Congress in December, that the issue of the proclamation "was followed by dark and doubtful days."

WILLIAM A. DUNNING, Essays on the Civil War and Reconstruction. 60, 61.

MORSE (1897)

The first day of January, 1863, arrived, and no event had occurred to delay the issue of the promised proclamation. It came accordingly. By virtue of his power, as commander-inchief, . . . the President ordered that all persons held as slaves in certain States and parts of States, which he designated as being then in rebellion, should be thenceforward free, and declared that the Executive, with the army and navy, would recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons."

66

The people at large received this important step with some variety of feeling and expression; but, upon the whole, approval seems to have far outrun the dubious prognostications of the timid and conservative class. For the three months, which had given opportunity for thinking, had produced the result which Mr. Lincoln had hoped for. It turned out that the mill of God had been grinding as exactly as always. Very many, who would not have advised the measure, now heartily ratified it. Later, after men's minds had had time to settle and the balance could be fairly struck, it appeared undeniable that the final proclamation had been of good effect; so Mr. Lincoln himself said.

JOHN T. MORSE, JR., Abraham Lincoln. II. 130-132.

McCALL (1899)

Lincoln determined that the bravest course was the safest course, and he put emancipation as a war measure squarely before the people only a few weeks before the Congressional elections of 1862. He declared that all slaves in those rebel States which should not have submitted before January 1, 1863, "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." It was in the power of the Confederates to avoid the proclamation by laying down their arms. They were not compelled to continue the war. On the other hand if they were to keep on fighting indefinitely they could not expect the North to cherish their

institution any longer. It was well that Lincoln displayed all his consummate skill as a politician in framing the issue as he did frame it, for the election was of transcendent importance. A hostile Congress meant, not merely delay and probably destruction to the emancipation policy, but it meant also reduced appropriations for the war and great encouragement to the Confederates. The Democrats accepted the issue; indeed they were anxious to raise it.

SAMUEL W. MCCALL, Thaddeus Stevens. 218-219.

FREDERIC BANCROFT (1900)

Before the proclamation of emancipation was issued, January 1, 1863, emancipation societies were forming in England; and by the time it had crossed the Atlantic all intelligent Englishmen were beginning to gain correct knowledge as to the cause of the war. January had not passed before the first waves of the anti-slavery storm in America were felt. In a few weeks more, English public opinion showed a surprising awakening. Great public meetings were held in the large cities, and famous speakers addressed audiences infused with the ardour and courage peculiar to national reform movements. The mass of labourers in mines and factories rapidly developed a bitter prejudice against the Confederacy. Impressive antislavery resolutions were passed unanimously, and addresses of congratulation were sent to the President of the United States. As Cobden wrote to Sumner, these remarkable demonstrations of sympathy for the cause of freedom "closed the mouths of those who have been advocating the side of the South." The friends of the North felt thenceforth that they had a cause to plead.

FREDERIC BANCROFT, Life of William H. Seward.1 II. 340-341.

TARBELL (1900)

When Congress opened on December 1, he did submit the proclamation, together with the plan for compensated emancipation which he had worked out. Over one-half of the message, in fact, was given to this plan.

Mr. Lincoln pleaded with Congress for his measure as he

1 Copyright, 1899 and 1900, by Harper & Brothers.

had never pleaded before. He argued that it would "end the struggle and save the Union forever," that it would cost no blood at all," that Congress could do it if they would unite with the executive, that the "good people" would respond and support it if appealed to.

"It is not," he said, "Can any of us imagine better?' but, Can we all do better?' Object whatsoever is possible, still the question occurs, Can we do better?' The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honour or dishonour, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We - even we here hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free-honourable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."

IDA M. TARBELL, Life of Abraham Lincoln. II. 122-123.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENTS (1865-1870)

SUGGESTIONS

THE Thirteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress Feb. 1, 1865, and declared to have been ratified by twenty-seven of the thirty-six States, Dec. 18, 1865.

The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress June 16, 1866, and declared to have been ratified by thirty of the thirty-six States, July 28, 1868.

The Fifteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress Feb. 26, 1869, and declared to have been ratified by twenty-nine of the thirty-seven States, March 30, 1870.

With the examination of the three amendments, we reach the farthest extension of free institutions by the Teutonic race. Beginning with the liberty of the baron, set forth in Magna Charta in 1215, the doctrine that all men are born equal in so far as rights and privileges in government are concerned was in these documents finally demonstrated and made good by law.

For Outlines and Material, see Appendix B.

DOCUMENTS

Thirteenth Amendment (1865)

SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servi- American Histude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the tory Leaflets, No. 8 (text party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist from original within the United States, or any place subject to manuscript Rolls). Slavtheir jurisdiction. ery forbidden

SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce by law in this article by appropriate legislation.

Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in

every place under U. S. jurisdiction.

Citizenship

the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction defined by

the Court,"

Dred Scott

Case. This

law. Note thereof, are citizens of the United States and of "Opinion of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

section was modified by the adoption

of the 15th Amendment, which absolutely took away from

the Stute the power to exclude the negro from suffrage.

SECTION 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twentyone years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

SECTION 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the