certain drafts and taxes

Posted on September 15, 2014 by SUMPTER
Photograph of a campaign button with portrait of Abraham Lincoln and inscription "For President Abraham Lincoln" (1864, printed later; LOC: LC-USZ62-126415)

For “limitless taxation and conscription”

Some Democratic campaign rhetoric painted a picture of endless drafts and high taxes if President Lincoln was re-elected.

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in September 1864:

Not The Last Draft.

It may not be uninteresting as a subject on which to reflect that the administration has officially informed Governor Seymour, of New York, that the surplus volunteers of the State will be credited on the next draft after that for September. – Everywhere men are being urged to enlist for three years, and a circular from the Secretary of War directs that all officers be henceforth mustered for three years. If there are those sufficiently silly to believe that the war is near its end under the present abolition policy, they are welcome to what comfort they may derive from such foolish belief. In the event of Lincoln’s re-election, conscription will follow conscription, and remorseless taxation drag the people down. Those who want limitless taxation and conscription, will vote for Lincoln; those who want peace and security will vote against him – vote for George B. McClellan, whose administration will bring security to all.

According to the Library of Congress the following 1864 political cartoon was based on the Lincoln Administration’s conscription policies:

In 1862, displeased by Attorney General Edward Bates’s slowness in enforcing the Conspiracies Act, the President took matters into his own hands and issued a proclamation “directing trial by court martial or military commissions of all persons who impeded the draft, discouraged enlistments or committed other disloyal acts.” Around thirty-eight thousand people were arrested, denied the right of habeas corpus, and held in jail until brought to trial. This heavy-handed act provides the fuel for the artist’s attack here.

The link also points out that the cartoon also touched on abolition fears.

Political caricature. No. 1, The grave of the Union. Or Major Jack Downing's dream (New York : Published by Bromley & Co., 1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-8876)

the Union has passed away

A devil-like Secretary of State Seward is in the upper right-hand corner. A Richmond paper 150 years ago this month found proof that Mr. Seward had been lying about the draft. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 13, 1864:

The draft to be enforced.

In the following official telegram from Secretary Stanton, we find that Seward was deceiving the A[u]burnites when he told them that the draft would not be enforced:

Washington, September 7.

Major-General Dix, New York:

This Department is still without say dispatches from south of Nashville.

It is supposed to be General Sherman’s design to withdraw his advanced columns and give his army rest in Atlanta, and establish himself securely there, and restore his railroad communications broken by Wheeler and Forrest, before making further advances.

No operations by the armies of General Grant or General Sherman are reported to-day.

The provost-marshal-general’s office is busily engaged in arranging the credits of the several districts, and is ordered to draft without delay for the deficiency in the districts that have not filled their quotas, beginning with those most in arrears.

Credits for volunteers will be allowed as long as possible; but the advantage of filling the armies immediately requires the draft to be speedily made in the defaulting districts. All applications for its postponement have, therefore, been refused.

Edwin M. Stanton,

Secretary of War.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Lincoln Administration, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society, The election of 1864 | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

as Maine goes?

Posted on September 13, 2014 by SUMPTER
NY Times 9-13-1864

NY Times 9-13-1864

The New-York Times was elated that Maine’s Republican governor Samuel Cony was re-elected. Possibly the “first gun” in the campaign was Vermont’s election of Republicans for all three U.S. House Representatives on September 6th. The same link shows Maine electing Republicans for all five of its House seats on September 11th.

Apparently Copperheads in Maine who found cold comfort in the election results could head west to mingle with more like-minded spirits. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch on September 13, 1864:

A “Copperhead” paradise.

–Idaho and Nevada are said by the Yankee papers to swarm with disaffected and disloyal men. It is estimated that ten thousand men of this class have goes there in the past year and a half. The territories named are a perfect Copperhead paradise. …

Paradise was soon lost in Nevada, which gave its two electoral votes to President Lincoln in the November election. Idaho wouldn’t earn its star until 1890.

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calling on negroes, the disabled

Posted on September 12, 2014 by SUMPTER

… and legislators?

“X” from Petersburg is concerned about getting more men into the Confederacy’s armies to try to at least partially offset additions to Northern forces.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 12, 1864:

From General Lee’s Army.
(From Our Own Correspondent)
Army of Northern Virginia,
near Petersburg, Va., September 10, 1864.

