De Alexander

This victory was the one ray of hope that came to the Whigs out of the contest of 1836.

There was nothing sinister or vindictive about him; but he had an unsparing tongue, and he delighted to indulge it.

But, under whatever standard he fought, and in whatever body he sat, he was a recognised leader, full of spirit, fire, and force.

He was neither a thinker, like Seward, nor an orator, like Granger; but he was wise, wealthy, and eminently respectable, with enough of the statesman in him to be able to accept established facts and not to argue with the inexorable.

Van Buren's prompt action gave him the confidence and support of three-fourths of the slave-holding States, without losing his hold upon the Democracy of the free States.

Abolitionism did not take the place of anti-Masonry, which was now rapidly on the wane; but it awakened the conscience, setting people to thinking and, then, to talking.

He was thirty-three years old then, and from that day until Lincoln's proclamation and Lee's surrender freed the negro, he never ceased to work for the abolition of slavery.

Garrison treated slavery as a crime, repudiating all creeds, churches, and parties which taught or accepted the doctrine that an innocent human being, however black or down-trodden, was not the equal of every other and entitled to the same…

He was a small, deaf, unassuming Quaker, without wealth, eloquence, or marked ability; but he had courage, tremendous energy, and a gentle spirit.

A few people, however, had been greatly disturbed by the arguments of a small number of reformers, much in advance of their time, who were making a crusade against the whole system of domestic slavery.

On the contrary, his weaknesses were as well understood without New York as within it.

He had done nothing to stir the hearts of his countrymen with pride, or to create a pronounced, determined public sentiment in his behalf.

Even long years of earnest controversy and intense feeling never changed the serene purity of his life, his lofty purposes, or the nobility of his nature.

Dix had inherited loyalty from his father, an officer in the United States army, and he was quick to strike for his country when South Carolina raised the standard of rebellion in 1861.

He had come into public life under the influence of Calhoun, for whom the army expressed a decided preference in 1828; but he never accepted the South Carolinian's theory of nullification.

He was not afraid of any enterprise; he was not abashed by the stoutest opposition; he was not even depressed by failure.

He was now twenty-six years old, an accomplished writer, a vigorous speaker, and as prompt and bold in his decisions as in 1861, when he struck the high, clear-ringing note for the Union in his order to shoot the first man who attempted to…

Dix seemed destined from the first to leave an abiding mark in history.

Believe me, there is no affectation in my saying that I would not now exchange the feelings and associations of the vanquished William H.

Livingston was as able as he was eloquent, and Van Buren's coalition with Clinton quickly turned Livingston's ability and eloquence to the support of Clay.

His creed was love of republicanism and hatred of Clinton.

To Seward an acceptance of the nomination, therefore, appealed almost as a matter of duty.

Of all the old and experienced members of the Senate, it was freely admitted that none surpassed him in a knowledge of the affairs of the State, or in a readiness to debate leading questions.

He had grown into a statesman of acknowledged genius and popularity, placing himself in sympathy with the masses, denouncing misrule and supporting measures of reform.

During his four years in the Senate, political expediency neither limited nor controlled his opinions.