December 31, 1860 (Monday)

Cold

The year 1860 had seen the first African American to perform at the White House.  Patents had been filed for the first internal combustion two-stroke engine and a carbon filament incandescent lamp.  William Jennings Bryon was born this year.  Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States.  South Carolina seceded from the Union in December. 

Slavery ended in the Netherland Indies, Brahms' 2nd Serenade in A premiered, organized baseball played for the first time in San Francisco, Japan's first ambassador arrives in the United States, the pony express began between St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA, the Democratic convention divides over slavery, the Oxford evolution debate is held, first railroad reaches Kansas, Queen of Hawaii arrives in New York, British and French troops capture Beijing, telegraph between Los Angeles and San Francisco, first aerial photo taken from a balloon in Boston, 11-year-old Grace Bedell writes to Lincoln and tells him to grow a beard, first British golf open, 'Rip Van Winkle' premiers in New York City, first inter-club soccer match in England, and first iron-clad warship set sail in Britain. 

With all this activity around the world, in the United States a "freezing of ideas" has shaped the debate throughout the year.  And ideas only harden as the cold becomes more bitter. 

There was no hope of thawing, although many thought some compromises would eventually be struck.  There were no " Chinook winds" this time around.  The bitter Arctic Winds gripped the country.  The long harsh winter of the Civil War began with a subtle movement of troops and an over-anxious South--a quick-freeze of sorts.  And before one knew it, our country was in a "blizzard."  And although the war would last over 4 years, the "cold war" would last over a century until a thawing spring of Civil Rights legislation in the 1960's would begin a new chapter of "spring in America." 

As we close out this year on our journey together, may the "hearth" of our homes keep fresh the precious thoughts of Liberty which have guided our Country for nearly 4 centuries.  In ten years we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims.

December 30, 1860 (Sunday)

Liberty to All

"A word 'fitly spoken' by you now would indeed be like 'apples of gold in pictures of silver.'  (Proverbs 25:11)  Conciliation and harmony can never be established by force.  Nor can the Union under the Constitution be maintained by force.  The Union was formed by the consent of independent sovereign States.  Ultimate sovereignty still resides with them separately, which can be resumed, and will be, if their safety, tranquility, and security require it.  Under our system, as I view it, there is no rightful power in the General Government to coerce a State, in case any one of them should throw herself upon her reserved rights and resume the full exercise of her sovereign powers.  Force may perpetuate a Union.  But such a Union would not be the Union of the Constitution.  It would be nothing short of a consolidated despotism."  (Stephens letter to Lincoln, December 30, 1860.)

   Lincoln's "Fragment on the Constitution and the Union"  January, 1961.


"There is something that is in back of the Constitution and the Union, entwining itself more closely about the human heart.  That something is the principle of 'Liberty to all' --- the principle that clears the path for all --- gives hope to all --- and, by consequence, enterprise, and industry to all. 

The expression of 'Liberty' in our Declaration of Independence, was most happy and fortunate.  No oppressed people will fight and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better than a mere change of masters.

The assertion of 'Liberty', at that time, was a word 'fitly spoken' which has proved an 'apple of gold' to us.  The Union and the Constitution are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it.  The picture was made, not to conceal or destroy the apple; but to adorn and preserve it.  The picture was made for the apple --- not the apple for the picture."  (Abraham Lincoln's Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, January, 1861)

"For Lincoln, the Union was not only a structure to govern the national interests of American states; it also represented a consensus about the future freedom in America --- where slavery would eventually be eliminated and liberty protected as the birthright of every human being. 

The Constitution and the Union were informed by the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.  Lincoln believed that 'Liberty' was the central ideal of free government and concluded that the American revolution would not have succeeded if its goal was 'a mere change of masters.' 

Upon assuming the presidency, he spoke at length about the nature of the Union, why secession was antithetical to self-government, and how the federal constitution imposed a duty upon him to defend the Union of the states from rebellious citizens. 

Lincoln found an apt metaphor to describe the relationship between the Constitution and Union on the one hand and individual liberty on the other.  He believed the American founders declared their independence by appealing to these standards of liberty, and the nation now faced a crisis that could best be resolved by a return to the Founders' approach to the issue."  (Fragment on the Constitution and the Union, National Endowment of the Humanities)

December 29, 1860 (Saturday)

"pustulous" character....

"This secession movement has been 'gathering head for thirty years.'  Like all sores of a 'pustulous' character, it was under the necessity of "gathering" and bursting:  and now that it has reached this point, there is hope that it will thoroughly discharge itself and that the patient may be cured.

Mr. Calhoun planted its seeds, and died disappointed because he did not see their fruit.  He tried to get the South out of the Union on the Tariff question, but failed.  He immediately started the Slavery issue as one that promised better results.  From 1832 his disciples have been watching for a favorable opportunity to secede.  They have found one at last...."  Mr. Rhett--'fire-eater', (Differences of Opinion in South Carolina--Why they Seceded" New York Times editorial)

"The right of South Carolina to secede depends upon her ability to do so, and to stay so.  If there is not wisdom and virtue enough in the land to rid the country of slavery, then the next best thing is to let the South go...and be made to drink of the wine cup of wrath and fire, which her long career of cruelty, barbarism and blood shall call down upon her guilty head. 

