USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume II pt 1 > Part 6
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ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS. 53
scientifically arranged and more finished than those of Mr. Judge. He was a quiet christian gentleman, retiring in manner and as modest as a woman; but he was as brave as his antangonist. The partisans of each claimed, every day, a victory in debate for their champion. But the stanch democracy of the district achieved another triumph. Mr. Clopton was subsequently a member of the Confederate congress, and died but recently-a distinguished judge of the supreme court of the state.
While these elections were going on in Alabama, there had been a mighty rush of events, each of which was but one step further in the direction of that awful catastrophe, civil war. In 1854 congress, under the lead of Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. organized the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, declaring in the act that the Missouri compromise of 1820 was inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by con- gress with slavery in the states and territories as recognized by the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures, and also declaring that it was "the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any state or territory, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way. subject only to the constitution of the United States."
The north was intensely excited over this legislation. Indignation meetings were held everywhere throughout that section. Douglas was burned in effigy in his own state, and steps were taken at once which led to the formation, around abolitionists and free soilers as a nucleus, of a new political organization-the present republican party. But before this new party met in its first convention in 1856, actual war had begun between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions contending for suprem- acy in the new territory of Kansas. Cold-blooded assassinations were charged to and probably committed by both parties, and there were bloody encounters between armed forces.
Fremont and Dayton, nominated in 1856 by the new party, upon a platform demanding the prohibition of slavery in the territories, carried all but five of the northern states, Buchanan, the democrat, receiving 174 electoral votes against 114 for Fremont and six for Fillmore. During the administration of Mr. Buchanan, which began on the 4th of March, 1-57, congress was again convulsed by angry disputes, this time over the fierce struggle that was going on in Kansas. Two constitutions were pre- sented, one prohibiting, the other establishing, slavery in the proposed state. To add to the bitterness at the north. Preston Brooks, a democratic member of the house from South Carolina, attacked and beat with a cane Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. The assault, which was on account of words spoken in debate, was made in a manner that does not admit of justification, but the south was then in a bad temper, and the people approved what they would now condemn. The north grew furious, and certainly nothing could have been more impolitic than the rash and
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ill-timed act of this southern Hotspur. To add to the excitement in the south came John Brown's attack on Virginia in 1850.
Southerners, who had witnessed anxiously the mighty and ever in- creasing volume of anti-slavery sentiment in the north. now looked on this raid as only a forerunner of what the future might have in store for them if the union should continue. In the meantime, the supreme court of the United States had decided in the Dred Scott case that neither con- gress nor a territorial legislature had power to abolish slavery in the ter- ritories-that this could only be done by the people of a territory when it should come in as a state.
The republican convention in 1860 nominated Abraham Lincoln for president on a platform which declared it to be the right and duty of congress to abolish or prevent slavery in the territories of the United States. The platform expressly repudiated the decision of the supreme court in the case of Dred Scott, and declared it to be the duty and right of the people to overrule it. The democratic party had unfortunately set a precedent for this when, in the election of 1832, under the lead of General Jackson, its adherents had voted at the polls that the law es- tablishing a bank of the United States was unconstitutional, notwithstand- ing the decision to the contrary of the supreme court in Mccullough vs. Maryland. The democratic national convention met at Charleston, S. C., in April. Mr. Yancey was leader of the Alabama delegation, and made the greatest speech of his life in advocacy of the demands upon which the Alabama convention had instructed its delegates to insist. The majority of the convention refused to comply with these demands. There- upon most of the southern delegates and some of those from the north seceded and subsequently in Baltimore nominated Breckinridge and Lane. This wing adopted the principles for which the Alabama convention had contended, holding to the doctrine of the supreme court. that the constitu- tion protected slave owners' property in the territories of the United States and that slavery could only be abolished therein when such terri- tories came into the union as states. The regular democratic convention nominated Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson on a platform that recognized the right of a territorial legislature to establish or pro- hibit slavery. This was the so-called doctrine of "squatter sovereignty." The remnants of the whig and know-nothing parties, calling themselves the constitutional union party, nominated John Bell and Edward Everett on a platform containing but one plank. "The constitution of the United States, the union of the states, and the enforcement of the laws."
The crisis had come. After a heated contest Lincoln was elected by a purely sectional vote. He received every electoral vote from the north except that of the seven from New Jersey. Douglas had four. making for Lincoln and Hamlin 180. Douglas had four from New Jersey and eight from Missouri: Bell carried Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee,
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thirty-nine in all. and Breckinridge received the votes of the other south . ern states, amounting to seventy-two.
