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All through Pierce's term of office, the quarrels between the slavery and antislavery parties continued.

Sumner, a senator from

Massachusetts, once spoke
so strongly against slavery.
that Preston Brooks, say-
ing that he was insulting all
Southerners, attacked him
in the Senate chamber, and
hit him such a cruel blow
on the head that
Sumner was ill
for more than
two years. But,
although a few

Charles

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slavery men ap

proved of what

Brooks had done,

and made him a present of a fine cane as a reward, most people be

lieved that he

had done wrong.

Brooks and Sumner.

It was not in Pierce's power, however, to put an end to the quarrel of those who were for or against slavery, although he made a good President.

The first summer of his term was an interesting time, for people in our country, wishing to follow an example set by England, held their first world's fair, or exhibition, in the Crystal Palace in New York. At first, people in Europe made fun of the idea of having a world's fair in

America, but it soon proved a great success. Not only were there exhibits from every foreign country, but our own was well represented. Indeed, when foreigners saw the McCormick reaper, and heard of the changes it had brought about, one of them declared the inventor had "done more for the cause of agriculture than any man living." England and the United States were now on such friendly terms that when the English explorer, Sir John Franklin, was lost in the ice of the Arctic Sea, Dr. Kane,

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an American, went off in search of him.

Unfortunately, as was found out later, Franklin and all his companions were dead; but Kane made many interesting discoveries. in the north. To show their gratitude to the Americans. for Kane's friendly deed, the English, finding the remains of one of his ships some time after, had a beautiful desk made out of it, and sent it to the White House, where it is reserved for the President's use.

It was under Pierce, too, that our fleet came home from Japan, where, as we have seen, a treaty was made which allowed our ships to trade there. Ever since then, America has kept up a lively trade with Japan, where the people are learning civilized ways so rapidly that it is said they will soon overtake the most advanced countries.

XXXIV. JOHN BROWN'S RAID.

HE slavery question created such very strong and

TH

bitter feeling that the next election saw the rise of what is still called the Republican party, which soon inIcluded all those in favor of free soil. The Democrats proving the stronger, however, James Buch-an'an, their candidate, became the fifteenth President of the United States.

As Buchanan was already sixty-six and unmarried, he is sometimes called the "Bachelor President." Many had hoped that his election would put an end to all quarrels. But he was neither firm nor tactful, and things had already reached such a state that it seemed as if no

power could prevent the terrible events which were soon to take place.

In the beginning of Buchanan's term a dispute was settled which was to be talked about in all parts of the country. A doctor had taken his slave, Dred Scot, north. After living in a free state and a free territory several years, this slave fancied he was free, and when his master took him south again, and sold him, he appealed to the courts.

The question was finally laid before the Supreme Court of the United States, which decided that a man's slaves belonged to him, no matter where he happened to live. When people in the free states heard this, they made a great outcry, because, as they said, slaves could now be held anywhere.

The

The people in the South, on the other hand, were greatly pleased, for this was just what they wanted. result was that both parties felt all the more determined, the one to stop the spread of slavery, the other to extend it over the whole country. Fiery speeches were again made on both sides of the question, and people grew more and more excited.

Now, one man who was against slavery was named John Brown. He was a religious man, but not very wise. He went to settle in Kansas, where he spoke his mind so freely that the slavery people there soon learned to hate him. In a fight at Os-a-wat'o-mie, John Brown was victorious, but lost one of his relatives. This loss almost crazed him, and made him all the more anxious to put an end to slavery. Indeed, he finally imagined that the Lord had specially chosen him to do this work.

As he could not stay in Kansas, where a price had been

set upon his head, John Brown of Osawatomie went to Harpers Ferry, in Virginia, in 1859. There, with the help of a few well-meaning but very unwise persons in the North who supplied him with money, John Brown made. a plan to free the slaves. As he knew they would need arms to resist capture, he and twenty followers seized the United States armory at Harpers Ferry. Then they

seized and imprisoned a few slaveholders.

This was against the laws of both state and country. Before John Brown could escape, he was caught by our troops, tried for treason and murder, and hanged. "John Brown's

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Raid," as his expedition in Virginia is generally called, created a great excitement, for the Southern people did

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