 Chapter 32 and 33 of A Short History of the United States. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Allison Hester of Athens, Georgia. A Short History of the United States by Edward Channing. Chapter 32 The Mexican War. Chapter 32 The Republic of Texas. The Mexicans won their independence from Spain in 1821 and founded the Mexican Republic. Soon, immigrants from the United States settled in the northeastern part of the New Republic. This region was called Texas. The Mexican government gave these settlers large tracts of land. And for a time, everything went on happily. Then war broke out between the Mexicans and the Texans, like Daniel Houston, a settler from Tennessee. The Texans won the battle of San Jacinto and captured General Santa Anna, the president of the Mexican Republic. The Texans then established the Republic of Texas in 1836 and asked to be admitted to the Union as one of the United States. Chapter 33 The Southerners and Texas. The application of Texas for admission to the Union came as a pleasant surprise to many Southerners. As a part of the Mexican Republic, Texas had been free soil. But Texas was well suited to the needs of the cotton plant. If it were admitted to the Union, it would surely be a slave state, or perhaps several slave states. The question of admitting Texas first came before Jackson. He saw that the admission of Texas would be strongly opposed in the north, so he put the whole matter to one side and would have nothing to do with it. Tyler acted very differently. Under his direction, a treaty was made with Texas. This treaty provided for the admission of Texas to the Union, but the Senate refused to ratify the treaty. The matter, therefore, became the most important question in the presidential election of 1844. Chapter 331 Election of 1844. President Tyler would have been glad of a second term, but neither of the great parties wanted him as a leader. The Democrats would have gladly nominated Van Buren had he not opposed the acquisition of Texas. Instead, they nominated James K. Polk of Tennessee, an outspoken favor of the admission of Texas. The Whigs nominated Henry Clay, who had not decided the Whigs nominated Henry Clay, who had no decided views on the Texas question. He said one thing one day, another thing another day. The result was that the opponents of slavery and of Texas formed a new party. They called it the Liberty Party and nominated a candidate for president. The Liberty men did not gain many votes, but they gained enough votes to make Clay's election impossible, and Polk was chosen president. Chapter 332 Acquisition of Texas 1845. Tyler now pressed the admission of Texas upon Congress. The two houses passed a joint resolution. This resolution provided for the admission of Texas and for the formation from the territory included in Texas of four states, in addition to the states of Texas and with the consent of that state. Before Texas was actually admitted, Tyler had ceased to be president, but Polk carried out his policy, and on July 4th, 1845, Texas became one of the United States. 333 Beginning of the Mexican War, 1846. The Mexicans had never acknowledged the independence of Texas. They now protested against its admission to the United States. Disputes also arose as to the southern boundary of Texas. As no agreement could be reached on this point, President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to march to the Rio Grande and occupy the disputed territory. Taylor did as he was ordered, and the Mexicans attacked him. Polk reported these facts to Congress, and Congress authorized the president to push on the fighting on the ground that, quote, war exists and exists by the act of Mexico herself. 334 Taylor's Campaigns The Mexican War easily divides itself into three parts. One, Taylor's forward movement across the Rio Grande. Two, Scott's campaign, which ended in the capture of the city of Mexico. And three, the seizure of California. Taylor's object was to maintain the line of the Rio Grande and then to advance into Mexico and enter the Mexicans as much as possible. The battles of Palo Alto and Rezeca de la Palma, May 8th, 9th, 1846, were fought before the actual declaration of war. These victories made Taylor master of the Rio Grande. In September, he crossed the Rio Grande. So far, all had gone well. But in the winter, many of Taylor's soldiers were withdrawn to take part in Scott's campaign. This seemed to be the Mexicans' time. They attacked Taylor with four times as many men as he had in his army. This battle was fought at Buenavista, February 1847. Taylor beat back the Mexicans with terrible slaughter. This was the last battle of Taylor's campaign. 335 Scott's Invasion of Mexico The plan of Scott's campaign was that he should land at Veracruz, march to the city of Mexico 200 miles away, capture that city, and force the Mexicans to make peace. Everything fell out precisely as it was planned. With the help of the Navy, Scott captured Veracruz. He only had about one quarter as many men as the Mexicans, but he overthrew them at Cerro Gordo, where the road to the city of Mexico crosses the coast mountains. April 1847 With the greatest care and skill, he pressed on, and at length came within sight of the city of Mexico. The capital of the Mexican Republic stood in the midst of marshes and could only be reached by narrow causeways, which joined it to solid land. August 20, 1847, Scott beat the Mexicans in three pitched battles. And on September 14, he entered the city with his army, now numbering only 6,000 men fit for active service. 336 Seizure of California California was the name given to the Mexican possessions on the Pacific Coast north of Mexico itself. There were now many American settlers there, especially at Monterey. Hearing of the outbreak of the Mexican War, they set up a republic of their own. Their flag had a figure of a grizzly bear painted on it, and hence their republic is often spoke of as the Bear Republic. Commodore Stockton, with a small fleet, was on the Pacific Coast. He and John C. Fremont assisted the Bear Republicans until soldiers under Colonel Kearney reached them from the United States by way of Santa Fe. 337 Treaty of Peace, 1848 The direct cause of the Mexican War was Mexico's unwillingness to give up Texas without a struggle. But the Mexicans had treated many Americans very unjustly and owed them large sums of money. A Treaty of Peace was made in 1848. Mexico agreed to abandon her claims to Texas, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. The United States agreed to withdraw its armies from Mexico $15 million and to pay the claims of American citizens on Mexico. These claims proved to amount to $3.5 million. In the end, therefore, the United States paid $18.5 million for this enormous and exceedingly valuable addition to its territory. When the time came to run the boundary line, the American and Mexican commissioners could not agree. So the United States paid $10 million more and received an additional strip of land between the Rio Grande and the Colorado Rivers. This gave the United States its present Southern boundary. This agreement was made in 1853 by James Gadsden for the United States. And the land bought is usually called the Gadsden Purchase. 338 The Oregon Question It was not only in the Southwest that boundaries were disputed. In the Northwest, also, there was a long controversy, which was settled while Polk was president. Oregon was the name given to the whole region between Spanish and Mexican California and the Russian Alaska. The United States and Great Britain each claimed to have the best right to Oregon. As they could not agree as to their claims, they decided to occupy the region jointly. As time went on, American settlers and missionaries began to go over the mountains to Oregon. In 1847, 7,000 Americans were living in the Northwest. 339 The Oregon Treaty 1846 The matter was now taken up in earnest. All Oregon or none. 5440 or flight became popular cries. The United States gave notice of the ending of the joint occupation. The British government suggested that Oregon should be divided between the two nations. In 1818, the boundary between the United States and British North America had been fixed as the 49th parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. It was now proposed to continue this line to the Pacific. The British government, however, insisted that the western end of the line should follow the channel between Vancouver's Island and the mainland, so as to make that island entirely British. The Mexican War was now coming on. It would hardly do to have two wars at one time, so the United States gave way, and a treaty was signed in 1846. Instead of all Oregon, the United States received about one half. But it was a splendid region and included not merely the present state of Oregon, but all the territory west of the Rocky Mountains between the 42nd and the 49th parallels of latitude. End of Chapter 32 Chapter 33 The Compromise of 1850 340 The Wilmot Proviso, 1846 What should be done with Oregon and with the immense territory received from Mexico? Should it be free soil or should it be slave soil? To understand the history of the dispute, which arose out of this question, we must go back a bit and study the Wilmot Proviso. Even before the Mexican War was fairly begun, this question came before Congress. Everyone admitted that Texas must be a slave state. Most people agreed that Oregon would be free soil, for it was far too north for Negroes to thrive. But what should be done with California and New Mexico? David Wilmot of Pennsylvania thought they should be free soil. He was a member of the House of Representatives. In 1846, he moved to add to a bill giving the president money to purchase land for Mexico at Proviso that none of the territory to be acquired at the national expense should be open to slavery. This Proviso was finally defeated, but the matter was one on which people held very strong opinions. And the question became the most important issue in the election of 1848. 341 Taylor elected president, 1848 Three candidates contested the election of 1848. First, there was Louis Cass of Michigan, the Democratic candidate. He was in favor of squatter sovereignty, that is, allowing the people of each territory to have slavery or not as they chose. The Whig candidate was General Taylor, the victor of Buena Vista. The Whigs put forth no statement of principles. The third candidate was Martin Van Buren, the already once president. Although a Democrat, he did not favor the extension of slavery. He was nominated by Democrats who did not believe in squatter sovereignty and by a new party which called itself the Free Soil Party. The abolitionists or Liberty Party also nominated a candidate, but he withdrew in favor of Van Buren. The Whigs had nominated Millard Fillmore for president. He attracted to the Whig ticket a good many votes in New York. Van Buren also drew a good many votes from the Democrats. In this way, New York was carried for Taylor and Fillmore. This decided the election and the Whig candidates were chosen. 342 California Before the Treaty of Peace with Mexico was ratified, even before it was signed, gold was discovered in California. Reports of the discovery soon reached the towns on the western sea coast. At once, men left whatever they were doing and hastened to the hills to dig for gold. Months later, rumors of this discovery began to reach the eastern part of the United States. At first, people paid little attention to them, but when President Polk said that gold had been found, people began to think it must be true. Soon hundreds of gold seekers started for California. Then thousands became eager to go. These first comers were called the 49ers because most of them came in the year 1849. By the end of that year, there were 80,000 immigrants in California. 