Then South Carolina. Alabama, Georgia, Florida. Mississippi, Louisi- ana, Texas, Arkansas. Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, each act- ing for itself, seceded.
When Alabama passed her ordinance of secession. it was quite a com- mon opinion that the secession would not be followed by war. It was held to be her constitutional right to withdraw from the union, and there were many who did not suppose that the United States government would attempt coercion. This was the view Mr. Yancey advocated, but this belief was not universal. On the night of the 11th of January, 1861. the day of the passage of the ordinance of secession by the Alabama conven- tion, the citizens of Montgomery generally illuminated their houses to indicate the joy they felt at being rid of the distressing agitation that had irritated them for so many years. Mr. Henry C. Semple, a seces- sionist and afterward a distinguished officer in the Confederate army, ordered the lights in his dwelling to be extinguished, declaring that before twelve months every house on that street would be in mourning. Prac- tically this proved true, though at the time, however. Mr. Semple's neigh- bors looked upon this act as almost equivalent to treason. Mr. Semple represented a large class who believed that war, with all its horrors, was preferable to the union as it was.
Taken all together. it may be said the people of Alabama were in doubt as to whether secession would be peaceably effected, yet they were fully determined on their course, be the consequences what they might. At the same time they all sincerely believed that the government of the United States, as instituted by the fathers, was the very best of human institutions. The difference between the people of the two sections was simply as to the meaning of their fundamental law. Sectional disputes, prolonged over many years, had sectionalized the opposing theories ac- cording to which the Federal constitution had been construed. The majority section had gradually come to hold to the theory of broad inter- pretation. They could take care of themselves by their majorities, and they favored the theory that fettered their power with the fewest limita- tions. On the other hand, the southern states had been taught. for years, that the constitution. strictly construed. was the palladium of their rights; they had looked to that as the only shield that was to protect them against the aggressive majorities of the north; and they now did what delegates from the New England states had threatened to do in the famous Hartford convention. They asserted what they were taught to believe were the sovereign rights of their several states, and seceded.
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Having seceded, the eleven states met in convention and established over themselves the old constitution of the United States. It was modi- fied in very few particulars. No material changes were made in it except such as would serve to fortify and make certain what the seceding states
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had contended when in the union, was the true intent and meaning of the constitution of 1789. It was to preserve and defend for themselves and their posterity this charter of government as they interpreted it that slave-holders and non-slave-holders alike poured out their blood like water.
. There had been much difference of opinion among the people of Ala- bama as to the wisdom of seceding-there was very little as to the right. So it was in all the seceding states. States had acted and their people rallied to support the ordinance of secession with singular unanimity.
Upon the formation of the new government. Jefferson Davis, of Mis- sissippi, was elected president, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, vice president. It devolved upon Mr. Davis, as chief of the confederacy, to indicate to his own people, through his state papers, the position the Confederate States had taken and to set before the world the reasons im- pelling them thereto. This he did with remarkable ability. Every student of the history of that era who desires to see the situation, as it then appeared to the Confederates. should read carefully the following extract from the message of Jefferson Davis to the Confederate congress, April 29, 1861:
"During the war waged against Great Britain by her colonies on this continent, a common danger impelled them to a close alliance, and to the formation of a Confederation, by the terms of which the colonies, styling themselves states, entered severally into a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade or any other pretense whatever.
"In order to guard against any misconstruction of their compact, the ยท several states made explicit declaration, in a distinct article, that each state retains its sovereignty. freedom, independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in congress assembled.
"Under this contract of alliance, the war of the Revolution was suc- cessfully waged, and resulted in the treaty of peace with Great Britain in 1783, by the terms of which the several states were, each by name, recognized to be independent.
"The articles of Confederation contained a clause whereby all altera- tions were prohibited unless confirmed by legislatures of every state. After being agreed to by congress, and in obedience to this provision, under the resolution of congress of the 21st of February, 1787, the sev- eral states appointed delegates who attended a convention for the sole and expressed purpose of revising the articles of Confederation, and reporting to congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein. as shall. when agreed to in congress and confirmed by - the states, render the Federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the union.
"It was, by the delegates chosen by the several states under the reso- lution just quoted, that the constitution of the United States was framed in 17-7, and submitted to the several states for ratification, as shown by the seventh article, which is in these words:
" 'The ratification of the concentions of nine states shall be sufficient
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for the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the same.
