Produced by David Widger
THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
Its Origin and History
BY
JOHN LOGAN
PREFACE.
In the preparation of this work it has been the writer's aim to present
in it, with historical accuracy, authentic facts; to be fair and
impartial in grouping them; and to be true and just in the conclusions
necessarily drawn from them. While thus striving to be accurate, fair,
and just, he has not thought it his duty to mince words, nor to refrain
from "calling things by their right names;" neither has he sought to
curry favor, in any quarter, by fulsome adulation on the one side, nor
undue denunciation on the other, either of the living, or of the dead.
But, while tracing the history of the Great Conspiracy, from its obscure
birth in the brooding brains of a few ambitious men of the earliest days
of our Republic, through the subsequent years of its devolution, down to
the evil days of Nullification, and to the bitter and bloody period of
armed Rebellion, or contemplating it in its still more recent and,
perhaps, more sinister development, of to-day, he has conscientiously
dealt with it, throughout, in the clear and penetrating light of the
voluminous records so readily accessible at the seat of our National
Government. So far as was practicable, he has endeavored to allow the
chief characters in that Conspiracy-as well as the Union leaders, who,
whether in Executive, Legislative, or Military service, devoted their
best abilities and energies to its suppression--to speak for themselves,
and thus while securing their own proper places in history, by a process
of self-adjustment as it were, themselves to write down that history in
their own language. If then there be found within these covers aught
which may seem harsh to those directly or indirectly, nearly or
remotely, connected with that Conspiracy, he may not unfairly exclaim:
"Thou canst not say I did it." If he knows his own heart, the writer
can truly declare, with his hand upon it, that it bears neither hatred,
malice, nor uncharitableness, to those who, misled by the cunning
secrecy of the Conspirators, and without an inkling or even a suspicion
of their fell purposes, went manfully into the field, with a courage
worthy of a better cause, and for four years of bloody conflict,
believing that their cause was just, fought the armies of the Union, in
a mad effort to destroy the best government yet devised by man upon this
planet. And, perhaps, none can better understand than he, how hard, how
very hard, it must be for men of strong nature and intense feeling,
after taking a mistaken stand, and especially after carrying their
conviction to the cannon's mouth, to acknowledge their error before the
world. Hence, while he has endeavored truly to depict--or to let those
who made history at the time help him to depict--the enormity of the
offence of the armed Rebellion and of the heresies and plottings of
certain Southern leaders precipitating it, yet not one word will be
found, herein, condemnatory of those who, with manly candor, soldierly
courage, and true patriotism, acknowledged that error when the ultimate
arbitrament of the sword had decided against them. On the contrary, to
all such as accept, in good faith, the results of the war of the
Rebellion, the writer heartily holds out the hand of forgiveness for the
past, and good fellowship for the future.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
April 15, 1886.
CONTENTS.
[For detailed Table of Contents see below]
CHAPTER.
I. A Preliminary Retrospect,
II. Protection, and Free Trade,
III. Growth of the Slavery Question,
IV. Popular Sovereignty,
V. Presidential Contest of 1860,
VI. The Great Conspiracy Maturing,
VII. "Secession" Arming,
VIII. The Rejected Olive Branch,
IX. Slavery's Setting Sun,
X. The War Drum--"On to Washington,"
XI. Causes of Secession
XII. Copperheadism vs. Union-Democracy,
XIII. The Storm of Battle,
XIV. The Colored Contraband,
XV. Freedom's Early Dawn,
XVI. Compensated, Gradual, Emancipation,
XVII. Border-State Opposition,
XVIII. Freedom Proclaimed to All,
XIX. Historical Review,
XX. Lincoln's Troubles and Temptations,
XXI. The Armed Negro
XXII. Freedom's Sun still Rising,
XXIII. Thirteenth Amendment Passes the Senate
XXIV. Treason in the Northern Camp,
XXV. The "Fire in the Rear,"
XXVI. Thirteenth Amendment Defeated in House,
XXVII. Slavery Doomed at the Polls,
XXVIII. Freedom at last Assured,
XXIX. Lincoln's Second Inauguration,
XXX. Collapse of Armed Conspiracy,
XXXI. Assassination!
XXXII. Turning Back the Hands,
XXXIII. What Next?
CHAPTER I.
A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
AFRICAN SLAVERY IN AMERICA IN 1620--CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE COLONIES AND
ENGLAND IN 1699--GEORGIAN ABHORRENCE OF SLAVERY IN 1775--JEFFERSON AND
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE--SLAVERY A SOURCE OF WEAKNESS IN THE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR--THE SESSION BY VIRGINIA OF THE GREAT NORTH-WEST--THE
ORDINANCE OF 1784 AND ITS FAILURE--THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 AND ITS
ADOPTION--THE GERM OF SLAVERY AGITATION PLANTED--THE QUESTION IN THE
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION--SUBTERFUGES OF THE OLD CONSTITUTION--THE
BULLDOZING OF THE FATHERS--THE FIRST FEDERAL CONGRESS, 1789--CONDITIONS
OF TERRITORIAL CESSIONS FROM NORTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, 1789-1802--THE
"COLONY OF LOUISIANA" (MISSISSIPPI VALLEY) PURCHASE OF 1803--THE TREATY
--CONDITIONS TOUCHING SLAVERY--THE COTTON INDUSTRY REVOLUTIONIZED--RAPID
POPULATING OF THE GREAT VALLEY, BY SLAVEHOLDERS AND SLAVES--JEFFERSON'S
APPARENT INCONSISTENCY EXPLAINED--THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE--MULTIPLICATION
OF SLAVES--LOUISIANA ADMITTED, 1812, AS A STATE--THE TERRITORY OF
MISSOURI--THE MISSOURI STRUGGLE (1818-1820) IN A NUTSHELL--THE "MISSOURI
COMPROMISE"
CHAPTER II.
PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE.
CHIEF CAUSE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION--OUR INDEPENDENCE, INDUSTRIAL AS
WELL AS POLITICAL--FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERATION DUE TO LACK OF
INDUSTRIAL PROTECTION--MADISON'S TARIFF ACT OF 1789--HAMILTON'S TARIFF
OF 1790--SOUTHERN STATESMEN AND SOUTHERN VOTES FOR EARLY TARIFFS
--WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON ON "PROTECTION "--EMBARGO OF 1807-8--WAR OF
1812-15--CONSEQUENT INCREASE OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURES--BROUGHAM'S PLAN
--RUIN THREATENED BY GLUT OF BRITISH GOODS--TARIFF ACT OF 1816--CALHOUN'S
DEFENSE OF "PROTECTION"--NEW ENGLAND AGAINST THAT ACT--THE SOUTH SECURES
ITS PASSAGE--THE PROTECTIVE TARIFF ACTS OF 1824 AND 1828--SUBSEQUENT
PROSPERITY IN FREE STATES--THE BLIGHT OF SLAVERY--BIRTH OF THE FREE
TRADE HERESY IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1797--SIMULTANEOUS BIRTH OF THE
HERESY OF STATE RIGHTS--KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798--VIRGINIA
RESOLUTIONS OF 1799--JEFFERSON'S REAL PURPOSE IN FORMULATING THEM
--ACTIVITY OF THE FEW SOUTHERN FREE TRADERS--PLAUSIBLE ARGUMENTS AGAINST
"PROTECTION"--INGENIOUS METHODS OF "FIRING THE SOUTHERN HEART"--SOUTHERN
DISCONTENT WITH TARIFF OF 1824--INFLAMMATORY UTTERANCES--ARMED
RESISTANCE URGED TO TARIFF OF 1828--WALTERBOROUGH ANTI-PROTECTIVE TARIFF
ADDRESS--FREE TRADE AND NULLIFICATION ADVOCACY APPEARS IN CONGRESS--THE
HAYNE-WEBSTER DEBATE--MODIFIED PROTECTIVE TARIFF OF 1832--SOUTH
CAROLINA'S NULLIFICATION ORDINANCE--HAYNE ELECTED GOVERNOR OF SOUTH
CAROLINA--HERESY OF "PARAMOUNT ALLEGIANCE TO THE STATE"--SOUTH CAROLINA
ARMS HERSELF--PRESIDENT JACKSON STAMPS OUT SOUTHERN TREASON--CLAY'S
COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833--CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL'S SOLEMN WARNING
--JACKSON'S FORECAST
CHAPTER III.
GROWTH OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
"EMANCIPATION" IN NORTHERN AND MIDDLE STATES--VIRGINIA'S UNSUCCESSFUL
EFFORT--CESSION OF THE FLORIDAS, 1819--BALANCE OF POWER--ADMISSION OF
ARKANSAS,1836--SOUTHERN SLAVE HOLDERS' COLONIZATION OF TEXAS--TEXAN
INDEPENDENCE, 1837--CALHOUN'S SECOND AND GREAT CONSPIRACY--DETERMINATION
BEFORE 1839 TO SECEDE--PROTECTIVE TARIFF FEATURES AGAIN THE PRETEXT
--CALHOUN, IN 1841, ASKING THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FOR AID--NORTHERN
OPPOSITION TO ACQUISITION OF TEXAS--RATIONALE OF THE LOUISIANA AND
FLORIDA ACQUISITIONS--PROPOSED EXTENSION OF SLAVERY LIMITS--WEBSTER
WARNS THE SOUTH--DISASTERS FOLLOWING COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833
--INDUSTRIAL RUIN OF 1840--ELECTION AND DEATH OF HARRISON--PROTECTIVE
TARIFF OF 1842--POLK'S CAMPAIGN OF 1844--CLAY'S BLUNDER AND POLK'S
CRIME--SOUTHERN TREACHERY--THE NORTH HOODWINKED--POLK ELECTED BY
ABOLITION VOTE--SLAVE-HOLDING TEXAS UNDER A SHAM "COMPROMISE"--WAR WITH
MEXICO--FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846--WILMOT PROVISO--TREATY OF GUADALUPE
--HIDALGO--SLAVERY CONTEST IN CONGRESS STILL GROWING--COMPROMISE OF 1850
--A LULL--FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW--NEBRASKA BILL OF 1852-3--KANSAS-NEBRASKA
BILL, 1853-4, REPORTED--PARLIAMENTARY "JUGGLERY"--THE TRIUMPH OF
SLAVERY, IN CONGRESS--BLEEDING KANSAS--TOPEKA CONSTITUTION, 1855
--KANSAS LEGISLATURE DISPERSED, 1856, BY UNITED STATES TROOPS--LECOMPTON
CONSTITUTION OF 1857--FRAUDULENT TRIUMPH OF SLAVERY CONSTITUTION--ITS
SUBSEQUENT DEFEAT--ELECTION OF BUCHANAN, 1856--KANSAS ADMITTED--MISERY
AND RUIN CAUSED BY FREE-TRADE TARIFF OF 1846--FILLMORE AND BUCHANAN
TESTIFY
CHAPTER IV.
"POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY."
DOUGLAS'S THEORY OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY--ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE
ENDORSEMENT OF IT, 1851--DOUGLAS'S POSITION ON KANSAS--NEBRASKA BILL,
1854--DRED SCOTT DECISION--SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
OF 1858--LINCOLN'S REMARKABLE SPEECH TO THE CONVENTION--PIERCE AND
BUCHANAN, TANEY AND DOUGLAS, CHARGED WITH PRO-SLAVERY CONSPIRACY
--DOUGLAS'S GREAT SPEECH (JULY 9TH, 1858) AT CHICAGO, IN REPLY--LINCOLN'S
POWERFUL REJOINDER, AT CHICAGO, (JULY 10TH)--THE ADMIXTURE OF RACES--THE
VOTING "UP OR DOWN" OF SLAVERY--THE "ARGUMENTS OF KINGS"--TRUTHS OF THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE--DOUGLAS'S BLOOMINGTON SPEECH (JULY 16TH),
OF VINDICATION AND ATTACK--HISTORY OF THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA STRUGGLE--THE
UNHOLY ALLIANCE--THE TWO POINTS AT ISSUE--THE "WHITE MAN'S" COUNTRY
--DOUGLAS'S PLEDGES TO WEBSTER AND CLAY--DOUGLAS'S SPRINGFIELD SPEECH,
JULY 17TH--THE IRRECONCILABLE PRINCIPLES AT ISSUE BETWEEN LINCOLN AND
HIMSELF--LINCOLN'S GREAT SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD, THE SAME EVENING
--DOUGLAS'S TRIUMPHANT MARCHES AND ENTRIES--THE "OFFICES SEEN IN HIS
ROUND, JOLLY, FRUITFUL FACE"--LINCOLN'S LEAN-FACED FIGHT, FOR PRINCIPLE
ALONE--DOUGLAS'S VARIOUS SPEECHES REVIEWED--THE REAL QUESTION BETWEEN
REPUBLICANS AND DOUGLAS MEN AND THE BUCHANAN MEN--JACKSON'S VETO OF THE
NATIONAL BANK CHARTER--DEMOCRATIC REVOLT AGAINST THE SUPREME COURT
DECISION--VINDICATION OF CLAY--"NEGRO EQUALITY"--MR. LINCOLN'S CHARGE,
OF "CONSPIRACY AND DECEPTION" TO "NATIONALIZE SLAVERY," RENEWED--GREAT
JOINT DEBATE OF 1858, BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS, ARRANGED
CHAPTER V.
THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1860
THE CRISIS APPROACHING.
HOW THE GREAT JOINT DEBATE OF 1858 RESULTED--THE "LITTLE GIANT" CAPTURES
THE SENATORSHIP--THE "BIG GIANT" CAPTURES THE PEOPLE--THE RISING
DEMOCRATIC STAR OF 1860--DOUGLAS'S GRAND TRIUMPHAL "PROGRESS" THROUGH
THE LAND--A POPULAR DEMOCRATIC IDOL--FRESH AGGRESSIONS OF THE SLAVE
POWER--NEW MEXICO'S SLAVE CODE OF 1859--HELPER'S "IMPENDING CRISIS"
--JOHN BROWN AND HARPER'S FERRY--THE MEETING OF CONGRESS, DECEMBER, 1859
--FORTY-FOUR BALLOTS FOR SPEAKER--DANGEROUSLY HEATED CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES
ON SLAVERY--THE DEMOCRATIC SPLIT--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S ARROGANT
DOUBLE-EDGED PRO-SLAVERY' RESOLUTIONS--DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION,
CHARLESTON, S. C., 1860--DECLARATIONS OF THE MAJORITY AND MINORITY
REPORTS AND BUTLER'S RECOMMENDATION, WITH VOTES THEREON--ADOPTION OF THE
MINORITY (DOUGLAS) PLATFORM--SOUTHERN DELEGATES PROTEST AND "BOLT "--THE
BOLTING CONVENTION ADJOURNS TILL JUNE AT RICHMOND--THE REGULAR
CONVENTION BALLOTS AND ADJOURNS TO BALTIMORE--THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION
--"THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADER A TRUE MISSIONARY"--MORE BOLTING--DOUGLAS'S
NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY--THE BOLTING CONVENTION NOMINATES
BRECKINRIDGE--THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AND PLATFORM--NOMINATIONS OF
LINCOLN, AND BELL--COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE FOUR RIVAL PARTY
PLATFORMS--THE OCTOBER ELECTIONS--THE SOUTH PREPARING GLEEFULLY FOR
SECESSION--GOVERNOR GIST'S TREASONABLE MESSAGE TO S. C. LEGISLATURE,
NOV. 5--OTHER SIMILAR UTTERANCES
CHAPTER VI.
THE GREAT CONSPIRACY MATURING.
LINCOLN'S ELECTION ASSURED--SOUTHERN EXULTATION--NORTHERN GLOOM--"FIRING
THE SOUTHERN HEART"--RESIGNATIONS OF FEDERAL OFFICERS AND SENATORS OF
SOUTH CAROLINA--GOVERNOR BROWN, OF GEORGIA, DEFIES "FEDERAL COERCION"
--ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS'S ARGUMENT AGAINST SECESSION--SOUTH CAROLINA
CALLS AN "UNCONDITIONAL SECESSION CONVENTION"--THE CALL SETS THE SOUTH
ABLAZE--PROCLAMATIONS OF THE GOVERNORS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, FAVORING
REVOLT--LOYAL ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR MAGOFFIN OF KENTUCKY--THE CLAMOR OF
REVOLT SILENCES APPEALS FOR UNION--PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S PITIFUL
WEAKNESS--CONSPIRATORS IN HIS CABINET--IMBECILITY OF HIS LAST ANNUAL
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DEC., 1860--ATTORNEY-GENERAL JEREMIAH BLACK'S
OPINION AGAINST COERCION--CONTRAST AFFORDED BY GENERAL JACKSON'S LOYAL
LOGIC--ENSUING DEBATES IN CONGRESS--SETTLED PURPOSE OF THE CONSPIRATORS
TO RESIST PLACATION--FUTILE LABORS OF UNION MEN IN CONGRESS FOR A
PEACEFUL SOLUTION--ABSURD DEMANDS OF THE IMPLACABLES--THE COMMERCIAL
NORTH ON ITS KNEES TO THE SOUTH--CONCILIATION ABJECTLY BEGGED FOR
--BRUTAL SNEERS AT THE NORTH, AND THREATS OF CLINGMAN, IVERSON, AND OTHER
SOUTHERN FIREEATERS, IN THE U. S. SENATE--THEIR BLUSTER MET BY STURDY
REPUBLICANS--BEN WADE GALLANTLY STANDS BY THE "VERDICT OF THE PEOPLE"
--PEACEFUL-SETTLEMENT PROPOSITIONS IN THE HOUSE--ADRIAN'S RESOLUTION, AND
VOTE--LOVEJOY'S COUNTER-RESOLUTION, AND VOTE--ADOPTION OF MORRIS'S UNION
RESOLUTION IN HOUSE
CHAPTER VII.
SECESSION ARMING.
THE SOUTH CAROLINA SECESSION CONVENTION MEETS--SPEECHES AT "SECESSION
HALL" OF PARKER, KEITT, INGLIS, BARNWELL, RHETT, AND GREGG, THE FIRST
ORDINANCE OF SECESSION--ITS JUBILANT ADOPTION AND RATIFICATION
--SECESSION STAMPEDE--A SOUTHERN CONGRESS PROPOSED--PICKENS'S PROCLAMATION
OF SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENCE--SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSMEN WITHDRAW
--DISSENSIONS IN BUCHANAN'S CABINET--COBB FLOYD, AND THOMPSON,
DEMAND WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL TROOPS--BUCHANAN'S REPLY
--SEIZURE OF FORTS, ETC.--THE "STAR OF THE WEST" FIRED ON--THE MAD
RUSH OF REBELLIOUS EVENTS--SOUTH CAROLINA DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF FORT
SUMTER AND THE DEMAND REFUSED--SECRETARY HOLT'S LETTER TO CONSPIRING
SENATORS AND REBEL AGENT--TROOP'S AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL--HOLT'S
REASONS THEREFOR--THE REVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMME--"ARMED OCCUPATION OF
WASHINGTON CITY"--LINCOLN'S INAUGURATION TO BE PREVENTED--THE CRUMBLING
AND DISSOLVING UNION--THE NORTH STANDS AGHAST--GREAT DEBATE IN CONGRESS,
1860-1861--CLINGMAN ON THE SOUTHERN TARIFF-GRIEVANCE--DEFIANCE OF BROWN
OF MISSISSIPPI--IVERSON'S BLOODY THREAT--WIGFALL'S UNSCRUPULOUS ADVICE
--HIS INSULTING DEMANDS--BAKER'S GLORIOUSLY ELOQUENT RESPONSE--ANDY
JOHNSON THREATENED WITH BULLETS--THE NORTH BULLIED--INSOLENT, IMPOSSIBLE
TERMS OF PEACE--LINCOLN'S SPEECHES EN ROUTE FOR WASHINGTON--SAVE
ARRIVAL--"I'LL TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH!"--THE SOUTH TAUNTS HIM
--WIGFALL'S CHALLENGE TO THE BLOODY ISSUE OF ARMS!