The God of history everywhere is pronouncing the doom of those nations which frame mischief by law, and causing a concussion...against slavery which would now rock the land. 

I fear the whines of compromise...and Northerners losing their 'moral sense' by desiring a 'peaceful disunion.' 
                    I want coercion
against secession, even by the force of arms!  [And if that never takes place] ...so much for the moral movement against slavery.  Hereafter, opposition to slavery will take a new form...slaves will run away, and humane men and women will help them; slaves will plot and conspire, and wise and brave men will help them.  Abolition may be postponed, but it cannot be prevented.  If it comes not from enlightenment...it will come from the fears of tyrants no longer able to hold down their rising slaves."  Frederick Douglass, abolitionist  (Cup of Wrath and Fire, by David Blight, New York Times narrative, December 28, 2010)

December 28, 1860 (Friday)

Best laid plans go awry....fog of war begins

"Confusing and contradictory rumors drifted across the peninsula as residents made their way to The Battery to see what was happening.  Others raced to the tops of buildings and a few even climbed the Holy City's church steeples.  A couple of them had their own telescopes.  At first, there was little too see -- the smoke pouring from the ramparts of Fort Moultrie covered the horizon.  Through the haze, however, someone spotted a small group of men at Fort Sumter unloading supplies from a schooner.  Slowly, the picture was coming into focus. 

The takeover of Castle Pinckney by Pettigrew later in the day was peaceful, but historians later would cite the taking of Castle Pinckney as the first overt act of war between South Carolina and the federal government.  But the Southerners thought that Anderson's retreat to Fort Sumter was the first act of aggression and that they were only reacting to it."  ("Charleston at War:  End of 1860 marked first signs of conflict to come" by Brian Hicks, Post and Courier, December 26, 2010)

"Buchanan wailed in response, saying, 'My God, are misfortunes never to come singly?  I call God to witness, you, gentlemen, better than anybody, know that this is not only without, but against my orders.  It is against my policy.' 

When the cabinet meeting began, Floyd accused Anderson of having acted without instructions and had violated an agreement.  When they looked over the document that contained the orders....right there on the document was Floyd's own endorsement and signature.  Anderson had had permission to move his troops and Floyd himself had signed off on it.  At this, a violent argument broke out within the cabinet.  Several almost came to blows.  Black obliquely accused Floyd of treason and Stanton did away with obliqueness and accused Floyd outright of treason!  The meeting broke up without a conclusion as Buchanan tried to soothe the raw feelings. 

Later in the evening, Buchanan decided to wait for Anderson's report and see whether he had good reason to move or had exceeded his instructions."  (Buchanan deals with aftermath of Anderson's move to Sumter, The American Civil War)

"History can turn on incredibly random chance.  Things that appear trivial when they occur, can set in motion momentous events.  On December 11, 1860, one of these odd little chance turns of fortune occurred.  No one was ever tried and convicted of treason after the Civil War but if anyone deserved to be, it was John Floyd.  Floyd had been working a double game, undermining Buchanan's feeble attempts to stave off secession.  Floyd signed off on the memorandum of orders to Anderson without reading them.   Anderson had in writing what had been told him verbally.  If Floyd would have stopped to read the message, he would have changed it to have Anderson stay put where he was.    Anderson now had written confirmation that gave him permission to move his small force to whichever fort he deemed to be the most defensible.  Anderson acted on those orders."  ("Major Anderson receives instructions"  The American Civil War)

December 27, 1860 (Thursday)



Steadily and silently decay
works and liberty grows.


"The whole system rests on the assumption that the negro is not a man, -- that he is, if not absolutely a brute, at best a link between the human and the brute creation; -- and that his place in society is that of absolute subjection to the will not only of a master, but of an owner; -- and that all the arrangements of society must be such as will keep him and his descendants forever in that position.  He has no right to his wife or to his children anymore than to himself.  He has no right to any degree of freedom, either in action, in speech or in hope.  He has no right to instruction, -- to moral culture, -- to the development of whatever faculties he may possess, or even to physical support and comfort.  Whatever he may enjoy of any of these things, is the voluntary gift of his owner.

The tendency of this system in its practical workings is steadily towards greater and greater rigor.  The arm of power becomes muscular and heavy by being used.  The regulations for slaves become more and more severe, as their severity provokes open or sullen discontent.  The privileges accorded to them become less and less.  State laws are becoming more and more common prohibiting their emancipation.   The bare will of the white is to be, in all cases and under all contingencies, the absolute, supreme law for the negro, against which it is treason to rebel, and resistance to which may be punished with whatever tortures the authority makes that the law may see fit to inflict.  This is the essence of the American slave system.

Do you suppose your slaves can be shut out from the influences of liberty?  Once exposed to liberty, do you think they will remain the same tame beasts of burden?  Do you suppose Negroes will gain new ideas, fresh impulses and hopes and longings for a better life? 

One after another tyrannies that rest on Power alone break through the thin and fragile crust, and disappear forever.  To the careless eye their foundations seem solid and seamless as the ice that congeals and covers the lake.  But steady and silently decay works upon the under surface, and the gale of a night sweeps away the last vestige of what seemed adamant the day before.  What is to make the South an exception to this universal law?

