The struggle in Kansas was inseparably connected with the campaign of 1856. That struggle was virtually the opening of the Civil War, and while the North and South fought out the issue with bullets in Kansas, in the other States of the two sections the contest was no less bitter, although the means were less destructive. Before either of the great political conventions were held, Lawrence, Kansas, was captured and sacked by the Pro-Slavery Party, and on the following day (May 22d) Charles Sumner was struck down in the Senate by Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, because of his speech, "The Crime against Kansas." These events picture the feeling between the North and South which existed during this campaign. The South had probably already felt that if they went into the campaign solely on their cause they would be defeated, hence the nomination of a Northern Democrat from a necessary State, and the artful construction of their platform. The enthusiasm of the Republicans was probably more for their cause than for the candidate. The Democrats in the North evaded the issue of slavery as much as possible, and denounced the candidacy of Fremont as sectional, and that his success would mean the dissolution of the Union, a weighty argument with thousands of voters, especially those who were attached to the South by financial and commercial bonds. The speeches of the Southern leaders and the press of the South abounded in threats of disunion in the event of Fremont's election. The Republicans, unhampered by a southern wing and advocating the restriction of a great moral wrong, went into the campaign with the earnestness and enthusiasm of a religious crusade. They carried on a clean campaign of education, and tons of political literature were scattered broadcast over the country.
The young men of the North were especially attracted to the Republican Cause, and it was recognized that their vote would be a great aid; and the influence of the women of the country was distinctly with the new party. The clergy, the religious press and most of the eminent professors and educated men of the North also lent their potent forces to the new party.
The issues presented in the campaign of 1856, like those of 1860, were the most remarkable in our political history, and a canvass attended by such circumstances and so portentous in results could not but be exciting in the highest degree, and the bitterness of the situation grew in intensity as the days of the fall elections approached. All eyes now turned with anxiety on the few State elections which were to be held in the North prior to the presidential election in November, because they would unquestionably foreshadow the final result. Iowa came first, and, in August, went Republican, and was joined in September by Maine and Vermont, both overwhelmingly Republican. These successes were to the highest gratification of the members of the new party, and now came the final test, the October elections in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio. The first of these States, with its twenty-seven electoral votes, was the most important. Thousands of dollars were poured into the campaign funds of the State by both sides, the Democratic Committee having the greater amount to spend and having the better organization. Several hundred speakers, representing both sides, traversed the State in all directions. The Democrats used the disunion argument with great effect, and added to it the campaign cry of "Buck, Breck and Free Kansas," and on October 14th Pennsylvania went Democratic by a very narrow majority. Ohio, as was expected, went Republican, but Indiana was lost, and the result of the presidential issue was thus practically known before the election, on November 4th. Fremont received the electoral votes of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin, one hundred and fourteen in all. Buchanan received the vote of all the slave States and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois and California, a total of one hundred and seventy-four votes; the eight votes of Maryland going to Fillmore, the only State won by the Know-Nothings. The popular vote gave Buchanan 1,838,169; Fremont 1,341,264; Fillmore 874,534. The popular vote of South Carolina is not included, as the electors in that State were chosen by her Legislature.
When the first wave of bitter disappointment passed away, the Republicans saw the enormous headway that had been made and they immediately began to prepare for the national contest four years hence. The Democrats had lost ten States which they carried in 1852, and their electoral vote of 254 in 1852 had shrunken to 174. The South elected Buchanan, and he became the tool of the Slave Power, and, as subsequent events developed, it was fortunate that the Republicans were not successful in the campaign.
[Illustration: William H. Seward.]
CHAPTER X.
THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES.
"Can the people of a United States territory in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution?"
Lincoln to Douglas, Freeport Debate, August 27, 1858.
The Buchanan Administration began on March 4, 1857, and the Slave Power, through the Democratic Party, found itself in complete and absolute control of every branch of the Government, legislative, executive and judicial. Two days after the inauguration came the famous Dred Scott decision. The arguments in this case had been heard before the election, but the court adjourned until after the election. The decision, delivered by Chief Justice Taney, fixed the legal status of the negro in the United States, and declared that he could not claim any of the rights and privileges of a citizen, and "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit." Then, traveling out of the record, the Court declared that the Missouri Compromise was unauthorized by the Constitution, and was null and void, and that Congress had no right to keep slavery out of any Territory. It was apparent at once that this decision completely nullified Douglas' doctrine of popular sovereignty, and the South lost no time in abandoning that doctrine, and declaring that she would insist as a Constitutional right that slaves taken into any Territory must be protected like any other property. The North was stunned for the moment by this sweeping decision; the South was jubilant beyond all bounds, and instantly prepared to take advantage of the new dogma to the utmost. While under this decision the Slave Power seemed all triumphant, it was, in fact, to produce its destruction, and slavery was to lose its power by the very thing which seemed to strengthen it. The Dred Scott decision was bound to produce a split in the Democratic Party and the moment that occurred the success of the Republican Party was assured. The South spread thousands of copies of the decision throughout the country, and when the North recovered from the shock and saw what a revolution the decision would cause in the Democratic Party, it joined in giving it the utmost publicity.
The attempt to force Kansas into the Union as a slave State under the infamous Lecompton Constitution now began. In that Territory the Free-State settlers had rapidly been gaining in strength, and the Slave Power, in desperate straits, resorted to trickery. Several attempts of the Free-State Legislature to meet were prevented by the Federal troops, but finally, in 1857, the Free-State men voted at the regular election and obtained control of the Territorial Legislature; but before they could act, a pro-slavery Convention, previously chosen, concluded its work at Lecompton and submitted the Lecompton Constitution to the people, not permitting them, however, to vote for or against the Constitution, but "For the Constitution with Slavery," or "For the Constitution without Slavery." The Free-State men refused to vote at this election, and the Lecompton Constitution was adopted, with Slavery.
