Download Preparing for Reconstruction Following the End of

Preparing for Reconstruction Following the End of Fighting
The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
What it says:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or
any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
What it means:
In 1863, based on his war powers (see Article II, Section 2), President Lincoln issued the
Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves held within any designated state and part of a
state in rebellion against the United States. The Proclamation provided “all persons held as
slaves… are, and henceforth shall be free….” Because the Proclamation did not address slaves
held in Northern states, there were questions about its validity. Following the end of the fighting
on February 1, 1865, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment and forwarded it to the states,
It was ratified on December 18, 1865. The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of three
Reconstruction era amendments (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth) that eliminated
slavery, guaranteed due process, equal protection and voting rights to all Americans.
By its adoption, Congress intended the Thirteenth Amendment to take the question of
emancipation away from politics. The Supreme Court found in In Re Slaughter-House Cases,
that the “word servitude is of larger meaning than slavery… and the obvious purpose was to
forbid all shades and conditions of African slavery.” Although some may have questioned
whether persons other than African Americans could share in the amendment’s protection, the
Court held that the amendment “forbids any other kind of slavery, now or hereafter. If Mexican
peonage [the practice of forcing someone to work against one’s will to pay off a debt] or the
Chinese coolie labor system shall develop slavery of the Mexican or Chinese race within our
territory, this amendment may safely be trusted to make it void.”
In more recent cases, the Supreme Court has defined involuntary servitude broadly to forbid
work forced by the use or threat of physical restraint or injury or through law. But the Supreme
Court has rejected claims that define mandatory community service, taxation, and the draft as
involuntary servitude.
Ref.: The Founding Fathers and Justicelearning.org
The March Toward Reconstruction
On April 4, 1864 President Lincoln began to draw plans for Thirteenth Amendment and
Reconstruction. When submitted to the House of Representatives in June of 1864.
Lincoln wanted have some action in early 1865, before the newly elected members of
the election of 1864 took office.
In January of 1865 the subject was again raised. In the interim some Democrats
changed their votes. On the morning of January 31st, 1865 a vote was taken and the
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measure passed by a 119 to 56 margin. In celebration the Congress adjourned for the
remainder of the day.
New Jersey, Kentucky and Delaware did not ratify the amendment at the time. Later
Tennessee and Louisiana voted to ratify the amendment. It took the votes of former
Confederate states to provide the 3/4s needed for approval. Kentucky remained a
holdout until
Before the official ratification of the Amendment there were early signs of change. On
November 1st, 1864 Maryland voted to abolish slavery. On January 11, 1865 Missouri
also abolished slavery. On March 3rd of that year all wives and children of black
soldiers who were serving with the U.S.C.T. were freed. Also, in that year the first social
event that hosted blacks in the White House was held. The repeal of a 1810 law
forbidding blacks to carry the mail was enacted.
Many other “Black Laws” were repealed during the period and in a landmark occasion
John Rock was admitted as a lawyer to appear before the Supreme Court. One of the
‘Black Laws” repealed now gave Black people the right to testify in federal courts.
John Rock (1825 - 1866)
The first African American to be admitted to practice before the
U.S. Supreme Court, was a teacher, a physician, a lawyer, and a
freedom-fighter.
With a burning desire to learn, John Rock was destined
to become one of the most educated people of his day.
He was born of free parents in Salem, New Jersey on
October 13, 1825, in a time when few whites finished
grammar school and it was illegal in many states for
African Americans to learn to read. He was a studious
child, and even though his parents were of modest
means, they encouraged him and provided for his formal
education.
In 1844, at the age of 19, he had completed sufficient
schooling to become a teacher. Teaching in a one-room
school in Salem, his work was impressive, and the
praise given him by veteran teachers caught the attention of two local doctors. In 1848,
they loaned Rock their books so he could study dentistry. A tireless worker, he would
teach school for six hours, tutor private students for two hours, and then study dentistry
for eight hours each day.
In 1850, Rock opened a dental office in Philadelphia and a year later won a silver medal
for his work. In 1852, he began attending lectures at the American Medical College and,
at the age of 27, was one of the first African Americans to receive a medical degree.
Devoted to the abolitionist cause, Rock was known for his inspiring public speeches, but
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he found himself increasingly frustrated by the laws of his day. In 1860, he gave up his
medical practice and moved to Boston to study law.
His decision to become a lawyer occurred soon after one of the most infamous rulings
by the U.S. Supreme Court, known as the Dred Scott decision. Dred Scott (1795?-1858)
was a slave who had sued for his liberty after spending four years with his master in a
territory where slavery was banned by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The resulting
decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 7, 1857, declared the Missouri
Compromise unconstitutional, essentially denying that African Americans have any
rights and sanctioning their continued oppression.
As a legal scholar, Rock distinguished himself and was sponsored by a white lawyer
before the Superior Court of Massachusetts in Boston on September 14, 1861. He
passed his examinations with ease and was admitted the same day to practice in all the
courts of Massachusetts. He soon opened an office in Boston and became a justice of
the peace.
As the Civil War began in 1861, Rock intensified his efforts to fight for racial equality. In
his speeches, he demanded the same “equal opportunities and equal rights our brave
men are fighting for.” He successfully lobbied Congress to get equal pay for black
troops. The first African American to be received on the floor of the U.S. House of
Representatives, Rock was on his way home to Boston when he was arrested at the
Washington, D.C. railroad station for not having the pass that blacks were often
required to carry. The incident allegedly prompted U.S. Representative James Abram
Garfield, who later became president, to abolish the use of passes for black people.
In 1864, Rock wrote to Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts requesting his help
in becoming admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Senator Sumner
replied that nothing could be done as long as Roger B. Taney, who wrote the Dred Scott
decision, was still chief justice. When Taney died, Lincoln replaced him with an
abolitionist, Salmon P. Chase.
