3 KENTUCKY AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 655 can majority, it was simply because, | prehend that they must choose bein the absence of any election for tween Emancipation and Disunion. Congress, and in view of the certainty | So when, pursuant to the act of Conthat the Republican ascendency gress' providing for the enrollment, would be maintained, no serious effort was made to call out a full vote, and personal considerations exerted their natural influence in so small a State when no special or urgent reason is presented for a rigid respect to party lines. 7 6 as subject to military duty, of all ablebodied male slaves between the ages of 20 and 45, Federal officers commenced such enrollment, a fresh, intense excitement pervaded her slaveholding districts, which impelled her Governor, Thomas E. BramletteThe Presidential Election in im- (elected' as a Unionist by an overmediate prospect soon fixed that whelming majority over Charles A. share of public attention which could Wickliffe, the Democratic candidate, be diverted from the progress of hos- but not without great and apparently tilities wherein every one's hopes and well-grounded complaint of Military fears were largely involved, and interference at the polls, to the prewherein almost every one was, either judice of the Opposition)—to adhimself or in the persons of those dear dress to the people of his State a to him, engaged. Among Republi- proclamation, counseling them not cans and those Democrats whom the to let their "indignation," provoked War had constrained to act with by this enrollment, impel them to them, there was a very considerable" acts of violence, nor to unlawful dissent from the policy of rënomina- resistance." He continued:ting Mr. Lincoln; but, as the canvass proceeded, the popular sentiment was found so unequivocally in his favor that no serious or concerted resistance to such rënomination was made: its advocates choosing delegates to the National Convention, with barely a show of resistance, from nearly every loyal State-Missouri, because of the intense Radicalism of her firetried Unionists, being the solitary exception. "In the Union, under the Constitution, and in accordance with law, assert and urge your rights. It is our duty to obey the law until it is declared, by judicial decision, to be unconstitutional. The citizen, whose prowill be entitled, under the imperative manperty may be taken under it for public use, date of the Constitution, to a just compensation for his private property so taken for public use. Although the present Congress may not dous justice, yet it is safe to rely upon the justice of the American people; and an appeal to them will not be unheeded or unanswered. Peace restored, and the unity of our Government preserved, will drive to ignominious disgrace those who, in the agony of our conflict, perverted their sacred trusts to the base uses of partisan ends and fanatical purposes." Kentucky, however, had a creed of her own. Professedly Union, as she had been proved by every test and at each succeeding election, she still remained pro-Slavery; unlike the other Border-States,' which had already been brought distinctly to com-vention, to meet at Louisville, May One immediate result of this enrollment and the consequent “indignation" was a call by the Union State Committee of a State Con Gov. Bramlette, accompanied by ex-Senator Dixon and Col. A. G. Hodges, soon visited Washington, expressly to protest against, and (if possible) to obviate, this enrollment of negroes, or at least to render its execution less offensive and annoying to their masters-finding the President disposed to do whatever he could to reconcile the Kentuckians to the bitter prescription. Mr. Lincoln was induced to put the substance of his observations at their interview into the following letter : "EXECUTIVE MANSION, "WASHINGTON, April 4, 1864. “A. G. HODGES, Esq., Frankfort, Ky. : "MY DEAR SIR: You ask me to put in writing the substance of what I verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Gov. Bramlette and Senator Dixon. It was about as follows: Government-that nation, of which that "I am naturally anti-Slavery. If Slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think and feel; and yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using | the power. I understood, too, that, in ordinary and civil administration, this oath "And now let any Union man, who comeven forbade me to practically indulge my plains of this measure, test himself by writprimary, abstract judgment on the moral ing down in one line, that he is for subduing question of Slavery. I had publicly declared the Rebellion by force of arms; and in the this many times, and in many ways. And next, that he is for taking 130,000 men from I aver that, to this day, I have done no offi- the Union side, and placing them where cial act in mere deference to my abstract they would be but for the measure he conjudgment and feeling on Slavery. I did demns. If he can not face his case so stated, understand, however, that my oath to pre- it is only because he can not face the truth. serve the Constitution to the best of my ability imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that "I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. i PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ANTI-SLAVERY GROWTH. 