January Patriotic
Instructor Message
As we enter the new year, we are also
embarking on a celebration of sesquicentennial events, which will commemorate
the lives of our "Boys in Blue."
This month my message will look
at the events of January 1861 and the converging clouds of conflict, which
swirled and churned with the winds of fate as our nation slid toward disunion and war.
The months of December 1860 and January
1861 saw tensions mount as the deep south states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas joined with the
fire-eaters of South Carolina in succeeding
from the Union. In Springfield Illinois,
Abraham Lincoln took refuge from
hordes of office seekers. Working at his
brother-in-law's store he began writing what would become his first inaugural address. For references, in preparing that speech,
Lincoln used four documents: Henry Clay's 1850 Speech on compromise, Daniel
Webster's reply to Hayne, Andrew Jackson's proclamation against nullification,
and the U.S. Constitution. In analyzing
his choice of documents we can gain an insight to Lincoln's future governance
of the nation. Seek compromise if
possible, take a firms stand on principles, preserve of the union, and anchor
your policies on constitutional law. In
Lincoln's correspondence during the months of December and January we can see
how Lincoln used his beliefs in a series of initiatives and letters through
which, he sought to find a peaceful way to preserve the union.
Lincoln's correspondence from the middle of
December through January shows that he is already dealing with the number one
issue that propelled southern secession, slavery. In a letter, dated 18
December 1860, to John D. Defrees, a republican supporter, Lincoln says "I
am sorry any republican inclines to dally with Pop. Sov. [Popular Sovereignty]
of any sort. It acknowledges that
slavery has equal rights with liberty and surrenders all we have contended for.[i] Clearly Lincoln does not desire to see popular
sovereignty become the accepted policy for determining the validity of
slavery.
We can examine Lincoln's intense feeling on
the connection between Constitutional Union and personal liberty [rights] by
reviewing a fragment of his written thoughts on the idea of liberty and the foundational
nature of the constitutional union. In
the following statement Lincoln postulates that; "Without the Constitution and the Union, we
could not have attained . . . our great prosperity." Lincoln further writes that "there is
something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart.
That something, is the principle of "Liberty to all"—the principle
that clears the path for all—gives hope to all—and, by
consequence, enterprise, and industry to all. The expression
of that principle, in our Declaration of Independence, was most happy, and
fortunate. Without this, as well as with it, we could have
declared our independence of Great Britain; but without it, we could
not, I think, have secured our free government, and consequent prosperity. No
oppressed, people will fight, and endure, as our fathers did,
without the promise of something better, than a mere change of masters."[ii]
Evidently Lincoln believes that personal liberty is the key to American
Democracy.
In keeping with the search
for compromise, on 22 December 1860, in a letter written to Alexander Hamilton Stephens,
future Vice President of the Confederacy, we can see that Lincoln is actively
seeking to allay the fears of the southern states when he writes "I fully appreciate the present
peril the country is in, and the weight of responsibility on me. Do the people of the South really entertain
fears that a republican administration would, directly, or indirectly,
interfere with their slaves, or with them, about their slaves? If they do, I
wish to assure you, as a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there is
no cause for such fears. You think slavery is right, and ought to be extended;
while we think it is wrong and ought be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial
difference between us."[iii] In this letter Lincoln seems to be offering
Stephens a compromise; there will be no need for southern succession; the
institution of slavery will be allowed to remain in those places where it
already exist but the south will have to accept that slavery would not be allowed
to expand beyond its current boundaries.
Lincoln's
dedication to Constitutionalism was displayed in late December 1860. Lincoln received word of a proposed Congressional
act which included the following: ART. 13. No amendment
shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize to give to Congress the
power to abolish or interfere within any State with the domestic institutions
thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said
State. On December 28th Lincoln wrote to
General Duff Green on the topic of making an amendment to the
Constitution. "My Dear Sir: I do not desire any amendment of the
Constitution. Recognizing, however, that
questions of such amendment rightfully belong to the American people, I should
not feel justified nor inclined to withhold from them, if I could, a fair
opportunity of expressing their will thereon through either of the modes
prescribed in the instrument.[iv]. This
letter offers proof that Lincoln was a man of the Constitution and was always
prepared to let the Constitutional processes do their job. He believed that the people should exercise
their rights under that document to determine the direction that the nation
would take on the issue of slavery and he was willing to submit to their judgment.
By late January 1861 Lincoln had come to
understand that there could be no compromise with the southern leadership and
Like Webster, Lincoln began to realize he had to stand firm on his
principles. Revealing his angst for the
southern leadership Lincoln told Presbyterian Minister Albert Hale the
following: "Compromise is not the
remedy, not the cure. The South (that is, the leaders) don't want it — won't
have it — no good can come of it. The system of compromise has no end. Slavery
is the evil out of which all our other national evils and dangers have come. It
has deceived and led us to the brink of ruin, and it must be stopped. It must
be kept where it now is." As January came to an end Lincoln was standing
on his beliefs. However, Lincoln did not
seek to create controversy; hoping rather that the south would really not
secede and accept the constraints on the expansion of slavery he offered them" Writing
to John Gilmer, a southern Democrat, on
the topic of slavery's expansion into the western territories Lincoln said " on the territorial
question, I am inflexible." This is
evidence that Lincoln was not going to negotiate the expansion of slavery.
Abraham Lincoln was a man who faced a
great challenge, his election had incited a southern rebellion against the institutions
which he had come to see as the best hope of man. The first months following his election were traumatic
but Lincoln showed great leadership in pursuing his plan for dealing with
southern secession. Only the intransigence
of the south to accept Lincoln's proposals stood in the way of a peaceful
resolution of the matter. For Lincoln
the matter was never that complicated, he would strive to preserve the Union by
the best means available. Inevitably the
legacy of Clay, Webster, Jackson, and the founding fathers to which Lincoln had
ascribed clung proved the greatest influence on Lincoln's actions as President
elect and later President.
[i]
Abraham Lincoln "His Speeches and Writings" ed. Roy P. Basler, Da
Capo Press, Cambridge, 2001p. 566 [unabridged republication of the edition
published in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1946]
[ii]
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=29
[iii]
Abraham Lincoln "His Speeches and Writings" ed. Roy P. Basler, Da
Capo Press, Cambridge, 2001p. 567 [unabridged republication of the edition
published in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1946]
[iv]
Lincoln's Stories and Speeches, Ed. Edward Frank Allen, Books Inc., New York,
No Copy write date, p.47
Written by Mark R. Day January 1, 2011. Copyright by Mark R. Day, all rights reserved