On February 1, 1865, Congress approved the 13th Amendment ending slavery. Soon
afterwards, Rock was ushered into the U.S. Supreme Court and took the oath admitting
him to that court. A reporter for the New York Times dramatically described the scene
as the African American lawyer stood, in the monarchial power of recognized American
Manhood and American Citizenship, within the bar of the court which had [just eight
years earlier] solemnly pronounced that black men had no rights which white men were
bound to respect; stood there a recognized member of it, professionally the brother of
the distinguished counselors on its long rolls, in rights their equal, in the standing which
rank gives their peer. By Jupiter, the sight was grand.
John Rock died on December 3, 1866, just a few months before Congress would pass
the Civil Rights Act of 1867, the first law to embody the rights for which he had struggled
so long. A Freemason, he was buried with full Masonic honors at the age of 41.
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Acknowledgements:
Permission to use the above image of John Rock was granted by:
Photographs and Prints Division
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The New York Public Library
Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
This image first appeared in Harpers Weekly, February 25, 1864, p. 124. Photo of John H.
Rock. Wood engravings. [photographer credit: Richards, Philadelphia]
This story about John Rock is based on an article by Richard L. Nygaard, a judge of the U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The article appeared originally in the journal
Experience and was reprinted in the ABA publication Law Day Stories. Other sources include
Black Facts Online and the National Park Service Boston African American National Historic
Site.
In the Confederate South
In the Confederate South a great deal of discussion was taking place as to whether or
not blacks should be allowed to serve in the Army. Early in the war in 1861 a number of
blacks offered to serve with the Confederates but were turned down. However, on
January 2, 1864 Major General Patrick Cleburne nicknamed “The Stonewall Jackson of
the West” (One of the most brilliant episodes of the Atlanta campaign of 1864 was
Cleburne's victory at Pickett's mill over Howard's corps of Sherman's army. In the awful
carnage at Franklin, November 30, 1864, Cleburne, the "Stonewall Jackson of the
West," gave his last battle order. Within twenty paces of the Union line, pierced by three
wounds, he fell, and on the battlefield expired. His death was a disheartening blow to
the army of Tennessee, and was mourned throughout the whole South.) proposed that
blacks be allowed to enlist in the Confederate Army. This set off a discussion within the
halls of the Confederacy. General’s Robert E. Lee had recommended this to Jefferson
Davis in 1861 and General Richard S. Ewell had made the suggestion in July 1862.
(After serving at First Bull Run he commanded a division under Jackson in the
Shenandoah Valley Campaign where he complained bitterly about being left in the dark
about plans. Jackson's style of leadership was to prove the undoing of Ewell once
Jackson was gone. Ewell fought through the Seven Days and at Cedar Mountain before
being severely wounded and losing a leg at Groveton, in the beginning of the battle of
2nd Bull Run. After a long recovery, he returned to duty in May 1863 and was promoted
to command part of Jackson's old corps. At 2nd Winchester he won a stunning victory
and for a moment it looked like a second Stonewall had come. However, at Gettysburg
he failed to take advantage of the situation on the evening of the first day when given
discretionary orders by Lee. He required exact instructions, unlike his predecessor.
After serving through the fall campaigns he fought at the Wilderness where the same
problem developed. At Spotsylvania one of his divisions was all but destroyed. After the
actions along the North Anna he was forced to temporarily relinquish command due to
illness but Lee made it permanent. He was given command in Richmond and was
captured at Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865, during the retreat to Appomattox. After his
release from Fort Warren in July "Old Baldy" retired to a farm near Spring Hill,
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Tennessee, where he died on January 25, 1872. He is buried in the Old City Cemetery,
Nashville, Tennessee.)
During the period of discussion Alabama recommended the enlistment of blacks. On
November 7, 1864 Confederate President Jeff Davis recommended “limited
emancipation” of those slaves who fought with the Confederate Army and General
Order No, 14 was issued on March 23, 1865 authorizing the enlistment of slaves.
Although now General of The Confederate Army, Robert E. Lee suggested that such
service should result in emancipation. It was not promised.
ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Richmond, Va., March 23, 1865.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 14.
I. The following act of Congress and regulations are published for the information and
direction of all concerned:
AN ACT to increase the military force of the Confederate States.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That, in order to provide
additional forces to repel invasion, maintain the rightful possession of the Confederate
States, secure their independence, and preserve their institutions, the President be, and
he is hereby, authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of slaves, the services of
such number of able-bodied negro men as he may deem expedient, for and during the
war, to perform military service in whatever capacity he may direct.
SEC 2. That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the said slaves into
companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades, under such rules and regulations as
the Secretary of War may prescribe, and to be commanded by such officers as the
President may appoint.
SEC 3. That while employed in the service the said troops shall receive the same
rations, clothing, and compensation as are allowed to other troops in the same branch
of the service.
SEC 4. That if, under the previous sections of this act, the President shall not be able to
raise a sufficient number of troops to prosecute the war successfully and maintain the
sovereignty of the States and the independence of the Confederate States, then he is
hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it expedient, for her quota
of 300,000 troops, in addition to those subject to military service under existing laws, or
so many thereof as the President may deem necessary to be raised from such classes
of the population, irrespective of color, in each State, as the proper authorities thereof
may determine: Provided, That not more than twenty-five per cent. of the male slaves
between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, in any State, shall be called for under the
provisions of this act.
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SEC 5. That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation
which the said slaves shall bear toward their owners, except by consent of the owners
and of the States in which they may reside, and in pursuance of the laws thereof.
Approved March 13, 1865.
II. The recruiting service under this act will be conducted under the supervision of the
Adjutant and Inspector General, according to the regulations for the recruiting service of
the Regular Army, in so far as they are applicable, and except when special directions
may be given by the War Department.
III. There will be assigned or appointed for each State an officer who will be charged
with the collection, enrollment, and disposition of all the recruits that may be obtained
under the first section of this act. One or more general depots will be established in
each State and announced in orders, and a suitable number of officers will be detailed
for duty in the staff departments at the depots. There will be assigned at each general
depot a quartermaster, commissary, and surgeon, and the headquarters of the
superintendent will be at the principal depot in the State. The proper officers to aid the
superintendent in enlisting, mustering, and organizing the recruits will be assigned by
orders from this office or by the General-in-Chief.
