An 1856 Half Dime Recalls a Turbulent Year in History
BillJones
Posts: 34,796 ✭✭✭✭✭
Almost a week ago Jessvu posed a question as to how often we look at our entire collections. I was at the bank taking some stuff back from the previous night's club meeting and working those pesky little slab protectors on my PCGS coins. (I have a lot of trouble getting them to fit on PCGS slabs, but if I stretch them on an NGC slab and then slip them on the PCGS slab, they go on a lot easier.) During this process I ran into a type coin that I had not looked at for a while, 1856 half dime in NGC MS-64.
As date and as a type coin, this piece does not amount to much. It is a common date and along with the 1858 half dime is probably the prime candidate for the "Stars Obverse" half dime in a type set. The coin is quite obtainable in any business strike condition desired from Good to MS-64. The finest graded example is an MS-66+. In Proof "Coin Facts" estimates that there are 38 survivors in PR-60 or better. Any seriously interested collector who is willing or able to spend the money can find one. Still it got me to thinking about what historical events that occurred in 1856, and as it turns out it was quite a lot.
In the areas of science and transportation the first railroad bridge was built across the Mississippi River between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. It was a major technological achievement for its day. In addition the Western Union Telegraph Company was formed to take advantage of the growing system of telegraph wires that are spreading across the country. On the energy front, the whaling ship E.L.B. Jenney returned to New Bedford, Massachusetts with 2,500 barrels of sperm whale oil.
The real news however was in politics where the nation was inching closer to the Civil War. The issue of "Bleeding Kansas" was making headlines as pro and anti slavery men poured into the area to make their voices and sometimes their weapons heard. An anti-slavery territorial government in Topeka, Kansas petitioned the Federal Government to become a state. The Republicans in Congress supported their petition, but in the Senate, Stephen Douglas, who had started the trouble with his Kansas - Nebraska Act and his "Popular Sovereignty" campaign, led the charge to block that legislation.
In May anti-slavery firebrand senator, Charles Sumner, delivered a fiery speech in the Senate against the senators who supported the South's "peculiar institution." The next day South Carolina representative, Preston Brooks, beat Sumner senseless with a cane on the Senate floor. People in the North were appalled while southerners sent Brooks hundreds of canes to show their support.
At almost the same time a group of pro-slavery men attacked Lawrence, Kansas, which was the center of the anti-slavery movement in the territory, killing one man. In retaliation, anti-slavery radical John Brown killed five proslavery men in a night massacre in Pottawotamie Creek, Kansas. More would be heard from Brown three years later.
In the more organized political arena the political landscape is shifting at earthquake proportions. In February the anti-immigrant "Know-Nothing Party" (a.k.a. the American Party) nominated former president, Millard Fillmore, for president. The party drafted an anti-immigrant platform and condemned the "Black Republicans" as a threat to Union.
In June the Democrats rejected the sitting president, Franklin Pierce, for re-nomination despite the fact that he was a declared candidate. This virtually unprecedented action showed the deep dissatisfaction that many Democrats had with Pierce despite his general support for the pro-slavery factions within the party. They also rejected Stephen Douglas and choose instead to nominate political warhorse, James Buchanan. Buchanan bought an impressive resume to the campaign. He had served in House and the Senate, had been secretary of state, and had served as the ambassador to Great Brittan and Russia. One of his campaign tokens declared that "The CRISIS demands his election." Most modern historians would this slogan ludicrous because today "Old Buck" is now rated as perhaps the worst president of all time.
That same month the recently formed Republican Party held its first national convention. John C. Fremont won the presidential nomination. A little known former Congressman from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, is considered for the vice president nomination, but that choice was ultimately awarded to New Jersey Senator, William L. Dayton.
In September the Whig Party, then in its death throes, met barely two months before the election. They also nominated Fremont for president although their endorsement would be of little consequence. By 1860 the party will be nothing but a fringe group under a different name, the Constitutional Union Party.
The election results divided the country along regional lines. Buchanan won the election with the electoral votes of 14 slave states and 4 free states. Fremont carried 11 free states, and Fillmore won only in Maryland, which is a pro-slavery border state.
At the beginning of his presidency Buchanan believed that the Supreme Court's disastrous Drew Scott decision would settle the slavery issue. He went so far as the lobby one Supreme Court justice for his vote and obtained the decision of the case before the Court announced it officially thereby defying the separation of powers between the three branches of government It will be the first of many missteps that he will make over the next four years that would mark his term in office as the worst in American history.
