Volume I Part 21 (2/2)
Mr. Lincoln, when delivering his inaugural address, on the 4th of March, 1861, had not so far lost all respect for the consecrated traditions of the founders of the Const.i.tution and for the majesty of the principle of State sovereignty as openly to enunciate the claim of coercion. While arguing against the right to secede, and a.s.serting his intention ”to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government, and collect the duties and imposts,” he says that, ”beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere,” and appends to this declaration the following pledge:
”Where hostility to the United States shall be so great as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right [pg 257] may exist of the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable withal, that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices.”
These extracts will serve to show that the people of the South were not without grounds for cheris.h.i.+ng the hope, to which they so fondly clung, that the separation would, indeed, be as peaceable in fact as it was, on their part, in purpose; that the conservative and patriotic feeling still existing in the North would control the elements of sectional hatred and bloodthirsty fanaticism; and that there would be really ”no war.”
And here the ingenuous reader may very naturally ask, What became of all this feeling? How was it that, in the course of a few weeks, it had disappeared like a morning mist? Where was the host of men who had declared that an army marching to invade the Southern States should first pa.s.s over their dead bodies? No new question had arisen-no change in the att.i.tude occupied by the seceding States-no cause for controversy not already existing when these utterances were made. And yet the sentiments which they expressed were so entirely swept away by the tide of reckless fury which soon afterward impelled an armed invasion of the South, that (with a few praiseworthy but powerless exceptions) scarcely a vestige of them was left. Not only were they obliterated, but seemingly forgotten.
I leave to others to offer, if they can, an explanation of this strange phenomenon. To the student of human nature, however, it may not seem altogether without precedent, when he remembers certain other instances on record of mutations in public sentiment equally sudden and extraordinary. Ten thousand swords that would have leaped from their scabbards-as the English statesman thought-to avenge even a look of insult to a lovely queen, hung idly in their places when she was led to the scaffold in the midst of the vilest taunts and execrations. The case that we have been considering was, perhaps, only an ill.u.s.tration of the general truth that, in times of revolutionary [pg 258] excitement, the higher and better elements are crushed and silenced by the lower and baser-not so much on account of their greater extent, as of their greater violence.
Footnote 132: (return) ”New York Tribune” of November 9, 1860, quoted in ”The American Conflict,” vol. i, chap. xxiii, p. 359.
CHAPTER X.
Temper of the Southern People indicated by the Action of the Confederate Congress.-The Permanent Const.i.tution.-Modeled after the Federal Const.i.tution.-Variations and Special Provisions.-Provisions with Regard to Slavery and the Slave-Trade.-A False a.s.sertion refuted.-Excellence of the Const.i.tution.-Admissions of Hostile or Impartial Criticism.
The conservative temper of the people of the Confederate States was conspicuously exhibited in the most important product of the early labors of their representatives in Congress a.s.sembled. The Provisional Const.i.tution, although prepared only for temporary use, and necessarily in some haste, was so well adapted for the purposes which it was intended to serve, that many thought it would have been wise to continue it in force indefinitely, or at least until the independency of the Confederacy should be a.s.sured. The Congress, however, deeming it best that the system of Government should emanate from the people, accordingly, on the 11th of March, prepared the permanent Const.i.tution, which was submitted to and ratified by the people of the respective States.