CHAPTER VIII.
THE REJECTED OLIVE BRANCH.
THE VARIOUS COMPROMISES OFFERED BY THE NORTH--"THE CRITTENDEN
COMPROMISE"--THE PEACE CONFERENCE--COMPROMISE PROPOSITIONS OF THE
SOUTHERN CONSPIRATORS--IRRECONCILABLE ATTITUDE OF THE PLOTTERS--HISTORY
OF THE COMPROMISE MEASURES IN CONGRESS--CLARK'S SUBSTITUTE TO CRITTENDEN
RESOLUTIONS IN THE SENATE--ANTHONY'S MORE THAN EQUITABLE PROPOSITIONS
--HIS AFFECTING APPEAL TO STONY HEARTS--THE CONSPIRACY DEVELOPING--SIX
SOUTHERN SENATORS REFUSE TO VOTE AGAINST THE CLARK SUBSTITUTE--ITS
CONSEQUENT ADOPTION, AND DEFEAT OF THE CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS--LYING
TELEGRAMS FROM CONSPIRING SENATORS TO FURTHER INFLAME REBELLION
--SAULSBURY'S AFTER-STATEMENT (1862) AS TO CAUSES OF FAILURE OF
CRITTENDEN'S COMPROMISE--LATHAM'S GRAPHIC PROOF OF THE CONSPIRATORS'
"DELIBERATE, WILFUL DESIGN" TO KILL COMPROMISE--ANDREW JOHNSON'S
EVIDENCE AS TO THEIR ULTIMATE OBJECT "PLACE AND EMOLUMENT FOR
THEMSELVES"--"THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT IN THE HANDS OF THE FEW"
--THE CORWIN COMPROMISE RESOLUTION IN THE HOUSE--THE BURCH AMENDMENT
--KELLOGG'S PROPOSITION--THE CLEMENS SUBSTITUTE--PASSAGE BY THE HOUSE OF
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROHIBITING CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE WITH
SLAVERY WHERE IT EXISTS--ITS ADOPTION BY THE SENATE--THE CLARK
SUBSTITUTE RECONSIDERED AND DEFEATED--PROPOSITIONS OF THE PEACE CONGRESS
LOST--REJECTION OF THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE
CHAPTER IX.
SLAVERY'S SETTING AND FREEDOM'S DAWN.
THE LAST NIGHT OF THE 36TH CONGRESS--MR. CRITTENDEN'S PATRIOTIC APPEAL
--"THE SADDEST SPECTACLE EVER SEEN"--IMPOTENCY OF THE BETRAYED AND FALLING
STATE--DOUGLAS'S POWERFUL PLEA--PATRIOTISM OF HIMSELF AND SUPPORTERS
--LOGAN SUMMARIZES THE COMPROMISES, AND APPEALS TO PATRIOTISM ABOVE PARTY
--STATESMANLIKE BREADTH OF DOUGLAS, BAKER AND SEWARD--HENRY WINTER DAVIS
ELOQUENTLY CONDENSES "THE SITUATION" IN A NUTSHELL--"THE FIRST FRUITS OF
RECONCILIATION" OFFERED BY THE NORTH, SCORNED BY THE CONSPIRATORS
--WIGFALL AGAIN SPEAKS AS THE MOUTHPIECE OF THE SOUTH--HE RAVES VIOLENTLY
AT THE NORTH--THE SOUTH REJECTS PEACE "EITHER IN THE UNION, OR OUT OF
IT"--THE DAWN OF FREEDOM APPEARS (MARCH 4TH, 1861)--INAUGURATION OF
PRESIDENT LINCOLN--LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURAL--GRANDEUR AND PATHOS OF HIS
PATRIOTIC UTTERANCES--HIS FIRST SLEEPLESS AND PRAYERFUL NIGHT AT THE
WHITE HOUSE--THE MORROW, AND ITS BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT--THE MESSAGE OF
"PEACE AND GOOD WILL" REGARDED AS A "CHALLENGE TO WAR"--PRESIDENT
LINCOLN'S CABINET
CHAPTER X.
THE WAR-DRUM--"ON TO WASHINGTON!"
REBEL COMMISSIONERS AT WASHINGTON ON A "MISSION"--SEWARD "SITS DOWN"
ON THEM--HE REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE "CONFEDERATE STATES"--THE REBEL
COMMISSIONERS "ACCEPT THE GAGE OF BATTLE THUS THROWN DOWN TO THEM"
--ATTEMPT TO PROVISION FORT SUMTER--THE REBELS NOTIFIED--THE FORT AND ITS
SURROUNDINGS--THE FIRST GUN OF SLAVERY FIRED--TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT OF
THE FORT--THE GARRISON, STARVED AND BURNED OUT, EVACUATES, WITH ALL THE
HONORS OF WAR--THE SOUTH CRAZY WITH EXULTATION--TE DEUMS SUNG, SALUTES
FIRED, AND THE REBEL GOVERNMENT SERENADED--"ON TO WASHINGTON!" THE
REBEL CRY--"GRAY JACKETS OVER THE BORDER"--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST
PROCLAMATION AND CALL FOR TROOPS--INSULTING RESPONSES OF GOVERNORS
BURTON, HICKS, LETCHER, ELLIS, MAGOFFIN, HARRIS, JACKSON AND RECTOR
--LOYAL RESPONSES FROM GOVERNORS OF THE FREE STATES--MAGICAL EFFECT OF
THE CALL UPON THE LOYAL NORTH--FEELING IN THE BORDER-STATES--PRESIDENT
LINCOLN'S CLEAR SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION AND ITS PHILOSOPHY--HIS PLAIN
DUTY--THE WAR POWER--THE NATIONAL CAPITAL CUT OFF--EVACUATION OF
HARPER'S FERRY--LOYAL TROOPS TO THE RESCUE--FIGHTING THEIR WAY THROUGH
BALTIMORE--REBEL THREATS--"SCOTT THE ARCH--TRAITOR, AND LINCOLN THE
BEAST"--BUTLER RELIEVES WASHINGTON--THE SECESSION OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH
CAROLINA--SHAMEFUL EVACUATION OF NORFOLK NAVY YARD--SEIZURE OF MINTS AND
ARSENALS--UNION AND REBEL FORCES CONCENTRATING--THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
FORTIFIED--BLOCKADE OF SOUTHERN PORTS--DEATH OF ELLSWORTH--BUTLER
CONFISCATES NEGRO PROPERTY AS "CONTRABAND OF WAR"--A REBEL YARN
CHAPTER XI.
THE CAUSES OF SECESSION.
ABOUNDING EVIDENCES OF CONSPIRACY--MACLAY'S UNPUBLISHED DIARY
1787-1791--PIERCE BUTLER'S FIERCE DENUNCIATION OF THE TARIFF--SOUTH
CAROLINA WILL "LIVE FREE OR DIE GLORIOUS"--JACKSON'S LETTER TO CRAWFORD,
ON TARIFF AND SLAVERY--BENTON'S TESTIMONY--HENRY CLAY'S EVIDENCE--NATHAN
APPLETON'S--A TREASONABLE CAUCUS OF SOUTHERN CONGRESSMEN--ALEXANDER H.
STEPHEN'S EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSES OF SECESSION--WIGFALL'S ADMISSIONS--THE
ONE "REGRETTED" CLAUSE IN THE CONSTITUTION PRECLUDING MONARCHIAL STATES
--ADMISSIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS TO WASHINGTON--ADMISSIONS IN ADDRESS
OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO THE SLAVE-HOLDERS--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STATEMENT IN
SPECIAL MESSAGE OF APRIL 29, 1861--DECLARATIONS OF REBEL COMMISSIONERS,
TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL--HIGH TARIFF AND "NOT SLAVERY" THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE
--PERSONAL LIBERTY BILLS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S DECLARATION OF THE
UNDERLYING CAUSE OF REBELLION--A WAR UPON LABOR AND THE RIGHTS OF THE
PEOPLE--ANDREW JOHNSON ON THE "DELIBERATE DESIGN" FOR A "CHANGE OF
GOVERNMENT"--"TIRED OF FREE GOVERNMENT"--DOUGLAS ON THE "ENORMOUS
CONSPIRACY"--THE REBEL PLOT TO SEIZE THE CAPITOL, AND HOLD IT
--MCDOUGALL'S GRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF THE TREASONABLE CONSPIRACY--YANCEY'S
FAMOUS "SLAUGHTER" LETTER--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S STANDARD OF REVOLT, RAISED
IN 1858--LAMAR'S LETTER TO JEFF. DAVIS (1860)--CAUCUS OF TREASON, AT
WASHINGTON--EVANS'S DISCLOSURES OF THE CAUCUS PROGRAMME OF SECESSION
--CORROBORATING TESTIMONY--YULEE'S CAPTURED LETTER--CAUCUS RESOLUTIONS IN
FULL
CHAPTER XII.
COPPERHEADISM VS. UNION DEMOCRACY.
