Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/578

 568 /. A. Woodbtirn beginning, and in the pursuance of them he was clear, consistent, and undeviating from first to last. Firm of purpose and clear of vision, he had no manner of doubt as to the course the nation should pursue in the varying phases of the struggle for the Union. No one need to have been left in doubt as to his policies and plans, for among the membership of the national House he stood pre-eminent as 'a man with the qualities that a public man most needs in such a time — dauntless courage, a conscience of his own, opinions of his own, and a will of his own. He encountered no superior in intellectual combat, and in the fight he was appointed to endure he well fulfilled the canons of the strenuous game — he never flinched, he fouled no man, and he hit the line hard. An unconquerable fighter, he seemed made for a time of war, a time of storm and stress, and, his enemies themselves being the judges, he stood foursquare to all the winds of opposition that came. These characteristics, together with the times in which he lived and the problems which he faced, make Stevens one of the most memorable figures in our Congresnonal annals. I proceed to notice his war career with reference to the three aspects of the war to which I have referred — slaver-, the Con- stitution, and the status of the states. The evidence is conclusive that it was not the original purpose of the nation in the Civil War to interfere with slavery. If it had been but a hundred days' war, it would probably have ended with slavery intact. Hostile intention against slavery was specifically disclaimed. Mr. Lincoln disclaimed it on behalf of the executive, and the two houses of Congress disclaimed it on behalf of the legis- lative branch of the government. At the beginning of the war, two days after the battle of Bull Run, Congress passed almost unanimously, in both Houses, the famous Crittenden resolutions setting forth the objects of the war. These resolutions recited, in substance, that the war was not prose- cuted for the purpose of subjugating the Southern states — that is, of overthrowing their state governments and reducing them to provinces ; nor for the purpose of interfering with slavery in the states, but to defend and maintain the Constitution and the laws, and to preserve the Union with all the equality and rights of the several states unimpaired. The war should accomplish these ends and no more. This resolution voiced at the time the public opinion of the country, and almost the unanimous opinion of the Republican party. President Lincoln represented this opinion, and in a con- servative spirit he attempted at first to conduct the war without inter- fering with slavery, on the assumption that the status of the states and their relation to the Union had not changed.