Chapter CDLXXXVI: Section 10: And be it further enacted, That when any person (3)

"Mr. J. W. Fell, a politician of Pennsylvania, says that after
the debates of 1858 [with Douglas] he urged Lincoln to seek
the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1860. Lincoln,
however, replied curtly that men like Seward and Chase were
entitled to take precedence, and that no such 'good luck' was
in store for him. … In the winter of 1859-60 sundry 'intimate
friends,' active politicians of Illinois, pressed him to
consent to be mentioned as a candidate. He considered the
matter over night and then gave them the desired permission,
at the same time saying that he would not accept the
vice-presidency. … With the opening of the spring of 1860 the
several parties began the campaign in earnest. The Democratic
Convention met first, at Charleston, April 23; and immediately
the line of disruption opened. Upon the one side stood
Douglas, with the moderate men and nearly all the Northern
delegates, while against him were the advocates of extreme
Southern doctrines, supported by the administration and by
most of the delegates from the 'Cotton States.' The majority
of the committee appointed to draft the platform were
anti-Douglas men; but their report was rejected, and that
offered by the pro-Douglas minority was substituted, 165 yeas
to 138 nays. Thereupon the delegations of Alabama,
Mississippi, Florida, and Texas, and sundry delegates from
other States, withdrew from the Convention, taking away 45
votes out of a total of 303. Those who remained declared the
vote of two thirds of a full Convention, i. e., 202 votes, to
be necessary for a choice. Then during three days 57 ballots
were cast, Douglas being always far in the lead, but never
polling more than 152½ votes. At last, on May 3, an
adjournment was had until June 18, at Baltimore. At this
second meeting contesting delegations appeared, and the
decisions were uniformly in favor of the Douglas men, which
provoked another secession of the extremist Southern men. A
ballot showed 173½ votes for Douglas out of a total of 191½;
the total was less than two thirds of the full number of the
original Convention, and therefore it was decided that any
person receiving two thirds of the votes cast by the delegates
present should be deemed the nominee. The next ballot gave
Douglas 181½. Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia was nominated for
vice-president. On June 28, also at Baltimore [after a meeting
and adjournment from Richmond, June 11], there came together a
collection composed of original seceders at Charleston, and of
some who had been rejected and others who had seceded at
Baltimore. Very few Northern men were present, and the body in
fact represented the Southern wing of the Democracy. Having,
like its competitor, the merit of knowing its own mind, it
promptly nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky and Joseph
Lane of Oregon, and adopted the radical platform which had
been reported at Charleston. These doings opened, so that it
could never be closed, that seam of which the thread had long
been visible athwart the surface of the old Democratic party.
… In May the Convention of the Constitutional Union party met,
also at Baltimore. This organization was a sudden outgrowth
designed only to meet the present emergency. … The party died,
of necessity, upon the day when Lincoln was elected, and its
members were then distributed between the Republicans, the
Secessionists, and the Copperheads. John Bell, of Tennessee,
the candidate for the presidency, joined the Confederacy;
Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, the candidate for the
vice-presidency, became a Republican. The party never had a
hope of electing its men; but its existence increased the
chance of throwing the election into Congress; and this hope
inspired exertions far beyond what its own prospects
warranted. On May 16 the Republican Convention came together
at Chicago, where the great 'Wigwam' had been built to hold
10,000 persons. … Many candidates were named, chiefly Seward,
Lincoln, Chase, Cameron, Edward Bates of Missouri, and William
L. Dayton of New Jersey. Thurlow Weed was Seward's lieutenant.
Horace Greeley, chiefly bent upon the defeat of Seward, would
have liked to achieve it by the success of Bates. David Davis,
aided by Judge Logan and a band of personal friends from
Illinois, was manager for Lincoln. Primarily the contest lay
between Seward and Lincoln. … Upon the third ballot … those
who were keeping the tally saw that it stood:—Seward, 180;
Lincoln, 231½; Chase, 24½; Bates, 22; Dayton, 1; McLean, 5;
Scattering, 1. … Before the count could be announced, a
delegate from Ohio transferred four votes to Lincoln. This
settled the matter; and then other delegations followed, till
Lincoln's score rose to 354. … Later in the day the convention
nominated Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, on tho second ballot, by
367 votes, for the vice-presidency. … Almost from the
beginning it was highly probable that the Republicans would
win, and it was substantially certain that none of their
competitors could do so. The only contrary chance was that no
election might be made by the people, and that it might be
thrown into Congress."

_J. T. Morse, Jr.,
Abraham Lincoln,
volume 1, chapter 6._

At the popular election, the votes were:
Lincoln, 1,866,452
(Free-States vote, 1,840,022, Slave States vote, 26,430);
Douglas, 1,375,157
(Free States vote, 1,211,632, Slave States vote, 163,525);
Breckenridge, 847,953
(Free States vote, 277,082, Slave States vote, 570,871);
Bell, 590,631
(Free States vote, 74,658, Slave States vote, 515,973).

In the Electoral College, the four candidates were voted
for as follows:
Lincoln, 180;
Breckenridge, 72;
Bell, 39;
Douglas, 12.

