Glass . L=i__!_j_ia , Book__.tH2J3- COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT \ LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Jjincoln's J^Ian of K^ton0truction By CHARLES H. McCARTHY Ph.D. (Pa.) McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. MCMI ■The LiBRARY OF Two Cot-ici Heceived NOV. 13 1901 COPVRIOHT ENTRY CLASS ^a^XXa No. COPY a .Ml3 Copyright, igoi, by McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. PUBLISHED NOVEMBER, I9OI CONTENTS Introduction Page XV I TENNESSEE Election and Policy of Lincoln East Tennessee ...... Secession ....... Federal Victories ...... A Military Governor ..... Origin of Military Governors in the United States Measures of Governor Johnson Negro Troops ...... Nashville Convention of 1863 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction . Steps to Restoration ..... Nashville Convention of 1865 Election of William G. Brownlow . Nomination of Lincoln and Johnson Presidential Election in Tennessee . 3 8 10 II 12 17 20 21 23 27 30 32 32 34 II LOUISIANA Popularity of Secession . Financial Embarrassment Capture of Nevv^ Orleans Lincoln's Advice . General Shepley appointed M litary Governor 36 37 38 38 39 CONTENTS Election of Representatives to Congress Division among Unionists Military Operations X^Lincoln Urges Reconstruction Political Activity among Loyalists Title of Louisiana Claimants . Opposition to General Banks Plan of Reconstruction proposed Election of 1864 . Inauguration of Civil Government Lincoln's Letter on Negro Suffrage \ Constitutional Convention Congressional Election . Page 45 47 49 51 53 58 61 66 70 72 73 75 76 III ARKANSAS Indifference to Secession The Fall of Sumter Seizure of Little Rock . Military Matters . Threat of Seceding from Secession General Phelps appointed Military Enthusiasm of Unionists Lincoln's Interest in Arkansas Inaugurating a Loyal Government The Election of 1864 . 77 78 79 79 82 82 83 83 84 90 IV VIRGINIA Secession ...... Physical Features and Early Settlements . Society and Its Basis .... 93 94 95 CONTENTS vu The Counter-Revolution Convention at Wheeling Organizing a Union Government . Legislature of Restored Virginia The State of Kanawha .... Attorney-General Bates on Dismemberment Making a New State .... Compensated Emancipation . Formation of New State discussed in Congress Cabinet on Dismemberment . Lincoln on Dismemberment . Webster's Prediction .... Inauguration of New State Reorganizing the Restored State Right of Commonwealth to Representation in Congress Rupture between Civil and Military Authorities The President Interposes ..... Congress Refuses to Admit a Senator-Elect Page 97 99 100 103 105 105 107 108 no 120 124 126 128 129 135 138 ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION Compensated Emancipation in Congress Contrabands .... The Military Power and Fugitive Slaves Lincoln on Military Emancipation . Andrew Jackson and Nullification . Lincoln on Compensated Emancipation Compensated Emancipation in Delaware Abandoned Slaves Border Policy Propounded General Hunter and Military Emancipation Slavery Prohibited in the Territories 143 143 144 148 151 152 155 160 163 168 170 VIU CONTENTS Attitude of Border States on Slavery . . . Lincoln Resolves to Emancipate Slaves by Proclamation Page 172 177 VI THEORIES AND PLANS OF RECONSTRUCTION s^The Presidential Plan 190 Sumner's Theory of State Suicide 196 " Conquered Province " Theory of Stevens . . .211 Theory of Northern Democrats . . . . .217 Crittenden Resolution 220 VII RISE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL PLAN Bill to Guarantee a Republican Form of Government . 224 Henry Winter Davis on Reconstruction .... 226 House Debates on Bill of Wade and Davis . . . 236 Pendleton's Speech on Reconstruction . . . -257 Provisions of Wade-Davis Bill ..... 262 Senate Debate on Bill of Wade and Davis . . . 264 President's Pocket Veto 273 Proclamation concerning Reconstruction . . .278 Manifesto of Wade and Davis 279 VIII AN ATTEMPT TO COMPROMISE President ignores Controversy with Congress . . .286 Summary of Military and Naval Situation . . . 288 Attempt to Revive the Pocketed Bill .... 289 House Debates on Ashley's Reconstruction Bill . .291 Defeat of Ashley's Bill 311 CONTENTS IX THE ELECTORAL VOTE OF LOUISIANA Resolution excluding Electoral Votes of Rebellious States Amendment of Senator Ten Eyck . Senate Debate on Ten Eyck's Amendment . Defeat of the Amendment in favor of Louisiana Senate Passes Joint Resolution Counting the Electoral Vote . . • • The President's Message . . . • Page 316 334 338 339 339 SENATE DEBATE ON LOUISIANA Congressmen from Louisiana at the National Capital Proposal to Recognize Louisiana . Powell's Speech opposing Recognition . Henderson's Argument for Recognition . Howard's Argument in Opposition . Reverdy Johnson's Speech for Recognition \ General Discussion on Louisiana . 341 343 344 348 357 370 374 XI INCIDENTS OF RECONSTRUCTION The Thirteenth Amendment . The Freedmen's Bureau Volunteer Diplomats The Hampton Roads Conference Lincoln's Letter to General Hurlbu Lincoln's Letter to General Canby Lincoln's Last Words on Reconstruction 383 384 388 394 400 401 402 CONTENTS XII \ CULMINATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL Lincoln and the South . Inauguration of Andrew Johnson Arkansas after the War >y^ Condition of Tennessee Louisiana .... Reorganization of Virginia The Wreck of the Confederacy Andrew Johnson on Reconstruction in 1864 Johnson's Speeches after Accession to the Presidency Raising the Blockade The Executive Department Recognizes Virginia Restoration of North Carolina ^ The President Hesitates Executive Policy in Mississippi Restoration of Georgia .... Texas ...... The Reconstruction Conventions . Temper of the South .... Mississippi Legislation relative to Freedmen V Southern Reaction .... Y The President's Change of Opinion Examination of Lincoln's Plan PLAN Page 406 407 408 411 416 437 439 443 444 447 457 459 464 465 467 471 474 481 486 490 APPENDIX A Thirty-Seventh Congress . 499 APPENDIX B Thirty-Eighth Congress , 502 Preface MUCH of the material included in this volume was collected several years ago while the author was a graduate student at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. The researches then com- menced probably first suggested to him the lack in our political literature of an ample and interesting account of the return of the States. Students, librarians, and even professors of history knew no adequate treatise on the era of reconstruction, and their testimony was con- firmed by the authority of Mr. Bryce, who happily describes the succession of events in those crowded times as forming one of the most intricate chapters of Ameri- can history. No apology is offered, therefore, for considering in this essay so important and so long-neg- lected a theme as the rise of the political revolution that occurred before reunion was finally accomplished. On the general subject several excellent monographs have recently appeared; these, however, are nearly all employed in discussing the second stage in the process of restoration, and, except incidentally, anticipate scarcely anything of value in the present work, which, so far at least as concerns any logical exposition, con- xii PREFACE ducts the reader over untraveled ground. As the introduction indicates with sufficient accuracy both the scope and method of this study, nothing is required here beyond a concise statement of the author s obligations. Like many other students of American institutions, the writer cheerfully acknowledges his indebtedness to the works of Brownson, Hurd and Jameson, and, by transferring some of their opinions to his book, has shown a practical appreciation of their researches. In addition to these obligations, in which the author is not singular, he profited for four years by the lectures of Dr. Francis N. Thorpe, his professor in constitutional history. Except in a very few instances, where the name of an author was forgotten, credit for both sug- gestions and material is uniformly given in the refer- ences and footnotes. For the selection, arrangement, and treatment of topics the author alone is responsible ; he desires, how- ever, to take this opportunity of acknowledging generous assistance received from three intimate friends: his colleague. Dr. Charles P. Henry, found time in the midst of arduous literary engagements to read the whole of the manuscript and to make many valuable sugges- tions, especially in matters of style and diction ; the book is not less fortunate in having been critically read by Thomas J. Meagher, Esq., whose extensive and accurate knowledge of public as well as private law contributed to a more clear and scientific statement of PREFACE xiii many of the constitutional questions discussed; the technical skill and the superior intelligence of Mr, George M. Schell were of considerable assistance to the author in correcting the proofs of the entire book. Nor must he omit to record his appreciation of the courtesy of Mr. L. E. Hewitt, the efficient librarian of the Philadelphia Law Association. Finally the writer gratefully acknowledges his chief obligation to the schol- arship of his former teacher. Dr. fohn Bach Mc- Master, who kindly interrupted the progress of his great historical work long enough to read a considerable portion of this essay. Indeed, it was the encourage- ment of that eminent author which first suggested the publication of these pages. Before concluding his remarks the writer wishes to disclaim any sy?npathy with the progressive school of historical criticism, which derides the Constitution as a thing of the past and learnedly characterizes all vener- ation for its authority as the worship of a fetich. This book will have attained one of its principal purposes if, in the language of a distinguished surviving statesman of the war period, it will teach " the constant and ever- important lesson that the Constitution is always a more reliable guide for the legislator than those fierce passions which war never fails to excite.'* Philadelphia, September 14, 1901. INTRODUCTION SO closely blended with the essential principles of our federal system of government were the causes of the Civil War that a clear understanding of its re- sults appears to require some account of the origin, the independence and the permanent union of these States. Upon the eventful years between the Treaty of Paris and the Declaration of Independence, crowded as they are with work of note, one could linger with pleasure ; this epoch, however, has already engaged the pens of so many writers, eminent as well as obscure, that a re-study of the blunders of England's ministers and the revolt of her distant col- onies might justly be regarded as a piece of presumption. Nor does it seem necessary to recite the familiar achieve- ments of the succeeding period ; for, perhaps, the portion of American history most attractive to the general reader is included between the 4th of July, 1776, and the 4th of March, 1789. To these years belong the most conspicu- ous services of that giant race of leaders whose swords re- lieved a gallant people from oppression and whose wisdom established a form of government not, indeed, in universal harmony with popular prejudice, but admirably designed for the popular welfare. It was at the outset of what may properly be styled the national era that there appeared the remarkable group of statesmen who guided the infant Republic on its dim and perilous way. On their broad experience gleamed xvi INTRODUCTION a vision of the future touching all their work with elements of immortality. By them was skillfully established a system of revenue and of finance adequate to all the exigencies of the time, and a foreign policy inaugurated which for gen- erations together preserved unbroken harmony with the world outside. They doubled by wise and peaceful acqui- sition the area of that Union whose independence had been wrested from George the Third, and with no less wisdom prescribed the procedure and defined the jurisdiction of Federal courts. The forty years following March 4, 1789, form an epoch with characteristics of its own. This was the period of Virginian ascendency, the Adamses alone breaking the line of illustrious Presidents furnished by the Old Domin- ion. Introduced by an experiment in government which aroused the slumbering energies of the nation, its conclu- sion was marked by the disappearance from political life of the splendid ideals and rich traditions of the Fathers. The election of General Jackson coincides with the be- ginning of a new phase in American political and industrial development. It was not that the fame of a splendid military record had raised its possessor to an office for which long experience in governmental aflfairs had hitherto been thought indispensable, or that the selection of Presi- dents had passed from an intellectual few to the control of a much more numerous class who were willing to bestow on politics the attention and energy requisite for success in trade ; but it was about this time that the imperious power of slavery entered upon its career of aggression. Philosophic statesmen of a previous epoch had ardently hoped that the institution would be permitted quietly to disappear ; indeed, the greatest among them, though divided upon a multitude INTRODUCTION xvii of political and economic questions, agreed in encouraging every movement designed for its extinction. These hu- mane efforts, however, were not destined to win immediate success, and even with the cooperation of the General Government served only to demonstrate the difficulty of such an undertaking. After 1820 all the dangers which menaced the integrity of the Union were, with one notable exception, traceable to this cause. When Mr. Lincoln in his discussions with Senator Douglas declared that it was the sole cause of all the troubles which had disturbed the nation, he meant, probably, to assert no more than that in his own time it had been the most conspicuous one. Long before slavery became a subject of embittered con- troversy the doctrine of State Rights had agitated the country. As early as the summer of 1793 it had found in Justice Iredell an able advocate on the bench of the United States Supreme Court. For party purposes it was adopted five years later by Madison and Jefferson in the celebrated Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, and during the second war with Great Britain these statesmen were startled to find New England Federalism vindicating its unpatriotic, if not treacherous, conduct in the exact language which they had invented to embarrass a former administration. With this instrument, too, Calhoun in 1832 shook the foundations of the Union. Both Northern and Southern statesmen of that generation, however, pushed the principle of State sovereignty as far only as their immediate object seemed to require. It is a popular mistake to suppose that beyond the limits of the South this erroneous doctrine found little favor in the minds of men; for on the eve of the War of xviii INTRODUCTION 1 8 1 2 a Governor of conservative Pennsylvania had armed her citizen-soldiers against Federal power. The illustrious Marshall could relate how, before the highest tribunal in the land, its champions with unwearied zeal renewed the battle for a hopeless cause. The eloquent voice of Webster hushed for a time the fretful agitation of South Carolina statesmen, and his genius fixed in imper- ishable literary form that interpretation of the Constitution which called forth the abundant resources of both the Nation and the States. In his conquering words lived those elevated thoughts that in future years sustained the defenders of the Republic. President Jackson, for the energy and promptness by which he defeated the projects of the Nullifiers, has been justly eulogized ; but, when the excitement of the hour had passed away, the calmer judgment of even his admir- ers perceived that victory inclined rather to the side of Calhoun. Discussion of the abstract question of State sovereignty might, probably, have long continued without endanger- ing the Union had the principle not been invoked to de- fend the institution of human servitude; yoked to that powerful interest it was inevitable that both should go down together in undistinguishable ruin. From the Protean fount of slavery flowed an hundred various streams coloring almost every important question in the tide of events. In the generation between the election of General Jackson and the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln its defeats were few, its triumphs numerous and important. Prosperity revealed its weaknesses and en- couraged its experiments. The fruits of its greatest vic- tory, the dismemberment of Mexico, revived those stormy INTRODUCTION xix scenes which thirty years before had for the first time been witnessed in an American legislative hall. Dissolution of the Union was once more threatened, and again averted by the genius and patriotism of the venerable triumvirate, who scarce outlived their noble work ; but the compromise from which Clay, Calhoun and Webster expected a restora- tion of former tranquillity contained within itself the very seed-plot of even graver troubles. After 1850 the attachment of Southern men to their in- dustrial system was played upon by ambitious politicians more and more, until the final overthrow of themselves and the government which they sought to establish for its preservation. It could be shown how before that time one war was prolonged for the protection, and another undertaken chiefly for the extension, of that aggressive institution ; how its existence was supposed to require Federal interference with the mails and an abridgment of even the ancient right of petition. Every power of the national Government and all the resources of the cotton States had been employed for its advantage. The United States Supreme Court was the last agent within the Union by which its advocates sought to dignify and perpetuate human servitude, and so successful were their efforts that an enlightened and humane Chief Justice was but little misrepresented in language or in sentiment when political opponents ascribed to him the doctrine that " the negro has no rights which the white man is bound to respect." The moral progress of the United States during the last forty years finds, probably, in no single event a better illustration than the change in public opinion upon the interesting question of human rights. When the majority XX INTRODUCTION opinion was delivered in the Dred Scott case it excited among members of the dominant poHtical party but little surprise. The shock which a judicial utterance of such sentiments would give in our time to the ethical notions of the American people affords at once both a measure of the advance that has been made in the interval and an undoubted proof that progress has not been, as is com- monly supposed, exclusively or even mainly along material lines. It is singular, too, that the first serious attempt of the Federal Supreme Court to set at rest a dangerous political question should have been followed by effects of so alarming a tendency. It is not intended to relate in these pages the origin or the fate of those compromises designed to avoid the in- evitable conflict already in the closing months of President Buchanan's administration casting ominous shadows in the pathway of the nation, nor to describe the uncertain policy of the General Government or attempt to determine the measure of its responsibility for the fearful rebellion which that hesitation encouraged. The skill and industry of a multitude of laborers have gathered from the field of conflict a harvest as bountiful as the result was satisfactory. We have general histories and bird's-eye views, military accounts and naval accounts of the Civil War ; memoirs and diaries, by actors more or less prominent in the events which they describe, and nar- ratives of battles and of sieges. In this varied and ample field even a belated worker might hope to glean some- thing of value ; but this study, whatever it may discuss incidentally, will be chiefly concerned with the subject of Reconstruction, a phase of our political and constitutional INTRODUCTION xxi development which, though beginning during the progress, lies mainly beyond the close of the Rebellion. The organization into a separate government of the late Confederate States, with their resolute struggle for inde- pendency, is the chief event in the extraordinary career of this favored nation. The story of their submission to Federal power and the return to their former places in the Union is not inferior either in interest or instruction to any political event recorded in history. This return is what is commonly known as Reconstruction. Though the term on its introduction into political discussion was frequently objected to as inaccurate, it has been generally adopted in the writings of publicists as well as in popular speech. The word " restoration," which was at first pre- ferred, was soon found to be inexact ; for while former re- lations were resumed by the erring States, they came back, one with diminished territorial extent and all with domestic rights greatly abridged. They had, in fact, been recon- structed. It is true that even the loyal States did not emerge unscathed from this political revolution. In the South, however, the established industrial system had been swept completely away. The theme falls naturally under two heads. Presidential Reconstruction and Congressional Reconstruction. An account of the former, which extended from the summer of 1 86 1 to the autumn of 1865, occupies the whole of this volume. Any adequate treatment of the latter, including as it does the eventful period from the meeting of Con- gress in December, 1865, to the withdrawal of Federal forces from the South in 1877, will require a narrative somewhat more ample. The conspicuous landmarks of Reconstruction require xxii INTRODUCTION no extraordinary talent to recognize and locate. It is the unfamiliar region between that is difficult accurately to map out. The failure hitherto to present in a single view the striking features of these neglected parts is chiefly responsible for the fact that Reconstruction remains one of the most obscure parts of our history. A candid and comprehensive account of the political events of the time appears to divest the subject of much of the difficulty commonly supposed to attend its investigation. From a sufficient body of essential facts the step to an under- standing and exposition of every principle of moment is comparatively easy. Though the general design of this volume will be sug- gested to the student of American history by an inspection of its principal subdivisions, it may not be unnecessary for the benefit of the general reader to add a brief outline of the plan that has been adopted. Chapter I. relates the most important political events in the history of Tennessee from its attempted secession to the restoration, in March, 1865, of a civil government loyal to the United States. Military movements in that Commonwealth have been noticed only so far as to render intelligible the successive steps by which that reorganiza- tion was accomplished. Chapters II. and III. bring the affairs of Louisiana and Arkansas, respectively, down to about the same time. Events in those States have been treated, so far as con- ditions permitted, in the same manner as in the case of Tennessee. Chapter IV. is concerned with the secession, restoration and dismemberment of Virginia. The formation out of a portion of that Commonwealth of the new State of West INTRODUCTION xxiii Virginia, both because of the grave constitutional question which arose on a division of the parent State and the intrinsic interest of the subject, has been considered with some degree of minuteness. In Chapter V., which discusses anti-slavery legislation, it will appear how Mr. Lincoln, though never an Aboli- tionist or even a radical Republican, became by pressure of military necessity an instrument in the hands of God to destroy an institution opposed by a long line of American statesmen and condemned by the light of the nineteenth century. The succeeding chapter considers the various theories and plans of restoration presented during the progress of the war. The rise of the Congressional plan, which ultimately prevailed, is treated separately in Chapter VII. Only the first stage of its development, however, falls within the limits of this inquiry, which ends with the meeting of the Thirty-ninth Congress in December, 1865. Chapters VIII., IX. and X. trace the progress of the controversy between the Legislative and the Executive branches of Government. The culmination of this diflFer- ence, however, in the impeachment and trial of President Johnson is a phase of Congressional Reconstruction. The topics treated in the eleventh chapter, having fre- quently employed the pens of able and popular writers on the Rebellion, are considered in this study merely for the purpose of making it complete in itself; hence that section is little more than an epitome of what has already been said on those subjects. The twelfth and last chapter brings every part of the narrative up to December 4, 1865. To clearly compre- xxiv INTRODUCTION hcnd the arduous task that confronted President Johnson this section includes a rapid survey of the wreck of the Confederate States. The principal part, however, is re- served for an account of the conventions assembled under his authority, the method of instituting loyal governments and the spirit and tendency of Southern legislation rela- tive to freedmen. An examination of the Presidential plan of Reconstruction completes the volume. Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction TENNESSEE WHILE the celebrated joint debates with Senator Douglas in 1858, the Cooper Union and other addresses, marked Mr. Lincoln, in the new politi- cal party just rising to power, as the intellectual peer of able and trusted leaders like Sumner, Chase and Seward, his con- servative opinions on the subject of slavery made his nomina- tion by the Chicago Convention more acceptable to delegates from the border States. Though his competitors received, in the memorable contest which followed, almost a million votes in excess of the number cast for Mr. Lincoln and his associate, the fierce conflict among fragments of the Democratic party resulted, as is well known, in the choice of a decided majority of Republican electors.^ This rather unexpected defeat of a political organization that had lost but two Presidential con- tests since its first success under Jefferson afforded Southern leaders a pretext for urging a dismemberment of the Union. Indeed, there is evidence that the more impetuous among them had, four years earlier, seriously determined, in case of Fre- mont's election, upon a similar course.^ Thus the present * McPherson's Political History of the United States, p. i. *^cPherson's Pol. Hist., pp. 389-399; "Parson" Brownlow's Book, pp. 54, 159, 160; Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science, Political Econ- omy and United States History, Vol. HI. p. 698. 2 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION event, so far from being an universal disappointment to mem- bers of the defeated party, had been ardently hoped for by many. The choice of a minority party, and not at first possessing the entire confidence of even that minority, Mr. Lincoln, un- able to divine the future, was compelled in dealing with the insurrection to proceed with the utmost caution. Washing- ton himself, in organizing the Federal Government, had a task of less magnitude, and the renown of his military achieve- ments silenced for a time even the boldest in opposition. President Lincoln's victories, gained on a different field, gave no such unquestioned authority to his name. This peculiar situation forced him to adopt for the guidance of his adminis- tration a policy not altogether free from embarrassment to both himself and his successor. His purpose at that time appears to have been to meet the demands of the moment by the contrivances of the moment.' Whether a different course would have been rewarded by earlier or by more complete success is a hazardous subject for speculation. If his theory of our national existence be liable to the multitude of objec- tions which have grown up in these fruitful times of peace, no other has been suggested that is free from criticism. His political doctrine, too, had the advantage of always recom- mending measures scarcely less distinguished for enlarged views than those enlightened convictions which characterize his first inaugural address. Whatever may be concluded of its merits, the theory embraced at the outset exerted on many administrative acts of President Lincoln an influence that continued to be felt during his entire executive career; and without remembering this fact we shall not easily compre- hend either the extent of his " Border Policy," as the plan of compensated emancipation is often called, or his undoubted concern for persecuted Union men in the seceded States. The sufferings of loyal citizens in East Tennessee had early TENNESSEE 3 enlisted the President's sympathies, and almost from the com- mencement of hostilities measures for their relief formed in his mind part of the plan of operations by the army under General Buell. Writing, January 6, 1862, to that commander he gives reasons for suggesting the occupation of some point there rather than Nashville, and adds : " But my distress is that our friends in East Tennessee are being hanged and driven to despair, and even now, I fear, are thinking of taking rebel arms for the sake of personal protection. In this we lose the most valuable stake we have in the South." ^ The cause of these outrages may be briefly explained in a di- gression. In no part of the late Confederate States was the slave interest more feeble than in the thirty counties comprising East Tennessee.^ That portion of the State contained in i860 slightly over 300,000 inhabitants,^ of whom only about one tenth were slaves, while in many counties they formed no more than one in seventeen of the population. Here and there, indeed, were persons of wealth some of whom owned a few negroes. But though a majority of the people looked upon domestic slavery as something foreign to their social life, they had no strong philanthropic impulse to oppose it. While quite willing to allow their countrymen elsewhere to keep bondmen at pleasure, they did not regard it any concern of theirs to assist either in extending or perpetuating human servitude. If the existence of the Union or of slavery was the issue, they would have hesitated little in deciding which should perish. Though, as we shall presently see, they were as intolerant of the Republican party as any community in the South, they were devotedly attached to the Union. The * Letters and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 112. The edition of; Nicolay and Hay is used throughout. ' The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee, p. 24. * More correctly, 301,056. Ibid. 4 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION fact is partly explained by the industrial basis of society in this favored region. Cut off from Middle Tennessee by lofty ranges of the Cumberland, and from North Carolina by the Great Smoky, the Black and the Stone mountains, this extensive district is traversed in its entire length by the Tennessee and its chief tributaries, the Clinch and the Holston; as the great river flows down to Alabama it receives, before turning west and north to join the Ohio, the waters of many important and beautiful streams, some of which, as the French Broad and Nolachucky, are associated with deeds of note in the War for Independence; indeed, one of its crowning victories was chiefly won by settlers from the banks of the Watauga. Other names, like Hiwassee, are familiar to readers of later events in Tennessee history, and Chickamauga Creek was destined shortly to become more famous than any. Knoxville, in early times a capital of the State, was, in i860, the metropolis of East Tennessee; Chattanooga, at the southern extremity of the valley, is separated from Bristol, on the Virginia line, by a distance of more than two hundred and forty miles; Cleveland and Greenville were towns of less importance. The absence of large cities makes it evident that manufacturing had not yet begun to attract serious attention. Like early settlers everywhere in America, the pioneers of Tennessee sought the most immediate returns from the prod- ucts of the forests and fields around them. The rich mineral deposits, then either unknown or almost untouched, had not given rise to those great extractive operations which in our time have so stimulated the commercial life of East Ten- nessee. Vast cotton plantations, worked by multitudes of slaves, like those in the western portion of the State, had no existence in these mountain valleys, though occasionally small " patches " were cultivated for domestic use. Citizens of West Tennessee would naturally place upon the Federal Constitution an interested construction; their indus- TENNESSEE 5 tries, they believed, required such an interpretation of that instrument as would place the institution of slavery beyond the reach of Congressional interference. While the people of East Tennessee, too, believed in the several sovereignty of the States, the question of slavery did not touch them so nearly. Indifferent to the subject themselves, they had little sympathy with those who had determined to break up the Union from a mere suspicion that their interests were men- aced by the success of a new political party. But to ascribe to the want of interested motives their indifference to the great disturbing question of the time would be to assign but one and that, perhaps, not the chief cause. Except on its northern and southern boundaries this de- lightful region is practically isolated from several adjacent States as well as from the remainder of Tennessee. It was in this by-place of nature and amidst such a population that The Manumission Intelligencer, a weekly newspaper, made its appearance in 1819.^ It was followed the next year by The Emancipator of Elijah Embree, a Pennsylvania Quaker; this in turn was soon succeeded by a more celebrated publication. The Genius of Universal Emancipation, conducted by Ben- jamin Lundy. While these publications served to perpetuate and to extend, they did not create the sentiment of which they became exponents, for, several years before their appearance, an anti-slavery society flourished in Jefferson County. Its existence is noticed as early as 1814-2 This anti-slavery feel- ing was part of the philosophic movement encouraged by nearly all Southern as well as Northern statesmen before the inauguration of General Jackson. A new industrial era, beginning about that time, put an end to the abolition socie- ties in the South; and though Lundy's paper was discontinued in Tennessee after 1824, events of frequent occurrence sus- tained the anti-slavery sentiments of the people. * The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee, p. 32. ' Ibid. 6 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION The Tennessee valley was a natural thoroughfare from Vir- ginia to the south-west, and when slaves were purchased on the Potomac they were chained together, to prevent escape, and in that condition driven to the homes of their new masters.^ The plaintive songs of captives as they were marched in lines along the valley highways often caused the free mountaineer to pause in his labors and reflect on what was passing before his eyes. He " saw slavery in its bitter- ness and without disguise." The remembrance of such spectacles was apt to strengthen in him anti-slavery feelings that had come down from Revolutionary times. But whether Southern leaders ascribed the sentiment to an inherited tend- ency or regarded it as a consequence of this odious phase of the domestic slave-trade, they did not think it beneath the dignity of attention; for it was, doubtless, to create a sym- pathy for their institution that a " Southern Commercial Convention " was held at Knoxville in 1857. It was too late, however, to root out the convictions of two generations; the counsels of the wise were soon to be confounded and the * Thirty years before President Lincoln published his Emancipation Proclamation Great Britain abolished slavery throughout her colonies. Naturally this action was viewed in no friendly spirit by the slave inter- est in America, for it brought the free negro to the very door of the Southern States, and though it was regarded as a menace to the " pecul- iar institution," it was not until a positive loss was sustained that any controversy arose with England. In October, 1841, the brig Creole, of Richmond, with a cargo of 135 slaves left Hampton Roads for New Orleans. The negroes, under Madison Washington, killed one of the owners, took possession of the vessel and steered her into the port of Nassau. There those slaves not expressly charged with murder were set at liberty, and though the administration demanded their surrender they were not given up. The experience of the Creole was not singular, several cases of a similar nature being recorded. These facts showed the danger of navigating the Bahama channel after 1833, and at least one reason for preferring the overland route down the Tennessee valley was an expectation of avoiding such accidents. — (See Wilson's Rise and Fall of the Slave Power, Vol. I. pp. 443-444; Lalor's Cyclopedia of Po- litical Science, etc., Vol. I. pp. 709-710.) TENNESSEE 7 fretful agitation of leaders soon to be hushed in the tempest of war. No Republican electoral ticket was presented in the great political battle of i860 for the suffrage of Tennessee voters, and had any citizen openly advocated the election of Mr. Lincoln he would have had to endure insult or injury, or to abandon his home. This explains why the successful candi- dates received no vote in all the State. As " Parson " Brownlow, selecting extreme abolition and secession types, characteristically expressed it, his people were equally opposed to the William L, Garrisons and the William L. Yan- ceys of politics.* In this situation the supporters of Bell, Breckenridge and Douglas were left to contend for victory among themselves. Addresses of the time reveal not only the emotions of individual speakers, but the excited state of public opinion. The attitude of Constitutional Union men was vigorously stated in a debate at Knoxville by Na- thaniel G. Taylor, an elector on the Bell and Everett ticket. " The people of East Tennessee," said the orator, " are de- termined to maintain the Union by force of arms against any movement from the South throughout their region of country to assail the government at Washington with vio- lence, and that the secessionists of the cotton States in at- tempting to carry out their nefarious design to destroy the Republic would have to march over his dead body and the dead bodies of thousands of East Tennessee mountaineers slain in battle."^ When Yancey came up from Alabama to " precipitate " this section into rebellion the intrepid Brownlow made a similar reply. ^ The energy or the elegance of such utterances may be questioned, but the deeds of loyal Tennesseeans during * Brownlow's Book, p. 52. * The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee, pp. 80-81. ' Brownlow's Book, p. 67. 8 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION eventful years to follow are evidence alike of the sincerity of the speakers and their insight into the temper of the times. Except Tennessee, all the States that attempted secession did so by means of revolutionary bodies styled conventions; this description of them is justified both by the general powers of administration and government which they assumed and by the fact that the legislatures in convoking them tran- scended their authority, the members of every State legisla- ture being " bound by oath or affirmation to support " the Federal Constitution, which forms a part of the fundamental law of each commonwealth. Though the Legislature of Tennessee, following the example of law-making bodies in other disloyal States, passed a " Convention Bill," it was promptly defeated by a majority of 13,204 in a total vote of more than 120,000. Notwithstanding the constitutional pro- hibition that " no State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation," ^ the Legislature on May i authorized Governor Harris to appoint commissioners to form a military league with the Confederate States. Six days later the rela- tions entered into by these agents were ratified in a secret session, the State government thereby turning over tempo- rarily to the President of the Confederacy its entire military force. These matters disposed of, the plans of disunionists were completed by the passage on the same day of a declara- tion of independence and an ordinance dissolving all Federal relations between Tennessee and the United States. Though this measure was to be voted upon a month later, the Legis- lature, as if anticipating the result, adopted and ratified the Confederate constitution. What was so ardently desired by secessionists was finally accomplished, and on June 24 the Governor declared his State out of the Union, the vote being 104,019 for, and 47,238 against, separation. ^ The Tennes- * Art. I. sec. 10, Constitution of the United States. 'McPherson's Pol. Hist.,p. 5. TENNESSEE 9 see Legislature did not assume the functions of a secession convention till after the commencement of hostilities; but from that date the forms of law ceased to be seriously re- garded. While the disunion party scored a present triumph, loyalist leaders like Horace Maynard, Thomas A. R. Nelson and Andrew Johnson, at the imminent risk of injury or even of death, were speaking and working actively against the spirit of secession. The strong Union feeling thus excited re- sulted ultimately in local insurrections and in the meeting, June 17, of a convention at Greeneville in which a remon- strance was adopted and a committee appointed to petition the Legislature for the separation of East Tennessee and such counties of Middle Tennessee as were willing to cooperate in the formation of a new commonwealth. But the presence there during the following years of veteran Confederate armies prevented Union men from organizing a separate gov- ernment, and saved :he State from the fate of Virginia. All who were known to have had a connection, or who were suspected of sympathy, with this movement were especially obnoxious to the secession party, and at the hands of soldiers were subjected to many indignities. In various ways the feeling of opposition to the Confederacy was intensified, and it was not long before measures of retaliation were considered. Union people were quick to perceive the advantage which the South derived from the use of railways within the State, and, in expectation of assistance from Federal forces in Kentucky, five railroad bridges were burned. East Tennesseeans, how- ever, were destined to be sorely disappointed in the matter of aid from the Union army ; and, without effective organization or arms, were easily captured or dispersed. Of the former, many were sent as prisoners of war to Alabama, hundreds were crowded into loathsome jails in the State and others hanged, with circumstances of deliberate cruelty, near the scenes of their alleged crimes. 