343 California seeks admission to the Union. There were 80,000 white people in California and they had almost no government of any kind. So in November, 1849 they held a convention, drew up a constitution and demanded admission to the Union as a state. The peculiar thing about this constitution was that it forbade slavery in California. Many of the 49ers were southerners, but even they did not want slavery. The reason was that they wished to dig in the earth and win gold. They would not allow slaveholders to work their mining claims with slave labor for free white laborers had never been able to work alongside of Negro slaves, so they did not want slavery in California. 344 A divided country. This action of the people of California at once brought the question of slavery before the people. Many southerners were eager to found a slave confederacy apart from the Union. Many abolitionists were eager to found a free republic in the North. Many northerners who loved the Union thought that slavery should be confined to the states where it existed. They thought that slavery should not be permitted in the territories which belong to the people of the United States as a whole. They argued that if the territories could be kept free, the people of those territories when they came to form state constitutions would forbid slavery as the people of California had just done. They were probably right, and for this very reason the southerners wished to have slavery in the territories. So strong was the feeling over these points that it seemed as if the Union would split into pieces. 345 President Taylor's policy General Taylor was now president. He was alarmed by the growing excitement. He determined to settle the matter at once before people could get any more excited. So he sent agents to California and to New Mexico to urge the people to demand admission to the Union at once. When Congress met in 1850, he stated that California demanded admission as a free state. The southerners were angry for they had thought that California would surely be a slave state. 346 Clay's compromise plan Henry Clay now stepped forward to bring about a union of hearts. His plan was to end all disputes between northerners and southerners by having the people of each section give way to the people of the other section. For example the southerners were to permit the admission of California as a free state and to consent to the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. In return, the northerners were to give way to the southerners on all other points. They were to allow slavery in the District of Columbia. They were to consent to the organization of New Mexico as territories without any provision for or against slavery. Texas claimed that a part of the proposed territory of New Mexico belonged to her, so Clay suggested that the United States should pay Texas for this land. Finally, Clay proposed that the Congress should pass a Severe Fugitive Slave Act. It is easily seen that Clay's plan as a whole was distinctly favorable to the South. Few persons favored the passage of the whole scheme, but when votes were taken on each part separately, they all passed. In the midst of the excitement over this compromise, President Taylor died, and Millard Fillmore, the Vice President, became President. 347. The Fugitive Slave Act The Constitution provides that persons held to service in one state, escaping into another state, shall be delivered up upon claim to the person to whom such service may be due. Congress in 1793 had passed an Act to carry out this provision of the Constitution. But this law had seldom been enforced because its enforcement had been left to the states, and public opinion in the North was opposed to the return of fugitive slaves. The law of 1850 gave the enforcement of the Act to the United States officials. The agents of slave owners claimed fugitives, but few were returned to the South. The important result of these attempts to enforce the law was to strengthen northern and public opinion against slavery. It led to redoubled efforts to help run away slaves through the northern states to Canada. A regular system was established. This was called the Underground Railway. In short, instead of bringing about a union of hearts, the compromise of 1850 increased the ill-filling between the people of the two sections of the country. 348. Uncle Tom's Cabin It was at this time that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. In this story, she set forth the pleasant side of slavery, the light-heartedness and kind-heartedness of the Negroes. In it, she also set forth the unpleasant side of slavery, the whipping of human beings, the sailing of human beings, of course, there was never such a slave as Uncle Tom. The story is simply a wonderful picture of slavery as it appeared to a brilliant woman of the north. Hundreds of thousands of copies of this book were sold in the south as well as in the north. Plays founded on the book were acted on the stage. Southern people, when reading Uncle Tom, thought little of the unpleasant things in it, and they liked the pleasant things in it. They laughed at the pretty pictures of plantation life. They were moved to tears by the tales of cruelty. Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Fugitive Slave Law convinced the people of the north that bounds must be set to the extension of slavery. End of chapter 33 Chapters 34 and 35 of a short history of the United States. This is a LibraVox recording. All LibraVox recordings are in the public domain. If you have any information or to volunteer, please visit LibraVox.org. This reading by Allison Hester of Athens, Georgia. A short history of the United States by Edward Channing. Chapter 34 The Struggle for Kansas 349 Pierce elected president 1852. It was now campaign time for a new election. They would try again with another soldier and nominated general Winfield Scott, the conqueror of Mexico. The Democrats also nominated a soldier, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, who had been in northern Mexico with Taylor. The Democrats and Wigs both said they would stand by the compromise of 1850. But many voters thought that there would be less danger of excitement with the Democrat in the White House and voted for Pierce for that reason. They soon found that they were ready to begin in their belief. 350 Douglas's Nebraska Bill President Pierce began his term of office quietly enough. But in 1854, Senator Douglas of Illinois brought in a bill to organize the territory of Nebraska. It will be remembered that in 1820 Missouri had been admitted to the union as a slave state. In 1848, Iowa had been admitted as a free state. It was the territory of Minnesota. Westward from Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota was an immense region without any government of any kind. It all lay north of the compromise line of 1820 and had been forever devoted to freedom by that compromise. But Douglas said that the compromise of 1820 had been repealed by the compromise of 1850. So he proposed that the settlers of Nebraska should say whether that territory or slave soil precisely as if the compromise of 1820 had never been passed. Instantly there was a tremendous uproar. 351 The Kansas Nebraska Act 1854 Douglas now changed his bill so as to provide for the formation of two territories. One of these he named Kansas. It had nearly the same boundaries as the present state of Kansas. Except that it extended westward to the surrounding mountains. The other territory was named Nebraska. It included all the land north of Kansas and between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. The anti-slavery leaders in the north attacked the bill with great fury. Chase of Ohio said that it was a violation of faith. Sumner of Massachusetts rejoiced in the fight, for he said men must now take sides for freedom or for slavery. Some independent Democrats they asked their fellow citizens to take their maps and see what an immense region Douglas had proposed to open to slavery. They denied that the Missouri compromise had been repealed. Nevertheless, the bill passed Congress and was signed by President Pierce. 352 Abraham Lincoln Born in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln went with his parents to Indiana and then to Illinois. As a boy he was very poor but he lost no opportunity to read and study. At the plow or in the long evenings at home by the firelight he was ever thinking and studying. Growing to manhood, he became a lawyer and served one term in Congress. The passage of the Kansas Nebraska Act aroused his indignation as nothing had ever aroused it before. He denied that any man had the right to govern another man, be he white or be he black, without that man's consent. He thought that blood would surely be shed before the slavery question would be settled in Kansas and the first shedding of blood would be the beginning of the end of the union. 353 Settlement of Kansas In the debate on the Kansas Nebraska bill Senator C. Word of New York said to the Southerners, Come on then, we will engage in competition for the soil of Kansas and God give the victory to the side strong in numbers as it is and right. C. Word spoke truly. The victory came to those opposed to the extension of slavery, but it was a long time in coming. As soon as the act was passed, the armed Sons of the South crossed the frontier of Missouri and founded the town of Atchison. Then came large bands of armed settlers from the North and the East. They founded the towns of Lawrence and Topeka. An election was held. Hundreds of men poured over the boundary of Missouri, outvoted the free soil settlers in Kansas and then went home. The territorial legislature chosen in this way, adopted the laws of Missouri, slave code and all as the laws of Kansas. It seemed as if Kansas were lost to freedom. 354 The Topeka Convention The free state voters now held a convention at Topeka. They drew up a convention and applied to Congress for admission to the union as a free state of Kansas. The free state men and the slave state men each elected a delegate to Congress. The House of Representatives now took the matter up and appointed a committee of investigation. The committee reported in favor of the free state men and the House voted to admit Kansas as a free state. But the Senate would not consent to anything of the kind. The contest in Kansas went on to claim more bitter every month. 355 The Republican Party The most important result of the Kansas-Nebraska fight was the formation of the Republican Party. It was made up of men from all the other parties who agreed in opposing Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska policy. Slowly they began to think of themselves as a party and to adopt the name of the old party of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe Republican 356 Buchanan elected president, 1856 The Whigs and the Know-Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore for president and said nothing about slavery. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan of Pennsylvania for president and John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky for vice president. They declared their approval of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and favored a strict construction of the Constitution. The Republicans nominated John C. Fremont. They protested against the extension of slavery and declared for a policy of internal improvements at the expense of the nation. The Democrats won, but the Republicans carried all the northern states save for 357 The Dred Scott Decision 1857 The Supreme Court of the United States now gave a decision in the Dred Scott case that put an end to all hope of compromise on the slavery question. Dred Scott had been born a slave. The majority of the judges declared that a person once a slave could never become a citizen of the United States and bring suit in the United States courts. They also declared that the Missouri compromise was unlawful. Slave owners had a clear right to carry their property, including slaves, into the territories and Congress could not stop them. 358 The Lincoln and Douglas Debates 1858 The question of the re-election of Douglas to the Senate now came before the people of Illinois. Abraham Lincoln stepped forward to contest the election with him. A house divided against itself cannot stand, said Lincoln. This government cannot endure half slave and half free. It will become all one thing or all the other. He challenged Douglas to debate the issues with him before the people and Douglas accepted the challenge. Seven joint debates were held in the presence of immense crowds. Lincoln forced Douglas to defend the doctrine of popular sovereignty. This Douglas did by declaring that the legislatures of the territories could make laws hostile to slavery. This idea, of course, was opposed to the Dred Scott decision. Douglas won the election and was returned to the Senate. But Lincoln had made a national reputation. 