NORTHERN COMPLICITY WITH TREASON--MAYOR FERNANDO WOOD RECOMMENDS
SECESSION OF NEW YORK CITY--THE REBEL JUNTA AT WASHINGTON INSPIRES HIM
--HE OBEYS ORDERS, BUT SHAKES AT THE KNEES--KEITT BRAGS OF THE "MILLIONS
OF DEMOCRATS IN THE NORTH," FURNISHING A "WALL OF FIRE" AGAINST
COERCION--ATTEMPTED REBEL--SEDUCTION OF NEW JERSEY--THE PRICE-BURNETT
CORRESPONDENCE--SECESSION RESOLUTIONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA DEMOCRACY AT
NATIONAL HALL--LANE OF OREGON "SERVES NOTICE" OF "WAR ENOUGH AT HOME"
FOR REPUBLICANS--"NORTHERN DEMOCRATS NEED NOT CROSS THE BORDER TO FIND
AN ENEMY"--EX-PRESIDENT PIERCE'S CAPTURED TREASONABLE LETTER TO JEFF.
DAVIS--THE "FIGHTING" TO BE "WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS, IN OUR OWN
STREETS"--ATTITUDE OF DOUGLAS, AND THE DOUGLAS DEMOCRACY, AFTER SUMTER
--DOUGLAS CALLS ON MR. LINCOLN AT THE WHITE HOUSE--HE PATRIOTICALLY
SUSTAINS THE UNION--HE RALLIES THE WHOLE NORTH TO STAND BY THE FLAG
--THERE CAN BE "NO NEUTRALS IN THIS WAR; ONLY PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS"
--LAMENTED DEATH OF "THE LITTLE GIANT"--TRIBUTES OF TRUMBULL AND
MCDOUGALL TO HIS MEMORY--LOGAN'S ATTITUDE AT THIS TIME, AND HIS
RELATIONS TO DOUGLAS--THEIR LAST PRIVATE INTERVIEW--DOUGLAS'S INTENTION
TO "JOIN THE ARMY AND FIGHT"--HIS LAST EFFORTS IN CONGRESS
--"CONCILIATION," BEFORE SUMTER--"NO HALF-WAY GROUND" AFTER IT
CHAPTER XIII.
THE STORM OF BATTLE.
THE MILITARY SITUATION--THE GREAT UPRISING--POSITIONS AND NUMBERS OF THE
UNION AND REBEL ARMIES--JOHNSTON EVACUATES HARPER'S FERRY, AND RETREATS
UPON WINCHESTER--PATTERSON'S EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT--HE DISOBEYS GENERAL
SCOTT'S ORDERS TO "ATTACK AND WHIP THE ENEMY"--JOHNSTON CONSEQUENTLY
FREE TO REINFORCE BEAUREGARD AT MANASSAS--FITZ JOHN PORTER'S
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES--MCDOWELL'S ADVANCE UPON
BEAUREGARD--PRELIMINARY BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD--JUNCTION OF JOHNSTON
WITH BEAUREGARD--REBEL PLANS OF ADVANCE AND ATTACK--CHANGE IN MCDOWELL'S
PLANS--GREAT PITCHED-BATTLE OF BULL RUN, OR MANASSAS, INCLUDING THE
SECOND BATTLE AT BLACKBURN'S FORD--VICTORY, AT FIRST, WITH MCDOWELL
--THE CHECK--THE LEISURELY RETREAT--THE PANIC AT, AND NEAR, THE NATIONAL
CAPITAL--THE WAR FULLY INAUGURATED
CHAPTER XIV.
THE COLORED CONTRABAND.
THE KNELL OF SLAVERY--THE "IMPLIED POWERS" OF CONGRESS IN THE
CONSTITUTION--PATRICK HENRY'S PREDICTION--JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S PROPHECY
--JOHN SHERMAN'S NON-INTERFERENCE--WITH-SLAVERY RESOLUTIONS--JOHN Q. ADAMS
ON EMANCIPATION--POWERS OF CONGRESS AND MILITARY COMMANDERS--GENERAL
MCCLELLAN'S WEST VIRGINIA PROCLAMATION OF NONINTERFERENCE WITH SLAVES
--GENERAL BUTLER'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL SCOTT AND SECRETARY
CAMERON--CAMERON'S REPLY--MILITARY TENDERNESS FOR THE DOOMED
INSTITUTION--CONGRESS, AFTER BULL RUN--CONFISCATION, AND EMANCIPATION,
OF SLAVES USED TO AID REBELLION--RINGING WORDS OF TRUMBULL, WILSON,
MCDOUGALL, AND TEN EYCK, IN THE SENATE--ROMAN COURAGE OF THE HOUSE
--CRITTENDEN'S STATEMENTS--WAR RESOLUTIONS--BRECKINRIDGE'S TREASONABLE
SPEECH UPON "THE SANCTITY" OF THE CONSTITUTION--BAKER'S GLORIOUS REPLY
--HIS MATCHLESS APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM--HIS SELF-SACRIFICING DEVOTION AND
HEROIC DEATH AT BALL'S BLUFF
CHAPTER XV.
FREEDOM'S EARLY DAWN.
THADDEUS STEVENS'S STARTLING UTTERANCES--CAPTURED SLAVES MUST BE FREE
FOREVER--"NO TRUCES WITH THE REBELS"--HIS PROPHECY AS TO ARMING SLAVES
TO FIGHT REBELLION--SECRETARY CAMERON'S LETTER TOUCHING FUGITIVES FROM
SERVICE--GENERAL FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION OF CONFISCATION AND
EMANCIPATION--ITS EFFECT NORTH AND SOUTH--JEFF. THOMPSON'S SAVAGE
PROCLAMATION OF RETALIATION--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S EMBARRASSMENT--HE
PRIVATELY SUGGESTS TO FREMONT CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS--FREMONT DEFENDS HIS
COURSE--"STRONG AND VIGOROUS MEASURES NECESSARY TO SUCCESS"--THE
PRESIDENT PUBLICLY ORDERS THE MODIFICATION OF FREMONT'S PROCLAMATION
--THE MILITARY MIND GREATLY CONFUSED--GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY THE
WAR DEPARTMENT--GENERAL T. W. SHERMAN'S PORT ROYAL PROCLAMATION--GENERAL
WOOL'S SPECIAL AND GENERAL ORDERS AS TO EMPLOYMENT OF "CONTRABANDS"
--GENERAL DIX'S PROCLAMATION FOR REPULSION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES FROM HIS
LINES--HALLECK ORDERS EXPULSION AS WELL AS REPULSION--HIS LETTER OF
EXPLANATION TO FRANK P. BLAIR--SEWARD'S LETTER TO MCCLELLAN ON
"CONTRABANDS" IN THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA
CHAPTER XVI.
"COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION."
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ATTITUDE--SACRIFICES OF PATRIOTISM--ASSERTION BY
CONGRESS OF ITS EMANCIPATING WAR-POWERS--THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM SLOWLY
"MARCHING ON"--ABANDONED SLAVES OF BEAUFORT, S. C.--SECRETARY CAMERON
FAVORS ARMING THEM--THE PRESIDENT'S CAUTIOUS ADVANCES--HE MODIFIES
CAMERON'S REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT--THE MILITARY MIND, ALL "AT
SEA"--COMMANDERS GUIDED BY POLITICAL BIAS--HALLECK'S ST. LOUIS
PROCLAMATION, 1862--BUELL'S LETTER--CONTRARY ACTION OF DIX AND HALLECK,
BUELL AND HOOKER, FREMONT AND DOUBLEDAY--LINCOLN'S MIDDLE COURSE--HE
PROPOSES TO CONGRESS, COMPENSATED GRADUAL EMANCIPATION--INTERVIEW
BETWEEN MR. LINCOLN AND THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES--INTERESTING
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT--MR. LINCOLN BETWEEN TWO FIRES--VIEWS, ON
COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION, OF MESSRS. NOELL, CRISFIELD, MENZIES,
WICKLIFFE, AND HALL--ROSCOE CONKLING'S JOINT RESOLUTION, ADOPTED BY BOTH
HOUSES--HOOKER'S "CAMP BAKER" ORDER--MARYLAND FUGITIVE--SLAVE HUNTERS
PERMITTED TO SEARCH THE CAMP--UNION SOLDIERS ENRAGED--SICKLES ORDERS THE
SLAVE HUNTERS OFF--DOUBLEDAY'S DISPATCH AS TO "ALL NEGROES" ENTERING HIS
LINES--TO BE "TREATED AS PERSONS, NOT AS CHATTELS"
CHAPTER XVII.
BORDER--STATE OPPOSITION.
APPOINTMENT OF A SELECT COMMITTEE, IN HOUSE, ON GRADUAL EMANCIPATION
--DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EMANCIPATION ACT--THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE
OF APPROVAL--GEN. HUNTER'S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION--PRESIDENT LINCOLN
PROMPTLY RESCINDS IT BY PROCLAMATION--HIS SOLEMN AND IMPASSIONED APPEAL
TO PEOPLE OF THE BORDER-STATES--HE BEGS THEIR CONSIDERATION OF GRADUAL
COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION--GEN. WILLIAMS'S ORDER EXPELLING RUNAWAY
NEGROES FROM CAMP, AT BATON ROUGE--LIEUT.-COL. ANTHONY'S ORDER EXCLUDING
FUGITIVE-SLAVE HUNTERS FROM "CAMP ETHERIDGE"--GEN. MCCLELLAN'S FAMOUS
"HARRISON'S LANDING LETTER" TO THE PRESIDENT--"FORCIBLE ABOLITION OF
SLAVERY" AND "A CIVIL AND MILITARY POLICY"--SLAVEHOLDING BORDER-STATE
SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AT THE WHITE HOUSE--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S
ADDRESS TO THEM, JULY, 1862--GRADUAL EMANCIPATION THE THEME
--COMPENSATION AND COLONIZATION TO ACCOMPANY IT--THE ABOLITION PRESSURE
UPON THE PRESIDENT INCREASING--HE BEGS THE BORDER STATESMEN TO RELIEVE
HIM AND THE COUNTRY IN ITS PERIL--THEIR VARIOUS RESPONSES
CHAPTER XVIII.