_E. Stanwood,
History of Presidential Elections,
chapter 20._

ALSO IN:
_H. W. Raymond,
Life of Lincoln,
chapter 4._

_E. McPherson,
Political History of the United States during the
Great Rebellion,
page 1._

_J. G. Holland,
Life of Lincoln,
chapters 15-16._

_J. G. Nicolay and J. Hay,
Abraham Lincoln,
volume 2, chapters 13-16._

_J. F. Rhodes,
History of the United States from 1850,
chapter 11 (volume 2)._

{3407}

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (November-December).
The plotting of the rebellion.
Secession of South Carolina.

"The long-hoped-for opportunity of trying the experiment of
secession was now at last presented. Abraham Lincoln had been
elevated to the presidency by a strictly sectional vote; and
though the fact could not be denied that he had been elected
in a perfectly constitutional manner, … yet, no sooner was it
ascertained that it was almost certain that he would receive a
majority of the electoral votes of the whole Union, than steps
began to be taken for carrying into effect a revolutionary
project which had engrossed the thoughts and sensibilities of
a small class of extreme Southern politicians, mainly confined
to the State of South Carolina, for some thirty years
preceding. … So thoroughly matured was the project of
secession in the minds of Southern extremists in South
Carolina, that they are known actually to have commenced
movements looking to this desired end before even the
presidential election had taken place, and when the result
which soon ensued was yet but a strong probability.
Accordingly we find Governor Gist, as early as the 5th of
November, 1860, addressing a message to the South Carolina
Legislature, embodying the following bold and explicit
declarations. … 'That an exposition of the will of the people
may be obtained on a question involving such momentous
consequences, I would earnestly recommend that, in the event
of Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency, a Convention
of the people of this state be immediately called, to consider
and determine for themselves the mode and measure of redress.
My own opinions of what the Convention should do are of little
moment; but, believing that the time has arrived when
everyone, however humble he may be, should express his
opinions in unmistakable language, I am constrained to say
that the only alternative left, in my judgment, is the
secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union. The
indications from many of the Southern States justify the
conclusion that the secession of South Carolina will be
immediately followed, if not adopted simultaneously by them,
and ultimately by the entire South. … I would also
respectfully recommend a thorough reorganization of the
militia, so as to place the whole military force of the state
in a position to be used at the shortest notice and with the
greatest efficiency. … In addition to this general
preparation, I would recommend that the services of 10,000
volunteers be immediately accepted.' … I desire not to
particularize on this painful subject to an extent which might
now prove annoying, and therefore proceed briefly to state
that the Legislature of South Carolina provided for the
assemblage of a state Convention, the members of which were to
be elected on the 6th of December, while the conventional body
itself was to come together on the 19th of the same month;
that the Convention did assemble on the last-mentioned day,
and, after an excited debate of several days' continuance,
adopted an Ordinance of Secession on the 20th of December.
Commissioners were sent with a copy of the ordinance to each
of the slave states, in order to quicken co-operative action,
and notification was duly made as to these events to the
Federal government in Washington City. The next secession
movement it was expected would come off in the State of
Georgia. A Convention for this purpose had been already
called. It was known that Alexander H. Stephens, Herschel V.
Johnson, and other public men, of elevated standing and of
extended influence, would be members of the Convention, and it
was expected that they would exert themselves to the utmost to
prevent the imitation by the State of Georgia of the rash
example which had just been set by South Carolina; and it was
likewise known that eminent personages from the State of South
Carolina would attend the Convention of Georgia, in order to
urge immediate co-operation. Under these circumstances, I took
it upon myself to persuade the public men of most influence in
the city of Nashville, where I was then residing, to send ten
or fifteen delegates forthwith to Milledgeville, respectfully
and earnestly to protest against extreme action on the part of
Georgia. … I urged these views for several days most
zealously, but, I regret to say, without success; some
supposing that there was no serious danger of the Convention
of Georgia adopting an Ordinance of Secession, and others that
there was reason to fear, if we should send delegates to
Milledgeville, it might result in fatally compromising our own
attitude. The manly opposition made by Mr. Stephens to the
attempt to draw Georgia into the Secession maelstrom is well
known. This want of success is a circumstance which I shall
ever deplore as the most unfortunate event of a public nature
which has occurred within my recollection. Alabama, Florida,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas were now soon enrolled among
the seceded States. Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia,
Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware still
stood firm, despite all the efforts essayed to shake their
constancy. It is indeed true, as Mr. Greeley has deliberately
recorded, that after the secession 'conspiracy had held
complete possession of the Southern mind for three months,
with the Southern members of the cabinet, nearly all the
Federal officers, most of the governors and other state
functionaries, and seven eighths of the prominent and active
politicians pushing it on, and no force exerted against nor in
any manner threatening to resist it, a majority of the slave
states, with two thirds of the free population of the entire
slaveholding region, was openly and positively adverse to it,
either because they regarded the alleged grievances of the
South as exaggerated if not unreal, or because they believed
that those wrongs would rather be aggravated than cured by
disunion.'"

