USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume II > Part 26
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"Whig, Aug. 7, 1865.
"Rhodes, V, 575-578.
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pendence ; that we hold that all men without distinction of color or race, are entitled to equal civil or political rights." It endorsed the Fourteenth Amendment which had just been submitted by Congress and praised and thanked the Union Republican majority in Congress.
There was a sharp contest for the nomination for Governor, the two candidates being General Chamberlain, then a professor at Bowdoin Col- lege, and Samuel E. Spring, a wealthy merchant of Portland.
There had been considerable doubt as to whether General Chamberlain supported the President or Congress and the Bangor Whig had remained neutral until the general published a letter which though moderate in tone was regarded as aligning himself with Congress. The Whig then announced its support of Chamberlain. The Spring papers made the most of the uncertainty of the general's position. The Portland Press asked, "Would it be prudent, in view of our dear bought experience, to take a man for Governor of the State, who is not known even to have voted or acted with our party," (a reference to the unhappy results of the nomination of John- son), and who has never had a day's experience in political affairs? Let us not be deluded by briliant military services, into the folly of placing the vital political issues of the day in the hands of untried and uncertain men."
When the convention met, the question arose as to the admission of delegates who were not residents of the towns that had chosen them. It was decided that such men might take their seats if they were residents of the counties in which the towns were situated, a compromise which, it was claimed, was very disadvantageous to Mr. Spring. But one ballot was taken. Chamberlain received 599 votes, Spring 438, and there were 3 scat- tering. The platform declared for equal civil and political rights for all men, favored the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and highly praised the Union Republican majority in Congress.
There was no contest for the Democratic nomination which was given by general consent to Eben F. Pillsbury of Augusta. Mr. Pillsbury was editor of a paper called the Standard and represented the extreme wing of the party. He had been a virulent opponent of the war and was accused of having instigated the resistance to the draft at Kingfield.
At the election Chamberlain won an easy victory, polling 69,637 votes to Pillsbury's 41,917; there were 308 scattering.
In February, 1867, the Fourteenth Amendment was submitted to the Legislature for ratification. On February II the House passed it under a suspension of the rules by a vote of 126 to 12. There appears to have been little debate, but the IVhig states that "Mr. Frye of Lewiston made a lengthy speech" in its favor. The Senate spent nearly the whole of Jan- uary 17 talking about the amendment, though no one opposed it. Many of the speakers explained that though they should vote for it they con- sidered it only an instalment of what justice demanded. The Senate then ratified the amendment unanimously.
'It was later announced that Chamberlain voted for Hamlin in 1856.
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The Legislature of 1867 was obliged to decide another important and much more embarrassing question, Should the prohibitory law be amended ? Two changes were sought. One was that in all cases the sale of liquor should be punished by imprisonment. Hitherto the judge had been allowed to merely impose a fine for the first offense. The other was the creation of a State constabulary. Both laws were passed, but against the considerate judgment of the Legislature. A temperance convention was in session at Augusta, it got up petitions and "a sentiment was made to pervade the capital which did not exist among the people." The law making imprison- ment the sole penalty was referred to the people who at a special election in June ratified it. The vote was, as is usual in such cases, very light, there being 19,358 yeas and 5,536 nays.
The Republican State convention said not a word on the matter but devoted itself to national issues. Its attitude on questions of reconstruction closely resembled that of the year before, but it added an endorsement of General Sheridan and other commanders of military districts in the South, On the financial question it declared "That our national indebtedness should be funded as speedily as the necessities of the government will allow, and at the lowest practicable rate of interest, always maintaining inviolate all pledges of the national faith; that the law in relation to taxing U. S. bonds and the stock in national banks should be adjusted by Congress on consti- tutional principles of equity, and that whatever municipal taxation is im- posed on stock in national banks should go to the advantage of the cities and towns in which said bank stock is owned."" The two latter planks were loudly championed by Ephraim K. Smart, who was once more taking an active part in Democratic politics.
