Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/499

 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 49S premacy of the Union by a short and decisive contest. Congress promptly passed bills rati- fying the acts of the president, authorizing him to accept 500,000 volunteers, and placing $500,000,000 at the disposal of the administra- tion, and confiscating all slaves used in mili- tary operations against the government. The house also passed, almost unanimously, a reso- lution pledging any amount of money and any number of men necessary to suppress the re- bellion, and one declaring that the sole object of the war was to preserve the Union. The ses- sion closed on Aug. 6, 16 days after the battle of Bull Run. On Oct. $1 Gen. Scott asked to be relieved from command of the army, and the president appointed as his successor Gen. George B. McClellan, who had rendered good service in Western Virginia. On Jan. 14, 1862, Mr. Cameron was succeeded in the war department by Edwin M. Stanton, who per- formed the duties of the office throughout the remainder of Lincoln's administration with extraordinary zeal and ability. To prevent the border states from joining the confederacy was still the most difficult portion of the presi- dent's task, and in pursuance of this object he steadily resisted the appeals of those who ad- vised a general emancipation, and the instruc- tions issued to the commanders of the various departments enjoined the least practicable in- terference with slavery. An order by Gen. Hunter (May 9, 1862) declaring the slaves in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina for ever free, was repudiated and rescinded by the president, who at the time was urging upon congress and the border states a policy of gradual emancipation, with compensation to loyal masters, to be followed by the coloniza- tion of such freedmen as might wish to leave the country. Congress passed a resolution that "the United States ought to cooperate with any state which might adopt a gradual emancipation of slavery," and placed at the disposal of the president $600,000 for an ex- periment at colonization. About $80,000 was spent in attempts to colonize liberated slaves in New Granada and Hayti, and the project was then abandoned. On Aug. 22, 1862, in reply to an open letter addressed to him by Horace Greeley, Mr. Lincoln wrote : " My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it ; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. . . . I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my views of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft ex- pressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be irec." To a deputation from all the religious denomi- nations in Chicago, who urged immediate and universal emancipation, the president replied at considerable length, arguing the probable futility of such a measure. But meanwhile he prepared a declaration that on Jan. 1, 1863, the slaves in all states or parts of states which should then be in rebellion would be proclaimed free. By the advice of Mr. Seward this was withheld until it could follow a federal victory, instead of seeming to be a measure of mere desperation. Accordingly it was put forth Sept. 22, 1862, five days after the battle of An- tietam had defeated Lee's first attempt at inva- sion of the north, and the promised proclama- tion was published on the 1st day of January following. In his message of Dec. 1, 1862, the president had proposed to congress a constitu- tional amendment for the abolition of slavery, with compensation, in the year 1900. A sup- plemental treaty with Great Britain for the sup- pression of the African slave trade was made on Feb. IT, 1863, and duly ratified. After Gen. McClellan assumed command of the army of the Potomac, six months passed and no ac- tive operations had been set on foot. The president then (January, 1862) ordered a gen- eral movement of the land and naval forces- against the enemy, to begin on Feb. 22, and specifically ordered Gen. McClellan to organize an expedition for seizing a point on the rail- road southwest of Manassas Junction. The general protested, had several conferences with the president, and urged his own plan of a. movement up the peninsula, to which Mr. Lin- coln finally assented after a council of 12 gen- eral officers had decided, 8 to 4, in favor of it (see CHICKAHOMINY) ; and during the months of delay which followed he constantly urged a rapid forward movement. During the opera- tions on the peninsula the president and Gen. McClellan had a tangled correspondence, in which the latter repeatedly called for reen- forcements, promised to move, explained why he did not move, and set forth his views as to the general policy of the government ; while the president, after promising him McDowell's corps, told him there were no other troops to be obtained, and besought him to use his op- portunities with what he had. After the bat- tle of Antietam (Sept. 16, 17, 1862) he again urged McClellan to follow the retreating con- federates across the Potomac and advance upon Richmond. A most extraordinary correspon- dence ensued, in which the president set forth with great clearness the conditions of the mili- tary problem and the advantages that would attend a prompt movement by interior lines toward the confederate capital. Tired at length of McClellan's varied excuses for de- lay, he removed him from command on Nov. 7, 1862, and appointed Gen. Burnside in his place. The military operations of .1862 else- where than in Virginia were nearly all success- ful. The president's order for a general move- ment in February was speedily followed by the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson ; the confederate forces were driven out of Mis- souri, Kentucky, and a large portion of Ten- nessee ; a base was established by Burnside's expedition on the coast of North Carolina; the western coast of Florida was reclaimed ; Fort Pulaski, guarding the entrance to Savan-