On the 22nd of July, 1861, both houses of Congress, with but few
dissenting votes, adopted a joint resolution which declared:
"This war is not waged, on our part, in any spirit of oppression,
nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of
overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established
institutions of those states; but to defend and maintain the
supremacy of the constitution, and to preserve the Union, with all
the dignity, equality and rights of the several states unimpaired;
that, as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to
cease."[282]
Such were the attitude of the Republican Party, the avowals and
pledges of President Lincoln and the enactments of Congress, with
respect to slavery, at the time of Virginia's secession.
It is not, however, to be concluded that the Republican Party had
renounced its hostility to slavery. The pledges referred to were
simply assurances of the purpose of the Federal administration to
respect the constitutional rights of states where the institution
existed, and of their slave-holding citizens. Nor is it claimed that
slavery itself had acquired, in Virginia, or elsewhere, in the Union,
an indefinite lease of life. The forces which had destroyed slavery in
other lands were ever at work. They were dynamic, and gathered ever
increasing influence from the economic, political and ethical
conditions of the times.