FREEDOM PROCLAIMED TO ALL.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PERSONAL APPEAL TO COLORED FREEMEN--HE BEGS THEM TO
HELP IN THE COLONIZATION OF THEIR RACE--PROPOSED AFRICAN COLONY IN
CENTRAL AMERICA--EXECUTIVE ORDER OF JULY 2, 1862--EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES
FOR MILITARY PURPOSES OF THE UNION--JEFF. DAVIS RETALIATES--MCCLELLAN
PROMULGATES THE EXECUTIVE ORDER WITH ADDENDA OF HIS OWN--HORACE
GREELEY'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN--THE LATTER ACCUSED OF
"SUBSERVIENCY" TO THE SLAVE HOLDERS--AN "UNGRUDGING EXECUTION OF THE
CONFISCATION ACT" DEMANDED--MR. LINCOLN'S FAMOUS REPLY--HIS "PARAMOUNT
OBJECT, TO SAVE THE UNION, AND NOT EITHER TO SAVE OR DESTROY SLAVERY"
--VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE OF A RELIGIOUS DEPUTATION FROM CHICAGO
--MEMORIAL ASKING FOR IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION, BY PROCLAMATION--THE
PRESIDENT'S REPLY TO THE DEPUTATION--"THE POPE'S BULL AGAINST THE
COMET"--VARIOUS OBJECTIONS STATED TENTATIVELY--"A PROCLAMATION OF
LIBERTY TO THE SLAVES" IS "UNDER ADVISEMENT"--THE PROCLAMATION OF
EMANCIPATION ISSUED--ITS POPULAR RECEPTION--MEETING OF LOYAL GOVERNORS
AT ALTOONA--THEIR STIRRING ADDRESS--HOMAGE TO OUR SOLDIERS--PLEDGED
SUPPORT FOR VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR TO TRIUMPHANT END--PRESIDENT
LINCOLN'S HISTORICAL RESUME AND DEFENSE OF EMANCIPATION--HE SUGGESTS TO
CONGRESS, PAYMENT FOR SLAVES AT ONCE EMANCIPATED BY BORDER STATES
--ACTION OF THE HOUSE, ON RESOLUTIONS SEVERALLY REPREHENDING AND ENDORSING
THE PROCLAMATION--SUPPLEMENTAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OF JAN. 1, 1863
CHAPTER XIX.
HISTORICAL REVIEW.
COURSE OF SOUTHERN OLIGARCHS THROUGHOUT--THEIR EVERLASTING GREED AND
RAPACITY--BROKEN COVENANTS AND AGGRESSIVE METHODS--THEIR UNIFORM GAINS
UNTIL 1861--UPS AND DOWNS OF THE TARIFF--FREE TRADE, SLAVERY,
STATES-RIGHTS, SECESSION, ALL PARTS OF ONE CONSPIRACY--"INDEPENDENCE"
THE FIRST OBJECT OF THE WAR--DREAMS, AMBITIONS, AND PLANS OF THE
CONSPIRATORS--LINCOLN'S FAITH IN NORTHERN NUMBERS AND ENDURANCE--"RIGHT
MAKES MIGHT"--THE SOUTH SOLIDLY-CEMENTED BY BLOOD--THE 37TH CONGRESS
--ITS WAR MEASURES--PAVING THE WAY TO DOWNFALL OF SLAVERY AND REBELLION
CHAPTER XX.
LINCOLN'S TROUBLES AND TEMPTATIONS.
INTERFERENCE WITH SLAVERY FORCED BY THE WAR--EDWARD EVERETT'S OPINION
--BORDER-STATES DISTRUST OF LINCOLN--IMPOSSIBILITY OF SATISFYING THEIR
REPRESENTATIVES--THEIR JEALOUS SUSPICIONS AND CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
--PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OF KINDLY WARNING--STORMY CONTENTION IN CONGRESS
--CRITTENDEN'S ARGUMENT ON "PROPERTY" IN MAN--BORDER--STATES "BID" FOR
MR. LINCOLN--THE "NICHE IN THE TEMPLE OF FAME" OFFERED HIM--LOVEJOY'S
ELOQUENT COUNTERBLAST--SUMNER (JUNE, 1862,) ON LINCOLN AND EMANCIPATION
--THE PRESIDENT HARRIED AND WORRIED--SNUBBED BY BORDER STATESMEN
--MCCLELLAN'S THREAT--ARMY-MISMANAGEMENT--ARMING THE BLACKS--HOW THE
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS WRITTEN--CABINET SUGGESTIONS--MILITARY
SITUATION--REBEL ADVANCE NORTHWARD--LINCOLN, AND THE BREAST-WORKS
--WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE MENACED--ANTIETAM, AND THE FIAT OF FREEDOM
--BORDER-STATE DENUNCIATION--KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, ETC.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE ARMED--NEGRO.
"WHO WOULD BE FREE, HIMSELF MUST STRIKE THE BLOW!"--THE COLORED TROOPS
AT PORT HUDSON--THEIR HEROISM--STIRRING INCIDENTS--AT MILLIKEN'S BEND
--AT FORT WAGNER--AT PETERSBURG AND ABOUT RICHMOND--THE REBEL CONSPIRATORS
FURIOUS--OUTLAWRY OF GENERAL BUTLER, ETC.--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S MESSAGE TO
THE REBEL CONGRESS--ATROCIOUS, COLD-BLOODED RESOLUTIONS OF THAT BODY
--DEATH OR SLAVERY TO THE ARMED FREEMAN--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S RETALIATORY
ORDER--THE BLOODY BUTCHERY AT FORT PILLOW--SAVAGE MALIGNITY OF THE REBELS
--A COMMON ERROR, CORRECTED--ARMING OF NEGROES COMMENCED BY THE REBELS
--SIMILAR SCHEME OF A REVOLUTIONARY HERO, IN 1778--REBEL CONGRESSIONAL ACT,
CONSCRIPTING NEGROES--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S POSITION--GENERAL LEE'S LETTER
TO BARKSDALE ON THE SUBJECT
CHAPTER XXII.
FREEDOM'S SUN STILL RISING.
DEFINITE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION, ON EMANCIPATION, GERMINATING--GLORIOUS
NEWS FROM THE WEST AND EAST--FALL OF VICKSBURG--GETTYSBURG--LINCOLN'S
GETTYSBURG ORATION--THE DRAFT--THE REBEL "FIRE IN THE REAR"--DRAFT RIOTS
IN NEW YORK--LINCOLN'S LETTER, AUGUST, 1863, ON THE SITUATION
--CHATTANOOGA--THE CHEERING FALL-ELECTIONS--VALLANDIGHAM'S DEFEAT
--EMANCIPATION AS A "POLITICAL" MEASURE--"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" REPORTED
IN THE SENATE--THADDEUS STEVENS'S RESOLUTIONS, AND TEST VOTE IN THE
HOUSE--LOVEJOY'S DEATH--ELOQUENT TRIBUTES OF ARNOLD, WASHBURNE,
GRINNELL, THADDEUS STEVENS, AND SUMNER
CHAPTER XXIII.
"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" IN THE SENATE.
GREAT DEBATE IN THE U. S. SENATE, ON EMANCIPATION--THE WHOLE VILLANOUS
HISTORY OF SLAVERY, LAID BARE--SPEECHES OF TRUMBULL, HENRY WILSON,
HARLAN, SHERMAN, CLARK, HALL, HENDERSON, SUMNER, REVERDY JOHNSON,
MCDOUGALL, SAULSBURY, GARRETT DAVIS, POWELL, AND HENDRICKS--BRILLIANT
ARRAIGNMENT AND DEFENSE OF "THE INSTITUTION"--U. S. GRANT, NOW "GENERAL
IN CHIEF"--HIS PLANS PERFECTED, HE GOES TO THE VIRGINIA FRONT--MR.
LINCOLN'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT--BORDER--STATE
OBSTRUCTIVE MOTIONS, AMENDMENTS, AND SUBSTITUTES, ALL VOTED DOWN--MR.
LINCOLN'S LETTER TO HODGES, OF KENTUCKY, REVIEWING EMANCIPATION AS A WAR
MEASURE--THE DECISIVE FIELD-DAY (APRIL 8, 1864)--THE DEBATE ABLY CLOSED
--THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PASSED BY THE SENATE
CHAPTER XXIV.
TREASON IN THE NORTHERN CAMPS.
EMANCIPATION TEST--VOTES IN THE HOUSE--ARNOLD'S RESOLUTION--BLUE
PROSPECTS FOR THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT--LINCOLN'S ANXIETY--CONGRESSIONAL
COPPERHEADS--THINLY-DISGUISED TREASON--SPEECHES OF VOORHEES, WASHBURNE,
AND KELLEY--SPRINGFIELD COPPERHEAD PEACE-CONVENTION--"THE UNION AS IT
WAS"--PEACE ON ANY TERMS--VALLANDIGHAM'S LIEUTENANTS--ATTITUDE OF COX,
DAVIS, SAULSBURY, WOOD, LONG, ALLEN, HOLMAN, AND OTHERS--NORTHERN
ENCOURAGEMENT TO REBELS--CONSEQUENT SECOND INVASION, OF THE NORTH, BY
LEE--500,000 TREASONABLE NORTHERN "SONS OF LIBERTY"--RITUAL AND OATHS OF
THE "K. G. C." AND "O. A. K."--COPPERHEAD EFFORTS TO SPLIT THE NORTH
AND WEST, ON TARIFF-ISSUES--SPALDING AND THAD. STEVENS DENOUNCE
TREASON-BREEDING COPPERHEADS
CHAPTER XXV.
THE "FIRE IN THE REAR."
