A political history of slavery; being an account of the slavery controversy from the earliest agitations in the eighteenth century to the close of the reconstruction period in America

Front matter

4 O ry

V ma "^ ^ I '

Being an Account of the Slavery Controversy from the

Chapter I The Outbreak Of The War

IN the history of nations weak rulers are treated with scant respect. They become the dupes of knaves, the instruments of oppression ; they imperil governments and invite disorders to enter in; they are the real enemies to human progress. In times of danger, of revolution, they constantly seek to shift their burdens upon the shoulders of others, while they obstruct the administration of law. They are impotent to resolve ; they seek escape through delay ; and thus invite defeat for themselves and destruction for their country. The quaint conceit applied to man in the Elizabethan age — "the wings of man's life are plumed with the feathers of death" — to mark the importance of quick resolve and vigorous execution, is equally applicable to governments. When Mr. Buchanan was brought face to face with men resolute in purpose to disrupt the Union and overthrow the government, he construed the fundamental law to be as impotent as he was in fact as the executive. He had himself played with secession when he thought it an improbability; he had armed these men with an excuse in justification years before, when, his own success being foreshadowed, in speaking to the congratulations of his neighbors in 1856, he said that if the result had been different "we should have been precipitated into the yawning gulf of dissolution." The verdict of 1856 had been reversed in i860, and the country was precipitated into the yawning gulf of dissolution. The four years of his administration had not restored harmony, had indeed been years of preparation for the accomplishment of revolution. He had been as clay in the hands of the plotters. He was their chosen instrumentchosen because he was incapable. He pleaded, they laughed him to scorn, they humiliated him: he remonstrated, they treated him with contempt.'

Imagine Andrew Jackson the executive head of the government in 1 860-1. Would members of Congress engaged in the work of disunion have been welcome at the White House? Would they have bullied him? Would members of his Cabinet have plotted for the overthrow of the government with impunity, and finally have been permitted to resign to give a more active support to the work of destruction? Would forts have been left without garrisons, and public property unsecured? It is inconceivable. What Jackson was Buchanan was not. What Jackson would have done Buchanan omitted or was incapable of doing.' He transferred to his successor a government impaired, a country dismembered, over which were discernible the dire portents of civil war.

Mr. Lincoln left his home on the nth of February for

' The President sent Caleb Gushing to confer with Governor Pickens of South Carolina and to plead with him. The Governor replied that there was no hope for the Union, and that " so far as I was concerned I intended to maintain the separate independence of South Carolina, and from this purpose neither temptation nor danger should for a moment deter me."

'■^ What General Jackson would have done under the circumstances of i860 may be inferred from the language of a remarkable letter written by him May i, 1833, to the Rev. Andrew J. Crawford, a clergyman in a slaveholding State. The letter came to the hand of Mr. Sumner, who made it public December 10, i860 :

"Washington, May i, 1833.

" My Dear Sir : . . . I have had a laborious task here, but nullification is dead ; and its actors and courtiers will only be remembered by the people to be execrated for their wicked designs to sever and destroy the only good government

The Inauguration of Lincoln 3

Washington. His journey, which included public receptions in the cities of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburg, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Trenton, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, was of the greatest importance to the incoming administration at this period of doubt and anxiety. Mr. Lincoln was without experience in the administration of public affairs, and many distrusted his ability to deal with questions of greater magnitude than had ever confronted the American people. These embraced the opportunity to see him, to study his face, to hear his voice, to resolve their doubts if possible in his presence. The ordeal was severe, but Mr. Lincoln bore it with such inspiring calmness, with such natural dignity, with such wonderful tact, as to banish all distrust and leave confidence in its place. During these twelve days of trial he did not utter a word which he could wish to recall, he did not fail to leave the impression that would prove most serviceable. The most gifted statesman of the world, with all of the culture and self-command derivable from long experience in affairs, would probably have failed where Abraham Lincoln succeeded without apparent effort.

There was an apprehension in the West that peril would attend the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln. Nothing, of course, was known here of the treasonable preparations at Baltimore, but threats of violence were rife, and created a feeling of uneasiness. Many young men — perhaps two or three hundred — quietly left Cincinnati and other Western cities for Washington, to tender their services to General Scott. The episode of the night ride through Baltimore, now familiar to all, only

on the globe, and that prosperity and happiness we enjoy over every other portion of the world. Haman's gallows ought to be the fate of all such ambitious men, who would involve their country in a civil war, and all the evils in its train, that they might reign and ride on its whirlwinds and direct the storm. The free people of these United States have spoken, and consigned these wicked demagogues to their proper doom. Take care of your nullifiers, you have them among you ; let them meet with the indignant frowns of every man who loves his country. The tariff, it is noio known, was a mere pretext, and disunion and a Southern confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the negro or slavery question. . . .