When Congress assembled, on December 7, 1859, President Buchanan, in his message, approved the Lecompton Constitution, and recommended the admission of Kansas under it. It had been rumored for some time that Senator Douglas would oppose the Administration in its attempt to force the Lecompton Constitution upon the people of Kansas, and this, indeed, proved to be true, when, on December 9th, Douglas announced his opposition to the action of the Administration as contrary to his doctrine of popular sovereignty. It is unnecessary to go into the motives that actuated Senator Douglas, but it may be stated that his re-election to the Senate was to depend on the election in Illinois in 1858, and unless he did something to counteract the feeling against him he was almost certain of defeat. The apostasy of Douglas was as a thunderbolt to the South, but the North received it with great delight, and in the early months of 1858 Douglas was easily the most popular man in the North. The new Legislature in Kansas met in December and ordered another election at which the people of the Territory could vote for or against the Lecompton Constitution, and on January 9, 1858, that Constitution was rejected by ten thousand majority. Notwithstanding this emphatic condemnation by the people of the Territory, the Administration persisted in its course to force Kansas in under the Lecompton Constitution. The Senate was for the admission of Kansas, but the House opposed it, and in a joint conference the infamous English Bill was agreed on, in which the people of Kansas were offered a bribe in the form of large land grants if they would accept the Lecompton Constitution. This they subsequently refused to do by a large majority, and Kansas remained a Territory until 1861. The Dred Scott decision and the attempt to force in Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution helped the Republican Party greatly, and its prospects were brighter in 1858 than they had been in 1857, in which year there was a reaction from the enthusiasm created by the presidential campaign of the preceding year.
A legislature was to be chosen in Illinois in 1858 which would select the successor to Senator Douglas. Douglas' action in opposing the Administration had aroused public interest in him in the North, and many of the Republican leaders desired that he should have no opposition in Illinois, but the Republicans of that State were not of that opinion. The Democratic Convention in Illinois met in April and endorsed Douglas; the Republican Convention, on June 16th, resolved "That Abraham Lincoln is the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the United States Senate, as the successor of Stephen A. Douglas." In his speech that evening to the Convention Mr. Lincoln made the remarkable and daring statement, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other."
Senator Douglas reached Chicago on July 9th, and, amid the plaudits of his friends, delivered an elaborate speech, which was listened to with great interest by Mr. Lincoln, who was present; on the next evening Mr. Lincoln answered in the presence of a large and enthusiastic audience. Senator Douglas then spoke at Bloomington, and was answered by Mr. Lincoln at Springfield, and the public interest that had been aroused, not only in Illinois but throughout the country, caused the Republican leaders to induce Mr. Lincoln to challenge Senator Douglas to a series of debates on the great question of the hour. Privately Senator Douglas was averse to meeting Mr. Lincoln in this manner, but publicly he promptly accepted the challenge and named seven places in different Congressional Districts in which neither had spoken, as the places where the debates were to be held. These great debates began at Ottawa on August 21, 1858, and were followed by meetings at Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and concluded on October 15th at Alton, the entire State having been traversed.
As they read and pondered on the arguments of Mr. Lincoln, it gradually dawned upon the people of the North that a great leader had been found, for it was early seen and felt that Senator Douglas was not holding his own. No greater or clearer exposition of the Northern views of slavery and the questions connected with it had ever been pronounced than Mr. Lincoln's, and the great contest in Illinois was watched with eagerness and interest by the entire North, and Mr. Lincoln, from a comparatively unknown State leader, became a great national character.
At Freeport, Mr. Lincoln, contrary to the advice of all his friends, asked the question which forced Douglas into a labored attempt to reconcile his doctrine of popular sovereignty with the Dred Scott decision. It was plain that the question, "Can the people of a United States Territory in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution?" could not be answered without antagonizing either the North or the South. There was absolutely no middle ground on which Senator Douglas could stand for any length of time.
Mr. Lincoln was willing to lose the Senatorial contest if Douglas could be defeated for the Presidency, and he gained his point, although his friends did not immediately see the strength of it. Senator Douglas, in an artful reply to this searching question, put forward his doctrine of Popular Sovereignty by asserting that the people could, by "unfriendly legislation," effectually prevent the introduction of slavery into their midst. When the South read this declaration, so contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court, Douglas' fate was sealed as a presidential candidate. Owing to a totally unfair apportionment of the Senatorial Districts, which had been made by a Democratic Legislature, Mr. Lincoln lost the contest with Senator Douglas, who had a majority of eight on the joint ballot in the new Legislature, but the Republican Ticket won in the popular vote by 4000.
Mr. Lincoln was forty-nine years old and Senator Douglas forty-five when they met in these memorable debates. They had been thrown together for more than twenty years by a most remarkable combination of circumstances. They had both wooed the same woman, Mary Todd, and Lincoln won; both craved for success in politics, and as Douglas belonged to the dominant party in Illinois, he met with early success, and ran the gamut of political honors and was a great national figure before Lincoln was known. Douglas had been Attorney-General, Secretary of State and Judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois; in 1843 he was elected to the National House of Representatives and served until 1847, when he was sent to the Senate, where he served until 1861; his name had been presented for the presidential nomination to the Democratic Conventions of 1852 and 1856. Compared to this series of political successes those of Lincoln were indeed meagre. He had served in the Illinois Legislature; in 1847 was sent to Congress, but served only one term, and from 1849 to 1854 he had devoted himself, with the exception of some canvassing done for Scott in the Campaign of 1852, almost exclusively to his law practice. It was Senator Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska Bill that brought Lincoln again into politics, with emphatic protests and strong arguments against the outrage. When Mr. Douglas returned to Illinois in 1854, he attempted, with much difficulty, to justify his action, and the debates between him and Mr. Lincoln really began in that year. Lincoln met his arguments, and after a few speeches Mr. Douglas was ready to quit, and made an agreement with Mr. Lincoln that neither of them should speak again in the campaign. In 1854 Mr. Lincoln was the choice for United States Senator, but yielded his place to Lyman Trumbull. He took an active part in the formation of the Republican Party in Illinois, and at the Bloomington Convention in 1856, which chose delegates to the first Republican National Convention, he made a strong speech that attracted the attention of the Republicans of Illinois to him and made him the State leader. He labored earnestly in Illinois for the success of Fremont and Dayton. Throughout 1857 he grew stronger with the party, with the result that he was the unanimous and only choice in 1858 as the successor to Douglas.
Douglas secured the shadow of a victory, but Mr. Lincoln, and the Republican Party throughout the North, had the substance, and the fall elections in 1858 were decidedly in favor of the Republicans. The Autumn campaigns of 1859 were of the utmost importance, and the Democrats made great efforts in the North, especially in Ohio. Senator Douglas went personally into that State, and at the earnest invitation of the Republican Committee, Mr. Lincoln spoke at Columbus on September 16th and at Cincinnati on September 17th. Mr. Dennison, the Republican candidate in Ohio, was elected, and the Republicans were successful in Pennsylvania and Iowa.
