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)