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THE REBELS AND WOT THE REPUBLIC AN PARTY 
 "* DESTROYED SLAVERY. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 HON. J. E. J)OOLITTLE, 
 
 OF WISCONSIN. 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 9, 1864. 
 
 The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, having under consideration the bill (S. No. 41 J 
 to promote enlistments in the Army of the United States, and for other purposes, the 
 pending question being on Mr. HENDERSON'S amendment to the third section of the bill. 
 Mr. DOOLITTLE said : 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT: War and not peace ia oar real situation. Whatever may 
 have produced this state of things, war is upon us with ail its necessities, with 
 all its realities, with all its stern duties, and we must tight it through. At 
 this hour, whatever will give strength to our armies in the field and bring rev 
 enue to support them, demands the first consideration of Congress, and of every 
 Department of this Government If left to me I would speak but one word* 
 fill up the ranks, press on the columns. To spare the unnecessary shedding 
 of blood ; to save the resources of the eountry ; to solve all financial question^ 
 and put our credit upon a basis so strong as to command tjie money of tht 
 world, I would speak no other word but " fill up the ranks,' press on the col 
 umns." To secure liberty and Union; to secure peace with all other nations 
 by inspiring them with respect; and to put a final end to that conspiracy, 
 founded on slavery, which makes war against us, I would still say, as the moe: 
 radical and at the same time the most certain of all measures, " fill up tht 
 ranks, press on the columns." But, sir, my voice is but one. 
 
 Other considerations are continually pressed, and will be pressed upon us ; 
 ther subjects will be involved in times like these, and we are called upon to 
 meet them and to discuss them. I regret that all the legislation of the present 
 session on the subject of enrolling troops had not passed Congress before the 
 adjournment for the holydays. They ought to have been matured and passec 
 before that long adjournment. I fear we have nearly lost iorty days, forty 
 days of most precious, valuable time to the Government in filling up our armies. 
 Again, sir, in my opinion, it is much wiser in all bills which concern the enroll 
 inent of troops not to embarrass them by other provisions not necessary to 
 raise the troops and to fill the ranks of our armies. I rejoice that the honor 
 able Senator from Massachusetts, the chairman of the Committee on Military 
 Affairs, has determined to confine the question of the enrollment and pay of 
 troops to that single issue, and not involve with it the consideration of the 
 abolition of slavery within the States by act of Congress. 
 
 Some remarks have been made, however, upon this bill and upon the sub 
 ject of the Crittenden compromise, as it is called, this morning, which lead me, 
 with the indulgence of the Senate, to make some general observations not very 
 pertinent to the bill under consideration, but bearing upon the present state 
 of the slavery question. v- 
 
 Mr. President, if we look at this question as now presented under the pres 
 ent aspect of affairs, we see at once that three years of war have changed the 
 slavery issue altogether. What are the facts? In 1860 the sole issue concern 
 ing slavery was, shall it enter the Territories ? It had nothing to do with 
 
slavery in the States. The question of slavery in the States was entirely dis 
 claimed. Neither the purpose nor the power to interfere with slavery in the 
 States under the Constitution was claimed in 1860, and never has been claimed 
 by any party in this country, not even by the Abolition party from its first 
 organization. Neither the Democratic party, the Whig party, the Republican 
 party, nor the Abolition party, ever claimed, under the Constitution of the 
 United States, the power to legislate on the subject of slavery within the juris 
 diction of the States. The sole issue therefore, so far as slavery was concerned 
 in 1860 was, shall slavery enter the Territories? The people in the election 
 of Mr. Lincoln decided that slavery should not enter the Territories, and that 
 was all they decided. 
 
 After that election, in December, 1860, we met here in the Halls of Congress. 
 The chanipions of slavery extension and slavery propagandism raised the 
 same issue in a new form. They said to the representatives of the incoming 
 Administration, "If you will change the Constitution so as to guaranty slavery 
 in all the territory south of 36 30' which we now have or may hereafter 
 acquire, we will submit to the election of Mr. Lincoln ; we will remain in the 
 Union; but if you will not consent to such an amendment we will make war 
 upon the Government and break up the Union." Those representatives refused 
 so to amend the Constitution. The champions of slavery appealed to arms 
 and to the God of battles. By that appeal to that dread tribunal they have 
 changed the issue. It is no longer whether slavery shall go into the Territo 
 ries. That is already decided against them. Slavery is abolished in all the 
 Territories of the United States, and from this time henceforth and forever the 
 foot of a slave can never tread one inch of the soil of the American Terri 
 tories. 
 
 But, I repeat eir, in making this appeal to the God of battles and to high 
 Heaven they have raised other issues. Sowing to the wind they have reaped 
 the whirlwind. In declaring war against the Union they have raised the ques 
 tion whether this Government shall live or die. In declaring that they would 
 not submit to the decisions of a majority of the people at the ballot-box, in 
 accordance with the express provisions of the Constitution, they have raised 
 the question whether republican constitutional liberty itself, based upon the 
 divine right' of the majority to rule, shall not perish forever. They did more, 
 air. When they made this appeal to the God of battles and impiously asked 
 the blessing of Heaven upon their cause they openly and boldly proclaimed to 
 the whole civilized world that they made war against the United States in the 
 name of slavery and under the flag of slavery. Slavery was to be the corner- 
 atone of their southern confederacy. In the name of slavery they drew the 
 aword ; in the name of slavery the} 7 plunged it toward the heart of this Repub 
 lic. But, sir, under the providence of that God to whose decision they appealed, 
 that sword has been plunged back into its own vitals and its life-blood is gash 
 ing all around us. 
 