" Andrew Jackson."

increased the tension. When Mr. Lincoln had taken the oath of office and had been duly installed in the executive mansion, there was a grateful sense of relief throughout the country. The scene was made familiar to all by the press— the courteous attentions of Mr. Buchanan, whose day of freedom had at last come; the administering of the oath by Chief Justice Taney in the presence of Mr. Douglas, the famous political rival of the new President, and of Senators who had already elected to unite their fortunes with Jefferson Davis, president of a new confederacy. After all these years, after the happy restoration of the Union without any distinctive sectional interest to be the sport of ambitious men, one's thoughts turn to Douglas rather than to Lincoln, the central figure — to Douglas, the unequalled party leader, the brilliant debater, the aspiring politician. What were his reflections on that occasion? Did he forgive the ingratitude and personal animosity of the retiring President? Was he free from any sense of envy when he congratulated the incoming President? The one execrated by his fellow citizens and longing to be at home in safe retirement; the other taking up a burden m.ore grievous than had fallen to the lot of any man since the days of William the Silent : would he have changed places with either? Looking back over the events of 1854, his personal act opening a new Pandora's box, his countrymen now in hostile array, the future threatening, but impenetrable, he might have repeated to himself the words of Byron :

The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree

I planted ; they have torn me and I bleed.

I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.

The receptions, the office-seeking and the ingenious speculations as to influences and policies by the newspaper correspondents — the accompaniments of every change in executive control — were not lacking in the beginning of the first Republican administration, but these had their brief hour and do not concern us. The conditions which confronted Mr. Lincoln, the steps which he took to save the Union, alone are important.

The Inauguration of Lincoln 5

Mr. Seward, early chosen for the Department of State, had been in a delicate and trying position during the closing session of the Thirty-sixth Congress. His every movement was watched ; his words were studied to detect a trace of the policy of the incoming administration. Appealed to on every hand to say something to stay the threatened disruption, he finally addressed the Senate January I2th, on "The State of the Union." The speech was eloquent, and during the delivery of portions of it Senators were in tears. The value of the Union was shown to be inestimable; its preservation, an obligation resting upon all of the American people — a people having practically only one language, one religion, one system of government, and manners and customs common to all. Dissolution meant perpetual civil war. All questions of difference ought to be submitted to the ballot, and the decision cheerfully acquiesced in. He believed that calmness, coolness and resolution, elements of American character which had been temporarily displaced, were reappearing, and that, soon enough for safety, it would be seen that sedition and violence were only local and temporary, and that loyalty and affection to the Union were the natural sentiments of the whole country. He suggested, rather than proposed, concessions as remedies, but evidently thought that after time had been given for reflection a convention of the States would succeed in restoring a state of peace and concord. Later developments did not lessen Mr. Seward's optimism. His policy was to gain time for the new administration to organize, and for the frenzy of passion to subside.'

The tone of Mr. Lincoln's inaugural was not unlike that of Mr. Seward's speech. He disclaimed on behalf of himself and of the majority any purpose to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States cherishing it, or doing any act except in strict conformity to the Constitution and the laws of the land. Evidently he thought that the Southern people, disabused of their apprehension, would take time to think calmly and well upon the whole subject, and that deliberation would surely

' Seward at Washington, vol. ii., p. 497.

stay disunion. Dwelling upon the benefits of the Union, which was older than the Constitution, he was led by a logical process of reasoning to speak of the practical difficulties in the way of the American people living under two distinct governments. "Physically speaking," said he, "we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them." The different parts of the country must remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. "Is it possible then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? " No other had presented this view so forcibly before. Consideration was given to differences, and their settlement referred to a convention of States, a mode distinctly constitutional.

The secession dogma that the Union was a league of States which might be dissolved at any time by a part was successfully controverted. It was Mr. Lincoln's opinion that the Union is perpetual. "If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it as a contract be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? " Clearly not. "No State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void; and that acts of violence, within any State or States, against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances." Considering the Union unbroken, Mr. Lincoln declared his purpose to execute the laws faithfully in all the States. In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there should be none unless it was forced upon the national authority. The duty of the President was to hold, occupy, possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what might be necessary for these objects, there would be no invasion, no using of force against or among

The Border States 7

the people anywhere. Thus there was a national citizenship with distinct obligations as well as a State citizenship.