10 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION These were among the outrages to which Mr. Lincoln referred in his letter to the Federal commander. By Horace Maynard a Representative, and Andrew Johnson a Senator, in Congress the President was kept very accurately informed of events in the State and often importuned to relieve their constituents. This he constantly endeavored to do, but his intentions were effectually defeated by the inactivity of Gen- eral Buell, who cherished other plans for destroying his antagonist. More than two years were to elapse, from the time President Lincoln urged his policy, before Tennesseeans received any aid from Federal armies; long before that time they had been ruthlessly punished for their patriotism, and then their oppressors were chastised by the hand of an abler warrior than General Buell. Within a month from the date of President Lincoln's letter of January 6 General Grant had possession of Fort Henry and, ten days later, February i6, received the surrender of Fort Donelson. Nashville, becoming unsafe, was evacuated on February 23, 1862; the State appeared for the first time to be slipping from the grasp of the Confederacy, and a question, hitherto more or less academic, presented itself for practical settlement. In the territory from which hostile armies were reluctantly retiring there would be involved a great derange- ment in the administration of local civil law from the neces- sary displacement there of all officials heretofore acting in obedience to the Confederate States. By other Union victories in the Spring of 1862 the same situation confronted the Federal Government in Arkansas, in North Carolina and in Louisiana. Indeed, this identical question arose as early as 1861 in Virginia and Missouri, but in the former the rebel government was abrogated by a delegate convention that restored a loyal government from which in due time sprang the separate State of West Virginia. In Missouri a lawfully chosen convention appointed a pro- TENNESSEE ii visional government in sympathy with the Union. This sub- ject, however, will be more conveniently discussed elsewhere. When General Johnston received tidings of the disaster at Donelson he retired with his army to Murfreesboro, leav- ing Nashville, which he was unable to protect, a scene of panic and dismay, first advising Governor Harris to secure the public archives and convoke the Legislature elsewhere. It was in these circumstances that President Lincoln, on the same day, February 23, nominated, and the Senate, March 5, 1862, confirmed, Andrew Johnson as military governor of Tennessee with the rank of brigadier-general. As the com- mission antedates the action of the Senate by two days the President, no doubt, consulted the leaders of that body rela- tive to the contemplated nomination, and received assurance of its favorable consideration. Nothing in any way connected with the appointment of Senator Johnson, who was destined to act so conspicuous a part in the important and difificult work of reconstruction, can fail to be of interest, and any account of the execution of his office would be incomplete without some observations on the nature of his commission of which the following is a copy : War Department, March 3, 1862. To the Hon. Andrew Johnson : Sir : You are hereby appointed military governor of the State of Ten- nessee, with authority to exercise and perform, within the limits of that State, all and singular the powers, duties, and functions pertaining to the office of military governor, including the power to establish all neces- sary offices, tribunals, etc. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War?- Quoting the essential part of this document a recent co- operative work has this comment : " The office [that of mili- tary governor] was new to the laws and history of the State ^Misc. Doc. No. 55, H. of R,,i Sess. 39th Cong., p. 5. 12 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION and country. Its powers and duties were limited only by the will of one man, the occupant." ^ From the commission itself we derive our prime conception of both the nature of the office and the functions which it comprehended. The au- thority of the incumbent extended to the exercise, within the limits of Tennessee, of all " the powers, duties, and functions pertaining to the office of military governor." Nothing in this language implies that the office was of recent creation. Nor is its nature to be discovered by a perusal of the supple- mental authority contained in the President's letter of Sep- tember 19, 1863, to Governor Johnson, for the official con- duct of the latter on his arrival in Nashville can not be seri- ously thought to have been influenced by instructions re- ceived nineteen months later. It is perfectly true, as Mr. Ira P. Jones, author of the chapter on Reconstruction in Tennes- see, asserts, that the office of military governor had never been exercised within that State; but it is not a fact that it was new to the laws and history of the " country," if by this indefinite expression he means the United States. During the war with Mexico the American people had been made familiar with military commissions and with military gover- nors. Secretary Marcy prepared, June 3, 1846, for General Stephen W. Kearny the following instructions : " Should you conquer and take possession of New Mexico and Upper California, or considerable places in either, you will establish temporary civil governments therein." ^ To this direction general rules of conduct were added, and the letter authorized the assurance that " It is the wish and design of the United States to provide for them [the people of New Mexico] a free government with the least possible delay, similar to that which exists in our Territories." By virtue of this authority General Kearny appointed Charles Bent governor of New * Why The Solid South? p. 170. * Cutt'g Conquest of California and New Mexico, p. 246. TENNESSEE 13 Mexico. Mr. Polk in his Message of July 6, 1848, to Con- gress maintained that with the termination of war his power to establish temporary civil governments over New Mexico and California had ceased ; the legality of their previous exist- ence he justified by the law of nations. By cession to the United States, the government of Mexico no longer pre- tended to any control over them.^ President Polk, differing from other leaders of his party, held that " until Congress shall act, the inhabitants will be without any organized gov- ernment." 2 But Congress, notwithstanding urgent appeals of the Executive, moved very deliberately in the matter of abolishing the office of military governor. In May, 1847, Colonel Richard B. Mason assumed the office of Governor and commander-in-chief of the United States forces in California. Two months after ratification of the treaty with Mexico he received notice of the fact, but no intimation that the civil government instituted by the President was discontinued. Without other instructions than an order to extend over California " the revenue laws and tariff of the United States " he, as well as his successor, General Riley, continued the existing government. After affirming the legality of its institution the United States Supreme Court (Cross vs. Harrison, p. 193, 16 How- ard) says that the existing government did not cease as a consequence of the restoration of peace; the President might have dissolved it, but he did not do so. Congress could have put an end to it, but that was not done. " The right inference from the inaction of both is, that it was meant to be con- tinued until it had been legislatively changed." In fact it was so continued until the people in convention formed a government, subsequently recognized by Congress, when Cali- fornia was admitted during the autumn of 1850 as a State. * Statesman's Manual, Vol. IV. p. 1742. ' Ibid. 14 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION The authority, then, of both poHtical departments, as well as the more deliberate opinion of the judicial branch, of the General Government had established a precedent with which Mr. Lincoln was thoroughly familiar; for, by a singular co- incidence, both he and Mr. Johnson were serving together in the Thirtieth Congress, which began its first session in De- cember, 1847. They participated in, or were interested spec- tators of, all those stirring scenes that marked the beginning of one of the last legislative victories of slavery; so that this portion at least of American history was not strange to either the President or the Senator from Tennessee. The question whether Tennessee was within or without the Union will be reserved for more ample discussion farther on; it is sufficient to observe here that its territory was held by an adverse party and its government hostile to the national authority. If the administration of Colonel Mason and his successor in California was not regarded by President Lin- coln as a sufficient basis for his action there was still left an undoubted foundation. The appointment was deemed an element of strength to the Union forces operating in Tennes- see, and, in this view, the act was entirely within the power of the President as Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of the United States. Though its wisdom may be ques- tioned and its results dismissed with a sneer, it was not a novelty nor can his admirers claim for Mr. Lincoln the merit of its invention; and if in its origin the office had a bearing on the extension, its present application was not wholly un- connected with the abolition of slavery. The remaining pages of this chapter and the two succeeding ones will be employed in tracing rapidly the operation of the system of military governors in those States in which it was seriously attempted to be enforced. The movements of contending armies had already obliter- ated in many districts of Tennessee almost every trace of civil TENNESSEE 15 government, and when State officials hurried away to Mem- phis, where Governor Harris had reassembled the Legisla- ture, they left behind them an uncontrolled mob which Gen- eral Forrest found it necessary to charge with his cavalry to remove a portion of Confederate military stores that had not been distributed among the poor or perished in the prevailing anarchy.^ General Grant had already, on February 22, from Fort Donelson, issued an order that " no courts will be al- lowed to act under State authority, but all cases coming within reach of the military arm will be adjudicated by the authorities the Government has established within the State. Martial law is therefore declared to extend over West Tennes- see." The order added, " whenever a sufficient number of citizens return to their allegiance to maintain law and order over the territory, the military restriction here indicated will be removed." 2 Union troops under General Nelson having occupied the city on the 25th, Governor Johnson on his arrival, March 12, 1862, from his seat in the United States Senate was not under the necessity of employing the harsh discipline of General Forrest to restore order in the deserted capital. For this part of his career he was, how- ever, severely censured by political adversaries in Tennessee. Detached from their historical settings, indeed, his acts could justly be described as tyrannical. But it is precisely these figures in the back-ground that are necessary to harmonize the whole and set before us in its proper light a truthful pic- ture of the times. As his professions preceded his adminis- trative acts it is proper to introduce this portion of the sub- ject by quoting from a speech which he delivered in Nash- ville the evening after his arrival. Five days later, March 18, it was printed under the style of " An Appeal to the People " of Tennessee. After some general observations on the tran- * The Lost Cause, p. 209. * Ann. Cycl.,1862, p, 763. 1 6 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION quil and prosperous existence of the State in the Union, and on the honors by which many of her sons had been distin- guished, he noticed the fact that the very leaders of secession themselves had been the recipients of Federal bounty and patronage; had taken oaths to support the Constitution and yet labored to overturn Federal authority. Entering fairly upon his theme, he continued : Meanwhile the State Government has disappeared. The Executive has abdicated; the Legislature has dissolved; the Judiciary is in abey- ance. The great ship of State , . . has been suddenly abandoned by its officers and mutinous crew, and left to float at the mercy of the winds, and to be plundered by every rover upon the deep. Pausing to enumerate many acts of spoliation, he resumes : In such a lamentable crisis the Government of the United States could not be unmindful of its high constitutional obligation to guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government, an obliga- tion which every State has a direct and immediate interest in having observed towards every other State. . . . This obligation the na- tional Government is now attempting to discharge. I have been ap- pointed, in the absence of the regular and established State authorities, as Military Governor for the time being, to preserve the public property of the State, to give the protection of law actively enforced to her citizens, and, as speedily as may be, to restore her government to the same con- dition as before the existing rebellion. The " regular and established State authorities," to whom Governor Johnson refers, were, of course, none other than those officials who administered affairs in Tennessee before the 6th of May. Of these some had actually abandoned their offices, while others had subordinated their functions to a power hostile to the constitution of the State. He proceeded : These offices must be filled temporarily, until the State shall be re- stored so far to its accustomed quiet, that the people can peaceably as- semble at the ballot-box and select agents of their own choice. . . . I shall, therefore, as early as practicable, designate for various posi- tions under the State and county governments, from among my fellow- citizens, persons of probity and intelligence, and bearing true allegiance to the Constitution and Government of the United States, who will exe- cute the functions of their respective offices until their places can be TENNESSEE 17 filled by the action of the people. Their authority, when their appoint- ment shall have been made, will be accordingly respected and observed. . . . Those who through the dark and weary night of rebellion have maintained their allegiance to the Federal Government will be hon- ored. The erring and misguided will be welcomed on their return. And while it may become necessary, in vindicating the violated majesty of the law, and in reasserting its imperial sway, to punish intelligent and conscious treason in high places, no merely retaliatory or vindictive policy will be adopted.^ To all who in private and unofficial capacity had assumed an attitude of hostility to the Government amnesty was offered for all past acts and declarations upon condition of yielding obedience to the supremacy of the laws. This the Governor advised them to do. Though the " Appeal," brief, clear and characterized by the best temper, is a state paper of decided merit, there were many classes still residing at the capital upon whom it made little impression. The mayor and the city council were ordered to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and on their refusal were imprisoned. Of the harshness of this measure it need only be observed that the essence of government is to govern, and had the new execu- tive failed on this occasion to assert authority his administra- tion would have been wrecked at the outset. For printing seditious matter the press was placed under restraint, and within a few months it was found necessary to punish with unusual severity, even ministers of the gospel. Clergymen, with a few exceptions, were not only hostile to the Union but actually encouraged treason from their pulpits. These offenders Governor Johnson summoned to take the oath of allegiance or to depart from the State. They appeared be- fore him, as commanded to, refused compliance, but asked time for deliberation; this being granted, to the full extent desired, and still persisting in their refusal they were placed in confinement. That they were not proceeded against with ^Life and Speeches of Andrew Johnson, pp. 451-456. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1866. i8 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION undue haste appears from an entry in a diary kept by one of Governor Johnson's biographers which fixes the date as June 28.^ Three months had fully elapsed since the arrival of Mr. Johnson before the ministers were punished for their seditious utterances. To prevent interference with his execu- tive functions he sometimes imprisoned judges. Other measures no less arbitrary have been the subject of much criticism. He declared that whenever a loyal citizen was maltreated five or more sympathizers with the Rebellion should be arrested and dealt with as the nature of the case appeared to require. When the property of Union men was destroyed remuneration should be made them from the prop- erty of the disloyal. The President seems to have approved of these reprisals. Nothing more clearly shows the demoral- ized condition of society in Tennessee than the necessity of adopting measures similar to those employed eight centuries before by the Danish and Norman conquerors of England to protect their followers from private assassination by the natives. With the natural leaders of the people, including bankers, physicians and clergymen, encouraging treason, men of inferior intelligence and station could not be expected to remain peaceful and contented citizens, and as preachers of sedition seldom lack numerous and sympathetic audiences the spirit of lawlessness increased. The Governor himself was threatened with assassination in the public streets and in public meetings, but he set such menaces at defiance and on at least one occasion addressed an assembly with his pistol on a desk before him. But the repression of the disloyal and the restoration of order by no means included the whole of his duties. Func- tions not less important remain to be noticed. To the duties of governor and general he added those of quartermaster *Life, Speeches, and Services of Andrew Johnson, pp. 101-104. Phila- delphia: T. B. Peterson & Brothers. TENNESSEE i^ and judge. Though thousands of loyal people flocked to him for arms and supplies, he proved equal to every demand, and from their number raised an army that did gallant serv- ice in the field. He fed, clothed and sheltered the poor without regard to the army in which their natural protectors were serving. Thus redressing grievances, relieving want and reinstating courts he worked with an intelligent and tireless energy, and when the timid prudence of General Buell would have allowed Nashville to fall into the hands of the enemy " the courage of Governor Johnson," said a panegyrist, *' stood a bulwark for its defence." ^ He had been scarcely three months in office when President Lincoln described him as "a true and valuable man, indispensable to us in Tennes- see." His zeal, his intense fidelity to the Union, his tre- mendous energy and undoubted courage peculiarly fitted him to rule in turbulent times. At the outset the only agencies left for the protection of life, liberty and property were force and arbitrary will; these he did not hesitate to employ. The foregoing account does not notice his activity in another field. His ultimate object, the establishment of civil authority throughout Tennessee, was kept constantly in view. To prepare for this event he addressed in May, 1862, large assemblies at Nashville and Murfreesboro, and in June at Columbia and Shelby ville.^ This work, however, was brought suddenly to an end later in the summer by General Bragg's raid into Kentucky. From what has been related it appears, and the opinion will grow stronger with the progress of this narrative, that in appointing a military governor of Tennessee President Lin- coln intended no more than to revive an office already known ^ Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of Andrew Johnson, pp. 76-80; Memoir by Frank Moore, pp. xxvi-xxvii in Life and Speeches of Andrew Johnson. Boston : Little, Brown & Co. ^Life of Andrew Johnson, pp. 98-101; Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson & Brothers. 20 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION to the people of the United States; and though Mr. Johnson was expected ultimately to reinaugurate a loyal government throughout the State, his office was regarded primarily as an inexpensive means of holding territory wrested from, and assisting in military operations against, an enemy. Indeed, it is only in this view that his administration of the office can be regarded as a success, and that it was so considered in the North his nomination on the ticket with Mr. Lincoln is undoubted proof. Besides several colored regiments, the records for 1863 show that 25,000 Tennesseeans were then serving in the Union army, and every succeeding month increased their number.^ That the political advantage to be gained by re- storing a loyal government was not the only or even the principal purpose of the President may be fairly inferred from the following letter: I am told you have at least thought of raising a negro military force. In my opinion the country now needs no specific thing so much as some man of your ability and position to go to this work. When I speak of your position, I mean that of an eminent citizen of a slave state and him- self a slaveholder. The colored population is the great available and yet unavailed of force for restoring the Union. The bare sight of 50,000 armed and drilled black soldiers upon the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once ; and who doubts that we can present that sight if we but take hold in earnest? If you have been thinking of it, please do not dismiss the thought.* Besides supporting the view of the military governors taken above, this letter also makes it evident that the pressure of events had already convinced Mr. Lincoln that to save the Union it was necessary to possess the untrammeled use of every national resource. As early as June 8, 1862, the State was included in the department of General Halleck, who ten days later was re- 'Ann. Cycl.,1863, p. 828. ' Letters and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. II. p. 318. TENNESSEE 21 quested by Mr. Lincoln to report any information of value relative thereto. The thought of a movement into East Tennessee was in the mind of the President again on June 30, when he informed the commander that he regarded the pos- session of the railroad near Cleveland fully as important as the taking of Richmond. Halleck, concurring in this opinion, telegraphed Buell that " the capture of East Tennessee should be the main object of the campaign," the department com- mander believing its occupation would put an end to guerrilla warfare both in that region and Kentucky. The inactivity of General Rosecrans for six months after the battle of Murfreesboro left in the interior of the State a strong Confederate force whose presence discouraged all but the most pronounced loyalists; these, by means of meetings and speeches, kept a latent Union feeling alive. A conven- tion, called by Brownlow, Maynard and others, was held at Nashville, July i, 1863. Delegates were in attendance from forty counties; they took an oath of allegiance to the United States, and in a set of resolutions pronounced the various secession laws and ordinances void. Deeming it vitally im- portant to choose a legislature, they invited Governor Johnson to issue writs of election as soon as expedient; with this request, however, he did not then think it prudent to comply. Other eyes were observing with interest the progress of events within the State. General Hurlbut, writing from Memphis, August 11, 1863, relative to the political situation in Arkansas, said he was satisfied that Tennessee was " ready, by overwhelming majorities, to repeal the act of secession, establish a fair system of gradual emancipation, and tender herself back to the Union. I have discouraged [he said] any action on this subject here until East Tennessee is delivered. When that is done, so that her powerful voice may be heard, let Governor Johnson call an election for members of the 22 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Legislature, and that Legislature call a Convention, and in sixty days the work will be done." ^ This desirable event was not long delayed, for by brilliant though bloodless victories both Knoxville and Chattanooga early in the following month were in possession of Federal armies. Then President Lincoln wrote his letter of Septem- ber II, which, because of its great importance, deserves to be reproduced in full : All Tennessee is now clear of armed insurrectionists. You need not to be reminded that it is the nick of time for reinaugurating a loyal State government. Not a moment should be lost. You and the cooperating friends there can better judge of the ways and means than can be judged by any here. I only offer a few suggestions. The reinauguration must not be such as to give control of the State and its representation in Con- gress to the enemies of the Union, driving its friends there into political exile. The whole struggle for Tennessee will have been profitless to both State and nation if it so ends that Governor Johnson is put down and Governor Harris is put up. It must not be so. You must have it otherwise. Let the reconstruction be the work of such men only as can be trusted for the Union. Exclude all others, and trust that your govern- ment so organized will be recognized here as being the one of republican form to be guaranteed to the State, and to be protected against invasion and domestic violence. It is something on the question of time to re- member that it cannot be known who is next to occupy the position I now hold, nor what he will do. I see that you have declared in favor of emancipation in Tennessee, for which may God bless you. Get eman- cipation into your new State Government — Constitution — and there will be no such word as fail for your case. The raising of colored troops, I think, will greatly help every way. ^ The reference in this communication to emancipation is explained by the fact that, in deference to the wishes of Andrew Johnson and other Tennessee loyalists, the President in his proclamation of January i, 1863, had not mentioned that State. 3 Believing that his commission as military governor did not * Abraham Lincoln, A History by Nicolay & Hay, Vol. VIII. p. 440. ' Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. II. p. 405. ' History of Abraham Lincoln, by Isaac N. Arnold, p. 303. TENNESSEE 23 confer upon him powers adequate to every emergency that might arise in the important work of restoring a loyal gov- ernment Mr. Johnson, to supply this deficiency, prepared a letter which he submitted for the approval of President Lin- coln, who amended or modified it to read as follows : In addition to the matters contained in the orders and instructions given you by the Secretary of War, you are hereby authorized to ex- ercise such powers as may be necessary and proper to enable the loyal people of Tennessee to present such a republican form of State govern- ment as virill entitle the State to the guaranty of the United States there- for, and to be protected under such State government by the United States against invasion and domestic violence, all according to the fourth sec- tion of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States/ This supplemental authority is dated September 19, and the private letter enclosing it informs Governor Johnson why his draft was altered. It was about this time, while the President was thus urging Governor Johnson, that General Rosecrans, surrounded by a victorious enemy, inquired of Mr. Lincoln whether it would not be well '' to offer a general amnesty to all officers and soldiers in the Rebellion ? " In his reply next day the Presi- dent, referring first, as was his wont, to the military situ- ation, added, " I intend doing something like what you sug- gest whenever the case shall appear ripe enough to have it accepted in the true understanding rather than as a con- fession of weakness and fear." ^ The removal soon after of General Rosecrans from his command and the fortunate ap- pearance at Chattanooga of those great soldiers of the first rank, Grant, Sherman, Thomas and Sheridan, made at Look- out Mountain and Mission Ridge the occasion which the President so much desired, and on December 8. 1863, he issued his famous Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruc- tion, a copy of which was transmitted with his third annual * Letters and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 408, * Ibid. p.,4i9- 24 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION message to Congress. The impression which its candid tone produces on the mind of a student to-day was the impression made at the time of its appearance upon thoughtful and en- lightened men everywhere. Nicolay and Hay in an interest- ing chapter of their valuable history describe the satisfaction, and even enthusiasm, with which it was received by the ad- herents of all parties in Congress. This proclamation, around which the later controversy raged, was authorized by act of Congress approved July 17, 1862, which, among other pro- visions, empowered the President " at any time " thereafter " 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 time and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare." The time for the exercise of this discretion Mr. Lincoln be- lieved had now arrived. Like every measure conceived in his fruitful mind it had been maturely considered and was especially fortunate in being introduced by the concluding paragraphs of the message. The very note of sincerity itself rings in these weighty lines. Perhaps it was the suggestion of unuttered arguments that gave a temporary adherence to the Executive plan, which, we are told, was put forth because " It is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States, and to reinaugurate loyal State governments within and for their respective States." The proclamation informed " 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 property cases where rights of third parties shall have in- tervened, 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 regis- TENNESSEE 25 tered for permanent preservation." This oath bound the subscriber thenceforth to '* faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder"; to "abide by and faithfully sup- port all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves " unless repealed, modified or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme Court; to 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 Su- preme Court." The classes excepted from the benefits of the amnesty were all persons " 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 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 afterward aided the rebellion; and all who have engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in charge of such, other- wise 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." ^ The proclamation provided further that whenever, in any of the States in rebellion, " a number of persons, not less than one tenth in number of the votes cast in such State at the presidential election " of i860, " each having taken the oath aforesaid and not having since violated it, and being a quali- fied voter by the election law of the State existing immedi- ately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 443. 26 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION all others, shall reestablish 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 Constitu- tional 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 in- vasion; and, on application of the legislature, or of the execu- tive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against do- mestic violence.' " Any provision adopted by such State relative to its freed people " 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 a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the national executive." In constructing a loyal government in any State, it was thought not improper to suggest that " 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 modifi- cations 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 every occasion of misunderstanding it was ex- pressly stated that the proclamation " has no reference to States wherein loyal State governments have all the while been maintained." The President disclaimed any authority to admit members to seats in Congress, each House being " the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members." ^ In conclusion it was observed that " while the mode pre- sented is the best the executive can suggest, with his present ^ Art. I. sec. 5, Constitution of the U. S. TENNESSEE 27 impressions, it must not be understood that no other possible mode would be acceptable." ^ To get an enrollment of those willing to take the oath prescribed in the amnesty proclamation the President, about the middle of January, 1864, sent an agent to Tennessee, as he had already sent one to Louisiana and to Arkansas. About the same time Governor Johnson himself was considering the subject of reconstruction; and on the 21st, to begin pro- ceedings, called a public meeting at Nashville. It was on this occasion that he said : " Treason must be made odious, traitors must be punished and impoverished; " slavery he pronounced dead and declared that reconstruction must leave it out of view. The meeting, which was largely attended, adopted resolutions recommending a constitutional conven- tion and pledged support of only those candidates who favored immediate and universal emancipation. The Governor, how- ever, was cautious, and, January 26, 1864, issued a call for an election, on the first Saturday of March following, for the choice of only county officers. The ex-Confederate and the loyalist having been placed by the amnesty proclamation on an equal footing, some dis- satisfaction was aroused among unconditional Union men. To retain the confidence of this class and to set at rest the hostile feeling thus excited in the State, Governor Johnson framed the oath of allegiance more stringently than Mr. Lin- coln had done. This variance occasioned discussion and delay and brought inquiries and protests to the President, who, to prevent confusion, telegraphed, February 20, 1864, Warren Jordan, of Nashville, as follows : In county elections you had better stand by Governor Johnson's plan ; otherwise you will have conflict and confusion. I have seen his plan.* * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL pp. 443-444. = Ibid., p. 486. 28 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION A week later he assured the Hon. E. H. East, Secretary of State for Tennessee, that There is no conflict between the oath of amnesty in my proclamation of eighth December, 1863, and that prescribed by Governor Johnson in his proclamation of the twenty-sixth ultimo.^ While it is perfectly true that no discrepancy existed be- tween the proclamation of the President and that of the military governor, the latter required an additional test. This the communication to Mr. East does not discuss. To avoid, however, any possible mischief from this source Mr. Lincoln, March 26, issued a supplemental proclamation which explained that the amnesty applied only to " persons who being yet at large and free from any arrest, confinement, or duress, shall voluntarily come forward and take the said oath, with the purpose of restoring peace and establishing the national authority." ^ Prisoners excluded from the am- nesty offered in the proclamation of December 8, like all other offenders, might apply to the executive for clemency and have their applications receive due consideration. This oath, it was made known, could be taken before any commissioned officer of the United States, civil, military or naval, or before any officer authorized to administer oaths, in a State or Territory not in insurrection. Such officers were empowered to give certificates thereon to persons by whom the oath was taken and subscribed. The original records, after trans- mission to the Department of State, were to be there deposited and to remain in the Government archives. The Secretary of State was required to keep a register of such oaths and upon application to issue certificates in proper cases in the custom- ary form. Meanwhile an election, the returns of which are extremely meagre, had been held on March 5 for the choice of county ^ Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. II. p. 487. " Ibid., pp. 504-505. TENNESSEE 29 officers. Though the event was not without influence in confirming the faith of Unionists, it was chiefly of value in attracting the attention of the disloyal to the chances afforded by the proclamation of rehabilitating themselves in their former political rights. The result, however, was not so favorable as was expected by Governor Johnson or the President, and reconstruction in Tennessee once more sank to rest. From this condition it was again revived by the irrepressible Union men of the State. The East Tennessee convention of 1861, by appointing a permanent committee, had kept its organization alive. In April or May, 1864, this body called a convention at Knoxville to discuss reconstruc- tion. Of this gathering one element favored the Crittenden Resolutions; the other, immediate emancipation. Probably it was this antagonism that prevented further action. The next we hear is that Brownlow and others signed a call for a sec- ond convention, which was held at Nashville on September 5. In this body forty or fifty counties were represented, some of them irregularly; that is, by volunteer delegates. This assembly recommended the election of a constitutional con- vention, the abolition of slavery in the State, and provided for taking part in the approaching Presidential election. The programme, however, was only partially carried out. On September 30, Governor Johnson issued a proclamation for holding the election, at which Union voters, so far as the unsettled condition of military operations permitted, cast their ballots for electors of President and Vice-President. It does not appear that in this election any attempt was made to choose a governor, a legislature or a constitutional conven- tion; but that which met in July, 1863, constituted an execu- tive committee, composed of five members from each division of the State, which after the Presidential election issued calls for a State convention at Nashville, December 19, 1864. " The people meet," said the call, '' to take such steps as wis- 30 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION dom may direct to restore the State of Tennessee to its once honored status in the great national Union. " If you cannot meet in your counties, come upon your own personal responsibility. It is the assembling of Union men for the restoration of their own commonwealth to life and a career of success." ^ Hood's advance upon Nashville preventing a response to this address, the convention did not meet till January 9, 1865. The enemy had then been dispersed. The State being free from further alarms of war, the convention met and pro- posed important alterations in the State constitution. The first article provided : " That slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, are hereby forever abolished and prohibited throughout the State "; also that " The legis- lature shall make no law recognizing the right of property in man." The old constitution of Tennessee prohibited the as- sembly from passing laws to emancipate slaves without the consent of the owner; that prohibition was now removed. " The declaration of independence and ordinance dissolving the federal relations between the State of Tennessee and the United States of America," passed by the Legislature, May 6, 1 86 1, was abrogated and declared " an act of treason and usurpation, unconstitutional, null and void." All laws, ordi- nances, and resolutions of the usurped State government passed on and after the 6th day of May, 1861, providing for the issuance of State bonds; also all notes of the Bank of Tennessee or any of its branches issued on or after May 6, 1 86 1, and all debts created in the name of the State by said authority were declared unconstitutional, null and void. Future legislatures were restrained from the redemption of said bonds. It was further provided that " The qualification ^ Misc. Doc. No. 55, p. 5, H. of R., i Sess. 39th Cong. TENNESSEE 3t of voters and the limitation of the elective franchise may be determined by the general assembly, which shall first assemble under the amended constitution." The convention completed its labors on January 26, 1865. The amendatory articles were submitted, February 22, to the people, and ratified by a vote of 21,104 to 40- The schedule provided in the event of ratification that the loyal people of the State should, on the 4th of March next thereafter, pro- ceed by general ticket to elect a governor and members to the general assembly to meet in the capitol at Nashville on the first Monday of April, 1865. A proclamation of Governor Johnson, issued on January 26, referred to the respectable character of the convention and commended its wisdom in submitting for the approval of the electors the result of its deliberations. His executive powers had been employed to enable the people freely to express their judgment on the grave question before them. Provision, he declared, would be made to collect the sentiments of loyal Tennesseeans in the army. The paper concludes with this vigorous exhortation : " Strike down at one blow the insti- tution of slavery, remove the disturbing element from your midst, and by united action restore the State to its ancient moorings again, and you may confidently expect the speedy return of peace, happiness, and prosperity." ^ About a month later, February 25, he had the happiness to congratulate the people of Tennessee on the favorable result of the election. By their solemn act at the ballot-box the shackles had been stricken from the limbs of more than 275,000 bondmen. The convention which proposed the constitutional amend- ments had, in anticipation of its ratification, nominated Wil- liam G. [" Parson "] Brownlow for Governor, and recom- mended a full legislative ticket. The nominee of the conven- ^ Misc. Doc. No. 55, p. 9, H. of R., i Sess. 39th Cong. 32 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION tion was chosen M^rch 4, almost without opposition, receiv- ing 23,352 votes against 35 scattering. Having been elected on a general ticket the members of both the Senate and House of Representatives received the same support as the Governor. The Legislature met at Nashville, and in a few days there- after Mr. Brownlow was inaugurated. Civil administration was thus formally begun. That the successive steps to restoration in Tennessee may be easily traced, the narrative has not been interrupted to relate even matters of undoubted importance. Almost a year before the occurrences described, the Republican national convention had assembled in the city of Baltimore, and on June 6, 1864, unanimously nominated Andrew Johnson for Vice-President on the ticket with Mr. Lincoln. Tidings of the fact aroused great enthusiasm when it became known in Nashville. In addressing an immense meeting called for that occasion Gov- ernor Johnson, among other things, said : " While society is in this disordered state, and we are seeking security, let us fix the foundations of our government on principles of eternal justice, which will endure for all time. There are those in our midst who are for perpetuating the institution of slavery. Let me say to you, Tennesseeans, and men from the Northern States, that slavery is dead. It was not murdered by me. I told you long ago what the result would be if you endeavored to go out of the Union to save slavery; and that the result would be bloodshed, rapine, devastated fields, plundered vil- lages and cities; and therefore I urged you to remain in the Union. In trying to save slavery you killed it, and lost your own freedom." * In his letter to Hon. William Dennison, accepting the nom- ination, he wrote: The authority of the Government is supreme, and will admit of no rivalry. No institution can rise above it whether it be slavery or any *Life of Andrew Johnson, pp. 159-160. TENNESSEE 33 organized power. In our happy form of government all must be subordi- nate to the will of the people, when reflected through the Constitution and the laws made pursuant thereto — State or Federal. This great prin- ciple lies at the foundation of every government, and cannot be disre- garded without the destruction of the government itself. In accepting the nomination I might here close, but I cannot forego the opportunity of saying to my old friends of the Democratic party proper, with whom I have so long and pleasantly been associated, that the hour has now come when that great party can justly vindicate its de- votion to true democratic policy and measures of expediency. The war is a war of great principles. It involves the supremacy and life of the Government itself. If the rebellion triumphs, free government — North and South — fails. If, on the other hand, the Government is successful, as I do not doubt, its destiny is fixed, its basis permanent and enduring, and its career of honor and glory just begun. In a great contest like this, for the existence of free government, the path of duty is patriotism and principle. Minor considerations and questions of administrative policy should give way to the higher duty of first preserving the Govern- ment, and then there will be time enough to wrangle over the men and measures pertaining to its administration.' For reasons at which Mr. Lincoln hinted in his letter of March 26, 1863, few men in Congress exerted in the begin- ning of the war so decided an influence upon public opinion in the North as did Mr. Johnson. His conduct as military governor in no way diminished this popularity. His courage in that trying position no less than his devotion to the interests of the Union won him ardent admirers in every loyal State. Vice-President Hamlin appears to have been the victim of an intrigue which represented him as being no material source of strength to the government and as scarcely loyal to the ad- ministration. This injurious suspicion, which seems to have had no substantial basis in truth, happened to coincide with a growing conviction that the Republican party should strengthen itself by placing on the ticket with Lincoln some prominent leader of the opposition. In this connection the names of General Butler, John A. Dix, Daniel S. Dickinson *Life of Andrew Johnson, pp. 160-161. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1866. 34 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION and Andrew Johnson were mentioned. The last named was charged in his administration of the office of mihtary gov- ernor with harshness and even with oppression. Investiga- tion proved these rumors to be without foundation, and Mr. Lincoln was not displeased to find them groundless. It does not appear that he was especially favorable to John- son, but he regarded him as indispensable to the Union cause in Tennessee; Johnson was a slave-holder, was somewhat more outspoken than Butler or Dix, and a more conspicuous representative of the large class known as War Democrats; above all he was an able exponent of Southern Union senti- ment and he came from the very heart of the Confederacy. Perhaps no single element of strength made him more accept- able to the majority of the convention than this last consid- eration. Even these qualifications might not have singled him out for the distinction conferred were it not for the en- thusiasm created by a remarkable speech of Horace Maynard, which mentioned Mr. Johnson as a man who " stood in the furnace of treason." His administration as military gov- ernor had been distinguished for vigor and ability, and it does not appear that the radical Republicans then regarded his State without the Union. Some of his measures were un- doubtedly severe, but the peculiar situation in Tennessee re- quired the employment of methods not adapted to times of peace. Mr. Lincoln could not, of course, show his hand in the Baltimore convention. In fact he repeatedly declined to interfere.^ On October 15, 1864, the ten electors on the McClellan ticket presented through Mr. John Lellyett, one of their num- ber, a protest to the President against the proclamation pub- lished by Governor Johnson relative to the pending election. ^McClure's Lincoln and Men of War Times, pp. 106-108; Blaine's Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. II. p. 7; Hamlin's Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, pp. 449-489 and 591-615. TENNESSEE 35 His paper, they asserted, contained provisions for holding elec- tions which differed materially from the mode prescribed by the laws of Tennessee. The proclamation, it was alleged, would admit persons to vote who were not entitled by the State constitution to participate in the election; by another pro- vision which authorized the opening of but one polling-place in each county, many legal voters would be unable to exercise the franchise. The unusual and impracticable test oath pro- posed, was stated as a further grievance, and they complained generally of military interference with the freedom of elec- tions. To their representations Mr. Lincoln replied orally that General McClellan and his friends could manage their side of the contest in their own way. He could manage his side of it in his way.^ In a written reply of the 22d, how- ever, the President said that he perceived no military reason for interfering in the matter, and on the same occasion re- minded the protestants that the conducting of a Presidential election in Tennessee under the old code had become an impos- sibility.^ In 'their reply to the written communication of the Presi- dent, they asserted that an orderly meeting of General Mc- Clellan's friends had been broken up by Union soldiers, and a reign of terror inaugurated in Nashville. These acts hav- ing been countenanced by Governor Johnson, they announced the withdrawal of the McClellan electoral ticket in Tennes- see.^ In these circumstances the Union electors were, of course, chosen; but their votes, though offered, were not counted by Congress in the joint convention of February 8, 1865, for the reason that Tennessee was on November 8 preceding in such a state that no free election was held. * ^ McPherson's Pol. Hist., pp. 438-439. ' Ibid., p. 425. 'Ibid., p. 441. *For a discussion of this subject see Chapter IX. II LOUISIANA THE first movement toward reconstruction in Louisiana, as in the case of Tennessee, was bound up with the war powers of the President, and, no doubt, was made with some expectation of aiding his military plans. The thought of restoring a loyal government there proceeded quite naturally from the peculiar situation in the State. Though not so nearly unanimous for secession as South Carolina, her people acted with energy and promptness when they received tidings of " this last insult and outrage," as the election of Mr. Lincoln was sensationally styled.^ Three days were deemed sufficient for deliberation, and the convention, January 25, 1 86 1, passed an ordinance of secession. Two weeks be- fore this assembly met at Baton Rouge, the arsenal and the forts, a public building and a revenue cutter had been seized by State troops from New Orleans. In the mint and the cus- tom house of that city more than half a million dollars was secured for the Confederate States, and in accepting these funds the Montgomery Congress expressed its " high sense of the patriotic liberality " of Louisiana. ^ This act of gener- osity, however, loses much of its merit when it is remembered that both the coin and bullion in the mint, as well as the customs, belonged to the Federal government. Besides, there was then no scarcity of money in the State, for Northern enterprise had found for her cotton and her sugar profit- ^ Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 427. •McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 4n. 36 LOUISIANA 37 able markets both at home and abroad. It was benefits of this sort, enjoyed in the Union, that enabled Governor Moore in January, 1861, to report to his Legislature an overflowing treasury.^ This undoubted prosperity served only to aggra- vate the war fever. Enthusiasm in New Orleans was only less ardent and general than in Charleston. Business was al- most suspended, and by the first of June no less than 16,000 residents of Louisiana were serving in the Confederate army.^ President Lincoln's proclamation of April 19 preceding had inaugurated a blockade of every port within the State. The early days of July witnessed the disappearance of Gov- ernor Moore's boasted surplus, and during the summer New Orleans became bankrupt;^ her foreign commerce was de- stroyed by the blockade, her credit had vanished. Though enlistments continued without interruption, signs of financial distress multiplied with the approach of winter. Rebellion, it was soon discovered, was not attended with unmixed bless- ings; bad government had produced its usual consequences, and when Governor Taylor, late in the summer of 1862, un- dertook to raise an army for the defence of his State he was surprised at the universal apathy; neglect and disaster had brought disunionists to a condition little short of hostility to the Richmond government.* Union men in southern Louisiana had not been unobserv- ant of these signs; permanent residents of this portion of the State had, for the most part, maintained their loyalty to the General Government. Indeed, a decided majority of them in the election of i860 had voted for Bell and Douglas, and though here, as elsewhere in the South, ardent secessionists were found, the proceedings in the convention took the Union ^ McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 25 ; Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 428. ^ Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 432. » Ibid. * Taylor's Destruction and Reconstruction, pp. 102-103. 38 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION men by surprise. ^ In the interval they had refrained from violence, but had not become reconciled to oppression. The importance of New Orleans to their cause had not been overlooked by Confederate authorities, and that city was held firmly in their grasp until the fleet of Captain Farragut, toward the close of April, 1862, steamed up in hostile array before its defences. The occupation by General Butler's army of this strategic position ended in southern Louisiana the activity of the more extreme secessionists, and though some restlessness at the presence of Federal forces was pre- tended by even Union men, they had not until the surrender made any serious effort to help themselves. Under protec- tion of the army, however, they commenced immediately to form Union associations for the purpose of developing the loyal sentiment in this part of the State. Resolutions recom- mending an election were passed by these organizations; newspapers discussed the question, and in various ways it was forced upon the attention of the President.^ The more prudent and intelligent among them began under encourage- ment of Federal troops to consider measures for relief; the less practical commenced writing complaints to friends in the North. In a private letter of July 26, 1862, to Hon. Reverdy Johnson, then in New Orleans investigating General Butler's relations with foreign consuls, Mr. Lincoln, noticing a refer- ence to the restlessness of the people under the rule of Gen- eral Phelps, asks the Maryland Senator to pardon him for believing the complaint " a false pretense." A way to avert the inconveniences arising from military occupation was for the people of Louisiana " simply to take their place in the Union upon the old terms." ^ Writing two days later to * McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. i. ' Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 589. * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL, pp. 214-215 ; Ann. Cycl., 1862, p. 650. LOUISIANA 39 Cuthbert Bullett, a Southern gentleman who appears to have enjoyed his personal esteem and confidence, the President, after mentioning difficulties in the way of establishing civil authority in the State, suggested a method of avoiding them : " The people of Louisiana who wish protection to person and property," he wrote, " have but to reach forth their hands and take it. Let them in good faith reinaugurate the national authority, and set up a State government conforming thereto under the Constitution. They know how to do it, and can have the protection of the army while doing it. The army will be withdrawn so soon as such State government can dispense with its presence; and the people of the State can then, upon the old constitutional terms, govern themselves to their own liking." ^ If, however, Union men exerted themselves no further than criticism of the Federal Government, it was more than intimated that there were to be expected greater injuries than military necessity had yet inflicted. The pressure of events appears even then to have been forcing the President in the direction of emancipation. To August Belmont, of New York, who enclosed the complaints of a New Orleans correspondent, Mr. Lincoln, July 31, 1862, repeated in substance what had already been written to Mr. Bullett, and added : " Those enemies must understand that they cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government, and if they fail still come back into the Union unhurt. If they expect in any contingency to ever have the Union as it was, I join with the writer [Mr, Belmont's cor- respondent] in saying, * Now is the time.' " ^ The appointment in August, 1862, of General George F. Shepley as military governor may be regarded as the first act in the restoration of a loyal government for Louisiana. His selection, though probably intended as a private com- mendation of the judgment of General Butler, who had * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL, p. 216. ' Ibid., pp. 217-218. 40 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION already designated him as Mayor of New Orleans, was never considered by that officer adequate atonement for the public censure implied in his removal, December, 1862, from com- mand of the Department of the Gulf. Upon the Federal occupation of New Orleans and adjacent territory all functions of the disloyal government therein im- mediately ceased. As controversies were constantly arising the establishment of courts had become a necessity. At first these questions were for the most part adjudicated by General Butler himself, but the pressure of military and other affairs compelled him soon to refer their settlement to civilians or to army officers especially chosen for the purpose. This uncer- tain system of justice, though immeasurably better than none, led to the institution of courts each of which was known by the name of the officer holding it. Accused persons were brought to trial, and judgments executed by soldiers detailed for such duty. No formal record of proceedings in these tribunals appears to have been kept, though memoranda of judgments rendered were, no doubt, made by an officer who came eventually to be designated as clerk. For the decision of questions relating exclusively to the force under his command General Butler some time in June, 1862, organized a tribunal known as the Provost Court of the Army of the United States, over which Major Joseph M. Bell presided. Questions in no way connected with the mili- tary, especially matters of police and the punishment of crimes, were often submitted for its determination. Ag- grieved persons, without reflecting upon the consequence of their acts, naturally appealed for redress to the holder of power. Thus the authority of this institution silently ex- tended, and by the autumn of 1862 it exercised unquestioned jurisdiction over all criminal cases arising in the city of New Orleans.^ In the absence of courts for adjudicating civil * Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 586. LOUISIANA 41 questions they, too, were referred to its consideration. All functions of government having been suspended by the cap- ture of the city, it became the duty of the Federal commander, and his right by the laws of war, to provide, among other things, for the administration of justice. One of the early acts of General Shepley after his appoint- ment as Military Governor was to establish a system of courts for the State. Most of the former officials having fled after the surrender, he was compelled practically to create new tribunals, and this task he greatly simplified by reviving those institutions of justice with which the people of Louisiana were already familiar. John S. Whittaker was accordingly appointed Judge of the Second District Court of the parish of Orleans. Besides possessing in civil matters the ordinary powers of a local court the old tribunal of that name had been a court of probates and successions. The new exercised all the powers of the old court. It should be re- membered, however, that the latter derived its authority from the laws of Louisiana, while the former owed its existence to the war powers of the Federal Executive. Its jurisdiction extended to civil cases generally where the defendant resided in the parish of Orleans or was a non-resident of the State.^ Judge Hiestand was appointed to the bench of the Fourth District Court of the parish of Orleans. Besides possessing the general authority of other district courts in that parish it entertained appeals from justices' courts; indeed, these con- stituted a large part of its business.^ The Sixth District Court of the parish of Orleans, revived soon after the capture of the city, is, because of the incumbent of that bench, Judge Rufus K. Howell, of greater interest than either of the preceding. Under a commission received from the State of Louisiana before its attempted secession he ' Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 586. * Ibid. 42 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION continued to preside over that tribunal while the disunion party ruled New Orleans, and performed his functions up to the very hour of its surrender to the Federal authorities. Having early taken the oath of allegiance to the national Government he was permitted to resume his functions.^ Like the tribunals mentioned, this court retained and exercised all the powers that it possessed as originally constituted. These courts, instituted during September and October, 1862, entered upon the discharge of their duties about the ist of November following. They were the only tribunals of civil jurisdiction in Louisiana, and that jurisdiction was limited, as against defendants resident of the State, to citizens of the parish of Orleans. As to inhabitants beyond the limits of that parish there was no court in which they could be sued. Though the Federal forces held several counties in this condition, their tenure fluctuated with the fortunes of war. A court was therefore needed whose jurisdiction would expand with the advance, and contract with the retreat, of the Union armies. The Provost Court was not deemed ade- quate, and indeed was never designed to meet such contin- gencies. To supply this deficiency a tribunal of very exten- sive powers, designated as " a court of record for the State of Louisiana," was constituted by Executive order on October 20, Of this flexible institution Charles A. Peabody, of New York, a friend of Secretary Seward, was made provisional judge. Besides being empowered to select a prosecuting at- torney, a marshal and a clerk, and to make rules for the exer- cise of his jurisdiction, he was authorized " to hear, try and determine all causes, civil and criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue and admiralty, and particularly all such powers and jurisdiction as belong to the District and Circuit Courts of the United States, conforming his proceedings, so far as possible, to the course of proceedings and practice * Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 586. LOUISIANA 43 which has been customary in the Courts of the United States and Louisiana — his judgment to be final and conclusive." These officers were to be paid out of the contingent fund of the War Department, and a copy of the Executive order, certified by the Secretary of War, was " held to be a sufficient commission " for the Judge. This institution, made up as to its personnel in the North, was sent from New York with the great expedition of General Banks constituted and organized for immediate business to Louisiana. Though Judge Peabody, accompanied by Augus- tus de B. Hughes, Isaac Edward Clarke and George D. La- mont, who had been chosen, respectively, clerk, marshal and prosecuting attorney, arrived in New Orleans December 15, 1862, the opening of court was delayed till the 29th of that month by a change of administration in that De- partment.* In addition to the tribunals described many other courts were established about this time; of these the Supreme Court of Louisiana is the only one which appears to require especial mention. In former times under the State judicial system appeals had lain to this institution, and it was accordingly held that decisions of the courts now created were subject to its revision. In this manner many of their judgments were stayed and in suspense, so that the new district courts were of little practical benefit. The necessity of a tribunal to remedy this deficiency and adjudicate the accumulated cases of former years soon became apparent, and in April, 1863, Mr. Peabody was appointed Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court; associated with him on this bench were judges chosen from among the people of Louisiana. Nearly a week before his appointment of Judge Peabody, Mr. Lincoln, by the hand of Hon. John E. Bouligny, who had ^ Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 587 ; Ibid., pp. 770-776. Scott's Reconstruction During the Civil War, pp. 325-326, 328-331, 376. 44 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION not left his seat in the House of Representatives when South- ern delegations withdrew from Congress, sent to General Butler, Governor Shepley and other Federal officers having authority under the United States in Louisiana a communica- tion requesting each of them to assist Mr, Bouligny in his effort to secure " peace again upon the old terms under the Constitution of the United States." ^ This desirable end was to be attained by the election of " members to the Con- gress of the United States particularly, and perhaps a legisla- ture. State officers, and United States senators friendly to their object." Federal officers were instructed to give the people a chance to express their wishes at these elections. '* Follow forms of law," wrote the President, " as far as con- venient, but at all events get the expression of the largest number of the people possible. All see how such action will connect with and affect the proclamation of September 22. Of course the men elected should be gentlemen of character, willing to swear support to the Constitution, as of old, and known to be above reasonable suspicion of duplicity." ^ Loyal leaders, believing that Northern men holding office under the General Government in Louisiana would be set up as candidates, communicated their fears to the President, who sent to Governor Shepley a fortnight before the election a letter of which the essential portion is as follows : 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 conclu- sive 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 bay- onet, would be disgusting and outrageous; and were I a member of Congress here, I would vote against admitting any such man to a seat.* * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 247. ' Ibid. » Ibid., p. 25s. LOUISIANA 45 The note of sincerity is unmistakable throughout, and in those Representatives and Senators opposed to Executive pohcy the concluding sentences especially must have excited strange emotions when they re-read in after years their im- passioned attacks in Congress upon that dark spirit who, it was gravely alleged, labored with might unquestioned to subordinate the Legislative branch of Government. The Union associations referred to appointed committees who waited upon General Shepley and demanded an election. This he hesitated to call until considerable pressure had first been exerted. The sentiments of the President concurring with the local feeling in New Orleans, Shepley finally yielded, and on November 14, 1862, issued a proclamation for an election to be held December 3d following. This election, in the language of his proclamation, was ordered " for the pur- pose of securing to the loyal electors " of both the First and Second Congressional Districts " their appropriate and lawful representation in the House of Representatives of the United States of America, and of enabling them to avail themselves of the benefits secured by the proclamation of the President of the United States to the people of any State, or part of a State, who shall on the first day of January next be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State have partici- pated." 1 In addition to the qualifications prescribed by the laws of Louisiana, General Shepley required each elector to take an oath of allegiance to the United States, and from among the old and respected citizens of the State appointed sheriffs and commissioners of election, who performed their duties to the entire satisfaction of both candidates and voters. The army, for reasons given above, refrained from all man- ' Globe, Part I., 3 Sess. 37th Cong., p. 835. 46 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION ner of interference, and no Federal office-holder was a nominee. For the first time in many years, it was admitted, every qualified elector might freely cast his ballot without fear of intimidation or violence. In a total of 2,643 votes Ben- jamin F. Flanders was chosen, with little opposition, for the First, and Michael Hahn, by a safe majority, for the Second Congressional District. A larger vote was actually cast for Flanders than had been received by his predecessor, and in both districts 7,760 citizens, or about half the usual number, appeared at the polls. When it is remembered that four thou- sand soldiers who enlisted in Butler's army from this part of the State did not participate in the contest, that many citizens from this section were serving in the Confederate army and that not a few Union men were exiles in the North or in Europe the vote in this election was by no means light. With credentials signed by Governor Shepley, Messrs. Hahn and Flanders appeared in Washington as claimants for seats in Congress. After a thorough investigation of the election and several ingenious arguments in opposition both were admitted, February 17, 1863, though not without con- siderable misgiving, as Representatives for the remainder of the term, which expired March 3 following. For their ex- clusion the opposition relied mainly upon these grounds : First. The election, it was asserted, was brought about by a threat of interference with slave property if the State was not represented in Congress by January i, 1863; this was a measure of coercion, and the compliance of citizens in appear- ing at the polls was ascribed to selfish motives rather than to loyal and patriotic sentiments. Second. The existence of any vacancy in a constitutional sense was at least doubtful; and even if vacancies existed in these districts the authority of a military governor to call an election was denied. LOUISIANA 47 Third. It was objected that Governor Shepley had dis- pensed with the registry required by law and had empowered commissioners of election to decide upon the qualifications of voters; finally, by requiring an oath of allegiance to the United States, he had imposed upon electors a test unknown to the laws of Louisiana.^ While the cases of Messrs. Hahn and Flanders were pend- ing the edict of freedom had gone forth, for the President, as announced in his preliminary proclamation of September 22, had declared, January i, 1863, " as a fit and necessary war measure," that " all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States, are and henceforward shall be free." ^ Louisiana was named as one of the States in rebellion. From the operation of this measure, however, the city of New Orleans and thirteen parishes of the State were excepted. The admission, February 17, of Hahn and Flanders gave new life to the political reorganization of the State.^ But with this revival of interest there was discovered among the supporters of the Federal Government a difference of opinion as to the best course to be pursued in the circum- stances. This division of sentiment arose concerning the wis- dom of retaining slavery in those parishes not included in the President's proclamation. The Union associations, each ap- pointing five delegates, organized what they termed a Free State General Committee with Thomas J. Durant as presi- dent. This body, holding anti-slavery views and assuming that rebellion had destroyed the fundamental law, took meas- ures to elect delegates to a general convention for the pur- pose of framing a new constitution prohibiting slavery. ^ Globe, Part I., 3 Sess. 37th Cong., pp. 831-837, 1030-1036. ^ McPherson's Pol. Hist., pp. 228-229. ' Blaine's Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. II. p. 39 ; Nicolay ard Hay's Lincoln, Vol. VIII. p. 419. 48 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Their plan was approved by General Shepley, who, June 12, 1863, appointed Mr. Durant Attorney-General for the State, with power to act as commissioner of registration.^ He was ordered on the same day to make an enrollment of all free white male citizens of the United States having resided six months in the State and one month in the parish, who should each take the oath of allegiance and register " as a voter freely and voluntarily for the purpose of organizing a State government in Louisiana, loyal to the Government of the United States." ^ The conservative element, though less active, was by no means indifferent to these measures, and sent to Washington a committee of planters to consult the President. They represented in a communication to him that they had " been delegated to seek of the General Government a full recogni- tion of all the rights of the State as they existed previous to the passage of an act of secession, upon the principle of the existence of the State constitution unimpaired, and no legal act having transpired that could in any way deprive them of the advantages conferred by that constitution." They further requested him to direct the Military Governor to order an election on the first Monday of November following for all State and Federal ofBcers.^ To this committee, composed of E. E. Malhiot, Bradish Johnson and Thomas Cottman, Mr. Lincoln, under date of June 19, 1863, replied " that a respec- table portion of the Louisiana people desired to amend their State constitution, and contemplated holding a State conven- tion for that object. This fact alone, as it seems to me, is a sufficient reason why the General Government should not give the committal you seek to the existing State constitution. ' Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 589. ' N. & H., Vol. VIII. p. 420. 'Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 590; Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. II. p. 536. LOUISIANA 49 I may add that while I do not perceive how such committal could facilitate our military operations in Louisiana, I really apprehend it might be so used as to embarrass them." ^ It is evident, when we recall the letter of July 26, 1862, to Reverdy Johnson, that the President, then only contemplating emancipation, had, since his proclamation had gone forth, taken much more advanced ground.- The army was still his main reliance, and the wisdom of restoring a loyal govern- ment as well as the method of that restoration was regarded favorably or otherwise as it appeared to facilitate or em- barrass military operations. Relative to an election in November he said, " There is abundant time without any order or proclamation from me just now." Though their request was courteously denied, he assured the committee that the people of Louisiana should not lack an opportunity for a fair election for both Federal and State officers by want of anything within his power to give them.^ The political reorganization of the State was at this point interrupted by the absence at Port Hudson of General N, P. Banks, then in command of the Department of the Gulf. So energetic and successful was the Confederate General Taylor that by July 10, when he received intelligence of the fall of Port Hudson and the surrender of Vicksburg, his mounted scouts had been pushed to within sixteen miles of New Or- leans. ■* The surrender in these strongholds of more than 40,- 000 men was a crushing blow to the Richmond Government ; enough troops were disengaged by these victories to over- whelm the enemy that menaced New Orleans, and General Taylor hurriedly concentrated his army in the valley of the * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 356. ° Ibid., pp. 214-215. ' Ibid., p. 356. * Taylor's Destruction and Reconstruction, ch. x ; also the general his- tory of military operations in the Red River country. 50 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Red River to observe the movements of the Federal com- mander. The Union picket line marked at this time the bounds of Governor Shepley's civil jurisdiction; indeed, it was not greatly extended until the surrender of General E. Kirby Smith late in May, 1865, after the engagement at Brazos, Eastern Louisiana, with Alabama and Mississippi, had passed a few weeks earlier under Federal control. The great numbers withdrawn from production in the South combined with a rigorous enforcement of the blockade had occasioned a cotton famine in the markets of the world. To relieve this condition an outlet was sought for the abun- dant crops of the Red River country ; and this fact was prob- ably, not without considerable influence, in determining the course of the expedition into Texas, which was intended to accomplish a very different though scarcely less important purpose. Though the vigilance of Mr. Adams, United States Minis- ter to England, was rewarded by the abandonment in that country of any further attempt to build cruisers of the Ala- bama type, the Confederate naval agent by no means de- spaired of dealing still severer blows to the commerce of the North, and, attracted by promises which appear to have been authorized by the ruler of France, changed his field of activity from Liverpool to Bordeaux, where a ship-builder was engaged to construct two formidable rams. With the attempts to get these under the Confederate flag this essay is not concerned.^ French interests in Mexico appeared at that time to require the cultivation of friendly relations with what some European States believed was destined to be- come a new power among the nations of the world; hence Napoleon's encouragement to the Confederate representatives abroad. This situation was so seriously regarded by the ^ Bulloch's Secret Service o£ the Confederate States in Europe, Vol, II. chs, i and ii. LOUISIANA 51 Government at Washington that even at considerable sacri- fice it was determined to plant the Union flag somewhere in Texas. To effect this object General Banks had considered and submitted to the War Department plans of his own; these, however, appear to have been reluctantly abandoned be- cause of repeated instructions from General Halleck, and the movement toward Shreveport in the spring and early sum- mer of 1864 was begun. From the protracted and enven- omed controversy to which it gave rise among the officers on both sides its disastrous ending is familiar to all.^ While this joint land and naval expedition was yet in contemplation Mr. Lincoln found time to inform the Federal commander of his opinions respecting the establishment of a civil government in Louisiana. In his letter of August 5, 1863, to General Banks he wrote: While I very well know what I would be glad for Louisiana to do, it is quite a different thing for me to assume direction of the matter. I would be glad for her to make a new constitution recognizing the emancipation proclamation, and adopting emancipation in those parts of the State to which the proclamation does not apply. And while she is at it, I think it would not be objectionable for her to adopt some prac- tical system by which the two races could gradually live themselves out of the old relation to each other, and both come out better prepared for the new. Education for young blacks should be included in the plan. After all, the power or element of " contract " may be sufficient for this probationary period; and, by its simplicity and flexibility, may be the better. As an anti-slavery man, I have a motive to desire emancipation which pro-slavery men do not have ; but even they have strong enough reason to thus place themselves again under the shield of the Union ; and to thus perpetually hedge against the recurrence of the scenes through which we are now passing. He expressed his approval of the registry which he sup- posed Mr. Durant was making with a view to an election for a constitutional convention, the work of which, he hoped, 'N. & H.. Vol. VIII. pp. 285-286; Conduct of the War, Vol. II. pp. 1-401 (passim). 52 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION would reach Washington by the meeting of Congress in December. Before concluding this letter he added : " For my own part, I think I shall not, in any event, retract the emancipation proclamation; nor, as executive, ever return to slavery any person who is freed by the terms of that proc- lamation, or by any of the acts of Congress." ^ He again invites attention to the fact that if Louisiana should send members to Congress their admission would depend upon the respective Houses and not to any extent upon the wishes of the Executive. Copies of this communication he intended to send to Hahn, Flanders and Durant. Three months later, when the gentle- man last named informed him that nothing had yet been done toward the enrollment, Mr. Lincoln wrote immediately to General Banks a letter which at once reveals both the extent of his interest in this subject and his extreme disap- pointment on learning that his wishes had been but little regarded. Flanders, then in Washington, confirmed the ac- count of Durant. " This disappoints me bitterly," said the letter of November 5, 1863, and though the President did not blame either General Banks or the Louisiana leaders for this apparent neglect he urged them " to lose no more time." "I wish him [General Shepley], ..." continued the letter, " without waiting for more territory, to go to work and give me a tangible nucleus which the remainder of the State may rally around as fast as it can, and which I can at once recognize and sustain as the true State government. And in that work I wish you and all under your command to give them a hearty sympathy and support. " The instruction to Governor Shepley bases the move- ment (and rightfully, too) upon the loyal element. Time is important. There is danger, even now, that the adverse element seeks insidiously to preoccupy the ground. If a few * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. II. p. 380. LOUISIANA 53 professedly loyal men shall draw the disloyal about them, and colorably set up a State government, repudiating the Emanci- pation Proclamation and reestablishing slavery, I cannot recognize or sustain their work. I should fall powerless in the attempt. This Government in such an attitude would be a house divided against itself. " I have said, and say again, that if a new State govern- ment, acting in harmony with this government, and con- sistently with general freedom, shall think best to adopt a reasonable temporary arrangement in relation to the landless and homeless freed people, I do not object; but my word is out to be for and not against them on any question of their permanent freedom. I do not insist upon such temporary ar- rangement, but only say such would not be objectionable to me."^ It should be remembered that Thomas J. Durant, who was authorized to make the enrollment as well as to appoint " registers " to assist him, was spokesman of the wealthy and influential class of planters, or the conservative element whose interests opposed any disturbance of existing conditions. He appears to have drawn for the President a somewhat gloomy picture of the political situation in Louisiana, and finally to have protested against the government organized by the ad- verse party. The outlook there, however, was not so dis- couraging as represented; for as early as October 9 Gov- ernor Shepley had renewed his order for the registration, modifying the former one so far as to include "all loyal citizens." Interest was somewhat quickened by the announcement of certain conservative leaders of an intention to hold a volun- tary election in conformity with the old constitution and laws of the State. On October 27, 1863, an address signed by the president and vice-president of the Central Executive Com- ^ Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 436. 54 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION mittee was published in the papers of New Orleans. This appeal, directed to the loyal citizens of Louisiana, begins: The want of civil government in our State can, by a proper effort on your part, soon be supplied, under laws and a constitution formed and adopted by yourselves in a time of profound peace. It is made your duty, as well as your right, to meet at the usual places, and cast your votes for State and parish officers, members of Congress, and of the State Legis- lature. The day, as fixed by our laws, is Monday, the 2d day of November next, 1863. There is nothing [proceeds the address] to prevent your meeting on the day fixed by law, and selecting your agents to carry on the affairs of government in our own State. The military will not inter- fere with you in the exercise of your civil rights and duties, and we think we can assure you that your action in this respect will meet the approval of the National Government. The failure of those citizens addressed to exercise their rights, it was asserted, would subject " the country " to the danger of being thrown as " vacated " territory into the hands of Congress.