 They not only avowed slavery to be the corner-stone of their edifice, but 
 they boldly proclaimed slavery to be a divine institution, founded upon the 
 Bible itself. They unblushingly declared war with the whole civilization of 
 the present age. All are familiar with the declarations of Mr. Stephens, and 
 the leading men of this rebellion, which I will not repeat. But there is on 
 avowal made not long ago in the Richmond Enquirer speaking for the rebel 
 eaase published at the seat of its power, in presence of Jefferson Davis and hi* 
 Congress of conspirators, so remarkable in its character that I will read from 
 it a sentence or two : 
 
 *' The establishment of this confederacy, based as it is upon slavery, and upon the principle* 
 of natural subordination, is verily a distinct reaction against the whole course of the ages' 
 civilisation." "For liberty,- equality, fraternity,' we have 
 
 imperatively substituted ' slavery, subordination, Government .'" * * * * 
 
 * "There are slave races born to serve, master races born to govern." * * 
 
 * * By these principles we live, and in their defense we have shown ounselve* 
 iwwry to die. Reverently, we feel that our confederacy is a God- sent missionary to the na 
 tions with great truths to preach. We must speak them boldly, and whoso hath ears to 
 bear, let him hear." 
 
 Yes, sir, let him hear this confederacy novr waging war against this Govern 
 ment boldly avow slavery as the corner-stone. Yes, let him hear them declare, 
 m the face of the whole world and before high Heavan, war not only against 
 UH American Republic, but war against the civilization of the age ; and, above 
 
all, let him hear them impiously pretend that the so-called confederacy is a 
 God-sent missionary to preach slavery as the new gospel of a higher civiliza 
 tion to the nations of the earth. This is the appeal, and this is the form under 
 which they make their appeal to the arbitrament of the God of battles and in 
 the face of Heaven. I again, repeat, Mr. President, that by this appeal which 
 they themselves have taken, they the traitors, and not the loyal people of the 
 United States, have wholly changed the slavery issue, and have forced upon 
 this country other issues, issues which were not involved at all in the canvasa 
 of 1860, namely, whether this Government shall live or die; whether a rebel 
 confederacy seeking nationality with slavery as its corner stone shall succeed 
 or be blotted out; and whether Christian civilization itself shall continue to make 
 progress or roll backward two thousand years. These are the new issues 
 which, in their appeal in a form which I regard as a little less than impious, 
 they have made. I devoutly trust, I most religiously believe, that the great 
 Disposer of events, in whose hands the destinies of nations are held, will give 
 to the loyal people of these United States the wisdom, patriotism, unity, and 
 courage to maintain the Union of these States, to crush the impious preten 
 sions of slavery, and defend the civilization of the age in which we live. 
 
 Slavery, Mr. President, is dying, dying all around us. It is dying as a sui 
 cide dies. It is'dying in the house and at the hands of its own professed friends. 
 The sword which it would have driven into the vitals of this Republic is par 
 ried and thrust back into its own. And, sir, let it die ; let it die. Without 
 any sympathy of mine, slavery with all its abominations may die and go into 
 everlasting perdition. But it is to the all important fact that slavery is dying 
 that I would call the attention of the Senate for a moment. Look around you. 
 Look at West Virginia: slavery is not only dying, but it is dead and buried 
 beyond resurrection, upon the soil of West Virginia. How is it in the State of 
 Missouri? Slavery is dying there; ay, practically dead. The simple question 
 among that people now is, when shall its funeral be fixed? When shall its 
 final burial take place ? 
 
 How is it in the State of Maryland ? Mr. Thomas, at one time Governor of 
 that State, speaking upon that subject at Rockville, said not long since : 
 
 "Slavery is effectually dead in this State. No lot of one hundred slaves in the State will 
 ell on the block tor $1000. No slave in the State can be made to render to his owner more of 
 his labor than he elects to render, or to remain under his jurisdiction a month after he elects 
 to flee fr^m it. Such are the results of the war for the benefit of slavery made upon the legal 
 and constitutional rights of white labor throughout the Union." 
 
 The other day we all listened with earnest attention as well as great joy to 
 the eloquent speech of the Senator from Maryland, [Mr. JOHNSON,] when from 
 an outgushing heart he spoke the living truth in " thoughts that breathe and 
 words that burn." He declared to us, slavery is dead in the State of Mary 
 land. His colleague says the same thing ; slavery is a dead thing in the State 
 of Maryland, a thing of the past, a thing that was, which is no more to exist 
 in the future of that State. Sir, at such a progress the very angels in heaven re 
 joice, and all who love liberty on earth sing hosannas to the God of heaven. 
 
 How is it in the State of Tennessee ? The Nashville Union, speaking for the 
 people of that State, not long ago said : 
 
 " What Governor Thomas saya of slavery in Maryland is equally true of slavery in Ten 
 nessee. No slave here can be compelled to work for his owner against his will, nor can a 
 slave be made to remain with his owner unless he chooses to do so. Whenever a slave U 
 dissatisfied with his home he walks off, as freely as a black man would in a northern 
 State or in Europe. 
 