359 Bleeding Kansas Meantime, Civil War had broken out in Kansas. Slavery men attacked Lawrence, killed a few free state settlers and burned several buildings. Led by John Brown, an immigrant from New York, free state men attacked a party of slave state men and killed five of them. By 1857 the free state voters had become so numerous that it was no longer possible to out-vote them by bringing men from Missouri and they chose a free state legislature. But the fraudulent slave state legislature had already provided for holding a constitutional convention at Lecompton. This convention was controlled by the slave state men and adopted a constitution providing for slavery. President Buchanan sent this constitution to Congress and asked to have Kansas admitted as a slave state. To see the wishes of the settlers of Kansas outraged. He opposed the proposition vigorously and it was defeated. It was not until 1861 that Kansas was admitted to the union as a free state. 360 John Brown's Raid, 1859 While in Kansas John Brown had conceived a bold plan. It was to seize a strong place in the mountains of the South with slaves who should run away from their masters. In this way he expected to break slavery in pieces within two years. With only 19 men he seized Harper's Ferry in Virginia and secured the United States arsenal at that place. But he and most of his men were immediately captured. He was executed by the Virginia authorities as a traitor and murderer. The Republican leaders denounced his act as the gravest but the Southern leaders were convinced that now the time had come to succeed from the union and establish a Southern confederacy. End of Chapter 34 Part 12 Secession 1860 to 1861 Chapter 35 The United States in 1860 361 Growth of the Country The United States was now three times as large as it was at Jefferson's election. It contained over 3 million square miles of land. About one-third of this great area was settled. In the 60 years of the century the population had increased even faster than the area had increased. In 1800 there were 5.5 million people living in the United States. In 1860 there were over 31 million people within its borders. Nearly 5 millions were white immigrants. More than half of these immigrants had come in the last 10 years and they had practically all of them settled in the free states of the north. Of the whole population of 31 millions only 12 millions lived in the slave states and of these more than 4 millions were Negro slaves. 362 Change of Political Power The control of Congress had now passed under the hands of the free states of the north. The majority of the representatives had long been from the free states. Now more senators came from the north than from the south. This was due to the admission of new states. Texas, 1845, was the last slave state to be admitted to the Union. Two years later the admission of Wisconsin gave the free states as many votes in the Senate as the slave states had. In 1850 the admission of Virginia gave the free states a majority of two votes in the Senate. This majority was increased to four by the admission of Minnesota in 1858 and to six by the admission of Oregon in 1859. The control of Congress had slipped forever from the grasp of the slave states. 363 The Cities The tremendous increase in manufacturing, in farming and in trading brought about a great increase in commerce. This in turn led to the building up of great cities in the north and the west. These were New York and Chicago and they grew rapidly because they formed the two ends of the line of communication between the east and the west by the Mohawk Valley. New York now contained over 800,000 inhabitants. It had more people within its limits than lived in the whole state of South Carolina. The most rapid growth was seen in 1840. There were only 5,000 people in that city. It now contained 109,000 inhabitants. Cincinnati and St. Louis each with 160,000 were still the largest cities of the west and St. Louis was the largest city in any slave state. New Orleans with as many people as St. Louis was the only large city in the south. 364 The States As it was with the cities, so it was with the states. The north had grown beyond the south. In 1790, Virginia had as many inhabitants as the states of New York and Pennsylvania put together. In 1860, Virginia had only about one quarter as many inhabitants as these two states. Indeed, in 1860, New York had nearly 4 million inhabitants or nearly as many inhabitants as the whole United States in 1791. But the growth of the states of the northwest had been even more remarkable. Ohio had a million more people than Virginia and stood third in population among the states of the Union. Illinois was the fourth state in Indiana the sixth. Even more interesting are the facts brought about by a study of the map showing the density of population or the number of people to the square mile in the several states. In 1860, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts each had over 45 inhabitants to the square mile while not a single southern state had as many as 45 inhabitants to the square mile. This shows us at once that although the southern states were larger in extent than the northern states, they were much less powerful. 365 city life In the old days, the large towns were just like the small towns except that they were larger. Life in them was just about the same as in the smaller places. Now however, there was a great difference. In the first place, the city could afford to have a great many things the smaller town could not pay for. In the second place, it must have certain things where its people would die of disease or be killed as they walked the streets. But the northern cities were paved and lighted and were guarded by policemen. Then too, great sewers carried away the refuse of the city and enormous iron pipes brought fresh water to everyone within its limits. Horse cars and omnibuses carried its inhabitants from one part of the city to another and the railroads brought them foods from the surrounding country. 366 Transportation In 1859 and 1858 21,000 miles of railroad were built in the United States. In 1860, there were more than 30,000 miles of railroad in actual operation. In 1850, one could not go from New York to Albany without leaving the railroad and going on board a steamboat. In 1860, one continuous line of rails ran from New York City to the Mississippi River. Traveling was still uncomfortable according to our ideas. Cars were rudely made and jolted horribly. One train ran only a comparatively short distance then the traveler had to alight, get something to eat and see his baggage placed on another train. Still, with all its discomforts, traveling in the worst of cars was better than traveling in the old stagecoaches. Many more steamboats were used, especially on the Great Lakes and the western rivers. 367 Education The last 30 years had also been years of progress in learning. Many colleges were founded, especially in the northwest. There was still no institution which deserved the name of university, but more attention was being paid to the sciences and to the education of men for the professions of law and medicine. The newspapers also took on their modern form. The New York Herald, founded in 1835, was the first real newspaper, but the New York Herald, edited by Horace Greeley, had more influence than any other paper in the country. Greeley was odd in many ways, but he was one of the ablest men of the time. He called for a liberal policy in the distribution of the public lands and was forever saying, go west, young man, go west. The magazines were now very much better than in former years, and America's foremost writers were doing some of their best work. 368. Progress of Invention The electric telegraph was now in common use and enabled the newspapers to tell the people what was going on as they had never done before. Perhaps the invention that did as much as any one thing to make life easier was the sewing machine. Elias Howell was the first man to make a really practicable sewing machine. Other inventors improved upon it and also made machines to sew other things and cloth as leather. Agricultural machinery was now in common use. The horse reaper had been much improved and countless machines had been invented to make agricultural labor more easy and economical. Hundreds of homely articles as friction matches and rubber soles came into use these years. In short the 30 years from Jackson's inauguration to the succession of the southern states were years of great progress, but this progress was gained almost wholly to the north. In the south, living in 1860 was about the same as it had been in 1830 or even in 1800. As a southern orator said of the south, the Russian world of modern civilization passed her by. End of Chapter 35 Chapter 36 and 37 of a short history of the United States. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Alice and Hester of Athens, Georgia. A short history of the United States by Edward Channing. Chapter 36 Secession 1860 to 1861. 369 The Republican nomination 1860. Four names were especially mentioned in connection with the Republican nomination for president. These were Seward, Chase, Cameron, and Lincoln. Seward was one of the best known of them all. In the debates on the compromise of 1850 he had declared that there was a higher law than the Constitution. Namely, the law of nature in man's heart. In another speech he had turned the slavery contest the irrepressible conflict. These phrases endeared him to the majority by slavery men, but they made it impossible for many moderate Republicans to follow him. Senator Chase of Ohio had also been very outspoken in his condemnation of slavery. Senator Cameron of Pennsylvania was an able political leader, but all of these men were too conspicuous to make a good candidate. They had made many enemies. Lincoln had spoken freely, but he had never been prominent in national politics. He was more likely to act the votes of moderate men than either of the other candidates. After a fierce contest he was nominated. The Republican platform stated that there was no intention to interfere with slavery in the states where it existed, but it declared the party's opposition to the extension of slavery. The platform favored internal improvements at the national expense. It also approved the protective system. 370, the Democratic nominations. The Democratic convention met at Charleston, South Carolina. It was soon evident that the northern Democrats and the southern Democrats could not agree. The northerners were willing to accept the Dred Scott decision and to carry it out. But the southerners demanded that this platform should pledge the party actively to protect slavery in the territories. To this, the northerners would not agree, so the convention broke up to meet again at Baltimore. But there the delegates could come in the end, two candidates were named. The northerners nominated Douglas on a platform advocating popular sovereignty. The southerners nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky. In their platform, they advocated state's rights and the protection of slavery in the territories by the federal government. 