IV. The enlistment of colored persons under this act will be made upon printed forms, to
be furnished for the purpose, similar to those established for the regular service. They
will be executed in duplicate, one copy to be returned to this office for file. No slave will
be accepted as a recruit unless with his own consent and with the approbation of his
master by a written instrument conferring, as far as he may, the rights of a freedman,
and which will be filed with the superintendent. The enlistments will be made for the
war, and the effect of the enlistment will be to place the slave in the military service
conformably to this act. The recruits will be organized at the camps in squads and
companies, and will be subject to the order of the General-in-Chief under the second
section of this act.
V. The superintendent in each State will cause a report to be made on the first Monday
of every month showing the expenses of the previous month, the number of recruits at
the various depots in the State, the number that has been sent away, and the
destination of each. His report will show the names of all the slaves recruited, with their
age, description, and the names of their masters. One copy will be sent to the Generalin-Chief and one to the adjutant and Inspector General.
VI. The appointment of officers to the companies to be formed of the recruits aforesaid
will be made by the President.
VII. To facilitate the raising of volunteer companies, officers recruiting therefor are
authorized to muster their men into service as soon as enrolled. As soon as enrolled
and mustered, the men will be sent, with descriptive lists, to the depots of rendezvous,
at which they will be instructed until assigned for service in the field. When the
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organization of any company remains incomplete at the expiration of the time specified
for its organization, the companies or detachments already mustered into service will be
assigned to other organizations at the discretion of the General-in-Chief.
VIII. It is not the intention of the President to grant any authority for raising regiments or
brigades. The only organizations to be perfected at the depots or camps of instructions
are those of companies and (in exceptional cases where the slaves are of one estate) of
battalions consisting of four companies, and the only authority to be issued will be for
the raising of companies or the aforesaid special battalions of four companies. All larger
organizations will be left for future action as experience may determine.
IX. All officers who may be employed in the recruiting service, under the provisions of
this act, or who may be appointed to the command of troops raised under it, or who may
hold any staff appointment in connection with them, are enjoined to a provident,
considerate, and humane attention to whatever concerns the health, comfort,
instruction, and discipline of those troops, and to the uniform observance of kindness,
forbearance, and indulgence to their treatment of them, and especially that they will
protect them from injustice and oppression.
By order:
S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector General.
Ref: U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compendium of the Official Records of
the Union and Confederate Armies, 128 vols. (Washington, 1880-1901), ser. 4, vol. 3, pp. 116162.
Early Reconstruction (Wartime Reconstruction)
The question of whom or what group would control reconstruction arose as the forces of
the North began to meet with success on the battlefields. What would be involved?
What acts would be taken by the North to be granted to the South? Lincoln wanted to
control the process through presidential proclamations, pardons and Executive Orders.
Congress wanted to control the process through legislation.
During the summer of 1863, President Lincoln began to formulate plans and those plans
were presented in December of that year. The Power of Presidential Pardon was the
basis of his plan.
The executive authority is given to the president of the United States by Article II of the
Constitution to carry out the duties of the office.
Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution provides that the "executive power shall be
vested in a President of the United States," making the president the head of the
Executive Branch of the federal government. Sections 2 and 3 enumerate specific
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powers granted to the president, which include the authority to appoint judges,
ambassadors, and other high-ranking government officials; Veto legislation; call
Congress into special session; grant pardons; issue proclamations and orders;
administer the law; and serve as commander in chief of the armed forces.
Article II gives the president authority to recommend measures for congressional
consideration. Pursuant to this authority, presidents submit budgets, propose bills, and
recommend other action to be taken by Congress.
Under the powers of this Article Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A PROCLAMATION.
WHEREAS, in and by the Constitution of the United States, it is provided that the
President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the
United States, except in cases of impeachment;" and
Whereas, a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal state governments of several states
have for a long time been subverted, and many persons have committed, and are now
guilty of, treason against the United States; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been enacted by
congress, declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property and liberation of slaves, all
upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also declaring that the President was
thereby authorized at any time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who
may have participated in the existing rebellion, in any state or part thereof, pardon and
amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions as he may
deem expedient for the public welfare; and
Whereas, the congressional declaration for limited and conditional pardon accords with
well-established judicial exposition of the pardoning power; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the President of the United States has issued
several proclamations, with provisions in regard to the liberation of slaves; and
Whereas, it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to
resume their allegiance to the United States, and to re-inaugurate loyal state
governments within and for their respective states: Therefore—
I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make
known to all persons who have, directly or by implication, participated in the existing
rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them
and each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in
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property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the
condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an oath, and thenceforward
keep and maintain said oath inviolate; and which oath shall be registered for permanent
preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit:—
"I,
, do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth
faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the
Union of the States thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully
support all acts of congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to
slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by congress, or by
decision of the supreme court; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully
support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having
reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of
the supreme court. So help me God."
The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are all who are, or
shall have been, civil or diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called Confederate
government; all who have left judicial stations under the United States to aid the
rebellion; all who are, or shall have been, military or naval officers of said so-called
Confederate government above the rank of colonel in the army or of lieutenant in the
navy; all who left seats in the United States congress to aid the rebellion; all who
resigned commissions in the army or navy of the United States and afterwards aided
the rebellion; and all who have engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white
persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which
persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers, seamen, or in
any other capacity.
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that whenever, in any of the States
of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida,
South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons, not less than one tenth in
number of the votes cast in such state at the presidential election of the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid, and not
having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the state
existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others,
shall re-establish a state government which shall be republican, and in nowise
contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true government of the state,
and the state shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision which
declares that "the United States shall guaranty to every state in this Union a republican
form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application
of the legislature, or the executive, (when the legislature cannot be convened,) against
domestic violence."
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that any provision which may be
adopted by such state government in relation to the freed people of such state, which
shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and
which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present condition as
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a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National
Executive.
And it is suggested as not improper that, in constructing a loyal state government in any
state, the name of the state, the boundary, the subdivisions, the constitution, and the
general code of laws, as before the rebellion, be maintained, subject only to the
modifications made necessary by the conditions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if
any, not contravening said conditions, and which may be deemed expedient by those
framing the new state government.
