1
10
13
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Title
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Photography & Streographs
Still Image
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Title
A name given to the resource
Henry Wilson Boulder Postcard
Description
An account of the resource
Divided back sepia souvenir postcard of the Henry Wilson Boulder on Main Street. Photo of the boulder is in center of the card surrounded by small trees, embedded in a decorative bark like frame with a curled shaving to the right the photo, all in sepia brown.
Size: 3.5" x 5.5"
FHS-Kyle Leach
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
W. J. Evans
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
W. J. Evans
boulder
Henry Wilson
photo
photograph
postcard
-
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Title
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Photography & Streographs
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
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Title
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Henry Wilson Memorial Boulder & Lanscape With Fencing & Building
Description
An account of the resource
A photograph of the Henry Wilson Memorial Boulder and landscape with fencing and a building in the background.
Size: 4.5" x 4.5"
Condition: Photo has been cut in half. Second portion is not with this portion.
FHS-RKL
Creator
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Unknown
Publisher
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Unknown
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Unknown
boulder
building
Farmington
Henry Wilson
landmarks
landscape
memorial
-
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Title
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Photography & Streographs
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
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Title
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Henry Wilson Memorial Boulder & Landscape With Fencing
Description
An account of the resource
A photograph of the Henry Wilson Memorial Boulder and surrounding landscape with fencing. A small potion of a building can be seen in the background.
Size: 4.5" x 6"
Condition: Slight water damage.
FHS-RKL
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Unknown
Publisher
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Unknown
Date
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Unknown
boulder
building
Farmington
Henry Wilson
landmarks
landscape
memorial
-
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Title
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Photography & Streographs
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
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Title
A name given to the resource
Henry Wilson Memorial Boulder With Canine
Description
An account of the resource
The Henry Wilson Memorial Boulder photographed during the day with an unknown canine in front of the boulder. This matted photograph has an embossed decorative interior border.
Size: 4' x5'
FHS-RKL
Creator
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Unknown
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Unknown
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Unknown
animals
boulder
Henry Wilson
landmarks
memorial
photograph
-
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Title
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Furniture- Tables, Chairs, Cases Trunks, & Cabinets
Description
An account of the resource
This collection focuses on items built mainly from wood or from various forms of material that were fashioned into furniture. The furniture can be decorative, mixed use, or used often for an everyday function. Some can also be large tools or rudimentary machines. Common examples in this collection are: tables, chairs, trunks, hutches, cabinets, cases, beds, and spinning wheels.
Object
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Title
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Henry Wilson-Commissioned Child's Rocking Chair
Description
An account of the resource
Jeff Durell of Barrington has loaned this item to the Farmington Historical Society for viewing and we now have digital photos of the chair that we will keep in the online museum. It is a small child's rocking chair, purportedly commissioned for Henry Wilson's niece by Henry Wilson himself. While there is no documented proof, he has anecdotal information and letters from Senator Wilson in his possession which substantiate the claim. He is related to Wilson by marriage and has genealogical documentation.
FHS-RKL
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Unknown
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Unknown
children
family
furniture
Henry Wilson
wood
-
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3fe7773d1a7592320371195ff0104315
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Title
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Photography & Streographs
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
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Title
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1912 Souvenir Postcard The Wilson Rock
Description
An account of the resource
Souvenir Postcard of the Henry Wilson boulder is centered and trees are to the right and a hill to the left, with a few trees in the background. Handwritten information stamped, or print font at the bottom front list "The Wilson Rock." and printed number "96."
Written on back of card in pencil:
"96. Photographed October 27, 1912 by A. D. F. about 10:30 am. The Wilson Rock A.D.F"
Size 3.5" x 5.5"
FHS-Kyle Leach
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Photographed by A. D. F.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 27, 1912
document
Henry Wilson
landscape
photographer
photography
postcard
rock
souvenir
-
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e026e8806fc8c4858087fb3d43426902
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Title
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Photography & Streographs
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
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Description
An account of the resource
Roscoe Chamberlin, Fred Dexter, Roger Nutter and Stanley Place are in this photo. All were members of Farmington Historical Society cleaning up the area around former Vice-president Henry Wilson's stone, at the Farmington Country Club. They were paying their annual respects by tidying around the marker and site of his birthplace.
These photos are stored together. They are from different periods of time. Last pulled together for possible use in May 1986.
The original photo has been damaged. Some restoration is present.
RKL-FHS
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Photo Credit: Rochester Courier
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
May 1986
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
May 1986
Title
A name given to the resource
Photo Farmington Historical Society Cleanup Henry Wilson Rock Puddledock Press May 1986
Farmington Country Club
Farmington Historical Society
Farmington NH
Henry Wilson
people
places
rock
-
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d741cb107a21edc78288214191977520
PDF Text
Text
The Cobbler in Congress: A Brief Biography of Henry Wilson
1. Jeremiah Jones Colbath
The boy who would become Henry Wilson was born under the name of Jeremiah Jones Colbath
in the small eastern New Hampshire town of Farmington on the 16th of February 1812. Wilson was the
eldest child of Winthrop and Abigail Colbath. The Colbath's had immigrated from Ireland early in the
18th century arriving in southern New Hampshire and living there for several generations until the
conclusion of the Revolutionary War when Wilson's great grandfather moved to the Farmington area.1
At the time of Wilson's birth Farmington had a population of roughly twelve hundred individuals most
of whom were farmers. Labor was the law of the land and consequently little formal education was
available to those who lived there, for what use was a boy in school who could otherwise be helping his
father plow the fields?2
The Colbaths had long lived a life of poverty and Wilson's father proved no exception.
Winthrop Colbath was primarily a manual laborer who bounced from one job to the next. He spent a
good portion of Wilson's childhood employed at a local sawmill. He constructed a house for his family
when Wilson was seven.3 Despite being quite capable, Winthrop was never able to provide for his
family due in large part to his alcoholism. A source described him as “too much interested in cider,”4 a
point of frustration for Wilson and one which later influenced his personal support for temperance. In
contrast to Wilson's oftentimes strained relationship with his father he maintained a stellar relationship
with his mother, Abigail, who was described as handsome, fond of reading, sensible, and industrious.5
All of these qualities could easily be attributed to Wilson himself and perhaps represents the special
bond the two shared. Although sources differ as to the exact number of Colbath children, general
consensus suggests that Abigail birthed eight children, all sons, three of whom would succumb to death
before Wilson, or “Jerry” as his friends called him, reached ten years of age.6 Wilson put it best with his
comment, “I was born in poverty, Want sat by my cradle. I know what it is to ask a mother for bread
1
�when she has none to give.”7 Poverty would define Wilson's childhood and much of his adult life. Yet,
poverty and adversity were also responsible for instilling in Wilson a sense of perseverance,
determination, and resourcefulness, these qualities perhaps more so than any others were responsible
for his success as a politician.
Wilson proved to be a bright and driven young man with a strong desire to learn. As a young
child Wilson enrolled in a local school overseen by a Mistress Guy who taught him basic reading,
spelling and basic arithmetic.8 One humorous story about his public schooling shows that Wilson's
sense of justice was also well developed at an early age. One cold morning Wilson noticed a group of
older boys who had laid claim to the schoolhouse fireplace preventing the younger children from using
it. Wilson sought to rectify the situation through that age old method of diplomacy: fist fighting. Wilson
challenged one of the larger boys and obtained permission for the younger boys to use the fire.
Unfortunately, Mistress Guy failed to see the just nature of Wilson's cause and punished him with a
flogging.9
Even more important to the growth of Wilson's mind was a chance encounter he had at the age
of eight with Mrs. Anstress Eastman the wife of the only lawyer in Farmington, Nehemiah Eastman.
Upon seeing the condition of Wilson's clothes Mrs. Eastman generously gave him some to wear and
asked him if he knew how to read. When Wilson proved that he could Mrs. Eastman provided him with
a copy of the New Testament and told him that if he read it the book would be his. Wilson, excited by
the prospect of owning his own book, read the entire New Testament in a week and promptly returned
to Mrs. Eastman who could scarcely believe that an eight year old had read the book so quickly.
However, as she tested him on its contents, he quickly displayed an excellent understanding of the book
from start to end. Amazed at his accomplishment Mrs. Eastman happily gave Wilson his first book.
Although not one for sentimentality Wilson held on to the book for the rest of his life. Wilson later
credited receiving the book as the starting point of his intellectual growth.10
2
�Wilson would continue to reap the benefit of his relationship with the Eastmans. Both Anstress
and Nehemiah took an active interest in the boy and opened up their substantial library to his
inquisitive mind. Over the next several years Wilson would use this opportunity often. He gladly
walked the fourteen miles to venture to and from the Eastmans residence to obtain books. Wilson's
appetite for books proved great and he soon began borrowing books from: a local judge, a grocer, the
deputy sheriff, and a local politician as well. As time passed and his interests broadened he also grew
interested in newspapers and magazines, of which the Eastmans had an ample supply. Allegedly. over
the course of his childhood Wilson had read over one thousand books not to mention countless
newspapers and magazines.11
At ten years of age Wilson was sold by his father into indentured servitude to a Mr. William
Knight, a hardworking farmer in Farmington who had need of an extra farmhand. Knight was a hardman and was extremely demanding of Wilson during his servitude. Wilson was expected to work daily
except for Sundays and could not depart the farm without Knight's consent. In addition to these basic
requirements Wilson was also denied the right to go the local tavern, gamble, drink alcohol, or pursue
relations with the opposite sex. If Wilson fulfilled his end of the contract he would receive six sheep
and a few oxen for the ten years of his life worked for the farmer. Knight further revealed his frugal
character when Wilson was unable to sell his oxen immediately upon receiving them. Wilson asked if
he could board the oxen at Knight's farm for the weekend. His master obliged but forced him to pay
fifty cents rent for two days.12
Despite the difficulty of his life under Knight, Wilson continued to prove an active reader. A
remarkable feat when one considers the fact that the only time he was able to read was after he had
completed his tasks for Mr. Knight. Wilson would frequently read late into the night by the light of the
fire.13 These books and works were Wilson's escape from his life as a farmhand, a life which in light of
his later decisions, clearly did not suit him. Wilson's dedication to reading granted him many of the
3
�skills that would define him during his political career. His analytical skills, excellent memory, and
ability to research and understand a subject were in large part the result of his love of literature.
Wilson proved to be a skilled farmhand, excelling at all tasks he was given and working
attentively for his master. For Mr. Knight the young Wilson had proved to be quite valuable. Finally at
the age twenty one, having spent more than half of his life in indentured servitude, Wilson completed
his service and sold his sheep and oxen for eighty-four dollars. Considering that prior to this point
Wilson had never had more than two dollars he likely felt downright rich with his new found wealth.14
Never one to sit idle, Wilson began to look towards his future and finding work.
Prior to this Wilson had one more task he wanted to complete, to formally change his name
from Jeremiah Jones Colbath to Henry Wilson. Little evidence suggests why he chose the name Henry
Wilson; most likely he was influenced by an individual of the same name, some biographers point to
Reverend Henry Wilson of England.15 Even less evidence exists to identify his reasons for the name
change, although many theories have been concocted in an attempt to explain this action. Perhaps the
best interpretation of this action comes from Adelaide Waldron of Rochester who claimed simply that,
“all thought that it would be to his advantage.”16 Perhaps more important than the motivations of his
name change was its symbolic nature. Jeremiah Jones Colbath's change to Henry Wilson in the summer
of 1833 not only provided him a new identity, it also symbolized the new path upon which the young
man from Farmington was about to set foot.
2. The Natick Cobbler
Wilson left Farmington in 1833. He realized that the town held little promise, and having
decided that he had no interest in farming, Wilson looked beyond New Hampshire in hopes of finding a
steady job for himself. Having heard from some other young men in the area about the expanding shoe
4
�manufacturing market in Natick, Massachusetts Henry Wilson decided that it was time for him to leave
his home in search of his future.17
In the bitter cold of December Henry Wilson packed up his meager belongings and started the
hundred mile journey from Farmington to Natick. Determined to make his journey as inexpensive as
possible, Wilson opted to make this journey of several days on foot. As usual when Wilson set his mind
to a task his resolve could not be shaken and he made great time, completing the hundred miles of
winter travel in four days. Wilson even managed to fit a visit to Bunker Hill and the office of The North
American Review (one of Wilson's favorite publications) into his trip. Upon arriving in Natick around
midnight on the fourth day Wilson found that he had managed to make the trip on a mere dollar and
five cents. Although the town of Natick was not aware of it at the time the young man who arrived in
December of 1833 would go on to become a leader in the community and eventually the nation.
The Natick which Wilson arrived in was a changing town. When Wilson arrived in Natick the
population was around 890, the town had no public high school, no library and not even a single
lawyer. Within twenty-five years however the population would boom to nearly 4100 and had
established a library and several schools. This transition was thanks to two things. The first was the
addition of the Boston and Worcester Railroad line which went directly through Natick making it a
center of commerce. The Second event was the growth of shoe making in the town thanks to Edward
Walcott. In 1828 Walcott began to produce more shoes than ever before attracting many other cobblers
to Natick. This trend would continue resulting in Natick, which had not even bothered to track the
value of its shoe manufacturing trade in 1833, to become the eighth biggest manufacturer in the state by
1850. It was this community which Wilson joined, little did he Natick know it had just received its
“most famous citizen.”18
Wilson's first professional relationship in town was formed with Mr. William P. Legro who, for
five month's labor, agreed to teach Wilson the trade of making shoes. At this time a single worker
5
�would make the entire shoe or “brogan.” Wilson proved, unsurprisingly, a highly skilled apprentice and
within seven weeks had mastered the trade, a task which was supposed to have taken five months.
Desiring to work for himself as quickly as possible Wilson offered Mr. Legro fifteen dollars to be freed
from his apprenticeship. Hoping to obtain enough money to pay for more education Wilson made shoes
at an amazing pace. He would frequently work up to sixteen hours a day. At one point Wilson became
determined to make fifty pairs of shoes, a task which would generally take a week, in one sitting.
Despite coming just short Wilson was allegedly able to make an unrivaled forty-seven and one-half
pairs of shoes before finally submitting to sleep.19
The shoe manufacturing trade would make a great deal of money for Wilson as he made shoes
off and on for the next two decades. The first several years of Wilson's period in Natick he worked
primarily with the interest of getting enough money to pursue an education. Over the two years and five
months between his arrival in Natick and his departure in 1836 Wilson produced roughly six-thousand
pairs of shoes, making a seven-hundred dollar profit for himself.20 After returning to Natick in 1837
Wilson became one of the largest shoe makers, both in the amount of shoes he made and the number of
people he employed, in Natick. By the end of 1838, a mere year after his return, Wilson would do an
astounding $17,000 worth of business. Wilson's production continued to expand and, by 1847, he
employed one-hundred and ninety employees and manufactured a staggering 122,000 shoes. Wilson
produced 664,000 pairs of shoes before leaving the trade for good.21
Wilson's first several years in Natick were important as they allowed Wilson to make a name for
himself not only financially, but also socially. Wilson quickly made connections with many important
citizens in Natick. Fittingly, one of the most important friendships Wilson was to make during his early
years in Natick was a result of his need to read. Natick, at the time of Wilson's arrival, had little in the
way of a public library. The sole exception was a small collection of about two-hundred volumes
overseen by Deacon William Coolidge, a leader in the town and one of Natick's most prominent
6
�citizens. Deacon Coolidge and his wife, much like the Eastmans before them, took an interest in the
young man from New Hampshire and offered him a room in which to stay. Wilson built a strong
relationship with the Coolidges going with them to church and on social outings. Eventually Wilson
would come to be treated as a son to this generous couple.22
Interestingly, for an individual who never joined the local congregation until much later in life
Wilson also built close relationships with the local ministers of the Natick Congregational Church.
Erasmus D. Moore was the minister of the Natick Congregation at the time of Wilson’s arrival and the
two quickly became fast friends sharing common interests. Moore became minister in 1831 and served
in that post for seven years during a time of rapid growth in the community. Wilson regularly relied on
Moore during his early years in Natick and the two stayed in touch after Moore left the community.
Later in life Wilson aided Moore by helping him receive several government posts.23 Upon Moore's
departure from Natick Wilson found another important friend in Moore's successor, Samuel Hunt.
Under Hunt's guidance Wilson assumed an active role in church life going so far as to teach a bible
class at Sunday School. The bond between the two men is represented the fact that when Hunt left his
post it was Wilson who spoke and presented Hunt with a watch which the community had purchased
for him.24
Another key event in the growth of the young uneducated farmhand occurred in 1834 with the
creation of the Natick Debating Society. Wilson, who had always been fond of debate, met Alexander
Thayer who shared Wilson's passion for debate and learning. The two became fast friends as Thayer
would frequently visit Wilson to share debates on history and politics. As time went on the two invited
more participants, eventually founding the Natick Debating Society. The society met either weekly or
biweekly to discyss topics ranging from the merits of fictional writing on broader society to slavery and
abolition. The society would become hugely influential to Natick's development over the next several
years insofar as the young men who made up its membership would go on to be leaders at national,
7
�state, or local levels. Those involved went on to become lawyers and doctors, newspaper editors and
several served on the legislatures of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. These young
men would in many cases go on to become lifelong friends of Wilson and oftentimes they would be his
strongest supporters in his political life. The society would hold roughly one hundred meetings until
1840 at which point it was merged with the Natick Lyceum.25
The obvious question here is: how did this exceptional group of young men accomplish so
much in the coming years? The answer is quite simple. The public speaking and analysis which these
men would take part in at every meeting clearly prepared them for their future careers. The number of
careers in fields such as law and government reveals a great deal about the way in which the debating
society was run. The men also benefited from the talents of their fellow members. The talented group
of young men who formed the core of the debating society, learned from one another to the advantage
of all. At a reunion held in 1860, members of the society supported for this point, claiming that the
debating society was in large part responsible for their standing in society.26 Henry Wilson in particular,
lacking the formal education of many of his peers, grew from his involvement in the society. Early on
Wilson, although intelligent and knowledgeable, had trouble particularly with his speech. His lack of
formal schooling showed in his grammar and pronunciation and he would often tremble while
speaking. His natural perseverance overcame his shortcomings and he soon became a capable debater
in his own right. Wilson's public speaking lacked flair and elegance however this would eventually
become one of his greatest assets in public life. Wilson's ability to pull together knowledge and
organize it allowed him to simply overwhelm an opponent with facts. As a result Wilson possessed an
undeniable need to research and understand a topic prior to his discussion. As a result when Wilson
arrived at a stance on a topic he would be immovable in his defense of it.27
It was during these early years in Natick that Wilson also developed his opposition to the
institution of slavery. Little is known about the original source of Wilson's hatred of slavery as sources
8
�give credit to many individuals including the influence of abolitionists Lydia Maria Child and George
Thompson. Wilson himself claims that he did not publicly share his feelings until he made a trip to the
South.28 In the spring of 1836 as a result of his work-ethic and bustling social life Wilson over tired
himself and fell very ill. Two years of engaging himself completely in his pursuits had finally taken
their toll on the inexhaustible Wilson. Initially he planned to attend a school in hopes of obtaining a law
degree, but, his health was so poor that a doctor suggested that before he get his education he should
take a trip south and relax. Eager to visit the nation's capital Wilson left Natick in May of 1836.29
Wilson enjoyed his trip until he entered Maryland and for the first time saw slavery. Wilson told a man
that slavery was an evil, to which the man responded that Wilson shouldn't express that opinion in the
state of Maryland. Wilson despised the idea that slavery could be supported and that his freedom to
speak his mind was hindered in a nation built on principle of liberty.30
As his journey continued Wilson was at times amazed, at times disgusted, and at times both. He
would go the capital where he saw legislation regarding the freedoms of blacks discussed. He watched
as Southern politicians dominated both the House and the Senate. Wilson was particularly amazed by
Senator Thomas Morris of Ohio the lone Senator to voice opposition to the slave power. Wilson later
visited a slave market where he saw slaves sold into bondage and exchanged between masters. Wilson
couldn't help but notice the contradiction: thousands of men were purchased on a daily basis within the
capitol of the nation claiming the be the worlds greatest champion of freedom. This moment would in
many regards come to define Wilson's political career. As long as Wilson was in public office all of his
decisions and actions were focused on destroying the slave trade and creating racial equality within the
United States.31
At the conclusion of his trip to the nation's capitol Wilson returned north going past Natick on
his way to Strafford, New Hampshire where he attended the local academy. Wilson did well in his first
term at Strafford and spoke in favor of slavery being abolished in the District of Columbia at the end of
9
�the term.32 Wilson would next move to Wolfesboro, New Hampshire in order to study under Miss
Eastman, the daughter of the Mr. and Mrs. Eastman who had played such an important role during his
childhood. Wilson did well even going on to be a school teacher at a school in Wolfsboro over the
winter. During the spring of 1837 Wilson continued his studies at Concord Academy in New
Hampshire. Wilson once again did well showing a particular skill in the field of rhetoric or speaking.33
After several terms of study Wilson ran out of money and was forced to give up his dream of becoming
a lawyer. Wilson had loaned most of his seven hundred dollars savings to a friend. During the “Panic of
1837”1 Wilson's friend went bankrupt and left Wilson once again without money. Although distraught
over the news Wilson was able to finish one more term of schooling thanks to the generosity of Samuel
Avery. When this term ended in November of 1837 Wilson returned to Natick, this time for good.34
The next three years would pass with relative quiet. Wilson continued to labor by day at his ever
expanding shoe manufacturing venture and spent his free time reading, attending the Debating Society
or socializing with peers and associates. This would all change in 1840, a year which would drastically
alter both his personal and private life.
One of the happiest moments in Wilson's life occurred on the 28th of October 1840, the day that
Miss Harriet Howe of Natick became Mrs. Harriet Wilson. The wedding ceremony between the two
was presided over by Wilson's good friend Hunt and many of Wilson's good friends from the debating
society as well as the Coolidges and likely Wilson's own family. Harriet Wilson was a perfect match for
the industrious and hard working Wilson, she was a well-educated and refined woman with a generous
heart. She was admired and appreciated by all who knew her and she had a natural ability to make
those around her happy. She embodied Wilson’s ideal woman: strong, sensitive and loyal. Wilson
would become an advocate of woman's suffrage later in his life, thanks in large part to Harriet's
influence. She wasn’t the type to remain in the background while Wilson became one of Natick's most
1 The Panic of 1837 was an economic depression that struck the nation as a result of the unregulated inflation which took
place in the aftermath of President Jackson's closure of the Second National bank. Some banks only began accepting
payment in silver or gold (specie) and the fragile system which had been set up on paper currency abruptly collapsed.
10
�prominent citizens. She quickly became involved in the community and played a very public role in the
Natick Congregation and, later, frequently accompanied Henry down to Washington for sessions of
Senate. Unfortunately Harriet was suffered from poor health and frailty and often needed bed rest. Her
ill health kept her from being around Henry as much as she would have liked.35 Six years later on
November 11th 1846 Harriet gave birth to Henry Hamilton Wilson, the only child that the couple would
have. By most accounts Henry was a family man who, although frequently away from his family, loved
them dearly and tried to play the role of father better than his own had.36
On a more public note 1840 was also the year when Henry Wilson became a household name in
the greater Natick community by becoming politically aware. Henry's first steps into politics actually
occurred in 1839 when some of his peers sought to have him elected to the General Court on a
temperance platform. Wilson came a few votes short in his bid and once again focused on his work.
Soon fate provided him with another opportunity to become politically involved. The presidential
election of 1840 was a highly contested race pitting former Democratic Vice-President Martin Van
Buren against William Henry Harrison of the Whig party. Wilson, in opposition to the Democratic
policies, decided to publicly support Harrison. His first speech was delivered in the Methodist meeting
house in Natick against a Mr. Joseph Fuller who was a supporter of Van Buren and a major democratic
figure in that part of the state.37 In this debate Wilson quickly proved his political ability and became a
strong supporter of the Whig Party. The success of his initial speech resulted in speaking engagements
throughout the greater Boston area. At the end of campaign season Wilson had given over sixty
speeches, all of them to large audiences and great effect.38 Such relentless campaigning and dedication
to voters would become characteristic of Wilson's political style and by the late 1860s he was one of
the most widely recognized politician in the nation.
Wilson's actions in the election of 1840, helped Harrison carry the region, and lifted Wilson
from an unknown to one of the most celebrated citizens of Natick. Not surprisingly, Natick's citizens
11
�recognized the promise in the young man and voted for him as Natick's representative to the General
Court of Massachusetts.39 At the age of twenty-eight Wilson won election to the General Court and
became a leader in Natick. This accomplishment had been a great achievement for Mr. Wilson,
however, he was at this point merely beginning a long political career.
3. Wilson the Whig
Wilson would serve as a representative of Natick for the next two and although he was not
overtly active at this early point in his career he took his responsibilities seriously. Upon his election
Wilson found that by the luck of the draw he had been placed in the back corner of the assembly and
thus was far from the action. In typical Wilsonian fashion, rather than accept his position, Wilson
noticed an older representative who had been placed in a closer location. Wilson offered the man three
dollars to switch seats. The former gladly consented but later claimed that it was somewhat arrogant of
Wilson to do such a thing, to which another representative who knew Wilson responded by saying that
Wilson's actions actually revealed a fierce desire to be able to take an active role in the House.40
Wilson's hardworking nature had once again pushed him to become the most successful politician that
he could be. During these first sessions Wilson did not speak often, preferring to observe and
understand the way in which the legislative body worked, preparing himself for an eventual active role.
His attendance at every meeting symbolizes his devotion to the office. 41
Despite the relative quiet of his first term Wilson did stay true to his values and consistently
supported the causes of abolition, temperance, and the working man. Wilson's own background
undoubtedly pushed him to support labor issues and passed legislation to that end. For example, Wilson
voted to lower or abolish taxes which would be particularly hard on the working class.42 Wilson
likewise continued to vote for legislation which would benefit the status of African-Americans and
slaves. Wilson voted in favor of the law to permit bi-racial marriage in Massachusetts consistently. His
12
�continued support of the abolitionist cause is represented by his proposal to allow the Massachusetts
Anti-Slavery society to hold a meeting in the hall of the House. This was considered highly radical at
this point in time.43
Unfortunately for Wilson his political career experienced a brief, albeit not unforeseen, lull in
1842 as he decided not to run for a third term in the House. Wilson sought a State Senate position as
one of the five representatives of Middlesex County, but was defeated when the Democratic party won
the county. Wilson briefly returned to his shoe manufacturing workshop with the intention of
eventually returning to politics. 44
In addition to Wilson's rise up the political ladder Henry also took an active role in military
affairs throughout his life. Wilson would become famous for his role as the Chairman of the Senate
Military Committee, a role he served with distinction. Wilson saw war as an evil but had long
possessed an interest in the military and militia and was well aware of its necessity for defensive
purposes. It was with this in mind that Wilson joined the militia in Farmington before his move to
Natick. His rise to prominence within the Massachusetts Militia largely coincided with was his political
ascendance. In 1843, unbeknownst to Wilson, he was elected Major of a local artillery regiment.
Wilson was not even aware of his own election to the post until he read about it in the local newspaper.
Three years hence in 1846 Wilson would be elected to the post of Colonel of the same regiment and
Brigadier-General of the Third Brigade of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia a mere six weeks later.
In typical fashion Wilson dedicated himself to expanding his understanding of military tactics and
affairs and thus becoming a proficient military officer. Wilson would never lead men in combat during
the five years he held this post, but he was able to instill pride and discipline in his men. Wilson was
said to have drilled his brigade to a higher degree than any other in the state and he was well liked by
the men he commanded. Wilson’s service would lead others to regularly refer to him as “General
Wilson” for the remainder of his life.45
13
�Wilson ran successfully for one of the Senatorial positions in Middlesex County in 1843. He
stayed true to his roots speaking once again in favor not only of halting the spread of slavery but also
protecting the rights of freedmen throughout the North. Wilson delivered an impassioned speech in
support of a law which protected the rights of all children, including African-Americans, to attend
public schools. Thanks in large part to Wilson's efforts a bill based off of this one would be passed by
the senate.46 Wilson also continually pursued his agenda of temperance not only at the state level, but
within the Natick community. He joined numerous temperance societies throughout his career in
Massachusetts and the nation’s capital.47
During Wilson's first stint on the state senate the crucial issue on both the national and state
level was the proposed annexation of Texas. For years American farmers had been moving to the region
and as early as the late 1830s the issue of annexation had been present in the state of Massachusetts.48
The admission of Texas was extremely complex primarily because of its implications on the spread of
the slave states and consequently the already strained relations between the North and the South.
Admission of Texas would have provided Southern Democrats with several more votes in both the
Senate and House granting them a political coup over their Northern and Western counterparts.
Meanwhile calls for expansion under the pretext of Manifest Destiny were running rampant throughout
the nation. By the time of Wilson's election to the state senate in 1843 the issue had come to a head and
the time had come for Massachusetts to take a stand on the issue. Wilson, joined with a group of young
Whigs who joined together to promote their anti-slavery views. With Charles Francis Adams, son of
Massachusetts Congressman John Quincy Adams, as their leader they pushed legislation instructing
their national representatives to block annexation.49
The “Young Whigs” quickly revealed their strength by getting the resolution passed. On the
national level Northern politicians were temporarily able to prevent the passage of annexation. But the
Whig victory proved short lived. Within a few months Democrat James Polk was voted into office and
14
�outgoing President John Tyler, in a show of brilliant statesmanship, had a treaty for annexation passed
by a joint resolution of both houses of Congress. While a Senate resolution would have required a twothirds majority the joint resolution required only a simple majority and during the last days of session
the treaty was approved by a single vote. Polk, upon taking up office, acted on the passage of the treaty
and within two years Texas entered as the 28th state in the Union.50
The Whigs had not only lost in their attempt to stop the annexation of Texas, but also split as a
party. The party platform had not changed with the times and its members could no longer agree on
issues. Texas and the election of 1844 drove a wedge between the factions of the party. Although the
Whig party would survive for several years but, in a decade it would be all but irrelevant.51 In response
to the passage of the treaty to annex Texas many of the younger Whigs took a strong position on the
issue and held a convention in January of 1845 to oppose the admittance of Texas as a state. As a
member of the Young Whigs, Wilson was a part of the five man committee which planned and
organized the event. The young Whigs invited members of other political parties to attend the
convention, a tactic that Wilson would use again to confront the Whig party five years later. The
convention was a huge success attracting over six hundred delegates from 141 towns and signifying a
new public position on the issue of slavery within Massachusetts. Speakers such as William Lloyd
Garrison, one of America's most outspoken abolitionists, enthralled audiences and symbolized the
monumental shift the party had undergone. Wilson claimed that this event led to the subsequent
fracturing of the Whigs into the Conscience or anti-slavery and Cotton or pro-slavery Whigs.52 Wilson
played an active role in countering Texas legislation over the course of 1845 in public forums, speaking
to audiences in Waltham in August. In October Wilson organized a meeting at Concord which brought
back much of the anti-annexation fervor that had died out in the preceding months.53 Despite the best
efforts of Conscience Whigs annexation could not be stopped which led directly to war with Mexico.
Despite these setbacks Wilson proved that he was prepared for a leadership role politically and, that the
15
�anti-slavery movement had a new and courageous champion.
Wilson declined to run for another term as a state senator in 1846 instead opting to return to the
House of Representatives as a constant supporter of the anti-slavery movement. Wilson, invigorated by
the new leadership position continued to lead the Conscience Whig party during this session. In early
February Wilson gave a speech proclaiming, “the unalterable hostility of Massachusetts to the further
extension and longer existence of slavery in America and her fixed determination to use all
constitutional and legal means for its extinction.”54 Wilson took this stance throughout that session but
it garnered heavy opposition from some of the more senior members of the Whig party. To Wilson such
opposition was meaningless for, although the Whig party was in power in Massachusetts, Wilson was
beginning to feel substantial misgivings about the party's policies as a whole.
Business problems and Harriet’s poor health forced Wilson to take a year of from politics in
1847. On a more positive note, Wilson was able to spend time with his newly-born son, Henry.55 This
break did not halt Wilson's political career however and he was once again thrust into the political
limelight in February of 1848 when, after decades of service to the state of Massachusetts, John Quincy
Adams died, leaving a vacant seat in the House of Representatives. Wilson, after only seven years in
politics, was one of three candidates proposed to fill the position. Wilson voluntarily withdrew in
support of Horace Mann, and was consequently appointed as a delegate to the Whig National
Convention for the upcoming fall presidential election.56 Ironically it was Wilson's appointment to this
position that allowed him to eventually destroy the Whig party. Had Whig strategists had any idea what
was to transpire they surely would not have sent the charismatic cobbler from Natick. Wilson's
appointment thrust him into the next stage in his career.
4. The Birth of Free-Soil
As the presidential election of 1848 approached the Whigs sought to recover from the election
16
�of Polk four years prior. This election forced the Whigs to set a direction for the party for the coming
years. Would they establish themselves firmly as the opponents to slavery, or would plod a course of
appeasement and inactivity? The conflict was particularly fierce in Massachusetts, once the seat of the
Whig Party's political power. The main source of contention was the Wilmot Proviso which would have
banned slavery in any lands or territories acquired from Mexico, hence Texas. Despite ultimately being
defeated, The Wilmot Proviso created a rift in the Democratic Party. The Van Buren Democrats offered
to work with any party willing to oppose the Democrats and Whigs while simultaneously supporting
the Wilmot Proviso.57 Meanwhile Whig leaders, in an attempt to garner wide public approval, looked to
Mexican War hero, Zachary Taylor as a presidential candidate. Many Whigs including Wilson
expressed hostility towards Taylor's nomination because he did not support the Wilmot Proviso. The
dissenters were nevertheless outvoted as it was believed that Taylor would attract the most votes and
consequently, he won the Whig’s nomination for the Presidency. Upset over his party’s direction
Wilson called for all of those who did not support Taylor to meet later that evening. Although Wilson's
call only produced fifteen participants, those involved quickly pledged to invite others from minor
factions and splinter parties to a new convention held in Buffalo in August of that year. 58 The Free-Soil
party was born.
Prior to the National convention in Buffalo the foundation for what was to become the Free Soil
Party was laid in Worcester on June 28, 1848. In response to what had occurred at the Whig Party
convention Wilson and his associates called for a convention to discuss the issues manifesting
themselves politically at the time, in particular the dominance of Southern interests and politicians over
their Northern counterparts. The convention exceeded even the most optimistic hopes of its
coordinators as over five thousand individuals, the majority of them Conscience Whigs, attended the
convention and pledged their support. The platform of the newly formed party focused on their
unshakeable dedication to prevent the extension of slavery while subsequently combating the growing
17
�influence of Southern politicians. Over the next several months the Free Soilers sought to attract other
parties to their growing ranks, primarily the Liberty Party and Van Buren Democrats. Their efforts paid
off as they attracted the better part of twenty thousand people to the national convention in Buffalo.
Despite the fact that Taylor was eventually elected to the presidency the establishment of the Free-soil
party held monumental implications for both state and national political climates.59 First and foremost
it directly combated the exceedingly ambitious agendas being pursued by Southern Politicians.
Secondly, the formation of the party demonstrated the influence which an adeptly managed alliance of
parties could have, an important lesson over the next few years. Finally, and perhaps most importantly
the formation of the Free-Soil party symbolized that slavery was a significant enough issue in and of
itself to be the central focus of a political party. Wilson had played a crucial role in the formation of this
new party yet, he was just getting started.
Throughout the early existence of the Free-Soil party Wilson had neglected to serve in the state
legislature, opting instead to help nurture the newly formed party. To aid himself in this task Wilson in
the fall of 1848 purchased the “Boston Republican” newspaper which became an invaluable asset to the
advancement of Free-Soil interests. Wilson wrote many of its articles, and served as editor from 18481851. Wilson lost a total of seven thousand dollars in support of the paper, yet for Wilson this was a
price he was willing to pay for the voice which the little newspaper had provided the fledgeling party. 60
Wilson was recognized for his dedication to the birth of the Free-Soil party by being named the
chairman of the Free-Soil State Committee in Massachusetts. Wilson served in this capacity for the
next four years, laboring tirelessly to set and attain the objectives of the Free Soil party while also
striving to ensure the success of the Massachusetts Free Soil Party and its coalition. Of all the
responsibilities Wilson bore during the time none was more arduous than ensuring amicable relations
between the different parties. During these four years Wilson championed the anti-slavery cause and
the rights of the workingman while simultaneously increasing the exposure of the Free-Soil party
18
�through pamphlets and issues of “The Republican.” It would be during these four years that Wilson
learned much of his leadership skills as well as the ability to preside over committees and
organizations. Wilson used many of the skills he learned during this period later in his political career.
It seems that as much as Wilson's efforts benefited the Free Soil Party they also paid dividends for
Wilson himself.61
Confident that the Free-Soil party could stand on its own Wilson once again ran for office. In
1849, he was voted into the Massachusetts House of Representatives as the representative from Natick
for two terms. Wilson played a far more active role in the political machine this time around and was
even nominated for the position of Speaker of the House by the Free Soilers, however, the Whigs
defeated him. During his time in the House, Wilson was a progressive, voting to defend the needs of
African-Americans, workers and the common man while seeking to end practices such as capital
punishment and flogging in the Navy. To some, even members of his own party, Wilson's policies were
highly radical, but Wilson was merely following his own values.62
Wilson was returned to the Massachusetts Senate in an election which represented the changing
nature of Massachusetts politics. Mobilized by Daniel Webster's support of the Compromise of 1850,
legislation which sought to manage the growing discontent over the slave issue, the Free Soilers and
Democrats were vying to take the state from the Whig party. In the elections in the fall of 1850
coalition representatives outnumbered the Whigs in both the House and the Senate. This disastrous
blow to the already reeling Whigs symbolized the end of their dominance in Massachusetts politics.
Wilson's coalition would be the dominant force in the state for the next three years.63 Fresh off their
victory in the state elections the coalition now had the difficult task of maintaining their shaky alliance
in the selection of state offices and a senator from the state. A compromise was reached in which the
Democrats would select state officers so long as a Free Soiler was elected to the national Senate seat. It
took all of Henry Wilson's skills to keep both factions in line and he more so than anyone else was
19
�responsible for the coalition's success during this period and throughout its existence. Both factions
would stay true to their word, and after several months of hard work Free Soiler Charles Sumner was
named the long term Senator from Massachusetts.64 Sumner would go on to be widely praised as a
champion of the abolitionist cause and one of the most famous senators of the time. It is ironic that
Sumner, who has become more well-known than Wilson in recent times, owes his senate seat to the
Natick Cobbler.
Wilson's management of the coalition government was acknowledged and rewarded when he
was elected to Senate in 1850 and named Senate President. Wilson would be responsible for the
selection of state offices and senators as well as overseeing the day to day workings of the state senate
during this period. He did well in this post and received praise from his peers at the conclusion of his
first term. Wilson was reelected to this post again and served with distinction until the spring of 1852 at
which time he had concluded his career in the state legislature.65 Nearly twenty years before Wilson had
arrived in the community of Natick with the clothes on his back and eighty dollars to his name. During
this time Wilson had made himself one of the most influential politicians in the state of Massachusetts.
Upon the conclusion of his duties in the state legislature Wilson continued to work tirelessly as
chairman of the Free-Soil Committee in the state. As 1852 was a Presidential election year there was
much to do to prepare for elections in the state and beyond. Wilson was selected as chairman of the
convention, a high and well deserved honor for the man who had been integral to the formation of the
party four years prior. The convention went extremely well and Wilson played a role both publicly and
behind the scenes. The convention nominated John Hale for the presidency and Samuel Lewis for the
Vice-Presidency.66 Despite Wilson's best efforts in the elections the Free Soilers lost much of the
momentum they held over the previous years at the national level of government as support on the had
fallen. Yet the coalition had fared extremely well throughout the state as many communities elected
coalition candidates. Wilson was thrilled with the results of the election claiming the downfall of the
20
�Whig party.67 Excited by the success of his party in the elections, Wilson was preparing another of the
Free-Soil party’s major operations in the state of Massachusetts as they prepared to hold the state
constitution committee over the summer of 1853.
One of Wilson's major goals was to hold a constitutional convention in order to amend and
rectify the state constitution. The Massachusetts' Constitution had already been amended twice, once in
1780 as a result of the Revolutionary War and again in 1820 when Maine broke from Massachusetts
and became an independent state.68 Delegates picked by each community came together in May of
1853 to form the convention. Wilson was so eager to be picked that he put his name in for
consideration in both his native Natick and the town of Berlin and was elected in both.69 Thanks to his
renown within the state and the fact that Coalitionists outnumbered Whig's Wilson was selected as the
chair of the Ways and Means Committee. He was the floor organizer and would preside over the
convention should the presiding officer be unable to fulfill his duties.70 Wilson spoke frequently and
forcefully during the sessions, and focused on reform in the areas of equality, the working man, and
race-based legislation. One of the central issues focused on the status of African-Americans in the state
militia, an issue which foreshadowed Wilson's later efforts to promote equal treatment of such soldiers
during the Civil War.71
Wilson played a crucial role in the convention and served as a party leader and one of the chief
Free Soil strategist during the formation of the new constitution. After the convention concluded all that
remained was for the people of Massachusetts to ratify the constitution. Wilson worked to ensure
ratification by distributing pamphlets and delivering numerous speeches throughout the late summer
and fall.72 Wilson was in for another pleasant surprise at the 1853 Free-Soil state convention when he
was nominated for the position of Governor by his peers. Wilson was thrilled, the shoe maker from
Natick was now nominated for the highest political office in the state.73 Not only had Wilson been
nominated, he was expecting great success. As the election grew nearer political theorists expected both
21
�the ratification of the new constitution and victory for Henry Wilson. Wilson was about to be elected to
the state’s highest elected office and see the convention he had worked so hard to reexamine receive the
support and blessing of his constituents. Unfortunately for Wilson the political scene quickly changed.
Thanks in large part to Whig offensives and abandonment by several key Free Soilers, Wilson found
himself defeated. The ratification of the constitution failed by a mere five-thousand votes but the vote
for governor was far more decisive and Wilson was nowhere to be seen in the final results. For all
extensive purposes Coalition was dead in the state of Massachusetts, defeated by the remnants of the
Whig party and dissent within its own ranks.74 And so as 1853 drew to a close Wilson’s political career
seemed all but over. His grandest piece of legislation to date had been rejected by voters and he had no
tangible means of support other than returning to shoe-manufacturing. Opponents rejoiced. The upstart
Natick Cobbler who had been a thorn in their side for the better part of a decade had met his demise.
The triumphs of these opponents would prove to be short lived. Henry Wilson had faced adversity
before and each time had returned with unwavering resolve. Henry Wilson was once again to prove that
when his back was against the wall rather than give he would knock the wall down.
5. Senator Elect
From the ashes of his state political career Henry Wilson would return on the national level with
the aid of an unlikely ally. As early as the 1830s objections to the increasing stream of immigrants
entering the nation began to surface. By the 1850s the number of immigrants had increased even more
and the number of Americans opposed to the immigrants increased just as rapidly. These nativists
mobilized and formed their own organization called the “Know-Nothings”. Also known as the
American Party this order had been in existence for several years prior to its role as a major political
force, primarily as secret societies. The party truly mobilized nationally in 1854 with the formation of
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�the Grand-Council.75 This body would serve as a national political unifying force for the party and
helped direct its course. Wilson was working with the fledgling Republican Party at the time, but he
quickly realized that they had neither the resources nor the manpower to be a major force at the
moment and hence he reached out to the Know Nothings, becoming a member of the Order in 1854.76
Wilson did not cut his ties with the Republican Party and was nominated as the Gubernatorial
Candidate for the Republic Party in 1854, an honor which he accepted even though he was aware of the
fact he would be defeated. Perhaps, Wilson recognized of the power which this party would wield in
the coming years and sought to stay involved, or maybe it was merely to prevent himself from
alienating many of his supporters. Regardless of his reasons he would eventually become a Republican
candidate, but for the time being he was tied with the Know Nothings. When a spot in the Senate
opened up by the resignation of Edward Everett in 1854 Know-Nothing rallied around Wilson and on
February 10th 1855 he was voted into the senate.77 Four days before his forty-third birthday Wilson, the
self-educated farmhand and shoe maker who had spent ten years in indentured servitude, joined
Charles Sumner as the Senator from Massachusetts to form one the most radical challenges to slavery
the nation had seen.
Wilson's ties with the Know-Nothing party drew criticism from many of those who knew him,
both allies and opponents alike. It seemed completely out of place for Wilson, the champion of equality
to ally himself with a party born of anti-immigrant sentiment. However, many misunderstood the
motivation behind Wilson’s decision. Wilson was in no way hostile to foreigners or bigoted in his
views on immigration. In fact, Wilson actively opposed legislation that would deny or hinder the vote
to those who had been naturalized and claimed that, “he had no sympathy with the bigoted spirits who
would reject those who sought admittance into the United States.”78 These comments were even made
while Wilson was seeking Know Nothing support. Wilson's course in siding with these questionable
allies was, as always, determined by his desire to destroy the institution of slavery in the quickest way
23
�possible. As one contemporary put it, “He did evil so that good might come.”79 One cannot argue at the
logic behind Wilson's actions. The Coalition was destroyed by the defeats of the previous year and the
Republican Party was not strong enough to stand on its own. The Know Nothings had a stance towards
slavery which Wilson could support and, more importantly, they served the role of combating the
power of the Cotton Whigs. For Wilson the Know Nothing party was a means to an end and when in
1855 the party took a stance that supported the survival of slavery Wilson promptly abandoned them.80
Tensions had reached the boiling point on the national level by the time Wilson had reached the
Senate. Although relations between the North and South had been less than friendly for years the issue
of the Kansas-Nebraska Act raised hostilities to a new level. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a piece of
legislation authored by Stephen Douglas which would create the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.
More importantly Douglas' legislation would also repeal the Missouri Compromise, which said that
slavery could not exist in any territories north of Missouri. Instead the Kansas-Nebraska act promoted
popular sovereignty which meant that rather than the status of a state being decided by location, it
would instead be determined by a vote of its citizens.81 The passage of this legislation angered many
Northerners who saw the power of the South expanding. The admission of these territories and the
following battle over their admission as either free or slave states would place the nation on a powder
keg prone to explode at any moment. Violence, extortion, and bribery would become present not only
in the territories but around the nation. It was into this situation that Henry Wilson would be thrust.
As was the case with the majority of Wilson's political life he quickly proved himself to be a
proponent of the working man as well as abolition. Throughout his first short session and much of his
early political career Wilson formed a block with his fellow Northerners, most notably Sumner,
William Fessenden of Maine, and Benjamin Wade of Ohio. These four would later form the core of the
abolitionist Radical Republicans, one the most significant political forces over the next two decades.
Wilson would make his first address on slavery towards the conclusion of the short session, in which he
24
�stated his purpose of attacking the institution of slavery wherever Congress convened on the issue.82
At the end of his first term the issue of slavery was already driving a wedge in the Know
Nothing Party just as it had with the Whigs years before. Once again it Wilson took a leading role in
the attempt to radicalize the party. Nominated as a delegate to the Know Nothing National Committee
Wilson delivered a fiery speech in defense of his views, adopting a position behind which many
Northerners would rally. When it became apparent that the party's national platform would become
tolerant of slavery Wilson quickly held a separate meeting for Northerners who opposed this stance. At
the conclusion of this meeting several northern states, including Massachusetts, left the national party
and adopted a platform opposed to slavery and less strict in their nativist views.83 Once again Wilson
proved unstoppable in his pursuit of the death of slavery. This step would in many ways signify the end
of Wilson's ties with the Know Nothings as later in the summer of 1855 he along with many ex-Know
Nothings, Whigs and Free Soilers would throw their support behind the Republican Party, revitalizing
it and making it a major political force.84
While the chaos changed the political landscape in Washington and beyond the situation in
Kansas continued to become increasingly unstable. Led by extremists like John Brown, clashes
between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces within the territory were becoming more frequent and
simultaneously more violent. The birth of the conflict stemmed in large part over which faction would
have control of the state and hence the ability to elect their men to positions of influence within the
territory and also determine whether it was a free or slave state. Elections witnessed a great deal of
fraud as many of those who voted in these elections did not reside in Kansas but in the surrounding
territories. These false voters cast their ballots in hopes that they would elect either a Free or Slave state
government into power. This angered both groups and violence frequently ensued.85 Back in
Washington politicians realized the seriousness of the conflict and attempted to address it throughout
the year of 1856. Unfortunately, the senators proved just as inept at resolving the issue as their
25
�constituents and soon the conflict spilled into Congress.
Clear lines separated Northerners, the majority of whom pledged to prevent the spread of
slavery, and the Southerners who were just as dedicated to enabling the spread of slavery. Although
debates were held on the topic of Kansas the subject was merely a disguise for the overt sectionalism
present in the Thirty-Fourth Congress. Northerners and Southerners debated and argued, insulting one
another and their positions on issues. Quickly the situation escalated out of hand and threats of violence
became a part of senate life.86 Such threats became realities when Charles Sumner gave his famous
speech “The Crime against Kansas” On May 19th 1856. Sumner's speech brutally attacked Southerners
to such an extent that he upset many members of his own party. Southerners also disapproved and
sought to strike back for such an attack on their honor. On May 22nd Senator Preston Brooks of South
Carolina attacked Sumner and beat him unconscious with his cane at Sumner's own desk in the Senate
building. The beating was so brutal that Sumner was unable to return to his seat for nearly three and a
half years and experienced the lingering side effects of insomnia, headaches, and psychosomatic shock
for the rest of his life. Sumner would become a martyr for the abolition movement and a symbol for the
oppressive tactics used by southern politicians over their northern counterparts.87
Wilson addressed the senate asking for some sort of response. A committee was formed to
investigate the issue and on the 27th of May, Wilson testified in front of the Senate criticizing the
conduct of Brooks as “brutal, murderous, and cowardly.” Wilson’s comments angered Senator Andrew
Butler who was Brooks' uncle. Butler responded by challenging Wilson to a duel. Wilson intelligently
responded in a letter in which he respectfully, yet sternly declined Butler's challenge while also
denouncing the practice of dueling as outdated and barbaric. His response received great praise from
the Northern press and overnight made Henry Wilson a household name. As a result Wilson was
targeted by southern senators and others who threatened to use violence against him. Wilson,
determined to represent the north with civility, preferred to fight his battles in the senate chamber and
26
�called the South to task, gaining a great amount of sentiment for the Northern cause around the
nation.88 He thus emerged as one of the most outspoken republicans and a leader within the party.
Moreover, Wilson was also fulfilling the duties of two senators until Sumner would return to the Senate
three years later.
After the Brooks-Sumner Affair the senate grew far more partisan, sectionalized and explosive
than ever before. In this climate Henry Wilson became one of the most outspoken but also influential
senators in the nation. Wilson shared his opinions freely; perhaps his most famous speech during this
session was his response to Senator James Hammond's “King Cotton” Speech. Wilson defended the
economic and social practices of the North.89 Wilson again attracted the ire of fellow senators as
Senator William Gwin of California challenged Wilson to another duel. Wilson responded in the same
manner as he had with Butler and the crisis was averted.90 In the midst of sectional conflict Wilson
sought reelection in the fall of 1858. Despite the efforts of the Know-Nothing and Democratic parties
to block his reelection Wilson won easily, obtaining thirty-five out of forty votes from the
Massachusetts State Senate and 190 out of 226 from the state House of Representatives.91 Wilson's
victory was representative of the growing Republican power not only in Massachusetts but throughout
the North.
During the early part of this session Wilson and the senate as a whole focused on the creation of
the Pacific railroad. By 1859 Western expansion was no longer a dream, but a reality. Gold had been
found in California and the rolling plains of the Mid-West were being eyed by pioneers and politicians
alike. The creation of a railway to join this new land with the civilization of the East would be
instrumental to the success of western expansion. By 1859 most of the senate was in agreement that a
railway line should be created, the only issue stood over the location. Southerners called for a line that
would run through Arizona. This line was known as the “Disunion route” as it would fall into the hands
of Southerners in a Civil War. Wilson instead opted for a central route through Nebraska and Nevada.92
27
�Although legislation on the act would not be passed for another three years it marked the beginning of a
new era and greatly aidded the progress of American expansion.
War and disunion continued to loom menacingly on the horizon as sectionalism grew over time.
Perhaps no one contributed more to the growth of hostilities in the region than John Brown, an
abolitionist from New York. Brown had made a name for himself during “Bleeding Kansas” as a
guerrilla fighter. He raided homes with the objective of freeing slaves and often took overly militant
actions to achieve his ends. In 1859 Brown would stage his most famous raid, on the town of Harper's
Ferry, in what was at the time Virginia. Brown seized the armory in hopes of arming local slaves and
starting a revolt but he only had 21 men and his plan was eventually stopped by local farmers, state
troops and US marines. Brown was captured, put on trial and hung. To Northerners John Brown would
become a martyr in the name of freedom. To Southerners Brown would become infamous for his brutal
and cowardly assault against an undefended and innocent town. Several Southern senators implicated
Wilson in the plot, however evidence was stacked firmly in Wilson's favor and it’s doubtful that he had
any knowledge of Brown's plan.93 The nation was the closest it had even been so splitting, yet it had
not reached its breaking point. It would take the election of 1860 to push things over the edge and lead
to the most violent and brutal conflict the United States had seen.
John Brown's raid and the associations of the event with the Republican Party made the election
of 1860 an important one. The Republicans had the chance to take the White House from a Democratic
President, and for the first time in their existence serve as the majority party. This election was more
important because of the sectionalism present in the election. A Republican victory was a Northern
victory and a Democratic victory was a Southern victory. Wilson, although speaking in favor of the
party as a whole, did not support a particular candidate. As the time of the election grew near,
numerous candidates expected to take the presidential nomination. Chief among the contenders was
Henry Seward, but for much of the fall next to nothing was mentioned about Illinois Senator Abraham
28
�Lincoln. Nevertheless, when the votes were cast and the convention had spoken it was Lincoln who
was nominated as the Republican candidate for President with Henry Hamlin as his Vice-President.
Although some individuals such as Seward were opposed the selection, Wilson noted Lincoln's ability
to carry the West in the coming election.94 Wilson's prediction proved accurate, and with 180 electoral
votes, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States.95
Although it is believed that secession was an instantaneous response to the election of Lincoln
the truth is far more complex. In fact the first meeting of the senate after the election was amicable
compared to earlier sessions. Under the surface however, tensions loomed and despite the best efforts
of those in the Senate to prevent it several southern states began holding conventions. South Carolina
would be the first to leave the Union on December 20th 1860 and six weeks later on February 4th 1861
delegates from Mississippi, Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Alabama and Georgia would meet to form
the Confederate States of America.96 From this point on the situation expanded quickly and outgoing
President Buchanan lacked the means to halt the crisis already underway. Although attempts were made
by the Senate to compromise with the South even Republicans could not agree on what steps would be
taken. Ultimately, little was done and slowly senators from those states that had seceded began to leave
Congress. Wilson and Jefferson Davis, the future President of the Confederacy had served together on
the military committee for some time and had adopted a mutual respect for one another during those
years. Before leaving Davis walked across the Senate Chamber, shook Wilson's hand and claimed that
he hoped the two could meet in calmer times.97 Although there was no way of knowing it at the time
calmer times would prove to be four years and hundreds of thousands of deaths away. On April 12th
1861 after Major Robert Anderson refused to yield to Southern demands to evacuate Fort Sumter,
South Carolina Southern forces fired off the opening shots of the Civil War. After a day and half of
shelling Major Anderson finally surrendered. Ironically during the opening fire fight of the most violent
war in US history not a single person was killed.98 And so one of the most important conflicts in
29
�American history had commenced; it lasted four years, took the lives of over 600,000 men and forever
change the course of our nation.
6. The Civil War Senator
The Union struggled to respond to the attack on Fort Sumter. Union leaders underestimated the
rebellion in both its size and significance and failed to adequately prepare themselves for the coming
hostilities. Wilson was among the few in the Senate to realize the seriousness of the rebellion. When
the President requested seventy-five thousand volunteers for service Wilson suggested a total of threehundred thousand, but neither the President nor the Secretary of War took his idea seriously. On that
same day Wilson wrote a letter to Massachusetts Governor John Andrew asking him to raise two
regiments of troops.99 Wilson involved himself closely with the formation of these regiments and often
times traveled to and from the nation’s capital to check on their progress. Over the next few weeks
Wilson traveled throughout the Northeast delivering goods and supplies, giving speeches or meeting
with officials about the war effort. As the rebellion grew President Lincoln realized that this was not
merely a minor revolt and attempted to prepare the Union for the battle ahead. In early July when a
special session of Congress was to assemble Wilson finally ceased his traveling and only then to do his
senatorial duties.100
The special session of the Senate convened on July 4th 1861, with the task of converting the
Union into a military machine. During this session of Senate, Wilson would undertake one of the most
important roles of his career, the chairmanship of the Senate Military Affairs Committee. Wilson had
long served on this committee, which had been chaired by Jefferson Davis until his departure from
Congress. The next two months were some of the most productive of his career. Over this time he
revolutionized the armed forces of the nation. Wilson began this process by passing legislation which
30
�called for five hundred thousand volunteers to serve for three years. Not content solely to recruit troops,
Wilson also engineered legislation to provide for the placement of these volunteers into organized units
and provided state governments with the ability to appoint officers for various posts within these units.
Wilson also sought to modernize the Regular Army by adding eleven additional regiments.101 Wilson
would also reorganize the Union’s armed forces to maximize their effectiveness. He added aides to the
staffs of officers and purchased arms and ammunition for these new troops. Wilson also earned the
respect of the troops themselves by increasing the pay of privates and abolishing the practice of
flogging, actions that earned him the nickname, “The Soldier's Friend”.102 Wilson was able to create
and implement such monumental changes in a scant month. The highest praise came from General
Winfield Scott, who claimed that “Senator Wilson had done more work in that short session than all the
chairmen of the military committees had done for the past twenty years”.103 Wilson's efforts during the
short session proved essential in the modernizing of the Union army and improving its preparedness for
the coming conflict.
One of the more interesting and highly contested points in Wilson's life involves his alleged
affair with Rose Greenhow, a Washington socialite and Confederate spy. Greenhow supposedly
romanced Wilson and obtained information from him on the Union's military actions, particularly
information regarding the battle of Bull Run. There are three apparent sources of information which
point to Wilson, yet none of them provide substantial evidence. The first source is an example of hearsay recorded by a Republican politician. The second source is a publication of Mrs. Greenhow's which
was written after her house arrest and subsequent banishment to the Confederacy. The final source is a
series of letters to Mrs. Greenhow signed by “H.” None of these sources bear much weight. The first
lacks substance due to the absence of a credible source. The second is written at a time when Mrs.
Greenhow was attempting to discredit many prominent Republican senators. Finally hand writing
analysts conclude that the handwriting on the “H” letters did not match Wilson's handwriting on other
31
�documents.104 However, Mrs. Greenhow did obtain information about the Union Army and their troop
movements and this would have substantial implications on the battle of Bull Run, a battle in which
Wilson himself would play a part.
Not content to sit by in Washington Wilson excused himself from his senatorial duties during
the short session long enough to follow troops to Manassas to aid troops there and observe the battle.
Wilson was at General McDowell's personal tent for some of the battle and some witnesses claim that
Wilson attempted to rally troops. Confederate forces quickly proved their prowess on the battlefield as
they easily defeated Union forces. Wilson was forced to retreat unceremoniously from the battle, which
led him to receive substantial ribbing from many other politicians.105 Wilson was never one to be easily
shaken from his ideals and as the short session of Senate ended he sought to play a more direct role in
the military machinations of the Union. Wilson was offered the position Brigadier-General by President
Lincoln, but declined the offer as it would remove him from his Senatorial duties. He opted instead to
recruit him own unit in Massachusetts. Thanks in large part to his popularity; Wilson was able to raise
nearly two-thousand three-hundred men in a mere forty days. These men were divided into several
different units including the 22nd Massachusetts in which Wilson was commissioned as Colonel. Wilson
would take his unit down to Washington where, after presenting them to General Meade, he resigned
from his post. Wilson remained in close contact with the regiment for the rest of the war, taking special
interest in its well-being and often times going out of his way to deliver mail and provide goods for the
troops.106 Wilson would continue his involvement with Union forces by linking up with George
McClellan's Army of the Potomac and serving as an aide. His service was brief but he was well liked
by McClellan who responded to Wilson's resignation by saying he was sad to see Wilson go and would
have loved to keep him longer were it not for his senatorial duties.107
Wilson returned to Washington in the fall of 1861 with an ambitious agenda. Despite making
great progress in the special session earlier in year the Republicans realized there was still work to be
32
�done if they were to combat the growing strength of the Confederacy. In his role as Chairman of the
Military Affairs Committee Wilson focused heavily on the continued restructuring of the Union's
Military. With a flurry of legislation Wilson addressed issues in all aspects of military affairs:
reorganizing the Signal Corps, adjusting pay for soldiers and modernizing disciplinary practices,
amongst other things. Many of Wilson's changes held long term implications. Firstly, Wilson created
the Congressional Medal of Honor to raise moral amongst Union forces, this citation remains the
highest honor that a member of the US Armed Forces can receive. Secondly, Wilson passed the first act
to allow persons of African descent to be eligible for military service. It was the first piece of
legislation to authorize the drafting and induction of African-American troops into the armed forces.108
Chief among Wilson's military goals was to provide the Union with the basis of her armed
forces, the rank and file foot soldier. Calls to the states to supply troops were at first met with patriotic
fervor. Yet, by late 1862 enthusiasm had reached its peak and volunteering had provided all that it
could. The war was nowhere near an end and the Union had suffered serious losses in the previous
months. Wilson initially sought to address this need with the passage of a bill calling for more
volunteers and giving the President the power to call forth state militias if necessary.109 This legislation
proved to be ineffective. In response Wilson passed one of his most famous pieces of legislation, the
Enrollment Act of 1863. This act was integral to the eventual victory of Union forces by providing
them with the sheer manpower necessary to triumph. Wilson's 36 section bill provided numerous
changes in the recruitment and structuring of the armed forces. One of the great triumphs of this
legislation lay in the creation of a National Guard, a standing force of reserves which could be called
upon for national defense. The legislation also provided for conscription of troops in regions that did
not provide the necessary amount of volunteers. The draft targeted men aged 18-45 and prioritized
them by age and marital status. If a man was drafted and didn't wish to fight he could defer his service
by providing a $300 dollar payment or a substitute to stand in his place. Wilson's act received criticism,
33
�particularly from Democrats, but it was revised, amended, and subsequently approved and put into law.
In addition to providing troops to combat the spread of the Confederacy the Enrollment Act provided
union forces with a massive morale boost and played a role in the eventual victory of Union forces.
Wilson was also active outside the military realm. During the Civil War Wilson's dedication to
the Union pushed him to seek humanitarian and technological reforms as well. He was in large part
responsible for the creation of the National Science Foundation. Wilson worked with some of the
greatest scientists in the nation including Louis Agassiz, the regent of the Smithsonian as well as
Alexander Bache of the Coastal Survey and Charles Davis of the Bureau of Navigation. The scientists
were responsible for the charter of the organization and its vision but it was Wilson who presented the
bill and used his political influence to get it passed. Wilson was fiercely proud of the organization and
would attend many of its meetings. In a painting of the founders both Lincoln and Wilson can be seen
standing with the scientists.110 Wilson also sought humanitarian reform through his support of, Clara
Barton, the founder of the Red Cross. Upon Barton's arrival to Washington she found a fast and loyal
friend in Wilson whom she would come to rely on throughout the War. Wilson would become Barton's
chief supporter sharing her reports on the status of the medical treatment the troops were receiving and
pushing strongly for more humane treatment of soldiers and a more proficient ambulance corp to treat
wounded soldiers. This alliance between these two individuals would result in some of the greatest
humanitarian efforts of the entire war.111
Wilson's chief concern during the Civil War was the advancement of rights for slaves and
freedmen in both the Union and Confederacy. Wilson worked closely with Republican Senate leaders,
Charles Sumner, Benjamin Wade, and Thaddeus Stevens to advocate abolition. These so called
“radicals” recognized the promise that the Civil War held for destroying slavery, but they also realized
that they needed to promote their cause once step at a time. The string of legislation leading to
Emancipation was a well thought out and directed attack against the institution of slavery. This process
34
�began with an act which made the capture and/or return of fugitive slaves to their masters a penal
offense. This meant that those slaves who fled their masters and made it to Union lines were free.112
Wilson then directly addressed the issue of slavery within the nation’s capital. On December 16th 1861,
twenty-five years after his first journey to Washington, Wilson introduced a bill to abolish slavery
within the District of Columbia. Initially this legislation met with fierce opposition, but Wilson and
other senators finally got the bill passed in the spring of the following year. Although it changed several
times the idea behind the legislation was clear and in many ways began the end of slavery.113 Wilson’s
goal was not only to free slaves, but to provide them with a tangible sense of equality. The District of
Columbia served as a testing ground for laws which could ensure equality. Initial legislation in the
District included the repealing of race based laws and the introduction of laws to make legal codes
relevant to all citizens, not just white citizens. One of the greatest accomplishmens was an act to
provide public education for the freedmen. Wilson also added a section repealing previous
discriminatory acts. Equality, at least in a legal sense, had become a reality in Washington.114
In the aftermath of emancipation within the capitol Wilson and his allies began a steady push to
expand abolition by appealing directly to the President. Wilson, Sumner, and Thaddeus Stevens
pestered Lincoln to make a public announcement expanding the Emancipation order on a nationwide
scale. The three were so driven in their views that the President actually complained about their
protests. Lincoln initially believed that the timing was not right delayed the issue. Finally, in July of
1862, Lincoln began discussing the proclamation with his cabinet and drafted a document. Lincoln was
a patient man and was convinced that he should not deliver the proclamation until a major military
victory. He waited until September 22nd 1862, five days after the bloody battle of Antietam to issue his
preliminary proclamation. This document stated that the goal of the war was to salvage the Union and
that emancipation would be paid for, however, any slaves living in states which had failed to yield to
the Union by January 1st 1863 were forever free. By the time January 1st arrived the slave states were
35
�still in open rebellion meaning that all slaves in these states were now recognized as freedmen by the
Union. It took more than two years and the death of the Confederacy for the Emancipation
Proclamation to be fully realized and even then freedom took time. The Emancipation Proclamation
committed the Union to the cause of abolishing slavery, a task which Henry Wilson had been trying too
accomplish for nearly three decades. This moment was the realization of his life's work but Wilson
knew there was still work to be done in defending the rights of freedmen.115
The years between 1861 and 1865 were the bloodiest in US history. Almost as many men died
in the Civil War than in all other American wars combined. The sectional differences of the past several
decades had come to a head and it took the major battles of Gettysburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and
Grant's bloody march to the Appomattox courthouse to finally end the bloodshed. Even after this point
the established peace was an uneasy one and the nation struggled to find its way. Over the course of
those four years Wilson saw many of his goals realized, most notably the destruction of slavery, but his
work was far from over. Reconstruction was to be one of the most trying eras in American history and
Wilson, as a senior Senator for the majority party, was sure to be a central figure. Wilson's career as a
Civil War politician was over. Now he looked forward to the last and final era in his life as a
Reconstruction politician.
7. End of an Era
Although bands of loyalists fought on for months afterward, the Civil War was all but over on
April 9th 1865 with the surrender of Robert Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. The Union was victorious
and the nation salvaged thanks in large part to the efforts of Wilson, Lincoln, and other leading
Republicans. These senior republicans stood poised to reconstruct the nation and the re-election of
Lincoln just a few months prior heralded the support of the masses. On April 14th Wilson had the honor
of being present to witness the raising of the Union flag over Fort Sumter, which had been in
36
�Confederate hands since the beginning of the war. It was here that Wilson received that grave news that
the President had been assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington DC. Although the attack failed in
its goal of evoking further Confederate resistance it succeeded in significantly changing the political
climate in Washington. Republicans were taken aback by the loss of their leader, yet confident in the
abilities of his successor, Vice-President Andrew Johnson. But confidence soon turned to conflict as
Johnson's presidency came to be defined by clashes between the executive and legislative branches
leading to unforeseen obstacles in what was expected to be a smooth Reconstruction.116
The problems between Congress and the Presidency stemmed from Johnson's disregard for the
separation of powers. Johnson has been praised for his defense of the poor southern man but his
methods and motives were controversial and led to the return of pre-Civil War sectional tensions. The
years immediately following the Civil War were filled with conflict about the direction in which the
nation should be heading, particularly in regards to the reconstruction and re-admittance of the
seceding states. Congress, led by the likes of Wilson and other radical Republicans, sought to admit
states only if they agree to the emancipation of slaves and equal voting rights for all men. Johnson
disagreed fearing that this stance would result in a race war. These opposing beliefs defined the
Johnson presidency. Johnson consistently vetoed legislation including the Civil Rights Act of 1866 as
well as the Freedmen Bureau reauthorization.117
Wilson remained a leader in the Senate during this time. Having seen his dream of emancipation
realized at the end of the war Wilson now sought voting rights, equality, and protection for the millions
of freedmen who had just become citizens. The Freedmen's Bureau was created in order to ensure that
these objectives were met. The Bureau was a source of conflict throughout its existence. Many
Southern Whites felt that the Bureau protected the rights of the freedmen in a manner which ran against
the norms of the south. The Bureau led to conflict between Johnson, who adopted a more sympathetic
stance towards Southern interests and other Republicans who felt that if Southerners were given any
37
�degree of freedom they would oppress the freedmen. As a result Wilson was involved in Bureau affairs
and often times voted to enlarge the Bureau so that it might better meet the needs of the nation.118
Wilson delivered one of the most powerful speeches of his career in defense of the Freedmen's Bureau.
Senator Edgar Cowan challenged Wilson asking, what he meant by saying, “all men in this country
must be equal?” Wilson's response revealed a great amount about the development of his beliefs as
both a citizen and a politician. Wilson claimed that even the poorest man, regardless of color or
background had the same right to equal protection by law as the most well off and elite man in the
nation. Wilson's speech was well received by his constituents and fellow Republicans. 119
At the same time as the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau, Congress passed the Civil Rights
Act of 1866. This document was authored by Wilson and sought to make a legislative precedent for the
13th Amendment which had outlawed slavery. The document voided any acts that discriminated on the
basis of race, color or descent and ensured equal treatment for all males of voting age so long as they
were citizens. This was one of Wilson's crowning achievements and he strongly defended it. It too
became a cause of conflict between Congress and the President who vetoed the bill. Congress,
recognizing the importance of the legislation, overruled the President’s veto and brought the Civil
Rights Act into law.120 After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Congress sought more immediate
means of addressing the issue of blacks who were not viewed as citizens. The Reconstruction
Committee authored what would become the basis of the 14th amendment. This document was designed
to protect freedmen throughout the nation. It has three major clauses. One which overruled
interpretations laid down by the Dred Scott decision; another which ensured the protection of rights on
the state level; and a third which ensured equal protection within a governing body.121 Although at the
time these clauses seemed vague they would form the basis of Civil Rights legislation for the better
part of the next century.
The status of the seceding states was also a major issue. There were two competing schools of
38
�thought, once again represented in the clash between Johnson and Congress. Many felt that seceding
states should be readmitted to the Union as soon as possible to ensure fair representation during the
process of Reconstruction. This perspective was the most forgiving towards the Southerners and was
heavily advocated by Southerners and Democrats as well as Johnson. The majority of Congress,
including Wilson, pursued a more strict policy for readmission requiring the Southern states to agree to
certain terms. These terms included the ratification of the 13th amendment, the legislation which
prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude. Wilson sought to allow states’ readmission to the Union
to be a quick process, however, he was not willing to back down on the issue of the 13th amendment
fearing that progress during the Civil War would be lost should slavery be allowed to linger.122 Wilson
regularly claimed that only “loyal men” should be elected into office and was critical of the Johnson
administration’s approval of men who held “rebel sentiments.” The stances of both the executive and
legislative branches would lead to a continual deterioration of relations.
Despite his stance on the issue of re-admittance Wilson was very reasonable when it came to
forgiving individuals for their role in the rebellion. One of Wilson's strongest qualities as a politician
was his ability to form friendships and partnerships with individuals who had been political opponents.
His relationship with Charles Francis Adams perfectly embodies this quality Wilson and Adams had a
falling out in the 1850s but were again close friends by Wilson's later career. In the aftermath of the
Civil War, Wilson tired to bridge the gaps between Southerners and Northerners by reaching out to
many Southern leaders. Wilson advocated for the release of Confederate General William Jackson back
into civilian life. Wilson secured better conditions for Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens
who was being held at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor along with Postmaster General John Reagan.
Wilson maintained close relationships with both man and Alexander Stephens went as far as to say that
Wilson's intervention had saved his life. Reagan, after returning to Texas, claimed that he received a
prompt and courteous response from Wilson whenever Texas needed aid from Washington.123
39
�Sometime during this period Wilson also found the time to author a book, “History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses, 1861-1865.” Wilson's book was
about the legislative acts of the Civil War and the ending of slavery. Wilson's work was received with
great praise by many critics including the Atlantic Monthly. As someone who was deeply involved in
the Congresses Wilson had an insider’s perspective. He included the speeches of many of his
colleagues and at the time of its release “Anti-slavery Measures” was the definitive account of the
period.124 Less than a year later Wilson provided a similarly structured account on the military
legislation of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses in his work, “Military Measures of the
United States Congress 1861-1865.” Similar to “Anti-Slavery Measures,” “Military Measures” detailed
the proceedings of the period and Wilson, as Chairman of the Military Committee, was able to provide
excellent information.125
1865 and 1866 had been productive years for Wilson yet they also had their share of loss. On
December 24th, 1866 the Wilson's only child, Henry Hamilton, passed away, a result of an unknown
sickness which killed him in only two days. Hamilton had been highly influenced by his father, joining
the military as an officer and serving in several colored units before his final posting as a Lieutenant
Colonel in the 6th Cavalry. He had just turned twenty in November of that year and his unexpected
death left Henry and Harriet in shock. In a testament to the popularity of the Wilson family in Natick
local businesses were closed on the day of young Hamilton's funeral so that people might attend.126
Despite the difficulties of dealing with the loss of his son Wilson returned to Washington in
January of 1867 intending to continue his work on reconstruction. In addition to Wilson's focus on
racial issues during Reconstruction he continued to be a firm believer in temperance. Wilson and some
of his like-minded associates even brought the ideals of Temperance to Congress forming the
Congregational Temperance Society. Wilson spoke at length at the opening meeting and received the
great honor of being named the President of the organization.127 Wilson would serve in this post for the
40
�remainder of his years in Congress and successfully combated the drunkenness in Congress with
measures that supported his colleagues and prevented the sale of liquor in the Capitol Building.128
1867 also signaled a rapidly changing political climate within the Republican Party. Wilson
began the year by venturing to the south for several weeks in the spring to gauge the status of
Reconstruction and assess republican political interests in the region. Despite taking criticism for his
actions on the trip from both parties Wilson believed that peace in the South depended on cooperation
between radical whites and freedmen who could promote the Republican cause in the region. In another
show of his empathy towards Southerners Wilson also brought about the release of former colleague
and Confederate President Jefferson Davis.129 Displeasure with Andrew Johnson had reached a new
extreme and, even in this early part of 1867, Civil War hero Ulysses Grant was already being
mentioned as a candidate. Wilson, who as Chairman of the Military Committee had worked closely
with Grant, supported such a nomination and some even went so far as to say that the two could form
the Republican Presidential ticket in 1868.130
Despite the optimistic news issues between congress and the President remained. Wilson had
long been a proponent of finding a middle ground with the President but by 1867 he too had realized
that the gap could not be bridged. Congress had toyed with the idea of forcibly removing Johnson from
office, but they could find no legal way to do so. That changed in August of 1867 when Johnson tried
to forcibly remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office. Stanton refused to leave and was
supported by the Tenure of Office Act. When Congress reconvened in January of 1868 they passed a
resolution disagreeing with the dismissal and reinstated Stanton. Johnson, convinced that the legislation
was unconstitutional, simply ignored it.131 Congress saw Johnson's actions as unconstitutional and on
February 25th 1868, after approval from the House of Representatives, Andrew Johnson became the
first United States President to be impeached in office. The impeachment hearing began on March 30th
and the senate focused on the impeachment proceedings for the next month and a half, providing
41
�evidence and speaking either in favor of or opposed to removal. When the final vote was tallied on
May 26th Johnson was acquitted in a 35 to 19 vote, one vote short of the two thirds majority required
for conviction. Despite the failure to remove Johnson from office the impeachment proceedings
heralded the beginning of the end for Johnson with the Presidential election now only months away.132
The Republican Party looked to the presidential election of 1868 as an opportunity to elect a
president who was more representative of party principals and ideas. At the start of the convention
Ulysses Grant had been all but nominated when the convention met. There was great speculation,
however, as to who would serve by his side as the Vice President. When the votes were tallied Schuyler
Colfax received the nomination.133 Grant handily won the election receiving 53 percent of the popular
vote and winning the electoral count by a total of 214 to 80. Republicans were ecstatic, after nearly four
years of struggling against Johnson the party had a man in office who would defend their views and
support their causes. A new age in Republican politics had begun.134
On March 30th 1870 Wilson witnessed one of the objectives to which he had been working since
the conclusion of the Civil war succeed. The 15th amendment tf the Constitution had been ratified. The
15th amendment guaranteed the enfranchisement of the millions of freedmen who had been denied the
vote for the past five years. Wilson’s advocacy for equality had finally been recognized and one of his
major objectives for Reconstruction was accomplished.135
With the passage of the 15th amendment Wilson now wanted to play a more active role in
Women's rights. Wilson had long been a supporter of Women's rights thanks to Harriet and his
friendship with Clara Barton. Wilson often said that his wife deserved all of the rights which he held;
however, he had wanted to wait for the passage of the 15th amendment before pushing for women’s
rights. As early as 1869 he was poised to support a 16th amendment to the constitution providing for
women's suffrage.136 Wilson was true to his word and worked closely with the American Women's
Suffrage Association over the next several years, attending and speaking at their meetings and signing
42
�an invitation for them to hold their 1870 conference in the nation’s capital.137 Wilson was rewarded for
his steadfast defense of women's rights in the presidential election of 1872 in which he was the vice
presidential candidate. In this election women played a bigger role than they ever had before by
actively campaigning and speaking on behalf of a Grant/Wilson ticket. There is little doubt that their
involvement in the election assured Wilson's presence on the Republican ticket.138
For Wilson this period of excitement was subject to further tragedy in his personal life. Harriet's
health had been declining steadily since 1867 and she had been unable to accompany Henry to
Washington as was her normal custom. Henry spent more and more time in Natick by her side yet little
could be done to reverse her condition. After three years of suffering she finally passed away in May of
1870 having spent three decades by Henry's side.139 Henry Wilson was known as a determined,
inexhaustible and committed individual yet the loss of his beloved wife left Wilson struck with grief.
Wilson relied on Harriet and had only good things to say about her. In a letter to her family he referred
to her as “one of the loveliest spirits that ever blessed kindred and friends by her presence, or left, in
passing through death to a higher life, more precious memories.”140 In an attempt to cope with the loss
of Harriet, Wilson spent the majority of the summer in 1871 in Europe. He enjoyed his trip but felt as
though he had not taken full advantage of his opportunity due to his overwhelming grief.141
Wilson was again thrust into the political limelight upon his return from Europe in the fall of
1871. Grant's first term was almost at an end the nation was abuzz about what the Republican ticket
might look like. As in 1868 there was little question as to who would receive the nomination for the
presidency, but questions abounded as to who would be nominated as vice president. Wilson and his
friend Schuyler Colfax were once again the top two candidates for the post. On June 6th 1872 the
Republican National Convention was called to order in Philadelphia with the objective of determining
which of these two candidates would eventually receive the nomination. In the initial balloting Wilson
carried much of the West as well as the South and was just short from receiving the votes required for
43
�the nomination. At the conclusion of the second balloting after also receiving support from Virginia,
West Virginia, and Georgia, Wilson had more than enough votes and soon received the unanimous
consent of the convention. The widespread support is not surprising as few politicians could claim to
have been as central to the success of the Republican party as Wilson. His opponent and friend Colfax
was extremely supportive of his friend and the two remained close even after the nomination.142 Wilson
quickly accepted his new position and in between his senate duties found time to campaign giving
several speeches during the fall of 1872. Wilson appeared confident during the election and believed he
and Grant would win by a substantial margin. Grant's popularity was only aided by Wilson's mass
appeal and the two won the election even more impressively than Grant had in 1868, receiving 286 out
of a possible 349 electoral votes and winning every northern state and several southern states as well.
With the results of the election in Wilson had accomplished another high aspiration and many believed
that this was merely a stepping stone for the Massachusetts senator. Remember that Grant was serving
his second term. Many believed that in 1876 Wilson would be headlining the Republican ticket.143
Sadly, this was not to be the case for Wilson. In comparison to his herculean efforts in the
Senate his service as Vice-President was relatively unexceptional. This was by no means by any fault of
his own but the result of recurring health problems that plagued him during his years as Vice President.
The first several months of his term in office represented what one might expect from Wilson. He
worked constantly, dedicating himself to his duties as Senate President and responding the unending
flow of letters that he received almost daily. At this point Wilson considered it a success if he were to
obtain just two hours of sleep in a day. Unfortunately, years of dedication to his nation had finally
caught up to the elder statesman and within a few months of his election to the office he suffered a
facial nerve paralysis. His health would steadily decline for the next three years; he was eventually
forced to take time away from Washington traveling and attempting to rest and recover. He did
however manage to use this time to author one more book, “The Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in
44
�America” which he completed in 1874.144 After completing this final work Wilson adopted a real sense
of his own mortality. When his associate and close friend Charles Sumner with whom he had served for
over 20 years passed away in 1874 Wilson was quoted as saying, “I soon shall follow him.”145
Wilson appeared to make a recovery in late 1874 and for a time continued his duties as Senate
President. For several months he seemed to be in good health as he made a tour of the South in the
spring of 1875 and in September oversaw the state Republican Convention at Worcester where he
delivered a well-received address. Wilson returned to Washington in November to see a doctor with
hopes of receiving treatment. On November 10th he was struck by another bout of paralysis, this one
more severe, but once again he recovered, many believed for good this time. He in fact felt so good that
he entertained guests and his physician no longer felt it necessary to be by his side. Ultimately, this
recovery proved short lived. On November 22nd 1875 Henry Wilson lay down on his couch in the Vice
President’s office and passed away.146
The response to Wilson's death was fitting for a man of his importance. Politicians around
Washington paid their respects regardless of party affiliation or personal beliefs. On the day of his
funeral all government departments in the capital were closed. An estimated 25,000 people came to pay
their respects while his body rested in the Rotunda. In Natick the people mourned for their cobbler as
black drapes hung from houses and bells tolled in all public buildings. It is fitting that Wilson was the
first Vice-President to have African-American pallbearers. As Wilson's body traveled from Washington
to his home in Natick thousands turned out regardless of train schedules or poor weather conditions. In
New York an estimated 200,000 thousand watched the parade, a total only rivaled by the parade given
to Abraham Lincoln. Wilson's body finally made it back to Massachusetts on November 27th of 1875
and, after stops in Worcester and Boston; Wilson's body was delivered to Natick where he was finally
laid to rest.147
Although Henry Wilson passed on his legacy remained and continues to this day. The poor
45
�uneducated child who spent the majority of his childhood in indentured servitude had risen to the
second most powerful position in the country. Along the way he dramatically altered both the political
and social realities of the United States, destroying and creating political parties and helping demolish
the institution of slavery. The Natick Cobbler helped lead the nation through the Civil War, emerged as
a preeminent figure in the struggle to reconstruct the nation afterward, and loomed as one of the most
influential individuals during a formative time in the nation’s development. His tireless demeanor and
unyielding dedication to the office would come to define him, overshadowed only by the convictions
which he held dear: equality and freedom. At his core Wilson represents the epitome of the American
politician, a selfless and empathetic individual who dedicated himself to the protection of the weak, the
downtrodden, and the marginalized. He was a champion for those groups that needed one, a man who
was not afraid to challenge the powers that be and, consequently, a man who rose to greatness, not on
the coattails of others, but by his own virtues and labors.
1 . John L Myers, Henry Wilson and the Coming of the Civil War (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of American,
2005), pg. 2
2 Elias Nason and Thomas Russell, The Life and Public Services of Henry Wilson (Philadelphia: B.B. Russell, 1876), pg.
14-15
3 Ibid pg. 15
4 John L. Myers, “Henry Wilson and the Coming of the Civil War” in Natick Bulletin, (Oct. 19, 1906), pg. 2.
5 Nason and Russell, pg. 15.
6 Myers, Henry Wilson and the Coming of the Civil War pg. 4
7 Nason and Russell, pg. 17.
8 Ibid pg. 15.
9 Myers, Coming of the Civil War, pg. 4.
10 Nason and Russell, pp. 16-17.
11 Myers, Coming of the Civil War, pg. 5
12 Ibid., pp. 6-7.
13 Nason and Russell, pg. 18.
14 Ibid.
15 Myers, Coming of the Civil War pg. 8.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid .
18 Ibid , pg.10-12.
19 Ibid, pg 25-26.
20 Myers, Coming of the Civil War pg. 19
21 Ibid., pg 26-27.
22 Nason and Russell, pg 28-29.
23 Myers, Coming of the Civil War, pg. 15.
24 Nason and Russell, pg. 39.
25 Myers, Coming of the Civil War, pg. 15-16.
26 Ibid., pg.16.
46
�27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
Ibid., pg.17.
Ibid., pg. 18.
Nason & Russell pg. 29
Ibid 30
Ibid 30-31
Ibid pg. 32
Myers Coming of the Civil War. Pg. 20
Ibid pg. 21
Ibid pg. 29-30
Nason & Russell pg. 42
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 37
Nason & Russell Wilson pg 45
Ibid pg 46
Ibid
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 40
Ibid pg. 42
Ibid pg. 45
Ibid pg. 46
Nason & Russell pg 51-52
Ibid pg. 49-50
Ibid pg. 54-55
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 49-50
Ibid pg 52
Ibid pg. 57
Nason & Russell pg. 62-63
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 60-61
Ibid pg. 68-69
Nason & Russell pg. 65
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg.79
Nason & Russell pg. 89
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 87
Ibid pg. 89-90
Ibid pg. 97-99
Nason & Russell pg. 90
Ibid pg. 91
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg.116-117
Ibid pg. 143
Ibid pg. 149-150
Nason & Russell pg. 94
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg.190-191
Ibid pg. 200
Nason & Russell pg. 105
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg.206
Ibid pg. 207
Nason & Russell pg. 106-107
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 218
Ibid pg. 220
Ibid pg. 224-228
Ibid pg. 248-249
Ibid pg. 251
Nason & Russell pg, 121-122
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 255
Ibid
Nason & Russell pg. 139
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 234
Ibid pg. 278-279
Ibid pg. 290-291
47
�84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
Ibid pg. 301
Ibid pg. 313-314
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 315
Ibid pg. 322-323
Nason & Russell pg. 189-190
Ibid pg. 229
Ibid pg. 248-249
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 394
Nason & Russell pg. 250
Myers Coming of the Civil War pg. 399
Ibid pg. 421
Ibid pg. 428
Ibid pg. 433
Ibid pg. 437
Ibid pg. 445
Myers, John L. Senator Henry Wilson and the Civil War (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of American, 2008) pg.
4-5
100
Ibid pg. 11-12
101
Ibid pg. 13-14
102
Nason & Russell pg. 307
103
Ibid pg. 306
104
Myers Henry Wilson and the Civil War pg. 16-20
105
Ibid pg. 22
106
Nason & Russell pg. 309-310
107
Ibid pg. 312
108
Ibid pg. 315
109
Myers Wilson and the Civil War pg. 68
110
Ibid pg. 99-100
111
Ibid pg 9,147,180
112
Ibid pg. 39-40
113
Ibid pg. 52
114
Ibid pg. 53
115
Ibid pg. 77-78
116
Nason & Russell pg. 339-340
117
Myers, John L. Henry Wilson and the Era of Reconstruction (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of American,
2009) pg. 29, 32
118
Ibid pg.6, 15, 20
119
Nason & Russell pg. 355-356
120
Myers Wilson and Reconstruction pg.. 19, 32
121
Ibid pg. 17, 28,38
122
Nason & Russell 361-362
123
Myers Wilson and Reconstruction pg. 9
124
Nason & Russell 344
125
Ibid pg. 372
126
Myers Wilson and Reconstruction pg. 55-56
127
Ibid pg. 57
128
Ibid pg. 60
129
Ibid pg. 70
130
Ibid 74
131
Ibid pg. 87-88
132
Myers Wilson and Reconstruction pg. 89-92
133
Nason & Russel pg. 389
134
Myers Wilson and Reconstruction 105-106
135
PBS history, Passage of the fifteenth amendment retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-fifteenth/ retrieved on 8/23/11 last updated
2010
136
Myers, Wilson and Reconstruction pg. 117-118
48
�137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
Ibid pg. 150
Ibid pg. 182
Nason & Russell pg. 397
Ibid pg. 399
Ibid pg. 399-400
Myers, Wilson and Reconstruction pg. 174
Ibid pg. 187
Nason & Russell pg. 417-420
Ibid pg. 420
Ibid pg. 423-425
Myers, Wilson and Reconstruction pg. 231-233
49
�
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Henery Wilson Emmanuel University Research- Cobbler In Congress
Description
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A digital PDF copy of "A Cobbler in Congress."
Javier F. Marion, Ph.D.Associate Professor of History contacted the Farmington Historical Society about donating a forty-nine page manuscript about Henry Wilson's life.
The following is paraphrased from Javier F. Marion, Ph.D:
Jordan Coulombe Ph.D had originally written this piece for the Natick Historical Society. They had asked Professor Javier Marion Ph.D. and Jordan Coulombe Ph.D to assist them in putting together a booklet-length piece on Wilson Jordan Coulombe was an aspiring graduate student at Emmanuel College at the time and he obliged. He wrote an informative essay titled, "A Cobbler in Congress" that was aimed at a lay (public history) audience. Professor Marion helped him edit the piece.Unfortunately, the manuscript was never utilized in any form.
FHS-Kyle Leach
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jordan Coulombe Ph.D
Javier F. Marion, Ph.D. (editing)
Emmanuel University
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An entity responsible for making the resource available
Javier F. Marion, Ph.D:
Jordan Coulombe Ph.D
Emmanuel University
booklet
famous
Farmington
Henry Wilson
history
pdf
people
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/12165/archive/files/92d3b22c49b26b80b379a22af08d9d5a.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=umncpgvFtOErUZJxjYxqd1Z38RGROpDeCeqXW-APVYmTjxFjN8yZ%7EOwpHZq9gbxl2HeNECGYjoJkVWmJB5ndrtimxeoZkbbF0l9AhLQfUyQpjw%7EE%7EQSEdJ9RhjW7G3Ag6rh68ZgFrV4RdGyAHS9ggCLmc1tOOtQzpqoXf6Il%7E66fO%7Ezfg2XrHQqydgkX6u9QX271zrYScRNW-unesqmfQSseAmintcQnvwJePK-4ZtZeDG1AOtdykmSE1bFfgau4dvqf0OgV-3DSWxEn3OyRxzNWxBJho7z5X5eVqfxMOMYJnNKqM84108xZrIMQrLg4Jp-v6iHSyUcAveQexPanhA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
964af8fa6866b59a3d77a4569f246bb5
PDF Text
Text
�IHtbrarg
U.3
�����RISE AND FALL
SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
��HISTORY
or THS
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Ey HEI^RT WILSON.
VOL.
JAMES
R.
III.
BOSTON":
OSGOOD AND COMPANY,
Late Ticknor
&
Fields,
and Fields, Osgood, &
1877.
Co.
�I5
3ol
V.3
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877,
BT JAMES
R.
OSGOOD b
CO.,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
^^//
University Press Welch, Bigelow,
Cambridge.
:
&
Ca,
�PUBLISHERS' NOTICE.
The sudden
death of Vice-President Wilson found him
busily engaged in the preparation of the closing
Most
this History.
of the chapters
of
had been written, and the
materials gathered for the remainder.
mediately arranged with the Rev.
volume
The Publishers im-
Samuel Hunt
— who
had
been associated with Mr. Wilson from the inception of his
work, and who carried the previous volumes through the press
—
to complete the
volume.
By
work and attend
to the printing of this
long and intimate connection with Mr. Wilson,
and by thorough acquaintance and sympathy with
and purposes, Mr. Hunt had peculiar
his ideas
qualifications for finish-
ing this History, and the Publishers have no hesitation in
assuring the public that the volume
stantially
what
it
lived to complete
is
in every respect sub-
would have been had Mr. Wilson fortunately
it.
��CONTENTS TO VOL.
CHAPTER
III.
I.
instjkrectionary movements.
Pages
— Disingenuousness of secession
—
— Successful appeals. — South Carolina. — Meeting of
— Public meeting and
the
Governor's recommendation
— Northern
— Edmund
— Undedisloyal
— Revolutionary proceedings. — Policy of co-operation discarded.
— Georgia. — Governor's message. — Speeches of
— Convention
— Alabama. —
—
Toombs, Stephens. — Convention
— Immediother
Florida. — Louisiana. — Similar movements
Election of a Republican President.
leaders.
conspirators.
to
legislature.
its
Ruffin.
utterances.
incredulity.
ceived.
called.
called.
Mississippi.
in
States.
1-10
ate success not obtained
CHAPTER
II.
president's message and senate debate.
Anxiety and alarm.
— Message. — Opinion of Attorney-General. — Equivo—
—
—
—
Senate.
Extreme speech of Clingman.
and unsatisfactory.
Lane,
Union speeches of Crittenden and SaulsIverson, Davis, and Wigfall.
Appointment of committees
Speech of Hale.
bury.
.
.11-21
cal
—
—
.
CHAPTER
III.
special committees upon the crisis in the senate and house.
— Powell's motion in the Senate. —
— Preston King, Green. — Douglas's
appeal. —
Speech of Jefferson Davis. — Response by Green. — Speeches by Sumner,
Dixon, Brown, and Pugh. — Speech of Mason. — Mr. "Wade's sharp
raignment. — Appointment of the Committee of Thirteen. — Boteler's
motion. — Carried, and committee appointed. — Requests and debate
thereon. — Resolutions. — Reports. — Generally conservative. — That of
Washburn and Tappan. — True
freedom. — Debate earnest and
— Corwin. — Speeches of Millson, Clemens, Bingham, Lovejoy, McPherson, Sedgwick, Stevens, Ferry, Humphrey, Wilson. — Conservative views
of Charles Francis Adams. — Southern advocates of Union. — Maynard,
General bewilderment and uncertainty.
Debate thereon.
patriotic
ar-
to
intense.
�Vin
CONTENTS.
— Voting. — Passage. — Senate. — Debate. — Mason's
— Speeches of Chandler, Crittenden, Trumbull,
Wil-
Davia, Hamilton.
substitute.
son,
"Wigfall,
and Wade
22-42
CHAPTEE
SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONKRS,
IV.
— PKESIDENT's
—
MESSAGE.
—
Judge Smalley's opinion.
Hesiand scepticism.
Demand of Secession leaders.
Fort Sumter.
Noncommittal attitude of the Administration.
South Carolina Commissioners.
Their visit and demand on the President.
His embaiTassment and reply.
Insolent response.
Refusal to receive it.
Special
Disloyal attitude and treasonable acts.
—
tation
—
—
—
—
—
— Howard's resolution. — Important
and Seward. — Republican policy
message.
bull,
CHAPTER
—
—
—
speeches of Davis,
Trum-
43-59
V.
DEMAia)S IN THE NORTH FOR FURTHER CONCESSION AND COMPROMISE.
— Four
— Republican policy. — Horace
— Effect at the South. — Thurlow Weed. —Albany
"Argus." — New York " Herald." — Philadelphia. — Its mayor and meeting. — Conservative utterances. — Isaac Hazelhurst. — Tweddle Hall
Meeting. — Chancellor Walworth. — Horatio Seymour. — Patriotic utterance of George W. Clinton. — Conservative action. — Proposition of Fernando Wood. — Loyal action of New York legislature. — Mercantile
— Memorial meeting and action at Cooper Institute. — Treasonable utter-
Northern anxiety and alarm.
classes.
Greeley's proposition.
class.
ances.
Price.
— Proposed
— Society
— Letter of ex-Governor
— Address. — Letter
— Southern encouragement. — Responsibility
60-70
formation of a
for
of Franklin Pierce.
new Union.
Promotion of National Unity.
.
CHAPTER
VI.
CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS.
— Debate. — Mr. Crittenden's speech and explana— Compromise. — Question of the Constitution. — Extreme
ments of Mr. Toombs. — His demands. — Powell's amendment. — Clarke's
amendment. — Eloquent speech of Simmons. — Anthony. — Amendment
— Cameron. — Wilson. — John
adopted. — Extreme opinions of
Brown. — Final vote and
71-82
Resolutions introduced.
tion.
senti-
Bigler.
rejection
CHAPTER
VII.
PEACE CONGRESS.
— Invitation. — Responses. — Meeting and organization.
— Committee. —
— Report. — Minority
Action of Virginia.
— John
Tyler.
Difficulties.
re-
�CONTENTS.
IX
— General tone conservative. — Haste. — Southern
— Reverdy Johnson's amendment and speech. — Seddon's speech.
— Entreaties. — Boutwell. — Imperious demands. — Resisted by D Dudley Field, Allen, and Noyes. — Coercion condemned and concession pleaded
for by Rives, Seddon, Ewing, Frelinghuysen, and Dodge. — Further concession deprecated by Morrill, Field, Tuck, and Smith. — Debate. —
Various amendments. — Strong speech by Chase. — Result and adjournports and resolutions.
leaders.
.
ment.
— Action
83-95
in Congress
CHAPTER
AMENDMENT OF THE
VIII.
CONSTITUTION.
— Montgomery. — Alleged
— Barrett. — Republican hopes. — Slaveholding changes. —
Remedies sought. — Republican disclaimers. — Northern yielding and
— Committee of Thirtyconcessions. — Trimble, Stokes. — Three
Three. — Proposed amendment. — Brief debate. — Kilgore, Stanton. —
96 - 108
Charles Francis Adams. — Crittenden. — Beale
General uncertainty and diversity of opinion.
in-
consistency.
facts.
.
CHAPTEE
.
.
.
IX.
ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
— South Carolina. — Convention, — Secession
— Address and declaration. — Alleged causes.
— Governor's proclamation and cabinet. — Mississippi convention and
ordinance. — River blockade. — Florida. — Alabama. — Georgia. — Severe struggle. — Toombs. — Adverse
— Johnson, HOI, Stephens. —
— Louisiana. — Meeting at
Strong Union speech. — Secession
Montgomery. — States represented. — Howell Cobb. — Committee on provisional government. — Report. — Proffered loan. — Choice of President
and Vice-President. — Committee on permanent constitution. — Confed— Provisions of constitution. — Action concerning
erate
and navy-yards. — Charleston " Mercury." — Provision
an army
navy. — Jefferson Davis. — Speeches and inaugural address. — Cabi109-126
— Speech of Alexander H. Stephens
Work among
the people.
or-
dinance adopted and signed.
vote.
carried.
flag.
forts,
nals,
arse-
for
-iind
net.
CHAPTER
THE OTHER SECEDED
X.
STATES.
— How their numbers were increased. —
— His testimony. — Demoralizing influence of
—
—
— Three
— Conditions of Rebel
— Letter of
Co-operation, combination, preparation. — Central
Judge Evans. — Volunteers. — Violence, or the crushing-out process. —
Contingencies. — Virginia. — Solicitude concerning her course. — Visit
and estimate of Memminger. — Governor Letcher. — Legislature. — Con-
Secessionists at first in a minority.
The Comte de Paris.
ery.
The process.
slav-
classes.
success.
cabal.
�X
CONTENTS.
Tention against secession.
— Address
of Stephens.
— RufBn and Pryor, —
— Letter
— Treaty. — Richmond made the
of Mason. — West Virginia. — Admitted by Congress. — Tennessee. —
Vote against secession. — Coercion opposed. — Legislature. — Yields. —
Popular vote. — East Tennessee. — Brownlow. — North Carolina. — Appoints commissioners. — Joins the Confederacy. — Arkansas. — Texas.
— Union meeting. — Address of governor. — Conflict. — Final success of
Convention succumbs.
capital.
127 - 146
the secessionists
CHAPTER
XI.
WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS AND ACTION THEREON.
—
—
Withdrawal of South Carolina delegation.
MisChange of Rebel policy.
Speech of
Alabama ordinance " and call for a convention.
sissippL
Speeches of Miles Taylor and BouWithdrawal of Louisiana.
Cobb.
Speeches of Yulee and Mallory.
Scenes in the Senate.
ligney.
Southern grievClement C. Clay, Fitzpatrick, and Jefferson Davis.
—
—
—
ances.
—
'
'
—
—
— Action
—
opinions. —
—
in regard to retiring
Seward and Fessenden.
— Benjamin. — Special
members.
—Xeave-taking of
— Final action
— Diverse
— Arrogant
....
Slidell.
session.
CHAPTER
boasts.
147-160
XII.
THE PERIL AND PROTECTION OF THE CAPITAL.
— Secession purposes. — Letter to Gov— Secession banner. — Mr. Stephens. — Statements of South-
Prediction of Rebel Secretary of War.
ernor Hicks.
— "Richmond Examiner." — Duff Green.
— Grow's resolution. — Committee. — Opinion
of the Secretary of War. — Report of committee. — Presence of troops. —
Branch's resolution. — Defeated. — Cochrane and Kunkel. — President's
exmessage. — Rebel disclaimers. — Davis and Stephens. — Anxiety
— Rumors. — Meeting in Willard's Hall. — Precautions. — Facts 161-172
ern presses and speakers.
Secret plot in Baltimore.
still
ists.
».
CHAPTER
XIII.
INAUGURATION OF MR. LINCOLN,
— Letter of Mayor of Washington. — Counting of
— Anxiety. — Assurance of Hindman. — Statemenf Breckin— Speech. — Indianapolis.
— Mr. Lincoln leaves
Columbus. — Pittsburgh. — New York. — Mayor Wood. — Trenton. —
—
Philadelphia. — Flag-raising and speech. — Threats of
Washington. — Apprehensions
Mr. Lossing. — Arrival
Statement
—
and precautions. — Inauguration. — Thurlow Weed and General
—
Inaugural address. — Conciliatory but
.173-183
— Southern condemnation
Variously
Popular apprehension.
of
votes.
Springfield.
ridge.
assassination.
to
in
Scott.
firm.
received.
Afi"ecting
.
.
i)eroration.
.
�CONTENTS.
xi
CHAPTER XIV.
MARYLAND. — KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
Position of Maryland. — Rebel purpose. — Governor Hicks's refusal to conimportance. — Confident expectations of the
vene the legislature. —
Rebels. — Governor Hicks's character and avowals. — Maryland conservative and Southern. — Secession measures and menaces. — Charges of inconsistency. — Dilemma. — Patriotic support. — Anna E. Carroll. — Governor's persistency. — Neutrality. — Legislature convened. — Governor's
reasons and message. — Appeals to the President. — Seward's reply. —
Christian delegation. — President's reply. — Increasing loyalty. — Kentucky and Missouri desire neutrality. — Governor MagoflBn's message. —
Guthrie's views. — Governor's proclamation. — Kentucky retained in the
Union. — Missouri. — Large slaveholders. — Convention. — Union major— Francis P. Blair and Nathaniel Lyon. — Earnest and successful
— Governor Jackson's unavailing
Union
to take the State
Its
ity.
efforts
efforts.
184-199
out of the Union
CHAPTER XV.
CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. — FIRING ON SUMTER.
Commissioners appointed. — Visit "Washington. — Letter to Secretary Seward. — Reply. — Judge Campbell's mediation. — Assurances. — Message
to Governor Pickens. — Charges of breaches of faith and duplicity. — Pahopes of the Secretary. — Commissioners' defiant reply. — Anderson's
— Cabinet meeting. — Montgomery Blair. — G. B. Fox
cific
letter.
visits
— Appropriations by South
Carolina
the war. — Evacuation of Sumter demanded. — President's
Governor Pickens. — Despatches. — Beauregard's demand. —
message
— Notice of attack. — Fire
Anderson's response deemed
opened. — Speeches of Gilchrist and Pryor. — Bombardment. — Heroic
— White
— Evacuation. — Anderson's despatch. — GovCharleston.
— Fleet
landing supplies.
for
for
to
insufficient.
resistance.
flag.
200 - 210
ernor's speech
CHAPTER
XVI.
— UPRISING OF THE NORTH. — WAR INAUGURATED.
— President's proclamasudden
Doubt and hesitation. —
— Call troops. — Responses governors. — Great uprising. —
Meetings in Philadelphia and New York. — Speeches in Union Square.
— Dickinson, Coddington, Walker, Baker, Gushing, Mitchell, Douglas. —
CALL FOR TROOPS.
dissipation.
Its
Harmony
ances.
of
for
tion.
of sentiment
— Southern
Davis's proclamation.
of
and
American commerce
— Conservative and unpatriotic
misapprehension. — Jefferson
of marque. — Blockade. — Destruction
action.
contempt.
uttei'-
— Mutual
— Letters
211 - 219
�XU
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
XVII.
— WAR LEGISLATION.
Assembling of Congress. — Grow elected Speaker. — Speech. — Etheridge.
— President's message. — Acceptable. —
and resolution by Mr. Wil— Debate. — Harding,
son. — EmplojTnent of volunteers. — F. P.
passed.
Hickman, Campbell. — Vallandigham's amendment. — Senate
— Increase of regular army. — Holman's speech. — Amendment. — Bill
passed. — Reorganization of army. — Powell's amendment. — Breckinincrease of the army. — Resolution making
ridge. — Supplementary
valid acts of the President. — Debate thereon. — Kennedy, Baker, Wilson,
—
Breckinridge, Law, Johnson, Sherman, Trumbull. — Other
— Governor Morton. — Bill
arming loyal citizens in disloyal
— Important amendment. — Resolution
increasing pay of private
SPECIAL SESSION OF XXXVIIth CONGRESS.
Bills
Blair.
bill
bill for
Bill
bills.
States.
for
soldiers.
of
220-231
sympathy
CHAPTEE
XVIII.
SLAVES USED FOR MILITARY PURPOSES MADE FREE.
— Republican avowals. — Vote of the House.
— The im])racticability of such a policy. — Slaves made contraband of
war. — General Butler. — Letter of Secretary of War. — Northern misapprehension. — Slaves mad^ useful to the Rebels. —
of Mr. Trumbull
— Amendment making the slaves employed by Rebels.
— Debate thereon. — Breckinridge, Trumbull, Wilson, McDougall, Ten
Eyck, Pearce. — Passed the Senate. — Reported
the House. — Debate.
— Bingham, Bennett, Crittenden. — New and difBcult question. — Diven's
proposition. — Speech of Thaddeus Stevens. —
recommitted. — Reported again and passed. — Beginning of the end
232 - 244
Original purposes of the war.
Bill
for confiscation.
free
in
....
Bill
CHAPTER XIX.
REGULAR
SESSION.
— MESSAGE,
AND REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
— President's message. — Undefined
— Hopeful. — Report of Secretary of War. —
Great and rapid increase of the army. — Congratulations. — Bull Run. —
No ground
discouragement. — Sanitary agencies. — Escaping
— Report of Navy. — Three lines of operations. — Wide
— Large
additions. — Fugitives. — Report of Treasury. — Elaborate. — Plans announced and reasons. — Great success in raising means. — Loans. — Tax— Economy enjoined. — Income
— National banks. — Unfounded expectations. — Hopes
245 - 256
Important meeting.
— War
accepted.
policy on the slavery issue.
for
slaves.
field.
ation.
tax.
�CONTENTS.
Xlli
CHAPTER XX.
— COUNTY JAIL. — SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
— Mr. Wilson's — Wiknot.
— Infamous
National
— passed. — County and disgraceful condition.
— New
— Fessenden,
— Testimony of Wilson and Sumner. — Wilson's
— of Mr. Grimes. — Democratic opHale. — Mr. Clark's
— BUI new warden. — House. —
— Powell, Pearce,
— Enforced
— Marshal Lamon. — President's
Bingham's
— Passage.
ignorance. — Disgraceful and unjust laws. — Mr. Grimes's
—
— Lovejoy's supplementary — Miss Miner's
— Passage of Grimes's
poration. — Debate. — Grimes,
passed
257 - 269
education in the county. — Mr. Patterson- —
BLACK CODE.
laws.
responsibility.
section.
bill.
Bill
its
jail
resolution.
Bill
resolution.
for
Carlile.
position.
order.
resolution.
bill.
school.
bill.
Bill for incor-
Morrill.
bill
Bill
CHAPTER
.
for
.
XXI.
ABOLITION OF SLAVEKT IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
— Early petitions
— Unsuccessful. — Mr. Wil-
Location of the national capital a slaveholding triumph.
for the abolition of slavery in the District.
— Committee. — His
the abolition of slavery and
— Debate. — New departure. ^- Purpose sim— Speeches of Wilmot, Wilkinson,
ple and immediate, and not
— Opposed in violent speeches
Sumner, Fessenden, and Wilson in
by Davis, ^Saulsbury, Powell, and Bayard. — Factious amendments.
— Insisted on by Davis and Saulsbury. — Able
Coupled with
speech from Mr. Hale. — Constitutionality defended by Mr. Fessenden. —
Passed. — Opposed in the House by Crittenden, Wickliffe, and Vallandigham, and defended by Bingham, Fessenden, Van Horn, Ashley, Hutch— Amendments proposed and
— Passed
Blake, and
and approved. — President's objections. — Met by a new
270 - 284
son's resolution.
bills for
the repeal of the slave laws.
ulterior.
favor.
colonization.
Eollins.
ins,
lost.
bill
CHAPTER
.
.
XXII.
THE SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY ARMY OFFICERS.
— Universal desire to be — Escape of
— General Butler. — Contraband of war. —
Different
of
commanders. — Prejudice of
against
the negro. — Trying position of the President. — Lovejoy's resolution at
— Regular
extra
— Resolutions in both houses. — Sumner's resolution. — Cowan's speech. — Mr. Wilson's
and action thereon. — Saulsbury's amendment. — CoUamer, Wilson, Pearce. — Action in
the House. — Bill reported by
— Mallory, Wickliffe, Grider. —
Change of policy inevitable. — Speech of Bingham. — House
in the
Senate. — Saulsbury's amendment. — Davis, Anthony. —
making
new rule of war passed. — Resolution
by Mr. Wilson. — Debated.
— Grimes, Sunmer, Saulsbury
285-300
...
Repressive character of slavery.
slaves to the
policies
session.
free.
Union camps.
different
soldiers
session.
bill,
Blair.
bill
Bill
offered
.
.
.
.
.
�CONTENTS.
XIV
CHAPTER
XXIII.
AIDING THE BOEDER STATES.
— His proposition. — De— Democratic opposition. — Division of sentiment
among Republicans. — Stevens, Bingham, Olin. — Senate. — Opposition
by Saulsbury, Latham, McDougall, Davis. — Resolution defended by
— Resolutions
Morrill. — Passed. — Other propositions. — Deep
— Noell's
of Wilson, White. — Committee of Nine. —
and
speech. — Clements, Wickliffe. — Debate. — Henderson, Kennedy, TurRichardson. — Questions of time and compensation. — Hams, Sherman, Foster. — Amendments. — Howard. — Speeches of Wilson, Cowan,
passed. — Lost in the House. — Conferences with border
Sumner. —
— Majority and minority
State representatives. — President's
DiflGcult
and
bate in
delicate position of the President.
Congress.
feeling.
Bill.
bill
pie,
Bill
letter.
re-
301-319
plies
CHAPTEE XXIV.
ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES.
— Ordinance of 1787. — Increased profit of slavery and
— New purposes of the Slave Power. — Arnold's
— Debate and revelations. — Border-State Republicans. — Democratic
Fisher, Diven. — Speeches of Aropposition. — Cox, Wickliffe,
— Compensation. — Thomas, Stevens, Bingham,
nold, Olin,
— In
— Lovejoy's amendment. — Passage of
Kelley. —
Early opinions.
ter-
ritorial extension.
bill.
its
Crisfield,
Sheffield.
bill.
Difficulties.
320-330
theSenate.— Baltimore "American"
CHAPTEE XXV.
EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES OF REBELS,
;
—
— Mr. Trumbull's
— Great divergence of views. — Speeches of
Morrill, Howard, Wilmot. — Strong opposition. — Davis, Powell, Wiland Saulsbury. — Henderson, Cowan. — Responses of Mr. Hale and
— Differences among friends of
Wade. — Hale's constitutional
the measure. — Hale, Wilson, W^ade, Sumner, Clark. — Committee's
and speech. — Harding, Conreport. — Debate. — House. —
way. — Various propositions. — Reports. — Select committee. — Report
and debate. — Division of sentiment. — Southern views. — Crittenden,
Mallory. — Northern opposition. — Cox, Law, Thomas. — Noell, Loomis,
—
Julian, Beaman, Rice. — Southern utterances. — Menzies,
speech and substitute passed. — Senate. — Committee of conference. —
Simple
question.
Long and
— Mr.
Pomeroy's resolution.
bill.
earnest debate.
ley,
scruples.
Eliot's bill
Price.
Bill
becomes a law
Eliot's
331-346
�XV
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE XXVI.
HATTI AND LIBERIA.
— FOREIGN
AND DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE.
— Refusal to recognize
— President's message. — Mr. Sumner's
and
speech. — Davis's opposition. — Passage. — House debate. — Gooch, Cox,
Biddle, Thomas, Maynard. — Passage. — Slave-trade never effectively
opposed. — Lincoln's message thereon. — Treaty with England. — Sew— Adopted and approved. — Foster's
ard's despatch. — Sumner's
— Domestic
— Sumner's — Amendment concerning
Public commitment of the government to slavery.
Haj-ti
and
Liberia.
bill
bill.
bill.
bill.
slave-trailic.
coastwise slave-trade.
— Debate
and
failure.
— Again
reintroduced.
—
347-356
Passage
CHAPTER XXVII.
COLORED SOLDIERS.
— PAT.
— Purpose. — New policy. — President's
— General hesitation. — Protests. — Secretary's report. — Modi— President vindicates his course. — Sincerity. — Bill to amend the
— Protest
act of 1795. — Growing conviction of need of colored
Davis. — Change of sentiments.
of border States. — Saulsbury,
— Sherman, Fessenden, Rice, Wilson. — Long and violent speech of
— Slaves of loyal men, — BrownGarrett Davis. —
of
ing, Harlan. — New
— Adopted. — Scruples of antislavery men.
Hale, Collamer, Doolittle. — Passed and approved. — President
hesi— Public opinion. — Change. — Mansfield French. — Visits "Washington. — Secretary of War's order. — Colored troops in
— Stevens's amendment enrolling
Governor Andrew. — Large
colored troops. — Amendments. — Loyal masters. — Debate. — Great
— Kelley, Higby. — Opposition. — Stevens's amendment adopted.
— Pay of colored
— Wilson's
and resolution. — Various
amendments. — Fessenden, Sumner, Conness, Wilson. — Cowan's substi— Davis's amendment. — Differences. — Collamer, Foot. — Pro— Passed Senate. — Fierce debate in the
longed debate. — New
House. — Amendments. — Senate disagrees. — Committee of conference.
— Final action
357 - 379
Speech of General Thomas.
testi-
mony.
fied.
soldiers.
Carlile,
•
Difficulties
detail.
bill.
still
tates.
free States.
results.
for
di-
versit)^
soldiers.
bill
tute.
bill.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
— President's hesitation. — Fremont's command. — His proc— Differently received. — President's embarrassment. — Annul— Hunter's proclamation.
ment of proclamation. — Conflicting
— President's revocation. — Appeal to border States. — Interviews with
Historic event.
lamation.
policies.
�CONTENTS.
Xvi
— Indexes. — Northern impatience. — Mr.
— Chicago delegation. — Simulated opposition. — Yielding. — Loyalty to the Divine Will. — Letter to Mr. Hodges. — First
draft of Proclamation. — Hiram Barney. — Read to Cabinet. — Mr. Sewmilitary successes. — Battle of Antietam.
ard's suggestion. — Waiting
Proc— Preliminary Proclamation. — How received. — Second and
favorable. — Northern opposition. — Meeting
lamation. — General
.380-893
— Letter of President
in
border-States representatives.
Greeley's letter.
for
final
effect
Illinois.
.
.
.
.
.
.
CHAPTEE XXIX.
REPEAL OF FUGITIVE-SLATE ACT.
Most annoying
legislation.
— Resolution
— Conflict
— Early
with Higher Law.
— Bills
memo-
—
by Wilmot and Wilson.
XXXVIIIth Congress.
Bills in the House by
Fniitless endeavors.
BiU and
Senate Committee of Seven.
Stevens, Ashley, and Julian.
Bill debated and passed.
Minority report.
report by Mr. Sumner.
Speech of Mr.
Sherman's amendment and debate.
Reconsidered.
rials.
by Mr. Howe.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
— Van Winkle. — Whole subject deferred. — Subject in the
House. — BUI reported. — Debate. — Speech of Mallory. — Strenuous
opposition. — Cox, King. — Passed. — Action of the Senate. — Sumner,
—
Foster.
Hendricks, Saulsbury, Hale, Powell, Davis.
—Passed
.
.
.
394-402
CHAPTEE XXX.
MAKING FKKE THE FAMILIES OF COLORED
SOLDIEKS.
— Confederate threats. — Bill by Mr. Wilson freeing families.
— Henderson's amendment and speech in behalf of loyal slavemasters. —
Opposed by Grimes and sustained by Johnson. — Testimony against slavery. — Sherman's amendment and speech. — Doolittle. — Brown's proposition and speech. — Wilson's substitute. — Wilkinson, Pomeroy, Lane,
Grimes. — Constitutional amendment. — Proposition to recommit. — Conness, Howard, Fessenden. — Slaves, "property." — Davis, Willey. — Joint
resolution. — Failure. — New session. — Resolution introduced. — Motion
to commit. — Democratic opposition. — Mr. Sumner. — Davis's confession.
— Wade. — Powell's amendment. — Carlile. — Resolution adopted. — Re403 - 414
ported in the House. — Debated. — Passed
Colored soldiers.
MEETING or
Army
CHAPTEE XXXI.
XXXVIIITH CONGRESS. — WAR
organized and disciplined.
— Determination
—
—
—
LEGISLATION.
of the loyal masses.
—
Fierce demands for peace.
Democratic sympathy with the Rebellion.
Fourth
Action of Ohio Democrats.
Hendricks and Vallandigham.
Democratic condemnation of
of July speeches of Pierce and Seymour.
—
—
�CONTENTS.
XVU
.
— " Journal of Commerce." —
— New York
— "Tribune."
—
— Northern
— Republican leaders firm. — President's message.
Abrogation of slave-trade. — Retrospection. — Proclamation of Emancipa— Effects immediate and remote. — Results on the whole encour— State action on slavery. — Oath of allegiance.
aging. — Colored
— Mr. Sumner's motion. — Saulsbury's amendment. — Republican
cisms and diverse opinions. — Constitutionality questioned. — Bayard,
Collamer, Johnson. — Resignation and speech of Bayard. — Montana. —
Bill and amendments. — Debate. — Sumner and Johnson. — Dred Scott
— Confiscation
decision. — Hale, Trumbull, Wade. — Amendment
Act. — Amendment. — Debate. — Orth, Cox, Kernan. — President's opin415-433
ion. — Shai-p speeches of Davis and Stevens
Lincoln
and his emancipation policy.
Enrolment Act.
Northern reaction.
riots.
fears.
tion.
soldiers.
criti-
lost.
CHAPTEE XXXII.
AMENDMENT OF THE
Proclamation
amendment.
incomplete.
— Joint
— Legislation
CONSTITUTION.
required.
— Ashley's
proposed
— Referred. — Similar action in the
Amendment. — Debate. — Trumbull, Wilson. —
resolution.
— Thirteenth
— Davis, Powell, Saulsbury, McDougall, Hendricks. — Factious amendments. — Southern support. — Henderson, Johnson. — Reverent references and appeals. — Hale, Sumner. — Passed. — House. —
Morris. — Opposed by Wood, Holman, Pendleton, Kalbfleisch. — Supported by Shannon, Higby, Kelley, Arnold. — Failure. — XXXVIlIth
Congress. — President's message. — Debate. — Brooks, Stevens. — Ashley's
motion to reconsider. — Debate. — Orth,
Davis, Kasson, McSenate.
Opposition.
Scofield,
Bride, Baldwin, Jenckes, Grinnell, Woodbridge, Morris, Patterson, Stevens,
Yeaman, Smithers, Smith.
Herrick.
— Bitter
— Change
— McAllister,
of votes.
opposition by Brooks, Bliss, Rogers,
Coffroth,
Ward, Malloiy,
Holman, Cox, Pendleton, Harding. —
— Rollins, King, Odell. — Closing
— Great
— Proclamation. —Variexcitement. — Passed. — Accepted by the
— New departure
ous motives. — Radical character of the
434 - 454
Clay, "WTiite, Townsend, Voorhees,
Democrats supporting.
•
vote.
States.
result.
.
CHAPTEE XXXIII.
NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
— "Atlantic Monthly." —
— "Contrabands." — Employed.
— Letter from "Newport News." — Rev. L. C. Lockwood. — First
school. — Great work inaugurated. — Commission. — Report and recommendations. — Charles B. Wilder. — Northern aid needed. — Favorable
— Sea Islands. — Cotton agents. —
attitude of governmental
— Report and plan. — Peck and
Secretary Chase. — Mr. Pierce's
French. — General Sherman. — Hesitation of President and Cabinet. —
Lessons of slavery.
Edward
— Wants of
— Fortress
L. Pierce.
the ex-slaves.
Monroe.
officials.
visit.
�CONTENTS.
Xviil
— Appeals and Nortliem responses. — Associations formed.
— Pierce's second report. — First arrival of missionaries and teachers. —
— GenImmediate success. — Lincoln's death and Johnson's new
purpose of the work
the freedmen. — Prompt and generous Northern responses. — Female teachers. — Extravagant expectations. — Actual
— Drawbacks. — Vaiious Associations. — British help. — AmeriCo-operation.
policy.
for
eral
results.
455 - 471
can Missionary Association
CHAPTEE XXXIV.
FBEEDMEN's BUREAtr.
— Hostility of the military. — Need of authority. — Convention
— Memorial to the President. — Others. — Eliot's —
Select committee. — Act reported. — Minority report. — Eliot's speech. —
Democratic opposition. — Cox, Kalbfleisch, Brooks, Pendleton. — Passed.
Drawbacks.
at Indianapolis.
bill.
— Opposed by Davis, Hendricks, Buckalew,
— Committee of conference.
— Postjjoned. — Next
— New — Speech of Kelley. — Senate. — Sumner,
—
Grimes, Henderson, Hale, Conness. — Failure. — Mr. Wilson, conference,
and new biU. — Debate. — Passage. — Division of sentiment. — Experi-
— Senate. —
Bill reported.
and McDougall.
Amendments.
session.
bill.
472-485
mental
.
CHAPTEE XXXV.
"WORKINGS OF THE BUREATT.
— Circulars. — Headquarters. — Yast
— Principles and plan. — Experimen— Congress invoked. — Trumbull's in the Senate. — Debate.
— Democratic opposition. — Speech of Hendricks. — Trumbull's reply. —
Secondary considerations. — Cowan, Guthrie, Reverdy Johnson. —Wilson's reply. — McDougall, Saulsbury, Davis. — Passage. — Bill reported
in the House. — Opposed by Kerr and Ritter. — Ably defended by Hubbard, Donnelh^ Garfield. — Amendments proposed. — Passage. —Vetoed.
— Debate on the veto. — Another — Passed both houses. — Veto.
Passed over the veto. — Estimate. — Great good accomplished. — Par486 - 504
— Commissioner's report
Bureau organized. —General Howard.
responsibility and difficult position.
bill
Jlr.
tal.
bill.
ticulars.
CHAPTEE XXXVI.
NO EXCLrSIOX FROM CARS.
— COLORED
SONS
TESTIMONY ALLOWED.
MAY CARRY
— COLORED
MAILS.
— Exclusion from public conveyances. — Mr. Sumner's amendments.
— Strong speech of Reverdy Johnson. — SauLsbury. — Doolittle,
— Sumner's defence. — Morrill's speech. — Washington and Georgetown
Railroad. — Mr. Sumner's amendment. — Opposed by Mr. Trumbull,
Caste.
Carlile.
PER-
�CONTENTS.
Xix
Adopted. — Basis of law. — Ignored by
Saulsbury, and Powell.
— Laws against colored witnesses. — Mr. WUson's — Sumner's amendthe
Appropriation
and speech. — Oppoment. — Amendment
— Saulsbury. — Disqualifications
carrying the mails. — Mr.
Sumner's bilL — Adopted. — In the House. — Report by Mr. Colfax. —
— CoUamer, Powell, Hendricks. — Passage
Failed. — New
505 - 515
-:-
slaveiy.
bill.
Civil
to
Bill,
for
sition.
biU.
.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BECONSTRTJCTIOir.
— PRESIDENT
LINCOLN'S POLICY.
— Not provided —
— President's annual
—
message and proclamation. — Terms proposed. — Sharply
— His speech. — Smithers.
Committee
Nine. — Winter Davis's
— Debate. — Prominence the emancipation
— Beaman, ScoDonnelly, Boutwell. — Opposed by Pendleton, Wood, Yeaman, and
— Senate and conference. —
Kernan. — Substitute and
passed. — Not signed by the President. — President's proclamation. —
Wade and Davis
Condemned. — Address
516-528
Early
—
— Measures
Difficulties
efforts.
Questions.
great
and manifest.
for.
proposed but not acted on.
criticised.
of
bill.
of
feature.
field,
passage.
Bill
of
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
EECONSTRtrCTION.
— LOUISIANA. — A.RKANSAS.
— General Banks's proclamation to the people of Lou— Response. — Arkansas. — Lane's and
— Trumbull's
— Report. — Debate. — Sumner's amendment. — Powell in opposi— Davis. — Republican opposition. — Sumner, Howard. — "What
a State — Wade. —
defended. — Henderson. — House. — Ashley's
— Debate. — Dawes, opposition — Wood. — Substitute. — H.
—
Winter Davis. — Amendments proposed. — Bill laid on the
F. Wilson's
supremacy of Constitution. — Substitute. — Brief
debate. — Laid upon the table
529 - 542
The
President's desire.
isiana.
bill
failure.
bill.
tion.
is
?
Bill
bill.
of.
table.
J.
.......
bill for
CHAPTER XXXIX.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1864.
Persistent adhesion of Northern Democrats to the South.
— Republican
— Serious
opposition to
weariness of the war, criticisms, and divisions.
— Fomented by Rebel emissaries. — Union successes and
growing confidence. — General Grant. — Cleveland convention. — President severely condemned. — Wendell Phillips's
and speech. —
Garrison's reply. — Republican convention. — Robert
Breckinridge's
speech. — Resolutions. — Unanimous nomination of Mr. Lincoln. — Andrew Johnson. — Letter of acceptance. — Northern conspiracy. — Judge
Holt's report. — 0. A. K. —
annual meeting simultaneous with the
the President.
letter
J.
Its
�CONTENTS.
XX"
— Large numbers implicated, and wide ex— Voorhees. — Democratic complicity. — Diabolical oaths and purposes. — Slavery the source. — Rebel emissaries and plans. — Burning
— Language of Southern papers. — Attempted rising in
Northern
the Northwestern States. — General Price. — Proposed release of Rebel
prisoners. — Vallandigham's representations at the South. — Rebel clerk's
diary. — R.
Sanders. — Meeting at Niagara Falls. — Mr. Greeley. —
— Pressure on the party. —
— Failure. — Rebel
President's
—
Davis's defiant response. —
Richmond.
of
Jaques
and
Gilmore
to
Visit
the Union cause. — Democratic convention. — Proposed
Favorably
release of prisoners. — Seymour presides. — Vallandigham the ruling
— Resolutions. — The war a "failure," and cessation demanded.
— Sew— McClellan and Pendleton nominated. — The country
ard's speech. — Fremont's withdrawal. — Sumner's speech. — Gratulations
543 - 561
of the Southern press. — Vigorous canvass. — Results
Democratic convention.
its
tent.
cities.
J.
trick.
letter.
affects
its
spirit.
startled.
.
CHAPTEE
.
.
XL.
CLOSING SESSION OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
NEGOTIATIONS.
— MESSAGE. — ATTEMPTED
— Auspicious events. — Republican victory. — Previous suspense.
— President indorsed. — New York " Times." — New
— Great
— Proposed
—
of Davis. — Impressment of
Message
revolution.
change of policy. — Confederate Congress. — Miles, Gholson, Foote. —
—
Opposition. — Richmond " Whig." — South Carolina. — Resolutions.
Governor Smith. — How viewed by the Federal government. — Lincoln's
— Recommends constitutional amendment. — Hopeantislavery
views. — Negotiations unavailable. — Condition precedent. — F. P.
— Deputed, he
Richmond. — Letter of Davis. — The
Blair,
Confederate commissioners. — President sends Mr. Seward. — Goes him— Rebel propositions. — Rejected. — Rebel account. — Presidential
wit. — Failure. — Coincidence. — Davis's boastful and defiant words.
Prelude.
rejoicing.
slaves.
policy.
ful
visits
Sr.
self.
^^2 - 573
Rebel surrender
CHAPTEE
XLI.
MR. Lincoln's second inauguration.
Special interest.
Great
—First
inauguration.
change. — Slavery
ligious aspects of the case.
utive judgments of
commended.— Its
— General
ment
God
— Great
destroyed.
— Both
—
— Re-
uncertainty and anxiety.
— Freed
from compromise.
— The
— Charity. — Inaugural highly
— Mr. Johnson's unseemly course.
Republicans. — Cause of estrangeparties disappointed.
retrib-
to be feared.
influence very great.
disgust.
— Meeting
of
574-578
�XXX
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
XLII.
MR. Lincoln's assassination.
— Ford's Theatre. — The President shot. — Assas— President's death. — Assault on Mr. Seward. — Concerted
— Rememplan. — Wide-spread impression. — Feeling of personal
— Confederate leaders suspected. — Rebered virtues. — Political
— Probable solution. — Prompt and vigorous pursuit. —
wards
Success. — Booth's death. — Trial and execution of conspirators. — Universal mourning. — Funeral cortege and incidents. 7- Springfield. — His
character. — Closing scenes. — Demonstration in other countries. — Dis— London "Times" and "Daily News." — General estimate.
Appalling intelligence.
sin's escape.
loss.
fears.
offered.
raeli.
Inadequate apprehension of reconstruction
CHAPTEE
MR. Johnson's policy.
.....
579 - 590
XLIII.
— inhuman
legislation.
— Remarks and replies to delegations. —
— Republican hopes and expectations. —
Change in the President's views and policy. — Interview with colored
delegation. — Claims. — Announces an unfriendly policy. — Emigration.
— Inferior race — Disseverance from and hostility to his party. — Rea— Bitter reproaches against Consons. — "Swinging around the
—^ Proclamation to North
— Results. — Revival of Rebel
—
Carolina and other States. — Colored people excluded from
—
Persecution of white Union men. — Unfriendly and cruel
Mr. Johnson takes oath of
Vigorous
policy
office.
promised.
circle."
gress.
spirit.
suffrage.
legislation.
691-602
Examples
CHAPTER XLIV.
congressional reconstruction.
— Mr. Colfax. — Momentous problem. — Intrinsic and ex— Southern
— Implacable
— Mr.
— Defines his
— Forsakes his party. — ExJohnson's
ecutive assumption. — Meeting of Congress. — General bewilderment. —
Fessenden. — Representative opinions. — Stevens's
— In the
Senate. — Anthony's amendment and remarks. — " Lincoln-Johnson
cy." —
speech. — Fessenden's defence of Congress. — Howe's
resolution and speech. — Vigorous debate in the House. — Improved tone.
— Indefiniteness of views, Debate on referring message. — Stevens,
Spaulding, Shellabarger, Bingham. — Freedmen
603 - 630
Important epoch.
trinsic dilficulties.
attitude.
position.
hostility.
policy.
resolution.
poli-
Doolittle's
-r-
....
�XXU
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XLV.
THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
— Incipient movements. — Dangerous ten— Secrecy. — Pretended designs. — Testimony of General Forrest.
Supposed origin in Tennessee.
dencies.
—
— Testimony of army
— Outrages Alabama and
— Attacks on teachers and clergymen. — Extent the
— Passage of Enforcement Act. — President's procon
— Report
of Congressional Committee.
Whippings and murders
officers.
in Soutli Carolina.
in
Mississippi.
— Effect
of
order.
elections.
lamation
.
.631-646
.
CHAPTER XLVI.
FOUETEENTH AMENDMENT.
— Stevens's
— His speech. — The
a com— Defeated
— Plan of Robert Dale
— Facts and
involved
the
Owen. — Reason
— Democratic arguments. — Boyer, Eldridge, Rogers. — Republicans sup— Schenck, Raymond,
Boutwell, Dawes,
port
and defended. — Phelps, IngersoU. —
Banks. — President's policy
— Caucus. — AmendResolution adopted. — Senate. — Amendments
adopted. — President's message. — Mr. Seward's
ment
— Action of the Senate
647-660
Oppressive legislation.
promise.
— Severe
resolution.
principles
for rejection.
it for
bill
bill.
criticism.
in
effort.
Eliot,
different reasons.
criticised
offered.
certificate.
as finally
CHAPTER XLYII.
FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Fourteenth
Amendment
defective.
—
— Mr.
Boutwell reports resolution in the
—
Eldridge, Kerr, Beck.
Democratic reply.
House and opens the debate.
Amendments offered by Bingham, "Ward, Shellabarger, and speeches.
Resolutions adopted.
Speech of B. H. Butler.
Boutwell's rejoinder.
—
—
—
—
—
— Patriotic purposes of the Republicans.
— Resolutions reported to the Senate. — Speech of Stewart. — Senate resolution adopted. — House resolution reported. — Amendments and substitutes proposed. — Speeches of Ferry, Dixon, Morton. — Woman suffrage.
— Mr. Sumner opposes the resolution. — Too sanguine. — Mr. Willey's
speech. — Republican opposition. — Dixon, Doolittle, Norton. — Twentyfour hours' debate. — Speech and amendment of Mr. Wilson. — Defence
of Republican policy. — Vote and conference. — Adoption of amendment.
— Ratification by the States. — President's special message
661 - 683
False accusations of partisanship.
.
.
�XXUl
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE XLVIII.
PERSONAL FREEDOM.
— CIVIL
RIGHTS.
— Ex-Rebel purpose to defeat the Amendments. — Counter— Mr. Wilson's
and speech. — Speech of Mr. Sumner. —
Johnson, Sherman, Trumbull, Saulsbury, Cowan, Wilson. —
laid
— Trumbull's — ^Debate and radical purpose. —
and
diversity of opinion. — Trumbull, Howard, Morrill. — Democratic oppo-*
— Hendricks, Cowan, Davis. — House debate. — Bingham, Delano,
— Bill passed. — Vetoed. —
Raymond, Broomall, Wilson,
Debate. — Johnson, Trumbull, Wade, Henderson, — Final passage
684 - 696
Forces involved.
purpose.
bill
Bill
aside.
Difficulties
bill.
sition.
Sliellabarger.
CHAPTEE XLIX.
INFLTTENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
AND
ASSOCIATIONS.
—
—
—
—
—
— Damaging testimony. — Amazing record. — Defection and
causes. — Synod of Mississippi. — Southern argument. — Leaders. — Clergy
led the way. — Thornwell, Ross, Smythe, Hopkins, Seabury, Adams. —
South Side view. — Fisk, Stuart, Tyler, Bacon, Beecher. — Indorsement
of Webster's 7th of March speech. — Presbyterian Church. — Benevolent
associations. — A. B.
F. M. — Ecclesiastical odium and
— Humiliating attitude. —
cism. — Lewis Tappan, Leonard Woods,
Cincinnati Christian Convention. — Albert Barnes, John Jay. — North— Causes of defection. — Orave
ern fellowship. —
cost and
— Painful
of the situation. — Christian antislavery
— Appeals to missionary associations. — Forstruggles. — Small
— American Missionary
mation of new
on an antislavery
Association. — Church Antislavery Society. — Republican party. — Minand members of churches largely Republican. — Conclusion
697 - 724
—
Appeals to churches.
South not united for secession.
R. L. Stanton.
An-aignment of Southern clergy.
Proofs.
Thomwell, Palmer.
Address.
its
C.
social ostra-
Jr.
protests.
Its
difficulties
effort.
success.
societies
basis.
isters
.
CHAPTEE
L.
CONCLUSION.
— Purpose of the History. — Subsidiary
— Exponents
— Easy repeal of slave-laws. — Voluntary and suicidal
relinquishment of power. — Mr. Lincoln in a minority. — Popular
ment largely proslavery. — Divine method. — Repeal of slaveholding laws.
— Peonage. — Attempted
— Border
— Leadership.
— Hostility to the Republican
— Protests of Kentucky and Maryland. — Impeachment and
of President Johnson. — Act of fundamen-
General survey.
topics.
of similar principles.
senti-
legislation.
policy.
trial
slave-States.
�XXIV
CONTENTS.
tal importance.
and utterances
the war.
— Presidential
— Greatness
Different purposes
Grooving illiteracy
INDEX
election
of Democratic
of the
and
changes
policy.
— Treasonable attitude
— Lessons of
P.
— Different estimates. —
—
Bingham. — Sectional
of 1868.
convention.
— Mr.
— F.
Blair.
effected.
feeling.
725-740
741
�AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
n
AMERICA.
CHAPTER
I.
INSURRECTIONARY MOVEMENTS.
—
— Disingenuousness of secession
— South Carolina. — Meeting of conspirators, — Governor's
— Public meeting and disloyal
recommendation
the
— Northern incredulity. — Undeceived. — Revoluances. — Edmund
tionary proceedings. — Policy of co-operation discarded. — Convention
— Georgia. — Governor's message. — Speeches of Toombs, Stephens. — Con— Mississippi. — Alabama. — Florida. — Louisiana. — Similar
vention
— Immediate success not obtained.
movements in other
Election of a Republican President.
leaders.
Successful appeals.
legislature.
to
its
utter-
Ruffin.
called.
called.
States.
On
the
6tli
of
elected President
Novcmljcr, 1860,
of
Abraham Lincoln was
Though he lacked
the United States.
nearly a million of a majority on the popular vote, yet by the
desperate strategy of the secessionists which had divided the
Democratic party, with the iiomination of Mr. Bell, he, of
was regularly chosen accordThis was not only
admitted but claimed by those who had adopted this violent
mode of uniting the South in support of their long-sought and
fiercely threatened policy of rebellion and disunion.
Though
this purpose had not been concealed, but openly and defiantly
avowed, yet, with an audacious and brazen disingenuousness,
no sooner had it become probable that Mr. Lincoln would be
the four candidates in the
field,
ing to the provisions of the Constitution.
chosen, than these secession leaders boldly affirmed that he
was a
and that his election was the succommitted to warfare upon the rights and interests of the South.
Appealing to local interests, pandering
to prejudices, painting in glowing colors the advantages of
sectional candidate,
cess of a party
VOL.
III.
1
�2
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
separation, in the large increase of wealth, power, and social
consideration independence would bring, pleading the Stateit was one of their reserved powers to withdraw at will from the Union, largely aided, too, by both pulpit
and press, tliey did not find it difficult to persuade the class of
large slaveholders to make the rash experiment, and enter
upon the perilous venture of revolution. Small slaveholders,
too, and non-slaveholders even, confused by the blinding counsels and dominating influence of leaders they had been accustomed to follow, could not withstand the current, and were
rights theory that
rapidly drifting into rebellion.
In this revolutionary movement South Carolina took the
lead.
A
few days before the election, there was a meeting of
leading politicians at the residence of Senator
Hammond,
at
was unanimously resolved that in the event of Mr.
Lincoln's election, of which they had little doubt, their State
should at once secede.
Governor Gist, who was at that meet-
which
it
ing, immediately called the legislature together for the
5th
proximo, for the purpose of choosing presidential electors.
In
his message, however, he expressed the desire that South Carolina should immediately withdraw,
recommended that a con-
vention should at once be called, and avowed the opinion that
the secession of the State would be immediately followed by
that of other Southern States, and ultimately by that of the
whole South.
He
also
avowed the opinion
that, should the
general government attempt to prevent such secession by coercion, it would be their duty to meet force by force. He recommended, too, that ten thousand volunteers should be called for
and accepted, that every man between the ages of eighteen
and forty-five should be armed, and that the State should be
put on a war-footing and in readiness for any emergency.
These recommendations were received with the greatest favor
by both the legislature and the people.
On the evening of that day a public meeting was held, and
speeches were made by leading men. Accepting Mr. Lin-
coln's election as a foregone conclusion,
and breathing defiance
against the general government, they expressed their deter-
mination not to acquiesce in the expected
result.
Mr. Chest-
�INSURRECTIONARY MOVEMENTS.
3
nut, one of her Senators in Congress, expressed no doubt of
Mr. Lincoln's election the next day, and declared that the peomust choose whether they would be governed
govern themselves. " For myself," he said,
or
enemies
their
by
" I would unfurl the Palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and
ple of that State
with the
spirit of
a brave
man
determine to
and
live
die as
becomes our glorious ancestors, and ring the clarion notes of
Asserting the right
defiance in the ears of an insolent foe."
of South Carolina to secede, he recommended immediate action
;
and he predicted that " the other Southern States
will
flock to our standard."
These treasonable utterances of a Senator of the United
The next evening
States were enthusiastically applauded.
responding
Congress,
in
William W. Boyce, a Representative
"
not to
ought
South
the
to a serenade, defiantly declared that
submit," and that "the way to enact revolution is to stare it in
" When an ancient philosopher," he said, "wished
the face."
To dare to dare
to inaugurate a revolution his motto was
!
:
Edmund
!
Ruffin of Virginia, an old gentleman, for
many
years the editor of an influential agricultural paper, a fanatic
upon the subject of slavery, who afterwards achieved the dubi-
ous distinction of firing the
first
shot on Fort Sumter, and died
a suicide, hastened to South Carolina to influence, as far as he
He expressed the
could, that State to take immediate action.
opinion that,
if
herself against
she remained alone, she would be able to defend
any power that would assail her. But he con-
tended she would not remain alone and would soon be followed
by other States. " The first drop of blood," he said, " spilled
on the soil of South Carolina will bring Virginia and every
Southern State with her."
But notwithstanding
this free
and
fierce enunciation of a
purpose not to submit to the election of what was denominated
a sectional President, and of a determination to redress what
was proclaimed
to be a palpable
rights through the violent
remedy
infringement of Southern
of revolution, large
num-
bers at the North remained incredulous, and refused to believe
that their Southern brethren would be guilty of such folly and
resort to measures so perilous
and
suicidal.
They
preferred,
�4
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
or rather persuaded themselves, to regard these menaces as
only a part of the usual policy of intimidation, which had for
so long a time been pursued with only too great success in
wresting from Northern fears what neither the claims of justice
nor the strength of numbers would command or justify. They
thought, too, that even
if
a few were prepared to proceed to such
extremities, the majority would refuse to follow, and that the
sober second thought of the people would interpose effectual
opposition to a scheme so wild and
election of Mr. Lincoln
and
its
ceived them, and they speedily
indefensible.
But the
immediate consequences unde-
woke up
to the fearful reality
that what they had regarded but gasconade, the vaporing of a
few noisy extremists, only too faithfully reflected the wishes
and purposes of large numbers, if not of the majority, of the
Southern people.
This was shown by the noisy and defiant demonstrations in
South Carolina, where Mr. Lincoln's election was received with
boundless enthusiasm.
They who had been
for so
many
years
preaching disunion and plotting treason against the country
up the
While
the people of Charleston were congratulating each other on
the morning of the 7th of November, the United States Dishailed
it
as the opportunity long sought for, to break
Union and found a confederacy based upon
trict
Court assembled.
The grand
slavery.
jury declined " to proceed
with their presentments," and Judge Magrath declared tliat
an event had happened " of ominous import to fifteen slaveholding States." He then resigned his office, affirming that
" the temple of Justice, raised under the Constitution of the
United States, is now closed." Other officers of the national
The people of
government announced their resignations.
Charleston were wild with excitement. Palmetto flags were
unfurled, speeches were made, cannon were fired, and the city
illuminated*.
The governor
of the State, at Columbia, received,
during the day and evening, by telegraph, messages of encour-
agement and approval.
A
despatch received from the national
some Southern men
had " donned the Palmetto cockade " and dethat the " Presiclared themselves ready to " march South "
capital gave the cheering assurance that
in office there
;
�INSURRECTIONARY MOVEMENTS.
dent
is
but he
perplexed "
is
;
and that "
afraid to assist
5
his feelings are with the South,
them openly."
Stimulated by the enthusiasm of the people and encouraged
by the assurances received from other States, the legislature
at once proceeded to act, boldly taking the initiative in what
Members vied with
proved the terrible " dance of death."
each other in presenting resolutions providing for the with-
drawal of the State from the Union. All were in favor of
secession, but a few in both houses were in favor of awaiting
the co-operation of other States
;
and resolutions
to this effect
were presented, though they received small support. In the
House, Mr. McGowan reminded that body that co-operation
with their Southern sisters had been the settled policy of the
The Southern States, he contended, had
State for ten years.
more motives and greater necessity for concert and union than
any people that ever lived, for they were one in soil, climate,
and institutions. They alone, he said, of all the earth, had
a peculiar institution, absolutely necessary for them, without
which they would cease to exist, and against which, under the
Isoinfluence of a fanatical sentiment, the world is banded.
lated from the whole world upon that question, he thought the
outside pressure would compel the slaveholding States to
unite.
He would say " to Georgia, the Empire State of the
South," " the keystone of the Southern arch," that South
'
'
Carolina would forego the honor of being
common
first,
for the sake of
and would follow her lead.
Such a policy, however, was too slow and sensible to suit
Something more summary
the fiery zeal that ruled the hour.
was demanded. " If we wait," said Mr. Mullins, " for co-operation, slavery and State rights will be abandoned, and State
sovereignty and the cause of the South will be lost forever.
After we have pledged ourselves to take the State out of the
Union I am willing to send a delegation to Georgia or to any
Upon information he pronounced
other Southern State."
promoting the
cause,
" perfectly authentic," he said that " the representative of one
powers of Europe, in view of the prospective
separation of one or more of the Southern States from the
present confederacy, has made propositions in advance for the
of the imperial
�6
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
establishment of such relations between
IN AMERICA.
and the government
it
about to be established in this State as will insure to that
power such a supply
of cotton for the future as their increas-
ing demand for that article will require."
But in
spite of all
efforts to await co-operation, a bill providing for the election
of delegates
on the 6th of December, to meet in convention on
the 17th, passed the House on the 9th, and the Senate on the
Without waiting, however, for either the election
17th.
of
delegates or the meeting of the convention, their Senators in
Congress resigned their seats, so eager were they to consum-
mate
their fell work,
and
to diminish the chances of retracing
the rash steps already taken.
All eyes were
now turned towards
Georgia.
The " Empire
State of the South," her size, resources, and position invested
with great importance her action, and
all,
both the friends and
the enemies of the Union, saw that her decision would have
large influence in this crisis of affairs.
made by Toombs and
Great efforts had been
Iverson, United
States Senators, by
Representatives in the House, and other influential men, to
prepare the State for secession and secure control of the legis-
which met on the day after the presidential election.
Governor Joseph E. Brown devoted his message largely to
national affairs, reviewing the legislation of Northern States
and discussing the duty of the South. Though opposed to the
policy of secession, he counselled thorough preparation for
lature,
the possible exigencies
of
the occasion.
the appropriation of a million dollars to
tliought the time
He recommended
arm the State. He
had come for bold and decided action, and
proposed the enactment of a law making
it
a penal offence to
introduce merchandise into the State from States that had
passed personal liberty
bills.
By
a large majority
it
voted
that a sovereign State had a right to secede from the Union.
Among
none were louder
Senator Toombs. On the even-
the voices raised for disunion
and more potent than that
of
ing of the 13th he addressed the members of the legislature
in a speech in the highest degree seditious and violent.
Be-
traying his distrust of the popular feeling, he discountenanced
the calling of a convention and urged the legislature to act. " I
�INSURRECTIONARY MOVEMENTS.
ask you," he said " to give
me
the sword
7
if you do not
me, as God Hves, I will take it myself." He urged
them to withdraw their sons from the army and navy and
from every department of the Federal service, to keep their
own taxes, buy arms with them, and " throw the bloody spear
He called upon
into this den of incendiaries and assassins."
them to strike while it was yet time. The twenty years of
toils and taxes expended in preparation, he said, would not
make up for the advantages their enemies would gain.
On the evening of the 14th Alexander H. Stephens addressed a meeting of members of the legislature and the peoHis speech was in a different
ple in the Assembly chamber.
His object, he said, was
vein, and his counsels were milder.
not to stir up strife but to allay it, not to appeal to passion
but to reason. To the question. Shall the people of the South
secede in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln ? he said
" My countrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly, and earnestly
that I do not think they ought.
In my judgment, the election
of no man, constitutionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate from the Union.
It
ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining the Constitution
and the country. To make a point of resistance to the government, to withdraw from it because a man has been consti-
give
;
for
to
it
wrong." He avowed that he
Union to have been " a curse " that they
a government that better protects the liberties
He denied that it had proved a failure. " Some
tutionally elected, puts us in the
did not believe the
could not find
of the people.
men have
of our public
" that
is
bles."
true,
He
;
failed in their aspirations," he
and from that comes a great part
added
of our trou-
advocated, however, in spite of these utterances,
the calling of a convention, and he avowed that he should,
though reluctantly, acquiesce in her decision, should Georgia
determine to go out of the Union. " I shall bow to the will
" their cause is my cause and their
of her people," he said
;
destiny
my
destiny."
The
friends of the
Union welcomed and
applauded these calm and patriotic utterances, and gave Mr.
Stephens far more credit than subsequent events proved him
entitled to.
His " great and leading object," he confessed in
�RISE
8
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
a private letter, written eleven days after this speech was
made, " was to produce harmony on a right line of policy."
" If," he added, " our State has to quit the Union, it is of the
utmost importance that
our people should be united cor-
all
dially in this course."
Two
days previous to the speech of Mr. Stephens, a military
Governor Brown ad-
convention was held at Milledgeville.
dressed it, and in his speech he affirmed the right
and the duty of sustaining South Carolina in her
declared that
if
of secession
action.
He
Federal troops should dare to attempt the co-
ercion of a seceding Southern State, the lives of two Federal
soldiers, for every
Georgian who might
fall in
the encounter,
should expiate the outrage on State sovereignty.
The conven-
by these violent and treasonable utterances,
voted in favor of secession. The next day the legislature
voted an appropriation of a million dollars for arming and
tion, stimulated
equipping the State militia.
On
the
7th of December
it
passed an act declaring that the " present crisis in national
and it provided for the election
affairs demands resistance "
;
of delegates on the 2d
assemble on the 16th.
of
January to a State convention to
Early in November the legislature of Mississippi met, and
adjourned to the 30th of that month to make preparation for
the secession of the State. An act was promptly passed for the
election of delegates
on the 20th
of
December, and for the
assembling of a convention on the 7th of January. The governor, John J. Pettus, was authorized to appoint commissioners to visit each of the Southern States to express the hope
that they would co-operate with Mississippi.
The Alabama
delegation in Congress were in favor of disand her governor, Andrew B. Moore, heartily co-operated with Yancey in firing the Southern heart, and in prepar-
union
;
ing that State for revolution.
As
early as February, 1860, its
legislature had passed resolutions providing that in the event
of the election of a Republican candidate for President, a con-
and it appropriated two hundred
;
thousand dollars for military contingencies. Early in November Governor Moore, in an address to the people of that State,
vention should be held
�INSURRECTIONARY MOVEMENTS.
9
said that the only hope for the future security of
other slaveholding States
was
in secession.
Alabama and
On
the 6th of
December he issued a proclamation ordering delegates to be
chosen on the 24th of December to meet in convention on the
7th of January.
The
ber.
legislature of Florida assembled
Governor Madison
on the 26th of Novem-
S. Perry, in his message, declared
that the domestic peace of that State depended upon " secession from their faithless and perjured confederates."
Scout-
ing the idea that they should wait for an overt act, he ex" My countrymen, if we wait for an overt act of
claimed
:
the Federal government our fate will be that of the white
inhabitants of St. Domingo."
an extraordinary sesmeet on the 10th of December. In
that it did not comport " with the honor
Governor Morse
of Louisiana called
sion of the legislature to
message he said
and self-respect of Louisiana, as a slaveholding State, to
under the government of a Black Republican President."
his
live
He
declared that the question rose above ordinary political consid-
and involved
erations,
ence.
their present
Union, he declared that
tempt
honor and future
exist-
Asserting the right of a State to secede from the
if
the Federal government should at-
to coerce a sovereign State, Louisiana
" If I
her assistance.
said, " the convention,
will not
am
if
would hasten to
not mistaken in public opinion," he
assembled, will decide that Louisiana
submit to the Presidency of Mr. Lincoln."
Tlie legis-
lature called a convention to assemble on the 22d of January,
appropriated half a million dollars for military purposes, and
gave the governor authority to correspond with the governors
On
of Southern States.
the 26th of January the convention
adopted an ordinance, by a vote of one hundred and thirteen
to seventeen, declaring that " the union now subsisting between
Louisiana and other States under the
name
United
America is hereby dissolved."
Similar movements were inaugurated in the other States
which afterwards seceded, but not with the same immediate
success.
Excepting South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, none were sufficiently ripe for
States of
'
of the
'
�10
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Though destined to succumb at length, they hesitated,
fearing to make the fearful leap or join in the terrible venture.
revolt.
Only these six were then prepared to assume the responsibiliand take the risks involved, in becoming the nucleus of
the new slaveholding federation which had been for years, not
to say generations, a Southern dream, in setting up the illomened and ill-fated Confederacy, whose end was as disastrous
as its beginning was disgraceful, and the bitterness of whose
fruits was exceeded only by the guilt and folly of those who
sowed the seed from which they sprung. But emissaries were
at work with only too much success, and it was only a question of time when North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkanties
and Texas would link their destinies with the new-formed
Meanwhile other events of great importance and
significance were taking place, making a mention of the steps
by which these last-mentioned States were finally induced to
sas,
republic.
secede more appropriate farther on.
�CHAPTER
II.
president's message and senate debate.
— Message. — Opinion of Attorney-General. — Equivocal
— Senate. — Extreme speech of Clingman. — Lane, Iver—
son, Davis, and Wigfall. — Union speeches of Crittenden and Saulsbury.
Speech of Hale. — Appointment of committees.
Anxiety and alarm.
and
unsatisfactory.
meeting of Congress was ever anticipated with more anxand apprehension than that of the 3d of December, 1860.
In the feverish excitement of the hour all eyes were turned
towards Washington to catch the first intimations of what was
to be the policy of the government in regard to the recusant and
No
iety
rebellious States.
with the South
The well-known sympathy
filled
of
Mr. Buchanan
one section of the country with hope, the
other with apprehension, and both were alike eager to ascertain
what the utterances
of his
message would
be.
Nor were
those utterances calculated greatly to relieve the apprehensions
of the patriotic or to disturb the conclusions of the treasonable.
Alluding to the " discontent " which, he contended, was
generally prevalent, and which he attributed, without equivocation, to Northern and not to Southern wrong-doing, the
President affirmed that " the long-continued and intemperate
interference of the Northern people on the question of slavery
in the Southern States
effects,"
has at length produced
which were, in the language
its
natural
of President Jackson,
he
quoted, to " stimulate " the slaves " to insurrection and to produce all the horrors of civil war." " The time of Congress,"
he said, " has been occupied in violent speeches on this neverending subject, and appeals in pamphlet and other forms indorsed by distinguished names have been sent forth from this
�12
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and spread broadcast over the Union." The
question could be easily settled, he said, by letting the South
alone, and permitting it to manage its own affairs in its own
central point
way.
Thus aspersing the North and defending the South, he
pro-
ceeded to the task of dissuading the section he had represented
as so grievously
sion.
The
a plurality
wronged from the threatened remedy
of seces-
by
had been " held in
election of Mr. Lincoln, which, though effected
and not a majority
of votes,
conformity with the express provisions " of the Constitution, afforded, he said, no justification for " the destruction
strict
of the best system of
government ever devised by mortals."
In the absence of any overt acts there was, he contended, certainly no good reason for secession in the mere apprehension
of
what the government might
States
may
do.
Admitting that certain
have been obnoxious to the charge of unfriendly
legislation in the matter of the Fugitive Slave Act,
he asserted
that the laws of 1793 and 1850 had been the laws of the land,
and that in
cuted.
He
all
contested cases they had been faithfully exe-
admitted that in case of failure in that regard
" the injured States would be
justified in revolutionary resist-
ance to the government of the Union."
But he combated the idea that because a State felt agSuch a principle being adgrieved, it had a right to secede.
mitted, he contended that " the
Confederacy is a rope of
sand," and " the thirty-three States may resolve themselves
into as many petty, jarring, and hostile republics, each one
from the Union without responsibility whenever any
sudden excitement might impel them to such a course." Besides arguing ably and conclusively against the State-rights
retiring
doctrine of the secessionists, quoting the language of Madison,
and that
of
Jackson in his message transmitting the nullifying
ordinance of South Carolina in 1833, he triumphantly referred
to the manifest intention of the framers of the Constitution.
" It was not intended by
its
framers," he said, " to be the
baseless fabric of a vision which, at the toucli of the enchanter,
would vanish into thin
air,
fabric, capable of resisting the
but a substantial and mighty
slow decay of tune, and of defy-
�PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE AND SENATE DEBATE.
After conceding the right of revolu-
ing the storms of ages."
tion and asserting that secession
revolution, he inquired
sibility
"
:
and true position
he answers his own
13
is
What in
neither
the
more nor
mean time
"
"
is
He
less
than
the responis
bound,"
question, " by solemn oath before
God and
of the executive
?
the country to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
and from
he cannot be absolved by any
this obligation
human
power," though, as in the case of South Carolina, where
" the whole machinery of the Federal government had been
demolished," he expressed the opinion that " it would be difficult, if
not impossible, to replace
the collection of customs.
to find
any provisions
He
it," except, it
might be, in
professed, however, his inability
of the Constitution " to
overcome the
united opposition of a single State, not to speak of other States
who may place themselves in a similar attitude," and he added
that it may be safely asserted that the power to make war
against a State
of the
is
at variance with the
Constitution,"
To
whole
spirit
the question whether,
and intent
if
we
pos-
would be wise to coerce a State, he replied
by saying that " the Union can never be cemented by the
blood of its citizens shed in civil war," and that " the sword
was not placed in their hands to preserve it by force."
In the absence of the power to preserve the Union by force
he urged upon Congress the remedy of " conciliation," and he
proposed for that purpose " an explanatory amendment of the
" the recognition of the right
Constitution " on three points
sessed the power,
it
:
©f property in slaves in States
the duty of protecting it in all
and the recognition of the right of
the master to have his escaping slave delivered up." " Such an
explanatory amendment," he said, " would, it is believed, forthe
common
Territories
;
;
ever terminate the existing dissension and restore peace and
harmony among the States."
With
his
own views
thus expressed, the President laid be-
fore Congress the opinion of the Attorney-General, to
whom
he had propounded the question of executive power in the
premises.
In this elaborate paper Mr. Black had laid down
substantially the
President
same principles and conclusions which the
and proclaimed.
Beginning with the
indorsed
�14
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
assertion that Loth the general
IN AMERICA.
and State governments were
restricted in their action not only within certain limits, fixed
by the Constitution, but to certain modes of procedure, he contended that there was no authority to vary from the prescribed
rule, no right to " accomplish a legal purpose by illegal
means." He admitted that the duty of the executive to protect the public property was " very clear," as was generally
acknowledged in the raid of John Brown at Harper's Ferry,
Coming, however, to the question whether or not
in 1859.
the President had a right to coerce a seceding State, he quoted
first the law of 1807 which gave him the power to use the land
and naval forces to enforce the laws wherever the militia
might be called out by the law of 1795. As the latter authorized the use of the militia whenever the execution of the United
States laws was " obstructed in any State by combinations too
powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial
proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals," so un-
der the later law the President might use the land and naval
forces for the
same purpose
;
in other words, he
was
to help
the Federal officers to do what they could not accomplish of
themselves.
But what, he inquired,
is
to be done
eral officials join in the general defection
?
if
these Fed-
If there are
no
Federal judges and marshals to be helped, then, answering his
own question, he expressed the opinion that the use of troops
would be " wholly illegal " and he contended that " under
;
such circumstances to send a military force into any State
with orders to act against the people would be simply making
war upon them."
" Wliether Congress has the constitutional right to make
is," he said, " a question for
war against one or more States
though he added, " no such
power is expressly given or implied." Adducing the warmaking powers enumerated in the Constitution, his conclusion
was that its provisions were made to protect the States and
not to make war upon them. " If this view be correct," lie
Congress
itself
to
consider,"
Union must utterly perish at the moment
arm one part of the people against anany purpose beyond that of merely protecting the
averred, " then the
when Congress
other for
shall
�AND SENATE DEBATE.
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
15
general government in the execution of its proper constitufunctions " ; and he significantly inquired, " Is any
tional
portion of the people bound to contribute their
to carry on
The
money
or blood
"
a contest like that
?
President's message was acceptable to neither extreme.
it was sharply criticised and severely
condemned by both parties in each house. His harsh language
towards the North was distasteful to every sympathizer with
Heartily approved by few,
freedom, while his decided condemnation of secession disaffected those who favored that mode of solving the great prob-
His equivocal position, his nerveless and non-committal
policy, his fierce denunciation of those who would preserve,
and his deprecatory tone towards those who would destroy, the
lem.
Union, excited both the surprise and contempt, the wrath and
mirth, of those who listened to its unfounded assumptions,
its
inconsequential suggestions, and
recommendations.
its
hopelessly inadequate
Instead of bravely and squarely meeting
the fearful issue, and proposing measures commensurate with
the exigencies of the hour, he left the country wondering at
its imbecility,
and oppressed with the sickening conviction
that in that supreme
moment
of the nation's history they
were intrusted with the keeping of
its
honor and
its life
who
were
proving themselves faithless to their trust, at least helpless for
good.
The
delivery of such a message at such a time, with such
the temper of both Congress and the country, became the signal
of a long
and heated debate
in both houses.
In the Senate
the motion to print became the subject of an earnest discus-
which revealed very clearly not only the conflicting views
and feelings there entertained, but the strength and positiveness with which they were entertained.
Mr. Clingman of
North Carolina led oif in a speech of extreme opinions and extravagant language. Admitting the patriotism of the President, he intimated that he had failed of putting the case as
sion,
strongly as the exigencies of the hour required.
he
said,
It
was
not,
simply because Mr. Lincoln was a dangerous man,
was so full of peril and of well-grounded
alarm, but because he was elected for that very reason. In-
that the
crisis
�16
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
RISE
stead of the checks which, the President liad intimated, would
exist in Congress, sliould the incoming administration attempt
to encroach on the rights of the South, he predicted that " the
same organization that
elected Mr. Lincoln
must soon control
both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, and
He
cers of the government."
all
said that the fact, on
the
offi-
which the
President dwelt, that Mr. Lincoln received hut " a minority of
votes " was only an " aggravation, as it turns out that little
more than one third of the voters may control all the departments of the government,"
a fact, he might have added,
which the long-continued domination of the Slave Power had
—
abundantly and disastrously
He
illustrated.
then expatiated at some length upon the indignities and
which the slaveholding States had received from the
arrogant North, and he asserted that both South Carolina and
all the South had been " wonderfully patient."
He contended
that the United States " would not submit for a moment to
injustice
the treatment from a foreign nation that the South has received
at the
that
Of the President's proposition
tlie North."
guaranties should be given to the South, he said, " I
hands of
new
do not see how any Southern
man
can make propositions.
propositions are made, they should
If
come from the North "
;
and, unless some comprehensive plan of that kind be adopted,
he counselled " a peaceable division." Alluding to the intimations that the South
would
suffer in case of division, he confi-
dently affirmed that they had no fears.
understand how
He
said he did not
the President's assertion that the executive
collect the revenue in a State was consistent with the
admission that he had no power to coerce a State back into
might
the Union
;
for he contended that
if
a seceded State becomes
a foreign nation by secession there could certainly be no authority in the government to collect taxes therein.
Instead
of waiting for overt acts, as the President had intimated, he
expressed the opinion that it was best " to meet the issue in
" It is idle," he said, " for men to shut their eyes to
limine.''''
consequences like these.
evil, let
those
who have
If
anything can be done to avert the
the power do it."
He
regarded
it
as
one of the wisest remarks of Mr. Calhoun that "the Union could
�PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
not be saved by eulogies upon
AND SENATE DEBATE.
17
Joseph Lane of Oregon,
it."
the candidate for the Vice-Presidency on the ticket with
John C. Breckenridge in the preceding election, led off in a
very extreme and violent speech. He affirmed that the recent
election had been a verdict of the people that " equality in this
country shall not prevail " that " fifteen States of this Union
Assuming, too, that the election had deshall be inferiors."
;
cided that territory already free should remain free, he said
that on such conditions " there can be no peace in this coun-
can be no Union.
try, there
It does
not exist to-day."
Mr.
was not an objectionable man
but he was dangerous because he was supported by a party
Liticoln himself, he admitted,
holding such views.
Mr. Iverson of Georgia, the next day, made a very violent
and defiant speech. He began by conceding that no State had
any right to secede on constitutional ground. He admitted
that it was only the right of revolution he urged, which it could
exercise only " at
of war,
its peril," liable, of course, to the infliction
the remaining States should " see fit to regard it
if
He condemned the position of the Presias a casus belli."
dent because he represented that " the Federal government is
in fact a consolidated government
association
of
States,
He
gether wrong."
—a
not a voluntary
position," he regarded as " alto;
that
it is
affirmed, too, that the States not only
had the right to secede, but that some of them had made up
their minds to that policy, to go out of the Union while they
had the strength. " Sir," he said, " before the 4th of March
— before
you inaugurate your President
tainly five States,
He
if
— there
will be cer-
not eight of them, out of the Union."
all promised concessions would be of no
inasmuch as it was the " public sentiment " of the North
against slavery which they feared, and not the personal liberty
"
bills of Northern legislation or the apprehended " overt acts
of the incoming President. Besides, he claimed that there was
an enmity between the Northern and Southern people, that
was deep and enduring, and which could not be eradicated.
" We have not lived in peace," he said " we are not now
admitted that
avail,
;
living in peace.
It is
not expected or hoped that
we
shall
�18
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
EISE
He
ever live in peace."
charged that the Northern people
hated the South worse than ever the Enghsh people hated the
French nor was there any love lost on the part of the South.
He declared that they were going out, " peaceably if we can,
;
forcibly
if
we must."
But he did not expect war,
lieved the North would see
go in peace.
We
" But
if
war
it
is
for he be-
to be its true policy to let
to
come," he
said,
"
let it
them
come.
meet the Senator from New Hampshire and all the
myrmidons of Abolitionism and Black Republicanism everywhere upon our own soil and, in the language of a distinguished member from Ohio in relation to the Mexican war, '"we
"
will welcome you with bloody hands to hospitable graves.'
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi did little more than remark
that before a declaration of war is made against the State of
which he was a citizen, " I expect to be out of the chamber
that when that declaration of war is made, the State of which
I am a citizen will be found ready and quite willing to meet
will
;
it."
Louis T. Wigfall of Texas made a characteristic speech.
He
dissented from the position of Mr. Iverson, that the act of
was unconstitutional and revolutionary. He condemned the message, not for the reason which had been urged,
that it was " neither one thing nor the other," but for the reason that " it is both one thing and the other," making the
additional criticism that " it is difficult for men who have no
secession
well-defined ideas
them
upon subjects which they discuss
so that they can be correctly understood."
to discuss
He
spoke of
the views of the President as " vague," of his opinions as being
" on both sides." He avowed the extremest State-rights doc-
and contended that any State had a right to secede
" with or without cause." " We simply say," he added, " that
a man who is distasteful to us has been elected, and we choose
trines,
to consider that as a sufficient ground for leaving the Union,
and we intend to leave the Union." In reply to one who intimated that he had misapprehended the President's message,
he said, " I confess, sir, that I do not understand it and the
more I read it the less do I comprehend it."
The Union, however, found advocates. Among them was
;
�PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE AND SENATE DEBATE.
19
Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky, who, tliough a slaveholder, expressed great regret at the course of remark which had been
To
pursued.
the sentiments of the Senator from North Caro-
he entered his most earnest protest, avowing at the same
time " the hope that the Union which was tlie glory of the
In
fathers will not become the shame of their children."
lina,
regard to the opinion that the election of Mr. Lincoln afforded
cause of alarm, even of secession, he said, " there is at least
The
diversity, great diversity, of opinion."
President's posi-
he affirmed, that no State has a right to secede from the
Union, and the position that " the Union has no right to inter-
tion,
pose any obstacle to
its
secession, seems to
me
to be altogether
contradictory."
Willard Saulsbury of Delaware, though from a slaveholding
Union. He admitted and claimed
"
reaped too many blessings therefrom to
that his State had
" Sir,"
cause any son of hers to raise his hand against it."
State, spoke earnestly for the
he
said, "
when
that
Union
ness and folly of others
stroyed)
it
will
sentatives to say
It
shall be destroyed
(if,
unfortunately,
it
by the mad-
shall be so de-
be time enough for Delaware and her repre-
what
will be her course."
remained, however, for the Senator from
New Hampshire,
to give the true and patriotic response to the imbecile and
equivocal counsels of the President, and to the treasonable and
defiant utterances of Southern rebels.
Claiming to speak only
Hale declared this to be the reading of the
" South Carolina has just cause for seceding from
for himself, Mr.
message
:
the Union
;
that
is
the
first
she has no right to secede.
proposition.
The
third
is,
The second is, that
we have no riglit
that
from seceding. That is the President's message
substantially"; while the power of the government is "a power
to do nothing at all."
Instead of recommending to Congress
some rule of action, " he has entirely avoided it. He has failed
to look the thing in the face." Contending that that was not
the way to look at the matter, and that the only alternative
presented was, " unconditional submission on the part of the
to prevent her
majority," or war, he said, if the former be the accepted alternative, " it is a Union of a dictatorial oligarchy on the one
�20
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAYE POWER
and a herd
side,
of slaves
IN AMERICA.
and cowards on the
other.
That
nothing less." But rather than such
base surrender he chose the latter, " let it come in any form
is it, sir,
nothing more
or in any shape."
He
;
expressed, too, the additional opinion
if there were those who were looking for further concessions from the North, " they miscalculate and mistake."
Ad-
that,
mitting every constitutional obligation in the matter of the
rendition of fugitive slaves, he quoted Mr. Toombs's previous
admission that the general government was faithfully performing
all its
functions in relation to the slave States, and con-
tended that the
sum
of all the aggressions of the
North upon
the South was infinitely outweighed by those committed by the
South upon the North. He expressed the fullest conviction
that the State he represented would " stand to-day and forever
fully acquit of
any
any charge
of infraction of the Constitution, or
of its provisions, be they onerous or otherwise."
quently alluded to the great experiment of a
rcjiul^lic
He
elo-
which they
were then trying, which it took Rome six hundred years to try,
and on which they were " just at the beginning." " At the very
hour," he said, " that the States of Italy, taught by the bitter
experience of centuries, are seeking by a consolidated constitutional
government to come together and unite
for liberty, for independence, for progress,
all
if
their energies
we, untaught by
the past, reckless of the present, and blind to the future,
should madly dash
ourselves
upon
this
dark ocean, whose
shores no eye of prophecy or faith can discern,
we
shall pre-
sent a sad spectacle to the world."
But general debate and the miscellaneous remarks that
would naturally be made in such a spontaneous discussion of
the President's message were not all that the stern and threatSomething more
ening exigencies of the hour demanded.
Measures must be depositive and practical must be done.
vised, if possible, to check the disorganizing and disintegrating
tendencies that were menacing the very existence and longer
Something must be done to
continuance of the body politic.
The wisdom of tlie wisest was
avert the impending blow.
needed, the mutual conference and comparison of views of the
most experienced and sagacious must be
called into requisi-
�PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE AND SENATE DEBATE.
21
tion, and the subject must be removed from the excitement
and publicity of the Senate and the House to the quiet and
retirement of the committee-room. Accordingly, on the very
day of the delivery of the President's message, a motion was
made in the House for the appointment of a special committee to which it should be referred.
The motion was
adopted with very little debate. A similar motion was made
in the Senate, which led to longer debate, but it was likewise
adopted.
�CHAPTER
SPECIAL
III.
COMMITTEES UPON THE CRISIS IN THE SENATE AND
HOUSE.
— Powell's motion in the Senate. — De— Preston King, Green. — Douglas's patriotic appeal. —Speech of
Jefferson Davis. — Response by Green. — Speeches by Sumner, Dixon, Brown,
and Pugh. — Speech of Mason. — Mr. Wade's sharp arraignment. — Appointment of the Committee of Thirteen. — Boteler's motion. — Carried, and committee appointed. — Requests and debate thereon. — Resolutions. — Reports. —
Generally conservative. — That of Washburn and Tappan. — True to freedom.
— Debate earnest and intense. — Corwin. — Speeches of Millson, Clemens,
General bewilderment and uncertainty.
bate thereon.
Bingham, Lovejoy, McPherson, Sedgwick, Stevens, Ferry, Humphrey, AVilSouthern advocates
Conservative views of Chai-les Francis Adams.
—
— Maynard, Davis, Hamilton. — Voting. — Passage. — Senate. —
Debate. — Mason's substitute. — Speeches of Chandler, Crittenden, Trumbull,
son.
—
of Union.
Wigfall, Wilson, and
There can be no
Wade.
intelligent
and appreciative reading
of the
opening debates of the session now under review without careful note of the general bewilderment and feeling of uncertainty
While men were measurably clear in their own
minds respecting the thing desired, they were very much at loss
Whether
as to the best, or even possible, way of securing it.
occupying extreme or intermediate grounds, the wisest and
most astute could only approximate conclusions on which they
could with confidence rely. Both the fi'iends and enemies
of the government, being ignorant of the purposes and plans
of each other, and much more of the Divine purpose and plan
involved in the mighty events through which they were passing and toward which they were looking, their own were necesBoth houses had
sarily inchoate, tentative, and incomplete.
appointed special committees, and their reports became the subjects of debate and action. Though the House moved first, and
its report became the basis of the final action of Congress,
that prevailed.
�THE
some account
CRISIS IN
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
23
committee and
of the report of the Senate's
its
an essential part of a history of the session.
On the 10th Lazarus W. Powell of Kentucky introduced a
resolution that " so much of the President's message as relates
consideration
is
to the present agitated
and
and distracted condition of the country,
between the slaveholding and non-slavehold-
to grievances
ing States be referred to a committee of thirteen members ;
and that said committee be instructed to inquire into the present condition of the country, and report by
It
became the subject
The
until the 18th.
of a long debate,
bill
or otherwise."
and was not adopted
discussion, however, necessarily revealed
at once tlie sentiments
and
lines of thought, the wishes
and pur-
poses of the different sections and schools at that great crisis.
refrained, he said, from any considera"
"
of " the unfortunate state of affairs,"
tion of the
causes
"
to restore unity, quiet, and security to a disonly seeking
The mover purposely
Preston King of New York expressed his belief that the Republic would go " safely through
the crisis," and his doubt of the necessity of " raising this
tracted and divided people."
committee at
all
"
;
but
if
there
was " a
fitness in it,"
he
favored a full and free inquiry upon the various subjects proposed.
James
S.
Green
of Missouri
avowed
vote for the committee, because in his esteem
his purpose to
it
was important
to " use every effort not to precipitately hurry over the precipice
and
fall into
the yawning gulf, without an effort to reason
together, to pause a
may
not be done."
moment
to reflect
and see
if
something
Intimating that he had grave doubts as to
any amendments of the Constitution, he expressed
the conviction that they were " not worth a straw," so long as
the. value of
" a vitiated and corrupted state of public sentiment prevails,
North and South." Saying that there were but two modes
of government, by " common consent " and by " physical
force," he proposed a resolution " for estaljlishing an armed
police force at all necessary points along the line separating the
slaveholding from the non-slaveholding States, to prevent the
invasion of one State by citizens of another, and also for the
efficient
execution of the fugitive slave laws."
raids into Missouri,
and
to that of
Referring to the
John Brown
into Virginia,
�24
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
contended that it was not enough to punish invaders, the
government should " prevent invasion," as also " the abduc-
lie
tion of slaves."
On
the subject of the required rendition of
from " distinguished writers and
on the subject " to establish the constitutionality of such
rendition.
Lafayette S. Foster of Connecticut, having intimated his readiness to support the proposition, the more readily
because it came from the dominant party, Stephen S. Douglas
of Illinois, expressed his regret at hearing any allusion to party
politics.
He said he was willing to " act with any party and
with any individual of any party " for the preservation of the
Constitution and the Union. Professing himself to be as good
a party man as any man living, he said, " I do not desire to hear
fugitives he quoted largely
jurists
the word party, or to listen to any party appeal, while
we
are
considering and discussing the questions on which the fate of
the country
now hangs."
Jefferson Davis, whose prominence and subsequent leadership in the secession
movement invested
significance, spoke briefly.
firmament seemed to
political
little in
his words with special
" Mr. President," he said, " if the
me dark
before, there has been
the discussion this morning to cheer or illumine it."
Alluding to what he stigmatized the " quack nostrums " which
had been proposed, he indicated his conviction that " men
must look more
would
destruction.
first
must
deeply,
rise to a
higher altitude "
if
they
which disturb the land and threaten
relieve the evils
its
" The diagnosis of the disease," he said, " must
be stated before
we
are prepared to prescribe."
Enun-
ciating the doctrines of State rights, inveighing against con-
and praising the form and even the past adminthe government as of unrivalled excellence, he
dwelt with all the force of the most intense expressions upon
the utter inadequacy of any mere enactments of law, or the
adoption of any mere amendments of the Constitution. The
trouble lay deeper, he said, in the feelings of the people, in
" sectional hostility," which had been substituted " for the
Then,
fraternity in which the government was founded
solidation,
istration of
where
is
the remedy
hearts of the people,
may
?
the question
is
the ready reply."
be asked. In the
It was " rooted in
�THE
fraternity,"
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
CRISIS IN
25
and -when that was destroyed, the government
the fathers ceased to exist.
He
of
said he could " not compre-
of the Southern Senator who would substitute
Federal force for State obligations and authority." " I fear," he
said, " his proposition is to rear a monster which will break
hend the policy
the feeble chain provided, and destroy rights
it
was intended
Mr. Green, nettled by the opprobrious designation
of " quack nostrums," applied to the propositions which had
to guard."
been made, replied with some
He
spirit.
referred
to
the
compared with those
of the gulf States, Mississippi and Louisiana losing, he said,
" but one boxed-up negro," while Missouri, Kentucky, Virgreater hazard
ginia,
and
loss of the border as
and Maryland had "
lost
thousands and thousands and
thousands." Their wrongs, he contended, were real, and needed
practical remedies, while those
rather " ideal and imaginary."
extreme South were
of the
Charles Sumner spoke briefly, and contented himself with
General Jackson
which he characterized the nuUifiers as " wicked
demagogues." " The tariff," said the hero of the Hermitage,
"it is now known, was a mere pretext, .... disunion and a
Southern Confederacy the real object. The next pretext will
calling public attention to the testimony of
in 1833, in
be the negro or slavery question."
James Dixon
cut pleaded the cause of harmony.
Declaring his dissent from
of Connecti-
was any necessary antagonism between free
and slave labor, he expressed the conviction that if slavery
the idea that there
would be because " the statesmen
and his belief that,
if the matter could be left to the people, the " States would
continue to be bound together in eternal union by the golden
chains of mutual advantage." Albert G. Brown of Mississippi
avowed his purpose to vote against the resolution because he
had no faith in its efficacy, and because he would not encourshould destroy the Union
it
of the day are incompetent to the task "
;
among his people that he knew to be groundless.
Acts of Congress, he said, could not extinguish " sectional
hate." " You might as well undertake to extract a cancer
age hopes
with a mustard plaster as to root up this political disease by
means
like these."
Mr. Pugh of Ohio opposed with warmth
�26
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
these remarks of !Mr. Brown, and pleaded earnestly for har-
mony and concession. He pronounced Mr. Iverson's assertion,
that the two sections hated each other, " a calumny."
He
deprecated, however, all resort to coercive measures. " What,"
he inquired, " would South Carolina be worth to herself or to
us, if she were dragged captive in chains ? .... If she cannot
be retained by bonds of affection,
or, if estranged,
cannot be
brought back to us by acts of kindness, why, let her depart
Mr. Mason of Virginia would vote for
in sorrowful silence."
the resolution, though he had no faith that Congress could do
anything effective, saying
its
tliat
he should regret extremely
if
passage should encourage or lead the non-slaveholdiiig
States to look to Congress for any hope of an adjustment of
The
these differences.
difficulty,
he
said,
was not the
failure
to execute the fugitive slave laws, nor the passage of personal
of opinion
;
—
was " a social war,
a war of sentiment,
a war of one form of society against another form
liberty bills, but
it
He
of society."
deprecated the proposition that the executive
should have the necessary power placed in his hands to execute
That means," he said, that " the law is to march
the laws.
straight forward, like the car of Juggernaut, crushing all
may
oppose
it."
The only ground
of hope,
who
he thought, was
conventions at the North as
they were then doing at the South, must " determine whether
with the people, who, meeting
in
anything and what can be done to save this Union." The
debate of the 11th turned largely upon the question whether
or not the compromises of the Constitution had been carri(3d
out in good faith.
Douglas and Pugh contended that they had
been, while Green and Iverson maintained that practically they
had not been, faithfully executed.
Near the close of the debate Mr. Wade of Ohio made a long
and manly speech. With earnest and eloquent voice he vindicated the demands of justice and humanity; characterized
with ability and refreshing boldness the course of those
who discarded the
what they claimed
their country
;
doctrine of
human
for themselves,
rights, denied to others
and proved traitorous
to
and announced with unflinching firmness the
whom he acted, and who were soon to
purposes of those with
�THE
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
CRISIS IN
assume the reins
of
lican party
who made
Referring to the complaints
power.
against the Republicans so
27
rife,
he remarked that the Repub-
had never had an executive
officer,
while those
the complaints, though representing a
little
more
than one fourth of the free people of the United States, had
generally had the men of their choice in every department of
and controlling its
He alluded to the admissions of Iverson, Mason,
action.
and Brown that they had suffered little from personal liberty
the
government, dictating
bills or
its
policies
the failure of Northern States to carry out the compro-
mises of the Constitution
;
adding the specific testimonies and
—
Pugh,
had ever proved themIndeed, he asserted that where
selves faithful in that regard.
through
the unfaithfulness of Northern
lost
one slave had been
tribunals, ten men had been murdered by either Southern
mobs, or those inspired by Southern hate. The Fugitive Slave
Act was fearfully repugnant to Northern feelings, and yet it
had generally been faithfully executed, though, at the same
time. Northern seamen were habitually imprisoned in Southern
ports.
And not only had the North been thus generally innocent of the infraction of laws, even those most odious, but he
claims of the Democratic Senators from the North,
Douglas, and Fitch,
— that the
free States
claimed that the distinctive doctrines of those he represented
were no " new doctrines." " We stand," he said, " where
Washington stood, where Jefferson stood, where Madison^
stood, where Monroe stood.
We stand where Adams and
Jackson and even Polk stood
You have changed your
opinion.
We stand where we used to stand. That is the
only difference."
He closed his speech by avowing the purpose of the Republican party to prohibit slavery in
territory, to oppose all further
all
free
compromises, to use the power
recent victory had placed in its hands to maintain the
Union, and to coerce, if needed, any seceding States to return
its
to
their
indebted allegiance.
If,
however, he added, they
should secede and maintain their independence, he warned
them that those who rallied around the flag would find " in
the fair fields of
Mexico" an adjunct that would
invite the
protectorate of the United States, which " would be sevenfold
�28
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
indemnified by the trade and commerce of that country for
what it would lose by secession." The resolution was adopted
on the following day, without a division. On the 20th the
Vice-President announced the committee, which consisted of
Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, Seward, Toombs, Douglas, Collamer, Davis, Wade, Bigler, Rice, Doolittle, and Grimes.
In the House, Alexander H. Boteler of Virginia moved to
message as pertained to the
from
each State. The motion was promptly adopted by a vote of
one hundred and forty-five to thirty-eight, although all the South
Carolina delegation and most of those of Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, and Mississippi refused to vote on the plea that their
respective States had ordered conventions which alone had the
power to settle the matter. On the announcement of the committee, a sharp debate sprang up on requests to be excused
from serving thereon. George S. Hawkins of Florida, in his
refer so mucli of the President's
perilous condition of the country to a committee of one
speech urging his request, alluded to the fact that his State
had already inaugurated measures looking towards secession,
and to his own belief that " the time of compromise had passed
forever."
cause
it
He
did not, he
the country.
made
criticised the composition of the
He
said, too, that
the proposition
committee be-
thought, represent fully the sentiment of
;
no Southern
man
should have
that the South " should have
stood
and assumed an attitude of self-defence, of stern defiance,
Clement L. Vallanawaiting an overture from the North."
digham of Ohio indorsed the sentiments of Mr. Hawkins,
protested against tlie arrangement of the committee, and expressed his unwillingness to compel any one to serve upon it.
Reuben Davis of Mississippi deprecated the appointment of
aloof
the committee, and expressed the conviction that every South-
member should resign. But, as that would not be, he
accepted his appointment, to " aid in preventing deception,"
tliough he regarded the measure " a tub thrown to the whale
ern
amuse till the 4th of March next," and to " arrest the
manly movement of the Southern States." But Hawkins's
request was refused liy a decisive vote, as was also another
by Boyce of South Carolina.
to
�THE
CRISIS IN
John A. McClernand
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
of Illinois, a
29
prominent member of the
conservative Democracy, approved of the committee, though
he complained of its composition and of what he chose to
regard a " proscription," or a discrimination against those
—
an advoDemocrats who had stood up for Southern rights,
cacy and support, he thought, which rendered the course of
the seceding States all the more reprehensible. " The South,"
he said, " whose battles
we have been
fighting, are about to
desert us in the hour of our extremity by withdrawing from
the Union.
I will not believe
it
until I
am
forced to do so."
But he was not compelled to wait long before the conviction
was forced upon him and Northern Democrats generally, that
the men who had broken faith with the government, and violated the solemn oaths of office they had voluntarily taken,
would have few scruples of party fealty, or anything like adequate remembrance of past services and sacrifices in their behalf
and that they who had for generations disregarded the
requirements of all laws, human and Divine, would not be
held back from the realization of their long-cherished dreams
and plans by any considerations of even partisan comity and
;
obligation.
It having been voted that all resolutions and propositions
upon the general subject should be referred to the committee,
twenty-five such different propositions were presented and
thus referred. A resolution offered by Isaac N. Morris, a
Democratic member from Illinois, that the election of Abraham
Lincoln did not justify a dissolution of the Union, was adopted
by a vote of one hundred and fifteen to forty-four. Another,
offered by Martin J. Crawford of Georgia, declaring that the
Constitution recognizes
come
laid
citizens,
on the
property in
slaves
who cannot
be-
gave rise to a two days' debate, but was finally
table.
During the discussion
McClernand offered a
substitute proposing
motion Mr.
an amendment of
of the
but it was voted down.
The committee was appointed, with Mr. Corwin
the Constitution
chairman.
It
;
held
its first
of Ohio
meeting on the 11th of December,
although
On
of
That
it did not report until five weeks later.
January there were presented eight reports.
tlie
14th
of the
�30
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
KISE
IN AMERICA.
majority, presented by the chairman, took the middle ground
compromise and comparative moderation, though its prewas that of surrender, with the manifest purpose
to make every concession possible to avert the impending disruption.
Though dissenting from the severe arraignment of
the North by the President, as unsustained by facts, it urged
of
vailing tone
strongly the importance of fulfilling
all
constitutional obliga-
tions in the matter of returning fugitives,
belief that a very small fraction of the
and expressed the
Northern people was
opposed to such reclamation, and also satisfaction that many
Northern States were already reviewing and revising
of the
them
their statute-books to rid
The
lation.
all
of all such objectionable legis-
resolutions proposed for adoption affirmed that
attempts of State legislatures to obstruct the working of the
Fugitive Slave Act should be discountenanced
;
suggested that
the several State legislatures should revise their statutes to
ascertain whether or not any were in conflict with provisions
meddle with slavaffirmed that there was no sufficient ground
of the Constitution
ery in the States
;
;
disclaimed
for the dissolution of the
observance of
all
all right to
Union
;
declared that the faithful
was essential to
recommended that the State legisla-
constitutional obligations
the peace of the country
;
tures should revise their laws concerning the right of the
zens of one State to travel unmolested in another
;
citi-
and that
the States should be requested to enact proper laws against the
lawless invasion of one State by the citizens of another.
To
assure the South that the Republican party had no ulterior designs on the institution of slavery in the States,
it
proposed an
denying to Congress any power to interfere with slavery " until every State in the Union,
amendment
by
its
of the Constitution
individual State action, shall consent to its exercise."
The question
of slavery in the Territories
by the compromise
ery code
;
of admitting
which, like
all
it
proposed to adjust
New Mexico
with
its
proslav-
previous compromises, was simply
another concession to slaveholding demands. Though the report appeared sufficiently Southern, containing but one seeming concession to Northern interests and wants,
mendation of new
—
its
recom-
provisions for the protection of citizens of
�*THE CRISIS IN THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
31
—
it did not answer the deone State travelling in another,
mands of the members from Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas,
Delaware, and North Carolina. Something more intensely
Southern was requisite and this they embodied in an elaborate
;
report, closing with a
recommendation
of the
" Crittenden res-
olutions," or a convention of the States for the
amendment
of
the Constitution, or, in default of these, a plan for peaceful
separation.
With the exception of the report signed by Washburn of
Wisconsin and Tappan of New Hampshire, which alone had
the true ring of freedom and fealty to human rights, each of
the eight reports was apologetic and deprecatory in tone, conceding much, sacrificing Northern self-respect, and ignoring,
as
they did not exist,
if
They
all
all
claims of justice and humanity.
exhibited a feverish anxiety to escape threatened dan-
from the heavy pressure which had
In the report signed by the
members from Wisconsin and New Hampshire, and in those
alone, was vindicated the great principle of republicanism,
It affirmed, too, with dignity
that the majority must rule.
resting upon the new
obligation
the
manly
positiveness,
and a
and
gers,
to secure relief
so long rested upon the nation.
and dominant party not
those
who made
to yield to the causeless clamors of
the election of Mr. Lincoln the pretence for
their treasonable threats
and arrogant demands, by granting the
guaranties proposed by the majority
;
pleaded, against the pro-
posed modifications of Northern statutes to calm and conciliate
Southern prejudices and fears, the fact that the courts
were open for appeal
Northern
;
and noted the marked inconsistency of
so anxious to modify their own laws
but who had never exhibited any soliciSouthern statutes, by which Northern
men who were
at Southern dictation,
tude for the repeal of
men had been
persistently and remorselessly deprived of the
and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution. The
amendment of the Constitution recommended by the majority
rights
it
characterized as " a constitutional decree of perpetual bond-
To the proposed admission of New Mexico as a State,
adduced many grave objections, other than that of its proslavery laws.
Against all the propositions of the committee,
age."
it
�32
it
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
BISE
urged the impotence of every attempt at conciliation, because
the reasons of Southern discontent, they contended, lay not
in the unfriendly legislation of the North or in any real appre-
hension of Northern interference, but in a long-cherished purIt styled the Southern States " our
pose to leave the Union.
whose cure the proposed nostrums were " perit closed with the remark that the Constitution needed " to be obeyed rather than amended."
The debate upon these reports could not but be earnest and
eloquent.
The novelty of the situation, the impending dangers
to the government, dreaded by some and desired by others, the
very darkness and doubts that enveloped all things and hid
everything future so impenetrably from the view that men
could not even conjecture what a day might bring forth, were
well calculated to arouse the most sluggish and wake up the
dormant energies of those most determined to remain quiet
and undisturbed. If there was sensibility, it could not but be
sick
man,"
for
fectly idle "
and
;
was talent, it could not but be called into
was eloquence, it could not but speak. They
who would destroy and they who would conserve the government, they who would disgrace and they who would defend
quickened
action
;
if
;
if
there
there
the national flag, were placed in circumstances to
most
effective efforts.
The
call forth their
disunion they had hitherto talked
about as something contingent and, at the worst, at a distance,
seemed near at hand the secession which had been bandied
;
about for so
many
plished fact.
The
years as a threat had become an accom" situation," then, became the absorbing
subject of debate, whatever might be the specific motion or res-
Congress became the stage, and
its members actors, at least in the prelude of that awful tragedy which was soon to occupy the whole land as its theatre.
Mr. Corwin, in opening the debate, said he should confine
himself mainly to " an explanation of the motives which have
induced the committee " to make the recommendations of the
olution before either house.
report.
These " motives,"
it
soon transpired, were based on
the supposed expediency of the plan proposed, rather than upon
To pacify and persuade the " wayward
its justice and equity.
sisters " to return to their allegiance,
and to prevent others
�THE
CRISIS IN
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
83
and not to vindicate and protect the
still remained loyal, was its manifest purpose. He began by an allusion to the fact that twentyeight years before, in the same house, he had been called to
confront the nullification movement of South Carolina, based
on the same underlying principles which now prompted the
from following
their lead,
rights of those States which
action of the seceding States,
government, secession
bone of contention
;
its
—
dissatisfaction with the Federal
remedy.
Then
the tariff
was the
now, slavery.
work
and persuasion, he reminded the recusant States that they had the courts
to which they could resort in all cases of the infraction of the
Constitution and the laws.
He recognized the right of property in man, and the rightfulness of the Fugitive Slave Act,
which, he admitted and insisted, should be faithfully executed,
while all personal-liberty laws and other enactments should be
made to conform thereto. To the argument that Mr. Lincoln's
election foreshadowed the purpose and the danger of an ultimate assault on slavery in the States by an amendment of the
In
prosecution of the
tlie
of pacification
Constitution, he interposed for reply a consideration, both statistical
and geographical, showing that the party
could never
command
the
fourths votes to accomplish such a purpose.
pressed that the people of
of
freedom
necessary two-thirds and three-
The
fear
ex-
New Mexico
might be induced to
root up slavery when it became a State, he sought to dissipate
by the rather singular argument, for a Northern man, that the
system of peonage, which he rather indorsed, would be apt to
make
it
a slaveholding State.
argument
He
closed with an elaborate
to the effect that the
Southern desire for more territory was a mistake, and that her real want was more slaves
and less land.
John
S. Millson
of Virginia, though avowing himself a
and " a States-rights man of the straitest
sect," deprecated disunion, and pleaded earnestly for those
who desired to preserve the nation intact. If a Northern
State, he said, should enact the most unjust and unconstitutional laws, there were the courts and retaliating legislation,
and they would involve a far less fearful and fatal course than
friend of slavery
VOL.
III.
3
�34
EISE
secession.
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Though he deprecated
IN AMERICA.
secession
among
as
the
sorest of calamities that could befall the nation, yet he would
" oppose every resort to force and every attempt at coercion."
Sherrard Clemens, of .the same State, followed in a similar
strain, deprecating secession because,
he said, with truthful
would be " crucified if
in the dismemberment of the Union."
forecast, slavery
said, to the recusant States the
New England
States in 1798
:
"
this controversy
He would
ends
apply, he
language of Jefferson to the
A
little
patience,
and we
shall
see the reign of the witches pass over, their spells dissolved,
and the people recovering their true sight, restoring their government to its true principles."
John A. Bingham of Ohio addressed the House with great
eloquence and force. Admitting the right of revolution, he
showed, that, as this was a government of the people and not
of the States, they, and not the States, could avail themselves
of that primal right.
Concerning the assertion that the plan
proposed and adopted by the seceding States was " a peaceable
remedy," though it must " blot a great people from the map
" You might as well talk about a peaceof nations," he said
able earthquake wiiicli rends the earth asunder and buries its
You might as well talk to me
inhabitants in a common ruin.
of a peaceable storm which fills the heavens with darkness and
Of the
the hal)itations of men with desolation and death."
constitutional amendment proposed by the committee, he said
" This amendment, if adopted, will startle the civilized world.
:
It is a written conspiracy against the liberties of four million
men and their descendants forever." Of New Mexico he said
" She has to-day upon her statute-book two slave-codes which
:•
would bring blushes to the cheek of Caligula." With like earnestness and force Owen Lovejoy of Illinois spoke. Reverently invoking Divine aid and " the wisdom from above," he
said that he seemed to stand " in the august presence of thirty-
two million people."
Those who deprecated coercion he
re-
ferred to the fact that the seceders had stolen United States
" Those
property and had fired on a United States vessel.
balls," he said, "
flag,
booming, hissing, disgracing and defying the
burn and sting to the very quick continually.
And
yet,
�THE
we
CRISIS IN
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
35
compromise and conciliate. Never, as God
a particle of compromise until that insult
never."
Speaking of
is atoned, apologized for, and avenged
the Saviour, who " nestled beside the lowest form of the most
degraded, and whispered, in accents of divine love. My brother,"
" We might as well mock at the bloody agony of
he said
are asked to
lives, will I vote for
;
:
Christ as to jeer at the miseries of the poor slave."
said, in closing, "
ernment.
it is
" Sir," he
make shipwreck of this govwho made it preserve it
Mr. Washburn, who had signed one
a crime to
Let the American people
consecrated to freedom."
of the minority reports, defended its principles, closing with
must be broken and a new
would be a consolation to those who
survived, that they were what they never had been before, " in-
the declaration that,
if
one should be formed,
the Union
it
habitants of a free country."
In a similar strain spoke Edward McPherson of PennsylGiving the history and purpose of secession, and
vania.
subjecting the alleged reasons therefor to a most rigorous
examination, he declared that they were " complaints without
foundation, grievances without actuality, suffering without
wounds, oppression without burdens, and apprehensions without reason."
Charles B. Sedgwick of New York contended
that the only settlement of the difficulty lay in the path of a
vigorous and manly defence of principle.
He was opposed to
all compromises because, he believed, " the day of compromise
has past." " Besides," he added, " I regard the alleged com-
and the proposed remedies puerile." He
alluded to slavery as " a perpetual weakness, a disgrace, a
plaints groundless
—
calamity,"
not a disease to be cured by gentle remedies, but
" a case for surgery." " This hour," said Charles H. Van Wyck
of the same State, " witnesses the fulfilment of all we have pre-
and demands of slavery. From
places its hand on our throat,
and in the language of the highwayman, demands our money
or our life, our government or our principles
I think
I can see the finger of the Almighty moving on the troubled
waters.
Men and nations will do but little in warring against
dicted as to the encroachments
coercing the labor of one race,
his decrees."
it
�36
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
All these Southern complaints, said Thaddeus Stevens, " are
mere pretences.
The restless spirits of the South desire to
have a slave empire, and they use things as excuses. Some of
them
more brilliant and stronger government than a
Their domestic institutions, and the social inequality
desire a
republic.
of their free people, naturally prepare
—
them
for a
monarchy
sur-
rounded by a lordly nobility,
for a throne founded on the
neck of labor." Orris S. Ferry of Connecticut, after speaking
of and tracing the " thirty years' growth " of the disunion
movement, declared the object of its leaders to be the overthrow of democratic and the establishment of aristocratic and
monarchical institutions, behind whom " stands the mob, just
beginning to be conscious of its strength and ready for any
desperate enterprise."
Deprecating the ascendency of such
principles, he drew, in grateful
contrast, a picture
of
New
England influences. " Wherever," he said, " along your pathway, you find mingled, in justest proportions, reverence for law
and love for civil liberty wherever you find the highest social
order resting securely upon the broadest democracy wherever
industry is most prevalent, and reaps the most ample rewards
wherever villages cluster thickest, and churches most abound,
and schoolhouses are most frequent wherever Christianity
assumes her purest form, and education is most widely disseminated,
there, sir, everywhere then you behold the footprints
of New England."
He spoke of the Rebellion as more wicked
than any " since the angels revolted" of the report of the
committee as a compromise of principle that should not be
made at any time, but especially under duress. " I am afraid
;
;
;
;
—
;
compromise," he added, " lest I demoralize the government." In a similar strain were the eloquent remarks of
to
James Humphrey of New York, in response to the charge,
made by Mr. Winslow of Kentucky, of insensibility, on the
part of the Republicans, in view of the thickening dangers
which were menacing the nation. After saying it was no
" cold, icy stoicism " that governed their conduct, he added
" If we are motionless amid this convulsion, it is not from insensibility
but because, standing now upon the Constitution
of our fathers, we can find no other solid ground on which to
:
;
�THE
CRISIS IN
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
plant an advancing footstep.
silence
'
Believe me, this
37
no
is
'
sullen
when you
that reigns on this side of the chamber
appeal to us to offer concession to save the Union.
It is a
solemn fear that such concessions may prove its speedy and
complete dismemberment."
James Wilson of Indiana spoke earnestly and effectively
against the proposed compromises.
ality of the
After exposing the
trivi-
Southern reasons for secession, he characterized
the President's plan of conciliation as subversive of every principle of civil liberty.
Of the Crittenden plan, he said
bristles all over with devilish enginery to
:
"
It
guard every outpost
and protect every advance of slavery." Of the committee's
was " not a single thing new
propositions he said that there
that
is
important
;
not a single thing old that
is
not
made
It is a sham
and
worse
in God's
whenever you meet a sham, smite it, and smite it,
name, smite it, until it dies, or you die."
Though the report of the committee was thus severely criticised by the friends of freedom as yielding too much and as
admitting principles and recommendation's at war with the
;
genius of free institutions,
I believe, with Carlyle, that
—
many with
antislavery convictions
and antecedents felt constrained by the pressure of the hdur
Among them was Cliarles Francis
to speak and vote for it.
Adams of Massachusetts, who had been long identified with
the antislavery reform, and who was candidate for the VicePresidency on the Free Soil ticket of 1848.
Speaking of the
Union as " inwoven in his affections with the labors in its support of two generations, .... mingled with earnest prayers
for the welfare of those
who
are treading after me," he pleaded
for its " continuity," in the interests of " republican institutions, as well in
America as over the
rest of
the civilized
Admitting that the Southern " discontent " and
threatened purpose were without good reason, lie still counselled moderation and every reasonable effort to stem and turn
world."
the rising current of secession.
characterized
The grounds
as personal-liberty bills
slave, exclusion
of complaint
from territory which slaveholders
an event which
desire to enter, apprehension of
he
which never freed a
will never
will never
�38
RISE
take place.
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
He
spoke of
tlie
inexpressible folly of the slave-
them their only
power
over
the
bondmen, and
reasonable hope of maintaining
"
ignominiously
of entering upon an experiment that must
Still, he would concihate even those whose course and
fail."
cause he characterized as so inexcusable and wicked, " on some
fair basis like that proposed by the committee."
Among the Southern advocates of union and the report of
the committee, were Horace Maynard of Tennessee and Henry
Occupying middle ground, be"Winter Davis of Maryland.
tween the antislavery men of the North and the secessionists
of the South, and sympathizing with neither, they mingled their
pleas for the Union with bitter denunciations upon the heads
holders breaking up a government which gave
Mr. Maynard, alluding to the " ineradicable differof both.
ence of opinion and antagonistic feeling " between the sections,
and to the allegations of Mr. Lincoln that the nation could not
endure " half slave and half free," of Mr. Seward that there
was an " irrepressible conflict " between them, he asked and
answered the question, " Can these States remain in the same
confederacy part free and part slave ? " by saying that he saw
" no good reason why they should not continue thus." Admitting that there were " difficulties in the way," in the purpose of
many
to break the Union, in the unfriendly attitude of
some foreign governments, and
ident "
;
in " the imbecility of the Pres-
deprecating coercion and distrusting any mere " ad-
ministrative expedients," he
deemed the Crittenden resolutions
as worthy of consideration, and proposed this impracticable
momentous problem " Listen to their grievremove the causes of their discontent. Whole peoples
are never consciously wrong, and must not be proceeded
They are never corrupt, and cannot be
against as criminals.
solution of the
ances
:
;
purchased with bribes."
Mr. Davis was a gentleman of culture and irreproachable
character, an accomplished scholar, and an orator with few
palm of superiority. Few men ever addressed
more commanding and thrilling eloquence.
and the circumstances of the hour,
position,
and
ability
His
utmost strength, and make this
his
could not but command
to contest his
either house with
�THE
effort peerless
CRISIS IN
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
39
even among his own most elaborate and
elo-
Belonging to the new American organization, he was prevented by no party affiliation from pronouncing
the severest judgment upon both extremes. " We are at an
quent productions.
end," he said, " of partisan license, which for thirty years has,
in the United States,
worn the mask
of
government.
We
are
about to close the masquerade by the dance of death." Sketching with a free hand, and denouncing, in language no less bitter and biting because it was polished and parliamentary, the
and demoralization of the hour, he said the
had reached a point where they were fighting
political profligacy
belligerent States
own
their
quarrels " without regard to the Federal
govern-
ment," " as if the Constitution were silent and dead," while
" unconstitutional commissioners flit from State to State, or
assemble at the national capital, to counsel peace or instigate
war." He spoke of the President as " paralyzed and stupefied
"
;
as " standing
amid the crash
of the falling Republic,
still muttering,
Not in my time not in my time. After me
the deluge,' " while we are called upon " to deal with the con'
;
sequences of his incapacity."
consequences of disruption,
Detailing, with great force, the
among which were
" to sever the
we have labored for three generations to establish
down the flag of the United States and take a lower staamong the nations of the earth abandon the high prerog-
territory
pull
tion
;
;
march
hope of struggling
and the terror of frowning tyrants," he said that
" the Constitution and laws must be sustained, and they who
ative of leading the
of freedom, the
nationalities,
stand across the path of that enforcement must either destroy
the power of the United States or
ing asserted that Maryland was
it
will destroy
still
them."
Hav-
loyal to the flag, in an-
swer to a protest of one of his colleagues against his claim to
speak for the State, he declared that if she sought to " go out
by convention or otherwise, their authority will be resisted and
defied in
arms on the
soil of
Maryland, in the name and by the
authority of the Constitution of the United States."
During the debate there was another voice raised for the
if not equally eloquent, from the same
section, though its extremest portion.
A. J. Hamilton of
Union, equally earnest,
�40
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Texas not only pleaded, but pledged himself, for the continued
Not concealing his bitter animosity
towards Northern Abolitionists, he spoke in unmeasured terms
integrity of the nation.
against
Southern extremists.
scribed his great sorrow
at
With
pathetic words, he de-
the fact that though,
when he
two thousand miles intervening between his home
and the capital, his " foot had pressed no spot of foreign territory," his " eye rested on not one material object that was
not a part and parcel of my country," it would, he feared, on
travelled the
his return, be " changed.
When
I
go hence
it will
be to find
my
pathway intercepted by new and strange nationalities. Without ever having wandered from my native land, 1 must traverse
foreign countries if I would return."
Speaking of the Federal
government as a " shrine," he said " Yet there are worshippers there and I am among them. I have been called by
warning voices to come out and escape the impending danger ;
But,
I have been wooed by entreaties and plied with threats.
sir, neither entreaties nor threats nor hope of reward nor dread
of danger shall tear me away until I lay hold of the horns of
the altar of my country, and implore Heaven in his own good
:
;
time to
still
this
storm of
civil strife."
And
his brave record,
during the war, showed that these were no empty words.
But at length the exciting debate was brought to a close,
and the House proceeded to vote upon the report of the committee.
Before reaching that vote it was necessary to dispose
The first, offered by John
of three proposed amendments.
C. Burch of California, proposing a convention for amending
the Constitution, was defeated by the vote of seventy-four to
one hundred and nine. There was then before the House the
proposed amendment of Mr. Clemens, embracing the Crittenden resolutions, to which had been proposed another amend-
ment by William Kellogg
of Illinois.
The
last received only
was defeated by the vote of
The main question was
then put and carried by tlie decisive vote of one hundred and
The joint resolution for amending
thirty-seven to fifty-three.
the Constitution was then defeated, not receiving the requiThe vote, however, was reconsidered,
site two-thirds vote.
thirty-three votes,
and the
first
eighty to one hundred and thirteen.
�THE
THE SENATE AND HOUSE.
CRISIS IN
41
and the resolution received the requisite number
of
votes,
passed the Senate, and was approved by the President.
When
the joint resohition
Mr. Mason
In the deWilkinson of Minnesota avowed
came up
in the Senate,
offered the Crittenden resolutions as a substitute.
bate which followed, Morton S.
and the substitute, expressing the belief that the Northwest would never relinquish the free navigation of the Mississippi from its sources
his purpose to vote against both the resolution
to
its
mouth
and
;
that, should
be necessary to vindicate
it
would still wave victorious.
Zachary Chandler of Michigan made an earnest speech for the
Union. "No concession," he said, "no compromise,
ay,
their rights by war, the old flag
—
give us strife, even to blood, before a yielding to the
demands
Mr. Crittenden, too, spoke for the
of traitorous violence."
Union, but in a very different
spirit
and
strain.
He
deplored
the spectacle presented by Congress, soon to adjourn, but mak-
ing no provision for the great and imminent needs of the country
talking of war, and providing no force to carry
;
talking of pacification, and proposing no
method
it
forward
to secure
it.
His speech, however, was an earnest plea for compromise, and
deprecatory of the little matter, as he claimed, that was riv" the paltry question," as he characterized it,
ing the nation,
—
" which divides us," whether slavery should be recognized or
excluded from
To
New
Mexico.
the speech of the aged Senator, with
its
stern rebukes of
the Republicans and their proposed adherence to the doctrines
on which they had carried the recent election,
and his attempts to belittle the " question " at issue, Lyman
Trumbull made a vigorous and fitting reply. Attributing the
of the platform
desperateness of affairs to the irresolution and indecision of
the outgoing executive, he expressed his confidence that they
would " learn to-morrow, from the eastern front of the capitol,
that
we have
a government, and that will be the beginning of
the maintenance of the Union."
Louis Wigfall of Texas
made a
man and
vituperative and insulting
" The Star of
the West," he said, " swaggered into Charleston harbor, received a blow planted full in the face, and staggered out.
speech, well befitting the
his cause.
�42
RISE
Your
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
redress it if you dare.
You have
two months, and you will submit forever.
have dissolved the Union
mend it if you can
been insulted
flag lias
submitted to
.... We
IN AMERICA.
it
;
for
;
;
cement it with blood
try the experiment,"
Saying that
whatever measures Congress might adopt, the seven seceded
" It is
States would not be persuaded to return, he added
;
:
useless to talk about reconstruction.
is
dead.
The only question
is,
This Federal government
whether we
cent Protestant burial, or whether
we
shall
will give it a de-
have an Irish wake
Speaking of the proposition that the seceding
States should appoint commissioners to confer with the Federal
at the grave."
authorities, he
with you,
I
made the
insolent
do not think there
w^hich they could treat
drawn
remark " To be very candid
any government here with
:
is
One
of the partners having with-
dissolves the firm."
Mr. Wilson avowed his unwillingness to vote for the resoluhe would not thus make the nation responsible for
" I cannot vote," he said, " in this age and with our
slavery.
tion, because
lights to put into the Constitution of this Christian
cratic republic this
new guaranty
for slavery."
and demo-
Mr. Wade,
and point, expressed his distrust of the
proposed remedies, and his conviction that neither Crittenden
resolutions nor peace conventions could cure the evils complained of. " Before you can harmonize with us," he said,
w'ith his usual force
" you must learn to love
liberty, learn to regard the rights of
man, and cease to place confidence in the oppression and
To reconstruct your institutions
tyranny of any man
and eternal, as you dream,
permanent
basis
will
be
that
upon a
you will have to reconstruct the throne of God, and change
the principles on which he has chosen to govern the world."
�CHAPTER
SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
lY.
— PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE.
— Judge Smalley's opinion. — Hesitation
— Noncom— Demand of Secession
—
mittal attitude of the Administration. — South Carolina Commissioners.
and demand on the President. — His embarrassment and reply. —
Their
— Special message. — HovTard's
Insolent response. — Refusal to receive
resolution. — Important speeches of Davis, Trumbull, and Seward. — Republi-
Disloyal attitude and treasonable acts.
and scepticism.
— Fort
leaders.
Sumter.
visit
it.
can policy.
Though
the course of events at the South had long betokened
the violent collision of hostile forces drawn up in armed array,
and the mutterings of approaching storm became more and
more distinct, there were hesitation and delay, on the part of
the conspirators, in making the first assault and in delivering
the first blow.
They had indeed long indulged in utterances
and preparations which admitted of no other interpretation
than that of actual treason and rebellion. They had in fact
been guilty of overt acts of crime, had violated the requirements of law, had infringed upon the personal rights of individuals and set at naught the chartered rights of the government. At least such was the expressed opinion of Judge
Smalley of the southern
district of
New
York, in a charge to
the grand jury delivered near the opening of the year.
" War,
war," he said, " exists in portions of the Union persons
owing allegiance to the United States have confederated tocivil
;
gether, and with arms, by force and intimidation, have prevented the execution of the constitutional acts of Congress,
have forcibly seized upon and hold a custom-house and postoffice, forts,
arsenals, vessels, and other property belonging to
the United States, and have actually fired upon vessels bearing
the United States flag and carrying United States troops.
�44
RISE
This ....
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
is
high treason by levying war.
acts will constitute
high treason."
avowed by the learned
IN AMERICA.
Either one of those
Though
these
acts, as
might have been legally and
logically " war, civil war," they were hardly so regarded by
either party, by the assailant or assailed.
They were looked
upon rather as a species of that slaveholding lawlessness which
inhered in slavery itself, allowed if not allowable, on which they
who cherished the system always ventured, as essential to its
safety, and which they who did not accepted as one of the conditions on which alone the Union could be maintained. Though
these demonstrations had increased in violence and number,
and were the proclaimed exponents of a well-defined and avowed
jurist,
purpose to subvert the government and rend the Union unless
their authors were allowed to go in peace, there was a general
scepticism on both sides in regard to actual hostilities.
was the
traditional sentiment at the South that the
would not
the old
fight,
game
of
There
Yankee
was but
and the feeling at the North that this
menace and bluster, and that the slaveholders
would not be guilty of the ineffable folly of destroying the
Union which really constituted the bulwark of their system,
the Constitution which afforded, as the event proved, the only
guaranty of their alleged property in man. Both, therefore,
hesitated.
Neither
declare war, throw
felt
quite prepared, in formal terms, to
down
the gage of battle, and appeal to the
stern arbitrament of the sword.
But such
hesitation could not
Events were hasting to their culmination.
The stake was too great, too much had been said and done,
and the crisis could be no longer averted. Shall Fort Sumter
be relieved and its garrison be supplied ? became the immedi-
long continue.
ate question in
whose answer was involved the momentous
The Rebel demand was
the withdrawal of the garrison.
" Earnest in those opinions," said Jesse D. Bright in his speech
in the United States Senate on the resolution for his expulsion, " I joined others in urgent appeals to the late administraissue.
from Fort Sumter, and make our
But the addifferences the subject of peaceful arbitrament."
ministration, as little as it sympathized with the loyal masses
tion to withdraw our forces
of the North,
was not prepared
for so base a surrender, for
�SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
— PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE.
45
everything was equivoand noncommittal. The annual message of the
President and the opinion of his Attorney-General had failed
to satisfy either extreme. Nor were there many between those
such dishonor of the national
flag.
Still
cal, evasive,
extremes who gave these papers their unqualified indorsement.
Something more definite and decisive was demanded, no more
by the exigencies of the occasion than by the purposes and
plans of the conspirators. It was determined, therefore, by the
South Carolina secession leaders to take the initiative, and impose upon the President the necessity of defining his position,
for the twofold purpose of putting an end to this uncertainty,
and of compelling him to provide for the formal transfer from
the Federal government to the jurisdiction of the State whatever the former had hitherto held and controlled within the
limits of the latter. Three commissioners were accordingly appointed to proceed to Washington to confer with Mr. Buchanan,
" authorized and empowered to treat with the government of
the United States for the delivery of the forts, magazines,
lighthouses, and other real estate, with their appurtenances,
in the limits of South Carolina
and also for an apportionment
of the public debt, and for a division of all other property held
by the government of the United States as agent of the Confederate States of which South Carolina was recently a member, and generally to negotiate as to all other measures and
arrangements proper to be made and adopted in the existing
relation of parties, and for the continuance of peace and amity
between this Commonwealth and the government at Wash;
ington."
Proceeding at once to the capital, they addressed the President in a communication, dated December 28, 1860, in which,
as
if
had already become an accomplished fact, they
assume that nothing remained but an arrangement
secession
seemed
to
of the details of separation.
of the ordinance of secession
Furnishing him an "
official
copy
by which South Carolina resumed
the powers she delegated to the government of the United
States and has declared her perfect sovereignty and independence," they informed him that it would have been their duty,
but for an unforeseen contingency, to propose negotiation and
�46
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
SO inaugurate their
new
IN AMERICA.
relations as to " avoid all unnecessary
and " secure mutual respect, general
advantage, and a future of good -will" to all concerned.
and
hostile collision,"
" But," alluding to the surrender of Fort Moultrie and Castle
Pinckney, and the transfer of troops to Fort Sumter on the
27th, they continued, " the events of the last twenty-four hours
render such an assurance impossible " ; and they added, with
refreshing coolness, not to say insolence, " Until the circum-
manner which relieves us of all
which these negotiations shall he
conducted, we are forced to suspend all discussion " relating
thereto.
They urged, too, the immediate withdrawal of the
troops from the harbor of Charleston, because, they said, their
presence was " a standing menace," and rendered " negotiation
stances are explained in a
doubt as to the
spirit in
impossible."
Such a communication from such a source could not but
embarrass the President. His known and pronounced sympathy with the South, his lack of sympathy with the free senti-
ments
of the North, especially as they
had become crystallized
into the Republican party, and were expressed in its platform
and by
its
presses and speakers, his undoubted loyalty and his
and threatened
and now in process of actual execution, rendered it, no doubt,
distress in view of the treason, long meditated
extremely
difficult to satisfy himself,
parties in the strife.
found
it
much
less either of the
Sympathizing with neither extreme, he
impossible to trace the middle line of either safety or
satisfaction.
Unable to comply with their traitorous wishes,
he displeased the conspirators
failing to rebuke in fitting
terms their outspoken treason and insufferable insolence, he
;
aroused the indignation of the loyal masses
who
could not
brook with patience such craven cowardice and pusillanimity.
The President acknowledged
the receipt of the communicaand the enclosed ordinance of secession, and began his
response by referring the commissioners to that portion of his
annual message in which he had defined his position and given
tion
expression to his opinions.
Quoting from that paper his disclaimer of any " authority to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal
government and South Carolina, ....
�SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
much
— PRESIDENT'S
47
MESSAGE.
acknowledge the independence of that State,"
and his admission of the duty " to submit to Congress the
whole question in all its bearings," he added " Such is my
less to
:
meet you only as private gentlemen of the highest character, and was entirely willing to
communicate to Congress any proposition you might have to
make to that body upon the subject." Expressing his earnest
desire that Congress miglit adopt such action as would " prevent the inauguration of civil war," he added, " I therefore
opinion
I could, therefore,
still.
your opinion
the events of the last
twenty-four hours render this impossible.' " Proceeding far
deeply regret that in
'
too apologetically for the head of a great nation which
treating with
men
was
guilty of such crimes, he narrated the cir-
cumstances of the transfer and the " startling events" that
were occurring in such quick succession. He then added, " In
the harbor of Charleston
we now
find three forts confronting
which the Federal flag floated four days
ago but now over two of them this flag has been supplanted,
and the Palmetto flag has been substituted in its stead. It
is under these circumstances that I am urged immediately to
withdraw the troops from the harbor of Charleston, and I am
informed that without this, negotiation is impossible. This I
each other, over
all
of
;
cannot do
;
this I will not do."
This refusal of the President, though accompanied with language so apologetical and deprecatory, greatly excited the commissioners.
In their reply, sent in on the
first
day of January,
they sharply criticised and censured his course.
They threw
upon him the responsibility of the result which, they expressed
" If you
the fear, had probably rendered civil war inevitable.
choose," they say, " to force this issue upon us, the State of
South Carolina will accept
the
God
it,
and relying upon
of Justice, as well as the
to perform the great duty
hopefully."
which
Him who
is
God
of Hosts, will endeavor
lies
before her bravely and
Referring to the President's intimation that he
must defend Fort Sumter,
as extinguishing all hope of main-
him that " we propose
Charleston to-morrow afternoon." The Presi-
taining peace, they insolently informed
returning to
dent refused to receive the offensive document, and placed
�48
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
upon
it
this
President
indorsement
is of
IN AMERICA.
" This paper just presented to the
:
such a character that he dechnes to receive
it."
On
the 9th of January the President sent a special message
to Congress, in which he
eral views
upon the
communicated
body liis genhad transpired since
to that
subject, the facts that
he had sent in his annual message, and the correspondence
which had taken place between the South Carolina commissioners and himself, dated respectively on the 28th and the
31st of December.
In it he reaffirmed the general principles
advocated in the annual message, accompanied with the general
statement that matters had become, and were becoming, more
serious, so that, he said, " as the prospect of a bloodless settle-
ment fades away,
He
aggravated."
had no right
the public distress becomes
more and more
reasserted his conviction that, while States
government had no right to declare
" I had no right," he said,
to secede, the
war upon those who should secede.
" to make aggressive war upon a
satisfied that tlie Constitution
even from Congress "
State
;
and I
am
perfectly
has wisely withheld that power
though he admitted that military force
might be used when the execution of "legal functions" were
assailed. To Congress, he claimed, was committed the responsible trust of declaring war wherever the Constitution contem;
plated such a resort to arms, or to " remove grievances that
might lead to war." He expatiated largely upon the " sacred
trust " committed to them
the fearful evils that must follow
an appeal to force. He begged for delay, and for time, " the
;
great conservative power."
He
besought Congress to give
its
best thoughts to the purpose of averting the threatened evils
by some " peaceful solution." The seizure of several " forts,
arsenals, and magazines," already made, he admitted was
" aggressive," and not in resistance to any attempt to coerce
a State.
He
reiterated his determined purpose that
his should increase the excitement,
no act of
and that he had long re-
fused to send reinforcements to Major Anderson, lest it might
seem " a menace of military coercion." He closed with " an
explanation" of Major Anderson's removal from Fort Moultrie
to Fort Sumter,
and with the assurance
that,
though he appre-
�SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
— PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE.
49
hended no trouble in the District of Columbia before the 4th
of March, then near approaching, and to which he referred,
he deemed it his duty to preserve peace at the capital, and that
duty, he said, " shall be performed."
Immediately on the delivery of the message, William A.
Howard
Michigan introduced a resolution, that it be recommittee of five with instructions to report
whether any Federal officer was in communication with any
person or persons concerning the surrender of any forts or
whetlier any such
other public property of the government
ferred
of
to
a
;
had ever given any pledges not to send reinforcements
what demand for reinforceto any forts in Charleston harbor
where the ships of the government
ments had been made
were then stationed whether any public buildings in Charleston had been seized whether a revenue-cutter of the United
It provided also that the committee
States had been seized.
have power to report from time to time.
On the 10th Jefferson Davis made a very elaborate and important speech, to which his relations with the Rebellion gave
special significance.
He began with the remark that the days
of abstract argument had passed, and that they were then
mainly concerned with events, with facts. From the contemofficer
;
;
;
;
plation of the expected policy of the incoming administration,
he affirmed, was sternly arrayed by its " platform,"
all concession, he said, we turn our eyes to the administration still in power, and we see that " feeble hands now
w^liich,
against
hold the reins of state," " drivellers are taken as counsellors,"
" vacillation is the law," and policy is changed with every
" changing rumor," with " every new phase of causeless fear,"
while, though nothing has been done to avert the conflict, we
upon Congress. He made a
strange assertion, betokening at least very singular misappre-
are told the responsibility rests
hension of the gravity of the occasion and the severity of the
storm he had been so largely instrumental in raising. Had
the garrison, he said, been called away thirty days before, nay,
ten days, " peace would have spread its pinions over the land,
and calm negotiation would have been the order of the day.
But now, drifting into war, we sit discussing abstract ques-
�50
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
tions, reading
IN AMERICA.
patchwork from the opinions of men now min-
gled with the dust."
Drifting into a position in which this
become a government of the army and the navy, lie
inquired whether they would sit still and " permit it imperceptibly to slide from the moorings where it was originally anchored, and become a military despotism."
Alluding to the President's admission that he had no power
to coerce a State, and yet asserting that he had power to use
is to
military force against those resisting the execution of the legal
functions of
tlie
Federal
he denied the latter postulate,
officer,
and contended that even in extreme cases troops could constitutionally be employed only as a posse comitatiis ; and he contended that under the first two Presidents no other idea was
entertained. Alluding to a former speech respecting that idea,
he said that he had never admitted the right of the general
government to maintain a garrison in a State against the
wishes of that State. He characterized the President's annual
message as " diplomatic," in the sense that " diplomacy is said
to abhor certainty, as nature abhors a vacuum," while he
affirmed that " it was not within the power of man to reach
any fixed conclusion from that message." Alluding to the
special message just received, he complained, while some historical information had been communicated, that " no countervailing proposition is presented
no suggestion is made. We
;
are left drifting loosely, without chart or compass."
He
pointed to South Carolina as, in her
new
attitude, a sov-
ereign nation threatening civil war, and yet, he complained, no
suggestions of a peace policy have been made, the appointment
no commissioners to treat with her has been recommended.
enlarged upon the false pride, the cruel policy, of allowing
the nation to drift into civil war, rather than withdraw the
of
He
He wished to regard the flag as that
and not as waving over angry belligerents. Opposing the position of those who contended that secession was
forces or lower the flag.
of brethren,
unconstitutional, he took occasion to criticise the position of
Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who had said that " the true
place to fight the battle
is
ions of the Constitution."
Union, and within the provisAssuming that such " fighting "
in the
�SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
— PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE.
51
was but a figure of speech, and that the revolution he proposed
was " a revolution under the forms of government," he contended that such was not the policy he believed in, nor the
He would not embarrass the incomcourse he would pursue.
ing administration, or " handcuff the President," by using,
with captious purpose, any legislative power he and those with
whom he sympatliized possessed. " If I must have a revolution," he said, " I say let
it
be a revolution such as our fathers
made when they were denied
rights, he contended,
ish
crown
in the
war
their
which the
fatliers
The
natural rights."
wrested from the Brit-
of the Revolution, they did not delegate
to the Federal government.
Had
they done so, those battles
would have been fought and those sacrifices made in vain. It
was only in the exercise of those rights that the people of the
seceded States had left tlie Union and formed governments
for themselves
and the only really practical questions were,
" Has the Federal government the right to coerce them back ?
;
and secondly, has it the power ? " In speaking of the relative
damage to be apprehended from a collision between the Northern and Southern States, he expressed the conviction that the
South, with its sparse population and plantation system, had
much less to fear than a country with populous cities and
manufacturing villages.
The question now
arises,
he
said,
What
shall
be done
Shall this condition of affairs be perpetual, or shall
it
?
be so
improved that, having learned wisdom by sad experience, the
two may return to first allegiance and former union ? He
referred to the proposition of dual legislatures and executives
which had been made, and, though he distrusted the policy of
such a course, contended that it was worthy of consideration.
But the grand panacea, he contended,
the policy of peace.
The
was
Union he did not
for all their troubles
dissolution of the
regard, with others, the faihire of the experiment of self-gov-
ernment or
failure of
of
constitutional government.
that especial
trial.
He
alluded
It
was only the
again to the ma-
lign influence of the vacillating policy of the administration
still
in power, to the obstinacy of that which
and to his growing
conviction that the die
was
was incoming,
cast, and that
�52
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
He
the separation was inevitable.
Union and
IN AMERICA.
referred to his sacrifices
and expressed his deep
sorrow at " taking a last leave of that object of early affection
and proud association."
for the
his love for the flag,
He said there were two modes
of dissolving the
Union,
one by secession, the other by consolidation, — and
both were
In either case the Union of the
equally real and effective.
He
was destroyed.
fathers
platform of the
— the
expatiated on the fact that the
new party destroyed
the equality of the States,
and contained doctrines that could be made as potent by proclamations and platforms as by armies and invasion. The very
figures of speech employed by its friends and advocates indicated, he said, the severity of their policy and the bitterness
Having their " heel on the Slave Power, grindof their hate.
ing
it
into the dust, triumphing over slavery," these
and
like
expressions betokened the fate in store for those against whose
metaphors were employed. Referring to Mr.
Seward as " the directing intellect of the party," he said that
" with less harshness of expression, but with more of method,
he indicated this same purpose of deadly hostility." He said
that Mississippi had sounded the warning, but the North uninstitution such
heeding persisted in
And now, he
date.
Our hands
its
purpose of electing
its sectional
candi-
affirmed, " the issue is not of our making.
are stainless
;
you aggressed upon our rights and
our homes, and, under the will of God, we will defend them."
Lyman Trumbull
of Illinois, then
among
bers of the Senate, immediately responded.
the younger
Though
mem-
his reply
and extended, it abounded with points that
well exposed the sophistries and plausible utterances of the arch
was
less elaborate
secessionist.
"
We
have listened," he
said, " to the
Senator
from Mississippi and one would suppose, in listening to him
here, that he was a friend of the Union, that he desired the
He has a most singular way
perpetuity of this government.
;
of preserving
Constitution."
draw
its
ities of
it,
and a most singular way of maintaining the
government to abdicate, to with-
It is for the
forces in favor of a
Charleston.
To
wanted but a surrender
mob, or
avoid
civil
to those
of the constituted author-
war, he said, nothing was
who
questioned
its
authority
�— PRESIDENT'S
SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
and threatened
its
He
power.
MESSAGE.
53
talks of the responsibility of
Republicans for the state of affairs
;
but
it is
South Carolina,
Alabama, and Georgia that are the responsible
" They are making war, and modestly ask us to have
parties.
The stars and
peace by submitting to what they ask
buildings
States
stripes have been taken down from the United
in the city of Charleston, and trampled in the dust, and a
Mississippi,
palmetto
flag,
with a snake, reared in their place
but
;
if
we
would avoid civil war, we are told we must submit to this.
"Why, sir, any people can have peace at the price of degradation."
In reply to the argument that secession was a right because
there
was nothing
in the Constitution that forbade
certain provisions in that instrument
it,
he cited
which inhibited States to
levy imposts on imports, or to enter into compacts with foreign
powers
both.
;
while secession necessarily involved the right to do
The
doctrine, he contended,
constitutional government, for
laws,
all
it
was
anything like a
fatal to
invalidated all agreements, all
compromises, making the statutes and guaranties of
one day powerless the next, and destroying everything like con-
and in the binding force of
To the assertion that Congress
could not coerce a State he replied that no such thing was
fidence in the stability of legislation
the most sacred obligations.
claimed, but only the right to coerce the people or individuals
of a State.
The complaint that the exclusion of slaves from
the Territories involved " the inequality of the States," he
parried by the denial that any such inequality
volved or intended.
was the power
was
either in-
tlie
Republican party insisted on
to prevent States
from taking their own laws
into the Territories.
All that
As
for individuals, he insisted that the
people of one State had identically the same power in them
" There is nothing," he said,
that the people of another had.
" in this cry of inequality in regard either to the States or to
citizens.
We
are all to have the
same
proposal of the Crittenden resolution,
rights."
To
making the
latitude of 36° 30' the line between slave
and
style the
parallel of
free territory, a
proposition " to restore the Missouri Compromise," involved,
he contended, a grave " misapprehension." I will vote for the
�54
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Missouri Compromise, he said, to-morrow, for that would be
in effect the exclusion of slavery
The Crittenden
proposition
is
from Kansas and Nebraska.
That
a very different matter.
proposes to extend the dividing line into territory not in our
possession at the time of the compromise of 1820, involv-
To
ing far more.
compromise
of
the remarks of
1850 allowed
New Mexico had
and, as
Mr. Crittenden that the
New Mexico
established
it,
to establish slavery,
he only proposed to
recognize that as an established fact, he responded by the re-
mark
that he would leave the compromise of 1850 untouched,
from tlie right to
he said that if
the Missouri Compromise could be restored as it was in 1854,
he would stand by that of 1850.
Henry Clay had said that no human power could compel
and not
restrict the people of that Territory
repeal that law
him
if
they saw
Still further,
fit.
to vote to extend slavery over a single foot of territory
then free
;
and yet that
He
proposing to do.
is
the very thing the Senator
is
now
expressed the conviction that the South
had no cause of complaint. It had had control of the government, had dictated legislation and selected its own instruments
to execute it, while the North had been willing to abide by the
compromises the South had dictated, even to the execution of
the most obnoxious Fugitive Slave Act. During the progress
of his speech he was frequently interrupted with personal quesposition
on the practical execution of
this
that
tlie
tions
as
to
act.
He
closed with the reiteration
his
of
his belief
South could find neither cause of complaint in the past, nor
well-grounded apprehension in the future, in any policy or acts
of the incoming administration.
On
the 12th Mr. Seward addressed the Senate.
His speech
and listened to with profound interest, not to
say solicitude. His eminent and statesmanlike abilities and
the expectation that he was to be Mr. Lincoln's Secretary of
was looked
for
State caused
it
to be regarded as
foreshadowing the policy, a
kind of pronunciamento, of the incoming administration.
was marked with the usual
with
its affluence of
graceful in
It
characteristics of his eloquence,
learning and language, forceful in logic and
its rhetoric, adroit,
diplomatic, plentiful in words
�SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
— PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE.
55
Alluding to the sudden
its real commitments.
and appalling alarm which had taken such strong possession
of the public mind, and the various propositions which had been
made, he spoke of the duty and the privilege, " among distracted debates," of lifting up his voice for his " whole country
and its inestimable Union," grateful even for the violent utterbut chary of
ances of disunion, because of the patriotic demonstrations
they had evoked.
He expressed, too,
the conviction that
it
was
" the highest patriotism to endure without complaint the passionate waywardness of political brethren so long as there is
hope that they
may come
His speech might
to a better mind."
be characterized as the statesman's plea for the Union.
noting what would 7iot save it. Among his
were " mere eulogiums " upon it, mutual criminations, debates on slavery in the Territories, arguments that
He began by
specifications
was unconstitutional, discussions on the rights of
secession
the government to coerce the seceding States, and congressional compromises.
While he
felt
Union saved by the
that a
he differed widely from those who
counselled " a conventional or unopposed separation." " The
sword was
of little worth,
strength of the vase," he beautifully said, " in which the hopes
of the nation are held, consists chiefly in its remaining un-
There were two prejudices, he added, that should be
first, that the Union could be saved by anybody
in particular, and the second, that it could be done by " any
cunning and insincere compact of pacification." He parried
the doctrine that it was not constitutional to coerce States by
the reply that the government was a government of the people
and not of the States quoting Mr. Jefferson as authority for
broken."
discarded,
— the
;
the sentiment that " States
must be kept within
tional sphere by impulsion
if
attraction."
their constitu-
they could not be held there by
Union, he said, was " the settled habit of the
American people," handed down from colonial times, so that
" on the same day they declared themselves independent they
proclaimed themselves confederated States."
He then entered upon a labored dissuasion from disunion on
the ground that there was " safety " only in remaining one
people.
Danger must be apprehended, he
said, if disunited,
�56
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
from foreign complications. With diminished size, reand power, there would be demanded substantially the
same machinery of government, and the same muniments
against external and internal foes. The maxim of the fathers,
first
sources,
that " the
common
safety of
all
the safety of each of the
is
was as true and applicable to the children as to them,
and could be no more safely disregarded by the one than the
Nor was there danger of foreign complications alone.
other.
Domestic strife would be seen to follow, and with that entangling foreign alliances would be sought from powers who would
States,"
give protection only as they were allowed to dictate the terms.
" Canada leans on Great Britain not unwillingly, and Switzer-
land
is
And
gTiaranteed by interested monarchical States."
the loss of safety, he contended, would practically in-
volve every other form of public calamity.
guardian angel has taken
"
everything
flight,
When
once the
The
lost."
is
country's greatness would be destroyed, its progress and prosperity would be arrested, " it would provincialize Mt. Vernon
and give
this capitol to destruction."
The honor and renown
paid to the flag of the thirty-three stars
and thirteen
stripes,
the world over, could never be transferred to " the lone star,
or a palmetto tree," of one of " the obscure republics of North
And
America."
liberty, too,
" our
own pecuhar
hberty, must
languish for a time and then cease to hve," while in its stead,
the country would be obliged to " accept the hateful and in-
An
tolerable espionage of mihtary despotism."
this
allusion in
connection displayed the art of the orator and the felt
" While listening to these debates,"
gravity of the occasion.
he said, " I have sometimes forgotten myself in marking their
contrasted effects upon the page
who customarily
the dais before me, and the venerable secretary
behind him.
The youth
stands on
who
in the excitement, while at every irreverent
word that
tered against the Union the eyes of the aged
man
Let him weep no more.
with tears.
has been the lot of a rare
part of
all
sits
exhibits intense but pleased emotion
felicity.
Rather
rejoice, for
You have
is
ut-
are suffused
yours
seen and been a
the greatness of your country, the towering national
greatness of
all
the world.
Weep
only you,
— and weep with
all
�— PRESIDENT'S
SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
the bitterness of anguish,
old of
life,
— who are
MESSAGE.
just stepping
57
on the thresh-
and exists
for that greatness perishes prematurely
not for you, nor for me, nor for any that shall come after us."
And
what, he inquired,
is
the cause of
greatness, happiness, and freedom
?
all this loss
The
of safety,
election of a Presi-
— "a man
dent unacceptable to a portion of the people,
of un-
blemished virtue and amiable manners, unambitious," and so
hampered by the " partial success of those who opposed his
election," that, without their consent, he
cannot appoint a
minister or even a police-agent, negotiate a treaty, or procure
the passage of a law, and can hardly draw a musket from the
public arsenal to defend his.own person."
magistrate, so restrained,
who has not
And
with such a
yet been inaugurated,
and, of course, has performed no overt act, there remains the
opportunity of a rehearing, and the privilege, in four years, of
reversing the popular verdict.
patriotic, is
such a course as
How
is
unnatural, as well as un-
now proposed
!
Alluding to
the slaveholder's dream, long cherished, of a Southern confed-
eracy of the gulf States as " so certainly unwise and so obviously impossible of execution " as to be dismissed without
further mention, he proceeded to the consideration of the
" other subjects " of agitation and alarm. Concerning them
he counselled moderation and concession. Here he would subordinate everything, " Republicanism, Democracy, every other
political
name
or thing " to Union.
" I can afford," he said,
" to meet prejudice with conciliation, exaction with concession
which surrenders no principle, and violence with the right
hand of peace." On the question of the status of the slave
supremacy of the
admitted the constitutional obligation resting
in the slaveholding States, he recognized the
State laws.
He
upon the State to which a slave might flee to return the fugitive, though he said that prudence would modify the fugitive
slave laws so as to render them as little obnoxious as possible.
He even admitted that he would not alter the Constitution, if
he could, to make slavery
less the creature of
while he expressed his willingness to
amend
so that Congress should never have the
the system.
power
municipal law,
that instrument
to interfere with
In regard to the Territorial question he ex-
�58
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
pressed his willingness to adopt the same policy which obtained in regard to Oregon, Minnesota, and Kansas,
— passing
enabling acts without the special inhibition of slavery.
was
He
and rebelamending the
willing, too, after the excitement of secession
had passed away, to call a convention for
Constitution.
He, too, would vote for properly guarded laws
to prevent the invasion of one State by the inhabitants of
lion
Believing the binding force of " physical bonds " to
be greater than " mere covenants, though written on parchothers.
ment
or engraved
upon iron," he would remain constant
purpose for the construction of two Pacific railroads.
to his
But, as
was hopeful. Notwithstanding the darkand
doubts
that
ness
enshrouded the minds of men, he closed
his speech with these words of cheer and confident expectaThis government, he said, " shall continue and endure
tion.
and men, in after times, shall declare that this generation,
which saved the Union from such sudden and unlooked-for
dangers, surpassed in magnanimity even that one which laid
its foundations in the eternal principles of liberty, justice, and
humanity."
These words, noteworthy in themselves, were made more
suggestive and instructive by the prominence and position,
His long
past and prospective, of the distinguished Senator.
usual, the Senator
identification with the antislavery struggle, the general expec-
would have been the Republican candidate for
the Presidency, and his selection by Mr. Lincoln for the first
place in the incoming administration, invested and still invests
tation that he
the utterances of this speech with special importance, not to
say authority
;
and
their significance is twofold.
They
indi-
and the reckless effrontery
charge so freely made then, and so persistently reit-
cate, first, the utter baselessness
of tlie
erated since even to this present writing, that the war of the
Rebellion was provoked by Northern interference with South-
ern rights, and that the ulterior purpose and plan of the
Republican organization meditated damage, if not destruction,
to the slave system in the States in which it was recognized
and protected by municipal law. Rcpubhcans might, indeed,
owned " the soft impeachment " of so far revolting from
liave
�SOUTH CAROLINA COMMISSIONERS.
— PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE.
59
and resisted the audacious proposition to make slavery national and no longer
Having abolished it from their own borders, at no
sectional.
little cost of effort and sacrifice, there could have been no lack
slaveholdiiig rule as to have resented
of comity, or proper regard for the compromises, in refusing
to yield, without protest
and such use
of the ballot as they
possessed, to that injustice and indignity.
and the speech
Beyond that they
Mr. Seward, their repreflush
of
victory,
is sufficient answer to
made
in
the
sentative,
all charges of ulterior purposes, other than those openly prosought not to go
claimed.
Its
;
of
disavowals, concessions, and commitments are
consistent with no other theory.
how
from general had become those
any interference with
slavery wherever existing.
It was a part of the slaveholders'
strategy to represent the new party as an Abolition party.
Had that been true, the fact that Mr. Lincoln was in a minority of a million votes showed that but little more than two
fifths of the people were in its favor.
But in point of fact
the Republican party at the outset was far from being an
Abolition organization.
It did, indeed, embrace the antislavery
It also indicates
antislavery ideas
men
that
far
contemplated
of the nation, excepting the non-voting Abolitionists of
the Garrison school.
Large numbers, too, who had never
joined any distinctive antislavery school or class, but
who
aided in the election of Mr. Lincoln, were sincerely and earnestly opposed to the extension of slavery into territory already
free,
and welcomed gladly the hope
that, in
some way, by the
operations of nature's laws or the workings of Providence,
it
would cease where then existing that in the good time coming
and among the trophies of advancing civilization, would be the
;
breaking of every yoke and the freedom of those hitherto oppressed
:
but they were prompt and earnest in their disclaimer
of either purpose or wish to interfere with the system
established and cherished.
where
Indeed, many, with Mr. Seward,
by constitutional amendment if needful, to guard
against any such future interference, though other Republi-
were
willing,
cans doubted the policy of some of his concessions.
�CHAPTER
DEMANDS
IN
V.
THE NORTH FOR FURTHER CONCESSION AND COMPROMISE.
— Four
— Kepnblican
— Horace
— Effect at the South. — Thurlow Weed. — Albany
mayor and meet"Argus." — New York "Herald." — Philadelphia. —
— Conservative utterances. — Isaac Hazelhurst. — Tweddle Hall Meeting.
— Chancellor Walworth. — Horatio Seymour. — Patriotic utterance of George
W. Clinton. — Conservative action. — Proposition of Fernando Wood.
— Mercantile
— ilemorial meeting
Loyal action of New York
— Treasonable utterances. — Proposed formation
Cooper
and action
— Society Promotion of
of a new Union. — Letter of Ex-Governor
— Southern encourNational Unity. — Address. — Letter of Franklin
agement. — Responsibility.
Northern anxiety and alarm.
Greeley's
policj'.
classes.
proposition.
Its
ing.
legislature.
at
class.
Institute.
Price.
for
Pierce.
These revolutionary movements
at the
South could not but
produce the most profound impression and excite the most
anxious interest and solicitude at the North.
They not only
excited the gravest apprehensions of threatened danger, but
they involved an imperative
it
demand
for measures to avert,
could be done, the threatened rupture, or,
possible, to prepare for the
bilities of evil.
unknown
if
if
that were not
future big with the possi-
The opinions entertained
varied largely as
men
were affected by their surroundings, interests, prepossessions,
and prejudices. There were, with many shades of difference,
four distinct classes.
One
class,
though a small one, was com-
posed mainly of those who had supported the Breckinridge
They were in favor of complete acquiescence in the
ticket.
Another class, composed mainly of the supporters of Douglas and Bell, were clamorous for
new concessions and new compromises. They clamored for
demands
of the secessionists.
the repeal of the personal-liberty acts, the rigid enforcement
of the Fugitive Slave Act,
and for acquiescence
in the decisions
�DEMANDS
IN
THE NORTH FOR CONCESSION AND COMPROMISE.
61
—
those ah^eady made and those that
Supreme Court,
There was, too, a class of Repubhcans, representing largely the mercantile, manufacturing, and moneyed
interests, who were in favor of making calm and conciliatory
of the
might be made.
appeals to the excited exponents of Southern opinion.
of
them went
Some
so far as to favor a national convention for the
readjustment of the jarring interests between the free and
slave States.
A
much
larger class,
composed mainly
of the
Republican masses who had supported Mr. Lincoln upon the
distinctive issues presented in their platform, adhered firmly
to the opinions enunciated in the canvass,
and avowed them-
selves, in temperate but firm language, in favor of
maintaining
the unity of the country, and the authority of the government,
and
of putting
down
rebellion with
arms
if
need be.
In addition to the natural expression of these different sen-
timents there were utterances and recommendations of those
who
allowed their individuality of character and independent
modes
of thinking to
modify in greater or less degree their
Among them stood promiNew York " Tribune," perhaps at
opinions and recommendations.
nent Horace Greeley, of the
Three days after
intended to calm the
that time the leading journal of the country.
the election he published a leading article
excitement manifesting itself in South Carolina and in other
cotton States. " If the cotton States," it said, " shall decide
Union than in it, we insist
Admitting that the right to
that they can do better out of the
on
letting
them go
in peace."
secede was a revolutionary one, and denying the right of any
State to remain in the Union to nullify and defy its laws, it
declared that " whenever a considerable section of our Union
shall deliberately resolve to go out,
we
shall resist all coercive
measures designed to keep it in. We hope never to live in a
republic whereof one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets."
It indeed insisted that the steps to secession
should
be taken with " the deliberation and gravity befitting so momentous an issue," while it maintained that the measures
taken in the Southern States with a view to secession had
borne the unmistakable impress of haste, of passion,* of distrust, and that they were calculated to precipitate the South
�62
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
into rebellion before " the baselessness of the clamors which
have misled and excited her can be ascertained by the great
body of the people." This article, however, instead of influencing the Southern politicians and presses to reflect and deliberate so that an act for secession should echo unmistakably
the popular will, tended rather to stimulate and encourage the
The " Tribune " had always resisted the dedisunionists.
mands
of the Slave
tioned ability.
Its
Power with unfaltering zeal and unquesnew position was deemed by the secession-
ists as an evidence of Aveakness and fear, a shrinking from the
threatened and impending conflict. The Albany " Evening
Journal " was conducted by Tlmrlow Weed, an editor and
politician of rare tact, ability,
and influence.
Believing that
the election of Mr. Lincoln was the pretext for disunion and
not the cause of it, that the Southern masses were acting in
" utter ignorance of the intentions, views, and feelings of the
North," and that the danger of disunion could " only be
averted by such moderation and forbearance as will draw out,
strengthen, and combine the Union sentiment of the whole
country," Mr.
Weed
proposed concessions to calm passions,
and cherish the Union sentiments in the
secession was not practicable, he recommended a convention of the people consisting
For many years a
of delegates appointed by the States.
devoted friend and supporter of Mr. Seward, Mr. Weed was
supposed to utter the sentiments of that statesman. His
action excited much interest and criticism, though assurances
were given that none but the editor could be compromised or
harmed. This appeal against passion and violence, and in
favor of moderation, while it excited no little uneasiness in
the North, was deemed by the exponents of Southern opinion to
be only another evidence of timidity, wavering, and indecision.
Six days after the election, the Albany " Argus," a Democratic journal of large influence with the Democracy of New
York, expressed the opinion that neither Mr. Buchanan nor Mr.
Lincoln would employ force against the seceding States. " Any
The first gun
other course," it said, " would be madness.
fired in the way of forcing a seceding State back to the Union
dispel
South.
illusions,
Believing that peaceable
�DEMANDS
IN
THE NORTH FOR CONCESSION AND COMPROMISE.
would probably prove the knell
of its final
dismemberment."
Other Democratic presses expressed like sentiments.
New York
" Herald," as early as the
63
The
November, in its
leading editorial, said that the confederation was held together
only by public opinion and that " coercion, if it were possiBut whatever may have been the
ble, is out of the question."
9tli of
;
opinions, purposes, or plans of the conductors of these journals,
it
was
clearly seen before the
meeting of Congress in Decem-
had encouraged rather than discouraged the
champions of secession and disunion, as did similar utterances
They tended to develop
in that body after it came together.
and encourage a policy of concession, compromise, surrender,
ber, that they
and abasement
in the North, especially
among
the business
This was painfully manifest in the tone of public
classes.
meetings and in the results of municipal elections.
The
though distinguished for its conhad given a small majority for Mr. Lincoln. On the 10th of December, her mayor, Alexander Henry,
issued a proclamation calling a public meeting of citizens for
the 13th, in Independence Square.
Declaring that the Union
city of Philadelphia,
servative tendencies,
was
in peril,
party,
avow
he counselled the people to cast
off the spirit of
their unfaltering fidelity to the
Union, and pro-
claim their abiding faith in the Constitution and laws.
immense meeting was
held,
and a
series of resolutions
An
were
adopted pledging the people of Philadelphia to recognize the
binding obligation of the Fugitive Slave Act, and to abide by the
decisions of the
Supreme Court touching the status of slavery
at the same time asserting that denuncia-
in the Territories
;
tions of slavery, were inconsistent with national brotherhood.
Mayor Henry
distinctly avowed that the teachings of the
and lecture-room and the appeals of the press on the
subject of slavery " must be frowned down by a just and
pulpit
law-abiding people."
George
W. Woodard,
a leading Democratic lawyer, and the
candidate of his party in 1863 for governor, declared that
" passion for liberty had burned out all memories of compro-
mise and compact in Northern communities." The repeal of
personal-liberty bills was demanded by Theodore Cuyler, one
�AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
64
RISE
of the
most eminent lawyers
of the State.
IN AMERICA.
But amid these
evi-
dences of surrender, one voice spoke out in tones of manly
Isaac Hazelhurst avowed that Pennsylvania had
courage.
" nothing to repent of," and that the Union should be preserved.
"With the most decided and unequivocal words he pledged himself
if
and any
assailed.
sacrifices required in defence of the Constitution
George
W.
Curtis of
New York,
one of the most
accomplished speakers of the times, and a devoted advocate of
impartial liberty, had engaged to lecture in Philadelphia upon
His name, if not his theme, it was
the " Policy of Honesty."
who were striving to destroy
Mayor Henry hastened, on the same day he
issued his proclamation for the meeting, to call upon the chairman of the People's Literary Institute, urging him not to permit the meeting to be held. This request was heeded, and
freedom of speech in Philadelphia was sacrificed to placate the
feared, might give offence to those
their country.
Slave Power, thus organizing rebellion.
On
the 31st of January, 1861, a Democratic State convention
assembled in Tweddle Hall, at Albany, in compliance with a
The
request of the Democratic State Central Committee.
vention was large in numbers, and strong in talent and
Amasa
acter.
on taking the
J. Parker, the president,
declared that " the people of this State
demand
concliar-
chair,
the peaceful
settlement of the questions that have led to disunion, and they
have a
riglit to insist
that there shall be conciliation, conces-
The venerable Alexander
compromise."
sion,
Johnson
P.
sharply arraigned the Republicans, asserted that their " principles
tliat
and conduct have produced the mischief," and avowed
" no guaranty will be un welcomed that shall give the
South and
all its
property the same rights that are, or shall be,
possessed by the North and
its
property."
Though
six States
had already seceded from the Union, and had seized forts,
arsenals, and other national property, yet Reuben H. Walworth, eminent as a judge, philanthropist, and prominently
connected with the missionary enterprise, after saying that
civil
war would not
restore the Union, asserted that "
be as brutal to send
men
Southern States as
would be
ern States."
it
to
it
would
own brothers of the
massacre them in the North-
to butcher our
�DEMANDS
THE NORTH FOR CONCESSION AND COMPROMISE.
65
amid cheers, that " if a revolution of
home." Referring
the announcement that the incoming administration would
James
force
to
IN
S.
Thayer
to begin
is
it
said,
shall be inaugurated at
enforce the laws against seceding States, he said that a nice
discrimination must be exercised, and that it must not go " a
hair's breadth outside the
He
mark."
averred that the " en-
forcement of the laws in six States is a war with fifteen."
" Let," he said, " one arrow, winged by the Federal bow, strike
the heart of an American citizen, and
who can number
the
avenging darts that will darken the heavens in the conflict
that will ensue."
Either
lie
talked wildly and without warrant,
or there was here a recognized sacredness about slavery and
its
defenders which had never been accorded to freedom and
its
advocates, far from creditable to the people he addressed.
For
scores and hundreds of American citizens had fallen before the
arrows of proslavery intolerance and hate, nor had there ever
been one " avenging dart " sped against the miscreants stained
with the blood of those martyrs of Liberty.
Ex-Governor Horatio Seymour admitted that revolution had
begun and he charged upon Congress " that all virtue, patriotism, and intelligence seem to have fled from our
actually
;
national capital."
Shall
He
said,
we have compromise
" The question
after
is
simply this
:
war or compromise without
"
Denouncing the use of force, he said " Let us also
see if successful coercion by the North is less revolutionary
than successful revolution by the South." But all were not
war
?
:
alike craven.
so
Amid
utterances so dishonoring to the speakers,
disheartening to the loyal, so comforting to the disloyal,
there
was one whose words had the true
ring.
George
W.
Clinton, a son of Dewitt Clinton, while in favor of conciliating
would not
" humble the general government at the feet of the seceding
their erring brethren of the South, declared that he
He
States."
amid
denied the constitutionality of secession, and,
he pronounced it a " rebellion against
cries of dissent,
the noblest government
man
or the benefit of the world."
New
VOL.
The
own
benefit
action of this convention,
it did, the conservative and Democratic parties
York, was hailed by the secession leaders and those
representing, as
of
ever framed for his
III.
5
�RISE
(jQ
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
who sympathized with them
as evidence that if the " President
should attempt coercion he will encounter more opposition at
the North than he can overcome."
Of a
like tenor
and tendency were individual utterances and
propositions by several prominent Democrats, which revealed
with very great distinctness not only the drift but the strength
and purpose that prevailed, with the desperate measseriously entertained and gravely proposed.
Thus, on the 7th of January, Fernando Wood, mayor of the
city of New York, sent a message to the Common Council, in
which he presented the advantages that municipality would
" When disunion," he said,
possess if it were a free city.
of feeling
ures that were
" has become a fixed and certain fact,
why may
not
New York
disrupt the bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master,
—
to a people
and a party that have plundered her revenues,
attempted to ruin her commerce, taken away the power of
self-
government, and destroyed the confederacy of which she was
Empire City ? Amid the gloom which the present
and prospective aspect of things must cast over the country,
New York, as a free city, may shed the only light and hope for
the proud
'
'
our blessed confederacy."
the future reconstruction
of
confessed, however, that he
was not quite " prepared
mend
to
"
all
that
was implied
in such views, though he
suggest them for consideration.
The
was
suggestion
free
was,
was deDe Bow's Review
however, gladly welcomed by Southern men, and
clared
He
to recom-
by George Fitz Hugh of Virginia, in
most brilliant that
for February, to be " the
it
tliese
eventful
times have given birth to."
Though the
city of
New York, througli
its
chief officer, could
give utterance to sentiments and a proposition so disloyal and
dangerous, the State, through its legislature, declared its attachment to the Union, and tendered the President such aid,
in men and money, as might be needful to enforce the laws
of the land.
But the immense losses already suffered by the
business men of the city, and those still apprehended, which
would bring ruin
to
many, prepared them
to concede almost
anything to satisfy Southern discontent and prevent
strife.
A memorial was
civil
sent to Washington, praying Congress
�DEMANDS IN THE NOETH FOR CONCESSION AND COMPROMISE.
67
to give assurances " with any required guaranties " that the
Fugitive Slave Act sliould be faitlifully executed, the personalliberty laws be readjusted,
and half the Territories be surren-
dered to the slave-masters, to be organized into slave States.
Six days after this memorial was sent, which the signers professed to believe would " restore peace to their agitated country,"
on the 18th of January, a meeting of the merchants of
the city was held, at which the Crittenden Compromise was
and a committee was
appointed to obtain signatures to a memorial which was subsequently sent to Congress embracing a list of forty thousand
names. On the 28th of January a meeting was held at the
Cooper Institute, and three delegates, at the head of whom was
placed James T. Brady, an eminent lawyer of that city, were
recommended
as a basis of settlement,
appointed as commissioners to the seceded States, instructed
to confer with the delegates of the people in a convention to
be assembled, in regard to the best measure to be adopted
cal-
culated to restore peace and maintain the integrity of the
Union.
This action of the
New York
leaders,
by no means standing
alone, revealed their strong Southern proclivities, their little
sympathy with the North, their strong taint of treason, and
from their own section of the country.
It was a proposition openly entertained and freely talked
about, should a separation take place and a new confedera-
their thorough alienation
tion be formed, that not only the city, but the State, of
New
York, the other Middle States, indeed all the Northern States
except New England and some in the extreme Northwest,
would forsake the old and go with the new. A Washington
despatch, published in a New York paper early in December,
contains the information that " the opinion seems to set
strongly in favor of a reconstruction of the
New England
States."
Union without the
The twofold thought
formation of a Union
that seemed to
uppermost was the
in which slaveholding and slave-hunting should be legalized and protected,
and from which " New England Puritanism " should be exlie
cluded.
In the spring of 1861, just before the assault on Fort Sum-
�68
RISE
ter, there
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
appeared an open letter from ex-Governor Price of
New
Jersey on* the situation, in which he thus answers the
" I believe the
question as to what that State should do
:
The proceeding has been
Southern Confederation permanent.
—
taken with forethought and deliberation,
it
no hurried
is
impulse, but an irrevocable act, based upon the sacred, as was
supposed,
'
equality of the States
' ;
and, in
my
opinion, every
slave State will in a short period of time be found united in
one confederacy
I
It is in that contingency, then, that
answer the second part of your question,
New
'
What
position for
Jersey will best accord with her interests, honor, and the
patriotic instincts of her people
?
'
say emphatically she
I
would go with the South from every wise, prudential, and
patriotic reason."
The letter enters quite largely upon the
reasons therefor, both material and moral, giving it as his
judgment that it would inure greatly to the prosperity of the
State, and that it was a step that could be taken " without
any sacrifice of principle or honor, and without difficulty or
danger." He expressed, too, the opinion that her example
would be " potential upon the adjoining great States of Pennsylvania and New York "
and that ultimately " the Western
and Northwestern States would be found in the same balSaying that this would be " essentially a reconstrucance."
;
tion of the old government," he asked
ence whether
we go
:
"
to the South or they
What
come
is
the differ-
to us
?
"
To
the affirmation that they believed slaivery to be no sin, that the
negro was not the equal to the white man, that subordination
to the superior race
was his natural and normal condition, he
"It is, in my opinion, the only basis
added the conviction
:
upon which the country can be saved."
A similar effort, or an effort with a similar purpose, was
made by the formation of an association, styled the " American
Society for promoting National Unity," of which Professor
Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, was president, and " The
Journal of Commerce " was the organ. In its address to the
It spoke
public were enunciated its principles and purposes.
of the " evil teachings " of Abolitionism, which,
must be " confronted " by the
'
Word
of
it
God which
contended,
liveth
and
�DEMANDS
IN
THE NORTH FOR CONCESSION AND COMPROMISE.
69
abideth forever,' as expounded by a broad and faithful recognition of
world."
topic,"
it
His moral and providential government over the
Referring to slavery as for the time being the " main
spoke of four millions of immortal beings " providen-
committed to the hands of our Southern friends." This
" stupendous trust," the address avers, " they cannot put from
them if they would." " Emancipation," it added, " were it
tially
possible,
would be rebellion against Providence, and destruc-
tion to the colored race in our land."
In a letter, written by Franklin Pierce to Jeiferson Davis
near the beginning of 1860, he speaks of " the madness of
Northern Abolitionism " and of the
Democracy
fidelity of the
to the Southern cause, and assures his correspondent that
there
to be fighting
is
it
if
" will not be along Mason's and Dix-
It will be within our own borders, in our
between the two classes of citizens to whom I
have referred." It is true he miscalculated, and the event did
on's line merely.
own
streets,
not accord with his prediction.
But
is it
strange that he formed
With such the teachings and assurances
State, and the comparatively
small number smitten with " the madness of Northern Abolitionism," there is little wonder, when assuming the prophet's
the estimate he did
of leading
men
?
Church and
in
that his vaticinations should have been such as they
role,
Nor was
were.
little later,
it
very singular that Lawrence M. Keitt, a
should assure the Charlestonians he was address-
ing that " there are a million of Democrats in the North
when
the Black Republicans attempt to
will be
found a wall of
fire in
march upon the South,
the front "
;
nor that a
of the South Carolina convention should have said
true, in point of fact, that all the
to the rights of the South.
who
:
member
" It
is
not
Northern people are hostile
We have
a Spartan band in every
Northern State."
Who
then caused the late Rebellion
?
and on
whom
the responsibility of that carnival of crime and blood
questions of idle curiosity merely.
?
rests
are not
The common impression
that that responsibility lies entirely, or mainly, at the door of
the leading secessionists of the South
cial
and
partial.
is
manifestly superfi-
Potent for mischief as those
men showed
�70
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
themselves to be, such a result far transcended their power.
Had they not found auxiliaries out of the South ready to lend
would never have ventured upon the rash exNor were they the time-serving politicians alone
who gave them the needed courage. The sympathy of such
men as Price, Wood, Seymour, and Pierce w^as indeed gladly
but far more welcome were their assurances that
received
there was " a Spartan band in every Northern State " true to
their aid, they
periment.
;
Democrats in the North " who
would stand like a wall of fire to beat back the Black Eepublicans should they attempt to " march upon the South." Nor,
it is to be presumed, would these men have felt justified in
giving such assurances, but for the popular sentiment around
them, where far more was said of " the madness of Northern
Abolitionism " than of the sin of Southern slavery, of tlie wicktheir interests, " a million of
edness of violating the compromises of the Constitution in the
humanity by a handful of earnest Abolitionists
interests of
than of systematic violation of
all
law
human and Divine by
every slaveholding State for two generations, and where press,
platform, and pulpit were far more resonant of apologies for the
slaveholder than of pleas for the slave.
quisition shall be
made
for blood,
In the day
when simple
when
in-
truth shall take
the place of special pleading, wlicn the responsibility shall be
fastened w^here
will be
it
really belongs, the
found to have had
its
share,
North as well as the South
and the numbers who actu-
on the dreadful struggle
be larger than has been sometimes imagined.
ally aided in bringing
will be seen to
�CHAPTER
VI.
CEITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS.
—
— Extreme sentiments of Mr.
Toombs. — His demands. — Powell's amendment. — Clarke's amendment. —
Eloquent speech of Simmons. — Anthony. — Amendment adopted. — Extreme
— Cameron. — Wilson. — John BrowTi. — Final vote and
opinions of
Eesolutions introduced.
Compromise.
— Debate. — Mr.
— Question
Crittenden's speech and explanation.
of the Constitution.
Bigler.
rejection.
Among the attempts to
conciliate
and compose the differences
that distracted and threatened to disrupt the nation which oc-
cupied so
of the
much
of the time
XXXYIth
and attention
of the closing session
Congress, the most notable and well remem-
bered are the resolutions offered by the senior Senator of Kentucky,
commonly
called the Crittenden
Compromise.
Their
amendand
the
thereon,
their
final
rejection
and
votes
ments offered
reasons therefor, revealed the feelings and purposes of the two
sections more clearly than any measure perhaps ever intropurport and the discussion to which they gave
duced into the national legislature.
rise,
Assigning in his preamble
the reasons for his propositions, the Senator referred to the
" serious and alarming dissensions concerning the rights and
security of the rights of the slaveholding States, and especially
their rights in the
common territory," and
now threaten the
that " dissensions which
the desirableness
very existence of
the Union should be permanently quieted and settled by constitutional provisions
tions."
which
The amendment
shall
do equal justice to
all sec-
of the Constitution he proposed con-
By the first, slavery should be prohibited
the United States " now held or hereafter
sisted of six articles.
in
all territory of
acquired" north of latitude 3G°oO', and be permitted and
" recognized as existing " in all territory south of sucli line,
�72
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
but without the clause "
when any
now
IN AMERICA.
held or hereafter acquired," and
part of such territory should be admitted as a State,
should be received " with or without slavery, as the constitution of such new State may provide "
the second withheld
it
;
from Congress the " power to al3olish slavery in places under
its exclusive jurisdiction and situate within the limits of States
that permit the holding of slaves "
;
the third prohibited Con-
gress from abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, so
long as
should
existed in the States of Virginia and Maryland, nor
it
it
then, without the consent of the owners, nor without
" just compensation "
power
;
the fourth denied to Congress " the
to hinder or prohibit the transportation of slaves
one State to another "
;
from
the fifth provided that the United
payment
owners should
States should be held responsible for the
for all fugi-
whose recovery by their
in any case
have been obstructed and successfully prevented the sixth
provided that no amendment of the Constitution should ever
tive slaves
;
be made allowing Congress to abolish or interfere with slavery " in any of the States by whose laws it is, or may be,
allowed."
In addition to these proposed amendments, as if
they were not sufficiently humiliating and repressive, and as
alleged, " to remove all just cause for the popular discontent
and agitation," he proposed four resolutions recommending
same direction the first
further legislative enactments in the
:
designed to render " the laws now in force for the recovery of
fugitive slaves " more effective by enacting additional statutes
for the
punishment
their provisions
mend
;
of those
who should be
guilty of violating
the second calling upon Congress to recom-
to the several States the repeal of all " personal-liberty
laws found on their statute-books
;
"
the third proposing certain
amendments of " the act of the 18th of September, 1850,
commonly called the Fugitive Slave Law " and the fourth
;
affirming that the laws against the African slave-trade " ought
made
and ought to be thoroughly executed."
Such was the famous Crittenden Compromise, of which so
much has been said, for which so many Northern men, even
some members of the Republican party, were willing to vote,
to be
effectual
and on account
of
which so many harsh censures were cast on
�CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS.
who were
those
tensely Southern
unwilling to give
it
it
73
their support;
so in-
hardly exhibited the pretence even of pro-
viding for other interests and feelings than those of the slaveholder.
Though styled a " compromise," it was, like all the
pretended compromises of the slavery question, entirely onesided and unfair.
of
humanity
Even the seeming concession to the demands
more rigorous execution of the
in proposing a
laws against the African slave-trade can only appear in
true light w^hen viewed in connection with the
constitutional
amendment
to protect
State slave-trade, and the fact that
it
demand
its
for a
more perfectly the interwas the avowed policy of
the border States to oppose the foreign trade because of
its in-
own more infamous domestic traffic
while the prohibition of slavery in the territory north of 36° 30'
terference with their
;
was measurably neutralized, if not by climatic considerations,
by the provision that any State formed thereof might come
into the Union with or without slavery " as the constitution of
such State
may
provide."
York the winter following
Mr. Sumner, in an address in
their introduction, speaks of
as " this great surrender to slavery," as a proposition
New
them
" to
change the Constitution in a manner revolting to the moral
sense
man
and
;
;
to foist into the Constitution the idea of property in
to protect slavery in all present territory south of 36° 30',
to carry
it
into all territory hereafter acquired south of
that line, and thus to
their Southern
make our
march the
beautiful Stars
flag of slavery
;
and Stripes in
to give
new
consti-
tutional securities to slavery in the national capital,
and in
other places within the exclusive Federal jurisdiction
as also
;
to the transit of slaves from State to State, opening the
way to
the roll-call of slaves at the foot of Bunker Hill or the gates of
Faneuil HaU."
The
resolutions were introduced on the 18th of December,
made the order of the day
Though Mr. Crittenden introduced
1860, but were not
until the
January.
the discussion
2d of
by explaining his resolutions, the debate on that day proceeded
upon another scries, introduced a few days previous by Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, also proposing amendments of
the Constitution, on which Baker of Oregon and Benjamin of
Louisiana
made very eloquent and
forcible speeches.
�RISE
7-i
On
the
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Ttli
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Crittenden called up his resolutions again,
and made a long, elaborate, and very earnest argument in their
In a colloquy between himself and Mr. Toombs of
Georgia was revealed a marked feature of the debates of that
that, whatever might be the
session, already referred to,
specific topic, the general tenor of the discussion was the same.
Alluding to the understanding that Mr. Toombs Avas expected
to speak on another resolution, he said that it was " so entirely
analogous to it that his remarks would be applicable" to the
a remark substantially repeated
one as well as to the other,
There was also pressing for conby Mr. Toombs himself.
sideration, at the same time, the bill for the admission of Kanbehalf.
—
—
sas as a State.
Mr. Crittenden prefaced his speech with the remark that he
spoke not for slavery, but for the Union. He appealed to the
new
party which, elated with victory, had just come into power,
and magnanimity in relation to the
and alarm which, right or wrong, pervaded
For this purpose he had proposed an
the Southern States.
amendment to the Constitution, which could alone, he conConcerning the first article pertaining
tended, pacify them.
to the territory of the United States, he remarked that it was
to exhibit both forbearance
feeling of anxiety
" a very
little
thing," as
it
only recognized a fact already
might be called a compromise, and perhaps it
was, but it was " a fair compromise." " All human life," he
From the cradle to the grave every
said, " is a compromise.
He based
step is a compromise between man and society."
North
South
and
shared
an argument on the fact that both the
in the cost of blood and treasure with which that territory
existing.
It
had been purchased, and that therefore both sections should
have an equal share in its possession and use. He claimed
that in regard to political principles there was no more reason
and
for excluding slaves than any other kind of property
that it would be adopting the same principle to exclude slavery
on moral grounds, that it would be to make a discrimination
between Presbyterians and Congregationalists in settling a
;
territory
of the
United States.
scruples of conscience, and
made
In a word, he ignored
it
all
entirely a constitutional
�CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS.
75
Singularly enough, too, he represented the territo-
question.
—
the main feature of the proposed amendments
" but a trifle in point of territory," and as
and resolutions
Others thought
involving " no breach of any principle."
resolutions
of
his
introduction
became the
otherwise and tlie
signal of a most exciting and thorough debate.
Mr. Toombs followed, expressing himself "indifferent" as
His
to which proposition he made the text of his discourse.
speech was defiant, and little calculated to conciliate.
He declared that the Abolitionists, under their new name of
Republicans, had been sowing dragon's teeth, and had already
begun to reap their crop of armed men. The Union, he said,
Claiming himself to be " as good a
was already dissolved.
rebel and as good a traitor as ever descended from revolutionary loins," he proceeded to enunciate the demands of those
He demanded for them an equal right to
he represented.
emigrate with their slaves into any future acquired territory
and protection therein that property in slaves should be entitled to the same protection everywhere as other property
that persons stealing property in one State and fleeing to
another should be delivered up as any other fugitive from
rial
question
—
;
;
justice
that fugitives should be surrendered without being
;
entitled to writ of habeas corpus or trial
who
by jury
;
and that
laws should be enacted for the punishment of persons
efficient
should invade or abet the invasion of any State.
demands, he contended, must be met,
and in good faith granted.
five
He
Tliese
fairly considered,
spoke in most disparaging terms of the origin of the
Union.
'
He
said that the
main
difficulty at the outset it
designed to obviate was financial
;
that all talk of
was
being
its
cemented by the blood of brave men was " nonsense " that
it was carried in some of the States by treachery, in others by
bare majorities and that Monroe, Henry, and even Jefferson
himself, were against it.
Had he lived at the time of its
formation, he should have voted against it.
He believed its
adoption had been an injury to the South, though, being a
;
;
" compact,"
lie
would abide by
it,
if
the North would.
He
expatiated largely on the equality of rights of the two sections,
�RISE
76
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
unmeasured terms, Mr. Lincoln and his
party, because they would not recognize and abide by the
Alluding to Mr. Lincoln's characterization of
principle.
Southern demands, that the North must " cease to call slaveholding wrong, and join them in calling it right, and this
must be done thoroughly, done in acts as well as words," and
that silence would " not be tolerated," he responded with the
I will have these rights in
remark " I say so too
and condemned,
in
:
the Union, or I will not stay in it."
On
the 16th of January an amendment, previously offered by
Mr, Powell of Kentucky, to the second clause of the
first
and to that part
adding the words "now held or
article, referring to the territorial question,
"situate south of 36° 30',"
was adopted by a decisive vote.
On an amendment, offered by Mr. Clarke of New Hampshire,
proposing to strike out all after the word " resolved," and to
hereafter to be acquired,"
insert the proposition that the Constitution, being in itself
ample for the preservation
Union,
of the
the government should be directed to
support,
James F. Simmons
Senate.
He began by
all
its
the energies of
maintenance and
Rhode Island addressed the
of
quoting largely from the debates in the
convention that adopted the Constitution, sustaining the prop-
government of the people and not a
He contended that the resolutions procompact of States.
posed by the Senator were " grossly violative of the Constitution itself," and he asked their author if he had thought well
enough, or was quite certain that these propositions were
sound, to make them, like the laws of the Medes and Persians,
unalterable.
He well expressed the difficulties that were involved in the subject, and confessed his inability to fathom
osition that this is a
them or understand
their solution.
he said, " and looked into the
" I have thought of
since I have been here, not saying a word, to try
see the
my
way
out of
it
peaceably
youngest boy about
it."
;
it,"
more than a hundred hours
fire
and
He
I
am
just as
if
I could
young as
referred, too, to the poor
encouragement there was to make concessions, for the lack
would be adopted by the South. Tlic
of assurances that they
nearest approach, he said, that had been
made
to a declaration
�CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS.
77
was that of the Texas Senator, who had said that
after various things had been done by the North in that direc" If we would stop the
tion the South would " consider."
of that kind
pulpits,
burn the school-houses, suppress the newspapers, im-
prison the Abolitionists, and break up this government, everyis here now, he would think about staying in it."
While professing a willingness to do almost anything for the
thing that
sake of peace, he said he could not follow the Senator of
York who had
sions, to threats he
would
New
would grant conces-
said that to exactions he
offer conciliation, to hostile array
the right hand of brotherhood.
That would do for the millennium, but the millennium, he was sure, had not arrived. He
closed with a touching allusion to the tender ties that bound
Georgia and Rhode Island together, to the fact that the
ashes of one of the latter' s noblest " revolutionary worthies "
rested in the soil of the former
she
by
left
"
the Union.
his kindred.
With a
We
want
;
and he claimed them before
to place
it
in his native land
Let not that dust go out of the Union."
similar spirit his colleague, Mr.
Anthony, followed.
Deprecating disunion, he appealed to the same tender memories of past sacrifices, to
heroisms in a
common
cause, and to
the immigrations and intermarriages which so closely bound
the two sections together. " Together," he said, " our fathers
achieved the independence of the country, together they laid
the foundations of
its
greatness and
its
glory
constructed this beautiful system under which
I will not believe that this great Power,
giant steps toward the first place
earth, is to be turned
'
backward on
vote was then taken on the
which
among
;
together they
we
is
live
marching with
the nations of the
its
mighty
amendment
offered
track.' "
The
by Mr. Clai-ke,
and it prevailed by a majority of two which was in effect a
defeat of the resolutions as reported by the Senator from Kentucky.
That vote, however, was reconsidered, on motion of
Mr. Cameron of Pennsylvania, by a vote of twenty-seven to
twenty-four, and the original resolutions were again before the
;
Senate for consideration.
On
the 21st William Bigler of Pennsylvania addressed the
Prefacing his remarks with a reference to " the sol-
Senate.
�78
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
emn
scene presented here this morning,"
from Florida took formal leave
IN AMERICA.
when
the Senators
of the Senate, he said that
it
him little heart to consider the subject before them. His
speech was long and denunciatory. He denounced the Repub-
left
lican party as a sectional party, with " but one vital spark of
existence,
and that prejudice and
hostility to slavery."
He
appealed to the friends of the incoming administration to
give the reassuring
word the South demanded, and thus avert
a calamity he could not find terms or tones adequately to
portray.
It
was a Union speech indeed, but
it
was from the
Southern standpoint in everything but the location of the
speaker.
In a few remarks of his colleague, Simon Cameron, was
vealed a state of
mind
in Congress that is explicable only
the ground that, in the seeming desperateness
members
felt that
of
little
on
the case,
disunion was a foregone conclusion.
ing and listening, with
re-
Speak-
hope of good results, they joined
in the debate, rather to put themselves right with their con-
stituents than with any expectation of making others right.
" The whole world," he said, " it seems to me, are taken up
with this question of union and separation, and yet out of the
whole Senate of sixty-six members, there were not at any time
a dozen men listening to my colleague
He came with
the olive-branch of peace, he came to save the Union, and yet
In a sharp colloquy with Mr. Mason
" It seems to me the only difference be-
he was not listened to."
of Virginia, he said
:
tween the Senator from Virginia and myself is that he seeks
for some excuse for getting out of the Union, while I desire to
preserve it by any sacrifice of feeling and, I may say, of prinI believe their wrongs are imaginary
ciple
and as a
proof of it, if they will bring forward any projet upon which
they will call this question settled, the North will come in and
;
sustain it."
At an evening
session of the 21st of February, Mr. Wilson of
Massachusetts spoke. Alluding to George Mason of Virginia as
" one of the noblest of the illustrious band of patriots " of tlie
Revolution,
whom
the old
Dominion sent
to the convention for
the formation of the Federal Constitution, he quoted from his
�CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS.
79
utterances in that body the declaration that " slavery brought
the judgment of Heaven upon a country," and " that, by an
and effects, Providence punished naby national calamities." By a rapid sketch of the
progress of slavery in its various forms and phases, he showed
how " these words of admonition and warning, uttered nearly
three quarters of a century ago," had found their sad exemplification in the fact that " the treasonable words of last year
have now hardened into deeds " and " a conspiracy against
inevitable chain of causes
tional sins
;
the unity of the Republic "
—
labor of a generation
by
its
— not the work
now
."
He
extent and power."
startles
of a da}^ but the
and amazes
tlie
world
quoted, too, the admissions of
Madison, Jackson, and Benton, that the slavery agitation, which
Southern origin," with " disunion as its end," had
liad " a
words of the former, " by unceasing efforts to alarm the South by imputations against tlie
North of unconstitutional designs on the subject of slavery."
He quoted the words of the latter that " the disunionists had
prostituted the Democratic party," and " that they had combeen largely fomented,
in the
plete control of the administration."
Alluding to the election of Mr. Lincoln and the success of
new party, he declared its policy to be, in the words of its
chosen leader, " the policy of the founders of the government,
the
nothing more, nothing less."
He
expressed in the strongest
terms and as the results of large observation, that the North
was not only
loyal to the Union, but faithful to the
of the fathers
and
compact
compromises of the Constitution.
to the
Notwithstanding the
many
vociferous and bitter charges
ceaselessly as well as causelessly flung abroad against
it,
so
not-
withstanding the series of unfriendly and hostile acts committed by their Southern brethren, there was cherished nothing like animosity and vindictive hate towards them.
Of
Massachusetts, he said, while in her heart of hearts she loves
liberty
and loathes slavery, she
constitutional obligations.
is
never unmindful of her
He demanded
produce the proofs of their allegations, to
cifications, or forever
hold their peace.
sonal-liberty law, he said
it
of her accusers to
file
their bill of spe-
Referring to her per-
was not designed
to defeat her
�80
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
constitutional obligations or to interfere with the execution of
even the Fugitive Slave Act, but simply to protect her
To
own
which had been frequently
made, tliat Massachusetts sympathized with the John Brown
raid, and had chosen for her governor a man who indorsed it,
he interposed an emphatic denial. He pronounced it a libel
upon the governor, upon the State, and upon the Republicans,
inhabitants.
to charge
the
allegation,
them with indorsing that
invasion.
He
considered
the various points of the Crittenden proposition, and, though
venerable author the purest motives of patriotism, characterized the scheme as " a. complete surrender of all
according
its
practical issues concerning slavery in the Territories to the de-
mands
of slave-propagandism,"
— " the incorporation into the
organic law of the nation of irrepealable, degrading, and humiliating concessions to the dark spirit of slavery."
He
referred
and heroic course of the colored soldiers in the
Revolution, and pronounced the policy infamous that would
to the noble
put the stamp of degradation on the race, the descendants of
men who merited a better reward from the heirs of those who
were then willing to accept aid and deliverance through their
agony and blood. Alluding to the fact that the mails were no
longer sacred, that Northern seamen were imprisoned without
alleged crime, that Northern ships were compelled to pay tribute in the form of fees " for unwelcome visitation," that Northern men sojourning at the South were subjected to vexatious
annoyances, he said the Kentucky Senator proposed no remedies for these Northern wrongs
but he asks for irrepealable
constitutional provisions to eternize slavery and make its pro;
" This," he said, " we dare not do.
To do
would consign our names to what the Irish orator called
oppression's natural scourge,
the moral indignation of
"
history.'
visions perpetual.
it
—
'
The
came up the next day but, without debate
They were not taken up again
until the closing evening of the session, when, amid great confusion, and the seeming uncertainty of tlie members as to what
was really before the Senate, a vote was reached. Before the
main question was put, tlie amendment of Mr. Powell of Kenresolutions
or action, they were postponed.
;
�CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS.
81
tucky, that the African slave-trade should be effectually suppressed, that persons aiding slaves to escape shall be delivered
as other criminals, and that the laws of the State from
which such slaves escape shall be " the test of criminality,"
and that Congress should pass efficient laws for the punishment of persons making or abetting insurrection and invasion,
was adopted. Mr. Crittenden himself then proposed as an
up
amendment
of his
own
resolutions the propositions presented
by the Peace Congress, but they received only seven votes.
His resolutions were brought to a vote and were defeated, nineteen voting for them and twenty voting against them.
These resolutions and their history, it has been said, afford
a very clear insight into the state of feeling and purpose existing both North and South. Though called a compromise, and
put forth to conciliate and compose the jarring sentiments and
interests of the two sections by a gentleman venerable for age,
and hitherto conspicuous for his moderation and general opposition to the wild schemes of the propagandists, they took advanced Southern ground, and made demands that had been
previously consented to only by a very few extreme proslavery
men
at the North.
making the
Its
treatment of the territorial question,
line of 36° 30' parallel of latitude the dividing line
between free and slave territory, had been twice proposed in
Congress, in 1847 and 1848, and voted down by a large maBut now, after the
jority of Northern Democrats and Whigs.
same proposition was
gravely brought forward, and, what is more noteworthy, it came
very near being adopted and was actually defeated by Southelection of a Republican President, the
;
ern defection, by the refusal of six Southern Senators to vote
therefor, because they did not desire conciliation, because they
refused to be placated, because they had determined, with or
without cause, to break up the Union.
The adoption
of Clarke's
amendment had been
seized upon by the secessionists and telegraphed to their Southern constituents as proof that " all hope
of conciliation" was gone.
But Mr. Crittenden, who had
been interrogated, sent the following despatch to a North Car" In reply, the vote against my resolutions will
olina editor
be reconsidered. Their failure was the result of the refusal
:
�82
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
There is yet good hope of
His hope, largely shared in by others, was doomed
to disappointment, but his testimony as to the conduct of the
six recusant Senators is conclusive. Senator Andrew Johnson,
of six Southern Senators to vote.
success."
in a speech in the Senate during the succeeding year, testified
also to the
his
"
own
They
same
fact.
question.
did
it.
"
Who did it ?"
he asked.
He answered
Referring to these six Senators,
They wanted no compromise.
he said
They accom-
plished their object by withholding their votes
lieve
I be-
more, Mr. President, that these gentlemen were acting in
pursuance of a settled and fixed plan to break up and destroy
the government
If these
seceded Southern States had
remained, there would have passed by a large vote (as
it
did
without them) an amendment by a two-third vote, forbidding
Congress ever interfering with slavery in the States.
The
Crittenden proposition would have been indorsed by a majority
vote
And
yet,
even at a late day of the session, after
they had seceded, the Crittenden proposition was only lost by
one vote."
Such was the Crittenden Compromise, such its history, and
such the lessons that combined they teach. They revealed the
determined purpose and the desperate audacity of the secession
leaders, and the terrible sacrifices of feeling, and principle even,
that the North, embracing many who had voted for Mr. Lincoln, was willing to make to save the Union and avert the
threatened appeal to arms.
�CHAPTER
VII.
PEACE CONGRESS.
— Invitation. — Responses. — Meeting and organization. —
— Committee. —
— Report. — Minority reports and
resolutions. — General tone conservative. — Haste. — Southern
Reverdy Johnson's amendment and speech. — Seddon's speech. — Entreaties.
— Boutwell. — Imperious demands. — Resisted by D. Dudley Field, Allen,
and Noyes. — Coercion condemned and concession pleaded
by Rives, Seddon, Ewing, Frelinghuysen, and Dodge. — Further concession deprecated by
Morrill, Field, Tuck, and Smith. — Debate. — Various amendments. —
Strong speech by Chase. — Result and adjournment. — Action
Congress.
Action of Virginia.
John
Tyler.
Difficulties.
leaders.
for
"in
The
increasing excitement and growing intensity of feeling
which pervaded the country, preceding, producing, and resulting from the election of Mr. Lincoln, suggested the idea and
created in the minds of many a desire for general conference
and mutual consultation. It was hoped, by many conservative
men of both sections, that by such formal comparison of views
and mutual concessions some further compromise might be
secured, and some common ground on which all might stand
could be discovered.
Virginia took the lead. In February,
1861, her legislature adopted a series of resolutions, in which
that, unless the unhappy controversy could be " satisfactorily adjusted," a permanent dissolution of the Union is inevitable, and " the determination to
make a final effort " to prevent it, and thus " restore the Union
was expressed the opinion
and Constitution
which they were established by
For this purpose it extended an
invitation to all the States to unite with her in an effort for
the adjustment of " the present unhappy controversy," and for
in the spirit in
the fathers of the Republic."
securing " to the people of
tlie
slaveholding States adequate
guaranties for the security of their rights," and to send dele-
�84
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
gates to a meeting to be held in
IN AMERICA.
Washington on the fourth day
February following.
of the
Shadowing forth
its
purpose in calling such a conference,
not to use a harsher phrase,
it
further resolved that
if it
should
agree upon any plan of adjustment requiring amendments of
the Constitution,
and that
amendments, or
gress
;
it
if
if,
should submit such amendments to Conthe latter should " fail to agree upon such
agreeing,
it
should refuse to adopt them,
then that result should be communicated to the governor of
Virginia, to be by
him
laid before the
and the Greneral Assembly."
purpose,
it
convention of the people
To render more
sure
its
wish and
expressed the opinion that what were called the
Crittenden resolutions, modified by the insertion of a guaranty
for the protection of slavery in Territories south of 36^30',
and
of slave property in transit through the free States, should be
the basis of the proposed adjustment.
It appointed ex-Presi-
dent Tyler a commissioner to wait upon the President, and
Judge John Robinson a commissioner to urge upon South
Carolina and the seceded States to " agree to al)stain pending
the proceedings contemplated by the action of this General
Asseml)ly, from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms between the States and the government of the
United States."
To
this invitation of Virginia
twenty-two States responded,
though commissioners were not appointed without much opMichigan, Wisconposition in some of the Northern States.
sin,
Minnesota, California, and Oregon were not represented,
South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, having already seceded, had
wliilc
no voice in the deliberations of the body.
Beside their delegations, several States sent an expression
upon the exigencies of tlie occasion, and the measures demanded thereby. The resolutions of Kentucky were in
substance like those of Virginia. Those of Tennessee were
more intensely Southern than any other. New Jersey inof opinion
but Pennsylvania, while
dorsed the Crittenden resolutions
expressing her willingness to unite in any earnest and " legiti;
mate
effort to restore peace to the country,"
affirmed that
�85
PEACE CONGRESS.
there was " no reasonable cause for this extraordinary excitement," and her purpose " not to surrender the principles she
has always entertained on the subject of slavery."
New York
said tliat her acceptance of Virginia's invitation must not be
construed as an indorsement of " the propositions submitted
by the General Assembly of that State," while Illinois ex-
pressed the opinion that no amendment of the Constitution
was needed to give " to the slaveholding States adequate guaranties for the security of their rights."
A
similar sentiment
South Carolina was of course not
content with a simple refusal to. send delegates, but accom-
was expressed by Indiana.
panied that refusal with the unequivocal expression of her
want
"
of
We
sympathy with the proposed objects
do not deem
it
of the meeting.
advisable," she said with characteristic
effrontery and defiant words, " to initiate negotiations
we
liave
when
no desire or intention to promote the object in view."
Expressing her entire lack of " confidence in the Federal gov-
ernment
of the
United States," she said the separation of
South Carolina, which she now regarded " a foreign state,"
was " final."
Washington, at Willard's Hall, on the
John C. Wright of Ohio was made
temporary chairman, and John Tyler of Virginia permanent
The
delegates
met
in
fourth day of February.
A
president.
series of rules, reported
The
adopted.
by a committee, was
president, on taking the chair,
made an
earnest
and impassioned address, depicting the perils surrounding the
Republic, the difficulties of the situation, and the glory of the
achievement,
if
they could " snatch from ruin a great and
glorious confederation, preserve the
ate the Constitution."
He
fathers " in not having fixed
to
amend and reform the
perfect
for
five
millions,
government and invigor-
spoke of the "blunder" of the
on every
fifth
decade for a
Constitution, which, he said,
but
call
was
not wholly so as to thirty
millions."
On
Kentucky,
the Treasury under the administration of Mr.
the third day, on motion of
Secretary of
James Guthrie
of
from each State was appointed, to
"
which should be referred the resolutions of Virginia and the
Pierce, a committee of one
�86
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
other States represented, and
ment
of existing difficulties."
all
IN AMERICA.
propositions for the adjust-
James A. Seddon
of Virginia
proposed, as the basis for deliberation and action, the resolu-
which his State had forwarded in connection with her
The next day the convention called in person on
President Buchanan.
But tlie difficulties in the way of harmonizing the views of
the committee were too great to be easily overcome. Though
an earlier day had been specified in the resolutions themselves
for making the report, yet on the eighth day the chairman
reported its inability to agree, and asked for the extension of
time two days further. The next day, however, the committee
presented a report, adopted by a vote of twelve to eleven.
It
tions
invitation.
proposed, in substance, that the parallel of 36° 30' should separate the territory in which slavery should be prohibited
that in wliich
torial
from
should be permitted, while under a Terri-
it
government
;
when admitted
that
as
States, slavery
should be permitted or prohibited as the constitutions adopted
by them should provide
amendment
;
that neither the Constitution nor any
thereof should be construed to give to Congress
the right to abolish, regulate, or control slavery in any State,
Territory, or the District of Columbia, or to prohibit the inter-
State slave-trade
;
that the
United States
may
not acquire
territory without the consent of four fifths of the Senate
;
that
the Constitution shall not be so construed as to prevent States
from returning
from service that the foreign slaveand that the United States shall
slaves whicli any marshal shall fail to
fugitives
trade shall be prohibited
pay the
full
value of
;
;
return through intimidation or violent rescue.
Minority re-
ports and additional resolutions and suggestions were presented
by Field of New York, Crowninsliield of Massachusetts, Baldwin of Connecticut, Seddon of Virginia, and Wickliffe of
Kentucky.
From
these reports the general character of the convention
and the probable scope of its recommendations might be inferred.
While the free States were represented by some who
remained true to freedom and the cause of patriotism, tliey
were in a decided minority. Indeed, the more active and pro-
�PEACE CONGRESS.
87
nounced antislavery men were averse to the movement, and
its probable action and influence with distrust.
Mr. Sumner thus characterized its action " Forbearing all
details, it will be enough to say that they undertook to give to
looked upon
:
slavery positive protection in the Constitution, with
tion
and immunity,
— making
it,
new
mination of our fathers, national instead of sectional
even more than
this,
making
it
sanc-
notwithstanding the deter;
and
one of the essential and per-
manent parts of our republican system."
The general tone of the convention was strongly conservative, and its spirit was decidedly, not to say intensely. Southern.
The circumstances, too, were adverse to that careful and dispassionate consideration of and firm adherence to principle
which the exigency of the occasion demanded. The very haste
—
with which the appointments of commissioners were made,
but a fortnight intervening between the date of the call and
that of the convention,
— the
urgent pressure for immediate
and the very haze of uncertainty which at the time
enveloped and magnified everything future, forbade that calm
and careful consideration which a wise and safe decision demanded. From the start extreme men took the lead, and by
their determined and demonstrative manner made it difficult
for the more moderate members to maintain a position even
much less advanced than that demanded by the general sentiaction,
ment
of the North.
Among these Southern leaders was Seddon of Virginia.
Well representing the pretentious school of Southern statesmen, he uttered his slaveholding demands and the doctrine
of State-rights as if the Old Dominion spoke with an authority
akin to that of the " divine right of kings,"
Not, seemingly,
unmindful of all claims of patriotism or of the honor of the
flag, he deprecated and sought to avert open rupture.
He had
not at that time taken that final leap in the dark he soon did
take, when he joined his fortunes with his seceding State, and
became the Secretary of War in the new Confederacy. But
he always seemed chiefly solicitous lest slavery should receive
detriment, and was more anxious to guard that than his
country's honor and integrity.
And
not only for slavery as
�88
KISE
and where
against
all
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
it
then existed was he sohcitous
possible contingencies
IN AMERICA.
he would provide
whenever and wherever ex;
isting.
This purpose appeared very plainly in a debate on an
amendment of Reverdy Johnson of Maryland to insert the
word " present " in one of the proposed amendments of the
Constitution, thereby restricting its operation to territory then
Mr. Johnson had said that he " spoke for the South
and to the South," had avowed his desire to guard the system
of slavery against harm, and deprecated separation and anything that would create further agitation upon the subject.
Content with the present domain, he wisely counselled against
further enlargement, with the dangers that must accompany
To this restrictive policy Seddon interposed his most emit.
phatic objections.
Of Mr. Johnson's speech he said " I lisheld.
:
tened with sadness to
many parts
of
it.
I
bemoan that tones
patriotic could not rise to the level of the high
ity
and
right,
upon which we
all
so
ground of equal-
ought to stand."
He
in-
veighed bitterly against limiting the proposed amendments of
the Constitution to territory already possessed.
In view of the
constant immigration and growth of the nation, such a restriction he stigmatized as " a farce."
With complacent and grandiloquent laudation he alluded to
Virginia and her " memories," to the glorious part she had
borne in the past, and to that he desired her to bear in
" the great national crisis " through which they were passing.
" She comes," he said, " to present to you calmly and plainly
new guaranties are needed for her rights
you what those guaranties ought to be,"
in
the question whether
and she
tells
—
;
substance, " security against the principles of the North and
her great and
now dominant
party
;
to put
an end to the
dis-
cussions which have convulsed the country and jeopardized
our institutions." Indulging in the common l^ut unmeaning
platitudes concerning the providential " mission " of the South
towards " these colored barbarians," he, by a very natural
transition, launched forth
upon the usual invective against the
antislavery spirit and Abolition societies of the North.
At"
British instigation, put forth to disrupt
tributing them to
�PEACE CONGRESS.
89
he contended that, through their influence, the
abstraction of slaves had become " a virtue," and the raid of
this Republic,"
John Brown had been celebrated as the exploit of a Christian
They, too, had " destroyed the grand old Whig party,"
had formed the " Free Soil " party, and " finally your great
hero.
Republican party in other words, your great sectional party
which has come to majority and power." He closed by assuring the convention that the only way by which Virginia could
be held back from following the seven States which had already seceded was by granting the additional guaranties recommended, though in his judgment they should be " fuller and
;
greater."
But entreaty rather than menace was the underlying
the animating spirit of the convention.
patriotism and the need of
argument and motive.
harmony
As
idea,
ever, appeals to
constituted the staple of
In this strain spoke Mr. Guthrie.
Though avowedly devoted
to
Southern institutions, he depre-
cated revolution, counselled moderation, and expressed the
hope that, " without crimination or recrimination," they would
" vote in good temper and good time," and thus go before ConChauncey L. Cleveland of Connecticut
gress and the people.
urged similar considerations. " Let us be gentle and pleas" Let us love one another. Let us not try to
ant," he said.
find out who is smartest or keenest.
Let us vote soon, and
without any feeling or quarrelling." He indorsed the report,
and predicted that its adoption would preserve the peace and
union of the country.
Though the advocates
of
and compromise were
and political integrity were
them was ex-Governor George
slavery
largely in the ascendant, freedom
Among
not without defenders.
S.
Boutwell of Massachusetts, afterwards Secretary of the
Treasury and member of the United States Senate.
Far from
extreme in his opinions, and making concessions which
antislavery
men would
the pretensions and policy of the imperious Virginian.
chusetts, he said,
many
not have made, he met at the threshold
was opposed
opposition within constitutional limits.
but she would not seek
its
Massa-
to slavery, but she confined her
She loved the Union
preservation by the remedies pro-
�90
BISE
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
posed in the report, nor would she consent to separation.
made
the prediction
He
" If the South persists in the course on
:
which she has entered, we shall march our armies to the Gulf
At
of Mexico, or you will march yours to the Great Lakes."
the close of the debate, Mr. Johnson's amendment was adopted
by a decided vote.
The spirit and purpose of the convention were also revealed
by a sharp debate on a motion to limit speeches to ten minutes
In support of this motion, Robert L. Carruthers of
each.
Tennessee,
mover, said
its
pose of acting
;
:
"
We
have come here for the pur-
not to hear speeches.
There
is
no use of
talk-
Our minds are made up, and talking
I want to make an end to all discuswill not change them.
sions.
I move that the debate close at three o'clock to-day."
Joseph F. Randolph of New Jersey expressed his agreement
with the sentiments of Mr. Carruthers, but moved to defer the
Robert F. Stockton of the same State
vote till the next day.
made a frantic appeal for union and immediate action, urging
ing over these things.
.the
convention to " bring a speedy termination to this whole
" We stand," he said, " in the presence of an
business."
awful danger.
We
threatens to bring
feel the throes of
down
ruin on the whole magnificent fabric
" Yielding to Southern demands " was
government."
of our
an earthquake which
" too small a matter," he claimed, to justify hesitation when
" You cannot," he said,
such vital interests were at stake.
" destroy your country for that. You love it too much. I call
on you, Wadsworth and King, Field and Chase and Morrill,
men, as brothers, as good patriots, to give up everything
it is necessary to save your country
The Union
as able
else
if
shall not be destroyed.
riglit in
the way.
I tell you, friends, I
You
shall not go
am going
home you
;
to stand
shall never see
your wives and families again until you have settled these
matters, and saved your good old country,
But
all
if
I
can help
were not alike impetuous and impatient
the policy of peace at any price
command
;
it."
nor did
the united assent of
Against the injustice and imand thus hurrying prematurely to
even that conservative body.
policy of limiting debate
a result, Mr. Field of
New York
entered his earnest protest.
�PEACE CONGEESS.
"Is
91
now," he asked, " after gentleon one side have spoken two or three times and at great
it
men
length,
seriously contemplated
—
after the questions involved in the committee's re-
ports have been thoroughly and exhaustingly discussed on the
—
and when only one gentleman from the
North has been heard upon the general subject, to cut us off
from all opportunity of expressing our views ? Such a course
Charles Allen of Massachuwill not help your propositions."
setts, one of the bravest and most honest men of his State, a
man of clear convictions and intrepid purpose, reminded the
convention that tlieir meeting was for the very purpose of conpart of the South,
" The questions
sultation on the condition of the country.
before us," he said, " are the most important that could possiBefore our present Constitution was adopted, it
was discussed and examined for more than three months. We
are now practically making a new Constitution
You
bly arise.
may
It
force a vote to-day, but the result will satisfy none."
was, indeed, this radical character of the proposed amend-
ments that seemed to arrest more particularly the attention
and to excite more profoundly the few earnest friends of freedom and thoughtful lovers of their country, who were members of that convention.
This was well expressed by William
Curtis Noyes of New York, mild and gentle as a man, eminent
as a lawyer, and a firm friend of freedom. " Sir," he said, " I
speak for New York
Not New York of a time gone by
Not New York of an old fossiliferous era, remembered only in
some chapter of her ancient history, but young, breathing, living New York, as she exists to-day
We are asked to
consider new and important amendments to the Constitution,
alterations of our fundamental law
and in the same breath
we are told we must not discuss them,
that we must take
!
;
them
as they are offered to us without change or alteration.
....
it
—
I
submit to the conference,
proper to stop here
?
Is
it
is it
kind,
best to do so
?
is
"
it
generous,
is
His colleague,
who had, in the presidential election, supported the so-called " Bell-Everett " ticket, had assured the con-
Francis Granger,
vention that
tee.
He
New York would support the report
of the
commit-
expressed his doubt of the gentleman's authority to
�92
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
speak for the State, with the assurance that the pohtical principles of their constituents did " not sit thus hghtly
On
consciences."
Mr. Field said
of people
yet,
is
:
"
To change
the organic law of thirty millions
a measure of the greatest importance,
though the convention has devoted hut
consideration,
on their
another occasion and in another connection
we
five
....
and
days to the
are urged to act at once without further
deliberation or delay."
This Peace Congress, as
it
has been sometimes termed, was
was designed by its movers
and in its debates and
final decisions very generally carried out that purpose. Though
it came together hurriedly, at a memorable crisis, and deliberated under a terrible pressure, and though it was the last act
of the great drama of conciliation and compromise, if not the
first of rebellion and revolution, there were enunciated during
its sessions, in its animated and able debates of three weeks, in
the form of assertions and demands, of questionings and their
answers, threats and their rejoinders, apprehensions and appeals, avowed purposes, if not plans, the seminal ideas of what
was soon to take definite shape and to meet in deadly conflict.
Though there was great variety of motions, resolutions, and
amendments, the debates ranged themselves generally on the
called in the interests of slavery,
and leaders
to strengthen that system,
one side or the other of the great dividing
On
line.
the side of the South, and of concession, Rives of Vir-
though expressing his strong desire to bring back the
seven seceded States, denied that force could be used. " Coercion," he said, " is not a word to be used in this connection.
ginia,
The army and navy
There must be negotiation
impotent in such a
" Is
are
the purpose of the incoming administration," asked Seddon, " to attempt the execution
of the laws in the seceded States by an armed force ? " George
W. Summers
crisis."
of the
same State
it
said,
if
the two extreme por-
tions would not lend their aid, the border States on both sides
of the line
must unite with the Northwest "
to save the coun-
Tliomas Ewing, though representing the free State of
Ohio, spoke contemptuously of the " sickening sentimental-
try."
ism"
of
Northern antislavery and of the " incompatibility " of
�PEACE CONGRESS.
93
New Jersey,
claimed,
in
interests
though speaking, he
the
of " piety and
the two races.
Fi'ederick F. Frelingluiysen of
patriotism," made the strange vaunt that there were never
any underground raih-oads in New Jersey, that she never rescued a fugitive slave from the custody of law, that no " personal-liberty " bills ever disgraced the pages of her statute-book,
" never will."
He expressed the opinion that " nineteen
twentieths of the North " were in favor of giving the South all
the guaranties " it asks," and affirmed his belief that, in both
and
sections, " the family prayer ascends to the Father of us all for
a blessing on our
the Union."
common country and
William E. Dodge of
New England
for the preservation of
New York
counselled con-
delegates " obstinate
and
uncompromising," expressed doubts of their declaration that
New England was " opposed to slavery," for the not very credciliation, styled the
knew " how to get the dollars and how
and that they would never permit the
government which had contributed so much to their wealth
and prosperity to be sacrificed to a technicality, a chimera.
itable reasons that they
to hold on to them,"
On
the other hand,
]\Iorrill of JSIaine,
it
was
said,
among
by Lot M.
others,
that " the sentiments and convictions of the
North could not be
trifled
with nor set aside in any settlement
To
the question whether the incoming
that could be made."
administration would employ force to
coerce
the
seceding
States, he replied,
though disclaiming all authority to speak
for Mr. Lincoln, that if it did not " use every means which
the Constitution has given them to assert the authority of tlie
government
in all the States, to preserve the
its integrity,
Union
in all
Speaking to
the people will be disappointed."
the same point, Mr. Field said, if the government does not
use coercion it will be " disgraced and destroyed." " There
is," he said, " no middle ground ; we must keep this country
unbroken or give
shire
made
it
up to ruin,"
Amos Tuck
a conciliatory but firm speech.
of
New Hamp-
After alluding to
the conflicting claims of patriotism and fraternity on the one
hand, and principle and conscience on the other, and saying that he had " listened to appeals stronger and more eloquent than
I ever expect to
hear again," he added
:
" But
we
�94
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
cannot act otherwise than we do.
trol,
IN AMERICA.
Ideas and prhiciples con-
and we and those we represent
will act in accordance
with them, whatever be the conseqnences." James C. Smith
of New York also spoke of " the immutable principles by which
nations and individuals are and must be governed."
After
saying that the entrance of slave labor was the practical exclu" We may talk around this question,
sion of free, he said
—
:
we may discuss its incidents, its history, and its effects as
and after all is said, disguise
much and as long as we please,
it as we may, it is a contest between the great opposing ele-
—
—
whether this country shall be possessed
ments of civilization,
and developed and ruled by the labor of slaves or of freemen."
The fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth days
were occupied with speeches not very much unlike those
The eighteenth was devoted to atthat had preceded them.
tempts to amend the report
Among
the
amendments
;
all
of which, however, failed.
offered were those
by Mr. Field denyby
a convention for amend-
ing the right of secession and affirming freedom of speech
;
Mr. Baldwin of Connecticut, calling
ing the Constitution by Mr. Seddon, proposing the Crittenden
;
resolutions with the Virginia modifications
;
by James B. Clay,
son of Henry Clay, proposing the Crittenden resolutions sim-
by Mr. Tuck, proposing an address to the people of the
United States and a petition to Congress to call a convention
During the day Salmon P.
for amending the Constitution.
Chase made a very able speech, in which he defined the position
ply
;
of the
Republican party,
to throw
and purposes. They had
and they were not prepared
its principles
triumphed on that basis, he
said,
away that triumph, nor forsake the vantage-ground
which that triumph gave. Speaking of the return of fugitive
slaves, he said their consciences would not allow that, but they
the " cost " of which, he said, " would
could " compensate "
be as nothing in comparison with the evils of discord." On
;
the next day, the nineteenth of the convention, the report of
the committee was adopted, section by section, although each
section did not receive the
same majority.
The president was
appointed to present the doings of the convention to Congress,
when
it
adjourned without day.
�PEACE CONGRESS.
The
95
been presented on the same day to the
was referred to a committee consisting of Crittenden, Bigler, Thomson, Seward, and Trumbull.
On the next
result having
Senate,
it
day the majority of the committee reported in favor of the
recommendation of the convention, Seward and Trumbull disSeveral resolutions and amendments were offered,
senting.
and a general, earnest, and acrimonious debate ensued. Joseph Lane of Oregon, Democratic candidate for Vice-President
on the Breckinridge ticket, made a very violent speech, taking
the most extreme Southern ground. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee replied in a strong Union speech, in which he denounced
those
who had
seized the arsenals
and other United States
a deep impression on
favorable notice, and con-
property as traitors.
The speech made
the country, bringing
its
author to
no doubt largely if not mainly, to his subsequent
Mr. Baker of Oregon made an eloquent, earnest,
and pathetic appeal in favor of compromise.
No vote, however, was taken. On motion of Mr. Douglas
tributing,
elevation.
the report was laid aside for the purpose of taking up the
House Resolution, reported by the committee of thirty-three
and the propositions of the Peace Congress, brought forth with
;
so
much
left
labor and anxiety,
if they did not fall still-born, were
"
the tomb of the Capulets."
to sleep in
�CHAPTER
VIII.
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
— Montgomery. — Alleged incon— Barrett. — Eepublican hopes. — Slaveliolding changes. — Remedies sought. — Eepublican disclaimers. — Northern yielding and concessions.
— Committee of thirty-three. — Proposed
— Trimble, Stokes. — Three
amendment. — Brief debate. — Kilgore, Stanton. — Charles Francis Adams.
— Crittenden. — Beale.
General uncertainty and diversity of opinion.
sistency.
facts.
It
is
perhaps impossible, to construct any single
difficult,
theory that will satisfactorily account for
many
of the sayings
and doings, the sentiments, purposes, and plans, of the men
and parties, sections and schools, involved in the long and
heated conflict that at length culminated in the late Rebellion
and
civil
war.
In reviewing the history of those days, espe-
on record, both North and South, by men
and by the far larger number occupying intermediate positions, the most noteworthy facts and features
cially the utterances
at each extreme,
thereof are the confusion of ideas, the conflicts of purposes,
and the lack of any well-defined plans that received the advocacy and support of any considerable number.
Soon after the
report of the committee of thirty-three had been made, Mr.
Montgomery of Pennsylvania thus gave expression to his view
of public opinion
:
" I think that every impartial observer
who
has witnessed our deliberations since the commencement of
the session will admit that there
ment
day
is
is
nothing like unity of senti-
among us
speeches, many
or concurrence of opinion
Day
spent in the delivery of
of whicli only
after
tend to increase our troubles and add fuel to the flame of public discord " ; and he expressed " the doubt whether any
speech that has been
made
or that will be
the vote or opinion of a single member."
made
will
change
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
To
this discordance
of
97
views was added what was freely
charged to be lack of logical consistency and consentaneousness in the opinions and purposes expressed, especially by
those Republicans
infringe
isting,
upon
but
who were
State-rights
who
free to disclaim any purpose to
and interfere with slavery where ex-
did not conceal impatience at their alleged con-
stitutional obligations to share in the
work
their confident expectation that the system
and
would soon yield
of oppression,
" A
of reform and pass away.
house divided against itself cannot stand,' " said Mr. Lincoln.
" I believe this government cannot endure permanently half
to the potent influences
'
and half
I do not expect the Union will be disfree.
do not expect the house to fall. But I do expect it
will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all
slave
solved.
I
Similar sentiments and expectations had been
and confidently expressed by large numbers and leading
members of the new party that was soon to assume the reins
of power.
And all such sentiments, wishes, and expectations
were well remembered and faithfully reported within hearing
of those whose cherished system was thus menaced. Near the
close of the session Mr. Barrett of Missouri addressed the
House in a long and carefully elaborated speech, into which
were introduced a mass of such utterances culled from leading
Republicans.
He quoted Mr, Seward as saying that " slavery
is not and cannot be perpetual
that it will be overthrown
either peacefully and lawfully under this Constitution, or it
will work the subversion of the Constitution together with its
the other."
freely
;
own overthrow," with
a large
number
of similar expressions
from the same individual at different times and places. He
quoted largely, too, from Mr. Lincoln, and reached the conclusion that " he was the very embodiment of the sentiments of
Mr. Giddings and Mr. Curtis, and of the Abolition party generally." He quoted Mr. Sumner as saying that slavery is such
a grievous wrong that it should be " encountered wherever it
can be reached
and the battle must be continued without
truce or compromise until the field is entirely won."
He
quoted Mr. Burlingame of Massachusetts as saying that after
;
we
shall
have elected a President who shall be " the tribune of
�98
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the people, and after we have exterminated a few doughfaces
from the North, then, if the slave Senate will not give way, we
will grind it between the upper and nether millstone of our
power." From these sentiments, and a large number of like
character expressed by others, he drew the conclusion that a
party " composed of such materials, announcing such sentiments, fighting such battles, must have an object far beyond
the prevention of slavery in a Territory where it can never
exist."
That these gentlemen had given expression
to such senti-
ments, and that they honestly regarded slavery as deserving
such condemnation and confidently looked forward to
its
ex-
tinguishment, was historically true, though they were equally
any purpose to infringe upon
State-rights or to meddle with slaveholding where it legally
existed.
If there was inconsistency it was not intentional.
The inconsistency concerning which many had more self-misgivings was the seeming complicity their support of the compromise might imply or involve. But they reconciled themselves
by the consideration that, being estopped from interference by
constitutional restrictions, what they could not reach by political agencies would yield to moral forces, and that the laws of
nature and the workings of Providence would prove more than
a match for even slaveholding persistence and astuteness and
non-slaveholding indifference and subserviency. Nor did they
hesitate to give expression to these hopes, and indicate with
That on some points
great confidence the reasons therefor.
they miscalculated and were too sanguine may be admitted,
for on such a subject no prescience less than divine could
sincere in their disavowals of
accurately forecast the future.
made note
Their confident expectations
by the propagandists, and used
with no small effect to poison the Southern mind as well as to
fire the Southern heart against the North and what they were
were, however,
pleased to characterize
of
its ulterior
purposes.
They found,
also,
advancement and growing preponderance of the
free States in population, wealth, and the elements of a superior civilization, too many corroborative arguments in harmony
with these antislavery reasonings and expectations to justify
in the relative
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
99
supineness or the neglect of those measures demanded to meet,
circumvent, or overcome what they so
much
Nor
Southern mind
feared.
were they neglectful. As on nothing has the
been more deeply exercised, so to nothing has Southern thought,
scholarship, and statesmanship been more thoroughly devoted.
It has been the staple of Southern literature, the subject on
which the resources of Southern rhetoric and eloquence have
been most lavishly expended. The danger to be apprehended
from the growing strength of the free North, its alleged unfriendliness to slavery, and its ulterior purpose to effect its
overthrow, afforded the problem that challenged investigation,
and demanded remedial measures, both commensurate and
prompt.
The only alternative presented, it was claimed, was secessome assurance that this growing preponderance of
sion, or
the free States should never be used, or taken advantage
that the
of, to
The secession leaders contended
only adequate remedy was in separation. Others at
the detriment
of
slavery.
the South, equally intent on conserving the system, shrunk
from that violent remedy, and contended that there were
strength and wisdom enough in what they termed Northern
and Southern conservatism to devise and execute some plan
by which slavery could be placed beyond the reach of intermeddlers, however fanatical or numerous. But what ? What
new contrivance could there be? For two generations the
Slave Power had held control and dictated the legislation it
desired, and an obsequious nation had done little less than
record its edicts and clothe with the sanctions of law its behests.
Even the Repubhcan party, in its platform on which
Mr. Lincoln had just been elected, had disclaimed any purpose
to interfere with the system in the States where it existed, and
had declared " that the maintenance inviolate of the rights of
the States, and especially the right of each State to order and
control
its
own domestic
institutions
according to
its
own
judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of powers on
which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric
depend." What new guaranties were demanded, or required,
or were possible ?
�100
RISE
It lias
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
been often asked whether or not the agitation of
thirty years, closing at the opening of the Rebellion, had,
on
the whole, inured to the advantage of freedom or slavery.
Many think,
perhaps
it is
sistent agitation at the
the general impression, that this per-
North and slaveholding aggressions at
the South had in fact brought forth their legitimate fruits, and
men who voted for Mr. Linhad reached the conviction that there was an irrepressible
conflict between the two, that the Republic could not endure
" half slave and half free," and that the way to prevent
slavery from becoming national was to be looked for only in
That there was a providential connecits complete extinction.
tion between these antecedent agitations and aggressions and
that storm of war which swept, without the popular bidding,
if with the popular assent, the system of American slavery
from the land, no believer in Providence can doubt but that
the people had been educated by this history of a generation
that the popular mind, at least the
coln,
;
to juster views of
human
rights
and a higher purpose
in regard
to them, is not so clear as to challenge universal assent
there are facts that seem to justify the doubt.
least the progress
some
seemed
of the acts of the
to be in the
;
and
Politically at
wrong
direction,
closing session of the
and
XXXVIth
Congress revealed more recklessness of conduct, a lower tone
and greater sacrifices of principle and self" These facts,"
respect than had ever been reached before.
said Mr. Trimble of Ohio, in a speech during that session,
" show that the public sentiment of the North in opposition
of public morality,
to slavery has not progressed since 1820.
itself
It
then manifested
against the continuance of slavery in territory where
already had an actual existence.
It
now
manifests
itself
it
only
in opposition to the extension of slavery into free territory,
where
it
it
has no existence in law or in fact.
manifests
manifested
itself
now
itself in
in precisely the
In other words,
same phase that
it
the South as well as the North, at the
time of the foundation of the government, when both sections
concurred in excluding slavery from the great Northwestern
Territory."
In the same debate, on the report of the com-
mittee of thirty-tliree, a few days before,
Mr. Stokes,
a
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
101
Republican member from Tennessee, after avowing himself
in favor of the Republican doctrine of the non-extension of
slavery into free territory, justified himself for so doing, and
fortified his position therein,
by quoting largely from the action
of political bodies, either conventions or legislatures, mostly
Democratic, indorsing the same views.
Confining himself to
1847-50, he quoted the resolutions and acts of
Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vermont, Connecticut, Massathe years
chusetts (Democratic convention), Illinois, Wisconsin, Indi-
ana, and Maine.
One
of the resolutions of the Massachusetts
Democrats was as follows " Resolved, That we are opposed
to slavery in every form and color, and in favor of freedom
and free soil wherever man lives, throughout God's heritage."
And such in substance and spirit, not always in words quite
revealso terse and trenchant, were all the quotations made,
:
—
ing a reluctant acquiescence in the continuance of slavery
where existing, but a firm and inflexible determination that it
should extend no farther, and that it should be allowed to
pollute no other territory then free.
There can, however, be no intelligent and appreciative writing
or reading of American history, nothing at least like a philosophical examination of the subject, nothing that will correctly
locate the actors, assign
them
their true positions,
and give the
proper significance to their actions, which does not recognize
and keep
ing
if
At
and
in
mind three
facts
which have exerted a command-
not a controlling influence.
the South the dominating idea and purpose were slavery
its
conservation.
To
held subordinate and was
this, as the rule,
made
everything else was
subservient.
But beneath
this
overshadowing idea and purpose there was great diversity of
Agreed that slavery should,
differed widely upon the
policy best calculated to secure that result.
The more extreme
of the slave propagandists favored disunion, and joined in
cherishing the dream of a slaveholding confederacy
while
large, probably far larger, numbers believed the policy of
disunion suicidal, and wisely contended that the place to labor
sentiment, conviction, and plan.
if
possible, receive
no detriment,
men
;
�AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
102
RISE
most
effectively for
greatly strengthened
American
At
it
was
Union,
-within the
by the feeling
IN AMERICA.
of
loyalty,
—a
position
hard for an
citizen to ignore or eradicate.
was the Union and its
Union seemed to be regarded the
the North the dominating thought
To
preservation.
save the
and paramount duty of all true citizenship, for wliich
any sacrifice of feeling, and even, as Senator Cameron conIndeed, this
fessed, of principle too, seemed none too great.
intense loyalty played an important part in the long and
first
fearful drama, witnessed alike in the degrading concessions to
which Northern men were persuaded, to preserve the Union,
and in the heroic sacrifices it prompted when, concession no
longer availing, they were compelled to take the sword to
maintain
Here, too, beneath this almost universal feeling
it.
of loyalty there existed great diversity of sentiment
viction, desire
and purpose.
Even
and con-
in the Republican ranks,
and especially among the Abolitionists, there was exhibited
the same loyalty to the government, though men, having been
attracted thereto by various motives and different considerations, exhibited great diversity of sentiment, not only
on
collat-
eral issues and subordinate topics, but on the very subject
that had brought
them
itself
Excepting the non-voting
together.
meml)ers of the Garrison school, constituting but a fraction
of the antislavery liost, wliose rallying cry was " Abolition or
Disunion," they all cherished veneration and love for the
" dear old flag." Even those who recognized the sin of slavery
and opposed
on moral grounds would not seek emancipation
even through that flag's dishonor and their nation's destrucit
tion or disintegration.
Though they admitted the wrongful-
ness of the system, and could not but condemn the compro-
mises of the Constitution and
therein, they
saw no other or
tlie
national complicity involved
better
way than
to remain in the
Union, even with this complicity, obey the laws, or suffer the
consequences of their disobedience, if constrained to violate
them but hoping and laboring for the day of deliverance from
;
the horrible bondage for themselves as well as for the slave.
Another
fact,
no
less
important in
its
bearings, and without
the recognition of which there can be no appreciative estimate
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
of the causes that produced the results
103
now under review, were
men who
the ambitions, aspirations, and revenges of leading
had personal ends to gain and ulterior purposes to accomplish,
and who were willing to put in peril the public interests to promote their own selfish schemes. Alexander H. Stephens, in
his speech at the Georgia capital, to dissuade his fellow-citizens
from joining in the secession movement, thus charged upon
this class their responsibility in producing the results
he so
deprecated and sought to avert. " Some of our public men,"
he said, " have failed in their aspirations, it is true, and from
that comes a great part of our troubles."
Beside these there
were those who, if not deserving of such severe censure, had
mingled with their admitted patriotism too little firmness, too
little persistence, and too little wisdom, so that if there were
any alloy of ambition and self-seeking, and they were tempted,
as few were not, they yielded when they should have maintained their position, and, if not openly recreant and erratic,
they became inconsistent, unreliable, and far less serviceable
to the cause than
was hoped, and
less
than their
first
essays
As many military
with damaged reputations, so many in the
in their country's service gave promise of.
men
left
civil
departments of the government suffered in the hour of
trial
and temptation.
The
the field
report of the committee of thirty-three contained five
propositions.
The
first,
or the joint resolution " declaratory
of the opinion of Congress in regard to certain questions
now
measures calculated to reconcile
existing differences," having been adopted on the 27th of February, 1861, the second proposition, consisting of a joint resagitating the country,
olution to
amend
and
of
the Constitution of the United States, was
immediately reported and " read a
first
"
and second time."
No amendment
As
was as follows
its object any interference within the
States with the relation between their citizens and those de-
originally reported
it
:
of this
Constitution having for
scribed in section second of the first article of the Constitution
as
'
all
other persons,' shall originate with any State that does
not recognize that relation within
its
own
limits, or shall be
valid without the assent of every one of the States
composing
�104
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
the Union."
Before, however, a vote
IN AMERICA.
was taken, the chairman
which was
of the committee offered the following substitute,
adopted
which
:
"
No amendment
shall be
will authorize or give to
made
to the Constitution
Congress the power to abolish
or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions
thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service
the laws of said State."
On
this resolution the vote stood
by
one
hundred and twenty to seventy-one. Failing to secure the
necessary two-thirds, the resolution was lost. The vote, however, was reconsidered on the next day, and the joint resolution was finally adopted by a vote of one hundred and thirtythree to sixty-five, just one more than the requisite two-thirds,
so vacillating, or at best uncertain, were some at least who
voted for a proposition whose chief importance now lies in the
testimony it bears of the state of feeling and opinion that
then existed.
The
limited time remaining of the session and the fact that
the whole subject had been traversed in the previous and general debate, prevented a protracted discussion, though Mr. Kilgore of Indiana and Mr. Stanton of Oliio, in a few brief and
terse remarks, well presented the
cans
who had been made
argument
willing to vote
of those Republi-
for
that extreme
measure. " Gentlemen seem to have forgotten," said the former, " the declarations made during the last three weeks by
•
the most ultra
men who
are acting with the party, that they
not only did not possess the power under the Constitution to
interfere with slavery in the States
where
it
existed, but that
Last even-
they had no disposition whatever to do so
ing they seemed to have forgotten those declarations, in a mo-
ment
of excitement, carried
away by wild fanaticism, and
for-
getting the condition of the country and the surroundings of
the party."
more nor
less
" The proposition," he continued, "
is
nothing
than a constitutional declaration that Congress
power which themselves have declared by
shall not possess the
votes they do not
of slavery
where
now possess
now exists
it
to interfere with the institution
If the
Republicans to-day
have changed their ground, and claim now the right to invade
the sovereignty of the States, and interfere with the institution
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
of slavery,
—
that
if
He
publican."
still
105
Republican doctrine, then I
is
am no
Re-
further revealed the important, or at least
the apprehended, bearing which the subject and the final decision of the question
"
When
would exert upon the border slave-States.
he added, " the political topics of the
I discussed,"
day before the slaveholders of Maryland during the last canvass," for the purpose, as he explained, of meeting the argu-
ments
men
Yancey, Rhett, Toombs, and others, "
of
I
charged those
with having propagated slander against the Republican
when they charged us with a
party
disposition to invade their
rights or interfere with their domestic institutions.
those gentlemen
who have
stood with
me upon
ask
I
that question,
whether they are willing, by their votes, to fix that charge
party, and thereby strengthen the arms of our ene-
upon our
He
mies."
contended, too, that, as their servants, the least
was to submit the question to the people,
" to take this proposition to their masters and submit it to
that they could do
them
for their approval or rejection."
Mr. Stanton presented another view.
changed condition of
affairs resulting
He
referred to the
from the secession of
seven or eight States. If they should maintain their independence, then he contended that " if the remaining seven
slaveholding States remain in this confederacy they are entitled
to additional guaranties."
Saying that there were then seven
slaveholding States and nineteen free States, he proceeded
" In ten years more Delaware will be, for all practical purposes, a free State.
That would make twenty free States and
:
six slaveholding States.
five
more
In a few years more you will have
free States organized out of the Territories.
You
have the requisite three-fourths to change the Constitution, and to confer on the Federal government and on
will then
Congress the power to interfere with slavery in the States.
Now, I hold that that power ought never to be vested in Congress,
I
am
no matter
if
there were but one slaveholding State
in earnest in this business,
and
am
sincere
when
I state
that I do not desire to interfere with slavery in the States.
apprehend that
my
colleagues are equally so.
I
I
apprehend
that they do not desire to interfere with slavery in the States.
�106
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
But
IN AMERICA.
will they guarantee that their successors, ten or
years hence, will not be
?
and for the position which
of public opinion in the free States,
they
may assume some
States,
years hence
I say that these slave
?
they intend to remain in the Federal Union, have a
if
demand
right to
twenty
Will they answer for the progress
this guaranty,
cerned, they shall have it."
and so far as
He
my
vote
is
con-
strengthened his claim by
was proposed by the distinguished Senator from
saying that
it
New York
[Mr. Seward], and adopted by the committee of
and voted for in that committee by Collamer, Doolitwho were all of the Republican members of the committee and voted against by Hunter
He closed by moving the previous question.
and Toombs.
He was requested to withdraw it by Mr. Lovejoy, who complained of the unfairness of " having two speeches made on
the same side, and none on the other " but he was inexorable,
and the vote was ordered.
thirteen,
Grimes, Seward, and Wade,
tle,
;
;
In a previous chapter the course of Charles Francis
Adams
was
referred to as an illustration of the different views which
men
equally honest entertained of duty and of what a wise
policy required.
In the minority report he made as a
member
committee of thirty-three, he had urged as a reason of
his convictions that it was of " no use to propose as an adjustof the
ment that which has no prospect
of being received as such
he in good faith had offered."
He
by
"
changed his
the other party," and that, therefore, he had
course and declined to recommend the very measures which
introduced his speech,
already referred to in another connection, with these words,
expressive of the gravity of the occasion and
sacrifice
:
—
its
demand
for
" In this hour of inexpressible import to the fate of unborn
from my eyes the film of
and right in their naked,
living reality, and with their aid to rise to the grandeur of the
opportunity to do good to my fellow-men. There have been
millions, I
all
human
would that
I could clear
passions, to see the truth
occasions when the fitting words, uttered in the true place,
have helped to right the scale when wavering towards the ruin
of
a nation.
At no time have
they been more necessary than
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
now
107
no place more requisite than here. The most magexample of self-government known to history is in imminent danger of suffering an abrupt mutilation, by reason of
the precipitate violence of a few desperate men.
I purpose to
discuss briefly, and I trust with proper calmness, the cause
and the effect of this proceeding, as well as the duty that it
entails upon us."
at
;
nificent
Similar expressions of intense anxiety and alarm, and the
pressing need of something to avert,
if
possible, the threatened
catastrophe, ran through the debate of both houses.
In the
Senate Mr. Crittenden had thus expressed his deep convictions
" With that I am satisfied. It is enough
and earnest desire
:
for the dreadful occasion.
want
am
to get rid of.
It is the dreadful occasion that I
Rid me
of this, rid the nation of this,
and
my
chance for the future, and meet the
perils of every day that may come.
Now is the appointed
time upon which our destiny depends. Now is the emergency
I
willing to take
and exigency upon us. Let us provide for them. Save ourselves now, and trust to posterity and that Providence which
has so long and so benignly guided this nation, to keep us from
the further difficulties which in our national career may be in
our way." Such feelings and such convictions in such men
not only indicate the stress and strain brought to bear upon
them, but suggest moderation in the criticisms and censures
of measures, they felt constrained to recommend and support,
which may be indulged in by those who, at a safer distance, in
cooler moods, and with greater light, can more deliberately
and dispassionately give them examination.
There were, however, those who, though they equally appreciated the gravity of the occasion and the need of help, felt
that deliverance could not wisely or safely be sought in further
compromise, at least in compromise that ignored the claims of
moral obligation, and set aside as
rights of
man.
stated by Mr. Beale of
"
Sir, I
"
1.
am
if
of
no account the primal
Their argiunent was somewhat compendiously
New York
opposed to any and
:
—
compromises,
Because they are to be extorted from us by threats of
dissolution of the
Union
in case
all
we
refuse.
I desire to see the
�108
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
strength of this government tested, and to
IN AMERICA.
know whether
the
Union is a Federal rope of sand, to be washed away by every
wave of passion, or an indissoluble government.'
'
"
2.
Because they will
accomplish the reintegration
fail to
of the Union.
" Six States have already seceded, and will not be parties to
bound by it and one, if not more, has
avowed her determination never to come back, even upon the
principle of reconstruction
and several of them are represented in a convention to form a Southern Confederacy, and
have formed such a confederacy.
" 3. Because the Republican party is not now in power, and
should not submit to any terms as a condition-precedent to
the transaction or
;
;
obtaining it.
" Our candidate has been constitutionally elected
;
enter-
any one of the
States.
We are resolved to inaugurate him in tlie same constitutional manner. In the words of the distinguished Senator
elect from Ohio, inauguration first, adjustment afterward.'
" 4. Because the sentiment of nine tenths of the Republicans of the free States is opposed to compromise of principle.
I speak not of the commercial circles where the opinion of Mr.
Webster prevails, that governments were instituted to protect
property,' no matter of what kind but of the intelligent masses
of the free country, where, upon the mountain-sides, in the
valleys, and along the rivers of the North, no shackle rings,
no unpaid labor degrades, but where to work is to be ennobled,
and where the god of Freedom baptizes the foreheads of his
tains no principles hostile to the interests of
'
'
;
sons with the dew of
toil."*
�CHAPTER
IX.
ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
— South Carolina. — Convention. — Secession Ordinance
— Address and declaration. — Alleged causes. — GovProclamation and Cabinet. — Mississippi convention and ordinance. —
Work among
the people.
adopted and signed.
ernor's
— Florida. — Alabama. — Georgia, — Severe struggle. —
— Johnson,.
Stephens. — Sti'ong Union speech.
— Secession
— Louisiana. — Meeting at Montgomery. — States represented. — Howell Cobb. — Committee on provisional government. — Eepoii.
— Proffered
— Choice of President and Vice-President. — Committee on
pennanent constitution. — Confederate
— Provisions of constitution. —
and navy-yards. — Charleston " Mercury."
Action concerning
— Provision an army and navy. — Jefferson Davis. — Speeches and inaugural address. — Cabinet. — Speech of Alexander H. Stephens.
River
blockade.
Toombs.
— Adverse
Hill,
vote.
carried.
loan.
flag.
forts, arsenals,
for
Hitherto the work
of secession
had been mainly among a
comparatively few of the leading citizens of the slaveholding
States.
Others,
it
must be converted
was
seen, prominent in
Church and State
and policy
of disunion before
to the theory
the people at large could be persuaded to lend their necessary
co-operation and support.
This then became the next neces-
and the conspirators entered upon the work, referred to
and outlined in a previous chapter, with an earnest and determined purpose.
The South Carolina convention met on the 17th of December, 1860, at Columbia.
General D. F. Jamison was chosen
sity,
During the evening session commissioners from
They addressed
Mississippi were introduced.
the body in favor of immediate secession, and a resolution
was unanimously carried favoring that decisive act. The
next day a telegram was received from the governor of Ala-
president.
Alabama and
bama
counselling the convention to listen to no proposition of
compromise or delay.
On the 20th an ordinance
of secession
was reported by Mr.
�110
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
That, too, received the unanimous support of the
Iiiglis.
convention
;
so fiercely bent on rebellion were its
fully ripe for that
supreme act of treason.
members, so
It repealed the
United
and declared that the union subsisting between South
Carolina and the other States was dissolved. The number of
votes cast for the ordinance was one hundred and eighty-nine.
The exultant cry, " The Union is dissolved " went forth,
and was caught up by the enthusiastic multitude with sympaoriginal act of the State ratifying the Constitution of the
States,
!
thetic joy.
The people
of Charleston,
on receiving the
intelli-
gence, crowded her streets, with loud huzzas for a Southern
confederacy.
Palmetto
flags fluttered
houn, formed a
vow
to devote
honor
At
these demonstrations,
John C. Caltomb, and made a solemn
fortunes, and their sacred
to the grave of
circle
around his
" their
lives, their
to the cause of
from the windows and
Amid
waved over the public buildings.
a body of young men marched
South Carolina independence."
seven o'clock in the evening the convention assembled
in the great hall of the South Carolina Institute, afterward
known
as " Secession Hall,"
and there with imposing ceremo-
nies signed the ordinance of secession.
had been
it,
After their signatures
affixed, the president of the convention,
made formal proclamation
has been signed and
ratified,
" The
:
and
I
having read
ordinance of secession
proclaim the State of South
Carolina an independent commonwealth."
Amid
shouts of
exultation, the convention adjourned.
On
the 21st the convention appointed Robert
W.
Barnwell,
James H, Adams, and James L. Orr commissioners to proceed to Washington to treat with the national government.
Robert Barnwell Rhett, from the committee to prepare an
" Address of the people of South Carolina to the people of the
slaveholding States,"
made report. The paper was drawn up
Though claiming that it had been
by Mr. Rhett himself.
Southern statesmanship which had guided heretofore the gov-
ernment
of the
United States,
it
nevertheless
made
the avowal
that the Constitution had failed of the purposes of
tion.
rate
It declared that
its
adop-
South Carolina desired no destiny sepa-
from the Southern States
;
that she wished to be one of a
�ORGANIZATION OF SO.UTHERN CONFEDERACY.
Ill
and that " united together we
must be a great, free, and prosperous people, whose renown
must spread throughout the civilized world, and pass down
great slaveholding confederacy
;
It invoked their aid " in
trust to the remotest ages."
forming a confederacy of slaveholding States."
we
Charles
G.
causes which
Memminger
reported a " Declaration of
justified the secession of
the national government."
the
South Carolina from
Though unanimous
in the act of
secession, the debate revealed a palpable disagreement as to the
causes to be assigned therefor, or which led thereto.
AVhile
the formation and success of the Republican party were cited
Mr. Rhett declared that the secession of
South Carolina was not the event of a day. " It is not," he
said, " anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the
as a sufficient cause,
non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Act.
It is a
has been gathering head for thirty years."
he
himself,
doubts of the constitutionality of the Fugi-
said, expressed
tive Slave
matter which
He had
Act on the
floor of the Senate,
and had expressed
the opinion that the States should be responsible for the rendition of fugitive slaves.
Mr. Keitt, then a member of the
House of Representatives, said, " I have been engaged in this
movement ever since I entered political life." Mr. Parker
declared it to be " no spasmodic effort that has suddenly come
upon us it has been gradually culminating for a long period
;
And
of thirty years."
avowed that " most
Mr. Inglis, who reported the ordinance,
of us
have had this matter under consid-
eration for the last twenty years."
On
December Governor Pickens issued a proche declared that " South Carolina is, and has
the 24th of
lamation.
In
it
a right to be, a separate, sovereign, free, and independent
State,
and as such has a right
to levy war, to conclude peace,
to negotiate treaties, leagues, or covenants, and to do
all acts
whatever that rightfully appertain to a free and independent
The convention, on the 26th, under the lead of Mr.
State."
Rhett, invited the seceding States to unite with South Carolina in convention,
and
to
meet at Montgomery on the 13th
of
February, for the purpose of forming a Southern confederacy
agreed to send commissioners to each of
the
slaveholding
�112
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
States that might hold conventions, to ask their co-operation
and authorized the governor to receive ambassadors, ministers,
and consuls from foreign countries. When the question of
appointing commissioners to each of the States to bear to
them a copy
of the
South Carolina ordinance of secession was
pending, Mr. Dargen proposed to send also a copy to each of
Affirming that
the States.
it
was not true that
all
the North-
ern people were hostile to the rights of the South, he said,
"
We
liave a
Spartan band in every Northern State."
But
tlie
Governor Pickens appointed a cabinet of
proposition failed.
constitutional advisers, and assumed to be the chief magistrate
of a nation.
After the adjournment of the convention on the
5th of January, the legislature made a call for volunteers,
authorized a loan of four hundred tliousand dollars, and took
other measures for the defence of what they
deemed a new-
born nation.
The passage
was received in
the cotton States with wild demonstrations and joyous declamations. Banners were unfurled, guns fired, music and song
hailed and welcomed the advent.
The 20th of December had been
Mississippi next followed.
appointed for the election of delegates, and the 7th of Januof the ordinance of secession
ary, 1861, for the meeting of the convention.
The
State,
though united in favor of secession, was divided into two parties, " immediate secessionists " and " co-operationists." But
when tlic convention assembled on the 7tli of January, tlie
former had complete control.
The
co-operationists sought to
postpone action, but they were signally defeated.
The com-
mittee appointed to draft an ordinance of secession reported
The next day
on the 8th.
was adopted by a vote of
The
the State was formally acknowledged by Judge
eighty-four to fifteen, and
sovereignty of
Samuel
J.
it
then declared unanimous.
Gholson of the United States District Court.
In
the exercise, too, of her sovereignty, the State assumed the
right to dictate the terms
navigated.
upon which
tlie
Mississippi should be
Tlie governor ordered that the
Whitman
battery
should be planted on the bluffs at Vicksburg, and that every
vessel that should attempt to pass should be hailed
and ex-
�ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
113
Immediate measures were taken by the legislature to
Tlie governor of Louisiana sent muskets, cannon, and ammunition he had seized in
Jefferson Davis and
the national arsenal at Baton Rouge.
Jacob Thompson guaranteed the payment of twenty-five thouamined.
arm
the military forces of the State.
sand dollars for the purchase of arms, and Albert G. Brown
sent the governor five hundred dollars.
As
the politicians of Florida had rivalled those of South
Carolina in favor of slavery and the slave-trade, they were
now
equally earnest for the formation of a Southern confeder-
On
acy.
the 3d of January the State convention
met
at
Tallahassee, and on the 10th, by a vote of sixty-two to seven,
it passed an ordinance of secession, declaring Florida to be
" a sovereign and independent nation." The ordinance was
signed, and this action of the State
was welcomed by the ringHer Senators
ing of bells and every demonstration of joy.
in Congress did not at once resign, Mr.
Yulee giving as a
reason for their remaining in their places until the 4th of
March, that they could thus embarrass the administration of
Mr. Buchanan and prevent the Republicans from effecting any
legislation
which would strengthen and provide for that of Mr.
Lincoln.
Delegates were appointed to the Montgomery con-
vention, the legislature authorized the issuing of half a million
of treasury notes,
and made the holding
of office
under the
national government treason, to be punished with death in the
event of
liostilities
between the State and the nation.
Alabama on the 24th of December,
Delegates were elected in
and the convention assembled on the 7th of January at Montgomery. Southern Alabama was in favor of immediate secession
but Northern Alabama, freer from the influences of slavery, was for co-operation or for the Union. The convention was
;
divided, as in other Gulf States, between the immediate secessionists
that
tion.
and co-operationists
An
and yet
On
to a
it
unanimously resolved
Republican administra-
ordinance of secession was reported by a committee
of thirteen,
port.
;
Alabama would not submit
though there was an accompanying minority
the 11th the final vote
was taken, and the
nance was passed by a vote of sixty-one to thirty-nine.
re-
ordi-
The
�114
RISE
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
was received with such popular demonstrations of apwho had in the convention
refused to follow the lead of Yancey, pledged themselves and
result
proval that the co-operationists,
their constituents to the support of the ordinance, though a
few delegates refused to sign it. Thomas J. Judge was appointed a commissioner to negotiate with the national government, and the convention adjourned on the 30th of January to
the 4th of March, its president declaring Alabama to be " independent," and affirming that all idea of a reconstruction of
the old Union should be now and forever " dismissed."
The election of delegates in Georgia was held on the 2d of
January. The struggle in that State between the immediate
secessionists and the co-operationists was bitter and active.
A system of terrorism was organized by the secessionists.
Knights of the Golden Circle, " minute-men," vigilance committees, and other disloyal associations, where they could not
persuade, bullied and dragooned both before the election and
at the ballot-box.
Howell Cobb, who had retired from the
Treasury Department, Toombs and Iverson, her Senators, and
her Representatives in Congress were untiring in their efforts
to
commit Georgia
to
immediate secession.
Toombs, then and
always a violent and bitter secessionist, telegraphed, on the
22d
of
December, an address to the people of Georgia. Looking
North for security, he con-
to Congress, or to the people of the
tended, was fraught with nothing but ruin.
" Secession by
the 4th of March next," he said, " should be thundered from
the ballot by the unanimous voice of Georgia on the 2d of
January next.
Such a voice
will be your best guaranty for
and glory."
The Unionists of Georgia, who were for securing Southern
rights in the Union, were alarmed by this despatch, and sought
counsel and assurances from Douglas and Crittenden.
While
these gentlemen begged them not to despair of the Union,
Toombs, the day before the election, telegraphed that the
Cabinet had been broken up, that a coercive policy had been
adopted by the administration, that Holt, their " bitter foe,"
had been made Secretary of War, that Fort Pulaski was in
danger, and that " the Abolitionists are defiant." But in spite
liberty, security, tranquillity,
�ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
of all these despatches
115
and other appliances the co-operation-
majority of the delegates to the convention.
ists elected a
But the men who were engineering
them
despised the masses and regarded
this
movement, who
as
only to be used,
fit
were not to be balked by an adverse popular vote, though
was the
people's response to the appeal they
it
had made for
and support. The same policy of repression
and terrorism, which had been resorted to with only too great, though not complete, success in
the election of delegates, was now brought to bear upon them
their indorsement
and coercion,
of cajolery
when assembled
in convention.
out success, and men,
Nor were
who were chosen
their efforts with-
modby coaxing
and bullying, and by the fierce, rushing, and maddening events
of the hour, into the ranks of the extremists, and compelled to
do their bidding. The convention assembled on the 2d of January, and consisted of two hundred and ninety-five delegates.
to represent the
erate policy of the co-operationists, were swept,
Two
days afterward, a resolution declaring
it
to be the right
and duty of this State to withdraw from the Union was passed
by a majority of thirty-five. An ordinance of secession was
reported, abrogating all laws binding the State to the Union,
and declaring that she was in " full possession and exercise of
all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to
Herschcll V. Johnson, B. H.
a free and independent State."
Hill,
and Alexander H. Stephens vainly struggled against im-
mediate secession.
force, using
Stephens spoke with great eloquence and
whatever may have been his
language which
—
motive or excuse for afterward joining the Rebellion, admitting
in its full force the Southern claim of State rights
— convicted
him and his co-conspirators of acting their part without sufficient cause, if with the show of reason.
Hardly any one
has ever painted with darker coloring the wickedness and folly
of the great conspiracy.
he
said, is the " best
its rights,
its
and
The government
freest
the most just in
its
of the
United States,
government, the most equal in
decisions, the
measures, and the most inspiring in
most lenient in
its principles to elevate
the race of men, that the sun of heaven ever shone upon.
Now,
for
you to attempt to overthrow such a government as
�116
this,
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
under
wliicli
of a century,
—
IN AMERICA.
we have
in
lived for more than three quarters
which we have gained our wealth, our
standing as a nation, our domestic safety, while the elements
of peril are around, with peace
and tranquillity accompanied
with unbounded prosperity and rights unassailed,
—
is
the
height of madness, folly, and wickedness, to which I can neither
my
my
But Toombs was a member
and
under his lead, the ordinance was passed by a vote of two hundred and eight against eighty-nine. Unavailing efforts were
made to postpone its operation until after the 3d of March, and
lend
sanction nor
vote."
of the convention, and, in response to his violent appeals,
to submit
it
to the consideration of the people at the ballot-box.
Orr of South Carolina and Shorter of Alabama, commissioners
from these States, were invited to seats in the convention.
Delegates were appointed to the proposed convention at Montgomery, the governor was thanked for seizing Fort Pulaski,
and measures were taken to maintain by force the independence of Georgia.
The
was on the 8th of
and resulted in favor of secession.
The convention met on the 12th, and ex-Governor
Moulton was made its president. Showing how little the people had to do with these so-called popular movements, a letter
dated nine days before the convention met, and signed by the
Louisiana Senators and two of her Representatives in Congress, was addressed to Moulton as president of the convention, though written nearly a week before the delegates were
chosen.
Its writers recommended immediate and unqualified
secession, and expressed the confident belief that every slaveholding State, except Maryland and Delaware, would join in
the revolutionary movement.
They denounced Holt, the Secretary of War, as an open and virulent enemy of the South.
election of delegates in Louisiana
January.
The vote was
light,
They urged the convention
the Mississippi freely to
to recognize the right to navigate
all citizens
on
its
borders, and advised
it might well treat the difference between
secession and revolution " as one more of words than of sub-
the convention that
stance, of ideas rather than of things."
South Carolina and
J.
J. L.
Manning
of
A. Winston of Alabama, who had been
�ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
117
invited to take seats in the convention, spoke for immediate
secession.
John Perkins,
of fifteen appointed to draft
chairman of the committee
an ordinance of secession, reported
Jr.,
was adopted by a vote of one hundred
and thirteen to seventeen on the 26th. Its passage was received with tumultuous applause, and Governor Moore, accompanied by a military officer bearing the Pelican flag, which
was placed in the hands of the president of the convention,
entered the hall amid the cheering of the delegates. A motion
to submit the ordinance to the people for ratification was lost,
and it was then signed by one hundred and twenty-one of the
it
on the 24th, and
it
delegates.
On
the 4th of February, 1861, the delegates of six seceding
States, chosen
by secession conventions, but without the ex-
pressed consent of the people, met in the State House at Mont-
Forty-two in number, they represented
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Howell Cobb was chosen president. In addressing
Florida.
gomery, Alabama.
the convention on taking the chair, he declared that the separation of the States they represented from the Union was " a
fixed
and irrevocable
fact "
;
that
it
was "
perfect, complete,
Expressing a desire to maintain friendly relations with their " late sister States as with the world," he
and perpetual."
counselled the delegates to assume the responsibility of establishing a
government for the seceded States, and to inaugurate
new era of peace, security, and prosperity."
for the South " a
The
sessions of the convention were generally held in secret.
Mr. Memminger of South Carolina offered resolutions in favor
of forming a confederacy of the seceded States, and he moved
that a committee of thirteen be appointed to report a plan for
a government on the basis of the Constitution of the United
States.
A resolution was received from the legislature of
Alabama, and the proffer was accepted, placing at the disposal
of the " provisional government of the confederacy of the
seceding States a loan of five hundred thousand dollars."
Mr. Memminger, chairman of the committee to report a plan
for the new government, submitted a report on the 7th of February.
The Constitution of the United States, with some
�118
EISE
AKD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
modifications,
ment
was temporarily adopted
IN AMERICA.
as a
form
for the " Confederate States of America."
of governIt provided
that the convention was a Congress, vested with legislative
powers
that the African slave-trade
;
should be prohibited
;
that Congress should be empowered to prohibit the introduc-
from any State not a member of the Confederacy.
was used in this instrument where the thing
This
in the Constitution of the United States.
tion of slaves
The word "
was meant
slave "
constitution received the
though
its
provisions
nounced by a portion
unanimous vote
concerning
of
of the convention,
slavery were bitterly de-
the South Carolina delegates
and
presses.
On
the
9tli of
February the members of the convention took
the oath of allegiance to the provisional constitution they had
They then proceeded
framed.
and Vice-President
;
to the election of a President
Jefferson Davis receiving six votes for
President and Alexander H. Stephens the same number for
The
was received by tlie people with
cannon, and other demonstrations of delight.
A committee of twelve, two from each
State, was appointed to report a constitution for the permanent
government of the Confederate States. While this committee
had the sul)ject under consideration. Congress proceeded to
Vice-President.
enthusiastic applause,
result
by the
firing of
consider the question of a national flag.
Several designs or
patterns were submitted by members, and a committee of one
from each State was appointed to consider and make report.
Some wished to preserve as far as they could something of the
old flag though William Porcher Miles of South Carolina, the
chairman of the committee, declared that he gloried rather in
the palmetto flag, for he had regarded " from his youth the
Stars and Stripes as the emblem of oppression and tyranny."
The committee made an elaborate report. Though expressing
no attachment to the Stars and Stripes, it recommended a flag
having some resemblance to the one they still professed to
regard as the ensign of a consolidated and oppressive nationality.
The design was adopted, and on the 4th of March the
new flag first waved over the capitol at Montgomery.
In framing the permanent constitution of the new govern;
�ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
ment,
its
authors, in nearly
all its
119
parts, adopted the precise
language of the Constitution of the United States, and followed
the same order of arrangement in
its articles
and sections
throughout, though the two instruments differed in several
particulars, that of the Confederates being
made
to
conform to
their dominating ideas on the subject of slavery, State-rights,
and the reserved privilege of secession. Thus in the preamble the words " United States " are stricken out, and the
words " Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign
and independent character" are incorporated; for the words
" more perfect Union," " permanent federal government " are
substituted
the words " provide for the common defence,
promote the general welfare " are stricken out entirely, and
the words " invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty
;
God "
are inserted.
The Ninth
Section, Article
of the old
I.,
Constitution was changed by striking out the whole paragraph
that relates to the importation of slaves, that was " not to be
prohibited by Congress prior to the year one thousand eight
hundred and eight," and inserting the following " The importation of negroes of the African race from any foreign
country other than the slaveholding States or Territories of
the United States of America, is hereby forbidden and Con:
;
gress
is
required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent
the same.
Congress shall also have power to prohibit the
troduction of slaves from any State not a
member
tory not belonging to, this Confederacy."
of,
in-
or Terri-
This provision,
it
was adopted by the votes of the States of Georgia,
Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, against those of South
Carolina and Florida.
It also provided that in all new States
that might hereafter be formed from " new territory " ac-
is
said,
quired, " the institution of negro slavery as
it
now
exists in
the Confederate States shall be recognized and protected by
Congress," as also in any territory held by the Confederacy.
" The governArticle VI. was preceded by this paragraph
:
ment
established by this Constitution
is
the successor of the
Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America,
and all laws passed by tlie latter shall continue in force until
the same shall be repealed or modified
;
and
all
the officers ap-
�120
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
pointed by the same
sliall
remain in
IN AMERICA.
office until their
successors
are appointed and qualified, or the offices abolished."
On
the 12th of February the convention, having under con-
sideration the question relating to the occupation of forts, arse-
and other public establishments within the
domain of the sovereign States of the Confederacy, and hitherto
under the government of the United States, resolved that they
should be under the charge of the new government and the
president of the convention was requested to communicate this
nals, navy-yards,
;
resolution to the governors of the several States.
This action
was offensive to the South Carolina leaders, and the Charleston
" Mercury " declared that Fort Sumter belonged to South Carolina that after two efforts to obtain peaceable possession and
its submission for two months to the insolent military domination of a handful of men, the honor of the State required
that no further intervention from any quarter should be tolerated, and that this fort should be taken, and taken by South
;
Carolina alone.
On
the 13th the convention took the initiative and com-
menced preparation
for
war by instructing the military and
naval committees to report plans for the organization of an
army and navy.
Mr. Davis, who was at his home near Vicksburg when informed of his election, made a series of twenty-five speeches
on his way to Montgomery. He was formally received at the
railway-station amid the thundering of cannon and the enthuIn his response, he said that the
siastic shouts of the people.
time of compromises had passed that they asked nothing,
" Our
wanted nothing, and would have no complications.
separation," he said, " from the old Union is complete, and no
;
compromise, no reconstruction, can now be entertained."
He
declared that they would maintain the position they had as-
sumed, and " make all who oppose us smell Southern powder
and feel Southern steel."
On
the 18th of February the inaugural ceremonies took
place in front of the State House.
In his inaugural address
and enthusiastic thousands before him, Mr.
Davis declared that if " passion or lust of dominion should
to the excited
�ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
121
cloud the judgment or inflame the ambition of those States,
"we
must prepare
to
meet the emergency, and maintain, by the
which we have
final arbitrament of the sword, that position
assumed among the nations
He recommended
army
the
and navy, and re-
of the earth."
the immediate organization of
minded them that privateering, " the well-known resources of
retaliation upon the commerce of an enemy, will remain to us."
Robert Toombs of Georgia was appointed Secretary of State
Charles G.
Treasury
;
Memminger
of
South Carolina, Secretary of the
Leroy Polk Walker of Alabama, Secretary
of
Stephen R. Mallory of Florida, Secretary of the Navy
H. Reagan
of Texas, Postmaster-General;
War
John
and Judah P. Ben;
jamin of Louisiana, Attorney-General.
Mr, Davis, in his inaugural, had declared that secession was
the will of the people that union with the States from which
;
they had separated was neither practicable nor desirable
;
that
where homogeneity did not exist, antagonisms were engendered,
Mr. Stephens more
that must and should result in separation.
fully developed this antagonism between freedom and slavery
in a speech, on the 21st of March, to the citizens of Savannah.
As was natural, the secessionists were very anxious to justify
their course, especially to their slaveholding brethren,
and
if
In pursuance of this
possible to secure their co-operation.
purpose, the South Carolina convention received and considered
" The Address of the
People of South Carolina assembled in Convention, to the
Slaveholding States of the United States " " Declaration of
reports on the three following subjects
:
;
the Causes which justify Secession of South Carolina from the
Federal Union " ; " Report on Relations with the Slaveholding
The papers were long and elaboand entered largely into allegations against the Federal
Union, with the adduction of reasons for accepting the concluStates of North America."
rate,
sion that there could be safety for the South only in separa-
The speech, however, of Mr. Stephens, beside his eulogy
new constitution and of its superiority over the old,
embodies in smaller compass, in more compact form, and with
more philosophic precision than elsewhere found the assump-
tion.
of the
tions of the secessionists
and the underlying principles of the
�122
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
new
slaveholding empire. Perhaps nowhere else is revealed
with more startling form and phrase the " method " of that
" madness " which could characterize theirs as " a species of
insanity " whose only offence
fathers, that " all
tle,
that
God
men
" hath
and could proclaim
made
it
new government was
was that they
believed, with the
are created equal," and with the Aposof one blood all nations of
men,"
as sometliing to be vaunted that their
" founded upon exactly the
opposite
and that its foundations were laid and its corner-stone
rested " upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the
white man."
" But not to be tedious," said Mr. Stephens, " in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to
The new Constitution has
one other, though last, not least.
ideas,"
put at rest forever
all
peculiar institution,
the agitating questions relating to our
— African slavery as
it
exists
among
us,
and the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization.
This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and the
present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated
He
this as the rock upon which the old Union would split.'
was right. What was conjecture with him is now a realized
But whether he comprehended the great truth upon
fact.
which that rock stood and stands may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading
'
statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution
were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of
the laws of nature that it was wrong in principle, socially,
It was an evil they knew not well
morally, and politically.
;
but the general opinion of the men of that
to deal with
day was, that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the
This idea,
institution would be evanescent and pass away.
how
;
though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the prevailing
idea at the time.
The
Constitution,
it is
essential guaranty to the institution while
true, secured every
it
should last
;
and
hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional
guaranties thus secured, because of the common sentiment of
the day.
They
Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong.
upon the assumption of the equality of races.
rested
�ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY,
123
It was a sandy foundation
and the idea
when the storm came and
government built upon it,
the wind blew, it fell.
" Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite
ideas
its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the
This was an error.
;
—
of a
;
great truth that the negro
is
man
not equal to the white
;
slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural
This our new government
normal condition.
is
the
that
and
first,
in
the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philo-
This truth has been slow in the
and moral truth.
sophical,
process of
its
development, like
departments of science.
who hear me,
all
other truths in the various
perhaps, can recollect well
ago.
Those
at the
still
clung to
North who
a zeal above knowledge,
we
many
All
the mind, from a
a species of insanity.
It is
errors of
denominate fanatics.
fanaticism springs from an aberration of
defect in reasoning.
The
so late as twenty years
cling to these errors with
still
justly
truth Avas
tliat this
not generally admitted, even within their day.
the past generation
Many
even amongst us.
It is so,
One
of the
most striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances,
is, forming correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous
premises
so with the antislavery fanatics
:
are right
if
their premises are.
;
their conclusions
They assume that the negro
and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal priviand rights, with the white man. If their premises were
correct, their conclusions would be logical and just
but their
premises being wrong, their whole argument fails. I recollect
once of having heard a gentleman from one of the Northern
States, of great power and ability, announce in the House of
is
equal,
leges
;
Representatives, with imposing effect, that we of the South
would be compelled, ultimately, to yield upon this subject of
slavery that it was as impossible to war successfully against a
principle in politics, as it was in physics or mechanics,
that
the principle would ultimately prevail
that we, in maintain;
—
;
ing slavery, as
principle,
it
now
— a principle founded in
the equality of man.
liis
exists with us,
The
reply I
were warring against a
nature,
made
own grounds, we should succeed
;
— the
principle of
him was, that, upon
that he and his associto
�124
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
would ultimately
was as impossible to war
successfully against a principle in politics as in physics and
mechanics, I admitted but told him it was he, and those acting with him, who were warring against a principle. They
were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had
ates in their crusade against our institutions
The truth announced,
fail.
that
it
;
made
unequal.
" In the conflict thus
plete,
far, success
has been on our side com-
throughout the length and breadth of the Confederate
States.
It is
firmly planted
upon this, as I have stated, our social fabric is
and I cannot permit myself to doubt the ulti;
mate success of a full recognition of
the civilized and enlightened world.
"
As
I
have stated, the truth of
Galileo.
this principle
may be
slow
and ever have been, in the
was so with the principles of
It was so with Adam Smith, and his principles of
economy.
It was so with Harvey, and his theory
in development, as
all trutlis are,
various branches of science.
political
this principle throughout
It
of the circulation of the blood.
It is stated that
not a single
one of the medical profession, living at the time of the an-
nouncement
made by him, admitted them. Now
acknowledged. ]\Iay we not, therefore,
of the truths
they are universally
look with confidence to the ultimate universal acknowledgment
It is the first
of the truths upon which our question rests ?
government ever instituted upon principles in strict conformity
with nature, and the ordination of Providence, in furnishing
Many governments have
the materials of human society.
been founded upon the principle of enslaving certain classes
but the classes thus enslaved were of the same race, and their
enslavement in violation of the laws of nature. Our system
commits no such violation of nature's laws. The negro, by
nature, or by the curse against Canaan, is fitted for that conThe architect, in the
dition which he occupies in our system.
construction of buildings, lays the foundation with the proper
material,
— the granite, — then comes the brick or the marble.
The substratum
of our society is
by nature
;
for
it
made
of the material fitted
and by experience we know that
it
is
best
not only for the superior, but for the inferior race, that
it
�ORGANIZATION OF SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
should be
so.
It is not for
It is, indeed, in
125
conformity with the Creator.
us to inquire into the wisdom of his ordinances,
For his own purposes he has made
from another, as he has made one star to
or to question them.
one
race to differ
'
from another in glory.'
" The great objects of humanity are best attained when con-
differ
formed to his laws and decrees, in the formation of governOur Confederacy is
ments as well as in all things else.
founded upon laws in strict conformity with these laws. This
stone, which was rejected by the first builders, is become the
'
chief stone of the corner' in our
asked.
What
of the future
new
edifice.
I
have been
has been apprehended by some
It
?
we would have arrayed against us the civilized world.
I care not who or how many they may be when we stand
upon the eternal principles of truth, we are obliged to and
must triumph."
that
;
Speaking further of the future, and of the prospects of the
new Confederacy, he
said
:
—
" Our growth by accessions from other States will depend
upon whether we present to the world, as I trust we
shall, a better government than that to which they belong.
If we do this. North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas cannot hesitate long neither can Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri.
They will necessarily gravitate to us by an imperious
greatly
;
We
law.
made ample
provision in our Constitution for the
admission of other States.
so I think
— than
It is
more guarded
— and wisely
the old Constitution on the same subject,
but not too guarded to receive them so fast as it may be
and perhaps not very
proper. Looking to the distant future,
distant
either —
—
it is
not beyond the range of possibility, and
even probability, that
all
the great States of the Northwest
way, as well as Tennessee, Kentucky, MisArkansas, etc. Should they do so, our doors are wide
shall gravitate this
souri,
enough to receive them
late
;
but not until they are ready to assimi-
The process of disintegration in
Union may be expected to go on with almost absolute
with us in principle.
the old
certainty.
which,
if
we
We
are
now
the
nucleus of a growing power,
are true to ourselves, our destiny,
and our mission,
�126
will
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
become the controlling power on
IN AMERICA.
this continent.
To what
extent accessions will go on, in the process of time, or where
So far as it concerns
upon no such principle of
reconstruction as is now spoken of, but upon reorganization
and new assimilation. Such are some of the glimpses of the
future as I catch them."
The convention authorized Davis to accept one hundred
thousand volunteers for one year, and to borrow fifteen millions of dollars.
On the 11th of March the permanent conIt was in fact the Constitution of the
stitution was adopted.
United States, with sundry alterations and omissions providit
will end, the future will determine.
States of the old Union, they will be
ing for the government of
new
territory
;
recognizing, to
its
supremacy
"
denying
or impairand prohibiting the enactment of any law
ing the right of property in negro slaves." South Carolina and
fullest extent, in its preaml^le, the doctrine of State
;
Florida opposed the clause prohibiting the African slave-trade.
John Forsyth
Roman were
of
Alabama, Martin
J.
Crawford, and A. B.
appointed commissioners to "Washington
;
Wil-
liam L. Yancey, R. A. Rost, A. Dudley Mann, T. Butler King,
were appointed commissioners to
of the insurrection
;
visit
Europe in the interests
while other commissioners were appointed
to visit other slaveholding States in behalf of secession
the
and
new Confederacy.
Such were the initiative facts and the summary process with
which the new government was launched forth on the stormy
sea of rebellion and war, and by which it was so soon to be engulfed and destroyed such was the philosophy, as enunciated
by one of its ablest and most brilliant thinkers, on which
;
was based the projected slaveholding empire
World, and by which
its
claims were urged
the confident expectations and hopes of
Western
and such were
of the
;
its leaders.
�CHAPTER
X.
THE OTHEE SECEDED STATES.
— How their numbers were increased. — The
— His testimony. — Demoralizing influence of slavery. — The
— Conditions of Rebel success. — Co-operation, comprocess. — Three
bination, preparation. — Central cabal. — Letter of Judge Evans. — Volun— Violence, or the crushing-out process. — Contingencies. — Virginia. —
Solicitude concerning her course. — Visit and estimate of Memrainger. — Governor Letcher. — Legislature. — Convention against secession. — Address of
Stephens. — Ruffin and Pryor. — Convention succumbs. — Treaty. — Rich— Letter of Mason. — West Virginia. — Admitted by
mond made the
Congress. — Tennessee. — Vote against secession. — Coercion opposed. — Legis— Yields. — Popular vote. — East Tennessee. — Brownlow. — North
Carolina. — Appoints commissioners. — Joins the Confederacy. — Arkansas. —
— Final success
Texas. — Union meeting. — Address of governor. —
Secessionists at first in a minority.
Comte de
Paris.
classes.
teers.
capital.
lature.
Conflict.
of the secessionists.
No
its
and adequate estimate of the Rebellion and
causes, immediate and remote, can be formed without special
intelligent
note of the small proportion of the people of the South who
were at the outset in favor of that extreme measure. Even in
the six States which first seceded, South Carolina possibly excepted, there
was far from a majority who
In the remaining
originally gave
it
was
their
approval.
much
smaller ; though this large preponderance was overcome
by
mate and
able, adroit,
five
the proportion
and audacious management.
indefensible,
reckless
of
By means
principle
and
illegiti-
of conse-
quences, a comparatively few men succeeded in dragooning
whole States into the support of a policy the majority condemned, to following leaders the majority distrusted and most
As no sadder and more suggestive commentary was ever afforded of the utter demoralization of
slaveholding society, and of the helpless condition of a community that accepted slavery, and accommodated itself to the
cordially disliked.
�128
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
only conditions on which
an
ful, to
it
IN AMERICA.
could be maintained,
seems need-
it
intelligent apprehension of the subject,
though
it
somewhat, that notice
should be taken here of the process by which this was done.
How, then, could such an object be accomplished? How
will be necessary to anticipate events
could such a result be secured
?
How came
it
to pass that this
comparatively small number could persuade whole States to
support a policy that not only was, but was seen to be,
dal
How could
?
a class of
men who
suici-
despised the colored
man
because he was colored, and the poor whites because they were
poor, inspire the latter with a willingness, an enthusiasm even,
up arms, subject tliemselves
to take
to all the liardships
and
hazards of war, for the express purpose of perpetuating and
making more despotic a system that had already despoiled
them of so much, and was designed to make still more abject
their degradation ? A summary and substantial answer might
be that it was by the adoption of the same principles and of
the same policy by which the Slave Power had dominated and
so completely controlled the nation for the preceding two genonly aggravated and made more intolerant in tlie
erations
immediate communities where slavery was domiciled and had
become the controlling social as well as political element. But
there was an individuality and a specific character about this
;
last
and dying
and
call for
effort of slaveholding control that
may
a more detailed account, even though
it
justify
require
the reproduction of some facts and features thereof of which
mention has been already made.
this
Nor does
it
seem amiss,
connection, to introduce the words of another,
who thus
eigner,
records
tlie
impressions of one
—a
who made
in
for-
his
observations uninfluenced at least by Nortliern prejudices and
prepossessions.
The
first
item or element in the answer
now sought must
be looked for in the mental and moral condition of Southern
society.
Civil
Alluding to this point in his recent History of the
" Notwithin America, the Comte de Paris, says
War
standing
all
:
that has been said on the subject [slavery], our
who fortunately have not had to wrestle with it,
not aware how much this subtle poison instils itself into
people,
are
the
�129
THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
But the effects of the servile
upon the dominant race present a spectacle not less
sad and instructive to the historian and philosopher for a
fatal demoralization is the just punishment that slavery inflicts
upon those who expect to find nothing in it but profit and
very marrow of society
institution
;
power." Proceeding to demonstrate how this demoralization
" is the inevitable consequence of slavery, and how, by an
inexorable logic, the simple fact of the enslavement of the
among
the whites, the ideas and morals which
are the very foundation of society," and showing that " it is
black corrupts,
among what
are called good slave-owners that
into the pretended moral perfection of
understand
its
we must
inquire
slavery, in order to
flagrant immorality," he adds, with a pungeiit
pathos that cannot but flush with shame the cheek of every
thoughtful American, " What a deeply sorrowful spectacle for
any one who wishes
to study
human
nature to see every sense
and equity so far perverted in a whole popuby the force of habit, that the greatest portion of the
ministers of all denominations were not ashamed to sully
and men who
Christianity by a cowardly approval of slavery
bought and sold their fellow-beings took up arms for the exof righteousness
lation
;
press purpose of defending this odious privilege, in the
of liberty
and property."
name
Alluding to another phase of slave-
holding society, he directs attention to the fact that " the servile
supreme law of humanity, which
two words, labor and progress, and in making labor itself a means for brutalizing man,
not only degraded the slave, but it also engendered depravity
in the master; for the despotism of a whole race, like the
absolute power of a single individual or an oligarchy, always
ends by disturbing the reason and the moral sense of those
who have once inhaled its intoxicating fragrance."
Speaking of the " falsehood " of slavery as having " become
institution, in violating the
links indissolubly together those
its influence and
power resulting from the prosperity produced by " the extraor-
the basis of society," of the increase of
dinary impulse
given to the
cultivation of
the
sugar-cane
and the cotton-plant, and of the change in Southern
ment from regarding the system, with the fathers, as " a
VOL.
III.
9
senti-
social
�130
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
sore " which " the enlightenment and patriotism of their successors " would " heal " to the opinion that regarded " the
social
system founded upon slavery as the highest state of
modern civilization had reached," he thus sets
perfection that
Southern society as it existed at the
" In proportion as slavery thus
forth his estimate of
opening of the Rebellion
:
its influence became more
community which had adopted
increased in })rosperity and power,
and more preponderant
in the
Like a parasitical plant, which, drawing to
it.
sap of the most vigorous tree, covers
it
the
itself all
gradually with a for-
eign verdure and poisonous fruits, so slavery was impairing
the morals of the South, and the spirit of her institutions.
The form
seemed to be free, the
deliberations of legislative bodies were tumultuous, and every
man boasted of his independence. But the spirit of true
liberty, tolerance towards the minority and respect for individual opinion, had departed, and those deceitful appearances
of liberty existed, the press
concealed the despotism of an inexorable master, slavery,
a master before
whom
the most powerful of slaveholders
was
himself but a slave, as abject as the meanest of his laborers.
"
No one had a right to question its legitimacy, and like the
Eumenides, which the ancients feared to offend by naming
them, so wherever the Slave Power was in the ascendant,
people did not even dare to mention
touching upon too dangerous a
suljject.
name, for fear of
its
It
was on
this condi-
tion only tliat such an institution could maintain itself in a
prosperous and intelligent community.
ished on the very day
discuss
when
It
would have per-
the people should be at liberty to
it.
" Therefore, notwithstanding their boasted love of freedom,
the people of the South did not hesitate to commit any violence in order to crush out, in its incipiency, any attempt to
discuss the subject.
Any
one
who had ventured
to cast the
upon the slavery system could not have
continued to live in the South it was sufficient to point the
finger at any stranger and call him an Abolitionist, to consign
him at once to tlie fury of the populace."
Dwelling at some length upon the plantation system and
slightest reflection
;
�THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
" the inconveniences
felt in
131
a region of country yet half wild,"
with a mention of some of the incidents and contingencies
attending the working of " their large domains " by servile
labor, he noted the division of Southern society into three
classes, " at the foot of the ladder the
the soil he had to cultivate
;
....
negro bowed down upon
at the top the masters,
in the midst of an entirely servile population,
than educated, brave but
more
intelligent
proud but overbearing, eloquent but intolerant, devoting themselves to public affairs
irascible,
the exclusive direction of which belonged to them
— with
—
all
the ardor of their temperament.
"The
third class
— that
portant on account of
its
of
common
numbers
whites, the most im-
— occupied a position below
the second, and far above the first, without, however, forming
an intermediate link between them, for it was deeply imbued
with all the prejudices of color. This was the plebs romana,
the crowds of clients who parade with ostentation the title of
citizen, and only exercise its privileges in blind subserviency
who were the real masters of the
had not existed in their midst, they would
have been workers and tillers of the soil, and might have beto the great slaveholders,
country.
If slavery
come farmers and small proprietors. But the more their povthem nearer to the inferior class of slaves, the more
anxious are they to keep apart from them, and they spurn work
in order to set off more ostentatiously their quality of freemen.
This unclassified population, wretched and restless,
erty draws
supplied Southern policy with the fighting vanguard which
preceded the planter's invasion of the "West with his slaves.
At the beginning of the war the North believed that this class
would join her in condemnation of the servile institution,
whose ruinous competition it ought to have detested. But the
North was mistaken in thinking that reason would overcome
its prejudices.
It showed, on the contrary, that it was ardently devoted to the maintenance of slavery.
Its pride was
even more at stake than that of the great slaveholders for
while the latter were always sure of remaining in a position
far above the freed negroes, the former feared lest their eman;
cipation should disgrace the middle white classes
the blacks to their level."
by raising
�132
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Without the adduction
of other particulars, or the recog-
nition of other elements, these
results
now under
made up
make
the improbability of the
consideration seem less than they would
For certainly
otherwise appear.
a society
IN AMERICA.
obvious that
it is sufficiently
of such materials could not but present
an
inviting field for the machinations of the shrewd, unscrupulous,
With ignorance
and designing.
so profound, witli preju-
dices so unreasoning, and with passions so inflammable, it was
not difficult to hoodwink and commit such people to purposes
and plans not only dangerous to otliers but destructive to
themselves.
But there were other causes. There were auxiliaries
that gave greatly increased potency to those elements
of mischief.
There were combination and careful and longIndeed, division of labor and assign-
considered preparation.
ment of parts have seldom been more carefully attended to.
" Each man," says the Comte, " had his part laid out.
Some, delegated by their own States, constantly visited the
neighboring States in order to secure that unanimity to the
movement which was
to constitute its strength
others were
endeavoring to win over the powerful border States, such as
;
Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, as well as North Carolina
and
Tennessee, which stood aghast, terrified at the approach of
the crisis brought on by their associates
;
some, again, were
even pleading their cause in the North, in the hope of recraiting partisans
among
at the last election
;
those Democrats
whom
they had forsaken
while others kept their seats in Congress
forming, at the same
whence they issued directions to their friends
the South to complete the dismemberment of the Republic.
in order to be able to paralyze its action
;
time, a centre
in
Jefferson Davis himself continued to take part in the deliberations of the Senate."
Corroborative of the above, and at the same time indicative
method adopted by the conspirators, is the following letter which appeared in the " National Intelligencer,"
of the actual
Washington on the morning of January 11, 1861. It is
introduced by the editor, with the remark that it was from
at
" a distinguished citizen of the South
who formerly
represented
his State with great distinction in the popular branch of Con-
�THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
gress."
It
133
has since transpired that the writer was the Hon.
L. D. Evans of Texas, formerly a
member
of the
XXXI Vth
Congress, and subsequently a judge of the Supreme Court of
his adopted State.
A
native of Tennessee
and long resident
in
Texas, he ever remained true to the Union, and not only advised
but encouraged and supported Governor Houston to resist the
demands
an extra
Though overborne in this and
session of the legislature.
compelled to leave the State, he rendered essential service to
the Union cause and the administration of Mr. Lincoln.
He
clamors of
writes
:
tlie
revolutionists in their
for
—
" I charge that on last Saturday night a caucus was held in
by the Southern secession Senators from Florida, GeorAlabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. It
was then and there resolved in effect to assume to themselves
the political power of the South and the control of all political
and military operations for the present. They telegraphed
to complete the plan of seizing forts, arsenals, and customhouses, and advised the conventions now in session, and soon
but,
to assemble, to pass ordinances for immediate secession
in order to thwart any operations of the government here, the
this city
gia,
;
conventions of the seceding States are to retain their repre-
and the House.
" They also advised, ordered, or directed the assembling of a
convention of delegates from the seceding States at Mont-
sentatives in the Senate
gomery on
the. 4th of
February.
This can of course only
be done by the revolutionary conventions usurping the powers
of the people,
all
and sending delegates over
whom
they will lose
control in the establishment of a provisional government,
which
is the plan of the dictators.
" This caucus also resolved to take the most effectual means
to dragoon the legislatures of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi,
Arkansas, Texas, and Virginia into following the
se-
ceding States.
" Maryland
lar passion as
a conflict
is
also to be influenced
by such appeals to popu-
have led to the revolutionary steps which promise
with the State and Federal governments in Texas.
They have possessed themselves
of all the avenues of infer-
�134
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
— the
mation in the South,
telegraph,
upon defections
in the
the
and the
press,
They
general control of the postmasters.
rely
IN AMERICA.
also confidently
army and navy.
" The spectacle here presented
is
startling to contemplate.
Senators intrusted with the representative sovereignty of the
States,
and sworn to support the Constitution
of the
United
States, while yet acting as the privy counsellors of the Presi-
dent, and anxiously looked to by their constituents to effect
some
plan
practical
adjustment, deliberately conceive a
of
conspiracy for the overthrow of the government through the
military organizations, the dangerous secret order, the Knights
Golden Circle, Committees of Safety,' Southern leagues,
and other agencies at their command they have instituted as
thorough a military and civil despotism as ever cursed a madof the
'
;
dened country.
" It
is
not
difficult to foresee
the form of government which
a convention thus hurriedly thrown together at
Montgomery
upon a deluded and unsuspecting people.
a monarchy founded upon military
principles
or it cannot endure.
Those who usurp power
never fail to forge strong chains. It may be too late to sound
will irrevocably fasten
It
must
essentially be
'
'
the alarm.
Nothing may be able to arrest the action of
revolutionary tribunals whose decrees are principally in
sessions.'
But
I call
upon the people
to
pause and
'
secret
reflect
before they are forced to surrender every principle of liberty,
or to fight those
who
are becoming their masters rather than
their servants."
Abundant corroboration
of these statements has since
found, revealing the fact of such a meeting and
Among
the proofs
is
been
its action.
a letter, written by Senator Yulee, one of
the conspirators, and found in Florida after the capture of Fer-
nandina, giving an account of the meeting and
its
purposes,
was the thought, that by
retaining their seats in Congress, " we can keep the hands of
Mr. Buchanan tied, and disable the Republicans from effecting any legislation which will strengthen the hands of the
among which,
as he expresses
it,
incoming administration."
The next morning Mr. Wilson met Mr. Evans, and, sur-
�135
THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
mising liim to have been the writer of the communication,
Receiving an
liis surmise was correct.
inquired whether or not
remark that the members of that
Mr. Wilson replied that
they deserved expulsion and punishment for their treason, but
he felt constrained to add, " There are too many of them, and
so perilto expel them will be to precipitate the revolution "
ous did he deem the situation, so really weak was the government, and so illy prepared to cope with its traitorous foes, and
affirmative answer, with the
secret conclave should be arrested,
;
Even
repel tlie dangers that threatened and surrounded it.
such high-handed treason could be enacted with impunity, and
that within the sacred precincts of the capitol.
Subsidiary to and a most important part of this preparation
was the enrolment
of volunteers.
The chronic
fear of slave-
insurrections had always invested with importance the local
which similar organizations
militia of the South,
had never possessed.
Under the
North
at the
guise, therefore, of being pre-
pared to maintain Southern rights and protect Southern inter-
who were in the
and who were carrying out purposes of the conspirators, were active in inviting and securing such volunteer enlistments.
The Comte de Paris thus refers to this branch
of the work of preparation that had been quietly going forests against all possible contingencies, agents,
secret
"
ward.
The volunteers," he
said, " repaired to the recruiting-
had been opened by the initiative action of the
most zealous and ambitious persons in every district. The
offices wliich
formation of regiments which were thus spontaneously called
into existence throughout the Southern States
the private
work
of a
was generally
few individuals, associated together for
that purpose in their respective villages or quarters.
quently, while the North
kind of
political
was
Conse-
sincerely trying to effect
some
compromise, companies of volunteers were
seen assembling and arming in haste throughout the whole of
the slave States.
went
women
Their minds were bent upon war, and they
work with the
to
essentially indolent,
set
greatest energy.
The
zeal of
the
stimulated that of the men, and in that population,
down
whoever hesitated
as a coward."
to
don the uniform was
�136
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE PO^VER
RISE
But more
effective
IN AJIERICA.
than any other agency, and more success-
Unionism of the slaveholding States
were the violence and a system of terrorism which filled
tliat whole land with the tortures of soul as well as those of
the body, crushed out everything like freedom of action, of
speech, or of thought, and made the words " the sunny South "
but the mockery of a name.
