THE POLITICAL CONFLICT IN AMERICA, FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION TO THE COMPRISING ALSO A Resume of the Career of Thaddeus Stevens: BEING A SURVEY OF THE STRUGGLE OF PARTIES, WHICH DESTROYED Quando imperium tenent pravi, plorat populus. BY ALEXANDER HARRIS. NEW YORK: T. H. POLLOCK, PUBLISHER, 37 PARK Row. 1876. E414 .H3 324580 Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1876, by ALEXANDER HARRIS, In the Office of Librarian of Congress at Washington. STEREOTYPED BY J. & T. A. RAISBECK, Stereotypers & Electrotypers. No. 74 BEEKMAN STREET. PREFACE. THE undersigned proposes to present to the public a history, to be entitled "A REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL CONFLICT IN AMERICA." He does so, in obedience to monitions that were ever reminding him, since the close of our civil war, that duty demanded of this generation, that it writə the truth concerning the origin and progress of the conflict, through which the nation has passed. The work will also comprise a "Resume of the Career of Thaddeus Stevens," who conspicuously figured, as the leading revolutionist of the American Congress; and who towered as the unconcealed contemner of law and the Federal Constitution. Until the work was completed, it had been the design of the undersigned, to entitle it "The Life and Times of Thaddeus Stevens;" because it was believed, that the prominence and admitted intellectual capacity of the man being treated, would secure attention from all classes of readers. But his career had been mainly selected, in order to embody therewith, the history of the times in which he lived; and because also he of all American Statesmen, appeared as the typical representative of the destructive revolutionary movement, which the work is designed to illustrate and unfold. Upon its completion, however, the originally conceived title, appeared not to harmonize with what, it might have seemed to have imported; and therefore, after some reflection, it was changed to what has been adopted. The plan thus followed, in the treatment of the work, notwithstanding the change of title, will allow of a clearer light being reflected (as is believed) upon the development and progress of the revolution, as it passes scenically before the vision. The work will trace the conflict to its inception, deducing it from inherent principles. It will thence follow the progress of the anti-slavery agitation, from its commencement to its full development in one of the political parties of the country, and its complete seizure of power, in the election of Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. The movement intended to check the progress of sectionalism will also be sketched, until the final effort to do so, resulted in the secession of the Southern States; and the bloody collision of arms followed. During the progress of the civil war, the ideal conflict in Congress and throughout the nation, which animated and sustained the armed combatants upon the fields of battle, is alone viewed and depicted. The Presidential and Congressional acts which had reference to the prosecution of the war, and the motives influencing these, are presented in historical delineation of the political struggle, as it progressed. The breach of President Johnson with his party, is detailed in appropriate compass, and the conflict of parties which followed, until the reconstruction legislation of Congress, insured the Africanization of the South. |