To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this proclamation, so far as it
relates to state governments, has no reference to states wherein loyal state
governments have all the while been maintained. And, for the same reason, it may be
proper to further say, that whether members sent to congress from any state shall be
admitted to seats constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective houses, and not
to any extent with the Executive. And still further, that this proclamation is intended to
present the people of the states wherein the national authority has been suspended,
and loyal state governments have been subverted, a mode in and by which the national
authority and loyal state governments may be reëstablished within said states, or in any
of them; and while the mode presented is the best the Executive can suggest, with his
present impressions, it must not be understood that no other possible mode would be
acceptable.
Given under my hand at the city of Washington the eighth day of December, A.D. one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
Ref.: U.S., Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, vol.
13 (Boston, 1866), pp. 737-39.
Brief Explanation:
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Swear allegiance to the United States – full pardon
Swear to accept all laws of the United States re: slavery and emancipation;
offered to general population. High level civilian officials and high level military
officers not covered by this amnesty.
Would go into effect when 10% (based on the 1863 population) accepted the
Proclamation. At such time the State could establish a government.
States would be allowed to establish labor laws.
Confiscated property except slaves would be returned to their owners.
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The plan applied immediately to areas under Union Military control in December
1863. Large parts of Louisiana and Arkansas, key areas of Virginia and
Mississippi, and most of Tennessee, qualified.
Under the proclamation there would be some states who would be immediate losers,
but Lincoln hoped that many members of the old Whig Party would accept the program.
The Radical Republicans were not happy with this proclamation. They wanted a better
deal for the freed people, suggesting that they should be given land. They also opposed
the general leniency for the general population and wanted the percentage raised above
the 10% level. According to them the South was guilty of treason and should be more
severely punished in the areas of property holdings and political rights. That would
include a better deal for slaves and harsher punishment for slave owners. They thought
the South should be recast in the image of the free-labor North.
The Debate
The Republican Party debated the topic of Reconstruction for the rest of the war,
focusing on whether the executive or the legislative branch of government would control
the process.
Lincoln insisted that the Confederate states had not really left the Union, because the
Union was indissoluble.
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They were temporarily under the control of bad leaders.
Reconstruction meant merely allowing loyal white southerners to reassert control.
Most Republicans in Congress opposed Lincoln’s wish to allow Confederates back into
the Union simply by taking the oath of allegiance. Their argument was that:
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Only men who had been Unionists all along should have leadership in the South.
The seceding states had forfeited their constitutional rights. Thaddeus Stevens
(Elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and to the four succeeding
Congresses and served from March 4, 1859, until his death; chairman,
Committee on Ways and Means (Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses),
Committee on Appropriations (Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses); chairman of
the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1868 to conduct the
impeachment proceedings against Andrew Johnson, President of the United
States; died in Washington, D.C., on August 11, 1868; interment in Shreiner’s
Cemetery, Lancaster, Pa.) felt that the South should be treated as conquered
provinces,
Charles Sumner (elected to the United States Senate in 1851 as a Free Soiler;
reelected as a Republican in 1857, 1863, and 1869 and served from April 24,
1851, until his death; in response to his “Crime Against Kansas” speech, was
assaulted by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina on May 22, 1856,
while in his seat in the Senate, and was absent on account of injuries received
until December 1859; chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations (Thirty-seventh
through Forty-first Congresses), Committee on Privileges and Elections (Fortysecond Congress); removed as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations
in 1871 as a result of differences with President Ulysses S. Grant over policy in
Santo Domingo; died in Washington, D.C., March 11, 1874; lay in state in the
Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, March 13, 1874; interment in Mount Auburn
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Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.) thought the states of the South were now Federal
territories. (Both Stevens and Sumner were considered Radicals.)
Other Republicans though thought the Southern states should be made to
guarantee civil and political rights for freed people since it was this group that
was the most loyal segment of the southern populace.
Lincoln appointed military governors in four occupied states:
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Louisiana – Col. G.F. Shepley Military Governor June 10, 1862 – 1865. Shepley
was previously a member of the 12th Maine Infantry which was part of General
Butler’s Army. The following Letter to Shepley written by President Lincoln
advises against the allowance of “carpetbaggers.” (car·pet·bag·ger /
ˈkärpitˌbagər/ • n. derog. a political candidate who seeks election in an area
where they have no local connections. ∎ hist. (in the U.S.) a person from the
northern states who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from
Reconstruction. ∎ a person perceived as an unscrupulous opportunist.)
Ref. The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | Date: 2008
Lincoln’s Letter to Governor Shepley
TO GOVERNOR SHEPLEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON,
November 21, 1982
HON. G. F. SHEPLEY.
DEAR SIR:--Dr. Kennedy, bearer of this, has some apprehension that Federal officers
not citizens of Louisiana may be set up as candidates for Congress in that State. In my
view there could be no possible object in such an election. We do not particularly need
members of Congress from there to enable us to get along with legislation here. What
we do want is the conclusive evidence that respectable citizens of Louisiana are willing
to be members of Congress and to swear support to the Constitution, and that other
respectable citizens there are willing to vote for them and send them. To send a parcel
of Northern men here as representatives, elected, as would be understood (and
perhaps really so), at the point of the bayonet, would be disgusting and outrageous; and
were I a member of Congress here, I would vote against admitting any such man to a
seat.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN,
Source: The Project Gutenberg eBook, Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865,
by Abraham Lincoln, Edited by Merwin Roe
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Tennessee – Andrew Johnson. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed Andrew
Johnson as military governor of Tennessee. Johnson ruled with a firm hand
silencing sources of anti-Union sentiment. Johnson held the military governorship
of Tennessee until 1864. Preparing for the presidential election, foreseeing an
imminent end to the war, and preparing for a re-unification of the nation,
President Lincoln urged the Republican Party's leadership to drop his previous
vice-president, Hannibal Hamlin, an ardent abolitionist from Maine, in favor of
Johnson, a Southerner and a Democrat. President Lincoln defeated General
George McClellan in the 1864 election, and Johnson became vice-president of
the United States of America.
Ref. Information Services Branch of the State Library of North Carolina.
