The election of General Pierce to the Presidency in 1852 was fatal to
the coalition in Massachusetts. Upon his accession to the office, in
March, 1853, General Cushing became Attorney-General of the United
States, and in the summer or autumn of 1853 he wrote a letter to a
gentleman in Worcester, which was interpreted as a declaration of
hostility on the part of the administration against all Democrats
who affiliated with Free-soil politicians. The election of 1852 had
been favorable to the Whigs of Massachusetts, but the contest was
fatal to the Whig Party in a national point of view. That party
disappeared in the country, and after two elections in Massachusetts,
that of 1852 and 1853, it ceased to have power in the State. For many
years after, there were occasional attempts to revive it, but all such
attempts were vain. It was led by intelligent and well-disposed men,
but its principles were not accepted by the country, and it attempted
to secure the recognition of its principles by a policy that was
temporizing and expedient. It lacked the courage of the old Democratic
Party.
Upon the defeat of the Constitution, I turned my attention to the
profession in the office of Mr. Joel Giles, with whom I had studied.
He had been a lecturer at Cambridge, a member of the House and the
Senate, and of the Constitutional Convention.
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