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“[SENATOR] PIERCE . . . [WAS] A RADICAL & INFLEXIBLE
DEMOCRAT IN ALL HISVOTES”
97
●
BUCHANAN, JAMES. Autograph Letter Signed, to editor of the Harrisburg
Democratic Union
Isaac G. McKinley, commending his editorials but wondering whether
their circulation would be disadvantageous given the conflict in PA [possibly the tumult
caused by passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850], outlining some observations about
the character of General [Franklin] Pierce, and mentioning Pierce’s connection to the
Cilley duel. 1 page, 4to, pale blue paper, with integral blank; folds. (TFC)
Wheatland, 11 June 1852
[2,000/3,000]
“
. . .The editorials of the last Union are admirable & I could wish them to be in the hands of every
Democrat in the Union.You, with mr. Parke & other friends, can best decide whether in view of the
terrible & doubtful conflict before us in Pennsylvania, the circulation of these articles . . . would injure
the cause. . . .And permit me to thank you . . . . I hope I may yet live to do you good.
“
I served in the Senate with General Pierce all the time he was a member of that Body . . . . I recol-
lect him as a radical & inflexible Democrat in all his votes, sometimes going beyond Silas Wright &
myself. . . .The Whigs . . . may possibly endeavor to attack him, though unjustly, about the Cilley
duel. . . . Judging from Pierce’s old associations, I should infer that the Barnburning wing (Van Buren’s)
of the NewYork Democracy would have much influence over him.”
Jonathan Cilley (1802-1838) was a representative from ME, who was murdered in a duel by KY
representative William J. Graves on behalf of James Watson Webb.Webb, a newspaper editor, had
been criticized by Cilley during a session of Congress. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Franklin Pierce,
friends of Cilley, expressed their outrage, as did other Northerners, many of whom saw dueling as a
barbaric Southern institution, which Southerners resented.