371, the constitutional union party. Besides these three candidates cautious and timid men of all parties united to form the constitutional union party. They nominated Governor John Bell of Tennessee for president. In their platform they declared for the maintenance of the constitution and the union regardless of slavery. 372, Lincoln elected president 1860. With four candidates in the field and a Democratic party hopelessly divided, there could be little doubt of Lincoln's election. He carried every northern state except Missouri and New Jersey. He received 180 electoral votes. Breckenridge carried every southern state except the border states of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee and received 72 electoral votes. Bell carried the three border southern states and Douglas carried Missouri and New Jersey. There was no doubt as to Lincoln's election. He had received a great majority of the electoral votes, but his opponents had received more popular votes than he had received. He was therefore elected by a minority of the voters. 373, the north and the south. Lincoln had been elected by a minority of the people. He had been elected by people of one section. Other presidents had been chosen by minorities, but Lincoln was the first man to be chosen president by the people of one section. The Republicans, moreover, had not elected a majority of the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate was still in the hands of the Democrats. For two years, at least, the Republicans could not carry out their ideas. They could not repeal the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They could not admit Kansas to the union as a free state. They could not carry out one bit of their policy. In their platform, they had declared that they had no intention to interfere with slavery in the states. Lincoln had said over and over again that Congress had no right to meddle with slavery in the states. The southern leaders knew all these things, but they made up their minds that now the time had come to secede from the union and to establish a southern confederacy. For the first time, all the southernmost states were united. No matter what Lincoln and the Republicans might say, the slaveholders believed that slavery was in danger. In advising secession, many of them thought that by this means they could force the northerners to accept their terms as the price of a restored union. Never were political leaders more mistaken. 374 Threats of Secession November 1860 The Constitution permits each state to choose presidential electors as it sees fit. At the outset, these electors had generally been chosen by the state legislatures. But in the course of time, all the states saved one had come to choose them by popular vote. The one state that held to the old way was South Carolina. Its legislature still chose the state's presidential electors. In 1860, the South Carolina legislature did this duty and then remained in secession to see which way the election would go. When Lincoln's election was certain, it called a state convention to consider the question of seceding from the states. In other southern states, there was some opposition to secession. In Georgia especially, Alexander H. Stevens led the opposition. He said that secession was the height of madness. Nevertheless, he moved a resolution for a convention. Indeed, all the southernmost states followed the example of South Carolina and summoned conventions. 375 The Crittenden Compromise Plan. Many men hoped that even now, secession might be stopped by some compromise. President Buchanan suggested an amendment to the Constitution securing slavery in the states and territories. It was unlikely that the Republicans would agree to this suggestion. The most hopeful plan was brought forward in Congress by Senator Crittenden of Kentucky. He proposed that amendments to the Constitution should be adopted. One, to carry out the principle of the Missouri Compromise. Two, to provide that states should be free or slave as their people should determine. And three, to pay the slave owners the value of runaway slaves. This plan was carefully considered by Congress and was finally rejected only two days before Lincoln's inauguration. 376 Secession of Seven States 1860-61 The South Carolina Convention met in Secession Hall, Charleston on December 17, 1860. Three days later it adopted a declaration that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved. Six other states soon joined South Carolina. These were Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. 377 The Confederate States of America. The next step was for these states to join together to form a confederation. This work was done by a convention of delegates chosen by the conventions of the Seven Seceding States. These delegates met at Montgomery, Alabama. Their new constitution closely resembled the Constitution of the United States but great care was taken to make it perfectly clear that each member of the Confederacy was a sovereign state. Exceeding care was also taken that slavery should be protected in every way. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was chosen provisional president and Alexander H. Stevens provisional vice president. 378 Views of Davis and Stevens Davis declared that Lincoln had made a distinct declaration of war upon our southern institutions. His election was upon the basis of sectional hostility. If, quote, war must come, it must be on northern and not on southern soil. We will carry war where food for the sword and torch awaits our armies in the densely populated cities of the north. For his part Stevens said that the new government's foundations are laid. Its cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man. 379 The abolition in the north. At first it seemed as if Davis was right when he said the northerners would not fight. General Scott, commanding the army, suggested that the erring sisters should be allowed to depart in peace and Seward seemed to think the same way. The abolitionists welcomed the secession of the slave states. Horace Greeley, for instance, wrote that if those states chose to form an independent nation, they had a clear moral to do. For his part President Buchanan thought that no state could constitutionally secede, but if a state should secede he saw no way to compel it to come back to the Union, so he sat patiently by and did nothing. End of Chapter 36 Part 13 The War for the Union 1861-1865 Chapter 37 The Rising of the Peoples 1861 380 Lincoln's Inauguration On March 4, 1861 President Lincoln made his first inaugural address. In it he declared quote, the Union is much older than the Constitution. No state upon its own motion can lawfully get out of the Union in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken. I shall take care that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all states. End quote. As to slavery, he had quote, no purpose to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. End quote. He even saw no objection to adopt an amendment to the Constitution to prohibit the federal government from interfering with slavery in the states, but he was resolved to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. 381 Fall of Fort Sumter April 1861 The strength of Lincoln's resolve was soon tested. When South Carolina seceded, Major Anderson, commanding the United States forces at Charleston withdrew from the land Fort's to Fort Sumter built on a shoal in the harbor. He had with him only 80 fighting men and was sorely in need of food and ammunition. Buchanan sent a steamer, the Star of the West, to Charleston with supplies and soldiers, but the Confederates fired on her and she steamed away without landing the soldiers or the supplies. Lincoln waited a month hoping that the secessionists would come back to the Union of their own accord. He then decided to send supplies to Major Anderson and told the governor of South Carolina of his decision. Immediately, April 12th, the Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter. On April 14th, Anderson surrendered. The next day, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers. 382 The Rising of the North There was no longer a question of letting the airing sisters depart in peace. The Southerners had fired on old glory. There was no longer a dispute over the extension of slavery. The question was now whether the Union should perish or should live. Douglas at once came out for the Union and so did the former Presidents, Buchanan and Franklin Pierce. In the Mississippi Valley, hundreds of thousands of men either sympathized with the slaveholders or cared nothing about the slavery dispute. But the moment the Confederates attacked the Union they rose in defense of their country and their flag. 383 More Succeeders The Southerners flocked to the standards of the Confederacy and four more states joined the ranks of succession. These were Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. In Virginia, the people were sharply divided on the question of succession. Finally, Virginia seceded but the western Virginians in their turn, seceded from Virginia and two years later were admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia. The four border states had seceded but four other border states were still within the Union. These were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. 384 The Border States The people of Maryland and of Kentucky were evenly divided on the question of succession. They even tried to set up as neutral states but their neutrality would have been so greatly to the advantage of the seceders that this would not be allowed. The firm moderation and the patriotism of many wise leaders in Kentucky saved that state to the Union but Maryland was so important to the defense of Washington that more energetic means had to be used. In Missouri, a large and active party wished to join the Confederacy. But two Union men, Frank P. Blair and Nathaniel Lyon held the most important portions of the state for the Union. It was not until a year later however that Missouri was safe on the northern side. 385 To the Defense of Washington The National Capital was really a southern town for most of the permanent residents were southerners and the offices were filled with southern men. In the Army and Navy too were very many southerners. Most of them, as Robert E. Lee felt that their duty to their state was greater than their duty to their flag but many southern officers felt differently. Among these were two men whose names should be held in grateful remembrance. Captain David G. Farragut and Colonel George H. Thomas. The first soldiers to arrive in Washington were from Pennsylvania but they came unarmed. Soon they were followed by the 6th Massachusetts. In passing through Baltimore this regiment was attacked. Several men were killed. Others were wounded. This was on April 19, 1861. The anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord. It was the first bloodshed of the war. End of Chapter 37 Chapters 38 and 39 of a short history of the United States. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This reading by Allison Hester of Athens, Georgia. A short history of the United States by Edward Channing. Chapter 38 will run to Murfreesboro, 1861 to 1862. 386 Nature of the Conflict The overthrow of the Confederate States proved to be very difficult. The Allegheny Mountains cut the south into two great fields of war. Deep and rapid rivers flowed from the mountains into the Atlantic or into the Mississippi. Each of these rivers was a natural line of defense. The first line was the Potomac in the Ohio. But when the Confederates were driven from this line, they soon found another equally good a little farther south. Then again, the south was only partly settled. Good roads were rare, but there were many poor roads. The maps gave only the good roads. By these the northern soldiers had to march while the southern armies were often guided through paths unknown to the northerners and thus were able to march shorter distances between two battlefields or between two important points. 