Of this Const.i.tution-which may be found in an appendix,133 side by side with the Const.i.tution of the United States-the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, who was one of its authors, very properly says:
”The whole doc.u.ment utterly negatives the idea, which so many have been active in endeavoring to put in the enduring form of history, that the Convention at Montgomery was nothing but a set of 'conspirators,' whose object was the overthrow of the principles of the Const.i.tution of the United States, and the erection of a great 'slavery oligarchy,' instead of the free inst.i.tutions thereby secured and guaranteed. This work of the Montgomery [pg 259] Convention, with that of the Const.i.tution for a Provisional Government, will ever remain, not only as a monument of the wisdom, forecast, and statesmans.h.i.+p of the men who const.i.tuted it, but an everlasting refutation of the charges which have been brought against them. These works together show clearly that their only leading object was to sustain, uphold, and perpetuate the fundamental principles of the Const.i.tution of the United States.”134
The Const.i.tution of the United States was the model followed throughout, with only such changes as experience suggested for better practical working or for greater perspicuity. The preamble to both instruments is the same in substance, and very nearly identical in language. The words ”We, the people of the United States,” in one, are replaced by ”We, the people of the Confederate States,” in the other; and the gross perversion which has been made of the former expression is precluded in the latter merely by the addition of the explanatory clause, ”each State acting in its sovereign and independent character”-an explanation which, at the time of the formation of the Const.i.tution of the United States, would have been deemed entirely superfluous.
The official term of the President was fixed at six instead of four years, and it was provided that he should not be eligible for reelection. This was in accordance with the original draft of the Const.i.tution of 1787.135
The President was empowered to remove officers of his Cabinet, or those engaged in the diplomatic service, at his discretion, but in all other cases removal from office could be made only for cause, and the cause was to be reported to the Senate.136
Congress was authorized to provide by law for the admission of ”the princ.i.p.al officer in each of the executive departments” (or Cabinet officers) to a seat upon the floor of either House, with the privilege of taking part in the discussion of subjects pertaining to his department.137 This wise and judicious provision, which would have tended to obviate much [pg 260] delay and misunderstanding, was, however, never put into execution by the necessary legislation.
Protective duties for the benefit of special branches of industry, which had been so fruitful a source of trouble under the Government of the United States, were altogether prohibited.138 So, also, were bounties from the Treasury,139 and extra compensation for services rendered by officers, contractors, or employees, of any description.140
A vote of two thirds of each House was requisite for the appropriation of money from the Treasury, unless asked for by the chief of a department and submitted to Congress by the President, or for payment of the expenses of Congress, or of claims against the Confederacy judicially established and declared.141 The President was also authorized to approve any one appropriation and disapprove any other in the same bill.142
With regard to the impeachment of Federal officers, it was intrusted, as formerly, to the discretion of the House of Representatives, with the additional provision, however, that, in the case of any judicial or other officer exercising his functions solely within the limits of a particular State, impeachment might be made by the Legislature of such State-the trial in all cases to be by the Senate of the Confederate States.143
Any two or more States were authorized to enter into compacts with each other for the improvement of the navigation of rivers flowing between or through them.144 A vote of two thirds of each House-the Senate voting by States-was required for the admission of a new State.145
With regard to amendments of the Const.i.tution, it was made obligatory upon Congress, on the demand of any three States, concurring in the proposed amendment or amendments, to summon a convention of all the States to consider and act upon them, voting by States, but restricted in its action to the particular propositions thus submitted. If approved by such [pg 261] convention, the amendments were to be subject to final ratification by two thirds of the States.146
Other changes or modifications, worthy of special notice, related to internal improvements, bankruptcy laws, duties on exports, suits in the Federal courts, and the government of the Territories.147
With regard to slavery and the slave-trade, the provisions of this Const.i.tution furnish an effectual answer to the a.s.sertion, so often made, that the Confederacy was founded on slavery, that slavery was its ”corner-stone,” etc. Property in slaves, already existing, was recognized and guaranteed, just as it was by the Const.i.tution of the United States; and the rights of such property in the common Territories were protected against any such hostile discrimination as had been attempted in the Union. But the ”extension of slavery,” in the only practical sense of that phrase, was more distinctly and effectually precluded by the Confederate than by the Federal Const.i.tution. This will be manifest on a comparison of the provisions of the two relative to the slave-trade. These are found at the beginning of the ninth section of the first article of each instrument. The Const.i.tution of the United States has the following:
”The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importations, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.”
The Confederate Const.i.tution, on the other hand, ordained as follows:
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