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Arkansas – John S. Phelps. Appointed by President Lincoln in July 1862 as
Military Governor of Arkansas; resumed the practice of his profession in
Springfield; unsuccessful Democratic candidate in 1868 for Governor of Missouri;
Governor of Missouri 1877-1881; resumed the practice of his profession; died in
St. Louis, Mo., November 20, 1886; interment in Hazelwood Cemetery,
Springfield, Mo.
Ref. Biographical Directory of United States Congress

Virginia - John Potts Slough was an American politician, lawyer, Union general
and Chief Justice of New Mexico. He is famous for commanding the Union forces
at the Battle of Glorieta Pass. During the administration of President Johnson,
General Slough became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the New
Mexico Territory. While in that position he was killed in what the courts ruled as a
self-defense killing.
The two sides clash in 1864 over the policy for Louisiana
President Lincoln accepted a state government and constitution that abolished slavery
but failed to provide a strong guarantee for freed slaves’ rights. The Radicals wanted a
Constitutional Convention first and the Conservatives wanted an election first and then
a constitutional convention.
The Radicals condemned the results in Louisiana as typical of what Lincoln’s
conciliatory approach would yield, particularly because no radical Unionists had a voice
in government. Lincoln backed moderates that gave blacks minimum guarantees, such
as black soldiers would have the right to vote. The proposal was not accepted by
Congress. On September 1864, ten percent of the population voted to abolish slavery
and a school system was established. The Republican Congress refused the results of
the 1864 election and refused to seat the representatives from Louisiana and Arkansas.
Congress came forth with the Wade-Davis Bill of July 2,1864.
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Transcript of Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
A Bill to guarantee to certain States whose Governments have been usurped or
overthrown a Republican Form of Government.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That in the states declared in rebellion against the
United States, the President shall, by and with the advice and con- sent of the Senate,
appoint for each a provisiona1 governor, whose pay and emoluments shall not exceed
that of a brigadier-general of volunteers, who shall be charged with the civil
administration of such state until a state government therein shall be recognized as
hereinafter provided.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That so soon as the military resistance to the United
States shall have been suppressed in any such state, and the people thereof shall have
sufficiently returned to their obedience to the constitution and the laws of the United
States, the provisional governor shall direct the marshal of the United States, as
speedily as may be, to name a sufficient number of deputies, and to enroll all white
male citizens of the United States, resident in the state in their respective counties, and
to request each one to take the oath to support the constitution of the United States,
and in his enrolment to designate those who take and those who refuse to take that
oath, which rolls shall be forthwith returned to the provisional governor; and if the
persons taking that oath shall amount to a majority of the persons enrolled in the state,
he shall, by proclamation, invite the loyal people of the state to elect delegates to a
convention charged to declare the will of the people of the state relative to the
reestablish- ment of a state government subject to, and in conformity with, the
constitution of the United States.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall consist of as many
members as both houses of the last constitutional state legislature, apportioned by the
provisional governor among the counties, parishes, or districts of the state, in proportion
to the white population, returned as electors, by the marshal, in compliance with the
provisions of this act. The provisional governor shall, by proclamation, declare the
number of delegates to be elected by each county, parish, or election district; name a
day of election not less than thirty days thereafter; designate the places of voting in
each county, parish, or district, conforming as nearly as may be convenient to the
places used in the state elections next preceding the rebellion; appoint one or more
commissioners to hold the election at each place of voting, and provide an adequate
force to keep the peace during the election.
SEC.4. And be it further enacted, That the delegates shall be elected by the loyal white
male citizens of the United States of the age of twenty-one years, and resident at the
time in the county, parish, or district in which they shall offer to vote, and enrolled as
aforesaid, or absent in the military service of the United States, and who shal1 take and
subscribe the oath of allegiance to the United States in the form contained in the act of
congress of July two, eighteen hundred and sixty-two; and all such citizens of the United
States who are in the military service of the United States shall vote at the headquarters of their respective commands, under such regulations as may be prescribed by
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the pro-visional governor for the taking and return of their votes; but no person who has
held or exercised any office, civil or military, state or confederate, under the rebel
usurpation, or who has voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall vote, or
be eligible to be elected as delegate, at such election.
SEC.5. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, or either of them, shall
hold the election in conformity with this act, and, so far as may be consistent therewith,
shall proceed in the manner used in the state prior to the rebellion. The oath of
allegiance shall be taken and subscribed on the poll-book by every voter in the form
above prescribed, but every person known by or proved to, the commissioners to have
held or exercised any office, civil or military, state or confederate, under the rebel
usurpation, or to have voluntarily borne arms against the United States, shall be
excluded, though he offer to take the oath ; and in case any person who shall have
borne arms against the United States shall offer to vote he shall be deemed to have
borne arms voluntarily unless he shall prove the contrary by the testimony of a qualified
voter. The poll-book, showing the name and oath of each voter, shall be returned to the
provisional governor by the commissioners of election or the one acting, and the
provisional governor shall canvass such returns, and declare the person having the
highest number of votes elected.
SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the provisional governor shall, by proclamation,
convene the delegates elected as aforesaid, at the capital of the state, on a day not
more than three months after the election, giving at least thirty days' notice of such day.
In case the said capital shall in his judgment be unfit, he shall in his proclamation
appoint another place. He shall preside over the deliberations of the convention, and
administer to each delegate, before taking his seat in the convention, the oath of
allegiance to the United States in the form above prescribed.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the convention shall declare, on behalf of the
people of the state, their submission to the constitution and laws of the United States,
and shall adopt the following provisions, hereby prescribed by the United States in the
execution of the constitutional duty to guarantee a republican form of government to
every state, and incorporate them in the constitution of the state, that is to say:
First. No person who has held or exercised any office, civil or military, except offices
merely ministerial, and military offices below the grade of colonel, state or confederate,
under the usurping power, shall vote for or be a member of the legislature, or governor.
Second. Involuntary servitude is forever prohibited, and the freedom of all persons is
guaranteed in said state.
Third. No debt, state or confederate, created by or under the sanction of the usurping
power, shall be recognized or paid by the state.
SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That when the convention shall have adopted those
provisions, it shaII proceed to re-establish a republican form of government, and ordain
a constitution containing those provisions, which, when adopted the convention shall by
ordinance provide for submitting to the people of the state, entitled to vote under this
law, at an election to be held in the manner prescribed by the act for the election of
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delegates; but at a time and place named by the convention, at which election the said
electors, and none others, shall vote directly for or against such constitution and form of
state government, and the returns of said election shall be made to the provisional governor, who shall canvass the same in the presence of the electors, and if a majority of
the votes cast shall be for the constitution and form of government, he shall certify the
same, with a copy thereof, to the President of the United .States, who, after obtaining
the assent of congress, shall, by proclamation, recognize the government so
established, and none other, as the constitutional government of the state, and from the
date of such recognition, and not before, Senators and Representatives, and electors
for President and Vice President may be elected in such state, according to the laws of
the state and of the United States.
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That if the convention shall refuse to reestablish the
state government on the conditions aforesaid, the provisional governor shall declare it
dissolved; but it shall be the duty of the President, whenever he shall have reason to
believe that a sufficient number of the people of the state entitled to vote under this act,
in number not less than a majority of those enrolled, as aforesaid, are willing to
reestablish a state government on the conditions aforesaid, to direct the provisional
governor to order another election of delegates to a convention for the purpose and in
the manner prescribed in this act, and to proceed in all respects as hereinbefore
provided, either to dissolve the convention, or to certify the state government
reestablished by it to the President.
SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That, until the United States shall have recognized a
republican form of state government, the provisional governor in each of said states
shall see that this act, and the laws of the United States, and the laws of the state in
force when the state government was overthrown by the rebellion, are faithfully
executed within the state ; but no law or usage whereby any person was heretofore held
in involuntary servitude shall be recognized or enforced by any court or officer in such
state, and the laws for the trial and punishment of white persons shall extend to all
persons, and jurors shall have the qualifications of voters under this law for delegates to
the convention. The President shall appoint such officers provided for by the laws of the
state when its government was overthrown as he may find necessary to the civil
administration of the slate, all which officers shall be entitled to receive the fees and
emoluments provided by the state laws for such officers.
SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That until the recognition of a state government as
aforesaid, the provisional governor shall, under such regulations as he may prescribe,
cause to be assessed, levied, and collected, for the year eighteen hundred and sixtyfour, and every year thereafter, the taxes provided by the laws of such state to be levied
during the fiscal year preceding the overthrow of the state government thereof, in the
manner prescribed by the laws of the state, as nearly as may be ; and the officers
appointed, as aforesaid, are vested with all powers of levying and collecting such taxes,
by distress or sale, as were vested in any officers or tribunal of the state government
aforesaid for those purposes. The proceeds of such taxes shall be accounted for to the
provisional governor, and be by him applied to the expenses of the administration of the
16
laws in such state, subject to the direction of the President, and the surplus shall be
deposited in the treasury of the United States to the credit of such state, to be paid to
the state upon an appropriation therefor, to be made when a republican form of
government shall be recognized therein by the United States.
SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, that all persons held to involuntary servitude or labor
in the states aforesaid are hereby emancipated and discharged therefrom, and they and
their posterity shall be forever free. And if any such persons or their posterity shall be
restrained of liberty, under pretence of any claim to such service or labor, the courts of
the United States shall, on habeas corpus, discharge them.
SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That if any person declared free by this act, or any
law of the United States, or any proclamation of the President, be restrained of liberty,
with intent to be held in or reduced to involuntary servitude or labor, the person
convicted before a court of competent jurisdiction of such act shall be punished by fine
of not less than fifteen hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not less than five nor more
than twenty years.
SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That every person who shall hereafter hold or
exercise any office, civil or military, except offices merely ministerial, and military offices
below the grade of colonel, in the rebel service, state or con- federate, is hereby
declared not to be a citizen of the United States.
Ref. www.ourdocuments.gov
Brief Interpretation:
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It required that 50 percent of the citizens enrolled as voters in a state seeking to
form a new loyal government take the oath of allegiance (an “ironclad” oath of
past loyalty).
It mandated that the states write new constitutions before setting up a loyal state
government.
It provided stronger safeguards for feed people’s rights but did not grant the
franchise to black men.
It provided for political liability for anyone who had borne arms against the United
States.
The framers Benjamin Franklin Wade a Radical Republican form Ohio he chaired the
Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. He urged Lincoln to dismiss General
George B. McClellan, and called for the emancipation of all slaves. He co-authored the
Wade-Davis Bill and the Wade-Davis Manifesto that attacked Lincoln’s action relating to
Reconstruction
Representative Henry W. Davis of Maryland was an unsuccessful candidate for
reelection in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress. He was elected as an Unconditional
Unionist to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); chairman,
Committee on Foreign Affairs (Thirty-eighth Congress); co-sponsor of the Wade-Davis
bill of 1864; was not a candidate for re-nomination in 1864; died in Baltimore, Md., on
December 30, 1865; interment in Greenmount Cemetery.
17
Lincoln considered the Bill to harsh and allowed it to expire by using a “pocket veto.” A
Pocket Veto is when the President fails to sign a bill within the 10 days allowed by the
Constitution. Congress must be in adjournment in order for a pocket veto to take effect.
If Congress is in session and the president fails to sign the bill, it becomes law without
his signature.
President Lincoln’s reply to the Wade-Davis Bill:
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
A PROCLAMATION:
WHEREAS, at the late session, congress passed a bill to "guarantee to certain states,
whose governments have been usurped or overthrown, a republican form of
government, " a copy of which is hereunto annexed;
And whereas the said bill was presented to the President of the United States for his
approval less than one hour before the sine die adjournment of said session, and was
not signed by him;
And whereas the said bill contains, among other things, a plan for restoring the states in
rebellion to their proper practical relation in the Union, which plan expresses the sense
of congress upon that subject, and which plan it is now thought fit to lay before the
people for their consideration ;
Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, do proclaim,
declare, and make known, that, while I am (as I was in December last, when by
proclamation I propounded a plan for restoration) unprepared by a formal approval of
this bill, to be inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration; and, while I am also
unprepared to declare that the free state constitutions and governments already
adopted and installed in Arkansas and Louisiana shall be set aside and held for nought,
thereby repelling and discouraging the loyal citizens who have set up the same as to
further effort, or to declare a constitutional competency in congress to abolish slavery in
states, but am at the same time sincerely hoping and expecting that a constitutional
amendment abolishing slavery throughout the nation may be adopted, nevertheless I
am truly satisfied with the system for restoration contained in the bill as one very proper
plan for the loyal people of any state choosing to adopt it, and that I am, and at all times
shall be, prepared to give the executive aid and assistance to any such people, so soon
as the military resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed in any such
state, and the people thereof shall have sufficiently returned to their obedience to the
constitution and the laws of the United States, in which cases military governors will be
appointed, with directions to proceed according to the bill.