At Montgomery was a government founded upon a different theory, exercising control over a number of States, with the apparent consent of their citizens. Thus two governments, maintaining antagonistic principles, stood face to face, and collision was inevitable. At this time the Montgomery government represented only one-fourth of the free population of the slave States, but two-thirds of the entire slave property. Could the remaining slave States be induced to join? Delaware had already decided to remain in the Union. Governor Hicks of Maryland was resisting all revolutionary attempts. Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri showed Union majorities on the popular vote. Kentucky was held in a condition of neutrality, but the strength of the Unionists in the Legislature was sufficient to defeat the intrigues of the secessionists. Violence and intimidation and intolerance might work a change in some of these, but for the present the laws of the United States were enforced within their Hmits.

It was Mr. Lincoln's aim to influence these States finally to reject secession, and to become a power in the restoration of the Union. He wished to appoint some one of distinction in North Carolina or Virginia a member of his Cabinet, but all offers were rejected. His Cabinet as finally constituted included representatives from two border States. On the 5th of March his nominations were confirmed by the Senate, as follows: William H. Seward of New York, Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury ; Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War ; Gideon Welles of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Edward Bates of Missouri, Attorney-General; Montgomery Blair of Maryland,- Postmaster-General ; Caleb B. Smith of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior. These selections fairly represented the Whig and Democratic elements out of which the Republican party had been formed. The selection of Mr. Chase was of vast importance, as upon the successful administration of the finances the fate of the Republic depended in a large degree. If war followed it could not be carried on without an ample supply of money. The contentment of the people, the first requisite in the support of a government in time of revolution, could be secured only by a wise regard to all business interests, which were so intimately connected with the Treasury Department. The purity of Mr. Chase's character and his administrative ability were universally recognized, and his selection secured the confidence of the business and moneyed men of the country.' It also gratified the more radical Republicans represented by Mr. Sumner and the more moderate class of Democratic origin represented by Judge Trumbull. During the early stages of agitation these had stood against all compromises — "Inauguration first, adjustment afterwards," said they.

Mr. Chase, in the Peace Congress, referring to the execution of the fugitive act as a real but not insuperable difficulty, suggested that provision might be made for non-performance. The right of reclamation being established, "instead of a judgment for rendition, let there be a judgment for compensation, determined by the true value of the services and by the same judgment assure freedom to the fugitive. The cost to the national Treasury would be as nothing in comparison with the evils of discord and strife." This would have met with general acceptance. The North had passed through Congress and caused to be transmitted to the States an amendment to the Constitution, numbered the Thirteenth, which if properly ratified would have precluded forever any action of Congress adverse to the perpetuation of slavery in States cherishing it. The North had also passed through the House the conciliatory resolutions reported by Mr. Corwin, and had shown a willingness in the organization of nev/ territories to omit all reference to slavery, and to leave the South in full possession of all the rights accruing to her from the federal Constitution, as expounded in the Dred Scott decision.* Thus had the North shown a disposition entirely friendly and conciliatory.

' Mr. Chase had been an active director of the Lafayette Bank of Cincinnati for ten years, and the solicitor of the bank for nearly the same period of time. * Greeley's The Afnerican Conflict, vol. i., p. 405.

The Border States 9

What had the South done in return? Nothing of a fraternal nature. Her attitude was that of requiring the acceptance without qualification of the Southern — or Calhoun — theory of the powers of the Constitution, which held the Union to be a mere alliance of sovereign States from which any State might withdraw at will.' The effect was expressed in the inaugural address of Jefferson Davis when he said that antagonisms would and should result in separation. Engagements undertaken with a reservation would not be likely to insure a stable government, and security in established law and order is the first requisite for the peace and happiness of a people. The South — the South represented in the Montgomery government — had also, even before States had passed ordinances of separation, seized forts, custom-houses, revenue cutters, arsenals and other property belonging to the general government; had, in a word, expelled the federal authority from those States, without the knowledge or consent of the general government — thus assuming from the start a hostile attitude.

The appointment of Charles Francis Adams as Minister to England, William L. Dayton to France, Carl Schurz to Spain and Thomas Corwin to Mexico showed the solicitude felt by the President and the Secretary of State as to our foreign relations.