_H. S. Foote,
War of the Rebellion,
chapter 15._

ALSO IN:
_J. G. Nicolay,
The Outbreak of Rebellion,
chapter 1._

_S. W. Crawford,
The Genesis of the Civil War,
chapters 2-5._

_F. Moore, editor,
Rebellion Record,
volume 1._

The following is the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession,
adopted December 20, together with the Declaration of Causes
which was promulgated by the Convention four days later:

"An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of South
Carolina and other States united with her under the compact
entitled 'The Constitution of the United States of America.'
We, the People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention
assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared
and ordained. That the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention,
on the twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord one
thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the
Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and
also, all Acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of this
State, ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are
hereby repealed; and that the union now subsisting between
South Carolina and other States, under the name of 'The United
States of America,' is hereby dissolved."

{3408}

"Declaration of the immediate causes which induce and justify
the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union:

The People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention
assembled, on the 26th day of April, A. D., 1852, declared
that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United
States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon
the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State
in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference
to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States,
she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that
time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and
further forbearance ceases to be a virtue. And now the State
of South Carolina having resumed her separate and equal place
among nations, deems it due to herself, to the remaining
United States of America, and to the nations of the world,
that she should declare the immediate causes which have led to
this act. In the year 1765, that portion of the British Empire
embracing Great Britain, undertook to make laws for the
government of that portion composed of the thirteen American
Colonies. A struggle for the right of self-government ensued,
which resulted, on the 4th July, 1776, in a Declaration, by
the Colonies, 'that they are, and of right ought to be, free
and independent States; and that, as free and independent
States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace,
contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other
acts and things which independent States may of right do.'
They further solemnly declared that whenever any 'form of
government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was
established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish
it, and to institute a new government.' Deeming the Government
of Great Britain to have become destructive of these ends,
they declared that the Colonies 'are absolved from all
allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political
connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and
ought to be, totally dissolved.' In pursuance of this
Declaration of Independence, each of the thirteen States
proceeded to exercise its separate sovereignty; adopted for
itself a Constitution, and appointed officers for the
administration of government in all its
departments—Legislative, Executive and Judicial. For purposes
of defence, they united their arms and their counsels; and, in
1778, they entered into a League known as the Articles of
Confederation, whereby they agreed to entrust the
administration of their external relations to a common agent,
known as the Congress of the United States, expressly
declaring, in the first article, 'that each State retains its
sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power,
jurisdiction and right which is not, by this Confederation,
expressly delegated to the United States in Congress
assembled. Under this Confederation the War of the Revolution
was carried on, and on the 3d September, 1783, the contest
ended, and a definitive Treaty was signed by Great Britain, in
which she acknowledged the Independence of the Colonies in the
following terms:

'Article 1.—His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United
States, viz: New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia, to be free, sovereign and
independent States; that he treats with them as such; and for
himself, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all claims to
the government, propriety and territorial rights of the same
and every part thereof.' Thus were established the two great
principles asserted by the Colonies, namely: the right of a
State to govern itself; and the right of a people to abolish a
Government when it becomes destructive of the ends for which
it was instituted. And concurrent with the establishment of
these principles, was the fact, that each Colony became and
was recognized by the mother Country as a free, sovereign and
independent State. In 1787, Deputies were appointed by the
States to revise the Articles of Confederation, and on 17th
September, 1787, these Deputies recommended, for the adoption
of the States, the Articles of Union, known as the
Constitution of the United States. The parties to whom this
Constitution was submitted, were the several sovereign States;
they were to agree or disagree, and when nine of them agreed,
the compact was to take effect among those concurring; and the
General Government, as the common agent, was then to be
invested with their authority. If only nine of the thirteen
States had concurred, the other four would have remained as
they were—separate sovereign States, independent of any of the
provisions of the Constitution. In fact, two of the States did
not accede to the Constitution until long after it had gone
into operation among the other eleven; and during that
interval, they each exercised the functions of an independent
nation. By this Constitution, certain duties were imposed upon
the several States, and the exercise of certain of their
powers was restrained, which necessarily implied their
continued existence as sovereign States. But, to remove all
doubt, an amendment was added, which declared that the powers
not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States,
respectively, or to the people. On 23d May, 1788, South
Carolina, by a Convention of her people, passed an Ordinance
assenting to this Constitution, and afterwards altered her own
Constitution, to conform herself to the obligations she had
undertaken. Thus was established, by compact between the
States, a Government, with defined objects and powers, limited
to the express words of the grant. This limitation left the
whole remaining mass of power subject to the clause reserving
it to the States or to the people, and rendered unnecessary
any specification of reserved rights. We hold that the
Government thus established is subject to the two great
principles asserted in the Declaration of Independence; and we
hold further, that the mode of its formation subjects it to a
third fundamental principle, namely: the law of compact. We
maintain that in every compact between two or more parties,
the obligation is mutual; that the failure of one of the
contracting parties to perform a material part of the
agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the other; and
that where no arbiter is provided, each party is remitted to
his own judgment to determine the fact of failure, with all
its consequences.