^ The Free State Committee having been invited to cooper- ate, a correspondence ensued between the rival organizations ; but, on the ground that this movement was both illegal and unjust, the Free State men declined to participate in the elec- tion. In their reply the latter assert that " There is no law in existence, as stated by you [The Executive Central Com- mittee], directing elections to be held on the first Monday of November. " The constitution of 1852, as amended by the convention of 1 86 1, was overthrown and destroyed by the rebellion of the people of Louisiana, and the subsequent conquest by the arms of the United States does not restore your political institutions." ^ The reply then proceeds to discuss the injustice of the ^ Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 591. *Ibid. II LOUISIANA 55 movement, and upon this subject its reasoning is entitled to more respect. As to the status of the constitution of 1852, it is not easy to comprehend how the secession convention, a body universally regarded as revolutionary, could amend, in the manner attempted, the fundamental law, seeing that this revolution was not yet crowned with success. Though no general election was held in response to this address, voting took place in two parishes, and certain persons were chosen as Representatives in Congress. Before giving an account of this election of November 2, 1863, it may be proper to notice a petition submitted by the free colored people of New Orleans to Governor Shepley praying to be registered as voters so that they could " assist in establishing in the new Convention a Civil Government " for their " beloved State of Louisiana." This address, prepared at a meeting on No- vember 5, and not without ability, recites in appropriate lan- guage the services rendered by free colored men to both the Nation and the State. It is sufficient to observe here that their prayer was not granted. The paper itself will be con- sidered in discussing the successive steps which led to the complete enfranchisement of the race.^ The preceding chapter has noticed President Lincoln's Amnesty Proclamation of December 8 as well as that part of the accompanying message to Congress discussing his plan for restoring Union governments in the insurgent States. The House had not completed its organization for the Thirty-eighth Congress when Thaddeus Stevens, a Represent- ative from Pennsylvania, either from curiosity or an anxiety to oppose, as he conceived, the policy of the President, in- quired what names had been omitted in the call of members. At a later stage of its first meeting, December 7, 1863, he again referred to this subject by asking to have read the cre- dentials of persons claiming to be Representatives " from the ' Ann. Cycl., 1863, pp. 591-592. 56 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION so-called State of Louisiana." The acting clerk facetiously promised compliance, and read a certificate signed by Mr. John Leonard Riddell naming A. P. Field, Thomas Cottman and Joshua Baker as persons elected to represent respectively the First, Second and Fifth Congressional Districts of the State.i On a resolution " That A. P. Field is not entitled to a seat in this House from the State of Louisiana," reported January 29, 1864, from the Committee of Elections, his right to ad- mission was fully discussed. Under the apportionment of 1850 that State sent four, and by the census of i860 became entitled to five, Representatives. By an act of Congress approved July 14, 1862, each State entitled to more than one member in the lower House was to be divided into as many districts as it had been allotted Representatives. But, said Chairman Dawes, as Louisiana had never been so divided no person in that State had been chosen according to Federal law. The election under which Mr. Field claimed a seat occurred in the old First Congressional District, which, with a great portion of the city of New Orleans, included two adjacent parishes, Placquemines and St. Bernard. On No- vember I, General Shepley issued a military order forbidding the election, and none was held in New Orleans. In the two outlying parishes, however, under the auspices of a citizens' committee,' to which returns were made, a few voters ap- peared at the polls. In the parish of St. Bernard, the only locality in which the House had any proof that electors par- ticipated, Mr. Field received one hundred and fifty-six votes, and though no evidence in support of his statement had been offered, about the same number, he alleged, had been cast for him in Placquemines. The question was, proceeded Mr. Dawes, whether a gentle- "" Globe, Part I., i Sess. 38th Cong., pp. 5-6. LOUISIANA 57 man with this constituency could be in any sense considered as having been elected. There were in his district over lo,- ooo qualified voters, and of these the claimant received the support of only one hundred and fifty-six; hence nearly ten thousand electors expressed no opinion, armed interference having prevented 9,844 of them from indicating a preference. There was no evidence that this majority acquiesced in what was done by one hundred and fifty-six men in a corner of St. Bernard parish where an election was permitted. If no other objection existed, the State had not been districted as re- quired by the Act of July, 1862; this consideration of itself appeared to the Committee a reason sufficient for his exclu- sion. Further, his certificate was signed by one John Leonard Riddell, himself chosen Governor at the same time and in the same parishes. His term, according to the laws of Louisi- ana, did not commence till January i, 1864, and it was not easy to comprehend how he came to regard himself as Execu- tive of the State on November 20, 1863, when he signed the certificate presented by the claimant. Mr. Riddell, indeed, had not then been inaugurated. Had not Congress failed to divide the State, the suppres- sion of this election would have been without justification and have deserved the condemnation of the House. It, how- ever, did not conform to the laws of Louisiana, for the votes were not cast nor were they counted or canvassed as pre- scribed thereby. This, in substance, was the argument of Mr. Dawes. By other members attention was invited to the fact that under the same laws and conditions an election had been held in Louisiana a year before, and in consequence two Representatives admitted. To this observation Mr. Stevens replied that Hahn and Flanders, the members referred to, had been seated by the power of the House without, as he then supposed, any law or right. Henry Winter Davis alone 58 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION among all who spoke on the question approved the action of the Military Governor on the ground that there was no legal right to hold an election, and the attempt of any number of persons to do so was an usurpation of sovereign authority which was properly prevented. Other Representatives, how- ever, strongly condemned this act of Governor Shepley and at least one desired the House to express as an amendment to the resolution its disapproval of his conduct. Though not the question in debate, there could be no mistaking upon this point the sentiments of a majority of the members. Mr. Field, permitted to address the House, observed that it was the fault of the General Government that Union men in Louisiana had not been aided by the previous administra- tion. If they had been, the blood of Illinois and Massachu- setts patriots would not have sprinkled the soil of his State. To show that some sort of government existed there he caused the clerk to read a list of one hundred and twenty-five officers acting in those parishes included within Federal military lines, and added that though New Orleans since its capture paid annually in taxes, collected through Governor Shepley, two and a half million dollars, besides a considerable sum in internal revenue, her people were represented neither in the local nor the national Government. The constitution of Louisiana, he said, required that quali- fied electors should be white males who had attained the age of twenty-one years, and been residents of the State for twelve months immediately preceding the election. The pro- vision was so modified by Governor Shepley that persons of this description were allowed to vote after a residence of six months. Mr. Field did not know whence was derived the authority to amend constitutions. To secure his cooperation in establishing a loyal govern- ment Union men met as early as September 19 in conven- tion at New Orleans, and appointed a committee of nine to LOUISIANA 59 present an address to the Military Governor inviting his assistance. He decHned, however, after a lengthy interview to order an election for Representatives until the State had first been divided. In fact, until instructions which he had requested, were received from Washington he refused to order any election whatever, though he volunteered to forward to Mr. Lincoln any communication which they desired to address him on that subject. Besides its correspondence with Gov- ernor Shepley, the New Orleans convention on September 21 had sent a letter to General Banks, the Department com- mander, to secure if possible his approval of their movement. Notice, dated October 20, was given that an election would be held, November 2, at the usual places in the parish of St. Bernard, and the State and Federal offices to be filled, as well as the precise places at which voters could cast their ballots, were mentioned. Since the military authorities had refused to assist them, and had then issued no order against an election, loyal men thought it not improper to express their opinions at the polls. As the Free State people con- sidered Louisiana out of the Union they declined to partici- pate, and though General Banks in obedience to instructions from the President had subsequently ordered an election they maintained the same attitude. The claimant's party did not oppose this order; for if unable to restore their State in the manner most acceptable they were willing to cooperate in any method likely to accomplish that object. Precisely what number of voters would be called a con- stituency Mr. Field had not been informed. In the portion of his Congressional District included in St. Bernard and Placquemines parishes there were only 2,400 electors, and the President's plan required only one tenth of the number of votes cast in i860. Though the election of November 2 pre- ceded the Executive proclamation, that fact should not m.ake it void. The electors in New Orleans were not free to ex- 6o LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION press a choice, and even if it had been otherwise the vote in the First District must have been greatly diminished since i860, for he was assured by two paymasters that 7,000 men had been recruited there for the Union army. Some members admitted that the national Government had not given sufficient protection to Union men in Louisiana, and therefore should not now take advantage of that neglect to also deprive them of representation in Congress. These be- lieved that if Mr. Field had received a majority of the votes in his district any informality in the election should be over- looked, for the right to representation in Congress grows out of the Constitution, and regulations governing such elections are matters of mere convenience. The fact that no State organization existed there did not create a legal impedi- ment, and it was no objection that Louisiana had not been re- districted, for the additional member was not imposed as a burden but as a right which she was free to exercise or not; besides^ the greater representation includes the less. Notwithstanding these considerations, and strong, though not universal, testimony to the claimant's loyalty, he was denied admission, February 9, 1864, by a vote of 85 to 48.^ His case, however, was not exactly similar to that of Messrs. Hahn and Flanders, as stated by one Representative, for they had received, in the circumstances, a comparatively large vote. To this end came the movement of the planters designed primarily to counteract that inaugurated by the Free State Committee, which also, as we shall see, was soon at variance with the military authorities. Important changes had oc- curred in the shifting politics of his State before the House had taken final action in the case of Mr. Field; these will be briefly related. Military necessity had led the President to issue, Decem- * Globe, Part I., i Sess. 38th Cong., pp. 411-415, 543-547- LOUISIANA 61 ber 8, 1863, his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction proposing, though not rigidly insisting upon, a plan for rein- augurating State governments wherever there existed such a loyal nucleus as could effectively assist in overthrowing the rebellion. In discussing the affairs of Tennessee that plan has been quoted at such length as to require no further men- tion in this place.^ General Banks on January 8, 1864, announced his intention of ordering an election of State officers. He was urged at this point by the Free State Committee to allow their election to go on, but he refused to yield even under pressure of an immense public meeting favorable to their object.^ Without his cooperation their plan was doomed to failure, and when entreaties did not avail to move him they promptly inveighed against his methods and his motives in the columns of The National Intelligencer at Washington. In a letter dated New Orleans, January 9, 1864, a correspondent writes: President Lincoln has started a Missouri case in Louisiana, and has made Banks our master; and Banks is another Schofield, only worse than he. Our mass meeting last evening was a complete success ; but its object will be defeated by Banks, who, under orders direct from the President, declares his purpose to order an election for a convention; thus playing into the hands of Cottman, Riddle, and Fields, and their crew. The Union men — the true Union men — are thunderstruck by the course of the President in this matter. We were not informed of the President's orders to General Banks until the hour of the meeting last night, and the meeting was not in- formed at all. General Shepley, who is generally liked, and who has done all he could to promote the free State cause, and to organize a free State government, will resign, and the election ordered by Banks will be purely at military dictation, and will be so regarded. The correspondent does not know the secret springs of all these acts of the President, but thinks he has probably been deceived by base and interested men. " Banks," he believes, * See pp. 24-28 ante. ' Ann. Cycl., 1863, pp. 592-593- 62 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION "has the unchanged contidence of Mr. Lincohi." The writer concludes by asking whether it is not possible to get the Pres- ident to countermand his orders to Banks immediately, " and let the people manage matters as they have beg-un to do? " ^ To prove that no line of policy would be acceptable to the Free State Committee ^Ir. Field, in his remarks before the House, read in full the communication from which these excerpts are taken. To comprehend clearly the nature of the controversy which so suddenly arose between the Free State General Commit- tee and the Federal commander in Louisiana it may be neces- sary to explain with some detail the precise attitude of that organization relative to the question at issue between the adverse parties. In discussing the respective merits of the State constitutions of 1S52 and 1S61 the organ of the Free State men says : The question is altogether immaterial : for. in the conflict of arms incident to this rebellion, the predominant ideas of the good people of Louisiana have far preceded either constitution ; and to reorganize now the State on the slave basis, which botli constitutions and tlie laws passed under them recognized, has become an utter impossibility. Free soil and free speech have grown up into absolute necessities, directly resulting from the war, which has converted into dust and ashes all the constitu- tions which Louisiana has ever made, embodying the ideas of property in our fellow-man. and all the baneful results of this system of African slavery-. The present war is nothing but the conflict of the ideas of slavery- and liberty. . . . We cannot have peace until public opinion is brought quite up to this point. We cannot reorganize the civil govern- ment of our city, and still less that of our State, and get rid of the fear- ful incubus of martial law now pressing down our energies by its arbi- trary- influence, unless we believe, give utterance to and establish the fun- damental principle of our national government : '' all men are created free and equal." We know of no better way to effect this than by calling a convention as soon as possible, to declare the simple fact that Louisi- ana now is and will forever be a free State.' * Globe. Part I., i Sess. 3Sth Cong., p. 543. *Ann. Cycl., 1S63, p. 590. LOUISIANA 63 The party favoring this method insisted that in August, 1863, when General Shepley was in Washington, their plan in all its parts was adopted in a Cabinet meeting, and that a special order issued from the War Department directing the Military Governor to carry it into execution. The movement for reorganizing the State would thus be placed under control of the steadfast opponents of slavery. They further claimed that Mr. Lincoln then preferred the calling of a convention to an election of State officers under the old constitution. His letter of August 5, 1863, to General Banks certainly leaves no doubt as to his sentiments at that time, for he expressed his approval of the enrollment being taken by Du- rant with a view to an election for a constitutional convention, the mature work of which, he thought, should reach Wash- ington by the meeting of Congress. The impossibility of so expediting registration outside of New Orleans as to be ready for an election at that early date was explained to the Presi- dent by the Free State Committee. Mr. B. F. Flanders returning from Washington in October, 1863, reported the President as saying, in reply to an objec- tion that enough territory and population were not under pro- tection of the Union army to justify an election, that so great was the necessity for immediate action that he would recognize and sustain a State government organized by any part of the population of which the National forces then had control, and that he wished Flanders on his return to Louisiana to say so.^ The registration under Governor Shepley, though fre- quently interrupted, had proceeded, and the Free State Com- mittee, to insure the success of their object, conferred with him for the purpose of holding, about January 25, 1864, an election for delegates to a State convention which, as already ' Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 591. 64 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION observed, intended to frame a new constitution abolishing slavery everywhere throughout the State. The announce- ment, then, on January 8, 1864, by General Banks of his in- tention to order an election of State officers under the old constitution was regarded by them as a decision for their adversaries. Their objections to the proclamation itself will be noticed in the proper place. It provided not only for an election of State officers on February 22 following, but also for the choice of delegates to a convention to be held in April for a revision of the constitution. The paramount objection of the Free State men was that the election of State officers would, under the course of General Banks, precede that for delegates to the convention, the point at which they desired to begin the work of reestablishing a civil government for the State. To Thomas Cottman, who accompanied Mr. Field to Washington claiming a seat in Congress as Representative from the Second Louisiana District, Mr. Lincoln, on Decem- ber 15, wrote: You were so kind as to say this morning that you desire to return to Louisiana, and to be guided by my wishes, to some extent, in the part you may take in bringing that State to resume her rightful relation to the General Government. My wishes are in a general way expressed, as well as I can express them, in the proclamation issued on the eighth of the present month, and in that part of the annual message which relates to that proclamation. It there appears that I deem the sustaining of the Emancipation Procla- mation, where it applies, as indispensable ; and I add here that I would esteem it fortunate if the people of Louisiana should themselves place the remainder of the State upon the same footing.^ Though this letter expressed as one of Mr. Lincoln's strongest wishes a hope that all Union men in Louisiana would " eschew cliquism," he was destined to be disappointed, for at this very time letters from General Banks, dated De- cember 6 and 16, informed him that Governor Shepley, Mr. * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL pp. 458-459. LOUISIANA 6s Durant and others had given him to understand that they were charged exclusively with the work of reconstruction in Louisiana and hence he had not felt authorized to interfere. Other officers had set up claims to jurisdiction conflicting and interfering with his own powers of military administra- tion. Annoyed that a misunderstanding was delaying work which he had been urging for a year, the President, on the 24th of December, wrote General Banks as follows : I have all the while intended you to be master, as well in regard to reorganizing a State government for Louisiana, as in regard to the mili- tary matters of the department; and hence my letters on reconstruc- tion have nearly, if not quite, all been addressed to you. My error has ' been that it did not occur to me that Governor Shepley or any one else would set up a claim to act independently of you ; and hence I said noth- ing expressly upon the point. Language has not been guarded at a point where no danger was thought of. I now tell you that in every dispute with whomsoever, you are master. Governor Shepley was appointed to assist the commander of the de- partment, and not to thwart him or act independently of him. Instruc- tions have been given directly to him, merely to spare you detail labor, and not to supersede your authority. This, in its liability to be miscon- strued, it now seems was an error in us. But it is past. I now distinctly tell you that you are master of all, and that I wish you to take the case as you find it, and give us a free State reorganization of Louisiana in the shortest possible time. What I say here is to have a reasonable con- struction. I do not mean that you are to withdraw from Texas, or abandon any other military measure which you may deem important. Nor do I mean that you are to throw away available work already done for reconstruction ; nor that war is to be made upon Governor Shepley, or upon any one else, unless it be found that they will not cooperate with you, in which case, and in all cases, you are master while you remain in command of the department.* This letter making General Banks " master " of the situ- ation in Louisiana the President concluded by thanking him for his successful and valuable operations in Texas. But before receiving this extensive authority and the undoubted assurance of Mr. Lincoln's confidence the commander, on * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL pp. 465-466. 66 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION December 30, submitted to the President a plan of reconstruc- tion based upon the Proclamation and the Message of the 8th of that month. For evident reasons this communica- tion deserves to be reproduced almost entire : I would suggest [says General Banks], as the only speedy and certain method of accomplishing your object, that an election be ordered, of a State government, under the constitution and laws of Louisiana, except so much thereof as recognizes and relates to slavery, which should be declared by the authority calling the election, and in the order authoriz- ing it, inoperative and void. The registration of voters to be made in conformity with your Proclamation, and all measures hitherto taken with reference to State organization, not inconsistent with the Proclamation, may be made available. A convention of the people for the revision of the constitution may be ordered as soon as the government is organized, and the election of members might take place on the same or a subse- quent day with the general election. The people of Louisiana will ac- cept such a proposition with favor. They will prefer it to any arrange- ment which leaves the subject to them for an affirmative or negative vote. Strange as this may appear, it is the fact. Of course a government organized upon the basis of immediate and universal freedom, with the general consent of the people, followed by the adaptation of commercial and industrial interests to this order of things, and supported by the army and navy, the influence of the civil officers of the Government, and the Administration at Washington, could not fail by any possible chance to obtain an absolute and permanent recognition of the principle of freedom upon which it would be based. Any other result would be impossible. The same influence would secure with the same certainty the selection of proper men in the election of officers. Let me assure you that this course will be far more acceptable to the citizens of Louisiana than the submission of the question of slavery to the chances of an election. Their self-respect, their amour propre will be appeased if they are not required to vote for or against it. Oflfer them a government without slavery and they will gladly accept it as a necessity resulting from the war. On all other points, sufficient guaran- tees of right results can be secured ; but the great question, that of im- mediate emancipation, will be covered ab initio, by a conceded and abso- lute prohibition of slavery. Upon this plan a government can be established whenever you wish — in thirty or sixty days; a government that will be satisfactory to the South and the North ; to the South, because it relieves them from any action in regard to an institution which cannot be restored, and which they cannot condemn; and to the North, because it places the interests LOUISIANA 67 of liberty beyond all possible accident or chance of failure. The result is certain." ^ Upon receiving this communication the President, who cherished no plan of restoration to which exact conformity was indispensable, expressed, January 13, 1864, in a letter to General Banks his gratitude for the zeal and confidence mani- fested by him on the question of reinaugurating a free State government in Louisiana. He hoped, because of the authority contained in the letter of December 24, that the Department Commander had already commenced work. " Whether you shall have done so or not," continues the letter, " please, on receiving this, proceed with all possible despatch, using your own absolute discretion in all matters which may not carry you away from the conditions stated in your letters to me, nor from those of the message and proclamation of Decem- ber 8. Frame orders, and fix times and places for this and that, according to your own judgment." ^ This letter repeats the idea of subordination to General Banks of all officials in his department holding authority from the President, and stated that the bearer of the com- munication, Collector Dennison, of New Orleans, understood the views of the commander and was willing to assist in carrying them out. Before Mr. Dennison arrived in New Orleans, however, General Banks had already, in his proc- lamation of January 11, 1864, fixed a date for the election. This action was determined, said the Department Commander, upon ample assurance " that more than a tenth of the popula- tion desire the earliest possible restoration of Louisiana to the Union"; hence he invited "the loyal citizens of the State qualified to vote in public affairs ... to assemble in the election precincts designated by law, ... on the 22d of February, 1864, to cast their votes for the election of ' N. & H., Vol. VIII. pp. 428-430. ° Ibid., p. 469. 68 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION State officers herein named, vi::. Governor, Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney-General, Su- perintendent of Public Instruction and Auditor of Public Ac- counts — who shall, when elected, for the time being, and until others are appointed by competent authority, constitute the civil government of the State, under the constitution and laws of Louisiana, except so much of said constitution and laws as recognize, regulate or relate to slavery, which being inconsistent with the present condition of public affairs, and plainly inapplicable to any class of persons now existing within its limits, must be suspended, and they are therefore and hereby declared to be inoperative and void. This pro- ceeding is not intended to ignore the right of property exist- ing prior to the rebellion, nor to preclude the claim for com- pensation of loyal citizens for losses sustained by enlistment or other authorized acts of Government." ^ The qualifications of voters in this election were to be de- termined by the oath of allegiance prescribed by the Presi- dent's proclamation together with the condition annexed to the elective franchise by the constitution of Louisiana. Officers elected were to be duly installed on the 4th of March. So much of the registration effected under direction of Governor Shepley and the several Union Associations as was not inconsistent with the proclamation and other orders of the President was approved. The proclamation further announced that arrangements would be made for the early election of members of Congress for the State, and, that the organic law might be made to conform to the will of the people and harmonize with the spirit of the age, an election of dele- gates to a convention for the revision of the constitution would be held on the first Monday of April following. This proclamation declared, among other things, that * Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. 592. H LOUISIANA 69 The fundamental law of the State is martial law. . . . The Gov- ernment is subject to the law of necessity, and must consult the condi- tion of things, rather than the preferences of men, and if so be that its purposes are just and its measures wise, it has the right to demand that questions of personal interest and opinion shall be subordinate to the public good. When the national existence is at stake, and the liberties of the people in peril, faction is treason. The methods herein proposed submit the whole question of government directly to the people — first, by the election of executive officers, faithful to the Union, to be followed by a loyal representation in both Houses of Congress ; and then by a convention which will confirm the action of the people, and recognize the principles of freedom in the organic law. This is the wish of the President.^ On February 13, nine days before the election, General Banks issued an order relative to the qualifications of electors. It provided, in addition to the declarations on that subject in his proclamation, that Union voters expelled from their homes by the public enemy might cast their ballots for State ofiticers in the precincts where they temporarily resided and that quali- fied electors enlisted in the anny or navy could vote in those precincts in which they might be found on election day. If without the State, then commissioners would be appointed to receive their ballots wherever stationed, returns to be made to General Shepley.^ For governor three candidates were nominated — B. F. Flanders, a representative of the Free State Committee; Michael Hahn, the choice of those who approved the meas- ures of General Banks, and J. Q. A. Fellows, a pro-slavery conservative who favored " the Constitution and the Union with the preservation of the rights of all inviolate." The friends of Hahn would deny to persons of African descent the privileges of citizenship, whereas the supporters of Flanders generally would extend to them such rights and immunities.^ * Ann. Cycl., 1863, pp. 592-593- * Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 476. » Ibid. 70 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION On Washington's birthday, as announced in the proclama- tion of General Banks, an election was held in seventeen parishes, Hahn receiving 6,183, Fellows 2,996 and Flanders 2,232 votes, a total of 11,411, of which 107 were cast by Louisiana soldiers stationed at Pensacola, Florida.^ Writing February 25 to the President General Banks says : The election of the 226. of February was conducted with great spirit and propriety. No complaint is heard from any quarter, so far as I know, of unfairness or undue influence on the part of the officers of the Government. At some of the strictly military posts the entire vote of the Louisiana men was for Mr. Flanders, at others for Mr. Hahn, ac- cording to the inclination of the voters. Every voter accepted the oath prescribed by your proclamation of the 8th of December. . . . The ordinary vote of the State has been less than forty thousand. The pro- portion given on the 226. of February is nearly equal to the territory covered by our arms.^ The friends of the Free State General Committee in a pro- test pronounced the result of the election " the registration of a military edict," and " worthy of no respect from the representatives and Executive of the nation." To the ques- tion whether this election had in the meaning of the Presi- dent reestablished a State government they promptly an- swered in the negative, for the commanding general recog- nized the Louisiana constitution of 1852 and ordered an elec- tion under it in which the votes of the people had nothing to do with reestablishing government; his proclamation, by recognizing the existence of the old constitution, made the reestablishment beforehand for them. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, together with the other executive offi- cers chosen, did not, they argued, constitute a State govern- ment; for all the constitutions of Louisiana, including that of 1852, described the government as consisting of three de- partments : executive, legislative and judicial. ^ Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 476. ' N. & H., Vol. VIII. pp. 432-433- I LOUISIANA 71 Though not avowed, the reason of Banks' failure to order an election for members of the Legislature was plain, for there was not, they claimed, within the Union lines a suffi- cient number of parishes to elect a majority of that body, and less than a majority was, by the constitution, not a quorum to do business; so that no officer elected could be legally paid, for that could be done by only a legal appropriation. The same constitution, they said further, provided that Justices of the Supreme and District Courts, as well as justices of the peace, should be elected by the people. The present incum- bents had been simply appointed by General Shepley. Should Mr. Hahn under pretence of being civil governor undertake to appoint judicial officers, the act would be a mere usurpation. Not only, they declared, had no State government been established by this election, but still further, the proclama- tion of the President had not in the matter of electors been complied with; for Article XII. of the constitution of 1852 says : " No soldier, seaman, or marine in the army or navy of the United States . . . shall be entitled to vote at any election in this State." Yet, continued the protestants, it was a notorious fact that the general commanding per- mitted soldiers recruited in Louisiana, and otherwise quali- fied, to vote, and that many availed themselves of the privilege. Again, they went on to say, the Legislature by act of March 20, 1856, provided for the appointment in New Orleans of a register of voters whose office should be closed three days before an election, and no one registered during that period. Now prior to the late election, the register having closed his office according to law, orders were at once given to two other officers, recorders of the city, who had no such powers or functions by law, to register voters, which they did night and day, and persons so registered were allowed to vote. Referring to the declared intention of General Banks to order an election of delegates to a constitutional conven- 72 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION tion, and by a subsequent order fix the basis of representa- tion, the number of delegates and the details of the elec- tion, they said : " This will put the whole matter under mili- tary control, and the experience of the last election shows that only such a convention can be had as the overshadowing in- fluence of the military authority will permit. Under an elec- tion thus ordered, and a constitution thus established, a re- publican form of government cannot be formed. It is simply a fraud to call it the reestablishment of a State government In these circumstances, the only course left to the truly loyal citizens of Louisiana is, to protest against the recognition of this pretended Government, and to appeal to the calm judgment of the nation to procure such action from Congress as will forbid military commanders to usurp the powers which belong to Congress alone, or to the loyal people of Louisiana." ^ But neither the protest nor the criticism of Free State men availed to arrest the march of events, and in the presence of a vast multitude Michael Hahn, who had received a ma- jority of all the votes cast, was inaugurated Governor amidst great enthusiasm on March 4. To the oath prescribed in the amnesty and reconstruction proclamation of December 8, 1863, given above, was added the following: And I do further solemnly swear, that I am qualified according to the constitution of the State to hold the office to which I have been elected, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as Governor of the State of Louisiana, according to the best of my abilities and imderstanding, agreeably to the Consti- tution and Laws of the United States, and in support of and according to the constitution and laws of this State, so far as they are consistent with the necessary military occupation of the State by the troops of the United States for the suppression of the rebellion, and the full restora- tion of the authority of the United States.* ' Ann. Cycl., 1863, pp. 593-594- * Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 477. 4 LOUISIANA 73 This language clearly indicates the legal theory upon which General Banks was proceeding, and citizens understood that Mr. Hahn represented a popular power entirely subordinate to the armed occupation of the State. On March 13, 1864, the President wrote the following private letter to Governor Hahn : I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first free-state governor of Louisiana. Now you are about to have a conven- tion, which, among other things, will probably define the elective fran- chise. I barely suggest for your private consideration whether some of the colored people may not be let in — as, for instance, the very intelli- gent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone.^ Speaking of this personal note Mr. Blaine says : " It was perhaps the earliest proposition from any authentic source to endow the negro with the right of suffrage, and was an indirect but most effective answer to those who subsequently attempted to use Mr. Lincoln's name in support of policies which his intimate friends instinctively knew would be ab- horrent to his unerring sense of justice."^ At the suggestion of General Banks, the President two days later invested Mr. Hahn until further order " with the pow- ers exercised hitherto by the military governor of Louisi- ana." ^ From the sentiments of the Free State party it requires little insight into human affairs to foretell that in some manner they would soon be found in opposition. Their can- didate, Mr. B. F. Flanders, who received fewer votes than either of his competitors, was a prominent official in the Treasury Department, and from this vantage ground, with- * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 496. " Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. IL p. 40. • Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 498. 74 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION out, so far as appears, rebuke from Secretary Chase, began to stir up in Congress a feeling of hostility to the new govern- ment in Louisiana. Precisely why Mr. Lincoln decided to take into his own hands the entire subject of reconstruction may be collected without difficulty from what has already been said; but that this determination was confirmed by his knowledge of an alliance between the Free State leaders and the " Radicals " in Congress there can be little doubt. The Department Commander in a general order gave no- tice on March 1 1 that an election would be held on the 28th of that month for the choice of delegates to a State convention to meet in New Orleans " for the revision and amendment of the constitution of Louisiana," ^ Five days later, March 16, Governor Hahn, in a proclamation to the sheriffs and other officers concerned, authorized the election and commanded them to give due notice thereof to the qualified voters of the State and to make prompt returns to the Secretary of State in New Orleans.^ Pursuant to these notices the election was held on the 28th, and resulted in the choice of ninety-seven members, two of whom were rejected because of irregular returns. The entire State was entitled to 150 delegates. The parish of Orleans was represented by sixty-three members, leaving to the country parishes but thirty-two. Of the vote, which was ex- ceedingly light, no return appears to have been published. Because of their recent defeat no nominations were made by the Radicals, and this fact, together with heavy rains on elec- tion day, was assigned by Governor Hahn in a letter to the President as an explanation of the meagre vote. The Parish of Ascension, which in i860 had a population of 3,940 whites, elected her delegates by 61 votes; Placquemines, which by the same census had 2,529 white inhabitants, cast 246, while the ' Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 478. •Ibid. LOUISIANA 75 single delegate from Madison was cliosen by only twenty-eight electors.^ General Banks informed a committee of Congress that all that section of the State as far up as Point Coupee voted; some men from the Red River cast their ballots at Vidalia. In his statement he declared that " The city of New Orleans is really the State of Louisiana"; yet at that time it contained less than half the population of the State.