In testimony whereof; I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United
States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this eighth day of July, in the year of our [L S.] Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United States
the eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
18
By the President :
WILLIAH H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
The Wade-Davis Manifesto, August 5, 1864
We have read without surprise, but not without indignation, the Proclamation of the
President of the 8th of July. .
The President, by preventing this bill from becoming a law, holds the electoral votes of
the Rebel States at the dictation of his personal ambition.
If those votes turn the balance in his favor, is it to be supposed that his competitor,
defeated by such means will acquiesce?
If the Rebel majority assert their supremacy in those States, and send votes which elect
an `enemy of the Government, will we not repel his claims?
And is not that civil war for the Presidency, inaugurated by the votes of Rebel States?
Seriously impressed with these dangers, Congress, "the proper constitutional authority,"
formally declared that there are no State Governments in the Rebel States, and
provided for their erection at a proper time; and both the Senate and the House of
Representatives rejected the Senators and Representatives chosen under the authority
of what the President calls the Free Constitution and Government of Arkansas.
The President's proclamation "holds for naught" this judgment, and discards the
authority of the Supreme Court, and strides headlong toward the anarchy his
Proclamation of the 8th of December inaugurated.
If electors for President be allowed to be chosen in either of those States, a sinister light
will be cast on the motives which induced the President to "hold for naught" the will of
Congress rather than his Government in Louisiana and Arkansas.
That judgment of Congress which the President defies was the exercise of an authority
exclusively vested in Congress by the Constitution to determine what is the established
Government in a State, and in its own nature and by the highest judicial authority
binding on all other departments of the Government. .
A more studied outrage on the legislative authority of the people has never been
perpetrated.
Congress passed a bill; the President refused to approve it, and then by proclamation
puts as much of it in force as he sees fit, and proposes to execute those parts by
officers unknown to the laws of the United States and not subject to the confirmation of
the Senate!
19
The bill directed the appointment of Provisional Governors by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate.
The President, after defeating the law, proposes to appoint without law, and without the
advice and consent of the Senate, Military Governors for the Rebel States!
He has already exercised this dictatorial usurpation in Louisiana, and he defeated the
bill to prevent its limitation. .
The President has greatly presumed on the forbearance which the supporters of his
Administration have so long practiced, in view of the arduous conflict in which we are
engaged, and the reckless ferocity of our political opponents.
But he must understand that our support is of a cause and not of a man; that the
authority of Congress is paramount and must be respected; that the whole body of the
Union men of Congress will not submit to be impeached by him of rash and
unconstitutional legislation; and if he wishes our support, he must confine himself to his
executive duties-to obey and execute, not make the laws-to suppress by arms armed
Rebellion, and leave political reorganization to Congress.
If the supporters of the Government fail to insist on this, they become responsible for
the usurpations which they fail to rebuke, and are justly liable to the indignation of the
people whose rights and security, committed to their keeping, they sacrifice.
Let them consider the remedy for these usurpations, and, having found it, fearlessly
execute it.
Unsuccessfully, the Radicals maneuvered to deny Lincoln the Republican nomination
for the presidency in 1864. Despite mutterings against his leadership, Lincoln, renominated on the Union (Republican) ticket in 1864, defeated Gen. George B.
McClellan.
Although a separate ticket headed by the radical Frémont withdrew before the election
in 1864, the cleavage within the party between radicals and moderates widened as the
war progressed. Radicals such as Benjamin F. Wade, Henry W. Davis, Thaddeus
Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Edwin M. Stanton advocated a punitive policy for the
South, while Lincoln and the moderates were inclined to leniency. The division was
made complete when, after Lincoln's assassination, his successor, Andrew Johnson,
adopted a moderate program of Reconstruction. Johnson, a Jacksonian Democrat from
Tennessee, had been added to the ticket in 1864 to strengthen the idea of a Union
party. Ultimately his policies and attempts to implement them antagonized his
supporters among the moderate Republicans and paved the way for the triumph of the
radicals in the congressional elections of 1866. The height of radical power was
reached in 1868 with the impeachment of Johnson, which was defeated by only a onevote margin.
20
Lincoln and Congress Toward the End of the War
President Lincoln and the Congress did enjoy better relations on the issue of
Reconstruction toward the end of the war. Lincoln’s 10 percent governments were
functioning in two states and he promised to accept legislation similar to the WadeDavis Bill for future states if Congress would accept the two 10 percent plan
governments. A short-lived compromise broke down when Congress proved unable to
agree on the new legislation.
On April 11, 1865, only three days before his assassination, Lincoln made a speech in
which he mentioned he would soon make a new announcement regarding
Reconstruction.
Lincoln’s Last Speech – The Speech on Reconstruction
Speech on Reconstruction
Washington, D.C.
We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of
Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope
of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the
midst of this, however, He, from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call
for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must
those whose harder part gives us the cause of rejoicing, be overlooked. Their honors
must not be parcelled out with others. I myself, was near the front, and had the high
pleasure of transmitting much of the good news to you; but no part of the honor, for plan
or execution, is mine. To Gen. Grant, his skillful officers, and brave men, all belongs.
The gallant Navy stood ready, but was not in reach to take active part.
By these recent successes the re-inauguration of the national authority -- reconstruction
-- 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. Unlike the case of a war between
independent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with. No one man has
authority to give up the rebellion for any other man. We simply I must begin with, and
mould from, disorganized and discordant elements. Nor is it a small additional
embarrassment that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to the mode,
manner, and means of reconstruction.