 "In Tennessee the slave code is dead; and the master hag no longer absolute control 
 over the body and limbs of hia former bondsman. We doubt whether any slaveholder in 
 Tennessee has faiih enough in the restoration of the system of compulsory labor to give 
 $100 in good money for the best negro among us.' 5 
 
 And what did Governor Andrew Johnson, speaking upon this subject to the 
 people of the State of Tennessee on the 8th day of Jnnuary last, say? I can 
 not mention the name of Andrew Johnson of Tennessee without paying the 
 highest tribute to him and to the course he has pursued in the midst of this 
 struggle, ot which language is capable. Sir, statesmen have done well, gene 
 rals have won victories in the field, but to Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, for 
 the course pursued by him in this Senate and in the State of Tennessee, this 
 nation, the American people, owe a debt of gratitude which they can never 
 . Sir, I trust in God the time is not far distant when we may hear his 
 
roice once more within the Halls of this Senate Chamber. On the 8th day of 
 January last, in a speech at Nashville on this subject, he said : 
 
 "Before the rebellion we could discuss all institutions, all subjects, all measures except 
 slavery. On that subject no one dared speak or write or print, except on the side of the slave 
 aristocracy. Now, thank God, the time has come when the press is unmuzzled, whQB the 
 press can discuss this and all other subjects. The time has come when this institution is 
 dead, when the chains are broken and the captive set free. The institution is dead, and slaves 
 are not worth a quarter of a dollar a dozen. Being dead, let us in a becoming manner pre 
 pare for the funeral obsequies. Now is the time to dispose of this great question." 
 
 Again, in the.course of the same speech, he said : 
 
 "The edict has gone forth, and all that remains to be done is to change the relation of 
 master and slave The day is not far distant when this nation will be the great center of 
 civilization, of the arts and sciences, and of true religion. Time was when th tide of emi 
 gration ran westward ; the time will soon be when it will run southward. Let us go on with 
 our mighty work. To talk about breaking up a Government like this for slavery ! It is mad 
 ness. Let it go on with its great mission." 
 
 Again, and still later, on the 21st of January, at a large meeting of Union 
 citizens in the State of Tennessee, held in the hall of the House of Representa- 
 tives of that State in Nashville, Mr. Johnson said : 
 
 " Is the rfl a man here that has observed this thing who does not know that the institu- 
 tution of slavery in Tennessee is dead ?" 
 
 Among the resolutions adopted at this meeting, resolutions taking measures 
 to hold a convention in that State to frame a constitution based upon this fact, 
 that slavery is dead in Tennessee, I find the following : 
 
 " Resolved, That as slavery was th cause of all our troubles, and as it is an unmitigated evil 
 in itself, and since it may be considered dead by the acts of its own friends, that it may 
 never be resurrected to enable a small minority to bring the ruin upon our children that it 
 has upon us, we, here pledge ourselves to use all our influence to elect such men, and only 
 such men. as delegates to such convention as shall be in favor of immediate and univer- 
 tal emancipation now and forever. And we invite our fellow-citizens everywhere to unite 
 with us on this platform, and thus use the opportune moment to free ourselves and OUT 
 posterity from the bondage in which we have been so long enslaved by the influence of an ar 
 rogant, domineering aristocracy." 
 
 Here we find Mr. Johnson, acting Governor of Tennessee, long a Senator and 
 Representative, from Tennessee, who knows better than any other the actual 
 condition of things in that State, in this speech declaring in most positive 
 terms that every person who observes for himself knows that slavery is dead 
 in the State of Tennessee ; and the people, who are now organizing for the 
 purpose of accepting this as an accomplished fact, and .of placing it in the con 
 stitution of the State of Tennessee, in their resolutions declare the same fact, 
 that slavery is dead, and that it has died at the hands of its own pretended 
 friends. 
 
 In Arkacsas, under the lead of General Gantt and others, a constitution is 
 already formed making Arkansas forever a free State. 
 
 Why should not the real friends of freedom, in spite even of the ter 
 rible war in which we are still engaged, hold one general jubilee, one 
 grand day of national thanksgiving at the great progress which it has already 
 made? \ 
 
 Again, Mr. President, how does slavery stand in the State of Louisiana? I 
 undertake to say that all parties in that State this day accept the same fact, 
 that slavery is an institution of the past, that slavery is dead in the State of 
 Louisiana. The relation of master and slave there has been utterly broken up 
 in fact. It no longer exists. The people of Louisiana are now organizing, 
 accepting this as a fact to form the basis of a new constitution to make Louis 
 iana forever a free State of the American Union. I have seen a very recent 
 letter from the commanding general of tljat department. Speaking upon this 
 subject in most clear and unequivocal terms, General Banks says : 
 
 " It gives me great pleasure to report the progress making in the State election. All 
 parties participate in the selection of candidates, and a very handsome vote will be given. 
 Not a word is heard from any one of a restoration of slavery." 
 
 "And no objection," says General Banks, "is made to the free-State basis on 
 which the election is based." "The mass of the people are entirely satisfied," 
 with the speedy organization of the State. "The election will give more gen 
 eral satisfaction than any that has taken place in twenty years." He speaks 
 of the mass of the people of Louisiana. Of those rebels who have left the State 
 of Louisiana and who are now in the armies of the confederacy, he does not 
 speak ; they are not there; but of the mass of the people who remain in Louis- 
 
isiana he says that now at this day they will be entirely satisfied with the 
 election, and that no person speaks of the restoration of slavery, but all are 
 satisfied with the organization of Louisiana upon the free-State basis ; all accept 
 the fact which is patent to all the world, that slavery as an institution in that 
 State has ceased to exist. 
 
 I know, Mr. President, questions are sometimes raised and discussed as to 
 what has caused the death of slavery. There are some who maintain in all 
 sincerity the proclamation of the President has destroyed slavery within those 
 States. There are some who say the abolitionists of the country have destroyed 
 slavery within the States. Some say the legislation of Congress has destroyed 
 slavery in the States, and some say the destruction of slavery is the necessary 
 consequence of the war; the unavoidable result of the occupation of their ter 
 ritory by the armies of the Union. My own opinion is, that \vhile all these 
 may have done something, much perhaps, in producing this result, more than 
 all of them put together, the insane madness of the pretended friends of slavery 
 by declaring war upon this Government in the name of slavery ; by waging 
 that war under 'the flag of slavery ; by drawing the sword of slavery them 
 selves to plunge it into the heart of this Republic, they have themselves done 
 more than all other things combined to put an end to that institution forever 
 on the American c* "inent. 
 