The Democratic convention renominated Mr. Pillsbury, condemned the reconstruction measures and advocated the taxation of government bonds, and a judicious restriction of liquor-selling.
The constabulary law proved a powerful weapon in the hands of the Democrats. The Whig warned the Republicans that they must be active, that the Democrats would take advantage of the liquor law, and at the close of August endeavored to fix attention on national issues by declaring that "the Republicans must not allow the traitor Johnson to draw courage from the election."
When the ballots were counted it was found that the warnings had been needed. Chamberlain was elected, but the Democratic vote had increased 4,000 over that of the preceding year, while the Republican had fallen off 12,000. The official figures gave Chamberlain 57,332 and Pillsbury 45,590. The day after the election the Whig pointed out that the majority of the previous year "had been abnormally large, nearly 10,000 larger than the real Republican majority in the State upon a contested election." It assured
'Letter of S. L. Milliken in Whig of September 23, 1867.
"Whig, June 28, 1867.
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friends abroad that Maine was still sound in the faith and would give 20,000 majority against Johnsonism and Democracy. "The result was not by any means a defeat although if it had not been for the fear of encourag- ing President Johnson into an open attack upon Congress the majority would have been very small, as many more Republicans would have refrained from voting. There is no disguising the facts that the amendments to the liquor law adopted last winter are exceedingly unpopular with a large majority of Republicans-and if the issue were simply upon them the vote would be strongly for restoring the law to where it was." The Kennebec Journal took a similar view. A letter from Aroostook from a Republican who then hoped that the county had given a small majority in favor of his party, said: "We cannot hope to carry Aroostook again with the State Constabulary law unrepealed. If there had been a single prosecution in Aroostook we should have lost it this year."
In the fall a delegate temperance convention was held. It resolved that "the amendment of the act of 1858, ratified by the people of this State and having all the moral force of a constitutional provision, has made the prohibitory law efficient beyond our expectations, and cannot be essentially modified or repealed without disturbing the basis of all our prohibitory legisation ; that while we do not claim that the Constabulary Act of 1867 is perfect in all its parts, we are thus far more than satisfied with the experiment of that law, and are prepared to stand by the principles on which it rests."
The usual mass temperance convention was held in Augusta shortly after the meeting of the Legislature and, according to custom, the Governor was asked to preside. General Chamberlain had done so the preceding year but he now declined. He said in a brief letter: "I have to acknowledge the honor of your invitation to preside over the friends of temperance now assembled in this city. Upon the high and broad grounds which underlie this great cause, I could meet you most cordially but as I understand the call under which you now meet is to be not so much for the consideration of the subject of temperance generally as to affect particular legislation now pending, upon which my official action may be required, it appears to me that the proprieties of the case do not leave me free to participate as I might otherwise in your proceedings." On the receipt of this letter, which gave great offence to the radical temperance men, N. T. Hichborn was elected president of the convention.
The general opinion seemed to be in favor of firmly adhering to the legislation of the preceding year. Woodbury Davis said: "We shall hold the temperance cause superior to all others, State or National, and we ask that the laws shall stand as they are. Let the question be considered as settled at the polls, but if politicians see fit to thrust it into politics they must take the consequences."
'Whig, Sept. 10, 1865.
'Whig, Jan. 17, 1868.
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But the terrible falling off in the vote for Chamberlain was an argu- ment with the politicians more potent than any fear of a prohibitory seces- sion, and the Legislature absolutely repealed the constabulary law and allowed freedom of sale of unadulterated cider and "the sale of domestic wines manufactured from fruits, the product of this State, for medicinal and sacramental purposes." The requirement of a jail sentence for a first offence against the prohibitory law was also repealed and the imposition of such a sentence was left to the discretion of the judge, but the amount of the minimum fines for certain violations of the liquor laws were raised to $30 and $50 respectively.