^ The constitutional convention, which assembled April 6, 1864, was organized on the 7th with E. H. Durell as presi- dent, and after a session of more than two and a half months adjourned July 25. A proclamation of the Governor ap- pointed the 5th of September as the time for taking a vote on the work of the convention. The result was 6,836 for the adoption, and 1,556 for the rejection of the constitution. Besides these there were a number of electors who did not vote on either side of the question.^ Of the work of the convention General Banks spoke as follows : In a State which held 331,726 slaves, one half of its entire population in i860, more than three fourths of whom had been specially excepted from the Proclamation of Emancipation, and were still held de jure in bondage, the convention declared by a majority of all the votes to which the State would have been entitled if every delegate had been present from every district in the State : — Instantaneous, universal, uncompensated, unconditional emancipation of slaves ! It prohibited forever the recognition of property in man ! It decreed the education of all the children, without distinction of race or color ! It directs all men, white or black, to be enrolled as soldiers for the public defence ! It makes all men equal before the law ! It compels, by its regenerating spirit, the ultimate recognition of all the rights which national authority can confer upon an oppressed race ! ^ Ann. Cycl., 1864, pp. 478-479. ' Ibid. ' Ibid., p. 479- 76 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION It wisely recognizes for the first time in constitutional history, the in- terest of daily labor as an element of power entitled to the protection of the State.' At the same election, that of September 5, the following persons were chosen Representatives in Congress : M. F. Bonzano, A. P. Field, W. D. Mann, T. M. Wells and R. W. Taliaferro. A Legislature was elected at the same time, the members of which were almost entirely in favor of a free State, and by this body seven electors of President and Vice- President were appointed. On October loth two United States Senators were elected — R. King Cutler for the unex- pired term ending March 4, 1867, and Charles Smith for the vacancy created by the resignation of Judah P. Benjamin, and ending March 4, 1865.* It is matter of familiar history that the State government thus organized was never recognized by Congress. The ques- tion was presented to that body December 5, 1864, at the opening of the second session of the Thirty-eighth Congress, when the claimants above named appeared in Washington applying for admission to seats, and again in January and February, 1865, upon consideration of a joint resolution de- claring certain States not entitled to representation in the Electoral College. As in the case of Tennessee, however, the vote offered by Louisiana was not counted. The agency of the President in setting up this civil govern- ment, and the successive steps in its accomplishment have been related with some degree of minuteness, so that the nature of the controversy between the Executive and the Legislative branches of the Government may be better understood. Whether Mr. Lincoln exceeded his constitutional authority will be considered when an account has been presented of the result of his efforts to restore civil government in the States where Federal authority had been overthrown. ' Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 479. ^ Ibid. i Ill ARKANSAS THE people of northern Arkansas were strongly at- tached to the Union, and until December 20, i860, when a commissioner from Alabama addressed its Legislature, no secession movement took place within the State. Her geographical position classed her with the Western, her productions bound up her interests with the Southern, States.^ As late as January 5, 1861, resolutions opposing separate ac- tion were adopted almost unanimously by the largest meeting ever held at Van Buren. Mr. Lincoln's election was not then deemed a sufficient cause to dissolve the Union. Citizens of every party favored all honorable efforts for its preservation, and demonstrations to the contrary were regarded as the work of only an extreme and inconsiderable faction.^ So rapid, however, was the succession of events that scarcely two weeks had elapsed when she exhibited signs of resting uneasily in the Union; for on January 16 a bill submitting to popular vote the question of holding a convention passed the Legisla- ture.^ At the election of delegates to this assembly 23,626 votes were cast for the Union, against 17,927 for the secession, candidates. Though this convention, which assembled March 4, was organized by the choice of Union officers, the proposal to hold it had been carried by a majority of 1 1,586 in the elec- tion of February 18. While secession was strongly urged, a ^ Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 22. * Ibid. ' McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 4. 77 yS LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION conditional ordinance was defeated by a vote of 39 to 35.^ At Van Buren and Fort Smith salutes of thirty-nine guns were fired in honor of the loyal members. The inaugural of President Lincoln, received two days ^fter organizing, pro- duced a somewhat unfavorable impression. On the 17th an ordinance, reported by a self -constituted committee of seven secessionists and seven cooperationists, was unanimously adopted.^ This provided for an election on the first Monday of August, when the qualified voters in the State could cast their ballots either for "secession" or "/cooperation." The result, though not wholly satisfactory to either party, afforded time for deliberation. Tidings of the fall of Sumter, together with the President's proclamation and a requisition for troops from the Secretary of War, interrupted the brief interval of repose following the adjournment of the convention. In these circumstances the State was compelled to make a choice of sides. Governor Rector's reply, April 22, to this requisition shows him to have been ardently in favor of disunion; the president of the con- vention, concurring in this sentiment, issued a call for that body to reassemble May 6, when an ordinance of secession was promptly passed with but one dissenting vote. * By a resolution the convention authorized the Governor to call out, if necessary, 60,000 men, and ordered the issue of $2,000,000 in bonds. Another ordinance confiscated debts due to persons in non-slaveholding States.'* The first military movement, after the ordinance of seces- sion had been carried, aimed to secure Federal property within the State, and their value to the South singled out for seizure the arsenals at Fort Smith and Little Rock. The latter city * Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 22. ' Ibid. * Ibid., p. 23. * Ibid., pp. 23-24. ARKANSAS 79 on February 5 was thrown into a great turmoil of confusion and excitement by the unexpected arrival of a body of troops from Helena with the avowed purpose of taking the arsenal ; more soldiers arrived during that and the succeeding day until about 400 had assembled. Though the Governor, in response to their inquiry, informed the city council that this force was not there by his order, the troops believed they were acting under his command; at any rate they came to take the arsenal and were not to be diverted from their object. To prevent a collision, which must have followed a refusal of the command- ing officer to surrender to a body of men disavowed by their Governor, the latter was easily persuaded to assume the re- sponsibility of the movement and he consented to demand its surrender in the name of the State. This demand Captain Totten asked until three o'clock the next day to consider; then he made known his readiness to evacuate the arsenal, which about noon of the following day was delivered to the State authorities.^ The delegates of Arkansas on May 18 took their seats in the Confederate Congress.^ The convention, it will be ob- served, assumed at the outset the functions of a law-making body, and, because of further extending its authority by the appointment of a Military Board, soon came into conflict with both the Governor and the Legislature. When the conven- tion empowered the former to call out, if necessary, 60,000 men it divided the State into two districts, an eastern and a western. General Bradley was elected to the command of the former and General Pearce, late of the United States Army, to that of the latter division. Before General McCulloch, stationed in the Indian Territory, could assume any offensive operations the Federal General, Lyon, in pursuit of Jackson, approached the southern boundary of Missouri; upon this * Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 2X » Ibid. 8o LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION the Military Board called out ten regiments for defence. On June 21 it despatched to Richmond a messenger who proposed to transfer tO' the Confederate Government all the State troops with their arms making, however, a condition prece- dent : they were to be employed for the protection of Arkan- sas; but as the Secretary of State could make no promise as to their future disposition the transfer was not then effected.* On July 4 a second effort was made by a member of the Mili- tary Board who visited General Hardee, with whom an ar- rangement was completed by which a vote should be taken among the troops. If a majority of each company consented, those so consenting were to be turned over as a company. If a majority declined, the company was to be disbanded alto- gether. One entire company was thus mustered out, and from various motives two or three hundred soldiers returned home. This was from the eastern division. The western was not so easily disposed of. The Military Board after the battle of Springfield directed General Pearce to turn over his force to Hardee, who became angry when the agent proposed to submit the question of transfer, and refused to allow it to be done; this insubordinate conduct he followed up by writing an abusive letter to the Board. Pearce then separated his troops from McCulloch's command and marched them back to Arkansas, where they were informally disbanded and sent home. Fearing such a result, the Board had ordered General Pearce to do nothing further in the matter, but their de- spatches arrived too late.^ Governor Rector's account shows Arkansas troops, claimed to be 22,000 in number, to have been at that time in a state of complete demoralization.^ The Germans and the Irish, as well as their descendants, showing little inclination to enlist, * Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 24. ' Ibid. • Ibid. ARKANSAS 8i the Governor ascribed their indifference to a want of oppor- tunity for promotion in the service. If this was not the cause, then, he thought, authority should be given to draft a regi- hment of each race.^ More than a third of the voting population was in the field, and as late as October they had received no pay except Ar- kansas war bonds, the worthlessness of which occasioned much murmuring. This discontent was heightened some- what by the poor equipment of the regiments, many soldiers being without blankets or shoes.^ There were other symp- toms of unrest within the State. On the charge of attempted insurrection two negro men and a girl were hanged in Mon- roe County. All this occasioned much uneasiness, but the chief cause of alarm was the Union sentiment known to exist in the State. In October twenty-seven persons were brought to Little Rock as members of a secret Union organization in Van Buren County and placed in jail to await a civil trial. Many others also were taken about this time, and it was estimated that the " Peace and Constitutional Society " numbered i 700 mem- bers in Arkansas.^ The activity of Federal armies in the West excited so much apprehension that Governor Rector on the i8th of February, by proclamation, called into immediate service every man in the State subject to military duty.^ A Confederate force under Price was driven into Arkansas by General Curtis on the same day, and within a week the commandant at Poca- hontas issued an appeal to every man " to turn out promptly, shoulder his musket, and drive the vandals from the State." The Richmond Government being unable to assist Arkansas, • Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 25. • Ibid. • Ibid. *Ibid., 1862, p. II. 82 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION she was forced to rely upon her own resources and such aid as might be obtained from Missouri, the Indian Territory and Texas.^ Disaster and a conviction of neglect led the Governor in May, in an address to the people, to express his indignation and threaten to secede from secession. He said: If the arteries of the Confederate heart do not permeate beyond the east bank of the Mississippi, let southern Missourians, Arkansians, Texans and the great West know it and prepare for the future. Arkan- sas lost, abandoned, subjugated is not Arkansas as she entered the Con- federate Government. Nor will she remain Arkansas, a Confederate State, desolated as a wilderness. Her children, fleeing from the wrath to come, will build them a new ark, and launch it on new waters, seeking a haven somewhere of equality, safety and rest.* After the battle of Pea Ridge General Curtis moved to White River, and on May i occupied Batesville, where he witnessed many demonstrations of attachment to the Union. Judges of courts, clergymen and other leading citizens came forward and voluntarily took the oath of allegiance to the United States. A threatened advance of the Union forces upon Little Rock created the greatest excitement there, and the Governor by proclamation ordered the militia to repair imme- diately to its defence; but not finding himself sufficiently sup- ported he fled.^ The concentration at Corinth of all available Confederate strength was the cause of the weakness of Arkan- sas at this time. Ten regiments had also been withdrawn from the army of General Curtis to reenforce the Federal troops in Mississippi. This left him in no condition to march upon the State capital, and for the time it was saved. Twelve thousand poorly equipped men had assembled there in response to the appeal of Governor Rector. After the occupation of Helena by Federal troops Mr. Lin- coln appointed John S. Phelps, of Missouri, military govern- ^Ann. Cycl., 1862, p. 1 1. ' Ibid. • Ibid. ARKANSAS 83 or.^ On August 19, 1862, he left St. Louis for Helena; but as the contemplated movement was not then made his office was of little importance. From the Union refugees at that point two regiments of Arkansas men were organized. The fall of Vicksburg in July, 1863, however, enabled the Union army to assume offensive operations, and the summer had not greatly advanced before a strong column was moving on Little Rock, the capture of which, September 10, 1863, was a fatal blow to Confederate authority throughout the State. Amidst all its distresses the northern section of Arkansas had maintained its loyalty. Recent reverses to Confederate arms encouraged desertion from their ranks, Union sympa- thizers became active, and movements begun by them were joined by numbers who now regarded the Confederate cause as lost. Many, however, fearing a restoration of that au- thority, hesitated to identify themselves with the more pro- nounced loyalists. A newspaper favorable to the General Government was established at the capital. Meetings were held, and resolutions pledging unconditional support of the Union cause adopted. Citizens, both white and black, were organized, and by December, 1863, eight regiments of Arkan- sas troops had enlisted in the Federal service. 2 A still more encouraging symptom was the return of emi- nent persons who now came forward to advocate the Union cause. Prominent among these was Brigadier-General E. W. Gantt, of the Confederate army, recently a prisoner of war and pardoned under the Amnesty Proclamation of the Presi- dent. Toward the close of 1863 he thus describes the feeling of the people : The Union sentiment is manifesting itself on all sides and by every in- dication — in Union meetings — in desertions from the Confederate army — in taking the oath of allegiance unsolicited — in organizing for home ' N. & H., Vol. VI. p. 346. *Ann. Cycl., 1863, p. i5- H4 l.lNrOI N'S IM AN OV Rl' rONS I'RUr TION iK-l\-iiv-c. .nul i-nlt.-.lmK u\ tlu' l'\'.lrnl .»im\ Ol.l ll.u-/. Ili.it Imvt 1»ti\ lii»l in tlic ciovivrs o{ nu-Ks, tn\»l boon woi '.hipiH'.! l>v om ni«'iml.m\ ju-opK- as liol.v rrlii\s, uio IIumh (o tho luoc.-o. au.l l.>ll.>\\ i«l li> llu' l'tiu>n .muv uilh i\\\ cutlmsij\si\i ll\;il lH'nm»rs tUl ilosii ipluMi llu- lilili- »«>unl\ .«l l\uv. thai Vi>t«'S only about Chh>. ;\n»l whivli li.\ • l'>>u Ittnu-.l \vi>>n(.; m>Ic xut m .Nr.uvh oi ...n>..npts I'v llnulm.m .ui.l lir. I>ll,.\v n\ui >1.-i,m •; .iml oppu-s so\:.. \\\{\\ (lull toliiiiu- >'l •..il.ii iv-.l ^'i niKiiuii .uul lu^io l>.>vs, sent down a co\i iluiiuK tluN»- lhi>>- v>\U'. ol Unoi. p>i miuI ion .uul pluniUM. I »\m't Ivll I'ut tluv WiU- tlu- pioiuK-.t looivni^ mI ol nun I rvor >s;>w. .uul lull ol iii^'.hi ' I'ho uMuMi >M liiMii'i.il I'.mks t'lvMM {\\c Ki'vl Ktvn- ^•»>unliv ih.uii'Oil •MiMlh (lu- .isprrl ol l'\\In.il .iH.uis iii Ai k.iiis.is, Km il .ilK'\\r>l .ill llu> ( \miU\Um.iIi' lours in tlic \iiiiulv to i\ni»."iMitt.i(\" .i;\uust tlu" .'viu.ill aiiiw ol (iriu-i.il Su^-K\ llK- Uork. riir ,"">!. 1(0 voiMui:' ouiv- moio (o .i vonsulot .iMo oxlvMil uiuUm I 'on li'vloi.ilo vouliol. lov.ili;.ls 1h\miuo .siMiw AwA oi.uiu.illv lo.st OtUM\iiV .lllil hope. 1 vhmI lONOisos. h(>\\o\oi. \\ AM not .\llo\vv\l to intiMiupt [\\c iomiMolionsiN ih>liv-\ »>l tlu- ru'sivlonl. .uul ca\\\ \\\ i So | pu-p atatioiis wnr lu.i^lo to u\>i j^.iiu.o tho St.iit' ;;o\ oi imuMit. rhi,>< i\io\ omout. liko thosi> ni ronnrssoo .uul 1 otn-.i.m.i, was l\lSl\l UpvM\ tllO \nmi-Sl\' .uul Koi'vMtSlUUMUMl riov'l.uu.Uiou oi l\'v-iMul>oi S. ivS(>;. I'AiMi luMoio thus ,^ti>p h,l^l 1h\mi t.tkoti tho Piosiilout was aluM^lv iUvMiKIuio tho vlivoiso cKMuruls ttito a power that wouKl uUuuatoly uuvloi'i\\u\c C\nil\\UMato iulltt ouv-o in the State. In the prooovHnj^' siunnuM. Jnlv ^;i. iS(\;. ho h.ivl w lilten (.ieneial S. A Ihnlhnt: I ut\\lor.lYori»»n U'> rfsmne his plivo*^ \\\ tho SriuUr. Of o*M»rso tt»c Senate, juul t\ot 1. \vi>nld ileoivlo whether tv> tnln\it or rejeet t»ini. Still I shonUl feel nxt'i^t itUerest in the nnesti\M\ It n\a\ he so pjYsenteil as tv> he one of the very great est national ii\\t>ortanee: at\vl it tnay he otherwise so presentevl as tv> In- v>f no tnv>re than ten\porary \>ersvM>al aM»st\HKM\ee tv< him. * Ann. Cyel . »So.;, \y i... ARKANSAS 85 The emancipation proclamation applies to Arkansas. ... I think I shall not retract or repudiate it. Those who shall have tasted actual freedom I believe can never be slaves or quasi-slaves again. For the rest, I believe some plan substantially being gradual emancipation would be better for both white and black. The Missouri plan, recently adopted, I do not object to on account of the time for ending the institution; but I am sorry the beginning should have been postponed for seven years, leaving all that time to agitate for the repeal of the whole thing. It should begin at once, giving at least the new-born a vested interest in freedom which could not be taken away. If Senator Sebastian could come with something of this sort from Arkansas, I, at least, should take great interest in his case; and I believe a single individual will have scarcely done the world so great a service. See him, if you can, and read this to him ; but charge him to not make it public for the present.* Union officers in the West were urged by Mr. Lincoln in October, 1862, to assist and encourage repentant rebel com- munities to elect both State officers and members of Con- gress.^ As this involved a recognition of existing govern- ments it need scarcely be observed that the march of events forced the President later to occupy somewhat different ground; nor is it more necessary to add, that to his main pur- pose, to undermine secession and restore the Union, he ad- hered inflexibly. With this fundamental object all his acts harmonize. At the time of her secession, W. K. Sebastian represented Arkansas in the United States Senate and abandoned his seat; he was now ready to assist in restoring his State to her old status. Of these evidences of disintegration in Confederate interests within the State the President was very exactly in- formed, and it was because of his conviction that many per- sons hitherto supporting that cause were either wavering in their allegiance or had become hostile to secession that he wrote, January 5, 1864, to General Steele: I wish to afford the people of Arkansas an opportunity of taking the oath prescribed in the proclamation of December 8, 1863, preparatory to ' Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. II. p. 379. ' Ibid., p. 247. 86 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION reorganizing a State Government there. Accordingly I send you by Gen- eral Kimball some blank books and other blanks, the manner of using which will, in the main, be suggested by an inspection of them ; and Gen- eral Kimball will add some verbal explanations. Please make a trial of the matter immediately at such points as you may think likely to give success. I suppose Helena and Little Rock are two of them. Detail any officer you may see fit to take charge of the subject at each point; and which officer, it may be assumed, will have authority to administer the oath. These books, of course, are intended to be perma- nent records. Report to me on the subject.^ A week had scarcely elapsed when Mr, Lincoln approved the suggestions of General Banks relative to reinaugurating a civil government for Louisiana, and, doubtless, he knew no reason why similar work might not be going on simultane- ously in Arkansas; therefore he repeated to General Steele what in substance he had already communicated to the Federal commander of the Department of the Gulf. His in- structions, dated January 20, 1864, and quoted below, are self-explanatory, and in no important particular differ from the Louisiana Plan : Sundry citizens of the State of Arkansas petition me that an election may be held in that State, at which to elect a governor thereof; . . . that it be assumed at said election and thenceforward that the constitu- tion and laws of the State, as before the rebellion, are in full force, except that the constitution is so modified as to declare that " there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in the punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; but the General Assembly may make such provision for the free people as 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 a laboring, landless, and homeless class ; " and also except that all now existing laws in relation to slaves are inoperative and void ; that said election to be held on the twenty-eighth day of March next at all the usual voting places of the State, or all such as voters may attend for that purpose ; that the voters attending at each place at 8 o'clock in the morning of said day, may choose judges and clerks of election for that place ; that all persons qualified by said constitution and laws, and tak- ing the oath prescribed in the President's proclamation of December the ^ Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 467. ARKANSAS 87 8th, 1863, either before or at the election, and none others, may be voters, provided that persons having the qualifications aforesaid, and being in the volunteer military service of the United States, may vote once wher- ever they may be at voting places ; that each set of judges and clerks may make return directly to you on or before the eleventh day of April next ; that in all other respects said election may be conducted according to said modified constitution and laws ; that on receipt of said returns, you count said votes, and that if the number shall reach or exceed five thousand four hundred and six, you canvass said votes and ascertain who shall thereby appear to have been elected governor; and that on the eighteenth day of April next, the person so appearing to have been elected, and appearing be- fore you at Little Rock to have, by you, administered to him an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and said modified constitu- tion of the State of Arkansas, and actually taking said oath, be, by you, declared qualified, and be enjoined to immediately enter upon the duties of the office of governor of said State ; and that you thereupon declare the constitution of the State of Arkansas to have been modified and amended as aforesaid by the action of the people as aforesaid. You will please order an election immediately, and perform the other parts assigned you, with necessary incidentals, all according to the fore- going.' By discussion and organization the elements opposed to the Richmond Government aroused so much enthusiasm that Unionists anticipated the wishes of the President by meeting, January 8, 1864, in convention at Little Rock. This as- sembly, composed of forty-four delegates representing, as they claimed, twenty-two of the fifty-four counties in the State, was made up of members elected at various mass meet- ings by very meagre votes. This at least was an objection then urged by those who were adverse to the purposes of the convention. They further stated that many of the counties represented were without the Federal military lines. It was admitted that if these counties lay beyond Union lines neither were they occupied by Confederate forces, and that gen- erally the delegates were gentlemen of character and patriot- Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL pp. 472-473. ' Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 29 ; Hough's American Constitutions, Vol. IL p. 81. 88 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION In a published address the convention stated frankly : We found after remaining at Little Rock about a week, under a tem- porary organization, that delegates were present from twenty-two coun- ties, elected by the people, and that six other counties had held elections, and that their representatives were looked for daily. We then organized the Convention permanently, and determined that while we could not properly claim to be the people of Arkansas in Convention assembled, with full and final authority to adopt a constitution, yet, being the repre- sentatives, by election, of a considerable portion of the State, and under- standing, as we believed, the sentiment of nearly all our citizens who de- sire the immediate benefits of a government under the authority of the United States, we also determined to present a constitution and plan of organization, which, if adopted by them, becomes at once their act as effectually as if every county in the State had been represented in the Con- vention. * An amended constitution was adopted by this convention on January 22. By it the act of secession was declared null and void; slavery was abolished immediately and uncondi- tionally, and the Confederate debt wholly repudiated. ^ These important changes in the fundamental law of the State indi- cate the sentiments of the delegates. Isaac Murphy was ap- pointed Provisional Governor; C. C. Bliss, Lieutenant-Gov- ernor and R. T. J. White, Secretary of State. These officers were inaugurated on the same day that the convention adopted the constitution; this by its schedule was to be submitted to a popular vote at an election to be held March 14, when State officers and Representatives in Congress would also be chosen.^ Ignorant that the movement to restore a civil government had proceeded so far, Mr. Lincoln had sent his instructions to General Steele. As these had been carefully considered it was feared the work of the convention would differ in some essential particular from the plan outlined for the Federal ^ Quoted in N. & H., Vol. VIII. p. 414. ' Hough's Amer. Cons., Vol. II. p. 81. * Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 29. ARKANSAS 89 commander. To prevent such a consequence the President wrote General Steele again on January t.'j as follows : I have addressed a letter to you and put it in the hands of Mr. Gantt and other Arkansas gentlemen, containing a program for an election in that State. This letter will be handed you by some of these gentlemen. Since writing it, I see that a Convention in Arkansas having the same gen- eral object, has taken some action, which I am afraid may clash somewhat with my program. I therefore can do no better than to ask you to see Mr. Gantt immediately on his return, and with him do what you and he may deem necessary to harmonize the two plans into one, and then put it through with all possible vigor. Be sure to retain the free-State Consti- tutional provision in some unquestionable form and you and he can fix the rest. The points I have made in the program have been well con- sidered. Take hold with an honest heart and a strong hand. Do not let any questionable man control or influence you.^ The President's interest in the proceedings of the con- vention and his anxiety about the outcome of its delibera- tions appear in a letter to General Steele written three days after the above. ^ So favorable were his impressions of the progress reported that he believed the best his subordinate could do "would be to help them on their own plan"; of this, however, General Steele, who was on the ground, was to be the judge. To Governor Murphy he telegraphed, February 6, that his order concerning an election was made in ignor- ance of any action which the convention might take; also that his subsequent communication to General Steele directed that officer to assist, not to hinder, the delegates.^ General Thayer also was informed that the apparent conflict between the President and the convention was altogether accidental.* On February 17, Mr. Lincoln explained the situation more fully to William M. Fishback : When I fixed a plan for an election in Arkansas I did it in ignorance that your convention was doing the same work. Since I learned the * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 475. ' Ibid., p. 476. * Ibid., p. 479. * Ibid., p. 482. 90 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION latter fact I have been constantly trying to yield my plan to them. I have sent two letters to General Steele, and three or four despatches to you and others, saying that he. General Steele, must be master, but that it will probably be best for him to merely help the convention on its own plan. Some single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything, and General Steele, commanding the military and being on the ground, is the best man to be that master. Even now citizens arc telegraphing me to postpone the election to a later day than either that fixed by the convention or by me. This discord must be silenced.^ The President evidently had learned something from his recent experience with his friends and subordinates in Louisi- ana. General Steele from his headquarters at Little Rock issued on February 29 the following address to the people of Arkansas : The convention of your citizens, held at Little Rock during the last month [says this proclamation], has adopted a constitution and submitted it to you for your approval or rejection. That constitution is based upon the principles of freedom, and it is for you now to say, by your volun- tary and unbiased action, whether it shall be your fundamental law. While it may have defects, in the main it is in accordance with the views of that portion of the people who have been resisting the fratricidal at- tempts which have been made during the last three years. The conven- tion has fixed the 14th day of March next on which to decide this great question, and the General commanding is only following the instruc- tions of the Government when he says to you that every facility will be offered for the expression of your sentiments, uninfluenced by any con- siderations save those which affect your own interests and those of your posterity. . . . The election will be held and the return be made in accordance with the schedule adopted by the convention, and no inter- ference from any quarter will be allowed to prevent the free expression of the loyal men of the State on that day.* The election pursuant to this notice began March 14, 1864, the polls remaining open for three days. For the constitu- tion 12,177, and against it 226, votes were cast' Isaac Mur- phy, against whom there was no opposing candidate, was chosen Governor by 12,430 votes cast by the citizens of more ^ Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL pp. 483-484. 'Ann. Cycl., 1864, pp. 29-30. •Ibid., p. 30. ARKANSAS 91 than forty counties. As early as March 18 the President appears to have received from the Governor-elect some favor- able tidings/ and on April o.'j, when more complete returns had reached him from the same source, he expressed in a telegram his gratification at the large vote, more than double that required by the Louisiana Plan, and also at the intelli- gence that the State government, including the Legislature, was organized and in working order. ^ Besides a Governor five other officers of the executive and several members of the judicial branch of government to- gether with many county officials were chosen. ^ At the same time three Representatives in Congress, T. M. Jacks, A. A. C. Rogers and J. M. Johnson, were elected from the First, Second and Third Districts respectively. The Legislature, composed of twenty three Senators and fifty-nine members of Assembly, met on the nth of April, and during the session, which ended June i succeeding, appointed William Fishback and Elisha Baxter United States Senators to fill vacancies caused by the secession of the late incumbents, R. W. Johnson and William K. Sebastian. After investigation by a commit- tee of Congress, however, they were declared not entitled to seats ; but as each possessed such a title to membership as to justify inquiry they were paid mileage. This consideration they were denied when^ without new action, they subsequently presented themselves at a special session of the Senate ; on that occasion they were accompanied by William D. Snow, who had been chosen to succeed Fishback. It was agreed, March 9, 1865, to postpone till the next session of Congress considera- tion of the credentials of Mr. Snow. The House, without ad- mitting as Representatives the three claimants for seats, had consented to allow them mileage. Arkansas, unlike Louisiana * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 501. ' Ibid., p. 515. ' Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 30. 92 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION and Tennessee, did not participate in the Presidential election of 1864, because of a feeling that its electoral vote would not be received even if offered. This course appears to have been adopted on the suggestion of their representatives, who re- turned with such a conviction from a sojourn in Washington.^ A succeeding chapter, in tracing the origin and progress of the controversy between the Executive and Legislative branches of Government, will describe more fully the attitude of Congress toward Mr. Lincoln's efforts at reconstruction and afford an opportunity for discussing both the nature of the conventions by which civil government had been restored in Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas, and the constitutional- ity of the various Executive acts by which this reestablish- ment was assisted. ^ See remarks of Senator Pomeroy, February 2, 1865, Congressional Globe, Part II., 2 Sess. 38th Cong., p. 555- IV VIRGINIA THE Federal Government, as already observed, was con- strained at an early stage of the Civil War to define its attitude toward loyal citizens of the seceding States. The earliest indications of the policy adopted may be discerned in the case of Virginia, which presents the only in- stance of a people in any of the insurrectionary States organ- izing open resistance to revolution. All departments of gov- ernment in that Commonwealth having gone over to rebel- lion, the loyal minority were left without any organization for the conduct of domestic affairs. In these circumstances they called a convention which by an original act of sovereignty re- constituted the government. The progress of the conflict was attended in that State by consequences not elsewhere observed, and it is chiefly because of this fact that a slight departure from exact chronological order is believed to be justified. The principles which guided the Administration will be easily comprehended by considering their application to the novel and somewhat embarrassing questions that arose before re- bellion was finally crushed within the borders of that once glorious Commonwealth. " The Convention of Virginia " which, by authority of the Legislature, assembled at Richmond, February 13, 1861, passed on April 17 following an ordinance of secession from the United States.^ Though the injunction of secrecy was * McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 7. 93 94 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION never removed from this proceeding, the tally, discovered soon after among the private papers of a member, shows that 88 delegates favored and 55 opposed the measure; one was excused from voting, eight were either absent or silent.^ This strong opposition is explained in part by the physical characteristics of the State. The principal chain of the Alleghanies formed in the west- ern portion of the Old Dominion a lofty range which parts the streams finding their way into the Ohio and the Potomac from those that reach the lower waters of Chesapeake Bay or the sounds of North Carolina. The country southeast of this ridge, including the Shenandoah Valley, the Piedmont district, the middle division and the tide-water region, con- tained about three fourths of the white inhabitants, and some- thing less than three fourths of the area, of Virginia. In this section were found many large tobacco plantations cultivated almost exclusively by negroes. Indeed, it was in the light soil of the tide-water counties of Virginia that English settlers in America first attempted, nearly two and one half centuries before, the memorable experiment of African slave labor. Soon after 1808, when their importation was pro- hibited by act of Congress, slaves were bred in Virginia to supply the demand of Southern markets, and by i860 the bondmen in that Commonwealth had become almost two thirds as numerous as the master race.^ It is sufficiently ac- curate to say that the triangular district bounded on the north by the winding course of the Potomac, by the parallel of 36° 31' on the south and stretching from the Atlantic to the crest of the Alleghany mountains, comprised all that part of " the good old commonwealth " which was then either historically important or interesting. This prolific soil was the birthplace of many of America's most illustrious sons; Its inhabitants for * McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 7n. * Eighth Census, pp. 516-522. VIRGINIA 95 the most part were proud to trace their descent from the earliest settlers along the James; many were wealthy, and all had long been distinguished for their hospitality. Beyond this favored region the country, which slopes gradually down to the upper Potomac and the Ohio, is marked by a succession of parallel ranges separated by fertile valleys; but like the large tract which encircled the Adiron- dacks and a similar one in northern Pennsylvania, the Vir- ginian wilderness remained untouched by the ceaseless tide of immigration which at the close of the Revolution swept west- ward from the Atlantic seaboard. For this uninviting region the second Federal census indicates less than two inhabitants to the square mile; by 1810 pioneers from the line of the Ohio river encroached on its silent forests. At the next census, however, a portion was still unoccupied, but in the succeeding decennial period it received from various points, chiefly from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New England, many enterprising and thrifty settlers. The sixth census, that of 1840, represents the entire tract as sparsely inhabited.^ Its abundant resources, then but little developed, subsequently gave rise to a great variety of profitable industries, and it advanced rapidly in population. Extensive plantations, however, were few; the number of slaves, owing somewhat to the facility for escape, had always been small, and in the ten years preceding the out- break of hostilities had actually diminished by upwards of two thousand.^ Though it then contained nearly one fourth of the whites, it included no more than one thirtieth of the negroes in the State. Their labor, too, except in other than agricul- tural occupations, afforded little remuneration. In conse- quence of its productions as well as its location both the 'Density maps in Tenth Census (Population), pp. xii-xiii, xiv-xv, xvi- xvii. * Blair in Appendix to Globe, pp. 327-331, 2 Sess. 37th Cong.; Eighth Census, pp. 516-522; Seventh Census, pp. 242-261. 96 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION interests and sympathies of the people were with the adjoining States of Ohio and Pennsylvania. But, apart from geographical considerations, northwestern Virginia had a grievance of long standing: for years its in- habitants had complained that they were not fairly repre- sented in the Legislature, and the immunity from taxation enjoyed by their fellow-citizens east of the mountains was a discrimination too gross to escape attention. The slave oligarchy, they declared, possessed and wielded for its own advantage the political power of the State. The question of its dismemberment had been discussed as early as 1829-30, when the mountain sons of Virginia were on the verge of revolution. The East then yielded a pittance of power, which, though far short of the demands, of justice, reconciled western Virginians for the time. In 1850 they were again on the point of insurrection. On this occasion adequate representa- tion was conceded in the lower though withheld in the upper chamber of the General Assembly, the dominant party thus retaining control of that body as well as the benefits of a con- stitutional provision by which slaves under the age of twelve years were exempt from taxation, and of those liable to assess- ment none could be valued at more than three hundred dollars even if worth in the market a thousand dollars or upwards.* Moreover, much of the public revenue was expended upon in- ternal improvements for the eastern section of the State. The Shenandoah Valley, at one time showing signs of discontent, was bound by the construction of railways, in social as well as in commercial life, more firmly to Richmond. In short, the Alleghanies formed a barrier almost completely cutting off intercourse between the two divisions. Their relations were well expressed by Governor Pierpont, who told Senator Wade that there was no communication whatever between the people except the furnishing a few members to the Legislature * Parker, The Formation of West Virginia, p. 125. VIRGINIA 97 and a few inmates of the penitentiary.