A Short History of the United States by Edward Channing

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[Sidenote: The North and the South.]

[Sidenote: Growth of the Northwest.]

[Sidenote: Density of population, 1860.]

364. The States.--As it was with the cities so it was with the
states--the North had grown beyond the South. In 1790 Virginia had as
many inhabitants as the states of New York and Pennsylvania put
together. In 1860 Virginia had only about one-quarter as many
inhabitants as these two states. Indeed, in 1860 New York had nearly
four million inhabitants, or nearly as many inhabitants as the whole
United States in 1791 (p. 156). But the growth of the states of the
Northwest had been even more remarkable. Ohio now had a million more
people than Virginia and stood third in population among the states of
the Union. Illinois was the fourth state and Indiana the sixth. Even
more interesting are the facts brought out by a study of the map showing
the density of population or the number of people to the square mile in
the several states. It appears that in 1860 Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and
Massachusetts each had over forty-five inhabitants to the square mile,
while not a single Southern state had as many as forty-five inhabitants
to the square mile. This shows us at once that although the Southern
states were larger in extent than the Northern states, they were much
less powerful.

[Illustration: DENSITY OF POPULATION IN 1860.]

[Sidenote: Improvements in living.]

365. City Life.--In the old days the large towns were just like the
small towns except that they were larger. Life in them was just about
the same as in the smaller places. Now, however, there was a great
difference. In the first place the city could afford to have a great
many things the smaller town could not pay for. In the second place it
must have certain things or its people would die of disease or be killed
as they walked the streets. For these reasons the streets of the
Northern cities were paved and lighted and were guarded by policemen.
Then, too, great sewers carried away the refuse of the city, and
enormous iron pipes brought fresh water to every one within its limits.
Horse-cars and omnibuses carried its inhabitants from one part of the
city to another, and the railroads brought them food from the
surrounding country.

[Illustration: AN OMNIBUS]

[Sidenote: Growth of the railroad systems.]

366. Transportation.--Between 1849 and 1858 twenty-one thousand
miles of railroad were built in the United States, In 1860 there were
more than thirty thousand miles of railroad in actual operation. In 1850
one could not go from New York to Albany without leaving the railroad
and going on board a steamboat. In 1860 one continuous line of rails ran
from New York City to the Mississippi River. Traveling was still
uncomfortable according to our ideas. The cars were rudely made and
jolted horribly. One train ran only a comparatively short distance. Then
the traveler had to alight, get something to eat, and see his baggage
placed on another train. Still, with all its discomforts, traveling in
the worst of cars was better than traveling in the old stagecoaches.
Many more steamboats were used, especially on the Great Lakes and the
Western rivers.

[Illustration: HORACE GREELEY]

[Sidenote: Schools.]

[Sidenote: Newspapers.]

[Sidenote: Horace Greeley.]

367. Education.--The last thirty years had also been years of
progress in learning. Many colleges were founded, especially in the
Northwest. There was still no institution which deserved the name of
university. But more attention was being paid to the sciences and to the
education of men for the professions of law and medicine. The newspapers
also took on their modern form. The _New York Herald_, founded in 1835,
was the first real newspaper. But the _New York Tribune_, edited by
Horace Greeley, had more influence than any other paper in the country.
Greeley was odd in many ways, but he was one of the ablest men of the
time. He called for a liberal policy in the distribution of the public
lands and was forever saying, "Go West, young man, go West." The
magazines were now very much better than in former years, and America's
foremost writers were doing some of their best work.

[Illustration: THE FIRST SEWING MACHINE.]

[Sidenote: The telegraph.]

[Sidenote: The Howe sewing machine.]

[Sidenote: Agriculture machinery.]

[Sidenote: Stagnation in the South.]

368. Progress of Invention.--The electric telegraph was now in
common use. It enabled the newspapers to tell the people what was going
on as they never had done before. Perhaps the invention that did as much
as any one thing to make life easier was the sewing machine. Elias Howe
was the first man to make a really practicable sewing machine. Other
inventors improved upon it, and also made machines to sew other things
than cloth, as leather. Agricultural machinery was now in common use.
The horse reaper had been much improved, and countless machines had been
invented to make agricultural labor more easy and economical. Hundreds
of homely articles, as friction matches and rubber shoes, came into use
in these years. In short, the thirty years from Jackson's inauguration
to the secession of the Southern states were years of great progress.
But this progress was confined almost wholly to the North. In the South,
living in 1860 was about the same as it had been in 1830, or even in
1800. As a Southern orator said of the South, "The rush and whirl of
modern civilization passed her by."

