|
WHAT DID THEY FIGHT OVER?
|
|
First Inaugural Address Excerpts | Commentary and Background |
|---|---|
| I understand a proposed amendment to the constitution--which amendment, however I have not seen--has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service ... holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable. |
AMENDMENT PROTECTING SLAVERY APPROVED BY LINCOLN
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 U.S. Congress approved this constitutional amendment 2 March 1861. Ratification of the amendment was assured if the confederate states had rejoined the union at that time. Don't believe it? See the U. S. House of Representatives web site at house.gov/house/Constitution/Amendnotrat.html |
| Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. |
FEAR AND MISUNDERSTANDING
The majority of white southerners did not own slaves but all feared slave insurrections. To better understand why, see Nat Turner's Rebellion. After John Brown's raid and trial (see johnbrown.org) Democrat politicians convinced southerners that Republicans favored a slave rebellion. In the 1860 presidential election, ten southern states did not record a single vote cast for Lincoln. Popular support for secession was the result of Lincoln's election. Much of the secession rhetoric and statements contain references to the Republicans as "John Brown fanatics." |
| It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that-- I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so | MOST BELIEVE LINCOLN HAD THE OPPOSITE VIEW |
|
There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:
No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therin be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves ... after the separation of the sections...fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all. |
HE EXPLAINS HOW SLAVE OWNERS CAN BETTER HOLD SLAVES BY REMAINING IN THE UNION.
Escaped slaves in the northern free states were still subject to capture and return to the south. Frederick Bailey was one such escapee whose oratorical skills were recognized. He changed his name for speaking engagements, to escape recognition by slave catchers. He is known to history as Frederick Douglass. After the supreme court ruled in Prigg vs. Pennsylvania (1842) that slave catchers could operate without interference in all states, the abolitionists began to advocate northern secession. This would allow the free states to become havens for runaway slaves. The most prominent abolitionist periodical "The Liberator" carried the slogan "No Union with Slave Holders." In 1857, 7000 signatures were obtained on a petition calling for the free states to hold a "great northern secession convention." Many of the so called "free states" prohibited slavery and the entry of free blacks. There were two anti-slavery viewpoints. The abolitionists wanted equality for blacks but for most white Americans, including Lincoln, "no slavery" meant a nation of "free whites only" and freed blacks were returned to Africa through colonization. The most prominent abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison said "President Lincoln may colonize himself if he choose, but it is an impertinent act, on his part, to propose the getting rid of those who are as good as himself." The abolitionists knew Lincoln and favored Gerrit Smith as the 1860 candidate of the Liberty Party. By 1864 the abolitionists had influence within the Republican party and tried to replace Lincoln with John C. Fremont. |
| A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. ... It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. |
South Carolina seceded on 20 Dec 1860 and six more states (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas) followed by Mar 1861. They formed the confederate states.
The South Carolina Statement gave taxes as the immediate cause for secession and protection of slavery as a possible future reason. Popular support for secession came from a misapprehension that Republicans favored slave rebellions. It didn't make sense to secede over slavery but governments and leaders sometimes do something for one reason, while giving another reason that has public acceptance. The confederate constitution was mostly a copy of the U. S. constitution but did contain additional restrictions on the national government's taxing and spending authority. Escape from the tariff gained most of the north's opposition. |
| In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it." | This is often the only part of the address quoted in popular histories. |
| The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion |
Lincoln refused to meet the confederate delegation sent to negotiate the purchase of federal property and share of the national debt.
PAY THE TARIFF OR BE INVADED. |
| More - Lincoln Tariff War |