^ Their different in- terests tended to aHenate the sections; the hand of nature had traced the hne of separation. Now, however, that a crisis was impending, the Richmond authorities, to harmonize every element within their Com- monwealth, were willing to forego this privilege-; to share the burdens of State administration, to meet State liabilities, and generally to place themselves on a footing of equality with their fellow-citizens along the Ohio. This concession, by a majority of 50,000, was actually extorted in an election from the prudence or the fears of disunionists whose magnanimity was duly emphasized by Governor Letcher in an appeal to the people of the northwest.^ The latter refused, notwith- standing, to acquiesce in the action of the secession convention which, so far as it was able to do so, carried their State, as a political organization, out of the Union. It may be affirmed generally that the professional politi- cians and large property owners of this region were disloyal; ^ State officials with surprising unanimity were ardent advo- cates of secession and active in committing their Common- wealth to its support. An overwhelming proportion of the plain people, however, were devotedly attached to the Union and determined on its preservation. Therefore when the Richmond State government attempted to execute its laws in these parts it encountered the . most spirited resistance. Especially was this true in the Pan Handle counties, where opposition was promptly organized. Probably the first consultation upon the grave questions that had arisen was held at the Court House in Wellsburgh, Brooke County, where a large number of citizens from that and the adjacent county of Hancock assembled to hear the * Globe, 2 Sess. 37th Cong., p. 3038. * Ann. Cycl., 1861, pp. 743-744- * The Formation of West Virginia, p. 36. 98 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION report of Mr. Campbell Tarr, their delegate to Richmond. From Harrison came Hon. John S. Carlile, who, like Mr. Tarr, narrowly escaped with his life from that city, where he had represented his county in the convention. They re- ported the proceedings of that body and urged immediate preparation to resist. As a result of this discussion a com- mittee of four was appointed to procure arms and ammuni- tion in Washington. En route thither they had an interview at Harrisburg with Governor Curtin, who not only expressed sympathy with their object, but promised assistance if neces- sary. On arriving at the national capital they called upon Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, who was a native of Steubenville, Ohio, and a warm personal friend of each member of the committee. They were immediately presented to Mr. Cameron, Secretary of War, who, on learning the purpose of their visit, manifested some hesitation as to his legal right to comply with their request. Upon this Mr. Stanton declared with emphasis that " the law of necessity gives the right," and added, " let them have arms and ammunition; we will look for the book law afterwards." ^ Two thousand rifles with suitable ammuni- tion were then furnished, and as security for their proper use Mr. Stanton tendered his own name. From Wellsburgh, where they were temporarily kept in expectation of a rebel attack, these arms were sent for distribution to Wheeling. United States troops from Ohio and Indiana together with local volunteers soon drove the Confederate forces from this region, and subsequently, though often menaced, it was al- most exempt from the ravages of war.^ Thus encouraged. Union men resolved to form a political organization coexten- sive with Virginia or to establish a separate and distinct State. Preliminary movements toward that end were promptly in- augurated, and, April 22, 1861, five days after the passage of * The Formation of West Virginia, p. 42. * Ann. Cycl., 1861, pp. 742-743. I VIRGINIA 99 the ordinance, nearly 1,200 citizens of Clarksburgh de- nounced in a public meeting the action of the secession con- vention and recommended the people of northwestern Vir- ginia to assemble on May 13 at Wheeling. On the 4th a Union mass meeting had been held at Kingwood, near the northern border. The separation of western from eastern Virginia was declared by this body to be essential to the main- tenance of their liberties. They also resolved to elect a Repre- sentative to Congress. On the following day there convened at Wheeling another assemblage, which considered the ques- tion of separating from that portion of the State in rebellion. About the same time other gatherings were held in different localities. There were thousands of eager and earnest patriots in the city of Wheeling on May 13, when nearly four hundred dele- gates, mostly appointed by primary meetings, and represent- ing twenty-six counties, assembled to deliberate on the situ- ation. The best method of organizing opposition to treason -was the question : how to inaugurate a government which the Federal authorities would recognize and protect ? ^ On this important subject there is said to have been considerable diversity of opinion; the decision finally reached was based upon a suggestion by one of the members that since Governor Letcher and other State officers, by adhering to the pretended ordinance of secession, had forfeited their powers, and the existing constitution made no provision for such an emer- gency, the only way was to ask the people, the source of all political power, to send delegates to a convention authorized to supply their places with loyal men. This proposal was presented to the meeting and adopted with great unanimity.^ A General State Committee, empowered to appoint sub-com- mittees in all counties where practicable, was then named, * The Formation of West Virginia, p. 43. loo LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION and a stirring address put forth. It announced their purpose and urged all loyal citizens to elect representatives to a second convention. Copies of this appeal v/ere sent to influential citi- zens throughout the State, and it was agreed after a session of three days to choose on May 26 delegates to the proposed convention. This election having been held at the time appointed, rep- resentatives from nearly forty counties assembled at Wheel- ing on June 11. The convention, numbering 98 members, organized by selecting for its president Hon Arthur I. Bore- man. Before proceeding to business the following oath was administered to the delegation from each county : " We solemnly declare that we will support the Constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof, as the supreme law of the land, anything in the Ordinance of the Convention that assembled in Richmond on the 13th day of February last to the contrary notwithstanding, so help us God." 1 The State government was reconstituted on the 13th by an ordinance declaring vacant all places, whether legisla- tive, executive or judicial, whose incumbents had espoused the cause of secession. This class, as already observed, included nearly every official in Virginia. These vacancies the con- vention supplied by the appointment of loyal men. In the con- stitution they made an important alteration which prescribed the number of delegates necessary to constitute a quorum in the General Assembly. All State, county and town officials were required to take an oath of allegiance which pledged support of both the Federal Constitution and the restored government of Virginia. On June 17 a declaration of inde- pendence was adopted without one dissenting voice; it de- nounced the usurpation of the Richmond convention, which had assumed to place the resources of Virginia at the disposal * Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 743 ; The Formation of West Virginia, p. 45, gives the oath in a form slightly different. VIRGINIA loi of the Confederate Government, to which power it repudiated allegiance. Resolutions expressing a determination never to submit to the ordinance of secession, but to maintain the rights of Virginia in the Union, were then passed. All persons in arms against the national Government were commanded to disband and to return to their allegiance. Though the mem- bers seriously endeavored to reorganize their government, it was with an express declaration that a division of the Com- monwealth was a paramount object of their labors, and they decided, June 20, by a unanimous vote in favor of ultimate separation. Under an ordinance previously adopted Hon. Francis H. Pierpont was chosen Governor on the same day; a lieutenant- governor, an attorney-general and an executive council of five were also appointed. Other administrative offices were subse- quently filled. The new incumbents were to exercise their functions for six months or until successors should be elected and qualified. The convention on June 25, subject in an emer- gency to be re-assembled by the Governor and Council, then adjourned to August 6, 1861. Before concluding this session the convention directed all members willing to swear fealty to the Union, who were elected to the assembly on May 23 preceding, to meet on the 1st of July at Wheeling. At the time of their election these representatives were destined for Richmond. In addition to those regularly chosen under the old law of the Common- wealth, others pursuant to an ordinance of the convention were elected to fill vacancies. All were to qualify them- selves by taking an oath or affirmation of allegiance to the United States and to the reorganized government of Virginia. These members, chiefly from the western counties, were to compose the law-making body, which was invested with all the powers and duties pertaining to the General Assembly. The new Governor was inaugurated on June 20, and, after 102 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION taking the oath of office, said : " We have been driven into the position we occupy to-day by the usurpers at the South, who have inaugurated this war upon the soil of Virginia, and have made it the great Crimea of this contest. We, represent- ing the loyal citizens of Virginia, have been bound to assume the position we have assumed to-day for the protection of ourselves, our wives, our children, and our property. We, I repeat, have been driven to assume this position; and now we are but recurring to the great fundamental principle of our fathers, that to the loyal people of a State belongs the law-making power of that State. The loyal people are en- titled to the government and governmental authority of the State. And, fellow-citizens, it is the assumption of that au- thority upon which we are now about to enter." ^ " It was not the object of the Wheeling convention," he de- clared on a later occasion, " to set up any new government in the State, or separate, or other government than the one under which they had always lived. "^ "^ From these utterances his hearers must have concluded that the reorganized government was not for a part but for the whole of Virginia. Indeed, it was to the discernment of Mr. Pierpont that Virginia loyalists were chiefly indebted for a legal solution of the intricate problem that confronted them. While Carlile and others were urging a counter-revolution, Mr. Pierpont was carefully studying the provisions of the Federal Constitution. The clause of that instrument which guarantees a republican form of government was designed, he believed, to meet just such an emergency as had arisen. Though this conservative suggestion was not at first received with much favor, it continued gradually to win adherents until its propriety was universally recognized.^ By thus proceed- ^ Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 743- 'Ann. Cycl., 1862, p. 801. 'Mr. A. W. Campbell in The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, April 14, 1897. VIRGINIA 103 ing along constitutional lines a State government in all its branches was soon established in every county not occupied by an armed foe. The Legislature of the restored State assembled, July 2, at Wheeling and assumed the full exercise of its powers. Two United States Senators, Waitman T. Willey, whose fidelity many considered doubtful, and John S. Carlile, an able, elo- quent and then a trusted leader, were elected, July 9; the former to fill the vacancy occasioned by the withdrawal of James M. Mason, the latter to succeed Robert M. T. Hunter, who also had abdicated his seat in Congress. Both were admitted, though not without a vigorous protest from the minority, to seats at the first session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, which met on July 4, 1861. Their certificates were presented, July 13, by Andrew John- son. Senator Bayard entered a protest. Their admission, he said, would be a recognition of an organization that was not the regular government of the Commonwealth. Mr. Letcher was still Governor of Virginia, his term not having expired. The Senate had no authority to create a new State out of a part of an existing one. He then moved to refer their cre- dentials to the Committee on the Judiciary. His colleague, Mr. Saulsbury, objected, that Mason and Hunter were not expelled until July 11, whereas the claimants were appointed two days previously, at a time when no vacancies had occurred. To this Senator Johnson replied that the vacancies did in fact exist at the time of their election, July 9, and that the expulsion of Mason and Hunter was not merely a declaration that vacancies existed, but their seats were regarded as filled, and the occupants expelled from the floor of the Senate. Mr. Bayard denied that, even if Mason and Hunter were guilty of the alleged crimes, there was any power in either the Governor or Legislature to terminate their appointments; they might die, they could be removed by expulsion, but 104 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION vacancies could not be anticipated by the Legislature of Vir- ginia. The name of Mr. Pierpont could convey no authority to their credentials. On the question of reference five Senators voted in the affirmative, thirty-five in the negative. The oath was therefore administered and they took their seats, July 13, at the special session which began on the 4th. ^ A resolution was passed by the House of Delegates of the reorganized government instructing the Senators and request- ing their Representatives in Congress to vote the necessary ap- propriation of men and money for a vigorous prosecution of the war, and to oppose all compromise. A stay law was also enacted by the Legislature, and a bill passed which authorized the Governor to organize a patrol in such counties as might require it; two hundred thousand dollars were appropriated for military purposes. On August 6, 1 86 1, the Wheeling convention reassembled. Hitherto in all its proceedings relative to a reorganization there had been great unanimity, but when the delegates re- turned they were conscious of a strong popular sentiment in favor of erecting a new State, a subject that had been intro- duced, though not much discussed, before adjournment. This determination among their constituents seriously troubled many of the members. Political aspirations had been awak- ened; many of them had enjoyed the benefits of the humbler offices under the mother State; the Union forces, it was confi- dently expected, would soon crush the insurrection in Virginia, and the reorganized government, with themselves at its head, would be acquiesced in by their recent oppressors. To their ambition this hope was far more flattering than the prospect of administering the affairs of a comparatively small State on the western frontier of the Old Dominion. Then, too, the idea of dismemberment was certain to wound Virginia State pride. Moreover, the movement to form an independent com- ^ Globe, I Sess. 37th Cong., pp. 103-109. VIRGINIA 105 monwealth, when the reorganized government itself had been scarcely recognized, would look premature. Sentiments of this nature had begun to possess the minds of many delegates about the time of their return. In compliance with what appeared to be a popular demand, however, these considerations were disregarded, and the con- vention by a vote of 50 to 28 passed an ordinance authorizing the formation out of the Commonwealth of Virginia of a new State to be called Kanawha, which was to embrace thirty- nine counties between the Alleghanies and the Ohio, provided the people thereof, at an election to be held on October 24, should express themselves in favor of such a measure; on cer- tain prescribed conditions other contiguous counties could be annexed. At the election which was to decide this important question delegates to a constitutional convention were also to be chosen, and, if separation was approved by the people, these representatives were to assemble at Wheeling on November 26 and organize themselves into a convention. Any consti- tution which they might adopt was to be submitted to the qualified electors of the counties concerned. The new com- monwealth was to assume a just proportion of Virginia's public debt as it existed prior to January i, 1861 ; private rights derived from her laws were to be valid under the pro- posed State, and were to be determined by the laws then exist- ing in Virginia.^ The convention, as previously noted, reassembled on August 6. Three days later one A. F. Ritchie, a member from Marion County, forwarded to Attorney-General Bates at Washington a letter which requested and received an imme- diate reply. Mr. Ritchie published the response, of which this is the important part : The formation of a new State out of Western Virginia is an original, independent act of revolution. I do not deny the power of revolution (I * The Formation of West Virginia, pp. 47-48. io6 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION do not call it right, for it is never prescribed ; it exists in force only, and has and can have no law but the will of the revolutionists). Any attempt to carry it out involves a plain breach of both the constitutions — of Vir- ginia and of the Nation. And hence it is plain that you cannot take such a course without weakening, if not destroying, your claims upon the sym- pathy and support of the General Government, and without disconcerting the plan already adopted by both Virginia and the General Government for the reorganization of the revolted States and the restoration of the integrity of the Union. That plan I understand to be this: When a State, by its perverted functionaries, has declared itself out of the Union, we avail ourselves of all the sound and loyal elements of the State — all who own allegiance to and claim protection of the Constitution — to form a State government as nearly as may be upon the former model, and claiming to be the very State which has been in part overthrown by the successful rebellion. In this way we establish a constitutional nucleus around which all the shattered elements of the commonwealth may meet and combine, and thus restore the old State in its original integrity. This, I verily thought, was the plan adopted at Wheeling, and recog- nized and acted upon by the General Government here. Your conven- tion annulled the revolutionary proceedings at Richmond, both in the Convention and the General Assembly, and your new Governor formally demanded of the President the fulfillment of the constitutional guaranty in favor of Virginia — Virginia as known to our fathers and to us. The President admitted the obligation, and promised his best efforts to fulfill it. And the Senate admitted your Senators, not as representing a new and nameless State, now for the first time heard of in our history, but as representing " the good old commonwealth." Must all this be undone, and a new and hazardous experiment be ven- tured upon, at the moment when dangers and difficulties are thickening around us? I hope not. ... I had rejoiced in the movement in Western Virginia, as a legal, constitutional, and safe refuge from revolu- tion and anarchy ; as at once an example and fit instrument for the resto- ration of all the revolted States. I have not time now to discuss the subject in its various bearings. What I have written is written with a running pen and will need your charitable criticism. If I had time to think, I could give persuasive reasons for declining the attempt to create a new State at this perilous time. At another time I might be willing to go fully into the question, but now I can say no more.^ ^The Formation of West Virginia, pp. 48-50; also Ann. Cycl., 1861, P- 745. VIRGINIA 107 Mr. Ritchie, who had opposed a dismemberment of the old Commonwealth, was anxious, no doubt, to justify his vote by the endorsement of an eminent public character, and it is not improbable that before finally determining his action in so im- portant a matter he was desirous of the opinion of some mem- ber of the Administration. Mr. Bates's communication is dated the 12th; the convention did not adjourn till the 25th of August. At any time prior to January i, 1862, it was subject to be reassembled by its president or by the Governor. The election of October 24, by a vote of 18,408 to 781, de- cided in favor of a division of the Commonwealth.^ At the same time fifty-three delegates, representing forty-one coun- ties, were chosen to frame a constitution for the proposed State. Of this convention John Hall was elected president and Ellery R. Hall secretary. The task before it, by no means an easy one, was to draft a fundamental law that would se- cure the approval of the people of western Virginia, of the Legislature of the restored State and of Congress. After a session of nearly three months it adjourned, February 18, 1862. Commissioners to convoke this body, should its work be recognized by Congress, had first been appointed. On De- cember 3 preceding the name of the new State was changed to West Virginia. In the convention were many members who desired silence on the subject of slavery; others saw clearly that to ignore the cause of their present troubles would ensure a rejection of their work by Congress. This element felt assured that the temper of the national Legislature would not indulge the slave power by giving it two additional Senators besides an increase of strength in the Electoral College. There was also a sentiment which desired a postponement of the disturbing question until all others had first been determined. The friends of gradual emancipation were warned by leading * The Formation of West Virginia, p. 57. io8 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Republicans in Congress that the constitution would not be recognized without a satisfactory provision on this subject. The " peculiar institution," however, still possessed influence enough to defeat such a purpose, and the convention ad- journed without inserting any expression concerning slavery. Still, the friends of emancipation did not despair. Mr. Parker, one of these, caused to be printed in Ohio instructions to their assemblymen to make the following provision a part of their constitution if the speedy admission of the new State into the Union should appear to require it : " All children born of slave mothers in this State, after the constitution goes into operation, shall be free, males at the age of twenty- eight years, and females at the age of eighteen years, and the children of such females to be free at birth." ^ This unauthorized action of Mr. Parker, in connection with appeals through the newspapers, was not without effect. At their county-seat the citizens of Upshur passed, among other resolutions, the following : " That we, the citizens of Upshur County, do endorse and accept the policy recommended by the present Chief Magistrate of the United States, (Abraham Lincoln) in his message of the 6th of March, 1862, to Con- gress, in regard to the emancipation of the slaves of the border States, as the policy that should be adopted by the people of West Virginia; and we do now pledge ourselves to advocate, defend and carry out the said policy, as the most promotive of our liberty, safety and prosperity in the Union." ^ Another resolution, adopted on this occasion, de clared that the meeting expected the convention would have given the people an opportunity of expressing their sentiments on slavery in the proposed State, The convention, they com- plained, did not reflect the popular will. The Union men and the loyal press of other counties fol- * The Formation of West Virginia, p. 79. *Ibid., p. 93. VIRGINIA 109 lowed the example of Upshur by approving the measure or copying the " Instructions." Thus at the time of voting on the constitution an informal poll on slavery was obtained in twenty counties. A faction in the convention proposed to annex the Shenan- doah Valley with its large negro population; the success of such a plan, it was well understood, would ensure a rejection of the new State by Congress. To anticipate somewhat the events presently to be narrated it may be remarked at this point that the adversaries of the measure in Washington em- ployed precisely the same tactics to defeat the movement for erecting an independent State. The new establishment under Pierpont was regarded as rep- resenting the old Commonwealth. On December 2, 1861, the reorganized Legislature again assembled. The Governor recommended a repeal of the stay laws and confiscation of the property of secessionists. He congratulated the people that they had contributed their full quota, about 6,000 men, to the Union army. The adversaries of slavery endeavored to obtain the con- sent of the restored Legislature to the condition that the gradual emancipation clause should become a part of the constitution as soon as ratified by the people. If Congress at its present session would give its consent and admit the new State on the same condition, the people, they declared, could be trusted to ratify afterward. An election held April 3, 1862, gave, including the sol- diers' vote, 28,321 for and 572 against the constitution, no returns being received from ten counties.* The vote for ^ The Formation of West Virginia, p. 96, says 16,981 for and 441 against the constitution. The Annual Cyclopaedia for 1862, p. 801, gives the vote as 18,862 in favor of, and 514 against, the constitution. Poore's Charters and Constitutions, Vol. II. p. 1977, is the authority for the statement in the text. 110 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION gradual emancipation, where an expression was had, was almost equal to that given for the constitution, both being nearly unanimous. The former received 6,052 for and 610 against it. How far this informal expression of opinion influenced Congress will presently be noticed. At an extra session of the Legislature, convoked by Gov- ernor Pierpont, an act, in almost the identical language of that assenting to the formation of Kentucky, was passed, May 13, 1862, giving consent to the erection within the jurisdiction of Virginia of a new State to include forty-eight named coun- ties; the second section of this act provided that Berkeley, Jefferson and Frederic counties could be annexed whenever a majority of their votes, at an election to be held for that pur- pose, should ratify the constitution. The act, together with a certified original of the constitution, was to be transmitted to their Senators and Representatives in Washington, who were requested to use their endeavors to obtain the consent of Congress to the admission of West Virginia into the Union. On June 23, 1862, Mr. Wade, from the Committee on Territories, reported to the United States Senate a bill for the admission of West Virginia into the Union, and three days later requested its consideration. It stipulated, among other things, that " the convention thereinafter provided for shall, in the constitution to be framed by it, make provision that from and after the fourth day of July, 1863, the children of all slaves born within the limits of the State shall be free " ; it also allotted to the new Commonwealth as many Repre- sentatives in Congress as her population would justify under the apportionment then existing. Charles Sumner observed that the former was the imposi- tion of a condition which proposed to recognize the existence of slavery during that generation. " Short as life may be," VIRGINIA III he declared, " it is too long for slavery." By the admission of West Virginia a new slave State would be added; he moved, therefore, to substitute for this requirement the Jeffersonian interdict that " within the limits of said State there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment of crime whereof the party shall be duly con- victed." Mr. Hale justly remarked that after consenting to the admission of so many States with pro-slavery constitutions it would be a singular fact if the first that ever applied with a provision for prospective emancipation should be rejected. Senator Collamer believed that if West Virginia was to enter on a footing of perfect equality with other members of the Union she should, like them, have the right to regulate domestic questions, including slavery, in her own way. The condition imposed by the bill denied her that right. Mr. Wade disliked the proposition as it stood, because it was very objectionable to him " to say that a man bom on the 4th day of July, 1863, shall be free, and one born the day before shall be forever a slave." " I should much prefer," he added, " to have it graduated so that all born after the adoption of this constitution shall be free, and that all between certain ages shall be free at a certain period." At this point Sumner's amendment was lost by a vote of 24 to 11. Mr. Carlile, of Virginia, who was foremost in organizing resistance to secession, had from the beginning assumed the appearance of a friend, but, after giving direction to the move- ment for separation, acted as an adversary to the new State; he opposed all conditions on its admission and expressed a preference that it be permitted to enter on the constitution submitted by its people. He would never " consent to have the organic law of a State framed for its people by the Con- 112 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION gress of the United States." There were 47,000 voters in the counties to be embraced within the proposed State; of that number only about 19,000 had voted on the constitution. At the last moment he delivered with his usual eloquence a strong argument against admission. An amendment which he submitted would have the effect certainly to postpone, perhaps altogether to defeat, the measure in the Senate. Fail- ing to secure its adoption, he urged a postponement till De- cember following; this motion, however, was voted down. So surprised were his associates at this unexpected opposi- tion that they inquired pointedly why these belated argu- ments had not been presented to the Committee on Terri- tories when the measure was before them. Mr. Wade, its chairman, was especially severe in his condemnation of Car- lile's extraordinary course, for it was the reasoning of the Virginia Senator that had won their support; he had searched the precedents and submitted cheerfully to all the labors im- posed by the Committee. Now by his opposition he brought everything to a stand-still. His colleague, Mr, Willey, who had been converted in a rather advanced stage of the movement, declared that it was not the desire to be free from that part of the Commonwealth in rebellion that was responsible for the present attitude of western Virginia; the insurrection only precipitated the at- tempt to settle a controversy which was older than he. To enforce his remarks he added that great numbers of her citi- zens had determined to fix their abodes elsewhere unless West Virginia became an independent State. During this discussion the Senate had before it the constitution framed by the convention which met November 26, 1861, in the city of Wheeling. After a vigorous address by Benjamin F. Wade, who had recently investigated the subject, and whose ardor had been aroused by a deputation of West Virginians then in Wash- VIRGINIA "3 ington, the bill by a vote of 2^ to 17 passed the Senate, July 14, 1862.^ By Mr. Brown, of Virginia, a similar measure had already been introduced into the House on June 25. It was read twice and referred to the Committee on Territories,^ When called up on July 16 succeeding it was agreed to postpone consideration of the bill until the regular session in De- cember,^ and on the 9th of that month, when Representative Bingham asked that it be put on its passage, discussion of the subject was resumed. Representative Conway said that if the application of West Virginia came in the proper manner he would be happy to vote for its admission; he regretted, however, that at the beginning of the rebellion a territorial government had not been organized there; Congress could then have passed an enabling act, and the State could be received in a manner to admit of no dispute. The question turned, he declared, on whether the State of Virginia, of which a Mr. Pierpont was Governor, was the lawful State. This he denied. A number of persons without authority met at Wheeling and organized a government. This establishment the President had recognized; one branch of Congress by admitting its Senators had also conceded its legality. These precedents, however, should not be binding on the House. Neither mobs nor mass-meetings, he asserted, make laws under our sys- tem, and such bodies had no authority to appoint Mr. Pierpont. The President intended, Mr. Conway believed, to form similar organizations in all the seceded States. " A policy seems about to be inaugurated," he added, " looking to an assumption of State powers by a few individuals, wherever 'Globe, Part III., 2 Sess. 37th Cong., p. 864; Part IV., pp. 2941-2942, 3034-3039, 3134-3135, 3307-3320. ' Globe, 2 Sess. 37th Cong., p. 2933. ' Ibid., p. 3397. 114 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION a military or other encampment can be effected in any of the rebellious districts. The utter and flagrant unconstitution- ality of this scheme — I may say, its radically revolutionary character — ought to expose it to the reprobation of every loyal citizen and every member of this House. It aims at an utter subversion of our constitutional system. Its effect would be to consolidate all the powers of the Government in the hands of the Executive. With the admission of this new State, the President will have substantially created four Senators — two for Virginia and two for West Virginia." In referring to an extension of this system he declared that the President and a few friends could exercise Federal au- thority in all those States. " The true policy of this Govern- ment, therefore, with regard to the seceded States, is to hold them as common territory wherever and whenever our arms are extended over them. This obviates the terrible dangers which I have alluded to, and is in harmony with the highest considerations of public utility, as well as with sound legal principles." ^ Mr. Conway directed his criticisms against the President because he believed the Executive was first to recognize the new government. The action of the Senate was based upon this precedent, it being assumed that recognition was an Executive function. Mr. Brown, who introduced the bill at the preceding session, related concisely the essential facts already placed before the reader. He reminded Representative Conway that, though a State could not commit treason, or any other crime, the officials of government could do so; that the legis- lative powers, being incapable of annihilation, returned to the people; that the spontaneous assembly at Wheeling merely organized and proposed a plan by which regular elections were to be held to fill vacancies caused by the withdrawal of * Globe, Part I., 3 Sess. 37th Cong., pp. 37-38. VIRGINIA i'5 disloyal representatives. A day was fixed, and wherever throughout the State loyal citizens chose to hold an election they could do so. The body thus elected assumed the legisla- tive functions of the people. In answer to an inquiry he replied that about five counties outside of West Virginia were represented in the Legislature which consented to the erection of the new State, and all the counties in the State were expressly invited to send rep- resentatives to the General Assembly. If they were loyal they should have cooperated; if not, they should have no voice in either the State Legislature or Congress. He re- ferred in his remarks to a telegram which he had that morn- ing received from Wheeling. It contained a resolution passed by the Assembly asking the House of Representatives to approve the bill for the admission of West Virginia, which had been favorably acted upon by the Senate at the preceding session. " It has been asserted," he said in conclusion, " and under- stood in some quarters, that the organization of the govern- ment at Wheeling was for the purpose of forming a new State. I am prepared to say that when the convention originally met in Wheeling, although there were a few radicals there who wanted to form a new State without rein- stating the old State of Virginia, we voted them down, and commenced the exercise of our original rights as freemen to build up the loyal government of Virginia; and although we designed eventually to ask for this separation, and it was what we anxiously desired, yet we determined to be a law- abiding people, and ask for what we desired through the forms of law." ^ Representative Colfax in giving the reasons which should govern his vote stated that the restored government had been recognized by the Senate, by the President as well as ^ Globe, Part I., 3 Sess. 37th Cong., pp. 38-39, 41-42. ii6 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION other executive officers, and that the House, by admitting Mr. Segar, elected pursuant to a proclamation of Governor Pierpont, had also recognized the reorganized State. Even the political party in opposition voted for that member's ad- mission. He also remarked that the new State came knock- ing at the door for admission with the tiara of freedom on her brow.^ Mr. Olin, who opposed the bill at the preceding session, said : " I shall vote for it now with reluctance. I shall vote for it mainly upon the ground that the General Government, whether wisely or unwisely I will not undertake to say, has encouraged this movement to create a division of the State of Virginia." ^ The people of West Virginia, with their ex- perience of the evils which slavery brought on them, should not have permitted that institution to exist for an hour in their new government. For this deficiency, however, the bill provided a partial remedy. Crittenden observed that it was the party applying for ad- mission that gave its consent to a division of the State.^ To this objection Representative Blair replied that there were counties outside of West Virginia which had assented to dis- memberment. Other members, who had hitherto been hos- tile, now consented to support the measure from a conviction that it would weaken rebellion. Representative Dawes said that the primary elections which sent delegates to the Wheeling convention discussed not a reorganization of the Virginia government, but the formation of an independent State in western Virginia. To accomplish that, he said, the only way was to restore the government of the entire Commonwealth. That government then had two things to do : to set up a new State within itself and secondly * Globe, Part I., 3 Sess. 37th Cong, pp. 43-45. ' Ibid., p. 46. ' Ibid., pp. 46-47. VIRGINIA 117 to give its consent thereto. This suggestion, he understood, emanated from Washington.^ In reference to the admission, Thaddeus Stevens said : I do not desire to be understood as being deluded by the idea that we are admitting this State in pursuance of any provisions of the Constitu- tion. I find no such provision that justifies it, and the argument in favor of the constitutionality of it is one got up by those who either honestly entertain, I think, an erroneous opinion, or who desire to justify, by a forced construction, an act which they have predetermined to do. Now, to say that the Legislature which called this seceding convention was not the Legislature of Virginia, is asserting that the Legislature chosen by a vast majority of the people of a State is not the Legislature of that State. That is a doctrine which I can never assent to. I admit that the Legislature were disloyal, but they were still the disloyal and traitorous Legislature of the State of Virginia ; and the State, as a mere State, was bound by their acts. Not so individuals. They are respon- sible to the General Government, and are responsible whether the State decrees treason or not. That being the Legislature of Virginia, Governor Letcher, elected by a majority of the votes of the people, is the Governor of Virginia — a traitor in rebellion, but a traitorous governor of a traitor- ous State. Now, then, how has that State ever given its consent to this division? A highly respectable but very small number of the citizens of Virginia — the people of West Virginia — assembled together, disap- proved of the acts of the State of Virginia, and with the utmost self- complacency called themselves Virginia. I hold that none of the States now in rebellion are entitled to the pro- tection of the Constitution, and I am grieved when I hear those high in authority sometimes talking of the constitutional difficulties about en- forcing measures against this belligerent power, and the next moment disregarding every vestige and semblance of the Constitution by acts which alone are arbitrary. I hope I do not differ with the Executive in the views which I advocate. But I see the Executive one day saying " you shall not take the property of rebels to pay the debts which the rebels have brought upon the Northern States." Why? Because the Constitu- tion is in the way. And the next day I see him appointing a military governor of Virginia, a military governor of Tennessee, and some other places. Where does he find anything in the Constitution to warrant that? ^ Globe, Part L, 3 Sess. 37th Cong., p. 48. ii8 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION If he must look there alone for authority, then all these acts are flagrant usurpations, deserving the condemnation of the community. He must agree with me or else his acts are as absurd as they are unlawful ; for I see him here and there ordering elections for members of Congress wher- ever he finds a little collection of three or four consecutive plantations in the rebel States, in order that men may be sent in here to control the proceedings of this Congress, just as we sanctioned the election held by a few people at a little watering place at Fortress Monroe, by which we have here the very respectable and estimable member from that locality with us. It was upon the same principle. . . . I say, then, that we may admit West Virginia as a new State, not by virtue of any provision of the Constitution, but under our absolute power which the laws of war give us in the circumstances in which we are placed. I shall vote for this bill upon that theory, and upon that alone ; for I will not stultify myself by supposing that we have any war- rant in the Constitution for this proceeding. The Union, he declared, could never be restored as it was. His consent would never be given to restore it with a con- stitutional provision protecting slavery. An additional rea- son for giving his vote in favor of the bill was that there was a provision which would make West Virginia a free State.