CHAPTER 36

SECESSION, 1860-1861

[Illustration: WILLIAM H. SEWARD.]

[Sidenote: Candidates for the Republican nomination 1860.]

[Sidenote: Lincoln nominated. The platform.]

369. The Republican Nomination, 1860.--Four names were especially
mentioned in connection with the Republican nomination for President.
These were Seward, Chase, Cameron, and Lincoln. Seward was the best
known of them all. In the debates on the Compromise of 1850 he had
declared that there was "a higher law" than the Constitution, namely,
"the law of nature in men's hearts." In another speech he had termed the
slavery contest "the irrepressible conflict." These phrases endeared him
to the antislavery men. But they made it impossible for many moderate
Republicans to follow him. Senator Chase of Ohio had also been very
outspoken in his condemnation of slavery. Senator Cameron of
Pennsylvania was an able political leader. But all of these men were
"too conspicuous to make a good candidate." They had made many enemies.
Lincoln had spoken freely. But he had never been prominent in national
politics. He was more likely to attract the votes of moderate men than
either of the other candidates. After a fierce contest he was nominated.
The Republican platform stated that there was no intention to interfere
with slavery in the states where it existed; but it declared the party's
opposition to the extension of slavery. The platform favored internal
improvements at the national expense. It also approved the
protective system.

[Sidenote: The Charleston convention, 1860. _McMaster_, 360-361.]

[Sidenote: The Douglas Democrats.]

[Sidenote: The Breckinridge Democrats.]

370. The Democratic Nominations.--The Democratic convention met at
Charleston, South Carolina. It was soon evident that the Northern
Democrats and the Southern Democrats could not agree. The Northerners
were willing to accept the Dred Scott decision and to carry it out. But
the Southerners demanded that the platform should pledge the party
actively to protect slavery in the territories. To this the Northerners
would not agree. So the convention broke up to meet again at Baltimore.
But there the delegates could come to no agreement. In the end two
candidates were named. The Northerners nominated Douglas on a platform
advocating "popular sovereignty." The Southerners nominated John C.
Breckinridge of Kentucky. In their platform they advocated states'
rights, and the protection of slavery in the territories by the federal
government.

[Sidenote: The Constitutional Union party.]

371. The Constitutional Union Party.--Besides these three
candidates, cautious and timid men of all parties united to form the
Constitutional Union party. They nominated Governor John Bell of
Tennessee for President. In their platform they declared for the
maintenance of the Constitution and the Union, regardless of slavery.

[Illustration: LINCOLN'S SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS AND SADDLEBAG.]

[Sidenote: The campaign of 1860.]

[Sidenote: Lincoln elected.]

372. Lincoln elected President, 1860.--With four candidates in the
field and the Democratic party hopelessly divided, there could be little
doubt of Lincoln's election. He carried every Northern state except
Missouri and New Jersey. He received one hundred and eighty electoral
notes. Breckenridge carried every Southern state except the "border
states" of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and received seventy-two
electoral votes. Bell carried the three "border" Southern states and
Douglas carried Missouri and New Jersey. There was no doubt as to
Lincoln's election. He had received a great majority of the electoral
votes. But his opponents had received more popular votes than he had
received. He was therefore elected by a minority of the voters.

[Illustration: LINCOLN'S BOOKCASE. From the Keyes-Lincoln Memorial
Collection, Chicago.]

[Sidenote: Weakness of the Republicans.]

[Sidenote: Southern fears.]

373. The North and the South.--Lincoln had been elected by a
minority of the people. He had been elected by the people of one
section. Other Presidents had been chosen by minorities. But Lincoln
was the first man to be chosen President by the people of one section.
The Republicans, moreover, had not elected a majority of the members of
the House of Representatives, and the Senate was still in the hands of
the Democrats. For two years at least the Republicans could not carry
out their ideas. They could not repeal the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They
could not admit Kansas to the Union as a free state. They could not
carry out one bit of their policy. In their platform they had declared
that they had no intention to interfere with slavery in the states.
Lincoln had said over and over again that Congress had no right to
meddle with slavery in the states. The Southern leaders knew all these
things. But they made up their minds that now the time had come to
secede from the Union and to establish a Southern Confederacy. For the
first time all the southernmost states were united. No matter what
Lincoln and the Republicans might say, the Southern slaveholders
believed that slavery was in danger. In advising secession, many of them
thought that by this means they could force the Northerners to accept
their terms as the price of a restored Union. Never were political
leaders more mistaken.