As a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not
to be provoked by that to which I can not properly offer an answer. In spite of this
precaution, however, it comes to my knowledge that I am much censured for some
21
supposed agency in setting up, and seeking to sustain, the new State Government of
Louisiana. In this I have done just so much as, and no more than, the public knows. In
the Annual Message of Dec. 1863 and accompanying Proclamation, I presented a plan
of reconstruction (as the phrase goes) which, I promised, if adopted by any State,
should be acceptable to, and sustained by, the Executive government of the nation. I
distinctly stated that this was not the only plan which might possibly be acceptable; and
I also distinctly protested that the Executive claimed no right to say when, or whether
members should be admitted to seats in Congress from such States. This plan was, in
advance, submitted to the then Cabinet, and distinctly approved by every member of it.
One of them suggested that I should then, and in that connection, apply the
Emancipation Proclamation to the theretofore excepted parts of Virginia and Louisiana;
that I should drop the suggestion about apprenticeship for freed-people, and that I
should omit the protest against my own power, in regard to the admission of members
to Congress; but even he approved every part and parcel of the plan which has since
been employed or touched by the action of Louisiana. The new constitution of
Louisiana, declaring emancipation for the whole State, practically applies the
Proclamation to the part previously excepted. It does not adopt apprenticeship for freedpeople; and it is silent, as it could not well be otherwise, about the admission of
members to Congress. So that, as it applies to Louisiana, every member of the Cabinet
fully approved the plan. The Message went to Congress, and I received many
commendations of the plan, written and verbal; and not a single objection to it, from any
professed emancipationist, came to my knowledge, until after the news reached
Washington that the people of Louisiana had begun to move in accordance with it. From
about July 1862, I had corresponded with different persons, supposed to be interested,
seeking a reconstruction of a State government for Louisiana. When the Message of
1863, with the plan before mentioned, reached New-Orleans, Gen. Banks wrote me that
he was confident the people, with his military co-operation, would reconstruct,
substantially on that plan. I wrote him, and some of them to try it; they tried it, and the
result is known. Such only has been my agency in getting up the Louisiana government.
As to sustaining it, my promise is out, as before stated. But, as bad promises are better
broken than kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise, and break it, whenever I shall be
convinced that keeping it is adverse to the public interest. But I have not yet been so
convinced.
I have been shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an able one, in which the
writer expresses regret that my mind has not seemed to be definitely fixed on the
question whether the seceded States, so called, are in the Union or out of it. It would
perhaps, add astonishment to his regret, were he to learn that since I have found
professed Union men endeavoring to make that question, I have purposely forborne any
public expression upon it. As appears to me that question has not been, nor yet is, a
practically material one, and that any discussion of it, while it thus remains practically
immaterial, could have no effect other than the mischievous one of dividing our friends.
As yet, whatever it may hereafter become, that question is bad, as the basis of a
controversy, and good for nothing at all -- a merely pernicious abstraction.
22
We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of their proper practical relation
with the Union; and that the sole object of the government, civil and military, in regard to
those States is to again get them into that proper practical relation. I believe it is not only
possible, but in fact, easier, to do this, without deciding, or even considering, whether
these states have even been out of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at
home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join
in doing the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between these
states and the Union; and each forever after, innocently indulge his own opinion
whether, in doing the acts, he brought the States from without, into the Union, or only
gave them proper assistance, they never having been out of it.
The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which the new Louisiana government
rests, would be more satisfactory to all, if it contained fifty, thirty, or even twenty
thousand, instead of only about twelve thousand, as it does. It is also unsatisfactory to
some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer
that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as
soldiers. Still the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it stands, is quite
all that is desirable. The question is "Will it be wiser to take it as it is, and help to
improve it; or to reject, and disperse it?" "Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical
relation with the Union soon by sustaining, or by discarding her new State
Government?"
Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore slave-state of Louisiana have sworn
allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held
elections, organized a State government, adopted a free-state constitution, giving the
benefit of public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the Legislature to
confer the elective franchise upon the colored man. Their Legislature has already voted
to ratify the constitutional amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery
throughout the nation. These twelve thousand persons are thus fully committed to the
Union, and to perpetual freedom in the state -- committed to the very things, and nearly
all the things the nation wants -- and they ask the nations recognition, and it's
assistance to make good their committal. Now, if we reject, and spurn them, we do our
utmost to disorganize and disperse them. We in effect say to the white men "You are
worthless, or worse -- we will neither help you, nor be helped by you." To the blacks we
say "This cup of liberty which these, your old masters, hold to your lips, we will dash
from you, and leave you to the chances of gathering the spilled and scattered contents
in some vague and undefined when, where, and how." If this course, discouraging and
paralyzing both white and black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana into proper
practical relations with the Union, I have, so far, been unable to perceive it. If, on the
contrary, we recognize, and sustain the new government of Louisiana the converse of
all this is made true. We encourage the hearts, and nerve the arms of the twelve
thousand to adhere to their work, and argue for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it,
and feed it, and grow it, and ripen it to a complete success. The colored man too, in
seeing all united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and energy, and daring, to the same
end. Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving
the already advanced steps toward it, than by running backward over them? Concede
23
that the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be as the egg is to the
fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it? Again, if
we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of the proposed amendment to the
national constitution. To meet this proposition, it has been argued that no more than
three fourths of those States which have not attempted secession are necessary to
validly ratify the amendment. I do not commit myself against this, further than to say that
such a ratification would be questionable, and sure to be persistently questioned; while
a ratification by three fourths of all the States would be unquestioned and
unquestionable.
I repeat the question. "Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the
Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State Government?
What has been said of Louisiana will apply generally to other States. And yet so great
peculiarities pertain to each state; and such important and sudden changes occur in the
same state; and, withal, so new and unprecedented is the whole case, that no
exclusive, and inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such
exclusive, and inflexible plan, would surely become a new entanglement. Important
principles may, and must, be inflexible.
In the present "situation" as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new
announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to act,
when satisfied that action will be proper.
April 11, 1865
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