Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/229

 CONFEDERATE STATES 225 throw such a government as this, under which we have lived for more than three quarters of a century, in which we have gained our wealth, our standing as a nation, our domestic safety, while the elements of peril are around us, with peace aud tranquillity, accompanied with unbounded prosperity and rights unassniled, is the height of madness, folly, and wicked- ness, to which I will neither lend my sanction nor my vote." Notwithstanding this appeal, the convention on Jan. 19 passed an ordinance of secession by a vote of 208 to 89. A week later, on Jan. 26, Louisiana seceded by a vote of 113 to 17. Fi- nally, on Feb. 1, Texas, in spite of the opposi- tion of her governor, Sam Houston, and the lukewarmness of a large part of her population, was voted out of the Union by an irregularly called convention, whose final vote was 166 to 7. In the documents put forth by the seceding states thus far no allusion is made to any cause of complaint against the northern states other than their interference with slavery. But it was not long before the secessionists took broader ground generally, and claimed to be acting in defence of state rights against the encroachments of the national government. Their position is thus stated by Mr. Stephens of Georgia in his " War between the States," published in 1867 : "Considerations connected with the legal status of the black race in the southern states, and the position of several of the northern states toward it, together with the known sentiments and principles of those just elected to the two highest offices of the federal government (Messrs. Lincoln and Hamlin) as to the powers of that government over this sub- ject, and others which threatened, as was supposed, all their vital interests, prompted the southern states to withdraw from the Union, for the very reason that had induced them at first to enter into it ; that is, for their own better protection and security. Those who had the control of the administra- tion of the federal government denied this right to withdraw or secede. The war was inaugurated and waged by those at the head of the federal government against these states, or the people of these states, to prevent their withdrawal from the Union. On the part of these states, which had allied them- selves in a common cause, it was maintained and carried on purely 1 in defence of this great right, claimed by them, of state sovereignty and self-government, which they with their asso- ciates had achieved in their common struggle with Great Britain, under the declaration of 1776, and which in their judgment lay at the foundation of the whole structure of American free institutions." Thus in the space of three months after the presidential election seven states had renounced the Union and declared themselves sovereign and independent. Everywhere throughout these states the arsenals, custom houses, navy yards, and forts belonging to the United States were seized by the secessionists, with the exception of Fort Sumter, and Fort Pickens in Florida, which last was preserved by the energetic ac- tion of Lieut. Slemmer, its commander. The posts at the southern extremity of Florida also remained in the hands of the government. Those which fell into the hands of the seces- sionists were without garrisons, and were taken without bloodshed. The United States army at the beginning of the southern revolt was only 16,000 strong, and by orders from Mr. Floyd, the secretary of war, who was himself a party to the secession movement, had been dispersed in the remotest parts of the country. The largest force in one body was in Texas under the command of Gen. Twiggs, a Georgian by birth, who on Feb. 18 surrendered his whole command and all the posts and munitions of war to the Texans, for which on March 1 he was dismissed from the army by command of President Buchanan. Under Mr. Floyd's orders also an extensive transfer of arms from north- ern to southern arsenals had been made du- ring 1860, 115,000 muskets being transferred by one order, and great quantities of cannon and ammunition by other orders. Congress assembled at Washington, Dec. 3, 1860, and President Buchanan's annual message was mainly devoted to the consideration of the secession movement. He recommended, as the most effectual mode of stopping the revolution, an amendment of the constitution embracing these three points: 1, an express recognition of the right of property in slaves in the states where it now exists or may hereafter exist ; 2, the duty of protecting this right in all the com- mon territories throughout their territorial ex- istence, and until they shall be admitted as states into the Union with or without slavery as their constitutions may prescribe ; 3, a like recognition of the right of the master to have his slave, who has escaped from one state to another, restored and delivered up to him, and of the validity of the fugitive slave law enacted for this purpose, together with a declaration that all state laws impairing or defeating this right are violations of the constitution and are consequently null and void. "Such an ex- planatory amendment would, it is believed, for ever terminate the existing dissensions, and restore peace and harmony among the states." This part of the message was referred in the senate to a committee of 13, who reported on Dec. 31 that they had not been able to agree upon any general plan of adjustment. Mr. Crittenden, a senator from Kentucky, intro- duced on Dec. 18 a plan of compromise, pro- posing to renew the Missouri lino of 36 30' ; to prohibit slavery north and permit it south of that line ; to admit new states with or with- out slavery as their constitutions might pro- vide ; to prohibit congress from abolishing slavery in the states, and in the District of Columbia so long as it exists in Virginia or Maryland ; to permit free transmission of slaves by land or water in any state ; to pay for fugi- tive slaves rescued after arrest ; to ask the re- peal of personal liberty laws in the states ; these concessions to be submitted to the people as amendments to the constitution, and if adopted never to be changed. These were rejected, and the following resolutions, offered by Mr. Clark of New Hampshire, a republican senator, adopted : " That the provisions of the constitution are ample for the preservation of the Union, and the protection of all the mate- rial interests of the country ; that it needs to be obeyed rather than amended ; and that an extrication from the present dangers is to be looked for in strenuous efforts to preserve the peace, protect the public property, and enforce the laws, rather than in new guarantees for particular interests, compromises for particular