Atlanta has fallen; Forts Powell, Morgan and Gaines have been surrendered into the hands of the enemy, and Jack Morgan is dead. Truly, misfortunes never come alone. But super-add to these reverses the rejoicing which rescind throughout the entire North, and bear in mind that the enemy announce large accretions to their military numbers, and you have the military situation.

The month of September will likely witness no grand military effort, either on the Virginia or Georgia military chess-board. Grant and Sherman are, meanwhile, not idle. Their camps are busy in preparation; and, backed by the authorities at Washington, they are making ready to deal us hard knocks by the “early” frost. Fous est abhorte deceri is a motto worthy to be remembered and acted upon. If the enemy are engaged in gigantic preparations for our overthrow, it behooves as to be girding on our armor and marshaling on hosts to meet them.

Capitol building (Filed July 10, 1865, Levy & Cohen, proprietors; LOC: C-DIG-ds-05496)

no more laws, “take up arms and march to the front” (west side Richmond capitol building)

The Army of Northern Virginia [n]eeds reinforcement to its fighting materiel. The reinforcement must come at once! Can the Government get them? I answer yes. In the first place, there are to-day not less than five thousand able-bodied detailed men in the quartermaster, commissary, medical and ordnance departments of this army, whose places can be supplied by negroes and, disabled men — the negroes to fill such places as teamsters and drivers, and disabled men the position of clerks and messengers. Many of these men, from favoritism or other causes, have been kept out of service for years, if, indeed, they have ever shouldered arms. Let General Lee and Secretary Seddon will it, and these men can be under arms and acting as good soldiers in ten days. Again, there are men detailed for useless and evasive duty all over the State. Let these be returned. I hear it said that forty thousand names on the muster rolls of the Army of Northern Virginia have opposite their respective names the simple word “detailed.” Again, the State of Georgia, with a readiness that does her credit, has called her reserves to the front. If the States of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, will just now imitate her example, Hood and Lee can both receive in this way valuable and appreciable reinforcements. Let them be called for at once. Ere thirty days shall have elapsed Grant will receive his drafted or volunteer men. All that Grant expects them to do is to man his already almost impregnable breastworks, whilst his old troops are disengaged for work on the flanks. Shall General Lee be reinforced by men, or shall this army, worn with the fatigue and exhaustion of a long and bloody conflict, be forced, in the hour of its triumph, to lose the price of victory by a lack of men? Some of the papers are calling for Congress and the Legislature to assemble. If it is meant for them to assemble in Richmond to take up arms and march to the front, I say brave! [bravo?] If they are expected to meet there to talk and legislate, I say no. There is already legislation enough. Let the laws be executed. The President has power enough.–Let the “justice, equity and necessity” exemptions be curtailed, as well as those of the agricultural classes — all of which emanate directly from the War Office–and we shall have men enough and to spare. It is not necessary to rob the States of their judges, clerks and sheriffs to fill the armies. It is not necessary to destroy States’ rights. The material for recruiting the arms-bearing soldiers is in the army and under control of the War Office. The men can be furnished in ten days if Secretary Seddon determines that it shall be done.

Let not our authorities and our newspaper press lay the flattering unction to their hearts that victories can be achieved without men; nor that other delusion, which is inevitable on the heels of each disaster, that the people are always at fault and skulking. The Government is not a myth, but a real, tangible entity, and is clothed with the power to recruit the armies. Will they do it, as they have done before, by the impartial exercise of the powers and trusts confided by the representatives of the people?

Petersburg Sept. 1864 (by Alfred R. Waud, 1864 September; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-21358)

Union artillery at Petersburg, 1864

Now is the accepted time–let there be no delay. The teamsters, cooks, ambulance-drivers, clerks, and other detailed men, can reinforce General Lee five thousand men. Why should the authorities refuse the brave men in the trenches the companionship and support of such obvious and necessary reinforcements? The reserves are within ten days call — no need of an extra session and new legislation. The men are at hand — all that is needed is the order, so strangely withheld, for them to fall in. If we delay till frost, or for new legislation, the events of the interval may supersede the necessity of legislation. But new grants of power are unnecessary. Execute the laws, and all will be well. –Perhaps this communication may fall without fruit. If its suggestions are heeded, the country will be benefitted; if ignored, I will not answer for results. Reinforce Lee and Hood are the suggestions of prudence and common sense, which I cannot suppose our authorities will willfully disregard.