A few days after the October elections the entire country was thrown into a state of great excitement by John Brown's invasion of Virginia and his capture of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He had hoped for a general uprising of the slaves, but it did not occur, and Brown was captured by Robert E. Lee, then a Colonel in the United States Army, and after a trial on a charge of murder and treason against the State of Virginia, was found guilty and hanged December 2, 1859. This affair aroused the Slave Power to a frenzy of excitement, and they immediately demanded an investigation, and strong attempts were made to fix the conspiracy on members of the Republican Party, but it signally failed.
Three days after John Brown's execution, the Thirty-sixth Congress assembled. In the Senate there were thirty-eight Democrats, twenty-five Republicans, and two Americans; the Republicans had gained five Senators. In the House there were one hundred and nine Republicans, eighty-eight administration Democrats, thirteen anti-Lecompton Democrats, and twenty-seven Americans, all of the latter, except four, from the South. The contest for the Speakership developed the deep animosity felt by the South, and threats of disunion and personal violence abounded throughout the session. The Republicans generally remained silent, only taking part in the debates when absolutely necessary. On the first ballots the Republicans divided their votes between Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, and John Sherman, of Ohio; Mr. Grow having received the fewer number of votes, withdrew, under an agreement, and the contest continued between Mr. Sherman and Mr. Bocock, of Virginia. On January 4, 1860, Sherman was within three votes of an election, but he finally withdrew in favor of William Pennington, a Republican, of New Jersey, who was elected on February 1, 1860, and the House secured a Republican organization. During the debate attendant upon this election, Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, declared, "We will never submit to the inauguration of a black Republican President," and this remark, with others of a like nature, was often repeated. Many of the members of Congress attended the session fully armed, and it often appeared that the Civil War would probably begin in the House of Representatives.
In the decade between 1840 and 1850, the number of slaves in the South increased 800,000; and in the decade between 1850 and 1860, 700,000. The increase of white population in the South was very small compared to that of the North. The census of 1850 showed the population of the country to be 23,191,876, divided as follows:
White. Free Black. Slave.
North ……… 13,269,149 196,262 262
South ……… 6,283,965 238,187 3,204,051
The tremendous increase of slave population and the rapid gain of the North over the South in free population is shown by a comparison of the census of 1850 with that of 1860, when the total population was 31,443,322, divided between the two sections as follows:
White. Free Black. Slave.
North ……… 18,791,159 225,967 64
South ……… 8,182,684 262,003 3,953,696
Owing to the large crops in the South the demand for slaves exceeded the supply, and the market price of negroes in the decade between 1850 and 1860 was very high. Three results followed the increased demand and the high prices—the Domestic Slave Trade between the States was largely increased; attempts to smuggle in slaves contrary to the Slave Trade Laws were numerous and often successful, and the South began, in Buchanan's administration, to consider the re-establishment of the African slave trade.
During the last years of Buchanan's administration politics were dominated by virtually three parties: the Republicans with their opposition to slavery extension—the leaders being Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward; the Northern Democrats, led by Senator Douglas, with his idea of Popular Sovereignty; and the Southern Democrats, with their purpose of slavery extension and protection under the decision of the Supreme Court and the Acts of Congress, their leader being Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. The schism in the Democratic Party was seen more clearly late in February, 1859, when Senators Douglas and Davis, representing the opposite principles advocated by the Democratic Party, engaged in a bitter debate, which forecasted clearly a division in the Democratic Party in 1860, and the probable election of a Republican President, but who would he be, and what would be the course of the South on his election?
CHAPTER XI.
LINCOLN.
"Since the November of 1860 his horizon has been black with storms. By day and by night, he trod a way of danger and darkness. On his shoulders rested a government dearer to him than his own life … Even he who now sleeps has, by this event, been clothed with new influence. Dead, he speaks to men who now willingly hear what before they refused to listen to … Four years ago, O Illinois, we took from your midst an untried man and from among the people. We return him to you a mighty conqueror. Not thine any more, but the nation's; not ours, but the world's."
Henry Ward Beecher, April 16, 1865.
In 1860 the curtain rolled up on the beginning of the last act in the great drama of the struggle between Freedom and Slavery. Because of the events already narrated, a division in the Democratic Party was almost certain if Douglas persisted in being a candidate, and that division would mean the success of the Republican Party. A greater anxiety and fear than perhaps ever before or since in the history of the country pervaded the political situation in the early months of 1860. What would transpire at the Conventions of the great parties? All eyes turned to the first Convention, that of the Democratic Party, which assembled at Charleston, S. C., April 23, 1860. Senator Douglas was a candidate. There was almost an immediate disagreement on the slavery question, and a group of extreme Southern Democrats, unable to agree with their Northern brethren who adopted a Douglas platform, withdrew from the Convention. This first group of seceders held a separate meeting, and after adopting a Platform, adjourned to meet at Richmond, Va., on June 11th. In the main Convention opposition to Douglas was still strong, and after fifty-seven ballots, without being able to nominate any candidate, the main Convention adjourned to meet at Baltimore on June 18th. The bolters from the Charleston Convention met in Richmond on June 11th, but immediately adjourned again until June 28th, which was to be ten days after the adjourned meeting of the main Convention. The main Convention duly assembled at Baltimore on June 18th, and as it was apparent that Douglas would be nominated, there was another withdrawal of Southern Democrats accompanied by some of their Northern brethren. Those who remained nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President and Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama for Vice-President. Mr. Fitzpatrick afterwards declined, and the National Democratic Committee named Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, for Vice-President. The second group of bolters unanimously nominated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for President, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice-President, and adopted the platform which had been agreed upon by the bolters from the Charleston Convention. The Charleston bolters, when they met again on June 28th, ratified the nominations of Breckinridge and Lane. The Douglas Democratic platform affirmed the Cincinnati platform of 1856, and stated that the party would abide by the decision of the Supreme Court on questions of Constitutional Law, and it denounced the Personal Liberty Laws as revolutionary. The Breckinridge Democratic platform also adopted the Cincinnati platform, but with explanatory resolutions to the effect that neither Congress or any Territorial Legislature had a right to interfere with slavery, pending the formation of a State Constitution, and that it was the duty of the Federal Government to protect slavery at all times. This platform also denounced the Personal Liberty Laws. The Democratic Party had won in 1856 on an ambiguous plank in their platform, relating to slavery in the Territories, that enabled them to secure votes in the North and South by arguments irreconcilable with the political thought of the two sections, and now, in 1860, they were dissipating their strength by disagreeing on an explanation among themselves of that ambiguous plank; it was a just political retribution.
