The special session of the Thirty-seventh Congress met on the 4th of
July, 1861, agreeably to the call of the President. Many vacant chairs
in the National Council impressed the spectator with the magnitude of
the impending struggle. The old chiefs of the slave party were nearly
all absent, some of them as members of a rebel government at Richmond,
others in arms against their country. The President calmly, clearly,
sadly reviewed the facts which compelled him to call into action the
_war powers_ of the Government, and constrained him, as the Chief
Magistrate, "_to accept war_." He asked Congress to confer upon him the
power to make the war short and decisive. He asked for 400,000 men and
400 millions of money. With hearty appreciation of the fidelity of the
common people, he proudly points to the fact that, while large numbers
of the officers of the Army and Navy had been guilty of the infamous
crime of desertion, "not one common soldier or sailor is known to have
deserted his flag."
Congress responded promptly to this call, voting 500,000 men and 500
millions of dollars to suppress the rebellion. From the beginning of the
contest, the slaves flocked to the Union army as a place of security
from their masters. They seemed to feel instinctively that freedom was
to be found within its picket-lines and under the folds of its flag.
They were ready to act as guides, as servants, to work, dig, and to
fight for their liberty. And yet early in the war some officers
permitted masters and agents to follow the blacks into the Union lines
and carry away fugitive slaves. This action was rebuked by a resolution
of Congress. At this session a law was passed giving freedom to all
slaves employed in aiding the rebellion. In October, 1861, the military
was authorized by the Secretary of War to avail itself of the services
of "fugitives from labor," in such way as might be most beneficial to
the service.
The regular session of Congress assembled on the 2d of December, 1861.
Great armies confronted each other in the field; and great conflicts
were going on in the public mind, but the way to victory through
emancipation was not yet clearly opened. The President was feeling his
way, watching the progress of public opinion; striving to secure to the
Union the Border States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. On the
subject of Emancipation, he said in his message: "the Union must be
preserved, and all _indispensable means_ must be used," but he wisely
waited until the public sentiment should consolidate, and all other
means of maintaining the integrity of the nation should have been
exhausted. During this session the way was prepared for the great edict
of Emancipation; Slavery was abolished at the National Capital,
prohibited forever in all the Territories, the slaves of rebels declared
free, and the Government authorized to employ slaves as soldiers, and
every person in the military or naval service of the Republic prohibited
from aiding in the arrest of any fugitive slave. These measures were all
urged by the personal and political friends of the President, and became
laws with his sanction and hearty assent. They prepared the way for the
final overthrow of slavery.