Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/324

 f r i 260 )LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS ^ s&amp;gt; ^ most influential politician of that state ; of the navy, Gideon Welles, of Connecticut; of the interior, Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana; the border slave-states were represented in the government by Edward Bates, of Missouri, attorney-general, and Mont gomery Blair, of Maryland, postmaster-general both of them men of great distinction of character and high standing as lawyers. Seward, Smith, and Bates were of Whig antecedents; all the rest of Democratic. The cabinet underwent, in the course of Mr. Lincoln s term, the following modifications : Sec. Chase, after a brilliant administration of the finances, resigned in 1864 from personal reasons, and was succeeded by William P. Fessenden, of Maine; Sec. Cameron left the war department at the close of the year 1861, and was appointed min ister to Russia, and his place was taken by Edwin M. Stanton, a war Democrat of singular energy and vigor, and equal ability and devotion; Sec. Smith, accepting a judgeship, gave way to John P. Usher, of Indiana; Attorney- General Bates re signed in the last year of the administration, and was succeeded by James Speed, of Kentucky; and Postmaster-General Blair about the same time gave way to William Dennison, of Ohio. In his inaugural address President Lincoln treated the acts of secession as a nullity. He de clared the Union perpetual and inviolate, and an nounced with perfect firmness, though with the