A temporary political party appeared in 1860, known as the Constitutional Union Party; their convention was held at Baltimore on May 9th, and John Bell, of Tennessee, was named for President, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President. The Platform of this party declared for "The Constitution of the country, the Union of the States and the enforcement of the Laws." It was an attempt to divert the voters from the geographical and sectional parties, and polled a large popular vote.
The second Republican National Convention convened at Chicago on Wednesday, May 16, 1860, in the "Wigwam," a vast pine board structure specially built for the occasion by the Chicago Republican Club. The split in the Democratic Party, although the adjourned sessions of that Party had not yet been held, gave increased hope of Republican success this year, and it was felt by a great majority of the delegates and spectators that the Convention would name the next President of the United States. This strong probability added an importance and dignity, not unmingled with awe, to the work of the Convention. Edwin D. Morgan, of New York, called the Convention to order and faced an audience of about ten thousand people, only four hundred and sixty-six of whom were delegates. All of the free States were represented, as well as Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Texas and Virginia, and the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska and the District of Columbia. Mr. Morgan named David Wilmot for Temporary Chairman, and committees on Permanent Organization, on Credentials, and on Rules were then severally appointed. George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, was reported a Chairman of the Convention, and one Vice-President and one Secretary from each State and Territory were named. A Platform Committee was then appointed, after which the Convention decided, after some debate over the admission of "delegates" from the Slave States, some of whom had never seen their States, to admit all delegates, and this included Horace Greeley, "of Oregon," who had not desired and had not been sent with the New York delegation. A virtual attempt to fasten the two-thirds nominating rule on the Convention was defeated, and it was decided that a majority of the whole number of votes should nominate. Judge William Jessup, of Pennsylvania, reported the platform, and it was adopted with the utmost enthusiasm. The platform on which Mr. Lincoln was elected should be read by every Republican and every citizen interested in the history and development of the nation.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1860.
Resolved, That we, the delegated representatives of the Republican electors of the United States, in convention assembled, in discharge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite in the following declarations:
1. That the history of the nation during the last four years has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and perpetuation of the Republican party, and that the causes which called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional triumph.
2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution, "That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is essential to the preservation of our republican institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the states, and the union of the states must and shall be preserved.
3. That to the union of the states this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for disunion, come from whatever source they may; and we congratulate the country that no Republican member of Congress has uttered or countenanced the threats of disunion so often made by Democratic members, without rebuke and with applause from their political associates; and we denounce those threats of disunion, in case of a popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as denying the vital principles of free government, and as an avowal of contemplated treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant people sternly to rebuke and forever silence.
4. 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 power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any state or territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.
5. That the present Democratic administration has far exceeded our worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton constitution upon the protesting people of Kansas; in construing the personal relations between master and servant to involve an unqualified property in persons; in its attempted enforcement everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Congress and of the federal courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power intrusted to it by a confiding people.
6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the federal government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored partisans, while the recent startling developments of frauds and corruptions at the federal metropolis show that an entire change of administration is imperatively demanded.
7. That the new dogma—that the Constitution, of its own force, carries slavery into any or all of the territories of the United States—is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country.
8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom; that, as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that "no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States.
9. That we brand the recent reopening of the African slave trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our country and age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.
10. That in the recent vetoes, by their federal governors, of the acts of the legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting slavery in those territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted Democratic principle of non-intervention and popular sovereignity, embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and a demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein.
11. That Kansas should of right be immediately admitted as a state under the constitution recently formed and adopted by her people and accepted by the House of Representatives.
12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the general government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence.
13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the free-homestead policy which regards the settlers as paupers or suppliants for public bounty; and we demand the passage by Congress of the complete and satisfactory homestead measure which has already passed the House.
14. That the Republican party is opposed to any change in our naturalization laws, or any state legislation by which the rights of citizens hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad.
15. That appropriations by Congress for river and harbor improvements of a national character, required for the accommodation and security of an existing commerce, are authorized by the Constitution and justified by the obligation of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
16. That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole country; that the federal government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction; and that, as preliminary thereto, a daily overland mail should be promptly established.
17. Finally having set forth our distinctive principles and views, we invite the co-operation of all citizens, however differing on other questions, who substantially agree with us in their affirmance and support.
An exciting incident occurred when Joshua R. Giddings moved to embrace the principles of the Declaration of Independence in the platform, and, when voted down, withdrew from the Convention; but what he proposed was afterwards accomplished by George William Curtis, of New York, and became the second plank of the platform, and Mr. Giddings returned to the Convention.
Two days were consumed in organizing and adopting the platform. The second night of the Convention, that which intervened between Thursday and Friday, was given up to remarkable exertions in behalf of the several candidates. William H. Seward, of New York, was the most prominent candidate before the Convention, and would probably have been named had the nominations been made on the first or second day of the Convention. The other candidates were Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania; Salmon P. Chase and John McLean, of Ohio; Edward Bates, of Missouri; William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, and Jacob Collamer, of Vermont. There was a strong opposition to Mr. Seward, based on the ground of his availability, as it was felt by Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, and A. G. Curtin, of Pennsylvania, who were the candidates for Governor in their respective States, that Mr. Seward could not carry those States. Mr. Greeley was also doing his utmost to defeat Mr. Seward, but was advocating the nomination of Edward Bates, of Missouri. The Illinois delegation had been instructed for Mr. Lincoln, and soon added Indiana to his support, and they also obtained promises of a majority vote of the New Hampshire, Virginia and Kentucky delegations on the first ballot, with some scattering votes from other States. Mr. Lincoln's candidacy was very promising, but not entirely certain of success, as, to many, the strength of Mr. Seward appeared invincible; but Mr. Lincoln's supporters were certain that if he could obtain a good vote on the first ballot it would be largely increased on the second ballot by votes from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Vermont. On the third day of the Convention, Friday morning, May 18th, the nominations were made. William M. Evarts presented the name of William H. Seward, and was immediately followed by Norman B. Judd, of Illinois, who nominated Mr. Lincoln. Others were named, and a number of seconding speeches were made, Mr. Lincoln's name being seconded by Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, and Columbus Delano, of Ohio. The cheers and noisy enthusiasm which attended the various speeches were terrifying in volume, and it was apparent that the Lincoln shouters had the advantage in volume of sound, and the influence of the vast assemblage and the great pressure of environment unquestionably increased Mr. Lincoln's chances for the nomination. The balloting began and proceeded amid intense excitement; two hundred and thirty-three votes were necessary to a choice, and three ballots were taken, with the following result:
1st 2d 3d
Ballot. Ballot. Ballot.
