March 2, 1861 (Saturday)

"All our hopes are with
the new President's resolve."
Fredrick Douglass

From a narrative 'The Dim Light of Hope' by David W. Blight, New York Times, March 1, 2011 comes these words from Frederick Douglass on the eve of the Inauguration:

"By the eve of Lincoln's inauguration March 4, Douglass's 'doubt and distraction' had all but consumed him.  He was not yet connected to the Republican Party establishment and had no personal ties to Lincoln's inner circle.  He truly did not know which impulses or rumors about the the new president's impending actions to trust.  Whatever Lincoln's policy would be towards slavery and 'our nation's troubles' he declared, it would 'be great relief to know.'  Lincoln's 'stately silence' throughout the crisis left Douglass guessing, but he did take hope from the Illinoisan's 'cool and circumspect' resistance, thus far, to all major compromise measures bandied about in public debate.  Grasping for confidence, Douglass said Lincoln had 'not won deceitfully the title of Honest Old Abe..'

Douglass simply offered that 'all our hopes' were with the new president's resolve.  Douglass wrote fervidly:  since he could not directly affect a policy that might now emerge from the turbulent atmosphere of Washington, he took to his pen for solace, and for spirit.  As editor, orator, and autobiographer, his words and the example of his own story were, after all, his only real weapons against slavery.  But he also knew their power:  Now words were in flux.  'The strangest feature of this eventful drama,' he proclaimed, 'is the complete inversion of the sense of...words.' "


Hat tip to The Long Recall for an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer, March 2, 1861 which gives some details on the Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4th.  The article also gives information of all the other other Presidents on their day of Inauguration.  Informative....

"The doors to the Senate Chamber will be opened at 11 o'clock A. M. for the admission of Senators and others who, by the arrangement of the Committee, are entitled to admission....

The procession will be formed in front of the City Hall, and in the streets adjacent thereto at nine o'clock A. M. on the 4th of March.  At eleven o'clock A.M. the procession will move from the parade ground, by Louisiana Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, then along Pennsylvania Avenue and so far past Willard Hotel, (where the President-Elect will be)...The military will present arms.  The President and President-Elect will then be received in the line and the column will face right and move, escorting them to the Capitol.

Banners and adornments may be borne in the procession; but no offensive emblems or debris will be permitted to disturb the national ceremony.  After the President elect reaches the Capitol, the various portions of the procession will witness the inauguration according to their pleasure taking care to respect the programme, which has already been published by the Committee of the Senate."