Secretaries of State: William Marcy
Franklin Pierce has the distinction of being the only President to begin and end a full term in office with the same cabinet members for the entire time. Whatever criticisms one has of Pierce, he managed to inspire the loyalty of his cabinet and managed to select cabinet members that he had sufficient confidence in to complete a full term. For the key cabinet post of Secretary of State, Pierce selected William L. Marcy of New York. Marcy had served as Secretary of War during the Presidency of James K. Polk. He was a loyal Democrat and a leader of the "Soft Democrats" in New York.
William Learned Marcy was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts on December 12, 1786. He graduated from Brown University in 1808, following which he taught school in Dedham, Massachusetts and in Newport, Rhode Island. Marcy read the law and was admitted to the bar in 1811. He moved to Troy, New York, where he began a practice, in close proximity to the state capital of Albany.
Marcy served in the War of 1812, holding the rank of lieutenant and later as a captain of volunteers. On October 22, 1812 he took part in the storming of the British post at St. Regis, Ontario in Canada. When the war ended, he returned to Troy and served as a Recorder. He was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, which was the major party in the nation following the war. The party was factionalized and Marcy sided with the Anti-Clinton faction, known as the Bucktails. In 1818 the Clinton faction became the majority in the party and Marcy was removed from office as recorder by his political opponents. He then took employment as the editor of the Troy Budget newspaper. On April 28, 1824, he married Cornelia Knower, daughter of Benjamin Knower, in Guilderland, New York. They had two surviving children: a son Edmund Marcy born in 1833 and a daughter, Cornelia Marcy, born in 1834.
Marcy rose to the position of leader of the Albany Regency, a group of Democratic politicians who controlled State politics between 1821 and 1838. He was appointed to be the Adjutant General of New York from 1821 to 1823, and served as New York State Comptroller from 1823 to 1829, when he was appointed to be an associate justice of the New York Supreme Court. He sat as a member of the court until 1831, when he was elected as U.S. Senator from New York by the state legislature. At the time he was a Jacksonian Democrat. He served in the Senate from March 4, 1831, to January 1, 1833. While in the Senate, he sat on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in the 22nd Congress. He spoke in support of Andrew Jackson's nomination of Martin Van Buren as minister to the United Kingdom in 1832. It was in the course of that debate that Marcy used the phrase "to the victor belong the spoils". This remark is credited with being the origin of the term "spoils system", refer to political patronage appointments.
Marcy resigned from the Senate after being elected as Governor of New York in 1832. He was elected as Governor of New York for three terms, from 1833 until 1838, when he was defeated by Whig William H. Seward, another future Secretary of State. Once again Macy's party was divided factionally, this time between the abolitionists, and those like Marcy who supported the rights of southerners to own slaves as then allowed under the constitution. The abolitionists used the term "doughface," to describe those like Marcy who had Southern sympathies. For Marcy, a major consideration was the importance of Southern cotton and trade to New York state, both as a major part of exports from New York City, and to the textile mills of upstate that processed the imported cotton. Marcy was one of the leaders of the "Hunkers", the conservative spoilsmen, and pro-compromise-on-slavery faction of the Democratic Party in New York.
In 1845 Marcy was appointed as United States Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President James K. Polk. he held that post for all of the Polk Presidency from 1845 until 1849. His tenure included the Mexican War. After his term ended, he resumed to practice law in New York. He once again became active in New York state Democratic Party politics as the leader of the "Soft" faction of the Hunkers that supported reconciliation with the Barnburners. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1852 but was unsuccessful, in large part because of opposition from within his own state.
Marcy returned to Washington, DC in 1853 to serve as United States Secretary of State in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce. On June 1 of that year, he issued a circular to American diplomatic agents abroad, recommending that whenever practicable, they should appear in the simple dress of an American citizen and not in any sort of fancy dress uniform, as was the practice of diplomats from other countries. This directive was controversial in Europe, where diplomats typically wore court dress. In 1867, Marcy's recommendation was enacted into law by the US Congress.
One of the challenges Marcy resolved was known as the the Koszta Affair. It concerned the detention of an unnaturalized American resident by Austria. Marcy was able to gain the freedom of the detainee. He also negotiated the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico in the Southwest, the last major land acquisition by the United States within its continental territory. This agreement added land to what are now the states of New Mexico and Arizona. With a southern route of territory all under United States control, southerners worked to promote a railroad from Texas to San Diego but they were not successful in doing so.
Marcy also worked on a Canadian reciprocity treaty on tariffs for certain items. He also monitored Commodore Matthew C. Perry's negotiations for naval and trade access with Japan, and helped to mediate a British fishery dispute.
One of the most controversial aspects of his tenure was known as the Ostend Manifesto. During the Pierce administration, Southern expansionists wanted the United States to acquire Cuba and have it become a slave state. But the violence that followed the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act made it difficult for the Pierce administration to support the slaveholding states so openly. Marcy instructed some of the American ministers in Europe, namely Pierre Soulé in Spain, James Buchanan in Great Britain, and John Y. Mason in France, to meet to discuss strategy in order to come up with a plan to acquire Cuba. The three met secretly at Ostend, Belgium, and later at Aix-la-Chapelle, where they drafted a dispatch to Mason. The document was sent to Washington in October 1854. It discussed why the purchase of Cuba would be beneficial to each of the nations. But it also went further and recommended that the U.S. would be "justified in wresting" the island from Spanish hands if Spain refused to sell it. To Marcy's dismay, Soulé was public about the discussions, resulting in unwanted publicity both in Europe and in the U.S. The State Department was compelled to publish the contents of the dispatch, following a resolution passed in the House of Representatives. Marcy and Pierce were criticized in the northern media. The dispatch became known as the "Ostend Manifesto", and it became a rallying cry for anti-slavery Northerners. The affair effectively ended southerners' hopes for Cuba's annexation.