Seward ……… 173-1/2 184-1/2 180
Lincoln …….. 102 181 231-1/2
Cameron …….. 50-1/2 2
Chase ………. 49 42-1/2 24-1/2
Bates ………. 48 35 22
Dayton ……… 14 10
McLean ……… 12 8 5
Collamer ……. 10
Scattering votes were also cast for Benjamin F. Wade, John M. Reed,
Charles Sumner, John C. Fremont, and Cassius M. Clay.
At the completion of the third ballot, Mr. Lincoln lacked one and one-half votes of the nomination. There was a momentary lull, and then David K. Cartter, of Ohio, mounted his seat, caught the attention of the Chairman, and, in the breathless excitement, announced that Ohio changed four votes from Mr. Chase to Mr. Lincoln. There was a moment's silence until it could all be appreciated, and then pandemonium for more than twenty minutes. The immense crowd outside the "Wigwam" was soon apprised of the result and the news spread like wildfire. Mr. Evarts moved the nomination be made unanimous.
There were two prominent candidates for Vice-President, Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, and Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky. Others mentioned for this honor were John Hickman and Andrew H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, and Nathaniel P. Banks, of Massachusetts. Two ballots were taken, and Mr. Hamlin was nominated on the second:
1st Ballot. 2d Ballot.
Hamlin ….. 194 367
Clay ……. 101-1/2 86
Hickman …. 58 13
Reeder ….. 51
Banks …… 38
Others who received complimentary votes on the first ballot were
Samuel Houston, William L. Dayton, Henry W. Davis, John M. Reed,
Andrew H. Reeder and John Hickman.
During the entire Convention Mr. Lincoln remained at Springfield; there he received the telegraphic news of his nomination, and thither went the Notification Committee, composed of many brilliant men, most of whom had never met him. On May 23d Mr. Lincoln wrote an admirable letter of acceptance, and the campaign was on in earnest, notwithstanding that the Democrats had not yet presented their ticket. In the Western States, where his name and history appealed to the people, Mr. Lincoln's nomination was received with the utmost delight; but in the Eastern States the first feeling over the defeat of Mr. Seward was one of bitter disappointment, but Mr. Seward and the other great leaders promptly and manfully gave their whole support to Mr. Lincoln, and there was never any question that the party would not be united in his support. The Democratic press vented its snobbishness by constant articles calling attention to Mr. Lincoln's poverty, and asserting that he was not a gentleman, and had "never traveled and had no pedigree."
The Republican Campaign of 1860 consisted of a liberal use of political literature and of a systematic stumping of the country by the great men of the party, prominent among whom were Seward, Schurz, Clay, Greeley, Stevens, and many others, and hundreds of other Republican speakers of less prominence who traversed the Northern States. Bands of "Wide-Awakes" were organized everywhere in the North and participated in the parades with torches and a simple uniform. There were many great State rallies for the Republican ticket. In the North it was apparent that the vote would be cast for either Lincoln, Douglas or Bell, and in the slave States for Breckinridge. From the end of May to November the work went on and the Republicans gained rapidly in strength, notwithstanding the threats of the South to secede if the Federal Government should ever pass into the "treacherous hands of the Black Republican Party." Mr. Lincoln remained at Springfield during the entire campaign, going about his usual affairs, and meeting the hundreds of curious and otherwise who came to see him. He maintained a strict silence on the great problem of the hour, but watched the campaign closely, and often gave sound advice to the managers. On August 8th the greatest State rally held in the North took place at Springfield, and it was estimated that fully 75,000 people were present.
After some desperate campaigning Senator Douglas gave up all hope of success, and announced that he would go South to urge upon all the duty of submitting to the result of the election, and he steadfastly asserted his intention of standing by the Union.
The only danger was that Mr. Lincoln might not receive a majority of the electoral vote, which would throw the election into the House of Representatives, but this was dispelled when Pennsylvania and Indiana went Republican in October, and the result of the election on November 6th was conceded. Mr. Lincoln received the electoral votes of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, all Northern States, and casting 180 out of 303 electoral votes. Breckinridge carried Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas, all slave States, and casting seventy-two electoral votes. Bell carried Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, thirty-nine votes; and Douglas only carried one State, Missouri, with nine votes, but also received three of the seven votes of New Jersey, the remainder going to Mr. Lincoln. The popular vote was as follows:
Lincoln ……….. 1,866,352 Breckinridge …….. 847,514
Douglas ……….. 1,375,157 Bell ……………. 587,830
This does not include the popular vote of South Carolina, where the electors were chosen by the Legislature.
[Illustration: Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861.]
The Slave Power lost no time in carrying into effect its threats of disunion. South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860, and by the end of the year had seized the United States arsenals and other government property in the State, but Fort Sumter was not molested. By February, 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas had also withdrawn. Virginia did not secede until April 17th. On February 4th a Confederate Congress met at Montgomery, Alabama, and on February 9th Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, became President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, became Vice-President of the Confederate States of America.
The breaking up of the Union did not go on without some attempts at compromising the situation, but all such efforts failed. The House and the Senate appointed special committees, who were either unable to agree or whose conclusions were not adopted. On December 18th the Crittenden Compromise Measures were introduced, and after long debate were rejected March 2, 1861. Dramatic withdrawals from Congress were made by the Southern Senators and Representatives, and this enabled Kansas to be admitted, on January 29, 1861, as a free State.
Far from attempting to stop this breaking up of the Union, Buchanan's Administration did everything it could to aid it. Treason ran free in Washington; the Navy was scattered and rendered unavailable; the Army was demoralized, and thousands of stands of arms and other military equipment were removed from the Northern arsenals and sent South; and President Buchanan, through his Cabinet, announced the remarkable doctrine that any State could strike at the Union, appropriate the arms and property of the Government, and that nothing could be done to stop it. It was not treason for South Carolina to act as she did, but it would be treason to attempt to stop her course.