[Sidenote: Southern conventions.]

374. Threats of Secession, November, 1860.--The Constitution
permits each state to choose presidential electors as it sees fit. At
the outset these electors had generally been chosen by the state
legislatures. But, in the course of time, all the states save one had
come to choose them by popular vote. The one state that held to the old
way was South Carolina. Its legislature still chose the state's
presidential electors. In 1860 the South Carolina legislature did this
duty and then remained in session to see which way the election would
go. When Lincoln's election was certain, it called a state convention to
consider the question of seceding from the United States. In other
Southern states there was some opposition to secession. In Georgia,
especially, Alexander H. Stephens led the opposition. He said that
secession "was the height of madness." Nevertheless he moved a
resolution for a convention. Indeed, all the southernmost states
followed the example of South Carolina and summoned conventions.

[Sidenote: Buchanan's compromise plan.]

[Crittenden's plan of compromise. _McMaster_, 380-381.]

[Sidenote: It fails to pass Congress.]

375. The Crittenden Compromise Plan.--Many men hoped that even now
secession might be stopped by some compromise. President Buchanan
suggested an amendment to the Constitution, securing slavery in the
states and territories. It was unlikely that the Republicans would
agree to this suggestion. The most hopeful plan was brought forward in
Congress by Senator Crittenden of Kentucky. He proposed that amendments
to the Constitution should be adopted: (1) to carry out the principle of
the Missouri Compromise (p. 222);(2) to provide that states should be
free or slave as their people should determine; and (3) to pay the slave
owners the value of runaway slaves. This plan was carefully considered
by Congress, and was finally rejected only two days before Lincoln's
inauguration.

[Sidenote: South Carolina secedes, 1860. _Eggleston_, 304-305.]

[Sidenote: Six other states secede.]

376. Secession of Seven States, 1860-61.--The South Carolina
convention met in Secession Hall, Charleston, on December 17, 1860.
Three days later it adopted a declaration "that the union now subsisting
between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United
States of America, is hereby dissolved." Six other states soon joined
South Carolina. These were Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Texas.

[Sidenote: Confederate states constitution]

[Sidenote: Views of Jefferson Davis.]

377. The "Confederate States of America."--The next step was for
these states to join together to form a confederation. This work was
done by a convention of delegates chosen by the conventions of the seven
seceding states. These delegates met at Montgomery, Alabama. Their new
constitution closely resembled the Constitution of the United States.
But great care was taken to make it perfectly clear that each member of
the Confederacy was a sovereign state. Exceeding care was also taken
that slavery should be protected in every way. Jefferson Davis of
Mississippi was chosen provisional president, and Alexander H. Stephens
provisional vice-president.

[Illustration: CHARLESTON MERCURY EXTRA: The UNION is DISSOLVED!]

[Sidenote: Views of Jefferson Davis.]

[Sidenote: Views of Alexander H. Stephens. _Source-Book_, 296-299.]

378. Views of Davis and Stephens.--Davis declared that Lincoln had
"made a distinct declaration of war upon our (Southern) institutions."
His election was "upon the basis of sectional hostility." If "war must
come, it must be on Northern and not on Southern soil.... We will carry
war ... where food for the sword and torch awaits our armies in the
densely populated cities" of the North. For his part, Stephens said the
new government's "foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the
great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man."

[Sidenote: "Let the erring sisters" go in peace.]

[Sidenote: Greeley's opinions.]

[Sidenote: Buchanan's opinions.]

379. Hesitation in the North.--At first it seemed as if Davis was
right when he said the Northerners would not fight. General Scott,
commanding the army, suggested that the "erring sisters" should be
allowed to "depart in peace," and Seward seemed to think the same way.
The Abolitionists welcomed the secession of the slave states. Horace
Greeley, for instance, wrote that if those states chose to form an
independent nation, "they had a clear moral right so to do." For his
part, President Buchanan thought that no state could constitutionally
secede. But if a state should secede, he saw no way to compel it to come
back to the Union. So he sat patiently by and did nothing.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 35

Sec.Sec. 361, 362.--_a_. Compare the area and population of the United States
in 1800 and in 1860.