657 I claim not to have controlled events, but | Edward Everett was patiently listenconfess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years' struggle, the nation's condition is not what either perty or any man devised or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tend ing seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God. Yours, truly,' A. LINCOLN.” Persuasive and cogent as this letter will now seem, it did not placate the indignation of the Kentuckians, nor change the destination of their delegates from the Chicago to the Baltimore Convention. The careful reader will note in this letter a decided advance upon Mr. Lincoln's earlier allusions to Slavery in its necessary relations to our struggle. By nature, slow, cautious, tentative, and far from sanguine, he had profoundly distrusted the policy of Emancipation; apprehending that its adoption would alienate from the Union cause more strength than it would bring to its support. This distrust yielded tardily to evidence, which (in fact) was slowly furnished; but when at length it appeared that, while very few original, hearty Unionists were repelled by it, the Blacks became day by day a more active and more efficient element of our National strength, his doubts were fully dispelled, and his faith was the firmer and clearer for his past skepticism. Hence, at the great gathering which inaugurated the National Cemetery carved from the battle-field of Gettysburg for the ashes of our brethren who there died that their country might live, though the elaborately polished oration of VOL. II.-42. 8 ed to, while Cabinet Ministers and Governors were regarded with lively curiosity, the central figure on the platform was the tall, plain, unpresuming, ungainly 'rail-splitter' from the prairies; and the only words uttered that the world cares to remember were those of the President, who -being required to say somethingthus responded: "Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not, consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nodedicated to the great task remaining before bly advanced. It is rather for us to be here us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." The first National Convention of 1864 met at Cleveland, May 31st, pursuant to a call "To the Radical Men of the Nation." About 350 persons were present; very few or none of them in the capacity of delegates. Ex-Gov. William F. Johnston, of Pa., was made temporary and Gen. John Cochrane, of N. Y., Nov. 19, 1863. permanent presiding officer. Gen. | ceptance, repudiated the sweeping John C. Fremont was here nominated policy of confiscation above indifor President, and Gen. John Coch- cated. Gen. Cochrane demurred to rane for Vice-President. The plat- such confiscation, but remitted the form adopted is as follows: question to the wisdom of Congress, "1st. That the Federal Union shall be when it should be called to act on preserved. the subject of Reconstruction. "2d. That the Constitution and laws of the United States must be observed and obeyed. Ultimately, both candidates withdrew from the contest; convinced 3d. That the Rebellion must be sup- that the great mass of the popular pressed by force of arms, and without compromise. "4th. That the rights of free speech, free press, and the habeas corpus, be held inviolate, save in districts where martial law has been proclaimed. "5th. That the Rebellion has destroyed Slavery, and the Federal Constitution should be amended to prohibit its reestablishment, and to secure to all men absolute equality before the law. "6th. That integrity and economy are demanded at all times in the administration of the Government; and that in time of war the want of them is criminal. "7th. That the right of asylum, except for crime and subject to law, is a recognized principle of American liberty; that violation of it can not be overlooked, and must not go unrebuked. that any "8th. That the national policy known as the 'Monroe doctrine' has become a re cognized principle; and that the establishment of an anti-republican Government on this continent by any foreign power can not be tolerated. "9th. That the gratitude and support of the nation are due to the faithful soldiers and the earnest leaders of the Union army and navy for their heroic achievements and deathless valor in defense of our imperiled country and of civil liberty. * "10th. That the one-term policy for the Presidency, adopted by the people, is strengthened by the force of the existing crisis, and should be maintained by constitutional amendment. "11th. That the Constitution should be so amended that the President and VicePresident shall be elected by a direct vote of the people. "12th. That the question of the reconstruction of the rebellious States belongs to the people, through their representatives in Congress, and not to the Executive. "13th. That the confiscation of the lands of the rebels, and their distribution among the soldiers and actual settlers, is a measure of justice." vote must be divided between the Union' and the 'Democratic' tickets. The Union' National Convention assembled at Baltimore, Tuesday, June 7. Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge, D. D., of Kentucky, was made temporary and Hon. William Dennison, ex-Governor of Ohio, permanent President. All but the incontestably, persistently Rebel States were found to be represented. Hon.. Preston King, of N. Y., from the Committee on Credentials, reported in favor of admitting all the delegates claiming seats, but those from South Carolina and the 'Conservative' Unionists from Missouri: the delegations from the Territories, from the District of Columbia, and from the States of Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, and Arkansas, not to be entitled to vote. Upon consideration, this report was overruled so far as to authorize-by a vote of 310 to 151-the delegates from Tennessee to vote; those from Louisiana and Arkansas were likewise authorized to vote, by 307 to 167. The delegates from Nebraska, Colorado, and Nevada, were then allowed also to vote; but not those from Virginia, Florida, and the remaining territories. Mr. Henry J. Raymond, of N. Y., Gen. Fremont, in his letter of ac- reported the platform, which was BALTIMORE NATIONAL PLATFORM OF 1864. 659 unanimously adopted. It is as fol- the practical wisdom, the unselfish patriot lows: Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the Union and the paramount authority of the Constitution and the laws of the United States; and that, laying aside all differences and political opinions, we pledge ourselves as Union men, animated by a common sentiment, and aiming at a common object, to do everything in our power to aid the Government in quelling by force of arms the Rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment, due to their crimes, the Rebels and traitors arrayed against it. ism and unswerving fidelity to the Constitution and the principles of American Liberty, with which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presidential office; that we approve and indorse, as demanded by the emergency and essential to the preservation of the nation, and as within the Constitution, the measures and acts which he has adopted to defend the nation against its open and secret foes; that we approve especially the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the employment as Union soldiers of men heretofore held in slavery; and that we have full confidence in his determination to carry out these and all other constitutional measures essential to the salvation of the country into full and complete effect. Resolved, That we approve the determination of the Government of the United States not to compromise with Rebels, nor to offer them any terms of peace except such as may Resolved, That we deem it essential to be based upon an unconditional surrender of the general welfare that harmony should their hostility and a return to their just al-prevail in the National councils; and we relegiance to the Constitution and the laws of the United States; and that we call upon the Government to maintain this position, and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor to the complete suppression of the Rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing patriotism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to their country and its free institutions. gard as worthy of public confidence and official trust, those only who cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions, and which should characterize the administration of the Government. Resolved, That the Government owes to all men employed in its armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protection of the laws of war; and that any violation of these laws or of the usages of civilized nations in the time of war by the Rebels now in arms should be made the subject of full and prompt redress. "Resolved, That the foreign immigration which in the past has added so much to the wealth and development of resources and increase of power to this nation, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. Resolved, That we are in favor of a speedy construction of the railroad to the Pacific coast. “Resolved, That, as Slavery was the cause and now constitutes the strength of this Rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the principles of republican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic; and that we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed a death-blow at this gigantic evil. We are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of Slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States. Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are due to the soldiers and sailors of the Army and the Navy who have periled their lives in defense of their country, and in vindication of the honor of the flag; that the nation owes to them some permanent recognition or their patriotism and their Resolved, That we approve the position valor, and ample and permanent provision taken by the Government, that the people for those of their survivors who have re- of the United States can never regard with ceived disabling and honorable wounds in indifference the attempt of any European the service of the country; and that the power to overthrow by force or to supplant memories of those who have fallen in its de- by fraud the institutions of any republican fense shall be held in grateful and everlast-government on the Western Continent, and ing remembrance. that they will view with extreme jealousy, as menacing to the peace and independence "Resolved, That we approve and applaud "Resolved, That the National faith, pledged for the redemption of the public debt, must be kept inviolate; and that for this purpose we recommend economy and rigid responsibility in the public expenditures, and a vigorous and just system of taxation; that it is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit and promote the use of the National Currency. |