Such was the situation when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861; seven States were out of the Union, a Southern Confederacy had been established with an organized Government, and its President inaugurated; the Army and Navy were crippled, the Treasury drained, and treason and assassination threatened on all sides. From the east portico of the Capitol, with Senator Douglas standing behind holding Mr. Lincoln's hat, the President delivered his first Inaugural Speech. Calm, clear, wise and firm were the words. It concluded, "I am loath to close. 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 cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angel of our nature."
The bombardment of Ft. Sumter, which began on the morning of April 12, 1861, was the event that unified both the North and the South, and henceforth the issue was to be decided solely by War. In the North, party lines were forgotten, and the President received promises of hearty support on all sides. On April 15th, the President declared the South to be in a state of rebellion, and called for 75,000 troops to recover the Government forts and property, and also called an extraordinary session of Congress, to meet on July 4th. This history is not directly concerned with the trying and bloody events of the Civil War. The tremendous strain on President Lincoln during this period perhaps will never be fully appreciated by the generations which follow it; it was all a horrible nightmare through which the country safely passed under the guidance of President Lincoln and the Republican Party.
On April 16, 1862, Slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia, and on June 19th was forever prohibited in the Territories. On September 22d President Lincoln issued his preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation, declaring all slaves forever free in territory which might still be in rebellion on January 1, 1863. This act, and what was believed to be the failure of the Administration in conducting the War, turned thousands of Democrats in the North away from the President, and in the Fall elections of 1862 large Democratic gains were made. Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey and Wisconsin went Democratic; New York elected a Democratic Governor, Horatio Seymour; but New England, the Border States and the Western States not mentioned, stood firm for the President, and the Administration was assured of a good working majority in the House.
Before passing to the presidential campaign of 1864, mention must be made of several great legislative acts of the Republican Party during the first few years of its control of the Government. The Morrill Protective Tariff Bill was made a law on March 2, 1861, and became the foundation of the Republican Tariff Bills of later years; the Legal Tender Act of February 25, 1862, was a great turning point in the financial history of the nation; the Homestead Act of May 20, 1862, opened up the western country to actual settlers, and contributed greatly to the development of the West; the Internal Revenue Act of July 1, 1862, and a National Banking system, established by the Act of February 25, 1863, were most important, the latter removing the conflict between the national currency and the currency of the state banks, and marked the beginning of a sound and stable financial system, the importance of which, in the remarkable physical development of the country, cannot be too strongly asserted.
Although throughout 1863 a strong radical element in the Republican Party worked against the renomination of President Lincoln in 1864, on the ground of his alleged timidity in handling the question of the Civil War, this movement gradually dwindled in strength and had almost disappeared with the opening of the presidential year of 1864, when an election was to be held with a war in progress and the country divided. Throughout the winter of 1863 and 1864 Mr. Chase made active efforts to secure the presidential nomination, but the Ohio Legislature demanded Mr. Lincoln's renomination, and Mr. Chase had to withdraw. State Legislatures throughout the North now demanded the renomination of the President, and they were joined in their resolutions by large numbers of clubs and public meetings, and it was apparent to those in the party who were antagonistic to the President that no other candidate would have any chance. But the Copperhead element was still rampant, and the Democrats denounced the President in unmeasured terms, declaring the war to be a failure, and demanding peace.
The radical element of the Republican Party held their Convention first, at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 31, 1864, and nominated John C. Fremont for President and John Cochrane for Vice-President, but these candidates withdrew on September 2d, and no further notice of this meeting is necessary. The regular Republican Convention, or National Union Convention, as it was called, was held at Baltimore on June 7 and 8, 1864, in the Front Street Theater. The Convention was again called to order by Edwin B. Morgan, of New York, who, after a short speech, proposed the name of Robert J. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for temporary Chairman. Mr. Breckinridge accepted the honor, and said that he did not enter the deliberations of the Convention as a Republican, nor as a Whig or Democrat, but as a Union man. There was some debate over the seating of loyal delegates from the Confederate States, which was settled by admitting them; thirty-one States, including eight of the slave States, were represented. The usual committees on Credentials, Permanent Organization and Resolutions were appointed. The Committee reported the name of William Dennison, of Ohio, for permanent Chairman. The platform was reported by Henry J. Raymond, of New York, and enthusiastically adopted. The Republican Platform of 1864, framed while a great Civil War was in progress, is a most interesting document.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1864.
1. Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the Union and the paramount authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that, laying aside all differences of political opinion, we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated by a common sentiment and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our power to aid the government in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment due to their crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it.
2. Resolved, That we approve the determination of the government of the United States not to compromise with rebels, or to offer them any terms of peace except such as may be based upon an unconditional surrender of their hostility and a return to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that we call upon the government to maintain this position and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor, to the complete suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to the country and its free institutions.
3. Resolved, That as slavery was the cause and now constitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the principles of republican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the republic; and that while we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the government, in its own defense, has aimed a death-blow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States.
4. Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are due to the soldiers and sailors of the army and navy who have periled their lives in defense of the country and in vindication of the honor of its flag; that the nation owes to them some permanent recognition of their patriotism and their valor, and ample and permanent provision for those of their survivors who have received disabling and honorable wounds in the service of the country; and that the memories of those who have fallen in its defense shall be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance.
5. Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, the unselfish patriotism, and the unswerving fidelity to the Constitution and the principles of American liberty with which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the presidential office; that we approve and indorse, as demanded by the emergency and essential to the preservation of the nation, and as within the provisions of the Constitution, the measures and acts which he has adopted to defend the nation against its open and secret foes; that we approve especially the proclamation of emancipation and the employment as Union soldiers of men heretofore held in slavery; and that we have full confidence in his determination to carry these and all other constitutional measures essential to the salvation of the country into full and complete effect.
6. Resolved, That we deem it essential to the general welfare that harmony should prevail in the national councils, and we regard as worthy of public confidence and official trust those only who cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions, and which should characterize the administration of the government.
7. Resolved, That the government owes to all men employed in its armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protection of the laws of war; and that any violation of these laws, or of the usages of civilized nations in time of war, by the rebels now in arms, should be made the subject of prompt and full redress.
8. Resolved, That foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of power to the nation—the asylum of the oppressed of all nations—should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.
9. Resolved, That we are in favor of the speedy construction of the railroad to the Pacific coast.
10. Resolved, That the national faith, pledged for the redemption of the public debt, must be kept inviolate, and that for this purpose we recommend economy and rigid responsibility in the public expenditures, and a vigorous and just system of taxation; and that it is the duty of every loyal state to sustain the credit and promote the use of the national currency.
11. Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the government, that the people of the United States can never regard with indifference the attempt of any European power to overthrow by force, or to supplant by fraud, the institutions of any republican government on the western continent; and that they will view with extreme jealousy, as menacing to the peace and independence of their own country the efforts of any such power to obtain new footholds for monarchial governments, sustained by foreign military force, in near proximity to the United States.
After the adoption of the platform, Simon Cameron introduced a resolution declaring for Lincoln and Hamlin as the unanimous choice of the Convention for President and Vice-President; but this resolution was divided so that the Convention could vote separately on the two offices. On the first ballot Mr. Lincoln received the vote of every delegation except Missouri, which voted for Ulysses S. Grant, but changed immediately as soon as the ballot had been announced, and made Mr. Lincoln's nomination unanimous. The interest of the delegation and the spectators throughout the Convention had been centered on the nomination for Vice-President. A number of names were mentioned, the most prominent being Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, and Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York. Mr. Johnson was a War Democrat. The sentiment in the Convention was in favor of recognizing this element in the party, and Mr. Johnson was nominated on the first ballot; the vote as cast gave Johnson 200, Hamlin 150, Dickinson 108, and 61 scattering votes, but before the final result was announced many changes were made, and the final vote stood, Johnson 490, Dickinson 17, Hamlin 9.
[Illustration: From New York Herald, Saturday, April 15, 1865.]
The Democratic Convention did not meet until August 29th; George B. McClellan, of New Jersey, was nominated for President, and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, for Vice-President. The platform called Mr. Lincoln's Administration "four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war," and demanded immediate efforts for cessation of hostilities and for peace. Gen. McClellan accepted the nomination, but repudiated the platform, saying, "I could not look in the faces of my gallant comrades of the Army and Navy and tell them that their labors and the sacrifice of so many of our slain and wounded brethren had been in vain." The candidate was nobler than the party.
The President's homely expression, "It is not wise to swap horses while crossing a stream," was the basis of the great trend of political thought in the North, and there was little doubt of the result, although an animated campaign was conducted. The great military victories of the Union forces made the position of the President's opponents absurd. At the election on November 8, 1864, Lincoln and Johnson carried twenty-two States, receiving 212 of the total electoral vote of 233. McClellan and Pendleton carried three States, Delaware, Kentucky and New Jersey. The popular vote, including the Army vote (many States having made provision for taking the vote of the soldiers in the field), was, Lincoln 2,330,552, McClellan 1,835,985. Eleven States did not vote at this election.
The Government was now making rapid strides for the complete abolition of slavery. In June, 1864, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was repealed; in July the Coastwise Slave Trade was forever prohibited, and on January 31, 1865, the Joint Resolution proposing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, passed the House.
On March 4, 1865, President Lincoln was inaugurated for the second time. The beautiful words closing his inaugural will live forever: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all Nations."
Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. On April 14th, the Stars and Stripes were again raised over Ft. Sumter, and the glad news swept over the North that the war was over. On the same evening the President was shot in Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth, and died the next morning. "Now he belongs to the ages," said Stanton, at the death-bed. The death of the President meant that Andrew Johnson, a War Democrat, would be made President, and from the overwhelming shock of Mr. Lincoln's death the Republicans turned with misgiving and fear to the new Executive.
CHAPTER XII.
RECONSTRUCTION AND THE NATIONAL DEBT.
"By these recent successes, the reinauguration of the national authority, the reconstruction of which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to the mode, manner and measure of reconstruction."
A. Lincoln, April 11, 1865. From his last speech before death.
Mr. Lincoln died at 7:22 o'clock a. m. on April 15, 1865; four hours later Vice-President Johnson took the oath of office as President. Before him were two gigantic problems, the solution of which was fraught with the greatest difficulty. In what manner and under what restrictions should the recently rebellious States—eleven in number—be allowed to resume the exercise of their civil functions, and when should their Senators and Representatives be seated in Congress? This was the first problem—Reconstruction. And in what manner should the enormous war debt be handled so that the credit of the Government would be thoroughly re-established and maintained; and how should the enormous paper currency (legal tenders) be managed so that the commercial interests of the country would not be disturbed? These two problems—Reconstruction and the National Debt—were ultimately to be worked out by the party that saved the Union, though now a War Democrat was in charge of the Executive Department, and friction and disagreement was almost certain. It was most unfortunate that no definite plan of Reconstruction had been agreed upon by the Legislative and Executive Departments before Mr. Lincoln's death. Such an understanding would have avoided, probably, the bitter conflict that shortly came on between President Johnson and Congress; and the history of the few years following the Rebellion would have presented a record of greater national progress, a quicker welding of the Union, and a prompter re-establishment of national sentiment between the two sections.
While it is true that Mr. Lincoln's plan of Reconstruction did not meet with the approval of Congress, yet it is almost certain that if he had lived there would have been an agreement of some kind; either the party would have followed Mr. Lincoln or Mr. Lincoln would have followed the party. Ultimate harmony between a Republican President and a Republican Congress was certain, although they might temporarily disagree; but harmony between a Republican Congress and a Democratic President once disturbed would scarcely be restored; neither would ever again completely trust the other.
Mr. Lincoln's work of Reconstruction began in 1863 when the Union army had regained Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. His message to Congress in December, 1863, was accompanied by a Proclamation of Amnesty to those who had taken part in the Rebellion in these States, upon their taking an oath to support the Constitution and all federal laws; and upon so doing there was to be a restoration of property, except slaves. From this pardon were excepted six enumerated classes of persons whose treason had been most offensive. State Governments could be established by those who took the oath, provided their numbers were one-tenth as large as the total number of voters in the State at the presidential election of 1860, and any Government so established would be recognized by the President, but the right of Congress to admit or reject Senators and Representatives was recognized. Louisiana was the first to make preparations to re-enter into the possession of all its State powers under this proclamation, and in the early months of 1864 a State Government was duly completed and an anti-slavery Constitution adopted. Arkansas followed the same course, but when her Senators and Representatives applied to Congress for their seats, they were denied admittance, and it was apparent that there was a distinct disagreement between the President and Congress on the subject of Reconstruction. Congress did not approve of the President's proceeding without asking its advice, and did not approve of his plan, and a Bill was introduced and passed embodying its views on the subject. In this Bill the President was directed to appoint a Provisional Governor for each of the rebellious States, and after military occupation had ceased, the Governor was to enroll the white male citizens who would take an oath to support the Constitution; after a majority had done so an election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention was to follow, and the Constitution was to contain prohibitory clauses on the subject of slavery, the Confederate debt and the right of certain persons to vote. If this Constitution was adopted by a majority of the popular vote, then the President, with the consent of Congress, could recognize the State Government, and it would be permitted to send its Representatives to Congress. This Bill was passed July 2, 1864, on the last day of the session, but it never became a law because the President did not sign it, and did not return it before Congress adjourned. Several days after the adjournment the President issued a Proclamation in which he laid the Congressional plan before the people and declared that he was not in favor of any one scheme of Reconstruction, and that he was also not prepared to set aside the loyal governments which had been formed in Louisiana and Arkansas. By the time Congress met again the President had been re-elected, and it would seem that in some degree there was an endorsement not only of his War Policy but of his plan of Reconstruction. However, the matter was not pressed, and his message to Congress in December, 1864, was silent on the subject. There was no present occasion to bring forward the matter, but the President still adhered to his original plan as far as Louisiana and Arkansas were concerned, and so expressed himself in his last speech before his death.