You can not expect or ask us to look on in silence.  You cannot expect us to utter no warning, to put forth no remonstrance, to feel and express no indignation at the blindness so obstinate and so fatal.  If you would silence the Pulpit and the Press of the North, you must disarm them. 

The Negro has in him the seeds of humanity, and that, like all other pain and pleasure, physical and moral, like other seeds, they will inevitably grow;  -- that he feels; that he has a will, -- a faculty of choice, -- a susceptibility to motive, like any other person, -- that he has emotions and affections, -- that he loves and hates, -- that he hopes and fears, -- that he yields to kindness and rebels inwardly against cruelty, -- just like other men, and not all like other 'chattels."

We seek no war.  We have a country and a Constitutional Government.  We know its worth to us and to mankind, and in case of necessity we are ready to test its strength.  I think, therefore, that the controversy should be settled now, and I have faith enough in the American people to believe that, in spite of difficulties and discouragements, by wisdom and prudent forbearance, mingled with justice and courage, on the part of their rulers, it will eventually be settled in conformity with the principles of the Constitution, and so as to promote the highest welfare of this great Republic."

(Fourth letter written to Mr. Yancey from Mr. Raymond, New York Times, December 26, 1860)

December 26, 1860 (Wednesday)

                               Divergent currents colliding

"The Fathers of the Republic regarded Slavery as an evil, -- as retarding both the material and the moral progress of the Society which tolerated it, as an element of weakness to particular States, and of opprobrium to the whole country.  They did not consider slaveholding to be a sin, -- nor did they regard a slave-owner as necessarily less moral, less Christian, or less estimable than other men.  They did not favor immediate emancipation, because they knew that such a step would be fatal to the negroes themselves, and highly dangerous to the whole fabric of society.  But with scarcely an exception, -- they all desired that some policy might be adopted looking towards its ultimate extinction.  These were their sentiments on the general subject. 

The universal expectation of the day was, that under this policy Slavery would gradually die out, -- that one State after another would take steps to abolish it, and to substitute free labor in its place, -- and that thus in the course of time it would cease to exist in the whole country.  This purpose was repeatedly declared in Conventions and elsewhere and no one raised his voice against it.

Mr. Calhoun introduced a new theory on the subject.  He brought forward the doctrine that the Constitution recognized slaves as property, -- that, indeed, slaves were the only property which was expressly recognized and guaranteed by the Constitution. 

It had very few supporters.  No political party, either at the North or South, took ground in its favor.  Here is the 'irrepressible conflict'-- it is between the Constitution as our Fathers made it, and the new Constitution which you are seeking to put in its place. 

The real question at issue between the North and South turns upon this point -- are slaves property, in the meaning and intendment of the Constitution?  You answer Yes; we answer No.  And you are threatening to dissolve the Union unless we will also answer Yes.  Nay, more, -- you are already endeavoring to dissolve it, because we persist in answering No!

This is the question which I think should be finally settled now.  I think the whole country is of the same opinion. Undoubtedly, some don't want to join the issue...some prefer to evade or compromise...others underrate its importance.  But I think the great body of the reflecting portion of the people regard it in a different light.  They know that the issue is one of principle, -- that it takes hold on the fundamental conditions of the national life, -- and that until it is distinctly and decisively settled, by a final and authoritative judgment, in which the whole country shall come to acquiesce, we can have no hope of peace and no chance of escape from these constant and disturbing agitations. 

Your aim is to nationalize Slavery -- to make it a national instead of a local institution.  You demand that slavery be recognized as Chattel Property, that the Law of Slave Property will be stable and honorable, wherever the flag of the United States can compel its recognition. 

But now you have brought your batteries to the central tower, and we are summoned to surrender.  That question does not admit of compromise.  It must be settled.  The flag of Liberty must still float from the ramparts of the Constitution, or you must take it down.  This is the 'irrepressible conflict.'  We do not make it, -- nor invite it; -- but if you insist upon it, we shall not shrink from its issues."
 
(Fourth Letter written to W. L. Yancey (Father of Secession) from Mr. Raymond  (Editor of the New York Times, December 26, 1860)

December 25, 1860 (Tuesday)

                                             Merry Christmas!  Joy and Peace to you....

"Was Lincoln one of those praying Americans?...he kept his counsel.  Certainly, he knew his bible...often, he dropped a full sentence from the Bible into a speech...for someone who refused to follow religious norms, he spent a lot of time trying to understand divine will.  Nowhere did he better assert the frailty of human wisdom than in a scrap of paper that has come to be known as the Meditation on Divine Will.  

The will of God prevails.  In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God.  Both may be, and one must be, wrong.  God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.  In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party--and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose.  I am almost ready to say that this is probably true--that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet.  By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest.  Yet the contest began.  And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day.  Yet the contest proceeds.

There is one final clue to his thoughts on that last Christmas before the war came.  At some point in the 1850's, Lincoln acquired a small devotional book, 'The Believer's Daily Treasure; or, Texts of Scripture, arranged for every day in the year.'  Lincoln must have valued the book, for he signed his name inside, which he did not often do.  On Dec. 25, the entry spoke to a reader preparing to lead an almost impossibly diverse nation through one fiery trial after another, toward apotheosis:

December 25

Saints Shall be Honored as Victors

I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no
man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues,
stood before the throne, and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, and palms in their
hands.  Rev. vii. 9

A mere four years later, General Sherman would write him, 'I beg to present you as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah.'  But that was a world away, and unfathomable miseries ahead."