" A few exceptions
This is the testimony of the Comte
and a considerable number of forced enlistments sufficed to
ful in crushing out the
:
crush out every expression of Union sentiments.
committees were formed in
all
Vigilance
the Southern States
;
and
if
they did not everywhere proceed to the extremes of violence,
they everywhere trampled under foot
all
public
and individual
by resorting to search-warrants and other vexatious
weak and stimulating
the irresolute, contributed to fill up the cadres of the volunteer
liberties,
proceedings, which, by intimidating the
regiments rapidly.
" In each of the growing centres of civilization, where farm-
came from afar across the forests to attend to their politiand commercial affairs, vigilance committees were formed,
composed of men who had been conspicuous for their excesses
Assuming unlimited power
during tlie electoral struggles.
ers
cal
without authority, they united in themselves the attributes of
a committee of public safety with the functions of a revolu-
The bar-room was generally the place of
and a revolting parody of the august forms of
tionary tribunal.
their meetings,
Around the
was mingled with their noisy orgies.
counter on which gin and wliiskey circulated freely, a few
frantic individuals pronounced judgment upon their fellowthe accused saw the fatal
citizens, whether present or absent
rope being made ready even before he had been interrogated
the person in contumacy was only informed of his sentence
when he fell by the bullet of the executioner, stationed beliind
Nor was this kind of preparation
a bush for that purpose."
Judge Paschal of Texas, visiting
confined to these classes.
justice
;
;
the military school at Lexington, Virginia, about the middle
of January, 1861, wrote to a friend in
conversation with the young
men
Washington
that,
from
gathered there from the
�137
THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
several Southern States, he
had become convinced that " the
South was virtually in arms and in motion northward," their
objective point being the seizure of the national capital, and
that General McCulloch was relied on to lead them in the
A
week later than the date of his letter to
threatened onset,
the " National Intelligencer," Judge Evans addressed another
From " reliable information " he into Secretary Stanton.
formed him that there were in process of formation " milithat " within the
tary associations " throughout the South
last two weelvs they have reached the magnitude and solidity
of an army ready and willing to move at any moment and
that " wild enthusiasm which now animates
to any point "
them supplies the place of a regular organization, and facilithat " the
tates the greatest rapidity of communication "
;
;
;
movement comprises almost
all
the entire youth of the South,
the restless and ambitious spirits, and
population."
all
the ever floating
After describing the general expectation that the
government was on the verge of overthrow, that Congress
would be broken up before the 15th of February, and that
Lincoln would not be inaugurated, he added " How far this
idea has taken form I cannot say, but certain it is that among
:
the
members
of the associations the belief is universal that
such an expedition
is
intended."
Such substantially was the state of Southern society, and
such were the conditions of success, when the secession leaders
resolved to make their appeal to the people to come to their
support in their great and guilty treason.
Though they hoped
that every slaveholding State would respond to that appeal
and
flock to their standard, they
knew
that some might
fail.
Accordingly they resolved that such failure should be the result
no hesitation on their part to appeal to any motives or resort
any measures, however desperate or indefensible. That
they did fail in some and succeed in others was due to circumstances and contingencies, agents and agencies, beyond all
human prescience and control, as also to that higher agency of
Him who was without doubt no less active in preventing some
States from joining the Rebellion than He was, as the nation
with few exceptions gratefully admitted, in preventing those
of
to
�138
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
that did join from accomplishing their
fell
memberment and
yielded to effect the
Enough
destruction.
great purposes of the war, but not
Exactly
nation.
why
purposes of
dis-
enough to destroy the
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas, and Arkansas should have been taken out of the Union,
while Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were prevented from
joining,
man
no
is
wise enough to say.
Exactly
general reasons can be given.
At least none but
why the purposes of
the conspirators were foiled in the one case and not in the
other, exactly
when the current
of treason
was checked and
turned in the one and not in the other, the wisest can only
Detailed statements of
conjecture.
counter-movements, of
all
the plans
the movements and
made and the plans
all
happy thoughts and timely suggestions of one
and another made in some States and their conspicuous absence in the other, would aid much in reaching an adequate
estimate and satisfactory conclusions. But they would require
more space than can be afforded. A brief and succinct statement of the leading facts in a majority, and a more particular
review of the progress of events in two or three of these States,
as samples of the whole, must suffice.
There was no State concerning whose course there was
Her
greater doubt or more anxious solicitude than Virginia.
size, position, traditional influence, and past leadership, with
the knowledge that, on whichever side of the scale her great
foiled, of the
weight should be thrown, the fortunes of the threatened con-
would be seriously affected thereby, intensified the anxiety
Great efforts were therefore made by the conspirators to
felt.
commit her to their plans, but without immediate success. As
early as January, 1860, Charles G. Memminger was sent by
flict
the legislature of South Carolina to that of Virginia, as a
special commissioner to enlist its
disunion.
He
members
in their
scheme of
In a
met, however, with indifferent success.
near the close of the month, he speaks of the
difficulty he found in " seeing through the Virginia legislaHe wrote of the Democratic party as " not a unit "
ture."
letter written
;
of
the
Whigs
sions arise
;
as
whenever dissenFederal politics as " most un-
hoping to "cleave
of the effect of
it
"
�THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
fortunate "
;
139
of " this great State as comparatively powerless
"
;
He
of Governor Wise and Mr. Hunter as " really with us."
" But still I hope that
closed his letter with the declaration
:
the result will be favorable.
would take the position
I see
no men, however, who
of leaders in
The
a revolution."
reasons of this hesitation here as elsewhere were various,
though they did not embrace any lack of interest in slavery,
desire for its conservation, and determined purpose to maintain
it
at all hazards,
more surely
—a
result, it
was
rightly concluded,
attainable within than without the Union.
Be-
ing a border State, and linked with the free States by family
and business ties, many shrunk with reasonable dread from
a rupture which could not but put in immediate peril whatever they held most dear.
Others had faith that the North
would yet favorably respond to their demands for new guaranties, and that they might still maintain their place and
ascendency in the Union. It was at least their purpose to
And then others distrusted South Carolina,
which one of her leaders denounced as " a common brawler
and disturber of the peace for the last thirty years " and
they hesitated about putting themselves under the lead of one
who could " give no security that she would not be as faithless to the next compact as she has been to this which she
make
the
trial.
;
is
now endeavoring
tors did not despair.
to destroy."
Determined,
at work, hopeful of success.
Nevertheless, the conspiraadroit, audacious, they kept
Nor, as the event proved, did
they hope without reason.
in too much sympathy
and purposes of the conspirators, was not fully
prepared for the extreme measures they had inaugurated. At
the urgent request, however, of leading citizens, he convoked
a meeting of the legislature. That body assembled on the
7th of January, 1861. In his message the governor renewed
John Letcher, then governor, though
with the
spirit
a previous proposition for a general convention of the States.
While
and inaction was distasteful to
co-operation, they were gratified with his denunciation of coercion by the general government, and the declaration of the legislature that " any attempt to
those
his policy of caution
who demanded immediate
�140
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
coerce a State " would be resisted.
Though
IN AMERICA.
the governor
was
opposed to a convention, the legislature authorized the election
and assembling of one, decreeing in connection therewith that
at the former the people should decide whether or not the
doings of said convention should be submitted to a vote of the
The
people.
and
election resulted in the choice of one
fifty-two delegates, a decided majority of
posed to secession.
It
whom
hundred
were op-
convened on the 13th of February, and
sessions revealed the sharp conflict of opinion that pre-
its
vailed witliin as well as without the assembly.
met with
tors
The
and on the 4th
indifferent success,
conspira-
of April the
convention refused, by a vote of eighty-nine to forty-five, to
pass an ordinance of secession.
But they were desperate, and
hesitated at nothing to enkindle feelings of discontent towards
the Union and to inflame the passions of
its members.
Alexander H. Stephens, having been sent to Virginia to
strengthen the secessionists, addressed the people of Rich-
mond on
the
the 2.3d of April.
fires of
He assured
his excited auditory that
patriotism were blazing brightly from
Montgomery
Richmond, that the constitutional liberty they had vainly
sought in the old Union they had found in the new and he
predicted that Lincoln would " quit Washington as ignomini-
to
;
" The people of Virginia," he said,
ously as he entered it."
" and the States of the South are one in interest, in feeling,
and in hope and why should they not be one
government ? Every son of the South from the Potomac
the Rio Grande should rally beneath the same banner. The
in institutions,
in
to
;
may
It rebe terrible, but the victory will be ours.
you to say whether you will share our triumphs."
To the blinding appeals of sophistry, and to sectional distrust and hatred, they added attempts to reach the result aimed
at by external pressure and the stimulus of Southern sympathy.
Among those efforts were the purpose and attempt to
conflict
mains
for
goad the extreme Southern States to overt acts of violence and
blood. Rufhn and Roger A. Pryor went to Charleston for this
purpose.
who
more
Nor
did they go in vain.
The
affirmed that the " ball fired by
for
secession
in
A^irginia
jubilant correspondent
Edmund
than
Ruffin will do
volumes
of
stump
�THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
141
speeches " correctly forecasted the effect of such blood-letThis, with the President's reply to the Virginia commissioners that he should " repel force by force," and his call
ting.
changed very much the aspect of affairs. The feelRichmond,
ing in
too, was contagious, and the men of the
convention found it difficult to remain unaffected by the
for troops,
booming of cannon, the ringing of bells, the flying of flags,
and the cheering of the excited multitude that were crowding
the streets. Many faltered, either quailing before such menaces or seduced by such appliances, and the majority against
disunion was rapidly melting away. And yet in a full convention there
still
remained a majority loyal to the government.
But, drunk with passion and with blood, the leaders were not
to be defeated, with success so near,
ate
if
and indefensible, would prevent.
means, however desperIn furtherance of that
purpose, ten members of the convention were waited upon by
leading conspirators, and informed that they had " the choice
of three things,
either
to vote
the
absent themselves, or be hanged."
secession
ordinance, to
Feeling that further re-
sistance would be in vain, they succumbed to the pressure and
were absent, and the ordinance of secession was passed by a
vote of eighty-eight to
fifty-five.
The convention appointed a committee, at the head of which
was ex-President Tyler, to negotiate a treaty with Stephens.
On the 24th of April a treaty was signed, providing the whole
military force and operations, offensive and defensive, in the
impending
conflict,
should be placed under the control of the
President of the Southern Confederacy.
The next day the
convention adopted and ratified this treaty, appointed delegates
to the Confederate Congress,
and invited the Confederate gov-
ernment to make Richmond its capital. Thus the convention
which had submitted the ordinance of secession to the people
of that Commonwealth adopted the provisional government of
the Confederate States, and they became, in the words of John
Tyler, telegraphed to Governor Pickens, " fellow-citizens once
more." While the question was pending before the people, Senator Mason, in a letter of the 16th of May to the " Winchester
Virginian," contended that the ordinance of secession had an-
�142
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
nulled the Constitution and laws of the United States, and
that its rejection by the people
would
made
to the Confederate States.
those
who
He
violate the sacred pledge
said that
if
there were
could not in conscience vote to separate Virginia
from the United States, their duty was simple and plain.
" Honor and duty require alike," he said, " that they should
not vote on the question and if they retained such opinions,
they must leave the State." Mason spoke the voice of the
Thousands of Unionists did not dare to
secession leaders.
vote Southern troops were on the soil of the State
Union
men were everywhere proscribed and hunted down. The vote
on the ordinance of secession was taken near the close of
the month of May, and more than one hundred thousand majority was given therefor.
The delegates of Western Virginia in the convention returned to their homes resolved to resist the policy of secession.
Public meetings were held pledging fidelity to the Union.
Francis H. Pierrpont, afterward governor of Virginia, and
John S. Carlisle, afterward United States Senator, were active
and zealous. On the 13th of May a convention of delegates
representing thirty-five counties met at Wheeling. 'Repudiating secession and declaring in favor of separation from the
;
;
seceding State,
;
it
called a provisional convention of delegates
on the 26th, and to meet on the 11th of June.
The convention met, and Arthur J. Boreman, afterward governor and United States Senator, was made president. John
to be chosen
S.
Carlisle reported resolutions repudiating the action of the
of all who adhered
was voted unanimously to
divide the State.
On the same day Francis H. Pierrpont was
chosen governor, and a legislature was elected. This body
disunion convention and vacating
to the Rebellion.
After debate
tlie offices
it
assembling at Wheeling, and, claiming to be the legislature of
the State of Virginia, assented to the proposed division.
Con-
gress, after deliberation, decided that this government, this
governor, and this legislature were the government, governor,
and legislature of' loyal Virginia.
Tennessee afforded as apposite an illustration of the stern
logic of events and of the difficulty of maintaining a position
and at the same time discarding the measures necessary to
�THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
hold
it,
as either of the
problem of disunion.
of an
open
States called to grapple with the
It deprecated
rupture even
143
to
and dreaded the dangers
slavery
itself,
distrusted
the
proposed policy, and shrunk back from the leadership of the
men who were
urging upon them that desperate measure.
In-
was the Union sentiment that as late as the
February, on the question submitted to the people by
deed, so strong
9th of
the legislature, out of a vote of less than ninety-two thousand
more than sixty-seven thousand voted against the proposed
And yet
convention.
that could prevent
it,
they were so opposed to the only measure
if " any force be
that they declared that
sent South for the purpose of subjugating the people thereof,
the people of the State will join as one
invasion at
all
man
to resist such
hazards, and to the last extremity "
governor replied defiantly to the President's
that " Tennessee will not furnish a
coercion, but fifty thousand
if
man
;
an
and the
call for troops,
for the purposes of
necessary for the defence of our
and those of our Southern brothers." An address from
men, including Neil S. Brown, John Bell, and
others, while indorsing the position taken by the governor and
rights
several leading
legislature in refusing aid thereto, expressed the opinion that
Tennessee should " not take sides against the government."
With sentiments like these it was only a question of time
when the State would be found following the lead of the very
men they so much distrusted, and linking their fortunes with
a crusade they feared and had abundant reason to fear. They
sought neutrality, but neutrality was obviously impossible.
Governor Harris called the legislature together on the 25th
The governor's sympathies had always been avowed-
of April.
ly with those of the secession leaders,
called
upon the
and
in his
message he
legislature, notwithstanding the strong vote
which the people had just cast against it, for the immediate
adoption of an ordinance of secession and its early submission
to the people.
Henry W. Hillard
of
Alabama, who had been
appointed a commissioner by the Confederate government, presented his views to the legislature. Assuming that the question involved
was one
of constitutional liberty, involving the
right of the people to govern themselves, he maintained that
the idea of reconstruction must be abandoned, that they would
�144
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
not submit to the Abolition North, and that a system of government founded on slavery was the only form that could be
sustained.
S. Brown urged the people to arm themwas the settled policy, he contended, of the administration and of the whole North to wage a war of exterminaA treaty was negotiated on the 7th
tion against the South.
of May between the Confederate commissioner and commissioners appointed by the governor, with the authority of the
legislature.
By this treaty it was provided that the public
property, munitions of war, and naval stores seized or acquired
from the United States should be turned over to the Confederacy, and the Confederate President be autliorized to exercise
absolute military control in that State until it should become
a member of the Confederacy. This treaty was sustained by
Ex-Governor Neil
selves, as it
nearly a two-thirds vote in each house.
An
ordinance of
secession was submitted to the people, and also a proposition
for the adoption of the provisional government of the ConfedGovernor Harris was authorized to raise fiftyerate States.
five thousand volunteers and to issue five millions of State
Before the 8th of June, when the ordinance and propowere to be submitted to a popular vote, a large military
force had been organized, the people were overcome by violence,
bonds.
sition
and the ordinance
fifty-seven
of
secession
was adopted by more than
thousand majority.
East Tennessee, being mountainous and having few slaves,
remained loyal to the Union by a majority of more than two
and she remained loyal to the end, though at a fearful
the intelligence was received that the legislature
had adopted an ordinance of secession, Mr. Brownlow, afterward governor and United States Senator, denounced the
to one
cost.
;
When
action in his paper in bold and fiery language, calling
upon
the people to vote against the ordinance of secession. " Let,"
he said, " every man, old and young, halt and blind, contrive to
be at the polls on that day.
we
If
we
lose then, our liberties are
up by a military despotism."
assembled on the 19th of
legislature
of
Nortli
Carolina
The
John W. Ellis, the governor, was a bitter and
November.
active secessionist, using both persoual and political influgone, and
are swallowed
�THE OTHER SECEDED STATES.
ence in favor of disunion.
The
145
legislature passed
an act
providing that no ordinance
North Carolina with the Federal government, or connecting it with any other, " shall
liave any force or validity until it shall have been submitted to, and ratified by, a majority of the qualified voters of
for calling a
convention, but
dissolving the connection of
the
State."
It also
appointed
commissioners to represent
the State in the general convention at Montgomery, with instruction to act as " mediators to endeavor to bring about a
reconciliation."
It provided, too, for the
arming
of ten thou-
sand volunteers, the reorganization of the militia of the State,
and declared by resolution that if peace negotiations should
North Carolina would go with the South. Thus, though
moderate and conservative, the people so far
yielded to the malign influences of the conspirators as to
become passive instruments in their hands, and to elect a
convention which, assembling on the 20th of May, adopted by
unanimous vote an ordinance of secession.
The secession convention of Arkansas assembled on the 1st
of March.
On the 16th William S. Oldham appeared before
it with a message from Jefferson Davis urging the State,
whose interests, he affirmed, were identical with the new
Confederacy, to secede.
It refused by a majority of four,
though a proposition was carried that a vote should be taken
on the 1st of August, on the question of secession or co-operation. But when the intelligence was received of the assault on
Sumter, the convention at once passed an ordinance of secession by a vote of sixty- nine to one.
At the outset Texas was far from being united for secession. Though the secessionists were numerous and noisy, and
an ordinance of secession was finally carried in convention on
the 1st of February, 1861, both the governor and many of its
prominent men resisted for a long time the pressure in that
direction.
As late as the 23d of December there was a
Union meeting, said to have been the largest ever held at
the capital, at which was raised a liberty-pole ninety feet
high, from which floated the Stars and Stripes, and beneath
which patriotic speeches were made and patriotic songs
fail.
proverbially
VOL.
m.
10
�14:G
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
were sung. About the same time Governor Houston issued
an address to the people, assigning his reasons for not calling
a session of the legislature. Disclaiming any purpose to thwart
the wishes of the people, and avowing his belief that the time
.had come to stand up for Southern rights, he very naturally
found himself powerless to resist the growing purpose to join
A
the seceding States.
revolutionary call for a convention
had been issued by sixty-one persons without even a show of
authority. Though hardly more than half of the counties of the
State responded to the call, a convention thus chosen assem-
bled and adopted an ordinance of secession.
A single member
of the legislature took the responsibility of issuing a call for
an extra session of that body. Governor Houston, to avoid a
conflict, convened the legislature to meet on the 22d of JanuThere was, of course, little harmony of feeling between
ary.
But the revthe executive and the two bodies thus convened.
olutionists not only effected their purposes, despite all guber-
natorial protest and opposition, but saw Texas taken out of the
Union, at least in form, and joined to the new Confederacy.
Such were the principles, policy, and practices, motives and
measures, of the
men who
more than
their simple
sternest condemnation.
fied,
mention
No good
or permitted such a service.
of State-rights been
all
for,
inaugurated, and
And
certainly nothing
prepared
carried forward the great Rebellion.
is
needed to secure their
cause ever demanded, justi-
Had
their vaunted doctrine
they claimed, had Southern grievances
answered to their loudest and most bitter complaints, there was
no justification for such a systematic violation of every principle of justice, honor, humanity, and fair dealing, such an
organized assault upon both the amenities of life and the
commonest rights of person, property, and the public weal.
Done professedly in defence of Southern rights and in behalf
of the people of the South, the world has never witnessed a
more wanton and flagrant onslaught upon everything that
men hold most dear. Done, too, avowedly in vindication of
the doctrine of State
riglits,
new government was
to
almost the
make
and place the military completely in
disposal.
first
public act of the
Jefferson Davis virtual dictator,
his
hands and at
his sole
�CHAPTER
XI.
WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS AND ACTION THEREON.
—
—
Withdrawal of South Carolina delegation.
MissisChange of Rebel policy.
Speech of Cobb.
sippi.
Alabama ordinance " and call for a convention.
Speeches of Miles Taylor and Bouligney.
Withdrawal of Louisiana.
Clement C. Clay,
Speeches of Yulee and Mallory.
Scenes in the Senate.
—
—
'
'
—
—
Fitzpatrick, and Jefferson Davis. — Southern grievances. — Action in regard
to retiring members. — Diverse opinions. — Seward and Fessenden. — Leave— Arrogant boasts. — Benjamin. — Special
— Final
taking of
—
—
—
session.
Slidell.
action.
Although
had been determined by the disunion members
January 5, to maintain their
seats in both houses until the 4th of March, that, according to
the confession of Yulee of Florida, and by a policy as indefensible and discreditable as it was traitorous, they might
most effectually embarrass and hamper the hands of the outit
of Congress, at tlieir caucus of
going and the incoming administrations, they soon discovered
that such a course involved too
personal peril.
They had gone
much
of political as well as
too far and too fully committed
remain
would be to
For, however slow the North had
themselves to the crime of treason to render
much
punish as well as detect.
been to accept the conclusion,
tirely to these
aim.
it
longer within reach of those whose duty
it
safe to
it
could not close the eye en-
accumulating evidences of a desperate and deadly
Nor could
it
well be imagined, with the prestige
and
resources of the government in their hands, that the friends
of the
Union would stand
idly
by and see the conspirators pro-
ceeding in their work of destruction without some effort to
stay its progress and punish the would-be destroyers.
Other
no doubt influenced them. But however affected,
they were induced to change their policy and vacate seats they
reasons
�148
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
could no longer hold with honor, and should have no longer
held with safety.
True, they calculated largely, and not with-
pusillanimity and fear, and drew
encouragement from the impunity with which they had hitherto been allowed to trample on others' rights, the provisions of
out reason, on Northern
law, and the requirements of the Constitution even.
They
cal-
government they had done
culated, too, on the weakness
so much to dismantle and demoralize, still in the feeble hands
of an administration which had indeed protested against treason, but which had accompanied that protest with public
proclamation that that government had neither the purpose
of the
nor the power to coerce the obedience of the recusant States.
Instead, however, of enacting their treason covertly, as
if
boldly and
and unworthiness, they did it
away secretly and silently from
places they had so unworthily filled, and from which they
should have been ignominiously ejected, they took occasion,
conscious of
defiantly
;
its guilt
instead of slinking
with chai-acteristic effrontery and a kind of dramatic audacity,
to proclaim their purpose and defy the government at the very
seat of its power.
of
South Carolina had taken the lead, and as early as the 24th
December her delegates sent in their resignations. The
paper was signed by John McQueen, M. L. Bonham,
Boyce, and J. D. Ashmore.
W. W.
Tliey based their action on the
had received that "the people of
South Carolina, in their sovereign capacity, have resumed the
powers heretofore delegated by them to the Federal govern-
"official intelligence" they
ment of the United States." They expressed the desire that
they might go forth " with feelings of mutual regard and
respect," and the hope that in their future relations they might
" better enjoy that peace and harmony essential to the happiness
of a free and enlightened people."
On the 12th of January
the Mississippi delegation, consisting of Otho R. Singleton,
William Barksdale, Reuben Davis, John McCrae, and L. Q. C.
Lamar, sent in their resignation, based, like that of the South
Carolina delegation, on the action of their State. While they
expressed regret at
fied approval
its necessity,
they avowed their " unquali-
" of the same, and their determination to return
�WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS AND ACTION THEREON.
to the
bosom
may
On the
they
of their State,
149
and " share her fortunes, whatever
be."
21st of the
same month the Alabama delegation
fol-
Their paper was signed by Geo. S. Houston, Syden-
lowed.
ham
Moore, David Clopton, James L. Pugh, J. L. M. Curry,
and James A. Stalworth. Like the preceding, they attributed
their course to the action of their State, affirming that " duty
requires our obedience to her sovereign will."
W.
R.
W.
On
the 30th
Cobb, another member of the same delegation, sent
a longer communication to the House, containing a copy of an
ordinance to dissolve the union between Alabama and the
United States.
This action was avowedly based on the
elec-
tion of Mr. Lincoln, the triumph of a sectional party, " pre-
ceded by
— "a
many and dangerous
wrong
infractions of the Constitution,"
and menacing a character,
Alabama in the adoption of prompt
and decided measures for their future peace and security." It
also extended an invitation to all the slaveholding States to
meet in convention on the 4th of February, 1861, at the city
political
of so insulting
as to justify the people of
of Montgomery, to consult and to secure " concerted and harmonious action in whatever measures may be deemed most
desirable for our common peace and security."
He closed his
communication with the expression of his deep regret at the
necessity of the step he felt constrained to take, and with the
invocation tliat God would " save the country."
Mr. Cobb also made a speech in which he gave some reasons
had adopted. With well-chosen words and
for the course he
pathos of manner he spoke of the duty which called upon him
and of his " profound " feeling as he " reluctantly " sundered the tie that had
to join his fortunes to those of his State,
bound him to that body for fourteen years. He conjured the
House to give him some token, or ground of hope, that the
separation should not be final, and that the riven States might
yet be reunited. He reviewed the events which had transpired
since his service began.
He spoke of the men of the North
and the men of the South fighting upon the same battle-fields,
the eagles of the Republic sweeping across the Rocky Mountains, the Stars and Stripes planted on the shores of the far
�150
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
Pacific,
and
flying in
IN AMERICA.
He
triumph in China and Japan.
alluded
to the stars that had fallen from the galaxy of bright
ster,
and others,
that
if
— and
expressed the gratuitous assumption
they could reappear they would
duty was, and
them not
how
names
— a Clay, a Calhoun, a Web-
adorning their country's history,
tell
them what
their country could be saved.
to send their armies to coerce
their
He implored
and subjugate, but
Appealing to the Republicans, he
their messengers of peace.
assured them that the question of peace or war was in their
hands, and that they could
set.
He
dignity
still
was
the storm before the sun
exhorted them to stand no longer upon their assumed
and platform, but
to sacrifice everything for their dis-
tracted country, while he indicated his purpose to return to
liis
" dear Alabama,"
where the bones
mother rested, to defend,
if
of
his
necessary, their ashes,
and
father
and share,
for weal or woe, the fate of those he loved.
On
the 5th of February, Miles Taylor of Louisiana sent
to the clerk a copy of a similar ordinance, renouncing the
allegiance of his State to the general government,
assumption that she was "in
full
those rights of sovereignty which appertain to a free
dependent State."
On
and the
possession and exercise of
the question of
its
and
all
in-
reception, Francis
E. Spinner of New York expressed the opinion that it was
" high time to put a stop to this countenancing of treason in
the halls of legislation."
to speak by
Mr. Taylor, however, was permitted
unanimous consent.
Disclaiming any purpose to
speak of the occurrences then in progress, cither of the causes
that had produced the differences that had distracted and
now
threatened to divide the nation, he referred to the various propositions that were before Congress, especially to those of the
committee of thirty-three, of which he was a member, and
from which he had presented a minority report. Concerning
them all lie expressed the opinion that they would be fruitless
that if " every one of those measures were to be
and
that by a unanimous vote of both houses, that
adopted,
fact would produce no effect in arresting the current that is
sweeping State after State out of the Confederacy." Nothing
short of constitutional amendments, changes in the organic
of
good
;
�WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS AND ACTION THEREON.
law, which would " settle and put forever at rest
for the agitation of
this
sectional question,"
esteem, meet the exigencies of the hour.
He
all
151
pretexts
could, in his
characterized
the propositions of the committee of thirty-three as mere
" palliatives," and he assured the House that, if they could
not " raise themselves to the height of these great acts," " a
permanent dissolution " of the Union was " inevitable." Nor
would anything less than war, with all its most destructive
appliances, be adequate to any coercion that might be attempted. And, he contended, if the nation shall thus become
divided into two contending factions, it would descend from its
rank among the nations of the earth, and " call for the interposition of European powers in the common interest of mankind."
Alluding to the great staple of the South, which, as
manufactured products, with the cost of the
raw material, had reached " the amazing sum of twelve hundred
the basis of
its
million dollars," he predicted that disunion and
war would
diminish the production of cotton moi-e than one half, would
give a shock to the industry of the whole world, disturb all
the currents of trade, overwhelm
all
civilized
communities in
bankruptcy, and shake the whole social system of Europe to
its centre.
He
affirmed the extreme doctrine of State rights,
scouted the idea of coercion, and asserted that the blockade of
a Southern port or the entrance of an army into a Southern
State would be war. " The first blow struck," he said, " will
cause the spirit of Southern nationality to leap from the very
hearts of her people," and
men
will leave the peaceful pursuits
of life and rush to the rescue.
who
still
blow
soil
is
Though
many
when that
there might be
loved the Union and would cling to
it,
struck " there will not be found," he said, " on her
one single
of his country
man who
and
will not
be ready to meet the invaders
to shed his blood in her defence."
He was followed by his colleague, John E. Bouligney, in quite
another strain. He said he had just received official information of the action of his State.
He had received no instruction
from
its
legislature
directing
him
to
resign
;
nor, he
added, should he do so, had such instructions been given, for
he was not elected by that body.
He had
taken an oath to
�152
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
support the Constitution of the United States, and to that
oath he should firmly adhere to the end.
by
his
Whenever
instructed
immediate constituents to withdraw from Congress he
should resign
;
but, he added, yet " I shall be a
and stand under the
flag of the
Union man,
country which gave
me
birth."
Similar scenes were enacted in the Senate.
As
the ordi-
nances of secession and resignations were communicated to
that body, farewell speeches were made, and parting words of
criticism
On
and censure, deprecation and defiance, were spoken.
the 21st of January, David L. Yulee of Florida, rising in
his place, informed the Senate that, in consequence of the
colleague had reached the
conclusion that their connection with that body had " legally
action of his State, he and his
Expressing the grateful recognition, by himself
and people, of the blessings already received from the maintenance of the Union, he said that, in view of the apprehended
evils and dangers arising " from a perverted and hostile employment of the powers of the Federal government," they professed to abandon all the hopes they had " rested upon the
common growth and common power of the Union, and to assume the serious responsibilities of a separate existence and
new and untried relations." In support and illustration of
these alleged evils and dangers to be apprehended from Northern aggressions and designs, he said that " the equilibrium of
power between the sections " had been " ruthlessly and unIn proof of the
wisely destroyed by the legislation of 1850."
alleged fact that such had been the sentiment entertained by
many Southern men, he alluded to " a protest," signed by several memljers of Congress and dated Senate Chamber, August
terminated."
13, 1850, " against the
this
Union."
He
bill
admitting California as a State into
parried, or attempted to parry, the charge
made against Florida on account of her occupying acquired territory, and of her " paucity of numbers," by the
often
assertion that " right of sovereignty and liberty depend not
upon numbers," and a quotation from her act of admission
that she " be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with
the original States in
all
respects whatever."
�WITHDRAWAL OF JIEMBERS AND ACTION THEREON.
153
His colleague, Stephen R. Mallory, followed in a similar
strain, asserting, but deprecating, the sad necessity of leaving
the Union, to maintain Southern rights, menaced by Northern
" In thus tui^ning from the Union," he said, " to
aggression.
the veiled and
unknown
future,
we
are neither ignorant nor
reckless of the lions in our path."
misconception of the
spirit
Either with a fatuous
and purpose of the movement and
of the character of the people he represented, or a marvellous
words he used, he claimed
and would inure to
the cause of freedom. " So well," he said, " are human rights
and national liberty understood by our people, so deeply
are they imbued with the spirit of freedom and knowledge of
government, that were this Republic utterly broken and destroyed, like the shattered vase of the poet, to whose very
fragments the scent of the roses still clung, its very ruins,
breathing the true spirit of civil and religious liberty, would
indifference to the
that
it
was made
meaning
in the
of the
name
of liberty,
demand a wise and noble reconstruction." With
bravado which nothing but ignorance could excuse,
he disclaimed any fear of the result of a conflict of arms.
*'
Be the difficulties what they may," he said, " we stand forth
plead for and
a
spirit of
We
a united people to grapple with and to conquer them
seek not to war upon, or to conquer you and we know that
you cannot conquer us. Imbrue your hands in our blood, and
;
the rains of a century will not wash from them the stain,
while coming generations will weep for your wickedness and
folly."
On
the same day, Clement C. Clay of
Alabama
rose in his
place in the Senate and announced that his State had passed
an ordinance of secession. " In taking this momentous step,"
he said, " they had not acted hastily, unadvisedly. It is not
It is
the eruption of sudden, spasmodic, and violent passion.
"
the conclusion they have reached after years of bitter experi-
ence of enmity, injustice, and injury, at the hands of their
and painful reflection after
and after argument,
persuasion, and entreaty have failed to secure them their constitutional rights." With bitter and burning words he sketched
Northern brethren
;
after long
anxious debate and solemn deliberation
;
;
�154
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the growth of Northern opposition to " that domestic institution of the South which
not only the chief source of her
is
social prosperity, but the very basis of her social order
— an
and
opposition that branded slaveholding as
" a moral leprosy," and slavery and polygamy as " twin relics
State policy,"
He considered the nomination and election of
a Republican President as " the climax of insult to our feel-
of barbarism."
He
ings and menace of our rights."
flippantly disclaimed, for
himself and people, " the godlike virtue which teaches us to
love our enemies and to bless
He
them that curse us."
closed
by expressing the resolution of his people " not to trust to the
hands of their enemies the measure of their rights. They
intend to preserve for themselves and to transmit to posterity
the freedom they received from their ancestors or perish in the
His colleague, Benjamin Fitzpatrick, immediately
attempt."
arose, indorsed the speech which had just been delivered, confessed the paramount obligation he owed to his State, and disclaimed any longer " the rights and privileges of a member of
" I acknowledge," he said, " no loyalty to any
this body."
other power than that of
my
sovereign State
;
and
I
shall
return to her with the purpose to sustain her action and to
share her fortunes."
Jefferson Davis immediately arose and announced his resignation, and his renunciation of
His speech was far
all
further connection with that
and defiant than that of
Basing his action on his theory of State rights, he
said he should have yielded obedience to the demands of his
body.
less fiery
Mr. Clay.
He drew a distinction
and secession, and said that while he
State had he not approved her act.
between
'
nullification
accepted the latter he discarded the former,
the remedy of Mr. Calhoun,
who
— the former being
loved the Union
;
the latter
that which alone seemed to
of the case.
him adequate to the exigencies
General Jackson was right, he contended, when
he determined to execute the laws in South Carolina while she
remained a member of the Union, but his action aiTorded
no legitimate precedent for such an attempt after a State has
seceded and become " a foreign country."
Among the grievances he enumerated and the causes he
�WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS AND ACTION THEREON.
155
adduced for the step his State had taken was the proclamation
and persistent defence of the position of the North that the
doctrines of the Declaration of Independence sustained the
dogma
of the equality of races.
He
contended that these doc-
was not put
on an equality with white men, even paupers and convicts,
being represented in the government only in the numerical
He claimed that the principles on
proportion of three fifths.
which the American Union was based involved the right of
secession.
To deny the latter was to ignore the former. Retrines could have no reference to the slave, as he
garding himself as " the type of the general feeling of his constituents," he assured the Senate that he left with no feelings
of hostility, " unencumbered of the remembrance of any injury
He hoped
for peaceful, though separate relations
however, the reverse should follow, " we
will trust," he said, " the God of our fathers, who delivered
received."
with each other.
If,
them from the power of the lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear
and thus, putting our trust in God, and in
our own firm hearts and strong hands, we will vindicate the
right as best we may."
This action of the recusant States and their retiring SenaThe next
tors could not but lead to debate in the Senate.
morning a motion was made that the places on the commit;
vacant by the resignation of the Senators, should be
which was unanimously adopted. Immediately on the
tees, left
filled,
declaration of the vote, the Vice-President asked instruction
as to the course to be pursued, on three points,
— whether the
resignations should be noted on the journal of the Senate,
whether their names should be called when votes were taken
by yeas and nays, and whether he should proceed to fill the
vacancies thus created. As there were no precedents to guide,
there was much difference of opinion, some, with Mr. Wilson,
regarding them as still members of the Senate, who might, if
others, with
so disposed, reconsider their action and return
Mr. Douglas, looking upon the step as irrevocable, so far as
the individuals were concerned, whatever views might be taken
;
of the
action
or
condition of the States they represented.
The mover, Graham N. Fitch
of Indiana, gave as a reason for
�156
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
his motion his desire to shun discussion of these difficult points
hy quietly filling the vacancies thus created. This, however,
Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana questioned, deeming it, he
said, " impossible to avoid some determination of the questions
presented."
He expressed his great surprise that there were
any who could question the fact of the absolute secession of
the four States which had passed ordinances to that effect,
and could maintain that they were " still members of the
Union." The Vice-President having stated the fact that no
entry had been made upon the journal, he moved that the
Mr. Seward of
record be so corrected as to state the fact.
New York opposed any entry of the transaction, thinking " the
less there is said about it the sooner it will be mended."
He
was in favor, too, of leaving the seats vacant until the retiring
Senators, or some others from the States then unrepresented,
should come back to occupy them. William P. Fessenden of
Maine, while agreeing that the State act of secession was of no
significance, admitted that there were " some difficulties
about the " legal effect " of the resigning members. They
had not resigned in the method provided by the Constitution,
and the question was. Were they, or were they not members
of the Senate ?
The subject was considered at some length,
but was finally, on motion of Mr. Seward, laid upon the table
by a vote of thirty-two to twenty-two.
On the 4th of February John Slidell of Louisiana sent to the
Secretary of the Senate a copy of the ordinance dissolving the
union between his State and the United States, resuming all
rights heretofore delegated to the latter,
and absolving her
citi-
zens from their allegiance to the same.
His speech, on taking
his leave of his associates, " some forever, and others," he
said, " in trust to meet again and to participate with them in
the noble task of constructing and defending a
acy," was especially defiant and contumacious.
new
confeder-
He
spoke of
the seceding States as containing within themselves " the ele-
ments
of greatness."
With "the capacity and
will,
through
the forms and in the spirit of the Constitution under which
they have been born and educated," and with their " State
governments already shaped to their hands," he predicted a
�WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS AND ACTION THEREON.
new dewho
sure success, both immediate and enduring, in their
parture on their course of self-government.
might not choose
157
Tliose States
to unite their destiny with tliem,
he said,
" as enemies in war, in peace friends."
will find us ready to meet you," he said, " with the out-
shall be esteemed
" You
stretched hand of fellowship or in the mailed panoply of war,
as you
may
will
it
elect
;
between these alternatives."
Con-
madly attempt coercion and
inaugurate war, he assured the Senate that they would reject
Northern manufactures, that the sea would swarm with their
privateers, and that, though at first relatively weaker, they
would soon gain the ascendency. Accusing New York and
New England of furnishing the means for the rigorous prosecution of the African slave-trade, he said from the same
sources would be provided the privateers that would sweep the
commerce of the North from the ocean. " Your mercantile
marine," he said, " must either sail under foreign flags or rot
at your wharves."
Repeating the remark of the French genjecturing that the North might
we shall not " fire
Notwithstanding the notorious fact that the secession
eral at the battle of Fontenoy, he said,
first."
movement was emphatically
the work of leaders, he made the
gratuitous and false affirmation that it was " not the work of
political managers, but of the people " ; and that the cause lay
not in Mr. Lincoln's election, nor in any unfriendly legislation,
but in the conclusive evidence of the determined hostility of
the Northern masses toward Southern institutions.
warm
Pie gave
expression to the feelings of regret with which he and
his associates parted
company from their fellow-members on
from those Northern Demo-
the floor of the Senate, especially
crats who, with diminishing numbers,
had defended the South
unequal struggle with the encroaching North. " They
have," he said, " one after another, fallen in their heroic
in
its
struggle against a blind fanaticism, until
how few
!
— remain
now but few
—
alas,
to fight the battle of the Constitution."
He was followed by his colleague, Judah P. Benjamin, who,
with his acknowledged ability and plausible eloquence, went as
far as any of his fellows in the work of making " the worse
appear the better reason."
He
began by indorsing most
fully
�158
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the action of his State, whose behests he not only obeyed, but
obeyed most readily.
Alluding to the argument that,
if
mem-
bers of the old thirteen States could be justified in seceding from
a compact to which they were the original parties, Louisiana
must be denied that
right, as she occupied territory that
been purchased by the
common
had
treasure of the nation, he
would not, he said, discuss the repulsive dogma of a party
which asserted the right of property in freeborn white men, to
He
destroy the right of property in slave-born black men.
denied, however, that the United States did
own
Louisiana,
and elaborated at some length the point that the sovereignty
was conveyed
in
no other way than "in trust." To the obwould make the
jection that the admitted right of secession
Federal government " a mere rope of sand," he interposed for
answer that for two thirds of a century the States, though
claiming the right, had never threatened seriously its exercise
but in two instances, and those were the movements of Massachusetts in the war of 1812 and in connection with the annexation of Texas.
But, with wild, extravagant, and meanit were so, " better, far
ingless rhapsody, he added, suppose
better, a rope of sand, ay, the flimsiest
glistened in the
of steel
of
;
morning dew, than chains
gossamer that ever
of iron
and shackles
better the wildest anarchy, with the hope, the chance,
one hour's inspiration of the glorious breath of freedom,
than ages of hopeless bondage and oppression, to which our
enemies would reduce us."
Could senseless fanfaronade and
brazen effrontery go further?
When
a leader in a crusade,
whose animating spirit and purpose was the perpetuation of
American slavery, can thus speak of even " the chance of one
hour's inspiration of the glorious breath of freedom," can any
limits be prescribed to the false and unmeaning use of words ?
As to the charge that secession was rebellion and that
seceders were traitors he was especially denunciatory and defiant. He claimed that they were only walking in the footsteps
of the reformers of England, and of the patriots of the American revolution. Hampden and Yane, Henry and Adams, were
but exemplars of the same spirit and purpose that glowed in tlie
breasts of the new confederacy which was to rise, on the ruins
�WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS AND ACTION THEREON.
159
With sarcastic conof the American Union, at the South.
tempt he spoke of " a senile Executive," proposing to secure
a better execution of the laws by arming the military and
What
blockading Southern ports.
imperial Britain could not
attempt against the colonies without the vehement protest of
her greatest statesmen, is now proposed " against independent States."
He
closed with a
most eloquent peroration,
pronouncing, for himself and for those he represented, his
heartfelt farewell, especially grateful towards those Noi-thern
men who had made common
cause against what he was pleased
to stigmatize the growing tyranny of the then
With
dominant party.
feeble foresight, as subsequent events proved, he ex-
hibited singular misapprehension of the probable verdict of
history in regard to the Northern sympathizers with the Rebellion
inspire
and its cause, as he sought by confident predictions to
and keep alive the courage of those of whose cause
he was so eloquent a champion.
said,
"the story
"
When,
in after days,"
present shall be written,
of the
he
— when
History shall have passed her stern sentence on the erring
men who have
driven their unoffending brethren from the
shelter of their
common home, your names
lustre
from the contrast
;
will derive fresh
and when your children
repeated the familiar tale,
it
will be with
shall hear
glowing cheek and
kindling eye, their very souls will stand
a-tiptoe as their
named, and they will glory in their lineage from men
of spirit as generous and of patriotism as high-hearted as ever
illustrated or adorned the American Senate."
The subject did not come up again until the special session
of Congress.
On the 13th of March Mr. Fessenden of Maine
sires are
introduced a resolution, reciting the names of the seceding
Senators, and moving that they, having announced that they
are no longer members, their seats are vacant, and that their
stricken from the roll of members.
Mr. Bayard of
Delaware moved as a substitute, that the Secretary be directed
Quite
to omit their names in calling the roll of the Senate.
an animated discussion sprung up, in which the mover, Mr.
Bayard, Mason of Virginia, Douglas of Illinois, and Clark of
names be
New Hampshire
took part.
In vainly attempting to
fix
the
�160
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
an act which
by either statute
legal or constitutional status, or character, of
had never been contemplated or provided
for
it foreshadowed very many of the difficulencompassed and embarrassed the subsequent legislaThe motion
tion of Congress, during and after the civil war.
was at length adopted, with an amendment offered by Mr.
Clark of New Hampshire, and it was resolved that the Secre-
or the Constitution,
ties that
tary be directed to omit their
roU.
names
respectively
from the
�CHAPTER
XII.
THE PERIL AND PROTECTION OF THE CAPITAL.
— Secession purposes. — Letter Gov— Secession Banner. — Mr. Stephens. — Statements Southern
presses and speakers. — " Kichmond Examiner." — Duff Green. — Secret plot in
Baltimore. — Grow's Resolution. — Committee. — Opinion of the Secretary of
War. — Report of Committee. — Presence of Troops. — Branch's Resolution.
— Defeated. — Cochrane and Kunkel. — President's Message. — Rebel
— Rumors. — Meetmg
claimers. — Davis and Stephens. — Anxiety
in Willard's Hall. — Precautions. — Facts.
Prediction of Kebel Secretary of War.
to
ernor Hicks.
of
dis-
still exists.
Among
the secession sayings freqnently on the lips of the
was that of Walker, Rebel SecreWar, made on the evening of the attack on Fort SumNo man," he said, " can tell when the war this daycommenced will end but I prophesy that the flag which now
flaunts the breeze here will float over the dome of the old
Let them try
capitol at Washington before the first of IMay.
people during the Rebellion,
tary of
"
ter.
;
Southern chivalry and test the extent of Southern resources,
it may float eventually over Faneuil Hall in Boston."
and
Though allowing something
and that braggart
for the
excitement of the hour,
style of oratory that
had become chronic
at
the South, this vaunt only revealed the sentiment and purpose
of the
secession leaders.
The capture of Washington was
down upon the Rebel programme.
among the first things laid
However much they may have
prated of
State rights and
Southern independence, the original purpose and project contemplated revolution and not separation.
To
seize the capital
and all the departments of the government to hold Mr.
Buchanan in abject surveillance during the remainder of his
term, or, if he should prove too refractory, to eject him for
a more serviceable tool to prevent the inauguration of Mr.
;
;
VOL.
III.
11
�162
RISE
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Lincoln, and
make
Jefferson Davis, or whoever should be
chosen leader of the new regime, President,
and avowed purposes
real
IN AMERICA.
— these were the
Of the truth
of the conspiracy.
no lack of proof. The main difficulty lies in selecting from the mass of evidence pointing unmistakably to a deeply laid scheme and widespread plottings
for that purpose.
As early as the 24th of December, 1860,
one of the editors of the Washington "National Intelligencer"
addressed a confidential note to Governor Hicks of Maryland,
of this allegation there is
—
thus apprising him of their purposes. In it he said
" I have every reason to believe that the disunion leaders in
:
make Maryland
this city intend to
tions during the next
two months.
the base of their opera-
Apparently
satisfied that
the cotton States are sufficiently pledged to the overthrow of
the Federal government, they hope to bring Maryland into
the line of the seceding States before the 4th of March next.
To
this
end they will stimulate your people by every variety of
appeal calculated to undermine their loyalty to the Constitution
;
will, if
necessary, resort to threats of violence, in case the
allurements of ambition should be powerless to
your steadfastness
;
and
will,
public sentiment in Baltimore,
move you from
by industriously manufacturing
and
at other points in the State,
seek to give a factitious strength to their ill-omened cause.
" The motive of their labors is this if they can succeed in
:
hurrying IMaryland out of the Union, they will inaugurate the
new Southern Confederacy in the present capital of the United
States.
If this
March, they
can be accomplished before the 4th of next
will succeed in divesting the
North of the seat of
government, and by retaining in their possession the public
buildings and the public archives, they hope at once to extort
from foreign governments a recognition not only
of their de
facto but also of their de jure pretensions."
This very well agrees with the avowals of Mr. Handy, the
commissioner for Mississippi, to the citizens of Baltimore, on
" Secession is not intended to
the 19th of the same montli.
break up the present government, but to perpetuate it. Our
plan is for the Southern States to withdraw from the Union
for the present, to allow of
amendments
to the Constitution
�THE PERIL AND PROTECTION OF THE CAPITAL.
163
This question of slavery
guaranteeing our just rights
must be settled now or never. Many remedies have failed, we
must try amputation to bring it to a healthy state. We must
have amendments to the Constitution, and if we cannot get
them we must set up for ourselves."
There was, of course, something of incredulity in many
minds as to the existence of a purpose quite so bold and l3ad
and yet there was evidence soon forthcoming more than sufficient to establish it.
Though but one State had actually
seceded, the ulterior and ruling purpose of those who had
inaugurated and consummated that act of treason soon became
Three or four days before this lettoo manifest for doubt.
ter was written, at a meeting of the South Carolina secession
convention, there was suspended in the rear of the president's
chair a banner which clearly enough shadowed forth their
Its
designs and expectations, and which is thus described
base represented " a mass of broken and disordered blocks of
stone, on each of which were the name and arms of a freeRising from this mass were seen two columns of
labor State.
perfect and symmetrical blocks of stone, connected by an arch
of the same material, on each of which, fifteen in number,
were seen the name and coat of arms of a slave-labor State.
South Carolina formed the keystone of the arch, on which
stood Powers's statue of Calhoun, leaning upon the trunk of a
palmetto-tree
On a scroll were the words Southern Eepublic' Over the whole design, on the segment of a circle, were
fifteen stars, the then number of slave-labor States. Underneath
"
Built from the ruins.'
all, in large letters, were the words,
Southern papers and leaders made no concealment of 1)otli
purpose and plan. A gentleman accompanying Mr. Stephens
on his journey to Richmond thus writes " At nearly every
station Stephens spoke.
The capture of Washington was the
:
'
'
:
grand idea which he enforced, and he exhorted all to join in
This was
to which they heartily responded.
the enterprise
;
the only tiling talked
exclamation."
A
of.
'
It
must be
Richmond paper
done,'
said
probable than that President Davis will
was
his constant
" Nothing
more
army
soon march an
:
through North Carolina and Virginia to Washington.
is
A
Mis-
�164
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
paper declared that "
sissippi
Bcnj. McCullock has or-
]\Iajor
ganized a force of five thousand
IN AMERICA.
men
to seize the Federal
The " Richmond
capital the instant the first blood is shed."
Examiner" thus proclaimed
the determination of the Southern
leaders, in language that revealed the Rebel spirit as well as
purpose
:
" The capture of Washington City
the power of Virginia and Maryland,
make
the effort
single
moment
onset
;
by her constituted
The
to lose.
there never
was
perfectly within
is
Virginia will only
if
authorities
;
nor
is
there a
entire population pant for the
half the unanimity
among
the people
upon any subject, that is now
take Washing-ton, and drive from it every Black
before, not a tithe of the zeal,
manifested to
Republican
and
who
is
From
a dweller there.
valleys to the shores of the sea there
fierce resolve to
human
hazard.
the mountain-tops
is
one wild shout of
and every
unclean birds must and
capture Washington City, at
That
filthy
cage of
all
by fire. The people are determined
upon it, and are clamorous for a leader to conduct them to the
onslaught. Tlie leader will assuredly arise ay, and that right
will assuredly be purified
;
—
—
they will take it,
and
Our people can take it,
cannot
Lincoln
the
beast,
combined,
Scott the arch-traitor and
prevent it. The just indignation of an outraged and deeply
speedily
injured people will teach the Illinois
Ape
to repeat his race
and retrace his journey across the borders of the free negro
States still more rapidly than he came."
A Georgia paper said " The government of the ConfedIt is folly
erate States must possess the city of Washington.
:
can be used any longer as the headquarters of the
Lincoln government, as no access can be had to it, except by
to think
it
passing through Virginia and Maryland.
The
District of
Columl)ia cannot remain under the jurisdiction of the United
States Congress without humiliating Southern pride and de-
feating Southern rights.
Both are essential to greatness of
character, and both must co-operate in the destiny to be
achieved."
Though Governor Wise was in favor of maintaining what
he called Southern rights in the Union, his son, who then
edited the " Richmond Enquirer," and who afterward fell in
�THE PERIL AND PROTECTION OF THE CAPITAL.
165
war, urged that Maryland and Virginia should organize a
tliG
force to seize Washington, Old Point, Gosport navy-yard,
and
Mr. Handy, the Mississippi commissioner,
Harper's Ferry.
had visited Maryland in behalf of the scheme for seizing
Washington, and for preventing the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln.
General Duff Green, who had been the friend and confidant of Calhoun, and ever the unwavering champion of the
slaveholding interest, stated to Joseph C. Lewis, in Washington, in the winter of 1861, that the secessionists intended " to
take possession of the army and navy, and of the arcliives of
the government
to proclaim
we
;
not to allow the electoral votes to be counted
Buchanan provisional President
wish, and,
if
not, choose another
;
if
he will do as
seize the Harper's
Ferry
arsenal and the Norfolk navy-yard simultaneously, and send
armed men down from the former, and armed
vessels
up from
the latter, to take possession of Washington and establish a
new government."
As, however, the capture of Washington involved the necessity of preventing the arrival of reinforcements for its protection, every
movement
and
in Maryland,
more, hostile to the Union, was
prompted by, if it did not inure
especially in Balti-
naturally,
the national capital.
tive of the
if
not necessarily,
design on
and indica-
to, this ulterior
Illustrative of this purpose,
measures employed for
its
facts stated in the following letter
accomplishment, are the
from a gentleman
of Balti-
Governor Hicks, apprising him of " a secret plot in
In it he writes " In conversation
progress in this city."
yesterday with men of rank secession proclivities, and who
more
to
:
have heretofore stood high in the estimation of our citizens,
I was informed that secret meetings are held and largely
attended for the purpose of arranging for an insurrection in
this city.
The
police
in their conspiracy
and
all
;
and other functionaries are with them
their intention is to rise at a certain day,
who oppose them
are to be thrown into jail or butchered
as best suits their purpose.
the
first
forces
;
blow
is
This
is to
take place as soon as
struck between the Rebel and United States
the bridges are to be burned again, so as to allow no
troops to advance or escape, and the Rebel troops are to be
�166
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
all, so as to march on the city without obstrucThat the governor' deemed himself cognizant of evi-
cognizant of
tion."
dence sufficient to justify a similar belief appeared in both
convene the legislature and the reasons assigned
his refusal to
In his address to the people of Maryland on the
" The men
3d of January, explaining his course, he said
scheme
to
convene
the
this
legislature
who have embarked in
therefor.
:
The whole plan
of
operations, in the event of the assembling of the legislature,
is,
will spare
no pains to carry their point.
as I have been informed, already
bassadors
who
marked out
are to visit the other States
;
the
is
list
of
am-
agreed upon,
and the resolutions which they hope will be passed by the
legislature fully committing this State to secession are said to
be already prepared."
The matter was
also introduced into Congress
and made the
subject of discussion, the appointment of a committee, report,
On the 26th of January, 1861, Mr. Grow
Pennsylvania introduced a resolution, " That the select
debate, and action.
of
committee
whether any secret
of five be instructed to inquire
organization hostile to the government of the United States
exists in the District of Columbia, and,
official
or
c^fficers
dicial
if
so,
whether any
or employe of the city of Washington, or any employes
of the Federal
government in the executive or
departments, are "members thereof."
ju-
It led to a brief
and sharp debate, in which Burnett of Kentucky and Kunkel
of Maryland expressed their conviction that tliere was no
cause of alarm, and that, in the words of the former, it was
not only " a direct reflection upon the patriotism and faithfulness of the government of the people of this District,"
but " a most miserable, contemptible mode of engendering
bad feeling and making excitement througliout the country
worse than it is." In the course of the debate, Craige of
North Carolina expressed the wish " to have the committee
instructed to inquire by what authority troops are now sta" Is this
immediately to the east of the capitol."
Congress," he inquired, " to act hereafter at the point of the
"
bayonet without protest and in silence ?
tioned
The
resolution
was referred
to
Mr. Holt, Secretary of War,
�THE PERIL AKD PROTECTION OF THE CAPITAL.
who made an
167
which he expressed the
opinion that there was cause for alarm, and that precaution" At
ary measures had been demanded and wisely made.
elaborate report,
in
what time," he said, " armed occupation of Washington City
became a part of tlie revolutionary programme is not certainly
known. More than six weeks ago the impression had already
extensively obtained that a conspiracy for the accomplishment
of this guilty purpose
The
matured.
was
in process of formation,
earnest endeavors
if
not fully
made by men known
to be
devoted to the revolution, to hurry Virginia and Maryland out
of the Union, were regarded as preparatory steps for the sub-
jugation of Washington.
with the aim and
Tiiis
plan was in entire harmony
spirit of those
seeking the subversion of the
government, since no more fatal blow at
its
existence could
be struck than the permanent and hostile possession of the
seat of
its
power.
It
was
in
harmony,
too, with the
avowed
designs of the revolutionists, which looked to the formation
of a confederacy of all the slave States,
and necessarily
to the
In view of
conquest of the capital within their limits
the violence and turbulent disorders already exhibited in the
South, the public mind could not reject such a scheme as at
That a belief in its existence was entertained
by multitudes there can be no doubt, and this belief I fully
My conviction rested not only on the facts already
shared.
alluded- to, but upon information, some of which was of a most
conclusive character, that reached the government from many
all
improbable.
parts of the country, not merely expressing the prevalence of
the opinion that such an organization had been formed, but
also
often furnishing the
plausible
grounds on which the
opinion was based.
Superadded to these proofs were the
oft-repeated declarations of men in high political positions
here, and who were known to have intimate affiliations with
the revolution,
—
—
if,
indeed, they did not hold
its
reins in their
Mr. Lincoln would not, or should
not, be inaugurated at Washington.
Such declarations from
hands,
such
On
men
to the effect that
could not be treated as empty bluster."
the 14th of February the committee made report.
It
alluded to " the intrinsic difficulty of the inquiry," and said
�168
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
that " from the very nature of the case "
to prove
IN AMERICA.
it
would be
difficult
"if such an organization really existed"; as it
would be, when " the very air is filled with rumors and indiit,
viduals are indulging in the most extravagant expressions of
fears
and threats," to "pronounce authoritatively that no such
organization existed."
It
reached the conclusion, however,
that " the testimony adduced does not prove the existence of
a secret organization here or elsewliere."
The committee,
notwithstanding this conclusion, admitted that, in consequence
of " extraordinary excitement existing prior to the late presidential election," disaffected persons, of high and low position,
had discussed informally " various modes of resistance." " But
too much diversity of opinion," it added, " seems to liave existed to admit of the adoption of any well-organized plan, until
some of the States commenced to reduce their theories of se-
Since then persons thus disaffected seem
cession to practice.
to have adopted the idea that
if
there
is
all
resistance to the government,
to be any, should have at least the color of State
Mr. Branch of North Carolina, a member of the
autliority."
committee, while indorsing the report, contended that
army
did
Alluding to the fact that seven compa-
not go far enough.
nies of artillery
it
and one company
of sappers
and miners
of the
been ordered to and quartered in this city,
in close vicinity to the capitol, he offered a resolution, " That
regular
liad
the quartering of troops of the regular
army
in this District
and around the capitol, when not necessary for tlieir protection from a hostile enemy, and during the session of Congress,
is impolitic and offensive, and, if permitted, may be destructive of civil liberty
;
and, in the opinion of this House, the
now in this city ought to be forthwith removed
But the House laid the resolution on tlie table by
tlic decisive vote of one hundred and twenty-four to tliirty-five.
In tlie debate on the resolution, Mr. Cochrane of New York,
alluding to it and the remarks of Mr. Brancli, said " I disregular troops
therefrom."
:
like, quite as
much
environing this
is
legislating
cajjtain.
I
as he does, the spectacle of a regular
city,
army
and giving the impression that Congress
under the dictation of myrmidons of a despotic
not only deprecate, but
I
reprobate
it.
But,
sir,
>
�THE PERIL AND PROTECTION OF THE CAPITAL.
tlie
1G9
circumstances are not such as justly to allow the conclu-
sion he has drawn.
of the committee
on anything,
is
tliat
The evidence presented by
conclusive on this point,
although there
may now
organization threatening the District of
if it
the chairman
be conclusive
be no vestige of an
Columbia and the
Federal power here, yet, at no remote period of time, there
were rumors and reports attracting the attention of all, of
tlie active existence of such organizations."
Mr. Kunkel of
Maryland, in reply, revealed tlie spirit that animated the opposition in that State and the rancor of those whom its governor
was compelled to encounter and contend with. Denouncing
the appointment of the committee as an inquisition " originating with the War Department or the lieutenant-general of
the army," or else " with the governor of Maryland or his
" The governor of
emissaries about this capital," he said
Maryland is the only respectable man in the State who has
:
had the audacity
to libel
and calumniate his fellow-citizens by
on the 3d of January last. lie has
his published proclamation
proclaimed that he was in the possession of information not
accessible to the legislature or to people of the State,
and that
there did exist in the State an organization of his fellow-citi-
armed and prepared to invade the District of Columbia."
The message of President Buchanan, in reply to the resolution sent in on the 2d of March, communicated the facts
asked for. He said tliere had been ordered there " six hundred and fifty-three men exclusive of marines " but they liad
been ordered "to act as a posse comitatus in strict subordinazens,
;
tion to the civil authorities, for the purpose of preserving peace
and order
in the city of
Washington, should
this be necessary
before or at the period of the inauguration of the President
elect."
He
then alluded to the conclusion of the committee,
that there was not sufficient evidence to prove the existence
of secret organizations.
He reminded
Congress, however, that
the House had laid on the table, by a very large majority, a
resolution requiring the removal of these troops.
He
then
expressed the opinion that it would not have been right for
him to " wait for proof " before talving those precautionary
measures. " The safety," he said, " of the immense amount
�170
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
of public property in this city
government, in which
all
and that
IN AMERICA.
of the archives of the
the States, and especially the
new
which the public lands are situated, have a deep
interest the peace and order of the city itself and the security
of the inauguration of the President elect, were objects of such
vast importance to the whole country, that I could not hesitate
States, in
;
;
At
to adopt precautionary defensive measures.
moment, when
of
all is
quiet,
it
is
alarm which prevailed when the troops were
this city.
the present
difficult to realize
first
the state
ordered to
This almost instantly subsided after the arrival of
company, and a feeling of comparative peace and security has since existed both in Washington and throughout the
the
first
country.
and
evil
Had
I refused to
adopt this precautionary measure,
consequences, which
hended, had followed,
I
many good men
at the time appre-
should never have forgiven myself."
But notwithstanding the directness, positiveness, and seeming unambiguity of these Rebel utterances, and the conclusive-
ness of the evidence deduced therefrom that there existed a
design to capture the Federal capital, there are not wanting,
on the record, many disclaimers, even by those who had made
Either for purposes of deception, by
concealing their real designs, and simulating a moderation
they did not feel, and did not intend to practise, or having
been forced to change their plans from unexpected obstacles
they had encountered, both the President and Vice-President
these very declarations.
of the
new Confederacy
violent
and aggressive.
On
did at the last profess a policy less
the 12th of April Mr. Davis, " prompted," he said, " by
the declaration of hostile purposes contained in the message
sent by President Lincoln to the government of South Carolina
on the 8th of April," issued a proclamation for convoking
the Confederate Congress to meet on the 29th of the same
month. In his message, after repeating a remark made on a
former occasion, that the remedy of separation had been " a
matter of necessity and not of choice," he added " We pro:
mankind, that we desire peace at
any sacrifice, save that of honor
In independence we
seek no conquest, no aggrandizement, no cession of any kind
test solemnly, in the face of
�THE PERIL AND PROTECTION OF THE CAPITAL.
from the States with which we have
we ask
is
to be let alone,
us should not
we
will,
— those
now attempt our
we must,
171
All
lately confederated.
who never
held power over
subjugation by arms.
resist to the direst extremity."
This
The very
next day Vice-President Stephens said to the people of Atlanta
:
"
A
general opinion prevails that Washington City
soon to be attacked.
On
this
is
subject I can only say, our
is peace.
We wish no aggressions on any one's rights,
and will make none. But if Maryland secedes, the District of
Columbia will fall to her by reversionary right,
the same as
Sumter to South Carolina, Pulaski to Georgia, and Pickens to
Florida. When we have the right, we will demand the surrender of Washington, just as Ave did in the other cases, and will
enforce our demands at every hazard and at whatever cost."
But notwithstanding these disclaimers of the arch conspira-
object
—
House committee, notwithstanding the constant and confident asseverations which
tors, notwithstanding the report of the
were made that there were no such purposes
capture, there
many
still
and
the minds
of violence
existed grave apprehensions in
and impending dangers, ready to burst
moment, and spring upon them from any quarter.
The very darkness and uncertainty intensified the alarm, and
magnified the danger they so much dreaded, and were so
anxious to provide against. On the 18th of April rumors
were rife that military forces from Virginia were to seize
Harper's Perry, and on the evening of that day, in co-operaof
of hidden
forth at any
tion with the secessionists of Washington, to capture the Presi-
The capital, it was known,
and the District militia, it was believed, had in its ranks many who were not only lukewarm in
supporting the government, but were traitorous at heart. A
secret meeting was held at Willard's
committees were appointed, and loyal persons were visited.
Another meeting
was held that evening, in a small church in the rear of the
hotel, composed of loyal and devoted men, who pledged themselves, by an oath of fidelity to the country, to aid in defenddent and the government archives.
was
full of secessionists,
;
ing the capital at a moment's warning.
chosen leader, and the body was
known
Cassius M. Clay was
as the Cassius
M. Clay
�172
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE TOWER
IN AMERICA.
They patrolled the city that night, while a body,
commanded by General Lane of Kansas, went to the White
House, encamped in the East Room, prepared to protect the
These movements had a restraining influence upon
President.
battalion.
the secessionists of the capital and of Maryland and though
there still remained the menace and danger, it was a danger
:
involved in and dependent upon the general and final success
of the Rebel cause, rather than upon any such coup de main as
entered into the original plan and purpose of the conspirators.
These, then, seem to have been the facts. It was a part of
the original plan of the conspirators to seize the seat of the
United States government and make it the capital of the new
Confederacy, hoping thus to " extort " " new concessions from
not
the Northern States, and from foreign governments,"
—
only a recognition of their de facto, but also of their de jure
This, hoAvevcr, was but a part of a larger and
pretensions.
more comprehensive plan embracing the capture of Marymaking the seizure of the capital contingent and dependent upon the secession of that State. Had the original
Rebel programme been carried out, had Maryland been induced
to secede, and had the District of Columbia thus become an
land,
integral part of the
new Confederacy,
that the national capital, with
all
there can be
that
is
little
doubt
implied in such a
would have been compelled to succumb to the
of the slaveholding oligarchs, the " stars and
demands
haughty
"
would have taken the place of the " Stars and Stripes,"
bars
and the Rebel chief would have issued his decrees from the
No human power could have averted
executive mansion.
that terrible and humiliating blow, had Maryland seceded, so
thoroughly dismantled had the traitors in Mr. Buchanan's
Cabinet left the government, and so abject and helpless had
surrender,
they sought, and too nearly succeeded in their attempt, to lay
Had
this great and proud nation at the feet of its enemies.
not Maryland remained firm, or rather had not its brave and
patriotic governor resisted the machinations of the conspira-
and refused to convene the legislature with its Rebel
must have been the outlook at the close of Mr.
disgraceful
and disastrous administration.
Buchanan's
tors,
majority, such
�CHAPTER
XIII.
INAUGURATION OF MR. LINCOLN.
— Letter
— Counting of Votes.
— Statement of Breckinridge. — Mr.
Lincoln leaves Springfield. — Speech. — Indianapolis. — Columbus. —
burgh. — New York. — Mayor Wood. — Trenton. — Philadelphia. — Flagraising and speech. — Threats of assassination. — Statement to Mr. Lossing.
— Arrival in AVashington. — Apprelieusions and precautions. — Inauguration.
— Thurlow AVeed and General
— Inaugural address. — Conciliatory but
— Afleeting peroration. — Variously received. — Southern condemnation.
Popular apprehension.
— Anxiety. — Assurances
of
Mayor
of Washington.
of Hindnian.
Pitts-
Scott.
firm.
Though
the committee had reported that there was not
sufficient evidence to
prove the existence of secret organiza-
government and the head
incoming administration, the people were ill at ease,
and the air was literally filled with rumors of impending danger and of meditated assaults upon tlie persons and property
tions, meditating violence to the
of the
Nor were these felt by few. All were
more or less affected. On the 1st of Fcl)ruary the mayor of
Washington addressed the following note to the president of
of the government.
—
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
" Sir,
I learn that the President elect, until very recently,
:
—
contemplated passing over your road from Wheeling to this
and that, owing to rumored intentions on the part of citizens of Maryland and Virginia to interfere with his travel to
our capital, you were induced to make diligent inquiry as to
the truth of these threats. If correctly informed, will you do
city,
me
the favor to state the result of your inquiries touching the
"
matter
?
In his reply, the president of the road assured the mayor that
" there
of the
is not, and has not been, the least foundation for any
rumors to which you refer" adding that they were " the
;
simple inventions of the agents of other lines."
The
result
�174
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
proved either that he did not frankly state the truth as it existed, that he was ignorant, or that he sadly miscalculated.
On the 13th of February the two houses met in convention
to count and declare the votes for Presidential electors.
Much
was known that there were members of Congress who wished to seize the occasion to break up
the convention by violence, so that the vote should not be
announced. The words of Mr. Hindman of Arkansas, afterwards a general in the Confederate army, to Charles Francis
Adams of Massachusetts, a day or two before the convention,
admit of no other construction, though he assured him that
anxiety had been
at that
felt,
as
it
the Republicans need have no further anxiety
moment
Their men, he said, shrank from the attempt,
and Breckinridge would have nothing to do with it. A few
days before his death Mr. Breckinridge stated to Mr. Wilson,
who visited him at his home in Lexington, that a few violent
about the result.
men
only were in favor of a disturbance, that he was not con-
sulted in regard to
no countenance
inridge,
who
to
it,
it.
and, had he been, he should have given
The vote was announced by Mr. Breck-
presided over the convention.
Mr. Lincoln,
ceiving a plurality over Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell,
re-
was
declared President elect.
On
the 11th of February, two days before the vote
nounced, Mr. Lincoln
A
left Springfield for
few trusted friends accompanied him.
tion the citizens of Springfield in large
At
him
farewell,
the railway sta-
numbers assembled
express to him their confidence and affection.
bors, assembled to bid
was an-
the national capital.
To
to
his neigh-
Mr. Lincoln spoke in
No one not in my posiwords and tones of tender emotion.
"
tion," he said,
can appreciate the sadness I feel at this partTo this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived
ing.
for more than a quarter of a century here my children were
born, and here one of them lies buried. A duty devolves upon
"
;
me which
is,
perhaps, greater than that which has devolved
upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never
would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence,
upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on
�175
INAUGURATION OF MR. LINCOLN.
the same Almighty Being I place
I
hope you,
my
my
reliance for support
friends, will all pray that I
may
and
;
receive that
Divine assistance witliout which I cannot succeed, but with
which success is certain." These sad, tender, and prayerful
words reveal his deep religious convictions, and tally strangely
with tlie charge of scepticism sometimes made.
At Indianapolis he was welcomed by Governor Morton. In
reply, he referred to the temper and hot blood manifested by
some in speaking of coercion and invasion. He inquired
whether the professed lovers of the Union, who so spitefully
resolved that they would resist coercion and invasion, understood,
own
if
the United States should merely hold and retake
its
ports and collect the duties on foreign imports, that that
At
would be invasion.
the capital of Ohio he said that
it
was
a consoling circumstance that there was as yet really nothing
and he expressed the opinion " that all we
want is time, patience, and a reliance on that God who has
never forsaken his people.^' At Pittsburgh he said that there
was " no crisis, but an artificial one," such an one " as may
be gotten up at any time by turbulent men, aided by designing
politicians."
His advice to all was to keep cool, keep their
that hurt anybody
;
and the difficulties would be adjusted.
Arriving at New York, he was received on the 20th by its
municipal authorities. In welcoming him. Mayor Wood said
" New York is the child of the American Union. She has
grown up under its maternal care, and been fostered by its
maternal bounty, and we fear that if the Union dies the presself-possession,
:
ent supremacy of
who
New York
will perish with it."
had recently suggested the idea of
a free
city,
New
This
official,
York's becoming
advised the President to so conduct public affairs
was so deeply
and the people that
as to preserve the Union, in which that city
interested.
Assuring the
city authorities
he should strive to do his whole duty, Mr. Lincoln passed on.
At Trenton he
declared to the legislature of
New
Jersey his
anxiety for the perpetuity of the Union, the Constitution, and
the liberties of the people.
He
expressed his great anxiety
that peace might be preserved, saying that no one would do
more than himself to maintain it but, he added, " it may be
;
necessary to put the foot
down
firmly."
�176
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
In Philadelphia, on the 22d of February, "Washington's birth-
immense crowd, he
day, and in the presence of an
his
own hand
raised with
the American flag over the old State House.
Inspired by the day, the place, and the enthusiastic greetings
of the vast assemblage, he addressed the multitude with great
Saying that he
solemnity, and in well-remembered words.
had often pondered over the dangers incurred by those who
there adopted the Declaration of Independence, and upon tlie
toils endured by the officers and soldiers who achieved it, he
added " I have often inquired of myself what great principle
:
It
it was that kept this confederacy so long together.
was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from
or idea
the mother-land, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence which gave
liberty,
not alone to the people of this
country, but I hope to the world, for
future time.
all
It
was
that which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would
lifted from the shoulders of
ment embodied in the Declaration
be
friends, can this country be saved
all
men.
on that basis
will consider myself one of the happiest
can help save
it.
be truly awful.
If it
But
if
This
is
of Independence.
men
?
a senti-
Now, my
If it can, I
in the world,
cannot be saved on that basis,
this country
it
if
I
will
cannot be saved without
giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be
assassinated on this spot than surrender it."
Expressing the
no bloodshed or war, he said,
" there will be no bloodshed unless it be forced upon the government, and then it will be compelled to act in self-defence."
opinion
that
there need be
The information conveyed
to
him on the evening
of the 21st,
that a band of conspirators in the city of Baltimore had formed
a conspiracy to assassinate him, and the recollection of the
warnings given him,
may have
caused this reference to assas-
sination in his speech.
The speeches made by Mr. Lincoln on
tal
clearly indicated that he did
plans and purpose of the
his
way
to the capi-
not fully comprehend the
secessionists
;
nor did he realize
and recklessness, the contempt and scorn with
which they received his temperate, considerate, kind, and
their daring
hopeful words.
�INAUGURATION OF MR. LINCOLN.
177
In December, 1864, Mr. Lincoln related to Benson
J. Loss-
ing the circumstances which were connected with this clandestine journey between Philadelphia and Washington, which
cannot be better stated than in his own words. " I arrived,"
said Mr. Lincoln, " at Philadelphia on the 21st. I agreed to stop
one night, and on the following morning hoist the
when
I received
Judd, a
come
warm
flag over
In the evening there was a great crowd
Independence Hall.
my
to his room.
Mr.
friends at the Continental Hotel.
personal friend from Chicago, sent for
me
to
and found there Mr. Pinkerton, a
also from Chicago, who had been
I went,
skilful police detective,
employed for some days in Baltimore, watching or searching
Pinkerton informed me that a
for suspicious persons there.
plan had been laid for my assassination, the exact time I expected to go through Baltimore being publicly known. He
was well informed as to the plan, but did not know that the
conspirators would have pluck enough to execute it. He urged
me to go right through to Washington with him that night.
I did n't like that.
I had made engagements to visit Harrisburg and go from there to Baltimore, and I resolved to do so.
I could not believe that there was a plot to murder me.
I
Mr.
with
Judd
for
my
return
made arrangements, however,
to
Philadelphia the next night,
was danger
if
I
should be convinced that there
in going through Baltimore.
I told
him that
if
I
should meet at Harrisburg, as I had at other places, a delegation to go with
me
to the next place (then Baltimore) , I should
and go on.
" When I was making my way back to my room, through
crowds of people, I met Frederick Seward. We went together
to my room, when he told me that he had been sent, at the
instance of his father and General Scott, to inform me that
their detectives in Baltimore had discovered a plot there to
assassinate me.
They knew nothing of Pinkerton's movefeel safe
ments. I now believed such a plot to be in existence.
" The next morning I raised the flag over Lidependence
Hall, and then went on to Harrisburg with Mr. Sumner, Major
(now General) Hunter, Mr. Judd, Mr. Lamon, and others.
I met the legislature and people, dined, and waited until
There
VOL.
III.
12
�178
RISE
AND FALL OF THE
the time appointed for
Judd had
me
SLA\T;
POWER
to leave.
IN AMERICA.
In the mean time Mr.
so secured the telegraph that no
communication
could pass to Baltimore and give the conspirators knowledge
change in my plans.
" In New York some friend had given
of a
a box, and in
it
had
placed a soft
one of the latter in
my
life.
me
wool hat.
I
had
this
a
new beaver hat in
had never worn
I
box
in
my
room.
Having informed a few friends of the secret of my new movements, and the cause, I put on an old overcoat that I had with
me, and putting the soft hat in my pocket, I walked out of the
house at a back door, bare-headed, without exciting any special
curiosity.
Then I put on the soft hat and joined my friends,
without being recognized by strangers, for I was not the same
man. Sumner and Hunter wished to accompany me. I said
no you are known, and your presence might betray me. I
;
Lamon (now marshal of this District), whom
nobody knew. And Mr. Judd, Sumner, and Hunter felt hurt.
" We went back to Philadelphia, and found a message there
from Pinkerton (who had returned to Baltimore), that the
conspirators had held their final meeting, and it was doul)tful
whether they had the nerve to attempt the execution of their
purpose.
I went on, however, as the arrangements had been
made, in a special train. We were a long time in the station
will only take
at Baltimore.
I
heard people talking around, but no one parme. At an early hour on Saturday morn-
ticularly observed
ing, at about the time I
was expected
to leave Harrisburg, I
arrived in Washington."
Early on the morning of the 23d of February Mr. Lincoln,
having reached Washington, was received at the station by E.
B. Washburne, then a Representative from Illinois, and was
by him taken to his hotel. He was there met by Senator
Seward. Accompanied by him, he called on Mr, Buchanan.
Giving him a cordial greeting, the President introduced him to
the
members
of his Cabinet, then in session.
After calling
on General Scott, he returned to his hotel, where he received
his friends, the members of the Peace Congress, and where for
several days he received the welcome of official bodies and
private citizens.
�INAUGURATION OF MR. LINCOLN.
179
On Monday,
the 4th of March, the inauguration ceremonies
Apprehensions of violence pervaded the city,
which was thronged with thousands of visitors. General Scott
took place.
had made
all
the military preparations in his power, with the
army
small force of the
militia, to
thousands of strangers
command and the District
was a bright day. Tens of
the streets, and the military
at his
maintain order.
It
filled
escort and the procession were imposing.
Arriving at the Capitol, President Buchanan and Mr. Lincoln entered the Senate chamber
arm
in arm.
After the oath
had been administered to Hannibal Hamlin as VicePresident, and to the new Senators, among them John C.
of office
Breckinridge, the late Vice-President, Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the eastern portico.
There, in the presence of the
Senate and the House of Representatives, of tlie Supreme
Court, Foreign Ministers, and a vast multitude, Mr. Lincoln
read his inaugural address.
Accustomed to address masses of
men, he spoke with so clear and strong a voice as to be distinctly heard even by the immense throng before him.
It was stated by Thurlow Weed, in the Albany " Evening
Journal," that, after Mr. Lincoln commenced delivering his
address, he retired, and in so doing, saw Generals Scott and
Wool
in full
uniform standing by a battery.
Presenting him-
and personal friends, General Scott
inquired how the inauguration was going on. " It is a sucHearing which, " the old hero
cess," replied Mr. Weed.
God be praised
God in his
raised his arms and exclaimed,
self
to these veterans
'
goodness be praised
!
!
"
'
These words, and the manner of General Scott, can be explained on no other reasonable supposition than that, in his
judgment, the President
elect, the capital,
and the nation they
represented had been in very great and grave
peril,
deliverance
and a special mark of the Divine
His position, opportunities for knowing the facts, and
favor.
his proclivities, which had hitherto been regarded as Southern
from which was
providential,
rather than Northern, invest the conclusions he was forced to
accept with great significance and importance.
His views,
therefore, of the situation, the letter of the mayor, the elaborate
�180
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
War on the alleged conspiracy against
opinion of the Secretary of
the capital, and even the message of Mr.
Buchanan himself on
the same subject, can be satisfactorily explained on no other
theory than that both the peril and deliverance were great.
Mr. Lincoln began liis address by a reference to the apprehensions existing at the South, that by the accession of a
Republican administration their property, peace, and security
would be in danger. He assured the people of that section
that there had never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Quoting a previous assertion of his own, that he had
" no purpose directly or indirectly with the institution of slavery in the States," referring to the resolution of the conven-
nominated him for the Presidency, and affirming that
the Republican party would never interfere with " the right of
tion that
each State to order and control its domestic institutions," he
noted it as " conclusive evidence " that the property, peace,
no section are to be in any wise endangered by
Admitting that the rendition
clause in the Constitution applied to escaped fugitives from
slavery, and that it should be enforced, he suggested that any
law on the subject should be so framed that all the " safeguards known in civilized and humane institutions should be
and security
of
the incoming administration.
introduced "
ject,
;
and he suggested,
in connection with this sub-
that a law should be passed for the enforcement of the
guaranty of the Constitution that the citizens of each State
should be entitled to
all
the privileges and immunities of the
citizens in the several States.
He held
that, in the contempla-
and the Constitution, the " Union of
perpetual."
If the Union was merely a con-
tion of universal law
these States
tract,
except by
its
is
he contended that
all
it
the parties that
own mere motion," can
could not be peaceably unmade
made it that " no State, upon
;
lawfully get out of the
Union
that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void
and that
acts of violence within
any State or States against
the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revo-
Considering that the Union is unbroken, he pledged
himself that he should take care that " tlie laws of the Union
lutionary.
shall be faithfully executed in all the States."
He
expressed
�INAUGURATION OF MR. LINCOLN.
181
the hope that this avowal would not be regarded as a menace,"
but as only the "declared purpose of the Union" to main" In doing this," he said, " there need be no
tain itself.
bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless
it is
Pledging himself that the
forced on the national authority."
him would be used " to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and
to collect the duty on imports," he affirmed that there would
be no invasion, no using of force, beyond what was necessary
power confided
to
Declaring that " the central idea of seces-
for these objects.
sion
is
the essence of anarchy," he reminded the secessionists
that any portion of their
tial
new confederacy might
secede pre-
claimed to do. He said the only substandispute was that " one section of our country believes
cisely as they
slavery
is
believes
it
now
right and ought to be extended, while the other
wrong and ought not to be extended." " A hus-
band and wife," he
said,
" might be divorced and pass out of
the presence of each other, but different parts of the country
could not do it." They cannot but remain face to face. " If
they went to war," he said, " they could not fight always ;
make
aliens could not
treaties easier
than friends could make
laws, and treaties could not be more easily enforced
aliens than laws
among
among friends." Earnestly recommending
" a
patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people," he
reverently said
:
" If the Almighty Ruler of nations with his
eternal truth and justice be on your side, of the North, or on
yours, of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail
by the judgment
of
this great tribunal, the
American
People."
He
closed his address, so long and anxiously waited for by
the country, with these words of tender and touching pathos
"
My
countrymen, one and
all,
think calmly and well upon
Nothing valuable can be lost by taking
If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste
time.
to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object
will be frustrated by taking time
but no good object can be
frustrated by it.
Such of you as are now dissatisfied still
this
whole subject.
;
have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive
�182
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
point, the laws of your
IN AMERICA.
own framing under
it
administration will have no immediate power,
change
fied
either.
;
while the
if
it
new
would, to
were admitted that you who are dissatisis still no single
If it
hold the right side in the dispute, there
reason for precipitate action.
Intelligence, patriotism, Chris-
and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken
this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best
way all our present difficulties. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous
issue of civil war.
The government will not assail you. You
can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.
You can have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve,
I am loath to close.
protect, and defend
it.
We are not
enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break, our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthtianity,
'
;
'
stone
all
over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the
Union, when again touched, as surely they
will be,
by the bet-
ter angels of our nature."
The Inaugural was
North.
While
and Christian
variously interpreted and received at the
its felicitous
spirit,
language,
its
tender, conciliatory,
were approved and admired, there were
who regarded
its tone as too deprecatory, and its terms
much, transcending the limitations of both
governmental dignity and moral obligation. Generally, however, its explicit denial of all right of secession and the firm
determination to maintain the supremacy and see to the faithMen, of course,
ful execution of the laws, were applauded.
did not, as they could not, fully appreciate all it involved, and
the fearful demands that would be found necessary to vindicate and make good the proclaimed purpose their leader had
avowed. Had they comprehended more fully what they afterward so dearly learned, they might have hesitated and been
Doubtless it was but another
less brave and determined.
those
as conceding too
illustration of " blindness to the future kindly given."
But
all its
conciliatory words, its kind
and fraternal expres-
�183
INAUGURATION OF MR. LINCOLN.
sions of affectionate regard, and the proffered olive-branch of
peace were lost upon the South, and met with no favoring
responses from those who meditated disunion, and whom he
would dissuade. The " Richmond Enquirer " declared that
" no action of our convention can now maintain the peace,
And the Richmond'" Whig,"
and Virginia must fight."
then professedly a Union paper, declared that the " policy
indicated toward the seceding State will meet with stern, unThe Charleston
yielding resistance by the united South."
" Mercury " declared it to be their wisest policy " to accept it
It was denounced too, though in
more measured terms, by some politicians and presses in the
North. The "Baltimore Sun" said that the message was
" sectional and mischievous " that, " if it means what it says,
The Philadelphia
it is the knell and requiem of the Union."
" Pennsylvanian," the leading organ of the Democracy of that
that
State, declared that Mr. Lincoln had not receded a step
as a declaration of war."
;
;
he stood on the Chicago platform. " Let the border States,"
it said, " submit to the Abolition rule of this Lincoln administration
if
they like
;
but don't
pretend to be deceived
:
let the
miserable submissionists
make any cowardly excuse but
this."
�CHAPTER XIY.
— KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
MAEYLAND.
— Rebel
— Governor Hicks's refusal to convene
— Confident expectations of the Rebels. —
Governor Hicks's character and avowals. — ilaryland conservative and Southern. — Secession measures and menaces. — Charges of inconsistency. — Dilemma. — Patriotic support. — Anna E. Carroll. — Governor's persistency. —
Neutrality. — Legislature convened. — Governor's reasons and message. —
Appeals to the President. — Seward's reply. — Christian delegation. — President's reply. — Increasing loyalty. — Kentucky and Missouri desire neutral— Governor Magoffin's message. — Guthrie's views. — Governor's Proclamation. — Kentucky retained in the Union. — Missouri. — Large slaveholders. — Convention. — Union majority. — Francis P. Blair and Nathaniel
— Governor Jackson's unavailLyon. — Earnest and successful Union
Position of Maryland.
the legislature.
—
purpose.
Its importance.
ity.
efforts.
ing
Op
take the State out of the Union.
efforts to
the three border slave States, Maryland, Kentucky, and
Missouri, the first-mentioned, though inferior in size, population,
and resources, was, from
its position, of
portance to both parties in the conflict.
originally the District of Columbia,
capital,
but
it
Very
who would rush
to
naturally, therefore,
adhesion to their cause became of prime importance to the
conspirators.
the
containing the national
stood in the track of those
the defence of that imperilled city.
its
now
the greatest im-
not only embraced
It
first
To
secure
it,
as has been shown,
Nor did they allow
things on the Rebel programme.
themselves to doubt of success.
Southern
spirit, as it
antislavery conflict
its statute-books,
Thoroughly imbued with the
had shown
now hastening
fifty million dollars of
was among
itself in
the long-continued
to its culmination
;
owning
property in slaves, with a slave code on
and a State government in
spirit
and ad-
ministration in complete harmony with the other slaveholding
States, the disunion leaders
the
new
were confident
policy they were inaugurating.
By
of its support in
careful canvass,
�MARYLAND.
too, they
— KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
had found that a majority
185
of the legislature
was
also
in sympathy with them, and would vote according to their
to induce the governor,
The plan was, therefore,
Thomas H. Hicks, to convene that
body for the purpose of
calling a convention, as
dictation, could they he convened.
the authority to do
it.
With such a
call issued,
it
alone had
they
felt that
the same system of cajolery, violence, and fraud upon which
they had relied and were
would
still
relying in
the other States
avail here.
They accordingly approached Governor Hicks with their
demands, and urged him to call a session of the legislature.
But, though a slaveholder, pecuniarily interested in the slavesystem, and in sympathy with those who were defending it
and what they called Southern rights, he was opposed to the
Thus
policy of secession, distrusted its leaders, and refused.
providentially he held the key of the situation, and it depended very much, if not entirely, on his decision whether or
Omniscience
not Maryland should join or oppose disunion.
—
knows how much really depended upon him, how much
the Union is indebted to him for its preservation, as well as
how much was due to the Divine guidance, restraint, and support for that firmness and wisdom which enabled him to
How
resist the fearful pressure to which he was subjected.
much was expected by the conspirators, and how confident
alone
were their expectations, from the strategy that would thus
bar the way from the North to the capital,
from many
of their utterances,
may
and the record
be gathered
of those days.
" I do not care," said a speaker at a public meeting in Balti-
more, the day before the butchery of Massachusetts soldiers in
her streets, " how many Federal troops are sent to Washington, they will soon find themselves surrounded by such an
army from Virginia and Maryland
will be impossible
and when the
;
that escape to their
homes
seventy-five thousand
who
are intended to invade the South shall have polluted that soil
with their touch, the South will exterminate and sweep them
from the earth." " A gentleman of high position and good
judgment," said a Philadelphia paper of later date, " who has
taken a very prominent part in public affairs ever since the
�186
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, recently declared, that the small
band
of
Pennsylvania troops who arrived at Washington on
the 18th of April saved the capital from seizure by the conspirators.
In his judgment,
if
their response to the call of the
President had been less prompt, the traitors would inevitably
have gained possession of the archives and public buildings of
the nation, and probably of the highest officers of the govern-
ment."
Congress itself showed its appreciation of the danger to
which the capital had been exposed, by a resolution thanking " the five hundred and thirty soldiers from Pennsylvania
who passed through the mob at Baltimore and reached Washington on the 18th day of April last, for the defence of the
national capital."
On the next evening (of the day of the
assault) Marshal Kane, who was an active secessionist, having
received assurances of support, thus telegraphed to the gentle-
man
offering
by the
ward.
:
"
Thank you for your offer.
and we will arrange with
first train,
Streets red
with Maryland blood
!
Bring your
men
the railroad after-
Send expresses
over the mountains and valleys of Maryland and Virginia for
the riflemen to
come without
delay.
Further hordes [meaning
down upon us to-morrow. We will
fight them, and whip them, or die."
Nor did the Southern
" The
press leave it doubtful how it viewed the matter.
glorious conduct of Maryland," said the " Richmond Enquirer," " decides the contest at hand. With a generous bravloyal volunteers] will be
worthy of her ancient renown, she has thrown herself
into the pathway of the enemy, and made of her body a
shield for the South.
She stands forth, in our day, the leader
of the Southern cause
The heart of all Maryland responds to the action of Baltimore, and that nursery of fine
regiments, instead of being the camping-ground of the enemy,
preparing to rush upon the South, will speedily become the
camping-ground of the South preparing to cross the line of
To have gained Maryland is to have
Mason and Dixon
gained a host. It insures Washington City, and the ignominious expulsion of Lincoln from the White House. It transfers the line of battle from the Potomac to the Pennsylvania
ery,
�MARYLAND.
border."
— KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
" Lincoln," said Mr. Stephens, "
seventy-five thousand soldiers against us
seventy-five thousand
now Maryland, and
men can
Virginia,
;
may
all
bring his
but seven times
never conquer us.
and
187
We
have
the border States with
us."
The question, then, that Governor Hicks was called to
answer was among the most important and crucial questions
of the Rebellion.
On the answer given depended largely the
fortunes, if not the final issue, of the strife.
There have been
what are called " the decisive battles " of the world's history.
Doubtless the late civil war had its decisive battle, though
men may differ as to what should have that distinction. There
are those, however,
who
incline to the belief that that battle
was mental and moral rather than material and military, and
that it had for its field of action the mind of Governor Hicks,
beleaguered by the appeals and assaults of the friends and foes
of the government,
— the
scene of a conflict between senti-
ments and motives the most diverse and antagonistic. Shall
the Maryland legislature be convened ? was the simple quesThe nature of the
tion on which hung momentous results.
conflict, the danger of an adverse decision, with the magnitude
and mercy of the victory finally vouchsafed, cannot be duly
estimated without some knowledge of the man, his antecedents, surroundings, as well as of the nature of the pressure
to which he
was
subjected.
Governor Hicks was a country gentleman, a slaveholder,
and a faithful representative of the slaveholding regime. In
hearty sympathy with the South in its conflict with the North
on the slavery
issue,
he took no pains to conceal either his
To a memorial, addressed to
preferences or his prejudices.
him and headed by the signature of ex-Governor Pratt, urging
him to convene the legislature, he replied on the 27th of November, 1860.
In his reply he spoke of himself as " identified
by birth and every other tie with the South, a slaveholder, and
feeling as warmly for my native State as any man can do."
He spoke of some of the acts of Northern legislatures, " virtually nullifying the positive provisions of the Constitution in
reference to fugitive slaves " as " outrageous," and concerning
�188
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
which " there can be no two opinions in Maryland." In his
address to the people of his State, on the 3d of January, he
gave the unequivocal expression of his own position and of
what he regarded the true position of Maryland on the question
In assigning his
that so generally divided the two sections.
reasons for not convening the legislature, he made it sufficiently clear that it was from no lack of sympathy with his section
" I have been
and its peculiar interests and institutions.
"
position
the
of
Maryland
should be
told," he said,
that
Do any
defined, so that both sections can understand it.
Who that wishes to
really misunderstand her position ?
understand it can fail to do so ? If the action of the legislature would be simply to declare that Maryland is with the
that she demands from the
South in sympathy and feeling,
North the repeal of offensive, unconstitutional statutes, and
appeals to
it
for
—
new guaranties, — that she
will wait a reason-
able time for the North to purge her statute-books, so as to do
justice to her
Southern brethren, and,
if
appeals are vain, will
make her common
cause with her sister border States in re-
sistance to tyranny
if
need be,
—
it
would only be saying what
the whole country well knows, and what
more
effectually
may be
said
much
by her people themselves, in their meetings,
than by the legislature, chosen eighteen months since, when
none of these questions were raised before them. That Maryland
is
a conservative Southern
State
anything of her people or her history."
all
quently wrote to the President he reminded
he had done
all
know who know
In a
letter
him
he subse-
that,
though
he could properly to prevent his election, he
should support his administration, because of his confidence
in his honesty, patriotism,
and love
of the
Union.
He
ex-
pressed, too, his regret that he did not veto the District eman-
besought him to prevent, as far as he could, " the
doings of Sumner, Wilson, Lovejoy, &c.," and informed
cipation
mad
bill,
him that he had " asseverated
to our people that
interfere with slavery in the States."
And
you
yet he
will not
was un-
questionably patriotic, was opposed to the policy of disunion,
and most thoroughly distrusted South Carolina and the seHe loved both slavery and the Union, was
cession leaders.
�MARYLAND.
— KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
189
anxious to save both, and honestly and sensibly believed that
way to save the one was to preserve the other.
Such was the man, such were his antecedents and surroundings, sympathies and sentiments, on whom rested the responthe surest
sibility
of
conducting affairs at that
critical
juncture
;
of
navigating the bark freighted with the priceless interests and
hopes of his beloved Commonwealth over the tempestuous sea
that surged around him.
It should be
magnitude of
borne in mind, in estimating the nature and
this struggle,
and the greatness
of the deliver-
ance involved in the fact that Maryland was prevented from
seceding, that she was essentially a Southern State, as claimed
by her governor, with its usual characteristics, impulsiveness,
prejudices, and attachment to slavery, even its Unionism being
largely alloyed with State-rights theories, and greatly, if not
entirely, dependent upon the conservation of the peculiar inIndeed, the whole social atmosphere seemed surstitution.
charged, if not with actual rebellion, with what required little
change to make it treason. For weeks and months the cloud,
like a man's hand, hung in the horizon, presaging storm.
Whether that cloud should increase, gather blackness, until
it covered the heavens and poured out its deluge of destruction, or be dispersed, seemed a question that depended for its
answer more upon adventitious circumstances than upon anything intrinsic in the State, more, in fact, upon the firmness
of the governor than upon the decision of the people.
It is to be remembered, too, that the measures relied on by
the secession leaders were the same that were sweeping the
seceding States from their moorings, and engulfing them in
Doubtless they embraced the usual slaveholdthe Reliellion.
ing arguments, the same very probably that Governor Hicks
had often used himself in his advocacy of Southern rights
against what he stigmatized as Northern fanaticism and aggression. But in addition there were those less legitimate and
appeals to sectional prejudices, to State pride,
more violent,
—
with reproachful charges, or insinuations of recreancy thereto,
the pressure of social hate and ostracism, the threats and
almost actual infliction of personal violence.
Governor Hicks
�190
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
was in the frequent receipt of communications filled not only
with abusive charges of being derelict to his State and section,
and also with coarse invectives therefor, but with threats of
He was
personal violence and assassination.
address the
mob
compelled to
while the streets of Baltimore were red with
the blood, shed that very day, of
men
hasting to the defence
of the nation's capital, the dead bodies of the Massachusetts
mute witnesses to the truth of Mr. Greeley's
statement, that " Baltimore, and in fact nearly all Maryland,
soldiers lying as
were completely in the hands of the secessionists," to profess
his willingness to " bow to the will of the people," and to
couple the assertion of his love for the
tion, " I will suffer
my
before I will raise
to strike a sister
upon
in his sick
rious
demand
it
right
arm
Union with the declarafrom my body
State."
He was waited
to be torn
chamber by the conspirators with an impean order for the de-
for his official sanction to
struction of railroad bridges to prevent the despatch of troops
for the defence of Washington.
The governor's course was sharply criticised and censured
by both the friends and foes of the government, and he was
freely and fiercely charged with inconsistencies of utterance
and action. It could hardly be otherwise than that he should,
without wisdom and courage more than human, sometimes fail
even to satisfy himself. With his sentiments and convictions,
his sympathy with the real cause of the Rebellion, and his
deprecation of the result of that cause, the Rebellion
itself,
the conspirators rampant and confident, defiant, reckless, and
men
violent, even to the shedding of blood, while the loyal
moment
and cowed, ignorant
of the extent of the defection, and not knowing but the vaunt
of the secessionists had a basis of fact that Maryland was
were, for the
at least, paralyzed
ready to join her fortunes with those of the Confederacy,
it
—
is
strange that he should often have been in straits in which
he knew not what to do, what to say, and
whom
to trust
?
But fortunately there were other and better influences
at
work, not only in behalf of right action on the part of the
governor, but preparing the people to
tain
him
therein.
There were
demand
patriotic
it and to susand Christian men
�MARYLAND.
— KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
191
and women who not only gave expression to correct sentiments, but offered and afforded him such moral support as
was within their power, and assured him of their prayers for
that Divine aid he so
much needed
in that great trial of his
and purposes of action. Ex-Governor Thomas, Reverdy Jolmson, Henry Winter Davis, Vickers, Crisfield, and
principles
But among the first
whose
service the governor always bore the most unequivocal testiwas a woman, a daughter of ex-Governor Carroll.
mony
She had contributed largely to the discussions which had
resulted in the triumph of the American party and the elecFrom her
tion of Mr. Hicks to the gubernatorial chair.
family connections, and familiar acquaintance with the public men of her State and at the national capital, she early became acquainted with the schemes of the conspirators, and
was among the first to communicate them to the governor.
While the struggle was in progress, too, she wrote unwea-
others pleaded earnestly for the Union.
and firmest
of his supporters
— one,
too, to the value of
—
and did much, during those fateful days
of popular suspense, to counteract the seditious and sophistical
teachings of the secessionists, and divert the thoughts and
purposes of the people into safer channels and towards more
riedly for the Union,
patriotic results.
Indeed, the governor, afterward Senator of
the United States, testified that " her writings had a powerful
influence in Maryland for good, and that her defence of the
war and the administration of Mr. Lincoln did more to elect
a Union man as my successor than all the rest of the campaign documents put together."' He also spoke gratefully of
her " moral and material support " during that " trying ordeal," as he regarded it, " such as no other man in this country
ever went through."
A
report adopted by the Senate Military
Committee in the XLIst .Congress refers to her writings as
having " done much to arouse and invigorate the sentiment of
loyalty in Maryland and other border States during the darkest hours in that State's history."
The
aid of religion
was invoked, and he was assured that
he was remembered in the prayers of Christians. A letter
received by him during the month of January, after remind-
�192
RISE
AXD FALL OF THE
SLA\T:
POWER
IN AMERICA.
ing liim that " the eye of the great Northwest
is
turned to
you with more intenseness than to any other man in the
country," adds " Prayers are constantly being offered up to
Ahuighty God, even from lips which have but seldom prayed,
that He will strengthen, sustain, and confirm you in the high
and noble stand you have taken on the side of the Union."
The believer in Providence finds little difficulty in the thought
:
that those prayers were answered, as in numberless instances
during the war, and that God's hand was stretched out to
save. At least we know that the governor was enabled, notwithstanding the fearful odds against him, to maintain his position,
refuse his assent to the call of the legislature until time, the
teachings of the loyal, and " the sober, second thought of the
The immediate cause
people " made it at least less perilous.
of his action
was the issuance
of a call
by a single senator for
Knowing
the legislature to meet at Baltimore.
meeting in that
city,
beset and
filled
that such a
with secessionists, would
be tantamount to the secession of the State, or that
inevitably lead thereto, the governor
stall
such action by convening
of the State.
He
it
deemed
it
would
it
wisest to fore-
at Frederick, in a loyal portion
thus describes and defends his action
:
" I
knew it was time for me to act. True, I might then
have called upon the President of the United States to quell
the insurrection, but this would almost certainly have caused
the destruction of the city of Baltimore.
I
might have called
out the militia to endeavor to restore quiet
;
and, indeed, I did
make an
But
effort to that end.
I discovered that nearly all
the officers were in league with the conspirators, and the vol-
unteer corps of the city and vicinity which possessed arms
were almost entirely in
was a considerable
undisciplined and
tlie
same category.
It is true, there
loyal military force in Baltimore, but
entirely
unarmed.
So that,
if
tively called out the militia at that time, I should
assisted the conspirators in their designs.
I
had
it
was
effec-
have actually
I concluded, there-
anxious deliberation, that there was but one course
left to me.
I summoned the legislature to assemble at Frederick City, in the midst of a loyal population, on the 26th of
fore, after
April, believing that even
invaluable."
tlie
few days thus gained would be
�MARYLAND.
— KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
193
In his message to that body he thus defended his course,
and set forth his views of the situation, and of the policy ho
deemed wisest. Nor is it the least significant fact to be noted,
that, notwithstanding all he had seen and suffered at the hands
of the conspirators, notwithstanding his knowledge and deprecation of their desperate schemes, his patriotism could rise no
higher than neutrality between the contending parties, neither
But notwithstanding his love of the
of which he would join.
Union, his knowledge of the imminent peril that hung over the
national capital, he
made
it
almost the condition precedent of
no troops should pass through that
State for the protection of that capital, and for the preservation
of the Federal government. True, he acted as a representative
of his State, and it is not necessary to attribute these singular
demands to feelings and sentiments merely personal. But
his continued loyalty that
they certainly revealed the utter incompatibility between slavery and freedom, and the equivocal character of that Unionism
which made fealty to the government dependent on the conservation of a system at war with the fundamental principles
" Believing it to be," he said, " the deof that government.
sign of the administration to pass over our soil troops for the
defence of the city of Washington, and fearing that the passage of such troops would excite our people and provoke a collision,
I labored earnestly to
his purpose.
I waited
importance of
my
induce the President to forego
upon him
request.
I
in person,
and urged the
subsequently communicated with
him and his Cabinet by special despatches, entreating an abandonment of his designs. To all my requests I could get but
the reply, that Washington was threatened with attack, that
the government had resolved to defend it, that there was
no other way of obtaining troops than by passing them over
the
soil of ]\Iaryland,
case rendered
its
plans,
it
much
and that the military necessity of the
impossible for the government to abandon
as
it
desired to avoid the dangers of a
colli-
sion
"
I honestly
and most earnestly entertain the conviction that
the only safety of Maryland
lies in
tion between our brethren of the
VOL. HI.
13
preserving a neutral posi-
North and of the South.
We
�194
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AIMERICA.
have violated no right of either section. We have heen loyal
to tlie Union.
The unhappy contest between the two sections
has not heen commenced or encouraged by us, although we
have suffered from
it
The impending war has
in the past.
We have done all
have hoped that Maryland and
not come by any act or any wish of ours.
we
could to avert
it.
We
other border slave States, by their conservative position and
love for the Union, might have acted as mediators between
the extremes of both sections, and thus have prevented the
terrible evils of a prolonged civil
The
war."
incompatibility of such a policy with the safety of the
government, and the impossibility of acceding to such an ex-
Maryland from the passage of Federal
troops, were thus set forth by Secretary Seward
" The President instructs me to add that the national highway thus selected by the lieutenant-general has been chosen
by him, upon consultation with prominent magistrates and
citizens of Maryland, as the one which, while a route is absolutely necessary, is farthest removed from the populous cities
emption of the
soil of
:
of the State,
and with the expectation that
it
—
would, therefore,
be the least objectionable one.
" The President cannot but remember that there has been a
time in the history of our country when a general of the
American Union, with forces designed for the defence of its
capital, was not unwelcome anywhere in the State of Maryland, and certainly not at Annapolis, then, as now, the capital
of that patriotic State, and then, also, one of the capitals of
the Union.
"
If eighty years could
have obliterated
all
the other nobler
sentiments of that age in Maryland, the President would be
hopeful, nevertheless, that
is one that would forever
That sentiment is, tliat no
there
remain there and everywhere.
domestic contention whatever, that
ties of this repu1)lic,
ought in
foreign arbitrament, least of
may
any case
all
arise
aming
the par-
to be deferred to
any
to the arbitrament of a Euro-
pean monarchy."
Revealing more clearly the state of public feeling than did
the murders of the mob, and the treasonable utterances of her
�MARYLAND.
— KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
195
was the action of the religious bodies of Baltimore
This showed how deeply the spirit of Rebellion
pervaded the more respectable and responsible portion of the
community. A delegation of five of the Young Men's Chris-
public men,
and
vicinity.
tian Associations, headed by Dr. Fuller of the Baptist Church,
Washington, urging upon the President the importance
Southern Confederacy as a fixed
fact, and expressing the hope that no more troops should
be sent through Maryland. The President replied in subvisited
of the recognition of the
—
stance
" I must liave troops for the defence of the capital.
:
now marching
and hang me. What am
Carolinians are
The
across Virginia to seize the
I to do ? I must have troops,
and as they can neither crawl under Maryland nor fly
over it, they must come across it."
These facts are, indeed, anticipatory, and the practical anachronism of their introduction here can be justified only by
the purpose to indicate tlie magnitude of the work undertaken,
the serious difficulties and dangers encountered by the new
administration on the very threshold of its entrance to power.
capital
I say
;
All that
is
needful, or that space will allow,
is
briefest
tlie
mention of the fact that this decisive reply of the President,
the advance of General Butler, his occupation of Baltimore,
and the proclamation there of martial law, the growing confidence of the Unionists and the gathering forces of the North,
which the great uprising was pouring
forth, cowed,
if
not crush out entirely, the traitors of Maryland.
they did
Instead of
fighting against the government, the State fought for
it,
though
there were always those in sympathy with and ready to help
and arrests were made of some of the leading
men, including Marshal Kane, the police commissioners, several members of the legislature, and other prominent citizens.
The strtggle in Kentucky and Missouri revealed the same
subjective conflict within the minds of its citizens that raged
the Rebellion
in Maryland.
;
Like the latter, they were anxious to save both
the government and slavery, wisely thinking that their cherished system was safer within than without the
Union
;
and
they, too, sought to achieve the impossibility of maintaining
�196
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
neutrality between the contending parties.
in this, that
more
their
wliile
IN AMERICA.
But they
differed
governors sympathized
respective
largely with the conspirators, their legislatures distrusted
them, and contained loyal majorities.
In both States the con-
was very general that the North would make new concessions and atTord new guaranties.
These views were very
Avcll expressed in the reply of Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky,
to the Alabama commissioners who had sought the co-operation of Kentucky with the Southern States in their new cruviction
"
sade.
You
ask," he said, " the co-operation of the Southern
So do we.
States, in order to redress our wrongs.
no hope
of a redress in the
We
Union.
assurances that a powerful reaction
You
is
You have
yet look hopefully to
going on at the North.
seek a remedy in secession from the Union.
We
wish
the united action of the slave States, assembled in convention,
You would
within the Union.
If
act separately
;
we, unitedly.
Alabama and other
slave States would meet us in convenNashville, or elsewhere, as early as the 5th day of
tion, say at
February, I do not doubt that we would agree in forty-eight
hours upon such reasonable guaranties, by way of amend-
ments
to the Constitution of the United States, as
mand
at least the approbation of our
would comnumerous friends in the
and by giving them time to make the question
with the people there, such reaction in public opinion might
take place as to secure our rights and save the government."
But while they looked thus coldly upon secession they inconsistently discountenanced coercion. James Guthrie, at a Union
meeting on the 19th of April, opposed the call of the President
free
States,
for volunteers for the purposes of coercion, or the raising of
troops for the Confederacy
remedy
for the
pending
part with either side
evils,
at the
;
;
asserted that secession
was no
and that Kentucky would not take
same time declaring her soil sacred
against the hostile foot of either.
When
the President
made
his call for troops, the governor sent for reply this insolent
" Your despatch
In answer, I say emno troops for the wicked
purpose of subduing her sister Southern States." On the 20th
of May he issued a proclamation of neutrality in which he used
these defiant words
message
:
phatically,
Kentucky
:
is
received.
will furnish
—
�MARYLAND.
*'
I hereby notify
— KENTUCKY. — MISSOURI.
and warn
197
other States, separate or
all
united, especially the United and Confederate States, that I
solemnly forbid any movement upon Kentucky
soil,
or occupa-
any post or place therein, for any purposes whatever,
until authorized by invitation or permission of the legislature
and executive authorities. I especially forbid all citizens of
Kentucky, whether incorporated in the State guard or otherwise, from making any hostile demonstrations against any
tion of
of the aforesaid sovereignties."
But neither the people nor the legislature sympathized with
the governor, and as the struggle progressed the sympathy
became less, until before many months of the war had transpired, the legislature voted that Confederate " invaders must
be expelled," and the State wheeled into line for the defence
of the
Union, coupling, however,
tion that "
opinions
;
no
its
resolution with the affirma-
citizen shall be molested
on account of
political
that no citizen's property shall be confiscated be-
cause of such opinions, nor shall any slave be set free by any
military
commander."
Missouri had nearly one hundred and fifteen thousand slaves,
a large portion of
whom
the Missouri River.
Her
and
aristocratic
;
were held within a few miles of
slaveholders were wealthy, powerful,
and they wielded
at that time a great influ-
ence over the small farmers of the poorer sections of the State.
and features of her situation, other than
which exerted an important, if not a coninfluence upon the fortunes of the State, and gave
But there were
facts
this general division,
trolling,
great intensity to the conflict.
A
border State, central in
and imperial in size and resources, it had invited immigrations from both sections, with their conflicting passions,
prejudices, and interests, the former greatly intensified by the
Though
terrible struggle in Kansas still fresh in memory.
the antislavery men had triumphed in that struggle, the proslavery men had not been converted.
The " border ruffian "
sentiment still largely prevailed. While in those portions that
bordered on Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas the former preponderated, and in those lying on the borders of Arkansas and Kentucky the latter was in the ascendant, the two were composition
�198
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
KISE
IN AMERICA.
mingled through the State, so that every town and village
was divided
into hostile camps, ready,
if
not waiting, for any-
thing to revive their passions and purposes, and quicken into
activity
what was
at best only slumbering.
That provoking
cause was found in the Rebellion and in the appeals of
Federal and Confederate governments.
tlie
Hostilities at once
broke out everywhere, and public conflicts were largely min-
Though
gled with personal feuds.
ostensibly,
and in some
sense really, responding to these outside appeals, Missouri was
own affairs, and became, in the
words of another, " a kind of enclosed battle-field, where
the struggle was carried on with scarcely any knowledge of
largely occupied with her
the vicissitudes of the fighting in the neighboring States."
Most
of the slaveholders
were in sympathy with the gov-
ernor,
who
sage.
" Our interests and sympathies," he said, " are iden-
tical
thus gave expression to his sentiments in his mes-
with those of the slaveholding States, and necessarily
The
unite our destinies with theirs.
and
political institutions,
and
pathies, habits,
tastes,
similarity of our social
our industrial interests, our sym-
our
common
origin, territorial con-
gruity, all concur in pointing out our duty in regard to the
separation
eral
now taking
Union."
and the
place between the States of the old Fed-
He recommended
legislature,
the calling of a convention,
by a large majority, voted therefor.
result of the election of delegates
majority of Union men.
A
firmly declined.
;
The
of a decided
commissioner of Georgia came
before the convention, urging upon
with the seceding States
was the choice
it
the policy of co-operation
but his invitation w^as kindly, though
This action revealed the temper not only of
that body, but of the people,
whom
it
very fairly represented.
But notwithstanding this undoubted evidence of the popular
will, the governor and the leading disunionists were unwearied
in their efforts to dragoon the State into the Rebellion.
But, providentially, there were earnest and able
men whose
patriotism was as conspicuous as was the treason of the gov-
ernor and his
allies,
who, by their wise precautions and prep-
arations, succeeded in checkmating their traitorous schemes
and
in keeping the State in the
Union.
Among
those
who
�MARYLAND.
— KENTUCKY. — MSSOURI.
199
were most active and serviceable were Francis P. Blair, Jr.,
and Captain Nathaniel Lyon. The former had been chosen a
Representative to Congress from the city of St. Louis. He
promptly raised a regiment on the call of the President for
troops.
Other regiments were raised in that city in behalf of
made
the government, and earnest efforts were
for
The
the threatened emergencies.
to be prepared
arsenal in Western
Missouri was seized to arm the confederates but the government arsenal was held by Captain Nathaniel Lyon, with a few
hundred soldiers of the regular army. He was an earnest
antislavery man, a loyal and brave soldier, and he took prompt
means to save the government stores and munitions of war
intrusted to his command.
The military stores not needed
;
were quietly transferred to Illinois. On the 10th of May
Captain Lyon and Colonel Blair surrounded a State guard
organizing at Camp Jackson under General D. M. Frost, and
demanded the surrender of that Rebel force. For this brave
act Lyon was made brigadier-general, and soon succeeded
General Wm. S. Harney, who had made a truce with General
Price which proved to have been in the interest of the Rebellion,
and which was repudiated
at
Washington.
ernor issued a proclamation calling for
fifty
The gov-
thousand militia
and he advised the
was due their
own State, and that they were under no obligations whatever
to repel the authority of the government,
people of that State that their
first allegiance
to obey " the unconstitutional edicts of the military despotism
which has introduced itself at Washington. He called upon
the Missourians to " rise and drive out ignominiously their
was never accomplished, and Misfrom the Union. To prevent it, however,
required a long, weary, distressing, and often doubtful struggle, marked by the usual vicissitudes of war, but brightened by
many examples of patriotic devotion, personal prowess, and a
invaders."
This, however,
souri never seceded
successful strategy that defeated the counsels of the conspirators,
and saved the
State.
�CHAPTER XY.
CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS.
— FIRING
ON SUMTER.
— Visit Washington. — Letter to Secretary Seward. —
— Judge Campbell's mediation. — Assurances. — Message to Governor
Pickens. — Charges of breaches of faith and duplicity. — Pacific hopes of the
— Commissioners' defiant reply. — Anderson's
— Cabinet
— G. B. Fox
meeting. — Montgomery
Charleston. — Fleet for
landing supplies. — Appropriations by South Carolina
the war. — Evacuation of Sumter demanded. — President's message to Governor Pickens. —
Despatches. — Beauregard's demand. — Anderson's response deemed
— Notice of attack. — Fire opened. — Speeches of Gilchrist and Pryor.
— Bombardment. — Heroic resistance. — White Flag. — Evacuation. — Anderson's despatch. — Governor's speech.
Commissioners appointed.
Reply.
Secretarj'.
letter.
Blair.
visits
for
insuffi-
cient.
Soon
gomery,
after the organization of the Confederacy at
it
Mont-
appointed a board of commissioners, consisting of
John Forsyth, former minister
of the
United States to Mexico,
Martin J. Crawford, late United States Senator from Georgia,
and A. B. Roman, an ex-governor
of Louisiana, for the pur-
pose of opening negotiations with the Federal government.
The
first
two of the above-mentioned gentlemen arrived
at
AVashington on the day after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln.
A few days afterward they sent a communication to Mr. Seward.
Though
substantially
propositions at once offensive
in courteous
assumed
it
contained
and diplomatic language.
and
was couched
assumptions
and humiliating,
it
The commissioners
to represent seven States, which, availing themselves
and reform
had become an independent nation de
facto and de jure, and possess a government perfect in all
its parts and endowed with all the means of self-support,"
although it had nothing which had not been stolen, under circumstances involving both treason and malfeasance in office,
of the inherent right of every free people to change
their
institutions, "
�CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS.
— FIRING
ON SUMTER.
201
with the violation of the most solemn oaths. They professed
" amity and good will " and a most earnest desire to maintain
the kindliest feelings and the most friendly relations, and yet
was the outcome, the sequel, of a long series
marked with deception, fraud, yiolence, trifling
with the most solemn oatlis of office, and trampling on the
a rebellion withmost sacred rights of person and property,
out cause and l)y means the most flagitious.
their mission
of measures
—
Tliey requested the Secretary to appoint an early day, that
they might present to the President their credentials and acquaint him with the object of their mission, which was, they
Intimated, the speedy adjustment of all questions growing out
of separation, as " the respective interests, geographical con-
and future welfare of the two nations may render
To that communication Mr. Seward replied onthe 15th of March, stating, in the form of a memorandum,
that he understood the events that had recently occurred very
differently from the aspect in which they had been presented
by the commission. He saw in them " not a rightful and
accomplished revolution, and an independent nation with an
tiguity,
necessary."
established government,
but rather a perversion of a tem-
porary and partisan excitement to the purposes of an unconstitutional
and unjustifiable oppression upon the rights and
He reminded
authority vested in the Federal government.
the commissioners that he looked for the cure of the evil re-
and unnatural proceedings, not
" irregular negotiations, but to regular and considerate
sulting from unwise, unusual,
to
action of the people,"
through Congress or conventions as
contemplated and provided for by the Constitution.
Referring
he assured them that the
Secretary of State, by the principles therein announced, was
them
to the President's message,
prevented from assuming or admitting that the seceding States
had
withdrawn from the Union, or could
do so that consequently he could not act upon the assumption that the Confederate States constituted a foreign power
with whom diplomatic relations ought to be established and
in law, or in fact,
;
;
that he was not at liberty to recognize
them as diplomatic
agents, or to hold correspondence with them.
He
informed
�202
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
tliem that the President concurred in the views he had expressed,
and that he sanctioned
his action in declining official
intercourse.
This memorandum, so frank,
full,
and
explicit,
was, by the
request of the commissioners, at the suggestion of
John A.
Campbell, a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,
was
Alabama, and
withheld until the 8th of April, when, on application,
delivered.
Judge Campbell was a
although his State had seceded, he
seat
upon the bench.
He was
citizen of
still
it
continued to retain his
unquestionably anxious for the
Union and the maintenance of peace.
Judge Nelson had represented to Mr. Campbell Mr. Seward's
" strong disposition in favor of peace." With Judge Nelson
preservation of the
and, as he states, without the knowledge of the commissioners,
Judge Campbell visited Mr. Seward. After doing so on the
loth of March, he wrote to the commissioners that he felt
entire confidence that Fort Sumter would be evacuated within
the next ten days, that no measures changing the status prejudicial to the Confederate States was then contemplated, and
that a demand for an immediate answer to their communication would be productive of evil, and ought not to be pressed
Judge Campbell held repeated communications
at that time.
with the Secretary of State and with the commissioners. He
was assured by Mr. Seward on the first day of April that the
government would not undertake to supply Fort Sumter without giving notice to Governor Pickens
and on the 7th he
received an assurance that faith as to Sumter would be fully
kept. But on the 8th an autliorized messenger from the President notified Governor Pickens that provisions would be sent
;
to Fort Sumter, peaceably or otherwise.
This the commissioners chose to regard or represent as a
breach of
faith, affirming that
the government.
they had been overreached by
Judge Campbell,
in a
communication to Mr.
Seward, under date of April 13, expressed the conviction
the conduct of the administration had been equivocal.
tliat
He
expressed, too, the opinion that the telegrams of the 8th of
from General Beauregard, and of the lOtli, from the
Confederate Secretary of War, could be " referred to nothing
April,
�CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS.
else
than
tlieir belief
— FIRING
ON SUMTER.
203
that there has been systematic duplicity
them throughout."
Mr. Seward ardently hoped,
practised on
believed,
and expressed the
opinion that peace would be maintained, not on the basis of
disunion, but upon the basis of the unity of the country.
the
New England
dinner in
New York, on
At
the 22d of Decem-
would be no
in sixty days.
During
ber, 1860, he expressed the opinion that there
war, that everything would be settled
the session of Congress, in conferences with his political associates,
he had persistently maintained the same
idea.
After
entering upon the duties of Secretary of State, he continued
and believe that time, circumstances, and skilful management would prevent civil war. That he expressed himself
strongly to Justice, Campbell in favor of peace, and that he
was in favor of evacuating Sumter, cannot be doubted. But
to hope
that he expressed himself in favor of peace with disunion,
Judge Campbell or any one else, cannot be true in
any sense whatever. Neither the commissioners. Judge Campbell, nor the Federal government could have entertained the
idea, from any assurances of Mr. Seward, that the United
States government, even to prevent civil war, would cease to
either to
maintain
On
its
authority.
the 9th, before leaving Washington, the commissioners
addressed a communication to the Secretary of State.
In
it,
not without the usual slaveholding assumption, and with what
might pass for wounded sensibility and affronted dignity, they
spoke regretfully and reproachfully of the refusal of the administration. " to meet the undersigned in the conciliatory and
of its being
peaceful spirit in which they are commissioned "
;
" persistently wedded to the fatal theories of construction of
the Federal Constitution always rejected by the statesmen of
of its being " untaught and uncured by the ruin
the South "
;
which has been wrought" of closing its eyes to "the complete and successful revolution " effected, and " the existence
of its lack " of frankof the government founded upon it "
ness and manliness " in meeting the issues thus presented
of its " dealing with delusions and dreams," from which it
would be awakened to " find them unreal and unsubstantial as
others in w^hieh " the Secretary had " recently indulged."
;
;
�204
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE TOWER
IN AMERICA.
Assuming that
his refusal to grant them an audience refrom the apprehension that it might be construed that
so to do would be to recognize the independence and separate
sulted
*'
nationality of the Confederate States," they affirmed tliat they
did not ask government to recognize their independence but
they had requested an audience to adjust the " new rela;
from a manifest and accomplished revolution."
knew tliat Fort Sumter could
not be provisioned " without the effusion of blood," and that
the refusal to entertain their overtures, the naval and military
tions springing
They declared
that the President
preparations, and the notice that the President intended to
them as " a declara-
provision Fort Sumter, were viewed by
tion of
war against the Confederate States." Receiving
this as
the ultimatum, they, in response and in behalf of their government and people, accepted " the gage of battle thus thrown
down
them."
Major Anderson, in a
to
and received
at the
letter
dated the 28th of February
War Department
on the day of Mr. Lin-
coln's inauguration, expressed the opinion that reinforcements
could not be thrown into Fort Sumter in time for his
relief,
and that the fort could not Jae held by a force of less than
twenty thousand men. On the 5th, the new Cabinet, at a
meeting at which General Scott was present, had this letter
Gustavus B. Fox of Massachusetts, who had
before them.
been a lieutenant in the navy, and afterward Assistant Secretary, had laid before General Holt, Secretary of War, on the
7th of January, a plan for the relief and provisioning of
Fort Sumter, which had received the approval of General
The general and all the members of the Cabinet, with
Scott.
the exception of Postmaster-General Blair, believing that
all
attempts to hold Sumter would be useless, were in favor of
withdrawing the forces.
Mr. Blair was inflexibly opposed
to abandoning Sumter, and with the practical plan of Mr.
Fox
had convinced the President that its abandonment would be
ruinous, would discourage Union men, encourage the Rebels,
and, in the language of the latter, would be our " national
Mr. Fox went to Charleston, with
destruction commenced."
the approval of the Secretary of War and General Scott. With
�CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS.
— FIRING
the permission of Governor Pickens
lie
ON SUMTER.
visited the fort
205
on the
Ascertaining that provisions would be ex-
21st of March.
hausted by the middle of April, and that Major Anderson must
surrender, he returned to Washington and reported that the
must be
fort, if relieved at all,
The
relieved by the middle of April.
President, anxious for peace, turned to the Virginia con-
vention, sent for Mr. Baldwin, and proposed that,
if
that con-
vention would immediately adjourn, he would direct Anderson
He received for an answer to his propoUnited States must instantly evacuate Fort
Sumter and Fort Pickens, and give assurance that no attempt
to evacuate Sumter.
sition that " the
will be
made
to collect revenues in Southern ports."
The
President, realizing at length that nothing but the complete
recognition of the Confederate government and the dismemberment of the Union would be accepted by the secessionists
and those sympathizing with them in the slaveholding States,
overruled General Scott, gave Mr.
of April to
fit
the 4th
He
also sent Ward H. Lamon to Govhim
that he was about to send provisinform
cordance with his plan.
ernor Pickens to
Fox an order on
out a force for the relief of Sumter in ac-
ions to the garrison
;
that no troops would be sent
were received
;
but that supplies must go into Sumter
plies
if
the sup-
Hastening to New
if not, by force.
if possible
York, Mr. Fox, with the assistance of Commodores Stewart
and Stringham, fitted out, in almost an incredibly brief space
of time, several vessels for the relief of the fort, which were
peaceably,
;
ordered to rendezvous at Charleston.
The Powhattan, the
sailors
flag-ship of the expedition, carrying the
and launches for the landing of supplies, was, by an
order issued by the President, sent without the knowledge of
Fox
to Fort Pickens, under the direction of General Meigs
and Admiral Porter a blunder, however, that was fatal to
The Pawnee, Harriet Lane, and Baltic arrivthe expedition.
ing in Charleston harbor, were unable to act, owing to a
;
severe storm, until the very evening of the surrender.
South Carolina had made large appropriations for military
purposes, and for the organization of a force of ten thousand
men.
Two weeks
before the attack on Sumter, several forts
�206
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE TOWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
and batteries had been erected, and one hundred and twenty
cannon, with more than seven thousand men, menaced it with
Deeming it " the bastion of the
small garrison of eighty.
Federal Union, and that the fate of the Southern Confederits
acy hung upon the ensign halliards of that fortress,"
its citi-
zens were clamorous for its immediate capture.
The message of President Lincoln to Governor Pickens,
him that supplies would be sent
made known to the public on the morning of
to
notifying
Sumter, was
the 8th of April.
General Beauregard informed the Rebel Secretary of
War
that
the governor had been notified by the President that provisions would be sent to Sumter peaceably or otherwise.
the 10th the latter replied, authorizing
the evacuation of the fort, and,
manner
if
him
to
demand
at
On
once
refused, to proceed in such
To this despatch Beauregard
demand would be made the next day, at 12
as he should determine.
replied that the
On
o'clock.
staff-oflficer
the 11th of April, at 2 o'clock, Beauregard sent a
with a letter to Major Anderson, demanding the
He
evacuation of the fort.
informed that
officer that the
Con-
federate States could no longer delay taking possession of a
fortification
commanding one
of their harbors,
and that Colonel
Chestnut and Captain Lee would await his answer. Major
Anderson promptly replied that his sense of honor and his obligations to his government would not allow
him
to surrender
but he also informed them that he would be compelled to leave
The Confederate
the fort in a few days to avoid starvation.
commander
tary of
War
instantly
communicated
to the Confederate Secre-
The latter replied, that, if
the time when he would evacuate, and
Anderson's answer.
Anderson would
state
pledge himself not to use his guns unless their guns were used
against him, Beauregard
blood
;
but he ordered,
reduce the fort."
to Major
was authorized
if
At 11
Anderson
" this or
its
to avoid the effusion of
equivalent be refused, to
o'clock that night Beauregard sent
this order.
The major
said in reply that
he would agree to the proposed stipulation to leave the fort
at noon on the loth, if he should not receive " controlling
This answer was writinstructions " or additional supplies.
ten at half past two o'clock on the morning of the 12th, and
�CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS.
was handed unsealed
bot, having
— FIRING
to Colonel Chestnut.
ON SUMTER.
207
Lieutenant Tal-
been sent to Washington, had been intrusted with
had not
notices of the intentions of the government, but he
been allowed by the Rebel authorities to return to the
fort.
few moments in the room of
the officers of the guard, and decided, at twenty minutes past
three in the morning, that Anderson's answer was not satisTlie staff officers consulted a
factory.
They, therefore, immediately addressed a note to
Anderson, informing him
that, "
by authority of Brigadier-
General Beauregard, commanding the provisional forces of the
Confederate States,
we have
the honor to notify you that he
on Fort Sumter in one hour
from this time."
Whatever may have been the pretensions of the Confederate
government, or of its defenders, the more violent of the secessionists were anxious to precipitate hostilities, in order that a
blow thus struck might, as they confidently expected, precipi" Gentlemen,"
tate the border slave States into rebellion.
said Gilchrist, a member of the Alabama legislature to members of the Confederate cabinet a month before the attack on
Fort Sumter, " unless you sprinkle blood in the face of the
people of Alabama, they will be back in the Union in less than
On the evening of the 10th, Roger A. Pryor of
ten days."
Virginia, in reply to a serenade, thanked the excited people
He
of Charleston for annihilating this " cursed Union."
"
last
been
at
affirmed, with great positiveness, that it had
that it had
that it was " gone forever "
blasted and riven "
will
open the
fire of his
batteries
;
;
" fallen never to
rise again."
He
invoked the people of South
Carolina to give no thought to the reconstruction of the Union
they had annihilated, and to proclaim to the world that South
Carolina would never again enter into political association
with the Abolitionists of
that Virginia would be a
"
I will tell
New
member
England.
He
assured them
of the Southern Confederacy.
you, gentlemen," he said, " what will put her into
the Southern Confederacy in less than an hour by Shrewsbury
clock,
—
strike a blow."
For himself, he
said,
that
if
the
President and Vice-President were to abdicate their ofhces,
and were to give him a " blank sheet of paper to write the
�208
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
conditions of reconstruction to
tlie
IN AMERICA.
defunct Union,
I
would
scornfully decline the overture."
If
anything were wanting to prove that the Rebellion was
not the deliberate work of the people, a measure adopted after
a
full
and
fair
examination of the subject,
such language of
its
leaders as
is
it
here quoted.
sprinkle blood in the faces of the people of
afforded by
" Unless you
is
Alabama they
will
What will put
be back in the Union in less than ten days."
Virginia into the Southern Confederacy " in less than an liour
by the Shrewsbury clock ? " Answer, " Strike a blow." These
are not the words of men calm in the justice of their demands,
championing the cause of an abused and downtrodden people,
and appealing to the higher motives of reason, calm reflection,
and the well-considered patriotism of an oppressed nationality.
In
spirit
and purpose there was nothing of
that.
And
yet
these utterances well expressed the general feeling and senti-
ments of the leaders who were carrying forward this movement.
Pry or' s speech was applauded, and telegraphed to Montgomery,
and he, accompanying Beauregard's staff-officers to the fort,
counselled the rejection of Anderson's proposition, and the
opening of the batteries upon Sumter upon an hour's notice.
A
was given, and the batteries opened their fire on
The first gun, as stated in another connection, was
signal
the fort.
by the aged Edmund Ruffin of Virginia, who at the close
war took his own life with the same hand that had fired
the first gun trained against the nation's hfe.
At 7 o'clock it
replied, and a heavy and vigorous fire was kept up during the
fired
of the
day.
On the morning of the 13th the firing of the batteries
was renewed. Sustained by his officers, Doubleday, Crawford,
and Snyder, commanders of the parties into which his small
force was divided. Major Anderson used every resource at his
command
for defence.
Portions of the fort were set on
fire.
They were compelled to throw a part of tlieir powder into the
sea the flag-staff was sliot away, but the banner was fastened
to a fragment of the staff and continued to fly.
At half past
;
one of that day. Senator Wigfall, who had liastcned to Charleston after the adjournment of the Senate, and was a volunteer
on Beauregard's staff, visited the fort, and after much trouble
�CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS.
— FIRING
ON SUMTER.
who agreed
held a consultation with Anderson,
upon the terms he had previously offered.
209
to surrender
Believing that
Wigfall spoke truthfully, and that he spoke by authority,
he allowed a white
Beauregard's
flag to
be raised over the
Several of
fort.
the fort.
staff-officers visited
But Anderson,
finding that Wigfall had not acted by the authority of the
Rebel commander, and that he himself had been deceived, de-
come down immediately.
clared that the white flag should
At
and the fire of
the Rebel batteries ceased.
Between seven and eight o'clock
of the evening of the 13th Anderson's terms were accepted.
His own brief despatch to the Secretary of War best sets forth
that heroic, though humiliating act
" Sir,
Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours,
the request of others, however, he left
:
—
it
flying,
—
until the quarters were entirely burned, the
stroyed by
fire,
main gates
de-
the gorge wall seriously injured, the magazine
surrounded by flames, and
its
door closed from the effects of
and three cartridges of powder only being
and no provisions but pork remaining, I accepted
terms of evacuation, offered by General Beauregard, being the
same offered by him on the 11th inst., prior to the commencement of hostilities, and marched out of the fort Sunday
afternoon, the 14th instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private property, and salut-
heat, four barrels
available,
ing
my
guns."
flag with fifty
The conduct
Major Anderson, though generally applauded
at the time, has not escaped criticism, and the wisdom, if not
But it
the patriotism, of this act has been called in question.
is
of
certainly safe to say that
it is
suspicion in the above despatch.
the fort carries with
it
no
difficult to find
As
occasion for
the account of his leaving
air of treason, so, too, the
circum-
stances and conduct of his entrance therein, on the preceding
Christmas night and the day following, comport not with any
such traitorous purpose.
At noon
of the 27th of
December,
1860, with his little command gathered around him and the
flag-staff, " Major Anderson," it is said, " with the halliards
in his hand, knelt at
its
foot,
and the
officers
and men, im-
pressed with the solemnity of the occasion, needed no orders
VOL.
III.
14
�210
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
assume a reverential position as the chaplain stepped forth
and offered up an earnest prayer,
a prayer,
says one who was present, which was such an appeal for support, encouragement, and mercy as one would make who felt
After he had
that man's extremity is God's opportunity.'
from manly lips died away
ceased, and the earnest Amen
in the hollow casemates, the commander hauled up the flag,
"
Such was
and the band saluted it with Hail Columbia
certainly an unwonted mode of expressing even indifference,
not to say treason, in the nation's behalf and if he did not
act wisely, it was not because he did not invoke the wisdom
that Cometh from above.
Of the general estimate in which
the services of this highly meritorious officer were received,
there were not wanting many and grateful tokens.
Cities,
associations, and individuals vied with each other in the
expression of their appreciation and admiration, and costly
medals, boxes, and swords were fitting testimonials of this
regard.
President Lincoln showed his estimate of the man
and his deeds by advancing him to the rank of brigadierto
—
in the midst
'
'
'
!
'
'
;
general, while, at the earnest solicitation of loyal Kentuckians,
he was assigned to the military
The governor
of the State
command
of their State.
and the Rebel commander
visited
the fortress thus evacuated, and raised the Confederate flag
over
its
ruins.
Governor Pickens, after the surrender, ad-
dressed the people of Charleston, declaring the war opened,
and affirming that they would conquer or
they had humbled the
lowered
flag,"
little
it
and
flag,
Saying that
" We have
:
Palmetto and Confederate
" humbled, and humbled before the glorious
in humility before the
left it
perish.
he defiantly proclaimed
State of South Carolina."
�CHAPTER XVI.
CALL FOR TROOPS.
— UPRISING
OP THE NORTH.
— WAR
INAU-
GURATED.
— sudden
— President's Proclamation. —
— Responses of governors. — Great uprising. — Meetings in
Philadelphia and New York. — Speeches in Union Square. — Dickinson, Coddington, Walker, Baker, Gushing, Mitchell, Douglas. — Harmony of
— Conservative and unpatriotic utterances. — Southern conment and
tempt. — Mutual misapprehension. — Jefferson Davis's Proclamation. — Letof marque. — Blockade. — Destruction of American commerce.
Doubt and
hesitation.
dissipation.
Its
Call for troops.
senti-
action.
ters
The
and hesitation and even the proclaimed
reluctance of the Nortli to attribute to the South a purpose to
resort to actual hostilities was a surprise, if not to its own
people, to others.
The celebrated war correspondent of the
London " Times," writing from New York as late as March,
persistent doubt
speaks of that city as "
full of divine
calm and human phlegm"
as "willing to do anything but fight"
;
;
as simply desirous "tD
own bread and honey and count her dollars in peace."
quoted a prominent secessionist as saying that no concessions or compromises could " induce us to join any confedereat her
He
acy of wliich the New England States were members," and a
prominent Republican who said that if he could bring back the
Southern States by holding up his little finger, he would think
" it a criminal offence to do so." No doubt this w.ell expressed
the attitude of many but these were the sentiments of by no
;
means
a majority.
A
more potent and general sentiment was
the prevailing conviction that neither would fight,
— the South
distrusting the courage of the North, and the North unable to
believe that the South
would be guilty
forsaking, in the interests of slavery,
learned to regard
its
main,
if
not
its
of the ineffable folly of
tlie
Union which
only, defence.
it
had
�212
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
But all this hesitation and doubt were to cease as suddenly
and decisively as they had been unaccountable and persistent.
The South was guilty of the very madness the North had
deemed impossible, and the North revealed the grateful fact
that its love of country, though long dormant, was real, and
its patriotism, though tardy in its action, w^as equal to the
occasion.
While the sprinkling of blood in the faces of the
people, that Gilchrist had called for, had answered the end he
had indicated, and the prediction of Pryor, that " the very
moment
that blood
is
shed, old Virginia will
make common
cause with her sisters in the South," was soon to be
fulfilled,
both unifying and intensifying Southern sentiment and feeling
against the Union, the tiger-like argiunent that found its
efficacy in the taste of blood, the
North was aroused
responding purpose in the nation's behalf.
It is
to a cor-
hardly a
cannonading of Fort Sumter
during the 12th and 13th of April, 1861, was heard throughout the land, and that its reverberations penetrated its remotfigure of speech to say that the
At
est parts.
awakened
its
the North
it
was as
sleeping millions.
if
an angel's trump had
Springing to arms,
all
un-
prepared and despoiled as they found themselves by the fraud
of
the administration that had just retired, they hastened
While the patriotism of the people, as if
by magic, flowered in the flags flung to the breeze from
every building, public and private, its rich fruitage almost as
quickly appeared in the stern resolve to sacrifice life and
to the rescue.
property of the gathering multitudes, who were responding to
As the " Red, White, and Blue " became
their country's call.
the prevailing color of personal apparel and adornment, so
it
became the oft-repeated theme of editorial, speech, and sermon, the stirring refrain of songs that gave expression to
the growing enthusiasm of the popular thought and feeling.
" Heart throbbed to heart," said one, " lip spoke to lip, with
a oneness of feeling that seemed like a Divine inspiration."
"Seemed"?
Was
it
not Divine?
Can
there be without
such factor any satisfactory theory of this wonderful uprising
of tlie people,
as great a surprise to themselves as to the
world, which looked on with admiration at the sudden trans-
�WAR INAUGURATED.
formation?
213
The strange and unexpected fusing
into
one
and discordant materials
glowing mass
which enter so largely into the composition of American sociNot the
ety could have been effected by nothing less potent.
Christian alone is compelled to recognize the Divine hand in
of the hitherto variant
the production of the marvellous events of those early days of
the great Rebellion.
On Monday morning,
the 15th of April, the day following
the evacuation of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln issued a proc-
lamation apprising the nation of this bloody assault upon
integrity,
and summoning
for seventy-five thousand
the people to
men
its
defence.
to suppress,
he
said,
He
its
called
combina-
tions in the Confederate States, " too powerful to be sup-
pressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings."
appealed to
all
He
loyal citizens to aid in this effort to maintain
the honor, integrity, and existence of our National Union, and
the perpetuity of popular government, and to " redress wrongs
already long enough endured."
He commanded
the persons
composing these lawless combinations to disperse and return
homes within twenty days. He convened Congress
meet on the 4th of July. On the same day Mr. Cameron,
to their
to
Secretary of AVar, issued a circular, calling for ninety-four
regiments, and assigning to each State that had not seceded,
excepting California and Oregon, the number of
men
it
was
to
furnish.
The governors
of all the free States east of the
Rocky Moun-
tahis were Republican, with the exception of William Sprague
The governors of the eight Southern States
of Rhode Island.
which had not seceded, with the exception of Governor Hicks
Six of these, as has been
of Maryland, were Democrats.
noted in a previous chapter, promptly and defiantly refused
the President's demand, on the States-rights theory that the
Federal government had no right to coerce a State, and the
impracticable ground of maintaining an impartial neutrality
between the contending parties. On the other hand the loyal
governors and the States they represented responded with wonderful alacrity to the President's appeal. These responses were
couched in various forms.
In addition to the
official replies of
�214
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the former, the latter spoke from pulpit, press, and platform,
and
in the individual utterances of those
who
thus gave voice
grand and growing entliusiasm of the hour. Prominent
among these popular demonstrations were public meetings in
to the
the cities.
Philadelphia and
its
major had been among the most
obse-
quious to the Slave Power, and, after Mr. Lincoln's election,
most prompt in demands for further concessions. That citywas now the foremost in responding to the calls of the government and her mayor promptly declared, by the grace of Al;
mighty God, treason should never rear
foothold in Pliiladelphia.
On
its
head or have a
the 20th of April, five days after
immense meeting, estimated
more than a hundred thousand men, was held in the city
of New York.
The merchants of that city, who a few weeks
before had been so ready to concede everything to Southern
demands, closed their places of business and hastened to
Union Square. Four stands were erected, and four presidents
John A. Dix, Hamilton Fish, William F. Havemeyer, and
were appointed. John A. Dix emphatiMoses H. Grinnell
the President's proclamation, an
at
—
—
cally declared that
he regarded the " contest with the seces-
sionists as a death struggle for constitutional liberty
and law."
Dickinson, long one of the leaders of the "
Hunker"
Daniel
S.
York, proclaimed the question to be " between union and anarchy, between law and disorder, and that
David S.
there was no time for hesitation or indecision."
Democracy
of
New
Coddington, also a member of the Democratic party, declared
what secession meant. " Its policy," he said, " is to imperi-
and to degrade and destroy tlie only free republic
Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury
during President Polk's administration, avowed that he saw
alize slavery
in the world."
nothing to condemn in President Lincoln's efforts to save the
Union
;
tliat
he loved the Democratic party, but he loved the
country better.
perpetual."
eloquence.
" This Union," he said, " must and will be
Senator Baker of Oregon spoke with surpassing
" We have committed," he said, " no oppression,
have broken no compact, have exercised no unholy power
have been loyal, moderate, constitutional, and just." He said
�WAR INAUGURATED.
215
he was there not to speak " timorous words of peace, but to
He said, the
kindle the spirit of manly, determined war."
"
leaning from ten thousand windows in
national banners
city to-day proclaim your affection and reverence for the
Union." " There are," he added, " worse things than fear,
than doubt, than dread and danger and blood. Dishonor is
States forever comPerpetual anarchy is worse.
worse.
He had known the
worse."
is
severing
mingling and forever
your
President from boyhood, and he indorsed his declaration that
" there are wrongs to be redressed already long enough endured." " They are wrongs," he said, " against our ensign
they are wrongs against our Union
our Constitution
;
human freedom."
they are wrongs against
;
they are wrongs against
human hope and
Professor 0. M. Mitchell, a native of Ken-
tucky, a graduate of
West
Point, a
man
of large scientific
attainments, then a resident of Ohio, avowed his allegiance to
be to the government of the United States.
He had
brothers
and kindred in the South whom he loved, but they must set
and traitors when they condemned, cursed, trampled under foot, and trailed in the dust the banner of the
We must smite, he said, in " God's name, and will
country.
Reminding the meeting that the men of the South
smite."
would figlit with determination and power, and that there was
to be no child's play, he called upon every man to take his life
in his hand avowing his readiness, in the ranks or out of the
He did
ranks, to sacrifice his life on the altar of his country.
enter those ranks, became a general, and died in his country's
aside rebels
;
defence.
Public meetings were largely attended in the other
and towns
of all the free States.
Caleb Gushing,
cities
who had
presided at the Charleston Democratic convention in 1860,
and
at the seceders'
convention at Baltimore, addressed a
public meeting at Newburyport, Massachusetts.
man
that he would yield to no
that he stood prepared,
if
occasion should call for
his sense of public duty "
command
declared
by entering the
field
it,
Union
to testify
again at the
Commonwealth or of the Union." The aged
who had manifested during the winter intense
of the
General Wool,
He
in faithfulness to the
�216
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
anxiety for the defence of the country, said, on the 16th of
April, to his fellow-citizens of Troy, that the spirit of the age
forbade the destruction of the government by rebels to advance
the " schemes of political ambition and to extend the area of
slavery."
devote his
He
pledged his heart and hand, and was ready to
to the
life
work
of preserving the
Union.
On
the
who had left
and almost despairing of his
country, declared to the people of Detroit that it was the duty
24th of April, the venerable General Cass,
Buchanan's Cabinet,
dissatisfied
of all zealously to support the government.
for his country," he said, "
"
He who
is
not
There is no neutral
position to be occupied."
On the 1st of May, at a public reception given him at Chicago, Mr. Douglas said " There are
only two sides to this question.
Every man must be for the
United States or against it. There can be no neutrals in this
war only patriots or traitors." So believing, he expressed it as
his " conviction before his God, that it was the duty of every
American citizen to rally around the flag of his country."
is
against
it.
:
;
Patriotic utterances like these animated and cheered patriotic hearts
;
Republican presses and statesmen gratefully ac-
knowledged and commended those Democratic presses and
statesmen that avowed such unfaltering devotion to their
They felt, though Sumter had fallen, that it was, in
country.
the words of the New York "Tribune," "a consolation to know
that, though
that in losing it we have gained a united people
Sumter was lost, the country is safe."
There were, however, even in that hour of extreme peril,
conservative and Democratic leaders and presses that were
either silent or that went to the verge of treason in their
criticisms and denunciation of the action of the administraThey declared that the South could never be subjugated
tion.
by the North that the President, by invoking the names of
Union and the Constitution, could not deceive the country
that every Democrat should fold his arms, indeed, that " he
is no Democrat who will enter the army or volunteer to aid
But these utterances,
in the diabolical policy of civil war."
outside of a few localities, received the stern condemnation of
;
;
the people of every political faith in the loyal States.
�WAR INAUGURATED.
The
217
refusal of the governors of the border States to furnish
troops for the suppression of the Rebelhon, the tone of the
presses of those States, and the temper of the people gratified
the leaders at Montgomery, and excited the hopes of the Confederates
;
while the patriotic responses of Northern governors
to the President's call, the uprising of the people, the patriotic
utterances of Northern Democrats and presses, disappointed
and exasperated those who had vainly hoped that if war came,
would be in the North, and that the Northern
Democrats would give the administration work enough at
home. In their pride of power the Rebel leaders received the
call of the President for seventy-five thousand troops with
contemptuous ridicule. The Southern press, too, teemed with
defiance of the government and ridicule of Northern troops,
its battle-fields
denouncing the
latter as " scurvy fellows, white slaves, ped-
dling wretches, small-change knaves, vagrants, the dregs and
" One Southron," they conoffscouring of the populace."
tended, could " whip five of them." Robert Toombs went so
far in his contempt for Northern
men
as to declare, in a speech
Montgomery, that he could hold in the hollow of the palm
of his hand all the blood that would be shed in the war.
These silly and contemptuous boastings of Southern presses
and politicians evinced their ignorance of the North and of its
at
great resources, with their thorough misapprehension of the
courage, patriotism, and devotion of
its
people.
It
was, in-
deed, a great and grave mistake, and bitterly did they rue
it,
and dearly did they pay for their misconceptions and misapprehensions of Northern patriotism and power.
Nor was the North without evidences of estimates alike
faulty concerning the section with which
close in deadly grapple.
it was so soon to
and speakers betrayed a
and purpose, the fiery zeal and
mistaken countrymen. Under-
Its presses
similar ignorance of the spirit
unquestioned courage, of their
rating Southern resources, they believed that the Confederate
government and its military forces would speedily go down beneath the crushing power of the nation. Neither of the sections
fully
comprehended either
the other.
its
own
resources or the resources of
In the long struggle that followed, however, they
�218
RISE
came
to
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
know each
other better.
The devotion manifested,
the endurance and courage displayed, by the
and
of the South, will be
IN AMERICA.
men
of the
an inheritance of which
North
their chil-
dren and their children's children will be proud.
On the 17th of April, two days after the President's proclamation had been issued, Jefferson Davis issued a similar
paper, in which he said it had become the duty of the new
government to " repel the threatened invasion, and defend the
rights and liberties of the people, by all the means which tlie
laws of nations and the usages of civilized w^arfare " placed at
his disposal.
At the same time he invited privateering upon
the commerce of the United States.
Two days afterward
President Lincoln, by proclamation, announced that he should
employ force to blockade the Southern ports, and all persons,
acting under the pretended authority of the Confederate States,
who should molest vessels of the United States on the seas,
would be held amenable to the laws for the punishment of
The Confederate Congress, on the 6th of May, aupiracy.
thorized Davis to issue to private armed vessels letters of
marque and general reprisal, and a bounty of twenty dollars
for each person who might be on board any vessel belonging
to the United States which should
stroyed by a privateer
;
and
also a
be burnt, sunk, or de-
bounty of twenty-five
dol-
lars for any prisoner captured by a privateer and delivered to
an agent of the Confederation in any of
By
its ports.
this proclamation of the Confederate President there
adopted a policy which has,
it
was
has been said, " no parallel on
the statute-books of civilized nations," and which was tanta-
mount
to " a
reward for the murder, by fire, water, or othermen, women, and children found on board of a public
vessel of the United States."
It also inaugurated, under the
more respectable name of privateering, a system of piratical
depredations on the commerce of the nation which, if it did
not sweep it entirely from the high seas, inflicted incalculable
damage, from which it has not yet recovered. Though the
Confederates had neither the skill nor resources to construct a
navy for themselves, they could steal and purchase, as they
Within a very few weeks they had stolen six national
did.
wise, of
�WAR INAUGUKATED.
revenue-cutters, and purchased
let loose
on
then-
work
219
some dozen vessels, which they
and destruction. They
of mischief
gave letters, too, to vessels
fitted
out in the ports of other
nations.
By these declarations and measures of the President of tlic
United States and of the chosen leader of the Confederacy was
inaugurated the great civil war that has no parallel in American annals or on the American continent
a Rebellion that
has no parallel in the annals of any age or of any continent.
;
�CHAPTER
XYII.
SPECIAL SESSION OF XXXVIIth CONGRESS.
Assembling
of
Congress.
— Grow
— Employment
elected
— Acceptable. —
volunteers. —
P.
President's Message.
— WAR
Speaker.
Bills
LEGISLATION.
— Speech. —
Etlieridge.
—
and Resolution by Mr. Wilson.
— Debate. — Harding, Hickof
F.
— Vallandigham's amendment. — Senate
passed. — Increase of regular army. — Holman's Speech. — Amendment. —
passed. —
Eeorganization of army. — Powell's amendment. — Breckenridge. — Supplementary
for'increase of the army. — Resolution making valid acts of the
President. — Debate thereon. — Kennedy, Baker, Wilson, Breckenridge, Law,
.fohnson, Sherman, Trumbull. — Other biUs. —
arming loyal
— Governor Morton. — increasing pay of private
in disloyal
— Important amendment. — Resolution of sympathy.
Blair.
man, Campbell.
bill
Bill
bill
Bill for
States.
Bill
citizens
sol-
diers.
In pursuance of the proclamation of the President, the
XXXYIIth
The time
Congress assembled on the 4th of July, 1861.
that had elapsed and the stirring events that had
fall of Sumter had habituated the minds
unwelcome fact that the life of the nation
was seriously menaced, and that they had a war of uncertain
dimensions and continuance on their hands, for which prompt
and adequate provision must be made. Twenty-three States
were represented in the Senate, and twenty-two in the House.
taken place since the
of the people to the
By
the secession of the Confederate States, the political com-
plexion of the national legislature had been materially changed.
In the Senate there were thirty-one Republicans, eleven Democrats, five Unionists,
with one vacancy.
were one hundred and
In the House there
six Republicans, forty-two
Democrats,
twenty-eight Unionists, and two vacancies.
Galusha A. Grow, a Republican member from Pennsylvania,
was
elected Speaker.
adhered with inflexible
The successor
of
David Wilmot, he
embodied in
As chairman of the
fidelity to the principle
the celebrated proviso of his predecessor.
�221
SPECIAL SESSION OF XXXVIIth CONGRESS.
Committee on Territories
in the
XXXVth
Congress, he had
supported with marked ability the cause of freedom in strugIn his remarks, on taking the chair, he degling Kansas.
nounced the Rebellion as the most causeless in the history
the race, a conspiracy nurtured in
of
secret counsels for the
destruction of the Constitution and the Union.
Referring to
the grand uprising of the people, he declared, amid vociferous
shouts of applause on the floor and in the galleries, that " no
flag alien to the sources of the Mississippi River will ever float
its mouth, until its waters are crimsoned in
and not one foot of American soil can ever be
wrenched from the jurisdiction of the Constitution until it is
He reminded the House that
baptized in fire and blood."
rights and liberties of the peoguardians
of
the
the
they were
could not command the
which
ple, and that a government
loyalty of its own citizens, and would not protect its loyal
He sumcitizens, " deserves the contempt of the world."
permanently over
human
gore,
House to act for the greatness and glory of the
Emerson Etheridgc, a Tennessee Unionist, who
had supported John Bell for President, was chosen clerk
moned
the
Republic.
though in his subsequent conduct he did not prove himself
worthy of the sympathy extended to him and the confidence
reposed in him.
John W. Forney, who had on
several occa-
the House, exhibited great fairness and
sions, as
clerk of
liberality,
and had gracefully yielded
to the general desire to
recognize the devotion of Etheridge to the
Union
cause,
was
chosen secretary of the Senate.
On
the 5th the President sent in a message, reciting the
action of the Rebels, explaining the course of the government,
upon Congress
and maintain the
He declared that he had looked to
authority of the nation.
the exhaustion of all peaceful measures before resorting to
He had given, he said, " repeated
those more stringent.
pledges against any disturbance to any of the people or any
Of all that which a President might constiof their rights,
tutionally and justifiably do in such a case, everything was
forborne without which it was believed possible to keep the
government on foot." The secessionists, he said, have " forced
and
calling
to vindicate
�222
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
or blood.' "
immediate dissolution
This issue, he said, embraced more than " the
fate of these
United States
upon the country the
of
man
distinct issue,
presents to the whole family
it
;
'
the question whether a constitutional republic, or
democracy,
— a government of the
— can or cannot maintain
own domestic
people by the same people,
its territorial
integrity against its
It presents the question whether discon-
foes.
tented individuals, too few in numbers to control administration according to organic law in any case, can always,
the pretences
made
arbitrarily without
and thus
earth.
on any
in this case or
any pretence, break up their government,
an end to free government upon the
practically put
It force^ us to
ask
'
:
inherent and fatal weakness
?
'
Is there in all republics this
"
Must a government
own people
cessity be too strong for the liberties of its
weak
he
to maintain its
said, "
upon
otlier pretences, or
own
no choice was
existence
left
?
but to
its
or too
" So viewing the issue,"
call
out the war power of
the government, and so to resist force employed for
struction by force employed for
of ne-
its
de-
preservation."
Referring to the doctrine of State sovereignty, he declared
that " the States have their slatns in the Union, and they
have no other legal status;
if
they break from this, they can
only do so against law and by revolution.
The Union, and
not themselves separately, procured their independence and
tlieir liberty.
By conquest or purchase the Union gave each
The
them whatever of independence or liberty it has.
created
fact
it
Union is older than any of the States, and in
them as States. Originally, some dependent colonies made
the Union and in turn the Union threw off their old dependence for them, and made them States such as tliey are. Not
one of them ever had a State constitution independent of the
of
;
Union."
Exposing the deception and violence by which the secessionists had triumphed in Virginia, he pronounced the policy of
armed neutrality in Kentucky and other border States to be a
policy "that recognized no fidelity to the Constitution, no
obligation to maintain the Union,
and that would give the
own." The
disunionists disunion without a struggle of their
�WAR
contest, he said, "
is
223
LEGISLATION.
a people's contest.
On
the side of the
Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form
and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate
the condition of men, .... to lift artificial weights from all
shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for
all,
to
a fair chance in the race of
an unfettered start and
Yielding to partial and temporary departures from ne-
offer all
life.
cessity, this is the leading object of the government for whose
Reminding Congress that " the plain
existence we contend."
people " understood and appreciated the contest, he said, " It
worthy of note, that, while in this, the government's hour
numbers of those in the army and navy who had
been favored with the offices have resigned and proved false
is
of trial, large
to the
hand that pampered them, not one common
sailor is
known to have deserted his flag." He
now to " demonstrate to the world that
soldier or
said
people are
fairly carry
:
those
an election can also suppress a rebellion
;
The
who
that
and peaceful successors of bullets
that when ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided,
there can be no successful appeal back to bullets that thcro
ballots are the rightful
;
can be no successful appeal except to ballots at succeeding
elections,
which
will be a great lesson of peace, teaching
men
that what they cannot take by an election neither can they
take by war."
He
expressed the deepest regret that the duty
had been forced upon him to employ the war power in defence
As a private citizen, he could not betray
of the government.
a sacred trust confided to him by a free people. " 1 have no
moral right," he
chances of
of
my
my
said,
my own
life
" to shrink, not even to count the
in
what might
follow.
great responsibility, I have so far done
duty."
He
In
what
full
I
view
deemed
expressed the hope that Congress would act
and having adopted the course to be pursued, would,
" without guile and with pure purpose," renew its " trust in
in accord,
God and go forward without fear and with manly hearts."
Recommending that Congress should give the legal means for
making the contest a short and decisive one, he asked it to
place at the control of the government at least four hundred
thousand
men and
four hundred millions of dollars.
�224
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POAVER
The message was admirable
fallacies
IN AMERICA.
It detected the
in all its parts.
and exposed the sophistries
and
of the secessionists,
presented to the country their fraudulent, violent, and revolutionary action.
It
presented in firm but temperate language
the purposes, policy, and plans of the government.
men,
Loyal
and out of Congress, were prompt in their approval,
indorsement, and adoption of its recommendations, and of the
measures necessary to sustain them. Mr. Wilson, chairman
of the Committee on Military Affairs, agreeably to notice given
on the first day of the session, introduced into the Senate four
bills and a joint resolution.
The first of these bills authorized
in
the President to call out five hundred thousand
to increase the regular army.
The
organization of the military forces.
ap-
was for the better
The fourth proposed an
third
organization of a volunteer national guard
resolution
men and
The second proposed
propriate five hundred million dollars.
;
and the
joint
proposed to ratify and confirm the acts of
President for the suppression of the Rebellion.
.
tlie
They were
referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
On
the 8th Mr. Wilson reported the
employment
of volunteers.
Coming up
bill
to authorize the
for consideration, Mr.
Saulsbury of Delaware, expressing his fears that the Union
would not be preserved by the mode provided in the bill and
suggested in the message of the President, moved to strike
out five hundred thousand men and insert two hundred thousand men, deeming that number
sufficient,
he said, to protect
the capital and defend the States from invasion.
Mr. Foster
two hundred thousand men " too
many to make peace and too few to make war." The amendment was rejected, and the bill was passed on the 11th, Breckinridge and Powell of Kentucky, Johnson and Polk of Misof
Connecticut thought
souri, voting against
On
it.
the same day Mr. Blair of Missouri reported from the
House Military Committee a bill authorizing the employment
Coming up on the 13th for consideration in
the Committee of the Whole, Mr. Harding of Kentucky avowed
his readiness to give men and money to defend the Constituof volunteers.
tion, but
he would " not vote one dollar for subjugating sever-
�WAR
225
LEGISLATION.
eign States." In response to this declaration, Mr.
Hickman
of
Pennsylvania said that the secessionists, who believed that they
had a right to declare themselves ont of the pale of legitimate
government when it suited their interest, or whenever it was
in accordance with their passions, were to he taught witli a
strong hand that they must regard the Constitution and laws.
" We, the people of the North," he said, " of the loyal States,
and
all
who
act with the Nortli, intend to educate these
into a different doctrine
to bring
them
....
;
and
if
we
men
shall eventually be forced
into subjection, abject subjection to the United
will be their fault and not ours."
Mr. Campsame State declared that he would give the executive all power
that he would " darken the ocean with our
fleets and cover the land with our armies."
On tlie other hand, it was maintained by Mr. Burnett of
Kentucky that the object of the war was the subjugation of
the Southern States, and he boasted that the legislature of his
State had almost unanimously indorsed the action of the gov-
States,
it
bell of the
;
ernor in refusing to give
proclamation.
men
in response to the President's
Mr. McClernand of
the appropriation to sustain the
Illinois
army
to
moved
to reduce
one hundred million
dollars.
Declaring his readiness to vote what was required
" to enable the executive to sustain the government, not to
subjugate the South," Mr. Cox of Ohio avowed
to vote for the
amendment.
But
moved, by Mr. Vallandighara of
was rejected.
the same State,
it
the President should have the right to call out
teers,
liis
It
purpose
was then
tliat
before
more volun-
he should appoint seven commissioners to accompany
army and
to receive such propositions as might be submitted by the executives of the Southern States, or any one
of them, to the Union.
He avowed himself in favor of the
the
suspension of hostilities to try the temper of the South.
Mr.
Hutchins of the same State moved to amend this proposition
so that the commissioners should " see that the war is vigorously prosecuted to the effectual putting
lion."
down
of this Rebel-
Mr. Wright, a Democratic member from Pennsylvania,
declared with great empliasis tliat the amendment of Mr. Vallandigham held " out to rebellious men a reward for their
VOL.
III.
15
�22 G
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
The amendment was
treason."
IN AMERICA.
rejected, receiving but twenty-
one rotes.
Mr. Burnett offered a proviso that the military
force provided for in the act should " not be employed in subjugating and holding afterward, as a conquered foe, any sovereign State
bill
now
or lately one of the United States."
was then passed without a
On
The
division.
the 16th Mr. Blair reported the Senate
the employment of volunteers, with the
bill,
authorizing
House
bill as an
amendment.
The amendment was agreed to, and the bill
passed.
The Senate, the next day, on motion of Mr. Wilson,
disagreed to the amendment of the House that body insisting, a committee of conference was appointed.
On the 18th
Mr. Wilson and Mr. Blair, chairmen of the Senate and House
committees of conference, made reports. These reports were
concurred in. The House receded, and the bill introduced by
Mr. Wilson on the 6th of July, authorizing the employment of
five hundred thousand volunteers, was passed on the 18th and
approved on the 22d.
;
On
bill,
the 13th the Senate proceeded to the consideration of a
introduced by Mr. Wilson, adding eleven regiments to the
regular
army and increasing the number
of
men
in the old
After debate, in which King, Grimes, and others
regiments.
expressed their hostility to a permanent increase of the regular
army, the
a
bill
bill w^as
passed.
In the House, Mr. Blair reported
which was in substance the Senate
verted the
new regiments
stating that the Mihtary
bill,
though
it
con-
into a volunteer force, Mr. Blair
Committee were unanimously opposed
army; but as something had been
to increasing the regular
done by the Secretary of
War
in
the organization of
new
regiments, the committee had stripped the organization of
—
a
which made it repugnant to the people,
large standing army.
Mr. Burnett of Kentucky, who soon
after joined the Rebels, and became a member of the Conthat
feature
federate Congress, although his State refused to secede, protested against Kentucky's being called
man
upon to furnish one
or one dollar to carry on the war.
He
declared that
the President, in organizing military forces, had
exercised
powers that would have deprived any despot in Europe of his
�WAR
227
LEGISLATION.
Mr. Holman, a Democratic member from Indiana,
crown.
declared witli
marked emphasis that Bennett, Vallandigham,
and others misapprehended the spirit of the country that
was an hour when the people intended to submit
and that, in their moderation
to the overthrow of the Union
and forbearance, he saw the evidence of an " unwavering pur" If in this emergency,"
pose, the anchor of enduring hope."
he said, " the administration had hesitated, the storm of indignation, irresistible as the sand-storm on the Lybian desert,
would have swept it away." The bill was then passed, but it
was not taken up in the Senate. On the 18th Mr. Blair reported the Senate bill to increase the regular army, and the
House amended it by converting the regiments from regulars
into volunteers. On the 22d the Senate proceeded to the consideration of the House amendment.
Mr. Wilson declared
;
there never
;
amendment effectually destroyed the measure, and if
was sustained by the Senate, the bill had better at once be
abandoned. The Senate refused to concur in the amendment,
and, the House adhering, committees of conference were appointed.
The House receded from its amendments, and the
bill to increase the regular army was passed with an amendment that it should be reduced at the close of the war and it
that the
it
;
received the approval of the President on the 29th.
The
bill
providing for the better organization of the regular
army, in eighteen sections, was reported from the Committee
on Military Affairs, by Mr. Wilson, on the 10th. Mr. Powell
of Kentucky moved an amendment providing that no part of
the
army
or navy of the United States should be used for sub-
jugating any sovereign State, " or in abolishing or interfering
with African slavery in any of the States." Mr. Lane of
Kansas proposed to amend the amendment by adding the
words, " unless a military necessity shall exist for maintaining
the Constitution " but it was rejected.
Mr. Sherman moved
;
to strike out all of Mr. Powell's
words
:
amendment, and
to insert the
" the purposes of the military establislunent provided
for in this act are to preserve
tlie Union, to defend the propmaintain
erty and
the constitutional authority of the govern-
ment."
Mr. Breckinridge proposed to add to Mr. Sherman's
�228
RISE
amendment
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" but the
army and navy shall not be
employed to subjugate any State to reduce it to the condition
the words
:
of a Territory or province, or to abolish slavery therein."
But
amendment was rejected, nine Senators only voting for it.
Mr. Sherman's amendment was agreed to, and the original
the
amendment, as amended, was rejected, and the bill passed.
The l)ill was amended in the House but, the Senate refusing
;
amendments, committees of conference were
appointed, the House receded from its amendments, and the
Senate bill became a law, by the signature of the President, on
to concur in the
the 3d of August.
On
the 22d of July, the day after the battle of Bull Run,
Mr. Wilson introduced a
ployment
of volunteers.
ceeded to
its
bill in
On
addition to the act for the em-
the next day the Senate pro-
consideration, and, on motion of Mr. Wilson,
was amended by adding that the number
authorized
The
bill
should
not exceed
five
it
of troops thereby
hundred tliousand men.
authorizing the addition to the volunteer forces of
half a million of
men
passed the Senate witliout a division,
and the House with only fifteen dissenting votes, and it became a law on the 25th of July.
On the 8th of July Mr. Wilson reported from the Committee on Military Affairs a resolution setting forth the facts
that the proclamation and orders of the President had boon
without the authority of law, and providing that these extraordinary proclamations and orders be " approved and declared
to be in all respects legal and valid to the same intent and
with the same effect as if they had been issued and- done
under the previous and express authority of Congress." Mr.
Lane of Indiana, saying that he had voted to report the reso" The red right hand of armed rebellion was
lution, added
raised to strike down the government under which we live,
and
the freest, happiest, grandest government upon earth,
the President was suddenly called upon to put down this
armed rebellion. Every effort which he has made to that purpose meets my most hearty co-operation and support."
:
—
—
Mr. Kennedy of Maryland, on the other hand, expressed his
solemn conviction that the Union would never be reconstructed
�WAR
229
LEGISLATION.
by the sword, and he asked
if
any reason could be given for
Mr. Wil-
the suspension of the habeas corpus in Maryland.
who shot down in the
men who were rallying to the call
son replied, that a band of conspirators,
streets of Baltimore brave
of their country, to defend the capital of the nation, afforded a
complete justification of the President in authorizing General
" If there
Scott to suspend the writ in and around that city.
ever was," he said, " in any portion of the Republic, any spot
of earth, or any time where and when the writ of habeas corpus ought to be suspended, the city of Baltimore was the spot,
and the last few weeks the time, for its suspension." Mr.
Baker of Oregon, a member of the committee, speaking of the
series of measures reported by Mr. Wilson, said he did not
know when peace would be conquered, but he did know that
" the determined, aggregated power of the people of this country, all its treasure, all its
arms,
all its
blood,
all its
enthusi-
asm, concentrated, poured out in one mass of living valor on
the foe, will conquer." " I sanction and approve," said Mr.
Lane of Indiana, " everything the President has done during
the recess of Congress, and the people sanction and approve it."
Polk of Missouri, Bayard of Delaware, Latham of CaliforMr. Powell said, that, instead
nia opposed the resolution.
of approving these
stitution
wanton and palpable
by the executive, the
officers
violations of the Con-
who committed
these
usurpations should be arraigned at the bar of the Senate.
Mr. Breckinridge said sneeringly that the country should understand that " the Constitution of the United States is no
longer to be held as the measure of power on the one side and
of obedience on the other, but that it is to be put aside to
carry out the purposes of the majority."
Mr. Johnson of Tennessee pronounced the cause of the Rebellion to be " disappointed, impatient, unliallowed ambition."
" Certain men," he said, " could not wait any longer, and they
seized the occasion to do what they had been wanting to do
—
break up the government. If they could
for a long time,
not rule a large country, they thought they could rule a small
Referring to a declaration of Toombs, that when traione."
tors
become numerous enough, treason becomes
respectable, he
�230
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
said that traitors were "
becoming numerous," whether treason was, or was not, " respectable," adding " But God being
:
whether traitors be many or few, as I have hitherto
waged war against traitors and treason, and in behalf of the
government which was constructed by our fathers, I intend to
willing,
This timely and emphatic declarait to the end."
was enthusiastically applauded by the galleries. Mr.
Sherman of Ohio avowed his purpose to vote for the resolution, and make the acts of the President as legal and valid as
if they had the previous and express sanction of Congress.
" I vote for these measures," he said, " and I approve them all
the more because the taking of them involved the President in
some personal hazard." Mr. Trumbull, however, chairman
of the Committee on the Judiciary, declared he could never
vote for the resolution, and, Mr. King of New York expressing the belief that it could not be acted upon in the House, it
was not further pressed.
Mr. Wilson, from the Committee on Military Affairs, recontinue
tion
ported several other
bills relating to
the organization of the
military forces, which passed both houses, and received the
A bill,
sanction of the President.
so opportune and, as the
event proved, so important, was introduced by Mr. Johnson
making an appropriation for arming loyal citiThe bill was promptly reported Ijack,
by Mr. "Wilson, from the Military Committee, and two millions
of Tennessee,
zens in disloyal States.
were thus appropriated. From that appropriation
Mr. Stanton took the responsibility, at a most critical period,
of making a loan to Governor Morton of Indiana, for putting
of dollars
troops in the
field,
that State had left
when the dispersion of the legislature
him without means. Near the close
the session Mr. Wilson introduced a
officer of the
sliould
should
leave
Ijc
bill
of
of
providing that every
naval and military forces who, having resigned,
his post before
his
resignation was accepted,
The bill also provided for the
the army for desertion.
On mo-
declared a deserter.
abolishment of flogging in
word " desertion " was stricken out, so
that by the passage of this bill flogging was abolished in the
tion of Mr. Hale, the
army, as
it
had been
in the navy.
�WAR
On
the
5tli of
ing the pay of
eleven to fifteen
231
LEGISLATION.
August Mr. Wilson Introduced a bill increasnon-commissioned officers and privates from
On his motion it was so
dollars per month.
amended as to make legal and valid the acts, proclamations,
and orders of the President respecting the army and navy.
In the House the bill was amended, on motion of Mr. Stevens
of Pennsylvania, so as to increase the pay of privates in the
army from eleven to thirteen, instead of fifteen, dollars. Mr.
Vallandigham moved to strike out that portion of the bill
legalizing the acts of the President, but his motion received
but nineteen votes.
The
bill .then
passed the House, but was
on the table in the Senate. Mr. Wilson then introduced
bill, increasing the pay of privates in the army to thirteen dollars a month, and, on his motion, the bill was so
amended as to legalize the acts and proclamations of the President, respecting the army and navy, in calling out the militia
and volunteers. Rice of Minnesota, Latham and McDougall
laid
a
new
Democratic members, voted thus to legalize the
acts of the President, though five Democratic Senators voted
against it and what failed as a bill was passed as an amendof California,
;
ment.
On the 2d of August Mr. Cox of Ohio introduced in the
House, by unanimous consent, a resolution of sympathy for
the bereaved friends and families of soldiers who had fallen in
defence of the Republic. It acknowledged in grateful and
graceful terms " the faithful services and loyal devotion of our
soldiers
who have fought and
fallen in defending our flag
and
in vindicating the supremacy
and majesty of the Republic.
Whether successful, or compelled by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy to resign a victory already won, their graves
are honored, and history invests their names with unfading
renown.
And
while the
national legislature
expresses the
and friends,
and the army, which is now
eager to resume the contest, the imperishable honor of their
example." This resolution received the unanimous vote of
sympathy
of the nation for their bereaved families
we commend
both houses.
to a generous people
�CHAPTER
XVIII.
SLAVES USED FOR MILITAEY PURPOSES MADE FREE.
— Eepublican avowals. — Vote of the House. —
— Slaves made contraband of war. —
General Butler. — Letter of Secretary of War. — Northern misapprehension.
— Slaves made useful to the Rebels. — of Mr. Trumbull confiscation.
— Amendment making the slaves employed by Rebels. — Debate thereon.
— Breckinridge, Trumbull, Wilson, McDougall, Ten Eyck, Pearce. — Passed
the Senate. — Reported in the House. — Debate. — Bingham, Bennett,
question. — Diven's proposition. — Speech of Thadtenden. — New and
deus Stevens. — Bill recommitted. — Reported again and passed. — Beginning
Original purposes of the war.
The
impracticability of such a policy.
Bill
for
free
Crit-
difficult
of the end.
" Man proposes, but God disposes." Seldom have these
words of the good Thomas a Kempis received a more marked
exempHfication than was afforded by the purposes, progress,
and final outcome of the late war of the Rebellion. From the
President downward all were ready to admit that as it advanced it assumed dimensions and characteristics, developed
dangers and duties, that both greatly surprised and rendered
necessary policies which had been not only not avowed, but
In nothing was this more manifest than
clearly disavowed.
It had been asserted in the platin the matter of slavery.
form of the Republican party on which President Lincoln had
been elected it had been proclaimed by him in his message,
and by other forms of utterance and it had been reiterated by
prominent members of the party, that no ulterior designs upon
;
;
It was asseverated, too, in the
most emphatic and solemn manner, that the war itself had but
one object, the vindication of the authority of the government
the system were entertained.
and the preservation
of the
Union.
As
late as the
11th of
February, 1861, the House of Representatives adopted the
resolution, without one dissenting vote, " That neither Con-
�SLAVES USED FOR MILITARY PURPOSES MADE FREE.
233
government of the non-slaveholcling
upon or interfere with slavery in any slaveholding State of the Union."
gress, nor the people or
States, have a constitutional right to legislate
Nor
is it
doubtful that this purpose was as sincere as
publicly and even legislatively announced.
it
For, whatever
was
may
have been the personal views and convictions, hopes and fears,
of its members, policy seemed to demand of the administration
that the Unionists of the border States should,
if
possible, be
purposes towards them and their
reassured as to
its pacific
special interests,
and be convinced that they could remain loyal
to the
Union without putting
It is
in peril their cherished system.
not enough, however, to say, nor does
it
fully explain
the serious complications of the contest, that Northern
men
were restrained from interfering with what were claimed to be
the rights of the slave-masters by mere constitutional scruples
and an unwillingness to embarrass the Unionists of the border
The plain historic truth is, and it should be
slave States.
borne in mind, that the proslavery or conservative sentiments
of the country
They too
were by no means confined to the slave States.
largely pervaded not merely the North, but the Re-
Large numbers whose loyalty to the
publican party as well.
who joined the Republican party beand who would make any sacrifices to
Union was unquestioned,
cause of that loyalty,
maintain the government, had no real sympathy with antislavery.
They had learned
to distrust
and dread the longer
domiuation of the Slave Power over the nation, sighed for a
release
from
its
disgraceful
and dangerous
control,
and were
honestly opposed to slavery extension, but they had no very
strong desires for the emancipation of the slaves.
They would
accept Abolition rather than disunion, but they did not desire
The
ations
— could not be so
his inferiority,
— the growth
it.
of two generand the convictions of
that had been so often and so earnestly incul-
prejudices against the negro
easily dispelled,
cated from every quarter during
tlie
long antislavery conflict,
soldier who wished it to
be understood that he enlisted for the Union, and " not to
could not be at once unlearned.
fight for the nigger "
who was "willing"
;
The
the Union-loving but conservative lady,
the slaves should be freed,
if
that
was
�234
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
necessary, were representatives of large numbers in
free States,
— how
Mr. Lincoln was sharply
criticised for his
Mr. Greeley because of
its
necessities of the slave.
"
"
all
the
large a proportion Omniscience only knows.
famous utterance to
seeming indifference to the sad
My
paramount object," he
said,
Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery.
If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I
would do it if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would
is
to save the
;
do
it
;
and
if
I could save it
others alone, I would do it."
by freeing some, and leaving
If in these words the Presi-
dent did not represent the majority of his party, the failure lay
rather in his not expressing reluctance in view of even the
apprehended necessity of touching slavery at
all,
than, in taking
too advanced a position.
Doubtless the army of freedom had been largely increased
by the addition of those who accepted in good faith its prinThough coming in
ciples, and were earnest in their support.
at the eleventh hour, they labored heartily for its triumph.
Relieved from constitutional scruples which had hitherto held
them back, and thoroughly cured by the atrocities with which
the Rebellion had been inaugurated and by which it was accompanied of all sympathy with the slave-masters, they found
themselves prepared, with more teachable spirits, to learn the
lessons
of
the
war, and accept as practical principles the
primal rights of man.
The
fires
that had burned up their
prejudices and destroyed the sophistries of the past had so
illumined the characters in which those lessons were written,
that they found
it
them
less difficult to read
aright and to ac-
They, especially, who
cept the conclusions to which they led.
believed in a superintending Providence, and found in the
Christian Scriptures their religious faith, rules, and motives
of action,
saw more clearly the national complicity with the sin
and were ready, as never before, to accept their
of slavery,
teachings
who contended
that the nation could not rationally
hope for victory until that sin was repented of and put away.
The number, however, who were prepared thus thoughtfully,
dispassionately,
and wisely
in a minority, even of those
to reason,
it
who voted
is
to be feared, were
the Republican ticket,
�SLAVES USED FOR MILITARY PURPOSES MADE FREE.
235
and accepted in form at least the principles enunciated in its
platform and proclaimed by its advocates and leaders. Accepting them as a military or political necessity, forced upon
them by the exigencies of the war, was altogether another and
different affair than yielding to the impulse of moral convic-
tions with an honest, well-considered indorsement of the funda-
mental doctrines of
human
equality and its consequent rights.
This, then, was the practical problem with which Mr. Lincoln and his administration were confronted, these the difficulties
with which they had to contend.
They were required
persuade and hold the free States to the
to
and
a war
terrific sacrifices
expenditures of blood and treasure for the support of
whose logical results were the vindication of the principles
and the realization of the purposes which the great majority
had been accustomed to oppose and treat with scorn during
the long years of the antislavery struggle.
More
difficult still,
they were required not only to retain the border slave States
in the Union, but to secure
means
to fight the battles of a
from them quotas of men and
war for which they had defiantly
refused at the outset to meet the requisitions of the govern-
ment,
— a war that
the very system
was destined,
if
not designed, to destroy
they cherished equally with the seceding
whose conservation the war was made. Is it
wonderful that Mr. Lincoln's course should sometimes have
seemed too hesitating and equivocal ? But is not the wonder
States,
and
for
greater, that, surrounded with difficulties so great
culiar,
the
struggle
should have been
so wisely
and pemanaged,
and that a conclusion so satisfactory should have at length
been reached
?
soon became manifest, therefore, that an indeterminate
policy could not be safely maintained, and that it would be imIt
possible to strike effective blows against the Rebellion,
the same time leave the guilty cause unharmed.
first
and at
Among
the
developments that forced this subject upon the govern-
ment was the escape
of slaves within the lines of the
Union
forces.
Several having come to the quarters of General Butler,
general
commanding
Confederate
department of Eastern Virginia, a
neighborhood demanded their resto-
in the
officer in the
�236
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
The general refused on tlic ground that they were contraband of war and could not be given up. Flocking to him,
however, in such numbers, he was compelled to report the case
ration.
Washington, and ask for instructions.
at
War, while approving
position maintained by
government," he
The Secretary
of
of his action, took occasion to define the
tlie
government
at that time.
"
The
said, "
cannot recognize the rejection by any
State of the Federal obligations, nor can it refuse the perform-
ance of the Federal obligations resting upon
itself.
Among
these Federal obligations, however, none can be more import-
ant than that of suppressing and dispersing armed combinations formed for the purpose of overthrowing
its whole constiWhile, therefore, you will permit no interference, by persons under your command, with the relations
tutional authority.
of persons held to service
will,
under the laws of any State, you
on the other hand, so long as any State within which
your military operations are conducted is under the control of
such armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged
masters any persons coming within your lines."
Another
illustration of
Northern misapprehension was
af-
forded by the general opinion that slavery, in the case of war,
would become a source
On
existed.
that
it
of
weakness
the contrary, however,
was a source
to the States in
it
which
it
soon became manifest
and added materially to the
upon the government. Instead
their masters' treason to assert and
of strength
effectiveness of their assault
of availing themselves of
own rights by helping to maintain those of the
was soon discovered that the slaves were aiding the
conspirators, and that their help was utilized in various ways,
by working on forts, by performing menial services for officers
and privates even in the Rebel armies, and especially by remaining at their homes to perform the ordinary labor on farms
and plantations, thus allowing the white population to repair
vindicate their
Union,
it
to the seat of actual hostilities.
How
this difficulty should be
met, and how slaves thus employed should be treated, became,
therefore, for the moment, mainly a military question, though
its
moral and
even
if
political
elements could not be hidden from view,
in practice they should be in great degree ignored.
�SLAVES USED FOR MILITARY PURPOSES MADE FREE.
237
In the Senate, on the 20th of July, 1861, Mr. Trumbull of
Illinois,
chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, reported,
by order
of that committee, a bill to confiscate the property
used for insurrectionary purposes. The bill provided that, if
during the present or any future insurrection against the government of the United States, after the President shall have
declared by proclamation that the laws of the United States
and the execution obstructed, by combinations
too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, any person or persons, his, her, or tlieir
are opposed,
agent, attorney, or employe, shall purchase or acquire, sell or
give,
any property, of whatsoever kind or description, with
same to be used
intent to use or employ the same, or suffer the
or employed, in aiding, abetting, or promoting such insurrecor if any pertion, or any person or persons engaged therein
;
son or persons, being the owner or owners of any such property, shall knowingly use or employ, or consent to the use or
employment
to
l)e
He
of,
the same,
all
such property
is
to be declared
lawful subject of prize and capture wherever found.
by way
also added,
of
amendment, an additional
sec-
tion,
" That whenever any person claiming to be entitled to the
any other person under the laws of any
employ
such person in aiding or promoting any
State, shall
insurrection, or in resisting the laws of the United States, or
shall permit or suffer him to be so employed, he shall forfeit
and the person whose labor
all right to such service or labor
service or labor of
;
or service
is
thus claimed shall be henceforth discharged there-
from, any law to the contrary notwithstanding."
On
the 22d, the day after the battle of Bull Run, the resolu-
was taken up
Mr. Breckinridge char"
thougli lie
very
objectionable,"
acterized the amendment as
"
comunand a decided
expressed the conviction that it would
tion
for consideration.
majority in the Senate."
He
closed
l>y
calling for the yeas
Mr. Trumbull replied by explaining the provisions
of the amendment he had offered, and indicating the spirit and
purpose that prompted it and tlie line of argument by which it
was to be, and was, sustained. The amendment provides, he
and nays.
�238
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
said, that if ever
any slave
is
IN AMERICA.
employed " in aid of
this Rebellion,
in digging ditches or intrenchments, or in any other way, or
if
used for carrying guns, or if used to destroy this government,
by the consent of his master, his master shall forfeit all riglit
and
to him, and he shall be forever discharged
;
the yeas and nays are called, to let us see
who
am
I
is
glad
willing to
vote that the traitorous owner of a negro shall employ him to
down the Union men
restoring him to the traitor
shoot
of the country,
that
owns him.
and yet
I
insist
understand that
negroes were in the fight which has recently occurred.
it
that negroes
who
I take
are used to destroy the Union, and to
down the Union men by
shoot
upon
the consent of traitorous mas-
ought not to be restored to them.
If the Senator from
Kentucky is in favor of restoring them, let him vote against
To these remarks of Mr. Trumbull Mr.
the amendment."
Breckinridge replied, with some warmth of manner, " The
ters,
line of
remarks made by the Senator appears
gether uncalled for.
upon
tor,
my own
I
expect to do
conscience and upon
according to the Constitution.
in reply.
I
showed
yeas and nays.
In
me
to be alto-
my own
judgment,
no argument
my willingness to vote by asking for the
my opinion, the amendment will be one of
we have no
general confiscation of
The
to
duty here as a Sena-
I shall enter into
a series which will amount, before
unhappily,
my
settlement or
all
—
adjustment soon, —
we
are done with
property, and a loosing of
it,
if,
to a
all
bonds.
inferences the Senator draws are not deducible from
my
motives and purpose in calling for the yeas and nays on this
amendment, and the vote
"
I shall
I shall give."
vote," said Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts, " with
more heart than
I
vote for ordinary measures, for this propo-
hope the Senate and the House of Representatives
will sustain it, and that this government will carry it out with
sition.
I
that knows no change.
Tlie idea that men
arms destroying their country shall be permitted to
use others for that purpose, and that we shall stand by and
issue orders to our commanders that we should disgrace our
cause and our country by returning such men to their traitor-
an
inflexibility
who
are in
ous masters, ought not longer to be entertained.
The time
�SLAVES USED FOR JIILITARY PURPOSES MADE FREE.
has come for that to cease
am
as I
;
mean
concerned, I
and by the blessing
it
shall cease.
of
239
God, as far
anybody
If there is
chamber that chooses to take tlie other path, let him do
it
Our purpose is to save
let him know what our purpose is.
this government, and save this country, and to put down treason and if traitors use bondmen to destroy this country, my
doctrine is that the government shall at once convert those
in this
;
;
bondmen
try.
I
men
into
that cannot be used to destroy our coun-
have no apologies to make for this position.
proudly.
I
think the time has come
and the men mIio are
in
arms under
when
tlie
this
I
take
it
government,
government, should
whom
cease to return to traitors their fugitive slaves,
they are
men who are fighting
The time has come when we
using to erect batteries to murder brave
under the
flag of their country.
should deal with the
men who
and teaching them
to shoot doM'n loyal
are organizing negro companies,
men
offence of upholding the flag of their country.
sir,
that there
blast
is
men who
I
for the only
hope further,
a public sentiment in this country that will
will rise in the Senate, or out of
it,
to
make
apologies for treason, or to defend or to maintain the doctrine
that this government
is
bound
to protect traitors in converting
their slaves into tools for the destruction of the Republic."
Mr. McDougall of California, regarding the amendment
" to be in the nature of confiscation for treason," favored
its
adoption.
Mr. Ten Eyck of
New
Jersey said that on the
previous Saturday he had voted, in the Committee on the Judiciary,
amendment, for two reasons first, his
would employ slaves for the purposes
and, second, because he did not know what was to
against the
:
disbelief that the Rebels
indicated,
become of the poor wretches if they were discharged. " God
knows," he said, " we do not want them in our section of the
Union.
But, sir, having learned, and believing that these
persons have been employed with arms in their hands to shed
the blood of Union-loving
men
of this country, I shall
now
vote in favor of that amendment, with less regard to what
may become
than
had on Saturday."
The border-State Unionists found voice in a speech of Mr.
Pearce of Maryland. " It will not be surprising to the Senate,"
of these people
I
�240
he
in
RISE
said, "
which
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
if
those
who come from
proposes, as this
amendment
however limited and
of
it
the section of the country
shoidd be a httle sensitive at anything which
I reside
Besides, I think
IN AMERICA.
qiiaHfied.
it will
does, an act of emancipation,
That
is
my
be hrutum fiihnen.
Imt more of that irritation of which
prayer there shall be as
little
as possible.
objection to
Nothing
it
I
is
will
my
think
it.
come
earnest
it is
the
part of statesmen, in managing the concerns of the country
at this dreadful crisis, to observe all possible toleration, all
conciliation, all liberality
;
not looking merely at the events
may crowd upon us
upon which the fate of the country, for weal or
for woe, may depend for a century.
I am not insensible to
the magnitude of this occasion.
I look at all its aspects, and
at all the consequences which may result from tliat which is
now in progress. No man deplores it more deeply than I do.
No man sought more earnestly to shun it. I only ask now,
that this measure, which cannot be of any very active force,
may not be adopted because it will only add one more to the
irritations which are already exasperating the country to far
too great an extent.
It will inflame suspicions which have
had much to do with producing our present evils will disturb
those who are now calm and quiet, inflame those Avho are
restless, irritate numbers who would not be exasperated by
anything else and will, in all probability, produce no otlier
real effect than these.
Being,*then, useless, unnecessary, and
of the day, but at the great events that
for years, and
;
;
:
irritating,
it is,
in
my
opinion, unwise."
The amendment was
tlien
adopted by a vote of thirty-three
amended passed the Senate.
It was reported in the House by Mr. Bingham of Ohio,
chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, with an amendment in the form of a substitute. The substitute was, however, rejected, and the bill as it passed the Senate was before
This bill, said Mr. Bingham, " is a sweeping
the House.
declaration, that whenever any person claiming to be entitled
to six, and the bill as thus
any other person, under the laws of
any State, shall employ such person in aiding or promoting
any insurrection, or in resisting the laws of the United States,
to the service or labor of
�SLAVES USED FOR MILITARY PURPOSES MADE FREE.
or shall permit
him
to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right
to such service or labor
is
241
;
and the person whose labor or service
thus claimed shall be thenceforth discharged therefrom, any
law to the contrary notwithstanding."
To the charge of Mr. Burnett of Kentucky that it was tantamount " to a wholesale emancipation of the slaves in the
seceding and rebellious States," Mr. Bingham replied that no
just court would ever so construe it, should it become a law.
" By the express words of the bill," he said, " it is limited in
its effect to those persons who themselves, by their own direct
acts, for the purpose of overturning the powers of the government, employ, or consent that others employ, the services of
slaves to that end.
I aver that a traitor should not only
forfeit his slaves,
The
but he should forfeit his
life
as well."
was strenuously opposed by Mr. Crittenden of Ken" It has
tucky, who had then become a member of the House.
bill
been conceded," he said, " in
all time that the Congress of the
United States had no power to legislate upon the subject of
slavery within the States.
Absence of all power of legislation
in time of peace
must be the absence
of the
You have no power, by your
times.
same power
at all
Constitution, to touch
slavery at all."
To the arguments urged by Mr. McClernand, a Democratic
member from Illinois, and Mr. Kellogg, a Republican of the
same
State, that a traitor could forfeit his claim to his slave
equally as to his horse, " and yet not at
all conflict with or
abrogate the law that authorizes the holding of slaves," he
replied, " If you have no power, there the question ends.
Well, have you a power to legislate concerning a slave in
Kentucky, as to his rights, present or future ? Have you a
right to impose any terms or conditions on the master, in
time of peace, on which the slave shall be entitled to his
liberty? .... This provision of the bill will be considered
and interpreted abroad as assuring to Congress a power over
If you can, on conditions, in time of war, abrogate
and abolish slaVery, it may be asked whether you cannot do it
in time of peace, on similar conditions of supposed future
crime?
Are we in a condition now, gentlemen, to hazard
slavery.
VOL.
III.
16
�242
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
momentous, irritating, agitating, revolutionary question ?
to wage such a war as that ?
You know as
well as I do the peculiar sensitiveness which exists upon the
peculiar species of property to which this bill applies.
I do
this
Is
it politic
.
.
.
.
not appear to speak for the cause of the slaveholder.
my
I
am
and with an honest and sincere
heart, with all the earnestness of my nature do I implore you
to forego the passage of this bill, and to dismiss it from your
deliberations.
The eyes of the world are upon you. You are
here to plead for
country
;
in the presence of CA^ents that will be of deeper interest in
history than any that have occurred in a hundred years
;
of
seems to me, as can occur to the human
After reminding the House that the history of events
as great importance,
race."
it
and acts of which they were then the " active agents " would
be " written by an impartial hand," he implored its members
to act their part " like men," and give their enemies " no
pretext for misrepresenting the purposes and objects of this
war," and added, " We have declared that this war is not for
the subjugation of the South, not for the overthrow of slavery,
nor for the overthrow of their social institutions, but simply
and preserving
for the noble purposes of restoring our country
That
the Union.
we pursue
is
our object.
Let the means with which
that object be as noble and elevated as the object
Let us raise ourselves to that high level."
itself.
was a new question, and Republicans, while admitting
the importance of wrenching from the Rebels this source of
It
strength which the slaves were so unexpectedly showing them-
were not agreed as to the best method of reaching such a result. These views were thus expressed by Mr.
Diven of New York. " I may be asked," he said, " what would
you do with negroes taken in actual arms against the country ?
What would you do with negroes found employed in building
selves to be,
ships-of-war, fighting battles against the country, rearing fortifi-
cations from which shots are to be fired on
Union
?
Why,
the country.
I
tlie
would treat them as men
would treat them as prisoners
sir, I
soldiers of the
in
arms against
of war.
Then
I admit that a question, entirely novel in the usages of war, at
once occurs.
VOL.
III.
You have
16
then got a species of
men
as prisoners
�SLAVES USED FOR MILITARY PURPOSES MADE FREE.
whom
243
the usages of war, in no place that I have ever seen,
treat as such.
proposed in committee, as a substitute for
I
this bill, to relieve the
government and the war-power of the
men
country from the attitude in which the seizure of these
thus employed against the government would place them, by
providing the simple penalty, that any
against the government
is
man
taken in arms
taken as a prisoner of war, ....
Afterward, when you come to de-
whatever his complexion.
termine on an exchange of prisoners, you can determine on
what terms they
shall be released."
In response not only to the argument of the Southern Unionbut to the hesitating policy advocated and represented by
Mr. Diven, Thaddeus Stevens replied with his usual directness
and force. " When a country," he said, " is in open war with
ists,
an enemy, every
publicist agrees that
you have the right to
use every means which will weaken him.
time of war,
if it
Vattel says, that in
who
be a just war, and there be a people
have been oppressed by the enemy, and that enemy be conquered, the victorious party cannot return that oppressed people to the
bondage from which they have rescued them.
I
wish
gentlemen would read what Vattel says upon this subject.
I
wish the gentleman from New York, especially, would read
the remark of Vattel, that one of the most glorious consequences of victory is giving freedom to those who are oppressed." " I agree to it," replied Mr. Diven. " Then how
is it," asked Mr. Stevens, " that if we are justified in taking
property from the
enemy
in war,
when you have rescued an
oppressed people from the oppression of that enemy, by what
principle of the law of nations,
by what principle of philanthem to the bondage from which you
them, and rivet again the chains you have once
thropy, can you return
have delivered
broken
is
?
It is
a disgrace to the party which advocates
against the principle of the law of nations.
every principle of philanthropy.
I,
it.
It
It is against
for one, shall never shrink
from saying, when these slaves are once conquered by us,
Go and be free.' God forbid that I should ever agree that
'
they should be restored again to their masters
Southern gentlemen, that,
if
this
war
is
!
I
warn
to continue, there
�244
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
EISE
will be a time
when my
friend from
clared by this free nation, that every
belonging to a Rebel
called
upon to
;
how
they
New York
bondman
To
war against
will see it de-
in the
South
—
—
shall be
their masters,
and to
recollect, I confine
aid us in
restore this Union."
IN AMERICA.
it
to
them
a question of Mr. Logan of Illinois,
who had taken an
oath to support the Constitution
could rightfully violate that oath, even though Rebels had
vacated their rights under that Constitution by their treason,
Mr. Stevens replied " The law of nations is plain to those
:
who have
read
it,
days of Cicero, Inter arma
down
The law
established in the
silent leges, is a
law that has been
on this point.
and any nation which disis a poor, pusillanimous nation, which submits its neck to be struck off by the enemy."
On motion of Mr. Pendleton the bill was recommitted. But
it was immediately reported again, substantially the same,
though slightly amended, the gist of the amendment being
expressed in the closing clause to the effect that " whenever
in force
to the present time
;
regards that law
thereafter the person claiming such labor or service shall seek
it shall be a full and sufficient answer to
such claim, that the person whose service or labor is claimed
to enforce his claim,
had been employed
in hostile service against the
government
of the United States, contrary to the provisions of this act."
Thus amended, notwithstanding several dilatory motions, the
"
Senate bill for " making free slaves used by Rebel forces
passed the House by a vote of sixty to forty-eight, and received
the approval of the President on the 6th of August. Such was
the beginning of the end, and it did become, in the words of
Mr. Breckinridge, the first " of a series of measures loosing
all
bonds."
�CHAPTER XIX.
REGULAR SESSION.
— MESSAGE,
AND REPORTS OP THE DEPART-
MENTS.
— War accepted. — President's message. — Undefined policy
— Hopeful. — Report of Secretary of War. — Great and
rapid increase of the army. — Congratulations. — Bull Run. — No ground
— Report of Navy.
discouragement. — Sanitary agencies. — Escaping
— Large additions. — Fugitives. —
— Three
of operations. — Wide
Report of Treasury. — Elaborate. — Plans announced and reasons. — Great
success in raising means. — Loans. — Taxation. — Economy enjoined. — In— National banks. — Unfounded expectations. — Hopes.
come
Important meeting.
on the slavery
issue.
for
slaves.
lines
field.
tax.
It
is
to express the thouglit tamely to say that the
Ameri-
can Congress never assembled under circumstances more profoundly solemn and significant than
the 2d of December, 1861,
when
it
came together on
— never when questions more preg-
were to be answered. A year
had met at a time, perhaps, of more vivid alarm
and immediate anxiety in view of the approaching tempest,
whose mutterings, yet at a distance, were rapidly advancing.
nant and
previous
At
difficult of solution
it
the special session in July the storm had, indeed, burst
but, as
compared with subsequent developments,
it
was
of
small dimensions and slight severity, hardly more than a pre-
monition and menace of approaching danger,
— the
skirmish
army behind, while of the size of
that army, and of the duration of the war it was inaugurating,
men knew nothing, and scarcely dared conjecture though, it
of the advance-guard of the
;
may be
added, their wildest apprehensions
fell
far short of the
actuality afterward realized.
Now
the
war had not only been declared, but had been in
The people, having gradually
progress two thirds of a year.
though reluctantly relinquished
all
idea of further compromise,
�246
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
had been forced to the conclusion that what could not be settled by diplomacy must be submitted to the arbitrament of the
sword, and that the war must now be fought to the bitter end.
There had been battles, too, whose unsuccessful results had
greatly increased the general solicitude, and deepened impressions of danger, and of the magnitude of the work in hand.
The character of the war was becoming more and more apparent, the real issues involved more plainly seen, the positions of those who claimed neutrality more manifestly untenable, and the impossibility of saving the Union, and at the
same time protecting slavery, which was seeking its destrucIn seeking, theretion, was seen to be increasingly evident.
fore, peace, and a practical solution of the troublesome questions at issue, the minds of the dominant party had taken
more intelligent views of the great controversy, and were reaching more or less rapidly two positions which were new, startling, and in the minds of many subversive not only of the
hitherto avowed policy of the war, but of the very principles
of constitutional government. These two positions were, first,
the assumption that slavery was the cause of the trouble, that
its interests were of secondary importance, and that it sliould
be treated as subordinate to the higher claims of the country
and its preservation and, second, that the Constitution was
;
of less importance than the Union, that the infractions of the
former were
less perilous
than the rupture of the
latter,
and
that the provisions of even the organic law of the government
must be silent in the presence of the supreme law of the
But this was untrodden ground, and opened
an unexplored region, where they were compelled to move
without the lights of precedents or the landmarks of former
nation's safety.
That they made mistakes, both the President
and Congress, that they did not always see alike may be
legislation.
readily admitted without calling in question either their hon-
esty or their sagacity.
was adequate
No wisdom,
unless more than human,
to the fearful exigencies
through which they
were passing.
The message of the President was particularly calm and
Much of it would have been entirely appropridispassionate.
�MESSAGE AND REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
247
though lie did not, of
course, ignore the subject that was uppermost in every mind.
Referring to Rebel efforts to secure foreign recognition, he
spoke of "the ruin of our country offered" by disloyal citizens for " the aid and comfort which they have invoked
abroad " as having " received less encouragement and patronage than they probably expected." Of the promptness of the
people in furnishing men for the army he expressed his great
ate to times of profoundest peace
;
gratification, affirming that " the number of troops tendered
while he
greatly exceeds the force authorized by Congress "
"
having been conspoke of the operations of the Treasury as
;
ducted with signal success." Of naval affairs he spoke hopeadding " that it may almost be said a navy has been
fully,
created and brought into service since our difficulties com-
menced." Referring to slaves who, having been freed by
the confiscation act passed at the special session, " must be
provided for in some way," and to the possibility that others
might be released by similar enactments in some of the States,
and " thrown on them for disposal," he recommended that
some plan of colonization should be formed for them, as also
for any other " free people of color already in the United
States."
Concerning the policy of freeing the slaves of Rebel
owners, though saying that "the Union must be preserved, and
hence all indispensable means must be employed," he added,
as very clearly indicating the drift of his thought and purposes
upon the subject " We should not be in haste to determine
that radical and extreme measures, which may reach the loyal
:
as well as the disloyal, are indispensable," so fearfully did
Southern Unionists, at least large numbers of them,
embarrass the government in that hour of supreme peril.
the
Though
their loyalty
depended so largely on the conservation
was deemed in the highest degree important to conciliate and commit them to the Union cause.
of the slave system,
it
And
yet to do it required a course upon the part of the
government that seemed to many equivocal and vacillating,
breathing too
much
of policy
and too
little
of principle, as
ready to surrender the just claims and primal rights of the
many
to the imperious
and wicked demands
of the few.
�248
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Saying that " the war continues," and that " the
last ray of
hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the assault
upon Fort Sumter," he added " What was painfully uncertain then is much better defined and more distinct now
and
:
;
the progress of events
is
now
in the right direction."
He
by the Rebels of
Northern aid, and the fears of the friends of the Union on
the same point, as having been " settled definitely and on the
referred to the strong hopes entertained
He
right side."
spoke of the struggles in the three States
Kentucky, and Missouri, " neither of
would promise a single soldier at first," and of their
" now an aggregate of not less than forty thousand
Saying that there was " no
field for the Union."
of Maryland,
which
having
in the
armed
insurrectionist north of the Potomac, or east of the Chesa-
peake," and that " the cause of
steadily
the
Union
is
advancing
and certainly southward," he closed with these preg-
nant words
to-day
;
dence
all
:
it is
"
The
struggle of to-day
for a vast future also.
is
With
not altogether for
reliance on Provi-
the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the
great task which events have devolved upon us."
The
report of the Secretary of
War
not only contained the
statistical
facts and
army,
wonderfully rapid growth, and
its
figures that set forth the condition of the
its necessities still
it communicated information and statements,
though couched in the prosaic language of a public document,
Inin the highest degree suggestive and sentimental even.
deed, there is hardly anything in the range of literature more
Thus, after
poetic than the simple figures of the Secretary.
unsupplied, but
saying that at the opening of the Rebellion the entire military
force at the disposal of the government consisted of sixteen
thousand and six men, mostly employed at the West, he announced that " we have now an army of upwards of six hundred
thousand men." " In April," he said, " seventy-five thousand
volunteers were called upon to enlist for three months' service,
and responded with such alacrity that seventy-seven thousand
eight hundred and seventy-five were immediately obtained.
Under the authority of the act of Congress of July 22, 1861,
the States were asked to furnish five hundred thousand volun-
�MESSAGE AND REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
249
war and by the
month,
the addition of
act approved tlie 29th of the same
twenty-five thousand men to the regular army was authorized."
Indeed, so grandly had the country responded that he
teers to serve for three years, or during the
was enabled
to add, " the aggregate force furnished the gov-
ernment, since April
men."
was with
It
;
last,
exceeds seven hundred thousand
he could add " We have
justifiable pride
:
here an evidence of the wonderful strength of our institutions.
Without conscriptions,
expedients,
we
levies, drafts, or other
extraordinary
have raised a greater force than that which,
gathered by Napoleon with the aid of
all
these appliances, was
considered an evidence of his wonderful genius and energy,
and
of the military spirit of the
man
French nation.
Here every
has an interest in the government, and rushes to
when dangers
its
So thoroughly aroused
was the national heart that I have no doubt this force would
have been swollen to a million had not the Department felt
compelled to restrict it, in the absence of authority from the
representatives of the people to increase the limited number."
defence
He
beset
it
from the " loyal
"
governors," and of
the creditable degree of discipline " the
troops had attained in " the short time since they engaged in
referred to the effective aid he had received
the pursuits of peace."
Describing the magnitude of the con-
spiracy, " extending over
more than seven hundred thousand
five hundred
and a shore line of twenty-five thou-
square miles, with a coast line of three thousand
and twenty-three miles,
sand four hundred and fourteen miles, with an interior boundary line of seven thousand and thirty-one miles in length," he
added that the effort to restore the Union, " entered on in
April last, was the most gigantic endeavor in the history of
He
spoke of the " first successes " of the infrom " obvious causes," and of the
disaster at Bull Run as " the natural consequence of the
civil
war."
surgents
as
resulting
premature advance of our brave but undisciplined troops,
which the impatience of the country demanded," but as begetting " no discouragement to our gallant people," stimulating,
the rather, the massing of a mighty army " eager to precipitate itself
upon the
foe."
The check on the Potomac, he
said,
�250
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
had " but postponed the campaign
IN AMERICA.
few months," while
for a
the possession of Western Virginia and the occupation of Ilat-
and Beaufort have nobly redeemed our transient reSpeaking of the Springfield armory as their only
teras
verses."
reliance, in consequence of the destruction of that at Harper's
Ferry, Avhich had been destroyed " to prevent its possession
and use by the Rebels," and of the fact that " its greatest product, prior to these troubles, had never exceeded eight hundred
muskets per month," he added that, by pushing the manufacture night and day, there had been made, " during the past
month of October, a total of six thousand and nine hundred
muskets and it is confidently expected that ten thousand will
He reported
be manufactured during the present month."
large purchases of arms that had been made in Europe, and
;
agents there
still
purchasing.
He
spoke of the health of the
and of " the good men and
women in different States, impelled by the highest motives of
benevolence and patriotism, who had come in aid of the constituted sanitary arrangements of the government, and been
army, of
satisfactory condition,
its
greatly instrumental in diminishing disease in the camps, giv-
ing increased comfort and happiness to the
and imparting
to our hospital service a
of the soldier,
life
more humane and
generous character."
He
effective the
secure the capital
and so necessary for the success
heart,
maintain
ery
:
deemed needarmy thus gathered, and more
whose safety was so near to the nation's
called attention to several suggestions he
make more
ful to
" It
He
its integrity.
is
of their efforts to
closed with this reference to slav-
already a grave question what shall be done with
those slaves
who were abandoned by
owners on the
their
advance of our troops into Southern territory, as at Beaufort
in South Carolina.
that point
occur.
is
The number
left
within our control at
very considerable, and similar cases will probably
What
done with them
shall be
?
.
.
.
.
They
consti-
tute a military resource, and, being such, that they should not
be turned over to the enemy
prive
men
him
of supplies
to produce
is
too plain to dis.cuss.
Why
de-
by a blockade, and voluntarily give him
them
?
The
disposition to be
made
of the
�MESSAGE AND REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
251
slaves of Rebels, after the close of the war, can be safely left
to the patriotism
and wisdom
of Congress.
of the people will unquestionably
tives
The
representa-
secure to the loyal
slaveholders every right to which they are entitled under the
So little did even the leaders
Constitution of the country."
comprehend of the real nature of the conflict on which they
had entered, or anticipate the actual issues of the strife and
the final outcome of the great Rebellion.
The Secretary of the Navy introduced his report by a reference to " three different lines of naval operations, upon an
extended scale, demanded by the situation of the country, and
which had been entered upon by the Department.
" The closing of
all
the insurgent ports along a coast line of
nearly three thousand miles, in the form and under the exact-
ing regulations of an international blockade, including the
naval occupation and defence of the Potomac River, from
mouth
boundary
to the Federal capital, as the
Maryland and Virginia, and
also the
line
its
between
main commercial avenue
to the principal base of our military operations."
" The organization of combined naval and military expeditions, to operate in force against various points of the
Southern
coast, rendering efficient naval co-operation with the position
and movements
ing also
all
of such expeditions
when landed, and includarmy in cutting inter-
needful naval aid to the
communication with the Rebels and in
Mississippi and its tributaries."
its
operations on the
" The active pursuit of the piratical cruisers which might
escape the vigilance of the blockading force and put to sea
from the Rebel ports."
This " triple task, more arduous, it is believed, in some
respects, than has before been demanded from the maritime
power of any government," was at once rolled upon the Department, and at a time, too, when its little navy, intrinsically
weak, was made still more so by the perfidious conduct of the
conspirators in Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet.
So dispersed and
dismantled had it been, that " only a feeble force," the
Secretary said, " of men and vessels, scarcely sufficient for
ordinary police operations, was at that time available on the
�252
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Atlantic coast."
On the 4th of March, 1861, there were
" forty-two vessels in commission, carrying five hundred and
fifty-five guns, and about seven thousand and six hundred
men
The home squadron consisted of twelve vessels, and
of those only four were in Northern ports and available for
service." While the vessels abroad and thus widely dispersed
were, with three exceptions, ordered home, the Department
proceeded at once, and with
in the
work
of recuperation
the resources at
all
and enlargement, by
its disposal,
refitting those
in ordinary, repairing those in need of repair, building anew,
and purchasing
and purchased,
on December 1st the Secre-
largely, so that
tary could say, as he did
:
"
When
of every class, are
now
the vessels
building
armed, equipped, and ready
two hundred and sixty-four
hundred and fifty-seven guns, and
twenty-two thousand men."
for service, there will be a total of
vessels,
A
two thousand
five
portion of his report he also devoted to matters of detail
and recommendations designed
important arm of the service.
more
to render
He
the courage, ability, unfaltering
effective this
bore emphatic testimony to
fidelity,
and devotion to the
cause of the country, of its patriotic officers and brave men,
and affirmed that " the historic renown of the American navy
has been elevated and augmented."
He,
too,
had been con-
fronted with the question of slavery in the persons of " fugi-
from insurrectionary places," who had sought refuge
To the naval commanders who had
sought instructions from the Department, his reply had been
tives
in the Federal vessels.
:
" If insurgents, they should be handed over to the custody of
the government
;
but
if,
on
tlie
contrary, they were free from
any voluntary participation in the Rebellion, and souglit the
and protection of our flag, then tliey should be cared
for and employed in some useful manner, and might be enlisted to serve on our public vessels or in our navy yards,
or, if they could not be thus
receiving wages for their labor "
employed, " they should be allowed to proceed freely and
shelter
;
peaceably, without restraint, to seek a livelihood in any loyal
portion of the country."
A
week
later the Secretary of the
Treasury presented a
�MESSAGE AND REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
253
long and elaborate report, setting forth with some minuteness
of detail, and his reasons therefor, the policy he had recom-
mended, and which had been adopted by Congress, for the
important and essential purpose of furnishing funds for the
prosecution of the war. After specifying two loans already
effected, and the issue of treasury notes that had been limited
to fifty million dollars, he said that his " reflections had led to
the conclusion that the safest, surest, and most beneficial plan
would be to engage the banking institutions of the three chief
commercial cities of the seaboard to advance the sums needed,
.... to be reimbursed as far as practicable from the proceeds
of similar bonds subscribed by the people through the agencies
This plan, which he announced as
of the National Loan."
having been successful, was based upon the hope, he said,
" that the capital of the banking institutions and the capital
of the people might be so combined with the credit of the
government
in a proper provision for necessary expenditures,
as to give efficiency to administrative action, whether civil or
and competent support to public credit." Without
specifying the particular loans, their amounts and dates, it
military,
may
be added,
adopted, that
it
as
additional
was "
reasons
given for the policy
to secure to the people equal oppor-
tunity with the banks, for participation in the loan
;
and to
avoid competition between the government and the associated
institutions in the disposal of bonds."
and gives as the
He
then recapitulates,
result of his efforts in effecting loans
and in
the issue of treasury-notes that the government on the 30th of
November, 1861, had realized the sum, in round numbers, of
one hundred and ninety-seven million dollars.
But, while success had thus crowned his efforts in borrowing money, the Secretary was compelled to add that " the
receipts of revenue
from duties have not, as
yet, fulfilled the
expectations indulged at the date of the July report."
He
alluded to a difference of view between Congress and himself,
especially in regard to " the diminished duties
on tea, coffee,
and sugar," as being, " however warranted by considerations
of general policy, certainly disadvantageous to the revenue."
He
also alludes to " the
changed circumstances of the coun-
�254
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA,
try " as having proved, " even beyond anticipation, unfavorable to foreign commerce."
He then spoke of the great increase of expenditures made
necessary by the action of Congress, which, being " animated
by a desire for a short and decisive contest, went beyond the
recommendation of the President, and authorized the acceptance of volunteers in such numbers, not exceeding
five hundred thousand, as he might deem necessary " ; of its action in
reference to " a large increase of the regular army " of " the
;
liberal additions
sums required
poses."
made
pay and rations "
for the increase of
All this
and accordingly he
bers, the
of
sum
of
made
and of "additional
navy
the
and other pur;
increased appropriations necessary,
specified as being required, in
round num-
two hundred and fourteen million
dollars,
" beyond the estimates of July."
He urged with great point and pertinacity the importance of
" a reduction of expenditure within the narrowest practicable
limits."
He claimed that " contracts for supplies to the army
and navy, as well as
be subjected to
for public
work of all descriptions, shoidd
and the contractors to rigor-
strict supervision,
ous responsibility." " Unnecessary offices," he said, " should
be abolished, and salaries and pay should be materially reduced." This, he argued, would not only lighten the burdens
imposed by the war, but exert a moral benefit upon the people
He recommended the conof special importance and value.
fiscation of the property of the conspirators, contending that
" the property of Rebels should be made, in part at least, to
pay the cost of rebellion."
After saying that, however much might be saved by
re-
trenchment, and however economically the war should be
prosecuted, " large sums must remain to be provided for by
taxation and loans," he added, " Reflection has only confirmed
my
opinion that adequate provision by taxation for ordinary
expenditures, for prompt payment of interest on the public
and authorized, and for the gradual extinction
is indispensable to a sound system of finance.
The idea of a perpetual debt is not of American nativity, and
should not be naturalized." If, at any time, the exacting
debt, existing
of the principal,
�MESSAGE AND REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
255
emergencies of war constrain to temporary departure from the
principle of adequate taxation, the first
moments
of returning
tranquillity should be devoted to its re-establishment in full
supremacy over the financial administration of affairs." He
policy of an income tax, because it " requires
That the sum
largest contributions from largest means."
looked for from taxation, fifty million dollars, was " large,"
recommended the
if the sum is large, the means of
and the object to be attained by a
he admitted, but, he added,
the people are also large
consecration of
them
;
to the public service is priceless."
Repeating the remark that, after
all
that could be hoped
must be on
from taxation the main reliance
that " the action of banking institutions
in
and saying
assuming the im-
loans,
mediate responsibility of the whole advances hitherto required,
as well as the final responsibility of
much
the largest portion
of them, merits high eulogium," he adds, " the
prompt patriotism with which citizens of moderate means and workingmen
and workingwomen have brought their individual offerings to
the service of their country must command even warmer
praise."
Saying that " to enable the government to obtain the necessary means for prosecuting the war to a successful issue with-
out unnecessary cost
a problem that must engage the most
is
and adding that he had
" the best consideration in his power," the Secretary
suggested " two plans " the first " the withdrawal of the notes
careful attention of the legislature,"
given
it
:
and the substitution of United States
demand " and the second, what has
been familiarly termed the " national bank " theory, which he
more minutely described, to which he gave the preference, and
which was ultimately adopted.
After giving his estimates of what would be required for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1862, he says, for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1863, " no reliable estimates can be made."
He adds, however, notwithstanding the remark that " it is
the part of wisdom to be prepared for all eventualities," this
of private corporations,
notes, payable in coin on
hopeful prediction
judgment
:
" It
;
is
earnestly to be hoped, and, in the
of the Secretary, not without sufficient grounds, that
�256
tlie
RISE
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
present war
may
IN AMERICA.
be brought to an auspicious termination
midsummer. In that event, the provision of revenue
by taxation, which he has recommended, will amply suffice for
all financial exigencies, without resort to additional loans
and
not only so, but will enable the government to begin at once
before
;
He added, however, if
the war be protracted until the 1st of July, 1863, " the public
the reduction of the existing debt."
debt will be, in round numbers, nine hundred million dollars."
But even
amount, so unprecedented and unexpected, he
" The country," he said, " even
the loyal States only are regarded, can sustain and pay
this
contended, need not alarm.
if
off,
in thirty years, the debt to
which the Rebellion now
exposes us, with hardly greater proportional contributions
from increased and increasing resources than the debt made
necessary" by the war of 1812, and which was paid off by
the people in twenty years.
"The 1st of July, 1863"; "Nine hundred million dollars "
These figures were given as indicating the possible, but by no
means probable, duration and cost of the war. And yet the
considerate Secretary felt called upon to make to his countrymen this unwelcome announcement as among the possibilities
of the future, in order that he might bespeak, even in such a
contingency, their courageous and trustful acceptance of the
situation, with the assurance that even then their case would
be no worse than was that of their fathers, who were obliged
to take up the burdens imposed by " the war of 1812."
Had the full truth then been known, and had it been fore!
seen that the war, instead of reaching
as the Secretary
deemed
it
possible
its
it
termination in 1863,
might extend so
far,
would not find an end until 1865, and, instead of nine hundred million dollars,
its
maximum
four thousand million dollars,
cost should reach nearly
how would he and
trymen have then viewed the matter
there was mercy in that uncertainty
?
;
his coun-
Is there doubt that
and that
it
was
better that such conclusions should be gradually reached
?
far
�CHAPTER XX.
— COUNTY
BLACK CODE.
JAIL.
— SCHOOLS
IN
THE DISTRICT OP
COLUMBIA.
— Wilmot. —
— Infamous laws. — Mr. Wilson's
— County
disgraceful condition. —
and
Testimony of Wilson and Sumner. — Wilson's resolution. — Fessenden, Hale.
— Mr. Clark's resolution. — Bill of Mr. Grimes. — Democratic opposition. —
—
new warden. — House. — Bingliani's
Powell, Pearce,
lution. — Marshal Lamon. — President's order. — Enforced ignorance. — Dis— Passage. — Lovejoy's supplegraceful and unjust laws. — Mr. Grimes's
— Miss Miner's school. —
incorporation. — Debate. —
mentary
education in the county. — Mr.
Grimes, Morrill. — Passage of Grimes's
passed.
Patterson. —
National responsibility.
New
—
section.
bill.
Bill passed.
Carlile.
jail
its
reso-
Bill for
bill.
Bill for
bill.
bill for
Bill
No
complete and adequate estimate of the enormities of the
slave
system and of the guilty participancy of the nation
therein can be formed without a knowledge of the black code
of the District of Columbia, of that portion especially
which
bank of the Potomac, embracing the cities of
Washington and Georgetown. Coupling that knowledge with
lies
on the
left
the facts that the Constitution gives to Congress " the power
to exercise exclusive jurisdiction in all cases
whatsoever";
that here the government has been domiciled, and for half the
year representatives from
all parts of the country have made
home, and have been, of course, cognizant of its internal polity and that no laws respecting it have validity without their sanction,
and you have materials, to be found perhaps nowhere else, for judging of the nation's complicity and
their
it
;
—
consent, in spirit and purpose, in the matter of slavery, and of
its
it
consequent responsibility for the grave offences to which
has given
Lying
rise.
at its foundation
force, for the
VOL.
III.
new
was the act
of 1801, continuing in
republic, the barbarous laws of the colony
17
�258
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
of Maryland, though they were enacted in the darkest hour of
when the mother country, fully and openly
committed to slavery and the slave-trade as a source of profit
and national revenue, proclaimed it a traffic not to be reits early history,
strained, but cherished
and protected. These laws,
sufficiently
barbarous for any age or any people, seem almost
if
gether to have been conceived and constructed by
men
belief or conception of
ous of
all
human
moral distinctions.
ized the black
was bound
rights,
As
if
if
without
not completely oblivi-
color completely
man, and he had no
not alto-
delmman-
rights the white
man
to respect, these laws not only held in rigorous
bondage those already enslaved, but reduced to slavery free
persons of color for several specified and often most trivial
offences.
They hampered, too, and hedged around the slavemasters with arbitrary provisions against granting their slaves
even the most moderate privileges to lighten their burden and
relieve in the least their " dull monotony of gloom."
Illustrations are only too
numerous.
Thus,
if
one was " to
allow his slave to raise cattle or hogs as the proper right of
such slave, he shall pay five hundred pounds of tobacco " if
;
any one should " trade or barter with a slave without license
of the owner, he shall pay two thousand pounds of tobacco "
;
one should harbor a runaway, or one who had " ram"
from his owner, " during an hour or longer," he should
bled
and
if
be fined one hundred pounds of tobacco, or, in default of that,
he should be " whipped on his or her bare back, not exceeding
thirty-nine stripes for
any one offence."
But
if
one should
return such runaway he should receive two hundred pounds
If a slave should
of tobacco, to be collected from the owner.
be guilty of the seemingly small offence of rambling, going
abroad in the night, and riding horses in the daytime without
" punished by whipping, cropping, and
leave, he should be
branding with the
letter R."
If a slave should strike a white
man, he should be " cropped."
A slave convicted of petit
treason, arson, or murder should have " his right hand cut
off
be hanged in the usual manner the head severed from
the body, the body divided into four quarters the head and
quarters set up in the most public places of the country."
;
;
;
�BLACK CODE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
A
259
person " stealing a slave, or being accessory thereto, and
who shall obstinately or of malice stand
mute, shall suffer death without benefit of clergy." Runaway
slaves refusing to surrender and making resistance, " it shall
being convicted, or
and destroy " ; and any one thus
"
shall be indemnified from any proseshooting and killing
and the value of such slave shall
cution for such killing "
be paid by " the treasurer of the province out of the public
be lawful to shoot,
kill,
;
stock."
And these laws, and such as these, were standing
on the statute-book of the District, for which Congress was
openly and directly responsible, in the year of grace 1862.
After the adoption of the Constitution, and the District
had been ceded to the government, the enactments were not
as brutal and sanguinary, for, the former remaining in force,
more of the same character were not needed but the latter,
like most of the slave codes, were restrictive and repressive,
galling and crushing,
galling to every human and humane
;
—
sensibility,
crushing out everything like self-assertion,
self-
Not only were the slaves compelled
to bear the burden of unremitting and unpaid toil, wanton
contempt and insult, the lash of passion and of unsatisfied exaction, but whichever way they turned they encountered some
statute designed to come in conflict with their free will and to
deprive them of some just privilege.
Under an act of Congress, adopted as late as 1820, granting and defining the powers
of the corporation of Washington, a slave might be whipped
for breaking a street lamp tying a horse to any of the trees
of the public grounds
injuring a house or any of its appendreliance,
and
self-respect.
;
;
ages
offending against any of the laws of the public markets
;
setting fire to straw or shavings after
sundown
;
sending
;
off
crackers within a hundred yards of a dwelling-house, flying a
kite,
or bathing in the canal
;
and for being present
at
any
assemblage, except a religious meeting led by a white man,
and terminated before half past nine
o'clock.
Free negroes or
mulattoes were compelled to prove their freedom, and enter
into bonds, with five good sureties
to
pay a
house.
fine of
;
or, in default of
which,
one thousand dollars, and be sent to the work-
Persons of color, free or slave, visiting the capitol
�260
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
grounds without necessary business, and refusing to depart,
were fined twenty dollars, or confined to hard labor for thirty
A
days for each offence.
found in the
from a white per-
free colored person
street after ten o'clock p. m., without a pass
and locked up till morning for receiving an
was fined twenty dollars, committed to
A slave rethe workhouse, and his sureties rendered void.
ceiving such paper was to be punished with thirty-nine stripes.
Under the same act, the corporation might license persons to
engage in the domestic slave traffic by paying the sum of four
hundred dollars.
On the 24th of February, 1862, Mr. Wilson, in pursuance
of previous notice, introduced a bill for the repeal of these and
other laws and ordinances of the District respecting people of
Briefly reciting what it was proposed to repeal, he
color.
"
said
Such, Mr. President, are the laws enacted or permitted
by this Christian people, this republican government. A
sense of decency should prompt Congress to erase these laws
and ordinances from the statutes of the Republic." Mr. "Wil-
was
son,
fined
;
antislavery paper he
:
mot expressed the conviction that the abolition of
more comprehensive measure, would cover
the
" It embraces," he said, " the
ground.
bill
slavery, as
the whole
of the Senator
from Massachusetts it embraces every question that can be
Mr. Wilson, however, expressed the
raised on this subject."
idea that his bill was supplementary and necessary, as indeed
"only following up that bill and repealing the black code of the
;
District,
— the
District."
laws applicable to
The
bill
all
persons of color in the
was then referred to the Committee on
the District of Columbia.
Subsequently, in the
May
following, during a debate on an
educational bill in behalf of the people of color in the District,
the Committee on the District of Columbia not having reported
on the black code, which had been referred to it, Mr. Wilson
new section to the bill under consideration designed to cover other abuses and to remove other evils than
those relating to schools. He tlms explained its design and
introduced a
import
:
"
We
;
have some laws that everybody admits are very
oppressive upon the colored population of this District
;
some
�BLACK CODE
of
IN
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
'
261
made by Maryland others, ordinances of the
Washington and Georgetown. As we are now deal-
them
old laws
cities of
;
ing with their educational interests, I think we may as well
at the same time relieve them from these oppressive laws,
far as crime
and put them, so
concerned, and so far as
is
upon the same footmanner,
and subject
the same
offences against the laws are concerned,
and have them tried in
them to the same punishments, as the rest of our people."
The amendment provided that all persons of color should be
amenable and subject to the same laws and ordinances to which
ing,
white persons were amenable and subject
be indicted,
tried,
that they should
;
and " that
or parts of acts, inconsistent with the provisions of
all acts,
The amendment was
this act are hereby repealed."
the
;
and punished in the same way
bill,
as amended,
was passed
;
and thus by
accepted,
this simple
act were swept from the statute-book of the District those
terrible laws with their
consequent abuses which had so long
oppressed and distressed a prostrate race, disgraced and de-
bauched the nation, and made the great Republic a byword
and reproach throughout the civilized world, not only on account of their intrinsic inhumanity and injustice, but because
of their glaring and mocking inconsistency with its vaunted
human
and self-government.
Closely connected, if not as cause and effect, perhaps better, as
the correlated results of a common cause, were this black code,
the county jail of the District, and its fearful abuses.
While
the former revealed tlie spirit and purpose of those who accepted slavery with its natural conditions and concomitants,
the latter disclosed its practical results and the utter heartlessness and cruelty of a people growing up and living where it
was admitted as a dominant and controlling force. This idea
was well expressed by Mr. Sumner in his remarks upon a
resolution introduced by his colleague, Mr. Wilson, on the
4th of December, 1861, directing the discharge of all " persons claimed as fugitives from service or labor, confined in the
principles of
county
jail
in the
said, " a black
legislation of
equality
District of
Columbia."
" There is," he
code in this District, derived from the old
Maryland, which
is
a shame to the civilization of
�262
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
our age.
If
IN AMERICA.
any one wishes to know why such abuses exist in
our j)risons and in our courts here, as have been to-day so
elo-
You
will
quently pointed out, I refer him
to that black code.
find in that black code
an apology for every outrage that
now complained
therefore, Senators are really in ear-
nest
;
if
of.
If,
is
they are determined that the national capital shall be
worthy
they have got to expunge that
community,
black code from the statute-book." The reason, he said, why
purified, that the administration of justice here shall be
—
of a civilized
" justice
is
so offensively administered in the District "
must
be looked for in the black code and " those brutal sentiments
generated by slavery."
Mr. Wilson, on introducing his resolution, remarked that
jail and there found such a scene of degra-
he had visited the
dation as he had never witnessed
and his testimony in that
who had also visited
same.
He
the
also spoke of the visit of gentlemen who were
investigating the subject of prisons, and who had traversed
;
regard was corroborated by Mr. Sumner,
the world for that purpose.
Their testimony was that, with
one exception, a prison in Austria, they had never found anything so disgraceful. Describing his visit, he said " Tliere
:
some of them without
Some of these are free persons most of them had
a shirt.
run away from disloyal masters, or had been sent there by disare persons there almost entirely naked,
;
loyal persons, for safe keeping, until the war- is over."
also read the report of a
government
official
He
setting forth sub-
stantially the facts in regard to sixty persons there confined.
He
also expressed the
wish that, with the discharge of those
there confined, a law might be enacted punishing any
who
should be guilty of arresting those whose only crime was an
attempt to escape from the thraldom of slavery, and that the
time would soon come when slavery itself should be swept
from tlie capital it had so long polluted and disgraced. Mr.
Fessenden of
j\Iaine
expressed a similar wish, and a special
abhorrence of the idea that fugitives should be arrested by
army officials and returned to their masters, saying that he
deemed it an outrage to which he would not submit unless
compelled.
" I have," he said, " three sons in the army, out
�BLACK CODE
of four,
and
I
IN
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
never would have consented that one of them
should be there
if
was to be
his life
perilled,
ness or other dangers, under the authority of
him
263
to arrest fugitive slaves
exposed to sick-
men who ordered
and return them
mas-
to their
ters."
" I
am
very glad," said Mr. Hale of
this report has
New Hampshire,
been made and presented here, because
help to answer a question that was put to
— what the
times long and long ago,
slavery.
I think,
when
are supporting here in
until the
to that question.
If there
tendency to
will
many
who
are fight-
are keeping at the public expense
—
war is over,
it will have a
enlighten some minds in regard to the proper an-
gress owes to humanity
and to
be any duty which this Conitself, it is to
look into the
administration of justice in this District, and to see to
those
it
North had to do with
the slaves of Rebels
we
their slaves for
swer
jail
that
;
a great
the Northern States find out that they
them
ing against us
me
" that
who have been ground
to the earth heretofore
it
may
that
not
more under your auspices and your reign."
Other resolutions of similar tenor were introduced. Among
them one by Mr. Clark of New Hampshire, calling upon the
marshal of the District to inform the Senate upon what author-
be ground
ity
still
he received the slaves of masters for safe-keeping in the
jail.
On the 6th of January, 1862, Mr. Grimes of
county
Iowa reported a bill for the removal of the abuses complained
and for the better definition of the principles and rules to
be adopted for the government of those who had the jail in
charge.
In his speech accompanying its introduction he said
of,
:
" I
am
not very fresh in
my
reading of history
;
but,
from
my
recollection of the descriptions of prisons I have read of, I
think that there never was a place of confinement that would
be compared with the Washington jail as it was at the com-
mencement of the present session, except the French Bastile
and the dungeons of Venice. When I visited the jail the
other day, I had hardly entered the threshold before a colored
boy stepped up to me, and tapped me on the shoulder. He
happened to know who I was. Said he, I have been here a
year and four days.' I asked him for what offence. He said
'
�264
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
he was confined as a runaway. I asked him
him.
Are you a free boy ?
No.'
around to the
jailer, I
I asked him,
was.
if
'
'
'
IN AMERICA.
'
asked him
How
if
that
do you know
it
'
any one claimed
Turning
Yes.'
was
He
so.
to he so
?
'
I
said
it
found
that the boy had been confined, not twelve months only, but
for
more than fourteen, and that simply on the suspicion
of
being a runaway."
Mr. Powell of Kentucky, remarking that " the effect of the
clearly will be to release every fugitive slave from jail,
bill
moved an amendment exempting such from
the
the operations of
Mr. Collamer very earnestly opposed the amend-
bill.
ment, and
it received but five votes.
Mr. Pearce of Maryland
opposed the measure on the ground that any action of the
government conveying and strengthening the impression that
its policy was one of emancipation would diminish the chances
of maintaining the Union.
Mr. Carlile of Virginia, though
he could not vote for the bill, desired " to get rid of it and
thus one peg, at least," he said, " will be taken from gentlemen, upon which they hang their sympathetic speeches for the
;
negro race."
With the adoption
of
an amendment providing
that no one should be committed without a warrant, the
was adopted, only four voting against
On
the 12th of February Mr. Wilson introduced a
the appointment of a warden of the
bill
it.
jail.
bill
He accompanied
for
its
introduction with remarks upon the proslavery character and
course of the individual
who then
Speaking of him as
tendent.
held the office of superin" our man Wise, our negro
whose conduct he specified two or three examples,
" I want it understood, in the Senate and by the men
thief," of
he said
:
who, on their bended knees and over their Bibles, prayed in
the year 1860 for an end to these crimes against humanity,
that this man is kept there by our votes and influence, and we
are responsible for
it
before
God
;
and, for one, I wasli
my
and I denounce it." The bill was refcri-ed
to the Committee on the District of Columbia, which in a few
days reported it back with an amendment in the form of a
hands
of the crime,
substitute, which, after a brief debate,
division.
was adopted without
�BLACK CODE
IN
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
265
In the House a resolution was introduced by Mr. Bingham,
on the 9th of December, forbidding the imprisonment of fugitives or any claimed as fugitives in the county jail, and making
any such imprisonment a misdemeanor. It was referred to
but it was never reported,
the Committee on the Judiciary
But the exaction
upon
the subject.
and the House took no
posure of the shameful condition of affairs brought redress and
reform, the executive department of the government taking
;
the matter in hand.
Among
those
who had gained
the most unenviable reputa-
tion for his superserviceable zeal in behalf of the slavemasters
In the absence of any legislative action
abatement of these abuses, the President asserted his
authority, and on tlie 25th of January, 1862, the Secretary
of State addressed to the marshal an order, informing him
was Marshal Lamon.
for the
that the President, being satisfied that by so doing he should
" contravene no law in force in the District," instructed him
not to " receive into custody any persons claimed to be held to
service or labor within the District or elsewhere, not charged
with any crime or misdemeanor, unless upon arrest or com-
mitment pursuant
law "
and that those thus arrested were
not to be detained more than thirty days, " unless by special
order of competent civil autliority."
But the infamous black code and the horrible condition of
its jail were not the only evidences of slavery and of its doings
to
;
at the capital of the nation.
An army of more than three
thousand colored children and youth, growing up in enforced
ignorance and vice, presented a picture not only dark and
revolting in itself, but made blacker and more hideous by the
background of injustice and meanness
population,
who
not only refused to
education, but took and
it
bespoke in the white
make
provision for their
appropriated nearly four thousand
from taxes paid by the colored population for the
tlieir own children were exNor was this a sin of ignorance. The victims had
cluded.
friends, though few, yet sufficient in numbers and earnest in
purpose, to remind Congress of this unjustifiable and unmanly
dollars
support of schools from which
policy.
�266
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
Among
IN AMERICA.
the efforts which were early made, after the seces-
sion of the
Southern members, to reform these abuses and to
relieve the
government
colored people,
was a
of its guilty
bill,
remissness toward the
introduced into the Senate by Mr.
Grimes on the 29th of April, 1862, to provide for the education of colored children in the city of Washington.
ing the
bill
and
its
Explain-
provisions, he recited the facts, and stated
purpose to be an enactment that the tax levied on the prop-
its
erty of colored persons should be used exclusively in the edu-
cation of colored children.
the subject of debate.
The
bill
As amended,
was amended and became
it
made
it
the duty of the
municipal authorities of Washington and Georgetown to set
apart ten per cent of the taxes paid by the colored people, for
the purpose of initiating a system of primary schools for the
education of colored children.
be contributed by benevolent persons for
was
sums as might
the same purpose,
This, with such
expended and controlled by the board of trustees
As amended, it was passed by a vote of
twenty-nine to seven. In the House it was passed without
amendment, debate, or division, and was approved by the
President on the 21st of May, 18G2.
A few weeks later Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois introduced a
to be
of public schools.
bill,
supplementary to the one already passed concerning the
«chools for the education of colored children in the
cities
of
Washington and Georgetown, by which the duties imposed
upon the board of trustees by that act should be transferred
to a new board of three, whose names were inserted, " and
their successors," who should have the same powers and
duties in regard to the colored children which belonged to the
trustees of the public schools in those cities.
The bill was
passed in both houses withont division.
On
bill
the 17th of February, 1863,' Mr. Wilson introduced a
Senate to incorporate " the institution for the
into the
education of colored youth," to be located in the District of
Columbia.
was the outgrowth of Miss Miner's
from small beginnings, by her unaided by the countenance and gifts of sympaand patrons, had achieved so much of success
Tliis institution
school for girls, which,
wearied labors,
thizing friends
�BLACK CODE
IN
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
267
and gave such promise of further usefuhiess as to both demand
and merit this recognition of the general government. It was
referred, reported without amendment, and on the 27th was
made the subject of debate. But, Kke every subject in wliich
the interests of the colored people were involved, it gave
occasion to Southern members to vent their spleen and to
show their inhumanity. Mr. Carlile of Virginia petulantly
and
spitefully asked
whether " these negroes cannot be edu-
He declared, too,
cated without an act of incorporation."
"
that he could not
see any very good reason why the government
of the
United States should enter upon the scheme
Referring to the general assumption
of educating negroes."
accompany the right
and with a supercilious sneer, that
he presumed " we have not reached the point where it is proin the free States that education should
of suffrage, he said loftily,
posed to elevate to the condition of voters the negroes of the
He
land."
discarded, too, the principle of all government aid
for schools, contending that the education of the rising genera-
tion should be left to parental support
of
Kentucky coupled
his
opposition
pressed his apprehension " that
if
and
care.
Mr. Davis
with ridicule, and ex-
the subject of negroes
handled mucli longer in the Senate there
is
is
very great danger
some Senators would be turned to negroes."
In response, however, to these arguments and appeals, sneers
and insinuations, Republican members answered with Ijecoming dignity and point. " I thank God," said Mr. Grimes,
"that I was raised in a section of the country where there are
nobler and loftier sentiments entertained in regard to eduthat
Saying that those he represented believed that all
beings were " accountable," that every man should be
cation."
human
able to read the law by which he
to " read the
in this life
Word
and
of
is
God, by which
governed, should be able
lie
should guide his steps
shall be judged in the life to
come," he added
that they believed in education " to elevate the human race,"
and to " keep our jails and our penitentiaries and our alms-
houses free from inmates."
Mr. Morrill of Maine, expressing his great surprise that
" the Senator from Virginia puts his opposition upon the
�268
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
pronounced an
upon the region of countryhe represented, where public education was regarded as " the
first great duty of the State, to be religiously performed";
and he declared it to be the glory of New England that her
system of instruction gave an education " to every child, no
matter whether he is high or low born " that it enjoined " it
upon the people of every town and city to educate every child
without regard to color or complexion " and that " the negro,
ground
of a protest against public education,"
appreciative and glowing eulogium
;
;
in that regard, stands on an equal footing with every other
The bill was then passed by a vote of
It was passed in the House without
and was approved by the President on
child in the State."
twenty-nine to nine.
amendment
or debate,
the 3d of March, 1863.
On
the 18th of February, 1864, on motion of Mr. Grimes,
the Senate proceeded to the consideration of his
for
the public instruction
in the
form
bill to
provide
youth throughout the whole
The committee reported an amend-
county of Washington.
ment
of
of a substitute, to establish a public school
system for the county
;
authorizing the Levy Court to assess a
tax of one eighth of one per cent on
all
the taxable property
of colored inhabitants, for the purpose of initiating a system
of education for colored children.
The
bill,
as thus amended,
passed without a division.
bill came up in the House, Mr. Patterson of New
the committee to which it was referred,
from
Hampshire,
By the latter, prooffered an amendment wnth a proviso.
In
vision was made for separate schools for colored children.
explaining the bill and its provisions, Mr. Patterson said, we
When
the
have recommended that such a proportion of the entire school
fund should be set apart for colored children between the ages
of six and seventeen, as they bear to the whole number of children in the county. " We may have differences of opinion in
regard to the proper policy to be pursued in respect to slavery
but we
all
concur in
this, that
we have been brought
to a
juncture in our national affairs in which four millions of a
degraded race, lying far below the average civilization of the
age, and depressed by an almost universal prejudice, are to be
�BLACK CODE
set free in our midst.
IN
The question now
duty in regard to them
ence of opinion on
ple
tlie
269
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
?....!
is,
What
is
our
first
think there can be no differ-
this, that it is
our duty to give to
means of education, that they
may
tliis
peo-
be prepared for
all
we may desire to give them hereafter."
The Senate accepted the House amendment and passed the
the privileges which
bill.
It received the
By
President's signature on the 25th of
enactment nearly four thousand children,
instead of living in enforced ignorance, with no provision for
their education, compelled to stand by and see those with
June, 1864.
this
lighter complexion,
and because
of that complexion, attending
schools from which they were excluded, though supported, in
part at least, from taxes paid by their
own
parents, were ad-
vanced at once to the same privileges and permitted to claim
by law what had been for generations so wickedly and so
meanly withheld.
�CHAPTER XXI.
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
— Eariy petitions for the
— Unsuccessful. — Mr. Wilson's resolu-
Location of the national capital a slaveliolding triumph.
abolition of slavery iu the District.
tion.
— Committee. — His
the abolition of slavery and the repeal of
— Debate. — New departure. — Purpose simple and immedi— Speeches of Wilmot, Wilkinson, Sumner, Fessenden,
and not
bills for
the slave laws.
ate,
ulterior.
—
and Wilson in favor.
Opposed in violent speeches by Davis, Saulsbury,
Powell, and Bayard.
Factious amendments.
Coupled with colonization.
Insisted on by Davis and Saulsbury.
Able speech from Mr. Hale.
Constitutionality defended by Mr. Fessenden.
Passed.
Opposed in the House
—
by Crittenden,
—
—
—
—
—
—
and Vallandigham, and defended by Bingham,
Fessenden, Van Horn, Ashley, Hutchins, Blake, and Rollins.
Amendments
proposed and
a new
Wickliffe,
lost.
—
— Passed and approved. — President's objections. — Met by
bill.
Among
the earlier victories of the Slave
Power was the
tion of the national capital on the banks of the
Next
to the slaveliolding
loca-
Potomac.
triumph in the convention for fram-
was probably one of the most important ever achieved, and inured most decisively to' the growing
ing the Constitution,
it
potency of slavery as an elementary influence in the govern-
ment.
A
victory,
it
carried with itself the moral and natural
advantages of triumph
by
;
it
the government was located in a
and the public men of the counby an atmosphere tainted with the breath
of the slave, and by the blinding and perverting influences
and, more significant and disastrous
of slaveholding society
still, the fact that the District of Columbia was placed under
the special jurisdiction of Congress, compromised the government and committed the nation to the existence and main-
community averse
to freedom,
try were surrounded
:
tenance of slavery, giving
it
a prestige,
if
not respectal)ility,
never could have gained as a State institution.
it
So sorely was
�271
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
by the friends of freedom, that petitions to Congress
and motions for the abolition of slavery in the District of
Columbia were for thirty years among the prominent and persistent measures of the antislavery movement. But the tyranni-
this felt
such a standing
cal oligarchy, appreciating the vast value of
testimony by the general government in behalf of slavery,
always made it a condition precedent of allegiance to a national party that slavery should not be interfered with in the
District.
pound
It
was " so nominated
of flesh " to be insisted
in the
on at
all
bond "
entreaties, impervious to all appeals, with
nacity,
it
used
from every
Among
its political
power
;
was " the
Deaf to all
it
hazards.
to protect
inexorable pertiit,
and
to shield
it
assault.
the early fruits of the secession of the propagandists
Congress were efforts by the friends of freebody to remove this great offence, and wipe away
On the 4th
the stain that had so long disgraced the nation.
of December, 1861, immediately after the announcement of
the standing committees, Mr, Wilson introduced into the
from
dom
their seats in
in that
Senate a resolution, that
of fugitives
from
all
service,
laws in force relating to the arrest
and
all
laws concerning persons of
color within the District, be referred to the
District of
Columbia
;
Committee on the
and that the committee be instructed to
consider the expediency of abolishing slavery in the District,
The committee
was referred consisted of Grimes,
Dixon, Morrill, Wade, and Anthony, Republicans Kennedy
and Powell, Southern Democrats. Of these, Grimes, Morrill,
and Wade were pronounced antislavery men
Dixon and
Anthony were regarded as conservative Republicans Kennedy was a representative of the respectable Whigism of a
Southern border State, but was soon borne into the ranks of
the Democracy and Powell, an earnest and able advocate of
the slaveholding school, was soon to become identified with the
Rebel cause.
On the 16th Mr. Wilson introduced a bill for
with compensation to loyal holders of slaves.
to
which
this resolution
;
;
;
;
the immediate emancipation of the slaves of the District
the payment to their loyal owners of an average
hundred dollars
;
for the
sum
;
for
of three
appointment of a commission to
�272
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
sum
IN AMERICA.
and the appropriation of one milwas reported back on the 13th of
February, 1862, with amendments. On the 24th he introduced
a bill which, he said, was supplementary to that already
assess the
to be paid
This
lion of dollars.
;
bill
before the Senate, to repeal the act extending the laws of
Maryland over the District, and to annul all those statutes
which gave the cities of Washington and Georgetown authority to pass
ordinances discriminating against persons on ac-
count of color.
On
March
the 12th of
it
came up
for debate
in committee of the whole.
The debate on these resolutions, the bill, and other cognate
measures exhibit elements of interest hardly found in any
other session of the American Congress on record.
It was
emphatically a
new modes
new
New
departure.
facts,
new arguments,
of speech, and, above all, a manifest emancipation
mind and tongue from the painful thraldom
which they had always been held, give it a character peculiarly its own.
While it is difficult to prevent feelings of symof the Northern
in
pathy for those called to confront the grim
occasion, the
realities of the
war assuming every day more and more gigantic
its continuance and prosecuupon them, and the increasing difficulty of
giving those questions practical and satisfactory answers,
proportions, the fearful questions
tion were forcing
these feelings are largely mingled with those of gratulation that
its
members were
really ignorant of the
pregnant issues of the hour.
A
extreme gravity and
blindness, no doubt kindly
from their view what, clearly seen, would have
appalled and their ignorance relieved them from a pressure
they could have hardly borne, had they fully comprehended
the momentous issues involved in the questions discussed, and
given,
liid
;
the consequences dependent upon the conclusions reached.
No
longer hampered by the compromises of the Constitution and
their acknowledged allegiance to their " Southern wing," rid
of the hateful espionage of their Southern " brethren,"
hazmust be consulted at
almost every sacrifice. Northern members snuffed
freedom from coming events, though profoundly
those events, and spoke, as never before, with un-
prejudices and fancied interests
ards and at
the air of
ignorant of
whose
all
�ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
And
bated breath and unwonted self-assertion.
273
yet they spoke
with no double meaning, nor did they cloak ulterior purposes
under pretences of local and immediate results. Though accused by Southern men of making it an entering wedge of somein the language of
thing more comprehensive and radical,
—
Mr. Willey of Virginia, " a part of a
initiated, all looking to the
abolition
of
slavery
series of
same ultimate
by Congress,"
measures already
result, the universal
— they
meant only the
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, ridding the
Federal capital of
its guilt
and odium, and absolving the nation
of its past complicity therein.
lar
In the advocacy of this particu-
measure they indeed enunciated principles
tion, principles that
would
of wider aj^plica-
logically lead to general emancipa-
and no doubt many hoped to see such a result in due
but then their immediate object was the simple removal
of slavery from Washington and its environs.
In the debate,
too, was witnessed, with much that was earnest and impassioned, the absence, already noted, of any definite and compre-
tion,
time
;
If not groping, they were feeling their way
new and untried circumstances in which they were
placed. The friends of freedom spoke for the bill, and enunciated many grand and pregnant principles
the advocates of
hensive policy.
in the
;
slavery, still remaining in Congress, opposed
it, and with illconcealed dread of the future, deprecated everything that
threatened harm to their cherished system while the larger
number between these extremes revealed their state of incerti;
tude and doubt
that
fell
from
l^y
the tentative and ill-digested suggestions
their lips.
In favor of the
tance of
bill, Mr. Wilmot spoke of the great imporimproving the opportune moment, saying, " We
should be the most derelict in our duty of any body that ever
sat in the seats of power, if we adjourn this Congress without
the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia."
Mr.
Wilkinson of Minnesota spoke of the existence of slavery in
" the capital of this free Repuljlic " as "an insult to the en-
He spoke of "the
contumely and contempt" with which "the representatives of
the loyal and free Nortli were treated for the performance of
lightened public sentiment of the age."
�274
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
their duty through " the slaveholding influence of this District."
Mr. Sumner hailed " with unspeakable delight the
" It is the
its speedy adoption."
instalment," he said, " of the great debt which we all
measure, and the prospect of
first
owe
to an enslaved race,
victories of
humanity."
and will be recognized as one of the
Saying that when slavery gives way
freedom at the national capital, " the good will not stop
" What God and nature
here, it must proceed," he added
decree, rebellion cannot arrest. And as the whole wide-spread
to
:
tyranny begins to tumble, then above the din of battle, sounding from the sea and echoing along the land, above even the
exultation of victory on well-fought fields, will ascend voices
of gladness
and benediction, swelling from generous hearts
wherever civihzation bears sway."
" This question of the
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia," said Mr.
Fessenden of Maine, " has been one that has always been near
my heart. What claim have the owners of slaves in the District upon us ?
They have, in my judgment, been holding
slaves here without law since the foundation of the govern-
ment
their
was
;
and they have been able
power
to
do
it
because
it
has been in
to secure a majority always in Congress,
invincible
which
and could not be overcome."
Mr. Wilson spoke at length in advocacy of the bill. " This
to give liberty to the bondman," he said, " deals justly,
bill,
ay,
generously,
with the
master.
The American
people,
whose moral sense has been outraged by slavery and the black
codes enacted in the interests of slavery in the District of
Columbia, whose fame
is
soiled
and dimmed by the deeds of
cruelty perpetrated in their national capital, would stand justi-
forum of nations if they should smite the fetter
from the bondman, regardless of the desires or interests of the
master.
With generous magnanimity, this bill tenders compensation to the master out of the hard earnings of the toiling
freemen of America
These colonial statutes of Maryland,
reaffirmed liy Congress in 1801 these ordinances of Washington and Georgetown, sanctioned in advance by the Federal
government, stand this day unrepealed
Bid slavery disappear from the District, and it will take along with it the
fied in the
;
�ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUxMBIA.
wliole brood of brutal, vulgar,
tins bill shall
become the law
and indecent statutes
of the land,
it
;
275
and
if
will blot out slav-
ery forever from the national capital, transform three thousand
personal chattels into freemen, obliterate oppressive, odious,
and hateful laws and ordinances, which press with merciless
upon persons, bond or free, of African descent, and
relieve the nation from the responsibilities now pressing upon
force
it."
however, encountered bitter opposition from the
slaveholders and their sympathizers, who thus not only re-
The
bill,
vealed the alarm and intense hatred that rankled within of
everything just and equal, but foreshadowed
sequent events soon developed.
Among them
much
and rancorous was Garrett Davis of Kentucky.
originated," he said, " in the northeast
that sub-
the most violent
"
You have
Mormonism, and
free
and that sort of ethereal Christianity which is preached
by Parker and by Emerson and by others, and all sorts of
mischievous isms but what right have you to force your isms
on us ? What right have you to force your opinions on slavWhat
ery or upon any other subject on an unwilling people ?
right have you to force them on the people of this District ?
Is it from your love to the slaves, your devotion to benevolence
love,
;
and humanity, your belief in the equality of slaves with yourWhy do you not go out into this city and hunt up
selves ?
the blackest, greasiest, fattest old negro wench you can find
and lead her to the altar of Hymen ? " In a similar, though
more decorous strain asked Mr. Kennedy of Maryland: " Why
seek to impose on us principles and measures of policy which
we do not want, and which tend only to still derange and embarrass us,
— tend
further to surround us with complicated
questions from which
we have no escape ? "
Without disguise
he revealed his apprehension of the effect upon his State of
such a movement in the District as he impatiently inquired
" What possible benefit can occur to the North by the abolition
of slavery in this District, when it is to be so deleterious and
so injurious in
What
its
results to a sister
earthly consideration of good
is
State of the
Union
?
to result to the people
of the North, that does not bring a tenfold corresponding evil,
�276
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
not only upon the people here, but upon the people of my
" Senators," exclaimed Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware,
State ? "
" abandon now, at once and forever, your schemes of wild philanthropy and universal emancipation
proclaim to the people
;
whole country everywhere that you mean to preserve
the Union as established by the fathers of the Republic, and
of this
the rights of the people as secured by the Constitution they
helped to frame, and your Union can never be destroyed
but
go on with your wild schemes of emancipation, throw doubt
and suspicion upon every man simply because he fails to look
;
you do, and the
heaven only knows, after wading through scenes before
at your questions of wild philanthropy as
God
of
which those of the French revolution pale their ineffectual
what ultimately may be the result." " I regard the
bill," said Mr. Powell of Kentucky, " as unconstitutional, im'
fires,'
politic, unjust to the people of the District of Columbia, and in
bad faith to the people of Virginia and Maryland." Bayard
of Delaware deprecated its passage as " deleterious, and most
deleterious first to the city of Washington, next to the State of
Maryland, then to the State of Virginia, and then, by the effect
of its indirect influence, to the State of Kentucky and the State
of Missouri
and if you succeed by force of arms in compelling the other slaveholding States to return to the Union, the
effect will permeate through the entire mass of those States."
;
Another form
of opposition
was that
of proposed
amend-
ments, factious or other, designed to embarrass or defeat.
Among them was
one, offered by Mr. Davis, that
all
persons
lil)eratcd by this act should be colonized out of the United
and that a hundred thousand dollars should be approIn defence of this amendment he
made a furious speech. Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin having
moved as an amendment that only those should be colonized
States,
priated for that purpose.
who "
desired to go," he replied, and in his reply enunciated
sentiments, feelings, and purposes with which the nation afterpainfully familiar. " I am better acquainted,"
"
he said, with negro nature than the honorable Senator from
Wisconsin. He will never find one slave in a hundred that
ward became too
will consent to be colonized
when
liberated.
The
liberation of
�ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
slaves in this District and in
live
;
any State
them
just equivalent to settling
and whenever that policy
is
many
the States where there are
of the
Union
in the country
277
will be
where they
inaugurated, especially in
slaves, it will inevitably
and
immediately introduce a war of extermination between the two
The negroes
races
main
in this city,
will
now
that are
become
charge upon the white population.
and that reand a burden and a
liberated,
a sore
They will be criminals.
" the power which under-
become paupers." And
them ought to relieve the white community in
Whenever any power, constitutional
which they reside
or unconstitutional, assumes the responsibility of liberating
slaves, where slaves are numerous, they establish as inexorably
as fate a conflict between the races that will result in the exile
They
will
takes to liberate
or extermination of the one race or of the other."
the office of prophet, he predicted that no
would " submit
among
to
He
us."
Assuming
Southern State
have those slaves manumitted and
moment
declared, too, that the
left
" you reor-
ganize the white inhabitants of those States as States of the
Union, they would reduce those slaves again to a state of slavery, or they
would expel them and drive them upon you or
south of you, or they would hunt them like wild beasts, and
I know what I talk about.
Never,
never will they submit, by unconstitutional laws, to have their
exterminate them
slaves liberated
attempts
it
and domiciled with them and the policy that
La Vendue in the whole of
;
will establish a bloody
the slave States,
my own
This foreshadowing of
included."
the fiery Southron subsequent events have shown to be only
too faithful, while lack of power has alone prevented the ac-
complishment of what he claimed to "know" would follow
Mr. Saulsbury favored the idea
the policy of emancipation.
of uniting colonization with the emancipation, but he denied
the " constitutional "
avowed
the
right of
Congress to do either, and
his purpose to vote against both the
amendment and
bill.
Mr. Hale of
favor of the
New Hampshire made
bill,
in
which he
a very forcible speech in
criticised
with becoming dignity
the too general practice of arguing and deciding the question
�278
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
of emancipation on principles of
IN AMERICA,
mere expediency.
After say-
ing that there were no forms of scepticism so dangerous and
insidious as that of not performing " plain and simple duty "
and that the question of emancipation had rarely been argued upon " the great and funda-
for fear of the consequences
;
mental principles of right," he added
put, certainly in legislative circles.
just
What
?
is
by the measure
Men
:
" The inquiry
What
is
right
?
is
never
What
is
due to the individuals that are to be affected
?
But,
What
are to be the consequences
?
entirely forget to look at the objects that are to be effected
by the
bill,
in view of the inherent rights of their
manhood, in
view of the great questions of humanity, of Christianity, and
but by what are to be the consequences."
of duty
Saying
;
that the Senator from
Kentucky had predicted the
direst con-
sequences from emancipation, he read of very different results
from undoing the heavy burdens and
of
letting the
oppressed go free, as enunciated in the prophecy of Isaiah.
Though Mr. Davis's proposed amendment of colonizing the
lost, Mr. Doolittle's amendment of doing it with
freedmen was
their consent received quite a majority of the votes cast.
To
the objections urged that the
bill
was unconstitutional,
Mr. Fesscnden replied that the fundamental law of the land
was " broad and clear." " Congress," he said, " under the
is gifted with all power of legislation over this
and may do anything in it that any legislature can do
Mr. Browning of Illinois exin any State of the Union."
pressed the same sentiment, and claimed that the right was
undoubted. Even Mr. Bayard, though opposing the bill, conceded, " without the slightest reservation," that " no constitutional objection can arise to the action of Congress in abol-
Constitution,
District,
Various other amendments
were introduced and discussed, but no important change was
made, and on the 3d of April, 1862, the bill, introduced by Mr.
Wilson more than three months before, was passed by a vote
ishing slavery in this District."
of twenty-nine to fourteen.
The
bill
was taken up
rise to a brief
in the
House the next week, and gave
but brilliant debate, in which were enunciated
not only great and fundamental truths, but
many
beautiful
�ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
and striking thoughts.
It of course
279
encountered opposition
but that only served to render the debate more pointed and
piquant. Mr. Crittenden deprecated the " mischief " the measure must produce. It would create, he said, "discontent" and
be regarded as " an augury of what is to come afterward."
Mr. Wickliffe of Kentucky opposed the amendment that no
witness should be excluded " on account of color," and expressed the hope that the friends of the bill would " not so far
ooitrage the laws of the District as to authorize slaves or free
negroes to be witnesses in
moved
He
cases of this kind."
also
the amendment, or substitute, offered in the Senate by
Mr. Wright, providing for the gradual extinction of slavery.
Mr. Vallandigham, after saying that there were not ten men
in the XXXVIth Congress who would have recorded their
" We have this bill
votes in favor of the measure, added
brought forward as the beginning of a grand scheme of
:
and there is no calculation where that scheme
Mr. Wickliffe's amendment received but thirty-
emancipation
will end."
;
four votes.
Mr. Bingham of Ohio spoke eloquently, and with more than
and fervor. " We are deliberating," he said,
his usual force
" upon a
bill
which
day
illustrates the great principle that this
shakes the throne of every despot on the globe and that is
whether man was made for government, or government was
;
made
tend
for
it
man.
Those who oppose
this bill,
whether they
in-
or not, by recording their votes against this enactment,
reiterate the old
dogma
of tyrants, that the people are
made
to
be governed, and not to govern. I deny that proposition.
I deny it because all my convictions are opposed to it.
I deny
it
am
because I
against
it.
one of the
very
fitly
I
sure that the Constitution of
cannot forget,
illustrious
men
of
if I
my
country
is
would, the grand utterance of
modern times,
—
of
whom
Guizot
said that his thoughts impress themselves indelibly
wherever they
fall,
— standing amid the despotisms
conscious of the great truth that
men
crowns may turn
may be broken and empires overthrown,
of men are perpetual, who proclaimed to
fore the law, that thrones
to dust, that sceptres
but that the rights
all
of Europe,
are of right equal be-
may
perish, that
�280
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
EISE
listening France the strong, true words,
and
die
upon the earth
here they
;
'
States are born, live,
fulfil their
destiny
after the citizen has discharged every duty that he
State, there abides with
immortal
faculties,
him the nobler part
but,
of his being, his
by which he ascends to God and the un-
known realities of another life."
The following eloquent and beautiful
and
;
owes tb the
tribute to Christianity
Author, and to the indebtedness of our civilization
thereto, with the affirmation that the principles of true deits
mocracy arc
identical with the precepts of the Great Teacher,
well illustrated a
the session,
—
new but
refreshing feature of the debates of
seeming recognition at length of the "higher
paramount authority in matters of human
their
law," and of its
" They found out," he said, " a wiser, juster, and
legislation.
They learned it from the
simple but profound teachings of Him who went about doing
good who was no respecter of persons, who made the distant
land of his nativity forever sacred to mankind, and whose
intense lioliness shed majesty over the manger and the straw,
and took from the cross its shame and reproach. By his great
apostle came to men and nations the new message, declaring
the true God, to whom the pagan inscribed unknown upon His
altar that God who made the world, and giveth to all life and
breath, and hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell
on all the face of the earth. From this new message to men
has sprung the new and better civilization of to-day. What
was your Declaration at Philadelphia on the 4tli of July, 1776,
that ALL MEN are created equal, but a reiteration of the great
better poHcy than pagan ever knew.
;
;
truth announced by the apostle of the Nazarene
?
What
but
this is the sublime principle of
of
all
shall
men
before the law
make good, by
?
your Constitution, the equality
To-day we deliberate whether we
legislation, this vital principle of the
stitution, here in the capital of the Republic."
Con-
Magna
Charta,
he said, " wrung from the trembling, unwilling hands " of the
British King, recognized " freemen " alone, but " secured no
privileges
to vassals
or
revelation to our fathers
law."
And
yet,
The
slaves
was that
all
men
later
and nobler
are equal before the
he added, " unhappily, for about sixty years,
�ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
this provision of the Constitution here
of the
281
upon the hearthstone
Repubhc, where the jurisdiction of the government of
exclusive, without State limitation, this
the United States
is
sacred guaranty of
life
and
liberty
and property to
all,
has been
wantonly ignored and disregarded as to a large class of our
natural-born citizens."
This measure, said Mr.
Upon
defence.
face
its
Van Horn
it
of
" needs no
New York,
bears the marks of humanity and
and every syllable is pregnant with a just
and true sentiment, and already hallowed with the sublime
Throughout there breathes a spirit
spirit of a noble purpose.
Every
justice.
line
akin to that which runs through
Him who
of
spake as never
all
man
the wonderful teachings
spake, and inspired the
hearts of those whose immortal sayings will outlast
the
all
monuments that time can erect." " The struggles and hopes
of many long years," said Mr. Ashley of Ohio, " are centred
The cry
in this eventful hour.
Lord,
how long
?
'
is to
of the oppressed,
How
long,
be answered to-day by the American
The golden morn,
Congress
'
so anxiously looked for
by
the friends of freedom in the United States, has dawned.
A
second national jubilee will henceforth be added to the
cal-
endar."
"
A
great truth," said Mr. Riddle of Ohio, "
is weakened
by what men call elucidation. Illustration obscures it logic
and argument compromise it and demonstration brings it to
He who permits himself to be put on its defences is
doubt.
;
;
weak man or a coward. A great trutli is never so strong as
when left to stand on its simple assertion." Mr. Fessenden
a
of Maine, saying the time for discussion had passed, added
" The hour in which to put upon the bill the seal of the nation
:
has come.
I trust
it is
brightest day at hand,
ever
it
indeed the harbinger of that brighter,
when
exists in the land.
slavery shall be abolished wherThis will be the one finality which
and a lasting peace."
" Our fathers," said Mr. Hutchins of Ohio, " honestly supposed that slavery would disappear before the march of Chris-
will give us a righteous
tian civilization.
They were mistaken.
While we
strive to
imitate their wisdom, and seek to emulate their patriotism, let
�282
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
US be warned by their mistake.
tional capital free
;
will be a fitting
"
make
bill will
and then the statue
by our own Crawford,
dome
This
IN AMERICA,
the na-
of Liberty, fashioned
monument on
the
fin-
our duty to abolish slavery
here," said Mr. Blake of the same State, " because Congress,
ished
of the capitol."
It is
by the Constitution, has the power to do it and slavery being
a great wrong and outrage upon humanity, we should at once
That it will elevate us in the
do right, and pass the bill
;
eyes of
a
all civilized
nations,
thrill of patriotic pride
the nation, no
"
It is
man
not doubted
is
and enthusiasm
;
that
it
will
awaken
in the great heart of
doubts."
one of the most beautiful
traits of
human
nature,"
New
Hampshire, " that while the sons of
men are struggling to bear the burdens of human life, and
perform the works assigned to our common nature, they somesaid Mr. Rollins of
times step aside, or stop in their way, to minister to the wants
needy who, sitting by the wayside, lift their eyes and
hands to beg for charity. This nation, which, like a giant,
of the
walks along the pathway of nations, girded as with iron,
sternly to
meet and overwhelm
ing steadily on to
its
work,
its fratricidal foes,
feels
it
the humble cry of a few hundred of
grind in the prison-house of
its
while march-
no hindrance to
its feeblest
listen to
children
who
deadly foe."
The temper and purpose of the House were also indicated
by several amendments that were proposed, and the votes
thereon.
Mr. Wright, a Democratic member from Pennsylvania, moved an amendment, providing that the act should not
go into operation unless a majority of the qualified voters shall
" approve and ratify the same."
His amendment did not
escape the keen satire of his colleague, Thaddeus Stevens, who recommended a like " amendment to anpass
;
nor did
it
" It is somewhere provided," said Mr.
"
Stevens,
that the wicked shall be damned.
I would suggest
other document."
to
my
colleague that he propose a proviso to that,
'
providing
would be just as decent an
amendment as the one which lie has proposed." Mr. Wadsworth moved to strike out the phrase " loyal to the United
States," but this motion was rejected.
Mr. Train of Massa-
that they consent thereto.'
It
�ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
chusetts
moved
283
that any person "feeling himself aggrieved"
an
His amendment was lost by a
appeal to the Circuit Court.
Mr. Harding of Kentucky
vote of fifty-three to sixty-three.
by the award
moved
of the commissioners should be entitled to
to strike out the proviso limiting the
three hundred dollars.
the
District,"
"
You do
sum
appraised to
not consult the people of
he said, " as to whether they are willing to
Not at all. You have the power to buy, and you
buy you have the power to fix the price, and you will fix
" The gentleman," said Mr. Lovejoy in reply, " thinks it
sell or not.
will
it."
is
;
worse to take a thing for one half of
rob a
man
of his property outright,
if
its
I
value than
it is
understood his
to
re-
wonder which is worse, to rob a man of his horse
That is the question I
or to rob him of his wife and child ?
would like to ask him." Referring to a case of slaveholding
atrocity which had just transpired in the District, he said
" And yet here brazen men stand up and talk about robbing,
because we give only three hundred dollars apiece, on an
average, to deliver these poor oppressed beings from a condiThe amendment was lost, as also another
tion of brutism."
offered by Mr. Menzies of Kentucky, proposing a scheme of
gradual emancipation. The bill then passed the House by a
vote of ninety-two to thirty-eight, and received the approval of
the President on the sixteenth day of April, 1862.
The President, in his message accompanying his approval of
the bill, had stated some objections to it.
These objections
were that certain classes, such as married women, minors,
and persons absent from the District, were not sufficiently
protected and provided for
and he suggested that these defects should be remedied by additional legislation.
On the
12th of June Mr. Wilson introduced a bill for the purpose,
which was referred to the committee, reported back with
amendments, and made the subject of debate on the 7th of
July.
Mr. Grimes explained its provisions, and after remarks
of a few of the members, and the adoption of an amendment
offered by Mr. Sumner, that there should be no exclusion of
any witness on account of color, the bill was passed by a
vote of twenty-nine to six. It was taken up in the House on
marks.
I
;
�284
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and after two or three motions by Democratic members were offered and rejected, it was carried by a vote of
sixty-nine to thirty-six, and approved on the 12th.
By the enactment of these bills three thousand slaves were
instantly made forever free, slavery was made impossible in the
capital of the United States, the black laws and ordinances concerning persons of color were repealed, and the whole black
code, which had so long disgraced its statute-book, was swept
away. It was indeed, in the language of Mr. Sumner, " the
first instalment of that great debt " the nation owed to an enslaved race and had it not been so soon and so completely
overshadowed by the greater and more astounding acts of the
same general character and purport, it might well be " recognized in history," as he predicted it would be, " as one of the
victories of humanity."
the
9tli,
;
�CHAPTER
XXII.
THE SURRENDER OP FUGITIVE SLAVES BY ARMY OFFICERS.
— Escape of slaves
— Different
— Prejudice of
against the negro. —
—
Trying position of the President. — Lovejoy's resolution at extra
— Resolutions in both houses. — Sumner's resolution. —
Regular
and action thereon. — Saulsbury's amendCowan's speech. — Mr. Wilson's
reported
ment. — Collamer, Wilson, Pearce. — Action in the House. —
—
— Mallory, Wickliffe, Grider. — Change of policy
by
in the Senate. — Saulsbury's amendment. —
Speech of Bingham. — House
making new rule of war passed. — Resolution offered
Davis, Anthony. —
by Mr. Wilson. — Debated. — Grimes, Sumner, Saulsbury.
Repressive character of slavery.
to the
policies
—
— Universal
General
Union camps.
of different commanders.
Butler.
desire to be free.
— Contraband
of war.
soldiers
session.
session.
bill,
Bill
inevitable.
Blair.
bill
Bill
Slavery was never without a witness
repressive character.
Sometimes, indeed,
and
work
of its restrictive
it
had done
its
so effectually, and had so thoroughly emasculated the bond-
man
manhood, that there appeared the solecism of a conEither stupefied by its potent poison, or wearing
a chain gilded by personal favoritism, he felt not its galling.
But such cases were exceptional. Generally the iron of slavery had so entered his soul, that he never failed to feel the
unpardonable indignity and wrong inflicted. As with compressed air, and the accumulated waters of a reservoir, there
were never wanting tokens of this internal struggle to be free,
of his
tented slave.
indications that its victims felt their restraint, revolted against
the unrighteous tyranny, and were always ready,
lookout, for
some means and way
of escape.
if not on the
Not only were
there always occurring individual attempts in that direction,
but the underground railroad was an organized protest against
the government that protected such a system, against laws
that so hampered
and made such
human
sacrifices
beings, reduced them to such straits,
and risks needful for even the chance
of regaining their freedom.
�286
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
"Wlien, then, the civil
IN AMERICA.
war was raging, which had been
in-
augurated by the slavemasters for the destruction of the government and the subversion of the very Constitution on which
they had hitherto rehed for both authority and aid to recover
the fleeing fugitive, slaves were not slow to perceive the logic
of events,
and
to
hope that in the milee they might
From
longed-for escape.
and the
effect their
the outset there were such escapes,
fugitives sought refuge within the
Union
lines,
and
the question was at once propounded to the government and
its ministers, " Shall they, or shall they not, be returned to
their masters
?
"
The
traditions of the past, the admitted pro-
visions of the Constitution, even the proclaimed policy of the
Republican party, pointed to an affirmative reply, while attending circumstances and other considerations pointed more decidedly in the opposite direction, and led finally to the adoption of a different
Among
the
and more worthy
first,
perhaps the
policy.
first,
demonstrations of the
kind, involving the question, the answer, and the argument
somewhat curtly expressed on which that answer was based,
was that at Fortress Monroe, in connection with the demand, already referred to, made on General Butler near the
Three slaves presented themselves at the
and informed him that their master. Colonel
Mallory, had gone to the Rebel army, and was about to send
them to North Carolina to help in building fortifications.
General Butler, in need of laborers, set them at work. He
outset of the war.
general's camp,
was soon waited upon by an agent of their owner, who demanded that they be given up. The general refused. " Do
you mean to set aside your constitutional obligations ? " inquired the agent. " Virginia passed an ordinance of secession,
and claims to be a foreign country," replied Butler. " I am
under no constitutional obligations to a foreign country."
" You say we cannot secede," replied the agent, " and so you
cannot consistently detain them." " You contend you have
seceded, and you cannot consistently claim them," responded
one who seldom lacked shrewdness to make fitting reply, or
courage to express it. " You are using negroes on your batteries.
I
shall
detain
them
as contraband of war."
This
�THE SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVER BY ARMY OFFICERS.
287
epigrammatic reply was seized upon by the public generally,
however lawyers may have viewed it, as a practical solution of
the vexed problem that had so long puzzled the wisest, who
found it difficult to fulfil at once obligations imposed by the
It
Constitution and those by the higher law of humanity.
also furnished for a time a name for those who were thus
made free by the stern exigencies of war, though it was after-
ward supplanted by the more appropriate designation
men.
Similar examples were occurring
Union
all
of freed-
along the line of the
and slaves thus sought refuge within the Federal
camps, as they stretched their length from the eastern shores
forces,
of Virginia to the western borders of Missouri.
In the ab-
sence of any clearly defined policy on the part of the general
government, the different commanders gave answers very
much
according to their previous prejudices, opinions, social
forces, or the pressure of circumstances,
them
in their respective localities.
brought to bear upon
In Missouri General Hal-
leck forbade their entrance, and issued an order that they
should not be permitted to " enter the lines of any camp or
any forces on the march." A similar order was issued by
General Williams at Baton Rouge. Generally, however, the
Union commanders adopted a more worthy and humane policy,
Hunter in South Carolina, Curtis in Arkansas, and
Fremont in Missouri, and the fugitives were welcomed and
protected though such a policy was far from being universally acceptable either in the army or at the North.
Of the
like that of
;
sentiments which too generally obtained, the action of the
non-commissioned
summer
general
pany
G
of a public
of 1862, afford examples.
meeting in Chicago in the
In August of that year the
commanding in Tennessee received a letter from Comof First Regiment Kansas Volunteers, signed by
thirty-six of its
of a colored
'
members,
man from
succinctly state
to be a
and privates of a company in a
officers
Kansas regiment, and
nigger
in
their
which they request the transfer
company
" Our reasons are,
:
'
;
for the cause they thus
firstly,
we
believe
him
secondly, that he was never properly as-
signed to our company, but, after being refused in several
�288
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
other companies, he was placed in
IN AMERICA.
We have
Company G.
no
objection to giving our services to our country, to endure all
we may be called upon to endure, but to have
one of the company, or even one of the regiment, pointed out
the privations
as a
we
'
nigger,' while
like to
on dress-parade or guard,
be called upon to bear."
is more than
In the indorsement of
Colonel Deitzler, their regimental commander, occurs the fol" He is full
lowing dainty expression of feeling and opinion
two
ity
thirds
'
:
upon terms of equalrespectfully recommend that he be
nigger,' too black to serve
with white soldiers.
I
mustered out of service, or transferred to Jim Lane's nigger
The recommendation is not made out of disrespect
brigade.
for the nigger."
ing of the
About the same time there was a
workmen
of the leading slaughter
public meet-
and packing houses
of Chicago, at which, after giving expression to the alleged
some " to bring negro labor into competition with
white men," they resolved, " That we, the packing-house men
of the town of South Chicago, pledge ourselves not to work for
intentions of
any packer, under any consideration, who
will, in
any man-
ner, bring negro labor into competition with our labor."
These conflicting views
of his generals, the fact that he felt
obliged to countermand the proclamations of Hunter and Fre-
mont, to modify the report of his Secretary of War, with
all
that these seemingly cross purposes implied and involved, and
the equivocal position in which
it
placed the Republican ad-
ministration before the eyes of both friends and foes, were
exceedingly distasteful and trying to the President.
interview with delegates from the
In an
border slave States at
about the same time he thus gave expression to his sense
" I
of the difficulties and embarrassments of the situation
am
:
pressed with a difficulty not mentioned, with one which
threatens division
strong.
An
among
instance of
those who, united, are none too
it is
known
to you.
General Hunter
an honest man. He was, and I hope is still, my friend.
I valued him none the less for his agreeing with me in the
He
general wish that all men everywhere could be freed.
proclaimed all men free within certain States, and I repuHe expected more good and less
diated the proclamation.
is
�THK SUEKENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY ARMY OFFICERS.
harm from
tlie
measure than
Yet, in repudiating
many whose
From
the
I
could believe would follow.
gave dissatisfaction,
if
not offence, to
And
support the country cannot afford to lose.
this is not the
upon me and
it, I
end
is
of
it.
The
289
pressure in this direction
is still
increasing."
first
there were
members
of Congress
who
felt
that this was a subject on which the legislative branch of the
government should speak, and that the responsibility rested
upon that body to define the policy to be pursued. Even at the
extra session Mr. Lovejoy introduced into the House a resolution, in which it was affirmed that, " in the judgment of this
no part of the duty of the soldiers of the United
But even a
States to capture and return fugitive slaves."
proposition so manifestly correct and proper was at that time
House,
it is
beyond its reach, and a Republican Congress summarily laid
on the table by a vote of sixty-six to eighty-one, so faintly
did its members comprehend the situation and the real significance of the conflict to which they had been summoned
it
and, although their attention had been called thereto, they
separated without taking any action
upon
this
really vital
question of the war.
Immediately on the assembling of Congress at
its
regular
session in December, Mr. Wilson gave notice in the Senate of
and privates
up persons
claimed as fugitive slaves. On the same day Mr. Lovejoy
introduced into the House a bill for the same purpose, and in
almost identically the same language. Neither of the bills,
however, embodied the final action reached, and they are noteworthy now mainly because they indicate the anxious desire
that so promptly introduced the subject in both houses on the
tliird day of their assembling, indicating the drift of thought
and purpose that was destined to find expression in specific
enactments but only after large comparison of views and earnest debate.
Concerning the end desired there was not much
of disagreement, but its members were too much in earnest
not to differ on a subject so new and so beset with difficulties
his intention to introduce a bill to punish officers
of the
army
for arresting, detaining, or delivering
;
as to the
VOL.
III.
means best
19
suited to reach that end.
�290
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
KISE
On
the ITtli of December Mr.
IN AMERICA.
Sumner introduced
into the
Senate a resolution instructing the Committee on Mihtary
Affairs to " consider the expediency of providing by additional
legislation that our national armies shall not be
employed
In introducing
the surrender of fugitive slaves."
he had received many communications,
official
and
in
he said
it
private, set-
ting forth the outrages .he would guard against and prevent
by
and positive legislation. " I am glad to know," he
" that my friend and colleague, the chairman of the
specific
said,
Committee on Military Affairs, promises us at once a bill to
meet this grievance. It ought to be introduced promptly, and
Our troops ought to be saved from this
to be passed at once.
shame."
Mr. Cowan of Pennsylvania, who, though a Eepublican, often
disagreed with the more pronounced members of his party, expressed the thought that " there need be no possible difficulty
whatever upon this question in any of its aspects, and that
they had nothing in the world to do with these questions.
"
We
send a general," he
What
is
his duty
that negro
negro
is
is
If
?
said, " to suppress this insurrection.
he meets a negro upon his errand, and
an enemy, he treats him as an enemy
;
if
the
a friend, he treats him as a friend, and uses him as
mind, can be simpler. How is he to
determine the title to that negro ? Suppose, Mr. President,
you wei-e to go into his camp, and say, Sir, here is my negro
Nothing, to
such.
my
'
I
want
hira.'
The obvious answer
may
:
of the general
is,
'
My
dear
be all true I have no desire to raise any issues
you it may be that this is your negro but I cannot determine that question I cannot try the title to him I
am not a court I am not a jury,'
a great many of them,
sir,
that
;
of fact with
;
:
;
;
How
indeed, are not even lawyers.
whether
it
;
;
—
this negro is a slave or not
they have no right to determine
?
it.
are they to determine
They cannot determine
If the master,
being a
and says, This is my negro,'
I do not know what other men might do, but, if I were the
general, I would say to him,
If this is your negro, your
*'
boy," as you call him,
this man that you are educating to
civilization and Christianity,
if he will go with you, if he is
loyal
man,
in that
camp
insists,
'
'
—
—
�THE SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY ARMY OFFICERS.
291
willing to submit to your guardianship in this behalf, take
him, in God's name, and be away with him.'
Suppose the
and I want to force him,'
what then ? I would say to him, No, you cannot do that
because that presumes that I decide the very question which I
am incompetent to decide. I cannot allow you to use force
here, because I am the constable of the nation, and I am the
"
repositary of its force in this behalf, and you cannot use it.'
claimant says,
'
He
will not go,
'
The
resolution
On
was agreed
to.
the 23d Mr. Wilson introduced a
complained
of.
bill to
remedy the
After reciting facts setting forth that
evil
officers
in the service, without authority of law and against the plainest dictates of justice
fugitives,
it
and humanity, had delivered up such
provided that any officer in the naval or mili-
who should be guilty of such offence should be
" deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be dishonorably
tary service
discharged and forever ineligible to any appointment in the
military or naval service of the United States."
referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
The
On
bill
was
the 6th of
it was reported back with an amendment in
the form of a substitute, " That it shall be unlawful for any
January, 1862,
officer in the military or
naval service of the United States to
cause any person claimed to be held to service or labor by rea-
son of African descent to be seized, held, detained, or delivered
up to or for any person claiming such service or labor and
any officer so offending shall be discharged from service, and
be forever ineligible to any appointment in the military or
naval service of the United States." A motion for its indefinite postponement, by Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware, was lost by
a vote of thirteen to twenty-three. Coming up on the 23d,
Mr. Collamer of Vermont said, " Without criticising at all the
form of expression of the proposed amendment, I offer a
substitute for it, which I send to the Chair
No officer of the
army or navy of the United States, or of the volunteers or
militia in the service of the United States, shall assume or
exercise any military command or authority to arrest, detain,
hold, or control any person, on account of' such person being
;
:
holden to service as of African descent
;
'
and any such
officer
�292
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
KISE
IN AMERICA.
SO offending shall be dismissed from the service."
Mr. Wil-
son accepted the amendment.
Mr. Saulsbury then offered as an amendment the additional
" Nor shall any soldier or officer, under like penalty,
section
entice
:
away or detain any person held
to service or labor in
the United States from his or her master or owner."
Mr. Col-
lamer, saying that he did not regard Mr. Saulsbury's amend-
ment
as
germane
to the subject, addressed the Senate in sup-
" I believe," he said, " we are generally
port of his own.
agreed that there
is
men
great impropriety in military
exer-
cising military authority within the States, in relation to their
internal and municipal affairs
collisions
that
it
;
very likely to produce
is
The amendment
ought to be avoided
reported by the committee
made
it
unlawful for an
officer to
do anything in regard to the seizure or delivery of a person
held to service by reason of African descent it seemed to
:
direct the individual action of the
man
as a
man
which
;
think, hardly legitimate and proper on this occasion.
not
know but
that
the owners
we have
officers in
our army
who
is,
I
I
do
are them-
According to the provision
an officer could not even
arrest his own slave under the laws of the State in which he
selves
of
slaves.
reported by the committee, such
was holden.
It
seems to me, that, in dealing with
capacity.
officers of
them
in
their official
Therefore, to strip the subject of
all
sort of ques-
the army, our business
is
to deal with
drawn and presented the amendment
which the Senate have adopted, and which, I think, should
pass into a law,
that no officer shall use any military power
tion about that, I have
—
over this subject.
As
to his
own
individual action, that
is
a
matter which must be left to him."
" If you adopt," said Mr. Saulsbury, " the amendment of
the Senator from Vermont, you
officer to return,
make
it
penal for a soldier or
even to a loyal master or owner, his slave
but you provide no penalty against any soldier or any
officer
for depriving even a loyal master of the services of his slave.
My amendment
an
proposes to prohibit, under the same penalty,
officer or a soldier of tlie
away from the
army from decoying
service of his master a slave, or
or enticing
from harbor-
�THE SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY ARMY OFFICERS.
293
of Mr. Saulsbury's amendSenator from MinneDemocratic
ment, offered by Mr. Rice, a
"
loyal citizen of the
a
be
who may
sota, adding the words,
expressed the
Collamer
United States," was adopted. Mr.
ing a slave."
An amendment
thought that, under Mr. Saulsbury's amendment, " if any soldier wanted to get dismissed from the service, he would have
nothing to do but to entice a slave, and he would get himself
and the slave both dismissed."
" I am opposed," said Mr. Wilson, " to this amendment in
every shape and form, and to any legislation protecting, cover-
The
ing, or justifying slavery for loyal or disloyal masters.
this
given
at
be
laws on that subject are all that ought to
upon the statute-book of
this country a prohibition to the officers of the army of the
United States from arresting, detaining, and delivering up
What
time.
I
want
to do
is
to put
persons claimed as fugitives by the use of military power.
There is no law for it. They have acted in violation of law.
Some
of these officers
graced the country
;
have dishonored the profession, and disand I mean, if God is willing and I have
the power, to reject their confirmation here for that reason
and
I give
them the
notice
now."
Mr. Pearce thus presented
the not unnatural perplexities of slaveholding Unionists
" The Senator from Massachusetts objects to a proposition
which forbids
officers
and
soldiers
ticing, harboring, or preventing
amount
of
it
—
of a fugitive slave,
application of his master,
known
of
army from
the
the recovery
known
to be such,
It is
?
State of Maryland,
an invitation to
who can do
upon the
all
no
What
lives.
is
the slaves of the
the camp, sure
so, to resort to
of protection there, first, because
en-
the
is
to be his lawful owner, ac-
cording to the laws of the State in which he
the effect of that
— that
officer of the
army can
order their delivery up to their master, however loyal or however indisputable his
title
may be
to that slave.
It is
an
invi-
tation, therefore, to all such people to resort to the lines of the
army
as a harbor of refuge, a place of asylum, a spot where
they can be safe from the operation of the undoubted legal
That is the effect of it and that
the whole body of such people, within the
rights of the owner.
invitation to
;
is
an
loyal
�294
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
State of Maryland, to accomplish their freedom by indirection.
It is
not an act of emancipation in
operate, and does operate,
terms
its
;
but so far as
it
can
leads directly to that result."
it
In the House the same general subject was receiving con-
on a proposition instructing the Committee on
bill for " the enactment of an
additional article of war whereby all officers in the military
service of the United States shall be prohibited from using
any portion of the forces under their respective commands for
sideration
Military Affairs to report a
the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor, and
provide for the punishment of such officers as
may
violate said
by dismissal from the service." On the 25th of February Mr. Blair of Missouri, from that committee, reported a
In the debate that
bill proposing such an additional article.
sprung up on its introduction, said Mr. Mallory of Kentucky,
article,
*'
You
are deciding by this article of
war that the President
of
the United States shall not be permitted to send a military
force into a State to aid the authorities of that State in en-
forcing a national law which stands on your statute-book.
ask the gentleman from Missouri whether
it is
"
mination to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law."
pose," replied Mr.
man
Blair, " to
many
with a great
I
do not pro-
decide the question the gentle-
has raised, as to whether this
will repeal the Fugitive Slave
I
the fixed deter-
Law
or not.
others, that the
becomes a law,
bill, if it
I believe, in
army
of the
common
United States
has a great deal better business than returning fugitive slaves."
" I see," said Mr. Wickliffe of the same State, " by the evi-
dence which has been furnished, that General Grant captured
twelve negro slaves
at Fort Donelson, I think it was
—
among
—
prisoners there taken.
their loyal
They were returned by him
owners in Kentucky, from
forced by the Rebel power.
commander from the
Would
whom
to
they had been
this bill prevent a military
exercise of such power
?
"
This was a
question not altogether free from embarrassment to the administration or
slave States,
its
supporters, intent on retaining the border
who made
their loyalty so dependent
on the con-
sideration that slavery should receive nothing of detriment
" I
also another, asked by Mr. Grider of the same State.
;
as
am
�THE SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY ARMY OFFICERS.
295
informed," said this gentleman, " that within three counties
my
in
the Rebel
district,
army has impressed and run off
Now,
slaves to the value of three hundred thousand dollars.
does this article of war propose that these servants shall
not be returned, and shall not be intercepted ? " Is it singular
sir,
that, in the presence of such facts,
questionings,
men whose
and confronted by such
antislavery convictions were not very
strong, and whose antecedent associations
among
had been rather
the enemies than the advocates of such convictions,
should have hesitated, and sought some middle course, in the
it would be the safer path ?
But the nation had reached, or was rapidly approaching, the
position where it was seen that it was dealing with sterner
facts and more inexorable laws than were involved in any
hope, though vain, that
vested rights of property or questions of political expediency.
Men
saw, or were beginning to see, that there was something
men, or the compromises of
the Constitution, sacred as they had been deemed and faithfully observed that there were higher laws than any of human
enactment, and these not alone of the Decalogue that even
more potent than the
statutes of
;
;
the laws of physical force could not be ignored or set aside by
political considerations, or the desire,
however strong,
to con-
Southern brethren and carry out in good faith the
provisions and promises of former days.
It was becoming
ciliate their
every day more and more apparent that the race of slaves embodied not only a vast physical force that could not be safely
overlooked, but a higher moral potency involved in the answer
given by the American people to the question whether or not
that race should be treated justly or unjustly
must be run,
it
was
;
and,
if
risks
safer to risk the displeasure of the slave-
holding Unionists than the displeasure of the Almighty.
As
ever, during the debates of those years,
was heard, among
the loudest and most pronounced, the clarion voice of the
member from
Ohio.
returning fugitives
Denouncing the practice
of arresting
and
" as a military despotism the American
moment, nor lose a moment
by the enactment of a law " to prevent it, Mr.
Bingham added '• I say that a military officer who assumes,
people should not tolerate for a
in ending,
:
�296
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
EISE
IN AMERICA.
wrongfully assumes, to exercise the functions of
civil
and undertakes
being, born within the
any human
tracy,
sit
is
right to do
charged,
it
;
upon the right
of
magis-
limits of this Republic, to the posses-
own person and
sion of his
no offence
to
is
own
his
soul,
and against
worse than a kidnapper.
He
whom
has no
and, by so doing, commits a crime, a great
crime.
Some of your military officers of high and low degree
have been detailing their men for the purpose of seizing, and
have seized, persons not accused of crime, but suspected of the
virtue of preferring liberty to bondage.
Are we
to revive
here, in this land, the hated rule of the Athenian ostracism,
by
which men were condemned, not because they were charged
with crime or proved guilty of crime, but because they were
suspected to possess and practise the virtues of justice and
patriotism in such degree as render their presence in the State
dangerous to republican equality
because he was just
savior of the city.
is true,
;
I
?
Aristides was condemned
and Themistocles, because he was the
ha^e read in the papers, and I believe it
that one of these persons suspected of escaping from
swam
making for an
where he saw the banner
of Liberty flying, which he fondly looked upon as consecrating
that place, at least, as sacred to the rights of person, and
where even the rights of a hunted bondman would be respected.
After having been beaten about, bruised, and mangled against
the rocks in the channel of the river, to whose rushing waters
he committed his life that he might regain his liberty, he
reached the opposite shore."
Saying that he was there suspected of being a fugitive from slavery, and that a company of
bondage
to liberty
across the Ohio River,
encampment upon the Indiana
soldiers
shore,
were detailed to arrest and return him to his owners,
" If that practice is to be pursued by the army and
he added
:
navy under the American
flag, it
ought to cover with midnight
blackness every star that burns on
everlasting infamy the
base uses."
The
bill
men who
its field
of azure,
dare to desecrate
and with
it
to
such
then passed by the vote of eighty-three
to forty-two.
It was reported in the Senate by Mr. Wilson, from the
Committee on Military Affairs, on the 4th of March, and made
�THE SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY ARMY OFFICERS.
the subject of debate on the 10th.
moved
to
amend by adding
297
Mr. Davis of Kentucky
the words, " and also from detain-
any such fugitive " but his amendment received but ten votes. As in the House, it was destined
ing, liarboring, or concealing
;
meet the persistent opposition of the border slave-State
members. Mr. Saulsbury moved to so amend as to exempt
the States of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky
but his amendment received but seven votes. Mr. Carlile
asked the same question that had been propounded in the
House, whether the adoption of such an additional rule was
not in conflict with the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law.
to
Mr. Saulsbury wished to amend by inserting a provision inA
hibiting any attempt to decoy the slaves of loyal masters.
question from Mr. Anthony of Rhode Island, whether officers
army and
all others were not already prohibited by exfrom enticing and decoying slaves, evoked from
Mr. Howard the reply that they were, by " the severe and
almost inhuman penalties of the slave law of 1850." " In voting against the amendment, which I shall do," said Mr. An-
of the
isting laws
thony, "
I
certainly do not wish to be understood that I
would
vote to give any officer liberty to entice a slave from a loyal
master
;
but
I
understand the law already prohibits
it
;
it is
we are only re-enacting another law."
amendment only received ten votes, and the
already an offence, and
Mr. Saulsbury's
bill
was passed by a vote
of twenty-nine to nine
;
and was
approved by the President on the 13th of March, 1862.
But members were
still
anxious, and fearful that the dis-
graceful and, as they were beginning to view
devised.
it,
dangerous
go on, unless some new safeguards were
Accordingly on the 14th of April, on motion of Mr.
practice would
still
Wilson, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of a resolution previously presented by him, " to consider
and report
whether any further legislation is necessary to prevent persons
employed in the military service " from returning fugitives.
The
was never adopted, but the debate thereon indiand the feelings
that were excited by the unseemly practice.
Mr. Grimes
moved to amend the resolution by adding to it the words,
resolution
cates very clearly both the facts that excited
�298
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" and to report what reorganization of the army, in
nel or otherwise,
may
its
person-
be necessary to promote the public wel-
and triumphant
end." In his speech he showed, by the facts he recited, the
arguments he employed, and the appeals he urged, that the
nation, though in a dilemma where no choice was without its
difficulties and perils, was in a position no longer tenable,
with a policy no longer to be tolerated. " One would think,"
he said, " that all men would agree in pronouncing that a
cruel and despotic order which repeals the Divine precept,
fare,
*
and bring the Rebellion
Inasmuch
it
as ye did
it
to a speedy
not to one of the least of these, ye did
not to me,' and arbitrarily forbids the soldier to bestow a
crust of bread or a cup of water upon a wretched, famish-
ing fugitive escaping from our
emy.
own
as well as
from his en-
Yet, Mr. President, I grieve to say that there are
those, high in rank in the service of the United States,
have sought to break down the
who
manhood, which is
the crowning glory of true soldiers, by requiring them to do
acts, outside of their profession, which they abhor, and to
smother all impulses to tliose deeds of charity which they
spirit of
have been taught to believe are the characteristics of ChrisIt was known to the country, at an
tian gentlemen
early day after
the
commencement
of
the war, that some
military commanders were abusing the great power intrusted
to them, and were employing the army to assist in the capture
and rendition
of fugitive slaves, not in aid of
cess, but in obedience to their
own
unbridled
of this assumption of unauthorized power
soldiery to disobedience,
any
judicial pro-
The
will.
was
effect
to incite the
and to arouse the people to the neIt was in compliance
cessity of proper legislative restraints.
wnth the popular sentiment on this subject that Congress enacted the additional article of war, which was approved on the
13th of March last
In the month of February
last,
an
Third Regiment of Iowa Infantry, stationed at a
small town in Missouri, succeeded in capturing several Rebel
bridge-burners, and some recruiting officers belonging to Price's
officer of the
army.
The information
that led to their capture
nished by two or three remarkably shrewd and
was
fur-
intelligent
�THE SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY ARMY OFFICERS.
slaves,
299
claimed by a lieutenant-colonel in the Rebel army.
Shortly afterwards the master despatched an agent, with in-
and convey them within the
whereupon the Iowa officer himself seized them,
structions to seize the slaves,
Rebel lines
;
and reported the circumstances
soon understanding the
full
The
to headquarters.
slaves
import of General Halleck's
cele-
brated order No. 3, two of them attempted an escape.
was regarded
as an unpardonable sin.
The Iowa
This
officer
was
immediately placed under arrest, and a detachment of the
Missouri State militia
— men
and under the command
pursuit of the fugitives.
in the
pay of
of General Halleck
The hunt was
this
government
— were sent in
successful.
The
slaves
were caught, and returned to their traitor master, but not
them had been shot by order of the soldier in
command of the pursuing party
How long, think you,
will this method of dealing with the Rebels be endured by the
until one of
freemen of
this
country
?
confined within the walls of
of
Are our brothers and sons
tlie
Richmond and Charleston,
menial
offices,
endangered
beam
if
tobacco-warehouses and
obliged to perform
to be
jails
the most
subsisted upon the most stinted diet, their lives
they attempt to obtain a breath of fresh air or a
window, while the Rebels capon parole,
to be pampered with luxuries, to be attended by slaves, and
"
the slaves guarded from escape by our own soldiers ?
On the 1st of May the Senate, on motion of Mr. Wilson,
resumed the consideration of the resolution the pending question being the amendment moved by Mr. Grimes.
Mr. Sumner was " grateful to the Senator from Iowa for the frankness
with which he exposed and condemned the recent orders of
our generals." He then examined and condemned severely
the orders of Generals Hooker, McCook, Buel, Halleck, and
the provost-marshal of Louisville.
He contrasted and commended the action of General Doubleday and General McDowHe closed his speech by saying, " Sir, we are making
ell.
Every victory adds something to that history
history now.
but such an order is worse for us than a defeat. More than
any defeat, it will discredit us with posterity, and with the
of God's sunlight at a
tured by those very
men
are permitted to go at large
;
�300
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
friends of liberal institutions in foreign nations.
that General Halleck
is
have said
I
reputed to be an able officer
;
but most
perversely he undoes with one hand what he does with the
He
other.
undoes by his orders the good he docs as a general.
While professing to make war upon the Rebellion, he sustains
its chief and most active power, and degrades his gallant army
to be the constables of slavery.
Slavery
is
the constant rebel
and universal enemy. It is traitor and belligerent together,
and is always to be treated accordingly. Tenderness to slavery now is practical disloyalty, and practical alliance with the
enemy. Against these officers to whom I have referred to-day
I have no personal unkindncss.
I should much prefer to
speak in their praise
but,
;
sir, I
am
While
in earnest.
I
have
the lionor of a seat in the Senate, no success, no victory, shall
be any apology or any shield to a general
insult
human
nature.
From
who undertakes
to
the midst of his triumphs I will
drag him forward to receive the condemnation which such
conduct deserves."
The border
though aware that
would be overborne by the force of numbers,
State members, however,
their opposition
met the efforts of the free State members not only with argument and appeal, but with ridicule, captious motions, and the
like.
Thus Mr. Saulsbury moved to amend the resolution by
adding to it, " and what further legislation is necessary to
prevent the illegal capture and imprisonment of the free white
In support of the amendment
citizens of the United States."
he said " But, while we are entertained every morning with a
:
narrative Cf the grievances of the black
the free negroes
and the slaves of
equally as much, and
weakness
— although
at the present time to say
of the free white citizens of
demand
institutions or its
quiry shall be
secure
my
this country, thinking
may
it
of this country,
be an infirmity and a
— thinking a
country, I will, in
little
more,
my
place,
that justice shall be done them, ^nd that free white
men, who have done naught
its
it
men
them
made
to injure their country, to destroy
Union, shall be protected, and that
to see
if
in their rights."
further legislation
is
in-
necessary to
�CHAPTER
XXIII.
AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
delicate position of the President. — His proposition. — Debate in
— Democratic opposition. — Division of sentiment among Republicans.
— Stevens, Bingham, Olin. — Senate. — Opposition by Saulsbury, Latham,
McDougall, Davis. — Resolution defended by Morrill. — Passed. — Other prop— Deep
— Resolutions of Wilson, White. — Committee of
— Noell's and speech. — Clements, Wickliffe. — Debate. —
Nine. —
Henderson, Kennedy, Turpie, Richardson. — Questions of time and compen— Harris, Sherman, Foster. — Amendments. — Howard. — Speeches of
passed. — Lost in the House. — Conferences
Wilson, Cowan, Sumner. —
— Majority and miwith border State representatives. — President's
Difficult
and
Congress.
ositions.
feeling.
bill
Bill.
sation.
Bill
letter.
nority replies.
The
difficult
and
delicate
task imposed upon
President
Lincoln in attempting to adjust his policy in the matter of
slaveiy to the jarring interests and conflicting claims of
Northern antislavery and Southern Unionism has been fre-
quently referred to in the preceding pages.
Beginning his
administration with the simple purpose to save the Union,
without regard to slavery except to
exactness
fulfil
with punctilious
constitutional obligations, but gradually awak-
all
ing to what soon became incontrovertible, that the nation
could no more be saved than it could " endure half slave
and half
free,"
he was confronted with the grave problem
and conciliating both extremes as to keep
and vigorously engaged in the work of prosecuting the war, with its immense cost and fearful sacrifices.
of so far satisfying
them
actively
Plainly he
public
" Few great
could not satisfy both, if either.
"
it has been said,
have ever been the victims
men,"
of fiercer denunciations than
his friends.
He was
Abraham Lincoln was during
wounded in the house of
Reproaches came thick and fast from within and
his administration.
often
�302
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and from opposite quarters.
He was assailed by
he was assailed by slaveholders he was assailed by the men who were for peace at any price
he was
assailed by those who were for a more vigorous prosecution
of the war
he was assailed for not making the war an
Abolition war and he was most bitterly assailed for making
the war an Abolition war."
During the first year he did not relinquish the ruling idea,
"svilliout,
Abolitionists
;
;
;
;
;
so firmly and freely expressed at the outset by both himself
and party, that the only end for which the war was prosecuted
was the vindication of the authority of the Federal government
and the maintenance of the Union, with no designs whatever
upon the peculiar institutions of the South. Indeed, for that
time the policy of his administration had been so sedulously
guarded in that direction that
it
was deemed
far
more
favor-
able to the Southern than to the Northern side of the great
question at issue.
So far had
this
purpose given color and
direction to his policy that he felt constrained to take special
pains to disavow by words and actions any intention of interfering with the system, not only allowing generals to return
fugitives to their masters, but modifying the proclamation of
Fremont, who had declared the slaves of Rebels free, and reGeneral Hunter in South Carolina
lieving him of his command.
had gathered from the slaves, whose masters were fugitives, a
regiment of colored soldiers but Congress adopted a resoluBefore that, too, Mr.
tion calling him to account therefor.
;
Seward, as Secretary of State, had been
still
more
his despatch to Mr. Dayton, Minister to France.
explicit in
After saying
that " the condition of slavery in the several States will remain
just the
same whether the war succeed or not," he added "
this incontestable statement
to
new
the further fact that the
President, as well as the citizens through whose suffrages he
has come into the administration, has always repudiated all
designs whatever and whenever imputed to liim and them,
of disturbing the system of slavery as
it is
existing under the
Constitution and the laws."
But the progress
of events
and the purposes
were stronger than the plans and
of Providence
policies of politicians
;
and
�AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
the administration,
303
so disposed, could not longer repress
if
or ignore this growing sentiment of the loyal States that this
and made
But the difficulty in the way of
either moving or standing still was great and every way
" Mr. Lincoln," said Mr. Hickman of Pennsylvania,
serious.
the sword of the
"has found himself between two swords,
immunity
of slavery should be at least considered,
the subject of discussion.
—
party looking to a particular policy to be pursued towards a
Rebellion springing from slavery
;
who insist all
such a way as to
of the border States,
be prosecuted in
and the sword in the hands
the time that the war shall
save their peculiar, divine,
and humanizing institution."
But Mr. Lincoln, more cautious and chary, if not wiser,
than his censors and assailants, sought the object desired by
more gradual approaches. He would persuade and aid the
slaveholders of the border States to do voluntarily wliat he
hesitated to attempt by coercion.
On
the 6th of March, 1862,
he sent a special message to Congress recommending the
adoption of a resolution pledging the United States govern-
ment
aid,
to co-operate, by appropriate legislation and pecuniary
" with any State which would adopt a system of the
gradual abolishment of
saying that
if
slavery."
In this message, after
the proposition did not " meet the approval
and the country, there is the end," he frankly
avowed his purpose, and gave his reasons for making such
a recommendation. Alluding to the hope of " the leaders of
the insurrection" that the Federal government would be
obliged to acknowledge the independence of some part of
the disaffected region, and that, in that case, " the slave
States north of that part" would choose to "go with the
Southern section," he said he would disappoint that hope if
possible by persuading these border States to abolish slavery,
whicli would " make it certain to the more Southern that in
no event will the former ever join the latter in the proposed
of Congress
To
confederacy
tially
that
its
them
To guard
deprive
ends the Rebellion."
of
this
hope substan-
against the assumption
ultimate purpose was universal emancipation, he said
" The point
is,
not that
all
the States tolerating slavery would
�304
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
very soon,
offer
is
if
IN AMERICA.
at all, initiate emancipation, but that, while the
equally
made
ation" will show that
holders must be vain.
more Northern, by such initihope of their joining the Rebel slaveExpressing the hope that such initiatory
to all, the
all
measures might " lead to important practical results," he closed
by the solemn asseveration that he did it " in full view of his
great responsibility to
God and
begged " the attention
his
country"; and he earnestly
Congress and the people to the
of
subject."
The
proposition thus solemnly brought to the consideration
and the country evoked a varied response, not
of Congress
only on account of the different standpoints from which
was viewed, and
of the different convictions
it
and preposses-
it was a subject so confessedly
and without precedent, that men of equal ability
and equal honesty would very naturally differ concerning it.
Tliere were at least four classes of opinion and feeling ex-
sions entertained, but because
new,
difficult,
isting,
with
many
shades of difference between them
;
those
men, the conservatives, the Democracy, mostly proslavery, and the border
State men, who loved both the Union and slavery, and who
were determined, if possible, to maintain each.
While there was a majority of both houses who were willing
to vote for anything that even gave promise of relief,
and
this proposition certainly did that,
there were many to oppose
some on constitutional grounds, and some because it
seemed to be a measure of interference with slavery, if not, as
respectively of the thoroughgoing antislavery
—
—
;
charged, a covert attack upon the system
garded
it
itself.
as having no promised vigor of action,
that could not effect the object professedly aimed
Others
re-
— a project
at.
A
few
days after the reception of the message, Mr. Conkling in the
House moved tlie reference of the proposed resolution to the
Committee
opposition,
of tlie Wliole.
Benjamin
It at
Wood
of
once encountered Democratic
New York
objecting to its
Mr. Ricliardson of Illinois opposed the resolution.
people," he said, " are not prepared to enter upon the
reception.
"
My
proposed work of purchasing the slaves of otlier people, and
" I have taken my
turning them loose in their midst."
�305
AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
stand," said Mr. Yoorhees of Indiana, " in the name of the
If there is any border-slavepeople I represent, against it.
doubt whether he wants his State
to sell its slaves to the government or not, I represent a
people that is in no doubt as to whether they want to beand I
It takes two to make a bargain
come purchasers.
State
man
liere
who
is in
;
and forever, for the people whom I represent
on this floor, any part or parcel in such a contract."
The border-State men were divided or, at least, they were
repudiate, once
;
not
all
equally opposed to the resolution.
Wickliffe,
Wads-
The
latter,
worth, and Crittenden of Kentucky opposed
it.
after according purity of intention to the President, and no
disposition to interfere with slavery in
"
Do
the
States,
added:
know, that although the President will abstain
from interfering, there are many others, who, knowing it is
I not
a favorite policy of
his, desiring
themselves to be in his favor,
would stir up an emancipation party " in these border States ?
Mr. Fisher of Delaware announced his purpose to vote for the
Mr. Grider of Kentucky remarked that he had
resolution.
not decided how he should vote, and Mr. Mallory of the same
State asked for time in which the representatives of the border
States might consult.
Several Republicans opposed it very strenuously.
Thaddeus
Stevens thought it " the most diluted, milk-and-water-gruel
proposition that was ever given to the American nation."
Mr. Hickman said it was " rather an excuse for non-action
than an avowed determination to act." " Neither the message
nor the resolution," he said, " is manly and open. They are
both covert and insidious. They do not become the dignity
of the President of the United States.
The message is not
such a document as a full-grown, independent man should
publish to the nation at such a time as the present,
positions should be freely
and
fully defined."
when
He made
the
important statement that he could " not discover a difference
views" on slavery "between a man from Maryland and
South Carolina
a
Wherever the negro is,
there is an undivided loyalty to slavery
and every day's
proceedings here show it."
in
man from
;
VOL.
III.
20
�306
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
But
IN AMERICA.
message and resolutions had able advocates. Mr.
answer to the question where in the
Constitution could be found the clause giving to Congress
the power to " appropriate the treasure of the United States
tlic
Bingham
of Ohio, in
buy negroes or
to
to set
them
free," referred to the
of Madison, tlic " father of the Constitution," that the
conferred on
the
common
that "it
is
words
power
tlie national legislature by that instrument for
defence had " no limitation, express or implied " ;
in vain to oppose constitutional barriers to the
impulse of self-preservation
;
it is
worse than in vain."
Mr.
Diven of
New York
violating
one of their constitutional rights," to bring this
hailed " the introduction of this,
coming
from the executive of the country, as a bow of hope and
promise," and he called upon the loyal men of the border
States to rally around the President, who " never thought of
country out from this
upon her
flag
fiery ordeal
whole scope and intent
"
Why,
"
undimmed.
simply, that
if
?
unscathed, with every star
What
is
this resolution, in its
" asked Mr. Olin of
New
York.
you gentlemen of the slave States are
willing to get rid of slavery, the general government will aid
you to do
may
it
by giving you a compensation for any loss you
And this he characterized as " the magnani-
sustain."
mous, the great, the godlike policy of the administration."
Tlie resolution was passed by a vote of eighty-nine to thirtyfour.
on the 20th, and made the
Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware
made a furious speech against it. " It is," he said, " the
It
was reported
to the Senate
subject of debate on the 24th.
most extraordinary resolution that was evex introduced into
an American Congress extraordinary in its origin, extraordinary in the object which it contemplates, mischievous in its
tendency and I am not at all sure that it is anywise patriotic
even in its design." Mr. Powell of Kentucky, remarking that
he regarded the message as artfully and cautiously worded,
;
;
really containing a threat of ultimate coercion
aid
was not accepted,
said
:
"
I
as the slave States are concerned, as a
coated."
if
the proffered
regard the whole thing, so far
pill of
arsenic, sugar-
Mr. Latham, though he regarded the President's
�AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
307
motion " a proper and patriotic one," was not prepared to
pledge the people of the Pacific States " to submit to anykind of taxation that the government
in a general
scheme
of emancipation."
may
see fit to impose
Mr. McDongallof the
and he denied the right
on the shores of the Pacific
" for the purpose of emancipating the slaves of Kentucky,
'Mi^ Davis of Kentucky offered an
Missouri, and Maryland."
same State urged the same
objection,
of Congress to tax the people
amendment which coupled the idea of colonization with that
but it was rejected.
of emancipation
The debate in the Senate was brief, and yet the considerate
;
and conciliatory proposition of the President found advocates
" I cannot conceive,"
earnestly and effectively.
says Mr. Morrill of Maine, " that such a proposition is offensive, or can be offensive, to any man or any class of men who
Conhave not made up their minds that, above all things,
who spoke
stitution, country, everything,
— they
—
hold slavery to be su-
preme, and that they will stand on that, no matter what
becomes of the country." Treating with scorn and contempt
" every invitation to consider the subject," Senators " are
indignant that the President proposes that these States in
their
own way
shall consider
whether
it is
not expedient to
get rid, in the future, of the cause of our present troubles."
Even the slave State of Missouri found voice, and spoke words
" I regard
of commendation in a speech of Mr. Henderson.
it,"
he
said,
" as no insult to the people of
my State,
no threat,
but a measure conciliatory and looking to the future peace
and harmony
and to the early restoration of
had been more largely cultivated in
days gone by, we would not this day be forced to witness a
ruined South and a deeply oppressed North.
Why, sir, ninetythe Union.
of the country,
If this spirit
war would pay for every slave in the States
Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and the District of Colum-
six days of this
of
On the conclusion of the debate the resolution was
adopted by a vote of thirty-two to ten; and it received the
bia."
President's approval April 10, 1862.
While this resolution was before Congress there were various
other propositions of a like tenor introduced and considered.
�308
As
RISE
they
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
all
failed,
or were
IN AMERICA.
superseded by the President's
Proclamation of Emancipation, issued on the 22d of the following September, they require notice mainly as showing the
That they
and exhibited much conflict
current of popular thought and feeling at that time.
were
really inchoate
of opinion even
and
among
tentative,
those agreeing in the essential points at
and earnest men who engaged in those
issue
discussions did not and could not fully comprehend the situation
that they spent weeks and months in debating propositions and maturing schemes that were all to be swept away
;
that the able
;
by the rush of events then near at hand, only proved that they
were not omniscient and could not pierce the darkness of the
future. In the " dark and troubled night " that had fallen upon,
the nation, when the land was full of suffering and sorrow,
of griefs for the past
and apprehensions
"The air was full
And mournings
for the future
;
when
of farewells to the dying
for the
dead "
;
men " knew of agony " was crowded into the passing
days and weeks when the wisest and the strongest, ignorant
when
all
;
outcome
of all they were suffering and passing through, it is no reflection upon the statesmen of the XXXVIIth Congress that
their debates during the winter and spring of 1862 came to no
of the Divine purpose, could not forecast the final
practical result.
But, for
all that,
the record of those days
was a worthy one, honorable and instructive. It reveals a
growing sense of justice, and a reverent feeling of dependence
on the Divine favor a magnanimity of purpose that made
members tolerant and just even towards those who were inflicting such untold and irreparable injuries on themselves and
country the unconquered will and the heroic self-sacrifice that
animated and sustained them in that supreme moment of the
;
;
nation's
On
life.
the 7th of
March Mr. Wilson
of Massachusetts
asked
leave to introduce a joint resolution to grant aid to the States
Delaware and Maryland to emancipate their slaves. Objecmade by Mr. Saulsbury, who announced his purpose
to " object to the proposition at every stage, and to figlit it at
every stage," it was laid over, and on tlic 10th it was read
of
tion being
�309
AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
On
was never called up again.
same month Mr, Henderson of Missouri
to a second reading, but
and passed
the 19th of the
introduced a
granting aid to his State to emancipate
bill
its
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary,
It was
slaves.
which subsequently reported
with a recommendation that
it
it
should not pass.
In the House the subject had been introduced on the 7th of
White of Indiana,
April, 1862, by a resolution, offered by Mr.
for the appointment of a select committee of nine
the chairman and a majority of
whom
members,
should be members from
the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Missouri,
to
make
inquiry and to report a plan for
the gradual emancipation of slaves and extinction of slavery in
those States.
It was also authorized to " extend the same
inquiries as to the other slaveholding States,
thereon."
But
too, encountered
it,
and to report
Democratic opposition from
it as " an unconstitutional
was adopted by a majoi'ity of
the start, Mr. Mallory denouncing
The
fifteen, and White
Delaware, Lehman
absurdity."
ley of Virginia,
resolution
of Indiana, Blair of Missouri, Fisher
of Pennsylvania, Leary of Maryland,
Wilson
of Iowa,
of
Wha-
Casey of Kentucky, and
Clements of Tennessee were appointed members of that committee.
On the 16th of July the committee reported a bill for
a system of emancipation of slaves and colonization of free
negroes.
The
bill
provided that, whenever the President shall
be satisfied that any State shall have emancipated the slaves
therein, he shall deliver to such State
an amount of United
States bonds " equal to the aggregate value of all
its
slaves at
the rate of three hundred dollars each," excluding any owner
who had
given aid to the Rebellion, said sums " to be deliv-
ered at once
if
the emancipation shall be immediate, or in rat-
if it shall be gradual."
In his accompanying
White said that the committee had adopted it with
able instalments
speech, Mr.
" It is
great unanimity, differing only in matters of detail.
addressed," he said, " not to the politician of an hour, but to
historic
know
upon
men, conscious
of
this as the
results."
the
peril of their country,
must be made to save it,
most hopeful, as it will be the noblest,
The bill, however, never came up for action.
that great sacrifices
who
and look
in its
�310
RISE
On
a
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
the loth of
December Mr. Noell
IN AMERICA.
of Missouri introduced
to secure the abolishment of slavery in his State and
bill
provide for the compensation of "loyal persons therein
who
This was referred to the Select Committee on
Emancipation, which reported it back, without amendment, on
It provided that the United
the 6th of January succeeding.
own
slaves."
States should furnish the
sum
of ten million dollars, in its
and by an
Mr. Clements made a
bonds, as soon as Missouri should, in good faith
irrepealable act, emancipate her slaves.
verbal minority report, in which he indorsed the principle,
embodied in a previous report of the committee, of the measure of aiding the border States to abolish by " aid from the
national treasury," as something deserving the thanks of all
but he opposed that particular bill, as being " of a
mankind
;
sectional character," providing for one State only,
The
were others equally needy and desirous.
when
there
brief debate
on
so important a measure, hardly exceeding an hour, and the
by which it was carried, seventy-three to fortywas very suggestive of the opinion and purpose that prevailed. There was some difference of opinion as to the amount
decisive vote
six,
required, though Mr. Noell expressed the belief that ten mil-
would pay for all the slaves of the loyal men of Missouri,
which he represented as not more than one fourth of the
whole.
He said, too, that the people had had tlie subject
lions
and that they had " decided in favor of
Mr. Clements was
proposed in the
scheme
comprehensive
in favor of the more
of one hunappropriation
previous report, recommending the
dred and eighty million dollars for the payment for emancipated slaves, and twenty million for the purposes of colonizaregularly before them,
getting rid of the institution of slavery."
He
tion.
said that in reporting that
bill
they
"were not
a desire for emancipation as by a desire
Speaking of the slaveholders in
to support the government."
" At present they are looking
the States enumerated, he said
for the preservation of slavery to the cotton States as the
influenced so
much by
:
means
a
bill
of protecting their interests in slaves.
as
If
we pass such
was reported last session, it will form a basis of valuaand their value will not go below it. By such a
tion, of slaves,
�AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
measure we
311
will, in time, get rid of the evil of slavery in all
the border States, and finally of the institution throughout the
During the debate a statement was made by
government."
Wickliffe,
it
is
true, of great historic value.
if
Indeed, as
it
stands,
the testimony of a prominent Southerner to the
progress that had been
moral means alone,
—
among
ern mind, even
made toward
little
the removal of slavery by
to the utter demoralization of the South-
the
Union men
of the
most
intelligent
on the subject of human riglits. Denying
that there had been any change " in favor of these miserable
Abolition schemes," he declared " in the face of Heaven," beof the border States,
and the nation, that there was " not one in every
three hundred men in Kentucky in favor of such a measure."
" There is no division of sentiment," he said, " on this question
of emancipation, whether it is to be brought about by force, by
fraud, or by purchase of slaves out of the public treasury."
The bill was reported in the Senate, with an amendment
substituting " twenty millions " for " ten millions," and leavfore Congress
much
ing out so
of the original bill as referred to the " depor-
tation of such emancipated slaves."
ing that the
bill
Mr. Henderson, after say-
now before them was substantially the one he
made an eloquent plea for its adoption. " The
had introduced,
decree," he said, " has gone forth that slavery must be
de-
Saying that Missouri presented her " regrets " for
any agency of hers in bringing about " the unfortunate feud,"
he added " She may at least claim the honor of fidelity to her
stroyed."
:
pledge in
tlie
darkest hour of the nation's existence. If it be
is the cause of this Rebellion, she answers by
said that slavery
placing slavery upon the altar of the country."
The
was, of course, opposed by the few remaining DemoGarrett Davis declared that negroes
were " reclaimed savages," and yet, he said, " you want to put
bill
crats in the Senate.
them
in a position
where they will relapse into savagism."
" Is there any morality in it ? What kind
that, that will take from the people of a State,
Mr. Powell asked
of morality
is
:
against their will, their property, not for the purpose of benefitting the State, but for the purpose of gratifying the fanatical
zeal of a party temporarily in power."
" Let us alone," said
�312
RISE
Kennedy
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Maryland
of
inevitable destiny, are
Do
IN AMERICA.
" the laws of political economy, of
working out a remedy for slavery there.
;
not trammel us with questions that
may
precipitate issues
and which may involve our beloved
Mr. Turpie of
State in the horrid scenes of fratricidal war."
that
we cannot
control,
Indiana deprecated this interference with the sovereignty of
" Do Senators," he asked, " still desire to con-
the States.
tinue to agitate this dangerous and disgraceful element in the
political history of
the Missouri
bill."
our country
If they do, let
?
Mr. Wall of
New
them vote
Jersey opposed the
as also did Mr. Richardson of Illinois.
The
for
bill,
latter cast the
disingenuous reflection upon Attorney-General Bates, of giving
an opinion " at the instance of the President." He said that
had been declared " for the
it
official
time from any national
first
position in this country, that Africans born here
are
though in disregard of the Dred Scott decision.
This opinion was "wanted" by the President for a "purpose,"
citizens,"
and that purpose was, he sneeringly remarked, for the advantage of the " free American of African descent." He added
that the President " has thought of nothing else, wrote of
nothing
else,
talked of nothing else, dreamed of nothing else,
since his election to the Presidency
of nothing else until our
Union
is
;
and
I fear
he will think
dissolved, our Constitution
destroyed, and our nationality lost."
points of difference and of debate with the majorwere questions of amount to be appropriated, and of the
time when the proposed emancipation should take place,
whether, in fact, emancipation should be immediate or gradual.
The main
ity
To
making some appropriation for the purpose at
some time, there was only Democratic opposition. The great
thought and purpose seemed to be that any sacrifice of feeling
the fact of
or of property should be made for even the chance of good,
even a remote hope of crippling the giant wrong that had
inflicted such evils, and which still threatened such harm.
Nor
this alone.
If other
evidences were wanting, this single
Northern maand recklessly made. Notwithstanding the long account of wrong and outrage standing
sufficient to disprove the charges of
debate
is
lignity
and injury so
freely
�AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
313
against their Southern brethren, culminating at length in a
Rebellion as causeless as
absence of
all
bers from the free States,
purpose to make
evil foreign to
was
it
how
terrible,
noticeable
traces of angry and vengeful feelings in
common
how marked
their
the
is
mem-
magnanimity
of
cause in ridding the nation of an
themselves and for which they were at most
only remotely responsible
Mr. Harris of
New York
said he regarded
said, " the first great conflict
it
as the
most
" Forty years ago," he
important measure of the session.
between slavery and freedom
took place in reference to the admission of the State of
It seIn that conflict slavery was successful.
never
political
power
which
was
predominance
of
cured a
I desire exeffectually checked until the election of 1860.
Missouri.
ceedingly that in reference to this very State,
to roll back the tide of slavery.
There
is
we should begin
a peculiar fitness
" If Missouri," said Mr. Morrill of Maine, "that great
in it."
State lying in the centre of the continent, would speak the
We
we
are on
would be
worth ten million dollars to have the word spoken, and have
it spoken now, and would place that State on the side of the
government of the country." " I believe," said Mr. Sherman
of Ohio, " that the condition of slavery, as a fixed and permanent relation in Missouri, tends to keep up civil war in the
State and that the very moment she enters upon the path
of gradual emancipation, all her sympathies and all her interests will be opposed to the present Rebellion, and in favor
For this purpose, he said,
of the preservation of the Union."
he was willing to vote the money of the people to aid in this
object though he thought the object desired would be better
accomplished by gradual than by immediate emancipation.
" In my opinion," said Mr. Foster of Connecticut, " no more
word,
'
are on this side in this great contest
the side of freedom, free men, and free labor,'
;
it
;
;
grave question can be raised in
tliis
cision of tliat question affects directly,
body.
more
I think the de-
directly than
any
other question before us, the existence and perpetuity of the
If we actually make
government
we do more to perpetuate the existence
we can do in any other way."
Missouri a free State,
of the Republic
than
�314
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
But the questions
of time
IN AMERICA.
and amount seemed to awaken
the most lively interest, and call forth the most earnestness.
Some who were strongly in favor of the policy of emancipation
made it a condition precedent that it must be gradual Mr.
;
Henderson saying that, as earnestly as he desired emancipation, if Congress were to appropriate ten million dollars and
demand immediate emancipation, he should ask
to reject
it,
slavery.
was 1876.
and adopt
itself
his legislature
a process of gradual extinction of
The time named in the bill for the act to take effect
Various amendments were offered,
one to make
—
another, by Mr. Sumner, that
be 1864 anby Mr. Henderson, making it 1885 while Mr. Willey
of Virginia thought it would be better for Missouri to put the
Mr. Sumner urged, as a reason for his amendtime at 1900.
ment, that being " a bill of peace, to bring tranquillity to a disthe time 1865
;
other,
it
;
;
turbed State," its execution should be " at the nearest possible
day." " If it were merely a question of economy or a question
of policy," he said, " then the Senate might properly debate
whether the change shall be instant or gradual
;
but consid-
economy and policy are all absorbed in the higher
There is no question whether
claims of justice and humanity.
Conjustice and humanity shall be immediate or gradual."
erations of
cerning the proposition to
make
it
1885,
Mr. Howard of
Michigan said that twenty-two years seemed an " unnecessarily long period " within which to bring about emancipation.
" 1876," he said, " will be a great epoch in the history of this
nation, as I trust,
their
own
if
the people are true to themselves, true to
interests, true to that tutelary Constitution
under
which we have lived and prospered for eighty long years past.
.... I want, when that great day shall arrive, to have the
pleasure of joining in its festivities, and listening to the roar
of cannon, and to the joy and shouts of the people of the
whole United States, that not only Missouri, but every other
slaveholding State, is that day, at least, free, redeemed, emancipated from the pestilence."
Sooner far, however, came the
consummation he so devoutly wished, and in a way far different and more summary than any he predicted or could have
conceived
of.
He
lived to see slavery abolished, but not to
�AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
join in those centennial " festivities "
315
he so exultingly fore-
casted.
to be paid was the subject of various amend"
one proposing to substitute for the " twenty milHons
of the bill " ten millions," another " eleven millions," another
" fifteen millions," and another still " twenty-five millions."
The amount
ments
;
Those who were
immediate emancipation proposed
Mr.
to graduate the amount given by the time employed.
Clark of New Hampshire said he was willing to give more
in favor of
and he offered
amendment, giving fifteen millions for immediate emanMr. Wilson said,
cipation, and ten for emancipation in 1876.
for immediate than for gradual emancipation,
as an
he wished the " alternative " to be presented " Emancipation
emancipation, 1876, ten
in 1865, twenty million dollars
:
;
He had
million dollars."
sition
of
my
" I
:
am
State
—
said in regard to the
ready to give
my
vote to tax the toiling
men
to tax the farmers, the mechanics, the mer-
chants, the fishermen on the coasts
blot slavery out of the State.
my own
main propo-
Yes,
New England — to
I am ready to tax
of
sir,
New
England, so as to more effectually crush
out this Rebellion, give domestic tranquillity, increase of popubarren
'Empire State' of the West;
must be emancipation now or within a few years.
I care far less for the money than for the time.
I am for
making it a free State with free influences in my day and
generation."
On another occasion he said " Let us stamp
upon her now desolated fields the words, Immediate emancipation,' and these blighted fields will bloom again
and law
and order and peace will again bless the dwellings of her
lation
but,
and
of wealth to that great
sir, it
:
'
;
people."
Mr. Cowan having expressed his doubt as to the need of
any appropriation in a system of gradual emancipation, because
the " usual mode " was to declare children free, born after a
certain period, and Mr. Sherman having responded by affirming that " the right to the increase of slaves " was " a property
right," Mr. Wilson replied to the latter " The Senator an:
nounces that he
is
willing to tax the people of
for children not yet born
;
America
no, not yet begotten.
I
to pay
am
not.
�316
BISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
Tlie Senator talks of our extreme views, of our radicalism
while
lie
accepts the abhorrent dogma, that slavemasters have
a right to the unborn, unbegotten issue of their slaves,
right for which he
is
willing to tax the people of Ohio to pay.
give no such vote."
I, sir,
—a
Mr. Sumner closed the debate
by-
urging immediate action, saying that procrastination was not
only a thief of time, but a thief of virtue
was then taken, and the
bill,
The question
itself.
by
was passed by a
or the substitute, reported
the Judiciary Committee for the
House
bill,
vote of twenty-three to eighteen.
The
But as
bill
it
was taken up
in the
House on the 3d
of
March.
could not be acted on until considered in the
mittee of the Whole, and as
it
Com-
required a two-thirds vote to
suspend the rules for that purpose, and as the requisite vote
could not be secured, the
the closing hours of the
The President
much upon
bill
was
XXXVHth
intensely,
felt
lost in the
House during
Congress.
and had
set his heart very
the acceptance by the border States of this proffer
government in aid of emancipation, believing, as he said
afterward, that " the indispensable necessity for military emanof the
and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by
Conversing with
session, he exclose
of
the
the
near
his Illinois friends
cipation
gradual and compensated emancipation."
two
of
claimed
:
" 0,
if
the border States would accept
my
proposi-
Then you, Lovejoy, and Arnold, and all of us, would
The labor of your life, Lovejoy, would
not have lived in vain
tion
!
!
be crowned with success
;
you would
live to sec the
end
of slav-
In addition to his message to Congress making the
proposition, he invited an interview with the Congressional
ery."
delegations of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and
Delaware, urging upon them the adoption of the plan of compensated emancipation ; though he met with little encourage-
ment.
But he did not despair nor remit
exertion.
On
the 12th of
July he invited the same gentlemen to another interview and
addressed them with a written communication, still urging
upon them the adoption of his plan. Saying that in his judg-
ment
the border-State representatives " held
more power
for
�AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
317
good than any other equal number of members," he told them
measure proposed would prove " one of the most
that the
potent and swift measures
of
ending the war."
The
ceding States, he said, seeing that the border States,
se-
having
abolished slavery, or adopted measures looking to that end,
would never of course join them, the former could not " much
longer maintain the contest."
" Can you," he asked, " for
your States do better than to take the course I ask ? Discarding /?MWC^i7to and maxims adapted to more manageable times,
and looking only to the unprecedentedly stern facts of our
case, can
you do better in any possible event ? " Alluding to
and desire that the constitutional relation of the
their claim
States should be restored " without disturbance of the instituit should be so effected
" If the war continues long, as it must, if the
tion," he reiterated his wish that
but he added
:
object be not sooner attained, the institution in your States will
be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion, by the mere
incidents of war.
It will
valuable in lieu of it."
be gone, and you will have nothing
He
then expressed in terse and timely
phrase the true and sensible policy, as the event so abundantly
proved, of seizing the opportune moment, while their slave
property had a commercial value and the nation was willing
to be a purchaser, to realize something of that value,
to wait until
it
and not
should be wholly destroyed by that " friction
and abrasion" produced by the fratricidal war, every hour
assuming larger and more alarming proportions. Saying that
he did " not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision
at once to emancipate gradually,"
plenty of
room
in
and hinting that there was
South America for colonization, he begged
of them, before they left the capital, to consider
among
themselves, and to
commend
it
and discuss
it
to the consideration of
their " States
and people." Appealing to them as " patriots
and statesmen," he urged them with mingled pathos and
work of saving
" Once relieved," he said, " its
dignity to address tliemselves to the great
the imperilled government.
form of government is saved to the world, its beloved history
and cherished memories are vindicated, and its happy future
fully assured and rendered inconceivably grand.
To you,
�318
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
more than any others, the privilege is given to assure that
happiness and swell that grandeur, and to link your own
names therewith."
But his appeals met no answering response, his overtures
were received with apathetic indifference, and no attempts
were made to persuade their constituents to accept the profIn the midst of the appalling
fered measure of deliverance.
dangers that beset the Republic, which they could not
fail to
comprehend, they preferred to cling
see, if
to their cherished system and take the fearful risks involved.
They met in council to deliberate on their reply. On the
they did not fully
14th they sent a long and elaborate paper signed by twenty of
the twenty-seven present.
Among
those of Wickliffe, Davis,
Crittenden, and Mallory of Ken-
tucky, Crisfield and
Thomas
the names appended were
of Maryland, Phelps
and Price
This paper seemed, more than the individual
of Missouri.
utterances on the floor of Congress, the final and deliberate
conclusion of
its
members, a kind
of
pronunciamento
of the
border slave States to their countrymen in this supreme mo-
They spoke in respectful terms
" earnestness," of " the overwhelming importance of the subject," of " the dangerous herement
of the nation's history.
of the President
sies
and
of his
of the secessionists,"
they were waging.
They
and
of the wickedness of the
war
spoke approvingly of the President's
opening message and the policy of the war he announced therein, and of their readiness " to vote all supplies necessary to
carry it on vigorously."
They spoke of the enlistments they
had encouraged, and of " the cheerfulness and alacrity " with
which their people were bearing the burdens of the war. But,
they added, " we have done all this under the most discouraging
circumstances and in face of measures most distasteful to us
and injurious to the interests we represent, and in the hearing
of doctrines, avowed by those who claim to be your friends,
most aljhorrent to us and our constituents." Admitting that a
few of the border-State representatives had voted for the President's proposed resolution, but that " the greater portion of us
did not," they proceeded to assign their reasons for their refusal.
They were,
substantially, that, though proposing
" a radical
�319
AIDING THE BORDER STATES.
change of our
system,"
social
it
was " hurried " through Con-
gress without sufficient time for its consideration ; that it proposed " interference with what exclusively belonged to the
States "
that they doubted " the constitutional power of Con"
gress
to make such an appropriation ; that " our finances
and that
are in no condition to bear the immense outlay "
;
;
the resolution was rather "the annunciation of a sentiment"
than a " tangible proposition."
They took
issue with
the
President's assertion, that had they voted for his resolution,
the war would be " substantially ended," and gave their rea-
sons for so believing
;
as also their doubts of the President's
was " the lever " of the Rebels'
" power."
They urged upon the President the importance
of confining himself and his subordinates within the limits
of " constitutional authority," and the necessity of conducting
the war " solely for the purpose of restoring the Constitution
" Do this," they said, " and we
to its legitimate authority."
are wedded to you by indissoluble ties, and you touch the
American heart and invigorate it with new hope."
They
closed, however, by assuring the President that if Congress
would make a definite and distinct proposition, and provide
declaration
slavery
that
the necessary funds for carrying
into effect, their States
it
Seven memWithout admitting all
the President had said, but asserting that there could be no
successful prosecution without hearty union and co-operation
between all loyal citizens, they professed their willingness to
would "take
it
into respectful consideration."
bers sent another and different paper.
" ask the people of the border States calmly, deliberately, and
fairly to consider
your recommendations."
the Divine method
to be removed.
;
nor was
it
the
way
in
But that was not
which slavery was
Consequently neither the proposition of the
President nor this response of the minority ever resulted in
anything further.
It
was a knot no peaceful measures, howThe sword of war
ever patriotic and patient, could untie.
could alone cut
it.
�CHAPTER XXIY.
ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES.
— Ordinance of 1787. — Increased profit of slavery and
— New purposes of the Slave Power. — Arnold's
— Debate and
revelations. — Border-State Republicans. — Democratic opposition. — Cox,
—
Wickliffe,
Fisher, Diven. — Speeches of Arnold, Olin,
Compensation. — Thomas, Stevens, Bingham, Kelley. —
— Lovejoy's amendment. — Passage of
— In the Senate. — Baltimore "Ameri-
Early opinions.
territorial
extension.
bill.
its
Crisfield,
Sheffield.
Difficulties.
bill.
can.
"
From
this survey of the Slave
conclusion, these
seem
Power, now approaching
to have been, as aU-eady noted,
its
among
the conclusions reached by the framers of the Constitution
that slavery was an entailed evil for which their fathers
were more responsible than themselves second, that it was
temporary, in its decadence, and soon to pass away and,
first,
;
;
third, that
Being an
was
evil so
its social,
was
it
felt to
to be restricted to limits already occupied.
thoroughly inwrought into the body
politic, in
domestic, and pecuniary relations and interests,
be very
difficult, if
not dangerous, to attempt
its
it
im-
was therefore deemed the wiser policy to
and wait for its seeds
of weakness and decay to develop their fruits and work its
own overthrow. But no one, it is reasonable to conclude,
ever dreamed of its being extended beyond the limits within
which it then existed.
It was deemed a temporary, local,
and exceptional matter, which, in their weak, exhausted,
and perilous condition, they concluded it would be safer to
bear with for a while than to run the risk of anarchy and
civil strife they feared, and had great reason to fear, should
mediate removal.
It
tolerate its existence for the time being,
they insist on emancipation as a condition precedent of form-
ing the Union proposed.
Therefore, though they recognized
�ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY
most
fully the
THE TERRITORIES.
wrongfulness of the system,
inconsistency with their
principles
IN
new and vaunted
its
321
bald and gross
declaration of first
and of the primal rights of man, they admitted into
the proposed Constitution the " guilty fantasy that there could
be property in man,"
and made provision
law and by early legislation for
But
it
was
its
in their organic
recognition and protection.
distinctly regarded as a compromise, referring to
something then existing, and to territory then in possession of
No enlargement of existing limits was contem-
the nation.
and the idea that slavery would ever demand additional
if entertained by any, most solemnly repudiated by
This was evidenced by the ordinance of 1787,
the majority.
consecrating to freedom in perpetuity the mighty Northwest
territory, on whose vast and unexplored expanses were to
But the
repose the imperial States of coming generations.
plated,
area was,
invention of the cotton-gin and the increasing production of
Southern staples had made slavery more valuable as a means
and more important as a
and so the idea that it was to be temporary
gradually gave place to the thought and purpose to protect and
strengthen it.
Instead of resting under the stigma implied by
restriction and prescribed limitations, it was determined that
its area should be enlarged, and that its continued existence
should be made less precarious and more sure. As additional
territory was secured, it became a question of persistent and
sharp debate, and of angry conflict, whether or not that territory should remain free, or be opened to the introduction of
of wealth, a source of political power,
domestic system
;
this legalized oppression.
Indeed, no question during the existence of the Republic has
excited so profound and intense an interest.
The
vast extent
of these territorial possessions, the prospective
ing commonwealths which were to
power of the risbe carved therefrom upon
the destinies of the nation, rendered this question one of intense solicitude alike to the friends and foes of slavery
till
;
though,
the Republican victory of 1860, with fortunes generally
adverse to freedom.
By
the election of Mr. Lincoln the friends
of free territory achieved a national
triumph in the choice of
a President fully and unreservedly pledged to their policy.
VOL.
III.
21
�322
RISE
Ven'
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
naturally, therefore, the
minds
IN AMERICA.
of those
who had
strug-
gled unavailingly so long for an object they deemed so impor-
tant were turned to the necessity of using the power, for the
time possessed, to secure the adoption of a policy for
first
which they had for so many years striven without avail.
On the 24th of :March, 1862, Mr. Arnold of Illinois introduced a bill into the House of Representatives to render
freedom national and slavery sectional. It was referred to
the Committee on Territories, was
reported on the 1st of
May, with an amendment, and made the order
the 8th.
It
of the
day for
provided that freedom should be the fundamental
law of the land, and that slavery should no longer exist in all
places under the direct and exclusive control of the Federal
govei-nment.
It prohibited slavery in all Territories,
thereafter existing
;
in all places purchased
then or
by the government,
with the consent of the legislatures of the several States, for
forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings
;
in all vessels
on the high
seas,
and on
all
national high-
ways, beyond the territory and jurisdiction of the several
States.
The
bill
further provided that
all
persons then held,
or thereafter attempted to be held, to service in either of the
places specified, should be free, and that their claims to freedom
could be maintained in any of the courts of the United States.
The debate on
substitute
was
the
brief,
bill,
motions, amendments, and
earnest, and
suggestive, and
final
revealed
not only the essential difficulties of the situation, but the
wide divergence of views, not only between Republican and
Democratic, Northern and Southern, representatives, but be-
tween men equally anxious to maintain the government and
to keep the Union unbroken.
It also showed how the compromises of the Constitution and the antecedent proslavery
legislation of the government embarrassed those who sought
to do nothing unconstitutional, and to maintain the plighted
faith of the fathers.
It also brought into sharp contrast and
conflict the positions of
constituencies
the guilty cause of
border States,
Northern representatives of antislavcry
impatient of any delay in striking at
who were
all
the trouble, and of the loyal
who had
men
of the
grave reasons outside of their personal
�ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY
IN
THE TERRITORIES.
323
and prejudices, whatever they may have been, for
and keeping out of
their
States
of
the argument
mouths
of
the
secessionists
the
the system
ulterior
purposes
against
that the government had
Nor did it require any great captiousness or
of slaveholding.
hair-splitting to detect apparent and real conflict between the
sweeping measure reported by the committee and what might
be called the plighted faith of the fathers and the vested rights
This was more noticeable in the debates
resulting therefrom.
upon those specifications of the bill concerning vessels on the
high seas, national highways, forts, magazines, and arsenals.
Indeed, so sharp was the criticism of some of the friends of
the bill on these particulars, that it was moved, as a final
interests
quieting the fears of their constituents
substitute, that the prohibition of slavery should apply to the
" Territories " only.
The Democracy,
true to
and
instincts
its
traditions, could
not allow such a proposition to remain unassailed, or pass,
without placing on record
On
earnest and emphatic protest.
its
a motion to recommit, Mr. Cox of Ohio promptly moved
an amendment, the design of which was to defeat the measure
entirely.
Accompanying his motion with a speech indicative
" I move to add to
of both his spirit and design, he said
:
the motion to recommit instructions that neither this
nor any similar
believe
it
bill shall
be reported back to the House.
to be a suicidal bill,
—a
bill for
bill
I
the benefit of se-
The army and the people are against
The conservative
men of the House have the power, and ought to squelch
out the whole negro business.
They are responsible for this
continuous agitation. From the very commencement of the
session we have had these bills before us in one shape or
cession and Jeff Davis.
all
such aids to the enemy of the country.
'
another, postponed from time to time, and delayed by dilatory
motions and adjournments. Now I want to see the conservative element of the House, if there is any such thing left
here,
come up and vote
this thing right down.
I therefore
send this back to the committee and,
back to the committee, let us give it such a
hope the House
in sending
it
will
death-blow as will destroy
;
all
similar measures."
He
closed
�324
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
by moving to recommit the bill, "with instructions " to report
Mr. Wickit back at the next session, on the very last day."
liffe suggested that it be recommitted with instructions " not
to report
He
it
back until next session, during the cold weather."
from the opinion of Justice Story of the
Supreme Court " for the benefit of the country people," he
said, and for the sake of showing, "he was fool enough to
believe that there was property in slaves."
Mr. Crisfield of Maryland made a very violent speech in
also read largely
denunciation of the
bill.
He
characterized
it
as " an indirect
attack upon slavery in the States," as " doing by indirection
that which you acknowledge you have no power to do directly."
" It
is
not keeping, in word or in
have made to the country
;
instrument which we have
all
spirit,
nor
is
it
the pledge which you
consistent with that
sworn to support." Alluding
to the naval station at Annapolis, which his State had " confidingly granted to this government for a great national ob" You say to Maryland that you will plant in
ject," he said
her very heart a system in violation and destruction of the
policy she thinks fit to establish, as of right she may, for her
:
own interests
Are constitutional guaranties nothing ?
Are solemn pledges nothing ? Sir, I denounce this bill as a
palpable violation of the rights of States, and an unwarrantable
I denounce it as a
interference with the rights of property.
fraud upon the States which have made cessions of land to
this government, a violation of the Constitution, and a breach
which brought the dominant party into power.
I denounce it as an usurpation and a tyrannical exercise of
power destructive of the peace of the country. Sir, I denounce
I denounce it
it to this House and to the American people.
of the pledges
before the civilized world.
I declare that those
accomplish the great wrong this
of all constitutional
bill
government on
who
seek to
perpetrates seek the ruin
this continent,
and are the
foes of regulated liberty everywhere."
In a very different strain spoke Mr. Fisher of Delaware,
though in opposition to the bill. He avowed his hatred of
slavery, expatiated at length on the relative advantages of free-
dom
over slavery as exemplified by the States " on the right
�ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES.
and
banks
left
man whom
affairs
"
;
325
of the Ohio," spoke of
"the great and good
God had
called to preside over
the providence of
approved of and voted for his resolution proffering
aid to States for the abolishment of slavery; expressed the
hope that he should soon see the day when it was in the process of gradual but sure extinction and yet he doubted the
necessity of any such bill, and deprecated its effect upon the
people of his and the other border States, leading them, he
;
"to suspect that you intend more than
feared,
this,
— that
you intend, either directly or
indirectly, to invade the preroga-
tive of State sovereignty."
He
deprecated the course of the
majority as yielding too much to the cry and pressure of the
" With the taunts of doughface," he said, " and
radicals.
weak-kneed Unionist upon your lips for us who try to hold up
the hands of the administration in the border States, you are
driven by a selfish, servile, slavish fear of the ultraists
among
your constituents at home to vote for measures which you
admit should not have been brought forward, and to be unIf you want to have men in the slave
wise and impolitic
States co-operate with you in the arduous struggle of breaking
down
the ultraism and madness of proslavery in the border
you must not yourselves run into the ultraism and
madness of Abolition. If you expect to cross the slave line
with a party in favor of emancipation, and achieve any sort of
success, you must yield something to us in policy, while we
acknowledge the justice and humanity of your principles.
You must not take extremists for your leaders. If you do,
let me warn you that, instead of breaking the fetters of the
slave, you will but rivet them more tightly."
Alluding again
to the President, and the wisdom of his recommendations, he
said " You liave in him one whom the people have come to
regard as the savior, just as they regard Washington the
father, of his country
one whom, if you attempt to ostracize
from the leadership of your party, to follow after men of more
States,
:
;
erratic genius or less purity of purpose, it will be only because,
and foolish and wicked Athenians, you shall
have become tired of hearing him called The Just.' " Thus
like the fickle
'
earnestly, frankly,
and with no
little force,
did this representa-
�326
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN
AMERICA.
poHcy which
and a rapidly growing class
tive of the border-State Unionists deprecate the
the antislavery
men
of the North,
uot called by that name, saw to be the necessity of the case.
Mr. Diven of New York, though he " wanted Congress to
exhaust the last power over this institution, whenever and
wherever it can be done," saw " no occasion for the law,"
because slavery was " purely a State institution," with which
Congress had nothing to do.
" where
it
was placed by our
My
States alone.
party.
The
doctrine
" Let us leave,
fathers,
is
—
let
it,"
us leave
it
he said,
with the
the doctrine of the Republican
corner-stone on which the party was founded and
up was, that Congress had no control over the question."
friends of the bill were not, however, at loss for arguments in its advocacy and defence. Mr. Arnold, its mover,
based his plea for its adoption on the acknowledged fact that
slavery was in deadly hostility to the national government,
and that fealty to the latter demanded the destruction of the
former.
He declared its purpose to be nothing more than
Congress had the " constitutional power " to do under the
built
The
He
premises as then existing.
fathers,
who regarded
spoke of the sentiments of the
" a nuisance,"
slavery as temporary,
to be " tolerated," indeed, but " which
got rid of as practicable "
;
to be as speedily
but, " rising in
power and usurp-
obtained absolute sway."
as the great evil of the country, he called it " the
ing the control of the government,
Regarding
it
—
was
it
is now seeking to destroy the nation."
he said, " the solemn duty of every man who
gigantic traitor that
"
I believe it,"
loves his country to do
what he can
to destroy this their great
enemy."
Various objections had been made and inquiries propounded
concerning, and growing out of, the tenure by which the
United States held the grants from State legislatures for govsome
ernment purposes, in which were certain conditions,
—
expressly prohil)iting the general government from interfering
with slavery.
Mr. Diven contended that
land for the purpose of a navy-yard,
"when we
ceding that land from any jurisdiction over
the right to control
it
as
we
please."
acquire
and exclude the States
it,
we take
it
with
But strenuous objection
�ABOLISHMENT OF SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES.
was made
good
and
to such a sentiment, as being a breach of trust
faith.
much
that
327
Speaking for such, Mr. Olin of
New York
as he desired to see slavery crippled
said,
and destroyed,
he would not " consent to step an inch beyond the plain guaranties of the Constitution to accomplish even that purpose."
" Our only justification," he said, " in the eyes of the civilized
world for this warfare going on in our midst is that we stand
here in obedience to law, in defence of the Constitution and
and the moment we lay aside that shield of protection,
and prosecute the war for other purposes, whatever result may
be wrought out by the prosecution of the war, it would be a
wicked war. It would be, on every principle of Christianity,
an unjustifiable war. Our only defence before God, posterity,
law
;
and the world
is
their subversion.
in the fact that
world over.
we fight in defence of the laws, not for
The wickedness of this Rebellion consists not
that
it is
treason, always held to be a crime
Its chief
all
enormity consists in the fact that
the
it is
treason against such a government as this, based on the com-
mon
consent of the governed, with provision in the funda-
mental law to
peaceful
alter,
change, or modify that government in a
way and by forms
of law.
If
such a government can
be overthrown by force and violence, there
is an end to all
government except that of despotism and the sword. Hence
it is that rebellion against such a government as this is of a
deeper and more damnable dye than any other that has yet
stained the annals of history."
Mr. Sheffield of Rhode Island, although expressing his hatred of slavery, his conviction that freedom was the
common
law of the Territories, that positive law alone could " carry
slavery there," and that we might " as well undertake to reenact the Decalogue as to enact this law," opposed any
action that would violate the good faith of the government.
" Because," he said, the Southern States have " cruelly wronged
us, are we justified in doing wrong to them ?
The gentleman
seems to think that it is not a great matter for the govern-
ment
on which it received the cession of
from the States." Mr. Arnold denied that the bill
did involve such violation of plighted faith, though he conceded
to violate the faith
this land
�328
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
that " the argument in reference to good faith, in view of the
action of the Rebels at this particular time, was, perhaps, not
it might be at another time."
Another subject on which there was sharp division of sentiment was that of compensation for slaves that might be released by the action of the bill. Mr. Thomas of Massachusetts
as forcible as
amendment
called attention to the fifth
of the Constitution
providing that private property shall not be taken for public
uses without " just compensation "
and he contended that
applied to any slaves
that might be freed by the operation of the bill under considThaddeus Stevens replied with great severity. He
eration.
declared his belief that there was not any man from the free
States, except the gentleman,
lative
power
diction,
tion
;
of
any
locality,
;
amendment
the principle involved in that
who
ever doubted that the legis-
where they have exclusive
juris-
have the right to abolish slavery without compensa-
and he added that
it
was " no
credit to a free-State
representative to entertain such an idea."
There sprang up a
sharp colloquy between the gentlemen upon the mooted point
whether John Quincy Adams, whose place in the House Mr.
Thomas was
filling, did, or
" property in slaves."
bill
did not, recognize the principle of
Mr. Bingham of Ohio referred to the
abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, and said
showed conclusively upon its face that it was " a matter
upon the part of the United States what compensation they should give, or whether they should give any at
that
it
of pure election
all." " It is a police and political question," said Mr. Stevens,
" which the supreme legislature of any locality has a right to
decide as
it
chooses
;
and to say that it is not constitutional is
and an awful doctrine, espe-
to inaugurate a new, a strange,
come from the district of the sage of Quincy."
Mr. Kclley referred to the constitutional objections in anAfter speaking in appropriate and forceful terms
other way.
of the horrors of the war, " saturating every acre of Southern
land with the best blood of the North," while " the scars
cially to
and wounds
of brave youth will bear honorable testimony to
their devotion to constitutional law," he affirmed that
slavery's war,
and that
all
its
it
was
enormities were the natural
�ABOLISHMENT
SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES.
OF-
outcome
of its diabolical spirit
saying
" While
:
I
am
and purpose
;
and he closed by
unwilling to cast a vote to impair the
am no
sanctity of the Constitution of the country, I
The Constitution does not
it
the Consti-
;
it,
and
law does not propose to interfere with that toleration.
It
tution does not in terms recognize
this
create
less un-
any degree or
willing to cast one that shall favor slavery in
direction.
329
it
;
it
only tolerates
does not propose to abolish slavery anywhere.
poses to say to the slave owner,
these places as employes
free labor
and attempt
;
The
to force the free
by making freemen
difficulties,
Keep these
only pro-
slaves out of
do not interfere with the system of
we
ionship with your slaves, or
interests
'
It
of
mechanic into companand
will protect his dignity
"
your instruments.'
however, real or seeming, constitutional or
were too great to secure the united action of the friends
of the underlying principle of the bill as reported by the committee. Mr. Lovejoy, therefore, moved a substitute restricting
other,
cepted,
and the
bill
eighty-five to fifty.
"
The substitute was acamended was carried by a vote of
The preamble was so amended as to read,
action entirely to the Territories.
its
An
as thus
act to secure freedom to all persons within the Terri-
tories of the
United States."
In the Senate, on the 15th of May, Mr. Browning reported
the
from the Committee on Territories with an amendment
from and after the passage of the act, there should be
bill
that,
neither
slavery
Territory, or in
nor involuntary servitude in any existing
any Territory thereafter formed or acquired.
It was, substantially, the application of the principle of the
ordinance of 1787 to
after to be acquired.
ceeded to
its
passed the
bill
all
the territory then possessed or there-
On
the 9th of June the Senate pro-
adopted the amendment, and
by a vote of twenty-eight to ten. The House
agreed to the Senate amendment, and the bill thus amended
was passed on the 17th, and approved by the President on the
consideration,
19th of June, 1862.
By
this action the nation retraced the footsteps
by which it
and so lamentably wandered from the position and
policy of the fathers, and practically re-enacted the ordinance
so long
�330
EISE
of 1787.
which
it
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMEKICA.
That it was action both radical and summary, for
was difficult to find provision or precedent either in
the Constitution or in previous legislation,
true.
Nor would
it
is
be possible, any more than
unquestionably
it is
needful, to
show that it did not by so doing infringe u})on what had been
deemed the vested rights of property which, under the " manageable times " of peace, had been recognized and defended
by the Federal government. It was only the execution of one
of the war powers of the government, placed in its hands and
rendered legitimate by the higlier law of the nation's safety, be-
must
was only a legitimate exercise of the riglit
of self-defence.
Slavery had assaulted the nation, and they
were in deadly grapple. One or the other must die. The
nation wisely and rightly decided that it must be slavery.
There were captious and carping criticisms made during the
debate both in and out of Congress, as there have been since,
appeals to the Constitution and to the rulings of courts in opposition to the bill
and yet there were border-State Unionists
fore which laws or the enactments of ordinary legislation
remain
It
silent.
;
even then who admitted the necessities of the case, and attributed the destruction of slavery to the real and guilty cause,
the crime of the conspirators in
seeking the nation's
life.
Referring to them, said a Baltimore paper, which was quoted
" But now at length comes the reckoning.
in the debate
:
They have aroused
but one before
;
a thousand enemies to slavery where
and
make
the issue
;
had
their course has been especially fatal to
the States that were to serve as their
to
it
'
they eagerly threw
bulwark.'
down
the loyal portion of the nation, called upon
aggressions, has taken
it
up.
And now,
They dared
the gauntlet, and
to repel their
after the
monstrous
have been guilty, after
shrouding the whole land in mourning, and almost burying
it under a load of debt, they dare to insult heaven and earth
crimes of which the cotton
with their indignant
cries,
States
because retribution threatens that
which they avowed
sliould dominate the continent
under the lead of Toombs and Stephens and the Rlietts."
institution
�CHAPTER XXV.
EMANCIPATION OP THE SLAVES OP REBELS.
— Mr. Pomeroy's resolution. — Mr. Trumbull's — Long and
— Great divergence of views. — Speeches of Morrill, Howard,
and Saulsbury. —
Wilmot. — Strong opposition. — Davis, Powell,
Henderson, Cowan. — Responses of Mr. Hale and Wade. — Hale's constitutional scruples. — Differences among friends of the measure. — Hale, Wilson,
Wade, Sumner, Clark. — Committee's report. — Debate. — House. —
and speech. — Harding, Conway. — Various propositions. — Reports. —
Select committee. — Report and debate. — Division of sentiment. — Southern
views. — Crittenden, Mallory. — Northern opposition. — Cox, Law, Thomas.
— Noell, Loomis, Julian, Beaman, Rice. — Southern utterances. — Menzies,
Price. —
speech and substitute passed. — Senate. — Committee of Conference. —
becomes a law.
Simple question.
bill.
earnest debate.
"VVilley,
Eliot'a
bill
Eliot's
Bill
Though Congress had adopted
antislavery measures* and
passed several acts offensive to slavemasters, and in derogation
of
what had hitherto been regarded
their rights,
it liad
grappled squarely with the single question, free from
never
comand simple, work the forfeiture
of all slaveholding rights under the Constitution ?
In the
measures hitherto adopted or under debate, there had been
special reasons, side issues, which afforded of themselves conall
plications, Shall treason, pure
siderations why such action should be taken, and which were
urged as arguments in vindication of their adoption. It was,
however, inevitable that this question would present itself, to
be met, considered, and answered.
Indeed, the riglit answer
and a definite and accepted policy upon this one single issue
had become a necessity, and it could not but simphfy matters
much in regard to these other subordinate and more complicated inquiries to give that answer.
Accordingly, in the special session and soon after Congress
came
together, Mr.
Pomeroy
of
Kansas introduced
into the
�332
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Senate a bill for the abolition of slavery, as a military neces" in any of the States that claim to have seceded from
sity,
government."
the
It
"vvas,
referred, but never acted on.
bling of that body at
Trumbull
its
however, only read twice, and
But immediately on the assem-
regular session in December, Mr.
of Illinois introduced
slaves of all
a
who had taken np arms
bill,
providing that the
against the United States
should " become forever thereafter free, any law to the con-
In his speech, on introducing his
Mr. Trumbull set forth with great clearness and force
trary notwithstanding."
bill,
why it should become a law. Saying that the
right to take slaves as " property," as they were professedly
the reasons
held,
by the rules of war was undoubted, he spoke
" as one of the most
of
it
means for attaining the end
for which the armies of the Union had been called forth,
the right to restore to them the God-given liberty of which
they had been unjustly deprived."
It was, he said, only a
question of " policy "
and of that he had no doubt. He
spoke of the mistaken "leniency" with which they had treated
efficient
;
treason, as
if
it
were a "
trivial
offence," which could be
atoned for by " a promise to do so no more."
On
the 25th of February
it
came up
for general debate,
which was very extended, and partook largely of both a discussion of the principles involved, and criticisms on matters of
Mr. Pomeroy havdetail contained in the separate sections.
ing taken exception to the third section, for what appeared to
him an implied indorsement of the Fugitive Slave Act in the
case of loyal slaveholders,
Mr. Sumner expressed his con-
currence, saying, " I have never called that a law, or even
.
an
act.
I regard it simply as a bill
;
still,
a
bill
having no
under the Constitution of the United States." He
moved an amendment, which Mr. Trumbull promptly accepted.
autliority
Thus was opened a discussion which continued for nearly five
months, before the final vote was reached.
In it were revealed, by the motions, amendments, and substitutes offered,
and in the speeches made, the intrinsic difficulties of the
measure and the wide diversity of opinion that obtained
thereon.
Even
at the great crisis
and momentous juncture
�333
EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES OF REBELS.
and among those who regarded
moment to strike for freedom, to vindicate
the foundation principles
of human riglits,
in the history of the Repulilic,
it
as the opportune
the primal truths
— and
of free institutions,
—
to break the chains that
bound the
Mr.
slave, and the nation as well, did this diversity appear.
Trumbull spoke again in its behalf, defending it from the
He spoke of "the
assaults that had been made upon it.
opportunity to strike a blow for freedom" which a wicked
Rebellion presented, "thereby destroying to a great extent
its source and origin, and the only thing which has ever
Mr. Morrill
seriously threatened the peace of the Union."
of Maine,
who had
offered a joint resolution to confiscate the
property of Rebels, and to satisfy the just claims of loyal
persons, involving the emancipation of slaves, contended, when
slavery made war on the nation, that its right was " lost in
audacious revolt and armed assault on the government,"
and that any cry " to be let alone " amid the cannonading of
Sumter was " a shallow pretence to conceal a wicked purpose."
Mr. Howard of Michigan spoke with great force of thought
and expression in favor of the bill, finding arguments therefor
in the deleterious influence which the slaveholding interest had
always exerted upon the Federal government. He spoke of the
" traitorous eloquence " of those who had lost " the balance of
power " through their " incautious liaste in forcing the Northern Democracy to adopt obnoxious measures that had united
its
the Northern people to resist the further attempts of their
ambition." He said that " God's innocent air was loaded with
execrations against a government which had never
harmed a
and whose only fault was that it had loved
wisely,
them, not
but too well." Mr. "Wilson said he did not
" expect to realize any large amount of property from any
confiscation bill," for he presumed, after the war was over
and the " din of battle had ceased," that they should " deal
gently with the masses of the people engaged in the Rebellion."
hair of their heads,
The emancipation
of the slaves of Rebels he confessed to be
his " chief object of solicitude."
" Slavery," he said, "
is
the
great rebel, the giant criminal, the murderer striving with
bloody hands to throttle our government, and destroy our
�334
country,
of
AKD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
my
IN AMERICA.
— the great rebel with liauds dripping with the blood
I give the criminal no quarter."
"
I should feel that I was a traiadded,
he to do that, he
murdered countrymen.
Were
tor to
my
said that
native land, and deserved a traitor's
He
doom."
they were unwise enough to keep slavery, " to
if
fast to the chains that bind three millions of
age," they would have an
men
enemy always ready
in
liold
bond-
on
to seize
opportunities to raise their disloyal hands against the
" Nothing," he said, " but the
perpetuity of the Republic."
all fit
prejudices of association on the one hand, or timidity on the
from doing the duty we owe to our
"
Amidst the sacrifices of this hour,"
country in this crisis."
asked Mr. Wilmot of Pennsylvania, " this universal wreck of
other, can hold us back
interests, shall the slaveholding traitor grasp securely
man
chattel
The
bill,
hu-
liis
?
however, encountered strong opposition from both
Differing widely in sentiment
Southern and Northern men.
and in the reasons for their course, they agreed in their condemnation of the proposed measure. Among the loudest, if
not the most potent, voices raised against it was that of Garrett Davis of Kentucky, announcing the most extreme opinions,
and advocating, in most offensive terms, the theory of the
"white man's government." He declared that neither the
Declaration nor the Constitution embraced slaves or the negro
The latter, he said, " no more embraces Indians or slaves
race.
than
our
it
docs quadrupeds or wild beasts.
political
The only partners to
The negro was
partnership were the white men.
and he cannot now constitutionally be, any party to it."
of the same Ptate denounced with great severity
Mr. Willey of Virthe antislavery policy of the government.
not,
Mr. PoAvell
ginia did not so
war measure,
much
if it
object to the confiscation of slaves as a
could be coupled with colonization, but his
opposition to emancipation without the removal of the freed-
meu was
determined and deadly.
would not allow
it,
Virginia, he
contended,
but would be driven to the policy of
re-
enslavement, not only of the manumitted, but of " the sixty
thousand free negroes already there."
the same consequences would follow in
He
all
predicted
that
the slave States.
�335
EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES OF REBELS.
" Sir," he said, " the
evil will
be unendurable
will be the re-enslavement of the slaves thus
well as those already free."
more pronounced
and the result
manumitted, as
;
Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware was
in his opposition, not only predicting but de-
fending the policy of the re-enslavement of not only those set
Saying that he did not suggest what
free but the whole race.
he did not favor, and that he took all the responsibility for
" I say to you, sir, and I say to the
his utterance, he added
country, that if you send five thousand slaves into Delaware,
we have got about two thousand slaves now, and we have
:
—
—
if you send five thouabout twenty thousand free negroes,
us,
contrary
to our law, contrary
among
that
class
of
sand more
to our will, I
I will
avow upon the
go before
my
floor of the
American Senate that
people for enslaving the whole race, because
I say that this country is the white
man's country."
He
spoke
of tlie " filthy negro," and of the impossibility of raising him
" to the elevation of the white man." Mr. Carlile of Virginia
made
a similar threat.
" Self-preservation," he said, " would
compel the State within which slavery now
exists, if the slaves
were emancipated, either to expel them from the State or
Alluding to the constitutional provision in
re-enslave them."
several of the Northern States against the entrance of free
Extermination or re-ennegroes, he asked '• What follows ?
slavement.
Can it be possible that the Christian sentiment of
:
the North, which,
it is
said,
demands the
abolition of slavery,
desires the extermination of the negro race
?
"
Mr. Henderson of Missouri deprecated such action on consti-
and because, in his judgment, it was " useless."
Of slavery, he said " The shells that passed from Rebel batteries to Fort Sumter, twelve months ago, wrote its doom upon
tutional grounds,
:
the Southern skies.
If tliey will
destroy themselves, let
the responsibility rest upon the authors of the war."
all
Mr.
and ]\Ir. CoUamcr of Vermont opposed
the bill on the grounds of the Constitution and on the score of
expediency.
Mr. Cowan of Pennsylvania made a very earnest
Browning
of Illinois
and impassioned appeal against the policy
"
If it passes,"
he said, "
event of the times.
I
think
it
of
the measure.
will be the great liistoric
Perliaps the fate of the
American Repub-
�336
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Pass it, and the
may depend on our disposition of it
same messenger who carries it to the South will come back
to us with the news of their complete consolidation as one
man. We shall then have done that which treason could not
do we ourselves shall then have dissolved the Union we
sliall have rent its sacred charter, and extinguished the last
lie
;
;
vestige of affection for
it
in the slave States by our blind
and
passionate folly."
To
the threat of Southern Senators that the manumitted
slaves should be re-enslaved, Mr.
that
lie
was not
Hale made
Saying
reply.
deficient in a proper estimate of Southern
" chivalry, bravery, and power," he told them that when they
undertook that, they were undertaking " a job they cannot
do "
;
they were setting themselves " in opposition to the moral
sentiment of the country and of the world."
Affirming his
when the Creator of the earth made the earth,
the
and
same Power made colored men, he intended that
the colored men he had made should dwell upon the earth
he had made and that it was " a universal edict, irrespective
belief tliat
;
of complexion," that
man
of his face, he added
all
:
should eat his bread by the sweat
" I laugh to scorn all attempts and
threats at re-enslaving this people.
be done."
In a similar vein, but in a
not to say defiant, Mr.
Wade made
I tell
you
of
same
members
they could not successfully fight against tlie decrees
" If every man in Congress," he said,
Omnipotence.
" were
to
stand
eternal slavery,
of
cannot
decided,
reference to the
providential argument, and reminded the Southern
tliat
it
manner more
man
forth
it
figliting
an advocate for perpetual and
God and nature have
and we shall not affect it much
against God.
mined the question,
way
as
w^ould only be the poor instrumentalities
deter-
either
Slavery might have staggered along against the
improvement of the age, against the common consent of
mankind, a scoff and a byword on the tongue of all civilized
nations, for a great
many
years
;
but this Rebellion has sealed
and antedated the time when it becomes impossible.
cannot csca})e from this war witliout the emancipation of
its fate,
You
your negroes.
It will not be
because I
am
going to preach
it
�337
EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES OF REBELS.
it
will not
direction
;
am
be because I
but
it is
because
I
going to move anything in that
see the
hand
of
of your delinquency to overrule for good
meant
God taking hold
what your rulers
for evil."
The difficulty of finding some common ground of agreement,
even among antislavery men, was shown, too, in the opposition
to the bill and an amendment of Mr. Wilson, avowed with a
good deal of earnestness by Mr. Hale. " I think," he said,
" I have been as anxious and as earnest as anybody to advance
the cause of free principles, but it seems to me that the amendment of the Senator from Massachusetts is not in accordance
with the Constitution." To this Mr. Wilson replied. After
referring to the " past overshadowing power of slavery, so omnipotent in these walls and over this government," that, not-
withstanding
the evils of the war, in
all
treasure, in its agonies of pain
upon
that
to deal with
it,
such
we can take Rebel
and
is its
lives,
grief,
its
"
waste of
when we
life
and
are called
lingering power over even us,
take Rebel property, take any-
thing and everything, but are reluctant to touch slavery, the
cause of all." " I am willing," said Mr. Hale, in reply, " to
go as far as anybody, within the limits of the Constitution, to
cripple slavery
;
and
I think the
government ought
to
make
use of that as a physical agency in suppressing the Rebellion,"
not as " a punishment for crime," but " as a war measure."
He
hoped the Republican party would not " split
on the rock on which our predecessors did." Saying that it
said that he
had " declared
often, early,
and long
tution," he expressed the hope that
it
had so persistently condemned.
— under
its fidelity
now
it
to the Consti-
would not do what
" No, sir," he said, "
let
us
the flag, the old flag; under the Constitution, the
old Constitution
— carry
on the warfare in which we are en-
gaged."
These divergences of views, even among those who had
been most prominent and pronounced in their antislavery action, and the general drift of the discussion, seemed to preclude any reasonable hope of agreement upon any motion or
measure then before the Senate. It was therefore moved by
Mr. Clark of New Hampshire to refer the whole matter, the
VOL. IH.
22
�338
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
original bill,
and
all
IN AiMERICA.
motions, amendments, and substitutes, to
a select committee.
This, too, gave rise to a sharp debate.
Mr. Wade said " The recommittal of this bill, after it has
:
been for four months under our consideration, and at a period
which I hope is towards the end of the session, will be a proclamation to the people that will
fill
them with more despond-
ency for your government than the loss of half a dozen battles
and it will be viewed with as much regret by all the loyal
;
people in the seceded States as by those in the Northern
States."
]\Ir.
Sumner expressed
his
regret at differing from
the Senator from Ohio, and gave his assent to the proposed
recommitment. Mr. Trumbull was opposed to Mr. Clark's
motion " but," he said, " as Senators favorable to the bill
insist upon it, I can only acquiesce, and that I desire to do
;
The motion was carried by a vote of twenty-four
and the committee, consisting of Clark, Collamer, Trumbull, Cowan, Wilson, Harris, Sherman, Henderson, and Willey, was appointed. Mr. Trumbull declining, Mr.
Harlan was appointed in his place.
The committee reported " a bill to suppress insurrection, and
punish treason and rebellion " and on the IGth of May it came
up for consideration. Its main provision was that at any
time after the passage of the act, the President might issue
gracefully."
to fourteen;
;
his proclamation that the slaves of persons found, thirty days
after the issuing of the proclamation, in
arms against the
government, will be free, any law or custom to the contrary
that no slave escaping from his master shall be given up,
unless the claimant proves he has not given aid or comfort
and that the President
shall be authorized to
to the Rebellion
;
employ persons
of African descent for the suppression of the
Mr. Davis moved an amendment, the point
which was indicated by his remark that he did not object
Rebellion."
of
to
the emancipation of the slaves of Rebels, but that the govern-
ment should not
sell
them.
He moved
another amendment,
that the manumitted slaves should be colonized outside of the
United States.
as to
make
it
Mr. Wilson moved that the
bill
be so amended
the immediate and imperative duty of the Presi-
dent to issue a proclamation, based on the policy of immediate
�EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES OF REBELS.
339
surrender or the emancipation of the slaves of Rebel masters.
Mr. Cowan objected to congressional action in the premises,
because he contended that " the President and his generals,
The
under the war power, were clothed with ample power."
bill
was further debated, but did not reach a vote.
In the House a substantially similar course was pursued.
the first day of the regular session Mr. Eliot of Massa-
On
chusetts introduced a resolution confiscating the property
freeing the slaves of those engaged in the Rebellion.
and
It did
come up for consideration till the close of the
when the mover made a vigorous speech and
pleaded earnestly for the action proposed. " It is no time,"
he said, " for set speech. The times themselves are not set.
Speech is demanded, but such as shall crystallize into acts and
not, however,
following week,
deeds."
He
deprecated the modification of Fremont's procla-
mation, because by
iaries,
it
the government failed to secure auxil-
ready and anxious to help.
Mr. Steele, a Democratic
member from New York, made
declaring that
it
a furious proslavery speech,
was not slavery, but " the unnecessary agita-
was the cause of the war. Mr. Harding
Kentucky spoke in earnest opposition to the measure, predicting the most fearful and fatal consequences therefrom.
" A war upon the institution of slavery," he said, " will be
not only unconstitutional and revolutionary, not only a criminal violation of the plighted faith of Congress and of the
administration, but utterly at war with every principle of
sound policy. Whoever lives to see that fearful and mad
policy inaugurated will see the sun of American liberty go
down in clouds and darkness, to rise no more." He predicted
that if a war " righteously begun for the Constitution and the
Union should be changed to an antislavery war," then Kentucky would " resist to the last extremity." Mr. Conway of
Kansas made an eloquent speech elucidating and enforcing the
sentiment that it was only as the nation adopted the policy of
emancipation that the war could be any other than " a bloody
and brutal encounter between slaveholders for dominion,
a
war justly offensive to the enhghtened and Christian sentiment of the age."
tion of slavery," that
of
—
�340
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
first week was very prosame general policy though
differing in details, offered by Stevens of Pennsylvania, Campbell, Gurley, and Bingham of Ohio, and Conway of Kansas. On
the 17th they were all referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
On the 20th of March Mr. Hickman, chairman of that
committee, reported back the bills and resolutions with a recommendation that they do not pass. Mr. Bingham submitted
a minority report, recommending the adoption of the bill he
In addition to these resolutions the
lific
of propositions, involving the
had introduced near the beginning of the session, declaring
free the slaves of all who had engaged in the Rebellion.
Various propositions, amendments, and motions were offered,
among which was a motion of Mr. Sheffield of Rhode Island,
which was carried, to lay Mr. Bingham's amendment on the
table.
A motion was finally made and carried to refer the
whole subject to a select committee of seven, consisting of
Olin, Eliot, Noell, Hutchins, Mallory, Beaman, and Cobb.
Mr. Olin was excused, and Mr. Sedgwick of New York was
On the 14th of May Mr. Eliot from
appointed in his place.
the one confiscating Rebel
the committee reported two bills,
and
property, and the other freeing the slaves of Rebels,
opened the debate on " the twin measures of confiscation and
—
—
emancipation."
The debate
in the
House partook
tures of that in the Senate.
of the
same general
fea-
There was a decisive majority
in favor of freeing the slaves,
though there was a minority
some
from the North being as determined as any from the South.
Tliere were, too. Southern friends of the measure, though they
equally decided and determined in opposition thereto,
coupled their support with the frankly expressed purpose to
upon slavery as little harm as possible thereby. Among
those who were agreed upon the necessity and in tlie purpose
of freeing the slaves of Rebels, there were wide and radical
differences in regard to the principle involved, and the ground
on which to base the action on which they were agreed. Some
regarded it as a war measure, to be resorted to on the authority that the public safety is the supreme law, and that the
President was abundantly competent of his own motion to
inflict
�341
EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES OF REBELS.
Others thought that on so grave a matter
execute this law.
something more was necessary, and that the legislative brancli
of the government should alone assume the responsibility.
Others still advocated the dual action of both the executive
and
legislative
branches of the government, the latter
devising and adopting, and the former executing,
The
ments.
its
enact-
confessed fact that the Constitution was silent,
or far from being explicit, on some points involved in the
required action afforded occasion for the utmost diversity of
sentiment, which was largely improved by both those who
approved and those who condemned the proposed measure.
They who condemned indulged
in the most gloomy forebodmost frantic appeals, the most menacing threats. To
those who advocated the measure it afforded opportunity and
Differing in
occasion for greater and more grateful variety.
and arguremark
details, there was opened a wide range of
ment, as they proclaimed the stern demands of personal and
ings, the
gave voice to the plaintive expostulation of
political justice,
suffering humanity, portrayed
tlie
varied evils of slavery and
the slave system, descanted upon the blissful fruits of freedom
and those victories of peace whose " trophies," in the words
of Mr. Sumner, " instead of tattered banners, will be ransomed slaves," and pleaded national honor and safety, all embellished with the charms of graceful rhetoric and enforced
with vigorous and impassioned eloquence.
Speaking in opposition, Southern members entered their
earnest protests against any policy that tampered with the
Mr. Crittenden of Ken-
rights of the masters to their slaves.
tucky expressed the conviction that the whole tendency of the
bills
the
was to create the idea " that our whole aim is to make
war an Abolition measure." Mr. Mallory of the same
State entered his " solemn protest " against the charge that
slavery
was the cause
tion that
it
"
is
of the war,
and expressed the convic-
the very best condition in which you can place
the African race."
Mr. Wickliffe of the same State charged
original founder of the
John Quincy Adams with being the
Abolition party.
He
affirmed that
it
was upon "
his wild,
heated, and monstrous doctrine " that the advocates of the
�342
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Referring to Genmeasure " base their claim of power."
eral Hunter's organization of a brigade of slaves, he said
he had introduced a bill concerning this unauthorized action,
" to prohibit this outrage, this wrong upon humanity, this
stigma upon the character of the nation, which no repentance,
not of long rolling years, will efface."
It
was reserved, however,
for Northern
members
to utter
the most extravagant words, and urge the most humiliating
Mr. Cox of Ohio, after
considerations against the measure.
denying that slavery was the cause of the Rebellion, and sayit was as difficult
secession and abolition " as
ing that
*'
it
to apportion the guilt between
was that
of the crucifixion " be-
tween Judas and the Roman soldiers," exclaimed: "Must these
Northern fanatics be sated with negroes, taxes, and blood,
with division North and devastation South, and peril to constitutional liberty everywhere, before relief shall come ? " Mr.
Law
of Indiana, after saying that those
from the " compact "
who would
depart
were traitors and should
" Pass these acts,
be " hung high as Haman," exclaimed
confiscate under these bills the property of these men, emanciof the fathers
:
pate their negroes, place arms in the hands of these
human
murder their masters and violate their wives and
daughters, and you will have a war such as was never witnessed in the worst days of the French Revolution, and horrors never exceeded in St. Domingo, for the balance of this
century at least." Even Massachusetts furnished one voice,
and that not of a Democrat, to oppose the measure. " That
the bills," said Mr. Thomas of that State/ " before the House
are in violation of the law of nations and of the Constitution,
gorillas to
I
cannot
—
I
—
I cannot enwith all deference to others
Alluding to the " blessed influences " of the
say
it
tertain a doubt."
Constitution, " under the
dence," he said
:
hand of a guiding and loving Provi" But not for the blessed memories of the
past only do I cling to
light, or
it.
with the want of
He must
it,
who
be bhnded with excess of
does not see that to this
nation, trembling on the verge of dissolution,
bond of unity."
But the measure had earnest and
it
is
the only
able advocates even in the
�343
EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES OF REBELS.
slave States.
Said Mr. Noell of Missouri, with forceful and
Thomas " I was charmed
suggestive words, in reply to Mr.
:
with the eloquence of the distinguished gentleman from Massa-
But when I heard his impassioned language,
unmixed with pain. My mind ran back
I wondered
to the ruin and desolation of my own section.
how it could be that a gentleman hailing from a district in the
chusetts
my
pleasure was not
Bay State, which has furnished so many jewels in the
crown of our national glory, could find no balm in the Constitution to cure the ills of patriots and loyalists, or guaranties
Sir, must I go back to the
for their security and protection.
persecuted Union men of Missouri, who have been robbed and
plundered without mercy by their Rebel enemies, and tell
them that the Constitution is in the way of any effective legisold
would hold the enemy's property as security for
Must I tell them that their wives will have
take up their little
again to do like the mother of Ishmael,
ones and flee to the wilderness ? " In the same connection he
lation that
their safety?
