Willie P. Mangiu
lie was of the Orange County hierarchy and
he occupied such high positions as judge
on the superior court bench, congressman
and United States Senator.
EVEN the name of this great son
of Carolina is not well known, as
it is usually spoiled “Wilev."
whereas the correet spelling is
“Willie," the name being derived from
his paternal grandmother, who was a
kinswoman of General Thomas Per¬
son, for whom our county of Person
was named.
Senator Mangum was born in
Orange County in 1792. That county
constituted a hierarchy in famous
men. 1 shall undertake no roster of
its illustrious sons, but will note the
fact that among the contemporaries
of Mangum were two Chief Justices
of North Carolina — Thomas Kuffiti
and Frederick Nash; two United
States Senators and Secretaries of the
Navy, William A. Graham and
George E. Badger; and Judge Archi¬
bald I*. Murphey, famous father of
our public school system, leader iu
law reform and champion of a re¬
distribution in Constitutional power.
Moreover, when Mangum entered the
United States Senate*, he found there
as Senator from Missouri, Thomas
Hart Ponton— a native of Orange.
Most certainly Orange was a
hierarchy!
Attended Chavis School
In his youth Mangum attended the
school of the famous John Chavis, a
free “person of color." who was not
only a Presbyterian minister but a
graduate of Princeton University.
Mangum was not the only aristocrat
to attend the school of this mulatto,
as tile sons of Judge Henderson were
among his pupils, as well ns other lads
of distinguished ancestry. Chavis
was also a man who exercised con¬
siderable political influence in the
State, as we find him in later years
engaging in quite a correspondence
with Senator Mangum on national af¬
fairs.
Mangum was graduated from the
University in 1815. and later he was
honored with a Doctorate of Laws
from that institution; ami he estal>-
lished there a medal for oratory which
still exists and for which there is
keen competition.
He was admitted to the Bar in 1817,
and the following year entered public
By R. C. LAWRENCE
life as a member of the Commons;
and thereafter In- held office contin¬
uously, save when ho voluntarily re¬
tired therefrom. He was elevated to
the Bench in 1819. when he had been
a' the Par but two years! The follow¬
ing year, being in ill health he re¬
signed from the Pencil, but two years
later ho re-entered public life and
was elected to Congress. He was a
strong Whig in his political affilia¬
tions. and Udonged to the school of
which Nathaniel Macon was the fore¬
most exponent. While in Congress,
Mangum not only voted against a
Federal tariff, but also against
Federal aid for internal improve¬
ments. such ns rivers and harbors.
It was Thomas Jefferson who ironi¬
cally said of Fnleral office-holders
that “few die and none resign," but
Mangum proved the exception to this
rule for he resigned his seat in Con¬
gress and again resumed the practice
of his profession for a short time,
only to be again elected to the bench
of our Superior Court. It seems as
though the people of his day were
determined not to allow him to remain
in private life. He remained upon
the bench until his election as United
States Senator in 18:10. His election
to the Senate was not so easy, as lie
encountered bitter opposition from
those who favored the election of
Governor Owen of Bladen, but on the
balloting Mangum won — 103 to 84.
His career in the Senate was some¬
what hectic and stormy. A strong
Whig, lie arrived in Washington when
Jacksonian Democracy was in the full
flush of its triumph. Great issues
were the subject of fierce discussion:
and the storm clouds which ushered
in the era of the Civil War were al¬
ready lowering. Sectional, as well as
party feeling flamed high — for North
and South were already arrayed
against each other.
All Washington was agog with ex¬
citement, for a social issue of great
moment had split officialdom in twain.
Mr. Secretary Eaton of Jackson’s
cabinet had married pretty, but
plebian, Peggy O’Neill, the daughter
of a Washington tavern-keeper,
whereupon the newlyweds were
promptly ostracized by polite society.
The gallant Jackson, remembering his
own marital troubles, and the numer¬
ous duels he had fought in behalf
of his own fair lady, promptly moved
to Peggy’s support — a position which
led to the prompt resignation of a
portion of his cabinet, including
Secretary of the Navy John Branch
of North Carolina.
Mangum was so disgusted with the
prevailing conditions, that he
despaired of the life of the govern¬
ment itself. He described it as merely
a joint stock company which existed
for the distribution of Federal patron¬
age, a feeling not peculiar to Mangum,
but which was shared by other
Senators from the South.
Sectional Troubles
Moreover, sectional troubles vexed
the nation. At the instance of .John
C. Calhoun, South Carolina passed
what was known as the Nullification
Ordinance, this being an net which
declared null and void, within the
limits of that State, certain legisla¬
tion which had been enacted by Con¬
gress. The President now determined
to enforce these acts with all the power
of the government, using military
fore»* if such be necessary. On this
most serious question. Senator
Mangum occupied middle ground, a
position which now seems to have been
neither “flesh, nor fowl, nor good ml
herring." On the one hand he was
opposed to the legislation which South
Carolina had enacted; but on the
other ho was so strong an advocate of
State’s rights that he opposed the
enactment by Congress of legislation
which would force South Carolina to
bow to the Congressional will.
The battle which raged most fierce¬
ly during the early career of Mangum
was that staged bv Jackson against
renewing the charter of the Bank of
the United States, which exerted a
power, so Jackson contended, greater
than that possessed by the government
itself. Whigs like Mangum were
( Continued on page tkirty-Iwo )
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