387 The Bull Run Campaign July 1861 Northern soldiers crossed the Potomac into Virginia and found the Confederates posted at Bull Run near Menassas Junction. Other northern soldiers pressed into the Shenandoah Valley in the Harper's Ferry. They, too, found a Confederate army in front of them. The plan of the Union Campaign is now clear. General McDowell was to attack the Confederates at Bull Run while General Patterson attacked the Confederates in the valley. It kept them so busy that they could not go to the help of their comrades at Bull Run. It fell out otherwise, for Patterson retreated and left the Confederate General, Johnston, free to go to the aid of the sorely pressed Confederates at Bull Run. McDowell attacked vigorously and broke the Confederate line, but he could not maintain his position. The Union troops at first retreated slowly. Then they became frightened and fled in all haste back to Washington. The First Campaign ended in disaster. 388 The Army of the Potomac While the Bull Run Campaign was going on in eastern Virginia, Union soldiers had been winning victories in western Virginia. These were led by General George B. McClellan. He now came to Washington and took command of the troops operating in front of the Capitol. During the autumn, winter, and spring he drilled his men with great skill and care. In March 1862 the Army of the Potomac left its camps a splendidly drilled body of soldiers. 389 The Army of Northern Virginia Meantime, the government of the Confederacy had gathered great masses of soldiers. There were not nearly as many white men of fighting age in the south as there were in the north. But what men there were could be placed in the fighting line because the Negro slaves could produce the food needed by the armies and do the hard labor of making forts. The Capitol of the Confederacy was now established at Richmond on the James River in Virginia. The Army defending this Capitol was called the Army of Northern Virginia. It was commanded by Joseph E. Johnston but its ablest officers were Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson. Stonewall Jackson. 390 Plan of the Peninsular Campaign The country between the Potomac and the James was cut up by rivers as the Rappahannock, the Mataponi and the Pemmonki. And part of it was a wilderness. McClellan planned to carry his troops by water to the peninsula between the James and the York of Pemmonki Rivers. He would then have a clear road to Richmond with no great rivers to dispute the enemy. Johnston would be obliged to leave his camp at Bull Run and march southward to the defense of Richmond. The great objection to the plan was that Johnston might attack Washington instead of going to face McClellan. General Jackson also was in the Shenandoah Valley. He might march southward to the valley, cross the Potomac and seize Washington. So the government kept 75,000 of McClellan's men for the defense of the federal capitol. 391 The Monitor and the Merrimack On March 8th a queer looking craft steamed out from Norfolk, Virginia and attacked the Union fleet at anchor near Fortress Monroe. She destroyed two wooden frigates the Cumberland and the Congress, and began the destruction of the Minnesota. She then steamed back to Norfolk. This formidable vessel was the old frigate Merrimack. Upon her decks the Confederate had built an iron house. From these iron sides the balls of the Union frigates rolled harmlessly away. But that night an even stranger looking ship appeared at Fortress Monroe. This was the monitor a floating fort built of iron. She was designed by John Erickson a Swedish immigrant. When the Merrimack came back to finish the destruction of the Minnesota the monitor steamed directly at her. These iron clouds fought and fought. At last the Merrimack steamed away and never renewed the fight. 392 The Peninsula Campaign 1862 By the end of May McClellan had gained a position within 10 miles of Richmond. Meanwhile Jackson fought so vigorously in the Shenandoah Valley that the Washington government refused to send more men to McClellan although Johnston had gone with his army to the defense of Richmond. On May 31 the army of the Potomac and the army of Northern Virginia fought a hard battle at Fair Oaks. Johnston was wounded and Lee took the chief command. He summoned Jackson from the valley and attacked McClellan day after day. June 26 to July 2nd 1862 These terrible battles of the 7 days forced McClellan to change his base to the James where he would be near the fleet. At Malvern Hill Lee and Jackson once more attacked him and were beaten off with fearful loss. 393 Second Bull Run Campaign The army of the Potomac was still uncomfortably near Richmond. It occurred to Lee that if he should strike a hard blow at the army in front of Washington Lincoln would recall McClellan. Suddenly without any warning Jackson appeared at Manassas Junction. McClellan was at once ordered to transport his army by water to the Potomac and place it under the orders of General John Pope commanding the forces in front of Washington. McClellan did as he was ordered but Lee moved faster than he could move. Before the army of the Potomac was thoroughly in Pope's grasp Lee attacked the Union forces near Bull Run. He defeated them, drove them off the field and back into the forts defending Washington. The Antietam Campaign 1862 Lee now crossed the Potomac into Maryland but he found more resistance than he had looked for. McClellan was again given chief command. Gathering his forces firmly together he kept between Lee and Washington and threatened at Lee's communications with Virginia. The Confederates drew back. McClellan found them strongly posted near the Antietam and attacked them. The Union soldiers fought splendidly but military riders say that McClellan's attacks were not well planned. At all events the Army of the Potomac lost more than 12,000 men to less than 10,000 on the Confederate side and Lee made good his retreat to Virginia. McClellan was now removed from command and Ambrose E. Burnside became chief of the Army of the Potomac. 395 Fredericksburg December 1862 Burnside found Lee strongly posted on Murray's Heights which rise sharply behind the little town of Fredericksburg on the southern bank of the Rappahannock River. Burnside attacked in front. His soldiers had to cross the river and assault the hill in face of a murderous fire and in vain he lost 13,000 men to only 4,000 of the Confederates. Fighting Joe Hooker now succeeded Burnside as the commander of the Army of the Potomac. We must now turn to the west and see what had been doing there in 1861 to 62. 396 Grant and Thomas In Illinois there appeared to be a trained soldier of fierce energy and invincible will Ulysses Simpson Grant. He had been educated at West Point and had served in the Mexican War. In September 1861 he seized Cairo at the junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi. In January 1862 General George H. Thomas defeated a Confederate force at Mill Springs in the upper valley of the Cumberland River. In this way, Grant and Thomas secured the line of the Ohio in eastern Kentucky for the Union. 397 Fort Henry and Donelson February 1862 In February 1862 General Grant and Commodore Foote attacked two forts which the Confederates had built to keep the Federal gunboats from penetrating the western part of the Confederacy. Fort Henry yielded almost at once but the Union forces besieged Fort Donelson for a long time. Soon the Confederate defense became hopeless and General Buckner asked for the terms of surrender. Unconditional surrender replied Grant and Buckner surrendered. The lower Tennessee and the lower Cumberland were now open to the Union forces. 398 Importance of New Orleans New Orleans and the lower Mississippi were of great importance to both sides for the possession of this region gave the Southerners access to Texas and through Texas to Mexico. Union fleets were blockading every important southern port but as long as commerce overland with Mexico could be maintained the South could struggle on. The Mississippi, too, has so many mouths that it was difficult to keep vessels from running in and out. For these reasons the Federal Government determined to seize New Orleans and the lower Mississippi. The command of the expedition was given to Farragut who had passed his boyhood in Louisiana. He was given as good a fleet as could be provided and a force of soldiers was sent to help him. 399 New Orleans captured, April 1862. Farragut carried his fleet into the Mississippi but found his way upstream barred by two forts on the river's bank. A great change stretched across the river below the forts and a fleet of river gun boats with an iron clad or two was in waiting above the forts. Between forts and gun boats all gave way before Farragut's forceful will. At night, he passed the forts amid a terrific cannonade. Once above them, New Orleans was at his mercy. It surrendered and with the forts was soon occupied by the Union Army. The lower Mississippi was lost to the Confederacy. 400 Shiloh and Corinth, April and May, 1862. General Halleck now directed the operations of the Union armies in the West. He ordered Grant to take his men up the Tennessee to Pittsburgh Landing and there await the arrival of Buell with a strong force over land from Nashville. Grant encamped with his troops on the western bank of the Tennessee between Shiloh Church and Pittsburgh Landing. Albert Sidney Johnston, the Confederate commander in the West attacked him suddenly and with great fury. Soon, the Union army was pushed back to the river. In his place, many a leader would have withdrawn, but Grant with amazing courage held on. In the afternoon, Buell's leading regiments reached the other side of the river. In the night, they were ferried across and Grant's outlying commands were brought to the front. The next morning, Grant attacked in his turn and slowly but surely pushed the Confederates off the field. Halleck then united Grant's and Pope's armies and captured Corinth. 401 Bragg in Tennessee and Kentucky General Braxton Bragg now took a large part of the Confederate army which had fought at Shiloh and Corinth to Chattanooga. He then marched rapidly across Tennessee and Kentucky to the neighborhood of Louisville on the Ohio River. Buell was sent after him and the two armies fought an indecisive battle at Perryville. Then Bragg retreated to Chattanooga. In a few months he was again on the march. Roscrans had now succeeded Buell. He attacked Bragg at Murfreesboro. For a long time, the contest was equal. In the end, however, the Confederates were beaten and retired from the field. End of Chapter 38 Chapters 39 and 40 of a short history of the United States. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org This reading by Allison Hester of Athens, Georgia. A short history of the United States by Edward Channing Chapter 39 The Emancipation Proclamation 402 The Blockade On the fall of Fort Sumter President Lincoln ordered a blockade of the Confederate seaports. There were few manufacturing industries in the south. Cotton and tobacco were the great staples of export. If her ports were blockaded, the south could neither bring in arms and military supplies from Europe, nor send cotton and tobacco to Europe to be sold for money. So her power of resisting the Union armies would be greatly lessened. The Union government bought all kinds of vessels, even harbor-fairy boats, armed them, and stationed them off the blockaded harbors. In a surprisingly short time the blockade was established. The Union forces also began to occupy the southern seacoast and thus the region that had to be blockaded steadily grew less. 403 Effects of the Blockade As months and years went by and the blockade became stricter and stricter the sufferings of the southern people became even greater, as they did not send their products to Europe in exchange for goods they had to pay gold and silver for whatever the blockade runners brought in. Soon there was no more gold and silver in the Confederacy and paper money took its place. Then the supplies of manufactured goods as clothing and paper of things not produced in the south, as coffee and salt, gave out. Toward the end of the war there were absolutely no medicines for the southern soldiers and guns were so scarce that it was proposed to arm one regimen with pikes. Nothing did more to break down the southern resistance than the blockade. 