—
thus revealed what should not be lost sight
price the
Union men
remaining loyal to
of,
the fearful
South were compelled to pay for
" Perhaps in standing up
the government.
of the
here," he said, " for the safety and security of the loyal people
may
there, I
down,
with
I will
my
be signing
my
down with
go
death-warrant
;
but, sir,
if
I
go
the heroes of the Cumberland,
flag still flying."
Referring to this constitutional argument, Mr. Loomis of
Connecticut said " We are told that the Constitution is in
:
But I remember how the Constitution has been perverted from the first in aid of these conspirators against the
the way.
of the nation."
Saying that every step of the national
government in the assertion of its rightful prerogatives had
been met by the 'cry that they were violating the Constitution,
and that there had seemed to be a deliberate purpose from
life
the
first
" to emasculate our organic law, to
easy," he added
vitality
:
" The Constitution was
;
make
secession
bristling with
and power to guarantee, protect, and extend slavery,
although slavery was nowhere
ment
all
named
in that sacred instru-
while liberty, though everywhere guarded by the most
�344
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
explicit guaranties, has
IN AMERICA.
had no more meaning for many years
past, in tlie estimation of proslavery commentators, than
had
as a
in the old
word
French dictionary, where
it
it
was defined only
of three syllables."
its malign influence and history has seldom
more searching characterization than in this debate.
After saying that " the clamor for the Union as it was came
from those who believed in the divinity of slavery," Mr.
Julian of Indiana said " The people of the lOyal States understand this question. They know that slavery lies at the bottom of all our troubles. They know that all the unutterable
Slavery with
received a
:
agonies of our
many
battle-fields,
all
the terrible
sorrows
which rend so many thousands of loving hearts, all the ravages and desolation of this stupendous conflict, are to be
charged to slavery. They know that
its
barbarism has moulded
the leaders of the Rebellion into the most atrocious scoundrels
of the nineteenth
century, or of any century or age of the
They know that it gives arsenic to our soldiers, mocks
the
agonies
of wounded enemies, fires on defenceless women
at
and children, plants torpedoes and infernal machines in its
world.
path, boils the dead bodies of our soldiers in caldrons, so that
it
may make
drinking-cups of their skulls, spurs of their jaw-
bones, and finger-joints as holiday presents for the
'
first
fami-
and the descendants of the daughter of
"
Pocahontas.'
Mr. Beaman of Michigan, after saying that
Northern freemen could have no interest in protecting and
sustaining slavery, and that the love of country was stronger
lies of
Virginia,'
'
than the love of party, thus proceeded
wedded
to slavery,
ton convention.
Carolina,
ery
made
of
" Ecpublicans are not
and slavery slew Democracy
at the Charles-
Slavery, according to a Senator from South
these
made Kansas a
freedom
:
same Northern freemen mudsills.
field
of
blood.
Slav-
Slavery has destroyed
speech and freedom of the press.
Slavery has
and even hung inoffensive
American citizens.
Slavery has smitten with
blight and mildew fifteen States of tlie Union, and barbarized
And, finally, slavery has made
millions of our population.
war upon the United States, and has already slain fifty thousand of her loyal men."
wdiipped, driven from their homes,
native-born
�345
EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES OF REBELS.
Mr. Hanchett of Wisconsin, speaking of the unnatural relation of slavery, said that he who chose to enter it took it
with all its chances. He buys human brains and human legs
" with the full knowledge that brains were
He
legs to run.
and for war, for good or for
sown the wind
laws of peace, it was
'
the laws of war,
let
it is
have
still
it
and
to think
;
'
evil,
subject to
all
let it
'
reap the whirlwind.'
entitled to protection,
By
the
it
by
and had
;
In God's name,
entitled to annihilation.
Even some who opposed the
right."
its
the incidents
Slavery, said Mr. Rice of Maine,
of his unnatural tenure."
" has
made
takes his risk for time and eternity, for peace
measure expressed their complacency at any injux-y slavery
might receive as the legitimate consequence of the treason it
" We are not bound," said Mr. Menzies of Kenprompted.
tucky, " to prevent
are in the
way
escape of the slaves of Rebels,
tlie
they
if
If slavery is necessarily
of our armies.
and
incidentally injured in the progress of the war," and slaves
" desert such silly masters," the injury is " chargeable to
those
who make war upon
the government."
Missouri, after asserting that the
war was due
Mr. Price of
to something
" quite behind the negro," in " the unrepublican fondness for
distinction, parade, and display " of " South Carolina poli-
and wealthy planters," who with the " madman's pur" I shall shed no
pose " inaugurated a revolution, added
ticians
:
tears of pity,
should be whelmed forever beneath
only be poetic justice
grown anything but
by the
On
two
fires of its
if
fiscation of
The second,
May Mr.
It
would
and treason, should be doomed
Eliot closed the debate,
and the
The
first,
or that providing for the con-
Rebel property, was passed by a strong majority.
or that freeing the slaves of Rebels,
amendments that had been
all
waves.
kindling."
for action, the first business
of
,
storm
he had reported from the special committee were
brought to a vote.
ing
its fiery
this
that pestilent triangle that has never
vice, tar,
own
the 26th of
bills
who invoked
the bold traitors
if
was the
offered.
been voted down, the original
seventy-four to seventy-eight.
coming up
disposal of the several
The amendments havbill was lost by a vote
That vote was, however.
�346
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
bill was recommitted.
On the 18th of
moved a substitute for the bill reported by
the committee, which was accepted by the House, and the
bill, as thus amended, was passed by a vote of eighty-two to
fifty-four.
The gist of this bill consisted in the provision,
reconsidered and the
June Mr.
that
all
Eliot
slaves of persons found in rebellion sixty days after
the President shall issue his proclamation should be free
the President should appoint commissioners to carry
;
and
its
pro-
visions into effect.
The House
was taken up in the Senate on
was moved by Mr. Clark
combining confiscation and emancipation.
The amendment
was sharply debated, but was adopted on the 28th. The bill
as amended was adopted by a vote of twenty-eight to thirteen.
The bill as thus amended was taken up in the House on
the 3d of July, and the House non-concurred in the Senate's
amendment by a vote of eight to one hundred and twentyThe Senate insisted and asked for a committee of confour.
A committee of conference was appointed, which
ference.
reported, on the 11th, in substance the Senate amendment.
The report was accepted by both bodies,
in the House by a
confiscation bill
An amendment
the 23d of June.
—
vote of eighty-two to forty-two, in the Senate by a vote of
twenty-seven to twelve,
on the 17th.
It
— and the President gave
provided that
all slaves of
it
his approval
Rebels coming
into the possession or under the protection of the
government
should be deemed captives of war, and made free
that fugitive
slaves should not be surrendered
;
;
that no person engaged in
the military or naval service should render fugitives on pain
from the service and that the President
might employ persons of the African race for the suppression
of the Rebellion in such manner as he might deem best.
of being dismissed
;
�CHAPTER XXVI.
HAYTI AND LIBERIA.
— FOREIGN
AND DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE.
— Refusal to recognize Hayti
— President's message. — Mr. Sumner's and speech. — Davis's
opposition. — Passage. ^ House debate. — Gooch, Cox, Biddle, Thomas, Maynard. — Passage. — Slave-trade never effectively opposed. — Lincoln's message
—
thereon. — Treaty with England. — Seward's despatch. — Sumner's
—
—
—
Sumner's
Domestic
Foster's
Adopted and approved.
—
— Amendment concerning coastwise slave-trade. — Debate and
Again reintroduced. — Passage.
Public commitment of the government to slavery.
and
bill
Liberia.
bill.
bill.
slave-traffic.
failure.
bill.
No more marked,
seemingly unnecessary, and apparently
ascendency in the control of the Fedwanton
eral government was ever made by the slave-masters than in
Instead of
the foreign policy they demanded and dictated.
concealing the nation's shame, inconsistency, and weakness,
they seemed to take special pains to call public attention
thereto., Instead of keeping slavery where the fathers placed
an evil to be
it, as exceptional, sectional, and temporary,
display of their
—
tolerated for the time, because of their exhausted condition,
and the threats of the slaveholders
of Georgia and South Carolina, that they would " not confederate " unless it were recognized and provided for in the
new government,
a kind of domestic arrangement which
reflected little honor upon the actors, and the public proclamation of which was far from creditable,
they determined it
should appear to the world national and not sectional, not a
thing allowed by sufferance, but the dominant element of the
government. They desired not only the fact, but the form of
Not satisfied
control not the substance alone, but the show.
with the immunity and protection accorded their nefarious
business at home, they determined that it should be known
their dread of anarchy,
—
—
;
�348
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
KISE
IN AMERICA.
abroad that they numbered the nation as well as their slaves
among their vassals.
No other theory satisfactorily accounts
for the persistency
with which they opposed every attempt to secure from the
government
of the
United States an acknowledgment of the
The inhabitants
independence of Hayti and Liberia.
of those
republics belonged to the despised and tabooed race, and that
outweighed the consideration that their governments, modelled
like their
own, had special claims for republican recognition.
President Lincoln, therefore, the
representative of another
and purpose, in his first animal message to Congress, at
its session convened in December, 1861, called its attention to
the subject, and urged the adoption of a more benign and
worthy policy. In his simple and quiet way he thus alluded
to it " If any good reason exists why we should persevere
spirit
:
longer in withholding our recognition of the independence and
sovereignty of Hayti and Liberia,
I
am
unable to discover
it.
Unwilling, however, to inaugurate a novel policy in regard to
them without the approbation
of Congress, I submit for
your
consideration the expediency of an appropriation for maintaining a diars^e d'affaires near each of those
It
new
states.
does not admit of doubt that important commercial advan-
tages might be secured by favorable treaties with them."
On
the 4th of February, 1862, Mr. Sumner, from the
mittee on Foreign Relations, to which was referred so
message as related
of the President's
a
bill
Commuch
to that subject, reported
authorizing the President to appoint diplomatic repre-
Coming up
on the 22d of April, Mr. Sumner addressed the Senate in an
" The independence of
elaborate and well-guarded speech.
Hayti and Liberia," he said, " has never yet been acknowledged by our government. It would at any time be within
the province of the President to do this, either by receiving
a diplomatic representative from these republics, or by sending
sentatives to the republics of Hayti and Liberia.
one to them.
The
action of Congress
so far as an appropriation
But the President has seen
such action.
By
is
may be needed
this bill,
fit,
not necessary, except
to sustain a mission.
in his annual message, to invite
Congress will associate
itself
with
�HAYTI AND LIBERIA.
him
in the
349
acknowledgment, which, viewed only as an act of
and good neighborhood, must commend itself
minds
A full generation has passed since
As
the acknowledgment of Hayti was urged upon Congress.
an act of justice too long deferred, it aroused even then the
active sympathy of multitudes while, as an act for the benefit
of our commerce, it was ably commended by eminent mer-
justice, comity,
to all candid
;
New
York, without distinction of party.
It received the authoritative support of John Quincy Adams,
whose vindication of Hayti was associated with his best labors
The right of petition, which he steadin the other House.
chants of Boston and
fastly maintained,
was long ago
national capital
now
is
triumph shall be achieved.
Slavery in the
established.
abolished.
remains that this other
It
Petitioners
who
years ago united
and statesmen who presented the petitions, are
they
will all live again in the good work which they
but
in this prayer,
dead
;
generously began."
The measure could not but encounter the opposition
of
Mr.
Davis of Kentucky, who moved an amendment, in the nature
of substitute, authorizing the President to appoint a consul to
Liberia and a consul-general to Hayti
and he based his oppomeasure simply on considerations of prejudice and
sition to the
the invidious distinctions of caste.
sick, disgusted, despondent,
;
He
said:
"I am weary,
with the introduction of the sub-
and slavery into
chamber; and, if I had not
happened to be a member of the committee from which this
bill was reported, I should not have opened my mouth upon
If, after such a measure should take effect,' the
the subject.
republic of Hayti and the republic of Liberia were to send
ject of slaves
this
their ministers plenipotentiary or their charges d'affaires to
our government, they would have to be received by the President and by
the functionaries of the government
upon the
from other
powers." Continuing in a strain of ridicule, he borrowed an
illustration of his wit from the presence of the Haytien am-
same terms
all
of equality with similar representatives
bassador at the court of France, " a big negro fellow dressed
out with his silver and gold," adding that he wanted " no
such exhibition as that in our capital."
He
quoted
— and by
�850
it
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
illustrated his
—
own
IN AMERICA.
him who made
brutality, as well as that of
Mason, minister at the same court, to the
" What do you think of him ? "
question
"I think," he
replied, " clothes and all, he is worth a thousand dollars."
Mr. Sumner made proper reply to this argument of prejudice,
it
tlie
reply of Mr.
:
the only one urged against the policy proposed and the bill
was passed by a vote of thirty-two to seven.
When it came up in the House, Mr. Gooch of Massachusetts,
chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, made a clear
and careful exposition of the measure, when Mr. Cox offered
a similar amendment to that of Mr. Davis in the Senate, and
interposed the same objections in almost the same language.
;
He
spoke of the African, "
full
blooded,
all
gilded and belaced,
dressed in court style, with ribbons and spangles, and
many
other adornments which African vanity will suggest," and he
spoke deprecatingly of such being " welcomed as ministers,
and having
all the rights of Lord Lyons and Count Mercier."
the inquiry of Mr. Fessenden of Maine, " What objection
can the gentleman have to such representatives ? " he replied,
To
" Objection
?
Gracious heavens
to receiving a black
!
man on an
what innocency
!
Objection
equality with the white
men
Every objection which instinct, race, prejuWhat is it for, unless it be to
dice, and institutions make.
outrage the prejudices of the whites of this country, and to
Mr.
show how audacious the Abolitionists can behave ? "
of this country
?
Biddle, Democratic
it,
and spoke
terfeits"
of
member from Pennsylvania,
also opposed
of political Abolitionism as " the basest of coun-
genuine philanthropy.
aged,. venerable,
and high-toned,
Even Mr. Crittenden,
at least as a
Southern
poli-
and " pride " that he belonged " to a superior race among the races of the earth," and
his desire to "see that pride maintained," added "The spectician, after expressing the opinion
:
tacle of such a diplomatic dignitary in our country would, I
apprehend, be offensive to the people for
wound
The
many
reasons, and
their habitual sense of superiority to the African race."
justice of tlie measure, however,
reasons assigned against
puerile,
its
was
so apparent, the
adoption were so unworthy and
and the necessary votes for
its
enactment were so well
�351
HAYTI AND LIBERIA.
assured, that
little of
Freed, for the
port.
argumentation was called for in
moment
at least,
from
its
sup-
disturbing and
tlie
distorting influence which had for so long clouded the judg-
and deadened the conscience
of the American people, their representatives found little difficulty in comprehending the logic of the case, and the justice
ment, paralyzed the
sensibilities,
of a refusal to ostracize people for the color of their skins.
" Justice, sound policy, political wisdom,
commercial interest, the example of other governments, and
the wishes of the people of our own, all demand that we recognize the independence of Hayti and Liberia, and that, in our
Mr. Gooch said
:
intercourse with them,
we
place
them on the same
Why
other independent nations
intercourse with the world,
make
footing as
shall we, in
our
discriminations in relation
to color not recognized by the other leading powers of the
Certainly the fact, that the great body of slaveholders
earth ?
in this country are to-day in rebellion against this government,
and seeking its overthrow, because they have not been able to
departments to promote the extension and perpetuation of slavery, does not make it obligatory upon us to
do so." Mr. McKnight of Pennsylvania said " It has been
control all
its
:
to our glory that
we planted
the seeds of freedom, civilization,
and Christianity on the shores of heathen Africa, and to our
shame that we have so long abandoned the culture and nurture
" The whole argument of Mr. Cox,"
of the plant to others."
Hayti and Liberia are
said Mr. Fessenden, " centred in this
acknowledged,
what reasons may be
matter
be
no
not to
:
given to the
—
contrary, — because,
black ambassadors in Washington.
of the
otherwise,
In
my
we
shall see
opinion, the speech
Mr.
though conservative in his princi-
gentleman was unworthy of his head and heart."
Thomas
ples
if
of Massachusetts,
and
position, spoke eloquently in favor of the bill.
have no desire," he
said,
relative capacity of races
" I
" to enter into the question of the
;
but
if
the inferiority of the Afri-
can race were established, the inference as to our duty would
be very plain. If this colony has been built up by an inferior
race of
men, they have upon us a yet stronger claim
countenance, recognition, and,
if
for our
need be, protection.
The
�352
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
human mind and heart concur with the policy
men and governments to help and protect the weak. I
understand that to a cliild or to a woman I am to show a
instincts of the
of
degree of
which
I
Maynard
forbearance,
am
kindness,
and
of Tennessee,
gentleness
of
not necessarily to extend to
my
even,
Mr.
though representing a slaveholding
equal."
State, spoke earnestly in favor of the adoption of the
common
whose
policy of other nations, to recognize every nationality
claims were sufficient to justify such recognition, irrespective
of all considerations of color or caste
;
opinion that they would suffer no more
and he expressed the
harm from
the repre-
sentatives of the proscribed race in the diplomatic galleries
than from their proximity and contact with the same race,
in the performance of the menial services of servants and
Mr. Cox's amendment was then rejected, and
was passed by a vote of eighty-six to tliirty-seven,
and approved June 5, 1862.
It was in obedience to this same determination, and for the
attendants.
the
bill
furtherance of this settled purpose of the slave-masters, that
had been always contrived, under some pretence or other,
that the United States government sliould never lend any
it
effective aid or co-operation to the efforts of other Christian,
nations to suppress the foreign slave-trade.
Without giving
formal expression of positive sympathy with the nefarious
they who dictated the policy of the government had
always contrived, by some pretended scruple of the Constitution, or some simulated jealousy of national rights, to hold
traffic,
back from even the show or form of co-operation or, if
that was granted, to make it so half-hearted and ineffective
it
;
as to be valueless.
With, however, the passing away of the old dynasty and
the ushering in of the new, another and different spirit prevailed,
and
otlier
and better results followed.
Mr. Lincoln, in
his first annual message, transmitted to Congress in
Decem-
ber, 1861, took occasion to speak of it as " a subject of gratulation " that " unusual success " had crowned efforts for the
suppression of
tlie
vessels,
out for
fitted
He enumerated five
which had been seized and con-
foreign slave-trade.
it,
�FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE.
353
the conviction and punishment of two mates of vesengaged in it, and one man who had equipped a vessel for
and also added that " one captain of a vessel with a cargo
it
of slaves had been convicted and sentenced to the punishment
So great was the difference between an earnest
of death."
demned
;
sels
;
purpose to execute the law, and to carry out in good faith the
pledges made, and an equally, if not more, earnest purpose to
find out "
how
not to do
it."
the 8th of April, 1862, Mr. Seward sent a despatch to
On
Mr. Adams, our minister to Great Britain, in which he used
" I have just signed, with Lord Lyons, a treaty
will be approved by the Senate and the British
trust
I
which
government. If ratified, it will bring the African slave-trade
these words
:
and forever. Had such a treaty been
made in 1808, there would now have been no sedition here,
and no disagreement between the United States and foreign
to an end immediately
nations."
The President having communicated the treaty to Congress
on the 12th of June, Mr. Sumner, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, reported a
bill
to carry into effect the pro-
and on the 26th
it was taken up for conthat
provided
the
President
was
should appoint,
sideration. It
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a judge and
visions of the treaty,
also
similar officers
an arbitrator to reside at New York
Leone and at the Cape of Good Hope.
;
also to reside at Sierra
It excited little
debate beyond a brief exposition of
its
provis-
and a protest from Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware, who, though disclaiming any objection to the suppression
of the traffic, denied the constitutional power to negotiate such
But the bill was soon
a treaty or to establish such a court.
its
passage,
and
upon
the
yeas
nays
were
ordered, and only
put
The
four were found ready to record their votes against it.
bill was adopted in the House without debate or division, and
approved by the President on the 11th of July, 1862.
On the 8th of the same month Mr. Foster of Connecticut introduced a bill to amend an act relating to the slave-trade, and
ions by the mover,
on the 15th the Senate proceeded to its consideration. By
this bill the President was authorized to enter into an arrangeVOL.
Ill,
23
�354
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWDER
IN AMERICA.
ment with one or more foreign governments, having
sions in the West Indies or other tropical regions, to
all
possesreceive
Africans taken from vessels engaged in the slave-trade;
and to provide for them suitable clothing, shelter, instruction,
and employment at wages agreed upon, and for a period not
exceeding five years. The proposed measure excited little
remark, though Mr. King of New York objected to its features
of " apprenticeship," and it was adopted by a vote of thirty to
seven, immediately passed the House, and was approved by
the President.
A
natural,
not a necessary, concomitant of slavery was
if
the domestic traffic in slaves.
Being property, they were not
only subject to the laws of demand and supply, but to those
laws greatly modified by the peculiar and unique nature of
the sentient chattels that were thus bought and sold.
there sprang up, and
it
became a marked feature
Hence
of the sys-
tem
of which it was an essential adjunct, a domestic commerce in slaves, most distressful to those who were its subjects, most demoralizing to those who were engaged in it, and
most damaging to the good name of the nation which allowed
and protected it. A policy, therefore, which contemplated the
abolition of the system itself could not be complete and fully
carried out that did not remove everything that had hitherto
protected and regulated this ill-starred
On
traffic.
the 23d of March, 1864, Mr. Sumner, from the Select
Committee on Slavery and Freedmen, reported a
commerce in slaves among the several
on any vessel within the jurisdiction of the United
hibit this
to impose severe penalties on
provisions.
tion.
It
all
those
who
bill to
pro-
States,
and
and
States,
should violate
its
was, however, never taken np for considera-
But when the
civil
appropriation
bill
was under considsame Sena-
eration, near the close of the session in June, the
tor moved, as an
amendment, the repeal
of so
much
of the act
prohibiting the importation of slaves after the year 1808 as
" undertakes to regulate the coastwise slave-trade."
Objec-
by Mr. Sherman, not because he
objected to the purpose of the bill, but because he would keep
by Mr. Johnson
it " free from disputed political questions "
tions were urged against
it
;
�355
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE.
of Maryland, because, he contended, " the repeal of these sections of the act of 1807 would leave the slave-trade open to
and by Mr. Hendricks, because he
unrestrained abuses "
"
all the laws made by the fathers to carry
regretted to see
;
fall, one after the other."
Mr. Sumner replied somewhat sharply. Saying to Mr. Sherman that he had abundant precedent for attaching it to an
" I propose to remove from the
appropriation bill, he added
out the Constitution
:
Whostatute-book odious provisions in support of slavery.
ever is in favor of those provisions, whoever is disposed to
keep alive the coastwise slave-trade, or whoever wishes to
recognize
motion.
stand
in our statutes, will naturally vote against
it
And
how
me
yet, let
at this
say, that I
moment,
am
our history, any
at this stage of
Senator can hesitate to unite with
me
my
at a loss to under-
in this
work
of expurga-
and purification." In reply to Mr. Johnson he said " I
He is
differ radically from the Senator from Maryland.
tion
:
always willing to interpret the Constitution for slavery
interpret
it
He
for freedom.
when
proceeds as
if
;
I
those old days
was installed supreme over the
Supreme Court, giving immunity to slavery everywhere. The
times have changed, and the Supreme Court will yet testify to
continued,
still
To me
slavery
seems
clear, that, under the Constituno person can be held as a slave on
shipboard within the national jurisdiction, and that the na-
the change.
it
tion of the United States,
tional flag cannot cover a slave."
Mr. CoUamer of Vermont spoke earnestly in favor of
passage.
" In
Among other
my judgment,
considerations
its
which he urged, he
when they are
attempted to be made, nor when they were made, that undertake to deal with slaves, who are persons under the Constitusaid
:
all
laws, I do not care
and our laws, as articles of merchandise in any form,
under any regulations of trade whatever, are unconstitutional
and I believe to make a law now to prohibit the carrying of
slaves from one State to another for sale is totally unauthortion
ized."
The measure, however, failed
and was
lost
by a vote
in the
Committee of the Whole,
When it came
of thirteen to twenty.
�356
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
up in the Senate, Mr. Sumner again introduced his amendment, and with better success for it was adopted by a vote
of twenty-three to fourteen.
It was concurred in by the
House, and received the Executive signature on the 2d of July,
1864,
By this simple amendment was closed up one of the
;
blackest chapters of the Avorld's unwritten history.
Few
tell
more atrocious and unmitigated outrages, of keener suffering and more protracted misery, with less to cheer and inspire
hope, with more to dishearten and make desolate, than did the
of
domestic slave-trade of Christian America.
�CHAPTER XXVII.
— PAY.
COLORED SOLDIERS.
— Purpose — New policy. — President's testimony.
— Protests. — Secretary's Report. — Modified. — President vindicates his course. — Sincerity. — Bill to amend the act of 1795. —
—
— Protest of border
Growing conviction of need of colored
Davis. — Change of sentiments. — Sherman, Fessenden,
Saulsbury,
of
Rice, Wilson. — Long and violent speech of Garrett Davis. —
— Slaves of loyal men. — Browning, Harlan. — New
— Adopted.
— Scruples of antislavery men. — Hale, Collamer, Doolittle. — Passed and
— Public opinion. — Change. — Mansapproved. — President
French. —Visits "Washington. — Secretary of War's order. — Colored
— Stevens's amend— Governor Andrew. — Large
troops in
enrolling colored troops. — Amendments. — Loyal masters. — Debate.
ment
— Kelley, Higby. — Opposition. — Stevens's amendment
— Great
— Wilson's and resolution. — Various
adopted. — Pay of colored
amendments. — Fessenden, Sumner, Conness, Wilson. — Cowan's substitute.
— Davis's amendment. — Differences. — Collamer, Foot. — Prolonged debate.
— New — Passed Senate. — Fierce debate in the House. — Amendments.
— Senate disagrees. — Committee of Conference. — Final action.
Speech of General Thomas.
— General
hesitation.
States.
soldiers.
Carlile,
Difficulties
bill.
detail.
still hesitates.
field
results.
free States.
for
diversity.
soldiers.
bill
bill.
On
Thomas, who had been
commissioned to have charge of enlisting colored soldiers in
the 8th of April, 1863, General
the Southwest, addressed a
at
company
Lake Providence, Louisiana.
he said
:
"
You know
of
Union
troops, stationed
In the course of his remarks
full well, for
you have been over the
country, that the Rebels have sent into the field
able fighting
men,
— every man
and you know they have kept
at
all their avail-
capable of bearing arms,
home
all their
slaves for the
raising of subsistence for their armies in the field.
way they can bring
In this
to bear against us all the strength of their
we at the North can only
send a portion of our fighting force, being compelled to leave
behind another portion to cultivate our fields and supply the
so-called Confederate States, while
�358
wants
mined
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
of
IN AMERICA.
an immense army. The administration has deterfrom the Rebels this source of supply,
to
—
to take
take their negroes and compel them to send back a portion of
their whites to cultivate their deserted plantations
" I would like to raise on this river twenty regiments at
least before I go back.
They can guard the
rear effectually.
Knowing
the country well, and familiar with all the roads and
swamps, they will be able to track out the accursed guerillas
and run them from the land. When I get regiments raised,
you may sweep out into the interior with impunity. Recollect,
for every regiment of
blacks I raise, I raise a regiment of
whites to face the foe in the
This, fellow-soldiers,
field.
You
determined policy of the administration.
all
the
is
know
full
well the President of the United States, though said to be
slow in coming to a determination, when he once puts his foot
down, it is there, and he is not going to take it up."
These words, it is to be noted, were spoken not only to announce the policy the administration had finally reached, but,
singular as
may
it
seem, to reconcile the soldiers to
its
adop-
Standing alone, without regard to time and purpose,
they seem sensible, legitimate, and such as would naturally
occur to any clear-headed and sound-thinking man or ad-
tion.
ministration
;
but, read with that time and purpose in mind,
they are doubly significant.
To
utilize
such a potent force
was concentrated in the black race, to take such an
auxiliary from the enemy and appropriate it as an efficient
as
element in the nation's defence, appears a conclusion
than axiomatic.
It
would seem to the most
little less
superficial that
an
administration thoroughly in earnest in the prosecution of the
war on
its hands could hardly do otherwise than avail itself of
" those thews and sinews thus at its command, and for the
most part ready and willing for its service." And yet it required two years' teaching in the hard school of stern experience before this sensible conclusion was reached. That it was
a reasonable measure, important,
cess of the
Union
not essential, to the suc-
forces, the trial proved,
though "slow" in
to its efficacy.
if
A
its
and the President,
adoption, bore no equivocal testimony
year after
its
adoption he thus spoke of
it:
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
" More than a year of
trial
eign relations, none in our
our white military force,
On
—
— PAY.
359
now shows no loss by it in our forhome popular sentiment, none in
no loss by it anyhow or anywhere.
shows a gain of quite a hundred and
These are
thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers.
palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no cavilling.
We have the men, and we could not have had them without
the measure.
And now, let any Union man wlio complains
of this measure test himself by writing down in one line that
he is for subduing the Rebellion by force of arms, and in the
next, that he is for taking these one hundred and thirty thousand men from the Union side and placing them where they
would be best for the measure he condemns. If he cannot
face his case so stated, it is only because he cannot see the
truth." And yet it required two years to grasp what seemed
at the outset, to many at least, so reasonable, and what the
the
contrary,
it
trial so conclusively established.
Nor did
from any lack of advocates
For not only did the antislavery men
this hesitation result
a contrary policy.
of
of
the North urge with great earnestness and pertinacity the em-
ployment of negro
soldiers, but several of the generals of the
army, and even Mr. Lincoln's
it
first
as a policy essential to success.
War, advocated
In the preparation of his
Secretary of
annual report for the assembling of Congress in December,
" Shall the negroes, armed by
1861, Mr. Cameron had asked
:
their masters, be placed, in the field to fight against us, or
shall their labor be continually
employed in producing the
? .... It is,
therefore, madness to leave them in peaceful and secure possession of slave property, more valuable and efficient to them
for war than forage, cotton, and military stores.
Such policy
would be national suicide
If it shall be found that the
means
for supporting the armies of the Rebellion
men who have been
held by the Rebels as slaves are capable
arms and performing efficient military service, it is
the right and may become the duty of the government to arm
and equip them." This was, however, a policy too clearly deof bearing
fined,
if
not too sensible, for the popular sentiment at that
stage of the war.
Neither the President, Congress, nor
the.
�360
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
country was prepared therefor.
the army, beside
tlie
Though
IN AMERICA.
others connected with
Secretary of War, had reached
tlie
con-
was the true policy, and had, on their individual motion and responsibility, acted upon it, like Fremont
in Missouri, Hunter in South Carolina, and Butler in New
Orleans, the administration had never, until near the close of
clusion that such
the second year of the war, given its countenance thereto, but
its disapproval rather.
The " border-State policy," as it was
sometimes termed, prevailed
ident
deemed
it
of.
as for the time at least the Pres-
;
greater importance to conciliate and keep
the Unionists of the South than to propitiate the antislavery
But
sentiments of the North.
dent that his
words.
"
it is
due to the martyr Presi-
memory
When
should have the vindication of his own
early in the war," he said, " General Fremont
attempted military emancipation,
I
forbade
it,
because I did
an indispensable necessity. When, a little later,
General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested the arm-
not think
it
ing of the blacks, I objected, because I did not deem
indispensable necessity.
When,
still later,
attempted military emancipation, I again forbade
it,
March and May and July, 1862,
cessive appeals to the border
I
States
made
to
an
because I
did not yet think the indispensable necessity had come.
in
it
General Hunter
When
earnest and suc-
favor compensated
emancipation, I believed the indispensable necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come, unless
averted by that measure."
Whether
right or wrong, politic
or impolitic, such were unquestionably his convictions, and
it
such a light that his " slow" and cautious policy should
is in
be viewed and estimated.
There were many, however, in the country and in Congress,
different views, and gave expression thereto, not
only through the ordinary channels of communication in the
who took
former, but in acts of legislation in the latter.
On
ate,
the 8th of July, 1862, Mr. Wilson reported to the Senfrom the Committee on Military Affairs, a bill to amend
the act of 1795, calling forth the militia to execute the laws
of the
Union, suppress insurrection, and repel invasion, by
allowing the President to
make
the call for a specified time.
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
— PAY.
361
The bill was taken up the next day, in Committee of the
Whole, and gave rise to an animated and able debate, which
arose on two amendments moved by Mr. Grimes of Iowa and
Mr. King of New York. The main provisions of these amendUnion " persons of African descent" and providing that, when such person should be employed, then " he and his mother and his
ments were for
calling into the service of the
;
wife and children shall forever thereafter be free."
The
speak were the representatives of the border
who, in addition to personal interests, were greatly
hampered at home by the Rebel element in maintaining their
loyalty, which they sought to do by showing that men could be
first to
slave States,
true to both the
Union and
slavery.
temptuously of the attempt "
Mr. Saulsbury spoke con-
made on every occasion
to
change
the character of the war, and to elevate the miserable nigger
not only to political rights, but to put him in your
army and
him in your navy." He stigmatized the amendment of
Mr. Grimes as " a wholesale scheme of emancipation." Mr.
to put
Carlile of Virginia asserted that " the negro " constituted
" no part of the militia " of his State expressed the belief
that it was " an effort to elevate him to an equality with the
;
white
man
"
;
and added, that " the
tion will be to degrade the white
The
voice of Mr. Davis of
man
effect of
such
legisla-
to a level of the negro."
Kentucky was raised
in frantic ex-
postulation against the policy of putting arms into the hands
of negroes,
and
of putting
them
in the army.
Saying that
they had nearly a hundred thousand slaves, and that the policy
contemplated putting arms into the hands of the men, and
manumitting " the mass, men, women, and children," to be
left "among them," he asked: "Do you expect us to give
our sanction and our approval to these things ? " " No, no "
he answered the question himself, " we would regard their
authors as our worst enemies and there is no foreign despotism that could come to our rescue that we would not joyously
!
;
embrace, before we could submit to any such condition of
things as that.
But before we had invoked
this foreign des-
potism that could come to our rescue, we would arm every
man and boy
that
we have
in the land,
and we would meet
�3G2
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
you in a death-struggle, to oA'erthrow together such an oppression and our oppressors."
There were members, however, who, though not unmindful
of the importance of the continued loyalty of the border States,
regarded the price demanded as too great, and the dangers
Among them were Mr. Sherman of
Ohio and Mr. Fessenden of Maine, though neither of them had
been prominent in the antislavery struggle. Indeed, the forinvolved too imminent.
mer, in his speech on this very measure, disavowed all " sympathy with the general policy of the emancipation of slaves,
or any interference with the rights of the Southern people,"
especially of the " loyal" Southern people.
" This proposition," he said, "
is
one of the most important
that has been presented to Congress, and the times are meet
for its consideration.
The
question must be decided whether
the negro population of the United States shall be employed to
Hitherto they have been the mainstay of this
Their labor has furnished food they have built
aid the Rebels.
Rebellion.
;
intrenchments, they have relieved the Rebel soldiers of the
burdensome duties
camp, and have
of the
perform simple military duty
sued by the
officers of the
class of people
from our
The
left their
masters to
policy heretofore pur-
United States has been to repel this
lines, to refuse their services.
They
would have made the best spies, and yet they have been driven
from our lines. They would have relieved our soldiers from
many
a hard task,
many an irksome
duty
;
but instead of that,
our soldiers have been required to guard the property of the
of slaves
This must no longer be." After admitting that the whites and the blacks must always be " separate," that the latter must always be " inferior," and that
owners
" the law of caste
if
the law of God," and yet affirming that,
permitted, they would help the Union cause " heartily," he
added
:
is
" Now, shall we avail ourselves of their services, or
enemy alone use them ? That is the question."
Saying, too, that the nation was " somewhat saddened by
recent disasters," and that " the whole country is now a scene
shall the
of
mourning," he added, " and yet the
tion are not checked in the least."
spirit
and determina-
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
— PAY.
363
Mr. Fcssenden, speaking of Union soldiers being required
" They do not like it they do
to guard Rebel property, said
;
:
not feel easy that they should stand .protecting a traitor, sleeping quietly in his bed,
when they need
repose themselves
;
that
swamps
they should be employed in digging trenches in the
about the Chickahominy, when there are numbers already
Referring to
acclimated," ready and glad to do it for them.
" I believe
his reputation as a " conservative " man, he said
:
I
am
one
;
that
is,
am
I
a tolerably prudent, cautious
man,"
and yet he was prepared to say, because it ought, in his judgsaid, and said publicly, that " this mode of white
" Our adversaries do not hesikid-glove warfare will not do."
ment, to be
tate in these matters
why should we ? "
;
He who
—
—
refuses to
men, too, who
employ men to render an important service
because they
are ready and anxious to render such service
are negroes, " makes me feel," he said, " a doubt whether
there
is
man."
not something wanting after
the heart of such a
Speaking of the proposed measure, he said
the President from
of our
all in
my
place as Senator,
and
:
" I
tell
I tell the generals
army, they must reverse their practices and their course
of proceeding
upon the subject
Treat your enemies as
enemies, as the worst of enemies, and avail yourselves, like
men,
of every
power which God has placed in your hands to
accomplish your purpose, within the rules of civilized warfare."
Mr. Rice, a Democratic Senator from Minnesota, was
unequivocal. " Not many days can pass," he said,
" before the people of the United States North must decide
no
less
upon one
of
two questions
:
we have
either to
acknowledge the
Southern Confederacy as a free and independent nation, and
we have as speedily to resolve to use all the
means given us by the Almighty to prosecute this war to a
successful termination.
The necessity for action has arisen.
To hesitate is worse than criminal." " We may as well meet
this question directly," said Mr. King, " and see whether we
that speedily, or
are prepared to use for the defence of our country the powers
which God has given
it,
— the
men who
are willing to be used
to preserve it."
Mr. Saulsbury and others had insinuated that the white
�364
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
would not fight with negroes.
soldiers," asked Mr. Wilson, " fight
soldiers
IN AMERICA.
" Did not American
Bunker Hill with
negroes in the ranks, one of whom shot down Major Pitcairn
Did not American soldiers fight
as he mounted the works ?
at Red Bank with a black regiment from your own State, Sir ?
[Mr. Anthony of Rhode Island in the chair.]
Did they not
fight on the battle-field of Rhode Island with that black regiment, one of the best and bravest that ever trod the soil of
Did not American soldiers fight at Fort
this continent ?
Griswold with black men ? Did they not fight with black
men on almost every battle-field of the Revolution ? Did not
the men of Kentucky and Tennessee, standing on the line of
New
Orleans, under the eye of
colored battalions
whom
whom
at
Andrew Jackson,
he had summoned to the
with
fight
field,
and
he thanked publicly for their gallantry in hurling back
a British foe
?
who
unteers,
"
He
said it was idle to contend that the vol"
were
fighting the battles of the country, would
be deterred by prejudices,
— the
results of the teachings of
demagogues and politicians." He spoke, too, of the " awful
"
burdens " placed upon the Union army, by the " ditchings
and " fortifications " on the banks of the Potomac and Chickahominy, " worn out and broken down by such employment."
" The shovel and the spade," he said, " and the axe have
ruined thousands of the young men of the country, and sent
hundreds of them to their graves." He spoke of the " something of admiration " with which he looked upon the rigor
and unscrupulous use of every means within the reach of the
traitorous leaders, and he spoke of learning wisdom from their
example.
" It
are, I think, in
we had
is of
no use to despise them," he
one of the darkest periods of this
said.
"
We
contest, and
better look our position in the face, meet the responsi-
bilities of the
hour, rise to the demands of the occasion, pour
summon our men to the field, go ourselves
out our money,
if
we can do any
good, and overthrow this Confederate power
that feels to-day, over
has already achieved
its
its
recent magnificent triumphs, that
independence."
it
Mr. Rice also asked
Washington did not put arms into the hands of negroes;
and whether, too. General Jackson did not call upon them for
if
aid in the exigencies of war.
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
To
the "
— PAT.
this appeal to the precedents of the
365
Revolution and of
of '12 "
Mr. Davis made an elaborate reply, which,
if not a complete refutation of the arguments of those he
attempted to answer, was a revelation of the embarrassments,
war
appreliensions,
and inconsistencies
both slavery and the Union, and
of those
who sought
who adhered
to
to save the one
without detriment to the other. He began by referring to the
want of " analogy " between the case under consideration and
that of employing slaves in the wars of the Revolution and of
In the
1812.
first of
those wars, he said, " the struggling
States were in the greatest possible strait, pressed by an overpowering enemy," the number of slaves was small, and the
only persons to be injured were " men in arms in the cause
of a foreign tyrant."
was " analogous "
In the war of 1812, he
said, the case
of the Revolution.
In the case
to that
under consideration he contended that they were " invading
the Southern States," in which the slaves " in the aggregate
mass
are about equal to the white population," the great
whom
"
We
are "
women,
remonstrate,"
children,
he said, " against the employment of
slaves in this case, because they will be called
cipitate themselves
of
and aged and defenceless men."
upon
to pre-
against and upon a helpless population,
and from their nature and disposition, and from the manner
in which their passions can be inflamed and maddened, they
having been heretofore in a state of slavery to the people
against whom they are to be armed, they could not be restrained with the rules and usages of civilized war."
He
made a
point, too, that in the original draft of the Declara-
tion of Independence, Mr. Jefferson
had included among the
charges against the British king the fact that he had excited
the slaves to " rise in arms among us," and that they were
now
proposing to do the very thing for which the fathers so
severely censured George III.
He disclaimed any objection to the appropriation by the
general government of negro labor, like that of the ox, " as
other property
is
applied to military purposes."
What he
protested against was " the
making discrimination between
that and other property."
Of the
effects of the
proposed
�AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
366
RISE
policy
upon the Rebel mind he
spoke
tlius
IN AMERICA.
:
"
Why,
sir,
there
Kentucky but what is
your measures, but what
not a secessionist in the State of
is
and sincerely gratified at
more gratified when he hears of the propositions
that have been presented to-day, and the speeches that have
been made in regard to arming the negroes. There is not a
Rebel in all secessia whose heart will not leap when he learns
that the Senate of the United States is originating such a
policy.
It will strengthen his hopes of success by an ultimate
greatly
will not be
union of
all
the slave States to fight such a policy to the death."
Rehearsing the history of the Southampton insurrection, of the
John Brown raid, and other risings
and noting the lessons to be deduced
" Ah,
therefrom, he thus appealed to Northern members
gentlemen, you can smile very derisively and very securely,
you who inhabit the regions of the North, where there ia
no danger of servile war, where the secessionists will never
but we on the borders are
tread your sacred homesteads "
exposed to all these dangers, liable to be set upon by the
secessionists themselves, and then by " the upheaving of this
Domingo
St.
revolt, the
of the slave population,
:
—
;
domestic
foe,
demoniac in
its
character
Speaking of " the
when
it
has once
some sinister and
had fallen upon
slave,"
that
the
relation
to
in
fatal delusion
"
party but my
having
no
as
the majority, and of himself
country, no creed but the Constitution," and of the value of
tasted blood."
the
Union
spell of
as " inestimable," he said
:
" All
my
Come
weal,
hopes are in
come woe,
Union and the armies of the Union, and I want
victory always to perch upon the standard of those armies."
Mr. Davis also moved an amendment to strike out the words,
all
it
;
I
am
my
affections are given to
it.
for the
" or any military or naval service for which they may be found
competent " ; but his motion received but eleven votes.
But
it
was not alone the
principle of the bill that caused
earnest and even angry discussion.
There were subordinate
considerations and matters of detail on which arose great diver-
gence of views, and which found expression in several amendments and remarks thereon. Among those who demurred at
the sweeping character of the bill was Mr. Henderson of Mis-
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
souri,
from
367
that loyal slaveholders should be exempted
who claimed
its
— PAT.
many
Saying that there were
workings.
loyal slave-
who were "
carrying the flag of their country," he complained of the " absolute injustice " of such legislation towards them, and of the " irritation, resentment, and
holders in his State
ill
feeling"
He
would occasion.
it
therefore
moved an
amendment, " confining the proposition to free persons of
" I think," he said,
color and to the slaves of Rebels."
" Senators might yield that much at least to the feelings of
His amendment was rejected
loyal men in the slave States."
by a vote of thirteen to twenty-two. Another amendment,
providing for compensation to legal owners for such loss of
was adopted by a vote of twenty to seventeen. Mr.
Sherman also moved to restrict the operation of the bill to
the slaves of Rebels, and this was adopted by a vote of twentyservice
two to sixteen.
Mr. Browning of Illinois moved to amend by striking out
the words " his mother, and his wife and children," which
provoked a brief and sharp debate but it was rejected by a
vote of seventeen to twenty-one.
Mr. Harlan of Iowa made
an elaborate and eloquent argument for the bill, urging the
imperative demand that was then challenging their most seri;
ous attention.
" If I read," he said, " the signs of the times
correctly, this has
sist in
By
our
folly,
become a
necessity.
We
cannot,
if
we
per-
thwart the ultimate purposes of the Almighty.
his providential interposition he has
for the liberation of the nation of
thrown open the door
he has removed
bondmen
;
the constitutional impediment, he has caused their assistance
to be necessary to the perpetuity of the
rity of the nation."
The
bill,
Union and the
on motion
of
integ-
Mr. Wilson, was
postponed, and was not again taken up.
The next day Mr. Wilson, from the same committee,
duced a new
bill,
intro-
some
and pay
substantially the same, but containing
additional matter, in regard to enrolment, rations,
making, however, no discrimination between the slaves of
and disloyal citizens. Mr. Sherman immediately moved
loyal
that such discrimination be made.
It excited
sharp opposition,
but was ultimately carried by a majority of one.
Mr. Lane
�368
was
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
willing the loyal master should be remunerated, but he
man
deprecated the idea of remanding a
had fought
to slavery after he
" I could not bear the
in defence of his country.
idea," said Mr.
of suffering
my
Howard
of Michigan, "
were a slaveholder,
if I
me and my
and family, and
slaves to be employed in defending
rights, of risking their lives to defend
my
life
afterwards reducing those poor creatures to slavery.
I
should
and eternal shame." An amendment,
by Mr. Browning restricting the workings of the bill to the
slaves of the disloyal was, however, carried by a vote of twentyone to sixteen and the bill as thus amended was carried by a
regard
it
as a burning
;
vote of twenty-eight to nine.
This strong and decisive vote received the support of several
who had
any legislation, had
and had proposed
amendments which had not been adopted. Mr. Hale, though
questioned the necessity
expressed doubts of
of
constitutionality,
its
expressing his willingness to go as far as he
who
goes farthest
to sustain the President, said he could not forget that
it
was
" a republican and constitutional government " he was sent to
Mr. Collamer thought legislation unnecessary bemaintain.
cause the President was clothed with plenary power
deferring to the opinions of others, he voted for the
Cowan
;
bill.
but,
Mr.
entertained the same opinion, and believed, too, that
white soldiers would be repelled by the introduction of colored.
" Three opinions prevail in this body," said Mr. Doolittle of
Wisconsin, " in regard to the war power.
One was
that the
whole power was in the hands of the President, rendering all
another was that the President
unnecessary
legislation
was not clothed with any military discretion which Con'
'
;
'
'
and the third was, that Congress
might declare what powers might be exercised by the President," while it was left for him to decide " when the military
But
necessity has arisen for the exercise of that power."
gress might not
'
control
'
;
under the pressure of that supreme moment they forgot
all
minor differences, desiring not only to be, but to appear,
united in heart and purpose, to meet the stern exigencies of
" Let all know," said Mr. Doolittle, " that in the
the hour.
midst of apparent disasters, in spite of threatened intervention
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
— PAY.
369
from abroad, we, the representatives of American States and
of the American people, standing fast by the Constitution and
the Union, here and now renew our pledge before high Heaven,
and swear by Him who livetli and reigneth forever, that we
will put
down
this Rebellion,
we
will sustain this Constitution,
and preserve this Union forever."
The bill was taken up in the House on the 16th, and a motion by Mr. Holman, a Democratic member from Indiana, to
lay it on the table was defeated by a vote of thirty to seventyThe previous question was then moved and sustained,
seven.
and the bill was passed to be engrossed, and received the
President's signature July 17, 1862.
little use was
Union army during the first two years
The President had not become convinced that
But, notwithstanding this action of Congress,
made
of negroes in the
of the war.
the time had arrived for the general adoption of the policy
They were employed to some extent, but
authorized thereby.
mainly confined to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and New
" Public opinion," said a contemporaneous writer as
late as the opening of 1863, " had not yet decided that they
Orleans.
could become an integral portion of the army, and as such be
available for every species of military service, notwithstanding
that Congress by two acts passed in July, 1862,
had expressly
men as troops." But
events were strongly tending in the right direction, and both
the administration and the country were being rapidly educated up to the true policy. Among those who interested
themselves most strenuously in securing a reversal of the
policy hitherto pursued was Rev. Mansfield French, a Northern clergyman who had been appointed a chaplain of a regiment in South Carolina. Having been long identified with
the antislavery movement, he was prepared to appreciate and
use the arguments in favor of summoning the black man to
join in the desperate conflict, and he determined to secure
from the administration an order for the enlistment and orauthorized the employment of colored
ganization of colored regiments for the Federal service.
Dur-
ing the month of August, with a despatch from General Saxton,
commanding
VOL.
Ill,
at Hilton
24
Head, he waited upon the Secretary
�370
of
At
RISE
War
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
-R-ith
first
IN AMERICA.
the request that he would give the requisite order.
unsuccessful, he finally prevailed, and received on the
25th the long-desired order, directed to General Saxton, to
accompanied with the suggestive
raise five thousand troops,
remark that "
much
this
must never
see daylight, because
in advance of public sentiment."
seven sections, the
not exceeding
fifty
The
it
is
so
order contained
two pertaining mainly to "laborers,
thousand"; of the remaining five, three
first
were devoted to matters of
and the third and seventh
were as follows
" 3d
You are authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and
receive into the service of the United States such number of
:
—
detail,
volunteers of African descent as you
may deem
expedient, not
and may detail officers to instruct
them in military drill, discipline, and duty, and to command
them. The persons so received into service and their officers
to be entitled to, and receive, the same pay and rations as are
allowed by law to volunteers in the service
" 7th. By the recent act of Congress all men and boys received into the service of the United States, who may have
been the slaves of Rebel masters, arc, with their wives, mothYou and all in
ers, and children, declared to be forever free.
them."
and
regard
treat
your command will so
Tliis was the first formal order from the War Department
exceeding
five
thousand
;
for the enrolment of colored soldiers to become " an integral
portion of the army " ; though it was not until the beginning
of 1863 that the administration entered in earnest
The
enrolment of colored troops.
soldiers in the free States
upon the
initiative of raising colored
was an order from the
War
Depart-
ment, dated January 20, 1863, to Governor Andrew of Massachusetts.
It
was a general order
for the enlistment of troops,
and the clause inaugurating the new and grand policy for
which the friends of humanity and equal rights had been
struggling for more than two years was couched in these sim" Such volunteers to be enlisted
ple and unpretending words
for three years, unless sooner discharged, and may include
:
persons of African descent, organized into separate corps."
The
rest is
known.
How grandly they responded to the
sum-
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
— PAY.
371
mens, how effectively they served their country's imperilled
cause, and how nobly they answered the expectations and fulfilled the hopes of their friends, and at the same time disappointed and confounded the predictions of their enemies, is
matter of record,
noted, and
testified
to
by the President, as already
and no unworthy part, of
will constitute a part,
the nation's history.
In the House Thaddeus Stevens, on the 10th of February,
amend the Enrolment Act by striking out one
and substituting therefor a provision for enrolling persons of African descent, of suitable age and health,
whether citizens or not, and paying to the masters of such
as were slaves three hundred dollars each, such slave becoming
A motion was made, and accepted by the mover,
free thereby.
Mr. Boutwell moved
that only loyal masters should be paid.
In
to substitute " twenty-five dollars " for the sum specified.
connection with his motion he said " I desire to say, in reply
to the gentleman from Kentucky, that we have reached that
emergency when men in the border States should understand,
1864, moved to
of its sections
:
at least so far as I
am
concerned, that slaves, as inhabitants
men are used to put
No constitution or law of any State
between me and what I believe to be my duty to
of the country, are to be used as other
down
this Rebellion.
shall stand
my
Mr. Creswell of Maryland indorsed Mr. Steamendment, and Mr. Davis of the same State moved to
country."
vens's
strike out the proposed compensation to the masters of drafted
slaves,
on the ground that the slaves,
like others,
owed
alle-
giance and duty to the government, and, consequently, that the
government owed nothing to masters therefor. Mr. Mallory
same State contended, on the other hand, that the slave
was " property," and that the proposed amendment ignored
of the
the principle entirely, and was " contrary to the Constitution
United States." The next day the debate was resumed,
and Mr. Stevens accepted the amendment of Mr. Davis, who
also -moved to amend by authorizing the Secretary of War to
appoint a commission to adjust the compensation for slaves
who might volunteer, and his amendment was accepted. Mr.
Kasson of Iowa expressed his willingness to make this disof the
�372
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
crimination between slaves volunteering and those
who were
drafted, paying the former.
Mr. Webster of Maryland, however, moved an amendment
Mr. Kelley of Pennsylplacing the two on the same footing.
vania opposed it. " We do not," he said, " give the Northern
father compensation for his minor son
who
is
drafted
;
we do
not give the Northern wife compensation for the husband
whose labor was her support, if he be drafted we do not
give the Northern orphan child for having withdrawn the
father whose labor was its support we do not give compensation to the poor wife and child of a poor man of Maryland
or Kentucky when the draft designates her husband or its
father and I cannot see that the relation of the slave-owner
to his slave is one whit more sacred than that of the father
;
;
;
to his son, the wife to her husband, or the child to
its
parent."
Mr. Webster also moved to amend, so that the money " now
paid to the drafted man " should be paid to the person to
whom he owed service and labor, and it was adopted by a vote
of sixty-seven to forty-four.
In behalf of the general proposition Mr. Higby of California
expressed the opinion that " the government might go into
every district, and take men to fill the Union armies, no
matter what the color of their skin." On the policy of remanding slaves back to slavery after having fought in the
Union army, he remarked that
it
would not only be wrong
to the slaves but undesirable to the slaveholders.
God
"
When
shall please again," he said, " to bless the land with
peace, shall the negro lay aside his military belt and resume
the master's collar
would
not.
?
If the
He would
country would allow
it,
the master
as soon introduce to the plantation a
person charged with some fatal infection as his former slave,
filled
with antislavery ideas and military
skill.
He might
court his industry, but not his demoralized will."
The measure, however, encountered
the usual Democratic
Mr. Harris of Maryland denied that the government had any right to " enlist or enrol a slave." Mr. Clay
deprecated the sending a recruiting officer into Kentucky.
" It will," he said, " create civil war among us." Fernando
opposition.
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
Wood
— PAY.
373
called " attention to the fact tliat, while
we
are dis-
cussing a measure clearly and palpably in violation of the
House
Constitution, the Confederate
measures
discussing
Representatives
of
is
and conciliation."
reunion,
peace,
of
A
motion was made that such troops should be organized into
companies and regiments of their own color, and be com-
manded by white officers but it was rejected. Mr. Stevens's
amendment as amended was then adopted, providing that colored men, free or slave, when enrolled, should be considered a
;
part of the national forces, the loyal masters of slaves receiving
the hundred-dollar bounty to each drafted
man on
freeing their
slaves.
When
the
came up
bill
in the Senate
it
failed of receiving a
concurrent vote, and was referred to a Committee of Confer-
The committee agreed upon a substitute, which was
adopted by both houses. The bill, as finally adopted, enacted
ence.
that every slave, whether drafted or a volunteer, shall be free
on being mustered into the
service.
To
the loyal master of a
drafted slave there should be paid one hundred dollars
War was
the Secretary of
;
while
charged to appoint a commission
in each slave State represented in Congress, to
award
for each
colored volunteer " a just compensation, not exceeding three
hundred
dollars, to each loyal person to
whom
he
may owe
service."
While the enrolment
of colored soldiers
eration, other parts of the
same general
was under considbecame subjects
policy
and legislation. Thus, as early as the 8th
Mr. Wilson had introduced a bill for the promo-
of earnest debate
of January,
tion of enlistments, that
was referred
Military Affairs, which reported
made
to the
Committee on
back with amendments, and
it
As amended, it prowho were mustered into the
the subject of debate on the 21st.
vided that
all of
African descent
military service should receive the
same pay, emoluments, and
and volunteer
perquisites as " the other soldiers of the regular
forces," with "
two months' pay in advance." This last conwas amended by striking out the " two months' pay,"
and substituting a bounty " not exceeding one hundred dollars."
On the 8d of February Mr. Wilson introduced a joint
dition
�374
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
resolution, providing that all soldiers of color shall have the
same pay, emoluments, and perquisites, " other than bownty,"
as other soldiers, " during the whole term in which they shall
be or shall have been in such service," and every person of
color
who
shall hereafter be
receive like pay
and
mustered into the service should
perquisites,
and bounty " not exceeding
one hundred dollars."
In the debate upon the resolution, Mr. Fessenden of Maine
and Mr. Conness of California questioned the propriety of the
proposed retrospective action in paying these men for services
already rendered
;
the latter expressing the opinion that nei-
ther the condition of the treasury nor the public credit could
"afford" such "acts of justice," and moving an amendment
that the pay should begin " from and after the passage of
this act."
The
proposition, however,
Wilson, Ten Eyck of
New
Jersey,
was vigorously opposed.
Lane and Pomeroy of
Kansas, pleaded for the retrospective feature, contending that
to strike it out would be unjust, would occasion " great dissatisfaction, not only in the
their friends at
minds
of the troops, but of all
home," and that the true policy would be to
same position as white
place colored soldiers in precisely the
Mr. Sumner would not press the retroactive prin"unless where the faith of the government is com" The treasmitted " and there he would not " hesitate."
soldiers.
ciple,
;
ury," he said, " can bear any additional burden better than
the country can bear to do an injustice " and Mr. Foster of
;
Connecticut sustained the same position, remarking that " jus-
always the highest expediency."
Mr. Lane of Indiana, having coupled the idea that placing
tice is
the colored soldiers " hereafter on an equality with the white
troops " was all that could be expected, with the remark that
" no man in his sober senses will say that their services are
worth as much, or that they are as good soldiers," Mr. Wilson interposed for reply the testimony of the colonel of a
col-
ored regiment to the good conduct of his soldiers, and that of
other officers who " took these troops with prejudices against
them," to their industry, deferential manners, and " zeal, and
an earnestness unsurpassed." And he added " There is a
:
�— PAY.
375
Take a colored man who has been
de-
COLORED SOLDIERS.
reason for
all this.
graded by popular prejudice, or by law, or in any other way,
put the uniform of the United States upon him, and let him
follow the flag of the country, and he feels proud and elevated.
They
are fighting for the elevation of their race, as well as for
our country and our cause, and well
duty."
Mr. Sumner
may
they perform their
remarks of
expressed his surprise at the
Mr. Lane, and commented on " his lack of generosity and his
lack of justice toward these colored soldiers."
Mr. Conness
withdrew his amendment.
Mr. Sumner then moved that, in regard to all past services,
if the Secretary of War shall become convinced that these
colored soldiers believed " that they were mustered into the
service under the act of July 22, 1861, they shall receive full
Mr. Anthony of Rhode Island expressed his doubts
whether that would " cover the case " and Mr. Grimes and
pay."
;
Mr.
Howe
expressed the apprehension that the matter was
" being compromised by attempting to cover some individual
cases in a general law."
Mr. Wilson, despairing of getting
moved an amendment, that the act should take effect " from and after the first
day of January, 1864 " and his amendment was agreed to.
his resolution through in the shape reported,
;
Mr. Cowan
of
Pennsylvania moved to strike out
all after
the
enacting clause, and to substitute an act providing that all
soldiers " of the same grade and service shall be entitled to
" I am in favor," he
the same pay, rations, and pension."
"
of treating the negro precisely the same as any other
said,
man.
He
the negro
is
is
a citizen of the United States.
a citizen, I do not
the white man."
mean
When
I say that
to say that he is equal to
Mr. Saulsbury entered his protest against
such sentiments, and the general substitution of the term
" colored soldiers " for the usual term " negro." " Now, lo and
behold," he said sneeringly, " in the advancement of civiliza-
and Christianity and refinement, of which we hear so
and when
much, the negro has got to be a colored person
you come to provide for calling him into the public service,
there must be perfect equality."
Several amendments having been made and lost, on the 23d
tion
*
'
;
�376
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.'
Mr. Davis offered a substitute, the main idea or purport being
that
all
colored persons in the service should be discharged
Against this proposition Mr. Clark of New
and disarmed.
Hampshire entered his earnest protest. " I want," he said,
" the black man to have arms in his hands. I glory in the
opportunity of putting arms in his hands, that, when he puts
down
the Rebellion, he
may
which has enslaved him.
put down forever the institution
I hail in it the safety of the black
man." Saying that, having had arms placed in his hands, it
would be impossible to again enslave the negro, and that he
had proved himself faithful and efficient in his country's service, he asked " Then, if the black man makes a good soldier,
if he goes readily to the fight, if he stands up firmly and
bravely, and gives his blood and his life to the country, I ask,
why should he not be paid ? Can anybody tell me ? " Mr.
:
Davis's
The
amendment
received but seven votes.
points of difference and divergence of opinion
among
the friends of the joint resolution were rather technical and
matters of interpretation than of any doubt or hesitation in
Most were in favor of doing
regard to the principle involved.
justice to the negro,
and
of placing
him on terms of equality
some who voted
with the white soldier, though there were
measure that did not rise entirely above the old
prejudice against color, and did not fully ignore their longtime haljit of treating him as an inferior. Mr. Collamer having
offered an amendment, placing all who responded to the call
of Octoljcr 17, 1863, on the same footing, Mr. Foot of the same
finally for the
State urged
its
adoption as only the fulfilment of the nation's
by the War Department of a bounty
of three hundred dollars to any one that responded to that
" This is simply," he said, " a proposition to redeem
call.
a promise published and proclaimed everythat promise,
where throughout the country in every nook" and corner of
plighted faith, in the offer
—
;
the country, at the threshold of every hamlet in the country,
a promise everywhere and by everybody understood as
—
applying to and embracing
exception of class or color,
all
—a
accepted volunteers, without
promise everywhere and by
everybody so interpreted, and so relied upon, and so acted
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
upon."
— PAT.
377
Mr. Sumner moved an amendment, which was adopted
adding that those who were enUsted under the act of July,
1861, should receive " the pay promised by that enlistment."
The debate was prolonged through several
much plain and straightforward speaking.
days, and elicited
" Pass the bill,"
"
and settle the principle as it ought to
said Mr. Fessenden,
be settled
;
same
place the colored troops on the
white troops in
all
cases
;
let
them
receive the
level with the
same pay and
Mr. Howard of Michigan spoke
rations and everything else."
Condensing his thought, he described with terse
truthful
words the essential injustice and iniquity of slavand
ery, and the little real credit due to the nation for decreeing
Concerning the policy that would discrimiits abolishment.
nate against the colored man, he said " You call him to your
aid in your wars
your necessities remit him to the condition
The hand of robbery bein which Nature herself placed him.
comes palsied. Freedom, his birthright, accrues to him as a
responsible being and he again enjoys what it was not yours
to give, and which human force and crime have withheld.
The Almighty, not you, restores to him the gift of liberty.
strongly.
:
;
;
He
owes you nothing for it not even gratitude." But disagreement on the details of the proposed measure was too
;
great to allow the passage of the resolution
and the whole
was recommitted.
On the 2d of March Mr. Wilson reported a new bill, placing
all soldiers on an equality from the 1st of January, 1864
giving the same bounties to all under the call of October, 1863
;
subject
;
giving to
all
persons of color enlisted into the service the pay
allowed to other volunteers from the date of muster,
ised
by any authorized persons,
it
being
left
if
prom-
with the Secretary
War to decide all questions of fact. Mr. Davis offered an
amendment, which received but six votes and the bill was
passed by a vote of thirty-one to six. On the 22d of April
Mr. Wilson offered this bill as an amendment to the armyof
;
appropriation
bill.
In support of his amendment he spoke of
the failure of Congress to increase the pay of colored soldiers
as " not only checking enlistments but disastrously affecting
the
men
in the field."
" Sir," he said, " can we, dare we,
�378
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
liope for the blessing of
IN AMERICA.
Heaven upon our cause, •while we perthem to remain unredressed ?
petrate these wrongs, or suffer
Can we demand
that the Rebels shall give to our colored sol-
diers the rights of civilized warfare while
we
refuse to
them
the equality of rights ? "
Referring to the " shocking barbarities " perpetrated on their colored soldiers, and " the
bloody butchery of Fort Pillow," he said, " I feel that the
nation
is
doing a wrong to the colored soldiers hardly less
wicked than the wrongs perpetrated by slaveholding
tors."
The amendment was agreed
to
by a vote of
trai-
thirty-
two to six.
"When the army-appropriation
bill was taken up in the
House, Mr. Holman of Indiana made strenuous opposition
" I protest against it,"
fo this amendment of the Senate.
he
said, " as but a part of
by the force
power
of
your general policy, which seeks
to extinguish every vestige of the old
Republic of our fathers, wild, reckless, impracticable.
name
I pro-
and bleeding country, which, struggling with defiant treason, and demanding
prudence and patriotism in the conduct of its affairs, and the
noblest incentives to constancy and courage, receives at your
test against
it
in the
of a distracted
hands only the paralyzing counsels of fanaticism and passion."
To these unfounded and inhuman words Mr. Stevens replied
with his usual force and directness. " I despise," he said,
" the principle that would make a difference between them in
the hour of battle and of death. The idea that we are to keep
the distinction
is
abhorrent to the feelings of the age,
horrent to the feelings of humanity,
instinct of our nature.
wedded
And
is
I take it that
is
ab-
shocking to every
no
man who
to the institution of slavery, or does not foster
is
it
not
for
the sake of power, will go with the gentleman from Indiana."
The amendment
equalizing the pay of soldiers was then carby a vote of eighty to forty-nine.
But the two Senate
amendments, giving to colored soldiers the same bounty allowed to white soldiers under the call of October, 1863, and
ried
that allowing the Secretary of
War
to allow full
pay to
vol-
who were promised it, were stricken out.
In the Senate the House amendments were rejected, and,
unteers
�COLORED SOLDIERS.
— PAY.
379
Committee of Conference was appointAnother committee was appointed,
ed, but it failed to agree.
but their report was rejected by the House. A third committee was appointed, and reported that the House recede from its
amendment reducing the bounty of volunteers under the call
that all persons of color, free on the 19th
of October, 1863
of April, 1861, and enlisting and being mustered in, shall
the
House
insisting, a
;
what was allowed to such persons by the laws existing at the time of their enhstment and the Attorney-General
was authorized to determine any question of law arising under
this provision, and the Secretary of War was authorized to
receive
;
This report
was subjected to sharp criticism. Mr. Sumner did not " think
" unjust
it creditable to Congress," Mr. Pomeroy thought it
to regiments from his State," Mr. Conness complained of its
make
all
necessary regulations required thereby.
"unjust discrimination," and Mr. Johnson said
it
was not
" intended to settle anything, except contingently." It was,
however, accepted by both houses and became the law of the
land.
Substantially
it
provided that colored troops were placed
on the same footing with white after the 1st of January, 1864
colored volunteers in the loyal States were allowed the same
bounty as white all colored soldiers, free on the 19th of May,
;
;
1861, were to receive
full pay,
and the Attorney-General was
authorized to decide whether such as were not free at that
time were entitled to the same, which in a subsequent decision
he admitted to be their rightful due.
�CHAPTER XXYIII.
PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
— President's hesitation. — Fremont's command. — His Proclama— Differently received. — President's embarrassment. — Annulment of
— Hunter's Proclamation. — President's
Proclamation. — Conflicting
revocation. — Appeal to border States. — Interviews with border-States representatives. — Indexes. — Northern impatience. — Mr. Greeley's
— Chicago delegation. — Simulated opposition. — Yielding. — Loyalty to the Divine
— Letter to Mr. Hodges. — First draft of Proclamation. — Hiram Barney. — Read to Cabinet. — Mr. Seward's suggestion. — Waiting
militaiy
successes. — Battle of Antietam. — Preliminary Proclamation. — How received.
— Second and
Proclamation. — General
favorable. — Northern op— Letter of President.
position. — Meeting in
Historic event.
tion.
policies.
letter.
"Will.
for
final
effect
Illinois.
The Proclamation
event of the war.
Emancipation was the great historic
was far more memorable than any of its
of
It
great battles, strategic movements, or the final surrender of
the Rebel
army
at the
Appomattox Court-House.
ance was the crowning act of
will be longer
its
Its issu-
author's career, for which he
remembered and celebrated
in history than for
the fact that he was called to be the President of the Great
Republic.
And
yet
it
was
so indissolubly linked to other
events, similar in character, aim, and result, that no satisfac-
tory account can be given of
it,
or them, witliout repeated ref-
erence to the same facts and features of the history
review sustaining a
common
relation,
what may have been the subject
an act or
policy, as has
and without
now under
reiterating
of previous mention.
It
was
been repeatedly stated, Avhich was not
contemplated at the outset by either himself or the party that
had
elected him,
—a
policy, indeed,
he did not personally
fa-
vor, except as connected with his favorite idea of colonization,
—
to
which he was led by slow and cautious approaches, and
finally determined as a military necessity only.
on which he
�PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
Though opposed
ing, he
said, the
381
from principle, never remembertime when he was " not antislavery," his
to slavery
and perhaps
countrymen,
held him back from a
constitutional scruples, which were very strong,
the prejudice against color, so general
and
of
which he was not altogether
among
free,
his
policy to which he could not without hesitation give his consent.
A brief resume
already been referred to, will
making the
On
some of which have
more apparent, beside
of the leading facts,
final result
more
make
this
intelligible.
John C. Fremont
Western Department.
He reached St. Louis on the 25th, which he made his headThe battle of Bull Run had been fought and lost.
quarters.
The slaveholders of Missouri were untiring in their efforts to
strengthen the Rebel cause and to increase the Rebel forces in
guerilla bands were organized, and the Union
that State
cause was seriously menaced.
General Lyon was defeated
on the 9th of August, and affairs wore a threatening aspect.
General Fremont fortified St. Louis and other important points,
and sought, in every available way, to strengthen himself against
these formidable encroachments and preparations of the enemy. Li pursuance of this purpose, he issued, on the 31st of
August, a proclamation, confiscating the property and making
free the slaves of all citizens of Missouri who had taken or
should take up arms against the government.
This bold action of General Fremont, though it was but the
enunciation of a conclusion to which events seemed rapidly
tending, was very differently received even by those equally
the 9th of July, 1861, Major-General
was appointed
to the
command
of the
;
intent on saving the Union.
Antislavery
men
received
it
with
joy as the approaching culmination of a struggle in which they
had been long engaged, the realization of their fondly cherished
hopes, an answer to their prayer, an omen of good, and a new
claim to his title of " pathfinder " for the general who had
shown the sagacity of discovering that way to success. Others,
who had not sympathized in these views of slavery, but were
equally intent on saving the Union, accepted the policy proposed as the probable solution of the great problem they were
seeking to solve. But the Union men of the border States
�382
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
were greatly alarmed
;
IN AMERICA.
for the i)roclamation not only
came
in
with their prejudices, their love of slavery, but it was
putting a new and potent argument into the hands of the
disunionists of those States which threatened the most serious
conflict
consequences.
greatly embarrassed by this action of
For whatever may have been his wishes, hopes,
and final expectations, he could not but see that such action
was premature, at least unauthorized. So important a step,
The President was
his general.
involving such vast and far-reaching consequences should have
been taken only at the motion and with the sanction of the
government itself. Besides, he deemed it inconsistent with
the act of
slaves
Congress just passed, which set free only the
who were employed by
of hostilities.
He
the Rebels in the prosecution
accordingly wrote to the general, requesting
him to modify his proclamation in these particulars. General
Fremont replied, requesting the President to issue an open
This he did
order making the required modification himself.
in a special order, issued on the 11th of September, in which
he ordered that " the said clause of said proclamation be so
modified, held, and construed, as to conform with and not to
transcend the provisions on the same subject contained in an
'An
act of Congress,
act to confiscate property used for insur-
rectionary purposes,' approved
August 6
;
and that the said
This action of
act be published at length with this order."
men who
antislavery
the
the President could not but disappoint
thus
sumhad been so much encouraged by the proclamation,
and Mr. Lincoln was sharply criticised for
and apparent lack of sympathy for what they
deemed so pre-eminently right and essential to success.
This unsettled policy and purpose of the government, or
rather the conflicting views entertained by its different ofOn
ficials, received another illustration in South Carolina.
comSherman,
the 14th of October, 1861, General T. W.
marily set aside
;
his hesitation
mander of forces on the coast, in accordance with instructions
from the War Department, issued a proclamation to the people
of that State, assuring them that the forces under him should
not interfere with " their lawful rights, or their social and
�PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
local institutions."
in
383
Major-General David Hunter, succeeding
command and having
his
headquarters at Hilton Head,
proclaimed the States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina
under martial law, and issued, on the 9th of May, 1862, an
order in which occur these words " Slavery and martial law
:
in a free country are altogether incompatible.
in these
States
— Georgia,
Florida,
The persons
and South Carolina
—
heretofore held as slaves are therefore declared forever free."
Tliough the President was by no means unmindful of the
feel-
ing elicited by his retraction of Fremont's proclamation, had
the full force of the pressure that had been brought, and
was then brought, to bear upon him to adopt the policy of
emancipation, and could readily apprehend the additional disappointment that would be felt, and the odium that would
felt
attach to his administration for so doing, he resolved to revoke
the order.
Accordingly, a few days afterward, he issued a
proclamation for that purpose.
In
it
he stated that the gov-
ernment had no knowledge of any intention of General Hunter
to issue such an order that " neither General Hunter nor any
other commander or person has been authorized by the government of the United States to make proclamation declaring
" I further make known," he
the slaves of any State free."
continued, " that whether it be competent for me, as Commander-in-chief of the army and navy, to declare the slaves
of any State or States free
and whether, at any time or in
any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the
maintenance of the government to exercise such supposed
;
;
power, are questions which, under
to myself,
and which
cannot
my
responsibility, I reserve
commanders in the field." He then referred to a special message
he had sent to Congress in March recommending national aid
to any State or States which would adopt any plan for the
I
feel justified in leaving to
" gradual abolishment of slavery," and to its adoption by
large majorities " of both houses.
By this action and prof-
*'
fer of the general
government in behalf of gradual emancipafrom indorsing the more sum-
tion he felt himself estopped
mary process
of General Hunter.
Add now
the above-men-
tioned fact that he was personally favorable, and had been
�384
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
previously committed, to the policy of gradual abolishment,
coupled with that of colonization, and
apparent
why he was
becomes clearly
it
exceedingly anxious that the great prob-
lem before them should find this mode of solution.
He
closed his message by an appeal to " the people of these
States," with an eloquence and pathos seldom found in official
documents or state papers. Reminding them of the signs of
the times, to which they could not be " blind," he sought for
his proposal " a calm and enlarged consideration," ranging
" far above personal and partisan politics." " I do not argue,"
he said, " I beseech you to make the arguments for yourselves."
Saying that the proposal made
common
cause for a
common
no reproaches, that it did not " act the
Pharisee," that the change it contemplated " would come
gently as the dews of heaven, not rending or wrecking anything," he asked with paternal earnestness " Will you not
embrace it ? So much good has not been done by our effort
in all past time as, in the providence of God, it is now your
high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament
object, that
cast
it
:
that you have neglected it."
Not only did he make
this formal
and open appeal, but
within a short time he sought interviews with the representatives of the border States, reiterating
and pressing with
still
greater earnestness his entreaty for the adoption of his pro-
To one
posal.
of these delegations he presented, in writing,
and wishes, which has been referred to and quoted
another connection. In this paper he elaborated more
his views
from
in
deemed so important. He
spoke of the " unprecedentedly stern facts of our case," of the
necessity of " discarding the maxims of more manageable
at length the considerations he
times," of the diminishing value of their slaves, and of the better policy of realizing something before that value
was com-
pletely extinguished.
There cannot be better indexes
upon public affairs, as well as the
tained
among
of the
obscurity resting
conflicting views that ob-
the leaders at that stage of the Rebellion, than
are afforded by these proclamations of
and the papers
Fremont and Hunter,
Fremont
of the President annulling them.
�PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
and Hunter wonld make
militarj proclamation
;
free the slaves
fiat of
Union
lines to search for
Butler declared them contraband of war
;
a
Buell and Hooker actually allowed
slave-masters to come within the
their slaves
by the simple
385
;
Wool
would employ them and pay them for their service while
Halleck drove them from the Union lines, and McClellan
avowed his purpose to put down anything like servile insurrecMr. Cameron, as Secretary of
tion " with an iron hand."
War, would employ slaves, and actually instructed generals
thus to employ them, while the President modified and in
a measure actually countermanded this order of his Secretary.
Meanwhile there was a growing conviction at the North that
all this tenderness toward the provoking cause of the war was
misplaced and wrong, and that it was putting in extremest
peril the nation's life. This impatience and importunity found
voice from pulpit and press in unsparing measure and in
thunder tones. On the 19th of August the editor of the New
York " Tribune " addressed an open letter to tlie President,
over his own signature, entitled " The Prayer of Twenty Mil;
lions."
In
it
he urged,
if
not a proclamation of emancipation,,
the rigorous execution of such laws as Congress had already
He denounced all attempts to put
which slavery was tlie provoking cause,
without touching that cause, as " preposterous and futile." A
large delegation of the Protestant clergy of Chicago visited
Washington and called upon the President with a like errand.
Similar delegations of clergymen and others pressed upon him
the importance and necessity of adopting the proposed policy.
While he received tliem courteously, he gave them little enenacted on the subject.
down
a Eebcllion of
couragement
of listening to their prayers or of adopting their
Indeed, his arguments all pointed in the opposite
His reply to Mr. Greeley was very widely read,
produced a profound impression, and was particularly disrelished by antislavery men.
Saying tliat his paramount obsuggestions.
direction.
ject
was
to save the
Union, and not either to save or destroy
famous epigrammatic utterance already
slavery, he added the
quoted in these pages, and which was so often repeated, tliat
he could save it with or without touching slavery, or by
if
VOL.
III.
25
�386
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
toiicliing a part or the
whole, he would do
IN AMERICA.
To
it.
the Chicago
delegation he responded in a similar, though perhaps a
discouraging, vein, dwelling
more upon the
more
inutility of the
proposed policy.
The President seemed to hesitate. Subsequent developments,
however, showed that his hesitation was more seeming than
real,
though there was much that was real
in
it.
For he could
not give up his long-cherished opinions upon the subject
still
;
he
thought the proffer of aid by the government in behalf
of compensated emancipation forbade in principle this wholesale
abolishment
;
he had grave doubts, as he expressed them to the
Chicago clergymen, of its working as advantageously as hoped;
and he did very much dread its effects upon the border States,
and feared that it would snap the cords that bound them to
the Union, which were none too strong at best. He grasped
somewhat the tremendous
significance of the act,
wonderful that he hesitated.
Had
and
it is
not
he more fully comprehended
meaning, would his hesitation have been less ?
But the President was earnest, honest, and God-fearing, and
he seems fully to have appreciated that he and the nation were
in the drift of events that received their impulse and direction
from a higher than any human agency, and that it behooved
them, one and all, to conform their plans with the Divine
plan.
Nor did he make any secret of his conviction, or con-
its fearful
cealment of his purpose.
After expressing to the Chicago
clergymen his fears that a proclamation of emancipation would
be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet, that
advantageous than they hoped, and that
him back, though
he had the matter under advisement, he added, " And I can
assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and by night,
it
would prove
less
these were difficulties that had hitherto held
more than any
will I will do."
other.
Whatever
shall appear to be God's
In a letter to Mr. Hodges, written in 1864,
he thus expresses the convictions forced upon him by a review of the past and the part he had acted. " I claim not," he
said, " to have controlled events, but confess plainly that
events have controlled me.
Now,
struggle, the nation's condition
is
end of three years'
any party or any
what
not
at the
�387
PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
man
expected.
God
ing seems plain.
If
alone can claim
it.
Whither
tend-
it is
God now wills the removal of a great
that we of the North, as well as you of
wrong, and wills also
the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong,
new
impartial history will find therein
causes to attest and
Seldom have reverunpartisan
fealty to
and
unselfish
and
an
God
revere the justice and goodness of God."
ent loyalty to
equity found simpler or sweeter expression.
The
human,
President, observant of both the Divine and
the moral as well as the military, aspects of the conflict, taught,
and the poor success of his overtures
was learning fast. None can ever know
that passed through his mind during those sleepless vigils
by disasters in the
field
to the border States,
all
of
which he spoke
to the
Chicago clergymen
;
but
it is
safe to
conjecture that there were not only sharp conflicts between
opposing policies, but grave questionings concerning the course
he had hitherto pursued, the seemingly deaf ear he had turned
to the importunities
and expostulations
of antislavery
men,
repeated interference with the action of those generals
his
who
had proclaimed the freedom of slaves, his expressed willingness that slavery might continue if the Union could be preserved. With the views he entertained and so often expressed
of the Divine justice and the reason the nation had to fear the
full force of its righteous
workings,
that he sometimes coupled in his
it
can hardly be doubted
own mind
Fremont and Hunter with the sad
his course
defeats of the
towards
Union
cause,
the terrible disasters of the Chickahominy, the repulse of Pope
so near the capital, and other reverses, so distressing in their
immediate results and so depressing in their influence upon
He might perhaps have used the
the popular mind and heart.
same language he employed a month previous in his letter,
which grated so harshly upon Northern ears, to Mr. Greeley,
but it is probable he would have used it with less confidence
and with greater mental reservation. He knew, too, that not
alone the antislavery men and women of the land were thus
intent upon a change of measures, but that the religious sentiment of the loyal States was deeply moved, and that prayer
unceasing was offered by the churches of the North and the
�388
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
slaves of the South for liim, and in behalf of a policy that
would suppress the Reljellion by striking at the guilty cause.
But whatever may have been the workings of the President's mind, and however he may have been moved thereto,
he was rapidly reaching the conclusion that, however contrary
it
may have been
to his prejudices
and whatever may
liave
departure, to this complexion
lias
and preconceived opinions,
been the risks involved in the new
it
must come
Indeed,
at last.
it
since transpired that in June, before the letter of Mr.
Greeley and the visit of the Chicago clergymen, to whose
appeals he had given replies so little satisfactory, he had pre-
pared a draft of the proclamation he afterward sent forth.
This draft, before submitting it to his Cabinet, he read to
New York. Near the
August Mr. Lincoln summoned
his Cabinet for the purpose of reading the document which he
had prepared. He told its members that he had not called
them together to ask their advice on the general question, for
on that his mind was made up, but to apprise them of his purpose, and to receive suggestions on minor points as they might
make. Among the suggestions was one by Mr. Seward that,
while he approved of the measure proposed, the time was not
Referring to recent reverses and the consequent
opportune.
Hiram Barney,
collector of the port of
close of July or the first of
depression of the public mind, he said, " It
as the last
help,
—
tlie
may
measure of an exhausted government,
government stretching
its
be viewed
— a cry
for
liand to Ethiopia, in-
stead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hands to the govcriiment ; our last shriek on the retreat." Mr. Lincoln admitted
the force of the suggestion
;
and the document was held
in
abeyance, awaiting more cheering fortunes, wliich, however,
did not come till the public heart had been repeatedly sad-
Pope on Washington and the invasion
But the good tidings came at length in the
dened by the retreat
of Maryland.
of
national success at the battle of Antictam.
and obedient to the promise which,
made
to God if he would grant suche
had
Chase,
he told Mr.
forth the paper which lias
sent
cess to the Union arms, he
True
to his convictions,
immortalized his name, and which, more than any act of his
�389
PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
administration, has signalized both it and the age of which it
formed the great event. The battle of Autietam was fought
on the 17th of September, 1862, and on the 22d the President
sent forth to the nation and the world his Proclamation of
Emancipation, bearing his own signature, that of his Secretary
of State, and the great seal of the Republic. In it he declared,
what he had so often declared before, that " the object of the
war is that of practically restoring the constitutional relation
between the United States and each of the States " in which
that at the
that relation had been or might be " disturbed"
;
next meeting of Congress he should recommend another proffer of national aid to any States which should " voluntarily
adopt immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within
their respective limits" that "all persons held as slaves on the
;
1st of January, 1863, in any States or parts of States then in
rebellion, should be then, thenceforward, and forever free,"
and that the government " will recognize and maintain the
freedom of such persons"; that "the Executive will, on the
1st of January aforesaid, by proclamation designate the States
and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof shall be
in rebellion"; and the fact that any State is represented in
Congress in good faith and without countervailing testimony
shall be deemed conclusive evidence that they are not in rebellion.
He called attention to and quoted the acts of Congress of March 13, 1862, and of July 16, 1862, prohibiting
the military and naval service from returning or permitting
the seizure of fugitives from slavery, and he enjoined upon
all persons connected with the army or navy to obey and
enforce said legislation. He also announced his purpose to
recommend that all persons who had remained loyal should,
on the suppression of the Rebellion, be " compensated for all
losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of
slaves"; so tender was he of vested rights, so anxious was
he to carry out in good faith any pledges of his own or of the
party which had elected him.
This unheralded and, for the moment, unexpected announcement of the Executive purpose startled the nation, and evoked
very different responses.
Antislavery and Christian men,
�390
with
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN
AMERICA.
appeals long unnoticed and hopes long deferred,
tlicir
were specially
They regarded
gi-atified.
tion they had so devoutly wished, the
been longing
weary years
for,
it
as the
consumma-
something they had
looking for, and laboring for through the
of the irrepressible conflict,
— the
ripe, rich fruit-
age of seed sown in days of darkness and storm. But they
had never constituted more than an inconsiderable fraction of
At
the whole.
the other extreme larger numbers received
it
with deadly and outspoken opposition while between these extremes the great body of even Union men doubted, hesitated,
;
and were
free.
Its
at best only
"willing" that the slaves should be
effect did perhaps more nearly
immediate practical
answer the apprehensions of the President than the expectaIt did, as charged, very
tions of those most clamorous for it.
"
much unite the South and divide the North." The cry of
" the perversion of the war for the Union into a war for the
negro " became the Democratic watchword, and was sounded
everywhere with only too disastrous effect, as was plainly
revealed by the fall elections with their large Democratic gains
Indeed, it was the opinion of Mr.
and Republican losses.
Greeley, that, could there have been a vote taken at that time
on the naked
issue, a large majority
would have pronounced
against emancipation.
But Mr. Lincoln did not falter. Notwithstanding these discouraging votes at the North, and the refusal of any Southern
State to avail itself of the proffered immunity and aid of his
Proclamation of September, he proceeded, at the close of the
hundred days
al)Solute
of grace allowed
by
Proclamation, making
it,
all
to issue his second and
the slaves of the Rebel
He
States and parts of State's forever and irreversibly free.
began by reciting those portions of his
first
Proclamation which
contained the conditional purpose of freeing the slaves in those
" Now, therefore,"
portions of the country then in rebellion,
he added, "
Al)raham Lincoln, President of the United States,
by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-chief of
the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual
rebellion,
and
.
I,
.
.
.
as a
fit
in accordance with
and necessary war measure,
my
.
.
.
.
purpose so to do publicly pro-
�PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
391
claimed for the full period of one hundred days .... order
and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the
people tliereof respectively this day are in rebellion against
the United States."
Specifying such States and parts of
States to be affected by the measure, he then proclaimed that
all persons held as slaves therein " are and henceforward shall
be free," and that the government in all its branches " will
Enrecognize and maintain the freedom of said persons."
joining upon the people so declared to be free that they
should " abstain from all violence unless in necessary selfdefence," and that, " when allowed, they labor for reasonable
wages," he declared that they might be " received into the
armed
he
service of the United States."
said, " sincerely believed to
"
And upon
this act,"
be an act of justice, warranted
by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of
Almighty God."
This last clause was suggested by Mr.
Chase, and readily accepted by the President.
Though the immediate effects of the Proclamation might
not have answered all that was expected of it, it was not
many months before its happy influences became manifest.
Its tendency from the first was to unify and consolidate the
antislavery and Christian sentiment of the land, to give dignity
and consistency to the conflict. It took away the reproach,
which had been freely cast upon the government, that the war
was a mere sectional strife for ascendency, and made it appear
what it really had become,
a struggle for human rights, and
—
a vindication of the primal truths of the Declaration of Independence.
It
strengthened, too, the cause immensely witli
other nations, secured the sympathy and moral support of
Christendom, and diminished,
if it
did not entirely remove, the
danger of foreign intervention.
And
many
North who continued inflexibly and violently hostile to the measure, and who permitted no opportunity to pass unimproved of holding it up to
popular odium. Not only did the Democrats universally con-
demn
yet there were
at the
it in their conventions and through their presses, but
Union men, even some Republicans, of whose loyalty there
�392
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
could be no question, doubted the expediency, if they did not
deny the right, of its issuance. Even in the President's own
State there
To
opposed.
witli
was a mass meeting,
much
this
in September, 1863, of those
meeting he addressed a
force and point and in his
he vindicated his course, and sliowed
position of those
Assuming
which,
whose carping criticisms he thus noticed.
that they were all equally anxious for peace, he
said that there were but three possible
be
letter, in
own inimitable manner,
how indefensible was the
secured, — by
ways
in which
the force of arms, whicli he
was
it
could
trying to
by giving up the Union, to which he was unalterably
opposed and by some compromise, which he deemed impossible with a maintenance of the Union, at least so long as the
whole South was under the control of the Rebel army. Alluding to a probable difference tliat existed between them in
their estimate of the negro, he admitted that personally he
certainly desired his freedom, but claimed that he had adopted
effect
;
;
or proposed nothing for that purpose inconsistent with a simple
desire to preserve the Union.
To
the wish that the Proclama-
tion should be retracted on the plea that
it
was unconstitu-
and unauthorized, and that it put in greater peril the
Union cause, lie replied that he had no question of his right
to do it as Commander-in-chief in the exercise of the war
tional
Continuing his response to this objection, he said it
If it was not valid, it needed no
was, or was not, valid.
If it was valid, it could not be retracted, " any
retraction.
power.
more than the dead can be brouglit to hfe." To the plea that
would increase the chances of Union success, he
said tliat the war had been prosecuted a year and a half without it, and that it liad certainly " progressed as favorably for
its retraction
us since the issue of the Proclamation as before." To their
avowed refusal to fight for negroes, he caustically replied
" Some of them seem willing to fight for you " adding that
:
;
wliat the l)lack soldiers
had done
left
" just so
much
less for
But like others,
and he asked why
the white soldiers to do to save the Union."
without motives
anything
for
us if we will do nothing for them.
do
they should
" If they stake their lives for us," he said, " they must be
lie
said, they did not act
;
�PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.
393
prompted by the strongest motive, even the promise of freedom, and the promise being made must be kept." Saying
that the signs loolvcd better, and that peace did not appear as
distant as it did, and expressing the hope that " it will soon
come to stay and so come as to be worth the keeping in all
future time," he closed with this sharp and significant rebuke
"And there will be some black men who can remember that
with silent tongue and clenched teeth, and steady eye and
;
mankind on to this great
some white ones
that with malignant heart and deceitful
well-poised bayonet, they have helped
consummation,
while, I fear, there will be
unable to forget
speech they have striven to hinder
it."
�CHAPTER XXIX.
REPEAL OF FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT.
— Conflict with Higher Law. — Early memorials. —
—
by Wilmot and Wilson. — Fruitless endeavors. — XXXVIIIth
—
in the House by Stevens, Ashley,
and Julian. — Senate Committee
Seven. —
and Report by Mr. Sumner,
— Minority
— debated and passed. — Reconsidered. — Sherman's
amendment and debate. — Speech
— Van Winkle. — Whole
Mr.
— Subject in the House. — reported. — Debate. — Speech
subject
of Mallory. — Strenuous opposition. — Cox, King. — Passed. — Action of the
Senate. — Sumner, Hendricks, Saulsbury, Hale, Powell, Davis. — Passed.
Most annoying
legislation.
Resolution by Air. Howe.
Bills
Congi-ess.
Bills
of
report.
Bill
Bill
of
Foster.
deferred.
The
Bill
most annoying and most exmen of the North was the
obligation imposed, by both the Constitution and the statute,
on every American citizen not only to allow, but to assist in,
the pursuit of fugitives from service.
That was both seen
and felt to be a crime against themselves as well as against the
fact or phase of slavery
asperating to the freedom-loving
slaves.
As
if
it
were not enough to know that there were
millions of their countrymen grinding in the prison-house of
their bondage, with its unparalleled
wrongs and unutterable
agonies, they were compelled to be personal participants in
this great offence,
by standing guard over these victims, pre-
venting their escape, or joining in the pursuit,
The most abhorrent
of all its
slave laws, especially that of 1850, called, by
the Fugitive-Slave Act,
villanics,"
itself
if
infamous laws were
— the most villanous
way
escaping.
its fugitive-
of eminence,
of the
"sum
of all
— the most unnatural
athwart the current of
and Heaven-defying, placing
the soul's best affections, and
compelling them to flow back upon
itself
or find their exercise
only at great risks of personal loss and danger. The Great
Teacher had taught and commanded, " AVhatsoever ye would
�395
EEPEAL OF FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT.
that
men
them"
should do to you, do ye even so to
;
but this
law, with impious audacity, held up the slaveholders' edict forbidding that very thing, making it a penal offence, to be expiated by severe punishment, to give even a cup of cold water
No law had
or a piece of bread to the trembling fugitive.
ever
grated more harshly and aroused feelings of deeper indignation.
It was but natural, therefore, that among the first acts
of their new-born
power should be attempts
kindred laws from
the statute-book.
early, therefore, as the assembling of
As
first
to
sweep
and
this
Congress at
its
regular session after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln,
memorials began to come in, praying that body to repeal the
iniquitous law and before the close of December, 1861, Mr.
Howe of Wisconsin introduced into the Senate a bill for its
In presenting his bill he said " This act has had its
repeal.
;
:
As
day.
a party act
it
has done
done as much mischief as
its
work.
It
probably has
the acts ever passed by the
all
national legislature since the adoption of the Federal Constitution."
was referred
It
which, however, did not
till
bill
February, 1863.
to the
make
Committee on the Judiciary,
report, and that adverse,
its
In May, 1862, Mr. Wilmot introduced a
requiring owners of fugitives from service to take the oath
of allegiance to the
government
given aid or comfort to the
should have the right to
;
to swear that they have never
enemy
summon
while any alleged fugitive
;
witnesses, without respect
The bill was referred
Committee on the District of Columbia, and reported
back without amendment. Near the same time, Mr. Wilson
of color, to give testimony in his case.
to the
introduced a
bill
to
amend
the act of 1850, giving to the
alleged fugitive the riglit of trial
by
jury, with the
guards as were allowed on an indictment
;
same
safe-
the right of bail
and repealing
was taken up on the 10th of
June, briefly considered, when the Senate adjourned, and the
bill never came up again for consideration.
Though there
existed a growing desire and imperious demand for some such
legislation, there were too many difficulties attending any effective action, and tlie XXXVIIth Congress adjourned without
enacting any law upon the subject.
requiring evidence of the claimant's loyalty
several sections of the act.
It
;
�396
RISE
In the
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
XXXVIIIth
IN AMERICA.
from the people, the
In the House, immediately on the
Congress,
fresli
subject soon came up.
announcement of its standing committees, Mr, Stevens of
Pennsylvania introduced a bill to repeal the acts of 1793 and
1850 Mr. Ashley of Ohio introduced a bill to repeal the act
of 1850, and all acts for the rendition of fugitive slaves
Mr.
Julian also introduced a similar bill, though different in some
of its details, with a resolution instructing the Committee on
;
;
the Judiciary to report a
1793 and 1850
of
;
The above
table.
bill,
repealing portions of the acts
the resolution, however, being laid on the
were referred to the Committee on
bills
the Judiciary, but a report was not
made
until the following
June.
In the Senate, on the 13th of January, 18G4, Mr. Sumner
moved the appointment
committee of seven to con-
of a select
and the freedmen.
His motion was adopted, and the committee appointed, consisting of himself, Howard, Carlile, Pomeroy, Buckalew,
Brown, and Conness,
four Republicans, two Democrats, and
one (Conness) Union. Sumner, Howard, Pomeroy, and Brown
sider all propositions concerning slavery
—
were pronounced antislavery men Carlile, a proslavery man
from conviction Buckalew, one of the Northern Democratic
leaders and Conness, though originally a Democrat, now fully
committed to the policy of freedom. Early in February Mr.
;
;
;
Sumner introduced
a
bill
to repeal all laws for the rendition
which was referred to the select Committee of
Seven. The committee presented majority and minority reports,
the former by Mr. Sumner, and the latter by Mr.
Buckalew.
The report of Mr. Sumner was long and exhaustive, earnest
and eloquent, presenting very fully the legal and constitu-
of fugitives,
—
tional,
With
moral and religious, aspects of the case.
of learning
showed
its
and a minute analysis
he
and purposes
of
entire conflict with both the spirit
the Constitution and the free institutions of the
He
spoke, too, of
its
affluence
of the abhorrent statute,
Republic.
wicked hardship toward those who
ligiously believed that the Divine
command,
deliver unto the master the servant
which
"
is
Thou
re-
shalt not
escaped,"
re-
�REPEAL OF FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT.
397
" The thunder of Sinai," he said,
and the ancient judgments have ceased but an act
of Congress which, beside its direct violation of this early law,
offends every sentiment of Christianity, must expect the judgments of Heaven. Perhaps the sorrows and funerals of this
war are so many warnings to do justice." " Unhappily," he
said in closing, " the statute must remain in the pages of our
mained
"
of binding force.
is silent,
history.
;
But every day
of delay in its repeal is hurtful to the
national cause and to the national name."
The minority
report, signed
by Buckalew and
Carlile, refer-
ring to the assumption of the majority that the act was both
" unconstitutional and inexpedient, took, what they termed,
the " proper occasion for restating the grounds " of such legis-
and made an earnest argument in defence of the genand of the act of 1850 in
particular.
Concerning the " expediency and policy" of such
legislation, they said significantly and sneeringjy that they
were points which they only needed to take into consideration,
" whose views of constitutional duty are unfixed, or formed
upon principles of political philosophy which were unknown
lation,
eral principle of reclaiming fugitives,
to, or, at least,
unaccepted by,
government
lished the
of
tlie illustrious
men who
the United States."
estab-
Beside
its
argumentative portions, the minority report well represented
the Democratic and slaveholding spite against the negroes and
It spoke of the. former as " an injurious and
their friends.
element to the State," and of the latter and their
" fanaticism scenting blood and carnage in the distance."
pestilential
The
bill
came up
for consideration on the 19th,
was reported
to the Senate, ordered to be engrossed, and read a third time.
Mr. Foster of Connecticut said he was " not prepared to see
the bill pass just now."
Mr. Sumner disclaimed all desire to
speak, for, he said, "
like a
the
diagram
;
it
is
it
seems to
Ten Commandments."
perfectly plain.
" It
may
;
it
It is
is
like
be," said Mr. Hendricks
on the other hand, " that our fathers erred in
of Indiana,
the agreement
be returned
me
like the multiplication-table
;
it
among themselves that a fugitive slave should
may be that it was a mistake on their part
but while their agreement stands, and while
my
oath
is
on
my
�398
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
conscience to respect their agreement, I cannot vote for a
bill
like this."
Mr. Sherman of Ohio expressed doubts of the expediency of
repealing the law of 1793, for, he said, it was " framed by the
men who framed
valid
the Constitution, and has been declared
and constitutional by every tribunal that has acted upon
it."
He
moved a
accordingly
then moved
reconsideration
of
bill to
;
proved February 12, 1793."
In the brief debate on this mo-
tion the question of the constitutionality of the
and
the vote
be engrossed, which was carried
and he
to amend by adding the words, " except the act ap-
ordering the
law of
'93,
Judge Story, who gave the opinion of
the Supreme Court in the Prigg case, was sharply discussed.
During the discussion Mr. Johnson of Marjdand declared that
it was " perfectly plain under the adjudications of the Supreme
Court, and particularly in the judgment pronounced by Mr.
of the opinions of
Justice Story, that the Constitution itself is a fugitive-slave
" To my mind," said Mr. Sumner, " nothing is clearer
act."
than that, according to unquestionable rules of interpretation,
the clause of the Constitution, whatever
intent of
Such
its
may have been
the
authors, cannot be considered applicable to slaves.
from the nature of the case, it cannot be
sanctioned or legalized except by positive words. It cannot
Mr. Sherman's amendment was then
stand on inference."
adopted by a vote of twenty-four to seventeen.
The adoption of j\Ir. Sherman's amendment was a signal for
a confused and miscellaneous debate, in which there were various motions to amend, to lay on the table, and to refer but
they were rejected. During the discussion, Mr. Foster of
Connecticut made an elaborate speech in favor of the amended
is
slavery, that,
'
'
;
bill.
" I shall give," he said, "
very great pleasure.
1850, popularly
my
vote on
its
passage with
Its effect will be to repeal the
known
as
the Fugitive-Slave
Law
;
law of
in
my
opinion a most iniquitous measure, and certainly most obnox-
from the day of its paswas passed in a period of
great excitement in the country.
A malicious and malignant
spirit had been excited.
Sectional and partisan feeling raged
ious to the people of the free States
sage to the present hour.
That
bill
�REPEAL OF FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT.
over the land.
An
399
arrogant and defiant party, in their pride
bill through both houses of Congress.
of power, passed that
It
has the forms of law, and has stood unrepealed to this day.
From
the first day I had the honor of a seat in this body until
now,
I
should have voted cheerfully for
its
repeal at any
time."
The subject came up again on the 21st when, among other
motions to amend and postpone, was a speech of Mr. Van
Winkle
of
West
Virginia, in opposition to the " series of pro-
jected measures now pending in one or both houses of Congress " ; as also in favor of a proposition to organize West Vir-
ginia as a State, abolishing slavery therein.
Mr. Howard of
Michigan moved to amend by a provision that no person in
any Territory or in the District of Columbia should be held a
slave, or removed under the act of 1793, and that " the fourth
Various other moand the whole subject was deferred
but it was never called up again for con-
section of said act should be repealed."
tions were then made,
to the 27th of April
;
sideration.
which were presented on the
subject of the fugitive-slave acts on the 14th of December,
1863, and one subsequently presented by Mr. Spaulding had
been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. On the 6th
of June, Mr. Morris of New York reported for them a substiIn the House the several
bills
A bill to repeal the Fugitive-Slave Act of 1850,
and parts of acts for the rendition of fugitive
He moved its recommitment, and his motion was
slaves."
But the vote for recommitment was reconsidered,
adopted.
and the bill was put on its passage. On the demand for the
previous question Mr. Mallory of Kentucky made an earnest
and deprecatory speech. " Kentucky is the only State," he
said, " still adhering to the Union, which has not abolished or
taken the initiatory steps to abolish slavery
I demand,
as an act of justice to my State, that the Fugitive-Slave Act be
permitted to remain on the statute-book
If the FugitiveSlave Act is repealed, and your provost-marshals and recruiting-officers draft and recruit the slaves of Kentucky, if this
policy is continued, what need, think you, will there be to
tute entitled "
and
all*
acts
i
�400
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Sir, I warn
abolish slavery by constitutional amendment ?
you against the course this Congress is pursuing. Already
you have crushed out every feeling of love of the Union in the
people of the revolted States and you are besotted if you
tliink tliat acts of oppression and wrong can be perpetrated in
;
the border slave-States, witliout producing estrangement and
Kentucky has remained true to her faith
pledged to the government, and I warn you not to persevere
in inflicting on her insult and outrage."
On the refusal of Mr. Morris to withdraw the previous queseven enmity there.
tion, wdiich
" justice
is
provoked the spiteful response
of
Mr, Mallory that
a thing I have long since ceased to hope for from
that side of the House," there sprung up a series of motions
designed to stave
Cox
of
off
and delay the passage
of the
Ohio appealed to Mr. Morris to have the
bill.
bill
Mr.
referred
back again to the Committee on the Judiciary. The latter
and other members expressed a willingness to allow sufficient
time for a full examination, and expression of views concerning it, even to fix a subsequent day for a vote but those hos;
tile to it
refused any " unanimous consent in regard to taking
Mr. King
the vote," and a sharp debate followed.
souri opposed the bill in an elaborate speech.
said, "
"
of Mis-
The law," he
now sought to be repealed, was passed in the discharge
a duty enjoined
solemn duty to the slaveholding States,
by the Constitution, and which cannot, in my opinion, be
repealed by Congress without a total disregard of an-impera-
—
of a
Mr. Cox made a sharp, incisive speech, not
only in opposition to that particular measure, but in condemnation of tlie general policy of Mr. Lincoln and his adminis-
tive obligation."
tration,
he
and closed with
said, " is a
this
arraignment
:
" Your executive,"
usurper of the powers wisely distributed to the
other departments of
striving to strike
tlie
down
government.
the only
Here you
sit
mode whereliy one
to-day,
peculiar
clause of the Constitution can be carried out, and propose no
mode
as a substitute either by State or Federal action.
ideas are not those of the higher, but of the lower law.
do not come from the sources of law and light and love
They sunder
all
the ties of allegiance, and
all
Your
They
a])Ove.
the sanctions of
�401
BEPEAL OF FUGITIVE-SLAVE ACT.
You
faith.
valuable and sacred in
is
you would tear down all that
the past, and build up nothing in
are destructionists
You
their place.
:
are revolutionists."
But those who spoke for the bill were equally emphatic and
" I make," said a member, " no distinction
undisguised.
whatever between the act of 1793 and the act of 1850. Today they are equally obnoxious, and, in
I revere the
infamous.
public
;
but I
am
memory
my
opinion, equally
of the founders of the Re-
not so infatuated as to believe that the
fathers would ever have passed the act of 1793 had slavery
then been in rebellion against them.
It is
fit
that
American
statesmen in this age of the world, at this period of the great
American war, at a time when the Republic is smarting and
if not reeling, under the blows that slavery has given
and at a time when a hundred thousand black men are
it is fit that
fighting for the flag, and not one against it,
American statesmen, here assembled to deliberate and act
upon this momentous question, should have an opportunity to
record their votes for posterity to read." Mr. Morris made,
bleeding,
it,
—
near the close of the debate, a brief and earnest speech in ad-
vocacy of the right and duty of adopting some such measure.
" These statutes," he said, " are repugnant to the sense of
every good
say,
man who
has not been educated
to'
believe that the
more imperative than the Constitution
sweep out a law which no man respects who
slave code
votary of
is
human
slavery.
It is
itself.
is
I
not a
an abomination."
The previous question was then
ordered, and the
bill
was
adopted by a vote of eighty-two to fifty-seven.
It was taken up in the Senate, on motion of Mr. Sumner,
on the 21st of June, though Mr. Hendricks of Indiana interposed objection, and Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware expressed the
belief that " no practical good can result from it."
The near
approach of the close of the session, with
its
pressure of accu-
mulating business, the anxiety of members to secure action on
bills
intrusted to their care, and the fear that the debate to
which the
for
other
bill
would give
subjects
led
Even Mr. Hale opposed
VOL. HI.
26
rise
would consume time they desired
and counter-motions.
" There are several very impor-
to opposition
it.
�402
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
tant bills," he said, " relating to the navy on the calendar
have received urgent and pressing letters from the
Navy to call the attention of the Senate to
them." Mr. Powell had in charge an important bill to secure
freedom in elections, and he said that he did " not see what
and
I
Secretary of the
good armies or navies are going to do us, if we have no freedom of elections." A vote, however, to take it up was secured.
The next day it met with the same opposition, and several
what Mr. Sumner styled " dilatory motions " were interAmong them was one by Mr.
posed against taking it up.
of
Powell to postpone the further consideration of the
Monday
bill
"
till
December next." But he withdrew it on
the proposition of Mr. Sumner to " meet Senators half-way,"
and the bill was reported to the Senate without amendment.
Coming up again the next day, Mr. Davis of Kentucky made
a speech against it, and Mr. Saulsbury moved to strike out all
but the enacting clause, and insert the words of the Constitution concerning fugitives, " and that Congress shall pass all
the
first
of
necessary laws for the rendition of
all
persons
who
shall es-
amendment. Keverdy Johnson
cape," and
also proposed an amendment, which received seventeen votes.
The bill was then passed by a vote of twenty-seven to twelve.
The President approved it on the 28th, and thus was swept
from the pages of the statute-book the heartless and iniquitous,
inhuman and infamous, fugitive-slave acts of 1793 and 1850.
nine voted for his
�CHAPTER XXX.
MAKING FEEE THE FAMILIES OF COLORED SOLDIERS.
Colored soldiers.
— Confederate threats. — Bill by Mr. Wilson freeing
—
— Opslavery. —
families.
Henderson's amendment and speecli in behalf of loyal slavemasters.
— Testimony against
— Doolittle. — Brown's proposition and
speech. — Wilson's substitute. — Wilkinson, Pomeroy, Lane, Grimes. — Constitutional amendment. — Proposition to recommit. — Conness, Howard, Fessendeu. — Slaves "property." — Davis, Willey. — Joint resolution. — Fail— Resolution introduced. — Motion to commit. — Demo— New
cratic opposition. — Mr. Sumner. — Davis's confession. — Wade. — Powell's
— Resolution adopted, — Reported in the House. —
amendment. —
Debated. — Passed.
posed by Grimes and sustained by Johnson.
Sherman's amendment and speech.
ure.
session.
Carlile.
The President in his annual message, December, 1863, had
estimated the colored soldiers in the service at " nearly one
hundred thousand."
They were mostly from the border
States, and the slaves of loyal masters.
While they were
fighting the battles of the country, their masters, who were
generally opposed to their enlistment, could sell into perpetual
slavery their wives and children.
listing, or to
To
deter slaves from en-
punish them when they did
enlist, slave-masters
made merchandise of the wives and children of colored soldiers,
and often sold them into a harsher bondage.
To put an end to a practi-ce so cruel, unjust, injurious, and
dishonorable to the country, Mr. Wilson introduced into the
Senate on the 8th of January, in his
bill to
promote
enlist-
man or boy of
African descent, owing service or labor in any State, under its
laws, should be mustered into the military or naval service
ments, a provision declaring that when any
of the
United States, he, and his mother, wife, and children,
When the Senate proceeded to the
Mr. Powell of Kentucky, pronouncing
the section giving freedom to the wife, mother, and children of
should be forever free.
consideration of the
bill,
�404
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the soldier " clearly unconstitutional," because it deprived
" the loyal men of loyal States of their property by legislative
enactment of Congress," moved to strike out that section.
It was then moved by Mr. Henderson of Missouri to strike
out the words " his mother, v^ife, and children," and insert
that " his mother, wife, and children " should be free
owed
service to any person
He avowed
Eebellion.
who gave
aid
if
they
and comfort to the
that he did not offer this
amendment
to protect slavery, and declared his readiness to abolish
throughout the country.
He
State " will again take
place in the
the action of
when
its
own
its
it
expressed the opinion that no
Union without first, by
and that
people, abolishing slavery,"
should be put down, " slavery forever
the Rebellion
dies."
The amendment was strenuously opposed by Mr. Grimes.
He was unwilling that a man who had perilled his life for the
institutions of his country should be taken off to slavery
by
He
thought that the proposition would meet
the approval of the country, and rejoiced that an opportunity
any persons.
had been given
Senate to record their votes in
for the
its
favor.
But the amendment was sustained by Mr. Johnson of Maryland. He thought no member of the Senate was more anxious
than himself to have the country composed entirely of free
men and
"
women.
free
The
bill
provides," he said, " that a
—
slave enlisted anywhere
no matter where he may be, whether
he be within Maryland or out of Maryland, whether he be
within any other of the loyal States or out of the loyal States
altogether
—
is
and children.
work the emancipation of his wife
He may be in South Carolina and many a
at once to
;
slave in South Carolina, I
am
sorry to say
to have a wife, or perhaps wives
limits of Maryland.
It is
vices, of the institution,
it,
can well claim
and children, within the
one of the vices, and the horrible
— one that has shocked me from
— that the whole marital
fancy to the present hour,
disregarded.
They
are
made
to be, practically
tion, forgetful or ignorant of that relation.
are educated, I
mean
in-
relation is
and by educa-
When
I
say they
to say they are kept in absolute igno-
�MAKING FREE THE FAMILIES OF COLORED SOLDIERS.
405
and out of that, immorality of every description arises
and among other immorahties is, that the connubial relation
ranee
;
;
This admission of the distinguished Senator
does not exist."
from Maryland revealed the inhuman and demoralizing tendenIt was for the perpetuation of such
cies of the slave system.
a system the land was reddened with the blood of civil war.
Mr. Sherman addressed the Senate upon the general question of employing colored men as soldiers, and of emancipa-
On the subject of emancipation," he declared, " I am
now to go as far as any one. Like all others, I hesitated
"
tion.
ready
at first, because I could not see the effect of the general project
I think the time has
of emancipation.
must meet
There
sir,
is
this question of
no other way.
now
arrived
Slavery
destroyed, not by your act,
is
or mine, but by the act of this Rebellion.
fore, the better
whole trouble,
way would be
— the
system of slavery.
the slaves
;
I think, there-
to wipe out all that is left of the
dead and buried and wounded of this
It is
From
ous sentiment.
when we
emancipation boldly and fearlessly.
obnoxious to every manly and gener-
the beginning,
we should have armed
my
judgment, we ought to
but before doing
so, in
secure
them by law, by a great guaranty,
and
branches of the government, would unite in pledging
all
in
which you and
I,
the faith of the United States, that forever thereafter they
should hold their freedom against their old masters."
Carlile followed
Mr. Sherman, in opposition to the
emphatically declared, that, "
if
it
this struggle for the confederates to
arm and emancipate them
bill.
Mr.
He
shall
become necessary in
arm
their slaves, they will
too."
Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin opposed the
amendment
of
dying, dying
is
all
the
Constitution.
aipund us.
It is
bill, but favored an
" Slavery," he said, " is
dying as a suicide
dying in the house, and at the hands, of
friends.
The sword which
own
dies.
It
professed
bill,
would have driven into the vitals
its own."
In
Mr. Richardson of Illinois asserted that
who were
struggling for the rights of the negro for-
of this Republic
opposing the
Senators
its
is
it
parried and thrust back into
got the rights of the white race.
Mr. Brown of Missouri moved to strike out the section mak-
�406
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
ing free the wife, mother, and children of the colored soldier,
and
to insert
an amendment reaffirming the President's proc-
lamation of emancipation, and providing by
it
of slavery throughout the United States.
He
for the abolition
affirmed, in
an
elaborate speech of rare beauty and force, " that slavery yet
which has attended every measure introduced here trenching upon it sufficiently attests. Neither
dead, nor willing to die, but struggling for being, by joint
and ligature and tissue and nerve, that some centre of future
growth may lurk under proviso or exception, its vitality is
upheld in this hour by appeal to the same constitutionalisms
and local countenance that will be swift to maintain it hereafter if this epoch shall pass without its utter extinction. The
soldier who has worn our uniform and served under our flag
liveth, the discussion
must not hereafter labor
as a slave.
Nor would
be toler-
it
able that his wife, his mother, or his child should be the prop-
The
erty of another.
instinctive
feeling of
every
generous impulse would revolt at such a spectacle.
man
of
The guar-
anty of freedom for himself, his mother, his wife, and his
child, is the inevitable incident of the
as a soldier.
If
employment
of a slave
you have not the power, or do not mean, to
whom he is connected by
emancipate him, and those with
domestic ties, then, in the name of God and humanity, do not
employ him as a soldier "
Mr. Brown having withdrawn his amendment, Mr. Wilson,
on the 18th of March, moved to strike out the entire bill and
insert, " that when any person of African descent, owing
!
service or labor, should be mustered into the military or naval
service, his wife
it
and children should be forever
free,
and that
should be the duty of the Commission appointed under sec-
tion 24 of the act to
amend
the act for em-olling and calling
out the national forces, to award to each loyal person to
whom
such wife and children might owe service, a just compensation
" I propose," he said, " in this amendment, to
therefor."
make
the soldier's wife and children free, no matter to
they belong.
We
whom
have provided in the Enrolment Act, that a
slave enlisted into the military service of the United States
free
when he
is
mustered into the service.
We
is
have exercised
�MAKING FREE THE FAMILIES OF COLORED SOLDIERS.
that great power to
down
the Rebellion.
colored men, and
all
we
strengthen the government in putting
We
men
have enlisted
many thousands
are continuing to enlist colored
parts of the country.
But,
sir,
causes a vast deal of suffering
to their families,
and
407
especially
;
of
men, in
the enlistment of colored
for a great
wrong
is
done
that so in the State of Mis-
is
Those wives and children who are left behind may be
be abused and how can a soldier fight the battles
of our country when he receives the intelligence that the wife
he left at home, and the little ones he left around his hearth,
sold where he would never
were sold into perpetual slavery,
see them more ?
If there be a crime on earth that should be
souri.
sold,
may
;
—
promptly punished,
it is
the crime of selling into slavery, in a
distant section of the country, the wives and children of the
soldiers
Now
who
are fighting the battles of our bleeding country.
wife and children plead to the husband and father not to
—
Pass this
to remain at home for their protection.
and the wife and children will beseech that husband and
father to fight for the country, for his liberty, and for their
enlist,
bill,
freedom."
Mr. Wilkinson moved to strike out so much of the amendas proposed to pay the estimated value of the wives and
ment
and Mr. Pomeroy proposed so
amend it as to " settle the account between each person
made free and his or her owner, and to award to each party
such just compensation as may be found due." It was then
moved by Mr. Sherman to postpone the bill for the purpose of
acting on the amendment to the Constitution to abolish slavchildren of colored soldiers
;
to
ery throughout the United States.
Mr. Wilson opposed delay.
" I think it is a measure to fill up our armies," he said, " and
ought not to be postponed an hour. Then, as a matter of jus-
how can you ask a man to enlist and fight the battles of
when he knows that the moment his back is
turned his wife and children will be sold to strangers ? " Mr*
Sumner said the main question was to hit slavery wherever
tice,
his country,
and whenever
it
could be found
declared that this was a
bill
very earliest day, or else "
;
and Mr. Lane
of
Kansas
that should be voted upon at the
we should
stop enlisting black
�408
RISE
men."
knew
before
of
AND FALL OF THE
SLA\T:
POWER
IN AMERICA.
The postponement was opposed bj Mr. Grimes, who
no bill before the Senate, or that was likely to come
it,
that deserved the immediate and careful attention
of Congress
more than did that
bill.
Mr. Sherman maintained that there were grave questions of
constitutional power involved in this bill, and he thought it
wiser to defer
all
the propositions touching slavery until they
by constitutional amendment and legislation, " wipe
out the whole system." This idea was combated by Mr. Wilson, who declared it to be sound policy to strike slavery whenever and wlierever they could get a blow at it.
"It is to
perish," he said, " if it perish at all, by liedging it around by
could,
every enactment, breaking
down every
barrier that surrounds
and defeating the three hundred thousand bayonets behind
which it is intrenched."
Mr. Conness moved to recommit the bill to the special ComThe recommitment was
mittee on Slavery and Freedom.
opposed by Mr. Clark of New Hampshire. He said the coun-
it,
was desirous of putting colored men at the earliest moment
and that those men had wives and children.
The slavemasters who were in sympathy with the Reljellion,
and who were opposed to the colored man going into the ser" If you go into the army and fight
vice, said in effect to him
Not only
the battles of your country, I will sell your wife.
sliall your wife and children have no care, no food, no protecand when you retm-n
tion, but they shall be sold into slavery
from fighting the battles of the Union, you shall find your
home desolate, your wife gone, no one knows where, into slavThe recommitment
ery, and your children all sent away."
Mr.
Howard. It was
also
was
opposed by Mr. Wilson and
try
into the army,
:
;
admitted by Mr. Fessenden that there were serious
connected with the question of putting colored
difficulties
men
into the
army and emancipating themselves, their wives and children,
but he was convinced they could do anything that was necessary to be done " to accomplish the purpose that we have in
view, and which
—
tlie
It
is
not only a legal, but a necessary purpose,
salvation and perpetuation of the Republic."
was maintained by Mr. Davis that
slaves were property,
�MAKING FREE THE FAMILIES OF COLORED SOLDIERS.
409
and could only be taken for public use by paying a just comThe party in power are grinding us to the dust by
the weight and tyrannies of an organized military despotism.
These usurpers and oppressors are seizing upon our ablepensation.
bodied negro slaves, and organizing them into a standing army
already numbering nearly one hundred thousand men, and to
be augmented far beyond those figures, to hold us in hapless
and commercial servitude to
Belshazzar and his host are now drunk and
themselves.
feasting but Cyrus and the Persians will soon be upon them.
The aroused American freemen will effect their own deliverance at the ides of next November." " This bill," said Mr.
and hopeless
social,
political,
;
Wilkinson, "
the soldiers
freedom.
is
who
It
and children of
government and for
to give freedom to the wives
fight our battles for the
has been claimed that
if
this bill shall pass, it
work the emancipation of the whole negro race within
the United States. While the noblest and the best sons of the
will
were reddening every ri\\ilet in Virginia with
and almost every sod of the Old Dominion was
pressing upon the grave of a blue-eyed soldier of the North,
we turned our backs coldly upon the only friends we had in
the rebellious States, and said to them, You are black, and
are not worthy to suffer and die for freedom we would ratlier
loyal States
their blood,
'
;
lose our
own
liberties
than to give freedom to a nation of
slaves.'
Mr. Willey of West Virginia maintained that the cases of
cruelty to which allusion had been made were
more attributable to the pending universal emancipation in
vindictive
Missouri than to the exasperation of the masters growing out
of the enlistment of the slaves.
He
would lead to
difficulties,
very
distressing
thought the enactment
and made the
strange point and argument, for a Christian gentleman, that
there could be " in Virginia, between slaves, no legal marriage
;
there can be no wife in the eye of the law
;
there can
be no children of slaves in the eye of the law."
Failing to bring the bill to a vote, Mr. Wilson, on the 18th
of
May, introduced a
by making
joint resolution to encourage enlistments
free the wife
and children
of
any person who had
�410
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
who might
IN AMERICA.
mustered into the military service.
The provisions embodied in the resolution were reported from
been, or
be,
moved
the Committee on Military Affairs,
as
amendments
to
several bills, but failed to be brought to the test of a vote of
the Senate, and Congress adjourned without making free the
wives and children of tens of thousands of
men who were
fighting the battles of the country.
At
the next session, on the 13th of December, 1864, Mr.
"Wilson introduced his joint resolution to
and children
of persons
who had
make
free the wives
been, or might be, mustered
Coming up
into the service of the United States.
for consid-
Kentucky moved
its reference to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. Wilson
opposed the reference of the resolution to any committee.
" The needs of the country," he said, " more than justice or
humanity, have weaponed the hand of the slave
Whenever the slave enlists, he is a freeman forevermore and thousands of them have enlisted since we passed that beneficent
act
It is estimated that from seventy-five to one huneration a few days thereafter, Mr. Davis of
;
dred thousand wives and children of these soldiers are
It is a burning shame to this country
held in slavery.
;
an indecency for the American
wives and the children of
and bloody
are perilling their lives be-
Wasting
battles are decimating
needs soldiers,
— must have
it is
peo]jle to hold in slavery the
men who
fore the Rebel legions
now
diseases,
weary marches,
our armies.
soldiers.
The country
Let the Senate, then,
now. Let us hasten the enactment of this beneficent
measure, inspired by patriotism and hallowed by justice and
humanity so that, ere merry Christmas shall come, the intelact
;
ligence
sliall
be flashed over the land, to cheer the hearts of
manhood of the bond-
the nation's defenders and arouse the
man, that on the forehead
of the soldier's wife
and the
sol-
no man can write slave.' " The reference was
advocated by Mr. Hendricks of Indiana, who was " not able
to see how, under the Constitution of the United States, Congress can free the servant who is held to service by the laws
Mr. Powell of Kentucky thought the resolution
of a State."
dier's child
'
was " palpably unconstitutional."
" Senators," he exclaimed,
�MAKING FREE THE FAMILIES OF COLORED SOLDIERS.
"
if
you pass
this
measure, you will liave to do
it
411
by walking
over the plain provisions of the Constitution of your country."
The
reference
was advocated by Mr.
Doolittle,
who doubted
and who preferred to
the constitutionality of the measure,
wait for the adoption of the constitutional amendments, which
would
ment
It
finally settle the question forever
of the
American
by the supreme judg-
people.
was maintained by Mr. Saulsbury
of Delaware, that
Con-
gress had no power to decree the freedom of the wives and
children of negro volunteers in the army, nor could they give
permanent freedom to the negro volunteer himself.
" All must confess," said Mr. Sumner, " the humanity of
the proposition to enfranchise the families of colored persons
who have borne arms
for their country.
All must confess the
But every argu-
hardship of continuing them in slavery
ment, every consideration, which pleads for the enfranchisement of the slave, pleads also for the enfranchisement of the
There is the same practical necessity for doing it,
and the same unutterable shabbiness in not doing it
Concede that the soldier may be enfranchised, and it follows
that by the same constitutional power his family may be admitted to an equal liberty. Any other conclusion would be as
illogical as inhuman
discreditable alike to the head and the
heart.
There is no argument, whether of reason or humanity,
for the enfranchisement of the soldier, which does not plead
equally for that of his family.
Nay, more I know not how
we can expect a blessing on our arms while we fail to perform
family.
;
:
this duty."
Failing by four majority to secure the reference of the resolution to the
to
amend
it
Committee on the Judiciary, Mr. Davis moved so
as to
make
its
operation prospective.
the singular confession that
it
was the
ever ventured to utter a voice in the
Senate
;
but, in the
name
of
first
name
of
He made
time that he had
humanity in the
humanity, he did protest that a
degraded and helpless race of beings, who were unable to support themselves, should not be deprived of the support of their
masters, and thrown helpless upon the world, without the
means
of
supporting themselves.
To
this
suggestion Mr.
�412
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE TOWER
RISE
Pomeroy
had seen the
replied that he
IN AMERICA.
abohshing
effects of
slavery in the District of Columbia and in the border counties
of Missouri,
facility for
and these freedmen had manifested
a wonderful
taking care of themselves and adapting themselves
to any condition.
Mr.
Wade
of
Ohio made an earnest and effective speech in
He had been
favor of the immediate passage of the measure.
in Kentucky, and knew that " the great objection eveiywhcre
is,
that the negro will not enlist unless you free his wife and
connection with this subject,
I will state, in
children
that I visited
Camp Nelson
was the commanding
last
I
officer.
summer.
General Burbridge
rode there with General Bur-
bridge from Lexington, in order to see a review that was about
to take place there
beheld in
tlie
;
and a sight greeted me such as
I
never
As soon
world, and hope I never shall again.
we had scarcely alighted from
woman, whom I should suppose
as I had arrived in the camp,
the carriage, before a colored
to be thirty years of age, appeared before us,
all
bruised to
Her
She had a child
face was all whipped to a jelly.
pieces.
with her, which she said was twelve years old one of whose
eyes had been gouged out, and the other attempted to be, as
they stated, by their mistress, the father being in the army.
Her head was all cut to pieces by what appeared to be a sharp
instrument her skull was laid bare almost, and her back perfectly mangled by the torture to which she had been subjected.
All this was done, as we were informed, because her husband
had enlisted in the army of the United States and she and
;
;
;
her child were compelled to
flee to this
And
camp
the best
way they
up here
and talk about constitutional law in exculpation of such inferSir, I tell you that slavery is an organized
nal acts as these
rebel, and you can have no peace as long as that relation exand, as God is my judge, I hope you
ists in the United States
I ask for no peace
will have no peace until you abolish it.
until slavery is extinct in these United States."
Mr. Wilson said that Mr. Davis, when he declared that the
wives and children of colored soldiers would be turned out on
the world without support, " forgets that we pay the husband
could, in that condition.
!
;
yet gentlemen stand
�MAKING FREE THE FAMILIES OF COLORED SOLDIERS.
413
month to support his wife and
and feed the colored soldier, and we pay
him sixteen dollars a month, and with that pay he can supMake them free, and not only will his
port wife and children.
wages go to their support, but the labor of their own hands
and father sixteen
We
children.
dollars a
clothe
will go to their support."
Mr. Davis's amendment, to make the bill prospective, was
and Mr. Powell then moved that no slave should })e
rejected,
emancipated by virtue of the resolution, until the owner should
He
be paid a just compensation.
who
emphatically declared that
war
was the distempered and fanatical ideas of men who had " negro on the brain," and who
were prominent among " the old maiden ladies who get up
societies, and those white-cravatted preachers who go about,
and instead of preaching Christ crucified, preach Sambo in
those
looked upon African slavery as the cause of the
were sadly mistaken
;
that
it
chains."
Mr. Powell's amendment was rejected, and so was Mr.
Saulsbury's
amendment providing
that the resolution should
not be operative in any State that had not assumed to secede
from the Union.
Mr. Carlile emphatically denied "
all
power to put a negro,
the property of his master, into the service of the United
States in any capacity, with the power to liberate him." Mr.
Trumbull agreed with all the appeals that had been made
in favor of the measure for humanity's sake. If he could give
the vote or utter the word, consistently with his oath, he
would free every human being " on God's earth." But believing that there could be no genuine liberty except liberty
regulated by law, and no government worth preserving unless
they stood by the Constitution, he declared that he must vote
against the resolution.
The joint resolution to make free the
wives and children of colored soldiers passed the Senate by
a vote of twenty-seven to ten.
In the House of Representatives the resolution was referred
Committee on the Judiciary. On the 22d of February
to the
Mr. Wilson of Iowa reported
it
without amendment.
" Does
the gentleman believe," inquired Mr. Mallory of Kentucky,
�414
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
" that Congress has the constitutional power to pass such
a
law ? " "I have always believed," replied Mr. Wilson, " that
the Congress of the United States, in time of wai", when it
was necessary
to
make our population most
purposes of war, has the power
effective for the
and has the power to liberate
slaves by congressional enactment."
Mr. Harris of Maryland was fully convinced that this measure was presented
and pressed, not to get soldiers, but " for the purpose, and
;
that only, of interfering with and abolishing the institution
called slavery."
Mr. Wilson would tell the gentleman the
purpose of this act.
" To-day, in the forefront of your army,
men risking everything for the salvaUpon the fields once cursed by slavery,
are thousands of colored
tion of this Republic.
resounding with the clank of the slave's chains and the crack
of the overseer's whip, now tread the colored soldiers of the
Republic, under the ensign of the nation, striking sturdy
blows for freedom and free government. And, sir, this Republic cannot afford to disgrace itself in the eyes of the
ized world
by sending these
chaining at
which
is
home
men
its battles,
their wives
worse than death.
be wiped from the face of this nation,
wrong
civil-
and
and children in tliat bondage
It would be a disgrace never to
out to fight
to continue."
if
we should permit
Mr. Mallory asked why
this
this
measure, in
view of the passage of the proposed constitutional amendment,
should be pressed now. Mr. Wilson replied that the amend-
ment might not be ratified by three fourths of the States for
two years to come, and he did not wish to have the bondage of
these women and children resting on him.
The question was
taken, and it was decided in the affirmative,
yeas seventyfour, nays sixty-three.
So the joint resolution making free
the wives and children of colored soldiers passed
and received, on the 3d of March, the approval of the President.
—
;
�CHAPTER XXXI.
MEETING OP XXXVIIITH CONGRESS.
— WAR LEGISLATION.
— Determination of the loyal masses. — Demo— Fierce demands peace. — Hendricks
and Vallandigham. — Action of Ohio Democrats. — Fourth of July speeches
of Pierce and Seymour. — Democratic condemnation of Lincoln and his eman— "Journal of Commerce." — Northern
— Enrolcipation
— " Tribune." — Northern
— Republican
ment Act. — New York
— President's message. — Abrogation of
— Retrospecleaders
— Proclamation of Emancipation. —
immediate and remote. —
— State action on
Results on the whole encouraging. — Colored
— Oath of
— Mr. Sumner's motion. — Saulsbury's amendment. -^ Republican criticisms and diverse opinions. — Constitutionality questioned. — Bayard, Collamer, Johnson. — Resignation and speech of Bayard. —
—
and amendments. — Debate. — Sumner and Johnson. —
— ConDred Scott decision. — Hale, Trumbull, Wade. — Amendment
Act. — Amendment. — Debate. — Orth, Cox, Kernan. — President's
opinion. — Sharp speeches of Davis and Stevens.
Anny
organized and disciplined.
cratic
sympathy with the Rebellion.
for
reaction.
policy.
fears.
riots.
slave-trade.
firm.
Effects
tion.
soldiers.
ery.
;
lilontana.
slav-
allegiance.
Bill
lost.
fiscation
The XXXVIIIth Congress assembled
on
its
for its first session
December, 1863. The war still raged, making
fearful drafts upon the manhood and resources of the loyal
tlie 7tli
States,
of
and putting
to the severest test their patriotism
courage, their persistence and their right to live.
The
and
troops
at the front had lost the rawness of fresh recruits and were
becoming veterans. Instead of what had been called, too
truthfully if somewhat ungraciously, considering the noble
impulse that led them thither, the " mob," that
stricken from the disasters of Bull
fled
panic-
Run, they had become,
through the discipline and drill of the camp, and the hardships
and hazards of the march and the battle-field, compacted into
an immense and well-appointed army, of which the people at
home were proud, in which they had confidence, and for which
they were both willing and anxious to make the most thought-
�416
ful
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
And
and generous provisions.
army was a
well they might, for that
part of themselves, bone of their bone and flesh of
their flesh, representatives of
them by the tenderest
ties of a
IN AMERICA.
common
their families,
and linked to
by the strong
ties of affection, as well as
patriotism.
While the loyal majorities of those States were making it
more and more evident that they were accepting the situation,
they were also more fully comprehending what that situation
implied and required.
While their purpose to fight the war to
the bitter end became more inflexilile and heroic, they had
gained a clearer insight into the grim meaning of that purpose.
The history of the twelvemonth preceding had done much to
produce that combined result. The lights and shadows, the
alternations of hope and fear, of courage and dismay, during
those pregnant months could hardly fail of this. While the
fall of Yicksburg and Port Hudson, and the splendid victory
at Gettysburg, greatly inspired their confidence and quickened
their hopes, the bloody repulses at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville chastened expectation and taught them to fear at
least that the path to final success might yet be a long and
bloody one.
And
such fears could not but be strengthened by the un-
welcome but manifest
fact that there
ber at the North who,
with treason
;
who,
if
if
was an increasing num-
not traitors, sympathized too
much
they did not desire disunion, did not
defeat wdiich were demanded.
lend that aid to the efforts for
its
Peace at any price became a
common
cry,
mingled with
dis-
cordant notes, at least to patriotic ears, and with harsh cen" I am ready to comsures of the President and his policy.
promise at any time," said Mr. Hendricks of Indiana at a
mass meeting about this time. " I am ready to say to the
people of the South,
'
you your constitutional
tional guaranties.'
Come
in again
rights, and,
If there is
any
if
and we will secure to
you desire them, addi-
man who
tinue fighting and spending the people's
desires to con-
money and
lives, I
do not sympathize with him." Though there were War Democrats, as they were termed, and many who had hitherto acted
with the Democratic party were serving the nation with signal
�MEETING OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
— WAR
LEGISLATION.
417
Congress and in the army, the influence of
that organization, through its presses, leaders, and conventions, was hostile rather than friendly to the Union cause.
Indeed, so free and fierce were their denunciations of Mr. Linfidelity
and
zeal in
coln and his policy, that few were surprised in the following
year at the pronunciamento of its presidential convention, that
the war had proved a " failure," with the " demand that im-
mediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities." IllusClement L. Vallandigtrations only too numerous abound.
ham
of
Ohio had made himself so obnoxious by his treasonable
utterances that he was convicted by court-martial and sen-
tenced to close confinement in Fort Warren until the close of
the
war
;
a sentence, however, remitted or modified by Presi-
dent Lincoln into a direction that he be sent within the Rebel
lines.
The Ohio
State Democratic convention the next
month
not only condemned by resolution and speech this action of
the Federal government, but nominated, by acclamation, the
distinguished convict as their gubernatorial candidate.
In those dark days
— perhaps the darkest
of the
war
— im-
mediately preceding the battle of Gettysburg, were these treasonable demonstrations of the party most marked and pro-
nounced,
if
not avowedly in favor of the Rebels, against any
In the month of
June Lee had crossed into Maryland in pursuance of his long
meditated and threatened purpose of transferring the war to
Northern soil.
On the 28th General Meade, on assuming
army
command of the
of the Potomac, issued a proclamation
in which he assured it that " the country looks to this army to
relieve it from the devastation and disgrace of a hostile invasion."
And yet in tliat hour of extremest peril and of national depression
when every well-informed and thoughtful
Northern man opened his morning paper with trembling hands
lest he should read of the realization of these fears, and of
the march of Lee's victorious legions across the green fields of
effective policy of suppressing the Rebellion.
—
Pennsylvania or through the streets of Philadelpliia
— ex-
President Pierce was delivering a Fourth of July address in
the capital of
New
Hampshire, which,
if
not treasonable, could
not have failed to lend aid and comfort to the enemy.
VOL. HI.
27
After
�418
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
saying that " the cause of our calamities
IN AMERICA.
is
the vicious inter-
meddling of too many of the citizens of the Northern States
with
tlie
constitutional rights of the Soutliern States "
the war
after
;
the force of his most impassioned rhetoric
" in several of the States of the Union,"
" war on a
describing with
all
baric ages "
;
—
men
arms, war horrid as that of barafter reminding his hearers that " even here, in
scale of a million of
in
the loyal States, the mailed hand of military usurpation strikes
down
the liberties of the people, and
foot tramples on the
its
desecrated Constitution," he avowed his belief that all these
sorrows brought with them no " compensation whether of
Federal victories were
no account because they were only the victories of " men
from the land of Warren, Stark, and Stockton baring their
breasts to the steel of the men from the land of Washington,
Marion, and Sumter " because, " if this war is to continue to
must be
be waged, one or the other must go to the wall,
national pride or of victorious arms."
of
;
—
consigned to humiliating subjugation."
He spoke of this
" fearful, fruitless, and fatal civil war, .... fruitless, for it is
upon the basis of the proclamations of
September 22 and September 24, 1862,
prosecuted, as I must
clear that, prosecuted
—
understand those proclamations, to say nothing
of the
kindred
brood which has followed, upon the theory of emancipation,
devastation, subjugation,
the harvest of woe which
—
it
it is
cannot
fail in
everything except
ripening for what was once the
peerless Repul)lic."
On the same day Governor Seymour
of New York in the Academy of Music.
addressed the citizens
He,
too, depicted the
horrors of the war in progress, and enlarged upon the national
calamities and perils that were afflicting and impending over
was more subdued, his purpose was
was to condemn Republicans for bringing on the war, and for the manner in which they were prose-
them.
If his
rhetoric
equally plain, and that
and to assure his hearers that there could be no
was abandoned. He, too, complained
of a violated Constitution, and of the infringement of personal
" We stand to-day," he said,
rights they were subjected to.
" amid new-made graves, in a land filled with mourning upon
cuting
it,
peace until that policy
;
�— WAR
MEETING OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
LEGISLATION.
419
a soil saturated with the blood of the fiercest conflict of which
history gives us an account.
We
can,
if
these calamities and evoke a blessing
we
will, avert all
you would save
If
your country and your liberties, begin right begin at the
hearthstones which are ever meant to be the foundations of
American institutions begin in your family circle declare
and, having once
that your privileges sliall be held sacred
;
;
;
;
proclaimed your
own
you do not invade
Such was the Democratic diagnosis
rights, take care that
those of your neighbor."
and such was its prescription for a cure such
was its bitter arraignment of the Republicans and their policy,
and such the policy its leaders would inaugurate as their
of the disease,
;
own.
As
both cause and effect of this growing sentiment of
loyalty
and
of the increasing
numbers
of those
or less open and defiant in their opposition to
dis-
who were more
tlie
government,
was the oft-repeated charge that the conflict had been diverted
from its original and legitimate purpose, a war for the Union,
The New York " Journal of
into a war against slavery.
Commerce," in an article which appeared near the time of the
" draft riots " of that city, after intimating that the war had
been thus diverted, added
:
"
Some men may
say,
'
Now
that
war has commenced, it must not be stopped till slavcholdSuch men are neither more nor less than
ing is abolished.'
murderers. The name seems severe it is, nevertheless, corSaying it would have been criminal to commence a
rect."
war for any such purpose, it asked " How can it be any less
criminal to prolong a war, commenced for the assertion of
governmental power, into a war for the suppression of slavery,
which, it is agreed, would have been unjustifiable and sinful if
begun for that purpose ? "
And sucli was the tone of the
Democratic press generally, insidiously insinuating and ascribing sentiments and purposes to the administration which
the President at least had not only disclaimed, but which it
was known he did not entertain. Ignoring the fact entirely
that Mr. Lincoln was openly committed to the policy of gradual
and compensated emancipation, coupled with colonization, and
tlie
;
:
that
lie
never adopted that of the Proclamation until forced to
�420
RISE
AKD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
by Northern entreaties, clamors even, and his own convicit had become a military necessity, they could not
have censured him more severely had he been a pronounced
Abolitionist of the most extreme school, who had determined
to administer his higli office in the interests and at the behests
of sentiments and purposes that were merely personal or at
it
tion that
best but partisan.
was
to
cause.
its
— the pur— and that
however,
Northern sympathizers,
It served its purpose,
pose of the South and
weaken the popular sentiment in behalf of the Union
This was seen in the votes of New Hampshire, Rhode
Island, and Connecticut, which occurred in the " earlier half
of 1863," of which Mr. Greeley gave it as his opinion that,
" though maintaining the Republican ascendency in each,"
the result " left no room for reasonable doubt that, apart
from the
soldiers in the field, a majority of the voters in the
were
—
had been indicated by the results
months of 1862
opposed to
a further prosecution of the war, and certainly opposed to its
prosecution on the antislavery basis established by the action
of Congress and by the President's two proclamations of September 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863." There were, no
doubt, those who cast Democratic votes at those elections who
loyal States
still
as
of the elections during the later
—
were not prepared to yield everything the South claimed, but
they desired peace, and desired it so strongly that they were
prepared for its purchase at almost " any price."
Another alleged cause of popular discontent which Democratic orators and presses made the most of, and on which
all the changes which a disloyal ingenuity could
was the Enrolment Act. This was among the last
they rung
suggest,
enactments of the
XXXVIIth
Congress, and provided for the
This stern, though necessary, measure could not be otherwise than unpalatable with the
drafting of recruits for the army.
people,
and
it
did greatly increase the spirit of opposition to
the war, not only in the city of
New York, but elsewhere. The
four days' riots in that city, hardly excelled in the history of
crime by anything more diabolical of purpose or more ferocious
in execution, betokened as clearly the dcsperateness of the
leaders as the brutality of the mob.
That mob, burning
asy-
�— WAR
MEETING OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
lums, hanging negroes to lamp-posts, and
LEGISLATION.
filling
421
the whole city
with dismay, and a Democratic governor addressing the tumultuous assemblage as " friends," were but the products of a
common
cause, utterances too manifestly in
sympathy with
the Rebellion to be excusably mistaken or safely overlooked.
"We
may just as well," said the New York "Tribune" of
the 15th of July, during the progress of those riots, " look the
facts in the face.
These
riots are
country's defenders in the
field.
'
a
fire in
They
the rear
are, in
'
on our
purpose and
and Lee. Listen to
mob, and you will find them surcharged with
Black Republican.' "
Abolition,' and
nigger,'
It was under such circumstances that the XXXVIIIth
essence, a diversion in favor of Jeff Davis
the yells of the
'
'
'
Congress assembled.
The
first flush of feeling,
indignant or
had given place to that which was more subdued,
and which reflected more accurately the real character and
If it was not their " sober
settled purpose of the people.
second thought," it was the combined result of their characters, circumstances, and the influences to which they had been
Nor had these results been altogether reassuring,
subjected.
patriotic,
or calculated to inspire confidence for the future.
cratic victories of the later
months
months
of
The Demo-
1862 and the
earlier
of 1863, already noted, greatly aggravated, as they
were no doubt largely caused by, the military reverses of that
and alarmed the loyal mind
and heart. There had, indeed, been some reaction, and the
elections which had just taken place had shown Republican
gains and had resulted in the choice of Republican candidates ;
period, while they greatly saddened
and yet the knowledge that there were so many Northern men
who could vote with a party so disloyal, and so thoroughly
committed to a policy derogatory to American honor and destructive of its unity, could not but
ful patriots
fill
the hearts of thought-
with misgivings and alarm.
But fortunately the administration
government was
whose leaders in the
Cabinet and in Congress saw farther and more clearly than
the people, comprehended more fully the grandeur of the occasion, the sublime significance of the conflict, and the imperaof the
in the hands of the Republican party,
�422
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
tive duty of abiding
in deciding
by
IN AMERICA.
political as well as personal integrity
Though thou-
policy to be maintained.
upon the
sands of the people, who shared in the almost wild enthusiasm
that inaugurated the war, became weary and alarmed at its in-
men and treasure,
and clamored for something to stop further effusion of blood,
they remained firm and insisted on maintaining the honor of
creasing dimensions and frightful cost of
They said in substance
to their constituents what Edmund Burke said to his when
accused of deserting them by his opposition to the American
war " I did not obey your instructions. No I conformed
the
flag,
the integrity of the Union.
:
;
and nature, and maintained your
I am, indeed, to look to
interests against your opinions.
such
opinions
as
you and I must have five
opinions,
but
your
years hence. I must not look to the flash of the day." Like
to the instruction of truth
'
the English statesman the Republican leaders looked to time
Nor were they compelled
for the vindication of their course.
to wait " five years " for its verdict of approval.
The President
though
in his
message presented a calm and careful
review of the situation, accompanying the facts
])rief
and convictions of his statements with such recommendations
as seemed to him necessary to " the great consummation " he
deemed it important to labor for. He first announced the conclusion of a treaty with Great Britain, signed the " seventeenth
day
of Feliruary last " for the suppression of the African slave-
trade, adding
:
" It
is
beheved that so far as American citizens
inhuman and odious
and American ports are concerned, that
traffic
He spoke of foreign-born
"
for the sole purpose of
had become naturalized
has been brought to a close."
persons
who
evading duties imposed by laws of their native countries,"
but who sought to evade their " military duty " to this government. They sought the right of suffrage, he said, " under
pretences of naturalization, which they have disowned when
He commended the whole
drafted into the military service."
He spoke of the
subject to the consideration of Congress.
"
successfully conducted," and
operations of the Treasury as
of " the general legislation in regard to loans as fully answer-
ing the expectations of
its
favorers."
He
spoke of the military
�MEETING OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
operations of the
army and navy
— WAR
LEGISLATION. 423
as having been on the whole
favorable, but he referred Congress for fuller
and more minute
information to the reports of the two Secretaries.
Saying that
" under the sharp discipline of war the nation is beginning a
new
life,"
he proceeded to give a more detailed account of the
of the new policy of emancipation, and
upon the general issue, not only at the seat of
home, and among the people of the free States.
progress of events,
of its effects
war, but at
Speaking retrospectively, he noted the fact that, " when
Congress assembled a year ago, the war had lasted twenty
months, with varying results." Though the Rebellion had
been " pressed back," yet he was compelled to add that at that
time " the tone of public feeling and opinion at home and
abroad was not satisfactory " that the popular elections then
while,
just passed " indicated uneasiness among ourselves "
;
;
amid much that was cold and menacing abroad, " the kindest
words coming from Europe were uttered in accents of pity
He
that we were too blinded to surrender a hopeless cause."
spoke of the piratical craft " built upon and furnished from
foreign shores," from which commerce was suffering greatly,
of the threatened additions from the same source that would
" sweep our trade from the sea and raise our blockade," and
of the fact that they had then " failed to elicit from European
governments anything hopeful upon this subject."
He referred to what he called the " emancipation proclamation " of September, " then running its assigned period to
the end of the year."
Speaking of the final proclamation of
January 1, 1863, he said " The policy of emancipation and
of employing black soldiers gave to the future a new aspect,
about which hope and fear and doubt contended in uncertain
conflict."
Repeating what he had so often asserted before,
that the policy was extra-constitutional, that the Federal government had no constitutional right to interfere with slavery
in the States, that he had long delayed resorting to it, and
that it had been adopted only as " a military necessity," he
added: " It came at last, and, as was anticipated, it was followed by dark and doubtful days. Eleven months have now
passed and we are permitted to take another review." That
:
�424
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
view was on the whole, he thought, encouraging. He spoke
of the Rebellion being pressed " still further back "
of the
;
Mississippi River being completely opened
;
of the Confeder-
acy being " divided into two distinct parts "
and Arkansas being " substantially cleared
;
of
Tennessee
of insurgent con-
"
of influential slave-owners " now declaring for emancipation in their respective States " ; of Missouri and Maryland,
trol
;
which, three years ago, would " not tolerate any restraint
upon the extension of slavery, now only disputing as to the
modes of removing it from their limits." He spoke of one
hundred thousand colored troops in the Union service of
their being "as good soldiers as any"; and that no servile
insurrection had followed " the measure of emancipation and
arming the blacks." These measures, he said, had been much
;
discussed in foreign countries
and, he was permitted to add,
" contemporary with such discussion, public sentiment had
" At home," he continued, " the
been much improved."
;
same measures had been fully discussed, supported, criticised,
and denounced, and the annual elections following have been
highly encouraging to those whose official duty it is to bear
the country through this great trial. Thus we have a new
reckoninsr.
The crisis which threatened to divide the friends
of the Union is past."
He
then referred to the subject of reconstruction, or " the
resumption of
tlie
national authority within the States wherein
that has been suspended," and to the proclamation which he
had " thought fit to issue," and of which he gave a somewhat
As
minute examination and defence.
that, however, is to be
the sul)ject of another chapter, further reference to
deferred.
He
also called attention to the
it
will
be
movements " by
State action for emancipation in several States not included in
Affirming that his own views
remained unchanged, he bespoke for them the favor of Con-
the emancipation proclamation."
gress, expressing the
hope that
it
would " omit no opportun-
ity of aiding these important steps to a great consummation."
He
closed with the assertion that notwithstanding
signs of improvement and grounds for hope, the
was
still
their
main
reliance,
and
all
these
war power
that, therefore, their " chief-
�— WAR
MEETING OF XXXVIHth CONGRESS.
est care
must be directed
to the
LEGISLATION.
425
army and navy, who have thus
far borne tlieir harder part so nobly
and well."
Among the more noticeable or memorable doings of the
XXXVIIth Congress was the new oath of allegiance which it
adopted, and which was to be taken by those filling offices
under the United States government.
spective, requiring
future, but
it
in the past.
was
I,
A.
retrospective,
It
was not only
:
demanding unbroken
—
B., do solemnly
pro-
the government in the
loyalty
It required the following as, perhaps, its
significant part
"
entire
fealty to
swear (or affirm) that
I
most
have never
arms against the United States since I have
been a citizen thereof that I have voluntarily given no aid,
countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in
voluntarily borne
;
armed
hostility thereto
;
that I have neither sought nor ac-
cepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office
whatever under any authority or pretended authority in hostilUnited States that I have not yielded a voluntary
ity to the
;
support to any pretended government, authority, power, or
constitution within
the
United
States,
hostile
or inimical
thereto."
This was signed by the President July
commonly called the " iron-clad oath."
2,
1862, and was
Soon after the assembling of the XXXYIIIth Congress
Mr. Sumner introduced a resolution proposing an addition to
the rules of the Senate, requiring that the
new oath
of alle-
giance, prescribed by the above act of July 2, 1862, for United
States officers, should be " taken and
subscribed by every
Senator in open Senate, before entering upon his duties."
Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware immediately offered a substitute,
instructing the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire, first,
whether " Senators are included within the provisions of said
act"
;
and, second, whether " said act
conflict with the Constitution of the
is
in accordance or in
United States."
In sup-
port of his substitute, he said that in the early history of this
government it was decided " that a Senator is not a civil
Further
officer under the government of the United States."
he said, in opposition to Mr. Sumner's resolution, that " the
�42G
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
oath requires a Senator to purge himself that he has not been
" Just as competent," he
in the past guilty of certain acts."
continued, "
is it
on
for a scat
when a man
for the Senate to require that
presents himself here with
this floor,
all
the constitutional qualifications
he shall purge himself
tliat
he has
never been guilty of the commission of an assault and battery,
or any other offence against cither State or Federal law."
Thus was introduced
a debate of
more than ordinary
vigor,
sharpness, and acuteness, even for those days of heated dis-
The importance
cussion.
of the principles discussed
and preconceived opinions
prejudices
tributed largely to this result.
made now unmistakably
all
The new character
con-
of the war,
antislavery by the Proclamation of
Emancipation, rendering void
stroying
and the
the debaters
of
all
former concessions and de-
hope of future compromises, had not only mado
the Southern Reljels more determined and desperate, but their
Northern sympathizers more hostile and captious.
Every-
thing done by the President or a Republican Congress for the
promotion of the Union cause was subjected to the closest
scrutiny and the harshest criticism.
the Democrats alone
from being a unit as
war.
Indeed,
it is
;
Nor was
this
done by
the Republicans themselves were far
to the best
methods
of prosecuting the
not doubtful that some of the severest cen-
from Republican
and too cautious,
For it
others of going too far and of assuming too much.
seems hardly needful to remark that the party which was maksures of the President and of his course
lips
some accusing him
;
fell
of being too slow
ing such heroic sacrifices to maintain a constitutional govern-
ment contained
as sincere and earnest defenders of the Consti-
tution as did the party which furnished, and
was too evidently
sympathizing with, the traitors who were plotting
tion
;
that the latter
its
was as anxious as the former
from unnecessary infractions, though
it
destruc-
to save
it
did regard the coun-
and the preservation of
and slavish adherence
were found men who were
try of greater value than its laws,,
their spirit
more important than a
to their letter.
Among
the latter
jealous of both executive
who were
and
resolved to restrict
strict
legislative
encroachments, and
them within the narrowest
pos-
�MEETING OF XXXVIIItu CONGRESS.
— WAR
LEGISLATION.
427
maintenance of the nation's
and life. But between the limits prescribed by the
organic law and those prescribed by the supreme law of the nation's safety there was a shadowy land where men could hardly
fail of seeing differently, an unsurveyed territory across which
those equally able and equally patriotic would not draw the
same lines as separating the allowable from the unallowable.
The discussion turned largely upon the constitutionality of
the law itself of July 2, 1862.
In condemnation of the rule
Mr. Bayard of Delaware spoke at length. After saying that
he was the only member who had not taken the oath prescribed, he remarked that the resolution involved two general
questions First, Is the law of 1862 " repugnant to the Federal
Constitution, or is it within the powers delegated to Congress ? Second, Is a member of the Senate included by its provisions ? "
He directed his argument mainly to the first question, which he answered in the negative
because, he said, the
act was " repugnant to at least three, I think four, provisions
sible
limits consistent with the
integrity
:
;
of the Constitution."
tion for a
member
instrument
it
prescribes- a further qualifica-
of Congress " than that prescribed
itself.
article of the
First, "
Secondly, "
amendments
it is
by
tlie
in conflict with the fifth
of the Constitution."
The Senator
and defended the allegation, that it was " a restriction
upon power intended to secure individual rights against the
aggressions of government, .... a principle that comes to us
from Magna Charta.'' Thirdly, it invalidated, he contended,
the pardoning power of the President. Fourthly, he maintained
that it was substantially an ex post facto law, prescribing
alleged,
" the penalty of disqualification as the punishment for a crime
committed before the passage of the law, though it was subject
punishment at the time of its commission."
He then considered at some length the second question,
whether or not a Senator was an officer of the United States
to no such
within the meaning of the statute.
mented on the
implied in the
test
new
and
Under
this
head he com-
definition of " loyalty " involved
rule proposed.
and
Saying that, in his judg-
ment, the new tests proposed were " repugnant to the pro" If it be disloyal to
visions " of the Constitution, he added
:
�428
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
support the Constitution of
my
country, then I cheerfully
accept the imputation of disloyalty
ground, I shall meet
The
most
it
and
;
but
if
made on any
other
with calm contempt."
affirmative was, however,
lucid
IN AMERICA.
ably argued.
Among
the
logical presentations of the reasons for the
adoption of this extra-judicial or extra-constitutional legislation
was a
si^eech of
He
Mr. Collamer of Vermont.
alluded
to the course of the conspirators, while they occupied scats in
both houses, " but especially in this chamber,
allegiance to our government,
all
member
who claimed
who
disclaimed
the right to dis-
who set on
and who openly declared
that government as a constitutional right,
foot plans to execute these purposes,
such to be their purposes. They did this defiantly, menacingly,
superciliously.
This was the arena on which they put forth
all their gladiatorial efforts of
treason."
Saying that the time
" as Catiline did from
came when they departed,
finally
Rome," and put
tions arose
:
in operation their combinations,
How
repetition of this
?
two ques-
can this country be secured against the
How
are these men, and
to be kept out of these bodies
?
men
like these,
Unless such repetition could
be prevented, he contended that government was at an end.
" No other course could secure the country." " If men," he
and men of that conduct, can have
and can retain scats here, then there is an end of this
government. If the Constitution is so framed that it is subject to this infirmity incurably, it is an abortion, it is a total
said, " of that character,
seats,
failure
;
and
if
any construction can be given
to this Constitu-
tion which, in practical application, can produce this effect,
is
as
much
a destruction of this government as secession
it
is.
" Such was our condition, and such were the demands upon
became necessary to inquire what was the mode of
It was quite evident that the taking of an oatli to
support the Constitution did not amount to any correction.
All those men had taken that oath, and it furnished no suf-
us.
It
conviction.
ficient security
If
no other qualifications or
disqualifica-
by any possibility be framed and constitutionally
....
than those mentioned in the Constitution, ....
executed
then it is subject to the infirmity of which I have spoken."
tions could
�MEETING OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
— WAR
429
LEGISLATION.
Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, in response to the speech of
Mr. Collamer, denied and thus disposed of the claim that a
Senator was a " civil officer," saying that " a Senator is not an
officer under the government, but above the government
He
a part of the government, and not an officer holding a
is
commission or exercising any authority under the government
in the sense which this debate involves."
The
resolution was,
however, adopted by a vote of twenty-eight to eleven.
The next day Mr. Bayard came forward and took the oath
prescribed.
He
immediately, however, resigned his seat
;
ac-
which revealed very
clearly the opinions and position of some of the Southern
Unionists.
Admitting that he alone of the political party to
companying
whom
it,
his resignation with a speech
the prescribed oath applied had hitherto refused to take
and giving
his reasons therefor, he
reminded the Senate of
his views, as expressed at the outset of the Rebellion, concern-
—
ing the policy required,
a policy, he added, which " differed
from the course pursued subsequently by the administration,"
a policy of " conciliation, and the removal of real or even
apprehended grievances or dangers, and not coercion by arms."
—
Saying, too, that " he preferred their peaceful separation to
war," but that " the Democratic party with which I have
civil
been connected
is
divided,
and many of
its
leading and most
adherents indulge the visionary idea" that the
Union could be maintained by force " without the abandon-
influential
ment
of a federal,
and
its
conversion into an imperial and
centralized government," and affirming that the results already
produced had confirmed his opinions and verified his fears, he
said
:
—
" I have lived to see the elective franchises trodden under
foot in
*
my
Order No.
native State by the iron heel of the soldier, and
55,'
not the people of Delaware, represented in
one hall of Congress. I have lived to see her citizens torn
from their homes and separated from their families on the
warrant of a self-styled detective
And now, Mr. President, the Senate of the United States have, by their decision
enforcing an expurgatory and retrospective test-oath, repug-
nant to both the
letter
and
spirit of the Constitution,
made
�430
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
a precedent which, in
if
my
judgment,
is
IN AMERICA.
eminently dangerous,
not entirely subversive of a fundamental principle of repre-
With a firm conviction that your
wound upon free representative governcannot, by continuing to hold the seat I now occupy
sentative government
decision inflicts a vital
ment,
I
under
it,
give
my
personal assent and sanction to
its
pro-
priety."
Still
another illustration of the extended and minute rami-
fications of slavery in the
body
politic, so
long as
it
was a
rec-
ognized fact in the nation and government, of the wide sweep of
the principle of freedom, even though but partially admitted,
and
new
of the difficulty
and delicacy
of adjusting legislation to the
order of things, was afforded by a debate in the Senate
upon a bill to provide a temporary government for Montana,
begun on the 31st of March, 1864. An amendment, offered
by Mr. Wilkinson of Minnesota, to strike out the words " white
male inhabitant," and to insert " male citizen of the United
States," had been agreed to
but on reading the bill a third
time, and on a call of Mr. Saulsbury for the yeas and nays, a
sharp debate arose, in which Mr. Johnson of Maryland and Mr.
Sumner of Massachusetts spoke with some sharpness, not to
Mr. Johnson having suggested that
say acerbity of feeling.
if it was the object of the mover to "put beyond all doubt"
that Africans should be permitted to vote, he had better substi;
men "
tute the words, " all black
the
Supreme Court had decided,
for " all citizens," because
in the
Dred Scott
case, that
" a person of African descent is not a citizen of the United
States."
Mr. Sumner said " I take it that each branch of the
:
government can interpret the Constitution for itself. I think
that Congress is as good an authority in its interpretation as
the Supreme Court, and I hope that Congress, in its legislation, will proceed absolutely without any respect to a decision
which has already disgraced the country, and which ought to
be expelled from
its
pressed the thought
jurisprudence."
still
more
Subsequently he ex-
strongly, adding
forbid that Congress should consent to wear
"
And God
the strait-jacket
Dred Scott decision "
" Mr. President," responded Mr. Johnson, "
of the
:
!
if
the opinion
�MEETING OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
— WAR
LEGISLATION.
431
was conchisive upon all such
it might be
considered now as settled that the decision of the Supreme
Court in that case was a disgrace. But I have yet to be advised that the honorable member, either by nature or educaof the Senator of Massachusetts
questions, guided, and controlled the public mind,
tion,
has attained so
much
intellectual celebrity or possesses
such transcendent mental ability as to be able to pronounce ex
cathedra against a decision pronounced by the Supreme Court
of the
United States.
There are many men, the equals
honorable member, to say the least, intellectually,
of the
who think
was anything but an outrage."
Mr. Hale, with his unfailing wit and good humor, however,
came to the rescue. " I do not," he said, " propose to enter
into this discussion, but simply to make a single remark, in
that that decision
which
I
am
compelled to differ from
He
Massachusetts.
my
honorable friend from
says that the Dred Scott decision was a
Supreme Court
of the United States.
I do not
any better of that decision than he does I
think it was an outrage upon the civilization of the age, and a
but I do not think it was a disgrace to
libel upon the law
disgrace to the
believe that I think
;
;
He expressed, howSumner, the conviction that the amendment
involved an important principle, and that, while the colored
men were fighting the nation's battles, the nation should thus
recognize their manhood and rights as citizens of the Republic.
Others, however, equally earnest and decided in their antislavery convictions and purposes, like Trumbull and Wade,
the Supreme Court of the United States."
ever, with Mr.
doubted the policy of urging it at that time the former declaring it to be " the merest abstraction," from which no good
;
could arise.
was lost.
Another
After long discussion, however, the amendment
illustration of the stern conflicts of opinion
feeling between Republican
many
members,
of the discussions of the session,
with which
many
by the leaders
of
and
of the radical nature of
and
of the
freedom
were criticised
his own party, was afforded by a long and
of the acts of the President
amend the Confiscation Act
House from the Committee on
vigorous debate on a proposition to
of July, 1862, proposed in the
�432
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the Judiciary on the 13th of January, 1864.
The
question at
issue was, whether the forfeiture on account of treason, pro-
vided for in that act, "
may
The
demanded both knowl-
be in fee or only for hfe."
discussion of that question naturally
edge of constitutional subjects and judicial acumen.
Mr. Orth
of Indiana gave a sketch of the British law of treason,
and
pronounced the position " absurd " that " such forfeiture shall
only extend to the lifetime of the traitor and then cease."
Mr. Cox of Ohio, in reply, accused him of drawing " from the
old feudal system,
from the black4etter laws, from the whole
common law
history of our
show that there
with reference to forfeiture to
and a different interpretafrom that which was given by
the men who made the Constitution."
Mr. Kernan of New
York also contended that the punishment for treason, " like
the punishment for any other crime, should fall upon the guilty
party only, and that we should not seek to affect his innocent
" 1 agree," he said again, " with the
children and heirs."
slrould be another
tion given to the Constitution
President that the true construction of the Constitution
we have no power
that
heirs as part
is,
to cut off the inheritance of innocent
punishment for treason."
This last sentence from Mr. Kernan's speech refers to a fact
which reveals the complications and embarrassments of the
administration growing out of the frequent differences of opinion between Mr. Lincoln and the leaders of his party.
The
fact referred to
was a veto prepared by the President
act of July, 1862, as
it
originally passed Congress
was averted by the passage
relieved
his
said
the original
message
:
to
—
bill
;
for the
but which
an explanatory resolution which
In
of its objectionable features.
of
Congress on that occasion the President had
" For the causes of treason, and the ingredients of treason,
not amounting to the full crime, it declares forfeiture extending beyond the lives of the guilty parties whereas the Consti;
tution of the United States declares that
work corruption
;
no attainder
shall
of blood or forfeiture except during the life of
the person attainted.'
in this case
'
still, I
True, there
is
to be
no formal attainder
think the greater punishment cannot be
�MEETING OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
constitutionally inflicted,
— WAR
433
LEGISLATION.
in a different form, for
same
the
Congress having passed this explanatory resolu" Nor shall any punishment or proceeding under said
offence."
tion
:
act be so construed as to
of the offender
satisfied,
beyond
and signed the
The purpose
of the
work a
forfeiture of the real estate
his natural life,"
was
the President
bill.
amendment now
before the
the modification of this explanatory resolution.
debate H. Winter Davis of Maryland
House was
During the
made a very vigorous
speech in opposition to the proposed amendment.
He
spoke
of the "intolerable folly" of such a construction of the Con-
" for any ordinary crime Congress may preany punishment they please take the land in fee but
in providing for the punishment of treason, the greatest crime,
the most dangerous crime, it has feebly attempted to protect
innocent offspring by saving the lands of the convict, but leaving his life and all his personal property at the mercy of the
law." Calling it an " unrepublican discrimination between real
and personal property," he said " And this anti-republican
view is urged to fetter us in breaking the power of an aristocratic rebellion founded on land in large bodies and on negroes.
Were there no other objection than this, that simple reductio
ad absurdum disposes of the argument."
Thaddeus Stevens spoke with more than his usual and biting force, declaring that, in his judgment, the Constitution
had nothing to do with the act of July, 1862, which had been,
he added, with sharp, not to say harsh, criticism of the majority, " modified by a resolution which, it has been truly said,
was passed under duress very little to the credit of the Congress that passed it."
That act, he continued, was simply the
exercise of the war power,
"a proceeding under the laws
of war and under the law of nations over which the Constitution has no control, and in regard to which it has no effect
stitution, that
scribe
;
:
—
whatever."
28
;
�CHAPTER XXXII.
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
— Legislation required. — Ashley's proposed amend— Referred. — Similar action in the Senate. —
Xlllth Amendment — Debate. — Trumbull, Wilson. — Opposition. — Davis,
Powell, Saulsbury, McDougall, Hendricks. — Factious amendments. — South-
Proclamation incomplete.
ment.
— Joint
resolution.
— Henderson, Johnson. — Reverent references and appeals. —
— Opposed by Wood, Holman,
— Passed. — House. —
Pendleton, Kalbfleisch. — Supported by Shannon, Higby, Kelley, Arnold. —
Failure. — XXXVIIlth Congress. — President's message. — Debate. — Brooks,
Davis,
Stevens. — Ashley's motion to reconsider. — Debate. — Orth,
ern support.
Hale, Sumner.
ISIorris.
Scofield,
Kasson, McBride, Baldwin, Jenckes, Grinnell, Woodbridge, Morris, Patterson,
Yeaman,
Stevens,
— Change
Sraithers, Smith.
of votes.
— McAllister,
Crof-
forth, Herrick.
— Bitter
Clay,
Townsend, Voorhees, Holman, Cox, Pendleton, Harding.
"Wliite,
Democrats supporting.
citement.
motives.
opposition by Brooks, Bliss, Rogers, Wai'd, ]\Iallory,
— Rollins,
King,
— Passed. — Accepted by
— Radical character of the
the
result.
The Proclamation
of
announcement that "
—
— Closing vote. — Great exStates. — Proclamation. — Various
— New departure.
Odell.
Emancipation contained not only the
persons held as slaves shall be free,"
hut the assurance that " the executive government of the
all
United States, including the military and naval authorities
thereof, will recognize
sons."
and maintain the freedom
The one was a necessary complement
the last as binding and essential as the
fully foreseen at the outset,
became
first.
of said per-
of the other,
This,
soon became apparent.
if
not
And
it
was but the work of
the latter was to be the
as evident that while the first
a moment and of a single individual,
work of years and of the nation too. A " scratch of the pen "
was sufficient to set the bondman free it was only by competent and carefully considered legislation, by many and varied enactments, that his freedom could be assured, become
the promised boon, and be made a blessing instead of a curse.
;
�As
it
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
435
required no great sagacity to forecast as
much without
the aid of the actual experiment, so with the experiment hefore their eyes few were found to douht the necessity of appropriate laws to carry into effect the spirit and purpose of that
immortal paper.
It
was seen,
something more than
more enduring
too, that
ordinary legislation was needed,
— something
than what would be subject to the varying phases of popular
feeling, the mutations of partisan politics.
was
that
it
should become a part of the organic law of the land, so that
it
It
felt
could be reached only by the slow processes through which
The new departure realone changes in that can be made.
solved on should find expression in the Constitution
On
itself.
the 14th of December, 1863, Mr. Ashley of Ohio pre-
sented to the House of Representatives a
bill
providing for the
submission to the States of a proposed amendment of the Constitution that " slavery is hereliy forever prohibited in all the
States of the Union, and in
may
all
Territories
now owned, or which
hereafter be acquired, by the United States."
Democratic opposition
it
was referred
Judiciary by motion of the mover.
Wilson
of Iowa,
to the
On
With some
Committee on the
the same day Mr.
chairman of the same committee, introduced
a joint resolution to the effect that " slavery being incompatible with a free
government
is
forever prohibited in the
United States that involuntary servitude should be permitted
and that Congress should
only as a punishment of crime "
" appropriate legislation."
by
have power to enforce the same
It was referred, like the preceding, to the Committee on the
;
;
Judiciary, consisting of
five
and ex-Governor Thomas
of
Republicans, three Democrats,
Maryland, who generally acted
The chairman, Boutwell of Massaand Williams of Pennsylvania were pronounced antislavery men, as were also Woodbridge of Vermont and Morris
of New York, though less known and prominent in the struggle.
Of the Democratic members, King of Missouri and Bliss
of Ohio were fully committed against the policy of emancipaKernan of New York was an able lawyer, and liberal in
tion.
his general tone of feeling and opinion, but he was a personal
friend and political adherent of Governor Seymour, and his
with the administration.
chusetts,
�436
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWEK
IN AMERICA.
strong partisan associations seemed sometimes to lead him to
disregard the convictions of his judgment and moral nature.
Mr. Thomas had committed himself to the policy of emancipaand to his untiring efforts was largely due the continued
Though the measure was
loyalty of Maryland to the Union.
tion,
introduced and committed thus early,
it
was not brought up
May.
for debate until the last day of the succeeding
In the mean time the subject was brought before the Senate,
on the 14th of the following month, by a resolution, offered by
Mr. Henderson of Missouri, proposing a similar amendment of
and it was referred to the Committee oh
the Constitution
;
Soon afterward Mr. Sumner introduced a
the Judiciary.
joint
resolution providing that " all persons are equal before the
law, so that no person can hold another as slave."
that
He
desired
should be referred to the Select Committee on Slavery,
it
but in deference to the generally expressed conviction that
it
should have the same reference of the other measures introduced,
it,
too,
was referred
to the
This committee consisted of
five
Committee on the Judiciary.
Republicans, Trumbull, Fos-
Ten Eyck, Harris, and Howard and two Democrats,
Bayard and Powell. Of the former, Trumbull and Howard
were pronounced antislavery men, while Foster, Harris, and
Ten Eyck, though Republicans, were rather conservative.
Bayard and Powell were Southern Democrats, and looked with
disfavor upon emancipation.
The committee reported adversely on Mr. Sumner's resolution
and in lieu of that of
Mr. Henderson proposed the following as the XHIth amend-
ter,
;
;
ment
of the Constitution
Sect. 1.
:
—
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been
fully convicted, shall exist within the
United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.
Sect.
2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this
by appropriate
On
article
legislation.
March the subject came up for consideration,
Trumbull
opened the debate with a brief and compreand Mr.
the 28th of
hensive statement of the question.
that
if
Expressing his conviction
the measure passed Congress,
it
would be
ratified
by
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
the requisite
we
number
of States, he said
:
437
" That accomplished,
are forever freed of this troublesome question.
plish then
what the statesmen
gling to accomplish for years.
away from the
We
accom-
of the country have been strug-
We
take this question entirely
politics of the country.
We
relieve
Congress
and what is better than all, we restore to
which is theirs by the gift of God,
whole
that
freedom
a
race
but which we for generations have wickedly denied them."
This calm and dispassionate avowal, by the chairman, of the
firm and determined purpose of the friends of freedom to use
the power thus unexpectedly and, many thought, providenof sectional strifes
tially
;
place^ in their hands, to right the great
wrong
of the
age and nation, and to remove entirely the terrible evil that
had so signally endamaged and endangered the land, introduced a debate of great earnestness and determination.
Mr. Wilson followed Mr. Trumbull. " The crowning act,"
he said, " in this series of acts for the restriction and extinction of slavery in America, is this proposed amendment to the
Constitution, prohibiting the existence of slavery forevermore
United States. If this amendment
by the will of the nation into the Consti-
in the Republic of the
shall be incorporated
tution of the United States,
vestiges of the slave system
bloody codes
;
its
it
—
will obliterate the last lingering
its chattelizing,
degrading, and
dark, malignant, barbarizing spirit
;
all it
was and is everything connected with it or pertaining to it
from the face of the nation it has scarred with moral desolation, from the bosom of the country it has reddened with the
blood and strewn with the graves of patriotism.
The incorporation of this amendment into the organic law of the nation
;
will
make
impossible forevermore the reappearing of the dis-
carded slave system, and the returning of the despotism of the
slavemaster's domination.
Then, sir, when this amendment
consummated, the shackle will fall
from the limbs of the hapless bondman, and tlie lash drop
from the weary hand of the taskmaster. Then the sharp cry
to the Constitution shall be
of the agonizing hearts of severed families will cease to vex
the weary ear of the nation, and to pierce the ear of Him
whose judgments are now avenging the wrongs
of centuries.
�438
Then
RISE
llic
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
slave mart, pen,
ing fetters for
human
have brutalized
darkened
and auction-block, with their clankfrom the land they
limbs, will disappear
and the schoolhouse
;
intellect of a race
ignorance.
IN AMERICA.
will rise to enlighten the
imbruted by long years of enforced
Then the sacred
rights of
human
natui'e, the hal-
lowed family relations of husband and wife, parent and child,
will be protected by the guardian spirit of that law which
makes sacred alike proud homes and the lowly cabins of freedom. Then the scarred earth, blighted by the sweat and tears
bloom again under the quickening culture of
rewarded toil. Then the wronged victim of the slave system,
the poor white man, the sand-hiller, the clay-eater, of the
of bondage, will
wasted
fields of Carolina,
impoverished, debased, dishonored
by the system that makes toil a badge of disgrace, and the
instruction of the brain and soul of man a crime, will lift his
abashed forehead to the skies, and begin to run the race of improvement, progress, and elevation. Then the nation, regenerated and disinthralled by the genius of universal emancipation,' will run the career of development, power, and glory,
quickened, animated, and guided by the spirit of the Christian
democracy, that pulls not the highest down, but lifts the
'
'
lowest up.'
But the proposed amendment could not but
receive
the
determined and violent o])position of those who still believed
in slavery, and who still adhered to the " peculiar institution."
Naturally, not to say necessarily,
deprecating
Garrett Davis,
all
was heard the
shrill voice of
such proposed action,
pleading for the impunity of his cherished system.
He
and
closed
a long and fiery speech with the implied threat and prediction
mob
and
control, as the necessary consequence of
" If the dominant party can continue their
power and rule," he said, " either by the will or acquiescence
of
violence
such legislation.
of the people, or the exercise of the formidable
it
has usurped,
present and
I
still
am
powers which
not able to see any termination of the
growing
ills,
short of the ordeal of general
and bloody anarchy." He exhibited his feeling and purpose,
too, by singular and factious amendments, one proposing a
division of New England into two States, as a sequel to the
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
439
remark that " the most effective single cause of the pending
war has been the intermeddling of Massachusetts with the
institution of slavery"; another that "Congress shall distribute the emancipated slaves
other
still,
among
the free States "
;
an-
that no slave should be emancipated unless the
owner shall be paid the full value thereof. But the largest
number of votes received for any of his amendments was five,
and the lowest two.
Mr. Saulsbury was no less extreme and defiant. Basing his
conclusions on its teachings, he defended slavery from the
Scriptures, declaring that " the Almighty immediately after
He said
the Flood condemned a whole race to servitude.
Cursed be Canaan.' .... It has, too, the sanction of God's
own apostles, for when Paul sent back Onesimus to Philemon,
'
he sent his doulos, a slave born as such."
opposed the amendment, and
Mr. Powell also
proposed sev-
like his colleague
which were at once voted down. Nor was the only
opposition from Southern members.
Mr. McDougall of Calithe whole antislavery
and
fornia denounced the amendment
eral,
policy of the administration, contending that
it
ing that tended " towards victory," and that
" the
achieved nothit
only aroused
animosity of an already violent foe." At another
stage of the debate he said " I look upon this policy as being
fiercer
:
a policy for sacrificing the whole of the colored race
cupying parts of this Republic.
now
oc-
This policy will ingulf them.
They can never commingle with us."
Mr. Hendricks of Indiana made a speech expressive
at once
of the intolerance of caste as well as of his opposition to the
proposed amendment.
Saying that the government had " noth-
ing to do with the moral aspects of slavery," he exclaimed,
" Are the negroes to remain among us
?
I can say to the
Senator that they never will associate with the white people
of this country on terms of equality."
But, while Northern men were thus giving such unequivocal
utterance to " Southern principles," there were representatives
from the South who spoke earnestly and eloquently for freedom from the new State of Missouri as well as from the old
" Our ancestors," said Mr. Henderson of
State of Maryland.
—
�440
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
the former, " acknowledged the truth
gave them liberty.
It
selves,
when they proclaimed
men. That declaration
fired the world, and enlisted the sympaSo soon as they obtained it for them-
the inalienable right of liberty unto
thies of civilization.
IN AMERICA.
all
however, the false counsels of expediency came to refuse
From the latter State, Reverdy Johnson, an
to others."
eminent lawyer, and a statesman of recognized ability and
large experience, after saying that he had long foreseen that
it
must come at last," added " If there be
if we are at liberty to suppose that
He will not abandon man and his rights to their own fate, and
suffer their destiny to be worked out by their own means and
with their own lights, I never doubted that the day must come
when human slavery would be exterminated by a convulsive
effort on the part of the bondmen, unless that other and better
" to this complexion
justice in
it
:
God's providence,
reason and influence which might bring
successful,
— the
it
about should be
mild though powerful influences of
that
higher and elevated morality which the Christian religion
teaches."
A somewhat
reference to the
His revelation.
was this reverent
Supreme Being and to the binding authority of
Mr. Harlan found his warrant for supporting
striking feature of the debate
amendment in the fact that slavery could find no valid
human statute, " or in the Hebrew code written
by the finger of God protruded from the flame of fire on the
summit of Sinai." Mr. Hale, referring to a historical incident
the
claim in any
in the life of the founder of the
of great public calamity
and
Dutch Republic who,
peril,
being asked
if
is
If
allied
myself to the King of kings," added
:
time
he had se" Yes, I
cured any alliances, replied affirmatively by saying
have
in a
:
"
Sir, that
the position, and the only position, this nation can occupy.
we cannot do
that
;
if
we cannot put away from us
the
great sin and the great crime which has separated us, not only
from the sympathies of the Christian world, but from the
blessings of the
is
God
of the Christian world,
— then
indeed
our cause hopeless and our struggle desperate."
Mr. Sumner made a constitutional argument in defence of
amendment. " There is nothing," he declared,
the proposed
�441
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
" in the Constitution, on which slavery can
the least support.
an outlaw
;
but,
if
Even on the face of
we look further at its
rest, or find
that instrument,
provisions,
least four distinct sources of power, which,
if
we
even
it is
find at
executed, must
render slavery impossible, while the preamble makes them
vital for
freedom
first,
:
the power to provide for the
defence and general welfare
armies and maintain navies
to every State a republican
;
all
common
power to raise
power to guarantee
government and, fourthly,
secondly, the
;
thirdly, the
form
of
;
the power to secure liberty to every person restrained without
But
due process of law.
more than powers
:
all
these provisions are something
they are duties also.
And
yet
we
are
constantly and painfully reminded in this chamber that pend-
ing measures against slavery are unconstitutional.
is
an immense mistake.
conslitvtional.
It
is
Sir, this
Nothing against slavery can be unonly hesitation which
is
unconstitu-
tional."
Mr. Sumner, at the close of his speech, moved to amend by
substituting for the language reported the declaration that
"
all
persons are equal, and that no person can hold another
as a slave "
;
with provisions authorizing Congress to enact
laws in accordance with these principles.
much
to the phraseology as partaking too
He
also objected
of the ordinance of
1787, and doubted the expediency of reproducing that instruin the proposed amendment.
To this Mr. Howard of
Michigan replied that he preferred " to go back to the good old
Anglo-Saxon language employed by our fathers in the ordi-
ment
nance of 1787, an expression Avhich has been adjudicated
upon repeatedly, which is perfectly well understood both by
the public and by judicial tribunals
a phrase, I may say further, which is peculiarly near and dear to the people of the
Northwestern Territory, from whose soil slavery was excluded
by it." After further explanation from the chairman of the
committee, Mr. Sumner withdrew his proposition, and the
joint resolution was adopted by a vote of thirty-eiglit to
;
six.
The
resolution
Mr. Morris of
came up
New York,
in the
a
House on the 31st of May.
of the Committee on
member
�442
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
the Judiciary,
lie
made an
IN AMERICA.
which
able speech in its advocacy, in
gave the keynote of the defence of this great measure by
on the high ground of justice, obligation, and the
necessities of the case, growing out of the workings of natural
law and moral accountability. " I aver," he said, " that no
nation can violate any moral law, without incurring a penalty.
No member of society, no matter how weak or humble, can be
It is an inexorable
oppressed without injury to the whole.
There is a system of compensation in the economy of
law.
placing
it
God, and applicable to nations and individuals, as inevitable
We may not admit it l)ut time will
as that fire will burn.
;
realize the fact.
We may
not recognize the hand
chastening will come as certainly as that
lators as well as divines should
God
;
but the
Legis-
is just.
remember these truths."
The measure was destined, however, to encounter a fiercer
and more rancorous opposition in the House than it had met
in the Senate
and it is to be noted that the most extreme and
audacious sentiments were found among Northern Democratic
Fernando Wood was among the most forward
utterances.
and fierce. After saying that " the bloody and brutal policy
of the administration " was destroying all hope of reconstructhat the measure was " beyond the power of the governtion
ment " and that it involved the " extermination " of Southern
white men and the " forfeiture " of their " land and other
property," he said " Negroes and military colonists will take
;
;
;
:
the place of the race thus blotted out of existence.
Is this
intended as the last scene of the bloody drama of carnage and
civil
war now being prosecuted
horror, and
it
?
The world
looks on with
will leave to future ages a fearful
warning to
avoid similar acts of perfidious atrocity."
" Of
all
the measures of this disastrous
administration,"
said Mr. Ilolman of Indiana, " each in its turn producing
new
tamper with the Constitution threatens the most permanent injury." " It is better," said Mr.
Edgerton of the same State, " for our country, better for man,
that negro slavery exist a thousand years, than that American
calamities, this attempt to
white
men
lose their constitutional liberty in the extinction of
the constitutional sovereignty of the Federal States of the
�443
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
Union." Mr. Kalbflcisch of New York charged upon the Republicans that this was " an attempt to replenish their almost
exhausted stock of
based upon
of
political capital
by creating a new issue
the slavery question before the people, in the hope
renewing that agitation upon the turbulent waves of which
they were swept into the power which they have so deplorably
abused."
Mr. Pendleton of Ohio urged the extremcst pretenand contended that neither
sions of the State-rights school,
Congress nor the country could abolish slavery in a single
" Neither
State against the will and purpose of that State.
three fourths of the States," he said, " nor all the States save
one can abolish slavery
within the domain
iai
that dissenting State, because
it lies
reserved entirely to each State for itself,
and upon it the other States cannot enter."
But there were not wanting earnest Republicans to give
a reason for their faith, and to urge upon Congress and the
country cogent arguments for this great act of justice and
Slavery was spoken of with no mealy
wise statesmanship.
words, as to both its character and influence, in the evils it
had inflicted in the past, and in the appalling calamities in
which it was then invohdng the land. " Slavery," said Mr.
Shannon of California, " is paganism refined, brutality vitiated,
dishonesty corrupted and we are asked to retain this cause,
;
to protect
it,
after
it
has corrupted our sons, dishonored our
daughters, subverted our institutions, and shed rivers of the
" No expense," said Mr.
best blood of our countrymen."
Kellogg of
New York,
deter or divert us
to every fate,
stands in the
;
" no
sacrifice,
we must meet and master every
way of the complete supremacy of
obstacle that
the Constitu-
" Sir," said Mr. Kelley of Pennsylvania,
and the laws."
" the privilege is not often given to
tion
no allurement, must
but rising with the emergency, and equal
,
men
to perform an act,
the influence of which will be felt beneficently by the poor,
the oppressed, the ignorant, and the degraded of
all
lands,
and which will endure until terminated by the wreck of matter
and the crash of worlds.
I rise that I may thus publicly
thank God, and the good people by whose suffrages I am here
to-day, for the golden opportunity afforded
me
of doing
such
�44-4
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" Never," said Mr. Arnold of Illinois, " since the
an act."
day when John Adams pleaded for the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, has so important a qncstion been submitted to an
American Congress as that upon which you are now about to
vote.
The signing of the immortal Declaration is a familiar
picture in every log-cabin and residence all over the land.
Pass this resolution, and the grand spectacle of this vote,
which knocks off the fetters of a whole race, will make this
scene immortal."
Several other
amendments were offered and rejected, when a
it was found that ninety-three had
vote was reached, and
voted for the resolution, sixty-five had voted in the negative,
and twenty-three had not voted at all. So the joint resolution
Mr.
failed, not having received two thirds of the votes cast.
Ashley voted in the negative in order to move a reconsideration, which he did
but pending action thereon Congress
adjourned, and the first session closed.
;
The XXXVIIIth Congress began its second session on the
The President in his annual message
that
important
movements
had occurred during the
stated
5th of December, 1864.
year looking toward the establishment of freedom, and " moulding society for durability in the Uiiion."
He
spoke of the
had already been taken in Arkansas, Louisiana,
Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland, indicative of
action that
complete success.
Maryland, he said, Avas secured to liberty
and the Union for the future, and she will no longer be
claimed by the genius of Rebellion. " Like another foul spirit
being driven out, it may seek to tear but it will woo no
more." Reminding Congress that the election made it almost
certain that the next House would pass the proposed amendment of the Constitution, he recommended that it should be
considered and adopted then.
Mr. Brooks of New York took early occasion to controvert
the antislavery sentiments and to condemn the general policy
of the President, in an earnest, aggressive, and eloquent speech.
Avowing this opposition and his strong desire for peace and
;
the reunion of the States, he said,
of the
if
he could enter the portals
White House, he would approach the
chief magistrate,
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
445
and on bended knee he would implore him to remember the
and compromising policy of Henry Clay, follow
his illustrious example, and " do himself the immortal honor
to be not the last President of the United States, l)ut the
savior and restorer of this divided, distracted, and bleedingUnion." Mr. Price of Iowa sharply criticised the speech of
the member from New York.
He affirmed its tendency, if not
conciliatory
its
purpose, to be to strengthen Rebel hands and " cause the
blood of patriots to flow upon
Southern
Thaddeus
soil."
Stevens told him his purpose was to save from destruction
the system of " human bondage, the darling institution of the
Democratic party," and that if it were given to man to look
back from the future world and know what posterity shall say,
he would " blush at the record which impartial history would
make."
Mr. Cresswell of Maryland favored emancipation.
" The issue," he said, " is sharply defined between the Rebel-
On the one side is disunion for
on the other is freedom for the sake of
the Union.
Whether we would or not, we must establish
freedom if we would exterminate treason."
On the 6th of January Mr. Ashley introduced the debate on
his motion to reconsider the vote of the previous session rejecting the anti slavery amendment by a very vigorous and able
" If slavery is wrong and criminal," he said, " as the
speech.
great body of Christian and enlightened men admit, it is certainly our duty to abolish it, if we have the power.
Have we
the power ? " To an affirmative answer he then addressed
himself, basing his argument mainly on the fifth article of the
Constitution providing for amendments. Alluding to the argument of his colleague, Mr. Pendleton, above referred to, he
contended, if that assumption was correct, " then is the clause
lion
and the United
the sake of slavery
States.
;
of the Constitution just quoted a dead letter."
"
Continuing
comprehension how
any man, with the Constitution before him, and the history of
that line of argimient, he said
:
It is past
the convention which formed that Constitution within his
reach, together with the repeated decisions of the
Supreme
Court against the assumption of the State-rights pretensions,
can be found at this late day defending the State-sovereignty
�446
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
dogmas, and claiming that the national Constitution cannot
be so amended as to prohibit slavery, even though
all
the
States of the Union, save one, gave it their approval."
He
spoke further of " the utter indefensibility of the State soverr
eignty dogmas, and of the
supreme power intended by the
framers of the Constitution to be lodged in the national gov-
ernment." Mr. Orth of Indiana said if that Congress did
not heed the popular voice on the subject, " another Congress,
Mr. Scofield of Pennsylvania
fresh from the people," would.
spoke of the different courses of action on slavery which had
been taken in several of the States, whose names and policy he
specified,
acter,
if
— such
action in
some being of a conflicting charand he contended that the
not of doubtful propriety
way
;
harmonize matters, as it afforded the only satisfactory solution of the many vexed questions that were arising
only
to
was to abolish the guilty cause itself.
must die, and " the only question is, shall
now, by a constitutional amendment,
a single stroke
and would
ery,
he
axe,
— or
Slav-
arise,
said,
—
shall
it
it
die
of the
linger in party warfare, through a quarter or
half a century of acrimonious debate, patchwork legislation,
and
conflicting adjudication
?
"
Mr. Davis of
New York
said
the country had suffered and was suffering too much from
slavery for " gentlemen from the free North to stand here as its
advocates and defenders."
Mr. Kasson of Iowa appealed to the Democrats
to support
the measure in the interests of peace and harmony, declaring
that to refuse would " compel the perpetuation of this institu-
and disunion
without end in the present." " I had rather stand solitary,"
he said, " with my name recorded for this amendment, with
tion with bloodshed without end in the future,
the hope of justice twenty years hence, than to have
honors which could be heaped upon
me by any
all
the
political party
in opposition to this doctrine."
Mr. McBride
slavery, said
:
"
of
Oregon, speaking of the terrible
Long enough has
it
evils of
debauched and deadened
long enough has it shocked
humanity and defied Heaven by its violations of every principle of truth and morality; and now, having filled up its
the conscience of the people
;
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
447
cup of crime and villany by a treason so rank and foul as to
all historic example and all criminal parallel, we, who
shame
hold the malefactor in our grip, owe
to ourselves,
and the world,
Let slavery
be " destroyed," said
it
to humanity, to justice,
to strangle the guilty
monster."
Mr. Baldwin of
Massa-
chusetts, " for our republican institutions cannot be safe while
it
exists
!
Let
it
be destroyed, that the rights of man may be
" Mr. Jenckes of
vindicated, and eternal justice satisfied
!
any action " in the direct line
of the eternal forces acting out God's justice upon earth,"
Rhode
said
its
Island, after vindicating
" Li this contest slavery
:
own
battle-field; it
commenced
has fought
its
the fight
battle,
In the course of our victorious march, that
and
;
it
it
chose
is
dead.
battle-field
has
come into our possession, and the corpse of our dead enemy
Let us bury it quickly, and with as little ceremony
is upon it.
as possible, that the foul odor of its rotting carcass may no
longer offend us and the world." Mr. Grinnell of Iowa said it
was " a measure of justice to millions in chains and to hundreds of thousands fighting our battles." " The blood of the
nation," said Mr. Woodbridge of Vermont, " and the tears of
the widow call for the passage of this resolution."
Mr. Garfield of Ohio invoked the House in the name of justice, in the
name
of the Republic, to hold not
drawn
As
back the uplifted sword now
to strike the final blow.
in the debate at the previous session, the
argument was
based on high moral grounds, and appeals for the adoption of
the proposed amendment were made in the name of justice
and the God of justice. " I believe," said Mr. Morris of New
York, " before God, the hour has come in which, if we would
avert the judgments of Heaven and save our nation from ruin,
we must render our organic law explicitly affirmative on the
great question of human slavery."
Mr. Patterson of New
Hampshire denied that " any assembly of law-makers ever
possessed tlie power to create a right of property in man which
we, as men, are bound to respect." " The slave system," said
Mr. Pike of Maine, " should be eradicated without delay, and
no vestige left to offend God and curse man." In the same
vein Mr. Washburn of Illinois paid a tribute of respect to
�448
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
those Democrats of his State
IN AMERICA.
who had " voted
to wipe out the
institution of slavery, so wicked and infernal in itself, and
which lias brought such untold sorrows upon the nation."
Thaddeus Stevens replied sharply to an extreme speech of Mr.
After alluding to the lessons of his " early youth,"
which, he thanked God, he had not forgotten " in enfeebling
age" to his hatred of slavery and love of liberty, " inflamed
Pendleton.
;
by the inspired teachings
of Socrates
and the divine inspiration
of Jesus," he expressed his willingness to take his chances in
" When we all moulder in
the coming estimate of posterity.
"
he may have his epitaph written, if it be
the dust," he said,
and most pertinacious
and I will be
Here lies one
satisfied if my epitaph shall be written thus
who never rose to any eminence, and who only courted the
low ambition to have it said, that he had striven to ameliorate
the condition of the poor, the lowly, the down-trodden of every
truly written,
'
Here
rests the ablest
defender of slavery, and opponent of liberty
'
:
race and language and color.'
As
in the previous
;
'
"
debate, so in this,
some
of the
most
earnest speeches in favor of the measure came from the slave
States.
Mr. Teaman of Kentucky, though he believed slavery
doomed, advocated the amendment. " Events,"
to be already
he
said, "
have taken the place of arguments, and stern facts
the place of doubtful conclusions.
greater than
we can
control.
The disturbing
we manfully
Shall
forces are
yield this
one point, already of no practical value, or childishly resist,
and be overthrown with an institution whose fall is literally
crashing in our ears ? " Mr. Smithers of Delaware alluded to
the former antislavery feeling in his State, and its subsequent
decay, in which they had participated with the rest of the
freedom had gone " back
on the dial," but he added that it was moving forward again,
and it was "fast upon the hour of noon" while there were
" hundreds, perhaps thousands," who would " hail with joy
nation.
He
said that the
hand
of
;
the accomplishment of this great measure of justice, tranquil-
and security." Mr. Smith of Kentucky, after saying that
it was slavery that produced the revolution, contended that
" only by getting rid of this subject can we give permanent
lity,
peace and tranquillity to the land."
�449
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
and instructive, perhaps, as showing progress and the drift of opinion, were the speeches
of those who had at the previous session voted against the
amendment. Mr. McAllister of Pennsylvania, -^Yho had voted
But more
adversely,
significant
now
said
:
" In voting for
it
I cast
my
vote against
Confederacy, and declare
the corner-stone of the Southern
war against the enemies of my country." Mr. Crofsame State accompanied his vote with this decla"
If by my action to-day I dig my political grave,
ration
knowing that I am
I will descend into it without a murmur
eternal
forth of the
:
;
justified in
what
my
action by a conscientious belief I
will ultimately prove to be a service to
knoAving there
is
wide world who
my
am
doing
country, and
one dear, devoted, and loved being in this
will not bring tears
grave, but will strew
to that
bitterness
of
Mr. Herrick of
with flowers."
it
New
York, after saying that he regarded such change as demanded
by the good of the country and the maintenance of its institu" I may incur the censure of
tions, added, with deep emotion
some of my party friends on this floor, and perhaps displease
:
some
my
of
my
respected constituents
;
but to
me
the country of
and the government under whose benign protection
I have enjoyed all the blessings of liberty, and under which,
restored to more than all its original splendor, and strengthened and purified by the trials through which it has passed, I
expect my children's children to enjoy the same blessings long
birth,
after
my
dearer to
mortal frame shall have mouldered into dust,
me
than friends or party or
in the consciousness of right, I
justice,
and
feel that
know
political position.
the sight of the page on which
my
Firm
that posterity will do
no descendant of mine
vote
is
will ever
is
me
blush at
recorded in favor of
country, government, liberty, and progress."
While, however, there was this growing sentiment in
favor, the opposition remained no less determined
its
and envenomed, expressing the same bitter and depreciating words
against the negro and his friends.
Mr. Brooks of New York
admitted that the war had destroyed slavery but he added
" "We have become the slaves, the thralls, the bondmen of the
capitalists of the North
for the emancipation of the negroes
;
;
voi/. III.
29
�450
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
South we have enslaved
tlie white people of the North
Mr. Bliss of Ohio scouted the idea of
humanity, saying that " the pretence of a humanitarian motive
towards the negroes amounts to nothing but a display of systematic and intense hypocrisy " and that " the best possible
of the
to everlasting debt."
;
disposition of
them
is
New
Mr. Rogers of
tion."
them
to restore
to their primal condi-
Jersey denied that slavery was
" The history of our country will," he
the cause of the war.
said, " in pages red with blood record that this war was caused
by the
acts of the Abolitionists of the North."
;
pediency of
its
Ward
into the
the right existed, he questioned the exexercise, as it would " add fuel to the flame,
and
Constitution
Mr.
amendment
denied the right of incorporating such an
if
and prolong the sanguinary contest."
Mr. Mallory of Kentucky deprecated the movement because
" it would multiply and complicate the difficulties in relation
Mr, Clay of the same State, a large slaveholder,
to slavery."
pleaded earnestly and eloquently against the adoption of the
measure. Mr. Eldridge, a leading Democrat of Wisconsin,
embitter the South,
House that the proposed action would " furnish the
Rebel leaders another argument by which to win the doubting
and to arouse the lukewarm." Mr. White of Ohio expressed
told the
the conviction that
Union forever."
it
would " sound the death-knell
Mr. Townsend of
New York
of the
opposed " the
change of the organic law in times of civil war." AVith more
elaboration, Mr. Voorhees of Indiana enunciated a similar
thought.
" Such an act," he said, " should not be consum-
mated amid the fiery passions and vehement hates engendered
by civil war. It should be the work of calmness and of peace.
It is to last for all time.
When
the sky shall again be clear
over our heads, a peaceful sun illuminating the land, and our
great household of States
all at
home
in
harmony once more,
then will be the time to consider what changes,
generation desires to
son,
make on
and the revered sages
the
work
of
if
any, this
Washington, Madi-
of our antiquity."
Mr. Holman
believed the fate of slavery sealed, and therefore such action
was not necessary, Mr. Cox of Ohio admitted the right to
adopt the amendment, but denied its expediency. Mr. Pen-
�AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
451
dleton of Ohio made a constitutional argument against the
measure closing with these words of solemn asseveration
and warning. " The time is fast passing away," he said,
" when, under the influence of your policy and your legislation, the Southern people will have the least interest in your
;
Your
laws.
of your
legislation has turned to ashes the golden fruits
military
successes.
Your
policy
has verified the
Gentlemen must not be misled
by the siren voices that come up to them from captured cities
They woo you but to ruin. If you misunderof the South.
stand them, they will lead you as willing victims upon quicksands and rocks." Mr. Harding of Kentucky also denied the
power, by amendment, to abolish or establish slavery, and
alleged causes of secession.
expressed his apprehension of " danger that the Constitution,
after all tliat has been
done and suffered to preserve
it,
may
sink and perish by the hand of revolution in the
at last
North."
But there were Democrats who took broader and wiser
who gave both voice and vote for the measure.
Among them was Rollins of Missouri. He had voted against
" It
it at the previous session, but he had changed his views.
"
will go far," he said,
to strengthen the government, by preventing future dissension and cementing the bonds of the
Union, on the preservation of which depends our strength, our
security, our safety, our happiness, and the continued existence of free institutions on the American continent." Mr.
King of the same State also changed his vote, expressing the
hope tliat " from the bloody ordeal and fierce chastening of
views, and
the past four years, our glorious nation
trials yet to
may
still
brave the
come, and that erelong we shall enter the sun-
shine of peace, and stand before the world a free and united
people."
lief
Mr. Odell of
New York
gave expression to the be-
that they had been remiss in so long yielding to Southern
" encroachment upon the religious belief and Northern sentiment " that had they earlier exerted their power and manliood the war would never have been inaugurated
that slavery
had for years been " a dead weight on the Democratic party " ;
;
;
that "
it
ought no longer to consent to be dragged down by
�452
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
influence "
IN AMERICA.
and that, " accepting the facts of history," it
should " march on with tlie world in its progress of human
events, turn its Ijack upon its dark past, and its eyes upon
its
;
the bright future."
Other earnest, able, and eloquent speeches were made until
the 28th, when the motion for reconsideration was carried;
and the joint resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred
and nineteen to fifty-six, eight members not voting. As the
time for closing the debate approached, the interest increased,
and the notice that the vote would be taken the next day
was the occasion
for intense excitement.
On
the day of the
vote the galleries and the approaches thereto were thronged,
while Senators, judges, Cabinet officers and others crowded
upon the
floor.
The uncertainty
that
still
hung over the
result
of the vote, even at the beginning of the roll-call, occasioned
the most intense and breathless anxiety and suspense.
when
And
the result was assured, and the Speaker announced that
the requisite two-thirds vote had been given for the proposed
amendment, the pent-up feelings of the multitude found expression in the most uproarious demonstrations of delight, in which
members on the floor as well as the crowd in the galleries
took part. After these exhibitions of enthusiasm and gratification had somewhat subsided, Mr. Ingersoll of Illinois said
" In honor of this immortal and sublime event, I move that
the House do now adjourn."
The motion was carried amid
similar demonstrations of jubilant and enthusiastic delight.
The amendment, having been adopted by both houses of Congress, received the signature of the President, was submitted,
in the manner prescribed, to the States for ratification, received the vote of the required three fourths of the States, and
by public proclamation of Mr. Lincoln on the eigliteenth day
of December, 1865, the Xlllth Amendment became a part of
the Constitution of the United States of America, and slavery
was forever thereafter prohibited by the organic law of the
land.
The absorbing
interest
and excitement which were exhibited
at the capital prevailed to a very large extent throughout the
nation, both North and South, though for widely variant rea-
�453
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.
sons, as the great debate proceeded
and the hour for voting
It could liardly be otherwise
approached.
than that so radical
a measure, so wide a departure from the course hitherto pur-
sued by the nation, so far in advance of the proclaimed policy
of the Republican party itself, should excite profound atten-
tion
;
and that the same uncertainty and consequent anxiety
that prevailed at Washington, as to the probable action of the
two houses, should be
Various,
if
felt
throughout the country.
not adverse, motives unquestionably contributed
to this change in the organic law.
Many
est convictions of religious obligation.
ment they found the
hopes, and
the
acted from the high-
In the Xllltli Amend-
glorious fruition of the struggles, the
prayers of
years.
Others were prompted
mainly by humane considerations and a natural detestation
Such gladly embraced the opportunity afforded
by absolution from the constitutional obligations which had
formerly held them back, to vote against a system so distasteful to their better natures, which had inflicted, and which
was still inflicting, such harm upon the nation. And then,
again, there were many wdio, taught in the fearful and fiery
school of war through which they were passing, were reading,
in the light of its lurid flames, the great and primal truths of
But a
free institutions as they had never read them before.
larger number still, it is probable, acted from prudential conof slavery.
siderations merely.
They accepted emancipation not
so
much
from any heartfelt conversion to the doctrine of antislavery
as from the conviction that the removal of slavery had become a military, if not a political, necessity. Mingled with
such considerations, there Avere, in the minds of some, feelings of resentment and indignation towards the slaveholders
on account of the injury they had inflicted by their causeless
and their ungrateful return for the many sacrifices
which the conservatives of the North had made in their behalf.
rebellion
The
foul spirit of caste, not fully exorcised,
the hearts of
many who
still
lurked within
yet from prudential and political consid-
erations voted to place the ban of a constitutional
upon the system that had without that
It is
spirit
amendment
been impossible.
not strange, therefore, that votes thus prompted and
�454
BISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
secured were not always followed by consistent conduct, or
harmony with such action. But, however
the great change was made, and now the Constitution
by conduct in
effected,
full
and the Declaration, no longer
the same great truths of
human
at variance, give utterance to
liberty, fraternity, equality.
Though, doubtless, there is ground for the allegation, often
made, that the Xlllth Amendment did not fairly represent
the real opinions of many individuals, and even States, who
voted for it from political rather than moral considerations,
and that it had the weakness of all laws which are in advance
of the public sentiment, its enactment was a great gain to the
cause of humanity and good government. It transferred the
moral power that inheres in all law from the wrong to the
right side of the " irrepressible conflict."
Hitherto the advo-
cates of oppression could plead the compromises of the Consti-
and claim, as they did most pertinaciously and too
successfully, that the law was on their side.
The tendency,
therefore, as historical facts painfully show, was in the wrong
direction, towards conformity with the statute however infamous, debauching public sentiment, and dragging the convictions of the people down to the low level of those sinful compromises even prominent clergymen preaching discourses, that
were scattered broadcast, in favor of the enforcement of the
Fugitive Slave Act. All this is now changed. The organic law
tution,
;
is
now
right, and, instead of
sentiment down,
ideal.
He that
it is
lifting
dragging or keeping the popular
it
up
plead the sanction of the Constitution
as well as divine law.
it gives.
The gain
up
is,
;
but he violates
therefore,
human
immense
;
and
the negro and his friends high vantage-ground in the
conflict still in progress.
fully
own high
now, as before,
to the plane of its
treats the negro unjustly cannot
Public sentiment
to its proper enforcement
source of comfort and courage
—
;
is
may
not yet bo
but the tendency
toward
it.
—
it is
a
�CHAPTER XXXIII.
NORTHEEN AID FOR PREEDMEN.
— "Wants of the ex-slaves. — " Atlantic Monthly." — Edward
— Fortress Monroe. — " Contrabands." — Employed. — Letter from
"Newport News." — Rev. L. C. Lockwood. — First school. — Great work
inaugurated. — Commission. — Reiwrt and recommendations. —^Charles B.
"Wilder. — Noilhern aid needed. — Favorable attitude of governmental
—
— Sea Islands. — Cotton agents. — Secretary Chase. — Mr. Pierce's
P>eport and plan. — Peck and French. — General Sherman. — Hesitation of
President and Cabinet. — Co-operation. — Appeals and Northern responses. —
Associations formed. — Pierce's second report. — First arrival of missionaries
and teachers. — Immediate success. — Lincoln's death and Johnson's new
policy. — General purpose of the work
the freedmen. — Prompt and
generous Northern responses. — Female teachers. — Extravagant expectations.
— Actual
— Drawbacks. — Various Associations. — British help.
Lessons of slavery.
L. Pierce.
officials.
visit.
for
results.
American Missionary Association.
The slaveXlike others, was the creature of circumstances,
and he became substantially what slavery made him. By
simple diet, enforced temperance, and hard work he was generally healthy and strong.
With well-developed physique,
inured to toil, he was capable of endurance and continuous
Under the stern discipline of slavery he was generally
and obsequious, if not always truthful and trustworthy.
But he was ignorant, because ignorance was a necessity of
labor.
docile
slavery.
Hq[jiad little or no self-assertion, care, forethought,
because everything about slavery was unfriendly to such traits
When, therefore, through the exigencies of war
found
himself
he
suddenly freed from his master's control and
within the Union lines, he was substantially the same man.
His change of position had not changed him. He had the
of character.
same brawny arm, the same strength to use it, the same
powers of endurance, the same docility of disposition, and the
�456
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
same willingness to obey for all tins he had learned in the
But he lacked
stern school from which he had jnst emerged.
;
the ability to use these faculties, to set himself to work, or to
take suitable care of himself, for these were lessons he had
was the general Tule, to which there
then exceptions more or less marked. He
needed, therefore, at the hands of others what he lacked in
himself,
this service in return for the service he was willing
to rendef^ And this was the lesson soon learned and the
conclusion soon reached by those who were first brought in
not learned
;
at least this
were now and
—
contact with the " contrabands " at Fortress Monroe.
" Abandoning one of these faithful allies, who, if delivered
up, woulii be reduced to severer servitude because of the education he had received and the services he had performed,
probably to be transported to the remotest slave region as
now
too dangerous to remain near
accursed
among
its
borders,
the nations of the earth.
we should be
I felt assured that
from that hour, whatsoever were the fortunes of the war,
every one of those enrolled defenders of the Union had vindicated beyond all future question, for himself, his wife, and
their issue, a title to American citizenship, and become heir
to all the immunities of
Magna
Charta, the Declaration of
Independence, and the Constitution of the United States."
These words appeared in the " Atlantic Monthly " for Novemtitle " The Contrabands at Fortress
They were furnished by E. L. Pierce, Esq., of
Boston, whose name deserves honorable mention as the first,
or among the first, to entertain and give a practical solution of
the vexed question, the momentous problem, " What shall be
done with and for those made free by the exigencies of rebellion and war ? " Their chief significance, perhaps, and main
interest are due to the time and circumstances under which
tliey were written.
Though the sentiments, however true and
seem
important,
now familiar and obvious, it is to be remembered that they were written within a very few months of the
opening of hostilities, when everything was dark and in the
highest degree uncertain, and when the most sagacious could
ber,
1861, under the
]Monroe."
only guess what the outcome would be.
�457
NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
Mr. Pierce, in his own words, had been " specially detailed,
from his post as private in Company L of the Third Regiment,
to collect the contrabands, record their names, ages,
and the
names
of their masters, provide their tools, superintend their
labor,
and procure their rations." Federal troops having
Hampton, from which the white inhabitants had fled,
entered
setting on fire not only the village but the
thereto,
it
was found necessary
to
bridge leading
throw up intrenchments.
having been suggested that the " contrabands " might very
properly be employed for such work. General Butler was inIt
He gave his assent, and on Monday morning,
they were thus employed. " That was the first day,"
says Mr. Pierce, " in the course of the war, in which the negro
terrogated.
July
8,
was employed upon the military works of our army. It therefore marks a distinct epoch in its progress, and in its relations to the colored population." A soldier's ration was given
to each contraband tlms employed, and a half-ration for each
Of the new policy
dependant.
rated,
and
of the vast results to
this little
which
it
experiment inauguled, previous chap-
The regiment (" three months ")
soon returning home, Mr. Pierce was compelled to leave the
care of his novel charge to other hands, though he was soon
to be recalled to enter upon work for the freedmen on a larger
ters
have made mention.
and in another part of the field. Meanwhile there were
other eyes upon the " contrabands at Fortress Monroe," other
scale
hearts to sympathize with them, and other hands to help.
On
the 21st of August, 1861, a chaplain of a regiment stationed at Newport News addressed a letter " to the Young
Men's Christian Association of the City of New York," urging
the employment of a missionary " among the slaves that had
That letter was carried to the
American Missionary Association, an antislavery
been liberated in Virginia."
rooms
of the
organization for the prosecution of missions in both this country and foreign lands.
Rightly deeming this a
call of Provi-
dence to the performance of a service in the very line of its
self-selected work, the executive committee at once determined
to respond thereto.
Rev. Lewis C. Lockwood was accordingly
commissioned to proceed at once to
this
new
field of labor.
�458
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Repairing to Washington and making his errand
known
to
Wool, in
command at Fortress Monroe. He was kindly received bj
the general, who gave him authority to enter at once upon
the work, promising him such facilities as the military authorthere, he received letters to General
the
officials
ities
could consistently render.
In a letter to the Association, dated September
after stating that " arrangements have been
made
4,
1861,
for three
on the Sabbath," one being " in the house of ex-President Tyler," and that, " so far as now appears, we shall soon
enter upon Sabbath-school instruction as well as week-day
" There will be, I think,
instruction," Mr. Lockwood adds
a sufficient number of soldiers and other persons to assist in
Sabbath-school instruction.
General Wool is actively concurring with us in arrangements for places, etc." Thus suddenly
was inaugurated, and from such simple and small beginnings
arose, a work which at that point soon assumed large dimensions, employing scores of teachers, giving instruction to hunservices
:
dreds of pupils, and finally resulting in the establishment of
an institution of a higher grade, upon a permanent foundation,
receiving State patronage, and designed, through a normal
department, to send forth teachers properly qualified, mainly,
though not exclusively, among the freedmen.
A few
statistics
introduced subsequently will indicate more clearly the extent
and value
of
the
work thus informally and
providentially
begun.
Nor was the government
pressing necessities of this
or the military indifferent to the
new
Sud-
class of beneficiaries.
denly deprived of even the meagre care of their former masters,
and thrown at once upon
their
own
resources, without
any provision or preparation for self-support, the army officials
could not but see their need of both guidance and help and
they acted promptly in their behalf. Evidence of this is afforded
by a report, made to the XXXYIIth Congress, in an answer
to a resolution of the House, on the 25th of March, 1862, on
;
Africans in Fort Monroe Military District." The report
was made by General Wool, and covers several " general
orders," and the report of a commission, appointed by him.
*'
�NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
459
and consisting of Colonel T. J. Cram and Majors L. B.
Cannon and W. P. Jones, " for the purpose of making a
critical examination of the condition of persons known as
vagrants or contrabands,' who are employed in this depart'
ment, in reference to their pay, clothing, subsistence, medical attendance, shelter, and treatment, physical and moral."
" In order," he said, " to do justice to the claims of humanity,
in a proper discharge of the grave responsibility thrust
upon
the military authorities of this department in consequence of
numerous persons (men, women, and children) already congregated and daily increasing, being abandoned by their
masters, or having fled to this military command for protection," he called upon all " chiefs of the several depart-
ments, their subordinates and employees " to afford the commission
all
information and
facilities
needful for the faithful
accomplishment of the purposes of their appointment.
minding
it
of the
Re-
rumor that these persons " had not been
all cases," he instructed its members that
properly treated in
they could not be " too rigid in the examination, in order that
justice
may
be done to them as well as to the
puljlic service."
accompany its report " with such suggestions as the commission may deem proper for the improvement of the treatment and management of these persons."
This " general order" was made on the 30th of January,
1862, and on the 20th of March the commission made report.
It was elaborate and gave the facts developed in detail, grouping the information communicated under the heads of clothIt
was
also instructed to
ing, subsistence, shelter, medical attendance, pay, treatment,
physical and moral,
economy
of this labor to the
government,
census, suggestions for the improvement of their condition.
Under the
head very suggestive statements were made
and plans proposed. Saying that it was " a new thing to all,
beset with difficulties and antagonisms on all sides but, like
latter
;
all
systems, requiring practical results to develop
its
weak
and time to remedy its errors," it made several recommendations of a practical or prudential character needful for
the protection and support, employment and control, of these
points,
people.
Under the head
of
moral treatment
it
referred to
�460
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
schools already in " successful operation at
Camp Hamilton,
under the charge of a clergyman, assisted by other teachers
.... also religious instructions and meetings on Sunday and
After saying that there
stated evenings during the week."
been " no regular school established in and around the
liad
fort,"
it
adds, " the commission
recommend the temporary
by some
bands for children's schools " for specified hours, " and for
Divine service at proper hours on Sunday." It also recommended the appointment by government " of a person, always
subordinate to the military authorities though unconnected
a man of elevated moral character,
with the military service,
high social position, and intelligence, who would consent to
proper teacher, of the quarters of the contra-
use,
—
serve from motives of philanthropy," to inculcate the virtues
and to be protected by the military " in all proper
efforts to improve these people physically, morally, and reSaying that it had been assured " by educated
ligiously."
and philanthropic gentlemen that there is no necessity for
of
life,
any governmental charity to these people
the North will undertake to provide for
that societies at
;
all their
proper wants,
in connection with their moral and intellectual culture," it
added " We earnestly recommend that it be left, as government leaves all similar demands, to the intelligence and
Charles B. Wilder, a merchant
generosity of the people."
of Boston, whose well-known probity and philanthropy, ear:
nestness of character and stirring energy, suggested his
name
recommendations of the
commission, was appointed superintendent and to him, by
General Orders, No. 22, issued March 18, 1862, the chiefs of
"
the several departments and others employing " these people
as that of one well answering the
;
were required to report. The admirable administration of his
department by Mr. Wilder indicated the wisdom alike of the
policy inaugurated and of his selection for the post he so
acceptably and successfully
This report
is
interesting and
only on account of
but from
pany
its
origin
filled.
its
historically important, not
subject and the time of its appearing,
and purpose.
It is
not the report of a com-
of missionaries enclosed in a letter
from the secretary
of
�461
NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
some religions association, but of a commission of army ofificers
covered by a " Letter from the Secretary of War in answer to
a Resolution of the House," and published as " Ex. Doc. No.
85, of the
XXXVIIth
Congress, 2d Session."
It is there-
document of the government of the United
and reveals the solicitude of some at least of its high
officials for the lowly and helpless class thus suddenly dispossessed of their liomes and turned shelterless and penniless
Though the President and his advisers,
upon the world.
fore an official
States,
mainly intent on the one supreme purpose of maintaining the
Union, had seemingly given little thought or care to what so
soon proved to be one of the great questions of the war, there
and large numbers in subordicomprehend the situation, recognize the
new duty, and the importance of its prompt and intelligent as
was one member
nate stations,
well as
its
of the Cabinet,
who
did
conscientious performance.
In the mean time, while these efforts were in progress at
Fortress Monroe and vicinity, the same problem was clamoring
and receiving solution farther South. Through the capture
Head and Bay Point by the Federal navy, November 7, 1861, the Sea Islands on the coast of South Carolina
were occupied by Union troops. Of course the slaves of those
islands were freed from their masters' control, and their numbers were considerably increased by those who were escaping
thereto from the mainland.
The government, aware of large
amounts of the choicest cotton to be found on the plantations,
despatched agents for its collection. But Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, though not indifferent to the pecuniary
value of the cotton, was prepared, by his antislavery antecedents and convictions, to be more solicitous for those, with
their dependent families, who had raised it, and who had been
left by their traitorous and vagrant masters without means of
their own, and without any to guide them in their dispersed
and demoralized condition.
for
of Hilton
With the heart
of a philanthropist
and the forecast
of a
statesman, he comprehended, in a measure at least, the situation,
and saw that there was work to be done that could not
with safety or without wrong-doing be neglected.
He
accord-
�462
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
ingly deputed Mr. Pierce to visit the islands, examine and
report the condition of the negroes, and suggest some means
by which they might be organized, their labor utilized, and
such arrangements made as would promote their general wellbeing. He sailed from New York on the 13th of January, and
was absent just one month. During his stay he visited a large
number
affairs,
of the plantations, observed carefully the
state of
conversed very freely with the negroes, ascertained
very generally their habits, thoughts, wishes, and expectations,
and from the
results of these observations
plan of effort for the future guidance of those to
be intrusted the management of
summarily the appointment
affairs.
formed a
whom
should
His plan embraced
of superintendents
who should
act
an adequate corps of teachers
and the other needful appliances of an educational work.
These men were to take charge of these abandoned lands and
the freedmen thereon, cultivating the former and caring for
also as local magistrates, with
the latter.
In his report, which was long and
ela"borate, giving in inter-
esting detail the results of his explorations, he
makes mention
two others, clergymen from the North, who were thus early
Rev. Solomon Peck, D, D., of Massachusetts, and
Rev. Mansfield French of New York. Dr. Peck was a distin-
of
in the field,
—
guished Baptist clergyman, formerly a professor in Amherst
College,
and subsequently connected with the mission-work of
He early repaired to Beaufort, and there
his denomination.
not only preached to the people, but had at that time estab" Of narrow means,"
lished a school of some sixty pupils.
"
writes Mr. Pierce,
and yet in the main defraying his own
expenses, this
man
of apostolic faith
both hemispheres bear witness,
and
left his
comfort this poor and shepherdless flock
and ever
;
life,
to
home
and
to
whose labors
and
him belongs,
to guide
honor of being the first
minister of Christ to enter the field which our arms had
" Mr. French," he wrote, " whose mission was auopened.*'
thenticated and approved by the government, prompted by
will belong, the distinguished
benevolent purposes of his own, and in conference with others
in the city of New York, has been here two weeks, during
�NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
463
which time he has been industriously occupied in examining
the state of the islands and their population, in conferring
with the authorities and laying the foundation of beneficent
appliances with reference to their moral, educational, and material wealth.
in
These, having received the sanction of
command, he now returns
to
commend
officers
to the public,
and
the government will derive important information from his
He
report."
closed with reference to an
Sherman, dated February
6, 1862, of
evidence of the deep interest which the
General
order of
which he says
:
" It
is
commanding general
takes in this subject, and of his conviction that the exigency
requires prompt and vigorous action."
The Secretary accepted the report and its recommendations,
and entered heartily into the adoption of measures requisite
But though the Secretary of the Treasury
for its execution.
and so many other officers of the government saw, or thought
they saw, the need of prompt and adequate action in the
premises, neither the President nor the other members of his
Cabinet entered very heartily into the measure proposed and
the former, if not reluctantly, almost petulantly gave an order
;
to Mr. Chase to " give Mr. Pierce such instructions in regard
to Port
Royal contrabands as
may seem
letter of instructions the Secretary
though his power to
gress,
was
ment
of the
act,
judicious."
In his
informed Mr. Pierce that,
without further legislation of Con-
he deemed the improveabandoned lands and the employment of their
at best constructive, yet
laborers so important, that he should continue his agency in
" the general superintendence and direction " of the work,
with the understanding that the salaries of the agents would
be assumed by Northern associations, " while subsistence,
quarters, and transportation only will be furnished by the
government."
Such was the general outlook near the beginning of 1862.
By the action of individual philanthropy and the co-operation
of official agents a new work, little calculated upon or provided
and large prospective dimensions,
upon the loyal North. To perform
work most effectively and completely it was seen that
for, of rapidly increasing
had been
this
rolled at once
�464
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA,
there must be both governmental and popular action, the one
supplcmentmg the other,
— voluntary
beneficence aided and
protected by governmental authority, agencies, and agents.
These were the small but experimental beginnings of a gi-eat
and widely extended work, covering the whole land, counting
its agents by thousands, and numbering the givers and recipiAs a work it was unique and
ents of its bounty by millions.
without its parallel, and constitutes a most important part and
feature of the great civil war.
Nothing
less
than a volume
could contain anything like an adequate account of this combination of Northern and governmental beneficence in behalf
of its victims.
What
has been given here
is
but a hint of
its
was designed to effect. For
the rest, all that space gives room for are a few historical
facts and statistics which may in some degree, though faintly,
indicate its extent and amount.
On the return of Mr. Pierce and IMr. French to the North,
appeals were at once made to the philanthropy and patriotism
origin
and a sample
of
what
it
Large meetings -were
lield in Boston
York, at the call and under tlie auspices of leading men associations were immediately formed, and vigorous
measures were promptly taken to hurry teachers and supplies
In Mr. Pierce's second
of books and clothing to the islands.
of their fellow-citizens.
and
New
report to Secretary Chase, dated June 9, 1862, after speaking
of the formation of the Educational
Commission
of Boston,
New York,
and the Port Royal Relief Commission of Philadelphia, he
" On the morning of March 9th forty-one men and
adds
twelve women, accepted for the above purposes, and approved
by the first two of the above associations, disembarked at
the National Freedman's Relief Association of
:
Beaufort
The men were
of
various
occupations,
farmers, mechanics, tradesmen, teachers, physicians, clergy-
men,
— ranging from twenty-one to sixty years."
additions increased the numbers, so that at
tlie
Subsequent
date of the
report there were, he states, on the ground " seventy-four
men
and nineteen women." Indications of the practical character
of the purpose, and of the vigorous measures proposed, were
afforded by the consignment of ninety mnles and ten horses,
�NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
465
which made up a part o£ the inventory sent for the improveThere is, of
of those islands and their inhabitants.
course, no room for the mention of results, except to add
ment
that Mr. Pierce, in an article in the " Atlantic
September, 1863, says
:
no longer a bare hope or possibility.
consummation.
Monthly"
" The enterprise, begun in doubt,
The negroes
will fight for their freedom.
It is
a fruition
of
is
and
work for a living. They
They are adapted to society."
will
But the sanguine hopes thus raised were not
to be realized.
President Lincoln's death, the change of policy by his successor,
not only remanding those islands to their former
owners, but encouraging those
owners and
all
the slave-
masters of the South to believe that they might yet regain in
fact
what they had
lost in
deferred for long years what
form, broke up the system and
it
was too confidently hoped was
near at hand.
The enterprise, however, inaugurated on the Sea Islands
was exceptional and experimental. Combining the culture
of the land with care for the negroes, thus mingling profit
and philanthropy,
it
was hoped, not only that
relief
might be
afforded for present necessities, but also data for the solution
of those great problems of reconstruction
it was foreseen were
Elsewhere the work among the freedmen was
comprehensive, temporary, and more restricted. Its pur-
near at hand.
less
pose was to seek out the colored population
left destitute
and
dependent by the war and minister to such necessities as
were left unsupplied by the government, or, as tersely expressed by the Duke of Argyle, at a public meeting in London
in its behalf, " to assist in the clothing and education of free
negroes."
It
was
also designed
along the uncertain
to succor
way between
and guide them
slavery and freedom, to
bridge the chasm between what had been so dark and distress-
and what was at best doubtful and obscure in
the future, and to prepare them for their new and, as yet,
unfixed status in the body politic. Nor was the appeal any
louder or more urgent than was the response prompt and
generous.
Indeed, for months, not to say years, the contri-
ful in the past
butions transcended the opportunities for wise disbursement,
VOL.
III.
30
�4G6
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
not to speak of occasional
tween
and promising
rivalries,,
different organizations for the
fields.
As
IN AMERICA.
not always seemly, be-
occupancy of inviting
at the outset there
was the great
uprising of the people, sending their sons to fight the battles
of the war, so
their daughters
now there seemed to be like response, and
went forth by Inmdreds, not to say thousands,
to achieve tliose equally important victories of peace.
Doubtless there was mingled with these appeals and zealous
responses
much
that
ments that had no
could not but
fail.
was sentimental and extravagant,
sufficient foundations in fact,
state-
hopes that
Representations too rose-colored were
often made, and expectations far too sanguine were not sel-
There were visionaries, if not fanatics, who
have forgotten their own teachings of a generation
concerning the dehumanizing influence of slavery upon its
dom
encouraged.
seemed
to
and to feel that a race which had been subject to its
malign power for two hundred years could almost, by a single
bound, spring from the midnight of chattelhood into the noonday of citizenship. Or if it was admitted that, dazzled by the
new light and the novel circumstances in which they found
tlicmselves, they might make mistakes concerning the duties
their new-born rights had brought, and that some preparation
would be necessary, it was claimed that they comprehended in
a wonderful manner their needs, and were strangely anxious
Reports were sent
to supply their conscious deficiencies.
home of their eager thirst for knowledge, and marvellous
accounts were given of the evening schools thronged by the
middle-aged and the aged, too, the Uncle Toms and Aunt
Chloes, slowly but persistently mastering their alpha))ets and
victims,
primers in order that they might spell out the story of the
Saviour's love in the blessed BiV)le of which they had known,
but in which they had never been permitted to read.
with
much
all
in
But
the abatements which the truth demands, there was
the circumstances of the
ex-slaves to
invite
and
reward effort. And though there was much that was immature and unskilful in the instruction given, superficial and soon
forgotten in tlie lessons learned, great good was accomplished
tln'ough these voluntary efforts in behalf of the freedmen.
�NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
Mere educational
would,
if
statistics,
always more or less unreliable,
attainable, be especially unreliable here.
ply giving account of the
number
467
amount
Tables sim-
of funds contributed, of the
opened and scholars
would convey but a very im-
of teachers sent out, of schools
enrolled, even
if
perfectly accurate,
perfect estimate of either the quantity or the quality of the edu-
For this afforded no exception to the general
work is often hindered and not helped by incompetent and unfaithful workers, and the desirable results
from worthy laborers greatly, if not entirely, neutralized by
those of the unworthy. In answer to the call from this new field,
many responses came, and it was not strange that some unbidden presented themselves. To these drawbacks was added
the fact that the great work of education, always difficult and
delicate, even under the most favorable circumstances and with
appliances best adapted and most complete, was to be prosecation acquired.
rule that a good
cuted under circumstances the exact reverse, generally in
buildings extemporized for the occasion, often most unsuitable
and uncomfortable, in communities not only not in harmony
and kindly disposed thereto, but actively hostile to both the
teacher and his work, and tolerating neither only as the arm
with pupils generally from dwellof the military protected
ings with all the discomforts of poverty the most abject, and
with surroundings so foreign and hostile to either culture or
virtue that it seemed hardly possible that the eighteen hours at
home should not undo and neutralize all that the six hours at
;
school could effect.
So much
is
due to the truth of history and in answer to the
cavil often heard, that there
has been no adequate return for
the large amounts expended and the labors performed
the harvest
is
meagre compared
witli the seed
;
sown and
that
cul-
ture bestowed, betokening failure either in the nature of the
soil cultivated or
on the part of those who cultivated
other reply or explanation than that already given,
it.
it
For
may
be
no more than elsewhere, can be accurately estimated or weighed all the good accomplished. That much suffering was relieved, that many were rescued from a life of
ignorance and vice, of helplessness and failure, and started
said that here,
�4G8
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
and prepared for a
life
of usefulness
worlds, admits of no doubt, while they
who became almoners
of, this
IN AMERICA.
and success
who
for both
gave, and they
vast bounty no doubt found
verified the Divine declaration that
it is
more blessed
to give
than receive.
The work was coextensive with the objects of its charity.
Wherever the Union armies advanced thither the freedmen
flocked, and there was extended its hand of friendly succor,
north and south, east and west. In addition to these associations, formed at first in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia,
there were formed, subsequently, the New England Freedmen's
Aid Society, the American Freedmen's Aid Commission, the
Freedmen's Union Commission, the American Union Commission, the
Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association, Friends'
Eelief Association, the Baltimore Association for the Moral
and Educational Improvement of the Colored People, Delaware Association, the Freedmen's Aid Association of Western
Pennsylvania and adjacent parts of Ohio and Western Virginia, the Western Freedmen's Aid Commission, the Northwestern Freedmen's Aid Commission, the American Missionary Association. The number and names of these associations indicate the wide-spread interest felt and the extended
sweep of their operations. There may have been others of
local character whose names escape recollection or mention
but these were the main agencies employed, and the aggregate
of their contributions of
the
number
of
money must have reached
men and women
millions
sent forth exceeding three
There were several similar associations in Great
Britain, whose aggregate contributions to the work Mr. GarThere was a
rison places at eight hundred thousand dollars.
meeting of the representatives of these associations at London,
May 17, 1865, at which Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton presided,
for the purpose of forming a National Committee, " to consolidate and extend the action already taken for the relief of the
freed negroes of America."
A similar combination of the
various local associations above mentioned was effected in New
York by the formation, on the 19th of September, 1865, of the
American Freedmen's Aid Commission. It- was during this
thousand.
�NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
469
year that the American Union Commission was formed on a
somewhat enlarged basis, embracing the white refugees. It
was " organized to aid in the restoration of the Union upon
the basis of freedom, industry, education,, and Christian morahty," and was designed to promote the interests of patriotism, as well as of charity.
The next year it was united with
the National Freedmen's Aid Commission, and it became the
American Freedmen's Union Commission. These different
associations and the freqiient changes referred to indicate the
lively interest felt in the subject, and the evident anxiety that
existed to profit by any mistakes that may have been made, and
to adapt the action taken to the ever-varying and progressive
All the above organizations, ex-
exigencies of the situation.
American Missionary Association, were from the
cept the
start
designed to be temporary, to continue only so long as there
work to be performed. Accordingly the
American Freedmen's Union Commission in this country and
the corresponding association of Great Britain and Ireland
formally dissolved their organizations in 1869, and disconexisted the special
tinued their operations.
But the disbandment did not imply either the completion of
work on which they had been engaged, or the exhaustion
of Northern sympathy and resources.
The former had indeed
the
zeal
was less enthusiasm, and
movement with alacrity
had become discouraged. But there were others
who saw
in |t a life-work, believing that at least a generation
lost
something of
many who had
and
its
freshness, there
at first entered into the
must pass before the process
of emancipation could be fully
complete, and that the triumphs of war must be supplemented
by the
victories
of peace.
This was specially true of those
who
its
regarded what was called the Southern problem mainly in
moral aspects, who felt that the freedmen had other than
material or even educational necessities, and that there could
be no adequate preparation for this
life
a preparation for the life to come.
Accordingly most of the
Christian denominations adopted
it
that did not embrace
as a part of their mission-
ary work and incorporated a department for freedmen with
the other departments formed for the prosecution of their
various forms of benevolent effort.
�470
RISE
Among
engaged
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
them, the most prominent and the most extensively
work, is the American Missionary Association,
in the
sustained mainly, though not exclusively, by the Congregationalists,
with
its
Fortress Monroe,
the
its
first
headquarters at
it
New York.
Beginning at
opened, on the ITth of Septem'oer, 18G1,
freedmen's school ever opened in America.
It
took
share in the work on the Sea Islands, and early opened a
it had
Hampton, and New-
Before the close of 1862,
school in Norfolk, Virginia.
flourishing schools at Fortress Monroe,
port News, at Norfolk and vicinity, at Washington, D.
C,
and at Cairo, Illinois. Generously sustained by the sympathy
and contributions of the people, it followed closely the advancing armies of the Union, and held itself in readiness to
occupy any eligible position, not occupied by others, where
schools could be established
its working force some years
reaching as high as five hundred teachers and missionaries,
and its receipts three or four hundred thousand dollars. At
;
this writing
it
reports
its
cash expenditures for the freedmcn to
have exceeded two and three quarters million dollars, besides
an incalculable amount of clothing, books, and other supplies.
its work has been somewhat changed.
Though it has not entirely discontinued its primary schools
among the freedmen, it has devoted its efforts more to schools
and institutions of a higher grade and more permanent char-
Latterly the character of
acter, designed rather to raise
up and qualify teachers
for the
freedmen than to commission and sustain, as at first, teachIn a " History of the American Missionary
ers among them.
Association," published in 1874, there is an account and hst
given of eighteen " Graded and Normal Schools," in the States
Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas, with one hundred and eightyfive teachers, over five thousand pupils, and property estimated at one hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars. It
also gives the names of seven "chartered institutions,"
Normal and Agricultural InstiBerea College, Kentucky
Fisk University, Tennessee Atlanta Univertute, Virginia
Talladega
Tougaloo University, Mississippi
sity, Georgia
These
College, Alabama; Straight University, Louisiana.
of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
—
;
;
;
;
;
�NORTHERN AID FOR FREEDMEN.
471
though as yet hardly answering to the imposing
names given them, and still in their infancy and compelled to
institutions,
labor amid
many discouragements and
against
many
opposing
obstacles, are not without cheering results already attained.
But
and historical importance lie in
good when these hindrances shall be removed.
their chief significance
their promise of
When
when the cruel reign of caste
when the hitherto dominant class shall cease
persecutions, when all accept the situation, and with
better counsels prevail,
shall be broken,
their
honest and earnest purpose seek to rebuild what has been so
and repair the places made waste by the
and war, then will these
institutions become the most potent agencies in the work of
improvement, the important factors in solving the difficult and
ruthlessly destroyed,
triple scourge of slavery, rebellion,
momentous problem
of Southern reconstruction.
�CHAPTER XXXIY.
freedmen's bureau.
— Hostility of the military. — Need of authority. — Convention at
— Select
— Memorial to the President. — Others. —
—
speech. — Democommittee. — Act reported. — Minority
opposition. — Cox, Kalbfleisch, Brooks, Pendleton. — Passed. — Sen—
reported. — Opposed by Davis, Hendricks, Biickalew, and Mc— Committee of conference. — AmendDougall. — Postponed. — Next
— Speech of Kelley. — Senate. — Sumner, Grimes, Henments. — New
—
derson, Hale, Conness. — Failure. — Mr. Wilson, conference, and new
Debate. — Passage. — Division of sentiment. — Experimental.
Drawbacks.
Eliot's bill.
Indianapolis.
report.
Eliot's
cratic
Bill
ate.
session.
bill.
bill.
Though there was much in Northern efforts for the freedmen, individual and combined, highly creditable to human
nature, there were revelations less worthy of commendation.
Though the rapid and wide-spread multiplication of freedmen's associations, with their prompt and generous contributions the numbers of cultivated men and women leaving their
;
pleasant
homes
for the war-bestead South, with its discomforts
and dangers, furnish examples of thoughtful sympathy and
heroic sacrifices which greatly relieve the otherwise dark picture of those days, there were exhibited examples of personal
While,
self-seeking and weakness less pleasant of review.
were
earnest
and
who
army
officials
too, there were many
prompt
in co-operation, others at best looked coldly on,
did not actively oppose.
if
they
Sharing in the prevailing prejudice
against color, and fully committed to the assumption that the
war was
for the
no part of
Union and not
for Abolition,
and that
it
was
their business to " fight for the nigger," they did
not accept kindly anything that pointed in the opposite direction.
And
as the presence of
fugitives
harbored in their
camps, cared for and instructed by organized Northern
efforts,
�473
FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.
seemed a practical refutation of their oft-repeated dogma, they
did not look with favor upon either them or the policy that
would protect and provide for them.
From these combined causes resulted both waste and friction.
The self-seeking and incompetence of some of the professed workers for the freedmen, the differences of opinion
and policy of others, with their not infrequent conflicts of
jurisdiction and rival claims, could not but interfere with the
It became,
successful prosecution of the purpose in hand.
work
therefore, increasingly manifest, as the
widened in its
dimensions and increased in its difficulties, that the agency of
the government should become authoritative as well as eleemosynary, and that the arm of the military should guide somewhat as well as protect the efforts made in behalf of these
wards of the nation. None felt this more than those brought
by official relations in close contact with the work itself.
'
On
the 19th of July, 18(34, there assembled in Indianapolis,
Indiana, a convention of delegates from seven Western freed-
men's associations.
utterances,
if
two days, and
Its sessions continued
its
not authoritative, revealed the general aspect of
the work at the time, and the attitude of those connected with
Its call,
it.
mention of
after
its
purpose to increase their
sympathies and to promote a better mutual understanding,
" to prevent friction in our operations, and disagreements
among our
field
representatives in the field,"
that ever invited
increasing, — adds
:
and
effort,"
still
" Its very magnitude demands the most
efficient application of
almoners.
— " the most extended
humane and benevolent
the contril)utions of which
Difficulties arising
from the nature
we
are
of the
made
work,
the condition of society in the South, our relation to officers
and agents
of the
government, and other circumstances have
embarrassed us from the
President Lincoln.
and will continue." One of the
was the adoption of a memorial to
first,
results of the convention
After speaking of the general purposes
and recognizing the aid and protection
afforded by the government and officers in charge " at many
points," they still complain that they had been " thwarted
of their association,
in
some instances by the negligence, and
in others
by
tlie
�474
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
opposition, of officers having charge of posts
where the freed
people were collected."
They thus illustrate and intensify
" In many instances our schools liave
this general charge
:
been interrupted by what seemed to be unnecessary and uncalled-for changes in the camps
in some cases they have been
entirely broken up by military orders, expelling the colored
;
people from towns and
even,
when many
cities,
of the victims
and herding them in corrals
had been living in their own
and supporting themselves." They therefore urge
upon the President, as commander-in-chief, to require, by
habitations,
military order, officers in charge " to give to our agents and
teachers
all
necessary aid and co-operation, to enable us to
Though admitting
that in most instances they had been " able to co-operate
effect the purposes of our organization."
some efficiency with the agents of the War
and Treasury Departments," they had " at all times been conscious that there was no person in the field to represent both
the government and our associations."
They therefore repleasantly and with
spectfully request the
President to appoint a " supervising
agent of freedmen's affairs in the "West, who, clothed with
proper military authority, should represent both." They further
urge such appointment, because, they add, " of the failure,
on the part of Congress, to establish a bureau of freedmen's
affairs,
which the management
to
of
their interests
would
have properly belonged."
Though
this
convention was held subsequently to most of
the discussions referred to in this chapter,
revealed very
and
by men with the largest opportuunderstanding them, and with the most honest pur-
distinctly the facts,
comprehended
nities for
it
and the
necessities of the case as seen
at the time
pose and desire that the wisest course should be adopted.
As from
the first the popular thought and anxieties were
turned to the subject by the early escape of slaves to the
Union lines, and the subsequent legislation of Congress concerning colored soldiers and their families, this problem of the
was early brought to the notice of Congress.
Only twelve days after the Proclamation of President Lincoln,
making the slaves free on the 12th of January, Mr. Wilson
nation's duty
�475
FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.
memorial of the Emancipation League
of Massachusetts, praying the immediate establishment of a
bureau of emancipation. On the 19tli of the same month Mr.
presenteii in the Senate a
Eliot, in the
House, introduced a
of Emancipation,
and
it
Bureau
Committee
establish a
bill to
was referred
to the Select
on Emancipation. In the following December he introduced
a similar bill, and it was referred to a select committee of
nine, consisting of himself, Kelley, Knapp, Orth, Boyd, Kalbflcisch,
Cobb, Anderson, and Middleton,
—
five
Republicans,
(Anderson of Kentucky) Union. A
was reported, recommitted, reported again with an amendment, and a minority report signed by Kalbfleisch and Knapp
and on the 10th of February it came up for consideration.
The act provided for the appointment of a Commissioner of
Freedmen's Affairs, to whom should be referred, under direction of the Secretary of War, all questions arising under the
act that created the office, and all laws then existing and
afterward to be enacted concerning freedmen. He was also
empowered to make all needful rules and regulations for their
The act also progeneral superintendence and management.
three Democrats, and one
bill
vided that
military or
all officers,
civil,
intrusted with freed-
men's affairs, should report to him. It also provided that,
under the direction of the Secretary of War, he should have
the general oversight and control of measures needful for the
protection and preservation of the freedmen, to the end that
they and the government of the United States should be
" mutually protected and their respective rights and interests
duly determined and maintained."
He was
also
empowered
to create " departments of freedmen," to be under the control
of assistant commissioners,
him.
It
was
also
made a
who
should report quarterly to
part of the duty of these assistant
commissioners, under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner might prescribe, to allow such freedmen to " occupy,
cultivate, and improve " such abandoned lands as lay within
the States in rebellion
needful, to organize
them
their wages.
;
and aid the freedmen, when
and to adjust with
too, allowed and empowered to
difficulties between them, " except
to advise
and direct
They were,
act " as arbitrators," in all
their labor,
�476
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
when a resort to a provost judge or other legal tribunal became necessary."
The report of the minority began with four questions Has
;
Congress the legal power to establish a bureau " for the purposes contemplated in the bill " ? Has Congress the constitutional
power
to
impose a tax on the inhabitants of one State
freedmen of another ? " Will the bill
to support the indigent
produce the effects desired," or is there not danger of its
introducing " a new system of vassalage," " only differing in
appellation " from the system of slavery itself?
Should it not
be under the control of the Department of the Interior,
stead of the
War Department ? The
answered in the negative
the fourth in the affirmative.
;
in-
three questions were
first
It
was contended that, liowever humane the purpose, there was
no more right to establish a bureau for the African than for
the Caucasian race.
It also
complained that, though " the
bill
embraces the essential features of the administration of justice," it was " destitute of the machinery necessary to secure"
it.
If these are really
name, then the
freedmen,
it
said,
and not
jurisdiction proposed in
" vested in the judiciary."
It
the
free only in
bill
should be
complained, too, that under the
the freedman might be stripped of the
proceeds of his labor by an " avaricious superintendent," as,
operations of the
bill
before his freedom, by his owner.
there
was no good reason why
blood of white
men
It
contended, too, that
" paid for by tlie
territory
sliould be set apart for the sole benefit of
the freedmen of African descent."
Mr. Eliot made a very able and exhausting speech, replete
with information, logical in its deductions, and earnest and
Sketching rapidly the progress of
its appeals.
events from the inauguration of the Rebellion and " the great
facts which exist in our country," he came to the " three mileloquent in
lion persons, held as slaves,
who had become and
are becoming
Saying that Mr. Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipanot become effective unless vindicated by military
could
tion
success and appropriate legislation, and that the first had been
free."
vouchsafed, he said that they were then called upon for the
latter.
He
referred to the one
hundred thousand colored
sol-
�FKEED.MEN'S BUREAU.
diers in the army,
fight
if
who would
477
who ought not
not fight, and
to
the government allowed their families " to be oppressed
and suffer." He spoke of the several commissions of the
Quakers and of various associations who had visited the South
and from personal examination had reached the conclusion
" Upon one proposition," he
that something must be done.
"
said,
we have formed a decided opinion," and that is " the
imperative and immediate necessity of such a bill." He spoke
of the wrongs inflicted, not by Southerners alone, but by
Northern men, " harpies," " white bloodhounds," who under
the cover of government authority so oppressed the bondman
that he " sighs to return to his former home and master," for
he " at least fed, clothed, and sheltered him." Speaking of
the colored soldiers, he said every one of them " stands for
By
a son, a brother, or a friend
homes
are
many men our
just so
made happier."
Saying that " the nation had no right to decree freedom
and not to guarantee safe guidance and protection," and that
it
was " incumbent on us
to lead
them gently
into the land of
promise, and not to permit them to wander through the wilderness until a generation had died by the way," he added, with
severe and searching logic, " it would be an act of meanness
which no language can
fitly describe,
tional suffering could fitly atone,
freshly freed after a
life
they are, to grope their
if
and
for
we should
which no na-
leave those men,
of servitude, children of the nation as
way
Why,
into the light without parent or
we freed them for our own
weaken our enemy. It was a means
of crushing the Rebellion.
It was because they were made to
work while the rebels fought. It was because we wanted their
strong arms on our side. It was because we began to see
that we must fight them or free them.
Let us not be too
self-righteous, for
even the publicans
would have done
the same.'
Look back and recall the arguments upon which
guardian or friend.
selfish ends.
It
was
sir,
to
'
'
'
the constitutionality of
all
our legislation has been defended.
Sound arguments they were, and by slow degrees they have
commended themselves to magistrates and to men, until now
the heart of the nation rests contentedly upon the logic of
�478
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
But
their conclusions.
IN AMERICA.
arguments drawn from the
They were hurled by the power
tliey Tvere
arsenal of military necessity.
war against a national iniquity, it is true, but
it was a sin, but because it was a
strength to the enemy which we had a right to annihilate and
Well, sir, we have destroyed, and as our armies
destroy.
march on, its destruction becomes more certain and more universal, and now a great national duty looks us in the face."
He examined the report of the minority at length, and
showed how, constitutionally, by the laws of war, and by the
higher laws of humanity and of the Golden Rule, there was
abundant warrant for both the principle and the provisions of
of the laws of
against
the
it,
bill.
not because
He
referred with eloquent pathos to the trust of the
under whose protecting folds he had fled
"
with the faith of the mariner who holds his helm,"
for succor,
although the darkness was deep and the tempest raged, " for
freedman
in the flag
he knows right well that aboA-e the storm the north star is
Speaking of
shining and will guide him safely to his home."
the providential features of the war, of the fact that " nobody
had been able to anticipate events," and that " nothing had
and that great
generals had failed, and men unknown to fame had conducted
them to victory, he said: "Battles have been won in the
above the clouds,' by a rank and file bravery
valleys, and
occurred as the wisest seer had predicted,"
'
which the annals
of military history cannot rival.
Who
of us
has not had occasion to say, Not unto us, but unto Thee,
God, be rendered praise ? " Saying that the emancipation of
'
'
the slaves had been secured by the. Divine hand, througli the
mad ambition of the slave-owners, which " no power in Constitution, in President, or in people outside of the rebel States,
could have secured," he added
:
" Our duty
He
has assigned
us now."
The measure,
of course, encountered fierce Democratic opwhich condemnation of the proposed bureau were
largely mingled adverse views of the negro, his emancipation,
and the general policy of the administration upon the subject.
position, with
Perhaps no debate
of the session ever revealed
the spirit and purpose of those
who
still
more
clearly
arrayed themselves
�FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.
479
new party of freedom. Among the first to speak
Cox of Ohio. With his usual smartness and wit, he
mingled sarcasm and cynicism with his censure, while he made
against the
was
S. S.
the most of the intrinsic difficulties of the situation and of any
mistakes or extravagances of the professed friends of freedom.
Consequences, which by the stern logic of events were inevi-
and war, he charged to the sins
and shortcomings of the administration and the opinions of
any who claimed to be Abolitionists, however extravagant and
grotesque, he averred were but the legitimate inference and
outcome of antislavery sentiments. He expressed great symtable in a state of rebellion
;
pathy for the " poor black, houseless, clothesless, medicineless,
and friendless," cast upon the cold world by " the improvident
and barbarous philanthropy now in vogue." But he found no
" warrant in the Constitution for this eleemosynary system for
them to " the honey-tongued
humanitarians of New England" to "lift them out of the
mire into which their improvident and premature schemes
had dragged them." " The humanity," he said, " which so
long pitied the plumage should not forget the dying bird."
Nor did he fail to proclaim the cardinal doctrine of the Demothe blacks," and he remanded
cratic faith, the
"
negro's essential inferiority.
No
govern-
ment farming system," he said, " no charitable black scheme,
can wash out the color of the negro, change his inferior nature, or save him from his inevitable fate.
The irrepressible
conflict is not
and white
;
between freedom and slavery, but between black
and, as
De
Tocqueville prophesied, the black will
The greater portion
of the speech, however, was
taken up with the reproduction and ridicule of certain views
perish."
in favor of amalgamation, or miscegenation,
which had
re-
cently been promulgated, and which he contended were the
natural and necessary outgrowth of Abolitionism.
He
con-
tended that the Democracy had no love for slavery, " dying
or dead," but it had been striving for " local and personal
liberty,"
by leaving
all
questions concerning
it
to the States
When," he said, " the party in power, by edict
and bayonet, by sham election and juggling proclamation, drag
down slavery, they drag down in the spirit of ruthless icono-
themselves.
"
�480
RISE
AKD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
clasm the very genius of our civil polity, local self-government."
^Ir. Kalbfleisch spoke briefly, defending the minority report
he had presented. He spoke of the measure as one of the
results of " ultra Abolitionism," as a part of a policy which
was attempting " the impossible thing of bringing up the
negro race to a participation with the white in the privileges
and duties of citizens " ; of the project as " a disloyal and un-
impediment in the way of restoring
patriotic
Union." Mr. Brooks
of
New York
this once
spoke of the
bill
in its territory, objects, purposes, and intentions,
happy
as " vast
and "
illimit-
He
spoke sarcastically of Massachusetts
of her " inexorable,
as " the leading power in this country "
" It is written," he said, as
inappeasable, demoniac energy."
able in its expense."
;
sarcasm was argument, as if the stern demands of justice
and the pleadings of humanity could be met by a joke, " it is
if
ordained.
It is
a Massachusetts thunderbolt.
ble before the decree, I hear
now from
I listen, I trem-
the steeples, the spires,
There is but one God, and
Mr. Pendleton of Ohio also
that
the freedmen "long for
He
said
measure.
the
opposed
homes,
and the care of their
the repose and quiet of their old
that freedom has not been to them the promised
masters
boon that even thus soon it has proven itself to be a life of
the pulpits of Massachusetts,
Massachusetts is his prophet.' "
'
;
;
and speedy death." The bill
was then passed by a vote of sixty-nine to sixty-seven.
In the Senate it was referred to the Select Committee on
On the 25th of
Slavery, of which Mr. Sumner was chairman.
amendment,
an
an
with
May the chairman reported it back
important feature of which was that the proposed bureau
torture, ending only in certain
should be subordinate to the Treasury rather than the
War
Coming up for discussion on the 8th and 14th
of June, a motion made to defer action till December was
It was debated for several days, and several amenddefeated.
ments were offered, among them one by Mr. "Wilson substituting the word "War" for "Treasury" in Mr. Sumner's
proposed bill. The substitute was accepted, and the bill as
thus amended was reported to the Senate. A sharp debate
Department.
then sprang up, in which Davis of Kentucky, Hendricks,
�481
FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.
Buckalew, and McDougall spoke warmly in opposition, and in
denunciation of the policy of
was a
wliicli it
Among
part.
who spoke in its l^ehalf was Mr. Chandler of Michigan,
who expressed the opinion that loyalty, though ignorant, was
those
"
to be preferred to educated treason.
he said, "
is
beneath a loyal negro.
I
A
secession traitor,"
would
let a loyal
negro
would let him testify I would let him fight I would
but I would exclude a seceslet him do any other good thing
sion traitor."
The bill was then passed by a vote of twentyone to nine. In the House, a motion was made to nonconcur in the Senate amendment; pending which a motion
vote
;
I
;
;
;
was made and
carried postponing the whole subject to the
" next session."
Coming up on
December in the House, after an
on the table, a vote of non-concurrence with the Senate amendment was carried, and a committee of conference was asked for.
The Senate granted the
request, and chose, on its part, Sumner, Howard, and Buckalew
the conferees on the part of the House being Eliot,
Kelley, and Noble.
This committee did not report until the
2d of February, 1865, when it recommended that the Senate
recede from its amendment.
The two Democrats, Buckalew
and Noble, refused to sign the report. Instead of attaching
the 20th of
unsuccessful motion to lay
it
;
the bureau to either of the departments of
ury, as the Senate and
House
bills
War
or the Treas-
had done, the substitute
proposed by the committee of
conference recommended a
department of freedmen and abandoned lands, though, in
the language of Mr. Eliot, " every provision contained therein
was substantially
bills."
The
in
one or the other of the above-mentioned
discussion which arose upon the proposed measure
House and the Senate revealed not only DemoRepublican solicitude. Traversing ground
never before travelled or explored, without map, chart, or
landmark, there was inevitable diversity of judgment in matters of detail, though perfect and hearty agreement in the
in both the
cratic opposition but
underlying principle of the
bill.
Thus, in the House, Mr. Wilson of Iowa doubted the wisdom of certain provisions of the
bill
involving too
VOL.
III.
much of
31
authority and control, on the ground
�482
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
that the less of restraint, the sooner the ex-slaves would become men. " There is not," said Mr. Eliot, in reply, " in this
from beginning to end, one word that looks like control.
They are to be aided they are to be assisted."
Near the close of the debate, Mr. Kelley of Pennsylvania
bill,
;
spoke earnestly and ably of the duty of caring for these victims of the combined atrocities and accidents of their former
condition of servitude and the subsequent fortunes and vicissitudes of war, and of the responsibilities inv(3lved in the
" It is not often," he said,
" given to a legislature to perform an act such as we are now
We have four million people in poverty, beto pass upon.
position Congress then occupied.
cause our laws have denied them the right to acquire property
in ignorance, because our laws have
struct
them
made
it
without organized habits, because war
;
;
a felony to inlias
broken
the shackles which bound them, and has released tliem from
the plantations which were destined to be their world.
are to organize
them
into society
;
we
We
arc to guide them, as
the guardian guides his ward, for a brief period, until they
can acquire habits, and become confident and capable of
control
from
;
we
their conduct in
self-
them and, if we do, we have,
the field and in the school, evidence
are to watch over
:
more than repay our labor. If we do not, we
doom them to vagrancy and pauperism, and throw upon
that they will
will
another Congress, and perhaps upon another generation, tliQ
duty or the effort to reclaim those whose hopes we will have
blasted,
whose usefulness we will have destroyed." The debill was passed by a vote of sixty-four
bate was closed, and the
to sixty-two.
Mr. Sumner made a brief explanation of its provisions, and it became the subject of debate.
Oji the 14th Mr. Davis of Kentucky spoke in opposition to its
adoption.
On a sul)sequent day Mr. Hendricks opposed it
and the policy of which it was a part. Mr. Grimes of Iowa
expressed his doubts of the wisdom of the plan proposed, and
Coming up
in the Senate,
gave as his preference a
bill,
introduced into the House by
Mr. Schenck of Ohio, proposing a bureau in the War Department for the relief of freedmen and refugees, for the white as
�483
FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.
He
well as black.
subject
moved a postponement
accordingly
of the
the next day, and a sharp colloquy sprang up
till
between him and Mr. Sumner upon the motion. Mr. Sumner,
regai-ding it as a " motion to kill," expressed his regret at this
" It is," lie said, " out of season. I am pained
opposition.
from the Senator from Iowa. I do not judge
pardon me if I say, that, from the beginHe
ning, he has shown a strange insensibility to this cause.
by
especially
it
But he
him.
is
for liberty
;
will
but he will not help us assure
it
to those
who
have for generations been despoiled of it. Sir, I am in earnest.
Seriously, religiously, I accept emancipation as proclaimed by
the President, and now, by the votes of both houses of Con-
under the sanction of constitutional law."
Mr. Grimes replied with some acerbity, denying the justice
of the inference, because he was opposed to the conference
Sayreport, that he was " opposed to any freedman's bill."
gress, placed
changed and, for that purpose, was
referred to another conference committee,
ing that he wanted the
desirous of having
he said
:
it
bill
" Does the Senator claim that the work of his com-
mittee of conference
is
immaculate
Can
?
it
not be rectified
?
judgment and wisdom
in this world, as well as all antislavery sentiment, and the
spirit of freedom, confined to this committee of conference ?
I am just as much in earnest as the Senator from MassachuIs
it
not possible to be bettered
setts is
;
am
I
much
just as
?
Is all
in favor of protecting these freed-
and spend just as much
money, or of the money of my constituents, as he
but I want to be satisfied, that, when I am doing
will spend
and I want
it, it is going to reach the objects of my bounty
men
of
as he
is
;
I will
go just as far
;
my own
;
;
to be satisfied that all their rights will be protected
under the
law which I am going to adopt, and vote for."
Other Republicans opposed the bill or voted hesitatingly for
it, in doubt whether the policy proposed was the best for the
Thus Mr. Henderson of Missouri doubted its benethem and expressed the fear that in the end it would
" The better policy," he said, " is to
" re-enslave them."
l^ave it understood that we ourselves
regard them as free
regard them as freemen, and that they are to be treated as
freedmen.
fit
to
;
�484
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
EISE
IN
AMERICA.
such upon every occasion and that they need no guardians,
no superintendents, no overseers." Even Mr. Hale strongly
Mr. Harlan of Iowa spoke
opposed several of its sections.
against the report and asked for another conference. " I am
opposed," said Mr. Lane of Indiana, "to the whole theory of a
Freedmen's Bureau. I would make them free under the law
if necessary, I
I would protect them in the courts of justice
would give them the right of suffrage, and let loyal slaves vote
their Rebel masters down, and reconstruct the seceded States
but I wish to have no system of guardianship and pupilage and
Mr. Conness of California
oversecrship over these negroes."
expressed the belief that both black and white persons, " in
;
;
;
good health and of certain ages, could take care of themselves."
Mr. Morrill of Maine expressed his purpose to vote for the
bill, though he doubted its necessity or its improvement over
But Mr. Sumner appealed earnestly to the
existing laws.
Senate to adopt the report " to carry forward that great act
of emancipation
which you have already sanctioned."
On motion
failed of securing the requisite majority.
But he
of Mr.
Wilson, another conference committee was chosen, consisting,
on the part of the Senate, of himself, Harlan, and Willey;
and on the part of the House, of Schenck, Bout well, and
Rollins, which reported on the 28th a new bill.
This
bill
provided that there should be established in the
War
Department, to contiime during the war of the Rebellion,
and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen,
and Abandoned Lands, to which should be committed the su-
pervision and
control of
all
management
of all
abandoned lands, and the
subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from
Rebel States, or from any
district of
country within the
tory embraced in the operations of the
tary of
War
army
;
terri-
that the Secre-
should direct such issues of provisions, clothing,
fuel as he might deem needful for the immediate and
temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen, and their wIa'cs and children, under such
and
rules and regulations as he might direct
;
that the commis-
under the direction of the President, should have authority to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen
sioner,
�485
FREEDMEN'S BUREAU.
such tracts of land within the insurrectionary States as had
been abandoned, or to which the United States had acquired
title
by confiscation,
sale, or otherwise.
other specifications as to the
amount
It
also
embraced
(forty acres), rent, time,
and privilege of purchasing land at the end of three years.
Mr. Howard of Michigan opposed it on the ground that it
was made " a simple appendage to the War Department."
Mr. Powell of Kentucky characterized it as a most " offen"
sive " bill, creating, he said, a " multitude of office-holders
like the locusts of
Egypt.
" The men," he said, "
who
are to
go down there, and become overseers and negro-drivers, will
be your broken-down politicians and your dilapidated preachers
;
that description of
men who
just a little too honest to steal.
are too lazy to work,
That
is
and
the kind of crew that
on these poor negroes." And he exMr. Sumner, who had " preached
so much for negro equality and intelligence," should think so
meanly of them " as to, put masters over them to manage
them." Motions for postponement and adjournment were
made and defeated, when the final vote was reached and it
was carried without a division. When it was reported to the
House it still encountered Democratic opposition but motions
to prevent action were defeated, the report of the committee of
conference was adopted without division, the bill received the
approval of the President on the same day, and thus the
creation of the Freedmen's Bureau became an assured fact
and the law of the land.
you propose
to fasten
pressed his astonishment that
;
�CHAPTER XXXY.
WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
—
— Headquarters. — Vast
— Principles and
— Experimental. —
Congress invoked. — Mr. Trumbull's
in the Senate. — Debate. — Demo— Secondary
opposition. — Speech of Hendricks. — Trumbull's
considerations. — Cowan, Guthrie, Eeverdy Johnson. — "Wilson's
— McDougall, Saulsbury, Davis. — Passage. —
reported
the House. — Op— Ably defended by Hubbard, Donnelly,
—
posed by Kerr and
— AnAmendments proposed. — Passage. — Vetoed. — Debate on the
— Passed both Houses. — Veto. — Passed over the
—
other
— Commissioner's
mate. — Great good accomplished. —
Bureau organized.
sponsibility
— General
and
Howard.
Circulars.
re-
difficult position.
plan.
bill
cratic
reply.
reply.
in
Bill
Eitter.
Garfield.
veto.
bill.
veto.
Particulars.
Major-General 0. 0. Howard was
Esti-
report.
selected
by the Presi-
dent as the Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freed-
men, and Abandoned Lands, and on the 12th of May, 1865,
an order was issued from tlie War Department assigning him
for duty in his new and untried field of labor and control.
The same order directed the quartermaster-general to furnish
him and his assistant commissioners suitable quarters and
apartments
;
also the adjutant-general to detail for his service
the necessary clerks authorized by the act that created the
new department.
General Howard's record as a soldier and Christian philanthropist, with his ur1)ane
and gentlemanly
directed public attention to
him
as a suitable person for the
grave and arduous responsibilities of the
forded
much
Johnson had
selected
new
office,
but
af-
was known that President
him therefor. His training and distinc-
satisfaction
tion as a soldier
qualities, not only
when
it
and his long identification with the cause of
demanded by
antislavery gave promise of an administration
the peculiar exigencies of the situation.
Distinguished by
tlie
�WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
487
generalship displayed at the battle of Gettysburg, in whicli he
what was regarded as a movement that did much to give
Union forces on that eventful day, afterward
commander of the Army of Tennessee, and selected by Sherman to lead one of his columns in his famous " March to the
led
victory to the
Sea," there was great confidence felt in his ability as well as
assurance of his purpose to administer the duties of his
new
office in the interests of humanity as well as of good order, to
protect the freedmcn in their rights as well as to maintain the
authority of the government.
Entering immediately on the duties assigned him, he issued,
only three days after his appointment, his
superintendents
who had abandoned
vision for the use of freedmcn,
and
to
first circular to
the
lands under their super-
department commanders,
calling for information in respect to the work, with its sub-
In
he had undertaken.
jects,
understand that he
is
it
he said
really free, but
:
" The negro should
on no account,
if
able to
work, should he harbor the thought that the government will
On the 19th he issued another and
support him in idleness."
more general circular, setting forth the same in specific form
and more in detail. In it he announced the immediate appointment of commissioners, to whom, or their agents, application should be made by those needing aid, advice, or redress,
and
to
whom
reports should be
made
not to supersede, but
;
benevolent organizations in their work
the freedmcn
to " introduce a practical system of
co-operate with
to
among
;
compensated labor"
and
fair dealing
old,
sick,
;
to secure as far as possible
among
all
concerned
;
and infirm should be provided
bodied should be encouraged, and,
labor for their
own
support "
;
good feeling
to see that while the
for,
" the able-
necessary, compelled, to
to give the assurance that " the
if
educational and moral condition of the people would not be
forgotten," but that the " utmost facihty " would be afforded
to benevolent
and
religious
organizations in efforts in that
direction, with a reiteration of the purpose not to supersede
but " to systematize and
them."
more elaborate circular, designating the nine headquarters he had fixed upon for the same
On
the oOth he issued a
facilitate
still
�488
RISE
number
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
of assistant commissioners,
detail the purposes of the
IN AMERICA.
and specifying more
new department and
in
the rules by
and its agents were to be governed. The headfor North
quarters were fixed for Virginia, at Richmond
Carolina, at Raleigh for Georgia and South Carolina, at Beauwhich
it
;
;
fort
;
for
Alabama,
at
nessee, at Nashville
Vicksburg
for Mississippi, at
and for Florida,
Montgomery
for Missouri
;
;
for Kentucky and Tenand Arkansas, at St. Louis
;
;
for Louisiana, at
New
Orleans
;
at Jacksonville.
In laying down the principles and regulations for the guidance and control of the assistant commissioners in the
dis-
charge of their duties, he was in effect giving rules for the
government of a new empire, or what without a figure of
speech might be called such formed, too, of the most unpromising materials, and surrounded by the most unfavorable circumstances. Large powers were placed in his hands, and
much, very much, was left to his discretion. Referring to the
second section of the act creating the Bureau which committed
to it " the control of all subjects relating to refugees and
freedmen from Rebel States under such rules and regulations
as may be prescribed by the head of the Bureau and approved
;
by the President," General Howard thus expressed the idea in
one of his reports " This almost unlimited authority gave me
great scope and liberty of action, but at the same time it imposed upon me very perplexing and responsible duties. Legislative, judicial, and executive powers were combined in my
:
commission, reaching
ple,
all
the interests of four millions of peo-
scattered over a vast territory, living in the midst of
another people claiming to be superior, and
Saying
altogether friendly."
only lay
to
down a few
work out "the
different
states
of
known
general principles," and leave
it
to
them
details of organization," according to the
affairs
in
their
set forth clearly the objects to be attained
legally exercise,
districts,
respective
added, referring to the circular just mentioned
the Bureau could
to be not
that at the outset he " could
and
:
he
" I therefore
and the powers which
left
to
my
subordi-
measures for effecting these objects."
These objects were in the highest degree benign and paternal.
nates to devise suitable
�WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
489
There was no discrimination between black and white, between
who had been driven from their homes and who
wished to return, and found their homes destroyed and themselves penniless, and the ex-slaves who, of course, had nothing
loyal refugees
they could call their own. To relieve all of the " calamities
of their situation "
to smooth the passage from slavery to
;
and compose the difwar to relieve
suffering, but in no such way as to lead to pauperism or to interfere with self-support,
these were the " objects " proposed,
and these were the modes by which they were to be secured.
Everything like coercion, or anything like slavery under any
guise, however deceptive, was discarded, and everything that
freedom
;
to soothe asperities of situation
ferences that could not but exist after the
;
—
was needful
to introduce
them
into the
new order
of things
then just opening was encouraged.
On the 7th of June President Johnson issued an order,
requiring " all officers of the Treasury Department, all military officers, and all others in the service of the United States,
Bureau all abandoned lands and property," and " all funds collected by tax
or otherwise, or accruing from abandoned lands or property
to turn over to the authorized officers of said
set apart for their use."
Without larger than human wisdom to direct in their construction, acts and laws, rules and regulations, framed for the
purposes for which the Bureau was created, could hardly be
other than
imperfect,
and improvement
experimental
;
requiring modification
on trial, their workings should reveal
such deficiencies. Then, again, the Bureau, as first organized,
was designed only for those States which were engaged in the
Rebellion and were embraced in the Proclamation of Emancipation.
as,
But, after the close of the war, and
when
slavery had been
abolished by constitutional amendment, then the powers and
range of
From
its
operations required a corresponding enlargement.
had encountered a bitter and implacable
watched and captiously criticised.
Men waited for its halting, and if anything was worthy of
censure, or even questionable, and especially if mistakes were
made, through the wickedness or weakness of any of its agents,
the start, too,
opposition.
It
was
it
strictly
�490
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
they made the most of
it,
and turned
warfare against the institution
all
IN AMERICA.
such into weapons of
itself.
Accordingly, on the assembling of the
XXXIXth
motions and resolutions, by both friend and
foe,
Congress,
were intro-
duced into both houses, some calling in question
its
action,
and some proposing modifications and the necessary improvements that experience and the changes that had taken place
had rendered and shown to be necessary. The most important, however, and that which led to the main debate and final
action, was a bill offered in the Senate by Mr. Trumbull, on
the 5th of January, 1866, to enlarge the powers of the Frced-
men's Bureau. It came up for consideration on the 12th,
the mover briefly explained its provisions and the several
amendments, mostly verbal, of the bill of March 3, 1865. The
when
main points
of divergence
and improvement, as compared with
the one in operation, were, that
it
should continue until other-
wise provided by law, instead of terminating by
tions
that
;
its
own
limita-
should embrace the whole country, wherever
it
there were freedmen and refugees
;
that the President should
reserve from sale or settlement, under the homestead laws,
public lands in
Florida,
Mississippi,
exceed three millions of acres
;
and Arkansas, not
that the
possessory
to
titles
granted in pursuance of General Sherman's special field-order,
January 16, 1865, in South Carolina and the islands adjacent
and that, in any State where
thereto, should be made valid
any disabilities were made or allowed, on account of race, or
;
color, or previous
duty of
officers
condition
of
servitude,
should be the
it
and agents to take jurisdiction
of offences
com-
mitted against this provision.
In the debate which followed there was
little
objection
urged to the main arguments for the proposed changes and
enlargement demanded by the altered circumstances of the
and the purpose to adopt any modifications and improvements which experience might suggest. That was so
situation
obvious that those
the Bureau at
sary to adapt
Tlie
all
it
who were
favorable to the continuance of
approved of any legislation which was neces-
most perfectly
to the purposes of its creation.
main debate, however, exhibited the usual
characteristics
�491
WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
of discussion -whenever
and wherever the negro and his emanci-
pation became the subject of consideration.
On
the one side
the black man, minister
to
were those who would do justice to
his pressing necessities, and carry out by appropriate legislation, and to their legitimate results, the policy of emancipa-
tion
the
;
on the other were those who brought to the discussion
dominating influences of caste, belittling the negro
still
and
his
wants, and, with cruel insensibility, resisting his
claims upon either their sympathy, their humanity, or their
sense of justice.
On
the 19th Mr. Hendricks of Indiana, though a
the Committee on the Judiciary which reported the
member of
bill, made
a long speech in opposition to the measure. He condemned
what lie unfairly represented to be its " perpetual and permanent " character. " The measure," he said, " demanded by
the exigencies of war
is
not required in the times of peace.
governments have been restored to the States lately in
rebellion, and therefore there is no need for this novel and
Civil
extra-judicial
mode
of procedure."
He
referred to the
cisms and censures which had been made concerning
ministration, and
criti-
its
ad-
contended that, instead of enlarging
its
scope and powers, they should be curtailed and " more clearly
defined."
He
objected, too, to the feature that confined its
agencies no longer to the South, saying that
brace Indiana in the wide sweep of
dcprecatingly of the expense.
its
it
operations.
Under the
old bill
might em-
He
it
spoke
had cost
the nation twelve million dollars, and now, with its enlarged
purposes and range, " comes," he said, " the proposition to
buy homes, asylums, and schools for this people." He objected, too, and that very strenuously, to the provision that
empowered the Bureau to protect the freedmen against any
unfriendly discrimination " by any local law, ordinance, or
other regulation," " custom," or " prejudice " ; with the proif " any of the civil rights or immunities belonging to white persons " were denied them on account of color,
vision that,
they should be " taken under the military protection of the
government." " I regard the bill," he said, " as very dangerous
legislation.
It
proposes to establish a government within a
�492
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
government,
— not
a republic within a republic, but a cruel
despotism within a republic."
undue
He
interest felt for the negro.
spoke sarcastically of the
" I have not heard," he said,
" since Congress met, that any colored
in this country for very
that any white
many
man coming
years
;
man
and
1
has done a wrong
have scarcely heard
in contact with colored people
done right for a number of years."
Mr. Trumbull replied. After saying that
tor's positions
IN AMERICA.
had " no foundation
many
in fact,"
has
of the Sena-
he added
"
:
He
has argued against provisions not contained in the bill, and he
has argued also as if he were entirely forgetful of the condition of the country and of the great war through which ^VQ
have passed."
The
great thought of his elaborate and able
reply was, that they were under circumstances peculiar
abnormal
;
that principles that would have obtained and held
control before the
maxim
and
war
lost that control
then
;
and that the
that the laws are silent in the midst of arms did not
cease its application on the mere cessation of open hostilities.
" Sir," he said, " the war-powers of the government do not
cease with the dispersion of the Rebel armies.
They are to
be continued and exercised until the civil authority of the
government can be established firmly and upon a sure foundation, not again to be disturbed or interfered with.
it,"
Nor
is
It
is
he added, " intended as a permanent institution.
only designed to aid these helpless, ignorant, and unprotected
people until they can provide for and take care of tliemselves."
Pointing to the abject, forlorn, helpless, and hopeless condition of the four million freedmen, he argued their riglit to
be heard before a more august tribunal than any United States
court, and to have their claims adjudged by a higher law than
that of the infracted Constitution
;
at least, that they
who had
done their worst to destroy that instrument could not successfully plead its authority to override the claims of humanity
and
tlie
decisions of conscience.
The remainder of the debate did not add much to the
ment on either side. It revealed other considerations
secondary or subsidiary character, but
it
arguof a
expressed rather the
individuality of the speaker, with the aspect
and attitude of the
�493
WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
Thus Mr. Stewart of
great subject as it appeared to him.
Nevada, though a Republican, voting for the emancipation
of those still remaining slaves and not embraced in President
Lincoln's proclamation, and avowing his anxiety to do the
negro justice, expressed apprehension that they were doing
" What race," he asked, " since the fountoo much for him.
dation of the earth, ever sacrificed the money, the lives, and
the peace of a great country for the elevation of another, as
the Americans have done ? "
Wisconsin made reply " It
:
To
was
this
vaunt Mr.
to save our
own
Howe
of
imperilled
national existence, and only for that purpose, that the late
President of the United States was induced to issue that proc-
lamation and, as the Senator says, to
weaker, to make our sacrifices
less,
make us
stronger, not
not greater."
Mr. Cowan, though from a free State, showed himself, by
both speech and vote, among the most bitter opponents of the
measure.
Among
amendment
these evidences was a proposed
Bureau should be confined in its operations to such
States " as have been in the Rebellion," saying that he had
" no idea of having this system extended over Pennsylvania."
Indeed "no feature of the bill excited more special and earnest
remonstrance. Mr. Guthrie of Kentucky inquired why his
that
tlie
State should be embraced in the provisions of the
bill.
" Is
it
because," he asked, " Kentucky has stood by the Union during the
strife, is it
because she has been desolated as she has
been in this contest, that the Freedmen's Bureau is to be extended to her ?....! did hope that this last cup of bitterness
would not be put to the lips of a State that had sufas Kentucky by her loyalty to the Union." Mr.
Saulsbury, saying that Delaware was the first to enter the
Union, strangely added " She has been the very last to obey
and
trial
fered as
much
:
a mandate, legislative or executive, for abolishing slavery.
She has been the last slavcholding State, thank God, in
I am one of the last slaveholders, in America."
Mr. Trumbull expressed his gratification that Delaware " did
not enter the wicked Rebellion " but added, " it is necessary
America, and
;
to protect the
freedmcn
in that State as well as
elsewhere
and that is the reason for extending the Freedmen's Bureau
beyond the limit of the rebellious States."
�494
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Revcrdy Johnson expressed the bchef that it was not needed
Maryland because, in his judgment, tlie negro was " as safe
" There may be," he said,
in Maryland as in Massachusetts."
" occasionally horrible outrages perpetrated upon him, as there
are occasionally in Massachusetts upon white men and white
in
women
but I think they are exceptions to the general rule."
Mr. Creswcll, from the same State, expressed the conviction
that the exact reverse was true. He gave information and expressed apprehensions that were typical and prophetic of very
;
much which has
From
country.
since so largely disgraced
and disturbed the
received, he had learned that " re"
had already formed combinations " for
turned Rebel soldiers
letters
the express purpose of persecuting, beating most cruelly, and
some cases actually murdering the returned colored
in
the Republic."
of
He
soldiers
expressed further the apprehension
unless the " government interposes,"
they would be
from the State, which, he said, would be " a lasting and
burning shame to the State in which I live, as well as to the
government that has heretofore profited by their services."
But in no one did the spirit of caste and undying hostility to
" negro suffrage and negro equality " find a more outspoken
and acrimonious exponent than in Mr. Cowan. He spoke,
with more truth than credit to large numbers, both North and
that,
di'ivcn
South, of " an antipathy that never sleeps, that never dies, that
is inborn down at the very foundations of our natures, and
which
will
tell
to-day, to-morrow,
attempts to the contrary."
He
some day, in spite of all
what subsequent events
said
have shown to be but too true, that giving the l)allot to
the negro was only " multiplying his chances for having his
liead
To
broken at the polls
give
him
office,
he
said,
victim for the sacrifice,"
empty
title,
when upon
also dwelt at length
in a contest
—
with a stronger race."
to "
crown with flowers the
was
" to inscribe upon the cross an
that cross the victim
upon the want
is
crucified."
of the constitutional
He
power
to adopt such a measure.
Mr. Wilson replied at length, calling attention to Mr. Cowan's claim of being friendly to the negro with his persistent
opposition to every measure designed for his improvement and
�495
WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
elevation,
and
liarities of
to his
contemptuous sneers at his personal pecu-
mind and body.
He
expressed his belief that, in
spite of the Senator's assertions to the contrary, the antislavery
measures of the government had helped to win the victory
that the course of humanity was onward, that the policy on
which they had entered would be carried forward to a successful issue, and that the rights of the humblest would yet be
vindicated.
Mr. McDougall opposed the bill because, he said, if the
free, he must, like the rest, work out his
own destiny. But he and the large number who then and
negro had been made
him take no thought of the fearthe
freedman labors, and fail to
which
under
ful disabilities
see how difficult, if not impossible, it would be for tlie white
man similarly circumstanced to work deliverance and a sucsince have sympathized with
from such straits. Mr. Davis spoke of the " national insanity" which rested in "the two houses of Congress,
with fatal mischief to the nation and the people .... of the
cessful issue
;
vagaljond negroes that are hovering over the capitol like a
dark cloud, having been allured from labor to idleness by the
measures of Congress." Mr. Saulsbury predicted that such a
policy would be the means of returning the Democrats to
power to which Mr. Fessenden replied that he did not know
that he should hesitate to do what was " right and just even
;
in view of such a calamity."
posed and
lost,
Several
and, on the 25th, the
amendments were
bill
pro-
was passed by a vote
of thirty-seven to ten.
was reported in tlie House, on the 31st, with an amendMr. Eliot, on reporting it,
in the form of a substitute.
gave a resume of the legislation of Congress upon the subject,
and explained briefly the provisions of the new bill. But it
encountered the same opposition in the House it had met in
It
ment
the Senate, with
little
cliange in language or tone,
like revelation of the spirit
and purposes
of those
disdained and were ready to oppress the negro.
clared "unconstitutional and unnecessary";
"usurp powers
fatal to
and with
who
It
still
was
de-
was said to
a representative government"; and
it
that the people would be unwilling to intrust such an enor-
�49G
rasE
and fall of the slave power
mous and unlimited fund
in America.
untrammelled discretion of
to the
government, to be used by partisans for
Mr. Kerr denied that the government
partisan purposes."
had any right to put its hands into the pockets of the people
" to take therefrom their hard earnings in order to distribute
any
officers of the
them
Mr. Ritter
as charity."
of
Kentucky
said snccringly
were to erect school-houses, then there must be
" preachers or teachers," who " will," he said, " teach them to
that they
spell a little
and read a
be taught a
little
little
;
and then,
of the Lord's will,
I suppose, they will
and a great deal
of the
wiles and wickedness of the devil."
There were, however, those who, rising above mere technipleaded the equities of the case, and took the members of the House into the forum of conscience, and urged and
" I feel proud
vindicated the claims of justice and humanity.
calities,
of
my
behold
country," said Mr. Hubbard of Connecticut,"
it
stretching out
its
poor, the ignorant, the
strong
arm
of
power
weak and oppressed."
hold our faith," said Mr. Donnelly of Minnesota;
great vows to
God when
when
I
to protect the
"
We
nmst
"we made
the fury of the tempest smote us, and
night and darkness seemed settling down upon our frail bark
" We must," said Mr. Garfield of Ohio, " recognize
forever."
the stupendous facts of history.
In the very
crisis of
our fate
God brought us face to face with the alarming truth that we
must lose our freedom or grant it to the slave. In the extremity of our distress
we
called
upon the black man
to help
us save the Republic, and amid the thunder of battle we made
a covenant with him, sealed ])oth with his blood and ours, and
witnessed by Jehovah, that when the nation was redeemed, he
should be free, and share with us the glories and blessings of
freedom. In the solemn words of the great Proclamation of
Emancipation we pledged the faith of the nation to maintain
What is freedom ?
their freedom.' .... Have we done it ?
'
Is
it
a mere negation
;
the bare privilege of not being chained,
branded and scourged? If this be all, then
bitter
mockery, a cruel delusion, and it may well
is
a
freedom
be questioned whether slavery were not better."
bought and
sold,
The amendment
reported by the committee limited
its
opera-
�497
WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
tion to " those sections of country within which the writ of
habeas corpus was suspended on the
first
day of February,
1866," which included Kentucky with the States lately in
Mr. Smith of Kentucky moved to amend by ex-
rebellion.
Another substitute was
offered and rejected, when the substitute of the committee
was agreed to by a vote of one hundred and thirty-six to
cepting his State
;
but
it
was
lost.
thirty-three.
When
the bill, as thus amended, was reported to the Senate,
House amendment was stricken out, so that the law would
operate in all parts of the country, though it was strenuously
opposed by members from the border slave States. The bill,
the
was reported to the House, the Senate
amendment was agreed to, and the bill was sent to the Presias thus amended,
dent.
On
the 19th President Johnson returned
it
without his sig-
nature, and with a message setting forth his objections.
The
veto was but a recapitulation of the general line of argument
which had been pursued by the opposition. It was, he contended, " unnecessary," " unconstitutional," " extra-judicial,"
placing eleven States under military jurisdiction, expensive,
who should, with
freedom assured them, be left to work out their own destiny.
The message was sustained by Mr. Davis of Kentucky
exciting groundless hopes in the freedmen,
their
in a long
and characteristic speech, and replied
Trumbull, and then the
teen.
two
bill
to
by Mr.
received a vote of thirty to eigh-
however, of becoming a law, there not being
It failed,
thirds.
On
May Mr. Eliot introduced into the House
" to continue in force and amend the act for the
the 22d of
another
bill
Freedmen and Refugees." In explaining its provisions
Mr. Eliot pointed out in what it differed from ]3oth the act of
1865 and that which the President had vetoed. It differed
from the latter in limiting its duration to " two years," instead
relief of
of
an indefinite period.
from the previous act, in
refugees and freedmen.
reduced the lands, to be reserved, from three million to one
that
It
its
It differed
provisions were extended to
million acres.
VOL. in.
all
It altered, too, the provisions in regard to the
32
�498
RISE AND FALL OF THE SLAVE
possessory
titles
POWER
IN AMERICA,
under Sherman's order, so that the lands
should be restored to their former owners, and other lands
should be procured by the commissioner for the freedmen
thus dispossessed.
the most material.
was made
to
amend
There were other changes, but these were
When it came up for debate, a motion
so that the lands granted by Sherman's
amendment
order should not be surrendered, and an
substitut-
ing hiring for purchasing buildings for school purposes.
Vari-
ous other amendments were proposed and rejected, and the
bill
was passed by a vote
of ninety-six to thirty-two.
In the Senate Mr. Wilson reported
the 11th of June, and on the 2Gth
tered upon.
it
The most material amendment pertained
lands embraced in Sherman's order
;
but that those
who might be
to the
the substance of which
was that those lands should be given up
ers,
with amendments on
consideration was en-
its
to their former
own-
dispossessed might be allowed
to acquire titles to other lands in possession of the United
States, besides having the benefit of all betterments,
"present crop."
and the
Mr. Fessenden thought " a pretty. extensive
power " was provided
for in the bill
but, in deference to
;
the fact that others, in whose judgment he had confidence, had
given
for
it.
it
their consideration
Mr. Hendricks
and indorsement, he should vote
said, as
he despaired of defeating the
measure, he should make no factious opposition
and the bill
was passed without a division.
The House voted to non-concur in the Senate amendments,
and asked for a committee of conference, choosing Eliot, Bingham, and McCullough managers. The Senate concurred, and
On the
appointed Wilson, Harris, and Nesmith as conferees.
2d of July Mr. Wilson made a conference report, the essential point of which was to strike out the provision restoring
the lands referred to in Sherman's order, and to place the
responsibility of their disposition in the hands of the PresiThe report was accepted, and the House, without spedent.
cial opposition, adopted it by a vote of one hundred and four
The President again vetoed it but it was
to thirty-three.
passed over his veto and became a law and the Freedman's
Bureau, with enlarged powers, wider range, and a longer
;
;
;
�WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
period of duration, continued
its
499
benign and needful work in
the interests of justice and humanity.
That no mistakes were made, no abuses allowed, and that
no Bureau officer ever consulted his own interests more than
It was a new
those of the freedmen, need not be affirmed.
and untried work, beset with difficulties. Its agents had few
rules, no precedents, and much was left to their discretion
and they were but human and liable to err. But that General
Howard and his nine assistant commissioners were mainly
and honestly intent on fulfilling the purposes of the organization intrusted to their charge, and that a vast amount of
good was effected, suffering and loss relieved and prevented,
they who knew most of its workings were most ready to admit
and claim. That thousands of lives were saved, many wrongs
redressed, and much injustice prevented, and that many found
in it safe guidance in .walking along the untrod path from
slavery to freedom,
is
already a matter of grateful history.
But the attempt to estimate aright the results of the Freedmen's Bureau encounters the difficulty of giving precise statements and tabulated figures, arising from the confused and
mixed state of affairs in which it began its work, and for a
it.
Already had military protection been
commissary stores been furnished for relief
already had individual and associate benevolence done much,
and Northern charity had been pouring, through various channels, its missionaries and its missionary gifts.
The work of
the Bureau was supplemental, co-operative, and authoritative.
A few statements and isolated facts will serve rather as in-
long time continued
granted, and
dices of that history than as the history itself.
In his report submitted in October, 1869, the commissioner
work attempted and performed, with
operations, as it was about to exown limitations, or " a general review of the work
presents a resume of the
reference to winding
pire
by
its
up
its
done and a condensed report of the results attained."
Allud-
ing at the outset to the action of the government and of vol-
untary associations for the
and
relief of the destitute
and suffering,
also to successful attempts to systematize these charitable
efforts
and connect them with plans
of self-support, he states
�500
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
that " during the first year of the operations of
cent to less
tlic
among freedmen was reduced from
than four per cent." The numher
the death-rate
medical treatment" during the
first
Bureau
thirty per
" receiving
year was, in round num-
two hundred thousand, gradually diminishing until,
during the year his report was made, it had been reduced to
some sixty-six thousand. The whole number receiving such
bers, about
treatment at that time since the organization of the Bureau
was over half a million, or, in exact numbers, five hundred
and eighty-four thousand one hundred and forty-nine, for
whom " no provision was made by local authorities, and who
had no means themselves." In the month of August, 1865,
one hundred and fifty thousand were relieved by the commissary department during the month succeeding the systematizing of such assistance by the Bureau, less than half that
number was thus aided. And this supply was so diminislied
that, during the year ending September 1, 1867, the number
supplied in "all the Southern States" was less than twelve
;
thousand.
In March, 1867, Congress appropriated half a
million dollars for the support of the suffering and destitute,
which was distributed by the Bureau, " no distinction being
made between whites and blacks, loyal and disloyal."
But the great work of the Bureau was the guidance and protection of the " able-bodied" freedmen in the matter of labor.
By circulars, public addresses, and visits to plantations, they
were instructed as to both their " rights " and " duties," tlie
system of " written contracts " was introduced with the
happiest results, and in which the freedmen " learned the first
practical business lessons of life," and were also protected
against " the numerous crafty devices that dishonest villan
imposed upon confiding ignorance." The hopes inspired by tlie
possessory titles to lands, promised by Sherman's order, were
greatly disappointed by the order of the President restoring
" Some relief and compensation
to their former owners.
were given " by the act of Congress setting apart public lands
but the commissioner adds,
in several of the Southern States
them
;
"
Want of teams and farming
from
implements, as well as opposition
their white neighbors, prevented
many from
taking the
�WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
501
homestead act." Something was done in that
and transportation was furnished for some four
thousand to their " new homes."
The protection, however, of the freedmen, the composing
of strifes, and the adjustment of differences between them and
the whites, and between themselves, constituted a large and
perplexing part of the work of the Bureau and its officers.
To so great an extent was this demand carried, that he estimates that they heard and acted upon a hundred thousand
complaints each year. The reports of outrages, assaults, and
benefit of the
direction,
murders were so many and so horrible that, he said, " at times
one was inclined to believe that the whole white population was
engaged in a war of extermination against the blacks." He
rejects that explanation by another, more charitable perhaps,
but yet revealing a state of society far from inviting for the
then present, or reassuring for the future, by attributing them
to " small bands of lawless men organized under various
names," which, in the absence of " civil government with
strength enough to arrest them," overawed and held in terror
the more quiet citizens " who were disposed to treat the freedmen with fairness and humanity." To protect the freedmen
from such agencies of violence and danger, he said that " several officers and agents have been severely wounded, and some
have lost their
lives in this service."
After saying that the Bureau had been intrusted with the
service of paying to the colored soldiers the bounties due them,
and had thus saved them from the rapacity of sharpers who
were willing to prey on their ignorance and credulity, the
commissioner gave a succinct statement of what the Bureau
had accomplished, subsidiary and helpful
to other agencies in
the cause of education.
There were no discussions in Congress during the war, nor
acts of the people that better stand as indices of the real na-
ture or character of the great struggle, than were those sug-
gested by and connected with the necessities of the freedmen.
had been before the war " the everlasting negro," as he
petulantly, but suggestively, styled, who had
been the disturbing element and controlling factor in the his-
As
it
was sometimes
�502
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
tory of the Republic, albeit resulting entirely from the deter-
mined purpose
to degrade
and enslave him, so
in the Rebellion,
designed to destroy that Republic, and in the war fought to
save
it,
his
dusky form
Though
strife.
is
the prominent figure in the terrible
prostrate and helpless, his presence could not
Indeed his very
be ignored, nor his claims be disregarded.
helplessness added volume to his voice, and
help more piercing and harder to be
made
stifled.
his cries for
Stricken and
poor, he could not only plead the high authority of the Golden
Rule, but he could intensify that claim by the fact that he lay
there the victim of the gross injustice and inhumanity of the
American people. Not his virtues, nor his necessities even,
but his wrongs did " plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
the deep damnation of " that long and persistent policy which,
for mere greed of gain at the South, and from mere motives of
policy at the North, had robbed him of his manhood, and made
him, in the eye of the law at least, a chattel personal, a mere
beast of burden, without even the poor compensation of a right
of protest against such egregious injustice,
manity.
And
— such sore inhu-
that cry, though not essentially unlike
what had
been for long, long years coming up from the prison-house of
Southern bondage, was beginning to be heard. Hitherto it had
fallen
on ears dull
of hearing,
and on souls
now
the scene had changed.
on the North, and she
torn from
home
;
felt
Slavery had laid
the pang.
by
But
hand
lulled to rest
the sorceries of trade and the siren song of compromise.
its
cruel
Her loved ones had been
thousands were dead
;
other thousands, less
fortunate, were dragging out suffering days in the terrible
and others, still, were exposed to the
rough and hazardous experience of the camp, the march, and
the l)attlc-ficld.
The shock of war startled, and the same
slave-pens of the South
truths
— only
the
;
same
— which
had hitherto passed by un-
heeded were now heard. Its storms had so far purified tlie
air
its thunders had so alarmed, that men saw portents now
that, though seen by the few before the war, had been un;
Nemesis was on their footsteps, and
fear
the
sweep
of her avenging arm.
began
to
they
antislavery
men
had spoken of the " higher
when
Hitherto,
heeded by the many.
�503
WORKINGS OF THE BUREAU.
law " and of the danger of its infraction, when they drew
arguments for justice to tlie black man from the unsafeness
to white men involved in injustice, they were stigmatized as
alarmists
and
fanatics, as invading the realms of religion for
the illegitimate purpose of drawing from another world argu-
ments
to affect the conduct of this.
When,
in one of the
debates on the Fugitive Slave Act, as noted in a previous
volume, Mr. Sumner referred to this phase of the great con-
between freedom and slavery, reminded Senators that
latter was " from the everlasting
their ear to the ground they might
hear " the incessant and advancing tread of its gathering
forces," and when he repeated the beautiful Oriental proverb,
" Beware of the wounds of the wounded souls oppress not to
flict
movement against the
Arm," and that by putting
the
;
the utmost a single heart, for a solitary sigh has power to
overset a whole world," he was answered, by a Southerner,
that the " ravings of a maniac
may sometimes be
dangerous,
but the barking of a puppy never did any harm," while he was
told by one Northerner that he was " panting " for the introduction " of black-skinned, flat-nosed, and woolly-headed Sena-
and Representatives," and by another, that his language
"
inflammatory," leading to bloodshed, and that on his
was
" hands must rest the blood of these murdered men." But a
tors
change had now come over the
spirit of their
dream, and for
no higher, motives, they were in favor of doing
justice to the long abused, down-trodden, and still prostrate
and, if their purpose and performance were yet at best
race
prudential,
if
;
and inadequate, they were moving in the right diand in some degree were making amends for previous
injustice and injury.
That their measures were inadequate and fell far short of the
full demands of the occasion subsequent events have clearly
shown. Friend and foe both miscalculated. While the latter
remained willing to perpetuate injustice, give voice to the still
superficial
rection,
cruel prejudice against color, utter the insolent
demands
of
and prate of the " Constitution as it was," the former as
evidently misunderstood the case, underestimated its necessities, and overestimated the value and efficacy of means, right
caste,
�504
BISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
in themselves, yet fearfully disproportioned to the
work deThey had labored long and earnestly for the freedom of the slave, and marvellously had it been secured but,
that attained, they had not fully gauged the magnitude of what
was necessary to supplement tliat great achievement and premanded.
;
pare the freedman for
and satisfactory enjoyment.
comprehend the situation.
Time was a factor in the problem, for which no a priori
reasoning could stand. Nothing else could reveal the extent
They
its full
did not, for they could not, fully
of tlie horrible demoralization
which two centuries of slavery
had produced upon Southern society and character, to be tested
by the new circumstances and subjected to the new strain produced by the violent breaking of fetters, the emancipation of
slaves, and the wholesale destruction of the old order of things
that followed in its train.
Besides, for the time,
men were
bewildered, enslavers and enslaved alike, by the astounding
events that were transpiring around tliem.
For not only did
they stand in the presence of a gigantic war,
verberating through their vast solitudes,
its
its
thunders
re-
lurid flames light-
ing up their dark places of cruelty, and
its mighty armies
marching and countermarching, but they knew not what to
expect.
The former, appalled by disasters experienced and
apprehended, and the latter, dazed by the sudden light of
liberty flashed upon them and the new-born hopes and ex-
pectations thus begotten, were
neither in a condition to be
thoroughly understood by others
selves.
scured by these strange and
alone could tear
This
it
nor to understand them-
Their real elements of character were hidden or ob-
away the
veil
startling surroundings.
Time
and reveal what existed within.
has done, and the revelations have been more terrible
and discouraging than were apprehended, and the picture
darker than any ever painted by the wildest Abolitionist.
is
�CHAPTER XXXVI.
—
COLORED TESTIMONY ALLOWED.
NO EXCLUSION FROM CARS.
COLORED PERSONS MAY CARRY MAILS.
Caste.
— Exclusion
Strong speech
— Mr. Sumner's amendments.
—
— Saulsbury. — Doolittle,
from public conveyances.
of
Reverdy
Johnson.
Carlile.
— Morrill's speech. — Washington and Georgetown Railroad.
— Mr. Sumner's amendment. — Opposed by Mr. Trumbull, Saulsbuiy, and
Powell. — Adopted. — Basis of law. — Ignored by slavery. — Laws against
— Sumner's amendment. — Amendment
ored witnesses. — Mr. Wilson's
and speech. — Opposition. — Saulsbury. —
to the Civil Appropriation
— Adopted.
carrying the mails. — Mr. Sumner's
Disqualifications
— In the House. — Report by Mr. Colfax. — Failed. — New — Collamer,
Powell, Hendricks. — Passage.
Sumner's defence.
col-
bijl.
Bill,
for
bill.
bill.
Though
the greed of gain and the lust of power and per-
sonal indulgence were unquestionably the largest factors, the
most controlling motives
and perpetuation
of the slave system, the principle and pride of caste had much
Indeed, had not men persuaded themselves
to do therewith.
that the African belonged to an inferior race, that he occupied a lower plane of liumanity than that on which they stood,
in the production
they could never have found justification, even to themselves,
for a system so full of injustice, so pregnant with evils to all
and everything concerned,
to the master as well as the slave,
to society as well as the individual, to the religion as well as
the civilization of any people
who
accepted
it
as a recognized
But accepting the postulate they were led and
prepared to accept its natural inferences. Among tliem was
the social ostracism which followed the poor victims of its proinstitution.
No
matter how
much of worth and culno matter what wealth of
affections reposed beneath the dusky skin, or how pitcously
scription everywhere.
ture shone forth in the character
;
�506
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
the tender sensibilities of the soul entered their protest against
such exclusion
;
no matter how sternly and authoritatively
Christianity proclaimed the universal fatherhood of
God and
brotherhood of man, the least infusion of color, so slight as
to elude
any but a microscopic
vision, constituted a
ing could remove, a bar that no one could overleap.
and abroad, in the house and by the way,
ban noth-
At home
in the realms of
pleasure and in the sacred precincts of religion, everywhere
the negro was
made
to feel his inferiority, and, in the hateful
parlance of the hour, to
know
his place.
This aspect of
its
and unreason was seen in the exclusion
That there was
of colored persons from public conveyances.
no reason in nature for this exclusion was seen from the
accompanying fact, that they who were thus proscribed as persons were proudly allowed to travel as servants and attendants
essential wickedness
of the lordly class.
Among
the reforms, therefore,
demanded by the removal
slavery, the dethronement of the Slave Power,
of
and the general
abrogation of the hateful slave codes, was the discontinuance
most unjust and provoking ostracism. The attention
of Congress was early called to it, and in the debates which
accompanied the effort were very clearly foreshadowed the
principles and arguments which were afterward so thoroughly
and persistently urged and combated in connection with the
Nor was tliere any
civil rights bills of subsequent sessions.
of this
made in those
much time and de-
great advance or addition in the argument
subsequent discussions that occupied so
veloped such acrimonious and determined opposition in the
successive debates of Congress
upon
Too
this general subject.
much argument too
nearly a self-evident truth, it could not be made much plainer
by any process of reasoning or demonstration. From the first
axiomatic, the subject did not admit of
;
more than a question betweea right and wrong,
principle and prejudice, and there was not large room or encouragement for mere argument, and what there was could
hardly be other than brief. There was room for amplification,
and it was improved. Illustrations could be multiplied, while
rhetoric and eloquence found ample range for the exercise of
it
was
little
�NO EXCLUSION FROM CARS.
507
and most impressive appeals. And yet it was
little more than the ringing of the possible changes upon those
great and fundamental principles of human conduct and acwrong doing and its perils, right doing and its
countability,
their choicest
—
rewards.
On
the
May, 1863, Mr. Sumner moved to amend
extending the charter of the Washington and Alex-
the 27th of
bill for
andria Railroad by adding a provision " that no person should
and, singube excluded from the cars on account of color "
;
larly enough, in view of subsequent opposition to the principle
involved,
it
passed both houses without debate, and was ap-
proved by the President on the 3d of March, 1863.
On
a
bill
the 16th of March, 1864, Mr.
Sumner moved
amend
to
incorporating the Metropolitan Railroad of Washington
He
City by inserting a similar provision.
protracted remarks on
its
but earnest and suggestive debate.
made an
it
make any
led to a brief
Mr. Johnson of Maryland
able and, considering that he
State, a singular
did not
introduction, though
was from a slaveholding
He
and noteworthy speech.
argued with
acumen that the amendment was unnecessary because
the company had no right to exclude any one on account of
" There is no more right," he said, " to exclude a
color.
black man from a car designated for the transportation of
legal
white persons than there
is
a right to refuse the transporta-
tion in a car designed for black persons to white
yet he admitted that for prudential reasons
it
And
men."
might be " con-
venient" for the company to provide separate cars, because, he
said, it would " meet with the public wish and the public
tastes of both classes."
very decided.
wound
Of
"
Concerning slavery, his views were
he
it,
said, "
if it is
not dead
it
has upon
it
and, though there miglit be, he admitted,
" conscientious " men who believed " it to be an institution
the
of death
;
to be preserved, they -will soon find in the
tendom, outside of their own
of the Christian's faith
society,
man
can
an obstacle to
much
limits,
which
its
lias
tlie
of Chris-
in the silent influences
done so much to humanize
continuance wliich no purpose of
longer restrain."
spoken and emphatic on
and
judgment
But while he was thus
legal rights of colored
men
;
out-
wliile
�508
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
he SO fully admitted the contrariety of Christianity to slavery,
and his belief that before the mild and benignant sway of the
one, the other must soon yield and pass away, he gave utterance to extremest opinions in the matter of caste, and endorsed sentiments as really in conflict with the spirit of the
Christian religion as anything in the slavery he had just pre" When we come," he said, " to
dicted must yield thereto.
political rights
and
social
enjoyment, there arc other considera-
tions that enter into such inquiries."
He
spoke deprecatingly of
anything like political or social equality, and pronounced them
" very perilous." Of the prejudice against color, he said, " it
is
a prejudice that comes from our Creator."
Of the supposi-
urged by the advocates of this caste of color,
man's
that a
daughter should wed a colored man, he used
these strong, not to say extravagant words " A man can
tion, so often
:
meet death, if he be a man, in a just cause but no man can
meet a calamity, such as I suppose that would be felt by every
man, with anything but continued trembling anxiety, depress;
ing, harassing, crushing fear."
But as no Senate debate at that time, involving the negro
and his cause, would have been deemed complete without participation therein by the Senator of Delaware, the voice of Mr.
Saulsbury was heard with his words of bitter scorn, denouncing
the African race and discountenancing all efforts for its protection and improvement. He took issue with Mr. Johnson on
He contended, " as a man who has humbly
several points.
assayed the pathway of law for twenty years," that the railroad company had the right to make the discrimination complained of that slavery was not dead, and he expressed the
hope that it would not die and, if it was dead, he wanted a
slave code for his State, to keep out presuming men of color.
He contended, too, that slavery was the natural condition of
tlie race, and that under it slaves had " prospered and been
;
;
happy beyond the experience
of
any
character in the world's history."
class of people of inferior
Free them, he said, " and
the story of the poor Indian will be theirs."
difference in character
divinely ordered.
" It
He
declared this
and condition of the two races to be
is," he said, " in the ordination of
�NO EXCLUSION FROM CARS.
God's providence."
ter,
and exclaimed
:
He spoke quite theologically of the mat" Sir, the finger of God Almighty has de-
creed the distinction between the races
infidelity, it is
509
war upon the ordinance
;
and Abolitionism
is
of God's providence."
inveighed bitterly against the attempts, " in the last three
He
years," to " raise to their
own
elevation an inferior race, or to
degrade themselves to an equality of an inferior race, as
He
must
we
would be
" Here lie thirty million white men, women, and
its epitaph
children who lost their liberties in trying to equalize with
themselves four million negroes." Others opposed the amendment Mr. Doolittle, on the ground that railroads had the
right to make the discrimination objected to, and Mr. Carlile
on the ground that the subject might be better left to the
have done."
said, if the nation
fall, this
:
;
courts.
In reply, Mr. Sumner agreed with Mr. Johnson in the
proposition that " colored people have the legal right to enter
the cars, and the proprietors are trespassers
dertake to exclude them "
;
benefit such a right can be to a colored
position.
act,"
He
when they un-
but he inquired of what use or
man, poor and without
said that Congress should pass " a declaratory
and he quoted parliamentary authority
that in cases of doubt
for the opinion,
should, in this way, interpret its mean-
it
Mr. Morrill of Maine replied with great force and beauty
remark of Mr. Saulsbury, that it would be
better to leave the whole matter to the gentlemanly instincts
ing.
of expression to the
of
the superior
race
and
to the principles of Christianity.
Reminding him that " under the influence of these
manly
instincts of the superior race slavery has
cherished,
— cherished as a benefaction
to the race
gentle-
come
;
to be
cherished
as a great social good
cherished as the corner-stone upon
which you are to rear American institutions,
the cornerstone of civil and religious liberty," he asked for the grounds
of hope that such principles would be any more effective in
" Could this question," he said,
the future than in the past.
" be remanded to the tribunal of Christianity, there would be
;
—
neither difficulty nor doubt in reaching a satisfactory and safe
conclusion, for wherever that influence has prevailed slavery
�510
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
has melted away and disappeared among the nations of the
Why,
earth.
sir,
perfect liberty
man
;
Christianity
the spirit of
freedom and brotherly
love,
is
the spirit of
and where these exist there
He who
slavery cannot exist.
is
spake as never
spake proclaimed the essential brotherhood of the race,
and taught the great lesson that to do unto others as we
would that they should do unto you was the sum of pracChristianity is an inspiration of love
tical human duty
and good-will to man, purifying, elevating, and emancipating
The spiritual
not a law of force, binding and enthralling
this
nation
in harmony
forces
which
underlie
are
moral
and
;
with the Christian civilization of the last three centuries in
harmony with the providence of Heaven in its great purposes
;
in this western world
;
and
will ultimately give us the victory
forms of oppression over the limbs or minds of men."
The question was taken on the amendment, and it was adopted
by a vote of nineteen to seventeen the House concurred
over
all
;
and the President, on the 1st of July, approved the
Subsequently an amendatory act,
bill, as thus amended.
though substantially the same, was adopted.
On the 21st of June, Mr. Sumner moved a similar amendment of the charter of the Washington and Georgetown Railtherein,
road.
As
in the previous discussions, this gave rise to various
and similar objections, though there was little additional argument, either for or against it. Among the objectors, Mr.
Trumbull of Illinois contended that it would afford no addiIn reply, Mr. Sumner said, " I
tional right to the negro.
always regarded the Wilmot Proviso, if the Constitution were
properly interpreted, surplusage
;
yet I never hesitated, in seait
and I believe the Senaand out of season, to do the
son and out of season, to vindicate
tor never hesitated, in season
And, on the same
same
;
principle, I insist that this pro-
" The Senator from Illinois
viso also should be adopted."
"
that the colored people have a
tells us," said Mr. Wilson,
legal right to ride in these cars
doubts
it
;
now.
We know
it
;
nobody
but this company into which we breathed the breath
of life outrages the rights of twenty-five thousand colored people in this District, in our presence, in defiance of our opin-
�NO EXCLUSION FROM CARS.
Though such
ions."
of greater importance to protect
it
the rights of the poor and lowly.
shall protect rights,
ests, until every
we do
if
man
man
" I trust," he said, "
we
over prejudices and over inter-
it
in this country
the rights that belong to beings
Let the free
might offend the preju-
action, he said,
dices of some, he thought
511
fully protected in all
is
made
in the
of this race be permitted to
image of God.
run the career of
God intended he should make,
to make of himself all
when he breathed into him
that
the opinion that decency
as well as justice required action.
life
"
;
He
expressed
ago," he said, " I rode to the Capitol in one of
Some weeks
On
these cars.
the breath of life."
the front part of the car, standing with the
driver, were, I think, five colored
clergymen of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, dressed like gentlemen, and behaving like
These clergymen were riding with the driver on
and inside the car were two drunken loafconducting and behaving themselves so badly that the
gentlemen.
the front platform
ers,
;
conductor threatened to turn them out."
In default of argument, the opposers resorted to ridicule.
" Poor, helpless, and despised inferior race of white men," exclaimed Mr. Saulsbury, " you have very little interest in this
government
you are not worth consideration in the legislabut let your superior. Sambo's interests
question, and you will find the most tender solicitude
;
tion of the country
come
in
in his behalf
!
;
What
a pity
it
is
there
is
not somebody to
lampblack white men, so that their rights could be secured "
Mr. Powell of Kentucky counselled Mr. Sumner to volunteer
!
in behalf of his " Ethiopian friends,"
and bring an action in
the courts against " this heartless corporation." " The Senator," he said, " has indicated to his fanatical brethren
those
—
who meet
in free-love societies, the old ladies, the sen-
sation preachers,
and those who live on fanaticism
that he
and I see no reason why we
people
has offered his amendment
—
;
should take up the time of the Senate with eternally squabbling
over the Senator's amendments, and introducing the negro
into every wood-pile that comes along."
But notwithstanding
and arguments against the amendment it was
adopted, and the company was restrained from further pander-
the ridicule
�512
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
RISE
ing to unjust and inhuman prejudices, by flaunting before the
public eye the " colored " car.
" owe their force and
human laws
All
all their
authority,"
says Blackstone, " to the law of nature and the law of reyelation,"
and
it
naturally follows that they
must be interpreted
none arc of binding force that " contraBut when slavery became the subject of legisladict these."
tion, different principles obtained, and an opposite course was
on the
principle that
pursued.
Then, to ignore such claims seemed
to be the rule,
and to discard their injunctions became the purpose.
In
itself
unnatural and a system of violence, slavery demanded a course
by enactment and interpretation, set at
and wrong, turned a deaf ear
to the voice of conscience, and treated with the most profound
Among the
indifference every claim of justice and humanity.
statutes in which this was seen was that which refused not
of legislation which,
naught
all
distinctions of right
man
only to the colored
man
the right to testify, but to the white
the benefit of his testimony when, as
such testimony was
The
ability
first
all
movement
it
often happened,
that could be obtained.
in Congress for the
because of color was a
bill
offered
removal of this
dis-
by Mr. Wilson in
of slavery in the District of
December, 1861, for the abolition
Columbia, providing that every claimant for the service of a
slave should be examined on oath, and that he for whose service compensation
Sumner moved
to
was claimed might also be examined. Mr.
the bill by empowering the commis-
amend
sioners to take testimony " without the exclusion of witnesses
on account of color," and
six to ten.
On
it
was adopted by
a vote of twenty-
the 7th of July, on a supplementary
the release of certain persons of color,
bill
for
Mr. Sumner offered as
an amendment a new section, providing " that in all judicial
proceedings in the District of Columbia there shall be no
exclusion of any witness on account of color " and it was
;
adopted by a vote of twenty-five to eleven.
Near the
amend
close of the session in
1864 Mr. Sumner moved
the Civil Appropriation Bill by adding "
tliat
to
in the
courts of the United States there shall be no exclusion of any
witnesses on account of color."
Objections were
made by Mr.
�COLORED TESTIMONY ALLOWED.
Sherman, who approved of the
its
introduction, " to load
down
principle, but
513
who deprecated
this, the last of the appropria-
and thus be likely to create controversy between
Mr. Carlile also besought the mover to withMr. Buckalew moved to amend the amendment by
tion bills,"
the two houses.
draw
it.
adding the words, " or because he
in the issue tried,"
is
a party to or interested
which was adopted.
Mr. Sumner advocated its adoption. " It is hard," he said,
" to be obliged to argue this question. I do not argue it. I will
not argue
I
it.
simply ask for your votes.
Surely Congress
will not adjourn without redressing this grievance.
in
Magna
tliat
The
king,
he would deny justice to no
Congress has succeeded to this promise and obligation."
one.
" Is
Charta, promised
to be presumed, at the outset," said Mr. Howard of
Michigan, " that, because a man has a black skin, he either
it
cannot or will not
tell
that tliose persons
the truth in court
?
It
seems to
me
who object to the examination of black
persons as witnesses on the ground that they are black put it
upon this most unphilosophical, and, I may add, most inhuman
and cruel presumption, that a negro either cannot or will not
tell the truth in any case.
I shall be guilty of presuming no
such thing."
Mr. Saulsbury could not allow the opportunity
to pass without putting himself on record not "only against
this particular proposition, but against the subject of its pro-
Though he did not wish, he said with elegant phrase,
" to say anything about the nigger aspect of the case, it is
vision.
'
here every day
years to come,
wipes out
which
I
and
;
till
I
suppose
'
it
will be here every
day for
the Democratic party comes into power,
and
on the statute-book of this character,
trust in God they will soon do."
The opposition,
all legislation
avail, and the amendment was adopted by
and on the bill receiving the signature of the
however, did not
both houses
;
President, another relic
of the Slave Power's rule passed
away, and the negro as well as the white man was permitted
to testify in the courts of justice.
Closely allied to this action, because the principle of negro
testimony was involved in the evil complained of, was the
attempt and its final success to repeal the legislation that
VOL.
III.
33
�AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POVVER
514
RISE
made
color a disqualification for carrying the mails.
18tli of
all
IN AMERICA.
March, 18G2, Mr. Sumner introduced a
On
the
remove
bill to
such disqualification of color for the purpose aforesaid,
making
mention
a section of the act, adopted in
"
establishing and regulating the
1825, for the purpose of
Post-Of!ice Department," which enacted " that no other than
special
of
a free white person shall be employed in conveying the mail
and any contractor who
tJian a free white
shall
employ or permit any other
person to convey the mail
shall, for
such offence, incur a penalty of twenty dollars."
on the 11th of April, and after a brief discussion
by a vote of twenty-four to eleven.
It
was reported
in the
It
it
every
came up
was adopted
House, from the Committee on the
Post-Ofhce and Post-Roads, by Mr. Colfax of Indiana, with a
recommendation that it do not pass. He briefly explained the
reasons which had led the committee to its conclusion. Among
them were the facts that it did not " affect exclusively the
blacks of the country "
;
that
it
ness of mail contracting and of
would " throw open the busithus becoming ofhccrs of the
Post-Office Department," not only to the blacks but to the
that it would allow " the employment
by the slaveholder of his slaves to carry the mail " and that,
" because colored men were not allowed to testify in the courts
of many of the States," the government would be deprived of
Indians and Chinese
;
;
their testimony " to convict mail depredators."
of the debate
upon the
In the course
Kentucky
was enacted
report, Mr. Wickliffe of
stated that the section proposed to be repealed
because slaveholders were " in the habit of obtaining mail
and employing their negroes to drive their stages
and carry their mails." The bill failed of passage, a motion
to lay it on the table prevailing by a vote of eighty-two to
contracts,
forty-five.
In January, 1864, Mr. Sumner introduced a similar bill, and
was referred to the committee, which reported it with an
amendment " that in the courts of the United States there
shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color."
Mr. Collamer, in reporting the bill, said " The bill is suf-
it
:
ficiently
explicit
in itself
;
but the committee were of the
�COLORED PERSONS MAY CARRY MAILS.
opinion, that
if
515
persons of color were to be employed, and
rendered eligible to be employed, as carriers of the mail, by
those who have contracted to carry it, and who wish to employ
them,
it
would be unsafe to commit to their hands the mail,
when they
who should
could not themselves be witnesses against those
violate that mail, steal
it,
rob
it,
and commit dep-
redations upon it."
The measure, however, encountered
severe criticism and op-
Mr. Johnson of Maryland regretted its introduction,
but expressed the hope that, if adopted, it would be confined
Mr. Powell denounced it as " fato " free persons of color "
natical and radical legislation " ; Mr. Saulsbury declared that
position.
;
" we are legislating against reason, against our own race, by
such enactments "
and Mr. Hendricks, though a Northern
man, was not unwilling to leave on record that he was not
" content to see a law passed by the Congress of the United
;
States placing the negro
upon the platform
of equality
with
the white race in the courts of the country, the sanctuary of
Standing alone, the white race has progressed for
our rights.
a thousand years, without a step backward.
the negro race has gone
Standing alone,
downward and downward
for a thou-
sand years."
The
At
bill,
however, did not reach a vote before adjournment.
the next session
it
came up again, and was passed on the
19th of December, only
against
it.
of March, 1865,
next day.
five
In the House
As
and
it
it
Senators recording their votes
passed by acclamation on the 2d
received the President's signature the
finally passed, it enacted,
" that from and after
the passage of this act no person, by reason of color, shall be
from employment in carrying the mails, and
and parts of acts establishing such disqualification,
disqualified
all
acts
in-
cluding especially the seventh section of the act of March 3,
1825, are hereby repealed." That such an act, so sweeping
in its provisions, should pass both houses of Congress
by so
nearly a unanimous vote, not only betrayed the absence of
the seceding Southern members, but revealed, for the time
being at least, a great change in the Northern sentiment.
�CHAPTER XXXVII.
RECONSTRUCTION.
— PRESIDENT
LINCOLN'S POLICY.
—
— Questions.
great and manifest. — Not provided
— Measures proposed but not acted — President's annual message and proc— Committee of Nine. —
lamation. — Terms proposed. — Sharply
— His speech. — Smithers. — Debate. — Prominence of
Winter Davis's
— Beaman,
— Opposed
the emancipation
Donnelly, Bout
by Pendleton, Wood, Yeaman, and Kernan. — Substitute and passage. —
Senate and conference. —
passed. — Not signed by the President. —
President's proclamation. — Condemned. — Address
Wade and Davis.
Early
efforts.
Difficulties
for.
on.
criticised.
bill.
feature.
Scofield,
well.
Bill
of
That
it is
to build up,
down than
Nor did the proverb ever receive
easier to destroy tlian to create, to pull
is
proverbial.
sadder or more serious illustration than in the recent Rebellion,
and
in the consequent attempts at reconstruction.
That the
breach which had been so violently and causelessly made should,
if
possible, be repaired,
made whole, seemed a
Nothing
war.
harmony
restored,
and the Union again
natural and necessary corollary of the
less justified
the terrible waste of
treasure of that fearful struggle.
life
and
Consequently, long before
before even it had reached the giant proportions it
assumed, the thoughts of the loyal were turned towards
Before the close
the Avork of restoration and reconstruction.
of the first year of the war, indeed, propositions were introits close,
finally
duced into Congress looking towards the replacing, by loyal
governments, of those traitorous bodies which had inaugurated
and were then prosecuting the Rebellion.
But the dangers and difficulties of such attempts, though not
From the first, even superfully appreciated, were recognized.
ficial
observers regarded with painful misgivings the efforts
which had been so
was most emphatically untrodden
requisite to restore that national integrity
ruthlessly destroyed.
For
it
�RECONSTRUCTION.
— PRESIDENT
ground, an unexplored sea
;
517
LINCOLN'S POLICY.
and there were neither landmarks
As
the ancient Greeks and Romans had, for a
long time, no laws against parricide, " from an opinion that
nor chart.
nobody could be so wicked as to
kill his
parents," so the
framers of the Constitution did not seem to have had in mind
even the possibility that there could be parricides who would
destroy the nation's
life,
or to have anticipated such a crime
They
as the Rebellion proved to be.
no rules
Without law, or-
left, therefore,
for the reconstruction rendered necessary.
ganic or other, without precedent, those charged with the
work were required
to be a
The
law to themselves.
practical
questions at issue were of extremest importance, and could be
answered only by reference to
them
Naturally, not to
law.
higlier
and the
say necessarily, there was
and wide divergence
difference of opinion
men
by remanding
first principles,
to those courts of last appeal, reason, equity,
of views
among
equally earnest and equally honest in their desires
and
purpose to reconstruct what had been so basely destroyed.
Grave questions
arose.
What
take
itself
out of the Union
Territorial condition, or
?
still
?
Are the
Can
a State
constitutes a State
seceded States within or without the Union
?
Shall they be
remanded
be treated as States
?
to a
If re-
construction be attempted, what shall be the conditions of
return
?
Whence
shall the proffer originate
?
How many
and who shall constitute the primordial elements of the new
governments ? To these and questions like these different
answers were given, as concerning them widely divergent
opinions were entertained ?
For there not only existed the chronic dispute, the conflicting theories, and the still unsettled questions concerning
State rights and the line that runs between the jurisdiction
of the Federal and State governments
the Democratic assumption that the Rebel States did not actually, because they
;
could not rightfully, secede, and, therefore, being States
could legitimately
claim
all
— the RebeUion having
still,
been suppressed
—
that the Constitution guarantees to States that had
but there were very serious differences among
Republicans themselves, concerning both the principles innot rebelled
;
�518
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Though agreeing
volved and the policy demanded.
as to the
self-destruction of the seceding States, tlieir forfeiture of every
right under the Constitution except
— "the
— as roughly put by some
right to be hung," their entire dependence
upon the
grace of the Federal government for pardon and restoration,
they differed very materially as to the best method of exercising that grace, as to the location in the government, whether in the legislative or executive departments, of the
exercise
The President leaned
it.
work, at least
initiative, for the
its
power to
it was
to the opinion that
executive, while others
deemed Congress the legitimate agent
But, what-
therefor.
ever differences might have existed concerning
methods and
the time of its beginning, there was a general agreement that
it was a work to be done, and that towards its accomplishment
its
appropriate efforts should be directed.
As early as December, 1861, not many months from the
opening of the Rebellion, Mr. Harlan of Iowa introduced into
the Senate a
bill
for the establishment of provisional govern-
ments for the territory embraced by the States of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
It was referred to the Committee on Territories but it was never
reported.
A few weeks later, Mr. Sumner introduced a series
;
of resolutions declaratory of the relations subsisting between
the United States and the " pretended governments " of the
States in rebellion.
These resolutions declared that slavery,
being a local institution, ceased with the State governments
that had hitherto given
it
existence and support
the duty of Congress to terminate
its
;
that
it
was
practical, as they had
its
and that any recognition of slavery, or
return of pretended slaves, was an unauthorized denial of the
rights of persons who had thus become free.
But no action
was taken. In the House, on the 12th of March, Mr. Ashley
legal,
continuance
of Ohio reported,
;
from the Committee on Territories, a
bill
providing provisional governments for the territory in rebellion.
But
it
was
remarking that
Union and
laid
it
upon the
table,
Mr. Pendleton of Ohio
should be " entitled a
abolish the Constitution."
ruary, Mr. Harris of
New York had
bill
On
to dissolve the
the 14th of Feb-
introduced a
bill
for a
�EECONSTRUCTION.
When
like purpose.
ment was
and
it
— PRESIDENT
came up
519
LINCOLN'S POLICY.
for consideration,
an amend-
offered providing- against returning fugitive slaves
affixing penalties thereto
not come up again for action
;
;
but it was laid aside, and did
and no other important meas-
ure was either adopted or proposed before the close of the
session.
In connection with his annual message, on the assembling
of Congress in
December, in 1863, President Lincoln sent in
a proclamation, which he had issued, designed to present to the
seceded States " a mode in and by which the national authority
and loyal State governments may be re-established." He
began by reciting the fact of " a Rebellion," certain acts of
Congress concerning " forfeiture and confiscation of property,
liberation of slaves," and " conditional pardon "
several
;
proclamations of the executive ; and the expressed desire of
" some persons heretofore engaged in such Rebellion to resume
allegiance."
He
then made proclamation that
all
such, by
taking an oath of loyalty, which he prescribed, should receive
pardon, restoration of rights of property " except as to slaves "
and when " third
parties " have intervened
however, as occupied certain
official
government when the Rebellion broke
the Confederate government.
;
excluding such,
positions in the Federal
out, or, aftervrard, in
He proposed
also that,
if
or all of these seceded States there were one tenth in
in
any
number
of the votes cast in the presidential election of 1860, wdio
should subscribe such an oath, re-establish a State govern-
and recognizing the permanent
freedom of the ex-slaves, it " shall be recognized as the true
government of the State." He also gave his pledge that any
proper " temporary arrangement " for the freedmen, as " a laboring, landless, and homeless class," would " not be objected
ment, republican in form
to
by the national executive."
He
admitted that Congress
alone must be the judge of the claims of those
who should be
admitted to seats in either house
and he closed with these
words " While the mode presented is the best the executive
;
:
can suggest with his present impressions, it must not be understood that no other possible mode would be acceptable."
In the message itself, the President devoted considerable
�520
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
space to the subject-matter of the proclamation, explahiing
and defending
its
provisions and promises
;
though
fully rec-
ognizing the difficulties of the situation, and the " conflicting
Saying that the
views " by which the subject was " beset."
war power must be their main reliance, he insisted that the
army and navy should still be the objects of their " chiefcst
care," to which, after all, he added, " the world must be indebted for the
home
freedom disenthralled, regenerated,
of
enlarged, and perpetuated."
Among the " conflicting views " to
which the President
were those of many who took serious exception to the
policy of the proclamation, both on account of what was regarded as an assumption on the part of the executive, and
refers
what they deemed the impolitic propositions
and promises he made to the seceded States. On the 15th of
December, 1863, Thaddeus Stevens moved that so much of the
President's message as relates to the condition and treatment
also because of
of the rebellious
States be referred to a select committee of
Mr. Davis of Maryland moved to amend the resolution,
nine.
so as to appoint a committee of nine, to
whom
so
much
of the
President's message as relates to the duty of the United States
to guarantee a republican
shall be referred,
form
of
government
to the States
shall report the bills necessary
which
proper to carry into execution that guaranty.
and
After a brief
—
yeas
Mr. Davis was carried,
the
appointed
as
Speaker
ninety-one, nays eighty
and the
Massaselect committee Mr. Davis of Maryland, Mr. Gooch of
chusetts, J. C. Allen of Illinois, Mr. Ashley of Ohio, Mr. Fendebate,
the
amendment
of
;
New York, Mr. Holman of Indiana, Mr. Smithers of
Delaware, Mr. Blow of Missouri, and Mr. English of Con-
ton of
necticut.
On
the loth of February Mr. Davis reported a
bill to
guar-
antee to certain States, whose governments have been usurped,
which was read twice,
a repul)lican form of government
;
ordered to be printed, and recommitted to the committee.
bill
The
provided that a provisional governor should be appointed
by the President for each
its civil
of the seceded States,
charged with
administration, until a State government should be
�RECONSTRUCTION.
formed
;
— PRESIDENT
521
LINCOLN'S POLICY.
that, as soon as the Rebellion should be quelled,
should enroll
the white inhabitants of such State
all
he
who were
prepared to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal govern-
ment, and who, as soon as they should become a majority of
such inhabitants, should be invited to elect delegates to a convention, " charged to declare the will of the people of the State
relative to the establishment of a State
government "
many members
this convention should " consist of as
;
that
as both
houses of the last previous constitutional State legislature," to
be apportioned
the
among
by said governor
tricts
oath of
the several parishes and election dis;
that said delegates should subscribe to
allegiance as
prescribed by the act of July 2,
1862 that the election should be held under the control of
commissioners appointed by the governor, special provision
;
being made for taking the votes of the soldiers in the army
that the convention
should be convened at such time and
that, on assemshould " declare " the submission of the people it
place as should be prescribed by the governor
bling,
it
represented to the Federal government
that no person holding
above a certain specified grade in the Confederate ser-
office
vice should either vote or
tion
;
;
become a member
of said conven-
that slavery should be forever prohibited
;
;
that no debt
contracted in aid of the Rebellion should be recognized
the convention should determine whether or not
a constitution
that the constitution,
;
submitted to the same electors
adopted by them,
who
it
;
that
would form
formed, should be
if
chose the delegates, and,
if
should be transmitted to the President, to
it
be laid before Congress
frame a constitution,
it
;
that,
if
the convention should refuse to
should be competent for the President
at his discretion to order another election
;
that, until a State
government should be formed, the provisional governor should
contiime, with such other officers as the President should ap-
point
;
that he should order the levy and collection of such
taxes as were collected during the year preceding the Rebellion
;
arrest
that involuntary servitude should cease, and that the
and return
to slavery of
caped should
l)e
all officers of
the Confederacy of
punished
any slaves who may have esand imprisonment and that
and above the grade of colonel
])y fine
should not be deemed citizens of the United States.
;
�522
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Coming up for discussion on the 22d of March, Mr, Davis
made an elaborate and eloquent speech, defending the provisions
and giving expression to his views of the
situation.
Speaking from a Southern standpoint, and with evident sympathy with the people of his section, he asked " What
was the temper of the loyal masses of the South at the outbreak
of the Rebellion, and what is it now ?
They did not want reof the proposed bill,
:
bellion
they voted against secession
;
vote which decreed
it
;
;
they acquiesced in the
they went with their State, content to
accept what they did not prefer, but were unwilling to resist
Union with peace, but yielded up the Union rather
than make war to maintain it and preferred war against the
United States to war against the South. "Whether the doctrines of secession had unconsciously to themselves become the
foundations upon which the thoughts of men rested whether
they were unwilling to sacrifice slavery in the event of a war
Avhether the strife on that question had deadened national feeling whether horror of making war on their Southern brethren
the fact was that after they voted against
oppressed them,
secession, they acquiesced in the judgment of their friends and
Exhausted by bloodshed, anxious for peace, some
neighbors.
will accept peace and Union, or be equally content with peace
and independence. But so long as war lasts no large portion
preferred
;
;
;
;
—
of the South will cast its lot with the United States,
with us in ruin or in triumph.
No
fact
we have
and stand
learned indi-
any such repentance." Mr. Smithers of the adjoining
border State of Delaware advocated strongly the measure.
" I do not," he said, " trust wholly to presidential proclamacates
tions.
I prefer to rest the security of the Republic
upon the
and more irrefragable basis of Congressional enactments.
I would not forego any possible precaution against the recurrence of fraternal strife. Homogeneity of institutions is our
safer
only safeguard
The debate
;
universal freedom, the only possible solution."
revealed very largely the perhaps disproportion-
and undue interest and solicitude on the subject of slavery.
showed at least the underlying idea which prevailed that,
slavery being the cause of the Rebellion, and of its attendant
ate
It
and entailed calamities,
it
must, at
all
hazards, be taken out of
�RECONSTRUCTION.
the
way
as
;
— PRESIDENT
523
LINCOLN'S POLICY.
that removed, the rest would be of easy accom-
if,
plishment, the Union would be restored, and the lost fraternal
unity and peace be invited back.
Mr. Beaman of Michigan
thus closed an earnest speech and appeal for the emancipation
feature of the bill " By no consent of mine shall a single one
:
of the
'
wayward
sisters
'
ever be permitted to participate in
shaping the destinies of this nation, until she has by her organic law forever prohibited involuntary servitude, except as
a punishment for crime, within
all
her borders
;
nor, while I
and strength, will I cease to urge by all constitutional
means the freedom of every inhabitant of the United States,
without regard to color or race." Mr. Scofield of Pennsylvahave
life
nia, in a similar strain, after affirming that all possible con-
cessions had been made to the Slave Power, said severely that
" even James Buchanan, so gifted in abasement, could find
nothing more in the shape of theory to give them, and in
Lecompton." Thayer
the
same State advocated the measure,
stead tendered the low villany of
its
and Kelley
of the
—
former, as " the policy of taking security for the future peace
and the latter, " as a means of organizing conand Mr. Donnelly of Minnesota expressed
his conviction that tlie greatness and perpetuity of the country
of the nation,"
quest and peace "
;
could be assured " only in so far as
it
identifies itself
with the
uninterrupted progress and the universal liberty of mankind."
Mr. Boutwell of Massachusetts urged the adoption of
tli'e
emancipation policy, especially as a matter of justice to the
negro and of safety to the nation.
" I ask," he said, " for
this people justice in the presence of these great events, in
this exigency, wlien the life of the nation is in peril,
and when
every reflecting person must see that the cause of that peril
in the injustice
we have done
we
justice to that race.
shall
They
now do
to the negro race.
is
I ask that
Tliey are four millions.
remain on this continent. They cannot be expaThey await the order of Providence. Their home
will
triated.
is here.
It is
our duty to elevate them, to provide for their
civilization, for their
But, like
all
enlightenment, that they
may
enjoy the
and their capacity."
measures in behalf of justice and humanity,
fruits of their lal)or
�524
this
RISE
was
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
"
called to encounter Democratic opposition.
New York,
We
"
Fernando Wood
full measure of the misery that
of
this generation," said
of
may
not be ahle to estimate the
will
follow the realization of the fantastic theory, which, promising
to
remove the yoke from every shoulder, will curse the earth
Mr. Pendlesterility, and man with vice and poverty."
with
ton of Ohio opposed
stroys liberty
;
it.
" It creates unity," he said
"
;
it
de-
maintains integrity of territory, but destroys
it
Mr. Allen, member of the committee which reported the bill, said " Some one has suggested
that, when slavery was buried, upon its tombstone should l^e
the rights of the citizen."
:
written,
'
Slavery
died of the Rebellion.'
:
warn gentlemen
I
to beware, lest beside the grave of slavery be found another
grave, and another tombstone, whereon History shall write,
Civil Liberty died of Revolution.' " Nor Democrats alone,
'
—
:
Mr. Ycaman
of
Kentucky denied the power
Nor did he
to legislate
the laws and institutions of States.
sity of the
measure
;
away
see the neces-
for without military success, he said, the
proposed law would be a dead letter and with such success
" abolition is accomplished without the law."
It was also
opposed by Dawson and Strouse of Pennsylvania, Cravens of
;
Indiana,
Kernan
New
of
York, and
others.
the debate, Mr. Davis, the author of the
Near the
bill,
close of
proposed a sub-
which was adopted, and the bill, as amended, passed the
House by a vote of seventy-three to fifty-nine.
In the Senate, it was referred to tlie Committee on Territories, reported back on the 27th of May with amendments,
stitute,
and made the subject of del)ate on the 1st of July. Various
amendments were made and rejected till one, in the form of
a substitute, was offered by Mr. Brown of Missouri, enacting
that when a State was declared to be in rebellion, it would
be incapable of casting any vote for President and meml)er3
of Congress
and it was adopted by a majority of one. Mr.
;
Sumner
offered an
amendment
that the Proclamation of
cipation should be " enacted as a statute," but
eleven votes.
The
bill,
as thus amended,
vote of twenty-six to three.
Senate amendment.
A
it
Eman-
received only
was passed by a
The House non-concurred in the
committee of conference was chosen
�— PRESIDENT
RECONSTRUCTION.
525
LINCOLN'S POLICY.
by both houses, the Senate reconsidered its vote on the Brown
amendment, and the House bill was adopted. But the President withheld his signature, and it failed to become a law.
On the 9th of July, 1864, a few days after the adjournment
of Congress, President Lincoln issued his proclamation, an-
nexing the
bill
which had just passed both houses by such
decisive majorities, giving his reasons for withholding his sig-
nature, and presenting certain considerations and propositions
concerning the general subject of reconstruction.
The reasons
were lack of time, " less than
one hour " intervening between its passage and the adjournment of Congress, and the fact that he was unprepared by formal
given for not signing the
approval of this
bill
bill
either to be inflexibly
committed
to
any
single plan of reconstruction, thus setting aside the free State
Arkansas and Louisiana, and thereby repelling
from further efforts in the same direction, or to
" declare a constitutional competency in Congress to abolish
slavery in the States," though he expressed the hope that a
constitutional amendment would be adopted, abolishing slavery
throughout the nation. He, however, expressed himself fully
governments
of
their citizens
satisfied
with the proposition of the
a State to any
bill
for the restoration of
who might choose to adopt it, and he pledged
who might avail themselves of
executive co-operation to any
provisions to return to their places in the Union.
There were, however, many who took exceptions to this
proclamation of the President, doubted its wisdom and authorThey contended that the latter
ity, and objected to its terms.
were too liberal, and that the proffer should have originated
with Congress and not with the executive. A few days after
its
its
appearance there was published a paper, signed by " B.
F. Wade, Chairman of Senate Committee, and H. Winter
Davis, Chairman of Committee of House of Representatives
on the Rebellious States," and addressed " To the Supporters
of the
Government."
It
was an
able, elaborate,
sioned document, well calculated to produce, by
ship, subject,
and mode
upon the popular mind.
and impasits
author-
of treatment, a profound impression
Its signers began with the assertion
that they have read " without surprise, but not without indig-
�526
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
nation," the President's proclamation, and they proceeded to
criticise
and condemn with great sharpness and plainness of
speech his reasons for not signing the hill, and what they
were pleased to characterize the unauthorized assumptions,
proposals, and promises w^hich he had made.
To
the plea
derived from the shortness of time, they interposed the fact
hill had been under discussion for nearly two months,
and the undoubted willingness of Congress to have prolonged
the session, had it been hinted that the President desired
Indeed, they more than
longer opportunity to consider it.
obscurely hinted that there had been influences at work to
that the
prevent earlier action in the Senate "thereon.
now
the President that he
laid the bill,
The
assertion of
which he had refused
and his professed readiness
any chose to accept its provisions, they condemned very severely, inasmuch as, they said,
without his signature it was not a law, and could be, when
thus presented, only an executive assumption, if not an usur-
to sign, before the seceded States,
to " proceed according to "
pation.
They
it,
if
characterized, too, his alleged purpose " to pro-
" as a " makeshift and a delusion,'*
while of his general position and proposition they said, " a
ceed according to the
bill
more decided outrage on the
legislative authority has never
been perpetrated."
The governments
of
Arkansas and Louisiana, which the
President described as " free," and which he said he was unprepared to see " set aside and held for naught," though Con-
shown its estimate by rejecting the Senators and
Representatives sent therefrom, they stigmatized as " shadows," " creatures of his will," " oligarchies imposed on the
gress had
people by military orders under the forms of an election,'*
which election they characterized as a " farce." At some
length, and with great force of expression, they drew a " con-
trast" between the
bill
the President had refused to sign and
the plan he had sent to Congress at the opening of the session, " the one," they said, " requiring a majority, and the
other satisfied with one tenth of the voters
;
the one ascertain-
ing wlio the voters were by registering and the other by guess
the one governing by law and the other by military governors
;
�EECOXSTRUCTION.
— PRESIDENT
527
LINCOLN'S POLICY.
the one protecting the nation against the return to power of
the guilty leaders of the Rebellion, the continuance of slavery,
and the burden of the Rebel debt," the other " silent respect-
ing the Rebel debt and the political exclusion of Rebel leaders,
leaving slavery exactly where it was by law " at the time of
secession.
the President's course as " a blow
They denounced
humanity,
and tlicy
and the principles of republican government "
closed by calling upon all supporters of the administration
to " consider the remedy for these usurpations, and, having
at the friends of the administration, at the rights of
;
found
it,
to fearlessly execute it."
This paper, so deliberate and determined in
its tone and purand arraignments, coming, too, from
men so conspicuous for their abilities and their political and
official prominence, could not but produce a marked impression
upon the popular mind and heart, rejoicing the enemies and
pose, in its allegations
disturbing the friends
greedily seized
it
of
the administration.
The former
as an indorsement of their charges that the
President was substituting his
own
will for the guidance of the
Constitution, while arrogating to the executive what belonged
alone to Congress.
The
latter felt the injury inflicted
on the
Union cause through the confessed weakness of divided counsels and the seeming diminution of popular confidence in the
administration.
That the President made mistakes none were more willing
Tliat his veto was not a mistake
now that events have taken the turn which resulted from his
early death, the strange and reactionary policy of his successor,
and the brood of ills to which it has led
even his warmest friends will not unhesitatingly claim.
But that he was
influenced by any mere wilfulness of purpose, by the low ambition of having his own way, with any overweening confidence
in his own judgment, few now believe.
Not consciously deficient in the power of perception and judgment, and occupying a position from which he thought he could more accurately
—
to admit than himself.
—
survey the situation than others,
he could better comprehend
it is
probable that he
its intrinsic
difficulties
felt
that
and the
dangers to be apprehended from divided counsels and conflict-
�528
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
He
ing purposes.
IN AMERICA.
gave, too, frequent expression to a convic-
mind that there
upon him that he
own ideas of what was right
tion that seemed very firmly established in his
were certain
official responsibilities
resting
must discharge according to his
and best, and not according to those of others,
that he could
not rightly delegate to another what he was elected to do
—
himself, or vacate the high commission he had accepted from
his countrymen.
That thought he had frequently expressed
in
connection with the subject of emancipation and the employ-
ment of colored soldiers. In a letter to an Arkansas gentleman, dated February 18, 1864, he used these significant words
:
"
it
When
formed a plan for an election in Arkansas, I did
was at the same work.
learned the latter fact, I have been constantly trying
I
in ignorance that your convention
Since
I
to yield
my
plan to them
Some
single
mind must be
and Genand being on the ground,
Such a man may have
be that master."
master, else there will be no agreement in anything
eral Steele,
is
the best
made
commanding the
man
mistakes,
what belonged
but
it is
to
may
;
military,
indeed have claimed for the executive
to the legislative departments of
government
hard to conceive of him as anything but patriotic and
thoroughly devoted to the best interests of his country.
�CHAPTER XXXYIII.
RECONSTRUCTION.
— LOUISIANA. — ARKANSAS.
— General Banks's proclamation the people of Louisiana.
President's
— Response. — Arkansas. — Lane's and
— Trumbull's — Report. — Debate. — Sumner's amendment. — Powell in opposition. — Davis. —
Republican opposition. — Sumner, Howard. — What
a State — Wade. —
— Debate. — Dawes,
defended. — Henderson. — House. — Ashley's
— Wood. — Substitute. — H. Winter Davis. — Amendments
opposition
— F. Wilson's
proposed. —
on the
supremacy of
Constitution. — Substitute. — Brief debate. — Laid upon the
The
desire.
to
bill
failure.
bill.
is
Bill
?
bill.
of.
Bill laid
table.
bill
J.
for
table.
There were two thoughts which seemed
to occupy the
work of reconstruction
the great importance of making a beginning
mind
of the President in regard to the
:
first,
that of
;
and,
secondly, of the impolicy, as expressed in his veto message,
upon any single plan to which all must conform.
Without the light now shining upon the subject, in ignorance
of what has since transpired, he could not regard the work to
be done as other than experimental and tentative, and he was
of fixing
in haste to
make
a beginning.
Consequently, on the 11th of January, 1864, General Banks,
commanding at New Orleans, " in pursuance," he said, " of
authority vested in
him by the President
of the
United States,"
issued a proclamation to the people of Louisiana, proposing an
election
on the 22d of February for State
officers,
and, on the
1st of April, a similar election for " delegates to a convention
for the revision of the constitution."
The
qualifications of
voters invited to participate in the election for State officers
were " the oath of allegiance prescribed by the President's
proclamation, with the condition affixed to the elective franchise by the constitution of Louisiana."
The
chosen, he declared, should " constitute the
VOL.
III.
34
civil
officers
then
government
�530
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
of the State under the constitution and laws of Louisiana,
much
except so
regulate,
and
of said constitution
and laws as recognize,
relate to slavery, which, being inconsistent with
the present condition of public affairs, and plainly inapplicable
now existing within its limits, must be
and they are, therefore and hereby, declared to be
Suggestions as to the proper registrainoperative and void."
tion were also given.
to
any
class of persons
suspended
;
The reason assigned for the proposed
was " that the organic law of the
tion
conform to the
may
be
made
to
and harmonize with the spirit
maintain and preserve the ancient
will of the people,
of the age, as well as to
landmarks
isting law
constitutional conven-
State
and religious liberty." Declaring the exState
the
to be " martial law," he said it was
of
of civil
competent and just to surrender so much of it to the people at
the earliest moment as would be " consistent with the success
of military operations,"
way and hasten
to prepare the
the
time for their return to the Union and their former prosperity.
These results, he said, could not be secured " without some
" In great
sacrifice of individual prejudices and interests."
civil
convulsions," he added, " the agony of strife enters the
souls of the innocent as well as the guilty.
too complicate for the
Problems
human mind, have been
of state,
solved by the
The government is subject to the law
The "basis of representation, the number
national cannon.
of
necessity."
of
delegates and the
details
of
election "
were announced in
separate orders the main points of which were, that " every
white male citizen " taking the prescribed oath might vote
;
those driven from their homes could vote in the precinct where
they resided ; and Union soldiers might vote, " wherever they
may
be stationed on that day."
The
orders, thus promul-
gated, were carried out, the elections were held. State officers
and members of Congress were chosen ; the constitutional
convention was called and held, and a constitution was framed,
submitted to the people, and adopted.
In the mean time similar action had been taken in Arkansas.
By steps inaugurated by the general commanding, conventions
of the people were called, a State government was formed, a
�RECONSTRUCTION.
constitution
— LOUISIANA. — ARKANSAS.
was adopted, and Elisha Baxter and William M.
On
Fishback were chosen United States Senators.
the lOtli
Kansas introduced " a joint resothe recognition of the free State government of the
of June, 1864, Mr.
lution for
531
Lane
of
State of Arkansas."
In the preamble it referred to the fact
that the loyal people of that State, by " a free and untram-
melled vote, organized and have in operation a State govern-
ment upon a
free basis, republican in form, and officially
"
recognized
by the President. It had two sections, the last
which provided that the present organized government in
of
that State be recognized upon the condition that slavery should
was referred to the Committee on the
was reported on the 27th without
amendment, but with the recommendation that it do not
never exist therein.
It
Judiciary, from which
it
pass.
R. King Cutler and Charles Smith, having been elected by
the free State legislature of Louisiana for that purpose, pre-
sented themselves and their credentials at the bar of the
The latter having been referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, Mr. Trumbull, on the 18th of
February, 1865, presented a joint resolution, accompanied with
a report recognizing the government of the State of Louisiana,
United States Senate.
The
report recited the facts of the case, regarding the registra-
tion of loyal voters, the provisions
the
number
made
for the election,
and
of votes cast for State officers, being eleven thou-
sand four hundred and fourteen, of which eight hundred and
eight were cast
by
It also
soldiers.
gave the facts connected
with the calling, assembling, and action of the constitutional
convention, which had adopted " a constitution republican in
form, and in entire harmony with the Constitution of the United
States and the great principles of
human
liberty."
The man-
ner of the inauguration of the new State government, it admitted, was " not wholly free from objection "
and the small
;
number
of votes cast for
to cast
some doubt upon
popular voice.
it,
less
its
than seven thousand, seemed
being a true expression of the
But, in consideration of the serious
that environed the effort, and the large
had
left the State for
number
difficulties
of voters
who
both armies, the committee expressed
�532
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the belief that the constitution " fairly represents a majority
of the loyal voters of the State."
In consideration of the fact,
however, that the State of Louisiana had been declared by
Congress to be in a state of insurrection, the committee forbore
to
recommend the immediate admission
instead thereof,
government
it
of the claimants
and,
proposed a joint resolution " recognizing the
;
Mr. Powell, a member
Coming up on the 23d, it was
the Whole and reported without
of the State of Louisiana,"
of the committee, dissenting.
considered as in Committee of
amendment. To a question of Mr. Lane, why the committee
had excluded Arkansas, Mr. Trumbull replied that, though
the principle was very similar, the facts were not precisely
the same, and " it was thought that it would perhaps complicate the matter to put the two together."
Tlie subject, as thus introduced, occasioned a long and
heated debate, with the opposition by no means confined to
were among
of both
condemnation
and
tlie most
policy
it
was rethe measure and of the President, of whose
Indeed, before the debate opened in
garded the exponent.
the Democrats.
Some
of the leading Republicans
earnest in their criticism
earnest, Mr.
all
Sumner introduced an amendment,
after the enacting clause
striking out
and inserting, as a substitute,
that no State, declared to be in insurrection, shall hereafter
members of Congress until the President shall have
declared that armed hostility has ceased, until its people shall
elect
have adopted a suitable constitution, and until it shall have
been declared by Congress entitled to representation therein.
Mr. Powell of Kentucky made a brief but vigorous speech
Admitting that others probably opposed tlie
in opposition.
measure for other reasons, he based
the facts that the constitution
his objection
mainly on
was not the expression
of tlie
free and unbiassed will of the people, uninfluenced by military
power ; that but an inconsiderable fraction voted for it and
;
that
it
required the voters to take the oath prescribed by the
President, which contained assumptions and requirements he
could not approve, and to which they should not be called to
" It is a government," he said, " formed wholly
subscribe.
and virtually by the military power
of the
United States, using
�EECONSTRUCTION.
who were
as elements delegates
To
the bayonet."
— LOUISIANA. — ARKANSAS.
533
under and by force of
elected
sliow that they voted under duress, he
quoted from General Banks the clause
candidates arc numerous.
Open
" Opinion
:
Indifference will be treated as a crime."
is free,
and
cannot be permitted.
hostility
And
he added
:
" Talk
freedom of election under such military orders
to me
Why, sir, there was but one free man, in my opinion, in all
Louisiana at that time, and that was Major-General Banks
and I do not know as he was free, for he was serving his masof
!
White House." He objected, too, to the small per
who had voted for officers or the constitution.
Giving the figures, he added " Those are certainly very meaand he warned members that if they allowed
gre votes "
" one tenth, or perhaps one twentieth, of the people to form a
government," it would " breed dissatisfaction, discontent, and
ter at the
cent of voters
:
;
He also objected
the other people."
"
humiliating condition" of taking the
to what he termed the
oath prescribed, especially that part which compelled him " to
heart-burnings
among
swear to support
subject
of
all
is
the proclamations of the President on the
That he characterized as " the most
slavery."
odious feature."
who
all
" I hold," he said further, " that no
a freeman and understands
all of his civil
and
man
political
would so prostitute himself as to take that oath." Referring to the portion of General Banks's orders declaring the
laws concerning slavery " inoperative and void," he said, he
" had no more power to proclaim an amendment of the constitution of Louisiana than he had to annul or amend the fiat
Mr. Davis of the same State dwelt upon
of Almighty God."
rights
the small
number
of votes reported, and, alluding to the prin-
ciple that majorities should rule,
what
asked
:
"
What
magistrate,
imperial despot, what autocrat, has a right to proclaim
that one tenth of the people
ment and
rear
upon
its
may pull down an existing
new government ? "
govern-
ruins a
Republican opposition to the resolution, however, was hardly
than Democratic. Mr. Sumner
stigmatized it as a " shadow " and anti-republican.
He, in-
less decided if less violent
" I must," he
it in very severe terms.
" use plain language. It is a mere seven months' abor-
deed, characterized
said,
�534
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
by the bayonet in criminal conjunction with the
and born before its time, rickety, unformed,
unfinished
whose continued existence will be a burden, a
reproach, and a wrong.
That is the whole case." " If the
loyal men," he said, in another connection, " white and black,
tion, begotten
spirit of caste,
;
recognize
then
will be republican in form.
Unless that
Mr. Howard of Michigan condemned
very severely what he termed the assumption of the President
in pledging himself, whenever one tenth of the people of a
is
done,
it,
it
it
not be."
will
rebellious State shall constitute a government, " to recognize
it
" Sir," he
as the legitimate government of the State."
said, "
I
cannot recognize the authority of the President of
the United States, without the subsidiary aid of an act of Congress to give any such assurance to a
community
tion against the United States
I
think
in insurrec-
it is
time that
Congress should lay hold of this subject, assert its power, and
provide by some statute of uniform application for the reconstruction, as
ary States."
it is
called,
and readmission of the insurrection-
After saying that Louisiana was
of insurrection, that a very small portion of
still
it
in a state
was " within
even the military grasp of the government " after referring to
" the great Democratic argument," which, he said, " in a
;
thousand varying forms had been pressed upon the consideration of the country, both in and out of Congress," that a
State
is
rebellion
never out of the Union, and can, as soon as armed
suppressed within
is
its limits,
resume, without any
action on the part of President or Congress,
tions with the Federal government,
length, answered the question, "
its
former
rela-
he asked and, at some
"
constitutes a State
What
?
Referring to a decision of the Supreme Court for authority, he
contended that " to be in fact a State of the Union, and in tlie
Union, the
will
and consent
with the Constitution, and
As
must be in harmony
movements subsidiary to it."
of the people
its
thus defined the seceded States were
still
States, but States
out of the Union, conquered provinces, subject to military
occupation and control, and dependent entirely on the general
and terms of readmission. To
the question whether he would allow one tenth or any minor
government
for both the time
�RECONSTRUCTION.
— LOUISIANA. — ARKANSAS.
535
part to organize a government for the whole, he replied nega-
because such a government must come to a speedy
end, and, secondly, because " government by a minority is of
tively, first,
example and inconsistent with the genius of American
He therefore condemned any government that did
evil
liberty."
The duty, he
contended, was to provide provisional governments, " to rescue
not rest on the expressed will of the majority.
the harassed people from the tempestuous night of anarchy
and blood," and to assure them that " the old government is
coming, not in wrath to unsubmissive children, but with visage
beaming with kindness and radiant with the smiles of encouragement."
Mr. Wade defended the same position, and deprecated in
forcible
" This ques-
language the adoption of the resolution.
tion," he said, " goes to the very foundation of republican
government.
through
President of the United States, operating
If the
his major-generals, can initiate a State
and can bring
it
government,
here and force us, compel us, to receive as
mere mockeries, these men of
is at an end."
Alluding to the Lecompton struggle and the attempt to force
a constitution on a people which they did not desire and did
not vote for, he said " It is an old story with me, and I have
not changed my ground or my opinion, because some of the
party with whom I generally act have fallen from grace."
The policy of the bill, however, found earnest defenders.
Among them was Mr. Henderson of Missouri. To the objection that it was undemocratic to force a government on a
associates on this floor these
straw who represent nobody, your Republic
:
State that received the support of less than a majority, he
said
" If a majority prove derelict, and undertake to destroy
:
the very government of which the State
it is
its
right that the minority,
entirety, State
who
is
a part, I assert that
sustain the government in
and national, should govern."
He
closed
his speech with the enunciation of the following postulate
The seceded
claim
all
States are
still
in the
Union
;
the rights accorded to other States
;
have a right to
have a right to
stand on their old constitutions, or amend them, and the general
government may aid them,
if
so desired
;
the citizens of
�536
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
any State rebelling against the general government cease to
be citizens, and lose those rights and franchises depending on
United States citizenship
in a seceded State " the loyal
;
minority constitute the State and should govern
it
"
;
the gov-
ernments of such States should not be rejected " because of
mere irregularity " the only questions to be asked, " Is the
;
constitution the will of the loyal
republican in form
?
men
qualified to act
?
Is
it
" the governments of Louisiana and Ar-
kansas answering those conditions, should be admitted.
resolution, however, never came to a vote.
The
In the mean time the same general subject had been undergoing discussion in the House upon a bill introduced by Mr.
Ashley of Ohio, containing similar provisions. It was introduced near the beginning of the session, and was made the
special order for the 16th of January, 1865.
It provided for
a provisional governor
who should
be charged with the
civil
administration of the State, and for the faithful execution of
the laws in force at the outbreak of the Rebellion, excepting
those relating to slavery
;
for the appointment of all officers
provided for by the State constitution, with such salaries as
•were therein specified
;
and for the levy
of such taxes as
had
been ordered during the year preceding secession. It also proposed tlie recognition of the government that had been inauguIt prorated by the convention of the 11th of April, 1864.
when the Rebellion had been " sufficiently "
vided, too, that,
quelled, an enrolment of " all the
male citizens of the United
"
should be made, with a request
States resident in the State
that each
man
should take the oath of allegiance, and that, as
soon as a majority of such enrolled persons should take such
oath, they should be invited to take the necessary steps for
" the re-establishment of a State government."
The debate was opened by Mr. Kelley
of Pennsylvania in a
long and discursive speech, largely historical and abundantly
conclusive as to the malign influence of slavery on the government, and the imperative necessity of its removal, if the ReSeveral amendments were proposed in the
public shall live.
nature of substitutes,
when
and did not come up again
the whole subject was deferred,
until the 18th of February.
Oji
�RECONSTRUCTION.
the 20th Mr.
Dawes
— LOUISIANA. — ARKANSAS.
of Massachusetts
speech in opposition to the
bill,
more
537
made a very earnest
significant
from the
fact that he was a member of the select committee to which
He spoke of " the great difthe subject had been referred.
which this committee have been compelled to encounand of " the fifth draft of this bill." He spoke of it as
" an attempt to gather up the disjecta membra of those States,
the broken and torn fragments of those communities, and out
of the chaos, as well as the ruins and debris that are left in
ficulties
ter,"
the march of those armies, to create a State capable of dis-
charging the functions, exercising the authority, and invoking
the recognition of this government, and of the people under
He spoke of the extent of territory to be
it lives."
cared for as " three times as large as all the territory of
which
Great Britain and her hereditary
Speaking
first of
foe,
France."
that provision of the bill which required
and authorized the President to
fill
all
the offices provided for
in the constitution of the State so governed, "
from the judge
of the highest court of judicature to the humblest road-master,"
and in number, in one State at least, reaching " thirteen thou-
sand," he said that this army of office-holders, who are not
required to be even residents of the State, are to be " under
the sole authority and control of the President," " This army
of office-holders," he added, " like the locusts of Egypt, will
press
down upon
these unoffending and unprotected inhabi-
tants of the miserable, poverty-stricken, and rebellion-wrecked
States."
And
to
make
the assessment of the
the matter worse, the
same
bill
authorized
taxes, " levied during the fiscal year
preceding the overthrow of the government thereof."
And
upon what sort of people were such taxes to be levied ? he
They were a people, he said, whose houses have been
asked.
burned, whose lands have been made desolate, and the sources
" They
of whose industry have been destroyed or dried up.
are wanderers in their own land, homeless and houseless."
" I know nothing," he said, " that more nearly comes up to a
just description of that condition than Burke's glowing and
inimitable description of the awful devastation which followed
when Hyder Ali marched his conquering army over the Car-
�538
RISE
And
natic."
selves,
AND FALL OF THE SLATE POWER
when
it is from such a people, as unlike their former
the taxes of 1860 were levied, " as a beggar is
unlike a prince,
army
IN AMERICA.
it
is
upon this innumerable
and wrench them as
from shrivelled bodies .... without
proposed to
call
of imported office-holders to collect
the last drop of life-blood
stopphig to inquire what these taxes were originally intended
for,
without stopping to inquire to what purposes they were
devoted when raised."
He
spoke, too, of the provision of the
which required the sanction and execution of " all the
black codes of those States, save only that part which holds
men in bondage," and he showed how abhorrent such a faithbill
ful execution of
some
of those laws
must
be.
He
instanced
the laws that imposed fines, imprisonment, and corporeal pun-
ishment for the simple offence of teaching free people of color
and write. Yes, he said, " he who shall teach one of
to read
these poor freedmen the
first
rudiments of knowledge, and
direct the first ray of divine light so that
the judge
who
shall shine in
it
and imprisoned
his soul, shall be flogged
upon
in the discretion of
He also read from
colored man of one State
presides over the court."
the laws the statute which required a
to pay annually a tax of fifty dollars for the privilege of re-
He complained, too, of its
siding in any State not his own.
omissions, of " no attempt at any adaptation of the laws to
of " no provision for the new wants
the new state of things "
;
and
necessities of this wasted
and wretched people,
....
provision for schools, no provision for a poorhouse even
provision for their protection
;
no provision
;
no
no
for attempting to
teach them the arts of civilization, for kindling in them hope,
holding up before them incentives to industry, or securing
them its reward." " Under the operations of this bill," he
said, " they are to
be the objects of free plunder they are to
go forth to be hunted, despoiled, and persecuted outcasts in
the land."
He
;
complained, too, of the indefiniteness of
its
provisions in regard to the continuance of this unsatisfactory
condition of things and the inauguration of measures for the
formation of a new State government. After considering how
much was left " discretionary with the military governor," as
to " the initiatory steps " for that purpose,
and the
fact that
�RECONSTRUCTION.
— LOUISIANA. — ARKANSAS.
539
" SO long as the disloyal people can keep the majority on their
side" they could prevent action, adding, too, the consideration
had in it so little to conciliate the
he said it would be " long years,
it may be a generation," before a more satisfactory state of
affairs would exist.
And this was the estimate, by a Republican more than
that the policy of the
disloyal
bill
and make them
loyal,
ordinarily careful and candid, himself a
select
member
committee appointed to consider the subject
of the able
of the bill,
more than a year's incubation, being, too, in
"
its
fifth draft."
Can stronger and more decisive evidence be
given of the intrinsic difficulties of the attempt, forced upon
the nation, to reconstruct what the Rebellion had destroyed,
and to join again what treason had torn asunder ?
The bill was also opposed by Feruando Wood, Edgerton, and
others, the two former pronouncing earnest and impassioned
harangues, and ringing the usual Democratic changes upon
executive assumption, unconstitutional provisions, and the
of the result of
dangerous radicalism of the hour.
On
the
the next day, the 21st of February, Mr. Ashley withdrew
bill
he had offered, and proposed, as a substitute, the
of the previous session with " certain modifications,"
bill
which he
proceeded to explain, as also his motion proposing the substitute.
In his brief explanatory remarks
it
transpired that the
he introduced at the beginning of the session was a compromise " designed," he said, " to conciliate all gentlemen on
bill
House." For the same purpose had been in"
troduced the
conditional recognition " of the governments of
this side of the
Louisiana and Arkansas, though they were not such as he
would have prescribed.
But, disappointed in his efforts to
secure united action, the committee had fallen back on the bill
of the last session, modified, he said, " to suit the tender susceptibilities of
gentlemen from Massachusetts," in the matter
of taxation, obedience to the " black codes " as they existed at
the time of the Rebellion, and certain prospective action of the
executive in case armed resistance to Federal authority should
He spoke rather sharply of the pragmatic action and
strong individuality " on our side of the House," of " capital
cease.
�540
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
leaders in the minority, good at pulling down, but not so good
For himself, he said,
at leading majorities and building up."
he did not desire to put himself on the record " in favor of
admitting States which have no loyal populations at their
back."
Mr. Davis of Maryland followed in a similar strain, in de-
new
fence of the
severity
bill at
With no little
who had voted for the
action of the committee.
and sarcasm, he spoke
of those
who had subsequently discov" essentially violates the principles of republican
the previous session, but
ered that
it
Inquiring for the cause of this marked and
it in " the will of the President,"
government."
marvellous change, he found
who had
failed to sign the bill, but
authority, to execute parts of
it,
who
proposed, without
thus affording an argument
" some minds prone to act upon the winking
of authority."
He spoke of " the species of argument
fitted to affect
which he could not
fully estimate, but which he described as
" that subtle, pervading epidemic of the time that penetrates
the closest argument as spirit penetrates matter, that diffuses
itself
with the atmosphere of authority, relaxing the energy of
the strong, bending
from the path
down
the upright, and diverting just
men
Affirming that he would not, in
of rectitude."
place of the great principle of popular governments that the
majority must rule, " substitute one tenth or any other frac-
and thus go to dark ages for "models,"
"
revive
in the only free republic that the world knows
examples of the most odious governments, and create " a
tional minority,"
corrupt
and cowardly oligarchy to govern the freemen of
the United States," he said
:
"
If the
majority of the people
will not recognize the authority of the Constitution,
....
I
would govern them a thousand years by the authority of the
Constitution they have defied," and by their own laws, with
agents appointed by the President " and if they do not like
;
to be governed in that way, let us trust that the prodigal will
come one day
the
to his
Constitution
that
senses, and,
humbly kneeling before
he has vainly defied, swear
before
Almighty God that he will again be true to it. That is
remedy for the grievance. That is what we propose."
my
�— LOUISIANA. — ARKANSAS.
RECONSTRUCTION.
Among
541
amendments were one by Mr. Kelley to
word " white," and one by Mr. Hohnan to strike
out the enacting clause. The question coming up on the latter
amendment, Mr. Mallory of Kentucky moved that the whole
subject be laid upon the table
and it was carried by a vote of
the various
strike out the
;
ninety-one to sixty-four.
On
the 4th of February J. F. Wilson of Iowa introduced
House a bill " to establish the supremacy of the Con-
into the
It was referred
was reported from that
committee with a substitute, that no State which had been
declared in insurrection should be entitled to send members
stitution in the States lately in insurrection."
to the
Committee on the Judiciary.
It
to Congress until the President shall have declared that such
insurrection had ceased
;
until such State shall have adopted
a constitution not repugnant to the Constitution of the United
States
;
and
until Congress shall have declared
representation.
it
entitled to
provoked a short and sharp debate, in which
It
the Democrats occupied most of the time, with arguments substantially like those
employed
in the previous discussion, rep-
Cox of Ohio, and Wood of
They contended that the States had never been
resented by Mallory of Kentucky,
New
York.
out of the Union,
all
acts of secession being unconstitutional
and, of consequence, void
that, therefore, no action was
and that all that was needful was for such States
to choose and send to Congress such members, according to
the forms and precedents in force before the Rebellion.
They
contended, too, that the bill placed unwarranted power in the
hands of the President, power that belonged alone and exclu-
necessary
;
;
sively to Congress.
It was said in reply, mainly by Mr. Wilson, that while the
laws of the Union were in force in those States, " the people
there have destroyed the machinery of their local government,
and we must interfere to
destroyed, and reassert the
re-establish that
which they have
and make
autliority of the nation,
good and the general welfare.'*
During the pendency of the substitute offered by the committee, Mr. Asliley moved to amend by substituting his bill
which had just been laid upon the table, modified by inserting
it
effectual for the
public
�542
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the word " white " before the words " male citizens."
Mr.
Kelley of Pennsylvania moved to amend by striking out the
but, on the motion of Jacob B. Blair of
•word " white "
;
West
Virginia, the whole subject
was
laid
upon the
table
by
a vote of eighty to sixty-five.
This failure to agree upon any measure, the long debates
which had ended so
not only revealed to
fruitlessly,
all
the
gravity of the attempt, and the serious difficulties in the way,
but
it
excited in
some minds the
events have done
little
suspicion, which subsequent
to remove, that those difficulties are
and too great to be overcome that the conditions of
any satisfactory success are wanting, and that from such materials as slavery and treason, rebellion and war, have produced,
intrinsic
it is
If,
;
impossible to construct and maintain free institutions.
it is " men, high-minded men," that
as has been asserted,
can alone " constitute a state " if, as Washington declared,
and has left on record in his Farewell Address, " religion and
;
morality are indispensable supports of political prosperity "
if
"virtue or morality
is
;
a necessary spring of popular govern-
ment," there are those accepting these postulates who find it
impossible to be very sanguine about making free and selfsustaining commonwealths of the States lately in rebelhou.
�CHAPTER XXXIX.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OP
1864.
Persistent adhesion of Northern Democrats to the South.
of the war, criticisms, and divisions.
Fomented by Rebel
General Grant.
emissaries.
— Cleveland
— Serious
— Union
convention.
— Eepublican weariness
—
opposition to the President.
successes
and growing confidence.
sevei'ely condemned.
— President
—
—
— Garrison's reply. — Republican con— Resolutions. — Unanimous nomination of Mr. Lincoln. — Andrew Johnson. — Letter of acceptance. — Northern conspiracy. — Judge Holt's report. — 0. A. K. — Its annual meeting
simultaneous with the Democratic convention. — Large numbers implicated,
wide extent. — Voorhees. — Democratic complicity. — Diabolical oaths
and
and purposes. — Slavery the source. — Rebel emissai-ies and plans. — Burning
— Language of Southern papers. — Attempted rising in the
Northern
Northwestern States. — General Price. — Proposed release of Rebel prisoners.
— Vallandigham's I'epresentations at the South. — Rebel clerk's diary. — R.
—
— Mr. Greeley. — President's
Sanders. — Meeting at Niagara
— Pressure on the party. — Visit of Jaques and GilFailure. — Rebel
more to Richmond. — Davis's defiant response. — Favorably
the Union
cause. — Democratic convention. — Proposed release of prisoners. — Seymour
— Resolutions. — The war a "
presides. — Vallandigham the ruling
cessation demanded. — McClellan and Pendleton nominated. —
ure," and
The country startled. — Seward's speech. — Fremont's withdrawal. — Sumner's speech. — Gratulations of the Southern press. — Vigorous canvass. —
Wendell
vention.
Phillips's letter
— Robert
J.
and speech.
Breckinridge's speech.
its
cities.
J.
Falls.
letter.
trick.
alTects
spirit.
fail-
its
Results.
Among
lias
the strangest marvels of American political history
been the persistency with which the Northern Democracy
has adhered to the fortunes of the slavemasters of the South
despite the
many
provocations to a contrary course.
Though
despised, spoken of in the most disparaging terms, and treated
Ys
if they, no more than their slaves, had rights these masters
were bound to respect, Northern Democrats had always, with
spaniel-like fidelity, done little more than register their edicts
and vote for the men and measures they either indicated or
�544
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
But, as
approved.
IN AMERICA.
there were not humiliation enough in
if
the rule they had hitherto played in the
drama
of
American
by which a party, claiming to be par excellence the
party of the people, had thus obsequiously served these " lords
politics,
of the lash," there
was
" And
was found.
in reserve one
in the lowest
more
abject,
deep a lower deep
That humiliation was
"
and
war with the
to vote at the dictation
in the interests of a party engaged in a bloody
government and, with parricidal intent, seeking the nation's
Though smarting under the defeat of 1860, brought
life.
about through the desperate strategy of these very masters, by
which, though with a majority of a million, the party w^as
defeated,
—a
fclo
— these Northern
form a
self-
de se unparalleled in the history of parties,
Democrats were called upon again to perNor was the call in vain, as was
like ignoble part.
soon made apparent in the presidential canvass of 1864.
Indeed, so complete had become the surrender that the government soon had convincing evidence that it had substantially
the same foe in the rear as at the front, that the political and
military campaigns of that year were only different parts of
the same conflict, and that the enemy had his detachments in
Even
the loyal as well as in the disloyal States.
in the ranks of
the Republican party there were those who, by their captious
criticisms
and by fomenting
ing aid and comfort to a
divisions,
common
foe.
were unwittingly lendIn truth, the war was
prosecuted as really and as vigorously at the North as at the
South.
There were
secret,
and
affiliated associations
in the interests of the Rebel cause.
was concocted
A
formed
deep-laid conspiracy
for the release of Rebel prisoners,
and days were
fixed for a general uprising, though they were happily averted
by the wise and prompt measures of officers in command.
The Democratic party, with few exceptions, was avowedly
opposed to the continuance of the war, and clamored for peace
at any price.
Aggravating this state of affairs, there were
large
numbers
in the
fully w'eary of the
treasure.
Republican party who had become fear-
war and
and
and cost
of its frightful cost of blood
Repeated drafts and the growing
difficulty
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
545
1864.
of filling them, rapidly increasing taxation,
and unprecedented
advances in the prices of the necessaries of
life,
the sore be-
reavements and trembling anxieties that had reached almost
every household, the vacant chairs at home and the absent
ones away, the inexpressible longing for peace and the hope
deferred that
makes the heart
sick, the sedulously
opinions of foreign nations that
it
promulgated
was a hopeless contest and
a wicked and useless waste of blood,
—
all this
rested like a
nightmare upon the people, and furnished opportunities and
motives for sinister and traitorous appeals which too many
were found unable, or at least unprepared, to resist. Perhaps,
however, it is the greater wonder that so few yielded rather
than that so many
did.
Beside these causes of popular discontent and discourage-
ment
among
there were elements of discord and weakness
Republican leaders.
Diversities of opinion led to conflict of
purpose and plan, and these to estrangement of feeling.
The
President, under a deep sense of the responsibilities of his
high
office, felt,
as has been already said, that he could right-
arguments of
whose soundness he must be the judge. Naturally firm and
cautious, and yet candid and inflexibly honest, he was constrained to pursue a middle course, going too fast and too far
for some, too hesitating and dilatory for others, and displeasing large numbers in both the civil and military service.
Such, indeed, had been the executive policy in both departments that when the time approached for the selection of a
fully yield his convictions only to the force of
presidential candidate, a majority, perhaps, of the politicians
members of Congress had reached the consome other person would better subserve the interests of the nation.
There were, too, personal rivalries and
ambitions that unquestionably had something to do with this
disaffection and desire of change.
To these sources of disquietude and dissensions were added personal piques and
affronts resulting from what had been deemed unjust or injudicious removals from and appointments to office, or from
and
of the leading
clusion that
offered counsels or service disregarded or rejected.
was known
VOL. in.
to the
35
enemy through
emissaries
All this
who thronged
�54G
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE TOWER
IN AMERICA.
every department of the government and lurked in every sec-
was made the most of. These divisions
were encouraged, these jealousies were fomented, and, above
all, everything was done that an adroit and audacious strategy
tion of the land, and
could devise to weaken the confidence of the Republican masses
in the President in
whom
they
still
believed, though the leaders
looked askance and were distrustful.
Such was the aspect of affairs in the spring of 1864. The
war still continued, but not without much to cheer in the
signal successes of Gettysburg, Yicksburg, the opening of the
Mississippi,
and the recovery
Arkansas.
The appointment, too, of General Grant to the
the army had given an increase of popular con-
command
of
of portions of
fidence in the military which had
mismanagement and want
Tennessee and
been greatly shaken by
There had,
and the Republican victories of the autumn of 1863 had done much to reassure those who had been so sorely tried by the reverses of
soon to be tried, however,
1862. Perhaps the national hope
previous
of success.
too, been a turn in the tide of political affairs,
—
—
by severe reverses
was never stronger in the ultimate triumj)!! of the Union cause.
To many it seemed a foregone
Perhaps it was this
conclusion and only a question of time.
momentary lifting of the pressure and of the clouds that increased or gave greater activity to the internal animosities
and purpose in the Republican party.
Had the pressure been heavier and the prospect less hopeful,
they would not have dared the risk involved in such differences
on the political arena in the presence of dangers still menacing
from the military field or, in the homely illustration of the
President, they would not have deemed it safe to " swap horses
and
conflicts of opinion
;
while crossing the river."
The
first
public demonstration that
was made
of these con-
fessed differences of opinion and hostility to the President
was
the call and meeting of a political convention at Cleveland,
Ohio, on the 31st of May. The call was directed " To the
General John Cochrane of New
was not largely attended, nor were there
present many representative men. The general understanding
Radical
York
Men
of the Nation."
presided.
It
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
wsis that
it
was meant
1864.
547
to be a protest, not only against the
slow, hesitating, and conservative policy of the administration,
but also against what was represented as the selfish and
" personal ends " of the President. Wendell Phillips wrote a
long and severe
letter, in
which he charged that the adminis-
tration had been " a civil and military failure,"
and that Mr.
Lincoln's model of reconstruction was " the experiment of
Louisiana, which puts all power into the hands of the un-
changed
wliite race."
It
may be
proper to add that later in
the canvass Mr. Phillips returned to the charge, and on the
20th of October, in a speech in Boston, he gave at greater
length and with more than his usual- felicity and force of
language, his reasons
future."
why he "dare
not trust him with our
Indeed, in the thickest of the Abolition fight he had
never drawn from his quiver more polished and pointed shafts.
the Democrats he pronounced " the war a failure," and
charged that " for fifteen weary months the President flung
With
away the treasure
He
spoke of "
of the
Abraham
North and
let
her sons rot inactive."
Lincoln's halting, half-way course,
nor cold, wanting to save the North without
hurting the South," not " from want of brains, but want of
neither hot
purpose, of willingness
to
strike
home."
Admitting that
the President had finally though tardily adopted an antislavery
" Now,
policy, he complained of his still hesitating course.
then," he says, " observe how tender the President has been
towards the South, how unduly and dangerously reluctant he
has been to approach the negro or use his aid. Vigorous,
despotic, decisive everywhere else, he halts, hesitates, delays
He closed by affirming
any man whom I believe honest,
capable, and resolved to end this war " for the same purposes
for which the Constitution had been adopted, and added
"Against every other man I mean to agitate till I bayonet
him and his party into justice."
to hurt the South or help the negro."
his readiness " to support
—
It is due to the truth of history
beside showing the mental
turmoil of the hour and the difficulty honest and earnest men,
who agreed as to the ends to be sought, found in agreeing
upon the means
—
to state that
Mr. Phillips, in
this severe
�548
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
arraignment of the President, did by no means represent all
men with whom he had hitherto acted. In the
the antislavery
very paper in wliich he published the speech in
full,
Mr. Gar-
most emphatic protest against its leading
sentiment and point.
Saying that it seemed to be Mr. Phillips's " set purpose, prima facie., to represent Mr. Lincoln in
rison entered his
the worst possible light, to attribute to
motives, to hold
him up
him the worst
possible
as imbecile and a despot, and to
dam-
age his chance for election to the utmost extent," he added,
after referring to his Proclamation of
millions free
:
"
And
slaveholding South
Emancipation setting
this in the face of the fact that the entire
is .in
hot rebellion, and the immense cop-
perhead forces of the North in organized conspiracy to overturn tlie government as administered by Abraham Lincoln, for
the sole alleged reason that he
is
the political representative of
Northern antislavery sentiment, inflexibly bent upon the abolition of slavery, and incurably diseased with
nigger on the
brain.' "
He closed with the expression of his belief that
'
" there never was a more abortive or a more ludicrous gathering, politically speaking, than the Cleveland convention."
The convention adopted
a platform consisting of thirteen
and nominated General Fremont and General
Cochrane for President and Vice-President. The most noticeable features of tlie platform, other than the general Republiresolutions,
it enunciated, were the indorsement of the
" Monroe doctrine " and of the " one-term policy," the asser-
can principles
tion that reconstruction belonged to Congress
executive, and the
demand
and not to the
for the confiscation of the lands of
the Rebels and their distribution
among
soldiers
and actual
set-
In General Fremont's letter of acceptance he spoke
severely of the President, of his " incapacity and selfishness,"
tlers.
of his " disregard of constitutional rights," of " his violation of
personal liberty and liberty of the press," of his " feebleness
and want of principle " and he directly charged that if " he
;
had proved faithful to the principles he was elected to defend,
no schism would have been created." This action of General
Fremont and the language he chose to use concerning the
President was not deemed creditable to either his magnanim-
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
549
1864.
while it lost him many friends among those
who remembered him as the " pathfinder" of 1856, for whom
they voted with so much fresh enthusiasm as the standardbearer of the new party of freedom. There were those, too,
who were anxious that General Grant should receive the nomination, and a meeting was held in New York of those favority or patriotism
able to
;
some such movement, but
it
amounted
to little,
and the
project fell through.
The Republican,
the " Union National"
or, as it styled itself,
convention assembled at Baltimore on the 8th of June.
was
called to order
by Senator Morgan of
New York,
in a
It
few
which he alluded to " the dread realities of
the past, and of what is passing at this moment," and conforcible words, in
jured
its
members not
to fall short of the " great mission " of
the party by failing to declare for such a constitutional amendment " as will positively prohibit slavery in the United States."
made temporary chairman.
Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge was
The
fact of his being a clergyman, representing a slave State,
a near relative of the Rebel ex-Vice-President, invested his
selection,
and
his eloquent
and ringing words as he assumed
He spoke of " the gran"
deur of the mission
upon which they had met, of the duty
of thoroughly organizing the party " throughout the United
the chair, with unwonted interest.
States,"
and
of enunciating its principles
clearness and em])hasis
;
that
it
must be
" the nation shall not be destroyed "
tion
was above
ished.
