..."On September 22 [1862], Lincoln issued the preliminary proclamation of emancipation. He declared that on January 1, 1863, "all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." The proclamation stated further that the Executive "will recognize and maintain the freedom of such person, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom."
Radical as this step was in relation to the earlier policy of the administration toward slavery, Lincoln did not let it cause him to abandon his fundamental purpose--the restoration of the Union. In fact,he tried to use it to induce the rebel states to return to the Union. He began the preliminary proclamation for example, by declaring, "Hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prossecuted [sic] for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States, and each of the states, and the people thereof, in which states that relation is, or may be suspended, or disturbed." To this end Lincoln set forth what amounted to minimum conditions for reconstruction. He said that on January 1, 1863, the executive would designate which states were in rebellion; "and the fact that any state, or the people thereof shall, on that day be, in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such state shall have participated, shall in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States." In this way Lincoln connected emancipation with reconstruction.
...skip a few paragraphs:
1: on how it is worth more to the states to have an election than to continue fighting the war
2: on telling military governors to hold elections ASAP and how he'd "be very glad if any Congressional District" would elect a representative"
3: on getting annoyed that "nothing had been done about congressional elections" in November in NOLA
4: on elections finally being held in December and early January in 4 states: Louisiana (7600 votes cast), Eastern VA (Norfolk, Portsmouth, Eastern Shore; 1400 votes cast), 400 votes from Western VA, North Carolina (2nd district: 864 votes cast), and Tennessee (1900 votes cast in the 9th district).
"Lincoln apparently was satisfied with these results and intent on having them accepted by Congress. This much he made clear when the question of exempting parts of the South from the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation came up at a Cabinet meeting in December. Replying to a question about the exemption of New Orleans and the surrounding area, he explained that he had promised the people there that he would exempt them if they would elect members of Congress. Salmon P. Chase interjected that while two representatives had been elected from Louisiana, "they have not yet got their seats, and it is not certain that they will." At this, according to John P. Usher, the Secretary of the Interior, Lincoln "rose from his seat, apparently irritated, and walked rapidly back and forth, across the room. Looking over his shoulder at Mr. Chase, he said: 'That it is, sir. I am to be bullied by Congress, am I? If I do, I'll be durned.' "
So anxious was Lincoln to promote reconstruction that he exempted the states in which elections had been held, even though only one of them had fulfilled the conditions outlined in the preliminary proclamation of September. The President had therein stated that for representatives to be accepted, they had to be chosen at elections in which a majority of the qualified voters had participated. Only Louisiana had met this requirement; the 7600 voters who had turned out were about half the number who had voted in the elections of 1859. Congress, furthermore, had not admitted any of the members-elect, as Lincoln had specified it should. Nevertheless, he excepted from the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, all of Tennessee, though elections had taken place in only pone part of the state; the parishes in and around New Orleans, in Louisiana; Norfolk and the eastern-shore section of Virginia; and all forty-eight counties of West Virginia, just then on the verge of statehood, where no elections had been held"
From: "Reconstructing the Union: Theory and Policy during the Civil War"
By Herman Belz; 1969
Radical as this step was in relation to the earlier policy of the administration toward slavery, Lincoln did not let it cause him to abandon his fundamental purpose--the restoration of the Union. In fact,he tried to use it to induce the rebel states to return to the Union. He began the preliminary proclamation for example, by declaring, "Hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prossecuted [sic] for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States, and each of the states, and the people thereof, in which states that relation is, or may be suspended, or disturbed." To this end Lincoln set forth what amounted to minimum conditions for reconstruction. He said that on January 1, 1863, the executive would designate which states were in rebellion; "and the fact that any state, or the people thereof shall, on that day be, in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such state shall have participated, shall in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States." In this way Lincoln connected emancipation with reconstruction.
...skip a few paragraphs:
1: on how it is worth more to the states to have an election than to continue fighting the war
2: on telling military governors to hold elections ASAP and how he'd "be very glad if any Congressional District" would elect a representative"
3: on getting annoyed that "nothing had been done about congressional elections" in November in NOLA
4: on elections finally being held in December and early January in 4 states: Louisiana (7600 votes cast), Eastern VA (Norfolk, Portsmouth, Eastern Shore; 1400 votes cast), 400 votes from Western VA, North Carolina (2nd district: 864 votes cast), and Tennessee (1900 votes cast in the 9th district).
"Lincoln apparently was satisfied with these results and intent on having them accepted by Congress. This much he made clear when the question of exempting parts of the South from the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation came up at a Cabinet meeting in December. Replying to a question about the exemption of New Orleans and the surrounding area, he explained that he had promised the people there that he would exempt them if they would elect members of Congress. Salmon P. Chase interjected that while two representatives had been elected from Louisiana, "they have not yet got their seats, and it is not certain that they will." At this, according to John P. Usher, the Secretary of the Interior, Lincoln "rose from his seat, apparently irritated, and walked rapidly back and forth, across the room. Looking over his shoulder at Mr. Chase, he said: 'That it is, sir. I am to be bullied by Congress, am I? If I do, I'll be durned.' "
So anxious was Lincoln to promote reconstruction that he exempted the states in which elections had been held, even though only one of them had fulfilled the conditions outlined in the preliminary proclamation of September. The President had therein stated that for representatives to be accepted, they had to be chosen at elections in which a majority of the qualified voters had participated. Only Louisiana had met this requirement; the 7600 voters who had turned out were about half the number who had voted in the elections of 1859. Congress, furthermore, had not admitted any of the members-elect, as Lincoln had specified it should. Nevertheless, he excepted from the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, all of Tennessee, though elections had taken place in only pone part of the state; the parishes in and around New Orleans, in Louisiana; Norfolk and the eastern-shore section of Virginia; and all forty-eight counties of West Virginia, just then on the verge of statehood, where no elections had been held"
From: "Reconstructing the Union: Theory and Policy during the Civil War"
By Herman Belz; 1969
No comments:
Post a Comment