 God, the Almir" a ^ elj s suffered the madness of these men to bring on an 
 issue which alc 1 ^:' u ^^solve the great problem of American slavery. 
 
 The first shot" 1 '. m flfrt Sumter was the death-knell of slavery. The issue 
 of 1860, as I ha^ 1 ? . J'fts whether slavery should enter the Territories. By 
 that act they, th^A ^ions of slavery, changed the issue. It was not the 
 party which electeL T *r^ Lincoln President of the United States. The cham 
 pions of slavery brou^. t on this war which involved the destruction of slavery 
 within the States, not the Republican party. For the issue of 1860, whether 
 slavery shall enter the Territories, they have forced upon the country this 
 other and greater issue, whether liberty and Union shall live or slavery die 
 upon the soil of every State of the United States. In reply to this often repeated 
 charge that the Republican party have changed the issue and proved false to 
 their pledges, I am prepared to go further and show that, so far as the institu 
 tion of slavery is concerned within the States, that party never sought to change 
 their ground nor to interfere with it at all until the necessities of the war forced 
 it upon them. Indeed, sir, if they had not made war upon the Government 
 slavery never stood stronger nor better defended by State guarantees, nor, so 
 far as this Government is concerned, by Federal guarantees within the States, 
 than it did on the 4th day of March, 1861 ; and if those men had consented to 
 remain within the Union, if they had not made war upon this Government, 
 there was no power on the part of this Government nor of any party within 
 the free States in the slightest degree to affect or destroy the institution of 
 slavery. 
 
 You know, Mr. President, that the fugitive elave law, harsh and, I will say, 
 barbarous as some of its provisions were, was still a law upon our statute-books 
 and was enforced in every State of the Union ; it was enforced in Massachu 
 setts ; it was enforced in New York ; it was enforced in Ohio ; it was enforced 
 in Wisconsin ; and at the very time when Mr. Lincoln was elected President 
 of the United States a citizen of Wisconsin was in jail, imprisoned for the vio 
 lation of the fugitive-slave law, from which, and upon the last day of Mr. Bu 
 chanan's Administration, he was pardoned as an act of grace. These are the 
 facts. More, the centra report before me shows that notwithstanding all the 
 controversies we had upon the subject of the fugitive-slave law and its enforce 
 ment, from 1850 down to 1860, there were less per cent, escapes of fugitive 
 slaves than at any former period of the Government. I will read a short 
 extract from this report : 
 
 " The number of slaves who escaped from their masters in 1860 is not only much lees in 
 proportion than in 1850, but greatly reduced numerically. The greatest increase of escapes 
 appears to have occurred in Mississippi, Missouri, and Virginia, while the decrease is most 
 marked in Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, and Tennessee. 
 
 " That the complaint of insecurity to slave property by the escape of this class of persons 
 into the free States, and their recovery impeded, whereby its value has been lessened, is the 
 result of misapprehension, is evident not only from the small number who have been lost to 
 their owners, but from the fact that up to the present time the number of escapes has been 
 gradually diminishing to such an extent that the whole annual loss to the southern States 
 
from this cause bears less proportion to the amount of capital involved than the daily varia 
 tions which in ordinary times occur in the fluctuations of State or Government securities to 
 the city of New York alone. 
 
 "From the tables annexed it appears that while there escaped from their masters 1,011 
 slaves in 1850, or 1 in each 8,165 held in bondage, (being about one-thirtieth of one per 
 cent.,) during the census year ending June 1, 1860, out of 3,949,557 slaves there escaped only 
 808, being one to about 5,OuO, or at the rate of one-fiftieth of one per cent." 
 
 I have read this extract for the purpose of showing the statement I made to 
 be correct, that notwithstanding all this pretended opposition to the enforce 
 ment of the fugitive slave law within the free States, from 1850 to 1860 the 
 actual escapes of slaves grew less and less, so that all this pretenee of the rebels 
 that the escape of their slaves was any excuse for them to plunge this country 
 into civil war is without foundation. You know very well, sir, that if th 
 champions of slavery and slave propagandism had peaceably submitted to the 
 election of Mr. Lincoln, not the hair of the head of slavery within any State 
 could have been touched. By every pledge which he had given, by every 
 pledge of every political party in this country down to his election, it was al 
 ways held that the Congress of the United States and the Federal Government 
 had no power over slavery within the States in a time of peace ; and if the 
 champions of slavery and slave propagandism had not plunged the country in 
 war, had not made this impious appeal to arma and to tjn'^j-od of hosts they 
 could have lived in peace within all the States and hav ''kii ow j n ke institution of 
 slavery under their own laws, according to their owi/ fe their own dis 
 
 position, beyond the power of this Government or ott{J^25J J > l fcy in ^ ^ ov ~ 
 ernment to interfere with it in any degree. Bur. bring the - n such thing. 
 "Whom the gods destroy they first make mad." l' ir influeieir own madness, 
 their own insanity, their own blind fanatical and imf JjL ! ?logma that slavery 
 is a divine institution, which trampling on civilizatio IK .d outraging Heaven, 
 by leading them to make war on this Government, put the knife to the throat 
 of slavery. It is in the midst of its dying struggles. Let them prepare for its 
 last obseques, and when as mourners and pall-bearers they attend its funeral, 
 let them remember its own friends put it to death, and gain from that souree 
 all the consolation it brings. 
 