So the matter of Reconstruction stood when Andrew Johnson became President. There was not much question about the general course he would pursue, because, as War Governor of Tennessee, he had, early in 1865, practically reconstructed that State under Mr. Lincoln's "ten percent" plan. As Congress was not in session, and would not convene until December, the President had the alternative of either calling an extra session of Congress or proceeding in the matter of Reconstruction according to his own ideas and the suggestions of his Cabinet, he having retained the Cabinet left by Mr. Lincoln. The latter course was pursued, and after some delay President Johnson began to act. An Executive Order swept away all laws and decrees of the Confederacy, raised the blockade and opened the southern ports to trade.
On May 29, 1865, the President issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon to all who had participated in the Rebellion upon their taking a registered oath to support the Constitution and the Union, but the Proclamation excepted a large number of persons of specified classes, whose treason was deemed to be too great to allow them to again participate in the Government. By the middle of July, Provisional Governors had been appointed by the President in North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida; the authority of the United States had already been established in Virginia early in May, and Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee had been reconstructed under Mr. Lincoln's plan. The President's policy was that as soon as these Governors took charge, any white person, except the classes specified, could regain his citizenship by an oath to support the Constitution and the Union. The taking of this oath by a sufficient number was followed by Reconstruction Conventions, which were held in the Southern States, and Legislators and Representatives to Congress were chosen. The work of these Reconstruction Conventions and Legislatures, although they repudiated the debts of the Confederacy and recognized the Thirteenth Amendment, was highly displeasing to the Republicans in the North, who were greatly interested in the fate of the negroes, and who now saw them, by various laws passed by the Southern Legislatures, deprived of all civil rights and reduced to a new form of servitude.
The first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress convened on December 4, 1865, with a large majority of Republicans in both House and Senate, and both bodies in a very angry mood over the action of the President in proceeding with the Reconstruction without their advice or consent, and they were more enraged with the extreme and rash policies adopted by the Southern Legislatures. To add to this bitter feeling came the application of the Southern Senators and Representatives, many of whom less than a year before had been engaged in active rebel-loin, to be admitted to their seats. These applicants were refused admission by both branches of Congress. The House and Senate appointed Reconstruction Committees, and the debate immediately began on the great question. It was seen at once that the Republican Party would totally ignore the President's policy and all that had been done under it. The breach widened between the President and Congress, when an Act to enlarge the provisons of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill (passed March 3, 1865) came up. The object of this Bill was to provide for the destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children. The new Bill was promptly passed, but on February 19, 1866, was vetoed by the President; the Senate failed to pass the Bill over the veto, but later in the year (July, 1866) the measure went through Congress in a slightly altered form, was vetoed by the President and passed over his veto. The Civil Rights Bill, to secure to the freed negroes in the South all of the rights enjoyed by the white man, except suffrage, was also vetoed by the President on March 27, 1866, and on April 9th was passed over his veto.
[Illustration: Andrew Johnson.]
The Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, had been declared a part of the Constitution on December 18, 1865, and the great work of the Emancipation Proclamation was thus completed. The Reconstruction Committee now reported the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, fixing the status of citizens, the basis of representation, etc., and also a Bill declaring that when the Amendment had become part of the Constitution any of the late Confederate States, upon ratifying it, would be allowed representation in Congress, to all of which the President expressed his disapproval. The various presidential vetoes completely broke off any possible chance of harmony between the President and Congress, and in addition to them, the President indulged in a number of rash speeches in which Congress was condemned in no very elegant terms. On February 22, 1866, the President, in a speech at the White House, denounced Congress bitterly for its opposition, and referred in an abusive way to several prominent Republican leaders by name, and he followed this up during the late Summer months by several coarse speeches in Western cities while he was on his way to the dedication of a monument to Stephen A. Douglas at Chicago.
During the autumn of 1866 Congressional elections were to be held, and there was naturally an absorbing interest in the result. These elections were of the greatest importance, for if the President's course was approved by the election of a Democratic Congress, almost the entire result of the Civil War would have been undone, and the strife between the North and South might have been renewed and continued in a more serious form. By this time the South, encouraged by the President's opposition, had rejected the Fourteenth Amendment, and were taking a bold stand to maintain their policy. In October, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Pennsylvania went Republican, and in November were joined by New York, which went overwhelmingly Republican, and the Republicans in the North were everywhere victorious, and they were thus upheld in their Reconstruction policy by the popular sentiment.
The second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress convened on December 3, 1866. The South, during the recess of Congress, had refused to adopt the Fourteenth Amendment, this having been made, as already stated, a condition precedent to the enjoyment of the full privileges of Statehood, and now nothing remained but for Congress to establish a Government over the Southern States until they should see fit to comply with the conditions laid down by Congress. The ten Southern States (Tennessee had been readmitted by joint resolution July 24, 1866) were divided into five Military Districts, under the supervision of Regular Army Officers, who were to have control over all the people in their Districts, for their peace and protection, until the States recognized the Fourteenth Amendment. This Bill was passed March 2, 1867, over the President's veto, and on the same day, over the President's veto, was passed the Bill "To regulate the tenure of Civil offices." The object of the latter Bill was to prevent the President from removing Republicans from office. No person in civil office who had been appointed with the consent of the Senate was to be removed until his successor was appointed in a like manner.