The enemy have nearly finished their branch of the City Point road to the Weldon railroad; and everything indicates a purpose — so soon as they are strong enough — to make a bold effort to seize the Southside railroad.

This morning, about 3 o’clock, the enemy massed eleven skeleton regiments in front of Finnegan and Harris’s skirmish lines, driving them in from two lines and capturing some thirty or forty prisoners. Finnegan quickly rallied his skirmishers, retaking the second or inner line, and re-establishing his pickets at that point. Our line is now receded about two hundred yards in some places, but not more than fifty yards in other places, of what it was on yesterday. There was considerable cannonading during this little affair; but all is quiet at this writing.

X.

Alfred Rudolph Waud drew the picture of the Union artillery at Petersburg. According to the Library of Congress Mr. Waud was suffering just like many soldiers during this time in his life. On the back of the drawing he wrote:

There is a lot of picturesque material now, in the trenches, but I cannot get around to attend to it. I am down, sick and helpless with an acute attack of dysentery. It will be weeks before I get out-if I ever do- Firing is constant- I cannot sleep for it. I send what sketches I have on hand. Will write a letter by next mail. Yrs resfly A.R. Waud alias Tapley.

Gettysburg, Pa. Alfred R. Waud, artist of Harper's Weekly, sketching on battlefield (by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, July 1863; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-00074)

artist in healthier times (for him) at Gettysburg July 1863

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Confederate States of America, Military Matters, Siege of Petersburg, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

attracting a crowd

Posted on September 11, 2014 by SUMPTER
San Francisco. Bird's-eye view ( S.F. : Published by Robinson & Snow, c1864 (S.F. : Printed by L. Nagel); LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-08305)

city by the bay (1864)

fireworks by the bay

150 years ago this week politics was a major topic out in the Far West. The September 9, 1864 issue of San Francisco’s Daily Alta California featured side by side coverage of a couple political rallies from the evening before. The Union mass meeting was held at Platt’s Hall. Several thousand “Copperheads” met at Portsmouth Square:

All the district clubs came marching in procession, many of them with music and transparencies. A large platform had been erected on the square, and it was lighted by gas. On the eastern side of the platform were high posts, between which was stretched an American flag, backed by a painting containing portraits of McClellan and Pendleton, life size. At each side of the portraits were transparencies, one containing the names of the electors, the other those of the nominees for Congress. A brass band was in attendance, and supplied music before the beginning of the speeches, and at the close of each. Bonfires were lighted on Brenham Place, and some speeches were made in that neighborhood. A number of rockets and Roman candles were let off before the opening of the meeting, so that all the attractions of music, bonfires, fireworks and processions were used to attract a crowd. A large number of persons were present – several thousand – the whole square was covered with people.

McClellan and Pendleton (Oakley & Tompson lith., Boston., c.1864; LOC: LC-USZC4-3679)

like Washington, Jackson, all the founders

The first speaker, J.P. Hoge, likened General McClellan to past American heroes:
He considered the Chicago nominee as the best man in the nation for the position. He has the prudence, the patriotism, and the wisdom of Washington, the energy, the indomitable will of Andrew Jackson, and the profound knowledge of our institutions of all the fathers of the country. In one sentence of his West Point; speech he said: “A war so just and righteous, so long as its purpose is to crush the rebellion and to save our nation from the infinite perils of dismemberment.” That sentence contains the essence of the Chicago Platform, the maintenance at all hazards of the integrity of the Union and the principles of the Constitution. In his letter of acceptance he will say no more than he said in his West Point speech, and he will say no less. We go for the reconstruction of the Union, the supremacy of the Constitution. The question is, George B. McClellan and the entire Union against Abe Lincoln and Abolition.

It’s way out west, but the demonstrations are similar to all the other political rallies I’ve been reading about for the past four years. And the message seems to be the same. With General McClellan you get a restored union without the abolition.

The telegraph continues to impress – I’m pretty sure there are some New York, September 8th datelines on the front page of the September 9th issue, which sure is a lot better turn around than I managed this week.