{3409}

In the present case, that fact is established with certainty.
We assert, that fourteen of the States have deliberately
refused for years past to fulfil their constitutional
obligations, and we refer to their own Statutes for the proof.
The Constitution of the United States, in its 4th Article,
provides as follows: 'No person held to service or labor in
one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be
discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered
up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be
due.' This stipulation was so material to the compact, that
without it that compact would not have been made. The greater
number of the contracting parties held slaves, and they had
previously evinced their estimate of the value of such a
stipulation by making it a condition in the Ordinance for the
government of the territory ceded by Virginia, which now
composes the States north of the Ohio river. The same article
of the Constitution stipulates also for rendition by the
several States of fugitives from justice from the other
States. The General Government, as the common agent, passed
laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States.
For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing
hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the
Institution of Slavery has led to a disregard of their
obligations, and the laws of the General Government have
ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States
of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either
nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to
execute them. In many of these States the fugitive is
discharged from the service or labor claimed, and in none of
them has the State Government complied with the stipulation
made in the Constitution. The State of New Jersey, at an early
day, passed a law in conformity with her constitutional
obligation; but the current of anti-slavery feeling has led
her more recently to enact laws which render inoperative the
remedies provided by her own law and by the laws of Congress.
In the State of New York even the right of transit for a slave
has been denied by her tribunals; and the States of Ohio and
Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitives charged
with murder, and with inciting servile insurrection in the
State of Virginia. Thus the constitutional compact has been
deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding
States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is
released from her obligation. The ends for which this
Constitution was framed are declared by itself to be 'to form
a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity.' These ends it endeavored to
accomplish by a Federal Government, in which each State was
recognized as an equal, and had separate control over its own
institutions. The right of property in slaves was recognized
by giving to free persons distinct political rights, by giving
them the right to represent, and burthening them with direct
taxes for three-fifths of their slaves; by authorizing the
importation of slaves for twenty years; and by stipulating for
the rendition of fugitives from labor. We affirm that these
ends for which this Government was instituted have been
defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive
of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those
States have assumed the right of deciding upon the propriety
of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of
property established in fifteen other States and recognized by
the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the
institution of Slavery; they have permitted the open
establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is
to disturb the peace and to claim the property of the citizens
of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands
of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have
been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile
insurrection. For twenty-five years this agitation has been
steadily increasing, until it has now secured to its aid the
power of the Common Government. Observing the forms of the
Constitution, a sectional party has found within that article
establishing the Executive Department, the means of subverting
the Constitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn
across the Union, and all the States north of that line have
united in the election of a man to the high office of
President of the United States whose opinions and purposes are
hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the
administration of the Common Government, because he has
declared that that 'Government cannot endure permanently half
slave, half free,' and that the public mind must rest in the
belief that Slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.
This sectional combination for the subversion of the
Constitution, has been aided in some of the States by
elevating to citizenship, persons, who, by the Supreme Law of
the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes
have been used to inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the
South, and destructive of its peace and safety. On the 4th
March next, this party will take possession of the Government.
It has announced, that the South shall be excluded from the
common Territory; that the Judicial Tribunals shall be made
sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until
it shall cease throughout the United States. The Guaranties of
the Constitution will then no longer exist; the equal rights
of the States will be lost. The slaveholding States will no
longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection,
and the Federal Government will have become their enemy.
Sectional interest and animosity will deepen the irritation,
and all hope of remedy is rendered vain, by the fact that
public opinion at the North has invested a great political
error with the sanctions of a more erroneous religious belief.
We, therefore, the people of South Carolina, by our delegates,
in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the
world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly
declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State
and the other States of North America, is dissolved, and that
the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the
nations of the world, as a separate and independent State;
with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract
alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and
things which independent States may of right do."

{3410}

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (December).
President Buchanan's surrender.
His disunion message and its evil effects.

Congress met on the first Monday of December and received from
President Buchanan "his mischievous and deplorable message …
—a message whose evil effect can never be estimated, and whose
evil character can hardly be exaggerated. The President
informed Congress that 'the long-continued and intemperate
interference of the Northern people with the question of
slavery in the Southern States has at last produced its
natural effect.' … The President found that the chief
grievance of the South was in the enactments of the Free
States known as 'personal liberty laws' [designed to protect
free citizens, black or white, in their right to trial by
jury, which the fugitive slave law denied to a black man
claimed as a slave]. … Very likely these enactments, inspired
by an earnest spirit of liberty, went in many cases too far,
and tended to produce conflicts between National and State
authority. That was a question to be determined finally and
exclusively by the Federal Judiciary. Unfortunately Mr.
Buchanan carried his argument beyond that point. … After
reciting the statutes which he regarded as objectionable and
hostile to the constitutional rights of the South, and after
urging their unconditional repeal upon the North, the
President said: 'The Southern States, standing on the basis of
the Constitution, have a right to demand this act of justice
from the States of the North. Should it be refused, then the
Constitution, to which all the States are parties, will have
been willfully violated. … In that event, the injured States,
after having used all peaceful and constitutional means to
obtain redress, would be justified in revolutionary resistance
to the government of the Union.' By this declaration the
President justified, and in effect advised, an appeal from the
constitutional tribunals of the country to a popular judgment
in the aggrieved States, and recognized the right of those
States, upon such popular judgment, to destroy the
Constitution and the Union. … Mr. Buchanan proceeded to argue
ably and earnestly against the assumption by any State of an
inherent right to secede from the government at its own will
and pleasure. But he utterly destroyed the force of his
reasoning by declaring that, 'after much serious reflection'
he had arrived at 'the conclusion that no power has been
delegated to Congress, or to any other department of the
Federal Government, to coerce a State into submission which is
attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn,' from the
Union. … Under these doctrines the Government of the United
States was shorn of all power to preserve its own existence,
and the Union might crumble and fall while its constituted
authorities stood paralyzed and impotent. This construction
was all that the extremists of the South desired. With so much
conceded, they had every thing in their own hands. … Men who,
under the wholesome restraint of executive power, would have
refrained from taking aggressive steps against the National
Government, were by Mr. Buchanan's action forced into a
position of hostility. Men in the South, who were disposed to
avoid extreme measures, were by taunt and reproach driven into
the ranks of Secession. … The evil effects of Mr. Buchanan's
message were not confined to the slave States. It did
incalculable harm in the free States. It fixed in the minds of
tens of thousands of Northern men who were opposed to the
Republican party, the belief that the South was justified in
taking steps to break up the government, if what they termed a
war on Southern institutions should be continued. This feeling
had in turn a most injurious influence in the South."

