Four Minute History Lesson
On Mar 2, 1861; the U. S. Congress approved this amendment to the Constitution:
"No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or 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"
This can be verified at the U. S. House of Representatives
web page
Lincoln, in his
inaugural address of Mar 4, 1861;
supported the above amendment. Seven states (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) had seceded and Lincoln and the north were willing to amend the constitution to protect slavery if that would coax them back into the union.
Southern secessionists claimed secession benefited slavery. It was nonsense. The North did not intend to interfere with slavery in the states and was willing to amend the Constitution to perpetually prohibit such interference. The Underground Railroad went all the way to Canada because of the Constitution�s fugitive clause. For this reason many abolitionists advocated northern secession. An abolitionist North would have welcomed secession and guaranteed freedom for all crossing the border. Slavery would have immediately collapsed near the border and the �freedom zone� cutting through the middle of the slave states would have inevitably spread destroying the peculiar institution. Slavery does not explain nor justify the North�s opposition to secession. Free trade benefited the southern economy and the Confederate Constitution prohibited protective tariffs. The Republicans passed a protective tariff on behalf of industrialist supporters. The tariff would have been undermined by the Confederacy�s free trade policy. Interestingly, Lincoln mentioned using force �to collect the duties and imposts� in his first inaugural address. Blunder or tariff war?
Lincoln would not meet Confederate diplomats nor acquiesce to secession so war was inevitable. Fort Sumter, Charleston, SC, provided the spark. Confederates had been led by Secretary of State William Seward to believe the fort would be evacuated. �EVACUATION OF FORT SUMTER DETERMINED ON� proclaimed the New York Courier. Instead Lincoln dispatched a fleet with reinforcements. Jefferson Davis determined to force evacuation and the fort was attacked on April 12, 1861 when the evacuation ultimatum was refused. Four states (Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee) seceded in opposition to Lincoln�s militia call up of April 15, 1861. Slaves began to liberate themselves by fleeing to federal lines and providing valuable assistance. But the north did not enjoy the anticipated quick victory and many more slaves were providing the labor behind the confederate war effort so Lincoln resorted to emancipation as a war measure. He gave his
preliminary emancipation proclamation on September 22, 1862
which declared that as of January 1, 1863 all slaves would be freed in the areas still in rebellion. His
emancipation proclamation of January 1, 1863
only applied to slaves behind confederate lines. It did not apply to the slave states of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, Delaware, and parts of Virginia and Louisiana. It also declared �that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States.�
Patrick Cleburne was the first Confederate general on record for Confederate emancipation and enlistment. Confederate authorities opposed it until too late. African Americans joined the union forces to fight for the principle in the Declaration of Independence �that all Men are created equal.� The Confederate soldier was fighting for the Declaration�s principle that governments derive �their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.� Northern victory in 1865 crushed government by consent but did not bring equality. The former slaves were abandoned to the mercies of embittered southern whites. The resulting form of peonage (with white-on-black violence more deadly than under slavery) lasted nearly a century.
On Feb. 23, 1861 Texans voted 46,153 to 14,747 for secession. Which is the right way to reverse an election: persuasion or war?