(Christmas with Lincoln by Ted Widmer, New York Times narrative,
December 24, 2010)

December 24, 1860 (Monday)

                       The Star of Bethlehem--Courage in Darkness

"The Yuletide season was an unquiet time throughout the nation on the brink of the Civil War.  Culturally, Christmas in 1860 was also at a strange transition point.  American Christmases in the mid-19th century do not seem to have had much religious significance.  Many, if not most, Protestant churches did not even have Christmas services. 

Very soon, however, Christmas more or less as we know it today would emerge.  Two years from now, Harper's Weekly began publishing iconic images of Santa Claus.  In Galena, Ill., the middle-aged shop clerk Ulysses S. Grant was busy attending to his customers' last-minute demands.  Ten years later, as president of the United States, he would sign into law a bill declaring Christmas as a national holiday."  (Ghosts of a Christmas Past by Adam Goodheart, New York Times narrative, December 23, 2010)

"The situation is deplorable already...It is impossible to be merry when one's country is gasping for breath."  (George Mifflin Dallas, United States Minister to England)

December 23, 1860 (Sunday)

A Northern Freeze--Second Thoughts

"But as Southern states began seceding, Northern whites blamed the secession crisis on blacks and abolitionists.  The backlash against Northern blacks was severe:  the four months between election and inauguration marked a high point of mob violence against them and a rigorous defense of the Fugitive Slave Law. 

Whites throughout the North sought to appease Southerners and reverse the tide of secession.  Many Republicans even called for repealing their platform preventing slavery's spread.  Congress, too, sought to appease Southerners.  Two days before Lincoln's inauguration, in the hope of wooing secessionists back into the Union, it passed the 13th Amendment.  Although it was never ratified, this "first" 13th Amendment was the opposite of the actual one that abolished slavery in 1865:  it (the first one) forever prohibited Congress from interfering with slavery in the slave states.

No group was more disappointed by Lincoln's inaugural address than the African-Americans.  Lincoln vowed to vigorously uphold the Fugitive Slave Act, suppress slave insurrections and never interfere with slavery in the slave states.  In the days that followed, thousands of blacks began making plans to emigrate to another country, especially Canada."  (Fear and Doubt in Cleveland, by John Stauffer, New York Times narrative, December 22, 2010)

December 22, 1860 (Saturday)

                                           Freedom, Liberty

240th Year Anniversary of Pilgrim landing celebrated yesterday:

"There seem to be long Winters in history as well as nature, out of which Spring suddenly springs; whose growth, slowly preparing through many months, is almost like enchantment.  The human soul broke forth from profound darkness and captivity, with as sudden a glory as that which roused the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem. 

The hundred years preceding the Pilgrim period was one continuous outbreak and advance of the human mind towards Liberty!  Scholarship was revived.  Printing was bringing the democratic element to learning and intelligence.  There was tumult in every department of society.  The world had completed a full season and was entering a new period.  No one could then have said so.  A darkness lay upon all men.  In all the one hundred years in which the Reformation stands central--not a prophet appeared!

The history of the Pilgrims is the proper epic of humility. They did not know their own worth, or suspect their own grandeur.  They heard God's voice speaking in their age, and they obeyed it.  It was a nice ear that could hear it.  It was a pious soul that accepted it.  It was a bold heart that could obey it.  No Moses was with them.  No miracle authenticated their moral convictions.  No fire or cloud guided them.  The invisible truth was their guide!

Despotism consolidates -- Liberty opens, diffuses, relaxes.  Growth in tyrannies is only petrifaction.  Freedom develops as a tree does.  First is the seed of some pine, dropped by the hand of frost, caught in the rift of some rock, and let down toward the scanty soil by the melting ice.  It sprouts, and no voice announces it birth.  It struggles for room.  Its roots seek for nourishment from rocks, and yet it thrives.  And as it grows, it divides and divides again, united in the trunk but diverse in the boughs, until in full stature it lifts up ten thousand separate branches, each one with liberty, but all of them fibril, back to a common root.

Free speech is to the soul what free air is to the body.  To deny or suppress it is to take sides with deceit and wickedness.  No righteous cause suffers by open search.  No cause dreads a Free Press, unless it has reason for dreading it. 

This is the molecule, the atomic cell of Puritanism.  Men need governments of restraint, just in proportion to the degree in which they are not developed and free.  As the individual becomes educated and strong in his whole nature, moral and intellectual, he needs no government.  For God made the human soul sufficient for all its own exigencies.  It is a perfect state.  It is competent to entire sovereignty!"  (Rev. Dr. Henry Beecher, New York Times, December 21, 1860) 

December 21, 1860 (Friday)

                                                                     Two faces....

"If the forts shall be given up before the inauguration, the General must retake them afterwards."