404 The Confederacy Great Britain and France From the beginning of the contest the Confederate leaders believed that the British and the French would interfere to aid them. Cotton is king, they said. Unless there were a regular supply of cotton the mills of England and of France must stop. Thousands of mill hands men, women and children would soon be starving. The French and British governments would raise the blockade. Perhaps they would even force the United States to acknowledge the independence of the Confederate states. There was a good deal of truth in this belief for the British and the French governments dreaded the growing power of the American Republic and would gladly have seen it broken to pieces. But events fell out far otherwise than the southern leaders had calculated. Before the supply of American cotton in England was used up new supplies began to come in from India and from Egypt. The Union armies occupied portions of the cotton belt early in 1862 and American cotton was again exported. But more than all else the English mill operatives and all their hardships would not ask their government to interfere. They saw clearly enough that the North was fighting for the rights of free labor. At times it seemed, however, as if Great Britain or France would interfere. 405. The Trent Affair, 1861 As soon as the blockade was established, the British and French governments gave the Confederates the same rights in their ports as the United States had. The Southerners then sent two agents Mason and Sledale to Europe to ask the foreign governments to recognize the independence of the Confederate states. Captain Wilkes of the United States ship San Jacinto took these agents from the British steamer Trent. But Lincoln at once said that Wilkes had done to the British the very thing which we had fought the war of 1812 to prevent the British from doing to us. We must stick to American principles said the President and restore the prisoners. They were given up, but the British government without waiting to see what Lincoln would do had gone actively to work to prepare for war. This seemed so little friendly that the people of the United States were greatly irritated. 406. Lincoln and Slavery It will be remembered that the Republican Party had denied again and again that it had any intention to interfere with slavery in the states. As long as peace lasted, the federal government could not interfere with slavery in the states. But when war broke out the President, as commander in chief, could do anything to distress and weaken the enemy. If freeing the slaves in the seceded states would injure the secessionists, he had a perfect right to do it. But Lincoln knew that public opinion in the north would not approve of this action. He would follow northern sentiment in this matter and not force it. 407. Contribands of War The war had scarcely begun before slaves escaped into the Union lines. One day, a Confederate officer came to Fortress Monroe and demanded his runaway slaves under the Fugitive Slave Act. General Butler refused to give them up on the ground that they were contraband of war. By that phrase, he meant that their restoration would be illegal as their services would be useful to the enemy. President Lincoln approved this decision of General Butler and escaping slaves soon came to be called contraband. 408. First steps towards emancipation. 1862. Lincoln and the Republican Party thought that Congress could not interfere with slavery in the states. It might, however, buy slaves and set them free or help the states to do this. So Congress passed the law offering aid to any state which should abolish slavery within its borders. Congress itself abolished slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation to the owners. It abolished slavery in the territories without compensation. Lincoln had gladly helped to make these laws. Moreover, by August 1862 he had made up his mind that to free the slaves in the succeeded states would help to save the Union and would therefore be right as a war measure for every Negro taken away from forced labor would weaken the producing powers of the South and so make the conquest of the South easier. 409. The Emancipation Proclamation. 1863. On September 23rd 1862, Lincoln issued a proclamation stating that on the first day of the new year he would declare free all slaves in any portion of the United States then in rebellion. On January 1st, 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclamation could only be forced in those portions of the seceded states which were held by the Union armies. It did not free slaves in loyal states and did not abolish the institution of slavery anywhere. Slavery was abolished by the states of West Virginia, Missouri and Maryland between 1862 and 1864. Finally, in 1865 it was abolished throughout the United States by the adoption of the 13th Amendment. 410. Northern opposition to the war. Many persons in the north thought that the Southerners had a perfect right to secede if they wished. Some of these persons sympathized so strongly with the Southerners that they gave them important information and did all they could to prevent the success of the Union forces. It was hard to prove anything against these sympathizers, but it was dangerous to leave them at liberty. So Lincoln ordered many of them to be arrested and locked up. Now the Constitution provides that every citizen shall have a speedy trial. This is brought about by issuing a writ of habeas corpus compelling the jailer to bring his prisoner into court and show calls why he should not be set at liberty. Lincoln now suspended the operation of the writ of habeas corpus. Action angered many persons who were quite willing that the Southerners should be compelled to obey the law, but did not like to have their neighbors arrested and locked up without trial. 411. The draft riots. At the outset, both armies were made up of volunteers. Soon there were not enough volunteers. Both governments then drafted men for their armies. That is they picked out by lot certain and compelled them to become soldiers. The draft was bitterly resisted in some parts of the north, especially in New York City. End of Chapter 39. Chapter 40. The Year 1863. 412. Position of the armies. January 1863. The Army of the Potomac, now under hooker and the Army of Northern Virginia were face to face at Fredericksburg on the Rappahonic. In the west, Roscrans was at Murfreesboro and Bragg on the way back to Chattanooga. In the Mississippi Valley, Grant and Sherman had already begun the Vicksburg campaign, but as yet they had no success. 413. Beginnings of the Vicksburg campaign. Vicksburg stood on the top of a high bluff directly on the river. Batteries erected at the northern end of the town commanded the river, which at that point ran directly toward the bluff. The best way to attack this formidable place was to proceed over land from Corinth. This Grant tried to do, but the Confederates forced him back. 414. Fall of Vicksburg, July 4th, 1863. Grant now carried his whole Army down the Mississippi. Four months he tried plan after plan and every time he failed. Finally, he marched his Army down on the western side of the river, crossed the river below Vicksburg and approached the fortress from the south and east. In this movement he was greatly aided by the Union fleet under Porter which protected the Army while crossing the river. Pemberton, the Confederate commander, at once came out from Vicksburg, but Grant drove him back and began the siege of the town from the land side. The Confederates made a gallant defense, but slowly and surely they were starved into submission. On July 4th, 1863, Pemberton surrendered the fortress and 37,000 men. 415. Opening of the Mississippi. Port Hudson, between Vicksburg and New Orleans, was now the only important Confederate position on the Mississippi. On July 8th, it surrendered. A few days later, the freight steamer Imperial from St. Louis reached New Orleans. The Mississippi at last flowed unvext to the sea. The Confederacy was cut in twain. 416. Lee's second invasion, 1863. Fighting Joe Hooker was now in command of the Army of the Potomac. Outwitting Lee, he gained the rear of the Confederate lines on Mary's height, but Lee fiercely attacked him at Chancellorsville and drove him back across the Rappahannock. Then, Lee again crossed the Potomac and invaded the North. This time, he penetrated to the heart of Pennsylvania. Hooker moved on parallel lines always keeping between Lee and the city of Washington. At length in the midst of the campaign, Hooker asked to be redelivered and George G. Meade became the fifth and last chief of the Army of the Potomac. 417. Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. Meade now moved the Union Army toward Lee's line of communication with Virginia. Lee at once drew back. Both armies moved towards Gettysburg where the roads leading southward came together. In this way, the two armies came into contact on July 1, 1863. The Southerners were in stronger force at the moment and drove the Union soldiers back through the town to the high land called Cemetery Ridge. This was a remarkably strong position with Colp's Hill at one end of the line and the round tops at the other end. Meade determined to fight the battle at that spot and hurried up all his forces. 418. Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. At first matters seemed to go badly with the Union Army. Its left flank extended forward from little round top into the fields at the foot of the ridge. The Confederates drove back this part of the Union line but they could not seize the little round top. On this day also the Confederates gained a foothold on Colp's Hill. 419. Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. Early on this morning the Union soldiers drove the Confederates away from Colp's Hill and held the whole ridge. Now again, as at Malvern Hill Lee had fought the Army of the Potomac to a standstill, but he would not admit failure. Led by Pickett of Virginia 13,000 men charged across the valley between the two armies directly at the Union Center. Some of them even penetrated the Union lines, but there the line stopped. Slowly it began to waver. Then back the Confederates went all who escaped. The battle of Gettysburg was won. Lee faced the Army of the Potomac for another day and then retreated. In this tremendous conflict the Confederates lost 22,500 men killed and wounded and 5,000 taken prisoners by the Northerners. A total loss of 28,000 out of 80,000 in the battle. The Union Army numbered 93,000 men and lost 23,000 killed and wounded. Vicksburg and Gettysburg cost the South 65,000 fighting men a loss that could not be made good. We must now turn to Eastern Tennessee. 420 Chickamauga September 1863 For six months after Murfreesboro Roscrans and Bragg remained in their camps. In the summer of 1863 Roscrans, by a series of skillful marchings forced Bragg to abandon Chattanooga. But Bragg was now greatly strengthened by soldiers from the Mississippi and by Longstreet's division from Lee's Army in Virginia. He turned on Roscrans and attacked him at Chickamauga Creek. The right wing of the Union Army was driven from the field. But Thomas, quote, the rock of Chickamauga with his men stood fast. Bragg attacked him again and again and failed every time, although he had doubled Thomas's numbers. Roscrans, believing the battle to be lost, had ridden off to Chattanooga, but shared in aided Thomas as well as he could. The third day, Thomas and Bragg kept the positions and then the soldiers retired un-pursued to Chattanooga. The command of the whole army at Chattanooga was now given to Thomas and Grant was placed in control of all the Western armies. 