"I have italicized several words in the quotations just made for the purpose of attracting attention to the singular and marked caution with which the states endeavored, in every possible form, to exclude the idea that the separate and independent sovereignty of each state was merged into one common government and nation, and the earnest desire they evinced to impress on the constitution its true character-that of a com- pact between independent states.
"The constitution of 1787 having. however, omitted the clause already recited from the articles of Confederation. which provided. in explicit terms, that each state retained its sovereignty and independence, some alarm was felt in the states when invited to ratify the constitution, lest this omission should be construed into an abandonment of their cherished principle, and they refused to ratify until amendments were added to the constitution placing beyond any pretense of doubt, the reservation by the states of all their sovereign rights and powers-not expressly dele- gated to the United States by the constitution.
"Strange, indeed. must it appear to the impartial observer, but it is none the less true, that all these carefully worded clauses proved una- vailing to prevent the rise and growth in the northern states of a political school which has persistently claimed that the government thus formed was not a compact between states, but was in effect a national govern- ment set up above and over the states.
"An organization, created by the states to secure the blessings of lib- erty and independence, against foreign aggression, has been gradually perverted into a machine for their control in their domestic affairs: the creature has been exalted above its creators, the principals have been made subordinate to the agent appointed by themselves.
"The people of the southern states, whose almost exclusive occupation was agriculture, early perceived a tendency in the northern states to render the common government subservient to their purposes, by impos- ing burthens on commerce as a protection to their manufacturing and shipping interests. Long and angry controversy grew out of these attempts. often successful, to benefit one section of the country at the expense of the other.
"And the danger of disruption arising from this cause was enhanced by. the fact that the northern population was increasing by immigration and other causes in greater ratio than the population of the south. By degrees, as the northern states gained preponderance in the national congress, self-interest taught their people to yield ready assent to any plausible advocacy of their right as a majority to govern the minority without control: they learned to listen with impatience to the suggestion of any constitutional impediment to the exercise of their will: and so utterly have the principles of the constitution been corrupted in the northern mind, that in the inaugural address delivered by President Lin- coln in March last, he asserts as an axiom which he plainly deems to be undeniable, that the theory of the constitution requires that in all cases the majority shall govern: and in another memorable instance, the same chief magistrato did not hesitate to liken the relations between a state and the United States to those which exist between a county and the state in which it is situated and by which it was created.
"This is the lamentable and fundamental error on which rests the pol-
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icy that has culminated in his declaration of war against these Confeder- ate States.
"In addition to the long-continued and deep-seated resentment felt by the southern states at the persistent abuse of the powers they had dele- gated to the congress, for the purpose of enriching the manufacturing and shipping classes of the north at the expense of the south, there has existed for nearly half a century another subject of discord, involving interests of such transcendent magnitude, as at all times to create the apprehension. in the minds of many devoted lovers of the union, that its permanence was impossible.
"When the several states delegated certain powers to the United States congress, a large portion of the laboring population consisted of African slaves imported into the colonies by the mother country. In twelve out of the thirteen states. negro slavery existed, and the right of property in slaves was protected by law. This property was recognized in the consti- tution and provision was made against its loss by the escape of the slave. The increase in the number of the slaves by further importation from Africa was also secured by a clause forbidding congress to prohibit the slave trade anterior to a certain date: and in no clause can there be found any delegation of power to the congress authorizing it in any manner to legislate to the prejudice, detriment or discouragement of the owners of that species of property. or excluding it from the protection of the gov- ernment.
"The climate and soil of the northern states soon proved unpropitious to the continuance of slave labor, whilst the converse was the case at the south. Under the unrestricted free intercourse between the two sections, the northern states consulted their own interest by selling their slaves to the south, and prohibiting slavery within their limits. The south were willing purchasers of a property suitable to their wants and paid the price of the acquisition without harboring a suspicion that their quiet posses- sion was to be disturbed by those who were inhibited, not only by want of constitutional authority, but by good faith as vendors, from disquieting a title emanating from themselves.