^ " No right of persons, no right of property," said Mr. Noell, " no social or domestic affairs, could be regulated or controlled by the people of western Virginia, under the cir- cumstances in which they were placed, without recognizing the ordinance of secession, and acting as a State within the Southern Confederacy." ^ This showed both the necessity of reorganizing the government of Virginia and the recognition by Federal authorities of the establishment so constituted. Mr. Segar declared that eleven of the forty-eight counties to comprise the new State had not participated in its estab- lishment, being represented neither in the reorganized Legis- lature nor the Wheeling convention; three others were un- represented both in the House of Delegates and the conven- tions; ten cast no vote on the constitution and three had in- ' Globe, Part I., 3 Sess. 37th Cong., pp. 50-51. ' Ibid., p. 35- VIRGINIA 119 terests, social and commercial, which bound them up with the East. Then, too, the people of West Virginia made a funda- mental law recognizing slavery; an anti-slavery constitution was to be imposed on them as a condition of admission.* An able argument by Representative Bingham, of Ohio, who had charge of the bill, concluded the debate on December 10, 1862, when it passed by 96 yeas to 55 nays.^ With the President rested the fate of this important meas- ure; if he vetoed it there would, probably, not be found a two thirds majority in its support. Many members, as will be seen from the preceding abridgment of the debates, yielded only a reluctant support. On December 23, 1862, Mr. Lincoln sent to his constitu- tional advisers the following note : Gentlemen of the Cabinet : A bill for an act entitled " An act for the admission of the State of West Virginia into the Union and for other purposes " has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, and has been duly presented to me for my action. I respectfully ask of each of you an opinion in writing on the follow- ing questions, to wit : 1st. Is the said act constitutional? 2d. Is the said act expedient ? * To this request six members of the Cabinet responded by submitting their written opinions. Three — Seward, Stan- ton and Chase — answered both questions in the affirmative. Bates, Blair and Welles replied in the negative; the remaining place in the Cabinet was vacant owing to the resignation of Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior, who had been raised to the Bench in Indiana. His successor had not yet been appointed. ' Globe, Part I., 3 Sess. 37th Cong., pp. 54-55. *Ibid., p. 59. 'Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. II. p. 283. 120 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Upon the constitutional point Mr. Seward said : " It seems to me that the political body which has given consent in this case is really and incontestably the State of Virginia. So long as the United States do not recognize the secession, de- parture, or separation of one of the States, that State must be deemed as existing and having a constitutional place within the Union, whatever may be at any moment exactly its revo- lutionary condition. A State thus situated cannot be deemed to be divided into two or more States merely by any revolu- tionary proceeding which may have occurred, because there cannot be, constitutionally, two or more States of Virginia. . . . The newly organized State of Virginia is there- fore, at this moment, by the express consent of the United States, invested with all the rights of the State of Virginia, and charged with all the powers, privileges, and dignity of that State. If the United States allow to that organization any of these rights, powers, and privileges, it must be allowed to possess and enjoy them all. If it be a State competent to be represented in Congress and bound to pay taxes, it is a State competent to give the required consent of the State to the formation and erection of the new State of West Virginia within the jurisdiction of Virginia." " Upon the question of expediency," he wrote, " I am de- termined by two considerations. First. The people of West- ern Virginia will be safer from molestation for their loyalty, because better able to protect and defend themselves as a new and separate State than they would be if left to demoralizing uncertainty upon the question whether, in the progress of the war, they may not be again reabsorbed in the State of Vir- ginia, and subjected to severities as a punishment for their present devotion to the Union. The first duty of the United States is protection to loyalty wherever it is found. Second. I am of opinion that the harmony and peace of the Union will be promoted by allowing the new State to be formed and VIRGINIA 121 erected, which will assume jurisdiction over that part of the valley of the Ohio which lies on the south side of the Ohio River, displacing, in a constitutional and lawful manner, the jurisdiction heretofore exercised there by a political power concentrated at the head of the James River." ^ Mr. Chase, in discussing the constitutional question, said in part : " The Madison Papers clearly show that the consent of the Legislature of the original State was the only consent re- quired to the erection and formation of a new State within its jurisdiction. That consent having been given, the consent of the new State, if required, is proved by her application for admission. . . . The Legislature of Virginia, it may be admitted, did not contain many members from the eastern counties; it contained, however, representatives from all coun- ties whose inhabitants were not either rebels themselves, or dominated by greater numbers of rebels. It was the only Legislature of the State known to the Union. If its consent was not valid, no consent could be. If its consent was not valid, the Constitution, as to the people of West Virginia, has been so suspended by the rebellion that a most important right under it is utterly lost." Relative to the question of expediency, he writes : " The act is almost universally regarded as of vital importance to their welfare by the loyal people most immediately interested, and it has received the sanction of large majorities in both Houses of Congress. These facts afford strong presumptions of expediency. ... It may be said, indeed, that the admission of West Virginia will draw after it the necessity of admitting other States under the consent of extemporized legislatures assuming to act for whole States, though really representing no important part of their territory. I think this necessity imaginary. There is no such legislature, nor is there likely to be. No such legislature, if extemporized, is ^ Quoted in N. & H., Vol. VI. pp. 300-301. 122 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION likely to receive the recognition of Congress or the Execu- tive." ^ Mr. Stanton responded more briefly than either Secretary Seward or Secretary Chase, observing, among other things : " I have been unable to perceive any point on which the act of Congress conflicts with the Constitution. By the erection of the new State, the geographical boundary heretofore existing between the free and slave States will be broken, and the advantage of this upon every point of consideration surpasses all objections which have occurred to me on the question of expediency. Many prophetic dangers and evils might be specified, but it is safe to suppose that those who come after us will be as wise as ourselves, and if what we deem evils be really such, they will be avoided. The present good is real and substantial, the future may safely be left in the care of those whose duty and interest may be involved in any possible future measures of legislation." ^ One or two excerpts from the opinion of Mr. Welles will indicate the course of his argument in the negative : " Under existing necessities, an organization of the loyal citizens, or of a portion of them, has been recognized, and its Senators and Representatives admitted to seats in Congress. Yet we can- not close our eyes to the fact that the fragment of the State which, in the revolutionary tumult, has instituted the new organization, is not possessed of the records, archives, symbols, traditions, or capital of the Commonwealth. Though calling itself the State of Virginia, it does not assume the debts and obligations contracted prior to the existing difficul- ties. Is this organization, then, really and in point of fact any- thing else than a provisional government for the State? It is composed almost entirely of those loyal citizens who reside beyond the mountains, and within the prescribed limits of the * Quoted in N- & H., Vol. VI. pp. 302-303. * Ibid., p. 304. VIRGINIA 123 proposed new State. In this revolutionary period, there being no contestants, we are compelled to recognize the organization as Virginia. Whether that would be the case, and how the question would be met and disposed of, were the insurrection this day abandoned, need not now be discussed. Were Vir- ginia, or those parts of it not included in the proposed new State, invaded and held in temporary subjection by a foreign enemy instead of the insurgents, the fragment of territory and population which should successfully repel the enemy and adhere to the Union would doubtless, during such temporary subjection, be recognized, and properly recognized, as Vir- ginia. When, however, this loyal fragment goes farther, and not only declares itself to be Virginia, but proceeds by its own act to detach itself permanently and forever from the Commonwealth, and to erect itself into a new State within the jurisdiction of the State of Virginia, the question arises whether this proceeding is regular, legal, right, and, in honest good faith, conformable to, and within the letter and spirit of the Constitution. . . . Congress may admit new States into the Union ; but any attempt to dismember or divide a State by any forced or unauthorized assumption would be an inexpedient exercise of doubtful power to the injury of such State. Were there no question of doubtful constitu- tionality in the movement, the time selected for the division of the State is most inopportune. It is a period of civil commo- tion, when unity and concerted action on the part of all loyal citizens and authorities should be directed to a restoration of the Union, and all tendency towards disintegration and demoralization avoided." ^ Mr. Blair, likewise in the negative, added little of impor- tance to what Secretary Welles had adduced on that side. The first and rather hastily formed opinion of Attorney- General Bates has already been given together with an account ' Quoted in N. & H., Vol. VI. pp. 304-306. 124 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION of the circumstances attending its publication; upon longer reflection he did not greatly change the ground of his original convictions and in an elaborate discussion still reasoned in the negative.^ Between these evenly balanced and conflicting opinions of his advisers Mr. Lincoln argued as follows : The consent of the legislature of Virginia is constitutionally necessary to the bill for the admission of West Virginia becoming a law. A body claiming to be such legislature has given its consent. We cannot well deny that it is such, unless we do so upon the outside knowledge that the body was chosen at elections in which a majority of the qualified voters of Virginia did not participate. But it is a universal practice in the popu- lar elections in all these States to give no legal consideration whatever to those who do not choose to vote, as against the effect of the votes of those who do choose to vote. Hence it is not the qualified voters, but the qualified voters who choose to vote that constitute the political power of the State. Much less than to non-voters should any consideration be given to those who did not vote in this case, because it is also matter of outside knowledge that they were not merely neglectful of their rights under and duty to this government, but were also engaged in open rebel- lion against it. Doubtless among these non-voters were some Union men whose voices were smothered by the more numerous secessionists; but we know too little of their number to assign them any appreciable value. Can this government stand, if it indulges constitutional constructions by which men in open rebellion against it are to be accounted, man for man, the equals of those who maintain their loyalty to it? Are they to be accounted even better citizens, and more worthy of consideration, than those who merely neglect to vote? If so, their treason against the Con- stitution enhances their constitutional value. Without braving these ab- surd conclusions, we cannot deny that the body which consents to the admission of West Virginia is the legislature of Virginia. I do not think the plural form of the words " legislatures " and " States " in the phrase of the Constitution " without the consent of the legislatures of the States concerned," etc., has any reference to the new State concerned. That plural form sprang from the contemplation of two or more old States con- tributing to form a new one. The idea that the new State was in danger of being admitted without its own consent was not provided against, because it was not thought of, as I conceive. It is said, the devil takes care of his own. Much more should a good spirit — the spirit of the Constitution and the Union — take care of its own. I think it cannot do less and live. * See pp. 105-106 ante. VIRGINIA 125 But is the admission into the Union of West Virginia expedient? This, in my general view, is more a question for Congress than for the Execu- tive. Still I do not evade it. More than on anything else, it depends on whether the admission or rejection of the new State would, under all the circumstances, tend the more strongly to the restoration of the national authority throughout the Union. That which helps most in this direction is the most expedient at this time. Doubtless those in remaining Virginia would return to the Union, so to speak, less reluctantly without the divi- sion of the old State than with it ; but I think we could not save as much in this quarter by rejecting the new State, as we should lose by it in West Virginia. We can scarcely dispense with the aid of West Virginia in this struggle; much less can we afford to have her against us, in Con- gress and in the field. Her brave and good men regard her admission into the Union as a matter of life and death. They have been true to the Union under very severe trials. We have so acted as to justify their hopes, and we cannot fully retain their confidence and cooperation if we seem to break faith with them. In fact, they could not do so much for us, if they would. Again, the admission of the new State turns that much slave soil, to free, and thus is a certain and irrevocable encroachment upon the cause of the rebellion. The division of a State is dreaded as a precedent. But a measure made expedient by a war is no precedent for times of peace. It is said that the admission of West Virginia is seces- sion, and tolerated only because it is our secession. Well, if we call it by that name, there is still difference enough between secession against the Constitution and secession in favor of the Constitution. I believe the admission of West Virginia into the Union is expedient.^ The bill passed by the House on the loth was approved by the President on the 31st of December, 1862; after nam- ing the forty-eight counties to constitute the new State the act declares, among other things, that since the convention framed the constitution for West Virginia its people had expressed a wish to change section seven of the eleventh article by inserting the following in its place, vis.: " The children of slaves born within the limits of this State after the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be free; and that all slaves within the said State who shall, at the time aforesaid, be under the age of ten years, shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-one years ; and all slaves over ten and under twenty-one years, shall be free when they arrive * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. II. pp. 285-287. 126 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION at the age of twenty-five years; and no slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent residence therein." ^ The constitution thus amended was unanimously ratified by the convention, which on a summons of the commissioners reassembled February i8, 1863, and also by the people, to whom it was submitted at an election held on May 26 follow- ing.^ President Lincoln on April 20 issued a proclamation declaring that the prescribed conditions having been com- plied with, the constitution would go into force in sixty days from that date; the formation of the new State was com- plete and it became a member of the Union on the 20th of June, 1863.^ Daniel Webster, in an address delivered thirteen years be- fore, at the laying of the corner-stone of an addition to the Federal Capitol, had asked : " And ye men of Western Vir- ginia, . . . what benefit do you propose to yourself by disunion? If you 'secede,' what do you 'secede' from, and what do you ' accede ' to ? Do you look for the current of the Ohio to change, and to bring you and your commerce to the tide-waters of the eastern rivers? What man in his senses can suppose that you would remain part and parcel of Virginia a month after Virginia should have ceased to be part and parcel of the Union? " ^ The remarkable prediction of the great orator was fulfilled; his inspired vision had pierced the future. The Old Dominion had separated forever along the line of the Alleghanies. Before relating the subsequent history of the restored government, it is proper to notice a few important events in the early career of the new Commonwealth. On January 31, 1863, an act passed the General Assembly of Virginia giving consent to the transfer of Berkeley County to the ' The Formation of West Virginia, p. 152. ^ Ibid., pp. 192-193. ' Letters and State Papers of Lincoln. Vol. IL p. 326. * Webster's Works, Vol. H. pp. 607-608. VIRGINIA 127 State of West Virginia. The preamble of this act afifirms that its people desired to be annexed to the proposed State. The question of transfer, however, was to be decided by a majority of voters at an election to be held on the fourth Thursday of May. If, however, the polls could not be safely opened on that day, the Governor was empowered to post- pone the election by proclamation. The commissioners who superintended the polling were to certify the results to the Executive. On February 4 succeeding another act made it lawful for voters in certain districts including twenty-three counties to declare, at a general election to be held on the fourth Thursday of May, whether these specified counties should be annexed to West Virginia. The consent of the Legislature of that State was, of course, made a condition of the transfer, after which the jurisdiction of Virginia over such counties was to cease. West Virginia statutes of August 5 and November 2, 1863, in words, admit Berkeley and Jefferson counties, and they have ever since been under her jurisdiction. When admitted into the Union it was with a provision in her constitution that she might acquire additional territory; therefore Con- gress gave its consent in advance and it was not afterwards withdrawn. In brief, West Virginia accepted the transfer and it was authorized by the General Assembly of the Com- monwealth of Virginia.^ * By a joint resolution, approved March 10, 1866, Congress agreed that both counties formed a part of West Virginia. The parent State, how- ■ever, by an act of December 5, 1865, had already repealed both the stat- utes of January 31 and February 4, 1863, as well as section tzvo of the act of May 13, 1862; and on December 11, 1866, a bill in equity was filed in the Supreme Court of the United States in which it was contended that it was not the intention of that State to consent to the annexation of Berkeley and Jefferson counties except upon the performance of certain conditions; the state of the county on election day was such as not to permit the opening of all the polls in Berkeley and Jefferson, nor indeed at any considerable part of the usual election places. The voters did not 128 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION State ojfificers were elected on May 28, when the following unconditional Union candidates, receiving a vote of about 30,000, were chosen without opposition : Arthur I. Boreman, Governor; J. E. Boyers, Secretary of State; Campbell Tarr, Treasurer; Samuel Crane, Auditor; A. B. Caldwell, Attorney- General; also three judges of a court of appeals. The inauguration of the new State, which was marked by imposing ceremonies, took place at Wheeling, the capital, on June 20, 1863. Mr. Pierpont, the retiring executive of reor- ganized Virginia, briefly addressed the assembled citizens and urged them not to forsake the flag; he then introduced his successor, whom he pronounced " true as steel." Gov- ernor Boreman in his short speech said that the only terms of peace were that the rebels should lay down their arms and submit to the regularly constituted authority of the United States. The Legislature of West Virginia convened on the same day. Waitman T. Willey and P. G. Van Winkle were elected United States Senators.* In his first message Governor Bore- man recommended to the General Assembly the immediate passage of laws effectually to extirpate slavery, and also the enactment of a law that no man should be permitted to vote or to hold office until he had taken the oath of allegiance. have adequate notice. In short, a great majority of them were then and now, December, 1866, opposed to annexation. Other irregularities are alleged in the complaint of Virginia. A decision, however, has been ren- dered by the Supreme Court of the United States in favor of the new Commonwealth. [See Virginia vs. West Virginia, 11 Wall., p. 39; also Transcripts of Records, Supreme Court U. S., Vol. 152, December Term, 1870.] * Notwithstanding the new State had been organized by a law which passed both Houses of Congress, and was approved by the President, Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, when the members-elect presented themselves before the Senate, opposed their admission on the ground that there was legally and constitutionally no such State in existence as West Virginia. On his motion to administer the customary oath thirty-six Senators voted in the affirmative, five in the negative. [Globe, i Sess. 38th Cong., pp. 1-3.] VIRGINIA 129 In the Presidential election of 1864, the first held since the adoption of the Constitution in which any State deliberately neglected to appoint electors, 33,680 votes were polled in West Virginia; of this number the Union ticket received 23,- 223 and the McClellan electors 10,457.^ Elections had also been held in Louisiana and Tennessee by authority of the governments established there under Mr. Lincoln's plan of re- construction ; the Republican majority in Congress, however, denied the validity of the organizations in the two States last named and refused to count the votes which they presented. This question will be fully considered when we come to trace the development of the Congressional plan. At the regular State election Governor Boreman was chosen without opposi- tion, receiving 19,098 votes. With the subsequent history of the new Commonwealth the subject of reconstruction is not much concerned. By the formation of an independent Commonwealth the counties beyond the Alleghanies were withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the restored government, which after the in- augural ceremonies at Wheeling selected for its capital the city of Alexandria, where it continued till May 25, 1865, to exer- cise its functions in those parts of the Old Dominion within the lines of the Union army. A State government was promptly organized by the election of a legislature and of ex- ecutive officers. In this establishment the loyal eastern counties participated. Mr. Pierpont was elected Governor for the term of three years beginning January i, 1864. A Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, a Secretary of State, a Treasurer, an Auditor, an Adjutant-General and an Attorney-General were also chosen. The Governor in his message to the Assembly mentioned slavery as doomed, and recommended the calling of a con- * A History o£ Presidential Elections, Stanwood, pp. 246-247. Edition of 1884. 130 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION vention so to amend the State constitution as to abolish the institution forever. In compliance with this suggestion the Legislature, on December 21, 1863, passed an act directing a convention to be held at Alexandria on the 13th of February succeeding to amend the constitution and prohibit slavery in the counties of Accomac, Northampton, Princess Ann, Eliza- beth City and York (including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth). These with Berkeley County had been excepted from the operation of the Emancipation Proclamation. None but loyal citizens who had not assisted the insurgents since January i, 1863, were allowed to take part, and those whose right to vote might be challenged were required to swear support of the Constitution and to declare that they had not in any way given aid or comfort to the enemy. The convention, consisting of sixteen members, assembled in the new capital at the appointed time and remained in session till April 11 following, when a constitution was adopted.^ Various amendments, relating chiefly to the regu- lation of the elective franchise and to the abolition of slavery, were discussed and agreed upon. The work of this miniature convention was ordered to be proclaimed without a submission to the people. It was not, however, recognized by Congress, though the civil government which authorized its formation was permitted to continue under it, provisionally only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the United States at any time to abolish, modify, or supersede. Though the bill for the admission of West Virginia passed both Houses, yet Congress was by no means unanimous in giving its consent to that measure. In the debates, of which a synopsis has been given, the hostility of Thaddeus Stevens and other influential members is scarcely concealed. This opposition to executive policy slowly gathered strength, and ^ Ann, Cycl., 1864, p. 809. VIRGINIA 131 by 1863 had become formidable enough to defeat the ad- mission of Representatives from the Alexandria government. The Senators, however, remained, Lemuel J. Bowden till his death, January 2, 1864, when his successor was refused ad- mission, and John S. Carlile till the expiration of his term in 1865. On the assembling of the 38th Congress, which commenced its first session December 7, 1863, Joseph E. Segar, Lucius H. Chandler and Benjamin M. Kitchen appeared as Representa- tives from Virginia. On May 17 succeeding Mr. Dawes from the Committee of Elections reported a resolution to the effect that Joseph E. Segar, from the First District of Virginia, was not entitled to a seat in that Congress. The case of Mr. Chandler, regarded as precisely similar, was considered at the same time. The district which Mr. Segar claimed to represent was com- posed of twenty counties ; of these, Chairman Dawes asserted, only four participated in the election. Polling places were not opened in any other part of the district, the Confederate au- thorities being in possession of the remaining counties. As there could be no free exercise of the franchise in this situ- ation Mr. Segar, it was contended, was not properly chosen, and, therefore, was not entitled to a seat. The vote cast, though not accurately ascertained, was estimated at 1,677, of which the claimant received 1,300. Because of his loyalty and the sacrifices he had made, the Committee regretted the necessity of deciding against him. Mr. Segar, speaking in his own behalf, reminded the House that in a preceding election, when he received 559 out of 1,018 votes polled in three counties, he was admitted after a delay of seven or eight weeks; but when he was sent by a larger constituency and came as the choice of four counties he was informed that he had no right to a seat, and some of his colleasfues who favored his admission in 1862 voted to ex- 132 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION elude him. The Committee's report, he asserted, admitted the existence of such a State as Virginia. He asked Chairman Dawes a rather embarrassing question when he inquired how a State could have two Senators and no Representative in Congress. In conclusion he pronounced restored State organization and gradual accretion to be the best method of reconstruction. Concerning the title of Mr. Chandler, from the Second Con- gressional District, Chairman Dawes stated that of the 779 votes polled in the election 778 were cast for the claimant. For the same reason as in the case of Mr. Segar only a small part of that District was free to participate in the election, and nearly all the votes were polled in the city of Norfolk. The ^committee reported against his admission on the same ground taken in Mr. Segar's case. Chandler, who was permitted to state his case to the House, cited a resolution introduced by his former school-mate, Owen Lovejoy, the well-known abolitionist, authorizing the names of the three Virginia claimants to be enrolled as Representa- tives. That resolution, however, was tabled and their cre- dentials referred to the Committee of Elections. In i860 the Union vote in his District was only 6,712; of that number 2,900, he said, were in Norfolk and Ports- mouth; the latter city had cast more votes against secession than the remainder of his District. Great numbers of loyal men, however, left there at the beginning of the war. Electors being under no obligation to vote may allow an election to go by default when one citizen could return a member to Con- gress. Territorially restored Virginia was larger than Dela- ware and possessed twice the area of Rhode Island. The case of Benjamin M. Kitchen, on which the Com- mittee had previously made an adverse report, differed from those of the other two claimants in that he had received nearly all of his vote in Berkeley County, which possessed a VIRGINIA 133 sort of wanderinpf character, for it was somewhat uncer- tain whether it was under the jurisdiction of the new or the old State. What action was taken on the Committee's report does not appear, but it may be inferred from a facetious remark of one member who observed that, Hke Segar and Chandler, Kitchen had been privileged to retire to private life. The two former were refused admission by the decided vote of 94 to 23. Besides endeavoring to win back the wavering, Governor Pierpont was occupied in taking measures for the relief of the distressed. In the vicinity of Norfolk and Portsmouth there was a large number of destitute persons whose natural supporters were still following the declining fortunes of the Confederacy or had been killed in its service. While it was universally agreed that their necessities should be relieved, the military and civil authorities were in conflict as to the mode of providing for them. The President in his efforts to establish amicable relations between the officers of the army and those of the State invoked the assistance of the Governor. As the restored Commonwealth could not be consistently recognized while its capital was in a state of blockade the President by proclamation, September 24, 1863, declared that the interdiction of trade with the port of Alexandria had ceased. General Butler with headquarters at Fortress Monroe took command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina November 2, 1863. His predecessors, he asserted, had en- deavored to recruit a regiment of Virginians; but after several months of energetic trial their efforts were abandoned. As eastern Virginia claimed to be a loyal and fully organized State, Butler renewed the attempt, whereupon Governor Pier- pont protested vigorously. One and a half companies were all the recruits that the Commonwealth would furnish, and these, Butler asserts, were employed to defend lighthouses and 134 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION protect Union Inhabitants from outrages at the hands of their disloyal neighbors.^ This experience, it may be supposed, did not tend to raise the Alexandria government in the esteem of the Department Commander. We find accordingly that differ- ences soon sprang up between the civil and military authorities. An attempt to regulate the liquor traffic in Norfolk and vi- cinity was the occasion of an open rupture. Civil officers continued to collect the payments imposed by law on those engaged in the business; the military power, to keep the traffic under better control, undertook to give to a few firms a monopoly of the importation. In this situation many small retailers refused to pay their licenses and were indicted in the local courts. To foil this purpose, General Shepley issued, June 22, 1864, an order providing that " on the day of the ensuing municipal election in the city of Norfolk a poll will be opened at the several places of voting, and separate ballot- boxes will be kept open during the hours of voting, in which voters may deposit their ballots, ' yes ' or ' no,' upon the fol- lowing question: Those in favor of continuing the present form of municipal government during the existence of mili- tary occupation will vote ' yes.' Those opposed to it will vote * no.' " Governor Pierpont resented this action and promptly issued a proclamation protesting against it as a revolutionary pro- ceeding in violation of the Federal Constitution, adding, " No loyal citizen, therefore, is expected to vote on the proposed question." In a vigorous pamphlet discussing the " abuses of military power " he repeated his criticism. Butler at this point took up the cudgels for his subordinate and in a general order, dated June 30, 1864, discussed the in- cident at some length. Pierpont was alluded to as " a person who calls himself Governor," and as one " pretending to be the head of the restored government of Virginia, which govern- ' Butler's Book, p. 618. VIRGINIA '35 ment is unrecognized by the Congress, laws, and Constitution of the United States." The order further recited that as the loyal citizens of Norfolk had voted against the further trial of the experiment of municipal government " therefore it is or- dered that all attempts to exercise civil office and power, under any supposed city election, within the city of Nor- folk and its environs, must cease, and the persons pretending to be elected to civil offices at the late election, and those here- tofore elected to municipal offices since the rebellion, must no longer attempt to exercise such functions; and upon any pretense or attempt so to do, the military commandant at Norfolk will see to it that persons so acting are stayed and quieted." A memorial to Mr. Lincoln enlisted his sympathy and secured for Pierpont the assistance of Attorney-General Bates, who on July ii wrote the President a long official letter setting forth his sense of the serious military encroachment by General Butler upon civil law and the authority of Mr. Pier- pont as Governor of Virginia. The Department Commander replied in a communication of forty pages in sharp criticism of the Alexandria government, which he characterized as a " useless, expensive, and inefficient thing, unrecognized by Congress, unknown to the Constitution of the United States, and of such character that there is no command in the Decalogue against worshiping it, being the likeness of nothing in the heavens above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth." The Attorney-General, who was accused of a design to create a conflict between the civil and the military power, also came in for a share of rather violent criticism. In this alter- cation each party accused the other of being assisted by only secessionists and traitors.^ It was relative to this controversy that Mr. Lincoln, Decem- * N. & H., Abraham Lincoln, A History, Vol. IX. pp. 439-442. 136 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION ber 21, 1864, addressed to General Butler the following communication : On the 9th of August last, I began to write you a letter, the enclosed being a copy of so much as I then wrote. So far as it goes it embraces the views I then entertained and still entertain. A little relaxation of the complaints made to me on the subject, occur- ring about that time, the letter was not finished and sent. I now learn, correctly I suppose, that you have ordered an election, similar to the one mentioned, to take place on the eastern shore of Virginia. Let this be suspended at least until conference with me and obtaining my approval. [Inclosure.] Executive Mansion, Washington, August 9, 1864. Major-General Butler: Your paper of the about Norfolk matters, is received, as also was your other, on the same general subject, dated, I believe, some time in February last. This subject has caused considerable trouble, forcing me to give a good deal of time and reflection to it. I regret that crimination and recrimination are mingled in it. I surely need not to assure you that I have no doubt of your loyalty and devoted patriotism ; and I must tell you that I have no less confidence in those of Governor Pierpont and the Attorney-General. The former — at first as the loyal governor of all Vir- ginia, including that which is now West Virginia, in organizing and fur- nishing troops, and in all other proper matters — was as earnest, honest, and efficient to the extent of his means as any other loyal governor. The inauguration of West Virginia as a new State left to him, as he assumed, the remainder of the old State; and the insignificance of the parts which are outside of the rebel lines, and consequently within his reach, certainly gives a somewhat farcical air to his dominion, and I sup- pose he, as well as I, has considered that it can be useful for little else than as a nucleus to add to. The Attorney-General needs only to be known to be relieved from all question as to loyalty and thorough devo- tion to the national cause, constantly restraining as he does my tendency to clemency for rebels and rebel sympathizers. But he is the law-officer of the Government, and a believer in the virtue of adhering to law. Coming to the question itself, the military occupancy of Norfolk is a ne- cessity with us. If you, as department commander, find the cleansing of the city necessary to prevent pestilence in your army; street-lights and a fire department necessary to prevent assassinations and incendiarism among your men and stores ; wharfage necessary to land and ship men and supplies ; a large pauperism, badly conducted at a needlessly large expense to the government ; and find that all these things, or any of them, VIRGINIA 137 are not reasonably well attended to by the civil government, you rightfully may and must take them into your own hands. But you should do so on your own avowed judgment of a military necessity, and not seem to ad- mit that there is no such necessity by taking a vote of the people on the question. Nothing justifies the suspending of the civil by the military authority but military necessity ; and of the existence of that necessity, the military commander, and not a popular vote, is to decide. And whatever is not within such necessity should be left undisturbed. In your paper of February you fairly notified me that you contemplated taking a popular vote, and, if fault there be, it was my fault that I did not object then, which I probably should have done had I studied the subject as closely as I have since done. I now think you would better place whatever you feel is necessary to be done on this distinct ground of mili- tary necessity, openly discarding all reliance for what you do on any elec- tion. I also think you should so keep accounts as to show every item of money received and how expended. The course here indicated does not touch the case when the military commander, finding no friendly civil government existing, may, under sanction or direction of the President, give assistance to the people to inaugurate one.^ On the same general subject the President one week later wrote General Butler this brief note: I think you will find that the provost-marshal on the eastern shore has, as by your authority, issued an order, not for a meeting, but for an election. The order, printed in due form, was shown to me, but as I did not retain it, I cannot give you a copy. If the people, on their own motion, wish to hold a peaceful meeting, I suppose you need not hinder them.' It has elsewhere been observed that a Legislature represent- ing what remained of the restored government was chosen at the time of Mr. Pierpont's election. This body, however, was but the merest shadow of the Assembly of that once proud Commonwealth. Seven Delegates responded to the roll call when the House convened in December, 1863. They adjourned from day to day and on the 9th of that month or- ganized with eight members in the popular branch. Precisely * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. II. pp. 619-621. ' Ibid., p. 623. 138 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION how many Senators composed the upper House does not appear in any notice of their proceedings accessible to the writer; the aggregate number in both chambers, however, is said not to have exceeded 16.^ This estimate is probably correct; for in the election, February 4, 1864, of a Secretary of State and a Treasurer the total vote on joint ballot was only 14.^ It is probable that neither Mr. Lincoln nor Governor Pier- pont regarded this organization as anything more than a nucleus around which the loyal elements might rally. Both Congress and the military authorities, however, treated it with scant courtesy. It is not matter of surprise, therefore, that memorials were presented to the United States Senate petitioning for the substitution of a military for this feeble civil government. To offset this movement remonstrances from citizens of Alexandria and from citizens of Loudon County were offered, January 17, 1865, by Senator Willey, of West Virginia. All the memorials of both classes were referred to the Committee on Territories. By Mr. Willey credentials of Hon. Joseph Segar, Senator- elect from Virginia, were presented, February 17, 1865, to supply the vacancy caused by the death of Lemuel J. Bowden. Mr. Willey moved that the credentials be read and placed on the files, and that the oath of office be administered to Mr. Segar. The credentials were read and immediately after Mr. Sumner moved that the papers be referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary. Senator Willey opposed the refer- ence. The credentials, he believed, were proper on their face; they came to the Senate in due form under the seal of the State of Virginia. Mr, Segar was the accredited successor of Mr. Bowden, who died while a member of Congress. If Mr. Bowden was entitled to a seat his successor was like- wise entitled if his credentials were regular and correct. 