THE REBEL MANDATE--"AGITATE THE NORTH!"--OBEDIENT COPPERHEADS--THEIR
DENUNCIATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT--BROOKS, FERNANDO WOOD, AND WHITE, ON
THE "FOLLY" OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION--EDGERTON'S PEACE RESOLUTIONS
--ECKLEY, ON COPPERHEAD MALIGNITY--ALEXANDER LONG GOES "A BOW-SHOT BEYOND
THEM ALL"--HE PROPOSES THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE
--GARFIELD ELOQUENTLY DENOUNCES LONG'S TREASON--LONG DEFIANTLY REITERATES
IT--SPEAKER COLFAX OFFERS A RESOLUTION TO EXPEL LONG--COX AND JULIAN'S
VERBAL DUEL--HARRIS'S TREASONABLE BID FOR EXPULSION--EXTRAORDINARY SCENE
IN THE HOUSE--FERNANDO WOOD'S BID--HE SUBSEQUENTLY "WEAKENS"--EXCITING
DEBATE--LONG AND HARRIS VOTED "UNWORTHY MEMBERS" OF THE HOUSE
CHAPTER XXVI.
"THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT" DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE.
GLANCE AT THE MILITARY SITUATION--"BEGINNING OF THE END"--THE
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT--HOLMAN "OBJECTS" TO "SECOND READING"--KELLOGG
SCORES THE COPPERHEAD-DEMOCRACY--CONTINUOUS "FIRE IN THE REAR" IN BOTH
HOUSES--THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT ATTACKED--THE ADMINISTRATION ATTACKED
--THE TARIFF ATTACKED--SPEECHES OF GARRETT DAVIS, AND COX
--PEACE-RESOLUTIONS OF LAZEAR AND DAVIS--GRINNELL AND STEVENS, SCORE COX
AND WOOD--HENDRICKS ON THE DRAFT--"ON" TO RICHMOND AND ATLANTA--VIOLENT
DIATRIBES OF WOOD, AND HOLMAN--FARNSWORTH'S REPLY TO ROSS, PRUYN, AND
OTHERS--ARNOLD, ON THE ETHICS OF SLAVERY--INGERSOLL'S ELOQUENT BURST
--RANDALL, ROLLINS, AND PENDLETON, CLOSING THE DEBATE--THE THIRTEENTH
AMENDMENT DEFEATED--ASHLEY'S MOTION TO RECONSIDER--CONGRESS ADJOURNS
CHAPTER XXVII.
SLAVERY DOOMED AT THE POLLS.
THE ISSUE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND SLAVERY--MR. LINCOLN'S RENOMINATION
--ENDORSED, AT ALL POINTS, BY HIS PARTY--HIS FAITH IN THE PEOPLE--HORATIO
SEYMOUR'S COPPERHEAD DECLARATIONS--THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY DECLARE THE
WAR "A FAILURE"--THEIR COPPERHEAD PLATFORM, AND UNION CANDIDATE
--MCCLELLAN THEIR NOMINEE--VICTORIES AT ATLANTA AND MOBILE--FREMONT'S
THIRD PARTY--SUCCESSES OF GRANT AND SHERIDAN--DEATH OF CHIEF-JUSTICE
TANEY--MARYLAND BECOMES "FREE"--MORE UNION VICTORIES--REPUBLICAN
"TIDAL-WAVE" SUCCESS--LINCOLN RE-ELECTED--HIS SERENADE-SPEECHES--AMAZING
CONGRESSIONAL-RETURNS--THE DEATH OF SLAVERY INSURED--IT BECOMES SIMPLY A
MATTER OF TIME
CHAPTER XXVIII.
FREEDOM AT LAST ASSURED.
THE WINTER OF 1864--THE MILITARY SITUATION--THE "MARCH TO THE SEA"
--THOMAS AND HOOD--LOGAN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT--VICTORIES OF
NASHVILLE AND SAVANNAH--MR. LINCOLN'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, ON THIRTEENTH
AMENDMENT--CONGRESSIONAL RECESS--PRESIDENT LINCOLN STILL WORKING WITH,
THE BORDER-STATE REPRESENTATIVES--ROLLINS'S INTERVIEW WITH HIM--THE
THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT UP, IN THE HOUSE, AGAIN--VIGOROUS AND ELOQUENT
DEBATE--SPEECHES OF COX, BROOKS, VOORHEES, MALLORY, HOLMAN, WOOD, AND
PENDLETON, AGAINST THE AMENDMENT--SPEECHES OF CRESWELL, SCOFIELD,
ROLLINS, GARFIELD, AND STEVENS, FOR IT--RECONSIDERATION OF ADVERSE VOTE
--THE AMENDMENT ADOPTED--EXCITING SCENE IN THE HOUSE--THE GRAND SALUTE TO
LIBERTY--SERENADE TO MR. LINCOLN--"THIS ENDS THE JOB"
CHAPTER XXIX.
LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.
REBELLION ON ITS "LAST LEGS"--PEACE COMMISSIONS AND PROPOSITIONS
--EFFORTS OF GREELEY, JACQUES, GILMORE, AND BLAIR--LINCOLN'S ADVANCES
--JEFFERSON DAVIS'S DEFIANT MESSAGE TO HIM--THE PRESIDENT AND THE REBEL
COMMISSIONERS AT HAMPTON ROADS--VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, OF THE SECRET
CONFERENCE, BY PARTICIPANTS THE PROPOSITIONS ON BOTH SIDES--FAILURE
--THE MILITARY OUTLOOK--THE REBEL CAUSE DESPERATE--REBEL DESERTIONS
--"MILITARY" PEACE-CONVENTION PROPOSED BY REBELS--DECLINED--CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN GRANT AND LEE, ETC.--THE SECOND INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT
LINCOLN--A STRANGE OMEN--HIS IMMORTAL SECOND-INAUGURAL
CHAPTER XXX.
COLLAPSE OF THE ARMED CONSPIRACY.
PROGRESS OF THE WAR--CAMPAIGN OF THE CAROLINAS, 1865--MEETING, AT CITY
POINT, OF LINCOLN, GRANT, AND SHERMAN--SHERMAN'S ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED
--GRANT NOW FEELS "LIKE ENDING THE MATTER"--THE BATTLES OF DINWIDDIE
COURT HOUSE AND FIVE FORKS--UNION ASSAULT ON THE PETERSBURG WORKS--UNION
VICTORY EVERYWHERE--PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND EVACUATED--LEE'S RETREAT CUT
OFF BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK--GRANT ASKS LEE TO SURRENDER--LEE DELAYS
--SHERIDAN CATCHES HIM, AND HIS ARMY, IN A TRAP--THE REBELS SURRENDER, AT
APPOMATTOX--GRANT'S GENEROUS AND MAGNANIMOUS TERMS--THE STARVING REBELS
FED WITH UNION RATIONS--SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON'S ARMY--OTHER REBEL FORCES
SURRENDER--THE REBELLION STAMPED OUT--CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS--THE
REBELS "YIELD EVERYTHING THEY HAD FOUGHT FOR"--THEY CRAVE PARDON AND
OBLIVION FOR THEIR OFFENCES
CHAPTER XXXI.
ASSASSINATION!
PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT RICHMOND--HIS RECEPTIONS AT JEFFERSON DAVIS'S
MANSION--RETURN TO WASHINGTON--THE NEWS OF LEE'S SURRENDER--LINCOLN'S
LAST PUBLIC SPEECH--HIS THEME, "RECONSTRUCTION"--GRANT ARRIVES AT THE
NATIONAL CAPITAL--PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LAST CABINET MEETING--HIS FOND
HOPES OF THE FUTURE--AN UNHEEDED PRESENTIMENT--AT FORD'S THEATRE--THE
LAST ACCLAMATION OF THE PEOPLE--THE PISTOL SHOT THAT HORRIFIED THE
WORLD--SCULKING, RED HANDED TREASON--THE ASSASSINATION PLOT-COMPLICITY
OF THE REBEL AUTHORITIES, BELIEVED BY THE BEST INFORMED MEN--TESTIMONY
AS TO THREE ATTEMPTS TO KILL LINCOLN--THE CHIEF REBEL-CONSPIRATORS
"RECEIVE PROPOSITIONS TO ASSASSINATE"--A NATION'S WRATH--ANDREW
JOHNSON'S VEHEMENT ASSEVERATIONS--"TREASON MUST BE MADE ODIOUS"
--RECONSTRUCTION
CHAPTER XXXII.
TURNING BACK THE HANDS
"RECONSTRUCTION" OF THE SOUTH--MEMORIES OF THE WAR, DYING OUT--THE
FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH AMENDMENTS--THE SOUTHERN STATES REHABILITATED
BY ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENTS, ETC.--REMOVAL OF REBEL DISABILITIES
--CLEMENCY OF THE CONQUERORS--THE OLD CONSPIRATORS HATCH A NEW CONSPIRACY
--THE "LOST CAUSE" TO BE REGAINED--THE MISSISSIPPI SHOT-GUN PLAN--FRAUD,
BARBARITY, AND MURDERS, EFFECT THE PURPOSE--THE "SOUTH" CEMENTED "SOLID"
BY BLOOD--PEONAGE REPLACES SLAVERY--THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876
--THE TILDEN "BARREL," AND "CIPHER DISPATCHES"--THE "FRAUD" CRY--THE OLD
LEADERS DICTATE THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE OF 1880--THEIR
FREE-TRADE ISSUE TO THE FRONT AGAIN--SUCCESSIVE DEMOCRATIC EFFORTS TO FORCE
FREE-TRADE THROUGH THE HOUSE, SINCE REBELLION--EFFECT OF SUCH EFFORTS
--REPUBLICAN MODIFICATIONS OF THEIR OWN PROTECTIVE TARIFF--THE "SOLID
SOUTH" SUCCEEDS, AT LAST, IN "ELECTING" ITS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
--IS THIS STILL A REPUBLIC, OR IS IT AN OLIGARCHY?
CHAPTER XXXIII.
WHAT NEXT?