He
constitutions,
spoke of
it,
;
with the utmost
their intention that
that the
life
of the na-
and that treason must be pun-
as " a fearful truth that runs through
the whole history of mankind,"
that " no government has
ever been built upon imperishable foundations which foundations were not laid
upon the blood
of traitors,
— the only im-
perishable cement of free institutions."
Of slavery he spoke
While he could hardly indorse the language of the
Senator who had just spoken, but referred to the Chicago convention of 1860 as having virtually declared that " they would
freely.
not touch slavery in the States," he avowed himself as antislavery in his convictions, praying for the speedy coming of
the day
when every man should be
free
and in the enjoyment
�550
RISE
AKD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
of " regulated liberty."
IN AMERICA.
lie declared his conviction that
Mr.
Lincoln was the choice of their hearts, and that he would
He
receive the nomination.
spoke of the great odium that
would attach to himself and to
of such sentiments.
his colleagues for the utterance
" But," he said, "
we have put our
towards the way in which we intend to go, and we
it
to the end.
If
we
are to perish,
we
faces
go in
will
will perish in that
way.
you can if you cannot,
The
believe in your hearts that we have died like men."
marked
effect
enthusiasm,
and
produced
a
speech excited great
All I have to say to you
is,
help us
if
;
upon the convention.
A permanent organization was effected by the choice of GovSome difficulties were
ernor Dennison of Ohio as president.
experienced in the matter of a few of the delegations, but they
w^ere soon
composed, and the convention proceeded to the con-
sideration of a series of eleven resolutions, which were reported
by Mr. Raymond
of
New York, and which
were unanimously
They declared in favor of the integrity of the Union
and of the paramount authority of the Constitution of the
prosecution of the war without compromise of the President
and his administration of a constitutional amendment proadopted.
;
;
;
hibiting slavery
employment
tection
;
of the Proclamation of Emancipation, the
of the ex-slaves as soldiers,
;
national debt; and of the
On
and
of their equal pro-
of the nation's plighted faith for the
the
first ballot for
Monroe
payment
of the
doctrine.
a candidate for the Presidency, Mr.
Lincoln received the vote of every State but Missouri, that
voting for General Grant. Before the announcement of the
vote, on motion of a
member from
was made unanimous
applause.
who
On
;
and
it
of
the first ballot for Vice-President, there were
more
received the highest number
ten
that State, the nomination
was so declared amid a furor
received one or
votes, of
;
whom Andrew Johnson
next to him was Mr. Hamlin,
him was Mr. Dickin-
the then present incumbent, and next to
New York. Several States, however, changed their
and the final result reached was that Mr. Johnson received all but twenty-six, and his nomination was made unanimous. This change in the matter of Vice-President was made
son of
votes,
�PEESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
from no
tial
dissatisfaction with
consideration that
it
651
1864.
Mr. Hamlin, but from the prudenpolicy to recognize in the nomi-
was
nation both the Southern States and the war Democrats, as
they were styled, each of
whom was
who had
of Mr. Johnson,
represented in the person
distinguished himself for his loyal
devotion to the Union, and for his uncompromising condemnation of treason.
The next day the president of the convention called upon
Mr. Lincoln at Washington, to apprise him of his nomination.
He expressed his gratification and gratitude that they had
deemed him " not unworthy "
to remain in his present po-
sition.
In his letter of formal acceptance he added that he
" heartily approved " the platform adopted.
Mr. Johnson
wrote a long letter of acceptance, in which he fully defined
reiterating his denunciation of treason, " as
his position
;
worthy of the punishment of death," declaring that it was
" vain to attempt to reconstruct the Union with the distracting
element of slavery in
He
it."
accepted the platform as in
substantial accord with his " public acts and opinions heretofore
made known," and reminded
his " old friends of the
Democratic party proper," that the time had come when they
could " justly vindicate its devotion to true democratic policy
and measures
of expediency."
Before giving some account of the Democratic convention,
it
may
afford aid in comprehending its scope
and purpose, as
made by Judge
October, 1864, concerning what
well as its constituency, to take note of a report
Advocate Holt on the 8th of
he styles "a secret treasonable organization, affiliated with
Southern Rebellion, and chiefly military in its character, which
has been rapidly extending itself throughout the West." The
report is very long, elaborate, and minute, and was devoted to
the following general heads, as descriptive of the order
:
Its
and names its organization and officers its
extent and numbers its armed force its ritual, oaths, and
origin, history,
;
;
;
;
interior
forms
its
;
written principles
and operations
the witnesses and
mentioning several names by which
;
it
stated that
it
;
its
purposes
specific
their testimony.
After
had been designated,
was known more " widely as the Knights
it
'
�652
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
being simply an inspiration of the
of the Golden Circle,'
being
Rebellion,
little
AMERICA.
IN
other than
an extension among the
and disaffected at the North of the association of
the latter name which had existed for some years at tlie
Soutli, and from whicli it derived all the chief features of its
For various reasons there were several differorganization."
ent names adopted for substantially the same purposes, also
several changes, until the name fixed upon most generally and
extensively was the " Order of American Knights " or " 0. A.
K." This order had branches sometimes called by other names
that in New York taking the name of " McClellan Minute
Men," certainly a very suggestive title, considering whom the
Democrats selected as their presidential candidate. To show
further the sympathy existing between the Democratic party and
which
this order, it may be noted that its Supreme Council,
dislo3"al
;
—
had appointed
its
annual meeting at Chicago for the day prior
to that appointed for the Democratic convention,
— when the
day of that convention was postponed to August 29, changed
Its extent and numits appointment to correspond thereto.
bers were somewhat appalling, considering
its
character and
purpose, not only covering the Western States, but largely
represented in
New England and
the Middle States.
Indeed,
was " the first and only
true national organization the Democratic and conservative
men of the country have ever attempted." Judge Holt, beside saying that some of the leaders had claimed for the order
as high as eight hundred thousand men, quoted Vallandigham
as putting the number at half a million, which, he added,
was " probably much nearer tlie sum total." Of this large
number of members, he said " In March last, the entire
that
one of
its
armed
force of the order capable of being mobilized for effec-
leaders claimed for
it
it
:
was represented to be three hundred and forty
thousand men."
He quoted one witness as testifying that
there were in the State of Indiana in the previous March in
the hands of the order six thousand muskets and forty thousand revolvers. Under this head he makes the following sigtive service
nificant statement.
" It
is
to be added that at the office of
Hon. D. W. Voorhees, M. C,
at Terre Haute,
were discovered
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
553
1864.
which disclosed a correspondence between him and
letters
ex-Senator Wall of
New
Jersey, in regard to the purchase
of twenty thousand Garibaldi rifles, to be forwarded to the
West."
Of their oaths and " written principles," beside noting the
penalty of " a shameful death they provide for" in case of betrayal, the judge advocate adds
:
" The languages of the earth
can add nothing to the cowardly and loathsome baseness of the
It is the robber's creed, sought
doctrine as thus announced.
to be nationalized,
and would push back the hand
plate of our civilization to the darkest periods of
Under the head of "
tory."
its
specific purposes
emy
;
;
discouraging enlistments and resist-
circulation of disloyal and treasonable publicacommunicating with and giving intelligence to the enaiding the enemy by recruiting for them, or assisting them
ing the draft
tions
;
his-
and opera-
and harboring
tions," he enumerates, aiding soldiers to desert
and protecting deserters
of the dial-
human
;
to recruit within our lines
and ammunition
vasions
;
;
;
furnishing the Rebels with arms
co-operating with the
enemy
destruction of government property
in raids
and
in-
destruction of
;
and persecution of Union men assassination
and murder establishment of a Northwestern confederacy.
The facts and details under these headings are simply terrible
and astounding revealing not only the desperation of the
enemy, the imminence of the nation's peril, but the greatness
private property
;
;
;
With good reason does
of its deliverance.
in conclusion
:
—
tlie
judge exclaim
" In the presence of the Rebellion and this secret order
wliich
is
amazed
but
its
echo and faithful ally
— we
—
cannot but be
and wide-spread profligacy, personal and
political, which these movements against the government disThe guilty men engaged in them, after casting aside
close.
their allegiance, seem to have trodden under foot every sentiment of honor and every restraint of law, human and divine.
Judaea produced but one Judas Iscariot, and Rome, from the
sinks of her demoralization, produced but one Catiline
and
yet, as events prove, there has arisen together in our land an
entire brood of such traitors, all animated by the same parriat the utter
;
�554
RISE
cidal spirit,
nity for
tlie
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
and all struggling with the same relentless maligdismemberment of our Union. Of this extraor-
— not
—
there can
history
dinary phenomenon
world's
IN AMERICA.
these blackened
and
traced to the same
paralleled,
common
believed, in
is
may
streams of crimes
fetid
that this strong language
it
the
be but one explanation, and
fountain."
It is to be
all
well be
remembered
not that of some zealous Aboli-
is
but the carefully chosen words of a state paper from
one whose antecedents had been so far from radical that its
author had held a seat in Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet.
tionist,
There
is,
much
unfortunately, too
evidence of the truth of
the terrible allegations of this report independent of anything
adduced therein. The country swarmed with Rebel emissaries,
leaving nothing unattempted which would naturally intimidate
Though
the friends and encourage the enemies of the Union.
they
made Canada
their headquarters, their
operations was the " States."
One
of active
field
of their plans
was that
of
raids or forays across the line, of which there were several.
Another plan was the sending
from the
of infected clothing
victims of small-pox and yellow fever to the national camps.
Another was the burning
of
Northern
cities.
paper thus spoke of the purpose and project
dollars
would lay
in ashes
New
:
"
A
A
Richmond
million of
York, Boston, Philadelphia,
chief cities, and the men to
do the business may be picked up by the hundred in the streets
If it should be thought unsafe to use
of those very cities.
them, there are daring men in Canada, of Morgan's and other
commands, who .... would rejoice at an opportunity of doing
something that would make all Yankeedom howl with anguish
and consternation." Nor was this mere bravado. The attempt was actually made to burn New York by firing Barnum's Museum, several hotels and theatres, by a combustible
Chicago, Pittsburg, and
all their
compound left by Rebel emissaries. Though these attempts
were not successful, it did cause the " consternation " of which
the Richmond editor spoke, and great alarm was felt. Other
movements on a wider scale were made. Among them was
the attempted rising of the secret organization just described,
extending through the States of Missouri,
Illinois,
Indiana,
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
555
1864.
Grand Commander
and Southern branches, and Vallandigham
of the Xorthern.
By agreement Price was to enter Missouri from Arkansas with a force of over twenty thousand,
Ohio, and Kentucky, General Price being
of the Missouri
when
the
members
of this league should repair to his standard,
and arm the Rebel prisoners, and in other ways make
war upon the government forces. Price performed liis part of
the agreement, though he encountered an unexpectedly warm
reception from General Ewing in Missouri.
This, with the
watchfulness of General Rosecrans and others Vlio had been
release
made acquainted
witli their designs, defeated the plot.
Vallandigham, Grand Commander of the Northern 0. A. K.,
who had made himself exceedingly obnoxious to the government by his treasonaljle utterances, was arrested, tried by
court-martial, convicted, and sentenced to close confinement
in a fortress for the remainder of the war.
His sentence being
modified by the President, he was directed to be sent within
the military lines of the Confederate armies.
During
his stay
Richmond he was in free intercourse with the Rebel leaders.
John B. Jones, in his " Rebel War-Clerk's Diary," says
" To-day I saw the memorandum of Mr. Ould, of tlie converin
sation held with Mr. Vallandigham, for
He
says,
if
we can
liold
file
in the archives.
out this year, that the peace party of
the North would sweep the Lincoln dynasty out of political ex-
He
seems to
liave thought that our cause was sinkand feared we would submit which would of course be
ruinous to his party."
Vallandigham did not, however, remain long at the South, but found his way to Canada, wdiere
he was in constant consultation with Confederate agents and
istence.
ing,
;
the peace Democrats.
On
the 5th of July, George N. Sanders, a Confederate agent
in Canada, wrote to
Horace Greeley, assuring him that himself,
Clement C. Clay of Alabama, and James P. Holcombe of Virginia would proceed to Waslnngton in the interest of peace if
were accorded them. Mr. Greeley, having been
assured from other sources that Clay and Holcombe had been
clothed with full powers to negotiate by the Confederates,
full protection
transmitted the letter and assurance to the President.
He
also
�556
RISE
siig2:csted
of
tlie
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" a plan of adjustment," embodying the restoration
Union, the extirpation of slavery, and the payment of
four hundred million dollars as compensation for the slaves
made
Tlie President acted
free.
on the suggestion, and
The
puted Mr. Greeley to undertake the negotiation.
de-
latter
proceeded to Niagara, conferred with the parties, and some
correspondence ensued which resulted in a letter from the
It was dated " Executive Mansion, July 18, 18G4,"
President.
whom it may concern." In it he
promised " safe conduct both ways " to the bearer or bearand was addressed, " To
ers of "
any proposition which embraces the restoration
of
peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandon-
ment
and which comes by and with an authornow at war with the United
adding the assurance that it should be " met by
States "
But as
liberal terms on substantial and collateral points."
these conditions precedent involved just what the Confederates
W'ere fighting for, and without which there would have been no
war, the overture was rejected with real or simulated indignation that the President should have made terms instead of
awaiting them, and tliat he showed himself so indifferent to
peace by suggesting conditions he must have known would
be rejected. But the whole movement was unquestionably a
Those who made
trick, a piece of strategy, a feint of war.
of slavery,
ity that
can control the armies
;
the proffer were as well assured before as after
lie
could do nothing less.
whole
affair
was a
craftily
liis
letter that
There can be little doubt that the
laid scheme to place the President
in a false position before the country.
Nor did
it
fail of its
For not only did the Rebels and peace Democrats
make the most of it by stigmatizing him as averse to peace,
except on degrading conditions, but it greatly alarmed some of
the Republican leaders, who apprehended that it would greatly
purpose.
injure
if it
did not imperil their vote at the approaching elec-
The President was approached by some
the most earnest representations were made of
tion.
of them,
and
the impending
danger, and he was earnestly importuned to retract so much
of liis overture as made " the abandonment of slavery " an
essential condition of peace.
But he remained
firm.
Slow to
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
557
1864.
reach the conchision, he was in no mood to abandon it. " If,'*
he said to Mr. Wilson, who visited him for the purpose of
urging him to resist
cession, " the people
tlie
importunities
made
tion of Emancipation, or the surrender of
free
by
it,
for
they must select some one
else.
any slaves made
I shall not retract
or modify the Proclamation, or the declaration of
If
some con-
desire a modification of the Proclama-
we fail, we. will fail maintaining the right."
About the same time another similar but abortive
my
letter.
effort
was
made. Colonel Jaques of Illinois and J. R. Gilmore of New
York, with the President's knowledge, but without his formal
permission, visited Richmond.
Being allowed to pass both
the Union and Rebel lines, they addressed a joint letter to the
Rebel Secretary of State, who introduced them to Jefferson
Davis, with
whom
they had a long conversation.
After saying
war as long as possible, and inveighing severely against Northern madness and blindness in not
allowing them to govern themselves, the Rebel President
added defiantly " Now it must go on till the last man of this
generation falls in his tracks, and his children seize his musket
and fight our battle, unless you acknowledge our right to selfthat he had tried to avert
:
government.
We
are not fighting for slavery.
We
are fight-
and that or extermination we will
have." He said he would be glad to receive proposals of
peace, but they would be " useless " except " on the basis of
ing for independence
;
our independence."
Though these two efforts for peace proved abortive, and the
immediate influence of the meeting in Canada seemed mischievous, the general effect of the
advantageous.
It dispelled a
veloped the subject, removed
two was unquestionably
good deal of the haze that en-
much
of the uncertainty that
upon the minds of the people, and showed more clearly
than ever before what must be done. The utterances of the
two Presidents revealed the fact that no compromise was
possible, and that war alone could decide the issue.
It was under these circumstances and with such a preparation that the Democratic convention assembled at Chicago on
the 29th of August. The city was crowded with Rebel emisrested
�558
RISE
and
saries,
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
streets
its
IN AMERICA.
resounded with the most traitorous ha-
rangues, uttered in the most defiant and brutal language.
Every loyal man, whether Republican or war Democrat, was
denounced, and the utmost odium was cast upon all who were
It was not generally known, except
true to the Union cause.
to the initiated and to Colonel Sweet, who was in command of
Camp Douglas, where were confined some eight thousand
Rebel prisoners, and who had discovered the plot, that it had
been arranged that there should be, during the meeting of the
convention, an uprising of the secret organizations of Rebel
sympathizers at a concerted signal
those
prisoners
;
;
that they should release
with numbers thus increased, they
that,
should hurry to Indianapolis to release the prisoners there
confined and thus inaugurate a war on Northern soil, which
would compel the Union forces to raise the sieges of Atlanta
and Richmond, and hurry to the rescue of their imperilled
Through the prompt and well-devised measures of
homes.
;
this accomplished officer
it failed,
—
to be renewed, however,
but again defeated by the same vigilance, weeks
day
later,
on the
of the presidential election.
Horatio Seymour of
New York
presided,
and in
his open-
ing speech, which, though expressed in polished and courtly
was hostile to the government, condemnatory of the
war, and encouraging to the Rebels, foreshadowed very clearly
and accurately the tone and character of the proceedings on
which they had entered. Yallandigham, though under sentence
of court-martial and virtually a fugitive from justice, was a
welcome member and the master-spirit of the body. He was a
member of the committee on resolutions, and unquestionably
had much to do in shaping the platform which was adopted.
phrase,
The
resolutions, seven in
nistic to the
government
;
number, were exceedingly antagocharged it with usurpations, un-
authorized interference with elections, and suppression of the
expressed no condemnation
and no sympathy with the government in its
struggling and perilous condition pronounced the war a " failure," and declared that " justice, humanity, and the public
welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation
freedom of the press and speech
;
of the Rebels,
;
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
of hostilities."
lot, all
559^
1864.
General McClellan received, on the
first bal-
but twenty-three and a half of the votes cast, when, on
motion of Mr. Vallandigham, his nomination was made unanimous. George H. Pendleton of Ohio, one of the most pronounced of the peace Democrats, received the unanimous vote
The convention then
as candidate for Vice-President.
journed
;
not, however, in the usual
manner, but
ad-
after providing
might be reconvened if necessary.
This action of the Democrats startled the loyal States. Its
uncompromising hostility to the war, its unconcealed sym-
that
it
pathy with the Rebel cause,
its
demands
intensely unpatriotic
any price, convinced all but the utterly disloyal
that there was neither honor nor safety anywhere but under
It drew the line too sharply for any
the Republican banner.
others to hesitate and from that time onward there was litSecretary Sewai'd, in answer to a
tle doubt of the result.
serenade a fortnight afterward, put the thing tersely, as was
for peace at
;
and sounded the key-note of the contest " Fellowcitizens, the Democracy at Chicago, after waiting six weeks to
see whether this war for the Union was to succeed or fail,
and therefore went in for
finally concluded that it would fail
a nomination and platform to make it the sure thing by a cessation of hostilities and an abandonment of the contest. At
Baltimore, on the contrary, we determined that there should be
no such thing as failure and therefore we went in to save
Sherman and Farragut have
the Union by battle to the last.
knocked the bottom out of the Chicago nominations and the
elections in Vermont and Maine prove the Baltimore nominaThe issue is thus squarely made up
tions stanch and sound.
McClellan and Disunion, or Lincoln and Union."
General Fremont took a similar view in a letter withdrawing his name from the canvass. Though reaffirming his conviction that Lincoln's administration had been " politically,
militarily, and financially a failure," and that " its necessary
continuance is a cause of regret for the country," he expressed
the conviction that " the union of the Republican party had
become a paramount necessity." " The policy of the Demo-
his wont,
:
;
;
;
:
cratic party,"
he said, " signifies either separation or re-estab-
�560
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
lishment
"vrith
the contrary,
The
slavery
IN AMERICA.
Repul)lican candidate, on
pledged to the re-establishment of the Union
" Between these issues," he added, " I
is
without slavery."
man of the liberal party can remain in doubt."
Mr. Sumner, too, who had not hesitated to differ from Mr.
Lincoln in regard to many points of his policy, and to express
think no
that difference in strong language, joined earnestly in the can-
and spoke with great force in advocacy of his election.
After saying that a vote for the Democratic candidate would
be a vote " for anarchy and chaos at home for national degravass,
;
dation abroad
against civilization itself
;
Satan on earth," he added
Abraham Lincoln
:
"on
will be, first
dom, Union, and Peace, that
guardianship
we
fix the influence
become the pride
kingdom
of
and foremost, a vote for Freepolitical trinity under whose
It will
be a vote also to
of our country, so that
it
shall
It will be a vote also for civiliza-
of history.
At home
tion itself.
for the
the other hand, a vote for
place the Republic.
and good name
;
will secure tranquillity throughout the
it
whole land, with freedom of travel and of speech, so that the
designation of
'
Border States,' now exclusively applicable to
'
and our only Border States
will be on Canada at the North and Mexico at the South.
Doing all this at home, it will do more abroad, for it will
secure tlie triumph of American institutions everywhere.
" Surely, all this is something to vote for. And you will
not hesitate. Forward, then, in the name of Freedom, Union,
Crush him at the
and Peace
Crush the enemy everywhere
interior States, will be removed,
'
I
!
ballot-box
of
!
And may
the
November
election be the final peal
thunder which shall clear the sky and
glory
fill
the heavens with
!
Though the
results of success have hardly come up to his
and glowing anticipations, his words reveal very
clearly the sentiments that entered into that canvass, and
confident
the feelings that actuated the leaders of the Republican party.
On
the otlier hand, as
other evidence was wanted of the
if
complete subserviency of the Democratic party to Rebel interests, the
Democrats
of
Ohio nominated Vallandigham as
their candidate for governor
hundred thousand
votes.
;
but he failed of his election by a
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
Nor
561
1864.
did the Confederate press or speakers leave
it
doubtful
Said Alexander H. Stephens,
three weeks after the holding of the convention " So far as
where
their sympathies were.
:
its
platform of principles goes,
it
presents a ray of light which,
under Providence, may prove the dawn of the day to this long
the first ray of light I have seen for the
and cheerless night,
North since the war began." The Charleston " Courier
—
said
:
" All of us perceive the intimate connection existing
between the armies of the Confederacy and the peace men in
the United States.
These constitute two immense forces that
are working together for the procurement of peace. The party
whose nomination and platform we are considering are altogether dependent for success on the courage and resolution of
Our success
our fighting men.
of McClellan.
The
Our
in battle insures the success
failure will inevitably lead to his defeat."
contest thus inaugurated
was prosecuted with great
Never has there been a political struggreater solemnity, or one that enlisted more thoroughly
vigor and earnestness.
gle of
the moral and religious convictions of the people.
The momentous issues at stake seemed to be in some degree appreciated, and the significance of a vote in some degree realized.
If
never before or since, Christians then carried their religion
and not only voted as they prayed, but they
prayed as they voted. For once the prayer-meeting and the
polls were deemed alike sacred, and the same motives that
drew them to the one sent them to the other. The result of
the canvass was the triumphant re-election of Mr. Lincoln by
a popular majority of four hundred and eleven thousand four
hundred and twenty-eight. General McClellan secured the
into politics,
electoral votes
— twenty-one
in all
Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky.
36
—
of only three States,
New
�CHAPTER XL.
SESSION
CLOSING
OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
TEMPTED NEGOTIATIONS.
— MESSAGE. — AT-
— Previous suspense. —
— Auspicious events. — Republican
— President indorsed. — New York "Times." — New revo— Proposed change
— Message of Davis. — Impressment of
— Confederate Congress. — Miles, Gholson, Foote. — Opposition. —
Richmond " Whig." — South Carolina. — Resolutions. — Governor Smith. —
—
How viewed by the Federal government. — Lincoln's antislavery
Recommends constitutional amendment. — Hopeful views. — Negotiations
— Deputed, he
unavailable. — Condition precedent. —
Davis. — The Confederate commissioners. — President
Richmond. — Letter
sends Mr. Seward. — Goes himself. — Rebel propositions. — Rejected. — Rebel
—
— Coincidence. — Davis's boastful and
account. — Presidential
defiant words, — Rebel suixender.
victory.
Prelude.
Great rejoicing.
oi
slaves.
lution.
policy.
policy.
visits
F. P. Blair, Sr.
of
wit.
The meeting
of the
Failure.
XXXVIIIth
Congress for
its
second
and closing session had been preluded by three events, if not
simultaneous in their occurrence, of the greatest importance,
and
of the
most unquestioned
and bearing upon
Though they could not
significance
the fortunes and issues of the war.
be accurately weighed and fully estimated, thoughtful and farseeing friends of the Union could not fail to see that they were
auspicious and betokened the final triumph of the Federal
arms.
The
ticket
first of
these events
and the triumphant
was the success
re-election of
of the Re])ublican
That
Mr. Lincoln.
be so serious and imminent, and all the more
to be dreaded because so uncertain and undefined, had been
averted that success had crowned so severe a struggle that
dangers
felt to
;
;
had followed so dark a night and that
the
patriotic hosts had taken the place of
the loud huzzas of
the harsh dissonance of the Rebel yell, constituted an augury
the sunshine of victory
;
�CLOSING SESSION OF XXXVIIIth CONGRESS.
of
good to the Union cause that
563
thrilled the loyal heart of the
people as no victories of the field had done or should have done.
For, in fact,
it
meant more,
far more,
and was
really
more impor-
tant and helpful than anything, save the surrender of the Rebel
armies, that could have taken place.
In that conflict the issue
had been so squarely made, the lines so sharply drawn between
union and disunion, between a vigorous prosecution of the war
and an ignominious peace, so much had depended on the result,
so evenly balanced had seemed the chances of success and
failure, that the eyes of both continents were fixed upon the
struggle, while trade, manufactures, and the monetary interests
of the country were held in suspense awaiting the popular ver-
And when
dict.
that verdict came,
it
was so
decisive
and
pronounced, so indicative of the popular determination that
there should be neither compromise nor retreat, a thrill of
joy pervaded the free States and lifted the heavy load of dread
and apprehension fronl the loyal heart everywhere.
And
more noticeable still was the soldiers' vote, cast, more than
three to one, for a continuance of the struggle, though every
soldier
with
knew
all
its
that
it
meant
personal ease and safety.
and
for
him war
hardships and hazards,
his administration
By
its
in all its bitterness,
fearful sacrifices of
this verdict, too, the President
had received the popular indorsement,
notwithstanding the fierce denunciations of the opposition, and
the sharp,
many
if
honest, criticisms and half-hearted
support of
within the Republican ranks.
The second event is thus referred to in a leading editorial in
New York "Times" of November 10, 1864, under the
heading, " The New Revolution threatened."
This was its
" We, in common with the civilized
opening paragraph
the
:
world, are regarding with deep interest the grand experiment
which the Southern Confederacy is about making with the
arming of the slaves. The skilful and desperate oligarchy
which control it, having lost all their own property in the
struggle, are about casting that for
which the struggle was
They have exhausted the white population, forced into the ranks State
officials, detailed producers, and even those over forty-five
made
into the burning caldron of civil war.
�5G4
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
years and under eighteen
who
IN AMERICA.
could bear arms.
Davis, with
that clear, cold glance of his, sees that his ambition has buried
under the
the battle-fields the flower of the Southern
soil of
youth, and that he must
now
turn to his last resource,
—
— the
the arming of the slaves."
most desperate of all expedients,
These words, though not quite accurately representing the
exact proposition of the Confederate chief, refer to a very
important message of Mr. Davis, just sent to the Southern
Congress.
The
made by
proposition
real
President with contemporaneous utterances
the Confederate
made thereon
in
the Confederate Congress, and in the legislatures and by the
public
men
of Virginia
and
They reveal both the
and South Carolina,
instructive page in the history of
drift
and
tlie
fill
an important
great Rebellion.
logic of events as the seceding
States approached the culmination of the great strife,
and
show how much more potent are natural than human laws,
and how summarily prejudices and principles begotten of
false reasoning and based on injustice can be swept away by
There is no lesson taught by the
the strong arm of necessity.
Rebellion that deserves more careful study, or that should be
more faithfully remembered.
The Confederate President began his message by reference
to a law passed a few months before for the " impressment
of slaves as laborers in the Rebel army,
and to the "
less result
than was anticipated " from that source, adding his purpose to
invite attention to " the propriety of a radical modification in
Saying that while the slave, viewed
the theory of the law."
as " property," may be rightly impressed into the service, like
any other property,
lie
added
:
" The slave, however, bears an-
otlier relation to the State, that of
a person."
He
then men-
tioned several kinds of employment, in which, he said, " length
of
service adds greatly to the value of
Hazard
is
also
encountered in
all
the negro's labor.
the positions to which
negroes can be assigned for service with the army, and the
duties required of
them demand
loyalty and zeal.
In this
aspect the relation of person predominates so far as to render
it
doubtful whether the private
riglit of
ently and beneficially be continued."
property can consist-
Arguing that
it
could
�565
MESSAGE.
not, he suggested the inquiry
in the service of the slave
the question
is
:
"
Whenever the
entire property
thus acquired by the government,
presented by what tenure he should be held.
is
Should he be retained in servitude, or should his emancipation
be held out to him as a reward for faithful service, or should
it
be granted to him at once, on the promise of such service."
Leaving that question to the " wisdom of Congress," he suggested some " addition to the duties heretofore performed by the
employment as a soldier
"
at that time and
under existing circumstances." " The sub"
is to be viewed by us, therefore, solely in the
ject," he said,
slave," though he discountenanced his
light of policy
and our
social
economy.
When
so regarded, I
must dissent from those who advise a general levy and arming
of the slaves for the duty of soldiers." He admitted, however,
that such a contingency, though " improbable," might rise,
and then he adds " It is certain that even this limited num:
ber,
by
their preparatory training in intermediate duties,
would
form a more valuable reserve-force, in case of urgency, than
threefold their
The
number
called
from field labor."
was immediately referred in
subject thus introduced
the Confederate
House
of Representatives to its appropriate
Mr. Miles, while making the motion for that purpose, and saying that his " instinct was in opposition to the
employment of slaves," added " If Lincoln be elected, I am
committee.
:
in favor of
slaves.
I
giving the President full power to employ the
am
ready for the black
flag,
or anything before sub-
Mr. Gholson of Virginia was opposed to the policy
in all and every form, and was in favor of " prompt action on
the question and an unqualified declaration against it."
The
mission."
next day Mr. Foote introduced into the Confederate Senate a
series of resolutions in opposition to the policy proposed.
In
was particularly severe and pointed. He declared that " a document so latitudinarian never emanated
from a Northern statesman up to the time of the election of
Lincoln not even Seward ever went so far." Alluding to
his speech he
;
the admission of even Republicans that the Federal govern-
ment had no right to interfere with slavery in the States, he
added " Yet a message is sent into the Confederate Congress
:
�566
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
asserting that the government has the right to legislate slav-
Such a message,
ery out of the country.
if
allowed to go
before the world unexplained and unmodified, would injure
our cause more than the fall of Richmond."
The Riclimond " Whig," three days after the transmission
and vehement
of the message, contained a long
editorial in
Accusing Mr. Davis of opening up " questions
opposition.
both deep and dangerous,"
it
adds
:
" It
is
truly astonishing
and almost incredible that now, in the fourth year of our independence and of a terrible war waged to vindicate that
after breaking up the old Federal Union
independence,
because we would not suffer the Washington Congress to
—
interfere with our State institutions,
Confederate States should
'
invite
'
— the
President of the
the Richmond Congress
to
consider a project for emancipating slaves by the Confederate
and should at the same time speak of this emana reward for faithful service, as a boon and a
blessing, as something which would place these negroes in a
Saying that they had hitherto
better position than before.' "
regarded slavery as the best condition of the negroes, and that
it had been a duty to stand between them and the " cruel
philanthropy of Yankee statesmanship," which would steal or
" liberate " tliem, it adds " But now the President of tlie ConAcfederate States opens quite another view of the matter.
authorities
cipation as
;
'
:
cording to his message
to turn a negro wild
it is
a rich reward for faithful service
This will never do.
est countenance given to those
-
The shght-
unwholesome notions may
pro-
duce worse effects than can be at once perceived."
Similar sentiments were expressed by others, and in two
series of resolutions introduced into the legislature of
South
Carolina by Mr. Trescott and Barnwell Rhett, the principle of
the message was sharply condemned, although there were tliose
who indorsed
Among
tlicm
it and defended the policy it recommended.
was Governor Smith of Virginia. In a message
to the legislature he spoke of the questionableness of their
being " able to wage successful war against a power three
times our
recruit,
own
in
numbers, with
all
Eui'ope from which to
and who unhesitatingly put arras
in the
hands
of our
�567
MESSAGE.
negroes for our destruction," and also of " the mawkish
sensibility " that would " refuse any means within our reach."
own
God and my counwould arm such a portion
of our able-bodied slave-population as may be necessary, and
put them in the field, so as to have them ready for the spring
campaign, even if it resulted in the freedom of those thus
" For
my
try, I
do not hesitate to say that
part," he said, " standing before
I
organized."
There could have been little danger of misinterpretation here.
Mr. Seward to Mr. Lincoln that the issuance
of his Proclamation of Emancipation in the midst of military
reverses might be " viewed as the last measure of an exhausted
If the caution of
government, a cry for help, the government stretching its
to Ethiopia instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her hand
hand
to the government,
was
— our
certainly little mistake
last shriek
on the
retreat,"
when Mr. Lincoln and
there
his advisers
placed a similar construction upon this action of the Confederate government.
They
rightly viewed
it
as the beginning of
the end.
The
third event to be noted
was the
full
and complete con-
version of the President to the doctrine of emancipation as a
cardinal point in the subsequent policy of his administration.
Nor need it be concealed that it was a conversion as radical as
it was unquestionable, and that in adopting it he was taking a
new departure. But having reached the conclusion that such,
as he expressed it, was " God's will," and that the finger of
Providence pointed in that direction, there was no one firmer
or more unflinching in his determination to take no step backward, but to move forward in the path thus marked out. Not
blindly
and
recklessly, not perhaps always logically, certainly
not always to the satisfaction of the more ardent of his supporters, did he proceed.
But " with firmness in the right,
God
had set his face toward
man, and he gave no sign of faltering. Of this there were numerous examples. One was the persistency with which he pressed the constitutional amendment
as
gives us to see the right," he
the freedom of the black
abolishing slavery.
of the
man and
Indeed, there
is in it
very
of his earnestness of purpose,
much
and
indicative
of the rapid
�568
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
transition that
was taking place
entered
his
office
elected
mind, which
in the public
he not only recognized, but encouraged.
was
IN AMERICA.
Considering that he
committed, by both the platform on which he
and
all
the antecedent principles and prejudices of
to the policy of non-interference with slavery in the
life,
States, and had always coupled the very idea of emancipation
with that of colonization, the language employed is remarkable.
After saying that at the previous session of Congress
amendment of the ConstiHouse for lack of
the Senate had passed a proposed
tution abolishing slavery, but
it
failed in the
the requisite two-thirds vote, he added
ent
is
" Although the pres-
:
the same Congress, and nearly the same members, and
without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of those who
stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration
and passage
of the
measure
course the abstract question
at the present session.
not changed
is
;
Of
but an interven-
ing election shows, almost certainly, that the next Congress
will pass the
measure
if
the proposed
to the States for their action.
may we
" It
Hence there is only a
amendment shall go
this does not.
when
question of time as to
And
as
to go, at all events,
it is
not agree that the sooner the better
is
?
not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on
members
any further
to change their views or their votes,
than, as an additional element to be considered, their judgment
may
the
be affected by
first
crisis
like
upon the
is
is
among
is
attainable unless
paid to the will of the majority.
common end
is
those seeking a
very desirable, almost indispensable
no approach to such unanimity
erence
In a great national
subject.
ours, unanimity of action
common end
now, for
It is the voice of the people
it.
time, heard
the maintenance of the
and yet
some def;
In this case the
Union
;
and among
the means to secure that end, such will, through the election,
most clearly declared in favor of such constitutional amendment."
is
The
effect of these three events,
— the
loyal determination of
the people to prosecute the war, as proclaimed in his
umphant
cumulating of
tliG
own
tri-
unmistakable evidences that were acfast approaching exhaustion of the Confed-
election, the
�MESSAGE.
eracy, and his
own
569
purpose, no longer weakened by his former
hesitating and uncertain policy in the slavery issue,
was seen
and in the
encouraging outlook to which he invited Congress and the
country.
Deducing from the election, of whose " extraordinary calmness and good order " he made special mention, the
in the firmer and
more hopeful tone
of his message,
lesson he claimed it taught, he affirmed that the purpose of
the loyal people " to maintain the integrity of the Union was
never more firm, nor more nearly unanimous than now."
He
some length, giving facts and figures for his
conclusions, upon the national resources in men and means
and he expressed his belief that they were " unexhausted and,
" The important fact," he
as we believe, inexhaustible."
said, " remains demonstrated that we have more men now
than when the war began that we are not exhausted, nor in
process of exhaustion that we are gaining strength and may,
This as to men.
if need be, maintain the contest indefinitely.
Material resources are now more complete and abundant than
ever."
These statements of the President owe something of
their significance and importance to the fact that the insurgent
chief was taking special pains to cheer the hearts and sustain
dilated, too, at
;
;
the courage of the
Union resources
of
Confederates with assurances that the
men and money were
In the message just referred
to,
nearly exhausted.
he had spoken of " the con-
stant and exhaustive drain of blood and treasure," depleting
those resources which must soon cease because the end of
both would soon be reached.
The national resources being ample, and the national purpose inflexible to maintain the Union, " the manner of continuing the effort," he added, " remains to choose."
He expressed the opinion that no further attempts at negotiation
would be of avail. Speaking of " the insurgent leader," he
said,
" he would accept nothing short of severance of the
—
precisely what we will not and cannot give
Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple, and inflexible.
It is an issue which can only be tried by war, and decided by victory." Admitting that he who " heads the in-
Union,
surgent cause " could not " voluntarily reaccept the Union," he
�570
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
said that that was " not necessarily true of those wlio follow."
Inviting the latter to return through the door which " has
been for a
full
year open to all," he added
may come — probably
mand
that
it
will
be closed
;
come — when
and
that, in lieu,
:
" But the time
public duty shall de-
more vigorous meas-
He closed with the
ures than heretofore shall be adopted."
assertion that while " the abandonment of armed resistance"
was " the simple condition of peace," there could be no retracannounced policy on the subject of slavshould resolve to re-enslave those
people
ery, and that if the
"
another, and not I, must be made
that have been made free,
tion of the previously
the instrument to perform it."
Notwithstanding the two abortive efforts at negotiation that
had been made during the summer, and the expressed conviction of the President in his message that anything in that
direction would be of no avail, there were those who thought
otherwise.
Among them was Francis P. Blair, Sr., a prominent Democratic editor at Washington during the administraHe had supported the
tions of Jackson and Yan Buren.
administration of Mr. Lincoln and furnished from his own
member of his cabinet and a general for the army
and he now conceived the idea that, from his large and long
acquaintance and personal influence with the Southern leaders,
he could bring about reconciliation and peace. To make the
family a
attempt he asked of the President safe conduct through the
Union
lines, for the
To show
purpose of visiting Richmond.
his willingness for peace
on proper terms the President granted
the request, though the self-appointed ambassador was clothed
witli
no authority to treat with the insurgent leaders.
Reach-
ing Richmond, he became the guest of Mr. Ould, the Confederate commissioner for
the
He had
whom he re-
exchange of prisoners.
several interviews with Jefferson Davis,
from
ceived a letter to be shown to Mr. Lincoln, in which lie expressed his willingness " to enter into a conference with a
view to secure peace between the two countries."
shown
This being
to the President, he responded by expressing his readi-
ness to receive any agent
influential person
now
whom
Mr. Davis " or any other
resisting the national authority
may
�571
ATTEMPTED NEGOTIATIONS.
informally send
mon
me
country."
with a view of securing peace to our conaThere was that, however, in the phraseology
two notes that forbade the hope of reconciliation bethe one speaking of " two countries,"
tween the two leaders,
"
and as neither
our common country "
and the other of
would accept the phraseology of the other, there could be no
reconciliation, as there was no common basis on which the two
of the
—
;
could stand.
The desire for peace was, however, so great, and the pressure was so strong, that Mr. Davis was compelled to appoint
commissioners to confer with the government at Washington.
He selected A. H. Stephens, John A. Campbell, and E. M. T.
Hunter
for that purpose.
They were permitted, however,
go no farther on board a steamer than
first
Hampton Roads.
to
At
Mr. Seward only was deputed to meet them, and he was
instructed to make, as conditions precedent to any conference,
the restoration of national authority, no receding in the matter
of slavery,
and no cessation
ates should lay
down
of hostilities until the Confeder-
their arms.
But as
this involved too
much, and as the commissioners expressed a desire to confer
with the Federal government without that restriction, the
President himself concluded to go in person to participate in
the proposed conference.
The conference was held on the 3d
of February.
"While
courtesy and an amicable spirit marked the interview, and
each side defined
its
position with clearness,
it
was found, as
the President had declared in his message, that there was
neither chance for compromise nor
room
for negotiation.
The
made and insisted on by the Rebel commiswas a postponement of the real question at issue, the
separation of the insurgent States from the Union, by a sort
of armistice, during which there should be mutual efforts
towards some extrinsic policy, a reduction of the two armies,
and the intercourse between the two sections to be resumed.
But the President was inflexible, insisted on the conditions
precedent he had prescribed for his Secretary, and would
entertain no propositions on any other basis.
By an account,
published in a Georgia paper, said to have been prepared under
particular point
sioners
�572
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
the eye of Mr. Stephens,
it
was the
sation of several hours between
five
free
IN AMERICA.
and informal conver-
gentlemen of capacity and
and eloquent, able and adroit representatives
two opposing systems and civilizations, for generations
engaged in an irrepressible conflict, and now met in mortal
struggle.
The special object of the conversation was the
arrest of hostilities, and yet it took a wider range and brought
under review the underlying principles and questions on which
the war rested, and which were to be consulted in the attempt
In this the President's ready and serviceable
to secure peace.
culture, earnest
of
wit and his trenchant use of w^ords did not forsake him.
example was afforded
in conversation with
An
Mr. Hunter, upon
the point of recognizing the right of Mr. Davis to
make a
Hunter contended, was an indispensable
but
the President insisted that it would be
peace
step to
recognizing a government within a government, and " resigning the only thing the Union armies are fighting for." A reference of Mr. Hunter to the correspondence between Charles the
First and his Parliament as a reliable precedent of a constitutional ruler treating with rebels was thus met by the Presi" Upon questions of history I must refer you to Mr,
dent
Seward, for he is posted in such things, and I don't profess
treaty.
This, Mr.
;
:
to be
;
but
my
only distinct recollection of the matter
Charles lost his head."
But nothing came
of
is
that
the confer-
ence, except a deepening of the public conviction that
tliis
and that there was no room for
compromise. As this was a foregone conclusion from the first,
the conference
tliough the people were slow to adopt it,
Richmond,
Falls
and
Niagara
like
those
at
at Hampton Roads,
was not a case
for negotiation
—
"was destined to prove a failure.
—
Evidently
it
was a part
of
that providential tuition through which the people were to
It is a pleasant and noteworthy coincidence that it was on the same waters where the
" Monitor " appeared three years before, unheralded and as if
sent of God, to stay the progress of the Rebel " Merrimac " in
her disastrous and apparently resistless raid upon the warvessels of the Union, that the President and his Secretary met,
and so wisely met, the representatives of the same Rebellion,
learn this great lesson of the war.
�ATTEMPTED NEGOTIATIONS.
573
on the same errand, though in the garb of peace, but with
purposes no less disloyal and destructive.
The Rebel commissioners returned to Richmond, and Mr.
Davis presented their report to the Confederate " congress."
The next evening and a few evenings
later there
were held
public war-meetings at which Davis, Hunter, and
Benjamin
Mr.
spoke, uttering the most defiant and boastful language.
Davis spoke of the "gross insult" and "premeditated indignity " offered to the Confederacy by Mr. Lincoln.
" our
to his phrase
common
country,"
Referring
he said that rather
than be united again, he would sacrifice everything, even his
" life a thousand times." He spoke, too, of compelling " the
Yankees in less than twelve months to petition us for peace
on our own terms." Mr. Hunter expressed the belief that
their resources
were
sufficient, as
he invoked the people to spare
neither blood nor treasure in support of
holiest of all causes."
what he
Knowing what soon
called " the
transpired of the
almost complete exhaustion of their resources, and that
all
was said only two months before the surrender of Lee's
army at Appomattox Court-House, it is certainly hard to make
this
common candor or
common sense, unless there were reasons known to them
were unknown to others. It is now affirmed, on the
such representations comport with either
even
that
"A
authority of
Rebel War Clerk's Diary" and Foote's
" War of the Rebellion," that the Confederate leaders were
looking, with
It,
what reason does not appear,
for foreign aid.
however, never came, and in two short months Mr. Davis,
all his brave and defiant words, was a prisoner
and the Southern Confederacy a thing of the past.
with
of war,
�CHAPTER
XLI.
MR. Lincoln's second inauguration.
— First inauguration. — Great uncertainty and anxiety. — Great
— Slavery destroyed. — Freed from compromise. — Keligious aspects
— Both parties disappointed. — The retributive judgments of God
of the
to he
— Charity. — Inaugural highly commended. — influence very
— Mr. Johnson's unseemly course. — General disgust. — Meeting of Republicans. — Cause of estrangement.
Special interest.
change.
case.
feared.
Its
great.
The
inauguration
of
a President of the United
always an event of more or less popular and
was
especially so
took the oath of
on both occasions when Abraham Lincoln
office.
chair, dark forebodings
of uncertainty
States,
political interest,
On
his first accession to the executive
had seized the public mind, and
and apprehension everywhere
feelings
prevailed.
Both
the final action of the seceding States and what would be the
exact policy of the incoming administration were in doubt.
Though several States had formally seceded and entered into
a new confederacy, it was still hoped that they would not proceed to the dire extremity of actual hostilities. The " Star of
the West " had not been fired upon, and the flag of the Union
still waved over the walls of Sumter.
The President, therefore, in his
"
message had, as
if
unwilling to believe that his
dissatisfied fellow-countrymen "
would proceed to such extreme measures, assumed the attitude of kind and earnest
expostulation.
Though he avowed his conviction that " the
Union of the States is perpetual," and that it was his duty to
see " that the laws of the
Union be faithfully executed in all
the States," lie assured them that " the accession of a Republican administration " did not involve any menace towards
them, and that it did not endanger " their property, and their
peace, and their personal security that in tlicir hands rested
;
�MB. LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
575
that they were friends and
civil war
and that, " though passion had strained, it must
not break the bonds of their affections."
But four years had changed all this, not excepting the President himself, at least his position and policy upon the great
His " dissatisfied
question of slavery and its abolishment.
the momentous issues of
not enemies
;
;
fellow-countrymen " had treated with contempt his conciliatory
and more than fulfilled all
their threats.
Uncertainty had become certainty, apprehension had ripened into conviction, and events had shown the
people that their most fearful forebodings were justified,
that they were enemies and not friends, and that the bonds
and loving words, and had
fulfilled
of affection liad been broken.
Not only had a
single national
vessel on the peaceful errand of bearing bread to a beleaguered
garrison been fired upon, not only had one fort been reduced,
but the wliolc naval and military force of the nation had been
assaulted and resisted with marvellous energy and endurance.
Slavery which the President had in his
first
message treated
so forbearingly, whose claims he did not feel called upon to
question, as with which he did not propose to interfere,
had
gone down amid and in consequence of the storms of war, and
had been made by a constitutional amendment no longer possible.
Absolved from obligations which he had hitherto accepted as among the compromises of the Constitution, confirmed and strengthened by subsequent legislation and the
traditions of the past, having so signally failed in his earnest
and repeated efforts to conciliate those thus " dissatisfied,"
and being instructed by the stern teachings of Providence,
the President was prepared, as never before, to discuss the
questions at issue according to their intrinsic merits and the
demands of those fundamental principles on which the government had been professedly based. Having become deeply
impressed with tlie conviction that the Divine justice was an
important
if
not a controlling factor of the great practical
problem they were endeavoring to solve, he did not hesitate to
summon Congress and the country to listen to teachings he
had been constrained to accept, and to mark the existence
and requirements of tlie " higher law." He pointed them
�576
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AiMERICA.
to their relations to God's government, expressed his fear of
its
righteous
was
there
retributions,
and avowed the conviction that
hope of any abiding peace, except through
little
a national recognition of
human
rights
and their correlative
but long-disregarded obligations.
Alluding to his
first
tions as sufficiently
inaugural and to subsequent declara-
indicative of
the general purpose and
" the great contest
policy of his administration concerning
which
still
absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of
little " new," he said, to be presented, he
the nation," leaving
spoke of the progress of arms as " reasonably satisfactory
and encouraging
to all."
Referring to the doubts and anxi-
eties that existed in the public
mind on the occasion
of his
inauguration, he spoke of the great desire of the loyal
first
Union without war, while the insurgent
its destruction.
Both deprecated war, he
said, " but one of them would make war rather than let the
nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let
States to save the
States were plotting
perish."
Speaking of slavery as the cause of the struggle,
he said the insurgent States sought " to strengthen, perpetu-
it
ate,
and extend
to do
more than
it
"
;
while " the government claimed no right
to restrict the territorial enlargement of it."
He spoke of the disappointment of both parties in regard to
the magnitude of the war and the destruction of its " cause."
" Each," he said, " looked for an easier triumph, and a result
fundamental and astounding."
Alluding to the facts that both combatants read the same
Bible and prayed to the same God, that the prayers of both
less
could not be answered, and that neither had been answered
" fully," he reminded his countrymen of their relation to and
dependence upon the Divine purposes, and of what the nation
had to fear from the execution of those retributive judgments,
of slavery rendered immislavery be the offence, and " this
which their offences in the matter
nent
if
not certain.
If
war be the woe duo to those by whom the offence
came," given to both North and South, lie put the inquiry
with an apparent conviction and a seeming assurance of the
validity of the claim and the legitimacy of his appeal seldom
terrible
�MR. LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
577
excelled or equalled, " Shall
we discern there any departure
from those Divine attributes which the believers in a living
God always ascribe to Him ? " " Fondly," he continued, " do
we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war
may speedily j^ass away. Yet if God wills that it continue
bondman's two hundred and
be sunk, and until every
drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another
drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago,
so still it must be said that the judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether." Thus boldly did the President
remind his countrymen of the Divine government as a great
practical fact that American statesmanship should recognize,
arraign them for their great and persistent crimes, and point
them to the punishment which was their " due." No ruler of
men, not even those of the Jewish theocracy, ever spoke more
reverently and unqucstioningly of the Divine prerogative, and
of human responsibility and obligation consequent thereon.
But if some of his passages, by their stern and uncompromisuntil all the wealth piled l)y the
fifty
years of unrequited
toil shall
ing character, call to mind the utterances of the old
Hebrew
prophets, there were others whose charity and forbearance
words of the Great Teacher, so deeply imbued did
spirit and purpose of the gospel.
Hardly
could one who had not read the Sermon on the Mount have
written the closing paragraph " With malice toward none,
recall the
they seem with the
:
with charity for
all,
us to see the right,
God gives
we are in, to bind
him who shall have borne
with firmness in the right, as
let
us finish the work
up the nation's wounds, to care for
the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which
may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
The message produced a profound impression both here and
elsewhere, and was made the subject of the most unqualified
commendation. Not only was it pronounced by partial Americans as " the finest state paper in
the highest eulogiums from abroad.
in the highest degree salutary.
all
history," but
Its influence at
it
received
home was
Its profoundly religious tone
struck the popular chord and evoked hearty responses, giving
VOL. in.
37
�578
as
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
did expression to a
it
IN AMERICA.
growing sentiment and the sanction
what the people, with few excep-
of high official utterance to
tions,
had already begun
to look
upon as the only probable
solution of the problem before them.
Its
determined purpose
not to stop short of a complete vindication of the national
authority,
and the expressed confidence that the end was at
hand, encouraged and nerved the people for the remaining
It strengthened the President with them
sacrifices required.
and largely increased
tian
his popularity.
Its dignified
and Chris-
tone deepened the popular conviction of his personal
integrity
and worth, while
its
forceful
and
felicitous phrases
found a lodgement in the memory from which they have not
faded, and will not fade for long years to come.
But very
different
was the speech, as
also its reception, of the
Mr. Johnson had hardly begun his remarks
when his wandering and maudlin words excited the suspicion,
for which there was too much occasion, that he was speaking
Vice-President.
under other inspiration than that afforded by the occasion.
The feelings of the Republicans were those of mingled indigTliat one whom they had so honored by
nation and disgust.
their confidence and suffrages should so disgrace them, as
well as himself, by his unseemly conduct, seemed an outrage
So profound was this feeling that a
soon held, at which Mr. Sumner
was
meeting of Rcpubhcans
introduced a resolution requesting him to resign the office he
had so disgraced. It was very warmly debated, but a majority
too great to be borne.
summary a measure it being
deemed wiser to pursue a more forbearing course, and to make
Among those who counselled
the best of what all regretted.
thus were Wade of Ohio, Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Preston
King of New York. But the occurrence unquestionably became the occasion of that estrangement between the VicePresident and the party which had elected him that soon led
to an open rupture, and was the beginning at least of those
avowed antagonisms which characterized the whole of Mr.
could not be secured for so
Johnson's administration.
;
�CHAPTER
XLII.
MB. LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
— Assassin's
— Ford's Theatre, — The President
death. — Assault on Mr. Seward. — Concerted plan. —
— Remembered
personal
Wide-spread impression. — Feeling
— Prob— Confederate leaders suspected. — Rewards
—
— Prompt and vigorous pursuit. — Success. — Booth's death. —
able
Trial and execution of conspirators. — Universal mourning. — Funeral cortege
— Demon— Closing
— His
—
and
— London "Times" and "Daily
—
in other
News." — General estimate. — Inadequate apprehension of reconstruction.
shot.
Appalling intelligence.
cape.
es-
— President's
of
virtues.
loss.
offered.
Political fears.
solution.
countries.
scenes.
character.
Springfield.
incidents.
stration
Disraeli.
In the midst of the general rejoicings which followed the
surrender of Lee's army came intelligence that appalled, and
for the
moment
paralyzed, the land.
On
the very day that
was
promulgated the order, so longed for and so welcome, to suspend recruiting men and procuring supplies, thus assuring the
first received with a kind of bewildering incredulity, that the " cruel war" ivas " over," and
that peace had come, and had " come to stay," ^the tidings
people of what they had at
was
was dead, that he
fallen by the
had
and
trust
they had learned to love
flashed over the wires that their leader
whom
hand
of the assassin.
In the Washington papers of the 14th of April, 1865,
was announced that the President and
just
from the
front,
it
his victorious general,
would be present at the entertainment at
General Grant
Ford's Theatre on the evening of that day.
having been called away, the President
—
it is
said reluctantly,
because he would not disappoint the public expectation
solved to attend.
At
crowded into
little
—
past ten o'clock, while he
re-
was
John Wilkes Booth, with pistol and dagthe box in which he was seated, shot the
listening to the play,
ger,
a
�580
PJSE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA,
wounded Major Rathbone, who had
jumped upon the stage shouting " Sic
President, shook oif and
seized the assassin,
semper tyranms, the South
avenged," rushed out of the
is
mounted a horse he had in reserve in the rear of the
building, and before the audience was fairly aware of what
had taken place had escaped, and was hurrying in hot liastc
theatre,
toward the bridge over the eastern branch of the Potomac,
among whose proslavery inand did find, sympathizing
friends, and those ready to succor and conceal.
Tlie President, all unconscious of what had befallen him, was removed
leading into Southern Maryland,
habitants he expected to find,
to a house opposite the theatre,
and continued
to breathe until
members of his Cabinet and
adding the name of martyr to his
the next morning, surrounded by
others,
when he
well-earned
expired,
title of
the great emancipator.
Nearly at the moment of the assault upon the President,
Lewis Payne Powell, son of a Southern clergymen, an exConfederate soldier, called at the residence of Secretary Seward, who was lying severely injured by a fall from his carriage.
Pretending to have been sent by Dr. Verdi, the physician of
the Secretary, with a message he must deliver in person, he
demanded instant admission to his chamber. Being refused
by the porter, he rushed by him and up two flights of stairs to
the chamber, at the door of which he met the Secretary's son,
Frederick William, who also refused and resisted his entrance.
Felling him to the floor by the handle of his pistol, he met also
the daughter of the Secretary.
Rushing by her, he flung himself on the bed of the maimed and almost helpless man, inflicting with his dagger three severe wounds upon his face and
neck, when an invalid soldier in attendance seized him from
behind and prevented further infliction. While Powell was
struggling with the soldier Mr. Seward succeeded in rolling
himself off the opposite side of the bed. Miss Seward shouted
" Murder " from the open window, and the porter rushed
!
into the street, calling for help.
Seeing his danger, the assas-
from the grasp
of the soldier, sprang for the
sin tore himself
stairs,
encountered another son,
whom
he struck with his
dagger, and also Mr. Seward's private secretary,
whom
he
�581
MR. LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
Mounting a horse
wounded, and escaped into the street.
which stood in readiness, he proceeded in the same direction
taken by the murderer of the President. Happily the wounds
of the Secretary did not prove fatal, and he slowly recovered
from both the injuries of his fall and of the dagger. Subsequent developments revealed the fact that the plot embraced
members of the administration, and included General
Grant among the specified victims of the proposed assassina-
other
but the selected agents failed of carrying into effect their
nefarious purpose, and only their chief actually fell before the
tion
;
murderous
The
assault.
assassination of the President produced a profound im-
pression, not only here but elsewhere, not only in
throughout the
civilized
world
;
and
all
America but
the more coming as
it
did amid the wide-spread jubilations over Lee's surrender and
the confident anticipations of peace of which
the harbinger.
With
it
was deemed
these were mingled considerations large-
Indeed, there were few who
met with a personal loss, and it was
hardly a figure of speech when it was said, as of old, that there
" was not a house where there was not one dead." Even
Europe shared in this wide-spread feeling of loss. " It was
felt," said Sir G. Grey in the British House of Commons, " as
No such day
if some great calamity had befallen ourselves."
of deep mourning and indignant sorrow ever befell a nation as
that which followed the announcement of this foul and remediOne travelling from New York to Central Masless crime.
sachusetts describes the scenes and impressions of that day as
among the most remarkable of his life. Oppressed himself
ly personal as well as political.
did not feel that they had
with the burden produced by reading the despatch on the bulletin-boards as he took his seat in the cars, " The President expired at twenty-two minutes past seven," which extinguished
the last ray of hope,
mistake in the
till
then cherished, that there must be some
first terriljle
news, and the sickening conviction
that the good President was really dead, he found himself in
strange sympathy, not only with his fellow-travellers, but with
all
the dwellers along the road.
Had
the car been
filled
with
a company of mourners following some loved friend to the
�582
RISE
toml),
tlie
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
signs of grief could not have been
more marked.
As
within the car not a smile was seen, and not a loud or
jocular word was heard, but every one seemed to sit subdued
and
sad, as
if
in the presence of
some great
affliction, so
the route the same funereal signs arrested attention.
along
As
the
flags at half mast, the tolling of bells, the firing of minute-
guns, attested the presence of some great calamity, so the
closed stores
and manufactories, the groups
men standing here and there as
of common interest, revealed the
minds and
of
unemployed
discussing some subject
if
sad topic that occupied
all
and showed with how strong a
Lincoln had seized the popular mind and
filled all hearts,
grasp the death of
heart.
Nor
did the parallel between this public calamity and per-
sonal afflictions end here.
As
with dead friends, survivors
remember only the good, so now only that was
mind of the dead President. His words of wisdom
are prone to
brought to
and of high resolve, supplemented, illustrated, and illuminated
by deeds of devotion and self-sacrifice no less radiant and
redolent of the pure spirit that prompted them, were brought
fresh to mind, and added poignancy to the great grief that
upon the
His deficiencies of
and criticisms that had
been indulged in, and might have been indulged in again, had
he lived, were no longer remembered. The sterling qualities
of the man, the signal services he had rendered the nation and
humanity, gathered brightness from the gloom in which they
were seen, and his great character loomed up with magnified
proportions in the new obscurity into which everything had
been tlu'own, and made the crime of his murder all the more
terrible and detestable.
The murdered President had "borne
had
fallen so suddenly
people.
character and conduct were forgotten
;
his faculties so meek, had been so clear in his great
that his virtues " could not but stand resplendent in the
ories of his
office,
mem-
countrymen.
But personal considerations, however affecting and painful,
were overshadowed by political. " The night of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln," it was said, "was one of horrors in
the national capital." It was emphatically a blow in the
�583
MR. LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
Not only did the arm that struck it vanish at once
and elude pursuit, but it was not known whence it came, or
by whose murderous purpose it was inspired. This very haze
of uncertainty magnified to public view the impending danger,
and multiplied, to popular fears at least, the numbers who
dark.
were engaged in
this
work
of destruction.
The
Men knew
not
upon Mr. Sewwhat to expect or where
by many,
entertained
ard appeared to justify the suspicion,
that it was a plot that embraced other members of the adminto look.
istration
than
its
assault
head, and aimed not only to cripple but to
destroy, or involve all things in irretrievable anarchy.
owed
its
That
it
inspiration to the Confederate leaders, who, though
their armies
had surrendered,
purpose against the nation's
So strong was
probable.
still
life,
cherished their traitorous
seemed a supposition only too
this conviction that a proclamation
was soon issued by the new President, charging, " from evidence in the bureau of Military Justice," that the murder of
the President and the attempted assassination of his Secretary
had been " incited, concerted, and procured by and between
Jefferson Davis, late of Richmond, Virginia, and Jacob Thompson, Clement C.
Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. Sanders,
William C. Cleary, and other rebels and traitors against the
government, liarbored in Canada." Rewards were offered of
one hundred thousand dollars for the arrest of the Rebel chief,
twenty-five thousand dollars each for the rest, excepting Cleary,
for
whom
the reward was placed at ten thousand dollars.
Sub-
sequent developments, however, relieved the Confederate leaders of the charge of active participancy in this crime, though
from the
first,
even before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, assas-
sination had been freely talked about,
among
the
means
of preventing a
if
not resorted to, as
Black Republican from be-
coming President of the United States. But the final, general,
and probably the true impression was that the scheme owed
its inception as well as its execution to Booth and his accomplices.
Badly educated, illy regulated, not to say dissipated
young men, they were fanatics on the subject, as they were
the natural outgrowths of slavery.
Regarding devotion to
what they deemed Southern rights paramount to every other
�584
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
KISE
IN AMERICA.
had worked themselves up to a
fidelity would endear them
Southern
hearts,
give
them a present notoriety, and perhaps
to
link their names with an immortality of renown.
But they
miscalculated, and they lived long enough, excepting their
principal, to learn that they had made a serious mistake, had
worked mischief to the section they had hoped to serve, had
united as never before the North, arrested the growing kindness of many, in a measure at least represented by their murdered chief, who, in their overpowering desire for peace and a
reconstructed Union, were beginning to forget the odiousness
of treason.
For the moment indignation suppressed every
other feeling, and the cry for revenge was heard above the
entreaties for conciliation
and the conspirators could adopt
the language of the French statesmen " It is more than a
consideration, they no doubt
such an exhibition of
belief that
;
:
crime
;
it
is
a political fault."
So soon as the facts of the assault became known. Secretary
Stanton instituted a prompt and vigorous search for the conspirators.
Every road radiating from the capital was scoured
police, and detectives were sent in
by cavalry and mounted
every direction.
the limits of a
Nor was the search unavailing, for within
week Booth and an accomplice were brought
to bay in a barn in Virginia near Fredericksburg.
Refusing
and he was shot. The individual who attempted the life of Mr. Seward was also arrested,
as were the otlier conspirators, consisting of David E. Harrold,
George A. Atzeroth, and Mary E. Surratt, whose house had
been made tlie rendezvous of the conspirators. They were
tried by military commission, and were convicted and executed
on the 7th of July. Michael 0. Loughlin, Samuel A. Mudd,
who dressed Booth's fractured limb, and Samuel Arnold were
sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor for life. They were
Edsent to the Dry Tortugas but were afterward respited.
ward Spangler was sentenced to six years' imprisonment at
to surrender, the barn
was
fired
;
hard labor.
Nor was the great
terer tears shed
and temporary,
Never were more or bit-
grief spasmodic, local,
but deep, heavy, and universal.
around a
bier,
never could
it
be said, with
�MR. LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
585
use of words, that a nation mourned
around a new-made grave. His obsequies seemed rather a
popular ovation, and the funeral cortege that bore his lifeless
body to his Western home was little less than the triumphal
less Tiolence in the
procession of some victorious general returning with his tro-
His had
and successful campaign.
had
come
he
been a weary race, and he had well won the rest
neighbors
to take, as lovingly and reverently his friends and
There was
laid the precious form down for his long repose.
truth as well as pathos in one of the mottos of the occasion:
phies
of
a well-fought
"He
He
Of
left
up by our prayers,
embalmed in our tears."
us borne
returns
this " long pilgrimage of sorrow, traversing half the con-
tinent," a
warm
personal friend and adviser wrote:
"The
people of every State, city, town, and hamlet came with un-
covered heads, with streaming eyes, with their offerings of
wreaths and flowers, to witness the passing train. It is imMinute-guns, the tolling of
possible to describe the scene.
bells,
draped
music, requiems, dirges, military and civic displays,
flags,
black covering every public building and private
house, everywhere indicated the pious desire of the people to
do honor to the dead. Two thousand miles, along which every
house was draped in black, and from which, everywhere, hung
The whole long journey,
the national colors in mourning."
was filled with toucliing and thrilling incidents. The triumphal passage through Baltimore could not but recall the fact
that four years before he had been compelled to pass through
the same city in disguise to prevent assassination. In Philadelphia his remains lay in state in the same hall in which four
years before he had declared that he would sooner be assassinated than give up the principles of the Declaration of Independence which had been proclaimed therefrom eighty-nine
years before, and near the liberty-bell which first sounded
forth the great doctrines of human rights and the essential
Here, as well as in New York, Chicago, and
equality of man.
Springfield, where the body lay in state, there was all night
long the ceaseless tramp of thousands anxious for a single
too,
�586
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
glance at the mutilated form of the loved and revered President they were bearing to his burial. " Notwithstanding the
greater part of the trip between
at night," said one, "
Albany and Buffalo was made
mournful crowds were collected
The
the line to catch a view of the passing cortege.
all
along
buildings
were appropriatley draped, flags were everywhere at half-mast,
and bonfires and torches illumed the sad pageant. All through
the dark hours, as the train sped on, at each city, town, village, hamlet, and railway-station, these testimonies of the people's affection and grief were repeated."
At
Springfield, the
home
of the late President, other ele-
and feeling entered into the popular
For to sentiments shared in common with
demonstrations.
the inhabitants of the nation, and to feelings of State partiality and pride were added those of personal acquaintance
and neighborhood, mellowing though rendering more intense
and enduring the bitter sense of loss and bereavement.
Nor were these displays and expressions confined to the
Great Republic. The civilized world joined with no stinted
phrase and exhibition in the great and general mourning.
ments
interest
of
The " wave
sweeping over Europe, found answerChina, Japan, and Siam
Orient.
ing billows in
"
We consider," said a British emansent their condolence."
cipation society, " the death of the late President a world-wide
of feeling,
the far-off
calamity, because the impression
made by
it
seems to be the
strongest and most general that has ever appeared on the
death of a fellow-man." And more beautifully was a similar,
though enlarged thought expressed in the British House of
Commons by its most distinguished member, Disraeh " In
the character of the victim and even in the accessories of his
last moments there is something so homely and innocent
:
that
it
takes the question, as
heart of
it
were, out of
all
the
pomp
and the ceremonial of diplomacy it touches the
nations, and appeals to the domestic sentiment of
of history
;
mankind."
In estimating the character and career of Mr. Lincoln, mere
sentiment and panegyric aside, it is safe to affirm that their
crowning glory and regnant quality was his honest and earnest
�587
MR. LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
integrity of
purpose.
none and charity for
counselling " malice towards
Though
all,"
he insisted that " with firmness in
the right as God gives to see the right," they should " finish
Though it
the work " they had been called upon to perform.
required stern conflict, not only with the views and purposes
whose good opinion and support he desired, but with
prejudices and preconceived opinions, he still pressed
the steady doing of that " right " as God had given him
of those
his
own
on to
to see
it.
He was denounced
as " slow," especially in adopt-
ing the policy of emancipation.
But
it is
not to be forgotten
that in adopting that policy he was not only compelled to run
counter to his
own
long-cherished opinions, the unequivocally
and often repeated policy
of the party that elected him,
and the
united protests of the border States, but that, after his
first
proclamation of September 22, the following resolution was
adopted, October, 1862, in Boston, by a convention held in
Faneuil Hall.
After expressing regret that the President of
the United States, " forgetful of his obligations to the whole
country as the constitutional head of the government and
yielding to unwise counsels," should have issued such proc-
lamation, the convention
''Resolved,
That
in the
name
of
civilized
humanity, we
respectfully but earnestly protest against the Emancipation
Proclamation of the President of the United States, both on
the ground of its unconstitutionality and inexpediency."
How he was
led to changes so radical
and so important, and
why he was so firm in maintaining his new position, are questions it may not be amiss to answer in the language of tliose
who looked on from abroad, both because they are well answered thereby, and because it shows the esteem in which he
was held by others than his countrymen. In an article in the
London " Times," announcing the
assassination, the writer
speaks of the President's " conservative progress," says that
" he felt his way gradually to his conclusions," and adds
" The gradual change of his language and of his policy was
:
most remarkable. Englishmen learned to respect a man who
showed the best characteristics of their race in his respect for
what was good in the past, acting in unison with a recognition
�588
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
of wliat vras
made necessary by
But the growth
modification.
of
It
IN AMERICA.
the events of passing history.
Mr. Lincohi's mind was subject to a singular
would seem that he
felt
himself of late a mere
instrument engaged in working out a great cause, which he
could partly recognize, but which he w^as powerless to conThe London " Daily News " of the same date, after
saying that at the outset " he, in common with the mass of
trol."
the people of the North, was ready to guarantee to the people
of the
South protection for slavery in the States where
existed,"
found that " slavery,
tion,
it
then
and that they only changed that policy when they
was subordinate
to preserve the
like every other partial interest or rela-
to the general interest,"
and
that, "
if,
Union, slavery must be destroyed, the Consti-
which formed the band of the Union, could not be
pleaded in its defence," it thus proceeded " It is given to few
men to triumph over the most formidable obstacles, as Mr.
Lincoln triumphed, by the mere force of honesty and sagacity.
tution,
:
His simple integrity of purpose, firmness
of will, patience, hu-
manity, and the deep sense of accountability which marked
every important act, united to form a character which has
and visibly gained upon the minds and hearts, not
of his own countrymen alone, but also of the world
Cautiously conservative, he held back the ardent while he
steadily
gave confidence to the timid, his reluctance to innovate did
not prevent him from recognizing and accepting the changes
which the progress of events brought to pass,
and the firmness with which he refused to proceed faster than
they warranted was equalled by the tenacity with which he
refused to retire from the position he had at last thought it
right to take up
His duties were those of a statesman
and a magistrate, and the very fact that he never uttered a
single revolutionary sentiment qualified him to accompany and
guide the remarkable but gradual development of national
opinion on this vital subject.
He had to unite the people of
Had he not sucthe loyal States, and to keep them together.
ceeded in this he could have done nothing for liberty, nothing
against slavery and he did succeed."
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, while it was in the
in the situation
;
�589'
MR. LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION.
highest degree dramatic, could not be regarded as other than
As
Providential, a part of a higher than any human plan.
the crowning act of the bloody drama that had been four
years in progress, it answered the most exacting demands of
As no Greek tragedian, from the highest
most venturous imagination, ever gathered materials for more startling surprises and a scene of more thrilling interest than were afforded by the actual facts of the
President's death, so there were demanded large measures of
Christian faith and trust to be reconciled to what otherwise
to what seemed so calamiseemed " but the irony of fate,"
the tragic muse.
flights of his
—
tous,
wounded
so
cruelly
the
sensibilities,
so
disappointed
what seemed just and legitimate expectations, and clouded
so heavily and so soon again the heavens just cleared of the
storms of war. The expectation that the nation would have
the same calm, sagacious, and unselfish judgment, which had
held the helm of affairs so wisely and firmly amid the tempests
of a four years' war, through the yet more difficult task of
reconstruction, was at once and remedilessly disappointed. It
had now to traverse an unexplored
sea,
with
its
unknown
cur-
and shallows, and in
what new storms might rise, what
rents, without chart to point out rocks
ignorance, of course, of
was there to take its place but the Christian's trust, " Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do right ? " " With the ship
barely over the bar," said the London " Spectator," " the pilot
falls dead upon the deck, and it must be well, but the sailors
may
be pardoned
if
for the
moment
would never be attained."
Anxious, however, for a solution
they feel as
the harbor
if
of the dark problem,
and
unwilling to accept the conclusion that the fruits of the war
were
few sought
to fail because of the fall of their leader, not a
to persuade themselves that the President's death
blessing in disguise," and that
it
was a part
of the Divine pur-
pose to place the work of reconstruction in a
make,
of firmer nerve,
and
was but " a
man
less lenient in his
of sterner
treatment of
was reasonably feared, Mr. Lincoln would
Such a man, it was judged, from his antecedents and
prove.
Not many months,
utterances, the Vice-President would be.
traitors than, it
•
�590
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN
AMERICA.
however, elapsed before their mistake was seen, and
apparent that
men had
work
difficulty of the
son,
and overestimated his
the solution lingers, and
fell.
It still
became
to be done, misunderstood Mr. John-
and
blow
it
greatly underestimated the magnitude
qualifications therefor.
men
are no wiser than
remains a mystery
why
And
still
when
the
the good President
should die just as victory crowned the Union arms, the success
stormy and eventful administration had become assured,
and the great work of reconstruction was to be undertaken
of his
and performed.
What would have been Mr. Lincoln's fortune in grappling
with this great problem, had he lived, is of course a question
That he did
that can never be answered by a finite mind.
not fully comprehend its gravity and all the fearful elements
that entered as factors therein,
is
made
apparent, not only by
the inceptive measures with which he inaugurated the effort,
but by words he addressed his wife on the day of his death
"
We
have had a hard time together since we came to Washnow the war is over, and with God's blessing
ington, but
upon
we
us,
will
and then
and pass the remainder of our
Without attributing to these words, spoken
we may hope
go back to
lives in peace."
for four years of happiness,
Illinois,
the unconstrained intercourse of the domestic circle, a
meaning they will not bear, it can hardly be supposed, had
in
he fully comprehended the character of the work before him,
that he would have spoken quite so pleasantly and hopefully
of the years in which it was to be carried forward, if not
accomplished.
�CHAPTER
MR. JOHNSON'S POLICY.
Mr. Johnson takes oath of
office.
XLIII.
— INHUMAN
— Eemarks and
LEGISLATION.
replies to delegations.
— Vigor-
— Republican hopes and expectations. — Change in the
President's views and policy. — Interview with colored delegation, — Claims.
— Announces an unfriendly policy. — Emigi-ation. — Inferior — Disseverance from and hostility to his party. — Reasons. — "Swinging around the
ous policy promised.
race.
— Bitter reproaches against Congress. — Results. — Revival of Rebel
— Proclamation North Carolina and other
— Colored people
— Persecution of white Union men. — Unfriendly and
excluded from
cruel
— Examples.
circle."
States.
to
spirit.
suffrage.
legislation.
The
topical
arrangement of chapters has rendered neces-
sary an occasional though somewliat anachronistic reference
to a few of
Mr. Johnson's
official
acts as President, before
sudden induction to
office and the anomalous
His defection from the party
that elected him, and the sharp and bitter antagonism it engendered, not only disappointed hopes his hitherto patriotic
and heroic course had encouraged, but it made darker the pros-
mention
of his
administration
pect,
tion.
it
introduced.
more complicated
As
President
it
and more desperate the situaand the subsequent course of the
affairs,
that defection
introduced constitute an important, though dark
chapter of American history,
lar
it
it
may be
well to note
its
singu-
and sudden occurrence, and the completeness of the change
inaugurated.
On the day after the assassination, Mr. Johnson, having
been apprised of the event, took the oath of office, at his
rooms, in the presence of tlie Cabinet, and of several members
and was thus quietly inducted into the high position so summarily vacated by the martyred President.
In the
few remarks made on the occasion as to " an indication of any
of Congress,
�592
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
may be pursued," he said it " must be left for
development as the administration progresses"; and his own
past course in connection with the Rebellion " must be repolicy which
garded as a guaranty for the future."
To
several delegations
which waited upon him he was, however, more explicit. To
a delegation from New Hampshire, after saying that it was
" not in the wisdom and foresight of man to prescribe a course
of action in advance for such disturbed and perilous conditions
now exist in public affairs," and that the country must
accept his past course, " especially that part connected with
as
the Rebellion," as an indication of what the future must be,
—
he added
" I know
:
it
is
easy, gentlemen, for any one
who
is
so dis-
posed to acquire a reputation for clemency and mercy.
But
the public good imperatively requires a just discrimination in
What
the exercise of these qualities.
is
clemency
?
What
is
mercy? It may be considered merciful to relieve an individual from pain and suffering but to relieve one from the
penalty of crime may be productive of national disaster.
The
American people must be taught to know and understand that
treason is a crime. Arson and murder are crimes, the punishment of which is the loss of liberty and life. If then it
is right in the sight of God to take away human life for such
crimes, what punishment, let me ask you, should be inflicted
on him who is guilty of the atrocious crime of assassinating
the Chief Magistrate of a great people ? .... If his mur;
known
derer should suffer the severest penalty
what punishment should be
inflicted
have raised their daggers against the
in the law,
upon the assassins who
life
of a nation, against
Treason
?
must not be
opinion.
It must
the happiness and lives of thirty millions of people
must be punished
a mere difference of
is a crime, and
regarded as
as a crime.
political
It
not be excused as an unsuccessful rebellion, to be overlooked
crime before which all other crimes sink
and in saying this it must not be considered that I am influenced by angry or revengeful feelings."
To the delegation from Indiana he indicated his views upon
and forgiven.
It is a
into insignificance
another point.
;
Speaking of the reconstruction of the States
�ME. JOHNSON'S POLICY.
— INHUMAN LEGISLATION.
593
and giving his " understanding of the genius
and theory of our government," he said " Then in adjusting
and putting the government upon its legs again, I think the
progress of this work must pass into the hands of its friends.
If a State is to be nursed until it again gets strength, it must
beojursed by its friends, and not smothered by its enemies."
To a colored delegation which had said to him that the " colored American asks but two things, first, complete emancipation, and, secondly, full equality before American law," and
lately in rebellion,
:
had added, " Your past history, as connected with the Rebelus full assurance that in your hands our cause shall
receive no detriment, and that our liberty and rights will be
fully protected and sustained," he replied :/ " I need not state
In it
It is well understood by you.
to you my past history.
you will find the guaranty of my future conduct toward your
Where the colored people know me best they have
people.
confidence in me.
No man can charge me with having proved
false to the promises I have made to any class of the people
lion, gives
in
my
To
public life."
a delegation from South Carolina as late as June, beside
assuring them that, being providentially brought to his position,
he intended to " exert the power and influence of the govern-
ment so as to place in power the popular heart of this nation,"
and also affirming that " slavery is gone as an institution,"
he said " The slaves went into the war as slaves, and came
The friction of the Rebellion has
out free men of color.
rubbed out the nature and character of slavery. The loyal
men who were compelled to bow and submit to the Rebellion
:
should,
men
now
that the Rebellion
is
ended, stand equal to loyal
everywhere."
It is
not surprising, therefore, with utterances like these,
in such seeming liarmony with his antecedents as a Southern
Unionist,
— antecedents which had secured nomination and
the Yice-Presidency, — that many were disposed
his
election to
to
regard his advancement to the Presidency at that particular
juncture as but another evidence of Providential favor, if not
of Divine interposition, by which the nation was to be saved
from what many feared might prove Mr. Lincoln's ill-timed
VOL.
III.
38
�594
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
leniency and misplaced confidence.
man
more iron
IN AMERICA.
Feeling that the exigency
and more inflexible purand less sympathetic, they accepted these declarations
of ]\Ir. Johnson as indicative of the purpose that one, having
fulfilled his mission by carrying the nation through the storms
and perils of war, another, better fitted for the different work
of reconstruction, was allowed to take his place.
Such gratulations, however, were of short continuance.
Whatever the cause or design, the new President soon revealed the change that had taken place and the purpose to
adopt and pursue a policy the exact reverse of what, with such
prompt and unequivocal words, he had indicated. Instead of
required a
of a
will,
pose,
treating treason as a crime,
making
it
" odious" and himself a
terror to traitors, he pursued a course to conciliate their good-
and become, if not the advocate
champion of their claims for readmission
to the Union with all the forfeited rights and immunities of
citizenship restored.
Instead of realizing the hopes and veriwill, secure their confidence,
of their cause, the
fying the assured confidence of the colored delegation that in
hands their cause should receive no detriment, and that
and rights would be fully protected and sustained,
he soon became one of the most intractable opponents of the
policy, deemed necessary by the freedman and liis friends, for
his protection, improvement, and elevation.
For the details
of tlie President's disastrous policy consequent on his defection there is not space. But of his complete disseverance from
his party, of the prevailing tenor of his views, and of the
general purposes of his presidential career,, there is no lack
of evidence, not only as announced in his numerous state
his
their liVterty
papers, but as
it
obtrudes
of the history of
administration.
his
itself
on the notice of every reader
strange and singularly unsatisfactory
But more
direct
and
less capable of
misap-
prehension perhaps were his less studied utterances, of which
he was never chary, as expressed in speeches, and in replies
who were often as much amused as provoked
to delegations
by
his enunciation
and defences
of "
my
policy," his laughable
exhibitions of self-assertion and self-laudation, and the reiter-
ated autobiographical reminiscences of his public
life,
with
its
�MR. JOHNSON'S POLICY.
— INHUMAN
LEGISLATION.
595
ascending grade from the lowest to the liighest round on the
ladder of political preferment.
Of his divergence of views on the general subject of reconis made elsewhere.
Of his views concern-
struction mention
ing the African race the report of an interview with a colored
On
delegation affords authentic evidence.
the 7th of Febru-
an able committee, selected by a colored convention
representing twenty States, called on the President. In his
ary, 1866,
address the chairman, alluding to the fact that they were then
free, and that there was " no recognition of color or race in
the organic law of the land," expressed the hope " that
may
we
be fully enfranchised, not only here in this District, but
throughout the land," and added the emphatic declaration
" that granting anything less than our full rights will be a
disregard of our just rights and of due respect for our feel-
"
ings."
We
are in a passage," he said,
'*
to equality before
by opening a Red Sea. We would
have your assistance through the same. We come to you in
the name of the colored people of the United States
It
has been shown in the present war that the government may
the law.
God hath made
justly reach its strong
it
arm
them, from those who owe
support.
May
it
it
into
and demand from
and
arm to secure and pro-
States,
allegiance, their assistance
not reach out a like
upon whom it has a claim ? "
Frederick
Douglass, who was of the delegation, said " In tlfe order of
Divine Providence you are placed in a position where you have
the power to bless or blast us.
I mean our whole race.
Your
noble and humane predecessor placed in our hands the sword
to assist in saving the nation, and we do hope that you, his
tect its
subjects
;
:
able successor, will favorably regard the placing in our hands
the ballot with which to save ourselves."
The
President, in his reply, entered
somewhat largely
into a
but indicated very soon
the drift of his thoughts and the tone of his feelings on the
statement and defence of his views
subject.
;
After affirming his friendship for the colored people,
made and was still willing to make for
them, and saying that, though he had owned slaves, " practithe sacrifices he had
cally, so far
as
my
connection has gone, I have been their
�596
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
slave instead of their being mine," he added
race
my
my
means,
time,
my
all,
IN AMERICA.
:
" For the colored
has been perilled
;
and now,
at this late day, after giving evidence that is tangible, that is
practical, I
am
free to say to
arraigned by some
who can
get
you that I do not like to be
up handsomely rounded peri-
ods and deal in rhetoric, and talk about abstract ideas of
who never
erty,
perilled life, liberty, or property.
lib-
This kind of
amounts to but very
was best to talk about things practically
and in a common-sense way, and that he would be willing to
be the Moses to lead the colored man " from bondage to freedom," he added " Yes, I would be willing to pass with liim
theoretical, hollow, unpractical friendship
Saying
little."
it
:
through the Red Sea to the Land of Promise, to the land of
liberty
but I am not willing to adopt a policy which I l^elieve
;
and the shedding
will only result in the sacrifice of his life
of
his blood."
Further conference, which was quite protracted, revealed
the fact that the good-will of the President and the sacrifices
he was willing to make for the "liberty" of the colored man
involved little more than the assurance and guaranty of that
liberty.
of giving,
He was
him the
unwilling to give, and he doubted the policy
right of suffrage
;
contended that that was a
State matter with which the Federal government had no right
— indeed, that
would be " tyrannical " for it
to make the attempt.
Basing his main argument upon the
alleged " liate " existing between the two races, he propounded
the queiy " Avhether the one should be turned loose upon the
to intermeddle,
other,
it
and both be thrown together
at the ballot-box with the
enmity and hate existing between them.
right there, whether
we
don't
Tlie query
commence a war
also advocated the emigration of the colored
comes up
of races."
He
men, because,
he said, " they can live and advance in civilization to better
advantage elsewhere than crowded right down there in the
South."
It
may
not be either needful or just to question the Presi-
dent's honesty in taking his
new
departure, or in the
conclusions to which he had arrived.
sideration
of
the
subject
the
new
Bringing to the con-
prejudices
of
his
Southern
�MR. JOHNSON'S POLICY.
— INHUMAN
597
LEGISLATION.
birth and life and all his Democratic associations, opposing
much on
slavery, as he admitted in this very interview, not so
account of moral as of prudential and economic considerations,
he very likely saw, or thought he saw, insuperable objections
to the policy of giving the ballot to the black man, or, as he
it, of reducing to immediate practice the abstract
doctrines of " the Declaration of Independence and equality
expressed
before the law."
While cherishing, no doubt, good-will towards
the ex-slave and pity for his forlorn condition, not very unlike
that of any
humane man
it was as an
would not be wise to
equality, a race he would
for a brute in distress,
individual of an inferior race,
admit to terms of social or
— a race
political
rather have somewhere else.
In
it
fine, there
was nothing
in his
regard that would not yield to more potent motives, should
And
For reasons avowed or
unavowed, Mr. Johnson did conclude to leave those who had
honored him by their confidence and suffrages, and to identify
such
exist.
such did exist.
himself with those he had opposed, and most severely, not to
say savagely, condemned.
Whether he trembled
the dangers involved in continued opposition to
in view of
men
shown themselves, of any crime to be
obnoxious enemy, and, as some surmised, feared the
as they had
knife
;
capable,
rid of
an
assassin's
whether, as openly charged by others, ambitious pur-
poses had supervened, and this was a part of his political
strategy to
make himself
his
own
successor
;
or whether the
harsh words and attempted movements of Republican leaders
on account of the sorry exhibition he had made of himself on
the day of his inauguration,
whether or not either or all of
these and others combined had influenced him, the historic
—
fact remains that the President did part
company with the
Republicans, became their most implacable and outspoken foe,
and a
standin'g hindrance in the
way
of their purpose
policy in regard to the
freedmen and the great and
work of reconstruction.
The completeness of
this disseverance
defiant feeling which
difiicult
and the bitter and
and which characterized
the Republican majority, were very ap-
seemed to
his representations of
and
exist,
parent hi several speeches he made during the
summer
of
�598
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
In a reply to a deputation from a convention held in
1866.
month
Philadelphia during the
Congress
"
August, he
of
said,
speaking of
We
have witnessed in one department of the government every endeavor to prevent the restoration of peace,
harmony, and union. "We have seen hanging on the verge of
:
the government, as
it
were, a body called, or which assumes to
Congress of the United States, while, in fact, it is a
Congress of only a part of the States. We have seen this
Congress pretend to be for the Union, when its every step
he, the
tended to perpetuate disunion and make a disruption of the
My
States inevitable
the language of
Thomas
countrymen, we
all
know
that, in
Jefferson, tyranny and despotism can
many than
have seen Congress gradually encroach, step by
be exercised and exerted more effectually by the
the one.
We
upon constitutional rights, and violate, day by day and
month by month, fundamental principles of the government."
step,
A
few days
to the
later, at a public
same charge, he
meeting in Cleveland, returning
said
:
" But Congress, factious and
domineering, has taken to poison the minds of the American
people.
hold
an
It
is
with them a question of power.
office,
as assessor,
retain their places.
collector,
Those who
postmaster, want to
This gang of office-holders, these blood-
suckers and cormorants, have got fat on the country
The time has come when those who have enjoyed fat offices
way for those who had fought for
the country."
In the same speech, alluding to these enfor four years should give
croachments on the Constitution, and saying that he had
"sounded the tocsin of alarm," and that the head and front of
his offending had been " in telling when the Constitution of your
" Let
me say to
who thirst for my blood, who are still willing to sacrifice
human life, if you want a victim, and my country requires it,
country has been trampled upon," he added
:
those
erect your altar
and lay
human freedom
me upon
it
to give the last libation to
my
countrymen, I have been
and they have been whipped and crushed,
and they acknowledge their defeat and accept the terms of
the Constitution and now, as I go around the circle, having
I tell
you,
fighting the South,
;
fought traitors at the South, I
the North."
am
prepared to fight traitors at
�MR. JOHNSON'S POLICY.
— INHUMAN
599
LEGISLATION.
Such was the tone and such were the terms of many
of the
President's utterances, not only at the. capital of the nation,
but while " swinging around the circle," as, borrowing his
language, his memorable presidential tour of the
1866 was termed.
Where
his sympathies
own
summer of
were and wliither
his policy tended, could hardly be misapprehended, had there
been nothing but his words from which to judge. But there
were other criteria and tests. Of them the first to attract
attention
was the
conspirators.
At
revival of the Rebel spirit
first,
among
the cx-
exhausted by the terrible drafts of
a four years' war, cowed by defeat and apprehension of the
deserved punishment of their crimes, they were prepared to
accept any terms their victors might impose.
When, how-
ever, instead of being punished, they were, without lustration
or even confession of wrong-doing, admitted to
of citizenship,
and power, instead
of penalty,
all
the rights
was
at once
placed in their hands, then, still bemoaning instead of renouncing the " lost cause," they were emboldened to hope
that they could regain, by craft and skilful diplomacy in the
political arena,
what had been taken from them by the superior
prowess of the Federal armies on the
field of battle.
Consequently, no sooner were those States thus reconstructed
and the still unrepentant Rebels were clothed again with political power by the President's policy, than they hastened, by
their unfriendly and hostile legislation, to remand the freedmen, as they were called by the mockery of a name, to a condition little better than that from which the war had rescued
them. The story is a long and sad one, and there is hardly a
more disgraceful passage in American history, abounding as
it does in such passages, than that which describes tlie legislation of what were called the " Johnson governments " in
regard to the colored population. Entering in hot haste upon
the work, in less than two months from his elevation to power,
he issued, on tlie 29th of May, a proclamation appointing a provisional governor for North Carolina, and providing for a constitutional convention in that State.
Soon afterward he issued
similar proclamations for the other States, prescribing
who
should participate in such efforts, and dictating, by messages
�GOO
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and telegraphic despatches, to some extent at least, what the
form of their constitutions should be, and what they should conWhile from those thus deputed to frame constitutions
tain.
the colored people were systematically excluded, all that was
required of the ex-Rebels was an oath of allegiance to support
the Constitution they had in vain endeavored to destroy.
did
it
seem
sufficient to
exclude the ex-slaves from
all
Nor
such
Union white men were deemed intruders, and
invested with the right of suffrage, they were
form
though in
so far as possible, by a system of terrorism, prevented from exparticipation.
" They undertook," said one who spoke
from knowledge of what he affirmed, " with systematic violence
ercising that right.
—
from the South law-abiding citizens of the North,
them patriot soldiers, scarred with honorable wounds
the service of the country, who went there in the
in
received
exercise of their inalienable right to live where they please.
With the ferocity of wild beasts they hunted down Union
men who had resisted the pressure of treason, and had hailed
the old flag waving at the head of our advancing armies."
to drive
many
of
But the animus, not
to say diabolism, of this policy
seen in the legislation concerning the colored race.
room
is
better
With no
for even a digest of the black codes that disgraced the
statute-books of those States, samples only can be given, and
these shall be in the words of another, who, as a lawyer, had
examined the subject, and who thus reports, or rather from
whose report these extracts are made
" The Johnson governments constructed an elaborate system
for preventing the colored people from being masters of their
time, and for keeping them constantly under the will and jurisThey made it a criminal offence, an
diction of the planters.
:
—
act of vagrancy, punishable with fine and imprisoimient, for a
freedman to leave his employer before the expiration of a term
Such was the
of service prescribed in a written contract.
legislation of
Alabama, Florida, and
Mississippi.
It
was made
a criminal offence in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi,
and Texas for any person to entice away such laborer, or after
he had left his employer to employ, harbor, feed, or clothe him.
What should we think of a law here, which should send a
�MR. JOHNSON'S POLICY.
— INHUMAN
LEGISLATION.
GOl
farm-laborer, failing to carry out his contract to serve his
employer, a year to the house of correction, and which should
send there also the farmer who employed him after such breach
?
Furthermore, under the same act, every civil
was required and every person authorized by main force
and without legal process to take back such a deserting laborer
to his employer, and was to receive for the service five dollars,
and ten cents a mile for travel.
" In Mississippi a freedman was declared a vagrant for
of contract
officer
'
exercising the function of a minister of the gospel without a
license
from some regularly organized church.'
tended to shut the mouths of negro preachers
This was
who were
indis-
posed to instruct their brethren in the rights and duties of
Another act of the same State declared freedmen
found unlawfully assembling themselves together, either in
freemen.
'
the day or night time,' to be vagrants,
ticularly
same
act
at
— thus
aiming par-
The
Republican meetings and loyal leagues.
declared
white persons usually associating them-
'
selves with freedmen, free negroes, or mulattoes, to be vagrants,'
— thus aiming
their children
families.
'
to enter
owner or
An
at the teachers of freedmen who taught
by day and could not obtain board with white
act of Louisiana
made
it
a criminal offence
upon a plantation without the permission
— thus
of the
aiming at Republican canvassers,
teachers of freedmen, and designing to keep plantation neagent,'
groes in utter ignorance of their rights.
made
any
a criminal offence for a negro to
religious or other public
'
In Florida
it
was
intrude himself into
assembly of white persons, or
into any railroad car or other public vehicle set apart for the
exclusive accommodation of white people,' upon conviction of
which he should be sentenced to stand in the pillory for one
hour, or be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both
'
What think you of that proyou who for curiosity or information are accustomed
"
to frequent public meetings ?
at the discretion of the jury.'
vision,
And tbese are but samples of a long and horrid catalogue of
inhuman and infamous provisions, all designed to both oppress
and repress every rising aspiration of the freedman's new-
�602
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
found manhood, for self-assertion, protection, and improveThus in Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina it
ment.
was made an offence " punishable with pillory and stripes "
to own or keep any bowie-knife, dirk, sword, fire-arms, or
ammunition of any kind without a license. To prevent his
becoming a landowner, and thus gaining confidence and selfrespect, beside forming combinations not to sell liim land,
Mississippi enacted a law denying him " the right to acquire^
and dispose of public property." And this was the " liberty"
the President took especial pains, and with frequent reiterations, to say, in default of the right of suffrage, he would
assure and guarantee to the freedmen ; this the "
Land
of
Promise," to which he was willing and anxious, as their
Moses, to lead them.
�CHAPTER XLIV.
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
— Mr. Colfax. — Momentous problem. — Intrinsic and extrin— Southern attitude. — Implacable
— Mr. Johnson's
position. — Defines his policy. — Forsakes his party. — Executive assumption.
— Meeting of Congress. — General bewilderment. — Fessenden. — Eepresentative opinions. — Stevens's resolution. — In the Senate. — Anthony's amendment and remarks. — "Lincoln-Johnson policy." — Doolittle's speech.
Fessenden's defence of Congress. — Howe's resolution and speech. — Vigorous
debate in the House. — Improved tone. — Indefiniteness of views. — Debate on
referring message. — Stevens, Spaulding, Shellabarger, Bingham. — Freed-
Important epoch.
sic difRculties.
hostility.
•
men.
XXXIXth Congress, on the 4th
December, 1865, marked an era in American history without precedent or parallel and it had been looked forward to
with deep and anxious interest. " It is not unsafe to say,"
The opening
session of the
of
;
on taking his seat as presiding ofhcer of the
House, " that millions more than ever before, North, South,
East, and West, are looking to Congress which opens its
said Mr. Colfax,
session to-day with an earnestness and solicitude unequalled
on similar occasions in the past
The Rebellion having
overthrown constitutional State governments in many States,
it is yours to mature and enact legislation which, with the
concurrence of the executive, shall establish them anew on
such a basis of enduring justice as will guarantee all necessary
safeguards to the people, and afford what our Magna Cliarta,
the Declaration of Independence, proclaims
government,
— protection to men
is
the chief object of
in their inalienable riglits."
But this great work, so briefly stated and clearly outlined
by the Speaker, though so needful and imperative even, was
beset with difficulties both intrinsic and extrinsic, pertaining
�604
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
work itself, and also growing out of the
and untoward circumstances amid which it must be
undertaken and carried forward. These might well appall,
even from a general outlook and superficial examination.
Had they been better understood and more fully comprehended, men might w^ell have shrunk therefrom. Had the
essentially to the
peculiar
conditions been favorable, the difficulties were intrinsic.
there been perfect
harmony
of thought
and
Had
feeling, unity of
purpose and plan, between victor and vanquished, the ex-masters
and the ex-slaves
equalities of
had all past wrongs and former incondition been forgotten could there have been
;
;
buried in the graves that covered the victims of the fight
all
the animosities and conflicts of opinion and interest which led
to and accompanied
it
;
could a conversion as radical and com-
plete as that of Saul of Tarsus have regenerated every survi-
imbuing him with a love as all-embracing, an enthusiasm
as fervid, and a heroism as grand,
still the work of reconstruction would have been beset with difficulties that no
change of heart or unity of purpose could at once remove
or overcome. For many of the sins of slavery were unparvor,
—
donable sins, for which there could be no atonement.
No
regrets or repentance for past neglects and wrong-doing would
restore its wasted fields, or neutralize the poison of its enforced
and unrequited
Nor could they undo and
toil.
eradicate the
mischief inflicted upon the character and habits of
life
that
formed or grew up under the influence and necessary
conditions of slaveholding.
If there w^ere no Nemesis to visit
"w^ere
vengeance for these years and generations of flagrant wrong
inflicted by the strong upon the weak, if there were no Divine
were not true that " every drop
of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn
by the sword," still it is impossil)le to conceive of constructing
justice to be satisfied,
and
society on a basis of
democratic equality, at least without
many drawbacks and
it
hindrances, from materials formed under
what would be desirable,
where one half of the population owned the other half and
deemed it tlie pariah race, where labor was despised as fit
only to be performed by slaves, and where one half of the
conditions exactly the reverse of
�605
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
commimity
-was
doomed by law
With-
to enforced ignorance.
out a miracle, therefore, such materials could not at once be-
come homogeneous, nor
at once
comprehend and enter upon
the discharge of the proper functions of a free form of society.
For a while,
and the kindest
Of both
the moral and material portions of what were once slaveholding communities, time must have been an essential element
in any policy that would reconstruct them on an enduring
basis, and make them free in fact as well as in form.
No
Congressional wisdom less than inspired, even if such wisdom
were possible, could have known exactly what was required,
what was and what was not to be done in the premises. Nothat least, with the best intentions
feelings, such
must have been
their strange work.
ing short of omniscience could have pointed out the only true
Way,
if
work
to be done,
anything less than a miracle could have effected the
healing.
and afforded the remedies demanded for such
Reasoning from general principles would have sug-
gested as
much
;
actual experience has demonstrated
it.
But, instead of this harmony of feeling and opinion, this
unity of purpose and plan, this hearty co-operation and accept-
ance of proffered aid to retrieve their fallen fortunes and repair the ruins their treason
has been true.
had provoked, the exact reverse
The vanquished had accepted
defeat simply
because in the unequal conflict they could no longer cope with
the armies of the Union.
They had been beaten, but not
reconciled
;
subjected, but not subdued.
They only bowed
to
the inevitable, refused to be placated, repelled with bitter scorn
all
overtures towards reconciliation, and treated with indignity
and contumely any of their own number wlio counselled it.
Jrhey still bemoaned the "lost cause," and seemed to look
forward with a kind of sullen hope to a time when it should
be vindicated, and they could regain by political finesse and
management what they had
lost
on the
field of battle
and by
the adverse fortunes of war.
In this purpose they had been greatly strengthened by the
In his first annual message, sent to
policy of Mr. Johnson.
the Congress tlien assembling, he had defined and defended
his policy.
Alluding to his sudden call " to solve the momen-
�606
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
tous questions and overcome the appalling difficulties " of the
situation, he gave his reasons for discarding the idea of military rule over States as " conquered territory," and for regard-
ing the States lately in rebellion as being still in the Union.
Saying that " States cannot commit treason," he added that
in attempting to secede they had " placed themselves in a condition
—
where their
vitality
was impaired, but not extinguished,
"On
their functions suspended, but not destroyed."
principle," he said, " I have acted,
quietly,
this
and have gradually and
and by almost imperceptible
steps, sought to restore
the rightful energy of the general government and of the
States.
To
that
end provisional governors have been ap-
pointed for the States, conventions called, governors elected,
legislatures
and
assembled,
Senators
and
Representatives
At
chosen to the Congress of the United States.
the same
time the courts of the United States, as far as could be done,
have been opened."
He
tended with some risk "
;
admitted that
but, he said, "
it
was a
it is
policy " at-
a risk that
must
the smallest risk."
" To secure the acquiescence of the States," and " to diminish,
and, if possible, remove all danger," he added, " I have felt it
be taken
;
in the choice of difficulties,
it is
incumbent upon me to assert one other power of the general
government,
the power of pardon." In a speech at St. Louis
he subsequently thus referred to this part of his policy " I
know it has been said that I have exercised my pardoning
powers. Yes, I have. Yes, I have and don't you think it
I reckon I have pardoned more men, turned
is to prevail ?
more men loose, and set them at liberty that were imprisoned,
I imagine, than any other living man on God's habitable globe.
.... If I have erred, I have erred on the side of mercy.
Some of tlicse croakers have dared to assume they are better
—
:
;
than was the Saviour of
men
eous better-than-anybody-else
himself,
;
Deity's work, thinking he cannot do
Yes, the Saviour of
race
— a kind
of over-right-
and as though wanting
men came on
it
to
do
as well as they can.
human
when they
earth and found the
condemned and sentenced under the law
;
but
repented and believed, he said. Let them live."
Of the freedmen he spoke
at length.
Denying the
right of
�607
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
the general government " to extend the right of franchise in
the several States," he admitted that good faith required " tlie
security of the freedmen in their liberty
their right to labor,
and their right
and
their property,
to claim the just return
of their labor."
Though sincere philanthropy was, he said,
" earnest for the immediate realization of its remotest aims,"
Jie counselled against being " too anxious to read the future."
"
The
career of free industry," he added, "
must be opened
unto them, and then their future prosperity and condition
must, after all, rest mainly on themselves " a statement the
;
hardihood and brazen effrontery of which well appears in the
light of the prescriptive legislation against the
freedmen
re-
ferred to in the preceding chapter.
By
company from
and purthose who had
poses he had at the outset of his administration avowed and
Instead of
enunciated with great positiveness and vigor.
making " treason odious," he had struck hands with traitors,
had adopted a policy by which the Rebel States had passed, or
were passing, into the control of men who had engaged in the
Rebellion, and who regretted nothing but the losses and the
failure of their cause
by wliich the few remaining Union
men were ostracized, if not disfranchised; and by which, too,
this course the President not only parted
elected him, but he ignored principles
;
the freedmen were to remain in a condition
from that
of slavery itself.
little
Though demanding
improved
for the latter
security " in their liberty, their property, and their right to
claim the just return of their labor," he
knew
that the
men
he was restoring to power were pursuing a course that must
render such results impossible that they had enacted, and
;
were enacting, laws which perpetuated their
disabilities
and
made them serfs if not slaves. Instead of referring these
" momentous questions " and " appalling difficulties," of which
he did not seem to be unmindful, to Congress, whose power
was alone adequate to their adjustment, he assumed the prerogative of decision, independent of
all
counsel or check from
either the legislative or judicial branch of
the government.
Thus the question of reconstruction, in itself so delicate and
difficult, was greatly complicated by what the great bulk of
�608
AKD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
the Republican party regarded the premature and unauthorized,
the unwise and unsafe, action of the President
;
and they were
indignant and alarmed.
" For two years," said Mr. Stevens, " they have been in
a state of anarchy
;
two years the loyal people
for
ten States have endured
all
of those
the horrors of the worst anarchy
Persecution, exile, murder, have been the
any country.
order of the day within all these Territories so far as loyal
men were concerned, whether white or black, and more esWe have seen the best
pecially if they happen to be black.
men, those who stood by the flag of the Union, driven from
their homes and compelled to live on the cold charity of a
cold North.
We have seen their loyal men flitting about
everywhere, through your cities, around your doors, melancholy, depressed, haggard, like the ghosts of the unburied
dead on this side of the river Styx, and yet we have borne
of
with exemplary patience."
spoke of the " old Rebellion "
it
Mr. Brandegee of Connecticut
still
domiiiating in those States,
clothing treason with the ermine of the bench, filling their
legislative halls, desecrating their pulpits, hissing curses against
the
Union " from the
sibilant tongues of their
women and
the
prattling lisp of their babes," and hunting " to their death that
noble army of martyrs, the Union men of the South." " It
no longer creeps upon the ground," he said, " as in the hundred days which followed Sherman's marvellous march to the
sea, or the awful thundering of Grant's cannon in front of
Richmond but it stands erect, defiant, and audacious, demanding as a right to accomplish by legislation what it failed
and, countenanced by a weak, if not
to achieve by the sword
a wicked Executive, and sustained by its copper supports at
the North, it erects its brazen brow to the sunlight at the
;
;
doors of the Capitol."
" Sir," said Mr. Wilson, " the great
charge that the country has made against the President of the
United States, the great wrong that he has done the country,
is, that when we had conquered the rebellion, when, by his
own
confession, there
the Rebels were
without
civil
all
was no authority
out of power,
in these States,
when
when
these States were
governments, when they were completely under
�CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
609
the gOTernment of the nation, he, without consulting Congress
and without the authority
hy
of law,
his
own
will put these
ten States into the hands of the traitors."
Such was the posture of
and such the temper
affairs,
large majority of both houses of Congress,
when
it
There was,
for its first session after the close of hostilities.
there could be, no settled line of policy on which
Probably no two saw exactly alike
and
of the
assembled
all
agreed.
was not
one who felt so confident in his own individual judgment that,
had it been granted him, he would have accepted the responsibility of definite and final decision.
Everything was chaotic
and inchoate and the best the wisest could propose was tentative, if not confessedly empirical.
Prol)ably no body of men
ever felt greater need of counsel and conference. And there
were good reasons for all this hesitation and these misgivings.
Could they have looked into the future and foreseen the history of what has since transpired, their hesitation would not
have been less, but greater. The general feeling was probably
well expressed by the remarks of Mr. Fessendcn of Maine, in
the Senate, the second week of the session, on the resolution
;
perhajis there
;
to appoint a joint committee of both houses, to which should
be referred the general subject of reconstruction and everything relating thereto. " This question," he said, " of readmission,
if
so called,
you please to call it so, of these Confederate States,
and all the questions connected with that subject,
I conceive to be
of infinite
serious consideration,
and
importance, requiring calm and
I believe that the
appointment
of a
committee, carefully selected by the two houses, to take that
subject into consideration,
is
not only wise in
itself,
but an
imperative duty resting upon the representatives of the people
in the
two branches of Congress.
For myself,
I
am
not pre-
pared to act upon that question at once."
While, however, there was this general confusion of thought
and plan on the
specific point at issue, there
were classes and
shades of opinion and their representatives, which colored and
many on the great question.
There were the earnest and pronounced antislavery men who,
jubilant over the great fact of emancipation, determined that
foreshadowed the positions of
VOL.
III.
39
�610
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
by no neglect
firmed in the
of theirs should the
IN AMERICA.
freedmen
fail of
being con-
possession of that wonderful deliverance that
full
had been so unexjDectedly and providentially vouchsafed them.
At the other extreme were those who, though loyal to tlie
Union, still believed in slavery, bemoaned the necessity
which,
however, they questioned
—
— that coupled the destruction
one with the salvation of the other, and opposed
of the
all legislation
designed for the protection, improvement, and elevation of those
thus made free.
Between these extremes there were a few in
entertained more moderate views, and Avho
advocated what they regarded a more conservative policy.
Nor was there long delay. On the very first day of the
session Thaddcus Stevens introduced a resolution providing
that " a joint committee of fifteen members shall be appointed,
nine of whom shall be members of the House, and six memboth parties
who
who
bers of the Senate,
shall inquire into the condition of
the States which formed the so-called Confederate States of
America, and report whether they, or any of them, are entitled
to be represented in either house of Congress, with leave to
report at any time by
and until such report
shall have been made, and finally acted upon by Congress, no
member shall be received into either house from any of the
bill
or otherwise
said so-called Confederate States
;
;
and
all
the representation of the said States shall
said committee without debate."
but
little
opposition,
excited but
The
papers relating to
lie
referred to the
resolution encountered
trifling
debate,
and was
adopted by a vote of one hundred and thirty-three to thirty-six.
In the Senate
it
met with more opposition, and there were
and amend. Mr. Anthony moved to
several motions to modify
strike out that part
which forbade the reception of any mem-
ber of Congress from either of those States until the proposed
committee should report.
to be
stricken
The
part of the resolution proposed
out by Mr. Anthony's
amendment contem-
was understood, what was regarded the President's
policy and the non-reception of those chosen as members of
Congress under its provisions, until the latter, through the proposed committee, should act upon the subject. In the debate
which arose upon it Mr. Howard of Michigan opposed it beplated,
it
�CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
cause he thought
it
them the assurance
" due to the country that
that
we
611
we
should give
will not thus hastily
readmit to
seats in the legislative bodies here, the rei)resentativcs of constituencies
States."
who
are
still
Mr. Anthony,
hostile to the authority of the
United
in reply, alluded to the fact that
the
" words proposed to be stricken out referred to the joint committee of the two houses matters which the Constitution con-
and that the two houses
same provisions. Mr. DooWisconsin, who stood forth as the champion of what
fided to each honse separately "
could,
if
little of
;
so disposed, each pass the
he called the " Lincoln-Johnson policy," contended that " all
questions concerning reconstruction and the restoration of
civil government to the Southern States ought to be referred
to the
Committee on the Judiciary."
He
contended that the
Senate could not without a sacrifice of
its
respect remit to a joint committee what
it
outside interference should decide for
dignity and self-
alone and without
itself.
He
and that
took, too,
he
Of the
actual status of the Rebel States, he maintained they were still
in the Union, and used the illustration, often repeated in the
subsequent debates on reconstruction, of the flag and its " thirty" That they are States," he said, " and States
six stars."
still within the Union, notwithstanding their civil form of
government has been overturned by the Rebellion and their
legislatures have been disorganized,
that they are still States
in this Union is the most sacred truth, and the dearest truth,
to every American heart, and it will be maintained 1)y the
American people against all opposition, come from what quarSir, the flag that now floats on the top of this
ter it may.
capitol bears thirty-six stars.
Every star represents a State
I ask the Senator from Michigan, Does that
in this Union.
this early occasion to define his position
represented,
who supported
of those
the President's policy.
—
flag, as it floats there,
speak the nation's
trutli
to our peo-
and to the world, or is it a hypocritical, flaunting "lie ?
That flag has been borne at the head of our conquering legions
through the whole South, planted at Yicksburg, planted at
Columbia, Savannah, Charleston, Sumter the same old flag,
which came down before the Rebellion at Sumter, was raised
ple
;
�G12
rJSE
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
up again, and
bore the same glorious stars
still
;
'
not a star
obscured,' not one."
Mr. Fessenden contended for the appointment of the committee, not only because of the need of counsel
and conference,
but 1)ecause of the responsibility resting upon Congress to
have a voice in the decision of the momentous question.
He
scouted with a good deal of acerbity of speech the idea that
Congress was bound by any committal of the President to a
particular line of policy.
Sir," he said, "
we
" Talk about the administration
are a part of the administration, and a very
I have no idea of abandoning the preand the duties of my position in favor of
anybody, however that person or any number of persons may
desire it."
He thought, however, that the resolution went too
far, and he was in favor of Mr. Anthony's amendment, which
important part of
it.
rogatives, the rights,
was agreed
and the resolution, after further discussion, but
without other amendment, was adopted by a vote of thirtythree to eleven.
The House concurred in the Senate amendment, and the committee was appointed, consisting of Fessenden, Howard, Grimes, Harris, Williams, and Johnson on the
to,
of Stevens, Washburne, Morrill, Grider,
Bingham, Conkling, Boutwell, Blow, and Rogers on the part
of the House.
The next day the House adopted the principle
and provision which had been stricken out by Mr. Anthony's
amendment.
part of the Senate
On
;
the 10th of January, 1866, Mr.
Howe
introduced into
the Senate a joint resolution, which, after setting forth
facts of the Rebellion in the several States,
which
it
tlie
named,
and asserting that military tribunals are not suited to the
exercise of civil authority, provided that local governments
ought to be provisionally organized forthwith for the people in
each of the districts named.
His speech on presenting it
was both eloquent and
unicpie, pointed
and piquant, setting
forth with characteristic force and phrase the glaring inconsistency of the nation between its past pretensions and prac-
Beginning with the apostle's affirmation that God " had
made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of
tice.
the earth," the words of the Declaration of Independence that
�613
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
"
all
men
are created equal," witli certain " inalienable rights,"
and the assertion
of the Constitution that all laws
made
in
pursuance thereof should be " the supreme law of the land,"
" anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding," he declared his conviction that " there
are scarcely three theses in the whole field of discussion more
flatly denied practically than these three," and his " judg-
ment " was, he
said, that it
adopted the Constitution."
every consideration, of
and
of local
interest.
was " time the American people
His conclusion was " that upon
national
honor, of
national safety,
Congress ought not yet to restore the
suspended functions of those rebelling States."
The
resolu-
was made the subject of a brief and earnest debate, but
Mr. Doolittle in a long and elaliorate
never came to a vote.
argument defended the policy of the President Mr. Nesmith
opposed negro suffrage and contended that this is " a white
man's government " and Mr. Wade made one of his bold and
stirring speeches, inveighing against the meanness and peril of
ignoring the rights and claims of the four million freedmen
tion
;
;
who had
Union
for the
so effectively aided in gaining the triumph of the
cause, and expressing " a contempt I cannot
man
"
who
name
will contend for rights for himself that
he
award to everybody else."
While the debate was progressing in the Senate, substantially the same was proceeding in the House, mainly, though
not exclusively, on a motion of Mr. Stevens to refer so much
of the President's message as related to reconstruction to the
The debate, though earnest and
joint Committee of Fifteen.
will not
protracted, eloquent and impassioned, as, with such debaters,
such a theme, and such surroundings,
it
could not well be other-
was very miscellaneous, not to say rambling and inconclusive.
Northern members, indeed, showed evidences of the
tonic effect of the great events through which the nation had
passed, and spoke with refreshing independence and without
that chronic timidity and fear of Southern offence and dictawise,
had so long been a humiliating embarrassment.
of war had indeed purified the atmosphere, and
dispersed the haze of compromise, so that they could see more
tion which
The storms
�614
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
clearly the great principles of political integrity
They
national policy.
could, indeed, see
more
and
of true
clearly,
but
though clarified, could not pierce the darkness of
the future, nor fully comprehend the exact relations of the
facts that were lying, or passing in review, before them. They
Nor
could not comprehend the dynamics of reconstruction.
tlicir vision,
wonder for no mind, less than infinite, could have
cither enumerated or weighed the forces that had entered and
were entering into, and were producing the violent movements
that must be arrested, the chaos that must be reduced to order,
the disintegrated materials which must be again combined,
and from which the new States must be constructed. No
wonder they did not see eye to eye. Men who had enunciis
there
;
ated with great confidence their abstract theories, constructed
ideal repul)lics for ideal
that confidence
that confronted
practice,
—
if
men, not there or then
existing, lost
they did not shrink abashed from the work
them
of reducing their theories to
to be at once tested
by actual
immediate
Those, too,
trial.
made mistakes, while
some truths the former
sometimes proposed plans and ventured upon predictions which
time and trial did not vindicate, and the latter made some suggestions it would have been better to have heeded, and sounded
some warnings that were not without reason.
who were
nearest right, unquestionably
those farthest therefrom uttered
;
Mr. Stevens in his opening speech, after saying that it
" mattered little whether the Rebel States were out of the
Union
or only dead States in the Union," thus disposed of
the controversy between the President and the Republican
})arty.
"•
istence as
Dead
it
wliom does
States," he said, cannot restore their
"
was.
tlie
Whose
especial duty is
government, for
not prescril)e laws.
Not
it
do
own
it ?
ex-
In
Not in the
only adjudicates and does
Constitution place the power
judicial l)ranch of
to
it
?
in the executive, for he only executes
and cannot make laws. Not in the commander-in-chief of the
army, for he can only hold them under military rule until the
sovereign legislative power of the conqueror shall give them
He pronounced the doctrine of tlie white man's governlaw."
ment "
as atrocious as that infamous sentiment that
damned
�CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
615
the late Chief Justice to everlasting fame, and, he feared, to
men
Mr. Spaulding of Ohio spoke of the
everlasting fire."
who had
tried to
overthrow the government, and who now,
" with no signs of regret for their gigantic treason,"
unl:>lush-
ingiy claimed full participation in the councils of the Republic
;
and he demanded conditions before they should be
ceived.
—
With such
re-
guaranties, he said, " I will try to forgive
—
can never forget
the injuries received by my country
from Traitors." Mr. Shellabarger elaborated the thought,
I
speaking of the enormity of the treason, and of the remorseless cruelty
defenders.
murder
and extent of its assault on the nation and on its
" They framed iniquity," he said, " and universal
They
into law.
besieged, for years, your capital,
and
sent your bleeding armies, in rout, back here upon the very
sanctuaries of your national power.
Their pirates burned
your unarmed commerce upon every sea. They carved the
bones of your unburied heroes into ornaments, and drank
from goblets made out of their skulls. They poisoned your
fountains put mines under your suldiers' prisons organized
bands whose leaders were concealed in your homes, and whose
commissions ordered the torch and yellow fever to be carried
to your cities and to your women and children. They planned
one universal bonfire of the North from Lake Ontario to the
Missouri. They murdered by systems of starvation and exposure sixty thousand of your sons, as brave and heroic as ever
;
;
martyrs were."
a
fitting close,
And
and
he added, " To give the infernal drama
to concentrate into one crime all that is
criminal in crime, they killed the President."
And
yet,
with
diabolism of cruelty and crime, if they would base
their State governments " on the sincere loyalty of the peoall this
would receive them again into the Union they had
done so much to destroy,
without it, never. Mr. Bingham,
of the same State, spoke in behalf of that " exact justice to all
men," which, he said, it was the spirit and intent of the Constitution to secure, but which had never been done in the past
either for white or black men.
This, he said, must be remedied.
There could be no indemnity for the past, but there
might be security for the future and that he demanded as a
ple," he
—
;
�616
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
condition precedent of their return to the
Union they had
so wickedly and causelessly abandoned.
While almost every form and phase
of the Rebellion
and war
passed in review, the causelcssness of the one and the atrocities of the other,
with their fearful cost of blood and treasure,
and sorrow
suffering
;
while almost every conceivable theory
was broached of the status of the States which had rebelled,
and of what was necessary to restore relations they had so
fatally and foully broken, the great stress of the debate was
laid upon the necessities of the freedmen, and the nation's
obligation to protect them.
Their grand record, their un-
shaken loyalty to the government, and priceless service in and
to the armies of the Republic, were placed in striking contrast
with the meanness and crowning shame of leaving them un-
who hated them for that
and who would, unless prevented by the protecting
arm of the Federal government, wreak upon them that vengeance they had vainly sought to inflict upon the country.
protected, the victims of enemies
loyalty,
On
the Gth of Feljruary, 1867, Mr. Stevens reported to the
House a
bill for
legal State
erty
lina,
now
the better government of the States lately in
Setting forth in
rebellion.
its
preaml)lc that " whereas no
governments or adequate protection for
exists in the Rebel States of Virginia,
life
or prop-
North Caro-
South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alal)ama, Lousiana,
it was necessary that
"
until loyal and repubgood order should be preserved there,
Florida, Texas, and Arkansas," and, as
lican
governments can be legally established," it divided them
government of which the
into five military districts, for the
general of the army should assign an officer of the army not
below the grade of brigadier-general, who should govern them
by civil tribunals, whenever in his judgment military com-
missions were not most appropriate.
It presented in detail
various provisions for such government.
way
Among them was
for the formation of State governments
a
by the conven-
tion of delegates " elected by the male citizens of said State,
twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or
previous condition."
It also provided,
formed by such convention
shall
when
the constitution
have been approved by Con-
�617
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
gress,
and accepted by the people, only such voting as were
not excluded by the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, that such State should be " entitled to representation in Congress."
ted " any
that until thus admit-
It affirmed, too,
governments which may exist therein shall be
deemed provisional only, and in all respects subject to the
paramount authority of the United States, at any time to
civil
same."
abolish, modify, control, or supersede the
The
professedly incomplete as a piece of legislation
bill,
adopted for a particular purpose, was chiefly significant for
that purpose, clearly apparent in
its
not the avowals or explanations of
phraseology, and needing
its friends.
was noth-
It
ing less than an entire reversal of the President's policy, ignoring the local State
governments formed thereby, rescuing
those States from the Rebel grasp which had been permitted
to seize
them
again,
who had been
nation.
It
and restoring them
to the
hands
of those
struggling to defend rather than destroy the
became the signal
of
an able and earnest debate,
not very unlike previous debates, except, perhaps, in the great
on the Republican side, shown in amendments and
speeches, as to the best and safest methods of reaching an
end on which they were all agreed. The Democrats could find
no terms strong enough to express their disapproval. Mr,
McDougall pronounced it " black as night, and hideous as
black " while Mr, Saulsbury found comfort in the fact that it
diversity
;
would
kill
he said, "
my
the Republican party.
I
country,
"
The passage
of this act,"
regard as the death-knell to the worst enemy of
and that
is
the
Republican party."
Having
passed the House by a vote of one hundred and nine to
five, it
was taken up in the Senate, and, on
Sunday morning,
ruary, 1867, at 6 o'clock,
by the strong vote
it
tlie
fifty-
ITth of Feb-
passed that body
of twenty-seven to four, witli
an amend-
ment.
Having been returned
animated debate.
to the
House,
it
gave rise to another
Many amendments were
offered and dewhen, with the adoption of one, it passed both houses
on the 20th, and was sent to the President. On the 2d of
bated
;
March Mr. Johnson sent
in a veto.
It
was a long,
elaborate,
�G18
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and acrid paper, in which he inveighed against the unconstiand the partisanship of the measure, and also the
tutionality
hardship of keeping ten States unrepresented in Congress.
In closing, he warned that body " to pause in the course of
legislation which, looking solely to the attainment of political
ends, fails to consider the rights
it
violates, or the institutions
it
transgresses, the law which
which
Congress,
imperils."
it
however, notwithstanding the executive warning, immediately,
—
the House by
on the same day, passed the bill over the veto,
a vote of one hundred and thirty-five to forty-eight, and the
Senate by a vote of thirty-eight to ten and thus one of the
first measures of what was called Congressional Reconstruction
became the law of the land.
;
In the absence of the needful space for even a brief sketch
two from the debate in each
and gist of this important measure.
In the Senate Mr. Sherman said " Now, in
regard to the fifth section, which is the main and material
of the discussion, a quotation or
may
house
give
some
idea of the scope
:
feature of this
bill,
I think
United States, before
way by which
its
it is
right that the Congress of the
adjournment, should designate some
the Southern States
may
reorganize loyal State
governments in harmony with the Constitution and laws of
the United States and the sentiments of the people, and find
My own
their
way back
fifth
section will point out a clear, easy,
judgment is that that
and right way for
these States to be restored to their full power in the government. All that it demands of the Southern States is to extend to all their male citizens, without distinction of race or
to these halls.
" This
l)ill," said Mr. Garfield
House, " starts out by laying its hands on the Rebel governments and taking the very breath of life out of them. In
the next place it puts the bayonet at the breast of every Rebel
color, the elective franchise."
in the
in the South.
In the next place
it
leaves in the
hand
of
Con-
work of reconstruction."
was confessedly incomplete, a supplemental
reconstruction act, of nine sections, much longer and more
in detail, carrying out more minutely the provisions of the
former, was immediately introduced, passed, sent to the Presigress utterly and absolutely the
But, as the
bill
�619
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
dent, vetoed, then passed over the veto, and became a law on
the 23d of March, 1867.
to the great
anxious
imperfect and not fully adequate
Still
work and purpose
tliat it
made
should be
to be effected, its friends
were
as complete as possible.
The
purpose was clearly enough defined, the object sought well
understood, but the methods in detail, the machinery for
its
accomplishment, had not been provided, the processes by which
such a result could be effected had not been marked out.
That must be attended
of the
drawn up
Accordingly, upon the assembling
to.
XLth Congress
in March, at its first session, a
substantially by Chief Justice Chase,
bill,
was introduced
into the Senate on the 7th by Mr. Wilson, supplementary to
the above-mentioned act.
It
commanding
provided that the
mentioned in that act
should order a registration in his district of all the male citizens
therein who were qualified to vote by said act, and who should
general of each of the five
districts
take the oath of fealty prescribed
;
that within thirty days after
such registration he should order an election of delegates, by
those thus registered, to a convention for amending the exist-
ing or framing a
new
constitution, with all needful ordinances
for putting the constitution
and government into operation
;
making the registration,
and making returns that
that he should appoint officers for
holding the election, counting votes,
;
he should convene the delegates thus chosen, and submit the
constitution it might have amended or framed anew, to be
ratified or rejected
by the same registered voters
should transmit the constitution,
dent for Congress
adjudge
tliat
;
if
;
and that he
thus ratified, to the Presi-
and any such
State,
if
Congress should
the provisions of said act have been complied
with, should be admitted into the
Union
in the persons of the
Senators and Representatives chosen therefrom.
It
was
also
provided that the acting governor of any State, by taking the
proper oath, might discharge these duties of the commanding
general, with the consent of the latter.
On
the same day Mr. Kelley of Pennsylvania introduced
into the
House a
resolution instructing the
Judiciary to report a
bill
declaring
Committee on the
who should
tions for the reorganization of the Rebel States,
call
conven-
and providing
�620
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
On
for the registration of voters for such a purpose.
Mr.
AA'ilson of
the 11th
Iowa, chairman of the committee, reported a
bill
somewhat modified, as that
substantially the same, though
introduced into the Senate on the 7th.
While Republican speeches and amendments, especially in
the Senate, were noticeable for their kindly temper and the
absence of everything like vengeful and retaliatory feeling and
purpose, the former at least were not without spirit and some
any course that
should render possible renewal or repetition of what had cost
the nation so dearly.
No claim was urged for indemnity for
sharpness of
language in deprecation of
The
the past, but security for the future was insisted on.
The dead could not be
former was impossible.
restored
;
nor
could the billions of treasure sunk ever be repaid by the beg-
gared and poverty-stricken South.
hoped, could be provided for
;
wiiile
But the
not to do
inexcusable remissness, an unpardonable
was
little
manded
diversity of sentiment
;
sin.
latter,
it
it
was
would be an
On
this there
but on the specific policy de-
was almost hopeless. It was felt that
but when or how ? Like belated travellers on the prairie amid a blinding storm of winter, or like
men lost at night in some trackless forest, to stand still was
full of danger, to go forward was hardly less perilous.
The
that diversity
they must go forward
;
questions at issue were
:
Who
shall participate in, or
be excluded from, the work of reconstruction
?
who
shall
Shall only the
no matter how small the proportion, be thus invited ?
allowed to join in the work, who shall they be,
and what safeguards shall be insisted on.? If only a minority
loyal,
If others are
will take the prescribed oath of fealty, shall they be allowed
to constitute the State
and construct a government that could
be maintained only by Federal force
?
Or,
if
such a policy be
comport with the national dignity, or what was
due to the loyal men of those States, to ask traitors, even indi-
rejected, did
it
what should be the policy of the government in regard
who had remained true, and had been faithful among the faithless found ?
These qaestions and questions like them tested severely the wisdom, as they divided
somewhat the counsels, of men who were in full accord as to
rectly,
to those citizens
�CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
the
This divergence of sentiment
result to be aimed at.
filial
was more manifest
the
in
621
amendments
offered than in the
speeches made.
Details of the legislation attempted and perfected cannot he
Nor
given.
are they needful, for they would confuse rather than
Two
or three extracts will throw greater light and
more clearly tlie nature of the struggle. Among the
amendments offered was one by Mr. Bingham, that only a mainstruct.
reveal
jority of the votes given instead of votes registered should be
required.
One
of the motives for such
an amendment was a
to rehabilitate those States as soon as possi-
desire,
if possil)le,
ble, in
order that they might, by their Senators and Represent-
atives, strengthen the
Mr. Morton avowed
of action.
my
"
The
Union, or Republican, party in Congress.
this as a motive,
success of the
and an important motive
Union party," he
said, " in
opinion, depends on speedy and successful reconstruction,"
and he added
:
" This
is
simply a question whether the stay-
at-homes, political sluggards, sullen rebels,
men who
never
take any interest in an election and never go to an election,
can defeat the work of reconstruction, defeat the
majority,
who do go
Avill
of the
an election and take an interest in
to
re-
construction and want the work to go forward."
On
the other hand, there were Republicans who, though
anxious for the continued ascendency of the party, could not
close their eyes to the danger
and the undemocratic principle
of clothing a small minority with the prerogatives of govern-
Mr. Howard pronounced such governments " farcical,"
and predicted that they must be " ephemeral," because estab-
ment.
lished in defiance of the principle that the majority
"
If these people," said
must
rule.
Mr. Sherman, " are going to lay back
in their position of quiet rebellion
and
resist all the
movements
we are now providing for them, all this machinery that we are
now proposing to employ for their advantage, let tliem stay
and stay there forever if they will." '' In this hurry,"
said ]\Ir. Xye of Nevada, with too much truth, '• this avalanche
of coming States, I tell you, in my judgment, lies the greatest
danger of the hour. If we are to take poison, let us take it
there,
ill
small doses, a
little at
a time
;
do not give us a fatal dose at
�622
RISE
once.
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
These eleven rebellious
IN AMERICA.
States, coming, as the
wind
comes, into these halls of Congress, will shake the foundation
upon which the Senate stands, even
Sumner expressed
in Massachusetts."
Mr.
his regret at the military " initiative " of
"For a military occupation," he said,
the proposed measure.
" bristling with bayonets, I would substitute the smile of
peace.
But
this
cannot be done without education.
As
the
must be supplied by the schoolThe muster roll must be exchanged for the school
master.
register, and our headquarters must be in a school-house."
The bill, however, passed both houses, was vetoed by the
President, but carried again by triumphant majorities, and became another part of the "machinery" for carrying forward
the great work of reconstruction.
But the growing antagonism between President Johnson
and the party that elected him, his unconcealed sympathy
with and deference to the sentiments and wishes of the
Democrats of the North and the ex-Rebels of the South, his
clear determination to use his accidental power to its fullest
extent for the furtherance of their perilous purposes and plans,
had convinced the Republican leaders that it would not be
safe to leave him without legislative check during the eight
months intervening between tlie adjournment of Congress on
the 30th of March and the usual time of assemlding in the
winter.
Accordingly, instead of adjourning to the first Monday of December, the two houses voted to take a recess until
the 3d of July, at the same time authorizing their presiding
officers to adjourn them to December if a quorum should not
soldier disappears, his place
be present on the first-mentioned day.
The construction put upon
the acts of
March 2 and
23,
1867, by Attorney-General Stansbury, strengthened their sus-
and induced them, instead
two bodies without quorums as agreed upon if
Tliis agreement
to assemble on the 3d of July.
picions, increased their misgivings,
of leaving the
deemed
safe,
rendered the fact that quorums were present in both liouses
and feelings, or rather fears,
which prevailed among the leading minds of the party and the
That they were present in sucli numbers at midsumnation.
especially significant of the views
�CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
623
mer
revealed the solicitude they felt, and their determination
meet the responsibilities forced upon them by the exigencies
and possibilities of the occasion.
As that unusual meeting of Congress was well understood,
if not designed, to be an undisguised and emphatic expression,
not only of distrust of the President and of his policy, but of
a determination to forestall and checkmate, if possible, any
movements inspired by that policy, so its proceedings were in
like manner unequivocal and pronounced.
This was especially
manifested by several bills which were at once introduced into
Thus on the very day of its first meeting, Mr.
the Senate.
Wilson introduced a bill, supplementary to the acts of March
2 and 23 and designed to render them more immediately
to
effective.
It
provided that
all offices
of the provisional gov-
ernments of the Rebel States should be vacated within thirty
days
;
that the
empowered
commanding
to continue
generals of the districts should be
any persons holding such
appoint others in their stead
work
;
offices or to
that they should be authorized
examine those
any who might be seeking
to evade the law, and to erase those of any who might liave
been fraudulently entered. Several other bills were introduced
to so control the
seeking
it,
to refuse the
of registration as to
names
of
into that body.
In the House, likewise, on the
first
day, the subject was
introduced by Mr. Stevens, by a motion that a committee of
nine sliould be appointed to inquire whether further legislation
The motion prevailed and the committee was
mover being made its chairman. On the 8th
Mr. Stevens reported a bill supplemental to the acts of March
2 and 23, setting forth their true intent and meaning, providing that no district commander should be relieved without
the advice and consent of the Senate, and extending the time
for registration.
The bill was debated, amended, vetoed,
and finally passed by the strong vote, in the House, of one
hundred and eight to twenty-five, and in the Senate at thirty
was necessary.
appointed, the
to six.
The
original plan for the closing chapters of this history
embraced proposed sketches of the separate procedures that
�624
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
resulted in the readmission of the several seceded States into
Neither the remaining space, however, nor, per-
the Union.
haps, the historic importance of such details, will justify or
repay their
recital.
The records
From one
can be substantially learned.
which resulted in the restora-
all
of the proceedings
tion of Tennessee, the first to be readmitted, will indicate suf-
and principles involved in the return and
ficiently the process
reception of
Besides, there has been so
all.
that
little
factory in the history and condition of affairs in those
wealths, so
many
still
remain unrealized
;
so
common-
and so many
loyal hopes have been blasted,
confident expectations
is satis-
many
threats
and so many of their maso dark a cloud of doubt
lign predictions have been fulfilled
still hangs over that ill-fated land, and the promise of better
things still remains so faint, that the importance of knowing
of the disloyal have been carried out,
;
the precise steps by which such a reconstruction has been
reached
ter
is
very
much
Had
diminished.
the outcome been bet-
and answered more nearly the hopes
of those
who labored
so untiringly for the results reached, the satisfaction and instruction of such details would have been greater and their
importance more obvious and legitimate.
After several unsuccessful efforts to agree upon some
factory plan, Mr. Bingham, from
tlie
satis-
Committee on Recon-
struction, on the 19th of July, 1866, presented the following
preamble and resolution.
Tlie preamble set forth that Ten-
nessee, having " in good faith ratified the article of
ment
to the Constitution of the
XXXlXth
amend-
United States, proposed by the
Congress, and having also shown, to the satisfaction
of Congress,
by a proper
spirit of
obedience in the body of her
people, her return to her due allegiance to the government,
laws, and authority of the United States
Therefore,
" Resolved, That the State of Tennessee is hereby restored
to her
:
former proper, practical relation to the Union, and
again entitled to
l)c
is
represented by Senators and Representa-
tives in Congress, duly elected
the oaths of office required
and
qualified,
upon
their taldng
by existing laws."
Bingham having moved the previous question, Mr.
Boutwell appealed to him to withdraw liis motion to allow him
Mr.
�625
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
amendment providing that, whenever Tennessee
should have ratified the amendment of the Constitution, and
to offer an-
should have established an equal and just system of suffrage
citizens, her Representatives and Senators, if duly
and taking the required oaths, should be admitted.
Mr. Bingham, however, declined to yield, as he did also to
several other members who had amendments to offer, and the
previous question was ordered.
This action of the member from Massachusetts revealed the
fact that, if the resolution was not a compromise, it was acceptable to neither extreme.
This appeared in the remarks
made by Mr. Boutwell, to whom Mr. Bingham yielded the
floor as he rose to close the debate. After saying that, though
aware that the resolution was about to be adopted, he was unwilling it should pass without his protest, he added in closing
" I speak under the impression, the firm conviction, that we
for
all
male
elected,
to-day here surrender up the cause of justice, the cause of the
country, in the vain hope that the admission of Tennessee
work somewhat
trolled the
for the advantage of the party which has con-
We
country during these last six years.
render the rights of four million people
cause of justice
may
;
we
imperil the peace
perity of the country
;
we degrade
sur-
we surrender the
;
and endanger the pros-
ourselves as a great party
which has controlled the government in the most trying times
in the history of the world."
Mr. Bingham responded with feeling, and with his usual
" There stands," he said,
force and felicity of expression.
" the amendment ratified by Tennessee, who comes with this
new
evangel,
'
no State shall deny to any person within
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.'
its
Let this pro-
vision become the supreme law of every State of the Republic
by the omnipotence of the ballot, and justice will thereby have
achieved a triumph long waited for and prayed for by the
sir, I am ashamed that a man
oppressed of all lands.
should stand here and
when a State
an amendment of
justice,
as
laws to
VOL,
its
III.
tell
that notliing
is
done to establish
such a provision
the Constitution, and conforms
requirements.
40
me
lately in rebellion ratifies
No one who
believes that
its
own
amend-
�626
ment
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
essential to the safety of the
IN AMERICA.
RepubHc, and that
it is
the
highest possible duty he owes to himseK and the country to
carry that
amendment
into the Constitution, can stand here
and taunt me as having surrendered by its advocacy and the
restoration to power of a State which in good faith ratifies it,
the rights of loyal colored men or of any men
One great
issue has been finally and I trust forever settled in the Republic, the equality of all men before the law.
Another issue of
equal moment is now pending, and it is this the equality of
the States and the right of the majority of loyal freemen to
rule."
That tlie eloquent and learned Representative from
Ohio, with his acknowledged abilities as a lawyer and statesman, should have spoken so confidently, indulged hopes quite
so rose-colored, and cherished expectations quite so assuring,
:
reveals very clearly the obscurity that invested the subject,
and the ignorance of the wisest in their attempts to solve the
momentous problem of reconstruction. In the light of events
that have since transpired, and in view of the present aspects
of the case, there would be some qualifications of his statements, and less confidence expressed in the " good faith
displayed by voting for an amendment, under duress, as it
was claimed, and because
it
had been made a condition pre-
cedent of retrieving the folly of secession and of regaining a
position in the
Union they had
Were he
so rashly forsaken.
speaking to-day, he would say without qualification that the
" great issue has been finally and forever settled in the Repul)lic,
the equality of
might view the other
all
men
before the law," however he
issue, the equality of the States
and the
right of the majority of loyal freemen to rule.
The Democrats,
resolution, took
tliough they were anxious to vote for the
umbrage
at the
ing he would " spit " upon
it.
preamble
The
;
Mr. Eldridge say-
resolution passed
by the
strong vote of one hundred and twenty-five to twelve.
It
was introduced into the Senate on the 20th, and referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary, who reported a sul)stitute
in the form of a prcamljle and resolution.
The former recited
the facts of the Rebellion in that State, and the act of Conmade the
gress declaring it to be " in a state of insurrection "
;
�627
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
it could be restored only " by the law-making
United States " ; referred to the act of its people
assertion that
power
of the
in adopting a constitution in accordance with the Constitution
of the United States, including the Thirteenth
Amendments, and
and Fourteenth
also to " the proper spirit of obedience
exhibited by the people thereof.
Therefore,
it
added
:
—
" Resolved, That the United States do hereby recognize the
government
of the State of Tennessee, organized as aforesaid,
as the legitimate government of said State, entitled to all the
rights of a State
government under the Constitution
of the
United States."
The
report gave rise to a very animated debate, in which all
members of the Senate engaged, and in which,
were revealed the imperfectly formed and inchoate opinions
of Senators, and the hesitation with which they acted upon a
measure involving consequences so momentous and irremedia^
Mr. Sherman expressed his
ble, if mistakes should be made.
the prominent
too,
House
had not been reported instead
of the substitute.
Various amendments were proposed. Mr.
Trumbull himself proposed to amend the preamble by striking
out the clause declaring that the people had shown " a proper
Mr. Sumner moved
spirit of obedience," and it was adopted.
a proviso that the act should not take effect until the State by
regret that the
resolution
public act should extend the right of suffrage to all without
regard to color or race
;
but
it
received only four votes.
A
House
pre-
Mr. Sprague to substitute the
motion was made by
amble for that of the committee, but it was rejected. Various
amendments and modifications were made when Mr. Trumbull
offered the preamble of the Judiciary Committee as modified
by the amendments already adopted, and it was adopted by a
Further amendments were
moved by Yates, Nye, and Doolittle, but they were rejected.
The preamlde and resolution were then adopted by a vote of
On
twenty-eight to four, Mr. Sumner voting in the negative.
motion of Mr. "Wilson the title of the measure was declared to
vote of twenty-three to twenty.
be
"A
Joint Resolution restoring Tennessee to her relations
The House adopted the Senate amendment,
and the resolution was passed and sent to the President. On
to the Union."
�628
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE F0^T:R
RISE
IN AMERICA.
the 24th he sent a message to Congress announcing his approval, though he disapproved of the
The
mode
of procedure adopted.
credentials of the gentlemen claiming seats as Represent-
from Tennessee were then referred to Committee on
The committee reported favorably the next day,
the House adopted its report, and the eight districts, which
had been without representation for more than five years on
the floor of the American Congress, were again represented
there, and Tennessee was restored to her former relations to
the Union.
Her Republican members elect had given assuratives
Elections.
ances that the State would give suffrage without distinction of
color
assurances that had undoubtedly induced
;
for her admission.
Her
legislature promptly
pledges, and Tennessee thus
became the
first of
many
to vote
redeemed those
the slave States
to give suffrage to the negro race.
On
the 22d of June, 1868, an act
was passed, with the
fol-
lowing preamble and resolution, for the admission of Ar-
—
•
kansas
" Whereas the people of Arkansas, in pursuance of an act
:
entitled,
'
An
act for the
more
Rebel States,' passed March
2,
efficient
government
of the
1867, and the acts supplement-
ary thereto, have framed and adopted a constitution of State
government, which
is
republican, and the legislature of said
State has duly ratified the
amendment
the United States proposed by the
known
as Article
XIV.
;
of the Constitution of
XXXIXth
Congress, and
Therefore,
" Be it enacted, etc., that the State of Arkansas is entitled
and admitted to representation in Congress, as one of the
States of the Union, upon the following fundamental condition."
The " fundamental condition," as finally agreed upon, was,
" That there shall never be in said State any denial or abridgment
of the elective franchise, or of
any other
riglit,
to
any
person by reason or on account of race or color, except Indians
not taxed."
The
was vetoed by the President on the
tlie 22d in the House by
one hundred and eleven to thirty-one, and in the
bill
20th, but passed over the veto on
the vote of
Senate by a vote of thirty to seven.
�CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION.
On
629
the 25th of June a similar act was passed admitting the
States of North CaroHna, South Carohna, Louisiana, Georgia,
Alabama, and Florida, in pursuance of a similar preamble,
with the conditions that they should ratify the Fourteenth
Amendment, that they should not deprive " any citizen, or
by the conand that no person prohibited from holding
by said Amendment should be " deemed eligible to any
in either of said States unless relieved from disability as
class of citizens of the State of the right to vote
stitution thereof,"
office
office
provided in said
amendment "
;
the State of Georgia being
also required to declare " null
and void" certain provisions of
and " in addition give the assent of said
State to the fundamental condition hereinbefore imposed on
its
constitution,
The
the same."
hundred and
bill
passed the House,
May
14,
— yeas
ten, nays thirty-five; in the Senate,
yeas thirty-one, nays
five.
It
June
one
9,
was vetoed by the President on
the 25th, and passed, the same day, by both houses, over the
presidential veto.
On
the 27th of January, 1870, Virginia was admitted into
the Union by a vote, in the House, of one hundred and thirtysix to fifty-eight
;
and in the Senate by a vote
of forty-seven
The following were the preamble, oaths, and condiprecedent " Whereas the people of Virginia have framed
to ten.
tions
:
and adopted a constitution
publican and whereas the
;
of State
government whiclv
is re-
legislature of Virginia, elected un-
der said constitution, has ratified the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments
United States
of the Constitution of the
;
and
whereas the performance of these several acts in good faith
is
a condition precedent to a representation of the State in Congress," said State should be admitted to a representation in
Congress
;
with the additional conditions precedent, however,
amended as to deprive any class of citizens of the right " to vote," " to hold
that the constitution should never be so
office,"
on account of race,
vitude
neither
color, or previous condition of sershould there be " other qualifications " required for such reason nor should any be deprived of " school
;
;
rights or privileges" on such account.
ary Mississippi was admitted by a
bill
On
the 3d of Febru-
resembling the former
�630
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
On
the
30th of March Texas was readmitted to the Union on a
bill
in every particular,
by substantially the same
vote.
Though
two had been preceded by a somewhat
very similar, though not identical with the above.
the votes on the
first
protracted and earnest discussion, concerning the latter there
was
less debate, although there
passage between
Wood
of
was
quite a brief
New York and
and earnest
Butler of Massa-
on an amendment of the latter, that Texas should be
admitted " to all the rights of other States within the Union
chusetts,
without qualifications or fundamental conditions except as
herein stated."
By
this act of
Congress the last of the " wayward sisters "
was brought back and restored
to the family of States,
the fractured Union was, outwardly at least, repaired.
It
and
was
ten years, eight months, and twenty days after South Carolina
raised the banner of revolt and led off in " the dance of
What
How
tame and uneventful seems
How much was done
What marvellous and radical
how much was left undone
And yet what changes remain to
changes had taken place
be effected, more marvellous and radical still, moral and personal, because supplementary, and necessary to show whether
what had been accomplished is to be regarded as a blessing
death."
a decade
!
any other since the nation was formed
!
!
or a curse.
!
;
�CHAPTER XLY.
THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
— Incipient movements. — Dangerous tendencies.
— Testimony of General Forrest. — Report
— Whippings and
of Congressional Committee. — Testimony of army
murders in South Carolina. — Outrages in Alabama and Mississippi. — Attacks
—
on teachers and clergymen. — Extent of the order. — Effect on
Passage of Enforcement Act. — President's proclamation.
Supposed origin in Tennessee.
— Secrecy. — Pretended
designs.
officers.
elections.
The Ku-Klux Klan was
a secret, mysterious order of exten-
two or three years committed highhanded and bloody outrages in various parts of the Southern
States, and carried terror and dismay to the hearts of the
loyal men and women throughout the late Confederacy.
The
sive ramifications that for
first serious
were made
demonstrations of the order that attracted notice
in
Tennessee in 1866, but by
whom
the society
was
organized, and with what original intent, has never been satis-
That it was in part political from the
abundant indication from the character of its
proceedings, and from the testimony elicited by the Congressional Committee.
factorily ascertained.
first
there
Though
is
several thousand
bers of the order during
murders were committed by mem-
its
existence,
it is difficult
to believe
that organized plunder and murder constituted a feature of
the original intention, as
indi\'iduals
in
any
it
is
not conceivable that so
many
state of society should be willing to be
connected with deliberate transactions of so infamous a char-
But the whole design having been unlawful, and placed
h&nds of irresponsible and reckless men, deficient in
moral education and demoralized by the war, there soon grew
up naturally a system of plunder and slaughter whose parallel
the modern world has not seen in a time of peace.
It is also
acter.
in the
�632
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
men having no connecand assumed their name,
to perform their marauding deeds under cover of the patent
This was asserted, but it does not
of the original inventors.
Ku-Klux,
the
it being impossible under the
of
help the case
secrecy and disguises to tell the genuine from the imitation,
probable that in course of time bodies of
tion with the order adopted the tactics,
the acts of the former being of a kind that the perpetrators
dare not avow them
deeds and
how
;
and having taught the way to do bad
to escape detection, they can hardly shirk the
responsibility of whatever
came
of their evil example.
Several striking facts in connection with the movements of
Ku-Klux were apparent through the whole of its career.
its acts were committed by
It was strangely mysterious
armed men, by men disguised; its victims were Union men;
and its deeds were performed with such entire impunity that
detection and conviction amounted to almost an impossibility.
As the men connected with the demonstrations went in gangs,
and at uncertain times and seasons, resistance was vain, and
only by flight could a marked victim escape the intended infliction upon his person and family.
Some distinguished persons at the South and elsewhere, and
some editors of influential journals at the North, have endeavored to make it appear that there never was any organization
of this kind, or if one, that it was never formidable or serious,
and that the outrages, the murder, arson, and torture, were
the same as other and all sections of the country are subject
to at times, and had no political signification whatever, and
the
;
were not the results of any organized system or any prevailing general depravity. This assumption is widely at variance
with the facts as given in the evidence before the committee
volume would not suffice to display
come to hand on this subject. These
proofs are from various sources, from governors of States,
judges, lawyers, clergymen, United States civil officers, army
officers, citizens, soldiers. Rebels, Union men, freedmen, and
all classes of society, from all the States which suffered from
of investigation,
all
and
this
the proofs which have
the presence of these pests of society.
It is also to
be mentioned that while the murders and other
�THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
633
heinous crimes committed by this and kindred organized bands
were not and could not be punished, there was no more than
the customary difficulty in obtaining in the courts of the
Southern States convictions for all the ordinary offences which
were committed by the dangerous classes in that section. The
testimony of such men as Hon. James L. Orr, formerly Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, and one of the
most distinguished statesmen of the South, Governors Parsons
and Lindsay of Alabama, Joshua S. Morris, attorney-general
Rome judicial cirand many other leading
of Mississippi, C. D. Forsyth, Esq., of the
cuit of Georgia,
an eminent
solicitor,
citizens in the several victimized States, is all
harmonious and
clearly establishes the fact above stated.
The testimony of some of the same men, and of others in
know whereof they affirmed, was also conclusive
situations to
of the fact that
of the
Ku-Klux
no convictions were obtained for the crimes
most of the communities where their depre-
in
dations were committed.
was next to impossible to ascertain who the fiends were,
as they were always disguised, and so great was the fear of
them that witnesses dared not tell what they knew, and if
they had told, the chances were that more or less memljers
of the order were upon every jury, and bound to save their
fellow-conspirators from all possible harm.
It having transpired in some way that General N. B. Forrest, one of the most energetic officers in the Confederate
service, was a leader in the Ku-Klux organization, he was
summoned before the Congressional Committee, and many
interesting facts were elicited from him, although he endeavIt
He
ored to avoid giving valual)le information.
existence of the order and his
did admit the
own connection with
attempted to convey the impression that
its
simply defensive and benevolent, and that
it
it,
but
purpose was
was started
to
counteract Union leagues and prevent the negroes from doing
harm
members and their famand emergencies.
The information obtained from General Forrest and others
ilies
in the community, and to assist
in sickness
established conclusively the following facts
:
the existence of
�634
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
the order
;
its
prevalence in
IM AMERICA.
parts of the Confederacy
all
;
that
was very strong that it was so secret that its
prescript or constitution was handed from memher to memher
anonymously, so that the receiver knew not from whence it
came, but each reliable member sent it to some other reliable
member whose fealty could be depended on that it was composed of Southern citizens as distinguished from carpet-bagthat it was composed of Democrats
gers, or Northern men
exclusively that it sent out armed men, who patrolled communities and rode over neighborhoods that it worked by signs
and not by oral or written orders that the patrolmen intimidated men, whipped men, and committed murder and other
crimes for which they were never caught or punished that
these crimes were committed in such a manner that the peras where a
petrators were not usually known to each other,
platoon fires at a culprit no one can tell whose individual ball
causes the death of the culprit and that the cliiefs of the
organization could not name any person who had documents
or papers which would throw more definite light upon the
order or clan, or its history. Forrest also admitted that it was
not known in all places as Ku-Klux, but had various names,
such as " the Pale Faces," and " Knights of the White Camellia," and that in some places there was no particular name
for it, but whatever the name, or without name, it was substantially one organization, with a unity of design and plans
numerically
it
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
—
;
of operation.
There
is
good reason to suppose that this order in
forms at one time included nearly
Democratic party at the South.
all
the
its
members
many
of the
Forrest stated that he had
heard the membership in Tennessee estimated at forty thousand, but refused to
tell
what he knew
in that regard, thus
was a moderate one.
must have had a large membership to sustain its extensive operations, and unless it had been fully countenanced and
leaving
it
to be inferred that the estimate
It
supported by the large majority of the conservative party,
it
could not have dared to execute the flagrant deeds which liave
been laid to
nesses
its
charge.
who belonged
to
Besides, the character of the witit,
and from
whom was wrung
such
�THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
635
scraps of unwilling testimony as were obtained by the Congressional Committee, indicates that they had the conservative
masses behind them. General John B. Gordon, the successor
of Stonewall Jackson in the command of the famous Stonewall Brigade, and now Senator in Congress from Georgia, admitted that he belonged to a brotherhood whose object was
protection against the depredations of
negroes.
that the order was political, but admitted that
State and supposed
what
name, was not
to state
his
it
it
extended to other States
own
position in
at liberty to give
it
names
;
He
denied
pervaded the
felt reluctant
was, did not
know
its
in connection with
it
it was held together by oaths, one of whose feawas the obligation to obey the orders of the chief impliand that there were no negroes belonging to it and no
citly
white Republicans. This description of General Gordon agrees
allowed that
tures
;
in essentials witli that of Forrest as relates to the organizar
tion, its secret
and the
tion in
it
character, and its conservative composition
;
was unwilling to tell what his own posigive names or tell of specific acts, shows
fact that he
was, and to
tliere were facts
which would not bear publication, or redound to the credit of the managers and members of the
a well-founded apprehension on his part that
connected with
it
order.
The general plan
of the order
was embodied
which, though not absolutely authenticated in
admitted by Forrest to be
acted,
and some
of
much
like the
in a prescript,
all details,
was
one under which he
whose provisions were the most stringent
oath of secrecy, the promise to abide by the orders of the chief
or chiefs, the obligation to punish severely any betrayal of the
secrets of the order,
and
to
submit to the extreme punishment
membership had ceased
"
and generally to do whatever the ghouls of the den " should
of death for so doing even after the
require.
To perform
acts of benevolence,
righteousness, such extreme
nalia are not essential,
and to do deeds of
secrecy and terrible parapher-
and the condition of the people of
those States forbids the idea of their having instituted such
an expensive order merely
for
amusement.
The whole
con-
trivance indicated purposes to act out of the pale of the law
�636
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
and
IN AMERICA.
by the tremendous
and the midnight darkness,
the order was amply equipped for deeds of blood and murder
on a tremendous and unparalleled scale.
So great was the alarm caused by the operations of the
order that the governor of Tennessee called an extra session
and constituted
authorities,
fortified
oaths, the doubly guarded secrecy,
of the legislature in
1868 to provide measures
of protection
against them.
When
make
the legislature
met a committee was appointed
to
This committee, in their report, give a
vivid account of the awful condition of affairs, which they
investigations.
describe as an
terror
is
opinions
unexampled reign
of terror.
They say
so great that the best citizens dare not ex])ress their
;
that the officers of the law dare not enforce
sions, or bring the perpetrators of outrages to
them or take any
that no one dares to inform of
them
that the
arrested, because
no one can
next victim of their animosity
tell
that a
;
the State are entirely at their mercy
;
steps to have
but that he
number
provi-
its
punishment
may
be the
of counties in
and that for
six
months
the murders alone, saying nothing of other outrages, have
averaged not less than one in each twenty-four hours.
Information of the same kind reached the ears of General
George H. Thomas, the department commander,
a native of
the South, and a man of such intelligence and unbiassed po-
—
litical
opinions as to render any statements of his worthy of
the highest consideration,
— and
in his
annual report for 1869
he gave unqualified confirmation of the general reports of the
doings of the order, which justified the governor in convening
the legislature of Tennessee to act in the emergency.
Other generals and commanders of departments, Reynolds,
Terry, Howard, and Gillem, had occasion to mention in their
showed that in the other States the conthings was in most respects not different from that
reports facts which
dition of
of Tennessee, that terror extensively prevailed in the South,
and that no respect was paid
justice, or
It will
to age, character, law, right,
humanity.
be impossible to give in these pages detailed demany outrages which were proved to have
scriptions of the
�THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
637
been committed by tbe Ku-Klux Klan during tbeir two or
three years' career.
A few must suffice. Take one in South
Carohna, where the design appears to have been to intimidate
the voters, and compel public opinion to sustain the
cratic party.
Demo-
In 1870, in the county of Spartanburg, forty-
who had been Republicans were induced to publish
in the Democratic newspaper, " The Spartan," an announcement of their withdrawal from the party. One of these, Mr.
five
persons
Samuel F. White, was before the Congressional Committee,
and made oath to the arguments which were so effectual in
convincing him of the error of his political course. Mr. White
was a man fifty-four years of age, a carpenter and millwright,
He
native of North Carolina, and apparently respectable.
stated that he was visited by the Ku-Klux, that they came to
his house in the night, that he was asleep, was awakened and
On
ordered to get up; the house was surrounded by men.
opening the door upon their call, they made him cross his
hands to be tied, drew an old pillow-case over his head, and
him out s^enty-five yards into the rear in the darkness.
They asked him if he was a Union man or a Democrat and
upon his saying he had been a Union man, they replied that
The next question was, whether he
they " supposed so."
would be shot, hung, or whipped, and they gave him no other
led
;
Upon his choosing the whipping, they at once
gave him from thirty to forty lashes with hickory withes,
cutting and bruising his flesh gave him directions, if he would
alternative.
;
avoid another visitation, to publish, before the next Wednesday,
a declaration of his principles, suited to the times mounted
The men were all disguised
their horses, and rode aw;iy.
;
with skins, having horns attached, drawn over their faces,
and in other ways, so that he could identify none of them,
raise any alarm, or take any measHis only protection from further
violence was the required recantation, and it promptly appeared in the Democratic paper as demanded, along with
that of others who were impressed by this example to offer
their patronage to that paper, and submit to the promul-
and he was powerless to
ures for their pursuit.
gation of the true doctrine, in advance of a formal, personal
�Co8
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
from such missionaries
dcniaiul
IN AlIERICA.
of the party as labored with
Mr. White.
This was one of the mild cases, but it shows a mode of
manufacturing public opinion, and making converts to the
Democratic faith so effective that the later victories of that
party in regions where the negro race
is
not to be wondered
tention, as
it
is
largely predominant
and whose simplicity challenges
at,
at-
dispenses with education, moral sentiment, free
and the troubles of thought, discussion, and all the reand perils of individual judgment and the preferences and prejudices of individual desire or will.
On the same night that Mr. White was converted to Democracy by this simple method. Dr. John Winsmith, a native of
will,
sponsibilities
the State, an old
member
man
sixty-eight years of age,
who had been a
years, was
and on making resistance was fired at, and received
seven musket-ball wounds from the disguised propagandists.
John Genobles, sixty-nine years of age, was also visited,
stripped, flogged, and required to make public* announcement
of his conversion, which he did on the day of the sheriiT's sales
of the
South Carolina legislature
fifteen
visited,
at the
He
county court.
testified as follows
" I got up,
:
—
— the
was then done selling my property,
I got up on the
and said I was no longer a partisan man, and was not
in favor of a Black Republican government
that I thought a
white man was somewhat superior to a black man. That is
sheriff
steps,
;
pretty
much
all
I
said
why he
did this,
and
his
was a member of the
The question was asked him
also that I
;
church for forty-three years."
answer was,
''
To
save
my
life."
W. Cummings,
D. D., and P. Q. Camp, Esq., made
of two hundred and twenty-three cases of whipping
Rev. A.
up a list
and maiming in Spartanburg County which they had knowledge of, and the United States Deputy Marshal, C. L. Casey,
testified that the number reached nearly to five hundred, and
there were four murders.
The alarm was so great that hundreds of people left their houses and slept in the woods, from
October to March, to avoid the interviewers of the Conserva-
Mr. Shand, a lawyer of Unionville, testified that
judgment every respectable married white man in that
town was a member of the order.
tive party.
in his
�THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
639
Major Lewis Merrill of the United States army, whose evidence in some of the more recent transactions in Louisiana
has been accepted with alacrity by the conservatives, took
York,
and reported thus " From the best information I can get,
I estimate the number of cases of whipping, beating, and
personal violence of various grades in this county, from
November 1 to March 26, at between three and four hundred, excluding numerous minor cases of threats, intimidation, abuse, and small personal violence."
The testimony of
Major Merrill is important, because he is from the school of
West Point, not an active politician, never identified with
either political party, though tending to Republican ideas, and
especial pains to investigate affairs in the county of
:
because, prior to his being stationed in South Carolina,
he
regarded the stories of outrages as largely exaggerated.
In
reply to a question from Mr. Stevenson, of the committee, he
said " I came here from Kansas, where I had no knowledge
:
at all of anything connected with these matters, except such
as one gets in an ordinary reading of the newspapers.
believed
that the
stories in
circulation
I fully
were enormous ex-
aggerations, and that the newspaper stories were incredible."
But General Terry, who commanded the department, informed
him that " the half had not been told him." Still he was not
convinced, and thought the cases were of the sporadic order
and did not come from any organized violence. When he had
been on the spot, however, and come to a personal knowledge
had never imagined such a state of
any civilized community.
Yet he did not despair. He thought there must be some
latent virtue in the community, and with a faith in human
of facts, he says that he
social disorganization being possible in
nature highly creditable to his heart, he called a conference of
the leading citizens to devise measures for suppressing the
outrages.
them
They met and talked, and Major Merrill informed
knew the names of the villains, laughed at their
in not being posted when it was so easy
all of
that he
simplicity
which was,
;
in a
way, melancholy, yet amusing, since
it suJjse-
quently transpired that several of the leading members of the
order were present at the conference, and took part in the
�G40
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
proceedings, as lovers of law and order.
That they should
dare to come into the presence of a United States officer whose
special duty
was the suppression
of
their clan
securely they had fortified themselves, and
shows how
how amply
were protected by the influential classes of society,
they were the influential classes and nothing
This statement
as ^Yade
sible to
made
is
they
— indeed,
less.
in face of the denials of such
Hampton and Senator Gordon, because
it is
men
impos-
account for the boldness of the conspirators and their
success in evading punishment on the opposite theory.
The
story of Elias Hill, as given by himself under oath,
throws light upon the purposes of the order. Mr. Hill was a
poor slave, crippled in both legs and arms with rheumatism
when he was seven
years of age, so that for physical labor he
was worthless, and law and custom rendered
anything else out of the question
tate as
He had
he might.
;
his education for
hence he was
left to
vege-
a powerful intellect, however, and
during the long, tedious days of childhood and youth, when he
was unable to move hands or feet, and must sit in a place till
some one moved him to another, helpless, listless, worthless,
he managed to call the passing school-children into his cabin,
and from them, little by little, learned his letters and the art
Unsuspected by the grand upper
of reading and writing.
classes of society,
he tapped the
little,
scanty rivulets of
knowledge that were running past his door, and from this
chance tuition and through these youthful teachers he learned
lessons in literature, science, and theology which enabled
him
become a Baptist preacher, and, when his
people were emancipated, a school-teacher and corresponding
agent for his uneducated neighbors and friends.
He preached righteousness, and also the gospel of Republicanism in a mild form,
two things so decidedly distasteful
to the order of Ku-Klux, that he was made a recipient of one
of their visits.
They went first to his brother's house, and
flogged the brother's wife to compel her to tell where Elias
was. He could not crawl away, and they came upon him and
charged him with burning some gin-houses in the neighborhood, with secreting a man charged with murder, and with
at early
manhood
to
—
�THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
G41
preacliing politics, the latter being the objectionable offence
for which
were
chiefly
charges,
made
maledictions
their
sham
others being of course
duce the real one
and rhetorically
;
poured
out,
the
to cover or intro-
to strengthen the indict-
ment they pointed pistols at his head, stripped up his shirt
and laid upon his bare back the lash of a horsewhip, cutting
to the very bone, pulled his weak rheumatic limbs apart to
torture him, and compelled him on pain of death to renounce
his Republican principles, to stop the Republican paper
he was a subscriber
left
him out
burned his
to,
in the shivering cold to
he might, or die
if
help should
which
and books, and then
get back to his cabin as
letters
fail to
reach him.
But the whippings, though numerous and barl)arous in the
extreme, were supplemented by much more aggravated and
heinous crimes.
On
the night of July 11, 1870, at the village
Calhoun County, William C. Luke, a Avhite
schoolmaster, and four colored men, Tony Cliff, Berry Harris,
Cajsar Frederick, and William Hall, were seized and put to
of Cross Plains,
death by hanging and shooting. These men, at the time, were
under arrest and in charge of the officers of the law for complicity in certain acts of an unlawful nature, but the evidence
against
them was
so slight
not be convicted, and to
it
make
was probable that they would
sure of their punishment, re-
gardless of law or evidence, the Ku-Klux forcibly took them
from the custody of the authorities and murdered all of them.
To investigate this case the governor of Alabama employed
Lewis E. Parsons, a leading lawyer, and Johnson's provisional
governor of reconstruction fame, as counsel, and ordered a
special terra of the court for preliminary investigation, with
one of the supreme judges to preside. The judge, the governor,
Mr. Parsons, and General Crawford proceeded in August to
Calhoun County, where, to their surprise, nearly
all
the white
inhabitants were silent concerning the affair and withheld all
information concerning
ination of one hundred
After some delay, and the exam-
it.
and
thirty witnesses, they found
ample
evidence in the opinion of the judge to justify the arrest of
nine persons, and remanded
them
to the
grand jury with the
evidence, and they refused to indict a single one of them, but
VOL.
m.
41
�G42
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
did find a bill for assault with intent to kill against a negro,
Jacob Moore, who had been shot by the Ku-Klux.
This is. from the testimony of Governor Parsons, who also
said he had never known of a conviction for the murder of a
negro.
In March, 1870, in the county of Green, Alaljama,
Alexander Boyd, the prosecuting attorney, was murdered.
Prior to this a negro named Sam Colvin had been murdered,
and Poyd, having worked up the testimony, gave out word
that he shoidd proceed against the parties who had murdered
Culvin
;
but before he had time to perfect his plans his
own
taking off had been accomplished by a squad of twenty-five
men, who rode into the square fronting the hotel, formed, sent
detachment who compelled the clerk to show them Boyd's
room, to which they went, put two balls through his head and
several through his body, and left.
This was in the town of
Eutaw, of about two thousand inhabitants, where the sheriff
was stopping, and the elders and ministers of the Presbytery
were holding a reunion. No alarm was given, the sheriff
called no posse, the people remained quiet and slept the sleep
of the just
nobody got up an excitement, the bar passed no
unavailing resolutions of grief or indignation, no member
attended his funeral, and he went to his grave with as little
ostentation as accompanies the ordinary town pauper to his
final abode.
All this could not happen in a community unless
the leading influences were unmistakably on the side of the
deed, and its design and significance fully understood.
Rev. A. S. Larkin, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, sent out under the auspices of the bishop of Ohio,
in a
;
made memorandums
of thirty-two murders and three hundred
and forty-one whippings and other maltreatments in his district in Northern Alabama from 1868 to 1871.
No less than
ten clergymen, all but one of whom he personally kuew, were
whipped, shot, or by violence driven away from their people.
In some localities the schools came in for an undue share of
Ku-Klux
attention.
In 1871, in Pontotoc County, Mississippi,
a large numl)er of the teachers of the colored schools received
warning
to stop their schools.
The
State superintendent of
schools while on a visit to Aberdeen, Monroe County, in the
�THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
643
discharge of his duty, was called upon by one hundred and
twenty armed men and warned. They informed liim that the
rule was, first, warning
second, wliipping third, death.
He
;
;
refused to leave, and they beat him until he became insensible,
and
left
him, having previously given him to understand that
the rule would be carried out, and the next call would be for
his
Twenty-six schools in that vicinity were closed by
life.
In one place over eighty armed men
upon a female teacher at midnight, went to her room
and gave a peremptory order for the closing of her school
forthwith, which was done.
The Rev. Dr. ]\Iurff, though
born in the South and highly respected in the community,
direction of these bands.
called
was obliged
to resign his position as director of free schools
to avoid a call
which was threatened by a Ku-Klux.
Another,
minister and a friend of the latter, Rev. John Avery, had his
house burned in Winston County for the offence of teaching a free school.
Five murders were committed in Monroe
County, one in Lowndes, and
The mode
fifteen in
many
Noxubee.
was
ing with the brutal design, no regard being had to
in keep-
the
victim.
firmity, or
of executing
delicacy of
health
of the atrocities
or
sensibility
of
age, in-
Frightful curses and imprecations accompanied the laying on
of the lash,
and followed the helpless victims
of slaughter as
they passed to the valley of the sliadow of death.
Bride, a Scotchman living in Sparta,
as follows
:
Mr. Mc-
who was pursued,
related
" There were two rooms in the house of the colored
man, and I went into one of them and tried to hide. Tliey
came in and got me. The colored people prayed to them,
Don't hurt Mr. Mac for God's sake, let him alone.' They
took me out of the house and across the yard I asked them
in what way I had injured them, to justify the attack on me.
They cursed me, told me to stop talking, struck me in the
side with their bowie-knives that had scabbards on, and with
Then they ol)ligcd him to
the but-ends of their pistols."
him
with
gum switches, which
strip naked, and whipped
They said, " God
sting the flesh at every stroke, like nettles.
d n you don't you know that this is a white man's country ? "
He told them that the white people had employed him
'
;
;
—
!
�644
KISE
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
to take charge of their
liim, but this
was
of
IX AMERICA.
Sunday school, and were satisfied with
no avail, and they kept on wliipping,
while for his edification a poi'tion of the party discussed the
propriety of shooting or hanging as the most
The man succeeded
in
getting out of
fit
in his case.
their clutches
by a
sudden spring and escaped the destiny that was apparently
in store for hira.
But
it
would take volumes to give the
details of the
numerous
cases that were reported to the Congressional Committee, of
this general character.
Senator Scott in a speech in the Senate
gave as the result of the investigation that came to
his*
own
knowledge as follows In North Carolina, in fourteen counties,
tliere were eighteen murders and three hundred and fifteen
whippings. In South Carolina, nine counties, thirty-five murders and two hundred and seventy-six other flagrant outrages.*
In Georgia, twenty-nine counties, seventy-two murders and
one hundred and twenty-six whippings. In Alabama, twentysix counties, two hundred and fifteen murders and one hundred and sixteen other outrages. In Florida, in one county
alone there were one hundred anc^ fifty-three cases of homiIn Mississippi, twenty counties, twenty-three homicides
cide.
and seventy-six other cases of outrage. In ninety-nine counties in different States he found five hundred and twenty-six
homicides and two thousand and nine cases of whippings.
But the committee state that in Louisiana alone in the year
1868 there were more than one thousand murders, and most of
them were the result of the operations of the Ku-Klux.
The influence of these atrocities upon political matters is
shown by the remarkable change in the popular vote which
:
took place at the time.
North Carolina,
�THE KU-KLUX KLAN.
645
"
30,446
Nov.,
Republican
loss
.
Republican
loss
21,490
,
la South. Carolina, Spring, 1868, Republican majority
"
"
"
"
"
Nov.,
.
43,470
.
.
17,064
.
26,406
Spring, 1868, Republican majority
In Georgia,
"
"
Nov.,
Democratic
Republican
7,047
"
loss
45,688
.
52,735
,
23,265
Spring, 1863, Republican majority
In Louisiana,
'•
"
Nov.,
Democratic
"
Republican loss
Can
51,936
Spring, 186S, RcpuLlican majority
In Tennessee,
56,962
.
70,227
.
these stupendous changes be reasonalily accounted for
and are they
not the natural result of the heroic means employed ? The
Democratic minority of the committee denied this, and boldly
asserted that the change in the vote was entirely due to the
on any other theory than that
of intunidation
;
management of the carjwt-bag
must be obvious, however, to the most com-
disgust of the people with the
governments.
mon mind
It
that
if
this
were the case, there would have been
no occasion for the outrages, as ordinarily, in cases where
outrages are perpetrated the party committing them becomes
the subject of disgust unless there be intimidation.
Certainly
the carpet-baggers, bad as they were, did nothing to excite the
of fair-minded citizens that was at all comparable
enormity with the atrocities described, and if we are to
allow that they were perpetrated upon a law-loving and law-
disgust
in
abiding people,
who had
regard for
riglits
or decency, the vote
should have been unanimously the other way.
cratic
members
The Demo-
of the committee, in maintaining that their
party friends could be greatly aroused and exasperated by
excessive taxation and the maladministration of their rulers,
pay them but a sorry compliment, while the greater enormities
committed against personal rights, property, and life were
suffered to go unredressed, and tacitly were justified.
The enormity
of the operations of the
Ku-Klux and the
�646
RISE
alarm
at
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
length became so great that
IN AMERICA.
Congress
con-
felt
strained to do something for the protection of the people in
those places where the local authorities refused to perform
their proper functions,
and
1871, an act
in April,
known
as
the Enforcement Act was passed, which was approved by the
President and became a law.
unusual powers
;
This act gave to the executive
but the extraordinary circumstances of the
country called for unusual remedies for the evils that
On
the people of the Southern States.
the
President issued his proclamation, warning
all
4tli of
afflicted
May
the
persons against
the continuance of illegal acts, and calling upon the local
authorities to do all in their
power
and
to prevent violence
to
maintain the public peace, in order to render action on his
part unnecessary, under the law.
On the ITtli of October he
issued
another proclamation, suspending the habeas curjms
act in nine counties of
South Carolina, and on the 11th of
November another county
of that State
was included
in the
suspension, by executive proclamation.
The passage of the act was stoutly resisted by the Demomembers of Congress, and by Schurz, Trumbull, and
some other Republicans, as legislation not within the authority
cratic
and scope
of the
powers granted to the national government by
the Constitution, and as tending to dangerous centralization.
The President did not seem anxious
given him in an arl)itrary spirit, or
to exercise the
powers
push the authority
to
granted Ijeyond the legitimate purpose of maintaining order,
where the
and give protection
was incompetent or
local authorities signally failed,
to the citizen where the State or county
unwilling to perform that clear and necessary duty.
the President issued his
more infrequent,
if
After
proclamation, the disturbances became
they did not entirely cease.
It is
indeed
claimed that the Ku-Klux Klans have abandoned their organization,
and that that
terrible order is a thing of the past.
tion remains,
gotten.
and that
its
much
But
and inspirateachings have not been fully for-
recent events indicate that too
of its spirit
�CHAPTER XLVI.
FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.
— Stevens's — His speech. — The a compromise.
— Defeated resolution. — Plan of Robert Dale Owen. —
— Facts and principles involved in the
— DemoReason
cratic arguments. — Boyer, Eldridge, Rogers. — Republicans support
different reasons. — Schenck, Raymond,
Boutwell, Dawes, Banks.
— Resolution
President's policy
and defended. — Phelps,
adopted. — Senate.-—-Amendments
— Caucus. — Amendment
— Action of the
adopted. — President's message. —
Seward's
Oppressive legislation.
— Severe
bill
bill.
criticism.
for rejection.
effort.
it
for
Eliot,
criticised
Ingersoll.
offered.
Sir.
as finally
certificate.
Senate.
The
Thirteenth
Amendment
abolished chattel slavery and
rendered that form of oppression impossible
shown,
it
;
but, as has been
did not prevent the fact of oppression, and that the
most cruel and unendurable. The action of the State governments, restored by what was called the " Johnson policy,"
clearly revealed the necessity of further legislation to prevent
the Rebels from regaining by fraud and finesse at liome what
they had failed to secure by their appeal to arms.
Conse-
quently the friends of freedom in both houses were prompt in
bringing the subject before Congress, and weeks and months
were occupied in considering the various propositions which
were presented to remedy what was seen to be so flagrantly
unjust and indefensible.
Nor
will the annals of that
afford a parallel for the earnestness, depth of feeling,
body
and
intensity of purpose exhibited in the debates on the subject,
which have extended over years and commanded the highest
exercise of the ablest talent employed thereon.
Tlie results
finally reached were changes in the organic law and ordinary
legislation, or
amendments
of the Constitution, acts for their
enforcement, and what were popularly termed
civil rights bills.
�648
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Before noticing the latter, though some of them were in point
of time anterior thereto,
some account
will be given of the
former.
On
the 30th of April, 1866, Mr. Stevens, from the Commiton Reconstruction, introduced into the House a joint reso-
tee
lution to
amend
tlie
Constitution
consisting of five sections
" Sec.
1.
No
:
—
make
State shall
;
the proposed
amendment
or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens
prive any person of
cess of law
life,
;
nor de-
liberty, or property without due pro-
nor deny to any person the equal protection of
;
the laws.
" Sec.
2.
Representatives shall be apportioned
States according to their respective numbers,
among
whole number of persons, excluding Indians not taxed.
whenever, in any
to
in
the
counting the
But
State, tlie elective franchise shall be denied
any male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age, or
any way abridged except for i)articipation in rebellion or
other crime, the basis of representation in such States shall be
reduced in the proportion which the number of such male
zens shall bear to the whole
number
of
male
citi-
citizens not less
than twenty-one years of age.
" Sec. 3. Until the fourth day of July, in the year 1870,
persons
who
all
voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection shall
be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives, and
for President
" Sec.
4.
and Yicc-President
Neither the United
of the
United States.
States nor any State shall
assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or
which may be incurred, in aid of insurrection against the
United States, or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary service.
" Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
These sections, slightly modified and amended, were finally
adopted by Congress and the requisite number of States, and
constituted the Fourteenth
Amendment
Mr. Stevens's speech, which was
tic,
expressed very fully
of the Constitution.
and exceedingly causand forcibly the views and feelings
l)ricf
�FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.
G49
which recognized liim
spoke of " the magnitude of the task imposed
of that section of the Republican party
He
as a leader.
on the committee" of suggesting
shattered nation,
the Rebellion
;
— not
"a
plan for rebuilding a
dissevered, yet shaken
of the people
and riven" by
" educated in an error for a
century on the subject of slavery," and of the difficulty of
unlearning a lesson thus learned " in a day "
of the duty
of adopting a plan, though it fell short of his own wishes,
because, speaking for the committee, he said, " upon a careful
;
survey of the whole ground we did not believe that nineteen of
the loyal States could be induced to ratify any proposition any
more stringent than this," adding that he would " not throw
away a great good because
it is
not perfect."
He commented
with great severity upon the failure in the Senate of the two
joint resolutions, proposing amendments, fixing the basis of
and repudiating the Rebel debt, whicli had
passed the House, but which, he said, were " then wounded in
" defeated by the united forces
the house of their friends,"
of self-righteous Republicans and unrighteous Copperheads.
It was slaughtered by a puerile and pedantic criticism, by a
representation
—
perversion of philological definition which,
school, a lad
who had
studied Lindley
if
when
I tai^ht
Murray had assumed,
I
would have expelled from the institution as unfit to waste education upon."
He repeatedly admitted that the measure did
not come up to his ideas of true policy.
Speaking of the third
section, he said he would have had it more stringent, though
he added, with biting sarcasm of the President's former views
and sul)sequcnt course, " I might not consent to the extreme
severity denounced upon them by a provisional governor of
Tennessee,
I mean the late lamented Andrew Johnson, of
blessed memory,
but I would have increased the severity
—
—
of this section."
The amendment to which he referred as having been
" wounded in the house of their friends " had been reported
from the same committee on the 22d of January, providing
that " representation and direct taxes shall bo apportioned
among
the several States which may be included witliin this
Union, according to their respective numbers, counting the
�650
RISE
number
w-holc
taxed
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
:
IN AMERICA.
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not
Provided, "That whenever the elective franchise shall
be denied or abridged in any State on account of race or color,
all
persons of such race or color shall be excluded from the
The purport or gist of this
amendment Avas well expressed by Mr. Buckalew, in the Senate, who opposed it because, he said, " one of two things must
happen in a State, in case this amendment be adopted. Negro
basis of such representation."
or Asiatic suffrage must be accepted, or the State will be
now holds under the
became, therefore, he contended, " a penal
stripped of a portion of the power she
Constitution."
It
amendment," because
it
took from States the principle of
three-fifths representation hitherto allowed for their slaves
;
so
that that class of population could be counted in the basis of
representation only as
The
it
was allowed the right
of suffrage.
proposition led to a very able and vigorous debate, and
passed the House by a decisive majority, but was defeated in
Various other propositions and proposed amendments were introduced into both houses but they were either
rejected or failed to come to a vote, not for want of a purpose
to adopt some measure, but from inability to agree on any
the Senate.
;
particular line of policy.
Indeed, as stated a])ove, the measure
Stevens was far from satisfactory to
For
he represented.
it
now proposed by Mr.
eitlier
the mover or those
has since transpired that another plan
had been submitted to him and others by Robert Dale Owen,
who, though not a member of Congress, was, as chairman of a
government commission in 1863 to inquire into the condition
of the frcedmen, prepared to speak with some knowledge upon
This plan had received Mr. Stevens's assent and
the subject.
earnest advocacy, and had been adopted by the Committee on
Reconstruction, but was withheld for a few days on account of
the illness of Mr. Fessenden, chairman of the Senate portion
of the committee.
" Sec.
1.
No
Its provisions \vere
discrimination shall be
by the United States, as to the
:
—
made by any
civil rights of
State, nor
persons, because
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
" Sec.
2.
From and
after the fourth day of
July, 1876,
�FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.
651
no discrimination shall be made by any State nor by the
United States as to the enjoyment, by classes of persons, of
the right of suffrage, because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
" Sec.
3.
Until the fourth day of July, 1876, no class of per-
sons, as to the right of
shall be
made by any
any
of
whom
to suffrage discrimination
State, because of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude, shall be included in the basis of representation.
" Sec.
4.
Debts incurred in aid of insurrection or of war
and claims of compensation for loss of
against the Union,
involuntary service or labor, shall not be paid by any State
nor by the United States.
" Sec. 5. Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
In connection with this proposed
article,
Mr. Owen sub-
mitted a joint resolution, providing that any State adopting
it,
and conforming its laws thereto, should be admitted into the
Union again, in the persons of Senators and Representatives
duly elected thereby, excluding only those who were members
of the executive, legislative, military, and naval departments
of the government at the time of their secession, though they,
too, sliould be eligible " after the fourth
It also
proposed the repeal of
imposing penalties or
plicity
and clemency,
laws confiscating property or
disabilities
The prominent
Rebellion.
all
its
day of July, 1876."
on any participating in the
features of this plan were its sim-
repeal of all confiscatory and penal
laws enacted against those who had joined in the insurrection
remission of
all
disabilities in the
any except those who were
way
in the actual service of
States at the time of their secession
of representation to those only
suffrage
;
and
its
;
;
from
the United
of holding office
restriction of the basis
who were allowed
the right of
provision that, after the 4th of July, 1876,
the riglit of suffrage should be withheld from none on ac-
count of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
The main
significance of this plan
matter of history
lie
and
in the facts that
it
its
importance as a
at first
commanded
it was
the support of the Committee on Reconstruction, though
�652
mSE AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
afterward rejected, with the reasons given for that final rejection.
The
latter,
according to the testimony of Mr. Stevens
to its author, were that caucuses of the Republican
New
York,
members
and Indiana had decided
that, for fear of its influence upon the pending elections, it
would not be safe to incorporate into the avowed policy of the
party the idea of negro suffrage, even prospectively, at the end
of ten years, and the fact that the committee so far yielded to
of the States of
Illinois,
and submit the article
as reported, hastily drawn up, and so far defective and so far
the clamor as to reconsider
inferior to that
its
action,
rejected as to render necessary the subse-
it
quent adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment.
So
fearful,
not
to say cowardly, were even Republicans of that day, so faintly
war and the
did they discern the issues of the
necessities of
the situation, and so afraid, in the slang parlance employed on
the occasion, were they of the " nigger in the wood-pile."
The
discussion did not differ
materially from what had
already taken place on the two proposed
amendments
of the
Constitution which had failed in the Senate, except that
mem-
bers exhibited a growing unanimity of sentiment, and the
gradual elimination of the more crude and vague ideas that
naturally, not to
say necessarily,
stages of the debates.
substantially the same.
by which
it
And
yet the staple of debate
earlier
was ever
For, turn the matter whichever
could be examined, view
could be presented,
characterized the
its salient
it
in
any
light in
way
which
it
points stood out and could not
be concealed or blinked out of sight.
Tlie practical questions
that clamored for answer were imperious in their demands, and
must be answered, and they could not be evaded or answered
other than wisely without great damage and danger to members personally as well as to their constituents and to
tion they were called to represent.
At once
tlie
na-
the al)stractions
became clothed with the flesh and blood of
and the glittering gcucralitics that had figured so
largely in conventions and on platforms assumed a point and pith
that forbade the cool and careless handling of former years.
The great and pregnant fact of the case was that eleven
States, wliich had once belonged to the Federal system, reof the scliools
actual
life,
�FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.
653
volving obediently around the general government, had shot
madly from
their splieres.
into their former orbits,
Those States must be brought back
— to
obey again the authority they
had thus contemned. They had been conquered as enemies,
they must be restored as friends civil must take the place
of military force the reign of law must be substituted for the
Whatever may have been the constitureign of the sword.
tional theories entertained, whatever may have been deemed
the effect of secession upon the condition of the States seceding, whether they were dead States within the Union, or only
" wayward sisters " wandering at will without, all desired and
demanded. Democrats as well as Republicans, their return to
Another great fact was the
their former place and fealty.
presence of four million emancipated slaves, who must be protected in and prepared for their new but critical condition.
Another fact still was the necessity of guarding against a
;
;
similar outbreak in the future.
If there could
not be adequate
punishment and indemnity for past crimes and
losses, as it
was generally conceded there could not be, all agreed there
should be, if possible, some security for the future.
The Democrats urged their usual protest against the proposition as " a revolutionary scheme," an infringement upon the
rights of the States, and an infraction of the Constitution
;
counselled conciliatory measures, those that would the soonest
back the recusants and soonest cover with the mantle
unhappy past. " Every hour," said Mr. Boyer
invite
of oblivion the
of Pennsylvania, " during which
we govern the eleven States
with their twelve million people as conquered provinces, carries
us further away from the original landmarks of the Constitu-
and brings us nearer to centralization and military despotism." Mr. Eldridge had faint hopes of such a consummation, and yet, he said, " the sooner we forget and forgive, tlie
Mr. Rogers spoke of the
better it will be for the nation."
"wicked, odious, and pestilent despotism" to which these
" God save the
States were to be sul)jectcd, and exclaimed
people of the South from the degradation by which they would
tion,
:
be obliged to go to the polls and vote side by side with the
negro
!
�654
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
EISE
TliG Republicans
who advocated
gave
it
IN AMERICA.
their support for
it
Mr. Schenck of Ohio made
special mention of the provision excluding Rebels from par-
various and dissimilar reasons.
government as a reason therefor while Mr.
though supporting the amendment as
ticipation in the
Raymond
of
;
New York,
a whole, expressed his disapproval thereof, because, he said,
opinions could not be controlled by force, and that " with any
people
fit
are free,
countrymen
to be free or to be the
all
men who
of
such efforts defeat themselves and intensify and
perpetuate the hostilities sought to be overcome."
Massachu-
spoke earnestly for the amendment, and placed
setts
its
advo-
cacy on the higher plane of principle and of the importance of
building aright as they were building
anew the
institutions of
Mr. Eliot pleaded for a policy that would make the
He spoke of the fearful, but
" Never," he said,
glorious responsibility resting upon them.
the land.
Union " perpetual."
restored
" had any Congress such questions to determine.
We
into the whole future life of the Repul^lic.
false corner-stone
They enter
have seen the
knocked from beneath the temple.
It
must
be replaced by a corner-stone of righteousness, solid and square
done."
x4.nd that work is in our hands, and it must be
Mr. Boutwcll spoke of the " substantial justice " de-
manded
for the
and
true.
Union they were
restoring,
and
of the fact
that " every traitor of the South and sympathizer with treason
in the North " sustained the policy of the President and of the
Democratic party.
Mr. Dawes gave
it
his " hearty support,"
though he did not approve of the section disfranchising Rebels.
Mr. Banks said that no policy would meet his approval which
"
left
the basis of political society in
Speaking of tha Southern States, he
to govern by opinion.
They govern by
tradition
is
force."
force.
They do not
tlie
South unchanged."
said, "
They do not seek
rely on ideas for success.
Their philoso})hy
is
force.
Their
Tliough he avowed his purpose to support
the amendment, he frankly expressed the conviction that
did not fully " meet the emergency."
it
During the debate the policy of President Jolmson came up
and searching review, being both varmly defended
and as warmly condemned. On the 5th of May Mr. Phelps of
for sharp
�FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Maryland made a most elaborate and
655
eulogistic speech in de-
fence of the President and his policy, and also a defence of
the returning loyalty of the seceded States, which, he contended, they had shown by the adoption of the Thirteenth
Amendment,
abolishing slavery.
Though confessing
liis
testation of treason, which he branded as " crime," and
de-
from
which he shrunk as from " pollution," disowning, too, all
sympathy with the leaders, who had " fired the Southern
heart," and deeming them worthy of punishment, he still
contended that they had been punished by the results of the
war, and that they had given sufficient guaranties by adopting
Amendment.
the Thirteenth
What was
he formulated in the four particulars,
involved by that act
— a surrender
of the cause
war a pledge of sincerity in accepting the results of
the war
a guaranty of future loyalty
a punishment for
treason by confiscation, involved in this loss of property inof the
;
;
;
vested in their slaves, besides the other losses of the war.
He was
who
immediately followed by Mr. Ingersoll of
Illinois,
sharply arraigned the policy of the President, and ques-
tioned the purity and ingenuousness of his motives in adoptspecious words, he said, lie was cloalving
and he surmised that his haste in hunying
the States into the Union resulted more from his desire for per" The dearest
sonal advancement than for the pubhc good.
object of his heart," he contended, looked no higher than
ing
it.
Though using
ulterior purposes
;
their support in the presidential election of 1868.
a pretence of restoring the Union," he said, " he
game
anties
is
"
Under
playing a
succession,' otherwise he would demand guarfrom the South that the commonest prudence would
for the
'
declare necessary before they are clothed with full political
power." Referring to the contested point concerning " the
status of States," the great question
" teclmically speaking
is
not, he said, whether
tliese States are in or
out of the Union,"
but whether the Rebels in them should be " allowed to vote
with reference to the restoration of those States."
Speaking
of the difficulties of the situation, he said, the old battles
between liberty and justice and slavery and tyranny " are on
us again." The clash of arms has ceased, the physical battle
�656
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
has ended, " but the old battle of ideas
is
IN AMERICA.
upon us
He
still."
admitted that there had been advancement, but there was
still
work to be accomplished. "The Rebels," he said,
made Rebels in a day, and they cannot be made
They were the legitimate offspring of slavpatriots in a day.
ery after an incubation of at least half a century, and now
some are so crazy as to suppose that they can be turned into
patriots in an hour. In my opinion the}' must be born again."
a great
-
" were not
Mr. Stevens closed the debate with earnest deprecation of the
men " who had slaughtered half a million
haste of restoring
of our countrymen, until their clothes are dried."
to the fact that
it
was " but
six years ago "
Alluding
when they went
forth " in one yelling body," he said, " I do not wish to
sit
side
by side with men whose garments smell of the blood
of
my
kindred."
He
expressed his gratification at the degree
of unanimity finally reached
among
the Republicans upon the
measure, though he regretted ^the number who opposed the
exclusion of Rebels from the right of suffrage, saying he would
not give the snap of his fingers for
The
it
without that provision.
resolution then passed by a vote
of one
hundred and
twenty-eight to thirty-seven.
Its introduction into the
signal for a large
number
Senate on the 27th of
of
amendments.
Mr.
May was the
Wade offered
which the provision excluding Rebels from sufwas left out, and all class discrimination in
the requirements made by the States was forbidden.
Mr.
"
Wilson moved to strike out the word
property" as a qualification for suffrage, and instead of the provision excluding
Rebels from suffrage until 1870, to insert one excluding from
office, national or State, all who abandoned any United States
office to engage in the Rebellion.
Mr. Clark of New Hampshire offered an amendment not differing essentially from that
of Mr. Wilson.
Mr. Buckalew moved to amend hy a provisa substitute, in
frage until 1870
amendment should be submitted to legislatures
Mr. Sherman sutimitted an amendment basing representation on suffrage. In the mean time the Repulv
lican members held a caucus at which a scries of resolutions
ion that the
hereafter chosen.
were adopted to be offered in the Scna'e- as a substitute for
�657
FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Howard of Michigan was chosen
The consequence was that the debate in
that body partook more of particular discussion of these and
other proposed amendments than of the general subject, though
the House resolution, and Mr.
to present them.
the latter received consideration.
It
continued
many
days,
and the amendments, modifications, and suggestions were very
numerous. Some were accepted, but most were rejected, when
on the 8tli of June the series, as amended, were adopted by a
vote of thirty-three to eleven.
The resolution was returned to
the House, and with very little opposition the amendments of
the Senate were concurred in by a vote of one hundred and
twenty to thirty-two. The following is the text of the amend-
ment
as
it
passed both houses of Congress, received the ap-
proval of the President, and was ratified by the
number
of the States
:
—
requisite
" Sec.
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State
shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privinor shall
leges or immunities of citizens of the United States
any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its
;
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
" Sec.
2.
Representatives shall be apportioned
eral States according to their respective
among
the sev-
numbers, counting the
whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not
But when the right to vote at any election for the
President and Vice-President of the
United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and
taxed.
choice of electors for
judicial officers of a State, or the
thereof, is denied to
members
of the legislature
any of the male inhabitants of such State,
being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United
States, or in
any way abridged, except for participation in
rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein
which the number of such
male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens
shall be reduced in the proportion
twenty-one years of age in such State.
" Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in
VOL.
III.
42
�658
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AilERICA.
Congress, or elector of President and Yice-President, or hold
any
any
or military, under the United States, or under
who, having previously taken an oath as a member
of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a
member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial
officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United
States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against
office, civil
State,
But
remove
the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
Congress may, by
a vote of
two
thirds of each house,
such disability.
" Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States,
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of
pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection
or rebellion, shall not be questioned.
But neither the United
States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the
United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of
any slave but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be
;
held illegal and void.
" Sec. 5. Tlie Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
The amendment, having passed the fiery ordeal of congresand action, was to be subjected to the hostile
sional debate
criticism
States.
of
It
the President
and to run the gantlet
of
the
passed Congress on the 18th of June, 1866, and on
the 22d the President sent in a message in which, after alluding to " the paramount importance " of amending the Constitution under any circumstances, spoke of the
enhancement of
was not
that importance " by the fact that the joint resolution
submitted by the two houses to the approval of the President,
and that
of the thirty-six States
which constitute the Union,
either house of
eleven are excluded from representation in
Congress, although, with the single exception of Texas, they
have been entirely restored to all their functions as States, in
conformity with the organic law of the land, and have appeared
by Senators and Representatives who
been refused, admission to the
Referring to his doubts " whether the action
at the national capital
liave
applied for, and have
vacant seats."
�FOURTEENTH AMENDIIENT.
of Congress
was
659
harmony with the sentiments
in
of the peo-
ple," " waiving the question of its constitutional validity, as
also of " the merits of the article " to be submitted to the people,
and expressing his
belief that
no amendment should be
submitted until these States are represented in Congress, he
informed that body that, in submitting
it
for the ratification of
and that of the Secretary of State were
" purely ministerial and in no sense whatever committing the
executive to an approval or a recommendation of the amendthe States, his action
ment to the State
The opposition
protracted,
consumed
if
legislatures or to the people."
it
encountered from the people was more
not more \iolent
in the struggle,
and
;
it
more than two years were
was not until the 20th of July,
for
1868, that Mr. Seward made public proclamation of his certificate that
the requisite
amendment.
number
of States
had
ratified the
Reciting the facts and quoting the laws that
prescribed his duty in the premises, he continued
"
:
—
And
whereas it appears, from official documents on file in
Department, that tlie amendment to the Constitution of
the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by
the legislatures of the States of Connecticut, New Hampshire,
this
Tennessee,
New
Jersey, Oregon, Vermont,
New
York, Ohio,
Illinois, West Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri,
Indiana, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania,
Michigan, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Iowa;
" And whereas it further appears, from documents on file in
this
Department, that the amendment to the Constitution of
the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has also been ratified by newly constituted and newly established bodies avow-
ing themselves to be, and acting as, the legislatures, respectively,
of the
States of Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina,
Louisiana, South Carolina, and
"
And whereas
it
Alabama;
further appears, from
official
documents on
Department, that the legislatures of two of the
States first above enumerated, to wit, Ohio and New Jersey,
have since passed resolutions, respectively, withdrawing the
consent of each of said States to the aforesaid amendment
and whereas it is deemed a matter of doubt and uncertainty
file
in this
�660
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
whether such resolutions are not irregular, invalid, and therefore ineffectual for withdrawing the consent of the said
States, or of either of them, to the aforesaid
"
And
whereas the twenty-three States
amendment
first
;
.
two
.
.
.
hereinbefore
named, whose legislatures have ratified the said proposed
amendment, and the six States next thereafter named, as having ratified the said proposed amendment by newly constituted
and established
legislative
bodies,
together constitute three
fourths of the whole number of States in the United States
" Now, therefore, be it known that I, William H. Seward,
Secretary of State of the United States, by virtue and in pur-
suance of the second section of the act of Congress, approved
the twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and eighteen, hereinbefore cited, do hereby certify that
if
the resolutions of the
and New Jersey ratifying the aforesaid
amendment are to be deemed as remaining in full force and
legislatures of Ohio
effect,
notwithstanding the subsequent resolutions of the
legis-
latures of those States which purport to withdraw the consent
of said States from such ratification, then the aforesaid amend-
ment has been ratified in the manner hereinbefore mentioned,
and so has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part
of the Constitution of the
United States."
The next day Congress adopted a concurrent resolution,
in the Senate without a count, and in the House by a vote of
one hundred and thirty-six to thirty-two, declaring the Fourteenth
Amendment
to be a part of the Constitution.
�CHATTER XLVII.
FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Fourteenth
Amendment
defective.
— Mr.
Boutwell reports resolution in the
—
—
well's rejoinder. — Speech of B. H. Butler. — Resolutions adopted. — False
accusations of partisanship. — Patriotic purposes of the Republicans. — Resolutions reported to the Senate. — Speech of Stewart. — Senate resolution adopt— House resolution reported. — Amendments and substitutes proposed. —
— Mr. Sumner opposes
Speeches of Ferry, Dixon, Morton. — Woman
the resolution. — Too sanguine. — Mr. Willey's speech. — Republican oppo— Dixon, Doolittle, Norton. — Twenty-four hours' debate. — Speech
—
—
House and opens the debate.
Democratic reply.
Eldridge, Kerr, Beck.
Amendments offered by Bingham, AVard, Shellabarger, and speeches.
Bout-
ed.
suffrage.
sition.
—
—
and amendment of Mr. Wilson.
Defence of Republican policy.
Vote and
conference.
Adoption of amendment.
Ratification by the States.
Presi-
—
—
—
dent's special message.
The
great defect of the Fourteenth
charged during
its
discussion,
was
Amendment,
its at least tacit
as freely
recognition
of the right of States to disfranchise the ex-slaves, should they
so elect.
much
True, they could not do
it
without sacrificing so
in the basis of their representation in
they were willing to
make
Congress
;
but
if
that sacrifice, there was nothing in
To remedy
and
so
dissonant
from
the
that defect, so palpable
doctrine of
human riglits, the proclaimed equality of mankind, and the
two amendments already adopted, and at the same time ta
rescue the freedmen from the almost uncontrolled domination
the
amendment
to prevent such discrimination.
of the late slavemasters, with their bitter determination to keep
them from the
and to put into
it was resolved
enjoyment
of their newly found liberty,
hands a weapon for their own defence,
to incorporate into the organic law a new
provision for their protection, and to supplement the amendments of the Constitution already adopted by another. There
full
their
�662
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
were accordingly introduced into both houses, almost simultaneously, measures for that purpose.
It should be premised, and it may be appropriately mentioned in this connection, that from the first the thought of
negro suffrage, as one of the logical results of the Rebellion,
was
entertained.
Rid, by their treason, of
all
constitutional
claims of the slave-masters, hitherto recognized and respected,
many
at
with the
once coupled the looked-for freedom of the slaves
gift of
perquisites
citizenship
and the
And when
thereof.
there were not wanting those
and
was assured,
rights, immunities,
that freedom
who were prepared
make
to
it
thus effective by at once invoking Congress to adopt measures for that purpose.
had exclusive
As, therefore, the general government
Columbia and
jurisdiction over the District of
the Territories, and could not be estopped by any fancied or
real infringement of State rights
from any
expedient, the idea of clothing the newly
deemed
legislation
made freedmen with
the right of voting took the form of resolutions early intro-
duced into both houses of Congress to that
Not un-
effect.
aware of the risks involved, or rather of the fact that there
were risks to be taken in such a venture and new departure, probably, indeed, not quite adequately impressed with all that
involved in so great and radical a change, they deemed
it
was
wise,
for the good hoped for, to accept the chances,
and trust to the
natural workings of just action and the favor of an overruling
Providence for desirable results and a safe deliverance. Thus
freed from constitutional entanglements and State complicaon the suffrage question partook
and of
the nature of the policy itself than was observable later, when
those State and constitutional issues were brought forward
tions, these early debates
more
largely of the enunciation of general principles
and so earnestly pressed.
No
sooner, therefore, had
together at
its first
the
XXXIXth
Congress come
session than Mr. "VVade introduced, on the
4th of December, 1865, into the Senate a
bill
giving each male
person of the age of twenty-one years, a citizen of the United
States,
and a resident
in the District of
Columbia
six
months,
the elective franchise without distinction of race, color, or
�663
FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
A
nationality.
similar bill
was introduced
into the
House the
next day by Mr. Kclley of Pennsylvania, referred, reported on
the 18th, and made the special order for the 10th of January,
1866. In the reported bill the word " white " was stricken
laws prescribing the qualifications of voters. The
mover spoke of " the responsibility that rests upon this Conout from
gress,
all
and
in which
which mark the era
of the gravity of the questions
we
Without, however, following the debates
live."
in either house, or noting the various propositions that were
made, the
sprung up from time
spirit of the discussions that
to time on the general sul)ject, as well as the general line of
argument pursued and the general tone of feeling which preby a few extracts from the speeches
made. Mr, Wilson of Iowa, who reported the bill in the
House, spoke of it as in exact harmony with the spirit and
purpose of the Constitution, which recognized no class distinc" Looking into its bright face," he said, " as into a
tions.
mirror, each individual sees himself reflected a citizen and of
vailed, will be revealed
;
this there is never a failure.
This
The whitest
our Constitution.
is
the crowning glory of
face can
draw nothing from
that mirror but the image of a citizen, and the same return
is
If ever
given to the appeal of the black face.
aught else
appears, be sure you are not looking into the broad, bright
surface of the real Constitution,
lies."
Mr. Farnsworth of
made
of the Constitution
some gentleman
it
never varies, never
man as man," asked
name tell me why this body
it
in God's
for
Illinois, affirming that the
for "
:
framers
" Will
of
men
government have not the same right as
What business have I to elbow
I have to participate in it ?
another man off, and to say to him that he has no right here ?
Has God made me better than he has made him ? We might
who
are under the
as well partition off the atmosphere, collect the rays of the
them from the men we may conceive
inferior to ourselves."
to be
" Sir," said Mr. Julian of Indiana,
" justice
right
sun, and withhold
is
Democracy
Perhaps
safe.
is
it
The
not a
was the
lie.
God
thing
is
is
the
expedient thing.
not the Devil."
upon the l^lack man
and then refuse him all
injustice of calling
to help save the nation in its peril,
�664
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
participation in its affairs, that
on.
To
dom
in the
replied,
erty
'
IN AMERICA.
was most eloquently
melee of the war, Mr. Bingham of Ohio well
" Yet, sir, the moment that the word Lib-
adding
'
:
moment that the word Emanwas emblazoned upon your banners, those men who,
ran along your ranks, the
cipation
'
'
with their ancestors, had been enslaved through
tions,
insisted
the taunt that the negro had not struck for his free-
man
rose as one
to stand
by
this
five
genera-
Republic, the last
hope of oppressed luimanity upon the earth, until they numbered one hundred and seventy-five thousand in arms under your banners, doing firmly, unshrinkingly, and defiantly
their full share in securing the final victory of our arms."
" When," said Mr. Boutwell, " we proclaimed the emancipation of the slaves, and put their lives in peril for the defence
of this country,
we
ity,
and heathen countries
What
them substanand a Christian poster-
did in effect guarantee to
American
tially the rights of
will
citizens
demand how we have kept
that
by Christian, but by
lieathen nations even, if, after accepting tlie blood and sacrifices of these men, we hurl them from us and allow them to be
the victims of those who have tyrannized over them for centuries ?
I know of
I know of no crime that exceeds this
none that is its parallel and if this country is true to itself it
will rise in the majesty of its strength and maintain a policy,
here and everywhere, by which the rights of the colored people
faith
will be said of us, not
;
;
shall be secured through their
own power,
war the bayonet."
The measure encountered Democratic
— in peace the
bal-
lot, in
opposition, based
the usual postulates of that class of politicians,
a white man's government, that the negro
is
— that
on
this is
inferior, that
and that to introduce him into
the body politic on terms of political and social equality would
be to war against nature and inflict great injury on both.
Their position was well summarized by Mr. Rogers of New
slavery
Jersey.
is
his natural status,
"
When
you," he said, " introduce into the social
system of this country the right of the African race to compete at the ballot-box with the intelligent white citizens of this
country, you arc disturbing and imbittering the whole social
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
665
—
system,
you rend the bonds of a common political faith,
you break up commercial intercourse and the free interchanges
of trade, and you degrade the people of this country before the
eyes of the envious monarchs of Europe, and
fill
our history
with a record of degradation and shame."
When the subject was up in the Senate, Mr. Davis of Kentucky contended that the measure was against the " teachings
of nature and the traditions of the past "
while of the Afri;
can he said, " Freedom with ignorance and barbarism, or slavery with civilization, is his destiny." The proposed measure
he petulantly stigmatized as an experiment, a skirmish, an
entering wedge to prepare tlie way for a similar movement in
Congress to confer the right of suffrage on
all
the negroes of
by the recent amendment to
the Constitution, the power to be claimed under its second
the United
liberated
States,
clause."
Between these extremes there were those who were anxious
man, but who feared to clothe him at
once with that supreme right of sovereignty embodied in the ballot, and who would annex some conditions thereto. Among the
advocates of a qualified suffrage was Mr. Kasson of Iowa. " Let
to do justice to the black
the blacks," he said, "
white
men who
who
gallantly fought, go and vote, let the
and vote, let all these who
who can read and write, and thus underour government, who can read the ballot
gallantly fought go
did go and fight, and
stand the system of
with which they are attempting to control our country,
—
let all
these
men go and
coln,
who, in a communication made but three days before his
you will, and aid in the government of
our country." This idea, which was proclaimed by other members in both houses of Congress, was also that of President Lindeath, declared
it
vote
if
to be his preference that " the elective fran-
chise were now conferred on the very intelligent of the colored
men and on those of them who served our cause as soldiers."
"When the subject was
in the Senate,
Mr. Willey from West
made a very calm
and candid speech in its behalf. Claiming a desire and purpose to do justice to the negro, and avowing his willingness
Virginia offered a similar amendment, and
tliat
those
who had
fought the battles of the country, and those
�666
who
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
could read might vote, he contended, however, that " suf" The order and
is not a natural and absolute right."
frage
economy of Providence," he said, had indicated that " citizenThough he
ship must necessarily be subject to limitations."
would not discriminate against race or color, he would discriminate in favor of some sort of personal fitness on the part
of those
who
are to be clothed with the supreme prerogative of
making the laws and choosing the rulers of the realm. Affirming that " every community may rightfully exclude from
political authority all persons whose incorporation in it would
imperil its prosperity and security," he contended that a large
proportion of the freedmen had not the " mental or moral
condition " that fitted them for the high trust, and that it
would be unjust to the people of the District to place in their
hands a power they knew so little how to use, and would be
Describing their savage origin, and the
so liable to abuse.
unfriendly influence of slavery upon the character of its victims, he asked:
"Are
these safe depositaries of the political
Would you intrust to them
power of any community ?
any private business or personal interest of importance ?
And yet he reminded the Senate of the pregnant issues before
them, of the new duties imposed upon them, and of the obligation resting upon the nation to " recognize the authority of
the heavenly precept uttered by the divine Lawgiver, which
Therefore,
has sounded down through successive centuries
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do
Mr. Foster of Connecticut, referring
ye even so to them.' "
" If
to the claim that the ballot would be a protection, asked
he cannot read the ballot, what kind of protection is it to
him ? A written or printed slip of paper is put into the hands
of a man, black or white, and if he cannot read it, what is it
.
.
.
.
:
'
:
to
him
?
with it?
What
How
does he
know about
it ?
What
As
can he protect himself by it?
can he do
well might
be put in the hands of a child who knew nothing of firearms
a loaded pistol with which to protect himself against his
enemies."
Against what was called the educational amendment, Mr.
Wilson entered his most earnest protest; and he contended
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
that
many men who
667
could not read loved their country, loved
and had " made a better record for the last thirty
for
country, for liberty, for justice and humanity, than
years
have some of the most learned men in the land." " I regard
tliis amendment," he said, " as a proposition against schooljustice,
houses for the education of the colored
if
down
not to tear
black man,
it is
qualification of reading
man
and writing
Who
?
man who
is
to pass
upon
this
The man who has voted
shall not vote at all
in Congress to allow the
man
of this District
to prevent the erection of the school-house for
the education of the black man.
that the black
men
the school-houses for the education of the
It is
?
proposed here
has voted that the black
whether he can read and write
The educational amendment was, how-
shall not vote at all to say
well enough to vote."
and the bill was passed over the President's
on the 7th of January, 1867, in the Senate, by a vote of
twenty-nine to ten, and the next day in the House by a vote
Only a few days
of one hundred and thirteen to thirty-eight.
ever, rejected,
veto,
applying the same principle to the Territories
later a bill
passed Congress by about the same vote.
In the House, on the 11th of January, 1869, Mr. Boutwell
reported from the Committee on the Judiciary a joint resolution proposing an
amendment which provided
that the right to
vote of no citizen should be abridged by the United States or
any State by reason of race, color, or previous condition of
The subject came up for discussion on the 23d, and
the debate was opened by Mr. Boutwell of Massachusetts in
slavery.
an elaborate and able speech. He began with the assertion
that the measure Avas the last of a series of great measures
growing out of the Rebellion and necessary for the organiza"If," he said, "we
tion and pacification of the country.
secure to
all
the people of the country, without distinction
we
of race or color, the privilege of the elective franchise,
have
tlien
established
republican equality the
upon the broadest possible basis
institutions
of
the country."
of
The
committee had coupled in their report two measures, the proposed amendment and a resolution, designed to secure equal
privileges and immunities to all citizens of the United States,
�668
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
with the enforcement of the provisions of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
latter,
While confining
his
remarks mainly to the
he expressed the opinion of the former that the right
was too important and essential to be a mere matwould be subject to popular
and to all the possible changes of public opinion. It
of suffrage
ter of simple legislation, that
caprice,
should be made, he contended, the subject of organic law,
and be incorporated in the Constitution.
He considered at length, and with careful elaboration of
authorities, the objection, then and since m'ged with so much
pertinacity, that the riglit of conferring suffrage belonged to
the States alone, and that the general government could not
interfere without infringement of such reserved rights.
contended that the proposed measure
less
is
than four distinct lines of argument,
text of the Constitution "
defensible
— on " the
He
from no
original
from the provision that guarantees
from the
a republican form of government to each State
Fourteenth Amendment and from the fact that it " is essential to the existence and preservation of the government itself,
and was so regarded by the men who framed the Constitution
;
;
;
in 1787."
These positions of the Representative from Massachusetts
were, however, vigorously controverted, and his constitutional
argument sharply impugned, by Mr. Eldridge of Wisconsin, a
Democratic member of the committee that had reported the
measures under discussion. By a like array of authorities, he
attempted to show that no such power was delegated to the
From both the Constitution and contemporaneous history he deduced reasons, he deemed conclugeneral government.
sive, that his,
and not that
ing of these authorities.
of his colleague,
He
was the true
read-
closed his speech by a sharp
arraignment of what he was pleased to term " the infernal
spirit of party that has controlled, sunk, and degraded so
much
war."
of
the
He
legislation of
invoked that
Congress during and since the
spirit
of enlarged patriotism that
paramount regard for the country
and the sacredness of the Constitution. During the same and
succeeding days elaborate speeches were made in the same
could forget party in
its
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
vein, pursuing the
same
line of
669
argument, by Mr. Kerr of
Indiana and Beck of Kentucky.
" This debate," said Mr. Boutwell, near
demonstrated two facts
ment that
it
Constitution
;
is
:
one
there
is,
is
close,
" has
a very general agree-
is
an amendment
desirable to submit
and the other
its
that there
is
the
to
a very great differ-
ence of opinion as to the details of the amendment."
This
appeared from the several amendments that were offered.
One
offered by Mr. Bingham of Ohio extended the suffrage to
male citizens of suitable age and " sound mind," excepting
only those who might " hereafter engage in rebellion."
Mr.
all
Ward
of
New York
presented an
amendment allowing
the
right of suffrage to all except such as have been convicted of
treason or other crimes, with certain provisions concerning
registration
offered an
"who
but
have engaged or
may
Mr.
Shellabarger of Ohio
all,
except those
engage"
in rebellion,
the right to
hereafter
contained no reference to registration or naturalization.
it
On
and naturalization.
amendment extending
House in supamendment. Speak-
the 29th Mr. Shellabarger addressed the
port of
the measure and
in behalf of his
ing of the mooted point of authority, he contended that that
was and could be " no government at all that has not in itself
power
to control the question as to
who
shall
make
the rulers
government," quoting the words of Hamilton in supHe objected to the proposed amendment
port of his position.
the prescribed restrictions were limbecause
committee
of the
of that
ited to " three grounds,
slavery."
—
race, color, or previous condition of
If these three limitations
be
all,
he
said,
"other
" may be prescribed,
qualifications of intelhgencc and property
which shall as effectually debar the ex-slaves from the right of
And he contended that the evidence was " oversuffrage.
whelming and ocean-like," that " the master white race will
submit to negro enfranchisement not an hour longer than
compelled by Federal coercion. He forewarned the House
that, if this liberty was granted, " a loyal State government in
the late Confederate States
sible."
Mr. Bingham
of
is
instantly
the same
made
to be impos-
State, in a brief but ex-
ceedingly earnest and eloquent speech, while indorsing his
�670
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
amendment as the " same in substance " as his
"
one exception," took issue upon that. That exown, with
ception was to the clause, " who have engaged, or may herecolleague's
He would make the restriction
and apply only to those who might hereafter
engage in insurrectionary measures. Against the proposition
to exclude all who had participated in the late Rebellion he
entered his earnest protest, because in some of the States it
would be disfranchising " a majority of its male adults " beafter engage," in rehellion.
prospective,
;
cause to include all who were forced into the Rebel armies by
coercion and " a cruel conscription, which entered the homes
of hundreds of thousands,"
would be an outrage on the en-
and
lightened conscience and common-sense of mankind "
"
shall
States,
so frame
we
because in reconstructing those
;
the fundamental law that
past,
we
will not take
but security for the future."
He
vengeance for the
pleaded earnestly
for conciliation and peace, and contended that duty, interest,
and patriotism
called
upon them
to "
summon back
to the
standard of the country and the support of the government
men who but yesterday were in arms
" Let us have peace," he said in closing, " that
the whole multitude of
against us."
by our sublime example we may teach the whole world how
good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together
'
in unity,'
"
Mr, Ward, in speaking for the measure and his amendment,
it differed from that of Mr. Shellabarger mainly in
said that
that
it
required a residence of three months, and
made some
provision in the matter of registration and naturalization.
He
contended for the right and duty of adopting the amendment
proposed, and that the time had come when its undoubted
power should be exercised by the country, and this right
should be secured by organic law.
He said that there were in
the border States and many of the Northern States one hundred and fifty thousand loyal male citizens, " unconvicted of
crime, untainted with treason, who are paying taxes and are
subject to military duty,"
who
are deprived of the right of
In addition, there were in other States six hundred
thousand whose riglit " depends upon the volition of those
suffrage.
�671
FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
States," so that, he contended, the question actually before
Congress
who
is this
:
" Will you secure to a million of loyal men,
are willing to discharge their duties to the government,
the right of suffrage ? He contended that to do it would
be " the capstone in the great temple of American freedom."
He
opposed with great vigor Mr. Bingham's proposition to
extend the suffrage to
He
volved.
all,
or the universal amnesty
contended, with too
much
it
in-
truth, as events have
shown, that it would be only a question of time when the
Rebel leaders would be back again in Congress, " booted and
spurred from the Rebel service to make laws for the widows
and orphans they have helped to make." He contended that
past clemency had been abused.
Citing instances of recent
outrage in Georgia, Arkansas, and Louisiana, as fruits of the
" loyalty " there existing, he said " Clemency to such men is
:
crime
;
it is
who
unjust to the dead
who
fell
in our cause,
and
to the
and he expressed himself as
" weary of this sickly sentimentalism which strikes hands with
traitors and criminals at the expense of justice and the public
living
survive the contest"
;
safety."
It transpired
during the debate that the amendment offered
by Mr. Shellabarger was the expression of the sentiments and
wishes of several of the Ohio delegation, who wished to guard
against the imposition by the States of intelligence and property qualifications, as also of a rehgious test.
In response to
these and other considerations of a like tenor, Mr. Boutwell,
while admitting the possibility of such action, expressed his
disbelief in its probability,
gave
it
as his opinion that
the
progress of the discussion had convinced him of the danger of
undertaking to "wipe out every minute test or distinction
which may have been estal)lished by the States," and that it
would be wise to restrict their legislation to the three specifiInsure the classes therecations of tlie proposed amendment.
in specified, he said too sanguinely, against the discriminations
contemplated, and the rest might be safely left to the sense
of justice, the interests of all, and the gradual working out of
and vindicated. Mr. Butler of
Massachusetts presented the same view. " I think," he said,
principles already recognized
�672
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" we had better stand by the proposition of the committee,
and apply the amendment precisely where the great trouble
and the great disgrace of the country is at present " and
he augured the best results from its adoption as it came from
lies,
;
AVith the full privilege of expressing their
views accorded to black and white alike, and " peace, security,
the committee.
and safety" existing notwithstanding, he would then " be ready
from all disabilities because of rebellion,
but not until then." He also objected to the amendments
because it would so hamper the States that they could not
in any way protect the ballot-box by even the most obviously
to relieve everybody
required restrictions.
The previous question was moved on the 30th of January
amendments were rejected by very decisive votes, and the
joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution
the
of the United States giving suffrage to all " without distinction
of color, race, or previous condition of servitude,"
by a vote of
one hundred and
fifty to
was adopted
more than
forty-two, or
the required two-thirds majority.
The
charge, so freely
made by
the Democratic members,
that the action of the Republicans in pressing the claims of
the freedmen for
still
further guaranties for their protection
was prompted by only partisan motives and the purpose
to add to their party strength, finds little support from
Mere disaany internal evidence afforded by the debates.
vowals of any such designs might well be looked upon with
suspicion, but no candid reader of these debates can fail to be
impressed with the sincere and earnest purpose evinced to
ascertain, if possible, the best methods of grappling with the
great and admitted dangers and difficulties of the situation.
If their
manifest spirit and purpose did not reveal
it,
the great
diversity of sentiment and
upon each other preclude the idea that they were seeking mere
party advantage. They were too intent on securing what had
not yet been fully attained, of finishing up the work on which
they had been so long and strenuously engaged, to justify
such impeachment of their motives. The earnestness which
had carried them tlirough the shock, the stress and strain of
the sharpness of their criticisms
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
673
four years of a war of such gigantic dimensions and cost had
was patriotism and not party, the
tliat were the watchwords and
They sought, no doubt, to retain
inspiration of their course.
RepubHcan ascendency as why should they not ? They saw
no safety for that country but in such ascendency and why
sliould they not seek to maintain it ?
But tlie same jealousy
that sought to avert the re-enthronement of the Democracy was
equally impatient of Republican mistakes.
Therefore it was
that, fearful of such mistakes, they were cautious and critical of
each other. Sailing on unknown waters, they were anxious
not forsaken them.
It
country and not Republicanism,
;
;
that in shunning one danger they should not
others
fall into
;
that in giving the general government the needful power to
protect
all its
citizens, the State
governments should not be
needlessly hampered or deprived of any power that rightfully
belonged to them, or that could be safely
left in their
hands.
That earnest and able men, under such circumstances, should
differ upon the details of a measure upon whose general principles and purposes they were agreed, was not strange.
Without a miracle it could not have been otherwise. It was, however, far more noticeable in the Senate than in the House, to
which the debate on the resolution was now transferred.
During the debate in the House there had been proceeding
in the Senate a similar discussion
on a resolution introduced
by Mr. Henderson, and reported from the Committee on the
Judiciary, on the 13th of January, with an amendment.
The
"
resolution was in these words
No State shall deny or
abridge the right of its citizens to vote and hold office on account of race, color, or previous condition." The amendment
" The rights of
in the form of a substitute was as follows
citizens of the United States to vote and hold office shall not
:
:
be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude."
Mr. Stewart of Nevada, on intro-
ducing the discussion, remarked that
of a contest
which
it
was " the culmination
lias lasted for thirty years,
sult of the Rebellion, the abolition of slavery
flicts
in this country during
the logical re-
and
of tlie con-
and before the war."
(Quoting
a striking sentence from the Swiss address to the people of
�674
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
the United
IN AMERICA.
" undetermined
States recently published, that
questions have no pity for the repose of mankind," he said,
" it is the only measure that will really abolish slavery, the
only guaranty against peon laws and against oppression."
Ordinary legislation, he contended, was liable to change this
should be organic. " Let it be made," he said, " the immut;
able law of the land, let
it
Until then there
is
peace.
not occupy time, he added
than
man
can be.
:
be fixed, and then we shall have
no peace." Saying that he would
"
The
proposition
more eloquent
is
It is a declaration too high, too grand, too
The subject
was discussed from day to day, and several amendments were
offered, though both the debate and the motions to amend
were directed more to matters of detail than to the great prinnoble, too just, to be ornamented by oratory."
ciple involved
on the 17th
and the main object sought. A vote was reached
and the resolution was carried,
of February,
ayes thirty-five, nays eleven, absent twenty.
was reported by Mr. Stewart, amended
The earnestness and anxiety felt
chiefly in its phraseology.
were exhibited in the promptitude and number of amendments
that were at once offered.
Mr, Williams moved to insert
before the word " citizens " the words " natural born."
Mr.
Buckalew moved that the proposed amendment should be submitted to the legislatures, " the numerous branches of which
The House
resolution
shall be chosen
next after the passage of this resolution."
Mr. Howard proposed to substitute for the second section, as
reported, the words, " Citizens of the United States of African
descent shall have the same right to vote and hold office as
other citizens."
men
Mr. Corl)ett proposed to add
:
" But China-
not born in the United States and Indians not taxed
shall not be
deemed or made
citizens."
Mr. Fowler of Ten-
nessee proposed a substitute, the gist of which was that "
all
United States," excepting those guilty of insurrection or other infamous crimes, shall have the right of sufcitizens of the
"
frage, the State being allowed to fix " the period of residence
required for such privilege.
Mr. Sawyer moved a resolution
essentially similar, but reserving to the States the " conditions
of residence
and age and registration laws "
;
but they must
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
675
be " uniformly applicable to all male citizens." Mr. Dixon of
Connecticut moved as an amendment that the word " conventions " should be substituted for the word " legislatures " in
the resolution.
Mr. Pomeroy of Kansas moved, as a substi-
and hold office
should not be " denied or abridged by the United States or
tute, the proposition that the right to vote
any State for any reason not equally applicable to all citizens."
On the next day Mr. Ferry of Connecticut, who had the floor
upon the Senate resolution, but for which that of the House
was now substituted, addressed the Senate. He began with
tlie remark that his purpose to consider " the merits of the
proposed amendment of the Constitution " was made " in a
degree superfluous" by the course of the opposition, in seemingly yielding the point that suffrage should be extended,
and
only ol)jecting to the mode presented. " Every Senator," he
S8,id, " who has spoken against the resolution has placed his
opposition not upon
upon the particular mode
upon other technisurrounding the subject, instead of upon the subject
His speech was mainly directed to two of these
merits, but
its
of submission to the people provided for, or
calities
itself."
" technicalities."
He
first
referred to the alleged inconsist-
ency of the Republicans in accepting the article of the Chicago
and yet supporting the amendment.
He mainmight be a seeming departure from its
words, that it was only carrying out the underlying ideas on
which the platform was based, " the principle of the extension
of suffrage," which had been " indorsed fairly and squarely
by the people of the United States in the recent presidential
election."
The other was suggested by the amendment of his
colleague, Mr. Dixon, proposing to substitute "conventions"
platform,
tained, though there
for legislatures, to
whom
the proposed
amendments should be
In a long and sharp discussion he maintained,
and his colleague denied, that the general government had the
submitted.
right to " control this question " of suffrage.
Mr. Warner
amendwould be improved by
followed in a brief speech, accepting the proposed
ment, but expressing the idea that
enlarging
to vote.
its
it
scope with the guaranty to
woman
of her right
�676
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Mr. Morton declared
it
IN AMERICA.
to be his purpose to vote for the
Senate or House
" somewhat in phraseology"; though neither was satisfactory,
because, he said, " it tacitly concedes " that the States may
resoUition, differing in nothing, he said, but
disfranchise for other considerations than the three mentioned,
race, color, or previous condition of servitude," leaving " ex-
'•
and incongruities " untouched. NotwithLouisiana and Georgia, he instanced,
conditions that would disfranchise forty-nine
isting irregularities
standing
might
its restrictions,
establisli
out of every
fifty of
Even the amendment
the colored population of those States.
offered
by Mr. Howard which provided
that " the African race shall have the same right to vote and
hold
office as
other citizens " would, he contended, not debar
States from establishing
"an
that would cut off the great
educational and property test
mass
men. Mr. Wilby an amendment, he
of colored
liams proposed to meet the difficulty
offered, that " Congress shall have power to abolish or modify
any restrictions prescribed by any State."
In an elaborate
speech, in connection with his argument, he expressed the
conviction that the experiment of female suffrage would not
prove very satisfactory to
women
tion, with reasons, of admitting
themselves, and his depreca-
Chinamen
to the privileges of
citizenship.
On
the
same day Mr. Sumner made an earnest and elaborate
He needed, he said, no dis-
speech against the amendment.
claimer of lack of interest in the purposes of the measure, for
wliole life had spoken more loudly than any words he could
have uttered in disproval of any such imputation. He opposed
liis
it
because he deemed
it
unnecessary
;
because of
its
implica-
and because of the reflections the adoption of such an
amendment would cast upon the Constitution, whose spirit,
provisions, and scope he deemed perfectly competent for all
tliat was aimed at therein.
Indeed, he had, on the first day
tions
;
of the session, introduced a bill to enforce the several pro-
visions of the
Constitution abolishing slavery, declaring the
immunities of
citizens, and guaranteeing a republican form of
government by securing the elective franchise to all.
It had,
however, been reported on adversely and was not made the
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
677
He expressed his sense of " sadness " as greater in being compelled to vindicate the Consubject of direct discussion.
from the charge of sanctioning that spirit of caste,
involved in excluding any from the right of suffrage, on account
of color and race under the pretence of State rights, than bad
been the task of vindicating that sacred instrument from the
charge of sanctioning slavery, " Others may be cool and indifferent," he said," but I have warred Vith slavery too long
not to be aroused when this old enemy shows its head under
another alias. It was once slavery it is now caste and the
same excuse is assigned now as then." Speaking of the Constitution
;
stitution,
" especially since
said that
it
rights
he
" no
said,
dialectics,
is
skill
additional
amendments," he
question true that " anything for
" No learning in books,"
constitutional."
was beyond
human
its
;
all
acquired in courts, no sharpness of forensic
no cunning
in splitting hairs,
can impair the vigor of
Whatever you
There can be no
State rights against human rights, and this is the supreme
law of the land, anything in the constitution or laws of any
And he proceeded
State to the contrary notwithstanding."
to establish, with great vigor of reasoning and copious citations,
the constitutional principle which
enact for
human
rights
is
announce.
I
constitutional.
the "principle" he had enunciated.
He
noticed the
"two
reasons " assigned for the necessity of an amendment, the
doubtfulness of the power of Congress to enact such a law,
and the more " permanent character " of an amendment than
an act of Congress. To the first he replied by saying that
" the power is too clear for question." Of the latter he said,
" On this head I have no anxiety
In harmony with
the Declaration of Independence and in harmony with the
national Constitution, it will become of equal significance,
and no profane hand
be repealed.
The
will
touch
its
sacred text.
It will
never
elective franchise once recognized can never
once conferred, can never be resumed." Alluding
"
"
uncertainties, and provocations to local strife
delays,
to the
be denied
;
to be apprehended
from an attempt
to secure the adoption of
" unnecessame vote of two thirds," he said, " required
the amendment, he contended that they were
sary."
" The
all
�678
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
for the presentation of the
the veto of the President.
IN AMERICA.
amendment, will pass the act over
Once adopted, it will go into
instant operation, without waiting for the uncertain concur-
rence of State legislatures and without provoking local strife
The States will not be turned
so wearisome to the country.
and the Democratic party will have no
And
pudding-stick with which to stir the bubbling mass."
"
Party, country, mankind,
he closed by saying, triumphantly,
into political caldrons,
will be elevated, while the equal rights of all will be fixed
on a
foundation not less enduring than the Rock of Ages." In all
this Mr. Sumner, though no doubt sincere, was unquestionably mistaken, and nothing which has since transpired has
given either color or support to such sanguine anticipations.
His opposition to the proposed amendment, and his refusal
to vote for it, were sources of great regret to his friends
and the friends of the freedmen, which nothing in the conduct of the late slaveholding States and the present aspect of
affairs has served to modify or lessen.
He was followed the next day by Mr. "Willey of West Virginia, who contended that suffrage was " the only sure guaranty
the negro can have in
many
sections of the country of the en-
would be " a safer shield
than law " and that his enfranchisement was required " by
the demands of justice, by the principles of human liberty,
his civil rights"
joyment of
;
that
it
;
and by the
spirit of Christian civilization."
This unequivocal
statement and assertion by a Senator of a border State acquired
He made a
additional force from the section he represented.
good point on those who criticised so sharply the Republicans
from the policy of their platform which proposed
" Well, sir," he
to leave the matter of suffrage to the States.
for departing
replied, " this is precisely
what
this bill proposes to do.
refers the question to the States in the
the fundamental law.
It docs not create
the States, in a
It is not a
law
;
It
manner prescribed by
it is
only a proposition.
negro suffrage in any State
;
it
simply asks
manner prescribed by fundamental law, whether
or not they desire negro suffrage."
In addition to the Democrats who opposed the measure by
who had been chosen as
voice and vote were three Senators
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Republicans,
— Dixon
679
of Connecticut, Doolittle of Wisconsin,
—
and Norton of Minnesota,
who had gone over to the policy of
President Johnson, and who coupled their opposition to the
resolution with contumelious epithets for the negro, denial of
and ridicule for the principles and policy that
would place him on the same level with the whites and there
were few Democrats who went farther in this direction, or
that used severer or more caustic language.
The debate on the 8th was very excited and protracted, continuing nearly twenty-four hours.
During the day a very large
number of amendments were offered, and many sharp discussions upon subsidiary points and inferential inquiries occurred.
During the day Mr. AYilson spoke. He alluded to the " two
his equality,
;
distinctly defined classes of public
men "
in the Senate, hold-
ing antagonistic views on the great question of
human
rights,
of the long and fierce conflict between them, and of the final
*' discomfiture " of the champions of slavery.
He spoke of the
impeachment of motives, and charges
had been showered upon the friends of
charges, he continued, which had been equally profreedom,
nounced in connection with all the measures for the suppression of the Rebellion, the Proclamation of Emancipation, and
the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments and he expressed
his willingness to leave to the country, to the present and future
invectives, arraignments,
of partisanship that
—
;
ages, " the question of partisanship."
ment
of
Alluding to the argu-
Mr. Norton that the social ban under which the negro
rested furnished a reason against his enfranchisement, he said
*'
It outrages
The
humanity and dishonors the
poorer he
is,
the greater
is
:
spirit of the age.
our obligation
;
the more so-
from him, the more God bids us stand by,
Against the aspersions so freely
shield, and protect him."
uttered against the negro, he spoke of the character and culture of many, whom he entered high on his " list of friends."
Referring to the criticism that the Republicans were estopped
by the Chicago article, he said that the article did not fully
represent the opinions of " large masses of Republicans "
but that, wliatcvcr may have been true on that point, Congress
was free to submit such an amendment and the legislatures of
ciety averts its face
�680
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
the States might accept it if they chose. The Republican party,
so fully committed to " equality of rights and privileges," he
contended, was bound, in consistency, to " seize every oppor-
tune occasion to make the Constitution and laws of the country
harmony with
Saying that the march
of events and the clear conception of duty impelled to action,
he added " Better far that political organizations and public
in
sublime creed."
its
:
men
should be right with the lights of to-day than consistent
He
with the errors of yesterday."
spoke of the sacrifices
tlie
made by its past fealty to its principles, that
and weak had faltered and slunk away, and that it
party had already
the timid
had "
lost a quarter of million of voters "
because of this ad-
But though such might leave, the party would still
struggle on in the same sublime endeavor to " protect the
rights of others and thus assure our own."
He proposed an
amendment, adding to the specifications of race and color those
herence.
of " nativity, property, education, or creed."
amendment
He
spoke of his
as " comprehensive, just,
and therefore strong."
It excited a spirited discussion and the warm commendations of
Senators, but failed of securing a majority.
The next day he
presented it in a modified form, and proposed to substitute for
" No discrimination shall be
the second section these words
made in any State among the citizens of the United States in
:
the exercise of the elective franchise, or in the right to hold
any State on account of race, color, nativity, property,
education, or religious creed," and it was adopted.
An amendment, offered by Mr. Morton, making provision for choice of
presidential electors, was also adopted.
Mr. Sumner offered an
amendment in the form of a bill, expressive of the views enunciated in his speech
but it received only nine votes. After
office in
;
amendments, fifteen in number, had been disposed of,
the resolution was adopted by a vote of thirty-nine to sixteen.
When the resolution was reported to the House, a motion to
nonconcur and ask for a committee of conference was made by
Mr. Boutwell, and a motion to concur was made by Mr. Bingham. After a brief and sharp discussion the motion to nonconcur was carried, and a committee of conference was asked
Boutwell, Shellabarger, and Eldridge were chosen manafor.
all
the
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
681
Reported to the Senate, a motion was made that it
its amendment, and it was carried by a vote of
thirty-six to twenty-four.
But a motion to adopt tlie House
gers.
recede from
and exciting debate, was lost by a vote
two thirds voting for it.
The Senate then resumed the consideration of its own resolution, which had been laid aside on the reception of the House
resolution, and after several hours of sharp discussion, with
several amendments proposed and rejected, and various dilatory motions for adjournment and reconsideration, it was carried by a vote of thirty-five to eleven.
It was reported to the
House, a motion to suspend the rule for its consideration
was carried, several amendments were proposed and rejected,
and an amendment, offered by Mr. Bingham, adding the
words, " nativity, property, creed," was adopted, and the resolution, as thus amended, was carried by a vote of one hundred
and forty to thirty-seven. The resolution adopted by the
House was in these words " The right of citizens of the
United States to vote and hold office shall not be denied or
abridged by any State on account of race, color, nativity, propresolution, after a long
of thirty-one to twenty-seven, not
:
erty, creed, or previous condition of servitude."
of the
House
This action
being reported to the Senate, a motion was car-
ried disagreeing with its
amendment and asking
for a
mittee of conference, and Stewart, Conkling, and
com-
Edmunds
were appointed conferrees. The House insisted on its amendment, agreed to the committee of conference, and appointed
Boutwell, Bingham, and Logan managers. The committee
agreed upon a report recommending that the House recede
from its amendment, and that the words " to hold office " be
Both houses accepted the recommendation, and
the resolution, as thus amended, was, on the 25th of February,
carried by the necessary two-thirds vote, and the proposed
amendment of the Constitution was submitted to the legislastricken out.
tures of the States.
The Fifteenth Amendment
—
as
finally
adopted was as follows
" 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
:
not be abridged by the United States, or by any State, on ac-
count of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
�682
"
EISE
2.
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
The Congress
by appropriate
shall
IN AlIERICA.
have power to enforce
this article
legislation."
The amendment
received the votes of twenty-nine States,
constituting the requisite three fourths, and thus became a part
On the 30th of March, 1870, President
Grant communicated the fact to Congress in a special mes" The measure," he said, " which makes at once four
sage.
millions of the people voters who were heretofore declared by
of the organic law.
the highest tribunal in the land not citizens of the United
States nor elegible to
become
so,
with the assertion that at the
time of the Declaration of Independence was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white race, and regarded
axiom in morals as well as in politics, that black men
had no rights which white men are bound to respect, is indeed a measure of grander importance than any other one act
of the kind from the foundation of our free government to
the present time. Institutions, like ours, in which all power
is derived directly from the people, must depend mainly upon
their intelligence, patriotism, and industry.
I call the attention, therefore, of the newly enfranchised race to the importance of their striving in every honorable manner to make
themselves worthy of their new privilege. To a race more
favored heretofore by our laws I would say, withhold no legal
privilege of advancement to the new citizens."
Into these few unstudied words the President, with his
usual felicity of conception and purpose, compressed the
great argument of the occasion.
Grasping measurably at
least the subject in hand, and sounding the keynote of the
as an
great reform in progress, he suggested the only really adequate
remedies for the evils deplored, for whose removal such anxiety
was
felt,
and the new amendment had been adopted.
cure such an
amendment
To
se-
of the Constitution in face of preju-
and of traditions so long standing, and in
numerous obstacles thrown in the way from its
first introduction into Congress until its final ratification by the
people, was indeed a grand achievement, and hardly explicaBut its value
ble on any other theory than that God willed it.
depends mainly on its being supplemented by " the intellidices so inveterate
spite of the
�FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
683
gence, patriotism, and industry " to which the President called
the attention of " the lately enfranchised race," and for the
attainment of which he bespoke the favoring aid that should
he prompted by the humanity and sense of justice of the
" race more favored."
Without such preparation the right
becomes a questionable gift, full of peril to both the
freedmen and the nation as well, not only, as roughly expressed by the Pennsylvania Senator, " multiplying the chances
for having his head broken at the polls in a contest with a
to vote
stronger race," but through his ignorance becoming the tool
own detriment and his
That the latter has been so remiss in this
supplemental work no doubt in a measure explains, or acof the designing, to be used for his
country's harm.
counts for, the
little
advantage suffrage has been to the
former in the past, the unsatisfactory situation of
the present, and the
still
affairs at
discouraging outlook for the future.
�CHAPTER XLVIII.
PERSONAL FREEDOM.
Forces involved.
— Ex-Rebel
— Mr. Wilson's
— CIVIL
RIGHTS.
purpose to defeat the Amendments.
—
— Counter-pur—
—
Speech of Mr. Sumner.
Johnson,
and speech.
Bill laid aside.
Sherman, Trumbull, Saulsbury, Cowan, Wilson.
TrumDifficulties and diversity of opinDebate and radical purpose.
bull's bill.
Democratic opposition.
Hendricks,
Trumbull, Howard, Morrill.
ion.
Bingham, Delano, Raymond, Broomall,
Cowan, Davis.
House debate.
pose.
bill
—
—
Wilson, Shellabarger.
bull,
—
Wade, Henderson.
The
conflict
—
—
—
passed. — Vetoed. — Debate. — Johnson, Trum— Final passage.
Bill
and entered into the irrepressible
and indestructible. Surviving the
relation of chattelhood, the malign
forces which provoked
were
l3oth titanic
abolishment of the legal
elements remained to
the value of
fill
—
—
—
mar
the results of the war, diminish
harass and oppress the ex-slaves,
its victories,
with anxiety, and test severely the
fidelity
and wisdom
wards
of those responsible for the right treatment of these
of the nation.
Though by
skilful strategy, a fortunate con-
currence of circumstances, and favoring Providence, the constitutional
amendments had been
carried through
ery impossible and enfranchising the freedmen,
making slavit was soon
Been that they afforded no exception to the rule, that laws,
even organic, cannot execute themselves, and, if far in advance of the popular sentiment, they will remain a dead letter
and
practically inoperative.
Nor has anything occurred
since,
even up to this present writing, to change the apprehensions
that were thus early
felt.
From
the
first, it
was seen
tliat
the
ex-masters, though they had been defeated in the war they
had themselves inaugurated, and had accepted pardon from
their magnanimous victors, were not above the meanness of
wreaking their vengeance on the unoffending freedmen for
�PERSONAL FREEDOM.
—
that defeat, nor the purpose to
freedom worse
possible than
make
for
had been
them the
state of
their former state of
Accordingly, their friends in Congress, anxious and
slavery.
alert, at
if
685
CIVIL RIGHTS.
once resolved to forestall and guard
if
by ap-
possible,
propriate legislation, against such injustice and inhumanity.
On the very first day of the session, December 4, 1865, Mr.
Wilson introduced a bill for the protection of personal freedom
in the States lately in rebellion.
It provided that
"
all
laws,
and regulations heretofore in
whereby and wherein existed any
statutes, acts, ordinances, rules,
force in the Rebel States,
inequalities of civil rights
among
their inhabitants on account
of color, race, or previous condition of slavery,
and
void,
it
In his remarks upon the introduction of the
force the same."
bill,
were null and
should be unlawful to enforce or attempt to en-
Mr. Wilson referred to the black codes of the Rebel States,
to the pending legislation in
some
of those States,
and to the
reported outrages against the freedmen, and said that it was
a measure " imperatively demanded at our hands." He con-
tended that the faith of the government was pledged to " maintain the freedom " given by the Proclamation of Emancipation.
By
neglecting
nation of
it,
he averred, they were " incurring the indig-
men and
the judgments of Almighty God."
Subse-
quently in the debate, after saying that he would not impose
anything degrading or unmanly on the Rebel States, he added,
" while I would not degrade any of them, neither would I allow
to degrade others." He spoke of the barbarities of those
"
who hated the freedmen for their fidelity to the country " and
said that " the evidence conclusively shows that great atroci-
them
;
ties
and
cruelties are perpetrated
upon the poor, dumb,
toiling
look to us for protection." " The condition of
the freedmen," he said, " is worse to-day than on the day
millions
who
General Lee surrendered to General Grant.
less
buoyant
:
Their
spirits are
they are less hopeful, less confident of their
and we ought in Congress to say that these laws shall
nevermore be enforced, and that these States shall not have
power to pass laws to oppress men whom we have declared
free, and to whom we have given the plighted faith of the
Republic." Mr. Sumner expressed hearty sympathy with the
future
;
�686
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
proposed measure of his colleague, indorsed its necessity, spoke
of the plighted faith of the nation as a " pledge without any
and immortal as the
Speaking of the " terrible testimony," he
Republic itself."
said, " The blood curdles at the thought of such enormities,
limitation in space or time, as extended
and
especially at the thought that the poor freedmen, to
we owe
people, smarting with defeat
and ready to wreak vengeance
In the name of
upon these representatives of a true loyalty.
God
bill
whom
protection, are left to the unrestrained will of such a
let
us protect them.
now under
Insist
consideration
this crying injustice rage
;
upon guaranties.
pass any
any longer.
bill
An
;
Pass the
but do not
let
avenging God can-
not sleep while such things find countenance. If you are not
ready to be the Moses of an oppressed people, do not become
its
Pharaoh."
In the debate which followed there was the utterance of a
general desire that the freedmen should be protected, though
doubts were expressed as to the necessity or exact legitimacy
of the proposed measure.
Mr. Johnson of Maryland, while
deprecating any injustice to the freedmen, could not see that
there was any
demand
for special legislation, or greater call to
protect the blacks from Southern outrages than the whites
from Northern.
Mr. Sherman was in favor of the purposes
of the bill, but expressed the belief that
postpone action
till
the Thirteenth
it
would be wiser to
Amendment had been
ac-
cepted by the States, and had become the supreme law of the
land.
The hope was avowed by Mr. Trumbull
be no need of such action of Congress
;
but
that there would
tliat
the South
amendment, which
good
If, howits legislatures had just accepted, abolishing slavery.
ever, there was the necessity, he would have the bill referred
to its appropriate committee and made the subject of the most
careful consideration.
Mr. Saulsbury denied the power of Congress, even under the new amendment, thus to interfere with
the rights of the States.
Mr. Cowan of Pennsylvania and
Stewart of Nevada doubted, they said, the alleged atrocities
in those States, and both, with almost identical phraseology,
would
in
faith adapt its laws to the
expressed the conviction
tliat
if
such were
facts,
the war"
�PERSONAL FREEDOM.
—
CIVIL RIGHTS.
687
had been in vain and unjustifiable. If so, said the former,
" the Republic is at an end, the war was folly, and its cost of
blood and treasure wasted " if these are facts, said the latter,
" a union of these States is impossible, and hundreds of thousands of the best of our land have fallen to no purpose."
" They might as well question," said Mr. Wilson in reply,
" the massacre at Fort Pillow, and the cruelties practised at
Andersonville, where eighty-three per cent of the men who
entered the hospitals died Andersonville, where more American soldiers lie buried than fell throughout the Mexican war,
where more American soldiers now lie than were killed of
;
;
British soldiers in Wellington's four great battles in Spain,
and
A
Alma, Inkerman, and Sebastopol."
was laid aside and was not afterward called up.
bill was introduced by Mr. Wilson, two days after
at Waterloo, at
The
bill
similar
the proclamation of ratification of the Thirteenth
and referred
to
Amendment,
Mr. Sumner had
Committee on the Judiciary.
also introduced a bill " supplying appropriate legislation to
enforce the
amendment
referred to the
which was also
of the Constitution,"
same committee.
On
the last day of
December
the chairman of this committee reported the two bills
;
but
with a recommendation of their indefinite postponement.
On
bill
the 5th of January, 1866, Mr. Trumbull introduced a
substantially like the preceding bills.
It
provided that
there should he no discrimination in civil rights on account of
color, race, or previous condition of slavery
tants, of every race
make and
and
color, should
;
but the inhabi-
have the same right to
enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evi-
sell, hold, and convey real
and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws
and proceedings for the security of person and property, and
should be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties,
and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or
custom to the contrary notwithstanding. It was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary, reported, and made the order
dence, to inherit, purchase, lease,
of the
day for the 29th.
in both houses on the
The debate
bill
and the amendments
offered revealed the radical character of the legislation pro-
�688
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
posed and required, the intrinsic and
IN AMERICA.
felt difficulty of clearly-
defining Federal and State prerogatives, of
making the
pre-
scribed guaranty to the States of a republican form of govern-
ment and the
title
American
of
citizenship anything better
than a name, and yet of remitting to the States the sovereignty they claimed, and that not without show of authority
More
from the Constitution itself.
task of indicating and fixing
difficult
still
amendments
action the fruits of the war, and showing by
of the organic law
must be made
and
was the
in the shape of congressional
appropriate legislation what changes
its
and adapt the laws of the
land to the new order of things. This was seen not only in
the various propositions made, in the marked variety and conflict between the two parties, between the President and the
to insure those fruits
Republicans, but between Republicans themselves.
In reporting the bill from the committee Mr. Trumbull had
added, as an amendment, that " all persons born in the United
States,
clared to be citizens
of
any foreign power, are hereby deof the United States without distinction
explanatory reniarks Mr. Trumbull, in
and not subject
color."
In his
to
answer to an inquiry, expressed
civil rights
conferred by the
bill
it
as his judgment, that the
did not " involve the question
of political rights."
Mr. Howard of Michigan, who was a
member of tlie committee which reported the Thirteenth
Amendment, gave it as his testimony that the bill was only
carrying out the intention of that amendment.
He
closed his
speech by an earnest appeal for the action proposed, assuring
tlie Senate that, if the nation refused to fulfil its pledges to
the frcedmcn, " the time is not far distant when we shall reap
the fruits of our treachery and imbecility in woes which
we
have not yet witnessed, in terrors of which even the civil war
that has just passed has furnished no example."
Mr. Morrill of Maine made an earnest defence of the amend-
ment
of
Mr. Trumbull defining citizenship.
Alluding to the
which had always been felt in regard to the status
of the negro, he said " Wliat shall we do with the everlasting,
inevitable negro ? is the question which puzzles all brains and
])crplexity
:
vexes
all
statesmansliip.
Now,
as a definition, this
amendment
�PERSONAL FREEDOM.
settles
it.
Hitherto
our statutes
both
;
man and
we have
;
;
689
CIVIL RIGHTS.
said that he
he had no status
thing
—
was a nondescript in
he was
he was ubiquitous
he was three
fifths of
;
a person for rep-
and he was a thing for commerce and for use.
In the highest sense, then, in which any definition can ever
be held, this bill is important as a definition. It defines him
to be a man, and only a man, in American politics and in
American law it puts him on the plane of manhood it
brings him within the pale of the Constitution."
Mr. Wilson spoke of the measure as " the grandest act in this series
of acts that have emancipated a race and disenthralled a
resentation,
;
;
nation."
It,
however, encountered opposition.
cated
its
Mr. Hendricks depreMr. McDougall said it was a measure
passage.
" fraught with
upon the
Mr. Cowan said it was a proposition to " substitute the bayonet and sabre for argument, law, and reason."
Mr. Guthrie said that it was a bill " not warranted by the
Constitution, and is not warranted by good policy and sound
infinite mischief," infringing clearly
Constitution.
statesmanship," while Mr. Davis of the same State could find
no words too severe with which to characterize
it.
It passed,
however, after the acceptance of Mr. Trumbull's amendment,
by the strong vote
of thirty-three to twelve.
in the House was more protracted and excited,
same time more miscellaneous and of wider range. For
the opposition was not confined to the Democrats and the
avowed friends of the President. Republicans, who avowed
themselves to be earnestly desirous of the object aimed at,
opposed it on constitutional grounds, and contended that it was
transcending Federal jurisdiction, and that it should be left for
This was the
the States to perfect the legislation required.
position maintained in an able speech by Mr. Bingham of
The debate
at the
Ohio.
He
admitted that in war, when " the public safety be-
comes the highest law," such an exercise of Federal authority
might be justified but when peace returns then " justice is to
be administered under the Constitution, according to the ConMr.
stitution, and within the limitation of the Constitution."
Delano, of the same State, expressed the conviction that the
;
VOL.
III.
44
�690
bill
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
without serious modification would " endanger the liberties
of the country."
Mr. Raymond of
New York
opposed the
principally because of the provision of one of its sections
ing
it
bill
mak-
a penal offence for the judge of a State court to enforce
The usual Democratic
objections were urged by
when, having been recommitted to the Committee on the Judiciary, which reported it
back with an amendment, it was adopted by the strong vote of
one hundred and eleven to thirty-eight.
The great argument urged was the imperative necessity of
such action to protect the freedmen, in the words of Mr.
a State law.
Kerr, Eldridge, Rogers, and others
;
Broomall of Pennsylvania, " against the conquered enemies of
the country, who, notwithstanding their surrender, have managed, through their skill or our weakness, to seize nearly
all
—
not the first instance, he added,
the conquered territory,"
" in the world's history in which all that had been gained by
hard fighting was lost by bad diplomacy." And it was not
without admitted recognition of its departure from the general
course and spirit of past legislation, nor yet without
some
scruples and doubts, that the majority voted for the measure.
Mr. Wilson of Iowa, cliairman of the committee which reit, admitted that precedents, both judicial and legisla-
ported
were found in sharp conflict with its provisions. " My
mind," said Mr. Shellabarger of Ohio, " I frankly state, has
not reached satisfactorily the conclusion that there is no doubt
as to whether we have power to enact the first section of this
bill
and if we have not power to pass the first section, then
we cannot enact the second." But without " a settled conviction," he had so far resolved his doubts as to give his vote
" in favor of the security and protection of the American citizen, for which the bill is meant to provide."
The bill was further amended by a provision tliat in all
questions of law arising under it a final appeal should be taken
Thus amended
to the Supreme Court of the United States.
it was returned to the Senate, the amendments were concurred
tive,
;
in, the bill
On
was passed, and sent
to the President.
the 27th the President returned
and without
his signature.
It
it
with his objections
was an elaborate paper,
setting
�PERSONAL FREEDOM.
— CIVIL
691
RIGHTS.
Though
forth in general and in detail his reasons therefor.
he took up eacli section of the bill for criticism and censure,
his argument substantially was that which had already been
urged in Congress, that it was unconstitutional and unnecessary,
extra-judicial, an infringement
government
;
from
on the rights of the States, and a
previous and prescribed policy of the
and this, he said, gave " for the security of the
radical departure
all
colored race safeguards which go infinitely beyond any that
the general government has ever provided for the white race."
It was,
he
said,
must " sap our
an absorption and an assumption of power that
federative system "
"a step, or rather stride,
;
tate the spirit
It "
must," he continued, " resusciof rebeUion," and " arrest the progress of those
toward centralization."
influences which are
more
closely
drawing around the States
the bonds of union and peace."
The veto was the signal of an excited debate in the Senate.
Reverdy Johnson defended it, saying if Congress could legislate for the black, they could for the white, and then, he said,
" the States are abolished." Mr. Trumbull made an elaborate
" If the Senator
is right," he pertinently inquii-ed,
" and being a citizen of the United States confers no rights in
reply.
a State and carries no protection with
it,
I
should like to
know
American citizenship is worth, and what it amounts
to."
Mr. TTade was especially decided, not to say defiant.
" I am a little too old-fashioned," he said, " to be charged by
the executive liranch of this government as a traitor on the
To the assertion of Mr.
floor of Congress, and not resent it,"
Doolittle that Mr. Johnson was only carrying out the policy
inaugurated by Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Henderson replied that the
policy which might have been correct in 1863 in a time of war
would not be equally correct in 1865 in a time of peace. " In
what
my
is
this
judgment," said Mr. Saulsbury, " the passage of the
bill
the inauguration of revolution, bloodless as yet, but the
by the machinery and in the mode
provided in the bill will lead to revolution in blood."
Mv.
McDougall was equally violent in his condemnation of the
measure and equally confident in liis vaticinations of the reattempt to execute
sult.
it
But notwithstanding
this
determined opposition and
�692
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
these gloomy forebodings the
bill
IN AMERICA.
was passed over the
Presi-
dent's veto, in the Senate on the 6th of April, 1866, by a vote
of thirty-three to fifteen,
and
in the House,
on the 9th, by a
vote of one hundred and twenty-two to forty-one.
Though so much had been secured in behalf of
more
was deemed
effective legislation
advisable.
civil rights,
Accordingly
Mr. Sumner introduced a bill, supplementary to the act of
1866, into the Senate on the 20th of December, 1871 but it
was not brought to a vote. He, however, soon moved the
;
an amendment to an amnesty
Senate, with the remark " And now, as
same
as
:
who engaged
generous to those
justice to the colored race."
the matter of
On
gress.
day of the
proposed to be
It
upon
was carried by the casting
bill itself failed,
the
Nor was there any further action on
rights during the whole of the XLIId Con-
first
day of December, 1873, and on the
first
XLIIId Congress, Mr. Sumner
was referred to the Committee
was not reported until after the
session of the
first
introduced his
is
lost.
civil
the
it
then before the
in the Rebellion, I insist
vote of the Vice-President, but as the
amendment was
bill
bill
on the Judiciary
;
again.
but
it
It
decease of the distinguished
Senator.
His death occurred
March 11, 1874, and was preceded only a few hours by his
memorable injunction to Hon. E. R. Hoar of Massachusetts,
sitting by his bedside, " You must take care of the Civil
Rights Bill, Judge,"
an injunction not affording a more sig-
—
nal and beautiful example of the " ruling passion strong in
death," than
it
was a
fitting
climax to a
life
of
grand en-
deavor in the cause of humanity, of unswerving loyalty to
truth and duty, and of a sublime and heroic devotion to the
interests of the colored race.
On
the 14th of April Mr. Frelinghuysen of
New
Jersey re-
bill from the committee in the form of a substitute,
and on the 29th it came up for discussion. The first section,
wliich contained the gist of the measure, provided, " That
all persons under the jurisdiction of the United States shall
be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances by land and water, tlieatres and other public places
ported a
�PERSONAL FREEDOM.
— CIVIL
RIGHTS.
693
amusement, and also of common schools and public instiand benevolence supported in whole or
in part by general taxation, and of cemeteries so supported,
subject only to the conditions and limitations established by
law and applicable alike to citizens of any race and color, reMr. Fregardless of any previous condition of servitude."
linghuysen accompanied its introduction with an explanation,
and a defence of its provisions. " The whole struggle," he
of
tutions of learning
war and the long and heated discussions
and forum," has been "between freedom
and slavery, between national sovereignty and State sovereignty,
a struggle between United States citizenship and
said, alluding to the
of Congress, " in field
—
State citizenship, and the superiority of allegiance due to
" The one pur|X)se," he continued, " of this bill is
each."
to assert, or reassert,
'
freedom from
all
discrimination before
the law on account of race,' as one of the fundamental rights
of citizenship."
The
discussion which ensued, although traversing ground
already gone over, revealed very clearly the effect that time
was exerting upon the popular mind and
too
many
heart, already effacing
of the lessons of the war, increasing the
Democratic
representation in both houses, provoking the taunt that the
Republican was " a perishing party," and inspiring the hope
was too late for further legislation to
conserve the fruits of the war and to make more effective the
amendments of the Constitution. The bill was, however,
brought to a vote on the 22d of May, 1874, and carried,
of the reactionists that
it
—
yeas twenty-nine, nays sixteen.
It
was referred
to the appropriate committee in the House,
but was not reported or taken up for action during the session.
It was, however, reported by Mr. Butler from the Committee
on the Judiciary during the second
session, passed both houses,
received the approval of the President,
the land.
and became the law of
Without tracing its history at all in either house, a
reference to two speeches in the Senate on the 27th of February, 1875, the closing day of the debate in that body, may not
be without instruction. Premising that the staple of Democratic argument and appeal, threats and predictions, remained
�694
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
the same, there had sprung up an opposition in the Republican
Among
party.
the Republicans
who opposed
it
penter, the eloquent Senator from Wisconsin.
was Mr. CarIn his speech
upon the occasion, he made tlie points, that it was unconstitutional, that it was an infringement on State rights, and an attempt to effect by legislation what can be effected by moral
forces alone.
Professing himself the same " sentiments which
inspired the bill," and a willingness to go as far as the farthest " to protect the colored people of
tlie
South, or to restore
order to that distracted section" admitting that, if anything
" upon the statute-book " could " accomplish a complete eradi;
cation of the deep and long-existing prejudice of the white
race against social contact with the race in whose favor
it is
would be a signal triumph of Immanity," and
speaking, too, in the highest terms of the colored people, especially of their bearing during and subsequent to the war, he
added " But haste is not always speed and especially is this
proposed,
it
:
;
true of attempts to coerce sentiment or suppress prejudice.
This can only be accomplished by time, kindly entreaty, reason, and argument.
And
all
experience demonstrates that
every unavailing attempt to force
men
into compliance with
social, religious, or political
dogmas has the
pone the end desired."
may
It
were very long and exciting
;
effect to post-
be added that the debates
and that many
the measure, fixed in their purpose that
of tlie friends of
made
should be
it
the practical correlate of the measures of amnesty before Con-
shown
gress, determined there should not be this generosity
to
tl)G
ex-Rebels until justice was shown to the ex-slaves.
Mr. Edmunds of Vermont, in the closing speech of
tlie
de-
bate, thus arraigned the Democratic party.
After saying that
there had " been no measure either for suppressing the Rebellion, carrying
on the war, or securing the
fruits of the
at
it,
Mr. President.
Take the Thirteenth
Constitution abolishing slavery.
the war
?
.
,
.
.
Every Democrat
Whose
war that
"
Why, look
Amendment to the
has found any favor with that party," he added
:
votes passed
it
in this body, I believe,
11th of April, 1864, voted against submitting
of the various States for their approval
it
after
on the
to the people
And when
it
was
�PERSONAL FREEDOM.
— CIVIL
695
RIGHTS.
submitted to the States for their approval, I find that every
Democratic State, if I am not mistaken, which then had a
Democratic legislature rejected that amendment
And
again,
then
when we came to the Fourteenth Amendment, I
find that, true to that instinct
and that impulse, every member
Democratic party here recorded his vote against it
.... and when that amendment was submitted to the States,
of the
again true to the same solid and perpetual policy, every
cratic State that I
know
of voted against
it,
Demo-
and some States
which when it was submitted to them voted in its favor, the
moment they became Democratic undertook to withdraw that
ratification
Then, when we came to the Fifteenth Amendment, true again to the un-American and anti-liberal policy,
every Democratic member in this body voted against it still,
and I believe every Democratic legislature voted against it also.
.... There is not one of the reconstruction acts that had the
advantage of a Democratic word in its favor or a Democratic
it.
There is not a civil rights bill securing the simand confessedly fundamental rights, such as the one proposed in 1866, that received a Democratic vote." The veteran
Senator had and gave his philosophy for the facts stated, but
his language is quoted here simply for the testimony it bears
vote for
plest
to the attitude of the Democratic party as late as the winter of
1875.
Simultaneously with this there was action upon another class
of bills,
germane
in spirit
and purpose,
Acts, or popularly termed Force Bills.
entitled
On
Enforcement
the 16th of May,
1870, Mr. Bingham, from the House Committee on the Judiciary, reported a bill,
thus explained
:
"
The
which had been referred, and which he
object of this bill
is
to enforce the legal
rights of citizens of the United States to vote in the several
States of this Union,
my own
—a
right which
is
defiantly denied in
State and others, in direct contravention of the ex-
press letter of the Constitution of the United States."
It
contained ten sections, and was most carefully and elaborately
drawn.
vided
Its first section, indicating its general character, pro-
any officer should, by neglect or refusal to perform any
act, under color of any State constitution or law, deprive
if
official
�696
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
any one, on account of color, race, or previous condition, from
deemed guilty of misdemeanor, to be punished by fine and imprisonment. It was several months before
Congress, was very ably and acrimoniously discussed, and was
passed and approved May 31, 1870. On the 14th of May, 1872,
an amendatory act was passed authorizing district judges
to appoint, in congressional elections, two men of opposite
politics, to be present at the registration and voting, and
On
to remain with the boxes until the votes were counted.
the 28th, another amendatory act was passed providing for " a
voting, he should be
written or printed ballot."
Thus earnestly and sedulously did the Republican leaders
watch the practical workings of the reconstruction acts, mark
any defects revealed, and seek by carefully and conscientiously
drawn amendments to perfect and render effective the legislation by which they sought to protect the freedmen in their
new-found rights. If the subsequent history of the latter has
been marked by wrongs and outrages at which humanity
weeps and the patriot trembles when he " rememlDcrs that
God is just"; if freedom has proved to them of less value
than they and their friends had fondly hoped if the negro's
enfranchisement has too often fulfilled the prophecy and verified the threats of his enemies, that it would only be " multi;
plying his chances for having his head broken at the polls in a
contest with a stronger race," and that to give
him
office
would
be to " crown with flowers the victim for the sacrifice," and
" inscribe upon the cross an empty title, when upon that cross
the victim
is
crucified," it
has resulted from causes that lie
from a disease for which as
too deep to be reached by law,
—
yet no adequate remedy has been prescribed, or,
has not been provided.
if
prescribed,
�CHAPTER XLIX.
INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
— R. L. Stanton. — Ar— Appeals to
—
— Thomwell, Palmer. — Address. —
—
— Defection and
testimony. — Amazing
South not united for
Damaging
Synod of
churclies.
secession.
raignment of Southern clergy.
Proofs.
record,
Mississippi.
— Southern
causes.
its
argument.
— Leaders. — Clergy
led the
— Thornwell, Ross, Smythe, Hopkins, Seabury, Adams. — South Side
view. — Fisk, Stuart, Tyler, Bacon, Beecher. — Indorsement of Webster's
—
7th of March speech. — Presbyterian Church. — Benevolent
ostracism. — Lewis Tapodiiim and
F. M. —
A. B.
— Cincinnati Christian Con— Humiliating
pan, Leonard Woods,
—
vention. — Albert Barnes, Jolin Jay. — Northern
and
— Causes of
— Grave
— Chrisof the
— Painful
— Small
— Appeals to
tian antislavery
— Formation of new
missionary
on an antislavery
— American Missionary Association. — Church Antislavery
— Republican party. — Ministers and members of churches largely Republican. —
way.
associations.
social
Ecclesiastical
C.
Jr.
attitude.
defection.
difficulties
fellowship.
protests.
effort.
associations.
Its cost
situation.
struggles.
success.
societies
basis.
Society.
Conclusion.
The
South, at the opening of the Rebellion, was far from
being a unit on the subject of secession.
It is indeed
claimed
was opposed to that extreme measure, and
were only dragooned into it by the violence and skilful management of their leaders. Of the means employed, strangely
that the majority
as
es,
it
may
sound, were earnest appeals to the Christian church-
and an adroit use of the pulpit and
religious press.
We
have the testimony of Dr. R. L. Stanton, a Southern clergyman and late professor in the Theological Seminary of the
Presbyterian Church in Danville, Kentucky, in an elaborate
work, entitled " The Church and the Rebellion," that these
were among the most active and potential forces which precipitated
and made
inevitable that fearful revolt.
Alluding to
the great speech of Alexander H. Stephens dissuading
fellow-citizens
from going into the Rebellion, he said
:
his
" While
�698
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
the foremost statesman of the
IN AMERICA.
South was thus truthfully
portraying before the Georgia legislature the blessings of the
Union and the great prosperity and good of every kind, to
every part of the country, resulting from the action of the
general government, the leading clergymen of the South, in
that very
month
November, were, from the pulpit and the
government into contempt in the
men, and were exhorting to treason and rebellion
of
press, striving to bring that
eyes of
all
against
it,
The
braving defiantly
all
the horrors of war."
severity of this arraignment, unequivocal
and strong as
damaging than is the record
he adduces of those ministers and churches against whom he
prefers accusations so severe and sweeping.
Charging Dr.
James H. Thorn well of South Carolina, the leading Presbyterian clergyman of the South, wiio for his ability and devotion to
slavery was called the "Calhoun of the Church,"
with being
largely responsible " for bringing the Church " to indorse and
aid the Rebellion, he gives, among other evidences, extracts from
is its
language,
is less,
and
less
—
—
a Fast-Day discourse preached fifteen days after Mr. Lincoln's
In it Dr. Thornwell speaks of the Union as " on the
election.
verge of dissolution " because of this triumph of the Republicans.
Among the grave charges he prefers against " the
non-slaveholding States " was that " they have been reluctant
to open the Territories to the introduction of slaves,
refused to restore fugitives to their
masters."
and have
Alluding to
the possibility that they might be obliged to vindicate their
claims to the institution by war, and that " our path to victory
may be through
the baptism of blood," he welcomed the conflict,
assuring his hearers that they would love their State " the more
tenderly and the more intensely the more bitterly she suffers."
Subsequently, soon after the ordinance of secession, in an elaborate article for a religious quarterly, so highly esteemed by
the leaders that several editions were published and scattered
broadcast over the South, he spoke of secession as " not only
a right, but a boundcn duty."
which Mr. Lincoln
is
death-knell of slavery
egg
We
"
The triumph
of the principles
pledged to carry out," he said, "
is
the
Let us crush the serpent in the
prefer peace, but
if
war must come, we
are
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
prepared to meet
battles."
At
it
with unshaken confidence in the
699
God
of
a public ratification meeting in Columbia of the
doings of the Charleston convention, five clergymen addressed
the assemblage, of
cal
whom
seminary of that
three were professors of the theologi-
including Dr. Thornwell.
city,
In the same search for proof Dr. Stanton brings forward
the more signal example of Dr. Palmer, a distinguished Pres-
New
byterian clergyman of
Orleans.
He
prefaced his refer-
ence with an allusion to the strong Union sentiments which
prevailed in that city at the outset of the Rebellion,
ill-success of
and
to the
Mr. Toombs and other Southern leaders in creat-
ing enthusiasm in their cause until they had conferred with Dr.
Palmer and secured
his powerful co-operation.
In a Thanks-
giving discourse he not only enunciated the baldest treason,
but vindicated slavery as a system
worthy
of the sacrifices that
approved of God and
Alluding to " the
war demands.
triumph of a sectional majority," " the probable doom of our
once happy and united confederacy," and " the juncture so
solemn as the present," and saying that he represented " a
which seeks to ascertain its duty in the light simply of
conscience and religion," and that " the question which now
class
places us upon the brink of revolution
is,
in its origin, a ques-
he said, " whoever
may have
influence to shape public opinion at such a time
must lend
tion of morals
it,
and
religion,"
or prove faithless to a trust as solemn as any to be ac-
counted for at the bar of God." He, too, welcomed war, if
need be, " to preserve and transmit our existing system of
domestic servitude."
influence
was added
To
all
his large personal
and professional
that his fervid rhetoric and impassioned
eloquence could bring to his determined purpose to "
fire
the
Southern heart " and persuade his fellow-citizens to hate their
government and trample on its world-honored flag. Indeed,
no cause could be so high and holy as to demand or justify
greater devotion and self-sacrifice tlian he bespoke for the
slaveholding Rebellion.
" I
am
impelled," he said, " to deep-
en the sentiment of resistance in the Southern mind,
strengthen the current
now
and to
flowing toward a union of the
South in defence of her chartered rights.
It is a
duty which
�700
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
I shall not be called to repeat, for such awful junctures do not
The
occur twice in a century
this
moment
sublime.
If
position of the South
she has grace given her to
is
at
know
her hour, she will save herself, the country, and the world.
.... But
I
warn
my
countrymen, the historic moment, once
passed, never returns,"
All this, however, was but typical, and these were but
representative men.
Every Southern State and every denomisuch, seemingly emulous of each other
in their mad attempts to desecrate the Church and destroy
" Other ministers of every denomination all
their country.
over the South," says Dr. Stanton, " joined in urging on the
Rebellion, and some of the more distinguished of them were
as early in the work as those we have mentioned."
And
after the Rebellion had culminated in civil war, the clergy
gave it all the moral aid and support within their power.
From the pulpit and press, in public meetings, and by the
nation furnished
many
utterances of religious bodies, they furnished essential help
up the waning courage and hopes
to keep
the Confederacy.
fighting the battles of
of those
who were
In the spring of
1863 all the leading religious bodies of the South united in
" an address to Christians throughout the world," in which
" The recent Proclamation of the President of the
United States, seeking the emancipation of the slaves of the
South, is in our judgment occasion of solemn protest on
they say
:
the part of the people of God."
And
this helpfulness
was not only claimed by them, but
unequivocally admitted by others.
Dr. Palmer, after
New
Orleans was occupied by the national forces, went on a mission to the Rebel
army
in Northern Mississippi
and harangued
the troops at various points, and one of the generals in command gave it as his opinion that " his services were worth more
to the Rebel cause than a soldiery of ten thousand men,"
A
general in the Rebel army sent a communication to the " Southern Presbyterian," in which he affirmed that " this revolution
has been accomplished mainly by the clmrches " that without their agency " the enterprise would have been a failure."
" Let the Church know this," he added, " and realize her
;
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
She should not now abandon her own grand crea-
strength.
tion."
tion,
The
adds
701
:
editor, while indorsing his correspondent's asser-
"
Much
as
is
due to many of our gifted and saga-
cious politicians, they could effect nothing until they received
the moral support and co-operation of Southern Christians."
an amazing record, and these are astounding facts.
incredible, and can be believed only on the most
irrefragable testimony
and all the more because they are but
typical and representative, the legitimate outcome of agenThat the aid
cies long at work, the fruit of seed long sown.
Prince
of Peace
the
of a religion which had for its author
should be invoked for such a war, waged for such an avowed
purpose, and carried on in such a way that a gospel whose
underlying idea and dominating principle were declared to be
good-will to man should have been claimed by its friends and
professors as not only permitting but demanding the support
of a system at war with every requirement of the Decalogue
and that the Church, founded on the Rock of Ages, should become the " Bulwark of American Slavery," passes comprehension, and may well tax credulity and justify scepticism.
_J
Yet this testimony is not other or different, though perhaps more specific and pronounced, than much that had previously been borne concerning the Southern churches, and their
attitude towards slavery and its adjuncts
charged upon them
by their censors, and recognized as true by their own claims
and admissions. For years there had been a growing defection
from the faith of the fathers, and increasing success in mouldThis
is
They seem
;
;
;
;
ing their belief into conformity with their determination to
hold on to the system.
avowed sentiments
They
felt
the necessity of shaping
and persistent practice,
and they succeeded in wiping out the shocking inconsistency
of branding slavery as a monstrous evil, in pulpit and press,
by ecclesiastical " deliverances " and books of discipline, and
yet resisting all attempts to remove or even modify what they
had so severely censured. Thus, in 1853, the Presbyterian
Synod of Mississippi entered upon its minutes an obituary notice of one of its deceased members who had, twenty years before, been one of the first to teach the doctrines that "the Bible
their
to their open
�702
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
did not forbid
IN AMERICA.
holding of slaves, and that
tlie
in the primitive Church,
it
was tolerated
— doctrines now received
as true both
North and South, and which constitute the basis of action of
the most respectable religious bodies even in the North itself." " These teachings of Scripture^' which he had "found,"
the Synod says in another part of the paper, " were greatly
and so he was held in
at variance with the popular belief"
greater honor for his boldness and courage in promulgating
;
the
new
gospel.
These, then, seem to be the facts.
of the Republic the
During the
Church had shared
tion of the fathers that the system of slavery
presence an
its
evil,
members
felt
its
years
was wrong, and
but an entailed and irremediable
Not, however, being responsible for
of its removal, its
first
in the general convic-
evil.
existence, and hopeless
themselves to be guilty only of
such improper treatment as they might subject their slaves
to
;
on the same
principle,
relations to their children
fessed, too, to find
and no other, that obtained in their
and other dependants. They pro-
some compensation
for the evils of slavery in
the humanizing influence of the systern, by which they made
themselves believe that it became a " blessing in disguise,"
transferring the inhabitants of Africa, even though by the
rough handling of the slave-trade and " the middle passage,"
from their native land to the civilization of Christian America.
But that fallacious, though specious argument failed to satisfy
thinking and candid minds, who were not long in coming to
the conclusion that if this were all which could be said in favor
of the system, they must relinquish both the argument and the
system.
to
But, not prepared to yield the system, they preferred
accommodate
their theories to their practice,
into the idea that slavery
was not an
dition of an inferior race.
hausted
its
evil,
and they drifted
but the normal con-
Christia'nity, they contended, ex-
requirements when
it
secured kind treatment to
the slaves and proper provision for their physical necessities
and
religious instruction.
In considering the process or mode by which this change
or defection was brought about,
it is
to be noted that the im-
pulse proceeded rather from the upper than the lower stratum
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
of societj.
It
was no apostasy
of the
common
703
people that
afforded the leaders even the quasi apology of being obliged
to conform to the popular sentiment in extenuation of their
course.
It
was the
latter
who
led,
and the former who, not
without misgivings, followed. This influence of the leaders was
developed and exerted in two ways,
—
by the associated action
and through the authority of names.
Contributing largely to this result was the course of the clergy.
Their avowal and indorsement of these new doctrines led the
way for their general adoption. Had they remained faithful,
it can hardly be doubted that the churches would have heeded
their instructions.
Had these exponents of the gospel and
leaders of public opinion remained loyal to truth and justice,
rightly interpreted the text-book of their faith, and employed
their powers and influence in opposition to and not in defence
of slavery, the nation and the world would have been spared
of representative bodies,
the sad result.
ly
The members
at large of these churches, busi-
engaged in their various pursuits and pleasures, with
little
time or taste for the study of religious or ethical subjects, and
always exposed to the strong temptation of interest and the
pressure of popular opinion, looked to their pastors and the
and guidance. Their own inand plain common-sense saw the matter, no doubt, as
the fathers saw it, and would have thought of nothing other or
worse than that slavery was a sin, which, like any other sin
condemned by God's AVord, must be eschewed by every one
who took the Bible as his rule of faith and practice. But when
the leaders faltered, there was naturally hesitation among the
followers
when the standard-bearers wavered, it was to be
expected that there would be uncertainty and demoralization in
class they represented for counsel
stincts
;
the ranks.
On
this point Dr.
that the general Southern
Stanton expresses the opinion
mind was
led to abjure its former
"
sentiments and adopt the so called
corner-stone " faith " by
its
clergymen in the pulpit and through the press."
Whether
or not this opinion be correct,
— and certainly Dr.
Stanton had ample means for forming a correct judgment,
—
there are abundant reasons for the belief that the leading
clergy,
North and South, did exert a most pernicious influence
�RISE
70-i
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
upon the common mind of the Church and country in regard
to slavery, and the duties of American citizens concerning it.
When trusted leaders and recognized expounders of God's
Word
indorsed slavery as one of God's " ordained " agencies
and inferior races, being not
"
evil,"
but
an
a
good,
recognized in the Scripture
only not
and provided for in the providential arrangement of society,
there surely can be little wonder that the common people, if
they did not hear them gladly, were greatly influenced by such
teachings from such teachers.
Dr. Thornwell of South Carolina said that " the relation
betwixt the slave and his master was not inconsistent with the
Word of God." This, he said, " we have long since settled.
for the mutual benefit of superior
We
cherish the institution, not from avarice, but
from prinwe give up what we conscientiously believe to
The thing is absurd." Dr. Ross of Alabama
" Must
ciple.''''
be the truth
?
published a work entitled " Slavery Ordained of God," classing
the system in " the same category as those of husband and
wife, parent
*'
and
The war now
slavery,
and
is,
child."
Smythe of Charleston said
by the North is a war against
Dr.
carried on
therefore, treasonable rebellion against
the
Constitution of the United States, and against the Word,
providence, and government of God."
the people
who
wonder that
from such men, and
Is there
listened to such teachings
and preferment were thought to be so closely
interwoven with the perpetuation of the system of servitude,
should have permitted their own views to become sensibly
whose
interests
modified and changed thereby?
Less outspoken, perhaps, but hardly more equivocal, were
Said Bishop Hopkins of Vermont
Northern utterances.
" The slavery of the negro race, as maintained in the Southern States, appears to me fully authorized both in the Old and
New
Testaments, which, as the written
Word
of
God, afford
the only infallible standard of moral rights and obligations."
Dr. Seabury of New York said he could see " no reason why
the relation of master and servant should not have existed in
a state of innocence [in Paradise] as well as that of husband
and
wife, parent
and
child."
Reviewing the book in which
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
705
"
the above sentiment is contained, the " True Presbyterian
" There is no debasement in it.
It might
said of slavery
:
have existed in Paradise, and
lennium."
Dr. Adams,
who
may
continue through the Mil-
occupied both a prominent pulpit
and leading positions on the American Board of Foreign Missions and on the publishing committee of the American Tract
Society, in his " South Side
gospel
to slavery
is
View
of Slavery," said
what the growing
:
"
The
of clover is to sorrel.
Religion in the masters destroys everything in slavery which
makes
The
obnoxious
it
of the
slave
;
into an
and not only
so, it
converts the relation
means of happiness
on my mind at the South, that
effectual
conviction forced itself
the most disastrous event to the colored people would be their
emancipation, to live on the same
with the whites
soil
Instead of regarding the South as holding their fellow-men
in cruel bondage, let us consider whether
of
them
as the guardians, educators,
we may not think
and saviors
of the Afri-
can race in this country." He spoke deprecatingly of the
laws that prevented Southern masters from bringing their
slaves to the North, and said that " we must put a stop to
the unlawful seizures of colored servants passing with their
masters through the Free States."
Alluding to the case of
Philemon and Onesimus, he sneeringly remarked " True, the
disciples had not enjoyed the light which the Declaration of
American Independence shed on the subject of human rights."
This was his mode of expressing contempt for the self-evident
Rufus Choate, his great parishtruths of the Declaration.
ioner, achieved a similar though not very enviable pre-eminence by calling the same great truths " glittering general:
ities,"
the passionate utterances of a revolutionary manifesto.
That a leading clergyman could say all this and still retain
his position and prestige among the prominent men and
the commanding influences of Northern churches, was both
a sign and cause of the widespread defection and demoralization of the churches.
During
this educating process, as
it
was an important part
of the same. President Fisk, of the Methodist University in
Connecticut, wrote to Professor Moses Stuart, of Andover
VOL.
III.
45
�706
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Theological Seminary, "with the avowed purpose of eliciting
In this letter of inquiries he
sentiments, affirming that the " general
views for publication.
his
expressed his
own
rule of Christianity not only permits, but in supposablc cases
enjoins, a continuance of the master's authority."
asserted that " the
slave,
New Testament
as an oliligation
Professor Stuart,
He
also
enjoins obedience upon the
due to present rightful authority."
styled " the father of biblical
who has been
criticism in America," responded in the
same
vein, indorsing
his correspondent's sentiments, declaring that " the precepts
of the
New Testament
respecting the demeanor of slaves and
beyond all question, recognize the existence
and referring at the same time to Paul's sending
Onesimus to Philemon as proof and illustration of the latter's
rightful claim upon the former.
Similar assertions and admissions were made by leading
clergymen in connection with the numerous discussions and
debates that arose during, and which constituted a part of, the
irrepressible conflict, that not only distressed the avowed
friends of freedom, gave aid and comfort to the enemy, but
greatly strengthened those who were seeking, or at least were
of their masters,
of slavery,"
willing to find, excuses for not adopting or adhering to the
requirements and prohibitions of the great law of equity, in
its
practical application to the doctrine of
human
equality.
Thus, in the great antislavery debates which took place in the
American Board of Foreign Missions on the question of absolving that institution from
all
further complicity with slav-
ery. Dr. Tyler, president of a theological
ticut, said
seminary in Connec-
that " the Apostles admitted slaveholders to the
Church, and for this Board to decide against
it
would be to
Dr. Leonard Bacon contended that
impeach the Apostles."
the Board ought to make a distinction between slavery and
slavcholding,
a difference (he deemed) extremely obvious.
" The master does not make the man a slave," he said
" but the laws and constitution of society." Dr. Edward
—
Beecher, then of Boston,
in
tlie
who
earlier
who had
so distinguished himself
days of antislavery agitation in
bore himself so bravely
Illinois,
and
when Lovejoy was murdered,
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
when and where
to be an Abolitionist exposed
usage than that of words,
felt
him
707
to rougher
constrained so far to yield to
the pressure of the hour as to be found acting with the apologists rather than with the opposers of slavery.
He said that
" masters and slaves existed in primitive churches, and it was
allowed by Christ and his Apostles.
sin,
made by
Slavery
is
an organic
law, and therefore not dealt with as other sins."
Another illustration of the manner in which the authority
names was made to inure to slavery and its defences was
afforded by the manner in which Mr. Webster's 7th of March
speech was received by a portion of the leading men at the
North. In that speech Mr. Webster had coupled his condemnation of Abolitionism with the most unsparing denunciation
of the Abolitionists.
Hardly confining himself to courtly
of
phrase or parliamentary language, he poured the vials of
unmeasured condemnation upon those whose only offence was
that they souglit to convince their countrymen of the guilt,
danger, and duty, involved in American slavery. The professors of Harvard College and Andover Theological Seminary
headed a paper, on which there were the names of many leading members and ministers of New England churches, thanking him with fulsome flattery for the speech
;
while scores of
clergymen preached and published discourses defending the
Fugitive Slave Act and counselling submission to its inhuman
Professor Stuart prepared an elaborate defence of
Mr. Webster, his speech, and the compromise measures, in
a pamphlet of some one hundred and twenty pages, entitled
" Conscience and the Constitution." In that defence, writbehests.
ing of the Fugitive Slave Act, he declared that " it must be
OBEYED," and that it was " useless to talk about conscience in
setting
it
aside."
Of the power of associated influence
in securing this downward tendency, the representative bodies of the different denominations and the great benevolent and missionary organ-
izations afforded signal illustrations.
will sufficiently indicate
of this
unhappy
very largely in
result.
its
and
illustrate
The
Two
or three examples
both the fact and mode
Presljyterian
Church embraced
ranks the more serious, thoughtful, and
�708
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
tlie Middle and Southern States.
Its
was the stern theology of the Calvinistic school,
that faith which has received the high commendation of
Hume and Bancroft, though neither accepted it as his own,
that to it England owed, more than to any other cause, her
principles of civil and religious liberty.
A church composed
cultivated portions of
creed, too,
—
of such materials, with such a creed, could not well rest
the bald inconsistency of having on
its
Book
under
of Discipline the
emphatic declaration that they were " men -stealers," who
bought, sold, or held slaves, and yet retain in its communion
thousands and tens of thousands who
very thing.
still
persisted in that
members, too, as others, were brought to confront the alternative of mending their practice or changing
their creed and bringing it into nearer conformity to that
Its
They chose the
practice.
alternative, and in 1816
condemnatory words from their Book
They had not, however, fallen to the level the
latter
deliberately erased the
of Discipline.
denomination subsequently reached. They were too near the
days of the Revolution, with its self-evident truths they had
;
still
too
much
As
simplicity of faith.
they read the charter of
belief and hopes, they still saw too clearly the
wide discrepancy between the code of the gospel and tBe code
tlieir religious
of slavery to use mild
unchristian
system.
words concerning the barbarous and
The
gross
inconsistency
of
retaining
such damaging admissions against a system they were
still
determined to cling to could no longer be allowed, thougli
they were not prepared to entirely discard the traditional
words concerning the system of human
chattelhood.
They therefore narrowed the si)ace between profession and practice, though, for a communion which intended
policy of using hard
to persist in slavcholding, their language
was
still
strangely
inconsistent.
In their testimony of 1818, though moderate as compared
with the utterances of 1794, the Presbyterians still characterized slavery " as a gross violation of the most sacred rights of
human
nature, as utterly inconsistent with the law of God,
....
as
totally irreconcilable Avith
ples of the gospel of Christ."
It
the
spirit
acknowledged
and
it
princi-
to be the
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
709
duty of Christians " to efface this blot on our holy religion and
obtain the complete abolition of slavery throughout Christendom." It closes with the solemn assertion " that the manifest
violation or disregard of the injunction here given in its true
and intention ought to be considered just ground for the
and censure of the church."
This act of 1818 was never repealed. It simply stood a..
" dead letter," and the denomination never put itself so much
spirit
discipline
in the right as to escape these words, designed to be
words of
commendation, from the " Southern Presbyterian Review,"
one of the ablest and most intense exponents of Southern,
opinion " The action of 1818 still stands upon her records,
not as a law, but the history of the subject and Southern
:
;
Presbyterians are well content
it
should so stand."
Tlie pur-
port and significance of this lang-uage cannot well be misap-
prehended, admitting and applauding, as
it
does, this change
The Synod of Kentucky declared in 1834 that
cases occurred in its communion " where professors of the religion of mercy have torn the mother from the children and
sent her into a merciless and returnless exile. Yet acts of disof sentiment.
have rarely followed such conduct." Mr. Birney, long
a resident in Kentucky, declared that cases of discipline never
occurred.
Even Mr. Barnes himself testified, in 1856, that
" in neither branch of the Presbyterian Church, perhaps in
cipline
almost no
now
otlier
church in the land, could such resolutions
be carried unanimously, or carried at
all,
without solemn
protests and warnings against the exciting and disorganizing
tendencies of such doctrines."
In 1838 occurred the disruption of the Presbyterian Cluu'ch,
by which it was divided into what were termed the Old School
and
New
blies,
School.
while
New
In the subsequent policy of the two assem-
much more
favor was
School than in
shown
to antislavery action
Old School, in neither was
slaveholding made a bar to church membership, nor was it
in the
ever
made
tlie
a subject of discipline.
Indeed, at the meeting of
1846, as the two assemblies were sitting in
tlie same city, the
School extended an invitation to the Old School to celebrate the Lord's Supper together, notwithstanding the open
New
�710
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
—
so open and
and decided proslavery action of the latter,
pronounced as to receive the damaging commendation of the
" Southern Presbyterian Review," that the Old School Presbyterian Church " has had the wisdom given her to understand
the progress of events and to keep fully abreast of the age."
By this language it was meant tliat it had outlived the antislavery utterance of 1818, and was ready to denounce as
gratuitous and fanatical what was then adopted with so much
In the general policy, receivconsideration and unanimity.
ing this Southern indorsement, was the action of the Old
School Assembly in 1845, when, among other resolutions, it
resolved that " the petitions that ask the Assembly to make
the holding of slaves in itself a matter of discipline virtually
do require this judicatory to dissolve itself," beside " tending
to the dissolution of the union of our beloved country."
This
sentiment was more bluntly expressed by one, who said that
" the two strongest hoops which held the Union together
were the Democratic party and the Old School Presbyterian
Church."
Tending in the same direction and contributing to the
same result, was the policy of the great benevolent and missionary associations. Formed to execute the Saviour's great
its " on earth peace, good-will to men," it was
commission,
deemed by the antislavery leaders but a legitimate part of
work to lend their influence and aid to
undo the " heavy burdens " of American slavery and to " let
at least, to bear their testimony and
the oppressed go free,"
their self-assumed
—
affix
the brand of " sin " on the accursed system.
Societies
works —
like the Tract
formed for the publication of religious
Societies, American Sunday School Union, and Methodist Board
of Publication
had carefully expunged, at Southern dictation,
from the books published all condemnatory allusions to the sin
Even the American Bil)le Society had betrayed
of slavery.
—
its
sympathies with the oppressor, rather than with his victim,
by retaining slaveholders on its list of recognized officials, and
looking with extreme coldness and aversion upon proffers
made
ican
to circulate the Scriptures
Home
among
slaves.
The Amer-
Missionary Society was besieged for years, but
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
711
never with complete success, with petitions to withhold appropriations
from slaveholding churches.
contest, however, was with the American
Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The form of
having slaveholders among its
its complicity was threefold,
members, and receiving contributions from such; employing
The most notable
Board
of
—
and permitting members of
a slaveholder as a missionary
missions
to hold slaves, and its
Indian
churches among the
;
For years, memorials were
would change its policy and relieve
missionaries to employ slaves.
sent to
it
praying that
it
the holy cause from the deserved imputation of thus sanction-
ing this great wrong and of extending the hand of Christian
While it repeatedly
fellowship to those implicated therein.
affirmed that " the Board can sustain no relation to slavery
which implies approbation
of
the
system,"
nevertheless
it
refused to take the action prayed for, or such as squarely
committed
oppression
itself to
;
though
the cause of freedom as against that of
subsequently disconnected
it
itself
from
the Indian missions where slavery existed, by assenting to
their transfer to the
Board
less in
Church.
of the Presbyterian
Other modes of influence were resorted
to, less
worthy and
keeping with the pretensions of those called by the
Christian
professedly relying upon the power of
name and
truth and the grace of God.
Among them was
a kind of per-
sonal odium, social ostracism, and sometimes ecclesiastical cen-
which with some were more potent than argument, and
with all hard to bear and difficult to parry or meet. Less violent and noisy than a Tammany mob more decorous than the
surging crowd, led or urged on by " gentlemen of property and
standing," which dragged Mr. Garrison through the streets of
Boston less violent in speech than were some members of Congress, lawyers, and merchants of cities, it was not seldom that
sure,
;
;
ministers and
members
of churches exhibited
hostility equally acrimonious
of the heaviest blows
an opposition and
and determined.
and hardest
Indeed, some
to be borne fell
from con-
secrated hands, and were aimed by the " brethren " who proUnhappily, the
fessed the same or a " like precious faith."
evidence
is
far too
abundant for the
parallel, exhibiting the
�712
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
opposition of those days from
men who
not belong to churches, in w^hich
Christian profession did
much
IN AMERICA.
it
did and men who did
was hard to see that a
to either modify or mollify the
hard censures of the tongue and pen, or the acts that emphasized
and embodied the unconcealed bitterness and rancor
of
the feelings.
Lewis Tappan experienced the opposition from outside of
New York mob
from the inside, when, proposing to make a donation to the
American Bible Society for the circulation of the Scriptures
among the slaves, he was treated with the utmost rudeness
and discourtesy by the directors, though he himself was one.
It was thought a presumptuous demand of the Virginia legisthe Church in the sacking of his house by a
;
when it requested the legislatures of Northern States
" to adopt such penal enactments as will effectually suppress
all associations having the character of Abolition societies "
lature
;
and yet Dr. Leonard Woods,
Jr.,
a distinguished Congrega-
and editor of a review,
" Abolitionists are justly liable to the
tional clergyman, president of a college
said
in
highest
its
pages
:
civil penalties
has the latter the
and
ecclesiastical censure."
advantage over the former?
In what
Governor
Everett incurred great odium because, in transmitting the
Virginia resolutions to the Massachusetts legislature, he expressed the opinion that Abolition measures might " be prose-
cuted as a misdemeanor at common law." How much worse
was that opinion than a vote of the Methodist General Conference censuring two of its members for simply lecturing " in
favor of modern Abolitionism" ?
Such were some of the modes by which this mournful decadence and defection were produced. It could not, however,
have been effected without great internal struggles, misgivThe change was too radical,
ings, and trials of feeling.
tlie fall
too great.
Nevertheless
it
was
but gradually, slowly, but surely, did
effected.
Reluctantly
men succumb
to the
pressure, yielding one point after another, until the utterances
were disowned by the sons, and the sentiments
Indeed, the
of one generation were discarded by another.
deterioration had proceeded so far that a Presbyterian clergyof the fathers
�man,
INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
713
thirty years ago, could vauntingly proclaim, as
car-
ried with
it
no dishonor
and apprehending slaves with a view
masters
to restore
them
a direct violation of the Divine law, and
is
if
it
" If slavery be a sin, and advertising
:
to their
the buy-
if
ing and selling and holding a slave for the sake of gain
a
is
heinous sin and scandal, then verily three fourths of all the
and
Methodists,
Baptists,
Episcopalians,
Presbyterians
in
They
if
eleven States of the Union are of the Devil.
they do not buy and
they hesitate not to
when
and (with few exceptions)
apprehend and restore runaway slaves
sell, slaves,
This testimony
in their power."
Church South.
ecclesiastical
is
conclusive of the
The Church North had not
that extent, nor had
hold,
descended so low
it
extended
fellowship
Ijy
;
deteriorated
to
but the hand of
Northern churches to
their brethren of the South, and the fraternal feeling accom-
panying
indicated the prevailing tone of thought
it,
the leaders and too largely
Of
among
this general attitude of the
among
the members.
American Church towards
its existence and power,
slavery during the closing years of
there
on record abundant and incontrovertible evidence.
is
In 1850 there was held in Cincinnati a large and imposing
antislavery convention
Christian
tions of the country.
names, and
its
To
its call
leading denomina-
the
of
were appended two thousand
In that call was
" A large
sessions continued four days.
contained the following testimony and comments
:
American professors, influential from their numbers,
wealth, and social rank, have deliberately cliosen and publicly
declared their position.
They enshrine slaveholding in the
Church, and cherish and defend it as a practice agreeable to
body
of
We
the spirit of the gospel
believe the influence of
the Church to be so great that no earthly power can destroy
this sin while, as
among
said
:
it
finds countenance
" Alas for the American
neglects
and
now,
the professed people of God."
left
Church
and protection
In the Address
!
The
it
is
sufferer she
own
sons have robbed and lacerated
bleeding at her feet.
Six hundred thousand living
is
the victim her
slaves held in bondage
—
six hundred thousand
by American church-members, in good
witnesses can testify to this fact,
'
�714
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and regular standing,' without hindrance or rebuke.
may
be truly called the land of
chattel system, with
all
Christian
America
barbarity.
The
the inseparable cruelties that belong
it, receives the sanction and fellowship of the American
Church and her sacred ministry." Later, and but a few
years before the Rebellion, Albert Barnes bore this sugges" Let the time come, when in all the mighty
tive testimony
denominations of Christians it can be announced that the
and let the voice of each
evil is ceased with them forever
lifted
in
kind
but
firm
denomination be
and solemn testimony
against the system, with no mealy words, with no attempt
at apology, with no wish to blink it, and no effort to throw
the sacred shield of religion over so great an evil, and the
work is done. There is no public sentiment in the land,
there can be none created, that would resist the power of such
a testimony. There is no power out of the Church that could
to
:
;
if it were not sustained in it."
Of the Episcopal Church, John Jay, an honored member,
" She has not merely remained a mute and careless
said
spectator of this great conflict of truth and justice with hypocrisy and cruelty, but her very priests and deacons may be seen
ministering at the altar of slavery, offering their talents and
influence at its unholy shrine, and openly repeating the awful
sustain slavery an hour
:
blasphemy that the precepts of our Saviour sanction the sysOf the Northern clergy he added
of American slavery."
that they " rebuke it neither in public nor in private."
nor is
Denominationally there was no great difference
there much to choose as we follow the leading sects from the
tem
;
high moral ground and Christian position held, at least in
theory, at the beginning of the government, through the successive steps of their mournful decadence.
Substantially,
all,
with few exceptions, shared in the defection and joined the
Sectionally, as was natural, the Southern
great apostasy.
churches were more pronounced in their adhesion to the new
doctrines of the extreme proslavery school though, as seen
;
by the testimonies already quoted, the majority of Northern
churches
still
retained
their
ecclesiastical
connection with
them, modified their opinions and utterances, as they were
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
compelled to do, and accommodated their ethics to the
position
But
assumed by
this adhesion,
being unquestioned.
715
new
their slaveholding brethren.
though too unquestioning, was far from
For there were many dissentients, who
entered their earnest protest against principles and practices
so radically
the
wrong and
at variance with the spirit
and
require-
From the first and at the beginning of
government, many denounced the compromises of the
ments
of the gospel.
Constitution
even with
all
the disclaimers of those early
days, and with the confident hopes that slavery was a temevil, soon to pass away.
As the slaveholders became
more arrogant, changed the language of apology to that of assertion, and substituted for the avowed expectation that slavery was to be but temporary the expressed determination that
it should be perpetual, the numbers increased wlio rejected the
new and vaunted heresy and sought in various ways to absolve
themselves from the shameful complicity. It was therefore at
porary
a frightful cost that Northern churches maintained their fealty
to their Southern dictators.
They
laid
upon the
altar of this
devotion, as their offering, sacrifices of both denominational
and fraternal harmony. Rather than bear a faithful
testimony against the great crime of the century, they were
integrity
willing to see the ploughshare of division and disruption run
through their ranks, separating friends and arraying in hostile
who should have remained in loving and har-
factions those
monious co-operation for a common cause. It was a ruthless
wanton sacrifice of the priceless
interests of Christian unity and a consistent faith.
But how came it to pass that " the Church of tlie Living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth," the ministry, too,
betrayal of principle, and a
" set for the defence of the gospel," instead of bearing their
firm, unabated testimony against the giant wrong, should
have joined hands with the oppressor instead of undoing the
heavy burdens, and letting the oppressed go free, should have
made them heavier, joined in the hunt for the fleeing fugitive,
and counselled others to do the same ? How did it happen
;
that, instead of helping the slave, they cast the weight of their
influence, moral, social,
and numerical, against him
;
that in-
�716
RISE
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
stead of laboring to hasten the day of his deliverance, they
conspired with his oppressor to
No
make
his
bondage
pcr})ctiial ?
and complete answer can be given to such questionBeyond all human ken must exist many of the reasons
ings.
which contributed to that sad and humiliating result though
full
;
there are considerations Avithin reach
The answer
nor unprofitable to note.
was
may
it
be neither amiss
often given
was that
sheer hypocrisy that cither prompted or allowed
it
it
that
;
there was no sincerity in the professed faith which coexisted
with a practice so inconsistent and strange.
At
not have been a correct solution.
been with
many
But
this could
least, it could
a matter of conscious hypocrisy.
not have
It
was not
because they meant to deceive that they so lamentably failed
Inconsistent and reprehensible as
in this trial of their faith.
was
their conduct in the premises, as little of the spirit of the
Master as was often manifested in their course, the imputamind nor
tion of such hypocrisy will not satisfy the candid
No
many were
honest and
For in other departments of life they were respectable and high-minded citizens,
performing its duties and accepting, at least in a general
way, its responsibilities. They were circumspect and useful
members of the family and of society. In them learning found
fully explain their position.
doubt,
thought they were doing God service.
advocates, virtue defenders, and the institutions of the gospel
and
of Christian benevolence reliable
They were the
friends
and promoters
intelligent supporters of the school
and generous supporters.
of revivals and missions,
and
were, indeed, imperfect.
Manifestly,
college.
theirs was not the stuff that hypocrisy
is
made
They had not come up
of.
They
to that stand-
ard of Christian completeness which the exigencies of the
uation demanded.
faith,
It
was a
strain
sit-
on their Christian principle,
and wisdom they could not or did not bear.
mind that the subject was beset
and that the circumstances were most unpropitious.
To decide what one's duty was and to perform it
were never an easy task. It seems as if fiendish ingenuity itself could go no further nor concoct a scheme more essentially
diabolical than was that extorted from the framcrs of the ConIt should also be borne in
with
difficulties,
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
717
stitution by the slaveholders of South Carolina and Georgia,
by which, says John Quincy Adams, " the venom of slavery
was infused into the Constitution of freedom," which, he adds,
was so " saturated with the infection of slavery that no fumiga-
tion could purify, no quarantine could extinguish "
thereby
" making the preservation, propagation, and perpetuation of
;
slavery tlie vital and animating spirit of the national government." Indeed, so hampered and harassed has the nation
been by these compromises and consequent legislation that
even now, with all the light shed by the Rebellion, its known
causes and consequences, it. is difficult to decide upon past
questions of duty, in the premises as then existing.
least, is true,
who
— many who were
This, at
in the antislavery struggle,
and
then thought they saw clearly the requirements of piety,
patriotism, and philanthropy, now, as they
fully the situation, doubt.
comprehend more
and apothegms
Political principles
which passed current then do not appear quite so clear to-day.
There was no position possible in Church or State, in the Church
or out of
it,
in a national party with its " Southern wing," in
a " third party " without such " wing," or in " no party," that
was without its difficulties. Each position, though free from
had
others,
difficulties of its
own.
In shunning Scylla, there
was always danger of falling upon Charybdis. The nation had
put fetters upon itself which it could not break the North
;
had accepted conditions it could not with honor or safety fulfil.
Nor was there help or hope, only as God interposed, and,
through the madness of the national oppressors themselves,
snapped asunder those cords with which the youthful giant had
allowed his limbs to be bound.
was any
In that dilemma there never
probability, hardly a possibility, of a peaceful solution
of the fearful problem through moral
agitation
of
a
generation and
"War alone could strike the
slaves,
its
means alone
;
and the
results did but prove
chains from four millions
and the nation could only expiate
its
it.
of
heaven-defying
crime in blood.
But these difficulties, however great, did not excuse wrongand Christians should have obeyed God rather than
man. Even with them they should have shown fealty to that
doing
;
�718
RISE
AXD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
" higher law that
sits
enthroned above
all
IN AMERICA.
human enactments."
Certainly they did not excuse that gratuitous
homage
which did not really exist
stitutional obligations
;
to con-
that super-
went beyond what was written, and
which characterized so many ministers and members of Northern churches,
men who volunteered defences of what even
Southern statesmen condemned of what, too, the recent Rebellion revealed to be more horrible in spirit and more disastrous in results than had ever been laid to the charge of slavery by the sternest of its opposers. For such the verdict of
the future must be that of condemnation, if not of contempt.
But, while truth demands this general censure, historic justice demands the counter-statement that in the long antislavery
struggle now under j-eview ministers and members of these
very churches took a prominent and leading part. It has
serviceable zeal which
—
;
been fashionable to couple the charge of
mention of the Abolition
or untrue.
effort.
infidelity
with the
Nothing could be more unjust
Antislavery was the child of Christian faith.
early and persistent defenders and supporters were
Its
men who
God and called upon his name. Till the years 1836 and
1837 there was not even a shadow of excuse for such an imputation.
Up to that time Mr. Garrison himself was depending
and calling upon the churches and ministers for help and it
was not until he had been engaged nearly ten years, and had
feared
;
received rebuffs and bitter opposition, instead of encourage-
ment and help, from both parties and sects, that he and his
immediate followers adopted the policy they afterward purBut they never constituted more than a fraction of the
sued.
antislavery host.
their
numbers
The veteran William Goodcll estimated
one eighth. The large majority of
at about
Abolitionists retained their connection with both the ecclesiastical
and
As
political organizations of the land.
they did not feel that
it
was
left optional
Christians
with them whether
or not they should connect themselves with
some form
of
church organization as citizens, with the right of suffrage,
they regarded it a duty to use it, a duty they should neither
;
neglect nor ignore.
of
Estimating aright the immense influence
these organizations, they
saw
clearly that
it
should be
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
719
and not against him. And they were
abundant in such labors. That they failed of accomplishing
all they undertook shows rather the greatness of the task they
attempted and the inveteracy of the evil they sought to remove
than any special delinquency upon their part.
Could the unwritten history of this long, persistent, and
"wielded for the slave,
varied conflict be fully and faithfully given,
that,
though the majority faltered and
would be seen
it
failed,
a struggling
minority was never wanting to proclaim their opposition and
on record their earnest protest.
to leave
in numberless forms of effort.
From
This was shown
the earnest talks
of
neighbor with neighbor, the Fast-Day and Thanksgiving discourses and " Monthly Concert for the Oppressed " in some
and Cheever
from the little meeting of an individual church to the protracted and imposing discussions of the great religious assemblies, conventions, and associations of the land
from individrural parish, to the burning utterances of Lovejoy
;
ual contributions in a congregation, withheld from
some good
and cherished missionary board by a few earnest and conscientious Christians, not without sore trials of feeling and many
prayers, to the disruption of some national organization and
the formation of a new one on the single issue of slavery and
antislavery, there were always those who pressed the para-
mount claims of humanity, pleaded for freedom and right, and
besought their respective denominations to withdraw everything like a formal recognition of Christian fellowship from
who were
small.
involved in this great wrong.
But
their success
all
was
Indeed, the story of their approaches and their results
afford but a sorry record of
human
of interest,
judgment
;
fallibility
even with the
and the largest pretensions of the power
passion, and prejudice over the decisions of the
and the difficulty of keeping the practice of life up
piost generous gifts
;
to the high plane of its professions.
They approached, too, the missionary boards and benevolent
then demanding and occupying a large share of public attention.
Though membership and support were not regarded as oliligatory in them as in the churches, yet those
organizations were exponents of some of the grandest elements
societies,
�720
of
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Christian faith and hope on earth.
IN AMERICA.
Born
of
the holiest
impulses and aspirations of the sanctified soul, they brouglit
most loving and
most loyal. The generation that conceived and planned the
scheme of modern missions has mostly passed away but its
Christian men and women have left abundant traces of their
solemnity of thought and feeling in view of the trust, long
neglected, they felt called upon to take up.
These appear not
only on the printed pages transmitting its record, but in the
many missionary names with which they christened their children, and which bear by their daily utterance their everpresent testimony to the spirit and purpose of the fathers.
into exercise the practical workings of hearts
;
When,
therefore, the Christian Abolitionists found that these
—
linked with such sacrel memories and animating hopes, in which were garnered so many prayers and
thanksgivings, in which, too, were invested so many alms
were strengthening the bonds of slavery at home, though professing to break the chains of error and superstition abroad,
associations
—
their sorrow
and alarm were
great.
Among
the cruelties of
slavery were these severe trials of feeling and faith which
those
who
as they were compelled to adjust the jarring issues
to
settle
it
cost
loved alike the cause of freedom and of missions,
the questions
of
duty
it
it
raised,
rendered necessary, and
oftentimes to sunder tics the most sacred and tender.
Tlie answers given varied according to the different circum-
who gave them. Large
numbers, becoming wearied with the contest, deemed it best
to form new organizations. In the Presbyterian denomination
was formed " The Free Presbyterian Assembly and Synod "
stances and characteristics of those
;
in the Methodist Church, "
The Wcsleyan Conference,"
be-
North " and " Church
South." In the Baptist denomination the disruption took
place in their Board of Missions.
Among the Congrcgationalists it resulted mainly, other denominations being involved
to some extent, in the formation of the " Beform Book and
Tract Society " and in the division in the American Tract
Societies.
But the idea of missions, especially foreign, had
taken strong hold of the Christian mind and, though thus
sides
the
split
into
the " Church
;
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
721
from the recognized agencies of the leading denominamany who were desirous of some agency or
channel through which their prayers and alms could reach
some part of " the field which is the world." Accordingly,
there were formed " The Committee of West India Missions,"
*' The
Western Missionary Association," " Tlie Amistad Comrepelled
tions, there were
mittee "
and the " Union Missionary Society,"
— the
three indicating their origin and purpose by their names
last being
composed mainly, though not
first
;
the
entirely, of colored
persons.
But these objects were special and their range was limited.
They did not fully meet the desire or carry out tlie missionary
" The
idea, so firmly fixed in the Christian mind of that day.
field is the world," and an organization was desired that
should be restricted to no merely special object. A board
was demanded uncontaminated by any contact or complicity
with slavery and yet world-wide in the range of its proposed
Accordingly, early in 18-16, a convention of " the
friends of Bible missions " was held at Syracuse, New York.
effort.
From
its
proceedings originated a call for a larger
year, at
met
con-
Albany early in the fall of the same
which the " American Missionary Association " was
vention, which
in
It
Into it these smaller associations were merged.
had a home and foreign department, and maintained missions
not only in this country, but in Africa, Asia, and the Sandwich Islands, with increasing receipts and evidences of usefulness.
Since the abolition of slavery, not withdrawing entirely from the foreign field, it has turned its attention mainly
to the education of the freedmen, and its receipts and disbursements have been largely increased.
Whde this separatist line of policy was pursued by numbers, those who remained within their respective communions
were no less resolute in carrying out their principles, not only
by their persistent antislavery demands within those denominations, but by general Cliristian antislavery conventions in
formed.
different parts of the country,
— conventions
largely attended
and sometimes continuing several days. These conventions
and tlieir publislied proceedings exerted no small influence
VOL.
III.
46
�722
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
upon the popular mind and heart.
call extensively circulated,
IN AMERICA.
In 1859, in obedience to a
a Christian convention was held in
Worcester, Mass., continuing its session two days.
" Church Antislavery Society " was
meeting the
which did something
At
this
formed,
same direction by its annual meetand tracts, though its range of
operations was limited, and its influence was never great.
Indeed, its history may be regarded as more noteworthy and
instructive for what it failed to do than from any actual acin the
ings, published proceedings,
comi)lishment, rather as a sign than a factor of the great prob-
lem
it
vainly sought to solve.
of the
North
in
It
was the
men
result of an earnest
combine the churches
some aggressive movement against an institu-
desire of Christian antislavery
to
tion which, notwithstanding the agitation
and discussions of a
was becoming every day more grasping and audacious, stronger and more successful.
To accomplish this and
to relieve Abolitionism of that irreligious tendency, or accompaniment, freely charged upon it, and for which the course of
some of its advocates gave too much color, they proposed an
association distinctively religious, on whose platform all Christians might stand, proposing their own modes of effort and
drawing their weapons of assault from the armory of the gosgeneration,
pel itself.
Assuming
as their postulates the inherent sinful-
ness of slavery, with which Christians could have no rightful
complicity, they invited their brethren of every denomination
to unite for the purpose of ridding themselves of all such
com-
and of bringing the whole moral power of the Christian
Church to secure its thorough and immediate abolition. That
so few accepted this invitation and joined in the proposed
plicity
effort revealed the fact that there
were other reasons why the
churches so generally stood aloof from the antislavery cause
men engaged in it, or their modes of
The Rebellion soon intervening, the public attenwas al)sorbed in the more direct and decisive operations
than the character of the
action.
tion
of that terrible strife, by which the sword of battle secured
few months what the moral warfare of a generation had
so unsuccessfully endeavored to effect.
Thus through various organizations and instrumentalities
in a
�INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND ASSOCIATIONS.
723
were kept alive both antislavery feeling and action. Though
some particular forms and phases of effort were given up or
fell into disuse, though many once earnest and active became
weary or recreant, there were always those who remained
faithful to the cause of
and by
human
rights
Omniscience alone can estimate
mind
and who in various ways
diversified agencies doubtless did
for those political
—
much
— how much
in preparing the public
movements which
resulted in the for-
mation of the Republican party, which gave so large a vote to
Mr. Fremont in 1856, and which secured the election of Mr.
membership
few
exceptions, in the election of Mr. Lincoln, gave large and generous support to his administration, earnestly demanded and
Lincoln in 1860.
The Protestant
clergy and the
of the Protestant churches in the free States aided, with
vigorously sustained his policy of emancipation.
While, however,
much
is
hidden from
human
view, and
men
can only speculate, there are some things, as has been shown,
Among them, as has been
fixed as matters of historic record.
seen,
ica
is
the humiliating fact that, while the churches of
furnished
many
able
defenders of the great doctrines of
their leading
men and
Amer-
and earnest advocates and valiant
lil)erty,
equality, fraternity,
influences (at the South entirely, at the
North largely), the great organizations, ecclesiastical and missionary, the colleges and seminaries of learning, though almost
exclusively under religious and even clerical control, were not
thus true. In that great trial of their faith and test of their
principles they faltered and failed.
This mournful history, then, has its lessons of warning and
duty, which should not pass unheeded. The history of slavery
and the Slave Power has been but the history of human na-
They were but the occasion of its strange developments,
and not the cause,
only the symptoms, not the disease and
though the one has been destroyed and the other dethroned,
the cause, the disease, still remains. Though it is to be hoped
'that nothing quite so hideous and revolting as slavery shall
ever appear again on American soil, there is every reason to
ture.
—
;
fear that so long as like causes remain there will be like results.
In the future, as in the past, there will rankle and burn
�724
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
linman heart the same passions, the same love of " power and pelf'*; there will remain the same "saint-seducing
gold " and the same " vaulting ambition " there will be those
in the
;
" fear not
" higher law "
who
hand
God nor regard man," and who mock at tlie
there will live those who will join hand in
;
to oppress the poor
and circumvent the good
;
and
it
necessary that " the Church of the Living
" should be " the pillar and ground of the truth." The
will still be as
God
Christian ministry now, as ever, " set for the defence of the
gospel," should always prove true and faithful to
its high comand yet there is great reason to fear that there will
be the same stress and strain upon the conscience, the same
temptation on the part of the ministry rather to confer with
flesh and blood than to " preach the preaching" that is " bid,"
and on the part of members the same slowness to heed tlie
inspired direction, " Be not conformed to this world," the
same forgetfulness of the divine injunction that " we should
For such the history of slavery
ol)ey God rather than men."
and the Slave Power is full of both instruction and warning,
mission
;
that can be neither wisely nor safely forgotten or ignored.
�CHAPTER
L.
CONCLUSION.
— Exponents of
— Purpose of the History. — Subsidiary
— Easy repeal of slave-laws. — Voluntary and suicidal
relinquishment of power. — Mr. Lincoln in a minority. — Popular sentiment
largely proslavery. — Divine method. — Repeal of slaveholding laws. — Peon— Border slave-States. — Leadersliip. — Hosage. — Attempted
to the Republican policy. — Protests of Kentucky and ^Maryland. —
of President Johnson. — Act of fundamental imporImpeachment and
tance. — Presidential election of 1868. — Treasonable attitude and utterances
— Lessons of the war. — Greatness
of Democratic convention. — F. P.
— Different estimates. — Different purposes and policy.
of the changes
— Growing
— Mr. Bingham. — Sectional
topics.
General survey.
principles.
similar
legislation.
tility
trial
Blair.
effected.
illiteracy.
feeling.
The
proposed limits of this volume have been reached with-
out taking up
It is to
all
the topics embraced within
its original
plan.
be hoped, however, that sufficient has been said to
afford a measurably adequate idea of the progress of events
developed by the " irrepressible conflict," and which have led
to the present posture of affairs,
—
results already attained,
and those the future
will disclose as a natural
the great struggle.
Slavery has been traced from
beginnings to
its
seeds planted at
ing the land,
overshadowing greatness,
Jamestown
— from being
in
1620 to
its
consequence of
— from
its
small
the few
woful harvest cover-
a system of labor, in bad repute
and dying out, or existing by sufferance when the Constitution was framed, to its becoming an " institution," dominating the government, and exerting a commanding if not a
controlling
tude of
its
in
influence
commercial world.
It
society, in the church,
and
has been shown, too, that in
tlie
in the
pleni-
power, impatient of the least restraint or check,
anxious to guard against apprehended dangers arising from
its local, restricted,
and questionable character,
it
demanded
�726
new
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
EISE
IN AilERICA.
guaranties, and claimed that
tional but national, not only
it should be no longer secwandering everywhere at will,
but everywhere protected by the
and
Such guaranany but the most
asgis of the Constitution,
maintained by the arm of Federal authority.
ties
being too humiliating and wicked for
craven to submit
to rend
what
it
to, this
Power appealed
to arms, determined
could not rule, and break what
it
could not
In the war thus
control with an unquestioned supremacy.
inaugurated slavery went down, not, however, for moral but
was wrong but because it was
not continue and the Union
endure.
The war closed, the work of reconstruction began,
the recusant States were brought back, and the flag again
military reasons, not because
unsafe, and because
waves,
if
it
it
could
not over loyal hearts, at least as the symbol of
restored nationality and authority, where
it had been trailed
and treated with the greatest indignity and hate.
Claiming, as its title imports, only or mainly to give some
account of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America,
this work has proposed nothing like a full and connected military or political history of the war, and of the process of reIts purpose has been rather to seize upon those
construction.
in the dust,
portions of such history, perhaps not always with the nicest
discrimination, which would shed the clearest light upon the
was written to examine, elucidate, and improve, and
yield tlie most profitable instruction.
Tlie topics omitted for lack of space are subsidiary, however, and of less real importance than those for which room
su])ject it
has been found.
Necessary, perhaps, to the completeness of
historic detail, they
would be only the exponents
of principles
already enunciated and illustrated in other connections, ex-
am i)les
and recorded, the
upon
and made poscarrying out of the new policy entered
sil)le only by the giving up by Southern members of their
seats in Congi-ess, and their mad relinquishment of the power
Henceforward, with human
their occupation had given them.
rights instead of human chattelhood the goal and guide, free-
dom
of general facts already recognized
instead
of
slavery
bers, in their debates
the polestar of
and in the
government, mem-
details of legislation,
whether
�727
CONCLUSION.
effected
or only
attempted, could but exhibit a similarity
argument and appeal.
On measures of the same general character and purpose friends and foes could hardly
Without, therefore,
do otherwise than repeat themselves.
the excitement of pending issues, with the uncertainty and
anxiety as to what the result would be, there is less of loss,
now that excitement has passed and the results are known,
of
in not having the precise details before the mind.
it
most
of the
how
among
almost
is
the marvels of history
how
was
radical legislation of those days
noiselessly
and
Besides,
easily
some
effected,
—
almost without division slave-laws were
revoked, the very mention of whose repeal before the war
would have roused the nation, both North and South,
to fierce
excitement, been the signal of the wildest clamor, the most
frantic
expostulations,
threats.
and
tlie
most
terrible
One indeed could but stand amazed
be silent with wonder, and almost question his
and defiant
at the change,
own
identity,
or that of others, as he saw law after law repealed almost
without remonstrance, and that mountain of unrighteous
lation, the crystallized
legis-
product of the cruelty and fiendish in-
genuity of generations, melting away, like icebergs in a
summer
sea and under the fervors of a tropical sun, in the presence of
an aroused indignation, that had hitherto been trammelled by
compromise and the sense of constitutional obligations, and
suppressed by fear of offending Southern brethren and sacrificing
Southern support, but
right to be heard,
and
now prepared
to \'indicate its
to enforce the claims of justice
and a
common humanity.
Perhaps, however, the marvel will not appear so great, at
least to those
who comprehend
the philosophy or rationale
Through the secession of the States from the
Union, and of their members from Congress, resulted two or
three facts whose importance arid potency can hardly be overestimated.
By it they not only removed shackles from Northern limbs, but they put shackles on their own, or they did
that which was tantamount thereto.
By leaving their places
of the change.
in Congress they disarmed themselves of the only
they had ever used with
much
eff'ect,
weapons
they abandoned the only
�728
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
tenable position from which they could defend their cherished
system or
assail its enemies.
— argument,
Everything else was against
sentiment, reason, conscience, the laws of
it,
na-
ture and the law of God, the claims of justice and the plead-
ings of humanity, the teachings of philosophy and the sweet
voices of poetry,
—
all, all,
as
it
could not well be otherwise,
were arrayed against the " sum of
position in the government, with the
of their slaves, gave
them
political
all villanies."
But
their
three-fifths representation
power, and long practice
gave them great astuteness and adroitness in
its
use, while
Northern selfishness, venality, lack of convictions, and what
has been justly termed " careless citizenship," afforded a wide
and fruitful field for their peculiar strategy. In their citizenship were the hidings of the slaveholders' power, and by that
Had they been content therewith,
might not have continued for years,
perhaps generations. For the fact, already stated, may be
here repeated, that Mr. Lincoln, when elected to the Presidency, was in a minority of a million, and that on a platform
sign alone they conquered.
nothing appears
why
this
that simply insisted on the non-extension of slavery, while
not only permitted but guaranteed
isting.
And
this, it is to
its
it
continuance where ex-
be remembered, notwithstanding the
by the antislavery agitation of a generation and the
faithful warnings thundered in the nation's ear from the Abolition pulpits and platforms of those days of earnest reasoning
and appeal aided, too, in their work of argiunent and alarm
by the continued aggressions of the Slave Power, from the
annexation of Texas to the Lccompton infamy, from the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act to the Drcd Scott decision.
light shed
;
Not ignoring the Divine agency and the possibilities within
reach of the Divine arm, humanly speaking, it may lie claimed
there did not appear to man's finite vision during the summer
and autumn of 1860 any reason for believing that the Slave
Power could be dethroned, or dislodged from its seemingly
impregnable position by any forces then at command or in
view\
The composition and doings of the Peace Congress
the Crittenden Compromise, with the narrow escape from its
adoption, designed to eternize slavery and place it beyond the
�729
CONCLUSION.
reach of repeal, however earnestly and largely the people might
desire
it
months
the action and tone of Congress during the closing
;
of
—
all lead to the
Mr. Buchanan's administration,
Power been content, it might
conclusion that had the Slave
have
still
remained in practical possession of the government.
But the peace the North so earnestly desired and eagerly
sought was not to he the reward of such surrender and
betrayal, nor were the slaveholders to be placated even by
On a large scale and in view of the
concessions so extreme.
nations was to be exhibited another example of the haughty
spirit that goes before
precedes destruction.
a
fall,
By
of that judicial blindness that
the
Divine wisdom, made more
human folly, God
made to praise
revealed anew how the wrath of man
him, and how the remainder of wrath he could restrain. By
a fatuity that hardly finds a parallel in human history, the
resplendent by this dark background of
could be
slaveholders sacrificed slavery to save
it,
and in
their frantic
efforts to defend it against all possible danger, they increased
those dangers immeasurably, abandoning, as they did, the only
stronghold from which defence was possible. Placing in the
hands of their antagonists the same weapons they themselves
had hitherto used with so much effect, the rest became ineviSlavery fallen, what was
table, and only a question of time.
created for or enacted by it would very naturally follow. The
tyrant dead, his satellites were allowed to die without regret
the system destroyed, its auxiliaries were allowed to pass away
without protest. Laws like the Fugitive Slave Act and those
forbidding the instruction of slaves fell naturally and neces-
and became practically repealed, because
there were no longer slaves to be returned to bondage or
There were enactslaves to be kept in enforced ignorance.
ments, too, in the interests of slavery which affected others
than slaves, and bore heavily upon freemen themselves.
sarily into disuse
Among them
were the laws that confined the
militia of the
slavcholding States to white persons and authorized the bar-
barous custom of whipping.
peonage in
New Mexico,
There, too, was the system of
allowed to exist not so
of slavery as by sufferance, because a
much
as a relic
government committed
�730
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and more barbarous form of chattelhood, and
dominated by the Slave Power, could hardly be expected to
interfere with this milder system of " modified servitude into the grosser
herited from Mexico," at least from any regard for the primal
rights of
man.
Beside these, there were military organiza-
tions in the slaveholding States, Rebel in spirit
and purpose,
and composed mainly of men who had belonged to the armies
Such organizations were justly deemed
of the Confederacy.
antagonistic to the Union, and little likely to promote con-
tinued peace.
of
Though not so much the creatures of slavery as
their menace was rather against the author-
treason, — and
government than against the freedom of the indipeonage in New Mexico and the other laws
above mentioned, they owed their origin to slavery, were pervaded by its spirit and purpose, and could not with safety be
allowed to exist.
Though a bill early introduced by Mr.
Wilson for their disbandment failed, a similar measure, moved
as an amendment to an appropriation bill, was subsequently
ity of the
vidual,
—
like
carried with little opposition.
On
the same day that the above-named
amendment was
amend the
introduced into the Senate, Mr. Trumbull moved to
same appropriation bill by a provision prohibiting " whipping
maiming of the person," and it was carried without debate
With little more discussion or dissent an amendor division.
ment to a bill for the temporary increase of the pay of the
officers of the army, striking out the word " white " from the
militia laws, was adopted.
When New Mexico became a Territory of the Union, there
existed a system of peonage, by which when a Mexican owed
a debt tlic creditor had a right to his labor until the debt was
paid.
The debtor became a domestic servant and practically
There were about two thousand
a slave until its liquidation.
But a resof this class, principally Indians, in the Territory.
olution abolishing the system was introduced by Mr. Wilson,
thereby removing
and without much ado it was passed
or
;
another of the relics of the slave system.
It
was
some attempted
and an index of congi-es-
also proposed to give account of
legislation, as a history of the times
�731
conclusion:
by those who were striving
in their hands, and
thus secure the fruits of the war, guard against similar attempts in the future, but especially protect the freedmen and
the loyal men of the South, hated and oppressed because they
had proved themselves true to the Union. A chapter was proposed giving a somewhat detailed account of attempts, beginning as early as the third day of the first session of the
XXXIXth Congress, in December, 1865, to secure amendments of the Constitution to prevent the assumption of
" Rebel debts," to define " citizenship," and to fix the " basis
of representation."
They all failed of enactment, and are
mainly valuable as matters of historic record, to show how
earnest and prompt were the Republican leaders to meet
squarely the issues presented, and to provide, if possible, for
sional thought
and
feeling, evinced
to use aright the power for the
the exigencies of the hour.
moment
This failure of enactment, with
the character of the debates, revealed the uncertain and hesitating steps with which
members moved along the untrav-
were called to tread, and grappled with problems for which no precedents could be found though the
arguments urged and the reasons for action were substantially
elled path they
;
those employed in subsequent discussions, which resulted in
Amendments, which were finally
which
are
now
parts
adopted, and
of the Constitution.
Another subject, of which some account was to have been
given, was the process by which the different border slave
States, which, though believing in slavery, had not joined the
Rebellion, were induced to accept emancipation and adapt their
the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
legislation to the
new
order of things.
however, that while those States had
Of
this
much
in
it is
to be said,
common, being
by influences which were general and national, each
its local history and struggle.
While,
attained
therefore, the result
was substantially the same in
all, the processes by which it was reached varied materially,
affected
had
its
own autonomy,
according to the different circumstances and leadership in
these separate commonwealths.
ship.
Always and everywhere
Much depended upon
leader-
true, at least, in greater or less
degree, at this juncture of affairs the measures actually adopted
�732
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
by the many were the result largely, if not entirely, of the
views and feelings of the few. When all were in a maze,
knowing not what to do or expect, the natural leader's voice
was listened for, and, if heard, generally heeded. When all
were dazed by the resplendent events in progress, not knowing
what the next act in the imposing drama was to be, though
prepared for almost anything, it is not strange that men, distrusting themselves, should have looked to others for counsel
and guidance.
Everything in confusion, the very founda-
tions of society seemingly sliding
from beneath
their feet, the
very stars in their courses appearing to fight against them,
Southern
men were
willing to accept almost any solution that
promised repose, and the salvation of anything from the gen-
wreck around them. The voice of leaders at such a time
and the policy finally adopted unquestionably depended oftentimes far more on the influences to which
these leaders chanced to be exposed than upon any well-coneral
had
special potency,
sidered opinions and purposes of the people themselves.
undoubtedly affords some solution of the
This
fact, that while the
three border slave States, Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky,
rejected the Fourteenth
Amendment by
the State of Missouri accepted
it
a vote of three to one,
by a vote
of
one hundred and
eleven to forty.
The
details, therefore, of State action,
not by any means
uninstructive and devoid of local and special value, cannot be
and historic interest which inheres in the great
and providential fact that those States were induced to move at
that, without any great change of sentiment and feeling
all
of that general
;
on the subject
of slavery, they should adopt legislation recog-
nizing its destruction, and adapted thereto.
That, and not
the special methods pursued in the separate States,
is
the sig-
and memorable fact. This recognition, however, did
not carry with it anything like a hearty adoption of the Republican policy of which it formed a part. Thus a Democratic convention, held in Kentucky in 1866, resolved, " That
we recognize the abolition of slavery as an accomplished
fact, but earnestly assert that Kentucky has the right to regunificant
late the political status of the negroes within lier territory."
�733
CONCLUSION.
And
even what was called a Union convention, a few months
later, entered its protest against
the Thirteenth
Amendment gave
negro suffrage, denying that
to Congress the power " to
pass any law granting the right of suffrage to persons of Afri-
In Maryland, in 1867, the legislature, while
"
resolving that
we regard the abolishment of negro slavery
can descent."
as a fact achieved, to which the peace and quiet of the country
in submission," did "
most solemnly and earnestly protest against any action by the Conrequire that
we should bow
gress of the United States to assign the negro a social status
It also declared
or endow him with the elective franchise."
" that the loss of private property occasioned by the eman-
cipation of slaves constitutes a valid claim upon the Federal
government for compensation, and that the General Assembly
ought to provide for ascertaining the extent of such loss, with
a view of pressing the claim at an early day."
It was also proposed to give a somewhat detailed account
of the trial of President Johnson on articles of impeachment
exhibited by the House of Representatives, March 2, 1868.
The original motion, made by Mr. Ashley of Oliio, January 7,
1867, charging him with "high crimes and misdemeanors"
specified that "he has corruptly used the appointing power;
that he has corruptly used the pardoning power that he has
corruptly used the veto that he has corruptly disposed of
public property of the United States that he has corruptly
interfered in elections, and committed acts, and conspired
with others to commit acts, which, in contemplation of the
Constitution, are high crimes and misdemeanors."
The articles were read to the Senate sitting as Court of Impeachment, March 4, 1868. The trial proceeded till the 16th of
May, when a vote was taken, thirty-five voting Guilty, and
nineteen. Not Guilty; and judgment of acquittal was entered.
Although a somewhat striking episode, and, for the time
being, exciting a widespread interest, this trial cannot be
regarded as having any very direct bearing on the history of
slavery.
That the President's course was utterly indefensible,
that he proved himself false to his promises and loudly promulgated opinions as well as to the party which elected him,
;
;
;
�734
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
besides aggrayating and greatly increasing the difficulties of
reconstruction,
matter of record, and has been referred to in
is
Himself a product of slavprevious chapters of this volume.
ery, which was itself a " gigantic lie," how could he be true
to a party or cause based on the grand verities enunciated
in the Republican platform, and
of its history
?
And
made the dominating
yet the trial itself
was
of local
forces
and tem-
porary interest and importance, and hardly deserves a very
large space or mention in a general history of the Slave Power.
Another chapter was to have been devoted to the presidenBut, though occupying, no doubt, a
election of 1868.
commanding position in the work of reconstruction,
an important link in the chain of events now under review, its main
significance and the chief contribution it affords for history
appear in the exceedingly disloyal attitude in which it presents
Without even an attempt to conceal
the Democratic party.
words that cost and often mean so
its purpose by words,
little, and are indeed so often used by men to " disguise their
tial
—
—
thoughts "
—
it
proclaimed not only
defenders of their country, but
those
and
who would
destroy
in the utterances of
it.
its
its
its bitter hostility to
the
too manifest sympathy with
Both
in the platform adopted
candidates
little
short of the
was presented, not in mealy words, but in
those most objurgatory and defiant. In its platform and in its
baldest treason
arraignment of the Republican party, it spoke of " the unparalleled oppression and tyranny which have marked its career,'*
having subjected " ten States to military despotism and negrO
supremacy," and of
its
substituting "secret star-chamber inqui-
sitions for constitutional tribunals "
;
pronounced " the recon-
struction acts (so called) of Congress, as such, as usurpations,
and unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void" and demanded
" amnesty for all past political offences, and the regulation of
the elective franchise in these States by their citizens." But
the most significant event of the canvass was the letter of
;
Blair, the Democratic candidate for Vice-President.
the 30th of June he wrote what became the famous " Brod-
Frank P.
On
head letter," in which he indulged in the most violent and
inflammatory language and recommendations. Beside accus-
�735
CONCLUSION.
ing the Republican party of the most heinous political offences,
and suggesting the most violent remedies, he said unequivo" There is but one way to restore the government and
the Constitution, and that is for the President elect to declare
these acts null and void, compel the army to undo its usurpacally
:
tions at the South, disperse the carpet-bag State governments,
and
elect
Senators and Representatives."
For
this
frank
avowal of his treasonable and revolutionary opinions and purposes he was honored with a unanimous vote of the convention on the first ballot for the office of Vice-President, while
it required twenty-three ballotings to secure the nomination
of Horatio Seymour for the Presidency on the same electoral
ticket
so well did the former represent the principles and
;
purposes of the Democratic party.
The Republican party
simply reaffirmed the principles already enunciated in
platforms, proclaimed its inflexible purpose to maintain
its
them
and placed in nomination the distinguished
had led the national forces to victory, with Schuyler Colfax for Vice-President.
It triumphed by decisive majorities at the polls, and revealed the welcome fact that the
people had not yet forgotten the lessons of the war, and were
'*
not quite ready to restore the defenders of the " lost cause
in their entirety,
soldier that
had so traitorously vacated for the destruction of
With this the record must close, though the
rages, and the final issue remains in doubt.
to seats they
the government.
conflict still
With no formal attempt to deduce the lessons this history
was written to inculcate,
excepting a simple reference to
what has been noted, the dangers of all compromises of moral
—
principles, the prolific
and pestiferous nature of national as
well as individual sinning, the deteriorating and depressing
influence of unrighteous laws on the morality of a people
and
the grave perils in a republic of "careless citizenship" and
the presence of an unfaithful Church, which, instead of faith-
borne against wrong-doing, consents thereto and
throws around it the sanctions of religion,
it only remains
ful testimony
—
to notice briefly the present posture of affairs and the outlook
disclosed thereby.
That there have been great and marvellous
changes none deny.
The abolishment
of slavery, the entire
�736
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
repeal or abrogation of the infamous slave-codes, the
summary
and sudden transformation of four million chattels personal
into freemen and enfranchised citizens, with everytliing that
legislation and constitutional amendments can do to maintain
their freedom and protect them in its enjoyment, do certainly
constitute great and memorable achievements that find feV
parallels in
change, but
human history.
men differ as to
All admit the greatness of the
its
extent.
Nor
are these differ-
ences mere matters of opinion, or of abstract theories simply,
inconsequential and harmless, like views that neither
nor lead to corresponding action.
On
enter largely into the purposes and policies
Thus
demand
the contrary, they
of
the hour.
large numbers, including the whole Democratic party,
contend
that
ments, even
if
emancipation
and the constitutional amende
accepted as accomplished facts, justify no fur-
ther infringement on State prerogatives, and that the freed-
men,
amenable to State authority, must be remanded to
Even so able and
astute a statesman as Mr. Bingham, the reputed author of the
Fourteenth Amendment, opposed the Civil Riglits bill because,
he said, in times of peace " justice is to be administered under
still
the State governments alone for protection.
the Constitution, according to the Constitution, and within the
limitation of the Constitution."
The
large majority of the Republicans, however, instructed
by the sad history of Mr. Johnson's administration, deemed
it both unsafe and unpardonable thus to remand the freedmen for protection to those whose tender mercies are cruel.
In the pledge of the Proclamation of Emancipation to " maintain " the freedom it proclaimed they see something more
than a word.
Regarding
it
a solemn pledge to be
fulfilled,
they recognize the obligation to provide appropriate legislation
therefor,
though, as the debates have
disclosed,
not
altogether clear that by so doing they have not transcended
limits prescribed by both the letter
tution.
And
it
still
and
spirit of the Consti-
remains an open question, as yet un-
by any general agreement, where State sovereignty
ends and the Federal prerogative begins. Though, as Mr.
Frelinghuysen said, in his opening speech on the Civil Rights
settled
�737
CONCLUSION.
" the whole struggle in
field and forum is between naand State sovereignty, a struggle between
United States citizenship and State citizenship, and the superiority of allegiance due to each," opinions are as divergent
It still remains a quesas ever on the answer to be given.
tion not yet answered by those with whom alone rests the
authority, whether this is a nation of people or a mere federabill,
tional sovereignty
tion of States.
But more
serious than constitutional difficulties remain.
granting that
that
all
all
questions of
satisfaction,
For,
had been composed,
government had been answered to mutual
constitutional differences
and that everything that law, organic or other,
can do had been done, there remains the far more serious difficulty of constituency. As never before, the question of man's
ability to
govern himself stares the nation in the face, and
and startling distinctness. The
numbers are increasing who cannot repress their doubts nor
arrests attention by its sudden
silence their misgivings as they contemplate the
that loom up not only in the distant, but in the
ate future.
Manhood
new dangers
more immedi-
suffrage, with all that is involved therein,
the figures of the census-tables, and their startling revelations
of gi'owing illiteracy, especially in the late slaveholding States,
where the large per cent
of voters can neither read nor write
the ballots they cast, are facts to excite the gravest apprehensions.
The fact, too, that the South, though defeated, with
" sullen intensity and relentless purpose " still bemoans and
defends the " lost cause " ; though accepting the destruction
believes it to be the proper condition of an
and the corner-stone of the most desirable civilization
though accepting negro enfranchisement because imposed by a superior force, still contends that this is a white
man's government, in which the freedmen have no legitimate
part, and from which they shall be excluded, even if violence
and fraud be needful therefor, may well excite alarm in the
most sanguine and hopeful.
Conjoined with tliese is that
of slavery,
still
inferior race,
;
alarming but correlated fact
— the pregnant
and the
— that good men can stand
fault
vul-
nerable heel of American politics
aloof
VOL.
from active participation in the work
III.
47
of the
government,
�738
BISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
and
justify themselves in so doing,
IN AMERICA.
lose little credit thereby.
These facts and considerations invest with growing interest
the subject, multiply questionings, and greatly deepen the solicitude of the thoughtful as they seek to forecast events, and,
peering wistfully into the future, look with too
success
little
for gleams of light or harbingers of better days.
Washington inculcated in his Farewell Address that intelligence and morality are " indispensable supports " of free institutions,
and that
all
of religious principle
is
morality that
is
not the outgrowth
of questionable worth.
the voice of the Father of his Country only.
erally accepted
And
tions.
axiom
yet
of those
among
who
of the
In the Southern States, of the
cent are never seen at
colored children " eighty-eight per cent
are
" Of every one hundred colored children
habitually absent."
in
this
treat of republican institu-
white children alone sixty-one per
;
is
the teachings of the census-tables are
found such items as these.
school
Nor
It is tlie gen-
North Carolina ninety-one never enter a school. In Georgia
In Mississippi
no instruction.
ninety-five per cent receive
the per cent
is
ninety-six."
" Ten years," says the United
States Commissioner of Education, " without schools for children will insure an adult generation of ignorant citizens, who
in losing the knowledge of will have lost the desire for letWith truth he added " Were an invading hostile
ters."
army to threaten our frontiers the whole people would rise in
arms to repel them but these tables show the mustering of
the hosts of a deadlier foe, a more relentless enemy, already
:
;
within our borders and by our very firesides
;
a great
army
of
ignorance growing ever stronger, denser, and more invincible."
The demon of slavery has indeed been exorcised and cast
out of the l)ody politic, but other evil spirits remain to torment,
The same elements of character in the domif not destroy.
inant race that
demanded
it
not
only rendered
and made
its
slavery
endurable,
protection, support,
tion the condition precedent of
all affiliation in
but
and conserva-
church or state,
remain to be provided for, guarded against, or eliminated,
Perin our efforts to maintain our free form of government.
haps, indeed, legislation has done its best or utmost, and all
still
�739
CONCLUSION.
that
now
remains, or can be done,
sentiment and character
to its
up {he popular
to bring
is
Can
standard.
be done
it
?
In January, 1871, the author appealed, through the pages of
the "Atlantic Monthly," to the members of the Republican
party to take a " new departure " and incorporate philanthropic
and
in other words, to engage
and socially, and outside of party organization, in
missionary work to prepare those made free to use intelligently
and wisely the power their enfranchisement has given them.
" The two great necessities," he said, " of the country at the
present time are unification and education."
In behalf of
patriotic with political action
;
individually
the former he said
:
"
To make
the people one in spirit and
purpose, to remove everything calculated to engender and perpetuate strife or 'promote sectional animosities and interests,
now
should be regarded, during the generation
work
as the special
To
purest and most enlarged statesmanship,"
urging the usual considerations in support of
cessity to the
some
entered upon,
of tlie bravest philanthropy
and
of the
the latter, after
its essential
ne-
maintenance of free institutions, and considering
of the serious difficulties in the
way
of its effective pro-
motion, he invited the earnest and thoughtful attention of his
countrymen. " I do not assume the office of instructor," he
said, "
nor do
I
propose to indicate what
this grave exigency is to be met.
ful study of this great social
I
is
to be done, or
how
only bespeak here a care-
and national problem, thus sud-
denly forced upon the Republic.
Fully believing that the na-
an hour, not even in the darkest
the Rebellion, when there were presented more press-
tion has never witnessed
night of
ing claims for special effort, or
when
there were
the patriotic, philanthropic, and pious
men
demanded of
more
of thought,
time, effort, and personal sacrifice, I present the matter as
second to no question
But
there
was
now
before the country."
1871 foundation for such solicitude and
alarm, how much greater the occasion now. Tlien the governments in the reconstructed States were mainly, if not entirely, in the hands of men loyal not only to their country,
if
in
but to the principles and policy of
tlie Republican party.
Not
wholly without mistakes or unworthy members in their ad-
ministrations, the tendency
was upward, and the
drift
was
�740
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
The freedmen were cared for, a policy
was inaugurated embracing, as ah'eady noted, with their ac-
in the right direction.
tive participation in the affairs of
government, a preparation,
aided largely by Northern philanthropy and Christian benefi-
new and
cence, educational and industrial, for their
position.
untried
Inadequate, almost ludicrously so, to the great and
manifold exigencies of the situation, except as the beginning
of greater and more systematic efforts, they exand encouraged expectations for the new-formed
commonwealths of the South. But all this is now changed.
and earnest
cited hopes
A
reaction has taken place.
The
old regime
everything, save legal chattelhood,
is
is
and
Race
reinstated,
to be restored.
distinctions, class legislations, the dogmas that this is a white
man's government, that the negro belongs to an inferior race,
that capital should control, if it does not own, labor, are now
in the ascendant, and caste, if slavery may not be, is to be
the " corner-stone" of Southern civilization. At least, this is
" Labor," says, recently, a governor of
the avowed purpose.
one of these reconstructed States, "must be controlled by law.
We may hold inviolate every law of the United States, and still
so legislate
upon our labor system as
to retain our old planta-
tion system, or, in lieu of that, a baronial system."
Clothe
these sentiments, uttered without rebuke or dissent from those
he assumes to represent, with power, as they have been by
restored Democratic ascendency in most of the Southern States,
in several of the Northern, and in the popular branch of Congress,
and the wonder ceases that education languishes, that
of scholars diminislies, that school laws are repealed
or rendered useless, and that Northern philanthropy is discour-
the
number
But without some such agencies, whence can come the
unification and education required ?
Tlie Christian, who traces God's hand in American history,
aged.
many Divine interpositions therein recorded, gathers
courage from the review, and, though the omens seem unproAnd yet even
pitious, finds it hard to despair of the Republic.
recalls the
he whose trust
])lishcs his
is
the strongest forgets not that
purposes by
human
faith, personal or national, is legitimate or of
is
Ood accom-
instrumentalities, and that no
not accompanied by corresponding works.
much
avail that
�INDEX.
A. B. C. F. M., in. 706-11.
Abei'deen, Lord, I. 597.
Abolitionists, dissensions among, I. 40610.
II. 21; Garrisonian, policy and
107-9; political
109-11 leading men,
leading members,
dift'erences of,
112-3;
;
Smith
and McFarland, 695.
Adams, Benjamin, of Mass., I. 76.
Adams, C. F., of Mass., I. 485 - 91, 585,
622-42,645-9. II. 120-47 nomradical,
nominate
;
inated as Vice-President, 156
criticism
of,
;
severe
upon Webster, 344 -
8
;
conservative position of. III. 37-8;
minority report and speech, III. 106.
Adams, J. H., III. 110.
Adams, John, commissioner to Paris,
I.
John
Quiney, remarks on
on
speech of Rufus King, I. 143
presents
JVLissouri Compronuse, 149
petitions, 307-11; remarks on adpresents
mission of Arkansas, 344
imprespetition from slaves, 346 - 8
sive remarks on right of petition, 350
- 3 on power of Congress to abolish
remarks on petition,
slavery, 395
399 action on revision of rules, 424
;
;
;
;
;
•
;
;
;
his reply to Rayner of North Carolina,
425 ; further defence of right of petition and debate, 427 ; presents petition for dissolution of the Union,
attempt to censure him, 428 ;
427
his scathing reply to Wise, 430 ; his
ten years' struggle for right of petinot friendly to Abolition
tion, 432
;
;
and measures, 433
critidecisms on his course, 435 - 7
"
Creole " to
fends right of slaves of
societies
;
;
as counsel for
their liberty, 447
slaves of the " Amistad," 463; his
defence in "Amistad " case, 467 - 9 ;
presents petition of Massachusetts
basing representation on free persons,
482
speaks against the doctrine
of property in man, 532 ; presents
;
;
;
;
:
705.
Adrian, G. B., of N. J., II. 564.
Agencies, presidential, III. 137-8.
Aggressions, Southern, II. 44-9 slave163-4, 174-5; excite
holding,
alarm, and counter movements, 175 ;
176 - 80 ;
struggles in Kentucky,
their failure, 179 ; pretended North;
ern, 198.
Alabama,
action
113-4, 149
113.
Adams,
from Massachusetts
remonstrances
II.
against admission of Texas, 647.
became an Abolideath of, 161
55
detionist, and the reason, 162-4
spondent, 163 ; testimony of, 523,
608 9.
Adams, N., Rev., South Side View, III.
8
III.
of.
secedes,
;
admitted, 629.
;
.
Alford, J. C, of Ga., I. 347.
II,
Allen, C, of Mass., I. 370, 623.
120, 136; address of, 145, 215-6,
416.
Allen, J., of Conn., I. 82.
Alley, J. B., II. 343, 538.
Alvord, J. C, of Mass., I. 371-2.
Amendments, Xlllth, III. 435-54;
resolutions referred and report, 435 speeches of Trumbull and Wilson,
6
436 - 8
opposition, 438 - 9
South;
;
;
ern support, 439 - 40
Democratic
opposition, 442 - 3 failed, 444 message and motion to reconsider, 444-5
change of votes, 449 adopted, 452 ;
;
;
;
;
joy and moral effect, 452 - 4
XI Vth,
646 - 60 further legislation demanded, 646
Stevens's resolution and
;
;
;
speech,
648-9
649 - 50
;
amendment,
rejected
Owen's plan, 650 - 1 Democratic opposition, 653
Republican
;
;
;
passage, 656
amendsupport, 654
ments in Senate, 656 caucus resolutions and passage, 656-8 adoption by
the States and Mr. Seward's proclamation, 658 - 60 XVth, 662-83
defeat
bills reof XI Vth, 662 (see Negro)
ported for District of Columbia, 663 ;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
�INDEX.
742
justice to the freedman the great argument, 663 - 4 Democratic opposimoderate views, 665 tion, 664 - 5
;
;
6
educational amendment, 665 - 7
;
and similar
this
667
;
;
bills for territories,
667
of Constitution,
and passage, 667 - 72 patriotic purvarious amendments,
poses, 672 - 3
669 - 70 in the Senate, two resoluvarious
tions and debate, 673 - 81
opposed by
amendments, 674 - 5
Mr. Sumner, 676 - 7 Republican o})position, 679 disagreeing votes, committee of conference, and final pas;
;
;
;
;
;
;
sage,
680 -
1
;
message of President,
XlVth, rejected, 732.
American party, formation, rapidgrowth,
and disruption of, II. 419-34 Union
682
;
;
421 - 2
National Council,
strong Southmeeting of, 423 - 31
hostility to Massaern feeling, 423
chusetts and Mr. Wilson, 423 - 4
two reacrimonious debate, 425
bitter discussion, 428 ports, 427
proslavery report adopted, Coun31
cil disrupted, meeting and address of
Northern delegates, 431 - 2 convenSee Conventions.
tion of, 508.
"Amistad," seized by slaves on board
brought
into
New London, Conn.,
and
slaves of, declared free by
I. 457
degree,
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Judge Story, 465.
Andetson, R. C, of Ky., I. 74, 115.
Andeison, R., Maj., III. 204 report to
Secretary of AVar, 209 approved, 210.
;
;
Andrew, John A.,
II. 55,
442-3,
;
;
;
604,
;
;
;
645.
Antislavery Societies, Pennsjdvauia, address of, to governors of States, I. 23
memorials of, to Congress, 24 ; New
Haven, one of oldest, 25 in New
York, Rhode Mand, Connecticut, New
Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
societies in
and Baltimore, 26-8
general, and their influence, 28
conUnion Huvention of societies, 80
;
;
;
;
;
New
England, 224-8;
231
American,
formed in Philadelphia, 249 - 63
Declaration of Sentiments, 256-9;
female, Boston,
personnel, 259 - 63
South demands of Northern
281
legislatures to suppress them, 325
action of Massachusetts Society in
defence of liberty of speech and press,
330 meetings and measures on occa-
mane,
168;
New York
City,
;
;
;
;
;
;
of the
sion
martyrdom of Lovejoy,
Massachusetts Abolition,
383 - 9
414; American and Foreign, origin
and formation of, 420 disruption of
number, agency, and
American, 421
old
diminished importance of, 422
;
;
;
;
and new organizations pitted against
559 ; their diminished
impoi'tance, 567
American, advocates disunion, 568-72.
Antonio Pacheco, I. 543.
Appleton, N., of Mass., I. 638-46.
each other,
640 93.
Andrews, S.
P.,
resident in Texas,
I.
596.
Anne, Queen, instructions of, to Royal
African Company, I. 4, 5.
Anthony, H. B., III. 77, 297, 375,
610-1.
Anti-government, its advocates and
measures, I. 568 repeal of the Union
demanded, meetings and debates, 569
-75.
"Anti-man-hunting League," its object,
personnel, and drill, II. 442.
;
Antislavery,
difficulties
II.
of,
men, differences among, 107
;
106
meet-
;
ing in Philadelphia, 142 movements
in Kentucky, 176-80; failure and
;
reasons,
New York
" Philanthroone year, 272
measures to suppress their
jiist," 276
circulation through the mails, 323 - 7
" Observer," at St. Louis, 375 "Abo"Antislavery Standlitionist," 412
"Philanthropist," 557;
ard," 421
" Liberty Bell," 562 " True American," 632; "Texas Chain-Breaker,"
office in
;
debate
;
and documents issued from
179-80;
agitation, results
100.
Antislavery publications.
of. III.
" Genius of
Emancipation," I. 169
"National Inquirer," 174; "Penn" Lilierasylvania Freeman," 174
"Journal of the Times,"
tor," 176
177 ; " Emancipator," 231 ; tracts
Universal
;
;
;
number and
;
Arbuckle, General, 1. 525 - 42.
Archer, W. S., of Va., 1. 157, 530, 615.
II. 4.
Arkansas, bill for territorial government
prohibition of slavery in,
in, I. 139
moved by Mr. Taylor, 139 amend;
;
ments prohibiting slavery
lost,
in,
140 ; admitted as a slaveholding Tera2)l)lies for enabling act,
ritory, 140
;
343
;'
admitted to the Union, 345
secession
III.
of,
145,
530-1
;
{see
admitted, 628.
defeated,
to, II. 505
III. 224-6; proposed amend505.
regular, increase of,
ments, 225
great and prompt increase
226 - 7
Reconstruction)
Army bill, proviso
;
;
;
;
of,
249.
Arnold,
6,
I.
N., of IlL,
bill by, III.
322-
444.
Arnold, T. D., of Tenn.,
I.
430-53.
�743
INDEX.
Ashburton Treaty,
C,
Ashley,
Ashley,
401 - 52,
I.
of Ark.,
III. 281,
396
amendment, 435-45,
518,
J.
M.,
Ashnuin, G.,
II. 88,
136
;
proposes
536-9.
timid speech
;
Thomas H.,
Thomas P.,
Bayly,
Beach,
648.
I.
229, 368, 690.
Association, American Missionary, II.
310.
III. 457 ; formed, 721.
Atchison, D., harangue of, II. 467-8 ;
speech to
calls on the South, 474
of,
;
the mob, 499.
Atherton, C. G., of N. H., I. 394-5.
Atlantic Monthly, III. 739.
Atlee, Dr. E. P., I. 250.
Attucks, C, colored patriot, first martyr in Boston Massacre, I. 18.
Austin, E. G., of Boston, in Latimer
Austin, J. T., of Boston, disgraceful
speech of, I. 384.
Aves, T., of Boston, I. 371.
564.
Beale, C. L., III. 107-8.
Beaman, F. C, III. 344, 523.
Beardsley, S., of Utica, N. Y.,
III. 706.
Beecher, H. W.,
Bell,
John,
II.
II. 48,
311.
237
;
nominated, 689.
III. 143.
Bell, Joseph, of Mass., I. 622.
James E., II. 2.
Beman, Dr. S. S., I. 294.
Benezet, Anthony, I. 10.
Belser,
Benjamin,
J. P.,' II.
402-55; Confed-
Attorney-General,
III.
121 ;
wild speech, 157-8, 573.
Benson, of N. Y., I. 67.
Benton, T. H., of Mo., I. 342-3, 392,
219-37;
of Mass., I. 85.
Bacon, L., Rev., III. 706.
J.,
Badger, G. E., II. 264, 300, 387-91.
Bailej% Dr. G., of Pa., I. 418-76; addresses mob, II. 93, 111, 592.
Baker, D. A., eloquent speech, III. 214
-
29.
Baker,'
Edward
D., of
111., II.
214.
Baker, John J., II. 414.
Baldwin, A., of Ga., I. 51, 64.
Baldwin, H., Judge, of Conn.,
288.
Beauregard, G. T., III. 206.
Beecher, Dr. E., I. 361, 379-80, 420.
401-43, 600, 610-7.
Bacon,
I.
311.
erate
case, I. 477.
II. 3, 21, 96.
I.
48-9,
269-71,
II. 14,
great speech
of,
398, 532.
Berea, Ky., II. 669.
Berrien, John M., of Ga., I. 618.
5, 36, 47, 236, 609.
Berry, of Va., 1. 204.
Bewilderment, general. III. 22.
Bibb, H., II. 154.
W.,
Bigler,
IL
III. 77.
of Mr. Fitzsimmons, prohibiting
slavery in territory northwest of the
Ohio, I. 33
of committee on slavetrade, 103
by Mr. Middleton in addition to acts prohibiting slave- traffic,
Bill
I.
75,
462.
;
Baldwin, J. D., III. 447.
Baldwin, Roger S., II. 35.
Ballou, Adin, I. 574.
;
;
scene, 99.
Bancroft, G.
;
;
Comment on
and
British policy, I. 16
tion of new republic, 18.
Banks, N.
105
to punish with death persons
engaged in slave-trade, 105 to prevent fitting out slave-trading expeditions, 107
for admission of Missouri
Territory, 136 prohibiting slavery in
Missouri lost, 139
providing Territorial government for Arkansas, 139
to admit Missouri as a State, 141 for
the admission of Maine, 1 41
for prohibition in Missouri, defeated, 143
;
Baltimore, Abolition Society of, I. 28
journal of, describes domestic slave
P., II.
513.
III. 529.
Barbour,
Philip
399
;
;
slave-traffic
on founda-
nomination
;
;
;
of,
See Reconstruction.
P., of Va., I. 137,
530.
III. 148.
Barksdale, W., II. 649.
Barnard, D. D., of X. Y., I. 531, 613.
" Barn-burners," prominent, II. 141.
III.
Barnes, Albert, Rev., II. 511.
709-14.
Barnwell, R. W., III. 110.
Barrett, R. J., III. 97.
Barrow, A., of La., I. 442, 444.
Batchelder, James, II. 438.
Bates, I. C, of Mass., I. 484.
Bayard, J. A., of Del., I. 82, 84. II. 403.
III. 276-8; speech, 427-8; takes
the oath and resigns, 429.
Baxter, E., Senator from Ark., III. 531.
;
;
;
passed in Senate, prohibiting slavery
in country ceded by France, 143; in
House, with amendment forbidding
slavery and involuntary servitude in
Missouri,
143-5; and
passed,
147;
taken up in Senate and prohibition
clause stricken out, 147
from committee of conference, debated and
passed both Houses, 148
for suppression of freedom of speech and
press,
340
incendiary publication
lost in Senate, 342
to secure trial by
jury for one restrained of liberty, 371
;
;
;
;
;
recognizing property in man, passed
by Congress, 543 ; Three Million, II.
�744
INDEX.
18; object
25; Clay's Omnibus,
of,
Bingham, John A., II. 135 speech of,
on the Lecompton bill, 560, 626-34
eloquent speeches, III. 34, 240-1,
265, 279-80, 295, 306-28, 615-6,
621 - 5
too sanguine, 626 - 64 ;
amendment and speech, 669 - 70 ;
;
;
;
opposes Civil Rights bill, 736.
Bird, Francis W., II. 154, 343, 436.
emancipates
Birney, James G., I. 275
indorses politihis slaves, 276, 407
cal action, 413 - 8, 420 - 36, 545 ;
candidate for the presidency, 549. II.
;
;
167.
Bissell,
W.
H.,
II. 228.
and
repeal,
for
bill
258-61,
III.
685 ; abrogation of, 727 - 9.
Black, E. J., of Ga., I. 454-5.
Black, J. S., opinion of, III. 13-5.
" Black laws " of Ohio, II. 57, 170 ; inhumanity of, 181 of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, Indiana,
struggle
Illinois, and Oregon, 180-7
in Indiana concerning, 183 - 5 manly
response of Mr. Colfax, 186 ; singular
enforcement, 186-7 ; in several States,
;
;
;
,
Blair, F. P., letter of, II. 509.
Blair, F. P., Jr., aids the
ing
224-7
Union
cause,
concerning return-
;
Brodhead letter,
294
candidate for Vice-President,
slaves,
;
;
735.
Blair,*M., III. 204.
Blake, H. G., III. 282.
Blanchard, Rev. Jonathan, I. 293.
Blindness kindlv given, III. 272.
committee of nine,
;
indiflerence
318-9,
324-5;
360 -
1
men appeal
and
emancipation
;
to,
protest,
colored
soldiers,
731 - 2
in,
;
consternation in, 731-2.
Boreman, A. J., III. 142.
Borland, Solon, II. 218.
" Boston,"
ship, with slave secreted, I.
473.
Boteler, A. H., III. 28.
Botts, J. M., of Va., I. 398, 430-49,
481. II. 162.
Bouligny, J. E., speech of. III. 151.
Boutwell, G. S., of Mass, I. 486. II.
253 chosen governor, 348. III. 89,
371 ; speech, 523, 625 - 64
speech
;
on
XVth amendment,
667 -
Bovey, A. E., II. 409-10.
Bowditch, H. I., of Boston,
II.
326,
Bowditch,
8.
479-98.
I.
441-2.
W.
I.,
of Mass., I. 640.
II. 317.
Bowen and McNamee,
Bowles, Samuel, II. 416-27.
Boyce, W. W., III. 3.
Boyd, Linn, II. 13 ; Speaker of XXXIId
Congress, 353.
Bradburn, G., of Mass., I. 489-90,
Philemon,
555.
II.
I. 80.
Bolles, J. A., II. 345.
Boiling, of Va., I. 196.
Bond, George, of Mass.,
J. W.,
579-80.
I.
337.
kills the President, III,
Booth, S. M., II. 445.
Borden, N. B., of Mass. I. 622.
Border States, new guaranties for. III.
105 imjjortant position, 184 policy
how to retain,
of, denounced, 222 - 3
235 opposed to freeing slaves, 240 -3
;
;
;
;
;
aiding, 301-19; Presich-nt's policy
variously
and proposition, 301 - 4
divided in sentireceived, 304 - 6
;
;
ment, 305
;
bill
688.
III.
174
;
amendment,
228-9, 237-8.
Blood, sprinkle, III. 207.
Bloomtield, Gen. J., of N. J., president
of Convention of Abolition Societies,
Booth,
Bradford, Dr. Gamaliel, of Mass., I. 337.
Bradford, S. D., II. 348.
Bradish, Luther, of N. Y., I. 546.
Brainard, L. L., II. 412.
Branch, L. O'B., III. 168.
Brandegee, A., III. 608.
Branning, John, II. 252.
Branscomb, C. H., II. 465.
Brazilian ship, II. 53.
Breckinridge, J. C, nominated, II.
515,
Bliss, G., III. 4"50.
Bliss,
;
309-10
316-7;
572-3.
636-7.
Blair, Austin, II. 693.
III. 199,
308 - 10
report,
;
Black codes in District of Columbia,
734
bills,
and
273.
adopted, 307
;
other
Breckinridge, R. J., D. D., speech of,
11.178. in. 549-50.
>See Election
of 1864.
565.
Briberies attempted, II.
Briggs, George N., of Mass., I. 309-44,
II. 118.
534, 578-85, 622.
Briggs, James A., II. 153.
Bright, J. D., II. 36, 356, 400-1;
speech of, III. 44.
Brinkerhoff, Jacob, II. 16.
British governor, spirited reply of, to
United States government, I. 121.
Broderick, D. C, speech of, II. 551,
563-5.
Brodnax, of Va., I. 192.
III. 444 - 5,
Brooks, James, II. 362.
450 sarcasm, 480.
Brooks, N., of Mass., I. 546.
Brooks, P. S., assaults Sumner, II. 481 ;
re-eleca representative man, 484
;
;
�745
INDEX.
challenges Burlingame,
488
death and confession of, 495.
Lord,
of England, I. 566 - 97.
Brougham,
Brown, A. G., I. 543. II. 224, 391,
tion
492
of,
;
;
579-80, 612, 627-59. III. 25, 113.
Brown, Charles, proslavery speech of,
II. 193-4.
Brown, D. P., of Phila., I. 266-94.
Brown, G., III. 396, 406,
Brown, J. Carter, I. 465.
Brown, J. L., sentenced to death, I. 565.
Brown, J., of R. I., I. 73, 84.
Brown, John, II. 63 invasion of Virginia, 587 - 600
in Kansas, 589
;
;
;
plan of government, 589
preliminary movements, 590 - 4
secret
committee, 591
Kennedy farm, 593
underlying idea, 594
assault on
Harper's Ferry and repulse, 594 - 5
;
;
;
;
;
;
and
execution,
595 - 8 burial, 599 estimate, 600 ;
companions executed, Coppoc,
six
Stevens, Cook, Hazlett, Copeland,
and Green, 596 ; Victor Hugo, 599 ;
song, origin of, 600.
Brown, John, Jr., II. 604.
Brown, Milton, of Pa., I. 614.
Brown, Neil S., II. 690. III. 143 - 4.
trial,
conviction,
;
;
Brown, Owen, II. 63.
Brown, W., of Kj'., I. 160.
Browning, 0. H., III. 278, 329-67.
Brownlow, W. G., appeal of. III. 144.
Brownson, Orestes A., I. 388.
Bryant, W. C, of N. Y., I. 451, 596.
Buchanan, James, of Pa., I. 315-43,
II. 7, 314-64;
nomi393, 402.
case of, II. 435 - 44 ;
and attempted rescue, 435 - 8 ;
indefensible conmeetings, 436 - 9
duct of Commissioner Loring, 439
remanded to slavery, 441 ; indictments against Parker, Phillips, and
Bums, Anthony,
arrest
;
;
Higginson, 443.
Burr, James E., II. 69.
Burr, of Va., I. 204.
Burrill, of R. I., 1.104-6, 155.
Burrows, Thomas K., of Pa., I. 327.
II.
Burt, Armistead, of S. C, I. 543.
24 -
5.
Burt, w'm. L., II. 443.
Butler,
Andrew
P.,
II.
45-6,
300,
356 — 94.
Butler,
F., of Mass.,
Benj.
677 - 86.
345,
See Freedmen.
III. 457.
II.
Butler, B. F., of N. Y., II. 151-2.
Butler, P., of S. C, I. 53.
Butler, S. H., of S. C, I. 398.
Butler, W. 0., II. 365.
Cabell, E. C,
362.
II. 224,
Cabot, George, of Mass., I. 69.
Calderon, Mr., Spanish minister,
458.
I.
Calhoun, John C, of S. C, I. 314-5,
re324 - 97, 440 - 5, 590, 595 - 9
port
on incendiary publications,
;
340-2, 390;
resolutions
391;
of,
II. 11
exSecretary of State, 600.
treme views of, 36 - 8, 99 ; speech of,
of,
read, 238-41 ; tomb
around, III.
;
110.
California,
how
210
;
210
;
adopts
bill for,
amend-
settled, II.
free constitution,
;
ment, and protest, 277
admitted,
282 bill to divide, 634.
Cambreleng, C. C, of N. Y., I. 329.
Cameron, Simon, JI. 102. III. 78 report of, concerning slaves, 248-50,
255, 344.
Buffalo Convention, II. 150-60
platform of, 151 speeches, 152 - 6 Van
Buren nominated, and fully accepts
the platform, 156.
Buffinton, James, II. 431.
Campbell, G. W., of Tenn., I. 104.
Campbell, J., of S. C, I. 352, 533.
Campbell, J. A., Judge, seeks conciliation, III. 202 ; charges equivocation,
202 571.
Campbell, J. H., III. 225.
Campbell, L. D., II. 137-43, 399, 484.
Canada, meeting in. III. 555-6.
Canning, Stratford, I. 108.
nated, 515
elected,
true to the South, 520
;
522
message
;
;
concerning
612; message. III. 11-3;
equivocal and unsatisfactory, 15
special message of, 48
referred, 20
message
concerning
the capital,
169-70.
Backalew, C. B., III. 396, 674.
Buckingham, J. T., amendment of, II.
Cuba,
;
;
;
Butfum, Arnold,
;
I.
220 -fS, 571.
Burgess, Tristam, of E. I., I. 530.
Burlei£ch, Charles C, of Conn., I. 244,
294-5, 416, 574.
Burlingame, A., II. 308-36 ; speech and
challenge, 491 - 3
in Boston, 493.
;
97-8.
Burnett, H. C,
III.
III. 166, 225 ; treasonable proi)ositions, 226.
Burning cities. 8cc Secret Orders.
;
;
;
305-85.
Capital,
and protection
peril
161 - 72
of.
III.
Rebel threats, 161 - 3 ;
measures, 165
inquiry, 166
Holt's
report, 167
report of committee,
;
;
;
;
168; President's message, 111-69;
plot,
171-2;
loyal
precautions,
See Washington.
Carlile, J. S., III. 142, 264, 335-61,
396, 413.
Carpenter, M. H., civil rights. III. 694.
171-2.
�INDEX.
V46
Can-oil, A. E., important service of, III.
191.
Canutliers, R. L., III. 90.
bills
Cars, exclusion from, III. 606
debate and action,
against, 607
607 11 ; admission of R. Johnson,
607.
" Carter, Robert," schooner, I. 474.
Cartter, D. K., II. 693.
Case, Charles, II. 625.
nominated,
Cas.«, Lewis, I. 515.
II. 12
132 Nicholson letter and change of
views, 132, 390 speech of, 232, 31564, 403, 638 ; patriotic course, III.
;
;
;
;
;
216.
III.
Caste, cruel spirit of, II. 187.
fundamental, 505 - 6,
350, 437 - 94
508 - 9, 677 ; corner-stone, 740,
Castle Garden meeting, II. 316.
Castlereagh, Lord, proposition of, I. 108.
;
Caucus, Southern, III. 183-4.
Causin, J. M. S., of Md., I. 455.
Central America.
Sec Cuba.
Chandler, E. M., assistant editor, I. 173.
Chandler, of Va., I. 193.
Chandler, P. W., II. 116, 493.
Changes, great, III. 735-6.
Channing, Rev. William Ellery, of
Boston, I. 337 - 83, 640.
Channing, AVilliam F., of Boston, I. 479.
Channing, W. H., of Mass., I. 643;
;
excitement in,
II.
682.
III. 4.
Chase, of JIaryland, I. 15, 32.
enChase, Salmon P., I. 477, 551-3
ters the United States Senate, II. 164
leader of liberty partv, 167
the election of, 168-72, 218; speech of,
268, 331-85, 454
si^eech in Peace
report of, 252-6;
Congress, III. 94
too sanguine, 256 {see Freedmen)
;
;
;
;
;
;
bill by, 619.
Cheever, G. B., Dr., II. 311.
Chesnut, J., Jr., II, 631 ; speech
of,
Cheves, Langdon, treasonable words
II.
of,
287.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
and John Brown,
Mason
to,
II.
596-7;
597.
letter
;
associated influence, 707-14; ostracism, 711-2; Northern, divisions
715
in,
;
difficulties,
715-7
718-22; missionary
grave
antislavery
;
in,
720 - 1
associations,
Church Anti-
;
slavery Society, 722.
Citizenship defined, III. 689
what
worth, 691
careless, 737 - 8.
Civil Rights, Wilson's bill and speech
Sumner's hearty symfor. 111. 685
pathy, 686
necessity denied and
principle denounced, 686 - 7
new
bill reported in Senate, 687
great
Democratic opposidifficulties, 688
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
689-90; Republicans not
agreed,
689-90; great argument,
tion,
690 doubts, 690 veto, 691 sharp
threats, 691
amendadebate, 691
failed, 692
Mr. Sumtory act, 692
his
dying
ner's bill referred, 692
inreported,
debated,
junction,
692
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
carried,
692 - 5
position, 694, 736
Claflin,
William,
;
Republican opwhat, 736-7.
;
538.
II.
Claggett, C, of N. H.,
Clark, Daniel, II. 578.
315-76,
I.
75.
III. 160, 263,
408.
Clark, H. F., II. 564.
Clark, J. B., II. 628
Helper resolution
of, 644.
Clarke, John H., II. 43.
Clarkson, Thomas, of England, I, 399.
Clav, B. J., III. 450.
Clay, C. C, I. 308.
II. 356; insolent
remarks of, 356, 652 speech of, III.
153 555.
Clay, Cassi'us M., of Ky., I. 628, 630-5.
II. 511, 670.
III. 171.
Clay, Henry, of Ky., I. 110, 130-7,
139-45, 160, 342, 394-6, 423-42,
;
;
176
II.
177
233 -
eight resolutions
4,
236
:
;
Pen-
letter of, to
speech in Lexington,
and speech of,
demoralizing influence
dell,
;
Child, David Lee, I. 223-9, 482, 538571.
Child, Linus, of Mass., I. 486, 622
course of, II. 119.
Child, Mrs. Lydia Maria, I. 236, 419,
561
letters of, to Governor Wise
of Mrs.
Md., I. 73.
Churches, Comtc de Paris on the. III.
129
religious bodies of Maryland
wait on the President, 195 address
of Southern, 700
amazing record,
701
Synod of Mississippi, 701 - 2
defection of, 702 - 4
leaders, 703
445-51, 604-7;
III. 3.
369-70.
brilliant speech of, II.
Christie, S., of
and
II. 336.
Chaplin, William L., II. 80
offence
and extortionate bail, 81 -2.
Chapman Hall meeting, II. 416.
Chapman, Mrs. Maria W., I, 281-96.
Chapman, of Mass., I. 413.
Charleston Convention (see Conventions),
Chilton, Samuel, II. 596.
Choate, Rufus, L 371, 403-85, 615;
on Shadrach case,
284, 300-14
330 - 2 ; letter of, on Cuba, 608.
of,
Clayton, John M.,
;
1.
34.5.
retary of State, 208,
II.
12
;
Sec
315-91, 506.
Clayton, Thomas, II. 14.
riarkson, Thomas, I. 10.
Cleavelaud, Prof. C. D,, of Pa.,
I.
553.
^
�747-
INDEX.
Clemeucy, a crime, III. 671.
Clemens, Jeremiah, II. 217-9, 285,
315
insulting language of, 355.
Clemens, Shurard, III. 34.
;
Clements, J. A., 111. 310-1.
Clergy of South not opposed to slavery
or slave-trade, I. 63 ; their course before and during the Rebellion, 63
sanction mob violence, 323
fomenting Rebellion, 111. 698.
Clergymen indorsing Fugitive Slave
Act, II. 319 memorials of, 393, 404 ;
arraigned, 393 - 4 ; defended, 399.
Cleveland, Chauncy F., II. 215.
Cleveland, C. L., 111. 89.
Cliilbrd, Governor, of Mass., I. 497.
Clinch, Colonel, blows up foi't, I. 130
ordered to attack Fort King, 516.
;
;
;
;
Clingman, T. L., II. 191, 223, 362-95,
652 amendment of, 663 speech of,
;
;
15-6.
CUnton, G. W.,
III. 65.
;
;
;
;
;
;
senatorial struggle and Mr. Sumner's
election, 348-9.
Coates, Lindlev, of Pa., I. 421.
Cobb, Howell,'of Ga., I. 75, 138, 542 ;
Speaker, II. 316, 484, 638. III. 114.
Cobb, Mrs. H. W., heroic action of, II. 69.
Cobb, Willic-im R., of Ala., I. 543.
R.
W., speech and
letter of,
111. 149.
;
condemned, 65.
Coffin, L., Underground Railroad,
;
;
opinion
219
of,
rum, powder, and
;
arms sent with negroes
Liberia,
to
220 Mr. Garrison sent to England to
unfold real character of the society,
220 protest of Wilberforce and others
;
;
against
221.
it,
Colored people ejected from cars, I. 493 children of, excluded from pub4
;
495-7
; legislation in their
delegation to President
Johnson, III. 595 persons not allowed
lic schools,
;
512; bills
carrying mails, 513- 5.
to
512-3;
for,
testify,
Colored seamen, amendment for, II. 294.
Colored soldiers at Boston Massacre, I.
regiment of,
18
at Bunker Hill, 19
in Rhode Island, 19 notice of, by Governor Eustis, 19 by Tristam Burgess,
19 by Arnold in " History of Rhode
Island," 19
battalion of, in Conright to bear arms disnecticut, 19
puted, 20 ; reduced to slavery in Maryland and Virginia, 20
pay of. III.
357 - 79
prejudice, hesitation, and
President's testimony, 358-9; Cameron's report, 359 Border State policy,
360
Wilson's bill, 360 - 1
opposition, 361
defended, 362 - 4 amendments, 306 - 7
three opinions, 368 ;
bill passed, 369
M. French, and Secretary's order, 369 - 70
House bill and
debate, 371 - 3 justice for, 377 ; final
action, 379 ; families of, made free,
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
I.
9.
Coles, Governor, of 111., I. 163.
Colfax, Schuyler, II. 184 ; manly position of, 18G, 413, 432 ; elected Vice-
President, 111. 735.
Collamer, J., of Vt., II. 209, 412-76.
111. 264, 291-2,
355, 376; able
speech, 428.
Collegiate school for colored people,
238
;
;
;
;
;
cruel practice,
;
amendments, debate, and
403-7
failure,
;
bill
403-
10; loyal slavemasters, 404 new bill,
debate, and passage, 410-4; necessity, 410
opposition, 411.
Colston, E., of Va., I. 138.
Colver, Rev. Nathaniel C, of Boston, I.
;
414-80.
Columbia, District of. Sea Slave-trade,
and District of Columbia.
Comins, L. B., II. 491, 625.
Commissioners of South Carolina, III.
45
Alabama and Mississippi, 109 ;
;
I.
to Wasliington,
110-26;
;
;
I.
18.
to States,
112 to Europe, 126 Confederate, to
Washington, 200
Seward's reply,
201 leave Washington, 203 - 4.
;
Collins, William, II. 29.
Colonies, articles of association,
;
;
;
Coleman, Elihu, pamphlet against makslaves,
its
;
403-14
II. 68.
Coffroth, A. H., III. 449.
Colden, C. D., of N. Y., I. 78.
men
;
principles indorsed by Virginia legischaracterized by hostility
lature, 210
real intent
to free blacks, 212 - 4
of its leaders to render slavery more
distrusted by free people
secure, 214
216-7; Mr. Webster's
of color,
;
Cochrane, C. B., II. 625.
Cochrane, J., speech of, III. 168 -9.
Cockburn, Admiral, refuses to surrender
slaves under Treaty of Ghent, I. 120.
Coddington, D. S., III. 214.
Coercion, Albany "Argus," III. 62
ing
209
Jetl'erson,
;
Clopton, D., II. 648.
Coalition, Massachusetts, II. 338-51;
Democratic convention, 336 Mr. Wilmeeting at
son's purpose, 341 - 2
Adams House, 342 - 3 ; Free Soil convention, 343-4 purpose and plan of,
346 opposed, 347 successful, 348
W.
;
encouraged by Mr.
behalf, 497
III.
Cobb,
Colonization, III. 277, 307-^17, 335.
Colonization Society, organization and
objects fainconsistencies of, I. 208
vored by Rev. Dr. Hopkins, 209 ;
;
�INDEX.
748
Committee of thirteen (ste Compromise),
on Kansas, II. 471 report of, 501
of fifteen, 546 on Harper's Ferry, 601.
Committees of thirteen and thirty-three,
;
;
;
28; tliirty-three reports of, 2932 ; debate, 32 - 40 vote, 40 debate
in the Senate, 41 - 2 ; of seven, 396
of nine, 520 (sec Reconstruction) ; of
III.
;
;
;
610-2.
Compromise measures of 1850,
fifteen,
11.
231-
com90
President's message, 232
Clay's bill,
mittee of thirteen, 272
273; long debate on, 274; three lines
of thought, 276; adopted, 301 speeches
Clay's
of Hale and Julian, 302 - 3
estimate of, 314-30 (see Missouri
Compromise) necessary, III. 74 op;
;
;
;
;
;
;
107-8 no compromise possible,
posed,
557.
;
;
Republican ascendency, 220
245-56 on returning
regular session,
slaves,
33
;
;
XXXVII Ith, 415-
285-300.
and growing
great anxiety
disaf-
415-20;
message, 422-5;
second meeting and message, 560-9;
preluded by three events, 560, 563XXXI Xth, an important epoch,
7.
603 (see Reconstruction) ; recess, and
Julv Meeting, 622 - 3.