 I remember very well a debate I once had in this body with Senator Mason, 
 of Virginia, on this point. He was always declaiming about the loss of fugi* 
 live slaves from the State of Virginia. I asked Mr. Mason, " How many do you 
 lose annually from the State of Virginia ? " He replied, " We have had a com 
 mittee upon that subject who have gone into an estimate, and they find we 
 lose as much as $100,000 worth of slave property every year." "Very well, 
 sir, how many slaves have you ?" "About five hundred thousand." "What 
 are they estimated to be worth ?" You remember they were estimated very 
 high in those days at about eight hundred dollars a piece. Five hundred 
 thousand slaves at $800 a piece, would amount to the enormous figure of 
 $400,000,000. What is the loss of $100,000 on $400,000,000? It is but one 
 fortieth of one per cent., a quarter of a million a dollar, and I said to Mr. Mason 
 then on this floor, "If instead of continually denouncing the people of New 
 England for not enforcing the fugitive slave law, and underground rail 
 roads, you would go down to the city of Hartford and engage some of those 
 shrewd insurance men who have made that city distinguished in that busi 
 ness to insure the people of Virginia against escapes by fugitive slaves, they 
 could insure the whole slave property of Virginia at one- half of on* 
 per cent., and make immense fortunes at that;" for/<*jhe real loss was only 
 one fourth of one mill on the dollar. I remember very Well the other question 
 which I put to him: "Sir, if you undertake to break up this Union, if you 
 propose to bring down that line beyond which fugitive slaves are not returned 
 from the northern border of Ohio and New York to the north line of Virginia, 
 how much will insure your slave property then ? will ten per cent, do it, or 
 twenty per cent, do it, or fifty percent, doit?" Mr. President, they have 
 tried the experiment, and slavery lies in ruins all around us. Slave property 
 is utterly valueless. Slaves are free as their masters. 
 
 The time has come which Mr. Randolph, a distinguished^ statesman of Vir 
 ginia, said would come, when, if the slaves do not run away from their mas 
 ters, the masters will run away from their slaves. 
 
 The time has come which was foretold by Mr. Faulkner in the convention 
 of Virginia in its better days, in 1832, when it was proposed to abolish slavery, 
 
He then, in substance, said, "If we shall attempt to break up this Union on 
 account of slavery, a time of anguish and suffering will come in Virginia com 
 pared with which the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction 
 that wasteth at noon-day will be a blessing." They have realized it all, and 
 they have brought it down on their own heads. It is not the Republican party 
 that has brought it upon them. They have brought it upon themselves. By 
 that overruling providence of God which makes the madness of men do his 
 work, of Him who rides the whirlwind and directs the storm, who rules the 
 passions of men as He rules the winds of heaven and the waves of the sea, in 
 His own good time and for His own good purpose has allowed the madness and 
 insanity of these men, in their ardent and fanatical devotion to extend slavery 
 and build up slavery, to attempt to destroy this Government, in order that He 
 might overrule them to utterly destroy slavery itself and wipe it from this 
 continent forever. 
 
 Mr. President, I accept as a fact accomplished, a part of tl> history- of this 
 country, that slavery is dead, and I rejoice at it with inexpressible joy. All 
 wise statesmen act upon facts accomplished, accept them, and go forward in 
 accordance with them; but when I act, I prefer to act boldly, frankly, openly. 
 Therefore I am not in favor of doing it by indirection, by putting this or that 
 or the other ambiguous provision upon an enrollment bill or upon a revenue 
 bill. 1 prefer, by far, to appeal to the sovereign authority in this country, 
 the people of the United States. I shall not anticipate or enter upon a discus 
 sion of measures that may be presented before Congress further than to say 
 that 1 rejoice that the proposition has.corne from the Senator from Missouri, 
 [Mr. HENDERSON,] and from a recent slave State, one of the States most deeply 
 interested; it has already been presented to this body, and it has been referred 
 to the Committee on the Judiciary, and it is before that committee for its con 
 sideration aud action, a proposition which appeals at once to a tribunal above 
 Congress, above the decrees of the Supreme Court, above the proclamations 
 of the President, in which resides the sovereign source of power, the people of 
 the United States, to have <t>hern declare as a part of the Constitution of the 
 United States, the fundamental law of the land, the final and irrepealable de- 
 oree that {ruin and after a certain day slavery and involuntary servitude shall 
 neither exist in any State nor in any Territory of the United States, exoept in 
 punishment of crime. 
 
 I shall not enter into a discussion of that question at the present time, for I 
 will not anticipate the action, whatever it may be, of our committee upon >hat 
 subject, i shall wait until their report comes into the Senate, simply saying 
 for myself that if this Government is to act at all in a legislative capacity, 1 
 prefer to act in the mode provided by the Constitution itself. Let two thirds 
 f both Houses of Congress submit the proposition to the Legislatures of three 
 fourths of the States, and when ratified by them there will be no appeal from 
 their decision. It will then rest upon a solid ground which no laws of Con 
 gress, no decrees of the Supreme Court, no change of parties, or of Presidents 
 can shake, enduringiind eternal as the Government itself. 
 
SPEECHES AND DOCUMENTS FOU DISTRIBUTION 
 
 BY THE 
 
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 Abraham Lincoln " Slavery and its issues indicated by his Speeches, Let 
 ters, Messages, and Proclamations. 
 
 Hon. Isaac N. Arnold " Reconstruction ; Liberty the corner-stone and Lin 
 coln the architect." 16 pp. ; $2 per 100. 
 
 Hon. M. Ruspell Thayer " Reconstruction of Rebel States." 16 pp. ; $2 per 
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 Hon. James F. Wilson " A Free Constitution." 16 pp. ; $2 per 100. 
 
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 Hon. D. W. Gooch " Secession and Reconstruction." 8 pp. ; $1 per 100. 
 
 Hon. R. C. Schenck "No Compromise with Treason." 8 pp. ; $1 per 100. 
 
