ties of the people, and its foot tramples a desecrated Constitutionrn[Applause]. Aye, in this land of free thought, free speeehrnand free writing—in this Republic of free suffrage, with libert}’rnof thought and expression as the very essence of republican institutionsrn—even here, in these free States, it is made criminalrnfor a citizen-soldier, like gallant Edgeriy, of New Hampshire, tornvote according to his conscience; or, like that noble martvr ofrnfree speech, [Clement] Vallandigham [Ohio congressman andrnprominent Peace Democrat] to discuss affairs in Ohio [Applause];rnaye, even here, the temporary agents of the so’ereignrnpeople, the transitory administrators of the Government, tell usrnthat in time of war the mere arbitrary will of the President takesrnR E A D E R SrnIfrnyou havernfriends or relatives who mayrnenjoy Chronicles,rnplease send us their names andrnaddresses.rnWe would be pleased to sendrnthem a complimentaryrnissue!rn^5-rnthe place of the Constitution, and the President himself announcesrnto us that it is treasonable to speak or to write otherwisernthan as he may prescribe.”rnFor Pierce, what was at stake in the fearful contest was America’srn80-year experiment in self-government under the rule ofrnconstitutional law. But it is important to note that he believedrnthat the threat to this precious heritage did not come from thernprospect of Southern secession but from Lincoln’s exercise ofrn”unconstitutional, arbitrary, [and] irresponsible power” in thernprosecution of a war of subjugation and conquest: “Prosecutedrnupon the basis of the proclamations of Sept. 22nd and Sept.rn24th, 1862 [preliminary emancipation edicts], prosecuted as Irnmust understand those proclamations (to say nothing of thernkindred blood which has flowed) upon the theory of emancipation,rndevastation, and subjugation, it [the war] cannot fail tornbe fruitless in everything except the harvest of woe which it isrnripening for what was once the peerless Republic [Applause].”rnPractically all Northerners, even those bitterly opposed tornthe war, hoped for a restoration of the Union. So did Pierce.rnBut like most Democrats and conservative Whigs, he wanted arnrestoration only on the basis of the old Union, the Union ofrnsovereign and independent States united in voluntary compactrnunder a federal head of strictly limited powers. He understoodrnthat such could never be accomplished by sectional war. As arnresult, he argued that the people of the North should put downrntheir arms and rely upon “moral power” to bring the Southernrnstates back into the Union. Pierce makes it clear that he wasrnfully in accord with the program of the Peace Democrats whornwere then advocating an immediate armistice and the calling ofrna national convention for the purpose of peacefully reconstructingrnthe Union on the basis of an amended Constitutionrnthat secured the rights of the South; “My judgment impels mernto rely upon moral force, and not upon any of the coercive instrumentalitiesrnof military power. . . . Through peaceful agencies,rnand through such agencies alone, can we hope ‘to form arnmore perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity,rnprovide for the common defense, promote the general welfare,rnand secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,’rnthe great objects for which, and for which alone, thernConstitution was formed.” (Italics added.)rnHere Pierce is speaking as a true Jeffersonian. He is not interested,rnas was Lincoln, in bringing about a “new birth of freedom”rnnot intended by the Founders, but in reclaming the hardfoughtrnachiexement of the Fathers—ordered libert)’ under lawrnand constitutional self-government. For the hardhcaded Jeffersonianrnrepublican, liberty is not an abstraction, nor is it somethingrnwhich is progressively realized through the evolution ofrnhi.story (which is the modern view), but it is a precious possessionrnwhich must be fought for repeatedly. There are alwaysrnthose in every generation to whom government appears a toorntempting agency for gratifying their own pride, ambition, andrngreed, and who care not that they must sacrifice the liberties ofrntheir fellow citizens in the pursuit of these things. It ma’ bernhard for Americans to understand this today, but Pierce wasrnspeaking for a substantial minority of his fellow New Englandersrnand an even larger minority of Northerners in general. Hernwas speaking for those of his fellow citizens who were the mostrnfaithful to the revolutionary and colonial heritage; he wasrnspeaking for all those for whom liberty and law were more importantrnthan wealth and power. For Pierce and his fellowrnDemocrats, America had not been “an unfinished revolution”rnbut “the model Republic of the wodd.” crn36/CHRONICLESrnrnrn