those obsolete state lines
In the first month of the new year a conservative editorial from a Democrat paper in the Finger Lakes region of New York State objected to what it saw as the war aims of the Lincoln administration -emancipation, increasing national power, keeping the Republican party in power. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in January 1864:
Objects of the War.
This is no longer a vexed question. Government has clearly defined its ostensible purpose in continuing the war, to wipe out the institution of slavery everywhere.
To destroy State lines, and extinguish State sovereignties, and to rule the people as conquered provinces, by a despotic military rule.
To perpetuate the party in power by all means, which the people of these United States will tolerate them to use, to continue themselves and friends in power.
All hail to the era of war tyranny and official rascality.
But 1864 was ostensibly a year of hope for Democrats. Could they get a Democrat elected United States president and oust Abraham Lincoln and his tyrannous cabinet? It didn’t take long for the pro-Administration Harper’s Weekly to put a damper on that idea. In its first 1864 issue an editorial said New York governor Horatio Seymour had no hope of securing the Democrat nomination since his “My friends” speech during the July 1863 draft riots; it would be impossible for General George McClellan to be nominated because he supported George Woodward in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial contest against Republican Andrew Curtin; General Ulysses Grant would not be acceptable to Democrats because he believed in a vigorous prosecution of the war and would not be picked by the Republicans because they still endorsed the Lincoln Administration. In fact, in the absence of unforeseen calamity Mr. Lincoln’s re-election as assured. Here are a few extracts from the January 2, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South:
PRESIDENTIAL PROSPECTS.
THE gentlemen whose accession to political power depends upon the salvation of slavery are already casting about for available Presidential candidates. A year ago the nomination of Mr. Horatio Seymour was a foregone conclusion. But his obsequiousness to a murderous mob alarmed the most substantial of his supporters. …
The moment General McClellan subordinated his military conduct to his political aspirations he was doomed. … He thought be could fight without hurting the enemy much; for it would not do to exasperate one’s natural political allies. He would try fighting with one hand and waving the olive branch with the other. He was a well-meaning Captain of Engineers, of no remarkable military capacity, utterly spoiled by the touch of political intriguers who hoped to make him their tool.
rascal, despot … sage, a hold on the national heart
Does any body suppose that the same game can be played with General Grant? General Grant is a soldier who does not believe in olive branches but in unconditional surrender. He is a citizen who comprehends the scope of the war, and knows and frankly says that liberty, Union, and peace are henceforward inseparable. His politics are the overthrow of the rebel army in the field, and the destruction of the cause that sends it there. He supports the Government and its policy. …
No man at this moment has so sure a hold of the national heart as the President. It would as soon think of removing General Grant from command of his great army, because he is conquering the rebel host, as it would of setting aside Mr. Lincoln because his administration is restoring the Union. If the Presidential election took place next week, Mr. Lincoln would undoubtedly be returned by a greater majority than any President since Washington. And unless he is deserted by his great sagacity, or some huge military disaster befalls the country, or some serious blunder is committed by the Union men in Congress, his election is as sure as the triumph of the nation over the rebellion.
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The following Thomas Nast image from the same Harper’s Weekly issue is said to contrast North and South as the new year began. Things were probably worse in the South, but I’m pretty sure Northern soldiers died and had limbs blown off, too.
Nasty New Year
You can see the beautiful map of the United States in January 1864 at the Library of Congress
The image of Abraham Lincoln is from U.S. History Images.