_J. G. Blaine,
Twenty Years in Congress,
volume 1, chapter 10.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21128_

ALSO IN:
_G. T. Curtis,
Life of James Buchanan,
volume 2, chapters 16-17._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (December).
Vain concessions and humiliations of the North proposed.
The Crittenden compromise.

"When, in the House of Representatives, Mr. Boteler, of
Virginia, proposed to refer so much of the President's Message
as related to the perilous condition of the country to a
committee of thirty-three—one from each state—not less than
52 members from the Slave States refused to vote. 'I pay no
attention to any action taken in this body,' said one. 'I am
not sent here to patch up difficulties,' said another. The
Democratic members from the Free States did their utmost to
compose the dissension—some of them who subsequently became
conspicuous in the war—suggesting concessions which doubtless
they looked back upon with regret. It was proposed that
persons of African blood should never be considered as
citizens of the United States; that there should never be any
interference with slavery in the Territories, nor with the
interstate slave-trade; that the doctrine of state-rights
should be admitted, and power of coercion denied to the
government. Among the dissatisfied members, one would allow
any state at pleasure to secede, and allot it a fair share of
the public property and territory. Another would divide the
Union into four republics; another would abolish the office of
President, and have in its stead a council of three, each of
whom should have a veto on every public act. Propositions such
as these show to what length the allies of the slave power
would have gone to preserve it and give it perpetuity. At this
stage, Mr. Crittenden [Senator John J. Crittenden of
Kentucky], proposed in the Senate certain amendments of the
Constitution, and resolutions known subsequently as the
Crittenden Compromise. The essential features of his plan were
the re-establishing of the Missouri Compromise: that in all
territory of the United States north of 36° 30' slavery should
be prohibited; in all south of that line, not only permitted,
but protected; that from such territory north or south states
might be admitted with or without slavery, as the Constitution
of each might determine; that Congress should have no power to
abolish slavery in places under its jurisdiction in a slave
state, nor in the District of Columbia, without the consent of
the adjoining states, nor without compensation to the
slaveholders, nor to prevent persons connected with the
government bringing their slaves into the District; that
Congress should have no power to hinder the interstate or
territorial transport of slaves; that the national government
should pay a full value to the owner of a fugitive slave who
might have been rescued from the officers; that no amendments
of the Constitution should ever be made which might affect
these amendments, or other slave compromises already existing
in the Constitution.
{3411}
He also recommended to the states that had enacted laws in
conflict with the existing fugitive slave acts, their repeal;
and in four resolutions made provision for the more perfect
execution of those acts. But the dissension was too deep to be
closed by such a measure as Mr. Crittenden's, which contained
nothing that could satisfy the North. The South was resolved
not to be satisfied with any thing. It had taken what was
plainly an irreversible step. According]y, Mr. Crittenden's
proposition was eventually lost."

_J. W. Draper,
History of the American Civil War,
chapter 31 (section 6, volume 1)._

ALSO IN:
_H. Greeley,
The American Conflict,
volume 1, chapter 24._

_E. McPherson,
Political History of the United States during the
Great Rebellion,
pages 48-90._

_J. A. Logan,
The Great Conspiracy,
chapter 8._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (December).
Major Anderson at Fort Sumter.
Floyd's treachery in the War Department.
Cabinet rupture.
Loyalty reinstated in the national government.