"As soon. however, as the northern states, that prohibited African slavery within their limits, had reached a number sufficient to give their representation a controlling voice in the congress. a persistent and organ- ized system of hostile measures against the right of the owners of slaves in the southern states was inaugurated and gradually extended. , A con- tinuous series of measures was devised and prosecuted for the purpose of rendering insecure the tenure of property in slaves: fanatical organi- zations, supplied with money by voluntary subscriptions, were assiduously engaged in exciting among the slaves a spirit of discontent and revolt; means were furnished for their escape from their owners, and agents secretly employed to entice them to abscond: the constitutional provision for their rendition to their owners was first evaded, then openly denounced as a violation of conscientious obligation and religious duty: men were taught that it was a merit to elude, disobey, and violently oppose the execution of the laws enacted to secure the promises contained in the constitutional compact: owners of salves were mobbed. and even mur- dered in open day. solely for applying to a magistrate for the arrest of a fugitive slave; the dogmas of these voluntary organizations soon ob- tained control of the legislatures of many of the northern states, and laws were passed providing for the punishment. by ruinous fines and long con- tinued imprisonment in jails and penitentiaries, of citizens of the south- ern states, who should dare to ask aid of the officers of the law for the
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recovery of their property. Emboldened by success. the theater of agita- tion and aggression against the clearly expressed constitutional rights of the southern states was transferred to the congress. Senators and rep- resentatives were sent to the common councils of the nation, whose title to this distinction consisted in the display of a spirit of ultra fanaticism, and whose business was, not 'to promote the general welfare or insure domestic tranquility. but to awaken the bitterest hatred against the citizens of sister states by violent denunciations of their institutions; the transac- tion of public affairs was impeded by repeated efforts to usurp powers. not delegated by the constitution. for the purpose of impairing the secur- ity of property in slaves and reducing the states which held slaves to a condition of inferiority. Finally. a great party was organized for the purpose of obtaining the administration of the government. with the avowed object of using its power for the total exclusion of the slave states from all participation in the benefit of the public domain, acquired by all the states in common. whether by conquest or purchase: of sur- rounding them entirely by states in which slavery should be prohibitetl; of thus rendering the property in slaves so insecure as to be compara- tively worthless. and thereby annihilating in effect property worth thousands of millions of dollars.
'This party. thus organized, succeeded in the month of November last in the election of its candidate for the presidency of the United States.
"In the meantime. under the mild and genial climate of the southern states and the increasing care and attention for the well being and com fort of the laboring class. dictated alike by interest and humanity. the African slaves had augmented in numbers from 600.000. at the date of the adoption of the constitutional compact. to upward of 4.000.000. In moral.and social condition they had been elevated from brutal savages into docile, intelligent and civilized agricultural laborers, and supplied not only with bodily comforts, but with careful religious instruction.
"Under the supervision of a superior race, their labor had been so directed as not only to allow a gradual and marked amelioration of their condition. but to convert hundreds of thousands of square miles of wilder- ness into cultivated lands, covered with a prosperous people; towns and cities had sprung into existence, and had rapidly increased in wealth and population under the social system of the south: the white popula- tion of the southern slave-holding states had augmented from about 1,250,000 at the date of the adoption of the constitution, to more than 8,500,000 in 1-60: and the productions of the south in cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco. for the full development and continuance of which the labor of African slaves was and is indispensable. had swollen to an amount which forms nearly three-fourths of the exports of the whole United States. and had become absolutely necessary to the wants of civilized man. With interests of such overwhelming magnitude imper- iled; the people of the southern states were driven by the conduct of the north to the adoption of some course of action to avert the danger with which they were openly menaced. With this view, the legislatures of the several states invited the people to select delegates to conventions to be held for the purpose of determining for themselves what measures were best adapted to meet so alarming a crisis in their history.
"Here it may be proper to observe that from a period as early as 1798 there had existed in all of the states of the union a party, almost unin- terruptedly in the majority, based upon the creed that each state was, in the last resort. the sole judge as well of its wrongs as of the mode and measure of redress. Indeed. it is obvious that, under the law of
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nations, this principle is an axiom as applied to the relations of inde- pendent sovereign states, such as those which had united themselves . under the constitutional compact. The democratic party of the United States repeated. in it's successful canvass in 1856, the declaration made in numerous previous political contests. that it would 'faithfully abide by and uphold the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virignia resolutions of 1798, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the Virginia legislature in 1799, and that it adopts those principles as constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed.'
"The principles, thus emphatically announced, embrace that to which I have already averted-the right of each to judge of and redress the wrongs of which it complains. These principles were maintained by overwhelming majorities of the people of all the ,states of the union at different elections, especially in the election of Mr Jefferson in -1805, Mr. Madison in 1809 and Mr. Pierce in 1852.
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