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 Hon. Charles Surnner " Universal Emancipation, without Compensation." 
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 Numerous Speeches and Documents not included in the foregoing will be 
 published for distribution, and persons willing to trust the discretion of the 
 Committee, can remit their orders with the money, anc^fefce, them filled with 
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 tion to the loeality where the speeches are to be sent. 
 
 Printed by L. To were for the Union Congressional Committee. 
 
AMENDMENT OP THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. WM. HIGBY, OF CAL, 
 
 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 JUNE 14, 1864. 
 
 The House having tinder consideration the Joint Resolution to amend the Constitution 
 of the United States- 
 Mr. HIGBY said : 
 
 Mr. SPEAKER :. Before speaking to the resolution embracing the propo 
 sition to amend, I refer to the fifth article of the Constitution of the United 
 States, which makes ample provision and explains the way by which an 
 amendment may be made. The article reads as follows : 
 
 ARTICLE V. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses s'jfill deem it necessary, shall propose amend 
 ments to this Constitution, or, on the application of tin Legislatures of two thirds of the several States shall call 
 a convention for proposing amendments, which, in oithor case shall bo valid to all intents and purposes, as part 
 of this Constitution, when ratified by tin of three fourths of the several States, or by conventions 
 
 in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; 
 vrovidcd, that no amendment which may bo made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight 
 shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no State, 
 without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 
 
 The resolution follows in accordance and in consonance with the method 
 proposed by that article of the Constitution, and it proposes an article 
 which, should it become a portion of the Constitution, will forever prohibit 
 the institution of slavery within the limits of our country. The resolution 
 and amendment proposed read as follows : 
 
 Beit resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the. United States of America in Congress assembled, 
 (two thirds of both Houses concurring.) That the following arUql? be proposed to the Legislatures of the several 
 States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three fourths of said 
 Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitutiori/nameiy : 
 
 ARTICLE XIII. 
 
 SEC 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall 
 have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United State?, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 
 
 SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legis ation. 
 
 Sir, the whole debate on the other side of the House upon this proposi 
 tion has been upon the presumption that whatever action is taken by us as 
 a legislative body is conclusive 5 that if this resolution passes this House it 
 having already passed the Senate it becomes a finality, and whatever is 
 embraced in it becomes a portion of the Constitution of the United States. 
 Let no such fallacy sink deep into the heart of any man. The Constitu- 
 
tion has most amply and cautiously provided that the national legislative 
 branch of the Government can make no such amendment. Why, sir, the 
 resolution simply gives the amendment in so many words, and proposes its 
 ratification, and then the amendment goes to the State Legislatures, and 
 must be ratified by them. 
 
 There is nowhere contemplated in the Constitution of the United States 
 any action by Congress that more completely acknowledges and recognizes 
 State sovereignty than this very provision of the Constitution explaining 
 how it may be amended. Our people are looking with anxiety to the 
 action of Congress with reference to this subject. And now let me put a 
 question to gentlemen on the other side of the House. They have bela 
 bored this side often and long with denunciations that State rights are not 
 regarded, that State sovereignty by our action is unheeded, and that we 
 are aiding the national Government to absorb all powers which legitimately 
 belong to the States under and by virtue of the Constitution. I appeal to 
 them when a proposition does come from this jside of the House that 
 acknowledges and recognizes State sovereignty in full, whether they dare 
 submit that proposition to the several States ; whether they have faith in 
 State sovereignty so great that when the Constitution makes a provision 
 so ample as it has in this case and so safe too, requiring the Legislatures 
 of three fourths of the States to ratify, that they dare allow their different 
 States to act upon this subject. 
 
 The only question that could possibly arise and that one I find dwelt 
 upon but very little is whether the times call for an amendment of this 
 character, but the great burden of the argument on the other side is that 
 there is no power in the Constitution to do this act. The member from 
 New York who has just taken his seat [Mr. FERNANDO WOOD] has had 
 the hardihood to promulge to this notion that the ninth and tenth articles 
 of the Amendments to the Constitution do away and make a nullity of the 
 article to which I have directed attention and quoted. Can he find any 
 where in the Constitution a provision by which it may be amended in so 
 indirect a way, and the portions amended be left as dead matter to cumber 
 the living body 1 He would search in vain for such a provision. Why, 
 sir, he would trample the Constitution under his feet. And if we follow 
 out this argument and act upon it we will become violators of that instru 
 ment. 
 
 I regard the fifth article as a part of the Constitution just as full of vi 
 tality as it was the day our fathers established it as a part of the Consti 
 tution of this country ; and, sir, the gentleman from New York, if he has 
 a particle of honesty, himself will ignore every word which he has said 
 upon that one subject. 
 
 Let me call the attention of the House to the only limitation in the in 
 strument ; and they are referred to this fifth article, where the limitation is 
 to be found ; it provides " that no amendment which may be made prior to 
 the year 1808 shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the 
 ninth section of the first article." But, sir, this Constitution is entirely 
 silent with reference to all other portions, including even that which pro 
 vides that fugitives from labor shall be returned to service. Upon this the 
 Constitution is silent, and even before 1808 it could have been amended, 
 
with the exception above quoted, by pursuing the course laid down in the 
 fifth article. 
 
 Now, sir, what is there in the proposition contained in this resolution 1 
 It is that a certain amendment, specifying it in so many words, shall be 
 submitted to the different State Legislatures for their action, and if the 
 Legislatures of three fourths of the States of the Union ratify it it becomes 
 a portion of the Constitution of the United States. And, sir, that is a 
 proposition appealing to State sovereignty that members upon the other 
 side of the House dare not allow to be submitted and acted upon by those 
 high constitutional deliberative bodies. 
 