"In November, 1860, the fortifications of Charleston Harbor
consisted of three works—Castle Pinckney, an old-fashioned,
circular brick fort, on Shute's Folly Island, and about one
mile east of the city; Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island,
still farther to the east, and famous as being on the site of
the old fort of palmetto logs, where, during the long
bombardment by the British fleet in Revolutionary days, the
gallant William Jasper leaped from the low rampart upon the
beach below, and seizing the flag that had been shot down,
rehoisted it above the fort; and lastly, Fort Sumter, an
unfinished fortification, named after General Thomas Sumter,
the famous partisan leader of the Revolution, and who was
familiarly known as the 'gamecock of the Carolinas.' The
armament of Castle Pinckney consisted of 22 cannon, 2 mortars,
and 4 light pieces; that of Moultrie of 45 cannon and 7 light
pieces; while Sumter mounted 78 heavy guns of various calibre.
The entire force of United States troops in these
fortifications was composed of two weak companies of artillery
under command of Major Robert Anderson, and a few engineer
employees under Captain John G. Foster. Of these a sergeant
and squad of men were stationed at Castle Pinckney for the
care of the quarters and the guns; a similar handful were at
Sumter; while most of the little force were at Moultrie, where
Anderson had his headquarters. Such was the military situation
when South Carolina began to proclaim, without disguise, her
purpose to secede and to possess herself of the fortifications
on her coast. … Our Government paid no apparent heed, and yet
the authorities at Washington were fully and betimes
forewarned. … On the files of the Engineer Department I found
a letter, which still remains there, dated as early as
November 24, 1860, from Captain Foster to Colonel De Russy,
then the chief of the engineer corps, in which the captain
states that, at the request of Major Anderson, he has, in
company with that officer, made a thorough inspection of the
forts in the harbor; that, in the opinion of Anderson, one
additional company of artillery should at once be sent to
garrison Castle Pinckney, which in the terse language of the
letter, 'commands the city of Charleston.' Upon the back of
the letter is the simple but significant indorsement, in his
own hand-writing, 'Return to Governor Floyd.' You may recall
him as Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of War. On November 30,
Captain Foster again writes to Colonel De Russy, saying: 'I
think that more troops should have been sent here to guard the
forts, and I believe that no serious demonstration on the part
of the populace would have met such a course.' On this is
indorsed: 'Colonel Cooper says this has been shown to the
Secretary of War. H. G. W.' The initials, placed there by
himself, are those of the gallant Horatio G. Wright, who
succeeded to the command of the Sixth Army Corps after the
loved Sedgwick fell. On December 2, application was made by
Captain Foster for the small supply of four boxes of muskets
and sixty rounds of cartridge per man, to arm the few
civilians or hired laborers who constituted the engineer
corps. These arms and ammunition were in the United States
arsenal at Charleston, a building which still had a Federal
keeper, and over which still floated the Federal flag. On this
application is the following indorsement, also in General
Wright's handwriting: 'Handed to adjutant-general, and by him
laid before the Secretary of War on the sixth of December.
Returned by adjutant-general on the seventh. Action deferred
for the present. See Captain Foster's letter of December 4.' …
On December 17, Captain Foster, acting on his own patriotic
judgment, but without orders, went to Charleston and took from
the Federal arsenal forty muskets, with which to arm his
laborers. Early on the morning of the 19th, he received a
telegram from Secretary Floyd, directing him instantly to
return the arms to the arsenal. On the next day, the 20th, the
South Carolinians decided, in State convention, to secede, and
proclaimed their State an independent sovereignty. … All alike
were delirious with the epidemic madness of the hour, were
hopeful, resolute, enthusiastic. Bells pealed and cannon
boomed. … But few ventured to breast the storm. There was one,
whose name should live honored in in a nation's memory, a
wise, true man, the greatest lawyer of his State, James L.
Pettigrew, who, when his minister first dropped from the
service the prayer for the President of the United States,
rose in his pew in the middle aisle of Charleston's most
fashionable church, and slowly and with distinct voice
repeated: 'Most humbly and heartily we beseech Thee with Thy
favor to behold and bless Thy servant, the President of these
United States.' Then, placing his prayer-book in the rack, and
drawing his wife's arm within his own, he left the church, nor
entered it again until his body was borne there for burial. To
their honor be it said, that even the Carolinians respected
his sincerity and candor, and never molested him. … On the
night of December 26, Major Anderson evacuated Fort Moultrie,
which was untenable by his small force, spiked his guns,
burned the gun-carriages, and transferred his small command in
two schooners to Fort Sumter. This act was without orders and
against the do-nothing and helpless policy which had thus far
controlled the Government. But it showed the wisdom and prompt
decision of the trained soldier and the spirit of the loyal
citizen. … Let us recall the appearance of Sumter when
Anderson transferred his feeble garrison to its protection.
The fort was built on an artificial island, which had been
constructed by dumping stone upon a shoal that lay on the
south side of the principal ship channel to Charleston Harbor.
Sumter was pentagonal in form, and its five sides of brick,
made solid by concrete, rose 60 feet above the water. It was
pierced for an armament of 135 guns, which were to be placed
in three tiers.
{3412}
Two tiers were to be in casemates, and one 'en barbette,' or
on the top of the wall. The embrasures of the upper tier of
casemates were never completed. They were filled up with brick
during Major Anderson's occupation of the fort, and so
remained during all the succeeding operations and siege.
Seventy-eight guns of various calibre composed its then
armament, the most efficient of which were placed 'en
barbette.' On the east and west sides of the parade were
barracks for the privates, and on the south side were the
officers' quarters. These were all wooden structures. The
wharf by which access was had to the fort was on the southern
side against the gorge wall. Looking from the sea front,
Sumter lay nearly midway between Sullivan's Island on the
north and the low, sandy ridges of Morris on the south, and
about 1,400 yards from either. The main ship channel was
between Sumter and Sullivan's Island. The water between the
fort and Morris Island was for the most part comparatively
shallow. James Island lay to the west and southwest, while to
the northwest, and at a distance of three and one-third miles,
rose the steeples of Charleston. The city could have been
barely reached by the heaviest guns of the barbette battery.
Castle Pinckney lay in the direction of the city, and was
distant about two and one-third miles. Sullivan's, Morris, and
James Islands thus formed a segment of three-fourths of a
circle around Sumter. They were so close under the guns of the
fort that, with the then limited experience in the
construction of earthworks, no batteries could have been
erected under fire from Sumter sufficiently strong to prevent
the re-enforcement and supplying of the fort, had Anderson
been allowed to open fire at the first upon the rebel working
parties. … At noon of December 27, the flag of the nation was
raised over the defenders of the fort. Major Anderson knelt,
holding the halliards, while Reverend Matthew Harris, an army
chaplain, offered fervent prayer for that dear flag and for
the loyal few who stood beneath its folds. … And then all
wearily the days and weeks dragged on. New fortifications rose
day by day on each sandhill about the harbor; vessels of war,
bearing the Confederate flag, steamed insultingly near, and
the islands were white as harvest fields, with the tents of
the fast-gathering rebel soldiery; and still, by positive
orders, Anderson was bidden to stand in idle helplessness
beside his silent indignant cannon."