Telegraph Hill from the Russian Hill, San Francisco

Telegraph Hill from the Russian Hill, San Francisco (published 1866)

Telegraph Hill from First Street, Rincon Hill, San Francisco

Telegraph Hill from First Street, Rincon Hill, San Francisco (published 1866)

Telegraph Hill was not named for the 1862 electrical telegraph but for a 1849 semaphore that signaled information to the city about the nature of approaching ships.

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semper fi

Posted on September 10, 2014 by SUMPTER
Washington, D.C. Six marines with fixed bayonets at the Navy Yard

Washington, D.C. Six marines with fixed bayonets at the Navy Yard (April 1864) (Library of Congress)

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“fight it out”

Posted on September 9, 2014 by SUMPTER

According to a reprinted story in a Southern newspaper, Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton criticized the idea of an armistice in a speech to returning veterans during a year in which he was up for re-election. He claimed that the only way the South would ever return to the Union was if the North agreed to pay all the South’s war costs and amended the federal constitution to allow secession, which would eventually make Northern abolition states secede.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 9, 1864:

A Northern View of an armistice.

At Indianapolis, on the 29th ultimo, there was a grand reception of several returning regiments.–Governor Morton made an address to the soldiers, in the course of which he discussed the question of an armistice as follows:

Hon. Oliver P. Morton of Ind (between 1860 and 1875; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpbh-00645)

armistice = admitting we can’t conquer the rebels

“It requires two parties to make an armistice; and Jeff. Davis has already declared that he demands the withdrawal of our armies from the South as a necessary preliminary to any negotiation. Who shall ask for an armistice. Shall our Government sue for terms at the feet of the South? Will this audience of soldiers agree to that? [Cries of “No! No!”] But what does an armistice mean? It means to cease operations in front of Atlanta; it means to loose the hold on Richmond; it means to stop Farragut at Mobile.

“As every one knows, diplomacy takes a great deal of time, and probably, at last, would fail. Can we spare enough of the weather now left us for military operations to be frittered away in armistice, and then find ourselves carried into the winter, when our campaign must necessarily close? Can we afford that now? But who believes the rebels will voluntarily come back into the Union, and give up those very ideas for which they have suffered the horrors of a long and bloody war, especially if we are to acknowledge, by asking an armistice, that we are unable to conquer them?

“Can we coax them back! If we try that, we shall have to agree to pay their war debt; to give a pension to their widows and orphans and maimed soldiers; we shall have to pay the damage that has been done to the Southern States during the war; and, more than all, we will have to engraft into our Constitution the doctrine of secession. Suppose we succeed. When we come to voting money to pay the war debt of the South, or to pension their soldiers, or to reimburse them for damages, abolition Massachusetts, abolition Ohio, abolition Wisconsin, will tell us, “We did not want an armistice, we wanted to fight this war out; but, as you have acknowledged secession in your Constitution; we will quietly walk out.” In this way the Union would go to pieces, and the country we tried to save be broken up by the very compromise that was intended to preserve it. We can make no compromise but what will break up the Government. The only way to get out of the war is to fight it out. (Applause.)

“But these peace men say the North is exhausted. Are we exhausted? The cost of this war is not one-half of the profits of the country. We have never been as wealthy as now, and there are three millions of men in the North who have not yet shouldered a musket in this war. Are we exhausted? General Grant has the rebellion by the throat in front of Richmond, and the General has told a United States senator that he would not let go his hold even if New York, Philadelphia and Washington should be burned. Sherman is all right at Atlanta, and we will crush this rebellion if we are not pulled off by the traitors of the North.”