_b_. Compare the white population of the North and the South. Were all
the Southern whites slave owners?

_c_. Why had the control of the House passed to the free states? Did a
white man in the North and in the South have proportionally the same
representation in the House? Why?

_d_. What change in the control of the Senate had taken place? Why? Why
was this change so important?

Sec.Sec. 363, 364.--_a_. What had caused the growth of the Northern cities?
Why were there so few large cities in the slave states?

_b_. How had the population of the states changed since 1790? What had
caused the growth of the Northwest?

_c_. Where was there the greatest density of population? Why?

Sec.Sec. 365, 366.--_a_. Describe the change of life in the cities. What
arrangements were made for the comfort and health of the people?

_b_. How had railroads increased, and what improvements had been made?

Sec.Sec. 367, 368.--_a_. Of what use are newspapers? How do they influence
the opinions of the people? What policy did Horace Greeley uphold? Why?

_b_. Who were some of the important writers? Mention two works of each.

_c_. What influence did the telegraph have? Was this important?

_d_. Describe some of the other inventions.

_e_. Why had this progress been confined mainly to the North?

CHAPTER 36

Sec. 369.--_a_. Who were the leading Republican candidates?

_b_. Why was Lincoln nominated? What is the meaning of the phrase "too
conspicuous"?

_c_. What did Seward mean by saying that there was a "higher law" than
the Constitution? Why was the slavery contest "irrepressible"?

_d_. What declaration was made by the Republican party as to slavery?
Compare this policy with the Wilmot Proviso.

Sec.Sec. 370, 371.--_a_. What divisions took place in the Democratic party?
Why?

_b_. What candidates were named? What policy did each uphold?

_c_. How had the demands of the Southerners concerning slavery
increased?

_d_. What third party was formed? By whom? What does the name show?

Sec.Sec. 372, 373.--_a_. What was the result of the election?

_b_. What was there peculiar in Lincoln's election?

_c_. Were the Southern states in any particular danger?

_d_. Why should the Southerners have felt so strongly about this
election? What was their hope in threatening secession?

Sec.Sec.374, 375.--_a_ Give arguments for and against secession. In what other
question similar to this had South Carolina led?

_b_. Were the people of the South generally in favor of secession?

_c_. What compromise did Buchanan suggest? What do you think of the
wisdom of the plan?

_d_. Explain carefully the points in Crittenden's plan. Discuss its
value.

Sec.Sec. 376, 377.--_a_ Could one state dissolve the Union? _b_. What other
states followed South Carolina?

_c_. What government was formed by them? What two points were
especially emphasized in their constitution? Why these?

Sec.Sec. 378, 379.--_a_. What statement did Davis make as to Lincoln? Was it
true or false? Give your reasons.

_b_. Why did Davis advocate war on Northern soil?

_c_. Why was there such hesitation in the North? State the opinions of
Scott, Greeley, and Buchanan.

_d_. What would Jackson probably have done had he been President?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

_a_. Was the South justified in thinking that the North would yield?
Give illustrations to support your view.

_b_. Were the years 1857-61 more or less "critical" than the years
1783-87? Why?

_c_. How was the South dependent upon the North?

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

_a_. Comparison between the North and the South.

_b_. Any invention mentioned in this part.

_c_. Some writer of this period.

_d_. The condition of your own state (or town or city) in 1860.

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

The first chapter of this part should be taught very slowly, and at each
point the contrast between the North and the South should be
pointed out.

In Chapter 36 the changed attitude of the Southern politicians should be
noted and their demands clearly set forth. The fact that the slave
owners while a minority in the South dominated public opinion should be
pointed out.

In considering the question of secession it will be well to review the
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, the Hartford Convention, and the
Nullification episode. The weakness of Pierce and Buchanan may be
contrasted with the strength of Jackson, and will serve as an
introduction to the study of Lincoln's character.

XIII

THE WAR FOR THE UNION,
1861-1865

Books for Study and Reading

References.--Dodge's _Bird's-Eye View_; Scribner's _Popular
History_, IV and V; McMaster's _School History_. chap, xxix (the cost of
the war); Lincoln's _Inaugurals_ and _Gettysburg Address_.