421, Chattanooga, November, 1863. The Union soldiers at Chattanooga were in great danger. For the Confederates were all about them and they could get no food. Hooker, with 15,000 men from the army of the Potomac, arrived and opened a road by which food could reach Chattanooga. Then Grant came with Sherman's corpse from Vicksburg. He at once sent Sherman to assail Bragg's right flank and ordered Hooker to attack his left flank. Sherman and his men advanced until he was stopped by a deep ravine. At the other end of the line, Hooker fought right up the side of Lookout Mountain until the bridge above the clouds. In the center were Thomas's men. Eager to avenge the slaughter of Chickamauga, they carried first the Confederate line of defenses. Then, without orders, they rushed up the hillside over the inner lines. They drove the Southerners from their guns and seized their works. Bragg retreated as well as he could. Longstreet was besieging Knoxville. He escaped through the mountains to Lee's army in Virginia. End of Chapter 40. Chapters 41 and 42 of a short history of the United States. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Allison Hester of Athens, Georgia. A short history of the United States by Edward Channing. Chapter 41. The End of the War. 1864 to 1865. 422. Grant in command of all the armies. Vicksburg and Chattanooga campaigns marked out Grant for the chief command. Hitherto, the Union forces had acted on no well thought out plan. Now, Grant was appointed Lieutenant General and placed in command of all the armies of the United States. March 1864. He decided to carry on the war in Virginia in person. Western operations he entrusted to Sherman with Thomas in command of the Army of the Cumberland. Sheridan came with Grant to Virginia and led the Calvary of the Army of the Potomac. We will first follow Sherman and Thomas in the Western armies. 423. The Atlanta Campaign. 1864. Sherman had 100,000 veterans led by Thomas, McPherson, and Scofield. Joseph E. Johnston, who succeeded Bragg, had fewer men, but he occupied strongly fortified positions. Yet, week by week, Sherman forced him back till, after two months of steady fighting, Johnston found himself in the vicinity of Atlanta. This was the most important manufacturing center in the South. The Confederates must keep Atlanta if they possibly could. The Plainly could not stop Sherman, so Hood was appointed in his place in the expectation that he would fight. Hood fought his best. Again and again he attacked Sherman, only to be beaten off with heavy loss. He then abandoned Atlanta to save his army. From May to September, Sherman lost 22,000 men, but the Confederates lost 35,000 men, and Atlanta too. 424. Plans of Campaign. Hood now led his army northward to Tennessee, but Sherman, instead of following him, sent only Thomas and Scofield. Sherman knew that the Confederacy was a mere shell. Its heart had been destroyed. What would be the result of a grand march through Georgia to the seacoast, and then northward through the Carolinas to Virginia would not this unopposed march show the people of the north, of the south, and of Europe that further resistance was useless? Sherman thought that it would, and that once in Virginia he could help Grant crush Lee. Grant agreed with Sherman and told him to carry out his plans, but first we must see what happened to Thomas and Hood. 425. Thomas and Hood. 1864. Never dreaming that Sherman was not in pursuit, Hood marched rapidly northward until he had crossed the Tennessee. He then spent three weeks in resting his tired soldiers and in gathering supplies. This delay gave Thomas time to draw in recruits. At last, Hood attacked Scofield at Franklin on November 30th, 1864. Scofield retreated to Nashville where Thomas was with the bulk of his army and Hood followed. Thomas took all the time he needed to complete his preparations. Grant felt anxious at his delay and ordered him to fight, but Thomas would not fight until he was ready. At length, on December 15th, he struck the blow and in two days of fighting destroyed Hood's whole army. This was the last great battle in the west. 426. Marching through Georgia. Destroying the meals and factories of Atlanta, Sherman set out for the seashore. He had 60,000 men with him. All veterans marched along as if on a holiday excursion. Spreading out over a line of 60 miles, they gathered everything eatable within reach. Every now and then, they would stop and destroy a railroad. This they did by taking up the rails, heating them up in the middle on fires of burning sleepers and then twisting them around the nearest trees. In this way, they cut a gap 60 miles long in the railroad communication between the armed army of Northern Virginia and the storehouses of Southern Georgia. On December 10th, 1864, Sherman reached the sea. Ten days later, he captured Savannah and presented it to the nation as a Christmas gift. Sherman and Thomas between them had struck a fearful blow at the Confederacy. How had it fared with Grant? Grant in Virginia 1864. Grant had with him in Virginia the Army of the Potomac Under Meade the Knight Corpse under Burnside and a great Calvary force under Sheridan. In addition, General Butler was on the James River with some 30,000 men. Lee had under his orders about one half as many soldiers as had Grant. In every other respect, the advantage was on his side. Grant's plan of campaign was to move by his left from the Rappahonic eastward Lee. He expected to push Lee southward and hoped to destroy his army. Butler, on his part, was to move up the James. By this plan, Grant could always be near navigable water and could in this way easily supply his army with food and military stores. The great objection to this scheme of invasion was that it gave Lee shorter lines of march to all important points. This fact and their superior knowledge of the country gave the Confederates an advantage which largely made up for their lack in numbers. 428. The Wilderness May 1864 On May 4th and 5th, the Union Army crossed the Rappadan and marched southward through the Wilderness. It soon found itself very near the scene of the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville. The woods were thick and full of underbrush. Clearings were few and the roads were fewer still. On ground like this, Lee attacked the Union Army. Everything was in favor of the attacker for it was impossible to foresee his blows or to get men quickly to any threatened spot. Nevertheless, Grant fought four days. Then he skillfully removed the army and marched by his left to Spotsylvania Courthouse. 429. Spotsylvania May 1864 Lee reached Spotsylvania first and fortified his position. For days, beautiful combats went on. One point in the Confederate line called the salient was taken and retaken over and over again. The loss of life was awful and Grant could not push Lee back. So on May 20th, he again set out on his march by the left and handed his army to the North Anna. But Lee was again before him and held such a strong position that it was useless to attack him. 430. To the James, June 1864 Grant again withdrew his army and resumed his southward march. But when he reached Cold Harbor, Lee was again strongly fortified. Both armies were now on the ground of the peninsula campaign. For two weeks, Grant attacked again and again. Then on June 11th, he took up his march for the last time. On June 15th, the Union soldiers reached the banks of the James river below the junction of the Appomattox. But owing to some misunderstanding, Petersburg had not been seized. So Lee established himself there and the campaign took on the form of a siege. In these campaigns, from the Rapodon to the James, Grant lost and killed, wounded and missing 60,000 men. Lee's loss was much less. How much less is not known? 431. Petersburg, June to December 1864 Petersburg guarded the roads leading from Richmond to the south. It was, in reality, a part of the defenses of Richmond for, if these roads passed out of Confederate control, the Confederate capital would have to be abandoned. It was necessary for Lee to keep Petersburg. Grant, on the other hand, wished to gain the roads south of Petersburg. He lengthened his line, but each extension was met by a similar extension of the Confederate line. This process could not go on forever. The Confederacy was getting worn out. No more men could be sent to Lee. Sooner or later, his line would become so weak that Grant could break through. Then Petersburg and Richmond must be abandoned. Two years before, when Richmond was threatened by McClellan, Lee had secured the removal of the Army of the Potomac by a sudden movement toward Washington. He now detached Jubal early with a formidable force and sent him through the Shenandoah Valley to Washington. 432. Sheridan's Valley Campaigns, 1864. The conditions now were very unlike the conditions of 1862. Now, Grant was in command instead of McClellan or Pope. He controlled the movements of all the Armies without interference from Washington. And he had many more men than Lee. Without letting go of his hold on Petersburg, Grant sent two Army Corps by water to Washington. Early was unable an active soldier, but he delayed his attack on Washington until soldiers came from the James. He then withdrew to the Shenandoah Valley. Grant now gave Sheridan 40,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry and sent him to the Valley with orders to drive early out and to destroy all supplies in the valley which could be used by another Southern Army. Splendidly, Sheridan did his work. At one time, when he was away, the Confederates surprised the Union Army. But hearing the roar of the battle, Sheridan rode rapidly to the front. As he rode along, the fugitives turned back. The Confederates, surprised in their turn, were swept from the field and sent whirling up the valley in wild confusion. October 19, 1864. Then Sheridan destroyed everything that could be of service to another invading Army and rejoined Grant at Petersburg. In the November following this great feat of arms, Lincoln was re-elected president. 433. The blockade and the cruisers. 1863-64. The blockade had now become stricter than ever. 4. By August 1864, Feregut had carried his fleet into Mobile Bay and had closed it to commerce. Sherman had taken Savannah. Early in 1865, Charleston was abandoned for Sherman had it at his mercy and Terry captured Wilmington. The South was now absolutely dependent on its own resources and the end could not be far off. On the open sea with England's aid a few vessels flew the Confederate flag. The best known of these vessels was the Alabama. She was built in England, armed with English guns and largely manned by Englishmen. On June 19, 1864, the United States ship, Kiersarge, sank off Cherbourg, France. Englishmen were also building two ironclad battleships for the Confederates, but the American minister at London, Mr. Charles Francis Adams said that if they were allowed to sail, it would be war. The English government thereupon bought the vessels. 434. Sherman's march through the Carolinas 1865. Early in 1865, Sherman set out on the worst part of his great march. Northward from Savannah toward Virginia. The Confederates prepared to meet him, but Sherman set out before they expected him and thus gained a clear path for the first part of his journey. Joseph E. Johnston now took command of the forces opposed to Sherman and did everything he could to stop him. At one moment it seemed as if he might succeed. He almost crushed the forward end of Sherman's army before the rest of the soldiers were two old soldiers to be easily defeated. They first beat back the enemy in front and when another force appeared in the rear they jumped to the other side of their field breastworks and defeated that force also. Knight then put an end to the combat and by morning the Union force was too strong to be attacked. Pressing on, Sherman reached Goldsboro in North Carolina. There he was joined by Terry from Wilmington and left Gofield from Tennessee. Sherman now was strong enough to beat any Confederate army. He moved to Raleigh and completely cut Lee's communications with South Carolina and Georgia in April 1865. 