Civil War Home summarizes Mr. Morton’s tenure as a strong pro-war governor:

A skillful political opportunist, Morton emerged as the most powerful and, by some estimates, the best of the war governors. He answered Abraham Lincoln’s call for troops by raising twice the number requested for Federal service. Certain the war would be brief, he labored to keep in uniform every Indianan who volunteered, so that none would be prevented from serving when the War Department began refusing troops it was unprepared to feed and equip. Largely because of his efforts to encourage volunteerism, Indiana provided 150,000 enlistments to the Federal army with little resort to the draft.
The governor generally backed Lincolns war measures, though he complained about excessive military arrests, resisted the draft, and opposed freeing Southern slaves until the president issued his emancipation proclamation 1 Jan. 1863. Jealous for his states prestige in the Union, he also clashed repeatedly with Federal authorities in his determination to prevent other states from being treated more favorably. He waged a bitter campaign against Copperheads (Peace Democrats) and when growing peace sentiment pitted him against a legislature threatening to limit his military powers, rather than call the hostile representatives into session Morton kept the state government running with loans from Washington, advances from the private sector, and profits from the state arsenal he had established. In 1864 he was reelected along with a Republican legislature, in part by arranging to have 9,000 sick and wounded Indiana soldiers furloughed home in time to vote.

The following political cartoon from 1864 puts the “armistice” word in the mouths of General Lee and President Davis:

The true peace commissioners (N.Y. : Published by Currier & Ives, 1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-92033)

peace fight

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forked tongue acceptance?

Posted on September 8, 2014 by SUMPTER

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 13, 1864:

M’Clellan’s letter of Acceptance — he is for the Union as the only basis for peace.

The following is the letter of General McClellan to the committee announcing his nomination for the Yankee Presidency by the Chicago Convention:

Orange, New Jersey, September 8, 1864.

Gentlemen:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter informing me of my nomination by the Democratic National Convention, recently assembled at Chicago, as their candidate at the next election for President of the United States.

It is unnecessary for me to say to you that this nomination comes to me unsought. I am happy to know that, when the nomination was made, the record of my public life was kept in view.

The effect of long and varied service in the army, during war and peace, has been to strengthen and make indelible in my mind and heart the love and reverence for the Union, Constitution, laws and flag of our country, impressed upon me in early youth. These feelings have thus for guided the course of my life, and must continue to do so to its end.

The existence of more than one government over the region our flag is incompatible with the and the happiness of the people.

The preservation of our Union was the sole avowed object for which the war was commenced. It should have been conducted for that object only, and in accordance with those principles which I took occasion to declare when in active service.

Gen. George McClellan campaign button for 1864 presidential election )1864; LOC: LC-DIG-ppmsca-32109)

looking his ” gallant comrades” in the face (’64 campaign button)

Thus conducted, the work of reconciliation would have been easy, and we might have reaped the benefits of our many victories on land and sea.

The Union was originally formed by the exercise of a spirit of conciliation and compromise: To restore and preserve it, the same spirit must prevail in our councils and in the hearts of the people. The re-establishment of the Union in all its integrity is, and must continue to be, the indispensable condition in any settlement. So soon as it is clear, or even probable, that our present adversaries are ready for peace upon the basis of the Union, we should exhaust all the resource of statesmanship practiced by civilized nations, and taught by the traditions of the American people, consistent with the honor and interest of the country, to secure such peace, re-establish the Union, and guarantee for the future the constitutional rights of every State. The Union is the one condition of peace; we ask no more.

Let me add, what I doubt not was, although unexpressed, the sentiment of the convention; as it is of the people they represent, that when any one State is willing to return to the Union, it should be received at once, with a full guarantee of all its constitutional rights.

If a frank, earnest, and persistent effort to obtain these objects should fail, the responsibility for ulterior consequences will fall upon these who remain in arms against the Union; but the Union must be preserved at all hazards.

I could not look in the face of my gallant comrades of the army and navy, who have survived so many bloody battles, and tell them that their labors and the sacrifice of so many of our slain and wounded brethren had been in vain — that we had abandoned that Union for which we have so often periled our lives. A vast majority of our people, whether in the army and navy or at home, would, as I would, hail with unbounded joy the permanent restoration of peace on the basis of the Union, under the Constitution without the effusion of another drop of blood, But no peace can be permanent without union.

As to the other subjects presented in the resolutions of the convention, I need only say that I should seek in the Constitution of the United States, and the laws framed in the ordnance therewith, the rule of my duty and the limitations of executive power; endeavor to restore economy in the public expenditures, re-establish the supremacy of law, and, by the operation of a more vigorous nationality, resume our commanding position among the nations of the earth.

The condition of our finances, the depreciation of the paper money, and the burden thereby imposed on labor and capital, show the necessity of a return to a sound, financial system; while the rights of citizens and the rights of States, and the binding authority of law over President, army and people, are subjects of not less vital importance in war than in peace. Believing that the views here expressed are those of the convention and the people you represent, I accept the nomination.