"...and tell him, confidentially, I shall be obliged to him to be as well prepared as he can to either hold, or retake, the forts, as the case may require at, and after the inauguration."
(Letters written by Abraham Lincoln, December 21, 1860) 

"Today's Journal says that South Carolina cannot dissolve the Union by the simple passage of resolutions or other passive demonstrations.  Her Federal officers may resign, and she may close her Courts and Post offices, but she cannot get out of this Union, until she conquers this Government.  While this Government endures, there can be no disunion.  If South Carolina does not obstruct the collection of the revenues at her ports, nor violate any other Federal law, there will be no trouble, and she will not be out of the Union.  If she violates the law, then comes the tug of war.

The laws of the United States must be executed.  The President has no discretionary power on the subject.  His duty is emphatically pronounced in the Constitution.  Mr. Lincoln will perform that duty.  Disunion by armed force is treason, and treason must and will be put down at all hazards."
(Interesting from Springfield, New York Times, November 21, 1860) 

December 20, 1860 (Thursday)

December 20, 1860:  South Carolina Secedes

"The Convention was called to order.  The scene was one profoundly grand and impressive.  There were a people assembled through their highest representatives--men most of them upon whose heads the snows of sixty winters had been shed--patriarchs in age--the dignitaries of the land--the High Priests of the Church of Christ--reverend statesmen--and the wise judges of the law.  In the midst of deep silence, an old man, with bowed form, and hair as white as snow, the Rev. Dr. Bachman, advanced forward, with upraised hands, in prayer to Almighty God, for His blessing and favor in this great act of his people, about to be consummated.  The whole assembly at once rose to its feet, and with hats off, listened to the touching and eloquent appeal to the All Wise Dispenser of events.  At the close of the prayer the President advanced with the consecrated parchment upon which was inscribed the decision of the State, with the Great Seal attached.  Slowly and solemnly it was read unto the last word--  "dissolved"  --when men could contain themselves no longer, and a shout that shook the very building, reverberating, long-continued, rose to Heaven, and ceased only with the loss of breath.  In proud, grave silence, the Convention itself waited the end with beating hearts.

The President then requested the Delegates (by previous decision) to step forward as they were called in the alphabetical order of the Districts which they represented, and sign the Ordinance.  Two hours were occupied in this solemn ceremony--the crowd waiting patiently the end.  As the delegation from St. Phillip's and St. Michael's came forward, again, the hall was filled with applause.  And as the Hon. R. B. Rhett advanced to the parchment, the shouts became deafening, long-continued, until he had seated himself, signed and retired.  It was a proud and worthy tribute, gracefully paid, and appreciated. 

At the close of the signatures the President, advancing to the front of the platform, announced that the Seal of the State had been set, the signatures of the Convention put to the Ordinance, and he thereby proclaimed the State of South Carolina a separate, independent nationally.

To describe the enthusiasm with which this announcement was greeted, is beyond the power of the pen.  The high, burning, bursting heart alone can realize it.  A mighty voice of great thoughts and great emotions spoke from the mighty throat of one people as a unit.

The State of South Carolina has recorded herself before the universe.  In reverence before God, fearless of man, un-awed by power, un-terrified by clamor, she has cut the Gordian knot of colonial dependence upon the North--cast her fortune upon her right, and her own right arm, and stands ready to uphold alike her independence and her dignity before the world. . . she is ready for war. . . she is willing to shed blood. . . she will pursue her direct path, and establish for herself and for her posterity, her rights, her liberties and her institutions." (The Charleston Mercury, December 21, 1860)

December 19, 1860 (Wednesday)

Lincoln to a Secessionist:
"You will find that the only difference between you and me is that I think Slavery is wrong, and you think it is right; that I am opposed to its extension, while you advocate it; and as to the security of the institution and to the protection of slave property in the states where it has a lawful existence, you will find it as great under my Administration as it ever was under Mr. Buchanan's."

Senator from Tennessee--Andrew Johnson's speech in the Senate:
"I intend to stand by the Constitution as it is, insisting upon a compliance with all its guaranties.  I intend to stand by it as the sheet-anchor of the Government; and I trust and hope...that it will be preserved, and will remain a beacon to guide, and an example to be imitated by all the nations of the earth.  Yes, I intend to hold on to it as the chief ark of our safety, as the palladium of our civil and our religious liberty.  I intend to cling to it as the ship-wrecked mariner clings to the last plank, when the night and the tempest close around him.  It is the last hope of human freedom.

Let South Carolina and her Senators come back, and on the 4th of March we shall have a majority of six in this body against Lincoln.  He cannot make his Cabinet...unless the Senate will permit him.  He cannot send a foreign minister, or even a consul, abroad, if the Senate be unwilling.  He cannot even appoint a first-class postmaster....     I voted against him, I spoke against him; I spent money to defeat him; but still I love my country! I love the Constitution; I intend to insist upon its guaranties.  There, and there alone I intend to plant myself.  Every man throughout the nation who is a Patriot come forward and rally around the altar of our common country...that the Constitution shall be saved and the Union preserved."

"Andrew Johnson's bold and uncompromising attack was the first blow that the disunionists suffered in Congress.  Jefferson Davis writhed under it, and listened with a look and an attitude of the bitterest hatred and disgust.  It was a defection from their own ranks; a rebellion among their own slaves." (New York Times narrative by Ted Widmer, The Tailor Draws a Line, December 17, 2010)

December 18, 1860 (Tuesday)

"Seven or eight States have no more right to rebel against the Federal Government than has any one of them.  And no state has any more right to secede from the Union, than New York City has to secede from the State of New York.  The secession of a State is a disruption of the Confederacy...an abolition of the Constitution----a destruction of the Government.  We have as a nation contracted debts, entered into treaty obligations, assumed duties of various kinds towards other nations.  By what right can one State or ten States repudiate their share of these engagements?