435. Appomattox. April 1865. The end of the Confederacy was now plainly in sight. Lee's men were starving. They were constantly deserting either their perishing families or to obtain food from the Union army. As soon as the roads were fit for marching, Grant set his 120,000 men once more in motion. His object was to gain the rear of Lee's army and to force him to abandon Petersburg. A last despairing attack on the Union center only increased Grant's vigor. On April 1st, Sheridan with his cavalry and an infantry force seized five forks in the rear of Petersburg and could not be driven away. Petersburg and Richmond were abandoned. Lee tried to escape to the mountains but now the Union soldiers marched faster than the starving Southerners. Sheridan, outstripping them, placed his men across their path at Appomattox courthouse. There was nothing left save surrender. The soldiers of the army of Northern Virginia lay down their arms. April 9th, 1865 Soon Johnston surrendered and the remaining small isolated bands of Confederates were run down and captured. 436 Lincoln murdered April 14th, 1865 The national armies were victorious. President Lincoln, never grander or wiser than in the moment of victory, stood alone between the southern people and the northern extremists clamoring for vengeance. On the night of April 14th he was murdered by a sympathizer with slave and secession. No one old enough to remember the morning of April 15th, 1865 will ever forget the horror aroused in the north by this unholy murder. In the beginning Lincoln had been a party leader. In the end, the simple grandeur of his nature had won for him a place in the hearts of the American people that no other man has ever gained. He was indeed the greatest because the most typical of Americans. Vice President Andrew Johnson a war democrat from Tennessee became president. The vanquished secessionists were soon to taste the bitter dregs of the cup of defeat. End of Chapter 41 Part 14 Reconstruction and Reunion 1865-1888 Chapter 42 President Johnson and Reconstruction 1861-1869 437 Lincoln's Reconstruction Policy The great question now before the country was what should be done with the southern states and people and what should be done with the freedmen. On these questions people were not agreed. Some people thought the states were indestructible that they could not secede or get out of the union. Others thought the southern states had been conquered and should be treated as part of the national domain. Lincoln thought that it was useless to go into these questions. The southern states were out of the proper practical relations with the union. That was clear enough. The thing to do therefore was to restore proper practical relations as quickly and quietly as possible. In December 1863 Lincoln had offered a pardon to all persons with some exceptions who should take the oath of allegiance to the United States and should promise to support the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation. Whenever one-tenth of the voters in any of the Confederate states should do these things and should set up a Republican form of government Lincoln promised to recognize that government as the state government and the Congress of Senators and Representatives from such a reconstructed state would rest with Congress. Several states were reconstructed on this plan but public opinion was opposed to this quiet reorganization of the seceded states. The people trusted Lincoln however and had he lived he might have induced them to accept this plan. 438 President Johnson's Reconstruction Plan Johnson was an able man and a patriot but he had none of Lincoln's wise patients he had none of Lincoln's tact and humor in dealing with men on the contrary he always lost his temper when opposed although he was a Southerner he hated slavery and slave owners on the other hand he had a Southerner's contempt for the Negroes he practically adopted Lincoln's Reconstruction Policy and tried to bring about the reorganization of the seceded states by presidential action 439 The 13th Amendment 1865 President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had freed the slaves in those states and parts of states which were in rebellion against the national government it had not freed the slaves in the loyal states it had not destroyed slavery as an institution any state could reestablish slavery whenever it chose slavery could be prohibited only by an amendment to the Constitution so the 13th Amendment was adopted December 1865 this amendment declares that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction in this way slavery came to an end throughout the United States 440 Congress and the President 1865-66 Unhappily many of the old slave states had passed laws to compel the Negroes to work they had introduced a system of forced labor which was about the same thing as slavery in December 1865 the new Congress met the Republicans were in the majority they refused to admit the senators and representatives from the reorganized southern states and at once set to work to pass laws for the protection of the Negroes in March 1865 while the war was still going on and while Lincoln was alive Congress had established the Freedmen's Bureau to look after the interest of the Negroes Congress now February 1866 passed a bill to continue the Bureau and to give it much more power Johnson promptly vetoed the bill in the following July Congress passed another bill to continue the Freedmen's Bureau in this bill the officers of the Bureau were given greatly enlarged powers the education of the blacks was provided for and the army might be used to compel obedience to the law Johnson vetoed this bill also 441 the 14th amendment while this contest over the Freedmen's Bureau was going on Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill to protect the Freedmen this bill provided that cases concerning the civil rights of the Freedmen should be heard in the United States courts instead of in the state courts Johnson thought that Congress had no power to do this he vetoed the bill and Congress passed it over his veto Congress then drew up the 14th amendment this forbade the states to abridge the rights of the citizens white or black it further provided that the representation of any state and Congress should be diminished whenever it denied the franchise to anyone except for taking part in the rebellion finally, it guaranteed the debt of the United States and declared all debts incurred in support of rebellion Null and Boyd every southern state except Tennessee refused to accept this amendment 442 the Reconstruction Act 1867 the congressional elections of November 1866 were greatly in favor of the Republicans the Republican members of Congress felt that this show that the North was with them in their policy as to Reconstruction Congress met in December 1866 and at once set to work to carry out this policy first of all it passed the Tenure of Office Act to prevent Johnson dismissing Republicans from office then it passed the Reconstruction Act Johnson vetoed both of these measures and Congress passed them both over his veto the Reconstruction Act was later amended and strengthened it will be well to describe here the process of Reconstruction in its final form first of all, the seceded states with the exception of Tennessee were formed into military districts each district was ruled by a military officer who had soldiers to carry out his directions Tennessee was not included in this arrangement because it had accepted the 14th amendment but all the other states which had been reconstructed by Lincoln were to be reconstructed over again the franchise was given to all men white or black who had lived in any state for one year accepting criminals and persons who had taken part in rebellion this exception took the franchise away from the old rulers of the south these new voters could form a state constitution and elect a legislature which should ratify the 14th amendment when all this had been done senators and representatives from the reconstructed state might be admitted to Congress 443 impeachment of Johnson 1868 President Johnson had vetoed all these bills he declared that the Congress was a Congress of only a part of the states because representatives from the states reconstructed according to his ideas were not admitted he had used language towards his opponents that was fairly described as indecent and unbecoming the chief officer of a great nation especially he had refused to be bounded by the ten year of office act ever since the formation of the government the presidents had removed officers when they saw fit the ten year of office act required the consent of the senate to removals as well as to appointments among the members of Lincoln's cabinet who were still in office was Edwin M. Stanton Johnson removed him and this brought on the crisis the house impeached the president and the senate provided over by chief justice chase heard the impeachment the constitution requires the votes of two thirds of the senators to convict seven republicans voted with the democrats against conviction and the president was acquitted by one vote 444 the French in Mexico Napoleon III emperor of French seized the occasion of the civil war to set the Monroe Doctrine at defiance and to refound a French colonial empire in America at one time indeed he seemed to be on the point of interfering to compel the union government to withdraw its armies from the confederate states then Napoleon had an idea that perhaps Texas might secede from the confederacy and set up for itself under French protection this bailing the establishment of an empire in Mexico with the Austrian prince Maximilian as emperor the ending of the civil war made it possible for the United States to interfere Grant and Sheridan would gladly have marched troops into Mexico and turned out the French but Seward said that the French would have to leave before long anyway he hastened their going by telling the French government that the sooner they left the better they were withdrawn in 1868 Maximilian insisted on staying he was captured by the Mexicans and shot the Mexican Republic was re-established 445 the purchase of Alaska 1867 in 1867 President Johnson sent to the Senate for ratification a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Russia's American possessions these were called Alaska and included an immense tract of land in the extreme northwest the price to be paid was $7 million the history of this purchase is still little known the Senate was completely taken by surprise but ratified the treaty anyway until recent years the only important product of Alaska has been the skins of the fur seals to preserve the seals herds from extinction the United States made rules limiting the number of seals to be killed in any one year the seals were not bound by these rules and the herds have been nearly destroyed in recent years large deposits of gold have been found in Alaska and in neighboring portions of Canada but the Canadian deposits are hard to reach without first going through Alaska this fact has made it more difficult to agree with Great Britain as to the boundary between Alaska and Canada 446 Grant elected President 1868 President of a Reconstruction and the bitter contest between the Republicans and Congress and the President had brought about great confusion in politics the Democrats nominated General F. P. Blair a gallant soldier for Vice President for President they nominated Horatio Seymour of New York he was a peace Democrat as Governor of New York during the war he had refused to support the national government the Republicans nominated General Grant he received 300,000 more votes than Seymour of the 294 electoral votes Grant received 215 End of Chapter 42