Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/330

 266 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS be the only officer under whom the army was at the moment willing to serve, was placed in com mand of it. Gen. Lee, elated with his success, crossed the Potomac, but was met by the army under McClellan at South Mountain and Antietam, and after two days of great slaughter Lee retreated into Virginia. President Lincoln availed himself of this oc casion to give effect to a resolve that had long been maturing in his mind in an act the most momentous in its significance and results that the century has witnessed. For a year and a half he had been sub jected to urgent solicitations from the two great political parties of the country, the one side appeal ing to him to take decided measures against slavery, and the other imploring him to pursue a conserva tive course in regard to that institution. His deep- rooted detestation of the system of domestic servi tude was no secret to any one ; but his reverence for the law, his regard for vested interests, and his anxiety to do nothing that should alienate any con siderable body of the supporters of the govern ment had thus far induced him to pursue a middle course between the two extremes. Meanwhile the power of events had compelled a steady progress in the direction of emancipation. So early as August, 1861, congress had passed an act to con fiscate the rights of slave-owners in slaves employed in a manner hostile to the Union, and Gen. Fre-