'Why The Solid South? p. 222. ^Ann. Cycl., 1864, p. 810. VIRGINIA 139 Mr. Cowan also opposed the reference because he did not think it wise to abandon the poHcy hitherto pursued in deal- ing with loyal minorities in the rebellious States. He would be sorry, he said, if these States were repulsed when they were desirous to do all they could to achieve the very end for which the present tremendous struggle was taking place. When Mr. Bowden came to take his seat no such objection was made. A question by Senator Hale developed the fact, however, that Mr. Bowden presented himself before the vote was taken on the admission of West Virginia. Trumbull believed that a reference of the credentials, just as in the Arkansas case, would bring up the question. Senator Howard, who favored a reference, thought that the entire question of the right of Virginia to be represented in Congress should be gone into. He would thank the committee for a concise account of all the proceedings connected with the election of Mr. Segar and his colleague. He asked whether a State like Virginia, in armed rebellion, could have Senators on that floor. Mr. Saulsbury pointed out the change that had come over the judgment of the Senate. When Messrs. Willey and Carlile appeared there was, he said, but a corporal's guard who opposed their right to seats, because Virginia was in rebellion, and it was then held by the minority that Senators should rep- resent the sovereignty of their States. Those who were then most zealous for the admission of the gentlemen claiming to represent Virginia had become most vehement in their opposition to the admission of Mr. Segar. Senator McDougall believed that to refer the proposition to the committee would be to bury it, and no resurrection, he said, had been proclaimed for any such thing. He had his impressions and was as well prepared to discuss the question then as at any time. Virginia, according to his understand- ing of the philosophy of the Constitution, was a State of the 140 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Union. He believed the Senator-elect, by reason of his cre- dentials, could take the oath, though that was not conclusive of his right to a seat in the Senate. Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, believed that Congress because of its action for three years was bound to recognize the existence of both the Governor and Legislature of Vir- ginia. He was disposed, however, to support the motion of his colleague, Charles Sumner, as well as the amendment thereto which authorized the committee to inquire into the election, returns and qualifications in the case of the claimant. Cer- tain parts of Virginia, exempted by the President's proclama- tion, were not in rebellion. Every square mile additional over which Federal authority was restored came by the terms of that proclamation into the same condition. Mr. Willey asserted that the Legislature sneerlngly referred to as " the Common Council of Alexandria " represented 216,000 loyal people. He believed that county after county, as fast as they were relieved from the power of the rebellion, would come to the support of the loyal nucleus at Alexandria. It would place the Senate, he said, in a singular position to repulse the claimant while his State was represented by another Senator [Carlile]. Senator Sherman stated that Mr. Segar's credentials pur- ported to show that he had been elected a member of the Senate on the 8th of December and that they bore date of December 12, 1864. Therefore he had slept for sixty or seventy days on his right to a seat which would, at any rate, expire on the 4th of March. The succeeding Congress, he said, would have ample time to decide the question, for, no doubt, at that time a gentleman claiming to be a Senator from Virginia would present himself. Then it could be deliberately de- termined. His motion to lay the credentials on the table prevailed by a vote of 29 to 13.^ When this action was taken Carlile was among the eight absentees. * Globe, Part II., 2 Sess. 38th Cong., pp. 845-849. VIRGINIA 141 Pursuani to a proclamation of the President the Senate assembled at noon of March 4 in executive session. Five days later the question of admitting Senators from Virginia came again before the Senate on presentation by Mr. Doolittle of the credentials of Hon. John C. Underwood as Senator- elect from that State for six years from the 4th of March. His credentials were read and after some discussion it was agreed to postpone their consideration as well as those of Mr. Segar until the following session. Henderson and Doolittle spoke in favor of the early recognition by Congress of the local governments in those States which had been brought partly under Federal power. The account of Virginian affairs will be resumed in the final chapter. V ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION THE efforts of Union minorities in Tennessee, in Louisiana and in Arkansas to establish governments in harmony with the Constitution and laws of the United States, and the agency of President Lincoln in effect- ing that result, have been somewhat particularly described in the preceding pages. The principal events which marked the progress of secession in those States, the military successes which brought Federal authorities to consider the restoration of loyal governments within their borders, and the operation of those causes which ultimately overthrew rebellion have been more rapidly sketched. To trace the successive steps which led to the emancipation of slaves in the seceding States a somewhat more ample narrative will be required. This sub- ject is not only of intrinsic interest but its culmination in the proclamation of September 22, 1862, marks the introduction into the President's plan of restoration of an element hitherto left out of account. In December, 1859, when John Brown, for his rash though courageous attempt to liberate slaves, was hanged by the authorities of Virginia a great majority of even Northern people looked on with indifference or with approval. The inhabitants of the free States, however, were rather law- abiding than pitiless and came in time to revere the memory of that stern old Puritan. Ideas in those times matured with amazing rapidity, and fourteen months had scarcely elapsed when James B. McKean, a Representative from New York, 142 ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION 143 introduced into Congress, three days before the Confederate government was organized, the following resolution : . Whereas the " Gulf States " have assumed to secede from the Union, and it is deemed important to prevent the " border slave States " from following their example; and virhereas it is believed that those who are inflexibly opposed to any measure of compromise or concession that in- volves, or may involve, a sacrifice of principle or the extension of slavery, would nevertheless cheerfully concur in any lawful measure for the eman- cipation of slaves : Therefore, Resolved, That the select committee of five be instructed to inquire whether, by the consent of the people, or of the State governments, or by compensating the slaveholders, it be practicable for the General Govern- ment to procure the emancipation of the slaves in some, or all, of the " border States " ; and if so, to report a bill for that purpose.* Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, desiring to discuss the proposi- tion, it was laid on the table and received no further considera- tion. Whether Mr. Lincoln had much reflected upon the principle of this resolution or the reasoning in its preamble, he had not become on March 4 a convert to its essential idea, for in his inaugural address he was content, in expressing his sentiments on the institution of slavery, to re-afifirm a dec- laration which he had formerly made. " I have no purpose," said he, " directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institu- tion of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." ^ Even if the occasion had not demanded the language of con- ciliation we might easily credit this solemn assurance. In- deed, for an entire year after this announcement he refrained in his public utterances from taking any attitude hostile to the continuance of slavery. The influences which forced him to adopt other opinions may be briefly related. On May 22, 1861, General Butler arrived at Fortress Monroe and at once took command of the Department of Vir- ginia; next day he sent a reconnoitering party to Hampton, * McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 209. * Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. i. 144 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION and in the terror and confusion occasioned by the presence of Yankee soldiers three slaves of Colonel Mallory, a Confederate officer, effected their escape ; during the afternoon they remained in concealment and at night reached the Union pickets. The following morning they were brought before the Federal commander, whom they informed of their master's purpose to employ them in military operations in North Caro- lina. On the next day Major John B. Cary, also of the Con- federate army, and a former delegate with Butler in the Baltimore Convention, came to the fort with a flag of truce, and as a representative of Colonel Mallory demanded the surrender of these runaways pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Constitution under which the Union commander claimed to act. With characteristic readiness came the reply that the Fugitive Slave Law could not be invoked in this case; Virginia assumed to be a foreign State and she must count it among the disadvantages of her position if, so far at least, she was taken at her word. These negroes further informed General Butler or his officers that if they were not returned others would come next day. On the 26th eight slaves were before him awaiting an audience; one squad of forty-seven came early on the 27th and another lot of a dozen arrived during the same day. Then they came by twenties, thirties and forties both to Fortress Monroe and Newport News.* Thus arose an important question on which the Government had yet developed no policy. As the acts for the rendition of fugitive slaves were not repealed till June, 1864, the views of individual commanders temporarily prevailed. Without prece- dent or instructions General McDowell by an order entirely excluded them from his lines. Caprice, too, entered into a settlement of the problem, and even a whimsical solution was sometimes attempted. A felicitous invention for deter- * Addresses and Papers of Edward L. Pierce, pp. 20-25. ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION 145 mining these controversies between master and bondman is ascribed to the colonel of a Massachusetts regiment. Both the claimant and the claimed were put outside his tent for a trial of speed; the negro, proving the fleeter, was never heard of again, ^ An institution which had practically determined both the foreign and domestic policy of the United States for an entire generation was suddenly become the sport of a subordinate officer of volunteers! The wise should have heeded these signs. While the Federal commander in Virginia was exchanging arguments with Confederate officers, General McClellan at his headquarters in Cincinnati was considering a proclamation which on May 26 he issued to the Union men of western Virginia. This document, among other things, says : " All your rights shall be religiously respected, notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to induce you to believe our advent among you will be signalized by an interference with your slaves. Understand one thing clearly : not only will we abstain from all such interference, but we will, on the con- trary, zvith an iron hand crush any attempt at insurrection on their part." ^ Scarcely less explicit in its announcement concerning slavery was General Patterson's proclamation of June 3, 1861, to troops of the Department of Pennsylvania. " You must bear in mind," says its concluding paragraph, that " you are going for the good of the whole country, and that, while it is your duty to punish sedition, you must protect the loyal, and, should the occasion offer, at once suppress servile insurrection." * Butler's interview with Major Gary had been promptly communicated to the War Department, whose chief, Mr. ' Addresses and Papers of E. L. Pierce, p. 26. ' McPherson's Pol. Hist. p. 244. » Ibid. 146 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Cameron, expressed in his reply of May 30 approval of the General's action. The Secretary, however, endeavored to dis- tinguish between interference with slave property and the surrender of negroes that came voluntarily within Federal lines. The commander was further directed to " employ such persons in the services to which they may be best adapted, keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value of it, and the expenses of their maintenance," ^ the ques- tion of their final disposition to be reserved for future determination. In defence of his attitude toward masters of fugitives who had been employed in the batteries or on the fortifications of the enemy, international law supplied General Butler with an analogy that he skillfully applied to the novel conditions which had arisen. Articles of assistance in military opera- tions cannot in time of war be imported by neutrals into an enemy's country, and the attempt to introduce such goods renders them liable to seizure as lawful prize. It did not greatly embarrass this versatile lawyer that the term contra- band applies exclusively to relations between a belligerent and a neutral, or that the decision of a prize court might be neces- sary to determine whether a particular article had been so des- ignated. No doubt he believed firmly in the doctrine that the wants of war are contraband of war. In his correspondence with General Scott he had observed that " as a military ques- tion, it would seem to be a measure of necessity " to deprive disloyal masters of the services of their slaves, and this, on the pretext that they were contraband of war, he proceeded to do by refusing to surrender any negroes coming inside his lines. ^ This method of settling the difficulty was what Secretary Cameron had approved. But this phase presented the ques- tion in its extreme simplicity. A refusal to return the slaves * McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 244. ^ Ibid., p. 245- ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION 147 of Confederate officers or of Confederate sympathizers was one thing; similar treatment of loyal slaveholders would not be so readily overlooked by authority. Though such cases were more likely to occur in Maryland, Kentucky or Missouri, that fact did not prevent the subject from assuming very great importance even in Virginia. Whole families escaped from their masters, and General Butler soon had on his hands negroes from three months to almost fourscore years of age. Attorney-General Bates, writing July 22,, 1861, to United States Marshal J. L. McDowell, of Kansas, who had asked whether he should give his official service in executing the fugitive slave law, said in response to the inquiry : It is the President's constitutional duty to " take care that the laws be faithfully executed." That means all the laws. He has no right to dis- criminate, no right to execute the laws he likes, and leave unexecuted those he dislikes. And of course you and I, his subordinates, can have no wider latitude of discretion than he has. Missouri is a State in the Union. The insurrectionary disorders in Missouri are but individual crimes, and do not change the legal status of the State, nor change its rights and obligations as a member of the Union. A refusal by a ministerial officer to execute any law which properly belongs to his ofifice, is an official misdemeanor, of which I have no doubt the President would take notice.^ The Attorney-General in this instance merely amplified a suggestion contained in the inaugural. Toward the close of July, 1861, the number of " contra- bands " had increased to nine hundred, and the Union com- mander again requested instructions.^ Secretary Cameron's reply on the 8th of August following merely authorized, what General Butler had all along been doing, employing them at such labor as they were adapted to and keeping a complete record, so that when peace was restored the essential facts * McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 235n. ' Addresses and Papers of E. L. Pierce, p. 29. 148 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION of each case could easily be ascertained.^ His tact in dealing with this question appears from an act of Congress approved August 6 in which his extension of meaning to the word contraband is adopted. This declared that if persons held to labor or service were employed in hostility to the United States, the right to their services should be forfeited and such persons be discharged therefrom.^ Exclusion of fugitive slaves from the quarters and camps of troops serving in the Department of Washington was pro- vided by a general order of July 17, 1861, and a few weeks later, August 10, the departure by railway of negroes from the District of Columbia was prevented unless evidence of freedom could be adduced.^ Far more important, however, than these prudent regula- tions of the Adjutant-General was the celebrated proclamation of Fremont, dated St. Louis, August 31, 1861, which declared martial law throughout the entire State of Missouri and ex- pressed a purpose both to confiscate the property and free the negroes of all persons in the State who should take up arms against the United States or who were shown to have taken an active part with their enemy in the field.* The President, in a communication of September 2 following, wrote General Fremont expressing anxiety concerning the effects of this proclamation : " I think there is great danger," said Mr. Lincoln, " that the closing paragraph, in relation to the confis- cation of property and the liberating slaves of traitorous own- ers, will alarm our Southern Union friends and turn them against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky.^ * McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 245. * Appendix, Globe, i Sess. 37th Cong., p. 42. ' McPherson's Pol. Hist., p. 245. * Ibid., pp. 245-246. ' General Anderson had telegraphed President Lincoln that an entire company of Kentucky soldiers had laid down their arms upon hearing of Fremont's action. ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION 149 " Allow me therefore to ask that you will, as of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the act of Congress entitled, ' An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,' ap- proved August 6, 1 86 1, and a copy of which act I herewith send you. " This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure." * Though General Fremont had acted wholly on his own responsibility he refused so to modify that portion of his proc- lamation relative to emancipating slaves as to conform to the act of Congress referred to, and in a letter requested the Presi- dent " openly to direct " him " to make the correction." Re- ferring to this part of his communication Mr. Lincoln replied on the nth: "Your answer, just received, expresses the preference on your part that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheerfully do. It is therefore ordered that the said clause of said proclamation be so modi- fied, held, and construed, as to conform to, and not to tran- scend, the provisions on the same subject contained in the act of Congress" approved August 6, 1861.^ As late as October 14 the War Department was guided by the principles developed in its correspondence with Butler, the instructions of that date to General T. W. Sherman being based upon this policy.^ A month later inhabitants of the eastern shore of Virginia were informed by General Dix that " special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition of any person held to domestic service; " to prevent any such occurrence slaves were not permitted to come within his lines.* ' Letters and State Papers of Lincoln, Vol. IL p. TJ. ^ Ibid., pp. 78-79. ' McPher son's Pol. Hist., pp. 247-248. * Ibid., p. 248. 150 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Besides those who favored military emancipation, a large class seriously expected that the war would not only preserve the integrity of the Union, but in some way result in a general liberation of slaves. This feeling, manifested in various ways, was rapidly gathering strength, and as early as November 8 found enthusiastic expression at a public meeting of two thou- sand citizens held in Cooper Institute, New York city. This assembly, which convened at the suggestion of Mr. Lincoln, was presided over by Hon. George Bancroft and attended by many distinguished persons of both the nation and the State. Besides the remarks of its illustrious chairman addresses were made by William Cullen Bryant, General Ambrose Burnside, Professor Francis Lieber and others. Shortly before the speakers arrived a gentleman arose in the audience, and in a ringing voice proposed " Three cheers for John C. Fremont ! " These were given, says a newspaper account, " with electrical effect and without a murmur of dissent." The meeting was evidently not in entire sympathy with the President's order modifying that General's proclamation of the preceding August. North Carolina, as is well known, was not so ardent for secession as most of her sister States in the South; forced to take sides, however, she imitated the example of her neighbors. Even then all her people did not share the opinions of their leaders, and when Federal troops landed in the vicinity of Hatteras nearly four thousand loyal inhabitants of the coast flocked to their lines and readily took the oath of allegiance to the United States; for this conduct they incurred the ex- treme hatred of secessionists, who soon reduced them to a condition of distress. To rdieve their destitution, by supplies of food and clothing, the meeting was called in Cooper Insti- tute. Resolutions of sympathy were unanimously adopted; a committee of relief was appointed to collect from the city and elsewhere such funds as were necessary for the purchase of ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION 151 supplies, which were to be forwarded and distributed in the most judicious manner. " If the President," said Mr. Bancroft, " has any doubt under the terrible conflict into which he has been brought, let him hear the words of one of his predecessors. Alien nulli- fication raised itself in South Carolina. Andrew Jackson, in the watches of the night, as he sat alone finishing that proc- lamation, sent the last words of it to Livingston, his bosom friend and best adviser. He sent it with these words; I have had the letter in my own hands, handed to me by the only surviving child of Mr. Livingston. I know the letter which I now read is a copy : * I submit the above as the conclusion of the proclamation for your amendment and revision. Let it receive your best flight of eloquence to strike to the heart and speak to the feelings of my deluded countrymen of South Carolina. The Union must be preserved without blood if this be possible; but it must be preserved at all hazards and at any price.' " Mr. Bancroft added : " We send the army into the South to maintain the Union, to restore the validity of the Constitution. If any one presents claims under the Constitution, let him begin by placing the Constitution in power, by respecting it and upholding it." Francis Lieber referred to slavery as " that great anachro- nism, out of time, out of place in the nineteenth century," and Rev. Doctor Tyng said, " if slavery is in the way of the Union, then tread slavery down into the dust." ^ These senti- ments were received with applause. Mr. Bancroft a week later wrote to the President : Following out your suggestion, a very numerous meeting of New- Yorkers assembled last week to take measures for relieving the loyal sufferers of Hatteras. I take the liberty to enclose you some remarks which I made on the occasion. You will find in them a copy of an un- published letter of one of your most honored predecessors, with which you cannot fail to be pleased. ^ N. Y. Tribune, November 8, 1861. 152 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION Your administration has fallen upon times which will be remembered as long as human events find a record. I sincerely wish to you the glory of perfect success. Civil War is the instrument of Divine Providence to root out social slavery. Posterity will not be satisfied with the result un- less the consequences of the war shall effect an increase of free States. This is the universal expectation and hope of men of all parties.* On the 1 8th Mr. Lincoln sent this reply: I esteem it a high honor to have received a note from Mr. Bancroft inclosing the report of proceedings of a New York meeting taking meas- ures for the relief of Union people of North Carolina. I thank you and all others participating for this benevolent and patriotic movement. The main thought in the closing paragraph of your letter is one which does not escape my attention, and with which I must deal in all due caution, and with the best judgment I can bring to it.^ We have here the key to President Lincoln's treatment of the slavery question down to the hour of his lamented death. As the hostile employment of negroes constituted by act of August 6 a full answer to any claim for service General McClellan was informed by Secretary Seward, December 4, 1 86 1, that the arrest of such persons as fugitives from labor " should be immediately followed by the military arrest of the parties making the seizure." These instructions were called forth by intelligence that Virginia slaves engaged in hos- tility to the United States frequently escaped from the enemy and took refuge within the lines of the Army of the Potomac. Coming afterward into the District of Columbia, such persons upon the presumption arising from color, were liable to be arrested by the Washington police.^ On December 3, 1861, in his first annual message to Con- gress, Mr. Lincoln discussed without especial emphasis the question of aiding those slaves who had been freed under the act of August 6; he observed that this class was dependent upon the United States; it was believed that, for their own * Letters and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. IL p. 90. ' Ibid. ' Ann. Cycl., 1861, p. 646. ANTI-SLAVERY LEGISLATION 153 benefit, many of the States would enact similar laws; he there- fore recommended Congress to provide for accepting such persons from the States, according to some mode of valuation, in lieu, pro tanto, of direct taxes, or upon some other plan to be agreed on with such States respectively ; that such persons, on such acceptance by the General Government, be at once deemed free; and that, in any event, steps be taken for colonizing both classes (or the one first mentioned, if the other shall not be brought into existence) at some place or places in a climate congenial to them. It might be well to consider, too, whether the free colored people already in the United States could not, so far as individuals may desire, be in- cluded in such colonization. To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the acquiring of ter- ritory, and also the appropriation of money beyond that to be expended in the territorial acquisition. Having practiced the acquisition of territory for nearly sixty years, the question of constitutional power to do so is no longer an open one with us. The power was questioned at first by Mr. Jefferson, who, however, in the purchase of Louisiana, yielded his scruples on the plea of great expediency. If it be said that the only legiti- mate object of acquiring territory is to furnish homes for white men, this measure effects that object; for the emigration of colored men leaves additional room for white men remaining or coming here. Mr. Jefferson, however, placed the importance of procuring Louisiana more on political and commercial grounds than on providing room for population. On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of money with the acquisition of territory, does not the expediency amount to absolute necessity — that without which the Government itself cannot be perpetu- ated? The war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted for sup- pressing the insurrection, I have been anxious and careful that the in- evitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. I have, therefore, in every case thought it proper to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the pri- mary object of the contest on our part, leaving all questions which are not of vital military importance to the more deliberate action of the Legisla- ture. In the exercise of my best discretion I have adhered to the blockade of the ports held by the insurgents, instead of putting in force, by procla- mation, the law of Congress enacted at the last session for closing those ports. So, also, obeying the dictates of prudence as well as the obligations of law, instead of transcending I have adhered to the act of Congress to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes. If a new law upon 154 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION the same subject shall be proposed, its propriety will be duly considered. The Union must be preserved ; and hence all indispensable means must be employed. We should not be in haste to determine that radical and ex- treme measures, which may reach the loyal as well as the disloyal, are in- dispensable.* The President's mastery of national affairs is seen in the ability and thoroughness with which he treated a great variety of important public questions; though his message touches with the utmost delicacy the paramount issue of slavery it really marked an advance in his position. However, he was not yet abreast of the aggressive anti-slavery party in the 37th Congress, which had just commenced its first regular session. The " increase of free States," which Mr. Bancroft hoped would result from the war, and which President Lincoln's reply shows had not escaped his attention, was not to be effected by military emancipation in the field but by the volun- tary action of the States themselves. The caution and judg- ment which he brought to bear on this subject are apparent from even a casual examination of the message, which refers to the number of slaves that had been freed by the incidents of war, and to the extreme probability that still others would be liberated in its progress. It contained also a recommen- dation of colonization, a topic which had long been familiar to Americans both North and South. To any new law eman- cipating slaves for the participation of their masters in rebel- lion, he promised to give due consideration. This part of the message had the additional merit of being easily expanded into a more definite policy. It was this characteristic prudence that led the President to suppress the following remari->!om. -^r-^ DELAWARE.— James A. Bayard and Willard Satdsbury. O^r^^^^ ~ ILLINOIS. — Lyman Trumbull and Orville H. Browning. INDIANA.— Henry S. Lane ^xv^Jesse D. ^r/>/i/ (expelled Feb. 5, 1862, and was succeeded by Z'rtz//^ 7>/r//i?). ■ . , rt" s-^^ <- cx,^- to =^ 4 IOWA. — James W. Grimes and James Harlan. T„ ^^ t, A ujrrtUr — KANSAS. — James H. Lane and Samuel C. Pomeroy. . ' KENTUCKY.— Zrts-arz^j W. Powell and Garrett Davis {vice John C. Brecke7iridge, expelled). MAINE. — Lot M. Morrill and William Pitt Fessenden, MASSACHUSETTS.— Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson. MARYLAND. — Anthony Kennedy and James A. Pearce (died Dec. 20, 1862, and was succeeded by Thomas H. Hicks). MICHIGAN.— Zachariah Chandler and Jacob M. Howard. MINNESOTA.— //6'«ry M. Rice and Morton S. Wilkinson. MISSOURI.— John B. Henderson [vice Trusten Polk, expelled) and ■ Robert Wilson {vice Waldo Porter Johnson, expelled). NEW HAMPSHIRE.— John P. Hale and Daniel Clark. NEW YORK.— Preston King and Ira Harris. NEW JERSEY.— John C. Ten Eyckand John R. Thovison (died Sept. 12, 1862, Richard S. Field was temporarily appointed to fill the vacancy, and James W. Wall was subsequently elected for the un- expired term). OHIO.— Benjamin F. Wade and John Sherman {vice Salmon P. Chase, who resigned Mar. 6, 1861). OREGON.— Edward D. Baker (died Oct. 21, 1861, and was succeeded by Benjamin F. Harding) and James W. Nesmith. PENNSYLVANIA.— Edgar Cowan and David Wilmot {vice Simon Cameron, who resigned in March, 1861). RHODE ISLAND.— Henry B. Anthony and James F. Simmons (re- signed. Samuel G. Arnold elected to fill the unexpired term). 499 500 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION VERMONT.— Solomon Foot and Jacob CoUamer. VIRGINIA.— Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlile. WISCONSIN.— James R. Doolittle and Timothy O. Howe. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CALIFORNIA.— Aaron A. Sargent, Timothy G. Phelps, Frederick F. Low. CONNECTICUT.— Dwight Loomis, James E. English, Alfred A. Burnham, George C, Woodruff. DELAWARE.— George P. Fisher. ILLINOIS.— Elihu B. Washburne, Isaac N. Arnold, Owen Lovejoy, William Kellogg, William A. Richardson, "Jatnes C. Robinson, Philip B. Fouke, John A. Logan, INDIANA. — John Law, James A. Cravens, William McKee Dunn, William S. Holman, George W. Julian, Albert G. Porter, Daniel W. Voorhees, Albert S. White, Schuyler Colfax, William Mitchell, John P. C. Shanks. IOWA. — James F. Wilson, William Vandever. KANSAS.— Martin F. Conway. KENTUCKY.— James S. Jackson (died in 1862 and was succeeded by George H. Yeaman), Henry Grider, Aaron Harding, Charles A, Wickliffe, George W. Dunlap, Robert Mal- LORY, John J. Crittenden, William H. Wadsworth, John W. Menzies, Samuel L. Casey (;uice Mr. Burnett, expelled). MAINE.— John N. Goodwin, Charles W. Walton (resigned. Thos. A. D. Fessenden elected to fill vacancy), Samuel C. Fessenden, Anson P. Morrill, John H. Rice, Frederick A. Pike. MARYLAND.— John W. Crisfield, Edwin H. Webster, Corne- lius L. L. Leary, Henry May, Francis Thomas, Charles B. Calvert. MASSACHUSETTS.— Thomas D. Eliot, James Buffinton, Benjamin - F. Thomas i(sometimes"classed as a Unionist), Alexander H. Rice, .\ ^-*\5. Samuel Hooper, John B. Alley, Daniel W. Gooch, Charles R. Train, Goldsmith F. Bailey (died May 8, 1862, and was succeeded by Amasa Walker), Charles Delano, Henry L. Dawes. MICHIGAN.— Bradley F. Granger, Fernando C. Beaman, Francis W. Kellogg, Rowland E. Trowbridge. MINNESOTA.— Cyrus Aldrich and William Windom. MISSOURI.— Francis P. Blair, jr. (resigned in 1862), James S. Rollins, William A. Hall, Elijah H. Norton, Thomas L. Price, John S. Phelps, John W. Noell NEW HAMPSHIRE.— Gilman Marston, Edward H. Rollins, Thomas M. Edwards. NEW JERSEY.— John T. Nixon, John L. N. Stratton, William G. Steele, George T. Cobb, Nehemiah Perry. NEW XO^Yi.— Edward H. Smith, Moses F. Odell, Benjamin Wood, James E. Kerrigan, William Wall, Frederick A. Conkling, Elijah APPENDIX A 501 Ward, Isaac C. Delaplaine, Edward Haight, Charles H. Van Wyck, John B. Steele, Stephen Baker, Abraham B. Olin, Erastus Corning, James B. McKean, William A. Wheeler, Socrates N. Sherman, Chauncey Vibbard, Richard Franchot, Roscoe Conkling, R. Hol- land Duell, William E. Lansing, Ambrose W. Clark, Charles B. Sedgwick, Theodore M, Pomeroy, Jacob P. Chamberlain, Alexander S. Diven, Robert B. Van Valkenburg, Alfred Ely, Augustus Frank, Burt Van Horn, Elbridge G. Spaulding, Reuben E. Fenton. OHIO. — George H. Pendleton, ]o\iXi K. Q\xx\&y, Clement L. Vallandig- hant, William Allen, James M. Ashley, Chilton A. W^/nV^, Richard A. Harrison, Samuel Shellabarger, Warren P. Noble, Carey A. Trimble, Valentine B. Horton, Samuel S. Cox, Samuel T. Worces- ter, Harrison G. Blake, Robert H. Nugen, William P. Cutler, James R. Morris, Sidney Edgerton, Albert G. Riddle, John Hutchins, John A. Bingham. OREGON.— George K. Shiel. PENNSYLVANIA.— «^?7//a»«^. Lehman, Charles/. Btddle, ]ohn P. Verree, William D. Kelley, William Morris Davis, John Hickman, Thomas B . Cooper (died April 4, 1862, and was succeeded by John D. Stiles), Sydenham E. Ancona, Thaddeus Stevens, John W. Killinger, James H. Campbell, Hendrick B. Wright, Philip Johnson, Galusha A. Grow, James T. Hale, Joseph Baily, Edward McPherson, Samuel S. Blair, John Covode, Jesse Lazear, James K. Moorhead, Robert McKnight, John W. Wallace, John Patton, Elijah Babbitt. RHODE ISLAND.— George H. Browne, William P. Sheffield. TENNESSEE.— Horace Maynard. VERMONT.— Ezekiel P. Walton, Justin S. Morrill, Portus Baxter. VIRGINIA.— Charles H. Upton, Edmund Pendleton, William G. Brown, Jacob B. Blair, Killian V. Whaley, Joseph E, Segar. WISCONSIN.— John F. Potter, Luther Hanchett (died Nov. 24, 1862, and was succeeded by Walter Mclndoe), A. Scott Sloan. DELEGATES FROM TERRITORIES COLORADO.— Hiram P. Bennett. DAKOTA.— John B. S. Todd. NEBRASKA.— Samuel G. Daily. NEVADA.— >>^« C. Cradlebaugh. NEW MEXICO.— John S. Watts. UTAH.— 7^/%« M. Bernhisel. WASHINGTON.— James H. Wallace. APPENDIX B I i; THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS SENATE First regular session, Dec. 7, 1863, to July 4, 1864. Second session from Dec. 5, 1864, to March 3, 1865. CALIFORNIA.— John Conness and James A. McDougall. CONNECTICUT.— James Dixon and Lafayette S. Foster. DELAWARE. — M^///ar^ SaulsMtry and George Read Riddle {vice Senator Bayard, who resigned). ILLINOIS. — IViUiam A. Richardson and Lyman Trumbull. I^DIK^K.— Thomas A. Hendricks and Henry S. Lane. IOWA. — James Harlan and James W. Grimes. KANSAS. — Samuel C. Pomeroy and James H. Lane. KENTUCKY.— Garrett Davis (Senator Davis is sometimes men- tioned as a Democrat) and Lazarus W. Powell. MAINE. — Lot M. Morrill and William Pitt Fessenden (resigned in 1864, and was succeeded by Nathan A. Farwell). MASSACHUSETTS.— Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson. MARYLAND.— Reverdy Johnson and Thomas H. Hicks (died Feb. 13. 1865). MICHIGAN.— Zachariah Chandler and Jacob M. Howard. MINNESOTA.— Alexander Ramsey and Morton S. Wilkinson. MISSOURI. — John B. Henderson (sometimes mentioned as a Unionist) and B. Gratz Brown (vice Waldo Porter Johnson, expelled, Robert Wilson having been appointed ^r^ tern.). NEW HAMPSHIRE.— Daniel Clark and John P. Hale. NEW JERSEY. — H^///zaw Wright and John C. Ten Eyck. NEW YORK.— Edwin D. Morgan and Ira Harris. OHIO. — Benjamin F. Wade and John Sherman. OREGON. — Benjamin F. Harding and James IV. Nesmith. PENNSYLVANIA. — C//ar/^j R. Buckalew and Edgar Cowan. RHODE ISLAND.— William Sprague and Henry B. Anthony. VERMONT— Solomon Foot and Jacob Collamer. VIRGINIA. — Lemuel J. Bowden and John S. Carlile (sometimes mentioned as a Democrat). WEST VIRGINIA.— Waitman T. Willey and Peter G. Van Winkle. WISCONSIN.— James R. Doolittle and Timothy O. Howe. NEVADA.— James W. Nye and William M. Stewart. 502 APPENDIX B 503 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CALIFORNIA.— Thomas B. Shannon, William Higby, Cornelius Cole. CONNECTICUT.— Henry C. Deming, James E. English, Augustus Brandegee, John H. Hubbard. DELAWARE.— Nathaniel B. Smithers. ILLINOIS.— Isaac N. Arnold, John F. Farnsworth, Elihu B. Wash- burne, Charles M. Harris, Owen Lovejoy (died Mar. 25, 1864, and was succeeded by Ebon C. IngersoU), Jesse O. Norton, John R. Eden, John T. Stuart, Lewis W. Ross, Anthony L. Knapp, James C. Robinson, William R. Morrisoti, William J. Allen, James C. Allen. INDIANA. — John Lata, James A. Cravetis, Henry W. Harrington, William S. Holman, George W, Julian, Ebenezer Dumont, Daniel W. Voorhees, Godlove S. Orth, Schuyler Colfax, Joseph K. Edger- ton, James F. McDowell. IOWA.— James F. Wilson, Hiram Price, William B. Allison, J. B. Grinnell, John A. Kasson, A. W. Hubbard. KANSAS.— A. Carter Wilder. KENTUCKY.— Lucien Anderson, George H. Yeaman, Henry Grider, Aaron Harding, Robert Mallory, Green Clay Smith, Brutus J. Clay, William H. Randall, William H. Wadsworth. MAINE. — Lorenzo D. M. Sweat, Sidney Perham, James G. Blaine, John H. Rice, Frederick A. Pike. MARYLAND,— John A. J. Cresswell, Edwin H.Webster, Henry Winter Davis, Francis Thomas, Beftjamin G. Harris. MASSACHUSETTS.— Thomas D. Eliot, Oakes Ames, Alexander H. Rice, Samuel Hooper, John B. Alley, Daniel W. Gooch, George S. Boutwell, John D. Baldwin, William B. Washburn, Henry L. Dawes. MICHIGAN. — Fernando C. Beaman, Charles Upson, John W. Long- year, Francis W. Kellogg, Augustus C. Baldwin, John F. Driggs. MINNESOTA.— William Windom, Ignatius Donnelly. MISSOURI.— Francis P. Blair, jr. (seat successfully contested by Samuel Knox of St. Louis), Henry T. Blow, John G. Scott, Joseph W. McClurg, Sempronius H. Boyd, Austin A. King, Benjamin F. Loan, William A. Hall, James S. Rollins. NEW HAUV^UIKE.— Daniel Marcy, Edward H. Rollins, James W. Patterson. NEW JERSEY.— John F. Starr, George Middleton, William G. Steele, Andrew J. Rogers, Nehemiah Perry. NEW YOV.K.— Henry G. Stebbins (resigned in 1864 and was succeeded by Dwight Townsend), Martin Kalbjleisch, Moses F, Odell, Benja- min Wood, Fernando Wood, Elijah Ward, John W. Chanler, James Brooks, Anson Herrick, William Radford, Charles H. Winfield, Homer A. Nelsott, John B. Steele, John V. L. Pruyn, John A. Griswold, Orlando Kellogg, Calvin T. Hulburd, James M. Marvin, Samuel F, Miller, Ambrose W. Clark, Francis Kernan, DeWitt C. Littlejohn, Thomas T. Davis, Theodore M. Pomeroy, Daniel Morris. Giles W. Hotchkiss, Robert Van Valkenburg, Freeman Clark, o^^^ D^3 504 LINCOLN'S PLAN OF RECOJsFSTRUCTION V" Augustus Frank, John B. Ganson, Reuben E, Fenton (resigned Dec. 10, 1864). OHIO. — George H. Pendleton, Alexander Long, Robert C. Schenck, /. F. Mc Kinney, Frank C. Le Blond, Chilton A. White, Samuel S. Cox, William Johnson, Warren P. Noble, James M. Ashley, Wells A. Hutchins, William E. Fink, John O^Neill, George Bliss, James R. Morris, Joseph W. White, Ephraim R. Eckley, Rufus P. Spaulding, James A. Garfield. OREGON.— John R. McBride. PENNSYLVANIA.— 6aw2/t'/ 7. Randall, Charles O'Neill, Leonard Myers, William D. Kelley, M. Russell Thayer, John D. Stiles, John M. Broomall, Sydenham E. Ancona, Thaddeus Stevens, Myer Strouse, Philip Johnson, Charles Dennison, Henry W. Tracy, William H. Miller, Joseph Bailey, Alexander H. Coffroth, Archi- bald McAllister, James T. Hale, Glenni W. Scofield, Amos Myers, John L. Dawson, James K. Moorhead, Thomas Williams, Jesse Lazear. RHODE ISLAND.— Thomas A. Jenckes, Nathan F. Dixon. VERMONT.— Frederick E. Woodbridge, Justin S. Morrill, Portus Baxter. VIRGINIA.— Had Senators but no Representatives. Joseph Segar, Lucius H. Chandler and Benjamin M. Kitchen, claimants for seats, were not admitted. WEST VIRGINIA.— Jacob B. Blair, William G. Brown, Killian V. Whaley.* WISCONSIN. — James S. Brown, Ithamar C. Sloan, Amasa Cobb, Charles A. Eldridge, Ezra Wheeler, Walter D. Mclndoe. DELEGATES FROM TERRITORIES ARIZONA.— Charles D. Poston. COLORADO.— Hiram P. Bennett. DAKOTA.— William Jayne (seat successfully contested by John B. S. Todd). IDAHO.— William H. Wallace. MONTANA.— Samuel McLean. NEBRASKA.— Samuel G. Daily. NEVADA (admitted as a State).— Gordon N. Mott (Henry G. Worth- ington was elected Representative when Nevada became a State). NEW MEXICO.— Francisco Perea. UTAH.— 7?//« F. Kemtey. WASHINGTON.— G^^^r^^ E. Cole. * The West Virginia Representatives took their seats Dec. 7, 1863. UBR/^R"^ OF coNGRt^^ i;««. 003 2^* 106''