Conkiing, R., III. 304.
Connecticut, Colony of, made man-stealing capital off'ence, I. 6 ; disgraceful
law of State of, 242 legislature of,
repeals black law, 372
resolutions of,
against annexation of Texas, 373.
Conness, J., III. 374-96.
Conrad, Charies M., of La., I. 402.
Conscience Whigs, I. 123 assault upon,
fection,
;
;
;
Compromises,
Comtede
312-3.
See Constitution.
etc.
128-32.
demanded. III. 60-7;
Thurlow Weed, 62 Cameron on, 78.
Conciliation, Mr. Seward counsels, III.
Paris, History of. III.
Concessions
;
57 ; Philadelphia meeting, 63.
Confederacy, Southern, organized, III.
109 - 26 meets at Montgomery, 118
election and flag, 118
war measures,
120 - 6 sanguine hopes, 125.
Confederation, obstacles to, I. 15 ; discussion resumed in 1777, 16 no power
plan of,
to regulate commerce, 16
returned to Congress with recommendation, 16 convention called to revise
;
;
;
;
;
;
its articles, 40.
;
;
431 - 3.
Congress, Confederate, privateering auon arming slaves,
thorized, III. 218
564 - 7 sharply criticised, 566 - 7.
Congress, 1st, met in New York, I. 57
its powers enunciated, debated, and
defined, 67 ; its right to prohibit slav;
;
;
new States affirmed by Northern
XXXth, Winthrop,
legislatures, 151.
Speaker,
II.
27
members
of,
and
;
meeting of Southern
their address, 197-9 ;
191 - 206.
great debate,
XXXIst,
remarkable, 211 ; conSpeaker, 212 - 6
fierce
test
for
debates in both houses, 213-9.
XXXIId, 352; debate in, 354-9.
first session of,
;
XXXIVth, 470
XXXVth,
6.
XXXVIth, 578-602 contest
XXXIIId,
special
380.
session,
;
505 -
542.
three parties,
for Speaker, 644 - 53
643 three leading ideas, 657 great
closing session of,
anxiety. III. 11
;
;
;
;
;
11 - 45.
Conservative,
New
Philadelphia,
XXXVlIth,
special session,
63
III.
;
York, 66-7.
Constituency, III. 737.
C-'onstitution, reasons for,
ties in
the
way
39
I.
40 - 2
;
difficul-
slavery the
basis of represen-
of,
;
great obstacle, 41
tation in, 42 - 4
Southern threats,
44; "religion and humanity" and
the "morality" of the question ignored, 49 a "bargain" proposed and
accepted as a compromise, 53 - 4 decisive victory of the Slave Power,
;
;
;
;
amendments proposed. III.
54-6
71-2, 103; compromises of, embarrassing, 323 scruples, 327 Mr. Sum;
;
opposed by
Confiscation Act, III. 237
PiepubCrittenden and Burnett, 241
lican division, 242 - 4 ; debate on,
ery' in
220-31
ner claims
(see
;
right
Amendments)
to interpret,
;
430
reflects citizenship,
663; of Confederacy, 118-9.
Continental Congress signed " Articles
of Association," I. 13 pledged united
colonies not to import or purchase any
slaveholding threat in, 15;
slave, 13
articles adopted, and other proceedtheory of human equality
ings, 14
enunciated, 41.
Contraband, III. 236.
Conventions at Port Byron and Maceat Buffalo, 110
Whig
don, II. 109
two reState, in Fanenil Hall, 118
ports, 119 ; Webster's short speech,
120; in Springfield, 123; Webster
claims the Wilmot Proviso as his
;
;
;
;
;
;
"thunder," 124;
New York Demo-
Syracuse and Herkimer, 125national,
radical address, 127
8
of 1848, 129-39; Democratic, of
129-33
divisions
radical
1848,
on the slavery issue, 130-1 Cass
nominated and his position, 132
" change " of views, 132 Whig, 133
candidates, 133-5 ; Taylor leads.
cratic, at
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
�749
INDEX.
but strongly opposed, 134- 5 nomideclarations of Wilson
nated, 135
triumph of Slave
and Allen, 13G
Buffalo,
preliminary
Power,
138
;
Court House in chains,
;
;
movements to, 140-50; Utica convention, 140-2; meeting in Philadelphia, called by Mr. Wilson, 142Ohio convention, 144 addresses
4
of Allen and Wilson, 144-5 Worcester, 146
Webster invited, but declined, 148 {see Buffalo Convention) ;
at
at Boston, 157 {see Free Soil)
Utica, 158 ; in Ohio and Indiana,
158-9; Democratic, of 1852, 363Pierce nominated, 365 ; Whig,
4
366-71 resolutions of, indorsed by
General Scott
J\Ir.
Webster, 368
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
nominated, 371
Free
;
373-4
Soil,
;
candidates and resolutions,
373 4 Free State, in Kansas, 500 - 39
presidential, of 1856, 508-16 ; AmeriEepublican, and platcan, 508 - 9
form, 511-2; seceders', American,
513-6; Democratic, 515; Whig,
Chatham, Canada, 589
516
in
Southern commercial, recommend reopening the slave-trade, 616 ; slaveholding, in Maryland, 636
Democratic national,
of 1860, 673-88;
platform, reports and debate on, 676 disruption, 680
disorder, 679
9
hesitation, 681; seceders', meeting of,
632 adjournment of, 683 ; at BaltiDouglas
more, 684 ; rupture, 686
and Johnson, 687 Breckinridge and
"
candidates,
constituLane, 688
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
689-90; Bell and Everett,
candidates, 690 Republican, 690 - 4
Giddings's amendresolutions, 691
ment, 691 candidates before, 692
tional,"
;
;
;
;
;
Lincoln and Dayton nominated, 693
"of Radical
gi'eat enthusiasm, 695
and nomination of
Abolitionists,"
Smith and McFarland, 695 Cleveland, III. 546-9; Republican, 549Democratic, 557 - 60 Christian
51
Antislavery, 713-4; on missions,
;
;
;
;
;
See Elections.
F., III. 339.
Cook, b. P., of 111., I. 144-57.
Cooper, James, of Pa., I. 532.
Cooper, Mark A., of Ga., I. 398, 450,
532.
Co-operationists, III. 112-4.
Corbett, H. W., III. 674.
Corey, trainer of Douglass, I. 501-10.
Corwin, Governor, of Ohio, I. 476
speech of, II. 42, 650 report and
721.
Conway, M.
as-
;
IIL 290-1, 315 ;
- 6, 375, 493.
Cox, Dr. Abraham L., of N. Y., I. 260.
III. 225, 331-3,
Cox, S. S., II. 563.
342 - 50, 400, 432 - 50 speech, 479.
Crafts, W. and E., case of, II. 325-6.
Cowan,
E., speech of,
violent speech, 335
;
Craige, B., III. 166.
Crandall, Dr. Reuben, imprisoned in
AVashington, I. 306.
Crandall, IMiss Prudence, her colored
sdiool in Conn., I. 240 ; persecution
subseand imprisonment of, 241
;
proceedings, 242 - 7
morality at a low ebb, 246 Crapo, Judge, of Mass., I. 492.
Crawford, Geo. W., II. 208.
quent
Crawford, M.
IL 645-7.
J.,
public
;
7.
IIL
29,
126, 200.
;
;
334
II.
saulted, 437.
;
Crawford, William H., I. 532.
Creeks and Seminoles, treaty with,
I.
525.
Creole," brig, seized by slaves, I. 443.
Cresswell, J. A., III. 371, 445-94.
"
Crisfield,
J.
W., speaks
border
for
States, III. 324.
Crittenden Compromise, III. 71 - 82 ;
complete surrender, 80 - 1
defeated,
by Southern defection, 80 ; A.
81
Johnson's testimony, 82.
Crittenden, John J., of Ky., I. 77,
;
;
616.
451,
speech
41
559-65;
504,
12,
II.
663
speech of.
resolutions, 37
speech
;
of,
;
;
III. 19,
107,
of,
241-2, 279, 341.
Crothers, Dr. Samuel, of Ohio, his action in Cincinnati Synod, I. 178.
Cuba, importance of, 1 1. 608; slaveholding apprehensions in Congress, 609 -
10
change of Southern
;
feeling,
610
;
action of government, 610-4
Semator Brown's demand, 612
resolution
;
;
for
purchase of, 612 filibustering,
President Taylor's proclamation,
;
613
;
610.
Culver, Erastus D., II. 152.
Curry, J. L. M., II. 648.
Curtin, A. J., II. 692.
Curtis, B. R., Justice, II. 443, 531.
Curtis, G. T., Commissioner, II.
Curtis, George W., II. 691.
330-3.
Gushing, Caleb, of Mass., I. 344, 53646 president of Charleston conven;
tion, II.
675-87.
III. 215.
Cuyler, T., III. 64.
;
;
speech
Cotton ii
of,
III.
32-3.
kinfT, II. 549.
Cotton Whigs,
II. 117.
Dade, Major, and command, shot
Florida,
I.
in
517.
Daggett, Judgp, of Conn., decision
in Crandall ca.se, I. 245.
of,
�750
INDEX.
Dallas, G. M., of Pa.., I. 604. II. 363.
Dana, C. A., II. 407.
Dana, R. H., Jr., II. 250, 307-30, 33342, 436 ; plea of, 440.
Dane, Nathan,
32.
I.
Davie, General, of N. C, I. 44.
Davis, Garrett, II. 14 ; intensely proslaverv,
ISO.
III.
violent
267
;
speech,
275-7, 311, 334-8,349-50,
361
speech
;
on
colored
soldiers,
365-6, 408-9, 438-9, 533,
665.
Davis, George T., of Mass., I. 489.
Davis, H. Winter, II. 564 speech of. III.
motion, committee, report
39, 433
and speech, 520-2 (see Reconstrucsevere speech, 540.
tion)
Davis, Jeti'erson, II. 101, 235, 332
on
Brooks,
489, 581, 601-17,
653,
657 9 ; seven resolutions of, 660.
III. 18 ; important speeches of, 25,
;
;
;
;
49-52, 113-54; chosen president,
journey of, and inauguration,
118
;
120
218
ing
Cabinet, 121 messages, 170-1,
defiant response, 557
on armslaves, 565
speech, 573.
Davis, J., of Mass., I. 340-1, 393,
II. 14, 102, 294.
442.
III. 28, 148.
Davis, Eetihen, II. 649
;
;
;
;
;
;
Davi.s, T. T., III. 446.
Dawes, H. L.,
III. 537 -
II. 255,
626
able speech,
Reconstruction,
;
654.
Davton,
W.
455, 537.
of Ga., I.
II. 544.
Deseret,bill for, II. 232.
Dew, Professor, I. 100.
Dewey, 0., Rev., II. 318.
Dexter, Franklin, of Mass., I. 489.
Dickey, of Pa., I. 543.
Dickinson, D. S., II. 129, 363. III. 214.
Dickson, John, of N. Y., I. 311.
Difficulties of the case. III. 76.
Dillett, of Ala., I. 431.
District of Columbia, III. 257-69;
barbarous laws, 258 - 60
schools,
bills for, 266-9 ; abolition in, 270 - 84
slavery in, of special interest to all,
;
;
270
276
and committee, 271 new
Democratic opposition,
under jurisdiction of Congress,
bills
;
272 - 3
era,
;
;
;
270-8.
Di.sunion threatened by Clingman and
Stanley, Toombs,
Foote, II. 211
hazards
Stephens, Clemens, 213-9
rebuked
by Chase, 269 ;
of, 226
threats of, b}' Clethreatened, 277
mens, Toombs, Holmes, 285 - 6 ;
menNashville convention, 286 - 8
aces of,
639
in
504, 519-21,
XXXVlth Congress, 643-54 "Help;
;
;
;
;
;
er" resolution, 644; stormy debate
and revolutionary utterances, 644 election of Republican Presi52
Southern
dent a cause of, 647 - 8
and Democratic protests, 649-50;
extreme utterances of Toombs, Iveralso of
son, and Clingman, 651 - 2
Governor Letcher, 654 Wilson's remenaces of, in canvass,
sponse, 652
K
L., of
De Bow's Review
;
351.
II.
J., I. 615.
II.
264, 513.
De Argaiz, Spanish minister,
460.
I.
;
advocates the slave-
III. 732.
Dellem, Hannah, case of, II. 325.
Democratic party routed in N. Y., II.
164
Buchanan candidate of, 515
humilplatform, 515
threats, 515
disaster and
iating position of, 664
difficiilties
disrnj)tion of, 674
80
of Northern, 685.
See Conventions.
Democrats, Independent, address of,
Douglas's reply, 385 SouthII. 384
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
their Northern allies,
Northern, denounce the war,
false
to
29
and enforcement acts, 646
417
only belong to Ku-Klux, 634 conand disloyalty,
vention of 1868,
734 - 5. See Elections and ConvenIII.
;
;
;
;
tions.
Df-nison,
695.
Diven, A.
C, II. 646.
Delaware rejects XlVth Amendment,
Jarnette, D.
em,
;
;
trade, II. 616.
419.
W., Governor,
J.
;
Dawson, of La., I.
Dawson, W. C,
298 367 — 92.
De
See Election
III. 550.
of 1864.
Denver,
;
Sec
9.
Dennison, W.,
S.,
speech
and Stevens's
of,
242-4, 306-26.
IIL 214.
A., II. 36, 158.
reply, III.
Dix,
J.
Dixon, A., II. 180, 356.
Dixon, J., IIL 25.
Di.xon, N. F., III. 675-9.
Doddridge, of Va., I. 308.
Dodge, A. C, II. 355.
Dodge, W. E., III. 111-93.
"Dogma, new," foreshadowed, II. 34,
40^ of protection of slavery in the
Territories, 055 - 65 ; Southern press
concerning, 656.
Donnelly, I.^ III. 496, 523.
Doolittle, J. R., II.
126-55, 662.
speech of, 368, 405
276
Johnson, 611-3, 679-94.
;
;
IIL
defends
II. 14,
Dougla.s, S. A., of 111., I. 610.
101, 263, 332 - 55, 365 - 85, 455 - 85 ;
great
votes against Lecompton, 565
debate with Lincoln, 566-77; Chiconfers with
cago speech of, 272-3
;
C.
W.,
I.
231-2,
250-2,
;
I
�751
INDEX.
Republicans, 567 - 8 ; resolution of,
ostracism of, 655 - 9
606, 627 - 9
deposition
personal defence of, 662
patriotic course of, 699 of,
674
;
;
;
;
III. 24, 216.
701.
;
Dow, W., murdered,
471.
II.
S.
Draper,
S.,
W.,
315.
II.
Drayton and Sayers,
;
;
;
;
;
;
I.
II.
357.
214.
-
of,
to
Kan-
2.
Durant, H. F., II. 443.
Durkee, C, II. 410.
Dutch ship entered James River with
slaves 1620,
flower," I. 2.
same year with "May-
Dutch West India Company offered to
supply New York with slaves, I. 5.
Duty on slaves imported, debated in
Congress,
first
I.
;
;
;
ringing
Fremont's letter, 548 - 9
speech of Dr. Breckinridge, 549 - 50
Lincoln and Johnson nominated,
Judge Holt's report {see
550 - 1
Treasonable Demonstrations) profliRebel sympathizers, and
gacy, 553
Vallandigham a master spirit, 558
McClellan
the war "a failure," 558
and Pendleton, candidates, 559
Seward's speech, 559 country startConfederates gratified, 561
led, 559
;
;
;
;
;
;
734-5.
of 1868,
John, memorial against enslaving Indians, I. 7.
Eliot, T. D., bills by. III. 339-40,
speech, 495-6, 654.
345
Eliot, Rev.
;
Dunn, W. M., amendments
sns bill, II. 501
;
President's unpopularity, 545-6
severe
Cleveland convention, 546-9
letter and speech of Wendell Phillips,
646-7 ; Garrison's defence, 547-8
5
;
and convic-
trial
released, 105.
tion of, II. 104
Drayton, of S. C, I. 529.
«'Dred Scott case," II. 523-33; the
argudecision, 526
points, 525
dissenting opinions of
ment, 523
McLean, 529-30; of Curtis, 531
revolureview of, by Benton, 532
tionary and alarming, 533, 640 - 1.
Duer, W.,
anxiety for
;
II. 276, 366.
Dresser, A.,
Democratic subservience
Republican
543 - 4
peace and divisions, 544 —
;
J. F., II. 21, 616.
Downs,
;
disloyalty,
;
II. 112,
Douglass, F., I. 493-9, 511.
urged by John Brown to
307, 590
III. 595.
join him, 594', 605.
Dowdell,
543 - 61
and
57.
Elliot, J.,
ofGa.,
Charles M.,
I.
Ellis,
II.
Ellis,
John W.,
141.
436-43.
III. 144.
Ellis, Vespasian, II. 426.
Ellsworth, Hon. William W., of Conn.,
counsel for Miss Crandall, I. 243.
Ellsworth, Oliver, of Conn., I. 35, 50.
Emancipation, forbidden, II. 181-3;
a condition of success. III. 234 {see
Proclamation of Emancipation)
for
"selfish ends," 477- 93. See Border
;
States.
Earle,
M.,
J.
343.
549, 569-71.
II. 255,
Earle, T., of Pa., I.
Eaton, J. H., of Tenn., I. 105-54.
Ecclesiastical bodies, against Fugitive
Methodist
Slave Act, II. 309 -lo
Church South, 667. See Churches.
Edgerton, J. K., III. 442, 539.
Edmond, W., of Conn., I. 73.
Edmonds, Judge, of N. Y., II. 52.
;
Edmondson Sisters, II. 92.
Edmunds, G. F., closing speech on
rights. III.
dition
of suffrage,
;
a con-
665-6; opposed
by Mr. Wilson, 666 - 7.
Edwards,
J., concerning slavery and
address of national
freedom, I. 27
convention to South Carolina, 28.
Eldridgc, C. A., III. 450, 626 ; opposes
;
XVth Amendment, 668-9.
Election, Presidential, of 1848, II. 129 60; of 1852, 360-77; Democratic
candidates questioned, and replies,
363 - 4 of 1S56, 522 of 1860, 689 704 four tickets, 697 vigorous canvass, 698; result, 703; of 1864, III.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
civil
694-5.
Education, demanded. III. 622
Emerson, Ralph AYal do, of Mass., I. 641.
Enforcement Act, III. 646 {see KuKlux) amendatory acts, 695 - 6.
English bill, II. 557-65 characterized,
558 - 60 debate, 560 - 4 an "artifice," 562
Enrolment Act, III. 420.
"Equilibrium of States," II. 238 not
provided for, 240, 262-3, 267-8.
IIL 152.
"Era, National," II. 58 office assaulted,
93.
Estimates, mistaken. III. 217-8.
Etheridge, E., clerk of
Ith Congress, III. 221.
Evans, George, of Me., I. 350.
II. 3.
Evans, L. D., important testimony of,
III. 133-4; statement to Mr. 'WQ-
XXXVI
son,
134-5.
W.
M., remarks of, II. 693.
Post," N. Y., II. 407-47.
Everett, "Edward, of Mass., I. 328-9,
II. 386, 494
nomi445, 530 - 97.
nated, 690.
Everett, Horace, of Vt.,I. 429-48, 524.
Ewing, Thomas, II. 209.
Exiles, Florida, I. 127-34.
Evarts,
"Evening
;
�752
INDEX.
Ex-Rebels do not accept the issues of
684-5,
the war, III.
construction.
737.
/Sec
Re-
Facts, three, III. 101.
Fairfield, John, II. 4.
Fairs, antislavery, their success and importance, I. 561.
Farnsworth, J. F., speech of. III. 663.
Faulkner, Charles J., of Va.,
I. 199.
II. 654.
Fee, J. G., Rev., II. 178, 668.
Fenton, R. E., testimony of, II. 382-3.
Ferry, 0. S., speeches of. III. 36, 675.
Fessenden, W. P., I. 448. II. 390, 454,
544, 607-27. III. 156-9, 262, 2748, 281, 351; speech of, 363-7, 408,
609-12.
Field, D. D., II. 127, 155.
III. 90.
"Fifty-four forty," etc., II. 32.
Filibustering.
See Cuba.
Fillmore,
Millaid, I. 308, 402, 546.
II. 105
a " silver-gray " Whig, 275
administration of, controlled by Slave
Power, 275 - 6
nominated, 509 ;
speech at Albany, 517.
Finality "resolutions," II. 352-3
debate, 353 - 9
Whig movements in
favor of, 360 - 3 ; unscrupulous efforts
of Mr. Webster, 361 ; popular in;
;
;
;
;
dorsement
377.
Fiuley, Rev. Robert, of Va.,
Fish, H., III. 214.
W.
Fishback,
531.
Fisher,
G.
States,
of,
I.
211.
P.,
III.
305
III.
for border
;
5.
128 Georgia sends armed force into,
128 - 9
fort in, blown up, and destruction of life, 130
war in, cause,
;
;
;
cost,
512-25;
etc.,
bill
admission of, II. 2
speech of
delegate of, 2
inhuman provisions
constitution of, 2
of, 2
East, State
of, motion for, 2
admitted, 5 action
of,
III. 9; secession of, 113, 152;
admitted, 629.
Floyd, Governor, ofVa., I. 191. II. 609.
FoUen, Professor Charles, of Mass., I.
for
;
;
;
;
;
333 —
.'>
III.
of.
326 - 7.
Forward, Walter, of Phil., I. 294.
Foster, E. H., of Tenn., I. 616.
Foster,
Foster,
Foster,
Foster,
Foster,
J.
W.,
II. 431.
331-53, 398.
L. S., III. 24, 224,
Rev. D.,
I.
441.
564-70, 625.
552,
S. S., I.
Stephen, of N. H.,
I.
65.
Fowler, J. S., III. 674.
Fowler, Orrin, II. 229, 346.
Fox, G. B., relief of Sumter, III. 204.
Franklin, Benjamin, of Pa., president
of Penns3'lvaiiia Abolition Society, I.
23 his projiosition on basis of rejjresentation, 42 ; of memorial to Congress, 62 ; last and wisest of his coun;
Franklin, Southern forces at, II. 498.
Free people of color, laws for imprisonment of, condemned and defended, II.
3-5 inhumanity towards (sec "Black
Laws ") popularhatred towards, 185
;
Fisher, M. M., II. 250.
Fisk, W. A., Rev., III. 705-6.
Fitch, G. N., III. 155, 200.
Fitzpatrick, B., nominated, II. 687.
III. 154.
Fitzsimmons, Thomas, of Pa., I. 33.
Fletcher, Richard, of Boston, I. 281.
Florida, introduction of slaves into, in
1558, I. 124; law for annexation of,
duration,
men.
Forts and navy-yards, tenure
sels, 62.
M., Senator from La.,
324 -
Foote, Commodore, testimony of, II.
619.
Foote, HenryS., II. 47, 90, 100, 234-98.
Forbes, Colonel H., II. 690 ; threatened
disclosure by, 591.
Force bills.
See Enforcement Act.
Fornev, J. W., III. 221.
Forrest, N. B., Gen.
See Ku-Klux.
Forsyth, John, of Ga., I. 462, 590.
Hi. 126.
Fort Jupiter, Florida, I. 522.
Fort King, in Florida, Major Dade ordered to attack it, I. 516.
Fortress Monroe, III. 457.
See Freed-
;
545
Foot, S. A., of Conn.,
Foot, Solomon, of Vt,
;
;
seamen, 294 discrimination against,
at the North, 300 ; legislation hostile,
;
636-7
;
judicial
637-8;
decisions,
executive injustice, 638.
Freedmen, Northern aid, III. 455-71;
schools and government aid, 458 report concerning, 458 - 60 C. B. AVil;
;
efforts at
der, superintendent, 460
Sea Islands, 461 -3 ; Cabinet cool, 463
Northern meetings and associations,
;
sanguine hopes, 466
464 - 5, 468
London meeting, 468 work of Amer;
;
;
Missionary Association, 470
drawbacks, 472Bureau, 472-504
4; meeting and memorial, 473-4;
ican
;
early efforts,
6
474-5;
I.
158.
455.
8
;
Democratic opposition, 479-80 SenRepulilican oppoate debate, 480 - 4
Bureau
passed, 485
sition, 483 - 4
organized, circulars, 487 - 9 difficulties ami responsibilities great, 488 additional legislation, bill, and
90
;
;
;
;
;
I.
475-
reports,
and speech, 475 -
Eliot's bill
;
;
�753
INDEX.
debate, 490 - 7 veto, and new bill,
497 - 8 general estimate, 499, 500.
Freedom defended, II. 199 - 207 brave
advocates of,
speeches for, 22.5 - 8
319-20 devotion to, 507 conspiracy against, 535.
Freedom of speech denied in Philadel;
;
;
;
;
;
phia, III. 64.
Free Soil party, Philadelphia meeting,
II. 142-3; meetings in Columbus,
143-4 movements in Massachusetts,
144-7 conventions in Boston and in
;
;
other States, 157-9; gratifying results, 160
convention in Utica, 340
in Boston, 343 - 4.
Frelinghuysen, F. F., III. 93
speech
;
;
;
692 - 3, 737.
Frelinghuysen, Theodore, I. 235.
Fremont, John C, II. 278 nominated,
513.
III. 287
proclamation, 382.
on
civil rights,
;
;
See Election of 1864.
French, M., colored soldiers, III.
369-
early antislavery ad-
I. 9.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
under decision of Emperor of liussia,
121
treaty stipulation in 1790 for
Spanish refuse to surreturn of, 125
render them, 126; rendition of, sought
;
;
by various measures, 127
;
their re-
covery sought by annexation of Florwar on Florida for recapture
ida, 128
pni'sued by slave-hunters
of, 123 - 9
among Indians, 134 decision of Supreme Court on rendition of, 471 act
of New York legislature concerning
them, 474 ; action of Governor Seward in relation to, 475
Mr. Wilson's
motion in Massachusetts Senate for
their protection, 637 increasing number of, II. 51 ;theirfriends, 51 George
Kirk, case of, 52 on board Brazilian
vessel, 53
meeting in behalf of, in
Fanueil Hall, 55 case of Burr, Thomp;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
and Work, 69-73 case of the
schooner " Pearl," 91-2 fate of, 92.
Sec Underground Railroad.
;
:
III.
;
;
;
305-11;
312-22; examples of
304-5; testimonies
demonstrations against,
favor of,
execution,
in
its
of
for, Furness,
Beecher, 310-1 ;
Stuart,
Taylor,
Spenser, 318-9;
meetings in Lowell and Faneuil Hall,
clergymen against and
Thompson,
Storrs,
Syracuse and
Garden, Mr.
Ca.stle
312-4
course,
ster's
Web-
meeting
;
in
Boston of Friends, 317 President's
message, 319 Mann's speech on, 322
atrocities and examples of, 323 - 35
meetings in Boston, 325 - 6 in Congress, 352-9; Sumner's amendment,
353 examples of its rigorous enforcement, 435 - 51 {see Burns)
Glover
in Wisconsin, 444 - 5
Garner, 446
Passmore Williamson in Pennsylvania, 447 — 51 pronounced unconstitutional, 445 supplementary legislation,
Toucey's bill, and debate, 453
-61 note law, III. 332 repeal of,
394-402; especially annoying, 394
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
VOL.
intro-
;
;
of,
Fugitive slaves, Butler's demand that
they be delivered up like criminals,
I. 53
his amendment agreed to, 54
provision for the rendition of, inserted
in Constitution, 54
arguments of
Southern members, 54 bill of 1793
passed both houses, 69
committee
of House appointed to provide more
effectual means for rendition of, 74 ;
bill reported in House and fiercely
debated, 74-7; further measures in
the House, 78 bill reported and debated, 78
demanded of British government, 120
paid for by England
son,
291-5;
II.
duced by Mason, 292 amendments
adopted in Senate,
offered, 292 - 4
294 in House, 295 workings of, 304
;
463-5.
70,
Friends, Society
vocates,
Fugitive Slave Act,
48
;
-5
;
395-6 reports,
396 - 7 Sherman's amendment, and
debate, 398
new bill debated and
;
bills
introduced,
;
;
;
passed, 399 - 402.
James C, of N. Y., I. 413.
Furness, William H., Eev., II.
310.
Fuller,
Gaines, General,
Gallatin, Albert,
I.
I.
51,
129, 540.
37, 80, 601.
Galloway, Samuel, 11. 137.
Gardner, H. J., II. 417-27.
Garfield, J. A., III. 447 solemn appeal,
;
496, 618.
Garland, Rice, of La., I. 398.
Garner, Simon, case of, II. 446.
Garnett, Henry, case of, II. 326.
Garnett, James M., I. 33.
Garrett, M. R. H., II. 645.
Garrett, Thomas, II. 51
heroism and
;
and sentence, 84 ; great success, 84 ; burial,
35.
Garrison, William Lloyd, his birth and
early labors, I. 176 in Baltimore prison, 180 ; his assertion of principles
self-sacrifice
of,
84
;
trial
;
and purposes, 180-1; establishes
"Liberator" in Boston, 182 a price
put upon his head by slaveholders,
186; his influence, 183-6; mission
;
to England, 220
connection with
N. E. Antislavery Societv, 224 in
other relations, 250 - 2, 260, 2S4 - 95,
332, 358-83, 435, 545, 557-63, 570of,
;
;
�754
INDEX.
4,639-43.
11.336.
III. 718.
See
Election.
Garrison ian Abolitionists, views and
prominent men
policy of, II. 107-8
ami women, 109 ; attitude towards
Eepublicans, 695.
Gates, S. M., II. 158.
;
Gav, Sydney H., II. 52.
Gayle, Governor, of Ala., I. 326.
Geary, J. W., Governor, I. 535.
Gentry, M. P., of Tenn., I. 398. II. 362.
Georgia, settled by colonies under James
he opposed .slavery,
Oglethorpe, I. 4
4 slaves introduced into, from Africa,
4 claimed territory forming States of
Alabama and Mississippi, 35 ceded
her territory in 1802, on condition
that .slavery be not prohibited, 35
sends forces into Creek country to
burn and murder, 126 Governor of,
sends military forces into Floriila, 128
;
;
;
;
;
;
-9
fort in, destroyed, and terrible
paid by government
massacre, 130
for wanton outrages in Florida, 132
;
;
;
Govinfluence. III. 6
ernor Brown's mes.sage, •6 ; military
convention and legislative action, 8 ;
commanding
secession
of,
;
114
;
convention, 115
;
admitted, 629.
Gerr}', Elbridge, of Mass., I. 51, 65.
Ghent, Treaty of, provided for restora-
tion of slaves,
I.
1
467-84, 532-4, 537-43, 614-20.
II. 80, 92-4, 98, 152; characterizes
Ten-Million Bill, 280, 320, 513-54,
691.
Gilbert, of N. J., I. 72.
Giles, W. B., of Va., I. 36.
II.
Gillette, Francis, of Conn., I. 372.
456.
Gilmer, Thomas W., of Va., I. 428, 592.
W.
H., recommends convention,
III. 2.
Glover, Joshua, case of, II. 444.
Goddard, Hon. Cidvin, of Conn., counsel for Miss Crandall, I. 243.
Goings, Heniy, ca.se of, II. 186.
Gohlsborough', C. AV., of Md., I. 103.
Gooch, D. W., speech of, III. 351.
Goode, William 0., of Va., I. 73.
Goodell, William, I. 232-4,250-60,
332-6, 408-21, 436, 54.5. III. 718.
Goodrich, J. Z., II. 399, 416.
Gordon, J. B., Gen., III. 635. See Ku-
Klux.
Gorham, X., of Mass.,
I.
;
;
other republics, 113-8; signal injustice towards Indians, 127-34, 514
- 27 seat of, on slave soil, 299. Sea
;
Reconstruction.
Government, United
be proslaverv,
42.
States,
224
II.
;
claimed to
the champion
of slavery, 609.
Governors, Southern, meeting of, II.
521 ; responses of, III. 213.
Graham, James, II. 22.
Graham, W. A., Whig candidate for
Vice-President, II. 372.
Granger, Francis, of N. Y., I. 347 - 98.
III. 91.
S., General, commander, III.
Sec Election.
Grantland, S., of Ga., I. 347.
Greeley, Horace, II. 407-13, 692-4;
famous article of. III. 61 - 2 " Prayer
of Twenty Millions," 385, 421, 655
Grant, U.
546.
;
-6.
Green, Beriah, of N. Y.,
II.
249-50.
I.
112.
III. 165.
Green, Duff, I. 596.
Green, J. S., 111. 23-5.
Green, W., Jr., of N. Y., I. 250.
Crew,
20.
Gholson, J. H., of Va., I. 100.
Gholson, S. G:, III. 111-2.
Giddings, J. R., I. 425-42, 447-8;
censured by the House and resigns,
re-elected and returns, 451 - 2, 454,
Gist,
Gouveneur, Samuel L., of N. Y., I. 323.
Govan, A. R., of S. C, I. 107.
Government, powers of, in regard to
slavery defined, I. 65 humiliating ])osition of, 112 want of sympathy with
]\Iary, II. 51.
Grev, G., Sir, III. 581.
Grider, H., III. 294-5, 305.
language of,
Grier, Justice, II. 329
sharply characterized by "Evening
Post," 447.
Grievances, Southern, II. 198.
;
Griffin,
Griffith,
John K., of
S.
C,
1.
351.
Admiral, refuses to surrender
fugitive
.slaves
to
United States,
I.
121.
Grimes,
-
4,
J.
W.,
bill
and speech.
- 3.
III.
263
298, 404, 482
Grimke, Miss Angelina, I. 296, 372.
Grinnell, J. B., III. 447.
Grinnell, M. H., III. 214.
Griswold, HeniT, II. 596.
Grover, M., II."l52.
Grow, G. A., Kansas bills by, II. 501 ;
Kan.sas
constitution,
re]iorts
628.
III. 166; .speaker, 220.
Attorney-General,
U.
S.,
Felix,
Grundy,
in "Amistad" case, I. 459-68, 515.
Gunn, James, of Ga., 1. 113.
Guthrie, James, III. 89, 493.
Gwin, W. M., II. 278.
H., I. 432, 610
102, 218-66,
on agitation, 321 - 33, 413, 514
Hale, John P.,
-24, 626-7.
299
;
of N.
II.
89,
�INDEX.
- 42
sharp speech of, 664
eloquent
plea for the Union, III. 19, 20;
speeches, 263-78, 336-7, 401 ; witty
;
;
repiv, 431, 440.
Hall, Robert B., I. 225, 359.
II. 416.
Halleck, H. W., Major-Geueral,
Benjamin
317-39, 6S5.
Hallett,
Halsey, of Ga.,
F.,
384.
1.
III. 287.
II. 132,
352.
I.
See
P'.k'Ction.
J.,
I.
309-13,
603.
H., Governor of S.
I.
C,
579.
L., III.
345.
Haralson, Huarh A., II. 13.
Hardin, B., otKy., I. 145.
Harding, A., opposes coercion, III. 224
- 83, 339, 451.
Harding, John J., of 111.,
Harlan, James, II. 579
C,
;
35
I.
III.
Harper's
;
resolu{sec
John Brown)
Mason to investigate the affair
Trumbull's amendment,
at, II. 601
601 debate, 601-3 committee, 603
;
;
;
;
604-6
of Wilson,
;
;
speeches concerning,
Mason, Iverson, Brown,
Wade, Fessenden, and Hunter, 601-7.
Harris, B. G., III. 441.
Harris, I. G. favors secession, III. 143.
Harris, J., III. 313.
Harris, J. M., III. 372.
Harris, T. L., II. 564.
Harrison, William Henry, president of
,
convention in 1802 to memorialize
I.
elected President,
33
423 deatli of, 423.
C'ongi-ess,
;
;
Hartley, T., of Pa., I. 61-5.
Haskell, William T., II. 89, 95.
J.
B.,
II.
563
;
letter
of,
564.
I.
493.
Hernandez, General, I. 521.
Herndon, W. H., testimony
303-5.
Hicks, Elias, Quaker, I. 166.
Hicks, T. H., III. 165-6; slaveholding appeal to, 185 importance of his
decision, 185-7; sentiments of, 187
-9
189-91 his
desires neutrality,
difficult position,
;
192-4;
;
193
the President's and Mr. Seward's response, 193 - 5.
Higbv, W., speech of. III. 372.
Higginson, T. W., II. 437, 590, 605.
" Higher law," II. 262 Mr. Webster's
;
;
ridicule
of,
361.
Hildreth, Richard, I. 572.
II. 407.
Hill, Isaac, of X. H., I. 317.
Hill, John, of N. C, I. 85.
Hillard, George S., of Mass., I. 338,
366-84, 479. II. 248, 690.
Hillhouse, J., of Conn., I. 83.
Hilliard,H.W.,II.88,225. III. 143-4.
History of Slave Power, object, III.
726 ; lessons, 735 - 6.
Hoar, E. Rock wood, of Mass., I. 642.
IL 147.
Hoar, Samuel, of Mass., sent to Charleston in behalf of colored seamen, his
treatment and return, I. 578 - 82.
II. 248, 342.
Havemeyer, W. F., III. 214.
Hawkins, George S., III. 28.
Hayden, Lewis', trial of, II. 333.
Hayne, Pi. Y., of S. C, speech
flavtif-n independence,
Haynes, C.
Henshaw, Daniel, of Mass.,
defence,
G., of S.
tion of
Haskins,
349-50.
;
613. .
speech.
I.
367, 518.
report,
cule,
Hazard, of E. I., I. 322-6.
Hazewell, C. C, II. 339.
Hemphill, J., of Pa., I. 157.
Henderson, John, II. 4.
Henderson, J. B., speech of, III. 307,
311 - 4, 335 - 66, 404, 436 - 9
XVth
Amendment, 673 civil rights, 691.
Hendricks, T. A., II. 184.
III. 397,
410-6, 439, 482
speech
401,
against Freedmen's Bureau, 491.
of, II. 577.
Herrick, A., III. 449.
Hevrick, Elizabeth, pamphlet, I. 178.
Hickman, J., 11. 471, 649. III. 225,
Handv, A. H., III. 165.
Hannum, J. W., II. 54, 56-7.
Hanwav, Castner, case of, II. 329.
li.
117 ; petition in 1838 for recognition of independence of, 117.
Hayti and Liberia, III. 347-52; indejtendence of, refused, 348
Sumner's bill and speech, 348 - 9 ; ridiof,
;
J.,
;
Harper,
Ferry
Mr. Hayne on independence
;
defence of slavery by, II.
54S-50 replies of Hamlin, Broderick,
and Wilson, 551 -3.
Hanchett,
;
.speech of
;
of Miss.,
Hammond, James
Hammond,
;
;
Hamilton, A., of N. Y., I. 26.
Hamilton, A. J., speech of, III. 40.
Hamilton, J. C, II. 142.
Hamlet, James, case of, II. 305.
Hamlin, E. S., of Ohio, I. 613.
Hamlin, Hannibal, of Me., I. 432, 610.
II. 22, 259, 550; nomination of, 694.
Hammet, W.
Hayti, government organized by negroes,
I.
114
surrender of Napoleon to
Congress suspended
armies of, 114
commercial intercourse with, 114;
E., of Ga.,
I.
I. 117.
347.
Hoard, C. B., II. 626.
Holabird, of Conn., his connection with
of,
on
the " Amistad " case, I. 458.
Holcombe, J. P., III. 555.
Hollev, M., III.
Holman, W.
545-7.
S., III. 378, 442.
�756
INDEX.
Holmes,
ei2.
E., of S.
I.
C,
I.
US -82,
II. -286.
Holmes, John, of Mass., afterwards of
Me., I. 75-7, 156.
Holt, J., III. 192-4.
See Secret Or-
ders.
noble act praised
by Whittier, 12; published "Dialogue" in 1776 on slaveiy, 12; action of church against slavery, 12 ;
slave-trade, sevenfold abomination,
47 ; sympathy with Colonization Sorights,
1.
11
;
ciety, 209.
Hopkins, G. W., of Va., I. 428.
Hopkins, J. H., BLshop, 111. 704.
Hopkinson, J., of Pa., 1. 75.
Hopper, Isaac T., [. 232.
Houston, G. S., 111. 149.
Houston, Samuel, of Tenn., I. 589.
363-92.
10, 48, 236,
II.
S. G., II. 5.5, 4-36,
T. O.,
and speech
III.
of,
590-2,
375-95;
I.
605.
resolution
012-3.
Howell, D., of R. I., I. 32.
Howell, John R., killed on board " CreI.
New
1. 123-6.
Samuel W., II. 223.
Charles
Ingersoll,
466-7.
Orleans in behalf of colored sea-
Hudson,
292.
Charles, of Mass., I. 455.
I.
II.
14.
annexation, I. 590.
Hunt, Rev. Samuel, of Mass,
642.
I.
Hunter, D., Mnj.-G.'n., III. 2S7, 383.
Hunter, E. M. t., of Va., I. 398 speech
;
Hunting
265, 560, 607.
for treason.
of Pa.,
I.
424,
arraigns
E. C, III. 452
the President's motives, 655 - 6.
Ingersoll,
;
Ingham,
Ralph
S.
I., 1.
D., of Pa.,
461.
I. 530.
Ingraliam, Commissioner, 11. 327-8.
Insurrectionary movements. 111. 1 - 10 ;
States not ripe for, 9, 10.
Intermaniage, petitions to Massachusetts legislature for repeal of law
against, 1. 489 ; law against, repealed,
"Irrepressible conflict," phrase, origin
of, II.
527
;
attempt to combine two
vigor149
conflicting civilizations,
ously prosecuted,
633-42
;
;
forces of,
III. "684.
a negro, claimed as slave, I.
474.
Iverson, A., 11. 603, 651-4; violent
speech of. 111. 17 - 8, 114.
Isaac,
Hudson, David, IT. 63.
Hughes, J., 11. 625.
Humphrey, J., s])eech of. III. 36.
Hunt, H.>., of N. Y., I. 310.
Hunt, General, Texan minister, proposes
of, II.
J.,
II. 8.
492.
443.
Hovt, George H., II. 595.
Hubbard, C I)., III. 496.
Hubbard, H., of X. H., I. 391.
Hubbard, Henry, of Mass., agent to
men, 1. 582.
Hubbard, J. H., of Vt,
183-6.
ward,
Ingersoll,
Mass,
490.
ole,"
Independence, Declaration of, clause
reprobating slavery struck out, I. 15 ;
of thirteen Colonies acknowledged, 31.
"Independent," N. Y., II. 407.
Indian Territory, II. 635.
Indiana, action of her Tenitorial legislature concerning negroes or mulattoes, I. 162
constitutional conven-
Inge,
88.
of
;
;
III. 146.
Howe, Appleton, Gen.,
173-83
rumors of violence, 173.
Indians, strange and cruel conduct to-
;
Howe,
Howe,
164.
Inauguration of Lincoln, III.
tion of, II.
Howard, O. 0., Gen., III. 486-7 (sec
Freedmen) tinal report, 499, 500.
Howard, W. A., II. 471, 559. 111. 49,
314-33, 441, 513-34, 610-21, 674-
-»
;
;
Hopkins, E., II. 249-50.
Hopkins, Dr. Samuel, advocacj' of hu-
man
IDE, Eev. Dr. Jacob, I. 262.
Illinois, conspiracy to make her a slave
State, 1. 161 ; constittition of, limiting
suffrage to free white persons and forbidding slavery, 62 legislature of,
enacts code of black laws, 162 failure of efforts to make it a slave State,
111.
See
571-3.
Harper's
Ferry.
H\intington, Elisha, of Mass., I. 642.
Huntington, E., of Conn., I. 65.
Hurlburt, Rev. Mr., I. 292.
Hutchins, J., III. 225-81.
Hyatt, Thaddeus, II. 604.
Jacksox, Francis, of Boston,
I.
285,
559.
Jackson, Gen. A., President, his act of
mesoutrage on Seminoles, 1. 132
sage on closing nuiils against antiaction
slavery publications, 324 - 39
on occasion of freeing of slaves by
British government at Nassau, 440 ;
urges
efforts to purcliasc Te.xas, 589
II. 609.
annexation of Texas, 592.
;
;
;
.Jackson, J., of Ga.,
I.
58, 62.
Jackson, William, of Mass.,
11.
.Tail,
1.
309, 420.
342.
Washington,
III. 26.3.
Jamison, D. F., III. 109.
Jarvis, Leonard, of Me., I. 312.
�757
INDEX.
Jay, Jolm, commissioner to Paris,
I.
113.
Jay, John, distinguished services of, II.
51-4; testimony of, HI. 714.
Jay, Judge William, antislavery acts and
writings, I. 267-8, 420, 566; reply
to President Jacicson, 271-2.
Kagi,
J. H., II. 589.
Kalblieisch, M., III. 443-80.
Kane, G. P., telegram of. III. 186.
Kane, Judge, harsh decisions of, II. 325,
448.
Kansa.s, struggle, II. 462-507; purpose and plan to make a free State,
Jefferson,
464-6
men
Society,
Thomas, branded traffic in
an "execrable commerce,"
presents deed of lands
etc., I. 15
his action
claimed by Virginia, 32
on the Louisiana boundary question,
as
;
;
588.
Jenckes, T. A., III. 447.
"Jerry rescue," II. 327.
Jessup, General, commands in Florida
war, I. 517-20, 526-38.
Jessup, AVilliam, II. 366, 415, 691.
Jocelyn, Rev. S. S., I. 239-50, 458.
Johnson, Andrew, of Tenn., I. 612 ; patriotic utterances. III. 229-31 ; veto
of Bureau, 497
sorry exhibition and
action thereon, 578
policy, 592 602 to delegations, 591-3 would be
speedy defection,
the " Moses," 596
597-3 bitter speeches, 598; "swinging round the circle," 599
revived
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
" Johnson
the Rebel spirit, 599
governments," inhuman legislation,
599-601 proclamation, 599; message
;
;
and speeches, 607-8; policy defended,
impeachment of, 733 false to
613
;
;
his pledges, 734.
Johnson, Cave, of Tenn., I. 584.
Johnson, H. V., II. 68?-.
III. 115.
Sec Conventions.
Johnson, J. S., of La., opposition of, to
Haytien independence, I. 117.
Johnson, Mr. Justice, declares laws of
South Carolina unconstitutional and
void,
I.
577.
Johnson, Oliver, I. 225, 409-14.
Johnson, Reverdy, II. 17, 46, 209. III.
88, 355 ; testimony against slavery,
404-29;
reply to Sumner,
430-1,
440-94, 507-8.
Johnson, R. M., of Ky., L 143.
Johnson, William Cost, of Md.,
I.
Jones, G. W., speech of, II. 457.
Jones, J., of Ga., I. 73.
Jones, S. J., II. 472.
Journal of Commerce, N. Y., utterances
of,
419.
Judicial decisions, Dred Scott, II. 523
-31 ; in Maine, Ohio, and New York,
641.
Judson, Andrew T., I. 241.
Judson, Judge, of Conn., I. 458.
Julian, George AV., II. 510 ; able speech
of. III. 344, 663.
Emigrant Aid
465
election in, 467
invaded, 468 - 9
President's message,
470 committee of investigation, 471 ;
in Congress, 474 - 7 reports and bill,
speeches of Wilson and Hale,
477
475 free State legislature, 499 dispersed, 500
reports of investigating
Mr. Grow's bill for,
committee, 501
501
Dunn's amendments, 501 - 2
Douglas's bill, and debate, 502 - 7
Mr. Wilson's visits and advice, 537
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
-8
men
carry legislature,
540; memorial to Congress, 546; the
free State
;
meeting in Boston for,
accepted
by the people, 627 and laid before
debate,
Congress, 628
628 - 31 ;
" Barbarism of Slavery," 630-1 admitted as a State into the Union, 632.
Kansas- Nebraska bill, II. 387 {see Nebraska)
no abstraction, 462
purpose of, 463
fierce struggle, 464 ; an
real issue,
538
;
547
;
free State constitution
;
;
;
;
;
;
artifice,
534.
Kasson, J. A., III. 372, 446.
Keith, G«orge, Quaker, I. 8.
Keitt, L. M., II. 487, 516-53, 616,
645-7.
Kellev, Miss Abby, of Mass., I. 296, 411
-9, 569.
Kelley, W. D., III. 328-9, 372, 44382,
536, 619-20; XVth Amendment, 663.
Kellogg, O., IIL 44.3.
Kendall, Amos, of Kv.,
I.
323.
Kennedy, A., III. 228-9, 275-6, 312.
Kentucky, carved out of territoiy claimed
by A^'irginia, I. 34 seeks neutrality,
;
196
retained in the Union, 197 ;
rejects XlVth Amendment, 732.
Keman, F., III. 432-5, 665.
Kerr, M. C, III. 496.
Key to the political histoiy of the naIII.
425.
New England
;
;
tion, II. 149.
Keves, Edward L.,
II.
122-57, 252,
345.
Kidnapping of
free negroes under FugiSlave Act, I. 70
protection
against it asked by legislature of Delaware, 70
free negroes taken from
.ships, 70 ; exciting debate, 70 - 1 ;
report of committee, 71.
II. 52.
Kilgore, David, speech of. III. 104.
tive
;
;
Kimball, M.,
II.
254,
�758
INDEX.
King,
King,
King,
King,
King,
King,
King,
King,
King,
A. A., III. 451.
Y., I. 321.
D. P., of Mass., I. 490.
J. P., of Ga., I. 340-1.
Leicester, II. 63, 167.
Preston, II. 3, 129. 510. III. 23.
Ruins, I. 32, 47, 51, 104-5, 143.
T. B., II. 210.
III. 126.
W. R., of Ala., I. 444-5, 484.
II. 363
nominated for Vice-President, 365.
C, ofN.
;
Knapp, Chauncey L., of Vt., I. 291.
II. 306-45.
Knapp, Isa.ic, I. 184.
Knights of tbe Golden Circle. See Seciet Orders.
Ku-Klux Klan, HI. 631-46;
description and proof, 632 - 5
extra session
of Tennessee legislature, 636
coercion of voters and examples, 636-40
terrible cruelty,
Senator
640 - 1
Scott's speech, and results, 644 - 5 ;
President's proclamation, 646.
;
;
;
;
J.
M.,
III.
166-9.
II.
534-65;
Lambert, colored
soldier,
I.
19.
Lamon, W. H., III. 205-65.
Lane, H. S., IL 413, 511, 692.
374-5.
III.
Lane, J., Gen., II. 363, 663; nominated,
688 speech of. III. 17.
Lane, James H., II. 476.
Lane Seminary, antislaveiy debate in,
:
;
;
sent by the President to Congress,
message severely condemned,
544
544 - 5 constitution for arguments,
548 singular speech of Hammond of
South Carolina, 548 - 50
replies,
;
;
;
;
550-6
English bill, 558; Montgomeryamendment, 557 anti-Democrats,
562 - 4 constitution rejected by the
of N. H., L 51.
Latimer, Geo., a fugitive, seized in P>oston 2>roceedings in his case, I. 477 J.,
;
80.
S., III.
306-7.
Laurens, Colonel, of S. C, sought to fill
raiiks with emancipated .slaves, I. 20.
Laurens, Henry, of S. C, one of comn)ission to Pans, I. 113.
Law, George, II. 513.
Law, J., Southern views. III. 342.
Lawler, Joab, of Ala., I. 346.
Lawles.s, Judge, I. 376.
Lawrence, Abbott, of Mass., I. 638-46.
II.
;
Ledyard, Colonel, killed, and his death
avenged by Lambert, I. 19.
Lee, Benjamin Watkins, of Va., I. 318.
Lee, Henrv, of Va., I. 73.
Lee, R. E.", Col., II. 595.
Legare, Hugh S., of S. C, I. 451, 592.
Legislation, Northein, demanded, I. 339
-43; oppressive, 1 1. 636-7; Northern,
639 - 41 concerning schools in Massachusetts, 640
attempted, III. 731.
;
;
641-2.
case, II.
Letcher, Gov., of Va., II. 654. III. 139.
Lewis, Dixon H., of Ala., I. 342-6.
Lewis, S., II. 155.
Lewis, slave of Antonio Pacheco, guide
to Major Dale in Florida, I. 516-43.
Liberia.
See Hayti and Liberia.
Liberty League, II. 110 Auburn, convention of, 112 ; and nomination by,
113.
Liberty Party, its formation and candi;
549-55; National conven552 acts against Texas annexation, 605
non;inates Hale and
King, II. 110 convention of, 144
merged in Free Soil jiarty, 157.
tion
I.
of,
;
;
;
;
Lincoln, Abraham, speechof, II. 203-4;
Springfield speech, 570 ; its great
great debate with
thought, 571
Douglas, 566-77; devotion to prinDouglas's estimate of,
ci])le,
576
;
;
577
of,
;
movements
for,
and nomination
for,
695;
692-3; enthusiasm
elected by Southern strategy, III. 1
leaves
inauguration of, 173 - 83
Springfield, 174; journey and speeches,
;
;
175-8
137.
Lawrence, Amos A., II. 465.
Lawrence, J., of N. Y., I. 65.
Lawrence, Jlyron, II. 249-53.
Lawrence, town of, II. 466 threatened,
466 assaulted and burned, 499.
Lav, B., I. 9.
Leake, S. F., II. 644.
Leavitt, Rev. Joshua, I. 231 - 2, 234 ;
;
;
dates,
264.
Latham, M.
537-41;
convention,
constitution, 441
unfair submission
to the people, 541
rejected, 542
;
Labor mnst he controlled. III. 740.
Lamar, L. Q. C, II. 646-82. III. 148.
I.
II.
Lecompte's charge, II. 497.
Lecompton, constitution and struggle,
Lemnion
Langdon,
545.
479,
147.
people, 565.
Knox, General, I. 126.
Knox, Justice, II. 449.
Kunkel,
420-8, 458-66,
60,
in Philadeli)hia,
;
ful views,
177-8
;
176
;
176
;
hope-
his account to Lossing,
plot for as.sassination,
177-8;
on President Buchanan, 178
inaugural, 180-2 Southern denuncicall for troo])s, 213
ations, 183
calls
;
;
;
messages, 221-4, 247-8; acts of,
Democratic
bill approving, 228 - 9
oiiposition, 229; perplexity of, 2S8;
�759
INDEX.
regrets failure Missouri bill, 316
slave-trade, 352-3; letter to Mr.
Hodges, 386 {see Proelamatiou of
9
;
;
Emaucipation) Republican censui'es,
reconstruction policy, 516-28
426
deputes Mr.
(see
Reconstruction)
Greeley, 556 (see Negotiation); "To
whom it may concern," 556 inflexiconversion to emancipation,
ble, 557
567 urges Xlllth Amendment, 569
message hopeful and linn, 560 - 70
second inauguration, 574-8; great,
675 - 6 profound impression of inau;
;
;
;
;
;
;
I.
167
Mr. Garrison's tribute, 167
;
- 8 his paper, first public
and formation of societies, 169
;
lecture,
;
appeal
removes paper
to Washington, 174 starts "National
Inquirer," 174 his death, 174 charto Mr. Garrison, 172
;
;
;
;
acter
and
174-5.
Mass., I. 330-2.
services,
Lunt, George, of
II.
137.
Lyon, N., Capt.,
III. 199.
;
;
579-90
gural, 577-8; assassination,
;
assault, 579-80 (sec AV. H. Seward);
wide-extended grief and alarm, 581 -
3
rewards, 583
;
;
trial
and punish-
McAllister,
McBride,
A., III. 449.
J. R., III. 446.
McClellan, candidate, III. 559.
McClellan "Minute Men." See Secret
Orders.
McClelland, Robert, II. 20-9.
of conspirators, 584 ; funeral
cortege, 585-6 univei'sal sorrow and
foreign press, 536 - 8 ; estimate, 589
McClernand, John A.,
mvstery,
McDougall,
ment
;
;
590
;
minority candidate,
728.
McCrummell,
;
;
;
Linder, W. F., of 111., I. 379.
Linn, Lewis F., of Mo., I. 340.
Livermore, Arthur, of N. H., I. 76, 137.
Liverraore, Isaac, of Mass., I. 497.
Livingston, E., of La., I. 529.
Livingston, E., of N. Y., I. 82.
Lock wood, L. C, Rev., III. 457.
Loomis, D., able speech of, III. 344.
Loring, C. G., II. 334.
Lorius, Ellis Grav, of Mass., I. 285, 331,
357-71, 414,^569-71, 644 (^tc Anthony Burns) removal of, II. 444.
;
Loring, Mrs. Ellis Gray, of Boston,
I,
561.
Loring, George B., II. 685.
Lossing, B. G., account of Lincoln's
journey. III. 177-8.
purLouisiana, acquisition of, I. 135
chase, how divided, 136 imprisons free
boundaries decolored seamen, 577
secesfined, 588 ; action of. III. 9
sion, the work of leaders, 116, 156- 7,
529 - 30 (see Reconstruction ) ; admitted, 629.
Lovejov, Rev. Elijah P., I. 362, 374,
;
;
;
;
377-8, 381-2.
Lovejoy, J, C, II. 147.
Lovfjov, 0., II. 510 eloquent speech
;
554, 672. III. 34-5, 236, 283-9.
Lowell, J. R., II. 80.
of,
Lowndes, William, I. 157.
Lowrie, Walter, of Pa., I. 106-41.
Lucas, of Mass., I. 330-1.
Lumpkin, W., of Ga., I. 392 - 7.
Luudy, Beuj., origin and early
labors.
III.
J.,
of Philadelphia,
J. A.,
I.
III. 239, 307,
251.
439-
617-91.
95,
Lincoln and Douglas's debate, II. 566
- 7 the contestants, 568 - 9 plan,
569 prominence it gave Lincoln, 577.
Lincoln, William, of Mass., I. 489.
II. 17, 88.
29, 225.
McDowell,
J.,
of Va., great speech of,
speeches of, II.
205-6; eloquent
194-7 289-90.
I.
McDuffie,' Governor, of S. C, I. 324,
610.
McKay, J. L, of N. C, I. 352. II. 15.
McKim, J. M., I. 250.
McKrum, John, of III, I. 380. II. 51,
598.
McLane, L., of Del., L 140-5, 157.
McLane, R., II. 224.
McLean, Justice, I. 476 opinion of, II.
529.
;
McKibben,
McKinuey,
McKuight,
J.
C,
II.
564-5.
S., Rev., II.
667.
R., III. 351.
Nathaniel, of N.
Macon,
C,
McPherson, E., III. 35.
McRae, J. J., II. 654.
I.
81, 116.
Madison, declaration of slavery by, I. 41
plan of slave representation, 43 on
taxation of slaves imported, 59.
Magoffin, B., reply and proclamation of,
;
196-7.
III.
Magrath, A. G., resigns. III. 4.
Mails violated, II. 670 -1.
Maine, bill for admission of, I. 47.
Mallory, of Vt., I. 157.
Mallory, R., III. 399, 400-50.
Mallorv, S. R., III. 121-53, 294, 341.
Mangum, Willie P., of N. C, I. 340.
II.
298.
Mann,
Mann,
Mann,
Mann,
I.
3.
Abijah, of N. Y., I. 348.
A. D., III. 126.
Dr. Daniel, of Mass., I. 493.
Horace, remarks on slave-traffic,
II. 90
speech of, 201-3, 226
- 7, 335 Manning, J.
;
46.
L., III. 116.
�760
INDEX.
W.
Marcv, Gov.
N. Y.,
L., of
326.
I.
II. 383.
Marcy, of Mass., I. 491.
Harsh, T. J., agent in Kansas,
II. 539.
;
;
Southern
sion movements in, 185
traitors
hopes, 186
Unionists, 191
;
;
;
;
fight for the
Union, 195
;
rejects XlVth Amendment, 732.
Ma.son, John M., II. 44-5, 235, 35792, 489, 580-95, 602 resolution and
report {sec Harper's Ferry), 622 - 27 ;
;
speech
of,
26
III.
;
letters of,
141-2.
Mason, John Y., of Va., I. 309.
Mason, Jonathan, of Mass., I. 76.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
639; action
247-58;
II.
of,
legislative resolutions, 247
-9
;
Fan-
euil Hall meeting, 256.
Massacre, Boston, I. 18.
Matthew, Father, II. 217.
^Matthews, General, I. 128.
May, Rev. S. J., I. 241-50, 260-91,
330-1,
334,
357-8,
577, 639.
II.
154.
May, Samuel, II. 440-2.
Mavnard, Horace, speech
352.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Massachusetts, measures in 1771 for abolition of slave-trade, I. 4 ; enacted
"Body of Liberties," 5 affixed death
penalty to man-stealing, 6 ; adopted
declaration in Bill
constitution, 20
of Rights, 20
bill to extirpate slaver}', 20 ; letter to Continental Congi'ess urging freedom, 21 ; clause in
Bill of Rights, and Supreme Court
became a free State,
decision on, 21
22 ; Abolitionists before her legislaresolutions of legislature
ture, 331
on slavery in the District of Columbia,
370 ; Representatives' hall granted to
Massachusetts Antislavery Society,
proposes amendment to Consti371
tution, basing representation on free
persons, 482
action of, concerning
intermairiage, caste, etc., 488-92;
act of legislature concerning colored
seamen in Southern ports, 578 declaration concerning the treatment of
Mr. Hoar by South Carolina, 585
position among the States, 621 ; State
convention of, on Texas question, 623
public meetings against Texas annexation,
of Vt., II. 394.
Meade, Richard K., of Va., II. 214.
Meeting, and address of Southern members of Congress, II. 197 - 8
in Faneuil Hall condemns Mr. Webster, 256
- 7 {sec Fugitive Slave Act) ; Burns,
436 - 8 on Sumner outrage, 493.
Memminger, C. G., " Declaration " of,
III. 111-7
Confederate Secretary of
Treasuiy, 121
letter of, 138.
Memorial of Abolition societies, I. 67 ;
of legislature of Delaware, 70 ; of convention of Quakers at Yearly Meeting,
and of the ProvidenceSocietyfor abolition of slave-trade, 80
of Quakers in
behalf of slaves made fi'ee and enslaved again, 80 from North Carolina
and South Carolina, setting forth dangers of immigi ation of blacks from San
Domingo, 85 of Friends to Congress
for supjiression of domestic slave-trade,
103 to restrain increase of slavery in
new States, drawn up by Daniel Web;
Marshall, H., II. 564.
Marshall, of Va., 1. 201.
Marshall, Thomas F.. of Ky., I. 425-8.
Martin, E. S., II. 672.
Martin, Luther, of Maryland, I. 43.
Martineau, Harriet, 1. 285.
Maryland prohibits slavery, I. 33 importance of her loyalty, III. 172
slaveholding .sympathies, 184 seces-
cowed, 195
Meacham, James,
ster, 150.
Menzies, J. W., III. 283, 345.
Mercer, Charles F., of Va., I. 105-6,
211.
Meredith, W. M., II. 209, 449.
Meriwether, Mr., of Ga., I. 431.
Merriam, F. J., 11. 594.
Merrill, A. B., I. 477.
Merrill, L., Maj., testimony
III.
of.
See Ku-Klux.
639.
Methodist
Church South, proslavery,
See Churches.
Mexico, her President abolishes slavery,
179, 667.
II.
I.
589.
Michigan applies for enabling act, I. 343.
Mid, slave child, brought to Massachusetts, and freed by Supreme Court, I.
370.
Middleton, H., of
Miles,
W.
S.
C,
1.
102-5.
P., 111. 118.
Military organizations, Southern,
III.
137.
Miller, Colonel, of Vt., 1. 292.
Miller, J. W., of N. J., I. 616.
Mills, John, II. 157.
III. 33.
Millson, J. S., II. 644.
Miner, C, of Pa., I. 303, 531.
Miner, Myrtilla {see Schools), bill
of, 112-3, 148; admitted, 629-30.
Mississippi River blockaded, 111. 112.
Missouri, petition of, and debate on
bill proliibiting
slavery in, 1. 136
l)ill
slavery in, lost in Senate, 139
in House to exclude slavery from,
;
of.
III.
38,
for
school, ill. 266-7.
Mission of Jaques and Gilmore, 111. 557.
Missionary Associations, III. 710-1.
Mississippi, action of, III. 8 ; secession
;
�761
INDEX.
House bill taken up in
Senate and prohibition clause stricken
out, 147 ; compromise bill debated
and passed both houses, 148
constitution of, modified by joint committee, adopted by both houses, and
debate of two years closed, 153 - 60
comments on the great controversy,
161 divided, III. 197-8 Unionists,
198-9; governor favors secession,
199 State saved, 199 bill for emancipation and debate, 310-6; importance, 313
bill fails, 316
ratifies
passed, 147
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
XlVth Amendment,
732.
Missouri Compromise, II. 379 abrogaDixon's amendtion of, 378 - 405
ment, abrogating, 381
appeal of
" Independent
Democrats,"
384
Douglas's amendment and speech,
385 (see Fen ton) debate, 385 - 400
clerical protests,
393 ; bill passes
Senate, 404
speeches
House, 400
Smith,
of Seward, Sumner, 388 - 9
Benton, 397 - 8 ; effect upon the
North, 406 - 7.
Missourians, invade Kansas, II. 467-9
murders by, 471 - 2, 474.
Mistakes, III. 614.
Mitchell, 0. M., III. 215.
Mob, attacks house of Lewis Tappan, I.
267 destroys Mr. Birney's press in
outrages of, in New
Cincinnati, 278
assaults Rev. 0. Scott
York, 279
breaks
and Rev. G. Storrs, 280
up meeting of ladies in Boston, 284
drags Mr. Garrison through the streets
brutal violence in
of Boston, 284
outrages of, at MontpeUtica, 289
meetings of H. B. Stanton
lier, 291
burning of Pennbroken up, 293
sylvania Hall, 297 ; robs post-office
hangs Mcintosh,
at Charleston, 322
a mulatto, and enters and' destroys
office of Lovejoy, in St. Louis, 376
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Montgomery,
Moore, Governor, III. 117.
Moore, of Va., I. 195.
Moore, S. E., II. 648.
Moral courage demanded, II. 97.
Morehead, J. T., of N. C, IL 12.
Morgan, E. D., II. 538.
Morgan, Margarette, of Md., an escaping slave, I. 471.
Morpeth, Lord, attends antislavery fair
in Boston,
562.
I.
N. H., I. 104.
Morrill, L. M., speeches of. III. 93, 268,
tribute
to Christianity,
307 13, 333 ;
Morrill, D. L., of
509-10, 688-9.
Morris, D., III. 399, 441-2, 447.
Morris, Gouverneur, I. 47 - 8.
Morris, I. N., II. 564, 698 ; resolution
of.
III. 29.
Morris, Thomas, of Ohio, I. 294, 314
-20, 343, 392-7, 420-76, 553.
II. 166.
Morse, Freeman, II. 3.
Morse, S. F. B., III. 68.
Morsell, Judge, District of Columbia,
charge of, 1. 101, 302.
Morton, Edwin, II. 590, 605.
Morton, Marcus, II. 342.
_
;
;
;
;
IH.
"W., of Pa., II. 557.
96.
Morton, 0. P.,
III.
186-7,
175,
230,
675.
Moseley, of Mass., I. 331-7.
Mott, James, II. 51.
Mott, Mrs. L., I. 255, 562.
II. 51.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
thrice seizes
and destroys his press
at
his murder,
destruction of property
376-7;
Alton,
381 riot and
assails negroes
in Cincinnati, 556
and burns buildings in Philadelphia,
557 breaks- up antislavery meetings
Illinois,
;
;
;
in
New
Bedford and Nantucket, 558
;
assails S. S. Foster in Portland, 558.
Mob, Washington,
subdue Hayof United
Statesto cease trading with Hayti, 114.
tiens,
;
;
the Missouri restriction, 149.
Montana, bill for, 111. 430.
Montgomery, Confederacy organized
failure of,
114
I.
to
demands
;
Nashville convention, II. 286-8.
See
Slave-Trade.
Nation, humiliating attitude of, II. 377;
plighted faith of, broken, 404.
"National Era," II. 368, 411.
Navy, difficult task, III. 251 - 2 ; slaves,
252.
Nebraska House
ate
bill,
381
380 SenDixon's amendment,
Fenton's
bill, lost, II.
;
and Douglas's
report, 381
;
;
statement, 382 - 4.
Negotiations, III. 555-7; Niagara
Richmond, 556 571- 2.
7
tering
free,
new
;
;
cerning them, 363
driven by mob
violence from Cincinnati, 365
seek
refuge in Canada, 365
ejected from
cars, 493
stolen from Florida, and
;
;
at,
and
Hampton Roads,
;
laws to prevent their enState of Missouri, I. 153 ;
presumed to be slaves in the District
of Columbia, 301
testimony of, not
allowed, 301
in Ohio, and laws con-
Negroes,
II. 93.
Monroe, President, announces policy of
United States, I. 115
signs bill,
forever prohibiting slavery north of
36°
30', 149
opposes
the parallel of
III. 118.
Napoleon,
;
;
�INDEX.
'G2
515 forbidden to enter South
Carolina, 576
seized from vessels in
Southeiui ports and imprisoned, 576 England protests against their im8
sold,
;
;
;
prisonment, 577; contlict concerning,
576 - 86 inequality. III. 121; justice for, 496; "Everlasting," 501;
outrages on, 501 imj^ortant factor, 502
- 3 duty to, 523 suffrage opposed,
613 ; Republican opposition, 652
suffrage with its risks early thought
of, 662
principle of, admitted, 669 " Kondescript," 689
suffrage
75
opposed, 733.
Nelson, Dr., II. 63.
Nelson, T. A. R., II. 649.
Nelson, T. M., of Va., threatening re;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
marks
of, I.
J.
W.,
departure on the slavery issue, II.
209 measures required by, 633 - 42
advanced position demanded, 656-7.
See Republican Party.
New Hampshire, became free State in
her fight against Texas
1784, I. 22
annexation, 626 - 8.
New Haven Colony, man-stealing in
1650 a capital crime, I. 6 Antislavery
Society of, one of the oldest, 25 leader
;
;
;
;
;
of antislavery movements, 25.
Jersey, laud bounty for every slave
introduced, 1. 5
Abolition Society
and influence, 27.
New Mexico, bill for, II. 232, 280
Polk's order for surrender of, 279
revoked by Taylor, 279 Ten-Million
territorial government probill, 279
vided, 281 slave-code for, 634 New
Orleans "Picayune," 635. See Peonage.
New Oileans expels agent of Massachusetts, I. 583.
New
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
York, Abolition Society
of,
I.
26
;
act of legislature concerning fugitive
slaves, 474.
Nicaragua, Walker sails for, II. 613.
Nicholas, .J., of Va., I. 84.
"Nicholson Letter," II. 132.
Niles, John M., of Conn., I. 393.
II.
35, 46.
;
incredulity. III. 3, 43, 211
complicity, 69, 70 sacrifices for Union, 82 ;
dominating thought, 102 doubts removed, 212
conservatism, 233 - 4,
342 magnanimity, 312 treason {see
Treasonable Demonstrations) ; independence, 613-4.
Norton, D. S., III. 679.
Norvell, John, of Michigan, I. 391.
;
;
;
;
;
;
Noyes Academy,
239
I.
moved
for colored students,
opposition, and building reby force, 240.
;
III. 622.
See Secret Orders.
0. A. K.
Oath of allegiance, III. 425
new oath
425 amendments, debate
and action, 425 - 30 opposed by Bay})roposed,
;
;
;
ard, 427.
O'Conncr, Charles, opinions
M. F.,
Ogden, David
Odell,
642.
of, II.
III. 451.
B., I. 235.
Oglethorpe, James, founding colonies in
Georgia and forbidding slavery, I. 4,
14.
black laws
365
I.
Ohio,
slavery,
the barbarism of
prominent part in
of,
;
the antislavery conflict, II. 162 ; balance of power in legislature, 168 ;
contest and results, 168 -72.
See S.
P. Chase.
Olin, A. B., III. 306-27.
Oliver, M., II. 471.
Orders, secret, Holt's report. III. 551branches and wide extent, 552
5
- 3 oaths, purposes and plans, 554
-5; ofticers, and uprising, 554-5;
;
;
Democratic affiliations, 556-7.
Ordinance of 1787, I. 33 declared un;
constitutional, II. 528.
Oregon, contest concerning, 11. 32-49 ;
Hale's amendment, 33
bill for, 33
Southern sentiments, 39, 40 Claynew bill,
ton's compromise, 40 - 1
43 amendments and jwssage, 43 -9
deconstitution of, and bill for, 624
bate in House, 625-7; in Senate,
admitted, 627.
627
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
patriotic
;
" No North," Webster complains
of, II.
148, 245.
NorTi8,Mosps,ofN. IL,
Virginia,
I.
4
I.
612.
II. 391.
by colonies from
take slaves with them,
.settled
;
4; proceedings
mitted, 629.
;
Northern defection, II. 221-30; remarkable change of votes, 221 - 2
;
Nisbet, E. A., of Ga., I. 427.
Noell, J. W., bill by, III. 310
speech, 343.
North Carolina,
III.
60
;
;
III. 613,
New
New
alarmed, 60
four classes,
faithful to compact, 79, 104.
17
Noyes, W. C, III. 91.
Nye, J. W., II. 153, 306.
139.
Nemesis, III. 502.
Nesmith,
North and South, hatred between,
in,
III.
144-5;
ad-
See Ku-Klux.
Orr, J. L., 111. 110.
III. 446.
(Jrth, G. S., II. 432.
Osbom, Charles, publishes " Philanthropist," I. 168.
Osceola, Seminole chief, I. 576.
Ostend, meeting and circular.
cratic indorsement, II. 611.
Demo-
�763
INDEX.
Ostracism, religious, III. 711 - 2.
Otero, M. A., II. 634.
Otis, H. Gray, of Mass., I. 36, 142-56,
280.
Owen, R. D., II. 184. III. 650-1.
See Amendments.
Palfrey, John
94
II.
G., of Mass.,
si^ech
;
of,
I.
645.
199 - 201,
249,
336-47.
;
Brown, 605.
Park Street Church refuses burial services to Mr. Torrey, II. 79.
Parliament seeks co-operation with
United States to suppress slave-trade,
108.
Parmenter, William, of Mass.,
546.
I.
Parrot, M. J., II. 628.
Parsons, L. E., Ex-Go v., testimony of.
See Ku-Klux.
Parsons, Theophilus, of Mass., I. 490.
Patriotism, appeals to, II. 194-7, 289
- 90. See Uprising.
Patterson, J. W., III. 268-9, 447.
Patterson, William, of N. J., I. 43.
Patton, John M., of Va., I. 310-47.
Paulding's description of a slave-gang,
I.
;
;
;
;
;
;
Peonage, III. 729 - 30.
Perkins, John, III. 117.
Personal freedom and civil rights, III.
684-96.
Personal-liberty bills in Massachusetts
and Vermont, II. 57 similar legislation in New York, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, 58 ;
and Ohio, 57
unfriendly in New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York, 58, 639-70 design of, III. 79, 8U.
Petition, right of, denied in the XXIId
and XXllId Congresses, I. 307-9;
petitions presented, discussed, and re;
;
;
jected
in
the
309-20;
XXlVth,
finally vindicated, 432.
John, II. 2, 184, 357.
Phelps, Rev. Amos A., I. 236, 251-61,
388, 411-4, 415-9.
Phelps, Charles A., 1. 498.
Phelps, C. E., III. 655.
Phelps, Samuel S., II. 38, 219-72.
Philip, King, Indian chief, I. 521.
Phillips, Jonathan, of Boston, I. 384.
Phillips, S. C, of Mass., I. 495, 62343.
II. 56, 157, 250-2, 336
Free
Soil candidate for governor, 344.
Phillips, S. H., II. 342.
Phillips, Wendell, of Boston, I. 372,
Pettit,
;
385-6, 479-94, 569-74, 639-44.
99.
" Peace
;
186.
Palmer, R. M., Rev., advocates secession, III. 699, 709; mission of, to
Rebel army, 700.
Palmer, Rundell, II. 68.
Palmerston, Lord, I. 597.
Panama, Congress of, I. 115. II. 609.
Park, John C, of Mass., I. 491.
Parker, A. J., III. 64.
Parker, Isaac, of Mass., I. 82.
Parker, Josiah, of Va., I. 57, 65.
Parker, Tlieodore, II. 57, 256, 307-26,
435 - 7, 590 letter concerning John
I.
in
annulled by British crown, 4
1780 passed act of gradual abolition,
22 Abolition Society of, resuscitated,
22 oldest Abolition society in the
world, 22 petitioned legislature for
law to prevent slave-trade, 24 Abolition Society of, memorializes Conlaw against kidgre.ss in 1790, 62
napping, 471 important service, III,
at
any
-
price," III. 416, 444
5,
544.
Peace Congress, III. 83-95; call and
responses, 83 - 4
meeting and organization, and committee, 85
reports,
Southern in tone and pur86 - 7
pose, 87
design of, 92
report in
;
;
;
;
;
Senate, 95.
Pearce, James A., II. 17
speaks for
border-State Unionists, III. 239-40,
;
264-89.
"Pearl," .schooner, case
of, II.
91
;
pro-
ceedings in Congress, 93-104
resolution of Mr. Giddings, 94.
Peck, S., Rev., D.D. See Freedmen.
Pendleton, G. H., III. 244, 443-51,
;
524 - 59.
Pennington, W,, Gov., of N. J., I. 400.
elected Speaker, 653.
II. 484
Pennsylvania, act of legislature in 1712
to prevent increase of slaves, I. 3 act
;
;
II. 56, 257, 307-3,5, 435-7; at funeral of Joini Brown, 599.
See Election of 18(U.
Phillips,
William, II. 472 ; escapes,
499.
Pickens, F. W., of S. C, I. 312, 533;
proclamation of. III. Ill
cabinet of,
112.
Pierce, E. L., III. 455-6, 462-5. See
;
Freedmen.
Pierce, F., of N. H., I. 311-93,
6 ; receives nomination, II. 365
gratulatory message
625;
con-
380 action
of, concerning (Juba, 612
letter of,
III. 69
speech, 417-8.
of,
;
;
;
Pierrepont, F. H., III. 142.
Pierson, John H., 1. 54-7, 335.
Pike, F. A., III. 447.
Pillsbury, Parker, I. 566.
Pinckney, Charles, of S. C, I. 45, 51,
159.
�764
INDEX.
Pinckney, Thomas, of S. C, I. 313.
Pindall, James, of Va., I. 74, 105.
Pinkney, William, of Md., I. 143.
Plummer, William, of N. H., I. 146.
423 - 4
of,
;
;
a delu.sion, 534
Democratic admission, 534 - 5
Douglas's boast, 634
;
;
condemned, 677.
Porter, A. S., of Mich.,
442.
I,
Portuguese and Spanish, introduction
by,
slavery
of
America,
discovery of
before
2.
I.
;
234.
Prentiss, Samuel, of Yt.,
397.
Elections.
58-9.
Press, Southern, demands Northern legislation, I. 325.
Preston, William B., of Va., I. 202.
II.
29.
C,
Preston, William
444.
Prettyman,
of S.
C,
I.
393,
;
;
;
576-7.
Proviso, Wilmot, history of, II. 15-7
defended by Northern Democrats, 19,
20
defeated by Northern defection,
claimed by Mr. Webster as
24 - 5
;
;
;
his " thunder," 124.
Pryor, R. A., III. 140
207.
Pryor, R. H., II. 646.
defiant speech,
;
Pugh, G. E., II. 504
658-78. III. 25-6.
Pugh, J. L., II. 648.
Pugh, Sarah, II. 51.
Purvis, Robert,
Quakers,
resolution
of,
II. 51.
Putnam, Harvey,
II. 28.
protest against slavery,
I.
8
;
New
England, message to brethren
of Nantucket,
in Rhode Island, 9
of
petitheir declaration and appeal, 9
tion of, to 1st Congress, and debate,
61-2 petition of Mifflin, a Delaware
Quaker, denounced and returned to
;
memorial of, in behalf
petitioner, 67
of the re-enslaved, 80 ; of Virginia,
petition for removal of slavery, 192.
;
Queen Anne, her stock in Royal African Comjiany, and instructions to govorders constant supply of
I. 4
negroes for New Jersey, 5.
new.
III. 273.
Questions,
Quincy, E., of Mass., I. 371-88, 405,
ernors,
644.
Price, H., III. 445.
I.
Price, R. M., ex-Gov., favors new confederacy, III. 68.
Price, T. L., III. 345.
Prigg, Edward, case of, I. 471.
Proclamation of Emancipation, III. 380
-93 historic event, 380 ; President's
;
Fremont's action emhesitation, 381
unsettled policy,
barrassing, 381 -2
382-5 President's proclamation and
appeal, 383-4 Northern impatience,
and Chicago delegation, 385-6 President yields, and issues, 388-9; surresults, 391 - 3 ; Demo389
i:)rise,
392 ; successful,
cratic opposition,
;
;
;
;
;
;
II.
Quincy,
J. S., II. 670.
;
"proscription, lawlessness, barbarism," 666-72.
Protest, Southern, II. 277.
Providence, Divine, III. 367 recognition of, 386 - 7, 396 - 7 by Mr. Eliot,
478
Garfield, 496 ; the President,
;
;
&c
;
;
;
I.
Presbyterian Church, III. 708-10 ; testimony, 713.
Presideiitial elections, of 1848 {sec Conventions)
of 1852, III. 360-77;
Democratic triumph, 376 ; of 1856,
Press, antislaveiy, II.
pledges
;
Property in slaves, struggle on, I. 528
- 44 in man. Supreme Court decision, II. 59
language of Judge Kane,
450
asserted origin
of,
658 - 9 ;
;
Powell, L. W., motion of. III. 23
proslavery amendment, 227-64, 276,
306-11, 402-13, 485, 532-3.
Powell, of Va., I. 199.
Pratt, T. G., amendment of, to Fugitive Slave Act, II. 293.
Northern,
Prejudice, popular, II. 58
III. 233 - 4 ; President in advance of,
508-22.
incomplete, 434 - 5
;
Poinsett, J. R., of S. C, I. 106, 542.
Political action, debate and division on,
I. 407-10; early Abolitionistspledged
to it, 545 ; party demanded, 546.
Polk, James K., of Tenn., I. 351, 400
nominated for President, 604. II. 7.
Sec New Mexico.
Polk, Trusten, II. 580.
Pomeroy, S. C, II. 465. III. 396, 407.
Popular Sovereignty, doctrine of, defended, II. 390, 403; discarded, 515
;
;
736.
J.,
336, 438, 624.
speech
of,
on the slave-trade,
92.
Randolph, John, of Va., I. 33, 86, 97,
118-46, 302, 529.
Randolph, Thomas J., of Va., denounces
domestic slave-trade,
I.
100
his plan
;
for extinction of slavery in Virginia,
194
;
takes strong antislavery ground
in Virginia legislature, 196.
Rankin, John,
I.
Kantonl, Robert,
II.
166-78.
Jr.,
of Mass.,
I.
338.
334-64.
Rathbun, George, of N. Y.,
Raymond. H.
J., III.
I.
612.
550.
Rayner, Kenneth, of N.
C,
I.
425 -
6,
�765
INDEX.
proposes and defends Union
456, 619
degree, 421 - 2, 429
condemns repeal of Missouri Compromise, 429.
Reaction.
See Southern.
Read, George, of Del., I. 69.
;
;
Reagan,
J.
H., Confederate Postmaster-
General, III. 121.
Realf, Kichard, II. 589.
"Rebel War Clerk's Diary," III. 573.
See Election of 1864.
Reconstruction,
424
III.
steps.
first
;
time a factor, 504 Lincoln's policy,
516 - 28 grave difficulties and differences, 517-8; early motions, 518;
message and proclamation, 519 - 20
"conflicting views," 520
committee,
report and debate, 520 - 5
Democratic opposition, 524
bill passed,
and President withholds his signature,
524 - 5
proclamation, 525
severe
paper of Wade and Davis, 525 - 7
President's honest purpose, 527 - 8
two thoughts, 529 Banks's proclamation, 529 - 30
resolutions for Arkansas and Louisiana, 531
bill for admission of Louisiana, 531 -2 Republican ojjposition, 532
arraignment
of the President, 532 - 5
defended,
535 in the House, 536 - 42 failure,
congressional, 603 - 30
542
difficulties very gi'eat,
604
ex-Rebel
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
hostilityand the President's defection,
general uncertainty, 609
605 - 7
"Lincoln-Johnson" policy, 611; in
the House, 613; Stevens's bill passed,
veto, description and passage,
617
618 new bills, 619 {see Chase) grave
questions, 620
danger, 621
new
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
bills, 623
jn-emature, 625.
Redjiath, James, II. 604.
Reeder, A. H., Gov., II. 467
delegate
memorial, 470 - 6
to Congress, 469
escapes, 493.
Reid, Kobert R., of Ga., I. 145.
Remond, Charles L., of Mass., I. 493 -4,
569.
Rencher, Abraham, of N. C, I. 352.
Representation, plan of, discussed in
Congress, I. 42 proposition of Franklin, 42
of slaves, 43.
Repulilic of United States, how com;
;
;
;
;
;
menced, L 18.
Republican party, fonnation of, II. 406 18 preliminary movements, 406 - 8
in New Hampshire, 408
in Wisconsin, 409 - 10 in Maine, 411
in Vermont, 411 - 2 in Michigan, 412 in
Ohio and Indiana, 413 in New York,
413 in Massachusetts, 414-5 meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin, 409
in
District of Columbia, 410 ; State or;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
ganization in Michigan, 412
name
Dr. Bailey's agency, 411
of, 410
meetings in Massachusetts, 414-7;
defeat in New
in Pennsylvania, 415
York, 418 defeat of, a severe blow
victory of
to friends of freedom, 522
1860 great, but incomplete, 704 poldefined.
57-9;
not
aggresIII.
icy
sive, favors conciliation, 57 - 8
inconsistency, 98
aid for, 621
sacrifices for principle, 680
candidates
of, 735 ; "new departure," 739.
Resolutions, Georgia, laid by governor
before Massachusetts legislature, II.
115 action thereon, 115-8 of Brigham, Campbell, and Tilden, in Whig
convention, 135 ; Vermont, 218 MisFoote's, 231
Mason's for
souri, 219
Fugitive Slave Act, 231 Clay's eight,
234 for and against Wilmot Proviso,
Wilson's, 247 ; Foote's, 353 ;
237
Sumner's for repeal of Fugitive Slave
Whig, of '52, 368 - 9 ;
Act, 353
"Helper," 644; seven, of Jefferson
Davis, 660.
Revolution, French, consequences of, to
II.
blacks of San Domingo, I. 113.
87 message, proceedings in Congress,
and popular demonstration concernresolutions and antiing, 87-91
remarks of
slavery amendments, 88
Hilliard, McClernand, Haskell, Hale,
and Foote, 88 - 90.
Rhett, R. B., of S. C, I. 352, 612. III.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
110, 566.
Island,
Rhode
act for suppression of
involuntary servitude in 1652, I. 6 ;
passed law in 1774 against importation of negroes into the State, 12 ;
Abolition Society of, formed, 26.
Rice, H. H., III. 363.
Rice, J. H., III. 345.
Rich, C, of Vt., I. 7.5.
Richardson, of Mass., I. 486.
Richardson, W. A., reports Nebraska
394.
III. 304; insinuation,
312, 405.
"Richmond Inquirer," its portrayal of
the perils of slavery, I. 206.
bill, II.
of,
Ripon, Wisconsin, meeting for Republican party, II. 409.
Ritner, Governor, of Pa., L 325-7.
C,
W. C,
Ritter, B.
III. 496.
Rives,
of Va.,
I.
193.
III. 92.
Roane, of Va., I. 201.
Roberts, Jonathan, of Pa., I. 103-41.
Robertson, George, of Ky., I. 139.
Robinson, Dr. C, II. 465
dected
governor, 11. 476, 536
imprisoned,
;
;
498.
Robinson, John P., of Mass.,
I.
492.
�7G6
INDEX.
Kobinson, ^y. S., II. 306-43.
Eochester, of N. Y. Secretary to
Panama
,
Congress, 1. 115.
Eockwt'll, Julius, of Mass., I. 647.
Rodney, Cresar, of Del., I. 33.
Rogers, A. J., III. 450, 604.
Rollins, E. H., III. 282, 451.
Roman, A. B., III. 126, 200.
Scott, General, superseded, I. 517
prises Lincoln of plot, III. 177.
Scott, John, of Mo., I. 138.
R.
Scott,
circular
G.,
Demo-
to
of,
ap-
;
and responses,
cratic candidates,
II.
363.
Scott, Rev. Orange, I. 280, 357, 415.
Scott, T., of Pa., I. 64.
Sea Islands.
Sec Freedmen.
Seamen, free colored, their seizure and
imprisonment in Southern ports, I.
Root, Joseph M., II. 28, 99, 213-25.
Root, Rev. Mr., of N. H., I. 358, 418.
Ross, John, Cherokee, I. 521 - 4.
Ross, Rev. F. A., III. 704.
576-80.
Rost, R. A., III. 126.
Ruffin, Edmund, fired first shot, III. 3,
140, 208.
Ruggles, Benjamin, of Ohio, plea of, for
prohibition of slavery in Jlissouri, I.
142.
Ruggles, David, of Mass., colored, excluded from cars, I. 492.
Rush, Dr. Benjamin, his "Address"
author of address of
in 1773, I. 12
Convention of Abolition Societies to
citizens of United States in 1794, 80
instructed to make slave-trade piracy,
108.
Russell, C. T., II. 257.
Russell, Emily, II. 92.
Russell, George R., II. 436,
Russell, T., II. 596.
Rutherford, R., of Ya., I. 72.
Rutledge, John, of S. C, I. 46-9, 72, 81.
;
;
Secession, foreshadowed, II. 6
threat-
;
ened and rebuked, 44-7, 191-206,
221-30, 313-9; menaces of, in
Congress and at the South, 286-8
(sec Nashville Convention)
tactics of,
III. 1
defined and defended, 49 - 62
opposed, 52 - 4 encouraged, 63
arguments for, 121
inconsistency of,
Southern
146 the only remedj^ 99
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
distrust
99-101;
of,
ordinance
of,
109-10; long premeditated, 111;
hailed,
111-2; majority against,
127; how brought about, 128-32;
long preparation for, 132 from Congress, 147
foregone conclusion, 20711
suicidal, 727 - 8.
Seddon, J. A., III. 87-8 traits of, 89.
Sedgwick, C. B., II. 155, 306.
Sedgwick, Theodore, Jr., I. 458.
;
;
;
;
Seminoles, treaty with, at Camp Mouldriven from homes and
trie, I. 133
property, 133 .slaves and free negroes
among them seized by Georgia planters,
;
Sac'KETT,
W.
a., II. 226.
Saltonstall, Leverett, of Mass.
Sanborn, Frank B.,
II.
;
I.
,
590, 604
;
486.
rescue
Sanders, G. N., III. 555.
Sanifonl, Ralyih, his " Mystery of Iniquity," I. 9.
San Jacinto, battle of, I. 590.
Santa Anna, President Mexican Republic, taken prisoner, I. 590.
Saulsburv, W., III. 19, 224-76, 292-3,
300-6",
515-6.
Sentiments of the
605.
of,
335-61
;
sneers, 375,
425-39;
617-
strange vaunt, 493, 508-9, 513,
fathers,
departure
from, II. 660.
See Church.
Sergeant, John, of Pa., urges prohibition of slavery in Missouri, I. 144
speech of, agaiiist constitution of
Missouri with slavery clau.se, 156.
Sevier, Ambrose H., 11. 22.
Sewall, Justice Samuel, I. 7.
Sewall, Samuel E., I. 223, 335, 477,
;
577.
Savage, J. H., on Brooks, II. 490.
Sawyer, F. A., III. 674.
Sawver, W., II. 29.
III. 654.
Schenck, Robert C, II. 17.
Schools iuDisti-ict of nliunliia, 11. 57886 Bi-own's bill ami Wilson's amendment for, 579 Soutlicrn utterances,
580-2; Y'ilson's response, 582 Myrher efforts, 583 tilla MiniT and
5;. colored, in Massachusetts, 640;
Sec Freedinen,
languish, III. 740.
Schouler, W., 11. 2.-,2-7.
Schurz, Carl, II. 6P3.
Scofield, G. W., III. 446, 523.
(
;
;
;
II.
330-4,
604.
W.
H., of N. Y., I. 408
his
decision concerning ingitive slaves,
475, 545 enters United States Senate,
164; speech at Cleveland, 165-6;
speech for California, 261-3, 297-9
on Kansas, 388, 402-13, 459-62,
magnanimous
483, 503 - 4, 562, 628
course of, 701-3; important speech
of, 11 1. 55 - 9, 156 - 78, 202 - 3, 302
assaulted, 580 - 1 ; XIYth
88, 559
Amendment, 559 - 60.
Seymour, H., condemns coercion. III.
65; speech of, 418-9; Democratic
Seward,
91.
;
;
;
;
;
candidate, 735.
Shadrach, case
of,
II.
329-33
;
Presi-
�INDEX.
dent's proclamation,
330 ;
330 - 3.
Shannon, T. B., III. 443.
Shannon, W., Gov., II. 471.
Shaw, Chief Justice, I. 371.
Con-
in
615-69.
Sherman, J., II. 471, 644-5. III.
227-30, 313-62, 398, 405, 618.
Sherman, Roger, of Conn., I. 48, 57, 69.
Shei-man, T. W., Gen., III. 382.
Shipley, Thomas, II. 51.
Simmons, J. F., speech of, III. 76.
Simms, T. M., case of, II. 333-6;
meetings and legislative action, 335
-6.
Sinnickson, Thomas, of N. J., I. 65.
Sitgreaves, Samuel, of Pa., I. 83.
Slack, C. W., II. 640.
Slave Power, origin of, I. 2
rapid
growth and increasing influence of, 30
- 8 signal victory of, 53-6 humiliating attitude of nation by, 112-22
its means of control, 152
demands
JS'orthern legislation, 339 - 43
subserviency of Mr. Van Buren's administration to,
defeats slavery
590
prohibition, II. 30
never fair and
honorable, 31
Taylor's nomination,
triumph of, 138 described, 188-9
how maintained, 200 - 5 signal triumphs of, 284, 376 - 7 ; complete
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
of, 623
epoch, 673 - 88
Comte de Paris's views. III. 130
wanton display, 347 - 8 impatience
;
;
;
;
725 - 6 history, object of, 726
impregnable position, 728.
Slave representation, debate on, I, 43
plantation whip employed, 44
proposition of Randolph to count slaves
;
;
;
;
as three fifths, 45
of the States on,
;
45
vote
iulluence and
carried,
45
;
;
results, 45.
Slavery,
what
20
;
;
drawn by Jefferson, 32
excluded from territory northwest of
Ohio, 33
power to prohibit it in Territories conceded by statesmen of South
as well as North, 38
concessions to,
in fundamental law, gave new life to
sj'stem, 55
memorials against, presented to first Congress, 60
its early
extinction expected, 86
mischievous
influences of, 112 ; prohibition of, in
Missouri and Arkansas debated, 137;
;
;
;
;
;
41
bill for restriction of slavery in
Missouri, supported by Iklorrill of N.
H., Mellen of Mass., and Burrill of
R. I., and opposed by "Walker of Ga.,
Macon of N. C., and Pinekney of Md.,
142 bill for prohibition of, defeated,
143 excluded from territory north of
36° 30', 148 ; power of Congress to
jirohibit it in new States affirmed by
many legislatures, 151 extended debate on, in Virginia legislature, 192207 power of Congress to abolish it
in the District admitted by Calhoun,
made a national interest, II. 1 ;
391
pestiferous, 106
essentially false, 31
-7 aggressions, 115-6 demoralizing, 179
debates in the XXXth Congress,
able defences of freedom, by
Palfrey, JIann, and James Wilson,
199 - 207
caustic speech of Lincoln,
203 new departure, 209
Southern
determination, 210; defended, 2234
domination of ti.'stimony concerning, 456
defences of, 548, 550 - 3 ;
condemned, 553 - 5 the overshadowing issue, 578
in Kansas, 635
national, 665 Wolence its element, 671
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
—
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
forces
against.
III.
"corner-
98;
stone," 122
abolition of, in District
of Columbia, 270 - 84
repression,
285 in Territories, 320 - 1 restricted
by fathers, 320 - 1 ordinance of '87,
321 non-extension, 321-2; sectional,
322 ; great rebel, 333 - 4
outlaw,
;
;
its source, I. 1
reduced man,
;
American, to
antagonistic
to reason and conscience, 2 its friends
dictated policy of England from 1620
planted in America
to Revolution, 3
increase at
by British avarice, 4
South before Revolution, 5 its opposers in England and America, 5
denounced by popular leaders of New
England, Middle Colonies, and Virbelieved by leaders to be
ginia, 13
inconsistent with their doctrines, 17 ;
statesmen expected it would pass
fostered by England for a
away, 17
hundred and fifty years, 17 incorporated into social life of the people, 17
it
it,
it,
ginia in deed
Sheffield, W. P., III. 327.
Shellabarger, S., thrilling speech, III.
of,
chusetts sought to extirpate
bill in legislature forbidding
21
excluded tVom territory ceded by Vir-
gress,
domination
767
1
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
excluded from Vermont, 20
;
Alassa-
;
;
;
;
;
441
;
455 - 6
ett'ects of,
;
condemned,
522 - 3 destroyed, why, 726.
Slaves, African, introduced into Europe,
I. 2
brought into the thirteen colonies under British legislation, 3 two
;
;
;
brought into Massachusetts Colony
from Africa, 6
action of General
Court thereon, 6 question of counting and taxing them, 15 number of,
in United States when independence
declared, 18
emancipated on condition of entering army, 20
introduction of, prohibited by Maryland and
;
;
;
;
;
�INDEX.
768
debate on importation
Virginia, 22
number of, at declaration of
of, 49
absconding,
demanded of
war, 48
British squadron and refused, 120
question of surrender of fugitives referred to Emperor of Russia, 121
landed in Nassau from wrecked
slavers and made free by British government, 441; of brig "Creole"
seized vessel and ran into Nassau,
443 Mr. Giddings's resolutions, 447
- 9 of the " Amistad," proceedings
surrender of,
in their case, 457 - 69
by the Seminoles, demanded, 512
question of property in, debated, 528
- 44 property in, II. 36 - 7 ; advertised by the United States government, 60; increased demand for, 615
made free, III. 232-44; policy conconcerning, demanded, 235 - 50
traband of war, 236 - 86 ; a source of
strength to the Rebels, 236 shall
conflicting
they be returned ? 286
action of Congress, and
policies, 287
290-1
military
officers
bills, 289,
returning, 287, 295-8; change of
new bill, 297 comsentiment, 295
pensation for, 328 of Rebels, emanbill, 332
dicipation of, 331 - 46
versity of views, 332 - 3 Democratic
opposition, 334-5; Republican dicommittee and reversity, 337 - 8
Eliot's bill, and debate,
port, 338
Confederpassed, 346
339 - 45
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
:
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
ate,
and
arming,
563 - 7
;
its
emancix:)ated,
significance,
should be paid
735.
Slave-trade, African, early introduced
into the colonies, 1. 2 efforts to check
it defeated by British legislation, 3
Virginia attempted to check it by tax
in 1726, 3 ; efforts of Pennsylvania to
prevent it, 3 abolition of, sought by
Massachusetts in 1771 and 1774, 4
for,
;
;
;
;
death-penalty passed on it by Massaan end
chusetts and Rhode Island, 6
to it desired at time of Declaration of
Revoluof
Independence, 16 leaders
permitted till
tion opposed it, 17
1808, 51 ; strictures on the twenty
fresh life from
years' extension of, 52
compromises of Constitution, 79
South Carolina and Georgia open to
Confresh cargoes from Africa, 79
gi'ess memorialized by Convention of
Abolition Societies in 1794 to prevent
South Carolina, in 1803, reit, 80
pealed law prohiliitiTig importation of
Mr. Jefferson's reference,
slaves, 86
in mes.sage, to time fixed for prohibition of, 89 ; referred to committee,
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
90 bill in Senate to prevent importation of, 90 extended debate on bills
relating to, 90 - 6
extent of, and
how stimulated, 97 increase of both
foreign and domestic, 98
prosecuted
with fresh vigor after peace of 1815,
;
;
;
;
;
demoralization produced by, 100
- 1 insincerity and inconsistency of
this government concerning, 109-11 ;
debate on Quintuple Treaty for suppression of, 402.
Slave-trade, domestic, seat and headquarters of, I. 98 denounced by John
98
;
;
;
Randolph, 99-101; arguments and
measures for abolition of, 102-4;
President calls attention to it, 106
termed
report on, by Randolph, 302
" brutal commerce" by Judge Morsell,
302 resolutions concerning it in the
presented to Congress
District, 303
by grand jury as "disgusting traffic,"
304 whipping of slaves in District
authorized by Congress, 304 petitions
for abolition of, in District, 307 petitions and discussions on, 307 - 20
interference with, through press and
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
speech, enrages South, 324-38 right
of petition for abolition of, denied,
353 debate on, in Congress, 390 - 4
illustrated by scene in Washington,
395 ; Congress petitioned to suppress
all agitation concerning it in the Dispetitions for its abolition,
trict, 396
coastgag law repealed, 432
397
wise slavers wrecked and slaves made
slaves of
free by British power, 439
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
" Hermosa," 442;
the
bill
for
its
abolition in District of Columbia, II.
296 defended by Hunter, 296 de;
;
amendment by Sewbate, 296 - 301
reopening of,
ard, 298 adopted, 301
demand for, 616-7; coni]>laints of
;
;
;
British interference,
of Republicans, 618 ;
of,
619; Wilson's
617-8; action
New York, mart
and speech,
bill
619 - 21 heartless utterances of Davis
and Mason, 621 failure of bill, 623
foreign, connived at, I II. 352 message
and treaty against, 352 - 3 action of
Congress, 353 - 4 domestic, Sumner's
bill, debate, and action, 354 - 6.
Slade, William, of Vt., 1. 312-50, 396-8.
;
;
;
;
;
;
Slater, Mr.s., of
New
Orleans,
I.
370.
III. 156.
John, II. 485, 612.
Smallev, Judge, III. 44-5.
Oregon bill
Snuth," Caleb B., II. 28
Slidell,
;
bv, 43, 512.
Smith, Gerrit, of N. Y., I. 289, 408,
545-573. II. 112; nominated for
President, 113; spi.'ech of, 374-97,
590.
�769
INDEX.
ofN.
Smith,
Smith,
Smith,
Smith,
Smith,
Stanton, R, H., II. 95.
Stanton, Rev, R. L., testimony
J., I. 70.
Oliver H., of la.,
T., 11. 387.
I,
442.
William, case of, II. 324.
William, of S. C, I. 64-6, 70,
142-55.
Smithers, N. B.,
Smythe, General,
Smythe, Rev. T.,
III. 448, 522.
of Va., I. 145.
III. 704.
;
delegation of, declared their State
would not come into Union if slavedemands of
trade prohibited, 50
statesmen of, as conditions of joining
Union, 53 ; repealed her law prohibiting importation of slaves, 86 ; act to
restrain emancipation, and to prevent
free persons of color from entering the
lead of. III. 2, 148
legState, 576
islature takes the initiative, 5
Concalled,
6
takes
the
lead,
vention
45
commissioners of, 45
President's reresponse of, 47
ply to, 46 - 7
invites seceding States, 111
military
preparations, 205-6; admitted, 629.
Southard, Samuel L., of N. J., I. 442.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Southern, menaces, II. 210-1, 225; divisions, 283 triumphs, 284, 362, 521
madness and presumption, 655 - 6
666 - 7
demoralization,
anarchy,
672 conduct, singularand unaccountable, 686; implacableness. III. 737;
illiteracy, 737
society unchanged,
reaction, 740.
See States.
738
Southgate, W. W., of Ky., I. 476.
Southwick, Joseph, of Boston, I. 571-2.
Spaight, Richard D., of N. C, I. 32,
Spalding, R. P., III. 615.
;
;
;
;
;
;
"Spartan Band," III. 102,
Spear, John M., of Mass., I. 492.
Spear, S. T., Rev., II. 311.
Speight, Jesse, II. 11.
Spencer, Rev. I., II. 318.
Spencer, Joshua A., of Utica, N. Y., I.
288.
Spinner, F. E., III. 150.
Sprague, Judge, of Mass., 11. 333.
Sprague, Peleg, I. 281.
Sprague, Seth, Jr., of Mass., I. 490-4.
Stanley, E., II. 136, 213.
Stanton, B., speech of. III. 104-5.
Stanton, F. P., acting governor, II. 536.
Stanton, Henry B., I. 262-4, 293, 357
- 66
speech of, 367 - 9,
brilliant
;
VOL.
III.
II. 153.
49
Quaker
Nathaniel,
;
vote, 563.
Soule, Pierre, II. 287, 687.
South Carolina, though early opposed,
soon encouraged slave-trade, I. 14 ;
373, 407-13, 420.
458.
I.
Mrs.
III.
;
Snodgrass, Doctor, II. 58.
Soldiers, proslavery action of, III. 287
- 8 colored (see Colored Soldiers)
;
Starbuck,
of,
preacher, declaration of, I. 9.
State influence, both helpful and harmful, II. 115, 125
in New Hampshire,
in Massachusetts legislature,
114
106,
;
704.
Staples, Seth P.,
115-8; Wheatland's and Wilson's
reactionary spirit, 122 ;
11
rights maintained, 367.
States, cannot be coerced, III. 13 - 5 ;
109-26
seceded,
others seceded,
127-46; what constitutes a State,
534- 5, 542 never out of the Union,
self-destroyed, 541 ; Southern
541
idea of force, 654
ex-Rebel, sad condition of, 608 ; dead, 614 must be
brought back, 652
prerogatives not
clearly defined, 688, 736.
Statesmanship of the hour, II. 366 - 7.
St. Clair, Alanson, I. 295, 415.
Stearns, George L., II. 590 ; money by,
to Brown, 592 - 3, 605.
Steele, John, of N. C, I. 68.
Steele, J, B., III. 399.
reports,
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Stephens, A. H., II. 20
singular motion of, 43 ; speeches of, 191- 3, 215,
394, 400, 617 ; important admission,
of. III. 7,
103
opposes secession,
115 Vice-President, 118 defence of
slavery and secession, 121- 6
speech
;
;
;
;
;
in Virginia, 138-63, 571.
Stetson, Rev. Caleb, of Mass., I. 640.
Stevens, Thaddeus, sarcastic speech of, II.
III. 36, 243 - 4, 282, 305 227, 645.
28, 371 -8, 433-48, 608-10, 614-56.
Stevenson, Andrew, of Va., I. 440.
Stewart, Alvan, of N. Y., I. 295, 373,
545-8, 550.
Stewart, W. M., III.
Stiles, Dr. E., I. 26.
Still,
WiUiam,
673-4.
II. 51.
Stockton, R. F., singular speech. III. 90.
Stokes, W. B., II. 649.
Stone, James W., II. 510.
Stone, J. M., II. 253, 345.
Stone-cutter, outrage upon, II. 668.
Storrs, Rev. Charles B., I. 251.
Storrs, Rev. George, mobbed, I. 280.
Storrs, Henry R., of N. Y., I. 75, 157.
Storrs, Dr. R. S. Jr. II. 310.
Story, Judge, I. 101
his decision in
;
" Amistad
" case,
465 - 71.
Strange, R., of N. C, II. 131.
Strong, Hon. Henry, of Conn., I. 243.
Strong, Stephen, II. 22.
Strother, G. F., of Va., opposes bounties
for crews capturing slave-vessels,
105.
I.
�770
INDEX.
II. 9
I. 524-41.
movements in
Mexican War)
view of his apprehended nomination
in Massachusetts, 124-5; nominated,
position on the slavery issue,
135
invitation to
and Cabinet, 208 - 9
Stuart, Alexander H,, of Va., I. 427,
537.
Stuart, C. E., II. 561-5.
III.
Stuart, Moses, Professor, II. 318.
705 -
Taylor, Z., General,
(see
6.
;
Sturgis, "William, of Boston, I. 386.
Suilrage, right of, a source of contention,
;
;
203.
III. 92.
I.
;
;
;
;
404 - 60,
478 - 95
speech
;
of,
assaulted by Brooks, 481
announced to the Senate, 483 committee of both houses, 484-6 Southvoice of
ern indorsement, 489 - 90
;
;
;
;
;
Southern
Northern reNorthern meetings,
489
press,
sponses, 490 - 3
;
493-5, 629-31.
348 - 9
;
25,
299,
slave-trade, 354 - 5
274-90;
speech
III.
of,
261-2,
300-14,
colored
411 - 25,
430-6, 441-82, 509-18, 533; opposes XVth Amendment, 676 - 7 too
civil riglits, 686 - 7,
confident, 678
;
soldiers,
death
;
;
of,
of,
men, 274.
Taylor, Miles, speech of. III. 150.
Tax, by Virginia, on slaves imported,
early repealed, I. 3
vote in Congress
not to tax slaves, 16
on imported
slaves, moved by Martin of Maryland, 48
of ten dollars, proposed
by Mr. Parker, of Virginia, in first
proposed in 1804,
Congress, 57
by Mr. Bard, of Pennsylvania, 86 ;
warm debate on Bard's bill, 85 - 8.
Ten Eyck, J. C, III. 239.
Tennessee, territory of, ceded by North
j)roceedings in. III.
Carolina, I. 34
143-4 East, loyal, 144 bill for,
;
11.56,105,118-21,147-57,
645.
250, 308 elected Senator, 349 letter
speech, 354 ;
to Mr. Wilson, 350
response of, 358 assailed, 355 - 6
479-80
217
ing,
letter
;
;
Sumner, Charles, of Massachusetts,
89,
message concern210
Southern demands, 259
to Jefterson Davis, 260
lamented by antislavery
California,
should be protected by orI. 407;
Kentucky opganic law. III. 668
poses negro, 733 ; manhood, 737. See
Negro.
Sullivan, William, of Mass., I. 322.
Summers, George W., of Western Va.,
I.
;
374 - 80
;
views
;
of,
;
;
dying injunction, 692.
692
Sumter, Fort, shall it be relieved ? III.
44 plan for, 204 Beauregard's deattack and fall, 208 - 9.
spatch, 206
Supreme Being, reverent mention. III.
440-2 the judgments of, to be feared,
;
;
;
;
;
685.
;
;
;
;
;
and action, 625 -
7.
Territonal governments,
Mexico and
bill for, of
New
California, II. 28.
abolishment of slavery in,
troublesome question,
and triumph, 321 non-extension in,
Democratic opposition,
bill for, 322
323 - 4 bill passed, 329.
Territory, measures of Congress to fix its
portions claimed by
condition, I. 31
deed of cession
several States, 31
excluding slavery presented by Jefferfreedom clause struck out,
son, 31
from,
bill to exclude slavery
32
northwest of Ohio River, 32 ordinance of July, 1787, 33 act prohibiting slavery northwest of Ohio, 33 ;
Territories,
III.
320-30
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Sutherland, Joel B., of Pa., I. 310.
Swan, Dr. C, II. 342.
Swan wick, John, of Pa., I. 71, 82.
Swift, Benjamin, of Vt.,
Swift, John L., II. 437.
Swiss address, III. 674.
Tali.madgk,
ment
of,
souri,
I.
J., Jr.,
I.
;
;
of N. Y.,
amend-
136-9.
Taney, R. B., Chief Justice, I. 472.
Dred Scott decision, 525-8.
II. 524
Tap])an, Arthur, I. 231-3, 243-4,
259, 260 - 3, 419 - 20.
Tappan, Lewis, 1. 231-3, 249-51, 260
-3, 266-7, 289, 413-4, 417-20,
;
III. 702.
of
N. Y.,
Tavlor, J., of Va., I. 69.
Taylor, Dr. N., II. 318.
failure of efforts to repeal act prohib-
great
iting slavery in northwest, 34
of Tenbenefits of the ordinance, 34
nessee, ceded by North Carolina on
condition that no regulation be made
343.
concerning slavery in Mis-
458-66, 597.
Tavlor, John W.,
-8, 139-41.
;
tending to emancipation, 34 power
of Congress to prohibit slavery in,
admitted by South as well as North,
38 of Arkansas and Michigan, apply
for enabling act, 343.
Terrorism, III. 114 - 5 Comte de Paris,
130-6; in Virginia, 141; in Ten;
;
;
nessee, 144.
of, ceded to Spain by
attempt to
United States, I. 588
independence of,
repurchase, 589
independence
recogpioclaimed, 590
nized by United States, 590 annexation of, i)roposed, 590 ; addi'css to
Texas, a portion
;
I.
106, 136
;
;
;
�771
INDEX.
the people against annexation of, 593 ;
emancipation in, sought b}' compenSouthern cry of "Texas
sation, 597
or Disunion," 599 ; treaty of annexation, 600
treaty of annexation deextended debate on anfeated, 602
convention in
nexation, 609 - 20
Massachusetts to resist it, 642 antiTexas meeting in Faneuil Hall, 645
admitted to the Union, 648 address
to the public by Anti-Texas Commitcauses of
tee of Massachusetts, 649
this victory of the Slave Power, 650
boundafor
bill
boundaries of, II. 8
bonds of, 281
ries andpajTTient, 279
corruption, 282 ; struggle in, III. 145
- 6 admitted, 630.
Thacher, Rev. Moses, I. 225.
Thatcher, George, of Mass., I. 36, 71,82.
Thaver, Eli, II. 465, 625.
Thayer, J. S., III. 65.
Thayer, Minot, of Mass., I. 489.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Thirteen, Committee of, III. 28.
Thirty-Three, Committee of. III. 28 ; report of, 103
adopted, 103.
Thomas, B. F., III. 328-42, 351.
Thomas, Francis, of Md., I. 310 ; signal
;
service. III. 435-6.
Thomas, Gen. G. H., III. 636. See
Ku-Klux.
Thomas, General, speech, on colored
soldiers, 357 - 8.
Thomas, Jesse B., of 111., I. 143.
Thomas, Seth J., of Mass., I. 491.
Tliome, James A., of Ky., I. 264.
Thompson, Edwin, II. 345.
Tiiompson, George, trial, sentence, and
heroism
of,
II.
69.
Thompson, Indian agent,
I.
515.
Tiiompson, Jacob, III. 113.
Thompson, James, of Pa., II. 295.
534.
H., proslavery uti
J.
terances. III. 704.
Thurston, Rev. David, of Me.,
I.
250,
419.
Tibbetts,
John W., II. 17.
Toombs, Robert, II. 214-85, 486;
solent speech
504, 651
in-
seditions
speech of. III. 6, 7, 75-6 desjiatch
of, 114 - 6
Secretary of State, 121.
Topeka constitution, II. 469 laid beof,
Faneuil
death, and burial, 78 - 80
Hall meeting, 80 estimate of, 77, 80.
Toucey, Isaac, bill of, II. 453.
Towns"end, D., III. 450.
Trade, slave, stimulated by annexation
New York, mart of,
of Texas, II. 50
African petitions against, 320 ;
51
;
;
;
;
Hale upon, 320-1.
Treason rampant, II. 478 constructive,
Douglas's
497 hunting for, 601 - 7
resolutions, 606 (see Disunion and Sedefined. III. 44; Democession)
forfeiture, decratic utterances, 216
;
;
;
;
;
432-3
bate on,
;
"blood
of traitors,"
549.
Treasonable demonstrations. III. 416
Pierce, Seymour, and Vallandigham,
417-9; Democratic successes, 420;
New York riots, 420 - 1 ; testimony
adof New York "Tribune," 421
Holt's reministration firm, 421 - 2
4.
port of "secret order," 501
Treasury, report of, III. 252-6.
Treaty of Peace, signed in 1782, I. 31 ;
with England, for suppression of slave;
;
trade, 109.
Quintuple, between European
powers for suppression of slave-trade,
Ashburton, its provisions conI. 401
Treaty,
;
cerning slave-trade, 401.
New
"Tribune,"
York,
II.
407.
Trimble, C. A., III. 100.
Trimble, William A., of Ohio, I. 143.
Trist, Nicholas P., negotiates a treaty,
II. 25
terms of, 25 ; extraordinary
language of, 27.
Troup, G. M., of Ga., ready to enforce
abolition of African slave-trade, I.
;
104.
Thompson, John B., II. 96.
Thompson, Dr. J. P., II. 310.
Thompson, Justice, of N. Y., I. 460-62.
Thompson, Richard W., II. 29, 193.
Thompson, Waddv, of S. C, I. 347-98,
Thorn well. Rev.
secration to antislavery labor, II. 74 6 ; arrests, trial, sentence, sickness,
;
;
;
;
Congress and adopted by the
House, 501-2, 533.
fore
Torrey, Rev. Charles T., I. 411-5;
early history, characteristics, and con-
Trumbull, Lyman, II. 542. III. 41 able
speech of, 52- 4, 230 bill for emancipation, 332-3; for Freedmen's BuCivil Rights bill, 688.
reau, 492
Tuck, Amos, of N. H., 1. 626-8. III. 93.
Tucker, Thomas T., of S. C, I. 63.
Tukey, Marshal, II. 333.
;
;
;
Turner, Asa, II. 67.
Turner, Nat, insurrection, trial, and execution of, I. 190-1,
Turpie, D., III. 312.
Tweddle Hall meeting, III. 64.
Twiggs, General, I. 523.
Tyler, John, of Va., advocates slavery
becomes Presiin Missouri, I. 145
dent, 423
ultra slaveholder, 424 ;
urges Texas annexation, 609 - 17.
II. 15 ; President of Peace Congress,
III. 85
a commissioner, 141.
Tyndale, H., II. 598.
;
;
;
�772
INDEX.
Uncertainty, III. 96 - 7.
" Uncle Tom's Cabin," II. 519.
Underground Railroad, a natural
growth of
of,
slaverj',
62
II.
;
Vermont,
out-
workings
in, 63;
61-86; prominent men
God-fearing, 65, 85
involved personal sacrifices and risks, 66 ; its de;
fence, 86.
Underwood, Joseph
430.
II. 35,
Underwood,
R., of Kv.,
I.
350,
293.
W.
H., II. 648.
Union, dissolution of, advocated, I. 568
-75; protests against the doctrine, 571
-4; menaced, II. 224; vindicated,
225-9, 269 President Taylor stands
firm for, 259 - 60, 274 (sec Disunion
J.
;
and Secession)
;
defended by Critten-
den, Saulsbury, Hale, III. 19; eloquent
defence of, 56-7, 65 disparaged, 111
preservation of, sole aim of the war,
paramount importance of,
232 - 3
246.
See Lincoln.
Union, new, proposed. III. 67-8.
Unionists, Georgia, III. 114
demands
should be conof border-State, 233
ciliated, 247 - 8
Southern position
ostracised by the "Johnof, 429, 550
son governments," 600.
;
;
;
;
;
;
Upham, W.,
III.
r., of Va., I.
Territory admitted,
Upshur, A.
Utah
Vallandigham,
225 - 79
212
;
public
592-4,
II.
C. L., II.
597.
595.
III.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Van Horn, B., III. 281.
Van Winkle, P. G., III. 399.
Van Wyck, C. H., III. 35.
Van Zandt, of Ohio, tried and punished
for assisting fugitive slaves, I. 475.
II. 59.
Varnum, Joseph B., of Mass., I. 35, 72.
Vaughan, J. C, II. 143-4, 510.
Abraham W.,
of, II. 95.
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
her demands, 84
anxiety concerning, and proceedings
in, 138-9; convention, appeal to
and response, 205 admitted, 629.
"Visitor, Saturday," II. 58.
gress,
83
III.
;
;
" A'olunteers,"
III. 136.
Volunteers, five hundred thousand, biU
for. III.
224-6.
Voorhees, D., III. 305, 450.
See Se-
cret Orders.
B. F., II. 385, 402, 458-86,
able and bold speeches
of, III. 26, 336-8, 412; arraigns the
XVth AmendPresident, 525 - 35
603-27;
503,
;
;
Venable,
;
ment, 662;
284.
convicted of treason,
417 ; commander of 0. A. K., 555.
Van Buren, John, a prominent leader,
antislavery promises, 341.
II. 141
Van Buren, M., Vice-President, gives
casting vote for Incendiary Publicahis connection with
tion bill, I. 342
the slavers "Comet" and "Encomium," and the " Amistad " case, 468
rejects Texas annexation, 590, 603
letter of, to Utica convention, II.
140 nominated, 140 letter of, 155
nominated, 156 on Cuba, 609.
Vance, Governor, of Ohio, I. 542.
Van Dorn, II. 67.
Van Dvke, Nicholas, of Del., I. 142.
28,
I.
Wade,
II. 23.
" Uprising, Great,"
meetings, 214-6.
constitution of, excluding
legislature of, adojit
20
resolutions on slavery in the District,
370.
Vessels involved in the escape of fugitives. Mobile, II. 52; Brazilian, 53;
Ottoman, 54 Niagara, 54 Pearl, 91.
Violence, an essential element of slavery, II. 671.
Virginia,
prohibits
introduction
of
slaves, I. 22
repeals statute forbidding emancipation, 22 plan of representation, 42
convention for revision of constitution, 189
insurrection in, 190 ; great debate in legislature of, 194-207 ; act touching fugitive slaves, 474
calls Peace Conslavery,
violent remarks
civil rights, 691.
Wadsworth, J. S., II. 126.
Wakefield, Horace P., of Mass., I. 252.
Walcutt, Edward, II. 125.
Walker, Amasa, II. 147, 255, 344.
Walker, Isaac P., of Wisconsin, important amendment by, II. 29, 33;
speech
of,
260.
Walker, Jonathan, of Mass., I. 640
branded hand, 82.
case of, II. 81 - 2
Walker, L. P., Confederate Secretary of
;
;
War,
III.
121-61.
Walker, of Ala., I. 106.
Walker, of N. C, I. 139.
Walker, Robert J., of Miss., I. 316,
II. 4; governor of Kansas,
608.
III. 214.
536 resigns, 543.
Walker, William, II. 613 - 4. See Cuba.
Wall, Garrett D., of N. J., U 392.
;
J. W., III. 312. See Secret Orders.
Wain, Robert, of Pa., I. 72.
Walworth, Chancellor, I. 235. III. 64.
Walsh, Michael, II. 399.
See Slave-Trade.
Wanderer, yacht.
War measures, bills for men and money,
for arming loval men in
III. 224
Wall,
;
disloyal States, 230
;
].ower, 330, 492
;
of races, 596.
a disappointment, 478
War, Mexican, natural consequence of
;
�INDEX.
annexation of Texas, II. 7 General
Taylor ordered to advance to Rio
casus belli, 10 ; special
Grande, 9
message, 10; debate, 11-2; House
Wilmot Proviso, 16 failure,
bill, 13
17 President's message sharply critThree-Million bill, 18
icised, 18
Hamlin's amendment, 22 bill passed
resolutions
without guaranties, 24
of Massachusi'tts legislature, 122 - 3
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
presents a
issue,
new
aspect of the slavery
committed the nation to
as it
slavery, 190.
111. 675.
Washburn, I., II. 396, 410.
Washburne, E. B., II. 396, 698.
447-8.
III.
Washington, George, his
La-
fayette,
I.
30
;
letter to
farewell address, III.
president of Colonization Society,
212.
Washington, Madison, a slave, seized
brig "Creole" with slaves, I. 443.
Washington, peril and protection, III.
161 - 72
location inured to slavery,
270 railroads, 507 - 10.
Webster, Daniel, of Mass., I. 342, 445invited
II. 23, 47
6, 591 - 2, 648.
to join Free-Soilers, but declines, 148
7th of March speech and effect, 242 6 defection, and reasons for, 245 - 6
;
;
;
;
;
;
Secretary of State,
sharp criticism
of,
pointment
372
of,
275
;
Giddings's
280, 313 ;
7th of
;
disap-
March
speecli. 111. 707.
Webster, E. H.,
Weed, Thurlow,
III. 372.
II. 134, 413, 694.
III.
62, 179.
Weems, John C,
of Md., I. 304.
Weiss, Rev. John, of Mass., I. 640.
Weld, Theodore D., I. 262-4, 273-5,
293, 428.
Wfller, John B., of Ohio, I. 449-76.
II. 355, 506; pronounces the laws of
Territorial legislature "infamous," 506.
Welles, G., report of Navy, III. 251.
Wesley, John, his characterization of
slavery as the " sum of all villanies,"
I.
11.
Western Reserve, II. 63.
Western States largely settled from the
South, II. 62.
Westport, Mo., II. 471.
West Virginia, proceedings in. III. 142.
Wetmore^ Rev. Mr., of Utica, N. Y., I.
288.
;
I.
622
divergence of views on slavery, 637 ;
development of proslavery sentiments
in, 646.
Whig, Richmond, III. 566.
Whigs, Southern, embarrassments
of,
II. 23
Kentucky, bid for slaveholdholding confidence, 180
Northern,
taunted, 223
meeting of Southern,
366 (see Conventions) dispirited, 375 ;
remark of Dixon, 384 Northern, assailed, and their responses, 395 - 6
Southern, caucus and protest, 400 - 2
Bell's speech, 401
meeting of, in
Vermont, 411 in New York, 413.
;
;
;
;
;
;
Whipping
Washington, Judge Bushrod, of Va.,
I,
142-3 of 1852, 366-71.
Whig party, defections from,
;
738.
first
Wheeler, J. H., II. 448.
Whig convention of 1848, II. 133-9 ;
meeting of antislavery members of,
;
"Ward, Aaron, of IST. Y., I. 448.
Ward, H., vigorous speech, III. 670-1.
"Warren, Joseph, II. 412.
Warner,
773
in
army
abolished, III. 730.
A. S., III. 309,
C. A., III. 450.
Hugh L., of Tenn., I. 316.
John, of Ky., I. 449.
Joseph, L. II. 52, 153.
White man's country. III. 335, 643 ;
White,
White,
White,
White,
White,
government, 613-4, 737.
White, William A., of Mass.,
I.
571 -2,
643-4. II. 343-5.
"White," word, motion
to strike out,
III. 430
stricken out, 730.
Whitefield, Rev. George, travelled in
Southern States, I. 11 ; his "Letter"
to them in 1739, 11.
Whitefield, J. W., II. 467.
Whitman, Ezekiel, of Mass., I. 77.
Whitmarsh, Seth, of Mass., I. 337.
Whitridge, Dr., of S. C, I. 580.
Whittier, John G., I. 7, 236-50, 260
-94, 418, 643-5.
II. 59, 250.
Whittlesey, Elisha, of Ohio, I. 529.
AVickliff^e, C, 111. 279-94, 341.
Wick, William W., singular speech of,
;
II.
96-7.
Wigfall, L. T., II. 663
18, 41 -2, 208.
Wildcat, Indian
chief,
;
speech
of. III.
L 521-6.
Wilder, C. B.
See Freedmen.
AVilkinson, M. S., III. 41, 273, 407-9.
Willey, W. T., demands colonization,
III. 234
singular argument, 409,
665 - 6 defends negro sufi'rage, 678.
Williams, G. H., 111. 674-6.
Williams, J. M. S., II. 465.
Williams, John M., of Mass., I. 623.
Williams, of N. Y., Agent of American
Antislavery Society, demanded for
trial in Alabama, 1. 326.
Williams, T., Gen., III. 287.
Williams, T. S., of Conn., I. 77.
;
;
Williamson, Passmore,
II.
448 - 51.
�INDEX.
774
remarks of, 18
II. 16
-9, 512, 690. III. 273, 334-95.
Wilson, Henry, o^' Mass., I. 485, 491or6, 622, 636 - 7, 640 - 1, 643 - 5
der, speech and report by, 11. 115-7,
135-6 address of, 144, 247-9, 254
nominated for governor, 414, 423-5,
428-58, 486,503-13, 551-3, 562
-92, 601-27, 660; speech of, III.
speech, 238-9, 261,
42, 78-9, 224
new bill,
263 - 4, 271 - 2, 274 - 5
Wilmot, David,
;
;
;
;
;
;
283-9,
291-5,
315-37;
364 -
373 -
377 - 95
7,
406 - 7, 494 608-19, 679.
plea,
I,
4,
5
;
speech,
earnest
speech, 510 ;
;
Ilev.
Hubbard,
I.
J.
;
;
;
William,
ment
pronounces
imprisonof colored seamen unconstitu-
tional,
577.
I.
Wise, Henry A., of Va.,
I. 309-12,
344-50, 395-8, 424-6, 428-82;
to Democratic governors,
520 to Mr. Wilson, 521 interconview with John Brown, 595
111. 164.
cerning slave-trade, 620.
Withdrawal of Southern members. III.
letters of,
II.
;
;
;
debate thereon, 155-6.
Governor, of Conn., on de-
147- 60
Wolcott,
Wood, B., III. 304.
Wood, Fernando, disloyal
66
III.
;
plorable eflects of slaverv extension,
I. 152.
Woman question, debate and action on
j^rotest against their public
it, I. 410
speaking, 411 ; women admitted as
delegates by American Antislavery Society, 414 ; many delegates retire and
;
proposition
524-38.
175, 373, 442,
Wood, George, II. 316.
Wood, of Va., I. 202.
Woodbury, Justice, decision
:
in
Van
Zandt case, I. 477.
Woodbridge, F. E., Ill, 447.
J., II. 490.
Woodward, G. W., III. 63.
Woodson, secretary, II. 500.
Woods, Leonard, Jr., of Mass.,
II. 322,
III. 712.
Wool,
J. E.,
Gen., III. 215, 458-60.
South in 1746
travelled
to 1767, proclaiming liberty,
Work, Alanson, II. 69.
World's Convention,
letter of,
I.
I.
9.
899,
Worth, Rev. Daniel, II. 668.
Wright, Albert J., of Mass., I. 498.
Wright,
Wright,
-12.
Wright,
Wright,
Wright,
Wright,
Elizur, II. 63.
Elizur, Jr., I. 232,
II. 63, 330.
250-9, 407
H. B., III. 225-82,
Henry C, I. 565-9.
Robert, of Md.,
I.
77.
N, Y.,
I.
342, 604-8,
Wyandotte convention and
constitution,
Silas, of
II. 8.
II,
627.
See Kansas.
Yacht,
slave. Wanderer, II. 618.
Yancey, William L., of Ala., I. 611.
131-3
616-78.
II. 123,
trade,
;
advocates the slaveIII.
114-26.
Yates, of N. Y., cast the only vote
against bill to exclude slavery from
Northwest Territorv,
I.
33.
Yates, Richard, I. 396.
"Year of Revolutions," II. 87.
Yulee, D, L,, III, 113; letter, 134.
THE END.
Cambridge
of,
address to President Lincoln,
;
Woolman, John,
887.
A., III. 116.
AVinthrop, R. C, of Mass., I. 584, 613
-38 Speaker, II. 27, 122, 230-78 ;
vindicates the rights of colored seamen, 294 Whig candidate, 348 declines invitation to join antislavery
movement, 433.
Wirt,
;
Woodruff,
"Wilson, James, of N. H., I. 543 ; speech
of, 11. 204-7.
111. 37.
Wilson, J. F., III. 435 speech, 663,
Wilson, J. J., of N. J., I. 154.
W^ilson, Robert, II. 154.
Winslow,
Winston,
form Massachusetts Abolition Society,
414 Miss Kelley on committee by
American Antislavery Society, 419.
Women, loyalty of. 111. 250 ; sulirage,
675 -6.
Electrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow,
&
Co.
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Text
�THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
DAVIS
�;:>.
m
,
����RISE AND FALL
OF THE
SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
��HISTORY
OP THE
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
BY
HENEY WILSON.
VOL.
II.
NINTH EDITION.
BOSTON:
COMPANY,
ffe.
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
�Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874,
BY JAMES
R.
OSGOOD &
CO.,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
�CONTENTS TO VOL.
CHAPTER
II.
I.
ADMISSION OF FLORIDA.
PAGES
Slavery
Equilibrium in the United States
Mr. Pettit's
Iowa and Florida united in the same bill.
Mr. Morse's
Remarks by Mr. Levy, Belser, and Hunt.
made a
Senate.
motion.
national interest.
Mr. Evans's
Mr. King's motion.
Remarks by Mr. Bayly.
Remarks by Walker,
amendment on imprisonment of colored seamen.
motion.
Archer, Berrien, and Choate.
Amendment
CHAPTER
MEXICAN WAR.
Protest of the Mexican minister.
lost
,
.
.1-6
.
II.
WILMOT PROVISO.
American government refused inter
General Taylor ordered to
advance to the Rio Grande.
Ampudia requests General Taylor to
General Taylor attacked by General Arista.
return to the Nueces.
course with the
Mexican government.
Views of Mr. Calhoun.
President's message.
The House declares that
Remarks of Clayton, Crittenden, and Cass.
war exists by act of Mexico.
Passage of the war bill in the House ;
The President asks for two mil
Debates in Congress.
in the Senate.
Mexicans defeated.
lions for the settlement of boundaries.
Two-million
bill reported.
Mr. "Wilmot's motion to exclude slavery from territory to be acquired
Amendment agreed to.
Fails in the Senate
of Mexico.
7-17
.
CHAPTER
.
III.
TREATY OF GUADALOUPE HIDALGO.
ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY.
UATION OF THE SLAVERY STRUGGLE.
CONTIN
Remarks
Meeting of Congress.
Message.
Speech of Mr. Wilmot.
of Mr. Wood.
Mr. HamBrinkerhoff, Stephens, Bayly, Dowdell.
Three-million bill reported.
amendment.
Berrien.
Upham's
amendment.
Mr. Webster's Views.
Wilmot's amendment lost.
lin's
Treaty of Peace.
Meeting of
XXXth
Declarations of Mr. Trist.
Congress.
Potency of slavery.
Mr. Winthrop elected Speaker.
Mr.
�Vl
CONTENTS.
Putnam's resolution.
Root's bills for California and
New
Mexico.
Amendment
Mr. Walker's amendment.
Action
excluding slavery.
of House.
Defeat of measure for prohibiting slavery.
Mr. Thomp
son's amendment.
Agreed to by the House.
Rejected by the Sen
Victory of the Slave Power
ate.
.
,
.
CHAPTER
.
.
.
.18-30
IV.
EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
Characteristics
ment.
New
Power.
of Slave
Oregon,
and govern
boundaries
its
Burt's amendment.
Douglas's bill.
Hale's amendment.
Senate debate.
Bright's motion.
Winthrop
bill.
proviso.
new dogma.
Calhoun's
Remarks
Underwood's speech.
Niles, Berrien, Johnson, Dix.
of Baldwin,
His character.
Calhoun's position.
Berrien, Phelps, Davis, Mason, Johnson of Georgia, Jefferson Davis.
Great de
Clayton's proposition.
Report.
Compromise committee.
bate.
Clarke's amendment.
Baldwin's amendment.
John Davis's
amendment.
Laid on the table in the
Passage of the Clayton bill.
Caleb B. Smith's bill.
Palfrey's amendment.
Passage of
in the House.
Remarks of Mason,
Douglas's proposition.
House.
the bill
Rejec
Dayton, Webster, Butler, Calhoun, Niles, Reverdy Johnson.
Extension of the line of the Missouri com
tion of Foote's motion.
Defeated in the House.
Passed in the Senate.
Menacing
Remarks of Bell, Hous
Benton's motion.
demands of Mr. Calhoun.
Benton's motion agreed to.
ton, and Benton.
Passage of the Oregon
promise.
Message of the President.
bill.
Triumph
CHAPTER
Domestic slave-trade stimulated.
nia.
.
31-49
V.
Slaves escaping.
Active friends of the slave.
Before the courts.
('
NATIONAL RECOGNITION OF PROPERTY IN MAN.
KIDNAPPING.
FUGITIVES.
of freedom
John
Jay.
Eastern Pennsylva
Case of the Mobile.
The slave set at
of Jay and White.
Slave
Escape of slaves from the Tombs.
Forcible abduction in the harbor.
Meeting in FanArguments
Brazilian vessel.
liberty.
case in Boston.
John Quincy Adams.
Speeches of.Sumner, Stephen
Personal liberty laws.
Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker.
euil Hall.
Phillips,
C.
Opposition to antiUnfriendly legislation in New Jersey, New York.
Decision of Supreme Court affirming the right of prop
slavery press.
'
erty in
man.
Government
sale of slaves
CHAPTER
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
BURR.
.
.
.
.50-60
VI.
WORK.
THOMPSON.
Essential violence of slavery.
Workings of Under
Escape of slaves.
Heroic endurCharacteristics of Western society.
ground Railroad.
�Vli
CONTENTS.
Van Dorn, Coffin,
Sacrifices of their friends.
ance of the fugitives.
Noble conduct of Palmer's daughter.
Imprison
Rundell Palmer.
Their fidelity and Christian
ment of Burr, Work, and Thompson.
61-73
Released
bravery.
CHAPTER
VII.
OPERATIONS AT THE EAST AND IN THE MIDDLE
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
STATES.
Arrest of Mr.
Slaveholders' convention in Maryland.
Charles T. Torrey.
Consecrates himself
the
Released
Sent
to
judge.
by
jail.
Torrey.
to the
L.
Aids slaves to escape.
of freeing the slave.
Death.
Sickness.
Conviction.
Imprisonment.
work
Trial.
Helps slaves to escape from Washington.
Chaplin.
in Maryland.
Walker.
Arrest.
Held in exorbitant bonds.
Bonds
paid.
William
Arrested
Jonathan
74-86
Thomas Garrett
CHAPTER
VIII.
RIOTOUS PROCEEDINGS.
ESCAPE AND CAPTURE OF THE PEARL.
TRIAL OF DRAYTON.
CONGRESS.
General rejoicings.
French Revolution of 1848.
DEBATES IN
Resolutions of con
Amendments of Ashmun and
gratulation introduced into Congress.
Schenck.
Escape of slaves.
Popular demonstrations.
Speeches.
Dem
Popular excitement and indignation.
fugitives.
Action of Mr. Giddings.
onstrations against the "National Era."
Remarks of Stephens, Haskell, Toombs,
Mr. Palfrey's resolutions.
Sad fate of the
Hale's reso
Stanton, Thompson, Bayly, Wick, Giddings, and Root.
Remarks by Calhoun.
Re
Foote's threat.
lution in the Senate.
marks of Jefferson Davis, Butler, Douglas, Cameron.
Reply of Hale
to assailants.
Trial and conviction of Drayton and Sayers.
Impris
onment and pardon
87 - 105
CHAPTER
IX.
ANTISLAVERY ORGANIZATIONS.
Serious difficulties of the
antislavery men.
on the question of political action.
Garrisonians.
Their distinctive doctrines.
Modes of operation.
Leading
men and women.
Differences therein.
Conventions
Liberty Party.
at Port Byron and Macedon.
Gerrit Smith nominated.
National
convention of the Liberty Party.
John P. Hale nominated.
Liberty
Its advanced opinions.
Nomination of Gerrit Smith by con
League.
vention at Auburn.
106-113
Speeches at convention
Differences of opinion
situation.
among
Differences
....
�VU1
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
"CONSCIENCE
SLAVERY AGGRESSIONS.
X.
"
" BARN-BURNERS."
WHIGS.
Mr. Wilson's resolutions.
Mr.
Georgia resolutions.
Mr. Wilson's
Mr. Wilson's minority report.
Divisions among the
Defeated in the Senate.
resolutions agreed to.
State influence.
Wheatland's report.
Speeches of Mr. Sumner and Mr. Win-
State convention.
Whigs.
Resolutions
throp.
Mr.
of
resolutions.
Phillips' s
Stephenson.
Remarks of Adams, Allen, and
Mr.
Webster's speech.
State conven
Simmer's letter to Winthrop.
Keyes's resolutions.
tion of 1848.
Palfrey's resolutions.
Opposition of Mr. Winthrop.
Child.
"Conscience" and "Cotton" Whigs.
Position
Webster's speech.
Treatment of Mr. Van Buren.
of New York.
Syracuse conven
Its
Field's resolution.
tion.
Herkimer convention.
rejection.
Address reported by John Van Buren.
.
.
New York pledged to freedom
Resolutions.
-
,
.
.
Democracy of
114-128
>-
CHAPTER XL
DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF 1848.
Democratic national convention.
New York delegation.
Remarks of Dickinson, Smith,
Position of the
Declaration of the Georgia delegation.
Foster, King.
tories
avowed.
nominated.
Whig
Right to take slavery into Terri
Speech of Yancey.
Cass
Both delegations admitted.
Excited debate.
resolutions.
Hallett's
national convention.
General
resolution.
Bingham's resolution.
takes issue with Mr. Allen.
marks of Mr. Galloway.
Triumph
Conferences.
Taylor's nomination.
Allen's declaration.
Ashmun
Taylor.
Minority report by Yancey.
Candidates.
Tilden's
Whig
Power
party dissolved.
Re
Mr. Wilson's declaration.
Position of General
Fillmore's nomination.
of Slave
Campbell's
resolution.
^ $**
CHAPTER
.
.
--..
v
>
.
129 - 139
XII.
POPULAR MOVEMENTS OF THE OPPONENTS OF SLAVERY EXTENSION.
The Utica convention.
Van
Buren's
letter.
Declara
His nomination.
Com
tion of principles.
Meeting of antislavery men at Philadelphia.
National con
Ohio convention.
mittee to call a national convention.
vention called at Buffalo.
district.
Mr. Wilson's address to the Whigs of his
State convention.
Convention at Worcester.
Resolutions.
Delegates to the Buffalo convention.
Attitude of the nation
Address
Position of Mr.
to the people.
Webster.
Call for a
Mr. Allen addresses the citizens of Worcester.
.
.
.
140-149
�IX
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
XIII.
BUFFALO CONVENTION.
Mr. Chase president of the delegated convention.
Buffalo convention.
Mr. Adams president of mass convention.
Unity and enthusiasm.
Platform.
Governor Slade's letter.
Speeches of Adams,
King's.
Giddings, Butler, Grover, White, Nye, Stanton, Briggs, May, Mahan,
Van Buren's letter.
Van Buren and
Bibb, Bird, and Sedgwick.
Adams nominated.
ing.
Van
Buren's letter of acceptance.
State conventions in
Movements
CHAPTER
WILLIAM
Popular feel
York, and Ohio.
The canvass
in the Southern States.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
New
Massachusetts,
H.
.
.
.
150-160
XIV.
SEWARD.
SALMON
P.
CHASE.
Death of Mr. Adams.
His earnest advocacy of the right of petition.
of views concerning Abolitionism.
Democratic defeat in the
Kadical utterances of Mr. Seward.
State of New York.
His election
Change
to the United States Senate.
Ohio early in the antislavery ranks.
Prominent part taken by Mr. Chase.
Friends of freedom hold the
balance of power in the
Repeal of "black laws."
new
Adroit management.
legislature.
Election of Mr. Chase to United States
Senate
.
CHAPTER
161-173
.
XV.
STRUGGLES IN KENTUCKY.
Popular indorsement.
Slaveholding aggressions.
and increasing severity
of the black codes.
Growing prejudices
Counter movements of
Constitutional convention in Kentucky.
antislavery men.
to secure provisions for freedom in the proposed constitution.
Attempt
Public meeting at Lexington.
Convention.
Failure of movement.
Reasons
Breckinridge's speech.
Henry
Dr.
Clay's position.
.
.
174-180
CHAPTER :^V^
BLACK LAWS.
*
human rights.
Inhuman legislation.
In Virginia, Dela
Constitutional convention in Indi
Maryland, and Missouri.
Prominent members.
Southern influence preponderates.
Ac
Indifference to
ware,
ana.
tive canvass of the State.
Iowa,
scribed
New
Mexico,
*
.
.
Mr. Colfax.
California,
.....
Utah,
.
Similar legislation in Illinois,
Slave Power de
Oregon.
.
.
181-189
�X
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
XVII.
SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXXTH CONGRESS.
SOUTHERN CAUCUS.
New
aspect of the slavery issue presented by the Mexican war.
Speeches
by Southern members, Clingman, Stephens.
Proslavery views of North
ern members, Thompson, Brown.
Effective speech of McDowell.
Caucus of Southern members.
Address.
Position of Northern mem
Eloquent speeches by Palfrey, Abraham Lincoln, Horace Mann,
bers.
and James Wilson
,
.
190-207
.
CHAPTER
ELECTION OF SPEAKER.
CALIFORNIA.
President Taylor.
THREATS OF DISUNION.
Personnel of his Cabinet.
Future schemes.
ters.
XVIII.
Past success of slave-mas
Overtures to California.
Its constitution.
Southern opposition.
Excitement.
Contest for Speaker.
Threats.
Debate.
Mr.
Duer, Toombs, Baker, Stephens, Cleveland, Allen.
Cobb's election.
President's message.
Father Mathew
Vermont
....
Debate thereon.
Benton
resolutions.
lutions.
Hale, Chase, Phelps.
Missouri reso
208-220
CHAPTER
XIX.
NORTHERN DEFECTION.
Root's resolutions laid on the table.
Northern
defection.
Causes.
Giddings's resolutions defeated.
Debate
on
President's
message.
Southern speeches of Clingman, Inge, McLane, Cabell, Brown.
South
ern alarm.
Action of Southern legislatures.
Bold utterances of
Northern members, Sackett, Horace Mann, Thaddeus Stevens,
and Fowler.
.
.
Speeches of Ashmun and Winthrop
CHAPTER
Foote's resolutions.
tive Slave Act.
President's message.
Foote's protest.
resolutions.
.
221 - 230
XX.
COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
United States Senate.
Bissell,
1850.
Hale's amendment.
Speech of Mr. Cass.
Jefferson Davis.
Mr.
Fugi
Clay's
Cass's
eight
Bell's
Speeches of Clay, Houston, Berrien, and Benton.
speech.
Considered.
resolutions.
Calhoun's speech read.
Webster's 7th of
March
speech.
His course
.
His defection.
Occasions great disappointment.
231 - 246
�XI
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXI^
ACTION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
Mr. Hopkins's
Mr. Hillard's resolutions.
Mr. "Wilson's resolutions.
Address and
State mass convention at Faneuil Hall.
resolutions.
Remarks by Palfrey,
resolutions reported by Richard H. Dana, Jr.
Hopkins's
Wilson, Hopkins, Webb, Adams, Phillips, and Keyes.
Remarks of Schouler, BoutBranning's amendment.
Resolutions
Wilson, Kimball, and Earle.
Resolutions amended
Debate in the Senate.
resolutions.
Lawrence,
adopted by the House.
well,
Stone,
and passed.
Webster.
Petitions to instruct Mr.
Meeting in Faneuil Hall.
Resolutions
Debate thereon.
Mr. Wilson's resolution.
247-258
defeated
CHAPTER
XXII.
COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
He
Southern demands on President Taylor.
Thurlow Weed.
lin.
1850.
stands firm.
Mr.
Ham-
General
Taylor's letter to Jefferson Davis.
Speeches of Walker, Seward, Douglas, Badger, Hunter, Hale,
.
.
The admissions of the latter
259-271
.
debate.
Chase, Benton.
.
CHAPTER
XXIII.
COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
Committee of
Vote on Foote's resolutions.
debate.
1850
Final vote.
(continued).
thirteen.
bill.
Clay's
President's death.
Deeply regretted by
Mr. Fillmore.
New Cabinet. Change of pol
friends of freedom.
Webster's visit to Boston.
Great debate.
Three lines of argu
icy.
Laid on the
California admitted by the Senate.
ment.
Protest.
Long
table.
Texas boundary
bill
adopted by the Senate.
Boyd's amendment adopted.
rejected.
In the House.
Vote reconsidered.
bill adopted.
New Mexico admitted.
General demoralization.
Mr. Clay's influence.
Utah
Adopted.
divisions.
of disunion
Bill
by Clemens, Toombs, and Holmes.
Meeting of Southern members.
Southern
Threats
Nashville convention.
Speeches of Soule and McDowell
CHAPTER
272 - 290
XXIV.
COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
1850
(continued).
Provision therefor in the Con
Fugitive slave laws a necessity of slavery.
Law of 1793.
stitution.
Fugitive Slave Act introduced by Mason.
Amendments of Webster and Dayton.
Of Pratt.
Jefferson Davis.
John Davis.
Underwood's substitute.
of bill in Senate.
Speech of Winthrop.
Passage
Previous question.
Introduced into the House.
�CONTENTS.
Xll
Amendment
Speeches of Hunter, Clay, Downs, Pratt.
Act passed.
Introduced into the House.
Debate.
of Seward.
Adopted.
rious.
Columbia in
Bill for abolition of slave-trade in District of
Passage.
the Senate.
Suggestion of Thaddeus Stevens.
Friends of freedom not disheartened.
Power victo
Slave
Speeches of Hale and
"
Julian
.
,
.
.
.
.
.
.
CHAPTER
.
.
XXV.
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
General consternation.
meetings.
Faneuil Hall.
bodies.
ver.
First case.
Wilson
lic
Adams
its
Pub
Furness,
The
vindication and support.
Sumner in
at Boston.
Burlingame at Northampton.
Utterances of clergymen.
Aid and protection extended.
measures for
.
Meetings of colored people.
at Lowell.
291-330
.
Meetings of religious
Beecher, Chee-
Stone,
act defended.
Mr. Webster.
Concerted
Mr. Clay.
Buchanan, Clayton, Benton, and Berrien.
Union-saving meetings.
Castle Garden and Faneuil Hall.
Clerical defences.
Dewey, Taylor,
The President indorses the Fugitive Slave Act in annual
Spencer.
Debate in Congress.
message.
and Mann
.
.
.
.
Speeches of Giddings, Seward, Hale,
.
.....
.
304-322
.
CHAPTER XXVI.
WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
Cases at Columbia and Elkton.
purpose and execution.
William and Ellen
Judge Kane's cruel course.
Its cruelty of
Hannah Dellam.
Prompt and heroic conduct
Crafts.
Parker.
Trial
and
Judge
of Dr.
and acquittal of Castner Hanway.
rescue.
Bowditch and Theodore
Commissioner Ingraham.
Grier.
Resolutions of Mr. Clay.
Jerry rescue.
Case of Shadrach.
Trial
Action of the President.
Speeches of Clay, Hale, Chase, Douglas, and Jefferson Davis.
Douglas's charge against some members of Congress.
Thomas Simms.
cuers.
Circumstances of acquittal.
court-house.
Trial.
Given up.
Union army.
His
Chains around
Finally delivered by
Meeting and speeches in Faneuil
fate.
Public meetings.
Unsuccessful appeal to the legislature
Hall.
Mr.
Trial of res
CHAPTER
COALITION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
....
323-337
XXVII.
ELECTION OF MR. SUMNER.
Co-operation between Democrats and Free-Soilers in Ohio, Connecticut,
Reso
and Vermont.
Massachusetts Democratic State convention.
lutions.
Benjamin F. Hallett.
State committee to the
ventions at Rome.
Proffer of the
New York
Free Soil State committee.
Failure to agree.
Democratic
Reply.
Con
Conventions at Syracuse and
\[
�CONTENTS.
Ma
Meeting at Adams House.
Massachusetts.
Fusion.
Utica.
Xlll
William Jack
Minority in favor.
jority opposed to the coalition.
Nominations.
Free Soil State convention.
son.
Campaign paper.
Middlesex County conventions of Democrats and FreeHorace Mann.
Mr. Sumner's speech in Faneuil Hall.
Coalition.
Soilers.
of Palfrey and Adams.
Soilers.
Triumph
Boutwell made governor.
Mr.
Accepted.
selected as candidate for United States Senate.
Long
Sumner's
Rantoul elected for short term.
success.
Letters
Proposition of Free-
of coalition.
Sumner
Mr.
Final
straggle.
letter to
Mr. Wil
'
:
Kesults
son.
.
.
.
.
.
.
CHAPTER
.
.
.
.
338-351
XXVIII.
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN CONGRESS.
Caucuses of both parties.
ures.
Debate thereon.
Eesolutions indorsing the compromise meas
Linn Boyd, Speaker.
Foote's resolution.
Petition of the Friends for repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act.
amendment and
speech.
Sumner's
The Fugitive Slave Act defended by Clemens,
Badger, Dodge, Douglas, Weller, Bright, Dixon, Clay, Butler, Mason,
and
Sumner's rejoinder
Pettit.
352-359
CHAPTER XXIX.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
Preparations by the slaveholders of both parties.
Mr. Webster.
dates.
His speech
at
1852.
Slaveholding compact.
Rival Whig candi
Capon Springs.
A
Whig caucus.
"finality" resolution.
Letter to Democratic candidates.
and Stanley.
Speeches of Brooks
Replies.
Demo
cratic convention.
Resolutions in favor of compromise measures.
Pierce nominated.
Mr. Jessup's
Whig convention.
Candidates.
amendment and speech.
drawn.
Dawson's defiant speech.
Amendment with
Resolutions indorse compromise measures.
Mr. Webster's
Mr. Choate's speech.
Candidates.
General Scott's selec
agency.
Mr. Webster's disappointment.
Hale made candidate.
Gerrit Smith's
tion.
Free Soil convention.
resolutions.
General Pierce triumphantly elected
result.
.
Mr.
The canvass and
.
.
.
360-377
CHAPTER XXX.
THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
The Missouri compromise.
Nebraska.
President Pierce's message.
The
Dixon's proposition to abrogate the Missouri compro
Its repeal reported by Mr.
President's commitment.
Douglas.
Nebraska
mise.
Bill for the organization of the Territory of
Lost in the Senate.
bill.
Meeting of
New York
and Secretary of
Democrats.
State.
Mr. Fenton's
visit to the President
Secretary Marcy's position.
The appeal of
�CONTENTS.
the Free Soil members.
of
Kansas and
Bill for the organization of
Mr.
Mr.
Ne
amendment and
braska.
Speech
speech.
Mr. Douglas's
Speeches of Wade, Everett, Smith, Houston.
Mr. Chase's amendment.
Speeches of Seward, Sumner,
Douglas.
Chase's
amendment.
Toombs, Fessenden.
Badger's amendment.
Closing speech of Mr.
Memorial of the New England cler
Douglas.
Passage of the bill.
Excited debate.
Mr. Richardson's House bill.
gy.
Speeches of
Meacham, Stephens, Breckinridge, Yates, Keitt, Clingman, Washburn
of Maine, Smith, Benton, Goodrich.
Defence of the clergy by Banks.
Great struggle in the House.
Passage of the
Passage through that body.
the Senate.
Excited debate in
bill.
Triumph
the Slave
of
Power
378-405
CHAPTER XXXI.
ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
Pulpit and Press.
agitation and alarm.
"Independent,"
" Tribune."
Political action demanded.
New
Evening Post," and
A. E. Bovey.
Name recommended.
Wisconsin.
Hampshire.
Dr. Bailey.
Vermont.
Michigan.
Meeting in Washington.
General
"
Joseph Warren.
Ohio.
Indiana.
New York
Action of
Whigs.
Faneuil Hall.
Party formed.
Large
Resolution of the House.
success in the nation.
Party formed in
Reaction
In New York.
.
In Pennsylvania.
406 - 418
Ohio.
Massachusetts.
Meeting
in
.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
Formation.
at
Dam
Antislavery element.
growth.
Southern feeling and purpose.
Meeting
Defeat in Vir
Kenneth Raynor.
Union degree.
on other
Cincinnati.
ginia.
tility
Rapid
Objects.
effect
aging
parties.
Hos
Southern purpose.
National Council at Philadelphia.
Mr. Wilson.
Struggle on
Banquet.
towards Massachusetts.
resolutions.
Majority report proslavery.
Debate on platform.
Minority resolutions.
New York
delegation.
Speeches of Governors
Gardner and Fletcher, of Foster, Wilson, Ford, and Raynor.
Raynor's
Northern platform rejected and Southern
speech.
Decla
Party disrupted.
adopted.
Meeting of Northern delegates.
amendment and
ration of sentiments.
and
New
Jersey
Address adopted.
delegates.
Protests.
Addresses of Pennsylvania
Comments
"Times" and "Tribune," and Boston "Atlas"
CHAPTER
.
.
of
New York
*.:-'
XXXIII.
THE ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE
Anthony Burns.
ing postponed.
419-434
.
Application to Judge Loring.
Meeting in Meionaon Hall.
Burns
arrested.
ACT.
Hear
In Faneuil Hall.
�XV
CONTENTS.
Assault on the Court House.
Speeches of Phillips, Parker, Swift.
Batchelder killed.
Unsuccessful attempt at rescue.
Military called
Trial.
Dana's plea.
out.
Singular language of Judge Loring.
A secret
Prayer of Mr. Foster.
Indictments against Parker, Phillips, Higgin-
Burns delivered up.
Procession.
Drills.
association.
Dissatisfac
Quashed.
son, Stowell, Morrison, Proudman, and Cluer.
Eemoval
tion at the course of Judge Loring.
Rejected as professor.
Decision of Wisconsin
Rescue.
Case of John Glover.
as judge.
Not
courts.
Brutalities.
sustained.
Judge
Grier.
Booth and others indicted and discharged.
Case of Passmore Williamson.
Judge
Williamson's imprisonment.
Writ of habeas
Final discharge
435 - 451
Jane Johnson's testimony.
Kane's harsh decisions.
corpus denied.
.
CHAPTEK XXXIV.
PKOPOSED SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATION TO THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
Indignant protests.
Rigorous execution of the Fugitive Slave Act.
Characteriza
Its real purpose.
Counter legislation.
Toucey's bill.
Not a question for argu
its advocates.
ProAntislavery speech of Mr. Gillette.
Speech
slavery speeches of Jones and Pettit.
Speech of Mr. Wilson.
of Mr. Wade.
Too confident predictions.
Speeches of Mr. Seward
tion
by
ment.
its
By
opposers.
General debate.
and Mr. Sumner
452-461
.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act not an
and plan to make Kansas a
associations.
Town
Election ordered.
men.
slave State.
Its real object.
Co-operation.
Purpose
Southern
New England Emigrant Aid Society.
Raid from Missouri.
Andrew H. Reeder.
Eli Thayer.
of Lawrence.
less avowals.
abstraction.
Frauds.
Border-ruffian policy.
Atchison and Stringfellow.
Open and shame
Resistance of free State
Constitution.
XXXI Vth Congress.
Topeka convention.
Governor Reeder's memorial.
Long debate.
President's message.
Wilson Shannon.
His indorsement of the
Investigating committee.
Murder of Dow.
Rescue of Branson.
Call on
proslavery policy.
the governor for troops.
Slight response from Kansas.
Large num
bers from Missouri.
Characterized.
Outrages.
Agreement between
the governor and the people of Lawrence.
Proslavery disappoint
ment.
Letter of Atchison.
Senate.
Reso
Appeals to the South.
lutions of Hale, Wilson, and Jones.
President's message.
Speeches
of Wilson, Hale, Douglas, and Collamer.
Meeting of free State legisla
ture.
bill.
Collamer's
Douglas's report.
Friends of freedom determined
.
minority
report.
Douglas's
462 - 477
�CONTENTS.
Xvi
CHAPTER XXXVI.
ASSAULT ON STJMNER.
Mr. Simmer's speech.
Reference to But
and Douglas.
Excitement produced.
Assault.
Indignation.
Subject introduced by Mr. "Wil
Meeting of Republican Senators.
Committees appointed by both houses.
son.
Statements
Reports.
of Senators.
Mr. Wilson challenged by Brooks.
Challenge de
Feverish state of feeling.
ler
Action of the House.
clined.
Mr.
Brooks' s speech and resigna
Indorsed by Southern members.
Comins's speech.
Chal
Challenge of Brooks.
Southern demonstrations.
tion.
Burlingame's speech.
Brooks refuses to fight.
lenge accepted.
Burlingame's reception in
Boston.
Speech.
Meeting in Faneuil Hall.
Speeches of Chandler
and Everett
.
/
,/
.
478-495
.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
Gathering of troops before Lawrence.
tion of the President.
troops.
Arrests made.
Governor Reeder.
Investigating committee.
Attempted
arrest of free State
Sheriff shot.
Governor Robinson's
Meeting in Lawrence.
Lawrence assaulted and pillaged.
for help.
men.
Posi
Call for
Judge Lecompte's charge.
arrest.
The marshal's
call
Atchison.
Proslavery outrages.
Proslavery demonstrations at Leaven-
Free State legislature.
Desperate prospects.
Report of in
Grow's bills.
Dunn's substitute.
Speeches
vestigating committee.
Sherman.
in the House.
Douglas's new bill.
Abject subser
worth.
Appeals to the Republican Senators from
Bill
Speeches of Wade, Trumbull, Wilson, and Seward.
Proviso to the army bill.
Adopted by the
adopted by the Senate.
Committee of conference unable
House, but rejected by the Senate.
viency.
Great debate.
Kansas.
to agree.
Army
bill
defeated.
Adjournment.
Special session.
and proviso adopted by the House.
Rejected by the Sen
Final
Mr. Weller's bill.
House adhere.
ate.
Speech of Clayton.
in
Kansas
Outlook
496 - 507
the
the
bill
without
of
proviso.
passage
Same
bill
.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTIONS OF
Previous meeting of National Coun-
Convention of American party.
The disturbing
1856.
Antislavery
Killinger's resolution.
Banks nom
Seceders' convention.
Fillmore nominated
speeches.
Francis P. Blair.
inated.
Republican convention at Pittsburg.
Address.
Speeches.
Speeches of Greeley, Lovejoy, and Giddings.
Letter of Cassius M. Clay.
Speeches of Mr.
Nominating convention.
ciL
question.
Wilson and Caleb B. Smith.
Platform.
Nomination of Fremont and
�CONTENTS.
XV11
Democratic
and debate on the North Americans.
Platform.
Buchanan nominated.
Whig convention.
Nomination of Stockton and Kaynor.
Indorses American candidates.
Excited canvass.
Buchanan's and Fillmore's letters of acceptance.
Circular of Governor Wise to Southern gov
Conflict of principles.
ernors.
Meeting at Raleigh. American Antislavery Soci
Eesponses.
" Uncle Tom's Cabin. " Results of the election
508 - 522
Letters
Dayton.
convention.
.
ety.
.
.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE DEED SCOTT CASE.
Dred Scott
Over the Judiciary.
Domination of the Slave Power.
His history.
of a series of slaveholding aggressions.
Points of the case.
Famous opinion.
Ques
Conflicting opinions.
Adverse to the negro's
Historical survey.
tion of citizenship.
One
"case."
Not a ques
Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
Line of argument.
Ulterior purposes.
claim.
Judge Dan
iel.
Slavery national.
Dissenting opinions of Justices McLean and
Curtis.
Argu
Strong and significant language of Judge McLean.
ment of Judge Curtis for negro citizenship.
General indignation and
tion of law.
Mr. Benton's review.
Opinion severely condemned.
alarm.
acterization
.
.
.
.
,
.
CHAPTER
.
...
Char
523-533
XL.
THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
Dred Scott decision and the Lecompton con
Mr. Fessenden's arraignment.
Con
Shannon and Geary.
vention called.
Governor Geary's veto and
Walker appointed governor.
Fraudulent census and
resignation.
Duplicity of the leaders.
stitution, parts of conspiracy.
Overtures of free State men.
registry.
tion.
Mr. Wilson's
Help from the
East.
administration.
Free State
sition
men
and advice.
Success.
Walker's address.
The
latter opposed,
Elec
but taken.
At
Free State legislature chosen.
Action of the governor.
He loses favor with the
Constitution formed.
Unfair mode of submission.
tempted frauds.
sage.
visit
refuse to vote.
XXXVth
Congress.
President's
mes
Sharply criticised by Hale and Trumbull.
and speech.
ereignty ignored.
Mr. Douglas's oppo
A slave State the objective point. Popular sov
Governor Walker's resignation.
His letter and
testimony concerning the frauds and violence committed.
Stanton,
acting governor, calls an early meeting of legislature.
Deposed.
Denver appointed.
President sends Lecompton constitution.
Com
Issue
plete subserviency of the message to the slaveholding cause.
taken by Mr. Fessenden.
Mr. Wilson's motion of inquiry.
Message
in the House referred to a committee of fifteen.
Speech of Mr. Fessen
den.
Memorials of the Kansas
ating position of the government
legislature.
Naked
issue.
Humili
.
534-547
�CONTENTS.
xviii
CHAPTER
XLI.
THE LECOMPTON STRUGGLE.
Defence of slav
General argument in favor of the Lecompton policy.
"Cotton is king."
Speech of Mr. Hammond.
Arraignment
ery.
of Northern society.
Replies.
Defences of the North
Wilson.
Speeches of Hamlin, Broderick, and
its institutions.
Full discussion
and
Extreme opinions of Miles and
Speeches in the House.
welcomed.
Able defences of freedom and free institutions.
Keitt.
Lovejoy, Gid-
Ignominious attitude of the administration and of the
Democratic party
.
.
548 - 556
dings, Bliss.
CHAPTER XLIL
THE ENGLISH
Kansas fraud.
substitute
in
BILL.
Relative strength of parties in the two houses.
Bill and
the Senate.
Committee of conference.
English bill
Debate.
Speeches of Howard, Grow, and Bingham.
Speeches of Stuart, Douglas, Wilson,
Opposition to it in the Senate.
Conferences between them and
Anti- Lecompton Democrats.
Seward.
S. S. Cox.
Testimony of Mr. Haskin.
Faltering.
Republicans.
Twelve remain firm.
Joseph C. McKibbin.
Attempts at bribery.
characterized.
Bill
Rejected by the people of Kansas
adopted by both houses.
CHAPTER
.
557 - 565
XLIII.
THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE.
Position of Douglas.
Republicans.
discussion.
field speech.
Its
significance
and
effects.
Conferences with
Lincoln's nomination.
Proposed
Republican hopes.
Character of contestants.
Spring
Representative men.
Similar sentiment of Mr. Seward.
Its great thought.
Mr. Douglas's reply.
Misrepresentation of
Gen
Indorsement of the Dred Scott decision.
Mr.
of
the
debate.
and
manner
decorous
Specimens.
erally
dignified
Not always
Lincoln's appreciation of the gravity of the discussion.
Results.
Devotion to principle.
satisfactory to antislavery men.
General line of argument.
Lincoln's position.
The prominence
it
Douglas's estimate
gave Lincoln.
CHAPTER
."
.
566-577
XLIV.
SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Slavery
always
speech.
obtrusive.
Amendments
Brown's
of Clark
the education of the blacks.
of Jefferson Davis.
bill.
Wilson's
and Harlan.
Brown, Mason.
Wilson's .response.
amendment and
Southern hostility to
Intolerant sentiments
Myrtilla Miner.
Prepara-
�XIX
CONTENTS.
tion
her great work.
for
Successful
School for colored
efforts.
Countenance and aid from some of the leading citizens of
Growth and character
Serious and violent opposition.
Washington.
Miss Miner's death.
Profitable investments.
of the institution.
girls.
Failure of Brown's bill
and work.
Miss Miner's character
Subsequent action of Congress.
Suspension.
.
.
.
CHAPTEK
.
.
578 - 586
.-.
XLV.
JOHN BROWN'S INVASION OF VIRGINIA.
John Brown's birth,
Conflicting opinions.
His life in
His deep philanthropy.
and characteristics.
Plan of govern
His great work.
Meeting in Canada.
Assault on Harper's Ferry.
early
life,
Kansas.
ment.
under
Officers
Final acquiescence.
ton.
Letters
from
New
Meeting in Central
it.
tion.
Secret
Forbes.
Movement
York.
Brown
committee.
deferred.
Hesita
visits
Bos
visits
Again
Aid
Kansas.
Aids in the escape of slaves.
Again visits Boston.
furnished by committee.
Letter to the Secretary
Kennedy Farm.
of War.
Visited
Assault made.
Brown and party overpowered.
His replies, and their influ
by Wise, Mason, and Vallandigham.
ence.
Letters of Mrs. Child, and replies.
Trial and conviction.
Visit of Mrs. Brown.
Liberal action of Governor Wise.
Execu
tion.
Funeral.
Remarks of
Body delivered.
Journey homeward.
Wendell Phillips.
Voice of the press and of public
Impression.
''
Estimate of his character and act
.
!,
.
.
587 - 600
meetings.
CHAPTER
-'
'
;
XLVI.
HUNTING FOR TREASON.
Mason's resolution.
bull,
Trumbull's amendment.
the Republican party by
and
Debate thereon.
Trum-
Mason, Hale, Hunter, Davis, Wilson, and Clark.
Mason and
Charges against
Colloquy between Wilson
Iverson.
Strong speech of Mr. Wade.
Report, in part, of com
Release.
Hyatt at the bar of the Senate.
Imprisonment.
Iverson.
mittee.
Case of Sanbom.
tion.
His memorial.
Final report.
Douglas's resolu
Fessenden's reply.
His attack on the Republican party.
Damaging
admissions.
Hunter's oration.
Failure of Douglas's reso
^
lution
.
.
601-607
.
^^^\
CHAPTER\XLVII
CUBA AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
South Amer
position of Cuba.
Slaveholding ascendency.
ican republics.
Slaveholding apprehensions.
Congress at Panama.
Commanding
Southern hostility and purpose.
Championship of
ing.
Efforts
to
slavery.
Randolph, Berrien, and Floyd.
Van Buren's
purchase.
despatch.
Filibustering
Change of
expeditions.
feel
Taylor's
�XX
CONTENTS.
Propositions of England and France.
proclamation.
Refusal.
OsGeneral surprise.
Buchanan's message.
Slidell's
Action thereon.
Brown's speech.
Position of the administra
tend manifesto.
bill.
Walker's expedition.
Designs on Central America.
Democratic sympathy
.
.
tion.
Failure.
pose.
.
CHAPTER
.
Pur
608-614
XLVIII.
THE SLAVE-TRADE.
demand for slave labor.
Slave-traffic stimulated.
Revolting fea
Demands for opening the foreign slave-trade.
Commercial con
ventions.
De Bow's Review.
Utterances of Southern men.
Increased
tures.
Speech
of Stephens.
mation.
British cruisers.
American complaints.
President's response.
of participation in the
Mr. Wilson's
Action of the Republicans.
the great mart.
New York
traffic.
and speech.
bill
Call for infor
Testimonies.
Slaves at
Extent
Statistics.
Key West.
Heartless utterances of Mason, Davis, and Toombs.
Benjamin's bill.
Wilson's amendment opposed by Mason and Green.
His
...
reply.
No
action taken.
Policy of the Republican party
615 - 623
CHAPTER XLIX.
ADMISSION OF OREGON AND KANSAS.
Oregon frames a constitution.
Excludes
free people of color.
Bill for
Adverse report.
Debate.
BingKansas.
Convention
Bill passed.
ham.
Adopted by the Senate.
Presented in House.
Parrott.
in Wyandotte.
Free constitution.
admission reported in the House.
Seward's bill in the Senate.
Constitution adopted.
House bill in the Senate.
and Davis.
ard, Douglas,
Barbarism of slavery.
of Southern Senators.
Chesnut's reply.
....
Bill rejected.
Kansas becomes a State
CHAPTER
Speeches of SewSumner's speech.
Secession
624-632
L.
IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT IN THE FREE AND SLAVE STATES.
New
departure.
Bingham's
Its requirements.
Douglas's boast.
bill.
New
Mexico.
Its slave code.
A
bill to
divide California.
Action of Kansas and Nebraska.
Indian Territory.
administration.
Position of the
Conven
Free colored population.
Action thereon.
Hostile action defeated.
tion in Maryland.
Success in the legisla
ture.
Gross cruelty and injustice thereof.
Similar legislation in
other States.
Virginia,
Decision of courts.
ports.
Louisiana,
North Carolina, and Georgia.
Decision of Secretary of Treasury.
Southern utterances.
Refusal of pass
Violent and revolutionary
Personal liberty bills.
Important decision in Virginia.
Northern action.
Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts,
�XXI
CONTENTS.
Action of
Purpose of such bills.
Wisconsin, Kansas, and Ohio.
Dred Scott decision.
Massachusetts concerning separate schools.
Court of Appeals.
Decisions in Maine, Kentucky, and New York.
633 - 642
of Charles O'Connor
Argument
CHAPTER
LI.
MENACES OF DISUNION.
Parties in Congress.
Intense Southern feeling.
Disloyal sentiments.
Clark's resolution.
Failure to elect a Speaker.
Helper's book.
Sarcasm of Stevens.
Sherman's disclaimer.
Millson's declaration.
" Overt Act. "
Treasonable utterances of Garrette and Lamar.
Threats
of De Jarnette, Leake, Pryor, Keitt, Crawford, Underwood, Pugh, ClopPatriotic utterances of Southern men.
ton, Barksdale, and Singleton.
Thomas
John Hickman.
Stokes.
Anti-Lecompton Democrats.
Extreme utterances in the Senate.
Toombs, Iverson, Clay,
Corwin.
Such sentiments feebly re
Mr. Wilson's response.
and Clingman.
Similar sentiments proclaimed through
buked by Northern Democrats.
Avowals of Jefferson Davis, Faulk
Public meetings.
out the South.
ner,
Picture of a Southern confederacy
McKee, and Iverson.
CHAPTER
NEW DOGMA
.
643 - 654
LII.
OF SLAVERY PROTECTION IN THE TERRITORIES.
New demands.
Differ
Ostracism of Mr. Douglas.
Jefferson Davis.
Southern press.
Three leading
Mr. Pugh's resolutions.
His partisanship.
Exciting debates.
Southern madness.
ences of opinion.
ideas.
Debate between Pugh, Brown, and Lane.
Northern damage.
Mr. Brown's resolutions.
Mr.
Between Douglas, Davis, and Clay.
Davis's resolutions.
Douglas's reply.
Speech.
Votes on the resolutions.
Speeches of
Degradation of his party.
Brown's amendment.
Sarcasm of Hale, and
Crittenden and Lane.
Wilson's speech.
its
Clingman' s amendment reconsidered and rejected.
sad significance.
Resolutions adopted
;
655-665
k
'V
CHAPTER
PROSCRIPTION, LAWLESSNESS,
mon McKinney.
Indorsement of the religious press.
Rev. Solo
Banishment and memorial.
Rev. Daniel Worth.
Imprisonment and conviction.
Berea.
Cassius
Its
M.
AND BARBARISM.
Methodist Church North in Texas.
Disturbed condition of the South.
Ministers expelled.
LIII.
Stone-cutter.
Rev. John G. Fee.
Settlement broken up and Fee banished.
Case in Delaware.
Northern papers excluded from
success.
Clay.
Virginia law indorsed at Washington.
Adams, Giddings, Lovejoy, and Sumner.
Widespread demoralization
Violence in Con
the mails.
gress.
.
.
.
.
Lovejoy's speech.
>
-.
.
666-672
�CONTENTS.
xxii
f
CHAPTER
LIV.
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
Epoch in the history of the Slave Power.
I860.
Keckless course of the leaders.
Mr. Douglas.
His deposition determined upon.
Convention as
Caleb Gushing made president.
His address.
No com
sembled.
promise possible.
Reports of committee on the platform.
Report of
majority, and speech of Mr. Avery.
Minority report, and speech of Mr.
Butler's report.
Violent debate.
Disorder.
Payne.
Significant
admission of the president.
Representative speeches of Yancey and
Votes on the platform.
Friends of Mr. Doug
Pugh.
Filibustering.
las victorious.
Seceding delegations.
Reasons assigned.
Speech of
Position and speeches of those who did not secede.
Two-thirds vote re
Popular demonstrations.
Meeting of seceders.
Mr. Glenn.
quired,
timore.
r
Ballotings commenced.
Fifty-seven.
Adjournment to Bal
Hesitation.
Still divided.
Reassembling.
Contesting
Embar
delegations.
Speeches of Ewing, Loring, Hallett, and West.
rassments of Northern Democrats.
Unequivocal indorsement of the
Dred Scott
Report of com
Another secession of delegates.
Speeches of
Smith, Butler, and Soule.
Party hopelessly disrupted.
Douglas
nominated.
Breckinridge and Lane nominated.
Meeting of seceders.
decision.
Purposes of Southern leaders.
mittee on credentials.
Nomination adopted by the seceding convention at Richmond
CHAPTER
.
673 - 688
LV.
CONSTITUTIONAL UNION AND REPUBLICAN CONVENTIONS, AND THE
PRESDENITIAL ELECTION OF 1860.
" Constitutional " convention.
Lee,
Hillard,
Amendment.
Seward
leads.
Candidates.
Speeches of
Platform.
Republican convention.
Seward and Lincoln.
Names for candidates proposed.
Lincoln selected.
Hamlin
Strong fight against him.
for Vice-President.
pointed.
Canvass.
" Radical
No platform.
and Brooks.
Great enthusiasm.
Men
engaged.
Friends of Seward disap
Prominent part of Mr. Seward.
"
Breckin
Their course.
and Garrison abolitionists.
and
incon
Lane
and
extreme
Southern
Equivocal
occupy
ridge
ground.
Ante
sistent position of Douglas and Johnson.
Bell and Everett.
Heated contest.
cedents and position.
Congressional debate.
Combinations in several States.
His fealty to the Union.
Mobile "Register."
tions.
Douglas concedes Lincoln's
Visits the South.
election.
Responses to ques
Eminent Republicans engaged in the
Advanced ground.
Remarkable speeches of Mr. Seward.
Votes.
Canvass closed by Lincoln's election.
Speech to his neighbors.
Lincoln in a minority.
Victory, though incomplete, a great advance
canvass.
for the cause of freedom.
v
Slaveholders' view
689 - 704
�RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLATE POWER
IN AMERICA.
CHAPTER
I.
ADMISSION OF FLORIDA.
Equilibrium in the United States Senate.
Slavery made a National Interest.
Remarks
Mr. Pettit's motion.
Iowa and Florida united in the same bill.
Eemarks by Mr.
Mr. Morse's motion
Mr. Levy, Belser, and Hunt.
.
by
Mr. Evans's amendment on Imprisonment of
Mr. King's motion.
Bayly.
Remarks by Walker, Archer, Berrien, and Choate.
Colored Seamen.
Amendment
lost.
IN the acquisition of Texas the Slave Power had compelled
the nation to adopt and proclaim the principle that slavery
had become a national
interest, to be cherished
by national
legislation, cared for by national diplomacy, and defended by
national arms.
Having dragooned the government into the
adoption of the principles and policy involved in the act of
annexation, it became, from that time onward, more pro
nounced and aggressive.
The
slave-masters used the advan
tage, thus gained, in defiance of the laws of God, regardless of
the rights of man, reckless of consequences, and seemingly
indifferent to the requirement's, or even the reputation, of
consistency.
Everything was made to yield to the exigencies
of the system.
Instead of the principle of the old Roman
patriotic adjuration, that the Republic should receive nothing
of detriment, putting slavery in the nation's stead, they made
everything bend to that.
They had long pretended that the equilibrium between the
and slave States must be preserved at all hazards, and
free
twice had they resorted to the violent device of arbitrarily
linking two measures that had nothing in common for that
VOL.
II.
1
�2
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
in 1820 combining the bills for the admission of
purpose,
Missouri and Maine, and in 1836 those for the admission of
Michigan and Arkansas. In pursuance of the same purpose
and line of policy, they were now unwilling to receive without
a consideration the free State of Iowa, which had framed a
constitution in the autumn of 1844, and was asking for admis
Some makeweight must be found
sion.
before this application
This they managed to discover in an
could be complied with.
old constitution, framed by the Territory of Florida five years
before.
Though Florida was greatly deficient in numbers, and
her constitution was very objectionable in some of
its
features,
they seized this occasion to press its claims, and to make its
admission a condition precedent to their consent that Iowa
should be received. The House Committee on Territories re
ported in favor of the admission of the two in a single meas
In the closing hours of the XXYIIIth Congress the
ure.
bill
still
came up for consideration.
more odious, it was moved, in
Making the proposition
anticipation that the then
unorganized portions of Nebraska would ask admission as a
free State, that
when
the population of Florida, east of the
thirty-five thousand, a new
Suwanee River, should exceed
State, called East Florida, should be created
motion was made by Mr. Pettit of Indiana to
proviso. The delegate from Florida, Mr. Levy,
"
motion a violation of the treaty with Spain, a
therefrom.
A
strike out that
pronounced the
flagrant breach
of trust," as well as a cruel piece of injustice to the people
The motion, however, prevailed, and the proviso
of Florida.
was stricken out by a majority of forty-six.
This constitution of Florida not only expressly denied to
the legislature the power to emancipate slaves, but gave it the
authority to prevent free colored persons from immigrating
into the State, or from being discharged from vessels in her
ports.
Mr. Belser of Alabama, whose
Florida, justified these
district
bordered upon
inhuman provisions
as simply precau
He
tionary measures, necessary for the safety of his State.
maintained, too, that no slave State was safe without such
" free
negroes
provision, as
would go there," he
no peaceable intentions, but with firebrands in
said,
" with
their hands,
�ADMISSION OF FLORIDA.
to excite disaffection
among
the slaves."
Washington Hunt
New
York, afterward governor of that State, character
ized those provisions of the Florida constitution as not only
violating the rights of the slave, but those of the master
of
Deprecating the recent action of the South by which
she had abandoned her former position that slavery was local,
himself.
and was predicating
ment was bound to
its
action on the theory that the govern-
aid in extending and perpetuating that
that it " betokened the approach of a
he
declared
system,
period when harmony was forever to depart from our national
councils."
Mr. Morse of Maine moved that so much of the act as relat
ed to Florida should not take effect until after a convention of
But the
delegates shall have stricken out these provisions.
was vigorously resisted by Southern members.
proposition
Mr. Bayly of Virginia was especially arrogant and vitupera
as well as sarcastic
tive,
and
insolent.
were indebted for this proposition
" was
gentleman from Maine, who
"
clared,
very remarkable for his
nounced the amendment as " an
to the
He said that they
"wisdom" of the
not," he insultingly de
statesmanship."
He
unblushing attempt
one who had never set foot on the
soil
"
de
of
of Florida to dic
tate to the people of that Territory.
He characterized it as a
bold assumption of superiority, which was " neither more nor
less
than unqualified arrogance." To this specimen of plan
manners Mr. Morse replied with dignity and effect,
tation
assuming the entire responsibility of his proposed amendment,
and vindicating its pertinence, its justice, and its wise states
Though few came to his support in the debate, yet,
was taken, his motion was defeated by only a
of
An effort was then made by Preston King
majority
eight.
to amend the bill by striking out the proposition respecting
The South
Florida; but that was a point not to be yielded.
was persistent, and, as usual, prevailed.
When the bill came up in the Senate Mr. Evans of Maine
took occasion to refer to the laws of some of the Southern
manship.
when
the vote
States for the arrest and imprisonment of free people of color
and he pronounced the operation of those laws to be harassing
;
�4
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
North. He said that he had known
broken up when colored seamen learned that they
were destined to Southern ports, where they would be impris
oned on account of their race. The clauses in the Constitu
to
the people of the
voyages to be
tion prohibiting the immigration, or the discharge from vessels
in port, of persons of color, he pronounced clearly unconstitu
But Robert
J. Walker defended the Southern view,
these
colored
seamen as " dangerous persons,"
characterizing
possibly coming from San Domingo and ready for any crime.
tional.
Referring to the black laws of Ohio, he made the strong points
if a State had a right to restrict, it had the
right to ex
that
and that "if Florida had a right to exclude colored
clude,
persons by law, she had a right to exclude them by her con
stitution."
Mr. Evans then proposed that Florida should be required to
constitution before admission.
But his Democratic
Mr.
that
these provisions
Fairfield, though admitting
colleague,
amend her
were unconstitutional and that they ought to be changed,
avowed his determination to vote for her admission, because,
he contended, if she had a right to be admitted at all, she was
entitled to admission on an equal footing with the original
States.
But the opposition to the amendment was not as significant
as were the reasons given therefor and the sentiments avowed
Mr. Archer of Virginia contended that such a
provision
belongs to that form of law which overrides all
forms of political institutions or constitution,
the law of selftherewith.
"
He curtly asked Mr. Evans, if a ship-load of
preservation."
"
"
came into Virginia or South Carolina to
pestilent fellows
stir
up
rebellion,
whether the authorities should not
seize
"
" seize
Yes, yes," replied Mr. Evans,
them, try them,
and punish them, to your hearts' content we do not complain
them.
;
of that
;
but what
we
of the
North complain of
is,
that
when
one or two of our citizens go there in pursuit of their lawful
business, and with no thought of stirring up rebellion, you
seize
and imprison them, not
hearts, but for the complexion
The same
for
the evil intents of their
of their faces."
provisions were justified by Mr. Henderson of
�ADMISSION OF FLORIDA.
5
"
Mississippi, who rebuked Massachusetts for her
great outcry
Mr. Berrien of Georgia also
of unconstitutional injustice."
defended them, and even avowed his readiness to cut all party
if necessary to defend Southern rights.
On the other
hand, Mr. Choate of Massachusetts not only condemned them,
but also the Southern laws concerning colored seamen, as
bonds
unconstitutional, giving, at the same time, his unqualified sup
After much debate
port to the proposition of Mr. Evans.
was reached, and only twelve senators, all Northern
Whigs, were found ready to support the amendment. The
bill was then passed with only nine dissenting votes
and
Florida, with these inhuman, oppressive, and admitted uncon
stitutional provisions in her organic law, became, on the 3d
All opposition had
of March, 1845, a member of the Union.
a vote
;
been unavailing.
made
little
All scruples, either constitutional or moral,
impression on a Power that recognized its ability as
the only limit of
tantamount to
its
endeavor, and with which might was ever
right.
Indeed, this very debate revealed the insincerity of the
their lack
leading advocates of slavery and of its demands,
of fealty, not only to party, but to the nation itself.
Doc
fatal to party control and success, but
and
revolutionary
premonitory of rebellion and treason, were
and
Thus the very men
openly
vauntingly proclaimed.
who had clamored so strenuously and unceasingly for an
trines
not
only
"equilibrium" in the Senate, as a national necessity, and
insisted on linking the destiny of the fresh and
youthful Iowa, instinct with life and energy, with that of
who now
Florida, old, effete, already bearing the marks of decay, and
with none of the conditions of a republican State, either in the
number and character
of its population or in the form of its
found
in
the
constitution,
very next session no scruples in the
way of a policy exactly the reverse. Then they saw no
insuperable obstacle to the admission of Texas as a slave
State, coupled though it was with the singular and unprece
dented provision for making four additional States, probably
slave, and no counterbalancing consideration against any slaveholding preponderance that would result therefrom.
�6
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
But the speeches on the occasion were more significant and
suggestive than their acts, especially those of Archer and BerSouthern Whigs, and generally noted for their moderate
and conservative views. When such men appealed, in vindica
tion of measures and usages clearly unconstitutional and violative of good faith, to "the law of self-preservation," which
" overrides all forms of
political institutions or constitution,"
and when they avowed their "readiness to cut all party
rien,
bonds, if necessary to defend Southern rights," is there won
der that the Whig party melted away under such influ
ences ? Even then the Rebellion was but a question of time.
�CHAPTER
MEXICAN WAR.
II.
WILMOT PROVISO.
American government refused intercourse
General Taylor ordered to advance to the
with the Mexican government.
Rio Grande.
Ampudia requests General Taylor to return to the Nueces.
Mexicans defeated.
President's
General Taylor attacked by General Arista.
Protest of the Mexican minister.
Remarks of Clayton, Crittenden, and Cass.
Views of Mr. Calhoun.
The House declares that war exists by act of Mexico.
Passage of the war
Debates in Congress.
The President asks
in the Senate.
bill in the House
message.
;
for
two millions
for the settlement of boundaries.
Two-million
bill reported.
Mr. Wilmot's motion to exclude slavery from territory to be acquired of
Fails in the Senate.
Amendment agreed to.
Mexico.
HAVING consummated the work of annexation, the govern
ment was forced to accept the logical sequences of its action.
them, in spite of all hopes and assurances to the
Thrice had she notified
contrary, was a war with Mexico.
the United States that annexation would be deemed by her
Among
just cause for war.
Nor was there reasonable ground
of
On the
expectation that she would not be true to her word.
6th of March, therefore, four days after the joint resolution
was signed, the Mexican minister made a formal protest and
passports, while the minister of the United
States at Mexico was refused all official intercourse.
demanded
By
his
annexation, therefore, the government had placed
in a position requiring
vent actual
hostilities.
extreme delicacy, tact, and
That delicacy, tact, and
itself
skill to
skill
pre
seemed
wanting in President Polk and Secretary Bu
This, with the same reckless disregard of the rights
of Mexico and amenities of good neighborhood, which had
been displayed in the act of annexation, appeared more glar
so that, if Mexican forbear
ingly in the matter of boundaries
to be wholly
chanan.
;
ance had swallowed the affront put upon her by the former,
she could not, with any show of self-respect, have submitted
without an appeal to arms to the
latter.
By
the joint resolu-
�8
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
tion of annexation, the adjustment of all questions of
bound
ary was assumed by this government.
Ordinary prudence
would have suggested that, in settling them, something was
due to the wounded feelings and sense of outraged justice
of the
Mexican people.
And
yet nothing seemed further from
the policy pursued.
Texas had claimed the Rio Grande as her western limit,
though she had never exercised actual control over either
New Mexico or the country lying between the Nueces and
the Rio Grande.
The groundless character of the claims
of Texas to the Rio Grande as its western boundary was
even admitted by some friends of the measure. While the
Tyler treaty was pending in the Senate, Mr. Woodbury of New
Hampshire said, in his speech in favor of its ratification, that
Texas could, " by a mere law, acquire no title to more than she
had conquered from Mexico and actually governed. Hence,
though her law included more than ancient Texas, she could
hold and convey only that, or, at the uttermost, what she holds
Silas Wright, also of the same party,
jurisdiction over."
"
referring to the boundaries of Texas, declared that they em
braced a country to which Texas had no claims, over which she
had never asserted jurisdiction, and which she had no right to
Mr. Benton denounced the treaty as an attempt to
cede."
seize two thousand square miles of Mexican territory by the
incorporation of the left bank of the Rio del Norte, which
would be an act of direct aggression for the consequences of
which the United States must stand responsible. In his speech
in support of the joint resolution, Mr. Ingersoll, chairman
Committee on Foreign Relations, asserted that the stu
pendous deserts between the river Nueces and the Rio Grande
were "the natural boundary between the Anglo-Saxon and the
Mauritanlan races. There ends the Valley of the West, there
"
and he affirmed that that gigantic boundary
Mexico begins
of the
;
would be sacred while peace remained, " or until the spirit of
conquest rages." Indeed, Mr. Ashley of Arkansas, a zealous
supporter of annexation, boldly avowed in the Senate that
Judge Ellis of Texas, a member of the convention which
framed the constitution, said to him that Texas extended
�MEXICAN WAR.
9
boundaries to the Rio Grande " solely and professedly with
a view of having a large margin in her negotiations with
its
Mexico, and not with the expectation of retaining them as
they now exist on their statute-book." This device, though
unworthy
of a great nation, eminently befitted the
their purpose
who employed
men and
it.
In ordering, therefore, General Taylor to pass a portion
of his forces westward of the river Nueces, which was
done before annexation was accomplished, President Polk
put in peril the peace and the good
name
of the country.
In
Annual Message of December of that year he stated that
American troops were in position on the Nueces, u to de
fend our own and the rights of Texas." But, not content
with occupying ground on and westward of the Nueces, he
issued, on the 13th of January, 1846, the fatal order to Gen
eral Taylor to advance and " occupy positions on or near
the left bank of the Rio del Norte."
That movement of the
army from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, a distance
of more than one hundred miles, was an invasion of Mexican
an act of war for which the President was and must
territory,
his
ever be held responsible by the general judgment of mankind.
Nor can there be reasonable doubt that that order plunged
countries into actual hostilities.
True, Mr. Van
Buren had said that annexation " would draw after it a war
with Mexico," and Mr. Clay had expressed the opinion that
"
" annexation and war with Mexico
are identical
but what
ever might have been the legal status of the two countries,
the two
;
The facts render it apparent
could have been preserved by a wise, prudent,
and moderate policy. But that march into territory inhabited
actual hostilities did not exist.
that peace
by Mexicans, who hastily fled before the advancing forces, the
erection of batteries on the left bank of the Rio Grande,
commanding the
public square
than " to defend our
of
Matamoras, meant more
own and
the rights of Texas."
It
could only mean, it did mean, the acquisition of more ter
ritory in which to establish slavery, and by which the fur
ther expansion and development of slaveholding institutions
could be promoted.
�10
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
General Taylor was requested by Ampudia, the commander
Mexican forces, to return to the Nueces, the western
"
u our
boundary of Texas proper,
while," he said,
gov
ernments are regulating pending questions relative to Texas."
He was not required to withdraw his armies into the territories
of the
United States, but simply to return to the position
Texas held by him during many months. To that
of the
in
request he replied, that he was acting under the orders
of
But he was, nevertheless, on Mexican
government.
in
the
state
of
soil,
Tamaulipas, among the Mexican people.
Early in May General Arista, who had assumed command
of the Mexican forces, crossed the Rio Grande, attacked
General Taylor, was defeated at Palo Alto and Resaca de la
Palma, and then recrossed the river, leaving the American
his
army
in complete possession of its lower bank.
Can
there be a
question that the administration, by both the laws of man and
of God, must be held responsible for the guilt and blood of
that most nefarious
On
to
war
?
May President Polk sent a special message
communicating the information that Mexico
the llth of
Congress
had refused the offer of peaceful adjustment that the military
had been ordered to retire and that the Mexican
general had declared our refusal cams belli; that hostilities
had commenced, and that he should prosecute them. The
President referred, also, to the action between the American
and Mexican forces, and invoked " Congress to recognize the
existence of war, and to place at the disposal of the executive
Mr. Houston,
the means of prosecuting the war with vigor."
"
claiming as Texan territory" up to the Rio Grande, proclaimed
that " American blood had been shed on American soil.
That soil had been consecrated before to them, and their
The position of these two
rights must be maintained."
men gave weight to their statements which was manifestly
wanting in the words themselves. Those, however, with whom
either slavery or party was paramount to all other claims
were prepared to accept conclusions, though they did not bear
the test of close scrutiny or answer the demands of either
;
forces
justice,
;
humanity, or a true patriotism.
f
�MEXICAN WAR.
11
In the Senate, Mr. Speight, a Democratic member from
Mississippi, moved to print twenty thousand copies of the
message. The debate upon that motion was earnest and emi
nently suggestive, as it revealed in the various opinions ex
pressed both the task the propagandists had undertaken in
order to secure a favorable vote, and also the process by
which
it
was accomplished.
it
Nor
is it
doubtful that
many ap
On
with grave solicitude, doubts, and misgivings.
proached
the one hand, the slavery propagandists and members of the
Democratic party could not but be anxious about the conse
quences of a policy which had been adopted in spite of the pro
tests and damaging admissions of many, even of their most
eminent leaders.
Subservient as the North had shown
itself,
was danger of going too far.
On the other hand, the Southern Whigs, though on the record
they must have
felt
that there
averse to annexation, felt the danger of putting in peril either
slavery or party by persisting too strenuously in opposition to
what was rapidly becoming a Southern measure, and mani
festly only a question of time.
They remembered the war of
1812 as the rock on which the Federal party, by its opposition,
was wrecked and they were naturally chary of making a like
;
mistake.
Mr. Calhoun was sincerely opposed to the proposed war.
Though his policy had provoked it, he shrank from its
But he had trusted to diplomacy,
legitimate consequences.
and had supposed that the liberal use of money in Mexico's
necessities
would lead
to the relinquishment of
Texas without
But, though he had been potent in causing
the complications of the hour, he found himself powerless
resort to arms.
in restraining or shaping the consequences.
He had raised
the whirlwind, but he could not direct the storm.
Other men,
more
and self-seeking, with ulterior pur
and
poses
schemes, desired war for its own sake and its pro
spective results.
He, dreading those results, counselled mod
eration and dignity.
Availing himself of the distinction be
tween hostilities and war, he claimed that the latter had not
As it was its prerogative alone to determine,
yet intervened.
it should be left to Congress to decide whether or not war
had actually began.
reckless, audacious,
�12
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
But there were others less cautious and, if not more oblivi
ous of principle, more reckless of consequences. Among them
was Mr. Clayton of Delaware. Though a Whig, opposed to
annexation, and disavowing all responsibility for the war,
that resting alone, he claimed, on the President,
he hastened
to give in his adhesion, and to say that he was quite ready and
it out
as if, in such a case, any action of the
President could absolve him from his obligation to oppose what
both his reason and conscience condemned as wrong in princi
" I do not mean to
ple and impolitic in practice.
express," he
"
said,
any opinion as to sending troops to the Rio Grande by
willing to fight
;
voting supplies."
In a similar strain, John J. Crittenden of
Kentucky, another Whig senator,
patriotic, but impulsive
and intensely Southern,
the
sentiment that more
expressed
had
never
been
communicated
distressing intelligence
by any
The importance of the event, he said, did not con
amount of precious blood that had been shed, but
in the bad examples and the evil consequences to republican
ism and liberty everywhere. " I hope," he said, " to find my
President.
sist in
the
;
however, I will stand by her, right or
declarations of Mr. Clayton were warmly ap
plauded by General Cass, who declared that he had spoken
" like an American senator and like an American
patriot."
country in the right
wrong."
The
North Carolina, another Whig senator,
that
General Cass should regard Mr. Clay-'
expressed surprise
"I
ton's remark as worthy of special gratulation.
trust," he
" that that is a common sentiment entertained
by every
said,
member of the Senate." He thought, however, that " war "
Mr.
Morehead
of
did not exist, as Congress alone had power to declare
it.
These sentiments of leading Southern Whigs, not to speak
of those of Northern Democrats like General Cass, revealed
the process by which the Slave Power, in the hands of an
inconsiderable fraction of the nation, contrived to control the
action of the government, in support of a policy in clear an
tagonism to every professed principle on which that govern
ment was founded, and by which
it
was
also enabled to
push
the most extreme and obnoxious measures through the national
legislature.
Tenacious, unyielding, and inexorable,
it
had so
�MEXICAN WAR.
13
its hands the reins and rod of party
and
in
so
debauching the public sentiment, that no
discipline,
to
the
higher law, no breadth of statesmanship, not
loyalty
to
even fealty
party itself, was permitted to stand in the way
"
of its behests.
Right or wrong," its battles must be fought
and its policy must be sustained.
In the House a bill was introduced by Mr. Haralson, chair
man of the Committee on Military Affairs, authorizing the
succeeded in getting into
President to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers,
and appropriating ten million dollars. The same differences
of opinion existed there as in the Senate respecting the actual
state of affairs between the two nations.
Was it war, or only
a state of hostilities ? The President, strangely oblivious of
the claims of truth, had said that " Mexico had invaded our
territory and shed the blood of our citizens on our own soil."
As
the slave propagandists had approved and applauded his
order authorizing General Taylor to advance to the left bank
of the Rio Grande, they were determined also that Congress
should indorse that action and share that responsibility. To
effect that purpose, Linn Boyd, a Kentucky Democrat, after
ward Speaker
of the
House, offered a substitute for the
first
"
affirming that
by the act of the Republic
of Mexico a state of war exists between that government and
section of the
bill,
United States."
This amendment being agreed to by
a
the
bill was put upon its final passage, and
nearly
party vote,
almost
passed
unanimously, only fourteen voting against it.
the
Considering the offensive form in which the measure was
presented, not only being in direct conflict with sentiments re
peatedly avowed by those who supported it, but plainly falsify
ing the truth of history, this vote was sadly suggestive of the
national demoralization, and of degrading party
vassalage.
For the Democratic majority, dominated by the Slave Power,
had seized the occasion not only to proclaim
its
devotion to
Southern interests, and, if possible, to place the minority in a
false position, but that
minority made it too apparent that
fealty to party was stronger than regard for principle, and
that there was a greater solicitude to maintain the
integrity
of the former than to
obey the dictates of the latter.
The
�14
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
character of the
bill
IN AMERICA.
and the embarrassment
of
Southern
Whigs were
then
well expressed by Garrett Davis of Kentucky,
an earnest and trusted friend of Henry Clay. On
his request to be excused from voting, after expressing
the opinion that the relief of the troops must have been
already secured or their fate sealed long before help could
be sent by Congress, and indicating his willingness to vote
supplies for the war, he said that there could be no valid
objection to giving a day to the consideration of the act, though
denied by " the haughty and domineering majority." " I pro
"
test solemnly," he said,
against defiling the measure with the
unfounded statement that Mexico began the war." " Had the
" I doubt not the bill would
amendment been
he
rejected,"
receive the
unanimous vote
said,
of the House.
But that was not
the object of its authors. Their purpose was to make the
Whigs vote against the measure, or force them to aid in throw
ing a shelter over the administration."
On the 12th the bill was reported to the Senate by Mr.
Benton, chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. Sev
eral amendments and modifications were offered, but rejected
;
.,
'
and it was passed, the same day, by a vote of forty to two,
John Davis of Massachusetts and Thomas Clayton of Dela
ware alone voting against it. Thus hurriedly was the Mex
ican War assumed, its origin falsified, and the nation com
mitted to its prosecution with all its guilt and peril, and its
uncertain cost of blood and treasure.
The fourteen members of the House and the two members
of the Senate who voted against the measure were bitterly
assailed.
Stephen A. Douglas, a rising member from the
from that time onward mingled largely in the
who
West,
till
its
culmination in the Rebellion, characterized them
strife,
as " hypocrites, traitors, and cowards."
They had, however,
an advocate in Charles Hudson of Massachusetts, who de
nounced in fitting terms the craven sentiment that it was
treason to criticise the government in time of war.
avowed
frowns
He
"
his purpose to utter his sentiments,
regardless of
"
the dogmatical declarations and awful
or sneers," or
nods of Mr. Douglas." The preamble, he
said,
was
utterly false
�15
MEXICAN WAR.
as a whole, and false in each of
was " a crime of deepest dye."
its recitals,
and the war
itself
He warned
those in power to
"
fall upon their
did
not
execration
it
that
to
well
look
public
shed
for
that
blood
unrighteous purposes
heads, and to remember
from the ground to Him who bringeth the princes to
nothing, and taketh up the isles as a very little thing.'
Though the war was prosecuted with considerable vigor, its
progress and results did not keep pace with the wishes of those
who had urged it upon the nation, or with the general expecta
tion of its advocates. It was also consuming more time, costing
more money, and giving the people more opportunity to study
its character, purposes, and prospective results, which, under
the teachings of the opponents of slavery, they were im
proving, than had been anticipated. Accordingly, on the 8th
'
will cry
'
of August, ten days before the close of the session, the Pres
a special message to Congress asking an appro
of
two
million of dollars, " for the purpose of settling
priation
our differences with Mexico." He expressed the opinion that
ident sent
the chief obstacle would be the adjustment of boundaries be
tween the two countries.
A
being introduced by Mr. McKay, chairman of the
of Ways and Means, to carry into effect the Presi
dent's recommendation, a brief and sharp debate followed.
bill
Committee
Hugh White
of
New York avowed
his sanction to the bill unless
his unwillingness to give
so as to forever preclude
amended
the possibility of extending slavery.
Mr. Winthrop of Massa
chusetts arraigned the supporters of the administration for
their attempts to place their opponents in a false
position.
Several Democratic members,
who had been
cajoled into
a vote for annexation by the shallow device of the Walker
amendment, on the pretence that the choice proposed by
that amendment would be left to the new administration, had
been greatly chagrined, besides being made the
subjects of
much censorious remark, when they saw the measure actually
consummated by the hasty action of Tyler and Calhoun, which
they had supposed would be left to the more deliberate and care
movements of Mr. Polk and Mr. Buchanan.
They saw now not only evidences of a similar policy, but
fully considered
�16
RISE
themselves
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
summoned
ward and helping
IN AMERICA.
to the ignoble task of carrying for
consummate a fraud, of which they had
been
made the agents and the victims.
already unwittingly
to
therefore, they could not retrieve the past, they were
\nxious to save the future. They saw that the war was
If,
prosecuted by men intent on the acquisition of territory, which,
though free by Mexican law, would be made slave by the new
theory of Mr. Calhoun, that the Constitution carried slavery
into all national territory, acquired or to be acquired, unless
prohibited by positive law.
They believed that President
Polk was seeking territory, not to extend freedom and free
institutions, but slavery and those peculiar to the South.
Something they saw must be done in that supreme moment of
the crisis to retrieve the false step they had taken and to avert
the impending evil.
In the haste of the
member from
party,
moment Jacob Brinkerhoff a Democratic
member of the Republican
,
Ohio, afterward a
a jurist of capacity and high character, drew up an
to the bill, which has become famous in the
amendment
It provided that,
history of the times now passing in review.
* as an
condition
to
fundamental
the acquisition
express and
any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United
by virtue of any treaty to be negotiated between them,
and to the use by the executive, of the moneys herein apropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist
in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the
of
States,
party shall be first duly convicted."
To secure the floor for such an amendment, and to give it
as fair a chance as possible of success, he sought the aid of
a
member
of the
Democratic party who stood well with the
South, and who yet was friendly to the principle embodied in
the amendment he had prepared.
David Wilmot of Penn
answered
that
Northern Democrat,
sylvania
description.
A
he had commended himself to Southern favor by voting for
the tariff of 1846.
The
result proved the
wisdom
of the strat
egy.
Gaining the floor, Mr. Wilmot accompanied his amend
ment with an earnest speech.
To the manifest purpose
of the administration to acquire territory he had no ob-
�MEXICAN WAR.
jection, providing
it
WILMOT PROVISO.
could be kept free from slavery.
vote of eighty-three to sixty-four in favor of his
him and
greatly cheered
17
his
A
amendment
Northern friends. A motion, by
bill lie on the table, made
Mr. Tibbatts of Kentucky, that the
for the purpose of defeating the proviso,
majority,
all
Ohio, and
was
lost
by fourteen
Whigs but Robert C. Schenck of
the Northern Democrats but John Pettit of
the Northern
all
Indiana, and Stephen A. Douglas and
of Illinois, voting against
it.
The
bill
John A. McClernand
was then passed by a
vote of eighty-seven to sixty-four.
It was taken up in the Senate on the last day of the session,
which was to close at noon, and a motion was made to strike
out the proviso.
John Davis
of Massachusetts took the floor,
and, he declining to yield it, the bill and proviso were lost.
Mr. Davis was much censured at the time for not permitting a
vote to be taken.
But, whatever were his motives, it is prob
on the motion
able that a vote could not have been reached
and, if it had been, it would have
as
there was a majority of slavehold
unquestionably prevailed,
ers in that body, and the exigencies of the system would not
to strike out the proviso
;
have allowed them to see the purpose of the war thus de
It has indeed been since affirmed by Mr. Brinkerhoff
feated.
that there
was " a well-ascertained and unanimous determina
on the part of the Democratic senators of the free States
by the proviso, and that those of Delaware and
Maryland would have voted with them.'' But surely Mr.
tion
to stand
It is barely possible
Brinkerhoff must have been mistaken.
that Democratic senators from the free States would have
voted for that measure, but their previous and subsequent
conduct does not justify the belief that they would have done
so.
Mr. Pearce of Maryland and the two Delaware senators
not living to speak for themselves, but the subsequent
course of Mr. Pearce and John M. Clayton gave no assurance
are
that they would have voted for the proviso had it come to a
The probability is strong that they would have voted
vote.
and Reverdy Johnson, in a letter written in April,
1873, states in the most unequivocal language that he should
against
it,
not have voted for
VOL.
II.
it.
3
�CHAPTER
III.
TREATY OP GUADALOUPE HIDALGO.
ACQUISITION OP TERRITORY.
CONTINUATION OP THE SLAVERY STRUGGLE.
Meeting of Congress.
Message.
Speech of Mr. Wilmot.
Mr.
Bayly, Dowdell.
Wood.
Brinkerhoff,
ment.
Three-million bill reported.
Mr.
Stephens,
Webster's views.
of Mr.
Upham's amendment.
Berrien.
Wilmot's amendment
Kemarks
Hamlin's amend
lost
Treaty of peace.
Potency of slavery.
Meeting of XXXth Con
Mr. Winthrop elected Speaker.
Mr. Putnam's resolution.
Root's
gress.
bills for California and New Mexico.
Amendment excluding slavery.
Mr.
Walker's amendment.
Action of House.
Defeat of measures for prohib
Declarations of Mr. Trist.
iting slavery.
Mr. Thompson's amendment.
Rejected by the Senate.
ON
Agreed to by the House.
Victory of the Slave Power.
the assembling of
Congress, in December, 1846, the
President, in his Annual Message, reaffirmed his previous
declaration, that Mexico had inaugurated hostilities, and
that "
American blood had been
The language
spilled
on American
soil."
"
Benton,
Thirty Years' View,"
"
is
to
bound
pronounce her judgment
History
affirming that
in his
of
upon these assumptions, and to say that they are unfounded,"
does not express the whole truth. They were unequivocally
and historically false.
A bill
appropriating three millions of dollars for the purpose
was introduced into the House. In the debate
of negotiations
following Mr. Wilmot defined and defended his position.
Alluding to the adoption of the proviso by a decisive majority,
he expressed the opinion, which the facts by no means war
" the entire South were even then
willing to
ranted, that
of
He said the friends of the administration
acquiesce."
whom
he was one
who voted with him
did not then charge upon him and those
the defeat of the Two-Million Bill by the
admitted that " the South
" it
resisted it manfully, boldly resisted it
but," he added,
was passed, and there was no cry that the Union was to be
introduction of the proviso.
He
;
�CONTINUATION OF THE SLAVERY STRUGGLE.
19
Disclaiming all sympathy for, or affiliation with,
" I stand
Abolitionists, Mr. Wilmot said
by every compromise
severed."
:
was in favor of the annexation of
Texas. The Democracy of the North was for it to a man,
and is fighting the war cheerfully, not reluctantly, for Texas
and the South." The declarations of the leaders and presses
of the administration and the movements of the armies
pointed, he said, to the acquisition of New Mexico and Cali
fornia and he expressed the hope that the President would
the Constitution.
of
I
;
He desired fresh territory, but
firmly adhere to his purpose.
it must be preserved from the aggressions of slavery
and
"
for that he contended.
When, in God's name," he asked,
" will it be the time for the North to
speak out, if not now ?
;
If the
war
is
not for slavery, then I do not embarrass the
administration with
am
deceived in
my
amendment.
If it is for slavery, I
its object."
Of course Mr. Wilmot was deceived.
His declarations and
prompt disclaimer of all sympathy and affiliation with
abolition revealed that fact, as also his want of acquaintance
his
with slavery and the designs of the Slave Power. His igno
rance, however, was speedily dispelled in the path on which
he had so bravely entered and his subsequent career showed
;
that in the
new
school he had entered he became thoroughly,
But at that time he evidently failed to
rapidly proficient.
comprehend the real facts of the case, or the true philosophy
of those facts.
The seeming acquiescence of the South in the
vote on his proviso resulted not so much from a disposition to
abide by it as from a settled purpose to reverse it as soon as
possible,
obtained.
and from the conviction that such reversal could be
He soon learned, however, the strength and tenacity
Southern purpose to guard with sleepless vigilance the
system of slavery, and to keep it from all possible or con
ceivable danger
but he never failed to render good service in
of the
;
the struggle on which he then entered.
There were other examples, in the same party, of like
resistance to the exacting demands of slavery.
Among them
was that
of Bradford R.
Wood
Republican, and Minister to
of
New
York, subsequently a
Denmark during
the Rebellion.
�20
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
He
proclaimed it his purpose that, come what might, so far as
he was concerned, slavery should go no further. He com
bated the idea that, from the nature of the soil and climate,
slavery could not exist in the territory to be acquired.
"
" wherever
man, in his cupidity
Slavery will go," he said,
and lust of power, can carry it." Mr. McClelland, also a Dem
ocratic representative from Michigan, afterward Secretary of
the Interior under President Pierce, advocated the Wilmot
"
folly to think that our Northern men
proviso, announcing it
will emigrate to the
they know they
will
most inviting
territory in the world where
be compelled to labor side by side with
the slave."
Mr. Brinkerhoff, who had drafted the amendment presented
by Mr. Wilmot, made an earnest appeal to Northern repre
They were
required, he said, not only to keep
multiply the markets where men were to be
"Is this act," he in
to multiply human shambles.
" the nameless
of which no color is dark
sentatives.
open, but to
sold,
quired,
infamy
enough to paint, no word has language strong enough ade
at which posterity will blush, which
quately to characterize,
shall this be our act ? The act of
must
abhor,
Christianity
freemen and the representatives of freemen
?
Almighty God,
forbid it."
Southern Whigs, like Mr. Stephens, opposed the acquisition
of territory only
on
political
grounds.
They would
dispose
of the troublesome proviso by bringing in no new territory to
become the occasion of such contest between conflicting par
and sections. Mr. Stephens expressed the conviction that,
the policy of the administration was to be carried out, if
the forbidden fruit of Mexican territory was to be seized at
ties
if
every hazard, those who controlled public affairs, instead of
revelling in the halls of the Montezumas, or gloating over the
ancient cities of the Aztecs, might be compelled to turn, and
behold in their rear another and a wider prospect of desola
tion, carnage,
and blood.
He was
careful,
however, to state
from no scruples in regard to
he
That
stood,
contended, on a basis as firm as the
slavery.
" and
" Until
Bible.
Christianity be overthrown," he said,
that his objections originated
�CONTINUATION OF THE SLAVERY STRUGGLE.
21
some other system of ethics be substituted, the relation of
master and slave can never be regarded as an offence against
the divine laws."
But the Southern advocates of both the war and slavery
their section of
naturally opposed a policy that would despoil
In the face
the animating purpose and motive of the war.
of facts patent to all, and with an effrontery that slavery
alone could generate, they put in the plea of injured in
nocence, and were loud in their complaints of Northern
Thomas H. Bayly, a Democratic representative
aggression.
from the eastern shore of Virginia, said that the boldness
and strength of the Abolitionists had increased with great
how quiet Southern men
rapidity, and he was amazed to see
As a sentinel on the watch-tower, he warned his
were.
countrymen against rapidly approaching danger, declaring
" when further concessions to
that they had arrived at a point
the Abolitionists would be alike dishonorable and fatal." Mr.
of Alabama, alluding to the fact that they were
in
a foreign war, expressed his surprise that, instead
engaged
of devising ways and means of replenishing an exhausted
Dowdell
treasury, they were engaged in a heated discussion of the
"
Discord," he said,
reigns where
What
should
has
and
union
prevail.
harmony
produced this
Who are the authors of the illdeplorable state of things ?
question of
"
slavery.
starred agitation which has so much disturbed our delibera
?
In every stage of the history of this proceeding the
tions
North has tendered the
occupied
is,
the
issue, while the
of
defendant
South has reluctantly
position
as to the locality and condition of those
The question
who are slaves.
True philanthropy would diffuse, not congregate them into a
narrow compass, or make them fixtures on the soil. More
horrible
still is
the purpose, scarcely disguised, of breaking the
by rendering his labor unprofitable, thus
fetters of the slave
substituting for peaceful subjection a bloody contest of rival
This wholesale proscription of a large section of the
races.
Union
will never be tolerated until the degeneracy of the
South shall invite the chains which reckless power would rivet
upon her limbs."
�22
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWEK
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Nor did the Slave Power lack Northern defenders. Among
them was Mr. Strong of New York, who, although he had
voted for
it
at its first introduction, could
now
come
say
:
" I will
what shape it
garb it may assume. It is ill-timed, out
of place, has no business here, and is calculated to produce,
as it has produced, nothing but mischief, absolute, unmitigated
oppose this proviso at the present time,
in
may and whatever
evil."
He
claimed that the
way
to fasten slavery
upon the
country was, to wall it up within its then present limits. In
no other way, he said, than by leaving a pathway open toward
the tropics,
permitting the increasing white population and
the natural tendency of things to push them gradually and
can the
silently, but as certain as destiny, in that direction,
more Northern slaveholding States be
relieved of their burden.
Early in the session Preston King, then a Democratic mem
ber from New York, had made an unsuccessful effort to intro
duce a bill containing the prohibition of slavery. Mr. Hamlin
had
also moved, on the 15th of February, an amendment to
the " Three-Million Appropriation Bill," providing that there
should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any
territory
on the continent of America which should thereafter
be acquired by virtue of that appropriation. Mr. Douglas
made an unsuccessful attempt to amend that amendment, so
that it should take effect in any territory to be acquired north
of
Mr. Graham of North
the Missouri Compromise line.
made an unsuccessful motion to amend it by
Carolina then
extending the line of the Missouri Compromise to the Pacific
Ocean. Mr. Hamlin's amendment was then adopted by a vote
of one
hundred and
fifteen to
one hundred and six
;
and the
bill, as amended, passed by a majority of ten.
In the Senate, on the 19th of January, Mr. Sevier of
Ar
kansas reported from the Committee on Foreign Relations a
bill
appropriating three million dollars to authorize the Presi
dent to negotiate a peace with Mexico. The long and exciting
debate which followed revealed not only the chaotic state and
heated effervescence of the public mind, but the crystallizing
process going on in the political sentiments of the people around
the new policy which the Slave Power was dictating, and which
�CONTINUATION OF THE SLAVERY STRUGGLE.
23
Of
the country was too evidently and too readily accepting.
Southern Whigs
course this was not the work of a moment.
could not at once accept and support a policy which ignored
and imperilled
their party ascendency at
loved
However much they
the North.
slavery, and however
willing they were to conserve its interests, they could not, with
out some hesitation, sacrifice their political aspirations and
their party affiliations
its dark and polluted altar. Though
the inexorable power made the exaction, and they were pre
pared in the final issue to allow its claims to be paramount,
immolate themselves upon
they very naturally resisted the policy which rendered such
party destruction and such personal immolation probable, if
The evidence of such personal struggles and
was more clearly visible in the discussion now under
not inevitable.
conflicts
consideration than in any previous or subsequent debate.
Nor could Northern Democrats at once forget all former
traditions, or ignore the little
and
remaining conscience, humanity,
party ranks for they, as well
"
found "
that must be
political consistency in their
as the
of a later date,
Whigs
conquered.
Though the
;
prejudices
final
surrender was certain, and the
leaders were ready enough to make it, it was politic to exhibit
a show of resistance of hesitation, at least. With this key
;
in hand, the debate will be better understood.
In the Senate the Whigs, though in the minority, strove to
avert the threatened catastrophe.
Mr. Berrien moved an
that
war
amendment, declaring
ought not to be prosecuted
with any view to the dismemberment of the Mexican republic,
or to the acquisition by conquest of any portion of her terri
tory.
an
But
it
was
unsuccessful
Wilmot
Mr.
rejected.
attempt
Upham
of
Vermont made
an amendment the
Mr.
Webster presented
rejection
to
secure as
After its
proviso.
the resolutions of the Massachusetts
legislature, protesting
against additions of territory without the express provision
that there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude.
Asserting that it was generally admitted that the war was for
the acquisition of territory, he proclaimed that the voice of the
" I under
free States was clear and distinct in its tones.
"
that an imperative call is made on us to act
stand," he said,
�24
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
now, to take security now, to make it certain now that no
more slave States shall be added to the Union." He indorsed
Mr. Berrien's amendment as the only true policy, and de
clared that the rejection by the Senate of the Wilmot proviso
was " ominous, portentous." He expressed the fear that the
nation had not arrived at the beginning of the end. " The
" is full of difficul
future," he but too prophetically declared,
ties and full of dangers.
are suffering to pass the golden
We
opportunity for securing harmony and the stability of the
Constitution.
appear to be rushing upon perils headlong,
We
with our eyes all open."
But the bill passed the Senate by nearly a strict party
It was taken up in the House on the last day of
vote.
the session, and Mr. Wilmot renewed his amendment.
But
it was rejected by a vote of ninety-seven to one hundred and
two
;
and the
bill
giving the President three million dollars to
negotiate for the acquisition of Mexican territory, without re
strictions upon slavery and without any guaranties for freedom,
received a majority of thirty-four
;
and the Slave Power was
again victorious.
Of the Senate, as constituted, little had been expected.
But the House
even after annexation had ripened into war
for territorial acquisition
revealed at the outset a majority in
favor of impressing upon every league won by conquest, in in
But the Slave
effaceable characters, the destiny of freedom.
Power, quickened into greater activity and intensity of purpose
by that manifestation of independence, and controlling as it did
the President, the Cabinet, the Senate, and the Supreme Court,
at once began its work of demoralization. The usual appliances
were brought into requisition, and with the usual success.
The
timid were overawed, and the venal and ambitious were won
by promises of place and power. Consequently, the majority
of nineteen in
August
in favor of the
Wilmot proviso had
melted in March into a minority of five. In the course of that
debate Mr. Armistead Burt of South Carolina had told the
" She
North
in that
the South had no traitors.
that,
crisis,
has no traitorous son here," he said, " to be false to his own
honor or faithless to her safety
none at home to betray his
;
�25
CONTINUATION OF THE SLAVERY STRUGGLE.
If there were not, among those
their
had
who
votes, and by that means the result,
changed
this biting sarcasm, there were thou
of
force
the
some who felt
sands at the North who realized, with infinite regret and cha
freedom had been wickedly
grin, that they and the cause of
blood and his native land."
betrayed by this recreant action.
The administration of Mr. Polk, in asking for three millions
of dollars, proposed to negotiate a peace on the basis of the
by Mexico of Upper and Lower California, New
Mexico, and the disputed territory between the Nueces and
the Rio Grande, to constitute the latter river the boundary
between the two countries, and to secure the right of way
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Having secured, after a
long and fierce struggle, in which the Slave Power had put
cession
forth all its resources, this appropriation for the acquisition of
territory without any restrictions in regard to slavery, the
President, on the 15th of April, appointed Nicholas P.
Trist
of Virginia an agent, with ample power and authority to
confer with any person or persons authorized by Mexico to
negotiate a treaty of peace, amnesty, and lasting boundaries.
Carrying with him the projet of a treaty, Mr. Trist accompa
nied the
of
army
Contreras
to the valley of Mexico, and, after the battles
commissioners of
and Cherubusco, met the
Mexico appointed to negotiate a treaty. For several days,
from the 27th of August to the 7th of September, the com
missioners were in session.
But all negotiations having
failed, the war was renewed, and the capital fell.
Though he
was then recalled, and his authority as peace commissioner
revoked, Mr. Trist remained with the army, and, on the 2d
of February, 1848, negotiated a treaty of peace.
By this treaty Upper California, New Mexico,
and the coun
between
the
Nueces
and
Rio
Grande
were
try
acquired, fifteen
millions of dollars were to be paid to Mexico, and all Ameri
can claims relinquished. This sum paid to Mexico, the direct
expenditures of the war, and other expenses growing out of it,
made the pecuniary cost of the territory thus acquired not less
than a hundred and thirty millions of dollars.
expenditure of
money, the more costly outlay of
This large
life,
and the
�26
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
priceless sacrifice of national honor, were all made for the
purpose of enlarging the area of slavery, strengthening the
more
Slave Power, and making
relentless,
and
its
domination more
complete,
secure.
This vast territory, nearly the size of the original thirteen
Nor this
States, had been made free by the new republic.
alone ; Mexico sought, though forced to relinquish her claim,
to incorporate with the proposed treaty of cession the con
dition that slavery should be excluded therefrom.
Indeed,
" the United
she instructed her commissioners to insist that
States shall engage not to permit slavery in that part of
In a com
the territory which they shall acquire by treaty."
Mr.
the
4th
of
of
to
munication
Buchanan,
September, 1847,
Mr. Trist states that he was told by the Mexican commission
"
ers that
if it
were proposed to the people of the United States
to part with a portion of
their territory, in
order that the
Inquisition should be therein established, the proposal could
not excite stronger feelings of abhorrence than those awakened
in Mexico by the prospect of the introduction of slavery in any
her."
territory parted with by
But these entreaties were unheeded.
Mr. Trist refused
all
"
" The bare
mention," he said, of such a
No American President, as he
such restrictions.
treaty is an impossibility."
" would dare to
present any such treaty to the
expressed it,
Senate." "I assured them," in singular language for the
to use in a despatch to his gov
representative of a republic
" that if it were in their
power to offer me the whole
ernment,
tenfold in value,
our
projet, increased
territory described in
with pure gold,
thick
foot
a
and in addition to that covered
should be excluded
upon the single condition that slavery
for a moment, nor
therefrom, I could not entertain the offer
it to Washington."
Never had the nation presented itself in a more humiliating
On this
indefensible position.
attitude, nor occupied a more
of
seal
the
and,
had
freedom,
Mexico
vast territory
impressed
con
the
had
she
humiliating
accepted
though in her straits,
even think of communicating
to make
imposed by her conqueror, she earnestly sought
to
sacred
remain
still
should
it
that
a condition precedent
dition
it
�CONTINUATION OF THE SLAVERY STRUGGLE.
27
But this humane condition was not simply rejected,
was scouted even, and that in language whose very extrava
gance and hyperbole revealed the earnestness and strength of
Nor was
conviction and purpose it was designed to express.
it simply the expression of an individual opinion. Mr. Trist was
a gentleman of capacity and character, never distinguished for
his extreme views, and he well knew that even his extraordi
nary declarations did not more than give expression to the
Nor is
sentiments and determination of the government.
there wanting the evidence of its correctness, in that there was
never any disavowal of the same by the government or its
liberty.
it
And thus it stands confessed to the nations, that
agents.
republican America preferred war, with all its hazards and
cost, to peace and territory, although imperial in size and
resources, unless that territory could be devoted to slavery ;
and would have done so, though that territory were " increased
tenfold in value," and " covered a foot thick with pure gold."
At the meeting of the XXXth Congress, in December,
1847, Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts was the Whig
candidate for Speaker. His capacity, character, and culture,
and social standing, as well as his parliamentary
and
knowledge
experience, admirably qualified him for that
His
action
on the slavery question during the pre
position.
two
ceding
years unquestionably commended him to the South
ern Whigs, and reconciled them to casting their votes for a
Northern man. This action, however, that so recommended
him to extreme and sensitive Southern Whigs, rendered him
as obnoxious to some Northern members. Mr. Palfrey of Mas
sachusetts, Mr. Giddings and Mr. Tuck of New Hampshire,
persistently withheld from him their votes. But he was chosen
on the third ballot by the withdrawal of the votes of Mr.
Tompkins, a Mississippi Whig, and Mr. Holmes, a South Caro
lina Democrat.
In justification of his vote, Mr. Holmes said,
in a letter to his constituents, that " the Southern Whigs
opposed to the Wilmot proviso nominated Mr. Winthrop in
caucus in opposition to a majority of the Northern Whigs,
who were in favor of the Wilmot proviso, and who opposed the
nomination of Mr. Winthrop." The refusal of Mr. Palfrey to
his political
�28
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
vote for his colleague was very distasteful to Mr. Winthrop
and his friends in Massachusetts, and very materially tended
to widen the breach between the two wings of the Whig party
in that State.
To
Caleb B. Smith of Indiana was assigned, by Speaker
Winthrop, the then very important position of chairman of
the Committee on Territories.
He was
a native of Massachu
a gentleman of ability, and an eloquent and effective
speaker ; but he did not display the boldness and organizing
setts,
power the
crisis
ness, zeal,
and
demanded; nor did he manifest that earnest
which inspired the courage or won the
faith
confidence of others.
Early in the session, Harvey Putnam, a Whig member from
New York, introduced a resolution prohibiting slavery in the
When it came up for con
territory acquired from Mexico.
in February,
sideration,
it
was
laid
on the table by twelve
majority, on motion of Richard Broadhead, a Pennsylvania
Democrat.
During the session, the question of extending
slavery into the territory won from Mexico, or excluding it
therefrom, continually forced itself upon the consideration of
The issues involved were presented with elaborate
and
much
to the enlightenment of the country, but no
fulness
It was also
practical results were secured during the session.
during this session that Mr. Clayton's specious and subtle
Congress.
device,
and
misnamed a compromise,
to unite Oregon, California,
New
Mexico in one measure, leaving the slavery questions
to be determined by the Supreme Court, so signally failed.
At the opening of the second session of the same Congress,
the territorial question which had so largely entered into the
Presidential canvass forced itself
upon the attention
of both
Joseph M. Root of Ohio introduced a resolution
Houses.
instructing the Committee on Territories to introduce bills
providing Territorial governments for New Mexico and Cali
This resolution was
also excluding slavery.
a
of
majority
twenty-seven, all the Democratic
adopted by
members from the free States, excepting eight, voting for it.
fornia,
and
A bill was
soon reported for the government of California, and,
was introduced for the
early in the following month, another
�CONTINUATION OF THE SLAVERY STRUGGLE.
New
29
After debate, the bill for the
government of California was taken from the Committee of
the Whole, and Mr. Sawyer, a Democratic member from Ohio,
organization of
Mexico.
moved to strike out the prohibition of slavery. But his mo
An amendment, in
tion was lost by a majority of seventeen.
the nature of a substitute, was offered by Mr. Preston, a Whig
member from Virginia, afterward Secretary of the Navy under
General Taylor, providing for the organization of California as
a State. The House, on motion of Mr. Collins of New York,
amended the substitute so as to prohibit slavery. Other
amendments were offered, rejected, or withdrawn, and the
The Senate,
bill was then passed by a majority of thirty-nine.
however, by a majority of three, refused to consider it at all.
Mr. Walker of Wisconsin moved an amendment to the civil
and diplomatic appropriation bill, extending the laws of the
United States over the territory acquired from Mexico, and
authorizing the President to make all needful regulations for
the enforcement of the Constitution and laws in that territory.
was adopted by a vote of twenty-nine to
The
House
refused, by a majority of fourteen,
twenty-seven.
to concur in that amendment. The Senate insisted, and asked
a committee of conference. The committee, unable to agree,
was discharged. It was then moved by Mr. McClernand, a
Democratic member from Illinois, that the House recede from
After a
full debate, it
disagreement with the Senate's amendment, and the motion
was agreed to by three majority.
The House having receded, it was moved by Richard W.
Thompson, a Whig member from Indiana, that it concur in
the amendment of the Senate, with an amendment which was
substantially a substitute, and which provided that the existing
laws of the territory should be retained and observed until
its
July 4, 1850, unless Congress should sooner provide for the
Mr. Thompson's amend
government of these territories.
ment was agreed to by a majority of six, and the Senate
amendment, as amended, was adopted. But that body, find
ing that the House amendment recognized the existing laws pro
hibiting slavery, refused concurrence, though, after an excited
debate, which continued till nearly seven o'clock on Sunday
�30
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
morning, the 4th of March when it receded from its amendment.
Its action, however, clearly revealed its spirit and purpose.
Professing to believe
ments in
priation bill for
-
;
it
vitally
New Mexico and
Senate rejected
important to organize govern
it had amended an appro
But the House insisting, the
proposition, and thus revealed its object, in
California,
that purpose.
its
putting in peril, in the closing hours of the session, the civil
and diplomatic appropriation bill, to have been, not the estab
lishment of government, but the establishment of slavery.
So, after a contest of more than two years, the Slave Power
had defeated the proposed inhibition of slavery in the territory
won by the blood and treasure of the nation, and Mr. Polk
successors the unsolved problem, whether slavery
should enter into, or be excluded from it.
left to his
�CHAPTER
IY.
EXCLUSION OP SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
WinOregon, its "boundaries and government.
Burt's amendment.
New bill. Hale's
Douglas's bill.
Calhoun's new dogma.
Senate debate.
amendment.
Bright' s motion.
Remarks of Baldwin, Niles, Berrien, Johnson, Dix.
Underwood's speech.
Characteristics of Slave Power.
throp proviso.
Calhoun's position.
His character.
Berrien, Phelps, Davis, Mason, Johnson
of Georgia, Jefferson Davis.
Compromise commit
Clayton's proposition.
Clarke's amendment.
Baldwin's amend
Great debate.
tee.
Report.
Laid on
Passage of the Clayton bill.
Caleb B. Smith's bill.
Palfrey's amendment.
John Davis's amendment.
ment.
the table in the House.
Remarks of
bill in the House.
Douglas's proposition.
Rejec
Mason, Dayton, Webster, Butler, Calhoun, Niles, Reverdy Johnson.
Extension of the line of the Missouri compromise.
tion of Foote's motion.
Defeated in the House.
Passed in the Senate.
Menacing demands of
Passage of the
Benton's motion.
Mr. Calhoun.
ton.
Benton's motion agreed
of the President.
AMONG
Remarks of
the villanies of which slavery
"sum" was
Bell,
Houston and Ben-
Passage of the Oregon
Triumph of freedom.
to.
was
bill.
Message
said to be the
Conceived in fraud, it
dishonesty.
began and perpetuated its existence by the most flagrant out
rage on the commonest and most sacred of human rights.
its essential
Consequently the Slave Power, its embodiment, was never fair
and honorable, high-minded or magnanimous. Never true to
its pledges, and never bound by formal
compacts, it very nat
urally treated with equal
disregard the unwritten laws of
comity and good neighborhood. Gratitude and recip
Its
rocity were as foreign to it as justice and integrity.
friendships were only simulated, and even its professions of
regard were measured by the benefit hoped for therefrom. It
social
clung to persons and parties only so long as they could be
used, and when they ceased to be serviceable they were dis
carded and flung away. Not an inapt illustration was afforded
by
its
treatment of the Northern Democracy on the Oregon
question.
�32
RISE
The
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
fidelity
of
IN AMERICA.
Northern Democrats on the Texan
issue,
the fearful burden they assumed in consequence, and the
inroad it made on their ranks, were matters of common noto
riety.
For the sake of appearances,
if
nothing more, they
their Southern
demanded something like reciprocity from
allies when the question in debate referred
tension on the
Pacific.
When,
to northern ex
therefore, the dispute arose
northwestern boundary between the United
States and British America, the Northern Democrats assumed,
concerning the
as a party issue, the most extreme limit as their demand.
The limit fixed upon was the parallel of fifty-four degrees and
forty minutes, north latitude. The title of the United States
up
"
to that line, they contended,
Fifty-four, forty
or
"
fight
was clear and unquestionable.
became their watchword and
But the Southern Democrats, true
though ready to encounter any danger,
rallying-cry.
to their in
stincts,
national- or
partisan, to extend the boundaries southward, made no con
cealment of their lack of interest or zeal in this cry for
northern extension. That there was danger of this added
territory being free
if
acquired, that
England might
reject
and
such a claim, were sufficient reasons why they did not
desire it, while no counterbalancing considerations were al
lowed in the form of obligations due for past favors and the
Having used them in car
past fealty of their Northern allies.
resist
rying to a successful issue the Texas scheme, they recognized
"
no obligation to reciprocate the favor, and so the fifty-four
"
came down quietly and quickly to forty-nine.
forty
however, this settlement of the dispute with Great
Before,
Britain,
and while
it
was
in
abeyance, there had been at
As far back as
tempts to provide a government for Oregon.
1844 a bill had been introduced, not only singular in the time
of its introduction, as its adoption then might have been cause
of war with England, but containing the strange provision,
that the sole power of framing and establishing the laws, slave
or free, for the Territory, should be given to two officers, the
As the
governor and judge, to be appointed by the President.
administration was under the control of the Slave Power, and
as Indian slavery was already existing in this territory, there
�EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
33
fear that, though lying north of thirtysix degrees thirty minutes, the adoption of the bill would
somehow inure to the damage of freedom.
was the well-grounded
This fear, with the solicitude that England would deem its
created a determined purpose in
adoption just cause of war,
slavery and war to defeat the project,
of an arrangement between
evidences
were
as
there
especially
Northern and Southern men by which Southern support of
those
who dreaded both
condition precedent of Northern
project was made the
Prominent in this effort was
votes for the Texas scheme.
this
To prevent, as he
"
" the two
from " legalizing
irresponsible lawgivers
avowed,
the existence of slavery in Oregon," he moved the adoption
of a provision, involving the principle of the ordinance of
" Wilmot
His
proviso," of a later date.
1787, and the famous
stra
was
afterward
as
he
mainly
explained,
purpose, however,
Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts.
he supposing that the adoption of such a provision would
render the measure so distasteful to Southern members as to
prevent their support of the bill thus hampered by his amend
tegic,
He
ment.
failed,
however
for,
;
though his provision was
which was carried in
In 1846, Stephen A.
adopted, the South voted for the bill
the House, but failed in the Senate.
Douglas, then a
government
of
member
of the
Oregon with
a treaty with England.
its
This
;
House, reported a bill for the
northern boundaries fixed by
bill,
amended
so as to prohibit
slavery, was adopted by the House, but it never reached a vote
At the next session, he introduced another
in the Senate.
which Mr. Burt of South Carolina proposed, as an
"
amendment, that slavery should be prohibited, for the rea
bill,
to
son" that Oregon was
territory north of
thirty minutes, the line of the Missouri
freedom from slavery.
and the
thirty-six
degrees
Compromise, dividing
But the amendment was
rejected,
though passing the House, failed in the Senate.
Early in January, 1848, Mr. Douglas, having been trans
ferred to the Senate and to the leadership of its Committee
on Territories, introduced a similar bill into that body. Near
bill,
the close of
May Mr. Hale
introduced an
amendment
incor
porating the principle of the ordinance of 1787 into the act
TOL.
II.
5
�34
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
A
debate of great earnestness and forensic
ability
followed, continuing several weeks, in which Southern memb
bers indulged in their accustomed style of invective and
proposed.
attempted intimidation. In his support of the amendment,
Mr. Hale spoke with his usual courtesy and good-nature, but
expressive of his defiance of
all
threats,
and
of his deter
mination to press the matter of slavery prohibition according
" I am will
to the dictates of his judgment and conscience.
" to
he
the
said,
place myself upon
ing,"
great principle of
human right, to stand where the Word of God and
own
my
conscience concur in placing me, and then bid defiance to all
consequences." He was replied to by Democratic senators
with great vigor, and with some display of feeling.
Mr.
Hannagan of Indiana accused him of provoking " a pro
"
Mr. Bagby
tracted, useless, idle, and pestiferous discussion
"
of Alabama said the amendment
cast a direct, unnecessary,
and gratuitous insult in the teeth of the people of the South "
;
;
while Mr. Foote expatiated largely on the dangerous conse
quences of the proposed amendment. Mr. Hale withdrew his
amendment but his withdrawal did not stop debate.
One section of the bill, the twelfth, proposed to recognize
;
the laws framed by the settlers of Oregon, which excluded
and to grant to its inhabitants the rights, privileges,
slavery,
and immunities s*ecured to the inhabitants of Iowa, where
Jesse D. Bright of Indiana,
slavery had been prohibited.
the Senate for giving aid and
subsequently expelled from
comfort to the Rebellion, moved to strike out this section.
This necessarily opened the whole question of the relations
It was really the
general government.
Shall slavery
more
afterward
tersely expressed:
question
Federal
the
Shall
?
be national or sectional
government take
it be remanded
shall
or
of its
it under the
slavery to the
of
aegis
protection,
As the slaveand municipal regulations ?
masters did not expect Oregon would ever be largely slavethan
holding, the discussion became rather one of principles
to local laws
of measures.
Mr. Calhoun urged his peculiar views, and proclaimed
national flag carried
recently discovered dogma, that the
In
his
it
�EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
35
He maintained the extreme
slavery wherever it floated.
position, that Congress had no power to prevent the citizen
of a slave State from emigrating with his slave property to
any Territory, and holding his slaves there in servitude ; that
the people of such Territory had no right to legislate adversely
thereto ; and that Congress had no power to vest such au
That doctrine, then
a Territorial legislature.
deemed novel and alarming, Mr. Calhoun deduced from the
thority in
equality of the States in the Federal compact.
Mr. Underwood, a Kentucky Whig, of moderate
and con
servative tendencies, charged the Northern Abolitionists with
retarding the work of emancipation in his State, and with
adopting a narrow policy and prescriptive tests. He warned
members of his party that the tendency in the
South was to produce a political alliance, offensive and defen
"
sive, with the Northern men they denounced- as
dough
If slavery should become the great test, he said,
faces."
tho Northern
" Divide and
conquer," would be engraven on the
Southern escutcheon. " That is," he said, " the only course
left us whereby to escape the chain which Northern fanati
the
maxim,
cism
On
forging for us."
the other hand, Mr. Baldwin of Connecticut combated
is
the theories of Mr. Calhoun, maintaining that, under the cir
cumstances in which the people of Oregon had been placed,
there was an obvious propriety in the recognition of the
their past legislation.
Deeply interested in the
great issue involved in the question concerning their domestic
institutions, unless estopped by the higher considerations of
validity of
national policy and good faith, their voice should be heeded.
The question was indeed one of a character affecting the
whole American people, and fixing for
immense
all
future time the des
on the Pacific.
Mr. Niles, too, his colleague, though a prominent member of
the Democratic party, maintained substantially the same view,
tinies of the
territorial acquisitions
averring that he could not vote for the bill if the twelfth
section was stricken out.
Indeed, he avowed his willingness
to incorporate into the bill, without qualification or restriction,
the principle of the ordinance of 1787.
" I do not
profess,"
�36
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" to
belong to the party of progress, and God forbid
that I should belong to that progressive party which advances
backwards in the cause of civil liberty which instead of
he
said,
;
advancing and adopting a more
enlightened policy, proposes to
comprehensive, and
back on antiquated ideas
liberal,
fall
and to extend and perpetuate an institution, originating in a
barbarous age, and equally in conflict with every sound idea
of an enlightened government, as it is with every true feeling
of
humanity."
opinion that
it
Even Mr. Houston of Texas expressed the
was not inconsistent with the slaveholding
interests of the country to allow the citizens of
Oregon
to
inhibit slavery.
But Mr. Berrien, though a Whig, seemed equally solicitous
with Mr. Calhoun lest some principle should be admitted or
established that
might inure to the damage of
he
said pointedly, the question
slavery.
simply,
whether the ordinance of 1787 should be extended to Ore
precedent
Ifr
gon.
was
Reverdy Johnson maintained
that,
if
the
bill
was
passed as it stood, slavery would never be allowed in the Ter
He wished the senators from the South to
ritory of Oregon.
be aware of the
fact, that if the twelfth section stood, slavery
was
just as effectually prohibited in that Territory as
attached the Wilmot proviso to the bill.
if
they
The question recurring on striking out the twelfth section,
Mr. Dix, a Democratic senator from New York, made an
elaborate and scholarly speech in opposition to the extension
of slavery, " as of evil tendency in government, wrong in it
self, and repugnant to the humanity and civilization of the
age." It was then moved by Jefferson Davis to so amend
the twelfth section, as to provide that it should not be so
construed as to authorize the prohibition of domestic slavery.
Mr. Bright, having withdrawn his motion to strike out the
twelfth section, moved that the line of the Missouri Com
promise be extended to the Pacific. Mr. Berrien, however,
immediately renewed the motion, and the debate proceeded.
In his speech Mr. Calhoun advanced another extreme opin
ion, that the only property put
under the express guaranty of
the Constitution was that of slaves.
He
asserted, too, that
�EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
37
the South would never have assented to its adoption, had the
Constitutional convention refused to provide for such protec
He
developed and expatiated at great length upon the
take their slaves into the
theory that slave-masters might
He expressed, too, his
Territories and hold them there.
tion.
that the issues growing out of the slavery question
were the only issues potent enough to dissolve the Union.
belief
He
opposed
"
all
antislavery restriction, past, present, or pro
" and
our Union," he said,
system of govern
share
the fate of so
are
to
we
and
ment are doomed to perish,
the
before
who have gone
us,
historian,
spective.
many
If
great people
who, in some future day, may record the events tending to so
calamitous a result, will devote his
nance of 1787, lauded as it and
first in that series which led to
its
it.
chapter to the ordi
authors have been, as the
His next chapter will be
first
Whether there will be
devoted to the Missouri Compromise.
I
another beyond know not. It will depend on what we may
do.
If that historian
should possess a philosophical turn of
mind, and be disposed to look to more remote and recondite
causes, he will trace it to a proposition, which originated in a
hypothetical truism, but which as now expressed and now un
is the most false and most
dangerous of all political
The proposition to which I allude has become an
axiom in the minds of a vast majority on both sides of the
Atlantic, and is repeated daily from tongue to tongue as an
established and incontrovertible truth it is that all men are
born free and equal.' .... As understood, there is not a word
derstood
errors.
'
;
of truth in
it
It is utterly untrue."
While others, from indolence, greed
power, without
much
of gain, and lust of
consideration of questions of casuistry
involved, eagerly clutched whatever the
and political economy
wicked laws of slavery gave them, Mr. Calhoun's devotion to
the system seemed to be the result of carefully studied and
well-matured convictions. He was the acknowledged embodi
ment and exponent of the principles of chattelhood, its philos
In this speech, which was one of
opher, statesman, and chief.
most elaborate efforts, he proceeded at great length in the
his
development of the fundamental ideas and philosophy of his
�38
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Discarding the self-evident truths of the Declaration
Independence, the doctrines of Locke and Sydney, he
maintained that they had retarded the cause of
liberty and
system.
of
civilization
;
down governments and prevent
had contributed largely to the " anarchi
"
had caused Jefferson to take
Europe
powerful to pull
their construction
cal condition of
;
;
utterly
" false views " of the
subordinate relation of the black to the
"
white race in the South and
threatened, through
deep and
dangerous agitations," to involve the country in countless
woes. Mr. Berrien followed in a
speech hardly less extreme
in the opinions advanced, or less violent in the tones and
terms with which they were
;
expressed.
Mr. Phelps of Vermont replied to
both, at length, in a
speech of remarkable eloquence and power. He commented
in strong and severe
language upon the insincerity of the
nation's professions of
liberty, while it sent forth and spread
its Territories the relics of a barbarous civilization.
He
over
protested against the doctrines advanced in the debate, and
reminded senators of events then transpiring in France.
" We
" seen the masses
have," he said,
rising in their
might, and, amid the throes of revolution, prostrating their
arbitrary, tyrannical, and oppressive institutions, and pro
claiming
equality.
the
doctrines
of
universal
Nay, more, we have
liberty
and
political
seen the shackles stricken
from the African, as one of the first fruits of the revolution,
and the whole system of African slavery exterminated at a
blow, fully, absolutely, and forever, in all the dominion of the
new
republic.
and sympathy.
And we
raised aloud the voice of approbation
resolutions are floating to
Yet, while the
in mockery of our professions, our
and
our
congratulations,
sympathies, we are engaged in ex
the
same
of
African slavery over the immense
tending
system
their destination, as if
now subject to our dominion, and preparing the way
for its further extension to our future acquisitions."
John
region
Davis of Massachusetts, in a similar strain, pleaded against the
proposed desecration of the virgin soil of Oregon. He ex
pressed his willingness to abide by the compromises of the
Constitution, and leave slavery in the States to be managed by
�EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
themselves without outside interference
;
39
but he insisted that
must not be encumbered by slavery.
and arguments of Southern leaders exhibited
very noticeable evidences of the transition through which their
minds were passing. As new dangers to the slave system
free soil
The
replies
were revealing themselves, the necessity of new precautions
and new guaranties became apparent. Exactly what was de
manded and what could be secured were clearly matters of
doubt on which agreement as yet had not been reached.
Though many of their speeches seemed little more than ran
dom remarks, and their plans, if any, inchoate and only rudi
it was clear that they were enunciating novel views
and preparing to take a new departure on the slavery issue, as
new for the, South as for the North. Thus Mr. Mason denied
in his remarks that the people of Oregon had the right, if they
were so disposed, to exclude slavery, and he sharply rebuked
mentary,
the committee for bringing in a
bill to
sanction their action.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia spoke at great length, denying the
right of Congress or of the Territorial legislature to exclude
slavery, and for this extreme opinion he urged the strict con
struction of the Constitution, reminding the South that in this
strict construction was their only hope.
Reverdy Johnson
took gloomy views of the crisis, expressing his unwillingness
to think of the consequences, or to lift the veil that hung be
tween them and the horrors behind it, if the slavery contro
versy was not amicably ended. He warned senators that the
" the
slavery question was
question of the day," casting all
others into the shade.
settled at
if
It
all.
must be settled soon, too, he con
Mr. Hunter of Virginia expressed
tended,
the thought that Congress should not hesitate between the
alternatives presented.
On the one side were union, harmony,
prosperity on the other, bickerings, discord, and the wreck of
;
The recognized right to take slaves into the
Territory would bring the former, its inhibition the latter.
Jefferson Davis addressed the Senate at great length, main
every hope.
taining that the real purpose of those who sought to appropri
ate the territories to the exclusive formation of non-slave-
holding States was the political aggrandizement of the North
;
�40
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the people of that section wished, by forbidding the
growth of the slaveholding States, and by devoting the vast
that
territorial
domain
amend
to the formation of free States, to
the Constitution and strip the South of the guaranties it gave.
He asserted that, if the spirit of compromise had departed, the
days of the confederacy were numbered, and that
it
was bet
ter to separate peaceably than to stain the battle-fields of the
Revolution with the blood of civil war.
At the close of Mr. Davis' s speech Mr. Clayton of Delaware,
with a view, he said, to so concentrate opinion as to act with
effect, moved for the appointment of a special committee of
eight, four
from the South and four from the North,
to
whom
Mr. Foote of Mississippi ap
" much-vexed
the
for
the
settlement
of the
proposition
proved
and perilous question." Daniel S. Dickinson, then a Demo
the
bill
should be recommitted.
cratic senator
from
New York, saw
in the motion the " first
gleam of sunshine." Mr. Hale did not share in such hopes,
but thought that the exact reverse would be the result, and
He
that its effect would be to " throw a mist all around us."
could never be a party to a compromise that involved moral
dereliction.
He
could look
all
the horrors
of
dissolution
" moral ruin
steadily in the face before he could look to that
which must fall upon us when we have so far prostituted
ourselves as to become the pioneers of slavery over these
Mr. Clayton's motion was adopted by a major
and himself, Bright of Indiana, Calhoun of
South Carolina, Clarke of Rhode Island, Atchison of Missouri,
Phelps of Vermont, Dickinson of New York, and Underwood
Territories."
ity of seventeen,
Kentucky, were appointed members of that committee.
Though, in form, the two sections were equally repre
sented on this committee, yet the two conflicting ideas that
were dividing the country were not. In form and by pre
in re
tence it was constituted in the spirit of compromise
to
Southern
as
Northern
concession
it
meant
then,
ever,
ality
exactions.
Indeed, freedom had but one voice or representa
and he, although
tive, and that in the person of Mr. Phelps
a man of brilliant parts and generous impulses, was often, by
personal defects and habits, unreliable, and never a match for
of
;
;
�EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FKOM OREGON.
41
members and the three who sympathized but too
Southern views. That such a committee did
with
manifestly
not hopelessly betray the cause of justice and humanity in that
struggle must have been due to that overruling Providence
the Southern
which watched over the nation's destinies when so seriously
imperilled by the malign purposes of its enemies and by the
weak and vacillating course of its
The committee reported a bill
friends.
to establish Territorial gov
ernments for Oregon, California, and New Mexico. Introdu
cing the report, the chairman remarked that the territory, for
which governments were proposed, covered an area of more
than a million of square miles, large as a third of Europe, and
The matter in contro
capable of sustaining a mighty empire.
was clearly a constitutional and judicial ques
The South contended and the North denied that the
Constitution gave the owners of slaves the right to carry them
versy, he said,
tion.
It became, therefore, a judicial question,
and must be decided by the Supreme Court.
This report, though seemingly non-committal, was really a
It created an issue where there was no
pro-slavery document.
issue, it questioned what should not have been questioned, and
made that dependent on the decision of a court which had
already been guaranteed by the higher law of natural right.
into the Territories.
And
these questions, involving not only human rights for the
moment, but the future destiny of States themselves, were re
whose known predilections and proclivities
The report and accompanying bill
were, of course, the signal of a protracted and heated debate,
in which the lines between the advocates of the two ideas were
sharply drawn and vigorously maintained.
ferred to a court
were hostile to freedom.
The protest against the bill was earnest and strong. Mr.
Niles characterized the compromise as no
compromise at all,
Mr.
saying nothing, doing nothing, amounting to nothing.
Baldwin, from the same State, moved an amendment, that
provision should only be made for the government of Oregon
but the motion was rejected by twenty majority. Mr. Hamlin
;
remarked that they were gravely discussing the question
whether they would create human slavery in territory now
�42
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Such was in fact the question.
Sophistry could not
and metaphysics could not escape it.
Mr. Corwin of Ohio brought to the discussion his distin
guished ability and unrivalled powers of sarcasm. He main
tained that if slavery went into the Territories and remained
there one year, according to all experience, it would be eter
free.
evade
it,
nal.
For, if it planted its roots there, the next thing would
be earnest appeals about the rights of property.
He had
great confidence in the Supreme Court, and agreed in the
encomiums pronounced upon it by senators. He wished,
however, to ascertain in what manner the response is to
be obtained from " that infallible divinity, the Supreme
" It
" that the
seems," he said,
meaning of the
Constitution is to be forever hidden from us, until light
Court."
shall be given
by the Supreme Court.
Sir, this bill
seems
me
a rich and rare legislative curiosity.
It does not en
act ' a law,' which I had supposed the usual function of leg
islation.
No, sir it enacts only a law-suit.' So we virtu
to
'
:
when the Supreme Court say we can make a
we have made it." Portraying with great force of
ally enact that,
law, then
both logic and language slavery and its malign and blinding
influences, he said if one man in fifty were a slaveholder in
that Territory, he would persuade the forty-nine that it was
better it should exist there. It was capital and social position,
opposed to labor and poverty. He reminded the Senate that
they were called upon to lay the foundations of society over
vast spaces of territory, and ages unborn would bless or curse
them as their work was voted wisely or badly done. " If I
" with some
here, I still find with me
part company," he said,
some of the past whom the nations venerated. I stand on
the ordinance of 1787; there the path is marked by the
blood of the Revolution. I stand in company with the men
'
of 1787,' their locks wet with the mists of the Jordan over
which they passed their garments purple with the waters of
the Red Sea through which they led us, of old, to this land
With them to point the way, however dark the
of promise.
;
present, hope shines upon the future ; and, discerning their
footprints in my path, I shall tread it with unfaltering trust."
�43
EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
This earnest and vigorous debate continued till the 26th,
when the Senate proceeded to vote on the bill and amend
ments. It was moved by Mr. Clarke of Rhode Island, that no
law repealing the act of the provisional government of Oregon
be valid until approved by Con
prohibiting slavery should
but his amendment was rejected by fourteen majority.
Mr. Baldwin then moved that it should be the duty of the
district attorney, on complaint of any one held in slavery, to
gress
take
;
all
needful measures in his behalf to secure his freedom,
in the courts of the Territory, and, if the courts held that
such person is a slave, to carry the case by appeal to the Su
preme Court.
But the amendment was
rejected, less than
one
It was then moved by Mr. Davis of Mas
third voting for it.
in force
sachusetts, that the ordinance of 1787 should remain
in the Territory of
Oregon
;
but that amendment was rejected
by twelve majority. The amendments being disposed of, the
was passed by a majority of eleven.
Having been reported to the House, Alexander H. Stephens
moved that the bill be laid upon the table, which motion pre
As the adoption of Mr. Clay
vailed by a majority of fifteen.
bill
"compromise" would unquestionably, as the Supreme
Court was then constituted, have legalized slavery in Oregon,
ton's
New
Mexico, and California, it will ever remain a marvel that
should have been defeated on the motion of one who per
formed so important a part in the subsequent attempt to estab
" corner-stone." It was
lish a confederacy with slavery for its
certainly singular that so prominent a representative of the
it
Slave Power should thus throw away the advantage afforded
by that report and bill.
In the House of Representatives, on the 9th of February,
1848, Caleb B. Smith, then a Whig member from Indiana,
afterward Secretary of the Interior under President Lincoln,
reported from the Committee on Territories a bill providing
a Territorial government for Oregon. Near the close of the
following month, it was taken up and debated in committee of
the whole until the 1st of August.
Upon
that
bill,
the Presi
dent's messages, measures relating to the Mexican war, the
acquisition and government of Territories, and the presidential
�44
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
many speeches, several of marked ability, were made
House touching slavery and its issues. In no previous
session had these subjects been more clearly and forcibly
pre
sented.
Principles and policies had never been more fear
lessly enunciated, and parties in the struggle were becoming
more and more sharply denned. And yet, though the pro
cess of crystallization was in progress, there still appeared
traces of individual preference and conviction, as if neither
election,
in the
side had fully matured its policy, or clearly mapped out the
ground it had finally decided to occupy. Consequently there
was a great variety of motions, amendments, and conflicting
votes, which would not have been witnessed at later stages of
the struggle, when the issues had become more clearly denned,
and the ascendency of the Slave Power more unquestioned
and complete. The various amendments offered and rejected
exhibited a similar confusion of ideas and want of concert,
some votes being inconsistent with others given by the same
individuals,
gave
making
it
(conflicting votes,
apparent that there were those who
side and now on another of
now on one
the vexed question.
What, however, could not be gained, was
the rejection of the twelfth section. This the House uniformly
voted down, and on the 2d of March it adopted the bill by a
majority of fifty-eight. Among the amendments proposed and
rejected was one by Mr. Palfrey of Massachusetts, to strike
"
out the words " free white
from the required qualifications
of voters.
On
the 5th of August, Mr. Douglas introduced into the
with amendments, among which was one,
extending the ordinance of 1787 to Oregon, with the reason,
" inasmuch as said
Territory is north of the parallel of
Senate the
bill
36 30' north latitude, usually known as the line of the
Missouri Compromise." Mr. Niles expressed his astonish
ment that the Committee on Territories should have reported
such an amendment. Mr. Douglas explained that the com
mittee unanimously desired that the vote on the Oregon Bill
should commit no senator on the great question. Mr. Mason
of Virginia charged the committee with a design to evade the
He referred to the " Free-Soil convention,"
slavery question.
�EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
45
" but one
soon to meet at Buffalo, and declared
god was
the
that
that
was
and
to be worshipped there,
power,
god
" He
of
the
country.
power to trample down the Constitution
referred with approbation to the recent decision of Virginia,
not to regard any law of the United States that should forbid
her citizens from carrying their slaves into any of the Terri
tories.
"
as the only god of the new
In his reference to " power
and
irate
the
dogmatic Virginian spoke as a Southern
party,
politician,
who
new party of free
As he and
slavery.
forecasted the course of the
dom by what he knew of the old party of
had known " no god but power," he may have
his party
appre
hended that the chances were then adverse, and that the
infant at Buffalo would soon become the giant to wrest from
their hands the sceptre they had sa long wielded with such
despotic sway.
But whatever may have been his thoughts or
words foreshadowed what soon became re
apprehensions, his
The new party did obtain the power he feared, the
old party did enact the treason he threatened.
To the threat of the Virginian, that his State, if forced
alities.
another step, would proclaim nullification, Mr. Dayton of New
Mr.
Jersey responded in proper terms of fearless rebuke.
Webster, too, with strong and emphatic language, discarded
the seeming apology of the amendment.
He was unwilling,
he said, to give as a reason for the act that Oregon was north
"
of the compromise line.
My objection," he said, " to slav
it takes in
ery is irrespective of lines and points of latitude
;
the whole country and the whole question.
I am opposed to
it in every
in
and
shape
every qualification, and am against
of
It seems difficult to realize
the
any compromise
question."
two years the author of these noble senti
ments and purposes could have delivered the 7th of March
that in less than
speech.
Mr. Butler of South Carolina spoke with more than his
usual irascibility. He referred to the action of Virginia, and
asserted that she had been responded to by all the Southern
States.
He
told the Senate that his advice to his constitutents
would be to go to the Territories with arms in their hands and
�46
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
take possession of what they had helped to acquire. " So help
me God," he said, " I would advise my constituents to take
with them their property, and settle at all hazards in that
Territory.
I
would go home and give
views, and I trust I have not so
me from
much
my
constituents these
infirmity as to prevent
purposes into effect." The bill, he de
battery, from behind which the institutions
of the South were to be assailed.
But the South, he asserted,
carrying
clared, was a
my
masked
did not fear the contest he was ready to embark in the boat
with his State, and intrust it to the care of Heaven. Mr.
Calhoun said the North could not be more determined to resist
the South, than he was to resist such exclusion.
He claimed
;
that the North had been unable to meet the arguments of
Southern senators. Referring to the divisions that distracted
" Slav
the
he said the
stood united and firm.
South
North,
he
with
ery,"
maintained,
strange obliviousness of the facts
" has benefited all
of the
all countries but
mankind,
case,
Slavery, like the waters of the Nile, has spread
its fertilizing influences all over the world.
It has benefited
the South.
all but the Southern planter, who has been the tutor, the
friend as well as the master of the slave, and has raised him
up
to civilization."
Mr. Niles, on the other hand, declared that the South had
in view the extension of slavery, and that Mr. Calhoun traced
the crisis to a
wrong cause when he
litionists of the
North.
It sprung,
attributed
he
said,
it
to the
Abo
from the opposi
tion of the free States to the Southern policy of extending
slavery over the new Territories.
They thought the Slave
Power strong enough, and they would oppose
to the last every
extend slavery over the continent.
Reverdy Johnson, in reply to Mr. Webster, avowed that if
the North had come to a fixed determination to prevent the
South from carrying their slaves into the new territory, the
effort to
States could remain together no longer, though he admitted
the power of Congress to enact such prohibition, and he be
lieved, as a judicial question, that the decision would be
Mr. Webster said, in reply, that he only
against the South.
" I do not
spoke for himself, and not for the North.
know,"
�EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
47
he said, " what the North is, or where the North is." He
claimed that he was not one of those who were accustomed to
speak of the dissolution of the Union. An earthquake might
come, a volcano might burst forth, and thus a dissolution of
the Union might be among possible calamities.
The motion of Mr. Foote, that the bill do lie upon the table,
was rejected by a decisive vote. The amendment reported by
the committee, giving a reason for the prohibition of slavery,
Mr.
received only the vote of Mr. Douglas and Mr. Bright.
Douglas then moved to extend the line of the Missouri Com
promise to the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Johnson of Georgia ex
pressed his willingness to vote for that line, if it was offered in
the same spirit as in 1820 and he desired to know if it was
;
Mr. Douglas replied that, speaking for himself,
he could say it was so offered. The amendment was agreed
so tendered.
to,
and the
bill
passed by eleven majority.
The House, having refused to concur in the amendment,
only three members voting for it, the bill was returned to the
Senate, Mr. Mason making an unsuccessful motion to lay
Mr. Benton moved to recedt
the whole subject on the table.
from the amendment, and briefly gave his reasons for his
motion. Mr. Berrien made an earnest appeal to the Senate
" not to
let this last opportunity for conciliation pass away,"
and he expressed his desire for a committee of conference. Mr.
Calhoun urged the same course, saying that " the great strife
between the North and the South is ended," that " the sep
aration of the North and the South is completed.
The
South has now a most solemn obligation to perform, to her
She is bound to come
self, to the Constitution, to the Union.
to a decision, not to permit this to go on any further, but to
show that, dearly as she prizes the Union, there are questions
she regards of greater importance than the Union."
He
closed by the declaration that, if the North did not give to
the South a compromise then, she would at the next session
demand all, and would not be satisfied with anything less. It
seems hardly credible, in view of what were then notorious
facts, and especially in the light of subsequent events and
revelations, that one of Mr. Calhoun' s intelligence could have
�48
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
ventured upon such assertions before the American people.
Monomania on the subject, is the only explanation which
memory from the imputation of conscious un
and
untruthfulness.
fairness
It was not singular, then, that other Southern members,
unwilling to indorse his extreme opinions, were prompt to
Mr. Bell of Tennessee re
disclaim sympathy with them.
marked that he was a Southern man, and deeply involved
in Southern interests, but he believed that Mr. Calhoun had
placed the South in a wrong position when he assumed that
by the decision of that question the die would be cast, and the
issue then made would involve the dissolution of the Union.
Mr. Houston protested against every attempt to traduce the
Union, and every cry for its dissolution. He was of the South,
and was ready to defend the South but the Union was his
guiding star, and he would fix his eyes on that star to direct
He expressed his regret that Mr. Calhoun had
his course.
will rescue his
;
He solemnly affirmed
used menacing language against it.
that he would never go into a Southern convention, nor aid
in any scheme to bring about a disruption of the States.
to cut
He desired to know if " the South would raise
troops
Oregon because they were going there without
from South Carolina, he said, after voting
senator
The
negroes.
for the Missouri Compromise, could not head such a conven
" Such a
mutinous, non
Heaven would not let him.
tion.
as he would have under him would never
off
emigrants to
descript
company
have been seen before."
Mr. Benton reminded the Senate that they had agreed to
the House, but they had
every word of the bill as it came from
into it extraneous matter.
They had heard from
incorporated
"
Mr. Calhoun of a " second chapter in the history of dissolu
"
"
the Oregon bill.
tion.
Chapter number two was to open on
Menaces of that kind had no influence upon him. The man
who should bring brick, mortar, and trowel to dam up the
Mississippi had
commenced a
feasible enterprise in comparison
with the project of that man who undertook to run a dividing
The debate continued through the
line between the States.
a vote,
till after nine o'clock on Sunday morning, when
night
�EXCLUSION OF SLAVERY FROM OREGON.
49
taken on Mr. Benton's motion to recede from the amendment
extending the line of the Missouri compromise to the Pacific
Ocean, was agreed to by a majority of four and the bill es
;
tablishing a Territorial government for Oregon became a law.
President Polk accompanied his signature of the bill with a
message, in which he said that he did so only in consideration
of the fact that the Territory was far to the north of the
" Had
" embraced
Missouri
line.
he
Compromise
it,"
said,
territory south of that compromise, the question presented
for my consideration would have been of a far different char
acter,
and
my
action
upon
it
must have corresponded with
my
convictions."
Thus closed a long, excited, and severe struggle to secure
freedom to Oregon. Its people, left without a Territorial or
ganization, had established a provisional government in which
slavery
was forbidden.
Though
their wishes
had been thus
manifested and their opinions were thus clearly known, yet
for months Congress was made the theatre of a fierce and
protracted struggle, led, too, by those most clamorous for
State rights, to override those well-known opinions and wishes,
and to give the slave-masters a right to carry their slaves across
the continent, over the Rocky Mountains, and to hold them
among a people who had shown their abhorrence of the system
by their decisive vote against it.
These aggressive demands of slavery, during that long and
fierce struggle, were resisted by the Northern
Whigs with great
firmness.
Quite a number, too, of the Northern Democrats
left on record their protestations of voice and vote
against this
attempt to force slavery upon Oregon against the clearly ex
pressed wish of its inhabitants. Among them stand promi
nent the names of Dix of
and Hamlin
VOL.
II.
of Maine.
New
York, Niles of Connecticut,
�CHAPTER
FUGITIVES.
V.
KIDNAPPING.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION OP PROP
ERTY IN MAN.
Domestic slave-trade stimulated.
Active friends of the slave.
fore the courts.
Arguments
of
Slaves
escaping.
Eastern Pennsylvania.
John Jay.
Case of the Mobile.
Be
The slave set at liberty.
Jay and White.
Brazilian vessel.
Slave case in Bos
Escape of slaves from the Tombs.
ton.
Forcible abduction in the harbor.
John
Meeting in Faneuil Hall.
Quincy Adams.
Speeches of Sumner, Stephen C. Phillips, Wendell Phillips,
Theodore Parker.
Personal liberty laws.
Unfriendly legislation in New
Jersey, New York.
Decision of Su
Opposition to antislavery press.
preme Court affirming the right of property in man.
Government
sale of
slaves.
THE annexation
of the vast slave region of Texas, with soil
and climate adapted to the culture of cotton, and the prospec
tive acquisition of Mexican territory, increased the price of and
the demand for slaves.
The activity of flesh jobbers and land
was
speculators
greatly stimulated, and the domestic slave traf
fic was largely augmented.
The auction-block, the coffle, and
the forced separation of families and friends, filled the bond
men, especially of the Border States, with dread. Many of
the most intelligent and energetic among them sought liberty
in flight.
To no section of the land did they flee for succor
and safety as they did to Eastern Pennsylvania nowhere were
there so many whose ears were quick to catch the footfall of
the weary and fainting fugitive.
Not ostentatious in words or
;
deeds, the
members
of the old Abolition Society of Pennsyl
vania and of the more modern antislavery societies were
and fearless, persistent and painstaking. The city of
Philadelphia and the counties of Delaware, Chester, Lancaster,
"
York, and Adams, were studded with the stations of the Un
faithful
derground Railroad," while faithful men and women stood
ready to act as agents and conductors, to help forward the
�51
FUGITIVES,
good Samaritans to watch over and care for
Many of
the weary, famishing, and often wounded victims.
these tireless men and women were Quakers, or of Quaker
fleeing chattels
origin
;
;
their peace
and, though quiet in demeanor, as became
" stood
self-consecrated, enveloped by
ful sect, they for years
the love of God, permeated by the love of
render aid to the hunted fugitive.
man," and ready
to
To the judicious counsels and ceaseless labors of such men as
Thomas Shipley, Elijah F. Pennypacker, Daniel Gibbons, Bar
tholomew Furnell, Lindley Coates, Edmund and John Needles,
James Mott, William H. Furness, Charles D. Cleveland,
Kobert Purvis, William Still, James Miller McKim, and
Edmund M. Davis, in Pennsylvania, and Thomas Garrett and
John Hunn, in Delaware, and such women as Esther Moore,
Abigail Goodwin, Lucretia Mott, Sarah Pugh, and Mary Grew,
of Philadelphia, were thousands of lowly ones indebted for
shelter and concealment, food and clothing, means of journey
Seldom have such oppor
ing on, and a hearty God-speed.
tunities of usefulness and self-sacrifice been accorded to men
and seldom, if ever, have they been more nobly and worthily
improved than by the antislavery men and women of Eastern
;
Pennsylvania.
There was, too, in the city of New York, that great mart of
trade, with its Southern connections, interests, and prejudices
against the African race and its friends, a body of earnest,
determined, and sagacious antislavery men, who were deeply
imbued with a Christian spirit and ready to make sacrifices of
time, money, and ease for the good of the slave. Among them
was John Jay, a gentleman of ability, culture, social position,
and wealth, who inherited not only the name but the sense of
justice and the love of liberty of an illustrious ancestry. Being
an excellent lawyer, he had made those subjects of his profes
sion in which the rights of man were involved matters of
His advice and counsel were, therefore, gener
special study.
ally sought by these friends of the fugitive in the prosecution
of their philanthropic, but oftentimes difficult and delicate,
labors ; and they were always cheerfully and freely given.
The
office
of
the "Antislavery Standard," conducted by
�52
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Sydney Howard Gay, who entered heartily into the work, was
a place of usual resort and conference for members of this
devoted band. Mr. Gay was not only an accomplished
jour
"
Tribune " and the
nalist, subsequently connected with the
"
Post," but at that time an active and efficient agent of the
"
Railroad."
Underground
The frequency
of escapes, and the increasing numbers of
seeking and effecting them, incensed the slavemasters, and increased their activity and attempts to prevent
them.
Many were, therefore, arrested in their flight, and
those
who were
remanded to
bondage and chains. In this work the
masters of vessels engaged in the Southern trade bore a prom
inent and generally a dishonorable part, exhibiting far greater
anxiety to conciliate and carry out the desires of the slave
holders than to conform to the requirements of the statute.
Indeed, so determined and reckless were they in these at
their
tempts, that they often incurred the guilt and exposed them
selves to the penalties of kidnapping.
Early in Mr. Folk's administration, the brig Mobile, from
Savannah, entered the port of New York with George Kirk, a
Not being
colored man, on board, supposed to be a slave.
allowed to go on shore, a writ of habeas corpus was immedi
Going on board the brig,
ately sued out by Judge Edmunds.
which had been hauled into the stream, the officer demanded
the fugitive. The captain demurred, but after a little parley
surrendered him. He was in irons, and bore the marks of hard
It appeared that he had secreted himself in the ves
usage.
sel, had not been discovered for several days, had confessed
to the master that he was a slave and was endeavoring to es
cape from slavery, and that it was the purpose of the master to
retain him in custody until he could return him to Savannah.
He was taken before the court, and John Jay and Joseph
Mr. Jay addressed the court
L. White appeared as counsel.
Mr. White's argument
in a plea replete with legal learning.
" one of the most
the " Standard" characterized as
eloquent,
logical, in every respect one of the most powerful, speeches ever
listened to in a court of justice, or, indeed, anywhere."
the decision of Judge
Edmunds
By
the prisoner was discharged
�53
KIDNAPPING.
But he had hardly left the
were again put in pursuit, armed with a new
process, under a law which gave to the captain of a vessel on
board of whose craft a fugitive was found a right to take such
But he had been secreted in the
fugitive before the mayor.
from the custody
room when
office of
be found.
of the captain.
officers
the " Antislavery Standard," and could not at once
The captain offered a reward of fifty dollars for his
recovery and for this paltry sum the police force of New
York, consisting of nine hundred men, was, under the sanction
of the law, put on the track of this one trembling black man,
who was simply trying to be free. They found him hidden in
a box, in which he had been placed for the purpose of escape.
A new writ of habeas corpus was sued out, he was brought
before the same judge, the law was pronounced unconstitu
tional, and he was again set at liberty.
In the summer of 1847, a case occurred in which questions
;
of foreign policy as well as domestic slavery arose, the adjust
of protracted dis
ment and answer of which became subjects
cussion.
The circumstances were these:
A
Brazilian ship
arrived in the port of New York, having three slaves as a por
tion of her crew.
They were taken before the courts on a writ
of habeas corpus.
Mr. Jay appeared as their counsel. As
they belonged to a foreign vessel, there were points involved
which occasioned differences of opinion, as well as conflicting
decisions by the different judges.
In the mean time they
were confined in the Tombs, and their somewhat peculiar case
excited public interest, especially among the
antislavery men
of the city.
While it was still pending before the courts, the
An investi
prisoners mysteriously disappeared from the jail.
gation shed no light upon the matter, the officials of the prison
testifying that everything appeared as usual at the time of the
and that they were able to neither give nor find
any clew to the strange disappearance of the men. There
were those, indeed, who did understand the matter, and who
escape,
subsequently disclosed the facts connected with the case.
Among those who were interested in the history and fate of
these men were Mr. Gay, Elias Smith, and William A.
Hall,
whose regard for man was not limited by the lines of national-
�54
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and who felt for the slaves of other lands as for those of
own. By the aid of a man confined in the Tombs for a
breach of trust, and who became interested in these persons,
the jailer of the prison was intoxicated.
While he was sleep
the
was
the
doors
were
key
taken,
ing,
opened, and the pris
oners were liberated. A carriage was in waiting, and they
were placed beyond the reach of the officers. The jailer awoke
to find everything apparently secure but his prisoners had fled.
ity,
their
;
Mr. Jay, the counsel in the case, knew nothing of the mode of
escape, nor did Mr. Gay. The judge, after investigation, decided
that they could not be given up under the treaty with Brazil.
In August, 1846, a case occurred in Boston involving simi
lar elements
of
lawless violence, but with less
satisfactory
The brig Ottoman, owned by John H. Pierson and
commanded by Captain James W. Hannum, sailed from New
Orleans for Boston. When several days at sea, a slave was
found secreted in the vessel. The vessel, with the escaped
results.
slave on board, arrived early in September in Boston Harbor.
Placing the slave on a pilot-boat for safe keeping, the captain
went into the city and made arrangements that the bark
Niagara, which was soon to sail for New Orleans, should take
him back. Having made these arrangements, he went down
the harbor, took the fugitive on board his boat, and awaited the
arrival of the Niagara.
Landing on one of the islands, the
negro seized the boat and sailed for South Boston Point. The
captain followed him in another boat, and after landing, and
chasing the fugitive for two miles, captured him, accused him
A storm
of theft, and took him by force down the harbor.
the
and
thus
did
some
not
to
sea
for
arising,
Niagara
days
go
this man was forcibly held, without law and against law, in
the waters of Massachusetts.
But the fugitive was at length
placed on board the Niagara and she, eluding the steamer
;
;
down
the harbor to rescue this person, thus violently
and unlawfully restrained of his liberty and abducted by
sent
from the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, bore him
back to slavery.
This inhuman and lawless proceeding very naturally excited
force
deep indignation.
A crowded meeting was held in Faneuil Hall.
�55
KIDNAPPING.
John Quincy Adams presided. In a feeble and tremulous
voice he alluded to the event which had brought him to that
He
hall.
said he had, fifty years before, attended a meeting
which Elbridge Gerry presided, who, apologizing
for his age and infirmities, declared that if he had but one day
That event was the tak
to live he would have been present.
seamen by a British
certain
American
an
out
of
frigate
ing
there, over
On the same principle he then appeared before
His own health and infirmities were such, he added,
that nothing but that occasion would have brought him there.
" It is a
question," he declared, with great solemnity and imman-of-war.
them.
" whether this Commonwealth is to maintain
independence or not. It is a question whether your and
pressiveness,
Commonwealth is capable of protecting the
are under its laws or not."
native
Dr.
Howe
its
my
men who
then related the facts of the case, so criminal in
the actors, so discreditable to Boston, so dishonoring to the
State.
John A. Andrew, secretary of the meeting, then pre
sented a series of resolutions, declaring it to be the first duty
of all
governments to guarantee the personal safety of every
upon their soil that there was nothing in the insti
tutions and laws of any foreign state or nation that could
justify
or excuse any violation of the smallest
right or privilege of the
humblest individual within the borders of the Commonwealth
individual
;
;
that the spirit of justice and freedom would be dead when an
injury done to the least individual should cease to be felt as a
to the whole
that the abducting of a man in the
Boston should be felt as an alarming menace against
the personal rights and safety of
every citizen that every per
son who aided and abetted in the
kidnapping and in carrying
wrong done
;
streets of
;
this individual into
slavery deserved the sternest reprobation.
The owners of the vessel, charged by its
with
captain
consented to and aided the
upon
illegal
and shameful
act,
having
were called
to disavow all
participation in a proceeding so fatal to
merchants and as men, and to make every
their character as
reparation in their power in rescuing the individual from the
tortures to which their ship had illegally borne him.
The
resolutions were unanimously adopted,
and a vigilance com-
�56
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
mittee of forty was appointed, at the head of which was placed
Dr. Howe, and with whom were associated some of the most
eminent citizens of Boston.
The meeting was then addressed by Charles Sumner. He
referred to the presence of Mr. Adams, whom he recognized as
one of the leaders in the cause of human rights. He charac
terized the
wrong
that
insult to Massachusetts,
had been perpetrated as an injury and
which should arouse the people to a
determination to prevent the repetition of such a crime.
Stephen C. Phillips spoke of the abduction as a legitimate
result of the slave system.
He
alluded to the statement
made
by Captain Hannum, in his own vindication, as an evidence of
the influence of the Slave Power, by which the laws of Massa
chusetts were made subservient in the streets of Boston to the
laws of Louisiana. He characterized the act as worse than
piracy, and held the owners of the vessel in which the victim
had been borne back to servitude alone responsible. He was
himself a merchant, but he was also a man, responsible to
God and he would say to the individual involved in this case,
who was personally known to him, that no merchant had a
right to jeopardize the character of the profession to which he
belonged, and he did not believe that there was another mer
chant in Boston who " would be guilty of such an act of
;
and wrong."
Wendell Phillips attributed the outrage upon the laws to
If Cap
the religious and social institutions of the country.
tain Hannum had had in his possession a small slip of paper
signed by the owner of the slave, they would have been
injustice
up and witness the outrage without the power
The resolutions, he thought, did not go far
enough. The time had come when we should go further than
simply to announce that we would sustain the laws. He would
have the people come up to the point and say, " Law or no
obliged to stand
to prevent
it.
'
law, Constitution or no Constitution, humanity shall be para
mount.' I would send out a voice from Faneuil Hall that shall
reach every hovel in South Carolina, and say to the slaves,
Come here, and find an asylum of freedom here, where
talon of the national eagle shall ever snatch you away.'
'
'
no
�57
KIDNAPPING.
Theodore Parker said that legislatures could make and un
make laws but " there is a law of God, written on the heart,
that we should do unto
that cannot be altered or revoked,
;
we would
another as
that others should do unto us.
When
Union
conflict
the laws of Massachusetts or the laws of the
with the laws of God, I would keep God's law in preference,
though the heavens should fall. We have officers who tell us
that they are sworn to keep the laws of the States and of the
United States, and we are born citizens, born to obey the laws,;
but every bone of my body and every drop of blood in my sys
tem swears to me that I am amenable to and must obey the
laws of God."
Captain
Hannum
and claimed that
justified his course in the
his conduct
public press,
of his
had received the approval
employers. Mr. Pierson, too, justified the act, and, in reply to
the criticisms of the meeting, especially those of Stephen C.
Phillips, asserted that his course received the general
commen
dation and approval of the merchants of Boston ; and he
" the
expressed the confident belief that
response of those
'
any day from half past one till two,
five to one."
That vote was never
taken but it is to be feared that, had it been, discreditable
as such a conclusion may seem, the result would have shown
that he had too much reason for his confidence.
assembled on
'
'Change
would confirm his doings,
;
Cases like these, appealing as they did to the humane and
generous sympathies of noble
men and women,
impelled
them
to put forth every effort to secure legal protection against kid
Soon after 'the decision of the Supreme Court in the
napping.
Prigg case, Massachusetts and Vermont had forbidden the use
of their jails
and the services of
their officers for the arrest
and
detention of fugitives from slavery. Unsuccessful efforts were
put forth to secure similar legislation in New York, and also
the repeal of the "black laws" of Ohio/ In 1847 the legislature
of Pennsylvania repealed a law by which a master could hold
a slave in that State for six months, and also, like Massachu
setts and Vermont, enacted laws forbidding the use of jails for
the retention of fugitive slaves.
Among the friends of free
dom who were active in securing this enactment was Charles
VOL.
II.
8
�58
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN
AMERICA.
Gibbons, then the presiding officer of the Senate, who distin
guished himself by the service he rendered. In 1848, Rhode
Island followed the example of Pennsylvania.
But while there were these demonstrations of right feeling
and evidences of progress, there were other manifestations of
sentiment and purpose that were not so encouraging. Thus
Jersey, although passing a law extinguishing the last
New
which lingered there as late as the year 1846,
enacted that non-residents, travelling in the State, might take
their slaves with them as household servants.
Connecticut,
relic of slavery
New Jersey, although extinguishing slavery in 1848,
in
1847 a proposition to give to colored men the right
rejected
also, like
of voting,
by an overwhelming majority.
In
New York,
too,
in a convention for a revision of her constitution, the clause
requiring a property qualification for colored men was retained,
it submitted it, as a separate proposition, to a popular
though
vote.
of
The question
excited great interest.
"
which the " Tribune distinguished
The Whig
itself for its
press,
advocacy
of equal rights, generally supported the claim of the negro to
an equality of privilege with the whites. But passion and
prejudice prevailed, and the proposition
was defeated by a
large majority.
The annexation
of
Texas and the Mexican war
intensified
the prejudices of the Southern people, increased their deter
mination to protect and conserve the slave system, and ren
dered them more alert in detecting and prompt in opposing
anything that threatened either danger or damage to it. Antislavery men, no matter how moderate and prudent, especially
connected with the press, were made to feel the full force of
if
these suspicions and determination. An antislavery journal,
the " Saturday Visitor," had been established at Baltimore,
and an effort to suppress it as an incendiary publication was
made by the
citizens of that city.
But
its
conductor, Dr.
Snodgrass, firmly maintained his right to publish it, the effort
it had so
failed, and its brave editor lived to see the system
earnestly assailed swept away.
"
In Washington, " The National Era had been established
by Dr. Bailey, as an organ of the Liberty party. Though it
�NATIONAL RECOGNITION OF PROPERTY IN MAN.
59
was edited with great ability and tact, and was also the vehicle
of some of the most polished and scholarly pens in the country,
it excited
having John G. Whittier as its corresponding editor,
of the
and
of
the
the ire of the slaveholding population
capital,
South generally. Indeed, the city government of Georgetown
took the matter into consideration, with a view of suppressing
the feared and hated sheet.
the editor carried
him
safely
But the courage and courtesy of
through the menacing dangers by
which his journal was surrounded and, though it did not live
to celebrate in fitting terms the death of the system whose
horrid life had brought it into being, as it had been the in
;
it did live to deal
spiration of its earnest and effective career,
most damaging blows to the giant crime, and it may be truly
been among the most potent agencies of
as
having
recognized
the antislavery cause.
But there was one conductor of a public journal, whose ut
terances against slavery became, in the hands of the incensed
John H. Pleasants,
slaveholders, the occasion of his death.
Richmond " Whig,"
inserted a few articles, writ
ten by another, on the economic bearings of the question. His
indorsement of the doctrine of the articles was, in the eyes of
editor of the
an unpardonable offence, and he was
from the paper. Being associated with
another journal, he became involved in a controversy with his
his slaveholding patrons,
compelled to retire
old antagonist, Mr. Ritchie, the editor of the " Enquirer," of
the same city.
Receiving a challenge from the son of Mr.
Ritchie, which he accepted, he fell a victim alike to the bar
barism of slavery and of the duello.
In 1846, the Supreme Court rendered a decision in the
Van
Zandt case, by which, perhaps more distinctly and defiantly
than ever before, the idea of property in man was proclaimed
to the country and to the world, and that which Lord Brougham
had pronounced " a guilty fantasy " in England was here de
clared to be a constitutional provision, to be protected by the
sacred guaranties of the time-honored charter of the nation's
" In
coming to that conclusion," said Justice Woodthe opinion of the court, " they were fortified
who
read
bury,
life.
by the idea that the Constitution
itself,
in the clause before
�60
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
cited, flung its shield, for security, over such property as is
in controversy in the present case, and the right to pursue
and reclaim it in another State." To show that the nation
did not regard it as a mere barren right, not far from the
same time the United States Marshal for the District of
Columbia advertised for sale, in the city of Washington, two
women, one sixty and the other twenty years of age,
colored
judgment rendered against a
Department and these women were
to satisfy a
Office
;
by the Postand the money
citizen
sold,
was put into the treasury of the nation.
With bondmen fleeing and slaveholders pursuing, with the
Supreme Court proclaiming the doctrine of property in man,
with women sold by the government itself, on the auctionblock, with the army fighting on foreign soil for conquest in
slavery's behalf, with statesmen striving to desecrate free ter
men
ritory with the blot and blight of oppression, thoughtful
to realize more fully the condition of their country,
began
and of themselves as well, and to comprehend more clearly
the responsibilities and duties of the crisis which seemed
so rapidly approaching.
�CHAPTER
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
VI.
WORK.
BURR.
Essential violence of slavery.
Escape of slaves.
Characteristics of Western society.
Railroad.
THOMPSON.
of
Workings
Underground
Heroic endurance of the
Van Dora, Coffin, Rundell Palmer.
Sacrifices of their friends.
Noble conduct of Palmer's daughter.
Imprisonment of Burr, Work, and
Released.
Their fidelity and Christian bravery.
Thompson.
fugitives.
VIOLENCE was the
essential element of slavery.
From
the
slave-hunt in Africa to the surrender of the Rebel
army at
its influence was felt,
and
wherever
whenever
Appomatox,
It laid its ruthless hand
violence was the law of its being.
and
souls
of
the slaves, but upon the
the
bodies
not only upon
It
finer sensibilities and moral convictions of the nation.
first
trifled
with the tenderest feelings, scorned all scruples of con
and trampled upon the law of God. To hold a slave
science,
was a direct and defiant challenge to the manhood, the patriot
ism, and the conscience of the individual, the community, and
Nor was it any less
it was, indeed, greater
the nation.
because men consented thereto, became reconciled to it, de
fended it, and even lent their aid to its support for then it
had accomplished its fatal work, and had destroyed what it
had at first outraged and debauched. This " constant war
;
fare," as Jefferson, himself a slaveholder, characterized the
relation of master and slave, involved all this without any of
the accessories of cruelty or excessive
ill
treatment.
No word
need be spoken, no blow struck. How much more when the
petty tyrant of the lash used harshly his power, and the slave,
thus abused and seeking relief in escape, invoked the aid of
others in his flight toward the north star and liberty.
Then the whole
soul of the true
man
revolted against such
barbarism, and rose in mutiny against the laws which sanc
tioned and sustained it.
Frederick Douglass, standing on the
�62
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
shores of the Chesapeake, and looking wistfully after the white
which were bearing his heart away but were forbidden
sails
was hardly more restive under the tyranny
him
bound
to
the hated spot than were thousands who
which
were hampered and held back by law from giving him and
such as he their helping hand and hearty God-speed. Charles
to take his body,
T. Torrey dying in a Baltimore prison, Anthony Burns march
ing down State Street between files of soldiers to a United
States vessel in the stream, and the story of Eliza in " Uncle
Tom's Cabin," were but representative facts. They revealed
a state of affairs, and purposes resulting therefrom, on which
rested what became an important institution, as it was but the
necessary and natural consequence of what could not but exist
and must reveal itself. It betokened, on the one hand, the im
perious desire of the slave to escape from such horrible bond
and on the other revealed the equally natural wish of
him in that escape. Both were but developments
of principles which lie embedded in the human constitution
both arose in obedience to higher laws than any of human
age
;
others to aid
;
enactment.
Additional and auxiliary causes greatly increased and inten
natural influences, and prompted to both the at
sified these
tempted escapes and the proffered aid in making them.
In
Western States a very large per cent of
their earlier emigration was from the South.
Being generally
the " poor whites," and leaving mainly on account of slavery
and the hindrances it interposed in the way of their success in
life, these emigrants, strangely enough, took with them their
Southern prejudices, and became in their new homes the will
ing instruments of the same power of which they had been the
At least, this was true of the
victims before their removal.
A
small
minority, mostly ministers and mem
large majority.
bers of churches, had left the South from moral considerations,
because they were opposed to slavery from principle and they
remained in their new homes no less hostile than before. This
hostility was strengthened by the large New England element
with which they came in contact by antislavery discussions,
which were so rife in those days; and by the aggravated
the settlement of the
;
;
�63
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
instances of encroachment and outrage which were from time
to time revealing the violent and aggressive character of the
system.
In addition to the occasional escapes across Mason and
Dixon's line into contiguous portions of the free States, where,
liable to
reasons, the fugitives were specially
their
find
to
1812
of
war
the
they began
arrest, soon after
that
of
soldiers
the
of
war, on
towards Canada. Many
for
obvious
way
and Kentucky, carried back the wel
that there was a land of freedom towards
their return to Virginia
come
intelligence
of the slaves, catching at these vague
the basis of plans of escape
and dangers of the
distance
the
of
in
entire
which,
ignorance
that race is so
for
which
faith
marvellous
way, but with the
the north star.
Many
items of information,
made them
remarkable, they proceeded to put into execution. Many such,
as early as 1815, began to find their way across the Western
Reserve, where they were pretty sure to find a cheerful wel
come, a hearty God-speed, and the needful aid and directions.
Elizur Wright, Jr., whose childhood was spent there, says of
them, that they were remarkable for their desire to pay in
what they received, and thus " awakened a feeling in
the white settlers very different from that which had been
indulged towards the lazy mendicant Indians, whose faces had
been too familiar before the war." Among those whose houses
were always open to the fugitive were the best and leading
labor for
men
of that
New England of the West,
such
men
as Leicester
John Sloane of Ravenna,
David Hudson, from whom
King, Elizur Wright, General Perkins,
member of Congress
the town of Hudson received its name, a Revolutionary vet
eran and Owen Brown, father of the immortal John Brown,
who thus early imbibed his love of freedom, and took his
afterward
;
;
first
lessons in practical emancipation.
Illinois, having not only its southern but largely its western
boundaries bordering upon the slave States, early and largely
The expulsion from Missouri
participated in the same work.
of Dr. Nelson, one of the ablest, most popular, and most use
ful of
ruffians
its
ministers, for entertaining antislavery views, by
rifles, who compelled him to betake him-
armed with
�64
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
self, like
IN AMERICA.
a fugitive slave, to the woods, from which he could
escape only by stealth into Illinois what was tantamount to
the expulsion of Love joy from the same State for the same
;
and
his subsequent murder at Alton
the arrest, trial,
and
conviction,
long imprisonment of Thompson, Burr, and
Work, for no other crime than that of attempting to aid two
these cruel and
fugitive slaves to escape from bondage
cause,
;
;
tragic events filled the public
mind with alarm,
fixed atten
tion, and pressed home upon all the most pregnant questions,
not only of duty and humanity, but of patriotism and personal
These facts provoked discussion, led to the organiza
safety.
tion of societies, and to the putting in motion of the general
machinery of means to affect the public mind and purpose.
These discussions at the North provoked counter-discussions
at the South, of which the slaves were often unbidden hear
True, they comprehended but vaguely their full import,
but they gathered their drift. They learned that there was
a land of freedom, such a thing as escape, that many had
ers.
effected
it,
that there were those
who rendered
aid,
and that
the north star pointed out the way to those friends and to
The consequence was that the numbers who
that freedom.
sought such escapes increased, and that many, every year,
gained the eagerly sought boon.
But they could not effect their escape alone and unaided.
This exigency, however, was provided for. The discussions
which had reached their ears raised up friends at the North,
who were willing to render the needed aid and to share in the
were compelled to run. The Underground Rail
road was the popular designation given to those systematic
and co-operative efforts which were made by the friends of the
risks they
fleeing slave to aid
hunters,
tion," as
who were
him
in eluding the pursuit of the slaveThis " institu
generally on his track.
was familiarly called, played an important part in
drama
of slavery and antislavery. By its timely and
the great
effective aid thousands were enabled to escape from the prisonhouse of bondage, and to elude the clutches of merciless slavecatchers, pressing after them with hot haste and often with
bitter exasperation.
They who belonged to it, who guided and
it
�UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
65
constitu
operations, bore no title, had no written
no secret oaths. But they were the
tion, and were bound by
"
"
true " Sons of Liberty ; the real, not the sham,
Knights of
sustained
its
Theirs was not the diabolism of slavery,
the Golden Circle."
under the divine name of liberty, but fealty to freedom at
serious sacrifices of time and money, at grave risks of per
a knight-errantry which, though for
sonal liberty and life,
bidden by the laws of man, they knew must be in accord
with the laws of God,
of
him who required them
to love
their neighbors as themselves, to feel for those in bonds as
bound with them, to visit the prisoner in his cell, and to care
downtrodden and betrayed.
Generally, though not
Christian
of
were
members
churches, who
exclusively, they
their
constrained
felt both justified and
religious convic
by
tions to ignore those laws of the government which forbade
such succor, and the sentiment, rife in both church and state,
for the
that frowned upon this disregard of what were popularly re
garded the compromises of the Constitution.
The
practical
"
"
working of the system required stations at
convenient distances, or rather the houses of persons who held
themselves in readiness to receive fugitives, singly or in num
any hour of day or night, to feed and shelter, to clothe
necessary, and to conceal until they could be despatched with
There were others
safety to some other point along the route.
who held themselves in like readiness to take them by private
bers, at
if
If by the former mode, they generally
or public conveyance.
went in the night, by such routes and with such disguises as
gave the best warrant against detection, either by the slave-
catchers or their many sympathizers scattered far too thickly
even in the free States. To carry forward these operations,
however, manifestly required calm and heroic courage, pa
and perseverance, wise calculation and shrewd fore
thought, and no small amount of money. And it happened
that there were many willing to make generous contributions
of their means, who were unwilling to perform the labor, risk
tience
the danger, or compromise themselves by joining personally in
a service the popular voice condemned.
Indeed, though the
cost was great, seldom, if ever, were any held back for the lack
VOL.
II.
9
�66
RISE
of friendly
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
hands to succor and the needful means
to carry
them forward.
When
the wide extent of territory embraced
by the Middle
Western States east of the Mississippi is
States and all the
borne in mind, and it is remembered that the whole was dot
ted with these " stations," and covered with a network of
imaginary routes, not found, indeed, in the railway guides
or on the railway maps that each station had its brave and
;
men and women,
ever on the alert to seek out and
succor the coming fugitive, and equally intent on deceiving
and thwarting his pursuers that there were always trusty and
" minute-men " of the
courageous conductors waiting, like the
Revolution, to take their living and precious freights, often by
faithful
;
unfrequented roads, on dark and stormy nights, safely on their
way and that the numbers actually rescued were very great,
;
many counting their trophies by hundreds, some by thousands,
two men being credited with the incredible estimate of over
there are materials from which to
twenty-five hundred each,
estimate, approximately at least, the amount of labor per
formed, of cost and risk incurred on the despised and depre
cated Underground Railroad, and something of the magnitude
of the results secured.
And
then,
when
there are brought
into account the daring and endurance, the marvellous hope
and sublime trust often exhibited by the fleeing fugitive, and
the chivalrous disregard of sacrifice and danger displayed by
those
who helped him
on,
it
can hardly be deemed extravagant
of the brightest pages of American history
have not yet been written ; and that for romantic interest,
heroic bravery, and persistent courage, incidents might here
to assert that
some
be found equal to any in the annals of the Revolution or of the
Rebellion.
It should be added that, while the mode sketched
above was that generally employed, there was a great variety
methods resorted to, usually decided by the circum
stances of the case, or by the individuality of the persons
employed. They who were engaged in this hazardous enter
in the
untramelled by statutes or precedents, were generally
a law to themselves, and adopted the measure that gave the
The incidents here
fairest promise of immediate success.
prise,
�UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
67
noticed will but afford illustrations of that state of constant
unrest, conflict, and peril, personal and public, which the
existence of slavery and antislavery
was constantly provoking
and rendering inevitable.
There was much in the characteristics and circumstances of
Western society, its general heartiness of mind and manners,
its rough-and-ready, free-and-easy style of doing things, which
alike prompted and facilitated this particular form of philan
Its inhabitants, freed from the constraints of
thropic effort.
the conservatism and conventionalism which naturally obtained
in the older States, found less difficulty in coming at once
to fundamental principles, and in conforming their conduct
As
more outspoken
positive and determined.
of right, they had less
claims
the
Recognizing
paramount
A complete list of such and
hesitation in obeying its voice.
of their doings would fill volumes.
Only the briefest mention
of a few must serve as examples of the many.
Mr. Van Dorn, an extensive and successful business man
of Quincy, Illinois, numbering some two or three hundred
fugitives helped onward in a service of twenty-five years, thus
explains his course, and gives these reasons for his conduct.
"
My location was such," he says, " that I had either to ignore
my principles or 'hide the outcast' and take the conse
thereto.
and
the supporters of slavery were
violent, so its enemies were
more
'
quences of being persecuted as a
despised Abolitionist.'
Under these circumstances 'I conferred not with flesh and
avowed my sentiments, and for twenty-five years
'
kept up a running fight with the minions of darkness, who,
in the interests of slavery, were ever ready to devour any one
blood,' but
4
who would
Turner, a
Rev.
give aid or succor to the fugitive."
to
in
Illinois
1830
missionary, going
home
Asa
and
earnestly engaging in the struggle from the first, thus testifies
as to the fact and mode in which the stern strife was entered
"
upon and prosecuted.
Conventions, lectures," he writes,
u
and protests against the wrong, were some of the means
relied on, and preaching against it all the time.
Somehow the
Bible became a wonderful Abolition book to those who were in
the battle.
One instrumentalitf
later
employed was that of
�68
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
bondmen on their way to freedom. Lines
were formed through Iowa and Illinois, and passengers were
carried from station to station, usually in the night, till they
helping the fleeing
It made large draughts on the pockets
the
on
and
But the work
physical strength of all engaged.
paid gloriously in the answer of a good conscience toward God.
Before the war commenced, it became almost impossible for a
reached the Canada line.
slaveholder to recapture his runaway."
For obvious reasons the operations of the
road in Ohio were extensive.
Among
Underground Rail
it was
those engaged in
Levi Coffin of Cincinnati, familiarly called its president. He
was a Quaker of great worth, high social position, and exten
known
in both this country and Great Britain as a phi
lanthropist largely engaged in works of benevolence and reform.
It has been estimated that he was instrumental in the escape
sively
of
between two and three thousand
slaves.
In the north
western part of the State the house of Rundell Palmer was ever
open to receive the fugitive. He claims mention here, not
simply for his own fidelity and the prowess of his daughter,
but because an incident occurred there that affords a forcible
illustration of the stern duties
and serious
responsibilities they
assumed who volunteered the service of such a " station." In
midwinter, twelve men and women were brought to his house
in early morning, exhausted and hungry from the hardships
and hazards of a winter trip from their homes to and across
the State.
To their consternation and his perplexity, simulta
neously with their arrival was that of their infuriated pursuers.
Armed with weapons as well as with the authority of the
United States, they surrounded and entered the house, and
demanded the immediate surrender of their victims. In this
exigency, while the father was endeavoring to throw some
way, the daughter, afterward the wife of
a
Cobb,
young woman of some twenty years, in
the fugitives and their pursuers, and
between
herself
terposed
that
demanded
they should not be molested until they
sternly
legal obstacle in the
Rev. H.
W.
had been
fed.
They demurred, brandishing
their
weapons in
her presence but she boldly stood her ground, and held them at
bay until the mother prepared the much-needed breakfast, and
;
�WORK.
BURR.
69
THOMPSON.
the father had sued out an unavailing process to compel
them
to prove their property,
something they were unfortunately
enabled to do, at least to the satisfaction of the officials.
Cowed by
the bravery of the heroine, they obeyed her
man
date, and went away muttering curses, but declaring that
"
Such was the
they never saw such a brave young lady."
of those
spirit and such the stuff demanded by the exigencies
dark and disgraceful days such the price they were obliged
All honor to
to pay who would be true to their convictions.
;
the " brave young lady," and all honor to the brave men and
women who were not then found wanting But who can think
!
without a shudder, even now, of the terrible fate of those twelve
men and women who,
had encountered,
just on the eve of deliverance were thus suddenly and rudely
stopped and remanded to a condition made all the more dread
after enduring all they
ful because of this unsuccessful
attempt
?
What
a midwinter
journey was
that, as they retraced their sorrowful footsteps,
in
the
What a fate,
entirely
power of those bad, brutal men
met
at
hands
the
of
their
too, they probably
exasperated
!
And
name of law, under the aegis of
the government, the great body of the people, in the church as
well as out of it, consenting thereto
In 1841, there occurred an event in Missouri which revealed
masters
!
all this
in the
!
not only the spirit and purpose of the slave-masters in that
part of the country, but the sacrifices and sufferings of those
who aimed
to put in practice the great law of Christian love,
to obey the precepts of the Gospel toward the lowly fugi
For the purpose of affording cheap facilities for acquir
tive.
and
ing an education, an institution of learning, styled the Mission
Institute, was established on the eastern bank of the Missis
sippi.
Among those who resorted to it were two young men,
James E. Burr and George Thompson, who were then pursuing
a course of training for the Christian ministry, and Alanson
Work, some forty years of age, with a wife and four children,
who had taken up his residence there for the purpose of edu
cating his children.
Deeply imbued with the
affected
spirit of freedom, they were greatly
the
scenes
of
by
suffering and violence which were
�RISE
70
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
daily exhibited in Missouri, in consequence of the existence of
The cries for help and sighs for deliver
slavery in that State.
ance which were constantly coming to their ears stirred within
their deepest sympathies, and pressed upon them the in
quiry whether there was not something they might and should
them
do in their behalf.
Some time
in July of that year they
made
an agreement with two slaves, that, if they would meet them at
a certain point on the river, they would render them such as
sistance as was within their power to help them on their way
In pursuance of that purpose, Mr. Work and Mr.
to freedom.
Burr went into Missouri to reconnoitre, and to lend such help
ing hand as was needed to expedite the escape of those they
would aid, while Mr. Thompson remained in the boat, under
the pretence of fishing, till his agency was required to trans
port the expected fugitives across the river.
Instead, however, of a welcome, the two were surrounded
by a number of slaves, who pretended they were going with
them, though they were really acting as decoys for slaveholders,
who at once sprung upon them and made them prisoners.
They were bound and placed in custody, while their captors
started in pursuit of Mr. Thompson, whom they compelled by
threats of instant death to surrender.
Being bound, they were
marched for several miles, amid the threats and hootings of
the enraged Missourians, to a house where, tied together, they
spent the night. The next day, led by slaves and escorted by
fifteen horsemen, they were taken to the Palmyra jail, and
committed for slave-stealing. Chained together and fastened
were guarded as desperate criminals by an
armed force during the whole time preceding their trial, while
to the wall, they
a slaveholder, confined for the alleged crime of murder, ob
Nor were any of their
tained bail and was set at liberty.
who
called to express their sympathy and to
proffer their aid, with the exception of the wife and children
of Mr. Work, allowed to see or converse with them.
Indeed,
many
friends,
they were treated with the greatest indignity and with very
unnecessary discomfort and cruelty.
But, deeply impressed with the righteousness of their cause
of God, they were sustained by the firm
and with the presence
�BURR.
WORK.
71
THOMPSON.
conviction that their sufferings would inure to the ultimate
As Latimer said to Ridley, when
deliverance of the slave.
"
shall this day light such a candle,
bound to the stake
:
We
by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out,"
" I have no doubt that
so Mr. Thompson wrote in his journal
God will kindle a fire that will burn and spread, not only
:
through this region and State, but throughout the United
of the oppressed
States, and that will hasten the deliverance
and the conversion of the world. 0, how unworthy am I to
"
That
be the brand that shall be burned to cause this light
and
the
results
of
they probably overrated the significance
their persecutions and sufferings, and failed to comprehend
the providential method that was ultimately to be the means
for the final overthrow of slavery, did not deprive them of the
comfort and support of their sublime faith in God, and the
blessed assurance that even their severe discipline would work
!
for their good.
Through the aid of friends,
two lawyers
Warren of Quincy,
and Wright of Palmyra
were employed as counsel; but,
having no sympathy with the antislavery cause, they were
unwilling to undertake the case without the assistance of
Mr. Work was, therefore, obliged to give his note
another.
two hundred and fifty dollars to secure the services of Mr.
Glover.
There were three indictments. One charged them
for
with " stealing slaves, another with attempting to steal them,
and the other with intending to make the attempt." Every
thing, however, about the trial was ex parte and one-sided.
Eleven of the jurors confessed themselves prejudiced against
the prisoners ; only the witnesses summoned to testify against
them were allowed to give their testimony, and they swore
and then, by the admission of their enemies, they had
falsely
broken no statute of Missouri. Wright, in his plea for the
" I
prisoners, thus presented the case and his position.
appear
;
before you," he said, " as a friend to our institutions, as a
citizen of the State, and as a slaveholder, but also a defender
I believe these men were honest in their inten
of justice.
tions,
and
really desired to benefit the slave.
that they think themselves persecuted
;
I
have no doubt
and, should they go to
�72
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the penitentiary, will feel that they are martyrs, and that their
crown will shine brighter and their song rise higher on account
what they
an Abolitionist, and their con
but I plead that there is no law to hit the case, and,
Our only way is to
therefore, they should not be punished.
send men to Jefferson who shall make provision for the future.
of
duct too
suffer.
I despise
;
Let justice take
its course.''
His advice was so far followed
that in 1845, four years later, such a law was enacted.
His
in
were
and
a
from
after
the
appeals, however,
vain,
charge
them
the
returned
a
verdict of
judge declaring
guilty,
jury
"
Guilty, and twelve years in the penitentiary."
The three were at once removed to prison, where, like other
prisoners, they were compelled to undergo a confinement, al
ways and everywhere rough and rigorous enough, but in that
semi-barbarous and slave-ridden region and society, unrelieved
by the considerate arrangements which prison discipline re
quires, and the advanced civilization of the Northern and
Eastern States has introduced, still more repulsive and harsh.
And this was aggravated at first by the drunken frenzies
of an intemperate jailer, who often made them suffer from
the insane promptings of a harsh and brutal temper crazed
with rum. They were, however, Christian men, who had
strong faith and an unwavering trust in God, who would
honor their Master, and who would do good to their fellowmen. They were consistent in their walk and work, and the
in the darkness, not only
attracted attention, but showed how much better was virtue
than vice. They won the confidence of both keepers and
light of
their example, shining
prisoners within their prison-walls, and secured the good-will
of officials of higher rank and greater influence.
They con
versed with their brother prisoners, giving consolation and
counsel to the sick and dying, warning the hardened, and
Among the apparent
directing the penitent and inquiring.
consequences of such
revivals,
fidelity there
and much good seemed
and painstaking
were one or two religious
to be the result of their pious
labors.
Their correct deportment raised up friends for them even
among those who were incensed against their Abolitionism.
�BURR.
WORK.
THOMPSON.
73
report gaining currency that Mr. Work's family was suf
fering on account of his absence, and consequent inability to
minister to their necessities, softened the hearts of his per
The
secutors, and prepared the way for a favorable application to
On the 20th of January, 1845,
the governor for his release.
Governor Edwards issued his proclamation remitting the
sentence pronounced against him,
" on the
express condition, however, that said Work returns
to the State of Connecticut, his former residence, with his wife
and children, and settles himself there " ; his imprisonment
" three
having continued
years, six months, and seven days."
little more than a year later, Mr. Burr was released, without
further execution of the
A
the unjust condition of being compelled to leave the State.
Mr. Thompson, being better educated, and more unreserved
in the expression of his sentiments, as was exhibited in his
governor and in a conversation with the Secretary
letter to the
was treated with
and compelled to
remain longer. He was, however, finally pardoned, after an
imprisonment of five years lacking nineteen days, and after
being required to confess that he regretted the act for which
he was punished, and promising that he would not repeat it.
After his pardon was granted, there is this singular entry in
" June 14th. For the last time I collected
his journal
the
lambs and had another prayer-meeting. It was a blessed
of State,
less
leniency,
:
reviving season."
Such were the men, and such their manifest spirit and pur
pose, whom Missouri felt obliged to incarcerate in a felon's
no other crime than that of aiding two men in an un
successful attempt to escape from the rigors and perils of a
bondage in which they were unjustly and wickedly held. And
cell for
the American government, and the American church, at least
as bodies, had no words of protest to enter against so bar
barous a deed
!
VOL.
II.
10
�CHAPTER
VII.
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
OPERATIONS AT THE EAST AND
THE MIDDLE STATES.
Charles T. Torrey.
Sent to
Torrey.
work
IN
Slaveholders' convention in Maryland.
Arrest of Mr.
Released by the judge.
Consecrates himself to the
jail.
of freeing the slave.
Aids slaves to escape.
Arrest.
Trial.
Con
Sickness.
Death.
William L. Chaplin.
Imprisonment.
Arrested in Maryland.
Held in
Helps Slaves to escape from Washington.
Bonds paid.
Jonathan Walker.
exorbitant bonds.
Thomas Garrett.
viction.
THE
arrests, imprisonments, trials,
memorable
and death
of Charles T.
Maryland penitentiary are among the
examples and incidents connected with the
Torrey in the
more
work
ing of the Underground Railroad. The wide notoriety of his
acts, his position as a young clergyman, the great respecta
bility of his connections, the high standing of those who
sought his reprieve or some mitigation of his sentence, with
the persistent refusal of the authorities to grant it, challenged
scrutiny, demanded investigation, and compelled thoughtful
to ask and show cause why such acts of neighborly kind
men
ness should be so severely punished.
Mr. Torrey was born near the spot where the Pilgrims
landed, and of an ancestry distinguished for their piety and
His parents dying in his early childhood,
political standing.
he was placed under the care of his grandparents. Quick and
impulsive, he did not receive that thorough and careful re
straint from these indulgent guardians which one of his mer
temperament required. When, therefore, he went forth
had not gained all that caution, that calm
and calculating self-control, which one differently constituted
and differently trained might have exhibited in the peculiarly
trying circumstances in which he was afterward placed. When
he was brought into close contact with slavery, and became
curial
into the world, he
�75
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
and
acquainted with the sad story of the slave's wrongs
coun
to
the
cool
listen
to
wants, he was not so well prepared
sels of prudence, as he was prompt to reduce to practice,
without much refining and weighing of consequences, that
" disinterested benevolence" which was the
great idea of his
religious creed.
Graduating from Yale College in the year 1830, he was
settled in 1837 as pastor of the Richmond Street Congrega,In the mean time he had mar
tional Church in Providence.
ried the second daughter of Dr. Ide of
West Medway, Massa
chusetts, his theological teacher, and granddaughter of the
Emmons of Franklin, of the same State, a distin
late Dr.
guished theologian of his day.
By
this
marriage he became
prominent leaders in a school of theology whose dis
tinguishing feature had ever been an inflexible adherence to
allied to
the logical conclusions of the doctrines of its creed, in their
practical as well as their theoretical results, thus extorting the
admission of a veteran antislavery writer that he had " never
known a Hopkinsian clergyman who was not an Abolitionist."
The
great reforms, especially the antislavery, then at their
spring-tide, and stirring the public mind deeply, would not
permit him to enjoy the quietude of a pastor's life. Accord
ingly he relinquished his pastorate in the autumn of 1838, and
engaged in delivering antislavery lectures.
In 1842, there was a slaveholders' convention at Annapolis,
Maryland, at which, as if the laws of that State were not in
human and unchristian enough, it was proposed, even at that
make them still more oppressive and wicked.
other
Among
propositions, hardly less degrading and cruel,
they proposed to the legislature to prevent the emancipation of
late
date, to
slaves
by
will or deed
into the State
;
to prevent free negroes
from coming
to sell free persons of color, convicted of crime,
into slavery out of the State ; to repeal the act allowing manu
;
mitted negroes to remain in the State without a certificate
require free negroes to give security for their good behavior
from holding
to
;
;
to
and also to pro
hibit them from holding meetings after sundown.
Mr. Torrey
went to the convention in the capacity of a Washington correforbid free negroes
real estate
;
�RISE
76
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
spondent of several Northern papers. Whether or not the
bers of the convention were
purposes of their meeting,
mem
made
it
suspicious by the nefarious
soon transpired that they sus
pected Mr. Torrey of being an Abolitionist, and a question
arose whether he should be allowed to remain, either on the
floor or in the galleries.
While
this
was discussed
in the con
vention, a great excitement was pervading Annapolis, and the
mob was debating the question whether he should be taken out
and feathered, or hung. The conclusion,
him to jail, a building he pronounced
was
to
commit
however,
" old and
without
to be
ruinous,
bed, or even straw, for a pris
oner." He was allowed, however, such necessities, by furnish
ing them at private expense. He was gratuitously defended
by two able lawyers of the State, Alexander and Palmer.
Several of the Massachusetts delegation in Congress and
others proffered their kind sympathy and good offices.
After
several days' incarceration, the judge decided that there was
no cause for detention, though he put him under five hundred
of
town
to be tarred
bonds to keep the peace, his lawyers kindly becoming
"
his sureties. This false imprisonment, these
bonds," and an
in
debt, he was illy
expenditure which, as a poor man heavily
dollars'
was obliged to pay for being an
laid to his charge.
being
nothing
In this jail he became acquainted with thirteen persons who
had been manumitted by their owner, who afterward died in
able to bear, were the price he
else
Abolitionist,
Being seized by the creditors of the estate, these un
offending men and women were twice tried before the courts,
where it was proved that their late owner was not insolvent
when he manumitted them. But these decisions having been
reversed by the chancellor, they were in jail awaiting a new
Mr. Torrey,
trial, with small probability of a favorable result.
and re
in
their
became
interested
case,
deeply
very naturally,
solvent.
In a letter to the " New York
solved to help them, if he could.
Evangelist," written a few days after his release, there occurs
this sentence
" I
:
<
with more force than ever the injunction to re
member them that are in bonds as bound with them
and,
feel
'
;
after listening to the history of their career, I sat
down and
�UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
77
wrote and signed and prayed over a solemn reconsecration of
until no slaves shall
myself to the work of freeing the slaves,
to
be faithful to that
me
God
be found in the land. May
help
In that
God
helping me, if it
slaves in Mary
stands, I will celebrate the emancipation of the
land before ten years roll away."
pledge in Annapolis
!
cell,
a touching pathos in this incident in Mr. Torrey's
which, had real chivalry, and not slavery, been the ruling
There
life,
jail
is
would have rather endeared him
Well
to his countrymen than have consigned him to prison.
born, with superior talents, education, and professional pros
of a lovely
pects, a charming home, cheered by the presence
wife and little ones, he sacrificed them, disregarded the popu
lar sentiment of the North, and braved the vengeance of the
South, to aid the lowly and downtrodden. As the young re
former sits in the dreary and repulsive prison, surrounded by
and listening to the story of the dusky victims of the same
cruel power that had laid its ruthless hands on him, little aid
spirit of the
American
from the imagination
of the painter's art.
people,
is
required to suggest a picture worthy
now, as it was then, to criticise
It is easy
and charge him with imprudence, unfounded enthusiasm, and
an improper estimate of the relative claims of his family and the
Doubtless he was imprudent. That he was too enthu
slave.
siastic may be admitted, when his purpose is borne in mind,
to " celebrate the emancipation of the slaves in Maryland in ten
That a cooler and more calculating judgment would
years."
have led him to hesitate before subjecting his family to the
But
contingencies resulting from his decision is probable.
these were errors of judgment, " leaning to virtue's side."
In the light of eternity, above the interests, the friendships,
Heaven's chancery, when
by the standards of the great law of
That solemn promise,
love, another estimate will be made.
then written down, will be deemed a worthier record than that
and conventionalisms
of earth, at
this act shall be tested
of
many
to suffer
a prudent man, who, at a safe distance, left the slave
and perish, while he satisfied his conscience and sense
of justice by discountenancing such rashness, such unlawful
interference with the claims of the slave-master.
The obloquy
�78
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
often cast, by those
who heard
IN AMERICA.
the appeals of the fleeing fugi
them, upon the few who, like Mr. Torrey,
heard to heed, should be relieved by a recognition of the fact
that seldom, if ever, were braver, more unselfish, and more
tive only to disregard
on the page of history than were
reason
of
the unparalleled difficulties of the
When, by
all
made
let
not theirs alone be held up for
mistakes,
situation,
chivalric deeds recorded
theirs.
made in the interests of hu
with
and
such
sublime
manity,
disregard of personal sacrifice
and danger.
After his release, he went to Albany, and became editor of
a paper. While in that city, a slave, who had escaped to
Canada, entreated him to go to Virginia and aid in the escape
To one with his feelings and con
of his wife and little ones.
that
vow
on
with
record, such an appeal could not
victions,
husband
and father he started on his
With
the
in
vain.
come
which
ill-fated errand of humanity,
proved not only unsuccess
ful in the immediate object for which it was undertaken,
but fatal to all like efforts on his part in behalf of the slave.
He was again arrested, imprisoned, and placed on trial. He
public reprobation, which were
secured the services of Reverdy Johnson, but not until, with
characteristic honesty, he had confessed that he had once aided
one of that gentleman's slaves to escape. He experienced the
annoyances and hardships that might be reasonably expected
for such an offence in such a community.
Through the kind
however, they were much lessened and alle
and, like the Missouri prisoners, he at once entered
upon his missionary efforts, conversing and praying with his
But, while laboring for their benefit, he did
fellow-prisoners.
offices of friends,
viated
;
not forget the great cause of freedom, but wrote to friends, to
bodies secular and ecclesiastical, and one long and able letter
After being in jail some three
to the State of Maryland.
his
trial, he, in company with others, made
months, awaiting
an unsuccessful attempt to escape.
Being betrayed, they
purpose into effect, and, he writes,
" were
heavily ironed, and placed in damp, low-arched cells,
and treated worse than if we had been murderers. I was
failed of carrying their
loaded with irons weighing, I judge, twenty-five pounds, so
�79
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
twisted that I could neither stand up, lie down, nor sleep."
For seven days and nights he said he slept none, from pain
and the utter prostration of the nervous system. His trial
came on, he was convicted, and, on the 30th of December,
1843, he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in the peni
tentiary.
Strenuous efforts were soon made for his release. Leading
men, comprehending the essential wickedness of such a penal
Governor of
ty for such an offence, signed memorials to the
Appeals, too, were made in person by
But the public sentiment of the State and
the South was too imbittered
and, though Governor Pratt
Maryland for pardon.
several individuals.
of
;
expressed himself as personally favorable to the request, he did
not deem it wise to brave the popular feeling against it. Some
of the citizens of Baltimore approached Mr. Torrey with the
idea of preparing the way for release by some seeming conces
sion and the confession of doing wrong in violating slave laws.
But he nobly adhered to his principles. In a letter dated 21st
" I cannot afford to concede
December, 1844, he writes
of
:
any truth or principle to get out of prison. I am not rich
enough." Indeed, it is doubtful whether any concession would
have appeased the bloodthirsty appetite of the demon who now
had him within his power. Though his health was failing,
and it was evident he must soon succumb to the rigors of a
prison
life,
the governor remained inexorable.
He
died in
prison, on the 9th of May, 1846.
But the most humiliating fact remains to be noted. After
and Park Street
his death, his remains were taken to Boston
brother-in-law
was
a
in
which
a
worshipper, was en
Church,
;
gaged for the funeral services. The permission was, however,
revoked, the house of another denomination procured, and
Tremont Temple was thronged by the multitude, many of
whom
were hardly less indignant at the heartless intolerance
Boston than at the barbarism in Maryland. His body was
followed by a long procession to Mount Auburn, where a fit
There
ting monument was afterward raised to his memory.
" the
the
in
the
words
of
beautiful, the
lies,
Whittier,
young,
brave
He is safe now from the malice of his enemies. Nothof
!
�80
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
harm him more. His work for the poor and helpless
was well and nobly done. In the wild woods of Canada,
around many a happy fireside and holy family altar, his name
is on the lips of God's poor.
He put his soul in their soul's
stead he gave his life for those who had no claim on his love
ing can
;
save that of
human
brotherhood."
On
the evening of the day of his burial there was a large
meeting in Faneuil Hall, at which addresses were made by Gen
eral Fessenden of Maine, Henry B. Stanton, and Dr. Walter
Channing, and a poem from James Russell Lowell was read.
Referring to the acts for which Mr. Torrey suffered, Mr. Stanton said " Stripped of all extrinsic ornament, it was this,
:
he aided oppressed men peaceably to cast away their chains
he gave liberty to men unjustly held in bondage
He
has done something for liberty, and his name deserves a place
;
in the calendar of its martyrs.
quietly and serenely in his grave,
Now
that he has been laid
we may
safely publish those
acts to the world which, while he lived, could be safely known
only to the few. In a letter addressed to me, while he was in
If I am a guilty man, I
I
for
have
aided
;
nearly four hundred
slaves to escape to freedom, the greater part of whom would
This
exertions have died in slavery.'
probably but for
prison awaiting his
am
trial,
he said
'
:
a very guilty one
my
'
statement was corroborated by the testimony of Jacob Gibbs,
a colored man, who was Mr. Torrey's chief assistant in his
The selection of Mr. Gibbs was not only an example
Mr. Torrey's shrewdness, but one instance, at least, in which
the slave-masters overreached themselves, and where laws en
efforts.
of
acted in behalf of slavery inured to the interests of freedom.
all the slaveholding States the testi
of
colored
mony
persons could not be received in court, so that
For by the slave codes of
Mr. Gibbs could never testify against his employer.
The case of William L. Chaplin affords another example of
what it cost in those days to be honest and humane, to listen
to the voice of sympathy, and to carry into action the simple
In the year 1836 this gentleman,
precepts of Christian love.
a young lawyer of Eastern Massachusetts, just entering upon
the practice of his profession, with generous ambition and flat-
�UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
81
tering prospects, was invited, on the very threshold of what
he had marked out as his life's work, to relinquish all these
prospects, that he might espouse the cause of the despised and
downtrodden slave. Yielding to what he regarded the voice
of duty, he relinquished his profession and its prospects, and
for a quarter of a century devoted himself to the cause of the
Having served the national antislavery society
oppressed.
for several months, he accepted the appointment of general
agent of the New York State society. Possessing energy and
marked executive
ability,
he devoted himself for four years,
with large success, to the work of organizing the new forces of
freedom in those early years of the reform. Afterward, for
several years, in connection with others, he
made a
specialty of
procuring and publishing antislavery tracts, documents, and
volumes. In 1844 he assumed control of the Albany "Pa
paper which Mr. Torrey, then in the Maryland peni
had
tentiary,
recently started. Becoming the Washington corre
of
his
own paper, he often found occasion, during his
spondent
triot," the
residence at the capital, to exhibit the philanthropy of his
nature by aiding in the purchase of the relatives of those who
had previously escaped to the North. During the session of
1850 he was persuaded to assist two young men, slaves of
Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, in
their endeavor to escape.
Being surprised in the attempt, he
was arrested and cast into prison, on the charge of abducting
slaves.
Having lain in prison five months, he was released
the
on
excessive bail of twenty-five thousand dollars.
But his alleged offences, according to the laws of the Dis
trict of Columbia and of Maryland, would
subject him, if con
imprisonment for years, if not for life. The masters
had aided were violent and most exacting in
their demands, the country was
intensely agitated, and the fate
of Torrey was fresh in
memory. There was little doubt that,
if brought to trial, he would be convicted.
It was deemed ad
victed, to
of the slaves he
visable, therefore, to prevent a trial
would be thus
whose probable
results
serious, if not practically fatal; and it was
determined by his friends that his bail, though so large, should
be forfeited and paid.
To do this, his own little property was
VOL.
II.
11
�82
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
sacrificed, and heavy contributions were made by his friends
and the friends of the cause.
In this work Gerrit Smith of
New
York, with his usual and prompt sympathy, his largebeneficence and princely munificence, became his
and
contributed a large portion of the amount.
And
surety,
hearted
was the
Chaplin and
this
price
demanded by the
nation, and paid by Mr.
his friends, for performing the simple and neigh
act
of aiding two young men to escape from the horrible
borly
bondage
of chattel slavery.
But he
lived to see the day
when
those slaves, if living, were not only free, but enfranchised
men, and those masters, stripped of all control over them
and of their own rights of citizenship, were dependent upon
the generosity of the nation for even the privilege of life.
About the year 1840, Captain Jonathan Walker, of Massa
chusetts, took a contract to build a portion of a projected rail
In fulfilling that contract, he employed
road in Florida.
several negroes.
Being a Christian man, he so far carried his
religion into his daily life as to treat his workmen as human
beings, permitting them to sit at the same table with himself,
and to bend the knee around the same family altar. The
natural result followed. Kindness begat kindness, and they
loved him and trusted in him.
Accordingly, in 1844, they
persuaded him to enter upon the every-way hazardous venture
of aiding them in an attempt, in an open boat, to escape from
the land of chains to a neighboring island, belonging to the
British crown.
prostrated by
After doubling the capes of Florida, he was
violent sickness.
He
helpless,
and the fugitives
were at the mercy of the winds
and waves. Found by the crew of a wrecking-sloop, he was
taken into Key West, where he was thrown into prison, and
kept in irons until he was despatched to Pensacola. During
the passage he was compelled, like a criminal of the vilest
Arriving
sort, to lie on the bottom of the steamer in chains.
in Pensacola, he was cast into a cell in which, two days previ
ignorant of navigation, they
ously, a man had committed suicide, the floor still saturated
with blood. There, chained to the floor, he was allowed nei
He was tried in a United States
ther bed, chair, nor table.
court, convicted,
and sentenced
to be
branded on the right
�83
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
hand with the
hour
;
capitals
to pay as
suffer as
" S. S."
to stand in the pillory one
fines as there were slaves "stolen" ; to
;
many
many terms' imprisonment
;
and
to
The execution
of
to pay the costs,
stand committed until the fines were paid.
these sentences was at once entered upon.
A
United States
" slaveof the words
marshal branded his hand with the initials
stealer," he was compelled to stand in the
pillory,
was pelted
with rotten eggs by a renegade Northerner, and remanded to
with a heavy chain on
prison, where he lay for eleven months,
his leg, which the jailer would not remove, even for the pur
in which
pose of changing his clothing. By efforts of friends,
sum
was
sufficient
a
a
took
leading part,
Loring Moody
raised to liquidate his fines, and in the summer of 1845 he
was set at liberty.
The most impressive lessons of that strange and revolting
incident lie in the sharp and broad contrast between the per
sonal bravery and moral grandeur of the man and the craven
cowardice and heartless ignominy of the nation and in the
profound mistake they made who supposed that they could
;
thus fix a stigma upon such a person, or tarnish his good
name, and that the disgrace was not all their own, and all the
honor his. For there were many, even in those days of dark
"
highest
ness, who saw, with Whittier, that that brand was
"
"
"
honor ; and who welcomed the brave seaman back to his
New England home
as the chivalrous possessor of the old
" heroic
an
of
Like him, too, they
earlier, better day."
spirit
said in thought, if not in his own ringing words
:
" Then
lift that manly right hand, bold ploughman of the wave,
branded palm shall prophesy ' SALVATION TO THE SLAVE
Hold up its lire-wrought language, that whoso reads may feel
'
Its
:
His heart swell strong within him, his sinews change to
" Hold
it
Take
before our sunshine, up against our Northern air.
of Massachusetts, for the love of God, look there
up
Ho men
!
steel.
!
henceforth for your standard, like the Brace's heart of yore
In the dark strife closing round ye, let that hand be seen before."
it
;
But unquestionably the most efficient agent of the Under
ground Railroad, as he was the most successful in these asso
ciated efforts of antislavery men to aid escaping fugitives, was
�84
RISE
Thomas
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Born in Pennsylvania of
richly endowed by nature with quali
command the respect and confidence of
Garrett of
,
Delaware.
Quaker parentage, and
ties
calculated to
At the
others, he early took up his residence in Delaware.
age of twenty-four, by the kidnapping of a colored woman of
his family, whom he pursued and rescued, he took his first
lesson in what proved to be his life's work.
Though he lived
in a slave State, with the usual characteristics of a slavehold-
ing community, he never concealed his opposition to the sys
tem, or his purpose to assist those who sought to escape its
thraldom.
Indeed, for more than fifty years, he was the good
his the house of refuge, always open
;
Samaritan of his State
to the fugitive victims of an oppressed race.
So persistent
was his philanthropy and so widely known were his senti
ments, that he left a record of more than twenty-seven hun
dred slaves he had assisted to escape. Nor did that record
embrace the whole, as he did not begin the count at the outset
of his operations.
That with such success and such
clearly
avowed opinions he should have been allowed to remain in a
slave State, engaged in a lucrative business, and to fill up his
more than fourscore years, are facts clearly opposed to the
This seems all the
traditional policy of such communities.
more strange, as it does not appear that the slaveholders of
that State had any scruples about inflicting upon him all that
For in 1848, under the lead of James
the law would impose.
Bayard, afterward Senator of the United States, he was prose
cuted four times before Judge Taney, and was convicted on
an alleged offence
and
which he was guilty, at worst, only by construction,
mulcted in fines which swept from him all his property, leav
ing him penniless at the age of sixty, and compelling him to
the charge of abducting two slave children,
of
begin
life
anew.
With such evidence
of his fidelity to his convictions,
and
of
the determination of the slaveholders to prevent him from car
rying into execution those convictions, it is certainly a mys
accom
tery, not to be fathomed here, that he was permitted to
him
a
with
charmed
not
bear
If
did
he
much.
so
life,
plish
there
the
certainly seems to be reason for the belief that
�85
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
" voice within " he
thought he heard was no fancy and, more,
that He who spoke that voice extended his protecting and
or far more than
guiding hand, enabling him to obey it. That,
the ordinary amount of moral courage, must have inspired him
;
when, in reply to the auctioneer who had just struck off the
last article of his property, which had been seized and sold to
that
pay the fine imposed, and who had expressed the hope
he
said
he would never be guilty of the like offence again,
:
"
Friend, I have n't a dollar in the world ; but if thee knows
a fugitive who needs a breakfast send him to me." No more
true heroism was exhibited by Luther at Worms, hardly more
by the Apostles before the Sanhedrim. It was the utterance
of a sublime trust, under circumstances well calculated to test
the strength of both courage and principle.
No wonder, then, having outlived the fury of his persecu
that he became
tors, and the system which made them such,
an honored member of the community which had hunted him
with such ferocity that the closing years of his ripe old age
were peaceful and serene that, when he died, the whole com
munity seemed moved as the heart of one man and that his
;
;
;
funeral seemed rather an ovation to a conqueror than the sor
rowful rites around the lifeless form of a departed friend. It
was a
fitting close, too, to so
sentatives of the race he
triumphant a career, that repre
had done so much for became
his
own
body to the grave. His, too, was the
rare good fortune, seldom accorded to reformers, of receiving
here something like an adequate reward for their sufferings
selected bearers of his
not only in the accomplishment of what he
labored for, but in the popular recognition of the virtues that
made him thus heroic and effective.
and
sacrifices,
Such was the Underground Railroad and the system of efforts
represented.
They who engaged in those efforts were gen
Christian
men and women, who feared God and re
erally
man
and
they did it because, in their esteem, such
garded
service was but obedience to the royal law, " Thou shalt love
it
;
They acted, indeed, in full view of
thy neighbor as thyself."
the fact that in obeying that law they must often disregard
human
statutes
;
but this they were prepared to do, and to
�86
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
the censures, reproaches, and
consequences,
arguments they were sure to encounter the fines, imprison
ments, and even death itself, to which they were constantly
the
accept
;
exposed.
To
terference
was both unlawful and inexpedient, they returned
the argument, generally twofold, that such in
though unlawful in the courts of earth, they
Heaven and that
that could not be inexpedient which was so clearly right.
They found warrant, too, in the infinite worth of the human
soul, the wide difference between a chattel personal, subject
for reply, that,
were sure
could not be in the court of
it
;
to all the accidents of property, the helpless victim of human
caprice, passion, and self-interest, and the freeman, at liberty
to develop the vast capabilities of his humanity for both time
The difference between Frederick Douglass, an
and
imbruted serf of an ill-tempered and brutal
ignorant
Maryland slaveholder, cowed and hopeless, and Frederick
Douglass, with his imperial intellect, cultivated and resplen
dent, swaying thousands by his eloquence, and reaching forth
between the Edmondson
his strong arm to lift up his race
sisters, sold on the block for the vilest purposes, and the same,
refined and Christian women, gracing the domestic and social
and
eternity.
;
was so great that they could not doubt the expediency
which might result in such a transformation.
circle,
of
efforts
any
though the thousands thus rescued did not exhibit so
wide discrimination, they felt it a glorious privilege, at what
ever risk and cost, to give them the opportunity of such, or
even far less, improvement. There was, however, no election.
To them it was the Master's
And
"
Living presence in the bond and bleeding slave
and the piteous entreaty
they could not disobey.
of the latter
To them
it
"
;
was but the voice of Him
was both a promise and a
warning
" That he who
treads profanely on the scrolls of law
In the depths of God's great goodness
him who
creed,
in his need
crushes the soul with chain and rod,
"
herds with lower natures the awful form of God
But woe
And
and
may find mercy
to
!
;
�CHAPTER
VIII.
RIOTOUS PROCEEDINGS.
ESCAPE AND CAPTURE OP THE PEARL.
TRIAL OF DRAYTON.
DEBATES IN CONGRESS.
French Revolution of 1848.
General rejoicings.
tion introduced into Congress.
Amendments
of
Resolutions of congratula
Ashmun and Schenck.
Sad fate of the
Escape of slaves.
Popular demonstrations.
Demonstrations against
Popular excitement and indignation.
Mr. Palfrey's resolutions.
the " National Era." Action of Mr. Giddings.
Speeches.
fugitives.
of Stephens, Haskell, Toombs, Stanton, Thompson, Bayly, Wick,
Remarks by CalBale's resolution in the Senate.
Giddings, and Root.
Remarks of Jefferson Davis, Butler, Douglas, Came
Foote's threat.
houn.
Trial and conviction of Drayton and
ron.
Reply of Hale to assailants.
Remarks
Sayers.
Imprisonment and pardon.
"
EIGHTEEN hundred and forty-eight was the year of revolu
A tidal wave of thought and feeling passed over
tions."
Europe, toppling thrones, sweeping away dynasties, and unset
tling the political and social institutions of the people. France
was especially disturbed. Its king was deposed and driven
into exile, and the house of Orleans ceased to be one of the
reigning families of the Continent. Though the fulfilment did
not come up to the promise, nor answer the sanguine expecta
by the revolution, yet for the time being a
republican government was organized, and France took her
tions generated
place
among
the democracies of the earth.
This country shared largely in the enthusiasm of the hour.
Meetings and resolutions of congratulation proclaimed the
and nowhere were these demonstrations
general rejoicing
;
more noisy and extravagant than at the seat of government.
Early in April, President Polk sent a message to Congress an
"
nouncing the event, and affirming that the world has seldom
witnessed a more interesting and sublime spectacle than the
peaceful rising of the French people, resolved to secure for
themselves enlarged liberty." On the same day a series of
�88
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
was introduced into the House expressing satisfac
tion that " the sentiment of self-government is
resolutions
commending
the favorable consideration of the more intelligent "
of the nations ; announcing " the hope that downtrodden hu
itself to
manity may succeed in breaking down all forms of tyranny
and oppression" tendering their warmest sympathies to the
Mr.
people of France and Italy in their present struggle.
;
Ashmun
of Massachusetts offered, as an amendment, that
" we
especially see an encouraging earnest of their success in
the decree which pledges the government of France to early
measures for the immediate emancipation of all slaves in the
Mr. Schenck of Ohio offered, as an amendment
colonies."
to the
"
amendment, the words
recognizing, as we
do, that
there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude."
On these resolutions and amendments there were several
eloquent speeches, too jubilant, indeed, over what had tran
spired, and too extravagant in the anticipations expressed for
the future, revealing, as they did, what is now patent to every
beholder, that none at that time fully appreciated the real
power of despotism in either hemisphere, the tenacity of its
hold, or the terrible struggle that would be required for its
overthrow. " It is," said Mr. McClernand of Illinois, " the
triumph of liberty over tyranny, of truth over error, of
humanity over inhumanity, .... the enunciation that the
time is rapidly approaching when in Europe military force
must bow to moral force, when kings must bow to the su
of the people, when the masses of Europe have
to
will
it
to
be free."
only
" I
"
solemnly believe," said Mr. Hilliard of Alabama, that
preme majesty
when kingcraft has lost its hold upon the
The world is waking from its deep slumber,
the time has come
human mind.
and mankind begin to see that the right to govern belongs not
to crowned kings, but to the great masses."
And yet, great
as were his gratulations over the alleged downfall of kingcraft,
he was not prepared to recognize the abstract doctrine of
human equality, or to welcome the elevation of man as man.
even expressed the apprehension that " the fraternity
which has been adopted may riot be consistent with well-regu-
He
�ESCAPE AND CAPTURE OF THE PEARL.
89
lated liberty it may be the dream of idealists, and not the
conception of philosophical statesmen," while he regretfully
alluded to Mr. Ashmun's amendment as something foreign,
;
" as a matter which does not
belong to
teered the
somewhat
He
also volun
defiant assertion that there
was every
it."
where at the South a purpose to maintain the claim of the
masters on their slaves " with a courage and firmness which
nothing can intimidate or shake."
With like inconsistency Mr. Haskell of Tennessee, while
" were
upheaving be
asserting that the kingdoms of Europe
neath the throb of liberty which was animating the bosoms of
the people," and " that it was from this country that they had
" sick and tired of
caught the flame," declared that he was
this continual thrusting in this subject of slavery," which was
calculated " to stop the progress of freedom, to injure this
government itself, and put out this light toward which with
hope were turned the eyes of the downtrodden world."
The few antislavery men in Congress bravely defended
their principles ; nor did they fail to point out the glaring in
consistency of singing paeans over the triumph of freedom in
Europe, and at the same time avowing a persistent determina
tion to perpetuate a far more despotic and hopeless tyranny
Mr. Giddings, noting the inconsistency, exclaimed
" Look from that
window, and there you will see a slave-pen,
here.
:
whose gloomy walls in mute but eloquent terms proclaim the
" And all
this, he reminded the
hypocrisy of the deed
!
" Will not
House,
the French cast back all such pretended sympathy with abhor
rence ? Will they not look with disgust on such deception
is
sustained by laws enacted by Congress.
and hypocrisy, when they see a nation of slave-dealers tender
"
ing their sympathy to a free people ?
In the debate on similar resolutions, unanimously adopted
by the Senate, Mr. Hale, sharing
in the general enthusiasm,
though, as the event proved, speaking too despairingly of his
own nation and too hopefully of those across the water, gave
" I have sometimes
expression to both his hopes and fears.
"
thought," he said, in dwelling upon the history of this Re
public, that I had seen indications, fearful and fatal, that we
VOL.
II.
12
�90
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
were departing from the
IN AMERICA.
faith of our fathers
;
that, instead oi
being true to the first principles of human liberty which we
have proclaimed, we were cutting loose from them ; that the
illustration
we were about
to give of the capability of
man
for
self-government was to be the same as that of other nations
which had gone before us and that, after our failure, the
;
hopes of freedom would indeed be extinguished forever. But
in the dawning of this revolution in France I behold the sun
of hope again arise, his beams of golden light streaming along
the eastern horizon. I am now inspired by the hope that,
even if we fail here, if Liberty should be driven from this her
chosen asylum, the divine principle would still live, and would
find a sanctuary among the people of another land that when
our history should have been written, and our tale told, with
;
its
sad moral of our faithlessness to liberty, boasting of our
we listened unmoved to the clanking of
love of freedom while
chains and the wail of the bondmen,
even then, in a con
tinent of the Old World, light would be seen arising out of
darkness, life out of death, and hope out of despair."
A
municipal celebration of the event in Washington, em
bracing noisy outdoor demonstrations, a torchlight procession,
the illumination of the houses of the President and the heads
of the departments, also afforded occasion for extravagant ut
"
"
terances.
stormy eloquence
Indeed," said Horace Mann,
rushed forth from the capital of the nation, like winds from
till all but the dead
the cave of ^Eolus, and roared and roared
must have heard
it."
the rhapsodists of that occasion was Senator Foote
from Mississippi. Alluding to the events in Europe, he said,
" The
glorious work which has been so well begun cannot
Among
possibly fail of complete accomplishment.
and slavery is rapidly drawing to a close.
The age of tyrants
The happy period,
to be signalized by the universal emancipation of man from the
fetters of civil oppression, and the recognition in all countries
of the great principles of popular sovereignty, equality, and
Such
brotherhood, are at this moment visibly commencing."
language from such a man, in such a presence, sufficiently
singular in
itself,
was afterward rendered more noteworthy by
�ESCAPE AND CAPTURE OF THE PEARL.
91
a subsequent fact,
that, when repeated before a Washing
ton court by Mr. Mann, as counsel for Drayton and Sayers,
in their trial for the abduction of slaves, the eloquent ad
vocate was checked by the presiding judge because it was
"
"
inflammatory," and because, the latter said, we have insti
tutions that may be endangered by it."
While these exciting scenes were in progress, there was
approaching quietly and unobserved up the Potomac a plain
and ordinary craft, destined soon to direct the popular mind
into other channels, test the value of
much
of this rhetoric,
and become, for a time at least, a matter of national interest.
That craft was the schooner Pearl, laden with wood, but
soon to return with the living freight of seventy-seven fugitive
who had dared the fearful risks they soon encountered
slaves,
for that freedom for themselves they had just heard so highly
The exodus of so large a number soon
eulogized for others.
became known, and an armed steamer was speedily despatched
The schooner was overtaken at the mouth of
in hot pursuit.
the river, and brought back, with its ill-fated company.
They
were met at the wharf by a mob of several thousands, and
were with difficulty escorted to the city prison. They were
soon visited by Mr. Giddings and Mr. Hamlin, formerly a
member of Congress from Ohio, at much personal hazard, not
only to express their sympathy, but to tender, especially to
Drayton and Sayers, their professional services,
if
they were
needed.
Little authentic information of the origin of that attempted
escape, or of the different individuals which made up that
brave but unfortunate company, has ever been made public.
As usual, the recaptured were turned over to the slave-dealers,
to meet the doom, so much dreaded by the slave, of being sent
South, there to be lost in the world of wretchedness and woe
which overspread that portion of this boasted land of freedom.
There were, however, exceptions, the memory whereof lingers
in many minds.
There was the Edmondson family, described
as "the finest family for miles round," educated, religious,
and refined, and valued in the market at fifteen thousand
dollars.
Of the six who joined that company, two were the
�92
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
"
Edmondson sisters," whose sad case interested so many, and
who were ransomed by Northern contributions. There was
Emily Russell, a beautiful quadroon, gentle and Christian,
consigned to the brutal Baltimore slave-dealers, who refused
her ransom for a less sum than eighteen hundred dollars, and
that for the shamefully significant reason that " she was the
most beautiful woman
in the country."
And poor Emily was
sent with the southward-bound coffle to a worse doom than
either slavery or death
though the latter came to her relief,
from
her
mother
the startling exclamation " The
extorting
be
he
has
Lord
heard my prayers at last." This
thanked,
strange thanksgiving of an anguished heart reveals in one
brief sentence the depth of sorrow which must have filled
her soul.
Indeed, the whole transaction of which that was
a part did but reveal and epitomize the burden of that gi
gantic wrong under which the nation staggered and groped
for three generations, blindly and frantically pressing on to
;
:
the Rebellion.
Less
is
known
of the rest.
Mr. Giddings stated to Congress
sold during that week to the
infamous Hope H. Slatter, the slave-dealer of Baltimore, for
the Southern market. " The scene at the depot," he said,
that nearly fifty of
them were
"would have disgraced Algiers
adieu to their husbands
;
or Tunis.
Wives bidding
mothers, in an agony of despair,
unable to bid farewell to their daughters little boys and girls
" and " over all that fiend
weeping amid the general distress
;
;
human shape, Slatter, presided, assisted by some three or
four associates in depravity, each armed with pistol, bowie-
in
knife,
and club."
Thus were ingulfed in that Southern sea of
hope and friends, the hapless company
wretchedness, lost to
of
the ill-fated Pearl.
And
this
terrible outrage,
warring
on both equity and humanity, was perpetrated not only
under cover of laws enacted by Congress, but in accordance
with its prevailing spirit and purpose, as was immediately
shown by its debates and action.
The mob, having exhausted its powers of mischief on the
ill-fated ones, proceeded to the office of the "National Era"
alike
with the manifest purpose of assault.
But wiser counsels
pre-
�ESCAPE AND CAPTURE OF THE PEARL.
vailed.
93
strategy of the moderate sympathizers with the
energy and bravery of Captain Goddard of the
The
mob, the
from the City Government and Cabinet, as both
police, appeals
bodies took special action in the premises, averted the threat
ened danger and disgrace. Dr. Bailey, the editor, was waited
on with the request that he would remove his paper from the
a request, however, he manfully declined to heed. He
upon by a, crowd, with the avowed purpose of
his
throwing
press into the canal, and of giving him a coat of
city
was
;
also waited
and feathers. But, craving the privilege of addressing the
excited multitude, in a speech of ten or fifteen minutes he dis
armed them of their fury, dissuaded them from their purpose,
tar
his person and his press from the contem
In this exigency Dr. Bailey exhibited the same
and thus rescued
plated outrage.
dignity, urbanity, and tact which eve* characterized him in
his editorial career, in both Cincinnati and Washington, and
which enabled him to enunciate many unpalatable truths with
out that exasperation of feeling which usually accompanied
their proclamation.
But the main interest
of this occurrence centred in the
action of Congress, as from that are derived its most impor
It was in itself a sad case, involving much
tant lessons.
individual and domestic outrage and suffering, that might
well appall and stir with indignation the most apathetic.
And yet it was but a single instance, a trifling instalment
of the vast aggregate of
woe
and
inflicted
lawless,
even one day's wretchedness and
The mob was violent
by American slavery.
true but it was local and limited.
Wash
it is
;
ington revealed the humiliating fact that its sympathies
were with the oppressor, and not with the oppressed but
Washington was a Southern city, and that was a matter of
;
course.
Congress, however, was national and representative,
it spoke it gave voice to the
public sentiment of
and when
The more pregnant
inquiry was, and
Congress regard the conduct of these brave
the land.
is
:
How
men and
women, whose only crime, their enemies being judges, was
that they had loved liberty " not wisely, but too well " ? What
did
reception were they to meet, did they meet, at the hands of
�94
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the nation's legislators, for venturing for freedom so
much
more than revolutionary France had done, whose conduct it
had so recently and so vehemently applauded, and for whose
encouragement its unanimous resolutions were even then
The record will show that, instead of
crossing the ocean ?
and
admiration,
they exhibited toward them a
sympathy
heartless contempt for their suffering, indifference to their
fate, and a most vindictive purpose to punish both them and
Indeed, there is no doubt
that the excitement in the country was intensified by its ac
tion, in which, under the form and in the dialect of legislative
their friends for their heroic deeds.
debate, were exhibited a spirit and purpose as rancorous and
vengeful as were those of the lawless mob.
On the 18th of April, 1848, Mr. Giddings asked leave to in
troduce a preamble and resolution setting forth the fact that
more than eighty persons were confined
in the jail of the Unit
ed States without being convicted or charged with crime, and
moved that a committee of five be appointed to inquire by
what authority the prison is used for the purpose of confining
persons escaping from slavery. This proposition created in
tense excitement, and a brief discussion ensued but the leave
was refused. On the 20th Mr. Palfrey of Massachusetts of
;
fered a preamble and resolution, setting forth that a mob had
"
" on each of the two
committed acts of vio
nights last past
at
defiance
the
constituted
set
authorities, and menaced
lence,
individuals of that body.
He moved that a committee of five
"
be appointed to inquire whether further legislation is neces
sary or expedient."
The first day's debate
was occupied with a sharp and some
what abstract discussion of questions of order. The point
that excited the most remark was the inquiry whether it was a
privileged question or a question of privilege, both or neither.
good deal of subtlety of definition and distinction,
It revealed a
and innuendo, manifest
Mr. Ste
apprehension, and clearly attempted intimidation.
phens of Georgia asserted that, if rumor, with her ten thousand
largely mingled with Southern taunt
tongues, were true, he not only believed that
House were implicated
as " partners to theft
members
of the
and felony," but
�95
DEBATES IN CONGRESS.
"
he contended that they should be expelled from the floor."
Mr. Haskell of Tennessee said he believed and was ready to
" in the de
charge that members of that body were engaged
liberate attempt to scatter the seeds of insurrection and insub
ordination, if not rebellion, among slaves in this District."
He
suggested an amendment, afterward offered by Mr. Venable
of North Carolina, authorizing the committee to inquire whether
any member or members of the House were thus implicated.
The latter gentleman, though claiming to be a " Presbyte
rian," made one of the most violent, acrimonious, not to say
unchristian, speeches of the debate, in which he characterized
Abolitionism as " the spirit of fanaticism, which would never
Heaven
short of
stop
"
trample on
all
that
is
or Hell," leading its possessors to
"
and Abolitionists
sacred and holy
;
as " vile hypocrites,
who went round to factories and Sunday
women and children to sign petitions on mat
which they had no concern."
He denied that
schools, getting
ters
with
slavery was either a moral, social, or political evil and yet in
the same breath he spoke of " the agonizing, heart-rending
"
as coming from the ships
cry of slaves in the Middle Passage
;
of Massachusetts
North Carolina
ants of those
liams,
;
and Rhode Island, and not from those of
and he affirmed that they were " the descend
who landed
who had
sold
them
at
Plymouth, and of Roger Wil
and had pocketed the
their slaves
He spoke of Mr. Giddings's visiting the prison and
to those felons who were caught flagrante decounsel
giving
Mr. Toombs of Georgia made a violent speech, in
licto"
money."
"
which he contended that the case under consideration involved
no question of privilege indeed, that Congress had nothing
;
to do with
that the people of the District were the conserva
tors of their own rights, and he trusted " in God that discord
it,
would reign supreme until their rights were secured."
Mr. Stanton of Kentucky objected to the
resolutions, be
cause they proposed to do something beyond the
power of the
in no good because it was a
and because " it indicated a
;
struggle calculated to shake the Union to its centre."
He
House because it could result
masked battery against slavery
;
;
opposed the amendment making inquisition concerning the
�96
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
members in the abduction, because, he
" we do but weaken
could
be
ourselves
said,
expelled,
they
them
that
and strengthen
oppose us." He preferred to trust
to the guaranties of the Constitution; and also to the Mis
alleged complicity of
if
souri Compromise, which, though hitherto working against
the South, could be appealed to as a barrier against the ag
With little prescience of the
gressions of the free States.
immediate future, and of the coming policy of his own sec
tion even, he avowed the willingness of the South to abide by
the provisions of that arrangement.
Mr. Thompson of Kentucky made a very elaborate speech
on the question of privilege, quoting largely precedents from
the British Parliament and the American Congress.
Depre
" If we
cating antislavery agitation, he petulantly inquired
are wrong in holding slaves, even if it be a sore spot, does it
:
North to be constantly rasping it ?
us alone do not be continually
Mr. Bayly of Virginia de
putting upon it a coal of fire."
voted his speech to the alleged British origin of American
become our brethren
If
we have a
of the
plague-spot, let
;
" the Abolitionists here
antislavery, with the declaration that
are but the instruments of another nation."
Sketching the
history of the abolition of
the British Empire,
itself in
the slave-trade and of slavery
and quoting from the minutes of
the World's Convention of 1840, he contended that
all
that
England had done had been from mercenary motives, and that
she then desired abolition in the United States in order to
"
Accusing Mr. Giddings of joining
cripple our prosperity."
" he and
in the recent abduction, he insolently remarked that
his associates are the authors of all the misery which has been
"
and that they should be compelled
brought on these slaves
to share with the master and mate of the captured vessel their
;
punishment.
As
the debate would hardly have been deemed complete
without the volunteer indorsement of some " Northern man
with Southern principles," Mr.
Wick
of Indiana
made a
long,
rambling, flippant, and irrelevant speech, characterized by Mr.
"
Giddings as in bad taste and not suited to the dignity of
" the Abolithis body or the occasion," in which he taunted
�DEBATES IN CONGRESS.
97
"
and agitators as " reckless and audacious,"
"
assuming the guise of martyrs upon
laws," and
tion politicians
"
all
defying
He accused Mr. Giddings
the smallest imaginable occasion."
" a forced
of having
popularity, hot-housed," in consequence
of his previous expulsion from Congress ; and of making a pil
"
threat
grimage to the city jail, in hopes of being mobbed or
Western Reserve for
two mobs as " gen
"
tlemanly" and orderly," though he admitted that they had
"
thrown a few stones, and " had resolved if the editor of the
" before the next
" National Era " did not remove his
press
"
they would remove it for him." He was particularly
night,"
violent in denunciation of New England and of its ideas ; of
ened, in order to
recommend him
his martyr-like virtues."
He
to the
spoke of the
"
" so
almighty slick ; of
"
its ultra Calvinistic opinions; and of its disposition to
repent
of other men's sins."
female teachers emigrating West,
its
and tenor of that three days' debate.
the oppressor it was imperious, intolerant, and
Such were the
On
the side of
spirit
On the other hand, the
highest degree insulting.
friends of freedom, though numerically weak, were strong in
forensic ability, in truth, and in that moral courage and per
in the
sonal bravery which enabled them almost single-handed to cope,
on the arena of debate, with the hosts arrayed against them.
Nor was it small courage that impelled the Giddingses, the
Hales, and the Palfreys of those days, in a moral atmosphere
Washington, so highly surcharged with proslavery
and vindictive hate, threatening instantaneous
to
stand in that haughty and domineering presence
explosion,
and defend the doctrine of human rights, to manifest sympa
like that of
intolerance
To
thy with the downtrodden, and to help the unfortunate.
stand there, exposed to such indignities, in danger of even
personal violence, required a determination and nerve seldom
No eulogiums or
of battle itself.
honors can transcend the merits of the faithful few who
demanded by the onset
then bore themselves so gallantly in the presence of the im
men who ruled the hour.
Among them stood most conspicuous Mr.
perious
Giddings, as both
the special object of the Slave Power's malignant abuse and the
VOL.
II.
13
�98
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
most uncompromising foe of its dictation. He showed his
assailants and maligners that there were blows to receive as
well as blows to give and that personal abuse made slight im
pression on one clothed in the panoply of a good conscience,
Though following
loyalty to truth, and a serene trust in God.
;
Mr. Wick, he disclaimed all intention of replying to any of
his remarks ; but he alluded to the charges which had been so
freely made of a wish and purpose to interfere with slavery in
He challenged any one " to lay his hand upon a
the States.
"
to that effect. Paus
resolution, speech, declaration, or effort
ing for a reply, and no one rising, he characterized with suit>
able severity such recklessness of assertion and such wanton
Being asked why he so often introduced the subject
of slavery, he replied that his purpose was to absolve himself
and the government from all responsibility for its existence
abuse.
To the charge of having
evils of its procuring.
aroused popular indignation by his conduct, and then going
to the House for protection, he interposed a dignified and de
" If I ever had
under
he
fiant denial.
and the
Heaven,"
occasion,
" to ask
protection from any human being, it is from this
Let the House protect its own honor, its
body, not of it
said,
own
dignity.
person in my
inquired
this hall.
members
"
:
I will take care of the protection of
own way."
Who
my own
Carrying the war into Africa, he
stimulated that
mob ?
It
was members
in
slave-dealers are in your galleries, honorable
stand up here and justify the mob to the fullest ex
While
Alluding to the proposed resolution of expulsion by
Mr. Haskell, he told the House that it was too late to seal the
should say what he
lips of Northern members, and that he
"
" Gentlemen
making such threats," he said, seem
pleased.
tent."
to forget that they are not on their plantations, exercising
He proclaimed his
their petty tyranny over their slaves."
to
purpose to utter the truth, even if slaves were listening
their
to
a
sense
of
minds
their
it
would
and
rights
open
him,
of their oppressions, notwithstanding the declaration of
the gentleman from Tennessee that he should hang as high
and
as
Haman
for its utterance.
Alluding to the speech of Mr. Tenable, he remarked that
�DEBATES
99
IN CONGRESS.
he believed he was a follower of John Wesley, who had de
That member
clared slavery to be " the sum of all villanies."
"
"The gentle
said
he
that
he
was
a
Presbyterian,"
replying
man can be no Presbyterian no man can be a Presbyterian
:
;
God's image, transforms the immortal mind into a
state of degradation, and shuts out the Scriptures of eternal
I scarce can realize
It is impossible.
life from his brother.
who
sells
that I live in the nineteenth century or in a Christian land."
Mr. Root of Ohio made a humorous speech, which, though
substantially on the side of freedom, was less decided and
sternly defiant than those of Giddings and Palfrey. He depre
cated mobs, and was sarcastically severe on " a Northern man
who defends the rights of the South." His closing remark,
"
Well, I have
however, afforded the true key to his speech
succeeded in what I aimed at. I have, in some way, I scarce
:
know how,
tions were
got the
laid
House
into good-humor."
But the resolu
upon the table, only receiving some forty
votes.
On
the 20th of April, the same subject was brought before
the Senate by a resolution, offered by Mr. Hale, providing that
"
any property destroyed by riotous assemblages should be paid
by any town or county in the district where it occurs."
House debate, this became the signal for a most vin
dictive and acrimonious discussion, characterized even by the
" Globe " itself as " a
debate of a most personal and exciting
for
As
in the
character."
Mr. Calhoun's voice was heard loudly protesting against the
introduction of the resolution, though it was modelled after a
similar law in the slaveholding State of Maryland, and
though
" I
there was not in it even the remotest allusion to
slavery.
am," he
said,
"amazed
that even the Senator from
New Hamp
shire should have so little regard for the Constitution of the
country as to introduce such a bill as this, without
including
the severest penalties against the atrocious act which has
occasioned this excitement." He alluded to a previous
predic
tion of his that the slavery question was the
only question
in
it
which could divide the Union.
Asserting that he had seen for
a dozen years the tendency of
things, he pointed to these reso-
�100
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
he said, " to repress the just indignation of
our people from wreaking their vengeance upon the atrocious
lutions, designed,
perpetrators of these crimes," as the evidence of the approach
ing crisis, which must be met. The only question he was in
favor of referring to the Committee on the Judiciary would
be that of making penal " these atrocities, these piratical at
tempts, these wholesale captures, these robberies of seventy
odd of our slaves at a single grasp." He deprecated the " apa
"
of public opinion when there was this great and
thetic state
growing evil. He gave it as his deliberate opinion, that, if
"
activity of those influ
they remained thus supine, while such
is
ences on the other side
permitted to go on, the result will
be that we shall have St. Domingo over again." He charac
terized the personal-liberty bills of some of the Northern States
"a 'clear infraction of the stipulations of the Constitution."
He
forgot his usual urbanity and dignity of manner, and,
becoming violently personal toward Mr. Hale, said that he
" would
just as soon argue with a maniac from Bedlam as
with the Senator from New Hampshire on this subject."
Perhaps the most violent assailant of the defenders of free
dom
in that debate
was Mr. Foote
of
Mississippi.
He
affirmed
that any attempt to legislate upon the subject of slavery, di
was " a nefarious
rectly or indirectly, in Congress or out of it,
" that
any man who had
attempt to commit grand larceny
was " capable of
transaction
this
to
countenance
given any
"
perpetrating highway rob
committing grand larceny," of
"
and, also, that
bery on any of the roads of the Union
" when the arm of the law is too short to reach such a crim
;
;
he
inal,
may be justly punished by a sovereignty not known to
He denounced the bill as " obviously intended to
the law."
He charged Mr. Hale, if
" as
with
guilty as if he
being
appeared,
had committed highway robbery." Turning to Mr. Hale, he
" I invite him to visit
and will tell him be
said
Mississippi
cover and protect negro-stealing."
his object
was
as
it
:
;
forehand, in all honesty, that he could not go ten miles into
the interior before he would grace one of the tallest trees of
the forest, with a rope around his neck, with the approbation
of every honest
and
patriotic citizen
;
and
that,
if
necessary,
�DEBATES
101
IN CONGRESS.
I should myself assist in the operation."
Being called to or
der for his violent language, he admitted that he was out of
But he added " Such a scene has never occurred in
order.
:
such a deadly assailment of the rights of the
the Senate,
quarter of a century later, Mr. Foote, referring
country."
to this language, expressed his regret that he ever used it, and
A
no sooner were the words uttered than he would
gladly have recalled them.
Jefferson Davis insisted that the time had come when Con
said that
for the punish
gress should interpose the legislation necessary
" to steal a
of men coming into the District
portion of
ment
that property recognized by the Constitution."
Unwittingly
" Is this Chamber to be the hot-bed in
prophetic, he inquired
which plants of sedition are to be nursed ? And," he added,
:
"
if civil
be thrown from this Chamber upon the
to be kindled here with which to burn the tem
discord
is to
land, if fire is
ple of our Union,
civil
war
is
if
this is to be
made
the centre from which
to radiate, here let the conflict begin."
Mr. But
earnest speech, in
ler, too, of South Carolina, made a long and
he
simulated
alarm,
spoke of the South as
which, with real or
" a doomed
minority," whose rights were to be sacrificed to
the determined and unconstitutional assaults of the dominant
North.
Mr. Douglas of Illinois assumed to take a middle ground
between these conflicting extremes, though revealing the same
want of sympathy with, and indifference to, the claims of hu
manity and equity which were ever characteristic of his
He condemned the Abolitionists, and recognized the
course.
With carping and sub
rightfulness of Southern complaints.
tle irony, he congratulated Mr. Hale on the improvement of
his prospects for the Presidency,
and expressed
his
wonder
whether there might not be some " understanding " between
him and his Southern assailants. He charged the latter with
" a fanaticism as wild and reckless as that of the Senator
New Hampshire, which creates the Abolitionism of the
" extremes meet." He
North," declaring that
complained
from
that this violence compromised the Democrats of the North,
who were thus " made instruments, puppets, in this slavery
�102
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
excitement, which can operate only to your interest and the
" We
say
building up of those who wish to put you down."
to you of the South If slavery be a blessing, it is your bless
:
ing
if it
;
be a curse,
it is
your curse.
Enjoy
On you
it.
rests
We
are prepared to aid you in the
maintenance of all your constitutional rights. But I claim
the privilege of pointing out to you how you give strength to
the Abolitionists of the North by the imprudent expression of
all
the responsibility.
what
grant to be just indignation." Mr. Douglas's remarks
were, however, very distasteful to Southern men Mr. Calhoun
declaring that his course was, at least, as offensive as that of
I
;
the senator from
New
Hampshire.
Even Mr. Cameron of Pennsylvania, singularly, it would
seem, to those who now remember that he was among the first
and most earnest advocates
of the policy of emancipation
the
civil
lent
his
to the wrong side, de
influence
war,
during
" uncalled
the
bill
itself
to
be
for," and main
claring
wholly
"
"
that
it
to
force
would
be
upon the citizens
taining
unjust
" a law for which
asked." Of the
had
not
of the District
they
"
"
" Wilmot
it
was for a time,
as
Famous
he said
proviso
4
there are now none in Pennsylvania so poor as to do it rever
:
ence.'
and
It is
now numbered among
its results will
the things that are passed,
soon be forgotten.
sympathy with the ultra Abolitionists.
borders no fanatics as a body.
Pennsylvania has no
She has within her
On the other hand, Mr. Hale stood mainly alone. Mr.
Davis of Massachusetts did, indeed, defend the freedom of
the press, and deprecate the violence of those who assailed it.
He committed himself, however, upon the general subject only
so far as to express the belief " that all considerate minds,
here and elsewhere, are entirely disposed to adhere to the
guaranties and compromises of the Constitution."
Mr. Hale explained his purpose in introducing the measure,
and replied to the numerous imputations and assaults which
had been uttered during the day. " The notes of congratula
" which this Senate sent across the Atlantic to
tion," he said,
the people of France on their deliverance from thraldom have
hardly ceased when the supremacy of mob law and the de-
�DEBATES IN CONGRESS.
103
struction of the freedom of the press are threatened in the
In reply to the charge that he was
capital of the Union."
implicated in the abduction, he opposed an emphatic denial,
and challenged proof to the contrary " here, now, and
forever.''
or
" I never have
aided in
he
counselled,"
any way, and, with
said,
"
advised,
my
present impression, I
never shall counsel, advise, or aid in any way, any encroach
ment upon the Constitution in any of its provisions or
Referring to Mr. Foote's invitation to visit
Mississippi, and the threatened reception he should meet with
" dark
there, he, in response, invited the Senator to visit the
corners of New
with the assurance that " the
compromises."
Hampshire,"
people in that benighted region will be very happy to listen
to his arguments and engage in the intellectual conflict with
him
in
which the truth might be elicited." He noticed, also,
amazement of Mr. Calhoun at his temerity in
the expressed
After stating that the bill was
introducing such a measure.
copied, almost word for word, from a statute of Maryland, and
that it had no allusion to slavery, he said " It has long been
held by you that your peculiar institution is incompatible with
:
the right of speech
but if it is also incompatible with the
of
the
Constitution
safeguards
being thrown around the prop
of
American
let
the
erty
citizens,
country know it. If that is
;
to be the principle of your action, let
it be
proclaimed through
out the length and breadth of the land that there is an institu
tion so omnipotent, so almighty, that even the sacred
rights of
and property must bow down before it. There could not
be a better occasion than this to appeal to the
Let
country.
the tocsin sound.
Let the word go forth." Alluding to Mr.
Calhoun's remark that he would as soon
argue with a maniac
as with him, he remarked that it was " a novel mode of termi
nating a controversy, by charitably
the mantle of
life
throwing
maniacal irresponsibility over one's
The debate
antagonist."
was arrested by an adjournment, and the Senate refused to
take up the subject afterward.
The men who had
so bravely and
chivalrously imperilled
and safety to give these unfortunate fugitives a
chance for escape were made to feel the full force of the vin-
their interests
�104
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and maddened Slave Power. Not only was the propo
made to hang them to the yard-arm before
the
wharf not only were they followed from the
reached
they
wharf to the jail by a howling mob, with the cries, heard
above the uproar of the surging multitude " Lynch them "
"
"
not only had every indignity been heaped
Hang them
upon their good name by the leading men of the city and of
Congress not only had they lost their property, and been
torn from their families and homes and confined in a loath
but they were yet to receive, in another shape and
some jail,
under the forms of law, the infliction of its cooler and more
dictive
sition seriously
;
:
!
!
;
implacable revenge.
During the closing days of the following July, Captain
Drayton was arraigned before the Criminal Court of the city
of
Washington, Judge Crawford presiding.
The
and
spirit
purpose which animated and characterized that trial may be
gathered from the fact that forty-one bills of indictment were
drawn against Captain Drayton, on which his counsel stated
that convictions might be secured requiring an imprisonment
of more than eight hundred years, while behind them stood
seventy-five other indictments for the offence of transporting
The aggregate bail of the three
slaves from their owners.
persons prosecuted amounted to two hundred and twenty-eight
The case was managed with consummate
dollars.
thousand
and his colleague, James M. Carlisle the
ability by Mr. Mann
former making his points with logical clearness and force, and
of which
clothing them with that cogent and affluent eloquence
from
was
the
But
conviction
master.
an
he was
acknowledged
;
a foregone conclusion ; and, though many of the counts
and indictments were abandoned, he was convicted on a suffi
first
number to procure a sentence equivalent to imprisonment
The mate, Mr. Sayers, was also tried and convicted.
life.
cient
for
and a
Exceptions were taken to the rulings of the judge,
trial was ordered, which took place in the following May.
This trial, too, resulted in conviction, involving both fines
new
and imprisonment, and the prisoners were remanded
to the
District jail for confinement.
They remained there, notwith
sentence and the efforts of
their
of
standing the injustice
�TRIAL OF PRAYTON.
105
friends in their behalf, until the year 1852, when Mr. Sumner,
who had recently been elected to the Senate of the United
States, interested himself
for their release.
He
prepared a
very elaborate and able paper for the purpose, which was sub
In consequence of these
mitted to the Attorney-General.
efforts, President Fillmore granted them an unconditional
pardon, and they were released after an imprisonment of some
four years.
It having transpired that the Governor of Vir
ginia
was purposing
to arrest them,
if
pardoned,
it
was ar
ranged that, immediately on their release, a carriage should be
in readiness to take them by night to Baltimore.
From that
one
was
city
despatched at once to Harrisburg, and the other
to Philadelphia.
VOL.
II.
14
�CHAPTEE
IX.
ANTISLAVERY ORGANIZATIONS.
Differences of opinion among antislavery men.
Serious difficulties of the situa
tion.
Differences on the question of political action.
Garrisonians.
Liberty party.
of operation.
Leading men
therein.
Conventions at Port
Modes
Their distinctive doctrines.
Differences
and women.
Byron and
Genit Smith nominated.
National convention of the Liberty
John P. Hale nominated.
Its advanced opin
Liberty League.
Nomination of Genit Smith by convention at Auburn.
Speeches at
Macedon.
party.
ions.
convention.
NOTHING
more
striking evidence of the gravity and
antislavery struggle than the conflicting
opinions and plans of the honest and earnest men engaged in
It was fashionable to stigmatize them as ultra, pragmatic,
it.
difficulties
affords
of the
and angular, and to hold up their differences and divisions as
a foil and shield against their arguments and appeals. Thou
sands consoled and defended themselves in their inaction
because antislavery men were not agreed among themselves.
But the facts were that some of the ablest, most honest, prac
tical, and sagacious men of the nation were engaged in that
struggle and their differences of views and plans arose not
so much from their infirmities as from the greatness and grav
ity of the problem they attempted to solve, and the blind and
inextricable labyrinth of difficulties into which the compro
;
mises of the Constitution, the concessions of the fathers, the
persistent policy of the government, and the constant aggres
sions of the Slave Power, had involved the nation.
Slavery
had inwrought itself into every department of society, political
and commercial, social and religious. It had polluted every
thing it touched, and poisoned the very fountains of the
Men could turn in no direction without en
nation's life.
its
countering
pestiferous presence, its malignant and allgrasping power.
Even
in the broad light of this
day of
free-
�ANTISLAVERY ORGANIZATIONS.
107
dom, now that the whole system has been swept away, with
all the revelations which have been made, he must be a bold
man who presumes to say exactly what they should and
How much
could they, in the
dark night of slavery, in deadly conflict with the Power itself,
never more arrogant and dominating, decide with perfect ac
should not have done.
less
curacy what to say or what to do. To err under such cir
cumstances was not only human, but evidently no matter of
surrfrise.
The most radical difference was that which separated those
who rejected from those who adopted the principle of political
action.
The former were generally styled the " old organiza
tion," or Garrisonian Abolitionists
;
the latter embraced the
Liberty party and those antislavery men who still adhered to
the Whig and Democratic parties.
"
"
Having adopted the doctrine of no union with slaveholders
as the fundamental idea, the corner-stone of their policj and
plans, the Garrisonian s of that period directed their teachings,
their arguments and appeals, to the establishment of the ne
Believing,
cessity and the inculcation of the duty of disunion.
" con
in the language of Edmund Quincy, the Union to be a
" the
experiment of a great nation
federacy of crime," that
with popular institutions had signally failed," that the Re
" not a
model, but a warning to the nations," that
public was
" the
hopes of the yearning ages had been- mournfully de
"
"
"
feated
through the disturbing element of slavery ; believ
ing, too, that such had become the ascendency of the system
that
it
slaves
"
compelled "the entire people to be slaveholders or
" the
believing also that
only exodus for the slave
;
from
his bondage, the only redemption of ourselves
guilty participation in it, lies over the ruin of the
from our
American
state and the American church,"
they proclaimed it to be
their " unalterable purpose and determination to live and
labor for a dissolution of the present Union
by all lawful
and just though bloodless and pacific means, and for the for
mation of a new republic, that shall be such not in name only,
but in
But
full, living reality
and truth."
to destroy such a system as
slavery, thus completely
�108
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
interwoven with everything in church and state, permeating
the mass and diffusing itself through the very atmosphere of
public and private life, involved the breaking up of institu
tions and associations hallowed by time and the most tender
memories.
not but be
In attaining the great good sought there could
much
incidental evil in rooting up the tares there
was manifest danger of injury to the wheat. But these con
sequences and conditions this class of reformers promptly
accepted, and, with an unsparing iconoclasm, they dashed to
;
the ground whatever idols of popular faith interfered with the
people's acceptance of the doctrines they deemed of paramount
importance. Abjuring party organizations, coming out from
the churches, and condemning with unsparing censure what
ever in their esteem gave countenance and encouragement to
slavery, they necessarily assumed an attitude of antagonism to
those they so severely condemned, and uttered many senti
ments that grated harshly on the popular ear.
But, while
thus obnoxious to the charge of indifference to the passions,
prejudices, and even the principles, of the dominant classes of
society, and committed, as many thought, to theories more
abstract than practical, it was always seen that to the sigh of
the individual bondman their ear was ever attent, and that for
the help of the poor and trembling fugitive their hand was
ever open and generous.
From the annexation of Texas, in 1845, to the enactment
of the Fugitive Slave Law, in 1850, they pursued with a good
deal of vigor this line of policy.
Discarding religious and
all the enginery of
and
the
ballot,
political organizations,
its
effective
and
use, they denied themselves
legitimate
of reaching the popular mind,
of
methods
the
many
ordinary
and relied mainly on the use of the press, the popular conven
of the
and other
They not only held
people.
meetings
such convocations by special appointment at various points
at the North, but they always observed the anniversaries of
tion,
national independence
and
of
West India emancipation
as
American
days specially appropriate to their mission to the
To the annual meetings of the American, New Eng
people.
and
the several State societies were added fairs, held for
land,
�ANTISLAVERY ORGANIZATIONS.
109
the twofold purpose of putting funds into their exchequer and
of bringing their ideas before the people.
In carrying forward
this
work, Garrison, Phillips, Quincy, Douglass, Wright, Foster,
Burleigh, and Pillsbury were among the recognized leaders
Theodore Parker and Ralph Waldo
and advocates.
Em
erson, though not distinctively belonging to their organiza
tion, largely sympathized with their efforts, and were occa
In the same work they
sionally welcomed to their platform.
were assisted by the pens and voices of several women.
Among them were Mrs. Child, Mrs. Chapman, Lucretia Mott,
Mrs. Abby Kelly Foster, and Lucy Stone. During a portion
of these years, too, Garrison, Douglass, Henry C. Wright, and
in Europe, and presented the cause to the
James Buffum were
British public.
But the men
who agreed
were not always in
ing that principle.
in the principle of political action
accord as to the best methods of apply
Exercising for themselves that freedom of
full
thought and speech which they claimed for others, as they
considered the great subject, with its really inextricable and
insurmountable
dite
and
difficulties,
infinitely delicate
involving principles at once recon
and perplexing in
their application
to the fearful problems before them, they
often failed to see eye to eye.
They differed not only in their
and adjustment
estimate of fundamental principles, but
proposed modes of action.
frequently in their
the doctrine of
Some had accepted
the unconstitutionality of slavery, and several able arguments
were prepared in defence of that position. Others held that
was a
was to be resisted, its
and
itself
power overcome,
extirpated, under the Constitution
and through constitutional modes of action. These diversities
of opinion elicited no little feeling, and led to divisions and
sometimes to mutual denunciations.
it
in
local system, that its extension
In June, 1845, a State convention was held at Port Byron,
New York. An address was presented, not only setting
forth
the unconstitutionality of slavery, but, perhaps in
deference to the very general criticism that Abolitionists
were
what
men
of
fully the
" one
idea,"
stating and elaborating some
different objects government should have in
�110
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
view, and some of the more prominent measures that should
This address, though read
receive its attention and support.
and printed, was not adopted. Many, however, of the Liberty
sentiments, and held a convention in June,
Macedon, in the same State. The convention nomi
party accepted
184T, at
its
nated Gerrit Smith for President and Elihu .Burritt for the
Vice-Presidency, separated from the party, took the name of
Liberty League, and issued an address to the people.
In October of the same year a national convention of the
Several members of the
Liberty party was held at Buffalo.
Liberty League attended, and sought the indorsement of
the convention for the candidates they had just put in nomi
John P. Hale of New Hamp
nation, but without success
;
and Leicester King of Ohio receiving the nomination.
This action was not taken without opposition, though the dis
satisfaction was mostly confined to the State of New York. It
was regarded as an abandonment of principle to go outside for
a candidate, and to select one who had never identified himself
or acted with the party and Chase, Matthews, Lewis, Leavitt,
and Dr. Bailey were severely censured for their course.
But this controversy between the two wings of the Liberty
shire
;
party, which resulted in the formation of the Liberty League,
militated in no degree against either the earnestness or the
men who took
opposite sides on the questions at
issue.
It only indicated the different methods suggested to
different minds in their endeavor to solve a most difficult, not
honesty of the
Neither hit upon the plan that
to say an insoluble problem.
or that even gave promise
secured
desired
the
result,
actually
Nothing now appears why
would
not
be
slavery
to-day
lording it over the land with in
South
in its madness appealed to
had
not
the
creasing vigor,
and
cut
with
its
own
sword
the Gordian knot which
arms,
others were vainly attempting to untie.
As distinguished from the other wing, it may be said that
the members of the Liberty League were less practical, more
of
at least immediate success.
disposed to adhere to theories, and more fearful of sacrificing
Like the members of the " old organiza
principle to policy.
tion
" and the French
doctrinaires, they seemed to have more
�ANTISLAVERY ORGANIZATIONS.
Ill
in the doc
confidence in the power of abstract right, and less
the
power of
trine of expediency.
They calculated largely on
"
Their
that God is the
majority."
truth, and on the belief
"
is ours, results are God's."
watchword was
Duty
:
On
the other side, the
men who
advised and aided in put
had less faith in the policy, safety,
ting Mr. Hale in nomination
the
to
or duty of simply adhering
proclamation of abstract ideas,
however correct or forcibly expressed. They saw that, in the
and fierce
presence and in spite of all the arguments, appeals,
invectives of the able and eloquent writers and orators of either
the "old organization" or of the Liberty League, the Slave
Power was marching on, with relentless purpose and increas
until it appeared that,
ing audacity, from victory to victory,
Mr.
Calhoun's
unless it could be checked,
theory would be
would
carry slavery
reduced to practice and the Constitution
wherever it went, and slavery would be no longer sectional,
Texas had been annexed, vast, territory had
" Shall
been acquired, and the question was now upon them:
" And their
this territory be free or slave ?
past bitter expe
rience had shown that something more than appeals to reason,
but national.
conscience, and the plighted faith of the fathers was necessary
to prevent the final consummation for which all these previous
In settling that question they saw that
steps had been taken.
more potent than words; that an organized and
growing party would prove more efficient than any amount of
To strengthen this purpose,
protest and earnest entreaty.
such men as Chase, Leavitt, Whittier, William Jackson, and
Dr. Bailey saw that there were hundreds of thousands, in both
the Whig and Democratic parties, who were deeply dissatisfied
with the state of affairs and the immediate prospect before
them, and were anxiously looking for some practical scheme,
some common ground on which they could make a stand in
resistance to these aggressions.
They hoped much, too, from
such men as Dix, Hale, Niles, King, and Wilmot among
the Democrats
Giddings, Palfrey, Seward, Mann, and Root
among the Whigs much from the Barnburners in New York
and the "conscience" Whigs in Massachusetts. They judged,
and the event has proved that they judged wisely, that by
votes were
;
;
�112
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA,
narrowing the platform, even if it did not contain all that the
most advanced Abolitionists desired, if such men and their
followers could be drawn from the Whig and Democratic
parties,
and be thus arrayed in a compact and vigorous organi
zation against the Slave Power, there would be great gain.