 But, Mr. Speaker, I will not dwell longer upon that point. It is suffi 
 cient that we simply propose what the State Legislatures ratify and make a 
 part of the Constitution, or else render a nullity. Sir, this amendment, if 
 it should become a portion of the Constitution, strikes at the root of the 
 terrible evil that is now piercing the very vitals of the nation, whose roots 
 of bitterness have sunk so deep that they are almost drinking up the life- 
 blood of this Government. Men talk upon the other side as they did in the 
 palmy days of peace, when nothing but the busy hum of industry could be 
 heard on every side, and when slavery lay like a lamb, submissive to every 
 law. But now, sir, when it has aroused and become venomous, and full of 
 the spirit of the tiger, draws the sword and makes no distinction in its 
 wrath, and is feasting upon the very life of this nation, we bear the same 
 songs in this Hall that we used to hear in the days of peace, showing how 
 utterly heartless men must be, having no blood or patriotism in their veins. 
 
 We are told that the institution of slavery in the rebellious States has 
 rights under this Government. The rights of slavery ! What right, in 
 God's name, has the institution that has now two or three hundred thou 
 sand men arrayed in arms against the Government ? Is this bold effrontery 
 to be weighed as argument, and are we yet to hear about the rights of slavery ? 
 It has culminated in concentrating its whole power against this Govern 
 ment. What right has it which this Government is bound to respect 1 
 
 What was its morale, sir? In early days as an institution it was humble 
 and unpretending. While it was an institution in the colonies it had no 
 political power. The charm of this whole institution has been in the politi 
 cal power that it has exercised. But, sir, as we emerged from dependents 
 as colonies and became an independent nation, the fathers who lived in its 
 very midst trod very cautiously over the ground. Why, sir, what was its 
 first exercise of power? When Virginia, which was then a slave State, 
 ceded the Northwest Territory to the Union, it demanded that slavery 
 should be prohibited forever in that Territory, and the power was admitted 
 to rest in Congress to prohibit the institution from ever going there while it 
 was a Territory. Such was the morale of slavery in its early days, so far 
 as the exercise of political power was concerned. But, sir, it increased in 
 magnitude and in proportions, and became interwoven with our whole sys 
 tem. It was held in early times to be an evil, but a necessary one ; it was 
 impossible to throw it aside then, but it was hoped and believed by those 
 who were helping to sustain it for the time being that it would wear away 
 and finally disappear. 
 
 But, sir, as it increased in power, so it acquired political ascendency ; it 
 spread over a vast extent of country ; slavery was the rule and freedom the 
 
exception, and the poor whites under its shadow were insignificant in com 
 parison with master or even bondsman. Slave labor became profitable ; it 
 constituted the great labor force, and, what was still sweeter than all, it 
 gave such a political ascendency that it enabled a few States and a compar 
 atively few white people to control the Government. I declare, sir, for 
 myself, and no man is responsible for what I say but myself, that no Gov 
 ernment is republican in form, body, or spirit that tolerates such an insti 
 tution as slavery. I lay it down as a self-evident truth to my mind, and if 
 every other man would take the same ground there could be no such insti 
 tution in existence under the Constitution as we now have it. But as I am 
 probably alone here in that view and as that construction would not be 
 given by other men, I prefer that the Constitution be changed in the respect 
 that is contemplated by this resolution. For, sir, I would not be willing 
 to trust all men, with the construing of the Constitution in its many pro 
 visions, for fear self-interest and love of personal aggrandizement would 
 influence in construction instead of a love of equal justice. It has been 
 claimed in latter years that slavery is an institution sanctioned by divine 
 law and by the word of God. Ah, sir, those who made that claim did not 
 read the Scriptures very faithfully, for they would have found it said even 
 in the Old Testament that when a servant escapes from his master he shall 
 not be returned to him again ; he shall let him go free : 
 
 " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee : 
 " He shall dwell with thee. even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where 
 it liketh him best : thou shall not oppress him." 
 
 And over and above all, they forgot the new covenant, whose Founder 
 told the world that He came to " fulfill the law." 
 
 But, sir, it will do for old fogy exploded divines to dwell upon that sub 
 ject and show the validity and divine origin of slavery for such men as 
 the one who was voted for for Chaplain of this House (Bishop Hopkins) at 
 the commencement of this session. The evils of the institution and the ef 
 fects resulting from those evils are too numerous to mention in a brief hour 
 speech. I have declared that the institution is anti-republican, and that 
 no Government which tolerated it could be, in form, body, or spirit, a re 
 publican Government. Why, sir, men have stood upon this floor, prior to 
 the rebellion, who represented States that had more slaves than free white 
 inhabitants, and I instance South Carolina as one of those States. Those 
 slaves have no political or civil rights, and yet every five of them are equal 
 to three white persons, giving a representation on this floor to four hundred 
 thousand slaves, not one of whom has in the State or nation a voice or a 
 vote, and who can enjoy no civil or political rights any more than the horse 
 and ox which his master owns. Two hundred thousand white inhabitants and 
 five hundred thousand slaves equal to three hundred thousand whites 
 would give five hundred thousand inhabitants to be represented in the State ; 
 and, under the rule giving one member of Congress to every one hundred 
 thousand inhabitants, that would give to a State having only two hundred 
 thousand white inhabitants five Representatives on this floor. That is not 
 republicanism, sir. That is anti-republicanism. It is the very worst kind 
 of a Government imaginable. It is despotism to the extent of the slave 
 representation a cruel, brutal despotism. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the people of the South have been extremely cunning in the 
 
argument of this question whenever it has been raised. Whenever the spirit 
 of free discussion has arisen, and the question of slavery has been debated, 
 they who were in favor of the abolition of slavery were told that they were 
 in favor of giving to the slaves the civil rights that white people had, the 
 political rights, and not only that but the social rights. The latter point 
 was pressed with more vehemence than all the others. And while they have 
 pressed that as an argument why slavery should not be annihilated, the se 
 cret with the South in holding fast to slavery has been the political power 
 which it has given them in this Government. There is the charm ; there 
 is the fascination. It is power, political power. That is what they have 
 held to. 
 