The whole doctrine of peaceable secession is a delusion and a snare.  If it has any foundation whatever, then we have no Government.  We have only the mere skeleton----the outline and pretence of a Government.

If President Buchanan had done his duty, and had given the South, from the very outset, to understand that no such doctrine would be accepted or tolerated by the General Government, and taken steps accordingly, the whole disunion movement would have ended by this time."  (New York Times editorial, December 18, 1860)

December 17, 1860 (Monday)

"I believe you can pretend to find but little, if any thing, in my speeches, about secession; but my opinion is that no state can, in any way lawfully, get out of the Union, without the consent of the others; and that it is the duty of the President, and other government functionaries to run the machine as it is."  (Letter to Thurlow Weed from Abraham Lincoln) 

"We have met here under circumstances more solemn than any of us have ever been placed in before.  No one, it seems to me, is duly impressed with the magnitude of the work before him, who does not, at the same time, feel that he is about to enter upon the gravest and most solemn act which has fallen to the lot of this generation to accomplish.  It is no less than our fixed determination to throw off a Government to which we have been accustomed, and to provide new safeguards for our future security.  If anything has been decided by the elections which sent us here, it is , that South Carolina must dissolve her connection with the Confederacy as speedily as possible."  (Opening remarks by D. F. Jamison, President of the South Carolina Secession Convention) 

December 16, 1860 (Sunday)

Diary of George Templeton Strong:  from New York Times article

"Yet old Buchanan leaves Anderson and his party unsupported, with orders to defend the fort as best he may.   When the calamities that seem at hand are upon us, Buchanan will hardly be able to live at the North.  He will have to emigrate below the Potomac and become a "poor white" dirt-eater of the pine-barrens.  Perhaps the South will tolerate the presence of a Northerner who has made himself infamous and become a fugitive and an exile by knuckling to Southern dictation.  But perhaps it won't.  It may hang Mr. Buchanan and tar and feather him and expel him from Southern soil as being a mere proselyte of the Gate, not a thorough-going Southerner.

Today's feeling is that secession is inevitable; that Virginia and Kentucky and the other Border States must follow their sisterhood on the Gulf, and that civil war is at hand.  The prospect of conciliation by any Congressional action seems fading away.

Were we only united and unanimous here in the North, I should welcome the prospect of vigorous war on Southern treason.  But we are discordant, corrupt, deeply diseased, unable to govern ourselves, and in most unfit condition for a war on others."

December 15, 1860 (Saturday)

"The subject is too painful to pursue.  It needs but little reflection to convince any intelligent mind that if the Union is once split, it is likely to be shattered into so many fragments by the concussion of opposing interests, real or fancied, that this glorious Republic would be succeeded by a multitude of petty, wrangling, discordant nations.  May Heaven avert what would be so terrible a calamity to us, and to the cause of human progress, and so fatal a blow to the dearest hopes of mankind."  (The Long Recall, The American Interest) 

"Mr. Buchanan may as well understand that a suspicion is creeping into the public mind, that he is either in secret league with the conspirators against the Constitution he has sworn to support or that he is a supple but ignorant tool in their hands."  (New York Times, December 15, 1860)

"O Lord God of our Fathers!  we beseech Thee to listen to our prayers in behalf of these States.  Grant, if it be Thy will, that their Union may be preserved entire, and that nothing may disrupt the bonds which unite this Republic. . . But if it has been decreed from before Thee, that the cup of confusion shall not pass away from our lips, and that we are doomed to drain its bitter contents, then do Thou, O Father of Mercy, stay the hand of violence . . . let Thy indignation be removed from us, according to Thy promise then made, inasmuch as Thou art the all-powerful One, merciful, gracious and long-suffering, who are abundant in forgiving iniquity...."  (Prayer for the Union)

December 14, 1860 (Friday)

An article yesterday in the New York Times by Richard Striner on "How Lincoln Undid the Union."  How Lincoln Undid the Union 

"At the precise moment that a compromise to rescue the country seemed at hand, the incoming president worked aggressively to block it."

"The Crittenden compromise consisted of a package of constitutional amendments and congressional resolutions, all of which would be 'unamendable.'  The amendments would protect slavery in all the slave states, permit slavery to spread to all federal territories below the line of 36 degrees, forbid Congress from abolishing slavery on federal property within a slave state, prevent Congress from interfering with interstate slave trade, and indemnify owners of runaway slaves who could not be recovered under the Fugitive Slave Law."

"The Crittenden compromise won immediate praise; many politicans hailed it as a gesture of supreme wisdom that could forestall secession...But Lincoln...was not among those admiers, and he had taken preemptive action to undermine it.  In the days leading up to its release he sent out a flurry of letters to congressional Republicans, giving orders to oppose any compromise...'hold firm as with a chain of steel.' "

"Lincoln's object had always been to save the Union his way:  with the institution of slavery on course for 'ultimate extinction.' "

"Lincoln meant to guarantee that his American 'house' would be united in the right way----with slavery on course for extinction----not the wrong way, with slavery spreading."

