LINCOLN SUBMITTING THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION TO HIS CABINET
From the painting by Carpenter in the Capitol at Washington.
From a photograph by Brady in the Library of the State Department at
Washington.
Autograph from one furnished by his daughter, Mrs.
Mary A. Scudder, Chicago, Ill.
From a photograph by Brady in the Library of the State Department at
Washington.
Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston
Public Library.
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EMANCIPATION AND POLITICS
During the spring and summer of 1861 the people of
the North presented the appearance of a great political
unit. All alleged emphatically that the question
was simply of the Union, and upon this issue no Northerner
could safely differ from his neighbors. Only a
few of the more cross-grained ones among the Abolitionists
were contemptuously allowed to publish the selfishness
of their morality, and to declare that they were content
to see the establishment of a great slave empire, provided
they themselves were free from the taint of connection
with it. If any others let Southern proclivities
lurk in the obscure recesses of their hearts they
were too prudent to permit these perilous sentiments
to appear except in the masquerade of dismal presagings.
So in appearance the Northern men were united, and
in fact were very nearly so—for a short
time.
This was a fortunate condition, which the President
and all shrewd patriots took great pains to maintain.
It filled the armies and the Treasury, and postponed
many jeopardies. But too close to the surface
to be long suppressed lay the demand that those who
declared the Union to be the sole issue should explain
how it came about that the Union was put in issue
at all, why there was any dissatisfaction with it,
and why any desire anywhere to be rid of it.
All knew the answer to that question; all knew that
if the war was due to disunion, disunion in turn was
due to slavery. Unless some makeshift peace should
be quickly patched up, this basic cause was absolutely
sure to force recognition for itself; a long and stern
contest must inevitably wear its way down to the bottom
question. It was practical wisdom for Mr. Lincoln
in his inaugural not to probe deeper than secession;
and it was well for multitudes to take arms and contribute
money with the earnest asseveration that they were
fighting and paying only for the integrity of the