 The member from New York who last addressed the House [Mr. FER 
 NANDO WOOD] said a most beautiful thing, but, sir, he put it to extremely 
 wrong use : "The best Government is that which governs least." I agree 
 with him in the truism. The Government that does away with slavery as 
 an institution does away with the most infamous system of government that 
 was ever instituted on God's earth. It does away with a system which 
 makes the man who domineers a cruel taskmaster. It does away with a 
 system which perverts the judgment of him as master and panders to the 
 basest propensities of the human heart. It is a perpetual, never-dying des 
 potism. And I will join with the gentleman from New York, [Mr. FER 
 NANDO WOOD,] and all others who will, in perpetuating all over the 
 country that truism which he has uttered. I would have the voice of free 
 dom and free discussion and the song of freedom go South, and the other 
 song of the lash and the clanking of chains should recede as these two ad 
 vance. Such would be the consequence of carrying out the truism which 
 the gentleman has published here to-day. 
 
 Sir, I was speaking of slaves. They are property. They are held as 
 such ; that is, when we acknowledge the institution as a legal and rightful 
 one between man and man. But I deny that, in right and justice, such an 
 institution can exist. But, sir, the argument is that in States the institu 
 tion exists. If it be so, human beings are property ; and the five hundred 
 thousand slaves are nothing but property in the estimate as between man 
 and man. And yet, sir, when the Representative leaves his State and 
 comes into this Hall, the five hundred thousand slaves in his State count 
 as three hundred thousand inhabitants, and the State sends here three 
 members, on property owned in human beings over whom they exercise ab 
 solute control as property, whom they can buy and sell. But here they 
 stand and talk about the rights of freemen, the rights of free speech, the 
 sovereignty of States, a,nd the rights of their constituents. It is an insti 
 tution, sir, which has its pens where humanity is herded like cattle, and has 
 its block in market where human beings are bought and sold. And that is 
 claimed to be republicanism. It is a republicanism, sir, which is born of 
 hell, not of earth, or of above the earth. It is an institution which is now 
 at war with this Government, and which will destroy it if it can. And we 
 on this side of the House propose to do away with it in the way pointed 
 out by the Constitution, or so to amend the Constitution that it cannot 
 exist when peace is restored ; and they cavil nt it on the other side of the 
 House. That shows, Mr. Speaker, how hollow their arguments are, and 
 how insincere their purposes and pretenses. 
 
 i 
 
8 
 
 These villains were laying destruction across the pathway of the Govern 
 ment, seizing its property here and there, going in military array and doing 
 it, threatening men if they did not yield, and yet we are told that this Gov 
 ernment has bee^ waging war against the South ! That is as big a lie as 
 the institution (^slavery is itself. I call slavery the great lie of the age, 
 got up by a body of men, while this is a simple lie by individuals, arid 
 history will put the stamp upon it. 
 
 But we are told further than thatn-and here is where men attempt to 
 escape that Abraham Lincoln gave strength to the rebellion by his procla 
 mation. On the 1st day of January, 1863, Pres : dent Lincoln issued his 
 proclamation after giving a hundred days' notice, ample time for the rebel 
 States to lay down their arms and come back into the Union and be as they 
 were before they tool? up arms a grace which none but the God of heaven 
 would have given, and I doubt whether He would have given it. 
 
 Why, sir, the Opposition seek an excuse under that proclamation to 
 withdraw their aid to the Government in this hour of its peril. Let me 
 remind such of a little piece of history taken from the words of the vice 
 president of the confederate States, and which has become a part of the 
 history of that government. He says that the new government formed by 
 them is based upon the institution of slavery as its foundation. Do gentle 
 men object to getting at the foundation and knocking it to pieces 1 D j 
 they desire to haggle at the branches, and attack the trunk before they 
 reach the foundation ? Is that the way to destroy a system which lias 
 slavery as its foundation 1 There is a preferable mode. Strike at the 
 foundation first, knock it out, and the superstructure will fall, and the 
 whole mass will come crushing down. It is the best blow possible to be 
 struck. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, gentlemen who would avoid supporting the Government 
 cry, "Oh, the proclamation!" The proclamation struck .at the founda 
 tion. It struck at the root of the terrible aggression against this Govern 
 ment. It struck at the very vitality of it, and every man of sense and 
 judgment knows it, and they only deny it for an excuse for not rendering 
 aid tcT the Government. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, there never was a time when the proposition contained in 
 this resolution and in this proposed amendment of the Constitution needed 
 more the action of this body than now, at this time, during' this session ; 
 and, sir, the States, by the Legislatures, should act upon it at their earliest 
 session 'after it shall have passed this Congress. Tiie (Constitution should 
 be adapted to the condition of the country where the noble men of the 
 Joyal States are giving up their lives and where they have given them up 
 by thousands. Their bones are bleaching upon hundreds of battle-fields. 
 They are drenching with their blood the soil over which they are moving 
 with victory perching on their banners and killing out the roots of slavery 
 so that it cannot exist ; and we, as the legislative part of this Government, 
 should be adapting the Constitution and all the laws as speedily as we can 
 to the new condition of the country where our armies do march in triumph, 
 so that we may never see nor feel again this power that has come so near 
 being the end of this nation. 
 
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