The year 1868 is marked by the only impeachment of a President in the history of the country. Mr. Johnson's continual struggle with Congress and his alliance with the Democrats and the ex-rebels had worn out the patience of the Republicans and all were anxious to get rid of him. In Maine the feeling was much the same as in the rest of the country. The Bangor Whig and the Portland Press had moved slowly in the matter but both papers were now in favor of impeachment. Congress had passed a law, the so-called Tenure-of-Office act, requiring the consent of the Senate to the removal of officers to whose appointment their consent was neces- sary. The act, however, allowed the President to suspend an officer if the Senate were not in session, the suspension to continue until the Senate acted, or until the expiration of the next session. But the President had hitherto enjoyed an unfettered power of removal and there was grave doubt of the constitutionality of the law.
Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War, and the President were in complete disagreement on political subjects and their personal relations were also unpleasant. In August, 1867, Mr. Johnson suspended Stanton and appointed General Grant Secretary of War ad interim. The Senate refused to concur in the suspension and Grant promptly surrendered the office. Johnson claimed that the General had promised to retain his position, or to resign in time to allow the President to nominate another secretary ad interim. This Grant denied and an unpleasant controversy arose. The newspapers took sides, the Republicans attacked the President, the Democrats the gen - eral. The Portland Press called Mr. Johnson's letter the "Art and Mystery of Ingenious Lying illustrated by the President of the United States." The Argus said: "Grant stands convicted by overwhelming testimony of delib- erate duplicity and treachery."
The President now removed Stanton and directed Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas to act as Secretary of War, but Stanton refused to vacate his office. The House of Representatives promptly impeached the President and he was tried by the Senate as the Constitution provides. A two-thirds majority is necessary to convict and as the trial progressed it became evident that this might not be obtained. All the Democrats were sure for acquittal, should seven Republicans join them the President would escape. Many Republican Senators, much as they disapproved Johnson's course, believed
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that he had not committed any of the legal offences charged and that as honest men sitting as judges rather than legislators they must vote not guilty. Seven Senators were known to hold this view or at least to incline strongly to it, and tremendous pressure was brought to induce them to go with their party. One of the seven was William Pitt Fessenden. The Republicans of Maine were ardent for conviction. General Fessenden says in his life of his father:
"For several days prior to the taking of the vote, Senator Fessenden's letters assumed a very threatening tone. The letters from Maine were particularly savage. He was told that if he voted against conviction, he might as well leave Maine; that a Republican Senator who voted for acquit- tal could never look his constituents in the face. One well-known man in Maine wrote him that he never believed he could betray his party, and begged him not to crush the people of Maine with shame and misery. Another: 'He would not dim his glorious record by voting against con- viction.' Another: 'Is it possible that you have turned traitor and that your name will be handed down with that of Benedict Arnold?' He was begged not to sell his integrity, not to give the devil the first chance, but to give it to his country. One writer asked him to name his price and thus save his name from dishonor worse than Booth's. A meeting of working- men in Philadelphia declared that his course would blacken his memory for all time."
These are but samples of the notes and letters-and most all from people who in the past had been his friends and political helpers-which were sent him. More mass meetings were now held in Washington, in the principal cities of Maine,-in Lewiston, Bangor,10 Gardiner, Bath, and in Portland, Senator Fessenden's own city,-all resolving that the President was guilty, and that the clear duty of Senator Fessenden was to so vote."
Mr. Fessenden, however, stood firm. General Neal Dow, an old friend and supporter of the Senator, had written expressing the hope of loyal men that the President would be removed from office and rendered legally incap- able of holding office in future. Mr. Fessenden replied :
"I wish you, my dear sir, and all others, my friends and constituents, to understand that I, and not they, am sitting in judgment upon the Presi- dent. I, not they, have solemnly sworn to do impartial justice. I, not they, am responsible to God and man for my action and its consequences. The opinions and wishes of my party friends ought not to have a feather's weight with me in coming to a conclusion. You, as a friend, should advise me to do my duty fearlessly, regardless of the opinions and wishes of men, and of all consequences to myself, and you should add to that advice your prayers that no outside clamor, either of the press or of individuals, no prejudice or passion, no hope of benefit, or fear of injury to myself, no just indignation against the individual on trial, no considerations of party, no
10Mr. Fessenden said in a letter to Rufus Dwinell, of Bangor: "These public meetings to pass resolutions upon such a matter were got up in obedience to directions from Washington and were all wrong. But the resolution passed at Bangor was respectful and kind, and a meeting which under such excitement and misinterpreta- tion treated me with so much consideration, is entitled to my thanks."
