ON WITHDRAWING FROM THE UNION 1

JEFFERSON DAVIS

(1861)

JEFFERSON DAVIS (1808-1889), statesman, was born in Kentucky. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and served with distinction in the Mexican War. He was a member of Congress from Mississippi, and at the close of his service in the army was chosen United States senator from the same state. He was Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Pierce. He was again elected to the Senate, but resigned when Mississippi seceded from the Union in 1861. He was president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865.

I rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of announcing to the Senate that I have satisfactory evidence that the state of Mississippi, by solemn ordinance of her people in convention assembled, has declared her separation from the United States. Under these circumstances, of course my functions are terminated here. It has seemed to me proper, however, that I should appear in the Senate to announce that fact to my associates; and I will say but very little more. The occasion does not invite me to go into argument, and my physical condition would not permit to do so, if it were otherwise; and yet it seems to become me to say something on the part of the state I hereby represent, on an occasion so solemn as this.

It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has 1 From a speech delivered in the United States Senate, 1861.

been a belief that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers bequeathed to us, which has brought Mississippi into her present decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. That Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circumstances and purposes for which it was made. The communities were asserting that no man was born to use the language of Mr. Jefferson-booted and spurred to ride over the rest of mankind; that men were created equal- meaning the men of the political community; that there was no divine right to rule; that no man inherited the right to govern; that there were no classes by which power and place descended to families, but that all stations were equally within the grasp of each member of the body politic. These were the great principles they announced; these were the purposes for which they made their declaration; these were the ends to which their enunciation was directed. They have no reference to the slave, else how happened it that among the items of arraignment made against George III was that he endeavored to do just what the North has been endeavoring of late to do to stir up insurrection among our slaves? Had the Declaration announced that the negroes were free and equal, how was the prince to be arraigned for stirring up insurrection among them? And how was this to be enumerated among the high crimes which caused the colonies to sever their connection with the mother country?

When our Constitution was formed, the same idea was rendered more palpable, for there we find provision made for that very class of persons as property; they were not put upon the footing of equality with white men, not even upon that of paupers and convicts; but so far as representation was concerned, were discriminated against as a lower caste, only to be represented in the numerical proportion of three fifths. Then, senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we recur to the principles upon which our government was founded; and when you deny them, and when you deny to us the right to withdraw from a government which, thus perverted, threatens to be destructive of our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence, and take the hazard. This is done, not in hostility to others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own pecuniary benefit, but from the high and solemn motive of defending and protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit unshorn to our children.

I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my constituents toward yours. I am sure I feel no hostility to you, senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well; and such, I am sure, is the feeling of the people whom I represent toward those whom you represent. I therefore feel that I but express their desire when I say I hope, and they hope, for peaceful relations with you, though we must part. They may be mutually benefi

cial to us in the future, as they have been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring disaster on every portion of the country; and if you will have it thus, we will invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from the power of the lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear;1 and thus, putting our trust in God, and in our firm hearts and strong arms, we will vindicate the right as best we may. I see now around me some with whom I have served long; there have been points of collision; but whatever of offense there has been to me, I leave here; I carry with me no hostile remembrance. Whatever offense I have given which has not been redressed, or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, senators, in this hour of our parting, to offer you my apology for any pain which, in heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered of the remembrance of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered. Mr. President and senators, having made the announcement which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to bid you a final adieu.

1 I Samuel xvii. 37.

POPULAR GOVERNMENT 1

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

(1861)

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865), statesman, was born in Kentucky. He had few educational advantages in early life, and to the people of to-day he is known as a "chimney-corner graduate." At the outbreak of the Black Hawk War he was elected captain of a company of volunteers. He served several terms in the state

legislature. He was elected to the 30th Congress, and while in Congress opposed the extension of slavery. He was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate. In 1860 he was elected president, and reëlected in 1864.

Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them.

A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue Between them. It is impossible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before. Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends?

1 From Lincoln's first inaugural address, March 4, 1861.