
  • Medium: Pamphlet/Booklet

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