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regard for those I am most anxious to please, should induce me to swerve from the straight line of impartial justice according to the Constitution and the laws.'
Rufus Dwinell, of Bangor, wrote him: "If for nothing else, to satisfy those who elected you, you are bound to vote for conviction." The Sen- ator answered: "Mr. Dwinell, if I followed your advice I could not look an honest man in the face. I should feel a degree of self-contempt which would hurry me to my grave. The people of Maine, yourself among others, must do as they see fit. If they wish for a Senator a man who will commit perjury at their bidding, either from party necessity or a love of popular favor, I am not that man. He who may be selected to succeed me on such grounds, and be willing to take the office, would, of course, sell his constit- uents as readily as he sold his honor and his conscience. I should pity not only him, but the people who selected him."" When the test came, Mr. Fessenden and six other Republican Senators voted not guilty, and the President was saved.13
There was great excitement in Maine, and bitter attacks were made on Mr. Fessenden. The Whig, however, wisely advised that the party should not let itself be divided by assaults on individuals or by matters of minor importance, and it pointed out that Johnson could do no serious mischief. It said: "If we shall not be quite free from our incumbrance in the White House, yet he will be but a caged lion, with his teeth drawn and his claws muffled, and his only power to annoy that of roaring."
The failure of impeachment was the less important as the people were to have the opportunity to choose a successor to Mr. Johnson the same year. The Republican convention excited comparatively little interest. It was understood that General Grant would be the candidate and the convention nominated him unanimously. For a nomination for Vice-President five ballots were necessary. On the last Schuyler Colfax of Indiana was chosen. Among those voted for was Hannibal Hamlin, who received 28, 30, 25 and 25 votes on the first, second, third and fourth ballots, respectively. His position was that of a compromise candidate held in reserve rather than of a formal aspirant for the place. After the nominations the Bangor Whig said :
"The Maine Republicans enthusiastically admire and love Mr. Hamlin, and would have been pleased and proud if the Convention had placed him on the ticket, where he should have been placed in 1864, instead of the recreant Johnson, although Johnson was then taken only from a mistaken idea of strengthening the Union cause in the South. But the Maine Repub- licans have no feeling of resentment (as the New York World hopes they may have) because he was not nominated by the recent convention. His
"Fessenden, "Fessenden," II, 207-210.
12Two other Senators would have voted for acquittal had their votes been abso- lutely necessary, and some of the seven might have voted guilty had they not received satisfactory assurances that the President would appoint General Schofield to succeed Mr. Stanton, who, it was understood, would resign were the President acquitted.
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name was first brought forward in the canvass by the papers and politicians of other States-not by those of Maine-and the Maine delegates were induced to hold on for him, by the representation and belief that he would be the second choice of a majority of the convention and that for some reasons his name would help the ticket more than that of Mr. Wilson, the other New England candidate. There is no feeling of resentment at the failure to nominate him. Mr. Hamlin himself did not seek the nomina- tion-did not desire it so far as we know. He never would authorize us to bring his name forward in any way, and we have always supposed he was averse to having it used, but would coincide in whatever was decided to be for the best interests of the party.""
The platform congratulated the country on "the assured success of the reconstruction policy of Congress," favored equal suffrage in the South and denounced repudiation in all its forms.