Though they could not exactly forecast the end of such a
movement, they felt that it was a step in the right direction,
and that, when taken, it would disclose still further the path
of duty and place them in a position to go forward therein.
But the Liberty League and dissatisfied members of the
Liberty party were not idle.
Meeting in convention at
Auburn
in January, 1848, they called a national convention
meet in Buffalo in June. John Curtis of Ohio presided,
and Gerrit Smith was chairman of the Committee on the
Address .and Resolutions. The committee reported two ad
one to the colored people of the free States and one
dresses,
In them they censured
to the people of the United States.
severely the action of the Liberty party for what they de
to
nounced as recreancy to the principles of the party. The
"
colored people were told that it was the
perfection of
"
to vote for a slaveholder, or for one
treachery to the slave
who thinks that a slaveholder is fit for civil office that it
was the religious indorsement of slavery that kept it in coun
;
tenance
;
was "better, infinitely better for your
bleeding, and chained brothers and sisters that
and that
poor, lashed,
it
you should never see the inside of a church nor the inside of a
Bible, than that you should by your proslavery connections
sanctify their enslavement."
Speeches of great earnestness
and directness were made by
Beriah Green, Frederick Douglass, Gerrit Smith, Henry High
Mr.
land Garnett, Elizur Wright, and George Bradburn.
" the
indorses
nation
the
that
when
Green maintained
slavery
most marked inconsistencies creep out of the same lips, the
Civil
flattest contradictions fall from the same tongues."
the
from
governments, he said, should be the reflection
throne of God. To assert the claims of justice, to define and
defend rights, to cherish and express a world-embracing phi
lanthropy, to promote the general welfare, to afford counsel
�ANTISLAVERY ORGANIZATIONS.
113
and protection, are " the appropriate objects of civil govern
" God
ment.'*
gave civil government," remarked Mr. Smith,
" I had
wellnigh said, to be on terms of companionship with
the poor.
Certain
it is
that he gave
of protecting the rights of those
and weak
it
chiefly for the purpose
who
to protect themselves."
are too poor, ignorant,
With their definition of
government and the purposes for which it was instituted,
and with their knowledge of what slavery was, such indorse
ment could not but seem not only unconstitutional, but incon
sistent with and subversive of government itself.
"Antislav" should
Mr.
said
themselves
with
Smith,
identify
ery men,"
the slave, and be willing to be hated and despised.
They
civil
should not be ashamed to do what slaveholders call slaveIt was not " vulgar," he contended, " low, or mean,"
to help slaves to escape from the clutches of their oppressor.
" As I live and as God
" there is not on
lives," he continued,
earth a more honorable employment.
There is not in all the
stealing.
world a more honorable tombstone than that on which the
"
slaveholder would
Here lies a
c
slave-stealer.'
inscribe,
The convention, much against
own avowed wishes, nomi
Smith for the Presidency.
Mr. Burritt having
declined the nomination of the Liberty League for the VicePresidency, C. C. Foot of Michigan was selected as the can
nated Mr.
didate.
VOL.
II.
is
his
�CHAPTER
SLAVERY
AGGRESSIONS.
State influence.
land's report.
agreed to.
convention.
X.
" CONSCIENCE " WHIGS.
" BARN-
Mr. Wilson's resolutions.
Mr. WheatGeorgia resolutions.
Mr. Wilson's minority report.
Mr. Wilson's resolutions
Defeated in the Senate.
Divisions
among
Speeches of Mr. Sumner and Mr. Winthrop.
the Whigs.
State
Resolutions of Mr.
Remarks of Adams, Allen, and Child.
Phillips's resolutions.
Stephenson.
Mr. Webster's speech.
Sumner's letter to Winthrop.
Keyes's resolutions.
Palfrey's resolutions.
Opposition of Mr. Win
Webster's speech.
"Conscience" and "Cotton" Whigs.
Position of
Field's
Treatment of Mr. Van Buren.
York.
Syracuse convention.
State convention of 1848.
throp.
New
resolution.
Its
rejection.
John Van Buren.
Herkimer convention.
Resolutions.
Democracy of
Address reported by
New York
pledged to
freedom.
AMONG
the most potent instrumentalities of slaveholding
ascendency was the doctrine of State rights as denned and
defended by Southern statesmen.
By
it
the slavery propagan
dists gained concessions, silenced objections,
and conciliated
support they could not have hoped for without such an aux
And yet this influence was not always adverse, and
iliary.
human rights sometimes gained
their relations to the State they could not
the advocates and defenders of
advantages from
have secured single-handed and alone. By a wise use of the
power which State organization gave the few friends of free
dom in New Hampshire, John P. Hale was placed on the floor
of the United States Senate, there to enunciate principles and
to vindicate a policy far in advance of the average sentiment
and purpose of the people he represented. Antislavery reso
lutions and legislation had been adopted by several Northe"
States
more
positive
and pronounced than were demandt
or hardly justified, by the current opinions and convictions ot
In no State did this policy of using
those Commonwealths.
such influence become more effective than in Massachusetts.
�115
SLAVERY AGGRESSIONS.
the legislature of Massachusetts assembled in Janu
resolu
ary, 1846, Governor Briggs laid before it a series of
tions which had been adopted by the legislature of Georgia
When
concerning slavery and the legislative action of Massachusetts
for the protection of its colored citizens in the slave-holding
On motion of Mr. Wilson of Natick they were
States.
of two Sen
Soon thereafter Mr. Wil
son introduced an order instructing that committee to re
port a preamble setting forth the crime of slavery and the
aggressions of the Slave Power, and a resolution declaring
referred
to
and
ators
a special
committee, consisting
five Representatives.
the opposition of Massachusetts to the longer continuance
and further extension of slavery in America, and her un
alterable
determination
to
use every
constitutional
power
for its entire extinction.
This motion encountered stern opposition, in which both
Democrats and Whigs united. It was denounced as a meas
ure to please " a little knot of political Abolitionists." Mr.
Wilson urged its adoption in a speech of some length,
setting forth the necessities of the case and the importance
" The
" is
of taking an advanced position.
issue," he said,
now
trol
clearly made up.
nation.
The
the
Slavery assumes to direct and con
of freedom must meet the
friends
Freedom and slavery are now arrayed against each
We must destroy slavery, or slavery will destroy
We must restore our government to its original
liberty.
and pristine purity. The contest is a glorious one. Let
us be cheered by the fact that the bold and daring efforts
of the Slave Power to arrest the progress of free principles
has awakened and aroused the nation. That power has won
a brilliant victory in the acquisition of Texas
yet it is
issue.
other.
;
only one in
long series of victories over the Constitu
tion and liberties of the country.
Other fields are yet to
its
be fought; and
and
if
we
to humanity, the
are true to the country, to freedom,
future has yet a Waterloo in store
the supporters of this unholy system."
He called
upon the members of his party to accept these vital and
living issues, and abide the result, whether it were victory
for
�116
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
EISE
IN AMERICA.
we gain
the one, he said, let us enjoy and
the result be adverse, we shall have the glory
at least of having " deserved success.
Whatever others may
or defeat.
improve
If
it
;
if
do, I am willing to act with any man or set of men, Whig,
Democrat, Abolitionist, Christian, or Infidel, who will go for
the cause of emancipation."
After a speech expressive of his abhorrence of slavery
his sympathy with the objects of the resolution, Peleg
and
W.
Chandler, a leading member of the House, from Boston,
moved to strike out the instructing clause of the order.
Mr. Wilson accepted this amendment, and the order in that
form was referred to the committee. But the committee
was reluctant. A reactionary spirit pervaded the legislature,
which seemed adverse to further efforts. After a delay of
several weeks Mr. Wheatland reported that " the annexation
of Texas to the United States, in a moral point of view,
was a great evil, and one which Massachusetts resisted as
long as resistance would do any good. The evil has come,
and a majority of your committee are of the opinion that
further action in the matter
is
not called for."
and laconic report was sanctioned by
This terse
six of its seven
mem
bers.
Mr. Wilson made a minority report, setting forth that,
by the action of the two houses of Congress, Texas had
been blended and indissolubly connected with the Republic
;
that every act in
from
inception to its
that the fer
final consummation, had been a deep disgrace
menting of discord, the levying of troops, the speculation
in lands, the dark intrigues which had been plotted, pre
its
history,
its
first
;
sented a mass of rottenness and corruption ; and that the
object of annexation was confessed to be the extension and
perpetuation of human bondage. Inspired by that purpose,
the South, he said, has " won one of the most brilliant
victories in her long series of victories over the Constitu
tion of the country
Union
is
and the
liberties
of
not the Union our fathers made.
Our
That Union has
the people.
been trampled beneath the iron heel of the triumphant Slave
Power. We stand on the threshold of a new Union, which
�SLAVERY AGGRESSIONS.
117
A
new
a foreign nation has created.
in
of
the
the
Already
opened
history
page
Republic.
the victorious hand of the Slave Power points the way to
the
annexation of
is
further
acquisitions.
In
this
of
crisis
country, has
the
Massachusetts nothing to say, nothing to propose, nothing
to do ?
Shall we, indeed, now give up the struggle, con
ourselves vanquished, think that all is lost ?
Shall
Massachusetts, now that annexation is accomplished, erase
all her
solemn protests, shut up as a great mistake the
fess
history of a fifty years'
struggle
against the influences of
slavery, and by quiet submission and a change of policy
obtain the forgiveness of the Slave
yet trust in justice and truth, and,
other States
may
Power
?
Or
however the
shall
she
lights of
waver, stand herself unfaltering on the
eminence she has never yet deserted or betrayed, and
use free speech, the free press, the free ballot, the freedom
of remonstrance, and her other rights and powers, narrow
lofty
though they be, in such a manner as finally to blot out the
greatest disgrace and the most fruitful source of danger
which was ever entailed on any nation ? "
The report of the committee was accepted by the -Senate
without a division, and sent, together with Mr. Wilson's
minority report, to the House. It was at first accepted
but Mr. Wilson, who was absent when the vote was taken,
moved a reconsideration. After an animated discussion of
;
some length, the motion
to reconsider
was agreed
to
by a
majority of twenty-six. Mr. Wilson then moved as a sub
stitute his original resolution, and it was carried
by a vote
of
one hundred and forty-one to
being returned to the
County moved
Senate,
its indefinite
debate
fifty-two.
The amendment
Mr. Willard of Worcester
postponement.
Mr. Gary of
An
excited and
Suffolk
sharp
sprung up.
County
stoutly opposed the resolution, declaring that Massachusetts
" must
submit," and cease passing antislavery resolutions.
To
" It
this
as
remark E. Rockwood Hoar
of Middlesex replied:
much
the duty of Massachusetts to pass resolu
tions in favor of the rights of man as in the interests of
is
cotton,"
a remark from which arose the popular designa-
�118
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
"
tion of " cotton
Whigs.
IN AMERICA.
In the course of the debate Mr.
Wheatland, referring to the resolutions of former years,
said: "I have voted for some of those resolves, but I have
never approved of them." Mr. Shepherd of Bristol County,
a representative of the cotton-manufacturing interest, then
on
questions which had any bearing
both
that and kindred resolutions.
tariff, opposed
Mr. Hopkinson of Middlesex County, Mr. Watts of Suffolk
County, and Mr. Borden of Bristol County, advocated the
especially sensitive
all
upon the
and manly speeches. But timid
and
the
counsels prevailed,
resolution was indefinitely post
resolution in able, earnest,
Thus the reactionary section of the Whig party
compelled the legislature to adjourn without putting on rec
ord any condemnation of the fresh aggressions of the Slave
poned.
Power, then becoming so frequent and so flagrant.
This action of the legislature could not but tend further
Mr. Winthrop's vote in
to alienate and divide the party.
favor of the declaration of war against Mexico, a few days
afterward, tended in the same direction. Nor did the proc
lamation of Governor Briggs, inviting the citizen soldiers to
enroll themselves,
and to be in readiness to respond
to the
government, heal or prevent these divisions.
But these growing antagonisms revealed themselves more
calls
of the
clearly in
the
Whig
State
convention, which was held in
September in Faneuil Hall. There was no division of opin
ion on candidates, though there was a sharp contest on the
platform.
Before
it
was reported, Mr. Sumner,
in response
to loud calls, addressed the convention. He spoke with great
power and eloquence against slavery in all its forms, against
the aggressions of the Slave Power, and in denunciation of
With graceful force and beauty he thus appealed
the war.
to Mr.
Webster
" There
is
:
a Senator of Massachusetts
whom we had
hoped
to welcome here to-day, whose position is one of command
ing influence. Let me address him with the respectful frank
You have, sir, already
acquired by your various labors an honorable place in the
By the vigor, argumentation, and
history of our country.
ness of a constituent and a friend
:
�119
SLAVERY AGGRESSIONS.
and that
eloquence with which you have upheld the Union
us
a nation
makes
which
interpretation of the Constitution
you have justly earned the
stitution.
By
title
of
Defender of
Con
the
the successful and masterly negotiation of the
Treaty of Washington, and by your efforts to compose the
strife of the Oregon boundary, you have earned another
Defender of Peace. There are yet other duties
which claim your care, whose performance will be the crown
Let me ask you, when
of a life of high public service.
title,
you next take a seat in the Senate, not to forget them.
Dedicate, sir, the golden years of experience which are yet
you to removing from your country its greatest
In this cause you shall find inspirations to eloquence
higher than any you have yet confessed."
At the close of Mr. Sumner's speech there were loud calls
in store for
evil.
from the friends of Mr. Winthrop and the approvers
In an able, adroit, and eloquent speech, beside
course.
ing his
own
of his
defin
course, he took special pains to express his
un
compromising opposition to more slave States or more slave
territory.
There were two reports from the Committee on Resolutions
one presented by J. Thomas Stevenson, and the other
moved by Stephen C. Phillips as a substitute.
The series
proposed by Mr. Phillips closed by the following unequivocal
announcement
that the Whigs of Massachusetts make the
:
declaration that they must be hereafter regarded as the de
cided and uncompromising opponents of slavery ; that they
are opposed to " its extension," and " will maintain their op
position at
any
political
continuance where
hazard
"
;
that they " are opposed to
"
and that they will
;
already exists
" continue in all constitutional
measures that can promote its
its
it
abolition."
The substitute was opposed by Linus Child, who, though he
had previously acted with the antislavery party, and had elec
trified the
anti-Texas meeting in Tremont Temple by the cry
now acted with the conservatives. On the other
of " repeal,"
hand, the policy of not only maintaining past declarations, but of
taking an advanced position, was forcibly advocated by Charles
�120
RISE
Francis
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Adams and
Charles Allen.
IN AMERICA.
Referring to the recent
Power, Mr. Allen said the question is
" not whether
slavery shall be endured, but whether liberty
shall be endured, upon the American Continent," and he
said he would " resist to the death any further encroachments
on the area of freedom." But Mr. Phillips's amendment was
triumphs of the Slave
by a majority of forty-seven.
antislavery men, though in the minority, were strong
rejected
The
in character, capacity, confidence, as well as in the justice of
their cause.
Indeed, so formidable had their demonstration
in the convention become, that the conservative leaders trem
bled for
its effect
on the integrity
of the party.
Hurried con
ferences were held, and it was decided to invoke the presence
if not to overawe,
and potential influence of Daniel Webster,
at least to conciliate and persuade.
Obeying the summons,
the great Senator soon
made
his appearance,
amid the most
uproarious applause.
Listening to a speech from the stern and inflexible Charles
Allen, and comprehending the situation, he saw that harmony
was the great necessity. In a speech of scarcely five min
utes' length, couched in felicitous and fitly chosen language,
and delivered with a mien and manner imposing, impressive,
and so peculiarly his own, he uttered the words so often
quoted and so well remembered. He said that whenever and
wherever the Whigs of Massachusetts assembled there was
"
" an odor of
he loved to inhale, an avowed attach
liberty
ment to our country which warmed a heart then old, but
which still beat in accordance with human freedom, whether
"
"
at home or abroad.
rely on other
Others," he said,
foundations and other hopes for the welfare of the country
my part, in the dark and troubled night that is
;
but, for
I see no star above the horizon promising light to
us
but the intelligent, patriotic, united Whig party of
guide
the United States."
upon us
speech was little only in length. Its very
brevity carried with it its most profound and pregnant mean
for
Its silence was more expressive than its utterance
ing.
But that
little
;
it
revealed,
more
clearly than words, the policy of the hour,
�121
SLAVERY AGGRESSIONS.
the statesmanship which had ruled the country for half a cen
tury, and of which its author was an acknowledged chief, and
one of
its last
exponents,
the statesmanship of submission
and surrender. Standing in Faneuil Hall, with its thronging
memories of early patriotism and heroic sacrifices for liberty,
in the presence not only of an excited auditory of the old
Commonwealth, deeply moved by the
perils of the crisis,
of the flagrant outrage of the Slave
Power, dismembering a
but
neighboring republic, involving the nation in a bloody war,
professedly to extend slavery, what counsel did he give?
Out of the depths of his capacious mind and large experi
ence he could then, as before and afterward, draw no other
remedy for the evils of the state than the same that had been
urged from the founding of the Republic, and always in the
name and behalf of oppression and wrong. Union was his
only watchword for that dark hour of strife, his only talisman
to heal the diseases of his country, his only
with.
charm
to conjure
Mr. Webster's counsels and influence prevailed, and the
party went into the conflict under the guidance and inspira
tion of its conservative leaders.
Mr. Winthrop was nominated
for Congress for the Boston district.
however, would not give him
The
antislavery men,
and Mr. Sumner
published a sharp letter severely censuring his vote on the
Mexican war. He condemned that vote as a violation of
obligation, though it had been given with the majority, as
their support,
" In
voting with the majority cannot of itself make it right.
"
all ages supple and insane majorities," he said,
have been
found to sanction injustice
smiled
at the
Majorities
persecution of Galileo, stood by the stake of Servetus,
administered the hemlock to Socrates, and called for the cruci
fixion of our Lord.
Aloft on the throne of God, and not be
low in the footprints of a trampling multitude of men, are to
be found the sacred rules of right, which no majorities can dis
"And the question returns," he adds,
place or overturn."
" Was it
to
vote
for an unjust and cowardly war, with
right
falsehood in the cause of slavery ? "
He reminded him, too,
that his famous sentiment, "
VOL.
II.
16
Our country, however bounded,"
�122
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
offered in Faneuil Hall, extended, as
IN AMERICA.
were, in advance, the
hand of fellowship to Texas, and sharply characterized the
pregnant sentence by telling him that he had connected his
name " with an epigram of dishonest patriotism." The nomi
nation was offered to Mr. Sumner but, he declining, it was
it
;
Samuel G. Howe. He accepted it, though he
knew that the votes would be few and the reproaches would
be many. But the same heroism which a quarter of a cen
given to Dr.
deemed
him
to Greece inspired him, in a cause he
equally sacred, to accept the leadership of the forlorn
tury before carried
hope which now summoned the philanthropic and the patriotic
Mr. Winthrop, however, was triumphantly
to the rescue.
elected by an increased majority.
Defeated in the convention and before the people, the antislavery Whigs still continued the fight in the face of great
;
odds, however, as the commercial, the manufacturing, and the
monetary interests, the party press and party organization,
"
were unmistakably against them. The Boston Daily Whig,"
"
edited by Mr. A<Jams, and the Dedham
Gazette," edited by
Mr. Keyes,
journals of limited circulation, but conducted
were their main and almost only chan
with great ability,
The conflict proceed
nels of communication with the public.
two
the
between
and
the
wings of the Whig
ed,
divergence
party became wider and wider.
legislature of 1848, like that of 1847, was pervaded by
this same reactionary spirit, though the friends of freedom
The
A special committee on
active and persistent.
of which Mr.
was
Mexican
war
and
the
appointed,
slavery
"
was
chairman.
Boston
of
the
former
editor
Atlas,"
Hayden,
A series of resolutions, general in their scope and tenor, were
It was
reported, and adopted by nearly a unanimous vote.
were
still
thought, however, by the more radical members, that the con
dition of things growing out of the war demanded that the
utterances of
the legislature
should be more definite and
Consequently Mr. Keyes, failing to secure such
emphatic.
an utterance from the committee, made a minority report,
which he asked the Legislature to adopt as the sense of the
The report and his speech accompanying it were
House.
�123
CONSCIENCE" WHIGS.
marked with great vigor and power of argument and language.
The House received the report, and ordered it to be printed.
Mr.
Hay den,
regarding this action as a reflection and rebuke
Mr. Giles of Boston
same
committee.
The House,
the
from
report
the
a
decisive
report and reso
majority,
however, adopted, by
the
Senate.
amended
Mr.
of
lutions
by
They
Keyes, slightly
and
in
sentiment
were substantially the same
spirit as those
presented by Mr. Phillips to the Faneuil Hall convention, and
which had been rejected by that body. It was therefore felt
by the antislavery Whigs, that, though they were in a minor
under the bold
ity, they had achieved a substantial victory
and skilful leading of Mr. Keyes.
upon
his committee, resigned his place.
made another
But though resolutions could be forced through the legis
lature and conventions of the party, it was very evident .that
there was little harmony of feeling and purpose between the
"
two sections. While the " Cotton
Whigs, who were de
termined to adhere to the national organization, and to
sacrifice, if need be, any claim of freedom for that purpose,
" Conscience "
regarded the action of the
Whigs, as the
and
antislavery
disorganizing, the
latter began more clearly to comprehend the drift of things,
and the position to which the party was tending, and to re
alize the hollowness of many of the professions that had been
made.
They saw that many of the resolutions which were
often crowded through the one or the other of these bodies
were rather strategical than hearty or honest more for show
than use not fitted, and never intended, to bind the party or
men were
called, factious
;
;
to resist the strain of political necessity.
The Whig State convention was held at Springfield in Sep
tember, 1847.
George Ashmun of that city presided, and
Joseph Bell of Boston was chairman of the Committee on Reso
lutions.
The leaders of both sections were there in force, and
a severe struggle ensued. Mr. Palfrey moved, as an amend
to the resolutions of the committee, one declaring that
the Whigs would support no candidate for the Presidency not
ment
known by
his acts
and declared opinions to be opposed to the
It gave rise to an exciting debate
Mr.
extension of slavery.
;
�124
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
sturdily opposing it, and Mr. Adams, Mr. Sumner,
Mr. Allen, and Mr. Dwight as earnestly supporting it. Mr.
Adams declared that he would rather vote for a Democrat
Winthrop
opposed to the extension of slavery than for a Whig in favor of
The amendment was rejected though, as a partial com
pensation, Mr. Phillips secured by a small majority a vote that
it.
;
the convention should not put in nomination a candidate for
the Presidency. Mr. Webster was present, and made a speech^
in which he took strong ground against slavery extension,
"
"
I
claiming the Wilmot proviso as his own.
Sir," said he,
feel something of a personal interest in this.
I take the senti
ment
of
the
Wilmot proviso
to be
that there shall be no
annexation of slave territory to this Union. Did I not com
mit myself to that in the year 1838 fully, entirely ?
And
I ever departed from it in the slightest degree ?
I must
be permitted, sir, to say that I do not consent that more
recent discoverers shall take out a patent for the discovery.
have
do not quite consent that they shall undertake to appro
Allow
priate to themselves all the benefit and honor of it.
me to say, sir, it is not their thunder." The antislavery
I
defeated.
They, however, went away from
convention more determined and resolute than ever.
Whigs were again
that
felt that a rupture was inevitable, and that it was but
a question of time.
As the time for the convention drew near, indications in
They
creased that General Taylor would receive the nomination,
and that the policy of slavery restriction would be abandoned.
Some of the friends of freedom took the alarm, and at once
entered upon the adoption of measures to prevent, if possible,
such a result, and, in case of failure, to mark out such a
Charles
course as the exigencies of the case might demand.
Allen and Henry Wilson were chosen as delegates to the con
vention.
Their antecedents and generally recognized proclivi
made
probable and a matter of popular belief that they
would not vote for General Taylor unless he were pledged to
ties
it
the principles of the
Wilmot
proviso.
Conferences were at once held by those Whigs who had
striven to the last to prevent the annexation of Texas and
�"
CONSCIENCE WHIGS."
"
BARNBURNERS."
125
On the 27th of May a
the adoption of a reactionary policy.
of
Charles
Francis Adams.
was
held
at
the
office
meeting
There were present Mr. Adams, Stephen C. Phillips, Charles
Sumner, E. Rockwood Hoar, Edward L. Keyes, Francis W.
Bird, Edward Walcutt, and Henry Wilson.
Though they
were not ignorant of the sacrifices implied and involved in
their action, they resolved at any and every hazard to abide
by their principles. It was unanimously determined, if the
convention nominated General Taylor, or any candidate not
known by his acts and declared opinions to be opposed to the
"
should
extension of slavery, that " an organized opposition
be made and at once begun in Massachusetts. It was agreed
to call a State convention of Whigs and of all others who
would co-operate in such an effort. On the 5th of June a call,
which had been prepared by E. Rockwood Hoar, was agreed
upon, and held for signature in the event of General Taylor's
nomination.
The
State of
influence
New York had
on national
affairs.
generally exerted a powerful
Imperial in extent and re
sources, ably represented by its strong men, occupying a com
position in the commercial and political world, its
manding
and votes had ever exerted a large, if not a controlling
This was
influence, sometimes for good, but oftener for evil.
and
true.
in
But
in
and
connection
always
necessarily
1848,
voice
with the presidential election of that year, there were special
reasons therefor.
Certain causes had produced disaffection
and a tendency to revolt, which
had been gathering strength, culminated dur
with the national Democracy
for a long time
;
ing that year.
In addition to general reasons was the special motive af
forded by the treatment which Mr. Van Buren had received
from the national convention of 1844, and the gross ingrati
tude of those States to whose interests and institutions he had
given such evidences of fealty. Mr. Van Buren had made
great sacrifices for the South.
Though he signalized the earlier
years of his public life by giving his voice and vote, in the
legislature of his State, against the admission of Missouri as
a slave State, he soon yielded to the reactionary movement
�126
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
which followed that violation of the ordinance of
'87,
and
devoted himself so faithfully to slaveholding interests as to
merit and receive the name of " a Northern man with South
And
ern principles."
yet, because
he faltered in the single
matter of Texan annexation, he was abandoned and deprived
of the nomination, which not only he, but a decided majority
and expected. This was neither for
It intensified the bitter feud then raging
gotten nor forgiven.
"
"
between the " Hunker and " Barnburner wings of the New
of his party, desired
York Democracy, and
resulted in the defeat of Silas Wright,
whose candidacy for the gubernatorial chair in 1844 had un
questionably secured the electoral vote of the State for Mr.
His death, occurring soon afterward, added to the in
Polk.
dignation already felt in view of his defeat and of the means
through which that defeat had been accomplished.
It was under such circumstances that the primary meetings
were held at which delegates were chosen for the Demo
meet in Syracuse in October, 1847.
the assembling of the convention, it was found that there
was a large number of contested seats. An informal agree
cratic State convention to
On
ment was entered
into between the leaders of the radical
and
conservative wings of the party that a temporary organization
"
should be effected, for the purpose of disposing of the frivo
be
lously contested" cases, which, it was understood, were to
But that agreement was disre
forced upon the convention.
a breach of faith that embit
garded by the conservatives,
tered the minority, and led such men as Preston King, James
" Barnburners " to refuse to
S. Wadsworth, and other leading
act as officers of the convention.
the
New York
"
Evening Post
"
it was claimed by
was only this determi
Indeed,
that
it
nation to ignore the agreement that gave the conservatives the
control of the convention.
The Wilmot proviso was the exciting and controlling issue.
The discussion was conducted with great spirit and ability.
A resolution, prepared by James R. Doolittle, afterward United
States Senator from Wisconsin, was offered by David Dudley
Field as an amendment to the report of the Committee on
Resolutions.
This amendment, while promising
fidelity to
�CONSCIENCE WHIGS."
"
127
BARNBURNERS."
"
" the reserved
" the
compromises of the Constitution and to
"
uncompromising hostility to
rights of the States," pledged
Mr. Field
the extension of slavery into territory now free."
" I am
in
its
a
made powerful speech
willing," he
support.
to the
borne
be
should
standard
said, "that our victorious
Isthmus of Darien or planted on the highest peak of the Poly
nesian Islands; but the soil on which it advances must be
free
Ay, as free as the untrammelled soil on which we
!
stand
"
!
The amendment was rejected and the resolutions were
adopted, though it was claimed that the latter and the nomi
only by an irregularly organized
convention, but by a convention without a quorum.
Defeated at Syracuse, the radical Democrats met in con
vention on the 26th of October, at Herkimer, " to avow their
It was strong in
principles and consult as to future action."
nations were
carried not
numbers, in talent, and in character, both personal and
politi
was made president, John Van
Buren was appointed chairman of the Committee on the Ad
dress to the People, and David Dudley Field chairman of the
Committee on Resolutions.
The address began by a recital and condemnation of the
cal.
Churchill C. Cambreling
action of the Syracuse convention, which, it averred, after
"its unjust and arbitrary decisions, sustained by partial re
ports, .... shrunk to a little more than a third of its origi
nal size and expired." Adverting to its repression of the true
sentiments of the people, and also alluding to the early antislavery history of New York, it claimed that, while that great
State was " loyal to the Constitution," it was " true to free
dom." It also referred to ihe great change which had taken
and
place in public sentiment since the days of the Fathers
it entered its
the
of
protest against
promulgation
opinions so
;
abhorrent in themselves, so aggressive in their influence, and
" the extension of an
institution which is a source
leading to
insecurity and poverty in peace and of embarrassment
and danger in war." Referring to the fidelity of the Demo
cratic
of New York to the " real
of the South"
of
party
as
an evidence of
rights
its
devotion to the
Constitution,
it
pro-
�128
RISE
claimed
its
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
purpose to resist aggression from the opposite
direction.
Having discarded the action
at Syracuse, the convention de
clined to nominate candidates for the ensuing election, leaving
the matter in the hands of the people.. Mr. Field reported
a series
of
resolutions,
which were unanimously adopted.
Among them was one which had been rejected at Syracuse,
and which pledged the uncompromising hostility of the De
mocracy of New York to the extension of slavery into free
territory,
then or thereafter to be acquired.
Though
defeat
followed
these
dissensions, proceedings
of that section
equally uncompromising marked the action
of the party in regard to the presidential election, then close
at hand.
Two sets of delegates were chosen to attend the
national nominating convention at Baltimore, each claiming
to be the sole representatives of the party, and the contest
was transferred to the wider theatre of the national organi
zation.
�CHAPTER
XI.
DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OP
Democratic national convention.
Declaration of
the
Georgia
Position of the
delegation.
New York
1848.
delegation.
Remarks of Dickinson, Smith,
Right to take slavery into Territories
Speech of Yancey.
Cass nominated.
Both delegations admitted.
Excited debate.
Hallett's resolutions.
Whig national con
Minority report by Yancey.
Foster, King.
avowed.
Whig
party dissolved.
Mr. Wilson's declaration.
nation.
General
Allen's
Bingham's resolution.
Ashmun takes issue with Mr. Allen.
Tilden's resolution.
Taylor's nomination.
declaration.
Campbell's resolution.
Conferences.
Candidates.
vention.
Remarks
Position of General Taylor.
of
Mr. Galloway.
Triumph
Fillmore's
nomi
of Slave Power.
ON
the 22d of May, 1848, the Democratic national conven
The two rival delegations from New
tion met at Baltimore.
York demanding admission, a long and
A member from Georgia offered a
arose.
exciting contest
resolution for the
appointment of a committee on credentials of one from each
State, excepting New York, which should be entitled to two
members. Mr. Hannagan of Indiana proposed that the reso
lution be laid
upon the
table, to enable
him
to
move
that each
delegate should pledge himself to support the nominee of the
Mr. Yancey of Alabama then moved to amend
convention.
the resolution by striking out so much as related to New
York. Speaking for the delegates chosen at Utica, Preston
King deprecated the consignment of the question to a secret
committee room, and distinctly avowed that they would never
consent to have their claims passed upon without the fullest
Daniel S. Dickinson, speaking for the delegates
examination.
chosen at Syracuse, expressed his willingness to trust their
case to " twenty-nine Democratic sisters."
An organization was effected by the choice of Andrew
Stevenson of Virginia as president. On the motion to retain
the two-thirds rule, it was urged that there should be delay
VOL.
II.
17
�130
till
RISE
the
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA-
New York question was settled. Mr. Yancey re
if New York does not choose to
go with us we
without her." On the evening of the second day the
marked that "
will go
Committee on Credentials reported a resolution providing that
the Syracuse delegation should be admitted, on the ground
that they had taken the pledge, proposed by the committee, to
support the nominees of the convention, while the Utica dele
gation peremptorily refused.
This report led to an angry debate.
The Georgia delega
the distinct announcement that they would not
vote for a Wilmot-proviso man.
Speaking for the delegates
tion
made
chosen at Syracuse, Mr. Dickinson characterized the call of
the Herkimer convention as the beginning of the disorganiza
and he declared that the same character
tion of New York
;
and tone which then prevailed were apparent at Utica. Main
taining that one of the great and cardinal principles of the
Democratic party was organization, he said it was his earnest
prayer that the required test of supporting the nominees of the
convention, which had been described as a degrading one,
might be accepted by all Democrats.
Mr. Smith, speaking in behalf of the Utica delegation,
entered largely into the history of the party divisions of New
The term " Barnburner," he said, resulted not from
York.
members, but because they fought
Denying that they
against patronage, corruption, and place.
were political Abolitionists, he said that, though they might
the Jacobinism of
its
be defeated, they could not be conquered. On the other hand,
Mr. Foster pronounced the Wilmot proviso an abstraction
that had no right in that body.
Referring to the meeting at
Buren
Utica, and to the prominent part taken by John Van
"
the chief
therein, he said that it grieved him to say that
orator on that occasion was the son of a man who had re
ceived more from
any other
New York
than
it
could ever contribute to
man."
Preston King thanked Mr. Yancey for the frankness of the
declaration that the candidate of that convention must be in
favor of extending slavery into newly acquired territory but
;
he distinctly avowed that no pledge in advance to support
its
�DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
nominees would ever disgrace
take
it,
hitherto
Beyond
never listen to
stood
1848.
New York. She would
New York," he said,
never
" has
"
it.
131
by the constitutional rights of the South.
Whatever may be the decision
that she cannot go.
of this convention,
New York
company, we
will abide
by
its
resolution.
freedom
Alone or in
from the beginning to the end."
This clear and emphatic avowal created a profound impres
sion.
Southern members fully comprehended its significance.
Mr. Yancey, one of their most advanced leaders and eloquent
He contended that
advocates, made an exciting response.
the inhabitants of both sections had an equal right to take
their property into the newly acquired territory, and main
" one of the
tained the advanced position that slavery was
fundamental pillars of the Constitution," and that it had been
so recognized alike by
will fight this battle of
New York and
"
South Carolina.
Who
" will
at this day," he inquired,
say that what the fathers
If the
established is contrary to the laws of God and man ?
Herkimer and Utica conventions have adopted the corner
stone of the Abolitionists and Whigs, in the name of com
"
mon-sense, in what consists the difference between them ?
His motion that the Syracuse delegation be admitted to seats
became the signal for a scene of great confusion and uproar,
which was with much difficulty controlled.
The speech of Mr. Yancey greatly embarrassed the North
ern Democrats. Mr. Thompson of New Jersey expressed
his regret and apprehension at his position, avowed that he
had always sympathized with the South, and that he was
" But to refuse a
utterly opposed to the Wilmot proviso.
'
'
"
delegation," he said,
simply because they are opposed to
Its mournful
slavery will sound the knell of the Democracy.
peal will ring throughout the Union."
Admitting that the
of
was
one
of
life
or
death
to the South, Mr.
question
slavery
" It is
Strange of North Carolina said
certainly impolitic for
the South to raise issues on that subject when they are now
:
in so great a minority, not only in this country but in the
world."
After an excited debate, the convention, late in the even-
�132
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
ing of the third day, on motion of Mr. Bartley of Ohio, and
by a close vote, admitted both delegations but they were to
This action was sat
cast only the electoral vote of the State.
;
isfactory to neither party ; the Syracuse delegation protesting
against it, and that of Utica refusing to take farther part in
The two-thirds rule having been adopted,
Michigan was nominated for President, and
the proceedings.
Lewis Cass of
William 0. Butler of Kentucky received the nomination for
the Yice-Presidency.
on the great issue before the
denned
and distinctly pronounced.
had
been
clearly
country
In a letter to Judge Wilson, dated February 19, 1847, he
The
position of General Cass
" The Wilmot
It
proviso will not pass the Senate.
an
all
of
to
the
death
to
would be death
war,
hope
getting
wrote
:
acre of territory, death to the administration, and death to
In his letter to 0. P. Nicholson of
the Democratic party."
Tennessee, written in December of the same year, after
" I am
strongly impressed with the opinion that a
writing,
has
being going on in the public mind upon this sub
change
" The
in
people
my own as well as others," he added
ject,
of the United States must choose between this restriction and
:
the extension of their territorial limits."
The
success of the
" to an immediate with
proviso, he also writes, would lead
holding of supplies, and thus to a dishonorable termination of
The treaty with the proviso would certainly be re
the war.
Thus plainly, though somewhat euphoniously per
jected."
Cass confess his change of views and the
General
did
haps,
abandonment by himself and friends of their position to con
and thus clearly did he commit
ciliate his Southern friends
the
party that selected him as its
himself, his friends, and
;
candidate, to the policy of the slavery propagandists.
On the last day of the convention, Benjamin F. Hallett of
The seventh
Massachusetts reported a series of resolves.
" has no
resolution declared that Congress
power under the
Constitution to interfere with or control the domestic institu
and that " all efforts of the Aboli
tions of the several States,"
tionists or others to induce
tions of
slavery
....
Congress to interfere with ques
are calculated to lead to the most
�DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
1848.
133
alarming and dangerous consequences, and ought not to be
countenanced."
Mr. Yancey made a minority report, declaring that the doc
trine of non-interference with the rights of property, be
it
in
the States or in the Territories, is the true republican doctrine,
which should be recognized and also denying the right of
;
This amendment
Territorial legislation to regulate slavery.
was rejected by a vote of thirty-six to two hundred and six
and the report of the committee was adopted without
Although the convention did not indorse the doc
affirmed
trine
by Mr. Yancey, which the Slave Power subse
quently sought to impose upon the country, yet, by its action,
its resolutions, and its nominees, it fully committed the Demo
teen,
division.
cratic party against the prohibition of slavery by the general
government in territories acquired or to be acquired.
The Whig
national convention of 1848 assembled at the
Chinese Museum, in Philadelphia, on the 7th of June. ExGovernor John M. Morehead of North Carolina was made
For the presidential nomination the names of Mr.
Clay, Mr. Webster, General Scott, and General Taylor had
been mentioned, and their respective merits and claims had
been freely canvassed.
Mr. Clay was the choice of large
had
who
numbers,
early attached themselves to the great
and
who
still
chieftain,
clung to his fortunes with strong
president.
personal as well as political regard.
portion of the party, too, regarded
tative
and
The more moderate
him as their represen
leader.
There was a
class,
however,
who
looked to General Scott as
He did not represent
affording better promise of success.
a policy essentially different from that of Mr. Clay ; but he
was a great
port of
soldier,
and
it
was hoped he could win the sup
strongly attracted by a
many who would be more
military than
by a merely civil reputation.
of Mr. Webster was never large
The strength
there were
many who
and yet
desired his nomination because of his
;
signal ability, his national reputation, and his location,
to the Eastern and Middle States.
recommended him
views, too, upon slavery
which
His
and
hisrather
which, though
past
�134
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
than present and pronounced
were in more general
accord with the antislavery portion of the party than those of
any other man whose name was mentioned in connection with
torical
that high office.
But the more
active
and determined
of
the proslavery
Whigs, both North and South, with large numbers of no par
ticular views on the subject,
men with whom promised
looked to General
availability was the main consideration,
Taylor as presenting the strongest claim for their suffrage.
His laurels, still green and recently acquired in the Mexican
war, his general reputation for probity, and the popular taste
for military characters, early suggested his name as among
the prospective candidates.
Soon after the early battles of
that war, Thurlow Weed, a gentleman of marvellous tact and
skill, conceived the idea of his nomination, and immediately
wrote to him his impressions, and cautioned him to be careful
of his
commitments upon the
political questions of the times.
Truman Smith, then a Senator from
Connecticut,
distin
guished, too, for his great organizing powers, entered heartily
into the project, and was among the most effective agents in
securing the nomination and election of the victorious captain.
General Taylor was a Southerner, a slaveholder, and the fa
Whigs who were opposed to the pol
His friends came into the conven
determination to use every means to secure his
Firm in purpose and strong in numbers, they
vorite candidate of those
icy of slavery prohibition.
tion with the
nomination.
were marshalled by resolute and adroit leaders.
They were
not only resolved upon his nomination, but, singularly enough,
they were determined to effect it without committing him to
the organization, principles, and purposes of the party.
Though the current of opinion in and out of the convention
was strong
in favor of General Taylor, the friends of other
idle.
conference was held of those
candidates were not
A
members and others opposed
to his
nomination.
Mayor
Swift of Philadelphia presided.
Governor Jones of Tennes
Charles
S.
Morehead
of
see,
Kentucky, warm and enthusiastic
supporters of Mr. Clay, and several other gentlemen, made
earnest appeals in his behalf. In response to these appeals,
�DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
1848.
135
Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts avowed that he was not only
opposed to the nomination of General Taylor, but to that of
any other candidate not
fully committed,
by
his
own
acts or
the declarations of the convention, to the Wilmot proviso ;
and that, if such a nomination was made, he should leave the
convention, go home, and unite with others in the support of
one who should be committed to the policy of freedom.
The nomination of General Taylor seemed a foregone con
To test the purposes of members, Lewis D. Camp
clusion.
Ohio submitted a resolution pledging the convention
the
nomination of any candidate not committed to the
against
This resolution
organization and policy of the Whig party.
bell of
was received with a storm of opposition, and pronounced to be
out of order. Another resolution was presented in behalf of
the New York delegation by Mr. Fuller, but after a severe
contest it was clamored down.
But, notwithstanding the op
position, General Taylor received, on the fourth ballot, the
nomination, by a majority of more than sixty.
Mr. Tilden of Ohio then submitted a resolution declaring
that Congress had the power, and that it was its duty, to pre
vent the introduction and existence of slavery in any territory
then possessed or which might thereafter be acquired. Amid
greatest confusion, he stated that the resolution was
drawn by the Ohio delegation, who felt constrained to put
it forth and ask its adoption as a
part of their political faith,
Mr.
of
the
same
Sherman,
though
State, deprecated its intro
duction.
The resolution was laid upon the table, upon the
the
motion of Mr. Brown of Pennsylvania, who contemptuously
denounced its friends as factionists. A resolution was then
introduced by John A. Bingham of Ohio, declaring that the
Whig party, through its representatives, agrees to abide by
the nomination of General Taylor, on condition that he will
accept the nomination of the
great fundamental principles,
party, and adhere to its
no extension of slavery, no
Whig
acquisition of foreign territory by conquest, protection of
American industry, and opposition to executive patronage.
This, too, was received with mingled cheers and hisses, and
pronounced out of order.
�136
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Allen of Massachusetts, amid wild excitement and
continued interruptions, rose and declared that the discipline
of the South had again prevailed ; that it was evident the
terms of union between the Whigs of the North and the
" the
Whigs of the South were
perpetual surrender by the
former of the high
offices
and powers
their Southern confederates.
of the
government to
To
these terms, I think, sir,"
he said, " the free States will no longer submit. I declare to
this convention my belief that the Whig party is here and this
day dissolved. You have put one ounce too much on the
strong back of Northern endurance. You have even pre
sumed that the State which led on the rst revolution for lib
erty will now desert that cause for the miserable boon of the
Vice-Presidency.
Mr.
Ashmun
Massachusetts will spurn the bribe."
Sir,
of Massachusetts then rose
and declared that
Mr. Allen had spoken without consulting the delegation of
that State.
He said, " My colleague did not express my feel
ings and I think I can safely say that he did not express the
sentiments of the people of Massachusetts." This declaration
;
Mr. Wilson said he under
enthusiastically applauded.
Ashmun to say that he entirely concurred in the pro
ceedings of the convention. He replied that he did not con
was
stood Mr.
cur in the nomination
"
;
"
But," said he, I did not come here
to express a factious opposition to its proceedings."
The declaration of Mr. Wilson that he would " not be
bound
"
by its proceedings became the signal for the wildest uproar
and the most tumultuous demonstrations. Opposition being
made to his proceeding, Mr. Stanley of North Carolina begged
the convention to listen, remarking that the gentleman was
Leave being granted, Mr. Wil
injuring nobody but himself.
son said
:
" I came to the convention a
Whig, committed unre
servedly to the principles of the Whig party and to its organi
zation. I ask of this convention the nomination of a Whig who
unreservedly committed to the principles of liberty. We
have nominated a candidate who has said to the nation that
is
he will not be bound by the principles of any party. Sir, I
will go home
and, so help me God, I will do all I can to
;
defeat the election of that candidate."
�DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
1848.
137
Mr. Lunt, of the same State, declared that he had listened
with pain, and he might say with indignation, to sentiments
spoken by some of his colleagues and he predicted that Mas
;
sachusetts would give General Taylor a decided majority of her
This declaration was received with tumultuous cheers.
votes.
Mr. Galloway of Ohio said that the deed which had just
been consummated had struck him with sudden and sore sur
and would send a
thrill of disappointment into many
"
"
I
minds.
am," he said, the advocate of free soil and free
I cannot be severed from the position I occupy
territory.
prise,
by any party machinery or alliances. This platform my con
If a candidate is
stituents cannot and will not abandon.
orthodox on this fundamental principle, they and I can hail
and receive him. If he is not, he will be nailed by us as
*
base coin to the counter.'
"
Mr. Campbell of Ohio said that he would not go it blind
that Ohio had been borne down by the South, and a deaf ear
turned to her entreaties. " That
moral
he
;
great
principle,"
"
which has fastened itself so firmly on the free
predicted,
will arouse to action, in all the majesty of her
of
Ohio,
Whigs
strength, the
young giant
of the
West."
But, notwithstanding the determined opposition manifested
towards General Taylor in the convention, his friends were
cheered by the assurances given by several of the opposing
members that they would go home, consult their constituents,
and be guided by their determination and by the fact that
Mr. Allen and Mr. Wilson were the only members who had
completely severed their connection with the convention, and
had avowed their purpose to oppose its nominations. It had
;
been the purpose of the leading supporters of General Taylor
to nominate Abbott Lawrence of Massachusetts for the Vice-
But on the first ballot Mr. Lawrence received
Presidency.
only one hundred and nine votes to one hundred and fifteen
for Mr. Fillmore.
This gave the latter a plurality of six, and
secured his nomination on the next ballot.
Unquestionably
the declarations and actions of Mr. Allen and Mr. Wilson led
to this result,
to New York the honor which was
own Commonwealth.
and gave
intended for their
�138
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
General Taylor's nomination was another and a signal tri
umph of the Slave Power. He was the favorite candidate
of the slave-holders, especially of the slave-extensionists, and,
" the
first, had been brought forward as
only South
from the
man who
ern
himself
with
He had
could be elected."
the
Whig
party.
He had
He had
never identified
never given a
made up his
mind upon the leading questions at issue between the parties.
Not only had he refused to be the exponent of Whig princi
vote.
ples,
frankly said that he had never
but he had accepted the nomination of bodies of
men
known
or received as Whigs, while they scouted the very
idea of being in any way bound by the acts of any national
not
So late as the 20th of the preceding April, he
would not withdraw his name if Henry Clay
he
had declared
His active
or any other Whig should have the nomination.
convention.
supporters were mostly from the slaveholding States and
those free States which had generally given Democratic ma
Indeed, on the final ballot, of the whole number of
jorities.
votes received by General Taylor, ninety-seven were from
Those most violent
States that voted for Mr. Polk in 1844.
in their opposition to the Wilmot proviso, and most distin
guished for their want of sympathy with the liberal principles
were most forward and uncompromising in their
advocacy of his claims. The delegates from the Whig free
States were nearly unanimous in their opposition to him, he
of the age,
on the first ballot, but four of the ninety-four votes
He was emphatically the candidate
in
had
convention.
they
of the slave-extension Whigs, and a class of trimming politi
cians from States hopelessly Democratic, who expected, by
support and votes given him in the convention, to secure for
themselves and friends executive appointments and executive
receiving,
patronage.
Having nominated
this unpledged slaveholder of Louisiana,
the Wilmot proviso, which had been
with
contumely
rejected
all the Whig legislatures of the free States, and
"
friends as
factionists," the convention dissolved.
submission of the party to the Slave Power was not per
supported by
branded
The
its
haps quite as complete and decided as that of
its
great rival
;
�DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
and
yet,
notwithstanding
its
1848.
139
previous record of honorable op
and protest to many of its aggressions, it had now
succumbed to the haughty oligarchy, and had permitted it to
dictate its policy and to select its candidates.
Southern members and those at the North who had joined
position
returned to their homes exultant.
Other
whose
convictions
were weak and whose attachment
members,
to the principles of liberty were small, hastened to give in
their adhesion to the then dominant policy.
Others still, with
deeper convictions and stronger attachments, indignant and
in this betrayal
aggrieved at the base surrender, returned to consult with the
people and await events.
very few, more fully comprehend
the
real
of
this
ing
significance
defeat, saw, or thought they
A
saw, the necessity of an immediate effort to arouse the coun
try to a truer appreciation of the gravity and dangers of the
situation.
�CHAPTER
XII.
POPULAR MOVEMENTS OF THE OPPONENTS OF SLAVERY
EXTENSION.
His nomination.
Declaration
Van Buren's letter.
Committee to
Meeting of antislavery men at Philadelphia.
Ohio convention.
National convention called
call a national convention.
Mr. Allen
Mr. Wilson's address to the Whigs of his district.
at Buffalo.
The
TJtica convention.
of principles.
Call for a State convention.
addresses the citizens of Worcester.
vention at Worcester.
Con
Address to the people.
Delegates to
Attitude of the nation.
Position of Mr. Webster.
Eesolutions.
the Buffalo convention.
HAVING peremptorily
refused to become
members
of the
Democratic national convention upon the condition tendered
to them, the Utica delegates immediately issued an address to
the Democracy of
New
York, condemning the action of the
convention and justifying their own. They summoned a State
convention to meet at Utica on the 22d of June, to hear its
report,
and
to
recommend candidates
for President
and Vice-
President to the Democratic State convention to be held in
September.
Colonel Samuel Young, a veteran Democratic
The meeting was earnest and enthusias
statesman, presided.
One of
The speaking was eloquent, racy, and sharp.
the speakers remarked that were one to import a single slave
into any State or Territory he would be hung as a pirate,
tic.
"
yet
we
are asked to
make our
A letter
flag carry slavery to the shores
wherever our dominion extends."
was read from Mr. Yan Buren, defining his position
of the Pacific, to plant
it
men who had
invited him to become their
Communications were received indorsing
the policy of slavery restriction and expressing the hope that
Mr. Yan Buren would be nominated for the Presidency. On
the second day he was nominated for President by acclama
tion, and Henry Dodge of Wisconsin for Yice-President.
and that
of the
standard-bearer.
General Dodge, however, promptly declined the nomination.
�MOVEMENTS OF THE OPPONENTS OF SLAVERY EXTENSION.
141
Resolutions were adopted, and an address to the Democratic
New York was issued. In this address the action
electors of
of the national convention
trine of
undying
was sharply
criticised,
and the doc
hostility to the further extension of slavery
was enunciated.
The " Barnburners " were the
ablest portion of the New York
They were thorough party men, but progressive
tendencies.
Martin Van Buren and Silas Wright
Democracy.
in their
were the chiefs of this section of the Democratic party. If
Mr. Wright had not died in 1847, he would undoubtedly have
been the Buffalo nominee in 1848.
"
All the " Barnburners of
1848, in their desire to avenge the wrongs of Van Buren and
Wright, were willing to use the Free Soil weapons. But in
one class the Free Soil doctrines were deeply rooted, and in
the other they were either merely employed to meet the emer
Prominent in the firstgency or were held rather loosely.
named class were Preston King, William Cullen Bryant,
David Dudley Field, Abijah Mann, James S. Wadsworth,
Nye, George Opdyke, and H. H. Van
Dyck. All of these were leading men in 1848, all acted with
Ward Hunt, James W.
the regular Democracy in 1852, but all of them became very
active in the Republican party in 1856.
In the other class of
" Barnburners " were
F.
Butler, Churchill C. CambreBenjamin
and
Samuel
Azariah
C. Flagg,
veteran states
Young,
ling,
men, whose names gave prestige to the movement,
John A. Dix, John Van Buren, Sanford E. Church, Dean
Dix
Richmond, Samuel J. Tilden, and John Cochrane.
and Cochrane went to the field at the opening of the Rebellion,
and became Republicans. Van Buren, Church, Tilden, and
Richmond clung to the Democratic party, but were moderately
on the side of their country during the war. These and others
that might be mentioned were all men of influence and power
"
in the Free Soil movement. But the " bright, particular star
of that revolt was John Van Buren.
He was an able lawyer,
and unquestionably one of the best popular orators of his time.
During the progress of the contest of 1848, he became imbued
with antislavery sentiments but he still adhered to the De
mocracy, though he never felt quite at home there after 1848.
;
�142
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Indeed, such was the brilliant record he then made, hi& pop
ular talents, his prestige of name and position, that, had he
remained true to the principles he then advocated, he would
unquestionably have been one of the foremost men of the Re
publican party,
have linked his
if
not
name
accepted leader, and would thus
with the imperishable history of its
its
grand achievements.
After the nomination of General Taylor had been consum
mated, the use of the lecture-room of the building in which
the convention had been held was obtained by Mr. Wilson for
a meeting that evening of delegates and others opposed to the
Fifteen gentlemen were present Louis 0.
selection made.
:
Cowan and Samuel Bradley, of Maine Charles Allen, Henry
Wilson, and Daniel W. Alvord, of Massachusetts Isaac Platt,
John C. Hamilton, and Robert Colby, of New York Horace
N. Conger of New Jersey Lewis D. Campbell, Samuel Gallo
way, John C. Yaughan, Stanley Matthews, John Burgoyne, and
H. B. Hurlburt, of Ohio. Others, in and out of the conven
tion, who had expressed great dissatisfaction at its action and
had avowed their indignant purpose not to submit to it, had
;
;
;
;
been invited, and had promised to be present
to the strong pressure of the hour,
and
;
but they yielded
failed to
make
their
appearance.
Mr. Wilson, who had called the meeting, stated its object
Referring to the action of the convention, to the complete tri.
umph of the Slave Power in the nomination of a candidate un
committed to the organization or to the principles of the Whig
party, to the prompt rejection of the Wilmot proviso, and to
the denunciation of its friends as " factionists," he avowed
his determined purpose to repudiate its action and its candi
dates. He had called them together, he said, to take measures
for holding a national convention for the organization of a
new party and for the nomination of candidates pledged to
At his suggestion, John C. Hamilton, son of Alex
ander Hamilton, was invited to act as chairman of the meet
On taking the chair, Mr. Hamilton briefly referred to
ing.
freedom.
the disastrous influences of slavery even over the earlier ad
ministrations of the general government, and to the opinions
�MOVEMENTS OF THE OPPONENTS OF SLAVERY EXTENSION.
143
and actions of his illustrious father and of other statesmen of
Robert Colby, son of ex-Governor Anthony Colby
his day.
of New Hampshire, then a young lawyer of the city of New
York, was appointed secretary.
It was then moved by Mr. Wilson that a committee of three
be appointed to take immediate measures to call, at an early
day, a national convention of all persons opposed to the exten
sion of slavery and to the election of the candidates of the
Democratic and
Whig
parties.
On
this
motion remarks were
Lewis D. Campbell sharply criti
several gentlemen.
cised the action of the convention, denounced the nomination
made by
and declared his purpose not to vote for
But he would go home, he said, and consult
Ohio before he committed himself to any course
of General Taylor,
his election.
the people of
of action.
was earnestly and strongly ad
vocated by Mr. Allen. He was for immediate action, for the
organization of a new party, and for a vigorous and aggressive
He was followed by Mr. Galloway in an earnest and
policy.
The motion
for a committee
eloquent denunciation of the proceedings of the convention
but, like his colleague, he too wished to return home and con
sult the people.
"
;
Mr. Platt, then editor of the Poughkeepsie
"
and a delegate to the convention, spoke in favor of
the appointment of the committee, and expressed the hope
Eagle
that large results might follow such small beginnings.
Mr. Vaughan, a South-Carolinian by birth, and an antislav-
man by conviction, who had been associated with Cassius
M. Clay and others in the conduct of antislavery journals,
ery
spoke earnestly of the aggressions of the slaveholding interest,
of the skilful tactics of the Southern leaders, and of the weak
ness of Northern delegates, by which the cause of freedom had
been betrayed. After further discussion, the committee was
appointed, consisting of Joshua R. Giddings, Charles Allen,
and John C. Vaughan. It was then decided that the conven
tion should be held at Buffalo early in August.
It
was
also
Yaughan should attend the People's mass con
vention, which had been called by citizens of Ohio, without dis
tinction of party, of those opposed to the extension of slavery,
agreed that Mr.
�144
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Columbus on the 22d of June. The purpose of his
attendance was to persuade, if possible, the proposed meeting
meet
to
at
to issue the call for the national convention agreed upon.
The Ohio convention was largely attended. Mr. Vaughan
was appointed chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, and
reported a well-defined and comprehensive platform of princi
One of the resolutions invited all the friends of freedom,
ples.
free soil, and free territory, opposed to the election of Cass or
to nomi
Taylor, to assemble at Buffalo on the 9th of August
nate candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. The
that the
speeches and resolutions were based on the principle
ordinance of 1787, which had given freedom to the North
west, indicated the only safe policy then to be pursued.
convention of the Liberty party was held at the same
A
Salmon P. Chase presided. John
Leicester King of Ohio were
President and Yice-President, and the proposed
time and in the same
P. Hale of
city.
New Hampshire and
nominated for
convention at Buffalo received
Immediately on
its
indorsement.
his return to Massachusetts
from the Phila
delphia convention, Mr. Wilson issued an address to the Whigs
of the Eighth Congressional District. He had been sent to the
convention by the same body which had nominated Horace
Mann as the successor of John Quincy Adams, and which had
"
of their
then unanimously resolved that the " voice and vote
" shall on all occasions be exercised in extend
representative
ing liberty to the human race." He denned the position of
General Taylor, traced the proceedings of the convention, and
declared that he became convinced that if he consented to his
nomination
it
must be done
at the sacrifice of his
own
opin
" What was
ions and the betrayal of theirs.
I," he asked,
"
known
to
be
to
your delegate,
slavery in all its
opposed
?
do
to
Should
this
forms,
course, give the
I, by approving
lie
to
votes
my own
?
professions, and to your unanimously recorded
I could not be false to
own convictions of duty
my
and to your deliberately recorded opinions to gain the ap
plause or escape the censure of any man or of any body of
men. I announced to the convention that I should not be
bound by its nominations and I ventured the assertion, in
;
�MOVEMENTS OF THE OPPONENTS OF SLAVERY EXTENSION.
145
had sustained
and glorious career would
spurn a nomination forced upon them by the arrogance of the
He closed his
South, aided by the servility of the North."
address with the declaration that he would have nothing to
do with the convention or its candidates
that he repudi
ated such abandonment of principle
and that he washed his
hands, then and forever, of all agency in such an ignoble
work. " Bitter denunciations," he said, " have already been
your behalf, that the Whigs of the
John Quincy Adams
district that
in his long
;
;
No hope of
heaped upon me, yet I see nothing to retract.
no
fear
ridicule
of
or
denunciation, will deter
political reward,
me from
acting up to my convictions of duty in resisting the
extension of slavery and the arrogant demands of the Slave
Power."
On the 21st of June, Mr. Allen addressed the citizens of
Worcester County in a speech of great length, in which the
proceedings of the convention and the issues at stake were set
forth with rare ability and force.
His audience was large and
highly intelligent, embracing many of the representative men
of the county and of the State, and few speeches have pro
duced a more marked and immediate effect. Before applaud
ing friends, he declared anew the prediction he had pro
claimed at Philadelphia, which subsequent events speedily
the dissolution of the Whig party of the United
verified,
"I
States.
the new.
discard," he said," the old; I look forward to
great principle of free soil and non-exten
The
sion of slavery is the principle, overriding all others, which
I wish emblazoned upon the flag under which we may here
The meeting responded to his appeals by the
after enlist."
" Massa
enthusiastic adoption of a resolution proclaiming that
chusetts wears no chains and spurns all bribes ; that Mas
sachusetts goes now, and will ever go, for free soil and for
free men, for free lips and a free press, for a free land and a
free world."
When
the intelligence reached Massachusetts that General
Taylor had been nominated, and that treason to liberty had
been more complete than even the antislavery Whigs had ap
prehended, the call, which had been prepared in anticipation
VOL.
II.
T<>
�146
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
of that result,
was issued
for a
IN AMERICA.
mass convention,
to be held at
Worcester on the 28th of June. Denying the binding obliga
tion of the nomination on all Whigs, because General Taylor
was not committed to their principles or to their organization,
the call repudiated with special emphasis the obligation of
Massachusetts Whigs to support it inasmuch as he was be
;
lieved to be,
and those who secured
his nomination
were known
hostile to the vital doctrines of liberty, to
to be, unmistakably
which they had so unequivocally
and repeatedly affirmed
their
adhesion.
Its numbers were reso
at Worcester.
and determined, of large intelligence and moral worth. A
committee on an address and resolutions was appointed, of
which Stephen C. Phillips of Salem was chairman. A resolu
tion was reported by Mr. Phillips tendering to Mr. Allen and
Mr. Wilson the warmest thanks of the convention for " the
fidelity, consistency, decision, and boldness with which they
performed their duty as delegates from Massachusetts to the
"
and declaring, too, that " this
national Whig convention
convention hereby ratines their acts, and assures them that
their services will be held in grateful and proud remembrance
by the people of Massachusetts."
Speeches were made in
which the action of that convention was sharply criticised
and the people were urged to adopt the broad principles of
freedom as the basis of their future and persistent action.
The address, reported by Mr. Phillips, was from his prolific
It set forth with great fulness of detail the perils and
pen.
needs of the country; the motives, principles, and purposes
of the men who had there assembled to organize resistance
In that trying hour, when the
against the Slave Power.
people seemed to be yielding in powerless submission, its tone
was confident and almost defiant. With cheerful hope of
future success, it closed with these words " Truth, justice,
liberty, patriotism, and humanity are bound together in indis
soluble union and are destined to share a common triumph.
We know our duty, we appeal to the people, and we trust in
God."
two each from the Whig, Democratic, and
Six delegates
The convention met
lute
;
;
:
�MOVEMENTS OF THE OPPONENTS OF SLAVERY EXTENSION.
147
were chosen to attend the Buffalo conven
Liberty parties
and a State committee of fourteen was appointed, of
tion,
which Mr. Adams was chairman. Mr. Paine and Mr. Hart,
of Rhode Island, made earnest and effective addresses. Amasa
Walker and Joshua Leavitt followed with warm appeals for
unity among Democrats, Whigs, and all others, against
these persistent and alarming encroachments of the Slave
Power. Lewis D. Campbell, a delegate to the national con
was then introduced by Mr. Wilson.
He vividly
the
of
that
and
the
scenes
which
protrayed
proceedings
body
in
the
convention
said
he
had
a
written
transpired
given
pledge to the people of his district that he would vote for no
man not pledged to Whig principles and against the extension
of slavery, and he proclaimed his purpose to return to Ohio
and give back to his constituents the authority they had in
trusted to his hands
and then he said
"I will take my
position, and it will be right."
The address and resolutions were then unanimously adopted.
The convention was afterwards addressed by Mr. Giddings,
who was welcomed with a most enthusiastic greeting. His
address, too, was received with the most lively expressions of
vention,
;
:
;
satisfaction.
Mr. J. C. Lovejoy, then a member of the Liberty
and effect. Charles Francis Adams
party, spoke with vigor
laid down with clearness
and precision the fundamental prin
ciples of liberty, and applied them to the existing condition of
the nation.
Charles Sumner followed, in a speech of great
not only enunciating the command
ing principles of liberty, but foreshadowing with confidence
and hope the time when they should be embodied in the actual
thoroughness and force
;
and triumphant policy of the State and nation.
Fletcher Webster and a few of his father's friends were
present, not to take part in, but to note, the proceedings of the
E. Rockwood Hoar said in his admirable speech,
occasion.
which was listened to with marked attention, that he was au
thorized to say that Mr. Webster had not committed himself
to the support of General Taylor, and also that he and his
friends sympathized with the purposes of the convention.
It
was the hope enkindled by these assurances which prompted
�148
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
that convention of earnest, resolute, and hopeful men to de
clare that Massachusetts still looked to Daniel Webster to up
hold before the country the policy of the free States that she
;
was
know
relieved to
that he had not advised the support of
and that she invoked him, at that crisis, " to
General Taylor
turn a deaf ear to the
;
speak and act
him."
'
and
quietists,' and to
optimists
as his heart and his great mind shall lead
'
'
a pressing invitation of Fletcher Webster, Mr. Allen
and Mr. Wilson, a day or two after the convention, visited
Boston to confer with Mr. Webster in regard to political
Upon
But he was absent from the
affairs.
Mr. Wilson called again at his
mended very highly the
city.
office.
resolutions
On
his return,
Mr. Webster com
and the address
of the
Worcester convention, and expressed his confidence in the
gentlemen who had called it and participated in it, many of
whom
he recognized not only as political but personal friends.
In response to a question as to the purposes of those engaged
in the movement, Mr. Wilson replied that they intended to
create
and combine a public sentiment which would uphold
who were in favor of the Wilmot proviso, and
those statesmen
who opposed it that they desired to unite
who would resist and overthrow the dominating in
break down those
those
all
;
and restore the government to
the policy of its founders that, in fact, they would make " a
North." Mr. Webster replied with much feeling that there had
never been a North that, when he and others had striven to
resist the demands of the South, they had been overborne by
Northern men, by the representatives of such States as Maine,
New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania.
fluences of the Slave Power,
;
;
He
admitted that
if
the proposed convention at Buffalo could
so concentrate public sentiment as to sustain those who were
true to Northern rights and interests, they would achieve a
But he doubted their ability to
great and much-desired result.
do it. The South had long controlled the government, was in
possession of power, and had vast and controlling influences
at its
command.
For weeks, however, he continued
to
avow opposition
to the
�MOVEMENTS OF THE OPPONENTS OF SLAVERY EXTENSION.
149
nomination of General Taylor. Even after the Buffalo con
vention, he told his friends that he could stand on its plat
But he soon yielded to the pressure, and avowed his
form.
purpose to support the nomination, although he had previ
" not fit to be made."
This sad
ously characterized it as
confession and course of Mr. Webster afford an illustration
well as a key to, the political history of the nation from
In avowing his readiness to accept the Buffalo
the start.
platform, of which the Wilmot proviso was the corner-stone,
of, as
and yet actually supporting a platform the distinctive feat
ure of which was that it rejected that proviso, he did noth
ing more nor worse than the nation had long been doing,
attempting to combine and harmonize the antagonistic ele
ments of republicanism and despotism, of freedom and chatannouncing the grandest doctrines of human rights,
and largely incorporating them into its laws and practical
legislation, and yet making no secret of its purpose to main
tain and give vigor to the baldest and most oppressive system
of slavery, individual and social, the world had ever seen.
telhood
;
Though always aware
its
imputation,
it still
and restive under
went on with these two conflicting civ
of this inconsistency,
proclaimed the doctrine of the Declaration,
recognized with Washington that intelligence and morality
"
were the " two pillars
on which alone free institutions could
ilizations.
It
securely rest,
and sought
its
its
own
elevation
and improvement
mind while subject
which it was ever and
resources of matter and
by developing
and yielding to forces, old and new, to
At the same time it sought with equal
necessarily exposed.
and direct purpose to repress and restrain, to darken and de
grade, a large fraction of its population, because ignorance and
were the only conditions by which slavery could be
restraint
maintained.
�CHAPTER
XIII.
BUFFALO CONVENTION.
Mr. Chase president of the delegated convention.
Mr.
Governor
Unity and enthusiasm.
president of mass convention.
Platform.
Slade's letter.
Speeches of Adams, Giddings, Butler,
King's.
Buffalo convention.
Adams
Grover, White, Eye, Stanton, Briggs, May, Mahan, Bibb, Bird, and SedgVan Buren and Adams nominated.
wick.
Van
Van Buren's letter.
State conventions in
Buren's letter of acceptance.
Popular feeling.
New York, and Ohio. Movements in the Southern States.
sachusetts,
Mas
The
canvass.
ON
the 9th of August, 1848, the opponents of slavery exten
Salmon P. Chase was
sion met in convention at Buffalo.
chairman of the delegated convention, and Charles Francis
presided over the mass meeting. A tent had been
prepared large enough to accommodate the thousands who
gathered there. Mr. Adams stated the reasons for the call
Adams
which had brought them there, and enunciated the general
He
principles on which the new organization must be based.
"
" under a
the
to
denounce
declared that they were
necessity
old organization of parties as no longer worthy of the confi
dence of the American people. " Set up your standard," he
" of freedom and
truth,
said,
everything for the cause, and
nothing for men. Let your deliberations then proceed, and
the Divine blessing rest upon the result, so that we can
take one step forward to realize that great idea of our fore
fathers, the model of a Christian commonwealth."
may
Unity of
convention.
feeling, opinion,
and action seemed
The Rev. William Wilson, pastor
to pervade the
of the Church
of the Covenanters in Cincinnati, sent a despatch which read
" ex
It urged the convention to
like a summons to battle.
hibit
asm
one issue, one front, one nomination courage
"
Governor Slade of
;
!
enthusi
Vermont, in a
Mr. Giddings, which was read,' pleaded for union.
anticipate victory
letter to
!
!
�BUFFALO CONVENTION.
151
" should be our watchword. Divided we
Union," he said,
have fallen, and divided we must forever fall, before the allgrasping, overreaching, and never-satisfied power of slavery."
"
He would
not, he said, to prevent slavery extension, take Tay
Cass for " we should have it under either, and
lor to defeat
;
should therefore take neither."
and eloquent speeches were made. Earnestness,
deep convictions, and devotion to the cause, were everywhere
" Let the men of
manifest.
deepest principle," said Mr. Peck
" manifest
of Connecticut,
the most profound condescension
and the deepest humility to-day, and posterity will honor them
Stirring
Preston King of New York introduced three
resolutions, prepared by Mr. Chase, declaring that it was the
duty of the Federal government to relieve itself from all
for the deed."
and continuance of slavery
had authority that it was not responsible for
and that the only safe means of pre
slavery in the States
extension
of slavery into free territory was to
the
venting
responsibility for the extension
wherever
it
;
;
prohibit its existence there by act of Congress.
Benjamin F. Butler of New York, from the Committee
in
Resolutions, reported fifteen,
clearly defined principles of the
members
clared that the
on
which were embodied the
new
organization.
They de
of the convention, obedient to the
example of the fathers, and trusting in God, aimed to plant
themselves upon the national platform of freedom, in opposi
tion to the sectional platform of slavery
that, slavery being a
State institution, they proposed no interference with it by
;
Congress ; that the history of the ordinance of 1787 showed
the settled policy of the fathers not to extend, but to limit
slavery ; that the fathers ordained the Constitution to secure
the blessings of liberty ; that Congress had no more power to
make a slave than to make a king ; that the national govern
ment should
from all responsibility for the exist
that Congress should prohibit slavery by law
free territory
that they accepted the issue forced upon
relieve itself
ence of slavery
in all
;
;
them by the Slave Power and that their calm and final an
swer was No more slave States, no more slave territory, no
more compromises with slavery; and freedom for Oregon, Cali
fornia, and New Mexico.
;
:
�152
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
To
IN AMERICA.
comprehensive and clearly constitutional platform
this
of principles, policy, and measures concerning slavery, were
added declarations in favor of cheap postage, retrenchment,
grants of land to actual settlers, the early payment of the
national debt, a tariff adequate to the current expenses of the
government and an annual instalment for the debt. Having
enunciated this platform of principles and proposed measures,
"
they resolved that we inscribe on our banners Free Soil, Free
Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men and under it will fight on
and fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our
;
exertions."
Mr. Giddings appealed with great earnestness and solemnity
to his friends to accept the resolutions, and there on the spot
to enter into " a holy and indissoluble league and covenant."
Mr. Butler declared that he had tried to meet the question
with a just sense of his responsibility to his fellow-men and
" to Him who is the
judge that sitteth upon the throne and
" I went
shall weigh all the actions of men."
first," he said,
" to the Declaration of
I
it filled with
and
find
Independence
;
rights,
among which are
ness.
And
blood hath
then I
God
men
are born with certain
and
the pursuit of happi
life, liberty,
looked to the Bible, and I find that of one
this great foundation truth, that all
created
all
Free
the nations of the earth.
labor cannot exist where slavery holds sway, and thus the
question embraces the interests of myriads that are to come
after us."
Martin Grover avowed himself a "
New York Democrat
of the regular apostolic succession," but in favor of free soil,
of the divorce of the general government from the support of
slavery,
it.
and the repeal
stituents,
"
of every statute ever passed to uphold
New York, who had told his con
Erastus D. Culver of
when they
sent him' to Congress, that he should
upon the abominable institution of slavery so long as
there was a loop-hole," and who had bravely kept his pledge,
avowed himself in favor of a bold and aggressive policy. Mr.
Brinkerhoff of Ohio, who drafted the Wilmot proviso, said
he was no admirer of John C. Calhoun, nor of the satanic sys
tem of political philosophy of which he was the exponent but
fire
;
�BUFFALO CONVENTION.
153
he did agree with him that the country was " in the midst of a
an important, a momentous crisis." He gloried in
crisis,
the name of Democrat but he adopted the sentiments of Jef
ferson, embodied in the ordinance of 1787, which had made
;
forever free the great Northwest.
Joseph L. White of New York, formerly a
from Indiana, and a devoted admirer
tative
sharply criticised the action of the
Whig
Whig
of
represen
Henry
Clay,
convention in nomi
nating General Taylor. Alluding to the aggressive action of
the South, he said "
have endured it until toleration has
ceased to be a virtue, and now we plant ourselves upon the
:
We
platform that our fathers planted themselves upon, and say
'
Beware
The blood of the Roundheads is
to the South,
aroused.'
'
!
He avowed
himself ready to fight with Free Soil
men
so long as they should continue the fight ; and, when they
ceased, he would fight on his own hook and under his own
"
banner, and that banner should be,
Liberty and revenge."
General James W. Nye, then of New York, but subsequently
United States Senator from Nevada, made a humorous and
" when old
"
he
crisis has
A
telling speech.
prejudices
must be
arisen,"
laid aside, sacrificed
said,
upon the
altar of our
have come here to lay down all my former
predilections upon this altar, to strike hands with those even
against whom I have formerly battled. God raised up a David
So hath David Wilmot, with
of old to slay the giant of Gath.
country's good.
I
and the smooth stone of truth, struck the
He reels ; let us push him
Slavery between the eyes.
the sling of freedom
giant-
over."
Henry B. Stanton
said that " the motto of the convention
should be that of the French Republic
6
Liberty, Equality,
:
We
have come up to contend against a movement
Fraternity.'
on the part of the slave interest to extend that institution,
which takes the image of Almighty God on the immortal soul,
therefrom by legislation, and stamps in its place by
"
legal enactment the name brute,' beast,' property.'
James A. Briggs of Ohio said that it was the " principle of
blots
it
'
*
'
freedom, which has magnetized all hearts," that had brought
together the great multitude before him.
They had not come
VOL.
II.
20
�154
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
"
sing songs of laudation to a victorious
up there, he said, to
"
to speak and to act for free soil, free speech,
general," but
Rev. Samuel J. May, the veteran
and for negroes too."
Abolitionist, said he had been for a dissolution of the Union,
but when he beheld the movement which had culminated that
day
"
hope was renewed."
He had
thought resistance to
" a small
matter, a straining at a gnat
slavery extension was
"
but he, " on reflection,
the
camel
after we had swallowed
;
had come to the conclusion that the extension of slavery was
one of its essential elements, one of its main supports, and
that in opposing extension we strike a powerful blow at
slavery itself."
Robert Wilson of Michigan said he was one of the instru
ments that, in the Democratic national convention-, of 1844,
had put aside Martin Van Buren under the same influence
which had then nominated General Cass, and he came to that
convention " to atone for the wrong done to Martin Van
Buren." Professor Mahan of Ohio, referring to the apprehen
sion of antislavery men that they would not be able to secure
a platform sufficiently broad and comprehensive, said that
"
Barnburners," and Whigs could ask for
Liberty party men,
" a
for
nothing more,
they had secured
platform on which the
of
could
walk
genius
Liberty
through the length and breadth of
It having been reported that John Quincy Adams
the land."
had spoken approvingly of the anticipated nomination of Gen
eral Taylor, Francis W. Bird of Massachusetts stated that
that far-seeing statesman might have anticipated the nomina
tion, but he could not have desired it, unless he did it for the
"
purpose of
breaking up both of the old parties, and bringing
about this union of good men and true of all political parties
which we see here to-day " ; and he added, " the last meeting
'
the old man eloquent ever attended was a meeting of con
'
l
'
Whigs, held in Boston at the office of his only son,
Charles Francis Adams, and he approved of the ground taken
science
by them."
Henry Bibb, a fugitive slave, then residing in Michigan,
addressed the convention. He referred tb the fact that he had
attempted to vote, but had been refused on account of his
�BUFFALO CONVENTION.
155
that a movement was set on foot to make suffrage
color
universal in that State, and that he himself took a petition for
that that wary Democratic
that purpose to General Cass
;
;
statesman had not only refused his signature, but, in response
to the inquiry whether he was not in favor of the principle
that he was " not at
had
to make
liberty
any
There
were
also
C.
John
present
political
Boston
who
a
had
Adams,
lawyer,
young
just published a
" The Northern
No," Charles B.
vigorous pamphlet entitled,
R.
James
Doolittle
of
New
York, and Samuel
Sedgwick,
Lewis of Ohio, who addressed the convention, and presented
in firm and fitting phrase the startling issues of the hour.
A letter from Mr. Van Buren was read by David Dudley
involved,
Field.
replied
declarations."
Referring to the fact that the convention would be
composed of gentlemen who had all their lives been arrayed
on different sides in political contests, and concurring in the
object for which the convention had assembled, he waived all
claims to their support on account of his nomination by the
Wilmot proviso Democrats at Utica, and assured them that
the nomination of any other person would be entirely satisfac
This letter, so explicit in its avowals and so
tory to him.
and
conciliatory
patriotic in its tone, the action of his New
York supporters in the convention, and the conviction that he
would draw largely from the ranks of the Democracy, con
quered prejudices, and reconciled many to giving a vote
that was against all their previous prepossessions and would
be obviously open to misconstruction. But, deeply impressed
with the desperate condition of public affairs and with the
pressing necessities of the nation, they were prepared to make
any sacrifices to avert impending dangers and to arrest ex
Indeed, the same principles precisely that led
them to sunder the ties of party reconciled them to what was
most distasteful to large numbers,
not only voting for a man
isting evils.
whom
they had been for years politically opposed, but also
whose course had been specially obnoxious to censure,
and who, they felt, had merited the characterization so freely
bestowed upon him of being a " Northern man with Southern
"
principles."
Principles, not men," however, had become
to
for one
�156
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
when
IN AMERICA.
had more or less to be overlooked
were not disposed to scrutinize too
closely even the record of Mr. Van Buren, who seemed to
them providentially to occupy a position to forward a cause
they had so much at heart. Could they have foreseen his sub
sequent course, they might have hesitated. But they were pre
pared to forgive and forget the past, and hope much for the
future.
Instead, therefore, of that political profligacy which
has been so often and so flippantly charged upon his supporters,
a vote for Mr. Van Buren under such circumstances often re
their
motto
in the
same
;
and,
all
direction, they
vealed a sublime triumph of earnest convictions over personal
prejudice, of faith in principle, and in the power of truth over
man and doubt of human reliability.
Of four hundred and sixty-six votes, Mr. Van Buren re
ceived a majority of twenty-two, Mr. Hale receiving one hun
dred and eighty-one, and there were some forty scattering
Mr. Adams being selected as candidate for the Vicevotes.
Presidency, the nominations were made unanimous, and Van
Buren and Adams were emblazoned on the banners of the new
Having accomplished the work that had brought them
party.
together, these representatives of the friends of freedom sepa
rated and returned to their homes, with the rallying cry, given
distrust in
them by Stephen C. Phillips of Massachusetts, on their lips,
"
" Van Buren and Free Soil Adams and
Liberty
In his letter accepting the nomination, Mr. Van Buren fully
;
!
This gave great satisfaction,
accepted the platform also.
though many Whigs, who had been greatly dissatisfied with
the action of their convention, and had up to that time
withheld their support from General Taylor, could not rise
above the prejudices of partisanship, but slunk back again
within party lines, and finally gave their reluctant vote for the
nomination which Mr. Webster had declared " not fit to be
Local and mass meetings were held, eloquent speak
ers entered the canvass, and pen and press were largely called
made."
The vital issues forced upon the country by
Power were met, grappled with, and presented, as
into requisition.
the Slave
never before, with distinctness of definition, force of enuncia
and unprecedented success. Discordant elements were
tion,
�BUFFALO CONVENTION.
fused and blended.
157
Men who had been accustomed
of former
conflicts
to the
now found
political
sharp antagonisms
themselves working harmoniously together for a high and
common
object.
Conventions were held, the Buffalo platform and candidates
indorsed, and electoral and State tickets put in nomination.
Massachusetts was early in the field. On the 6th of Sep
It
tember, the Free Soil State convention met at Boston.
was large in numbers and strong in talent and character.
Edward L. Keyes, provisional chairman of the State com
mittee, congratulated it that the North had been discovered
"
by the voyagers to
Buffalo,' ''that at last the north star had
"
in
the
heavens.
have come," he said, " at the
appeared
call of honor and humanity, to offer our devotions at the
We
shrine of Freedom.
We have
come, like streams, from differ
Avon and Avoca, to meet
and mingle in peace."
Mr. John Mills of Springfield, who had long been one of
the honored and trusted leaders of the Democratic party, was
made president. A convention of the Liberty party met the
same day, which, after a brief consultation, formally dis
solved, and its members at once took their seats in the Free
Soil convention.
This ready abandonment of its old organiza
tion by the Liberty party, and its prompt acceptance of the
new, drew from Charles Allen the remark, so enthusiastically
" without
applauded, that
tasting death that party has been
ent fountains
;
but
we come,
like
translated."
The convention sat for two days.
marked the proceedings.
Speeches
Unity and enthusiasm
rare eloquence and
of
power were made by Stephen C. Phillips, John Van Buren,
Charles Sumner, Charles Allen, John A. Bolles, John C.
Park, and others. At the head of the electoral ticket were
placed the honored names of Samuel Hoar and William Jack
son.
Stephen C. Phillips was nominated for governor, and
John Mills for lieutenant-governor.
series of compre
A
and a long and elaborate address to
the people were reported by Mr. Sumner, and unanimously
hensive resolutions
adopted.
�158
A
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
few days afterward, the Free
York assembled
at Utica.
tion pervaded
and seemed
it,
The
IN AMERICA.
Soil convention of
spirit of the Buffalo
New
conven
to inspire its deliberations.
The
enunciated were in harmony with those of that
principles
and
its speeches were of the same high tone and
convention,
tenor.
It placed at the head of its electoral ticket Robert
it
of the great Irish martyr, and General James
who afterward fell in the battle of the Wilder
Emmet, nephew
S.
Wadsworth,
and who had indignantly declared, when the Wilmot pro
viso was throttled in the Syracuse convention, that, " though
ness,
too late to do justice to Silas Wright, it is not too late to
do justice to his assassins." It nominated for governor Gen
eral John A. Dix, then United States Senator, afterward
it is
Secretary of the Treasury, major-general in the war of the
Rebellion, minister to France, and governor of the State ;
and Seth M. Gates, who had in Congress battled by the side
of Adams, Giddings, and Slade, for lieutenant-governor. With
such sentiments and such candidates, and with speakers and
ability, the Free Soil party
a most vigorous and brilliant canvass,
placed the vote of Mr. Van Buren ahead of that of General
Cass, and seemed almost to have annihilated the Democratic
presses
of
of
such
commanding
New York made
Who could have then imagined
part of the Empire State.
that within one brief year the very men who had made this
fight, achieved so much for freedom, and had left
such a record, should return to the ranks they had so effectu
ally broken, and, without any guaranties for the security of
gallant
the principles and purposes they had so earnestly and elo
quently advocated and defended, aid by voice and vote in again
placing in power the men who were found ready to indorse
the wicked compromises of 1850 ?
The State convention of the party in Ohio, embracing in
its ranks so much of character and worth, was inspired by
Led by such men as Chase, Giddings, Root,
spirit.
Lewis, and their compeers, they made a vigorous canvass.
Securing the balance of power in the legislature, they were
"
enabled so to control affairs as to sweep the infamous black
"
laws
from the statute-book, and to place Salmon P. Chase in
a similar
�BUFFALO CONVENTION.
the Senate of the United States.
in other free
159
Like conventions were held
States, organizations effected,
and candidates
placed in nomination.
State convention
A
was held in Maryland. Local conven
and smaller meetings were held in Delaware, Virginia,
North Carolina, Kentucky, and Missouri.
Though few in
were
in
there
the
Border
States earnest and fearless
number,
men who deplored the evils of slavery, and though surrounded
by the most serious difficulties and menacing dangers gave
pen, voice, and vote against extending to new regions a
system that had so cursed their own. In Missouri an able
address was issued to the Democracy of that State, written by
Montgomery Blair and signed by several of the citizens of St.
Louis.
Without considering the humane and religious aspects
of the question, they urged the economic arguments derived
from the facts that slavery paralyzed industry, degraded labor,
and impeded the diffusion of knowledge. Viewing it in these
relations, they contended that it was neither honest nor demo
cratic, that it was not just, either to present or future genera
tions, to fasten and entail such a system upon the vast regions
held in trust for unborn millions.
These moderate and prac
tical views were received with favor, even by many who still
clung to the Democratic party, and especially by the Germans
tions
of St. Louis.
The new
policy and
party, with its principles clearly defined and its
objects distinctly avowed, went into the contest
with strong purpose, unfaltering resolution, and unwavering
faith.
Under the inspiration of the sacred cause, with leaders
of
acknowledged
ability, eloquence,
experience, and tact,
it
conducted a canvass of unprecedented vigor, and achieved
results not to be measured by the number of votes it cast.
by constitutional obligations which it fully,
reluctantly, acknowledged, it went into the conflict unham
" Southern
pered by any affiliation with a
wing," and pleaded,
trith unbated breath and without restraint, for the largest
rights of humanity and the ultimate emancipation of the na
tion, though its immediate and proximate purposes were the
defeat of slavery extension and the absolute overthrow of the
Though
if
restricted
�160
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Slave Power.
With no
IN AMERICA.
expectation of victory,
indeed, with
more than two hundred and ninety
thousand men cast their votes for a principle. Though this
new party of freedom secured no electoral vote, and but five
members of Congress, " its success," in the language of Ed
mund Quincy, " was unprecedented, taking into consideration
its brief existence and formidable foes."
the certainty of defeat,
�CHAPTER
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
XIV.
WILLIAM H.
SALMON
SEWARD.
P.
CHASE.
Death of Mr. Adams.
His earnest advocacy of the right of petition.
Change
of views concerning Abolitionism.
Democratic defeat in the State of New
Kadical utterances of Mr. Seward.
York.
His election to the United States
Ohio early in the antislavery ranks.
Prominent part taken by
Friends of freedom hold the balance of power in the new legis
Adroit management.
lature.
Election of Mr.
Repeal of "black laws."
Chase to United States Senate.
Senate.
Mr. Chase.
ON
the 21st of February, 1848, John Quincy
Adams was
stricken with apoplexy in his seat in the House of Represen
He was borne to the Speaker's room, where, two
tatives.
days afterward, the aged statesman died. It was, in his own
" last of
earth," a striking but fitting
touching words, his
close of a long and illustrious career.
Indeed, had it been
left for him to choose the mode of his departure, he could
hardly have chosen a death in richer harmony with his life.
On the very spot of his grandest triumphs, under the roof that
had so often resounded with his ringing words, " the old man
"
eloquent
passed away.
Though Mr. Adams was distinguished above all others in
and finally triumphant vindication
and freedom of speech, he was not,
his earnest, persistent,
of
the right of petition
least until near the close of
at
tionists,
received
with
whom
life,
he never
severe criticisms
in hearty accord with Aboli
from whom he often
affiliated,
and censures, and to
sometimes applied words indicating
little
whom
he
confidence in their
Yet he was a trusted
plans, if in their purposes, of action.
leader in their great fight for freedom of speech, while it was
his voice that first enunciated the doctrine
novel to all, and
greatly distasteful to slaveholders
of the right of the
ernment, under the war power, to emancipate the slaves
VOL.
II.
21
gov
;
the
�162
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
very right on which President Lincoln based the Proclamation
of Emancipation.
As, however, he drew near the close of life, his views
changed. If his abhorrence of slavery did not increase, his
anxiety for the future of his country deepened, and he became
of the machinations of those who
more and more cognizant
seemed determined either
to
make
the government entirely
Power or to destroy it.
subservient to the behests of the Slave
His long participation in public affairs, his intimate relations
with public men, his protracted observation of statesmen and
their measures, his consummate knowledge of the schemings
and the indirect purposes of too many, who, with fair profes
sions, sought merely to promote their own personal and par
tisan ends, protected him from what deceived others, and pre
pared him to interpret both the utterances and the silences of
who spoke
as loudly and as intelligibly in his ear by the
the
former.
John Minor Botts, in his history of
by
the rise, progress, and disastrous failure of the great Rebel
lion, states that the policy and avowed purposes of Mr. Cal-
those
latter as
houn converted him, and that the open and brazen avowals
was mainly sought to extend and
Mr.
perpetuate slavery made Mr. Adams an Abolitionist.
Botts gives the substance of an interview, after he had
expressed sentiments he had not been understood to enter
that the acquisition of Texas
"
"
Upon the adjournment of the House," he said, we
walked down together, and I took occasion to refer to his
remarks, which I do not now precisely recollect, and said that
tain.
thought he did not intend to say all that his language could
'
Yes,' he replied, I said it deliberately and purpose
imply.
I
<
'
ly.'
But,' said I,
'
Mr. Adams, you are not an Abolitionist.'
I never have been one until now ;
Yes, I am,' said he.
but when I see the Constitution of my country struck down
by the South for such purposes as are openly avowed, no
alternative is left me.
I must oppose them with all the
'
'
means within
fire
;
my
reach.
I
must
fight the Devil
and, to do this effectually, I
with his
own
am
obliged to co-operate
have been hateful to me here
with the Abolition party, who
If the South had consulted her true interest, and
tofore.
fol-
�JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
163
lowed your counsel on the Twenty-first Rule and on the
question, their institutions would never have been endangered
by the North but, if matters are to take the shape fore
;
shadowed by Mr. Calhoun and others of the Democratic party,
then no one can foretell what may be the consequences.' "
Nor did Mr. Adams express his convictions in equivocal
and mealy words. In August, 1847, he wrote to Governor
Slade of
that the existence of slavery was " a moral
which " preyed on the human race " ; that it was
Vermont
"
pestilence
" the
an evil to
great evil now suffered by the race of men,
be extinguished by the will of man himself and by the opera
tions of that will."
He declared his belief, that, " if the will
of the free portion of this North American people could be
organized for action, the people of the whole American Union
would ipso facto become free." He avowed himself in favor
of an improvement in " the popular education," which, he
" shall administer to the soul of
said,
every male child born
within the free portion of these States the principle of that
oath which it is said the Carthaginian Hamilcar administered
to his son
Hannibal with reference to Rome,
eternal, inex
tinguishable hatred, not to Rome, nor any existing nation, but
to slavery throughout the earth."
" to be effected in the North
" The
revolution," he said,
American confederacy, preliminary
to the abolition of slavery
will
of
the portion of the Amer
the
in
is
the
earth,
throughout
now
suffer themselves to be
ican people already free.
They
told that slavery is nothing to them, and they sleep in bonds
of voluntary servitude.
long they will so sleep it will be
of no use for me to inquire.
The day of their awakening is
How
reserved for a future age."
Mr.
Adams had
witnessed for fifteen years the continued
Power and its continued successes.
aggressions of the Slave
No wonder, then, that the venerable statesman looked not to
the immediate future, but to a coming age, for that awakening
of the people which was to
precede and procure that breaking
those " bonds of voluntary servitude " he so much deplored,
and of whose speedy rupture he was so hopeless.
Indeed,
his very hopelessness revealed a
deeper insight into the naof
�164
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and tenacity of the system than did the more
and
confident
utterances and anticipations of those
positive
who criticised him for his lack of zeal and want of co-opera
tion.
There can be little doubt as to his position, had he lived
to see the struggle which at once witnessed and attested that
awakening, and which resulted in the destruction of what he
so thoroughly deprecated and so evidently understood.
But even while the golden radiance of the great man's de
parture lingered in the horizon, there was heralded the rising
of two ascending luminaries, who were destined to shine in the
political firmament with great and signal, if not with the same
ture, workings,
effulgence,
in which he
men who
not only trod worthily in the footsteps
had walked, but who did not hesitate to go far
ther in the same path in which he had led the way, to take
up and proclaim a more perfect evangel, of which his had
been but the forerunner. Just one year from the disappear
ance of Mr. Adams from the theatre on which he had borne
so prominent and important a part were elected to the Senate
of the United States William H.-Seward of New York and
Salmon P. Chase of Ohio. Both were deeply inspired by the
spirit of freedom, and had labored earnestly in its behalf.
Both were men of large capacity, superior culture, laudable
ambition, and tireless industry and their entrance upon this
new and broader sphere of action was welcomed by the antislavery men of the nation with high and exciting hopes that
they would prove worthy champions of a noble cause. Nor
were these hopes doomed to disappointment.
;
In the election of 1848, the Democratic party of New York
had been riven in twain and completely routed. The Whigs
had elected all but one of its thirty-four members of Congress.
They had secured four fifths of the legislature, and Hamilton
Fish had been elected governor by a plurality of one hundred
thousand. Mr. Seward had done much to retain the antislavery Whigs of that and other Northern States, notwith
standing the rejection of the Wilmot proviso by the national
convention.
During the presidential canvass he, said little of
platforms or candidates, but spoke with signal ability in behalf
of the Union, equal rights, the diffusion of knowledge, the de
velopment of the country, and the abolition of slavery.
�WILLIAM
165
SEWARD.
he addressed a convention in Cleve
this canvass
During
H.
land, Ohio, and presented the issues growing out of the exist
ence of slavery with singular boldness and distinctness of
At the same time he described with philosophic
utterance.
and
with marvellous force and felicity of language
accuracy
the distinction between the party of freedom and the party
of slavery.
He
declared the antagonistic elements of
Ameri
"
can society to be freedom and slavery.
Freedom," he said,
"is in harmony with our system of government and with the
the age, and
is therefore passive and quiescent.
that system, with justice, and with
with
in
conflict
Slavery
is
therefore
and
organized, defensive, active, and
humanity,
spirit
of
is
Freedom insists on the emancipation
slavery demands soil moistened with
Resulting from these elements, the Ameri
perpetually aggressive.
and elevation of labor
;
and blood."
can people were divided, he affirmed, into the party of freedom
and the party of slavery. " The party of slavery," he said,
"
upholds an aristocracy founded on the humiliation of labor
tears
The
as necessary to the existence of a chivalrous republic.
makes
which
party of freedom maintains universal suffrage,
equal before the laws, as they are in the sight of a com
The party of slavery cherishes ignorance be
Creator.
cause it is the only security for oppression. The party of
men
mon
liberty
demands the
diffusion of
knowledge because
safeguard of republican institutions.
the
of slavery
of
God, and
approved
and
The party of freedom seeks complete
declares that institution munificent
therefore inviolable.
it is
The party
and universal emancipation."
Admitting that the Whig party had fallen from its ancient
faith and was comparatively unsound, he claimed that it was
the truest and most faithful of the two parties, the one or the
other of which must prevail.
He gave expression to the preg
nant thought that the Whig party was as faithful to the
freedom as the " inert conscience " of the Ameri
can people would permit it to be, and he urged the duty of
"
" can be limited
it more faithful.
he
interests of
making
Slavery,"
be abolished
;
said,
can be ameliorated, it can be and must
and you and I can and must do it." Maintain-
to its present bounds,
it
�166
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
ing that the strength of slavery did not lie in the Constitution
of the United States, nor in the constitutions and laws of the
slaveholding States, but in the erroneous sentiments of the
"
American people, he urged the men of Ohio to " inculcate
"
law of freedom and equal rights of man under the paternal
the
and
to see to it that they are taught in the schools and
roof,
" Reform
in the churches.
your own code," he continued
" extend a cordial welcome to the
fugitive who lays his weary
him
as you would your paternal
limbs at your door, and defend
;
own error, that slavery has any constitu
which may not be released and ought not to
be relinquished. Say to slavery, when it shows its bond
and demands its pound of flesh,' that if it draws one drop
gods
correct your
;
tional guaranty
'
<
'
of blood its life shall be the forfeit."
These sentiments, thus decided, not to say
defiant,
were
expressed in dignified language, with forensic art and the
adroitness of the statesman, who made the manner strengthen
and enforce the matter of his discourse. He counselled, too,
their inculcation with a spirit of moderation and benevolence,
and not of retaliation and fanaticism ; and he expressed the be
lief that by so doing they would bring the friends of the coun
try into an effective aggression upon slavery, and that when the
public mind should will its abolition a way would be opened
to do
it.
He
urged them not to overlook the attainable in
" remember
that no human work is done without preparation." " God,"
he said, "works out his sublimest purposes among men with
their efforts to secure the unattainable,
and
to
There was the voice of one crying in the wilder
before the Son of man could
ness,
Prepare ye the way
come. There was a John before there was a Jesus
there
was a baptism of water before there was a baptism of the
Holy Ghost and of fire." With sentiments like these and with
purposes so fully, frankly, and felicitously expressed, he was
preparation.
'
'
!
;
elected, in February, 1849,
with only thirty opposing votes, to
New York in the Senate of the
represent the imperial State of
United States.
Perhaps no State made more vigorous or more successful
efforts in the antislavery struggle, or
numbered among
its
�SALMON
men
and signal
P.
CHASE.
of greater earnestness,
ability
more
167
sterling integrity,
than Ohio.
settlers, especially in its
Receiving among its earliest
northern and eastern portions, im
New England and those of New England
was
origin,
largely impregnated with the ideas, general
and
modes
of thought and feeling, which obtained
purposes,
in the Pilgrim States,
There were, too, some of the ablest
and purest men in church and state pledged to the avowal and
migrants from
it
advocacy of the doctrines of human rights, not only as matters
of theory, but as the recognized principles of public and pri
vate life, as the rules of civil and ecclesiastical action.
A
legitimate result of these efforts
was soon perceived
in the
and combined movements
under the lead of such men
Samuel Crothers and John Rankin, Salmon P. Chase and
Joshua R. Giddings, James G. Birriey and Dr. Bailey, Thomas
Morris and Leicester King, Samuel Lewis, and others
to
social
as
purge the churches of
its
and
political
parties
to purify as
all
from
much
complicity with slavery, to absolve
bondage to the Slave Power,
their
as possible every source of influence in
In the production of these results and
"
for the furtherance of these purposes the " Philanthropist
had been published, Oberlin College established, and the Lib
the commonwealth.
Conventions
erty Party welcomed and vigorously sustained.
were held, antislavery addresses and sermons delivered, so
cieties organized, and Abolition documents scattered far and
wide.
%
In the formation of the Liberty party Mr. Chase had taken
an active part. From his pen were issued its platform and address, which have been regarded as the clearest and most dis
criminating papers of the struggle, upon the constitutional
and obligations concerning slavery and the
limits, provisions,
slave States.
This party, basing its action on moral grounds,
the pioneer of all subsequent organizations which have been
formed for the purpose of resisting slavery by political action,
received nowhere else a more enthusiastic
The nonsupport.
and non-voting policy found few adherents in Ohio ;
and the principle of meeting a political evil by political action
encountered few who denied its soundness and necessity.
resistant
�168
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Under these circumstances, and with the
years of earnest toil, the election of
fruits of
those
1848 resulted in a vote of
thousand for the Free Soil candidate for the Presi
dency, and in the choice of a legislature in which the friends
of freedom held the balance of power. The Senate was equally
thirty-five
divided between the
Whigs and the Democrats. In the House
Whigs and thirty-four Democrats, and
there were thirty-four
two members elected, in opposition to both parties, as FreeSoilers.
Several Democrats and Whigs were elected, how
the
aid of Free Soil votes, or by the union of Freeever, by
Soilers with Whigs or Democrats.
The legislature, thus
chosen, had nearly the whole appointing power of the State.
A United States Senator was to be elected, two judges of the
Supreme Court were to be chosen, and a large number of less
The existence of what
important offices were to be filled.
were familiarly termed the " black laws " had been made the
the Democrats gen
subject of discussion during the canvass
;
erally defending
them, a majority perhaps of the Whigs desir
ing a modification, and the Free-Soilers demanding their un
conditional repeal.
Such was the composition of that legisla
and such was the work to be accomplished. It was the
purpose of the friends of human rights to use their power in
such a manner as would best inure to the interests of freedom.
ture,
The
amply vindicated the fidelity and sagacity of their
Without ignoring the overruling hand of Providence
results
course.
what secured such large results by numbers so insignificant,
from means so seemingly inadequate, and in spite of agencies
which threatened defeat, instead of triumph, there are revealed
in this election and its immediate results
striking illustrations
of what may be achieved by a brave and persistent adherence
to principle and a wise use of even the most inconsiderable
in
means.
Soon after the organization of the legislature, the Free Soil
members, including Townsend and Morse, the two indepen
dent members, and eleven who had been elected by the union
of Free Soil and Whig votes, held a caucus.
At that meeting
a motion was made that each member should attend all the sub
sequent meetings of the Free Soil caucus, and pledge himself
�SALMON
P.
169
CHASE.
to support its decisions in regard to all matters likely to come
for legislative action.
The eleven supported the motion ;
up
but the two, recognizing their paramount obligations to use
powers only as fealty to freedom and their
constituents demanded, refused to support the motion or to
This refusal incensed their associates, who
give the pledge.
their legislative
them
declared
to be
no longer members of the Free
Soil party
of the House.
The meeting broke up without accomplishing the purpose
which it was called, and to the evident discomfiture of the
Free Soil Whigs. The two independent members thereupon
for
informed their
Whig
associates that,
if
they were not permit
ted to attend their meetings, they should constitute themselves
the Independent Free Soil party of the legislature.
This posi
tion gave them great power with both parties, and no doubt
furnishes the key to the extraordinary results which two men,
in a legislative body of one hundred and six members, were
enabled to accomplish.
Holding the balance of power, they naturally became objects
of solicitude and electioneering effort with both Whigs and
Democrats
of their
votes.
the Whigs having the advantage, in that several
members had been elected by the aid of Free Soil
The political objects of special interest and effort at
;
that time were the election of a United States Senator, the
"
proposed action in respect to the black laws," and the elec
tion of judges of the
Supreme Court.
Of these objects the
Democrats were specially solicitous concerning the election of
judges, as there existed an impression that the question con
cerning election districts, in which they were particularly
interested,
might be brought before them for adjudication;
the Free Soil
members making
their co-operation
it a condition precedent of
"
with any party that the " black laws
should be repealed.
The greatest triumph, however, of that remarkable election
was found in the repeal of the " black laws," which disgraced
the statute-book of the State, and which had been the objects
of the special hostility of antislavery men, though they had
found earnest Democratic defenders in the previous canvass.
VOL. XL
22
�170
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
These laws required the colored people to give bonds for good
behavior as a condition of residence, excluded them from the
them the right of testifying in courts of jus
when a white man was party on either side, and sub
As
jected them to other unjust and degrading disabilities.
.Mr. Chase had been an avowed opposer of these inhuman stat
utes, they very properly selected him as their adviser, and re
quested him to draught a proper bill. This he did by preparing
schools, denied
tice
one that would secure substantially their object, but at the
same time excite as little as possible the hostility of members
who had at heart small sympathy with the purpose in view.
Aiming
to
make
the most of the favorable conjunction of cir
cumstances, he incorporated into the proposed bill provisions
which the most hopeful hardly expected to be enacted. He
was sanguine, however, the Free Soil members were resolute,
and the circumstances propitious. It was submitted to the
examination and criticism of the Democrats, who unexpect
How much the
edly accepted it and agreed to support it.
considerations they were expecting or had exacted from the
Free Soil members had to do with their decision, and how
much
indignation at the recent election of General
a
Southern
slaveholder, over their Democratic can
Taylor,
their
consequent relief from the responsibility
didate, and
their
It is
for a national administration, may never be known.
sufficient for this purpose to record their assent to its provis
In
ions, and its adoption in the House by a large majority.
it was referred to a committee, who modified it
it was then passed.
The House concurred,
and
somewhat,
and the bill became a law. Thus, by this wise use of the
power their position gave them, was a humane and just law
the Senate
enacted, somewhat, indeed, in advance of the popular senti
ment and moral convictions of the people, and yet, being
enacted, it was not likely to be reversed, while the very strug
gle needful to enact it and its presence on the statute-book
tended to educate the popular mind and to
lift it up to the
It
it rested.
relieved
the
colored
which
on
people from
plane
all their most onerous disabilities, gave them entrance into
schools, and awakened hopes of the future which have been
far more than realized.
�SALMON
P.
CHASE.
171
question, however, of all that occupied and agitated
public attention at that time excited deeper interest than that
The antislavery men were
of the United States senatorship.
No
have a representative in the Senate, where
the Slave Power had so long wielded an almost unquestioned
sway, and where so few voices had ever been raised for free
specially anxious to
dom. Thomas Morris had spoken ably. In him Ohio had
found a voice potential in behalf of human rights. Otherwise
she had shared in the general recreancy, and had been either
silent or had spoken at the behest of slavery.
There was,
indeed,
John P. Hale, the Abolition Senator from New
Hamp
that long-time
strangely as those words sounded,
Northern
of
the
But
stronghold
slavery-bestrode Democracy.
he was treated with contumely, and maintained his ground
shire,
only by his talent and tact, by his unfailing wit and his un
bounded good-humor.
Most earnestly, therefore, did the antislavery men, not only
of Ohio but of the North, desire that advantage should be
taken of this fortunate conjunction of affairs to select and send
to the Senate some worthy coadjutor of the eloquent represen
The thoughts of many, perhaps
tative of the Granite State.
most, of the friends of humanity and equal rights were in
stinctively turned to Joshua R. Giddings, who had for years
maintained an unequal contest with the champions of aggres
His incorruptible integ
and sturdy independence, his unflinching ad
sion in the lower house of Congress.
rity, his stern
vocacy of the unpopular cause, pointed to him as the proper
person to be selected for that high office, not only for the ser
honor richly deserved.
There were four candidates. The Democrats had selected
William Allen; the Whigs, Thomas Ewing; and the two FreeSoilers were divided in their choice between Mr. Giddings and
Mr. Chase. Mr. Allen was not only proslavery in sentiment,
vice to be performed, but for the
Mr. Ewing was of
Southern birth, and though not antislavery in his opinions he
was opposed to the extension of the peculiar institution.
Mr.
but his views were extreme and violent.
Giddings was an antislavery Whig.
cratic in principle
VOL.
II.
21
Mr. Chase, though Demo
and sympathy, was not a member of the
�172
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Democratic party. He was decidedly antislavery in sentiment
and action, and had rendered essential service to the cause of
human
rights.
In this state of the principal parties, it being understood
that the Free Soil members would not give them their votes,
it
became evident that neither the Whigs nor the Democrats
Nor could both of the Free Soil
members be gratified with the choice of theirs. Some compro
mise must be effected. The Whigs, in order to defeat the elec
could elect their candidates.
tion of the Democratic candidate, and,
on the part
of the anti-
slavery portion, for the purpose of carrying out their views,
were ready to substitute for Mr. Ewing some person of more
The two Free Soil mem
pronounced antislavery sentiments.
bers had agreed that either should vote for the candidate of
the other whenever there should be a prospect of his election.
The Whigs were ready, and most of them were anxious, with
the exception of two members, to vote for Mr. Giddings.
As,
however, none of the Democrats would vote for him, and as
the two recusant members obstinately refused to yield, after
three unsuccessful ballotings his name was withdrawn.
The
Democrats, for the purpose of defeating the Whig candidate,
and with the understanding that the
If ree
Soil
members would
support their candidates for judges of the Supreme Court, hav
ing substituted the name of Hon. Rufus P. Spaulding, after
ward Republican Representative in Congress, for that of Judge
Read, whom they could not consistently support, expressed a
willingness to cast their votes for Mr. Chase.
By this ar
rangement he was elected on the fourth ballot. When the
was announced, an enthusiastic antislavery man in the
" Thank God " to which were
galleries exclaimed,
many
answering responses wherever Mr. Chase was known, not
only on account of the service he had already rendered, but
vote
!
for the confident expectation cherished of the large additions
of strength and prestige he would bring to the struggling cause
on the wider and more conspicuous theatre of the United
States Senate.
Many, however, were greatly disappointed that the choice
did not fall on Mr. Giddings.
Indeed, some of his friends felt
�SALMON
that he
had been deprived
and more
self-sacrificing
P.
CHASE.
173
of a position to which,
service, he was
by
his longer
fairly entitled.
The
cause, however, was evidently the gainer by the decision which
was finally reached ; for, from that time onward, freedom had
two potent advocates in the councils
one
of the nation, instead of
both, too, occupying in their respective spheres positions
to which each seemed best adapted, and in which each ren
;
dered yeoman's service, for which the slave and the slave's
friends should ever hold
them
in grateful remembrance.
�CHAPTER XV.
STRUGGLES IN KENTUCKY.
Slaveholding aggressions.
Popular indorsement.
Growing prejudices and in
Counter movements of antislavery
creasing severity of the black codes.
men.
Constitutional convention in Kentucky.
Attempt
to
secure pro
visions for freedom in the proposed constitution.
Henry Clay's position.
Public meeting at Lexington.
Convention.
Dr. Breckinridge's speech.
Keasons.
Failure of movement.
THE
years intervening between the opening of negotiations
for the annexation of Texas in 1843 and the close of the Presi
1852 have no parallel for the intensity,
and disastrous results of the slavery struggle. During
those years the successful attempt was made to annex the
foreign nation of Texas to the United States the war with
Mexico was fought vast accessions of territory were secured,
and the effort to devote them to freedom was made and failed
the Fugitive Slave Law was enacted and mercilessly executed
the misnamed compromise measures proposed by the slave"
masters were adopted and accepted as a " finality
by the
dential election in
variety,
;
;
;
;
conventions of the great national parties ; while the crowning
act of those years of disaster and infamy was the indorsement
by the trium
whose whole public and
partisan career had ever been fully and even ostentatiously
committed to the purposes and plans of the Slave Power.
While, too, these aggressions were in progress on the wider
domain of the nation at large, evidences of the same spirit and
by the people
of this
whole
series of aggressions
phant election of Franklin Pierce,
purpose were abundant in the States, as if prompted by a com
mon inspiration, as they certainly tended to a common end.
Even the attempts made by a few
friends of the slave to
ameliorate his condition and perhaps inaugurate measures for
his ultimate emancipation were made the occasion, if not the
�175
STRUGGLES IN KENTUCKY.
but to increase
cause, of efforts not only to tighten his chains,
free colored
the
bore
the burdens, already fearful, that
upon
North and the South. Not only were
population, both at the
old laws, which had become a dead letter or comparatively
and executed with greater rigor, but new
laws were enacted, which can hardly be read even now with
out a sense of shame and a shudder at their terrible injustice
and inhumanity. Especially was this true in the Southern
inoperative, revived
border States, with too many sympathizers and imitators in
several of the Northern States ; nominally free, though free in
little
but in name.
efforts of the propagandists in behalf of
fix attention upon it as the cause of all
but
not
could
slavery
and
these constant
disturbing movements, while it challenged
for which such
investigation anew into the merits of a system
These persistent
efforts
were made and such
sacrifices called for.
Especially
did this result from the relinquishment by its defenders of the
former arguments that slavery was an entailed evil, for which
a temporary
the present generations were not responsible,
its
of
own
the
seeds
within
itself
that
carried
destruction,
evil,
and which must soon pass away in the presence and by the
workings of free institutions. The new dogmas that slavery
was a good, and not an evil that it was not temporary, but
that it was not sectional, but national and
to be permanent
;
;
;
that the Constitution carried
it
wherever
it
went, presented
that it must be
the whole subject in a new light.
Many felt
that
and
the
re-examined,
arguments and considerations that
formerly reconciled could satisfy them no longer. These con
siderations, with the earnest teachings, warnings, and appeals
of Abolitionists,
reached a few open ears and tender con
by the movements in several
Border States to improve their legislation in regard to
sciences at the South, as evinced
of the
the colored race.
demands for new
from the domain of
Besides, these unblushing
slave States took the question at once
mere abstractions, theoretical or sentimental, into the realms
of the actual, where problems of the most imperative practical
importance, involving not merely the well-being but the safety
of the nation itself, compelled consideration.
The men who
�176
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
entertained these opinions and purposes were mainly minis
and members of Christian churches, who mostly occu
ters
pied the western portions of Virginia and North Carolina
and the eastern portions of Tennessee and Kentucky, being
the more mountainous regions, where slavery had never
gained so strong a foothold as in other portions of those
States, and in the far South.
They were, however, earnest
and hopeful, though doomed to disappointment.
In Kentucky the activity was greatest. This was
especially
apparent in a convention called for a revision of the constitu
tion in 1849.
What position slavery should occupy in the
new
organic law of the State became a question of general and
exciting interest, and the conflicting opinions of friends and
foes of the system found frequent and forcible utterance from
the pulpit and press, in meetings and conventions of the peo
ple.
organ
The
Louisville "
Examiner " became a bold and
of the radical emancipationists.
to be " a political
It
and moral deformity, "
able
pronounced slavery
" a
wrong to the
whole community, a wrong to republicanism, a wrong to re
The " Courier," too, of the same city, rebuked the
ligion."
sentiments, often enunciated by the slaveholders, hostile to free
labor as " anti-Christian, anti-republican," and as affording
the strongest arguments in favor of emancipation.
In February of that year, Mr. Clay addressed a letter on
emancipation to Richard Pendell of New Orleans, in which he
expressed sentiments at once statesmanlike and Christian,
though singularly at war with his subsequent course on the
He denounced the doctrine that slavery was a bless
subject.
ing, and urged as an argument that, if it were, whites should
be made slaves when blacks could not be obtained. Concern
ing the argument derived from the alleged inferiority of the
African race he said, if that was a legitimate reason for such
enslavement, the same principle should apply to individuals,
and the " wisest man in the world would have a right to make
For this alleged superi
admit the duties it
and
ority, he said, we should be grateful,
"
" And
would require us not to
imposed.
these," he added,
slaves of all the rest of
mankind."
subjugate or deal unjustly with our fellow-men
who
are less
�177
STRUGGLES IN KENTUCKY.
blessed than
we
are,
but to instruct, to improve, and to en
lighten them."
Such were the noble and well-expressed sentiments of the
of Amer
great statesman such his unequivocal condemnation
have
Abolitionist
ican slavery.
put
Hardly could an avowed
But what remedy did he propose for this
it more cogently.
;
great and indefensible evil
?
Something singularly inadequate
a plan of gradual emancipation
to the exigencies of the case,
and colonization, even the beginning of which must be de
He proposed that all born after the year
ferred thirty years.
1855 or 1860 should be emancipated at the age of twenty-five,
the
on condition that they should be colonized in Africa
work of emancipation to be deferred entirely for more than a
;
generation, not one then a slave to be freed, and even those
to receive the proffered boon to grind in the prisonhouse of slavery for twenty-five years. To say nothing of
who were
the wickedness and inhumanity of such a scheme,
was ever
Could Mr. Clay have been
anything more impracticable
sincere ? or did he present this strange and inconsequential
?
scheme in deference to what he knew to be the popular senti
ment of Kentucky ?
At a public meeting
and Dr. Robert
at Lexington, addressed
by Mr. Clay
were
J. Breckinridge, a series of resolutions
unanimously adopted, declaring hereditary slavery to be con
trary to the rights of man, opposed to the fundamental princi
ples of free
government, inconsistent with a state of sound
commonwealth that
that
and
steps should be
perpetual
taken at the convention to ameliorate slavery by a system of
practicable measures, just to the master and beneficial to the
morality, hostile to the prosperity of the
should not be
it
made
;
;
slave.
A
convention was held, at which were represented twentyby one hundred and sixty members, representing
six counties
A
sects, parties, and professions.
large proportion were
slaveholders.
It presented no plan of emancipation, but sug
gested that an effort should be made to secure an article in
all
the constitution empowering the people to effect emancipation
when a majority could be secured in its favor. In this conVOL.
II.
�178
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
vention Dr. Breckinridge, a leading clergyman of the Presby
terian Church, made a strong presentation of the claims of
freedom and of his estimate of the evils of slavery. Being
asked if he would " sacrifice his political principles to
carry
emancipation," he gave the prompt and unequivocal reply, " I
can and I will" ; and in his reply he gave the following rsume of some of the items of the fearful price those individ
and the nation were paying, who, for political considera
tions, were willing to vote for slavery or for those parties who
took slavery under their protection and made its conservation
uals
a part of their platform.
" to sacrifice to
my
freedom of
"
What
!
am
I expected,"
he
said,
and party the personal
two hundred thousand of my fellow-beings and
political feelings
their countless posterity forever, their right to the free use of
their own bodies and their own souls, their right to the use of
the proceeds of their labor and the sweat of their brows, and
the right of teaching and being taught God's Holy Word ?
What kind of a state of society would that be, Mr. President,
in which stealing was authorized by law, in which the mar
riage relation was abolished by law, in which no man had any
wife in particular and no woman had any husband in particu
lar, when universal concubinage prevailed, and no child knew
his
own
father
and no father knew
his
own
child
?
It
would
be a hell upon earth.
THAT, SIR, is NEGRO SLAVERY." This
language of a Southern man, son of the Attorney-General of
Mr. Jefferson's administration,
tells its
own
story.
The most
and the most extravagant antislavery
utterance needed no stronger indorsement. As might have
been expected, that man was loyal during the slaveholders' re
bellion, became a prominent member of the Republican party,
and presided over the convention that nominated Abraham
radical Abolitionist
Lincoln for the second term.
Large liberty of speech was allowed, and for the time even
so
the most decided antislavery utterances were tolerated
much so that John G. Fee, who has, before and since, felt the
" a
pure and whole
power of slaveholding hate, declared that
;
gospel can be preached here."
But the hopes excited by this freedom of debate were disap-
�179
STRUGGLES IN KENTUCKY.
made for delegates. In that were
pointed by the canvass
revealed not only the strength and violent purpose of the opthe general proslavery sentiment of the
posers of freedom, but
from whom the friends of
State, even among the churches,
and support. It showed that
liberty had expected sympathy
of a president of a Southern college, in the Gen
this
language
Conference of the Methodist Church South, was none too
" I do not hesitate to
say that the
sweeping or too severe
is
in
that
influence
decidedly, unblushorganization
eral
:
controlling
exultingly, proslavery in its character."
the result of that canvass, only one friend of emancipation
ingly,
As
and
I
may add
to the constitutional convention, although more
than thirty thousand votes were given. Instead of adopting
any plan of emancipation, however gradual, the convention,
under the lead of Garret Davis, and Archibald Dixon who
was chosen
afterward moved in Congress the repeal of the Missouri com
promise, adopted in the new constitution a provision declaring
that " the right of property is before and higher than any con
stitutional sanction, and the right of the owners of a slave
to such slave
and
its
increase
is
the same and as inviolable as
the right of the owner of any property whatever."
Why results so inadequate and unexpected rewarded labors
and hopeful, and why what seemed but the dawning
day became in reality but the twilight of a darker
These, however, seem
night, may not be fully comprehended.
had
done
its work so thor
to be the facts of the case
Slavery
in
the
so
had
its
influence
State,
completely
corrupted
oughly
the popular mind and heart in church and state, largely con
trolling both the pulpit and the press, that the per centum of
its inhabitants who were prepared to appreciate and yield to
the higher and more humane considerations of reason and
conscience, justice and humanity, social reform and political
economy, had become really very small. Slavery was stronger
so earnest
of a brighter
:
than even
its
friends believed
it
to be.
And
thus
it
happened
that even the efforts of the friends of freedom not only re
vealed that fact, but tended rather to increase and intensify it.
They stimulated the proslavery leaders to redouble their ef
forts, as it afforded them arguments to induce all not commit-
�180
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN
AMERICA.
ted to the other side to range themselves under their banners.
With untiring and unscrupulous
persistence they approached
and urged all motives that promised aid. Especially
earnest were their appeals to the prejudices and groundless
all classes
apprehensions of the non-slaveholding whites, who were made
to believe that " to emancipate the black man was to enslave
the white man."
In both the canvass and convention,
the rivalry of parties was made to play an important part;
the Democrats and Whigs leaving none to doubt their purpose
to conciliate and gain the confidence of the Slave Power by
concessions and proffered devotion to its interests.
Such
as
Davis
and
Dixon
made
no
concealment
of
their
Whigs
determination to convince the slave-masters that their interests
were as safe in the hands of the Whig as of the Democratic
The history of the other Border States was substan
party.
same, revealing the same general characteristics and
consequent results though in no State were cause and
tially the
like
effect
;
more marked and
intensified than in
Kentucky.
How
ever explained, none of the border slaveholding States ever
exhibited or continued to exhibit, even after emancipation,
more of proslavery intolerance and perverseness ; in none did
the friends of freedom, and of the Union, also, find less
sympathy, or meet with more determined and persistent op
position.
�CHAPTER XVI.
BLACK LAWS.
Inhuman legislation.
In Virginia, Delaware,
human rights.
Promi
Constitutional convention in Indiana.
Maryland, and Missouri.
Active canvass of the
Southern influence preponderates.
nent members.
Indifference to
State.
Mr. Colfax.
Similar legislation in Illinois,
Slave Power described.
Iowa,
New
Mexico,
California, Utah, Oregon.
THE
slave system in nothing exhibited its callous and calcu
lating insensibility, its utter obliviousness of justice and hu
manity, its reckless disregard of the commonest principles of
social comity
and
fair dealing,
more than
in its treatment of
It exhibited greater cruelty to the slave,
free people of color.
and the burden of absolute chattelhood was harder to bear ;
to imagine anything more heartless and un
principled than the utter indifference that characterized its
treatment of the men and women of African descent. Had
but
it is difficult
the Decalogue never been written, the claim of the moral law
could not have been more completely ignored.
It doomed a
and culture and character furnished no protection. Its
degrading influences were everywhere felt, and the lines of
latitude and longitude afforded no limits to its unjust and in
race,
All this is but too painfully apparent
sulting discrimination.
from a reference to the inhuman and cold-blooded laws enacted
in the Border States, both North and South.
There were in 1847 in the State of Virginia several thou
sand free negroes. Though they were denied many of the
were a quiet and law-abid
were
they
objects of slaveholding distrust,
essential rights of citizenship, they
Still
ing people.
their presence
was regarded
as inimical to the interests of
slavery, and during that year laws were enacted against their
remaining in the State. In the revised constitution of 1851
it
was provided that slaves thereafter emancipated,
if
they re-
�182
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
mained in the State more than twelve months, should forfeit
their freedom, and be reduced to slavery under such regula
tions as might be prescribed by law.
It provided, also, that
the legislature should not have power to emancipate any slave,
or the descendant of any slave that it might impose such re
strictions and conditions as were deemed proper on the power
of slaveholders to emancipate their slaves
and that it also be
;
;
any needful laws for the relief of the State of
its free negro population, by removal or otherwise.
So earnest
were its inhabitants to effect this latter object, that only two
years later a board of colonization for such removal was estab
lished, and a tax was levied on all male free negroes between
the ages of twenty-one and fifty-five to defray the expenses of
such colonization. More than a quarter of a century before, it
empowered
to pass
had prohibited meetings or schools for teaching free negroes
had passed laws against the preaching of slaves and free ne
and as early as 1838 it had forbidden free persons of
groes
;
;
color to leave the State for the purposes of education, except
on the forfeiture of all right to return. In 1847 it re-enacted
that white persons should be punished for instructing slaves.
It also made it the duty of postmasters to give notice to jus
tices of the peace of the presence of antislavery publications,
and these latter offi
such as they might deem incendiary
cials were required to burn the offensive matter and punish
Two years later still, a law
those to whom it had been sent.
;
was passed by the same legislature denying citizenship to free
colored men.
The same illiberal policy prevailed in Maryland. In 1846 it
denied to colored persons the right to testify in -cases in which
any white person was concerned, although as far back as 1809
had admitted the testimony
of slaves against free negroes.
constitution of 1851, the legislature was forbidden
to pass any law abolishing the relation of master and slave ;
but ample powers were given for the government, regulation,
it
By
the
new
and disposition of the free colored population of the State.
But while, on the one hand, it was thus hampering the exer
cise of any movement in favor of emancipation, it was, on the
other, departing from its past policy concerning the slave traf-
�BLACK LAWS.
183
fic by abolishing all restrictions and throwing wide open the
doors for the unlimited introduction of slaves.
In Delaware slavery existed in
rule of the Slave
Power was
its
mildest forms, and the
than in that of any
less rigorous
And yet its legislation bore the
other slaveholding State.
marks and breathed the spirit of the same inhuman and unjust
discrimination against the free colored man.
hibited the emigration of free negroes to
In 1851, it pro
any State except
In the same year it enacted that free negroes
Maryland.
should not attend camp-meetings or any political gatherings.
In 1852 it provided that no free negro should have the right
to vote, or " to enjoy any other rights of a freeman other than
to hold property, or to obtain redress in law for any injury to
his or her personal property."
When
Missouri was admitted into the Union, her constitu
empowered the legislature to prevent free negroes from
either entering or settling in the State.
But a fundamental
tion
was that this provision should
never be so construed as to authorize the passage of any
law excluding the citizens of any State from such privileges
condition of her admission
and immunities as such citizens should be entitled to under
And yet, in spite of this solemn provision
and condition, it proceeded to enact most barbarous and re
the Constitution.
In 1847 it forbade the immigration into
volting statutes.
the State of any free colored person
enacted that no
person
;
should keep a school for the instruction of negroes in
reading
and writing ; forbade any religious meetings of negroes, un
a justice of the peace or constable were
and
present
" unlawful
declared that schools and religious
were
meetings
less
;
assemblages."
Nor was
this
the slave States.
inhuman and unjust
In
many
legislation confined to
of the so-called free States it was
hardly less unpardonable and unendurable.
It seemed as if
the whole country was under an
and, though it was
eclipse
total only at the
South, its dark penumbra rested over all the
;
Thus Indiana, in a constitutional convention held in
1851, passed through a similar ordeal, in which the friends of
freedom found themselves in a hopeless
minority, while the
North.
�184
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
enemies of the black man were successful in securing, both in
the convention and afterward in the State, the adoption of pro
visions unjust, inhuman, and disgraceful in the extreme.
The
convention assembled in October, 1850, and consisted of one
hundred and fifty members. The body contained the leading
and representative men of both the Whig and the Democratic
parties of the State, the latter constituting two thirds of the
convention. Among the leading Democrats were John Pettit,
who had been a member of the lower house of Congress, and
afterward Senator,
a man of acknowledged
ability, but one
distinguished himself for his intense proslavery doctrines,
who
put forth in vigorous but often coarse and violent language ;
Robert Dale Owen, a scholarly gentleman, since a member of
an earnest supporter
Congress and of the Republican party,
and author of several contributions to spiritualistic
of the war,
and Thomas A. Hendricks, who was afterward elec
ted to the Senate of the United States, was governor of the
State, and became a leading member of his party. Among the
then a young and rising states
Whigs were Schuyler Coif ax,
literature
;
man, who has since filled a large space in the political history
of his State and nation, being almost continuously in public
life, three times Speaker of the House of Representatives, and
Vice-President of the United States,
McKee, Dunn, March,
others, who took an active part in the proceedings
of the convention.
and several
of Indiana had been largely settled by
from
Southern
the
States, who, though compelled to
emigrants
leave slavery behind, carried with them slaveholding prejudices
that constituted a bond of sympathy between the State of
their adoption and the States they had left.
This, in con
junction with that tidal wave of slaveholding aggressiveness
and intolerance which had swept over the country, bearing
even Congress itself from its moorings, as indicated by the
passage of the compromise measures, and making its influences
felt everywhere, became largely apparent in the convention
The southern portion
;
securing the adoption of provisions in the constitution proposed
hardly less censurable and disgraceful than those in the consti
tutions of the Southern States themselves.
Indeed, one of the
�BLACK LAWS.
185
was on a proposition
severest struggles in the convention
to
prohibit negroes and mulattoes from coming into the State,
and to fine all persons who employed or encouraged them five
hundred dollars for each offence.
Although this inhuman
and unjust provision was adopted by a large majority, it was
not without a strenuous and stern resistance from a determined
among whom were Coif ax, Dunn, Niles, Biddle,
Hawkins, Kilgore, and others.
They denounced it in no
measured terms as a disgrace to a professedly free State as
an inhumanity from which even barbarism itself would shrink
minority,
;
;
as a dishonor that
Mohammedans
in notable instances of flee
ing fugitives had refused to be guilty of ; and as punishing
with fine and confiscation the very conduct which the Saviour
had commended in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
arguments and appeals were in vain. The disgrace
was carried by a large majority, and, being
submitted to the people for a separate vote, proved to be the
most popular proposition of the constitution, and received
more than ninety thousand majority so envenomed and un
relenting seemed the popular hate of the black man, so ob
livious were the people of human rights, so impervious to the
But
all
ful proposition
;
claims of justice, humanity, and the law of God.
This ap
peared not only in the strong vote for the adoption of this
article, but in subsequent legislation, designed not simply to
enforce it, but to still more oppress,
hamper the movements,
and limit the privileges of the free colored population.
Among
these acts were those forbidding marriages between white
persons and those " possessed of one eighth or more of
negro
blood
"
providing for their colonization in Africa
annulling
punishing as a crime
any act of a white man encouraging such to come into the
State
and in all cases where white persons were interested
;
contracts with
them
;
requiring registry
;
;
;
parties prohibiting the evidence of persons
or more of negro blood.
having one eighth
But the public men who contended in the convention
against such legislation as wrong and subversive of the pur
poses of free institutions were compelled to encounter at the
hustings and at the polls the same determined and acrimoVOL.
II.
24
�186
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
nious opposition.
Among
the examples
IN AMERICA.
was that
of
Mr. Col-
fax, who was nominated for Congress by the Whigs of
district.
The election taking place at the same time with
his
the
vote on the constitution, he was compelled to meet his oppo
nent in the canvass and to define his position. While his com
petitor defended the action of the convention, Mr. Colfax
equally decided in his opposition.
my conscientious convictions. If
was
"
" are
These," he said,
you ask me to sacrifice
them
for a seat in Congress, I tell you frankly I cannot do it.
would not act counter to my convictions of duty if you
could give me fifty terms in Congress." He was defeated,
though he succeeded at the next election.
These laws were rigorously enforced,
at least, in portions
I
Even as late as the summer of 1863, Henry
Goings, a colored man, was prosecuted and fined for coming
into the State, as also John Bixler, a farmer, for employing
him in his harvest-field. Even then, while the country was
of the State.
bending under the burden of a war that slavery had provoked,
and Indiana had its tens of thousands of soldiers in the field,
enduring its hardships and encountering its hazards, the State,
through one of its officials, was guilty of the unspeakable
meanness of arresting, arraigning, and amercing by fine a
man
borders by a general of the army. This
one of the many refugees sent down the
Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers by General Rosecrans, with
His liberation
orders that they be taken across the Ohio.
and transfer to a free State became in this manner one of
sent into
colored
its
man was
the incidental fruits of the
war
for the Union, but
it
revealed
the astounding solecism of a State punishing a man for en
tering its limits who was sent there as one of the trophies
of the victories its
own
soldiers
were winning.
An
appeal
was taken from the justice court to a higher tribunal, where
he was ably defended by A. L. Robinson of Evansville, an
able antislavery lawyer, who had been the Free Soil candidate
for governor in 1852.
Goings was acquitted, but it was on
the ground that he was a Cherokee Indian, so that even
his acquittal and the alleged reason therefor betokened the
strangely inconsistent and indefensible attitude the nation
�BLACK LAWS.
187
Goings was acquitted and allowed the poor
Indiana soil, not because he was a man,
on
boon of staying
not because it was wrong to restrain him of his liberty, but
because he was an Indian.
Illinois, like Indiana, had been largely settled from the
slave States.
Many of its early settlers were in favor of
was
exhibiting.
making the new State
of their adoption the home of the same
had so deeply cursed the old States
system of servitude that
they had left behind; while others, opposed to that, were in
favor of laws that would bar the colored man from the State or
keep him in a degraded condition in it. And such, indeed,
was much of the special legislation of Illinois upon the subject.
The spirit of caste, that ostracized the colored population in
society and discriminated against it even in the sacred pre
cincts of the church, pervaded the legislature and increased
rather than modified the rigors of
late as 1853 she enacted a new law
its
legislation.
making
it
Thus, as
a misdemeanor
person to come into the State with the
intention of residing there, and enacted that such persons
for a free colored
might be prosecuted, fined, and sold for a time, to pay the fine
and costs. It forbade, too, the entrance of slaves, though it
meanly provided that the owners
of slaves might take them in
In
transitu through the State.1851, Iowa also prohibited such
immigration, and enacted that free colored persons should not
give testimony in cases in which a white man was a party. In
manner and with similar intent was the legislation of other
like
States and Territories.
In 1849, Oregon enacted that negroes
should not be admitted as settlers or inhabitants.
New Mex
passed an act, in 1851, recognizing and establishing peon
Utah provided, in 1852, that persons coming into that
age.
ico
Territory, bringing slaves, should be entitled to their services.
In 1852, California enacted that slaves which had been brought
ito
when a
that State
taken out of
it
;
Territory might be held as slaves and
indeed, that the provisions of the Fugitive
Slave Act might be applied to them, that they might be aristed, and, when arrested, might be denied the privilege of
;stifying in their
own
behalf.
In the presence of results like these, a recdrd so dark and
�188
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
so flagrant, and rec
marked, reflecting men could not but
for they saw, as never before,
adequate cause
indefensible, involving
reancy to principle so
ask for some
inconsistencies
;
must be some malignant and potent agency at
that
could
work,
accomplish such results and give such a char
acter to the nation's history.
They called it the Slave Power.
"
"
"
Though it had no local habitation," it had a name that
was a growing terror and alarm. They saw that there ex
isted a commanding power in the land, which made its influ
ence everywhere felt, by which all other influences were
greatly modified, and before which all other interests were
compelled in greater or less degree to bend. It was as if
somewhere some imperious autocrat or secret conclave held
court or council, in which slavery's every interest, necessity,
and demand were considered and cared for, and from which
were issued its stern and inexorable decrees. Committed to
that there
ready servitors, these decrees were executed with
fearful
fidelity,
any cost, sacrifice, or hazard. As if endowed
with a kind of omniscience, or served by agents always and
and
at
everywhere watchful,
was needful
it
seemed
fully to
comprehend whatever
As if conscious, too, of its
for its purposes.
and of the weakness which wickedness be
essential vileness,
seemed always on the alert, lest some one should
and it should suffer detriment from those forces
of nature and Providence, of matter and mind, against which
It snuffed
it seemed to be forever conscious of being at war.
to
detect
whatever
from
and
was
afar,
eagle-eyed
danger
gets,
it
inflict injury,
threatened injury or promised help. If
Milton's fiend,
" All
good to me is lost
it
did not say, with
;
Evil, be
thou
my good,"
did seem to be oblivious of all distinctions of right and
wrong, and indifferent to the moral character of any meas
it
ure
its necessities
required.
mand, with no scruples
With
vast resources at
of conscience,
ordinary sensibilities of humanity,
it
its
and with none
com
of the
sought to subordinate
and subsidize everything to its behests. Patriotism, philan
thropy, and piety were things of naught if they questioned its
�BLACK LAWS.
189
supremacy and came in competition or conflict with its exact
It entered the conventions of parties and the
ing demands.
councils of leaders, and dictated both the men and the meas
It lorded it with almost
ures they were allowed to support.
unquestioned authority in the halls of legislation, while judges
and juries, with hardly a show of independence, consulted its
decrees in the opinions they gave and the verdicts they ren
It forced its hateful presence into religious assemblies,
dered.
and took
its
seat in the associations of churches
and
at the
Editors wrote and clergymen preached in
fear of its powers, and with no attempt to conceal their anxi
It entered the precincts of learn
ety to propitiate its favor.
boards of missions.
and, in the presence of all that is pure in science,
profound in philosophy, and sacred in theology, surrounded,
too, by the teachings of the ages, it proclaimed its great,
ing,
gigantic lie, and subjected the teachers of those schools to
the humiliating vassalage of accepting and advocating its un
founded pretensions.
Nor was its power exhausted on leaders. Its spirit per
meated the masses. The people learned its sophistries and
joined with alacrity in carrying out its hateful purposes.
Men who
never saw a slave lent their ready aid to keep him
in chains, and, as if moved by a common
inspiration, they
joined in unreasoning hostility against all efforts to ameliorate
his condition or secure his
emancipation. Such was the Slave
Power
of
America.
�CHAPTER
XVII.
SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXXTH CONGRESS.
New
aspect of the slavery issue presented
SOUTHERN CAUCUS.
by the Mexican war.
Speeches by
Southern
members, Clingman, Stephens.
Proslavery views of Northern
Effective speech of McDowell.
Caucus of
members, Thompson, Brown.
Address.
Position of Northern members.
Southern members.
Eloquent
speeches by Palfrey,
Abraham
THE Mexican war and
Lincoln, Horace
its
Mann, and James Wilson.
the acquisition
proposed result
of territory to strengthen and extend the system of slavery
was a marked era in the history of the Slave Power. It in
augurated and gave the national indorsement to the new pur
No
pose of slavery extension.
of simple conservation, for
longer content with the theory
which they had hitherto so success
and too
logically pleaded the compromises of the Consti
had succeeded in dragooning the
the
slave-masters
tution,
government into the practical adoption of an entirely different,
fully
more dangerous, and more disgraceful
policy.
If it
had not
formally adopted Mr. Calhoun's newly discovered or newly
invented theory, that the Constitution carried slavery wher
ever it went, it revealed the alarming fact that the nation was
on the high-road to such a conclusion. This war was not only
an outrage upon Mexico, upon every principle of humanity and
moral rectitude, but it was a public proclamation by the slaveholding oligarchy that it was its determination to commit the
nation, unequivocally and irreparably, to its purposes and
There were not a few who comprehended the drift
plans.
of things, and who took alarm, not so much at the extrava
gance of these claims as at the growing disposition of the
nation to yield to them. Consequently the subject of slavery in
the abstract was a topic of frequent discussion in the
Congress.
ences, its
Its
sinfulness,
its
wrongs,
its
XXXth
deleterious influ
power over the government and the people, were
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXX
191
CONGRESS.
perhaps more fully discussed in that than in any previous
Congress.
Early in the first session, Mr. Clingman of North Carolina
led off in a speech on both the moral and the political aspects
He had
of slavery.
been somewhat distinguished for his
moderation and candor.
He had
resisted the action of the
South on the right of petition, as also the extreme views of
nullification propounded by Mr. Calhoun and his followers.
But his speech, which was very long, eloquent, and evidently
well considered, showed him to be not only an advocate of
slavery, and deeply imbittered against the Abolitionists, but
fully
impressed with the conviction of the inferiority of the
He went largely into the history of slavery con
negro race.
tended that
;
providential, and wisely arranged
condition of the inferior races ; and he revealed the fact, too,
it
was a normal,
that even his moderation and defence of the right of petition
had been mainly
he admitted that, by
denying the right, they were preserving a rule which was of
" no
practical use in itself, so that we were losing ground,"
strategical, because
he said, " and the Abolitionists gaining thereby."
The Southern Whigs found, too, a voice for the expression
of their views in that of Alexander H. Stephens, who spoke
near the close of the
first session.
Though
his speech
was
presented, in vigorous language and compact form, the
sentiments of those who, equally committed to slavery, were
brief, it
not quite prepared to adopt the extreme and violent course
marked out by the administration. Its particular theme was
the " Compromise bill," though he proposed to confine him
self to
the simple organization of Territorial governments in
California.
The speech embraced and elabo
New Mexico and
rated the following propositions
the reference of the whole
the
subject of slavery in those Territories to the judiciary
:
;
fact that the Constitution protected
slavery wherever it ex
isted, but could not establish it where it did not exist ; these
being acquired from Mexico by conquest, all Mexi
can laws existing at the time of the conquest not incompatible
with the Constitution of the United States, and not abrogated by
territories
the treaty, were
still
in force
;
as slavery did not exist there
�192
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
by Mexican law
at the time of the conquest, the Supreme
Court could not be expected to decide otherwise than that
slavery did not so exist therefore it was no compromise, but a
;
surrender of Southern interests and rights, to leave the matter
as thus proposed.
It was a remarkable and providential fact,
that so earnest an advocate of slavery as Mr. Stephens was
then, and has ever proved himself to be, should have taken
As
that view of the probable action of the Supreme Court.
it was too evident that the interests
would have been safe in its hands.
During the next session he made another speech, insisting
with new arguments against the injustice involved in the
that court
was
constituted,
of the slaveholders
threatened acquisition of territory. Alluding to the violent
discussions which had taken place upon the pending issues, he
said they were all dwarfed by " the greater and graver ques
tion of sanctioning the outrages and aggressions upon the
Constitution by which the acquisition of these Territories
is
to
The safeguards thrown around our
The
Constitution
will be swept away.
the
by
be consummated
institutions
instrument will be defunct.
It will
be a dead
letter.
It
may
form for a time, and the government, as a huge,
inanimate monster, may also preserve its form for a time but,
that principle that
he predicted, " its life, its spirit, its soul,"
will be gone."
looks toward and longs for immortality,
There was no language too strong to express his disappro
" the
bation of the proposed policy, which he described as
lowest, the meanest, the most corrupting, the most despi
" the
cable," and based on
plea of the cheat, the knave, the
of every
thief, the highwayman, the brigand, and the lawless
preserve
its
;
grade and character." Strengthening the affirmation by put
ting it in the form of a question, he challenged its defenders
"
" detested
who
to show how they differed from the
pirate
"
"
that all the ex
If I believed," he said,
scours the seas.
travagant stories we hear of the mines of California were
it would make no difference with me.
which I do not,
true,
If her soil were lined with gold, if it stood out in solid moun
tain piles, as high as her own Sierra Nevada, I should spurn
the degrading temptation."
He warned
his Southern brethren
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXX TH CONGRESS.
of the
193
danger of partaking of what Mr. Calhoun himself had
" forbidden fruit."
characterized as
He
also referred to the
" a
imperfect treaty, concerning which, he said, there was
"
to it, as another
clear misunderstanding between the parties
"
of
the
He
reason for hesitation.
dying agonies of the
spoke
"
and
his
of
of Mr. Polk,
administration
unwillingness to add
a single " unnecessary pang."
On the 25th of January, Richard
W. Thompson of Indiana
"
addressed the House in a speech in which he represented the
"
conservatism and conciliatory
spirit of the Northern Whigs,
"
though he expected, he said, the opposition of the ultra men,
both North and South." He defined his position by comment
ing upon the preamble and resolution of Mr. Gott to prohibit
The
the slave-trade in the District of Columbia.
three points
he specially condemned were the assertions in the preamble
that the traffic was " contrary to natural justice and the fun
" that it was " no
damental principles of our political system
"
toriously a reproach to our country throughout Christendom
;
;
and that
it
was " a
serious hindrance to the progress of repub
lican liberty throughout the world."
These seemingly obvious
positions he questioned, elaborating his denials at great length.
He attempted to prove that John Quincy Adams was opposed
to the policy of the resolution. "As the acknowledged leader,"
he said, " of the party advocating the right of petition, he was
enabled to exercise a most potent influence in staying the
progress of fanaticism on the subject of slavery in the District
He did stay its progress, although it re
He put forth his
quired the strength of a giant to arrest it.
arm and said to it, Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.
and in the States.
He rebuked
the incendiary spirit which would have sundered
every link in the beautiful cycle of our Union ; and its posses
sors, both in the North and in the South, shrank back before
and scathing eloquence."
the 3d of February, Charles Brown of Pennsylvania
his lofty patriotism
On
made an extreme and
bitter proslavery speech, entitled "
A
Reply to Mr. Thompson." He began by saying that for the
twenty years of his active political lifa he had always voted
"
against this whole Abolition agitation,
against every propVOL.
ii.
25
�194
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
osition calculated to interfere with the subject of slavery here
One of the points he sought to make against
or elsewhere."
Mr. Thompson was his estimate of Mr. Adams's influence
upon the slavery agitation. He contended, on the contrary,
" his
that " the old man eloquent" had given
powerful aid to
roll on,
no matter who might be crushed by
it,
the ball of
Abolition agitation." Asserting that the agitation was lead
"
ing them onward and downward," and that no one could
"
end," he criticised very sharply a
predict where it would
recent speech of Horace Mann, in which the latter had spoken
"
" bowie-knife
as obtaining at the
of the
style of civilization
But
he
to
the
South.
sought
charge by referring to the
parry
crimes which had been perpetrated in Massachusetts and he
asked what would be thought of the candor of a man who
;
should hold them up as fair examples of the state of society in
He opposed all such crimination
of remov
and avowed that " the surest
and
that small commonwealth.
recrimination,
ing this unhappy state of feeling
osition for agitation.
He
"
was
to vote
characterized "
all
way
down every prop
attempts to raise
the negro, politically or socially, to an equality with the white
man " as " incendiary in their character and insulting to the
no " Southern encroach
ments," and alluding to the possible contingency of a civil war
between the North and South, growing out of the continued
" I fear I would be on the
aggressions of the former, he said
I would be on the side of
I do not fear, but I know
side
that I would be with
that
I
and mean by
justice and right
South."
Affirming that he
knew
of
:
;
the South."
The remainder of the speech, which ran through the most of
two days, was made up of equal parts of disparaging remarks
against the slave and of laudation of his master, of severe ob
" fanatical
crusaders, who go forth, as
jurgations against the
of old, under the peaceful banner of the Cross, and with the
specious object of doing God's service, to desolate and destroy
a nation," and of gloomy presages of what must be the result
if
their purposes should be carried out.
In a very different strain was the speech
made by Mr. Mc
Dowell of Virginia, near the close of the session.
Leaving the
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXX TH CONGRESS.
195
ordinary track of Southern denunciation and menace, he re
sorted to the far more effective method of earnest entreaty and
tender appeal.
graceful and impressive speaker, he held,
A
by the testimony of all who heard him, the house spell-bound
for nearly two hours by his subtle logic, his specious pleas,
and his brilliant rhetoric, but much more by his passionate al
memories of the past, the claims of the present,
veneration for the dead, and the demands of patriotism for
the living.
Indeed, it may well be doubted whether that or
lusions to the
any previous session of Congress ever afforded a more marked
illustration of that peculiar trial of faith, feeling, and principle
to which the really wise and conscientious of those days were
so often and so cruelly subjected by the shrewd and politic
defenders of slavery and its claims when to be true to the
;
claims of humanity was, if possible, made to appear to be false
to the pledges of the Constitution, recreant to the memories
and indifferent to the safety of the Union ; so
in
the
that,
parlance of those times, to be known as a libertyloving man was to cast distrust on one's loyalty and love of
" Union-sav
country. On the other hand, to be known as a
of the fathers,
"
man was tantamount
was not an Abolitionist.
ing
to a confession or claim that one
This confusion of ideas, this false position in which the con
placed men, were skilfully employed and appealed to by
Alluding to the gloom and danger which sur
rounded the nation, he passionately exclaimed " What of all
these objections, and all others which can be added to them,
flict
Mr. McDowell.
:
and the worst of them,
what are they all, when gathered
and
to
their
together
piled up
topmost aggregate, Pelion upon
Ossa, but the small dust of the balance, when weighed against
what it may fairly hope to accomplish
the pacification
and perpetual union of more than twenty millions of free
men ?
Our ears must be heavy, and our hearts hard, be
yond the ordinary lot of our kind, unless we hear and feel the
.
.
.
.
voice of our motherland, coming up over all other voices, and
'
calling upon each one of us, in soft and thrilling tones
:
son,
my
son, be true to thy trust
!
Be
true to
me
'
"
My
!
Quoting the language of Washington, that the government
�196
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
was founded "
in a spirit of amity and mutual deference and
he
concession,"
enlarged upon the necessity and the claims of
"
compromise." Pathetically alluding to the inferiority of the
South in numbers, and to the fact that they had no other
refuge but the Constitution, he avowed his determination to
He appealed to the magna
cling to that as the last refuge.
nimity of the nation, as they remembered the sacrifices thus
" What
early made for the sake of union.
State, for in
"
he
ever
sacrificed
as
stance,"
inquired,
Virginia sacrificed
"
in constituting the coequality of the States ?
The most pow
erful in population, in wealth, in physical respectability, in
" she
surrendered," he
prospective growth and political power,
" these
said,
great advantages, generously and without a mur
mur, that she might co-operate with her sister States in build
ing up a permanent, and, as far as possible, a perfect consti
tutional safeguard for the protection of the defenceless and
He dwelt at great length upon the impolicy of
the weak."
"
of slavery, contending that it was alike
the " non-extension
a
as
remedy for the evils of slavery or a diminu
inoperative
" Not a
tion of the numbers of its victims.
solitary human
"
has been made a slave by
being," he said most gratuitously,
extension who would not have been one had such extension
never taken place." Sketching with great rhetorical force and
'
4
the results, the fearful consequences of repression, he ex
"
Light up, if you can, the warfare and the spirit of
another Peter the Hermit, and in this case, as in that, you
skill
claimed
:
will be
rewarded with desolation and a tomb."
He
then en
tered largely into a disquisition upon the personal qualities
and providential mission of the slaves upon this continent,
the final cause lying either in the doom pronounced on Ca
naan or " in some high and renovating function which the
American slave is yet to fulfil in the redemption of the con
from which he came." He counselled, however, that
"
the nation " should not lay an impatient or unbidden hand
for the sake of controlling it or diverting it from the Divine
tinent
purpose, whatever it might have been.
In the closing paragraphs of his speech he referred more
" the
represenparticularly to Virginia and Massachusetts as
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXX
CONGRESS.
197
tative colonies of our early history, to the courteous colonists
of
Jamestown," and
to " the persecuted
and precious people,"
" the
stern, solemn, self-denying Pilgrim, almost ascetic Pil
"
of
Plymouth," whose spirit could not mingle with and
grim
would not be controlled by the corruptions of earth,"
and he counselled them not to sunder ties so sacredly born.
" the curse of a broken
"
Spare, 0, spare us," he said,
that
brotherhood, of a ruined, ruined, ruined country. Remember
there are no groans like the groans of expiring Liberty ; no
It
convulsions like those which her dying agonies extort.
Rome some
took
With a far
comes, will come
three hundred years to die.
than hers, our end, when
it
deeper vitality
with a far keener, crueller, and bitterer pang."
Among other means employed by the slaveholding extre
mists during the second session of the XXXth Congress to
" fire the Southern heart " and
unify Southern support, was a
to
and take such action as in
its
members
consider
of
meeting
their
judgment the interests of slavery required.
Embracing
both parties, it soon revealed the existence of very dissimilar
and discordant sentiments among its members.
Though
agreed, in the main, in the end desired, they differed widely
as to the means proposed.
Slaveholding Whigs, rightly
dreading the effect of the violent measures proposed by the
Democrats, under the lead of Mr. Calhoun, upon their party
Mr. Clayton and
ascendency, led off in strong opposition.
Mr. Berrien counselled moderation, and denied the necessity of
measures which must precipitate division in their party ranks,
if
it
extended no further.
On
the other hand, Mr. Calhoun,
Jefferson Davis, and others, urged the necessity of decided and
strenuous measures. Failing to agree, they adjourned, with
out fixing upon a day for another meeting.
Such a meeting
was
however, a week
though not so largely at
tended.
During its session two addresses were presented,
the one prepared by Mr. Calhoun, and the other by Mr. Ber
rien.
The former, however, received the indorsement of the
" An Address of Southern Dele
meeting. It was entitled
called,
gates to their Constituents."
later,
It
was an
able
and adroit piece
and intensely
of special pleading, entirely uncandid, one-sided,
�198
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
With a
sectional.
IN AMERICA.
singular, not to say monomaniacal, oblivit assumed the tone of
injured in
iousness of historical facts,
nocence, piteously recounting its list of Northern aggressions.
Ignoring the too patent facts that these aggressions had all
been on the other
side,
and that the North had been only too
bow the neck to Southern domination, it went largely
willing to
and elaborately into an enumeration and description of the
classes of grievances of which the South complained.
Among them were those that resulted from a failure of the
North to carry out the provisions of the fugitive-slave law of
1793, although the worst that could be said was that it did not
always rush with alacrity to the help of the slave-hunter when
in search of his prey ; a refusal, it is to be remembered, in
strict accord with the decision of the Supreme Court that
Another
was exemplified by the antislavery agitation
States, as such, should not act in such a service.
class of grievances
that then existed at the North.
The Missouri compromise
and the resistance to slavery extension connected with it were
cited as indicating the third class of grievances of which com
plaint was made, ignoring the fact that that compromise was
regarded as a Southern triumph. The Wilmot proviso indi
cated another class of aggressions, though its gist was simply
the purpose to prevent the introduction of slavery into terri
tory recently acquired and then free. Allusion was also made
to a then recent vote in the
House on a motion that a
bill
be
reported for the abolition of the slave-trade in the District of
Columbia.
Such were the serious grievances and aggressions
which constituted the burden of
this formal
arraignment of
the North, the gravamen of its charge.
Indeed, the whole
than
the well-con
of
rather
the
seems
lunacy
ravings
paper
sidered utterances of earnest
that there were no aggressions
and honest minds, and shows
which the South had reason to
of
for in this very paper, drawn up by the great leader
himself, no facts appear that give color for a moment to the
complain
;
charge.
It did not counsel dissolution, but it recommended a course
of action whose natural tendency would have been in that
direction.
Gratuitously assuming that the North was anti-
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXX TH CONGRESS.
slavery,
insisted
199
and that the South was essentially slaveholding, it
on union among " their constituents," even if it ne
cessitated the ignoring of every tie, save that of nationality,
which bound them to the North.
"
Entertaining these views,"
"
we earnestly entreat you to be united,
added, in closing,
and for that purpose adopt all necessary measures. Beyond
this we do not think it would be proper to go at present."
it
The spirit and purpose of the friends of freedom were in
marked contrast with these exhibitions by the slave-masters
and their allies. Though largely in the minority, they had
the strength of truth and talent, of a good conscience, and of
moral courage. Though the atmosphere was heavy with the
vapors of ignorance and prejudice, and the murky clouds of
Southern intolerance and Northern conservatism were' sur
charged with the lightnings and thunderings of invective and
" the
hate, they seemed equal to the occasion, and rose to
It is hard to find in any
height of the great argument."
volumes of the " Globe," or, indeed, in any other volume,
than were afforded by
finer specimens of forensic eloquence
that session.
the first to assert their rights and enunciate their
G-. Palfrey of Massachusetts.
His speech,
principles
in itself able, conclusive, and scholarly,
of which the " Na
Among
was John
week remarked that " the force of his
argument lost nothing from the courtesy of his manner,"
gathered additional interest from the distinguished character
tional
Era"
of the next
and antecedents of the speaker himself.
Mr. Palfrey, previous
a
Unitarian
a
in
Harvard University,
ly
clergyman,
professor
and at one time editor of the " North American Review," had
inherited quite a large patrimony of slaves.
Convinced, how
ever, of the sinfulness of the system, he had given his slaves
their
freedom and had heartily espoused the cause of emanci
A member of the Whig party, he had sought to com
pation.
mit
it
active
to the principles of freedom.
and
efficient
member
He became
also a very
of the Free Soil party,
formed
during that same year, and he had entered Congress a deter
mined foe to slavery and its aggressions.
To such a speech as that of Mr. Clingman he was prepared
�200
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
as well as prompt to interpose an able and conclusive reply.
"
Recognizing its
courtesy, fairness, moderation, and dignity,"
he dwelt especially upon its topic, " the political aspect of the
" It
" the
slave question."
is," he said,
great political ques
tion of the country, and has been from the beginning of this
It is the
century, though hitherto not so prominent as now.
which
all
underlies
other
determines
and
question
questions
their solution."
Referring to Mr. Clingman's assertion that
States had the advantage in numbers and wealth, he
spoke of the countervailing advantage the slave States found
free
and unity of interest and purpose,
by the concentrated energies of an
active oligarchy, spread over a country intent on a single
policy and bound together by a common intelligence and a
common interest," leading the busy and inert masses, intimi
dating the weak, beguiling the easy, and bribing the merce
"
" What
wonder," he asks, that it should find means
nary.
to perplex the simple and beguile and soothe the good, as well
as to enlist and use the selfish ?
"What wonder that it should
be able to play off parties against each other, and take to it
self effectually the balance of power and the lion's share of
in their superior discipline
and of " the power exerted
"
the prizes at stake ?
He then proceeded to show, by giving
the facts of the case, how the possible had become the actual,
and how had thus been placed in the hands of this " active oli
"
"
that " political power
which had dominated the
garchy
nation for the preceding half-century.
Perhaps never in
has been de
words
or
with
more
compass
pregnant
scribed the process by which this " active oligarchy," so insig
nificant in numbers and with a spirit and purposes so hateful
briefer
and
so
and
maintained its terrible ascendency so complete
long.
Mr. Palfrey then traced the exercise of this power in the
"
"
of 1793 for the return of fugitive
unutterably heinous law
the inhuman policy of the government toward the
slaves
Cherokees and Seminoles, outraged and removed from their
and so foreign to the genius
of free institutions, secured
;
homes
for the simple crime of harboring fugitives ; the denial
the imprisonment of colored seamen
;
of the right of petition
in Southern ports
;
"
of Mr. Hoar's
the " shameful chapter
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXXTH CONGRESS.
201
the Texas scheme ; and the Mexican war, of
" It has been made to
carry widowhood and
of
American
into
thousands
homes, to write a chap
orphanage
ter in our history for the execration and loathing of the civ
expulsion
;
which he said
:
shame of our own
With scholarly fulness and accuracy he
and Christian world, and the
ilized
bitter
wiser posterity."
exposed the shallowness of the charges brought against the
colored race on the score of inferiority, and sketched with
affluence of language
liberty
and
and illustration the diverse results of
shown side by side in the Border
slavery, as
briefly, but, as the events showed, too
rise
and
the
hopefully,
progress, the various forms and phases,
of antislavery effort, he closed by saying of the slaveholders
States.
Sketching
:
" If
they insist that Union and Slavery cannot live together,
they may be taken at their own word; but it is the Union
The speech commanded marked atten
John Quincy Adams exclaimed to those
" Thank God the seal is broken. Massachu
that must stand."
tion, and at
around him
close
its
:
!
setts speaks."
But the marked speech of that great debate was that of
Horace Mann.
The particular point to which it was ad
dressed was the question of the inhibition or admission of
slavery into the Territories.
Comprehensive in its scope and
in
exhaustive
its
mode
of treating the great inquiry,
plan,
bristling with facts, fortified at every point
and packed with
and
legislative, and redolent with the spirit
humanity and loyalty to truth, it seemed like the arraign
ment of the government in the court of the centuries, the
utterance at once of the patriot, the philosopher, and the
statesman.
Though characterized by the orator's bold and
"
startling imagery and illustrations, it did not lack the
plain,
"
Saxon
which
he
claimed
the subject de
sinewy,
tongue
manded.
Seemingly oblivious of all national compromises
and all personal consequences, with an earnestness born of his
authorities, legal
of
deep and intense convictions, and of the greatness of the in
he invoked for his theme a consideration com
terest at stake,
mensurate with
its
vastness and importance. Alluding to this
was to be decided by Congress,
territory, the destiny of which
VOL.
ii.
26
�202
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" Its
Not
great future hangs upon our decision.
of
and
but
vast
tracts
latitude
of time
longitude,
only degrees
seem at our disposal."
ages and centuries
he said
:
After showing the invalidity and imprudence of the claim
that three hundred thousand slaveholders had an equal claim
with that of fifteen millions to common territory, and proving
the right of Congress to legislate for the inhibition of slavery
in the Territories by an overwhelming weight of authorities,
and
legislative
judicial,
he proceeded to the second great divis
ion of his argument, the expediency of its use. Here was
opened up a wide field in which his affluent and well-trained
mind roamed
for
at will, gathering from every source materials
an argument expressed with great forensic force and rhe
torical beauty.
Leaving the technical part of his argument, he proceeded to
philosophical considerations, the economic and moral
" the new-born communities should be
reasons, why
exempted
the
from slavery."
Prominent among them he adverted
to the
wastefulness of slavery, not simply in its relations to the
national interests of the soil, but in regard to the man himself,
his mind, his con
" would be
he
thought
"What,"
inquired,
of a Massachusetts farmer who would seize upon his hired
man, call in a surgeon, and cut off all the flexor muscles of his
destroying his best, his distinctive parts,
science, his hope.
arms and legs ? I do not ask what you would think of his
humanity but what would you think of his sanity ? Yet the
planter does more than this when he makes a man a slave.
He cuts deeper than the muscles he destroys the spirit that
;
;
moves the muscles he abolishes this mighty power of the in
half-animated
tellect, and uses only the weak, degraded, and
;
forces of the
human
limbs."
Comparing the results of free and slave States lying side
by side, he showed the difference by the admission of Southern
men, from whom he quoted largely, as also by a most copious
reference to statistics, quoting from the latter the facts that of
the five hundred and seventy-two patents issued in 1847, only
that of the books
sixty-six were from the Southern States
fiftieth are from the
about
one
States
in
the
United
published
;
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXX TH CONGRESS.
203
South. Alluding to the usual gratification felt in witnessing
"
" the
yet
pursuit of knowledge under difficulties," he adds,
what we call republican America, are fifteen great
States vying with each other to see which will bring the
blackest and most impervious pall of ignorance over three mil
here, in
human
lions of
beings
;
....
to colonize the broad regions
West with these millions, who shall never be able to
read a book or write a word to whom knowledge shall bring
no delight in childhood, no relief in the weary hours of sickness
of the
;
or convalescence, no solace in the decrepitude of age
shall perceive nothing of the beauties of art, who shall
nothing of the wonders of science,
lofty intellectual conception
Creator
;
deaf to
who
shall never reach
any
the attributes of the great
the hosannas of praise which Nature sings
blind to this magnificent temple which God has
Alluding to the story of Casper Hauser, then ex
Maker
to her
all
of
who
know
;
builded."
;
much interest, and which had been described in a book
" The
then
Example of a' Crime on the Life
just
published as
"
of a Soul," he said
There are in this boasted land of light
citing
:
and
liberty three million Casper Hausers," and "it is pro
posed to fill up all the Western world with these proofs of
human
avarice and guilt."
During that debate Abraham Lincoln, then unknown to
fame, made a speech, interesting on account of his subsequent
career and relations to the nation, the same quaint conceptions
and felicitous diction, now so gratefully and admiringly re
membered
the striking manner in which he showed the disin
genuous course of the administration in relation to the Mexi
can war the fact that it was this government, and not the
;
;
" actual hostilities " and also the
Mexican, which began
try
ing embarrassments in which honest members of the Whig
;
party were involved by that action.
Alluding to certain in
he
had
before
introduced
in some resolutions,
terrogatories
" intended to draw the President
out, if possible, on this
" Let him answer with
hitherto untrodden ground," he said
:
facts,
and not with arguments.
Let him remember he
sits
where Washington sat and, so remembering, let him answer
as Washington would answer.
As the nation should not, and
;
�204
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
the Almighty will not, be evaded, so let him attempt no eva
" show that the soil was ours
when
sion, no equivocation," and
the first blood of the war was shed." " I have a selfish mo
he added, " for desiring that the President may do this.
I expect to give some votes in connection with the war which,
tive,"
without his so doing, will be of doubtful propriety in my own
judgment, but will be free from the doubt if he will do so."
"
"
If, however, on
any pretence or no pretence," he refuses, I
shall be fully convinced of what I more than suspect already,
that he
deeply conscious of being in the wrong that he
war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to
against him that he ordered General Taylor into the
is
;
feels the blood of this
Heaven
;
midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement purposely to bring on
a war that, originally having some strong motive
what I
;
now to give my opinion concerning
to involve
the two countries in a war, and trusting to escape scrutiny by
fixing the public gaze on the exceeding brightness of military
will not stop
that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood,
glory,
he plunged
that serpent's eye that charms but to destroy,
into it, and swept on and on, till, disappointed in his calcula
tion of the ease with
finds himself he
which Mexico might be subdued, he now
knows not where.
How
like the half-insane
mumblings of a fever-dream is the whole war part of the late
message! His mind, tasked beyond his power, is running
hither and thither, like some tortured creature on a burning
surface, finding
ease.
He is
man.
God
no position on which
it
can settle and be at
a bewildered, confounded, and miserably perplexed
grant he may be able to show there is not some
thing about his conscience more painful than
"
perplexity
all his
mental
!
In February, 1849, James Wilson of New Hampshire made
a speech on " the political influence of slavery," and against
" the
expediency of permitting it in these new Territories."
Mr. Wilson was a Whig, and his election was among the first
fruits of that political revolution in that State which sent Mr.
Hale to the Senate and Mr. Tuck to the House. He was a
man of large stature and of very imposing presence, and
though he seldom spoke, was regarded as one of the most
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXX TH CONGRESS.
effective speakers either in
205
His
Congress or in the country.
speech was not characterized so much for original ideas as for
his strong, striking, and somewhat quaint mode of expressing
his views.
Alluding to the declaration of Mr. Hilliard of Alabama
that they were "isolated,
respecting the Southern States,
cut off from the sympathy of the Christian states of the world
" I
by reason of their peculiar domestic institutions," he said
:
concur entirely with the gentleman in that opinion, and award
to him high credit for his honest, frank, and manly avowal of
upon this floor." Describing the slavery question
as " the question not only of this country, but of the whole
Christian world, emphatically the question of the age," he de
that truth
clared that for the last fifty years it had " been the very centre
and focus of all our political action, the focal point around
which every great national interest has revolved." Compar
" to the movements of the
ing it, by reference,
planets in their
" the
orbits around the sun," he said that, unlike the sun,
central point of our political action is as black and as dark as
Egyptian darkness, as cold and heartless and un sympathizing
as the icebergs that roll in the Arctic Ocean."
Referring to
the fact that the framers of the Constitution regarded the
"
"
system as temporary," looking forward to the time, not far
distant,
when
there would be an end of slavery," and compli
" the
menting Mr. Jefferson as
prime originator of the antibut
movement,
slavery
admitting that in after life there was
"
" some
" The
in his opinions, he added
change
cautious,
sagacious, wily politician found other opinions than those of
the ardent, sincere, self-sacrificing young patriot to subserve
:
his purposes
and aspirations better."
He saw
that the insti
tution " was one of those peculiarly constructed machines
which the politician could turn to good account that by it a
;
kind of galvanic chain was constructed, connecting the heart
strings with the purse-strings of any slaveholder in the coun
by the working of this political telegraph it affected,
the
nervous fluid, the brain of the whole slaveholding
through
community. It was an engine of mighty political power in
try
;
that
the hands of a skilful, sagacious operator."
But Mr.
Jeffer-
�206
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
son, though he had repudiated his early sentiments, could not
undo what he had so bravely done. " He had," said Mr. Wil
" strewn
upon the earth the seminal principle of a great
he had advertised the world of the true character of
son,
truth
;
and that truth had taken deep
slavery and the slave-trade
root.
It was destined to remain as indestructible as the great
truths that lay at the foundation of the throne of God."
Giv
;
ing a rapid sketch of the successive steps of slavery aggression,
he came to the annexation of Texas, of which he said " It
:
inflicted the deepest
wound upon
the Constitution that has
ever been inflicted upon that time-honored instrument.
depleted it to the very verge of endurance."
It
has
Though prior to May, 1844, the whole North, he said, of all
was unanimously opposed to it, the Baltimore conven
tion made annexation " a test of party fidelity."
Certain
parties,
" Texas and
party catchwords were adopted.
Oregon were
tied together by a kind of illicit semi-hymeneal bond."
But
the Northern Democrats were to be deceived. Oregon was
thrown in to cheat them. General Cass spoke often and vigo
Another Western Senator cried aloud,
rously in its behalf.
with a voice that might be heard from Capitol Hill to the
Grand Monadnock " We will have 54 40', or we will fight."
" But the
" were not sin
politicians of the South," he added,
cere they were only using General Cass, a Northern man, as
the wood-chopper uses his beetle.
They swung him round
and round, bringing his great weight to bear, until, by repeat
:
;
ed blows, they beat the brains out of the unfortunate little
Dutchman and then, upon examining the tool with which
;
they had been operating, they found it battered, split, shiv
ered into splinters, and they threw it unceremoniously away,
as unfit for further use."
In another mood, he spoke of his anxiety to do nothing in
the contest which should wrong his conscience or leave a stain
" I
have, sir, an only son, now a little
upon his reputation.
of
this
committee may have seen here.
fellow, whom some
Think you that, when I am gone, and he shall grow up to
manhood, and shall come forward to act his part among the
citizens of his country, I will leave
it
to be cast into his teeth
�SLAVERY DEBATES OF THE XXX
CONGRESS.
207
as a reproach that his father voted to send slavery into the
I look reverently up to the Father
no
?
No,
Territories
of us all,
!
and fervently implore
May God
forbid
it
of
"
him to spare that child that
Even " if the alternative
reproach.
should be presented to me of the extension of slavery or the
dissolution of the Union, I would say, rather than extend
!
slavery, let the Union, let the universe itself, be dissolved.
hand or
voice to give a vote
Never, never will I raise
my
my
by which slavery can or may be extended. As God is my
judge, I cannot, I will not be moved from my purpose I have
now announced." Speaking of the reform which had begun,
and of which he spoke more confidently than subsequent
he said " There was
events or even his own career
justified,
:
when, if the Slave Power had any special work to be
done, and wanted a Northern man to do it, they hunted him
up from New Hampshire. Little unfortunate New Hampshire
was called upon to furnish the scavenger to do the dirty work.
That day, thank God has gone by and it will not come
a time
!
again very soon."
;
�CHAPTER
CALIFORNIA.
XVIII.
ELECTION OF SPEAKER.
THREATS OF DISUNION.
President Taylor.
Personnel of his Cabinet.
Past success of slave-masters.
Future schemes.
Overtures to California.
Its constitution.
Southern
Excitement.
Contest for Speaker.
Threats.
Debate.
Mr. Cobb's election.
Duer, Toombs, Baker, Stephens, Cleveland, Allen.
Father Mathew.
President's
Vermont resolutions.
Debate
message.
opposition.
thereon.
Hale, Chase, Phelps.
Missouri resolutions.
Benton.
ON
the 5th of March, 1849, General Zachary Taylor was
native of Vir
inaugurated President of the United States.
.
A
ginia, himself a slaveholder, his interests and sympathies were
unquestionably rather with the friends than with the foes of
But he doubtless regarded it in its economic rather
and had no very distinct opinions or
wishes concerning it as an element of political power, what
ever may have been the plans and purposes of those who pre
sented him as a candidate for the high office he was chosen to
fill.
His selection of Cabinet officers indicated clearly his
Southern proclivities, though he evidently was not a propa
He was, however, a fair-minded man, and undoubt
gandist.
slavery.
than in
its civil relations,
edly intended to administer the government honestly and
according to the Constitution as he understood it.
John M. Clayton of Delaware, his Secretary of State, was
able, and was regarded, too, as among the most liberal of
Southern public men. Mr. Crawford of Georgia, Secretary of
War, was a man of moderate abilities and extreme opinions,
whose connection with the Galphin claims had strengthened
suspicions in regard to his integrity entertained by some.
Mr.
Preston of Virginia had early been an advocate of gradual
emancipation, for which he earnestly and eloquently pleaded in
her legislature in 1832. But the Southern pressure had been
too strong, and, like other ambitious statesmen of that com-
�209
CALIFORNIA.
monwealth, he had been compelled to succumb and become
the advocate of the peculiar institution.
Reverdy Johnson
of Maryland, his Attorney-General, one of the ablest law
the slaveholding
yers of the country, was fully committed to
side of the great issue. The Secretary of the Interior, Thomas
Ewing of Ohio, had long been in public life, and was a leading
member of his party. He was a Virginian by birth. Born
and nurtured in poverty, he was nevertheless aristocratic and
Although representing a free
freedom expected and received little from
conservative in his tendencies.
State, the friends of
William M. Meredith of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the
him.
Treasury, was a gentleman of high character, a lawyer of dis
Jacob
tinction, but with little experience in public affairs.
He was a
and
was
and
statesman of recognized ability
firmness,
unques
tionably the most decided of any member of the Cabinet in his
opposition to the increasing encroachments of the Slave Power.
Thus constituted, the administration was called at once to
Collamer of Vermont was Postmaster-General.
grapple with the engrossing questions then forced with such
pertinacity upon the country.
Thus far, the Southern leaders had been successful beyond
most sanguine expectations. Texas had been annexed,
a war with Mexico had been provoked and fought to a success
ful issue, and immense accessions of
territory had been se
cured. These successes had been, indeed, achieved at a fearful
cost, involving large loss of blood and treasure, national
their
dishonor and peril, infractions of the Constitution at home
and of treaties of amity abroad. Still the slave-masters had
not reached the goal of their ambition and purpose.
There
were other infractions to be made, other rights to be invaded,
and other guaranties to be ignored.
tion,
its
among
And
the
new administra
was compelled not only to define
enter upon that line of policy deemed ne
its first duties,
position, but to
cessary to secure these ulterior purposes of the Slave Power.
Whether General Taylor fully comprehended the extent of
may be questioned. He did, however, with a
good degree of promptitude, enter upon the work of propos
ing and encouraging the organization of State governments.
these purposes
VOL.
ii.
27
�210
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Within thirty days
King, a
after
Whig member
his
IN AMERICA.
inauguration,
Thomas
Butler
Congress from Georgia, was sent
to California for the purpose of expressing to its inhabitants
the desire of the administration that they would form a con
This they were
stitution, and ask for admission as a State.
of
ready to do, though for reasons very different from those
which impelled the government to desire it.
The discov
ery of gold had drawn to the Pacific coast many enterpris
ing and adventurous young men from the Northern States,
who, whatever might have been their moral or political senti
ments or personal prejudices, had little desire to enter into
But they
competition or companionship with negro slaves.
needed government
as
had
failed to give
and,
Congress
them a Territorial organization, interest, the need of protec
tion, and ambition prompted them to respond at once to these
;
intimations of the administration.
A
proclamation was there
3d of June, 1850, by General Kiley, mili
tary governor, calling a convention to form a constitution.
That convention assembled, framed a constitution, and sub
fore issued on the
mitted
it
to the people.
It
was adopted, and
at once trans
mitted to Washington.
For the reasons suggested, instead of a provision for slav
ery it contained a clause expressly prohibiting it. This was,
of course, regarded as a fatal omission by those who, still sore
and smarting from defeat in their attempts to force slavery
Oregon as a State, and to obtain its recognition in the
Territorial organizations of California and New Mexico, saw
slipping from their grasp the coveted fruits of annexation and
the Mexican war. It was with infinite chagrin and alarm that
they looked upon these evidences of their ill success and they
into
;
determined to renew the struggle with greater desperation, to
turn the tide that seemed to be setting so strongly against the
consummation of their long-cherished schemes. Both in Con
gress and in the legislatures of the slave States appeared
simultaneously demonstrations of these renewed purposes of
The legislature of Virginia re
slaveholding aggressions.
quested the governor to call an extra session if Congress
should
enact
the
Wilmot
proviso,
and
the
governors of
�ELECTION OF SPEAKER.
211
THREATS OF DISUNION.
Georgia and Alabama recommended that provision should
be made for conventions of the people should Congress legis
Menaces
late for the prohibition of slavery in the Territories.
which had seemed to be losing something of
were renewed.
The whole South seemed greatly moved. Her leading and
most violent men were very active in breeding discontent and
of disunion, too,
their power,
firing the
Southern heart.
Just before the session of Con
gress a correspondence between Mr. Foote of Mississippi and
Mr. Clingman was published.
In Mr. Clingman's response he
expressed the opinion that the slave States ought to resist any
action of Congress for the exclusion of slavery from any of the
Territories.
Though this avowal of the policy of disunion was
that of two rather vain and ambitious men, neither of whom
was entitled to much weight or influence, it was, nevertheless,
Southern feeling and purpose. The cry of
disunion, now uttered with more vehemence than ever, and
manifestly designed to overawe the timid and dragoon the
an indication
of
weak, secured the results for which it had been raised.
Many were panic-stricken, and yielded to fear what conscience
and reason, humanity and patriotism, urged them to maintain.
Appalled by these menaces of disunion, they openly and pitia
bly disavowed their solemnly declared opinions, abjured their
own repeated acts, and thus proved recreant to the enduring
interests of the nation.
In consequence of this disturbed condition of
affairs, this
transition state of the public mind, as it was
passing from the
old traditional policy which had hitherto obtained to the new
which
it
was about
to adopt, the first session of the
XXXIst
Congress, beginning on the 3d of December, 1849, was marked
by a variety of propositions, abstract and practical, introduced
by both the friends and the foes of slavery.
It
was remarkable
also for its length, its heated debates, its devotion to
slavery,
"fcs submission to the
Slave Power, and its disastrous
compro
mises.
In
it,
too, the nation took a
new departure
in its ma,
.auding crusade against the rights of man and the funda
mental principles of public and personal morality.
The Senate had a
clear
Democratic majority.
In
the?
�212
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
House the Whig and Democratic
parties were more equally
matched, while the Free Soil party was represented by eight
members. A sharp and protracted struggle ensued for the
choice of Speaker.
Robert C. Winthrop was the candidate
of the
Whigs, and Howell Cobb
failed to
throp, however,
section of his party.
of the
receive the
While
Democrats.
full
Mr.
support of
Win
either
Southern Whigs refused to
views were far from being in
give
votes,
accord with those of the Free Soil members, and his course as
him
their
Speaker of the
The
XXXth
latter, therefore,
to give
him
five
his
Congress had not been satisfactory.
peremptorily and persistently refused
which continued for
their votes during the contest,
nearly three weeks, amid deep feeling and much excitement.
On the thirty-ninth ballot, William J. Brown, a Democratic
member from Indiana, received one hundred and nine votes
a larger number than had been cast for any other candidate.
Mr. Winthrop then withdrew his name from the list of can
didates.
The Free Soil members being informed that Mr.
Brown was willing to pledge himself to arrange satisfactorily
;
the committees on Territories, the judiciary, and the District
of Columbia, David Wilmot of Pennsylvania addressed a note
to him, stating that they would give him a cheerful and cordial
support if assured that these committees should be so ar
Mr. Brown in his reply promised that, if elected, he
ranged.
would ", constitute the committees on the District of Colum
bia, on the Territories, and on the judiciary in such a manner
I am a
as shall be satisfactory to yourself and friends.
been
have
and
of
a
free
always
op
State,
representative
posed to the extension of slavery, and believe that the Fed
eral
of
government should be relieved from the responsibility
slavery where they have the constitutional power to
abolish it."
While this pledge was full and complete in itself, Mr.
Brown's standing and associations did not fully commend
him to the confidence of all the Free Soil members. Eoot
of Ohio, Julian of Indiana, and Tuck of New Hampshire, re
fused to give him their votes but Charles Allen of Massachu
;
setts,
Preston King of
New
York, David Wilmot of Pennsyl-
�ELECTION OF SPEAKER.
THREATS OF DISUNION.
213
Durkee of Wisconsin, and Joshua R. Giddings
anxious
to secure a Speaker who would give the
of Ohio,
friends of freedom a chance to be heard, through these com
vania, Charles
mittees,
assumed the responsibility
of voting for him.
Several
Southern Democrats, however, who watched with suspicious
interest and surprise this action, withdrew their support from
failed of an election by two votes.
Mr. Stanley of North Carolina then rose and offered a reso
lution requesting the Democrats to appoint a committee of
Brown, and he
three to confer with the
cers for the House.
An
Whigs
relative to the choice of
offi
exciting debate ensued, during which
Brown's letter to Wilmot was read and sharply criticised.
Mr. Meade of Virginia expressed his readiness to take a
Speaker,
if
he was opposed to the abolition of slavery in the
District or its prohibition in the Territories,
from
either side of
" If
slavery," he said, "is to be abolished in the
District or prohibited in the Territories, I trust in God that
the House.
my
eyes have rested upon the last Speaker of the
House
of
Representatives."
This declaration created
in reply, that he trusted
much excitement. Mr. Root said
such calm and moderate counsels
would allay agitation and prevent dissolution.
But if dis
solution was to come, he hoped it would come in " their dis
organized attitude," because it would not be " binding," and
" If
there would be some hope that it would be set aside.
dissolution shall come," he said, " after the House is
organ
ized, on a report for the abolition of slavery in the District
of Columbia, then we are assured there will come a
fight in
defence of wife, the little ones, the household
gods, and all
other household furniture."
He ridiculed the idea of Southern
members who expected some Northern man
to
come forward
with the " olive-branch of peace " in the surrender of North
ern rights.
He reminded Southern men, who were threaten
ing a dissolution of the Union, that they must remember that
the people of the West have a
very strong idea that the Mis
sissippi River, to say nothing about its banks, is a part of their
territory
water."
from
its
mouth
to its source.
"We
furnish. the
�214
RISE
William
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Duer,
Whig member from New York, proclaimed
himself ready to vote for a Whig, a Democrat, a
Free-Soiler,
or any one but " a disunionist."
Mr. Bayly of Virginia
denied that there were any disunion! sts in the
and
a
House,
asked Mr. Duer to point them out. In
reply Duer said he
believed there were some from Virginia, and
pointed to Meade.
" It is
" You
false," exclaimed the Virginian.
are a liar, sir,"
retorted Duer.
Quick as thought, Meade made a rush at
Duer, who was immediately surrounded by his friends.
of indescribable confusion followed.
Calls to
A scene
order, threats,
and violent gesticulations were intermingled.
arms, seizing his mace, bore
The
sergeant-at-
the excited and dis
" Take
"
organized members, amid cries of
away that bauble
it
among
!
The excitement having somewhat subsided, Mr. Duer
apolo
gized to the House for the language he had used, and quiet
was restored.
Mr. Toombs, who up to that time had professed to be a
Whig, followed in a vehement and passionate denunciation of
the Free Soil members.
He declared that the time had come
when " we are not to be intimidated by eulogies upon the
Union." " I do not hesitate," he said, " to avow before this
House and the country, and in the presence of a living God,
if by
your legislation you seek to drive us from the Ter
ritories and to abolish slavery in this District, I am for dis
union and if my physical courage be equal to the mainte
nance of my convictions of right and duty, I will devote all I am
and all I have to its consummation." He closed his speech,
which was frequently applauded by Southern Representatives,
with the declaration that if they would not give him security
that the organization of the House should not be used to the
that
;
" Let discord
reign
injury of his constituents, he would say,
forever."
Edward D. Baker, then a Whig Representative from
said that he could not permit the observations of
to pass without an immediate and distinct reply.
Illinois,
Mr. Toombs
He
told the
Representatives of the South that when they threatened the
dissolution of the Union the people doubted their earnestness
;
that no fervid declarations, no fiery appeals to Southern feel-
�ELECTION OF SPEAKER.
THREATS OF DISUNION.
215
no solemn invocations to Almighty God, would make them
" in this Hall one man who chambers in
believe that there is
He
his secret heart a purpose so accursed and so deadly."
not
would
North
the
of
declared that the Representatives
ing,
" We are
shrink from uttering their deliberate convictions.
"
freemen," he said, to speak for freemen, and will act as be
comes freemen, in the face of the world and of posterity."
it was a mournful spectacle to a true-minded man
threats of disunion, fierce and bitter, drew forth shouts of
" In the
applause as triumphant as if disunion were a glory.
He
said
when
name
of the
men
of the North,"
and speaking what
know
I
he
said,
" so
rudely attacked,
to be their sentiments, I say that
as
is, must be, shall be impossible,
American heart beats in an American bosom, or
the Almighty sends his wisdom and his goodness to guide and
This eloquent and gifted Representative afterward
bless us."
sealed his devotion to the Union with his blood on the disas
a dissolution of this Union
long as an
trous field of Ball's Bluff.
To
this earnest plea for the integrity of the nation,
Alex
ander H. Stephens, then professing to be a Whig, at once
" I tell that
gentleman, whether he believes it or not,
replied
and whether the people believe it or not, that the day in which
:
consummated on any portion of the country this
Union is dissolved." He closed by indorsing fully and un
equivocally the speech of Toombs.
aggression
is
required personal bravery as well as moral
and humanity in that presence,
there were those who were ready.
Chauncey F. Cleveland,
Although
it
courage to speak for justice
Democratic member from Connecticut, of strong antislavery
convictions, expressed his astonishment at these exhibitions
made by Representatives from the South. The
people of the North, he said, made no threats, and were not
disturbed by threats made by others.
They loved liberty and
of passion,
wished to secure
it
they would secure
it,
;
and, so far as it was in their power,
regardless of threats here or elsewhere.
Charles Allen, a Free Soil member from Massachusetts,
"
"
had been ad
expressed his regret that
soothing language
dressed to " the actors in that theatrical
He redisplay."
�216
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
minded the House that when men undertook in earnest the
great and hazardous work of subverting established govern
"
"
and " the machinery of
ments, instead of
flashy oratory
concerted applause" there is heard a language of calm deter
mination, and a countenance thoughtful and solemn in its
expression bears testimony to the high resolve that animates
the breast.
He rebuked " the loud and declamatory threats "
of Mr. Toombs to shatter into fragments this Union, and the
simultaneous gathering of Southern members in the centre of
the hall, each with uplifted hands, clapping at every sally of
In a manner at once calm, firm, and
the vociferous orator.
" talk
dignified, he told the Representatives of the South, who
"
of subverting this mighty Union," that
their united forces
could not remove one of the marble columns which supports
this Hall."
Turning to the friends of the ordinance of 1787,
Mr. Allen said " The cry of disunion has been raised in ad
If the legislature of the country, we are told, shall
vance.
:
prevent the extension of slavery into free territory, the gov
ernment is to be overthrown. How is this to be done ? The
advocates for the unlimited spread of slavery say they will
Teach them a lesson which shall protect this
teach you.
House from such threats
hereafter,
which
shall
save
not
the Union, which is safe, but the country, from all such
scenes as we have witnessed this day."
On the 22d of December, a resolution having been adopted
that a plurality should effect a choice, Mr. Cobb received one
hundred and two votes to one hundred for Mr. Winthrop, and
was declared Speaker. Being an extreme Southern man, the
committees were organized to protect what were deemed the
rights of the South, and to favor the designs of those who
were leading the new crusade against freedom. The eight
Free Soil members had only insisted on the very moderate
demand for a Speaker who would appoint committees in favor
of respectfully considering and reporting upon petitions relat
ing to slavery. Mr. Giddings states that they offered to vote
for Thaddeus Stevens without other pledges than his antece
dent opinions and acts.
The House being organized, President Taylor
sent in hia
�THREATS OF DISUNION.
In
annual message.
it
217
he took occasion to recommend to the
favorable consideration of Congress the application of Califor
nia for admission as a State whenever she should present it.
He expressed, too, the opinion that the people of New Mexico
would also
at
as a State.
no distant day present themselves for admission
He
thought all causes of uneasiness might be
and
confidence
and kind feeling produced, by thus
avoided,
the
action
of
the people of California and New Mex
awaiting
ico, who would institute for themselves such forms of govern
ment as would be most likely to effect their safety and happi
ness. When, however, the expected application came, and the
President sent to Congress the constitution which had been
adopted by the convention of California, though it was accom
panied by a Democratic delegation to urge its claims, it met
with not merely a cool reception, but with earnest and deter
mined opposition from the very men who had been most anx
ious for the admission of the Golden State. Indeed, it became
the signal and cause of a long, heated, and miscellaneous de
bate, especially in the Senate, to which body, after the long
contest for Speaker in the House, the great conflict seemed to
have been in a measure transferred.
In addition to the case of California, there sprung up minor
questions, which were
principle at issue.
deemed or made to involve the same
these was a motion to invite Father
Among
Mathew, the Irish apostle of temperance, then in Washington,
to a seat within the bar of the Senate.
To this seemingly
harmless and unimportant proposition, Mr. Clemens of Ala
bama and others interposed a furious opposition, because his
name had been appended, with that of O'Connel, to an antiIn that signature
slavery appeal to the Irishmen of America.
they detected a crime against the South which merited rebuke,
though Mr. Clay expressed the opinion that this pushing the
subject of slavery on all possible occasions was impolitic and
unwise.
Mr. Seward hoped that the Senate, by the
adoption
" if slav
of this
would
the sentiment
resolution,
ery be an error,
existence,
which
VOL.
it
and we
is its
ji.
if
express
be a crime,
that,
if it
shall not withhold
due, because
28
it
be a sin,
we
deplore
its
from virtue the meed
to
be combined in the
happens
�218
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
person of one
who
exhibits not
IN AMERICA.
more a devotion
to virtue than
to the rights of man."
Jefferson Davis, of course, opposed
" Of the horde of
the motion.
Abolitionists, foreign and do
if
I
had
the
to
exclude them all from that
mestic,
power
"
Chamber," he avowed,
I would do it."
Mr. Hale was not
with the action of Father Mathew, because, when in
vited by the Boston Abolitionists to unite with them in the
satisfied
celebration of West India emancipation, he had consented to
maintain the position of silence, and had disappointed the
But he should vote for the resolution for
friends of liberty.
After long debate, the resolution was adopted,
though eighteen Southern Senators voted against it.
In the same month, Mr. Upham of Vermont presented the
other reasons.
resolutions of that State, which declared slavery to be a crime
against humanity, only excused by the framers of the Con
stitution as a crime entailed upon the country, and tolerated
and instructed its delega
as a thing of inexorable necessity
tion to oppose the annexation of Texas, and to vote for the
The motion
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.
;
was strenuously resisted by several Southern Senators,
Mr.
Hale expressed the opinion that there was no occa
though
" There have
sion for this excitement of Southern members.
to print
been resolutions enough passed," he
make a winding-sheet
"
said,
against slavery, to
and every slaveholder in
the Union. Yet, after all, if you sift it to the bottom, you
Mr. Bor
will find very little resolution in the resolutions."
that he
remarked
a
from
Democratic
Senator
Arkansas,
land,
should despise himself if he were unexcited under such cir
cumstances.
for every slave
"
"I
argue with the robber
cannot," he said,
who meets me on
the highway and demands my purse. I
cannot consent to argue with the assassin who seeks to stab
me
I cannot argue with the midnight incendiary
stands ready to apply the torch to my dwelling."
Salmon P. Chase, who had just entered the Senate, spoke
Replying to the
briefly in favor of printing the resolution.
in the dark.
who
angry threats which had been made, and speaking for Ohio,
he said " No menace of disunion, no resolves tending toward
:
in any
disunion, no intimations of the probability of disunion,
�219
THREATS OF DISUNION.
form, will move us from the path which, in our judgment, it
is due to ourselves and the people we represent to pursue."
Mr. Clemens followed Mr. Chase in a violent speech, in
which he asserted that the Union was already dissolved. To
this singular assertion Mr. Hale good-humoredly replied, that it
would be very comforting to many timid people, with excited
nerves and trembling fears, to find that the dissolution of the
Union had taken place and they did not know it. Illustrating
" Once in
this point by a turn of pleasantry, he said
my life,
in the capacity of a justice of the peace, I was called on to
:
I
uniting a couple in the bonds of matrimony.
if he would take the woman to be his wedded
officiate in
man
asked the
He
wife.
6
replied
:
I will.
I
came here
then put the question to the
thing.'
would have the man for her husband.
I
to do that very
woman whether she
And when she an
swered in the affirmative I told them they were husband and
She looked up with apparent astonishment, and in
wife.
'
quired
Is that all
:
'
said she,
after
'
?
<
Yes,' said
<
I,
that
is
all.'
<
Well,'
not such a mighty affair as I expected it to be,
If this Union is already dissolved, it has produced
it is
all.'
commotion in the act than I expected."
The debate was one of great earnestness and
less
vigor,
and
continued several days.
On the 23d, Mr. Phelps of Vermont
Idressed the Senate in a speech of great force and eloquence.
[e reminded Senators that the
agitation they so much depretted was only the logical sequence of the Mexican war,
rhich originated in the disposition to extend the boundaries
ind power of the country, and which carried in its train ele-
might end in despoiling the Republic.
Resolutions of the legislature of Missouri were presented by
IT.
Benton.
They declared that any attempt to legislate
lents that
slavery in the District of Columbia or in the Terri
would be a violation of the Constitution, and tend to
isunion
and they pledged Missouri to co-operate with other
mthern slaveholding States in favor of any measures deemed
The resolutions, however,
tecessary to preserve the system.
[r. Benton
asserted, misrepresented the sentiments of her
linst
fies
;
jople, as
they never would be found acting in favor of dis-
�220
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
These preliminary skirmishes in both Houses revealed
the temper and tendencies of their members, and indicated
the character of the great contest upon which they had
a contest that was for months to divide and dis
entered,
tract Congress, and for years to disturb and disgrace the
union.
nation.
�CHAPTER
XIX.
NORTHERN DEFECTION.
Root's resolutions laid on the table.
Giddings's resolutions defeated.
North
Southern speeches
Debate on President's message.
Action of
Southern alarm.
of Clingman, Inge, McLane, Cabell, Brown.
Bold utterances of Northern members, Sackett, Horace
Southern legislatures.
Speeches of Ashmun and
Mann, Thaddeus Stevens, Bissell, and Fowler.
ern defection.
Causes.
"Winthrop.
THE
struggle over the election of Speaker had been marked
The slave-masters had never exhibited
by extreme violence.
more determined purpose.
men, especially among the
Whigs, betrayed marked timidity and vacillation in both their
speeches and their votes. Two or three votes especially indi
greater intolerance, audacity, or a
On the other hand, many Northern
cated with painful distinctness the rapidity with which even
Northern members were unlearning the lessons of the past,
and accepting those of the new school which was then in
Thus on the 4th of February, 1850, a motion
the ascendant.
on the table Mr. Root's resolution inhibiting slavery in
the newly acquired territory, was carried by a vote of one
hundred and five to seventy-nine, though five weeks before
the same motion was rejected; more than thirty Northern
to lay
members voting
for the motion,
and several others, though
present, declining to vote.
On
the same day likewise, Mr. Giddings offered two resolu
the first declaring that all men were created equal and
tions,
the second, that it was the duty of Congress to secure to the
;
people of all the Territories, of whatever complexion, the enjoy
ment of the inalienable rights of life and liberty. The House,
on motion of Mr. Haralson of Georgia, laid the resolutions on
the table by a majority of thirteen.
These decisive votes
settled, at least for that
Congress, the policy of slavery prohibi-
�222
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
It was evident that the Wilmot pro
was inevitably defeated, and that the policy of excluding
The Declaration of
slavery from free Territories was ended.
Independence and the ordinance of 1787 were thus disowned
and rejected by the representatives of the people. By this
latter vote it seemed as if Northern Representatives had been
tion in the Territories.
viso
thoroughly subdued. They were not only ready to yield to
Southern dictation in matters of practical legislation, but they
were prepared ignominiously to surrender their opinions,
even the time-honored opinions of the Revolution and the
Declaration.
The action on Mr. Root's proposition was certainly most ex
In little more than a month there was a change
traordinary.
of more than forty votes on substantially the same motion,
and that involving one of the most radical issues then before
Of the thirty-two Northern members who voted
the nation.
to lay the motion
on the
table,
in other words, to kill the
Wilmot
eighteen were Democrats and fourteen were
proviso,
There were twenty-seven absentees from the free
Whigs.
Some would unquestionably have voted against the
States.
motion, had they been present but charity itself was obliged
some were absent because they preferred to
the
vote.
They therefore were prepared to reverse, not
dodge
;
to believe that
only their own action, but that of the government. No longer
pleading the compromises of the Constitution as their apology,
they were prepared to assume the aggressive policy dictated by
the slave-masters, not making even the pretence of caring for
The causes of this radi
new departure of the government on the slav
The refusal of the Whig national
ery issue, were various.
convention to indorse the Wilmot proviso the timidity of the
freedom or
of laboring in its behalf.
cal change, this
;
administration, which seemed mainly anxious to evade the
question
above
;
all,
the increasing violence of the Slave Power and,
the growing demoralization of the nation under the
;
these
malign influences, at once so potent and so persistent,
were the causes of the sad and discreditable result. The na
It conse
It could not stand still.
tion would not do right.
quently became more and more pronounced in the wrong.
�NORTHERN DEFECTION.
223
inevitable that the protracted and violent contest for
Speaker, and the radical and conflicting principles and pur
poses of the contending parties, would reveal their influence in
It
was
the debates which sprang up on the motion to refer the Presi
dent's message to appropriate committees.
Thomas L. Clingfrom
a
member
North
man,
Carolina, commenced the
Whig
debate in a defiant speech in favor of the perpetuity of slavery
and the rights of slave-masters. He arraigned the North for
" its
aggressive attitude" towards the South; declared his
"
" the senseless and insane
disgust with
cry of Union, Union
;
and proclaimed that the people of the South did not love the
North well enough to become their slaves,
that God had
them
and
the
will
to
the
and
resist,
given
power
they would
take care of themselves.
He was followed by Mr. Howard of
Texas. He maintained that so much of Texas as lay north
of 36 30' should, if connected with any portion of the terri
He contended that
tory south of it, become slaveholding.
faith
to
the
South
that
the
introduction of the
good
required
principle of free soil there should be resisted.
Mr. Inge, Democratic member from Alabama, referred to
"
" the ominous
signs of discord
already apparent on the Whig
side of the House, and predicted that General Taylor, like
Actaeon, was doomed to be torn in pieces by his own hounds.
He
sarcastically
and
contemptuously proclaimed
open defiance of the South to the
Wilmot
that
the
proviso, and the
sternly expressed determination to resist it to the last ex
"
tremity and at all hazards, had awakened the
Union-loving
"
Northern Whigs, who had " with char
acteristic discretion
already abandoned it. He avowed that
the admission of California would be met by the South " with
determined and unmeasured resistance." Holding the Mis
propensities
of the
"
sissippi River, she could levy tribute
on the non-slaveholding
States seeking egress to the ocean.
Cuba, with slavery and
kindred sympathies, was ready to spring into the embrace of
the South
;
while a
field of indefinite
expansion opened invit
" With these views
ingly south and west of the Rio Grande.
of future wealth and grandeur
lighting up the path of our
" can
destiny," he inquired,
you feel that we fear to tread
it
alone?"
�224
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Robert McLane, a Democratic member from Maryland,
far in support of Southern pretensions as to fran
went so
exclaim
tically
:
"If Congress
Maryland
District of Columbia,
the same.
Her
command, and
shall
will
abolish slavery in
the
resume jurisdiction over
courts, her processes, her constables, are all at
even her militia." Though Congress had ex
clusive jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, yet, if in its
discretion it should abolish slavery, the Representative from
Baltimore insultingly declared that Maryland would resume
and that her constables and militia were ready
its jurisdiction,
Could
to enforce her authority over the Federal government.
the impotence of fanaticism and arrogant assumption go
further
?
In a similar strain Mr. Cabell, a Whig member from Florida,
gravely announced, as if he was not the single Representa
one of the weakest and most insignificant States of the
Union, that she had determined upon her course of action
" Revolu
should Congress adopt the policy of inhibition.
" and
will be the inevitable conse
he
tive of
disunion,
said,
tion,"
quence of its consummation." None, however, went so far as
Robert Toombs in the assertion of these arrogant demands.
" We have
Turning to the Northern Representatives, he said
:
the right to call on you to give your blood to maintain the
slaves of the South in bondage. Gentlemen, deceive not your
This is a proslavery
you cannot deceive others.
its
the Con
on
is
heart,
Slavery
stamped
government.
selves
;
stitution."
Albert G. Brown of Mississippi avowed that he regarded
" a
great moral, social, political, and religious blessslavery as
a blessing to the slave and a blessing to the master."
g
m
?
The outspoken Mississippian
graciously admitted, however,
that the people of the North thought slavery to be an evil,
but impudently added " Very well, think so but keep your
:
;
Mr. Savage of Tennessee violently
as the outcasts and offscourings
men
denounced antislavery
"
Others wrathfully anathematized them as a
of the earth.
to be de
pestilent set of vipers, that ought in God's name
thoughts to yourselves."
stroyed."
�NORTHERN DEFECTION.
225
varying the strain somewhat, spoke in a more
deprecating manner, and addressed their warnings to the
South.
Among them, Hilliard of Alabama warned the
South that it must make up its mind to resist the inter
" or
diction of slavery in new territories, or submit to an
"
Meade of Virginia, too,
in its institutions.
ganic change
to the policy of con
it
submitted
if
South
warned the
that,
" commence
it must
fining slavery within its present limits,
"
And this rep
forthwith the work of gradual emancipation.
resentative of that ancient and proud commonwealth did not
blush to confess that she had " a slave population of near half
a million, whose value is chiefly dependent on Southern de
Others
still,
These declarations revealed at once the temper, the
principles, and the purposes, of the representatives of the
Slave Power.
Nor were these avowals and menaces confined to the halls
Several of the Southern legislatures adopted
of Congress.
resolutions in which they made proclamation that, if Congress
mand."
prohibited slavery in the new territories, they would resist it
" at
any and every hazard." Governor George M. Troup of
Georgia denounced every opponent of slavery extension as a
and proclaimed that the dread of death would only
" That
"
dread," he said,
you must
to
him
in
a
visible
and
form."
And
he actu
present
palpable
fanatic,
stop his machinations.
"
proposed that Georgia should march upon Washington
and dissolve the government."
While many of the Representatives from Northern States
shrank timidly before these angry menaces and vituperative
ally
assaults, there
were others who maintained with
inflexible
firmness and unabated zeal the struggling cause of freedom,
and who defended the higher and better sentiments of a hu
mane and
Christian people.
Mr. Root took early occasion to
was not " a compromising man," and he could
not compromise on questions of either the Constitution or
" So
" I never
freedom.
help me God," he solemnly declared,
declare that he
He announced
to Southern Representatives that he was
opposed to any more slave territory or States;
and that they might bring the cause to trial as soon as
will."
inflexibly
VOL.
ii.
29
�226
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
they pleased, and
them.
God and
IN AMERICA.
the country must decide between
New York made an earnest plea against the
extension of slavery. Alluding to the admission which had
been made that the Mexican war had been fought at the be
"
hests of slavery, he exclaimed
What, sir, a Christian na
Mr. Sackett of
:
under the
tion,
flag of freedom, marshalling armies, sending
navies, slaughtering and to slaughter, to blot out forever the
hopes of freedom and to bury them in the unfathomable abyss
of slavery .... If the blood and treasure of the South have
!
been poured out for such a purpose, may the gaze of an indig
nant world rest upon the inhuman butchery
Friends of
!
.
.
.
.
brethren in the cause of humanity, of freedom, and of
liberty
us maintain our cause to the end
let
Let us defend
justice,
!
!
these the liberties our fathers gave us,
selves and to our children
and, when
;
secure
them
to our
we have triumphed,
as
the temples of religion and virtue, of morality and law, rise up
in the wilderness of the West, as the voice of contentment and
the chant of the free mingle with the sound of her waters, no
slave shall bewail the chains of his race, no God shall con
demn the deed we have done."
The voice, too, of Horace Mann, gave no uncertain sound.
Peerless at home as a recognized leader in the causes of edu
cation and temperance, he
was always and everywhere among
the earliest and most intrepid in his advocacy of human rights.
He followed Mr. Root, on the same day, with a speech of
rare ability and eloquence.
Alluding to a favorite boast of
Southern writers and speakers, that they would defend their
"
system at any and at every hazard," even of disunion, he
" hazards " of dissolution.
proceeded to consider some of the
Among them he dwelt upon the danger of insurrection and
when
the power and protection of the na
tional government should be removed.
Reminding the House
that " the South fosters in its homes three millions of latent
" If there is no
rebellions," he inquired,
Spartacus among
them? is the race of Nat Turners extinct?" "In ignorant
" a thousand motives work
he
and imbruted
lawless violence,
minds,"
which we cannot divine.
said,
A
thousand excitements madden
�227
NORTHERN DEFECTION.
them which we cannot
it
may
control.
It
may be
be the contents of a wine-vault
;
a text of Scripture,
but the result will be
wealth, murder wherever
the same,
havoc wherever there
there
violation wherever there is chastity.
is life,
is
Alluding to
the heroic sacrifices and feats of bravery and endurance on the
part of slaves seeking escape from bondage, he propounded the
very natural inquiry, indicating a danger from which the won
derful forbearance of the slaves, and the good providence of
God in great measure saved the sinning States " Will men
who devise such things and endure such things be balked in
:
hope and revenge when the angel of destruc
of an angel of liberty descends into their
Alluding to the event of civil war, he spoke
their purposes of
tion in the
breasts
?
form
"
" If the two sections of the
country ever mar
prophetically
and
their
shal themselves against each other,
squadrons rush
to the conflict, it will be a war carried on by such powers of
:
animated by such vehemence of passion, and
tained by such an abundance of resources, as the world
never before known." He closed his speech on slavery in
Territories with these words, which excited much remark,
intellect,
sus
has
the
and
were often made the occasion of bitter reproach and charges
" Such is
of disloyalty
my solemn and abiding conviction of
:
the character of slavery, that, under a full sense of
my respon
country and my God, I deliberately say, Better
disunion, better a civil and servile war, better anything that
God in his providence shall send, than an extension of the
my
sibility to
boundaries of slavery."
Thaddeus Stevens also
made
similar reply in a speech of
To Meade's humiliat
merciless severity and biting sarcasm.
ing confession that the value of Virginia's slaves was chiefly
dependent upon a Southern market, he said it meant that
Virginia was now only fit to be the breeder, and not the em
that " she is reduced to the condition that
of slaves
ployer,
;
her proud chivalry are compelled to turn slave-traders for a
livelihood
that, instead of attempting to renovate the soil,
;
and by their own honest labor compel the earth
to yield her
abundance, instead of seeking for the best breed of cattle and
horses to feed on her hills and valleys and fertilize the land,
�228
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the sons of that great State must devote their time to select
ing and growing the most lusty sires and the most fruitful
wenches to supply the slave-barracoons of the South." Clingman had boastfully threatened that the South would hold and
defend Washington that it was slaveholding territory, and
Referring to this braggart
they did not intend to lose it.
"
We have had a most alarming descrip
boast, Stevens said
tion of the prowess of the South.
We have heard their can
;
:
non
roar, seen their bayonets bristle, heard the war-cry of the
charging chivalry, and seen their bowie-knives gleam within
gentleman from
North Carolina." He denounced slaveholding in the United
States as the most grinding and absolute despotism the world
had ever seen, and held the people of the North who fas
tened iron chains and riveted manacles upon their fellowmen " as despots, such as history will brand and God abhor "
and he declared that any " Northern man, enlightened by a
Northern education, who would, directly or indirectly, by
this hall, in the vivid picture of the terrible
;
omission or commission, by basely voting or cowardly skulk
ing, permit it to spread over one rood of God's free earth, is
a traitor to liberty and recreant to his God."
William H. Bissell, then a Democratic Representative from
Illinois,
afterward the
first
Republican governor of that State,
spoke also earnestly and vigorously in reply to these South
ern menaces of disunion. He said that their complaints were
"
wholly groundless, or exceedingly trivial," and that, if they
had not the slavery question as a plausible pretext for their
disunion designs, they would " hunt for such a pretext else
where, or invent one." Mr. Seddon of Virginia, afterward
Secretary of War in the Southern Confederacy, had asserted
when the " troops of the North " gave way at a critical
moment at Buena Yista, the Mississippi regiment " snatched
that,
victory
from the jaws
of defeat."
This unfounded claim, so
vauntingly put forth, Colonel Bissell, who commanded an
He
Illinois regiment in that battle, unequivocably denied.
"
this
claim
whom
affirmed that
the Mississippi regiment, for
is thus gratuitously set up, was not within a mile and a half
of the scene of action, nor
had
it
as yet fired a
gun or drawn
�229
NORTHERN DEFECTION.
"
a trigger ; and that the troops which there met and resisted
" 2d
the enemy were the
Kentucky, 2d Illinois, and a portion
This blank and positive
Illinois
1st
of the
regiments."
denial brought a challenge from Jefferson Davis ; but it did
not evoke either a retraction or an apology from the Illinois
colonel.
Four days after Mr. Webster's speech against reaffirming
an ordinance of nature or re-enacting the will of God, Orrin
Fowler, a Whig Representative from Massachusetts, made a
speech, boldly enunciating and defending the fundamental
con
principles and paramount claims of right and justice,
A
science and Christianity.
Congregational clergyman, he
carried to the halls of Congress the same deference to truth
he had inculcated from the sacred desk. He condemned the
extension of slavery, on the ground of its sinfulness, because
to the rights of
would be " a wrong done to humanity,
" Between
and
of
to
the
friends
doing
humanity."
humanity
wrong and suffering wrong," he avowed that true patriots
it
would not hesitate to choose the latter alternative and that
" the
sting of self-reproach and the consciousness of wrong
"
to him
doing would imbitter what remains of mortal life
;
who should
aid or consent to this extension of slavery.
While Southern men were violent and vituperative, and a
few Northern men were true to their convictions and firm in
their defence of the truth and of their section, there were
those from the free States who spoke timidly and with too
many reservations in behalf of opinions they had heretofore
maintained.
Among them was Mr. Ashmun of Massachu
a
man
of
setts,
talent, forensic brilliancy, and practical sa
He
gacity.
spoke in terms of unmeasured condemnation of
the dead issues, berated the government for the folly, wicked
ness, and inevitable consequences of the Mexican war, made
" a weak
sister republic," in which " we expended one
upon
hundred millions of dollars, throwing in, by way of small
change, ten thousand American lives," depicted, as few could,
the sad results already upon them, and set home the re
" But the soil
sponsibility where it belonged.
acquired," he
" was not
American
it
moistened
blood
with
said,
merely
;
�230
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
was sown thick with quickly springing dragons' teeth. For
hardly have the shouts of victory from Buena Vista and the
palaces of the Montezumas died away, and the bugle of truce
sounded the notes of
recall to our squadrons, hardly
eagles folded their returning wings,
when our
have our
ears are pierced
shrieks, within our own borders, of discord, dissension, and
disunion, and threatened civil war."
When, however, he
came to speak of Mr. Webster's speech, his admiration of its
author was far more manifest than his censure of its treach
by
With much adulation, the severest condemnation he
could pronounce was that, while there may have been in it
some conclusions to which his own way was not exactly clear,
ery.
yet in the spirit in which he spoke he most cordially and heart
concurred. " Whether my difference with him," he said,
ily
"
of the points involved is not more seeming than
substantial, I leave for others to decide ; but of one thing I
upon any
am sure,
my mouth
tongue shall sooner cling to the roof of
than
join in the temporary clamor which
malignity has raised against him."
On the 23d of April, Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts made
my
that
it shall
a very able and adroit speech, in which he attempted to rec
oncile his former votes in favor of the Wilmot proviso with
and new departure he was about to adopt.
in behalf of
Ostensibly, and, no doubt, sincerely, he spoke
" I am
"
he
One
said,
tie, however,"
patriotism and union.
the
new
policy
persuaded, still remains to us
union of these States, and a
fice
a
all,
common
common
devotion to the
determination to sacri
Our respon
its preservation.
This vast republic, stretching
outgrowing everything but our
everything but principle to
sibilities
from sea
are, indeed,
to sea,
great.
and rapidly
that it receives
affections, looks anxiously to us to take care
no detriment. Nor is it too much to say that the eyes and
hearts of the friends of constitutional freedom throughout the
more eagerly
world are at this moment turned eagerly here
than ever before
to behold an example of successful repub
lican
and
institutions,
to
see
triumphantly from the fiery
subjected."
them come out
trial
to
safely
and
which they are now
�CHAPTER XX.
COMPROMISE MEASURES OP
United States Senate.
Foote's resolutions.
1850.
Hale's amendment.
Fugitive
Clay's eight reso
Speech of Mr. Cass.
Mr. Cass's speech.
Jefferson Davis.
Foote's protest.
lutions.
Speeches
Calhoun's
Bell's resolutions.
of Clay, Houston, Berrien, and Benton.
His defection.
"Webster's 7th of March speech.
Considered.
speech read.
President's message.
Slave Act.
Occasions great disappointment.
His course.
the sharp and protracted struggle in the House on
the question of the Speakership, the extreme opinions advanced
THOUGH
in the speeches of Southern men, and the sudden and alarming
changes in the votes of Northern members, had attracted the
deep attention of the country, the great interest of the nation
was concentrated on the Senate.
The presence
in that body
and
ability,
long experience
in public affairs, naturally excited in the minds of the people a
desire to learn the views they entertained and the policy they
of so
many men
of age,
eminent
proposed to pursue.
On the 27th of December, Mr. Foote introduced a resolution
to be the duty of Congress to provide Territorial
governments for California, Deseret, and New Mexico.
declaring
it
A
later, Mr. Hale offered an amendment securing to
the inhabitants of these Territories those privileges and liber
few days
guaranteed to the citizens of the Northwest by the ordi
nance of 1787. To Mr. Foote's remark that he was opposed to
ties
" the
yoke of the Wilmot proviso on the necks of free
" would
Mr.
Hale
men,'
replied that he too
keep the yoke off
the necks of the people."
putting
'
On the 4th of January, 1850, Mr. Mason of Virginia intro
duced into the Senate a bill to carry out more effectually the
provision of the Constitution in relation to fugitives from ser
vice or labor, and asked thereon a speedy report from the
�232
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Committee on the Judiciary. This was the famous Fugitive
Slave Act, which was subsequently adopted, and which excited
On the 16th of the same
feeling in the free States.
Mr.
Benton
introduced
a
bill
to reduce the boundaries
month,
the
State
of
of
Texas to an area of one hundred and fifty
thousand square miles. On the same day, Mr. Foote intro
so
much
duced a
bill providing Territorial governments for California,
Deseret, and New Mexico; and for the formation of a new
In
State, with the consent of Texas, to be called Jacinto.
bill he spoke with great vehemence, and con
unmeasured terms, not only the people of the free
States, but Mr. Benton, whom he characterized as the Catiline
" the leader who had scattered confusion and
of the Senate,
support of his
demned
in
He
discord through the Democratic ranks."
his bill as treason to the South, because
the agitation of the
Wilmot proviso
it
also characterized
would open again
in regard to a portion of
which had been secured by the annexation reso
Texas,
He closed with a vehement invective against Mr.
lution.
Benton, who, he said, was more responsible than any man,
living or dead, for the then present unhappy state of things.
On the 21st of January, the President sent a message to
all of
Congress in reply to a resolution calling for information. In
he made the statement that, in the absence of legislative
authority, he had not felt authorized to disturb the arrange
ment entered into by his predecessor, Mr. Polk that he had
it
;
wish that they
their
in
respective con
might express their unbiassed desires
that, being admitted
stitutions, to be submitted to Congress
under such constitutions, the agitating questions could be qui
freely
communicated to the two Territories
his
;
etly settled
and peace restored and that the rejection of the
California for any reason outside of herself
;
application of
would be an invasion of her rights. On the next day, a me
morial was presented from the legislative council of Deseret
Both it and Mr. Foote's reso
for admission into the Union.
on Territories.
Committee
lution were referred to the
On the same day, Mr. Cass, the defeated Democratic can
didate for the Presidency in 1848, made a very able speech,
Its sentiments, his high
which attracted much attention.
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
233
1850.
and the government, and the com
position in both the party
time of party leaders with the rank
that
at
influence
manding
He stigmatized the reso
contributed to this result.
" an abstract
as
Foote
Mr.
lution introduced by
one, calling
He opposed Mr. Hale's amend
for no actual legislation."
and
file,
ment, maintained that
pedient, and avowed
it
was both unconstitutional and inex
his purpose to take no part in placing
on the statute-books. He had, how
"
that " barren
proviso
of his State to vote
ever, been instructed by the legislature
himself.
As he recog
it
to
for the
measure, though opposed
nized the right of instructions, he found himself in the dilem
ma of being compelled either to vote against the instructions
of his State or the convictions of his judgment, or to resign
He avowed his purpose to choose the
his seat in Congress.
"
and I am required
the time comes," he said,
to vote upon this measure as a practical one, I shall know how
to reconcile my duty to the legislature with my duty to myself,
latter.
"When
I can no longer fulfil."
the 29th of January, Mr. Clay presented a series of eight
resolutions, as the basis of what he called a compromise for
by surrendering a trust
On
the settlement of pending issues that were distracting and dis
turbing the country. The resolutions proposed to admit Cali
fornia without reference to slavery; to establish Territorial
governments without any restriction or condition to fix the
;
western boundary of Texas on the Rio Grande to provide for
the payment of the debt of Texas to a limited amount, on con
;
dition that she should relinquish her claim to any part of New
Mexico ; to declare it inexpedient to abolish slavery in the
District of
Columbia; to prohibit the introduction of slaves
into the District to be sold as merchandise or transported to
other markets to make more effectual provision for the recov
and to declare that Congress has no
ery of fugitive slaves
to
or
obstruct
the domestic slave-trade between
power
prohibit
;
;
the States.
Mr. Clay prefaced the presentation of his resolutions by
saying that they proposed an amicable arrangement of all
questions in controversy between the free and slave States.
He then admitted that there had been some irregularity in
VOL. n.
30
�234
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
adopting the constitution of California, as no enabling act had
been passed but that this condition precedent had been dis
pensed with in the case of Michigan, and might be again. He
;
maintained that slavery did not exist in the
territory acquired
from Mexico
legislation, it
and that, from causes entirely independent of
was not likely to exist there. Texas, he main
;
had " a plausible claim to portions of New Mexico "
and he asserted that " honor, justice, and truth " to her cred
tained,
itors required the
assumption of her debts.
He was
;
opposed
to the abolition of slavery in the
District, without the consent
of Maryland and of the people of the
District, and without
compensation.
By the abolition of the slave-trade it was not
intended to prevent the traffic among its inhabitants but to
prevent the slave-trader of other places from coming into the
District " to establish his jails and
put on his chains, and
sometimes to shock the sensibilities of our nature by a long
;
train of slaves passing through that avenue
the residence of the chief magistrate."
from the Capitol
to
Repeating the remark that he had bestowed upon the sub
" the most
anxious, intensely anxious consideration," he
ject
" a
claimed that his
of mutual
was founded
upon
plan
spirit
He
thought the North should
be willing to make greater sacrifices than could be required of
the South.
And why ? " he asked. " With you, gentlemen
An abstraction, a
Senators of the free States, what is it?
conciliation
and concession."
a sentiment, if you please, of humanity and phi
but
a sentiment without danger, hazard, or loss.
lanthropy,
How is it on the other side ? In the first place, there is an
sentiment,
almost incalculable amount of property to be sacrificed.
besides, the social intercourse, habits, safety,
is at
life,
And,
everything
hazard."
Though he had invoked calm and
careful consideration, a
sharp debate at once sprung up. Mr. Foote entered an imme
diate protest, because he said the resolutions only declared it
im
and because they
" in
asserted that slavery " did not now exist
the Mexican
"
was not likely to go there." But he was someterritory and
"inexpedient" to abolish slavery in the
"
"
plying that Congress had the
power
District, thereby
;
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
what
mollified
1850.
235
by the resolution recommending more stringent
and to that
saw but one
of fugitive slaves,
legislation for the recovery
his
he gave
hearty approval. Mr. Mason, too,
He deeply regretted
resolution he could heartily approve.
in
that Territory.
It
not
exist
did
the admission that slavery
conceded the whole question at once that the Southern people
could not go into the Territories and take their slave property
with them. He avowed his purpose never to assent to that
proposition.
In his dissent, Jefferson Davis revealed both his
fundamen
also
of the phi
and
much
tal ideas upon the subject of slavery,
losophy of the great Rebellion in which he subsequently bore
He
opposed the resolutions because they
Mr.
Calhoun in 1838 which affirmed
by
that any act abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia
would be a violation of the faith implied in its cession by the
" Twelve
States of Virginia and Maryland.
years," he said,
"
only have elapsed yet this brief period has swept away even
so prominent a part.
ignored those offered
;
the remembrance of principles then deemed necessary to secure
the safety of the Union.
are called upon to receive this
as a measure of compromise.
Is a measure in which we of
We
the minority are to receive nothing a measure of compromise ?
I look upon it as but a modest mode of taking that the claim
to
which has been more boldly asserted by others.
assert that never will I take less than the Missouri
I here
compro
mise line extended to the ocean, with the specific recognition
and that before
of the right to hold slaves below that line
;
such Territories are admitted as States, slaves may be taken
there from any of the United States, at the option of their
owners."
In reply, Mr. Clay expressed his regret that Mr. Davis
should declare, as his ultimatum, the extension of the Mis
souri compromise line to the Pacific, and a positive provision
for the admission of slavery south of that line. He made, too,
this admission, remarkable as coming from a slaveholder, and
remarkable for
sharp contrast with the position that the
Northern Democrats and many Northern Whigs were about to
"
adopt
Coming from a slave State, I owe it to myself, I owe
:
its
�236
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
to truth, I
owe
could induce
me
it
IN AMERICA.
to the subject, to say that no earthly power
to vote for a specific measure for the intro
it
duction of slavery where it had not before existed, either south
or north of that line.
While you reproach, and justly too, our
British ancestors for the introduction of this institution on the
continent of America, I am, for one, unwilling that the pos
terity of the present inhabitants of California and New Mexico
same thing which we reproach
Great Britain for doing to us."
Mr. Davis replied sharply, insisting that after what had
taken place the question should be put at rest by declaring
shall reproach us for doing the
that south of the line of the Missouri compromise slavery
should be permitted by law.
On
the 5th of February, the Senate proceeded to the consid
Mr. Clay spoke for two days, skil
eration of the resolution.
fully expatiating on the perils of the hour, enunciating his
grand plan of compromise, and prescribing his sovereign pana
"
of "the endangered and
cea for the " fire-gaping wounds
He was warmly applauded by the listen
bleeding country."
and
crowded
Senate
the
auditory that filled the chamber,
ing
and galleries.
Mr. Houston of Texas, though a Southern man who had
done much to strengthen slavery, extend its bounds, and in
crease its power, had failed to indorse all the wild schemes of
lobbies,
the propagandists
;
and
for this he
had been taunted with
In a speech, near the be
dereliction of duty to his section.
his questioned fealty, and
of
vindicated
the
he
debate,
ginning
claimed that his patriotism embraced the whole country. He
expressed the wish, if the Union must be dismembered, that its
He desired no
ruins might be the monument of his grave.
epitaph written to tell that he survived the ruins of the Union.
Mr. Berrien endeavored to establish the invalidity of the
Mexican decree abolishing slavery, and the unconstitutionality
of any attempt on the part of Congress to exclude it from the
Territorial possessions of the United States.
Concerning the
return of fugitive slaves, he took the advanced position that it
would, in all probability, before a great lapse of time, become
a question how far the Congress of the United States is or is
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
237
1850.
does not provide ample means for their
restoration, to make compensation for such as could not
be recovered.
Professing the warmest attachment to the
not obliged,
if
it
Union, which was undoubtedly sincere, he closed by an
expression of his readiness to bow to the will and share the
" I
fortunes of the people of Georgia.
cannot," he said,
"
from
a
and
gallant
patriotic people, the
separate myself
protectors of my infancy, and those who have in manhood ex
tended to me a generous and unwavering support, which com
mands
my gratitude. Beneath the soil of Georgia
my parents and my children repose, and there
all
ashes of
my own must
shortly rest.
Whether
the
too
in weal or woe, the lot
mine."
Mr. Benton, on the other hand, defended the validity of the
decrees of Mexico abolishing slavery.
Citing authorities, full,
of her people shall be
clear,
and unanswerable, he established beyond
all cavil
that
slavery had been abolished in California and New Mexico be
that nobody could carry slaves into them
fore their acquisition
;
Mexican laws ; and that slavery could
not exist there except by positive law thereafter to be passed.
On the 28th, John Bell, a Whig Senator from Tennessee,
presented a series of resolutions as a basis of compromise. It
to be held under the
was immediately moved by Mr. Foote
to refer the resolutions
committee of thirteen,
six members to be select
ed from the North and six from the South, and one to be
chosen by the twelve,
for the purpose of maturing a com
to a select
promise for the adjustment of all the pending differences
growing out of the institution of slavery.
The debate continued for months. The country was deeply
moved. In the halls of Congress, in the legislatures of the
States, and through the press, the issues at stake received a
most thorough and critical examination. The legislatures of
the free States, excepting Iowa, had adopted resolutions in
favor of the
Wilmot
proviso, while the slave States, excepting
Delaware, had adopted those against it. The issues were thus
The expectation
clearly denned and distinctly presented.
that Calhoun and Webster were to address the Senate and the
country upon topics which had become the general themes of
�238
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
conversation aroused expectation and intensified the prevail
ing excitement.
On
the 4th of March, a speech prepared by Mr. Calhoun
was read by Mr. Mason, the former being too feeble to deliver
His eminence as a public man, his intense devo
it himself.
tion to slavery, his extreme opinions touching the rights of
the States, his illness, betokening the near approach of death,
invested his words with special gravity and importance.
Though
the hand of mortal disease was upon him, and he was
month, this effort was marked with his usual
to die within the
characteristics of thought and language, leaving none to doubt
the meaning of his last vindication of the South, his last in
dictment of the North.
He began by the expression of a
belief, which he had long entertained, that the agitation of the
He said that the
question of slavery would end in disunion.
country had been brought to confront the greatest and gravest
How can the Union be preserved ? There was, he
" universal
" universal discon
declared,
discontent," and that
"
tent
had not been caused by demagogues or political parties,
question
:
as the tendency of demagogues and parties, powerful as they
There was something
are, had been to keep everything quiet.
deeper and more potent, and that was the prevailing belief
" with
that the South could not remain in the Union
safety
and honor."
That
belief,
he maintained, had been caused by
and the loss of the equilibrium
this long-continued agitation,
between the free and the slave States.
He
then went into a mi
nute calculation of the growing disparity between Northern and
Southern States, and drew most gloomy conclusions from his
horoscope of the future. That disparity had been occasioned,
he affirmed, partly by natural causes and partly by hostile
The ordinance of 1787, the Missouri compromise,
the exclusion of slavery from Oregon, the systems of revenue
and disbursement, and the growing centralization of power,
legislation.
had given the North a decided ascendency
ment
of the
in every depart
In his view, this Northern prepon
government.
derance threatened serious evils to the South. He traced the
" now the fanatical
agitation from small beginnings, till
"
has become an object of courtship to both
party," he said,
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
1850.
239
He
strenuously opposed Mr. Clay's plan
of adjustment, and sharply criticised the policy of the admin
istration, charging it with having accepted the non-interven
the great parties."
tion platform of its opponents.
Disunion, he asserted, would not come by a single blow it
must be the work of time. But it had already begun, and
some cords had been snapped. The Methodist and Baptist
denominations had already divided the Presbyterian denomi
nation had not been entirely broken, but some strands that
bound it had given way. The Episcopal Church alone re
mained unbroken. The disruption of political parties would
That remedy was not
follow, unless remedies were applied.
;
;
found in eulogies on the glorious Union, not by invok
name of Washington, not by the compromise
ing
measures of Mr. Clay, and not by the policy of the admin
to be
the
The North had only to will it, and it could save
"
the Union
by conceding to the South an equal right in the
acquired territory, by causing the stipulations in regard to
istration.
fugitive slaves to be faithfully fulfilled,"
by ceasing to agi~
and by supporting an amendment of
the Constitution " which will restore to the South in substance
tate the slave question,
the power she possessed of protecting herself before the equi
librium between the sections was destroyed by the action of
this
government."
maintained that,
He
if
to settle the difficulties
the stronger section could' not agree
between the sections on the broad
principles of justice, they should let the States separate and
If the men of the North were
part in peace.
opposed to such
peaceful separation, they should say so ; and then the South
would know what to do when the controversy was reduced to
the question of " submission or resistance."
If the North re
and California was admitted, the South would
be compelled, he said, " to infer that you intend to exclude
us from the whole of the acquired territory, with the intention
mained
silent,
of destroying irretrievably the
equilibrium between the two
sections.
would be blind not to perceive, in that case,
that your real objects are power and
aggrandizement, and in
We
fatuated not to act accordingly."
�240
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Singular, extravagant, and even wild, as were these posi
tions and the proposed conditions of peace of the great states
man, he was more consistent than were some of his critics.
There was, at least, " method in his madness."
Even his
extreme opinions were but logical deductions from the princi
ple admitted
by the framers of the Constitution, that the
had
determined to continue under the new gov
slavery they
ernment they were forming must be protected and guarded
Hence the
against the natural exigencies of such a system.
provisions to suppress servile insurrections and to return the
escaping fugitive. Mr. Calhoun's demand was the application
of a similar principle to new exigencies he was beginning to
He saw
that, in spite of the compromises, in spite,
too, of the almost
unquestioned ascendency with which the
discover.
Power had
controlled the government for more than
a
half
century, the slave States were passing, by the operation
The waste, ma
of nature's laws, into a hopeless minority.
Slave
terial,
were
mental and moral, and the blasting presence of slavery
telling upon them, as, though starting side by side with
the free States, they were falling signally behind in the race
of life. To compensate for these losses, to preserve the equi
librium which these laws were constantly tending to disturb,
he proposed the violent remedy of an amendment of the Con
stitution to restore by arbitrary enactment what the laws of
nature and Providence were ever tending to destroy.
Of course, it was a natural and proper reply that, whatever
of the Constitution required, it did not
and
the
spirit
logic
demand concessions
so violent
promised much, too much,
it
and humiliating.
did not promise that.
Though
it
It did, in
North or South, to take
up arms, if called upon, against the heroic bondmen who,
driven to madness by oppression, should rise against their
a service, and
oppressors, however degrading and galling such
however contrary to the convictions of justice and the better
deed, pledge every
American
citizen,
did not promise or pledge that
all should join in this crusade against the natural laws of mat
ter and mind, agree to make up for the waste which slavery
promptings of the soul
;
but
it
always occasioned, and endeavor to restore the equilibrium
it
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
241
1850.
was ever tending to destroy. That was not " nominated in
"
the bond
and, however logical and necessary were Mr. Cal;
houn's demands, he could not urge in their behalf the ever" the
compromises of the Constitution." That
present plea of
the foremost statesman of the South saw no other help or
ground of hope revealed the fearful straits of the system he
would conserve, and the sad plight of the nation which had
incorporated it as a recognized element of the body politic.
Subsequent events, however, have shown that the most farseeing and the most sensitive to national guilt and danger had
then but very imperfect conceptions of the magnitude of the
evil that burdened the land, and of the fearful peril that hung
over
It
it.
was certainly a remarkable circumstance
that, in the
hour
Web
of strife, the three aged statesmen, Clay, Calhoun, and
ster, associated in the public mind for more than a third of a
century as orators and leaders of commanding power and in
members of the Senate. Clay
fluence, should have then been
and Calhoun had spoken, and their words had been flashed
through the land to inspire some and dishearten others. The
friends of liberty, who were maintaining a fearful contest for
the preservation of principles underlying the institutions of
their country, had received from them nothing to encourage,
but everything to alarm.
All eyes were now turned toward Mr. Webster.
claimed the Wilmot proviso as his "thunder" and,
;
He had
when
it
had been voted down, in its application to the Mexican acqui
sition, he had characterized the vote refusing its application to
le
territory acquired
from Mexico as " ominous, portentous."
He had
written, too, to friends in Massachusetts that he ininded to ask Southern men to file their specifications, and
low wherein the North had failed to
fulfil its
constitutional
and had expressed his purpose to meet charges of
>ad faith and aggression, when made.
He had consulted with
Toshua R. Giddings, Thaddeus Stevens, and other antislavery
)bligations,
lembers, touching his course of action had given them to
inderstand that he would sustain by speech and vote their
;
loctrines of opposition to slavery extension
VOL.
II.
3J
and domination,
�242
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and had received from them assurances that by so doing he
would endear himself to the friends of freedom, and that they
would gladly follow his lead. " He even submitted," says Mr.
"
Giddings in his History of the Rebellion, the skeletpn of his
speech to the inspection of one or more leaders of that party,
who pronounced
it satisfactory, and Free-Soilers
anticipated
that he would lend his influence in favor of carrying forward
the great moral enterprise of redeeming the nation from the
thraldom of human bondage." But rumors were rife that he
was even then wavering under the pressure of the hour and
the compromisers were beginning to hope that he was to
;
prove faithless to these pledges and to those afforded by his
former acts and recorded opinions.
The 7th
March came, and with it the speech so anxiously
The Senate chamber and all the avenues leading
of
expected.
it were thronged with an eager auditory.
Commencing his
speech with great dignity and solemnity of manner, in words
to
of forceful eloquence, which none knew better how to choose,
"
he alluded to the " strong agitations and the " very consid
"
of the fearful tempest then raging, in which
erable dangers
"the imprisoned winds are let loose," and "the East, the
West, the North, and the stormy South all combine to throw
the whole ocean into commotion, to toss
skies,
and
disclose its profoundest depths."
its
billows to the
Claiming to speak
from the impulses of a patriotic heart, he challenged the atten
"
" I
tion of his countrymen.
speak to-day," he said, for the
Hear me for my cause.
preservation of the Union.
He passed rapidly over the events that had transpired from
the declaration of war against Mexico to the unanimous adop
'
tion
by California
'
'
of its constitution excluding slavery.
This
he regarded as the main cause of the existing agitation, inas
much as one of the first fruits of a war provoked in the inter
ests of slavery was this Territory, clamoring for admission as
a free State.
He
then went into an historical view of slavery,
and reverted to the recent disruption of the ecclesiastical ties
That result he regret
of some of the leading denominations.
men
could be found, he
because
ted, and considered needless,
"
And
on
both
sides."
equally sincers and virtuous
thought,
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
243
1850.
it was obvious there was occasion for
the religious element of the strife.
from
grave apprehension
yet he maintained that
He
alluded to the public sentiment at the time of the adoption
of the Constitution, when there was little difference of senti
ment between the North and the South, both deeming slavery a
political evil, as was clearly shown by the ordinance
But a great change had taken place, both North and
of 1787.
" the Christian in
South.
Slavery, he said, had now become
moral and
stitution,
no
evil,
no scourge, but a great
The age
and moral blessing
of
social, religious,
cotton became the
Kef erring to the
golden age of our Southern brethren."
charge made by Mr. Calhoun that the political power was in
made this singular admission,
the purpose of his speech
considering
certainly very singular
" It has acted
and
kindly, or weakly for they
very liberally
the hands of the North, he
:
;
five times in the history of the
the
adoption of the Constitution the
government."
of
have
been under Southern lead."
the country
politics
have not exercised that power
u
From
He
averred that measures avowedly in the interest of slav
ery were carried through Congress because the Democratic
In
party, North and South, made slavery a test of fealty.
this,
and thus
far,
Mr. Webster seemed to be consistent
self, although he had already laid down
which
were to constitute the point of his new
propositions
departure on that unexpected and returnless voyage for
which, to the great grief of former friends, he that day
with his former
changed his course.
Having maintained that they were bound to carry out in
good faith that act of the government he had so steadily
" the
opposed and severely characterized, which had doomed
"
illimitable
Texas
to
and
that every foot of
vast,
slavery
;
land in the United States was then fixed by some irrepealable
law as free or slave territory, he was prepared, on these assump
tions as premises, to take his new position.
He gratuitously
volunteered his opinion that the government was bound to
divide Texas into four slaveholding States as soon as Congress
could be brought to a vote, without being very careful as to the
number of inhabitants. Believing slavery to be excluded by
�244
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
New Mexico, he said he
"
it would be
because
would not vote
idle, a
exclusion,
"
would not
taunt to our Southern brethren," and because he
reaffirm a law of nature," " nor re-enact the will of God." This
point he stated and reiterated in various forms of expression
the laws of nature in California and
for its
and with very emphatic utterance. He then alluded to the
grievances of which the two sections complained, and of which
he thought they had reason to complain. Among the causes
of Southern discontent and complaint was the unwillingness
of the people of the North to execute promptly and heartily
the law for the rendition of fugitive slaves. " The South,"
he said, " has been injured in this respect, and has a right to
"
"
was and had been that
complain." Though his judgment
the duty of returning fugitive slaves belonged to the "States,"
yet, in deference to a contrary opinion of the
Supreme Court
he should support the Fugitive Slave Act, then before the
" with
He
provisions, to its fullest extent."
"
not
fanatical
carried
called upon all,
idea," to
away by any
"
"
a question of morals" and
a question of
do the same, as
conscience." Another cause of Southern complaint he avowed
Senate,
all its
to be the action of Northern legislatures
upon the subject
of
He
not only condemned the practice, but volun
slavery.
teered the expression of his purpose not to heed any instruc
tions
from that source.
Abolition societies were also declared
to be a cause of complaint.
not " useful," but tending to
Such
make
societies
he condemned as
the chains of slavery more
galling.
Of the grounds of Northern complaint he specified only two,
the change in the Southern mind on the subject of slavery,
and the imprisonment of Northern colored seamen in Southern
He alluded to the mission of Samuel Hoar of Massa
ports.
chusetts to South Carolina, to test in the courts the constitu
tionality of the law of that State imprisoning colored seamen
;
but he had no word of rebuke for the outrage committed on
that venerable man, eminent alike for his personal worth and
legal attainments.
And
even his brief references to the im
seamen and the outrage on Mr.
of Massachusetts
prisonment
Hoar were not spoken in the Senate, nor were they printed in
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
245
1850.
the papers south of New England.
They were either strangely
of sufficient importance, or they were
deemed
not
or
forgotten,
left out by design.
They were, however, interlined, in his own
his speech, and sent by the^
handwriting, in a revised copy of
Harvey, to General William
"
Atlas," in which paper
Schouler, then editor of the Boston
the speech, as amended, first appeared.
After an eloquent portrayal of the evils of disunion, the im
hand
of his intimate friend, Peter
possibility of peaceful secession,
and the
fearful responsibility
with an ex
resting upon Congress to avert such a calamity,
fair
a
at
price, a por
pression of his willingness to purchase,
tion of Northern Texas for the organization of a free State,
and to vote for an appropriation for the colonization of free
persons of color, he closed with one of his grand perorations,
It was a speech
resplendent with both thought and diction.
of truth,
friends
on
the
it
fell
and
of masterly power
heavily
odds for
fearful
justice, and freedom, then battling against
their maintenance and supremacy.
Disappointed and grieved
by his sudden defection, thousands who had loved, honored,
and followed him as a trusted leader, now with indignant
hearts left him in the hands of his new-found friends, who
had won to the service of the Slave Power his great name, his
exalted position and rare gifts of eloquence,
afterward to be
ungratefully repaid with neglect and forgetfulness.
In estimating the causes of this sudden and disastrous
change in his course, it must be borne in mind that Mr. Web
ster was among the recognized aspirants for the Presidency.
His commanding talents and large public service justified
both the desire and the hope that the country would deem
him worthy of that elevation.
It is known, too, that he
had felt keenly his failure to secure the nomination of 1848.
He had also the growing conviction, as he mournfully ex
;
" no
pressed it, that there was
North," and that the South
alone was in earnest.
At his time of life, too, he might natu
rally expect that the
coming election would afford him his
last
In this state of mind, the flattering assurances of
Southern men exerted an undue influence, and persuaded him
chance.
to enter
upon a path in a direction contrary to
all
the teach-
�246
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
ings and practices of his previous life.
Reconciling him fur
ther to this change were his apprehensions of the disastrous
consequences of further disregard of Southern demands. He
had become convinced that the South must be pacified. He
was a true patriot, he loved the Union, and had gained a na
The " great expounder
tional reputation as its sturdy defender.
of the Constitution
consent,
"
was the
which he had, by common
seemed, too, to have
than most the true construction of
title
nobly won and worn.
He
comprehended more fully
the state, gauged more accurately the great and grave dangers
which threatened the Republic, and weighed more carefully the
" I
fearful consequences which must follow its disruption.
have not accustomed myself," he said, in the impassioned and
" to
hang
impressive peroration of his great reply to Hayne,
over the precipice of disunion, to see whether with my short
Beyond that I seek not
sight I can fathom the depth below.
to penetrate the veil.
that curtain
may
God grant that in my day, at
God grant that on my
not rise
!
least,
vision
When my eyes shall
be opened what lies behind
be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may
I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments
never
may
!
of a once glorious
belligerent
may
;
Union
;
on States dissevered, discordant,
on a land rent with
"
be, with fraternal blood
!
civil feuds, or
drenched,
it
�CHAPTER XXI.
ACTION IN
Mr.
"Wilson's resolutions.
tions.
MASSACHUSETTS.
Mr. Hillafd's resolutions.
State mass convention at Faneuil Hall.
Mr. Hopkins's resolu
Address and resolutions
Kemarks by Palfrey, Wilson, Hopkins,
and
Branning's
Hopkins's resolutions.
Keyes.
Adams,
Webb,
Phillips,
Eemarks of Schouler, Boutwell, Stone, Lawrence, Wilson,
amendment.
Debate in the
Resolutions adopted by the House.
Kimball, and Earle.
Resolutions amended and passed.
Senate.
Meeting in Faneuil Hall.
Debate
Mr. Wilson's resolution.
Petitions to instruct Mr. Webster.
reported by Kichard H. Dana, Jr.
thereon.
Resolutions defeated.
exacting demands of Southern legislatures and jour
nals, with the purposes and plans disclosed by Southern
The
leaders in Congress, excited grave apprehensions.
THE
saw the necessity of arousing the people
and sustain their representatives in the
stern strife in which they found themselves already involved.
On the llth of January, Mr. Wilson of Natick introduced into
friends of freedom
to at once stimulate
the legislature of Massachusetts resolutions declaring slavery
to be a crime against humanity and a sin against God, and
that its immediate abolition was the first and highest duty of
every government under which it existed.
Slavery was de
clared a mere local institution
and Congress was invoked to
repeal all laws which sanctioned it, and the Massachusetts
;
Senators and Representatives were called upon to vote for all
measures that would absolve the people from responsibility
for its existence.
They were referred to a joint committee.
No
report being made by that committee, Mr. Wilson, on the
4th of February, introduced an order instructing the Commit
tee on the Judiciary to report forthwith a resolution declaring
was unalterably opposed to any compro
mise with slavery, and instructing her Senators in Congress to
oppose the compromise resolutions, and any other proposition
that Massachusetts
�248
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
KISE
IN AMERICA.
that gave the sanction of the Federal government to slavery,
or made the people of the free States responsible, in any
degree, for its existence.
The
resolutions gave rise to an animated debate.
Among
the speakers was Samuel
Hoar
candor, and cogency
argument, always commanded
tention.
He
of
specially
of Concord,
counselled
unity
whose character,
of
action.
at
They
by Mr. Barry, author of a history of
in
a
calm
but earnest speech. Mr. Wilson
Massachusetts,
said an emergency had arisen, and prompt action was de
were advocated,
manded.
The
too,
looked-for compromise
had been introduced
into
a compromise in direct hostility
the Senate by Mr. Clay,
" sentiments recorded
to the sentiments of Massachusetts,
and enthroned in the hearts of her people.''
compromise resolutions, Mr. Wilson pro
Analyzing
nounced them derogatory to the American name and Ameri
can character, and he declared that now was the time for
Massachusetts to utter her indignant No to a scheme which
was intended to give further security and protection to slav
On
ery, by new contracts, agreements, and adjustments.
the 12th of February, Mr. Hillard, chairman of the Joint
in her annals,
the
The report
several resolutions.
Special Committee, presented
universal
was
among
declared that the feeling against slavery
the people of the New England States ; that, by giving assent
" we
to the introduction of slavery into regions now free,
should feel that we were guilty of a sin before God and man,
no compensation and no equivalent. The
make our material prosperity of
sting of self-reproach would
of wrong-doing would pursue
consciousness
The
little value.
for
which there
is
the path of life, and impair the flavor of our
If we are called upon to do wrong or suffer
daily bread.
The report closed with
wrong, we prefer to suffer wrong."
"
we will not buy temporal blessings with
the avowal that
will endure the
of what we deem
the
us through
all
We
wrong-doing.
price
of sorrow, but not the stain of guilt."
shadow
resolutions not sufficiently explicit and adapted
to the exigencies of the crisis, and declaring that the signifi
"
speaking to the
cance of speaking at that time consisted in
Deeming the
�249
ACTION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
question," Erastus Hopkins of Northampton made a minor
In it were reaffirmed the oft-proclaimed opin
ity report.
ions which
had received the almost universal assent
of the
the
faithfully
of
the
out
the
wide
diver
administration, pointed
position
gence of the two, and declared that Massachusetts could
of
people
the
characterized
Commonwealth,
accept no compromise which involved any abandonment of
principles so firmly held and so oft repeated.
Although Mr.
Hillard's report had received the indorsement of a caucus of
Whig members of the legislature, yet, when it came up
for consideration in the House, Myron Lawrence, a leading
the
member, objected to it as being too pointless, while that of
the minority was perhaps too pointed
though with slight
;
A
modifications he preferred the latter.
successful motion
Mr.
Hillard's
resolutions
to recommit was made
were aban
;
the resolutions of Mr. Hopkins were, in substance,
agreed to by the committee, and reported to the House.
While the subject thus lingered in the legislature, there was
doned
;
a growing uneasiness
ment
among
the people, lest the golden
mo
timely protest and effective action should pass by
unimproved, and the voice of Massachusetts be silent, or, at
A call was therefore issued
best, speak with bated breath.
by the Free Soil Central Committee for a mass convention, to
be held in Faneuil Hall on the 27th of February. The com
of
"
mittee called upon the people to " throng
to the convention
from all portions of the State, for they alone, it said, could
" avert the timid action of their
representatives, and reassure
the opponents of slavery extension."
The convention was
called to order
man of the committee, and Mr.
On taking the chair, the latter
by Mr. Wilson, chair
Palfrey was made president.
addressed the convention at
Referring to the rumor, then rife, that Mr. Webster
had prepared a compromise which Southern Senators had ap
proved, he said: "There is no name among contemporaries,
length.
there is no
that
it
name
in history, so great, so illustrious, so potent,
will not wither, like Jonah's gourd, under the influence
of such
an act as
is
now supposed
VOL.
II.
32
Re
Thomas
to be performed."
curring to the early history of Massachusetts and to
�250
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
he designated " the Daniel Webster of his
day in ability and station, superiority and influence," he
asked " Who knows anything of him now ?" He said that
history had hardly preserved his name, that he did not live in
Hutchinson,
whom
:
the hearts of the people, because, when the trial came, he was
not true to Massachusetts. But Adams and Hancock and
"
Warren, the men who had struggled for liberty, were em
"
balmed in the idea of patriotism," and will live in the affec
tions of posterity."
The Committee on Resolutions
consisted of Richard
H.
Dana, Jr., Stephen C. Phillips, Samuel Hoar, John G. WhitMr. Wilson
tier, Charles Sumner, and Milton M. Fisher.
addressed the convention, congratulating it upon the character
and numbers of those who had assembled at the call of patri
otism, and reminded
it
of the pressing necessities
which de
manded immediate and decisive action. He said that every
breeze from the South came freighted with the threats of the
arrogant advocates of bondage to dissolve the Union, and to
plunge the country into civil war, unless permitted to extend
Territories a system abhorred of man and ac
cursed of God. Intelligence had come that Northern repre
over the
new
sentatives were hesitating, faltering, either intimidated by the
clamor and threats or seduced by the blandishments of power.
" that there are Achans in the
" Rumors are
rife," he said,
camp
name
of Massachusetts, that her principles, her honor,
and her
are to be laid, a votive offering, on the unhallowed
shrine of the Slave Power, to appease the wrath of traitors to
all
humanity, to the country, and to God. But whatever others
may do, come what may come, our path of duty is as clear as
Union or no union,
the track of the sun across the heavens.
peace or no peace, compromises or no compromises, let us
march boldly up to the extreme verge of our constitutional
rights in resistance to the extension of human bondage over
the Territories of the Republic."
Mr. Hopkins spoke strongly against all compromises. He said
that the antagonism that existed was an antagonism between
right and wrong, and that no compromise was allowable and
no compromise was
possible.
Seth Webb, Jr., said he would
�ACTION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
251
say to the representatives of Massachusetts in Congress that
we remain immovable that so long as we live we have but
one plan, and that plan is, " no more slavery on the continent
of America, at all hazards, under all circumstances, and with
;
out reference to a line of latitude or a line of longitude.
That is our principle. It is not accommodated to executive
It does not bend to meet Mr. Clay's
or legislative influence.
Mr.
or
Webster's
It is as
plan, or anybody's plan.
plan,
It
is
as
a
as
a
line.
even
as
straight
straight
principle of
eternal
justice."
He would
Massachusetts that the
of
tainty,
faltering,
first
seals
say to the representatives of
symptom
their
of vacillation, of uncer
political
death-warrant for
not for eternity.
time,
The address and resolution, reported by Mr. Dana, traced
with great clearness the action of Massachusetts, and enjoined
upon its members of Congress to adhere to the principle,
" No more slave
no more slave
Mr.
if
Adams
States,
territory."
said that political opposition to slavery had
grown
from small beginnings, though steadily and stubbornly resisted
by material interests, until it attracted the attention and
occupied the thoughts of the country. It had a principle of
vitality which defied all attempts to destroy it, and bore a
charmed life. He thought the supporters of the administra
tion had reached that condition where the remark of Mr.
Webster, levelled against the Democratic party four years
was
that " the
of the
before,
applicable then,
predictions
year's almanac respecting the state of the weather
were as reliable as any prediction he could make of the course
last
on the question of slavery for a month at a
In reply to the allegation that what they insisted
but were asked to" sacrifice, was only a " sentiment,"
of that party
ime."
ipon,
le
said that all the principles of morals
ennoble
fore, I
and religion which
were abstract sentiments. " When, there
" as in
this instance, to sign and
asked," he said,
human
am
life
bond to my own shame, by surrendering a portion of
that which distinguishes mankind from the brutes that
perish,
the sense of right and wrong in
action, this is the moment for
me to come forward and reiterate an everlasting No." He
seal a
�252
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
predicted that no combinations made at the seat of govern
ment could crush out the sentiment that breathed in the verse
of every poet, that beamed on the historic page, and was sung
to the praise of the Most High.
Stephen C. Phillips, too, indignantly spurned the impious
and impudent demand to surrender " a long-cherished and
honored principle,
a principle to which we must adhere as
long as
we adhere
to our political integrity, as long as
ourselves Christians."
He
if
we
call
they could stand up in
inquired
Faneuil Hall, in the midst of its hallowed associations, coun
sel any other course of action, and ask God to sustain them in
of adherence to the right, of fidelity to the
Edward L. Keyes made an eloquent
counsels of our fathers.
any policy but that
and
brilliant speech, in
which he contended that the Whig
then stood, was not, and had not been, in any
and that the men who
proper sense, an antislavery party
had extorted antislavery resolutions from it in years past then
The address
stood outside of it, " loathing its hypocrisy."
and resolutions were then unanimously adopted.
party, as
it
;
In the mean time, Mr. Webster had made his 7th of March
speech, which so aggrieved the people of the Commonwealth,
all with
filling some with indignation, others with alarm, and
It deepened and intensified the feeling in the legis
doubts.
A
few days afterward, the resolutions of Mr. Hop
kins coming up for consideration, Mr. Schouler avowed his
readiness to vote for them, but expressed the hope that the
vote might be taken 'without debate and without division.
lature.
then editor of the " Atlas," the leading Whig organ
of the Commonwealth, and in whose columns Mr. Webster's
speech and course had been sharply criticised. Mr. Hopkins
concurred in his suggestion, declared that the committee had
He was
framed the resolutions in the hope that they would receive the
he said,
hearty approbation of the House, as it was important,
to act with unity and harmony in that great crisis of the
country.
Mr. Branning of Tyringham, though a prominent member
of the Democratic party, indorsed the sentiments of the reso
Massachusetts
lutions, but, naturally enough, insisted that
1
�253
ACTION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
should utter the same sentiments in Washington as in Boston,
and that her representatives in Congress should be committed
to the same policy to which it was sought to commit the
He therefore moved an amendment, instructing
legislature.
the Senators of Massachusetts to support the principles of the
resolutions.
Denouncing the custom of passing unmeaning
resolutions, he declared that those before the House would be
if the legislature
powerless without his amendment, and that
meant anything by its action, it would instruct Daniel Web
" instructions."
ster, though he had set himself above
The amendment was strongly opposed by Mr. Hopkins, who
He made a vigorous
appealed to the House to vote it down.
the action of the
reply to Mr. Branning, and sharply criticised
to the amend
in
Mr.
Hoar
followed
opposition
Democracy.
all
to
House
to
the
ties, and to
party
forget
ment, appealing
go for 'freedom with a united front.
Mr. Boutwell,' then the acknowledged leader of the
cratic party in the
Demo
House, sustained the amendment, express
was
had
been said in past years, and pronounced the quotation from
He distinctly
the resolves of 1845 "rank nullification."
avowed his readiness to vote for the Wilmot proviso, for the
abolition of slavery and the slave-trade in the District of Co
lumbia, and for the immediate and unconditional admission
ing, too, the opinion that the language of the resolutions
He thought it wrong to indorse all that
not felicitous.
of California.
James M. Stone, a Free Soil member from Charlestown,
afterward Speaker of the House, made a vigorous speech,
urging the necessity of action, condemning Mr. Webster's
" a recreant son of Massachu
course, and stigmatizing him as
in
who
her
the Senate."
setts,
misrepresented
Myron Law
much to the surprise of the House, came to the rescue.
Though, in years past, he had given his assent to similar reso
lutions, and had even expressed his approval of those then
before the House, with their sentiments antagonistic to those
just proclaimed by Mr. Webster, he spoke approvingly of the
Senator's course, affirming that he " stood on national and
constitutional grounds," and that his " conduct could be derence,
�254
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
The course of Mr. Lawrence could be explained
a
consideration
of his great regard for Mr. Webster,
only by
and the uncertainty with which his course had involved the
fended."
future policy of the Whig party.
Mr. Wilson said he had hoped the resolutions would pass
without a dissenting voice; and that then a resolution, in
structing Mr. Webster to vote for the Wilmot proviso and
against Mason's Fugitive Slave Bill or resign his seat, would
be introduced and passed. But the amendment had been in
He de
troduced, it must be met, and he should vote for it.
clared that Mr. Webster, in his speech, had simply, but hardly,
stated the Northern and national side of the question, while
he had earnestly advocated the Southern and sectional side
that his speech was Southern altogether " in its tone, argu
ment, aim, and end." He said Mr. Webster could not still
the troubled
for " he is but a
a feather
;
ocean,
bubble,
upon
the heaving billows of popular commotion, lashed into fury by
the spirit of liberty, which Abolitionists had generated by the
labors of twenty years.
He joins John C. Calhoun in rebuk
men.
The truths which they have
ing them as deluded
nursed and breathed into the people will live the work of
hands will endure after his petty compromises shall have
;
their
passed away from the remembrance of mankind."
He
said
that Mr. Webster, with his large experience, lofty position,
giant intellect, and great name, might have spoken words
which, in that crisis, would have rallied the people, struck a
blow for liberty, and linked his memory with the cause of
human
and won the love and admiration of succeed
ing ages. But he had shrunk from duty, and joined in com
"
" Whatever
promises.
may be the issue," he said, of the
present contest, slavery must die sooner or later. In that
purer and better age, the memory of the men, however hon
progress,
who have
labored to perpetuate a system loathed
abhorred of God, will be odious to the people.
Daniel Webster will be a fortunate man if God in his sparing
ored now,
of
man and
shall preserve his life long enough for
this act and efface this stain on his name."
mercy
Moses Kimball
of
him
to repent of
Boston expressed his regret that Mr. Law*
�255
ACTION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
rence should have announced his willingness to indorse the
sentiments enunciated in Mr. Webster's speech, and to sup
Mr. Earle, a Free Soil member
port the course he had taken.
"
from Worcester, then editor of the
Spy," sustained the
issues involved in
the
and
distinctly presented
amendment,
The amendment, though supported by others,
was rejected by a majority of thirty-five. The resolutions,
after being modified by certain amendments of Mr. Boutwell,
the contest.
were adopted by an almost unanimous vote, only six voting in
the negative. When they came up in the Senate for considera
tion,
Henry
L. Dawes, afterward a prominent member of Con
an amendment in favor of giving fugitive slaves
gress, offered
Amasa Walker offered an amendment con
by jury.
demnatory of Mr. Webster's course, and spoke in its defence
though it was vigorously opposed by Mr. Dawes, Mr. Upham,
and Mr. Hillard, on the ground that in such a contest it was
Mr. Wood, a
better to deal with principles than with men.
Free Soil member from Plymouth County, said that in that
great crisis Massachusetts had been betrayed, and her honor
had been tarnished u through the open desertion of one of her
Senators and the silent acquiescence of the other."
She had
faltered, was in a false position, and, if she had never spoken
trial
;
before, she should speak then.
Joseph T. Buckingham, a Free Soil member from Middlesex
County, moved to amend the resolutions by incorporating into
them words which had been uttered by Mr. Webster, to the
effect that the opposition of the people of
Massachusetts to the
extension of slavery and the increase of slave representation
"
" no reference to lines of
is
general and universal," having
"
latitude or points of the compass
and that they " will op
;
pose
all
such extension and
at all times,
all
such increase in
all places,
and
all
circumstances, against
inducements,
supposed limitations of great interests, against
In support of
combinations, against all compromises."
against
all
under
all
all
amendment, Mr. Buckingham made a carefully prepared
He was then an old man, had been long connected
with the public press, and for thirty years had been the per
sonal and political friend of Mr. Webster.
Holding one of
this
speech.
�256
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the most vigorous and polished pens of his time, he had, as a
" in
journalist, he said,
days of darkness and depression as
well as in those of prosperity and sunshine," recommended
Mr. Webster to the people as the greatest man of the age,
and the fittest man for the highest office of the nation. He
claimed him as his Mentor and his guide, and said that the
ears of his understanding had drunk in " his words of
pathy for suffering humanity, of his abhorrence of the
sym
system
of slavery, of his detestation of the ambition that was
striving
to extend the Slave Power over new Territories and secure the
mastery of the free States." After thus referring to the long
and pleasant intimacies of the past, he said " But this happy
:
To use the em
probability
of
Horace
Mann
in
reference
to one whose
phatic expression
intercourse in
all
is
at
an end.
friendship was withdrawn from him, 'We are now on opposite
sides of the moral universe.'
I am content it should be so.
I
expect no friendly recognition from any
man who would
justify the entrance of a slave-hunter into New England, or
who would seek in the Constitution authority or apology for
such diabolical employment."
After further debate, in which
amendment was eloquently supported by Mr. Dawes and
Mr. Upham, it was sustained by a majority of ten.
The resolutions were then referred to a select committee, of
which Mr. Upham was chairman. In their new draft, Mr.
the
Dawes's resolution in favor of a jury trial for slaves was modi
and Mr. Buckingham's amendment was entirely left out.
This change was opposed by Dawes, Buckingham, and Walker,
but was sustained by a majority of six and they were then
fied,
;
passed, as reported by the committee, with only four dissent
ing votes.
They were concurred in by the House, and re
ceived the sanction of the governor.
The action of Mr. Webster was also strongly condemned by
a public meeting in Faneuil Hall on the 25th of March, over
which Samuel E. Sewall presided.
Resolutions were intro
duced by Theodore Parker, in which the speech of the 7th of
March was declared to be " alike unworthy of a wise states
man and a good man." In support of his resolutions Mr.
Parker delivered an argument of great thoroughness and force.
�257
ACTION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
Wendell Phillips followed in a critical examination of the
salient points of Mr. Webster's speech.
Petitions were presented to the legislature, asking that Mr.
Webster be instructed to vote for the Wilmot proviso and
The committee to
Slave Bill.
against Mr. Mason's Fugitive
Mr. Wil
referred
were
adversely,
whom they
having reported
reso
insert
and
its
recommendation,
son moved to strike out
lutions setting forth that Mr. Webster, having declared in the
Senate that the prohibition of slavery in New Mexico would
be "useless, senseless, and nugatory," that he would "not
vote for it, and that he would support the pending Fugitive
Slave Bill with all its provisions to the fullest extent," be
of any Territorial
requested to vote against the organization
forever excluding
governments without an express provision
"
"
and
the first, the last,
every occasion
slavery, and to use
to defeat the bill for the recapture of fugitive slaves.
When
that
they came up for consideration, Mr. Wilson, remarking
said
in
were
couched
simply
they
respectful language,
they
asked their Senator to vote for the recorded principles of
principles which its legislature had as
reasserted with votes approaching unanimity.
Massachusetts,
serted and
Mr. Schouler said he deemed the resolutions wholly unne
The legislature had almost unanimously declared in
cessary.
favor of the principles embodied in them, and their Senators
could not fail to understand its views and the wishes of the
They
people.
sell of Boston.
were further opposed by Charles Theodore Rus
He was
viso to the Territories,
but he deemed
it
in favor of applying the
Wilmot pro
and against Mason's Fugitive Slave
Bill;
child's play for the legislature to allude in
any way to Mr. Webster.
Mr. Earle said, if the legislature
meant anything by the resolutions it had adopted after full
discussion and with such unanimity, it ought to say to Mr.
Webster, who had proved false to the oft-repeated sentiments
of Massachusetts, that
voice of the people.
tions were rejected
he should listen
to,
heed, and obey the
resolu
The vote was then taken, and the
by a large majority.
Mr. Wilson then moved a reconsideration of the vote. He
declared that he had offered the resolutions in good faith, and
VOL.
II.
33
�258
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
unbiassed, he trusted, by party feelings.
abandoned the well-known principles of
her legislature,
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Webster had
Massachusetts, and
sincere, should say to her Senator
"We,
the representatives of the people you
represent, request you to
vote for freedom in the Territories, and
that cruel and
if
:
against
infamous measure now pending in the Senate for the
recap
ture of fugitives fleeing from oppression."
He warned the
majority that, if they defeated those resolutions, if they shrank
from the duty then imposed upon them
by imperilled liberty,
the betrayed people of Massachusetts would hold them to the
The people of Massachusetts will
never sustain the position taken
by Mr. Webster, nor will
they uphold those who follow his lead or apologize for him."
strictest accountability.
He
said that,
the efforts
liberty,
people.
the majority of that
legislature did not rebuke
making by Mr. Webster to sacrifice the cause of
if
they would themselves be discarded by an indignant
" I
"
will," he said,
go out from this hall, and unite
with any party or body of men to drive you from power, re
buke Daniel Webster, and place in his seat a Senator true to
the principles and sentiments of the Commonwealth."
The
vote on reconsideration was then taken, and the motion was
Thus in that
rejected by the decisive majority of sixty-two.
crisis
the legislature of Massachusetts shrank from meeting
the issue, so defiantly and almost contemptuously presented
by their Senator. This failure to instruct, or even to request,
Mr. Webster, not only to support the undoubted sentiments of
the legislature and of the people, but to adhere to his own
pledges, so often and emphatically made, exercised, no doubt,
an important influence on the subsequent action of the State.
It
emboldened the Senator and his supporters in their
disre
gard of what was manifestly the popular sentiment, and pre
pared the way for, and largely aided in procuring, the defeat
of the
Whig
party in the election of that year.
�CHAPTER
XXII.
COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
Southern demands on President Taylor.
Thurlow Weed.
Taylor's
letter
to
He
1850.
stands firm.
Jefferson Davis.
Mr. Hamlin.
General debate.
Speeches of Walker, Seward, Douglas, Badger, Hunter, Hale, Chase, Benton.
The admissions of the latter
AT
that time of timidity, wavering, and weakness in both
Houses of Congress, President Taylor stood firm, collected,
and resolutely determined to maintain the authority of the
government. Aggrieved, on the one hand, at what he regard
ed the ungenerous conduct of Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and
other leading Whigs, he was deeply moved, on the other, by
demands he deemed to be both unpatriotic and personally
Mr. Hamlin, then a Democratic Senator from
offensive.
Maine, states that, making a business call upon the President,
he met Toombs, Stephens, and Clingman just retiring from
an interview.
On
entering the President's room, he found
him walking the floor, greatly excited and indignant. He
told Mr. Hamlin that the men who had just retired had been
making demands concerning the policy of his administration,
accompanied with intimations that the South would not sub
mit unless they were acceded to.
statement with the declaration that,
He accompanied
if
this
there were any such
treasonable demonstrations on the part of the Southern lead
ers and people, he would put it down by the whole power of
the government, even if he
head of the army to do it.
executive mansion
dent
was obliged to put himself
Thurlow Weed, who called
at the
at the
immediately afterward, found the Presi
in a state of excitement, and he too received the
assurance of his purpose to maintain the Union and the gov
ernment at all hazards. These statements received signifi
still
cance from a letter written by General Taylor to Jefferson
�260
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
In this letter he
Davis, dated Monterey, August 16, 1847.
"
says that his
position, feelings, and associations, independent
of pecuniary considerations," were with the South
and that,
while he would " respect the feelings of the
non-slaveholding
"
States," he would be
equally careful that no encroachments
;
were made on the rights
of the citizens of the slaveholding
After expressing his convictions of the gravity of
the slavery issue, and his willingness that it should be the
" But the mo
of free and full
he said
States."
subject
discussion,
:
ment they go beyond that point, when resistance becomes
right and proper, let the South act promptly, boldly, and de
cisively, with arms in their hands if necessary, as the Union
in that case will be blown to atoms, or will be no longer
worth preserving."
That the President, so unequivocally committed to South
ern interests and holding views so decided, not to say defiant,
should have taken, with such determination, his stand for the
Union, as indicated by the statements of Mr. Hamlin and Mr.
Weed,
affords conclusive
evidence that there were, in his
that the cry of Southern
view, no Northern aggressions
and
alarm
was
simulated, or, at least, unfounded and
danger
that the real foes to be resisted were at the South, and not
;
;
in the North.
On
the 8th of March, Mr. Walker of Wisconsin, who had
yielded the floor to Mr. Webster on the previous day, ad
dressed the Senate.
He had been chosen an antislavery,
Wilmot-proviso Democrat.
But he had become alarmed by
the land, and was more than half
persuaded to allow what he thought were the claims of patriot
ism to override those of justice and humanity, should they
the wild clamors that
filled
in conflict.
At any rate, he made a most passionate ap
peal in behalf of the Union, while his imprecations upon those
who would lay sacrilegious hands upon this ark of the na
come
tion's safety
"
who
were violent and
takes the
first
fearful.
step toward
"
May
he," he said,
consummation
wretched
and
despair
this horrid
suffer through life all the tortures of
May
sight forsake his eyes and hearing his ears
leprous scales cling to his wretched carcass, while disease,
ness
!
May
!
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
261
1850.
And
want and hunger, thirst and cold, feed upon his vitals
in his last hour may he have no kindly hand to smooth his
Nay,
pillow, no kindred smile to light his exit to the grave
in which
sir, may he have no pillow on which to die, no grave
And in the dread tribunal of eternity may he
to repose
!
!
!
barely merit the mediatorial interposition of Jesus at the
For such a wretch the Saviour scarcely died.
throne of God
!
This,
sir, is
my
and Republic.
curse for the would-be destroyer of this
If
he be in this chamber,
the curse
believe,
is
for
him
;
if
and,
Union
which
cannot
add to my
I
I could
sting of the scorpion, the fire that is never
the
gall that is persistent through eternity, I would
quenched,
make that curse more poignant, more burning, more bitter."
tongue the
Thus passionately and wildly did
his friends of
Northern Senator and
with threats and impreca
this
compromise talk, as,
and appeals to patriotism and peace, they darkened and
encumbered the path of those who sought, by adherence to
principle, rather than by bowing the knee to slavery, their
This weakness of the
country's safety and sure prosperity.
Wisconsin Senator was promptly and sternly rebuked by the
tions
legislature of his State.
On
the llth of March, Mr. Seward
made
a masterly speech
in favor of California, union, and freedom.
Referring to Cali
fornia as " more populous than the least and richer than
several of the greatest of our thirty States," he asked and
" Shall Cali
answered, with impressive force, the question
:
Yes
new
welcome. But
every
that
comes
from the clime where the west dies
California,
away into the rising east,
California, which bounds at once
fornia be received
?
;
State
is
an empire and a continent,
California, the youthful queen of
the Pacific, in the robes of freedom, gorgeously inlaid with
gold,
is
doubly welcome."
Deducing from the calculations
of political arithmetic that in our century there would be two
hundred millions of people within the limits of the United
States, he said the question arose, Shall that great people be
" The
one people, or be broken into conflicting nations ?
world contains no seat of empire so magnificent as this and
;
yet
it
seems to
me
the perpetual unity of our empire hangs on
�262
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Commerce is the god of bounda
and no man now living can foretell his ultimate decree."
He avowed his opposition to the proposed compromise meas
" all
ures, because he deemed
legislative compromise radically
wrong and essentially vicious." At the bare thought of such
the decision of this hour.
ries,
a compromise being effected, he said
:
" It seems
to
me
as
if
slavery had laid its 'paralyzing hand upon myself, and the
blood were coursing less freely than its wont through my
He pronounced Mr. Calhoun's proposition to restore
veins."
and retain the political equilibrium to be both impracticable
and entirely subversive of the principle of democratic institu
The
equilibrium, he said, was lost in 1787, and, if
would
be lost again. He earnestly deprecated, and
restored,
condemned as unfounded and undemocratic, the arbitrary
tions.
and
division of States into free
slave.
He combated
serted obligation of Mr. Webster that Congress
create four additional States out of Texas.
Mr.
the as
was bound
to
Seward affirmed that the simple, single, bold, and
Shall we, with our knowledge and expe
is
awful question
:
rience of slavery, in founding institutions for countless mil
lions establish, or admit by sufferance, human bondage ?
No
to
Mr.
Webster's
Christian, free to act, would do it.
Alluding
professed willingness to leave the question of slavery to be
determined by the laws of nature, and his unwillingness to reenact the
of
he said " There is no climate uncon
will
genial to slavery
which
is
God,
;
.
.
:
.
.
there
is
no enactment which
not a r^-enactment of the law of God."
is
He
just
then
went into a very careful, dispassionate, and eloquent considera
tion of the allegation that disunion could be averted only as
Southern feeling could be propitiated and Southern demands
While admitting danger, he contended that there was
met.
no sure escape but in just action and a firm trust
intending providence of
"
God
regulates our stewardship
;
1
,
in the super
" The
Constitution," he said,
the Constitution devotes the do
main to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare, and to lib
But there is a higher law than the Constitution, which
erty.
regulates our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the
same noble purposes. The territory is a part, no inconsider-
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
able part, of the
common
1850.
263
heritage of mankind, bestowed upon
universe.
are his stewards,
them by the Creator of the
and must so discharge our
We
trust as to secure in the highest
This public recognition
attainable degree their happiness."
States
United
that
a
Senator
of
the
the laws of the Creator
by
"
were " higher than those of human enactment excited much
astonishment and indignation, and called forth, in Congress
and out of it, measureless abuse upon its author. But the
and sneer concerning the " higher law," in
stead of damaging him, did but reveal how deeply debauched
had become the mind and heart of a Christian people through
the demoralizing influences of slavery and its compromises.
On the 13th and 14th, Mr. Douglas made a speech of great
vigor in favor of the compromises, though he dissented from
the extreme views of Mr. Webster and their Southern advo
cates.
He replied with much effect to the speeches of Mr.
Webster and Mr. Calhoun.
Concerning Mr. Webster's ad
mission that the annexation of Texas fixed, pledged, fastened,
and decided it to be slave territory forever, he declared that
there never was such torturing of language and such perver
flippant taunt
affirmed that there was " no guar
anty, no pledge, no intimation of the kind."
Gladly and
sion of its meaning.
He
gratefully accepting Mr. Webster's doctrine that the
physical geography superseded the necessity of the
"
" senseless
it both
law of
Wilmot
and useless to reaffirm
proviso, making
an ordinance of nature and re-enact the will of God in 1850,
he asked how it had been needful in 1847, when Mr. Webster
claimed it as his invention, and entered a caveat
against its
" thunder."
use, as stealing his
Saying that, according to
the admission of Mr. Seward, the
Wilmot proviso had given
New York
that
it
to General Taylor, he directed attention to the fact
was discarded as senseless and useless
the Senator
by
from Massachusetts.
Referring to Mr. Calhoun's speech on " Northern aggres
sions and Southern
grievances," he combated many of its as
sumptions and assertions.
He pronounced Mr. Calhoun's
device for
maintaining the equilibrium between the North and
" destructive of
the South to be "
the great
impracticable," and
�264
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
principles of popular equality."
He
IN AMERICA.
contended that slavery
had been abolished by Mexican law in the acquired territories,
and that they were thus free. He closed his speech
cer
and
one
of
the
most
effective
he
ever
made
vigorous
tainly
by paying a high compliment to Mr. Clay, whom he character
ized as the pioneer in the work of harmonizing the people.
On the 18th and 19th of March, Mr. Badger of North Caro
lina delivered an able, moderate, and patriotic speech.
He
"
claimed that he had " the heart and hand of a brother for
every portion of the American people, whether in the East or
the West, the North or the South.
He opposed the Wilmot
proviso, referred to the emphatic pledges of resistance given
by some of the Southern legislatures, and demanded modifica
tion of the laws for the
more
effectual rendition of fugitive
He
expressed his apprehension growing out of the
" If that
Nashville
convention.
convention," he
proposed
" shall meet under such
in
said,
circumstances,
my judgment,
slaves.
the
Union
is
from that day
I
dissolved.
do not say that dis
I do not say but a connection
be maintained, and linger on for
solution will follow instantly.
an external union
may
a few years longer but the meeting of that convention will
be to our institutions, in the language of Napoleon, the " be
ginning of the end." He said that it was upon its face a step
toward a distinct organization of the Southern States, sepa
;
rating
them from the mass
of their countrymen.
Though he
denied the right of a State to secede from the Union, he
expressed the opinion that the Union could not be continued
by force for the forced connection of reluctant communities
;
would not deserve the name
gloomy
of union.
While he entertained
some
that
apprehensions for the future, he trusted
Of his
basis of harmonious co-operation might yet be found.
his
toward
fraternal
his
and
of
the
to
Union
feelings
fidelity
Northern brethren there could be no doubt.
manifest then, as
it
was afterward,
And
yet it was
into the
when he went
to what
Rebellion, that these sentiments were subordinated
of
slavery
he had learned to regard as the paramount claims
and of his State.
Mr. Dayton of
New
Jersey, though regretting the Mexican
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
1850.
265
"
war, that had
brought much territory and much trouble,"
"
"
his
vote
for the treaty
by Mr. Trist,
negotiated
justified
" not
but
without
against authority," for the
authority,
only
reason that the continuance of the war would have brought
additional territory, better fitted for slave than free labor.
He admitted that the citizens of the North and the South had
equal rights in that territory but he asserted that the very
equality of right repelled the idea that the minority in interest
should have absolute control, as would be the practical result
;
of allowing slaves to be taken there.
That, he said, would be
" neither
alluded with becoming
He
nor
equality
equity."
to say flippant, asser
not
and
force
to
the
superficial,
dignity
was a
"
mere sentiment," by reminding the Senate of the weighty
interests and momentous considerations involved in the decis
" We are about
ion of the question.
now," said Mr. Dayton,
" to
The North
foundations
of
other
commonwealths.
the
lay
tion of Mr. Clay, that Northern opposition to slavery
says it is our duty, as statesmen and as men, to lay their
foundations in such wise that our children and our children's
children, to the remotest generation, may rise up and call us
blessed."
Northern feeling, he assured them, was no sickly
" When we
sentiment, but judgment and sound discretion.
are laying the foundation of empires, the question is not how
a few may live in ease but the question is, how the many
;
may
A
best live, increase, beautify, and fructify the earth."
few days later, Mr. Hunter of Virginia presented a philo
sophical view of the subject from the Southern stand-point.
Speaking in deprecatory terms of the current attacks on slav
ery,
he predicted that their logical results must be disastrous
to the
government and the nation.
Comparing the condition
Southern slaves with the laboring populations of Europe, he
contended that the real servitude of the latter was no less
of
"involuntary" than that of the former. "The child," he
" inherits it as
said, with too much truth,
certainly from his
parents, by the force of circumstances, as if it descended by
What chance has the child for moral culture or
positive law.
social advancement who is sent to labor at six, eight, or ten
years of age, and labors twelve, fourteen, and sixteen hours a
VOL.
ii.
34
�266
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
The
day, as a living fixture to a spinning-machine ?
Southern slave has a far better chance to become a freeman
.
by emancipation, than the child
.
.
.
of the lowest class of
English
laborers has to rise above the condition of his fathers."
" in
Alluding to the fact that slavery was acknowledged
governments embracing a majority of the civilized world," he
contended that, being admitted into the Constitution of the
United States,
"
without giving just
might be permitted
cause of offence to the most fastidious conscience "
as if the
constitutions of earth could set aside the laws of Heaven
In
it
;
!
"
" abstract
of human rights, which
sisting that the
principles
led to attacks upon their social organization, must cause the
overthrow of every existing government, he said " But, be this
as it may,
be the public opinion of the North or of the world
:
whatever
it
our constitutional rights cannot and ought
may,
not to be affected by such considerations.
in the bond,'
and we are
in that contract.
It is so
nominated
'
entitled to the faithful stipulation
higher than the Constitution
stipulations, then you are bound in
If obligations
forbid you to fulfil its
honor to say that ' the contract into which
we have
entered
is
our consciences forbid us to execute what we
improvident
have engaged to do
;
we have no right, therefore, to hold you
;
to your engagements
let us then dissolve the contract, and
and
obtain
a
mutual
discharge.'
give
;
'
Mr. Hale made an elaborate argument, occupying two days,
in vindication of the principles, measures, and acts of antislavery men.
Expressing his regret at differing from Mr.
Webster, he said he had the consolation, while dissenting from
In support of
his views in 1850, to agree with him in 1848.
this allegation, he quoted the following words
from Mr.
Web
"
speech in 1848
opposition to the increase of slav
in
this
or
to
the
increase of slave representation
country,
ery
in Congress, is general and universal.
It has no reference to
ster's
:
My
the lines of latitude or to the points of compass.
pose all such extension and all such increase, in
all
times, under
ments, against
against
all
all
all
I shall op
all places, at
circumstances, even against
supposed
limitation
combinations, and against
all
of
great
all
induce
interests,
compromises."
Mr.
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
267
1850.
Hale expressed his entire agreement in that sentiment, while
he widely differed from the antagonistic sentiments uttered by
" dis
" The
the same voice more recently.
Senator," said he,
covers all at once that the laws of God take care of the pro
viso.
Where were
the laws of
under consideration ?
in
1848 as in 1850
?
God when
the Oregon
bill
was
Were not those laws in as full operation
Does not the law of God take care of
?
The Senator
Would he enact
the laws of God?
the proviso up to 49 as well as below 36 30'
says he would not re-enact the laws of God.
laws in repudiation and condemnation of
All the laws we pass must be in accordance with or against
the Divine will.
Yet the Senator declares he would not reWhen he tells
enact the laws of God. Well, sir, I would.
me
God is
we
should
argument why
that the law of
it is a most potent
with any Territorial
against slavery,
incorporate
it
bill."
Mr. Hale then proceeded to denounce, in the severest lan
He thought a bill of
guage, the proposed Fugitive Slave Act.
such a character could not possibly pass the Senate, as it pro
ceeded entirely on the assumption that there were no rights in
the Constitution except the " rights of slavery." He solemnly
affirmed that, much as he loved the Union, much as he rev
its institutions, and fond as were the memories that
around
its early histories, he would sacrifice them all
clung
before he would consent that the citizens of his native State
should " at one blow be stripped of every right that is dear to
erenced
them and
for
which their fathers bled and died."
He
expressed the same condemnation as others had done of
Mr. Calhoun's proposition to recover by constitutional amend
ment "a fancied equilibrium " which the South had been grad
He charged agitation
ually losing for the last sixty years.
upon Southern Senators and Representatives, who fired the
hearts of the Southern people, who never knew they were
wronged and insulted until they were told so from the city of
Washington.
Mr. Hale closed by setting forth the principles and aims of
the Free Soil party, with which he was identified and of which
" We desire ache was an eloquent and trusted champion.
�268
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" not out of
the Constitution, or against the
tion," he said,
but
in
and under it.
desire to see the Con
Constitution,
We
stitution carried out as intended
administered in the spirit
by its framers, and to see it
in which it was formed.
We desire
to see, also, the abolition of
slavery effected throughout the
world.
This is what we desire and aim at. And,
firmly be
in
the
of
we
trust
the
will
lieving
providences
God,
day
dawn upon this country when the word slavery
word without a meaning and when those whose
<
'
yet
shall be a
efforts are
for universal freedom shall have, as their fathers had in the
days of the Revolution, the earnest and hearty sympathy of
those who live in the slaveholding States ; and when any sec
;
Union will join hands with the other in spreading
abroad the principles of humanity, philosophy, and Christian
ity, which shall elevate every son and daughter of the human
tion of the
race to that liberty for which they were created and for which
they were destined by God. These opinions, sir, we entertain,
and these hopes we cherish; and we do not fear to avow them,
now, always, and forever."
Salmon P. Chase was one of the two Free Soil members of
the Senate.
He had been a leading and most influential
member of the Buffalo convention in 1848, by which the Free
Soil party was organized.
On the 26th and 27th of March
he addressed the Senate in an argument of great abil
He announced at the outset
ity, research, and eloquence.
these two propositions It is our duty to abstain from inter
here,
:
ference with slavery in the States it is our duty to prohibit
its extension into national territory, and its continuance where
;
we
are constitutionally responsible for its existence.
Taking a rapid survey of slavery aggression and acquisition,
he reached the conclusion that, had it not been for the inhibi
tion of the ordinance of 1787, every foot of land west of the
Alleghany Mountains would have been slave soil. He not only
contended, with Mr. Seward, that the doctrine of the equilibri
um between the North and South was an impossibility, but
that such an idea never entered the minds of the framers of
In this connection he sharply controverted
the idea of Mr. Webster that Congress was obliged to carve
the Constitution.
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
269
1850.
four additional slave States from Texas, as the act only pro
"
be formed with the consent of
vided that such States " may
Congress. Referring to Mr. Webster's early commitment to
the Wilmot proviso, and to his frequent and reiterated asser
tion of its principle, and to his recently avowed dependence
" If
upon the laws of nature and physical geography, he said
:
it is
God now, why was it not
"
now, why was it not then ?
useless to re-enact the will of
then
If it is so clearly seen
?
He
sharply rebuked the cry of disunion, declaring it was
alarm the timid, the sensitive, and the unreflecting
made
to
;
and thus to secure advan
and
which
sober
the
enlightened conscience of
tages
judgment
" We of the
the government would never yield.
West," he
" are in the habit of
Union
as
the
we look
said,
looking upon
that
it
a
can
without
ever
thought
upon the arch of heaven,
"
"
It may be," he said in closing,
you will
decay or fall."
succeed here in sacrificing the claims of freedom by some
settlement carried through the forms of legislation.
But the
to afford excuses for concessions,
It may be that you will
people will unsettle your settlement.
determine that the Territories shall not be secured by law
The people will reverse your
against the ingress of slavery.
It
determination.
may be that you will succeed in burying
the ordinance of freedom.
But the people will write upon its
tomb
'
:
cords
And
I shall rise again.'
its
resurrection
may
the same history which re
also inform posterity that they
who
fancied they killed the proviso only committed political sui
cide."
On
the 8th of April, Mr. Benton spoke against Mr. Clay's
compromise measures, and in favor of the unrestricted admis
sion of California.
He objected to the compromise measures
" in the
lump," although he was quite ready to take the ingre
dients in detail.
He referred to the fact that, under his lead,
in 1836, Congress converted a large extent of free soil into
slave soil by the annexation of the Platte country to Missouri.
"
that act of annexation," he said, " a part of the Missouri
one hundred miles of it on a straight line
compromise line
was abolished; and a new line substituted, nearly three
By
hundred miles long on
its
two
sides, cutting
deep into free
�270
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and converting it into slave soil." He referred to the
recovery of Texas by Northern votes, which carried slavery
" from the Sabine to the Rio
Grande, from the Red River to
the Bay of Matagorda, from the frontiers of Louisiana to the
soil
New Mexico, ten degrees of longitude,
above
four hundred miles on a straight line."
He referred to other
acts in favor of slavery which had been carried by Northern
frontiers of
votes,
and declared that
all idle fears
and groundless accusa
tions sank into nothing in the presence of such facts.
He
then went on to say that " these fears are idle, this agitation
groundless; that Congress has no design to disturb slave
property ; that there is no necessity for any settlement or
no necessity for compromising California
of settling the whole
slavery agitation at the expense of her honor, dignity, and
adjustment about
into the
it,
Union by a grand scheme
rights."
He stated that his opposition to the extension of slavery
dated back to 1804, when he studied the subject of African
slavery in a Virginia book, Tucker's edition of Blackstone's
"
Commentaries, in which was a tract of fifty pages in total
condemnation of the institution, and a plan for its extinction
in Virginia." " The
thusiasts or fanatics.
They knew
men
of that day,"
he
said,
u were not en
They were statesmen and
philosophers.
emancipation of the black slave was
not a ques
not a mere question between master and slave,
but a question of white and black,
tion of property merely,
that the
between races,
and what was to be the consequences to
each race from a larger emancipation. And there the wisdom,
not the philanthropy, of Virginia balked fifty years ago there
And here I find the
the wisdom of America balks now.
;
largest objection to the extension of slavery,
in new regions where it does not now exist.
to planting
it
The
incurability
of the evil is the greatest objection to the extension of slavery.
It is wrong for the legislature to inflict an evil which can be
cured
;
how much more
to inflict one that is incurable,
who are to endure it forever
no one for supposing slavery a blessing; I
an evil, and would neither adopt it nor impose it on
against the will of the people
I quarrel with
deem
it
and
!
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
others.
of
Yet
I
am
a slaveholder, and
Congress who hold
1850.
among
the few
271
members
slaves in this District."
of statement, force, grasp, power, and fulness
of information, this speech was superior to any speech de
livered in the Senate during the session.
When, then, it is
For clearness
remembered that Mr. Benton was born and raised in a slave
State, that he lived in and represented a slave State, it con
trasted strongly and strangely with the speeches of several
Northern Senators, and entitled him to the considerate regard
of his
countrymen.
�CHAPTER
,
COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
s
jg
Committee of
Vote on Foote's resolutions.
bate.
XXIII.
Final vote.
President's
Mr. Fillmore.
freedom.
New
1850 (continued).
thirteen.
death.
Clay's
Long de
Cabinet.
Change of
policy.
Webster's
Three lines of argument.
California ad
Protest.
Laid on the table.
Texas boundary bill
In the House.
Bill
Boyd's amendment adopted.
Great debate.
visit to Boston.
mitted by the Senate.
adopted by the Senate.
Utah bill adopted.
Adopted.
Southern divisions.
General demoralization.
Vote reconsidered.
rejected.
bill.
Deeply regretted by friends of
New Mex
Mr. Clay's
influence.
Threats of disunion by Clemens, Toombs, and Holmes.
Nash
ville convention.
Meeting of Southern members.
Speeches of Soule and
ico admitted.
McDowell.
THE debate having run on for nearly three months, the
Senate proceeded to vote on the original proposition, made by
Mr. Foote, for the appointment of a select committee of thir
teen.
It
was so modified
as to refer to that committee the
by Mr. Clay and Mr. Bell. After mo
to the Committee on Territories, to lay it on
resolutions submitted
tions to refer
it
the table, and to
feated,
it
amend
it
in several particulars, had been de
of eight, and the Senate
was adopted by a majority
proceeded to the election of the committee. Mr. Clay was
chosen chairman, and it was completed by the election of
Cass, Dickinson, Bright, Democrats, and Webster, Phelps,
and Cooper, Whigs, from the free States
King, Mason,
Downs, Democrats, and Mangum, Bell, and Berrien, Whigs,
from the slave States. It was a strong committee, composed
of Senators of ability and large experience in public affairs
and yet on it the principle of the Wilmot proviso had no ear
nest and tried advocate, whom its friends could implicitly trust.
Mr. Phelps was, indeed, fully committed to it yet, though a
man of rare ability, and equalled by few as a lawyer and fo
;
;
;
rensic debater, his unfortunate habits impaired the public con
Nor did his course on this committee raise him in
fidence.
popular estimation.
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
On
tions.
273
1850.
the 8th of May, Mr. Clay reported a bill of thirteen sec
It provided for the admission of California, the estab
lishment of Territorial governments in Utah and
and the adjustment of the boundaries between
and Texas.
New Mexico,
New Mexico
The committee
also reported a bill for the prohi
Mr.
bition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia.
Clay accompanied the
bill
with a report explanatory of its
In the
several distinct, separate, but incongruous measures.
debate which followed,
it
transpired that the committee were
not in full accord.
Mr. Benton, who dealt damaging blows, thus humorously
" There
describes the committee and its work.
is," he said,
" no contention to be
reconciled, no distraction to be com
posed, no misery to be assuaged, no lost harmony to be re
no
be recovered. If there was, the
not the party to give us these blessings.
Their
and
do
not
example
precept
agree.
They preach concord, and
stored,
committee
lost happiness to
is
practise discord.
disagree
among
They recommend harmony to others, and
They propose a fraternal kiss to
themselves.
and give themselves rude rebuffs. Scarcely is the healing
report read and the anodyne bills, or pills, laid on our tables,
than fierce contention breaks out in the ranks of the commit
us,
tee itself.
They attack each
other.
They
give
and take
fierce
The
great peacemaker himself fares badly, stuck all
over with arrows, like the man on the first leaf of the alma
nac.
Here in our presence, in the very act of consummating
licks.
the marriage of California with Utah,
New
Mexico, Texas, the
fugacious slaves of the States and the marketable slaves of
in this very act of consummation, as in a
District,
certain wedding-feast of old, the feast becomes a fight, the
this
combat, and amiable guests pummel each other."
exhaustive and exhausting debate followed, which con
festival a
An
On the bill or some of its
three months.
numerous amendments nearly every Senator spoke.
The
House, too, engaged in the general contest, until both Con
gress and the country were alike wearied and impatient.
Though the subject was introduced into Congress in Decem
ber, a final vote was not reached until the last day of July.
tinued nearly
VOL.
ii.
*
�274
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Nor did the measure adopted bear much resemblance
to that
Indeed, only so much as referred to the
territory of Utah remained.
When, therefore, the
at first introduced.
Mormon
pretentious measure on which Mr. Clay and his grand com
mittee of thirteen had bestowed so much anxious thought and
care had passed the Senate, and was sent to the House, it had
been so shorn and reduced that it was received with peals of
laughter from both friend and foe. And yet, though failing
to pass the Senate as a whole, the debate and votes rendered
apparent that the separate measures of which it was com
posed could be carried, and that slavery, in the name of
it
compromise, was to be again victorious.
This conviction be
coming general, the friends of slavery grew bolder and more
audacious, and the friends of freedom correspondingly dis
heartened and depressed.
The death of General Taylor, which took place on the 9th
of July, largely contributed to the success of the slaveholding
He had felt deeply aggrieved at the action of Mr.
interest.
Clay, Mr. Webster, and other leading Whigs, who had joined
the extreme advocates of Southern rights in resisting the
He thought, and so did several
policy of his administration.
members
of his Cabinet, that their course
was influenced
quite
How much
personal as by public considerations.
the action of several leading Whigs was controlled or modified
as
much by
by personal disappointments, grievances, and aspirations will
never be fully disclosed. That General Taylor had resolved
to defeat the consummation of their purposes there can be no
doubt whatever.
Indeed, he had distinctly announced this
"
" Whatever
may threaten this
dangers," he said,
its integrity to the
it
in
Union, I shall stand by and maintain
fullest extent of the obligations imposed and the power con
This patriotic position
ferred on me by the Constitution."
policy.
of events were rapidly and necessarily placing
in a position of antagonism to the extreme demands of
His sudden death was, therefore, more
the Slave Power.
and the course
him
those who had
deeply regretted by antislavery men, even by
than
his
by any other portion
election,
opposed and deprecated
of his countrymen.
portion of the Whig party, who had,
A
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
1850.
275
with hesitation and misgivings, stood by him in his refusal to
that
yield to slaveholding demands, hastened to abandon
position.
The
Y ice-President,
Mr. Fillmore, who had been suddenly
called, in that great crisis of public affairs, to the executive
chair, was a man of respectable abilities, but of conservative
He had professed opposition to the extension of
tendencies.
slavery, to slavery and the slave-trade in the District of Co
lumbia, to the domestic slave-trade, and to the annexation of
While Mr. Seward represented the radical and pro
gressive portion of the Whig party in New York, Mr. Fillmore
Texas.
acted with the conservative portion, or, in the political par
He possessed little
lance of that day, the " Silver Greys."
power in his State, and when he succeeded General Taylor
he had little influence in the nation. On his accession to the
Presidency, though a Northern man, he abandoned at once the
policy of his predecessor, changed his constitutional advisers,
placed Mr. Webster at the head of his Cabinet, and accepted,
without qualification or reservation, the policy of the Slave
Power, of which Mr. Webster had become the foremost advo
cate.
Mr. Webster's abandonment of his State, section, and
life
long principles occasioned both grief and indignation. Mur
murs of disapprobation and mutterings of discontent were
heard among those accustomed to follow his lead. To quiet
these manifestations, he visited Boston a few weeks after his
" 7th of March "
From the balcony of the Revere
speech.
House he told his fellow-citizens that he should " take no step
"
backward," and that they must learn to conquer their preju
dices."
In letters to friends and in speeches he had enforced
these declarations of his purposes and their duties.
On the
17th of July, a few days before he left the Senate to take his
"
place at the head of the Cabinet, he alluded to these
preju
dices," and declared that they arose from misinformation and
from those " incessant
efforts made for twenty years to perthe public judgment."
He said that there had arisen
" an
exaggerated sense of the evils of the reclamation of
rert
ives."
This exaggerated sense had been produced, he de-
�276
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" the incessant attrition of Abolition
doctrine, Abo
lition presses, and Abolition lecturers upon the common mind."
" No
" in the
drum-head," he said,
longest march, was ever
more incessantly beaten than the feelings of the public in cer
clared,
by
They have been beaten every month,
and
hour
every day,
every
by the din and roll and rub-a-dub of
Abolition presses and Abolition lecturers; and that it is which
has created these prejudices." In a similar strain he pro
ceeded, ridiculing and belittling this "extraordinary" sensi
tiveness at a law " not objectionable unless the Constitution
tain parts of the North.
is
objectionable."
These utterances reveal in the clearest light the spirit and
purpose with which Mr. Webster entered the Cabinet. Is it
at all surprising that a man of Mr. Fillmore's character and
antecedents, with little heart or will, should have yielded to
the imperious purpose of the Secretary to maintain his new
position, and to act the new part he had chosen ? At once the
The strong were pro
administration entered upon its work.
weak
the
the
seduced,
scribed,
patronage of the government
was unsparingly used, the press subsidized, and even the pul
pit was not beyond the reach of its sacrilegious hand, until, in
the strong language of Simeon Draper of New York, " no
Whig
could have the confidence of the administration unless
was bathed in negro's blood." The compromise meas
under influences thus openly and fearlessly directed, were
his heel
ures,
The triumphant Slave Power reigned
of freedom, defeated but not disheart
friends
supreme.
" bide their
could
time," and still struggle on, sus
ened,
only
"
"
in the ultimate
tained mainly by their
unfaltering trust
soon consummated.
The
triumph of the sacred cause.
The long, able, and intensely exciting debate, while reveal
ing more than usual the individuality of those who participated
in it, and the slight shades of difference resulting from that
individuality,
was marked by the enunciation
ing ideas or lines of thought.
of three lead
Clay, Cass, Douglas, Badger,
Cooper, John Bell, Sam Houston, and Underwood supported
the compromise measures on moderate and patriotic grounds,
with a purpose to secure, if possible, the object aimed at in a
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
277
1850.
manner, and to provoke as few and small conflicts
as practicable with the feelings, principles, and interests of
those they were compelled to oppose.
They were opposed by such men as Hale, Seward, Chase,
conciliatory
John Davis of Massachusetts, Dayton, Baldwin, Truman
Smith, and a few others, on the broad ground of principle
because their proposed policy came in conflict with the claims
of Christian morality, the doctrine of human rights and of
free institutions, and because it was hostile to the safety and
Mr. Benton opposed it, not so
best interests of the nation.
much from principle as on the alleged ground that it was both
Besides, with him there were
impolitic and incongruous.
evidently personal considerations, and his characteristic ego
;
Sould, Jefferson
the
compromises,
Davis, Downs, Butler, and Clemens opposed
because they did not meet their extreme opinions on the sub
tism and self-assertion were very apparent.
and because of their determined purpose to
submit to no measures that did not recognize those views and
ject of slavery,
them into the policy of the government.
as
the 25th of March, Mr. Douglas had reported
early
from the Committee on Territories a bill for the admission of
incorporate
As
California.
An
unsuccessful motion was soon
Benton, but opposed by Mr. Clay, to proceed to
Nor was
made by Mr.
its
considera
called
up again until after the defeat of the
bill.
It
was
then taken up, and Mr. Turney, a
compromise
Democratic Senator from Tennessee, a man of extreme views
tion.
it
and feelings, moved to limit the southern boundary of the pro
posed State to 36 30', and to extend the line of the Missouri
compromise to the
Pacific.
Texas boundary
bill, it
motion was at first
and the passage of the
his
Though
rejected, yet, after several days' debate
was adopted on the 12th
of
August by
almost a two-thirds vote.
A protest
his colleague
lina,
was presented by Hunter of Virginia, signed by
and himself, Butler and Barnwell of South Caro
Atchison
of Missouri,
Turney
of Tennessee, Davis of
Mississippi, Soule of Louisiana, and Morton and Yulee of
Florida.
They protested, they said, because the right of the
slaveholding States to a
common and
equal enjoyment of the
�278
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
new State had been denied, and because all propositions had
been defeated which had been made to obtain a recognition of
their rights to its common enjoyment or to a fair division
thereof.
They closed with the assertion that the exclusion of
slavery from the Territory was fatal to the peace and equality
" must
of the States, and
lead, if persisted in, to the dissolu
in
of
that
which the slaveholding States have
tion
confederacy
never sought more than an equality, and in which they will
not be content to remain with less."
Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts, who had entered the Sen
ate in place of Mr. Webster, immediately raised the question
of its reception, and denied the right of Senators to spread
upon the journal the reasons that influenced their votes. Mr.
Benton grappled with the doctrines of the protest itself. He
denounced it as a sectional protest. "We have seen," he said,
" sectional
meetings of members of Congress, sectional dec
by legislative bodies, sectional conventions, sectional
establishments of the press here, and now the introduction of
this protest, also sectional, and not only connecting itself in
time and circumstances, but connecting itself by its argu
larations
and by
conclusions, with all these sec
He considered it a part of a system, a
tional movements."
link in a chain of measures, all tending to the dissolution of
ments, by
its facts,
its
Union and he protested against entering upon the jour
nal " the portentous measure," from which such calamitous
events might flow. After a debate of two days, the protest,
on motion of Mr. Norris of New Hampshire, was laid on the
the
;
Nor did resistance end with this
by three majority.
and William M. Gwin, Sen
Fremont
When John C.
protest.
Southern Sena
ators-elect, presented their credentials, twelve
table
tors
made
objection,
and voted
to refer
them
to the Judiciary
Committee.
This incoherent as well as lawless course of the slave propa
were illustrated
gandists and the too obsequious government
by the course pursued
in regard to
New Mexico and
its
boun
Texas, claiming the Rio Grande for its southern
boundary, though that river included an immense territory
daries.
over which
it
had never exercised any
jurisdiction,
was
calling
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
1850.
279
upon the general government for an armed force to defend her
frontier against the Indians, while it was at the same moment
threatening to send troops to enforce her authority in New Mex
ico against Federal jurisdiction.
of Ohio,
member
It is stated
by Thomas Ewing
of General Taylor's Cabinet, that President
Polk issued an order on the last night of his Presidency di
recting the military commandant in New Mexico to surrender
the Territory to Texas whenever the authorities of that State
should demand it. The order was discovered in the summer by
a
to
member
it
at
and the President's attention called
meetings. Turning to Mr. Crawford, Secre
of the Cabinet,
one of
its
" Revoke the order at
once, and direct
tary of War, he said
the commandant to defend the country and people against all
who may attack or assert dominion over them, whether Nava:
Supreme Court shall
Mr. Ewing states that the order was at
and though Toombs, Stevens, and other South
once issued
ern leaders endeavored to persuade him to revoke it, and re
store that of Mr. Polk, their request was peremptorily refused.
joes or Texans, until Congress or the
order otherwise."
;
When
asked what he would do
if Texas should send an armed
he replied that he would defend it with all the
means in his power,
a purpose on which Toombs remarked
" The worst of it
he will do it."
force to take
it,
:
When
is,
bill
was pending, Mr. Benton, who
the compromise
was unquestionably better
informed in regard to the geography and physical characteris
tics of the Territory whose boundaries were then the
subject
of dispute than any other public man, declared that the line
fixed
in that bill " cut off the
legs of
upon
New Mexico and
amputated her at the hips."
On the 5th of August, Mr. Pearce of Maryland introduced a
bill
proposing the establishment of the northern and western
boundaries of Texas, and the payment of ten million dollars
on New Mexico.
He
avowed himself to be one of those who did not believe- in the
for the relinquishment of her claims
validity of the
regard with
Texan claim
much
;
but he
felt it to
be his duty to
deference the opinions of other Senators.
He therefore very inconsistently, not to say profligately, pro
posed to settle the boundaries in such a way as to give to
�280
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Texas several thousand square miles which
New Mexico and
really belonged to
ten million dollars for the relinquishment of
her unfounded pretensions. This proposition owed much of its
significance, however, to the fact that Texas bonds had at that
time only a speculative value, and had been sold as low as
seventeen cents " upon the dollar." The next day, a message
was sent
to Congress by the President covering correspond
ence with Texan authorities, and recommending " an amicable
"
adjustment and immediate settlement of their claims by al
"
not unreasonable and ex
lowing an indemnity to Texas,
liberal."
and
fair
but
travagant,
This
bill
was pressed with great
vigor,
and on the 9th
passed the Senate by a majority of ten.
reached the House, Mr. Giddings seized the earliest
August
it
When
of
it
moment
It relin
to declare his unalterable opposition to its passage.
and
to
Texas
he
thousand
said,
slavery, forty
square
quished,
miles lying within the ancient boundaries of New Mexico.
He referred to the rumor that it was to pass by the votes of
Northern Whigs, who, he reminded them, had always denied
He asserted that
that Texas had any claim to New Mexico.
Mr. Webster was the master spirit of the administration, and
had " stamped his image and superscription upon its policy."
He
referred, with expressions of mingled mortification and
alarm, to the zeal and co-operation of Southern members, and
and paralyzed condition of those from the
North, seemingly incapable of any united and vigorous effort.
On the 4th of September, Mr. Boyd of Kentucky submitted
an amendment providing a Territorial government for New
Mexico. The bill was referred to the committee of the whole
by a majority of two. This was considered equivalent to its
though, on motion of Hiram Walden of New York,
rejection
Mr. Boyd's
the vote was reconsidered by the same majority.
amendment was then rejected by a majority of eight, and the
to the divided
;
bill
refused a third reading by forty-six majority.
of the vote by which the
moved a reconsideration
He
then
bill
was
lost
and, pending the vote, the House adjourned amid great
excitement. The next day the reconsideration was carried by
;
a decisive majority, and the vote defeating the amendment to
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
281
3850.
organize a Territorial government was reconsidered by a ma
It was then moved by Mr. Toombs to amend
jority of seven.
the
amendment
so as to provide that the Constitution, the
statutes of the general government, and the common law ex
isting in the British colonies on the 4th of July, 1776, should
be the exclusive law of the Territories on the subject of slav
John Wentworth, a Democratic member from Illinois,
ery.
moved
to so
amend
that
amendment
as to exclude slavery
acquired from Mexico by the treaty of GauBut his motion was lost by a majority of
dalupe-Hidalgo.
So much, too, of Toombs's amendment as made
forty-one.
the Constitution, statutes, and the common law the exclusive
laws on the subject of slavery was also rejected.
Boyd's
amendment was agreed to by seven majority, and the bill, as
amended, was defeated by a majority of eight.
Mr. Howard of Texas moved to reconsider the vote but
the Speaker ruled the motion out of order.
Mr. Howard ap
The next day, the Speaker
pealed, and the House adjourned.
from
all territory
;
declaring the reason of his decision to be the fact that the
vote had already been reconsidered, Mr. Howard maintained
that the rule applied to the substance, and not to the mere
name, and that the
bill
had been so changed by
its
amend
ment
as not to be in reality the same.
The decision of the
Chair was reversed by a majority of forty. The bill was then
reconsidered by thirty-eight majority.
Mr. Morris of Ohio
called for the reading and enforcement of the rule
excluding
persons from the floor of the House, expressing the wish that
Texan bondholders would take notice of the fact. The bill
was then passed by a majority of eleven.
Mr. Giddings, ever watchful and observant of the action of
Congress touching slavery, states that no person not present
could form a correct idea of the scenes
presented during the
three days on which that measure was
pending. Many mem
bers felt that the appropriation was a
robbery of the Treasury
for the benefit of Texas and the holders of her bonds.
South
ern members tauntingly declared that
they could carry any
measure " that put money in the pockets of Northern mem
Texan
bers."
VOL.
ii.
scrip,
36
which had so rapidly appreciated during
�282
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the pendency of the measure, instantly, on its passage, rose to
par value. How much influence those bonds exerted in the
passage of the boundary bill and kindred measures can never
be known. Many who bore an honorable part in that great
struggle then entertained, and continued to entertain, the
conviction that some of their associates in both Houses were
actuated by corrupt motives.
The extraordinary action and
radical in its nature, so dis
a
measure
so
votes
on
conflicting
and so clearly apprehended, can never be fully
on
explained
any other theory.
The separate measures of the Omnibus Bill, if " incongru
ous," were so far alike that they breathed the spirit of both
It was their design to save both.
slavery and compromise.
Nor was there any very good reason why the same body which
"
" in the
lump should have accepted them in
rejected them
detail, except the fact that, in the then chaotic and substan
tinctly denned,
revolutionary state of the public mind, men could be
successfully dragooned or persuaded to support the parts, each
tially
by
itself,
who shrunk from them combined
into one
compre
Indeed, so homogeneous were these measures
practically regarded, in more than one instance the passage
of one prepared the way for another.
hensive whole.
This was the case in the passage of the Texas boundary
bill, which, with its ten million dollars, rendered easy the pas
sage of the other compromise measures. The Senate had fol
lowed it by the prompt passage of the bill for the admission of
California, and- then by bills for organizing Territorial govern
ments for Utah and New Mexico, though an effort made by
Mr. Chase to incorporate the Wilmot proviso. into the Utah
bill was defeated by a majority of five.
On the 7th of September, the next day after the passage of
the Texas boundary bill, the House proceeded to the consider
It had been
ation of the bill for the admission of California.
more than six months
but the passage of the ten-million bill had so mollified the
South and united the North, that, with scarcely a word of de
and
bate, it passed on the same day by a vote of one hundred
violently
and persistently opposed
fifty to fifty-six.
for
;
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
The Utah bill was then taken
vided that, when admitted as a
up.
State,
283
1850.
The
it
first section pro
should be with or
without slavery, as its constitution should prescribe. Mr.
Stevens of Pennsylvania moved to strike out that provision,
but his motion was lost by a majority of twenty-seven. The
Wilmot proviso was moved by Mr. Wentworth of Illinois,
It was then moved
it failed of a majority by nine votes.
from Indiana,
member
N.
a
Democratic
Graham
Fitch,
by
but
that the Mexican law prohibiting slavery should remain in full
John S. Millson, a Democratic
force in the Territory.
ber from Virginia, moved to amend the amendment, provid
mem
ing that no
law or usage in the Territory should destroy
or impair any rights of property or any relations of persons
but his amendment was
recognized in any of the States
;
by a large majority. Mr. Seddon, of the same State,
denounced the vote on Millson's amendment, and declared
that it showed " the pretence of non-intervention to be a mere
rejected
a trap to catch easy, credulous compromisers of the
sham,
South."
The Southern members were now divided
into two hostile
and
to
were
manifest
considerable
factions,
beginning
they
bitterness of feeling toward each other.
Mr. Toombs took
fire at the remarks of Mr. Seddon.
He affirmed that, if any
outrage had been committed on the South, it had been through
the agency of her own sons.
It was then moved by Seddon,
that, previous to the formation of a State constitution, there
should be no prohibition of the immigration into it of any
with property recognized as such by the laws of any
citizens
In support of his motion, he made an extreme South
ern speech, in which he said the slaveholding States on any
State.
other issue would be lowered from their proud position and
Toombs replied sharply, avowing his readiness to go
dignity.
before the people of the South
upon the question that divided
Mr. Brown of Mississippi, simulating apprehension of
Southern defeat, advised his friends to yield gracefully, and
with the declaration " So
me
go to the
them.
am
people, closing
for resistance."
:
help
Mr. Welborn of Georgia made an
unsuccessful attempt to have an amendment adopted authorGod,
I
�284
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
izing the Territorial legislature to protect slavery.
Similar
amendments proposed by Fitch and Seddon were defeated, and
the bill was passed by twelve majority.
As the Senate bill
for the organization of the Territorial
government
of
New
Mexico, without any inhibition of slavery, had been incois
porated into the Texas boundary bill, and that amendment had
been concurred in by the Senate, Territorial governments
were thus provided for Utah and New Mexico with no restric
upon slavery and the South was again triumphant.
tion
From
;
maze of stormy debate and conflicting purposes,
of propositions and counter propositions, of amendments now
rejected and now adopted, measures defeated in mass and tri
this
in detail, the very history of which bewilders by its
complexity, there is deducible not only the humiliating fact
umphant
that craft, courage, and combination in the wrong were too
much for timidity, indecision, and divided counsels in the
right, but a tolerably clear perception
may
be gained of the
and patriotism through which the true
men of that day were called to pass. To decide correctly,
maintain an inflexible adherence to principle, and fealty to the
primal truths of human rights and free institutions, the patri
otic and freedom-loving men of that day were compelled not
only to confront threats of treason and civil war, to see the
majority of Northern men wavering around them, generally in
the name of patriotism and in the assumed interests of peace,
but to listen to most thrilling appeals to their love of country,
to their veneration for the memory of the fathers, and to their
generosity toward their brethren who, it was claimed, were
fiery trial of principle
only involved in a system entailed by a common ancestry.
Perhaps nothing exerted a more demoralizing influence
upon Congress than the course of Mr. Clay. So ready was he
to change, so oblivious of moral considerations did he appear,
with his determined purpose to effect some compromise of the
pending questions, that he altered his course and presented
new propositions no less than five times during that debate.
consequence of his great per
sonal popularity, his traditional and magnetic power over men,
that they who had so long looked up to him as their trusted
It followed, then, naturally, as a
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
285
1850.
and guide should be bewildered by a policy so tortuous
and unprincipled.
To add to the general bewilderment and demoralization that
prevailed, the Southern extremists were abandoning their
vaporing and abstractions, and were rapidly approaching, in
words at least, toward open and avowed treason. Indeed, in
the debate on the admission of California, Mr. Clemens of Ala
leader
bama announced
the baldest doctrines of secession.
Allud
" I am the
his
of
he
to
the
action
State,
said,
ing
prospective
Whatever they shall
servant, not the leader, of the people.
do I shall do, in spite of executive menaces and of
all
the
bloody pictures other hands may exhibit to our view. If she
determines to resist the law by force, by secession, by any
means, I am at her service, in whatever capacity she desires
be treason, I am a traitor,
a traitor
He denied that the general govern
ment had any right to coerce a sovereign State. " Individu
" not
In
als," he said,
States, are the subject of coercion."
this language was clearly foreshadowed the doctrines of seces
to
employ me.
who
If this
glories in 'the
and State
name."
which culminated ten years later
and which became the accepted creed of that
great treason.
Indeed, no careful reader of these debates
can fail to detect the lurking and growing disloyalty of the
Southern mind, and to learn that rebellion and civil war had
become even then only a question of time. The elements of
disunion were there, and it only needed the electric contact
to produce the explosion.
The power of cohesion was becom
weaker
and
and
there was wanting only some
ing
weaker,
sudden quickening of the repellent force to rend asunder the
national fabric.
Passion and prejudice had existed for long
years, and there was required only the exasperating touch of
some special cause of angry discontent for them to become
madness and frenzy, whose frantic cries drowned not only the
sion
inviolability,
in the Rebellion,
monitions of conscience and reason, but the clearest dictates
of ordinary
prudence and common-sense.
of that year, Mr. Toombs made the strangely
extravagant declaration that the political equality the South
demanded was worth a thousand unions, even if each union
In
June
�286
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
was a thousand times more valuable than the present Union.
"
"
Deprive us of this right," he said,
appropriate this com
to
it is then your
property
yourselves,
government,
not mine." In the same spirit he made a similar declaration
" I am its
seventeen
later
and I am
mon
years
I can, to bring
enemy,
:
up
my
children and
altar of Liberty, and, like Hamilcar,
my
willing,
if
constituents to the
swear them to eternal
Give us our just rights,
and we are ready, as heretofore, to stand by the Union, every
Refuse it, and I, for one,
part of it and its every interest.
hostility to your foul domination.
will strike for independence."
This declaration and the cries
Good " revealed clearly the temper of the times.
Mr. Holmes of South Carolina made an impassioned
of "
!
speech,
not only defending the right and expediency of secession, but
boastfully vaunting the power of the Southern States to main
while he drew, in dark and forbidding colors, the
future condition of the North, New England especially, pre
dicting that its doom would be that of Venice, Palmyra, and
tain
it
;
other cities of the Old World, whose glory and prosperity
must be numbered among the things that were. Mr. Morse
of Louisiana expressed the desire for something more substan
than complimentary votes. " A union," he said, with
" is not worth a curse as
daring and shameless effrontery,
tial
long as distinction exists between negroes and horses."
Nor were threats of disunion confined to the floor of Con
There
gress, or to the columns of an inflammatory press.
were movements of a more general character in the same
direction.
While this debate was in progress in Congress, a
and in June such a convoca
call was issued for a convention
;
tion
was held
in Nashville, Tennessee,
composed
of representa
Southern States, and convened to
consider the questions at issue between the two sections.
tives of a portion of the
was generally regarded as disunion
in sentiment and purpose.
Judge Sharkey presided. In its
address were noted, as grounds of solicitude, if not of com
plaint, the facts that the North did not recognize the inferior
Though not
so avowed,
it
African to the Caucasian race that its sympathies
were not naturally with the South and that, if the South
ity of the
;
;
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
yielded, everything
was
lost.
287
1850.
It declared that
" a sectional
despotism, totally irresponsible to the people of the South,
constituted of the representatives of the non-slaveholding
and institutions,
was clear, it maintained, to the
was " in subjection to an intoler
States, ignorant of our feelings, condition,
It
reigns in Washington."
dullest vision, that the South
It expressed a willing
able, detestable, sectional despotism."
ness to extend the line of the Missouri compromise to the
adjourned to meet again in November.
adjourned meeting was held at the time appointed, and
continued in session a week. But it was inharmonious, and
Pacific.
It
Its
it
Its members
agree upon a common platform.
easier to dissent from accepted doctrines of friends
failed to
found
it
and supporters of the Federal government, than to agree
among themselves.
Langdon Cheves, a man of extreme
views, affirmed, in speech and resolution, that the only rem
edy for the South was secession by the joint action of the
Southern States. " We can scatter our enemies," he said,
" like autumnal
leaves.
California will become a slave State,
and we will form the most splendid empire on which the sun
shines."
Before adjourning, the convention adopted resolu
tions
condemning the acts of Congress, affirming the right of
secession, and recommending a general congress of the South
ern States. There was also a
meeting at Washington of the
more violent of the Southern members of Congress, for the
purpose of concentrating and giving expression to their ex
treme opinions, and also of combining their forces in
opposi
tion to the admission of California.
Though the Nashville convention and this meeting of the
Southern members of Congress did not
accomplish all their
sanguine movers aimed at, they indicated very clearly the
state and drift of the Southern mind
and, taken in connec
tion with the debates in
Congress, revealed the wide-spread
feelings and sentiments of defection, the gravity of the issues
;
at stake, the
dangers which threatened the peace and pros
and the practical difficulties of the hour.
of Mr. Souls' of Louisiana,
though less defi
perity of the nation,
The language
ant, was no less
calculated to disturb the public
mind
in its
�288
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
excited state of restless apprehension ; and all the more from
the fact that he had been regarded moderate in his
opinions,
and
less
tional
extreme of purpose.
pressure, and
But he had yielded to the sec
consequently his words seemed more
pregnant and suggestive. On the simple resolution to admit
California with her own freely selected constitution he said
"
But, sir, we have gained something by bringing the question,
in all its nakedness, to the test.
It is now
undisguised, un
masked. There it stands alone, without
any seeming object of
compromise or adjustment. This measure will pass, I have
no doubt; but its consummation will be the consummation of
:
one of the most grievous, the most revolting, and the most un
justifiable wrongs that can be inflicted upon a people, living, as
we do, under a constitutional compact which proposes to estab
and promote the general welfare. It will remain a
monument of legislative recklessness and oppression it will
shame history to record it. Sir, I do not wish to heat, by any
remarks of mine, the excitement which already prevails to
such an alarming extent throughout the country. God alone
knows to what a pitch it may reach when the official gazetteer
shall proclaim to the nation, as the law of the land, the ac
cursed measure which, in the madness of your impatience, you
lish justice
;
seem so eager to pass."
More potent, however, than menaces were appeals
to the
the love of country, veneration for the past,
of former favors, and fraternal regard for
memories
grateful
the descendants from a common ancestry, the heirs of a com
finer feelings,
mon
Of that class perhaps the most effective were
heritage.
those of Mr. McDowell of Virginia. He had distinguished him
self by his eloquent plea for emancipation in the Virginia con
vention in 1832, and had acquired a national reputation by
his ardent patriotism, his broad and statesmanlike views in
pleading for the best interests of his own Commonwealth, his
genial manners, and his fascinating oratory.
When, there
the
close
of
that
near
3d
of Septem
on
the
fore,
great debate,
ber, he felt constrained to make the appeals which fell from
his impassioned lips, there is little
made
a profound impression.
wonder that
his
words
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
289
1850.
" I have
" Whatever the
expressed or
opinions," he said,
the institution of slavery in the abstract, I
entertain
upon
and black
an indis
races now
that
emanci
both."
them
for
Asserting
pensable institution
"
and
the
heart-burnings
passions
through
pation would lead,
of human nature, to a war of colors, the bloodiest and cruelest
" the
of all wars," he contended that a servile condition was
moment
have never doubted for a
live together in the
that, as white
Southern States,
it is
their masters."
only happy and suitable one for themselves or
He said the Wilmot proviso destroyed " all equality between
the citizens of the slaveholding and free States," and there
fore could be insisted on only by disregarding the spirit and
purpose of the compact between them. He appealed to Con
" to relieve the South from the
flagitious
gress, therefore,
'
wrong which the proviso threatens against her."
Leaving the domain of argument, which he presented in a
variety of forms, and ascending into the higher regions of the
sensibilities and of moral obligation, he appealed to the frater
nal feelings which had hitherto existed, and to the grateful
memories of the years when they struggled against a common
foe, for the cultivation of a common heritage, and the upbuild
'
ing of the fabric of a national unity.
Proudly referring to the
prominent part performed by Virginia, and the sacrifices she
made for the common weal, he asked Shall all this be forgot
:
" Whatever that Union or
country is," he said, "what
ever the peace it has bestowed, whatever the developments of
happiness and energy it has encouraged, whatever the radi
ten
?
ance it had shed upon the principles of human government,
whatever the power of organization and defence it has given
to the spirit of freedom
among the masses of mankind, what
ever the throbbing heart of liberty it has lit up in the heart of
the world,
is, it is the
whatever in these and
all things else that country
offspring of the cares, contributions, coun
Who of us," he demanded,
sels, and labors of you both
"
without the putting forth of every faculty of soul and body to
prevent it, could see it go down, down, under some monstrous
common
struggle of brother with brother, an eternal crush upon our
selves, an eternal example for the shuddering, the admonition,
VOL.
ii.
37
�290
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the horror, and the curse of universal man ? .... In this
hour, so full of interest, our mother country comes into our
very midst, and, taking each by the hand, says to each, Son,
Can we not give it, freely,
give me, give me thine heart.'
"
proudly give it all ?
Referring to the dying exclamation of
"
Lieutenant Hale, executed as a spy in the Revolution,
0,
it is
a bitter, bitter thing to die
that I have but one
try,"
life
;
to live
and how bitter, too, to know
which I can give to my coun
" Give us
only this spirit for our work
"
shall be
crowned with a long futurity of thank
he exclaimed
:
here," and it
fulness and rejoicing."
With such appeals sounding
in their ears, it is not so very
"
"
strange that the words
union,"
patriotism," too often be
came the synonymes of hostility to human rights, and that the
words " liberty " and " emancipation " fell into disrepute and
became the objects of popular distrust and hate. Sharing, too,
against the oppressed race, and becoming
more and more aware how indissolubly slavery was linked
with the very existence and fortunes of the republic, it is not
as wonderful as it is distressful that such a man as Mr. Winin the prejudice
throp should
make
the sacrifice of consistency in voting for a
giving to Texas tens of thousands of square miles, then
free, to become slave territory, and millions of dollars for
bill
which, he admitted, she had no just claim. His apology, too,
for such action, did much to discourage the wavering and em
barrass those who aimed to be true to their convictions and
" If I should
faithful to the best interests of the country.
vote for this measure," said Mr. Winthrop on that occasion,
" I feel that it is one of the
largest concessions I can make to
that spirit of conciliation
and forbearance which
I
have ever
been disposed to cherish in reg-ard to these sectional subjects.
It will be from the most earnest desire to remove every cause
of contention from our midst, and to restore harmony and
concord to our country and to its public councils. It will be
from a devoted attachment to this Union, and from a willing
ness to sacrifice to
but principle."
its
preservation everything,
everything
�CHAPTER XXIV.
COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
1850 (continued).
Provision therefor in the Constitu
of slavery.
Fugitive slave laws a necessity
Mason.
Amend
Law of 1793.
tion.
Fugitive Slave Act introduced by
John Davis.
Jefferson Davis.
Of Pratt.
ments of Webster and
Dayton.
Passage of bill in Senate.
Underwood's substitute.
Speech of Winthrop.
Bill for
Previous
House.
the
Passage.
into
-Introduced
question.
Speeches of
abolition of slave-trade in District of Columbia in the Senate.
Hunter,
Clay,
passed.
Stevens.
Downs,
Pratt.
Amendment
Introduced into the House.
Slave Power victorious.
of
Seward.
Debate.
Act
Suggestion of Thaddeus
Adopted.
Friends of freedom not disheartened.
Speeches of Hale and Julian.
THE
desire of slaves to escape
from
their condition of servi
Provision must therefore
tude was natural and inevitable.
be made to guard against its influence and to prevent such
This provision could not, however, be made without
escapes.
mutual co-operation. It was simply impossible for the owner
of a single slave to maintain a watch so constant and unintermitted as to prevent his escape. Much less could it be done
when one became the owner of scores or hundreds. Slavery,
therefore, necessarily became a social matter, and men were
obliged to join
altogether.
hand and hand
the slave-masters
ticle
The
in its guilt, or to relinquish
it
when the Constitution was formed,
imperiously demanded and obtained an ar
Accordingly,
recognizing that necessity and providing for its relief.
iniquity of striking hands with the oppressor was then
" framed into
law," and at the very outset the government
itself to this ignoble and wicked service.
The same
motives, too, which required its enactment, were always pres
ent, not only to demand its enforcement, but to increase the
pledged
its provisions.
But such hard and cruel pro
were as much at war with the humane and Christian
principles of Northern men as with the comfort, safety, and
stringency of
visions
rights of their Southern victims.
It
was not strange,
there-
�292
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
fore, that the increasing
numbers
IN AMERICA.
of these
human
chattels,
who were
reasserting their claims to themselves, were finding
friends to help them on toward the north star and freedom,
and
from time to time, Congress was besieged with
and appeals to render this provision of the Constitu
that,
petitions
tion and the fugitive-slave law of
effective.
until
it
1793 more stringent and
But no additional legislation was actually secured
was incorporated with the compromise measures of
1850.
Early in January, 1850, Mr. Mason had introduced a bill to
provide for the more effectual execution of the clause of the
This
Constitution for the rendition of fugitives from service.
had been referred to the Judiciary Committee, and Mr. Butler
had reported the bill, with some amendments. But it had
been laid upon the table nor was it called up again until the
19th of August. Mr. Mason then offered an amendment, in
;
the shape of a substitute for the original bill, containing eight
sections, which was afterward substantially adopted.
In the explanations given, it appeared that the bill proposed
by the committee of thirteen had been incorporated into the
amendment proposed by Mr. Mason. It was remarked by Mr.
Cass that in the committee the general wish was expressed
main features of the act of 1793, which had
been in force for sixty years, and of which the four leading pro
visions were, the right to arrest the fugitive where found, the
when arrested, the duty
right to take him before a magistrate
and commit him to the
case
the
examine
to
of the magistrate
the master to remove
of
the
right
custody of the master, and
be
continued, and that
him. He desired that this law should
to retain the
be added as
any additional features deemed necessary should
amendments. Mr. Webster had prepared a provision giving
Mr. Dayton offered an amend
to the fugitive a jury trial.
he said, was substantially the same that had
ment
which,
been prepared by Mr. Webster. A sharp debate sprang up
between Mr. Mason and Mr. Dayton on the necessities of the
the relative merits of their respective amendments, and
case,
the difficulties interposed by the public sentiment to jury
trials.
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
293
1850.
Mr. Chase said he should vote for the amendment, though
it would not satisfy the friends of the measure,
as it seemed to be taken for granted that but one class of
he presumed
He
"the rights of masters."
to be regarded,
but he thought they
arisen
had
difficulties
that
admitted
had
seize alleged fugitives without
any
rights
was
;
resulted
from attempts to
To this Mr. Mason replied,
process.
Mr. Dayton's amendment
to do so."
" It
is
perfectly lawful
was rejected by a vote
more than two to one. Mr. Chase offered an amendment,
" substitute a
which Mr. Mason characterized as a plan to
trial by jury on the question of claim or no claim"; but it
was rejected without a division. An amendment was then
offered by Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts, which Mr. Mason
of
" the admission of the
asserted involved
testimony of the al
"
and that, too, was rejected.
leged fugitive
The debate was renewed on the 20th, when Mr. Pratt of
Maryland offered an amendment, the purport of which was, in
"
the language of the mover, to
provide, if the United States
do not pass a law sufficiently efficient to carry out the obliga
;
on the part of the Federal government, to deliver to the
owner his slaves when they escape, that it shall pay the own
tion,
ers out of the coffers of the national treasury for the noncompliance with this obligation." This amendment was fitly
characterized by Mr. Butler as " a proposition to make the
government an underwriter, to repair the losses of the losers
In the course of the debate much was said of the
of executing laws which are in conflict with the pop
of slaves."
difficulty
Mr. Pratt denounced a sentiment which Mr.
Seward had uttered not long before in Ohio. Referring to
the laws which required the surrender of the fugitive slave at
his fireside to his relentless pursuer, the Senator from New
York had said " Reform your own code, extend a cordial
welcome to him who lays his weary limbs at your own door,
and defend him as you would your household gods."
Mr.
Pratt thought little harmony could exist in the country where
such counsels were given by men high in station.
His
ular sentiment.
:
amendment was, however, lost by a large majority.
On the 23d, Mr. Underwood of Kentucky moved to
strike
�294
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the enacting clause, and to substitute a new bill
It was condemned by Mr. Mason,
had
he
which
prepared.
it
as
but
little more stringent than the law
who characterized
out
of
all after
1793
;
and
it
was
rejected.
Various amendments were
Jefferson Davis, that was
the
making
government
adopted,
responsible for
subsequently
the expenses of the slave's delivery. Another amendment was
offered,
among which was one by
agreed to, on motion of Mr. Mason, imposing a fine of one
thousand dollars upon a marshal who should neglect to use all
proper means for the arrest of the fugitive, and making him
responsible for his full value, if he should escape, with or
without his assent.
Mr. Davis
of Massachusetts then offered
an amendment to
the effect that, in case colored seamen should be imprisoned
in Southern ports, it should be the duty of the United States
district-attorney to sue out writs of habeas corpus, and the
duty of the United States judges to hear such cases. He
then fully presented the facts and the treatment which Mr.
He
Hoar, as the agent of Massachusetts, had received.
this outrage was all the more aggravated by the
had not been appointed until after two unavailing
in
attempts had been made to secure the services of lawyers
Charleston to bring such cases before the United States courts.
showed that
fact that he
He commented on
the conduct of the citizens of Charleston,
and upon the action of the legislature of South Carolina in
"
There,"
passing a law denying the writ of habeas corpus.
said Mr. Davis, " the question stands, from that day to this.
The doors of the courts of justice stand closed, and apparently
forever closed."
Mr. Winthrop then made a brief but very cogent speech, re
one that
minding the Senate that the subject was not a new
United
the
of
States, had
William Wirt, as Attorney-General
time had
the
that
and
pronounced those laws unconstitutional
not long elapsed since colored persons had been regarded not
as citizens, but as voters in several of the Southern
;
;
only
The amendment was lost by a vote of thirteen to
twelve voting
twenty-four, and the bill was passed, only
found to vote
be
thirteen
could
that
fact
The
it.
only
against
States.
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
for an
amendment
295
1850.
in which the rights of Northern freemen
were so intimately involved certainly betrayed the strength of
party discipline and the strangely craven spirit of the North
ern members,
who could thus ignore
bow their necks to
constituents and
the claims of their
own
the haughty and domi
There were twenty-one
neering policy of the Slave Power.
who
did
not vote either for or
the
of
Senate,
members, too,
that most of those
Mr.
Benton
states
measure.
the
against
Senators would have voted to
more
amend
the act of 1793, in order
but that a class of members, con
to render
it
stituting
themselves the particular guardians of the slave
efficient
;
and claiming to lead and control all things in their
" a
complex, cumbersome, expensive, an
and
ineffective
bill," which he and others declined to
noying,
This
action
of
one third of the Senate upon a meas
support.
States,
own way, had made
ure so vital in
upon
its effects,
not only upon the slave, but also
free persons of color, as well as
upon the
entire people
Northern States, was a weak and wicked shirking of
responsibility, a pusillanimous shrinking from the discharge
of the
and humiliating.
the 12th of September the bill was taken up for consid
eration in the House, and James Thompson, a Democratic
of legislative duty, indefensible
On
member from Pennsylvania, who,
previous to his election,
which, however, he did not keep,
gave antislavery pledges,
" of
" for the
sake," as he said,
spoke in its favor and then,
;
giving the House the fullest opportunity to test its sense of
the bill," moved the previous question, which was sustained.
All debate being thus cut off, the bill was passed by a vote of
one hundred and nine to seventy-six. Thirty-three Northern
members were absent, or, in legislative parlance, " dodged "
A
smaller proportion, indeed, than in the Senate
recreant
to their trust, but enough to reveal the sad
proved
demoralization of that body. Thirty-one Northern members
voted for that cruel, abhorrent, and wicked measure. Among
the vote.
number were three Northern Whigs, Edward W. McGaughey of Indiana, John L. Taylor of Ohio, and Samuel A.
Eliot of Massachusetts.
John J. Crittenden, the Attorney-
this
General, gave a written opinion in favor of
its
constitution-
�296
RISE
ality,
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
when
it
IN AMERICA.
received the executive signature and became a
Thus summarily and
was consummated
alarm, anxiety, and sorrow
into the humble homes of the colored people, both fugitive and
free, and which caused so much indignation and concern
among the humane and conscientious of the land.
law.
that act which carried so
precipitately
much
On
the 3d of September the Senate proceeded to the con
sideration of the bill authorizing the city authorities of
Washington and Georgetown
to abate the traffic in slaves
brought into the District of Columbia for sale. Though this
was the only one of the compromise measures that favored
freedom in the
traffic
least, it did
not propose to interfere with the
They could still
between the inhabitants themselves.
each other, or to such as desired to take
them from the District. Mr. Hunter made a long speech in
sell their slaves to
opposition, in which he not only enunciated his own extreme
views on the subject of slavery, but exposed the inconsistent
and untenable position of those who exhibited so much vir
tuous indignation against the traffic in slaves, while they de
fended the system which made it. He represented the bill as
" one of a series of measures which must end in the abolition
He denied its constitutionality,
of slavery in the District."
and its justice as well. He then went into an earnest defence
He admitted
of the slave-trade, both foreign and domestic.
that there were cases of hardship but he made the strange
declaration "I do not believe that the slave-trade between
;
:
the States has worked, upon the whole, a wrong.
But, on the
source of
the
been
it
has
I
that
I
think
show
can
contrary,
great benefit, not only to the whites in those States, but par
"
while of the foreign
ticularly to the slaves themselves
" I think
slave-trade, and the efforts to suppress it, he said
this but another instance of the mischief which has so often
;
:
been done by what I
call
sentimental legislation."
He
al
luded to the inconsistency of allowing the trade between the
And he made the
States and of prohibiting it in the District.
" If it be
a slave from an
sell
to
unanswerable point
wrong
so in Virginia
do
to
it
is
other State in the District,
wrong
:
;
if it
be wrong to
sell
from one
State to another, it is
wrong
to
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
sell
a slave from one
"
all
if
man
to another."
these things be wrong,
it
297
1850.
"
will not
Yes, sir," he said,
be difficult to show
that the institution of slavery cannot be right."
Mr.
maintaining the constitutionality of the
Clay replied,
the slave-trade, which the
recognized the fact that
" has met with the almost unan
gentleman had just defended,
"
" sentimental
while of the
imous detestation of mankind
"
Hunter had spoken, he said, My
legislation," of which Mr.
be the result of both the
opinion is that all legislation should
the
heart."
and
head
Mr. Downs moved to postpone further consideration of the
He
bill.
;
subject,
on the ground that the whole session had been taken
up with the subject
of slavery, without giving attention to
anything else but his motion was rejected. Mr. Pearce then
offered an amendment providing that any one inducing or aid
ing a slave to escape shall be imprisoned not more than ten
;
nor less than two years
that any person convicted of aiding
a slave to escape shall pay to his owner his full value ; and
that the authorities shall have power to prevent the coming
;
free persons of color, and of ejecting those now in,
not conforming to regulations that had been or might be
in of
adopted.
A long
debate here sprang up between Pratt, Mason, and
Clay, upon the actual state of the laws in the District as af
fected by the laws of Virginia and Maryland in which Mr.
;
Clay remarked, that, whatever the laws might have been, one
the traffic of slaves was now carried on in
Mr. Mason made this singular and extraordinary
" None
admission, for an ultra defender of slavery as he was
can condemn more than I do the practice which has been
denounced here and elsewhere of dealing in slaves." There
fact
was
plain,
the District.
:
were quite a number of amendments offered and debated,
some being rejected and others adopted, none, however, greatly
affecting the principles of the bill. Unlike the other measures
of the compromise, it received support from both sections of
the country, since it was the only one in which freedom was
not the loser.
An amendment was
VOL.
II.
38
introduced
by Mr. Seward, which
�298
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
proved an exception and which caused a spirited debate. It
was in the form of a bill abolishing slavery in the District,
appropriating two hundred
thousand dollars for compensa
and
for
an
election
to ascertain the will of its
tion,
providing
" There
inhabitants.
Mr. Mangum said
has been no time
within twenty-five years I would not have voted for the abro
:
gation of the slave-trade here
I shall not vote for it.
course.
I
ments that are made, that
impossible to satisfy certain
it
I
is
am
have now changed my
satisfied, from develop
To
attain their objects,
gentlemen.
they would wade through
the blood, knee deep, of the whole South, and over the wreck
of the
Union."
Mr. Dawson did not know how much importance should be
" It
"
attached to the motion.
might be," he said, an emana
tion of disappointed political ambition,
mere effort to hold
on to one plank in the wreck of a recently established political
platform and to save a sinking party." Mr. Dayton thought
the
amendment " a
affair,"
and
crude, ill-digested, and hastily considered
he should vote against it. Mr. Atchison of Mis
souri called attention to the fact that the gentleman
from
New
Jersey refused to vote for the amendment, not because he was
opposed to it on principle, but because it was ill-timed. Mr.
Chase said there had been unnecessary feeling, though he
"
admitted that he shared in the idea that this bill is a step
toward the abolition of slavery
themselves
itself,
this is
and gentlemen deceive
the last step."
if they suppose
Mr. Foote considered it " a proposition to dissolve the
Union," though he thanked Heaven that it had no prospect
" driven to the
wall, fanati
Faction," he said,
cism permanently detached from politics, our Republican in
stitutions are gloriously triumphant over all enemies, secret
of success.
and open."
"
Mr. Winthrop replied very effectively "If I
amendment it will not be because I regard
:
vote against this
If the emancipation
a proposition to dissolve the Union.
of a few hundred slaves on this little patch of territory which
you may almost cover with your pocket-handkerchief, can be
it
an entering wedge to rive this vast Union asunder, it must be
the operation of some awful and mysterious principle, and not
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
299
1850.
He proceeded at some length,
constitutionality ; but he regretted the introduc
tion of the amendment as a crude and unseasonable propo
the operation of the act itself."
arguing
its
sition, indiscreet, ill-digested,
and impracticable
;
not only sure
to be rejected itself, but liable to defeat the bill,
tainly was a good to be desired.
The
his
which cer
day Mr. Seward stated his reason for introducing
amendment, which was that the bill for the abolition of the
next,
slave-trade introduced
by the committee
of thirteen
had been
so changed by amendments that he could not vote for it.
Be
assured
that
in
its
bill
would
the
ing
probably pass
original
shape, he would withdraw the amendment ; but as unanimous
consent was necessary, and that was refused, he could not do
He proceeded to defend his amendment on the ground
it.
that
tune
it
;
was an eminently proper act, constitutional and oppor
for he believed that " for the performance of such a
duty the
first
time and the
first
occasion which offers
is
the
Mr. Butler could but regard the bill of the com
right one."
mittee as really tending to the general abolition of slavery as
Mr. Seward's amendment. " It is not the entering wedge,"
he said, " that generally splits the timber but it prepares the
;
for the final effect."
way
An acrimonious debate was carried on during the day, in
which a sharp colloquy sprang up between the Senators from
New Hampshire
concerning certain resolutions of its legisla
Mr. Hale rejoiced at the opportunity to vote, in accord
ance with the instructions of his constituents, for the abolition
ture.
of slavery in the District.
the honors
and
He
said that others
might wear
all
the laurels to be acquired
by compromising
but he desired to associate his humble name with all the odi
all
;
um, the reprobation, the abuse, and the calumny that belonged
to the avowal that he was
ready to vote for the abolition of
John Bell expressed the
slavery in the District of Columbia.
conviction that slave property in the District had diminished
in value by the
large accession of free people of color and he
thought that, under the circumstances, very stringent legisla
;
tion
He
for the security of that kind of "
property."
slavery was abolished in the District, agitation
was required
thought
if
�300
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
would be renewed, and the fires of controversy would be re
kindled so long as the District was left open for the admission
and residence of free negroes. " It will soon come to pass,"
he said, " that Congress itself will not find it convenient, if
safe, to sit here, beset and surrounded by an overgrown popu
and for the
most part idle, vicious, and mischievous."
Mr. Butler attacked the free States in their vulnerable point,
their unjust discrimination against color, and asked whether
colored citizens of Massachusetts were allowed to serve in its
The remainder of that and the
State militia or on its juries.
most of the next day were occupied with a debate on the
imprisonment of colored seamen in Southern ports, in which
Mr. Winthrop bore himself with dignity against the assaults
of several Southern Senators, and met their arguments and
criticisms with force and eloquence.
Mr. Seward's amend
ment was rejected, and the question was taken from the com
mittee of the whole and reported to the Senate.
Mr. Clay said he hoped the Senate would not agree to Mr.
Pearce's amendment, though reported from the committee.
He made an earnest appeal to his Southern friends to support
the bill. As this was one of a series of compromise measures,
and as the others had passed by Northern aid, concerning
this, on which their friends of the free States were sensitive
lation of colored inhabitants, degraded in caste,
and
solicitous,
he contended that they should consult their
and repay them for their concession. A very able
Mr. Hale pointed out the cruel provisions
debate ensued.
of Mr. Pearce's amendment, and maintained that any person
less
might be convicted and sent to the penitentiary for not
wishes
than two years for reading to his slave the Declaration of In
advent of Him who
dependence,- or the simple account of the
came to preach deliverance to the captives and the opening of
prison-doors to
them who
are bound.
Mr. Badger replied, admitting and vindicating the fact that
such a person might be convicted for reading to his slave the
Mr. Ewing strongly opposed
Declaration of Independence.
He
the amendment.
against
it,
that
it
averred that his
was wrong, that
it
judgment revolted
offended the
moral
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
sense of
terest.
301
1850.
men who looked upon it without any personal in
Mr. Mason asserted that this discussion had about
convinced him that the North was not willing to carry out
in good faith the necessary regulations which slavery required,
and that the incompatibility between the two sections was too
them to live together under a common govern
The question finally reached a vote, and the amend
ments were rejected by the small majority of four. The ques
great to allow
ment.
tion
was then taken on the engrossment of the bill and on the
it was carried by a vote of thirty-two
;
16th of September, 1850,
to nineteen.
House on the 17th. Mr. Brown
of Mississippi offered the Pearce amendment, but it was re
jected by forty-one majority, and the bill was passed by a
majority of sixty-five, a number of Northern Whigs dodging
Thaddeus Stevens immediately arose and gravely
the vote.
made the suggestion, the grim humor of which spoke volumes
of unwritten yet most unwelcome history, that the Speaker
send one of his pages to inform those members that they
could return with safety, as the slavery question had been
The
bill
disposed
was reported
to the
of.
The measures which were
wounds "
The compromisers had
to heal the " five gaping
had now been adopted.
achieved a complete victory, and the champions of the Slave
Power thought they had settled for years the disturbing ques
of the country
growing out of the interests and necessities of slavery.
They were exultant over victories already won, and looked
forward with augmented confidence to other triumphs yet to
tions
be achieved.
Though
defeated, the representatives of the antislavery sen
timent of the country were not disheartened. Overborne in
deed by numbers then, they knew such questions were never
settled until they were settled right.
Eeason and conscience
told them that the forces of the material and moral world
were acting with them, and would still fight the battles of
truth and freedom, whoever might falter or fail.
They turned
and committed the sacred cause to the
" sober
second thought " of the people and to the providence
trustfully to the future,
of
God.
�302
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Hale in the Senate and Mr. Julian in the House, the
Free Soil candidates for President and Vice-President two
years thereafter, gave expression to this sentiment and pur
Toward the close of the conflict, Mr. Hale, alluding to
pose.
the fact that there had never been a Congress in which the influ
ence of slavery had been more potent, said " Gentlemen flat
:
have done a great deal for the peace
Everybody is pleased but a few wild fanatics.
ter themselves that they
of the country.
Let not gentlemen deceive themselves. The pen of inspira
tion teaches us that there was a time when a set of men cried,
Let me tell you,
peace.'
think they have successfully
dug the grave in which the hopes, the rights, and the interests
of freedom are buried.
No, sir that peace will be short, and
Peace, peace, when there
there is no peace to them
6
was no
who
;
that rejoicing will most assuredly fye turned into mourning."
On the eve of the adjournment, Mr. Julian spoke at length
and with much force of thought and strength of expression on
the " healing measures of the present session," and gave his rea
sons for opposing them.
Of the Texas boundary bill he said
:
" It
is neither more nor less than the extension of slavery
by an act of Congress." Alluding to the threat of war as
the probable consequence of not voting for the measure, he
replied
mania
war,
;
"I stand opposed to the war spirit and the war
and yet there are things more to be dreaded than
the betrayal of sacred trusts, shrinking from just re
:
sponsibility, a pusillanimous surrender of rights, the extension
of slavery by the Federal government,
and, more specific,
it is less to be deplored than the dastardly and craven spirit
which would prompt the representatives of twenty millions of
people to cower and turn pale at the bandit treaty of slave
holders, and give them millions of acres and millions of gold
as a peace-offering to the vandal spirit of slaveholding aggres
sion."
He declared, in reply to the charge that the " Wilmot
proviso was conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity,"
was rather conceived in the brains of such patriots
Henry Vane and Algernon Sydney, and brought forth
"If I
the glorious fruits of the Revolution of 1776.
that
as
in
it
" with
thought," he said,
some, that, for other reasons, slav-
�COMPROMISE MEASURES OF
303
1850.
ery could not gain a foothold in our Territories, I would still
on the proviso as a wholesome and needful reassertion,
insist
in the present crisis, of the principles
on which our govern
ment was founded."
He paid special attention to the Fugitive Slave Act, and
seldom has that abhorrent law been more fitly characterized.
"
tissue of
Comparing it with the act of 1793 he said
:
A
more heartless and cold-blooded enactments never disgraced a
civilized people, throwing around the slaveholder every protec
tion, as if the institution had the stamp of divinity, while it
so hedges about the way of the poor fugitive with nets and
snares as to leave him utterly without hope.
And " these,"
"
he said,
are the fruits of this unparalleled and protracted
struggle, brought forth after a congressional incubation of
nine months.
These are the healing measures which are to
'
dry up the gaping wounds that have threatened to bleed
the nation to death.
On the contrary, the passage of the
Fugitive Slave Act will open a fresh wound in the North, and
'
it
will
continue to bleed as long as the law stands unre-
pealed."
�CHAPTER XXV.
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
General consternation.
First
case.
Meetings of colored people.
Wilson at Lowell.
Adams at Boston.
meetings.
Hall.
of
Burlingame at Northampton.
Meetings
Sumner
Public
in Faneuil
religious bodies.
Utter
ances of clergymen.
Furness, Stone, Beecher, Cheever.
extended.
The act defended.
Concerted measures for
support.
Berrien.
Aid and protection
its vindication and
Mr. Webster.
Mr. Clay.
Buchanan, Clayton, Benton, and
Castle Garden and Faneuil Hall.
Cler
Union-saving meetings.
ical defences.
The President indorses the Fugitive
Dewey, Taylor, Spencer.
Debate in Congress.
Speeches of Giddings,
Seward, Hale, and Mann.
Slave Act in annual message.
THE
passage of the Fugitive Slave Act was the signal for a
It involved both a
general commotion throughout the land.
wrong and a
peril that menaced, if they did not actually reach,
every individual in the Republic. Its uplifted hand was direct
ed first against the fugitives, of whom it was estimated that
more than twenty thousand in the free States.
Nor was the full force of the blow expended on them alone
for beside them there were large numbers of free persons with
there were
;
these fugitives had intermarried, and to whom they were
Its
joined in the various relations of social and religious life.
arbitrary and summary provisions, in the hands of base and
whom
unscrupulous men, impelled by greed of gain and love of re
venge, struck terror upon the whole colored population and
These were base and brutal men
become agents of slaveholders in both
following those recently escaped and in ferreting out those
who had for a longer time eluded the search of the pursuer.
Nor were they slow to act.
their sympathizing friends.
at hand, willing to
Only eight days after the passage of the law, one of these
agents appeared in New York, armed with the power of attor
ney from Mary Brown of Baltimore, and a certified copy of
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
305
from a common newspaper, in search of
James Hamlet, a husband and father, a member of the Metho
He
dist Church, and resident in the city some three years.
was seized while at work, hurried into a retired room, tried in
the
act itself, cut
hot haste, delivered to the agent, handcuffed, forced into a
carriage, and taken by the son of the marshal to Baltimore
and lodged in the prison of the notorious Hope H. Slatter
his wife and children being denied the poor satisfaction of
;
A
few days afterward another similar
bidding him farewell.
scene was enacted in Philadelphia.
The colored people were greatly alarmed. Nor did they fail
to give expression to their feelings, and to call upon God and
their friends for relief.
Soon after these occurrences a large
New
York, and an earnest ap
peal was made to their fellow-citizens to take immediate meas
meeting was held by them in
ures to secure the repeal of the fearful statute.
Early in October a meeting of the colored people of Boston
was held
in
Belknap Street church.
An
address, in the
name
was adopted,
patriotism, humanity, and
of fugitive slaves, to the clergy of Massachusetts,
urging them, by every motive of
" lift
religion to
up their voices like a trumpet against the
" Thus will
Fugitive Slave Bill."
you exalt," said the ad
" the Christian
religion, oppose the mightiest obstacle
that stands in the way of human redemption, exert such a
dress,
moral influence as shall break the rod of the oppressor, secure
who are ready to perish,
declaration
in
the great Day of Judg
thrilling
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
for yourselves the blessings of those
and hear the
ment
i
:
unto me.'
'
Appeals like these
evoke responses, and they came with a strength
and heartiness which gave promise of larger results than were
these
my
could not
brethren, ye did
it
fail to
actually realized.
Only eight days after the signature of the bill a call was
issued for a public meeting in Syracuse, New York, and on
the 4th of October the City Hall was crowded with an excited
and indignant multitude. Both political parties were repre
sented in the meeting and on its list of officers.
Its president
gave the key-note of the proceedings of this and a subsequent
VOL.
II.
�306
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" The
colored man must be protected
meeting when he said
he must be secure among us, come what will of political or
:
;
A series of thirteen resolutions was adopted,
and a vigilance committee of thirteen persons was appointed
to see that no person should be deprived of liberty " without
In the resolutions and speeches the
due process of law."
ganizations."
" diabolical
" cruel in
unconstitutionally, the
spirit," and the
"
of
the
law
were
in
denounced
the strongest terms.
genuity
Charles B. Sedgwick, afterward member of Congress, pro
claimed his purpose to resist it ; and he called on all who
heard him to resist to the utmost of their power. Mr. Ray
" Shall a live man ever be
mond, a Baptist clergyman, asked
"
taken out of our city by force of this law ? " " No no
"
was the unanimous
I will take the hunted man
:
!
to
my own
response.
" and he shall not be torn
house," he said,
away
and I be left alive." Judge Nye
ward Senator in Congress, said "
:
I
am
!
not sure that I
am
of
I
Madison County, after
an officer of the law.
am
not one of those
officers
who
are
clothed with anomalous and terrible powers by this bill of
abominations. If I am, I will tell my constituency that I will
trample that law in the dust; and they must find another
man, if there be one, who will degrade himself to do this dirty
work."
Such were the utterances of those two crowded
meetings, and such the sentiments and feelings of Central
New York under the pressure of that iniquitous statute.
At an immense Free
Soil meeting, held in
Lowell on the 3d
Robinson presided, a reso
lution introduced by Chauncy L. Knapp was unanimously
and enthusiastically adopted, inviting back residents of that
Mr. Wilson, of
city who had fled to Canada for protection.
men were
colored
that
Natick, said it was a burning shame
of October, over
which William
S.
from families, homes, and country to find refuge among
He commended the
strangers beneath the flag of England.
action of the meeting in inviting back their citizens who were
flying
He would say to the
" Be
calm, cautious, firm, and
man-hunters are in the land. Your house,
wandering houseless and homeless.
colored
men
determined.
of Massachusetts
The
however humble,
is
your
:
castle.
You have
a moral and a
�307
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
man-steallegal right to defend its sanctity against prowling
Do it at any cost, at any sacrifice." He held Daniel
ers.
Webster responsible for the consummation of that act which
would have disgraced any age or any people. When he an
nounced, on the 7th of March, that he would vote for Mason's
Fugitive Slave Bill, he then breathed into it the breath of life.
" owed it to the cause of
"
liberty
Massachusetts," he said,
and humanity to exert every power to secure the immediate
shame and infamy.
should consign to
that
sentiment
public
and unconditional repeal
We
should
make a
of this act of
graves the unprincipled men who passed that meas
ure, where the sternest rebukes of a free people should follow
political
them."
On
the 14th of October a large and highly important meet
held in Faneuil Hall " for the denunciation of the
was
ing
law and the expression of sympathy and co-operation with the
Charles Francis Adams presided, and made a
fugitive."
of
speech
signal force and indignant emphasis. He counselled
no violence, but called upon his fellow-citizens to devise " such
a course of measures
houses of
many
"
as shall give effective security to the
whose hearts have been filled
of our citizens
with anguish, and to nerve themselves to the duty of laboring
for the repeal of an odious law that " fills us all with mingled
sensations of astonishment and horror."
Frederick Douglass,
Wendell Phillips, and Theodore Parker gave to the meeting
and its object the aid of their fervid and effective eloquence.
A series of resolutions, offered by Richard H. Dana, Jr., was
adopted by acclamation.
Alluding in the preamble to the
state of doubt and the terror of the colored
people, in conse
of
the
it
was
declared
that
the
moral sense re
quence
act,
volted against a law not only violative of " the
golden rule of
"
and the specific command " not to deliver unto
Christianity
his master the servant that hath
escaped," but contradictory
to the Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution, and the
The resolutions
the belief
right of habeas corpus.
expressed
no
would take part in returning fugitives and
the
they pledged
sympathy and co-operation of those present
that
citizen
to their colored
fellow-citizens,
;
whom
they counselled to
re-
�308
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
main, and not to flee from their homes. Instant repeal of the
obnoxious statute was demanded. A vigilance committee of
fifty
was appointed
to take all needful measures to protect the
new and imminent dangers to which
were
exposed.
they
Meetings were also held in other portions of the free
States, in which the unwavering purpose was avowed never
colored people from the
Men expressed their
to assist in the recapture of fugitives.
willingness to meet the penalties imposed for the performance
of the duties
them by the
men.
which Christianity enjoined, rather than to evade
violation of the sacred obligations due their fellow-
On
the 6th of November, on the eve of the annual election,
Mr. Sumner addressed the citizens of Boston in Faneuil Hall.
He
spoke of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and declared that it
" sets at
naught the best principles of the Constitution and
In his early professional life he had
been designated by Judge Story a commissioner, but he could
not forget, he said, that he was a man, although a commission
rather than
er, and that he would forego any consideration
the very laws of God."
man. Expressing
the belief that the Fugitive Slave Bill would not be executed
in Massachusetts, he said that there were many who would
become an agent
offer the fugitive
for enslaving his brother
" the shelter of their
houses, and,
if
need be,
But let me be under
will protect his liberty by force
"
There is another
violence.
no
I
counsel
stood," he added.
I
I invoke
power, stronger than any individual arm, which
God
of
love
mean that irresistible Public Opinion inspired by
:
and man, which, without violence or noise, gently as the opera
Let this Public
tions of nature, makes and unmakes laws.
Slave Bill will
Opinion be felt in its might, and the Fugitive
become everywhere among us a dead letter. No lawyer will
aid it by counsel, no commissioner will be its agent it will
like a spider beneath an exhausted re
die of inanition,
;
were well that the tidings should spread
accursed
throughout the land that here in Massachusetts this
bill has found no servant."
On the eve of the same election, Mr. Burlingame addressed
ceiver.
Oh!
it
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
the citizens of
he thus
in a telling speech, in which
"
his objections to the Act
tell these
shall give their favorite law no quarter,
we
Hampshire County
summed up
:
men
that
shall
no more remain quiet
we
309
until
is
it
We
repealed than
we would
midnight with a rattlesnake in our beds and, more than
all, we do not intend to be driven into nullification, but do in
at
;
tend, God willing, to go up to the first ballot-box we can find
and there decide the matter.
are against their pet law
for a multitude of reasons.
are against it because it is
We
We
not required by the Constitution.
We are against it because
it extends slavery into Massachusetts.
are against it be
We
cause
We
establishes in our midst illegal tribunals.
are
against it because it poisons the fountain of justice with a
bribe.
it
We
are against
lina negro at one
five dollars.
We
it
because
it
Caro
fixes the price of a
thousand dollars and a Yankee's soul at
are against
it
because
it
makes a commis
sioner's certificate stronger than the great writ of habeas cor
We
We
are against it because it invites to perjury.
are against it because it was drawn by a disunionist, advo
cated by tyrants, and dodged by cowards. And,
we are
pus.
finally,
against it because
It contains within
it
commands us
to violate the laws of God.
its cunning self the essence of all the
tyr
that
ever
trod
on the necks of men
in all the ages
anny
since the morning stars sang together for
Name a
joy.
crime it does not include, a meanness it does not
suggest,
a tie it does not sever."
As was fitting, the churches and their religious teachers
were largely represented in this indignant
protest against the
cruel and unrighteous enactment.
At a " preachers' meet
ing," consisting of the Methodist ministers of the cities of
New York,
Brooklyn, and Williamsburg, held on the 9th of
November, at which were present more than thirty clergymen
of that denomination, the bill was denounced as
iniquitous
and unrighteous, a flagrant violation of the law of God and
its immediate and unconditional
The
repeal was demanded.
;
New York
Evangelical Congregational Association resolved
that they could not recognize the law as of
any binding force
on the citizens of the country.
The Associate Reformed
�310
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Church urged
its
members
to endure the
IN AMERICA.
utmost penalties
rather than bring upon themselves the guilt and upon their
religion the reproach of countenancing its odious require
ments. The annual meeting of the American Missionary As
sociation, held at Rochester,
New York,
a few days after the
passage of the act, solemnly covenanted with each other and
their colored brethren that they could not obey it because it
contravened the higher law of their Maker.
The Free-will
Baptist Conference, consisting of about sixty members from
nearly all the free States, met at Providence, Rhode Island,
a few ,weeks later, and declared that it was incumbent on
every Christian to disregard such a law as an infringement
God and humanity. The Synod of the Free
Church
And to the
Presbyterian
pronounced against it.
upon
his duty to
utterances of
these
larger bodies
were added the equally
hearty and more popular protests of local associations and
individual churches against a law which, though enacted by
men, they felt could not set aside the changeless claims of
the law of God.
Indeed, the great body of the Protestant
clergy raised their voices against
it.
recognized leaders, too, joined in this denunciation.
Rev. William H. Furness, a Unitarian clergyman of Phila
" a fountain of
delphia, pronounced the existence of the law
Many
deadly poison, blinding our understandings, hardening our
hearts, searing our consciences, falsifying our religious pro
It was
souls."
fessions, and perilling the salvation of our
by Dr. Joseph P. Thompson, a distinguished Congrega
tional clergyman of New York, that the law demanded what
" The
conscience and the Word of God forbade.
Puritans,"
"
suffered the penalties of violating unrighteous laws,
he said,
The fugitive shall have bread,
rather than sin against God.
he shall have money, he shall have shelter, though at the cost
of fines and imprisonments." Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr., of Brook
said
and standing
lyn, distinguished alike for strength and elegance,
same
of
the
foremost
denomination, avowed that
among the
" God's law
unequivocal, extending always to each
of us, revealed to conscience as light to the eye." This law of
God, he maintained, forbade the Christian to oppress the slave
is decisive,
�311
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
"
or to return him to his master.
Why shall I not," he asked,
"
his rights, which God gave him in
for
in
his
him
struggle
help
?
There is nothing to prevent
delibly when he made him a man
but the simple requirement of my equals in the State, the parch
ment of the law which they have written. But where will
parchment be when I meet this my brother in the Judg
ment ? Where will that parchment be when Christ shall say
to me, with my eternity depending on his words, I was an
I was thirsty, and ye
hungred, and ye gave me no meat
drink
I
me
no
was
and
naked,
ye clothed me not
gave
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in
this
'
!
!
!
'
!
Henry Ward Beecher maintained, with
his characteristic
"
comprises
point, that returning a fugitive slave
every offence it is possible for one man to commit against an
When we have ceased to pray, when we have rooted
other.
and
force
out the humanities, which since our connection with the gos
when we have burned our
pel have been growing within us,
Bibles
and renounced our God,
then we will join with those
whose patriotism exhibits itself in disrobing men of every
natural right, and in driving them from light and religion into
Samuel T. Spear, a Presbyterian clergy
deeming it such a wrong to drag a man
a bondage he loathed and had done his best to shun, said
gross heathenism."
man
of Brooklyn,
he could neither agree to do the thing himself nor could
" I would sooner
it to fulfil .the agreements of others.
"
than be its agent. The higher law of
e," he declared,
lat
do
would be in my way, and by its decision I must
Of course, the pulpit of the " Church of the Puri
"
tans
gave no uncertain sound. Dr. Cheever did not leave
lis hearers in doubt as to what laws
they should obey. To
eternal right
abide."
the " Union-savers " of that day, who counselled submission
" Let no man
for the sake of harmony and
peace, he said
:
think that
cometh by concealing sin, or justifying
iniquity, or hardening ourselves in oppression, or setting our
will and our statutes in rebellion
against God's Word."
peace
Similar sentiments were uttered by thousands of
clergymen in
the free States,
the
and
through
pulpits, presses,
religious
>rganizations.
The trembling
fugitive found, too, in
many
a
�312
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Christian home, a kindly welcome, shelter, and the needed
advice and aid to help him on his still perilous journey.
But there were two parties in this contest. Those who had
been engineering the Fugitive Slave Act and its associated and
antecedent measures, now flushed with victory, were in no mood
to sit quietly under these denunciations, or to relinquish with
out farther struggle the prize for which they had so earnestly
striven.
Fully aware that the law could be of slight avail
unless sustained by the popular sentiment, they saw that that
sentiment must be made to harmonize with the spirit and pur
pose of the enactment, and that the people must be debauched
and brought down to the level of the legislation they had se
And
cured.
the hour.
became the unworthy and guilty purpose
was a systematic attack on the conscience
this
It
of
of
the nation, as part of this general crusade against human
rights and the manhood of the nation. It is doubtful whether,
since the
of the Jewish
who " made Israel to
king
days
was ever a more
and determined as
upon the religious convictions and scruples of a people.
As if by some concerted plan and prearranged system of meas
ures, the leaders who had consummated their purpose in Con
gress now directed their efforts on the wider theatre of the
there
sin,"
deliberate
sault
nation
first
itself.
As
auxiliaries in their fell work, they counted
politicians and .presses of the entire
and foremost the
of the North, and of those Northern Whigs who
gave their confidence to Mr. Fillmore's administration. They
Democracy
on the mercantile, manufacturing, and moneyed
recognized the commercial importance of South
ern products and Southern trade. Always sensitive to any
disturbing influences, these classes had been specially affected
relied, too,
classes,
who
by the agitations accompanying the passage of the compromise
measures, as they were greatly influenced by the threats and
arrogant conduct of their Southern patrons, correspondents,
and debtors. Thus, stimulated by both the hope of gain and
the fear of loss, too
own
many
business
men
hastened to give in
adhesion, and to join in this general onslaught that
was to be made.
Marching at the head of this movement wa* Danie? Web-
their
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
313
In seeming frenzy, he not only turned his back upon
the associations of his past life, but he dared dangers of which
he had once expressed the greatest dread, while he sought to
ster.
persuade men to do the very things against which he had often
hurled his fierce and massive invectives. In his Plymouth
had warned the pulpit against silence on the sin of
and
declared that whenever or wherever it was "silent
slavery,
within the hearing of its voice, it is false to its trust." In his
oration he
speech in Niblo's Garden, in 1837, against the annexation of
" It has arrested the
Texas, he had said of that measure
it has taken strong hold of
religious feelings of the country
:
;
versant with
human
He
is a rash man, indeed, little con
and
nature,
especially has a very errone
the consciences of men.
ous conception of the people of this country, who supposes
that a feeling of this kind is to be trifled with or despised."
And
was signally guilty, and,
living or dead, sought to per
suade the pulpit to be " false to its trust."
He spent a portion of the October and November of 1850 in
yet of this very rashness he
more than any other American,
addressing Union meetings, writing letters, and counselling the
policy of expurgating the Whig party of all abolition heresies.
"
"
Ordinary party questions," wrote a contemporary, seem to
have lost their importance in his estimation old party preju
;
dices he is gradually sloughing off, and he appears quite willing
to take the leadership of a grand Union party."
He wrote to
what was familiarly
Garden meeting, held on
lauded the compromise measures and
counselled obedience to the Fugitive Slave Act, though he did
not approve its fundamental principle, because it had received
the sanction of the
and had become " the law of
the 30th of October.
called the Castle
He
government
He also
man is at
the land."
that " no
distinctly, not to say sneeringly, affirmed
liberty to set up, or affect to set up, his
own
conscience as above the law." The pretence that the
"
people may, he wrote,
saps the foundation of our government
and is itself a perfect absurdity." Nor would he allow them
the poor consolation of
attempting to change the law which
" While all are
their consciences condemned, for he added
:
bound
VOL.
to yield obedience to the laws, wise
II.
40
and well-disposed
�314
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
from renewing past agitation and rekin
So
dling the flames of useless and dangerous controversy."
completely had he gone over to the enemy himself, and so
hopeless was the bondage to which he sought to reduce even
citizens will forbear
who remembered and regarded the counsels of his earlier
and better days.
Mr. Clay was of course active. An opportunity was soon
given him by an invitation of the Kentucky legislature to make
a speech on the agitating question. He spoke with much self-
those
gratulation of the compromise measures, of their healing in
fluence on the country, and of his agency therein.
Address
now
that
Southern
no
Northern
men
were
there to
men,
ing
be cajoled into the support of his measures, he was more out
spoken and presumably more frank than he had been in Con
He claimed the passage of those measures as substan
" a Southern
" nei
tially
triumph." Of California he said,
ther party had carried or lost."
Of New Mexico and Utah he
Con
affirmed that " the wishes of the South have
gress.
prevailed."
cerning Texas he claimed that the South had got the
share. The Fugitive Slave Act was a Southern triumph.
lion's
And
even the only pretended concession, the abolition of the slave" as a
traffic in the District of Columbia, he characterized
measure equally demanded by the honor, dignity, and true in
He denounced dis
terest of both the North and the South."
" a second edi
union, and said the meeting at Nashville was
tion of the Hartford convention." He said there might spring
up a new party if the Abolition agitation was continued but
there would then be but two parties, the one for and the other
;
also joined in the same
effort.
He pledged, not to say prostituted, his high office to
the execution of the law, and deprecated all sectional agita
The President
against the Union.
tion, especially that
which called in question or put in jeopardy
Southern institutions.
The Democratic leaders were no less active in the same
Mr. Buchanan addressed a letter to a Union-sav
direction.
of the
ing meeting in Philadelphia, deprecating all agitation
the
that
fact
the
of
and
speaking regretfully
slavery question,
was
he
what
of
transmission
mails were used for the
pleased
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
"
to stigmatize as
incendiary documents."
315
Mr. Dallas spoke
the addresses of that meeting,
Indeed,
" were remarkable
only for disregard of the right
said one,
allusion to the morality of the
an
and their failure in even
General Cass threw himself into the
question at issue."
to his personal and political detri
breach, and, though much
in his efforts in the same behalf.
himself
ment, signalized
Mr. Douglas and General Shields gave no equivocal support
all and singly, of the disastrous compromise
to the
in a similar strain.
all
measures,
and its promised results.
But there were those who, though accepting the results, ridi
culed the process by which they were secured.
Among them
was Mr. Clayton, General Taylor's Secretary of State. He
scouted the idea that there had ever been any special danger,
or that the country had been saved by any special virtue in the
compromise measures, which were, he considered, incongruous
" for six
and unnecessarily brought together, and which
months stuck fast, and could neither get in nor out," though,
had they been taken up separately and passed, Congress and the
nation would have been saved six months' unnecessary alarm.
Mr. Benton took substantially the same view, declared the
" Omnibus Bill " to have been a
blunder, and contended that
each of its respective measures might have been taken up
separately and passed on its own individual merits.
Most of the Southern men, however, had another object to
aim at. That was to quiet the public mind on the subject
of disunion, which they had so freely discussed as the alterna
tive of success, and to quell the incipient uprisings of rebel
lion which their revolutionary teachings had caused.
Having
gained, through threats of secession, their purpose, Toombs,
Stephens, and Cobb in Georgia, King and Clemens in Alabama,
and Downs in Louisiana, became at once apostles of peace and
Mr. Clemens remarked that they had
used harsh words when they were needed but he intimated
that they were not needed then. " A majority in Congress," he
said, and he had too much occasion for saying it, "had yielded
more than any majority had ever before yielded to a minority."
In this effort Mr. Berrien, who was a candidate for re-election,
friends of the Union.
;
�316
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and who therefore found it necessary to satisfy both the un
and disunionists of Georgia, engaged, but he so far
ionists
purpose as not to be returned to the Senate.
the agencies employed to carry forward the purposes
failed of his
Among
was the holding of public meetings, especially
and centres of influence. Of this character was
an immense meeting on the 30th of October, in Castle Gar
den, called by thousands of the mercantile and professional
men of New York. The mayor presided. General Scott and
leading members of the bar addressed the crowded and excited
It was composed of both parties, and the spirit of
auditory.
its addresses and resolutions was well given in the closing
resolution, which expressed the thought that they regarded
"
their
obligations to the Constitution and the Union as supe
rior to the ties of any of the political parties to which they may
have hitherto belonged." It was this resolution which Mr.
Webster commended " in an especial and emphatic manner by
every dictate of my understanding, and I embrace it with full
purpose of heart and mind." It was said by a contemporary
" to a
that this resolution and indorsement evidently looked
of these leaders
in the cities
of
purpose of forming a new party out of the worst portions
another
which
other
the
presidential possibility
may give
two,
In it, too, is found a key to the his
to desperate politicians."
of the large proportion
tory of that meeting, and to the purposes
The compromise measures
of the community it represented.
were indorsed and their faithful and efficient execution imper
iously demanded.
A
Union-saving committee of one hundred
members was appointed.
Money was largely contributed.
head of the New York bar, the
the
at
George Wood, standing
and other eminent lawyers,
presiding officer of the meeting,
were employed as volunteer counsel to aid in securing the ren
Merchants declining to sign the
dition of alleged fugitives.
call for that meeting or to give in their adherence to its policy
"
were proscribed and their names enrolled on the black list."
Men shamelessly vaunted
Cupidity and cowardice reigned.
their own subserviency, and meanly turned informers against
It was this proscription that drew from
their
neighbors.
Bowen and McNamee, eminent
silk-merchants of that city, the
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
317
" We wish it
manly avowal, so often quoted and commended
to be distinctly understood that our goods, and not our princi
:
ples, are in the
Near the
market."
close of the
month
of
November the
citizens of
Boston held a similar meeting in Faneuil Hall, called by the
same classes and prompted by the same spirit. The speeches
were made by Benjamin R. Curtis and Rufus Choate, Whigs,
and Benjamin F. Hallett and Samuel D. Bradford, Democrats.
Mr. Curtis made a constitutional argument in defence of the
right of Massachusetts to exclude foreigners from her soil, if,
as a matter of expediency,
sary.
He
it
was deemed important or neces
and
ignored entirely the question of its morality,
Mr.
it as a matter of political expediency merely.
Choate exhausted the marvellous powers of his peculiar elo
quence in depicting the imminent dangers which threatened
treated
the land, and in making apparent the necessity of putting a
stop to the hazardous agitation of the great questions at issue.
The Democratic speakers spoke in the same strain and mani
same purpose. Mr. Hallett denounced as moral
treason the avowals that the law was not to be executed in
Massachusetts. " It is," he said, " revolution, or it is treason.
If it only resists the law and obstructs its officers it is treason,
festly with the
and he who risks it must risk hanging for it." Similar meet
ings were held in Philadelphia and in various parts of the
country, in which the virtue of slave-catching seemed to be the
of general laudation, the subject of the most impas
theme
patriotism had resolved itself into a will
fugitives, and one's love of country was to be
sioned appeals, as
ingness to
hunt
if
measured by his disregard of God's law and his indifference to
the claims of humanity.
In this sad work of demoralization, in this crusade against
the conscience and convictions of the people, it was felt to be
an essential auxiliary that the countenance and co-operation of
religious teachers should be secured, and that the sanctions of
the gospel should be added to the pretended claims of patriot
ism.
Unfortunately, and much to the consternation of the
men were not wanting. In the
high places of the Church and in the institutions of learning
fugitive
and
his friends, such
�318
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
not a few were found ready to respond to these seductive ap
Among the earliest and most prominent of these was
Moses Stuart, the leading professor of the theological seminary
at Andover, and deemed the father of Hebrew literature in
America. Appealed to and persuaded, he signed a letter thank
ing Mr. Webster for his advocacy of the compromise measures.
peals.
At
the solicitation, too, of the latter, he prepared a labored and
voluminous pamphlet, entitled " Conscience and the Constitu
tion," in which this iniquitous Act was vindicated and the duty
of supporting it enjoined. The action of this learned and lead
ing scholar and divine excited profound regret and astonish
ment, especially in the minds of those who had sat at his
and studied the sacred volume under his guidance.
feet
Another leading scholar and divine, who wielded a com
influence in the same denomination, was also per
suaded to lend the support of his great name and advocacy to
manding
the cruel enactment.
Nathaniel Taylor, principal of the theo
Yale College, addressed a Union-saving
logical department
at
New
Haven, which was but an echo of that held at
meeting
of
He
deprecated agitation and counselled obe
declared that he had not been able to discover
Castle Garden.
dience.
He
that the article in the Constitution for the rendition of fugi
" was
tives
contrary to the law of nature, to the law of
He labored to show, and
or
to
the will of God."
nations,
claimed that he had shown, that it was lawful to deliver up
" for the
high, the great, the momentous inter
fugitive slaves
Dr. Orville Dewey, one of the
ests of the Southern States."
most eloquent
of the Unitarian clergy, asserted that
it
was a
high duty to return fugitive slaves, and that he would rather
"
than to see
send " his own brother and child into slavery
the Union dissolved. Rev. Dr. Spencer of Brooklyn, a leading
Presbyterian clergyman, not only defended the Fugitive Slave
Act, but poured ridicule and contempt upon the great body
" What a
of the clergy who were bravely condemning it.
number of clergymen, north of Mason and Dixon's line," he
" have all of a sudden become such
great constitu
exclaimed,
It is a
like
it
Never before was anything
tional lawyers
!
!
modern miracle
!
How
amazingly these profound
legalists,
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
319
these clergymen jurists, would adorn the high courts of the
country if they would consent to take their seats upon the
The judges
bench!
of the
United States Supreme Court
ought to be thankful that these clergymen judges have done
Benevolent men these
their duty for them in advance.
"
Surely, such sarcastic and bitter words breathe
rather the spirit of the slave plantation than of the pulpit.
Large numbers of clergymen, especially in the cities, were
clergymen
!
thus indorsing the act and counselling submission.
Their
discourses were published by the New York Union-saving
committee and other
affiliated organizations,
and
sent,
some
times under the frank of members of Congress, to different
portions of the country, to quiet troubled consciences, silence
doubtful minds, appease slaveholders, promote the interests
of conservative politicians, and increase the Southern trade.
Before these combined influences something of the zeal and
indignation expressed against the compromise measures in
general and the Fugitive Slave Act in particular disappeared.
Many men were persuaded to receive opinions thus indorsed,
which their own unbiassed reason and conscience would have
at once rejected.
ests
And
and
so
it
happened that pecuniary inter
receiving such aid from relig
political necessities,
ious teachers, were allowed a controlling influence, instead
of being subordinated to the higher claims of justice and
humanity.
While the nation was deeply agitated by these public demon
and appeals for and against the Fugitive
Slave Act, the same Congress that had enacted the obnoxious
measure reassembled. President Fillmore, in his message,
strations, arguments,
not only gave a general indorsement of the compromise meas
ures as " a final adjustment," but he singled out this act for
special mention.
He
urged upon Congress the vital impor
enforcement, and gave his assurance that
there should be no hesitation on his part in the fullest exer
tance of
its faithful
cise of his
to
commit
powers to that end. Indeed, he did what he could
his party and the government unequivocally to its
support.
An
acrimonious debate ensued.
The cause
of liberty
was
�320
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
not without earnest advocates.
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Giddings asserted that
people could not be compelled by the cannon or the bayonet
" The far
to lend their aid to the execution of such an act.
mers
of Ohio,"
he
said,
" will never turn .out to
chase the
panting fugitive
they will never be metamorphosed into
bloodhounds to track him to his hiding-place, and seize and
;
drag him out to deliver him to his tormentors.
They may be
down
the cannon, bayonet, and sword may do their
;
work upon them they may drown the fugitive in the blood of
freemen but never will freemen stoop to the degradation of
shot
;
:
catching slaves." This expressed confidence, however, in the
unwillingness of the people to lend their aid to the execution
of this revolting statute, was hardly borne out by the facts.
Under the teachings of both statesmen and divines, large
numbers were led to the belief that the execution of this crim
inal law involved no moral guilt, and that their fealty to hu
man enactments was superior to the claims of humanity and
the higher law.
In January, Mr. Clay presented petitions for the more ef
fectual suppression of the African slave-trade.
He spoke of
the evils of the traffic and of the need of its suppression.
Commending the transportation of free negroes to Africa, he
thought glorious results would be attained if all agitation
should cease, and the people should all unite in removing free
people of
corrupt,
color,
who must
and dissolute
ever remain here a degraded,
Africa.
He
class, to the shores of
introduced a resolution in favor of making more effectual pro
visions to prevent the employment of American vessels and
seamen in the slave-traffic.
Mr. Hale, in response, read the pledge, signed by Mr. Clay
and other members of Congress, just published, pledging
themselves to a strict adherence to the compromises as a final
settlement, and pledging themselves to support no man for
office
known
to be opposed to
them and
to the renewal of slav
ery agitation. He reminded the Senate that he had noticed
that whenever the North had been pushed to the wall, some
very pious and worthy gentlemen had been seized with spas
modic horrors, and that their humanity and philanthropy had
�321
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN THE COUNTRY.
found vent against the foreign slave-trade. He notified Mr.
Clay and other Senators that he could not permit them to
denunciations upon every
agitate, while they were pouring out
who entertained opinions differing from their own.
The popular feeling, too, found voice and expression on the
floor of Congress, in numerous petitions for the repeal of the
One having been presented by Mr.
Fugitive Slave Act.
Hamlin, of Maine, was referred to the Committee on the Judi
one
On
ciary.
a motion by Mr. Atchison of Missouri to recon
sider that vote, a spirited debate sprang up.
Mr. Seward
maintained that the right of petition should be held sacred.
He declared that he happened to be one. of the members of
" who never introduced the
of
that
agitating subject
body
He was one of those who were contented to
slavery here."
leave the compromise measures " to the scrutiny of the peo
ple,
and to abide
their
judgment and the
test of time
and
Petitions were also presented by Mr. Hale in the
He expressed the
Senate, praying for modification or repeal.
that
a
of the
the
law
was
to
the
civilization
opinion
reproach
truth."
age, a perfect burlesque on the Constitution, and that it ought
to be essentially modified or repealed.
Mr. Butler of South
Carolina declared he was tired of casting impediments into
of. slavery agitation
that they might as well at
the stream
tempt
;
maniac to sleep by lullabies, as to attempt to
Mr. Hale, in reply, said that agitation was the
to put a
restrain
it.
It gave birth to the Revolution and to
" There are
many errors," he continued,
" which
require agitation and nobody but those who are hug
ging fatal errors have anything to fear from that life-giving
great element of
the
life.
Constitution.