_General Stewart L. Woodford,
The Story of Fort Sumter
(Personal Recollections of the War of the Rebellion,
pages 259-266)._

On the 29th of December, three days after Anderson had
transferred his command to Fort Sumter, Floyd gave up his work
of treachery in the War Department, and resigned. Howell Cobb
had resigned the Treasury Department previously, on the 10th.
A few days later, January 8, Jacob Thompson withdrew from the
Interior Department. Loyal men now replaced these
secessionists in the Cabinet. Joseph Holt of Kentucky took the
place of Floyd in the War Department; John A. Dix of New York
succeeded Cobb in the Treasury, and the place of Thompson was
not filled. Edwin M. Stanton entered the Cabinet as
Attorney-General, taking the place of Jeremiah S. Black who
became Secretary of State. General Cass had held the State
Department until December 12, when he, too, resigned, but for
reasons opposite to those of Floyd and Cobb. He left the
Government because it would not reinforce the Charleston
forts.

_E. McPherson,
Political History of the United States during the
Great Rebellion,
page 28._

ALSO IN:
_S. W. Crawford,
Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter,
chapters 1, and 6-10._

_J. G. Nicolay and J. Hay,
Abraham Lincoln,
volume 2, chapters 18-29,
and volume 3, chapter 1-6._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860-1861 (December-February).
Seizure of arms, arsenals, forts, and other
public property by the Southern insurgents.
Base surrender of an army by Twiggs.

"Directly after Major Anderson's removal to Fort Sumter, the
Federal arsenal in Charleston, containing many thousand stand
of arms and a considerable quantity of military stores, was
seized by the volunteers, now flocking to that city by
direction of the State authorities; Castle Pinckney, Fort
Moultrie, and Sullivan's Island were likewise occupied by
them, and their defenses vigorously enlarged and improved. The
Custom-House, Post-Office, etc., were likewise appropriated,
without resistance or commotion. … Georgia having given
[January 2, 1861] a large popular majority for Secession, her
authorities immediately took military possession of the
Federal arsenal at Augusta, as also of Forts Pulaski and
Jackson, commanding the approaches by sea to Savannah. North
Carolina had not voted to secede, yet Governor Ellis
simultaneously seized the United States Arsenal at
Fayetteville, with Fort Macon, and other fortifications
commanding the approaches to Beaufort and Wilmington. Having
done so, Governor Ellis coolly wrote to the War Department
that he had taken the step to preserve the forts from seizure
by mobs! In Alabama, the Federal arsenal at Mobile was seized
on the 4th, by order of Governor Moore. It contained large
quantities of arms and munitions. Fort Morgan, commanding the
approaches to Mobile, was likewise seized, and garrisoned by
State troops. … In Louisiana, the Federal arsenal at Baton
Rouge was seized by order of Governor Moore on the 11th. Forts
Jackson and St. Philip, commanding the passage up the
Mississippi to New Orleans, and Fort Pike, at the entrance of
Lake Pontchartrain, were likewise seized and garrisoned by
State troops. The Federal Mint and Custom-House at New Orleans
were left untouched until February 1st, when they, too, were
taken possession of by the State authorities. … In Florida,
Fort Barrancas and the Navy Yard at Pensacola were seized by
Florida and Alabama forces on the 13th; Commander Armstrong
surrendering them without a struggle. He ordered Lieutenant
Slemmer, likewise, to surrender Forts Pickens and McRae; but
the intrepid subordinate defied the order, and, withdrawing
his small force from Fort McRae to the stronger and less
accessible Fort Pickens, announced his determination to hold
out to the last. He was soon after besieged therein by a
formidable volunteer force; and a dispatch from Pensacola
announced that 'Fort McRae is being occupied and the guns
manned by the allied forces of Florida, Alabama, and
Mississippi.' … The revenue cutter Cass, stationed at Mobile,
was turned over by Captain J. J. Morrison to the authorities
of Alabama at the end of January.
{3413}
The McClellan, Captain Breshwood, stationed on the Mississippi
below New Orleans, was, in like manner, handed over to those
of Louisiana. General Dix had sent down a special agent to
secure them, but he was too late. The telegraph dispatch
whereby General Dix directed him, 'If any person' attempts to
haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot,' sent an
electric thrill through the loyal heart of the country.
Finally, tidings reached Washington, about the end of
February, that Brigadier-General Twiggs, commanding the
department of Texas, had disgracefully betrayed his trust, and
turned over his entire army, with all the posts and
fortifications, arms, munitions, horses, equipments, etc., to
General Ben. M'Culloch, representing the authorities of Texas,
now fully launched upon the rushing tide of treason. The Union
lost by that single act at least half its military force, with
the State of Texas, and the control of our Mexican frontier. …
The defensive fortifications located within the seceding
States were some 30 in number, mounting over 3,000 guns, and
having cost at least $20,000,000. Nearly all these had been
seized and appropriated by the Confederates before Mr.
Lincoln's inauguration, with the exception of Fortress Monroe
(Virginia), Fort Sumter (South Carolina), Fort Pickens
(Florida), and the fortresses on Key West and the Tortugas,
off the Florida coast."

