The opening of Congress was signalized by two things:
first, the Message of President Buchanan, December 4, 1860,
misrepresenting the North, and practically abdicating the power
to control rebellious States; and, secondly, the development of
a determination on the part of certain States at the South to
secede from the Union. Here South Carolina took the lead.
* * * * *
In the Senate, December 6th, Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, brought
forward a resolution, which, after modification by himself, was
as follows.
“_Resolved_, That so much of the President’s Message as
relates to the present agitated and distracted condition of
the country, and the grievances between the slaveholding
and the non-slaveholding States, be referred to a special
committee of thirteen members, and that said committee be
instructed to inquire into the present condition of the
country and report by bill or otherwise.”
In the consideration of this resolution a debate ensued
on the state of the Union, and the resolution was adopted
December 18th. The committee appointed by the Vice-President,
Mr. Breckinridge, was Mr. Powell of Kentucky, the mover, Mr.
Hunter of Virginia, Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky, Mr. Seward
of New York, Mr. Toombs of Georgia, Mr. Douglas of Illinois,
Mr. Collamer of Vermont, Mr. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi,
Mr. Wade of Ohio, Mr. Bigler of Pennsylvania, Mr. Rice of
Minnesota, Mr. Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Mr. Grimes of Iowa.
December 31st, Mr. Powell reported to the Senate “that the
Committee have not been able to agree upon any general plan
of adjustment.” In the propositions offered in committee by
Mr. Douglas we first meet that for the disfranchisement of the
colored race, even where already voters, which was part of the
Crittenden Compromise in its final form.[129]
Immediately after the first reading of Mr. Powell’s resolution
for the appointment of a committee Mr. Sumner spoke as follows.
MR. PRESIDENT,--I have no desire to make a speech at this time, nor
to take any part in the discussion that has commenced. I can bear yet
a little longer the misrepresentations in the President’s Message,
and I believe the North can bear them yet a little longer. The time
will come, perhaps, when I shall deem it my duty to set forth those
things in the light of reason and of history; meanwhile I content
myself with simply offering to the Senate testimony of direct and
most authoritative bearing upon the present state of the Union. If I
may adopt the language of the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. JEFFERSON
DAVIS], it will help us to make the diagnosis of the present disease in
the body politic.
I hold in my hand an unpublished autograph letter, written by General
Jackson while President of the United States, and addressed to a
clergyman in a slaveholding State. Omitting certain sentences which are
of a purely private nature, the letter is as follows.
“[_Private._] “WASHINGTON, May 1, 1833.
“MY DEAR SIR,-- … I have had a laborious task here, but
Nullification is dead; and its actors and courtiers will only
be remembered by the people to be execrated for their wicked
designs to sever and destroy the only good government on the
globe, and that prosperity and happiness we enjoy over every
other portion of the world. Haman’s gallows ought to be the
fate of all such ambitious men, who would involve their country
in civil war, and all the evils in its train, that they might
reign and ride on its whirlwinds and direct the storm. The
free people of these United States have spoken, and consigned
these wicked demagogues to their proper doom. Take care of
your Nullifiers; you have them among you; let them meet with
the indignant frowns of every man who loves his country. The
Tariff, it is _now_”--
and he underscores, or italicizes, the word “now”--
“known, was a mere pretext. Its burden was on your coarse
woollens. By the law of July, 1832, coarse woollen was reduced
to five per cent for the benefit of the South. Mr. Clay’s bill
takes it up and classes it with woollens at fifty per cent,
reduces it gradually down to twenty per cent, and there it
is to remain, and Mr. Calhoun and all the Nullifiers agree
to the principle. The cash duties and home valuation will be
equal to fifteen per cent more, and after the year 1842 you
pay on coarse woollens thirty-five per cent. If this is not
protection, I cannot understand; therefore the Tariff was only
the pretext, and Disunion and a Southern Confederacy the real
object. The next pretext will be the Negro or Slavery Question.
“My health is not good, but is improving a little. Present
me kindly to your lady and family, and believe me to be your
friend. I will always be happy to hear from you.
“ANDREW JACKSON.
“THE REV. ANDREW J. CRAWFORD.”[130]
Here is the original autograph letter, in the well-known, unmistakable,
bold, broad handwriting. [_Here Mr. Sumner held the letter up._] These
are the words of a patriot slaveholder of Tennessee, addressed to
a patriot clergyman of a slaveholding State, and they are directly
applicable to the present hour. Of practical sense, of inflexible
purpose, and of various experience, Andrew Jackson saw intuitively the
springs and motives of human conduct, while he loved his country with a
firm and all-embracing attachment. Thus inspired, he was able to judge
the present and to discern the future. The Tariff, in his opinion, was
a pretext only,--Disunion and a Southern Confederacy the real object.
“The next pretext,” says he,--and you, Sir, cannot fail to mark the
words,--“will be the Negro or Slavery Question.” These, Sir, are his
words, not mine. Such is his emphatic judgment. Words and judgment now
belong to history; nor can they be assailed without assailing one of
the greatest examples that a slaveholding community has given to our
common country.