THE PRESENT OUTLOOK--COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS, BRIGHT--WHAT THE PEOPLE OF
THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN STATES SEE--WHAT IS A "REPUBLICAN FORM OF
GOVERNMENT?"--WHAT DID THE FATHERS MEAN BY IT--THE REASON FOR THE
GUARANTEE IN THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION--PURPOSES OF "THE PEOPLE" IN
CREATING THIS REPUBLIC--THE "SOLID-SOUTHERN" OLIGARCHS DEFEAT THOSE
PURPOSES--THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOT BLAMELESS FOR THE PRESENT CONDITION
OF THINGS--THE OLD REBEL-CHIEFTAINS AND COPPERHEADS, IN CONTROL--THEY
GRASP ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT WAS LOST BY THE REBELLION--THEIR GROWING
AGGRESSIVENESS--THE FUTURE--"WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT?"
PORTRAITS.
MAPS.
SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA.
FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD.
FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE-FIELD, SHOWING POSITION OF ARMIES.
EDWARD D. BAKER,
BENJ. F. BUTLER,
J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,
JOHN C. CALHOUN,
HENRY CLAY,
J. J. CRITTENDEN,
HENRY WINTER DAVIS,
JEFFERSON DAVIS,
SIMON CAMERON,
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,
JOHN C. FREMONT,
H. W. HALLECK,
ISAAC W. HAYNE,
PATRICK HENRY,
DAVID HUNTER,
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,
THAD. STEVENS,
WM. H. SEWARD,
LYMAN TRUMBULL,
BENJ. F. WADE,
DANIEL WEBSTER,
LOUIS T. WIGFALL.
CHAPTER I.
A PRELIMINARY RETROSPECT.
To properly understand the condition of things preceding the great war
of the Rebellion, and the causes underlying that condition and the war
itself, we must glance backward through the history of the Country to,
and even beyond, that memorable 30th of November, 1782, when the
Independence of the United States of America was at last conceded by
Great Britain. At that time the population of the United States was
about 2,500,000 free whites and some 500,000 black slaves. We had
gained our Independence of the Mother Country, but she had left fastened
upon us the curse of Slavery. Indeed African Slavery had already in
1620 been implanted on the soil of Virginia before Plymouth Rock was
pressed by the feet of the Pilgrim Fathers, and had spread, prior to the
Revolution, with greater or less rapidity, according to the surrounding
adaptations of soil, production and climate, to every one of the
thirteen Colonies.
But while it had thus spread more or less throughout all the original
Colonies, and was, as it were, recognized and acquiesced in by all, as
an existing and established institution, yet there were many, both in
the South and North, who looked upon it as an evil--an inherited evil
--and were anxious to prevent the increase of that evil. Hence it was
that even as far back as 1699, a controversy sprang up between the
Colonies and the Home Government, upon the African Slavery question
--a controversy continuing with more or less vehemence down to the
Declaration of Independence itself.
It was this conviction that it was not alone an evil but a dangerous
evil, that induced Jefferson to embody in his original draft of that
Declaration a clause strongly condemnatory of the African Slave Trade--a
clause afterward omitted from it solely, he tells us, "in complaisance
to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never* attempted to restrain the
importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to
continue it," as well as in deference to the sensitiveness of Northern
people, who, though having few slaves themselves, "had been pretty
considerable carriers of them to others" a clause of the great
indictment of King George III., which, since it was not omitted for any
other reason than that just given, shows pretty conclusively that where
the fathers in that Declaration affirmed that "all men are created
equal," they included in the term "men," black as well as white, bond as
well as free; for the clause ran thus: "Determined to keep open a market
where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for
suppressing every Legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this
execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no
fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise
in arms among us, and purchase that liberty of which he has deprived
them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them; thus paying
of former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of our people with
crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another."
[Prior to 1752, when Georgia surrendered her charter and became a
Royal Colony, the holding of slaves within its limits was expressly
prohibited by law; and the Darien (Ga.) resolutions of 1775
declared not only a "disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural
practice of Slavery in America" as "a practice founded in injustice
and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our Liberties (as well as
lives) but a determination to use our utmost efforts for the
manumission of our slaves in this colony upon the most safe and
equitable footing for the masters and themselves."]
During the war of the Revolution following the Declaration of
Independence, the half a million of slaves, nearly all of them in the
Southern States, were found to be not only a source of weakness, but,
through the incitements of British emissaries, a standing menace of
peril to the Slaveholders. Thus it was that the South was overrun by
hostile British armies, while in the North-comparatively free of this
element of weakness--disaster after disaster met them. At last,
however, in 1782, came the recognition of our Independence, and peace,
followed by the evacuation of New York at the close of 1783.
The lessons of the war, touching Slavery, had not been lost upon our
statesmen. Early in 1784 Virginia ceded to the United States her claims
of jurisdiction and otherwise over the vast territory north-west of the
Ohio; and upon its acceptance, Jefferson, as chairman of a Select
Committee appointed at his instance to consider a plan of government
therefor, reported to the ninth Continental Congress an Ordinance to
govern the territory ceded already, or to be ceded, by individual States
to the United States, extending from the 31st to the 47th degree of
north latitude, which provided as "fundamental conditions between the
thirteen original States and those newly described" as embryo States
thereafter--to be carved out of such territory ceded or to be ceded to
the United States, not only that "they shall forever remain a part of
the United States of America," but also that "after the year 1800 of the
Christian era, there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude
in any of the said States"--and that those fundamental conditions were
"unalterable but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress
assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration
is proposed to be made."
But now a signal misfortune befell. Upon a motion to strike out the
clause prohibiting Slavery, six States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, voted to retain
the prohibitive clause, while three States, Maryland, Virginia and South
Carolina, voted not to retain it. The vote of North Carolina was
equally divided; and while one of the Delegates from New Jersey voted to
retain it, yet as there was no other delegate present from that State,
and the Articles of Confederation required the presence of "two or more"
delegates to cast the vote of a State, the vote of New Jersey was lost;
and, as the same Articles required an affirmative vote of a majority of
all the States--and not simply of those present--the retention of the
clause prohibiting Slavery was also lost. Thus was lost the great
opportunity of restricting Slavery to the then existing Slave States,
and of settling the question peaceably for all time. Three years
afterward a similar Ordinance, since become famous as "the Ordinance of
'87," for the government of the North-west Territory (from which the
Free States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have
since been carved and admitted to the Union) was adopted in Congress by
the unanimous vote of all the eight States present. And the sixth
article of this Ordinance, or "Articles of Compact," which it was
stipulated should "forever remain unalterable, unless by common
consent," was in these words:
"Art. 6. There shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in
the said Territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted; provided always that any person
escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in
any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed,
and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor, or service, as
aforesaid."
But this Ordinance of '87, adopted almost simultaneously with the
framing of our present Federal Constitution, was essentially different
from the Ordinance of three years previous, in this: that while the
latter included the territory south of the Ohio River as well as that
north-west of it, this did not; and as a direct consequence of this
failure to include in it the territory south of that river, the States
of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, which were taken out of it, were
subsequently admitted to the Union as Slave States, and thus greatly
augmented their political power. And at a later period it was this
increased political power that secured the admission of still other
Slave States--as Florida, Louisiana and Texas--which enabled the Slave
States to hold the balance of such power as against the original States
that had become Free, and the new Free States of the North-west.
Hence, while in a measure quieting the great question of Slavery for the
time being, the Ordinance of '87 in reality laid the ground-work for the
long series of irritations and agitations touching its restrictions and
extension, which eventually culminated in the clash of arms that shook
the Union from its centre to its circumference. Meanwhile, as we have
seen--while the Ordinance of 1787 was being enacted in the last Congress
of the old Confederation at New York--the Convention to frame the
present Constitution was sitting at Philadelphia under the Presidency of
George Washington himself. The old Confederation had proved itself to
be "a rope of sand." A new and stronger form of government had become a
necessity for National existence.
To create it out of the discordant elements whose harmony was essential
to success, was an herculean task, requiring the utmost forbearance,
unselfishness, and wisdom. And of all the great questions, dividing the
framers of that Constitution, perhaps none of them required a higher
degree of self abnegation and patriotism than those touching human
Slavery.
The situation was one of extreme delicacy. The necessity for a closer
and stronger Union of all the States was apparently absolute, yet this
very necessity seemed to place a whip in the hands of a few States, with
which to coerce the greater number of States to do their bidding. It
seemed that the majority must yield to a small minority on even vital
questions, or lose everything.
Thus it was, that instead of an immediate interdiction of the African
Slave Trade, Congress was empowered to prohibit it after the lapse of
twenty years; that instead of the basis of Congressional Representation
being the total population of each State, and that of direct taxation
the total property of each State, a middle ground was conceded, which
regarded the Slaves as both persons and property, and the basis both of
Representation and of Direct Taxation was fixed as being the total Free
population "plus three-fifths of all other persons" in each State; and
that there was inserted in the Constitution a similar clause to that
which we have seen was almost simultaneously incorporated in the
Ordinance of '87, touching the reclamation and return to their owners of
Fugitive Slaves from the Free States into which they may have escaped.
The fact of the matter is, that the Convention that framed our
Constitution lacked the courage of its convictions, and was "bulldozed"
by the few extreme Southern Slave-holding States--South Carolina and
Georgia especially. It actually paltered with those convictions and
with the truth itself. Its convictions--those at least of a great
majority of its delegates--were against not only the spread, but the
very existence of Slavery; yet we have seen what they unwillingly agreed
to in spite of those convictions; and they were guilty moreover of the
subterfuge of using the terms "persons" and "service or labor" when they
really meant "Slaves" and "Slavery." "They did this latter," Mr.
Madison says, "because they did not choose to admit the right of
property in man," and yet in fixing the basis of Direct Taxation as well
as Congressional Representation at the total Free population of each
State with "three-fifths of all other persons," they did admit the right
of property in man! As was stated by Mr. Iredell to the North Carolina
Ratification Convention, when explaining the Fugitive Slave clause:
"Though the word 'Slave' is not mentioned, this is the meaning of it."