_H. Greeley,
The American Conflict,
volume 1, chapter 26._

ALSO IN:
_Official Records of the War of the Rebellion,
series 1, volume 1._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (January-February).
Secession of Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana,
Alabama, and Texas.
Opposition of Alexander H. Stephens, in Georgia.

"On the 9th day of January, 1861, the State of Mississippi
seceded from the Union. Alabama and Florida followed on the
11th day of the same month; Georgia on the 20th; Louisiana on
the 26th; and Texas on the 1st of February. Thus, in less than
three mouths after the announcement of Lincoln's election, all
the Cotton States … had seceded from the Union, and had,
besides, secured every Federal fort within their limits,
except the forts in Charleston harbor, and Fort Pickens, below
Pensacola, which were retained by United States troops."

_E. A. Pollard,
The First Year of the War,
chapter 1._

The secession of Georgia was powerfully but vainly opposed by
the foremost citizen of that state, Alexander H. Stephens,
whose speech before the Legislature of Georgia, in protest
against the disruption of the Union, had been one of the
notable utterances of the time. "Shall the people of the
South," asked Mr. Stephens, "secede from the Union in
consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency
of the United States? My countrymen, I tell you frankly,
candidly, and earnestly, that I do not think that they ought.
In my judgment, the election of no man, constitutionally
chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any State
to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still
in maintaining the constitution of the country. To make a
point of resistance to the government, to withdraw from it
because a man has been constitutionally elected, puts us in
the wrong. We are pledged to maintain the constitution. Many
of us have sworn to support it. Can we, therefore, for the
mere election of a man to the presidency, and that, too, in
accordance with the prescribed forms of the constitution, make
a point of resistance to the government, without becoming the
breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves, by withdrawing
ourselves from it? Would we not be in the wrong? Whatever fate
is to befall this country, let it never be laid to the charge
of the people of the South, and especially to the people of
Georgia, that we were untrue to our national engagements. Let
the fault and the wrong rest upon others. … Let the fanatics
of the North break the constitution, if such is their fell
purpose. Let the responsibility be upon them. … We went into
the election with this people. The result was different from
what we wished; but the election has been constitutionally
held. Were we to make a point of resistance to the government
and go out of the Union on that account, the record would be
made up hereafter against us. But it is said Mr. Lincoln's
policy and principles are against the constitution, and that,
if he carries them out, it will be destructive of our rights.
Let us not anticipate a threatened evil. If he violates the
constitution, then will come our time to act. Do not let us
break it because, forsooth, he may. If he does, that is the
time for us to strike. I think it would be injudicious and
unwise to do this sooner. I do not anticipate that Mr. Lincoln
will do anything to jeopard our safety or security, whatever
may be his spirit to do it; for he is bound by the
constitutional checks which are thrown around him, which at
this time render him powerless to do any great mischief. This
shows the wisdom of our system. The President of the United
States is no emperor, no dictator—he is clothed with no
absolute power. He can do nothing unless he is backed by power
in Congress. The House of Representatives is largely in a
majority against him. In the very face and teeth of the heavy
majority which he has obtained in the northern States, there
have been large gains in the House of Representatives to the
conservative constitutional party of the country, which here I
will call the national democratic party, because that is the
cognomen it has at the North. … Is this the time, then, to
apprehend that Mr. Lincoln, with this large majority in the
House of Representatives against him, can carry out any of his
unconstitutional principles in that body? In the Senate he
will also be powerless. There will be a majority of four
against him. … Mr. Lincoln cannot appoint an officer without
the consent of the Senate—he cannot form a cabinet without the
same consent. He will be in the condition of George the Third
(the embodiment of toryism), who had to ask the whigs to
appoint his ministers, and was compelled to receive a cabinet
utterly opposed to his views; and so Mr. Lincoln will be
compelled to ask of the Senate to choose for him a cabinet, if
the democracy of that party chose to put him on such terms. He
will be compelled to do this, or let the government stop, if
the national democratic men (for that is their name at the
North), the conservative men in the Senate, should so
determine. Then how can Mr. Lincoln obtain a cabinet which
would aid him, or allow him to violate the constitution? Why
then, I say, should we disrupt the ties of this Union when his
hands are tied—when he can do nothing against us?"

_A. H. Stephens,
Speech against Secession, November 14, 1860
(in "Alexander H. Stephens in Public and Private;
by H. Cleveland")._

{3414}

But when Georgia, despite his exertions, was drawn into the
movement of rebellion, Mr. Stephens surrendered to it, and
lent his voice to the undertaking which he had proved to be
without excuse.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (MARCH).

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (February).
The Peace Convention.