Marcy left office in poor health. He died at Ballston Spa, New York on July 4, 1857 and was buried at the Rural Cemetery in Albany, New York.
William Learned Marcy was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts on December 12, 1786. He graduated from Brown University in 1808, following which he taught school in Dedham, Massachusetts and in Newport, Rhode Island. Marcy read the law and was admitted to the bar in 1811. He moved to Troy, New York, where he began a practice, in close proximity to the state capital of Albany.
Marcy served in the War of 1812, holding the rank of lieutenant and later as a captain of volunteers. On October 22, 1812 he took part in the storming of the British post at St. Regis, Ontario in Canada. When the war ended, he returned to Troy and served as a Recorder. He was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, which was the major party in the nation following the war. The party was factionalized and Marcy sided with the Anti-Clinton faction, known as the Bucktails. In 1818 the Clinton faction became the majority in the party and Marcy was removed from office as recorder by his political opponents. He then took employment as the editor of the Troy Budget newspaper. On April 28, 1824, he married Cornelia Knower, daughter of Benjamin Knower, in Guilderland, New York. They had two surviving children: a son Edmund Marcy born in 1833 and a daughter, Cornelia Marcy, born in 1834.
Marcy rose to the position of leader of the Albany Regency, a group of Democratic politicians who controlled State politics between 1821 and 1838. He was appointed to be the Adjutant General of New York from 1821 to 1823, and served as New York State Comptroller from 1823 to 1829, when he was appointed to be an associate justice of the New York Supreme Court. He sat as a member of the court until 1831, when he was elected as U.S. Senator from New York by the state legislature. At the time he was a Jacksonian Democrat. He served in the Senate from March 4, 1831, to January 1, 1833. While in the Senate, he sat on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in the 22nd Congress. He spoke in support of Andrew Jackson's nomination of Martin Van Buren as minister to the United Kingdom in 1832. It was in the course of that debate that Marcy used the phrase "to the victor belong the spoils". This remark is credited with being the origin of the term "spoils system", refer to political patronage appointments.
Marcy resigned from the Senate after being elected as Governor of New York in 1832. He was elected as Governor of New York for three terms, from 1833 until 1838, when he was defeated by Whig William H. Seward, another future Secretary of State. Once again Macy's party was divided factionally, this time between the abolitionists, and those like Marcy who supported the rights of southerners to own slaves as then allowed under the constitution. The abolitionists used the term "doughface," to describe those like Marcy who had Southern sympathies. For Marcy, a major consideration was the importance of Southern cotton and trade to New York state, both as a major part of exports from New York City, and to the textile mills of upstate that processed the imported cotton. Marcy was one of the leaders of the "Hunkers", the conservative spoilsmen, and pro-compromise-on-slavery faction of the Democratic Party in New York.
In 1845 Marcy was appointed as United States Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President James K. Polk. he held that post for all of the Polk Presidency from 1845 until 1849. His tenure included the Mexican War. After his term ended, he resumed to practice law in New York. He once again became active in New York state Democratic Party politics as the leader of the "Soft" faction of the Hunkers that supported reconciliation with the Barnburners. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1852 but was unsuccessful, in large part because of opposition from within his own state.
Marcy returned to Washington, DC in 1853 to serve as United States Secretary of State in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce. On June 1 of that year, he issued a circular to American diplomatic agents abroad, recommending that whenever practicable, they should appear in the simple dress of an American citizen and not in any sort of fancy dress uniform, as was the practice of diplomats from other countries. This directive was controversial in Europe, where diplomats typically wore court dress. In 1867, Marcy's recommendation was enacted into law by the US Congress.
One of the challenges Marcy resolved was known as the the Koszta Affair. It concerned the detention of an unnaturalized American resident by Austria. Marcy was able to gain the freedom of the detainee. He also negotiated the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico in the Southwest, the last major land acquisition by the United States within its continental territory. This agreement added land to what are now the states of New Mexico and Arizona. With a southern route of territory all under United States control, southerners worked to promote a railroad from Texas to San Diego but they were not successful in doing so.
Marcy also worked on a Canadian reciprocity treaty on tariffs for certain items. He also monitored Commodore Matthew C. Perry's negotiations for naval and trade access with Japan, and helped to mediate a British fishery dispute.
One of the most controversial aspects of his tenure was known as the Ostend Manifesto. During the Pierce administration, Southern expansionists wanted the United States to acquire Cuba and have it become a slave state. But the violence that followed the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act made it difficult for the Pierce administration to support the slaveholding states so openly. Marcy instructed some of the American ministers in Europe, namely Pierre Soulé in Spain, James Buchanan in Great Britain, and John Y. Mason in France, to meet to discuss strategy in order to come up with a plan to acquire Cuba. The three met secretly at Ostend, Belgium, and later at Aix-la-Chapelle, where they drafted a dispatch to Mason. The document was sent to Washington in October 1854. It discussed why the purchase of Cuba would be beneficial to each of the nations. But it also went further and recommended that the U.S. would be "justified in wresting" the island from Spanish hands if Spain refused to sell it. To Marcy's dismay, Soulé was public about the discussions, resulting in unwanted publicity both in Europe and in the U.S. The State Department was compelled to publish the contents of the dispatch, following a resolution passed in the House of Representatives. Marcy and Pierce were criticized in the northern media. The dispatch became known as the "Ostend Manifesto", and it became a rallying cry for anti-slavery Northerners. The affair effectively ended southerners' hopes for Cuba's annexation.
Marcy left office in poor health. He died at Ballston Spa, New York on July 4, 1857 and was buried at the Rural Cemetery in Albany, New York.