The Democratic convention nominated ex-Governor Seymour of New York and Frank P. Blair of Missouri for President and Vice-President. They denounced the whole Congressional policy of reconstruction and favored the payment of the United States bonds in greenbacks unless the bonds themselves or the law under which they were issued provided other- wise.
In Maine both conventions nominated their former candidates. The Democratic convention condemned the reconstruction laws and the manner in which they had been executed. They demanded that coupons on national bonds should be taxed at a rate which would "subject the capital so invested to its fair average share of public burdens, as compared with other descriptions of property, and that the proceeds of such taxation should be distributed among all the States on just and equitable principles." They called for the payment of the bonds in "currency," that is, greenbacks, demanded that the national banks should cease to issue currency and resolved "That the men who fought for the Union are entitled to the same currency as the men who loaned the money, and that the bayonet holder, laborer, farmer, and bondholder should be paid alike."
The Republican convention resolved :
"That the proposition made by the recent Democratic Convention of this State to admit the rebels in the South to a share in the tax on govern- ment bonds is a fraud and outrage on the loyal people of the North. Under the delusive promise of lightening taxation at home, the resolution proposes to rob the people of Maine by assessing a tax on the deposits of savings banks, on the treasuries of our insurance companies, and on the hard earn- ings of the humblest laborer invested in government bonds, and to divide the amount so raised among all the States, thus giving to the rebels of Texas more than two dollars where the loyal men of Maine would get one. We denounce the proposition as an attempt to enrich the rebels at the expense of loyal men and to subject our national debt to the base use of lighting anew the smouldering embers of Southern rebellion."
"Whig, June 4, 1868.
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The convention also declared that the national Democratic convention might well be regarded as an organized attempt to carry out the purposes of the rebellion, that its membership was largely made up of open rebels and their secret allies, and that "its first aim in its new revolt is to destroy the government credit, and then overturn by revolutionary violence the constitutional government of the Southern States. Its ill-concealed move- ments against the first, and its openly avowed purpose to accomplish the second, should at once alarm and arouse all good citizens who desire the peace, prosperity and continued union of the States.""""
Both parties brought leading out-of-the-State men to champion their cause. The Republicans had William D. Kelley of Pennsylvania, Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, and Generals Sickles, Hawley and Bingham. The latter spoke for two hours and a half at Bangor. The hall was hot and it was eleven o'clock when he ended, but he held his audience, and the Whig declared that "it was the most able, eloquent and telling speech that the citizens of Bangor have ever been favored with." The Democrats brought Mr. Pendleton of Ohio, one of the ablest men in the party and the great champion of paying the bonds in greenbacks.
In September the Republicans won a great triumph. The vote was about 20,000 larger than any that had ever been cast at a gubernatorial election in Maine. Chamberlain had a majority over Pillsbury of nearly 20,000. The New York Nation remarked that it supposed that the Maine election made Pennsylvania safe and the election in November a mere for- mality. Its prophecy proved true, Grant receiving 214 electoral votes and Seymour 80.
At the meeting of the Legislature in 1869 there was brought to a decision one of the longest, most widespread and bitter contests for a senatorship in the history of the State. Mr. Morrill's term would expire on March 4, 1869, and Hannibal Hamlin had been planning for years to obtain the vacant seat. Shortly after he ceased to be Vice-President, President Johnson had appointed him Collector of Customs at Boston, a place then worth from $20,000 to $30,000 a year. But Hamlin could not follow Johnson in his policy and in October, 1866, resigned his office. He then devoted much of his time to furthering a plan of developing northern Maine by building a railroad from Bangor to Dover with the purpose of ultimately reaching Moosehead lake. But he was even more concerned in constructing a road for himself to the United States Senate. It was a difficult and delicate operation. Mr. Morrill was in possession, had the advantage of dispensing much official patronage and, as Mr. Hamlin's grandson admits, was "an able and popular senator." Mr. Hamlin found it advisable to work very quietly and for a long time only a few of his intimate friends knew certainly of his intentions. As the election ap- proached, however, an open declaration became necessary, and the whole
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