I realize the weight of the responsibility to be borne should the people ratify your choice. Conscious of my own weakness, I can only seek fervently the guidance of the Ruler of the Universe, and, relying on His all-powerful aid, do my best to restore union and peace to a suffering people, and to establish and guard their liberties and rights.

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,

George B. McClellan.

Hon. Horatia Seymour and others, Committee.

Southerners might not have liked General McClellan’s statement that peace required the restoration of the Union because the war was going to drag on, apparently. Pro-administraton journals saw hypocrisy in the general accepting the nomination and presumably running on a Copperhead inspired platform. Here’s an example from the September 24, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly (at Son of the South):

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1864.
McCLELLAN’S LETTER.

GENERAL McCLELLAN may be a good rider, but it requires an extraordinary exercise of the skill of the most accomplished equestrian simultaneously to ride two horses going different ways. The chance is that he will fall between the two. His letter of acceptance is a worthy conclusion to the ignominious performance at Chicago. It is confused and verbose: wanting both the manly directness of the soldier and the earnest conviction of the patriot.

He begins by saying that the nomination was ” unsought,” and that the Convention knew it. If it did, it had a monopoly of the knowledge; for if there has been one fact perfectly evident in our late history, it is that General McCLELLAN, from the time he was placed in command of the Army of the Potomac, has, under careful advice and management, been aiming at this nomination. His remark is entirely superfluous, and shakes at the very beginning the confidence of every reader. …[much more]

James M. McPherson wrote that General McClellan originally considered an acceptance letter that “endorsed an armistice qualified only by a proviso calling for renewal of the war if negotiations failed to produce reunion.” Some of his advisers convinced him that it would be impossible to crank up the war machine again once an armistice was in place – “an armistice without conditions would mean surrender of the Union. After Atlanta such a proposal would stultify his candidacy.”[1]

You can read about the following political cartoon at the Library of Congress

Little Mac's double feat of equitation (1864 . . . by N. Bangs Williams, Providence; LOC: LC-USZ62-92046)

skilled equestrian

  1. [1]McPherson, James M. The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Print. page 775.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Northern Politics During War, Northern Society, The election of 1864 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

gifts

Posted on September 6, 2014 by SUMPTER
Emancipation statue, Washington, D.C. (Emancipation statue, Washington, D.C.; LOC: LC-DIG-det-4a05594)

“all mankind should be free”

From The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Volume Seven:

REPLY TO A COMMITTEE OF COLORED PEOPLE FROM BALTIMORE
WHO PRESENTED HIM WITH A BIBLE,

SEPTEMBER 7, 1864.

I can only say now, as I have often said before, it has always been a sentiment with me, that all mankind should be free. So far as I have been able, so far as came within my sphere, I have always acted as I believed was just and right, and done all I could for the good of mankind. I have, in letters sent forth from this office, expressed myself better than I can now.

In regard to the great Book, I have only to say it is the best gift which God has ever given to man. All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this book. But for that Book, we could not know right from wrong. All those things desirable to man are contained in it. I return you sincere thanks for this very elegant copy of this great Book of God which you present.

"A. Lincoln showing Sojourner Truth the Bible presented by colored people of Baltimore, Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., Oct. 29, 1864" (c1893; LOC: LC-USZ62-16225)

“A. Lincoln showing Sojourner Truth the Bible presented by colored people of Baltimore, Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., Oct. 29, 1864
“

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Pollyanna platform

Posted on September 5, 2014 by SUMPTER

The Democratic platform boils down to the call for a convention of all the states that will magically end the war and re-unite the nation.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 5, 1864:

A Republican view of the platform.
[From the Washington Chronicle, September 1.]

The platform adopted by the so-called Democracy is an admirable attempt at “how not to do it.” It contains not a single expression of opinion upon any question of public policy, except that in a mild and inoffensive manner it takes sides in favor of the Union. This is the purport of the first resolution. The second declares that after four years of failure to restore the Union by war, efforts should be made for a cessation of hostilities with a view to calling a convention of all the States. But suppose the rebels refuse to go into a convention, or, going in, suppose they refuse peace except on terms of final separation? What then? The platform is entirely silent on this point. It neither indicates the terms which should be offered the rebels nor informs the country whether the war should be resumed in the event of the refusal of the rebels to come back into the Union.

