Starr King in California | Page 7

is proven by the fact
that of fifty-three newspapers published within her borders only seven
advocated the election of Lincoln to the Presidency in 1860. A stronger
proof still is found in the character and conduct of the public men of
California during all the period under consideration. With one or two
exceptions, of whom honorable mention later, every official of any
importance, state or national, favored the South and voted in her
interest. This condition was partly due, without doubt, to the political
leadership of Senator Wm. M. Gwin. A Tennessean by birth, he was
forty-six years of age, when he landed in San Francisco, June 4, 1849.
Almost immediately active in politics he became the most brilliant and
unscrupulous leader California has ever had. He held the reins of power
and of national patronage until the war brought chaos to the old order
and always Wm. M. Gwin was a faithful servant of the old aristocratic
South of John C. Calhoun. He was ably seconded in his efforts to hold
California to the pro-slavery cause by David S. Terry, Chief Justice of
the State, and a fiery Texan, fearless and fierce in every conflict which
might affect adversely Southern Chivalry. After these distinguished
leaders there followed in monotonous succession Senators,
Representatives, Governors, Legislators, representing doubtless their
constituents in opposition to every movement looking to the abolition,
or even serious limitation of the slave power.
The first man to challenge the almost solid cohorts of pro-slavery
Democracy in California was David C. Broderick, United States
Senator from 1857 until his untimely death in 1859. Broderick was the
son of a stone cutter and in early life followed his father's trade. Born in
Washington, D. C., he grew to manhood in New York City. When only
twenty-six years old he became "Tammany's candidate for Congress."
He was defeated and in June, 1849, he too arrived in San Francisco,
determined never to return East unless as United States Senator.
Plunging into the political life of the state as a loyal Democrat he was
sent almost at once to the legislature in Sacramento, where he speedily
became an influential member. In 1851 he was made presiding officer
of the Senate and by 1852 his leadership within the State was so firmly
established that it was said of him "he is the Democratic Party of
California." January 10, 1857, after years of bitter struggle, Broderick

was elected United States Senator, and the following March was duly
received as a member of that august body. From the first his had been a
strenuous career, he had been the storm center of heated contests,
personal and political, in which he had commanded the suffrages of his
fellows so completely that it was said, "men of all ages followed him
like dogs." He had made many bitter and unrelenting enemies, and now
that he had reached the goal of his ambition, he was to enter upon a last
dread battle, the most severe and deadly of all he had known.
Stripped of all misleading complications the question then agitating
Congress and the country was simply this: Shall Negro Slavery be
forced upon the new territory of Kansas against the will of a majority of
her people? This, of course, was only preliminary to the larger question:
Shall the National Government, under lead of the Slave Oligarchy, be
given power to spread over new territory, at will, the blight and curse of
human bondage? Upon this foremost question of the day, Senator
Broderick stood side by side with Stephen A. Douglas in opposition to
the Buchanan Administration, and its mad attempt to force slavery
upon the people of the New West. The attitude of California politicians
on this matter is evidenced by the fact that the legislature in session at
Sacramento promptly instructed Broderick to vote for the
administration program, and a later legislature condemned him by
resolution for failing to comply with the instructions of its predecessor
and declared that his attitude was a disgrace and humiliation to the
Nation. They demanded his immediate resignation. Let it be noted
clearly that Broderick was condemned, not for opposing negro slavery,
but simply and solely for opposing the extreme southern contention.
Not long, however, was Broderick permitted to display his antislavery
sympathies. During the exciting campaign of 1859, David S. Terry,
believing himself aggrieved because of certain utterances of Broderick,
challenged the latter to deadly combat. Reluctantly, but thereto
compelled by long usage in California, Broderick met Terry upon the
so-called "field of honor," September 13, 1859. Three days later
Broderick was dead, a sacrifice, so all forward-looking men believed,
to the wrath of the slave power. "His death was a political necessity,
poorly veiled beneath the guise of a private quarrel." This was said at
his funeral, and