December 13, 1860 (Thursday)

Lincoln drew a line in the sand...no extension of slavery to the territories.  He wanted to limit the spread of slavery...he was willing to "hold firm, as with a chain of steel."  Lincoln draws a line in the sand: 

The third letter in a series of letters to W. L. Yancey (father of the disunion movement in the South) from Mr. Raymond (editor of the New York Times)
Letter from Raymond to Yancey   This is a well written letter.  Lengthy...but it is damning.  It would appear that Lincoln's stand of not letting slavery extend to other territories would have the effect of eventually ending slavery in the south.  No wonder Yancey wanted to get the "slave-trade" going again so the South could keep growing on the backs of "cheap labor." 

Excerpts from the letter:
"What you and your associate conspirators seek is the restoration of the African Slave-Trade..."Cheap Negroes" is the grand consummation at which you aim...."

"Can you suppose for a moment that you would be permitted by the civilized nations of the world to reopen the African Slave-trade?...You must be strangely insensible to the moral sentiment of the age, --to the ideas which are steadily advancing to supremacy over the Christian world, --if you expect to gain the assent of any civilized nation on the face of the earth to such a scheme."

"You cannot expect the People of the United States to consent to abolish the Union and repeal the Constitution for such reasons as these...a very little reflection will show the futility of such expectations.  The thing is impossible.  The only condition of our remaining at peace is that we remain one.  Disunion means War...."

"If you enter upon this matter of secession, you must enter upon it alone...you will have no help from any foreign Power....relying upon your own resources, without a word or thought of sympathy from any nation on earth, --under the frown of all Christendom....."

December 12, 1860 (Wednesday)

"I have often expressed the opinion that the success of a purely sectional party, organized upon any principle, sentiment or policy, in strong antagonism to the interests and sentiments of the opposing and defeated section, would deeply imperil the Union;  nor did I believe, until the result of the October elections became known, that a majority of the Northern people would ever so far disregard the counsels and warnings of Washington as to elect the candidate of such a party, to the Presidency. 

The election of Mr. Lincoln by a sectional party, organized and sustained upon the distinctive principle of opposition to Slavery, as it exists in the Southern States, and avowing the policy of its repression, and final extinction, (by prohibiting its extension into the Territories,) was a bold experiment upon the temper and forbearance of the South, and upon the strength of their loyalty to the Union.

This experiment, if not conceived in a spirit of disunion, was made with a reckless regard of consequences.  No greater strain upon the ligaments which bind the two great sections of the country together could be devised, than the attempt to establish or inaugurate a permanent Government policy upon such principles."  (John Bell, former 1860's Presidential candidate, December 12, 1860)

December 11, 1860 (Tuesday)

We see breakers through the darkness and hear the roar of the storm, and wonder anxiously whether we are to pass safely through as we have so often done before, or what great disaster may impend over us.  What is to be the issue? 

Back of all the anxiety and panic in the Northern States, lies a vague conviction, seldom expressed, but growing daily stronger, that this collision is much deeper than it appears on the surface; that it is what the political Cassandras have so often foretold:  the final and inevitable clashing of two incompatible systems of society.  And the devout mind, through the insane turmoil, and the blind and mad rushing on of the Southern States to a future fearful to contemplate, sees the final doom of Providence on a nation's sin.  We would not deisre it to be so."  (New York Times, editorial, December 11, 1860)

December 10, 1860 (Monday)

"The attitude of the Administration is absolutely humiliating to the country, as well as hostile to the integrity of the Union.  It is hard to believe that Mr. Buchanan is a conscious accomplice in the treason he is doing so much to aid;  The Disunionists certainly could ask no more effective aid and comfort than they have received at the hands of the Administration.  Not a solitary step has been taken to prepare the Federal forts, arms and munitions of war have been lavishly sent into the South and placed within easy reach of the Disunionists, and now the Government refuses to strengthen the officers whose duty it is to defend the Federal forts on Southern soil. 

It is not in the power of this Administration, nor of this Congress, -- perhaps not of this generation-- to close the volume which Secession opens.  Those men have read history to little purpose, -- and are profoundly ignorant of the spirit and temper of the American people, -- who look for a peaceful separation of this Union and the harmonious career of the Northern and Southern Confederacies which are to take its place.  If we have Disunion, we shall have War.  Mr. Buchanan is encouraging the one; -- it is not in his power to prevent the other."  (New York Times editorial, December 10, 1860)

December 9, 1860 (Sunday)

"I hear that the attention of the South Carolinians appears to be turned more toward Fort Sumter than it was, and it is deemed probable that their first act will be to take possession of that work. 

I would therefore respectfully suggest whether it might not be advisable and prudent to cause the ammunition to be destroyed or rendered unserviceable before they are permitted to fall into their hands...except what may be needed for our defense of this fort and the armament of Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney. 

Fort Sumter is a tempting prize, the value of which is well known to the Charlestonians, and once in their possession, with its ammunition and armament and walls uninjured and garrisoned properly, it would set our Navy at defiance, compel me to abandon this work, and give them the perfect command of this harbor.