* * This forcible, feeble manifesto from Chicago is more remarkable for what it omits than for what it embraces. It contains not one sentiment of approbation or censure upon the financial policy of the Administration during the last three and a half years. It neither condemns nor approves the legislation of Congress upon the subjects of tariff duties, internal revenue laws, bank-note currency, and the national banking system. It is silent even upon emancipation, confiscation and conscription. What are we to infer from this silence? Must we not assume that the Convention approves these measures; that it regards them as settled, and no longer open questions? Of course we must; and if during the campaign any champion of the Chicago nominees shall arraign the party in power on any of these issues, it will be a sufficient answer to refer him to his platform for proof that they are no longer in controversy.

The platform is also remarkable for its entire freedom from all malice and uncharitableness towards traitors and rebels. Not a word of censure for secession in theory or rebellion in practice is permitted to find place in the platform; and all the indignation is directed at the efforts of the Administration to suppress the rebellion. In a word, the veriest rebel may read the platform without taking offence, while no truly loyal man can fail to be disgusted with its manifest truckling to the disloyal elements in the loyal States. Upon the whole, the platform is a pitiful affair, and will be expectorated upon by all sorts of people.

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conscientious dilemmas

Posted on September 4, 2014 by SUMPTER

From The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, Volume Seven:

TO MRS. GURNEY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 4, 1864.

ELIZA P. GURNEY.

MY ESTEEMED FRIEND:—I have not forgotten probably never shall forget the very impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited me on a Sabbath forenoon two years ago—nor has your kind letter, written nearly a year later, even been for gotten. In all, it has been your purpose to strengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to the good Christian people of the country for their constant prayer and consolations; and to no one of them, more than to yourself. The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom, and our own error therein. Mean while we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.

Your people—the Friends—have had, and are having, a very great trial. On principle, and faith, opposed to both war and oppression, they can only practically oppose oppression by war. For those appealing to me on conscientious grounds, I have done, and shall do, the best I could and can, in my own conscience, under my oath to the law. That you believe this I doubt not, and believing it, I shall still receive, for our country and myself your earnest prayers to our Father in Heaven.

Your sincere friend,

A. LINCOLN.

I was impressed by Mr. Lincoln’s second paragraph, in which he seemed to succinctly state the dilemma of Mrs. Gurney and her people: the Friends opposed both slavery and war, but it seemed that Southerners were never going to willingly free their slaves.

David Herbert Donald put the message’s first paragraph in the context of the president’s own dilemma: he was sensitive to all the suffering of the Union soldiers during General Grant’s 1864 spring offensive. He told a friend he couldn’t bear all the suffering and death as he looked at a long line of ambulances heading to hospital in Washington. He told another friend that he got sick at the sight of blood, but he could tell General Grant to keep choking and chewing the rebel armies.

President Lincoln was not a member of any church but read the Bible, especially the Old Testament, which “reinforced Lincoln’s long-held belief in the doctrine of necessity… The idea that the actions of any individual were predetermined and shaped by the unknowable wishes of some Higher power … Behind all the struggles and losses of the war a Divine purpose was at work” [1]

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In October 1789 George Washington wrote a letter to Quakers thanking them for their good wishes for his new presidency. He touched on the question of whether the Friends should fight to protect the nation that allowed them to practice their religion as they wished:

…Your principles and conduct are well known to me; and it is doing the people called Quakers no more than justice to say, that (except their declining to share with others the burden of the common defence) there is no denomination among us who are more exemplary and useful citizens.

I assure you very explicitly that in my opinion the conscientious scruples of all men should be treated with great delicacy and tenderness; and it is my wish and desire that the laws may always be as extensively accommodated to them as a due regard to the protection and essential interests of the nation may justify and permit.

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Centreville, Virginia. Quaker gun (by George N. Barnard, March 1862; LOC: LC-DIG-cwpb-00942)

Centreville, Virginia. Quaker gun (March 1862)

  1. [1]Donald, David H. Lincoln. London: Jonathan Cape, 1995. Print. pages 513-15.↩
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