The Democratic party from 1852 to 1860 ac cepted either positively or negatively the chief tenets of the Southern constitutional theory: (1) State rights, (2) low tariff, (3) non-inter ference with the expansion of the slave power. The party was in the main dominated by South ern men. During the Pierce administration, in addition to negotiating the Gadsden Purchase (q.v.), and repealing. the Missouri Compromise, the leaders of the Democratic party committed the country to the annexation of Cuba even by force if necessary and the administration failed to punish Southern filibustering expeditions di rected against Mexico and Central America. President Buchanan in 1857 publicly endorsed the aggressive Democratic policy. He called to his council board such pronounced pro-slavery men as Howell Cobb, Jacob Thompson and John B. Floyd, and he relied too much upon these men for advice in every crisis, which was but natural, since so few Northern States had cast their electoral votes for him.
In the South during these years the aggres sive sectionalists continued to urge the people on to secession as the only guarantee of their safety. Commercial conventions which dis
cussed politics met each year in one of the larger Southern cities. These bodies recom mended the boycotting of Northern manufac tures, the encouragement of direct trade with Europe, the reopening, even, of the African slave trade. The Southern press took tip the pro gram and kept the agitation of sectional issues at the highest pitch of excitement. Parents were criticised for sending their sons to Prince ton and Yale to be educated; State legislatures were urged to establish and generously support military schools. Secession was often and in all sections of the South threatened in the event that the Republican party should succeed in electing a President.
In 1857 the Supreme Court added fuel to the fire by going out of the way to declare that Congress could not lawfully interfere with slav ery in any Territory of the United States and that any slaveholder must be protected in his rights in all sections of the country. (See