Home Readings.--_Battles and Leaders of the Civil War_ (composed
largely of articles that had previously appeared in the _Century
Magazine_; Whittier's _Barbara Frietchie; _Coffin's _Winning his Way_
and other stories; Soley's _Sailor Boys of '61_; Trowbridge's _Drummer
Boy_ and other stories; Read's _Sheridan's Ride_; Champlin's _Young
Folks' History of the War for the Union_).

CHAPTER 37

THE RISING OF THE PEOPLES, 1861

[Sidenote: Lincoln's inaugural address, March 4, 1861.]

380. Lincoln's Inauguration.--On March 4, 1861, President Lincoln
made his first inaugural address. In it he declared: "The Union is much
older than the Constitution.... No state upon its own motion can
lawfully get out of the Union.... In view of the Constitution and the
laws the Union is unbroken ... I shall take care that the laws of the
Union be faithfully executed in all the states." As to slavery, he had
"no purpose ... to interfere with the institution of slavery in the
states where it exists." He even saw no objection to adopt an amendment
of the Constitution to prohibit the Federal government from interfering
with slavery in the states. But he was resolved to preserve, protect,
and defend the Constitution of the United States.

[Illustration: SLAVERY AND SECESSION.]

[Illustration: "OLD GLORY" AS USED IN THE CIVIL WAR.]

[Sidenote: Fort Sumter. _Source-Book_, 299-302.]

[Sidenote: The call to arms, April 15, 1861.]

381. Fall of Fort Sumter, April, 1861.--The strength of Lincoln's
resolve was soon tested. When South Carolina seceded, Major Anderson,
commanding the United States forces at Charleston, withdrew from the
land forts to Fort Sumter, built on a shoal in the harbor. He had with
him only eighty fighting men and was sorely in need of food and
ammunition. Buchanan sent a steamer, the _Star of the West, _to
Charleston with supplies and soldiers. But the Confederates fired on
her, and she steamed away without landing the soldiers or the supplies.
Lincoln waited a month, hoping that the secessionists would come back to
the Union of their own accord. Then he decided to send supplies to Major
Anderson and told the governor of South Carolina of his decision.
Immediately (April 12) the Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter. On
April 14 Anderson surrendered. The next day President Lincoln issued a
proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers.

[Sidenote: The Northern volunteers. _McMaster_, 386-387; _Source-Book_,
303-305.]

[Sidenote: Douglas, Buchanan, and Pierce]

[Sidenote: Progress of secession.]

382. Rising of the North.--There was no longer a question of
letting the "erring sisters" depart in peace. The Southerners had fired
on "Old Glory." There was no longer a dispute over the extension of
slavery. The question was now whether the Union should perish or should
live. Douglas at once came out for the Union and so did the former
Presidents, Buchanan and Franklin Pierce. In the Mississippi Valley
hundreds of thousands of men either sympathized with the slaveholders or
cared nothing about the slavery dispute. But the moment the Confederates
attacked the Union, they rose in defense of their country and
their flag.

[Sidenote: West Virginia.]

383. More Seceders.--The Southerners flocked to the standards of
the Confederacy, and four more states joined the ranks of secession.
These were Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. In
Virginia the people were sharply divided on the question of secession.
Finally Virginia seceded, but the western Virginians, in their turn,
seceded from Virginia and two years later were admitted to the Union as
the state of West Virginia. Four "border states" had seceded; but four
other "border states" were still within the Union. These were Delaware,
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.

[Sidenote: Kentucky and Maryland saved to the Union.]

[Sidenote: Missouri saved to the Union. _Eggleston_, 310.]

384. The Border States.--The people of Maryland and of Kentucky
were evenly divided on the question of secession. They even tried to set
up as neutral states. But their neutrality would have been so greatly to
the advantage of the seceders that this could not be allowed. Lincoln's
firm moderation and the patriotism of many wise leaders in Kentucky
saved that state to the Union. But Maryland was so important to the
defense of Washington that more energetic means had to be used. In
Missouri, a large and active party wished to join the Confederacy. But
two Union men, Frank P. Blair and Nathaniel Lyon, held the most
important portions of the state for the Union. It was not until a year
later, however, that Missouri was safe on the Northern side.

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