Lightning Man_ The Accursed Life of Samuel F. B. Morse - Kenneth Silverman [71]
In addition to his influential tract, Morse wrote many signed and unsigned newspaper articles on immigration. Typical is a letter to the editor he composed for the Native American Citizen, asking Americans not to vote for naturalized office seekers: “depend upon it, the insolence of foreigners will no longer be endured.” The Observer published many like-minded articles, some of them probably by Morse himself. Readers of the paper learned that the Irish were “the most ignorant and turbulent people of Europe,” and were told what to expect from the onrushing boatloads: “We shall soon have more Papists in the North than they have slaves in the South. And who would not prefer two million slaves.”
In the spring of 1836, after a long search for a candidate, the Native American Democratic Association asked Morse to run for mayor of New York City. At first he for some reason declined. Mayors at the time served only a one-year term, but after all he still taught at the University; still presided over the National Academy; still painted, however much discouraged. And he had become engrossed in a possibly important new venture, as will appear. The Association asked him to reconsider, however, and in the end he accepted the nomination. The party’s demand for revised naturalization laws convinced him, he said, that it was his duty “to make the sacrifice to which I am called, and place myself at its disposal.”
Morse quickly got a taste of practical politics in New York. The conservative Whig party—descended from the now-defunct Federalists—fielded no candidate in the mayoralty race, expecting that Whig voters would support the Native American candidate. But only two days after Morse’s official nomination, the Whig Morning Courier disowned him. Its editor explained to the public that he had intended to vote for Morse, but he discovered that Morse backed the presidential nominee of the rival Democrats, Martin Van Buren. Morse had been “imposed” on the Native Americans, he charged, by “designing Van Buren men.” With the election only a day away, the startled Whigs hurriedly nominated a candidate of their own.
Morse admitted in print that he favored Van Buren for the presidency, someone he knew and had painted. “I have always avowed this preference,” he announced, “but it is subordinate to principles which are superior to any man.” He would not support Van Buren or anyone else, he said, who did not fearlessly espouse the principles of the Native American Democratic Association.
Morse’s explanation did him little if any good. The Courier’s revelation and the ticketing of a Whig candidate surely lost him votes, perhaps from among the Native Americans themselves. In the three-day balloting he ran last in a field of four, receiving 1496 votes, while the last-moment Whig candidate received 5989, and the victorious Democrat, C. W. Lawrence, received 16,101. “The fellow actually got 1500 votes,” as Cooper put it, “and would have been elected could he have got 15,000 more.”
The beating Morse took did not disenchant him with the Native American cause. The following year he attended the party conclave to again choose a mayoral candidate. He wrote an adjunct to the party platform, a call-to-arms addressed to all the citizens of America: “Shall the alternatives of riot and outrage, or order and tranquillity depend upon the yea or nay of a Foreigner? Shall they longer brow beat you at the polls, or dictate to you your rulers?—No! No! NATIVE AMERICANS OF LIBERTY, LOVERS OF LAW, LOVERS OF ORDER.” His shouting may have been heard. In the new city elections, a nativist ticket swept into office a mayor of New York and complete Common Council.
Morse’s