Our supply of provisions has not arrived.  I hope it will soon be in."   (Letter from Maj. Anderson, Commander)

December 8, 1860 (Saturday)

"Ten days hence, the State of South Carolina, it is believed, will separate herself from the United States of North America, and establish an independent government.  She will dissolve the United States Courts, eject the Judges and Marshal, break off the Post-office connections, expel the Federal Collector and Port-officers, and declare Charleston a free port of entry to the world."

"Let Mr. Buchanan...dispatch a ship-of-war or well-armed revenue cutter to lay outside of Charleston harbor, and there to collect the duties from every vessel entering from a foreign port or to give clearances to such as are outward bound.  The Force Act gave the President power 'to collect duties by land and water.'  What is to prevent the United States from thus exercising its only important powers at the port of Charleston...." 

"The South Carolina commerce would be cut off during the time of this occupation.  The people at the North...are becoming more and more convinced, whatever South Carolina or even all the Cotton States may do, that the vast and well-founded material interests of the North and West will only receive a temporary shock."  (Excerpts from New York Times article, December 8, 1860.

December 7, 1860 (Friday)

"But with the exception of Whitman, no poet ever wrote more piercingly about what happened, or what it felt like as it was happening.  And who is to say that Herman Melville had no influence, even watching from the wings?  After the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln remarked, "We are like whalers who have been on a long chase.  We have at last got the harpoon into the monster, but we must now look how we steer, or with one flop of his tail he will send us all into eternity."  (Misgivings, New York Times Narrative by Ted Widmer, December 7, 2010)

                                               Misgivings by Herman Melville (winter of 1860)

When ocean-clouds over inland hills

Sweep storming in late autumn brown,

And horror the sodden valley fills,

And the spire falls crashing in the town,

I muse upon my country's ills ----

The tempest bursting from the waste of Time

On the world's fairest hope linked with man's foulest crime.

Nature's dark side is heeded now ----

(Ah!  Optimist-cheer disheartened flown) ----

A child may read the moody brow

Of you black mountain lone.

With shouts the torrents down the gorges go,

And storms are formed behind the storm we feel:

The hemlock shakes in the rafter;

the oak in the driving keel.



December 6, 1860 (Thursday)

Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb of Georgia, (former Speaker of the House and Governor and member of Buchanan's cabinet), addressed the people of Georgia in a lengthy letter:

"In the nomination of Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency, the Black Republicans gave still more pointed expression to their views and feelings on the subject of slavery. "

"Is there no other remedy for this state of things but immediate secession?  None worthy of your consideration has been suggested...."

"On the 4th day of March, 1861, the Federal Government will pass into the hands of the Abolitionists.  It will then cease to have the slightest claim upon either your confidence or your loyalty; and, in my honest judgment, each hour that Georgia remains thereafter a member of the Union will be an hour of degradation, to be followed by certain and speedy ruin."

This letter carried great influence for his state and the country.

December 5, 1860 (Wednesday)

Abraham Lincoln was "officially" elected on this date, as electors from the Electoral College gathered to cast their electoral votes.  In the meeting of the Massachusetts electors, the chairman of the meeting assured those present that the President-elect would remain silent publicly until his inauguration: (from This Week in Georgia Civil War--December 5, 1860)

"His mouth will be shut with regard to the particular manner he may purpose to discharge the duties of his high office until he shall have taken the required oath,  ...and he be able to speak as one having authority, and under official responsibility:  and then the American people may expect to hear from him words of wisdom, moderation, firmness and prudence."
          (Harold Holzer, Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861, Simon and         Schuster, New York, 2008)

December 4, 1860 (Tuesday)

Buchanan delivers his State of the Union message in writing to the Congress. 
Nobody likes what he writes...  Some say it is a disaster....

December 3, 1860 (Monday)

Washington is back in session... 

Tomorrow President Buchanan gives his State of the Union Address...

December 2, 1860 (Sunday)

"The Republican party does not propose to abolish slavery anywhere, and is decidedly opposed to Abolition agitation.  It is not even, by the confession of its President elect, in favor of the repeal of that thrice-accursed and flagrantly unconstitutional Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850.  The safety of our movement will be found only by a return to all the agencies and appliances, such as writing, publishing, organizing, lecturing, holding meetings, with the earnest aim not to prevent the extension of slavery, but to abolish the system altogether."  (Frederick Douglass, Douglass Monthly, December, 1860)

December 1, 1860 (Saturday)

"Two Charlestonians who were down here today remarked to me that as soon as the State seceded she would demand the surrender of the forts, and that if not given up, they would be taken. 

They say that anything which indicates a determination on the part of the General Government to act with an unusual degree of vigor in putting these works in a better state of defense will be regarded as an act of aggression, and will, as well as either of the other acts mentioned above, cause an attack to be made on this fort."  (Letter written to Washington by Maj. Anderson)

"We commend the wisdom of South Carolina in not meddling with 'the forts' which stand 'within sight of Charleston.'  We trust she will not find it necessary to disturb the Federal authorities now in possession of them.  Let her do everything before she resolves upon that.  For that is the act which the Federal Government cannot by any possibility suffer to pass without peremptory and decisive challenge.  Anything else the Government may overlook; South Carolina will ponder well the consequences before she takes that final step which cannot be retraced."  (New York Times Editorial, December 1, 1860)