What should be the policy of the government as to the forts was the most embarrassing question that confronted Mr, Lincoln on the 4th of March. Of all of the expensive structures guarding the Southern coasts there remained to the government of the United States Fortress Monroe, the forts on the Keys, Fort Pickens at Pensacola and Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. The Star of the West, sent in January to carry supplies to the last, had been fired upon and compelled to withdraw. Should an attempt be made by the new administration to send relief to it, or should Major Anderson and his force be withdrawn? The policy of the Buchanan administration had left these forts ill supplied and guarded, while the

' And yet the powers of the States never embraced the requisites of nationality : not one had ever been recognized as a nation.

lo A Political History of Slavery

military aggressions of South Carolina and Florida rendered their situation daily more and more precarious. Formidable batteries had been erected on land so as to command the approaches to Sumter and Pickens and to threaten their reduction. General Scott advised their evacuation as a necessary result of the situation. It was estimated that to relieve Fort Sumter would require ships and an army of twenty thousand men. The ships of the navy were dispersed in foreign waters; there was no military force available. The garrison of Fort Sumter had provisions for a month perhaps, and if not relieved soon would be compelled to surrender to their fellow countrymen who confronted them on every side as armed foes.

The commissioners appointed by the Montgomery government during the last fortnight of Mr. Buchanan's administration to negotiate for the surrender of the forts in the South yet remaining to the federal government, had not been received by Secretary Seward, but no whit discouraged they solicited the good offices of Justice John A. Campbell, who was about to resign from the Supreme Bench and return home to Alabama to share the fortunes of his State. Mr. Campbell was not friendly to the secession movement, but he entered 'upon negotiation with the ardent hope that he and Mr. Seward, whose influence with the administration was believed to be paramount, might be able to agree on a policy that, in the expressive language sometimes used to beguile the American Indian, should keep the chain of friendship bright. It was known that Mr. Seward was for peace, and when in perfect good faith he confided to Mr. Campbell the information that Major Anderson and his little band would be withdrawn from Fort Sumter and that at all events supplies would not be sent forward without previous notice given to the Governor of South Carolina, the authorities at Montgomery anticipated a peaceful termination of their enterprise. They were disappointed, and affected to have been deceived. In his narrative Jefferson Davis refers to these diplomatic transactions in bitter words : "How this effort [at negotiation] was received, how the commissioners were kept waiting, and while fair promises

The Border States 1 1

were held to the ear how military preparations were pushed forward for the unconstitutional, criminal purpose of coercing States, let the shameful record of the transaction attest." '

The record shows that the President and the Secretary of State hoped for peace ardently, planned for it, and strove for it in all ways consistent with their constitutional obligations, pursuing their purpose with such persistence as to threaten the alienation of their political friends. The Cabinet was sharply divided as to policy. Montgomery Blair, a Jacksonian, would reinforce the forts and enforce the laws aggressively. The President and the Secretary of State shared in the belief that the avoidance of irritating acts as to Sumter and the display of an amicable spirit towards the border States would hold them to the Union. To George W. Summers of Virginia was tendered a seat on the Supreme Bench of the United States, but Mr. Summers was coy, and Virginia was at the mercy of the political influences which had controlled her destiny for fifty years. New civil officers were appointed for Key West to assist Judge Marvin, the loyal judge of the District Court, and the force in Fort Pickens was increased to eleven hundred men, soldiers and laborers, thus making secure the finest port and naval station in the South. Finally after due deliberation the President decided to attempt to convey supplies to Major Anderson. Captain Fox was commissioned to execute the order. Meanwhile, in faithful observance of the promise given, a special messenger was sent to notify Governor Pickens of the government's decision. The responsibility of peace or war was placed upon Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet. All the while they had been erecting hostile batteries and arming troops they talked of peace and besought the border States to help them keep it by renouncing their allegiance to the federal government, which suggested as an apt commentary the words of Tybalt— "What, drawn and talk of peace ! "

"We are prepared for the dangers of peace, or the dangers of war," said Jefferson Davis, at this period. What were the

1 Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, vol. i., p. 247.

dangers of peace? A return of States to the Union, a restoration of cordial relations between the people of the sections and an abandonment of the doctrine of secession. There were those who sincerely wanted peace regardless of the fate of political theories. But in times of revolution the voice of the man who wears a bold countenance bears down the wise counsels of the messenger of peace. One of these fiery spirits, addressing the people of Charleston, said: "Do not distrust Viro-inia. I will tell you, gentlemen, what will put her in the Southern confederation in less than an hour by Shrewsbury clock — strike a blow. The very moment that blood is shed, old Virginia will make common cause with her sisters at the South." ' And about the same time, in the ofifice of the Secretary of War at Montgomery, another of the same class warned the secretary in these words: "Sir, unless you sprinkle blood in the face of the people of Alabama they will be back in the old Union in less than ten days." '