;
element, which will impart its healing, as did the waters of
the pool at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, when the angel
had gone down and stirred the waters
As for myself,
name of agitator." Mr. Foote expressed the
there
was
little agitation in the Sermon on the
thought
Mount,
and that, if the Senator from New Hampshire would read the
I glory in the
Scriptures more attentively, and act upon the pure models of
genuine benevolence and apostolic wisdom, he would no longer
be an agitator.
VOL.
II.
41
�322
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
In the House, Horace Mann spoke with his usual vigor, re
search, and logical power.
Perhaps that unrighteous statute
was never more thoroughly subjected to the tests of reason
and conscience, and the conflict of the Fugitive Slave Act
" law whose seat is in the bosom of God " and
with that
whose "voice is the harmony of the world" more fully ex
posed.
�CHAPTER XXYI.
WORKINGS OP THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
Han
Cases at Columbia and Elkton.
purpose and execution.
Ellen
and
Crafts.
William
course.
Kane's
cruel
nah Dellam.
Judge
Judge
Prompt and heroic conduct of Dr. Bowditch and Theodore Parker.
Trial and acquittal of
Commissioner Ingraham.
Grier.
Jerry rescue.
Resolutions of
Trial and rescue.
Case of Shadrach.
Castner Hanway.
Its cruelty of
Speeches of Clay, Hale, Chase, Doug
Mr. Douglas's charge against some members
Thomas
Circumstances of acquittal.
Trial of rescuers.
of Congress.
His fate.
Given up.
Trial.
Chains around court-house.
Simms.
Mr. Clay.
las,
Action of the President.
and Jefferson Davis.
Finally delivered
in Faneuil Hall.
Public meetings.
Meeting and speeches
Unsuccessful appeal to the legislature.
by Union army.
IN the preceding chapter, mention has been made of the
general effect upon the country of the passage of the Fugitive
It now remains to trace its workings, as greedy,
Slave Act.
and callous men sought to reduce to practice its stern
and inhuman provisions. It is a sad story, of which but
hints can be given
a fearful and bloody tragedy, with a
nation for its theatre and an almost infinite variety of acts
and actors, which volumes only could fully narrate or ade
The act itself was a savage monster,
quately represent.
trampling remorselessly on its unfortunate victims, regardless
of their cries, and turning a deaf ear to the entreaties of their
friends, to whom were often meted out measures hardly less
harsh and relentless than was the fate of the victims them
selves.
Sometimes its execution was brief and decisive,
a case of individual cruelty and outrage, known only to few
beyond the immediate circle of the sufferer. At other times
it involved numbers, even courts and
legislatures, Congress
and the Executive of the nation. Sometimes, generally in
cruel,
;
deed, its ministers of injustice and vengeance were all too
successful in their infamous raids on the rights of their fellow-
�324
man
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
occasionally, though too rarely, they failed, the tables
were turned, the victim escaped, and the pursuer fell- into the
toils he had prepared for another.
Examples only of these
;
modes of its execution can be given.
In April, 1851, two officers
one from Harrisburg, Penn
and
the
other
from
Baltimore
arrived at the town
sylvania,
different
of Columbia, in the former State, in pursuit of William Smith,
an alleged fugitive from slavery.
He had resided in that
place a year and a half, and had a wife and two children.
The officers seized him while at work. Endeavoring to es
was shot by the Baltimore official and expired in
Though there were a dozen colored men near at
hand, there was no attempt at rescue, and the murderer was
allowed to escape. The occurrence, however, seemed to pro
cape, he
stantly.
duce very
little excitement, though the
legislature of Maryland
did appoint a commission to collect the facts and to confer
with the governor of Pennsylvania respecting it.
But no
results followed.
The outrage was hushed up, and soon
forgotten, except by the
by that murderous shot.
sufferers,
widowed and orphaned
A
noted kidnapper from Elkton, Maryland, called at the
house of a Mr. Miller, in Nottingham, Chester County, Penn
sylvania, and seized a colored girl, claiming her as his pris
In spite of the earnest protest of Mrs. Miller that she
he took her to a carriage, an accomplice being in
In the mean time Mr. Miller came up, and, though
waiting.
oner.
was
free,
threatened with instant death, endeavored to prevent the con
summation of the infamous attempt. But the kidnappers suc
ceeded in reaching Baltimore, and in placing the girl in pne of
the disgraceful slave-pens of that city.
Some friends of hu
manity succeeded, however, in bringing her case before the
courts.
The kidnappers failed to establish their claim, and
she was released.
Mr. Miller started for his home, but was
not permitted to reach it. He was found the next day, about
nine miles from the city, suspended from a tree.
Being a
the
those
best
him
were
with
trustworthy man,
acquainted
him a suicide and they adopted the general
that
had been foully murdered. The governor
he
impression
slowest to believe
;
�325
WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
of Pennsylvania made a requisition on the governor of Mary
land for the kidnapper. The latter, however, escaped a trial
through the false testimony of a witness, who swore that Mr.
had admitted the
was a
though the inhabi
tants of Nottingham testified that they had known her from
childhood, and her parents for twenty years.
Another case, still more revolting, if less sanguinary, re
vealing alike the brutality of the law and of those who stood
Miller
ready to execute
it,
girl
slave,
transpired in Pennsylvania in the spring
Hannah Dellam was brought, on the charge of be
a judge
fugitive, before Justice Kane of Philadelphia,
of 1851.
ing a
who more than once disgraced both himself and the judiciary
by his cruel renderings of the law. She was in the condition
to which the common law extends its mercy, even in a case of
murder, so that the unborn and innocent may not be put in
In this case her counsel cited precedents directly
jeopardy.
in point but Judge Kane was deaf alike to the demands of
;
the law, the claims of humanity, and the suggestions of de
cency. He prolonged the session of the court into the night, to
guard against the possibility of a child being born in the free
State of Pennsylvania, instead of the slave State of Maryland.
Sometimes, however, this monotony of gloom was relieved
by some pleasant episode, in which the heroism and strategy
of the pursued were crowned with success, and the selfish
pur
Of this character were the
poses of the pursuer were foiled.
escape of William and Ellen Crafts of Georgia, and the unsuc
cessful attempt to arrest and return them to
bondage. Ellen,
whose complexion was very light, dressed herself in male
attire, and personated a young planter, afflicted with consump
tive tendencies, on his way north to obtain medical advice.
William was a negro, without admixture of blood and he
;
acted the part of a family servant,
greatly devoted to his
young master. They took the public routes, mingled with the
passengers, and arrived safely in Massachusetts, where they
were cordially welcomed by the friends of the slave. The
slave-hunter not only failed in his attempt, but the
attempt
itself to arrest them, which was made in
October, 1850,
excited the deepest interest, raised
up
for
them
friends,
and
�326
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
procured for them aid, which resulted in the discomfiture of
and in their escape to England. And not
only
did they escape, but those who sought their re-enslavement
became the objects of such uncomfortable
notoriety in Boston
that they were followed in the streets,
pointed out as slavetheir pursuers
hunters, waited upon at their hotel, and advised to leave while
they were unmolested.
Dr. Henry
I.
Bowditch, learning that Hughes and Knight
city in pursuit of the fugitives, informed Mrs.
S.
Hillard
a friend of not only the Crafts, but of
George
were in the
of the fact.
She at once communicated
fugitives generally
the facts to them. Crafts armed and barricaded himself in his
shop, declaring that he would never be taken alive.
of the city to the home of Ellis
Ellen
was taken out
Gray Loring.
But, fearing that she would not be safe there from the kid
nappers, Theodore Parker took her to his own home and kept
her there until the slave-hunters had left the
Mr. Par
city.
ker armed himself and put his house in a state of defence.
" For
two weeks," he said, " I wrote my sermons with a
sword in the open drawer under my inkstand, and a pistol in
the flap of the desk, loaded and ready, with a cap on the nip
Before William Crafts fled from the United States to
ple."
England they were married by Mr. Parker according to the
laws of Massachusetts. He gave William a sword, and told
him of his " manly duty " "to defend the life and liberty of
" a
Ellen," and gave them both a Bible to be
symbol of their
spiritual culture."
Henry Garnett of Philadelphia was brought before Judge
He was
Grier, of the Supreme Court of the United States.
compelled, however, on the evidence, to decree his discharge.
But he did it with evident reluctance for he took occasion to
;
say that he had gone to the utmost limit of judicial propriety
in explaining to the claimants what course they ought to have
Shortly afterward, Adam Gibson was brought be
Commissioner Ingraham by George F. Albertie, agent of
William S. Knight of Maryland. Gibson was ably defended
by David Paul Brown and William S. Pierce but the com
pursued.
fore
;
missioner accepted the evidence of Albertie's perjured witness-
�WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
es,
and Gibson was ordered to be sent to
327
He
his claimant.
was taken to the railroad station in the custody of twenty-five
to
officers, headed by a police marshal, and then conveyed
that
he
master
declared
his
But
frankly
alleged
Maryland.
was not his slave, and he was permitted to return to his home.
This conduct of Commissioner Ingraham occasioned much
though it was this case
feeling, and he was sharply censured
at
the
next
session of Congress,
Mr.
from
which drew
Clay,
"
"
in
the law had been more than executed
the remark that
But Albertie became so justly notorious for his
Philadelphia.
fierce and reckless purpose to secure victims by any and every
;
means, that he was afterward arrested for kidnapping, con
victed, and sentenced to the penitentiary for ten years.
A
case was that of Jerry McHenry, commonly
as the " Jerry rescue," which occurred at Syracuse,
York, in October, 1851. He had resided in that place
similar
known
New
for several years, but he was arrested and taken before the
commissioner as a fugitive from slavery. On the trial, the
agent was alone permitted to testify, while Jerry was not al
lowed to make any explanation, or to say one word in his own
behalf.
Seizing his opportunity, he ran from the room but
;
was pursued, overtaken, and, although he fought fearfully,
was overpowered. He was thrown upon a wagon and, with
two policemen sitting upon him, taken back, frantic with rage.
In the mean time, there was a meeting of some twenty or
thirty persons, among whom were such men as Gerrit Smith
and Rev. Samuel J. May, to devise a plan for his rescue.
That which was adopted and successfully carried out was to
wait
till
evening, surround the court-room, break the doors
in, overpower the officers, in the mdlee take
and windows, rush
the prisoner to the house of a friend, and conceal him until
were prepared to carry him to a place of safety.
But prostrated by the excitement and by his exertions, he
his rescuers
was compelled to remain thus concealed for a week, and was
subsequently sent to Canada.
The United States officials, incensed at their ill-success, de
termined to punish those
their patriotic zeal.
who had thus
defied
and defeated
Eighteen of the best citizens of Syra-
�328
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
cuse were indicted and
summoned
IN AMERICA.
to appear at
Auburn
to
answer for their offence. They were escorted by nearly a
hundred of the most respectable men and women of the place.
Being required to give sureties, William H. Seward promptly
headed the list, which was speedily made up of the leading
citizens of the State.
So defiant and acknowledged an attempt to prevent the exe
cution of the law, in the very place where Mr. Webster had
"
just declared that it must be executed, rendered the
Jerry
"
rescue
and
incensed
the
friends
of
the Fugi
famous,
greatly
tive
The United States district-attorney sum
of
several
the indicted to appear for trial at Buffalo
Slave Act.
moned
and Albany. Although Smith, May, and Wheaton publicly
acknowledged in the papers that they rendered all the assist
ance they could in the rescue of Jerry, and avowed their
readiness for trial, resting their defence upon the " uncon
"
of the law, nothing
stitutionally and extreme wickedness
came of the attempt.
But results like these were far from being common. The
general rule was that the fugitive and his friends were over
borne by superior force. He was remanded to slavery by
courts in sympathy with the oppressor, while they were
mulcted in fines and not unfrequently imprisoned themselves.
On the llth of September, 1851, a case occurred in which,
though the fugitive escaped and the pursuer fell, the friends
of the former suffered for their simple purpose to help the
On that day,
of Maryland, his son, a party of friends, and
States officer, bearing the warrant of Commissioner
pursued and to prevent the effusion of blood.
Edward Gorsuch
a United
Philadelphia, went to Christiana, Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, in pursuit of a slave, believed to be his
own son. They approached the house of William Parker, a
Ingraham
of
man, demanded the slave, and fired two shots at the
An alarm was given, the neighborhood aroused, and
house.
several armed colored men were soon upon the ground.
Castner Han way and Elijah Lewis, of the Society of Friends,
colored
to the spot, endeavored to preserve the peace by per*
The deputy-marshal orsuading both parties to disperse.
coming
�329
WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
dered them to join his posse ; but they urged
his
men
such and two
him
to
withdraw
own
Persisting in his attempt, Gorsafety.
of his party fired on the colored men, who re
for their
turned the shot, killing Gorsuch himself -and his son, and
putting the rest of the party to flight. While the bloody work
was
in progress, the fugitive escaped.
intelligence of this conflict created
an intense excite
was ordered to the scene of con
flict, houses were visited, and several were arrested, among
whom were the two Friends, whose only offence was a too
The pris
earnest endeavor to prevent the effusion of blood.
oners were taken to Philadelphia, committed on charge of trea
son, and the grand jury found indictments againat them for
The
ment.
A
party of marines
that crime.
The trial
of Castner
Hanway commenced on
the 24th of
No
vember, before Justice Grier, of the Supreme Court, and was
continued more than ten days. District- Attorney Ashmead
by the district-attorney of Maryland, and by Mr.
Mr. Hanway was
Cooper, detailed on behalf of that State.
defended by Hon. John M. Read, Thaddeus Stevens, Joseph
S. Lewis, and Theodore Cuyler.
To Mr. Read was assigned
the leading part, and his argument was one of great learning
and of masterly power. Judge Grier saw that the indictment
for treason against the peaceful Quakers, whose only offences
were an earnest attempt to prevent bloodshed by persuading
was
assisted
both parties to disperse, and a peremptory refusal to join the
His charge to the jury
assailants, could not be sustained.
was so
clear that they acquitted the prisoners within ten min
utes after leaving their seats.
The district-attorney declined
to put the other parties on trial.
Perhaps the two cases under the Fugitive Slave Act which
attracted most attention, excited most deeply and widely the
public thought and feeling, were those of Simms and Shadrach.
Though Boston was the centre of operation, the whole
and the nation even, were more or less agitated by their
progress, because the governments of both, in their legislative
and executive departments, were involved.
State,
In February, 1851, Shadrach, a colored waiter at the Corn-.
VOL.
ii.
42
�330
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Coffee House, was arrested under a warrant issued by
George T. Curtis, United States Commissioner, on the com
hill
John de Bree of Norfolk, Virginia, a purser in the
J. Thomas, a Democratic lawyer, appeared for
Seth
navy.
the claimant Samuel E. Sewall and Ellis Gray Loring, emi
plaint of
;
nent lawyers, who had twenty years before aided in the for
mation of the New England Antislavery Society, Charles G.
Davis, Richard H. Dana, Jr., Charles List, and Robert H.
After the reading
Morris, appeared for the alleged fugitive.
of the papers, in which it was declared that he had escaped in
May preceding, the commissioner postponed the further
consideration of the case till the 18th, and remanded the pris
the
oner to the custody of the deputy-marshal. While the counsel
were conferring with him, the stairway was crowded with a
After all persons had re
large number of colored persons.
tired but the officers, Charles G. Davis and Elizur Wright,
the door was forcibly opened by a body of colored men, under
the lead of Lewis Hayden, who acted at the suggestion of Mr.
Davis, the prisoner was seized, carried away in triumph, and
The excitement
sent to Canada, where he arrived in safety.
was
intense.
The
facts
were telegraphed to Washington,
with the inquiry, " What is to be done?"
President issued a proclamation calling upon
citizens,
and commanding
all officers, civil
On
the 18th the
all
well-disposed
and military, in the
in quelling this and
vicinity of this outrage, to aid and assist
all similar combinations, and to assist in capturing the above-
named
of the
persons, while the Secretary of War and the Secretary
Navy directed all military and naval officers to yield
practicable assistance.
resolution was introduced by Mr. Clay, calling upon the
President to lay before the Senate any information in his pos
all
A
session relating to the rescue of the alleged fugitive slave
Shadrach, and to communicate what means he has adopted to
meet the exigencies
of the case,
and whether any further
legis
lation is required.
Upon this resolution there arose an ex
cited and angry debate.
Mr. Clay declared that he had been
"
" shocked " and "
by that act of a
inexpressibly distressed
few negroes in Boston, " who possess no part in our political
�WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
331
Mr. Davis of Massachusetts expressed the opinion
that it would be found that the people were disposed at all
times to maintain the laws of the country and good order,
system."
although the Fugitive Slave Act was offensive even to lawMr. Clay again indignantly denounced " that
abiding people.
negro mob which dared to lay their sacrilegious hands, in the
sanctuary of justice, upon the very sword of justice itself, and
to
wave
it
over
its
officers
and ministers."
Mr. Hale ex
would leave the execu
pressed the hope that the President
the
tion of the laws in Boston to
people of that city, without
After further de
invoking the aid of the army or navy.
which several Senators participated, the resolution
was adopted.
Three days afterward, the President replied by a special
message, in which he stated the facts of the case, the action
he had taken, and also gave the assurance that the law should
bate, in
be faithfully executed.
Mr. Clay seized the occasion to ex
press the high satisfaction he felt in seeing the faithful execu
It had been executed every
tion of the Fugitive Slave Act.
where, he said, except in the city of Boston, where there had
been a failure on two occasions. He censured what he was
" in
pleased to call the guilty parties
high or low places, in
who
instigated, incited, and stimulated those
public or private,
and miserable wretches." Mr.
sure that he had made
his administration ridiculous by his proclamation, and had
sent them a labored essay to vindicate what could not be vin
He looked upon the whole subject as " entirely mis
dicated.
poor, black, deluded mortals
Hale thought the President
felt pretty
placed, misconceived, ill-judged, impolitic, improper, injudi
The remarks of Mr. Hale irritated Mr.
cious, and weak."
Clay, who lost his temper, and made, in reply, a personal and
undignified attack.
Mr. Chase said it was somewhat remarkable that Mr. Clay,
who had
so vehemently denounced agitation
and
agitators,
should have furnished, with one exception, the occasion for
He maintained
every debate on slavery during the session.
that the obligation imposed by the Constitution in respect to
fugitives from labor was a compact between the States, to be
�332
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
executed by the States, just as other compacts in the same
article are to be executed in good faith ; but that each State
to judge of the extent of its
is
own
obligations
ticular legislation required to fulfil them.
He
and
of the par
said the States
had laws for the reclamation
of escaping servants, and that
the Supreme Court, in the case of Prigg against Pennsyl
vania, had decided that the States had no constitutional
That decision, he said,
legislate on that subject.
swept the whole of this legislation from the statute-books,"
power to
"
and
practically expunged the fugitive-slave clause from the
Constitution.
Mr. Douglas said he held white men then within range of
his sight " responsible for the violation of the law in Boston.
was done under
under their teaching, under
under the influence of their speeches." He
expressed the hope that, when the trial came on, the punish
ment would fall upon the leading white conspirators instead
of their ignorant, simple-minded, and abused tools and instru
It
their advice,
their sanction,
He
charged the Abolitionists with arming negroes
with bowie-knives and pistols to resist the execution of the
ments.
Fugitive Slave Law.
Mr. Clay affirmed that the compromise measures had worked
miracles, and that they had made thousands of converts even
" has been
"
Peace," he said,
pro
among the Abolitionists.
duced to an extent surpassing my most sanguine expecta
He denounced the Abolitionists as disunionists. Mr.
Chase disavowed all connection with any class of persons who
He admitted that there
desired the dissolution of the Union.
tions."
were Abolitionists who regarded the Constitution as at war
with moral obligation and the supreme law but he was not
one of them. Jefferson Davis held that it was a reflection
upon the good faith of the States which had made a contract
for the surrender of fugitive slaves that it had been found
;
necessary to enact such a law. He declared that if the State
of Massachusetts sanctioned the action of the negro mob in
Boston she was virtually out of the Union, and he would not
give a dollar to coerce her back.
events and his
own subsequent
Foreshadowing coming
would " let
career, he said he
�WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE
ACT.
333
her go, go in peace, go in good-will, go with all the kind and
proud remembrances which cluster around her early history."
The message was then referred to the Committee on the Judi
ciary,
which reported on the
last
day of the session that fur
was not necessary.
Five persons engaged in that rescue were indicted for the
offence.
Among them were John Scott and Lewis Hay den.
ther legislation
before Judge Sprague.
Though an able
and bearing conveyed the impression that
he had predetermined their conviction. They were ably de
fended by John P. Hale and Richard H. Dana, Jr., and the
They were
tried
jurist, his course
The jurors were required to declare that
jury failed to agree.
on
the Fugitive Slave Act which would
no
views
held
they
prevent their bringing in a verdict according to the facts.
The evidence in the case of Mr. Hayden was very strong, and
His counsel were
the judge's charge against him very clear.
surprised at the failure of the jury to agree
upon a verdict
of
The
jury, it was understood, at first stood eleven for
Several years after the trial, Mr. Dana addressed
a public meeting in Concord. At its conclusion, Francis E.
Bigelow, a citizen of that town, was introduced to Mr. Dana
guilty.
conviction.
by Judge Hoar, and stated that he was on the jury which
tried Hayden, and also that he was the juror who refused to
" swore
convict.
Referring to the testimony of witnesses who
they saw the prisoner help Shadrach into a carriage, which
was traced over Cambridge bridge, and into West Cambridge,
where he was put into another carriage and driven to Concord,
and there put into a wagon at night and driven to Sudbury,"
he said, " I drove that wagon over to Sudbury."
Elizur
Wright and Charles G. Davis, who were present in the court
room when Shadrach was rescued, and the colored lawyer,
trial, but the government
Robert H. Morris, were put on
utterly failed in the effort to prove anything against them.
On the 3d of April of the same year, Thomas Sims was
arrested on a warrant issued by Commissioner Curtis, under
In the Shadrach case the
the direction of Marshal Tukey.
Board
city
of
Aldermen and Common Council had authorized the
marshal, under the instructions of the mayor, whenever
�334
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
he should be informed by a public officer of the State or the
United States that there was danger that he would be ob
structed in the performance of his official duties, to use the
police force to support the laws and maintain the public peace.
It
was, however, no part of the duty of the police-officer to
But Marshal Tukey stated to the com
arrest fugitive slaves.
Massachusetts
Senate that he made the arrest
mittee of the
'under the instructions of the mayor, to preserve the peace of
the city, for the reason that the United States officers were
such bunglers they could not catch a slave without exciting a
Sims was arrested under the false pretence of having
committed a theft, was taken to the court-house, and there put
under guard. Intelligence of the arrest rapidly spread over
the city, and fears were entertained that the prisoner would
be remanded without an opportunity for defence. Indeed,
Samuel E. Sewall, was actually committed to the watch-house
by Assistant United States Marshal Patrick Riley, for simply
riot.
making an inquiry in regard to the trial. The court-house
was surrounded with heavy chains, and a strong police force
was put upon duty. The judges of the Supreme Court, on
their way to their seats of justice, were compelled to bow as
they passed under these heavy chains. Chief Justice Wells,
of the Court of Common Pleas, instituted an inquiry in regard
and Marshal
to the obstructions put around the building
;
to allow persons having business with
the courts to raise the chain, so that they and the judge might
Tukey condescended
pass under without stooping. Hardly ever had power been
more arrogant, and never had the humiliation of the citizens
of Boston been more complete.
Sims was claimed by James Potter of Georgia. Seth J.
Thomas appeared as counsel of claimant, while Charles G.
Loring and Robert Rantoul, Jr., lawyers of eminent ability,
volunteered their services for the defence of the prisoner, and,
in connection with Samuel E. Sewall, conducted the case with
Attempts were made to bring the case,
great zeal and skill.
before the Supreme Court and
habeas
of
a
writ
corpus,
by
the application was argued by Mr. Rantoul in an effort pro
;
nounced by friends and foes as one of the very highest
order.
�335
WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
But
it
was
A
refused.
Judge Sprague
;
but
it
similar application was also made to
Justice Woodbury, how
refused.
was
that
ever, granted the application made to him, on the ground
But in the hearing before
it was a writ of common right.
to remove Sims from the
Commissioner Curtis overruled all
which returned this trem
objections, and signed a certificate
and
victim
of
public rapacity to the tender
personal
bling
him Judge Woodbury decided not
custody of the marshal.
mercies of his master.
At
the morning he was taken from his cell,
placed in the hollow square of three hundred armed policemen,
marched to Long Wharf, and put on board the Acorn, a ves
sel
five o'clock in
owned by John H. Pier son, a Boston merchant. A body
was stationed in Faneuil Hall, ready to render as
of militia
sistance, if required
;
but their services were not called into
requisition, as there were few, other than the members of the
ever-watchful and unwearied Vigilance Committee, to witness
that mournful procession.
On the arrival of the ship at Savannah, Sims was de
livered to an officer, handcuffed, taken to jail, and whipped.
After being kept in a close cell for two months he was sent
to a slave-pen at Charleston, and thence to a slave-pen at New
Orleans.
He was then sold to a brick-mason of Yicksburg,
whence he escaped in 1863 to the besieging army of General
Grant, who gave him transportation to the North.
During this trial several public meetings were held. The
next day after the arrest there was one on Boston Common,
which was addressed by Wendell Phillips. At an adjourned
meeting in the evening, at Tremont Temple, an address of
great vigor and severity was delivered by Theodore Parker.
Five days afterward there was a convention at the same place
of all persons
opposed to the Fugitive Slave Act.
The
hall
was crowded to its utmost capacity and the deepest feeling
was manifested. Horace Mann presided. He opened the
"
meeting by expressing his
unspeakable humiliation and re
gret" at the scenes then transpiring in Massachusetts. He
called
upon the people to continue,
in all constitutional modes,
their opposition to the oppressive statute.
He
closed
by
say-
�336
ing
RISE
:
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
" It has been asked
why we
IN AMERICA.
are assembled here to-day,
and not in the hall consecrated to Liberty. It is because its
doors have been closed to Liberty, knocking for admission.
But then there is a melancholy propriety in this. When the
court-house is in chains, Faneuil Hall may well be dumb."
Speeches were made by John G. Palfrey, Stephen C. Phil
lips, Anson Burlingame, Henry Wilson, John C. Park, Charles
M. Ellis, Thomas W. Higginson, and others. Resolutions were
adopted declaring that the Fugitive Slave Act ought to be im
mediately and forever repealed that it was impossible to aid
by word or deed in remanding a fugitive slave to bondage
without aiding to rob him of an inalienable right, without
participating in the act of holding him in slavery, without
On the even
sinning against Christianity and against God.
ing of that day, another and a distinct meeting was held in
the same place for a like purpose.
Eloquent addresses were
made by Wendell Phillips, William Henry Charming, and
On the day in which Sims was delivered up, a
others.
was
held in Washington Hall, which was addressed
meeting
William
Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Edmund
by
On
the same day, in several of the neighboring
Quincy.
towns, the bells were tolled and public meetings were held, in
which the fugitive Slave Act and the perpetrators of the atro
cities committed under it were severely criticised and con
;
demned.
The
In
legislature of Massachusetts was then in session.
Edward L. Keyes presented the petition of Sims,
the Senate
setting forth the circumstances of his case.
On motion
of
Frederick Robinson, a committee was appointed to inquire
whether the freedom of any of the inhabitants was endangered
through the remissness of any of its officers, and if any law
for the security of personal liberty had been violated by the
Sev
officers of the city of Boston or of the Commonwealth.
were held, many witnesses examined, and a large
number of facts elicited, which were embodied in the report of
That report, setting forth the manner in
the committee.
which the laws of the State had been violated by Sheriff
Eveleth of Boston, Mayor Bigelow, and Marshal Tukey,
eral sessions
�WORKINGS OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
concluded with a recommendation
not have power to
call
that
the
337
mayor should
out the militia during the session
that of the governor's council, or
the legislature, or
when the governor was in the city and that the act of 1843
should be extended to all persons holding any office created
or existing under any of the statutes of the Commonwealth.
of
;
But the legislature
VOL.
II.
43
failed to enact these measures.
�CHAPTER XXVII.
COALITION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
ELECTION OF ME. SUMNEE.
Co-operation between Democrats and Free-Soilers in Ohio, Connecticut, and Ver
Resolutions.
Ben
mont.
Massachusetts Democratic State convention.
jamin F. Hallett.
Proffer of the
the Free Soil State committee.
agree.
and
Free-Soilers.
Fusion.
to
Failure to
Massachusetts.
Majority opposed to the coalition.
Minority in
Free Soil State convention.
Campaign paper.
Horace Mann.
Nominations.
Democratic State committee
Conventions at Rome.
Conventions at Syracuse and Utica.
Meeting at Adams House.
William Jackson.
favor.
crats
New York
Eeply.
Coalition.
Middlesex County conventions of Demo
Mr. Sumner's speech in Faneuil Hall.
and Adams.
Triumph of coalition.
Proposition of FreeMr. Boutwell made governor.
Mr. Sumner selected
Accepted.
as candidate for United States Senate.
Final success.
Long struggle.
Letters of Palfrey
Soilers.
Rantoul elected
for short term.
Sumner's
letter to
Mr. Wilson.
Results.
IN the year 1848 there were thousands of Democrats who
sympathized, for various reasons, with the Free Soil movement,
though they gave a reluctant support to General Cass. But
when the election was over, and the government had passed
from Democratic rule, and the Southern pressure was in some
measure lifted by both the removal of the responsibility of
power and what was deemed Southern recreancy in deserting
General Cass for General Taylor, there were many who hoped
This
that their party would place itself in better position.
was
specially manifested in Ohio in the organization of its
legislature, in the election of judges, and also in the election
of
Mr! Chase as United States Senator.
In Connecticut the
Democrats and Free-Soilers combined in the election
of
mem
Mr. Booth, who had voted the Free Soil
bers of Congress
ticket, Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Waldo, who had publicly in
;
dorsed the Free Soil platform, being chosen members of the
In Vermont, too, a similar fusion was effected, and
House.
the Democrats passed antislavery resolutions.
The Massachusetts Democratic State convention
met
in
�COALITION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
339
It consisted of
Springfield on the 19th of September, 1849.
about six hundred members, who adopted with hardly a dis
senting voice, and with general applause, resolutions avowing
"
" to
slavery in every form and color
opposition
pronoun
" in favor of freedom and free soil
wherever man lives
cing
;
throughout God's heritage"; and declaring that "slavery is
a mere municipal regulation," that it " does not exist in the
Territories by municipal law," that " Congress has no power
to institute it," that " the local laws of our State can never
be transported there," that it " can never exist there but by
local law sanctioned by Congress."
They also declared their
opposition to the extension of slavery to the Territories, and in
favor of restricting it to the limits within which it exists by
the local laws of the States.
Those resolutions were drawn
up by Benjamin F. Hallett. On his way to the convention he
read them to Charles C. Hazewell, then editor of the Bos
ton " Times," and to Mr. Wilson, then editor of the Boston
"
Emancipator and Republican." Mr. Hazewell was a gentle
man
of vast historical acquisitions, of extraordinary
and
of
of
the
memory,
He approved of the sentiments
progressive views.
resolutions ; but he asked Mr. Hallett what the
Southern Democrats would say to them. To this question
that gentleman promptly replied "I do not care what they
:
We have risked everything for them.
General Cass and elected General Taylor.
They deserted
They can take
care of themselves and we can take care of ourselves." They
"
were indorsed by the Boston " Post on the morning after the
convention, and the opinion was expressed that the two minor
There was co
ity parties could act together on State affairs.
say.
operation in
tricts,
there
but
it
was a
many
of the
was mainly
senatorial
and representative
dis
for local purposes. In Wisconsin, too,
between the Free-Soilers and the
like co-operation
Democrats, the Democratic State convention passing a series
most thorough antislavery character.
The New York Democratic State committee invited the Free
Soil State committee to unite with them in calling a union
of resolutions of the
convention for the nomination of a union ticket.
In response
the committee reiterated their convictions concerning slavery,
�340
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
declared it to be a social and political evil, avowed their at
tachment to the ordinance of 1787, and stated that they could
form no combinations that would require its abandonment.
They expressed their gratification that Democrats in other
States were taking ground against slavery extension.
Not
withstanding this reply, the two parties met simultaneously
in convention at Rome on the 16th of August.
The Demo
cratic convention passed resolutions in favor of the
power
of
Congress to prohibit slavery in the Territories and in the
District of Columbia, but would not pass any making slavery
a test question. The Free Soil convention adopted resolutions
embodying the principles of the Buffalo platform. Committees
of conference were appointed, but the Democratic convention
refused to accept the resolutions of the Free Soil body. And
yet the latter, under the lead of John Yan Buren, proposed to
merge the two conventions in one. But the proffer was de
The Free-Soilers immediately
clined, and the two adjourned.
issued an address to the public in which they arraigned with
much
severity the course of the Democratic convention.
State convention was held at Syracuse on
The Democratic
the 5th of September, nominated a State ticket, and, singular
enough in view of what had transpired and of their hith
erto unsuccessful efforts at union, proposed that the Free-
ly
name a
portion of the candidates to be voted
for, providing, however, that they should be well-known Dem
"
"
ocrats, and that they should
impose no principle or test
Soilers should
" inconsistent with the resolutions "
upon the candidates
conditions
adopted at Rome by the Democratic convention,
that effectually disfranchised the old members of the Liberty
party and the forty thousand Whigs who had voted with the
Free Soil party.
In the Free Soil, or Barnburner, convention at Utica, both
the resolutions and the speeches were antislavery in character,
and strong hopes were expressed that the Democratic party
would soon be found occupying that ground. In one of the
resolutions adopted it was declared to be " dishonorable to
New York
if the Democracy of this great Commonwealth
should reject the teachings of her Tompkins and her Wright,
�341
COALITION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
work of regeneration, the
" We
Thomas
Jefferson."
foundations of which were
by
expect to make the Democratic party of this State," said John
and refuse to
assist in this great
laid
Yan
" the
great antislavery party of this State, and
to make the Democratic party of the United States
Buren,
through
it
Said
of the United States."
" Here and
we
are
doing up the
to-day
"
He
work of centuries, and God help us to do it well
could
be
that
the
the
belief
the
masses,
expressed
people,
the
great antislavery party
Henry B. Stanton
:
!
" trusted on the
question of slavery."
But, notwithstanding these distinct and loudly proclaimed
avowals of antislavery sentiments, the convention proceeded
to the acceptance of the Syracuse proposition for the union
Without any security
of the parties in the ensuing election.
that the sentiments they had just avowed should become the
principles of the united party, or any assurance other than
their professed ability to convert the Democratic organization
an organic union with a party
whose past history and current policy were in direct antago
nism with the avowed principles and purposes of their own.
As might have been expected, the only effect was disastrous.
Instead of converting the Democratic party, they themselves
apostatized from their loudly proclaimed faith, accepted the
compromise measures of 1850, helped elect and sustained
Franklin Pierce, whose administration was the most intensely
to their faith, they entered into
proslavery on record.
When the Whig majority in the Massachusetts legislature
rejected Mr. Wilson's proposition to request Mr. Webster to
vote against the pending compromise measures, he declared
his determination to co-operate with
any body
of
men
to drive
the dominant party from power, and to send to the Senate a
statesman who would fitly represent the cherished and distin
guishing opinions of the Commonwealth.
Avowing himself
as opposed to the fusion of parties except on " the basis of the
and complete recognition of the principles embodied in
the Buffalo platform," he advocated a " coalition " between
the Free Soil and Democratic parties, each party to retain its
full
distinctive organization, principles,
and
policy.
He
kept the
�342
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
made on
the floor of the House of Representa
tives, and during the spring and summer of 1850 did what
he could to secure the co-operation of the masses of these
pledge thus
The death of President Taylor, the reactionary
course of Mr. Fillmore, the activity of Mr. Webster, the defec
tion of Northern Whigs, and the assured triumph of the com
parties.
promise measures, seemed to him to make a coalition a
To aid that result he, as
necessity and its success a duty.
chairman of the State committee of the Free Soil party, in
vited one hundred of the leading Free-Soilers of the State to
meet with the committee on the 10th of September.
The
meeting was held at the
or sixty were present.
Adams House
in Boston.
Some
fifty
was a meeting remarkable for its
of
large proportion
thoughtful and cultivated men, and men,
of
too,
irreproachable character and unblemished integrity.
They were persons who would very naturally think indepen
dently, and differ, too, on the new questions that were press
Mr. Wilson
ing their claims and clamoring for answers.
presided, and stated that the purpose of the meeting was to
consider the policy of co-operating with the Democrats at the
coming
election.
He
It
expressed the belief that a large
ma
jority of the Free Soil party were in favor of a coalition for
the purpose of securing a United States Senator for six years,
and
the State committee and other leading Free-Soilers
united upon that policy, it would be successful. It was for
the purpose of canvassing the question and ascertaining their
that,
if
views that he had called them together.
The
discussion
was opened by John G. Palfrey, who ex
decided opposition to the proposed movement.
pressed
He thought the value of electing a United States Senator had
been exaggerated, that there were doubts of their ability to
his
carry out such a programme, and that the proposed coalition
might prove disastrous to their own organization. Charles
Francis Adams expressed a similar opposition in language
very decided and unequivocal.
decision did Richard
H.
H. Dana,
With
Jr.,
similar emphasis and
Samuel Hoar, and Stephen
Phillips also oppose the proposed coalition.
On
the other
hand, Marcus Morton, William Jackson, Dr. Caleb Swan, and
�COALITION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
John B. Alley favored
it,
343
and augured the best results there
But, at the suggestion of Mr. Adams, William A.
White moved that no action should be taken committing the
from.
State committee or the party, but that each member should
left to act according to his sense of duty.
His motion
be
A
received the concurrence of the meeting.
majority of those
were
present
unquestionably opposed to the plan, but a minor
ity believed it could be made a success, and were determined
make the trial. There can be no doubt, however, that,
though these men differed in regard to the proposed policy,
they were actuated by a common purpose. Among those who
favored the proposed action was William Jackson, who had
been long an antislavery man, a prominent member of the
Liberty party, but who held all parties as matters of secon
to
dary importance, to be subordinated to the paramount claims
of freedom.
He made an earnest speech. Though, he said,
he did not expect to live to see the day when the Liberty or
Free Soil party would have a majority in the State or the
nation, he was anxious that they should throw their votes so
that they should be felt, that they should be as faithful to
" I want to make
liberty as the slaveholders were to slavery.
vote tell," he said, " and it will not do to be too straight
and perpendicular for the sake of principle." Dr. Swan, too,
my
a veteran and earnest antislavery man, strenuously advocated
the proposed coalition.
campaign paper was started, called
the " Free-Soiler," edited by Francis W. Bird, John B. Alley,
A
and Horace E. Smith.
It
advocated the proposed union on
the distinct ground of censuring the action of Mr. Webster,
repudiating the compromise measures and the administration,
and electing a Free Soil senator. The " Emancipator and Re
"
Gazette," by
publican," edited by Mr. Wilson, the Dedham
Mr. Keyes, the Worcester " Spy," by Mr. Earle, the Lowell
"
American," by William S. Robinson, the Northampton
"
Courier," by Mr. Gere, advocated a coalition upon the same
basis.
The Free Soil State convention met in Boston on the 3d of
The convention was called to order by Mr. Wilson,
Amasa Walker was made temporary chairman, and Joseph T.
October.
�344
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Buckingham was made permanent president. Both Stephen C.
Phillips and John Mills sent letters declining to be again can
didates for governor and lieutenant-governor.
These letters
and the question of candidates were referred to a committee
of one from each county.
The committee reported the names
of Mr. Phillips and Mr. Walker as candidates, and they were
nominated by acclamation and a rising vote. These nomina
tions were very satisfactory to the party and commanded a
hearty support. Mr. Phillips was among the earliest advo
He was
cates of antislavery in the ranks of the Whig party.
a successful merchant, of liberal education and culture, a
ready, earnest, and forcible speaker, eminently conscientious
and practical, and always ready to make personal sacrifices
for the cause he espoused.
Mr. Walker was also a merchant.
he
to
the
Democratic
Though
belonged
party he was an early
and earnest antislavery man. With wealth, practical sagacity,
mental culture and acumen, he was an earnest and effec
tive worker in the ranks of the new party.
Charles Francis
Adams
reported a series of resolutions in
which the compromise measures were declared to be " shock
ing to the best feelings of the human heart," and the Fugitive
Slave Act " an insult to humanity, a disgrace to free America,
and a dishonor to the civilization of the age " that to " such
a law no obedience can spring from the heart ;" and that " no
duty is more imperative than that of laboring from this time
forward for its immediate and unconditional repeal." Brief
and eloquent speeches were made by Julian of Indiana, Free
;
Soil
member
of
Sumner, Adams,
and White.
Congress,
Keyes, Leavitt, Bradburn,
Burlingame,
Horace Mann had been selected by the Whigs of the Eighth
succeed John Quincy Adams. His antislavery
were
well known when elected, and he had never
opinions
exhibited any faltering in Congress from the position he had
maintained at home. His severe criticism and condemnation
of Mr. Webster and his course were, however, very distasteful
to his Whig constituents, and he was rejected as their candi
But what had so grievously
date for the pending election.
offended the Whigs recommended him to the Free-Soilers. A
District to
�COALITION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
Dedham, over which Mr. Adams
address he said that " there was no question
down of the Eepresentative in this District
was held
District convention
In his
presided.
that the striking
345
at
would be considered by the slaveholders as the greatest tri
umph yet achieved, because he had the courage to do what no
He had boldly taken the great
other public man had done.
traitor by the throat and held him up to the view of the peo
He said that the present afforded a
ple of Massachusetts."
"
overlook the rigid lines of party," and
fine opportunity to
men of other parties
in " support of great principles."
As
for himself, he declared his determination never to be a can
didate for office " upon a ticket formed by any combination
to extend the
hand
of fellowship to the
who agreed with them
was founded on Free Soil principles."
Speeches were made by Edward L. Keyes, Francis W. Bird,
Mr. Mann received the unanimous
and Edwin Thompson.
vote of the convention, and was triumphantly elected by the
of parties unless
it
people.
The Free
Soil and Democratic conventions of Middlesex
were
held at Concord for the nomination of six Sena
County
tors on the same day
George F. Farley presiding over the
Mr. Farley,
former, and Benjamin F. Butler over the latter.
on taking the chair, gave a searching review of the Whig
;
party, vindicated the principles of the Free Soil organization,
and justified the proposed union of forces for the triumph of
A
the principles of the new party.
with the Democrats was appointed.
committee of conference
John A. Bolles, William
A. White, Chauncy L. Knapp, James M. Stone, and
S. P.
Adams vindicated the proposed policy for local purposes, for
the condemnation of the administration, and the election of a
United States Senator pledged to freedom. Mr. Stone gave
pertinent expression to the great thought of the movement
"
by saying that he would use the weapon of the Whig party
to strike
power out of the grasp of the Democratic party,
and the weapon of the Democratic party to strike power out
of the grasp of the
Whig
party."
Mr. Wilson defined the grounds on which he favored the
proposed union. Not State issues, but liberty, afforded the
VOL.
ii.
44
�346
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
motive that influenced him in his action.
By temporarily
uniting with the Democrats he hoped to secure the balance of
power, and place the Free-Soilers in a position to direct the
" in
policy of Massachusetts and place the Old Commonwealth
the van in the great contest to rescue the government from
He wished, above all, to send
the grasp of the Slave Power."
a true and tried champion of freedom to the Senate of the
United States, " to stand side by side with Hale, Seward, and
Chase, to fight the battles of liberty for the next six years."
Whatever measures might be needful for the glory of the
" but all these
State would receive their support
measures,"
"
must be subordinate to the great question of the
he said,
In the nomination of Mann and Fowler the Free-Soil
age."
ers had shown their readiness to unite with Whigs whenever
by so doing they could advance their principles. The proffer
was accepted by the Democratic convention, the desired ar
rangement was made in the senatorial and representative Dis
tricts, and the nominations, thus made, secured the almost
unanimous support of the Free Soil and Democratic parties.
The Free Soil speakers and presses placed their appeal for
popular support on the same basis. The views of the masses
of the party were well expressed by Mr. Sumner, a few days
;
a speech in Faneuil Hall. " It is
"
I place freedom above all else that I
because," he said,
in
concur
the
different unions and combinations
cordially
before the
election, in
in Mr. Mann's District, of
throughout the Commonwealth,
also in Mr. Fowler's District, of
Free-Soilers with Whigs
;
with Whigs
and generally in senatorial Dis
of Free-Soilers with Democrats.
By the first of these,
Free-Soilers
tricts,
;
two good men may be secured in Congress, while by the latter
the friends of freedom may obtain a controlling influence in
the legislature of
Massachusetts during the coming session,
They may arbitrate between
and thus advance our cause.
both the old parties, making freedom their perpetual object,
and in this way contribute more powerfully than they other
wise could to the cause which has drawn us together." These
sentiments, thus fully and frankly expressed by Mr. Sumner,
not only embodied the sentiments of the great body of the
�COALITION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
347
Free Soil party, but unquestionably contributed largely to his
selection as candidate for the senator ship after its success.
The coalition triumphed. There was no choice for governor,
and decisive majorities were secured in both houses of the
When it assembled in January, 1851, committees
legislature.
conference
were appointed by the Free Soil and Democratic
of
With entire unanimity, the Free Soil members
caucuses.
authorized their committee, at the head of which was placed
the venerable John Milton Earle, to express their entire readi
ness to elect Mr. Boutwell governor, and to allow Democratic
candidates to
fill
the other State offices, on the sole condition
that a Free-Soiler, selected by Free-Soilers, should be elected
for the long term to the Senate of the United States.
For
this they
had fought the
battle,
to sacrifice everything else.
and for
this they
were willing
The Democrats acquiesced
in the
arrangement, though they expressed a preference that FreeSoilers should fill some of the State offices.
But this arrangement was not made without opposition.
Mr. Palfrey addressed a letter to the Free Soil members of the
legislature in deprecation of the proposed measure, expressing
similar sentiments to those he had avowed at the conference.
He reiterated the idea that they were overestimating the impor
tance of having a Senator, who must necessarily be in a lean
minority, while the risks to the Free Soil party were great,
too great to be wisely run for a boon of such questionable
value.
He expressed the conviction that they were on the eve
of great changes, and of new combinations in the political
world, and that they should keep themselves free from en
tangling alliances, and hold themselves in a position to profit
by any new developments which might be, at any time, ex
Mr. Adams wrote a letter to the Boston " Atlas,"
pected.
expressing concurrence in the views maintained by Mr. Pal
He expressed confidence in " the purity of purpose " of
frey.
the Free Soil party, and, though he might not agree with the
" the end we
majority in the means to the end, he believed
mean to reach is one and the same,
the predominance of the
He confessed
principles of freedom in the national policy."
that he felt almost as strongly as any of his party the tempta-
�348
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
tion to overlook the difficulties in his desire to secure the
results.
" Most
" to
especially should I be reconciled," he said,
everything short of the dissolution of the party into old-line
Democracy, if it could ring the political knell of one whose
course has done more, in
my humble
judgment, to shake the
wavering principles and unsettle the highest policy of Puritan
New England than that of any man known in its history."
The Free Soil proposition was accepted. Henry Wilson was
president of the Senate, and Nathaniel P. Banks, Jr.,
speaker of the House ; Mr. Boutwell was chosen governor, Mr.
Cushman was made lieutenant-governor, Amasa Walker, the
made
Free Soil candidate for lieutenant-governor, was made Secre
tary of State, the Free-Soilers had four of the nine council
lors, and Robert Rantoul, Jr., proposed by the Democrats, was
accepted and elected to the United States Senate for the re
Mr. Simmer was
of the time ending March 4, 1851.
mainder
unanimously selected by the Free-Soilers, receiving eightytwo votes as their candidate for Senator for the long term, and
after a somewhat exciting debate his nomination was accept
ed by the Democratic caucus. A few Democrats, under the
lead of Caleb Gushing, opposed his nomination, as also did
the " Morning Post," the organ of the party, and several other
Democratic papers. Samuel D. Bradford addressed a letter to
the Democratic members of the legislature, in which he warned
them
of the peril to the party the proposed coalition would
"
bring ; and he told them they were standing on the very brink
of political annihilation," and implored them not to disturb
the country by sending " a firebrand into the councils of the
nation."
Robert C. Winthrop was selected as the Whig candidate
In the Senate Mr. Sumner received twenty-three
votes, Mr. Winthrop fourteen, and Henry W. Bishop one.
for Senator.
On
the first ballot in the
House Mr. Sumner received one hun
dred and eighty-six votes, Mr. Winthrop one hundred and
As one hundred and ninety-three votes were
sixty-seven.
necessary for a choice, Mr. Sumner lacked five of the requisite
number.
The recusant Democrats gave twenty-three votes,
and there were a few scattering ballots cast. This failure to
�349
ELECTION OF MR. SUMNER.
elect Mr. Sumner caused a deep feeling of disappointment
Conferences and cau
both in and out of the legislature.
Soil
members
the
Free
almost daily.
held
were
cuses
by
A
committee on organization was appointed, of which Mr. Wil
son was chairman. This committee labored with tireless zeal
from the beginning that
and should be elected, and
that no change or compromise should be made.
They were
sustained by the Free Soil masses and presses and by leading
Free-Soilers in and out of the State.
Adams, Dana, and
Phillips, and others who opposed this alliance with the Democ
and unfaltering
faith.
They
insisted
their candidate could be elected
racy, were gratified with the selection of Mr. Sumner as the
candidate, hoped for his election, and were opposed to his
withdrawal or abandonment.
But, after weeks spent in unsuccessful struggles, some of
the Free-Soilers, hoping that some other candidate would be
more acceptable, counselled a change. Some of the seceding
Democrats intimated that another candidate would command
Sumner had failed to receive. Indeed, Mr.
took
to say that Mr. Sumner's cause was
occasion
Gushing
" a lost cause."
Governor Boutwell, also believing that the
contest was hopeless, counselled a change from Mr. Sumner
votes that Mr.
to Stephen C. Phillips.
On
the 22d of February, Mr.
Sumner
wrote to Mr. Wilson, requesting him to communicate to the
Free Soil members his desire that they should not hesitate to
transfer their support to some other candidate faithful to
In this let
their cause, if success could be thus achieved.
ter
he said
:
" Abandon
me, then, whenever you think best,
The cause is everything I am
without notice or apology.
;
nothing."
But the great body of the Free-Soilers were firm, and, not
withstanding the fierce opposition arrayed against their candi
date, the timidity of friends, the counsels of the governor, and
the inflexibility of the " indomitables," as the twenty-three
Democrats styled themselves, they still adhered to their candi
The contest continued until the 24th of April, when,
on the twenty-sixth ballot, Mr. Sumner received just the requi
site number, and was elected.
With that majority was Na-
date.
�350
RISE
thaniel B.
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Borden
of Fall River,
IN AMERICA.
an antislavery Whig and
former member of Congress, who gracefully yielded to the
wishes of a majority of his Whig constituents, as expressed in
a memorial, circulated through the tireless efforts of James
Of the twenty-three Democrats, it is believed
Buffinton.
that Israel
Haynes
of
Sudbury
finally
gave his vote for Mr.
Sumner.
The
result of the vote
was hailed with marked demonstra
tions of delight, and the Free-Soilers who had doubted the
wisdom of the arrangement rejoiced in its success. In the
evening an immense meeting was held in State Street, at which
made by Thomas Russell, Joseph
and
This meeting then moved to the
Wilson.
Lyman,
Henry
house of Mr. Sumner, but he had retired to the home of a
congratulatory speeches were
friend in Cambridge, preferring to avoid the anticipated dem
onstrations of victory.
The joyous crowd then went to the
house of Mr. Adams,
"I am glad
friends upon the glori
But
of Mr. Sumner."
who addressed them,
of the opportunity to congratulate my
ous triumphs of liberty in the election
saying
:
Mr. Sumner was by no means ungrateful to his friends for
and persistent support. In a letter to Mr. Wilson,
written on the day after his election, he disowned and warmly
their long
" cold and
expressed his deprecation of the idea of seeming
churlish in thus withdrawing from all the public manifesta
tions of triumph to which our friends are prompted," saying
that by so doing he was only following " the line of reserve "
he had pursued throughout the contest. To Mr. Wilson's
" To
share in the contest he thus referred
your ability,
energy, determination, and fidelity our cause owes its present
success.
For weal or woe, you must take the responsibility
:
of having placed
me
in the Senate of the United States.
I
am prompted
to add, that while you have done all this I have
never heard from you a single suggestion of a selfish charac
ter, looking in any way to any good to yourself
your labors
have been as disinterested as they have been effective."
;
Opprobrious epithets were plentifully bestowed upon those
who planned and
sults
But the re
participated in the coalition.
vindicated
both
and
the
the
abundantly
policy of
principle
�ELECTION OF MR. SUMNER.
that
351
By it was placed in the Senate of the United
who has borne a conspicuous part in the councils
movement.
States one
and rendered large service to the cause of free
was elected to the same high station, though for
of the nation
dom.
By
it
a hrief period, Robert Rantoul, Jr., who, though a member of
the Democratic party, was a gentleman of recognized ability
and clearly pronounced antislavery convictions,
so pro
nounced that he lost caste with his party and was discarded
therefor.
It sent, too, or aided in
sending, Charles Allen,
Horace Mann, Orrin Fowler, and Robert Rantoul, Jr., to the
House of Representatives for the XXXIId Congress. Con
scious of the purity of their motives and aims, and gratified
satisfied with the result, the advocates of the coalition
arid
turned from the hasty and harsh denunciations of the present,
and appealed with assured confidence to the calmer judgments
of the future.
To those charges of " bargain and corruption "
that were then so freely made against the Free Soil leaders
Horace Mann replied. Referring to a similar charge, which
had been made against the administration of John Quincy
" I believe the same
Adams, he said
charge against the Free
:
Soil party will
result,
upon
its
have come twenty years hence to the same
that of conferring honor
authors."
upon
its
object
and infamy
�CHAPTER XXVIII.
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN CONGRESS.
Resolutions indorsing the compromise measures.
Caucuses of both parties.
Foote's resolution.
Petition of
Linn Boyd, Speaker.
Debate thereon.
Sumner's amendment and
the Friends for repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act.
The Fugitive Slave
speech.
act
Douglas, Weller, Bright, Dixon,
defended
Clay,
by Clemens, Badger, Dodge,
and Pettit.
Sum
Butler, Mason,
ner's rejoinder.
THE XXXIId Congress met
ber, 1851.
for its first session in
Decem
The panic-makers demanding
congressional in
dorsement of the compromise measures, there were caucuses
of both parties to discuss and decide upon the policy to be
In a caucus of two thirds of the Democratic mem
adopted.
bers of the House, a resolution indorsing these measures, in
troduced by Mr. Polk of Tennessee, was, with a proposition to
refer the matter to the next national convention, laid upon the
table.
A
caucus of a
little less
than one half of the
members was held on the morning
Whig
of the first day's session,
and a resolution indorsing the measures was adopted. On
the assembling of the House a brief debate sprang up on the
action of those preliminary meetings.
James Brooks of New
the
action
of
the
York, announcing
Whigs, by which they pre
sented an harmonious and united front to the country, said it
was dangerous for the Democratic party, with its large major
ities,
to organize the House by pandering to the abolition
of the North or slavery Democracy of the South.
Democracy
Orrin Fowler of Massachusetts denied the binding obligation
and revealed the fact that one third
of the caucus resolution,
members present wished to lay it on the table.
The debate at once elicited and exhibited the party tactics
of the
that
controlled the nation, showing not only the disposition of the
slave-masters to dictate terms to the rival parties, but the anxi-
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN CONGRESS.
353
ety of party leaders to conciliate and control the political
Thus Mr. Cabell of Florida
strength of the slave-masters.
expressed his thanks to God that the Whigs had taken their
and he intimated that those who seceded from the
position,
while Mr. Meade of Virginia
caucus were no longer Whigs
denounced the action of the Whigs as a trick,
an attempt to
"
" rotten
and
its
their
on
the South.
party
impose
principles
;
During the continuance
of the debate, a Southern Democrat
the
that
fact
eighty-two Democrats and only twentyparaded
six Whigs voted for the Fugitive Slave Act; that of fifty
Northern Democrats twenty-eight voted for it, while of seven
Northern Whigs only three voted for the measure.
ty-six
Linn Boyd
of
Kentucky, who had distinguished himself by
compromise measures, was elected
his earnest advocacy of the
President Fillmore, in his message, referred to his
annual
previous
message, reiterated its sentiments and recom
mendations, and congratulated Congress and the country on
the general acquiescence in these measures of " conciliation
and peace."
Speaker.
Soon
after the assembling of Congress, Mr. Foote of Missis
introduced
into the Senate a resolution declaring the
sippi
measures of adjustment to be a final settlement of questions
Several speeches
growing out of the existence of slavery.
were made upon the resolution, but it was never brought to a
Resolutions were introduced into the House, substan
vote.
to
the same effect, by Jackson and Hillyer of Georgia,
tially
where they were adopted by decisive majorities.
On the 26th of May, Mr. Summer presented a petition from
the Society of Friends in New England, asking that the Fugi
tive Slave Act should be repealed
but there were only ten
votes for its consideration.
On the 27th of July, he sub
;
mitted a resolution requesting the Committee on the Judiciary
to consider the expediency of reporting a bill for the imme
diate repeal of that Act.
The consideration of the resolution
was opposed by Mr. Mason
Mississippi,
the
who
of Virginia and Mr. Brooks of
asserted that such a measure would dissolve
Union, and only ten Senators were prepared to vote
therefor.
VOL.
ii.
45
�354
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
In the Senate, on the 26th of August, he moved to amend
civil and diplomatic bill, so as to provide that no allow
the
ance should be made for expenses incurred in the execution of
In his
the Fugitive Slave Act, and that such act be repealed.
alluded
to
the
immeasurable
he
their
introduction
on
speech
importance of the slavery issue, dwarfing
all others,
and con
Referring to
stantly casting its shadow across those halls.
the impotent and inconsistent attempts of the propagandists
to enforce silence, while always provoking discussion, he de
nounced the attempt to repress the liberty of speech, protested
against the wrong, and claimed the right to be heard on
" The convictions of the
slavery, as on every other subject.
" cannot be
The utterances of
heart," he said,
repressed.
with irrepressi
break
forth
heard.
conscience must be
They
As
well attempt to check the tides of the ocean,
the currents of the Mississippi, or the rushing waters of Niag
ara.
The discussion of slavery will proceed wherever two or
ble might.
three are gathered together,
by the fireside, on the public
The move
at
the
public meeting, in the church.
highway,
ment against
now
slavery
is
from the Everlasting Arm.
Even
forces, soon to be confessed every
gathering
felt in the high places of office and
It
not
be
where.
yet
may
power, but all who can put their ears humbly to the ground
will hear and comprehend its incessant and advancing tread."
He arraigned the enactment in the name of the Constitution
it
it
is
its
violated, of the country
it
dishonored, of the humanity it
and affirmed that
degraded, of the Christianity it offended,
every attribute of God united against it.
Referring to the
Act that every citizen, when summoned,
should aid and assist in its prompt and efficient execution, he
"
boldly affirmed that
by the supreme law which commands
me to do no injustice, by the comprehensive Christian law of
brotherhood, by the Constitution which I am sworn to sup
He closed his speech
port, I am bound to disobey this Act."
with an earnest demand for the repeal of an act so incompati
ble with every dictate of truth and every requirement of jus
In the words of Oriental adjuration, he said " Beware
tice.
of the wounds of the wounded souls.
Oppress not to the utrequirements of the
:
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN CONGRESS.
355
most a single heart, for a solitary sigh has power to overset a
This speech
whole world."
learned, logical, exhaustive,
and eloquent, worthy of the cause it advocated
placed the
new Senator
at
once among the foremost of the forensic
debaters of America.
Mr. Clemens of Alabama replied in language significant of
the barbarism he
fitly represented.
Expressing the hope
that none of his friends would reply, he said, " I shall only
say that the ravings of a maniac may sometimes be dan
gerous, but the barking of a puppy never did any harm."
Mr. Badger followed with a labored reply, in which he char
acterized the speech as "
studied,"
ten,
and
"
an elaborate oration, carefully writ
interspersed
with curious quotations
from modern learning and ancient lore."
Mr. Dodge of Iowa denounced with great bitterness the
Abolitionists, and charged them with entertaining the idea of
the equality and amalgamation of the races. He also charged
"
of introducing
them with " panting for the experiment
"
black-skinned, flat-nosed, and woolly-headed senators and
representatives," and seeking to break down all distinctions
between whites and blacks in respect to " suffrage, offices,
marriage, and every other relation of life."
Mr. Douglas denounced the arguments against the Act as
He maintained that
against the Constitution of the country.
" form of the
the real objection to the law was not in the
"
the fugitive is sent back to his mas
trial," but the fact that
Mr. Weller said
ter."
it
was the
time in his
first
life
he had
ever listened to the whole of an Abolition speech ; but that
speech had been so handsomely embellished with poetry, both
Latin and English, so full of classical allusions and rhetorical
But he charged its author
flourishes, as to make it palatable."
with making an inflammatory harangue, and indirectly coun
Bloodshed, he declared,
selling forcible resistance to the law.
was
ergy
obeyed his
fierce en
with
he
Sumner,
said,
inevitable, if the constituents of the Senator
counsels.
"
:
Turning
to Mr.
Murder, I repeat,
is
inevitable
sir, ay, upon your hands, must
dered men."
;
and upon your hands,
rest the blood of these
mur
�356
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Bright of Indiana avowed himself in favor of silencing
fanaticism, putting down agitation and agitators, and against
Mr.
propositions to disturb the compromise measures.
Cass said the law was then in force, and should " never be
all
touched, or altered, or shaken, or repealed by any vote of
mine." Mr. Dixon of Kentucky would say " to the Aboli
tionists, as Cicero said to Catiline and his wicked associates
:
4
Let them get from within the walls of the
patriotic party cut itself loose
alone in the solitude of their
scorn of
all,
as they are
now
from them
own
;
Let any
them stand
city.'
let
the
infamy,
the reproach of every honorable
isolated
man."
Mr. Clay of Alabama commented with great acrimony upon
He spoke
the position assumed and defended by Mr. Sumner.
of the avowal that he
would not personally aid in returning
alleged fugitives in a style of remark, considering the relative
character and standing of the two, as ill-mannered as it was
ill-tempered, as suggestive as it was scandalous.
Alluding to
Mr. Sumner's alleged " violation of the dignity and proprieties
of the Senate," he expressed his regret that there was not
some " penal statute " for its punishment. He spoke of him
as a " sneaking, sinuous, snake-like poltroon, feeling the obli
gation neither of the Divine law, nor of the law of the land,
nor of the law of honor," to be excluded from the pale of
society, neither shown nor allowed to offer the ordinary cour
He compared him to Uriah Heep, and
concluded by saying " If we cannot check individual abuses,
we may preserve the dignity of this body and rob the serpent
We can paralyze his influence by placing him
of his fangs.
tesies of social life.
:
which he merits."
Mr. Butler expressed the opinion that primarily there ought
to have been no Fugitive Slave Act at all, and that each State
in that nadir of social degradation
was bound
to carry out the mandates of the Constitution.
He
complimented Mr. Rockwell on the soberness of his
speech, as of one expressing his real convictions but he de
clared that if his were the sentiments of those for whom he
;
had spoken they made the issue of separation inevitable.
Turning to Mr. Sumner, he asked if Massachusetts would
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN CONGRESS.
357
send back fugitive slaves if the law was repealed. " Will the
"
honorable Senator," he asked, " tell me that he will do it ?
"
Mr. Sumner rejoined by inquiring, Does the honorable Senator
me if I would join in sending a fellow-man into bondage
' "
Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing ?
ask
*
?
Commenting on the answer, Mr. Butler turned to Mr. Sum
ner and said, with the dictatorial and insufferable bearing of
" Then
the plantation,
you would not obey the Constitution.
Standing here, before this tribunal, where you swore to sup
port it, you rise and tell me you regard it the office of a dog to
enforce it. You stand in my presence as a coequal Senator,
and tell me it is a dog's office to execute the Constitution of
the United States."
Mr. Mason declared that " the dignity of the Senate had
been rudely, grossly, and wantonly assailed by the Senator
from Massachusetts and not only the dignity of the Senate,
;
but of the whole people, had been
trifled
with in the presence
American Senate, either ignorantly or corruptly."
Denying that the act refused the right of habeas corpus to a
" that
citizen, he avowed that the law had done its office well
of
a
mob
it had done it in the city of Boston, in the presence
which that Senator and his associates had aroused and in
of the
;
flamed to the very verge of treason."
Mr. Pettit of Indiana remarked that he had lived to hear
who had sworn to support the
" all such obli
that
he
avowal
the
Constitution,
disregarded
If a petition was presented for the expulsion of
gations."
a member who disavowed his constitutional obligations, he
fall
from the
lips of a Senator,
would receive it and if referred to the Judiciary Committee,
to which he belonged, he was inclined to think he should vote
;
to report a resolution for expelling the
member.
that Senators were not to be tolerated in that
He
asserted
body who openly
and boldly, in the face of the country, declared that they would
" You
violate their oaths.
Turning to Mr. Sumner he said
swore that you would support the Constitution, all and singu
:
each and every part, from beginning to end ; and you
now, in the face of your peers, are the first in the Senate to
openly declare that you will violate the oath you have taken
lar,
�358
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
This
of union your ancestors made for you."
hint at expulsion referred to a purpose seriously entertained
and the bond
by the Democratic leaders. But it was relinquished because
it was found, on a canvass of the Senate, that the requisite
vote could not be counted on.
Mr. Pettit then reasserted the sentiment he had expressed
that the construc
during the debate on the Nebraska bill,
tion by the Abolitionists of the claim in the Declaration of
" selfIndependence that all men are created equal was a
He declared that
evident lie," instead of a self-evident truth.
Jefferson would never have stultified himself by saying that
who was born his slave, created his
his African negro slave
slave, begotten his slave,
who was
his slave during the whole
was created his equal.
course of gestation
To these assaults Mr. Sumner replied with impassioned ve
hemence and unwonted severity.
Singling out the veteran
Senators from Virginia and South Carolina, the leaders in
mention, he thus coolly and con
this assault, for special
temptuously dismissed the more vulgar and brutal violence of
" Some
in the attack.
who had
Pettit and
per
Clay,
joined
sons are best answered," he said, " by silence ; best answered
by withholding the words which leap impulsively to the lips."
Having answered
their abuse, he
now
directed his attention to
In vindication of his pur
the arguments of his assailants.
pose not to aid in the execution of the Fugitive Slave Act, he
referred to and indorsed a passage in the message of President
Jackson, accompanying the veto of the United States bank, in
which he affirmed that " each public
officer
who
takes an oath
to support the Constitution swears that he will support
it
as
Mr.
it, and not as it is understood by others."
Sumner avowed that he supported the Constitution as he un
derstood it, and maintained that the Fugitive Slave Act had
no foundation in the Constitution, and that it was an open
and unmitigated usurpation. Declaring that he stood as upon
he understands
a rock upon his explicit statement of his constitutional obliga
tions, he again avowed that he would not aid, directly or indi
rectly, in reducing or surrendering a fellow-man to bondage.
Looking around upon the Senate, he then asked
if
there was
�FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN CONGRESS.
359
who would stoop to the service of aiding in the
surrender of fugitive slaves. To this interrogatory Mr. Clay
" He has
put the question whether any Senator
responded
a Senator
:
would assist in returning a fugitive slave. I
upon
I
would do it." The charge being made that
tell him that
Mr. Sumner had qualified his original declaration, Mr. Toucey
this floor
of Connecticut expressed his unwillingness t6 hold any Sen
ator to the consequences of a hasty expression spoken in
and proposed in a direct and categorical form the
" Do
you recognize the obligation to return a fugitive
question,
"
To that query Mr. Sumner responded " I answer
slave ?
distinctly, No."
debate,
:
"
constituted the " forlorn hope
of freedom in
the Senate at that time were few, and they were compelled
The men who
and imbittered foes, strong in numbers,
abilities,
position, and determined to make the most of
the advantages afforded them by union and the compromises
to encounter a fierce
and
of the Constitution.
�CHAPTER XXIX.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OP
Preparations by the slaveholders of both parties.
His speech at Capon Springs.
Webster.
A
caucus.
"finality" resolution.
Democratic candidates.
ter to
1852.
Slaveholding compact.
Rival Whig candidates.
Mr.
Whig
Let
Speeches of Brooks and Stanley.
Democratic convention.
Resolu
Replies.
tions in favor of compromise measures.
Candidates.
Pierce nominated.
Dawson's defiant
Mr. Jessup's amendment and speech.
Amendment withdrawn.
Resolutions indorse compromise meas
speech.
Candidates.
Gen
ures.
Mr. Choate's speech.
Mr. Webster's agency.
convention.
Whig
eral Scott's selection.
and
result.
As
Mr. Webster's disappointment.
Mr. Hale made candidate.
tion.
Free Soil conven
Gerrit Smith's resolutions.
The canvass
General Pierce triumphantly elected.
the Presidential canvass of 1852 drew near, the busy
The more far-reaching,
preparation was heard.
note of
and earnest slave propagandists had been for a long
time forecasting the future and laying their plans with refer
ence to the prospective action of the Whig and Democratic
astute,
parties
in their
approaching
national conventions.
They
made no concealment
of their purpose to dragoon these great
the
into
support of their policy by making their
organizations
indorsement of the compromise measures a condition prece
dent of their support.
Indeed, before the close of the
XXXIst
Congress, a compact was entered into by some of
the leading members of both parties, declaring their purpose
to make the compromise measures a final settlement of the
"
support for
slavery question, and pledging themselves not to
President or Yice-President of the United States, for Senator
or Representative for Congress, or for
member
of a State legis
lature, any man, of whatever party, who is not known to be
opposed to the disturbance of the settlement aforesaid, and to
the renewal, in any form, of agitation upon the subject of
This was signed by Mr. Clay, Ho well Cobb, and
slavery."
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
361
1852.
There were thirty-three sign
Whigs and Democrats
States
the
and ten from the free.
from
ers
slaveholding
Among the latter was Mr. Eliot, the Representative from
Boston. There were also, scattered throughout the former
States, large numbers who occupied the same ground, and who
others,
"
Reserves," avowedly determined to
styled themselves the
make everything secondary to what they recognized as sound
views upon the slavery question.
While these combined efforts were in progress, Mr. Webster
gave himself to a most determined and persistent series of
not simply to defend the compromise measures, but to
defame antislavery men and efforts, and to treat with ridicule
those religious scruples which many urged as the ground of
their opposition.
Writing of Syracuse, New York, he spoke
efforts,
as " that laboratory of Abolitionism, libel, and treason."
Visiting Virginia, in the latter part of June he addressed a
In the course of his re
large meeting at Capon Springs.
of
it
marks he thus
ridiculed
"
the " higher law
"
:
And, when
"
nothing else will answer," he said, they invoke religion, and
speak of a higher law. Gentlemen, this North Mountain is
high, the Blue Ridge is higher still, the Alleghany higher than
and yet this higher law ranges farther than an eagle's
either
;
above the highest peaks of the Alleghany. No common
vision can discern it
no conscience, not transcendental and
flight
;
the hearing of common men never lis
high behests and, therefore, one should think it is
not a safe law to be acted on in matters of the highest prac
tical moment.
It is the code, however, of the fanatical and
ecstatic,
tens to
can
feel it
its
;
;
factious Abolitionists of the North."
Webster
Thus
bitterly did
Mr.
men and women of New England, even a
his own constituents, who had so long de
assail the
large majority of
lighted to honor him with their confidence
and
suffrages.
When
Congress assembled, in December, 1851, the indica
tions were that Mr. Fillmore would receive the Whig nomina
he was the favorite of the South, and of those at the
North most fully committed to the compromise measures
though Mr. Webster, who had shown himself equally intent
on conciliating the Slave Power, had a few earnest advo-
tion, as
;
VOL.
II.
46
�362
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
But, as time wore on, those indications became less
cates.
marked. Symptoms of defection began to appear, resulting
from both the pertinacious efforts of Mr. Webster's friends,
on the one hand, and the very large numbers who could not
indorse, or who did not deem it policy to indorse, the meas
ures of which the President aimed to be the especial cham
It could not
pion.
issue
was
be concealed, however, that the slavery
menace and weakness to the
regarded it as a disturbing and danger
Whigs, many
ous element, to be considered and disposed of with main refer
ence to its political rather than its moral bearings.
The
Democrats, on the other hand, with reckless profligacy of prin
ciple, looked at it with complacency, and even welcomed it
as a source of unity, strength, party discipline, and ultimate
felt
of
to be full
of
whom
success.
On
the 20th of April, there was a Whig caucus, for the pur
pose of fixing the time and place for holding the national
motion being introduced indors
presidential convention.
A
" a
finality," Mr. Stanley of
ing the compromise measures as'
North Carolina raised a point of order, which was sustained
"
"
by the chairman, that such a resolution was not germane
to the purposes of the meeting.
sharp debate ensued, but
A
the decision of the chair was sustained by a decisive vote,
though nearly all the Southern members retired from the cau
During the discussion it was unequivocally affirmed by
Clingman of North Carolina, Gentry of Tennessee, Cabell of
Florida, and others, that the decisions of the convention
would not be regarded by the Whigs of their States if the
finality of the compromise measures was not recognized.
cus.
This action caused great excitement, especially in Congress.
of New York, while accusing a portion of the
Northern Whigs with faltering in their support of the compro
mise measures, attributed it to the wavering of their Southern
James Brooks
Alluding reproachfully to this desertion of himself
who had been " hunted down " because of their
votes for the measures, so unpopular in his section, he said
" all become the mis
that without Southern support we shall
" In that
erable victims of fanaticism and political fury."
brethren.
and
friends,
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
terrible
hour of
trial here,"
he
said,
363
1852.
" two sessions
ago, our ser
were necessary for them, and they were given to them
if not expressed, understanding that
freely, with the implied,
Mr.
they would protect us to the extent of their ability."
measures
Stanley replied, maintaining that the compromise
vices
had not been rejected that no candidate could receive the
Southern vote who did not indorse them that the national
and that
convention would take action concerning them
would
them
and
of
favor
in
General Scott was
support them,
;
;
;
the Fugitive Slave Act included.
In the Democratic party there
was
less division
and doubt.
declared in his place that there was no dissent,
at least among those who were seeking the Presidential nomi
nation.
To render, however, " assurance doubly sure," Rob
ert G. Scott of Richmond, Virginia, addressed a circular
Senator
Gwin
gentlemen whose names had been mentioned in
connection with the Presidency. The substance of his letter
letter to the
was the inquiry whether, if elected, they would support and
enforce the compromise measures in all their fulness, includ
whether they would oppose all
ing the Fugitive Slave Act
efforts to modify or weaken their provisions
and whether, if
should
be
such
action
adopted by Congress, they would or
any
A
-it.
rould not veto
Mr.
large number hastened to reply.
King of Alabama declared that he should feel bound to nega
Mr. Houston of Texas said that he
tive any such action.
;
;
should not hesitate to veto any bill " impairing the law for the
Daniel S. Dickinson of New
protection of slave property."
York declared
that he would
most certainly use the veto power
to
disturb
or change the provisions of
any attempt
the Fugitive Slave Act.
George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania
defeat
expressed it as his answer that every chief magistrate should
say, in relation to the execution of all the compromises,
and
"
General Joseph
Yes, I would."
for
candidate
the
afterward
Lane,
Vice-Presidency, spoke of
"
le
valuable enactments," and his readiness to veto any
leartily
positively,
would impair them.
Mr. Douglas said that
act calculated to impair the efficiency of those measures
mid receive his approval. Mr. Buchanan characterized the
^slation that
10
�364
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" bond of
Fugitive Slave Act as a
peace between the slaveholding and the non-slaveholding States," and declared that these
measures of adjustment without that act " would not deserve
the name of compromise," and that " the harmony of the
and the preservation of the Union depended on the
the compromise measures in their fulness."
Mr. Cass expressed the belief that a repeal or essential modi
fication of the Fugitive Slave Act would destroy all confidence
in the good faith of the North, and " would lead to the disso
"
lution of the Union
and he believed it would be the duty
States
execution of
;
any President to veto any legislation designed to impair its
Similar answers and pledges were given by several
efficiency.
of
other gentlemen addressed.
The Democratic convention met at Baltimore, June 1,
Every State in the Union was represented but South
Carolina.
The convention was called to order by Benjamin
1852.
F. Hallett of Massachusetts, chairman of the national execu
tive committee,
There was
little
W. Davis was chosen president.
difference of opinion in the convention con
and John
The Slave Power had crushed
cerning anything but men.
out all opposition, and there was none to raise a single word
of remonstrance against the most high-handed oppression, or
One member
to speak even faintly for justice and humanity.
had been guilty of the grave offence of sympathizing some
of freedom in Massachusetts, and of
in that State between the Democrats
with
coalition
the
acting
and the Free Soil parties and, although a leading lawyer and
a most accomplished gentleman, the choice, too, of the great
what with the friends
;
of his party in his District, Robert Rantoul, Jr.,
refused admission, and his seat was given to Mr. Lord,
body
was
who
was simply known to be conservative on the great question.
This outrage was perpetrated against the earnest opposition of
Mr. Nye and Mr. Dix of New York, who strongly protested
against such proscription for opinion's sake.
As soon as the convention was organized, Senator Bright of
Indiana and others hastened to introduce resolutions in favor
of the
compromise measures and of the faithful execution of
There was little difficulty in forming
the Fugitive Slave Act.
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
365
1852.
The only strife seemed to be as to who should
a platform.
make the most humiliating concessions and bow most abjectly
In the plat
at the feet of the arrogant and exacting Power.
form adopted
it
was declared that Congress had no power
interfere with the domestic institutions of the States,
to
and that
of Abolitionists or others to induce Congress to in
" the most alarm
terfere with them are calculated to lead to
"
" will abide
and
consequences ; that the party
all efforts
dangerous
to a faithful execution of the acts known as the
adhere
and
by
compromise measures, the act for reclaiming fugitives from
"
and that it will resist all attempts at re
service included
in
Congress and out of it, the agitation of the slavery
newing,
whatever shape or color the attempt may be
under
question,
ing
;
made.
The prominent candidates were Cass, Buchanan, Douglas,
and Marcy. There were a few New York Democrats who
were in the Free Soil movement of 1848, but who had re
turned to the Democratic organization. Reluctant to exhibit
gross inconsistency involved in sustaining the compromise
leasures and those committed to their support, they favored
nomination of General Butler of Kentucky.
But under
he strong pressure he had been compelled to succumb to the
And so strong were
ierce demands and madness of the hour.
partialities of the supporters of each, that
was perceived that
great,
if
not insuperable,
from the outset
difficulty would
encountered in fixing upon either of these gentlemen as the
In fact, though the party was harjhoice of the convention.
tonious
upon the principles involved in the contest, they were
lopelessly divided as to the persons
)rinciples.
On
the
me hundred and
first ballot
sixteen votes
;
who
should represent those
Mr. Buchanan led, receiving
Mr. Douglas receiving twenty
the smallest number.
After balloting forty-eight times
rotes,
dthout success, on the forty-ninth ballot Franklin Pierce of
Few Hampshire, for whom not a single vote was cast on the
trst ballot,
all but four votes, and he was declared
William R. King of Alabama received the
received
nominee.
tomination for the Vice-Presidency.
Mr. Pierce was a man of fair abilities, and of considerable
�366
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
lawyer and politician, but without na
prominence or influence.
Though courteous in his
social intercourse, he was marked for his extreme partisan
local reputation as a
tional
and was intensely proslavery.
ship,
In his letter of accept
ance he not only indorsed and placed himself squarely on the
" the
platform, but he volunteered the statement that
princi
ples
it
embraces command the approbation of my judgment,
I believe I can safely say that no word nor act
Mr. King was a gentleman of com
life is in conflict."
and with them
of
my
of great urbanity of manners,
an admirable presiding officer, but holding the most extreme
opinions on the subject of slavery.
manding personal appearance,
The Whig
16th of June.
met in the same city on the
of the Southern delegates had been
national convention
A
meeting
previously held, at which a committee was appointed to pro
"
expressive of the doctrines of the Whig
pose resolutions
On the assembling of the convention there was great
party."
excitement, and a sharp contest between opposing factions for
Simeon Draper of
precedence in the work of organization.
New York
gained the floor, nominating George Evans of
Maine as temporary chairman. John G. Chapman, who had
been chairman of the Southern caucus, was chosen president,
and the secretary
office of
To
of that caucus
was
selected to
fill
the same
the convention.
a motion that the committee on resolutions should con
one from each State Mr. Jessup of Pennsylvania pro
amendment that " each member should be authorized
an
posed
to cast the number of votes to which said State is entitled in
sist of
He explained its introduction by the
the Electoral College."
"
remark that it was an act of justice to the larger States."
The amendment was adopted by a majority of six. It was,
however, regarded as an attack upon State rights, and Mr.
Ewing of Tennessee substituted for the resolution thus amend
to which Mr. Jessup
ed substantially the original motion
;
same amendment which had just been adopted. A
sharp and exceedingly significant and suggestive debate arose,
in which the mover made an earnest and what was manifestly
to
designed to be a conciliatory speech. His evident aim was
offered the
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
1852.
367
upon the troubled waters. Mr. Jessup was a leading
lawyer and jurist in his State, distinguished for his probity of
character, identified with the religious, benevolent, and reform
pour
oil
atory associations of the day, being for many years president
of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis
Though he had been generally antislavery in his sym
and
utterances, and was now opposed to the extreme
pathy
demands of the South, and desired such an arrangement of
the committee as would fairly express the sentiments of the
people, it was evident, from his speeches on that occasion, that
sions.
his great anxiety was to maintain intact the organization of
the party, and to give assurance to the Southern wing of its
essential soundness, according to its estimate on the slavery
u I
" there is no reason for doubt
believe," he said,
question.
the
attachment
of
ing
Pennsylvania to the Constitution, the
compromises of the Constitution, and to all laws enacted un
der these compromises. I venture to affirm, for the delegation
on this floor, that there is no set of men in this Union who
are resolved to go further in support of all the enactments of
the general government than the delegation from Pennsylva
nia."
After expressing his conviction that there should have
been presented " a set of conservative resolutions, not adapted
extreme meridians on the one side or on the other," he said
" I believe that the
delegation from Ohio and the delegation
from New York have been misrepresented and misunderstood,
as much as I believe the delegation of
Pennsylvania has been
misunderstood. I affirm, from my intercourse with the dele
to
:
gations of these three great States, that they stand upon a
dtion which I believe our Southern brethren will
appreciate
most fully."
Mr. Dawson of Georgia, in his speech
opposing the amendlent, clearly and unequivocally put the Southern side of the
"
" is the
issue.
first attempt which has ever
This," he said,
been made to convert this country into the wildest kind of
the democracy of numbers." Saying that Rhode
lemocracy,
[sland or Delaware was entitled to the same
power as New York,
^ennsylvania, or Ohio, he complained that even some conser
vative men were voting that " numbers shall
govern, and not
�368
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the sovereignty of States "; and he asserted that it was " the
wildest effort that was ever made to alienate one section from
another." Affirming that he had always been a Whig, he
said " Whenever the party abandons those great principles,
so help me God, I will abandon it."
This inexorable and
:
men had its designed effect. The
amendment was withdrawn, and, as usual, the North suc
cumbed.
The " National Era," speaking of this action of
the Northern delegates, thus fitly characterized them " Their
defiant attitude of Southern
:
wrath is always greater than their endurance. They are re
markable for kicking out of the traces, but still more remark
able for kicking in."
Mr.
Ashmun was made chairman of the committee on reso
He was an ardent admirer and advocate of Mr.
lutions.
Webster, and sincerely attached to his fortunes. This fact,
certain internal evidence, and the testimony of Alexander H.
Stephens, make it quite sure that Mr. Webster, if not the
author,
sented.
member
was cognizant
of the character of the resolutions pre
Mr. Stephens states that Mr. Choate, who was a
of the convention,
was
in
Washington
in conference
with Mr. Webster just before it met that Mr. Webster, while
Mr. Choate was with him, called, and read to him the series of
resolutions agreed upon, and which were to be presented to the
At his suggestion Mr. Webster interlined, with
convention.
and
the words " in
his
;
his
own hand and
in
principle
presence,
The
substance," which appeared in the eighth resolution.
his
sentiments.
resolutions, therefore, without doubt, expressed
Nor did this presumption receive small support from the im
their
passioned and brilliant speech which Mr. Choate made on
indorsed
not
he
which
in
in
their
and
only
behalf,
reception
" a
the compromise measures as
finality," but he branded all
as fanaticism.
opposition to them, on the ground of principle,
The eighth resolution of the series contained the gist of the
It
at least, in regard to the great subject at issue.
whole,
"
the
XXXIst
of
the
the series of acts
declared that
Congress,
as the Fugitive Slave Law included, are received
and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States as
a final settlement, in principle and substance, of the danger-
act
known
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
369
1852.
cms and exciting questions which they embrace, .... and we
the question thus settled as
deprecate all further agitation of
all efforts
dangerous to our peace, and we will discountenance
to continue or renew such agitation whenever, wherever, or
however the attempt may be made and we will maintain this
;
and
system as essential to the nationality of the Whig party
This platform was adopted by a
the integrity of the Union."
vote of two hundred and twenty-seven to sixty-six.
In answer to vociferous calls, Mr. Choate addressed the con
vention in a speech of great forensic brilliancy arid force, in
which, however, was far more apparent the special pleading of
the advocate than the calm consideration of the statesman.
Speaking of those who opposed the Fugitive Slave Act for
conscience' sake, he spitefully told them that their opposition
was mere fanaticism, "to the end," he said, "that it may leave
itself unchecked by its own conscience to asperse the motives
to
scheme of peace and reconciliation,
call in question the soundness of the ethics on which it rests,
and to agitate for its repeal. But the American people know,
by every kind and degree of evidence by which anything can
of the authors of this
known, that these measures, in the crisis of their time,
I thank God for the civil courage which,
at the hazard of all things dearest in life, dared to pass and
defend them, and has taken no step backward.' I rejoice
that the healthy morality of the country, with an instructed
conscience, void of offence toward God and man, has accepted
ever be
saved this nation.
*
Extremists always denounce all compromises. Alas
do they remember that such is the condition of humanity that
the noblest politics are but a compromise, an approximation, a
them.
!
type, a
shadow
at great prices
mise
;
of good things, the
?
that the
%
Do
buying of great blessings
they forget that the Union is a compro
of the universe is but the music of
harmony
compromise, by which the antagonisms of the infinite Nature
are compassed and reconciled ?
Let him who doubts, if such
there be, whether it was wise to pass these measures, look back
and recall with what instantaneous and mighty charm they
calmed the madness and anxiety of the hour!
countenance everywhere brightened and elevated
VOL.
ii.
47
How
itself
!
every
How,
�370
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
moment, the interrupted and parted currents of fraternal
" Thus
feeling reunited!
fervently, not to say frantically, did
this eloquent orator clamor for compromise and peace.
Perhaps, too, no man ever put more strongly and unblushingly the idea of mere expediency, as distinguished from
in a
principle, in
bidding for Southern, or, in the parlance of
" national "
In urging Democratic ex
hour,
support.
as
a
reason
for
ample
indorsing the compromise measures,
he said " In the first place, our predecessors of the Demo
If
cratic convention in this hall have made it indispensable.
the
:
we do not make it as comprehensively and as unequivocally as
we shall be absorbed, scattered,
absorbed by the
they have,
by the whirlwind of the sentiment of
which
nationality
they have had the sagacity to discover and
hide under. Look at their platform, and see what a multi
tude of sins of omission and commission, bad policy and no
policy, the mantle of nationality is made not ungracefully to
" You
cover."
may spread
Changing the figure, he said
your board as temptingly as you please, if the national appe
tite does not find there the bread and water of national life,
the aliment of nationality, it will turn from your provision in
whirlpool, scattered
:
He urged as another reason the desirableness of
disgust."
the
having
platform so unequivocal that they could not be
to
present one line of argument at the North and
tempted
In other words, everything should be
conceded to Southern principles and prejudices, and nothing to
Northern principles and convictions. " Lead us not into such
another at the South.
" and deliver us from such evil.
How
temptation," he said,
much better to send up the Union flag at once to the mast
Liberty and Union, now and forever, one
"
and inseparable,' and go down even so
Mr. Anderson of Ohio opposed the indorsement of the com
head, blazing with
'
!
promise measures, not because he did not accept them, and
not because he did not " hate an Abolitionist," for he admit
ted he did, but because he believed that it was impolitic;
"
the
because its adoption would
split us as a party, increase
number of our enemies, and bring upon us that very agitation
which it is sought here to prevent." Mr. Botts of Virginia,
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
371
1852.
that " all his
replying to Mr. Choate, expressed his regret
of a
nationality, all his patriotism, centred in the laudation
This led to an excited colloquy, in which
single individual."
after
Mr. Choate,
denying that he had any such purpose, said
" What a
with the ready adroitness of the practised advocate
patriotism that must be, what a long and brilliant series of
:
public services that
must
be,
when you cannot mention
a meas
ure of utility like this but every eye spontaneously utters that
"
great name of Daniel Webster
!
There were three prominent candidates for the suffrages of
Mr. Fillmore, General Scott, and Daniel
the convention,
"
Webster. It was notorious, hardly an open secret," that the
President and his Secretary of State had been running a race
for Southern support, and that each had staked his all of
political capital in his earnest efforts to win the Southern
vote.
Mr. Webster's friends were few in number, but zealous
They hoped that, through some contingency,
Mr. Fillmore would be abandoned, and that their favorite
would be accepted. To prepare the way for, and to promote,
this consummation they so devoutly wished, they were vehe
in their efforts.
ment
in their protestations of regard for Southern rights,
exalting the act of capturing fugitive slaves to the rank of a
religious duty, if they did not adopt the indorsement of the
compromise measures as an article of their religious faith.
General Scott had the support of the antislavery Whigs, though
there was little in his known character and antecedents to
justify that support, except the consideration, perhaps, that
he was less obnoxious to censure than were his competitors.
There were, too, some Southern men, like Botts of Virginia,
who gave him
their preference.
But the main claim in his
as
his
was
based
on his military record
behalf,
friends,
urged by
and his great name as a soldier. On the first ballot Mr. Fill-
more received one hundred and thirty-three votes, General Scott
one less, and Mr. Webster only twenty-nine. It was not until
the fifty-ninth ballot that General Scott received one hundred
and fifty-nine votes, which was a majority, and he was de
clared the
candidate for the Presidency.
the
Massachusetts
ballotings
delegation cast
Whig
During
its
all
these
votes for Mr.
�372
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Webster, with the exception of Mr. Dawes, then a young and
rising lawyer, who has since earned such honorable distinction
He
in Congress.
resisted all entreaties to forsake his princi
On
ples, and he cast his vote continuously for General Scott.
the last vote Mr. Webster received but twenty-one.
William
A. Graham of North Carolina was made the nominee for the
"
General Scott was a Virginian by birth,
Yice-Presidency.
and generally conservative in his sentiments and feelings.
He owed his selection only to his military reputation and the
availability it was supposed his military prestige would bring
to the ticket.
Mr. Graham was a gentleman of the Southern
school, of fair abilities, conservative in his tendencies, though
decided in his adhesion to slavery as a system to be protected
and defended.
The
and
his
prize,
and
result greatly disappointed both the President
Secretary.
Both had earnestly sought the coveted
both had made great sacrifices to obtain it. In their eager
pursuit of Southern support, both had deserted devoted friends,
and ignored words and votes they had formerly spoken and
But Mr. Web
given in favor of freedom and human rights.
ster was the special object of public thought and speculation,
of criticism and censure.
His unquestioned abilities, his signal
services and glorious utterances, had greatly endeared him to
his Northern friends and supporters, and he was almost re
garded as their property, in whose great gifts and their use
they seemed to have a kind of ownership. His defection, then,
seemed to them not only like desertion from family, friends,
and faith, but a personal loss. Many were indignant and
incensed some regarded it more in sorrow than in anger
while in others all personal considerations were swallowed
up by their feelings of apprehension and alarm. As they
;
;
regarded the national calamity involved in that Northern par
alysis and demoralization exhibited in the timid and unprin
cipled action of the convention, they felt that they were largely
due to the pernicious example and teachings of Mr. Webster.
Nor had they
persistent
its
little
cause to
feel,
as they
and imbittered denunciations
remembered
of Abolitionism
his
and
advocates, his mockery of the higher law and the religious
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
could not " conquer their prejudices,"
would not follow his lead, that the contemptuous
scruples of those
and who
373
1852.
who
neglect of those for whom he made such sacrifices was too
well deserved.
And, though he could say to a company of
serenaders, on the evening of the convention, with simu
lated equanimity and with his usual felicity of expression:
" You
may be assured that there is not one among you
who will sleep better to-night than I shall. I shall rise to
morrow morning with the lark and, though he is a better
;
songster than I am, I shall greet the purple east as jocund, as
grateful, and as satisfied as he," they could not but believe
bosom friend and biographer admitted, that he was
"
and " chagrined " at the result.
disappointed and hurt
When they saw him go home, presaging the speedy dissolu
what
his
"
Whig party and foreboding serious evils to his
in a few months sinking into his grave, they
and
country,
amid
the
felt,
general sorrow, as never before, the greatness
tion of the
of his mistake.
The Free
met in Pittsburg on the
llth of August. The attendance was large. Samuel Lewis
called the convention to order, and Judge Spaulding was
made temporary chairman. In his introductory remarks Mr.
Soil national convention
Lewis said that the convention was " intended to include
all
the friends of freedom, under whatever name they shall be
known." Henry Wilson of Massachusetts was made presi
Invoking on their proceedings the spirit of harmony
and union, he said " Let us feel that we must free the Fed
eral government from slavery,
from all responsibility for it
wherever it exists under its authority, and place it actively
and perpetually on the side of freedom
Let us feel
that we should so conduct our deliberations that we may
hasten on that day when the humblest slave that treads the
dent.
:
the Republic can stand
"
brother, and a freeman.'
soil of
up and
<
say,
I
am
a man, a
On the second day, after considerable discussion upon the
method of casting their votes, it was determined to vote per
capita; and on the first ballot John P. Hale of New Hamp
shire received one hundred and ninety-two votes, and was de-
�374
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
clared to be their candidate for the Presidency ; Mr. Julian of
Indiana receiving a unanimous vote as candidate for the Vice-
Presidency. Mr. Giddings, from the committee on resolutions,
reported a series, not only enunciating the great primal truths
of human rights and free institutions, but setting forth in fit
ting phrase the flagrant departures of the government from
these principles, especially in the annexation of Texas and in
the compromise measures.
They announced as a truth of
" no settlement of the
great moment that
slavery question can
be looked for except in practical recognition of the truth that
slavery is sectional and freedom national." Declaring slavery
God and a crime
man " that " the
to be u a sin
against
against
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is repugnant to the Constitution,
to the principles of common law, to the spirit of Christianity
"
and the sentiments of the civilized world ; that " the doctrine
;
that any
human law
of our people
"
;
is
a finality
that the
is
dangerous to the
Whig and Democratic
liberties
parties
were
"
they in
hopelessly corrupt and unworthy of confidence,"
scribed on their banner, " FREE SOIL, FREE SPEECH, FREE
LABOR, FREE MEN."
Gerrit Smith, not deeming the report of the majority
ciently
thorough, made a minority
was withdrawn. He
thought and expression.
discussion,
force of
report, which, after
made a speech
also
suffi
some
of great
He arraigned " this promi
for committing the most diabolical
nently guilty nation"
crimes " in the name both of republicanism and Christianity."
Were the government despotic and its religion heathen, he
" there
said,
might be some hope of republicanizing her poli
tics and Christianizing her religion.
But, now that she has
turned into darkness the greatest of
all political lights
and the
"
?
greatest of all religious lights,
The three leading points of the resolutions and of his speech
were that the Constitution was an antislavery instrument
what hope
is
left
for her
;
that slavery could not be legalized
;
and that there could be no
moral wrong in violating laws made at
its
behests.
Referring
what was popularly known as the Jerry rescue, in which he
" I summon
you all to come up to the
participated, he said
can
level
no
lower
From
level.
you fight slaveholders
Jerry
to
:
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
successfully.
From no
1852.
375
lower ground than that of the impos
can you make headway against
sibility of legalizing slavery
in the admitted legality of
consists
the pirates whose power
their piracy."
With their chosen leaders the three parties
went into the
win even a single
A vote with them was a simple " testimony," an en
elector.
tering wedge, by which they fondly hoped to break the long
and ill-starred connection between slavery and the govern
contest.
The
Free-Soilers did not expect to
Their leaders had distinguished themselves in Con
gress for their manly and courageous stand against the Slave
Power, and were well worthy of the high distinction of lead
ing freedom's forlorn hope in that dark hour.
ment.
The Whigs entered upon the canvass with little heart or
It was not only that they were called upon to confront
hope.
a triumphant and arrogant foe, harmonious and compact, ac
customed to victory and determined still to win, but they were
themselves hopelessly divided in spirit and aim, in purpose and
plan, and the convention had caused and left bitter resentments
and heart-burnings. Though the Southern wing had dictated
the terms of the platform, they were disappointed in their can
Mr. Fillmore's adherents,
didate.
the Southern extremists
and the Northern "silver grays,"
being thus defeated in
their candidate, lent but a lukewarm and ineffective support,
while Mr. Webster made no concealment of his want of sym
pathy with the ticket and his willingness to see it defeated.
And not only did Mr. Webster refuse his support to the Whig
party, but he spoke of
it as moribund, predicted its
speedy
and
dissolution,
expressed his conviction that after the elec
tion it would be known " only in history."
Notwithstanding
its Southern platform and its concessions,
notwithstanding
all its words of conciliation,
Stephens and Toombs of Georgia,
Jones and Gentry of Tennessee, and others, issued a card
early in July expressive of their refusal to support General
Scott, for the assigned reason that he was the favorite of the
Free Soil wing of the party, and had suffered his name to be
used by avowed enemies of the compromise measures.
On
the other hand, the antislavery supporters of General Scott
�376
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
were obliged to occupy a most equivocal position,
to accept
a platform exceedingly distasteful, and against which
seventy
votes had been recorded, so that men and
presses, while
advocating his election, were compelled, or felt constrained,
to " spit on the platform " on which he stood.
With such
elements of weakness and under omens so inauspicious did
the Whig party go into the contest of 1852.
There was
little
or no division in the Democratic ranks.
who had
acted with the Free Soil movement of
They, indeed,
1848 had reason for embarrassment as they attempted to rec
oncile their conduct in forsaking their
party four years before
with their " hot haste," as expressed by Mr. Hale in his letter
of acceptance of the Free Soil nomination, " to enroll them
selves under a banner upon which are inscribed sentiments
and
principles sevenfold
more odious and abominable than
those against which they revolted."
And, though they made
the attempt, it was generally perceived that it did but render
more glaring their inconsistency and profligacy of principle.
Even the New York " Evening Post," their leading organ, in
attempted justification, while denouncing the platform as
" a
farce," deemed it a legitimate reason for supporting Mr.
Pierce that he was " uncommitted," as the other candidates
had committed themselves, " by any letter "
so easily con
and
on
such
did
the
men
who sub
vinced,
slight pretences,
its
;
scribed to the doctrines
and joined
in the protestations of the
Buffalo platform ignore that record, and join in a campaign un
precedented for the completeness of its surrender to the new de
mands and
far-reaching encroachments of the Slave Power.
of this history is that which
But the most humiliating page
records the result, the triumph of the Democratic party.
Nor
it mere success
it was decisive and signal.
Its conquer
was
;
ing legions swept the country.
their votes in its favor.
And
All but four States recorded
yet
it
implied the indorsement
compromise measures, freighted as they were with crime
and cruelty, without the abatement, urged in the Whigs' be
half, that there was a large minority in the party opposed to
their adoption.
Nor was that all. The crowning infamy of
that disastrous campaign was the popular indorsement of that
of the
�PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF
377
1852.
most flagitious resolution, adopted by both conventions, that
"
"
these measures should be regarded as final
that, wicked and
further
should
be
no
there
as
agitation
they were,
oppressive
Neither the poor boon of protest nor even an
of the subject.
The nation was to
to repeal or modify was allowed.
;
attempt
be not only bound, but dumb.
And to all this the people gave
darker day, not even the most
critical period of the Rebellion, has ever marked the history of
For this only threatened the forcible subjec
the Republic.
their
emphatic sanction.
No
that betokened the complete enslavement of
all the pulpits and presses of the
land, notwithstanding the antislavery agitations of a quarter
of a century, only one hundred and fifty thousand, out of more
tion of the
the soul.
body
;
In the face of
than three millions, were found ready to refuse their votes even
measures so infamous and wrong.
for
And
this
was the statesmanship
of the hour.
Nor was
it
an unfitting climax, or culmination, of much that had preceded
it.
Much has been claimed for the great statesmen of the earlier
and palmier days of the Republic, especially of the time now
Without detracting from the well-earned
passing in review.
fame of many, not only is there the testimony of John Quincy
Adams
that up to his day "the preservation, propagation, and
perpetuation of slavery" had ever been "the animating spirit"
American government, but the statement is due to his
verity that a main feature of the national policy had been
of the
toric
from the outset that of
retreat.
As
the government began
its
existence by yielding vantage-ground it might have retained,
so did its great and leading men, especially after the great
Missouri struggle, too often signalize their career by some
new concession, some new form of compromise to the Slave
Power until, driven from one position after another, the na
tion seemed, by the voice and vote of this election, to have made
;
a full surrender, and to have sought an ignoble
peace by both
ceasing resistance and promising never to resume it. According
maxim that it requires greater skill to conduct
a successful retreat than to achieve a
victory, merit may not be
to the military
wanting, though he would be hardly esteemed a great general
whose only excellence consists in conducting
VOL.
ii.
48
retreats.
�CHAPTER XXX.
THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
The Missouri compromise.
braska.
bill.
organization of the Territory of Ne
President Pierce's message.
The Nebraska
Dixon's proposition to abrogate the Missouri compromise.
Its repeal
Bill for the
Lost in the Senate.
President's commitment.
reported by Mr. Douglas.
Meeting of New York
Mr. Teuton's visit to the President and Secretary of State.
Democrats.
The appeal of the Free Soil members.
Bill
Secretary Marcy's position.
for the organization of
Kansas and Nebraska.
Mr. Chase's amendment and speech.
Houston.
Mr. Douglas's amendment.
Speech of Mr. Douglas.
Speeches of "Wade, Everett, Smith,
Mr. Chase's amendment.
Speeches
Badger's amendment.
Closing
Memorial of the New Eng
speech of Mr. Douglas.
Passage of the bill.
land clergy.
Excited debate.
Mr. Eichardson's House bill.
Speeches of
of Seward, Sumner, Toombs, Fessenden.
Meacham, Stephens, Breckinridge, Yates,
Keitt,
Clinginan,
Washburn
of
Defence of the clergy by Banks.
Great
Maine, Smith, Benton, Goodrich.
Excited debate in the Senate.
Passage of the bill.
struggle in the House.
Triumph of the Slave Power.
Passage through that body.
No
event in the progress of the great conflict stands out
more prominently than the abrogation of the compromise of
As both
competition and
almost comparison with any single measure of the long series
It was more than a mile
of aggressions of the Slave Power.
1820.
effect
and cause
it
defies
stone, indicating the distance which the nation had travelled
in its disastrous journey ; it was a beacon, giving warning of
approaching danger. No single act of the Slave Power ever
results
spread greater consternation, produced more lasting
North
the
upon the popular mind, or did so much to arouse
and to convince the people of its desperate character. Lulled
by the siren song and drugged by the sorceries of compromise,
they had learned to regard with equanimity and to acquiesce
in the fixed facts of slavery as, exclusively and perpetually, a
Southern system, confined within established limits, and kept
back by impassable barriers. So long as it was only the slave
that was crushed by its power, and the slaveholding States that
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
were cursed by
cepted
its
ical aid,
presence, the North, sordid and safe, ac
its
existence,
because
and even welcomed
put money
it
379
its
pecuniary and polit
in its coffers
and gave
it
votes,
pleading ever the compact of the fathers as their confident reply
to the simple claims, however urgent, of justice and human
But when the compromise itself was abrogated, and its
ity.
obligations were treated as a thing of naught ; when the mon
ster, who had been hitherto restricted in his limits, and could
only glare across the line, gave no equivocal indications of his
purpose to spring upon the fair domain of freedom, and range
compromise had made inviolate, then
the cry of danger reached ears that were deaf to the voice of
Though large masses of the people were still craven,
duty.
and ready, for present advantage, to eat the bread of dishonor,
at will over territory that
this flagrant outrage increased the
number
of those
who com
prehended the situation, and who were willing to co-operate
with others to resist encroachments that were becoming so
Men who
serious.
sat
unmoved under the fulminations
of the
Abolitionists, answering their arguments and warding off their
appeals by the cool assumption that they were but the words
of fanaticism
and
folly, did
not remain quite as serene
when
they witnessed these encroachments and anticipated the day,
seemingly not very remote, when the whole country would be
Never before had so much feeling been
open thereto.
never before had so many been found ready to dis
own their former allegiance to the Slave Power and combine
laid
elicited
;
for its overthrow.
At
the time of the admission of Missouri with the
prohibi
30' there was a vast and fertile
tion of slavery north of 36
region lying west and northwest of that State and stretching
away to the Rocky Mountains. That beautiful territory, now
covered by the States of Kansas and
Nebraska, had been for
ever consecrated to freedom
the
by
compromise of that act.
Sixteen years afterward, the western
boundary of Missouri,
lying in the Platte country, was extended westward, adding
This con
thereby territory enough to make seven counties.
version of free territory into slave soil was, however, in direct
violation of the Missouri
compromise, and was carried through
�380
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Congress under the lead of the Missouri delegation. Having
converted in 1836 this portion of free soil to the purposes of
and covered it with thousands of bondmen, the people
Western Missouri desired to enter that magnificent region
which lay beyond, in the heart of the continent, and to carry
slavery,
of
their slaves with them.
At
the second session of the
XXXIId
Congress, Willard P.
Hall, a Representative from Missouri, introduced a bill organ
It was referred to the
izing that vast region into a Territory.
Committee on Territories, of which William A. Richardson, a
Democratic member from
Illinois,
was chairman.
On
the 2d
committee reported a bill for the organ
Much opposition was
ization of the Territory of Nebraska.
manifested to its passage; but it passed the House on the 10th
of February, 1853, the
In the Senate it
of February by more than a two-thirds vote.
was referred to the Committee on Territories, of which Mr.
Douglas was chairman, and reported back without amendment.
On the 2d of March, Mr. Douglas made an unsuccessful motion
and when he renewed it the
to proceed to its consideration
the
laid
on
it
was
next day
table, on motion of Mr. Borland of
The Senators from the slave
six.
Arkansas, by a majority of
States, with the exception of those from Missouri,* opposed the
sure to
organization of a Territory which they believed was
become a free State, and the effort failed.
The XXXIIId Congress met on the 5th of December, 1853.
;
President Pierce congratulated the country on the sense of
mind which the compromise
repose and security in the public
those
who
He
assured Congress, and especially
had placed him in the executive department of the
that " this repose is to suffer no shock during my
measures had restored.
government,
official
term,
if
I
have power to avert
it."
These congratula
tions of the President were, however, manifestly based upon
and fallacious views of the real character of the
superficial
much-lauded compromise and
its logical
sequences.
Failing
was not strange that he
so signally to comprehend the past,
and immediate future.
near
did not rightly forecast even the
The fact that his own administration was at once to entei
" shock " this
seeming repose, dis
upon a policy that would
it
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
381
turb the country, and plunge the nation into rebellion and
He did not
civil war, was evidently far from his thoughts.
then apprehend, as he was soon compelled to know, that the
repeal of the Missouri compromise was the beginning of the end,
the final stage of that open and undisguised aggression and law
less violence
which culminated in the slaveholders' Rebellion.
On
the 14th of December, 1853, Augustus C. Dodge, the
Democratic Senator from Iowa, introduced a bill for the or
ganization of Nebraska.
This was referred to the Committee
on Territories, which on the 4th of January reported it back
with amendments. In the accompanying report the original
validity of the Missouri compromise was questioned, and the
unauthorized declaration was
made
that the compromises of
1850 left all questions of slavery to the decision of the people
But it was not even hinted
residing in any given Territory.
was
That
advance
had
not
been
new
made,
repeal proposed.
A few days after
that new dogma had not been proclaimed.
ward the bill was recommitted to the committee, and on the
16th, Archibald Dixon, a Whig Senator from Kentucky, gave
notice of an amendment which he intended to offer, abrogating
the Missouri compromise so far as it prohibited slavery, and
that these measures abrogated the prohibition of 1820, nor
its
providing
ries shall
" that the citizens of the
several States or Territo
be at liberty to take and hold their slaves within any
be formed therefrom." The
of the Territories or States to
Sumner gave notice of an amendment, provid
that
ing
nothing contained in the bill should be construed to
abrogate or contravene the act of the 6th of March, 1820.
next day, Mr.
On
the 23d, Mr. Douglas reported back the bill, modified
It proposed a division of the territory into two
and amended.
Territories, the southern to
Nebraska.
be called Kansas and the northern
provided that all questions pertaining to slavery
in the Territories, and in the new States to be formed there
It
from, should be left to the decision of the people, through their
" that all cases
appropriate representatives
involving title to
;
slaves" and "questions of personal freedom should be referred
to the adjudication of the local tribunals, with the
right of ap
"
and
that the
peal to the Supreme Court of the United States
;
�382
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Missouri compromise act of March 6, 1820, " was suspended
by the principles of the compromise measures of 1850, and is
hereby declared inoperative and void."
It is stated, on the authority of Mr. Fenton, that on the
day in which Mr. Douglas introduced his substitute, in conse
quence of a rumor that the President had agreed to adopt it as
a measure of the administration, a meeting of a portion of the
New York delegation, popularly designated as the " softs,"
was held at his room to consider this unwarranted movement.
As a result of this conference, it was agreed that Mr. Fenton
should visit the President and the Secretary of State, to ascer
tain the disposition of the administration at this critical junc
ture.
He found the President very much excited over the
prospect of a defection of any of the New York Democrats.
He said he had certainly calculated on the support of the
"
had shown them
at least equal consideration
in the distribution of patronage.
ing kindly feelings, told him that
Mr. Fenton, while express
no amount of administration
softs," as he
favor could induce him, and he thought that was true of oth
" a measure so
ers, to support
utterly opposed alike to his
The President earnestly
convictions and his sense of duty."
commit
himself
should
not
that
he
hastily in opposition
urged
to a measure based on Democratic principles.
Mr. Fenton, repairing to the Secretary of State, expressed
to him the additional regret it would cause to learn that he
was to give adhesion to the proposition of Senator Doug
The Secretary seemed depressed, and remarked that if
Mr. Fenton had made up his mind on the question it was idle
for him to advise.
He further stated that the proposition, as
a fundamental principle, was Democratic, and that the only
question was as to the application under the circumstances.
During this interview it was disclosed that he had not been
too
las.
consulted in the matter; that Breckinridge, Phillips of Ala
bama, Douglas, and one or two others, had been with the reluc
tant President on the Saturday and a portion of the Sabbath
preceding the Monday on which the substitute was presented;
and that, after this long discussion, he had finally agreed upon
the phraseology to be adopted, and had himself put it in writ-
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
383
much of it as related to the abrogation of the
Missouri compromise and the assertion of the right of the peo
It
to regulate their own domestic affairs.
ple of a Territory
this
a
not
less
for
that
is believed
draught,
guide
Douglas kept
so
ing, at least
than for his protection against the possible timidity of the
On leaving the mansion they were requested to
President.
to
the
Secretary of State, in whose prudence and sagac
repair
had great confidence ; but he was absent,
the
President
ity
member of his family then residing
in
the
so
in
fact, he was not consulted, and did not
that,
city,
learn of the action taken until about the very hour it was pro
having gone to dine with a
posed in the Senate by Mr. Douglas.
Secretary Marcy was greatly moved in view of the probable
discontent resulting from the proposed measure, and had grave
apprehensions of its fatal effect upon the party ; but he gave
no advice to Mr. Fenton, simply remarking that every person
must judge of
own
his
convictions.
more
a half-dozen or
Congress from
duty for himself and walk in the light of his
He invited, however, a few days afterward,
of his personal
New York
and
to his room, with
political friends in
whom
he discussed
A
the propriety of longer remaining in the Cabinet.
majority
believed that his retirement at that time would open the doors
for the "
"
walk in and occupy the whole adminis
ground in New York, and be likely to endanger still
further the stability and integrity of the party in the State
and nation and they deemed it best that he should remain.
Whether he would have retired had their advice been different
hards
to
tration
;
is
not known, but
it
members
of
influence
very certain that he never sought to
Congress upon the issue thus presented,
is
and was very reticent in
all his
intercourse in relation to
it.
The
bill
was
called
subsequent private and
official
up the next day, though, at the sugges
was postponed for a
tion of several
Senators, its consideration
few days. On the question of postponement Mr. Dixon, who
had first moved the proposed repeal of the principle of prohibi
made a remark which his position as a slaveholding Whig
Jndered very significant.
After saying that he was perfectly
itisfied with the amendment
reported by Mr. Douglas, be-
tion,
�384
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
cause
it
made
this unequivocal declaration
slavery I
virtually repealed the Missouri
know no Whiggery and
IN AMERICA.
act,
he
Upon the question
know no Democracy.
of
compromise
"
:
I
I
am
a proslavery man.
I am from a
slaveholding constitu
I
and
am
maintain
here
to
the
ency,
rights of that people."
This declaration clearly revealed the animus of the slavehold
ers and the purposes of the Southern Whigs.
Mr. Douglas
hastened to express his gratification at the declaration of the
Senator from Kentucky, that his bill, as it then stood, accom
plished all that was intended to be accomplished by Mr. Dixon's amendment.
He made the statement, so often repeated
" the
the
during
protracted struggle then beginning, that
object
was neither to legislate slavery in or out of
neither to introduce nor to exclude it but to
of the committee
the Territories
;
;
remove whatever obstacles Congress had put
there,
and
to
apply the doctrine of Congressional non-intervention, in ac
cordance with the principles of the compromise measures of
1850."
"
"
appeal of the
Independent Democrats in Congress to
the people of the United States
signed by Salmon P. Chase
and Charles Sumner, Senators, and by Joshua R. Giddings
An
and Edward Wade of Ohio, Gerrit Smith of New York, and
Alexander De Witt of Massachusetts, members of the House
was issued. In that appeal its signers " arraign the bill as
a gross violation of a sacred pledge
as part
and parcel
;
of
as a criminal betrayal of
an atrocious plot to con
precious rights
vert a vast territory, consecrated to freedom, into a dreary
region of despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves." The
;
proposed action was declared to be against the settled policy
of the nation, as clearly indicated in Mr. Jefferson's proviso
compromise of 1820, and
even by the manifest purpose of the measures of 1850. The
people were warned that the dearest interests of freedom were
of 1784, the ordinance of 1787, the
and entreated not to become agents in ex
tending legalized oppression and systematized injustice over so
vast a territory.
Christians and Christian ministers were im
the
plored, by
precepts of their divine religion, which required
them to behold " in every man a brother," to enter their proin
imminent
peril,
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
test against the repeal of
385
" ancient law and the violation of
The appeal closed with the solemn avowal
we shall resist it by speech and vote and
Even if overcome in the
all the ability that God has given.
impending struggle, we shall not submit. We shall go home
to our constituents, erect anew the standard of freedom, and
call upon the people to come to the rescue of the country from
solemn compact."
" for ourselves
that
We
will not despair, for the cause
the domination of slavery.
human freedom is the cause of God."
of
On
the 30th, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of
and Mr. Douglas spoke in explanation of its provis
and commented with great bitterness and severity upon
the appeal and upon the members who signed it.
He charac
terized the latter as " Abolition confederates," and declared
that the former grossly misrepresented the bill, falsified the
action and calumniated the character of the committee.
Mr.
Chase followed in explanation and in defence of the senti
ments put forth in the appeal, of which he was the author.
Mr. Wade, who had signed it after it was issued, indorsed
every word of it, as he believed it to be perfectly true and
correct.
Mr. Sumner said that the document had been put
the
bill,
ions,
forth in the discharge of a high duty, on the
precipitate in
troduction of a measure which could not be regarded without
sensations too strong for speech.
On the 3d of February, Mr. Chase
much
moved to strike out so
of the bill as declared that " the Missouri
compromise
was suspended by the principles of the legislation of 1850,
commonly called the compromise measures," upon which he
addressed the Senate in a very elaborate and exhaustive
speech.
He sounded the key-note of the opposition, and sketched with
great force and point the line of argument afterward presented
by the friends of freedom. He made it apparent that the idea
of the compromise measures of 1850
being superseded by the
compromise measure of 1820 was but an afterthought, forced
upon Mr. Douglas by the exigencies of his position.
On
the 6th, Mr. Wade spoke in opposition to the bill, main
taining that the introduction of slavery into a Territory was
tantamount to the exclusion of free labor. He avowed that
VOL.
ii.
49
�386
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the compromise of 1820 was of the nature and binding obliga
and that the violation of the plighted faith
tion of a contract,
would precipitate a conflict between liberty and
and thaty in such a conflict, " it will not be liberty
of the nation
slavery ;
" You
that will die in the nineteenth century."
may call
" an
he
if
will.
I
care little for
me,"
said,
Abolitionist,
you
that ; for, if an undying hatred to slavery constitutes an Abo
am
If man's determination, at
hazards, to the last extremity, to resist
the extension of slavery, or any other tyranny, constitutes an
litionist, I
all
that Abolitionist.
times and at
all
Abolitionist, I, before
God, believe myself to be that Abolition
James
C. Jones, a Whig Senator from Tennessee, fol
lowed Mr. Wade in a desultory, rambling, and illogical speech,
ist."
remarkable for the admission that he did not pretend
that the compromise measures of 1850 repealed the compro
chiefly
mise measures of
" maintainable."
On
the 8th,
1820, because he did not think
Edward Everett
of
it
was
Massachusetts addressed
the Senate at length in opposition to the
bill.
His ripe schol
arship and polished oratory, his recognized conservatism, and
his support of the compromise measures of 1850, invested his
speech with peculiar interest. At the outset, he dwelt upon
the grandeur of the first step in laying the foundations of two
States, destined to be the centres of vast and imperial influ
He opposed the measure because it conflicted with
ence.
the Missouri compromise.
He
denied, with great positiveness
and particularity of detail, the assumption of its supporters
that the compromise measures of 1850 superseded or repealed
that act.
Affirming that he had read the voluminous reports,
filling the greater part of two or three thick quarto volumes,
he said " I do not find a single word from which it appears
that any member of either the Senate or House of Represen
tatives at that time believed that the Territorial enactment of
:
1850, either as a principle, rule, or precedent, or by analogy, or
any other way, was to act retrospectively or prospectively
in
upon any other Territory. On the contrary, I find much, very
much, of a broad, distinct, directly opposite bearing." He also
quoted Mr. Webster as affirming that his speech and vote
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
"
referred to
Utah and New Mexico, and
to
them alone."
387
He
by declaring that, while he shared the sentiments of the
he was born and educated and where
part of the country where
" constitutional
his ashes would be laid, he would treat the
"
of his fellow-citizens of other parts of the
and legal rights
" with
respect, and their characters and feelings with
country
" as
tenderness" ; for he believed them to be
good Christians,
closed
good men, as we are." He thought sec
and passionate agitation would retard, rather than pro
as good patriots, as
tional
mote, the removal of slavery. He further expressed the belief
that the children of Africa would go back to the land of their
"
fathers,
voluntary missionaries of civilization and Chris
tianity."
Truman Smith
of Connecticut followed
Mr. Everett in a
very elaborate speech, running through two days. He ex
pressed the opinion that, if the measure was carried, it would be
carried by the votes of Southern Whigs, would blow the Whig
party to atoms, and make another Whig national convention
impossible.
sage of the
Mr. Houston followed in opposition to the pas
because, he contended, it violated the rights of
bill,
the Indians then in possession of the territory.
Mr. Chase's
amendment was then rejected.
The gist of the bill for the organization of Kansas and
Nebraska lay in this amendment of Mr. Douglas
abrogating
Mr. Douglas himself professed the
most profound indifference whether slavery was " voted
up or
voted down," his main anxiety being, he
vindi
to
contended,
the compromise of 1820.
cate the doctrine of popular
As a test of the
sovereignty.
of
the
advocates
of
the new policy, Mr. Chase moved
sincerity
to empower the Territorial
legislature to prohibit slavery, to
the people of the
country, he said, see whether those who
assert " the principles of non-intervention are
willing that the
people of the Territories may, if they see fit, exclude slavery."
let
But the amendment was rejected, and the utter hollowness of
the pretension that " the
people were to be left perfectly free
"
to vote
or
vote it down
was
slavery up
fully exposed.
Mr.
Badger of North Carolina addressed the Senate
at
length in favor of the repeal of the Missouri compromise,
�388
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
although he repudiated the new doctrine that it was uncon
stitutional.
He made a point of the alleged humanity of
who preferred to take their slaves into new territory,
instead of selling them, and he descanted on the wickedness
"
"
of not allowing them to do it.
Why," he asked, if some
Southern gentleman wishes to take the nurse who takes
those
charge of his
little
in childhood, and
from
to take with
new
he called
'
woman who
Mammy
'
nursed him
until he returned
too, and whom he wishes
in his old age when he is moving into one of
Territories for the betterment of the fortunes of
college,
these
baby, or the old
whom
and perhaps afterward
him
the whole family, why, in the name of God, should anybody
"
To this question Mr. Wade pertinently replied
prevent it ?
" The Senator
We have not
entirely mistakes our position.
:
the least objection and would oppose no obstacle to the Sena
*
'
migrating to Kansas and taking his old
Mammy
along with him. We only insist that he shall not be em
Mr. Badger
powered to sell her after taking her there."
tor's
closed his speech by announcing that the Southern Whig Sena
tors " all agree as one man in support of this measure."
Mr. Seward entered his eloquent plea " for freedom and
To the alleged inconsistency of opposing re
public faith."
peal on the part of Northern men who had opposed compro
" a life of
approval of compromises and
mises, he replied that
of devotion to them only enhances the obligations to fulfil
them a life of disapprobation of the policy of compromises
;
only renders one more earnest in exacting the fulfilment of
them when good and cherished interests are secured by
them." He reminded Southern Senators that they buried
and celebrated its obsequies with
pomp and revelry that it was again stalking through those
halls
and that, if the representatives of the North would let
"
it rest, they would evoke it from its grave.
Say what you
"
of the
interests
the
do
what
will
he
here,
will,"
said,
you
remain
States
and
of
the
just
slaveholding
non-slaveholding
the same and they will remain just the same until you shall
cease to defend and cherish slavery, or we shall cease to honor
and defend freedom. The slavery agitation is an eternal
the
Wilmot proviso
;
;
;
in 1850,
�389
THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
and progress, between truth
and error, between right and wrong. You may sooner by act
of Congress compel the sea to repress its upheavings and the
round earth to extinguish its eternal fires, than oblige the
human mind to cease its inquirings and the human heart to
struggle between conservatism
desist
from
its
throbbings."
Reminding Southern members
of the vast immigration to
" such freemen as neither
Eng
Northern States of freemen,
that half a million
Rome nor Athens ever reared,"
of freemen were annually coming from Europe, and that
twenty years hence there would be a million of freemen from
Asia, he warned them that the tides of freemen and slaves
land nor
would not voluntarily commingle. But if by their policy they
did meet, he said, it was easy to foresee which of them would
He thus closed his
overcome the resistance of the other.
speech, so philosophical in its examination and statement of
" Man
principles, so eloquent in thought and expression
You may legislate and abrogate
proposes and God disposes.'
'
:
as you will but there is a superior Power that overrules all
your actions and all your refusals to act, and I fondly hope
;
and trust overrules them to the advancement of the greatness
and glory of our country,
that overrules, I know, not only
all your actions and all refusals to act, but all human events
to the distant but inevitable result of the equal
liberty of all men."
and universal
Oh
the 24th of February, Mr. Sumner addressed the Senate
" landmarks of freedom."
against the proposed removal of the
He
on two distinct grounds,
in the name of
public faith, as an infraction of solemn obligations, assumed
beyond the power of recall by the South and in the name of
freedom, as an unjustifiable departure from the antislavery
arraigned
it
;
policy of the fathers.
He
maintained that
it
was
clear
beyond
dispute that, by the overthrow of the Missouri prohibition,
"
slavery will be quickened and slaves themselves will be
multiplied, while new room and verge will be secured for the
gloomy operations of slave law, under which free labor
droop and a vast territory will be smitten with sterility
Under the
will
slave system the whole social fabric is disorgan-
�390
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
ized, labor loses its dignity, industry
IN AMERICA.
skkens, education finds
the land of slavery is impoverished."
He
said that for all who bear the name of slave there was nothing
"
they could call their own ; that, without a father, without a
no schools, and
all
mother, almost without a God, the slave has nothing but a
master." He reminded Senators that the passage of the bill
would not, as they vainly declared, settle the slavery question
that " nothing can be settled which is not right," nothing can
be settled which is adverse to freedom that God, nature, and
;
;
the holy sentiments of the heart, repudiate all such false,
seeming settlement. He declared that he looked forward to
all
the good time
when
the North and the South should unite in
declaring freedom, and not slavery, national, while slavery,
and not freedom, should be sectional.
William Pitt Fessenden, a new Whig Senator from Maine,
spoke with great clearness and force against repeal. He warned
if, for political purposes and with a
Missouri restriction should be repealed,
Southern Senators that
political design, the
the people of the North would resist the admission of those
Territories as States, except with the exclusion of slavery.
The people of the North, he said, were fatigued with these
"
threats of disunion.
noise, and nothing else," they
Being
Mr. Butler, interjecting the
To
produced little impression.
if such sentiments prevailed he wanted dissolu
" Do not
"
tion
delay it on my ac
right away," he retorted
count."
remark that
:
Mr. Cass, during the debate, elaborated and vindicated the
" Nicholson
letter," that
doctrine, embodied in his famous
in
the
had
no
over
Territories, and
slavery
authority
Congress
that the people should adjust it on their own responsibility
and in their own manner. Mr. Toombs of Georgia also vindi
" it
cated the doctrine of popular sovereignty, declaring that
would outlive the follies and prejudices of its enemies, survive
their puny assaults, and pass on and mingle itself with the
thought and speech of freemen in all lands and in all coun
Mr. Dodge of Iowa, who had introduced the bill for
tries."
the organization of the Territories, supported the repeal of the
Missouri prohibition, and charged that antislavery had checked
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
391
and stayed a progressive improvement in the condition of the
negro, and had rendered the name of emancipationist odious
in the slave States.
happened then, as often before and afterward, that the
most arrogant, revolting, and reckless words were spoken by
Northern members among the most prominent of these was
John Pettit of Indiana, who gave utterance to the most ex
It
;
treme views.
Mr. Norris of New Hampshire advocated the repeal because
"
the Missouri compromise was inconsistent with the
great and
Mexico
New
in
the
acts
established
organizing
popular principle
and Utah," and because by such repeal would be reasserted
"
of the government, which, if
the " original and true principle
"
adhered to, would remove from the halls of Congress the ex
He avowed his willingness to
citing agitation about slavery."
an officer, in the execution
at
of
the
command
assistance,
give
of the Fugitive Slave Act, and sharply criticised a speech of
Mr. Sumner, made in Fanueil Hall, against that act.
Mr. Clayton of Delaware reminded the Senate that the re
peal of the Missouri compromise, whatever its character and
whatever of wrong was involved therein, was sprung upon the
it was not a Southern, but a Northern
proposition
was supported by sixteen Northern Senators against
twelve, by a Northern President, and by a Cabinet having a
South
that
;
that
;
it
Northern majority.
He thought that Southern Senators
whose constituents held slaves could not refuse to accept
what was thus pressed upon them by the North.
Mr. Brown of Mississippi affirmed that " slavery is of Divine
a
origin ; is a great moral, social, and political blessing,
Butler of
blessing to the slave and a blessing to the master."
South Carolina vindicated the slave system, because the black
man was
not equal to the white man
because, as he ex
" the African race
never soared into the
pressed it,
where the Caucasian race
;
regions
made
its
greatest developments,
never furnished astronomer, statesman, general, or poet."
On the 2d of March an amendment was adopted, on motion
Mr. Badger, providing that nothing contained in the bill
should be construed to revive or put in force any law that
of
�392
RISE
may have
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
existed prior to
March
6,
IN AMERICA.
1820, either protecting,
Mr. Chase
establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery.
then moved to so amend the bill as to authorize the people of
the Territories to elect their own officers.
But this amend
ment was rejected by a majority of twenty. Another amend
ment having been offered by Mr. Chase, Mr. Mason called
upon the friends of the bill without any delay to vote
amendment down, because the Senator from Ohio and
his
his
friends " find," he said, " that if the bill passes their vocation
will be gone, the last plank in the shipwreck of their political
fortunes will be taken from them, and they will expire, as they
deserve to expire, howling,
destroy the country."
howling
like fiends
attempting to
On the 3d, Mr. Dawson, a Whig Senator from Georgia, de
nounced what he was pleased to call " the spirit of fanaticism
and the mistaken notions of philanthropy of those who would
throw a cordon of free States around the South, to drive the
people into emancipation."
The
tion to
insulting suggestion of Mr. Mason, basing his opposi
an amendment, and urging other Senators to base
theirs,
upon grounds so purely personal,
received, as
it
mer
" I treat with
ited, indignant rebuke.
contempt," said Mr.
"
from what quarter it
come
of
dictation,
Wade, any language
in
his
rise
place and utter the
may. No Senator has a right to
language that the Senator from Virginia has used to my col
It is not becoming the Senator from Virginia, nor
league.
in accordance with the rules of order, nor is it consistent with
Because my col
senatorial dignity or gentlemanly courtesy.
from Virginia
the
Senator
an
has
offered
amendment,
league
rises in his place,
to vote
down
his
impugns
his motives,
and
amendment and trample
calls
on the Senate
Such
foot.
under
it
be applicable to a plantation but it is not be
coming in the Senate of the United States."
Mr. Houston, though Southern in sentiment and interest,
" to
regard the contract once made to har
adjured Senators
monize and preserve this Union." " Maintain," he exclaimed,
" the Missouri
Give us
Stir not up agitation
compromise
"
the
with
his
and
closed
earnest
He
patriotic appeal
peace
dictation
may
;
!
!
!
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
" union or disunion
depended
prediction that
393
upon the decision
of this question."
He reviewed
closed by Mr. Douglas.
arguments which had been urged in opposi
His speech was able, adroit, defiant, and de
tion to his bill.
He
predicted that, when the measure was fully
nunciatory.
be as popular at the North as at the
it
would
understood,
The debate was then
at great length the
friends that the arguments in
favor could be used with the same propriety in the North
South
its
;
and he congratulated
its
" would
and the South, while the arguments of its enemies
not bear repetition one mile across Mason and Dixon's line."
The vote was then taken at five o'clock in the morning, after a
continuous session of seventeen hours, and the bill passed by a
Houston of Texas, Hamlin
vote of thirty-seven to fourteen.
Rhode
James
of
of Maine,
Island, Dodge and Walker of Wis
consin, Democrats, and Bell, a Southern Whig, voted in the
negative.
Perhaps no measure before Congress ever excited more thor
oughly the moral and religious sentiments of the nation. The
Memorials and protests, nu
clergy took an unusual interest.
were
sent
to
memorial was pre
merously signed,
Congress.
A
sented by Mr. Everett, signed by more than three thousand
clergymen of various religious denominations in New England.
Memorials numerously signed by clergymen in the Middle and
Western States were also presented. The memorial of the
New England clergymen was made
the occasion of a savage
onslaught, that revealed very clearly the spirit of the men who
were engineering that measure, and the utter godlessness of
the whole project.
Mr. Douglas led the assault. " It is pre
"
sented," he said,
by a denomination of men calling them
who have come forward with an
and an atrocious calumny against the Sen
ate, desecrated the pulpit, and prostituted the sacred desk to
the miserable and corrupting influence of party politics."
I
" whether there is a
he
said
doubt,"
again,
body of men in
America who combine so much profound ignorance on the
question upon which they attempt to enlighten the Senate as
this same body of preachers."
selves preachers of the gospel,
atrocious falsehood
VOL.
ii.
50
�394
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Mr. Mason said
IN AMERICA.
" Of
all others they are the most encroach
ing and, as a body, arrogant class of men." Mr. Butler de
clared that " when the clergy quit the province assigned them,
.... going about as agitators .... they divest themselves of
:
the respect that I can give them."
And Mr. Adams
averred that " when they depart from their high vocation, and
come down to mingle in the turbid pool of politics," he would
" I
treat them just as he would other citizens.
hold," said
Mr. Pettit, " that the waters of the pools of politics are infi
nitely more pellucid and pure and cheering and refreshing than
the pool which surrounds their stagnant waters of
theology."
Mr. Badger " would say, in regard to each of them, what Sir
Walter Scott, in one of his novels, makes Cromwell say to the
c
Rev. Mr. Oldenough
learned
Lack-a-day
lack-a-day
"
man, but intemperate ; overzeal hath eaten him up.'
On the 31st of January, Mr. Richardson of Illinois, chairman
all
:
of the
!
!
House Committee on
A
Territories, reported a bill for the
Kansas and Nebraska. After
and
two amendments proposed
bill,
Mr.
were
referred
to the committee of
of
Indiana,
by
English
the whole.
Mr.
of
The substitute
English, instead of the pro
organization of the Territory of
a brief debate the original
vision repealing the Missouri compromise, proposed a clause
leaving it to the people to pass such laws in relation to slavery,
if not inconsistent with the Constitution, as they might deem
most conducive to
their interests, happiness, and welfare.
the 15th of February, Mr. Meacham of Vermont ad
" on that
" I
dressed the House.
compromise
look," he said,
On
as a contract, as a thing done for a consideration, and that
the parties to that contract are bound in honor to execute it
in good faith.
The consideration on the one side was paid
and received in advance.
thirty-four years.
That compromise has stood for
dumb by the reckless au
the proposition, would not believe it had
The
dacity and perfidy of
people, struck
been made, and took refuge in incredulity."
that compromise
was repealed, that the
last
He
predicted,
if
compromise had
been made between the clashing interests of different sections.
Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia replied in a speech in
tensely vituperative and extreme.
He denied
that the Missouri
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
395
"
"
because, he said, there were
compact,
compromise was a
"
no parties to it, it
being nothing but a law, with no other
He scouted the idea that there
sanction than any statute."
would be any disastrous consequences from its repeal, saying,
with contemptuous spite, that the friends of slavery prohibi
" a
tion had been
wooling," had come back fleeced, and that
" rail and rave and
Their threats, he
such men might
rage."
"
and
bowlings and hissings of
ravings
continued, are but the
the beaten and routed ranks of the factionists and malcon
are the wailings of the politically condemned,
the bottom of that deep pit where they have
from
coming up
been hurled by a patriotic people, for the good, the peace,
They fought the
quiet, and harmony of the whole country.
was
as
there
as
he
anything to be
said,
long
compromise,
made by fighting it. When whipped, routed, and beaten,
tents.
then,
to see
They
" like craven and
mercenary captives, they turn to power
if anything could be made there by subserviency and syco
phancy." The disease of negromania, he contended, could never
the viper would hiss, and even sting the bosom of
be cured
him who fosters it. Mr. Keitt of South Carolina pronounced
" unconstitutional
the ordinance of 1787 an act of
;
usurpation,"
" It was
" an
ungrateful and graceless act."
passed," he said,
with strange confusion of metaphors, if not of ideas, " while
the old articles of confederation, effete and palsied, were dissolv
ing into wreck and floating away into fragments, which had
decayed into imbecility and had only strength enough to invite
the agonies of death."
Mr. Breckinridge said that the South would never submit to
exclusion from the Territories.
Admitting that the immediate
would " furnish food for abo
lition excitement," he predicted that in two
years no man
would be found in the West who would dare go before the peo
ple in opposition to the principle embodied in it.
Clingman of
North Carolina presented the Southern view from the Whig
effect of the
standpoint.
passage of the
He
passage of the
declared that the great obstruction to the
was the fact, well understood, that every
bill
representative from the North was an opponent, and was
appealing to Southern Whigs not to press the question upon
Whig
"
bill
�396
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
they should thereby break up the Whig party." He
charged Northern Whigs with affiliating with Free-Soilers and
them,
lest
Abolitionists, and reminded them that they were engaged in a
"
losing game ; for, in spite of all their
appeals to fanaticism,"
the antislavery sentiment and the idea of negro equality were
losing ground.
Able responses were made by several Northern Whigs.
Among them was Richard Yates of Illinois, afterward gov
" If
ernor and United States Senator.
you pass this bill," he
"
said,
your friends in the North, who have considered the
Abolitionists the aggressors and have vindicated your cause,
will consider
you the aggressors. They will laugh at your
flimsy apology that you take the forbidden fruit because it is
offered you by a Northern hand.
They will consider it a van
dal march on territory which, by your own hands, by universal
consent and long acquiescence, by patriot sons, by solemn con
tract and plighted faith, has been consecrated to freedom."
Elihu B. Washburne, from the same State, declared that if
Northern rights were to be thus sacrificed, he might be count
ed on as an " agitator," for " that term had no terrors for
him." " The May Flower," he said," " was freighted with
agitators, in whom were a nation's hopes and the germs of a
nation's greatness. Our Revolutionary fathers were agitators.
Agitators threw the tea overboard in Boston and spilled their
blood at Concord and Lexington. The questions involved in
this bill have taken a deep hold of the public mind, and there
no power on earth that can control its workings. You
might as well ask the sea to stand still as to ask the North to
is
submit in silence to the repeal of the Missouri compromise."
Israel Washburn of Maine told his Southern brethren that
"
they were determined to make a sectional issue, breaking
"
good faith" and the ties of fraternal association," then all
" to bid them a
that remained for Northern Whigs was
long
that
the
much
too
He
with
confidence,
averred,
good-night."
" To
North would resist until such aggression was stayed.
doubt it," he said, " were to admit that there is no North and
if
no hopes of a North. It were to admit a degeneracy in the
people more swift, more thorough and mournful, than has ever
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
marked any other people
To doubt
since the birth of time.
were to admit that slavery has the indwelling central
power
it
of
but a name, and the love of it
But we will not doubt it. We know that in all
immortal truth
a fantasy.
human
397
;
that liberty
is
and
affairs there are seasons of action
victory and
But we
defeat.
shall prevail against truth,
also
know
of reaction, of
that in the end nothing
and no verity
is
more grand, more
There is nothing on earth divine besides
immutable, than this
were
there wanting others who took the sub
Nor
humanity.'
'
:
'
ject to the
forum
of conscience
and applied
to
it
the tests of
moral as well as of political responsibility, the teachings of
the revealed law of the Creator as well as of the observed
laws of his creation.
Among them was
Gerrit Smith,
who commenced by
saying
that the slavery question was up again, even in Congress ;
that it would not keep down at any bidding, however authori
The President, he said, had made its keeping down
Members of Congress, political
the great end of his office.
tative.
" titled
conventions, and
divines, taking their cue from
com
merce and politics, and being no less servile than merchants
and demagogues," had done what they could to keep it out of
Referring to the madness in man to attempt to hold
sight.
" The
in check the forces of the moral world, he said
power
which is ever and anon throwing up the slavery question into
our unwilling and affrighted faces is truth.
Passion, blinded
and infatuated, may not discern this mighty agent. Never
theless, Truth lives and reigns forever, and she will be contin
:
We
must bear in
tossing up unsettled questions.
that
has
not
been
which
mind, too,
every question
disposed of
ually
with her requirements, and which has not been
on her own blessed bosom, is an unsettled ques
tion.
Hence, slavery is an unsettled question, and must con
tinue such until it shall have fled forever from the presence of
It must be an entirely unsettled question, because
liberty.
not only is it not in harmony with truth, but there is not one
particle of truth in it.
Slavery is the baldest and biggest lie
on earth. In reducing man to a chattel, it denies that man is
man and in denying that man is man it denies that God is
in conformity
laid to repose
;
�398
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
God. For in his own image made he man,
the black man
and the red man, as well as the white man." Asserting that
there was no law for American slavery, and that there could
be no law for any other slavery, he predicted that the time
would come when the nation, then wellnigh dead to any at
"
tempt to bring her to repentance, would listen to the voices
of truthful, tender, and faithful admonition "
that the day
;
her redemption, " of her broken-hearted sorrow for her
crimes," would sooner or later come.
of
Of a very different character was a speech, though on the
side of the question at issue, from Mr. Bent on, then a
member of the House. More than his peer, perhaps, in tal
ents and knowledge, in political standing and influence, and
same
equally opposed to the measure under discussion, the spirit of
the speakers and purport of the two speeches were strangely
While the one was absorbed in a benevolent regard
seemed on fire with an all-consuming
while
the
one
seemed solicitous to do good to all,
egotism;
unlike.
for others, the other
the other appeared mainly anxious to crush his enemies ;
while the words of the one seemed to be wafted on the refresh
ing breezes from the scenes of celestial love, the other's were
borne on the sirocco breath of a haughty dogmatism and an
Alluding to the Douglas amendment,
which Mr. Chase had characterized as an " afterthought,"
he called it " a little stump speech injected into the belly of
the bill, and which must have a prodigious effect when recited
in the prairies, and out toward the frontier, and up toward the
heads of the creeks." He declared Territorial sovereignty to
be a " monstrosity," " born of timidity and ambition, hatched
intense political hatred.
into existence in the hot incubation of a presidential canvass,"
" as
nonsense, as the essence of nonsense, as the quintessence
of nonsense, as the five times distilled essence of political non" now afflict the
" Three
he
sensicality."
dogmas,"
said,
squatter sovereignty, non-intervention, and no power in
Congress to legislate upon slavery in the Territories. This
land
:
and beautifully illustrates the
whole three, by knocking one on the head with the other, and
trampling each under foot in its turn. It is a bill of assumpbill
asserts the whole three,
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
399
and contradictions, assuming what is unfounded and
a balancing every affirma
contradicting what it assumes,
tions
not the innocent
by a negation. It is a see-saw bill
see-saw which children play on a plank stuck through a
fence, but the up-and-down game of politicians, played at the
It is
expense of the peace and harmony of the Union
tion
;
an amphibological bill, stuffed with monstrosities, hobbled
with contradictions, and badgered with a proviso." He de
clared that the troubles of the country came from " uneasy
from the "
masses." He
and its
politicians,"
safety
tranquil
designed to destroy forever the Missouri
" human
being living
compromise, was not called for by any
or expecting to live on the Territories, but by a silent, secret,,
limping, halting, creeping, squinting, impish motion, con
charged that this
bill,
ceived in the dark and midwifed in a committee-room."
who opposed the bill was Nathaniel P. Banks,
Democratic member from Massachusetts. He spoke in be
Among
a
those
which he contended that slave labor
was " incompatible," and that voting to extend slavery was
legislating "for the benefit of capital against men." He spoke
half of free labor, with
eloquently for the three thousand clergymen of
New England
who had memorialized Congress and who had been so harshly
"
"
assailed.
They are not," he said, anarchists nor revolu
tionists.
They are timid, conservative, inquiring, dependent
men.
They have no life-tenures, they accumulate no fortunes.
They consolidate no powers, they organize no forces. Isolated
and dependent, they have parted with no rights and have no
selfish ends.
The sincerity of their protestation is beyond
question, as the earnestness of their appeal should be beyond
censure." John Z. Goodrich of the same State predicted that
the repeal of the Missouri compromise would wipe out as with
a sponge all compromises.
Mr. Campbell of Ohio declared
that if the bill passed he would wage " an unrelenting and
ceaseless war against slavery to the furthermost limits of the
Constitution."
The " subterranean "
Democracy of the city of New York
In
fitting exponent in its member, Michael Walsh.
a speech of the most extreme and humiliating utterances, he
.
found a
�400
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
disparaged the free laborer of the North and declared that
the only difference between a negro slave and a wages slave
was that " the one is a slave of an individual, the other is the
slave of an inexorable class."
The general debate having closed on the 20th of May, and
every amendment militating against the principle of the bill
having been voted down, it was understood that the friends of
the measure would force
it
nents, deeply impressed with
hended
results, felt called
to a vote
on the 22d.
its fearful
upon
Its
oppo
character and appre
to use all legitimate
means
to
delay and, if possible, to defeat its passage. In a body, with
parties so nearly balanced and with many veteran tacticians in
it,
to successfully engineer the
measure through the House was
Alexander H. Stephens was selected for
trifling matter.
that purpose and it was admitted, alike by friend and foe, that
the management of that severe parliamentary conflict was a
no
;
most adroit and
skilful exhibition of legislative strategy.
He
moved to strike out the enacting clause of the bill. That
motion was sustained by a nearly unanimous vote. But the
House refused, by twenty majority, to concur in the vote of
the committee of the whole. A substitute was then moved
by Mr. Richardson, which was adopted by a majority of nine
teen, and the bill was then passed by a majority of thirteen,
first
and the only hope of defeating the measure, by the action of
the House, was irretrievably destroyed.
The House bill went to the Senate as an original measure,
and was taken up for consideration on the 24th of May. Mr.
Pearce of Maryland moved to strike out the provision allowing
Mr. Bell addressed the Senate at great length
aliens to vote.
in explanation and defence of the vote he felt constrained to
give, and against the unauthorized announcement which had
been made that " the Southern Whigs are a unit in support of
the measure." From his speech it appeared that there had
been a caucus of Southern Whigs to remonstrate with the
"National Intelligencer" for its opposition to the measure,
and to secure the announcement that they were " a unit for
His speech, more important for the insight it
the measure."
afforded of Southern tactics than for its professed object, be-
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
gan with an acknowledgment that his
first
401
impression was
that he should be forced to go for the bill, whether he ap
proved it or not, because, he confessed, he could not see how
" Southern
he could separate from his
Whig friends and the
in
and
because he had been
Southern delegation
Congress,"
" told over and over
again that he would be politically dead,
and that his standing as a public man would be utterly de
though, really,"
stroyed, if he should vote against that bill
he added, " Mr. Toombs is the only Senator from the South
with whom I ever conversed who thought this was a good
;
On the other hand, one of his colleagues had
thing in itself."
declared that he " would regard the repeal of the Missouri
compromise as a violation of his honor as a Southern man,
and that he would lose his right arm before he would sustain
it by his vote."
Another, equally strong in his convictions,
had expressed his apprehensions of " the dangerous and un
Besides, there had been no
or
in
organ, Whig
Democratic,
Tennessee, which had uttered
a syllable of complaint against the Missouri restriction act,
happy results of the measure."
"
it was proper or desirable to
Yet, though personally favorable to the measure,
he must refuse to vote for it for the sake of retaining the
Northern wing of the Whig party, the " sound National
"
"
Whigs of conservative spirit," like the five hundred of the
most respectable citizens of Boston, who had " enrolled them
selves as special constables to secure the execution of the
"
Fugitive Slave Act," but who were
becoming alarmed at the
or even suggested the idea that
repeal it."
consequences which threatened to follow the adoption of this
measure." But he was the only Southern Whig who withheld
his vote from this iniquitous measure.
Every other member
succumbed to the pressure, thus acknowledging that with him
fealty to slavery was paramount to the claims of party, and
revealing, too, the only condition on which a national organiza
tion could exist.
But all " conservative " clauses and efforts
were unavailing, and from that hour the Whig
party did dis
from
the
arena
of
national
appear
politics.
The caucus
of Southern
Whigs
be pursued excited the Northern
VOL.
II.
51
to decide upon the policy to
members and called forth no
�402
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Wade spoke of this
Southern Whigs, who thus, in " secret conclave,"
"without consultation with their Northern brethren," on "the
small amount of indignant protests.
treachery of
greatest question that ever challenged the investigation of the
American Senate," gave in their adhesion to the measure.
"
Saying that the humiliation of the North is complete and
overwhelming," that "no Southern enemy can wish her deeper
degradation," he said his appeal should be to the people. The
Southern wing of the old Whig party has " joined its for
" with what is called
the national Democ
tunes," he said,
I
and
wish
in
The
racy,
you joy
your new connection."
Northern wing, released from
become more " popular
"
weights
at
all
Southern incumbrance, will
"
running without
home," and,
against the slave Democracy of the North, must
succeed.
Mr. Benjamin, in a speech distinguished alike for specious
"
subtleties, polished diction, and graceful rhetoric,
merely
desired to explain the apparent inconsistency" of his votes.
"
" The
amendment," he said, commends itself to my deliber
I voted for it before.
I shall vote against it
ate judgment.
now."
He
vindicated his vote by asserting his willingness to
"
amendment, though it met his approval, for the
"
its
of the bill,
purpose of maintaining the great principles
" obliteration of a
its
and
geographical
popular sovereignty
sacrifice the
line."
Mr. Seward spoke with his usual force and hopefulness,
though not unmingled with sorrow and humiliation at the im
"
mediate prospect. " The sun has set," he said, for the last
time, upon the guaranteed and certain liberties of all the unset
and unorganized portions of the American continent that
within the jurisdiction of the .United States. To-morrow's
sun will rise in dim eclipse over them. The Senate floor is an
tled
lie
old battle-ground, on which have been fought many contests,
and always, at least since 1820, with fortunes adverse to the
cause of equal and universal freedom." Addressing, however,
the supporters of the bill, he remarked "I only say that there
may be an extent of intervention, of aggression, on your side,
which may induce the North, at some time, either in this or
:
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
403
to adopt your tactics and follow
that this law will be a repealnow
Remember
example.
your
able statute, exposed to all the chances of the Missouri com
You are, moreover, setting an example which
promise
It has been no proposition
all
compromises
abrogates
in
some future generation,
mine to abrogate them now but the proposition has come
from another quarter, from an adverse one. It is about to
The shifting sands of compromise are passing from
prevail.
under my feet, and they are now, without agency of my own,
taking hold again on the rock of the Constitution. It shall be
no fault of mine if they do not remain firm. This seems to
me auspicious of better days and wiser legislation. Through
all the darkness and gloom of the present hour bright stars
are breaking, that inspire me with hope and excite me to per
of
;
severance."
Mr. Cass followed in a speech consisting mainly of a sarcas
Mr. Benton's speech in the House and a defence
tic rejoinder to
of his peculiar
accepted the
bill,
"
Mr. Mason
squatter sovereignty."
he
did
not
notwithstanding
approve of some
dogma
of
" the
great principle that
general
government has no power to legislate on the subject of slav
" this
bill, if it pass, is the death-blow of
ery," and because
features,
because of
its
abolition."
The remarks
of
Mr. Bayard were chiefly noticeable for the
admission that the great danger to this country, and the ques'
tion which lay at the bottom of all abolition excitement, was
the naked question " Is slavery a moral crime ?
Is it a sin
against the laws of God and of Nature, and of the mandates
"
of Christianity ?
This was, he said, the great question.
:
"
The opinion
that slavery is a moral crime, that doctrine, in'
and untenable, must be refuted before the American
Mr. Bayard was not only an eminent lawyer, but an
people."
astute politician.
He saw that, whatever might be the tem
porary triumph of slavery, it was still insecure so long as the
conscience and religious convictions of the country were un
convinced that it was not " a moral crime." The task he sum
moned its champions to perform was herculean and, though
often attempted by the talent and learning of the land, clerical
defensible
;
�404
and
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
lay, it as often signally failed, for the plain reason that
it
could not be done.
Mr. Chase again addressed the Senate, reiterating some of
his former observations, and urging anew his reasons for op
Though overborne for the moment, he
" All that
now remains for
spoke hopefully of the future.
"
is to enter against it, as I now do, my earnest
me," he said,
posing the measure.
and solemn
against
protest,
and to
join with
my colleague
in recording
the vote of Ohio."
it
Near the closing hour, Mr. Sumner offered several memorials
" one hundred and
against the measure among them
twentyfive separate remonstrances from clergymen of the six New
;
England States."
Though disclaiming anything
like
" a de
fence," he took occasion to vindicate very earnestly the char
acter of the clergy, and their right to be heard at the bar of
Congress as remonstrants against this great wrong. Thank
ing them for their generous interposition, he reminded the Sen
ate that in the days of the Revolution John Adams, yearning
for independence, said, " Let the pulpits thunder against op
And the pulpits did thunder. The time has come
pression."
for
them
to thunder again.
the worst and best
bill
worst, inasmuch as
it is
Styling
" the
bill
....
at once
on which Congress ever acted,
the
a present victory of slavery the best
it
for
the
bill,
prepares
way for that All hail hereafter,'
when slavery must disappear,"
he said: "Sorrowfully I
;
'
bend before the wrong you are about to perpetrate. Joyfully
I welcome all the promises of the future."
The amendment
was rejected, and the bill was passed by a vote of thirty-five to
thirteen.
Thus, after an excited and protracted debate of four months,
in which the country was stirred to its profoundest depths, the
plighted faith of the nation was broken and the landmarks of
freedom were removed.
A region of virgin
soil, of fertility
and
beauty, consecrated by the solemn compact of the government
to freedom
and
free institutions,
was opened wide
to
domi
nating masters and cowering slaves. That faithless act was
consummated by the servility of Northern men, who, seeing
that the Slave
Power was supreme, were
led to believe that
its
�THE ABROGATION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
405
and with that assurance
and do its bidding.
Simply selfish, ambitious, and anxious to win, they were ready
to disregard the rights of man, the enduring interests of the
country, and the sacred claims of the Christian religion.
ascendency would outlast their day
they seemed content to
bow
;
to its behests
�CHAPTER XXXI.
ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
General agitation and alarm.
" Tribune."
Post," and
"
"
Pulpit and Press.
Independent,"
Evening
Political action demanded.
New Hampshire.
Name recommended.
A. E. Bovey.
Wisconsin.
Dr. Bailey.
Vermont.
Michigan.
Indiana.
Action of New York Whigs.
Meeting in Washing
Ohio.
Joseph Warren.
ton.
Faneuil Hall.
of the House.
Massachusetts.
Party formed.
Large success in the nation.
In Pennsylvania.
In
Party formed in Ohio.
Meeting in
Resolution
New
York.
Reaction.
THE determined
purpose of the Slave Power to make slav
predominating national interest was never more
clearly revealed than by the proposed repeal of the Missouri
compromise. This was a deliberate and direct assault upon
ery
the
Many, indeed, under the pleas of fraternity and loy
to
the
Union, palliated and apologized for this breach of
alty
faith ; but the numbers were increasing every hour, as the
freedom.
who
could no longer be deceived by the*
hollow pretences. They could not close their eyes to the dan
gers of the country, and they were compelled to disavow what
was so manifestly wrong, and to disconnect themselves froi
struggle progressed,
men and
parties
who were making
their nefarious purposes
and
so
little
concealment
of
of their utter profligacy of prin
ciple.
Pulpits and presses which had been dumb, or had spokei
no uncei
evasively and with slight fealty to truth, gave forth
tain sound.
Calm argumentation, appeals to conscience,
warnings, and dissuasions from the impending crime against
To the utterances of
liberty, were to be heard on every side.
the sacred desk were added the action of ecclesiastical bodies,
contributions to the press, and petitions to State legislature
and to Congress.
The
entered earnestly upon
antislavery and Free Soil journals
the work of indoctrinating and im-
�ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
407
In arousing the peo
pressing the popular mind and heart.
that
so
them
strove
to
convince
long as a national
ple, they
party had a Southern wing it could never be trusted on any
point in which the interests of slavery were involved, and con
cerning which the wishes of slaveholders had been clearly pro
nounced. The religious press, too, joined in the general pro
and substituted a more earnest tone for the too languid
and equivocal utterances hitherto deemed all that prudence or
Foremost was the New York " Indepen
policy would allow.
test,
Conducted with signal ability, it did much to dissemi
nate right views, change the current of public sentiment, and
where they should always have been
place Christian men
in active sympathy with those who were doing battle
dent."
against the giant
wrong
of the nation.
The
political press of the North still clung, very generally
at least, to the parties of which its respective journals were
but there were some exceptions. The
"
Evening Post had been an able advocate of the
Free Soil cause of 1848, but had joined in the " Barnburner "
defection and rendered important aid in the election of Frank
lin Pierce.
But the Kansas-Nebraska act was more than it
the recognized organs
New York
;
"
could accept,
much
less advocate.
It therefore joined in the
general protest against the measure, and became a very effec
agent in the development of that popular sentiment which
rendered the Republican party a
The New York
possibility.
tive
"Tribune" took the lead, though at the outset Mr. Greeley
was hopeless, and seemed disinclined to enter
upon the contest.
So often defeated by Northern defection
therein, he distrusted
Congress nor had he faith that the people would reverse the
;
verdict of their representatives.
He told his associates he
would not restrain them, but, as for himself, he had no heart
for the strife.
They were more hopeful
and Richard HilA. Dana, a veteran journalist,
James S. Pike, and other able writers, opened and continued an
unrelenting and powerful opposition in its columns, and did
very much to rally and reassure the friends of freedom and to
nerve them for the fight. Even Mr.
Greeley himself became
;
dreth, the historian, Charles
inspired
by the growing enthusiasm, and some of the most
�408
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
trenchant and telling articles were from his practised and pow
erful pen.
These discussions from
pulpit, platform, and press, all point
action
as
the only adequate remedy. In the
political
Northern States there were Abolitionists, Free-Soilers, anti-
ed to
slavery
Whigs, anti-Nebraska Democrats, and antislavery
of the American party, which had just come into ex
Many of these sought help, and thought they saw
members
istence.
how
help could be secured, through
existing organizations,
and they clung with tenacity to them but, as the conflict pro
gressed, large and increasing numbers saw that no help could
;
be reasonably hoped for but through the formation of a new
party that could act without the embarrassment of a Southern
But the formation
of a national and successful party
from materials afforded by the disintegration of hitherto hos
tile organizations was a work of great delicacy and difficulty.
Such a party could not be made
it must grow out of the
elements already existing. It must be born of the nation's
necessities and of its longings for relief from the weakness,
wing.
;
or wickedness, of existing organizations.
The mode
new
party of freedom varied
according to the varying circumstances of different localities
and the convictions of different men. In some sections a
of organizing this
and the demand for in
increasing numbers saw to be
Such an opportunity and de
both necessary and impending.
mand were furnished in New Hampshire by the death of Mr.
Atherton, member of the United States Senate, which oc
curred in November, 1853. As his successor was to be chosen
by the legislature to be elected in the following March, an ac
tive canvass sprang up during the month of February and the
local election afforded the opportunity
augurating a
movement
that
in
early weeks of the month in which the election occurred,
which the leading men of the State and of several of the neigh
to com
boring States took part. Strenuous efforts were made
Democrats
anti-Nebraska
and
bine the Free-Soilers, Whigs,
and these efforts were so far suc
in some common action
;
as to prevent the election of a Democrat, although
the
they failed to elect their candidate. It was, however,
cessful
�409
ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
beginning of a process by the operation of which the ma
the State became Republican in fact and name, and
jority of
P. Hale to the Senate, in 1855, to fill Mr. AtherJohn
sent
ton's term,
and James Bell
for the full term.
Mr. Wilson of
Massachusetts canvassed the State for several weeks, advocat
ing a fusion, into one organization, of the opponents of the
repeal of the Missouri prohibition.
But one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of the
movements
that contemplated definite action and the formation of a new
party, was made in Ripon, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, in
the early
months
of 1854.
In consequence of a very thorough
canvass, conference, and general comparison of views, inaugu
rated by A. E. Bovey, a prominent member of the Whig party,
among
the Whigs, Free-Soilers,
and Democrats
of that
town
ship, a call was issued, signed by himself, representing the
Whigs, Mr. Bowen, representing the Democrats, and Mr.
Baker, representing the Free-Soilers, for a public meeting to
consider the grave issues which were assuming an aspect of
such alarming importance. The meeting was held on the last
of February, in the Congregational church.
It was largely at
tended by persons of both sexes from the town and surround
It was a meeting solely for the discussion of
ing country.
and comparison of views. Among the speakers was
Professor Daniels, who subsequently, as a resident of Virginia
and editor of the Richmond " State Journal," maintained and
principles
advocated with distinguished zeal the views and principles then
enunciated.
The burden and drift of the speeches were the
hopeless subserviency of the national parties to the behests of
the slaveholders, the necessity of abandoning them, and the
proposed policy of constructing a party from the materials
thus set at liberty, with such as could be persuaded to leave
the Democratic party for a similar purpose.
resolution was
A
adopted that, if the Nebraska bill, then pending, should pass,
" throw old
they would
party organizations to the winds, and
a
new
on
the sole issue of the non-extension of
organize
party
slavery."
A
second meeting was held on the 20th of March, for the
purpose of organization and for the adoption of such prelimiVOL.
ii.
52
�410
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
nary measures as the inauguration of the new party required.
By formal vote the town committees of the Whig and Free
Soil parties were dissolved, and a committee of five,
consisting
of three Whigs, one Free-Soiler, and one Democrat, was
" The work done on that
evening," says Mr. Bovey,
fully accepted by the Whig and Free Soil parties of all
chosen.
" was
immediately; and very soon
this section
that
is to say, in a
few months
by those parties throughout the entire State."
A State convention was held in July, by which the organization
of the party was perfected for the State, a majority of the dele
gation was secured for the next Congress, and a Free-Soiler,
Charles Durkee, was elected to the Senate of the United
States.
At
ing him,
if
the meeting of the 20th of March, Mr. Bovey,
though stating his belief that the party should and probably
would take the name of " Republican," advised against such a
christening at that time and by that small local body of men.
"
He, however, wrote to the editor of the New York Tribune,"
suggesting the name, giving his reasons therefor, and request
his views corresponded with his
tention of his readers to it in the
men
columns
own, to
call the at
of his paper.
inaugurate a
Thus
move
town
and control the nation,
and which did sweep the country, and change entirely the
Whether there was or was not
policy of the government.
early did the
of that frontier
ment which was destined
in this
to sweep
general uprising any local
action
which antedated
will question the propriety of his language who took
it,
" The actors in this remote little
the initiative when he says
few
:
eddy of politics thought at the time that they were making a
bit of history by that solitary tallow candle in the little white
school-house on the prairie ; and whether ever recognized and
published or not, they think so still."
But that " little eddy " on that far-off margin was only one
of many similar demonstrations,
signs of a turn of the tide
In Washington, on the
in the great sea of American politics.
Kansas-Nebraska
of
the
the
after
bill, there
passage
morning
was a meeting of some thirty members of the House at the
rooms of Thomas D. Eliot and Edward Dickinson, of Massachu
setts, called at
the instance of Israel Washburn, of Maine,
�411
ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
for consultation in regard to the course to be adopted in the
The hopelessness of any further at
exigencies of the case.
tempts through existing organizations was generally admitted
though a few still counselled adherence to the Whig party, in
But most pres
the expectation of securing its aid for freedom.
;
ent had become convinced that in a new party alone lay any
reasonable hope of successful resistance to the continued ag
The
gressions of the arrogant and triumphant Slave Power.
"
"
and
was suggested, discussed,
name
finally
Republican
agreed upon as appropriate for the new organization.
In pursuance of the same object and in harmony with these
suggestions, Mr. Washburn addressed a public meeting in
" this
great consideration that
Bangor, in which he spoke of
now overrides all the old party divisions and effete organi
"
zations of the country."
Every true Republican," he said,
" must take the
of that wise con
if not the
name,
place,
servative party, whose aim and purpose were the welfare of
the whole Union and the stainless honor of the American
Alluding to this Washington meeting, on another oc
attributed much of the first and moving impulse that
he
casion,
" National
led to it to Dr. Bailey, editor of the
Era," of whom
"
to
strove incessantly
he says that he
bring members of
name."
different parties to act together in opposition to the Nebraska
and that, " after the purpose to form such a party
;
iniquity"
at, there was no one present who did not feel
measure was only carrying out the policy of which
Dr. Bailey had been the earliest, the ablest, and the most in
had been arrived
that the
fluential advocate."
On
the 8th of June, 1854, there
was held a State convention
party of Vermont. The spirit of the meeting was
strongly antislavery, and the purpose to dissolve all connec
tion with the slavery propagandists and the politicians and
of the
Whig
parties they controlled
was unmistakable.
The seventh and
eighth resolutions of the platform, drawn by E. P. Walton,
afterward member of Congress, invited " the free men of Ver
mont " and " the people
of all the other States
who
are dis
posed to resist the encroachments and the extension of slav
"
to co-operate for that purpose, and, " in case a national
ery
�412
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
A
"
for that purpose, " to send dele
State ticket in harmony with these senti
convention shall be called
gates thereto."
ments was put in nomination.
On the 16th of the same month, a
convention of "
constitutional
all
IN AMERICA.
call
was issued
for a
mass
persons who
means
are in favor of resisting by all
the usurpations of the propagandists of
This convention met on the 13th of July. Resolu
slavery."
in spirit and aim with those of the June con
identical
tions
vention were adopted, one of which closed with these words
" We
propose, and respectfully recommend to the friends of
freedom in other States, to co-operate and be known as Re
:
A
delegation to a national convention, if one
publicans."
should be held, was appointed, consisting of one Free-Soiler,
State ticket
three Whigs, and one antislavery Democrat.
A
was nominated but, the State committees of the parties being
empowered "to fill vacancies," a fusion ticket was made up
and chosen by little less than two thirds of all the votes cast
at the election, and a legislature was elected which sent Jacob
Collamer, an anti-slavery Whig, and Lawrence L. Brainard, a
;
Free-Soiler, to the United States Senate.
But, whatever suggestions others may have made, or what
ever action may have been taken elsewhere, to Michigan be
longs the honor of being the first State to form and christc
More than three months before the
the Republican party.
conventioi
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, the Free Soil
had adopted a mixed ticket, made up of Free-Soilers and Whij
in order that there might be a combination of the antislaverj
elements of the State. Immediately on the passage of the N<
"
Tribune,"
Joseph Warren, editor of the Detroit
in
resulted
that
measures
entered upon a course of
bringing
the Whig and Free Soil parties together, not by a mere coali
tion of the two, but by a fusion of the elements of which the
" took
grounc
two were composed. In his own language, he
the Whig and Free Soil parties, and oi
in favor of
braska
bill,
disbanding
the organization of a new party, composed of all the opponenl
of slavery extension.
Among the first steps taken was
withdrawal of the Free Soil ticket. This having been effected,
a call for a mass convention was issued, signed by more thj
�413
ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
This convention met on the 6th of July
and was largely attended. A platform, drawn up by Jacob M.
Howard, afterward United States Senator, was adopted, not
only opposing the extension of slavery, but declaring for its
ten thousand names.
The report also pro
"
"
for the new party, which
Republican
posed the name of
was adopted by the convention. Kinsley S. Bingham was
abolition in the District of Columbia.
nominated for governor, and was triumphantly elected and
Michigan, thus early to enter the ranks of the Republican
;
party,
has remained steadfast to
principles and
On
the 13th of the
Columbus, Ohio.
"
then publicly avowed
its
faith.
The
breaking the chains
same month, a convention was held
call was addressed to those in favor
now
at
*
of
forging to bind the nation to the
It was largely attended, and its
a
canvass
of the State, which resulted
proceedings inaugurated
in the election of an anti-Nebraska delegation to Congress by
car of
American slavery."
more than seventy thousand majority.
similar convention
the same day, a
was held
were made by Henry
Schuyler Colfax.
On
S.
in Indiana, at which speeches
Lane, Henry L. Ellsworth, and
Similar results followed.
The
elections of
the following autumn were carried by the friends of freedom,
and the permanent organization of the party was assured.
In New York, the Whigs held a convention early in the
summer, under the lead of Mr. Seward and Thurlow Weed,
adopted a series of resolutions, and also nominated a ticket in
decided opposition to the Nebraska policy.
On the 17th of
August, an anti-Nebraska convention was held at Saratoga.
Resolutions were introduced
policy of those States
by Mr. Greeley indorsing the
which had already taken steps toward
new party but without action thereon the
convention adjourned, to meet on the 26th of September at
Auburn. At this adjourned meeting a proposition to form
the formation of a
a
;
new party was introduced but, though debated, it was not
The Whigs having by their platform and ticket put
;
adopted.
themselves in substantial accord with the sentiments of the
convention,
it
was deemed expedient
to retain the
ganization and to contest the election under
its
Whig
auspices.
or
The
�414
RISE
ticket
was
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
successful,
IN AMERICA.
and Myron H. Clark and Henry
J.
Ray
mond were
elected governor and lieutenant-governor.
Immediately after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska
bill,
a large and enthusiastic State convention of the Free Soil
party was held in Boston, at which addresses were made by
Its spirit and purpose
Giddings, Hale, Andrew, and others.
were well expressed by Mr. Wilson. " If there is," he said,
" a forlorn
hope to be led, we will lead it, and others may
But we go with none who do not
take and wear the honors.
wear our principles upon their foreheads, and have them en
'
'
graved on their hearts."
During the subsequent weeks, there were many conferences
and attempts to unite the leaders and members of the Whig
and Democratic parties in the proposed combination against
the Slave Power, but with indifferent success, the Whigs pre
ferring to retain their organization intact, and professing to
believe that slavery could be more effectively opposed by it than
by that proposed. But a convention met in Worcester on the
20th of July. Judge Oliver B. Morris was made president, an
"
"
organization was effected, the name
Republican
accepted,
and a platform, reported by Seth Webb, Jr., was adopted.
State convention of delegates was held at Worcester on the
A
The venerable Robert Rantoul presided.
was reported by John I. Baker, and
an elaborate and eloquent address was made by Mr. Sumner.
Mr. Wilson, who had been the Free Soil candidate the previous
year, was nominated for governor and Increase Sumner, up to
that time a member of the Democratic party, was nominated
7th of September.
A
series of resolutions
;
In these conventions no prominent
Whigs or Democrats took part, and few members of those par
ties were present.
Being composed mainly of Free-Soilers, the
Whig and Democratic presses naturally united in pronouncing
" fusion " a
to the fact that the
for lieutenant-governor.
failure.
men
They
referred
leading
were Jackson, Bird,
and
Sumner, as evidence
Keyes, Andrew, Webb, Swift, Wilson,
that the new party was only the old Free Soil party under
in one or both of the conventions
another name.
This failure of the attempted fusion, through
the. persistent purpose of leading Whigs to adhere to their or-
�415
ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
men
ganization, was recognized by thousands of antislavery
that the demolition of the Whig and Democratic par
who saw
by the American party might produce a political chaos out
which a new and better creation might soon spring. They
therefore united or co-operated with that organization, and gave
ties
of
joined in the election of members of Con
gress and the legislature, and so impressed their policy on the
legislation of the State as to draw from Theodore Parker the
" the
declaration that the legislature of that year was
strong
est antislavery legislative body that had ever assembled in the
their support to-
it,
country."
Though the Republican party was not immediately organ
ized in all the free States, its spirit inspired and its ideas
Within one year eleven Repub
largely pervaded the North.
lican Senators were elected and fifteen States had secured
anti-Nebraska majorities.
Out of one hundred and forty-two
Northern members of the House, one hundred and twenty
were opposed to the iniquitous measure. They were in suffi
cient numbers not only to control the election of Speaker, but
" in
they were able, by a majority of fifteen, to declare that,
the opinion of this House, the repeal of the Missouri compro
mise of 1820, prohibiting slavery north of 36 30' was an
example of useless and factious agitation of the slavery ques
tion, unwise and unjust to the American people."
Several States which had failed to organize a Republican
It was in that year that Ohio
party in 1854 did so in 1855.
came into
by completing a Republican organization and
Salmon P. Chase and Thomas H. Ford
for governor and
Conservative Whigs
lieutenant-governor.
and proslavery " Americans " supported ex-Governor Trimble,
and did what they could to defeat the Republican ticket but
it was carried
by nearly fifteen thousand majority.
line,
putting in nomination
;
The Republicans of Pennsylvania held a convention at
Pittsburg on the 5th of September.
Judge William Jessup
was president, and Alexander K. McClure was chairman
committee on resolutions. Eloquent speeches were
made by John A. Bingham, Mr. Giddings, and Lewis D.
Campbell of Ohio, and by Allison and Howe of Pennsylvania.
of the
�416
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Letters were received from Wilmot, Hale, B. F. Butler of New
"
York, and Wilson of Massachusetts.
Pennsylvania," wrote
the latter, ", holds in her hand the result of the election of
1856 ; if she stands firm, that year will witness the complete
overthrow of the Slave Power of the South and the servile
power of the North." Passmore Williamson, then imprisoned
by Judge Kane, was nominated as canal commissioner. Many
"
Whigs and Americans," however, refused to act with the Re
publicans, and he was withdrawn, and another was nominated
who received the support of Whigs, " Americans," and Repub
licans.
But the change did not effect the result, for the
by a decisive majority.
When the American National Council was disrupted in 1855,
another effort was made in Massachusetts to attract to the
Democracy
carried the State
Republican party the men of antislavery tendencies of that
broken organization and of other parties. On the 16th of
August, a meeting without distinction of party was held
Chapman Hall in Boston. John Z. Goodrich presided.
at
A
committee, on motion of Samuel Bowles, was chosen to pre
George Bliss, Moses Kimball,
pare a plan of practical action.
Franklin Dexter, William Bingham, members of the Whig
party, and Dana, Adams, Park, Walker, Wilson, Keyes, Ste
phen C. Phillips, and John L. Swift, Republicans, made brief,
The aged, venerable,
conciliatory, and eloquent speeches.
and venerated Lyman Beecher uttered a few words of hope,
On the 30th of August, there was a
trust, and confidence.
meeting of conference committees in Boston. It represented
the American party, the " Know Somethings," an antislavery
organization which had held a national convention at Cleve
land in June, and a committee representing the Chapman Hall
meeting. A proposition made by Charles Allen was sent by
Chapman Hall committee
to the other committees, propos
to form a new political party.
a
call
for
a
union
convention
ing
Robert B. Hall suggesting that they were not there to make
conditions but to conclude arrangements, a resolution was
the
returned to the
Chapman Hall committee
to the effect that
they were ready to co-operate in calling a State convention
without distinction of party, with " the view of placing Massa-
�ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
417
chusetts in sympathy and connection with the great Repub
After debate this reso
lican movement now in progress."
lution
was
laid
upon the
table,
and a simple resolve was
passed, proposed by Mr. Bowles, inviting the committee to a
This invitation was accepted, the conference was
conference.
of twenty-six was appointed to call a
and
a
committee
held,
State convention, at the head of
which was placed the vener
In pursuance of a call made by this
indorsed
committee,
by eminent citizens of all parties, a State
convention was held at Worcester on the 20th of September.
able
P.
Samuel Hoar.
Emory Aldrich
called the convention to order.
Nathaniel
Banks presided, and, on taking the chair, expressed " sym
pathy with its objects and fidelity to its acts." Richard H.
Dana, Jr., chairman of the committee on the platform, report
ed an admirable address to the people of the State, and a
series of resolutions.
There was a sharp contest between
the supporters of Governor Henry J. Gardner and the friends
of a new candidate.
After an excited and somewhat angry
P.
debate, Julius Rockwell, a member of the Whig party, was
nominated for governor by the small majority of thirteen.
Although the American supporters of Governor Gardner had
joined in the call of the convention and had participated in
its proceedings,
they were not satisfied with the result. An
American State convention was called, Governor Gardner
was nominated and elected, and the Republicans of Massa
chusetts were a second time defeated.
In
New York two
conventions were held on the '26th of
September at Syracuse, for the purpose of organizing a Re
publican party, which had not been done the previous year, on
account of the action of the
Whigs, and the plea that the people
were not yet ready. Reuben E. Fenton
presided, and Joseph
Blunt was chairman of a committee of conference with the
Whig convention. That convention, under the lead of John A.
King and Edwin D. Morgan, afterward Republican governors,
adopted antislavery resolutions, united
convention, and formed a union ticket
was placed the name of Preston
King.
and " silver gray " Whigs refused their
VOL.
ii.
53
with the Republican
head of which
at the
But the conservative
support.
Many
anti-
�418
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Nebraska Democrats voted for what was known as the "
soft
"
although the convention of that section of the party,
composed largely of those who had voted for Yan Buren in
ticket,
1848, had failed to condemn in fitting terms the repeal of the
Missouri compromise.
Under these untoward circumstances
the Kepublican ticket was defeated by the ticket headed by
John T. Headley, and supported by the proslavery " Ameri
"
and " silver gray " Whigs.
cans
The sudden and simultaneous uprising and action of the
people of the free States in 1854, in consequence of the repeal
of the Missouri compromise, under the common designation of
"
anti-Nebraska," had, for the moment, rather the character
temporary combination for a specific purpose than a per
manent organization, based on a general agreement and look
of a
ing forward to continued association, though it led, and was
an important step, in that direction. It was a combination
of Free-Soilers, Republicans, " Americans," old Whigs and
Democrats, who were indignant at the removal of the ancient
" landmarks of freedom."
For the time they were united in
their object to oppose and rebuke the administration for this
In some of the States this battle was fought
under the lead of the Whigs, in others under that of the rising
American organization, and in others with those who had just
breach of
faith.
assumed the name of Republicans. But in the next year,
the effort was made to define more clearly the principles
and perfect more fully the organization of this new party of
freedom, thousands who had voted in 1854 under these va
rious names and organizations, and with different motives,
for its principles, refused to follow its lead and to be called by
when
name. In consequence, there was a real or seeming reac
the faithless
tion, and some States, which had thus condemned
its
administration of Franklin Pierce, failed, that year, to give
Republican majorities.
�CHAPTER XXXII.
THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
Formation.
effect
nati.
Objects.
on other
Union
parties.
degree.
growth.
Antislavery element.
Damaging
Southern feeling and purpose.
Meeting at Cincin
Kenneth Eaynor.
Defeat in Virginia.
National
Eapid
Southern purpose.
Council at Philadelphia.
Hostility towards Massachu
setts.
Mr. Wilson.
Banquet.
Struggle on resolutions.
Majority report
New York delegation. Minority resolutions. Debate on plat
proslavery.
form.
Speeches of Governors Gardner and Fletcher, of Foster, Wilson, Ford,
and Raynor.
Northern platform rejected
Raynor' s amendment and speech.
and Southern adopted.
Party disrupted.
Meeting of Northern delegates.
Declaration of sentiments.
Address adopted.
and New Jersey delegates.
Protests.
and "Tribune," and Boston "Atlas."
Addresses of Pennsylvania
Comments
of
New York "Times"
IN the year 1853, a secret Order was organized by a few
in the city of New York.
Its professed purpose was
men
to check foreign influence, purify the ballot-box, and rebuke
all efforts to exclude the Bible from the public schools.
The
dissatisfaction in the ranks of the old parties, growing out
attempted repeal of the Missouri compromise in the
of the
winter of 1854, caused it to increase in that city with
wonderful rapidity, and to spread into other cities, towns, and
States.
The
disorganization of parties,
when
that compro
mise was abrogated, crowded its secret Councils, and it rapidly
Hundreds of thousands
spread over the Northern States.
who cared less for its avowed principles and purposes than
and humanity, and had little
permanency, were willing to use its machinery to
disrupt the Whig and Democratic parties, in the confident
hope that, out of the disorganized masses, there would come
for the higher claims of justice
faith in its
a great political party antagonistic to the dominating influ
ences of the Slave Power.
This organization, known as the Know-Nothing or Ameri
can party, wielded a potent influence in the Northern elec-
�420
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
In the Western States, Pennsylvania, and
Jersey
largely shaped the nominations, and co-operated
at the polls with Whigs, anti-Nebraska Democrats, and Free-
tions of
1854.
New
it
In New York, where it had great strength, and where
largely under the influence of men who claimed to be
conservative on the slavery question, it supported a State
Soilers.
it
was
ticket,
but united with Whigs and antislavery
election of
districts.
men
in the
members of Congress in most of the congressional
The Whig leaders and papers of Massachusetts
insisting on maintaining their organization intact, thousands
of Whigs, anti-Nebraska Democrats, and Free-Soilers, seeing
clearly that a fusion of parties could not then be effected,
went into the Councils of the Order and carried the State by
an immense majority.
When the elections of that year
closed, it was found that the Democratic party had been pros
trated in nearly
all
the Northern States, that the
Whig
party
had been completely disorganized and disrupted, and that
more than seventy-five members of the new party had been
elected to Congress in the Northern States, most of whom
were antislavery in sentiment, and afterward gave their ad
hesion to the rising Republican party.
Though the influences within the American party had been
strongly antislavery, and its victories had been hostile to the
continued domination of the Slave Power, as soon as the
were over, Southern politicians and some at the
North who were without antislavery convictions, and who
elections
failed to comprehend the full significance of the uprising
" nationalize "
of the people of that year, sought, they said, to
the times, was but another name
it, which, in the parlance of
had
for placing it in the attitude of hostility to freedom
demands, or at best making it neutral thereto.
and
its
In November, a national delegation of the Councils of the
new organization met at Cincinnati. There were few public
men present, but it was, nevertheless, a body strong in intel
The victories they had achieved or
ligence and character.
'
aided in achieving in the Northern States intensified their
devotion to a party which had so suddenly assumed such large
proportions, as they also inspired
them with hope and
conn-
�THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
421
Union, degree of
been
the Order was adopted, having
proposed by Kenneth
Mr.
Raynor had been a Whig
Raynor, of North Carolina.
member of Congress, and was an eloquent and effective
dence.
speaker.
At
this meeting, too, the third, or
for
Although a large slaveholder, and strenuous
what he believed to be the rights of the slaveholding States,
he was national in his sympathies, and strongly attached to
He had united with the American party, was a
the Union.
firm believer in its distinguishing doctrines, and was hopeful
conceived the patriotic idea that the new
association might be turned to good account by arresting the
disunion sentiment that was manifesting itself in the South.
of its success.
He
While on his way to the National Council, he resolved to
the
propose a third degree, having for its specific purpose
to
his
Union.
of
the
Joseph
plan
Unfolding
preservation
Segar of Virginia, he received from that gentleman a promise
of cordial support.
Arriving at Cincinnati, he suggested his
plan to several
and
Southern
Northern
both
but
he met with
delegates,
hesitation and doubt, though on his motion a committee of
;
one from each State was appointed for the purpose of con
sidering the expediency of adding a degree based on this
simple idea of uncompromising devotion to the Union. As
chairman of the committee, he prepared and reported the obli
gation or oath, and spoke warmly in support of its adoption.
declared his object to be " the preservation and perpetuity
of the Union in all coming time
to maintain and defend it
He
;
against all encroachments under all circumstances, and to put
under the ban of proscription any and all men who might be
engaged in impairing
its
vigor or resisting
its
authority."
The proposition was sustained by several delegates of both
sections of the country, and was adopted by a nearly unani
mous vote.
This third, or Union, degree, thus authorized, was con
The
ferred by Mr. Raynor himself on the delegates present.
ceremonial was imposing and impressive. It bound each
member under the most solemn pledges to adhere to, defend,
and maintain the Union of the States against any and all
�422
RISE
assaults,
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
from
all
IN AMERICA.
and every quarter, without any
condition,
stipulation, or limitation.
The
recipients of this degree were
welcomed to the brotherhood of the " Order of the American
Union." In six months from that time it was estimated that
a million and a half of men had taken the degree, and it con
tinued to be administered until the final dissolution of the
organization.
Whatever may have been the influence of this Union degree
mind and heart of Southern men, its tendencies in
over the
the Northern States were to foster the interests of
slavery
and to sustain the Slave Power.
small but active portion
of the American organization in the Northern States,
espe
A
cially in the States of
and
Massachusetts,
New
York, Pennsylvania,
New
Jersey, assumed that fidelity to the Union and devo
tion to its flag required that they should strive to arrest antislavery movements, defeat antislavery action, and proscribe
but in spite of their opposition the great
antislavery men
the
American
of
State
body
party remained true to freedom.
;
had helped to elect passed resolutions con
demning the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and elected to
legislatures they
the Senate of the United States Harlan, Trumbull, Durkee,
Seward, Foster, Wilson, Hale, and
Bell.
But the American party received a
severe,
feat in Virginia in the spring of 1855.
if
not fatal, de
Under the
lead of
Henry A. Wise, the Democracy achieved a victory which, with
the well-understood causes thereof, greatly discouraged, if it
did not extinguish, the hopes of the Order throughout the
South.
The Northern successes for freedom, in which Ameri
cans had so conspicuously participated, could but exert a dam
aging influence upon their party at the South, making these
Northern victories really tantamount to Southern defeats. So
marked had been this result that the Southern members looked
forward with great solicitude to the meeting of the National
Council, in the hope and with the purpose of relieving the
Order from the suspicion and stigma of being an " antislavery
party in disguise," which had been so industriously fomented,
and adroitly fixed upon it by the Democrats in this election.
Nor were the more observing and thoughtful
antislavery
�THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
423
of the significance of the occasion,
or less anxious concerning the approaching convocation of the
men
of the
North unaware
young and rapidly growing party. They foresaw the coming
Mr. Wilson, in a let
struggle, and sought to prepare therefor.
Theodore Parker, written after the meeting, thus describes
the views and purposes he entertained concerning the exigency
" that one of three
" I
in prospect.
things
saw," he said,
must happen that the antislavery members must ignore their
ter to
:
or they must fight for
national party
the supremacy of those principles and impose them upon the
organization, which would drive off the Southern men ; or
principles to
make a
;
they must break up the party." After saying that it was his
" take a moderate but
positive antipurpose to have the party
" If
I determined that it
he added
slavery position,"
not,
:
should be broken at the June meeting of the National Council,
so that the friends of freedom might have time to rally the
people."
The Council
met in Philadelphia on the 5th of June, 1855,
the representative of a party unparalleled in the rapidity of
its growth and the vigor of its action, and possessed of a fol
lowing in numbers that invested its proceedings with national
and importance. It claimed to have enrolled in its
Councils a million and a half of voters.
The New York
"
Herald," during the meeting, gave it a constituency of one
million three hundred and seventy-five thousand; and there
interest
can be no doubt that
it
and a quarter.
million
in its ranks at least a
were represented,
the Southern, by men in deadly earnest that their favorite institution should be rescued from the
each by seven delegates
,
number
did
Most
of the States
;
harm shadowed forth by the results of the Northern elections.
Nor were their feelings, and those of their Northern sympathiz
ers, in earnest alone
system
;
upon the general
they were intensely
interests of the slave
bitter against
Massachusetts and
her delegation.
The Americans of that State had elected a delegation to the
House of Representatives, nearly all of whom were members
of the Free Soil party
had chosen a legislature that elected
Mr. Wilson to the United States Senate had passed resolu;
;
�424
EISE
tions
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
condemning the repeal
IN AMERICA.
of the Missouri compromise,
and
in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave
Act ; had enacted laws to give colored children an equality in
the public schools, and to protect personal liberty and had
adopted an address to the governor, requesting the removal of
;
Judge Loring for the rendition of Anthony Burns.
The opposition to Mr. Wilson was especially strong. He
had been an antislavery man for twenty years had, imme
;
diately after his election, declared unrelenting opposition to
slavery in all its forms ; indorsed Mr. Burlingame's decla
ration for " an antislavery Constitution,
an antislavery Bible,
and had declared, a few days after
seat in the Senate, that the North intended to place
and an antislavery God "
;
taking his
men in the councils of the nation
who could not be seduced by
blandishments nor deterred by threats, and who had sworn
uncompromising hostility to every form of oppression. In a
New York, over which Henry
Beecher presided, he had just declared " If my voice
could be heard by the whole country to-night, by the antislav
public meeting in the city of
Ward
ery
:
men
them
of the country to-night of all parties, I
Resolve
write
it
would say
to
over
it,
your door-posts, engrave it
on the lids of your Bibles, proclaim it at the rising of the
sun, and at the going down of the same, and in the broad
:
that any party in America, be that party Whig,
Democrat, or American, that lifts its finger to arrest the anti-
light of noon,
movement, to repress the antislavery sentiment, or
proscribe the antislavery men, it surely shall begin to die it
would deserve to die, it will die, and by the blessing of God
I shall do what I can to make it die."
Only a few days before
had
he
the
National
the meeting of
said, in an address
Council,
to the Americans of Vermont, that if that party did not wish
a speedy death and a dishonored grave, it must accept the
idea that the national government must be relieved from all
connection with and responsibility for slavery. He had ex
pressed his gratification at the defeat of the Americans in
New York, who had striven to commit the party against antislavery principles, measures, and men.
Of course these utterances brought upon Mr. Wilson sharp
slavery
;
�THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
criticisms
and
bitter denunciations.
convention
that
resolved
to
make
425
Delegates who came to
the American party a
him as an abolitionist
proslavery organization denounced
and a disorganizer, and kept him and his associates for one
day, on the merest technicalities, out of the convention ;
and soon after the Massachusetts delegation had taken their
seats, Mr. Boiling of Virginia denounced the Americans of
that State as abolitionists and disorganizes, whose action had
brought disaster upon him and his friends. Referring espe-'
cially to Mr. Wilson's speeches, he sharply and bitterly criti
and that in language deemed by all personal,
and
indecorous,
highly offensive.
To this assault upon his State and upon himself, Mr. Wilson
promptly replied. Massachusetts, he said, stood upon her own
State rights; she was competent to take' care of her own in
terests
her goods, and not her principles, were for sale.
cised his course,
;
"
"
Twenty years ago," he added,
I pledged myself to liberty
have never spoken or written one word inconsistent with
that pledge, and I never will do so to save any
party on earth.
In public and in private I have freely uttered my
and
;
I
antislavery
sentiments and labored to promote the antislavery cause, and
I will continue to do so.
You shall not proscribe antislavery
men, without receiving from me the
most determined and unrelenting hostility. The past belongs
principles, measures, or
to slavery,
the future to freedom.
The past
is
yours,
the
We
wish you men of the South distinctly to
understand that we have the power to prohibit slavery in the
Territories and to abolish it in the District of Columbia, and
we mean to do it. We intend to repeal the Fugitive Slave
Act, and we mean that Kansas shall never come into the
future
is
ours.
Union as a slave State,
The slavery conflict in
no, never."
the convention, thus begun, continued with
scarcely any inter
and
for
more
than
a
week.
mission, day
night,
On the 7th, there was a banquet given to the members of
the Council by the citizens of
Philadelphia, over which Mayor
Conrad presided. It was under the control of the proslavery
men
of that city,
and some
slavery sentiments were
VOL. n.
54
of the
made
members
of recognized anti-
to feel that they were under the
�426
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Some of the Northern delegates absented themselves
from the banquet, and others declined to speak when called
"
upon. The speeches breathed the spirit of
nationality," and
opposition to the demands of slavery was deemed sectional,
if not disloyal to the Union.
ban.
On
the 8th, a sharp struggle took place for the presidency
The position was sought by his friends for
of the Council.
James W. Barker
of
New York,
the temporary chairman
;
but
his proslavery tendencies and those of his delegation were so
marked and offensive to many Northern members that he was
and E. B. Bartlett of Kentucky selected.
On motion of Judge Cone of Georgia, a committee on reso
lutions, consisting of one from each State, the District of
Columbia, and the Territory of Minnesota, was appointed.
The struggle in the committee was sharp and severe, con
Resolutions were presented,
tinuing through three days.
defeated,
written by Vespasian Ellis, editor of the national organ at
Washington. They forbade discussion of slavery in any form
by the American party, and demanded the rigid enforcement
by the national government of the laws, especially of the
An amendment was proposed demanding
Fugitive Slave Act.
government protection to actual settlers but
The resolutions were
rejected by a majority of two.
one
in
committee
majority, but afterward recon
by
adopted
sidered.
It was finally agreed, by a vote of seventeen to
fourteen, to report resolutions written by Mr. Burwell of
Virginia and presented by Mr. Lyon of New York. They
of the national
it
;
was
the power of Congress to prohibit slavery in the
Territories, or to abolish it in the District of Columbia,
denied
and they demanded that the nation should maintain and
This platform,
abide by the existing laws on the subject.
was
to
the
American
adopted in the
slavery,
party
pledging
Southern
committee by the delegations from fourteen
States,
the State of New York, the District of Columbia, and the Ter
ritory of Minnesota. But the New York delegation was mainly
responsible for this majority report, which so discouraged the
moderate and fair-minded delegates from the border States,
and so emboldened the extreme Southern men in their demands.
�THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
427
Mr. Lyon even boasted of his agency in presenting the proslavery platform. Mr. Barker assured Southern delegates that the
Americans of New York were sound that they had expelled
thirty thousand members of the American party for voting
for Governor Clark, the Whig candidate for governor, and
for supporting the re-election of William H. Seward to the
Senate but that they had one hundred and eighty thousand
members left, and could control that great State. Mr. Squires
avowed that he would join the Democratic party if the con
vention failed to adopt a proslavery platform, and he bitterly
assailed the friends of freedom and their representatives in
Mr. Sammons was exceedingly anxious that
the Council.
;
;
the
American party should make a declaration against eman
cipation in the national capital.
minority resolution was reported
A
committee from fourteen States.
It
by the members of the
proposed the immediate
restoration of the prohibition of slavery in the territory cov
ered by the Missouri compromise of 1820, the protection of
actual settlers, and the admission of Kansas and Nebraska
as
free
States.
This resolution was written by Samuel
"
Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican," though he was
not a member of the Council, and was simply acting as the
" Tribune." It was
reporter of the New York
presented to
the committee by John W. Foster of Massachusetts.
The majority and minority reports were made on Monday,
the sixth day of the session.
Mr. Mallory of New York de
at
the
the
nied,
outset,
necessity of discussion, and demanded
submission to the will of the majority.
Several members of
the committee and of the Council rose to respond to this
impertinent demand, but all yielded to Governor Gardner of
Massachusetts.
He
declared that the resolutions
conceded
much, and that the party could not carry a village in
Massachusetts upon them. Governor Fletcher of Vermont
too
followed.
He
told the convention that
if it
persisted in the
Southern policy proposed, popular indignation would extin
guish slavery and extirpate the whole tribe of Northern dough
Mr. Clements of Delaware, arraigned by his colleagues
signing the minority report, sustained his position, said
faces.
for
�428
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
he had acted conscientiously, and contended that the demands
of the North were right.
The debate on the platform ran through three days, and
was able, eloquent, excited, but bitterly personal. Mr. Foster
charged that the basis of representation in the Council was
wrong, and that it had been deliberately packed to stifle the
voice of the free States.
He denounced the repeal of the
Missouri compromise, declaring it to be " iniquitous in its
conception, as it disturbed a time-honored compact
unjust
in its passage, wrested as it was from a reluctant Congress
;
by a President with all the spoils and appliances of the nation
and disastrous in its results, as it renewed
at his command
all the agitating questions and led to scenes of lawless vio
;
" the restoration of the Missouri
compromise
as our rallying cry, and inscribing it on our banners," he
" we can
said,
carry every free State from the Atlantic to
lence."
Taking
the Mississippi."
Mr. Wilson opposed the adoption of the illiberal, proslavery,
and intolerant platform. " Its adoption," he said, " commits
the American party unconditionally to the policy of slavery, to
The people of the North
the iron dominion of the black power.
I here and now tell you to your
will repudiate it, spurn it.
faces that I will trample with disdain
upon your platform. I
stands upon it.
that
and
platform,
Adopt
you array against you the noblest
will not support
it
I will support
;
no
man who
pulsations of the human heart, the holiest convictions of the
human soul, the profoundest ideas of the human intellect, and
Your party will be witherec
the attributes of Almighty God.
The antislaverj
the
wrath.
breath
of
the
people's
blasting
by
sentiment is a profound religious conviction, resting upon th(
commands
of
Almighty God to
'
'
do unto others as we woul(
to love our neighbors as we
that others should do unto us,
love ourselves,' to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the
'
'
oppressed go free.' Do you think the descendants of the olc
sturdy Puritan race, that met the demands of priests, nobles,
Thus saith the Lord,' will smoth<
the holiest convictions of their souls, and obey the decrees
a body of men like this ? I tell you they will do so never."
and kings with the stern
<
�THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
"
429
Reject this majority platform, adopt the proposition to
Kansas and Nebraska and to protect the
restore freedom to
actual settlers
make an open
from violence and outrage, simplify your rules,
organization, banish all bigotry and intolerance
from your ranks, place your movement in harmony with the
humane progressive spirit of the age, .and you may win and
retain power, and elevate and improve the political character
of the country.
Adopt this majority platform, commit the
American movement to the slave perpetualists and the slave
propagandists, and you will go down before the burning indig
nation and withering scorn of American freemen."
The speech of Mr. Ford of Ohio, afterward lieutenantgovernor, was exceedingly effective.
Referring to the repeal
of the Missouri
compromise, he characterized that breach of
trust with great plainness of speech, filling the moderate men of
that section with shame and making the extreme men furious.
He compared
the course of the South in regard to the Missouri
man who bought a horse on Sunday,
compromise with that of the
gave his note for it, sold it, pocketed the money, and then turned
round and repudiated payment of his note " because, given on
" You
the Sabbath, it was illegal."
acknowledge," he said,
"
you have had the consideration, you admit the repeal to be
unjust and an outrage, and yet you refuse to right it." Several
Southern members sprang to the floor to
deny that they had
"
admitted that the repeal was an
outrage.
Well," said Mr.
"
and
tell us what
Ford,
get up
you think about it let us hear
;
The repeal of the Missouri compromise
your confessions."
was defended by Judge Hopkins of Alabama and Mr.
ham
of
South Carolina, on the ground that
it
Cunning
was unconstitu
tional.
Kenneth Raynor asked if it was expected that Southern
gentlemen would give their mental experience, to which Mr.
"
Ford replied " Yes, sir, let us hear
you all."
Well, then,"
said Mr. Raynor, " I have to
say that the repeal of the Mis
souri compromise was an uncalled-for and
unnecessary act, an
:
outrage even, a violation of plighted faith
seen my right arm withered, and
my
would have voted for
it."
;
and
I
would have
tongue palsied, before I
This emphatic declaration was
�430
ELSE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
received with surprise, hisses, and denunciatory exclamations
from the ultra Southern men. Mr. Raynor was insolently told
that he would he put down at home for such utterances.
He
bravely replied that he would trust the generosity and justice
of his State, and,
if
his enemies
made
the issue, he would
"
stump the old North State in defence of his opinion, from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Tennessee mountains."
Moderate and conciliatory speeches were made hy Governor
Brown of Tennessee and Governor Johnson of Pennsylvania.
Cumback of Indiana, Booth and Sperry of Connecticut, Jen
but they
Illinois, opposed the majority resolutions
were sustained by Burwell of Virginia, Morse and Stewart
of Alabama, and Cone of Georgia, chairman of the committee
nings of
;
on the platform.
Mr. Raynor offered an amendment proposing to strike out
everything relating to slavery, and to declare in substance
that the American party was organized to remedy certain
existing evils that any evil connected with slavery was not
among them, and did not come within the purview of the
organization that it was neither a proslavery nor an antislav;
;
ery party
of
;
that
it
recognized the right of private judgment,
freedom of speech and of the press upon the subject
that
its
all
of slav
should be
agitation
questions touching
ery ;
ignored and discouraged but that the American party, should
;
into power, would so dispose of that question as to
mete out justice to all sections and interests. In support of
it
come
amendment, he addressed the convention for a portion of
two days in an elaborate, eloquent, and intensely earnest
his
He appealed to the representatives of both sections
speech.
of the country to say nothing whatever upon the subject of
of members, and to
slavery, to respect the private judgment
leave the issues growing out of that exciting question to the
when they should have achieved success and assumed
the responsibilities of power.
The ultra Southern men were indignant at such sentiments
future,
.
from a representative of their own section, contemptuous and
insolent.
The Northern men, who could not follow his coun
sels, honored him for his liberal action as a Southern man, and
�THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
for his national
and
patriotic sentiments.
431
Though he had can
vassed the convention, and received pledges from a majority of
twenty-one to sustain his amendment, yet it failed of receiving
The Northern platform was
a majority by fifty-four votes.
The Southern
to ninety-two.
rejected by a vote of fifty-one
was then adopted by a vote of eighty to fifty-nine. The vote
was taken near midnight, at the close of a session of eight
days and the National Council was rent in twain.
On the morning of the 14th, a meeting of the Northern
;
was held. Mr. Wilson was chairman of the meeting.
address to the people of the United States had been pre
Several
pared, in anticipation of the result finally reached.
delegates
An
members
desired that
to the people
it
should be restricted to a simple appeal
on the differences in the National Council con
A
declaration of sentiments was also pro
cerning slavery.
posed by Mr. Wilson. It maintained that the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution were intended to secure the
blessings of liberty
;
that the Constitution conferred upon
Con
gress no more power to make a slave than to make a king, and
no more power to permit the existence of slavery, where it had
exclusive jurisdiction, than to permit the existence of an order
of nobility ; that slavery was a mere municipal regulation ;
that the government should relieve itself from all connection
with
it
;
that the repeal of the Missouri prohibition was a vio
and that its unconditional restoration
lation of plighted faith,
should be insisted on
the actual settlers in
;
that protection should be extended to
that they would resist the ad
Kansas
;
mission of any States tolerating slavery, created out of any
portion of the territory covered by the Missouri compromise
;
and that they could not consent to act with any body of men
on earth who would not redress the great wrong perpetrated
by the repeal of that compromise, and who would not unite
with them in demanding the protection of the actual settlers of
Kansas against lawless violence. This declaration was strenu
ously opposed by Governor Gardner of Massachusetts, who de
clared with great emphasis that he would " not be abolitionized,
"
anyhow
and, to secure unity of action, it was abandoned.
But an address, reported by John W. Foster, was adopted.
;
�432
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
It declared in favor of the unconditional restoration of the
pro
slavery under the Missouri compromise of 1820,
for the admission of Kansas and Nebraska as free States, for
hibition of
the protection of actual settlers in the free and undisturbed
exercise of the elective franchise
and it avowed that its
;
authors could not conscientiously act with those who would
not aid in correcting " these national wrongs." This address
was signed by fifty-three members. Delegates from Pennsyl
vania and New Jersey prepared a separate address for their
constituents.
committee of correspondence was appointed,
A
and Godlove S. Orth of Indiana was chairman.
A protest
was laid before the Council on the 14th, signed by Gover
nor Johnson of Pennsylvania and fourteen other delegates.
Another protest, signed by Orth, Colfax, Cumback, and other
members of the Indiana delegation, was presented, in which
they declared that the Americans in Indiana had made the
issue against the Kansas-Nebraska bill at the ballot-box that
the edicts of the Council would be powerless to reverse the
;
actions, or to
change the opinions of the people of that
State.
This delegation, too, expressed the deliberate conviction that,
immediately upon the publication of the platform which had
been adopted, the Order in Indiana would cease to acknowl
edge the authority of the National Council.
Of
said
:
"
the Council, the New York " Times
Know-Nothings are entitled to the credit of
this action
" The
of
having been the first to meet the aggressive proslavery
spirit with bold and manly courage, and to refuse obedience to
Their example, we trust, will not lack imitators
its behests.
Their noble adherence to prin
in the other political parties.
in everlasting remembrance.
will
be
held
we
are
sure,
ciple,
Up
to the present time a national convention, has been equiva
The Know-Nothings have inaugu
new era." Of the action of the Northern delegates the
New York " Tribune," in an article entitled " The Event of
lent to a national surrender.
rated a
"
We
cannot withold our applause from the
manly and gallant conduct of Massachusetts, Ohio, and the
Northern States generally. There has never been a similar
the Day," said
:
collection of delegates
from
all
parts of the
Union where
so
�THE DISRUPTION OF THE AMERICAN PARTY.
cheering a spectacle could be witnessed."
The tone
433
of the
Northern press, opposed to the repeal of the Missouri com
"
Atlas," when it
promise, was well expressed by the Boston
said of that convention,
"
pendicularity of its spinal
On the adoption of the
The North has maintained the per
column."
Southern platform a conference was
held between Mr. Wilson, Mr. Bowles of the Springfield " Re
Mr. Bowles had been
publican," and Colonel E. Lincoln.
an earnest and effective Whig but he understood the pur
poses of those who had disrupted the American party, and
;
to unite with them in forming a party of freedom.
Colonel Lincoln had been, too, one of the most earnest and
It
sagacious leaders of the Whig party in Massachusetts.
was his judgment that the time had arrived for the disband-
was ready
of that organization, and for the formation of a new
party, not only in Massachusetts, but throughout the country,
on the basis of the Republican platform. Fully according in
ment
the sentiment, as expressed by Mr. Wilson, that the time had
come for combining the few thousand avowed Republicans,
and antislavery Americans, and
was necessary was for the Whigs to unite in the
anti-Nebraska Democrats,
that
all
that
movement
to control the policy of the State, they
agreed that
Mr. Winthrop was the man to take the lead in such an effort.
Mr. Wilson urged these gentlemen to hasten home, see Mr.
Winthrop, and urge upon him the necessity of prompt action.
" Tell
" that
we antislavery men want
him," said Mr. Wilson,
him and his Whig friends to take the lead in forming a victo
rious Republican party in
Massachusetts, that we are ready
make any sacrifices for the cause of freedom, that we will
to
go into the ranks and work for victory, and that he and oth
may win and wear the honors of success." But, though
pressed to do so, Mr. Winthrop declined to join the movement
ers
proposed.
After the disruption of the Order, those members who had
forced the proslavery resolutions
upon the Council dissolved
and went to their homes, but they were
disappointed at the
Those who had left the Council made their appeal
with more confidence, however, than the facts
warranted, to
result.
VOL.
II.
55
�434
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
the people of the free States to unite on the basis of opposi
tion to the further extension of slavery and the ulterior de
signs of the Slave Power. For broken as the party was, and
crushed as were its hopes of national success, it was strong
enough to so embarrass the Republican movement as to enable
a Democratic administration to recover that year the States
of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois, and itself
to carry the States of New York, California, and Massachu
setts.
�CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
Burns arrested.
Application to Judge Loring.
Hearing
In Faneuil Hall.
Meeting in Meionaon Hall.
Speeches of
Assault on the Court House.
Unsuccessful
Parker, Swift.
Anthony Burns.
postponed.
Phillips,
Batchelder
attempt at rescue.
Trial.
guage of Judge Loring.
Cluer.
Dana's plea.
A
Prayer of Mr. Foster.
cession.
ments against Parker,
Quashed.
as professor.
secret association.
Drills.
Phillips, Higginson, Stovvell, Morrison,
Dissatisfaction at the course of
Removal
Brutalities.
Not
sustained.
Judge
Grier.
Indict
Proudman, and
Judge Loring.
Case of John Glover.
as judge.
ion of Wisconsin courts.
discharged.
Military called out.
Singular lan
Burns delivered up.
Pro
killed.
Rescue.
Rejected
Decis
Booth and others indicted and
Case of Passmore Williamson.
Williamson's imprisonment.
Writ of habeas
Judge Kane's harsh decisions.
Jane Johnson's testimony.
Final discharge.
corpus denied.
ON Tuesday morning, the 23d of May, 1854, intelligence
was flashed over the country that the House of Representa
tives had passed, late in the hours of the preceding night, the
for the repeal of the Missouri prohibition of slavery.
a time, then, when the country was profoundly agitated,
all hope of defeating that obnoxious measure had died,
bill
At
and
and
the people, especially of New England, were sad and indig
nant, Charles F. Suttle, a Virginia slaveholder, applied to Ed
ward G. Loring
of Boston for a warrant, under the Fugitive
Slave Act, for the seizure of Anthony Burns.
warrant was
the
next
this
of
granted
day by
probate and United
judge
A
On
the evening of that day, Burns was
arrested on a false pretext, taken to the Court House, and
States commissioner.
On the morning
kept by the marshal under an armed guard.
of the 25th, he was brought before the commissioner.
Seth
Thomas and Edward G. Parker appeared for the claimant.
Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker, hearing of the arrest,
procured admittance into the Court House with no little diffi
Mr. Parker states that he spoke with Burns, who " sat
culty.
J.
�436
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
between two of the marshal's guards."
Richard H. Dana, Jr., and Charles M. Ellis, interposed,
not
in the dock, ironed,
as counsel, but simply as amid curia, friends of the court,
protested against the unseemly haste of the proceedings, asked
that counsel might be assigned to Burns, and begged for an
adjournment of the examination. After repeated protests
and requests, the commissioner adjourned the hearing until
the morning of the 27th.
The
intelligence
intense excitement.
of
this
arrest
Application was
created widespread
made and
and
readily grant
ed for the use of Faneuil Hall, in which to give expression to
the public feeling.
On the afternoon of the 26th, a meeting
was held
in
all sorts of
Meionaon Hall.
Fiery and excited speeches and
Many were in favor of a night
motions were made.
attack upon the Court House, for the rescue of the alleged
fugitive. Albert G. Browne, who had been one of the coun
Governor Boutwell's administration, an earnest, hon
est, impulsive, and bold man, deprecated this mode of action,
and proposed to be one of forty men to go, under the lead of
Dr. S. G. Howe, to the marshal in broad daylight, demand
the unconditional release of Burns, and, if the demand was
cillors in
not complied with, rescue him at
action
all
hazards
;
but no definite
was taken.
On the
evening of the 26th, an immense meeting was held in
Faneuil Hall. It was called to order by Samuel E. Sewall, and
presided over by George R. Russell, who said, on taking the
chair "
have made compromises until we find that com
We
:
concession and concession is degradation."
promise
uel G. Howe presented resolutions declaring that " God
is
that
all
men
should be free, and
we
will as
Sam
wills
God wills," and
men are free."
that " no man's freedom is safe unless all
Wendell Phillips was " against squatter sovereignty in Nebras
He said that the
ka, and kidnappers' sovereignty in Boston."
question was whether or not Virginia should conquer Massa
" If that man leaves
" Massachu
chusetts.
Boston," he said,
Francis W. Bird saw no remedy
and
outrages perpetrated upon them but
wrongs
"
and he bitterly denounced the tools of the Slave
setts is a
for the
"
fight
;
conquered State."
�ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
437
Power and the press of Boston. John L. Swift said that
they had been called cowards and the sons of cowards, and
they should prove themselves to be such if they allowed
" When we
Anthony Burns to be taken back to bondage.
"
from this Cradle of Liberty, let us go to the
go," he said,
Tomb of Liberty, the Court House. I hope to witness in his
release the resurrection of liberty."
" vassals of
Virginia
they were the
;
Theodore Parker said that
she reaches her arms over
the graves of our mothers, and kidnaps men in the city of the
" There was once a
"
Puritans."
Boston," he said, but now it
is
the Northern suburb of Alexandria."
"
was declared to be a "
but
said,
finality
law which was a
finality,
;
and that law "
is
The
slave law, he
there
was another
and
in your hands
your arms." He thought that if they resolutely declared that
this man should not go out of Boston " without shooting a
gun, then he won't go back." He proposed that they should
meet
at Court
clared
it
Square the next morning, put the vote, and de
carried.
But there were cries in favor of going that night to the
Court House and the Revere House, and there was a re
port that a crowd of colored men and others had gathered in
Court Square, and were making demonstrations upon the
Mr. Swift, who had been in consultation with Mr.
building.
Higginson, Seth Webb, Jr., and others that were in favor
an immediate attempt at rescue, or were apprehensive that
it could not be prevented, hastened to Faneuil Hall for help.
of
There were cries among those near the doors that the Court
House was attacked, and suggestive calls for an adjournment
meeting to the scene of the apprehended assault. Mr.
Phillips then made an impassioned appeal against the propo
sition to go to the Revere House, to attempt, he said, " the
impossible feat of insulting a slave-hunter," or of assaulting
of the
He eloquently pleaded for post
night.
the
morrow.
The
zeal, he said, which would
ponement
not hold out till morning, " would never free a slave." Nev
the Court
House that
till
ertheless, the meeting hastily adjourned, and some hastened to
the Court House, and found that an assault had been made on
the western door, which, though strongly guarded, had been
�438
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
battered in by a piece of heavy timber. Through the opening
thus made, a negro gained for a few moments an entrance,
though he was terribly beaten by those on guard. T. W.
Higginson, Seth Webb, Jr., and Lewis Hay den, struggled to
James Batchelder, a Boston truckman who
enter, but failed.
had been appointed one of the marshal's guard, was killed.
back, and Higginson and others who were
struggling at the entrance, finding themselves unsupported,
besought that they should not be deserted. A. Bronson Alcott
The crowd
fell
of Concord, the thoughtful student of Plato, the associate and
friend of Emerson, entered the door of the Court House, and
there stood for a few moments serenely amid the clubs, axes,
and other implements of war.
In explanation of the failure of this attempt to rescue Burns,
it ought to be stated that at a private meeting, that afternoon,
of Howe, Parker, Higginson, Phillips, and others, it had been
pistols,
deliberately decided that no attempt at rescue should be made
With such a decision the meeting broke up
that evening.
about six o'clock its members pledged to each other to pre
vent the Faneuil Hall meeting from being hurried into any
abortive attempt at rescue. This explains the tenor of the
;
speeches of Phillips and Parker.
But during that Faneuil
Hall meeting Mr. Higginson changed his mind, and obtained
the promise of a few men, in the anteroom, to aid him in a
Accordingly he started for the Court House, leaving
a messenger to inform his friends on the platform and ask
them to bring the meeting to the scene of action. This mes
rescue.
sage was never delivered.
Hence, when the cries were heard
round the doors, they were supposed to be mere efforts to
and these
break up the meeting. Very few obeyed them
few, Dr. Howe among them, though making all haste, did
not reach the Court House till after Mr. Higginson's attempt
;
had ended. Indeed, of the score who had promised him their
aid, very few made their appearance.
The attempt at rescue was not only a failure in itself,
" It
was,"
wrote Edmund Quincy, " a gallant and generous attempt, but
"
for it
ill-advised and injudicious, under the circumstances
;
but
it
seriously complicated subsequent efforts.
�ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
439
afforded just what the slave-hunter and his obsequious servitors
desired, a good excuse for summoning the military to their aid,
which they at once proceeded to do, by calling the marines
from the Navy Yard, soldiers from Fort Independence, and the
militia of Boston.
Arrests were made by the Boston police.
those arrested was Albert G. Browne, Jr., afterward
Secretary to Governor Andrew and Reporter of the Supreme
Among
Court of Massachusetts.
He was
Higginson, who had been wounded
attempting to rescue Mr.
in the assault,
and was in
danger of falling into the hands of the officials.
The excitement produced by these occurrences not only ex
tended outside the limits of the city, so that large numbers
flocked
from the surrounding towns to witness the unwonted
scenes that were transpiring in its streets, but it was largely
increased by several public meetings that were held during
those eventful days.
The New England Antislavery Society
held its annual meeting the Free Soil State Convention also
;
"
anniversary week," there was a large
number of clergymen in the city, at whose meetings frequent
mention was made of the subject. On the day preceding the
met, and,
it
being
was a special meeting of ministers to take
into consideration the general subject thus forcibly brought to
their notice.
committee was appointed to confer with oth
rendition there
A
ers,
and
stirring speeches
were made by
Lyman and Edward
Beecher, Professor Stowe, Samuel Wolcott, and others.
It was claimed that Burns, on the night of his arrest, had
made fatal admissions. But he was kept closely guarded, and
no one was allowed to see or speak with him. The next
day, therefore, after the hearing had been postponed, Wendell
Phillips went to the commissioner for an order directing the
marshal to allow him to see the prisoner. After giving the order
the commissioner, who had heard only one witness, said " Mr.
Phillips, the case is so clear that I do not think you will be justi
:
any obstacle in the way of this man's going, as
and the result proved the correctness of his
anticipation, premature and questionable as it may have been.
At the trial, Burns was ably defended by Mr. Dana and Mr.
Ellis. At the close of the trial, Mr. Dana
congratulated the court,
fied in placing
he probably will "
;
�440
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
the officers of the United States, and all concerned in the case,
that the strange scenes they had witnessed were about to
close.
Referring to the brutal and infamous character of the
marshal's special guard of more than one hundred men, taken
"
"
mostly from the dens of vice, and whom the Boston Atlas
"
"
denounced as the dregs of society," blacklegs and thieves,"
he said, that while violence and outrage reigned at and near the
scenes of the trial and rendition, peace prevailed in other parts
"
" The
of the city.
people," he said, have not felt it necessary
to lock their doors at night, the brothels are tenanted only
by women fighting dogs and racing horses have been unem
ployed, and Ann St. and its alleys and cellars show signs of a
coming millennium." Of course this fitting characterization
gave offence, and one of the guard waylaid and assaulted Mr.
Dana on his return to his home in company with Mr. Burlingame. But the ruffian was afterward detected, convicted,
and imprisoned under circumstances presenting an extraordi
"
nary story of the involutions of crime and of poetic justice.'
Mr. Dana, in closing his plea, reminded Commissioner Loring
that he was about to do an act which was to take its place in
;
the history of America. " May your judgment," he said, " be
for liberty, and not for slavery ; for happiness, and not for
for hope, and not for despair
wretchedness
and may the
"
But
blessing of him that is ready to perish come upon you
the commissioner, who in this case certainly failed to give evi
dence that he " possessed the instincts of freedom and human
ity," surrendered the unfortunate and unprotected fugitive to
;
;
!
and to the horrors of recapture.
was made, Phillips, Parker, Dana, Ellis,
and a few other antislavery men, took leave of Burns, whose
tears expressed both his gratitude and sorrow.
As soon as the
rendition had been made, John C. Park draped his office in
his claimant
When
this decision
mourning.
Some other lawyers
followed his example.
Six flags
mourning were flung from the Commonwealth build
and the venerable merchant Samuel May hung out from
draped in
ing,
his store the flag,
union down
;
Joseph K. Hayes, a Boston
police officer, resigned his office rather than engage
work
of rendition.
in
the
�ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
441
Guarded by a large armed police and military force, Burns
was taken through masses of excited and indignant citizens,
and placed on board the revenue cutter Morris, ordered by
President Pierce to take him to Virginia.
A spectacle so sad
and humiliating could not but excite feelings of indignation
and deepen the popular abhorrence of a law which demanded
and rendered possible such a deed. There can be no doubt
that the rendition of
Anthony Burns, with all the attendant
circumstances, the superserviceable zeal of the Boston officials,
and the unseemly alacrity of the President in ordering a na
tional vessel to bear a single friendless man, of a proscribed
race, back to that servitude from which he had so bravely but
vainly striven to escape, largely contributed, in New England
at least, to the overthrow of the politicians and parties that
upheld the Slave Power.
When the procession, after passing through a continuous
storm of contemptuous outcries and hisses, reached the wharf,
Burns walked forward, surrounded by his guard and its piece
of artillery, and went on board the vessel in waiting to bear
him back to his prison-house of woe. Just at the moment
when a body of resolute antislavery men, who had followed him
to the wharf, had taken a last and sorrowful look of one whom
they had vainly tried to save from the sad fate before him, the
Rev. Daniel Foster,
who volunteered early in the war, became
an officer, and fell fighting for his country,
with eyes and
hands upturned, said in a voice sad and solemn " Let us
:
"
common
impulse," says Dr. Henry
" entire silence came over
I. Bowditch, who was
us,
present,
and this stranger poured forth a prayer that sunk deep into
pray."
Instantly, as by a
our hearts.
He
of peace, to look
on God, as our helper and as the giver
us
in our distress.
He prayed for the
upon
called
poor slave and for the recreant republic. It is impossible to
Under the
give any just idea of the effect produced upon us.
Divine influence, as I believe it to have been, one at least
gained exceeding peace, and a determination that no slave-
hunter should tread quietly the soil of Massachusetts."
From the determination then and there formed came, a few
"
days afterward, an organization known as the Boston AntiVOL.
ii.
56
�442
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
a secret association, with its grips
man-hunting League,"
and passwords its object being to protect the fugitive, if need
be by kidnapping the kidnapper. It consisted of more than a
;
hundred men, and was composed of lawyers, physicians, clergy
men, literary men, merchants, men of ability, character, social
Among them were Samuel May,
position, and influence.
then nearly eighty years old, Henry I. Bowditch, John A.
Andrew, John L. Swift, Albert G. Browne, and his brother
John W. Browne, an earnest, learned, and accomplished lawyer
of Boston, a man of peace, but who had reached the conclusion
that "
we
shall never free ourselves save by the sacrifice of
For eighteen months, this League was accustomed to
meet once in two weeks to discuss and drill for their peculiar
work. They did not arm themselves with firearms, but with
"
billies," now in possession of one of its members.
Their plan of operations combined both moral and material
blood."
appliances.
On
the reception of information that kidnappers
were around, some of their number were to be detailed to put
themselves on their track, to take note of their movements,
and to approach them with the purpose of inducing them, by
stratagem or otherwise, by words of persuasion or intimidation,
to relinquish their designs.
But, if unsuccessful in this, they
were to resort to force. To prepare themselves for this part
of the programme, they were accustomed to drill themselves in
the practice of seizing, holding, and hurrying
away any one
and
remove.
to
Even
minuteness
wished
to
such
they
capture
of detail did they reduce this drill, that the particular limb or
part of the body was fixed upon, which each one should make
the object of his special attention, and to which he should
Considering the character of the men
engaged, the religious tone and motives that marked and im
confine his movements.
pelled some of them at least, there is something very sugges
in the purpose and details of those fortnightly drills
tive
;
for their determination, as a last resort, to employ force im
pelled them, as wise and sagacious men, to make that force
effective,
and not to throw it away in random strokes and
movements. There was, therefore, presented the
ill-directed
serio-comic spectacle of a
company
of cultivated
men, occupy-
�ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
443
ing high social positions, leading the van of a great reform,
discussing the fundamental principles on which it was based,
law-abiding, yet fully recognizing the claims of a higher law,
leaving for the moment the calm retreat of the school and the
from the pugilist and wrestler, that
in
concrete
and the most effective shape the
they might put
ideas
of
the
reform
grand
they would carry forward. To such
straits did the wise and good of those days who would
council to take lessons
obey
the simplest principles of humanity feel themselves reduced
by the unrighteous laws and the iniquitous legislation of the
great Republic.
Indictments were found against Theodore Parker, Wendell
Phillips, Mr. Higginson, Martin Stowell, John Morrison, Sam
uel T.
Proudman, and John C. Cluer.
They were defended by
John P. Hale, Charles M. Ellis, William L. Burt, John A.
The magnitude and dignity
.ndrew, and Henry F. Durant.
the cause were well sustained by the men employed for the
Mr. Hale, with a national reputation, then as ever
>f
iefence.
and his defenders Mr.
whose
services
were
Ellis,
always freely given to the fugitive
id his friends
Mr. Burt, a man of uncommon organizing
ibility, subsequently and for many years postmaster of Bos>n
Mr. Andrew, afterward governor of Massachusetts and
and Mr. Durant, who was
listinguished for his war record
idy to raise his voice for the slave
;
;
;
;
many years a successful lawyer of Boston, but who subgently abandoned his profession and devoted himself and
lis
large wealth to works of Christian beneficence, especially to
for
these prefounding and endowment of Wellesley College,
mted an array of legal ability and personal worth that could
lot but add strength to the defence already strong in the
iture of the offence alleged and in the standing of the
len indicted.
By agreement the case of Mr. Stowell was
taken up, as substantially representing the others
and on a motion to quash the indictment, Mr. Burt made the
The district attorney hav
points and addressed the court.
irst
ing replied to the
;
argument for quashing the indictment,
But Judge Curtis intimated
respond.
that there was no need of such response, and the writ was
Mr. Hale was to
�AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
444
IN AMERICA.
quashed, as were those against the others, and
all
the cases
were dismissed.
The
action of Judge Loring excited a deep feeling of dis
throughout the State, which soon manifested
satisfaction
itself in
various forms.
ship in Harvard
of Overseers, of
part
and
Having been
College, his
elected to a professor
before the Board
name came
which the Massachusetts Senate formed a
but, in consequence of this widespread dissatisfaction
of the political revolution which had just swept the
;
State, he
was
rejected.
by
removal from his
lature, signed
Petitions were then sent to the legis
thousand names, praying for his
several
These petitions
office as judge of probate.
were referred to the proper committee, which gave the subject
a thorough hearing and examination. Webb, Parker, Phillips,
and Ellis appeared for the petitioners, Mr. Dana, for public
The committee reported an
reasons, opposed the memorial.
address to the governor in favor of the prayer of the petition
which the House adopted by a vote of two hundred and
seven to one hundred and eleven, and the Senate by a vote of
The governor's council, by a vote of
twenty-eight to eleven.
ers,
seven to two, also approved
it
;
but Governor Gardner refused
to grant the prayer.
This action of the governor did not sat
isfy the people of Massachusetts ; and after the inauguration
of
Mr. Banks, in 1858, the legislature adopting a similar
But
address, the new executive responded by his removal.
the same action which rendered him odious to the people of
Massachusetts commended him to the confidence of the slave
and to the favor of the national administration. He
was nominated by President Buchanan to the office of judge
of the Court of Claims, and promptly confirmed by the Senate,
holders,
though strenuously opposed by the Massachusetts Senators.
In the spring of 1854, Joshua Glover was seized at Racine,
Wisconsin, taken, chained and bleeding, to Milwaukee, and
The people of that city feeling outraged by
lodged in prison.
the brutality and indignant at the cruelty exhibited, a public
meeting was held, a vigilance committee appointed, and coun
sel
volunteered to defend the alleged fugitive.
hundred
men went from
About one
Racine, marched to the prison,
�ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
445
where they were joined by citizens of Milwaukee, and made
a demand for him.
This being denied, he was taken by force,
carried back to Racine, arid sent to Canada.
This rescue was
made
the occasion of a decision of the judicial tribunals of
Wisconsin, denying the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave
Act, which excited deep and widespread interest and hope.
Several who assisted in the rescue were arrested for resist
ing a public officer in the discharge of his duty.
Among them
was Sherman M. Booth, an editor of the city.
writ of
A
habeas corpus was sued out in his behalf, which was
granted
by Judge Smith, on the ground that the Fugitive Slave Act
was unconstitutional. An appeal was taken before the full
bench of the Supreme Court, Judge Vinton presiding, by which
the decision of Judge Smith was confirmed.
The principal
grounds for this decision were, in the words of the judge,
" that the Constitution of the United States confers no
power
upon Congress to legislate upon the subject of the surrender
of fugitives from labor
that the act in question attempts to
confer judicial power upon commissioners, not upon courts and
;
;
by virtue of the act, a person may be deprived of his lib
" without due
To the objection that the
erty
process of law."
had declared the act of
States
the
United
Court
of
Supreme
1793 constitutional, which was not, it was claimed, " distin
"
from the act of 1850, the court
guishable in principle
" in all
that
the
respects
they were not
expressed
opinion
The two acts " differ
alike in principle, or even similar."
that,
essentially," the court contended,
the surrender
referring
to
is
the
" in the manner in which
to be effected."
It
commissioners
the
also affirmed
decision
of
that, in
the fact
whether the person claimed was or was not a fugitive from
service, the act was repugnant to the Constitution, because it
attempts to confer upon these officers judicial power, and
because it is a denial of the right of the alleged fugitive to
have those questions tried by a jury.
Although this decision was hailed with delight by the fugi
and his friends, and much was hoped from it, shedding,
as it did, a momentary light upon that dark hour, yet it
never gained, to any great extent, the popular indorsement
tive
�146
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
It was never re
as a true exposition of the Constitution.
affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States, nor were
there any similar decisions by any of the State courts.
Mr. Booth and several others were indicted in the District
Court of the United States, tried, and convicted. Mr. Booth
and Mr. Ry craft were sentenced to fine and imprison
ment, and committed to jail. The people were intensely
A
writ of habeas corpus was issued by the Supreme
That court unani
Court, then at the capital of the State.
and
were escorted to
their
ordered
they
discharge,
mously
excited.
homes in triumph.
In January, 1856, Simon Garner, his wife Mary and son
Robert, slaves of John Marshall, and Margaret, the wife of
Robert, and four children, slaves of A. R. Gaines of Ken
their
tucky, left their masters, crossed the Ohio upon the ice, and
found refuge in the house of a colored man, near a place
called Mill
Creek Bridge, in Cincinnati.
Gaines traced them
concealment, procured a warrant from a
United States commissioner, secured the services of a deputy
marshal and assistants, and went to the house to arrest the
to
place of
their
Attempting to force an entrance, one of the party
was shot and badly wounded by Robert Garner, who, with his
fugitives.
but they were overpowered. One
desperately
children was found dead, two others were bleeding
wife, fought
of the
;
from severe wounds on the throat, and the fourth, a mere
The frantic
infant, was bruised in a most shocking manner.
mother had sought to save her children from slavery by taking
That desperate act excited the deepest horror,
their lives.
and secured for these victims of oppression the warmest sym
pathy, but the efforts
made
to save this heroic family were
unavailing.
and a grand
Margaret Garner for the
husband and his father as
accessaries.
But the laws and courts of Ohio were powerless
in the presence of the Fugitive Slave Act and of the exigencies
of slavery.
Mr. Jolliffe, a veteran antislavery lawyer, labored
Judge Burgoyne issued a writ
of habeas corpus,
jury brought in a true bill against
death of her child, and against her
with untiring but unavailing zeal and tact to save them.
They
�ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
447
were remanded to the custody of the claimants, taken back
While being borne
Kentucky, and sent down the river.
the
mother
to
hopeless servitude,
accidentally fell, or
away
to
She was saved, but her
purposely jumped, into the river.
wretched
woman
and the
child was lost
expressed her thank
;
fulness that the child
was
at last set free.
These executions of the Fugitive Slave Act were ever marked
with deception, falsehood, and brutality.
They who engaged
in its enforcement
seemed to be demoralized by
it,
from the
hired assistants of deputy-marshals
up to the highest judicial
district
officers.
Judges,
attorneys, and marshals often added
to the terrible severities of this abhorrent law their coarse and
indecent words and deeds.
This was signally illustrated by
Grier of the Supreme Court of the United
Judge
Deputy-Marshal Wyncoop and
States.
an attempted
slave case at Wilkesbarre, in Pennsylvania, were accused of
abominable cruelty, and were arrested on a warrant issued by
A writ of habeas corpus was at once sued
a local magistrate.
his assistants, in
out in their behalf, returnable before Justice Grier.
They
were discharged, and this justice of the highest judicial tribu
nal in the land, in ordering the discharge
made use
of this
" If habeas
corpus es are to be
strong and strange language
I
will
an
have
this
indictment sent to
:en out after
manner,
:
le
for
3,
United States grand jury against the person who applies
the writ or assists in getting it, the lawyer who defends
and the sheriff who serves the writ, to see whether the
and harassed when
Fnited States officers are to be arrested
they serve a process of the United States." The spirit,
temper, and manners of this language exhibited the pernicious
ever
upon to enforce a statute in which
had been organized and clothed with the pre
Of his course on this occasion
national control.
influence over those called
wickedness
rogative of
itself
New York " Evening
Post "
"
Judge Grier bears
on the bench,
whenever a matter touching the Fugitive Slave Act conies
Pore him, that on reading a report of the proceedings, one
might imagine himself reading an account of what happened
under the latter Stuarts."
le
fitly said
:
so strong a likeness to Jeffries in his behavior
�448
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
A
case arose in Philadelphia in July, 1855, that revealed the
readiness of some judicial officers at least to become the instru
ments of the Slave Power. John H. Wheeler of North Carolina,
United States minister to Nicaragua, passed through Phila
delphia with three persons
judicial decision this slave
whom he claimed as slaves. By
woman and her children, having
been brought into the free State of Pennsylvania, were free.
Passmore Williamson, acting for the Pennsylvania Abolition
Society, went on board the boat, about to cross the Delaware,
and informed her that she and her children were no longer
slaves. She took them and started for the wharf but Wheeler
;
and attempted
seized her
Some
to prevent her landing.
col
ored persons took the children ashore, and Williamson held
Wheeler until the mother escaped. Wheeler then petitioned
Judge Kane for a writ of habeas corpus, to be directed to
Passmore Williamson, for abducting and retaining his slaves.
The writ was granted, and Williamson responded that these
persons were not in his custody or power. In the preliminary
examination Judge Kane took occasion to say that the " con
duct of those who interfered with Wheeler's rights was a
He assumed that a
criminal, wanton, and cruel outrage."
" violent abduction of slaves had been made
by Williamson,
'
'
He passionately and harshly
by a mob of negroes.'
declared that Williamson was the only white man in that act
4
'
assisted
could " interpret either his own duties or the
of others under the Constitution of the land
and that
of violence
rig! its
who
;
he had chosen to decide for himself upon the lawfulness as
well as the moral propriety of his acts."
He said that he
knew
of
no statute
of
Pennsylvania to divest of the rights
of
property a citizen of North Carolina because he had found it
needful to pass through the State nor was he aware, if any
such statute existed, that it could be recognized as valid in the
;
As Williamson could not pro
duce the persons, he was committed for contempt of court,
because he did not and could not answer the writ to the satis
courts of the United States.
faction of
Judge Kane, and consigned
to prison.
It
was
clear
that his real offence consisted in his assumption that slavery
could not exist in Pennsylvania
and he was imprisoned for
;
�ARBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT
449
an honest and manly refusal to acknowledge that his action, in
accordance with that
was a crime.
belief,
Mr. Williamson sought relief from the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania. His counsel appeared before the full bench of
judges at Bedford, and presented his petition for a writ of
habeas corpus to bring him before that court. His counsel,
Hopper, Gilpin, and Meredith, were lawyers of learning, high
reputation, and social position.
They maintained that a per
son held as a slave in one State and voluntarily carried by his
owner into another State
of the Constitution
;
is
not a fugitive within the meaning
was subject to the laws of the
that he
State into which he
had been carried
that by the law of
;
Pennsylvania a slave brought into the State is free that the
judge of the district court had no color of jurisdiction and
that the commitment of Williamson for
was " arbi
;
;
contempt
and utterly null and void." On the 17th of
August, Mr. Gilpin and Mr. Meredith addressed the court at
great length and with signal ability.
Maintaining that it was
its right and duty to vindicate the
authority and dignity of
which
had
been
invaded
and its jurisdiction
Pennsylvania,
trary, illegal,
ignored, they
to his liberty.
demanded that Williamson should be restored
But their application was refused, a majority
of the court saying that the petitioner " carries the key of his
He can come out when he will by
prison in his own pocket.
making terms with the court that sent him
there.
But
if
he
choose to struggle for a triumph, if nothing will content him
but a clean victory or a clean defeat, he cannot expect us to
aid him.
Our duties are of a widely different kind. They
consist in discouraging, as
much
as in us
lies, all
such contests
with the legal authorities of the country."
Justice Knox did not concur in this opinion.
He main
a slave, brought into a free State, escaped from
the custody of his master while in that State, the right of the
master was not a question arising under the Constitution or
tained that
if
laws of the United States
;
and that a judge
of the United
States could not issue a writ of habeas corpus directed to one
alleged to withhold the possession of a slave from the master,
commanding such person
VOL.
ii.
57
to produce the
body
of
the slave
�450
K1SE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWEK
IN AMERICA.
He expressed, too, the opinion that this
before the judge.
action of the court was " the first recorded case where the
supreme court of a State has refused the prayer of a citizen for
the writ of habeas corpus, to inquire into the legality of an
imprisonment by a judge of a federal court for contempt in
refusing obedience to a writ void for want of jurisdiction."
Notwithstanding the efforts of eminent lawyers, Williamson
was held
in prison by the arbitrary and obstinate action of
The next effort in his favor was made by Jane
Kane.
Judge
Johnson, the woman who escaped with her children. She,
with her counsel, Joseph B. Townsend and John M. Read,
the latter one of the most eminent lawyers of the country,
appeared before Judge Kane on the 3d of October, and de
clared that she and her children were not at the time of her
release from the custody of Wheeler, nor had they been since,
in the power or control of Williamson.
She prayed that the
writs taken out by Wheeler, who had sought to reduce her
and her children again to slavery, should be quashed, and that
Passmore Williamson should be discharged from imprison
ment. During the hearing, this judge gave his sanction to
the doctrine that slaveholders could bring their slaves into a
free State and hold them there as slaves.
He denied in the
strongest terms that the statutes of a State could deprive a
slaveholder of that right ; and he went so far as to base it on
the law of nations. " How can it be," he exclaimed, " that a
state may single out this sort of property, among all the rest,
and deny
with
its
to
it
the right of passing over
owner, parcel of his travelling
its
passing
soil,
equipment
;
as
much
"
so as the horse he rides, or his coat, or his carpet-bag ?
This indiscriminate mingling of human beings with horses,
clothing,
and carpet-bags indicated and
illustrated the
man
and the judge.
In this case, the judge gave
full
credence to the allegations
of
Wheeler and
to
the positive testimony of Williamson or of Jane John
He intimated, however, incidentally, that Williamson's
his witnesses, but gave little consideration
son.
duty was to declare under oath what had become of the
alleged slaves, and whether or not they had passed beyond his
�AKBITRARY ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
control.
Acting upon
this
suggestion, his
counsel
451
again
sought to procure his release. Early in November, upon Wil
liamson's stating, at the suggestion of the judge, that he
seek to obey the writ by producing the persons
because he believed it was entirely impossible for him to do
did not
he was discharged from this arbitrary arrest and cruel
imprisonment, which, wicked and wanton as it was, had
been borne with patience, fortitude, and courage.
so,
�CHAPTER XXXIY.
PROPOSED SUPPLEMENTARY LEGISLATION TO THE FUGITIVE
SLAVE ACT.
Rigorous execution of the Fugitive Slave Act.
legislation.
opposers.
debate.
and
Toucey's
By
its
bill.
advocates.
Its
real
Not
Indignant protests.
purpose.
a
Counter
Characterization by
question for argument.
its
General
Proslavery speeches of Jones
Antislavery speech of Mr. Gillette.
Too confident
Speech of Mr. Wade.
Speech of Mr. Wilson.
Pettit.
predictions.
Speeches of Mr. Seward and Mr. Suinner.
IT could never be said of the Fugitive Slave Act, as of some
" for show rather than use." From
laws, that it was enacted
was executed with inexorable pertinacity of pur
Cruel as were its cun
and
with
merciless severity.
pose
ningly devised and carefully considered provisions, its practi
Like slavery itself,
cal administration was still more cruel.
it seemed to poison everything it touched, to communicate
the venom with which it was so thoroughly infused to nearly
every person who undertook its execution, and impel the far
larger number, at least, from the judge on the bench to the
humblest deputy or turnkey, wantonly to wound and need
lessly to outrage the sensibilities and religious convictions of
This naturally and necessarily intensified
the community.
the indignation and alarm that pervaded the free States, and
found expression in the earnest protests of the pulpit and
press, in the resolutions and speeches of public meetings, in
the action of ecclesiastical bodies, but more significantly still
in the formal and authoritative enactments of Northern legis
latures.
The personal-liberty bills and other laws, enacted
in some States, and sought to be enacted in others, revealed
the deep impression which this iniquitous measure had made
the
first it
upon the public mind.
This
drift of
Northern sentiment and action alarmed the
�453
LEGISLATION ON THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
slaveholders,
who determined
though on the heel of the
closing session of the XXXIIId Congress, with its accumu
to introduce and force through a
lated press of business
measure which should in
Slave Act, and circumvent,
reality
if
supplement the
Fugitive
possible, this unfriendly legisla
Northern States. A Northern member was sought,
and readily found, to introduce into the Senate a measure to
render still more oppressive the law, more humiliating North
ern vassalage, and, though coming from men loudest in their
advocacy of State rights, to ignore more completely than ever
before the authority of State laws, and to limit the jurisdic
Mr. Toucey of Connecticut, in Febru
tion of State courts.
" to
introduced
a
bill
ary,
protect officers and other per
sons acting under the authority of the United States."
Neither in the bill itself, nor in his remarks on its introduc
With seeming
tion, did he allude to the Fugitive Slave Act.
tion of the
purposes, he expressed the conviction
that this government has
innocence of
all ulterior
that no one
who " acknowledges
"
could " take any valid exception to it
"
to enter upon any discussion of this
purpose being, not
but merely to state its operation and effect."
judicial
power
"
;
his
bill,
The
discussion, however, to which it gave rise, afforded
bundant evidence that it was not regarded, by friend or foe,
;
the harmless measure
only did the Free Soil
it was represented by its mover.
members tear off the covering of
Not
legis
showing that under the garb of parliamen
and
tary
general language it had a specific purpose that was
but
anything
general, but its supporters showed that it meant
lative phraseology,
Indeed, the de
aggressive warfare, and nothing less.
better than any of
bate, though short and sharp, revealed
still
not only the depth of feeling and
pose which animated and impelled the contestants, but
the stage in the great conflict which they had reached.
Chase was the first to speak, and to note the promptness
the session, perhaps
pur
also
Mr.
with
which the bill was taken up, as only a new proof of the favor
with which every proposition in the behalf of slavery was
" no matter with what
received,
prejudice to the public busi
ness and the public interests."
The same thought was felici-
.
�454
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
presented by Mr. Seward. Alluding to the coinci
dence that he arose at the same time with the mover of the
bill, with a proposition in his hand for the erection of a monu
he said " The success which the
to Thomas
.tously
ment
Jefferson,
:
honorable Senator from Connecticut obtained over me when
The Senate of
the floor was assigned to him was ominous.
the United States will erect no
monument
to the
memory
of
who
declared that, in the unequal contest between
the Almighty had no attribute which
and
freedom,
slavery
could take part with the oppressor ; but the Senate will, on
Jefferson,
the other hand, promptly comply with the demand to raise
another bulwark around the institution of slavery."
" It is framed
Concerning the proposed bill, Mr. Chase said
:
Its object
in the interests of the ruling class.
stringent execution of the Fugitive Slave Act
for the overthrow of State rights,
is
to secure the
It is a bill
to establish a great central,
a step, a stride rather,
consolidated, Federal government,
this
further
;
legislation, necessary to
toward despotism
.
.
.
.
the complete humiliation of the States."
point, Mr. Seward said
"
:
Alluding to the same
further and a more
You demand a
The Federal government must be armed with
stringent law.
subversive of public liberty, to enforce the obnox
new powers,
ious statute.
This
bill
before us supplies those
new powers."
Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts, who had just entered the Sen
" I believe the bill is
intended to enforce an uncon
ate, said
:
stitutional
and
and arbitrary law, and for no other purpose whatever,
to prevent,
if
possible, the influences
now
at
work in the
free
States for the protection of the liberties of their own citizens."
Mr. Fessenden, always moderate and conservative on ques
tions concerning slavery, said he understood its object, how it
had come there, and why it had come there. " It is admitted,"
" there
that it is intended
is no dispute about it,
several States of
and
of
the
the
courts
to
solely
deprive
simply
the Fugitive
under
and
all
on
any
power
any question arising
Slave Act."
He said also that " it had been brought in for
he
said,
a single purpose, brought in at the close of the session, and
sprung upon us to be carried through by party machinery."
James Cooper
of Pennsylvania,
who had been
a conservative
�LEGISLATION ON THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
455
Whig and
never identified with the antislavery cause, spoke
but decidedly in condemnation of the measure. He
reflected " unjustly upon the integrity of the State tri
briefly
said
it
bunals," and he enumerated several particulars in which it
would " violate the rights of the citizens of the States in a
most
essential
manner."
On
the part of the supporters of the bill there was little or
no attempt to conceal its purpose. Mr. Douglas admitted its
alleged
deem
it
tion of
object, and expressed surprise that any one should
an objection that it was designed to aid in the execu
the laws of the United States.
Referring to the objec
tions made to the Fugitive Slave Act on the score of humanity,
he cited the clause of the Constitution requiring persons held
to service to be delivered up, and said that if a person desired
to
be faithful to the Constitution, he must regard this require
" The
"
moment," continued he, my conscience will not
ment.
allow
me
to be faithful to the Constitution, I will refuse to
degrade myself or perjure my soul by coming here, and, for the
sake of a seat in the Senate, swearing I will be faithful to the
when
and repudiate it."
Mr. Benjamin, after referring, at some length and with some
minuteness of detail, to the course of events in the Northern
"
directing their legislation,"
States, declared that they were
"
and that their courts of justice were perverting their juris
prudence," against the Constitution and the rights of the
States
that the idea of nullification had changed its locality
and that " South Carolina is now taken into the arms and af
Constitution,
I intend to violate
;
;
fectionately caressed
by Ohio, Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin,
The whole course of Northern legislation
for the past few months," he said, " has been a course of direct
war with the South, and the bill now before the Senate is a
measure, not of aggression, but of defence." Mr. Bayard of
and Connecticut."
"
Delaware from the committee which reported the
bill,
besides
defending the constitutionality of the proposed law, argued in
its favor, because he " believed the necessity for it had arisen
in consequence of the action of several States of the
unless
we were prepared
to
laws of the United States."
abandon the enforcement
Union,
of the
Besides this general character-
�456
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
by those whp opposed and those who advo
cated its passage, there was little of argument for or against
Nor could there well be for it was not a question which
it.
ization of the bill
;
much argument,
other than the argument of force.
It was, in fact, a simple matter of might, to be forced through
"
"
and the
the forms of legislation by the machinery of party
the
authors
of
the
measure
considered
were
by
only questions
admitted of
;
whether the exigencies of slavery required
it
and whether they
could dragoon Congress into its support. The debate there
fore naturally widened into a general discussion of slavery in
some of its various forms and aspects, and in that view was
exceedingly earnest and able.
Mr. Gillette made a very elaborately prepared and eloquent
antislavery speech.
Sketching the history of the proslavery
government in its successive acts from the
start, he quoted from Caleb Gushing an expression of the
historic fact " that in its industrial, financial, and political
relations slavery is at the bottom of all the action of Con
He also cited the language of John Quincy Adams,
gress."
that " slavery constitutes the very axle around which the
legislation of the
administration of the national government revolves. All its
measures of foreign or domestic policy are but radiations from
that centre."
He quoted from the slave code of the District
and noted some of its more barbarous statutes,
and spoke of the moral influence of the general government
thrown around slavery by such exercise of national authority
in its behalf.
He spoke of a law, which the slave was forbid
den to read, but which condemned him, if guilty of its viola
tion, to have his hand cut off, be hung, beheaded, and quartered,
and to have each fragment of his body hung in the most con
"
for stealing five shillings' worth of goods he
spicuous places
of Columbia,
;
should suffer death without benefit of clergy for striking a
blow, even in defence of life or chastity, to have his or her ear
"
"
and for giving false testimony against a white per
cropt
" both ears
son, to have
cropt and thirty-nine stripes on the
;
;
bare back."
Alluding to the firing of cannon north of the
of the repeal of the Missouri compromise,
Capitol, on the night
he said "
it
heralded the resurrection of Liberty from her
in-
�LEGISLATION ON THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
" in the
glorious sleep," while
457
cannon
lurid flash of those
slavery might have read the handwriting of its doom upon
their walls, and heard in their roar its echoing dirge." Ameri
can Democracy," he said, " is looked upon as a huge, one-eyed,
a modern Polyphemus
gigantic monster
sporting the cap
on his head, and mouthing the paeans of victory on
his tongue, while he stalks ruthlessly over men and treads
of liberty
them down as worms."
in
Mr. Jones of Tennessee followed in a vituperative speech
which he stigmatized Mr. Gillette and those who sym
" a little band of
traitors," who were
pathized with him as
" treacherous " to their
country.
Referring to the alleged
of
he
whether
Senators were quite
mankind,
inquired
equality
prepared to welcome colored members into the Senate, con
firm colored men for office, invite them to their tables, walk
Pennsylvania Avenue with a colored woman on their arm,
Mr. Pettit
)r see their children married to persons of color.
Indiana in a similar strain, though more roughly, scouted
After saying that you might as
idea of such equality.
" all beasts to
" all fowls to become
'ell expect
eagles,"
jome lions," " wild prairie grass to become timothy or
" the
ilover, all trees mountain oaks,"
braying ass to roar
)f
monarch of the forest," and the "boding owl" to
on the sun " like the proud bird of Jove," as for the
)lack man to become the equal of the white man, he added
" I
hold that, by the written and unwritten law of God and
ike the
:
men, when placed in contact with us, either by
"
lesign or accident or by fatuity, are to be the inferior race
"
" solemn
that
id he proclaimed it to be his
judgment
"
slavery was their proper condition."
"
Mr. Wilson followed.
extraordinary
Referring to the
toward
used
Tennessee
the
Senator
from
inguage"
by
mators from his " section of the country," he said " That
mator may, if he chooses, class me with the little band
traitors,' for I assure him, the Senate, and the country,
lat I shall not shrink, in this hour of their weakness, from
standing side by side with men who, amid obloquy, sneers,
iture, these
;
:
c
ind reproaches, have faithfully arid fearlessly vindicated the
VOL.
ii.
58
�458
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
sentiments of the freemen whose representatives they are."
"
the
Directing attention to the argument of Mr. Pettit on
he
did
not
claim
African
for
the
of
it
race,"
though
inferiority
" intellectual
and fair
he said he did demand
equality,"
jequity
he added, " suppose the Senator from
"
But, sir,"
Indiana succeeds in establishing the inferiority of that despised
race, is mental inferiority a valid reason for the perpetual op
pression of a race ? Is the mental, moral, or physical inferior
in republican and Chris
ity of man a just cause of oppression
dealing.
tian
America
If the
?
Is this
African race
educate and elevate
it
Democracy
is inferior, this
it,
Is it Christianity
?
?
.
.
.
.
proud race of ours should
and not deny
to those
who belong
to
the rights of a common humanity."
But there was no voice that rang through the Senate
cham
ber, on that excited afternoon and night, in tones more de
monstrative and defiant than did that of Benjamin F. Wade.
Perhaps misinterpreting somewhat recent Northern victories,
and too confident, as the event proved, in the prompt and
persistent action of the people in condemnation of the new
policy of the propagandists, he arraigned the supporters of
the bill and kindred measures at the bar of public opinion,
and predicted the speedy overthrow of men and parties who
had contributed
to their enactment in tones and terms which
" In
subsequent history hardly sustained.
consequence of
"
last
action
he
in
down that
winter,"
said,
breaking
your
sacred compromise, men in the State of Ohio ceased to be
Whigs, Democrats, or Free-Soilers. The old parties
crumbled to the dust as though stricken with the palsy."
"
Again, speaking of State legislatures
preparing them
either
and constitutional resistance " to the Fugi
"
tive Slave Act, he said
Ay, sir, the State of Wisconsin
has taught you a lesson, and it. is only an incipient step. I
selves for a legal
:
envy that State the glory of taking the initiative in the great
work of vindicating the Constitution from such a measure as
the Fugitive Slave Act.
State after State, as they take the
into
consideration, will fall in the wake of noble Wis
subject
consin, and carry out what she has so gloriously begun."
The Constitution has indeed been vindicated, and the Fugi-
�LEGISLATION ON THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
459
Act has become a dead letter, but not in the way
and by the means the too sanguine Senator predicted or fore
casted. During the debate a sharp colloquy sprang up between
Mr. Wade and Mr. Douglas concerning the relative influence
of anti-Nebraska and Know-Nothing sentiments on the admin
tive Slave
istration reverses of the then recent elections.
Mr. Fessenden spoke in a similar strain, telling the friends
measure that they mistook " the temper of the Eastern
" find
some way within the limits
people," who, he said, would
of the Constitution to protect the rights of our fellow-citi
zens."
Referring to a remark of Mr. Wade that he was not
an " agitator," he said that " on a question of right, a ques
of the
tion of justice, a question affecting the interests and
feelings
of my constituents, I am an agitator, I will agitate such a
It is my duty so to agitate ; and I am not to be
question.
silenced
by the mere declaration that
I
am
disturbing the
country."
Mr. Seward, as ever, spoke ably and eloquently on the same
Alluding to the protracted session and the near ap
proach of the midnight hour, with the attending excitement,
like the scenes preceding and attending the compromise meas
side.
ures of 1850, and the abrogation of the Missouri compromise
in 1854, he presaged a similar disaster to liberty now, and
" the
suggested that, perhaps,
teeming gun, which proclaimed
those former triumphs of slavery, is already planted under
the eaves of the capitol to celebrate another victory."
He
and language, the
excitements of the hour and the spectacle before him. " The
scene before me and all its circumstances and incidents
" that the time has come
admonish
he
described, with forensic force of allusion
when
me,"
began by saying,
the Senate of the United States
is about to grant an
other of those concessions which have become habitual here
to the power of slavery in this
For the second
Republic.
time in a period of nearly three months, the brilliant chande
lier above our heads is
lighted up the passages and galleries
;
are densely crowded ; all the
customary forms of legislation
are laid aside
the multifarious subjects which have their rise
in all parts of this extended
country are suddenly forgotten
;
�460
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
in a concentration of feeling upon a single question of intense
The day is spent without adjournment. Senators,
interest.
natural relaxation and refreshment, remain
their
foregoing
in their seats until midnight approaches."
He analyzed the
bill, characterized it as an innovation, a new thing unknown
by which the
in the laws of the country,
citizen " shall have
only a single safeguard instead of that double panoply which
has hitherto shielded him," and for which " there is no neces
sity or
shadow
of necessity
;
.
.
.
.
saving the Union at a fearful
Declaring that all this trouble arose from the Fugi
"I look with sorrow but with no
tive Slave Act, he said
cost."
:
I abide the time and wait
anxiety on this state of things.
for the event."
He closed his eloquent and impressive speech
with this vigorously expressed admonition and counsel
you wish to secure respect to the Federal authority, to
vate
:
"If
culti
harmony between the
States, to secure universal peace,
of perpetual union, there is only one
Instead of adding new penalties, employing
new bonds
and
to create
way
new
before you.
agencies, and inspiring new terrors, you must go back
to the point where your mistaken policy began, and conform
your federal laws to MAGNA CHARTA, to the CONSTITUTION,
and to the RIGHTS of MAN."
Mr. Sumner closed the debate. " On a former occasion,"
he said, " as slavery was about to clutch one of its triumphs
I arose to
make my
the same hour
final opposition at
midnight.
It is
now
hardly an accidental conjunction
which thus constantly brings slavery and midnight together."
It is
He
proceeded to show the unconstitutionality of the Fugitive
Slave Act, the sad inconsistency of Congress in allowing
South Carolina to imprison colored seamen, notwithstanding
the clause giving the citizens of one State the same privileges
and immunities in all others, and yet enacting this barbarous
act because the Constitution required that persons held to
service in one State, escaping into another, " should be given
Such discrimination for slavery and against freedom
up."
was unworthy, he said, of the nation. He eloquently and
with fitting words rebuked the impudent demand of the South
" to be
let alone,"
by tracing the
series of slaveholding ag-
�LEGISLATION ON THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT.
461
gressions, beginning almost with the first inauguration of the
government and culminating with the bill under discussion.
Pointing out the insincerity of the demand, on the part of
the South, he interposed for the North a similar request.
"
Yes,
sir,"
he said, "
let
us alone.
Do
not involve us in
the support of slavery.
Hug the viper to your bosoms, if you
perversely will, within your own States, until it stings you
to a generous remorse, but do not compel us to hug it too ;
for this, I assure you,
amendment
we
will not do."
He
then moved an
repealing the Fugitive Slave Act but it received
but nine votes, when the main bill was passed by a vote of
thirty to nine,
House.
;
though a vote was not taken upon
it
in the
�CHAPTER XXXV.
THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act not an
plan to
make Kansas
Eli Thayer.
New England
Raid from Missouri.
Co-operation.
Emigrant Aid
Andrew H.
Purpose and
Southern associations.
Its real object.
abstraction.
a slave State.
Reeder.
Society.
Town
of Lawrence.
Election ordered.
Frauds.
Atchison and
Border-ruffian policy.
Open and shameless avowals.
Consti
Resistance of free State men.
Topeka convention.
Stringfellow.
XXXIVth
Governor Reeder's
President's message.
Congress.
"Wilson Shannon.
debate.
Investigating committee.
Rescue of
Murder of Dow.
His indorsement of the proslavery policy.
tution.
memorial.
Long
Call on the governor for troops.
Slight response from Kansas.
Characterized.
Outrages.
Agreement
Large numbers from Missouri.
between the governor and the people of Lawrence.
Proslavery disappoint
Resolu
Senate.
Letter of Atchison.
ment.
Appeals to the South.
Branson.
and Jones.
President's message.
Speeches of Wil
Hale, Douglas, and Collamer.
Meeting of free State legislature.
Collamer's minority report.
Friends
Douglas's report.
Douglas's bill.
of freedom determined.
tions of Hale, "Wilson,
son,
THE Kansas-Nebraska Act was no
mere abstraction.
and
Though
prominent
persistent advocates, in
their noisy clamor and claim in its behalf, pleaded chiefly its
its
most
vindication of the principle of local self-government, it soon
became apparent that its ultimate purpose occupied a far
higher place in their regard.
Slavery, and not popular sov
A
ereignty, was the object aimed at.
practical result, and not
the simple enunciation of a theory, however true or important,
had been the animating motive of a crusade that rested not
with the triumphs
Calculating that this
already achieved.
action of Congress and the close contiguity of slaveholding
Missouri, with such co-operation as the known sympathy of
the other slaveholding States would afford, could easily throw
into Kansas a sufficient population to give to slavery the neces
sary preponderance, the slave propagandists regarded their
victory in the halls of legislation as tantamount to the final
�463
THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
For these schemes had
For years had the slaveholders
success of their deep-laid schemes.
been long and deeply
of western Missouri, the real seat of the Slave Power of that
State, and their ready servitors at Washington, regarded with
laid.
special interest the future possibilities of the territory that lay
upon its borders. Fearing that it was lost to slavery, they
determined that freedom should not profit by
it.
They there
the plan of devoting it to reservations for
The
Indians, and several treaties to that effect were secured.
agents of the government were in both sympathy and compli
fore encouraged
Even professed
city with this general scheme and purpose.
ministers of the gospel entered into the movement ; and the
mortifying fact is on record that the first slaves which were
introduced into Kansas were taken by a Methodist mission
When, therefore, Congress had been dragooned into the
ary.
adoption of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with its newly invented
and much vaunted doctrine of popular sovereignty, it was sup
posed that the long-cherished plans of the slaveholders were
and that it was only a question of time when
Kansas should become a slave State. For it did not seem to
enter their minds that the plighted faith of the nation to these
Indians constituted an obstacle to the realization of their
to be realized,
schemes, or that
it
could long stand against exigencies that
had coerced the Federal government, and made it prove false to
its solemnly recorded promises. But they miscalculated. They
did not fully comprehend the forces which freedom had at com
mand, nor the purposes of Providence concerning the nation.
The adoption of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the debates pre
ceding, and the widespread discussions attending it, produced
a profound impression throughout the land.
The North was
not only aggrieved and indignant at its gross breach of faith,
but it was alarmed. The Slave Power had shown itself ready
to oppress not only the blacks but the whites, to crush not the
Patriot
hitherto prostrate race alone, but the nation as well.
ism no
less
than philanthropy, self-preservation no
less
than
humanity, demanded action. The government had proved
faithless
it behooved the friends of freedom to cast about for
;
other help.
Nor was
it
a forced conclusion that,
if
the gov-
�464
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
ernment could not be trusted, and the compromises, hitherto
deemed sacred, had become a thing of naught, such resources
as were within reach should be made available, and that the
dogma
though designed to strengthen
made
to inure to the cause of
be
possible,
of popular sovereignty,
if
slavery, should,
As this
freedom.
was the only
alternative left the North, in
own interests as to those of others, it accepted, in
the language of Mr. Seward, a trusted leader, the gage of
fealty to its
"
Come
on, then, gentlemen of the slave States
no escaping your challenge, I accept it on the
behalf of freedom.
We will engage in competition for the vir
soil
of
and
God give the victory to the side that is
gin
Kansas,
in
as
it is in right."
numbers,
stronger
The purpose to make Kansas a free State and the system
atized efforts to carry that purpose into effect mark an impor
It was a
tant era in the progress of the slavery struggle.
battle
:
Since there
deliberate
!
is
and successful stand made by the friends
of
freedom
This and the
against the aggressions of the Slave Power.
election of Mr. Banks Speaker of the House of Representatives
during the next year indicated somewhat its loosening grasp,
under the vigorous blows of its fresh antagonists. But it was
a purpose that foretokened a fearful contest, fierce encounters,
and bloody strifes.
No summer clouds ever met in mid
heaven more heavily surcharged with elements of storm and
danger. Neither party fully comprehended the magnitude and
violence of the struggle on which they were entering.
Each
was ignorant of the strength the other would exhibit and
;
each was unaware of
the power
of
assault
or
resistance
could and did develop.
Had either fully apprehended
the severity of the conflict on which it was entering, there
itself
might have been hesitation. Once committed, however, there
seemed to be no other alternative but to advance till the
superior force or tact of the one compelled the other to desist.
Both resorted to the policy of combination, though the means
The " Blue
relied on were as unlike as the ends in view.
"
"
Lodges and Sons of the South," which were formed in Mis
souri and other slaveholding States, had for their object the
"
"
making of Kansas a slave State. The Emigrant Aid socie-
�465
THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
New
England, though freedom in Kansas was one ob
ject, had others which, with their methods, were indicated by
"
Their purpose and plan were to " aid
their name.
those
ties of
who would procure lands and make for themselves homes in
new Territory. They contemplated only peaceful modes,
the
though the emigrants themselves were, of course, compelled
to resort to such means of self-defence as the " border ruf
fian
"
policy rendered imperative.
The New England Emigrant Aid
Society, the first
and most
prominent of these free State organizations, originated with
Eli Thayer of Worcester, Massachusetts, a member of the
legislature of that State, in the winter of 1854.
Preparing a
an
in
he
act
of
charter,
procured
incorporation
February of
that year.
Immediately on the adjournment of that body, he
entered upon the work, in which he was greatly aided by
Amos A. Lawrence and
J.
and John Carter Brown
of
his labors,
M. S. Williams of Massachusetts,
Rhode Island. Success crowned
the association was soon organized, and on the
19th of July he started with a company of twenty-four for that
As
the successful working up of -his plan re
quired his presence at the East, he accompanied them only as
far as Buffalo. Charles H. Branscomb, having been appointed
far-off land.
agent for the company, had preceded the pioneer colony, and
To him Mr. Thayer sent a letter
in the Territory.
of instructions, directing him to take the colony through the
was then
Shawnee reservation, and to locate it on the first good town
site west thereof, and on the southern bank of the Kansas
River.
In obedience to these instructions, he made the saga
and
cious selection of the site of the present city of Lawrence
on that spot this advanced guard of freedom's forces actually
;
pitched their tents, on their arrival in Kansas, in July, 1854.
In two weeks another colony of seventy came. With their
The new-comers
outfit was a steam saw-mill.
New England
entered in earnest upon the work of making themselves a
home on that inviting spot, and soon their canvas tents gave
place to more substantial structures.
Among the members of
the second company were Dr. Charles Robinson and Samuel
C. Pomeroy, the one
VOL.
ii.
59
becoming the
first
governor under the
�466
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
free State constitution,
and the
IN AMERICA.
latter subsequently a
member
United States Senate.
This organized effort of free State men, the fact that they
had formed a settlement, and that the town of Lawrence had
of the
form and name, produced a marked impression
both North and South. At the North, it kindled anew hopes
which the course of events had wellnigh extinguished. Even
the possibility of checkmating the foes of freedom in the des^
perate game on which they had staked so much, and that, too,
"
"
by the very moves which they had proposed for themselves
and which by so doing they had suggested to others, gave cour
age and stimulus to many in the free States to enter upon this
new line of effort, and thus practically to aid in solving the
great problem that seemed to defy all other solution. Not only
did several additional colonies go from Massachusetts and the
other New England States, but similar colonies were formed
To this
in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
work Mr. Thayer devoted himself with tireless energy and un
actually taken
ceasing effort. Fully impressed with the idea that the free
States had the power to secure, in this way, freedom to the
Territories, he travelled sixty thousand miles,
and made hun
dreds of speeches, enunciating these views, and calling upon
the people to join in this grand crusade.
But these movements in the free States, with their purpose
and plan, so openly and boldly proclaimed, to gain for freedom
what the slaveholders had so confidently regarded as insured
to them by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act, greatly
incensed and alarmed them. They immediately set about an
effort,
not only to prevent the permanent settlement in
Law
rence, but to arrest any further attempts in a like direction.
Accordingly, while the Eastern settlers were still in tents, a
of two hundred and fifty Missouri an s marched into the
and
took positions on the opposite side of a ravine, and
place
demanded that "the Abolitionists" should take away their
This demand was
tents and immediately leave the Territory.
made and repeated several times, but it was as firmly refused,
though the last summons was coupled with the threat that,
" ten
unless it was complied with in
minutes," they should be
band
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
attacked and
moved away
firmness of the free State
467
at the point of the bayonet.
The
men and lack of harmony among
themselves prevented the execution of the raiders' threat, and
they retired vowing vengeance, and only waiting for a more
renew the attack. Indeed, that
wordy but bloodless encounter was the beginning, the pre
cursor, of a systematic and sanguinary assault upon the per
sonal and political rights of the unoffending settlers, a series
of violent and persistent outrages, a barbarism of conduct that
definite plan of operations to
slavery alone could beget, the very recital of which chills and
curdles the blood
all designed, too, and that
by the self"
advocates
of
styled
squatter sovereignty," to practically
;
ignore and defeat the popular will.
In October of the same year, Andrew H. Eeeder, who had
been appointed governor, entered the Territory and proceeded
work of organizing a territorial government.
a Democrat, a believer in the doctrine of popular
sovereignty, and an honest supporter of the administration.
at once to the
He was
Among
his first duties
was the ordering of an
The election took place
election of a
in November,
delegate to Congress.
and became the occasion of inaugurating that series of ag
gressions which gained such infamous notoriety then, and the
jrime of " ballot stuffing,"
which has been so often resorted
since.
Bands
of Missourians entered the Territory
by preconcerted
[rangement and under central dictation, pitched their tents
rhere they were directed, and participated in the election as
they were actual settlers. The canvass resulted in the deired election of J. W. Whitefield by an alleged vote of three
it was afterward proved that there were
hundred voters in the Territory. And it is worthy
)f
special mention that this was the result of an openly avowed
irpose and plan, for which neither concealment nor apology
lousand, although
)ut fifteen
No
attempted.
less a
personage than Senator Atchison,
the United States Senate, said in
officer of
formerly presiding
" When
public speech
you reside within one day's journey of
:
Territory, and when your peace, your quiet, and your propty depend upon your action, you can, without an exertion,
�468
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
your young men who will vote in favor of
Should
each county in the State of Missouri
your
its
the
do
duty,
question will be decided quietly and peace
only
ballot-box."
at
the
Near the same time General Stringably
send
five
hundred
of
institutions.
fellow, afterward
made Speaker 'of the
first
" I
legislature,
ad
you," he said,
tell
dressed the people in a similar style.
" to mark
every scoundrel among you who is the least tainted
with abolitionism or free-soilism, and exterminate him
I advise you,
one and
all,
to enter every election district in
Kansas, in defiance of Reeder and his vile myrmidons, and
Neither
vote at the point of the bowie-knife and revolver.
It is enough
give nor take quarter, as the cause demands it.
there is no
which
from
that the slaveholding interest wills it,
This advice of the leaders and the testimony of the
appeal."
" a
very large majority of the
congressional committee that
votes were cast by citizens of the State of Missouri in violation
of the organic law of the Territory," give both the record and
The
the key of the early political history of that Territory.
that " this unlawful interference has
same committee
say, too,
been continued in every important event in the history of the
Every election has been controlled, not by actual
Territory.
settlers,
every
but by citizens of Missouri, and as a consequence,
the Territory, except those appointed by the
officer in
Con
President, owes his position to non-resident voters,"
of
the
was
ordered
the
which
election, too,
legislature
cerning
and which occupies so large a space in the
Kansas legislation, the testimony of the com
mittee is equally explicit and overwhelming to frauds as as
tounding, through means even more flagrant and audacious.
in March, 1855,
early history of
Though subsequent
that the free State
investigations established beyond doubt
largely in the majority, they were
men were
permitted to send but two members to the legislature.
These, then, are the great and representative facts of the
From one learn all. By deliberate and
Kansas struggle.
and
avowed purpose
preconcerted arrangements, large num
bers of Missourians were thrown into the coveted Territory,
the places for casting votes were taken possession of, the real
settlers were driven from the polls, while the invaders alone
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
469
were permitted to exercise that supreme right of freemen, the
right of suffrage.
By such means was the first legislature
a body which assumed not only the right to govern
chosen,
the Territory, but the prerogative of giving birth and authority
to a convention to frame a constitution, and to establish on a
permanent basis the institutions of the embryo State. This
was the legislature and government which the free State men
rejected, but which the Democratic administration and the
Democratic party fully indorsed. Indeed, so complete was
their subserviency to the Southern extremists, that Governor
Reeder, though he went to the Territory a friend of the admin
istration
and
was not
sufficiently obsequious
of its general policy,
was removed because he
to their dictation, and hesi
tated to support their schemes of violence and fraud.
Of course the men thus practically disfranchised, especially
who had come so many miles to build for themselves
homes and to mould the institutions of the future State, were in
no mood to submit to a usurpation so audacious and wicked.
They resolved therefore, though at great personal hazard and
harm, that a convention should be held in which the doc
trine of popular sovereignty should be something more than a
those
delusion and snare, and in which the people should in reality
have a voice in deciding what their laws and institutions
should be.
A
primary meeting of those friendly to a
issued a call for a constitutional convention, which
fair vote
met on the
23d of October, 1855, and formed what was called the Topeka
constitution. Though the convention was composed of various
men, with much diversity of sentiment and purpose,
and though they did not reach the conclusion of their labors
without more or less of conflict, the convention did adopt a
It prohibited slavery, though it contained a
constitution.
classes of
provision permitting the slaves already in the Territory to
remain " until July 4, 1857." Governor Reeder was chosen
made upon that
new constitution.
autumn of 1855. The
a delegate to Congress, and a demand was
body for admission into the Union under the
This was the posture of affairs in the
had become a hand-to-hand encounter, and Kansas
conflict
was one vast camping-ground.
�470
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
XXXIYth
IN AMERICA.
The
3, 1855.
House was not effected until the 3d of
This suc
February, when Mr. Banks was chosen speaker.
The
Congress met December
organization of the
unbroken custom of select
who was not acceptable
to the South was very cheering to the friends of freedom, and
cessful opposition to the hitherto
ing no one for that important position
strengthened them for the long struggle before them.
The President, in his annual message, referred to Kansas
affairs.
He admitted that there had been " acts
to
it
prejudicial
good order," but none requiring, in his judgment, the interpo
sition of the Federal executive.
On the 24th of January, he
sent a special message, clearly in sympathy with those who
would consign Kansas to slavery. He condemned " that per
on the condition of colored persons held to
and
the
associations " organized in some of the
service,"
States."
He arraigned the administration of Governor
indorsed
the legislature, and condemned the conven
Reeder,
tion at Topeka.
But he had no words of condemnation of the
nicious agitation
" border ruffian "
policy, or of sympathy with the victims of
the robberies murders, and arson that were then ravaging
>
that fair land.
On
the 14th of February, Governor Reeder presented to the
of Representatives a memorial contesting the seat of
Mr. Whitefield. He urged as reasons that Whitefield's " elec
"
tion was absolutely void, being without any valid law
that
;
" the law under which the
....
was
held
pretended election
House
was imposed upon them by superior numbers of non-residents
.... and passed at an illegal and unauthorized place
that it was not conducted " according to the forms and modes
'
"
"
many hundreds
prescribed by the supposed law ; and that
of illegal votes were polled at said pretended elections by non
"
and " others." The debate to which these mes
residents
sages of the President and Governor Reeder's memorial gave
rise was very protracted, running through six months of the
session.
Though the advocates
of slavery
were largely in the
majority in the Senate, the parties were nearly equally divided
Of course the motions, resolutions, amend
in the House.
ments, substitutes, modifications, points of order, and
calls for
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
471
ayes and nays were almost innumerable, though the pregnant
and salient points were the disturbances in Kansas, the
facts
contested election, and the attempts of the people to form a
State constitution and to secure admission into the Union.
Governor Reeder's memorial having been referred to the
Committee on Elections, a resolution was reported by Mr.
Hickman of Pennsylvania that the committee have power to
send for persons and papers. After a debate of several days,
the House, on the 19th of March, adopted a substitute offered
Dunn of Indiana. It provided that a committee
should be appointed to go to the Territory, take depositions,
examine witnesses, and investigate not only the matter of the
" the troubles in Kansas
William
election, but
generally."
by George G.
A. Howard of Michigan, John Sherman of Ohio, and Mordecai
Oliver of Missouri, were appointed that committee.
The President had 'appointed Wilson Shannon of Ohio gov
ernor of the Territory. Though he afterward, like his prede
cessor, fell into disfavor with the propagandists, he signalized
upon the duties of his office by fully indorsing the
legislature and the validity of its laws, and by pointing
his entrance
illegal
might trust him in his
new position. In a speech in Westport, Missouri, " the head
quarters of border ruffianism," he told the crowd that, for
reasons which he gave, he was " for slavery in Kansas."
to his past record as evidence that they
Encouraged by these declarations of the new governor, whom
they justly regarded as the exponent and mouthpiece of the
national administration, the supporters of the Slave
Power
were greatly emboldened in their assaults upon the free State
settlers.
Calculating too safely on their impunity, however
great their guilt, they did not hesitate to commit, and almost
without attempt at concealment, the most flagrant and fearful
crimes against them.
On the 21st of November, 1855,
William Dow, a free State
settler,
in sight of several persons, by one
permitted to lie in the road from
was
open day and
and
the body was
Coleman,
noon till night. The mur
shot, in
derer, with real or simulated alarm, escaped into Missouri
but he soon returned, surrendered himself to Governor Shan
The free State settlers
non, and was allowed to go at liberty.
;
�472
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
chose a committee to bring the murderer to justice
;
but, in
stead of that result, that effort was made the pretext for new
assaults, and the man who recovered the body of the murdered
Dow was
affidavit of
arrested by the sheriff of Douglas County, on the
one of the accomplices to the murder, who swore that
on his account. The sheriff, Samuel
accompanied by two men who had witnessed, if they
had not assisted in, the murder, arrested Jacob Branson, who
had performed that humane deed, and started for Lawrence.
his life
was
in danger
J. Jones,
On
way they encountered a party of his Free State neigh
bors, who invited him to join them, which he did, in spite
The sheriff immediately called on
of the threats of Jones.
the
the governor for three thousand men to aid in the execution
of the laws ; and the latter, on the 29th of November, issued
a public proclamation to that effect.
Few, however, from
Kansas responded.
William Phillips, then on the ground,
afterward a general in the war of the Rebellion, and subse
quently a member of Congress, asserts that there were not
more than seventy-five who answered the governor's call. But
numbers flocked in from the border counties of Mis
souri, where the most lively interest was manifested, and
where the prominent citizens took a leading part, emphasizing
large
"
by the expression of their conviction that a
"
was inevitable, and that if we are defeated this time
fight
To the character and
the Territory is lost to the South."
their appeals
"
purposes of the
men who
thus flocked to the standard which
Governor Shannon unfurled, well described by an eyewitness
scum and riffraff " of the counties they came from,
he himself apologetically testifies. " These men came to the
as " the
Wakarusa camp," he said, " to
war to the knife.
it was war,
fight
;
they did not ask peace
;
They would come."
acts
while
first
their
encamped at Franklin, near
Among
of Thomas W. Barber,
murder
wanton
was
the
Lawrence,
and
neighbor, was returning
who, in company with a brother
unarmed and quietly to his home. He was met by a party
whom were Major Clark, Indian agent, Gen
Richardson of the Kansas militia, and Judge Cato, one
of the President's appointments, accosted by Clark, and or-
of
men, among
eral
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
dered to stop and go with them.
him, inflicting a mortal wound.
473
On his refusal, Clark shot
He soon expired, and was
taken to Lawrence and laid in one of the rooms of the Free
State Hotel, where his lifeless body was seen by the governor
But notwithstanding this most flagrant act
the next day.
of murder, dastardly and unprovoked, committed on a quiet
and unarmed man, was a matter of common notoriety, no
attempt was made to punish the murderer and he was still
,
by Franklin Pierce.
The people of Lawrence, while they had prepared for
defence, but were anxious for peace, sent Mr. Lowry and
retained in office
Mr. Babcock, two of their committee of safety, to see Gen
eral
Shannon
at
Shawnee Mission.
The governor came
to
Franklin, where a portion of the troops were stationed. Find
ing them wholly unmanageable, threatening violence and
bloodshed, he besought General Shannon, commander of the
United States dragoons stationed there, to keep the peace
but that officer refused to act without express orders. Enter
ing Lawrence, he consulted with the free State leaders, and
an arrangement was made, signed by the governor, Charles
Robinson, and James H. Lane. The governor also gave an
order to these gentlemen to use the force under their com
mand for the protection of the persons and property of
Lawrence and vicinity. The Missourians who had come over
;
into
the
Territory went reluctantly to their
homes
again,
denouncing Governor Shannon and the abolitionists,
though Atchison declared that they would yet have a fight.
bitterly
In a speech at Lecompton, Stringfellow well expressed their
"
"
Shannon," he said, has played us false the Yan
kees have tricked us the governor of Kansas has disgraced
views.
;
;
himself and the whole proslavery party."
On the 15th of December there was an election for the rati
and on the 15th of January
under it. But at many of
the voting-places the free State men were greatly annoyed by
the border ruffians who still remained in the Territory at some
they were driven from the polls, and at other places the boxes
were seized. And indeed, during the winter and early spring,
fication of the
Topeka
constitution,
an election for the choice of
officers
;
VOL.
ii.
60
�474
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
scenes of violence and outrage prevailed, in which several free
Some of these murders, as that
State men lost their lives.
Brown, were committed under circumstances
and accompanied with atrocities that would have
disgraced the most barbarous times and the most savage men.
During these months they were menaced with civil war and
invaded by guerilla parties.
Shortly after the treaty between
the governor and the citizens of Lawrence, Atchison wrote
to a citizen of the South, saying that he had been a peace
maker in the difficulties which had just been settled, but that
he would never again counsel peace. He called on the South
to send its young men to Missouri and Kansas, and predicted
that civil war was inevitable, and that it was near at hand.
" before
" Twelve months will not
war, civil
elapse," he said,
war of the fiercest kind, will be upon us. We are arming and
of Captain E. P.
of brutality
preparing for
pared.
We
it.
Indeed,
fighting the battles of
We
we
of the border counties are pre
of the South.
are
We
must have the support
the
South.
We
want men, armed
Let your young men come on
in squads, as fast as they can be raised and armed."
The citizens of the western counties of Missouri also ap
men.
must have money.
pealed to the proslavery men of the country for men and
money. In a circular which was extensively scattered through
the Southern States, they said that they had been heavily taxed
in both money and time in fighting the battles of the South
Kansas that Lafayette County alone had expended one
hundred thousand dollars in thus maintaining the rights of
the South. In response to calls like these, Colonel Buford and
in
;
and many others entered the Territory
was the condition of the
and nether millstones of
at
a proslavery administration
Washington and a proslavery
mob in Kansas.
The Senate, in which the slaveholding influence so largely
his Southern regiment
in the spring of 1856.
So desperate
free State settlers between the upper
predominated, followed the imperious lead of Mr. Douglas.
On the third day of the session, Mr. Hale offered a resolution
calling on the President for information concerning the trou
bles in Kansas.
On the 7th of January, Mr. Wilson pre-
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
475
sented similar, though more specific resolutions.
On
the 4th
Mr. Jones of Tennessee presented resolutions
" for
calling
copies of the laws and journals of the legislative
"
in
Kansas. On the 18th of February the Presi
assembly
of February,
dent responded to the above resolutions by sending a message
covering such papers and correspondence.
Mr. Wilson at once addressed the Senate in reply to the
He characterized it and its accom
message just received.
"
panying papers as
stupendous misrepresentations," carrying
"a gigantic falsehood to the American people." Alluding to
"
the charges of the President and others that the " disorders
"
of Kansas were to be attributed to an
extraordinary organ
an " Emigrant Aid Society," he vindicated
that society from such aspersions, and expressed the convic
tion that it and kindred associations were not only legitimate,
but in the highest degree praiseworthy. He adduced docu
ization,"
called
mentary evidence of the outrages in Kansas, showing that
" on the 30th of
March, 1855, four thousand voters from the
State of Missouri passed into the Territory and gave their
"
votes
that " the late presiding officer of the United States
;
Senate, David Atchison, had, with bowie-knife and revolver
belted around him, been apparently ready to shed the blood of
any man who refused to be enslaved." The President and
others having urged the fact that Governor Reeder had given
certificates to members of the legislature as proof of its legal
ity, he asserted that such papers were given under duress, and
were no legitimate evidence in the case.
Soon afterward, Mr. Hale made a caustic speech, severely
criticising the President, the tergiversation of the Democratic
and the horrible slave-code of the Kansas statute-book.
Alluding to the law that the printing and circulating of antislavery documents should be punishable with five years' im
prisonment, he said that such a law would convict any person
party,
having in his possession even the utterances of President
Pierce himself
for he had said, only ten years before, in
.
;
a Democratic convention
greatest moral and
country."
:
"I
regard slavery as one of the
a curse upon the whole
social evils,
Referring to the frequent charge, by Southern men,
�476
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
of the original complicity of Northern men in the establishment
and early maintenance of the sin of slavery, he said that by
no act of his should the future citizens of Kansas have occa
sion for a similar reproach. " No, sir," he said " we wish to
stand clear of that reproach which is so often and so freely
;
cast
on our fathers."
The
legislature elected under the Topeka constitution met
at that place on the 1st of March.
Charles Robinson took the
oath of office as governor, and Andrew H. Reeder and James
H. Lane were chosen United States Senators. A memorial
to Congress asking admission was adopted, and the legislature
adjourned to meet on the 4th of July.
While the report, from the Committee on Territories, on
Kansas affairs, the policy of the administration, and the
recommendation that, when the Territory should have a pop
ulation of ninety-three thousand four hundred and twenty
inhabitants, a constitutional convention should be called, were
under discussion, Mr. Douglas and Mr. Collamer, both mem
bers of the committee, addressed the Senate.
Mr. Douglas
explained the provisions of the bill, defended the legality of
the legislature and the validity of its laws, and contended
"
that if there were " disorders
in Kansas they had been pro
voked by Northern interference, especially by the formation
Mr. Collamer spoke ably for the
of emigrant-aid societies.
minority.
Of the duty and responsibility of Congress to
late for the people of the Territory
he said
:
"I
legis
think
we
We
have the right to repeal the whole
It is of no use to leave
of their laws, or any one of them.
that people as they are.
bound
hand and foot, and
are
They
have sovereign power.
result of leaving things to them under Kansas
argued the existence of this congressional power
" the
cotemporaneous construction of the Constitution,"
no good can
law."
He
from
and from the precedents scattered
all
along the history of con
Mr. Douglas closed by a defiant speech in
gressional action.
which he challenged his opponents to an appeal to the people
for " an open
and a fair fight."
In the winter and spring of 1856, the interest, both in Con
gress and in the country, growing out of the affairs of Kansas,
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
477
was profound and the excitement intense. Mr. Douglas, from
the Committee on Territories, presented on the 12th of March
an elaborate report on the condition of Kansas. A minority
Of
report, full, fair, and able, was made by Mr. Collamer.
"
The whole sub
these two reports Mr. Sumner at once said
In the re
ject is presented characteristically on both sides.
is
in
of
the
the
true
issue
smothered
that of
majority
port
:
;
the minority the true issue stands forth as a pillar of fire to
guide the country."
On
the 17th of March, Mr. Douglas reported a bill author
izing the people of Kansas to form a constitution preparatory
to their admission into the Union when they have the requisite
A
substitute was proposed by Mr. Seward pro
population.
its
for
immediate
admission.
The debates went on
viding
from day to day.
The friends of freedom, though few in
and courageous. They watched vigi
were
earnest
numbers,
Though hopeless of carrying
lantly the course of events.
through the measures they would gladly have seen adopted,
they determined that the legislation actually effected should
interests they had in
the
other
the
of oppression, confi
forces
hand,
charge.
dent in the power which their large majority gave them, not
be as
little
damaging as possible to the
On
only
moved on with unyielding determination and an inexora
ble persistence to the accomplishment of their ruling purpose
to make Kansas a slave State, but they supported, Northern
and Southern members
alike, with little seeming reluctance,
or at least they refused to condemn, even the most audacious
measures of the assailants and the most wicked of the pre
tended laws, born of the border-ruffian policy.
�CHAPTER XXXYI.
ASSAULT ON SUMNER.
Mr. Simmer's speech.
Feverish state of feeling.
Douglas.
Excitement
Republican Senators.
pointed by both houses.
challenged by Brooks.
Eeference to Butler and
Assault.
Indignation.
produced.
Meeting of
Committees ap
Subject introduced by Mr. Wilson.
Eeports.
Statements of Senators.
Mr. Wilson
Action of the House.
Mr.
Challenge declined.
Southern demonstrations.
Indorsed byBrooks's speech and resignation.
Comins's speech.
Southern members.
Burlingame's speech.
Challenge
of Brooks.
Challenge accepted.
reception in Boston.
Chandler and Everett.
Speech.
Brooks refuses to
fight.
Meeting in Faneuil Hall.
Burlingame's
Speeches of
THE spring of 1856 had opened gloomily. The KansasNebraska legislation was bringing forth its legitimate fruits.
Emboldened by their success, the slavery propagandists pressed
on with vigor, resolved that no obstacles should prevent the
realization of their cherished purposes.
In Kansas the
friends of freedom found that the pretended proffer of
popular sovereignty was a delusion, and they were at once
Treason was on
precipitated into a hand-to-hand conflict.
and
the
of
not
secession
many lips,
only rung in the
cry
halls of Congress, but
resounded throughout the South.
trusting, too, their ability to
meet
Dis
their opponents in the fair
the advocates of slavery resolved to resort to
more
something
potent than words. If they could not rebut
the speech, they could intimidate and overpower the speaker,
field of debate,
and the bludgeon be made to accomplish what fair argument
could not effect.
The border-ruffian policy, which was filling
Kansas with alarm and bloodshed, had its representatives in
Washington, walking its streets, hanging around its hotels,
and stalking through the capitol. To the extreme arrogance
of imbittered and aggressive words were added the menace and
actual infliction of personal violence.
Indeed, the course of
�ASSAULT ON SUMNEB.
these
city
men assumed
the form of a reckless and relentless auda
never before exhibited.
in the streets,
and
479
Members
of Congress
went armed
sat with loaded revolvers in their desks.
It was in this state of popular feeling and during the debate
on Kansas affairs that Mr. Sumner delivered, on the 19th and
20th of May, his speech on " The Crime against Kansas."
It
was marked by the usual
characteristics
of*
his
more
elab
orate efforts, exhibiting great
affluence of learning, faithful
It was, in
great rhetorical finish and force.
research, and
the words of the poet Whittier, " a grand and terrible phi
the severe and awful
lippic, worthy of the great occasion
;
which the sharp agony of the national crisis demanded."
The speech bore the marks of a determined purpose to make
as impregnable in argument and
it exhaustive and complete
truth,
;
made by the materials at
author's
the
and
acknowledged ability to
command,
by
use them. He summoned largely to his aid the power of
" words " became "
things."
language, and his
He divided his subject into " three different heads THE
CRIME AGAINST KANSAS in its origin and extent THE APOLO
GIES FOR THE CRIME
and THE TRUE REMEDY."
Concerning
the crime itself, he adduced the most incontrovertible proofs
"
of its existence, and closed by comparing Kansas to a
gallant
ship, voyaging on a pleasant summer sea, assailed by a pirate
crew." " Even now," he said, " the black flag of the land
in their laws you
pirates of Missouri waves at the masthead
hear the pirate yell and see the flash of the pirate knife
cogent in rhetoric as
it
could be
his
:
;
;
;
;
while, incredible to relate, the President, gathering the Slave
He said
Power at his back, testifies a pirate sympathy."
the apology " tyrannical,"
the apologies were four in number
the apology " imbecile," the apology " absurd," and the apol
" infamous."
" This is
imbe
he said. "
:
Tyranny,
all,"
and infamy all unite to dance, like the weird
sisters, about this crime."
Concerning the remedies, he said
" fourfold "
the remedy of " tyranny," of
they, too, were
"
"
"
folly," of
injustice and civil war," of
justice and peace."
" These
"
and you are to deter
are the four caskets," he said,
mine which shall be opened by Senatorial votes." Having
ogy
cility,
absurdity,
:
�480
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
discussed these points with great fulness and cogency, he thus
" The
contest, which, beginning in Kansas, reaches
soon from Congress to that broader
transferred
will
be
us,
closed
:
stage where every citizen
and to their judgment
not only spectator, but actor
In the name
turn
is
;
I confidently
laws trampled down, of
humanity degraded, of peace destroyed, of freedom crushed
of the Constitution outraged, of the
to earth,
and in the name
of the
make
service is perfect freedom, I
Heavenly Father, whose
this last appeal."
Portraying the crime, he referred to the criminal,
fitly
spoke of the tyrant power who inspired it, and of the more
prominent agents in its commission. Alluding to a fable of
Northern mythology, he said " Even so the creature whose
paws are fastened upon Kansas, whatever it may seem to be,
constitutes in reality part of the Slave Power, which, with
:
loathsome folds,
is
now
coiled about the
Of several of the agents of
this
whole land."
power he had more than
Among them were Mr.
general reasons to speak severely.
Butler and Mr. Douglas, who had singled him out for special
attack.
In this speech, therefore, he took occasion to repay
and proposed to say "something in
reference to what has fallen from Senators who have raised
themselves to eminence on this floor in championship of human
wrongs. I mean the Senator from South Carolina, and the
Senator from Illinois, who, though unlike as Don Quixote and
Sancho Panza, yet, like this couple, sally forth in the same
" one
adventure." Of the former he spoke as
applying oppro
brious epithets to those who differ from him on this floor,
sectional and fanatical,' and their opposition
calling them
to the usurpations in Kansas an uncalculating fanaticism
Of the latter he said " The Senator dreams that he can
them
for their assaults,
'
'
'
'
'
:
!
:
subdue the North.
He
conduct implies
How
disclaims the open threat; but his
little that Senator knows himself,
He is but a
or the strength of the cause he persecutes
it.
!
man
but against him is an immortal principle. With
finite strength he wrestles with the infinite, and he must fail
against him are stronger battalions than any marshalled by
mortal
;
;
mortal arm,
the inborn, ineradicable, and invincible senti-
�ASSAULT ON SUMNEK.
ments of the human heart
subtle forces
against
;
;
him
against
is
God.
him
481
is
Nature in
all its
Let him try to subdue
these."
A
speech so bold and unsparing in
its
utterances, so thor
ough and fundamental in its logic, in which things were called
by their right names, and which applied the tests of Re
publican and Christian principles so severely to the vexed
question, while, at the same time, it administered to some
of the haughty and dogmatic leaders that severe rebuke their
insolence deserved, could not fail, in the excited state of the
Men whose
public mind, to produce a profound impression.
course had been subjected to this terrible arraignment were
and summary vengeance was agreed
upon as the only remedy that would meet the exigency of
excited to madness
;
the hour.
Preston
S.
Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina,
was selected as the agent for its inflic
After the adjournment of the Senate on the 22d of
May, Mr. Sumner remained at his desk, engaged in writing.
While so engaged, Brooks, whom he did not know, approached
" I have read
him, and said
your speech twice over, care
It
is
a
libel
on
South
Carolina
and Mr. Butler, who
fully.
either volunteered or
tion.
:
While these words were passing from
series of blows with a bludgeon upon
the Senator's head, by which the latter was stunned, disabled,
and smitten down, bleeding and insensible, on the floor of
the chamber.
From that floor he was taken by friends, borne
to the anteroom, where his wounds were dressed, and then he
was carried by Mr. Wilson, assisted by Representative Buffinis
a relative of mine."
his lips, he
commenced a
ton, of the House, faint and bleeding, to his lodgings.
injuries of Mr. Sumner were serious, and became the
casion
of
constant
anxiety
to
his
friends.
He was
The
oc
first
treated at
Washington, afterward successively at Philadelphia,
and
Boston,
Paris, making two voyages to Europe, where he
submitted himself to treatment at the hands of Dr. BrownIt was four years before he was pronounced con
Se*quard.
valescent, during the
in
the Senate
VOL.
II.
most
of
which time his vacant chair
Chamber proclaimed, with a more pregnant
61
�482
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
eloquence than that of his
own
IN AMERICA.
well-chosen words, the " bar
barism of slavery."
This cowardly and audacious assault deeply moved the
public mind, not only at Washington, but throughout the
country, though the personal participants therein, the crimi
nal and his victim, were very much lost sight of in the moral
For the moment, Sumand
significance of the act.
political
ner and Brooks were regarded mainly as representative men,
the country,
exponents of the two civilizations which divided
while the scenes of the 22d of May on the floor of the Senate
were looked upon as typical of what was being enacted on
Mr. Sumner, though con
the wider theatre of the nation.
and physical
fessedly the superior of his assailant in stature
strength, sitting and cramped beneath his writing-desk, over
which he was bending, with pen in hand, taken unawares and
at disadvantage, and his assailant raining blows upon his
unprotected head, fairly represented freedom and slavery as
they stood at that time confronting each other.
Freedom,
though intrinsically stronger than its antagonist, was yet
So hampered by the compromises of the
practically weaker.
Constitution, by the legislation of two generations, by pro
scription and prescription, and by the overpowering advantage
which actual possession gave to slavery, it had been obliged
to succumb to its imperious antagonist, beside suffering in
This blow at free speech, and per
finite damage thereby.
as
sonal safety
well, like a flash of lightning in a dark and
stormy night, revealed by its lurid glare the grim facts of
the situation, and the people, for good reason, trembled as
they gazed apprehensively into the immediate and more re
mote future.
In the evening of the day of the assault, the Republican
Senators met at the house of Mr. Seward. In a lean minority
only one fifth of the Senate
they knew that they were
at the mercy of the majority, which was dominated by the
incensed and inexorable leaders of the Slave Power, who,
always bitter and implacable, were now still more determined
and audacious always zealous, their zeal was more inflamed
by the fresh fuel these proceedings would add. What new
;
�ASSAULT ON SUMNER.
victims would be required,
who they should
483
be,
and
whom
their appetite for vengeance, whetted by this taste of blood,
would select, they knew not. Not unlikely some who gath
ered there, like the disciples of John the Baptist, after their
master had fallen a victim to a tyrant's power, felt that,
though the night was dark and the future was forbidding,
was no time to despair or to remit effort. Nor would they,
without remonstrance, submit to such an invasion of their
It was accordingly agreed that
personal and political rights.
it
Mr. Wilson should call the attention of the Senate to the
subject the next day, and, unless some member of the domi
nant party should move a committee of investigation, Mr.
Seward should make such motion.
On the assembling of the Senate, amid deep excitement,
crowds filling every available space in the chamber and all
its approaches, Mr. Wilson rose, and, having narrated briefly
"
the facts of the transaction, said
Sir, to assail a member
<
for words spoken in
of the Senate out of this chamber
:
'
is a grave offence, not only against the rights of a
Senator, but the constitutional privileges of this House but,
sir, to come into this chamber and assault a member in his
debate
;
seat, until he falls exhausted and senseless on this floor, is
an offence requiring the prompt and decisive action of the
Senate.
Senators, I have called your attention to this trans
I submit no motion.
I leave it to older Senators,
action.
whose character, whose position in this body and before the
country, eminently
to redress the
cate the honor
fit
them
of a
wrongs
and dignity
for the task of devising measures
of this body and to vindi
member
of the Senate."
As no Democratic
Senator proposed any action, Mr. Seward
offered a resolution for a committee of five members, to be
appointed by the President, to inquire into the assault, and
to report the facts, together with their opinion thereon.
On
motion of Mr. Mason, the resolution was so amended as to
provide that the committee should be chosen by the Senate
and Pearce of Maryland, Cass of Michigan, Dodge of Wis
consin, Allen of Rhode Island, and Geyer of Missouri, were
;
selected.
The committee was chosen wholly from
the
Demo-
�484
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA-
and contained no one friendly to Mr. Sumner.
The same day, Lewis D. Campbell introduced a resolution
into the House of Representatives reciting the particulars of
the assault, and proposing a select committee of five to report
cratic party
such action as might be proper for the vindication of the House.
After a brief debate, the resolution was adopted, and Campbell
of Ohio, Pennington of New Jersey, Spinner of New York,
Cobb of Georgia, and Greenwood of Arkansas, were appointed.
This assault upon Mr. Sumner was, however, chiefly no
ticeable for its related facts and subsequent developments.
Standing alone, it was but one of many outrages which have
disfigured
and disgraced human
history,
as indefensible as
one good man suffering
they were full of pain and peril,
at the hands of a bad man from the impulse of passion or
the greed of gain.
But, standing as it does in its relations
to the irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery, it
was a
revelation of a state of public feeling and sentiment,
especially at the South, which both startled and surprised the
nation and the world
;
though
it
has since lost
much
of its
special significance, looked at by the side of the more horrible
demonstrations of rebellion and civil war. Thus considered,
shows Mr. Brooks as only a
fit
representative of the domi
influences
of
the
nating
slaveholding States, where not only
did their leading public men and presses indorse the deed
it
and defend it by voice and vote, but the people
generally seemed ready to vie with each other in their pro
fessed admiration of his course, so that the bludgeon became
as their own,
the weapon of honor, the bully the hero of the hour.
committee reporting want of jurisdiction, because, it
"
contended,
authority devolves solely upon the House, of
which he is a member," the Senate itself took no further
Its
But the House committee entered at once upon
the investigation, and proceeded to examine the witnesses
action.
of the transaction.
Visiting Mr. Sumner at his room, they
took his deposition from his sick-bed. He made substantially
the same statement already given, mentioning the additional
fact that on coming to consciousness he saw " Mr. Douglas
and Mr. Toombs standing in the Senate," and Mr. Slidell in
�ASSAULT ON SUMNEB.
485
the anteroom, from which the latter " retreated at once."
This statement becoming known, these Senators felt called
upon to make explanations of their knowledge of the affair
and of the course they adopted in relation to it. Mr. Slidell,
referring to the fact that he was conversing with other Sena
tors, among whom was Mr. Douglas, when a messenger rushed
in with the intelligence that
ner, contemptuously said
"
:
somebody was beating Mr. Sumheard this remark without
We
For my part, I confess I felt none.
not disposed to participate in broils of any kind. I
remained very quietly in my seat. The other gentleman did
any particular emotion.
I
am
We did not move." He stated that, a few minutes
he
went into the Senate chamber, and was told
afterward,
that Mr. Sumner was lying in a state of insensibility. Return
the same.
ing to the anteroom, and attempting to pass out, he saw the
wounded man as he was carried into the anteroom, " his face
covered with blood, and evidently faint and weak." " I am
"
not," said Mr. Slidell,
particularly fond of scenes of any
I
sort.
have no associations or relations of any kind with
I have not spoken to him for two years.
I
Mr. Sumner.
it necessary to express any sympathy or make
any advances toward him." Slidell closed his remarks by
saying he was free from any participation, connection, or
did not think
counsel in the matter.
Douglas, too, deemed it his duty to make some explanation.
said that, when the messenger passed through the room
and said somebody was beating Mr. Sumner, " I rose immedi
ately to my feet.
My first impulse was to come into the Sen
He
ate chamber,
But
it
and help
occurred to
my
to put an end to the affray, if I could.
in an instant that
relations to
mind
my
Mr. Sumner were such that, if I came into the hall, my mo
tives would be misconstrued perhaps
and I sat down again."
He stated that a few moments afterward he went into the
;
Senate chamber, and saw the crowd gathering about Mr. Sum
He closed his remarks
ner, who was prostrate on the floor.
by stating he did not know that he was in the capitol that
he did not know that any man thought of
attacking him, and
that he had not the slightest suspicion of what was to
;
happen.
�486
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
Mr. Toombs said
"
assistance, I did not do
man
As
:
present condemned
or to
some
of
my own
for
As
it.
IN AMERICA.
Sumner any
said, some gentle
rendering Mr.
to
what was
in Mr. Brooks.
it
I stated to
him,
friends, probably, that I approved it.
It was also given in evidence that Mr.
That is my opinion."
Keitt was present at the assault, not only consenting to the
action of his colleague, but with violent demonstrations and
profane expressions warning off all
save the victim from his assailant.
who would
interfere to
Of course, Northern men could not remain unmoved by
such admitted complicity with and indorsement of an outrage
like that.
Mr. Wade said " It is impossible for me to sit
:
still
and hear the principle announced which
I
am
have heard on
here in a pretty bare minority but when
I hear, on the floor of the Senate, that an assassin-like, cow
ardly attack has been made on a man unarmed, having no
this occasion.
I
;
power to defend himself, who was stricken down with the
strong arm and almost murdered, and that such attacks
are approved of by Senators, it becomes a question of some
interest to us all, and especially to those who are in the mi
nority.
floor
A brave man may be
overpowered by numbers on this
but, sir, overpowered or not, live or die, I will vindicate
the right and liberty of debate and freedom of discussion
upon
;
this floor so long as I live."
Mr.
Wilson remarked that there was no conflict between
Sumner and those of Slidell, Douglas,
and Toombs. The assault itself he pronounced "
brutal, mur
derous, and cowardly." This provoked the exclamation " You
"
are a liar
from Mr. Butler
although, at the request of
Senators, he immediately withdrew the words.
The charge
of Mr. Wilson led to a
challenge from Mr. Brooks, which
was borne to him by General Lane of
Oregon, afterward
Democratic candidate for the
Mr. Wilson,
the statements of Mr.
!
;
Vice-Presidency.
against the urgent advice of Mr. Giddings, Mr. Colfax, and
other friends, immediately returned this
reply
:
" I
characterized, on the floor of the
Senate, the assault
colleague as brutal, murderous, and cowardly.' I
thought so then. I think so now. I have no qualification
upon
my
�ASSAULT ON SUMNER.
487
whatever to make in regard to those words. I have never
entertained, in the Senate or elsewhere, the idea of personal
responsibility in the sense
of the duellist.
I have always
regarded duelling as the lingering relic of a barbarous civili
zation, which the law of the country has branded as crime.
While, therefore, I religiously believe in the right of selfdefence in its broadest sense, the law of
my country and the
matured convictions of
my
whole
life alike
House from
his
State,
then in Massachusetts
do
my
defend
:
me
forbid
you for the purpose indicated in your letter."
Having sent this reply by James Buffinton, a
to
member
meet
of the
Mr. Wilson telegraphed to his wife,
" Have
declined to fight a duel, shall
duty and leave the result with God.
If assailed, shall
my
any
Writing a
hurried note to his friends, William Claflin, afterward
governor
of Massachusetts, and John B.
Alley, subsequently for several
years a
life, if
member
possible, at
cost.
Be calm."
of Congress, to befriend his son, then
only ten
he should be struck down by violence, Mr.
Wilson armed himself for defence, resolved to go where duty
called.
At once a meeting was held at the National Hotel by
a few Southern members, and the question of making an as
sault upon him considered
and actual violence was prevented
mainly by the efforts of Mr. Orr of South Carolina, as he in
formed Mr. Wilson in the winter of 1873, when on his way to
Russia as Minister of the United States.
The House committee made two reports
the majority
Mr.
of
and
the
Brooks,
expulsion
recommending
expressing
"
disapprobation of the act of Henry A. Edmonson and Law
years of age,
if
;
;
The minority pleaded want of jurisdiction
The House cen
position.
sured Keitt, but failed to condemn Edmonson. Keitt resigned.
One hundred and twenty-one members voted to expel Brooks
rence M. Keitt."
;
and sixty members sustained that
and
ninety-five voted against expulsion.
a two-thirds vote being necessary,
pel,
was adopted by a large majority.
Having
failed to
ex
a vote of censure
After these votes were declared, Mr. Brooks addressed the
in a speech of mingled assumption, insolence, and
House
self-conceit.
While disclaiming
all
intention to insult Con-
�488
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
gress, the Senate, or the State of Massachusetts, he seemed to
be utterly oblivious that there had been any infringement of
law or the rights of others it being simply, he said, " a per
;
sonal affair, for which I am personally responsible."
With
"I went to work very deliber
infinite effrontery he affirmed
:
and this is admitted,
and specu
ately, as I am charged,
I
should employ a horsewhip or
lated somewhat as to whether
a cowhide ; but, knowing that the Senator was my superior in
strength, it occurred to me that he might wrest it from my
hand, and then (for I never attempt anything I do not perform)
I might have been compelled to do that which I would have re
What that contin
gretted the balance of my natural life."
can conjecture.
he
so
reader
admitted
was
gency
coolly
every
With
greater assurance and self-assertion, he claimed, as
a matter of credit for his forbearance, that he had not plunged
still
civil war, as if he had held the destinies of the
" In
Republic in his hands.
my heart of hearts," he said,
" such a
of
I believe would end in sub
line
conduct
menacing
the nation into
No
verting this government and drenching this hall in blood.
act of mine, on my personal account, shall inaugurate revolu
when
you, Mr. Speaker, return to your own home,
and hear the people of the great North
and they are great
speak of me as a bad man, you will do me the justice
people
to say that a blow struck by me at this time would be fol
tion
;
but
lowed by a revolution and this I know."
speech, he announced the resignation of his
;
out of the House.
He
Concluding his
seat, and walked
returned to his constituents, was tri
two weeks went back with his
re-elected, in about
umphantly
commission of re-election, and again took his seat.
But the most significant and instructive incidents and ut
terances remain to be noted.
Much of what has already
been adduced might be safely referred to passion, wounded
The language of Slidell, Doug
feeling, and inflamed hatred.
las, Toombs, and Brooks was evidently spoken in hot blood,
and the votes of Mr. Brooks' s constituents were cast in
obedience to feelings that had been roused to the highest
No adequate
pitch of imbittered and vengeful indignation.
of
state
of
and
the
feeling then
conception
public sentiment
�ASSAULT ON SUMNER.
489
existing can be found without reference to the cooler and
deliberate expressions of public men and presses out
side of the narrow circle of the immediate actors in this
more
tragedy of violence and blood.
is
far too conclusive to leave
Unfortunately the evidence
any doubt as to the anarchical
sentiments that prevailed too generally at the South and far
too largely, indeed, at the North.
Referring to a meeting of Brooks' s constituents, at which
of approval were adopted, and a cane, with a
resolutions
brutal inscription, voted him, a paper published at the capital
"
of his State remarked
Meetings of approval and sanction
:
will be held not only in
Mr. Brooks's district, but throughout
and
a general and hearty response of
large,
will
re-echo
the words
from Wash
Well done
approval
ington to the Rio Grande." The students and officers of the
the State
at
'
'
!
University of Virginia also voted him a cane, on which the
leading Democratic organ of the South remarked approvingly
" The
chivalry of the South, it seems, has been thoroughly
"
aroused." The Richmond " Examiner said " Far from blam
:
:
ing Mr. Brooks, we are disposed to regard him as a conserva
gentleman, seeking to restore its lost dignity to the
Senate, .... whose example should be followed by every
tive
Southern gentleman whose feelings are outraged by unprin
"
Enquirer," some weeks
cipled Abolitionists." The Richmond
" In the
main, the press of the South
Mr.
the
conduct
of
Brooks, without condition or
applaud
after the assault, said
:
Our approbation, at least, is entire and unre
It was a proper act, done at the proper time
limitation.
served
and in the proper place."
Nor were leading statesmen less explicit in their approval.
Mr. Mason, in reply to an invitation to attend a public dinner
in honor of Mr. Brooks, after referring to his " social
and
" with
their " able and justly honored
adds " I know of none whose
career
political intercourse
representative,"
I hold
public
:
more worthy the
constituents than his."
and cordial approbation of his
Jefferson Davis, on the same occa
full
" I have
only to express to you my sympathy
with the feeling which prompts the sons of Carolina to welsion,
wrote
VOL.
ii.
:
62
�490
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
come the return
of a brother
IN AMERICA.
who has been
the subject of
vilification, misrepresentation, and persecution, because he
resented a libellous assault upon the representative of their
mother." Nor were they alone Southern men who joined in
this formal indorsement.
Mr. Buchanan, the Democratic can
didate for the Presidency, referring to Mr. Sumner's speech,
characterized it as " the most vulgar tirade of abuse ever
"
delivered in a representative body
and added that, though
" Mr. Brooks was
....
Senator Butler was a
inconsiderate,
very mild man."
Mr. Savage of Tennessee, in a eulogy in the House, said
" To die
is life's chief concern.
records but
;
:
nobly
History
one Thermopylae there ought to have been another, and that
one for Preston S. Brooks
So shall the scene in the
;
Senate chamber carry the name of the deceased to all future
generations, long to be remembered after all men are forgotten
and until these proud walls crumble into ruins." So unmis
takably did the leading minds of the South indorse the deed
and make it their own.
Nor, on the other hand, were the men of the North silent.
The thrill of horror and alarm which ran through the free
States found expression, as with fitting phrase and indignant
emphasis
men
characterized and denounced the diabolical and
On
the floor of Congress were those found
who, at much personal hazard, denounced both the assault and
the assailant.
In the House, John Woodruff of Connecticut,
cowardly assault.
a
man
said
:
proverbial for moderation of temper and deportment,
" If honorable
gentlemen cannot wholly rid themselves
an unwelcome presence, they can, at least, show their
appreciation of an action wanting few of the elements of the
most audacious crime and of a spirit equal to deeds that I
will not name.
With an endeavor always to cultivate cour
of
tesy, I shall not hesitate, here in
my
freely characterize as they deserve
place or elsewhere, to
any lofty assumption of
arrogance or any mean achievement of cowardice." For these
words he was waited upon and interrogated whether he would
receive a challenge from Mr. Brooks.
He, however, declined
to receive
it.
�ASSAULT ON SUMNER.
491
Mr. Burlingame, afterward plenipotentiary to China, and
from China to the Western nations, spoke of the assault
" I
denounce it," he
with boldness, eloquence, and force.
said,
" in the
name
of the Constitution it violates.
I de
nounce it in the name of the sovereignty of Massachusetts,
I denounce it in
which was stricken down by the blow.
I denounce it in the name of civi
the name of humanity.
I denounce it in the name of
lization, which it outraged.
which
bullies and prize-fighters respect.
that fair play
The
Senator from Massachusetts sat in the silence of the Senate
engaged in the employments appertaining to his
a member from the House, who had taken an
chamber,
office,
when
oath to sustain the Constitution, stole into the Senate, a place
which had hitherto been held sacred against violence, and
smote him, as Cain smote his brother."
" That
is
false."
Burlingame replied
is
Keitt exclaimed
"I
will
:
not bandy
am
responsible for my own
" I
for
his."
am," said
responsible
epithets with the gentleman.
doubtless he
:
I
language
" I shall stand
Keitt.
by mine," replied Burlingame.
Mr. Comins, the other representative from Boston, said
the murderous blow that smote down Mr. Sumner was " the
;
representative of a power that, having failed to sustain itself
in intellectual conflict, resolves itself into brute force, stalks
into the Senate chamber,
and
there, with bludgeon in hand,
" In
beats freedom over the head."
your arrogance," he said,
"
and
assume
to
sole
be
the
rightful judges of parlia
you
tell you plainly,
mentary decorum and parliamentary law.
We
we
This language
will no longer submit to these things."
gave no little offence to Brooks and his friends ; but they
took no action concerning it.
Brooks
felt compelled, however, to notice Burlingame' s
Several days after its delivery, William W. Boyce
speech.
of South Carolina, and Thomas S. Bocock of Virginia, acting
for Brooks, met in consultation with Speaker Banks and
George Ashmun, who were friends of Burlingame, with a
view of arranging the matter either amicably or otherwise.
Burlingame was present, and during the consultation ex
pressed his personal regard for Brooks, but condemned the
�492
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
committed by him. This nice discrimination between
the actor and the act was seized upon by the friends of both
that the affair could be
parties, and it was at once agreed
settled upon, that declaration.
Though the parties and their
immediate friends were satisfied, others were not. The ar
rangement was soon the subject of public comment and unfa
act
Mr. Burlingame, having left Washington
to enter the presidential canvass in the West, Mr. Wilson
On
telegraphed him to return immediately, and he did so.
"
"
of July 18,
Courier
his return, a copy of the Boston
containing the terms of settlement, and an article severely
vorable criticism.
Mr. Burlin game's action, was placed in his hands
Timothy Davis. He immediately declared
by
to Mr. Davis that he would withdraw the whole of his part
criticising
his colleague,
and he published a card in the " National
"
of July 22, in which he placed himself upon
Intelligencer
his speech, yielding nothing and retracting nothing.
Of course, Brooks took action at once, and sent a challenge
by General Joseph Lane of Oregon. It was promptly accepted,
and the arrangements and details were referred to Lewis D.
of the settlement,
Burlingame absented himself from the
Campbell of Ohio.
the
most of the day in the room of one of
House, remaining
in
his colleagues.
the evening, he met and walked with
Early
Mr. Wilson in the grounds east of the Capitol. He then ex
pected to meet Brooks outside of the District the next
morn
He
spoke of his wife, his children, and friends at home
"
on
and,
parting, said
My friend, you know my position I
want you to explain my conduct to my friends, and to defend
ing.
;
:
;
if
anything happens to me." Late in the even
met
Mr.
he
Davis and walked with him in the park near
ing
Hall.
the City
He then, at that hour, supposed he should
meet Brooks early the next morning and he confided to his
my memory
;
some matters to be used in case he should fall.
At parting, he remarked " I do not hate Brooks but I
colleague
:
shall kill
;
him."
Mr. Campbell, who wrote the reply to the challenge, decided
that the meeting should be held near the Clifton House in
Canada, and sent Mr. Burlingame, late in the night, to take
�ASSAULT ON SUMNER.
493
the cars, at the junction in Maryland, for that place.
But
Brooks declined to meet Burlingame at the place designated,
on the alleged ground that, in the then excited state of public
feeling at the North,
it
would not be safe for him to undertake
the journey.
The friends of freedom generally regretted the course of
Mr. Burlingame, though they were not unmindful of the salu
tary influence which such a response
was calculated
upon men who had depended largely upon
of Northern men to adopt their self-styled
to exert
the unwillingness
" code of honor."
Indeed, he himself did not fully indorse the course he felt
At a public reception, given him in
constrained to adopt.
Boston on the 12th of September, he said " My errors, if
:
errors they were, sprang from the dim light in which I stood,
and out of a sincere love for the old Bay State. To my mind,
a conflict which under other circumstances would have been
merely personal and disgraceful, from the standpoint from
which I viewed it rose to the dignity of a great transaction,
I should have been wiser,
as a defence of freedom of speech.
I
am
certain,
if
I
had followed the noble example set by one
ever been my leader, and whom I am
now near me, who has
one who represents Massachusetts
proud so to acknowledge,
one
mood, on her highest plane of action,
in her loftiest
whose reason was never dimmed by passion.
homage
to that position here.
I
pay
It is the right position
my
full
unques
tionably."
Public meetings, too, were held in the Northern States, at
which resolutions were adopted and speeches were made by
Faneuil Hall did
their ablest and most distinguished men.
not remain silent. At a large and deeply excited meeting,
held without distinction of sect or party, Peleg W. Chandler,
a leading politician, after alluding to the fact that he was
Mr. Sumner's personal friend but " political opponent," said
" It is
precisely because I have been and am now his personal
:
am
precisely because I have been and now
Yet
his political opponent, that I am here to-night
out
this
in
of
little
or
no
are
personal feelings
consequence
friend,
and
rage.
It is a
it
is
blow not merely
at Massachusetts, a
blow not
�494
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
merely at the name and fame of our common country it is
a blow at constitutional liberty all the world over, it is a stab
Whatever may be done
at the cause of universal freedom.
;
in this matter, however, one thing is certain, one thing is
sure.
The blood of this Northern man now stains the Senate
and let
can wash it
floor,
me
tell
you that not
all
the water of the Potomac
out.
Forever, forever, and aye, that stain will
plead in silence for liberty wherever man is enslaved, for
humanity all over the world, for truth and for justice, now
and forever."
Everett, too, whose name and influence had al
been
associated with what was termed the " conser
ways
Edward
"
side of the great question at issue, spoke strongly
"
of
the act of lawless violence, of which," he said, " I know
vative
"
in the history of constitutional government
"
adding that for the good name, the peace, the safety of the
country, for the cause of free institutions throughout the
no
parallel
;
world, it were worth all the gold of California to blot from
our history the record of the past week."
Cambridge, too,
spoke from the lips of her distinguished jurists, professors,
and literary men Brown University in the strong, terse
words of its president and New York in the eloquent and
forceful utterances of some of its most distinguished lawyers
and clergymen. Indignation at the cowardly assault, sympa
thy for the sufferer, and alarm for the future, mingled largely
in the sentiments uttered in the burning words which thus
found expression and response. Besides, it entered largely
into the presidential campaign that soon commenced, and
became one of the battle-cries of freedom and of the new
;
;
party that then appealed for the
of the nation.
Nor
first
time for the suffrages
did the interest cease with the tragedy itself and these
The
far
more
more
to
the
was
sequel
tragic, and,
thoughtful,
impressive and replete with its lessons of wisdom and warn
Of the three prominent actors the most audacious,
ing.
arrogant, insulting, and, for the time being, seemingly most
potential, Brooks and Butler, were in their graves in less than
immediate demonstrations of approval or disapproval.
�ASSAULT ON SUMNEK.
495
a year while Keitt died fighting in a war which destroyed
Brooks died
the slave system and swept it from the land.
;
suddenly, but not until he had confessed to his friend, James
L. Orr, that he was tired of the new rdle he had chosen, and
heartsick of being the recognized representative of bullies, the
recipient of their ostentatious gifts and officious testimonials
of admiration
Nor were
and regard.
all its
lessons exhausted at the South.
At
the
North the subsequent developments were equally suggestive
and sad. For, notwithstanding the brutality of the outrage
and its unequivocal indorsement by the South, a fact fully
recognized and properly condemned by those public demon
strations at the North, yet, when the hour of trial came, as
did in the presidential election in the autumn, the very man
who had volunteered an apology for the assault was made
it
President, and that largely by Northern votes.
Party was
thus shown to be stronger than principle, patriotism stronger
than philanthropy, regard for the Union stronger than regard
for
human
God.
rights, the fear of
man
stronger than the fear of
�CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
Position of
Investigating committee.
Gathering of troops before Lawrence.
Call for troops.
the President.
Attempted arrest of free State men.
Governor Reeder.
Sheriff shot.
Arrests made.
Judge Lecompte's charge.
Governor Robinson's
arrest.
The marshal's
call for help.
Meeting in
Lawrence assaulted and pil
Atchison.
Proslavery outrages.
Free State legislature.
Leavenworth.
at
demonstrations
Proslavery
Lawrence.
laged.
Grow's bills.
Report of investigating committee.
Sherman.
Douglas's new
Speeches in the House.
Great debate.
subserviency.
Appeals to the Republican
Desperate prospects.
Dunn's
substitute.
bill.
Abject
Senators from Kansas.
Speeches of Wade, Trumbull, Wilson, and Seward.
Proviso to the army bill.
Adopted by the
adopted by the Senate.
Committee of conference unable to agree.
House but rejected by the Senate.
Bill
Same bill and
Adjournment.
Special session.
Army bill defeated.
House adhere.
Rejected by the Senate.
proviso adopted by the House.
Final passage of the bill without
Mr. Weller's bill.
Speech of Clayton.
the proviso.
Outlook in Kansas.
As
Charles
Sumner was
closing his masterly portrayal of
on the floor of the United States
the Crime against Kansas
Senate, during the afternoon of the 20th of May, 1856, the
armed hosts of slavery were concentrating before devoted
Lawrence. And as the hundreds of thousands were reading,
the next morning, his graphic description, those hosts stood
on Mount Oread, with cannon pointed upon the hated town,
ready to plunder, burn, and kill.
Early in April, the Congressional investigating committee
arrived in Kansas.
Supporters of the Territorial legislature
The President in his proc
were hostile to the investigation.
lamation, responsive to the free State memorial asking pro
tection, had declared his purpose to maintain the Territorial
"
legislation, if necessary,
by the whole force of the govern
The men of western Missouri, who knew they had
the laws, were prompt in public meetings to offer " our
ment."
made
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
assistance
"
for their enforcement.
Nor was an occasion
497
for
so doing long wanting.
Arriving in Lawrence while the committee was in session,
Sheriff Jones attempted the arrest of S. N. Wood, who had
been concerned in the rescue of Branson in the November
Failing in the attempt, he called upon the gov
preceding.
ernor for troops. As the Secretary of War had instructed
Colonel Sumner to detail troops for the execution of the
laws, a squad of dragoons was placed at the sheriff's disposal.
With them he entered Lawrence and arrested several persons,
and placed them under guard in tents. On the evening of
the 29th of April, he was shot at and wounded, while standing
at the door of his tent, by Charles F. Lenhart, a young man
The act
in the printing-office of the " Herald of Freedom."
and
Governor
was promptly disowned by the free State men,
Robinson offered a reward of
five
hundred dollars for his
arrest.
Early in May, Judge Lecompte instructed the grand jury to
" constructive treason "
find bills for
against those who in
who had been elected
Governor Reeder,
constitution.
under
the
to
Topeka
who was bitterly hated by the proslavery men, was in attend
ance on the investigating committee. On the 7th of May,
Deputy Marshal Fain summoned him to appear before the
tended to resist the Territorial laws, and
office
grand jury at Lecompton. Reeder declining to go, Fain en
tered the room of the committee, the next day, with a writ
Reeder appealed to the
for his arrest for contempt of court.
committee, claiming the right of exemption on the twofold
ground that he was a contesting delegate for Congress and a
witness before the committee. Howard and Sherman thought
was correct, but Oliver dissented. Reeder, repre
his
senting
presence to be important to the investigation, ex
the
belief that his arrest was intended to embarrass
pressed
his position
avowed
he would not be personally safe in
Lecompton, and declared it to be his purpose to avail himself
of the privilege of exemption.
Instead, however, of returning
immediately to Lecompton to report, Fain repaired at once
it,
his fear that
to Franklin,
VOL.
II.
where the Southern volunteers were stationed,
3
�498
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
and emissaries were
IN AMERICA.
at once sent to Missouri to rouse the
people.
A few
days afterward, Governor Robinson,
for the Eastern States,
was arrested
who had
started
at Lexington, Missouri,
and retained as a prisoner. Governor Reeder was persuaded
to leave the Territory.
Disguising himself, he was concealed
two weeks at a hotel in Kansas City, whence he effected his
On the llth
escape as a deck-hand on one of the river boats.
marshal
for
States
of May, J. B. Donelson, United
Kansas,
made a proclamation to the people. Stating that the citizens
of Lawrence had resisted the execution of the laws, he called
upon law-abiding men to repair at once to Lecompton in num
bers sufficient to secure their execution.
The
citizens of
Law
rence, repelling the allegation, affirmed in public meeting that
the sheriff had been resisted " in no manner whatever, nor by
any person whatever," excepting in the single case of Gov
ernor Reeder.
writs served
They also avowed their purpose to obey any
upon them by the United States marshal, and
even expressed their willingness to furnish aid,
any such judicial process.
if
so required,
for the execution of
A
large
number
of proslavery
men
responded to the mar
appeared on all
shal's proclamation, warlike demonstrations
were molested and often arrested, and the dec
was made that Lawrence should be " wiped out" and
the Abolitionists driven from the territory.
Persons sent by
anxious citizens to confer with the governor were waylaid and
fired upon by them, and otherwise maltreated.
Gathering,
too, around Lawrence, they committed outrages, seizing horses,
Atchison again ap
cattle, and other articles of property.
sides, travellers
laration
peared with his Platt County Rifles and two pieces of artillery.
The Kickapoo Rangers marched to the same point, and many
of the slave State leaders, as if moved
by a common impulse,
appeared on the ground.
Colonel Buford, with his Southern
regiment and two pieces of cannon, was at Franklin. Such
was the outlook on the evening of the 20th of May.
Early next morning, the inhabitants saw the advanced guard
of the invaders
drawn up on Mount Oread. Three cannon
hill, and over this motley crowd waved a
were planted on the
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
499
Fain
red flag, on which was inscribed " Southern Rights."
Re
rode into town with ten men and made several arrests.
turning to Mount Oread, he said he had completed his task,
but was ready to assist Sheriff Jones, who had several writs
The latter then entered the town, halted before the
Free State Hotel, called for Mr. Pomroy, and required that all
arms in the town should be delivered up. After consultation,
to serve.
The forces, then
on Mount Oread, under Atchison, Buford, Stringfellow, and
Titus, entered Lawrence, formed a hollow square, and Atchi
son made a speech, of which Phillips, in his " Conquest of Kan
" It is an
odd mixture of drunken enthusiasm,
sas," says
restraining forbearance, partisan ferocity, and profanity."
He declared that the hotel and the printing-offices must be
five
small pieces of artillery were given up.
:
After effecting the destruction of the latter, they
destroyed.
trained their cannon on the former, firing some forty shots
to blow it up with powder, and
on fire. Governor Robinson's house was then
plundered and burned, as were a large number of houses in
the town.
About one hundred and fifty thousand dollars'
worth of property was stolen or destroyed.
The Congressional committee at Leavenworth was pursuing
upon
it.
They then attempted
finally set it
men, who
would be
made. Large numbers of proslavery men, many fresh from
the sacking of Lawrence, gathered here, and a public meeting
was held. At this meeting the declaration was made that the
The Kickapoo
free State men must leave the Territory.
Rangers and other young Southerners, armed with United
States muskets, paraded the streets and arrested Mr. Con way,
transcribing clerk of the committee, Mr. Parrott, and some
investigations, so distasteful to the proslavery
rightly apprehended the damaging revelations that
its
They entered the committee-room in search of Mr.
and
several others whose names were on the proscribed
Phillips
lists but Mr. Phillips had escaped through the kind assistance
of S. P. Hanscom, one of the clerks of the committee.
The free State legislature met on the 4th of July. Gov
ernor Robinson was a political prisoner, and many of the lead
It was a time
ing free State men were imprisoned or absent.
others.
;
�500
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
A free State convention
of the deepest anxiety and alarm.
had been held on the day preceding, in which Mr. Hutchinson had introduced a resolution calling upon the legislature to
proceed at once to the enactment of a code of laws. The reso
A
lution was advocated by himself, Mr. Phillips, and others.
paper was also received by the meeting, signed by Governor
Robinson, Judge G. W. Smith, General Deitzler, John Brown,
Jr., and several others, who were held as prisoners of State,
imploring the legislature to go on and legislate for the protec
But no action was taken.
tion of the people.
Governor Shannon had left the Territory, and Secretary
Woodson was acting governor. The latter went to Topeka,
and there issued a proclamation, forbidding all persons claim
ing legislative power under the Topeka constitution from or
ganizing. Colonel Sumner, acting under orders from Washing
ton, entered the House of Representatives. The roll was called
by the clerk, and this officer remarked that he was about to
perform the most disagreeable duty of his life, and that was the
He said his orders were to dis
dispersion of the legislature.
in
to
answer
Judge Schuyler, he said he should
perse it and,
;
the force necessary to carry his orders into effect.
then entered the Senate chamber, and in like manner dis
persed that body. Colonel Sumner executed his orders and per
employ
all
He
formed his disagreeable task in a manner so delicate and kindly
considerate, that, as he rode off, the free State men gave him
three rousing cheers.
This legislature unquestionably represented the actual set
When it was dispersed, the free State cause
tlers of Kansas.
seemed to be, if not lost, in extreme peril. The Slave Power
was for the moment triumphant, and the cause of freedom in
The Mis
that Territory seemed at least under a dark eclipse.
souri River was closed against immigration from the north
and east, and highway robberies and murders rendered travel
Proslavery men, flushed with victory, were jubilant
and defiant. At a banquet given at Atchison, the declaration
was made that the sons of the South would make Kansas a
unsafe.
The brutal sentiment,
slave State, " or die in the attempt."
too, was uttered and enthusiastically applauded, that every pro-
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
501
slavery settler should have one hundred and sixty acres of
" six feet
land, and every Abolitionist
by two."
On
the 1st of July, Mr. Howard, from the investigating
committee, presented a report which was referred to the Com
mittee on Elections, and Mr. Oliver was authorized to take
additional testimony,
ferred to the
make a minority report, and have it re
The facts, established by the
same committee.
report of the majority, were, that each election had been carried
by invasions from Missouri that the legislature was an illegal
body that the election of Whitefield was not held under valid
;
;
law
;
that the election of Reeder
regular, and was only
that a fair election could
was not
an expression of the people's choice
not then be held without a new census, a stringent election
;
law, impartial judges, and United States troops that the elec
tion for the formation of a State government had been as regu
and that
lar as the disturbed condition of affairs would allow
;
;
the Topeka constitution embodied the will of a majority of the
people. On the 24th, Mr. Washburn of Maine, from the same
committee, reported against Whitefield and in favor of Reed
The
er 's claim, Mr. Stephens presenting a minority report.
House, however, voted that neither Whitefield nor Reeder were
entitled to seats.
On the 29th of May, Mr. Grow had reported a bill for the
admission of Kansas under the Topeka constitution. When it
came up, Mr. Stephens of Georgia moved a substitute pro
viding for the appointment of five commissioners, to proceed
to the Territory to take a census, and to apportion delegates for
a constitutional convention, the delegates to be chosen on the
day of the Presidential election.
To
this substitute
Mr.
Dunn
moved an amendment, to repeal the abrogation of the Mis
souri compromise.
The amendment was carried, and the sub
The bill was then
thus
stitute,
amended, was defeated.
defeated by the majority of a single vote.
Mr. Barclay, a
Democratic member from Pennsylvania, moved a reconsidera
which, after a stormy debate, was carried the bill passed
tion,
;
by a vote of ninety-nine to ninety-seven, and the free constitu
tion received the indorsement of the House.
Early in the session, Mr.
Grow had
presented a
bill
repealing
�502
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Dunn immediately
the acts of the Territorial legislature.
a
moved
reconsideration of the vote by which the bill was re
but his motion was not
months, when, on the 29th of July,
ferred to the committee of the whole
acted on for
it
was
its
more than
carried.
He
five
;
then moved to substitute a
provisions were those suspending
all
bill.
Among
criminal prosecutions,
releasing persons confined for political offences, and setting at
liberty all slaves remaining in the territory at the end of one
It also provided for an election of a legislature in No
year.
vember, which legislature was forbidden to pass any ex post
facto law to abridge the freedom of speech or of the press
;
to deprive
;
any one of
by jury or to require any one to
take an oath " to support any law other than the Constitution
of the United States."
The substitute was adopted, several
trial
;
Republicans reluctantly voting for it, and the bill was passed
by a majority of fourteen. It went to the Senate, was referred,
reported against by Mr. Douglas, and laid on the table.
The bill reported by Mr. Douglas, from the Committee on
Territories, for the admission of Kansas, had been debated for
several weeks, and amendments were proposed until the last
days of June, when it, with bills by Mr. Geyer, Mr. Clayton,
Mr. Seward, and Mr. Toombs, was recommitted to the same
On
new
was reported by Mr.
Douglas,
being substantially the bill introduced by Mr.
Toombs. It was debated during the first and second days of
July with great earnestness and vigor. The debates and votes
on amendments revealed anew the entire subserviency of that
body to slaveholding behests. This was especially conspicuous
in the votes on several amendments offered in the interests of
liberty by Trumbull, Foster, Seward, Clayton, and Wilson.
The closing debate on the bill and its amendments, on the
2d of July, lasted twenty hours. The free State members felt,
committee.
the 30th, a
bill
it
or at least feared, unless the bill could be defeated, that the
cause of freedom in Kansas, if not completely overthrown,
Letters, too, and despatches were con
from
the
Territory, sent by its leading men,
stantly arriving
were
under
arrest and held as state prisoners,
of
whom
many
the
apprehension that all was lost, unless the pasexpressing
was put
in great peril.
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
503
sage of the bill could be prevented, General Deitzler expressing
the belief that, if the Toombs bill was passed, freedom would
be " entombed in Kansas." Mr. Wade objected to its passage,
because the whole power of organizing that Territory was to be
in the hands of five commissioners, and he would not consent
"
"
to place
of the present execu
liberty under the guardianship
"
that
would
for
make
Kansas
a
slave
State without a
tive,
He
struggle."
some men
said he
was amazed at the facility with which
wake of slavery." He arraigned
followed " in the
Mr. Pugh, his colleague, who had, he said, turned his back
"
upon three fourths of the legislature of Ohio who has never
breathed here the name of liberty whose tongue has been
employed, since he has had a seat on this floor, in nothing but
the advocacy of abject slavery."
Mr. Trumbull, too, said the
" fair
bill was not a
proposition," and could not be made so
until the parties affected by it were placed upon " an equal foot
ing" that there could be no fair election so long as free State
men were hunted down and liable to constant arrests on
"
" sham
in the hands of " sham officers."
Mr. Wil
process
;
;
;
son said he believed that the passage of that bill would crown
and conquest of the 30th of March, and the bor
"
"
der-ruffian legislation.
Kansas," he said, was conquered,
the invasion
prostrate, powerless."
The people were overawed
;
their presses
had been destroyed many of their leaders were in exile, or
were held and guarded by United States soldiers under charges
;
Lawless bands were driving out and turning back
" And now
"
peaceable emigrants.
you come," he said, with
your bill to consummate the work. The friends of free Kansas
of treason.
cannot, will not, join with you in this act of crowning infamy."
He said that the President had given to Kansas the vile tools
of
tyranny, the
fit
associates of border ruffians,
who had been
the agents for persecuting free State men, and in making Kan
sas a slave State.
The President had been the willing agent
and the obedient tool of slavery, and had stood before the
Cincinnati convention with " the lurid light of the sacked and
"
but
burning dwellings of Kansas flashing upon his brow
they had averted their faces from him, and had not dared to
renominate him.
;
�504
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Seward compressed into a single and pregnant paragraph
the helpless condition of the people of Kansas and the violent
and unwarrantable methods by which it had been accomplished.
The President, he said, had " perpetrated a coup d'etat" by
which the constitution given to them by Congress had been
"
"
absolutely perverted ; giving him absolute power, in the
name and the form of " spurious " authorities, and by which
"
slavery is practically established there already
by force,"
while " a portion of the people are slain and a larger portion
have been expelled from the Territory," or " imprisoned within
on the charge of pretended crimes." An election, under
such circumstances, he declared to be " parallel, almost to the
point of coincidence, with those which attended the election
it
by which the Republicans of France invested Louis Napoleon
with the powers of an absolute despotism."
But these words of the Republican Senators expressed the
views of but a small minority of that body.
Their opponents
were assured and confident, and by voice and vote sustained
the policy of the slave propagandists.
Mr. Toombs looked, he
said, with contempt upon the claim of Republican Senators to
be the rightful exponents of the people of the North. He
had heard their " shrieks " before, and their appeals would not
be listened to, and they and their authors would be despised.
" The
" of their
folly and baseness," he said,
appeals, were
If
two
in
men
Kansas
over a squat
every day apparent.
fight
ter's claim, and one is killed, it is forthwith heralded over the
country as a Southern aggression. If a foul-mouthed Senator
gets a caning for an insulting and vulgar speech, this is the
last extremity of Southern aggression."
Mr. Pugh thanked
God that " the tide of fanaticism was ebbing away," and he
appealed to the people of Ohio against the resolutions of their
legislature.
Mr. Reid of North Carolina wanted
understood that the Union could not last
it
distinctly
the people of the
North should adopt the views entertained by the Senator from
New York, the Senator from Massachusetts, and those who
co-operated with them.
if
Even Mr. Crittenden deprecated
the
rejection of the proposed constitution ; for though, he said,
there might have been defects in Kansas legislation, it was
�505
THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
better than
no laws.
"
When
your patient," he
"
said,
is
in
you apply this fatal remedy of anarchy." Mr.
Clayton, though characterizing some of the laws of this illegal
" most
unjust and oppressive," counselled sub
legislation as
"
even
they should prove by thou
mission,
though, he said,
extremities,
sands of witnesses that the legislature was elected exclusively
by Missourians, and that there was not a single inhabitant of
Kansas
Such counsel from such a man be
at the election."
tokened a strange confusion of ideas and the sad demoraliza
After this prolonged debate, the bill
tion of that dark hour.
was passed by a vote
of a Senator,
The
of thirty-three to twelve, in the language
" three or four hours after sunrise."
friends
in
the
House, having failed in everything
else, sought to secure their purpose, or, rather, to avert the
threatened disaster, by attaching to the army bill a proviso
forbidding the employment of United States troops for the
enforcement of the Territorial laws. It provided that, until
"
"
Congress shall have passed on the validity of the enacting
body and of the laws of its enactment, the President shall
"
"
on
protect persons and property
preserve the peace, and
"
unlawful
from
the national highways
searches and seizures."
It required, too, the
of
President to disarm the organized militia
all arms distributed therein, and
armed men from going to " aid in the enforce
the Territory, to recall
to prevent
ment and
resistance of real or pretended laws."
The Senate
But the House firmly adhered to
rejected the amendments.
its position.
Committees of conference were appointed, bat
The army bill was lost, and Congress
they failed to agree.
adjourned without passing that important measure.
The President immediately called a special session to meet
on the 21st of August. On assembling Mr. Campbell intro
duced, from the Committee of Ways and Means, the self-same
bill and proviso which had
passed the House at the previous
session.
Mr. Stephens offered a substitute, leaving out the
The House being brought to a direct vote, the bill
proviso.
was adopted by a vote of ninety-three to eighty-five. In the
Senate, Mr. Hunter moved to amend it by striking out the
"
"
obnoxious proviso. The motion was put without debate, and
VOL.
II.
64
�506
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
by a vote of thirty-six to seven, and the bill, thus
amended, was carried by the same vote.
Mr. Weller of California, though a Democrat and violently
carried
introduced a bill, the purport of
"
"
which, in his own language, was to wipe out those laws so
"
would not have them
infamous in their character that he
partisan in his
feelings,
stand on the statute-book of any of the Territories of this
"
Union," violating not only the organic law, but the Constitu
tion of the United States." Though coupling the existence of
such laws with what he stigmatized as " the extraordinary
efforts of New England aid societies," he spoke of them as
"
"
infamous," and
revolting to every feeling of humanity."
Alluding to the law that forbade free discussion of the very
" the most atrocious act
question at issue, he spoke of it as
that ever found its way on to the statute-books of a free people."
introduced, he admitted, on his own personal re
sponsibility, was not acceptable to the members of the Demo
but its discussion was particularly noteworthy,
cratic party
This
bill
;
because of the admissions made by its mover and others, and
because of the position assumed by the Democratic members
and leaders. Mr. Weller expressed his great regret that he had
incurred the displeasure of his political friends, and he united
with them in laying the bill on the table.
On a motion
to proceed to the consideration of another
mes
sage from the House announcing its adherence to its vote, an
earnest speech was made by Mr. Clayton, in which special at
tention was given to the atrocious laws.
Mr. Clayton, though
representing a slaveholding State, denounced them in unmeas
ured terms as " unjust, iniquitous, oppressive, and infamous."
Of the law forbidding free discussion he said, it is " an act
as egregiously tyrannical as ever was attempted by any of the
and yet," he
Stuarts, Tudors, or Plantagenets, of England
;
added,
" this Senate
persists in declaring that
we
are not to
repeal that."
But the Senate remained inflexible, and allowed no consid
erations of philanthropy, patriotism, or even of party necessi
ties, to interfere
and
controlling,
with what had become so completely absolute
the
demands
of
slavery.
Anew
did the
�THE KANSAS STRUGGLE.
507
" the South has no
majority afford examples of the vaunt that
Administration leaders themselves were willing to
traitors."
imperil the government and cripple its operations by withhold
ing needful appropriations rather than resist the demand of
Power to support the border-ruffian policy of Kansas.
was to be broken, others must yield, and other
Nor was it doubtful, perhaps, from
interests must give way.
the first, which section would furnish the recreant ones.
The
House yielded, reversed its action, and thus closed this unpre
cedented contest by concurring in the Senate amendment by a
vote of one hundred and one to ninety-eight.
The nearly equal division of parties in the House, and the
large preponderance of proslavery strength in the Senate, had
prevented any legislation, the action of the House being re
the Slave
If the dead lock
by the Senate, while the proslavery measures, passed
the
latter, failed of receiving the support of the former.
by
The friends of free Kansas had been earnest, vigilant, and
jected
they could achieve was in the form of reports of
committees, the introduction of measures, and earnest debates.
brave, but
all
The
conflict, bitter and sanguinary, still raged in the Territory.
There outrage and robbery, arson and murder, held high car
nival, and the resistance and courage they provoked revealed
and illustrated the earnestness of purpose that animated and
This stern strife, while it
impelled the free State settlers.
afforded signal examples of the audacity of crime and the bar
barism of slavery, exhibited also rare illustrations of devotion,
endurance, and the martyr spirit of liberty.
�CHAPTER XXXVIII.
PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTION OF
Convention of American party.
disturbing question.
more nominated.
1856.
Previous meeting of National Council.
The
Killinger's resolution.
Seceders' convention.
FillAntislavery speeches.
Banks nominated.
Kepublican
Francis P. Blair.
Speeches of Greeley, Lovejoy,
Letter of Cassius M. Clay.
Nom
Speeches.
Plat
Speeches of Mr. Wilson and Caleb B. Smith.
convention at Pittsburg.
Address.
and Giddings.
inating convention.
Nomination of Fremont and Dayton.
form.
Democratic convention.
North Americans.
form.
Whig
convention.
Letters and debate on the
Buchanan nominated.
Plat
Indorses American candidates.
Nomination of
Buchanan's and Fillmore's letters of acceptance.
Stockton and Raynor.
Circular of Governor Wise to
Conflict of principles.
Excited canvass.
American AntiSouthern governors.
Responses.
Meeting at Raleigh.
" Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Results of the election.
slavery Society.
THE
convention of the American party met in Philadelphia
22d of February, 1856. Three days previously, the
the
on
National Council had met in the same city. It was composed
-
who were to constitute the
During these three days, slavery was
mostly of the same gentlemen
nominating convention.
the exciting topic of debate. The antislavery members pressed
the adoption of resolutions in harmony with their principles
but the conservatives resisted successfully the introduction
;
the platform of anything to commit the Order to the
principles or purposes of emancipation.
into
On the assembling of the convention, which was called to
order by William G. Brownlow of Tennessee, an organization
was effected by the choice of Ephraim Marsh of New Jersey
for president.
its
presence.
The disturbing question immediately revealed
was introduced by Mr. Killinger
A resolution
of Pennsylvania, protesting against the assumed authority of
the National Council " to prescribe a platform of principles for
" we will
nominating convention," and asserting that
nominate, for President or Vice-President, no man who is not
this
�PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTIONS OF
1856.
509
in favor of interdicting the introduction of slavery into terri
angry
tory north of 36 30' by congressional action.
An
debate ensued, in which Mr. Coffey of Pennsylvania spoke
"
are Ameri
eloquently for the antislavery members.
"
and we will fight for our principles, but we
cans," he said,
will not stand on a platform which ignores our position upon
We
day"; and he warned Southern
members and Northern doughfaces that their course would
" result in
overwhelming and disgraceful defeat." But the reso
On the motion to proceed to
lution was laid upon the table.
vote for candidates an exciting debate arose, but it was carried.
the vital question of the
Mr. Perkins of Connecticut denounced the course of the ma
" There
" two
are," he said,
jority.
great questions before
"
" of reform in the naturaliza
the American
the
people
:
one,
and that we are agreed in" the other, "What
"
be done about the restoration of freedom to Kansas ?
tion laws,
shall
He
;
invited the delegates from Connecticut,
and
all
who agreed
with him, to retire from the convention, and about
fifty re
sponded to his invitation.
Upon a formal ballot for the nomination, Millar d Fillmore
received one hundred and seventy-nine votes, and he was de
Andrew
Donelson, adopted son of
President Jackson, received the nomination for Vice-Presi
dent.
The antislavery delegates then issued an address to
"
" The American
and a protest was
Party of the Union
clared the candidate.
J.
;
signed by those who supported George Law and Sam Houston.
During the closing weeks of 1855, a call, signed by the
chairmen of the Republican State committees of Ohio, Massa
chusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont ; and Wisconsin, was issued
for an informal convention at Pittsburg, on the 22d of Feb
ruary, for the purpose of perfecting the national organization
and of making provision for a nominating convention to select
candidates for President and Vice-President. The convention
met in obedience to this invitation, was called to order by
Lawrence Brainard of Vermont and John A. King, son of
Rufus King, subsequently governor of New York, was made
The venerable Francis P. Blair was
temporary chairman.
elected president.
On taking the chair, he read an elabo;
�510
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
rate paper setting forth with precision and power the views
entertained by the Republicans of the border States. Speeches
were made by Mr. Greeley, Mr. Giddings, and Mr. Lovejoy.
Mr. Greeley counselled caution, conciliation, and an earnest
effort to secure recruits from both the South and the American
Mr. Giddings deprecated half-hearted counsels and
party.
measures, and urged the convention to adopt an independent
Mr. Lovejoy made an uncompromising speech. The
committee on organization reported that there should be
policy.
a national executive committee
;
that a national convention
should be held on the 17th of June for the nomination of
and that the
candidates for President and Vice-President
;
form a State organization.
Mr. Mann of New York, from the committee on an address,
presented a paper of great length, which closed with three
The first demanded, and pledged the party to
resolutions.
labor for, the repeal of all laws which allowed the introduction
of slavery into territory once consecrated to freedom, and de
clared its purpose to resist by all constitutional means the
existence of slavery in any of the Territories of the United
Republicans of each State should
States the second pledged Republicans to support, by every
lawful means, our brethren in Kansas in their constitutional
and manly resistance to the usurped authority of their "lawless
" the
invaders," and to use their political power in favor of
"
immediate admission of Kansas to the Union as a free State
;
;
the third expressed the belief that the continuance of the
national administration was " identified with the progress of
the Slave Power to national supremacy," and averred it to be
"
a " leading purpose
of the new party " to oppose and over
throw
it."
During the convention, earnest, eloquent, and hopeful
speeches were made by Preston King of New York, John C.
Vaughan and Charles Remelin of Ohio, and George W. Julian
James W. Stone
of Massachusetts, one of the
workers and organizers of that State, reminded
the convention that the American party had succeeded in that
commonwealth because it avowed itself to be the most anti" to the
personal
slavery party of the State and he pointed
of Indiana.
most
effective
;
�PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTIONS OF 1856
liberty law, passed
by an American
legislature,
511
and the
Henry Wilson, as evidence of that fact."
letter was also received from Cassius M. Clay.
elec
tion of
A
It
was an
impassioned utterance, and presented from a Southern stand
point, with the authority of personal knowledge, and in lan
guage singularly forcible and felicitous, his convictions of
what the Slave Power had accomplished, what its ultimate
purposes were, and the grounds of fear that it might succeed.
Tracing its aggressions and its advance towards nationalizing
" The
oligarchy of the three hundred thou
sand slaveholders no longer conceal their purposes, or deny
slavery, he said
:
Not only the blacks, but the whites,
their assumptions.
South have lost their
liberties.
Nominally
free, they
have long
since ceased to be a third estate in the slave States.
have no social equality no
,
political force,
of the
They
no moral influence.
Steeped in ignorance and poverty, the privileged class neither
The
respect their opinions nor regard their power
from the press, the
reign of terror has done its dread work
and
the
no
word of remonstrance.
pulpit,
stump there comes
;
The horrors
of
mob law have crushed
out the spirit of the
once gallant yeomanry of the South. Despair has seized upon
their brave hearts
weeping, bleeding, dying, we sink down
;
into oar voiceless woe."
The nominating convention
of the Republican party was
It was called to
held in Philadelphia on the 17th of June.
order by Edwin D. Morgan of New York ; prayer was offered
by the Rev. Albert Barnes and Henry S. Lane was chosen
;
In his address, the latter spoke of the anniversary
president.
" to
of Bunker Hill as a fitting time
inaugurate a new era in
our history, the regeneration and independence of the North."
yet impelled by the Nebraska
" love for old
swindle to sacrifice party predilections, and his
Mr.
ties was laid beside the Kentucky patriot in the grave."
"
Wilson counselled
the same
self-sacrifice and
A follower of Henry Clay, he was
patriot
lofty
"
ism," to
lay a foundation for the union of all parties to
save the Republic."
He called upon the Whigs to remember
the words of Daniel Webster, their great leader
upon the
members of the Democratic party to " come and make a true
;
�512
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
"
"
upon the Americans, who profess exalted
"
unite with us and save the first principles of
patriotism," to
Democratic party
American
;
liberty."
Caleb B. Smith of Indiana, responding to the calls of the
convention, affirmed that slavery had ever been aggressive and
had swallowed up every party in the South or brought it into
subjection. The aim of the Republican party, he said, was more
national than any party since the days of Washington, and it
was for that party to " assert and maintain the nationality
of freedom, and extend liberty wherever the flag of our coun
Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois said " It is not the
try waves."
destiny of America to go filibustering over the continent con
:
quering new territory to plant slavery in but it is her mission
to maintain and illustrate the self-evident truths of the Dec
;
laration of
Independence."
unity and harmony
of action.
Adams urged
asked members to con
Charles Francis
He
sider that " the
enemy was listening and working."
Mr. Wilmot presented a platform of principles, which was
adopted by the convention. After reciting the causes which
new party and some of the prin
and reasserting the self-evident
the Declaration of Independence and the duty of
led to the formation of the
ciples
of
truths of
its
organization,
government to maintain them, it denied that Congress, or any
other body, had any power to " give legal existence to slavery
" sov
in any Territory of the United States."
It asserted the
ereign
of Congress over the Territories, and its right
to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of
power"
and duty "
barbarism, Polygamy and Slavery." It spoke of the Ostend
circular as embodying the highwayman's plea that " might
makes right," and as " in every respect unworthy of American
diplomacy." Referring to the fact that the Constitution was
framed for the purpose
of insuring domestic tranquillity, it
recited the outrages that had been perpetrated on the settlers
of Kansas, and declared that, " for this high crime against the
Constitution, the Union, and Humanity, we arraign the Ad
ministration, the President, his advisers and agents, before
the country and before the world."
Upon the first ballot for candidate for the Presidency,
�PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTIONS OF
513
1856.
John C. Fremont received three hundred and fifty-nine votes
and Judge McLean one hundred and ninety-six. Mr. Fremont
was then unanimously made the candidate. For Yice-Presi-
much the larger number of
was unanimously selected. Among the votes were one
hundred and ten for Abraham Lincoln.
The seceders from the American convention had met on the
dent, William L. Dayton, receiving
votes,
12th in
York.
After organization by the choice of
Rob
of Pennsylvania as presiding officer, the first day
" the
spent in speeches, of which it was said that
speak
was
ers
New
Conrad
ert
seemed to be concurrent on the subject of uniting
all
the
Northern elements of opposition to slavery, without, however,
A
letter
impairing the organization of the American party."
was received from Mr. Morgan, chairman of the Republican
National Executive Committee, inviting the co-operation of all
opposed to the proslavery principles of the dominant parties
in
an
effort to choose a President
opposed to such a policy, ex
pressing, too, the belief that it could be effected, but only as
" all who
agree in sentiment can be brought to act for a com
mon
The paper was referred to a committee of one
object."
On the fourth day, Nathaniel P. Banks of
State.
Massachusetts and William F. Johnson of Pennsylvania were
from each
put in nomination for President and Yice-President. In one
" freedom
of the resolutions adopted was a declaration for
of speech, freedom of the press, free territory, and free Kan
sas."
committee was chosen to confer with the Republican
A
committee and General Banks, of which George
chairman.
The
Law
Mr. Morgan, in reply to the invita
tion extended by the latter, coming up in the Republican con
vention, Mr. Littlejohn of New York moved its reference to a
letter of
Mr.
Law was
to
but, on motion of Mr.
on
the
table.
After
the ballot for a can
Giddings,
didate for the Presidency, Mr. Giddings said that, contrary to
his own judgment, but in deference to the wishes of others, he
committee of one from each State
it
was
;
laid
moved a reconsideration of the vote by which the resolution
was laid on the table. In the debate on that motion Mr.
Littlejohn, Hoar and Eliot of Massachusetts, and ex-Governor
VOL.
ii.
65
�514
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
Cleveland of Connecticut, expressed the belief that these
men
were " sincere lovers of freedom," and advocated the recon
sideration of the motion and the reception of the letter.
Dr.
Gazzam
of western Pennsylvania said that the
Americans of
had adopted an open organization, and were sincere
Republicans. Mr. Root of Ohio then moved the reconsider
ation of the vote, and the letter was referred to the committee
on the platform.
his State
Congratulatory speeches were made amid great enthusiasm.
John P. Hale, though not a member, was invited to address
the convention.
He reminded its members that they had not
assembled to say whether or not the Union should be preserved,
but to say whether or not it should be " a blessing to the peo
ple, or a scorn and a hissing the world over."
Referring to
the scenes transpiring in Kansas, he said " We are living in
the harvest-time of a proslavery Democracy. They have sown
:
they have germinated, budded, blossomed, borne
and now the historian is writing its history in the blood
of our fellow-citizens on the plains of Kansas."
Mr. Wilson said that they " had formed a platform that
embraced freedom, humanity, and Christianity,"
a "pure
their seeds
fruit
;
;
Christian democracy." " This," he said, " is the moment of
a revolution of liberty, humanity, and Christian
revolution,
and it is your duty, each and all of you, to labor and to
until we establish the principles embodied in this plat
on,
hope
form in the government of the country." Samuel C. Pomeroy
spoke for Kansas, and for the men in the Territory who, he
ity,
would not be slaves, for they had not the marks of ser
vitude " written on their backs or inscribed on their foreheads.
They have come here from their desolate homes with drooping
heads and trembling hands, but they are now inspired with
said,
hope, for they find friends ready to aid them."
The convention of the Democratic party, for the nomination
and Vice-Presidency, met at
General John Ward of Georgia
of candidates for the Presidency
Cincinnati on the 2d of June.
was chosen
There were marked differences of
opinion on both the platform and candidate, the former not
being accepted until the third day, and the latter selected only
on the seventeenth ballot.
president.
�PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTIONS OF
The candidates
1856.
515
the convention were Buchanan,
But the latter two had been so com
plicated with the exciting and pregnant questions which were
distracting the country that it was impossible for either to
command the requisite vote, and James Buchanan, who had
before
Pierce, and Douglas.
been out of the country as minister to England, during the
troubles growing out of the repeal of the Missouri compromise,
was taken up, as, on that account, less obnoxious to the coun
On the sixteenth vote, Mr. Buchanan received one hun
try.
dred and sixty-eight of the two hundred and ninety-five votes
cast, and Mr. Douglas received one hundred and twenty-one,
the highest number he received during the several ballotings.
On
the next ballot, the former received the unanimous vote,
and was declared the candidate of the party. John C. Breckinridge was chosen candidate for Vice-President, on the second
ballot, by a like unanimous vote.
" Baltimore re
platform of principles it adopted the
1852 " reiterated, " with renewed energy of pur
pose, the well-considered declarations of former conventions
"
upon the sectional issue of domestic slavery ; reaffirmed
" the
principles contained in the organic laws establishing the
In
its
solves of
;
Kansas and Nebraska," and the compromises of
" ratified
1850,
by the people in the election of 1852, and
to
the organization of the Territories in 1854 " ;
rightly applied
and recognized " the right of the people of all the Territories,
including Kansas-Nebraska, to form a constitution with or with
Territories of
out domestic slavery, and to be admitted into the Union upon
terms of perfect equality with the other States." With popular
sovereignty upon its lips, and expressly denying the right of in
terference by Congress with slavery in the Territories, it limited,
least, the right of the people of the Territories
to regulate slavery, by the condition that they must have a
sufficient number of inhabitants to form a State.
The only
by implication at
conclusion to be drawn from
its
resolutions
was that the
of the people of the Territories over slavery was in
abey
ance while in its Territorial condition. " Alas for short-lived
power
territorial sovereignty
a few days afterward
"
!
"
;
exclaimed Mr. Hamlin in the Senate
it
came
to its death in the house of
�516
its
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
friends
;
it
IN AMERICA.
was buried by the same hands that had given
it
baptism."
The abasement of the Whig national convention in 1852,
and the action of the Southern Whigs in favor of the repeal
of the Missouri compromise, had demoralized, disrupted, and
A few, however, still claimed the name,
and sought to reorganize its thinned and broken ranks. They
met in national convention on the 17th of September, in the
disbanded that party.
Edward Bates of Missouri, afterward
Mr. Lincoln, presided, and the Ameri
under
Attorney-General
can ticket of Fillmore and Donelson was indorsed. In the
city
of
Baltimore.
discussions of the meeting, they referred to the disordered
" the civil war " in
condition of things, and
Kansas, and
"
to the culpable neglect of duty by the present
traced them
national administration." Proclaiming their opposition to sec
tional parties, they declared that the agitation convulsing the
nation must be arrested, "if we would preserve our Constitu
tion and our Union from dismemberment, and the name of
America from being blotted out from the family
nations."
They expressed unbounded confidence
"
more, for his
that "
war
inflexibility in
of civilized
in Mr. Fill-
executing the laws."
raging, and that the Union
Declaring
in peril," they
his
to
the
to
restoration
Presidency as the
regard
professed
means
of
if
not
the
restoring peace.
portion of
best,
only,
civil
is
is
A
the Americans,
too, being dissatisfied
with the action of their
convention, put in nomination a separate ticket, and selected
as their candidates Commodore Stockton of New Jersey and
Kenneth Raynor of North Carolina.
Such were the nominating conventions of 1856. Unprece
dented in number, and held under the deepest excitement, they
took color and character from the disturbed condition of affairs,
and from the division and disintegrating process which the
But, while
slavery question was producing all over the land.
this element of discord and division was thus marked, there
were developing new elements, resulting in new affinities and
new tendencies to cohesion, which reduced the five tickets to
Bu
three, and the contest was practically between Fremont,
chanan, and Fillmore.
Banks and Johnson
declining, those
�PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTIONS OF
1856.
517
in nomination voted for Fremont and Dayton.
Stockton and Raynor being withdrawn from the contest, their
friends generally transferred their support to Fillmore and
who put them
Donelson.
Mr. Buchanan accepted the nomination in a letter fully in
dorsing the Democratic platform, indeed almost sinking his
personality in becoming its representative and embodiment.
In a conversation with Albert Gr. Brown, a Mississippi Senator,
a few days after the convention, he so fully indorsed the
Southern side of the questions at issue as to extort from that
of Southern confi
Senator the remark that he was " as
worthy
dence and Southern votes as ever Mr. Calhoun was."
Mr.
Fill-
Europe when his nomination was made. He soon
afterward returned, and, in a speech at Albany, took intensely
more was
in
Southern, not to say revolutionary, ground.
He
predicted the
most serious consequences, should the Republicans succeed,
and he justified the South in regarding such success as suffi
" If this sectional
cient warrant for violence.
party succeeds,"
he
"
said,
it
leads inevitably to the destruction of this beautiful
by our forefathers, cemented by their blood, and
fabric, reared
bequeathed to us as a priceless inheritance."
A canvass inaugurated by such a preparation, by such scenes
of violence and blood in Kansas and on the Senate floor, by
such utterances of party platforms and party candidates, and
by such sectional demonstrations of Southern leaders, could not
but be earnest and in the highest degree animated. The Re
publicans, not hampered by a Southern wing with its prescrip
tion and proscription, and " running without weights," sought
freedom for others
come
all
free themselves.
principles, not
of
the
As
political
more
heartily because they
never before
it
was a
had be
conflict of
economy and commercial greed
and religious obliga
alone, but in the higher range of morals
For questions of tariffs, banks, internal improvements,
and the like, were substituted those of philanthropy, true
patriotism, and a wise statesmanship; of human rights and the
Never had the nation been taken up to so high a
higher law.
of
never had it been con
plane
feeling, thought, and action
fronted with questions of such pregnant interest and importance.
tion.
;
�518
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
As never before had such use been made of weapons drawn
from the armory above, so never had the pulpit and the religious
and reformatory press lent such aid in a political struggle.
There were, too, other subsidiary influences that helped to
swell the volume of Republican thought and feeling.
Among
them were the inflexible purposes and persistent labors of the
American Antislavery Society and its affiliated associations.
Though their members cast no votes, and they discarded all
political action, they contributed to the result aimed at by the
new party of freedom. By orators and presses, meetings and
conventions, they made constant warfare on the slave-system,
and kept before the people the woes of the slave and the mach
inations of the Slave Power.
During what might be termed
the terrible " seven years' war," beginning with the compro
mises of 1850, including the abject surrender of the great
parties in 1852, the merciless enforcement of the Fugitive
Slave Act, the Kansas-Nebraska legislation of 1854, the as
on Mr. Sumner and the border-ruffian policy in Kansas
sault
in 1856, they denounced, with unsparing words, this systematic
attack upon the rights of man and the integrity of the nation.
Their independence of sect or party contributed to this result.
Absolved from all responsibility for either, they analyzed, per
haps, more closely, and described more faithfully, the evil they
so fiercely condemned and so fearlessly exposed.
But many who were convinced by
their arguments against
could
not
their
slavery
adopt
proposed measures for its re
moval.
Their diagnosis of the disease they were forced to
admit, but they were not persuaded to accept the remedy pre
own numbers were not increasing,
were
impregnating the North with
perhaps diminishing, they
antislavery ideas and increasing the number who abhorred
and hated slavery and were in a waiting posture to wel
come just such an agency as the Republican party promised.
scribed.
But, while their
Equally pronounced in
its hostility to
the vile system,
it,
at
was proposing a remedy that seemed less
more
reformatory, practical, promising, besides
revolutionary,
the same time,
being less in conflict with their feelings of patriotism for the
country and of reverence for the church.
�PKESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTIONS OF
1856.
519
Another potent influence which doubtless entered largely
had been the publication and wide-spread
" Uncle Tom's Cabin."
It was both a revelation
perusal of
and a summons. It revealed what existed here, and, as with
trumpet blast from another world, it called upon the people
to repent and purge themselves from the great iniquity.
It
was as if a vast panorama had been suddenly unrolled, on
which the gifted artist had portrayed with vivid colors the
scenes of cruelty and shame, of suffering and sorrow, to which
slavery gave rise, and those of noble daring and Christian selfsacrifice, to effect and aid escape therefrom, and these pictures
had been burned into the popular mind and heart by the very
into the canvass
fervor of the genius that inspired and wrought them.
Nor
can it be doubted that many minds, in perusing that work,
had found the needful preparation for the arguments and
appeals of Republican presses and speakers that were so soon
and that many votes cast for Fremont were but the
to follow,
rich fruitage of seed so widely broadcast by Harriet Beecher
Stowe. Nor was its influence confined to this country. It
crossed the seas.
Translated into an almost incredible
num
ber of languages, and circulated in unprecedented numbers
in every country, city, and court of Europe, it excited like
abhorrence of the system it so vividly portrayed, kindled sym
pathy with efforts for its extirpation, and evoked hearty good
will and earnest good wishes for the new party of freedom.
On the other hand, the arguments which the supporters of
Buchanan and Fillmore most frequently employed were those
of alarm and menace.
The most direful consequences were
predicted and the most belligerent threats were fulminated
everywhere, designed and well adapted to affright the timid,
and especially to disturb the moneyed interests.
Senators
Slidell and Toombs declared that, in case of Fremont's elec
tion, the
Union would, and ought
Butler said
of the
Union
:
to be, dissolved.
Senator
" I shall advise
drum."
Mr.
my legislature to go at the tap
Keitt declared that " adherence to the
treason to liberty." Indeed, in every form and with
frantic emphasis did the leading men and presses of the South
utter threats like these.
is
�520
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Governor Wise was conspicuous in that canvass for
his
zealous support of the Democratic ticket, because it main
At a ratifi
tained, he contended, the rights of the South.
cation meeting in Richmond, soon after the nomination, he
unhesitatingly declared, in a speech of marked ability, pur
pose, and boldness, that Mr. Buchanan had ever been true to
the interests of the South, " as reliable as Mr. Calhoun him
Alarmed, in view of the possibility, if not probability,
Fremont, he sent a circular, about the middle
of September, to the Democratic governors of the Southern
States, proposing a meeting at Raleigh on the 13th of October,
self."
of the election of
to take into consideration the condition of the country.
this circular Governor Bragg of North Carolina replied,
der date of the 19th.
He
To
un
expressed his dread of a disastrous
result in the approaching Presidential election, concurred in
the propriety of the meeting, and consented to be present.
Governor
Adams
of .South Carolina,
under date of the 23d,
he would cheerfully meet the men invited at
"
"
and
in
Raleigh,
pledged South Carolina to
joyously follow
that
to
measure
would
the
South.
On
the
any
bring security
replied that
24th, Governor Ligon of Maryland wrote that he thought the
proposed meeting premature that it would not be attended
;
and that it would injuriously affect
Four days afterward he wrote
the election of Buchanan.
that such a collection of governors of Southern States would
be regarded as preliminary to some decided action in the event
of a certain contingency, and would injure the Democratic
party in Maryland. Governor Winslow of Alabama responded
on the 26th, and stated that if the meeting took place he would
with beneficial results
;
On
the llth of October, he again wrote that
he would second and support any line of policy that might be
not be absent.
He thought, if the governors of Virginia and
decided upon.
North Carolina would meet, the Southern States would adopt
"
"
if not,
any policy suggested, if it was only bold enough
"
to sink down in abject acquiescence
he said, they had only
;
until
made
his back.''
move like the terrapin, with burning coals on
Governor Broome of Florida wrote, on the 7th,
to
that the objects of the meeting
met
his hearty concurrence,
�PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS AND ELECTIONS OF
1856.
521
would give him great pleasure to meet " the execu
The people
tives of the Southern sisterhood in conference."
of Florida, he thought, would stand shoulder to shoulder with
Under
the Southern States on the Georgia platform of 1851.
date of 9th of October, Governor Wickliffe of Louisiana, who
had telegraphed that he would attend the meeting, wrote that
subsequent reflection had convinced him that the proposed
"
meeting would militate against the union of the South." He
and that
it
thought the meeting would be considered as having for its ob
ject the election of Buchanan, and would be considered solely
as a Democratic
movement. Governor Wickliffe, as did some
of
the other governors, wrote that the exclusion of the governors
of Kentucky and Missouri, representing the American party,
might be construed into a declaration that they were untrue
to the South, and would tend to imbitter them against any
recommendation that might be made.
The governors of Virginia and South Carolina met the
The governors of
governor of North Carolina at Raleigh.
the other Southern States either refused or were unable to
But no action whatever was taken. The object
movement at the time was generally understood to be
a dismemberment of the Union or resistance within it,
be present.
of this
either
and, as such, it tended to alarm timid and conservative men
But Governor Wise, in a letter to Mr. Wilson,
at the North.
under date of November
5, 1873, after declaring that he had
"
" a friend of the
been
Union," writes
My anxious
always
desire and most zealous motive was to do all I could to pre
:
vent intestine war and guard against disunion and, if that
could not be done, to provide for the safety and protection
;
of Virginia in a war which might come, and which I was sure
would come unless a convention of all the States could be
its dangers."
Saying that it was his main
" to call a national convention in the
Union," but that
object
" it had too
to
contend with,"
Union
of
the
enemies
many
"
if
a convention
that
I shall die in the conviction
he added
assembled to avert
:
of all the States could
have been then held, that war would
have been averted."
These threats and movements exerted no
VOL.
ii.
66
little
influence
�522
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
on the canvass. Many, especially manufacturers, merchants,
and bankers, were prevented from voting the Republican ticket,
though they could not but approve the doctrines of its plat
form, while constrained to vote for candidates whose principles
The canvass resulted in the election of
they must condemn.
Mr. Buchanan, though he lacked more than three hundred and
seventy thousand votes of a majority, Mr. Fremont receiving
more than one million three hundred and forty-one thousand
votes.
This Democratic victory was a severe blow to Republican
Its lessons could neither
hopes and to all liberty-loving men.
be gainsaid nor ignored, for they were burned into the hearts
who had
participated in this heated canvass.
They saw
the
constant
that, notwithstanding
antislavery agitations of
had
which
enlisted
the ablest tongues and
twenty-five years,
of all
pens, and spread before the people by voice and press, by
pulpit and platform, not only the primal truths of human
rights, but the
grim and abhorrent facts and features of the
notwithstanding the high-handed aggressions of
the Slave Power, all fully and even ostentatiously indorsed by
slave system
;
the victorious party, in whose platform they had been made
the prominent and commanding articles ;
notwithstanding all
and
without
done
with
concealment, the people,
this,
purpose
with seeming deliberation, had adopted it and made it their
own. Though the Slave Power seemed more firmly seated
than ever, and more securely enthroned
though the cries of
"
bleeding Kansas
lingered in the air, its soil was still mois
tened with the blood of the victims of slaveholding hate, and
its skies were yet murky with the smoke of burning and deso
;
"
lated homes, the people seemed willing to make public record
of their subserviency, stronger the chains of the slave, and
more hideous
their
own
ignoble vassalage.
�CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE DEED SCOTT CASE.
Dred Scott " Case."
Over the Judiciary.
Famous opinion.
His history.
Domination of the Slave Power.
One
of a series of slaveholding aggressions.
Points of the case.
Question of citizenship.
Conflicting opinions.
Declaration of Inde
to the negro's claim.
Adverse
Historical survey.
pendence and Constitution.
Not a question
of law.
Ulterior purposes.
Dissenting opin
Slavery national.
Judge Daniel.
ions of Justices McLean and Curtis.
Strong and significant language of
General
Argument of Judge Curtis for negro citizenship.
Judge McLean.
Mr. Benton's re
Opinion severely condemned.
indignation and alarm.
Line of argument.
view.
Characterization.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S
characterization of the workings of
the Federal Constitution with its proslavery provisions, that
made "
the preservation, propagation, and perpetuation of
vital and animating spirit of the national govern
the
slavery
it
ment," was no more terse than true. No language less strong
and severe would fully and fitly describe its terrible history.
Nor was that influence anywhere more marked than on the
There, instead of even-handed justice, was its most
shameless prostitution, and judges, instead of being " just,
ruling in the fear of God," gave unmistakable evidence that
"
their rulings were rather given in " fear
of the almost omnipo
And nowhere was this ever more apparent
tent Slave Power.
than in what was
and
termed " The Dred
judiciary.
distressing
familiarly
In that " case," with its antecedent and atten
Scott Case."
dant facts, there was much to alarm.
Its interpretations
and rulings were untrue in
fact,
barbarous in
revolutionary in their scope and intent,
black,
spirit, absolutely
inhuman towards the
and despotic and defiant towards the white population
It came, too, after and apparently as the sequel
of the land.
of new slaveholding aggressions, beginning
with the compromises of 1850, followed up by the more disas-
and culmination
�524
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
trous legislation of 1854, the border-ruffian policy in Kansas,
and its full indorsement by the President, by Congress, and by
the Democratic party. In it the Supreme Court not only gave
a similar indorsement, but exhibited a forwardness to give it, a
willingness, indeed, to go out of the way to do it. It was felt
to be both an index and a presage, a milestone far in advance
of any yet reached in that disastrous journey the nation was
travelling so rapidly towards one of the alternatives of which
Mr. Lincoln had spoken when he predicted that the nation
must ultimately become " all slave or all free."
The " case " was that of Bred Scott of Missouri, formerly,
with his wife, a slave of a gentleman of that State, though sub
sequently sold to John F. A. Sandford of New York. During
the ownership of his former master he had been taken into Illi
nois, and also into a portion of the northwest territory, now
Minnesota.
Being taken back to Missouri, he had unsuccess
sued for his freedom on the ground that he had been
taken into a free State. After being purchased by Mr. Sandfully
ford, he sued again in the circuit court of St. Louis County,
and obtained a favorable decision. His new owner, however,
appealed to the supreme circuit court and obtained a reversal.
The case now under consideration was on an appeal to the
Supreme Court on a writ of error. It was on this appeal that
Chief Justice Taney gave utterance to the sentiment, which
has been the subject of so much remark and animadversion,
that "the black man has no rights which white men are bound
to respect."
It
may
be said, however, that he did not so
proclaim this as his personal opinion
as that this
was
though
it
much
evidently was
his interpretation of history, both Euro
Whether his interpretation was true or
pean and American.
not, and whatever might have been his individual opinion, this
was his method of placing the sentiment before the court, the
nation, and the world.
By a singular coincidence and confluence of circumstances,
the necessities of an individual, and the exigencies of a section
and
faction, this claim of a single
unknown
the occasion of a decision more radical in
sweeping in
its
its
was made
character, more
slave
reach and range, and of greater notoriety,
�THE DEED SCOTT CASE.
525
than any single case in court or congress, since the formation
The points raised were mainly three.
of the government.
that the court had no jurisdiction in the case, it was
necessary to make it appear that Dred Scott was not a citizen
To show
of the
suit.
United States, and therefore that he could not bring a
To show that taking him into a free State did not
owner's claim, it was necessary to disallow the
that
such transit did thus inure to his detriment, as
principle
had been generally recognized by the courts. To " make as
vitiate his
surance doubly sure," it was deemed necessary to prove, too,
that the Missouri inhibition was unconstitutional. There were
other points, legal and technical, which became the occasion of
discussion in the court, and on which there was much
much
difference of opinion. Indeed, this conflict of sentiment on the
side issues and incidental questions that came up did much to
break the moral force of the
obiter dicta, the extra-judicial
ions which the Chief Justice and other
members
opin
of the court
pronounced on the occasion. A contemporanous critic thus puts
" Four
it
judges are of one opinion two of the opposite two
will give no opinion, and one is divided
There is no
:
;
;
majority in favor of anything, but a majority against every
thing suggested unless it should be claimed that Judge Grier
;
something." On another point he writes
that three judges are for reversing the decision
of the court below on the plea of abatement
and six are
is
in favor of
" The result
:
is
;
two because that decision is right, one
against the reversal,
because this court has no authority to examine it, and three
without giving any reason.
There is no majority for any
thing,
to reverse, affirm, or waive."
On
the question whether the plaintiff had a
right to sue in
the courts arose the inquiry whether he was a " citizen."
On
" This is
this the Chief Justice said
certainly a very serious
question, and one that now for the first time has been brought
for decision before this court
Can a negro, whose ances
tors were imported and sold as slaves, .... become entitled
:
to all the rights
and
privileges
and immunities guaranteed
"
In reply he entered upon
by that instrument to a citizen ?
an elaborate examination of the status of the
negro, both in
�526
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
"
and in this country. At the time
every European nation
"
of the formation of our government, he said,
they had, for
more than a century before, been regarded as beings of an in
"
and altogether unfit to associate with the white
in
either
social or political relation
and so far inferior
race,
ferior order,
;
that they had no rights which the white man was bound to
and that the negro might justly and lawfully be
respect
reduced to slavery for his benefit." This " opinion," he said,
was " fixed and universal," " an axiom in morals as well as
" "
in politics
;
uniformly acted upon by the English govern
;
;
ment and English peoples "
"
imposed upon the colonies,"
"
and fully exemplified in their legislation," samples of which
These were, he said, " a faithful index " of the
he gave.
state of feeling towards the negro, and of " the degraded con
dition of this unhappy race."
In opposition to the argument
;
that the strong language of the Declaration of Independence
"
"
militated against this
concerning the equality of all men
its
authors
did not in their aver
that
it
was
he
said
view,
plain
ment " embrace the negro race, which, by common consent, had
been excluded from civilized governments and the family of
and doomed to slavery." Culling from the acts of the
legislatures and courts, especially of the Northern and Eastern
States, those provisions which discriminated against the colored
nations,
race, especially in the matter of intermarriage, serving in the
as a tri
militia, and attending schools, he pointed to them
umphant refutation of the idea that the two races were regarded
as equal.
Though these States had abolished slavery, he gave
them no credit for moral principle in the matter but he con
;
tended that
convictions.
of
it
for prudential reasons, and not from religious
With such a state of feeling and opinion at the time
was
could
framing the Constitution, he contended that the idea
not have been entertained that negroes were citizens indeed,
" the
include them
only two provisions which point to them and
;
treat
of
them
as property."
He
also quoted
William Wirt and Caleb Cushing, when
from the opinions
filling
the office of
were citi
Attorney-General, in which they denied that negroes
Similar sentiments were expressed
zens of the United States.
"
several of the
Judge Daniel affirming that a knowl-
by
judges,
�THE DEED SCOTT CASE.
527
world compels us to know that the
edge of the history of the
have been acknowledged as belong
never
African negro race
ing to the family of nations."
before the court,
Having disposed of the subject immediately
the writ of error, and having denied the prayer of the plaintiff
for a reversal of the judgment, there
was
really nothing fur
his argument
ther and legitimately before the bench. Based on
"
Chief
the
a
be
Justice, in
not
citizen,"
that an African could
could not
Scott
Dred
that
the name of the court, had decreed
yet authoritatively, he
had been denied the privilege of pleading his cause before that
Evi
?
tribunal. What was there further to be considered
sue at
its
bar.
Though wrongfully,
high
and had it been a mere judicial question, the
ended here. But it was not a mere ques
have
matter would
There were ulterior purposes that were deemed
tion of law.
There were political considera
of vastly more importance.
dently nothing
;
his
by the side of which the fate of Dred Scott and
of his rights
family was of slight account. To despoil man
and not to defend them, to do injustice and not justice, to
circumvent and not to interpret the Constitution, were the
had in view.
special objects the majority of the judges
on the ground
for
freedom
The plaintiff had based his plea
tions,
that his owners had voluntarily taken him into a State made
free by the ordinance of 1787, and into territory made free
by the Missouri compromise.
Seizing upon this circumstance,
or
valid
true
or
invalid, could have no bearing
untrue,
which,
that
he
had been nonsuited on the
now
the
plaintiff,
upon
plea of his not being an American citizen, the Chief Justice
proceeded to carry out the intentions, if not the instructions,
of the
Slave Power.
Travelling far out of the record, he
new dogma of popular sovereignty
the
Missouri
compromise, or the restriction of
by declaring
36
north
of
latitude
30', to be unconstitutional.
slavery
proceeded to indorse the
Of course, conclusions so monstrous and an interpretation
so terribly practical were not announced without, at least, a
show of argument and authority therefor. And though, since
the cause of
all this
special pleading, these hair-splitting dis
and technicalities of
tinctions, these refinements of language
�528
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
terms, has been taken out of the way, there
is
less interest
in discussions that then excited the liveliest concern
and the
most profound alarm, there may be an historic value in
noting
some of the steps which led to conclusions so monstrous and
astounding.
Substantially, then, and without detail, the rea
soning was this. In the first place, the Chief Justice contended
that the ordinance of 1787 and the article of the Constitution
which referred to the government of Territories was restricted
to the territory then in possession of the United
States,
to any territory afterward
acquired.
had no reference
and
For
any such subsequent acquisitions, the power to govern the
territory was inferential, and resulted from the power to admit
new States. In the second place, granting that the power
resided in Congress to govern such territory, he contended
that that general prerogative did not carry with it the right
to restrict the existence and practice of slavery.
Concerning
" The Federal
the inhabitant of such
he
govern
said,
territory,
ment can exercise no power over his person and property
beyond what that instrument confers, nor lawfully deny any
from " the fifth
amendment to the Constitution, which provides that no person
shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due
right which
it
has reserved."
He
also quoted
Alluding again to the affirmation, already
process of law."
"
made, that the right of property in a slave is distinctly and
expressly affirmed in the Constitution," he claimed that to all
who desired traffic in such property, " like an ordinary article
"
"
of merchandise," the right was
Upon these
guaranteed."
" it is the
the court
of
he
opinion
concluded,
considerations,"
that the act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from hold
ing and owning property of this kind in the territory of the
United States north of the line therein mentioned is not war
ranted by the Constitution, and
Daniel pushed the principle to a
is
therefore void."
Judge
further extreme, and
" never had and
contended that even the ordinance of 1787
still
never could have any legitimate and binding force."
Inferentially,
evolved, from
with
it
therefore,
the
was involved, or
Constitution carried
principle
this reasoning, that the
the right and power to hold slaves anywhere within
�529
THE DRED SCOTT CASE.
widest and extremest range, making slavery literally no
Such were the leading and
longer sectional but national.
salient points of the opinions of the majority of the Supreme
Court in the famous Dred Scott case. Other and subordinate
its
here be noted.
points were considered, that cannot
Justices McLean and Curtis dissented from the opinions of
The former pronounced the argument against
the majority.
"
the citizenship of the negro
Though
radically defective."
had " never been held necessary to constitute a citizen
within the act, that he should have the qualifications of an
had often
elector," he showed that even that qualification
it
been possessed " in the slave as well as the free States."