And he added: "The Northern delegates, owing to their peculiar scruples
on the subject of Slavery, did not choose the word 'Slave' to be
mentioned."
In March, 1789, the first Federal Congress met at New York. It at once
enacted a law in accordance with the terms of the Ordinance of '87
--adapting it to the changed order of things under the new Federal
Constitution--prohibiting Slavery in the Territories of the North-west;
and the succeeding Congress enacted a Fugitive-Slave law.
In the same year (1789) North Carolina ceded her western territory (now
Tennessee) south of the Ohio, to the United States, providing as one of
the conditions of that cession, "that no regulation made, or to be made,
by Congress, shall tend to emancipate Slaves." Georgia, also, in 1802,
ceded her superfluous territorial domain (south of the Ohio, and now
known as Alabama and Mississippi), making as a condition of its
acceptance that the Ordinance of '87 "shall, in all its parts, extend to
the territory contained in the present act of cession, the article only
excepted which forbids Slavery."
Thus while the road was open and had been taken advantage of, at the
earliest moment, by the Federal Congress to prohibit Slavery in all the
territory north-west of the Ohio River by Congressional enactment,
Congress considered itself barred by the very conditions of cession from
inhibiting Slavery in the territory lying south of that river. Hence it
was that while the spread of Slavery was prevented in the one Section of
our outlying territories by Congressional legislation, it was stimulated
in the other Section by the enforced absence of such legislation. As a
necessary sequence, out of the Territories of the one Section grew more
Free States and out of the other more Slave States, and this condition
of things had a tendency to array the Free and the Slave States in
opposition to each other and to Sectionalize the flames of that Slavery
agitation which were thus continually fed.
Upon the admission of Ohio to Statehood in 1803, the remainder of the
North-west territory became the Territory of Indiana. The inhabitants
of this Territory (now known as the States of Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan and Wisconsin), consisting largely of settlers from the Slave
States, but chiefly from Virginia and Kentucky, very persistently (in
1803, 1806 and 1807) petitioned Congress for permission to employ Slave
Labor, but--although their petitions were favorably reported in most
cases by the Committees to which they were referred--without avail,
Congress evidently being of opinion that a temporary suspension in this
respect of the sixth article of the Ordinance of '87 was "not
expedient." These frequent rebuffs by Congress, together with the
constantly increasing emigration from the Free States, prevented the
taking of any further steps to implant Slavery on the soil of that
Territory.
Meanwhile the vast territory included within the Valley of the
Mississippi and known at that day as the "Colony of Louisiana," was, in
1803, acquired to the United States by purchase from the French--to whom
it had but lately been retroceded by Spain. Both under Spanish and
French rule, Slavery had existed throughout this vast yet sparsely
populated region. When we acquired it by purchase, it was already
there, as an established "institution;" and the Treaty of acquisition
not only provided that it should be "incorporated into the Union of the
United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the
principles of the Federal Constitution," but that its inhabitants in the
meantime "should be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of
their liberty, property, and the religion which they professed"--and,
as "the right of property in man" had really been admitted in practice,
if not in theory, by the framers of that Constitution itself--that
institution was allowed to remain there. Indeed the sparseness of its
population at the time of purchase and the amazing fertility of its soil
and adaptability of its climate to Slave Labor, together with the then
recent invention by Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, of that wonderful
improvement in the separation of cotton-fibre from its seed, known as
the "cotton-gin"--which with the almost simultaneous inventions of
Hargreaves, and Arkwright's cotton-spinning machines, and Watt's
application of his steam engine, etc., to them, marvelously increased
both the cotton supply and demand and completely revolutionized the
cotton industry--contributed to rapidly and thickly populate the whole
region with white Slave-holders and black Slaves, and to greatly enrich
and increase the power of the former.
When Jefferson succeeded in negotiating the cession of that vast and
rich domain to the United States, it is not to be supposed that either
the allurements of territorial aggrandizement on the one hand, or the
impending danger to the continued ascendency of the political party
which had elevated him to the Presidency, threatening it from all the
irritations with republican France likely to grow out of such near
proximity to her Colony, on the other, could have blinded his eyes to
the fact that its acquisition must inevitably tend to the spread of that
very evil, the contemplation of which, at a later day, wrung from his
lips the prophetic words, "I tremble for my Country when I reflect that
God is just." It is more reasonable to suppose that, as he believed the
ascendency of the Republican party of that day essential to the
perpetuity of the Republic itself, and revolted against being driven
into an armed alliance with Monarchical England against what he termed
"our natural friend," Republican France, he reached the conclusion that
the preservation of his Republican principles was of more immediate
moment than the question of the perpetuation and increase of human
Slavery. Be that as it may, it none the less remains a curious fact
that it was to Jefferson, the far-seeing statesman and hater of African
Slavery and the author of the Ordinance of 1784--which sought to exclude
Slavery from all the Territories of the United States south of, as well
as north-west of the Ohio River--that we also owe the acquisition of the
vast territory of the Mississippi Valley burdened with Slavery in such
shape that only a War, which nearly wrecked our Republic, could get rid
of!
Out of that vast and fertile, but Slave-ridden old French Colony of
"Louisiana" were developed in due time the rich and flourishing Slave
States of Louisiana, Missouri and Arkansas.
It will have been observed that this acquisition of the Colony of
Louisiana and the contemporaneous inventions of the cotton-gin, improved
cotton-spinning machinery, and the application to it of steam power, had
already completely neutralized the wisdom of the Fathers in securing, as
they thought, the gradual but certain extinction of Slavery in the
United States, by that provision in the Constitution which enabled
Congress, after an interval of twenty years, to prohibit the African
Slave Trade; and which led the Congress, on March 22, 1794, to pass an
Act prohibiting it; to supplement it in 1800 with another Act in the
same direction; and on March 2, 1807, to pass another supplemental Act
--to take effect January 1, 1808--still more stringent, and covering any
such illicit traffic, whether to the United States or with other
countries. Never was the adage that, "The best laid schemes o' mice an'
men gang aft agley," more painfully apparent. Slaves increased and
multiplied within the land, and enriched their white owners to such a
degree that, as the years rolled by, instead of compunctions of
conscience on the subject of African Slavery in America, the Southern
leaders ultimately persuaded themselves to the belief that it was not
only moral, and sanctioned by Divine Law, but that to perpetuate it was
a philanthropic duty, beneficial to both races! In fact one of them
declared it to be "the highest type of civilization."
In 1812, the State of Louisiana, organized from the purchased Colony of
the same name, was admitted to the Union, and the balance of the
Louisiana purchase was thereafter known as the Territory of Missouri.
In 1818 commenced the heated and protracted struggle in Congress over
the admission of the State of Missouri--created from the Territory of
that name--as a Slave State, which finally culminated in 1820 in the
settlement known thereafter as the "Missouri Compromise."
Briefly stated, that struggle may be said to have consisted in the
efforts of the House on the one side, to restrict Slavery in the State
of Missouri, and the efforts of the Senate on the other, to give it free
rein. The House insisted on a clause in the Act of admission providing,
"That the introduction of Slavery or involuntary servitude be
prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party has
been duly convicted; and that all children born within the said State,
after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared Free at
the age of twenty-five years." The Senate resisted it--and the Bill
fell. In the meantime, however, a Bill passed both Houses forming the
Territory of Arkansas out of that portion of the Territory of Missouri
not included in the proposed State of Missouri, without any such
restriction upon Slavery. Subsequently, the House having passed a Bill
to admit the State of Maine to the Union, the Senate amended it by
tacking on a provision authorizing the people of Missouri to organize a
State Government, without restriction as to Slavery. The House
decidedly refused to accede to the Senate proposition, and the result of
the disagreement was a Committee of Conference between the two Houses,
and the celebrated "Missouri Compromise," which, in the language of
another--[Hon. John Holmes of Massachusetts, of said Committee on
Conference, March 2, 1820.]--, was: "that the Senate should give up its
combination of Missouri with Maine; that the House should abandon its
attempt to restrict Slavery in Missouri; and that both Houses should
concur in passing the Bill to admit Missouri as a State, with" a
"restriction or proviso, excluding Slavery from all territory north and
west of the new State"--that "restriction or proviso" being in these
words: "That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States
under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees,
thirty minutes north latitude, excepting only such part thereof as is
included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act,
Slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of
crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is
hereby forever prohibited; Provided always, that any person escaping
into the same, from whom labor and service is lawfully claimed in any
State or Territory of the United States, such Fugitive may be lawfully
reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or
service, as aforesaid." At a subsequent session of Congress, at which
Missouri asked admission as a State with a Constitution prohibiting her
Legislature from passing emancipation laws, or such as would prevent the
immigration of Slaves, while requiring it to enact such as would
absolutely prevent the immigration of Free Negroes or Mulattoes, a
further Compromise was agreed to by Congress under the inspiration of
Mr. Clay, by which it was laid down as a condition precedent to her
admission as a State--a condition subsequently complied with--that
Missouri must pledge herself that her Legislature should pass no act "by
which any of the citizens of either of the States should be excluded
from the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are
entitled under the Constitution of the United States."
This, in a nut-shell, was the memorable Missouri Struggle, and the
"Compromise" or Compromises which settled and ended it. But during that
struggle--as during the formation of the Federal Constitution and at
various times in the interval when exciting questions had arisen--the
bands of National Union were more than once rudely strained, and this
time to such a degree as even to shake the faith of some of the firmest
believers in the perpetuity of that Union. It was during this bitter
struggle that John Adams wrote to Jefferson: "I am sometimes Cassandra
enough to dream that another Hamilton, another Burr, may rend this
mighty fabric in twain, or perhaps into a leash, and a few more choice
spirits of the same stamp might produce as many Nations in North America
as there are in Europe."
It is true that we had "sown the wind," but we had not yet "reaped the
whirlwind."