Would the North resent a blow? Would the thrifty Yankees, would the Democrats of New York and the Northwest permit a war to be prosecuted for the Union? There were Southern leaders who believed that if Mr. Lincoln attempted coercion half the North would refuse support and he would be compelled to resign. Mr. Lincoln was anxiously pondering the chances. Mr. Douglas's course in the Senate during the first days of the special session caused embarrassment and no little anxiety. His criticism that the administration had no fixed policy, and his persistency in attempting to force it to consent to the abandonment of the public property in the Southern States, were calculated to mislead the people into a belief that it was possible to recall to duty peaceably the States that had already seceded, by yielding to their demands. His irritating speeches finally provoked a rebuke from Mr. Wilson, unusually animated and severe, which served a good purpose. Mr. Douglas had a larger personal following than

' Charleston Mercury, April nth. The speech was by Roger A. Pryor of Virginia.

Attack on Fort Sumter 13

any other party leader of the day. His friends believed in him, adored him, and followed wherever he led, confidently, unhesitatingly. If he had taken ground in opposition to the poHcy of considering the seceded States as still within the Union and amenable to the laws of the federal government the result would have been serious, perhaps disastrous. When the time came for decision his loyalty to country rose superior to party. It was a decision that carried great strength to the administration, and that for a time practically obliterated party distinctions.

The character of the people of the North was better understood by Robert Toombs than by his chief, and in a Cabinet meeting at Montgomery he gave his counsel against an assault upon Fort Sumter. "Mr. President," said he, "at this time it is suicide, murder, and will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornets' nest which extends from mountains to ocean, and legions, now quiet, will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal."' The hot spirits triumphed. The decision was war. Instructed by the confederate Secretary of War, General Beauregard on the nth of April demanded the immediate evacuation of Fort Sumter. As Major Anderson refused to comply, early on the morning of the following day the first hostile gun of the Civil War was fired from the howitzer battery on James Island. The defence was a gallant but hopeless one, and after thirty-six hours, the quarters being burnt, the main gates destroyed by fire, the walls seriously injured and the magazine surrounded by flames. Major Anderson accepted the terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard and marched out on Sunday the 14th, "with colors flying and drums beating, and saluting the flag of the Union with fifty guns." ^

The effect was what General Toombs had predicted. The grave and quiet North was instantly transformed into a scene of activity and wild excitement, which assumed the character

■ Robert Toombs, Statesman, etc. By Pleasant A. Stoval, p. 226.

- National Intelligencer , April 20th. Despatch from Major Anderson.

of patriotic enthusiasm when the President's call for seventy-five thousand three-months' men, followed upon the heels of the announcement of the evacuation. The great cities, every town and village and country district sent words of cheer and encouragement to the administration, while before all others Massachusetts despatched a regiment to protect the capital. Ten days after Sumter had fallen a monster mass meeting was held in Union Square, New York, which, whether as respects numbers in attendance or influence on the destiny of the country, was the most remarkable and important gathering of the people ever held in America. General Dix, Daniel S. Dickinson and other conspicuous Democrats set such an example of loyalty as will prove an inspiration for all time. The meeting, said Edwin M. Stanton, delighted, "has become a national epoch; for it was a manifestation of patriotic feeling beyond any example in history." And he adds: "The uprising of the people of the United States to maintain their government and crush rebellion has been so grand, so mighty in every element, that I feel it a blessing to be alive and witness it."

The guns in Charleston harbor roused into activity Stephen A. Douglas. It was in the city of Charleston that the Democratic party had been disrupted to prevent his nomination, and the attack on the American flag was but another act in the general movement of destruction following the loss of political power. Leaving Washington for home in the latter part of April, he spoke to great crowds of anxious people at different points, advising all to forget party differences and to support the government. "Every man must be on the side of the United States or against it," said he. "There can be no neutrals in this war." He made direct for the capital of his own State, where his own followers in the Legislature were causing anxiety to the State authorities by their attitude. The State Senate when organized contained twelve Democrats to thirteen Republicans, but two of the latter had been appointed to office by Mr. Lincoln. The Democrats were thus left in the majority, and they gave no indication of