"
"
Many of them," he said, were citizens of the New England
Consti
States, and exercised the right of suffrage when the
was adopted." Concerning the claim that the Missouri
" was
compromise was unconstitutional, he replied that it
passed by a vote of 134, in the House of Representatives, to
tution
42,"
while Mr. Monroe's
cabinet " held the
restriction
of
slavery in a Territory to be within the constitutional powers
of Congress."
Concerning the effect of taking slaves into
a State or Territory, and so holding them where slavery is
prohibited, he contended that such act worked their freedom
as claimed by the plaintiff.
He urged in defence of that prin
of
in the Prigg case, that " slavery
the
decision
the
court,
ciple
a municipal regulation founded upon and limited to the
range of the territorial laws." He urged, too, the decision of
Lord Mansfield, " that a slave brought to England was free."
Concerning the claim of the majority that Lord Stowell had
is
" Lords Mans
given a decision somewhat adverse, he added
field and Stowell agree upon this point, and there is no dis
" This
" is not a
senting authority."
decision," he said,
point
for argument, but it is the end of the law, in regard to the
:
extent of slavery."
He fortified
his position by quoting from the opinion of Chief
Gamble of Missouri upon " the identical question before
us," that of Dred Scott v. Emerson, a former owner, in which,
after saying that the question had been " settled by repeated
adjudications of the court," he had added, that a residence of a
Justice
VOL.
ii.
67
�530
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
master in a free State with his slave " would manumit the slave
as effectually as if he had executed a deed of emancipation."
Quoting largely from decisions of courts, even in slave States,
he made the authoritative and unanswerable statement that,
" in
decision of a slave case
to
every
v.
prior
that of
Dred Scott
Emerson, even the supreme court of Missouri had treated
" the constitution of
Illinois, the ordinance of 1787, and the
Missouri compromise act of 1820," as " in force," and held
itself bound to execute them."
By it, he said, was reversed
" the whole line of
" in conflict with
adjudication," and it was
the decisions of
the courts in the Southern States, with
all
some exceptions of recent cases."
Nor did the eminent jurist forbear allusion, though in cour
teous and judicial phrase, to the ulterior purposes of these
He
special pleadings and novel rulings of the majority.
recognized, too, a higher law, and a standard of appeal superior
to the desperate straits of politicians and the arrogant demands
Power, though they were recognized within the
"
sacred domain of the Supreme Court.
Rights," he said,
" sanctioned for
not
to be and cannot
twenty-eight years, ought
of the Slave
be repudiated, with any semblance of justice, by one or two
decisions, influenced, as declared, by a determination to coun
teract the excitement against slavery in the free States
While I lament this excitement as much as any one, I can
not assent that
it
shall
be made the basis of judicial action."
made that a slave may be taken,
Referring to the assertion
" the
any Territory of the United
was said by the court,
Noth
as also many other things, which are of no authority.
ing has been said by them which has not a direct bearing on
the jurisdiction of the court, against which they decided, can
same as a horse,"
"It
States, he remarked
:
into
is true, this
be considered as authority. I shall certainly not regard it as
He bears the
slave is not a mere chattel.
such
A
amenable to the laws of God and
an
endless existence."
and
The dissenting opinion of Justice Curtis was very decided,
thorough, fortified by an impregnable array of authorities,
and, from his well-known conservatism, worthy of special
impress of his
man
;
Maker, and
is
he is destined to
�531
THE DEED SCOTT CASE.
In reply to the assertion of the majority that the
" the citizens of
citizen," he asserted that
the several States were citizens of the United States under the
notice.
"
negro was not a
confederation," and he instanced the fact that all free nativeborn inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachu
setts, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, though
descended from African slaves, were not only citizens," but
"
many of them had the franchise of electors." He quoted
from a decision of a North Carolina court, that " slaves, manu
mitted here, became freemen, and therefore, if born within
"
North Carolina, are citizens of North Carolina ; and this de
" case
cision was given, that court affirmed, on a
brought here
felt to be one of great importance," and
" after a
laborious
investigation, both by the bar and
very
bench." Speaking of the " surprise" of the people of Massa
chusetts at the allegation of the majority that negroes were
by appeal, and was
not regarded as citizens in that State, he said that it was true,
beyond all controversy, that even descendants of African
were made citizens by their constitution, and that those
who had the necessary qualifications " exercised the elective
slaves
So of New Hampshire,
their histories " show, in a manner
franchise."
New York, New Jersey,
which no argument can
obscure, that in some of the original thirteen States, free colored
persons, before and at the time of the formation of the Con
stitution,
were citizens of those States."
They
" were not
only included in the body of the people of the United States,'
by whom the Constitution of the United States was ordained
and established, but in at least five of the States they had the
power to act, and doubtless did act by their suffrages, upon
i
" a
adoption
singular circumstance, surely,
" citizens " for whom it
if they were not included among the
was established.
Nor did the fact that in some States they
the question of
its
;
were deprived of some of the rights possessed by the whites
" The truth
militate against their citizenship.
is," said Judge
" that
of the United
under
the
Constitution
Curtis,
citizenship,
States, is not dependent on the possession of
political or even of any civil rights."
any particular
These rulings and opinions, though regarded as obiter dicta
�532
and
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
extra-judicial,
IN AMERICA.
produced a profound impression throughout
the land, and, of course, excited
much comment and many
expressions of condemnation and indignant remonstrance.
Emboldened by the conflicting utterances of the court, and
sanctioned by the dissenting opinions of Justices McLean and
Curtis, the press and many of the public men of the country
joined in this popular verdict against what was deemed hostile
to the legitimate principles of established jurisprudence, and
to the demands of that higher law that sits enthroned above
all
human
enactments.
Perhaps there were no assaults more
severe and noteworthy than those of Mr. Benton.
As familiar
as any public man with the political and Constitutional history
of the government, himself a citizen of a slave State
and not
averse to the system in obedience to whose behests the decision
was given, his judgment and condemnation could not be set
aside on the score of ignorance and fanaticism.
In a volume,
soon
after
it
was
to
prepared
pronounced, designed
expose the
fallacy of its reasonings, especially in regard to the alleged unconstitutionality of the Missouri compromise, he speaks with
great plainness of its principles, and of the purposes for which
was made.
Referring to its history and to its revolutionary
" I will not
said
he
designs,
inquire into the course of measures
which have produced the present disturbance in the Union,"
nor of " the attempt to compose which by a judicial decision,
it
:
in
which the court overrules the action
virtually inserts a
character,
new
of
two generations,
clause in the Constitution, changes
and makes a new departure in the working
its
of the
Federal government." He characterizes, with great force of
expression, the decisiveness and completeness of this depart
ure from the uniformity of the action of the government,
"
comprehending all the departments of all the governments,
State and Federal, in all their branches, legislative, executive,
and judicial."
While the propagandists were elated and arrogant, the
friends of freedom and humanity were cast down and alarmed.
It was felt to be at once a blow upon the country and the
rights of
man, as
fatal to the integrity of the nation as to
It was regarded as a
the security and safety of the slave.
�THE DEED SCOTT CASE.
533
great and grievous calamity, because of its intrinsic wrongfulness and harm ; because it was felt to be one of a series of
slaveholding encroachments, the culmination of past and the
precursor of those yet in store because it was regarded as a
;
upon the sacred ermine
of the court, a staggering
in
the integrity of the judi
confidence
the
blow upon
popular
Thus radical and revolutionary, it not only sought to
ciary.
foul stain
reverse " the whole line of adjudication," as affirmed by Jus
" a new
tice McLean, to make
departure in the working of
the Federal government," as charged by Mr. Benton, but it
sought to change the current of judicial as well as popular
thought upon the great question of human rights. Instead of
"
" a
of the States, as
being a matter of
municipal regulation
decided in the Prigg case, it made slavery a creation of the
organic law of the land, no longer the exception with freedom
the rule, but itself the rule and freedom the exception,
the
Constitution, no longer the sacred shrine of liberty, but the
frowning Bastile of a most intolerable despotism.
�CHAPTER
XL.
THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
Dred Scott decision and the Lecompton
Duplicity of the leaders.
constitution,
Mr. Fessenden's arraignment.
Convention called.
Governor Geary's veto and resignation.
Walker ap
parts of a conspiracy.
Shannon and Geary.
Fraudulent census and registry.
Overtures of free State
pointed governor.
The
Election.
Mr. Wilson's visit and advice.
men.
Walker's address.
latter
opposed but taken.
lature chosen.
Free State
Success.
Help from the East.
He
Action of the governor.
Attempted frauds.
favor with the administration.
men
Constitution formed.
Unfair
XXXVth
Congress.
mission.
Free State
message.
Sharply criticised by Hale and Trumbull.
sition
and speech.
A
refuse to vote.
slave State the objective point.
Governor Walker's resignation.
cerning the frauds and violence committed.
an early meeting of legislature.
Deposed.
ignored.
His
letter
mode
legis
loses
of sub
President's
Mr. Douglas's oppo
Popular sovereignty
and testimony con
Stanton, acting governor, calls
President
Denver appointed.
sends Lecompton constitution.
Complete subserviency of the message to the
Mr. Wilson's motion
Issue taken by Mr. Fessenden.
slaveholding cause.
of inquiry.
Speech
Message in the House referred to a committee of fifteen.
Naked issue.
Memorials of the Kansas legislature.
of Mr. Fessenden.
Humiliating position of the government.
WHEN
the prohibition of slavery embodied in the Missouri
compromise was repealed, it was declared to be the intent to
"
leave the people of Kansas and Nebraska
perfectly free to
form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way,
But
subject only to the Constitution of the United States."
was a pretext, a device, a trick. The slave-masters who
this
believed that the Constitution carried slavery into the Terri
tories used this artifice as a temporary expedient to secure
the overthrow of the principle of its prohibition, and to open
a vast Territory to its polluting touch. Their Northern allies
It was afterward stated, by Judah P.
joined in the deception.
"
Benjamin, that, at a caucus of Senators, both wings of the
Democracy agreed that each should maintain
theory before the public,
its
particular
one side sustaining squatter sov-
�535
THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
and the other protection to slavery in the Territories,
but pledging themselves to abide by the decision of the Su
said in
preme Court, whatever it might be." Mr. Douglas
" We
and we
the
it
to
to
refer
1860
judiciary,
agreed
May,
ereignty,
:
This conspiracy against
national convention
the
Democratic
successful,
Buchanan and Breckinridge accepted it, and the
agreed to abide
liberty
was
indorsed
it,
by
their decision."
by the conspirators, gave it their sanction. This
"
was the
squatter sovereignty" that triumphed in the Presi
The Dred Scott decision and the
dential election of 1856.
people, misled
Lecompton constitution, which were made about the same time
and generally regarded as parts of the same general policy,
"
revealed the real character of the
sovereignty" involved, or,
rather, it made apparent the utter insincerity of all pretensions
of regard for the popular will, and the shameless duplicity that
characterized the course of those who conceived and engineered
So apparent was this, that Mr. Festhat astounding fraud.
who
was
ever
senden,
specially careful and precise in his state
declared
the " original scheme to have been
ments, succinctly
to assist popular sovereignty, in the first place, with a view
compromise in some
and avow the establishment of
of rendering the repeal of the Missouri
way
palatable
slavery
;
;
then to deny
it
then to legalize this by a decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States, and claim that
established.
it
had become
I sincerely believe that decision of the
Supreme
Court was a part of the programme. It was to be had, if
having it would avail but if not, it never would have been
had."
In pursuance of this " scheme," the Territorial legislature
enacted that at the election to be held in 1856 the sense of
;
the people should be taken upon the expediency of calling a
convention to form a State constitution. The slave State
men, having everything their own way, decided in favor of a
convention.
On the resignation of Shannon, John W. Geary
of Pennsylvania, afterward a major-general in the
war
of the
Rebellion and a Republican governor of his State, had been
appointed governor of Kansas. Though associated with the
Democratic party, and a supporter of Pierce's administration,
�536
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
he went to the Territory resolved to deal justly with the
peo
Before going, he sought out Mr. Wilson, avowed his
ple.
purpose to do what he could to protect the actual
and
settlers,
placed in his hands a
he had drawn for that purpose.
The legislature in February, 1857, passed an act for the
election of delegates.
bill
As
the
bill for this
election of dele
gates did not provide for the submission of the constitution to
the people, Governor Geary vetoed it ; but it was passed over
his veto.
The
history of this transaction betrays the animat
ing spirit and ulterior purposes of those who were engaged in
this movement.
Governor Geary states in a published letter,
that, in a conference of the committees of the two houses, he
proposed to sign the bill if they would authorize a submission
of the proposed constitution to the people.
"
they distinctly informed
me
that the
tion of their friends in the South
tion
;
that
"
But," he says,
met the approba
was not their inten
bill
it
that the constitution should ever be submitted to the
people."
After months of labor,
trial, and disappointment, Governor
the Territory.
Robert J. Walker was appointed
governor, and Frederick P. Stanton, formerly a member of
Geary
left
Congress from Tennessee, was appointed secretary by Mr. Bu
chanan. Mr. Stanton went to the Territory in advance of
Mr. Walker, and was for some weeks acting governor.
The
law provided that there should be a census taken, and a regis
made of all qualified to vote. A pretended census was
taken in March, and a registry made. But in nineteen of the
thirty-eight counties no census was actually taken, and in
fifteen counties there was no registration.
Thousands were
try
who had
who had not
not registered
registered
a right to be, and thousands were
that right.
This registration was
admitted by both Secretary Stanton and Governor Walker
to have been incomplete and fraudulent.
The
free State
men, under the lead
of
Governor Robinson,
stated to the acting governor that they would go into the
election of delegates if they could be fairly registered and
the ballot-box could be protected.
that he had no power to correct the
To
list
this
Stanton replied
and that he
of voters,
�THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
Under these circumstan
could do nothing in the premises.
ces the free State
men determined
537
to have nothing to do with
an election in which their rights, and the commonest princi
And
ples of fair dealing as well, were so thoroughly ignored.
a
few
of
after
on
the
27th
his
arrival
in
the
May,
days
yet
issued
an
Governor
Walker
address
to
the
Territory,
people,
in which he deprecated this avowed purpose to take no part in
the election, and insisted that they would be " as much bound
by the act of the majority of those who do vote, as if all had
The election was held in June,
participated in the election."
free State men to go by default.
were elected, though they received
less than seventeen hundred votes
hardly more, in the words
"
of Governor Walker, than " one tenth
of the voters of the
but
The
was allowed by the
it
slave State candidates
;
Territory.
The
delegates thus elected
September, but immediately adjourned
met
till
at
Lecompton
in
after the October
election.
Mr. Wilson visited Kansas in May, 1856, passing up the
Missouri River on the steamer that bore Governor Walker to
He came to the conclusion that the free State
had little to hope from the new executive. While the
governor had been making large promises in the east, the
officials in Kansas had been
neglecting the registration of the
voters, and an apportionment had been made which disfran
chised whole counties and thousands of free State men.
As
there was no hope of securing the convention, Mr. Wilson
the Territory.
settlers
expressed the opinion to Mr. Parrott and Governor Robinson
that the only hope of saving Kansas to freedom was to take
possession of the Territorial government by electing a free
State legislature in October.
conference was held at his
A
Governor Robinson's house in Lawrence, at
which were present Governor Robinson, Mr.
after
Conway,
ward the first Representative of the State of Kansas in Con
Mr. Foster,
late a chaplain of the Massachusetts
gress,
suggestion
at
Rev. Mr. Nute, Mayor Adams, S. C. Smith, Mr.
then correspondent of the New York " Tribune,"
and afterward member of Congress from that State,
Mr.
legislature,
Phillips,
Hinton, J. H. Kagi,
VOL.
ii.
68
who
fell
at
Harper's Ferry,
and
�538
RISE
AND FALL OF
TH*.
SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
Mr. Wilson urged the policy of voting at the
October election. Much feeling was elicited Mr. Conway and
others opposing such action.
They said they had always re
some
others.
;
fused to acknowledge the validity of the Territorial laws that
now would be inconsistent that they were agreed in
;
to do so
;
the support of the Topeka constitution
;
and that any attempt
to change their policy would distract, if not divide, the free
State men, and put their cause in peril.
They said, too, that
they were without organization and without means ; that the
were in the control of the slave State men that they
would be cheated and, in the end, must fail.
To these objections Mr. Wilson suggested that the friends of
free Kansas had lost the President
that both houses of Con
were
them
that
the
against
gress
Topeka constitution would
polls
;
;
;
;
not be accepted by Congress or recognized by the President ;
if Kansas was made a free State
they must do it ; and to
accomplish that end they must take the power from the slave
that
State
men by
ture,
even
voting at the October election for a new legisla
they voted under protest. He promised them, if
they would thus decide, he would go home and raise a few
thousand dollars to aid them in organizing the free State men
if
No action was taken by the meeting but
Governor Robinson, Mr. Nute, and a few others, concurred in
the proposed plan. Mr. Wilson returned to the East to carry
At New York he developed this plan of action
it into effect.
chairman of the National Republican
to Edwin D. Morgan,
A.
Charles
Dana, then connected with the
Committee,
"
a
few
and
others, and they promised that the
Tribune,"
A meet
friends of free Kansas would aid in the movement.
Fran
Charles
were
which
at
in
was
called
Boston,
present
ing
M.
J.
A.
Amos
G.
Dr.
Samuel
cis Adams,
Lawrence,
Howe,
Al
B.
John
S. Williams, George L. Stearns, William Claflin,
of the Territory.
;
W. Bird, and other working friends of free Kansas.
Mr. Wilson proposed that three or four thousand dollars should
be raised, and that an agent should be sent to the Territory
ley, F.
were properly expended in the work
indorsed, it was voted to
organization.
raise twenty-five hundred dollars in Massachusetts, and a
to see that the funds
of
The plan was
�THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
539
committee was appointed for that purpose. Mr. Wilson then
went to Worcester, and laid the plan before Mr. Chapin and
other active men of that city to New Haven, where he con
;
ferred with Professor Silliman
and others
;
and again
to
New
York, receiving in each city promises of co-operation and aid.
In a few days more than three thousand dollars was pledged
by the friends of free Kansas.
Thomas J. Marsh, a gentleman of integrity and organizing
ability, was selected as agent, and he left for Kansas on the
2d of July, where he remained till after the October election.
Arriving at Lawrence, he attended a conference of leading
men, met to consider the question
of voting at the October
The
situation
was
men assembled
confident
of success.
election.
not
nor were the
Mr. Marsh stated to
hopeful,
them that he had been sent by the friends of free Kansas in
the East with from three to four thousand dollars to aid in
organizing the Territory, to carry, if possible, both branches
of the legislature in October.
Encouraged by this proffered
the
conference
assistance,
agreed to press upon the free State
convention, soon to be held, the importance of securing, if
Mr. Marsh attended the conven
attainable, the legislature.
but he found the delegates much disheartened. The
many had been murdered, others had been
a
despoiled,
malignant typhoid fever was prevailing, and many
tion
;
people were poor,
were sick and dying.
It was certain, too, that there would be
a large failure of their crops.
They felt that political power
was wholly in the hands of their enemies, whose plans were
matured, and
who were confident, boastful, and insolent. But
Mr. Marsh in a letter to Mr. Wilson " It was
for all that, said
:
one of the grandest conventions I ever attended.
went out from
An influence
which was felt in every part of the Territory.
work went steadily on, conventions and
neighborhood meetings were held everywhere, until the day of
the election.
Under the circumstances, no political contest in
From
this
it
that time the
country will compare with
it.
I shall never forget
they labored, and what sacrifices they made.
umphed and saved the Territory to freedom."
But they
how
tri
There were a few who persistently opposed the policy of
�540
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Colonel Richard Realf, who afterward became John
Brown's secretary of state, under his " Plan of Government,"
" Nor was
wrote, under date of 30th of January, 1860
Brown himself, nor were any of his coadjutors, committed to
voting.
:
the Republican creed.
Henry Wilson, in 1857, advised that
to
secure
the legislature by voting under the laws of the
party
Territorial legislature.
The advice was taken and
the result
Not one of Brown's original party
predicted was achieved.
voted.
Some of us were at that y time correspondents of the
Eastern press, and in the interim between the Grasshopper
Falls convention, at which
of the election,
it
we opposed
was decided
and the day
to vote,
the action of the party in every
possible way, by letters, speeches, and in every available man
ner, for which we were denounced as abolitionists by the lead
ing Republican journal of the Territory."
But in spite of menaces and frauds the free
State
men
carried the election by a majority of nearly four thousand in a
vote of less than eight thousand, electing the delegate to Con
gress, nine of the thirteen councilmen, and twenty-seven of the
was not attained
From the Oxford precinct, con
taining but eleven houses and less than fifty voters, sixteen
hundred and twenty-four votes were returned, the manuscript
roll containing these names being fifty feet long
portions of
thirty-nine representatives.
without attempted frauds.
But
this result
;
which a subsequent examination revealed to be copied in
A similar,
alphabetical order from a Cincinnati directory.
McGee
made
from
was
return
though not so exaggerated a
too
manifest,
County. But the fabrication and fraud were
and Governor Walker would not give certificates of election
to the bogus candidates, although Judge Cato issued his writ
The governor, however, denied his
against such refusal.
But his conduct
that moment
from
and
was
to the list
added
soon
was
name
His
he was a doomed man.
his
and
of decapitated Kansas governors,
ignominious execu
tion, demanded by the Slave Power, was at once secured.
The convention met after the election, according to adjourn
ment, and proceeded to the work for which it was chosen,
jurisdiction
and persisted in
his
refusal.
displeasing to the administration,
�THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
541
the framing of a constitution, in which the spirit and purpose
of the slave propagandists found full embodiment and expres
sion,
a constitution infamous in
its
origin, provisions,
and
and also in the humiliating attitude in which its
openly avowed indorsement and advocacy placed the national
government and the administration of President Buchanan.
history,
Though the President and governor had given their pledges
that the constitution should be submitted, for ratification, to a
popular vote, yet, when the convention saw in the results of
the October election a clear indication of the public sentiment,
they were in no mood to submit the work of their hands to the
ordeal of a vote, when the chances of its defeat were so mani
With characteristic unfairness and duplicity, therefore,
fest.
though they retained the form of submission, they gave the
people of the Territory in reality no chance to reject the
instrument itself. The voters were required to vote either
"
" for the constitution with
or " for the constitution
No one
without slavery."
slavery
could vote against
it, and, notwith
standing the curious nomenclature employed, nobody could
really cast his vote against slavery, for, as Mr. Fessenden
said, in the debate on the question, there were substantially
two slaveholding constitutions submitted to this popular vote.
Indeed, the Lecompton constitution was a proslavery instru
ment, whether adopted with or without slavery. If adopted
with slavery, it provided that " the right of property is before
and higher than any constitutional sanction, and the right of
the owner of a slave to such slave and its increase is the
same and as
inviolable as the right of the owner of any prop
citizen offering to vote on the question
A
erty whatever."
was required,
if
challenged,
" to
support this constitution,
if
adopted, under the penalties of perjury under the Territorial
laws." Of course the free State men must swear to support it,
in whichever of the
two forms proposed it might be adopted.
laws
and under the circumstances, the free
existing
State men had a right to believe, and did believe, that the
Under
constitution for slavery would be adopted, and, if they voted,
they would have to swear that the right of the owner of a slave
to such slave
and
its
increase
was before and higher than con-
�542
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
stitutional sanction.
They knew,
too, that,
without slavery should be adopted,
it
IN AMERICA.
if
the constitution
would embrace a pro
vision continuing in force all the existing laws of the Territory,
the laws establishing slavery included, until they should be
repealed by a legislature elected under that constitution. They
"
knew, in the language of the Charleston
Mercury," that
"whether the clause in the constitution is voted out or voted
and has a guaranty in the constitution that
in, slavery exists,
shall not be interfered with."
They knew, too, that it
could not be changed until after 1864, and that " no alteration
shall be made to affect the rights of property in ownership of
slaves."
The free State men knew that in any event slavery
it
would be fastened upon Kansas for years, and that they could
not take the oath to support it in the event of its adoption and
remain consistent and free State men. Thus hampered by
strange, not to say diabolical, provisions, presented in that
singular equivocal form, the vote for the constitution with
slavery was more than six thousand, and the vote for it with
out slavery was less than six hundred, though thousands of
the affirmative votes were fraudulent.
The
XXXYth
Congress assembled on the 7th of December,
The
President, in his message, entered largely into the
He specifically and approvingly
consideration of Kansas affairs
referred to the action of the Lecompton convention, and to
1857.
.
had framed, and he declared that the ques
fairly and explicitly referred to the people of
Kansas whether they will have a constitution with or without
the constitution
tion had been "
it
slavery."
Mr. Hale and Mr. Trumbull at once denied the assertions,
and combated the assumptions of the President, though the
main contest of the opening debate was between Douglas,
Green of Missouri, and Bigler of Pennsylvania, the two latter
assuming to speak for the administration and to defend its
The opposition of Mr. Douglas to the Lecompton
constitution did not arise from any antislavery scruples.
He,
policy.
was
voted down."
as ever,
" voted
indifferent whether slavery was
up or
His ostensible objection was that it had not
been submitted to a vote of the people, according to the prin-
�THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
543
embodied in his dogma of popular sovereignty, the
and the promises of the
pledges of the Democratic party,
administration. A motive, too, that must have entered largely
into the reasons for his conduct, was a conviction that he could
ciples
not carry his State and secure his re-election on that issue.
The speech, however, of this leader of the proslavery forces of
1854 was chiefly noticeable for its entire silence concerning
the frauds and violence out of which the Lecompton constitu
tion
was but a necessary outgrowth.
It was, too, another
revelation of one of the secrets of the successive
and successful
assaults of the Slave Power, that they were always made and
vindicated in the name and at the behests of some admitted
not otherwise
good, or of some assumed advantage, that could
be secured.
The objective point of this long series of violent and really
revolutionary movements was, of course, to make Kansas a
State in which slavery should be domiciled, recognized in its
To the surprise of the
constitution, and fortified by law.
was found that a majority
of its population only
awaited a fitting opportunity to declare for a free State. The
vaunted doctrine of squatter sovereignty, which had been so
leaders, it
persistently proclaimed as the crowning glory of the KansasNebraska act, was seen to be the thing above all else to be
But they were equal to
feared, circumvented, and overcome.
With a reckless audacity which only slave
the emergency.
could
beget, they forced the administration of
propagandism
Mr. Buchanan and a large majority of the Democratic party
to this desperate and dishonorable service.
On the 13th of December, Governor Walker resigned. In
an elaborate letter he disclosed and demonstrated the frauds
and wrongs perpetrated upon the people of Kansas, and ex
pressed his apprehensions that, if the Lecompton constitution
were forced upon them, civil war and the most direful conse
quences would ensue.
He avowed
that he had been in favor
of submitting the constitution to the people, that the President
and the members of his cabinet knew his views and approved
of them, and that the Secretary of State in his instructions
had said that the people in voting upon the constitution must
�544
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
be protected against violence and fraud. This letter placed
Mr. Buchanan and his cabinet in a most equivocal position,
it did not convict them of the grossest inconsistency and
the most shameless duplicity.
Mr. Stanton remained as acting governor. He saw, as every
man not blinded by passion and a determined purpose saw,
if
that something must be done to relieve the matter of its dis
creditable and disgraceful features.
The new legislature was
to
but he resolved to anticipate this meeting
together in December, to take such steps as wis
meet in January
it
;
by calling
dom, and even the instinct of self-preservation, might indicate.
But that had too much the appearance of honesty and fair
dealing to please his masters, the propagandists, and their
The guillotine found
obsequious agent, the administration.
a new victim. His deposition was demanded and granted, and
of California was appointed governor, and im
confirmed
by a strictly partisan vote of the United
mediately
The legislature on its assembling agreed to
States Senate.
submit the constitution to a popular vote, and, thus squarely
J.
W. Denver
presented,
whelming
it
was
rejected
on the 9th
of
January by an over
vote.
the 2d of February, the President sent the Lecompton
It was re
constitution to Congress, with a special message.
On
markable alike for its extreme Southern position, its assump
It required the utmost stretch
tions, and its declarations.
of charity to reconcile its utterances with the promptings of
This was so palpa
patriotism or the claims of truthfulness.
draw from Mr. Fessenden the declaration that the
"
President has deliberately chosen to omit the most important
facts in the case, as well known to him, or which should have
been as well known to him, as to any man for he cannot
ble as to
;
They are facts apparent on the record
plead ignorance.
He has omitted to state them,
unmistakable.
palpable, plain,
and he has stated others which are disproved by the record
;
accompanying the message."
Zealous, too, as
was
its
support
of slaveholding pretensions, its bitter hostility to antislavery
He branded the free State men of
men was no less
apparent.
Kansas
as disloyal
;
their resistance to the unlawful preten-
�545
THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
sions of the illegal legislature he stigmatized as revolutionary ;
participate in the election
and the reason why they did not
he declared to be a " refusal to submit to lawful authority."
" is as much a slave State
" Kansas at this
time," he said,
as Georgia and South Carolina," and the rejection of the
"
constitution would be
keenly felt by the Southern States,
as if that were a paramount
is recognized,"
consideration that must be heeded at all hazards.
where slavery
Mr. Wilson moved to instruct the Committee on Territories
circumstances connected with the
to investigate the whole
calling of the convention
;
number
to inquire into the
cast at the several elections
;
to ascertain
of votes
whether the same
in compliance with law ; and to find out what portion, if
The purpose
any, of said votes was fraudulent and illegal.
was
of this amendment was to secure, if possible, a full investiga
After a debate
tion of all the matters pertaining to Kansas.
of several days, the amendment was rejected by a majority of
Douglas, Broderick, and Stuart, anti-Lecompton Demo
crats, and Crittenden and Bell, conservative Southern men,
six
;
voting with the Republicans.
In support of the proposed investigation, Mr. Fessenden
made a speech of remarkable vigor and force of expression.
He condemned the message and its tone as unworthy of the
man called to fill " one of the few eminent
in the world."
places
" his tone is that of exul
exults," said Mr. Fessenden
tation when he speaks of the fact that the Territory of Kansas
"
is
He
;
now
as
His tone
much
a slave State as Georgia or South Carolina.
that of feeling, of gratification, that, instead of
" bound to the car of
a
free
State, like his own," it was
being
slavery." He arraigned the Supreme Court for its Dred Scott
is
and referred to the significant fact, that, after hearing
the argument, the court had adjourned over till after the elec
tion before making the decision
and he expressed the opinion
" we should
that, if the Democratic party had not triumphed,
never have heard of a doctrine so utterly at variance with all
decision,
;
truth
;
so utterly destitute of all legal logic
and unsupported by anything
opinion of the Supreme Court."
error
VOL.
ii.
69
like
;
so founded
on
argument, as is the
�546
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Referring to the opposition of Mr. Douglas and his friends
Lecompton policy, he said, they should have known,
to the
when they
repealed the Missouri compromise, what the result
was to be ; that it was the design to force slavery into Kansas.
He was now interposing his strong arm " to stay the tide of
slavery which is setting over Kansas, contrary to the expressed
Does the honorable Senator think that he
can take the prey from the tiger and not himself be torn?
will of her people.
When was
known
hand
in its
over a country, unless forced to do so ? And
seized it, when was it ever known to let go
when
slavery ever
to stay its
its
march
had
it
hold
?
It
a part of the system to pay nothing at all for involuntary
and if the service is voluntary, experience has
servitude
shown that it must be unlimited, unquestioning, and eternal.
is
;
To
hesitate is to lose all
In the House, Mr.
message
to the
chairman.
;
to stop
to die."
Stephens moved a
Committee on
Mr. Harris of
its
reference
Territories, of
Illinois,
compton Democrats, moved
fifteen.
is
of
the
which he was
the leader of the anti-Le-
reference to a committee of
This motion, after an excited and angry debate
last
ing through the night, prevailed by a majority of four. The
committee appointed by the Speaker contained a majority in
favor of the Lecompton policy, so that nothing came of the
inquiry.
On
the 1st of February, 1858, the second legislature of
Kansas presented to Congress a preamble and resolutions, in
it speaks of the Lecompton constitution as the work
of " a small minority of the people, living in nineteen of the
This " minority,"
thirty-eight counties of the Territory."
which
it
said,
availing themselves of a law which enabled them
and defeat a fair expression of the popular will,
to obstruct
by the odious and oppressive application of the provisions
and partisan machinery of said law, procure the return of the
whole number of delegates to the constitutional convention
did,
" the
repre
recently assembled at Lecompton. We, therefore,
sentatives of said people, do hereby, in their name and on
their behalf, solemnly protest against such admission."
Having thus exposed and condemned the Lecompton consti-
�THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
547
tution, as designed to "fix upon them an institution revolting
to a large majority of the bonafide citizens of the Territory,"
the same body, in another paper, presented and gave the his
The people of the Territory,
tory of the Topeka constitution.
" to call a convention to frame a con
it averred, did proceed
delegates thereto were regularly and fairly
on the twenty-third day of October, 1855, did
assemble in convention at Topeka." It therefore declared
that said constitution " embodies the wishes of the people of
stitution
;
the
elected, and,
upon the subject of a State government, and
ought to be received by the Congress of the United States
as the constitution of the State of Kansas."
Stripped, then, of all side issues, the precise and pregnant
" Shall
question was
Congress impose upon the people of
Kansas a constitution really the work of a foreign body, in
which they had no voice, and to which they were inflexibly
"
Such a proposition to a people making any preten
opposed ?
sions to a free form of government was, in the highest degree,
impertinent and insulting and yet this was the precise issue
which then absorbed the attention of the American Congress
and people. The debate took a wide range, and brought into
review the general subjects of slavery and freedom, their an
tagonisms, and their relations to society and the state. The
President and his supporters vindicated the proposed policy
this Territory
:
;
;
Mr. Douglas, those he represented and led, and the Republi
It was indeed marvellous that men of intel
cans, opposed it.
ligence and candor could so stultify themselves as to defend,
name of Democratic institutions, a policy so essentially
and offensively despotic. Slavery has left on record, damaging
and damning as that record is, no blacker page than that
which describes its ruffianly and ruthless policy toward Kan
in the
sas.
And
was fully and
power and patron
yet to this policy the administration
committed, and to its execution
age were given in no stinted measure.
fiercely
its
�CHAPTER
XLI.
THE LECOMPTON STRUGGLE.
General argument in favor of the Lecompton policy.
Speech of Mr. Hammond.
"Cotton
Defence of slavery.
Arraignment of Northern
Defences
society.
Replies.
Speeches of Hamlin, Broderick, and Wilson.
Full discussion welcomed.
of the North and its institutions.
Speeches in
Extreme opinions of Miles and Keitt.
the House.
Able defences of freedom
is
king."
and free institutions.
Lovejoy, Giddings, Bliss.
the administration and the Democratic party.
Ignominious attitude of
THE supporters of the Lecompton policy dwelt much upon
the necessity of concession and compromise upon the encroach
ing North and long-enduring South State rights and the
;
;
;
maintenance of an equilibrium of the opposing sections. Not
Some,
all, however, pursued that specious and subtle course.
believing in the philosophy as well as the practice of slavery,
defending it on principle as well as from policy, not as an evil
but a good, stepped forth the champions of the system they
cherished as well as of the section they represented. Promi
nent among these was James H. Hammond of South Carolina.
"
Avowing his purpose to consider slavery as a practical thing,
its effect upon
discuss
as a thing that is and is to be, and to
our political institutions, and ascertain how long these institu
tions will hold together with slavery ineradicable," he proposed
" to
bring the North and South face to face, and see what re
sources each might have in the contingency of separate organ
If the South never acquired another foot of terri
tory, he said, she had eight hundred and fifty thousand square
izations."
was as large as Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia,
"
and Spain. " Is not that territory enough," he asked, to
"
"It can send,"
make an empire that shall rule the world ?
miles,
he asserted, " a larger army than any power on earth can send
in
against her, of men brought up on horseback, with guns
�549
THE LECOMPTON STRUGGLE.
their
hands."
Entering into the
statistics of
Southern pro
duction and export, he said the South would need no army or
the whole
navy, but, removing all commercial restrictions,
"
and
to
to
carry for us."
world would go to it
bring
trade,
and
find
protection in
strength
Asserting that the South would
"
No
cotton.
on
war
You dare not make
its cotton, he said
:
Cotton is king." Ex
it.
power on earth dares make war on
it would be well for the South not to
pressing the belief that
with amusing
three
for
cotton
years, he inquired,
plant any
" What would
furnished
was
cotton
if
no
happen
pretension
what
to
not
I
will
?
for three
every one can
depict
stop
:
years
would topple headlong
imagine, but this is certain England
with
her, save the South."
and carry the whole civilized world
over that of
Asserting the superiority of slaveholding society
"
The greatest strength of the South
the free States, he said
arises from the harmony of her political and social institutions.
:
:
This harmony gives her a frame of society the best in the
world, and an extent of political freedom, combined with entire
no other people ever enjoyed upon the face of
the earth. This bold vaunt he proceeded to define as well as to
In his explanatory definition, he referred to the fact
defend.
security, such as
must be menials to perform
the " drudgery of life," and that such a class is necessary to
" that other class which leads
the existence of
progress, civili
"
" constitutes the
he
and
refinement."
This,"
said,
zation,
very mudsill of society and of political government, and you
that, in all social systems, there
might as well attempt to build a house in the air as to build
either the one or the other, except on this mudsill."
Saying
that their slaves were their " mudsills," he contended that
"
" the manual laborers and
of the North sustained
operatives
the same relation to Northern society, and were " essentially
" our slaves are
slaves," the difference between them being
hired for
life
and are well compensated,
yours are hired by
the day and not cared for."
Leaving the social for the political aspect of the question, he
"
compared the Southern slaves
happy, content, unaspiring,
and utterly incapable, from intellectual weakness, ever to give
us any trouble by their aspirations," without votes or political
�550
RISE
power
AMD FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
with Northern manual laborers, brothers of our blood,
"
their
equals in natural
endowments, galled by
degradation,"
" with the
"
right of voting," and the real
depositories of all
With arrogant menace, he warned the
your political power."
North of "the tremendous secret" that the ballot-box is
"
stronger than an army with banners."
Such, substantially, were the bold and defiant defence and
arraignment, by the outspoken and truculent South-Carolinian,
of slavery and freedom, the South and the North thus
brought
" face to face." This
open avowal of sentiments, purposes,
and expectations, which many of
but which they did not deem
his section really entertained,
to express, his impudent
it politic
pretensions, his unfounded claims, and his clear falsification of
and historic facts, excited surprise and provoked responses.
His characterization of Northern manual laborers as "hireling,"
as essentially slaves, the " mudsills " of society, like the dicta
local
Supreme Court, that black men had no rights that white
to respect, became the ringing watchwords of
those replies and of subsequent conflicts at the North.
They
fixed attention, too, and opened the eyes of men to the spirit,
aims, and purposes of the Slave Power as perhaps no previous
demonstration had been able to effect.
The gauntlet being thus defiantly thrown down, there were
not wanting the friends of freedom and of free institutions
Hannibal Hamlin replied. With patient re
to take it up.
search and careful collation of facts he demonstrated the
of the
men were bound
Mr. Hammond's argument, for the greater alleged
from the relative amounts of
Southern and Northern exports, by showing, from facts and
fallacies of
prosperity of the Slave States,
figures, that, in all the elements of substantial prosperity, the
free States were far in advance of the slave States, and that
that advance
was becoming greater and more apparent every
year.
Referring to the charge that the "manual hireling
" mud
"
"
laborers
of the North were
essentially slaves," the
"
of society, he took issue, denying the allegation, and
of
affirming that they were rather the constituent elements
"
"
said
he
at
do
our
they
home,"
society.
They
legislation
" I
"
Sir," he added,
support the State ; they are the State."
sills
;
�551
THE LECOMPTON STRUGGLE.
"
" mudsills
of
that Senator that they are not the
for
our
clear
who
men
the
are
away
our community.
They
are the men who make the green hillside blos
ests.
can
tell
They
They
men who build our ships and who navi
men who build our towns and who
They
gate them.
inhabit them.
They are the men who constitute the great
som.
are the
are the
Sir, they are not only pillars
mass of our community.
which support our government, but they are the capitals
that adorn the very pillars."
David 0. Broderick made a brief
and vigorous speech, in
which he reminded the South of its mistake in repealing the
" In the
Missouri compromise.
passage of the Nebraska-Kan
"
the rampart that protected slavery
sas bill," he affirmed,
Northern
in the Southern Territories was broken down."
institutions being in
opinions, Northern ideas, and Northern
" for
" how
vited to contest their possession,
foolish," he said,
the South to hope to contend for success in such an encounter
!
Slavery
is
old, decrepit,
and consumptive
;
freedom
is
and vigorous."
The sneer
"
Northern " hireling manual laborers he
" it
because," he said,
may have the effect
at the
"
rather welcomed,
of arousing in the
young
workingmen that spirit which has been
for
centuries."
dormant
Alluding to the fact that he
lying
"
an
artisan
and
had been a mechanic," and
of
was the son
also, regretfully, to the fact that there was too little ambition
" I left the scenes of
my youth
long laboring men, he said
and manhood for the scenes of the far West, because I was
of the struggles and jealousies of men of my own class,
could not understand why one of their fellows should
:
seek to elevate his condition above the
common
level."
made an
elaborate reply to the same speech.
Mr. Wilson
Accepting the challenge to array the opposing systems and
sections " face to face," he, by a somewhat full examination
also
of the census- tables, the
admissions of Southern
men
in their
speeches and writings, and other sources of information,
deduced the lessons which the survey, comparison, and their
He showed that " in accumulated capital,
contrasts taught.
in commerce, in manufactures, in the mechanic arts, in educa
�552
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
tional institutions, in literature, in science, and in the
arts, in
the charities of religion and humanity, in all the means
by
which the nation is known among men, the free States main
tain a position of unquestioned pre-eminence.
the South is a mere dependency of the North."
"
in which he admitted
In
all
these
Beyond the
bound together by
political field,
that,
the cohesive attraction of a vast interest from which the civi
lization of the world averts its
class have
face, the
privileged
won
the control and direct the policy of the
government," he
contended that, even by the admission of Southern
writers,
" this
dependency of the South
the most blind devotees of
is
everywhere
visible,
even to
King Cotton."
Passing from the consideration of these sharp and sugges
and the effects of slavery upon the slaves, he
tive contrasts,
said: "Putting out of view altogether the sad lot of
nearly
four millions of helpless bondmen, doomed to a destiny so
rayless, so cheerless, so hopeless, that the Senator from South
Carolina vauntingly
will never give
'
4
us that they are unaspiring,' and
any trouble to us by their aspirations,' I here
tells
and now declare that the five millions of the non-slaveholding
whites of the South live in meaner houses, consume poorer
food,
wear poorer
clothes,
have less means of moral and men
and less hope for the future for
tal instruction, less culture,
themselves and their posterity, than the five millions of the
"
a fact
poorest people of the seventeen millions of the North
"
"
"
abundant quotations
he proceeded
to demonstrate
by
from Southern authorities."
;
Alluding to the Senator's use of the Saviour's declaration,
" The
poor ye have always with you," as an argument for the
" the
foundation-stone, the eter
necessity of a servile race as
nal law of slavery, which all the powers of the earth cannot
"
abolish," he regarded those words as
perpetually sounding
and ever reminding them of their
" I thank
God," he said,
dependence and their duties."
" that I live in a commonwealth which sees no warrant in
these words of inspiration to oppress the sons and daughters
of toil and poverty," but rather the injunction to protect such
"
by the broad shield of equal, just, and humane legislation."
in the ears of mankind,
�THE LECOMPTON STRUGGLE.
553
Referring to the taunting inquiry of the Senator, how he
like to have emissaries from the South go North to pro
laborers " the tremendous secret of the
claim to its
would
hireling
ballot-box," he expressed his willingness that they should
come for such a purpose for, he said, " ours are institu
tions of freedom, and they flourish best in the storms and agi
;
tations of inquiry
and
free discussion.
We
are conscious that
our social and political institutions have not attained perfec
tion, and we invoke the examination and the criticism of the
genius and learning of all Christendom."
There were those in the House, too,
who were ready not
only to indorse the extreme views of the South Carolina Sena
tor, but to go much further, and to vindicate the rightfulness
on the higher ground of revelation, claiming
for the system that it in no way contravened even the pure
While many Southern men dep
ethics of Christianity itself.
recated the extreme utterances of Mr. Hammond, as need
lessly compromising their position and giving to their opponents
arguments it was policy to have withheld, there were others,
especially Miles and Keitt of the same State, who fully
indorsed and even transcended his positions.
The former
of slaveholding
asserted that slavery lay at the foundation of Southern pros
the very life-blood of its existence.
The relation
perity,
between capital and labor in the South gave, he declared,
" the best assurances of
political conservatism and social sta
Mr.
Keitt
addressed
himself to what he called the
bility."
He claimed that the Scriptures did not con
" I am
but
rather
sanctioned slavery.
demn,
content," he
"
said,
impregnably to intrench the rights of the South behind
the monuments which the hand of the Almighty has raised "
and he contended that " with the proclamation of the law was
religious view.
;
which sanctioned slavery and settled the
between the master and the slave."
Of course there were those who were prepared to enter the
lists and do battle not only for " the
law," but for its Author.
also uttered the fiat
relations
Among them was Owen
Lovejoy.
His voice, impassioned ut
He
terances, and trenchant blows early mingled in the fray.
discarded the ordinary distinctions of " North " and " South,"
VOL.
II.
70
�554
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
he said, there was no necessary conflict between the sec
" advocates of
tions, the North having many
slavery," and the
South having many " loyal to freedom," and he contended
that it was simply a question "between the
principles of
for,
and those of despotism." The question, the most
"
important since the Revolution, the most solemn and grave
with which Christian civilization has had to grapple in modern
liberty
times," was that of property in man.
With great force of logic, forensic
skill, and rhetoric of sin
and
he
gular point
piquancy,
proceeded to the support of the
"
thesis that such " property
was impossible. The Divine
origin and likeness in which man was made constituted his
"
grand and fundamental argument against the wild and guilty
fantasy," as expressed by England's great statesman, whom
he quoted, " that man can hold property in man." " To chattelize a rational creature thus endowed and thus allied is to
and incense the Author of his being." He based his
second argument on man's redemption. With startling dis
tinctness he exclaimed " President Buchanan, believest thou
insult
:
the gospel record ? I know that thou believest.
Tell me
Did he lay
sir, did Christ shed his blood for cattle?
then,
down
estate
his life to replevin personal property, to redeem real
"
The royal law, of doing unto others as they would
?
that others should do to them, furnished his next argument,
and he illustrated with great force and eloquence how slavery
violated that great law of
life,
especially in its influence
upon
His final objection against slavery was that it
the family
" across our
country's glory and destiny."
Saying that
lay
God had " a grand work for us to do, to lead the world to
freedom and glory," he asked " Shall we wheel around from
the van in the progress of a Christian civilization, and, with
1
.
:
colors, march back a decade of
"
and
barbarism of the past ?
centuries into the darkness
The calmer, more judicial, if less impassioned, voice of Mr.
Giddings was heard. Profoundly religious in his convictions,
the very incarnation of moral courage, it would have seemed
to him moral treason to have remained silent in such a pres
ence, on such an issue.
Summoning members to the forum
muffled
drum and drooping
�THE LECOMPTON STRUGGLE.
555
open before them, he
of conscience, with God's statute-book
pleaded the cause of justice and humanity in that court of
After stating and illustrating the
equity and final appeal.
various ways in which the defender of slavery contravened
the clearly revealed will of God, he said "To these primal
:
truths he
infidel.
To
To
the rights of his fellow-mortals he is
God's higher law he is infidel. Against these he
is infidel.
wages unceasing war."
But among the boldest and most clearly defined speeches
of the session, in both its enunciation of principles and its
characterization of measures, was one delivered, near its close,
by Philemon Bliss of Ohio. With refreshing plainness he
gave his reasons for not indulging in the discussion of the Lecompton business, saying that, though he could reason with a
highwayman and remonstrate with a pickpocket, he could
" find no
words for discussing in a Republican representa
the
body
propriety of forcing a dark despotism upon a
" If the statement of the
protesting people."
proposition
will not carry its own damnation," he said, " no
parliamentary
language of mine can fitly describe it and the mind that can
fit
tive
;
for a
moment
entertain
it is
entirely
beyond
my
reach."
After
describing the humiliating position to which the Slave Power
had brought the nation, and saying that surprise had been ex
"
pressed that a section of the Union, and that
comparatively
weak and poverty-stricken," should be enabled to carry things
with so high a hand, he said there was no cause of wonder
even in this " omnipotence of evil." The cause was to be
looked for in the different spirit and purposes which character
ized the enemies and the friends of freedom
the former, " all
all
all
have
a
will,
energy,
perseverance,"
great idea, have sub
ordinated everything to its prosecution the latter, " intent on
gain and peace, have ignored all fixed principle, been blind to
any great end, and have substituted a shuffling expediency for
:
;
an enduring purpose.
the
*
The
'
I will
'
please don't of the other
the bravest response to the grim
;
<
'
and
of the one is
<
I
'm
shall.'
met by
afraid I can't
"
'
is
you
There were other speeches, delivered by both the friends and
the enemies of the measure in issue, which
exposed the barbar-
�556
BISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA-
izing influences of slavery, the reckless audacity of the propa
gandists, and the unscrupulous profligacy of those who for per
sonal and partisan ends were willing to accept the most humili
ating conditions,
make any
sacrifices of principle,
and commit
themselves to a line of conduct, however cruel and however
mean. Nor could it well have been otherwise. When leading
men, an administration, a national party, accepted from the
Slave Power the advocacy and responsibility of a series of acts
which Robert J. Walker resigned office rather than sustain and
" unveiled
execute, and which Henry A. Wise characterized as
"
"
and shameless frauds," their own speeches, State
trickeries
and
votes, better, indeed, than the criticisms of their
papers,
Republican censors, could not but reveal the depraved and
sad
desperate character of the policy entered upon, and the
demoralization
it
both betokened and so greatly increased.
�CHAPTER
THE ENGLISH
XLII.
BILL.
Bill and sub
Eelative strength of parties in the two houses.
Committee of conference.
English bill character
Kansas fraud.
stitute in the Senate.
and Biugham.
Opposition
Speeches of Howard, Grow,
Antiof
Wilson, Seward.
Stuart,
Douglas,
Speeches
Fal
Conferences between them and Republicans.
Lecompton Democrats.
at bribery.
Cox.
S.
S.
of
Mr.
Haskin.
Attempts
Testimony
tering.
Debate.
ized.
to
it
in the Senate.
Twelve remain
firm.
Joseph C. McKibbin.
Rejected by the people
Bill
adopted by both houses.
of Kansas.
FROM
testimonies that could not be gainsaid and by wit
nesses that could not be impeached a most gigantic scheme
and fraud had been revealed. Kansas
under
the
feet of a proslavery executive in undis
lay helpless
with
the men who had committed these
guised complicity
of duplicity, violence,
only hope was in Congress, and there it could
only depend upon the House of Representatives, as the Senate
was unequivocally committed to the President's policy. On
crimes.
Its
the 23d of March, the Senate proceeded to vote upon the
the admission of Kansas.
Mr. Crittenden moved a
bill for
substitute, providing that it should be submitted to a vote of
the people, and, if rejected, they should be authorized to choose
But this
delegates to a convention to frame a constitution.
substitute
was
rejected by ten majority.
The Republicans
;
and Kennedy, Americans
and Broderick,
voted for
Douglas, and Stuart, anti-Lecompton Democrats,
it.
The bill was then passed by a vote of thirty-three to twen
ty-five, Mr. Pugh voting against it.
Bell, Crittenden,
;
In the House of Representatives, William Montgomery of
Pennsylvania, an anti-Lecompton Democrat, offered, as an
amendment to the bill, the same substitute which had been
offered in the Senate by Mr. Crittenden, and it was carried
by a majority of
eight.
The Senate
rejected
it,
asked for a
�558
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
committee of conference, and appointed Green, Hunter, and
Seward on its part. The House adhered to Montgomery's
amendment, but agreed to the committee of conference by
the casting vote of the Speaker, and English,
Stephens, and
Howard were appointed on its part. The committee con
curred in a report, Mr. Seward of the Senate and Mr. Howard
of the House dissenting.
This report was made in both
bodies on the 23d of April.
It was made in the House
by
William H. English of Indiana, and was known as the Eng
lish bill.
This report excited surprise and indignation, and evoked
the most determined opposition.
Though equivocal and capa
ble of widely different constructions, it was regarded by the
Kansas as a surrender. It was, too, in marked
contrast with the speech of its reputed author, in which he
had not only opposed the Lecompton constitution, but had
friends of
avowed
his purpose, though a personal admirer and stanch
supporter of his administration, to part company with the
President rather than give it his vote. But now and suddenly
he had reached the conclusion that the exigencies of the occa
sion demanded concession.
In his remarks accompanying the
"
report he said
great question, perhaps the greatest of
the age,
one which has agitated and engrossed the public
has at last come to a crisis,"
mind for the past four years,
:
A
and the committee had concluded that "
it
was not best
to
hazard longer the peace of the country for the sake of an
unimportant point or unmeaning word." He proposed, there
fore, to accept the Lecompton constitution, with all its enor
mities
and the admitted fact that
on a condition."
it
was
in
no sense the work
"
of the people,
In substance, it offered to the people in connection with
the constitution a large land-grant with these conditions
if they voted to accept it, they were to be admitted with the
:
and the land
they voted against receiving it,
they would not receive the land, nor could they become a
State until the Territory had acquired a population sufficiently
constitution
;
if
Singular as
large to elect a Representative to the House.
was the form of this proposition, unfair and double-faced as
�THE ENGLISH
559
BILL.
were its spirit, purpose, and purport, the circumstances under
which it was presented rendered still more reprehensible this
action of its movers, and more creditable and almost wonder
For those struggling
ful the conduct of those who rejected it.
as
they were, and strongly
pioneers, harassed and harried
"
"
spurn the bribe
tempted to purchase peace at any price, to
was indeed heroic, and revealed the stuff they were made of.
Mr. Howard, a member of the conference committee, char
it as a measure to keep open the quarrel, imposing,
as it did, one set of conditions if the Territory applied for
admission as a slave State, and another set if it applied as a
acterized
He
free State.
said
it
offered a
premium
to
Kansas
to
become
but he thought that if the people could have a
" four to one."
Indeed, he
they would reject it
to
it on any conditions
submit
never
that
would
they
predicted
whatever.
a slave State
;
fair chance,
The
proposition of the
bill
was, indeed, a gigantic bribe.
Bluster and bullying had been tried, exhausted, and they had
failed.
Mercenary considerations were now proposed, com
bined with the menace that, if the bribe was not accepted,
Kansas could not be admitted until, by the gradual accretion
" ratio of
population should reach the general
representation" for members of the House. Its spirit and
purport were tersely expressed and characterized by Mr. Critof
numbers,
its
tenden, whose devotion to slavery would rescue his judgment
from the imputation of prejudice against the bill on account
" This
of its proslavery character.
measure," he declared,
"
If you choose to take this
says to the people of Kansas
'
:
Lecompton constitution with
all its imperfections on its head
the complaints and all the denun
ciations which you have made against it ; if you choose to
humiliate yourselves as freemen by a confession of as much
if
you choose to silence
;
all
baseness as that would imply, then, no matter what your
numbers are,
we shall make no inquiry,
but come into the
Union at once, with all the dowry of land. But if you will
not come in on these conditions, then you shall not come in
at all until
which
is
your population shall amount to that number
by the general law as the representation
fixed
�560
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
'
The truth of this allegation was
throughout the country.'
admitted
Mr.
Hunter, a member of the con
substantially
by
who
that the new bill " acknowl
declared
ference committee,
edges not only the authority of the Lecompton convention,
but the validity of their action," while " it receives the con
by them as the constitution of the people
and Mr. Stephens ^another member of the com
mittee, declared that it was never his intention that the con
stitution presented
of
Kansas"
;
stitution should be submitted to the people.
The
was most earnestly and eloquently opposed by some
Among them was Mr.
Grow. In a speech at once learned and logical, packed with
facts and arguments, and glowing with the fervor of an
intense indignation, he analyzed and fearlessly exposed the
" have re
" Four
governors," he said,
iniquitous measure.
turned from that Territory, all telling the same story to the
American people that is, .that the rights of the people of
Kansas have all been trampled in the dust, the ballot-boxes
bill
of the ablest debaters of the House.
;
violated, their .houses
burned, their presses destroyed, their
public buildings battered down by United States cannon under
the direction of United States officers."
But there were few speeches made during the debate which
the
displayed with more vigor of logic and force of rhetoric
its provisions than that of John
of
and
bill
of
the
enormity
A. Bingham of Ohio. " Gloze that bill over with what words
"
you may," he said, it is a written crime. Enact it into a
law, and
ment.
it
will be a legislative atrocity engrossed
Dignify this act with what
title
you
upon parch
history-
please,
'An
act to
will entitle it
stern, truthful, impartial history
take away the liberties of American citizens.' Instead of an
instead of that,
honest and fair submission to the people,
and money.
lands
of
in
the
a
bribe
to
them
submits
it
way
sir,
I say to gentlemen, you
make the lie perpetual.
vitality in
it.
may
A
lie
pass this bill, but you cannot
cannot live forever, it has no
Sooner or later
it
must
perish.
induce the majority to accept the proffered bribe
;
You may
you may
shame and
thereby impose upon that young Territory the
crime and curse of this brutal atrocity, but you can never
�THE ENGLISH
561
BILL.
to such an act of perfidy, to such a system
In this hour of the world's repose and the world's
hope, shall America, the child and stay of the earth's old age,
prove false to her most sacred traditions, false to her holiest
give
permanence
of wrong.
proposed enactment consent to strike down
Liberty in her own temple, and forge chains for her own chil
GOD is IN HISTORY. Let gentlemen give heed
dren ?
to its lessons of the terrible retribution which sometimes over
trust,
and by
.
.
.
takes those
this
.
who
seek to establish an odious and hated des
*
potism on the minds and consciences, the brain and heart, of
freemen."
In the Senate the bill encountered a similar earnest and
determined opposition.
Mr. Stuart said that
if
he was so
borne down by oppression that he was compelled to falsify all
his opinions, he would take the naked Senate bill in preference
to the measure that stood on nothing " either human or di
"
vine
for it was not like anything " in the heaven above, or
in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth
It
is an anomaly, a miserable,
ingeniously concocted pretence to
;
smuggle through Congress, and fasten upon the necks of the
Mr. Doolittle
people of Kansas, an obnoxious organic law."
the
administration
with
forced
charged
having
Geary, Walker,
and Stanton out of office because they would not count frau
dulent votes, while it continued John Calhoun, the surveyorgeneral of the Territory, in office, notwithstanding all that
had been proved
in relation to election returns which had
been made to him, and which had been found " hid in a
candle-box in his wood-pile."
Mr. Douglas referred to the
" some of that
"
fact that
band of
Democrats felt it
glorious
to be their duty to support the bill, but he never could " con
sent to violate that great principle of State equality, of State
"
that his position was
sovereignty, of popular sovereignty
taken, and that he should follow the principle wherever its
logical consequences carried him.
;
Mr. Wilson said this compromise was " a conglomeration of
It goes to the people
bribes, menaces, and meditated frauds.
of Kansas with a bribe in one hand and a
penalty in the
other."
The government had advertised hundreds of thouVOL.
II.
71
�562
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
sands of acres of land to be sold in July, and this scheme of
if she came into the Union under the
Lecompton consti
fered,
tution, five per cent of the proceeds of those sales, amounting
to hundreds of thousands of dollars ; but if she remained out
she could not receive this five per cent.
This, he said, was a
a
to
the
men
of
that
bribe,
temptation
public
Territory to come
in now and thus secure the control of these lands.
He pre
u
dicted, however, that they would
spurn the bribe."
Mr. Seward said the bill came back from the conference
chamber in the shape of " an artifice, a trick, a legislative leger
demain."
It
sas a fictitious
made up and presented
and
to the people of Kan
stamp of equivo
false issue, bearing " the
cation upon every page and every line."
or both of two factions are to be deceived,
Assuming
all
that
is
that one
left for
the public to consider was
Who is the dupe ? He warned
the Democratic party that they would fail in the contest, be
cause, for the first time, they would go before the people of the
:
United States stripped naked of every pretence of equality and
impartiality, between freedom and slavery, no longer as a
party that balances equally between freedom and slavery, but
in the detested character of a party intervening for slavery
and against freedom. He predicted that Kansas would sur
vive their persecution, and that every Territory that should
hereafter come into the Union, profiting by her sufferings and
atonement, would come in as a free State.
Mr. Cameron de
nied that the people of Pennsylvania sustained the President's
" If the vote were to be taken
to-morrow," he said,
policy.
" the
a
majority of one hun
people of Pennsylvania would, by
dred thousand, decide that the President had deceived them."
Three Democratic members of the Senate
and Broderick
and twenty-three members
Douglas, Stuart,
of the
House had,
at the opening of the session, taken their position against the
admission of Kansas with the Lecompton constitution. Dur
ing the contest, these members were accustomed to meet at the
homes of Mr. Douglas and John B. Haskin, a member of the
House from New York. Of course, Republican Senators and
Representatives could not refuse to confer with anti-Lecompton Democrats if requested to do so. Mr. Wade, Mr. Wilson,
�THE ENGLISH
563
BILL.
Mr. Colfax, Mr. Burlingame, Mr. Covode, and one or two
to hold
others, were authorized by many Republican members
and for that purpose they often met in
such conferences
consultation Douglas, Broderick, Harris, Hickman, and Has;
kin.
Immediately on the report of the English
bill,
several anti-
Lecompton members exhibited signs of hesitation.
seemed, to some at least, to be wavering.
Douglas
erick, ever brave
and
true, expressed to
Mr.
Even Mr.
Mr. Brod
Wade and
others
his apprehension that, for political reasons, the Illinois
ator might falter, but expressed his determination that,
did,
Two
was
Sen
he
if
he would denounce him in the Senate and elsewhere.
or three evenings before the passage of the Dill, there
a meeting of the anti-Lecompton Democrats at the house
Mr. Haskin, to consult on the policy to be adopted. At
that conference Mr. Douglas, while avowing his own opposi
tion to the bill, stated it as his opinion that those who had
of
hitherto opposed the measure might consistently go for it,
"
"
submit the
because they could claim that it did
virtually
doubtless
as
he
did,
Seeing,
question at issue to the people.
many who shrank from
continuing their opposition to the
administration on that issue, and who would probably follow
the example of Mr. English, he, from motives of expediency,
threw out the suggestion. But it evoked determined opposi
Mr. Broderick indignantly denounced any sacrifice of
tion.
the principle on which they had hitherto fought the Lecompton constitution. Mr. Stuart expressed similar views, and
Mr. Haskin vehemently insisted that it was the duty of each
and every one to continue in his opposition. " Its passage,"
he said, " would enable the administration to retreat by a
back-door passage from its support of a nefarious scheme and
infamous legislation which President Buchanan and his heads
department should never have favored."
Mr. Cox of Ohio had been the first of the anti-Lecompton
Democrats to denounce the proposed constitution. As early
of
December he had characterized it as " a pulse
6l
less and heartless thing," which was,
through trickery and
mass
of
detestable
a
He had branded
fraud,
putrescence."
as the 16th of
�564
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Calhoun and his associates as Catalines, who, under obliga
tions of principle and honor, had attempted to subjugate the
At this meeting, too, he had given
people's will to their own.
remain true to these clearly
announced convictions. And yet in spite of early speeches
and this unequivocal pledge, so lately given, he expressed his
positive assurances that he should
purpose to support the English
made
bill,
though
it
did not conform
He
urged the usual claim, however, that he
the sacrifice in the spirit of concession and with a desire
to his judgment.
He
admitted that there was no proposition,
many words," to submit the constitution to the people,
though he thought there was a provision in the bill by which,
if the constitution did not meet their
approbation, they could
for
harmony.
" in so
give expression to their will ; indeed that, though it did not
"
contain the " shadow," the " substance
was there.
So
strangely did
action of Mr.
men
reason, so
wildly
did they talk.
This
Cox created much asperity of feeling, and was
most vehemently condemned by Mr. Haskin and many antiLecompton Democrats.
The House on the 30th of April passed the bill by a vote of
one hundred and twelve to one hundred and three,
Davis and Humphrey Marshall voting in the negative.
Winter
Twelve
of the twenty-three anti-Lecompton Democrats in the House
resisted every influence, and stood firm to the end.
They
were Colonel Thomas L. Harris, the acknowledged leader
of the anti-Lecompton forces in that body, Isaac N. Morris,
Aaron Shaw, Robert Smith, Samuel S. Marshall of Illinois,
John G. Davis of Indiana, Garnett B. Adrian of New Jersey,
John B. Haskin and Horace F. Clark of New York, John
Hickman and Henry Chapman of Pennsylvania, and Joseph
These gentlemen, who remained
C. McKibbin of California.
firm throughout this stormy struggle against the pressure of
and appliances of the
political associates and the influences
" Un
commendation.
administration, were deserving of high
doubtedly," said Mr. Haskin, in a letter to Mr. Wilson,
" some of the
anti-Lecompton Democrats who finally voted
for the English bill were influenced by official patronage, and
some of them, perhaps, by official gifts. Well do I remember
�THE ENGLISH
BILL.
565
that Senator Slidell, the fidus Achates of James Buchanan
during the whole of his administration, endeavored to tempt
me
with a grant of a township of land if I would change my
views and support the Lecompton policy. Patronage and gifts
were freely given and made to seduce the anti-Lecompton
Democrats
and
;
I
am
proud that the twelve who were true
any way by the blandish
to the last could not be silenced in
ments
of power, of patronage, or through any corrupt means
u omit to
I should not," says Mr.
Haskin,
whatever.
commendation of the action of Mr. McKibbin. His father had been for nearly half a century the
confidential friend of Mr. Buchanan.
He held at the time
refer in terms of
the
position
of
naval
officer
in
Philadelphia.
During the
struggle he came to Washington more than once, begged and
implored his son, on account of the relations which he had
borne to Mr. Buchanan and the
office
he held, to sustain the
Nevertheless, from the com
end of the struggle, no member was more
faithful and more determined in his hostility to Lecompton,
in all its shapes, than Joseph C. McKibbin of California."
The bill was brought to a vote in the Senate on the same
policy of
the
mencement
administration.
to the
day it passed the House, and was carried by a vote of thirtyone to twenty-two, Douglas, Crittenden, Broderick, and Stuart
voting against it. Thus, after a struggle of five months, in
which the administration made no concealment of its unscru
pulous purpose to use in unstinted measure its power and
patronage for the object aimed at, the Lecompton constitution
received the vote of both houses of Congress and the execu
But the " condition " affixed made the victory
but partial, and the rejoicing of the victors but brief. The
tive approval.
people of Kansas had suffered too much, and were too deeply
in earnest, to be seduced
by the offer of the promised benefits
of the bill,
its liberal grants of
lands, and its admission as a
or driven by the menace of
State,
being kept out, to accept
a constitution they had no agency in
forming, and which they
so thoroughly detested.
As predicted, they did " spurn the
bribe," and they rejected it by a majority of more than ten
thousand.
�CHAPTER
XLIII.
THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE.
Defection of Douglas.
licans.
Its significance
Republican hopes.
and
effects.
Lincoln's nomination.
Conferences with Repub-
Proposed discussion.
Its
Springfield speech.
Representative men.
General line of arguSimilar sentiment of Mr. Seward.
great thought.
In
meu t. Mr. Douglas's reply.
Misrepresentation of Lincoln's position.
Character of contestants.
dorsement of the Dred Scott decision.
mariner of
the debate.
Generally decorous and dignified
Lincoln's appreciation of the
Mr.
Specimens.
De
Not always satisfactory to antislavery men.
gravity of the discussion.
The prominence it gave Lincoln.
Results.
votion to principle.
Douglas's
estimate.
THE defection of Mr. Douglas on the Lecompton issue pro
duced a profound impression. It became an important fact in
those political complications and that general break-up it her
and of which it was a signal example. The prominent
he
had taken in the strife, his undoubted ability, his influ
part
ence with the party, his past unquestioning adhesion to
Southern interests, and his uncompromising denunciation of
alded,
all
who
refused the same, especially of those
who based
their
on conscientious scruples, all pointed to him as, of all
others, the one to lead the Democratic hosts, as unblushingly,
and without concealment, they were fighting the battles of the
Slave Power. For him to falter then, who had never faltered
before, just, too, as the last and final assault on the citadel
refusal
freedom was to be made, was well calculated to send con
sternation into the camp where he had hitherto been so
potent and so much at home. Nor did the reasons that im
His plea of consistency
pelled his course mend the matter.
of
and his mode of putting it were more damaging still. Having
"
overthrown the Missouri compromise on the plea of
popular
sovereignty," he contended that they could, with no show of
reason, support the Lecompton constitution, which completely
�THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE.
567
ignored such sovereignty by imposing a constitution on a people
in the formation of
which they had had no voice and to which they
were unalterably opposed. And then the well-understood fact
that Mr. Douglas hesitated to support this new and advanced
position, because he felt that on it he could not carry his State,
would imperil his re-election to the Senate, was
If Mr. Douglas, with his acknowledged in
could
not
fluence,
carry Illinois, with its admitted Southern
on
the
new issue, the slave propagandists might
proclivities,
and that
it
vastly significant.
well tremble for the result in other Northern States where the
conditions were less favorable.
During the anti-Lecompton struggle of the first session of
XXX Vth Congress, Mr. Douglas held frequent consulta
tions at his rooms with leading Republicans, with a view of
defeating the constitution then before that body. So emphatic
were his declarations that Colfax, Burlingame, Wilson, and
other members of both the Senate and the House, were led to
believe him to be in earnest, and that he would be practically
His
fighting their battles in the coming Presidential contest.
repeated declarations that he was fully committed to fight the
" checked his
thing to the end, that he had
baggage and taken
"
a through ticket
with the belief that he would be re-elected
the
in any event, led several of the Republicans to look with favor
upon his return to the Senate, in the confident expectation
that it would tend to divide and disrupt the Democratic party
and
aid in the election of their candidate for the Presidency.
their Illinois brethren to either
They consequently counselled
aid in electing a legislature, or at least allow one to be chosen,
favorable to Mr. Douglas.
But the action of the Illinois State
Democratic convention in April, in
its
indorsement of Mr.
Douglas, weakened their confidence, and they became less in
clined to such a policy, and were ready, on Mr. Lincoln's nomi
nation, to give the latter their sympathy and good-will.
Mr. Greeley,in his " American Conflict," thus expresses the
" Senator
Douglas had taken so prominent and so effi
cient a part in the defeat of the Lecompton abomination, that
idea
:
a number of the leading Republicans of other States were de
sirous that their Illinois brethren should unite in
choosing a
�568
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
legislature pledged to return him, by a vote substantially unani
mous, to the seat he had so ably filled." Desirous of breaking
the iron rule of the Democratic party, so long wielded, and
with such terrible effect, by the Slave Power, they not unnatu
no voice and no arm could be more potent in
rally felt that
producing such a result than the voice and arm of Mr. Doug
las, if triumphantly returned to his place in the Senate by the
The Republicans of Illinois could
make such a sacrifice of personal
" But it was
hardly in human nature,"
aid of Republican support.
not, however, be persuaded to
and
political feeling.
" that those
says Mr. Greeley,
appealed to should, because of
one good act, recognize and treat as a friend one whom they
had known for nearly twenty years as the ablest, most indefati
gable, and by no means the most scrupulous, of their adver
saries."
They accordingly put in nomination Abraham Lin
and
thus inaugurated a political canvass that at once
coln,
arrested the attention of the nation, and which has become
historic.
Both were strong and able men. Each, conscious of his
strength, was perhaps no less aware of that of the other
and they entered upon the conflict with a purpose that
allowed no room for parleying or retreat.
Both, too, were
the
one
of
the
old
representative men,
regime that was soon
own
;
the other, if not the coming man, to be the
coming party, which was destined to sweep the
country, defeat the Democratic party, and dry up the sources
of its long-continued ascendency.
Like David and Goliah,
while
their
hosts
were
who,
respective
confronting each other
on the opposite sides of the valley of Elah, went forth to single
combat, they for the time being were the champions of the
forces of freedom and slavery, gathering for the mighty strug
gle that was to convulse the country and involve the nation
in a long and bloody war.
While Mr. Douglas so far defied
to pass away
leader of the
;
the armies of the living God as to ignore entirely the moral
character of slavery, ostentatiously and in almost every con
ceivable form expressing his indifference whether it was
" voted
or voted
Mr.
up
prominent
his
Lincoln made everywhere
down,"
condemnation of the system, because it was
�THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE.
569
WRONG, a sin against both God and man.
The former, rep
the
the
brute
of
force
nation, proclaimed as the only
resenting
criterion of his chosen policy what the popular voice indorsed
;
the other, relying ostensibly at least on the righteousness of
his cause, proclaimed the great doctrines of human rights, and
appealed to the moral convictions of the people.
Both were expert and adroit, and made the most of any
advantage their position afforded them. Mr. Douglas, in his
determination to champion the slaveholding interest and re
upon the slaveholding vote, knew that he was
tain his hold
putting at hazard his Northern support and going counter to
the moral convictions and traditional principles of the free
States.
He sought, therefore, to justify his course by openly
pandering to the prejudice against color, so strong in Illi
nois, and by constantly referring to his new doctrine of pop
and by ringing
and sounding dogma.
ular sovereignty,
this specious
all
possible changes upon
Mr. Lincoln, on the other
hand, in his advocacy of the antislavery principles of the Re
publican platform, as if aware of their great advance beyond
what had hitherto been the accepted
parties, perhaps of his
own
principles of the national
political action,
made much
of the
were but the sentiments of the fathers, and that
he only claimed what they fully and freely admitted.
Though what was distinctively called the Lincoln and
Douglas debate was confined to seven joint discussions in dif
fact that his
ferent sections of the State, and took place on and after the
21st of August, the two candidates had already spoken several
times.
They were both in earnest, and their purpose was to
convince and convert their hearers.
Neither was in any
mood
to sacrifice sense to sound, or to imperil his cause by any de
sire to amuse or gratify love of novelty and fine
speaking.
There would naturally be variety, as such men went from place
and gave utterance to their views with that exuber
ance of feeling generated by the heated canvass in which they
to place,
were engaged and the answering enthusiasm of the thronging
crowds who gathered before them. By the terms of the
agreement each debate was to be restricted to three hours,
each speaker alternately occupying the opening hour; the
VOL.
II.
72
�570
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
other in reply occupying an hour and a half, the first using up
the remaining half by way of final rejoinder. This plan
The stimulus afforded by the occasion,
necessitated variety.
the crowd, the stake, the presence of his antagonist to rebut
possible, every argument, traverse every statement, and
?
if
criticise
both the matter and manner of what each one said,
would necessarily evolve new thoughts, new illustrations, new
scintillations only, it might be, thrown
forms of expression,
off by the rapid evolutions within, but sparkling and attract
ing attention, nevertheless.
And
yet the speeches themselves
were respectively and substantially, almost confessedly so, the
same, with the same leading thoughts, principles, and argu
ments. If the framework, the skeleton, were not always the
same, the materials of which they were composed differed but
slightly.
dress varied, but the substance was
Like the kaleidoscope, which, when turned,
The form, the
mainly identical.
presents the same objects in new combinations, so the speeches
of these distinguished men, though seemingly quite different
form and expression, when examined closely and analyzed
with care, are found to be made up of materials essentially
in
alike.
Mr. Lincoln was nominated for United States Senator, at
After the nomina
Springfield, on the 17th of June, 1858.
had been tendered him, he addressed the convention in
a speech of singular significance and effectiveness.
Brief,
terse, and strong, bristling with points, most forcibly and
tion
felicitously expressed,
it
not only enunciated the great doc
it indicated with unmis
trines of the Republican party, but
takable signs that the speaker himself was an extraordinary
man. His very first paragraph, without exordium or any per
sonal allusion, betokened his earnestness, his singleness of
in
purpose, and his thorough grasp of the great subject he had
hand " If we could first know where we are and whither we
:
are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do
it.
are now far into the fifth year since a policy was
initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of put
We
Under the operation of that
ting an end to slavery agitation.
but has conpolicy that agitation has not only not ceased,
�THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE.
571
In my opinion it will not cease until a
A house divided
have been reached and passed.
I
stand.'
believe
this
cannot
itself
government cannot
against
endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect
stantly augmented.
'
crisis shall
the Union to be dissolved.
But
I
do not expect the house to
will cease to be divided.
I do expect
one thing, or all the other.
it
It will
fall.
become
all
Either the opponents of slavery
will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the pub
lic mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ulti
mate extinction or its advocates will push it forward, until
shall become alike lawful in all the States,
old as well as
as
South."
North
as
well
new,
It is said that great and new thoughts, as well as important
;
it
discoveries, oftentimes spring up simultaneously in different
minds or reward the search of different individuals. And
more, that they seem to be developed according to some law
of Providence by which they are withheld till the world is
ready for them, and then come just when and where they are
needed and fall into the very niche provided. It is a some
what striking coincidence that this new thought, that the
Union could not endure " half slave and half free," was put
forth
by Mr. Seward, but a short time afterward, in
his
Roch
ester speech, in a like terse and apothegmatic form, and which
"
at once became proverbial.
Alluding to the
antagonistic
" collisions "
systems" of freedom and slavery, and to the
that were resulting therefrom, he thus asked and answered the
" Shall I tell
question
you what this collision means ? They
:
who think
it is
accidental, unnecessary, the
work
of interested
agitators, and therefore ephemeral, mistake the
case altogether.
It is an irrepressible conflict between oppos
and it means that the United States
and
forces
ing
enduring
must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slave-
and fanatical
;
holding nation or entirely a free-labor nation."
Having enunciated the great truth of the inevitable tendency
of the nation to be " all slave or all free," Mr. Lincoln pro
ceeded to point out the evidences that the tendency then was
to make the nation " all
of what he
the
slave," by
workings
describes as that " almost complete legal combination-piece of
�572
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
compounded of the Nebraska doc
and the Dred Scott decision." Tracing with masterly
machinery, so to speak,
trine
and forensic skill the progress already made towards the welldefined and determined policy of making slavery no longer
sectional but national, he said the only remaining thing to be
" to educate and mould
at
accomplished was
public opinion
not to care whether slavery is
least, Northern public opinion
voted down or voted up." With this effected, and " another
Supreme Court decision declaring that the Constitution does
not permit a State to exclude slavery from
shall lie
are on
awake
its limits,
.... we
down
pleasantly dreaming that the people of Missouri
the verge of making their State free, and we shall
to the reality, instead, that the Supreme Court has made
"
a slave State ; and " all this will be upon us," he
Illinois
"
added, unless the power of the present political dynasty can
be met and overthrown." He closed with the expression of
his confidence that the
mate success was
omens were auspicious and that ulti
"
" Wise
counsels," he said,
may
sure.
accelerate or mistakes delay
tory is sure to come."
it,
but, sooner or later, the vic
On the evening of July 9, Mr. Douglas addressed a mass
meeting in Chicago, when he made formal reply to the above,
in connection with a defence of his own course upon the LeThe
latter he based upon the great doctrine of
which
forbade the forcing upon Kansas of
popular sovereignty,
compton
issue.
a constitution against the clearly expressed will of her people,
"
though he was careful to add that the fact that slavery is an
"
had no place in his argument. Referring to Mr. Lin
evil
coln's speech as containing the basis on which he proposed to
carry on the campaign, he said
tinct propositions
which
:
" In
he lays down two dis
and upon which I shall
it
I shall notice,
The first of these
said
on the " divided
Mr.
Lincoln
had
was
what
propositions
house." Holding up Mr. Lincoln's expectations as synony
take a direct and bold issue with him."
mous with
his advocacy, he said,
as, if
correctly interpreting,
" In
though grossly misrepresenting, the language employed
other words, Mr. Lincoln advocates boldly and clearly a war
of sections, a war of the North against the South, of the free
:
�THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE.
573
to
a war of extermination,
States against the slave States,
be continued relentlessly until the one or the other shall be
subdued, and
all
the States shall either become free or become
Against this exaggerated and really false view he in
for
reply that there was no necessary incompatibility
terposed
between free and slave States in the same Union; that the
slave."
fathers so constructed
and domestic
"
it,
institutions
New Hampshire would
knowing that, though the laws
wln'ch would suit the granite hills of
fully
be totally unfit for the rice plantations
South Carolina," they could belong to the same federation
"
of States.
Indeed, he contended that in this
diversity, dis
of
similarity,
and
variety, lay the great safeguard of our liberties."
The other
proposition to which he took exception was what
Mr.
he styled
Lincoln's " crusade against the Supreme Court
of the United States on account of the Dred Scott decision."
After affirming, and elaborating the affirmation into various
"
forms of expression, that he accepted as " final " the decision
of the highest tribunal known to the Constitution," he pro
ceeded to controvert the reasons assigned by Mr. Lincoln for
it denied citizenship to the
" I am free
African race.
other utterances was this
his objection to the decision that
Among
to say to you that in
founded on a white
:
my
basis.
opinion this government of ours is
It was made by the white man, for
the benefit of the white man, to be administered by white men
manner as they should determine." Affirming that
"
the issues between himself and Mr. Lincoln were
direct,
in such
unequivocal, and irreconcilable," and that he stood on the
same platform he had always proclaimed, he said " Fellowcitizens, you now have before you the outlines of the proposi
:
which
I intend to discuss before the people of Illinois
the
during
pending campaign."
The discussion was generally conducted with dignity and
gentlemanly decorum. Though both had occasion to express
tions
themselves strongly, they seldom failed to exhibit the ameni
of professional courtesy and good-breeding, though in
several personal rencounters, when calling each other to strict
account for alleged misstatements and misrepresentations of
ties
themselves or friends, they seemed on the very verge of indeco-
�574
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
rous and unparliamentary language.
But, with a few seeming
exceptions, they maintained a gallant and knightly bearing
towards each other, with a bold and fearless utterance of their
though they sometimes knew that they were
Douglas was
audacious and defiant, Lincoln was calm and unimpassioned
the former impulsive and easily nettled, the latter, though
equally in earnest, good-natured, and always ready with a
real sentiments,
very offensive to the audiences they addressed.
;
story, anecdote, or quaint expression, to excite a smile
and
restore good-humor.
It would be easy to pick up, scattered through these debates,
not a few memorabilia, fine specimens of that peculiar style,
that marvellous
way
of putting things, that subsequently char
that versatility in matter and
;
acterized Mr. Lincoln's papers
manner,
as,
changing
" From
grave to gay, from lively to severe,"
he enunciated
now
the sublimest thoughts in the most appro
most fitting words, gave ex
priate language, and now, with
pression to the keenest irony
and mirth-provoking drollery.
former was his reply, at Alton, to the
" "
" Is
" is the
slavery wrong ?
That," he said,
question,
As an example
real issue.
of the
That
is
the issue that will continue in this country
when
these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall
be silent. It is the eternal struggle between those two prin
right and wrong
ciples
throughout the world. They are
two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning
of time, and will ever continue to struggle.
The one is the
common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of
In his speech at Springfield he said " Judge Doug
las is going back to the era of the Revolution, and, to the
extent of his ability, muzzling the cannon which thunders its
kings."
:
annual joyous return.
When
he invites any people willing
to have slavery to establish it, he is blowing out the moral
*
lights around us. When he says he cares not whether slavery
down
or voted up,'
a sacred right of selfis,
my judgment, penetrating the human
government,
the
and
eradicating
soul,
light of reason and the love of liberty
is
voted
he
in this
in
American people."
that
it is
�THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE.
575
As specimens
of his irony and good-humor, there is in the
contrast he draws between himself and
a
comical
same speech
Judge Douglas. After describing the prestige and patronage
belonging to the latter as the expected President, he said:
" On the
contrary, nobody has ever expected me to be Presi
In my poor, lean, lank face nobody has ever seen that
dent.
any cabbages are sprouting out."
Referring to Mr. Douglas's
determined adhesion to the opinion of the court, he said
" But I cannot shake
Judge Douglas's teeth loose from the
Dred Scott decision. Like some obstinate animal
I mean
:
hang on when he has once got his
cut
off a leg, or you may tear away
may
an arm, still he will not relax his hold and so I may point
out to the judge, and say that he is bespattered all over,
no disrespect
that will
teeth fixed, you
;
from the beginning
with attacks upon
of his political life to the present time,
I may cut off limb
decisions.
judicial
after limb of his public record,
from a single dictum
from it."
Good
and
strive to
wrench him
of the court, yet I cannot divert
illustrations, too, of
him
sharp discrimination and the for
cible and pregnant use of words, were his characterization of
the doctrine of popular sovereignty, as meaning that " if any
man chooses to enslave another no third man shall be allowed
to object," and his exhibition of the inconsistency of accepting
both the doctrine of popular sovereignty and that of the Dred
"
" that a
Scott decision, which was
thing
declaring," he said,
may be lawfully driven away from a place where it has a law
"
and also his reply to the assumption that,
go
because he advocated giving negroes their natural rights, he
" I
the coun
was in favor of social
ful right to
;
protest against
equality.
terfeit logic,"
he
" which
concludes, because I do not
for a slave, I must necessarily want her
said,
want a black woman
for a wife."
Comprehending the magnitude of the contest and the grav
he spoke at Quincy of " these seven joint
"
"
"
as
enacted
discussions
the successive acts of a drama
"in the face of the nation, and to some extent in the 'face of
"
the world
and he added, " I
anxious that they should
ity of the occasion,
;
m
�576
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
be conducted with dignity and good temper, which would be
befitting the vast audience before which it was conducted." In
regard to one of his questions to Mr. Douglas, and the probable
either of
one of two answers which the latter would give,
he said to a friend
which would seriously embarrass him,
"
" If he
But," said his
does, he can never be President."
"
"
he may be Senator."
interlocutor.
Perhaps," replied Mr.
:
" but I am after
larger game the battle of 1860 is
Lincoln,
worth a hundred of this." How much was implied in this
;
it involved personal considerations, or was
in
hope of the success of the Republican party
spoken only
can never be told. It revealed, however, the comprehensive
remark
whether
ness of the survey he took, and the elevated outlook from
which he viewed the prospective results of the efforts he was
then making.
Though Mr. Lincoln took high and advanced ground, and
appealed with singular and unwonted directness to the moral
convictions of his hearers, it is due to historic truth to admit
was not always consistent that some of his asser
and admissions were both unsatisfactory and offensive
to antislavery men, betrayed too much the spirit of caste and
prejudice against color, and sound harshly dissonant by the
side of the Proclamation of Emancipation and the grand utter
ances of his later state papers. How much of this was per
sonal and how much was political
how much was the expres
sion of his own sentiments and feelings, and how much was
that he
;
tions
spoken in deference to the prejudices of his constituents
may never be known. The statement is due, however, to his
memory, and as an offset to any harsh judgment which may
be formed concerning those unfortunate expressions, that on
some occasions Mr. Lincoln exhibited a lofty devotion to prin
and a sublime self-abnegation which under the circum
His Springfield speech affords an
stances have few parallels.
Mr. Lincoln expected the nomination as candi
illustration.
ciple
The contest to which it
date in opposition to Mr. Douglas.
him he knew would be close and severe, and that he
needed' to husband all his resources, make no mistakes, and
invited
give his wily antagonist no
undue advantage.
The speech
�THE LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS DEBATE.
577
was to be a kind of pronunciamento, and was prepared before
hand with great care. It was read to a company of his per
sonal and political friends, who all decided that it was too
radical and too far in advance of the public sentiment.
Espe
" A house
cial objection was made to the expression
divided
William H. Herndon, his law
against itself cannot stand."
partner, was present, and states that Mr. Lincoln in reply to
the objection said " That makes no difference that expres
:
:
;
sion
is
a truth of
against
The
itself
all
human
experience,
He that runs
cannot stand,' and
proposition
is
A house
'
indisputably true,
divided
may
read.'
and has been for more
than six thousand years and I will deliver it as written. I
want to use some universally known figure, expressed in sim
;
ple language as universally known, that may strike home to
the minds of men, in order to rouse them to the peril of the
I would rather be defeated with this
times.
expression in the
speech, held
up and discussed before the people, than to be
victorious without it."
The canvass resulted in the election of a legislature in
which there was a small majority in favor of Mr. Douglas,
though in the popular vote he was in a minority of some four
thousand.
But the
vigor, ability,
and
skill
with which Mr.
Lincoln had conducted the canvass placed him at once before
the country as one of its foremost men.
Nor were any more
ready to acknowledge this than Mr. Douglas, who told his po
litical friends, when he was nominated by the Republicans for
the Senate, that they would be obliged to do their best to defeat
him.
On
the return of the latter to Washington, after the
senatorial contest, he said to Mr. Wilson, in reply to the ques
" He is an able
tion as to what he thought of Mr. Lincoln
:
and honest man, one of the ablest men of the nation.
I
have been in Congress sixteen years, and there is not a man
in the Senate I would not rather encounter in debate."
VOL.
ii.
73
�CHAPTEK
XLIV.
SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Wilson's amendment and speech.
Brown's bill.
Slavery always obtrusive.
Southern hostility to the education of
Amendments of Clark and Harlan.
the blacks.
Brown, Mason.
Wilson's response.
Successful efforts.
Intolerant sentiments of Jefferson Davis.
Preparation for her great work.
Myrtilla Miner.
Countenance and aid from
School for colored girls.
Serious and violent opposition.
Profitable investments.
Miss
some of the leading citizens of Washington.
Growth and character of the institution.
Miner's death.
Subsequent action of Congress.
Suspension.
character and work.
Failure of Brown's bill.
Miss Miner's
THE maladies of society, like those of the body, are mainly
known by their symptoms. There is, therefore, no surer test
of the nature, extent, and inveteracy of the disease that was
preying upon the Southern portion of the country, by which,
too, the
North was largely
affected, at the opening of the
than
is
revealed by the sentiments ex
Congress,
pressed and spirit manifested in that body, especially during
XXXYIth
Overshadowing all others, it happened that
whatever might be the subject before it, if it could by any
means be tortured into such shape, the slavery issue became
its first session.
the topic of discussion, keeping the specific purpose of the
debate in the background, if it was not lost sight of altogether.
Jefferson Davis, by
way
of complaint of Republican
members,
true, though his testimony is to the point, petulantly
exclaimed " I have heard no question yet discussed as a
it
is
:
great political and constitutional question during the present
session of the Senate, but in every instance, sooner or later,
and generally by a single bound, they plunge into the question
of that species of property
States."
which
is
held in the Southern
This was specially apparent in a short and sharp discussion
of a bill introduced by Mr. Brown, proposing to surrender a
�SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
579
certain portion of fines and forfeitures collected in the Dis
Columbia " for school purposes." On this seemingly
trict of
unimportant and innocent proposition there sprung up a de
bate that revealed, as few debates of that excited session had
It
done, the hidden life and purpose of slaveholding society.
not only challenged attention and compelled the nation to
gaze upon the nakedness of the land it cursed, but it showed
naturally and necessarily such results must follow such
how
a cause.
On the motion to put the bill upon its passage, Mr. Wilson
moved, as an amendment, that a million of acres of the public
lands should be donated to the District for the instruction of
" free children." In his remarks
upon this amendment Mr.
Wilson stated that there were eleven thousand children be
tween the ages of five and sixteen, that only twenty-five per
cent were in the common schools, that fifty-one per cent were
in no schools at all, that hundreds of scholars sought admis
and that " the schoolhouses owned by the city amount to only about ten thousand
dollars."
Indeed, according to the testimony of Mr. Brown
himself, only some thirty thousand dollars were raised annu
Such was the meagre, the disgraceful show
ally for schools.
ing at the beginning of the year 1860 in the proud but slavesion in vain for lack of accommodations,
ridden capital of the great Republic.
Mr. Clark of New Hampshire moved to
amend by providing
that the children of no persons who were taxed under the pro
visions of the act should be debarred from attending " some of
This amendment involved the principle of pro
viding education for colored children, though no one at that
time even suggested the possibility of what has since excited
" mixed schools." The most
so much acrimonious
said schools."
discussion,
was claimed was embodied in an amendment offered by
Mr. Harlan of Iowa, that " separate schools shall be provided
for the education of the colored children of the District." The
ordinary arguments were urged, deduced from the necessary
connection between education and the prosperity and mainte
that
nance of free institutions
question
"
:
How
Mr. Clark pertinently putting the
can you better improve the city than by
;
�580
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
"
improving the people, as well as the earth and the streets ?
The main significance of the debate, however, appeared in the
arguments and admissions of those who opposed the three
amendments.
Mr. Brown revealed his impatience by spitefully remarking
" This
thing ends where I was fearful it would end at the
start.
It curls in the head of a nigger."
Sneering at
"
" Northern
for the negro, he said that the
philanthropy
mover of the amendment knew " perfectly well that he was
"
introducing a torpedo into this bill, which must destroy it
"
for he well knew that the
thirty Southern Senators on this
:
;
floor will
not consent to take charge of the education of the
He expressed his willingness to exempt the property
negroes."
of the free colored people from the taxation involved in the
law but he said he would not " insult the
and
intelligence
;
dignity of this enlightened community by a proposition that
looks to putting white children on an equal footing with negro
children."
He recognized and defended the legitimacy of the
claim upon the property of the District for whatever was
necessary to educate its white children but he ignored en
;
tirely
any demand for the improvement
of the colored popula
tion.
He did not object to their taxing themselves for that
purpose, but he denied entirely the obligation, and discarded
the policy, of the government undertaking it.
Other Southern members were far more outspoken, avowing
the most diabolical sentiments, damaging alike to themselves
and to the system they championed. Mr. Polk condemned the
" I
bill and all its provisions, for white as well as black.
"
am opposed," he said, on principle to the government taking
charge of its citizens or the education of their children. I say,
the citizens take care of themselves, and let the fathers
Mr. Mason, referring to the
educate their own children."
let
admission of Mr.
Brown
that he had no objection to the col
ored people taxing themselves for the purposes of education,
" I dissent from him
And he proceeded to
said
altogether."
" to
state that the policy of Virginia and Maryland was
pro
a policy he charac
hibit the education of the negro race,"
terized as " wise," and in harmony with those laws of Virginia
:
�SCHOOLS IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA.
581
"
for a negro to remain in the
a " misdemeanor
This being the policy in those
State after his emancipation.
States, he objected to the introduction of any policy in the
which made
it
harmony with that which they had adopted.
Nor would he, he said, depart from the general legislation of
That this policy and spirit of exclusion
the slave States.
and ignorance enunciated by these Senators was that of the
slaveholders, and of the great body of the Democratic party
as well, was made apparent by the admission of Mr. Brown
that he was depending on Republican votes, as he had been
" two " Democratic votes for his measure.
able to secure only
District not in
Speaking reproachfully to the Republicans for putting in peril
by their overweening regard for
"
the black, he said
Seeing that I had no support on this
his bill for the white children
:
side for educating either whites or blacks, I thought myself
justified in appealing to the other side in favor of our own
Such was the record, not
race."
of a
few Southern extremists
alone but in the year of grace 1860, such was the humiliating
confession which a prominent Democratic politician, at the
;
head of an important committee, was compelled to make of
the Democratic party itself.
Jefferson Davis was no less emphatic in the expression of
the extreme opinions that ruled the hour.
Speaking of the
be
admission that there might
separate schools, he inquired
" What
with lordly impatience
right have you to take charge
:
Where do you get your authority ? The
" Can it be
for them."
not
made
was
expected,"
government
"
he asked again, that we shall sit here and hear the question
of that race at all
?
"
Contending that
argued as to the equality of the races ?
in
admitted
had
never
been
the equality
any section of the
"
This pseudo philanthropy is an ex
Union, he exclaimed
crescence on the American mind, springing from a foreign
germ." A sharp colloquy having sprung up between him and
:
Mr. Wilson on the equality of the races, in which the latter
had contended that the negro race had an equal right to life,
liberty, and property, Mr. Davis proceeded in a very offensive
manner to lecture him on the impropriety and lack of senato
" as
"
rial courtesy in such utterances.
long as
Sir," he said,
�582
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Massachusetts chooses to assign the Senator a seat here he
has the right to speak. If Massachusetts confers upon him
the right to speak, he should be careful that he speaks as
becomes the place, and the position which he holds." After
" bold words " of the Massachusetts
Senator,
speaking of the
"
"
of members for their
and
of the
utterances,
respect for that character of con
science which permits a man to give offence, but does not per
mit redress."
he said
:
responsibility
" I can feel
little
Mr. Wilson, in reply, after alluding to the Senator's " tones
"
of arrogance and superiority on this floor," to his
language
unworthy of the Senate of the United States," and to his
" discussions of
expressed unwillingness to hear
negro equal
"
he remained here he must listen to
ity," replied that while
" The
these questions when we choose to discuss them."
"
is accustomed to come into this cham
gentleman," he said,
and to bring the teachings, the philosophy, of the slave
system, and blurt them into the face of Christian and civilized
men and when we oppose it, lectures are read to us,
to
ber,
;
men who
stand upon Christian principles taught in God's
Holy Word. And when we propose to educate a few colored
children in this District, Senators say we are insulting them.
I advise Senators to let the humane current of an
advancing
and Christian civilization spread over this continent." " There
" a noble woman
here in Washington teach
is," he continued,
ing colored girls and if the Senator from Mississippi and the
Senator from Virginia visited that school and saw the mental
;
culture there, if they would not be proud of it, and thank God
that these darkened minds were being cultivated by the efforts
of philanthropy, I misunderstand those gentlemen altogether."
Alluding to the Senator's remark about "responsibility," and
its
unmistakable reference to "the barbarous code of the
he said " The Senator talks about a
duello,"
responsibility.
Sir, the laws of our country have branded the infamous code
to which he has referred as a crime.
As a law-abiding man I
:
cannot resort to
it.
The law
of
God has put
its
brand upon
I will not accept it.
I say here and now to Senators,
that, while I repudiate that code, I shall not shrink from
it,
and
�SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
uttering
my
sentiments freely and accepting the
sibility of them, and I shrink
right in their vindication."
from nothing that
583
full
respon
is legal
In closing, he said
:
and
" The
made. I am ready to leave the record of my senti
ments avowed here to the country, to civilized, Christian, and
enlightened men. I am ready to let his sentiments and my
sentiments go out to the American people, and let them see
which are most in harmony with the laws of nature, the laws
of God, and the laws of a refined Christian civilization."
record
is
The " noble woman,"
referred to by Mr. Wilson, was Myrone
of
tilla Miner,
the heroines of the irrepressible conflict,
not because she figured largely upon the theatre of popular
discussion, or entered her public protest against the evils of
slavery, but because in the humble walks of the lowly she
and protracted effort edu
and prostrate race. Born
to poverty in a farmer's house in Northern New York, and
with a feeble body, she sought, and found, the path to an
Thus fitted in part for her life's work, she went
education.
quietly sought out and with patient
cated the children of the proscribed
and was governess in a planter's family. The
enormities she there witnessed, the persistent and systematic
outrages perpetrated upon the colored race, filled her with
to Mississippi,
unmitigated horror at the nation's
pathy for
its
victims.
sin,
and with intense sym
Supplementing the preparations already
this experience fitted her more fully for her subsequent
devotion and self-abnegation in behalf of the objects of her
made,
charity.
Casting around for a place in which she could most suc
cessfully embody her thoughts in some practical scheme, she
selected the District of Columbia because its laws allowed
the education of free colored children.
Here, in the autumn
Her main idea
of 1851, she opened a school for colored girls.
was " to train up a class of colored girls in the midst of slave
institutions,
who should show
forth in their culture and capa
the country and to mankind that the race was fit
for something higher than the degradation which rested upon
them." She commenced her work with small beginnings,
bilities to
only two or three girls in a
little
room fourteen
feet square
and
�584
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
owned by a colored man. It was, however, soon filled, and in
two months new quarters were found. From them they were
driven by the threat of conflagration, so that in the course of
a few months she occupied no less than four different rooms.
Great and gratifying success attended her labors. With won
derful
and untiring
activity
Miss Miner directed her efforts to
both the whites and the blacks, to find among the latter the
to work up or educate, and among the
means by which she could accom
and
former the co-operation
raw material she desired
plish this blessed purpose.
of enthusiasm to both
much
Nor
did she fail
of
imparting
was a matter of grateful
recognition then, and of remembrance since, that among the
leading men and families of Washington she found patrons
and earnest friends, who lent both countenance and material
aid to her mission of love and good works.
For even in those
dark days of proslavery violence and compromise there were
not wanting members of Congress who were won to her sup
port by her welcome importunity and the beauty of her pure
and perilous endeavor while the carriage from the residence
of Mr. Seward, often seen standing before her humble school
room, attested the interest felt in the work of the brave and
heroic woman by the wife and daughters of the New York
;
for
it
;
Senator.
Nor
did she need less than this to shield her
from the fierce
and unrelenting opposition she encountered; for all she did
was at much personal hazard. She was insulted, and threat
ened with personal violence
men visited her school-room
with the menace that she continued her work at her peril
;
;
coarse boys sought to terrify her unoffending pupils as they
emerged from the school-room and passed along the streets.
In the spring of 1860, while she was alone and asleep in the
second story, her house was set on fire, which, however, she
was fortunately enabled to extinguish. And these exhibitions
were but the natural outcome of the prin
and publicly proclaimed by the leading men
of the District.
An ex-mayor, who at first had encouraged
her enterprise, so far yielded to the terrible despotism which
dominated over the public sentiment of the city as to publish
of lawless violence
ciples entertained
�SCHOOLS IN THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA.
585
over his own signature an article in the " National Intelli
"
"
discountenancing raising the standard of education
gencer
among the colored population," on the ground that it would
not be just to the white population " to extend to the colored
people a degree of instruction so far beyond their social and
which condition," he contended, " must
political condition
continue in this and every slaveholding community."
;
But notwithstanding her straightened means and small ac
commodations and the stern opposition she encountered she
was neither dismayed nor discouraged. Nothing daunted, she
moved on with serene confidence
in the successful issue of her
an issue, as forecasted in her enthusiastic and hope
ful imaginings, in signal contrast with anything she had yet
For her plans were comprehensive and contem
experienced.
plans,
Nor did she seem at all inadequate to
plated large results.
her part of what she had undertaken. With untiring energy,
devotion, enthusiasm, not to say magnetism, she seemed won
derfully successful in impressing others and winning them to
her support. By a fortunate purchase, at the moderate price
of four thousand dollars, a
whole square, containing some
three acres, had been secured in the northwestern part of the
city, on which was a small wooden house and three cabins.
These became her seminary and home. She gave to each of
her pupils a flower-plat, and required her to cultivate it. Here
she gathered paintings, engravings, magazines, papers, and
Here, too, in addition to their ordinary studies,
apparatus.
her pupils had the privilege of becoming interested and in
Her
structed in matters of literary and aesthetic culture.
plan was to found a female college, with suitable accommo
dations for one hundred and fifty boarders, with all the pro
The war,
vision and appliances of a first-class institution.
however, intervened and soon after its close a severe acci
dent suddenly arrested all effort on her part, and the project
;
she so auspiciously began was never resumed, though Congress
1863 incorporated an association which succeeded to this
in
trust.
This association sold the real estate for more than
ten times the amount Miss Miner paid for it.
It now has a
fund of nearly fifty thousand dollars, the income of which is
VOL.
ii.
74
�586
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
devoted to the education of colored youth for the profession
of teachers.
There
something touchingly impressive in the life and
purpose of Miss Miner. To the great and grim tragedy of
human affairs they afforded a delightful episode. In this self
is
with its grasping, jostling throng,
she seemed
some angel ministrant on her mission of mercy. On the
dark background of the nation's history it seemed an illumi
nated picture, resplendent with truthfulness and love. Her
life of romantic incident was at once redolent and beautiful.
It was in itself a sweet poem, a living evangel of a heart
yearning toward humanity and filled with a sublime trust in
ish world,
like
God.
Nothing, however, came of Mr. Brown's bill nor was it
brought up again for discussion. But the record of the debate
;
remains, with
and
its
results
damaging admissions, its outrageous avowals,
tyrannic demands. And such was slaveholding, its
and proclaimed necessities, in the high noon of the
its
nineteenth century, at the capital of the great Republic, as
described, too, by its own advocates themselves in the high
And it was for this they clamored so
places of the land.
vociferously, sacrificed the amenities of friendly debate, the
fraternal feelings of good neighborhood, and all the advan
tages of union ; for this they were even then on the eve of
rushing into rebellion and all the horrors and risks of civil
war.
�CHAPTER XLY.
JOHN BROWN'S INVASION OF VIRGINIA.
Assault on Harper's Ferry.
Conflicting opinions.
John Brown's
birth, early
His life in Kansas.
His deep philanthropy.
Plan of government.
Officers under
His great work.
Meeting in Canada.
Hesitation.
Final acquiescence.
it.
Meeting in Central New York.
Letters from Forbes.
Move
Brown visits Boston.
Secret committee.
life,
and
ment
characteristics.
deferred.
Again
visits
Kansas.
Aids in the escape of
slaves.
Aid furnished by committee.
Kennedy Farm.
Brown and party over
Assault made.
Letter to the Secretary of War.
His replies, and
Visited by Wise, Mason, and Vallandigham.
powered.
Trial and conviction.
Letters of Mrs. Child, and replies.
their influence.
Execution.
Liberal action of Governor Wise.
Visit of Mrs. Brown.
Funeral.
Eemarks of Wendell
Journey homeward.
Body delivered.
Voice of the press and of public meetings.
Phillips.
Impression.
Estimate of his character and act.
Again
THE
visits
Boston.
on Harper's Ferry and its failure, the capture,
trial, conviction, and execution of John Brown and his follow
The South
ers, startled and profoundly stirred the nation.
was excited, furious, and unanimous. The North was hardly
less excited, but regretful and divided.
Antislavery men
and
condemned
the
generally deplored
invasion, though they
admired the stern devotion to principle and the heroism dis
raid
played therein, sympathized with its actors in their misfor
tunes, and mourned over its tragic results.
Many, however,
who admired and
pitied the heroic old
man and
his hardly less
heroic followers, felt that such a revolutionary movement com
promised legitimate reforms and put in peril rightful opposition
to slavery.
Nor were they mistaken
men and
;
for, at
once and every
odium of
and
upon antislavery organizations,
especially
upon the Republican party. Although they signally failed in
where, proslavery
presses sought to fix the
this lawless act
this,
they did, for a time, greatly intensify the popular feeling
men and antislavery measures.
against antislavery
�588
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
John Brown was a Puritan, and a
Pilgrims.
ancestry.
IN AMERICA.
lineal descendant of the
He
inherited the spirit as well as the blood of his
Born in Connecticut, in the year 1800, he was
taken by his father, at the age of five years, to the Western
Reserve.
Living in straitened circumstances in that pioneer
home, he early exhibited those marked developments of char
acter which distinguished him in after life.
He was strictly
The Bible and the ex
conscientious and sternly religious.
perimental writings of such men as Baxter and Bunyan were
the chosen companions of his leisure hours. Principle and a
nice and exacting sense of justice were the regal elements of
his character, and unselfishness the resplendent virtue of his
To relieve suffering, and to vindicate the
strange career.
the
of
injured and oppressed, were the leading objects
rights
of his
life.
Recognizing no rightful claim of the master to his slave,
the Underground Railroad early and ever found in him a prac
and most efficient agent. Such relief of the oppressed,
however, he deemed individual and of small account, and he
looked for something more nearly adequate to the work to
tical
be accomplished. Despairing of a peaceful solution of the
"
perhaps a forcible sepa
issue, the idea entered his mind that
ration of the connection between the slave and his master was
in
necessary to educate the blacks for self-government." But,
the
underestimated
common with his countrymen, he
strength
and tenacity of the Slave Power, and underrated the difficulties
in the
way
of
the slave's redemption.
Evidently, too, his
wish was father to the thought, as he interpreted the probable
His
evil.
designs of Providence towards removing the fearful
marked
been
had
him
he
informed
who
to
one
by the
reply,
" the
will
Lord
the
of
that
for
Missourians
camp
angel
death,
round about me," revealed the secret conviction that his des
and that he was a
tiny was linked with that of the slave,
chosen instrument of the Lord to work out his deliverance.
This thought unquestionably affords a key to his life, and ex
seem inexplicable.
plains many things which might otherwise
With such convictions, it is not strange that such a man
should be drawn to Kansas by the terrible scenes there enacted,
�JOHN BROWN'S INVASION OF VIRGINIA.
589
and that he should have taken a prominent part in that
cause of his going there
great struggle though the immediate
his
four
from
was a request for arms
sons, who had gone there
;
He
hoped, too, to aid the
that fair territory from the
struggling freemen there to rescue
touch of slavery. Not to make for himself a home,
to
for themselves homes.
make
polluting
but to aid others to build for coming generations, was this
to en
courageous, self-forgetful, and future martyr willing
were
which
the
brave
to
and
the
counter
dangers
hardships
involved in such a purpose.
But he felt that his work, that for which he believed he
his soul had
specially called of God, that over which
brooded for nearly a generation, was not thus to be accom
He had done something, but it was only individual
plished.
and fragmentary. He would relieve an enslaved race, and
was
Combination and
destroy the system that was crushing it.
conference were needed, and early in the spring of 1858 he
" a
sent out a call from Chatham, Canada, for
very quiet
convention at this
dom."
"
place
of
the
Such a meeting was held
;
" true friends of free
and one
of its acts
was
the adoption of a paper, drafted by him, entitled " Provisional
Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United
In this paper, designed to give shape and direc
States."
movement, it was provided that the offices of
and
commander-in-chief should be held by differ
president
ent persons.
Brown was elected commander-in-chief, Richard
Realf was chosen secretary of state, and J. H. Kagi was made
tion to the
secretary of war.
There is much that is strange and inexplicable in all this
and it will ever remain a mystery, whatever explanations may
;
how
sane men could hope to establish such an
with
a constitution setting forth the three de
organization,
partments of government, legislative, judicial, and executive,
defining crimes and their penalties, including death even, and
be made,
yet affirm, as it is affirmed in the forty-sixth of the forty-eight
" the
articles, that
foregoing articles shall not be construed so
as in
any way to encourage the overthrow of any State gov
ernment or of the general government of the United States,
�590
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and we look to no dissolution of the Union, but simply to
amendment and repeal and our flag shall be the same that
our fathers fought under in the Revolution."
In the autumn of 1857 Brown began to organize a small
body of men. For the purpose of giving them military instruc
tion he employed Colonel Hugh Forbes, an English adventurer,
who had fought with Garibaldi. The two, however, failed to
;
The
who knew
more of Gideon
than of Napoleon, and who looked upon war mainly in its
providential aspects, had little in common with the mere
adventurer, without convictions, and who looked upon war as
see alike.
stern Puritan,
far
a matter of science and a wise use of brute forces.
They
disagreed and separated.
Immediately Forbes wrote letters
to Dr. Samuel G. Howe and Frank B. Sanborn of Massachu
complaining that Brown had not fulfilled his promises.
In January, 1858, Brown left Kansas and went to the home
of Frederick Douglass in Rochester, New York, where he
setts,
wrote his plan of government. From this place he wrote to
Theodore Parker, Mr. Sanborn, George L. Stearns, and T.
Wentworth Higginson, asking them to aid him by raising a
small sum of money to carry out " an important measure, in
which the world had a deep interest." In these and other
letters he spoke of important things he was intending to do,
He wrote also to Sanborn,
but gave no definite explanations.
Stearns, and Howe, and requested them to meet him at the
home of a friend in Central New York. Sanborn was, how
22d of
ever, the only one to respond, reaching the place on the
February.
Here he met Brown and
his
own
classmate,
Edwin
Morton, a native of Massachusetts, then a member of Gerrit
Smith's family, afterward a lawyer of Boston. To this little
company Brown explained his proposed constitution, indicated
his plans, and specified the middle of May as the time to com
mence operations. For the purposes named he desired them
to aid him by furnishing a thousand dollars.
Recognizing the
and the
character, magnitude, and difficulties of his scheme,
asked
was
what
even
the
for,
of
obvious inadequacy
means,
end proposed, they endeavored to dissuade him from
his purpose, or, at least, besought him to defer his attempt
but he was inflexible.
to the
;
�591
JOHN BROWN'S INVASION OF VIRGINIA.
It was manifestly a moment and a case, like many that
were constantly arising during the dreary reign of the Slave
Power, when the best men were in a position where there
where, the more consci
least a conflict of duties,
seemed at
and
entious a man was the greater the difficulty in deciding,
where, whatever the decision, there was at least some apparent
infringement of admitted obligations.
the night and during the following day
;
They listened late
and then, though
into
still
unconvinced by his arguments, they yielded to the potent and
One well acquainted with the
personal influence of the man.
" At
circumstances of that conference thus writes in the
lantic
"
Monthly
of
1873
"
:
As
the sun
was
setting over the
snowy hills of the region where they met, the Massachusetts
delegate walked for an hour with the principal person in that
little council of war.
The elder of the two, of equal age with
Brown and for many years a devoted abolitionist, said ' You
:
see
how
it is
;
our old friend has
made up
his
course of action, and cannot be turned from it.
give him up to die alone we must stand by him.
;
many hundred
him
mind
to this
We
cannot
I will raise
you must lay the case
before your friends in Massachusetts, and see if they will do
so
the same.'
;
'
This' he did,
Brown
dollars for
visited
and at the suggestion of Theodore Parker
Boston in March. Howe, Sanborn, Stearns,
and Higginson consulted with him.
To them he communi
cated his proposed invasion of Virginia, though he spoke
of his purpose in regard to Harper's Ferry only to Mr. Sanborn.
A
formed to
secret committee consisting of these gentlemen was
raise the necessary means.
This was speedily ac
complished
;
and
it
was decided
to strike the first blow in the
May. Arriving in Chatham, Canada, on the
last of April, he learned that Forbes was in
Washington,
threatening to disclose his plans to Republican members and
latter part of
the government, unless, as he insisted in letters, written inApril and May, to Howe and Sanborn, that Brown should be
dismissed as leader, and himself installed in his place. These
letters being submitted to the secret committee, it was fin
ally agreed,
Higginson dissenting, that the attack should be
�592
EISE
deferred.
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
But Brown had determined, notwithstanding these
threats of Forbes, to go forward.
In May, Forbes communicated to Dr. Bailey of the " Na
tional Era," and to Senators Seward, Hale, and Wilson, that
arms which had been furnished by the Massachusetts Kansas
committee had passed into the hands of Brown, who was
intending to use them for unlawful purposes. Alarmed at
this information, though general and not specific, Mr. Wilson,
at the request of Dr. Bailey and Mr. Seward, wrote to Dr.
Howe on the 9th of May, disclosing this information, suggest
ing that such use of the arms would inure to the disadvantage
of those who had contributed them for the defence of Kansas,
and pressing upon him the importance of immediately recover
ing them. This letter was laid before the secret committee,
and forwarded at once to Brown in Canada. " This awkward
" seems to
"
Atlantic,"
complication," says the writer in the
have decided Dr. Howe in favor of postponing the attack, and
both he and Mr. Stearns, as members of the Kansas committee,
wrote Brown that the arms must not be used for the present,
except for the defence of Kansas. The latter saw that noth
ing could then be done, and yielded, though with reluctance,
to the postponement."
meeting of the secret committee was held at the Revere
A
House, Boston, on the 24th of May. It was agreed that the
assault should be deferred till the spring of 1859 that two or
three thousand dollars should be raised for Brown's assistance
and that the rifles, which were the real property of Mr. Stearns,
;
;
should be transferred to him, and thus the Kansas committee
should be relieved of
all
responsibility.
He
visited
Boston
the following week, saw the secret committee, received the
custody of the arms from Stearns and five hundred dollars.
But, as nothing could be done for the furtherance of his Vir
that he
ginia scheme, he accepted the committee's suggestion
should return immediately to Kansas, and he at once departed
to aid the free State settlers there.
While untiring in these
efforts,
he was, as ever, intent on
Learning that a
aiding the slave in his attempt to escape.
were
to be sold for
the
border,
family of slaves, just beyond
�JOHN BROWN'S INVASION OF VIRGINIA.
593
Texas, he planned and effected their escape with that of five
This occasioned great excitement, and the governor
of Missouri offered a reward of three thousand dollars for his
others.
which was increased by the addition of two hundred and
Buchanan. This, with the public
fifty dollars by President
disavowal by the free State men of all sympathy with his course,
arrest,
induced him to leave the Territory, though hotly pursued by
With a dusky retinue of eleven bondmen, he set
his enemies.
forth on his long, uncertain, but finally successful journey for
freedom for them and safety for himself.
In May, 1859, Brown visited Boston to confer again with
the secret committee, to mature plans, and to make arrange
ments for future action. On the 28th he dined at the Parker
House with the " Bird Club," in company with two or three
members of the secret committee. While at the dinner-table
he sat next to Mr. Wilson, who had never seen him before.
Being in possession of the letter of the latter to Dr. Howe,
which had arrested his expedition, he said " Senator Wilson,
I understand you do not approve my course." To this remark
Mr. Wilson replied " I am opposed to all violations of law,
and to violence, believing that they lay a burden on the anti:
:
To this he responded with some positiveness
and no little emphasis " I do not agree with you, sir." He
left Boston in June, having received from the secret com
mittee some two thousand dollars, more than half of which,
slavery cause."
:
" Atlantic "
writer, was the gift of George L. Stearns,
says the
" who must have furnished the old
hero, first and last, more
than ten thousand dollars in money and arms." This com
mittee furnished John Brown about four thousand dollars, and
most of it given with
nearly twice that amount in arms
;
knowledge of the real object for which it was furnished.
Soon after leaving Boston, Brown went to the Kennedy farm
on the Maryland side of the Potomac, five miles from Harper's
Ferry, which he had rented, and which he made his rendez
vous.
During the summer and early autumn recruits came
first to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and thence to this farm.
Of the
fact, if
War had
VOL.
II.
not the place of this movement, the Secretary of
been apprised in August by a letter from Cincinnati,
75
�594
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
of which, however, he did not seem to have taken much notice.
After taking possession of it, he wrote to the Boston com
mittee for three hundred dollars, which was furnished. About
the same time Francis Jackson Merriam, grandson of Francis
Jackson, who afterward died in the Union army, came to his
house, joined the expedition, and gave him six hundred dol
lars.
Just before the assault, Frederick Douglass, who had
been made acquainted with his general plan, visited him at
Charnbersburg, and there first learned of Brown's purpose
to attack Harper's Ferry.
Yainly urging him to join the
"
Go with me, Douglass. I don't want
enterprise, Brown said
:
you to
fight.
to be there
I will protect
when
the bees
you with
swarm and
my
life,
but I want you
help put
them
into the
This remark indicated the underlying idea of the
movement. He thought that the slaves were ready to rise
hive."
their masters, ready to fight for liberty, and only needed
a leader and a plan. Remembering the Seminole War, its
on
protracted history, the large amount of men and money ex
pended for the results attained, it seemed to him that with
the slaves flocking to his standard, he could, in the fastnesses
of the mountains and in the recesses of swamps, hold at bay
any forces the government could bring against them. But
he miscalculated. He failed to forecast aright the action of
In the lights afforded
either the slaves or of their masters.
by the history of his own attempt and of the war of the
Rebellion, there never was the remotest possibility of success.
Tried by the rules of ordinary warfare, it was presumption and
"
midsummer madness'." The heart that prompted the move
ment was right, but the head that conceived and planned it
was sadly at default.
The 24th of October had been selected as the day of the
the
Fearing, however, that they had been betrayed,
that
of
16th was substituted therefor. On the evening
day
he assembled his little force, consisting of fourteen white
assault.
and
five colored
men, armed and equipped for war.
A
little
after ten o'clock they entered the town, took possession of
the United States armory buildings, stopped the trains of the
of the
railroad, cut the telegraph wires, captured a number
�595
JOHN BROWN'S INVASION OF VIRGINIA.
and held the town about
After some fighting, in which several persons
thirty hours.
were killed and wounded, Brown retired to the engine-house,
where he was finally overcome and captured by a detachment
citizens, liberated
several slaves,
United States marines, under the command of Colonel
Robert E. Lee, afterward the Confederate commander-in-chief.
of
in several places, eight of his band,
of his sons, were killed or mortally wounded,
Brown was wounded
including two
were captured, and five made their escape.
Brown, while confined in the guard-house, was visited by
Governor Wise, to whom he stated with great frankness and
He deeply
fulness the motives and purposes of his action.
impressed the bold, outspoken, impulsive governor, who, in an
six
address to the citizens of Richmond, thus bore testimony of
him " They are mistaken who take him for a madman. He
:
is
a
man
and simple in
and indomitable and it
of clear head, courageous fortitude,
He
is
cool, collected,
genuousness.
but just to him to say that he was humane to his prisoners ;
and he inspired all with great trust in his integrity and as a
;
is
man
of truth.
truthful,
and
He
is
a fanatic, vain and garrulous, but firm,
To Senator Mason and Mr. Val-
intelligent."
landigham, who unquestionably catechized him in the hope
that others, perhaps a party, would be implicated by his
he avowed his pity for the poor in bondage, and
he " came to free the slaves, and only that."
He expected no reward but the satisfaction of endeavoring
to do to others in distress as he himself would be done by.
replies,
said
that
He reminded Virginians of both their duty and their
" You
" had better
people at the South," he said,
danger.
prepare
yourselves for a settlement of this question, which will come
up sooner than you are prepared for it." Mr. Vallandigham
" stoic
spoke of his
faith, patience, and firmness," and of him
"
as at
the farthest possible remove from the ordinary ruffian,
fanatic, or
He was
madman."
indicted " for
murder and other crimes," brought
November was sentenced
George H. Hoyt, a young
Boston who volunteered his services, Samuel Chilton
to trial, convicted, and on the 2d of
to be hung.
He was defended by
lawyer of
�596
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Washington, and Henry Griswold of Ohio. Six of his
Coppoc, Stevens, Cook, Hazlett, Copeland, and
Green, little less noble and heroic than himself, were tried,
convicted, and executed.
They all, except Cook,
of
followers,
deported
themselves with great firmness and propriety,
leaving, like
their leader, expressions of resignation,
trust, and their still
deathless devotion to liberty.
Copeland and Green, the col
ored men, and Stevens, Brown's trusted
who had
lieutenant,
been desperately wounded, were skilfully and
ably defended by
George Sennot, a Democratic lawyer of Boston, who went to
Charlestown at the request of Dr. Howe, accompanied
by
After the conviction of Stevens, Mr. Sen
Judge Russell.
not visited Richmond and besought the legislature to
spare his
But his efforts were as unavailing as had been those of
life.
Governor Wise before the same body to secure remission of
the sentence of Coppoc.
And yet the old hero himself
was the principal actor in
that grim tragedy, the central figure of that startling Virginia
tableau with its dark background of Southern slavery, the
the one making more resplendent the
beauty and brightness of the other. His port and bearing,
his interviews with Wise, Mason, Yallandigham, and others,
pitchy blackness
of
and his remarks before sentence was passed, pro
duced a profound impression.
His simple and unstudied
to principle, such
devotion
such
sublime
words, revealing
and
for
the poor, lowly,
oppressed, such
profound sympathy
his letters,
serene trust in God, were seized upon and hoarded almost as
gems from another and better land, or as the echoes from
the heroic age of confessors and martyrs of a like precious
Acts of sympathy and proffers of aid were many.
During the darkest hours of the irrepressible conflict there
faith.
was ever the consoling fact that the literature of the nation
was mainly on the side of freedom, and that the brightest
names in its galaxy of authors shone benignantly on the sacred
cause.
Among them one of the earliest and most cherished
was that of Lydia Maria Child. From the first, her graceful
and earnest pen was consecrated to the cause of immediate
emancipation, and in her the slave and his defenders ever
�597
JOHN BROWN'S INVASION OF VIRGINIA.
found a warm-hearted and
Brown
"Wise.
self-sacrificing
friend.
While
lay in jail awaiting his trial, she wrote to Governor
"
"
"
She expressed her " regret and " surprise at the
step that the old veteran has taken," but added that he needed
a mother or sister to dress his wounds and speak soothingly
" to
to him, and asked to be allowed
perform that mission of
in
courteous and courtly
The
governor replied
humanity."
style,
though perhaps a
trifle curt.
He avowed
his
want
of
"
"
"
sympathy with her sympathy for one who whetted knives
of butchery for our mothers, sisters, daughters, and babes,"
and his surprise at her " surprise," saying that " his attempt
He however
of your sympathy."
on the ground that he was " bound to
"
her, and accord to her the privileges and immunities
protect
She also
of a citizen of Massachusetts coming into Virginia.
was a natural consequence
gave his permission,
"
of
wrote to Brown, disclaiming sympathy with his " method
"
but
the
cause of freedom,"
avowing
great
advancing the
est admiration for him personally and a strong desire to
" In
" I love
she
minister to his comfort.
brief,"
wrote,
you
In his reply he expressed his gratitude for
her sympathy and kind offers, but intimated that he did not
need anything more than was afforded by Captain Avis, his
" a most humane
" with his
has
and
bless you."
man," who,
jailer,
family,
rendered every possible attention I have desired, or that could
be of the least advantage." This correspondence evoked no
little interest and feeling.
Among the evidences of it was a
Mrs. Child by the wife of Senator Mason,
which were exhibited the usual slaveholding assumption,
Mrs. Child replied to her, as she
arrogance, and bitterness.
had already to Governor Wise, in fitting terms and just as
such a woman, on such a theme and under such circumstances,
would necessarily respond.
letter written to
in
Many friends of the slave as well as personal friends visited
the prisoner to comfort and support.
Among them was Judge
afterwards
collector
of
the
Russell,
port of Boston, at whose
house he had been concealed, while fearing arrest on a requi
from the governor
In his conversation
with him he expressed in the strongest language his confisition
of Missouri.
�598
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
dence in the Divine disposal of events and of himself saying
that he fully recognized God's sovereignty in the affair, even
"
in the " mistakes
and " errors " which had been committed.
;
On the day before the execution, Mrs. Brown, accompanied
by Hector Tyndale and J. Miller McKim, visited her husband,
having an order from the governor
who, considering the
himself
circumstances, deported
very courteously and chival
towards
John
Brown
and
his
friends
for the delivery
rously
"
of his body, and a letter also,
expressing his
sympathy with
her affliction," and containing the assurance that his " author
"
should be exerted to enable her to
ity and personal influence
secure " the bones of her sons and her husband " for " decent
and tender interment among their kindred." Their meeting
was deeply affecting. " For some minutes," it is said, " they
stood speechless, with a silence more eloquent than any utter
ance could have been."
Speaking tenderly of their children,
both living and dead, he commissioned her to tell the survivors
that their " father died without a single regret for the course
he had pursued," and that he was satisfied that he was " right
in 'the eyes of God and all just men."
The only thing that
seemed to trouble him was his anxiety for those he was leav
ing destitute. For those soon to be widowed and orphaned
he did plead, though his requests were coupled with the char
" I well understand that
acteristic remark
they are not the
:
only poor in the land." For himself he had no tears ; but for
the loved ones he was leaving behind his heart yearned with a
solicitude he could not and probably did not care to repress.
The 2d
of December, appointed for the execution, having
final act in this drama of blood was performed,
the
arrived,
amid no little of " the pomp and circumstance of war," and
John Brown's name was added
to the list of martyrs,
and the
cause of impartial freedom he had served so nobly received
the baptism of his blood.
He died courageously and well, and
his death was a fitting close of his life, lending glory to the
gallows, and receiving naught of disgrace therefrom.
Immediately after the execution his body was delivered to
General Tyndale and J. Miller McKim, who, with Mrs. Brown,
started immediately for the North.
At New York Wendell
�599
JOHN BROWN'S INVASION OF VIRGINIA.
and they proceeded rapidly
towards North Elba, where the widowed mother, returning
from her sad pilgrimage, met her children with " a burst of
That was, however, soon succeeded by
love and anguish."
" a
holy and pensive joy," and they seemed reconciled even to
Phillips joined the little cortege,
this stern trial of their faith
and
love.
They buried him on
the 8th, with services as simple and unostentatious as was the
character and life of the martyr himself, as was, too, the com
munity in which he had lived and for which he had labored.
Wendell Phillips could not but speak eloquently, and with
such pathetic and pointed utterances as the event would nat
urally suggest to one so thoroughly in sympathy with the
But, like all the
objects, if not the methods, of the dead.
opponents of slavery at that time, he evidently had little con
ception of the nature of the conflict itself, or of the forces that
would be found needful to root up and destroy American
Though it was but one brief year before South
slavery.
Carolina passed her ordinance of secession, raised the ban
ners of revolt, and led the movement which ushered in the
war, he said
blood."
civil
:
" I do not
believe slavery will go
down
in
The execution became at once the signal of discussions at
home and abroad. Abroad, the utterances were generally of
commendation and eulogy. John Brown, if not the canon
was the proclaimed hero
of the hour, while America
Slaughtered," wrote Victor
"
Hugo, by the American republic, the crime assumes the pro
portions of the nation which commits it." This country, from
press, pulpit, and platform, resounded with conflicting discus
ized saint,
was held
sions.
guilty of his murder.
"
Few
approved. The great
some, to show their continued fealty to
Large meetings were held.
mass condemned,
the South, affirming, as was done in some Northern assem
"
blages, that slavery was
wise, just, and beneficent," and
" drunken mutineers " and
stigmatizing antislavery men as
others, to express their confidence in the man, and in the
;
integrity of his purpose, admiration for his heroism, sympathy
for the object he had at heart, but repudiation of his meth
ods, saying with Whittier
:
�600
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
"Perish with him the
That seeks through
Long
IN AMERICA.
folly
evil
live the generous
good
;
purpose
Unstained with human blood!
Not the raid of midnight terror,
But the thought that underlies
Not the outlaw's pride of daring,
But the Christian sacrifice."
;
But whatever
diversities in
judgment, or errors of estimate
been, Mr. Phillips did not err when, standing
of John Brown, he said that his words were
the
open
grave
by
than
his
arms, and that, while the echoes of his rifles
stronger
there
may have
had died away among the hills of Virginia, his words were
guarded by a million hearts. When, a few months later, the
uprising nation sent forth its loyal sons to battle, his brave,
humane, and generous utterances were kept in fresh remem
The " John Brown Song," extemporized in Boston
brance.
" Massachusetts
harbor, and sung by the
Twelfth," marching
in
down
and
its encampment in
State
Street,
up
Broadway,
Pleasant Valley on the banks of the Potomac, struck respon
sive chords that vibrated through the land.
Regiment after
regiment, army after army, caught up the air, and in the camp,
on the march, and on the battle-field, brave men associated
"
"
in the
and the soul still
the
mouldering
ground
body
"
marching on of the heroic old man with the sacred idea
for which he died and for which they were fighting.
"
�CHAPTER XLVI.
HUNTING FOB TREASON.
Debate thereon.
Trumbull's amendment.
Trambnll,
Mason, Hale, Hunter, Davis, "Wilson, and Clark.
Charges against the Republican party by Mason and Iverson.
Colloquy between Wilson and Iverson.
Eeport, in part, of committee.
Hyatt at
Strong speech of Mr. Wade.
Kelease.
Case of Sanborn.
His
the bar of the Senate.
Imprisonment.
Mason's resolution.
memorial.
His attack on the Re
Final report.
Douglas's resolution.
Hunter's ora
Fessenden's reply.
Damaging admissions.
publican party.
Failure of Douglas's resolution.
tion.
THREE days
after
the
execution
of
John Brown the
A
XXXVIth
resolution was immedi
Congress assembled.
Mr.
Mason
for
offered
the
by
appointment of a commit
ately
tee of investigation concerning the affair at Harper's Ferry.
Upon taking up the resolution Mr. Trumbull
amendment instructing the same committee to
offered
an
inquire into
" the facts
attending the invasion, seizure, and robbery, in De
cember, 1855, of the arsenal of the United States at Liberty,
Mr. Mason expressed
Missouri, by a mob of armed men."
the conviction that the only purpose of the amendment was to
embarrass his resolution. Mr. Hale replied in his best vein.
Though his words bore the semblance of raillery and wit, they
were trenchant and severely truthful. Alluding to the charges
which had been made and reiterated against Republicans, he
had no confession to make, no words to unsay. He
it might be
most thorough and searching. Mr. Hunter expressed surprise
that any one should be disposed to embarrass the resolution
" not
by an amendment
germane," or by partisan appeals.
Jefferson Davis expressed the opinion that there was no
said he
favored the inquiry, and expressed the wish that
necessary resemblance between the scenes enacted at
per's Ferry and those in Missouri.
Har
Mr. Wilson avowed his purpose to vote for both the resoluTOL.
IT.
76
�602
tion
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and the amendment, and for the resolution with or with
He spoke of John Brown's acts, words,
out the amendment.
and bearing as having excited the deepest sympathy, and as
having extorted the admiration of many, though they re
" Men
gretted the course he had pursued at Harper's Ferry.
"
that he was sincere, that he had vio
believed," he said,
lated the laws, but that he had followed out his
deepest and
sincerest convictions, and was willing to take the
consequen
ces of his acts."
Mr. Clark said that there was " an emi
nent fitness and appropriateness in sending these two reso
lutions, which are kindred though different, to the same
"
thought that such a reference would
quiet
of the ill-feeling and jealousy which had
grown up
committee."
much
He
here."
Mr. Mason, with an evident purpose to fasten responsibil
" The
ity on the Republican party, said
vagabond Brown, a
:
had no re
ruffian, a thief, and a robber,
nothing more,
sources of his own, but he brought resources there for the
pur
poses of this insurrection, proportioned to
large
sum
of
money.
We
want
to
it,
this
money
him
We want to know the incentives that led
supplied.
that expedition.
We want to get at the thousand
was
to
and costing a
know where
rills
which go to make up public sentiment, and which resulted in
adequate treasure to send a ruffian with an armed band on
such an errand." With still greater violence of language,
Mr. Iverson made the same imputation, declaring that the
whole design was " political." " It cannot be disguised," he
" that the Northern heart
said,
sympathizes with Brown and
his fate, because he died in the cause of what they call liberty.
.... The truth is that it is the intention of the Republican
party to break down the institution of slavery by fair means
or foul means, and if they cannot accomplish it in one way,
they intend to accomplish
it
in another.
If
they cannot ac
by appealing to the slaveholders themselves, they
mean to accomplish it by appealing to the slaves."
Referring to these assaults on the Republicans, and to the
complish
it
intense excitement then pervading the country because of the
attack of John Brown and his few followers at Harper's
�603
HUNTING FOR TREASON.
Ferry, and also to the systematic and long-continued assaults
on Northern men at the South, Mr. Wilson called attention
to the outrage, just then perpetrated on Mr. Fisk of Massa
chusetts, who was doing business in Savannah, and who had
been tarred and feathered for the alleged offences " that he
generally expressed abolition sentiments, and that on last
Sabbath evening he read to negroes in his store." To this
statement Mr. Iverson replied " For such conduct as that,
teaching abolition sentiments among slaves, he deserved, not
:
only to be tarred and feathered, but deserved the fate which
John Brown had." In allusion to the expulsion of Professor
Hedrick from a North Carolina college, mentioned by Mr.
Wilson, for expressing sentiments favorable to the election of
" I have no
Fremont, Mr. Brown of Mississippi frankly said
:
hesitation in saying that I would not tolerate any man who
would go to my State and avow his preference for the election
of Mr.
Seward upon the programme
ter speech."
And
laid
the twofold fact
is
down
in his
Roches
to be noted that the
Power not only demanded this complete suppression of
freedom of speech and action, but that it was thus bold
and outspoken in its insolent demand.
Disowning all sympathy with the attack on Harper's Ferry,
Mr. Wade expressed profound admiration for the man who
Slave
all
it, and the most unmitigated disgust for those who
had so much sympathy for Virginia, one of the oldest and
largest States, because she had been assaulted by such an
insignificant force, but who had shown none for Kansas four
" its few and
feeble colonies scattered in
years before, with
planned
the wilderness,"
outraged by border-ruffians, backed by the
countenance and aid of " a powerful party," in full possession
" You
of the government.
may treat old John Brown," he
" as a common
said,
malefactor, but he will not go down to
posterity in that light at all." On Mr. Trumbull's amendment
the vote stood twenty-two yeas and thirty-two nays.
Mason's
resolution was unanimously adopted, the committee was or
dered, and Mason, Davis, Collamer, Fitch, and Doolittle were
appointed.
On the 15th of February Mr.
Mason asked
leave to report,
�604
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
He
IN AMERICA.
had summoned three
Frank
B.
James
witnesses,
Sanborn,
Redpath, and John
and
that
had
failed
to
He ac
Brown, Jr.,
they
appear.
cordingly asked that they should be compelled to attend, and
A few days afterward he re
the authority was granted.
ported similar facts concerning Thaddeus Hyatt, asked
The
authority to compel his attendance, and it was granted.
debate on this proposition was quite spirited, many making
the point that the Senate had no authority thus to interfere
in part.
stated that the committee
with the personal rights of the citizens of States.
The results of the attempts to coerce the attendance of
these witnesses, which had been unsuccessful except in the
case of Hyatt, were succinctly stated in the final report of the
From this report it
that
was
arrested
that
John Brown, Jr.,
;
Hyatt only
appeared
at first evaded the process of the Senate, and afterward, with
a number of other persons, armed himself to prevent his ar
committee, made on the 15th of June.
Sanborn was arrested in the night, and ironed, but he
was released from custody by the judges of the supreme court
of Massachusetts on habeas corpus.
Redpath, by leaving his
State, or otherwise concealing himself, successfully evaded the
Of Hyatt the committee said " that
process of the Senate.
rest.
on
his appearance before the Senate, still refusing obedience
summons of the committee, he was, by order of the
to the
Senate, committed to the
jail of
the District of Columbia."
On Mr. Hyatt's presenting himself at the bar of the Senate
he put in, for answer to its summons, a long and elaborate
paper, which occupied the clerk nearly three hours in the
reading, and which embodied a labored argument of Samuel
E. Sewall and John A. Andrew, afterward governor of Mas
sachusetts, giving reasons why he should not be compelled
It occasioned an
to appear and testify in the case at issue.
He
earnest debate, but the result was his imprisonment.
13th
the
till
March
12th
of
from
the
remained in the jail
The statement in the report of the committee that
Mr. Sanborn was released from custody on habeas corpus
Mr. Mason denied, declaring that he had been " rescued by
a mob." The facts were that the officials found themselves
of June.
�605
HUNTING FOR TREASON.
unable to take him from his
vented by his
his
own
townsmen, who,
home
in Concord, being pre
resistance, that of his sister, and that of
upon the ringing of fire-bells, assembled
A writ of habeas corpus was hastily issued
at once served by Sheriff John S. Keyes,
and
by Judge Hoar,
citizens
assisted by the
present, who were greatly .indignant
Mr. Sanborn sent a
at this arrest of one of their neighbors.
memorial to Congress, which was presented by Mr. Sumner
in large numbers.
"
on the 10th of April, reciting the facts and asking redress."
This movement in Congress, the threats and attempts
made elsewhere to implicate and convict, if possible,
had aided or had been cognizant of the attempt on
who
any
freely
Harper's Ferry, with the general excitement then prevailing,
naturally made those who had known of Brown's movements,
who had contributed in any way towards them, solicitous
and anxious for their safety. Knowing that, in the then ex
cited state of the public mind, there would be little chance
for a fair and unprejudiced hearing, they deemed it best to
or
place themselves beyond the reach of federal jurisdiction.
Immediately after the assault, Douglass and Morton went to
and Sanborn spent
Canada, and thence sailed to England
some time in the Queen's dominions.
Howe and Stearns,
after the investigation was ordered, went to Canada for a few
Theodore
days, but Higginson refused to leave the country.
Parker was in Italy, sick, and soon to die. On the 2d of De
cember, the day of Brown's execution, he wrote to a friend
;
in America, expressing his apprehensions of "fresh scenes
" But
of violence," though still hopeful of the final issue.
such
confidence," he wrote,
that I do not fear the final result.
is
my
for America,
" in democratic
institutions,
There
is
a glorious future
but the other side of the Red Sea."
A
still
more systematic effort was made to implicate Gerrit Smith.
He had for years been a warm friend of Brown, believed
in his integrity and honesty of purpose, had sympathized
warmly with him in his endeavor to aid escaping slaves,
and had contributed small sums to aid him in this behalf.
He had also received aid from him in the management of
his colored colony in northern New York.
le TSuew and
�606
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWEE
IN AMERICA.
heartily approved of his proposed attempt to aid slaves to
escape to the mountains of Maryland and Virginia, but had no
his attempt on Harper's Ferry, and
afterward, in
a letter to a friend, wrote that " he was astonished to hear
of it, so unlike was it to that of going to the mountains."
But the excitement and a knowledge of these unfriendly at
knowledge of
tempts so seriously affected his health and spirits that he
was sent to the Utica hospital for several weeks.
In their report, the committee said that, while there was
no doubt that it was " Brown's plan to commence a servile
insurrection on the borders of Virginia, which he expected
to extend, and which he believed his means and resources
were sufficient to extend, through that State and throughout
the entire South," yet, being a man " of remarkable reticence
in his habits," he does not appear to have intrusted even his
" Nor have the com
immediate followers with his plans.
"
been
mittee
enabled," they add,
clearly to trace knowledge
" after much consid
of them to any."
They say, too, that,
eration, they are not prepared to suggest any legislation."
In the same direction, as
it originated from the same
inspi
the
debate
on
a
was
resolution
offered by Mr. Douglas in
ration,
"
January for the suppression and punishment of conspiracies
The speech
or combinations in one State against another."
his
resolution
was
in
of
of Mr. Douglas
support
particularly
marked, though exhibiting far more of the partisan than of
the patriot, more of the advocate, intent on making out his
case, than of the statesman enunciating the great principles of
He quoted Mr. Lincoln's expression of belief
political truth.
" this
government cannot endure permanently half slave
and half free," and Mr. Seward's utterance concerning the
.that
"irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces,"
as a "fair exposition" of Republican doctrines and policy;
and he gave utterance
to the insinuation that the causes
which
" in active
produced the Harper's Ferry invasion were then
operation."
Mr. Fessenden replied in a speech of great vigor and force.
While he yielded too much to the spirit of conservatism, he
successfully met and disposed of the unfriendly allegations
�607
HUNTING FOR TREASON.
and innuendoes of Mr. Douglas, and vindicated the Republi
can party from the aspersions the latter had so freely cast
upon it. But he made the damaging admission that previous
1850 the country was quiet upon the slavery question
damaging, because during the decade preceding 1854 had been
enacted those fearful aggressions of the Slave Power which
had excited so much alarm and such indignant protest. The
to
;
annexation of Texas, the compromise measures, the Fugitive
Slave Act, had all been crowded into those ill-fated and ill-
And yet, said Mr. Fessenden, the country
"
" determined there
was
quiet," and the great parties had
should be no more trouble on the subject."
Notwithstanding
freighted years.
the antislavery agitations and teachings of a quarter of a
century, and all the outrages committed at the behests of
all
slavery, and all its inroads upon the domain of freedom, this
was the statement volunteered in the very presence of those
who had led on those aggressive movements.
Mr. Hunter spoke, or rather delivered an elaborate oration,
on the slavery question. He began,
tion of the figures afforded by the
by a laborious examina
commerce between the
Northern and Southern States, to show that " these vast inter
ests are not hostile, but of mutual assistance to each other,"
and that the disturbance threatened by the antislavery agita
tion would be reciprocally disastrous
these common interests
;
"
" while the
constituting a mighty arch," he said,
very key
stone of this arch consists in the black marble block of
African slavery.
all
"
Knock
that out, and the mighty fabric, with
upholds, topples and tumbles to the ground."
Concerning the assumption that the South could be
that
it
" It
whipped into the Union," he said
might be provoking,
were not so absurd." " Sir," he confidently affirmed,
" this coercion of
which you speak is impossible." He con
tended that slavery was " the normal condition of society,"
and in harmony with the Divine requirement, " Do as you
would be done by." Those acquainted with Southern society
must have doubted the sanity, as well as the candor, of one
:
if it
who
could
make
declarations like these.
ticipated in the debate ; but nothing
as no vote was reached.
Other Senators par
came
of the resolution,
�CHAPTER XLYII.
CUBA AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
Commanding
position of Cuba.
hostility
Yan
-
South American
Congress at Panama.
Randolph, Berrien, and Floyd.
and purpose.
slavery.
Slaveholding ascendency.
Slaveholding apprehensions.
republics.
Efforts to purchase.
Change of feeling.
Taylor's proclamation.
Propositions of Eng
General surprise.
Ostend manifesto.
Bu
Buren's despatch.
Filibustering expeditions.
Refusal.
land and France.
Brown's
Slidell's bill.
Action thereon.
chanan's message.
Position of the administration.
Designs on Central America.
expedition.
THE
and
its
Southern
Championship of
Failure.
Purpose.
speech.
Walker's
Democratic sympathy.
proximity of Cuba to the mouth of the Mississippi River
commanding position in the Gulf of Mexico made that
island a matter of interest
United States, whether
dent, slave or free.
it
and importance to the people of the
was held by Spain or was indepen
Here, however, as everywhere
terests of slavery were made paramount,
controlled the action of the government,
alike to the well-being
When
and
to the
else,
the in
and the Slave Power
a fact detrimental
honor of the Republic.
the Spanish colonies in America became independent,
Apprehensive that the republics of
they abolished slavery.
Mexico and Columbia would be anxious to wrest Cuba and
Porto Rico from Spain, secure their independence, and intro
duce into those islands the idea, if they did not establish the
fact, of freedom, the slave-masters at once sought to guard
Soon after
against what they deemed so calamitous an event.
the inauguration of John Quincy
of State, wrote to
instructing
him
Adams, Mr. Clay, Secretary
Alexander H. Everett, minister to Spain,
to press
upon that government the importance
of
acknowledging the independence of those colonies. Among
the reasons assigned was the fact that the " fortunes " of those
islands " have such a connection with the people of the United
States," that, in case of a protracted war, of which they should
�CUBA AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
"
become the object and theatre,"
this
609
government
"
might
not be at liberty to decline" intervention. Though the de
spatch was couched in diplomatic phrase, and the real object
of this caution and menace was not explicitly stated, it was
understood then, and more distinctly avowed afterwards, to
have been slavery and its defence and that to guard against
;
abolition in those islands
was the main,
if
not the exclusive,
motive of this extreme solicitude.
,
>
:;:
When
the South-Americans proposed the congress at Pan
President
Adams recommended that this government
ama,
should be represented there. The debate on this proposition
disclosed the
real
animus of the Southern members, who
did not hesitate to
avow that
their apprehensions, purposes,
in the interests of slavery.
John Ran
after
that
a
war
would
for
be
the
dolph,
asserting
indepen
dence of those islands, with the purpose and the " principle, of
arid actions
were
all
"
universal emancipation," asked
Then, sir, what is the sit
"
uation of the Southern States ?
Berrien of Georgia asked
:
and answered the question " Can you suffer these islands
to pass into the hands of buccaneers drunk with their new
:
"
"
The vital interests of the South demand
his response.
was
Floyd of Virginia, for the
prevention,"
" would rather take
declared
that
he
same avowed reason,
up
arms to prevent than accelerate such an occurrence." Thus
clearly and unequivocally did this Republic step forth the
champion of slavery, and boldly insist that those islands should
born liberty
?
its
remain under the hateful despotism of Spain rather than gain
their independence by means that should inure to the detriment
of its cherished system.
Indeed, it would fight to fasten more
Cuba and the slave. With
and more directness, Mr. Van Buren,
during the administration of General Jackson, urged upon the
American minister at Madrid to press upon the Spanish court
the same policy, for the reason, as he expressed it, that " the
" "
sudden
of a numerous slave
could
securely the double bondage on
less
circumlocution
emancipation
not but be very sensibly
population
felt
upon the adjacent shores
of the
United States." It seems hardly credible that a Northern
"
man, even with Southern principles," could have thus boldly
VOL.
ii.
77
�610
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
and coldly given such reasons. But such was the purpose of
the hour, and such the animating spirit of the national admin
istrations.
But
after the annexation of Texas, there
was a change
of
and purpose, and Cuba, from being an object of dread,
became an object of vehement desire. The propagandists,
strengthened and emboldened by that signal triumph, now
feeling
turned their eyes towards this beautiful " isle of the sea," as
and they determined to secure the
the theatre of new exploits
"
"
and
for the coronet of their
of the Antilles
;
gem
grow
great
During Mr. Folk's administration an attempt
was made to purchase it, and the sum of one hundred million
But the offer was promptly de
dollars was offered therefor.
clined.
What, however, could not be bought, it was deter
mined to steal, and filibustering movements and expeditions
became the order of the day. For no sooner was President
Taylor inaugurated than he found movements on foot in that
ing power.
and, in August, 1849, he issued a proclamation,
an " armed expedition " was being
"
fitted out
against Cuba or some of the provinces of Mexico,"
all
citizens " to discountenance and
and
direction
;
affirming his belief that
calling
upon
good
prevent any such enterprise."
sisting of
some
five
In 1851 an expedition, con
sailed from New Orleans
hundred men,
under Lopez, a Cuban adventurer. But though it effected a
landing, it was easily defeated, and its leader and a few of his
Soon afterward, a secret association,
followers were executed.
" Order of the Lone
Star," was formed in
styling itself the
several of the Southern cities, having a similar object in view ;
but it attracted little notice and accomplished nothing.
So long as the separation of Cuba from Spain involved or
threatened harm to slavery, this government was profuse in
its expressions of satisfaction at its continued connection with
that power.
But when,
in 1852,
England and France made a
proposition designed to assure its continuance, and, disclaiming
all desire or intention of securing Cuba for themselves, pro
posed that the three governments should unite in guarantee
ing the island to Spain, this government declined the proffered
convention in a very long and elaborate despatch from Mr.
�CUBA AND CENTEAL AMERICA.
Everett, Secretary of State.
Among
611
the reasons
assigned
was one, in which slavery, though not specifically mentioned,
was undoubtedly meant and the apprehended danger thereto
from the proposed arrangement was urged as one consider
ation why it should not be consummated.
;
In August, 1854, President Pierce instructed Mr. Marcy,
Buchanan, Mason, and Soule,
ministers respectively at the courts of London, Paris, and
Madrid, to convene in some European city and confer with
his Secretary of State, to direct
each other in regard to the matter of gaining Cuba to the
United States. They met accordingly, in October, at Ostend.
The results of their deliberations were published in a manifesto,
in which the reasons are set forth for the acquisition
and the
declaration was made that the Union could never enjoy repose
;
and security " as long as Cuba is not embraced within its
But the great source of anxiety, the control
boundaries."
ling motive, was the apprehension that, unless so annexed,
she would " be Africanized and become a second San Domin
"
"
the Union.
go," thus
seriously to endanger
This paper attracted great attention and caused much as
tonishment. It was at first received with incredulity, as if
Both
there had been some mistake or imposition practised.
continents were astounded at the shameless audacity which
would thus commit this government to the conservation of
slavery as a national necessity, and boldly avow the atrocious
doctrines which were so fitly characterized by the Republican
national convention of 1856, as " the highwayman's plea, that
"
But there was no mistake, there was
might makes right.'
4
no imposition practised, except as involved in the document
itself.
It was the deliberate utterance of the conference, and
it received the indorsement of Mr. Pierce and his administra
tion.
The Democratic national conventions of 1856 and of
1860 were quite as explicit, as were the authors of the Ostend
" in favor of the
Democratic
manifesto,
acquisition of Cuba."
and
its senti
vindicated
politicians
presses, too, everywhere
and
a
advocated
similar
Nor
were they much
ments,
policy.
less explicit in the avowal of their motives than in the state
ment
tive
of their specific purpose.
That purpose and that
were to conserve and strengthen human slavery.
mo
�612
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
The administration of Mr. Buchanan, more completely dom
inated by the Slave Power than any of its predecessors, made
In his an
special efforts to secure that long-coveted prize.
nual message in December, 1858, the President complained of
the unsatisfactory condition of the relations of the country
with Spain.
Referring to the participation of Cuba in the
African slave-trade, he affirmed his belief that the last
of that traffic would disappear if Cuba were annexed.
relic
He
reminded Congress that Cuba commanded the mouth of the
"
that its " value was comparatively unimportant
Mississippi
to Spain, but that its possession was of vast importance to
the United States.
In the Senate, on the 10th of January, Mr. Slidell intro
;
duced a bill placing thirty million dollars in the hands of the
He also presented a
President to facilitate the acquisition.
report from the Committee on Foreign Affairs in favor of
its
Mr. Seward presented a minority report, calling
passage.
upon the President for information, to be transmitted at the
next session, to enable Congress to judge whether extraordi
nary measures were necessary to maintain the country's rights
and interests in regard to Spain. An able discussion ensued,
but no action was taken. On the 25th of February Mr. Slidell
announced the purpose of the majority to force the bill to a
but he was met with so resolute a resistance that the
vote
sitting was protracted until one o'clock at night.
Despairing
;
of his ability to force the bill through in the brief remnant
of the session, he abandoned his purpose.
Early the next
A
session he introduced another bill for the same purpose.
favorable report was secured from the Committee on Foreign
Affairs.
But the matter was not forced to an issue, and Con
gress adjourned without action.
But the Democratic party did not relinquish its cherished ob
" Cuba must
and shall be ours," said Senator Brown in
ject.
a speech in New York, soon after the adjournment of Congress.
" The
decree has gone forth, and nowhere on earth is there
power to remove
it.
If
Spain
is
disposed to sell the island,
I,
for one, stand prepared to pay for it.
If Spain be indisposed
to sell, I would seize Cuba as indemnity for the past, and then
�CUBA AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
negotiate for future security.
want
want
We
want
It
may be
613
asked,
What
do we
We
for territorial expansion.
of Cuba
Then I have a little private
it to extend our commerce.
?
my own.
reason of
I
it
want Cuba
for the extension of slavery.
have freely spoken the sentiments of my own heart, and of a
The
vast majority of the Democracy throughout the Union.
Democratic party are going into the next Presidential canvass
I
upon
and other questions, and we intend
upon it."
this
to
meet Seward
face to face
There
is,
too, evidence strongly circumstantial, if not abso
was more deeply in
earnest for this object than was avowed.
William Walker
wrote to the Southern press that, when in the autumn of 1858
lutely conclusive, that the administration
he was preparing one of his expeditions for Nicaragua, he was
assured by General Henningsen, on the authority of the Secre
though the President would probably prevent
America, he would look favorably upon
an attempt on Mexico and that if Spain and Mexico could be
involved in war, and Cuba could be seized, they might look
with confidence to this government for pecuniary aid. On his
trial, Walker summoned General Henningsen as a witness and
sought to elicit these facts in the evidence in his case. But
tary of
War,
that,
his going to Central
;
the district attorney objected and the presiding judge would
not allow the questions to be put. This sheltering action of
the court was deemed by many equivalent to an acknowledg
ment that the charge was true.
There were, too, other possessions to be desired than Cuba,
and the propagandists had turned their eyes to Mexico and Cen
America, as presenting new fields for conquest. But, as
the nation was at peace with these governments, and there was
no room for diplomacy, resort must be had to filibustering.
tral
Accordingly, Walker, who had already signalized himself by
unsuccessful marauding expeditions in southern California,
Nicaragua with a company of freebooters on the
4th of May, 1855. Arriving in that land of chronic revolu
tions and anarchy, he raised the standard of revolt and rapine.
sailed for
Numbers responded, and
after a brief career of varied
and un
equal successes he found himself in the possession of the city
�614
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Granada, with the assumed title of president. Though
was little in the office, with its imposing title, save the
name, and his authority was of the most unsubstantial and
ephemeral character, he revealed his own purposes, and those
of the men he led and represented, by a decree re-establishing
of
there
them for sale, and thus
from
the
Southern
States.
But his check
inviting emigration
ered career was short, and, though he headed no less than three
distinct expeditions from this country, he was finally arrested,
convicted, and shot but not until some three thousand per
sons had perished in these various and marauding exploits.
Though despicable in character, criminal in purpose, and un
successful in results, he lived long enough to reveal, in unmis
takable ways, the spirit, sympathies, and designs of Southern
The latter, even as late
leaders and of the Democratic party.
as the convention that nominated Buchanan, while Walker
was thus engaged, and with unquestionable reference to him
and his work, expressed its sympathy with " the people of Cen
slavery, confiscating estates, offering
;
tral
America," in their
effort to
"
regenerate that portion of
one of the signers of the Ostend
manifesto, visited him just at the time of issuing his decree for
the re-establishment of slavery.
Direct affirmation could hard
the continent."
ly
make more
Soule*, too,
conclusive the evidence that slavery afforded the
not the sole motive, and furnished largely the means
main,
that sustained these lawless and aggressive movements.
if
�CHAPTER XLYIII.
THE SLAVE-TRADE.
Slave-traffic stimulated.
demand for slave labor.
Revolting features.
Commercial conventions.
Demands for opening the foreign slave-trade.
Increased
De Bow's
Review.
Utterances of Southern men.
American complaints.
British cruisers.
Speech of Stephens.
Call for information.
President's
Extent of participation in the traffic.
Mr. Wilson's bill and speech.
Statistics.
Action of the Republicans.
response.
New York
Testimonies.
the great mart.
Slaves at Key "West.
of Mason, Davis,
and Green.
and Toombs.
His reply.
No
Benjamin's
"Wilson's
bill.
Heartless utterances
amendment opposed by Mason
action taken.
Policy of the Republican
party.
WHILE
the Slave Power had been putting forth its gigan
and too successful efforts for expansion, unlimited control,
and perpetuity, the prices of slaves had largely appreciated,
and the domestic slave-traffic had increased. Indeed, it was
estimated that near the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration
it had grown to the purchase and sale of
thirty thousand slaves
a year, at a market value of some thirty million dollars. This
tic
trade, with its sad aggregate of suffering and sorrow on the one
part, of demoralization and guilt on the other, was carried on
unblushingly. The barracoon and auction-block were objects
familiar to the public gaze, and domiciled as among the recog
nized, if not cherished, fixtures of Southern society.
Though
was a pretended disfavor shown the slave-trader, yet his
business was a necessity of the system in which all were im
plicated, his rooms and jails were marts of an established trade
there
in which all participated,
and he was a factor of a commerce
Nor was it easy to see how even the
regular slave-trader could become more cruel, more demoral
ized, and more degraded than they who bought of and sold to
him, breaking up thereby families, parting husbands and wives,
parents and children, and selling often those, and accepting
which they
all
defended.
�616
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
higher prices therefor, whose increased attractions and market
value arose from the fact that their own or kindred blood was
coursing through their veins. This growing demand for slave
labor in the more Southern States increased the domestic
traffic, diminished the number of emancipations, intensified
the desire for cheaper labor, and turned the minds of
many
to the reopening of the African slave-trade.
In 185T Governor
Adams
of
South Carolina advocated
it,
" a fraud
declaring the laws which made that traffic piracy
us."
In
the
Southern
commercial
upon
convention, held in
Montgomery in 1858, there were two reports made, one by
Spratt of South Carolina, proposing a revival of the slavetrade, and another by Yancey of Alabama, proposing a repeal
of the laws
making it piracy. Both reports were referred to
an adjourned meeting, to be held at Vicksburg the next year.
At that meeting votes were adopted for the reopening of the
trade, and demanding the unconditional repeal of the law that
made it piracy. De Bow's Review, a work of large influence,
contained labored articles advocating the same policy, espe
cially for the Gulf and Southwestern States.
During that
year, too, published letters from the South revealed this growing
purpose to supply in this manner the increasing demand for
slave labor.
It was reported that cargoes of slaves had been
landed on the Florida coast ; that several vessels were engaged
in the traffic
and "
if the slave-trade is not
;
that,
the indications are that
it
reopened,
soon will be."
An
ex-member of
stated to Mr.
Congress, after a tour through the Gulf States,
Giddings that the people were determined, and that they would
defy the federal government in any attempt to enforce the law
Mr. Dowdell of Alabama spoke of the
against the traffic.
question as one belonging to the States whose industrial policy
to be affected by it ; of the trade as " not necessarily
was
immoral," which those laws defined to be piracy, and for which
which laws he deemed " highly
they made the penalty death,
Miles and Keitt of South Carolina, Seward and
Crawford of Georgia, and Barksdale of Mississippi, concurred
substantially in these views.
During that summer De Bow
and Yancey gave special attention to the subject, explaining
offensive."
�THE SLAVE-TRADE.
617
and defending the new policy, the latter making its indorse
ment a test of Southern fealty, and the former recommending
"
" held few slaves or
it alike to those who
none," and to large
slave-owners."
Alexander H. Stephens, on the occasion of retiring from
Congress,
made a
farewell speech to his constituents, review
ing his congressional career, the history of the government,
the series of victories won by the Slave Power, and the
needs of the South
;
the most urgent of which was, he
though they could
He said that,
contended, expansion.
" divide Texas into five slave
States," and
ditional territory from Mexico, " we have
and might as well abandon the race with
could also wrest ad
not the population,
our brethren of the
North in the colonization of the Territories.
It is useless to
wage war about abstract
rights, or to quarrel and accuse each
other of unsoundness, unless we get more Africans." John
Forsyth, late minister to Mexico, speaking of the triumphs of
the Slave Power, added " But one stronghold remains to be
:
carried, to complete its triumph, and that is the abrogation
of the existing prohibition of the African slave-trade."
Ex-
Governor McRae of Mississippi expressed the belief that the
" should the
people of his State were in favor of it, and that,
South unite in so just a demand," the North would not refuse.
Jefferson Davis, while doubting
its desirableness for Missis
"
expressed his entire want of sympathy with those who
"
prate of the inhumanity and sinfulness of the trade ; and he
declared that " the interest of Mississippi, not of the African,
sippi,
dictates
my
conclusion."
Nor were
this increasing desire and demand for the reopen
ing of the slave-trade the only sources of new and threatening
British squadron had been stationed on the
complications.
A
Cuba to intercept the slave-ships. These latter often
displayed the American flag for the protection of their nefari
ous commerce though, notwithstanding this precaution, these
British cruisers sometimes visited suspected vessels, and, it was
charged, exhibited unnecessary violence and insolence in their
coast of
;
search.
At
VOL.
ii.
and their sympathizers were
In consequence, President Buchanan
least the slave-traders
loud in their complaints.
78
�618
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
sent to the coast of
Cuba
IN AMERICA.
several war-vessels to resist all
attempted searches, demanding, too, an explanation from the
British government.
In May, 1858, the Senate unanimously
a
resolution
adopted
calling upon the President for informa
He
tion.
immediately replied, warlike resolutions were re
But with that insin
ported, and defiant speeches were made.
cere and equivocal policy which always marked the conduct of
the dominant party when the interests of slavery were involved,
as soon as it was ascertained that the Republicans were willing
to unite in the vindication of the
fever abated.
infamous
The
traffic
latter,
by more
honor of the
flag,
the war-
being anxious to put an end to the
and the construc
efficient legislation
tion of vessels better fitted for the purpose, and desirous of
not being placed in a false position, did join in denouncing the
action of the British officers, according to a policy agreed
upon before the debate commenced, and after a brief consulta
tion between Seward, Hale, and Wilson.
These tactics of the
the
soon
cooled
ardor
of
administration
and its
the
opposition
supporters,
"
who
cared nothing for the suppression of the slave-
" Tri
forty Quakers alive," said the New York
" could have done so much for
bune,"
peace in a year, as the
Senators above mentioned did by their warlike talk during a
trade.
No
single afternoon."
Nor did the traffic receive moral support alone
from the
and
great Republic.
capital were
enterprise, skill,
engaged in its prosecution. The yacht Wanderer landed in
December, 1858, near Brunswick, Georgia, several hundred
slaves
and the fact was ostentatiously paraded by a portion
The vessel was
of the Southern press before the country.
But when it was to be
seized and confiscated in Savannah.
sold at auction, the public sentiment was so little opposed
to the iniquitous service in which it had been engaged,
that its owner's appeal, which he brazenly urged, that those
" bid
against" him, was successful, and he
present would not
American
;
The slight dis
it at one quarter of its value.
grace attending it, and the comparative immunity with which
the traffic could be engaged in, seemed to justify the charge
of the London "
that New York had become " the
repurchased
Times,"
�619
THE SLAVE-TRADE.
Indeed, the state
and
the succeeding
that
figures put forth, during
greatest slave-trading
ments and
mart in the world."
A list appeared
" of "
eighty-five vessels
Evening Post
fitted out from New York, from February, 1859, to July,
"
1860," for the slave-trade. The New York Leader," a Dem
"
an average of two vessels each
ocratic organ, asserted that
week clear out of our harbor, bound for Africa and a human
thou
to
The " World " said " that from
year, are astounding
"
in the New York
and almost
incredible.
sixty
thirty
cargo."
sand a year are taken from Africa to Cuba by vessels from
So deeply involved in this
the single port of New York."
disgraceful
and dreadful
traffic
were people in this nation dur
but especially the closing years, of Mr. Buchanan's
ing
administration so undoubted, too, was the growing sympathy
all,
;
and so unconcealed were the purposes of many to
throw around it the sanction of law, or at least to remove
the stigma which past legislation had placed upon it.
The friends of freedom, and all who were jealous for the
honor of the flag, deemed additional legislation necessary. In
March, 1860, Mr. Wilson submitted to the Senate a resolution
instructing the Committee on Foreign Relations to report
whether the treaty with Great Britain had been executed, and
whether any further legislation was necessary to insure the
enforcement of the laws and in April he introduced a bill for
the more effectual suppression of the slave-trade.
It provided
for the construction of five steam sloops of war, better adapted
for the purpose than those then in African waters, in accord
with
it
;
;
ance with the stipulations of the Webster-Ashburton treaty
the release of naval officers from legal responsibilities in case
of mistaken capture of any suspected craft a fourfold increase
;
;
of
bounty; to make the fitting-out as well as the sailing of
slavers piracy ; and sundry other provisions to meet existing
and to render more effective and sure legislation upon
defects,
the subject.
While the bill was pending, Commodore Foote,
afterward admiral, who distinguished himself so much during
the war of the Rebellion, wrote to Mr. Wilson respecting it.
" I have
" with
read," he wrote,
deep interest your bill and
in
the Senate, for the suppression of the slave-trade,
speech
�620
RISE
and beg
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
we have never had any plan
to say that
at all
com
you have proposed and enforced with such
With
the
modifications I have taken the liberty to
ability.
bill
would
reach any conceivable case, and result
suggest, your
in the extirpation of the slave-trade under our flag.
The
navy, I am sure, is ready to do its part in the great and
parable to the one
humane work
of suppressing the most atrocious and revolt
trade
which
ever disgraced human nature."
ing
Mr. Wilson, in support of his bill, adduced the testimonies
of slaveholders, that at that time the abhorred traffic flour
ished " in defiant mockery of the laws, the sentiments, and
"
the opinions of the civilized world ; of three " American
ministers to the Brazilian government,
Proffit, Tod, and
that the
Schenck,
piratical traffic of
their despatches
tions."
No
American
flag is
African slavers
and
;
letters, equally
and
made
to protect the
of naval officers in
emphatic in their declara
was the testimony of Henry A. Wise,
Brazil.
He said " Our flag alone gives
less positive
also a minister to
:
the requisite protection against the right of search, visit, and
" without the aid of our own citizens and
seizure," so that
our flag it could not be carried on with success at all."
Mr. Wilson also affirmed that " American juries refuse to
American jurists mis
indict or convict the audacious pirate
;
construe, misinterpret, and pervert the statutes of the coun
American journals justify these deeds of piracy and
try
blood."
Referring to South Carolina and its former de
;
nunciations of the slave-trade, he called upon the Senate to
"
mark the change. " Grand juries," he said, refuse to indict
the pirates and felons of the slaver Echo and Captain Corleader of the Wanderer, instead of the felon's
rie, the
;
pirate
cell or felon's scaffold,
ing thousands."
But
now
amid applaud
was the case made out, and
struts the streets,
clear as
looked
necessary as were the provisions proposed, the Senate
vote.
a
to
came
never
bill
the
and
the
measure,
coldly on
Two
The subject soon came up again in another form.
President
days after the discussion of Mr. Wilson's bill, the
sent a communication to Congress, covering a letter from the
marshal of the Southern District of Florida, setting forth the
�THE SLAVE-TRADE.
621
two slavers were at Key
"
Mr. Ben
be
that
more
and
might
West,
daily expected."
the
of
chairman
Judiciary Committee, recognizing the
jamin,
need of speedy action, reported a bill making it " lawful for
the President of the United States to enter into contract with
facts that the captured cargoes of
any person or persons, society or societies, or body corporate,
from the United States, for a term not exceeding
five years, all negroes," captured on board slave-ships, and
to provide them with suitable clothing, food, and shelter for
the period of six months and at a cost not exceeding one
hundred dollars each. In addition the bill contained a special
provision and the appropriation of two hundred thousand dol
lars for those just landed at Key West.
The debate, though marked by more than the usual atrocities
of slaveholding expression and avowal, was not without its
and there were not
redeeming features. The Republicans
Democrats
who
therein
were not afraid to
wanting
joined
that
say
humanity and justice were as binding on States as
individuals, and that the poorest and most lowly had rights
which the highest were bound to respect. But these were the
exceptions to the general character of the utterances that were
made. With frigid indifference and utter obliviousness of the
to receive
real facts of the case, Jefferson Davis, after belittling the in
"
jury done the African, affirming that he had only
exchanged
a black master for a white master," said " I think that it is
:
carrying sympathy, humanity, or whatever it may be called, to
an extreme. Charity begins at home. I have no right to tax
our people in order that we may support and educate the bar
barians of Africa." Having them on their hands, he said, the
only question was to get rid of them in the easiest way, which,
in his judgment, was to turn them " loose as near their home
as possible.
Having the wolf by the ears, the only question
how to let him go. To more than that I cannot consent."
Mr. Mason said that when slaves are brought here " we can
not permit them to remain, therefore the obligation is upon us
to send them back to Africa.
All this talk about its being
an act of inhumanity to take them back to the precise place
is
from which we are told they were ruthlessly torn
is
humbug,"
�622
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
though Mr. Clingman had just admitted that "if we just turn
them adrift on the coast of Africa they will starve to death,"
and Mr. Crittenden immediately added, "to land them on
the naked shores of Africa would be literally to kill them."
Mr. Toombs expressed his purpose to vote against the bill,
because he was opposed to the policy of interfering with the
" I never liked the Ashburton
slave-trade.
treaty," he said
"
and added
All this thing of putting our fingers in to pre
vent the slave-trade between Africa and Cuba or Africa and
;
:
Brazil is a policy to be discouraged.
ness."
It is
none of our busi
Is it strange that such men, with such sentiments, should,
in less than one short year, have been found arrayed in ac
tive rebellion against the government, and in deadly hostility
against the nation's
life ?
The
bill,
however, passed both
houses and became a law.
Having
failed to secure action
upon
fective suppression of the slave-trade,
his bill for the
more
ef
Mr. Wilson, on the 16th of
June, moved an amendment to the naval appropriation bill of
three hundred thousand dollars for the purchase of three steam
ships to be employed for the purposes specified. The steamers,
he argued, were needed at once. " The crime and guilt," he
" of the trade is
said,
upon our country and countrymen, and we
owe
tal,
it to the world that no American ship, no American capi
no American seamen, shall engage in the slave-trade
For the cause of our common humanity, for the good name
and fame of our country, for the love of man and the blessing
of God, I would do what we can to extinguish a traffic so
inhuman and accursed."
Mr. Mason opposed the amendment. He said that he trusted
that it would be the policy of the nation to abrogate the treaty
with England, which, he said, had been " a failure." The pro
fessions of humanity, on the part of the British government,
were, he affirmed, "hollow and insincere," and he was opposed
to the longer continuance of an arrangement which did no good,
and which had been prompted by such motives. Mr. Green
denied the right of the government to put a police force on the
coast of Africa, and he moved an amendment proposing the
�623
THE SLAVE-TKADE.
abrogation of the British treaty,
defended by Jefferson Davis.
a policy also avowed and
Mr. Wilson, alluding to Mr. Mason's charge, that England
"
had been " false and hypocritical," said, it might be so, but
it was not for them to arraign her before the bar of nations."
" of the
" The
children of Africa is
he
said,
perishing
blood,"
American
hands.
our
capital and ships and men, on
upon
Our laws are
land and sea, are engaged in that horrid traffic.
prostituted ; our name is dishonored, and
our fame tarnished; and we, the government and people of
the United States, stand before the civilized world, and before
violated
;
our flag
is
God, self-accused, self-convicted, and self-condemned. Railing
accusations against England will not silence the agonizing
moans of dying men, floating upon the seas in stifling Ameri
can slavers ; nor will it silence the reproaches of mankind or
our
own
accusing consciences.
Let us of America strive
rather to put ourselves right than to put England in the
wrong. Let us enforce our own laws ; drive from the seas
every American slaver vindicate the honor of our flag now
tarnished, and our fame now stained ; and then, when we
have vindicated our own country, and not till then, let us
;
summon England
before the tribunal of
against the accusations
now made
mankind
to plead
against her policy and her
acts."
But all efforts were unavailing, and Mr. Wilson's amend
ment was defeated by a party vote. The failure of Congress,
after this special effort to induce it to take action, to adopt
any measures to prevent or even
restrict the terrible traffic,
produced the natural result of giving it new vigor, and it went
on increasing, until the government passed under Republican
control.
Under its inspiration, with the new ideas engendered
by the war and by the dethronement of the Slave Power, a
new
policy
dead
letter,
imprisoned
was adopted
the laws, instead of remaining a
were enforced slave-traders were arrested and
and one, at least, was executed.
;
;
;
�CHAPTER XLIX.
ADMISSION OP OREGON AND KANSAS.
Oregon frames a constitution.
Excludes free people of color.
Bill for admis
sion reported in the House.
Adverse report.
Debate.
Bill
Bingham.
Kansas.
Convention in Wyandotte.
passed.
Adopted by the Senate.
Free constitution.
Presented in House.
Parrott.
Constitution adopted.
Seward's
House
bill
bill in
the Senate.
in the Senate.
Chesnut's reply.
Speeches of Seward, Douglas, and Davis.
Sumner's speech.
Barbarism of slavery.
Bill rejected.
Secession of Southern Senators.
Kansas
becomes a State.
THE
fact that the barbarism of slavery
many illustrations.
the slave States had
was not confined
Among
to
them, that
afforded by Oregon was a signal example.
In 1857 she
formed a constitution, and applied for admission into the
Union. Though the constitution was in form free, it was very
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of slavery
and though four
were for the rejection of slavery, there
were seven eighths for an article excluding entirely free peo
As their leaders were mainly proslavery, it is
ple of color.
;
fifths of the votes cast
probable that the reason
constitution
was
why
they excluded slavery from the
their fear of defeat in their application for
Their organs contended that, if they must have
colored people among them at all, they should be as slaves as
admission.
;
they feared that they could not effect their enslavement, they
advocated their exclusion. Oregon was indeed destined to be
a free State, but, in the words of Edmund Quincy, " in its
moral attitude, in its external policy, in its relations to the
great general issues pending in the whole country between
mastership and manhood, it is virtually a slave State."
On the llth of February, 1859, Mr. Stephens reported from
the Committee on Territories a
bill
for the admission of Ore
gon as a State.
A minority report,
and Knapp, was
also presented, protesting against its admis-
signed by Grow, Granger,
�625
ADMISSION OF OREGON AND KANSAS.
The
sion with a constitution so discriminating against color.
Several amendments
an earnest debate.
proposition led to
and the debate
of
out
ruled
were
but
order,
were
they
offered,
Mr. Grow
of the two reports.
proceeded upon the merits
on
account
a
such
with
constitution,
opposed the admission
" be
American
on
born
class
soil,
to a whole
of its
injustice
This declara
cause they are poor, despised, and friendless."
tion drew from Eli Thayer of Massachusetts the response
that he should vote for the admission, because Oregon came,
"
" not
and because of the state
asking, but bringing gifts
some
necessitated
of the parties, which
compromise. There
the free State
were, he said, three parties in the Territory,
the
party, the slave State party, and the anti-negro party,
To
latter preferring to have slaves rather than free negroes.
;
secure the support of these, the Republicans and free State
Democrats inserted the provision complained of. Mr. Comins
of the same State expressed his regret that Oregon, among
whose early settlers were many New England men, should
have inserted such a provision but being now at the door,
he should vote for its admission. James Hughes, a Demo
cratic member from Indiana, spoke of the party that had just
sprung into being, and had almost seized the reins of gov
ernment but he denounced it severely for its opposition to
the bill, and he accused its members of being in favor of
"
Charles Case of Indiana, though admit
negro equality."
ting that no State had gone so far as Oregon in its discrim
;
;
against free negroes,
ination
for
there
was not a
slave
State, he said, in which a free negro could not go into court
and sue for redress of grievances,
expressed his purpose to
vote for
its
admission, as he did not wish
it
to be exposed
to the corrupting influences of the administration
indulged the hope that in tune
it
;
besides, he
would become as
just as
it
was free.
But though, as ever in those days, power was on the side of
the oppressor, the strength of argument and the earnestness
and eloquence of appeal were on the side of the oppressed.
Clarke B. Cochrane of New York said it was not a question
of
negro equality, but one of ordinary humanity
VOL.
ii.
79
;
an'd
he
�626
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
expressed the hope that those Republicans whose votes should
give vitality to that constitution would say nothing more of
the wrongs of the slave.
It was better to be a slave, he
said,
" than to be an
outlaw and an outcast, pursued, hunted, and
homeless, without country, security, or friends, excluded from
the courts, driven from the soil, and cast, a mere worthless
" Were I
waif, upon society."
by my vote," said Mr. Dawes
"
of Massachusetts,
to breathe the breath of life into that con
stitution, I should expect to be burned in effigy at every cross
road in my district." Mr. Hoard of New York said there
could not be found, in all the constitutions of the slave States
combined, so
much inhumanity and
injustice as in the consti
tution before them.
Mr. Bingham of Ohio made a very thorough and eloquent
argument against the bill. With great force and felicity of
language, and with befitting vehemence of expression, he
"
" the horrid
f this war
entered his
protest against
on " the rights of human nature."
injustice
said that, before the
He
"
Constitution, all men are sacred, white or black, rich or poor,
that before its divine rule
strong or weak, wise or simple
;
of natural rights, Lazarus in his rags
a level with the rich man clothed in purple and fine
of justice
is
on
linen
and equality
the peasant in his hovel as sacred as the prince in his
Stating the fact that there
;
palace or the king on his throne."
were about eight hundred thousand native-born colored men in
the country, and affirming the principle that if Oregon might
exclude them all other States might, he asked " What in the
:
name
you do with these men, these eight hun
dred thousand free native-born of our common country ? In
of
God
will
name
of eternal justice I deny this pretended State right
to exile any of its native-born freemen, or deny them a fair
the
hearing in maintenance of their rights in the courts of jus
tice."
Anticipating the contingency that the bill might pass,
he exclaimed " 0, sir, how will this burning disgrace about
to be enacted into law hiss among the nations that your
:
trial by jury is to be withheld from eight hundred
thousands of our citizens and their posterity forever, because
they were so weak or unfortunate as to be born with tawny
boasted
�ADMISSION OF OREGON AND KANSAS.
skins."
627
But notwithstanding these cogent arguments and
earnest protests, the bill passed the House by a vote of one
hundred and fourteen to one hundred and three.
On
May it was taken up in the Senate, where
same
line of argument was pursued, for and
the
substantially
followed in the House. Fessenden,
as
had
been
against it,
the 5th of
Wade, and Wilson entered their protest against this inhuman
provision, and refused to vote for the admission asked for.
The slaveholders did not fail to make this action of a North
ern Territory a text and occasion for defences of slavery and
Mr. Mason predicted that the time
their slaveholding policy.
would come when the non-slaveholding States would be forced
same policy, and the escaped fugitives would
return and ask to be made slaves again.
Mr. Brown said
that a portion of the people of the Northern States were very
anxious to persuade and aid their slaves to escape, but after
they had escaped they would have nothing to do with them.
All their pretended sympathy, he charged, was a mockery.
Mr. Douglas could not permit the opportunity to escape with
to adopt the
"
out the expression of his " care not policy. " If Oregon wants
that population," he said, " let her have them ; if she does not
want them, let her exclude them it matters not to me. If
she wants slaves, let her have them if she does not want
them, let her exclude them that is her business, not mine."
The bill was adopted on the 18th of May by a vote of thirty;
;
;
five to seventeen, several
Republicans voting for it.
The battle for Kansas had been transferred from Congress
to the Territory, from the field of debate to the field of action.
There victory had crowned the free State men, and the most
arrogant and imbittered propagandist saw that the admission
of Kansas, as a free State, was only a question of time.
In
February, 1859, the Territorial legislature adopted an act
The conven
calling a convention for framing a constitution.
met
A
free State constitution was
Wyandotte in July.
adopted, submitted to the people in October, and ratified by a
popular majority of four thousand. But her trials were not
tion
in
even then ended, nor had her people reached the promised land
they had sought with weary and bleeding feet so long ; while
new hindrances and
further delays were before them.
�628
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
The new
constitution
was
laid before
IN AMERICA.
Congress on the 10th
of April, 1860.
By this act Kansas presented herself at the
bar of the national legislature, with a full and fair
expression
of the popular will, regularly pr6nounced, and
properly certified.
Mr. Grow introduced a bill for her admission, and it was referred
Committee on Territories, of which he was chairman.
was reported back, accompanied, however, by a minority and
adverse report, signed by Mr. Clark of Missouri. On the 10th
of April it came up for consideration, and the delegate, Marcus
to the
It
J. Parrott, made an effective speech in its behalf.
Entering
minutely into the history of previous attempts, and sketching
carefully the last, he showed that, unlike either of the others,
answered every condition for reaching the deliberate, un
impeded, and emphatic expression of the popular will. Mr.
Grow closed the debate with these words "It is time that
this
:
Kansas wrongs should be closed. The blackest
page of American history has been written during the last four
It is a chapter of history
years in the blood of her pioneers.
which will be read by our children with shame for their coun
this record of
try.
It is
Let this
time to open a new volume in the history of Kansas.
be ended. Give to this greatly wronged people
strife
a government of their own, and to the freemen of the nation
assurance of returning justice in the councils of the Republic,
by adding this star to the constellation of the Union." The
bill was then passed by a vote of one hundred and thirty-four
to seventy-three.
The Senate, on
sideration of a
the 29th of February, proceeded to a con
bill, introduced by Mr. Seward, for the same
In his speech, accompanying it, the Senator re
purpose.
ferred to the radical and underlying ideas which were strug
gling for the mastery and possession of that fair Territory,
that which recognized the laborer as a man and that which
that which extinguished
regarded him as so much capital,
his personality not only politically, but in all the relations of
and that which animated, invigorated, and developed that
life,
personality in all the rights and faculties of manhood, and gen
" a
erally with the privileges of citizenship; the one becoming
great political force
"
and the other " the dominating
political
�ADMISSION OF OREGON AND KANSAS.
629
In opposition to the bill, Mr. Douglas, beside his usual
"
"
avowal that this was a white man's government," made for
" administered
the benefit of white men," and to be
by white
men and by none other whatsoever," spoke sneeringly of
" that enormous tribe of lecturers that
go through the country
delivering lectures in country school-houses and basements of
churches to Abolitionists, in order to teach the children that
the Almighty had put the seal of condemnation upon any ine
man and
But he
the negro."
office
would not, he said, let a negro vote or hold
any
where, if he could prevent it. Jefferson Davis, after urging
the entirely unfounded claim, and making the ineffably silly
quality between
the white
"
remark, that nowhere but in the South will you find every
white man superior to menial service," said " With us, and
:
with us alone, as
I believe,
the white
man
attains to his true
dignity in the government."
The House
bill was reported in the Senate on the 16th of
without recommendation by Mr. Green, chairman of the
Committee on Territories. He accompanied the bill with a
May
On the other hand, Mr. Collaspeech opposing its passage.
member
of
the
another
mer,
committee, made a very forcible
argument in its support.
It was on this bill that Mr. Sumner made his great speech
on the " Barbarism of Slavery." Four years before, he had
been smitten down by the Slave Power in the person of Pres
ton S. Brooks. During the intervening time he had been
absent from his seat in that chamber, and for the most of it
he had been in Europe, in the patient pursuit of the fugitive
health, which, though eluding long, he had so far recovered
as to resume his place.
Though his voice had never given an
uncertain sound on the subject, and he had generally discussed
whatever involved the principle of
human
chattelhood with
great thoroughness, on this occasion he characterized all such
" incidental "
He now proposed to
previous efforts as
only.
attack the system in its character, and show how wicked, how
impolitic,
how barbarous
said,
where he
and
to complete
left it,
it
was.
Taking up the
subject, he
he proposed to continue the discussion,
" Time has
passed," he
what he then began.
�630
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
"but the question remains "
said,
;
and
IN AMERICA.
for four hours he de
scribed slavery with a thoroughness seldom, if ever, equalled,
as, with affluence of facts, force of argument, and strength
of language, he set before the nation such a picture of the
monster as had never been before drawn.
" The Barbarism of
"
Slavery," he said,
appears first in the
character of slavery, and secondly in the character of the
The character of slavery he considered, first,
its
to
reference
origin and laws, and, second, by its results
by
as witnessed in the slave and free States.
The character of
slave-masters."
the slave-masters he considered as
shown
shown by
their laws
;
as
in their relations with slaves, in their relations with
each other, with society, and government ; and in their uncon
sciousness.
Starting with this announcement of his general
he
plan,
proceeded to establish and illustrate in detail the pos
tulates of his discussion.
After quoting from the laws of the
slave-codes of several of the States, he epitomized in a single
paragraph what could be done with the slave viewed as prop
" He
" be marked like a
erty alone.
may," he said,
hog,
like a mule, yoked like an ox, hobbled like a
driven like an ass, sheared like a sheep, maimed like
and constantly beaten like a brute,
all according to
He said that slavery painted itself in five particulars,
branded
impossible pretension of property in
horse,
a cur,
law."
by
its
man, by
abrogation of
the
family relation, by closing the gates
marriage, by ignoring
of knowledge, and by appropriating all the toil of the victim.
He
its
then proceeded to draw a contrast between the free and
and intellectually and he
slave States, physically, morally,
showed the barbarizing tendencies
;
of the
system in the slave-
codes, in the relations of the slave-masters to their slaves, to
each other, to society, and to the government. The relation
of masters to their slaves could be inferred, he said, from the
laws, from the whip, the thumb-screw, bloodhounds, and maim
ing.
The
from
street-fights, duels,
relation of masters to each other could be learned
and other
like demonstrations.
He
depicted their relations to the government by a somewhat full
adduction of particulars, setting forth their violent and law
less
conduct, especially in Congress and towards any
who
�ADMISSION OF OREGON AND KANSAS.
631
were in the least identified with opposition to slavery and its
He specified the names of John Quincy Adams,
interests.
Mr. Giddings, and Mr. Lovejoy, as affording memorable ex
amples of what
who spoke
men were
for freedom, or
compelled to endure and expect
who
in
any way demurred to the
continued domination of the Slave Power.
He
spoke of the
new dogma,
power was
that the Constitution carried slavery wherever its
acknowledged as a purpose to Africanize the Con
and the national government. In
"
closing he spoke of the sacred animosity of freedom and slav
" end
only with the triumph of freedom."
ery," which could
" will be carried soon before
" The same
question," he said,
that high tribunal, supreme over Senate and Court, where the
stitution, the Territories,
judges are counted by millions, and the judgment rendered
will be the solemn charge of an awakened people, instructing
a new President, in the name of freedom, to see that civiliza
tion receives
no detriment."
Immediately on the close of the speech, Mr. Chesnut of
South Carolina made a short and abusive response, under the
guise of giving reasons for not replying thereto.
Its
and purport were compressed into the two remarks that
been
left for
spirit
it
had
the Abolitionists of Massachusetts " to deify the
incarnation of malice, mendacity, and cowardice "
and that,
as a reason for sitting quietly and silently under the speech,
;
" we are not inclined
again to send forth the recipient of pun
ishment howling through the world, yelping fresh cries of
Mr. Sumner in response said " Only
one word. I exposed to-day the Barbarism of Slavery. What
the Senator has said in reply I may well print as an additional
slander and malice."
:
illustration."
Several Senators participated in the debate ; but the Demo
members persistently refused to put the bill on its pas
final effort was made by the Republicans, the 7th of
sage.
cratic
A
June, on a motion
of Mr. Wade, to take it up
but the motion
was defeated by a vote of twenty-six to thirty-two, Mr. Pugh
being the only Democrat who voted with the Republicans.
Kansas, thus remanded to her Territorial condition, was com
pelled to bide her time, and to wait for deliverance from a
;
source that had not then entered into the calculations of any.
�632
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Nor did she wait long before that deliverance came. Among
the marvels of her early and strange history was this, stranger
than all, that at the last Kansas was indebted to the madness
and violence of her imbittered enemies for what the wisdom
and earnestness of her warmest friends had failed to obtain
that treason wrought better for her than loyalty and that
again was seen how the wrath of man was made to praise
;
;
God.
the designed results of the election of the
in the Presidential election of 1860,
candidate
Republican
secured by the disruption of the Democratic party, was the
Among
secession of several Southern States, who made this the occa
sion and plea for their revolt, and who immediately led off
"
in that " dance of blood
which afterward filled the land with
suffering and sorrow, and which
epoch in the nation's history.
Senators
vote was
marked the most important
By
the retirement of those
who had
so persistently opposed her application, a
secured for her admission, with this noticeable and
pleasing coincidence, that the same day, January 21, 1861,
witnessed both the departure of the retiring Senators and the
incoming of the new and long-waiting State. And there were
many who noted and appreciated the poetic justice of the
Divine arrangement, by which it was left for the same hand
that had borne so heavily and cruelly upon the struggling
Territory to open the door it alone had kept closed, and by
a suicidal violence to destroy itself.
�CHAPTER
L.
IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT IN THE FREE AND SLAVE STATES.
New
Its slave code.
New Mexico.
Its requirements.
BingIndian Terri
A bill to divide California.
Douglas's boast.
Position of the administration.
Action of Kansas and Nebraska.
departure.
ham's
bill.
tory.
Free
colored population.
Hostile action defeated.
injustice thereof.
Action thereon.
Convention
Success in the legislature.
Similar legislation in other States.
in
Maryland.
Gross cruelty and
Virginia, Louis
Decision of courts.
North Carolina, and Georgia.
Important decis
Decision of Secretary of Treasury.
Refusal of passports.
ion in Virginia.
Northern action.
Per
Violent and revolutionary Southern utterances.
iana,
bills.
Vermont, Ehode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan,
Purpose of such bills.
Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Ohio.
Dred Scott decision.
Action of Massachusetts concerning separate schools.
Court of Appeals.
Decisions in Maine, Kentucky, and New York.
Argument of Charles O'Connor.
sonal liberty
THE new
departure of the propagandists, inaugurated by
compromise measures of 1850 and completed by the
the
Kansas-Nebraska legislation and the Dred Scott decision, ne
cessitated other and supplementary action in the same direc
Public sentiment must be further debauched to accept
more kindly, or with less reluctance, the new dogma. New
legislation and new decisions of courts were demanded to
carry out and render effective what had been purchased at
such enormous cost, and for which such persistent and pro
tracted struggles had been necessary.
Laws and decisions,
adapted to the condition of things when slavery was regarded
as the creature of local law alone, an evil to be tolerated
because entailed and believed to be temporary, were found to
be entirely inadequate under the new dispensation, when slav
ery was deemed national and no longer sectional, a creature
of the Constitution, a good to be cherished and
perpetuated.
tion.
To
secure the adjustment of municipal rules to this
VOL.
ii.
80
new
order
�634
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and courts were at once assailed, and
demands were made for the needful laws and decisions to
meet the new wants and provide for the new contingencies
of things, legislatures
thus created.
This was specially true during Mr. Buchanan's administra
Failing in their efforts to make Kansas a slave State,
tion.
the propagandists turned their eager eyes to New Mexico,
Southern California, and the Indian Territory.
Near the
1858, Mr. Otero, delegate in Congress from New
wrote
from Washington to the secretary of that Ter
Mexico,
him
to draw up a law, or laws, for the protection
ritory, urging
of slavery there. He claimed, indeed, that the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, especially as interpreted by the
close of
Dred Scott decision, did " establish slavery in the Territories "
and yet, he thought, " advantages would result to the Terri
"
His counsel was taken, and such
tory from such legislation.
laws were enacted,
a slave code, in the language of Mr.
"
Sumner, most revolting in character, .... not only estab
;
lishing slavery there, including the serfdom of whites, but
The next year after its enact
prohibiting emancipation."
ment, on motion of Mr. Bingham of Ohio, the House of Repre
sentatives passed " a bill to disapprove and declare null and
"
"
void
these
The Senate
Territorial acts."
did not pass the
but, while it was on the table, Mr. Douglas took occasion
to refer to it, and he boastingly pointed the propagandists to
it as one of the fruits of his doctrine of popular sovereignty.
bill
;
" Under this
doctrine," he
"
said,
they have converted a tract
of free territory into slave territory more than five times the
size of the State of New York.
Under this doctrine slavery
has been extended from the Rio Grande to the Gulf of Cali
fornia, .... giving you a degree and a half more slavery than
you ever claimed."
In 1859, a bill was introduced into the legislature of Cali
fornia for the division of the State into two parts, with the
purpose of making the portion south of the thirty-sixth parallel
of latitude slave territory
but it failed to become a law.
;
In the Indian Territory there were four tribes of Indians,
Under
Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creeks.
�IEEEPRESSIBLE CONFLICT IN THE FREE AND SLAVE STATES.
635
the fostering care of their governments slavery had become
so firmly established that slaveholders thought them worthy
of political fellowship, and articles in favor of their admission
" The
progress of
began to appear in the Southern press.
" in several
"
said the New Orleans
Picayune,"
civilization,"
of the Indian tribes west of the States will soon bring
new
It
up a
cannot
question for the decision of Congress
that each of the Indian
give interest to this question
fail to
To
tribes has adopted the social institutions of the South."
concentrate and give direction to such efforts, a secret organi
was formed to encourage Southern emigration, and to
of all
discourage and prevent the entrance into the Territory
It
was
institutions.
who were hostile to slaveholding
hoped
thus to guard against the adverse fortune which had defeated
But the Rebellion,
their purposes and plans for Kansas.
zation
which abolished the cause they would serve, rendered abor
tive all
such efforts in
its behalf.
free State Territorial legislature of Kansas in 1858
an
act abolishing slavery; but it failed to become a
passed
law, the governor holding it in his hands until the close of the
The
At the next session a new bill was passed, but it
session.
was vetoed on the ground that a Territory could not exclude
So much for Democratic
slavery until it became a State.
and
for
the
doctrine
of popular sovereignty.
consistency
regard
The bill, however, was passed over the veto. The legislature
of Nebraska enacted a law forbidding slavery in that Terri
tory but that, too, was promptly vetoed by Governor Black,
a Pennsylvania Democrat and afterward a colonel in the war,
on the ground that the act of the legislature was not properly
an act of the people. The Territorial laws of Kansas had
been upheld by the administration, but they were for slavery.
These were for freedom, and a Democratic administration was
;
willing, not to say anxious, to defeat them.
But the new departure and the new dogma did not afford
the only occasion of increased slaveholding solicitude and
The ordinary dangers and
difficulties, which were
"
and
in
always embarrassing
putting
peril
property in man,"
were greatly intensified by the sharp conflicts and heated
activity.
�636
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
discussions of those days of strife.
This and the increased
locomotion and for the diffusion of intelligence
facilities for
developed new dangers and the necessity for new safeguards.
Among the evils exciting special and increased solicitude was
the presence of the free colored population.
of solicitude
and
to diminish the
and how
distrust,
numbers
it
Always a source
became doubly so then. How
of such,
to prevent their increase
how
to dispose of them,
by manumission, became
great practical problems and to their solution was devoted
no small amount of thought and heartless ingenuity. Indeed,
a careful study of slaveholding effort and legislation in the
;
slave
States during the
closing years
of
the
Power
Slave
reveal, notwithstanding
victories, the straits of the
and
the
utter
demoralization of those who had re
system,
solved to adhere to its practice and protection.
all
its
In 1859 there was a convention of slaveholders on the
eastern shore of Maryland to consider the subject.
At their
instance a State convention was called the next year.
The
movers proposed the adoption of State legislation that should
compel the exile or enslavement of all free colored people.
Laws against " free negroism," and for the self-enslavement
But more
of any who desired, were proposed and advocated.
humane considerations controlled, and wiser counsels, whether
from prudence or principle, prevailed. Indeed, so moderate
seemed the temper and purpose of the convention that some
predicted that Maryland would soon become a free State. But
The next legislature passed an act for
they miscalculated.
bidding manumission, and also one permitting a free colored
person to sell himself as a slave. These two acts, or laws,
were regarded as the correlated parts of one policy, the one
the
forbidding the colored person to remain as a freeman,
other allowing him to do so as a slave.
Such, indeed, had
Well
of many of the slaveholding States.
" the atrocious wickedness and
did a contemporary speak of
a choice be
cruelty of forcing men, guilty of no wrong, into
and
business
their
tween enslavement and expulsion from
become the policy
homes, and from a land they love so well that
from it is to them more bitter even than slavery."
their
exile
�637
IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT IN THE FREE AND SLAVE STATES.
Such
nearly
legislation
all,
something
was
but in
not, however, universal
made to engraft
;
the States attempts were
like it,
upon
their respective slave-codes.
all,
or
it,
or
In some
the attempt failed, and in others it was but partially success
In Virginia, an act for the voluntary enslavement of free
ful.
In 1859 an act was adopted
negroes was passed in 1856.
authorizing the sale of free negroes into absolute slavery,
"
for offences
punishable by confine
ment in penitentiary." In 1859 Louisiana adopted similar
who had been sentenced
and many free negroes often accepted the terrible
alternative of becoming slaves rather than that of leaving
A New Orleans paper, after speaking
their wonted homes.
u
two bright and intelligent free colored men" who had
of
"
"
done so, added that there were a great many who would
"
sooner than leave
pick out their masters and become slaves
the population and the climate wliich pleases them so well."
About the same time a Michigan paper coolly spoke of " twen
legislation,
"
" Detroit to
crossing the river from
ty-nine negroes
"
first instalment of the Northern emigration
ada," as the
Can
from
"
North Carolina," as if this " emigration was not an enforced
exodus, of homeless and heart-broken exiles, as cruel and un
In 1859
just as any ever ordained by Egyptian tyranny.
act
an
forbidding emancipation by will, and
Georgia passed
all
such instruments " null and void."
Indeed,
throughout the South there was nothing to break the fearful
monotony of wrong. The tendency to make heavier the bur
declaring
dens of the slave, hedge him round more closely, and diminish
escape either by manumission or flight, was
paralleled only by the equally cruel and persistent policy to
outrage the free colored people and drive them from their
his chances of
homes.
Nor was legislation alone sought. The courts were ap
proached. And though they withstood the pressure, especially
the Northern bench, better than the legislatures, the Southern
judiciary did not find it difficult to follow the disastrous lead
of the Dred Scott decision.
Illustrative of this was a decision
of the Virginia Court of Appeals.
In 1857 it reversed a pre
vious decision; in 1858 it recognized the reversal as " control-
�638
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
"
in all subsequent cases, and declared that the
ling authority
"
slave had no civil or social rights and no " legal capacity
to
choose between being emancipated and sold as a slave.
Con
cerning this diabolical decision, at the very mention of which
the heart recoils, and by which, it was said, " thousands " who
had been expecting freedom, by
will or otherwise,
pelled to relinquish all hope, because
it
made
all
were com
such
manu
the leading Democratic papers of Richmond
the
utmost
the "Enquirer" declar
satisfaction,
expressed
" the most
"
it
to
the
institution
of negro slavery
important
ing
missions
illegal,
since the days of Lord Mansfield, as it showed, it said, that
the people of Virginia were " fully and thoroughly in favor of
"
"
the institution of slavery
while the " Examiner
hailed it
"
as having practically decided that
slavery is desirable for
the South, desirable for the slave, and right in itself."
;
This tightening of the chains around the black man, this
increasing pressure on a race, this growing darkness of the
night, were seen
and
in the executive departments of
other evidences was its refusal to
felt, too,
the government.
Among
give to colored persons, however cultivated and deserving,
halfwishing to visit Europe, the necessary passports.
A
century before, James Monroe, Minister to England, had given
a passport to a slave of John Randolph, describing him as " a
citizen of the
United States
"
;
now
a colored physician of
Massachusetts, wishing to visit Europe for his health, applied,
through his Senator, Mr. Wilson, for a similar favor, and re
ceived from Mr. Cass, Secretary of State, for reply, that " a
passport, being a certificate of citizenship, has never, from the
foundation of the government, been given to persons of color."
This was not historically correct. But it revealed the temper
and policy of the government toward the colored race. And
there were many like examples of the deep-seated prejudice
and purpose to oppress and wrong. Mr. Cobb, Secretary of
the Treasury, decided that a negro, not being a citizen, could
not command a vessel sailing under United States papers,
even
In
if
the vessel
many
was
his
own.
other ways were exhibited this malignant and de
termined purpose to bind more securely and to close up more
�IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT IN THE FREE AND SLAVE STATES.
639
completely every door of hope to the oppressed and prostrate
and the general spirit of unrest and aggression that pre
The governors and legislatures of Alabama, Missis
vailed.
race,
and Florida gave utterance to the most
revolutionary sentiments, some declaring the election of a
Republican President sufficient cause for withdrawal from
In December, 1859, the South Carolina legisla
the Union.
sippi,
Louisiana,
ture passed unanimously a resolution that the Southern States
should be immediately convened to concert measures in view
During the same year the legislature
a
unanimous
vote, adopted a resolution call
Kentucky, by
the
ing upon
general government to obtain a concession from
Great Britain by treaty for the rendition of fugitive slaves.
of such a contingency.
of
The governor of Virginia recommended the appointment of
two of her most distinguished men to visit the legislatures
of all the States which had enacted " personal liberty" laws,
and to " insist in the name of Virginia on their unconditional
repeal."
But it was not all darkness. Amid general defection there
was a large minority at the North who not only did not join
who had
therein, but who sought to resist and turn it back
;
not conquered their prejudices, who looked with dismay upon
the manifest drift of things, and who sought through legisla
and judicial action to stem the current of despotism that
was threatening to submerge the land. Though still embar
rassed by the compromises of the Constitution, rendered more
intolerable by the new dogma, the new departure, and the
"
"
grim purpose to exact everything nominated in the bond
hampered, too, by their loyalty and the cry of nationality, by
the clamors of trade and the claims of party, they knew that
to falter was to fail, and not to resist was to
yield entirely.
Among the earliest demonstrations of this purpose was the
enactment of these " personal liberty " bills. In this Ver
mont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut took the lead, placing
such laws on their statute-books in 1854.
In 1855 Maine,
Michigan, and Massachusetts adopted similar legislation. In
1858 Wisconsin and Kansas did the same, and in 1859 Ohio
followed their example.
Though differing somewhat in scope
tive
;
�640
EISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and form, they were,
substantially, designed to protect the
those States against kidnapping; to punish for
falsely declaring a free person to be a slave ; to forbid State
citizens of
officers aiding in such arrests, and also the use of local
jails
for the detention of persons claimed as
fugitive slaves ; and
to secure to such citizens the right of trial
benefit of the writ of habeas corpus.
These
by jury and the
same States and
some others adopted similar legislation, the design of which
was to protect the colored race in the enjoyment of its ad
mitted rights. But with all that was humane and just, there
remained many evidences of prejudice, and a lack of any ade
quate recognition of the primal truths upon which alone rest
free institutions.
In the right direction was the action of the Massachusetts
legislature respecting separate colored schools in the city of
Boston.
Although discrimination on account 'of color had
been driven from
all the towns and every other city of the
the
Commonwealth,
capital had persisted in maintaining the
invidious distinction, in spite of many and earnest appeals and
arguments against
it.
political revolution of
But when,
1854, the
in consequence of the great
rule had been broken,
Whig
and the power had passed into the hands of the American
party, and it was found that both branches of the legislature
were decidedly antislavery, it was resolved to effect a change.
Not long after the assembling of the legislature an order was
adopted, instructing the Committee on Education to report
whether further legislation was necessary upon the subject.
That committee soon presented a very elaborate and able
report, drawn by Charles W. Slack, and a bill, prepared by
John A. Andrew, afterward governor, removing the hateful
discrimination.
With little debate, and by almost unanimous
votes,
it
passed both houses, received the governor's signature,
and became a law.
But of all the aggressions of those dark years none pro
duced a more profound impression and alarm than the Dred
Scott decision.
It was not simply its cruel and abhorrent
dicta that excited apprehension.
Their gratuitous proclama
That the Supreme Court of the United
tion created alarm.
�IRREPEESSIBLE CONFLICT IN THE FREE AND SLAVE STATES.
641
States should, without any call from the case in hand, volun
teer such an opinion, revealed the alarming symptom, the
ominous
heart
;
had reached the
slavery, and not of liberty, had be
that august tribunal, and that the
fact, that the poison of oppression
that the spirit of
inspiration of
come the
highest judges of the land had joined in this crusade against
human rights. This decision involved the necessity, on the
of indicat
part of State courts, of denning their position and
stern
in
the
found
be
struggle then in
ing where they were to
And cases involving these principles were soon pre
progress.
sented for their consideration.
It
was not long
after the proclamation of this opinion that
the legislature of Maine, besides declaring it extra-judicial,
submitted to the supreme court of that State the inquiry
whether citizens of African descent had a right to vote. The
" citizens of the United States "
court decided that the term
"
applies as well to free colored persons of African descent as
"
one judge dis
to persons descended from white ancestors
;
senting.
In May, 1857, the supreme court of Ohio decided,
by four of its five judges, that slaves coming into that State
from Kentucky with the consent of their owners were at once
emancipated, and could not be reduced to slavery again by
any laws that court could recognize. The chief justice made
a distinction, however, between a change of residence with the
consent of the master and a simple transit through the State.
Mr. Brinkerhoff, assenting to this decision and giving reasons
therefor, said that the enslavement by local authority of one
" the
monstrosity of a legalized wrong,
already free presented
an iniquity intensified and hardened into law." To decide
otherwise would be, he contended, " to lend it indirect sanc
tion through a morbid exaggeration of- the spirit of courtesy."
In New York the same matter came up for adjudication on
what was familiarly called the Lemmon case, or that of cer
tain slaves who were taken to the commercial metropolis in
transit from one of the Northern slave States for Texas.
They had been set at liberty by one of the inferior courts on
the principle that slaves could not be taken through a free
An appeal was taken to the supreme
State and remain slaves.
VOL.
II.
81
�642
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
court of the State, and on the 7th of December, 1857, that
was affirmed, one judge only dissenting. In January,
1860, the case was taken before the Court of Appeals, William
M. Evarts and Charles O'Connor appearing respectively for
the slaves and the slaveholders and it, too, affirmed the decis
decision
;
ions below, recognizing the principle claimed, and
establishing
the fact that New York could not be made a highway or port
of transit for the domestic slave-traffic.
This trial was noticeable, too, for the extreme opinions ad
vanced by the counsel of the slaveholders. He based his
argument
for reversal of decision
upon the ground that prop
man
rested on the basis of all other property, and that
no State could pass laws that would vitiate or extinguish its
erty in
To establish that point, it was necessary to show that
slavery was not wrong, and not contrary to the self-evident
truths of the Declaration.
The first he boldly affirmed, declar
claim.
ing that slavery was not morally wrong, and that there was no
law of nature or of God against slaveholding. He said that
if slaveholding was a sin, it was a sin of the greatest magni
tude
that the
;
man who
did not shrink back from
it
with
horror was utterly unworthy of the name of a man ; and that
an honest European would, if he had self-respect, turn his
as " the vilest
a Northern man
back
upon
wilfully offending,
Of the phrases concerning human equality in
the Declaration of Independence he said, if they were intended
of the vile."
to include negroes, that the first sentence of the Constitution,
" a
piece of
setting forth its purpose to establish justice, is
hypocrisy and falsehood, and the American name is covered
with the undying stigma inwrought with the perpetuation of
injustice."
mate
yet
it
Though many may not have accepted
this
esti
or this interpretation of the Declaration,
would have been then, as it is now, much easier to
of slavery
denounce the insincerity and extravagance of this language
than to answer this sharp arraignment of the nation for its
"
hypocrisy and falsehood," in
inconsistency, not to say
promulgating such a Bill of Rights, adopting such a Constitu
tion, and then supplementing it with such a history.
�CHAPTER
LI.
MENACES OF DISUNION.
Intense Southern feeling.
Disloyal sentiments.
Clark's resolution.
ure to elect a Speaker.
Fail
Parties in Congress.
Millson's
Helper's book.
Treasonable
Sarcasm of Stevens.
" Overt Act."
Threats of De Jarnette,
and
Leake, Pryor, Keitt, Crawford, Underwood, Pugh, Clopton, Barksdale,
Stokes.
Patriotic utterances of Southern men.
Anti-LecompSingleton.
Extreme utterances
Thomas Corwin.
John Hickman.
ton Democrats.
Sherman's
declaration.
disclaimer.
utterances of Garrette and Lamar.
Mr. Wilson's re
Toombs, Iverson, Clay, and Clingman.
Similar
Such sentiments feebly rebuked by Northern Democrats.
Avowals
Public meetings.
sentiments proclaimed throughout the South.
in the Senate.
sponse.
of Jefferson Davis, Faulkner,
McEee, and Iverson.
Picture of a Southern
confederacy.
WHEN
XXXVIth
Congress met on the 5th of Decem
members exhibited great intensity of
and earnestness of purpose.
Many had convinced
the
ber, 1859, the Southern
feeling
themselves that in secession alone could the South find pro
tection from the rapidly accumulating forces of free institu
tions.
indifferent to anything like conciliation and
they sought rather to aggravate than remove
They were
agreement and
whatever was calculated to widen the breach already existing,
and to render hopeless everything but disunion. Such had
;
become the tone of several of their leading presses, and such
the sentiment which had been proclaimed at several public
meetings held during the summer and autumn.
There were three parties represented in the House by one
hundred and nine Republicans, one hundred and one Demo
On
crats, and twenty-seven Americans, or old-line Whigs.
the first ballot for Speaker there was no choice, John Sherman
receiving sixty-six, and Galusha A. Grow forty-three votes
the latter, however, withdrawing his name on the declaration
of the result.
This vote and the state of feeling indicated
became
the signal of an irregular debate, extending
thereby
;
�644
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
through eight weeks, before an election of Speaker was
In it were uttered sentiments of the most disorgan
effected.
izing character
and
of the baldest treason.
This stormy debate was introduced by a singular resolu
tion, offered by John B. Clark of Missouri, to the effect
that the doctrines of a book just published, written by Hinton
R. Helper of North Carolina, and styled " The Impending
Crisis of the South," were insurrectionary and hostile to the
domestic tranquillity of the country and that no member who
it was fit to be
Speaker. The impertinence of
that intrusive measure was indicated, not simply by its conflict
;
had indorsed
with freedom of speech and action, but by the fact that the book
condemned was not distinctively an abolition work, but was
written not so
much
in the interest of the black as of the
white population, for prudential rather than philanthropic rea
sons, more in behalf of the master than the slave, and more to
A
help the non-slaveholding whites than either.
compendium,
prepared for general circulation, had received the recommend
ation of a paper signed by nearly seventy members of the
House of Representatives, and by such men as Horace Greeley,
The spe
to the fact that Mr.
William C. Bryant, Thurlow Weed, and John Jay.
cial point of the resolution
Sherman, one
these signers
his
was directed
was among
and the demand was made by the mover that
of the candidates for the speakership,
;
name should be withdrawn.
Mr. Millson of Virginia said that he who " consciously, de
liberately, and of purpose lends his name and influence to the
propagation of such writings, is not only not fit to be a
Speaker, but he is not fit to live." This strange and senseless
Mr. Sherman then
declaration was applauded by the galleries.
informed the House that he had never read the work, and that
he had never seen a copy of it. He read, too, a letter from
Francis P. Blair, in which it was stated that Mr. Helper had
promised to expurgate the objectionable passages, and he added
it was in consequence of this assurance that Republican
members had joined in the recommendation. Mr. Leake of
Virginia, rising under great excitement, demanded of the
" candidate of the Abolition
party," whether he was opposed
that
�645
MENACES OF DISUNION.
to
any interference on the subject of slavery.
Mr. Sherman
" I am
too promptly, some thought, replied
opposed to any
States with
the
free
of
the
interference whatever by
people
States."
in
slave
the
the relations of master and slave
But soft words were thrown away. Mr. Keitt confronted
them with quotations from the speeches of Mr. Seward, the
"
utterances of the New York
Tribune," concerning the book
:
The South, he said, asked nothing
" as God is
he
added,
my judge, I
but,"
be
to
foundation-stone
turret
from
this
would shatter
republic
less."
fore I would take one tittle
Thaddeus Stevens, mingling sarcasm with severity, and his
and the John Brown
but her rights
raid.
"
;
said he
severity designed more for the North than the South,
did not blame the Southern members for the course they were
pursuing, though he regarded it as untimely and irregular.
He did not blame them for their language of intimidation,
" for
using this threat of rending God's creation from turret
to foundation."
They had tried intimidation before and it
had succeeded. They had tried it " fifty times, and fifty
"
"
times
they had found weak and recreant tremblers in the
North."
This cool sarcasm of the imperturbable Pennsylvanian was
fire-eaters could bear.
Mr. Crawford of Geor
more than the
him, impatiently remarked that they wanted
no backing down, but " a square and manly avowal of their
"
at the same time he gave the assurance that
sentiments
"
"
there would be no
cowardly shrinking on the part of the
Members crowded into the area, and great excitement
South.
Mr. Stevens contemptuously remarked " This is
prevailed.
the way they frightened us before now you see exactly what
gia, interrupting
;
:
;
has always been." He raised, however, the
point of order that no business should be entered upon until
the House was organized.
Garnett of Virginia, springing to
the floor, at once took issue, and vehemently demanded that
it is,
and what
it
the discussion should go on, remarking that there was no
power that could stop it. This defiant threat was received
with marked approval by Southern men and their sympathiz
This saturnalia of
ers, both on the floor and in the galleries.
�646
RISE
words
it
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
could hardly be called debate
IN AMERICA.
proceeded.
The
arrogant Virginian told Northern members to go home, repress
the abolition spirit, repeal their personal liberty laws, and adopt
legislation to punish
ceedings.
"
men engaged
Unless," he said,
"
in such insurrectionary pro
you do pass such laws, unless
you do put down the
spirit of Abolitionism, the Union will be
Thus boldly and baldly did he avow his contumacy
and treason. Mr. Lamar of Mississippi charged Republicans
short."
with taking issue with the Constitution, and practically re
nouncing allegiance to its requirements. Claiming that the
fathers had put the negro "as an institution of property and
of society and of government into the Constitution," he de
them to put him out. They could do it, but at their peril.
" But when
Avowing his devotion to the Constitution, he said
its spirit is no longer observed on this floor, I war upon your
fied
:
I am against* it.
I raise then the banner of
I
and
as long as the blood ebbs
will
under
it
secession,
fight
and flows in my veins."
But these remarks were too general, and not sufficiently
explicit.
Something more specific and direct was necessary,
government.
not to give full expression to the Southern purpose, at least
to suitably affect the Northern mind, and to convince it of the
imminence of the impending danger. The election of a Re
if
" overt
publican President was therefore seized upon as the
"
act
that was to seal the doom of the Union, and to place the
offending party beyond the pale of Southern endurance. De
Jarnette of Virginia said that Mr. Seward was a perjured
traitor, whom no Southerner could either consistently support,
" You
or even obey, should the nation elect him President.
"
may," he said, elect him President of the North, but of the
South never." Mr. Leake, of the same State, avowed her
right to secede, with manifest tokens of approval on the Dem
ocratic side of the House.
Repudiating the sentiment uttered
by Governor Wise, of fighting inside of the Union, he said
" We will not
fight in the Union, but quit it the instant we
think proper to do so." Mr. Pryor, in reply to antislavery
:
utterances, said that slavery was not repugnant to the Con
stitution ; nor was it calculated to impede the progress of the
�MENACES OF DISUNION.
647
" The ever-active and turbulent
spirit of free labor
Republic.
"
the
social system into
will precipitate
in the North," he said,
anarchy, if it be not counteracted and controlled by the
conservative interests of slave labor in the South."
Eight
millions of Southern freemen, he contended, could not be sub
" least of all
by a
jugated by any combination whatever,
miscellaneous mob of crazy fanatics and conscience-stricken
" with its
" Were the
South," he said,
incompar
able advantages," and " its monopoly of the staples which
rule the commerce of the world," to " organize a confederacy,"
" a fabric of
it would rear
which shall survive
traitors."
government
the lapse of ages, and renew with brighter illustration the
republican glories of antiquity."
Mr. Keitt said that " if the Republican party shall get
possession of the government, the Union must perish
Should the Republican party succeed in the next Presiden
tial election, my advice to the South is to snap the cords
of the Union at once and forever." " This Union," he said,
with an amusing ignorance of what he was talking about,
"
great and powerful as it is, can be tumbled down by the
act of any one Southern State.
If Florida withdraw, the
Federal government would not dare attack her.
hands would dissolve as if melted by lightning.
If it did, its
Let a South
ern State withdraw, and wherever her flag floats it will be
for it will be the flag of the slaveholding world.
respected
;
But touch
rush to
its
with an armed hand, and the whole South would
defence, and would emerge from the struggle with
it
an organized slaveholding confederacy." Thus wildly and
recklessly did the men of that day talk, boasting of a power
and prowess which the stern arbitrament of war soon put to
the test, only, however, to show that, if they did not over
estimate themselves, they underrated others.
The
Georgia were hardly less extreme
an
election
of a Republican President
making
a cause of secession.
Crawford said that the question had
and
representatives of
defiant,
"
Slavery or disunion, or no slavery
and he boldly avowed the position which he and
" In
constituents had taken.
regard to the election of a
resolved itself into this
and union "
his
;
:
�648
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
black Republican President," he added, " I have this to
say,
and I speak the sentiments of every Democrat on this floor
'
from the State of Georgia,
will never submit to the
We
inauguration of a black Republican President.' I repeat
and I have authority to say so,
that no Democratic
it,
represent
from
Georgia will ever submit. They are for equality
in the Union, or independence out of it.'
Having lost all
hope of the former, I am for independence forever." And
ative
'
even these treasonable utterances were received with applause
from the Democratic side of the House. Underwood, of the
same State, bitterly assailed the Republican party. " I am,"
he said, " a Georgian.
allegiance,
If
To
the State of Georgia I owe my
By her I intend to stand.
first, last, and always.
Georgia says secession,
if
Georgia says disunion, if Georgia
says revolution,
Georgia says fight in the Union, or fight
out of the Union, I intend to stand by the action of the
if
sovereign people of Georgia."
The
voice, too, of
Alabama chimed
in with this
monotone
Speaking in the person of Mr. Moore, she con
tended that the election of a Republican President would be
of treason.
cause of secession.
elected
by
"
Whenever," he
said,
" a
President
a fanatical majority of the North, those
whom
is
I
represent are ready, let the consequences be what they may,
to fall back on their reserved rights, and say, ' As to this
Union, we have no longer any lot or part in it.'
Curry, of
the same State, in a very philosophical speech on the general
'
issues involved in the underlying controversy, did not hesitate
to avow a similar sentiment, and to claim that the election of a
Republican President would justify even the extreme measure
of national disruption.
Pugh avowed
that the truest conser
vatism and the widest statesmanship demanded a speedy ter
mination of all association with such confederates, and the
formation of another union of States, homogeneous in pop
and pursuits. Clopton, after
if
there
should
be any, must come from the
that
war,
saying
" If war must
added
come, let it come. The smoke
North,
ulation, institutions, interests,
:
that will arise from its fields of carnage and blood may obscure
the sun which sends forth life and light and vigor, but when
�649
MENACES OF DISUNION.
that shall have cleared away, the same sun will shine with
undiminished brilliancy upon a redeemed and disenthralled
South."
in the
Mississippi spoke in the same strain and fittingly
person of Barksdale, one of the most violent and extreme of
He demanded the protection of slave
the propagandists.
in
the
Territories, and the cessation of slavery agi
property
"
" The
tation.
army," he said, which invades the South to
Their bodies will enrich the
subjugate her will never return.
He little dreamed, while making this empty threat,
soil."
" enrich the soil "
that in less than four years his blood would
of Gettysburg.
Singleton said
and unalterable.
will have
:
We
" Our determination
is
fixed
an expansion of territory in
if you will allow it, or outside of the Union if we
" Gentlemen of the
Republican party," said Reuben
" I warn
Present
Davis,
your sectional candidate in
you.
1860, elect him as the representative of your system of labor,
the
Union
must."
take possession of the government as your instrument in this
irrepressible conflict, and we of the South will tear this Con
and look to our guns for justice and right
and
against aggression
wrong."
But all Southern men were not thus violent and traitorous.
There were those, more patriotic and prudent, who deprecated
this reckless assertion and style of remark.
Among them
was Mr. Stokes of Tennessee. Rebuking the disloyalty which
had thus revealed itself, he repeated and indorsed the patriotic
stitution to pieces,
" I will never consent to
the dis
"
solution of the Union, never, never, never!
Mr. Nelson, of
" I
the same State, also spoke eloquently in the same behalf.
" that these sentiments will fill
trust in
he
declaration of
Henry Clay
God,"
:
and
said,
swell every American heart as long as he shall lead us in per
ils to come, as he has led us in
perils that are past, by a pillar
of cloud
by day and by a
Nor were
all
pillar of fire by night."
the appeals to the patriotism of
its
members
from the Republicans. Anti-Lecompton Democrats spoke ear
nestly in the same behalf.
Among them was John Hickman
of Pennsylvania.
He took occasion to say, in reference to the
menaces of disunion, that if dissolution meant a dividing-line
VOL.
ii.
82
�650
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
between the North and the South, it existed
it was dangerous then for a Northern man to
already
travel in the South that any postmaster whose receipts did
of sentiment
;
that
;
not amount to five dollars per annum could, if a letter bear
"
ing his frank came into his hands,
open it, examine it,
and burn it, on the pretext that it is ' incendiary.' " " But if
" means that
there is to be a division
dissolution," he added,
of territory
'
say
:
No
;
by Mason and Dixon's
line, or
any other
line, I
the North will never tolerate a division of the terri
'
To an interruption from a Georgian, inquiring how
the North could prevent it, he replied that there was as much
" I
true courage at the North as at the South.
always be
"
lieved it," he said,
and therefore I will express it and I
believe that, with all the appliances of art to assist, eighteen
tory.'
;
millions reared in industry, with habits of the right kind, will
always be able to cope successfully, if need be, with eight mil
This dignified and
lions of men without these appliances."
well-expressed retort produced a profound impression, and was
frequently referred to in the subsequent debates.
Near the close of the struggle, Thomas Corwin, whose age,
large experience, and wonderful oratorical powers were recog
nized by all, addressed the House at great length, and was lis
tened to with profound attention. His speech, which was
argumentative and strong, abounded in flashes of wit and hu
mor, in patriotic and pathetic appeals. He pleaded for the
" Constitution
and " the Union which it created
inviolate,"
He
expressed the conviction that, with the Con
" the cloven-footed altars of
stitution and the Bible as guides,
unbroken."
oppression
all
over the world will
fall
down, as Dagon
of old
down and was
shivered to pieces in the presence of the
ark of the living God." Pronouncing disunion a crime of
he said " Rather
fell
frightful enormity
than
this,
and an unpardonable
we should pray
sin,
the kind Father of
:
all,
even his
wicked children, to visit us with the last and worse afflictions
that fall on sin and sinful man.
Better for us would it be
that the fruitful earth should be smitten for a season with bar
renness and become dry dust, and refuse its annual fruits ;
better that the heavens for a time should become brass, and
�651
MENACES OF DISUNION.
God deaf to our prayers better that famine with
her cold and skinny fingers should lay hold upon the throats
better that God commission the
of our wives and children
the ear of
;
;
angel of destruction to go forth over the land, scattering pes
tilence and death from his dusky wing, than that we should
prove faithless to our trust, and by that means our light
should be quenched, our liberties destroyed, and all our bright
hopes die out in that night which knows no coming dawn."
No
less
extravagant and extreme were Southern utterances
speakers was the belli
and
cose Toombs,
bravado, denouncing
the Republicans as enemies of the Constitution and country,
and avowing his purpose to treat them as such. He said it
was vain to talk of peace, fraternity, and a common country.
" no
" There is no
fraternity, no common
peace," he said,
had just cause of war
South
He
claimed
that
the
country."
that
war
civil
indeed,
virtually existed, and that the contin
in the Senate.
Prominent among
its
with his .usual bluster
;
gency of disunion but depended upon the success of the Re
" When the time
comes,"
publicans in the coming contest.
" freemen of
I am
Georgia, redeem your pledge.
is
to
mine.
Your
honor
faith
redeem
is
involved,
your
ready
I
know
a
stain
as
a
wound
feel
you
your peace,
plighted.
he
said,
;
your social system, your firesides, are involved. Never permit
the Federal government to pass into the traitorous hands of
the Black Republican party. Listen to no vain babblings, to
'
no treacherous jargon about overt acts
they have already
been committed. Defend yourselves the enemy is already at
your doors wait not to meet him at the hearth-stone, meet
him at the door-sill, and drive him from the temple of liberty,
or pull down its pillars, and involve him in a common ruin."
'
;
;
;
Iverson was equally decided, if less violent. In the event
of the election of John Sherman he said
"I would walk,
every one of us, out of the halls of this capitol, and consult
:
our constituents
;
and
bade to do so by those
counsel
my
I
would never enter again
who had
was
would
until I
the right to control.
I
constituents instantly to dissolve all political ties
with a party and a people who thus trample on our rights."
He maintained that slavery could be preserved only by a South-
�652
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
ern confederacy, and he avowed his purpose to counsel his
" to dissolve the Union " should a President
be
constituents
" a Northern sectional
elected
by
party."
Clay of Alabama, in an elaborate speech, maintained that it
was impossible for the South to live under a Republican ad
" If
" is faithful to the
he
ministration.
my
State,"
said,
pledges she has made, the principles she has professed
if she
is true to her own interest and her own honor
;
;
if
she
is
not
that State pride, integrity, and duty demand,
submit
I will add that un
to your authority.
she will never
recreant to
all
and all the Southern States, with perhaps two, or at
most three exceptions, are not faithless to the pledges they
have given, they will never submit to the government of a
President professing your political faith and elected by your
less she,
sectional majority."
Equally denunciatory was Clingman of North Carolina. He
said that there were hundreds of disunionists at the South
where there was one ten years before that in some of the
States they were in the majority and that a still larger
number would be with them on " the happening of a cause."
;
;
" enemies."
The election
stigmatized the Republicans as
of a Republican President he regarded as an act sufficiently
" overt" to "
would " not surrender
justify resistance," and he
He
" As from this
the capitol to a public enemy."
capitol," he
" so much has
gone forth to inflame the public mind, if,
said,
our countrymen are to be involved in a bloody struggle, I
trust in
God
that the first fruits of the collision
may
be reaped
here."
of the Republicans not to
its
with
deluge of wrathful and
mingle largely in the debate,
the rain of threats
under
menacing words, but to sit in silence
Though
had been the policy
it
and treason, Mr. Wilson did reply
"
menacing speech of
" have
States," he said,
to the
The people of the free
Clingman.
sent their representatives here, not to fight, but to legislate
not to mingle in personal contests, but to deliberate for the
;
their fel
good of the whole country not to shed the blood of
Constitu
the
of
the
maintain
but
to
supremacy
low-members,
to do
endeavor
will
this
and
tion and uphold the Union
they
;
:
�MENACES OF DISUNION.
653
here, in the legislative halls of the capitol, at all events and at
In the performance of their duties they will
every hazard.
not invade the rights of others, nor permit any infringement
of their own.
If, while in the discharge of their duties here,
they are assaulted with deadly intent, I give the Senator from
North Carolina due notice here to-day that those assaults will
be repelled and retaliated by sons who will not dishonor
fathers that fought at Bunker Hill and conquered at Saratoga.
Reluctant to enter into such a contest, yet once in, they will
be quite as reluctant to leave it. Though they may not be the
first to
go into the struggle, they will be the last to leave it in
So much their constituents demand of them when
dishonor.
'
'
the Senator contemplates is forced upon
them, and they will not be disappointed when the exigency
the
bloody struggle
comes."
On the 1st of February, and on the forty-fourth ballot, Mr.
Sherman having withdrawn his name, William Pennington of
New Jersey was elected Speaker. But the war of words still
raged. Though the immediate occasion was removed, the great
cause
remained.
Less violent and audacious perhaps,
but no less determined and defiant, were the utterances that
ever and anon revealed the hatred of the Union which still
still
rankled within, and the more than half-formed purpose that
soon ripened into action for its destruction. Nor was the
position of Northern Democrats, with few exceptions, more
If they did not utter words of
satisfactory.
treason, they
rebuked but feebly those who did.
And these sentiments and speeches did but too faithfully
represent Southern feeling and purpose.
During the preced
ing summer and autumn similar sentiments had been pro
claimed promiscuously throughout the Southern States. Jeffer
son Davis, who had visited New England during the
preceding
summer, addressed a popular gathering at the capital of his
State.
Alluding to the event of the election of a Republican
President, and to the question,
said he had but one answer to
What
shall the South do ? he
and that was to strike for
the independence of Mississippi, and for its immediate with
drawal from the Union. He " advised the
people of the South
give,
�654
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
muskets into Minnie rifles, prepare powder,
ammunition of all kinds, and build fortifications,
and thus be prepared for any emergency." Charles James
to turn their old
shot, shell,
Faulkner, at a public meeting in Virginia, asked
William H. Seward be elected in 1860, where is the
:
" Should
man now
who would not call for the impeachment of a
Virginia who would silently suffer the armory at
in our midst
governor of
Harper's Ferry to pass under the control of such an executive
head ? " And yet, almost on the heel of this utterance,
he was appointed by the President Minister to France.
Governor Letcher, in his message in January, while the de
bate in Congress was in progress, put forth sentiments equally
disloyal.
Referring to the possible election of Mr. Seward,
he said that " the idea of permitting such a man to have the
control of the army and navy, and the appointment of high
executive and judicial officers, postmasters included, cannot be
entertained for a moment."
Ex-Governor McRae of Missis
sippi, speaking at the capital of the State, declared it to be
" the Democratic
his policy, and that of
party of the State,"
" to take
in preference to the
of
the
Union
out
independence
rights, and consequent dishonor and
Iverson of Georgia drew a most flat
" In a con
" a Southern
Confederacy."
tering picture of
"
of their own, the Southern
federated government," he said,
loss of
constitutional
degradation, in it."
States would enjoy sources of wealth, property, and power
unsurpassed by any nation on earth. Our expanding pol
would stretch far beyond present limits. Central Amer
and so would Cuba,
ica would join her destiny to ours
now withheld from us by the voice and votes of Abolition
enemies."
So madly did they talk, so wildly did they dream,
and so blindly did they forecast the issue of the strife they
were provoking, which was looming up darkly and terribly,
and which was even then at the door.
icy
;
�CHAPTER
LII.
NEW DOGMA OP SLAVERY PROTECTION
IN
THE TERRITORIES.
Differences
New demands.
Ostracism of Mr. Douglas.
Southern madness.
ideas.
Three
Davis.
Jefferson
Southern
leading
of opinion.
press.
Northern
His partisanship.
Mr. Pugh's resolution.
Exciting debates.
Between Douglas,
Debate between Pugh, Brown, and Lane.
damage.
DaMr. Wilson's speech.
Mr. Brown's resolutions.
Davis, and Clay.
Degradation of his party.
Douglas's reply.
Brown's
Speeches of Crittenden and Lane.
Sarcasm of Hale, and its sad significance.
amendment.
Clingman's amend
Resolutions adopted.
ment reconsidered and rejected.
vis's resolutions.
Speech.
Votes on the resolutions.
DURING the closing days
America madness seemed
At
Southern leaders.
of the rule of the Slave
to
rule
least, their
in
Power
in
the counsels of the
overweening confidence in
the security of their position and in the completeness of the
subjection to which they had reduced the government seemed
akin to madness, or at best to a judicial blindness that hid
from their view the natural tendency and necessary result of
There was such a wanton throwing away of
their policy.
had
been years in accumulating, such a relinquishpower they
ment of vantage-ground they had gained by their bold and
audacious strategy, and such trifling with the interests of their
allies, who had sacrificed and imperilled
much in their behalf and at their behests, that thoughtful
men could not fail to realize that there were other purposes,
human or divine, to be promoted than those of the immediate
actors in these great and pregnant events.
To quarrel with
such a man as Mr. Douglas, who had done more than any
Northern Democratic
so
other
man
to reduce or
Southern support
;
dragoon the Northern Democracy into
to divide the Democratic party, with its
its traditional adherence to their policy,
and
and deliberately organize
large majority
its defeat, and thus secure the elec
tion of a Republican President, can hardly be accounted for
on any known principles of human action.
�656
As
RISE
if
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
assured that they had but to speak to be heeded, had
to be obeyed, they seemed to regard the re
command
but to
sults already achieved as but stepping-stones to a higher posi
and more complete control, the advances already made
as only affording a new base of operations.
Not content with
barren victories or barren abstractions, they at once set about
the work of confirming possessions already acquired, utilizing
tion
the power and advantages already secured, and perfecting their
favorite legislation, already so far advanced.
Not satisfied
with past concessions, the obliteration of the landmarks of
freedom and the refusal of
all discrimination in behalf of hu
seemed
resolved
that slavery should become
rights, they
emphatically national, that no part of the Republic should
man
be beyond the reach of its encroachments, that its hated pres
ence should go wherever the Constitution went, and that the
flag of the Union should wave only over the land of the slave.
combined, and continued onslaught on hu
and
the
nation's honor and integrity there was
rights
not always perfect agreement among the assailants. Though
In
this deliberate,
man
seemingly alike loyal to the demon they so faithfully served,
these cohorts of slavery allowed considerable display of in
dividuality in the mode of expressing it.
Early in the autumn of 1858 the Southern press took the
advocating this advanced position. The Rich
"
"
Enquirer
complained that the present state of fed
eral legislation was entirely inadequate for the thorough and
initiative in
mond
"
effectual protection of slave property in the Territories."
As
suming that, under the Dred Scott decision, slavery could not
"
be " prohibited in a Territory, it asked But how can it be
"
"
"
It answered
Congress must intervene to
protected ?
A code for its protection
in
Territories.
the
protect slavery
:
:
But, it argued, until such legislation
the loyalty
not
all, must depend upon
effected,
much,
and efficiency of the President, who would appoint the execu
"
the next
the
ought to be provided."
is
"
if
and judicial officers of
Hence,
Territory."
"
Democratic candidate must be pledged thereto. The Charles
"
ton " News was still more decided and explicit. Admitting
that the Dred Scott decision and the Kansas-Nebraska legis-
tive
�SLAVERY PROTECTION
IN
657
THE TERRITORIES.
"
on slavery " the right to go to the Territo
"
"
for the duty of
protecting that right
ries, it contended
"
positive proand this could not be done, it argued, but by
lation conferred
;
slavery legislation,"
As there
tories."
legislature to do its
and " a federal slave-code for the Terri
was no power to " coerce a Territorial
constitutional duty, Congress must supply
the legislation withheld by the derelict Territory."
Jefferson Davis, leading off as ever, took the advanced posi
himself rather
tion.
But, more wary and politic, he contented
with the enunciation of general principles than by demanding
immediate legislation. For that he was willing to wait as for
"
"
to which he first
the legitimate outcome of the
principles
These
general prin
sought to commit the Democratic party.
he knew, indeed, were a complete abandonment of that
popular sovereignty," the party had been persuaded, at large
ciples,
"
and Northern strength, to adopt and that to
them and the proposed change Mr. Douglas would be naturally
and inflexibly opposed.
Indeed, from policy, if not from
cost of honor
;
principle, the latter could not
ignominious
submit to a vassalage quite so
;
and he was now prepared
to
make
as vigorous a
fight for the doctrine of popular sovereignty against the ex
tremists of the South as he had made against the Republicans
of the North.
There were, then, at least three leading ideas which had
their advocates at the opening of the
XXXYIth
Congress.
There was the Republican idea of no more slave territory the
popular sovereignty idea, of which Mr. Douglas was the leading
;
exponent the idea of slavery protection, of which Jefferson
Davis then became the champion. The last was embodied in
the resolutions of the latter, which became the subject of the
;
Ideas like these, in the minds of
great debate of the session.
earnest and able men intent on their vindication and immediate
These were
adoption, necessarily excited heated discussions.
the
unconcealed
by
purpose of the Southern leaders
intensified
to disown Mr. Douglas, and,
if
possible, to read
him out
of the
Democratic ranks,
a policy already inaugurated by his re
moval from the chairmanship of the Committee on Territories.
The pent-up
VOL.
IT.
fires of
83
long-continued agitation sought vent
;
the
�658
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
opposing purposes of men and the higher purposes of God
were hastening to their culmination and final conflict.
As the House, before organization, launched on the sea
of tempestuous debate, a similar demonstration was
inaugu
rated iii the Senate.
On the 19th of December, Mr. Pugh, in
<
behalf of popular sovereignty, introduced a resolution recom
mending the repeal of so much of the acts organizing the
Territories of New Mexico and Utah as
required the laws of
their legislatures to be submitted to
Congress for approval
or rejection.
an
able
and
Though
lawyer,
ready in debate, his
mind was more distinguished for acuteiiess than
breadth, more
forensic than fundamental in his mode of
handling the topics
He had no sympathy with antislavery ideas,
men, and did not hesitate to disavow all hostility
to the most extreme opinions of the Southern school.
In
he
seemed
far
more
anxious
to
vindicate
the
tensely partisan,
"
"
soundness
of the Northern Democracy, and thus maintain
he discussed.
principles, or
its
ascendency in the national councils, than to defend the
claims of humanity.
He had had
large experience of the dif
and dangers the Democratic party had encountered
because of the incorporation of Southern dogmas into its plat
form and he had painful knowledge of the decimation in its
numbers it had suffered therefrom. Even under the highsounding phrase of popular sovereignty and in the specious
guise of a particular regard for the people's rights, it had not
ficulties
;
consented to that
new
departure without manifest damage.
Now, when asked
to abandon that position for one still more
and outrageous, he saw that its slaveholding allies
were making demands to which the Democracy could not safely
indefensible
yield.
In his speech in support of his resolution he denounced the
doctrine of slavery protection by Congress in the Territories as
"unmitigated Federalism";
and he told his Democratic as
sociates that, though they might be successful in organizing
committees in the Senate, they would not be successful else
where.
sharp colloquy sprung up between him, Brown of
A
Mississippi,
slaves,
and
and Lane
of
their origin.
Oregon on the rights of property in
The Senator from Ohio contended
�SLAVERY PROTECTION
that the title to such property
The Senator from
Mississippi
IN
THE TERRITORIES.
was
659
in the laws of the State.
claimed that
it
was in the
legislation of Congress, which body, he contended, was under
obligation to extend to slave property a kind of protection pro
The Senator from Oregon gained the
Mr. Brown, of having delivered a
from
damaging compliment
more
conservative, and broader than he
speech more national,
had heard during the session, perhaps " during half a dozen
vided for no other.
sessions."
On
the 12th of January the resolution came up again, when
made a still longer speech, in which he complained
that he stood without assistance or sympathy, except from Mr.
the mover
Douglas, as to his opinions,
"from
either side of the
cham
A
debate, of great bitterness of feeling and personal
reference, sprang up between Mr. Davis and Mr. Douglas.
After referring at some length, and with no little acrimony, to
ber."
the removal of the latter from the head of the Committee on
Territories because, as admitted by Mr. Davis, of his views on
the Territorial question, and because, as claimed
by himself, he
held the same views he had held for eleven years, and " did
not change as suddenly as they," Mr. Douglas expressed his
willingness that his assailants might make their charges, and
then he said " I will fire at the lump, and vindicate
every
:
word
I
have said."
Having used the expression that
his
assailants were disposed to " double teams " on him, both Da
vis and Clay retorted by telling him that he
magnified himself,
and that there were many who were willing to meet him
"
man
man," and that he had better despatch one
before he talked of firing " at the lump."
to
first,
Mr. Brown, seemingly emulous of his colleague, and anx
ious to rival
him
in the
championship of the slaveholding
cause, was more extreme in his opinions and extravagant in
his demands.
As if slavery were the chief interest and glory
of the Republic, he
seemed to regard the Constitution as
mainly valuable for the protection it afforded the system and
;
white
men
as fulfilling their first duty
by standing guard,
lest
Not satisfied with its then present limits,
with marauding spirit and intent, he did not hesitate to
proslaves should escape.
�660
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
claim his wish and purpose to extend the area of bondage far
beyond the lines that then restricted its presence, even until
" the whole unbounded continent" should be covered
thereby.
his actions corresponded with his sentiments.
On the
18th of January he introduced into the Senate two resolu
And
tions
the
;
first
affirming the nationality of slavery
;
and the
second declaring that the Territorial legislature should " en
act adequate and sufficient laws for its protection," and, in
" the admitted
default of such
it then became
legislation,
duty of Congress to interfere, and pass such laws."
Mr. Wilson, in reply, sketched the rise and progress of slav
ery in the colonies and the Union. He cited largely the opin
ions of the fathers and framers of the Constitution, both North
and South, and showed their condemnation of it as being in
itself exceptional, at war with the spirit and genius of free
institutions, and destined, they hoped, to speedy decay and
overthrow.
He
showed, however, the sad decadence of such
sentiments, and the growth of the Slave Power, until, he
" holds this
said, it
day the national government, in all its
departments, in complete subjection," controlling Congress
" the
" with unbroken
Supreme Court to
sway," bidding
and that high tribunal obeys its imperative
and "holding the President in the hollow of
its hand."
He then showed, from abundant quotations, how
and
widespread
rampant had become the sentiment of dis
union.
Unmindful, he said, of its name and early traditions,
" the American
forgetful of its past record and utterances,
Democracy, led by slave perpetualists and propagandists,
secessionists and disunionists, now, in the light of this age,
stands before the nations the enemy of human progress, and
in favor of the consecration and propagation of all abuses."
utter its decrees,
commands,"
On
the 2d of February, Jefferson Davis presented a series
Their purport and purpose were to commit
of resolutions.
the Democratic party to the
dogma
that the Constitution
and protected slavery wherever its authority extended.
were
put forth as the enunciation of fundamental prin
They
which
the subsequent policy of the Slave Power
ciples, on
was to be based. " I am not seeking legislation in these
carried
�SLAVERY PEOTECTION
IN
THE TERRITORIES.
661
" I
am but making great decla
rations on which legislation may be founded."
In the first three resolutions there was the assertion of
resolutions," said Mr. Davis
;
certain general facts and assumptions on which rested the
that as
declarations embraced in those succeeding them,
slavery, in some of the States, was an important portion of
their domestic institutions, all open or covert attacks designed
for its injury or overthrow were a breach of faith ; that all
attempts to discriminate in relation to persons and property
in the Territories were to be resisted.
On
these
was based
the key-stone of
the fourth, containing the gist of the series,
the skilfully constructed arch, the test of Democratic fidelity at
that crucial hour of political trial,
that neither Congress nor
the Territorial legislature " possesses power to annul or impair
the constitutional power of any citizen to take and hold his
slaves in such Territory."
The
fifth
asserted
that,
if
the
governments should fail to render the proper pro
" it will be the
tection,
duty of Congress to supply such de
The sixth recognized the right of such Territories,
ficiency."
Territorial
when forming
State constitutions, to be admitted
into
the
Union with or without slavery, as they may elect. The
seventh, and last of the series, asserted that the Fugitive Slave
Act should be faithfully executed, and that all acts of State
legislatures designed to nullify it, and laws made in pur
suance thereof, were subversive of the Constitution, and revo
lutionary in their effect.
Mr. Davis made an elaborate speech, in which he explained
and defended the " postulates " of the first three resolutions
and the deductions of the remaining four. Describing his
own position, he said "I stand half-way between the ex
treme of squatter sovereignty and of Congressional sover
He contended that the general government could
eignty."
grant no powers to the Territorial legislature which it did not
"
itself
neither could it "
:
or rightfully refuse
abdicate
possess
to use any powers it actually did possess, or which had been
conferred upon it by the Constitution. "^Popular sovereignty,"
;
he contended, " was a delusion, at war with the provisions and
requirements of the Constitution."
�662
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Douglas's speech, running through two days, was able,
adroit, audacious
overwhelming with its array of facts, bold
;
and unsparing in its denunciations. He failed, indeed, in his
purpose to hold back the Democratic party from following the
extremists in their new departure, and from ranging them
selves under the banner of the imperious Mississippian, the
coming leader of the Southern confederacy, of whose birth
these violent proceedings were the premonitory throes. But if
he failed in that, he succeeded in convicting it, and in placing
on record, too, the proof, of the most astounding political
profligacy of
His object, he
which a great national party was ever guilty.
"
" the dis
said, was
personal defence," and not
cussion of abstract theories of government, or of legal questions
which have been lately forced on the Democratic party as
And yet that " personal defence " became
political issues."
necessarily the political condemnation of the recreant organi
which he had been a distinguished leader. Abundant
materials, and every motive to use them effectively, drew from
zation, of
the Senator a most fearful arraignment of the party that was
then threatening to add to its already blackened history a still
darker page.
Before proceeding to vote, as they did on the 24th of May,
Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin and others announced their pur
pose to vote against the resolutions, because they condemned
as a series, though to some of them they had no objec
tion.
The vote on the first was thirty-six to nineteen ; the
them
Democrats and the latter all Republicans. When
the second was read, concerning and condemning " open or
covert attacks" on slavery, Mr. Harlan offered an amend
former
all
"
ment, opposing any interference with the free discussion of
the morality or expediency of slavery"; but only twenty
votes were recorded in its favor, and the whole resolution was
then adopted by the same party vote.
The
third
was adopted
by the same vote in the affirmative, though but eighteen voted
against it.
On the fourth resolution, denying the power of Congress to
prohibit slavery in the Territories, there was more discussion.
Mr. Clingman offered and defended an amendment affirming
�SLAVERY PROTECTION
that there
was no need
IN
THE TERRITORIES.
of legislation.
To
this
G63
Mr. Brown
of Mississippi offered an amendment affirming that there was
a necessity for such legislation. Upon these two amendments
there was a running and exciting debate, which consumed the
day.
In the course of the debate Mr. Lane of Oregon not only
indorsed the resolutions as eminently proper, but he said they
should have been adopted ten years before by the Democratic
"
"
dodging the
party ; for all their trouble had arisen from its
Mr. Crittenden spoke
responsibility of deciding the question.
" the
the
on
Territories
the
of
of
subject of slavery."
power
His age and
ability, his
general reputation for honesty and
personal probity, his long experience in public life, his appar
ent candor and courtesy of manner gave his words weight
with
all
parties.
On
this occasion,
though he proclaimed the
most extreme sentiments, accepted the Dred Scott decision,
avowed his purpose to support the resolutions, and spoke deprecatingly of the continued existence of the Republican party,
" sister
it was offensive to their
States," and calcu
"
"
lated to disturb the
he
as if there
because
were
peace
though
spoke
no moral bearings in the slavery question and the public pol
icy it demanded, yet he seemed so moderate in manner, so
;
conciliatory in spirit, so patriotic of purpose, so eminently fra
ternal in feeling, that the temptation was strong, too strong
for all to resist, to lose sight of the revolting doctrines he pro
claimed in the dress in which they appeared, of the matter in
the
manner
of his discourse.
Mr. Brown's amendment was then rejected, having received
but five votes. Clingman's amendment was adopted, the Re-
On the fifth resolution much discus
publicans voting for it.
sion arose on an amendment, that it is not intended to
provide
a system of laws for the maintenance of
slavery, in which
Wigfall rebuked Clingman and
Brown for their embarrassing
he
interference, by which,
said, they were helping, unwittingly
he hoped, " to bolster up a man who has deserted the
princi
ples of our party."
Though Mr. Wade, speaking for the
Republicans, counselled non-interference in the Democratic
dispute, it was not in the nature of Mr. Hale to keep silent.
�664
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Accordingly he volunteered to speak for the Northern Democ
racy, especially for that of New Hampshire, and he assured the
Texan Senator
that he need not be afraid of any bad effects
on that party of any resolutions however extreme. " I do
not think," he said, " that you can pass any resolutions upon
this subject of slavery that would stagger them in the least"
and not only that, but they would declare " that they had
always been their sentiments." This was indeed the lan
;
guage of sarcasm, but the witty Senator gave expression, in
humorous way, to one of the saddest and most significant
facts of American history.
For it was true of the Democrats
this
of
New Hampshire
and in that regard they were not very
unlike their brethren in
make but
all
the Northern States
that
it
did
what they were called upon to in
had become one of the political axioms
difference
little
dorse and support.
It
of the day that the South controlled the politics of the country
through its preponderating sway in the national parties. All
indeed were not alike subservient
;
the leaders and the led succumbed.
but the large majority of
Though they admitted
the humiliation, they yielded to the dictation, because
they regarded the question as narrowed to the alternative of
so yielding, or of abjuring politics altogether, and thus sacri
and
felt
and party success. The South,
and unyielding the North was not
Of conse
earnest, but temporizing, and ever yielding.
ficing both personal preferment
they saw, was
in
in earnest
;
quence the wishes of the former were heeded; those of the
Nor was this true of the Democrats alone.
latter were not.
Not to the same extent indeed, but generally, the Whigs
After disposing of one or two
to the same dictation.
yielded
amendments the
it,
resolution
was passed,
thirty-five voting for
only two voting in the negative.
was called up, Mr. Wilson moved
after the enacting word, and In
all
out
to amend by striking
and can only exist
serting that slavery is against natural right,
to prevent
by municipal law that it is the duty of Congress
but
received
its extension into the Territories.
however,
When
the sixth resolution
;
It,
nine votes.
The
was then adopted by a vote of
The seventh was then agreed to, only
resolution
thirty-three to twelve.
�SLAVERY PROTECTION IN THE TERRITORIES.
six Republicans voting against even this explicit
who had simply and
of their own citizens.
tion of those States
for the protection
665
condemna
only enacted laws
Mr. Wilson then stated that Mr. Clingman's resolution
having been adopted by the votes of Republicans, because they
agreed with
its
declaration that there
was no need
of
Con
gressional protection of slave property in the Territories ; but,
not wishing to be responsible for any portion of the series,
he moved a reconsideration of the vote that adopted it. " I
"
want," he said, to wash my hands of all connection with any
Everybody knows that all of as on this
chamber are opposed to any slave code, now or
at any future period, and under any possible circumstances."
All the Republicans voting for the motion, the resolution was
reconsidered and then rejected.
Thus did the Senate of this Republic, in abject obedience to
the demands of the Slave Power, and under the lead of Jeffer
son Davis, place on record its most solemn and emphatic con
demnation of the principles, not only of the ordinance of
of these resolutions.
side of the
the Magna
1787, but of the Declaration of Independence,
Charta of the very government it was pretending to adminis
Nor was this action simply negative. It was positive
and prospective. By the solemnities of legislative enactment
the Senate of the United States made public proclamation and
pledge to make slavery and not freedom national, and its con
servation the fundamental principle of all subsequent legisla
tion and governmental policy.
ter.
VOL.
II.
84
�CHAPTER
LIII.
PROSCRIPTION, LAWLESSNESS, AND BARBARISM.
Disturbed condition of the South.
Methodist Church North in Texas.
Min
Rev. Solomon McKinIndorsement of the religious press.
Rev. Daniel "Worth.
Banishment and memorial.
Imprisonment and
ney.
Its success.
Berea.
Rev. John G. Fee.
Stone-cutter.
conviction.
isters expelled.
Case in Dela
Cassius M. Clay.
Settlement broken up and Fee banished.
Northern papers excluded from the mails.
Virginia law indorsed
Violence in Congress.
at Washington.
Adams, Giddings, Lovejoy, and
ware.
Sumner.
Lovejoy's speech.
Widespread demoralization.
THE
proscription, lawlessness, and barbarism of slavery
were the necessary conditions of its existence. Its essential
injustice and inevitable cruelties, its malign and controlling
influences upon society and the state, its violence of word and
conduct,
its
unfriendliness to freedom of thought and
its
repression of free speech even in the presence of the most
flagrant enormities, its stern and bloody defiance of all who
questioned its action or resisted its behests, were specially
manifest during the closing years of its terrible reign. Stat
however severe, and courts, however servile, were not
The mob was sovereign. Vigilance committees took
the law into their own hands, prompting and executing the
verdicts and decisions of self-constituted judges and selfMerchants on lawful business, travellers for
selected juries.
teachers
and day-laborers, all felt alike the prescrip
pleasure,
A
tive ban.
merciless vindictiveness prevailed, and held its
The privi
stern and pitiless control over the whole South.
leges and immunities of citizenship were worthless, and the
law afforded no protection. Southern papers were filled with
accounts of the atrocities perpetrated, and volumes alone
utes,
enough.
could contain descriptions of
all
that transpired during this
reign of terror.
Illustrative of this inexorable intolerance
and completeness
�PROSCRIPTION, LAWLESSNESS, AND BARBARISM.
667
was the course pursued towards members of the
Offended by
Methodist Church North residing in Texas.
their presence, the mob demanded not only the silence but the
of subjection
They yielded to
ejection of any ministers of its connection.
the menace, and this lawless action received the indorsement
The Texas " Advocate," the organ of
of the religious press.
the Methodist Church South, urged " the thorough and imme
diate eradication of the Methodist
with whatever force
may
Church North
be necessary."
If
in Texas,
such were the
teachings of their religious journals, little surprise need be felt
that the mob reigned, and reigned ruthlessly.
In the spring of 1860 Rev. Solomon McKinney, a Campbellpreacher, went from Kentucky to the same State. He was a
ite
Democrat, and believed that the Bible sanctioned slavery. In
Dallas County, at the request of a slaveholder, he preached on
the relative duties of master and slave.
Though nothing very
would be expected from one with his avowed belief,
antecedents, and political affiliations, his utterances probably
breathed too much of truth and of humanity for that merid
A public meeting was held, and he was warned not to
ian.
preach there again. Even his Southern opinions and Democ
racy could not save him. Heeding the warning, which he
radical
knew betokened extreme measures,
in company with another
same denomination, he started for the North.
But he and his companion were overtaken, carried back to
Dallas County, and imprisoned.
They were soon taken from
the jail by armed men, and whipped with raw hides, receiving
" backs were one mass of clot
eighty lashes each, until their
ted blood and bruised and mangled flesh."
In a memorial
preacher of the
sent to the legislature of Wisconsin by Mr. Blount, the com
panion of McKinney, he made the singular statement that he
had never preached against slavery, and that " for more than
thirty years he had uniformly supported the Democratic party
in both State and nation, and had sustained the views of that
party upon the issues between the North and the South." As
little creditable as was this statement to himself, it
exposed
with unmistakable clearness the intense intolerance of his per
secutors, and revealed how much better the South loved dark
ness than light, and how dense that darkness must be.
�668
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
Nor was Texas exceptionally intolerant. During the clos
ing days of 1859 Rev. Daniel Worth, a minister of highly
respectable family and position, an eloquent and popular
preacher, formerly an inhabitant of Indiana and member of
its legislature, was arrested in North Carolina for circulating
"
Impending Crisis." He was indicted, and commit
Helper's
await his trial in the spring. His bonds, placed at
an unreasonable amount, he could not obtain, and he was con
"
signed to a cell wholly unsuitable for a person to live in, and
his only bedding a dirty pallet" and all this was for the alleged
ted to
jail to
;
crime of circulating a book written by a Southerner, in the
interests of the white man more than of the black, and devoted
mainly to material rather than moral arguments against negro
slavery.
He was
imprisonment,
convicted, and sentenced to twelve months'
a sentence deemed too light by many, be
cause, they said, he might
according to the law.
Nor was there
have been "publicly whipped,"
respect of persons.
The
day-laborer, no less
than the minister, must be silent before this imperious Power.
A young Irishman, a stone-cutter, at work on the State House
South Carolina, dropped the casual remark that " slavery
caused a white laborer at the South to be looked upon as an
of
and degraded man."
This simple expression of a
to all, and deeply appreciated by himself, gave
mortal offence, and he was at once seized, thrust into jail,
taken out and dragged through the streets, tarred and feath
ered, and then, without other clothing than a pair of pants,
inferior
truth
known
put into a negro car for Charleston, whence, after a week's
imprisonment, he was banished from the State. And he, too,
could urge, though without avail, in extenuation of his con
"
duct, that he had
always voted the Democratic ticket."
Among the few antislavery men afforded by the South was
Rev. John G. Fee of Kentucky.
A strictly religious and
conscientious man, he hated slavery, and would rid his beloved
.
commonwealth
of its guilt
and damage.
Not content with
simply enunciating the doctrines of freedom, he would exhibit
to his fellow-citizens their practical workings when brought to
the test of fair experiment.
With others of similar character
�PROSCRIPTION, LAWLESSNESS,
AND BARBARISM.
669
and purposes, he established a colony, or community, in one
Beside the church there were
a large and flourishing school and a steam saw-mill.
These
appliances, and the good character, industry, and thrift of
of the counties of the State.
its
inhabitants, produced their natural results.
and moral, industrious and
Intelligent
law-abiding,
being punctilious
even in their purpose to " submit to every ordinance of 'man
for the Lord's sake," the people of Berea made it a marked
neighborhood, extorting from a leading and intelligent slave
holder the encomium that " it was the best he had seen in all
Kentucky."
But no
fidelity as citizens,
trumpet-tongued
;
no caution, no unob-
Their virtues became
trusiveness, could hide their success.
was eloquent
their very reticence
;
and the
community made the surrounding darkness
more hideous and dense. The slaveholders saw it, winced
under the rebuke thus quietly bestowed, " felt how awful
light of that little
goodness
is,"
and determined that that
light should be extin
A
condemning
was
at
which
it
was
resolved
to
them
meeting
held,
expel
from the State and a committee of sixty-five, " represent
" the wealth and
ing," it was said,
respectability of the
county," was intrusted with the cruel task of breaking up their
homes and banishing them therefrom not because they had
broken the laws, for it was admitted that they had not, but
guished, and that
voice should be silenced.
;
;
"
because, as alleged, their
principles were opposed to the pub
lic peace."
They appealed in vain to the governor for pro
but
were
advised by that official, " for the sake of
tection,
This they did without resistance,
was said, " with the silent preaching
peace," to leave the State.
"
preferring exile," it
their absence would furnish, to the shedding of blood."
ilar
ilar
Sim
demonstrations were made in two other counties, for sim
The ostracized took legal
reasons, and with like results.
counsel, and received for advice that, though they could oppose
force to force, it was expedient that they should leave.
They
did ; the school-house was closed, the steam-mill was disman
and again " order reigned."
The same intolerance and impatience of rebuke, however
considerate and qualified, were exhibited towards Cassius M.
tled,
�670
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
Clay.
his views
Though
many admissions
IN AMERICA.
were so moderate, and he made so
him sharply
that Abolitionists criticised
for
sympathy with Mr. Fee and his associates, yet,
being opposed to slavery, and a Republican, it was resolved
that he, too, must leave the State, or at least he must cease
his
want
of
And this was put on the ground that it was of
his opposition.
" to drive out Fee and his
little use
companions while Clay was
But his talents and eloquence,
left to agitate the country."
his high
social position, his
recognized courage and defiant
no doubt, the growing power of the
induced
his persecutors to desist, and their
Republican party,
threats were not carried into execution.
Even in Delaware, so far north and so little interested in
attitude,
and above
all,
slavery as almost to be called a free State, a similar hostility
was exhibited to freedom of speech and a free press. In Mil-
where was published a Republican paper, a town-meet
" consider what course should be taken to
ing was held to
"
;
and, in addition, it was
suppress the incendiary sheet
also determined to suppress itby violence.
But the mob,
ford,
'
'
assembled for that purpose, encountered so determined and
well directed a resistance, that it slunk away with its object
unaccomplished and the brave editor, Dr. John S. Prettyman,
;
had the satisfaction of recording, the next year, the vote of
the town for Lincoln and Hamlin.
Nor was it enough to banish a free press. Everything
Northern that breathed of freedom and humanity must be
barred out.
Even the
mails, that should ever be inviolable,
sacred to friendship and business, and devoted to the diffusion
of knowledge, were rifled and their contents pillaged. Whatever
called in question either slavery or its laws
was pronounced
"
incendiary," and its exclusion from the mails was demanded,
though to do it clothed every petty postmaster with the hate
ful right of espionage and the authority to exclude whatever
in his judgment was thus prohibited.
The laws of Virginia
this
and
clothed
him
this authority. They
with
recognized
right
"
"
empowered any justice of the peace to burn publicly
any such condemned matter, and to commit to jail any one
knowingly subscribing for and receiving it. These laws were
also
�PROSCRIPTION, LAWLESSNESS,
AND BARBARISM.
671
" constitutional "
by the attorney-general of Vir
ginia, and, also by Caleb Gushing, Attorney-General of the
United States, under Mr. Pierce's administration. Concern
pronounced
-
ing them, too, Judge Holt, Postmaster-General under Mr.
"
Buchanan, said that this opinion had been cheerfully acqui
esced in by this department, and is now recognized as one of
the guides of the administration."
Nor were these laws in
manner
a
dead
letter
but, during the closing years of
any
;
this terrible rule, they
Few North
were rigorously enforced.
ern journals were allowed circulation, except, it was said,
"
organs of
proslavery diabolism and proslavery piety."
The same spirit pervaded the halls of national legislation.
From
the time of Franklin's memorial to the 1st Congress
" to
calling upon the government
step to the very verge of its
"
power to discourage the slave-traffic, when, in the words of
" torrents of abuse "
Hildreth, the slaveholders poured out
upon the Quakers and Abolitionists who had sighed
it,
to the
close of the conflict, violence characterized the course of the
Whoever opposed its
were assailed with ferocity and vindictiveness, not always
confined to words.
These assailants, in the language of Mr.
"
Sumner, became conspicuous, not less for the avowal of sen
timents at which civilization blushed, than for an effrontery
advocates and defenders of slavery.
rule
of
manner when the
accidental
legislator
was
lost in the
natural overseer, and the lash of the plantation resounded in
the voice." " Insult," said John Quincy Adams, more tersely,
"
bullying, and threats characterized slaveholders in Con
gress."
The venerable Adams was threatened with the " peniten
" silenced."
tiary," and the avowal was made that he must be
The ever-faithful but fearless Giddings was assailed by brutal
and indecent words, and menaced with bludgeon, bowie-knife,
and revolver. Mr. Sumner, for words spoken in debate, was
smitten down in his place, and his blood stained the floor of
At a later date, in the spring of 1860,
the hosts were gathering for the Presidential conflict of
that year, Owen Lovejoy, addressing the House, standing in
the Senate chamber.
when
front of the Speaker's chair,
was rudely and
fiercely inter-
�672
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
rupted by Southern members, who crowded around him with
menacing attitude and gesture. He spoke indeed with the
fiery and uncompromising earnestness which the strong con
victions of such a man and his terrible experience could not
but beget, as he stood up in that infuriated presence to " vin
"
dicate the principles baptized in the blood
of his martyred
brother, twenty years before, on the banks of the Mississippi.
Maddened by his faithful portrayal, they revealed by their
language and manner their principles and purposes of action.
" a black
Stigmatizing him with rude and vulgar words, as
hearted scoundrel and nigger-stealing thief," as "an infamous
and perjured villain," as " a mean and despicable wretch,"
they ejaculated the threat, in the words of Martin of Vir
" If
come
as we did
we will do with
ginia:
you
among us,
you
with John Brown,
hang you up as high as Haman."
These few examples illustrate, too faintly perhaps, the pro
scription, lawlessness, and barbarism of slavery, especially
during the closing years of its domination.
By them the
"
as
its
friends
fond
of calling it,
were
Sunny South,"
partial
was transformed into a land of darkness arid moral desola
tion, of social
and
political unrest.
They had
also been the
school where were learned the lessons that were practised with
such fearful effect at Belle Isle, Salisbury, and Andersonville.
From them
resulted, too, that widespread demoralization, in
dividual and social, revealed by the Rebellion, which was a
surprise to the oldest and most radical abolitionists, who found
that even they had not accurately gauged the monstrous
iniquity, or fully fathomed the depths of American slavery.
�CHAPTER
LIY.
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OP
1860.
Mr.
Keckless course of the leaders.
Power.
Epoch in the history of the Slave
Caleb
Convention assembled.
His deposition determined upon.
Douglas.
No compromise possible. Keports
His address.
Gushing made president.
of committee on the platform.
Report of majority, and speech of Mr. Avery.
Violent
Butler's report.
Minority report, and speech of Mr. Payne.
of the president.
Disorder.
Representative
Significant admission
Votes on the platform.
Filibustering.
speeches of Yancey and Pugh.
Reasons assigned.
Friends of Mr. Douglas victorious.
Seceding delegations.
did not secede.
who
of
those
and
Position
Glenn.
of
Mr.
speeches
Speech
Two-thirds vote required.
Meeting of seceders.
Popular demonstrations.
Hesita
commenced.
Adjournment to Baltimore.
debate.
Fifty-seven.
Ballotings
tion.
Reassembling.
Still divided.
Contesting delegations.
Speeches of
Embarrassments of Northern Democrats.
Purposes of Southern
Unequivocal indorsement of the Dred Scott decision.
secession of dele
Another
on
credentials.
of
committee
leaders.
Report
Ewing, Loring, Hallett,
and West.
Party hopelessly disrupted.
Speeches of Smith, Butler, and Soule.
Breckinridge and Lane nomi
Meeting of seceders.
Douglas nominated.
Nomination adopted by the seceding convention at Richmond.
nated.
gates.
THE Democratic
national convention of 1860
was memo
rable, not only on account of its disastrous influence on the
subsequent fortunes of the party, but because it marked an
epoch in the history of the Slave Power.
It
was the culmi
nation of the irrepressible conflict, the turning-point in the
which had flooded the land for so many
tide of oppression
It closed
years, and which from that hour began to subside.
the era of compromises, and was the beginning of the end of
that ill-starred ascendency which had transformed the self-
government of freemen into the hardly disguised despotic
control of an oligarchy, contemptible in point of numbers,
and more contemptible in the spirit, purposes, and means of
long-continued and fearful domination.
went into that convention master of the
its
The Slave Power
situation, with the
prestige of almost uninterrupted victories on its banners, in
VOL.
ii.
85
�674
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
possession of every department of the government, having, too,
a majority of hundreds of thousands in the popular vote at
command
and yet it recklessly abandoned its vantagethrew
ground,
away the sceptre it had so long and so remorse
lessly wielded, and with suicidal hands began the work of its
its
;
own destruction.
The precise and
particular point of interest, the question
and at length divided the convention, was
that of nominating Mr. Douglas as the Democratic candidate
in the pending canvass.
His acknowledged ability, his promi
nence in the party, his leadership in the Kansas-Nebraska
struggle, his long and loudly proclaimed Southern proclivities,
that distracted
all
him as the Democratic standard-bearer in the
But with all his devotion to Southern inter
record was not sufficiently clean to satisfy their
pointed to
coming
ests,
strife.
his
exacting demands.
to
come up
ton issue
;
He had
faltered, and for once had failed
measure of fealty upon the Lecompbecame an unpardonable sin, not to be for
to their full
and
it
gotten or forgiven. Though consistency, the instinct of selfpreservation, and a wise regard for the preservation of his
party's ascendency in the Northern States demanded this
course, Mr. Douglas was made the victim of the most un
relenting opposition, and that from the very men for whom
he had made the greatest sacrifices. Indeed, the slave propa
gandists, for the time, seemed to forget their chronic hatred
of the Abolitionists in their more acute and violent hostility
toward him, and in their determination to defeat his nomina
tion for the Presidency.
That they were unwisely violent,
itself, and that they
themselves inflicted fatal wounds upon their own cause, which
no opposition then organized could have done, are matters of
that their vaulting ambition o'erleaped
But in all this
general belief, if not of historic record.
there was nothing new, or without precedent.
History is
full of
such mistakes, such
blindness,
gods mean
The convention met
of
follies,
examples of
like judicial
whom
the
in the city of Charleston, on the
23d
illustrations of the classic adage, that
to destroy they first make mad.
May, 1860.
Every State was represented, while
New
�DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
York and
These
675
1860.
appeared with two contesting delegations.
claimants did but intensify the excitement, al
Illinois
rival
ready great, and add fuel to a flame that was already burning
By design or otherwise, these two sets of delegates
from the two States were respectively for and against Mr.
Their papers were referred to the committee on
Douglas.
credentials, which reported in favor of the friends of Mr.
fiercely.
Douglas from both States, thereby increasing his chances for
success.
Caleb Gushing of Massachusetts was made permanent presi
In his speech on taking the chair,
dent of the convention.
under the usual platitudes of the Democratic party, which
he represented as " the great party of the Union, whose proud
mission it has been, whose proud mission it is, to maintain the
public liberties, to reconcile popular freedom with constituted
order, to maintain the sacred reserved rights of the sovereign
States, to stand, in a word, the perpetual sentinels on the out
posts of the Constitution," he defined his position as that of
no sympathy with " the faction and fanaticism" of either ex
" would
treme, which
hurry our land on to revolution and to
His speech was a plea for the Union, with the
civil war."
promise and prediction that the party would maintain it as it
" "
" to strike down and to
its mission, he said,
the
conquer
;
was
branded enemies of the Constitution." But he gave no coun
sel, and shed no light upon the great practical, crucial problem
of the hour, which was not so much how the irrepressible con
could be composed while the parties, without substantial
how the Union
change of sentiment or purpose, remained,
could be preserved while slavery, like a dividing wedge, was
flict
it in two,
how peace could be maintained while
tended
to
everything
war,
but, the rather, how the Democratic
could
two
in opposite directions at one
courses
party
pursue
ever riving
and the same time, and how maintain its newly proclaimed
doctrine of popular sovereignty, and the still newer doctrine
that the Constitution carried slavery wherever its power was
known or acknowledged. On that question Mr. Gushing was
wisely silent, for there was no satisfactory answer to be given.
The only practical answer was that the one or the other wing
�RISE
676
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
must yield, or that it must divide, as the result
and
as
proved,
might have been foreseen from the outset.
Mr.
Indeed,
Douglas was destined to furnish in his own
a
notable
person
example of the principle Mr. Lincoln so
clearly announced, and which he so sturdily denied, that the
Union could not remain " half free, half slave." The matter
had advanced too far for compromise. Neither party could
of the party
compromise without self-stultification, or, at least, a selfabandonment too great for the temper of the times. " It
is indeed ridiculous and absurd," said one writing from the
" for this
convention,
body of delegates to be pretending to
a
on
agree
platform, when the whole country, themselves
know
well their disagreements are radical and ab
included,
solute."
On
the 24th a committee on resolutions and platform was
but it was not until the 27th that it was ready to
appointed
report.
;
On
that day there were presented a majority report,
reports, and a series of resolutions.
of the majority was presented by Mr. Avery of
two minority
The
report
North Caro
lina.
The principal minority report was presented by Mr.
Payne of Ohio, signed by the members of all the free States
except California, Oregon, and Massachusetts. Benjamin F.
Butler of Massachusetts presented another minority report
which consisted mainly of a reaffirmation of the Cincinnati
platform and the assertion that Democratic principles are
"unchangeable." In addition to these Mr. Bayard of Dela
ware presented a series of resolutions.
The gist of the majority report on the slavery question was
thus expressed " That Congress has no power to abolish
:
That the Territorial legislature
slavery in the Territories
has no power to abolish slavery in the Territories, nor to
prohibit the introduction of slaves therein, nor any power
;
to destroy or impair the right of property in slaves by any leg
In addition, it affirmed the duty of the
islation whatever."
"
government to protect the rights of person and property on
"
the high seas
which last specification was believed to be
intended to cover, or include, the principle of protecting the
;
slave-trade.
Mr. Avery, in his speech explaining his report,
�DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
"
We
1860.
677
Northern brethren
cherish should be
upon this floor that the great principle
The adoption of the popular sovereignty doc
recognized."
" would be as
dangerous and subversive of their
trine, he said,
said
:
demand
at the
hands
of our
we
of the principle of Congressional inter
rights as the adoption
vention or prohibition." And he honestly admitted that, in a
contest for the occupation of the Territories,
" the Southern
Emi
men, encumbered with slaves, cannot compete with the
" the true con
Concerning
grant Aid Society at the North."
struction of the Cincinnati platform," he contended that it
did not involve the doctrine of popular sovereignty, and was
" no
not even " ambiguous." But if ambiguous, he wanted
more doubtful platforms," but that "the convention take a
bold, square stand."
principal minority report reaffirmed the Cincinnati plat
form, declared that all rights of property are judicial, and that
the Democracy pledge themselves to defer to the decisions of
The
the Supreme Court on the subject.
State resistance to the Fugitive Slave
subversive of the Constitution."
It also
Law
"
pronounced
all
revolutionary and
In his speech in explana
tion, and in reply to Mr. Avery and the majority report, Mr.
Payne spoke at great length. Referring to the Cincinnati
" non-intervention
by Congress
platform, he said it meant
with the question of slavery, and the submission of the ques
tion -of slavery in the Territories, under the Constitution, to
"
the people."
Concerning its alleged ambiguity, he said he
could prove from the Congressional debates that from 1850 to
1856 there was not a dissenting opinion expressed in Congress
on this subject." This he proceeded to do by copious extracts
from the speeches of Ho well Cobb, John C. Breckinridge,
James L. Orr, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, and
others, all agreeing in the principle expressed by Mr. Breckin
" the
ridge, that
people of each Territory shall determine the
for
themselves," and be admitted into the Union
question
" without discrimination on account of the allowance or
prohi
Mr. Butler presented for his report, as he
bition of slavery."
"
expressed it, the Cincinnati platform, pure and undefiled,"
accompanying it with an incisive speech, dissecting both re-
�678
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
ports and pointing out their untenable positions and theii de
partures from the old faith of the Democratic party.
The debate
to which these reports
and the speeches intro
ducing them gave rise was violent in both matter and manner.
It was indeed the shock of battle, for which
everything up to
that time had been preliminary, the gathering and
arming of
the
mere
of
It
was
not
as san
forces,
skirmishing
outposts.
as
the
later
battles
of
Chancellorsville and the Wilder
guinary
and Pittsburg Landing, but it was a part
Nor
conflict, equally determined and defiant.
was it indeed a mere war of words. There were other demon
strations which better betokened the
spirit that ruled than any
ness, of Gettysburg
of the
same
spoken language of the debate. What they were may be gath
ered from the following words of the chairman. After calling
in vain for order, and declaring that it was " physically impos
Chair to go on in a contest with six hundred men
as to who shall cry out loudest," Mr. Gushing said " The
Chair begs leave to report that he knows of but one remedy
for such disorder, and that is for your presiding officer to
sible for the
:
leave the chair."
During this and the following day the debate raged, in con
nection with motions for recommitment, independent resolu
Prominent among
tions, and other conflicting propositions.
the speakers, as representing the two parties of the conven
tion, were Mr. Yancey of Alabama and Senator Pugh of
Ghio.
The former, speaking
to the Southern
men
for the propagandists, appealed
and united in favor of
to stand firm
their rights, and for a platform that had no ambiguity and
was unequivocally committed to their views and interests.
"
"
Defeat," he said,
upon principle is better than a mere
victory gained by presenting ambiguous issues and cheating
the people." He admitted, unlike the chairman who made
the majority report, that the South did demand of the North
ern Democracy " an advanced step in the vindication of
Southern rights." His speech was long and eloquent, work
ing the Southern members up to a high state of excitement
and
of enthusiastic feeling.
Mr. Pugh responded immedi
ately, vindicating the views and defending the position of the
�DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
1860.
679
To the new demands he interposed
Northern Democracy.
"
Gentlemen of the South," he said,
an emphatic denial.
"
us we will not do it."
mistake
mistake
us,
you
you
The next, or the 28th, was a wild and excited day. As if
;
reports
of
committees revealing the utter hopelessness
of
agreement, independent and conflicting resolutions, telegrams
from Washington, speeches and
flying in hot haste to and
excited colloquies, were not enough, filibustering was added to
It was generally
the other sources of discord and confusion.
understood that the minority report would be accepted by the
convention, and consequently the friends of Mr. Douglas were
anxious to press it to a vote, while his enemies were equally
This they did in the vague hope that
to improve their chances and po
intervene
something might
sition, in case of the open rupture upon which they were
anxious to stave
it off.
their demands be rejected.
They
were so far successful as to secure an adjournment until the
fully determined, should
30th,
when
The
first
it
was agreed that a vote should be taken.
was on Mr. Butler's motion
vote on the 30th
to
substitute the Cincinnati platform for the minority report pre
sented by Mr. Payne. This was rejected by a vote of one
hundred and five ayes to one hundred and ninety-eight nays.
The motion to substitute the principal minority report was
then carried, by a vote of one hundred and sixty-five to one
hundred and thirty-eight. This vote not only enunciated the
platform of the party, but it revealed the strength of Mr.
Douglas in the convention. It was regarded, too, by the prop
agandists as a defeat, and became at once the signal of the
disruption of which it was announced as the provoking cause.
The delegation from Alabama immediately handed in a pro
signed by all its members, announcing their retirement,
with the reasons therefor. From this it appeared that the
test,
State convention, which gave them their appointment, and at
which were adopted resolutions embodying, with precise and
comprehensive statement, the principles of the Dred Scott
them to retire in case these principles
of receiving the indorsement of the party.
As
thus failed, the contingency provided for had hap-
decision, instructed
should
fail
they had
�680
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
" The
pened, and they had no election but to retire.
points
of difference between the Northern and Southern Democracy"
" as
they specified to be two,
regards the status of slavery
in the Territories and the power of people concerning it and
;
as regards the duty of the Federal government to protect the
owner of slaves." They were followed by the delegations
from
Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, excepting two,
South Carolina, excepting three, three from Arkansas, ten
from Delaware, including Senator Bayard, and one from
North Carolina. All these resignations were made for sub
stantially the
same avowed reasons, though couched
in differ
ent language, and accompanied with speeches delivered with
great earnestness and emotion, and generally deprecatory of
what they declared to be the unjust and unwise course of the
majority which rendered such a disruption inevitable.
The debate was remarkable for the conflict of feeling, as
of opinion and purpose, it evinced.
There was a
strange mingling of confidence and hesitation, of pathos and
The extremists were
passion, of patriotism and partisanship.
well as
too fully committed to retreat, and yet they shrank from the
final consummation.
The disunion they had depicted in such
when
glowing colors,
contemplated as a theory or at a dis
tance, lost some of its roseate hues when looked at as being
on the eve of immediate consummation. There was, indeed,
a good deal of boasting and bravado, vaporing and shallow
declamation, which appears ridiculous)^ enough in the light
And yet there were earnest and elo
of subsequent history.
quent men, who were enthralled in the toils of a false phi
losophy, committed to a vicious system, and who unexpect
edly found themselves where they had never been before, and
was where the hitherto obsequious North refused to fol
low, and where they felt called upon to make good their words.
It was a sudden emergency, for which they were prepared, at
best, only in a general way, and it was not strange if they
talked wildly, and used words that will not bear very close
that
As usual, they were full of complaints against the
not
now the " black Republicans," but their recusant
North,
Democratic brethren.
scrutiny.
�DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
1860.
681
most eloquent and telling speeches of the
After
occasion was one made by Mr. Glenn of Mississippi.
but deliberate, he
affirming that their action was not hasty,
Among
said
it
the
must be " maintained
at all hazards."
Complaining of
the alleged ambiguity of the Cincinnati platform, and of the
fact that by the adoption of the minority report their Northern
brethren had just announced their purpose not to concede to
them their rights, he contended that it was right for them to
though he predicted that in less than sixty days there
would be " a united South." But he warned them that they
part,
were driving
off those
they most needed, and that without
their aid they could not fight successfully their battle with the
" There slumbers in
your midst," he
Republicans.
" a latent
of
not
political sectionalism, but
spark,
said, too,
of social discord, which may yet require the conservative
black
of country
principles of the South to save your region
from
anarchy and confusion."
But there were others who, though avowing sympathy with
the seceders, hesitated and shrank from the extreme measure.
Wisely concluding that the disruption of the Democratic party
was tantamount to the defeat of their ever-faithful ally, they
concluded to remain, that they might avert the coming calam
Mr. Cohen
ity, and prevent the nomination of Mr. Douglas.
members still remaining not
had already sent off so many, and
which must result, unless abandoned, in the destruction of
both party and the country. " I will stay here," he said,
" until the last feather be
placed upon the back of the camel."
But if, he added, that conciliation cannot be secured, " I
shall then be found shoulder to shoulder with him who is fore
most in the contest." Mr. Flournoy of Arkansas expressed a
"
similar determination in nautical phrase.
My voice," he
"
the
fearful storm
the
Never
said,
is,
give up
ship,' though
I
until
be
the
noble
vessel
swallowed
around
us.
will,
rages
of Georgia expostulated with the
to persist in the policy that
<
up by the devouring waves, unite in the reiterated cry of
And yet he would show himself
Live, live the Republic.'
"
"
" above
by affirming his belief that slavery was a
suspicion
"
the product
patriarchal institution," and that all he had was
'
'
VOL.
ii.
86
�682
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
KISE
IN AMERICA.
Mr. Gaulden of Georgia announced himself
as a slaveholder, and also an advocate for the opening of
the African slave-trade, as the only effective remedy for the
and in this he looked
evils of which the South complained
of slave labor."
;
for help to the Northern
Democracy.
He made
the unan
swerable statement that the domestic slave-trade of Virginia
was more inhuman and unchristian than the African, because
the latter, he said, took a savage from a heathen land and
brought him to a Christian land, and gave him a better chance
for
life.
But the seceders, with whatever of hesitation or misgiving
they took the extreme course of disruption, were strengthened
by the most extravagant outside demonstrations of popular
In the evening
approval, from the citizens of Charleston.
after the disruption, a mass meeting was held in front of the
court-house, which was addressed by Lamar of Mississippi and
Yancey of Alabama, both able and adroit speakers. The lat
"
ter styled the convention, still in session, the
rump conven
"
"a
a
sectional
become
to
convention,"
tion,"
speedily
faction of the free soil
now," he
said,
"
sentiment of the North."
perhaps the pen of the historian
is
" Even
nibbed to
Three cheers were
write the story of a new revolution."
given for the "independent Southern republic," and every
if some great good and crowning glory
had been achieved. The seceders met in separate convention
in St. Andrew's Hall, and organized by choosing Senator Bay
ard of Delaware president. After a session of four days it
adjourned to meet in Richmond on the second Monday of
June. The two days occupied by these resignations, and the
words and actions to which they gave rise were days of un
A motion, made by Mr.
paralleled excitement and disorder.
thing was jubilant as
Howard
of Tennessee, that
"two
thirds of full convention"
should be neces
no resignations had taken place
an angry and
occasion
of
the
to
a
became
nomination,
sary
the chagrin
to
But
it
was
debate.
finally adopted,
disorderly
and discomfiture of Mr. Douglas's friends, who knew they
as
if
could not
command
Near the
so large a vote.
day of the convention, a vote
close of the ninth
�DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
I860.
683
one hundred and forty-five and a
half votes for Mr. Douglas, thirty-six and a half for James
Guthrie of Kentucky, seven for Daniel S. Dickinson of New
for R. M. T. Hunter of Virginia, twelve for
was reached.
It resulted in
York, forty-two
Andrew Johnson
and eleven scattering votes for
There were eleven other ballotings,
four other individuals.
without material change, except that on several Mr. Douglas
reached one hundred and fifty and a half. The next day
the ballotings were resumed, and they continued until there
had been fifty-seven, Mr. Douglas reaching one hundred and
of Tennessee,
of the electoral college.
fifty-two and a half, a clear majority
This, for the moment, inspirited his friends, but his enemies
were implacable, and the convention, had become weary, as one
member expressed it, of thus u voting like a machine." A
kind of truce was agreed upon, and a motion was made, which,
after
much
discussion and
many proposed amendments, was
adopted, to adjourn the convention to meet in Baltimore on
The president, in a few conciliatory and
the 18th of June.
well-chosen words, still pleaded for the union of the party and
the union of the States.
He expressed his earnest disbelief
that " this great Republic is to be but a name, a history of a
mighty people once existing, but existing no longer save as a
shadowy memory or as a monumental ruin by the side of the
"
but the rather he trusted that it would
pathway of time
" like the
endure,
bright orbs of the firmament, which roll on
without rest because bound for eternity, without haste because
;
predestined for eternity."
This adjournment, the special
tion
was
work
for which the conven
was reckless and
and betokened the desperate straits of the
called remaining unaccomplished,
revolutionary,
It revealed a reluctance
party, and of its factions as well.
to meet the consequences of the different courses determined
upon, to accept the practical conclusions of premises they
had been so ready to assume, and to stand in the positions
they had been led to occupy. It was, at least, the putting off
the evil day they saw approaching, conjoined with the pur
pose and hope, if the disruption already begun should become
complete, of profiting by any mistakes their adversaries might
�684
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
make, of improving the chances of party warfare, which the
new circumstances and new combinations might develop.
On reassembling in Baltimore, it was found that neither
the intervening time nor any efforts at conciliation had greatly
modified the condition of affairs or mollified the tempers of
men. Indeed, they had, the rather, been exasperated thereby,
and the breach had been widened. This result was particu
larly apparent from a debate which had taken place in the
Senate, and in which Douglas and Pugh, Davis and Benjamin,
had expressed and enforced their respective and peculiar views.
The great bone of contention at Charleston, the platform, had
been removed but the same conflict reappeared in the debate
;
on the question of membership. In the resolutions for ad
" recommended to the Demo
journment at Charleston it was
cratic party of the several States to
make
provision for sup
But it was found that there had been
plying deficiencies."
of the seceding States ; that from
in
action
no uniformity
the
some there were contesting delegations ; and that in Georgia,
Mr. Douglas had se
cured delegations friendly to him. The whole subject was
There were three
referred to the committee on credentials.
which
a
reports one, however, signed by majority. The latter,
Alabama, and Louisiana the friends
of
;
admitted the
new
or Douglas delegates from
Alabama and
Louisiana, was adopted, and improved, of course, the chances
of that gentleman for the nomination, and became at once the
occasion of an excited and acrimonious debate. The vital
should
question was whether or not those who had seceded
Some
return.
of the friends of Mr. Douglas expressed their
them
unwillingness that they should, unless they would pledge
The old plea
selves to abide by the action of the convention.
was again the recourse of his opposers. The
seceding States, it was contended, and the seceding delegates
"
should be welcomed back. " Have you any States to spare ?
" Have
asked Mr. Ewing of Tennessee.
you any States to
of conciliation
give
up
?
We
are pursued in front
by a remorseless enemy,
the
advancing step by step, squadron by squadron, until
almost irretrievably lost, and yet from all quarters come
exclamations of bitterness and words that burn, to open the
field
is
�DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
I860.
685
breach in our ranks wider and wider."
George B. Loring
and
Massachusetts
of
eloquently for their
pleaded earnestly
"
to
the
convention
interpose no obsta
admission, and begged
back." Mr. Hallett
cle, but to invite and assist them to come
from the same State appealed to New York to save the coun
We have severed ourselves, he said, from eight, and now
try.
we are about to strike a blow that will send off the other
u And
" what
seven of the Southern States.
then," he asked,
is the convention ?
Nay, what is the great Democratic party
of the Union ?
Nay, in God's name, what is the Union it
"
Mr. West of Connecticut well represented the difficul
self ?
ties into which these Southern demands were placing Northern
"
" If
you are determined," he said, to rend this
party and the Union, our homes amid the hills of New Eng
land are as safe and sacred as yours upon your sunny plains
Democrats.
around you. And we simply ask you that you shall not take
a position which shall be tantamount to absolute ruin when
we return to our constituents.
we heed them not."
As
to your taunts
and
threats,
These words of the Connecticut member very well defined
the position of Mr. Douglas and his friends in the convention.
What
they dreaded, what they were compelled to avoid, was
home. " To submit to these
new demands of the Slave Power was " tantamount to abso
"
lute ruin
when they returned to their " constituents." The
" taunts and threats "
they could disregard, as they did all
and
the
moral
consistency
aspects of the great issue, accept
as
the
creed
of
the
ing,
party, even in the report presented by
"
this very " absolute ruin
at
Mr. Payne, under the euphemism that the
rights of property
are " judicial in their character," the baldest doctrines of the
Dred Scott decision. The same, too, was more unequivocally
announced in the almost unanimous vote
subsequently given
by the convention, in support of a resolution offered by exGovernor Wickliffe of Louisiana, pledging the
party to
accept
the decision of the Supreme Court as the same " has been or
shall hereafter be finally determined "
a sentiment
by it,
which General Butler declared at Charleston to be "
enough to
the bones of old Jackson rattle in his
a senticoffin,"
make
�686
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
ment, too, which, as the Supreme Court was then constituted,
and according to its decision already announced, differed in
no appreciable degree from the majority report which was
defeated at Charleston.
Why Mr. Davis and his friends were willing to accept the
one and not the other, and why the propagandists were willing
to rend the party for a distinction without a difference, are
among
the inscrutable mysteries that can be solved on no rec
human conduct, unless, on the part of the
referable to that political legerdemain, not in
frequent, by which men seek by indirection what they fail of
ognized principles of
former,
it
is
securing openly. Why the latter were willing to destroy the
party that had always been its subservient tool, the sheetanchor of its hopes, now that the storm beat most heavily and
the dangers which menaced
them were assuming
their
most
threatening aspect, can be satisfactorily explained only on the
supposition that there were other than human agencies at
work, and that a mightier Hand than man's was moving
among
mad
the discordant elements and clashing forces of that
hour.
But the
die
was
cast.
The
had gone
fiat
forth,
and the
great Democratic party, with all its prestige of past victories
on its banners, and in the plenitude of its power, was to be
dismembered.
The adoption
of the majority report
from the
committee on credentials became the signal of a rupture simi
The entire
lar to that which had taken place at Charleston.
delegations of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, California,
and Delaware, and portions of Maryland, Kentucky, and Mas
These withdrawals, and a motion to
sachusetts, withdrew.
proceed to a vote, became the occasion of demonstrations more
violent and discreditable than any that were made at Charles
ton.
Mr. Smith of California said " California is here with
:
melancholy face, California is here with a lacerated heart,
bleeding and weeping over the downfall and the destruction of
the Democratic party,
cratic party,
this floor."
yes, sir, the destruction of the
Demo
consummated by assassins now grinning upon
Mr. Butler said
:
where the African slave-trade
" I will not
which
is
sit
in a convention
piracy by the laws
�DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF
of
my
country
is
approvingly advocated."
I860.
687
Mr. Gushing re
" to take
" in
my
order," he said,
signed his seat as chairman,
Massachu
of
the
of
member
a
as
floor
the
seat on
delegation
and because "
would no longer represent the
Soule of Louisiana, who still
Pierre
will of the majority."
the seceders, and
clung to Douglas, was terribly severe upon
"
"
"
by an army of
against him
spoke of the unrelenting war
setts,"
his action
unprincipled and unscrupulous politicians."
vote was at length reached, and Mr. Douglas received
all the votes cast but thirteen, and was declared the Demo
A
cratic candidate for the Presidency.
For Vice-President
it
selected Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama, a gentleman unre
servedly committed by his votes and declared opinions against
the doctrine of
sovereignty, and in favor of that of
popular
before
Congressional intervention, even voting, a few days
his selection, in the United States Senate for the extreme
doctrines of the Davis resolutions.
He, however, declined,
spurning the proffered honor, preferring to remain in form
with the section where his interests and sympathies really
The national committee then, in consultation with Mr.
lay.
Douglas himself, selected Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia as
candidate for the same
fully
committed, by
a gentleman,
office,
past declarations, acts,
if
and
possible,
more
affiliations, to
"
the extremest of Southern dogmas, having declared that
cap
ital should own labor," that property in slaves was as sacred
and inviolable as any other and that " neither the general
government nor any Territorial government can impair the
;
Surely
right to slave property in the common Territories."
the annals of political contests will be searched in vain for
more marked examples
of party profligacy
and absolute insin
cerity than were here revealed, especially in the selection of the
two gentlemen chosen as candidates for the Vice-Presidency,
men
in full
and avowed accord with the extremest doctrines
maintained by the most violent of the seceders.
They who
went into the conflict of 1860 with "popular sovereignty"
flaunting on their Northern banners, the ringing watchwords
of their Northern speeches, but with such admissions in their
resolutions,
and with such a candidate
for the second office,
richly merited what they received, a crushing defeat.
�AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER IN AMERICA.
KISE
688
The seceders and the delegations of Louisiana and Alabama,
who had been refused admission, met at the Maryland Institute
There were twenty-one States repre
Caleb Gushing was chosen president. The delegates
from South Carolina and Florida who had been accredited to
on the 28th of June.
sented.
also admitted.
A committee
Mr. Gushing chairman, was chosen to prepare an
address on " the principles of the party." The resolutions
offered by Mr. Avery at Charleston were unanimously adopted.
the
Richmond convention were
of five,
John
C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, and General Joseph Lane
of Oregon, were then unanimously adopted as candidates for
President and Vice-President, and the convention adjourned.
In the mean time the seceding convention at Charleston
adjourned meeting at Richmond on the 12th.
adjourned to the 21st, and then continued to meet and
had held
It
its
adjourn from day to day, awaiting the action of the Balti
more seceding convention. After the action of the latter, it
adopted
its
platform and candidates, and adjourned sine die.
�CHAPTER
LY.
REPUBLICAN CONVENTIONS, AND
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1860.
CONSTITUTIONAL
UNION
AND
" Constitutional " convention.
No platform. Candidates. Speeches of Lee,
Amendment.
Platform.
Hillard, and Brooks.
Republican convention.
Seward leads.
Seward and Lincoln.
Names for candidates proposed.
Hamlin for Vice -President.
Lincoln selected.
Strong fight against him.
Great enthusiasm.
Canvass.
Men en
Friends of Seward disappointed.
" Radical " and Garrison aboli
Prominent part of Mr. Seward.
gaged.
Their course.
Breckinridge and Lane occupy extreme Southern
Bell
Equivocal and inconsistent position of Douglas and Johnson.
Heated
Antecedents and position.
and Everett.
Congressional debate.
Combinations in several States.
contest.
Douglas concedes Lincoln's elec
tionists.
ground.
Visits the South.
His fealty to the Union.
Responses to ques
Eminent Republicans engaged in the canvass.
Mobile " Register."
Advanced ground.
Remarkable speeches of Mr. Seward.
Speech to his
tion.
tions.
Canvass closed by Lincoln's election.
Votes.
Lincoln in a
neighbors.
Victory, though incomplete, a great advance for the cause of free
minority.
Slaveholders' view.
dom.
THE
Union National Convention met at Bal
John J. Crittenden called it to order,
and Washington Hunt of New York presided. A platform,
Constitutional
timore the 9th of May.
reported by Joseph R. Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, affirming
that experience had demonstrated that platforms adopted by
partisan conventions had the effect to mislead and deceive the
people, declared it to be the part of both patriotism and duty
to recognize no political principles other than " the Constitu
tion of the country, the Union of the States, and the enforce
ment
of the laws."
John
Bell received the nomination for
President on the second ballot.
Mr. Henry of Tennessee, a
of Patrick
grandson
Henry, in behalf of his State, responded,
paid a glowing tribute to the character of the nominee, and
spoke eloquently for the Union. The eloquent grandson of
the great orator of the Revolution, while he was pouring his
glowing words into the enraptured ears of the applauding conVOL.
ii.
87
�690
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
little
vention,
dreamed that in a few
brief
IN AMERICA.
months, in obedi
ence to the demands of the Slave Power, he would be found
consorting with secessionists and disunionists, in the rebel
Congress, for the disseverance of that Union.
Edward Everett was then nominated
dency.
George
S. Hillard, gracefully
for the Vice-Presi
responding in behalf of
Massachusetts, predicted that the work of that day would
send a thrill of joy and hope over the land, and that it would
be felt in New England " like the breeze from the sea, after a
" When we
day of exhaustive heat."
go back to Massachu
"
and to New England, all over our hills and
setts," he said,
valleys, which are just beginning to feel the genial touch of
spring, what a thrill of joy and exultation will ring along our
cities, our towns and villages, our solitary farm-houses which
nestle in the hollows of
the hills
"
!
With an enthusiasm
" 4 How beauti
hardly justified by the occasion he exclaimed,
ful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring tidings
of peace
those
How
'
!
who
North and
beautiful
upon the mountains are the
feet of
reconcile sectional discord, who bring together the
the South and the West, and bind them together in
"
Erastus
the unity of the spirit of the bonds of peace
"
of
the
New
York
one
of
the
editors
Brooks,
Express,"
claimed that all old party affiliations were submerged, that the
!
new party, not six months old.
of the Constitution, the Union, of compromise,
conciliation, and harmony ; and ex-Governor Neil S. Brown of
convention represented a
They talked
"
Tennessee expressed his gratification that " the nigger was
not the subject of consideration there.
The convention,
so
hopeful and enthusiastic, which Thaddeus Stevens aptly char
acterized as " a family party, and all there," then dissolved.
The elections in the autumn of 1859 and in the spring of
1860 had not been encouraging to the Republicans. They
looked, therefore, with anxiety, but not without hope, to the
national convention, which met at Chicago on the 16th of
May. It was called to order by Edwin D. Morgan of New
York, and David Wilmot was made temporary chairman.
Upon taking the chair, he made a radical antislavery speecli
that was warmly applauded.
George Ashmun of Massachu-
�REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.
setts
tion,
was made president.
qualified for the posi
he presided over the excited and enthusiastic assemblage
with dignity, tact, and
A
Admirably
691
ability.
were reported by Judge William JesMr. Gidsup, which were received with immense applause.
truths
the
self-evident
dings moved an amendment reasserting
He proposed, he said, to
of the Declaration of Independence.
series of resolutions
maintain these primal issues, upon which the government was
founded, and upon which the Republican party was formed,
had grown, and was then existing. It, however, failed, and
the veteran Abolitionist retired from the convention, though
earnestly importuned to remain, and assured that his amend
ment should be renewed. This was done by George W.
Curtis of New York, who moved thus to amend the second
Supporting his motion with a strong and earnest
members if they were ready to go upon the
he
asked
appeal,
record before the country as voting down the Declaration of
resolution.
Independence, and shrinking from repeating the words that
His eloquent
the great men of the Revolution enunciated.
appeals touched responsive chords, and his amendment was
adopted with shouts of applause. Believing that the princi
Independence had been
in
embodied
the
second
resolution, the majority
substantially
had not regarded the adoption of Mr. Giddings's amendment
ples promulgated in the Declaration of
but his retirement and the earnest and lofty ap
Mr.
Curtis induced them to review their position and
peals of
necessary
;
retrace their steps.
The resolutions denounced, as a political heresy, the new
dogma that the Constitution, of its own force, carried slavery
into the Territories
;
declared freedom to be the normal condi
tion of the Territories
denied the authority of Congress or of
a Territorial legislature to give legal existence to slavery in
any Territory branded as a crime against humanity, and a
burning shame to the country and the age, the reopening of
;
;
the African slave-trade
;
censured the vetoes, by their Terri
Kansas and
and
demanded
the
immediate
admission
of Kansas
Nebraska,
into the Union.
The adoption of the platform was received
torial governors, of the acts
prohibiting slavery in
�692
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
by the convention and the assembled thousands with intense
enthusiasm.
Having adopted its platform, the convention proceeded to the
work of selecting candidates. Mr. Evarts of New York nomi
nated Mr. Seward, and Mr. Judd of Illinois nominated Mr. Lin
coln. Cameron, Chase, Bates, and Judge McLean were also
put
in nomination.
But it was at once apparent that the contest
lay between the first two though on the adjournment, after
these names had been put in nomination, it was found that the
friends of Mr. Seward were far more confident of success than
were those of Mr. Lincoln. Even Mr. Greeley, who had labored
;
incessantly to defeat
it, telegraphed at midnight that Seward' s
nomination was probable. But, while the friends of Seward
were exulting in the assurances of victory, his opponents were
The men of
putting forth herculean efforts for his defeat.
New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois, close and
doubtful States, labored until long after midnight to defeat a
nomination they deemed fatal to success.
and Andrew
tively of
J.
Henry
S.
Lane
Curtin, the gubernatorial candidates respec
Indiana and Pennsylvania, deeming their States,
New Jersey the battle-field of the contest, toiled
with unflagging zeal and resolution to defeat the nomination
of Mr. Seward.
They appealed to the delegates from the
" success rather than
strong Republican States to consider
Seward."
Their earnest, almost frantic appeals were not
Illinois,
and
unheeded, and on the reassembling of the convention the
supporters of Mr. Seward began to realize that the success of
their candidate
was not assured.
The
was
controlling idea with the great body of the convention
to select from the several candidates the one who could
carry those Middle and Western States which had been lost in
1856. The delegates of States presenting candidates made
formal calls upon those of the other States at their respective
The action of the Massachusetts delegation drew
out an expression which foreshadowed in a measure the final
result.
Having been waited upon by the delegations of Penn
sylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, and Indiana, each pressing
rooms.
with great earnestness the
difficulty, if
not impossibility, of
�693
LINCOLN'S NOMINATION.
motion of Ensign H. Kel
carrying either for Mr. Seward, on
of
himself, Edward L. Pierce,
logg, a committee, consisting
wait upon the delegations
to
and J. H. Dunham, was appointed
of these four States
and to request them to present the names
of three candidates, for either of
carried.
Illinois
responded that
whom
it
those States could be
had been ascertained that
Indiana made simi
could be carried only for Mr. Lincoln.
of Mr. Dayton.
the
name
New
lar
Jersey presented
it
reply.
Pennsylvania answered that
Cameron, readily for
it
could be carried
Judge McLean, and then
first for
Mr.
for Mr. Lin
appeared that three of the four doubtful States
had practically united on Mr. Lincoln.
On the first ballot, Seward received one hundred and sev
Thus
coln.
it
one hundred and two.
enty-three and a half votes, and Lincoln
On the second ballot, the former received one hundred and
hundred and eightyeighty-four votes and his competitor one
to one hundred
fallen
had
On the third ballot, Seward
one.
and eighty votes, and Lincoln received two hundred and
a half of the
thirty-one and a half, lacking but one vote and
number necessary for a choice. David K. Cartter of Ohio im
mediately rose and announced the change of four votes from
his
State for Lincoln.
This secured his nomination.
The
result was received by the convention, and by the thousands
assembled in and around the great Wigwam, with thunders of
applause.
Delegation after delegation changed the vote of
Upon the formal declaration of the vote, Wil
their States.
liam M. Evarts, though expressing his profound regret and
grief at the failure of the convention to nominate Mr. Seward,
moved that the nomination of Mr. Lincoln be made unanimous.
This motion was seconded by John A. Andrew of Massachu
and Carl Schurz of Wisconsin, with brief and pertinent
Austin Blair of Michigan, afterward governor of
speeches.
that State and a member of the House of Representatives, said
that Michigan had, from first to last, cast her vote for the
setts,
great statesman of New York that she had nothing to take
but that he had been put forward to say that she laid
;
back
;
down her
best-beloved candidate, and took up the candi
date of the convention, " with some beating of the heart, with
first,
�694
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
some quivering of the veins. We have followed him with an
eye single, and with unwavering faith in times past, and we
marshal now behind him in the grand column which shall go
out to battle for Lincoln."
The contest for the Vice-Presidency was between Cassius
M. Clay, Nathaniel P. Banks, Hannibal Hamlin, Alexander
H. Reeder, and John Hickman. Hamlin and Clay led on the
first ballot, and on the second the former was nominated.
The defeat of Mr. Seward and the nomination of Mr. Lin
coln was a surprise to the strong Republican States, and his
friends, disappointed and not a little cast down, felt and de
clared it to be the triumph of assumed availability over pre
eminence in intellect and trained statesmanship. The action
of Mr. Greeley and some other New York Republicans was bit
Thurlow Weed,
terly commented upon and severely censured.
who had for years supported Mr. Seward with unsurpassed
Not
fidelity and zeal, was deeply disappointed and grieved.
had
he
been
but
his
had
confidence
confident,
only
inspired
his candidate with a like assurance of success.
So assured
indeed was Mr. Seward of his nomination that he retired from
home when the convention was assembling,
not expecting to return to his seat. As he was about leaving
the Senate chamber he said to Mr. Wilson that he should
the Senate to his
not return, and that he expected the nomination. " Consid
" and
your relations with me
ering your antecedents," he said,
you ought to have given me your support, but you have
done more against my nomination than any member of the
" If I could elect
Senate." Mr. Wilson replied substantially
a President, I should nominate you or Mr. Chase and I yet
hope to see you President of the United States. But the suc
here,
:
;
cess of the cause
is
paramount to
Like Mr. Chase, you have, by your
personal considerations.
ability and long devotion to
all
the antislavery cause, excited prejudices and awakened con
servative fears in the great States of Pennsylvania, Indiana,
Illinois, New Jersey, and Connecticut, which are to be the
battle-ground of the contest, and whose votes must be secured
to give success their votes in the convention will decide the
;
nomination
;
and as necessity must
rule at Chicago, I do not
�695
POSITION OF CANDIDATES.
will command the necessary strength." But,
confidence, he left the chamber in company
with Mr. Sumner, assured of both the nomination and elec
think your
name
reiterating his
tion.
The
friends of Mr. Lincoln were wild with joy, forming pro
their dwellings, and
cessions, kindling bonfires, illuminating
of
streets
rails through the
Chicago, while the Western
bearing
members, jaded with their arduous efforts and the attending
in
excitements, were gladdened on their journey homeward,
"
the words of Murat Halstead, with thundering jar of cannon,
the clamor of drums, the glare of bonfires, and the whooping
who were delighted with the idea of a candidate
for the Presidency who thirty years ago split rails on the
Sangamon River, and whose neighbors named him honest.'
The little band of " radical abolitionists," in national con
of the boys,
'
'
vention, nominated Gerritt Smith for President,
McFarland of Pennsylvania for Vice-President.
"
organization
and Samuel
.
The "
old
abolitionists continued to adhere to their policy
and to criticise with unsparing voice and pen
From the
the platforms and candidates of political parties.
supporters of Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell they saw that
slavery had nothing to lose, and freedom nothing to gain.
They saw, too, that the issue tendered and the contest waged
by the supporters of Lincoln were against the domination of
of not voting,
the Slave
Power
;
that depriving slavery of its long-continued
supremacy, and shutting it within impassable
would doom it to a sure, if not speedy death. But,
though confessing that the Republican platform was an in
dictment of slavery that Republican success would be a ver
usurped
political
barriers
;
dict against
it
it
;
that
if it
was
unfit to go into the Territories
ought to be abolished in the States
to spread,
inflexibly
it
would have no right to
;
that,
having no right
live, they, nevertheless,
adhered to their policy of not voting.
They not
only refused to give the Republican ticket either political or
moral support, but they sharply criticised the party, platform,
and candidate.
Breckinridge and Lane held and defended with unswerving
persistency the Southern platform, proclaimed the new dogma,
�696
KISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
and maintained the duty
The
Territories.
of Congress to protect slavery in the
position of Douglas and Johnson, represent
ing the doctrine of non-intervention or popular sovereignty,
was equivocal and clearly incompatible with their other utter
ances and former commitments. In 1858, in a
speech at New
Orleans, Douglas had accepted the Dred Scott decision, as an
authoritative exposition which recognized slaves as
property,
based on an equal footing with all other property, a decision
that was incorporated into the platform, on which he
pro
fessed to stand, as " a faithful embodiment of the principles of
the Democratic party."
But under that decision the vaunted
doctrine of popular sovereignty, non-intervention, self-govern
ment became
practically a right to introduce
ery, but not a right to exclude and destroy
and protect slav
He had also
it.
asserted that " the people of the Territory, while a Territory,
and during a Territorial condition, may introduce, exclude,
abolish, or regulate slavery just as they please."
Mr. Johnson's position on that platform was,
if
possible, still
more
inconsistent, as his previous utterances and votes were
wholly antagonistic to the doctrine of popular sovereignty.
disciple of the Calhoun school, he had by voice and vote main
A
tained
its
extreme doctrines.
In the United States Senate he
had supported the new dogma, and claimed it to be the duty
of Congress to repeal an act of a Territorial legislature which
In the Georgia convention, held on the
prohibited slavery.
3d of June, he had reported a resolution, recognizing the
Dred Scott decision, and affirming that " neither the general
government nor any Territorial government can destroy or
On
impair the slave property in the common Territories."
the 17th of September, 1856, he had proclaimed in Indepen
with
dence
that "
should own labor." And
Square
yet,
capital
these antecedents and distinctly proclaimed opinions, and with
strange seeming obliviousness thereof, he said, on accepting
the nomination for the Vice-Presidency, that " the doctrine of
Congressional intervention, as advocated by this new-born
sectional party, is fraught with peril to the country."
Bell and Everett stood on a platform that ignored the
ing issues.
But they had been long
in public life,
and
pend
their
�THE CANVASS.
697
record and past commitments indicated their sentiments and
position. Bell was a large slaveholder. In his letter of accept
ance, while discarding platforms, he expressed the conviction
that a man's past history was the surest guaranty of his future
conduct, and he gave the assurance that he should continue in
the path he had already pursued. Nor was it difficult to learn
from his previous what his future course would be. He had
voted in favor of allowing a Territorial legislature to pass
laws to protect slave property had recommended the policy
had held that slavery was " in ac
of diffusion and extension
;
;
cordance with the law of Nature and the will of God," had
contributed to the amelioration of the condition of mankind,
and was the " well spring " of the country's development and
prosperity and that emancipation would be destructive of the
;
welfare alike of the master and the slave.
Mr. Everett's record had been more in accord with North
ern sentiments.
Though
cautious and conservative, he had
voted in favor of antislavery petitions in Congress, and, while
governor of Massachusetts, had co-operated in the passage of
resolutions in favor of abolishing slavery and the slave-traffic
in the District of Columbia, against the inter-State slave
He
trade, and the admission of slave States into the Union.
in
the
denounced
the
of
the
Missouri
com
had,
Senate,
repeal
" an
promise, and declared the extension of slavery to be
enormous crime."
Mr. Lincoln accepted and approved of the platform of prin
and sentiments, gave assurance that it should be his
care not to violate or disregard it in any part, and, "
implor
ciples
ing the assistance of Divine Providence," pledged himself to
co-operate for their practical success.
The four presidential tickets and platforms, with the radi
cal character of the issues involved,
naturally became the sub
ject of a heated canvass,
and members
of Congress soon took
occasion to express their sentiments and
conflicting estimates
those
who
canvassed
the respec
concerning them.
Among
and Douglas were Elihu B. Washburne
and Isaac N. Morris of Illinois. Of " Abraham Lincoln, his
personal history and public record," Mr. Washburne, who
tive claims of Lincoln
VOL.
IT.
88
�698
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
had known him intimately for twenty years, said " There is
an inflexible patriotism in his heart, and he has the incor
:
Republican principles in his soul. He has doc
not
trines,
hatreds, and is without ambition except to do good
and to serve his country." In reply, Mr. Morris, who had
ruptibility of
known
Lincoln, but who supported Mr. Douglas, spoke
rather cavalierly of the Republican candidate as "a good
enough sort of a man in his place but every one who knows
also
.
;
him knows
full well
he
is
not qualified, either by talents, force
of character, or experience, to guide the ship of state,
one who knows him knows he has no administrative
Of
his
own
every
ability."
candidate, his character and principles, he spoke
and of the highest commendation.
in terms of admiration
As the canvass progressed, the Southern war-cry of dis
union was echoed by Northern politicians and presses, who
were alarmed themselves, or who sought to alarm others.
Combinations were made between the supporters of Breckinridge and Bell in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The chief reliance of the supporters of these combinations was
upon the timidity and fear
of the mercantile
and moneyed
By the alarm-cry of impending ruin, if Lincoln
should be elected, Southern braggarts and Northern dema
gogues sought to extort fresh concessions to the Slave Power.
classes.
of ruin had little effect upon Republi
Their views were aptly expressed by Carl Schurz in
one of a series of brilliant speeches, made early in the can
vass, in which he said, the Southern States could not attempt
at the feet of
them
for "
would
But these prophecies
cans.
disunion,
helpless
lay
slavery
that slavery which makes it uncomfortable to
the North,
stay in the Union makes it impossible for them to go out of
The Republican presses and speakers everywhere pro
claimed like sentiments. But they feebly comprehended the
full significance of the great movement then inaugurated
it."
;
nor could they foresee the transcendent events the immediate
future disclosed, or the destination of this
new departure
in
American statesmanship.
The canvass was vigorously conducted by presses and
The most eminent men, North and South, entered
speakers.
�699
PATRIOTIC COURSE OF DOUGLAS.
of Breckinridge were bold
should
their demands be re
and defiant, menacing disunion,
timid
and
Those of Bell were
fused.
equivocal.
Douglas
into the conflict.
The supporters
zealous, fighting with desperation, audacious, and at first
Making ever and everywhere
apparently hopeful of success.
was
prominent his indifference to either the existence or exclusion
of slavery, he impudently enjoined upon all who exhibited
" mind their own business."
any scruples concerning it to
But his hopes of success seem to have been soon dispelled
for, early in the canvass, while visiting New England, he ex
pressed to Burlingame and Wilson his conviction that Lin
;
coln would be elected, at the same time avowing his purpose
and urge the duty of all to submit to the verdict
to go South
A few weeks later
of the people, and to maintain the Union.
he said to George B. Smith of Wisconsin, that he had re
but he expressed the con
nounced all hopes of election
;
viction that " the
if
it
ment
Union would be
safe under Mr. Lincoln,
could be held together long enough for the develop
of his policy," though he confessed his fears that that
could not be done.
During his visit at the South, a Norfolk editor, one of the
on the Breckinridge ticket, propounded the question,
whether the Southern States would be " justified in seceding
from the Union if Abraham Lincoln is elected President." To
this question Mr. Douglas promptly replied in the
negative.
electors
" It
the duty of the President," he said, " and of others in
authority under him, to enforce the laws of the United States
is
as Congress passes
and the courts expound them
;
and
I,
as
in duty bound by my oath of fidelity to the Constitution, will
exert all my power to aid the government of the United States
in maintaining the
supremacy of the laws against all resistance
from any quarter whatsoever." Premising that, if Lincoln
was elected, it would be the secessionists that would " elect
him," he replied to the inquiry, whether he would join in an
effort to dissolve the Union, should the
Republicans succeed
" I tell
never
on
earth."
At
them, No,
Petersburg, he ex
:
pressed the opinion that there was no evil in the country for
which the Constitution and " laws do not furnish a remedy,
�700
RISE
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
IN AMERICA.
no grievance that can justify disunion." At Raleigh he said
he was ready " to put the hemp around the neck, and hang
any man who would raise the arm of resistance to the consti
tuted authorities of the country."
The country, he said, had
" there is one
already demonstrated its power, and now
thing
remaining to be done, in order to prove us capable of meeting
any emergency; and, whenever the time comes, I trust the
show
government
will
final deed,
hang a traitor."
in Pennsylvania
and
itself
New
strong enough to perform that
On
his return, he
York.
made speeches
He made
appointments at
the West covering the time until the election. At Cedar
Rapids, receiving a despatch, on the 8th of October, from his
devoted friend, John W. Forney, announcing the result in
Pennsylvania, and another announcing that of Indiana, he
said to his private secretary " Mr. Lincoln is the next Pres
:
We
must try to save the Union. I will go South."
Cancelling his Western engagements, he made a new pro
gramme, and started at once on a Southern tour, speaking in
Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Speak
ident.
ing in Mobile the evening before the election, he learned the
"
result the next night, in the office of the
Register." His pri
vate secretary and devoted friend,
James B. Sheridan,
in a
Mr. Wilson, says The policy of the paper then became
a question, and Mr. Forsyth, the editor, requested his associate
to read to Judge Douglas an article he had written in favor
letter to
:
on the course of
publication, and Mr.
Judge Douglas opposed
maintained that the
but
to
with
him,
Forsyth appeared
agree
current was to
secession
could
the
only way they
manage
of calling a State convention to deliberate
Alabama.
its
and, by electing their friends to the
appear to go with
it,
convention, control
its action.
But Douglas thought, and
so
expressed himself, that if they could not prevent the holding
of the convention, they could not hope to control it when
" on
held.
publishing the article,
Forsyth insisted, however,
and Douglas returned to his hotel more hopeless than I had
ever before seen him."
In the course he pursued, and still purposed to pursue, he
was unquestionably actuated by patriotic motives. Believing
�SEWARD'S WESTERN TOUR.
701
that a conspiracy had been formed in the spring by Southern
leaders, to seize the government and dissever the Union, he
had striven to hold his supporters back from giving counte
nance to such a movement. Insisting upon the authority of
the government to maintain the integrity of the nation, and
upon the duty of the citizen to submit to the results of the
coming election, he sought to
His was the patriotic course
baffle these treasonable designs.
and, though during the follow
his accustomed indiffer
manifest
continued
to
months
he
ing
ence to the cause of freedom and his yielding and compromising
;
he exhibited his earnest purpose to preserve the unity
The morning after the fall of Sumter,
of the nation.
" What
in reply to the question of his friend, John W. Forney,
"
"
is now to be done ?
he said
We must fight for our coun
There can be but two parties,
try, and forget all differences.
spirit,
and
life
:
the party of patriots and the party of traitors.
We belong
to the first."
The advocates
and South, the
of Lincoln's election maintained, both
North
distinctive doctrines of the Chicago platform,
believing that by so doing they were supporting a policy that
would end in a peaceful, if not a speedy, extermination of
slavery.
Their most eminent and best-known antislavery
men
Chase, Seward, Hale, Adams, Sumner, Giddings, Wade,
entered
Stevens, Wilmot, and others hardly less eminent
In that series of radical and reformatory speeches,
the field.
those of Mr. Seward were perhaps the most remarkable.
For, great as was his disappointment, and sad as were his
friends, at his failure to secure the nomination, he promptly
announced that he entertained " no sentiments of disappoint
ment or discontent "
and he at once threw himself into the
canvass with a vigor and apparent self-abnegation that chal
lenged the admiration of all.
Addressing the citizens of Bos
ton on the 16th of August, he prophesied
victory, and assured
his hearers that " with this
victory comes the end of the
;
power of slavery in the United States." Leaving his home,
accompanied by Charles Francis Adams and James W. Nye,
on the last day of August, he made an extended tour through
the Western States, speaking constantly, and by his speeches
�702
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
IN AMERICA.
lifting the
Republican cause up to the highest plane of antiSo decided, indeed, and pro
slavery thought and purpose.
nounced were his opinions, that timid men thought he was
going too
far.
The theme
of his first speech,
made
at Detroit,
was " Na
After showing that the
Divergence and Return."
nation was devoted to the rights of man in the
Revolution, he
said that the national divergence began in 1820
that this
" we have
reached a
divergence had continued, until at last
tional
;
point where, amid confusion, bewilderment, and mutual recrim
inations, it seems alike impossible to go forward or to return."
He declared that the nation had " defied the moral opinions of
mankind." The necessity of a return to the old national way
had become at last, he contended, " absolute and imperative."
" Whether
Speaking confidently and hopefully, he said
you
:
agree with me in attributing it to the interposition of Divine
Providence or not, this battle has been fought, this victory
has been won. Slavery to-day is, for the first time, not only
powerless, but without influence in the American Republic.
first time in the history of the Republic, the Slave
Power has not even the ability to terrify or alarm the free
For the
man
so as to
make him
It
compromise.
rails
submit, and scheme, and coincide, and
now with a feeble voice, instead of
thundering, as it did, in our ears for twenty or thirty years
With a feeble and muttering voice they cry out that
past.
Who 's afraid ? Who 's
will
tear the Union to pieces.
they
afraid
Nobody
?
This battle
is
afraid.
fought and
Nobody can be bought
won, provided that
the
maintain
stand
to
determined
great Republican party
you
is
this victory is
and glorious
Abraham
Lincoln, in
inaugurating its principles into the administration of the gov
ernment, and provided you stand by him in his administra
under
tion,
its
if
great
it
leader,
shall be, as I trust it shall, a wise
until the adversary shall find
and
just
and
out that he has
good one,
been beaten, and shall voluntarily retire from the field."
His speech at Chicago was a thorough and masterly indict
There
ment of slavery,
confident, cheering, and hopeful.
were many other brief speeches of great power,
full of anti-
�703
THE ELECTION.
Passing through Missouri, he was several
slavery sentiment.
times called to address proslavery audiences. Whenever he
He especially re
to his cause.
spoke, it was with fidelity
of the right
their
denial
with
Missouri
of
proached the people
"
State.
their
of
But," said he,
of free speech under the laws
" the
is
bound to go
man
that every man is a free
principle
through
all
the thirty-three States of the Union, for the simTo this his
it is going through the world."
ple'reason that
audience responded with jeers and passionate denial. At
" In
founding a new State, I do
Atchison, Kansas, he said
and not into
say that you must put into every man's hand,
of every
hands
the hands of the few, the ballot, or into the
man the bullet, so that every man shall be equal before the
:
All men shall have the ballot,
law, in his power as a citizen.
or none ; all men shall have the bullet, or none."
Returning home, he made his closing speech of the canvass
to his neighbors at Auburn.
Reminding them that the only
to, by the supporters of Douglas, Breckinridge,
fear that if you elect a President of the
and Bell, was " fear,
United States according to the Constitution and the laws to
morrow, you will wake up the next day and find that you have
no country for him to preside over," he told them that all
who quoted and used the threat and menaces of disunionists
against the performance of their duty were abettors of dis
union, and they will have to make a sudden choice, whether
"
" with us
treason," or whether they will go
they will go for
for Freedom, for the Constitution, and for eternal Union."
The canvass, that had so profoundly stirred the country,
closed on the 6th of November by the election of Abraham
motive appealed
all
He
received one hundred and eighty electoral votes,
the votes of the free States, excepting three in New
Lincoln.
Jersey.
Douglas received twelve votes,
and nine
in Missouri.
three in
New Jersey
Bell received the thirty-nine votes of
Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Breckinridge received
the seventy-two votes of eleven Southern States.
While Bell
and Breckinridge received more than four hundred thousand
votes in the free States, Lincoln and Douglas received less
than two hundred thousand votes in the slave States.
�704
AND FALL OF THE SLAVE POWER
RISE
Though
theirs
IN AMERICA.
was the triumph, and that was an hour
of
rejoicing, thoughtful Republicans realized that their victory
was incomplete. They were in a minority of nearly a million,
they had failed to carry the House of Representatives, the
Senate was
still overwhelmingly against them, and the Su
Court
was completely under the domination of the
preme
Slave Power.
Grand and inspiring as was their success, they
that they had but carried an outpost of the great army
of oppression, and that years of toil and conflict were yet
felt
But the slave-masters, with clearer insight and
better logic, more fully comprehended the real significance
of the result.
They saw how much freedom had gained and
before them.
how much
For more than two generations
slavery had lost.
had
dictated
they
principles, shaped policies, made Presidents
and cabinets, judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, and
Now, for the first time, they had been
Representatives.
beaten, the charm of invincibility was broken, the prestige
Their cherished policy of slavery-ex
of success was gone.
had
been
arrested, and their new dogma of slav
pansion
An antislayery
ery-protection had been forever defeated.
of
millions
two
antislavery men, in
President, sustained by
spired by freedom, would guide and govern the nation for
four years. Armed with the power and clothed with the
patronage of the national government, he could successfully
Freedom of speech and of the press
appeal to Southern men.
would take the place of a long and enforced silence of tongue
Emancipationists would spring up among them
selves.
Men, with new aspirations and higher purposes,
would soon build on the ruins of their waning power. And
and pen.
slavery in the States, hedged in, surrounded, and pressed
upon by the growing numbers and increasing vigor of free
institutions and by the combined forces of advancing civili
zation
and the manifest providences
of
be put in process of ultimate, though
extinction.
God, must inevitably
might be gradual
it
�INDEX TO VOL.
II.
Andrew, John A.,
442, 443, 604,
55,
640, 693.
Garricondemned, 21.
sonian, policy and leading members,
Political differences of,
107-109.
109-111. Leading men, 112, 113.
Radical, nominate Smith and Mc-
Abolitionists
Anti-man-hunting League,"
personnel, and drill, 442.
Nominated
C. F., 120, 147.
Vice-President, 156.
as
Severe criticism
its object,
Men,
Antislavery, difficulties of, 106.
differences among, 107.
Meeting in
142.
Movements
176-180.
Failure,
Philadelphia,
Kentucky,
Farland, 695.
Adams,
"
in
and
reasons, 179, 180.
Army
bill,
proviso to, 505.
Defeated,
505.
upon Webster, 344, 348.
W. S., ofVa., 4.
Death
Archer,
55.
John
of,
Adams,
Quincy,
161. Became an Abolitionist, and the Ashmun, George, 88, 136. Timid speech
of, 229, 368, 690.
reason, 162-164.
Despondent, 163.
Association, American Missionary, 310.
Testimony of, 523, 608, 609.
of,
Adrian, G. B., of N.
J., 564.
Aggressions, Southern, 44-49.
holding, 163, 164, 174, 175.
Slave-
Excite
alarm, and counter movements,
Struggles
in
their failure,
Atchison, D., harangue of,
Calls on the South, 474.
the mob, 499.
175,.
Kentucky, 176-180;
Pretended North
179.
Allen, Charles,
120,
136.
Address
of,
145, 215, 216, 416.
Badger, G. E.
,
264, 300, 387, 391.
Baker,
Edward
D., of
Baker, John
American party, formation, rapid growth
and disruption of, 419-434. Union
Baldwin, Roger
S., 35.
Banks, N. P.,
399.
National Council,
423 - 431. Strong South
meeting
of,
ern feeling, 423.
Hostility to Massa
chusetts and Mr. Wilson, 423, 424.
Acrimonious debate,
427.
425.
Two
re
ii.
111.,
214.
Nomination
of,
513.
Barksdale, W., 649.
"Barn -burners," prominent,
141.
Barnes, Albert, Rev., 511.
Batchelder, James, 438.
Bitter discussion,
dress of Northern delegates, 431, 432.
Convention of, 508. See Conventions.
VOL.
93, 111,
J., 414.
428- Bayard, J. A., 403.
431.
Proslavery report adopted, Bayly, Thomas H., 3,
Council disrupted, meeting and ad
Beecher, H. W., 811.
ports,
mob,
592.
Alley, J. B., 343, 538.
degree, 421, 422.
468.
Speech to
B.
Bailey, G., Dr., addresses
ern, 198.
467,
89
Bell,
John, 48, 237.
Belser,
James
E., 2.
21, 96.
Nominated, 689.
�706
INDEX.
Benjamin,
J. P., 402, 455.
Brinkerhoff, Jacob, 16.
Benton, Thomas H., 14, 48, 49, 219,
237. Great speech of, 269 - 271, 398,
532.
Berrien,
Brooks, P.
John M.,
5,
36, 47, 236, 609.
Bibb, H., 154.
Clay's
Object
of,
25.
Bingham, John A., 135. Speech of, on
the Lecompton bill, 560, 626, 634.
Bird, Francis W., 154, 343, 436.
Birney, J. G., 167.
Bissell, W. H., 228.
manity
of,
181.
Delaware,
of,
492.
488.
Challenges Burlingame,
Death and confession
57, 170.
Inhu
Virginia,
Mary
Missouri,
Indiana,
and Oregon, 180- 187. Strug
in Indiana concerning, 183-185.
J. Carter, 465.
Brown, John, 63. Invasion of Virginia,
In Kansas, 589.
587 - 600.
Plan of
government, 589. Preliminary move
Secret committee,
ments, 590-594.
591.
lying idea, 594.
Manly response of Mr. Colfax, 186.
Singular enforcement, 186, 187. In
several States, 636, 637.
Kennedy
origin
599.
Brown, Neil
Botts, J. M., 162.
Brown, Owen,
410.
Dr., 326, 441, 442.
317.
63.
522.
Message concerning
Cuba, 612.
Buckingham,
J. T.,
amendment
Speaker of
XXXIId
Buffalo
Bradford, S. D., 348.
Convention,
of,
151.
150-160.
cepts the platform, 156.
Buffinton, James, 481.
Branscomb, C. H., 465.
Burlingame, A., 308, 336.
Brazilian ship, 53.
Breckinridge, R. J., speech of, 178, 515.
Nominated, 688.
491-493.
challenge,
493.
Burns, Anthony, case
of,
Speech and
In Boston,
435 - 444.
Ar
and attempted rescue, 435 - 438.
Indefensible
436 - 439.
Meetings,
Briberies attempted, 565.
Briggs, Geo. N., 118.
rest
Briggs, James A., 153.
conduct
36, 356, 400, 401.
Plat
Speeches,
Branning, John, 252.
Brainard, L. L., 412.
John D.,
255,
152-156.
Van Buren nominated, and fully ac
form
Cong., 353.
Bright,
of,
344.
or, 348.
Boyd, Linn, 13.
S., 690.
Buchanan, James, 7, 314, 364. Nom
True to the South, 520.
inated, 515.
Elected,
Bowles, Samuel, 416, 427.
Chosen govern
Boutwell, G. S., 253.
Song,
Jr., 604.
Brown, John,
Borland, Solon, 218.
I.,
Six
600.
Estimate,
600.
of,
Booth, S. M., 445.
Bowen and McNamee,
Trial,
and execution, 595-598.
Green, 596. Victor Hugo, 599.
Philemon, 555.
Bolles, J. A., 345.
Bowditch, H.
Assault on Harper's
Ferry and repulse, 594, 595.
conviction,
Burial,
Blair, F. P., letter of, 609.
409,
Under
593.
farm,
companions executed, Coppoc, Stev
ens, Cook, Hazlett, Copeland, and
Blair, Austin, 693.
K,
of,
193, 194.
gle
Bovey, A.
495.
612, 627, 659.
Illinois,
Bliss,
of,
Brown, Charles, Proslavery speech
Brown,
Of
Sumner, 481.
man, 484. Re-elec
Brown, Albert G., 224, 391, 579, 580,
Omnibus, 273.
" Black laws " of
Ohio,
assaults
S.,
A representative
tion
Three-Million, 18.
land,
551, 563,
of,
Brooks, James, 362.
Berea, Ky., 669.
Bill,
Broderick, D. C., speech
565.
439.
of
Commissioner
Remanded
Loring,
In-
to slavery, 441.
�707
INDEX.
dictments against Parker,
Phillips,
Child, Linus, course
Severe sarcasm
24.
Burt, Armistead,
Burt, Win. L., 443.
Andrew
Child, L.
300,
46,
45,
P.,
356,
of,
to
Governor
686.
Butler, B. F., of Mass., 345, 677,
Butler,
369,
of,
370.
B.F., of N.Y., 151, 152.
W.
597.
Chilton, Samuel, 596.
Choate, Rufus, brilliant speech
394.
Butler,
of,
119.
of,
M., letters
Wise and John Brown, 596,
Letter of Mrs. Mason to, 597.
of, 25.
Butler,
Cheves, Langdon, treasonable words
287.
and Higginson, 443.
Burr, James E., 69.
William, 538.
Claflin,
Clark, Daniel, 578.
0., 365.
Clark, H. F., 564.
of,
Calhoun,
Extreme views
J. C., 11.
99.
36-38,
Speech
read,
of,
of,
238-
241.
California,
free
how
210.
settled,
Adopts
Bill
210.
constitution,
amendment, and
for,
Ad
277.
protest,
Bill to divide, 634.
mitted, 282.
Cameron, Simon, 102.
Campbell, Lewis D.,
137,
143,
399,
484.
John H.,
12.
Nicholson letter
132, 390.
Speech
232, 315, 364,
of,
403, 638.
Clay, Cassius M., 511, 670.
to Pendell, 176.
Clay, Henry, letter of,
Eight
Speech in Lexington, 177.
resolutions
Letter
332.
Channing, W. H., 336.
Chaplin, William L., 80.
Chapman Hall meeting,
172, 218.
Sec. of State, 208,
Insulting language
Clergymen,
Offence and
(see
Leader
Speech
Cheever, G. B., Dr., 311.
Jr., J., 631.
Defended, 399.
F., 215.
Chauncy
of,
663.
Coalition,
Mass.,
339.
son's purpose, 341, 342.
Conven
Adams House,
Demo
338-351.
convention,
342,
343.
Mr.
Wil
Meeting at
Free Soil
Purpose and
Suc
Opposed, 347.
convention, 343, 344.
of
election
of,
355.
Fugitive Slave
Memorials of, 393, 404;
Amendment
cratic
in, 682.
The
of,
indorsing
319.
652.
416.
454.
Chesnut,
on Cuba, 608.
Clopton, D., 648.
Convention
excitement
167.
233, 234,
Clingman, T. L., 191, 223, 362, 395,
Chase, S. P., enters the United States
Party,
of,
M., 12.
J.
Cleveland,
extortionate bail, 81, 82.
164.
of,
Clemens, Jeremiah, 217, 219, 285, 315.
Act,
Chandler, P. W., 116, 493.
Senate,
and speech
Demoralizing influence of, 284,
On Shadrach case, 330300, 314.
236.
Arraigned, 393, 394.
Castle Garden meeting, 316.
Central America.
See Cuba.
tions),
of,
Clayton, Thomas, 14.
Nominated, 132.
and change of views,
Caste, cruel spirit of, 187.
Charleston
Insolent remarks
315, 391, 506.
Case, Charles, 625.
Lewis,
43.
Clay, C. C., 356.
356, 652.
Clayton,
Cartter, D. K., 693.
Cass
644.
Clarke,
Cabell, Ed. C., 224, 362.
Helper resolution
628.
Clark, J. B.,
C.
Liberty
of,
168-
268, 331, 385,
plan
of,
346.
cessful, 348.
Senatorial struggle
Mr. Summer's
election, 348, 349.
and
Cobb, Howell, Speaker, 316, 484, 638.
Cobb, Mrs. H. W., heroic action of,
69.
Cochrane, C. B., 625.
�708
INDEX.
President of Underground
Coffin, Levi,
Railroad, 68.
Manly
position
186, 413, 432.
Comins, L. B., 491, 625.
Committee.
Of thirteen
On
mise).
Of
501.
for,
(see
Kansas, 471.
fifteen,
movements
294.
Compro
Report
On
546.
of,
Harper's
Ferry, 601.
290. President's message, 232. Com
mittee of thirteen, 272.
Clay's bill,
273.
Long debate on, 274. Three
lines of thought, 276.
Adopted, 301.
Speeches of Hale and Julian, 302,
303.
Clay's estimate of, 314-330.
See Missouri Compromise.
Winthrop Speaker,
27.
Meeting of Southern members
Great
of, and their address, 197-199.
debate,
191-206.
sion
remarkable, 211.
of,
Speaker,
Meeting in Phila
dresses
of
Allen and Wilson,
Worcester convention,
145.
Webster
invited,
XXXIst,
212-216.
of
first ses
Contest for
Fierce debates
1852,
General Scott nominated,
ster, 368.
Free
371.
Free
Soil,
and
State,
374.
in
500,
539.
Kansas,
of
515.
511,
Whig,
516.
Republican,
512.
516.
513,
506.
XXX Vth,
542.
688.
on, 676
Three leading ideas, 657.
Conventions, at Port Byron and Mace-
At Buffalo, 110. Whig
don, 109.
State in Faneuil HaU, 118.
Two re
ports, 119.
Webster's short speech,
In Springfield, 123.
120.
Webster
Wilmot proviso as his
"
thunder," 124. New York Demo
cratic at Syracuse and Herkimer, 125 claims
128.
the
Radical address, 127. National,
129-139. Democratic, of
129-133.
Radical divisions
of 1848,
1848,
on the slavery issue, 130, 131.
nominated and his position,
"
"
Change
of views, 132.
Candidates, 133-135.
Cass
132.
Whig, 133.
Taylor leads,
Southern Commercial,
slave-trade,
Slaveholding, in Maryland, 636.
Democratic national, of 1860, 673-
Speaker,
643.
Seceders,
Democratic,
In Chatham,
616.
XXXVIth,
Contest for
578-602.
Three parties,
644-653.
508 - 516.
1856,
509.
508,
and platform,
American,
Candi
374.
373,
Presidential,
American,
373,
resolutions,
recommend reopening the
505,
Pierce
nominated, 365.
Whig, 366-371.
Resolutions of, indorsed by Mr. Web
352.
sion,
Demo
364.
363,
Canada, 589.
XXXIId,
Debate in, 354-359. XXXIIId,
XXXIVth, 470. Special ses
146.
Utica, 158.
In Ohio and Indiana, 158, 159.
cratic,
Ad
144,
At Boston,
At
(See Free Soil.)
157.
142-
but declined, 148.
in both houses, 213 - 219.
380.
'
to,
preliminary
140 - 150. TJtica con
delphia, called by Mr. Wilson,
144.
Ohio convention, 144.
dates,
XXXth.
of Slave
Triumph
Buffalo,
(See Buffalo Convention.)
Compromise measures of 1850, 231-
Congress,
136.
138.
vention, 140 - 142.
CoUins, William, 29.
Colored seamen, amendment
Nomi
Declarations of Wilson
and Allen,
Power,
J., of Vt., 209, 412, 476.
Collamer,
135.
nated,
Colfax, Schuyler, 184.
of,
but strongly opposed, 134, 135.
Platform,
-
679.
ruption, 680.
of,
and debate
679.
Hesitation, 681.
meeting
ceders',
ment
reports
Disorder,
of,
At
683.
682.
Dis
Se
Adjourn
Baltimore, 684.
Rupture, 686. Douglas and Johnson,
and Breckinridge and Lane,
687
;
688,
candidates.
689, 690.
dates,
"Constitutional,"
Bell and Everett, candi
690.
Republican,
Resolutions, 691.
690-694.
Giddings's
amend
ment, 691. Candidates before, 692.
Lincoln and Dayton nominated, 693.
Great enthusiasm, 695. "Of Radical
and nomination of
Abolitionists,"
Smith and McFarland, 695.
Conscience Whigs, 123.
312, 313.
Assault upon,
�709
INDEX.
of, 42.
Corwin, Thomas, speech
of,
Speech
650.
Buchanan, candidate, 515.
Is king, 549.
Cotton, Whigs, 117.
Court House, in Chains, 334.
As
saulted, 437.
Crafts,
W. and
Crawford, Geo. W., 208.
Crawford, M.
Crittenden,
J.,
John
J., 12, 504,
608.
of,
559, 565.
Slavehold-
Action of government, 610Senator Brown's demand, 612.
614.
Resolution for purchase of, 612. Fili
President Taylor's
613.
bustering,
J. L.
J. W., governor, 544.
Deseret, bill for, 232.
Denver,
0., Rev., 318.
Dewey,
Dickinson, D. S., 129, 363.
Threatened by
Disunion.
Clingman
Toombs,
Haz
Stephens, Clemens, 213-219.
ards of, 226. Rebuked by Chase, 269.
and Foote, 211
Stanley,
;
Threats
277.
Threatened,
aces
M., 648.
643 - 654.
XXXVIth
Curtis, B. R,, Justice, 443, 531.
er" resolution, 644.
Curtis, G. T., Commissioner, 330, 333.
George W., 691.
Dallas, G. M., 363.
Dana, C. A., 407.
342, 436.
Plea
Garrett,
of,
440.
Intensely
101,
235,
pro-
332.
On
657-
659.
Help
Election of Republican Presi
dent a cause
of,
647, 648.
Southern
Seven resolutions
Dix, John A., 36, 158.
Dixon, A., 180, 356.
14.
Brooks, 489, 581, 601, 617, 653,
Jefferson,
In
' '
vass, 695.
250, 307, 330, 333,
slavery, 180.
Davis,
,
;
D.
Davis,
Cong.
and Democratic protests, 649, 650.
Extreme utterances of Toombs, Iveralso of
son, and Clingman, 651, 652
Governor Letcher, 654. Wilson's re
Menaces of, in can
sponse, 652.
Convention, 675, 687.
Jr.,
by
Stormy debate
and revolutionary utterances, 644 652.
Gushing, Caleb, President of Charleston
Dana, R. H.,
of,
639.
521,
519,
504,
of,
Curtin, A. J., 692.
Curtis,
of,
Clemens, Toombs, Holmes, 285, 286.
Nashville convention, 286-288. Men
proclamation, 610.
Culver, Erastus D., 152.
Curry,
Independent, address
Douglas's reply, 385.
384.
ing apprehensions in Congress, 609,
610.
Change of Southern feeling,
610.
See Conventions.
Democrats,
645-647.
Speech of, 663.
Cuba. Importance
Difficulties of north
674, 680.
of,
ern, 685.
E., case of, 325, 326.
Platform,
Threats, 515. Humiliating po
Disaster and disrup
sition of, 664.
515.
tion
S., 563.
Cox, S.
Dellem, Hannah, case of, 325.
Democratic party, routed in N. Y., 164.
of,
660.
Dodge, A. C., 355.
"Dogma, new," foreshadowed, 34, 40.
Of protection of slavery in the Terri
655 - 665.
Southern
tories,
press,
concerning, 656.
James
Davis, John, 14, 102, 294.
Doolittle,
Davis, Reuben, 649.
Douglas, Stephen A., 14, 101, 263, 332,
355, 365, 385, 455, 485. Votes against
Davis, Winter, 564.
Dawes, H. L., 255, 626.
Dawson,
W.
W.
C., 298, 367, 392.
L., 264, 513.
Dayton,
De Bow's Review advocates the slavetrade, 616.
De
Jarnette, D. C., 646.
R., 126, 155, 662.
Lecompton, 565. Great debate with
Lincoln, 566 - 577. Chicago speech of,
Confers with Republicans,
272, 273.
567, 568.
629.
Resolution
Ostracism
sonal defence
of,
of,
of,
606,
655-659.
662.
627 -
Per
Deposition
�710
INDEX.
Patriotic course
674.
of,
699-
of,
701.
W.
Evarts,
M., remarks
Frederick,
Douglass,
112,
590.
307,
594, 605.
Edward,
Everett,
Urged by John Brown to join him,
693.
of,
"Evening Post," N. Y.,
407, 447.
494.
386,
Norni-
nated, 690.
Ewing, Thomas, 209.
Dow, William, murdered, 471.
Dowdell, James F., 21, 616.
Downs,
F.
W., 315.
S.
Draper, Simeon, 276, 366.
Dray ton and Sayers, trial and convic
tion
of,
"Dred
104.
Released, 105.
525.
Decision, 526.
528.
ment,
Duer, William, 214.
to Kansas
501, 502.
Durant, H. F., 443.
Durkee, C., 410.
W.
382, 383.
of,
P., 390, 454, 544, 607,
627.
Field, D. D., 127, 155.
"
Fifty-four forty," etc., 32.
See Cuba.
(
Filibustering.
Fillmore,
of,
J., 654.
R. E., testimony
Fessenden,
Dissenting opinions of
;
bill,
Faulkner, C.
The Fenton,
Argu
McLean, 529 - 530 of Curtis, 531.
Eeview of, by Benton, 532. Revolu
tionary and alarming, 533, 640, 641.
Dunn, W. M., amendments
4.
John,
Fee, J. G., Rev., 178, 668.
523-533.
Scott case,"
points,
Fairfield,
A
105.
Millard,
"silver-
Administration
gray" Whig, 275.
of, controlled by Slave Power, 275,
276.
Nominated, 509.
Speech at
Albany, 517.
De
Whig movements in
Finality "resolutions," 352, 353.
bate, 353
E.
Slave
Act,
309,
against Fugitive
Methodist
310.
Presidential,
of delegate
of 1848,
129-
Of 1856, 522. Of 1860,
Four tickets, 697. Vig
orous canvass, 698.
Result, 703.
Charles M., 436, 443.
557-565.
558-560.
Debate,
560-564.
"Equilibrium of States," 238.
provided
for,
240.
National," 58.
2.
of,
for, 2.
of,
2
;
East,
Admitted,
5.
J. B., 609.
Foote,
Commodore, testimony of, 619.
Henry S., 47, 90, 100, 234, 298.
Foote,
Colonel H., 590.
Threatened
262, 263, 267,
An
W.,
431.
Fowler, Orrin, 229, 346.
Franklin, Southern forces
at,
498.
Brave
Freedom defended, 199-207.
Not
speeches for, 225 228. Advocates of,
319-320. Devotion to, 507. Con
268.
Office assaulted,
spiracy against, 535.
Free people of color, laws for imprison
93.
Evans, George,
provisions
motion
of,
Speech
Floyd,
Foster, J.
Characterized,
"artifice," 562.
"Em,
State
of, 2.
Constitution
of, 2.
Foster, Rev. D., 441.
Vespasian, 426.
bill,
250.
disclosure by, 591.
Emancipation, forbidden, 181-183.
English
inhuman
Forbes,
Ellis,
Ellis,
M. M.,
Florida, bill for admission
;
363-364.
lar
Fisher,
Fitzpatrick, B., nominated, 687.
160 of 1852, 360 - 377. Democratic
candidates questioned, and replies,
689-704.
of,
efforts of
Church South, 667.
Edmonds, Judge, 52.
Edmondson Sisters, 92.
Election,
359.
360-363.
Unscrupulous
Mr. Webster, 361. Popu
indorsement of, 377.
favor
Earle, J. M., 255, 343.
Ecclesiastical bodies,
-
3.
ment
of,
condemned and defended,
�711
INDEX.
3-5.
Inhumanity towards (See
"black laws"). Popular hatred to
tion
;
Toucey's
bill,
and debate, 453 -
461.
wards, 185. Seamen, 294. Discrimi
nation against, at the North, 300.
Fremont, John
Judi
Legislation hostile, 636, 637.
Executive
637, 638.
Furness, William H., Rev., 51, 310.
278.
C.,
Nominated,
513.
cial decisions,
injustice, 638.
G.
Free Soil party, Philadelphia meeting,
143.
142,
Meetings
in
Columbus,
Galloway, Samuel, 137.
Movements in Massachu Gardner, H. J., 417, 427.
Convention in Bos Garner, Simon, case of, 446.
setts, 144-148.
in Ohio and Garnett, Henry, case of, 326.
ton, 157 in Utica, 158
other States, 159. Gratifying results, Garrett, M. R. H., 645 V
Heroism and
160.
Convention in Utica, 340; in Garrett, Thomas, 51.
self-sacrifice of, 84.
Trial and sen
Boston, 343, 344.
Great success, 84. Bur
tence, 84.
Fugitives, increasing number of, 51.
143, 144.
;
;
Their friends, 51.
George Kirk, case
On board Brazilian vessel, 53.
of, 52.
Meeting in behalf of, in Faneuil Hall,
Case of Burr, Thompson, and
55.
Work, 69 -
73.
Case of the schooner
Fate
Pearl, 91, 92.
of, 92.
See
Un
derground Kail road.
Senate, 294, in House, 295.
304.
of,
305 - 311
;
its
Testimonies
of
and
for,
Work
Demonstrations against,
in favor of, 312 - 322.
Examples of
35.
W.
Garrisonian
policy
of,
L., 336.
views
and
Prominent
men
Abolitionists,
107, 108.
and women, 109.
Attitude towards
Republicans, 695.
In
Fugitive Slave Act, 291-295.
Amend
troduced by Mason, 292.
ments offered, 292 - 294. Adopted in
ings
ial,
Garrison,
execution, 304, 305.
Gates, S. M., 158.
Gay, Sydney H., 52.
J. W., Gov., 535.
Gentry, M. P., 362.
Geary,
Giddings, J. R., 89, 92, 94, 98, 152.
Characterizes Ten-Million bill, 280,
320, 513, 554, 691.
Gillette, Francis, 456.
against
Glover, Joshua, case
of,
444.
Furness, Thompson, Storrs,
Goings, Henry, case
of,
186.
Beecher,
clergymen
310, 311
Stuart, Taylor,
;
Goodrich,
J. Z., 399, 416.
318, 319.
Meetings in
Lowell and Faneuil Hall
Syracuse
and Castle Garden
Mr. Webster's
course, 312 314. Meeting in Boston
Government, United
be proslavery, 224.
of Friends, 317.
Graham, James, 22.
Graham, W. A., Whig candidate
Spenser,
;
;
President's message,
speech on, 322. Atroci
Mann's
and examples of, 323 - 335. Meet
In Con
ings in Boston, 335, 336.
Sumner's amend
gress, 352-359.
319.
ties
;
Glover in Wis., 444, 445.
Garner,
446 ; Passmore Williamson in Pa.,
tional,
445.
Supplementary
legisla
Governors, Southern, meeting
Greeley, Horace, 407, 413,
Green, Beriah, 112.
Examples of its rigorous
enforcement, 435 - 451 (See Burns)
Pronounced unconstitu
The champion
of
slavery, 609.
of,
521.
for
Vice-President, 372.
ment, 353.
447-451.
States, claimed to
692-694.
Grew, Mary, 51.
Grier,
Justice,
329.
sharply characterized
Language
Post," 447.
Grievances, Southern, 198.
Griswold, Henry, 596.
of,
by "Evening
�712
INDEX.
Grover, Martin, 152.
Hoard, C. B., 626.
Grow, G. A., Kansas bills by, 501.
ports Kansas constitution, 628.
W.
Gwin,
Re
M., 278.
H.
Hale, John P., 89, 102, 218, 266, 299.
On
agitation, 321.
333, 443, 514, 542.
Sharp speech of, 664.
Hall, Robert B., 416.
Hamlin, H.,
of,
J. E., 286.
Howard, W. A., 471, 559.
Howe, S. G., 55, 436, 590, 592, 605.
Hoyt, George H., 595.
Hudson, Charles, 14.
Hudson, David, 63.
Hughes, James, 625.
Hunter, R. T. M., speech
HaUett, B. F., 132, 317, 339, 685.
Hamilton, J. C., 142.
Hamlet, James, case
Holmes,
Hopkins, Erastus, 249, 250.
Houston, Samuel, 10, 48, 236, 363, 392.
of,
of,
265, 560,
See
Harper's
607.
Hunting
305.
for
treason
;
Ferry.
Nomination Hyatt, Thaddeus, 604.
22, 259, 550.
694.
Hammond,
defence of slavery by,
Replies of Hamlin, Broderick, and Wilson, 551 - 553.
J.,
I.
548 - 550.
Hannum,
J.
W.,
Castner, case
Hanway,
Haralson,
Hugh
of,
329.
Indiana,
A., 13.
olution of
affair
at,
ment, 601.
Inge,
See
Mason
Ingersoll, C. J., 8.
to investigate the
Ingraham, Commissioner, 327, 328.
Debate, 601-603.
Com
606.
603.
604,
Report,
Speeches concerning, of Wilson, Ma
son, Iverson, Brown, Wade, Fessenmittee,
den,
of,
Samuel W., 223.
John Brown. Res
TrunibuU's amend
601.
constitutional convention
183-186.
Harlan, James, 579.
Harper's Ferry.
"Independent," N. Y., 407.
Indian Territory, 635.
54, 56, 57.
"Irrepressible conflict," phrase, origin
527.
of,
Attempt to combine two
conflicting civilizations, 149.
rously prosecuted, 633 642.
Iverson, A., 603,
Vigo
651-654.
and Hunter, 601 - 607.
Harris, T. L., 564.
J.
Haskell, William T., 89, 95.
Letter
Haskins, J. B., 563.
Hayden, Lewis,
of,
564.
Hazewell, C. C., 339.
Henderson, John,
Jay, John,
51 - 54.
4.
Hendricks, T. A., 184.
Herndon,
Hickman,
W.
H., testimony
J., 471, 649.
of,
361.
Hildreth, Richard, 407.
Hillard, George S., 248, 690.
Hilliard, Henry W., 88, 225.
Hoar, E. R., 147.
Hoar, Samuel, 248, 342.
services
distinguished
of,
"Jerry rescue," 327.
of,
577.
Higginson, T. W., 437, 590, 605.
Mr. Webster's
"Higher law," 262.
ridicule
Jackson, Andrew, 609.
Jackson, William, 342.
trial of, 333.
>
Jessup, William, 366, 415, 691.
Johnson, H. V., 687. See Conventions.
Johnson, Reverdy, 17, 46, 209.
Jones, G.
W., vituperative speech
of,
457.
Jones, S. J., 472.
Judicial decisions,
531.
In Maine,
Dred
York, 641.
Julian, George
W.,
Scott,
Ohio,
510.
and
523 -
New
�713
INDEX.
K.
Kagi,
Lamar, L. Q.
H., 589.
J.
Kane, Judge, harsh decisions
325,
of,
448.
682.
C., 646,
Lane, H. S., 413, 511, 692.
Lane, General J., 363, 663. Nominated,
688.
Purpose
Struggle, 462-507.
and plan to make a free State, 464 - Lane, James H., 476.
New England Emigrant Aid Law, George, 513.
466.
Kansas.
sage,
470.
tion,
471.
mes
President's
469.
468,
vaded,
In
Election in, 467.
Society, 465.
Committee of investiga
In Congress, 474-477.
Reports and
bill,
legislature,
499.
Speeches of
Wilson and Hale, 475. Free State
477.
500.
Dispersed,
Reports of investigating committee,
501. Mr. Grow'sbill for, 501. Dunn's
amendments, 501, 502. Douglas bill,
and debate, 502-507. Mr. Wilson's
Free
visits and advice,
537, 538.
men
State
carry
540.
legislature,
Memorial to Congress, 546. The
issue, 547.
Meeting in Boston
real
for,
Free State constitution accepted
and laid before
people, 627
538.
by the
;
628.
Debate, 628-631.
"Barbarism of Slavery," 630, 631.
Admitted as a State into the Union,
Congress,
632.
Kansas-Nebraska
No
braska.)
pose
An
bill,
artifice,
Ne
(See
abstraction, 462.
Pur
Fierce struggle, 464.
463.
of,
387.
534.
to the political history of the
na
L.,
122,
157,
252,
345.
Leavitt, Joshua, 147.
Lecompte's change, 497.
Lecompton, constitution and struggle,
- 541.
Convention, 537
534, 565.
Unfair submis
Constitution, 441.
sion to the people, 541.
Rejected,
Sent by the President to Con
542.
544.
Message severely con
demned, 544, 545. Constitution for
gress,
arguments,
of
548.
Hammond
speech
Singular
of S.
Replies, 550 556.
548-550.
C.,
English
bill,
558.
Montgomery amendment, 557. AntiConstitution
Democrats, 562-564.
rejected by the people, 565.
Lee, Colonel R. E., 595.
Legislation.
Northern,
636,
Oppressive,
639 - 641.
637.
Concerning
Lewis, S., 155.
Auburn, con
Liberty League, 110.
vention of, 112, and nomination by,
113.
Liberty Party nominates Hale and King,
Kidnapping, 52.
Kimball, M., 254.
110.
King, Preston,
3,
129, 510.
Lincoln,
King, T. B., 210.
W.
R., 363.
Nominated
Knapp, C. L., 306, 345.
Knox, Justice, 449.
ii.
90
144.
of,
Abraham, speech
Springfield speech,
President, 365.
VOL.
Convention
Merged
in Free Soil party, 157.
King, Leicester, 63, 167.
King,
Leake, S. F., 644.
case, 641, 642.
Letcher, Governor, of Va., 654.
tion, 149.
Edward
Lawrence, town of, 466. Threatened,
Assaulted and burned, 499.
466.
645- Lemmon
647.
Keyes,
Lawrence, Amos A., 465.
Lawrence, Myron, 249, 253.
schools in Mass., 640.
Keitt, L. M., 487, 516, 553, 616,
Key
Lawrence, Abbot, 137.
for Vice-
thought,
571.
Great
Douglas,
566 - 577.
principle,
576.
of,
577.
of,
203, 204.
Its
great
debate
with
570.
Devotion
to
Douglas's estimate
Movements
for,
and nomi-
�714
INDEX.
nation
Enthusiasm
692, 693.
Meade, Richard K., of Va., 214.
Meeting and address of Southern mem
Lincoln and Douglas's debate, 566bers of Congress, 197, 198.
In Fan
The contestants, 568, 569.
577.
euil Hall condemns Mr.
Webster,
Prominence it gave Lin
Plan, 569.
256, 257.
(See Fugitive Slave
of,
for,
695.
Act.)
coln, 577.
Burns, 436-438.
Loring, C. G., 334.
Loring, E. G. (See
Removal
Anthony Burns.) Meredith, W. M.,
J. C., 147.
Lovejoy, 0., 510.
Proslavery,
179, 667.
Eloquent speech
of,
554, 672.
Lowell,
209, 449.
Merriam, F. J., 594.
Methodist Church South,
Loring, George B., 685.
Lovejoy,
out
rage, 493.
444.
of,
On Sumner
Mills, John, 157.
Millson, J. S., 644.
J. R., 80.
See Schools.
Miner, Myrtilla.
Missourians, invade Kansas, 467 - 469.
Lunt, George, 137.
Murders by, 471, 472, 474.
Missouri compromise, 379. Abrogation
Dixon's amendment,
of, 378-405.
M.
McClelland, Robert, 20, 29.
of,
194-197, 289, 290.
McKay, James J., 15.
Fenton.) Debate, 385-400.
J. C., 564, 565.
McKim,
M., 51, 598.
400.
of,
529.
203.
Senate, 404.
Moore,
P., 298.
Speech
Mob, Washington, 93.
Montgomery, W. of Pa. 557.
of,
,
,
Mails violated, 670, 671.
90.
S. E., 648.
Moral courage demanded, 97.
J. T., of N. C., 12.
201- Morehead,
Morgan, E. D., 538.
226, 227, 335, 346.
Marcy, W. L., 383.
Marsh, Thomas J., agent in Kansas,
539.
Morris,
I.
N., 564, 698.
Morris, Thomas, 166.
Morse, Freeman,
3.
Marshall, H., 564.
Morton, Edwin, 590, 605.
Martin, E.
Morton, Marcus, 342.
S., 672.
Mason, John M.,
44, 45, 235, 357, 392,
489, 580, 595, 602.
Resolution and
Mott, James, 51.
Mott, Lucretia, 51.
report (See Harper's Ferry), 622. 627.
action of,
247 - 258.
Massachusetts,
Legislative
Clerical
passes
406, 407.
McLean, John, Justice, opinion
McRae, J. J., 654.
Mann, Horace,
Bill
;
McKinney, S., Rev., 667.
McLane, Robert, 224.
Mangum, W.
393.
House,
Speeches of Seward, Sumner, 388, 389
Smith, Benton, 397, 398. Effect upon the North,
protests,
McKibben,
J.
Appeal of "Inde
pendent Democrats," 384. Douglas's
amendment and speech, 385. (See
abrogating, 381.
McClernand, John A., 17, 88.
McDowell, J., eloquent speeches
resolutions,
Faneuil Hall meeting, 256.
Mathew, Father, 217.
May, Samuel, 440, 442.
May, Samuel J., Rev., 154.
Meacham, James, of Vt., 394.
N.
247 - 249.
Nashville convention, 286-288.
See
Slave-trade.
humiliating attitude of, 377.
Plighted faith of, broken, 404.
Nation,
"National Era, "368, 411.
�715
INDEX.
Nebraska House
Douglas's
statement, 382-384.
vanced position demanded, 656, 657.
Mexico,
by Taylor,
279
revoked
;
bill,
government provided,
Slave-code
281.
279
of,
Ten-Million
279.
Territorial
.
Folk's
bill for, 232, 280.
order for surrender
for,
New Or
634.
Nicaragua, Walker sails for, 613.
" Nicholson
Letter," 132.
John M.,
"No
North,"
35, 46.
Webster complains
of,
Panama, Congress
defection,
Re
221-230.
John Brown, 605.
Park Street church refuses burial
vices to Mr. Torrey, 79.
M. J., 628.
Patriotism, appeals to, 194 197, 289,
290.
schooner, case
ance of power in legislature,
Contest and results, 168 - 172.
Resolu
Elected speaker,
Personal liberty bills in Massachusetts
Similar legisla
and Vermont, 57.
New
in
tion
York,
and Ohio, 57
New
See
344.
357.
2, 184,
219, 272.
S., 38,
250, 252, 336.
candidate
Soil
for
governor,
Phillips, S. H., 342.
Phillips,
Ordinance of '87 declared unconstitu
tional, 528.
contest
John,
Jersey, Connecti
York, 58, 639, 670.
Phillips, S. C., 56, 157,
Free
Chase.
Bill for, 33.
Pettit,
Pennsylvania,
Island, 58 ;
Rhode
;
New
and
Phelps, Samuel
168.
Oliver, M., 471.
Wendell, 56, 257, 307, 335,
435, 437.
At
funeral of
John Brown,
599.
concerning, 32-49.
Kale's amendment, 33.
Southern sentiments, 39,
ton's compromise, 40, 41.
43.
Amendments and
49.
Constitution of and
40.
Clay
New
bill,
passage, 43
bill for, 624.
Debate in House, 625 - 627
;
in Sen
Admitted, 627.
Ostend, meeting and circular, and
ocratic indorsement, 611.
A., 634.
Owen, R. D., 184.
Escapes, 499.
Franklin, receives nomination,
Phillips, William, 472.
Pierce,
365. Congratulatory message of, 380.
Action of, concerning Cuba, 612.
John H., 54, 57, 335.
See New Mexico.
Polk, James K., 7.
Pierson,
Polk, Trasten, 580.
Pomeroy,
Orth, G. S., 432.
M.
Proceed
91.
of,
Pennington, W., 484.
cut,
O'Conner, Charles, opinions of, 642.
Ohio, prominent part in the antislavery
Bal
conflict, and the leaders, 162.
Otero,
ser
Parrot,
unfriendly in
O.
ate, 627.
609.
at,
Theodore, 57, 256, 307, 326,
Letter concerning
435-437, 590.
653.
markable change of votes, 221, 222.
Nye, James W., 153, 306.
Oregon,
199-
Parker,
ings in Congress, 93 104.
tion of Mr. Giddings, 94.
Norris, Moses, 391.
S. P.
of,
Palmer, Rundell, 68.
Pearl,
148, 245.
Northern
Speech
Pearce, James A., 17.
leans "Picayune," 635.
Niles,
G., 94.
Palfrey, J.
201, 249, 336, 347.
Nelson, Dr., 63.
Nelson, T. A. R., 649.
New departure on the slavery issue, 209.
Measures required by, 633 - 642. Ad
New
P.
Senate
380.
bill, lost,
Dixon's amendment, and
Fenton's
381.
report,
381.
bill,
S. C., 465.
Popular Sovereignty,
Dem
fended,
403.
390,
A delusion,
Condemned,
of,
de
Discarded, 515.
Democratic admis
534.
sion, 534, 535.
doctrine
Douglas's boast, 634.
677.
�716
INDEX.
Pratt, T. G.,
amendment
to Fugitive
of,
Slave Act, 293.
New
York,
413
;
in Massachusetts,
Meeting in Ripon, Wis.,
in District of Columbia, 410.
414, 415.
Prejudice, popular, 58.
Presidential elections,
409
1848
of
(See
Of 1852, 360-377.
Of 1856,
Conventions).
Democratic triumph, 376.
508-522.
;
State organization in Michigan, 412.
Name of, 410. Dr. Bailey's agency,
411. Meetings in Massachusetts, 414417 ; in Pennsylvania, 415. Defeat
New
Press, antislavery, 58, 59.
in
Preston, William B., 29.
severe blow to friends
Prettyman,
sion, 59.
Language of Judge Kane,
Asserted origin
450.
of,
658, 659.
"Proscription, lawlessness, barbarism,"
666 - 672.
Protest, Southern, 277.
Wilmot, history of, 15-17.
Defended by Northern Democrats,
Defeated by Northern defec
19, 20.
Claimed by Mr. Web
tion, 24, 25.
Proviso,
ster, as his
"thunder," 124.
Pryor, R. H., 646.
E., 504. Resolution of, 658, 678.
Pugh,
J. L., 648.
Pugh, Sarah, 51.
Action thereon, 115 - 118.
Of Brigham, Campbell, and Tilden, in Whig
convention, 135.
Vermont, 218.
Missouri, 219.
Foote's, 231.
for Fugitive Slave Act, 231.
proviso, 237.
Wilson's, 247.
Slave Act, 353.
369.
Foote's,
of '52, 368,
Whig
"Helper,"
644.
Seven,
of
Davis, 660.
in
Message, pro
Congress,
demonstration
and popular
concerning,
Resolutions and antislavery
Q.
Clay's
Sumner's, for repeal of Fugitive
ceedings
28.
Mason's
For and against Wilmot
eight, 234.
Revolution, French, 87.
Putnam, Harvey,
a
Resolutions, Georgia, laid by governor
before Massachusetts Legislature, 115.
Jeff.
Purvis, Robert, 51.
of,
of freedom,
complete, 704.
353.
Pugh, G.
Defeat
Victory of 1860, great, but in
522.
J. S., 670.
Property in man, Supreme Court deci
418.
York,
Remarks
ments, 88.
87 -
91.
amend
of Billiard,
Mc-
Clernand, Haskell, Hale, and Foote,
Quincy, Edmund, 336, 438, 624.
88-90.
R.
W.
Richardson,
Jr., 334, 364.
Rantoul, Robert,
bill,
A., reports Nebraska
394.
Raynor, Kenneth, proposes and defends
Ripon, Wis.,
meeting for Republican
Union degree, 421, 422, 429. Con
demns repeal of Missouri compromise,
party, 409.
Robinson, C.
R.,
Dr.,
governor, 476, 536.
429.
W.
465.
Elected
Imprisoned, 498.
S., 306, 343.
Realf, Richard, 589.
Robinson,
Redpath, James, 604.
Reeder, A. H., Governor, 467.
Root, Joseph M., 28, 99, 213, 225.
Russell, C. T., 257.
gate to Congress,
470, 476.
408
;
Dele
Memorial,
Formation
of,
406 -
S.
;
;
;
Russell, T. H., 596.
Preliminary movements, 406in
in New Hampshire, 408
Wisconsin, 409, 410 ; in Maine, 511 ;
in Vermont, 411, 412
in Michigan,
412
Russell, Emily, 92.
Russell, George R., 436.
Escapes, 493.
Republican party.
418.
469.
in Ohio
and Indiana, 413
;
in
Sackett,
W.
A., 226.
Sanborn, Frank B., 590, 604.
of,
605.
Rescne
�717
INDEX.
Savage, J. H., on Brooks, 490.
Sawyer, William, 29.
Schenck, Kobert C., 17.
106, 107.
Aggressions, 115, 116.
Debates in the
Demoralizing, 179.
XXXth Congress; Able defences of
Schools in District of Columbia, 578586. Brown's bill and Wilson's amend
freedom, by Palfrey, Mann, and Jamee
Caustic speech
Wilson, 199-207.
ment for, 579. Southern utterances,
580-582. Wilson's response, 582.
Myrtilla Miner and her efforts, 583
585.
Colored, in Massachusetts, 640.
W., 252-257.
Schouler,
New departure,
209.
De
Southern determination, 210.
Domination of
223, 224.
fended,
testimony concerning, 456. Defences
548 - 550, 553. Condemned, 553 -
of,
The overshadowing
555.
Schurz, Carl, 693.
Democratic
Scott, R. G., circular of, to
and responses, 363.
candidates,
of Lincoln, 203.
issue, 578.
In
Kansas, 635.
National,
Violence its element, 61.
665.
Adver
6.
Threatened, Slaves, property in, 36, 37.
and rebuked, 44-47, 191-206, 221tised by the United States govern
Menaces of, in Con
ment, 60. Increased demand for, 615.
230, 313-319.
Bill for its abolition in
gress and at the South, 286-288. Slave-trade.
See Nashville convention.
District of Columbia, 296. Defended
Sedgwick, C. B., 155, 306.
by Hunter, 296. Debate, 296-301.
Secession, foreshadowed,
Sentiments
the fathers, departure
of
from, 660.
Sevier,
ed, 301.
Ambrose H.,
22.
W.
H., enters United States
164.
Senate,
165, 166.
Speech at Cleveland,
for California, 261 -
Speech
263,
297-299.
402,
413,
562,
628.
On
459,
462,
Kansas,
483,
388,
503,
504,
Magnanimous course
of,
701 - 703.
of,
329-333.
President's
Proclamation, 330. In Congress, 330333.
for,
Complaints of British inter
Action of Repub
ference, 617, 618.
licans, 618. New York, mart of, 619.
bill and speech, 619-621.
Heartless utterances of Davis and
Wilson's
Mason, 621.
Failure of bill, 623.
John, 485, 612.
Smith, Caleb B., 28. Oregon
Slidell,
bill by,
Smith,
Gerrit,
Nominated
112.
President, 113.
Speech
of,
for
374, 397,
Sherman,
J., 471,
Smith, T., 387.
644, 645.
Smith, William, case
Shipley, Thomas, 51.
Sirnms, T. M., case
Slave Power.
of,
333 - 336.
Meet
Defeats slavery prohibi
Never
tion, 30.
Taylor's
138.
umphs
fair
and honorable,
nomination,
triumph
Described, 188, 189.
maintained,
of,
domination
200,
Made
Essentially
205.
Signal
How
tri
284, 376, 377.
of,
623.
Complete
Epoch, 673-688.
a national interest,
false,
of,
324.
Snodgrass, Dr., 58.
ings and legislative action, 335, 336.
Slack, C. W., 640.
Slavery.
Adopt
demand
590.
Shannon, W., Governor, 471.
of,
298.
of,
43, 512.
Shadrach, case
31.
Reopening
616, 617.
Sewall, S. E., 330, 334, 604.
Seward,
Amendment by Seward,
31.
1.
Pestiferou^
Soule, Pierre, 287, 687.
Southern.
Menaces, 210, 211, 225.
Di
283.
521.
Triumphs, 284, 362,
Madness and presumption, 655,
656.
Anarchy, 666, 667.
visions,
ization,
672.
Demoral
Conduct, singular and
unaccountable, 686.
Spear, S. T., Rev., 311.
Speight, Jesse, 11.
I., Rev., 318.
Sprague, Judge, 333.
Spencer,
Stanley, E., 136, 213.
�INDEX.
718
Taylor, General Zachary, 9. (See Mexi
can War.) Movements in view of his
Stanton, F. P., 'acting governor, 536.
Stanton, H. B., 153.
Stanton, K. H., 95.
Both helpful and harm
State influence.
In New Hampshire,
In Massachusetts legislature,
115-118. Wheatland's and Wilson's
115, 125.
ful,
114.
reports, 11.
Reactionary
spirit, 122.
Rights maintained, 367.
Statesmanship of the hour, 366, 367.
Stearns, George L., 590.
Brown, 592, 593, 605.
Money by,
43.
of,
of,
191-
193, 215, 394, 400, 617.
Stevens, Thaddeus, sarcastic speech
227, 645.
Still,
of,
William, 51.
Stokes,
W.
Storrs, R. S., Dr., 310.
ofN.
C., 131.
Stuart, Moses, Professor, 318.
147, 157, 250, 308.
Speech,
354.
Response
495.
105,
by Brooks,
Senate,
481.
483.
121,
antislavery labor,
Southern indorse
Northern meetings, 493-495,
629-631.
493.
C., Dr., 342.
John
trial,
sentence, sickness, death, and
burial,
Faneuil Hall meet
78-80.
ing, 80.
Estimate
of, 77, 80.
Toucey, Isaac, bill of, 453.
Trade, slave. Stimulated by annexation,
50.
New York,
mart
petitions against,
320, 321.
African
Hale upon,
See Disunion
and Secession.
"Tribune," N. Y., 407.
T.
Taylor, Nathaniel, Dr., 318.
of, 51.
320.
las's resolutions, 606.
Roger B., C. J., 524.
Scott decision, 525 - 528.
Early histo
and consecration to
74 - 76.
Arrests,
Constructive,
Treason rampant, 478.
497. Hunting for, 601 607. Doug
L., 437.
Taney,
Laid before
501, 502, 538.
Torrey, Rev. Charles T.
478-
ment, 489, 490. Voice of Southern
press, 489. Northern responses, 490
Swift,
constitution, 469.
ry, characteristics,
Assaulted
Inso
Congress and adopted by the House,
356.
Announced to the
Committee of both
Swan,
sentence and
504, 651.
355,
479, 480.
houses, 484-486.
of,
350.
Assailed,
of,
trial,
of, 69.
Wilson,
358, 389, 404, 460,
of,
Speech
Thompson, Edwin, 345.
Topeka
118,
Elected Senator,
Letter to Mr.
349.
boun
Bonds of,
281.
Corruption, 282.
Thayer, Eli, 465, 625.
lent speech
56,
of
Bill for
of, 8.
and payment, 279.
daries
Toombs, Robert, 214, 285, 486.
Strong, Stephen, 22.
Stuart, C. E., 561, 565.
Sumner, Charles,
Texas, boundaries
for,
California, 28.
Thompson, James, of Pa., 295.
Thompson, John B., 96.
Thompson, J. P., Dr., 310.
Thompson, Richard W., 29, 193.
Tibbetts, John W., 17.
W., 510.
Stone-cutter, outrage upon, 668.
Strange, R.,
bill
governments,
Mexico and
heroism
Stone, J. M., 253, 345.
Stone, James
lamented by antislavery men, 274.
Territorial
Thompson, George,
B., 649.
to
Message concerning,
Southern demands, 259. Let
to Jefferson Davis, 260. Death
217.
of,
Singular
Speeches
Invitation
California, 210.
ter of,
to
209.
208,
cabinet,
New
Stephens, Alexander H., 20.
motion
apprehended nomination in Massa
chusetts, 124, 125. Nominated, 135.
Position on the slavery issue, and
Dred
Trist,
25.
Nicholas P., negotiates a treaty,
Terms of, 25.
Extraordinary
language
of, 27.
�719
INDEX.
Walcutt, Edward, 125.
Walker, Amasa, 147, 255, 344.
Walker, Isaac P., of Wisconsin, impor
Trambull, Lyman, 542.
Tukey, Marshal, 333.
Turner, Asa, 67.
Tyler, John, 15.
tant
Tyndale, Hector, 598.
of,
amendment
Branded hand,
Walker, Robert
Uncle Tom's Cabin, 519.
Underground Railroad, a natural out
growth of slavery, 62. "Workings of
61 - 86.
Prominent men in, 63.
Involved per
God-fearing, 65, 85.
Its de
sonal sacrifices and risks, 66.
Underwood,
stands firm
224.
General
7.
Texas,
message, 10.
House
Debate, 11, 12.
President's message sharply
criticised, 18.
284.
Vallandigham, C. L., 595.
Buren, John, a prominent leader,
141.
Antislavery promises, 341.
Buren, Martin, letter of, to Utica
Nominated,
140.
Nominated,
156.
On Cuba, 609.
Van Dorn, 67.
Van Zandt case, 59.
Three-Million
Fail
bill, 18.
123.
Presents a new aspect of the
slavery issue, as it committed the na
tion to slavery, 190.
Warren, Joseph, 412.
Washburn, I. 396, 410.
Washburne, E. B., 396,
Webster, Daniel,
698.
246.
Defection, and reasons for, 245,
Secretary of State, 275.
dings's sharp criticism
remarks
of, 95.
Invited to
47.
23,
join Free-Soilers, but declines, 148.
7th of March speech and effect, 242 246.
J. C., 143, 144, 510.
"W., violent
proviso, 16.
Hamlin's amendment, 22. Bill passed
Resolutions
without guaranties, 24.
of Massachusetts legislature,
122,
Van
Abraham
of
ure, 17.
V.
Disappointment
of,
of,
Gid-
280, 313.
372.
Weed, Thurlow, 134, 413, 694.
Vessels involved in the escape of
fugi
tives,
Mobile, 52.
Brazilian, 53.
Ottoman, 54. Niagara, 54. Pearl, 91.
Violence, an essential element of slav
ery, 61.
"Visitor, Saturday," 58.
W.
Wade, B.
War, Mexican, natural consequence of
See
Upham, William,
Utah Territory admitted,
Venable,
See Slave-trade.
Wanderer, Yacht.
Wilmot
23.
Vaughan,
of
bill, 13.
for, 259, 260, 274.
convention, 140.
Letter of, 155.
Governor
4.
J.,
Resigns, 543.
Walker, William, 613, 614. See Cuba.
Walsh, Michael, 399.
Vindicated,
President Taylor
Disunion and Secession.
Van
82.
81,
of,
82.
Taylor ordered to advance to Rio
Casus belli, 10. Special
Grande, 9.
Joseph R., 35, 293.
J. W. H., 648.
Underwood,
Union menaced,
225-229, 269.
Speech
Kansas, 536.
annexation
fence, 86.
case
Jonathan,
Walker,
U.
by, 29, 33.
260.
F., 385, 402, 458, 486, 503.
603, 627.
Wadsworth,
J. S., 126.
Pronounces
Weller, J. B., 355, 506.
the laws of Territorial legislature,
"infamous."
Western Reserve, 63.
Western States largely
settled
from the
South, 62.
Westport, Mo., 471.
Wheeler, J. H., 448.
Whig convention of 1848,
133-139.
Meeting of antislavery members of,
142,143. Of 1852, 366-371.
�INDEX.
720
Whigs, Southern, embarrassments of, 23.
Kentucky, bid for slaveholding confi
Northern, taunted, 223.
dence, 180.
Con
Remark
Meeting of Southern, 366.
(See
Dispirited, 375.
ventions.)
ofDixon, 384. Northern assailed, 395,
and
their responses, 396.
Southern,
caucus and protests, 400 - 402.
speech,
401.
mont, 411
;
in
Bell's
Meeting of, in Ver
York, 413.
New
Wilson, Robert, 154.
j
C., Speaker, 27.
122, 230,
Vindicates the rights of colored
Winthrop,R.
278.
seamen, 294. Whig candidate, 348.
Declines invitation to join antislavery
movement, 433.
Wise, Henry A.
Letters
520
cratic governors,
;
of,
595.
Wood,
W., 467.
Whittier, John G., 59, 250.
Wick, William W., singular speech
Woodson, secretary, 500.
Work, Alanson, 69.
Worth, Daniel, Rev., 668.
of,
Wigfall, L. T., 663.
Williams,
J.
M.
16.
490.
Wright, Elizur,
63.
Wright, Elizur,
Jr., 63, 330.
Wright,
Eemarks
J.,
N. Y., 8.
Wyandotte convention and constitution,
S., 465.
Williamson, Passmore, 448-451.
Wilmot, David,
George, 316.
Woodruff,
96, 97.
Demo
Interview with John Brown,
Concerning slave-trade, 620.
521.
White, L. Joseph, 52, 153.
White, W. A., 343, 345.
Whitefield, J.
to
to Mr. Wilson,
of,
18,
627.
Silas, of
See Kansas.
19, 512, 690.
Wilson, Henry, order, speech and re
port by, 115-117, 135, 136.
dress of, 144, 247, 249, 254.
nated for governor, 414.
428, 458, 486, 503, 513,
562, 592, 601, 627, 660.
Wilson,
J., of
Ad
423-425,
551-553,
N. H., speech
of,
Y.
Nomi
204-
Yacht, slave, Wanderer, 618.
Yancey, William L., 123, 131-133.
Advocates the slave-trade, 616, 678.
Yates, Richard, 396.
" Year of
Revolutions,"
207.
END OF
VOL. IL
87.
������RETURN TO
the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the
NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY
Richmond
Bldg. 400,
FACILITY
Field Station
University of California
CA
Richmond,
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ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
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may be recharged by
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DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
SEP
1
2 1992
SEP 171992
�N9
585503
E301
W5
v.2
Wilson, H.
History of the rise
and fall of the slave
power in America.
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
DAVIS
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Books, Booklets, Ledgers, & Diaries
Digital File
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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History Of Rise & Fall Of The Slave Power In America By Henry Wilson Volume 2
Description
An account of the resource
A history of the rise and fall of enslavement of people, in the United States and the power surrounding it. Written by Henry Wilson. Volume two of three volumes. Approximately 743pages.
A digital resource. This item does not exist in the physical museum collection.
FHS- Kyle Leach
Creator
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Henry Wilson
Publisher
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James R. Osgood and Co
Date
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1874
Date Created
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1874
Contributor
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Oberlin College Library
abolition
American Civil War
book
constiuition
Henry Wilson
law
slavery