As date and as a type coin, this piece does not amount to much. It is a common date and along with the 1858 half dime is probably the prime candidate for the "Stars Obverse" half dime in a type set. The coin is quite obtainable in any business strike condition desired from Good to MS-64. The finest graded example is an MS-66+. In Proof "Coin Facts" estimates that there are 38 survivors in PR-60 or better. Any seriously interested collector who is willing or able to spend the money can find one. Still it got me to thinking about what historical events that occurred in 1856, and as it turns out it was quite a lot.
In the areas of science and transportation the first railroad bridge was built across the Mississippi River between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. It was a major technological achievement for its day. In addition the Western Union Telegraph Company was formed to take advantage of the growing system of telegraph wires that are spreading across the country. On the energy front, the whaling ship E.L.B. Jenney returned to New Bedford, Massachusetts with 2,500 barrels of sperm whale oil.
The real news however was in politics where the nation was inching closer to the Civil War. The issue of "Bleeding Kansas" was making headlines as pro and anti slavery men poured into the area to make their voices and sometimes their weapons heard. An anti-slavery territorial government in Topeka, Kansas petitioned the Federal Government to become a state. The Republicans in Congress supported their petition, but in the Senate, Stephen Douglas, who had started the trouble with his Kansas - Nebraska Act and his "Popular Sovereignty" campaign, led the charge to block that legislation.
In May anti-slavery firebrand senator, Charles Sumner, delivered a fiery speech in the Senate against the senators who supported the South's "peculiar institution." The next day South Carolina representative, Preston Brooks, beat Sumner senseless with a cane on the Senate floor. People in the North were appalled while southerners sent Brooks hundreds of canes to show their support.
At almost the same time a group of pro-slavery men attacked Lawrence, Kansas, which was the center of the anti-slavery movement in the territory, killing one man. In retaliation, anti-slavery radical John Brown killed five proslavery men in a night massacre in Pottawotamie Creek, Kansas. More would be heard from Brown three years later.
In the more organized political arena the political landscape is shifting at earthquake proportions. In February the anti-immigrant "Know-Nothing Party" (a.k.a. the American Party) nominated former president, Millard Fillmore, for president. The party drafted an anti-immigrant platform and condemned the "Black Republicans" as a threat to Union.
In June the Democrats rejected the sitting president, Franklin Pierce, for re-nomination despite the fact that he was a declared candidate. This virtually unprecedented action showed the deep dissatisfaction that many Democrats had with Pierce despite his general support for the pro-slavery factions within the party. They also rejected Stephen Douglas and choose instead to nominate political warhorse, James Buchanan. Buchanan bought an impressive resume to the campaign. He had served in House and the Senate, had been secretary of state, and had served as the ambassador to Great Brittan and Russia. One of his campaign tokens declared that "The CRISIS demands his election." Most modern historians would this slogan ludicrous because today "Old Buck" is now rated as perhaps the worst president of all time.
That same month the recently formed Republican Party held its first national convention. John C. Fremont won the presidential nomination. A little known former Congressman from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, is considered for the vice president nomination, but that choice was ultimately awarded to New Jersey Senator, William L. Dayton.
In September the Whig Party, then in its death throes, met barely two months before the election. They also nominated Fremont for president although their endorsement would be of little consequence. By 1860 the party will be nothing but a fringe group under a different name, the Constitutional Union Party.
The election results divided the country along regional lines. Buchanan won the election with the electoral votes of 14 slave states and 4 free states. Fremont carried 11 free states, and Fillmore won only in Maryland, which is a pro-slavery border state.
At the beginning of his presidency Buchanan believed that the Supreme Court's disastrous Drew Scott decision would settle the slavery issue. He went so far as the lobby one Supreme Court justice for his vote and obtained the decision of the case before the Court announced it officially thereby defying the separation of powers between the three branches of government It will be the first of many missteps that he will make over the next four years that would mark his term in office as the worst in American history.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
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Comments
It's always a treat to read your posts. Thank you for the time and effort you take to share your coins and make them interesting.
Lance.
Cool!
This thread provides is a real numismatic perspective on history. and for (pre) civil war buffs great fun.
After many years spent on completing sets and studying varieties I find this approach to our hobby much more interesting.
I have taken a somewhat different approach to historical numismatics through the Colonial Period.
Keep up the excellent posts.
Nice Half Dime!
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
I love american history and learned much reading your post.
Thank you!