Ground.—Sheridan's Brilliant Victories.—General McClellan receives the Votes of only Three States.—Governor Seymour defeated in New York.

CHAPTER XXV. President's Message, December, 1864.—General Sherman's March.— Compensated Emancipation abandoned.—Thirteenth Amendment.—Earnestly recommended by the President.—He appeals to the Democratic Members. —Mr. Ashley's Energetic Work.—Democratic Opportunity.—Unwisely neglected.—Mr. Pendleton's Argument.—Final Vote.—Amendment adopted.—Cases arising under it.—Supreme Court.—Change of Judges at Different Periods.—Peace Conference at Fortress Monroe.— Secretary Chase resigns.—Mr. Fessenden succeeds him.—Mr. Fessenden's Report.—Surrender of Lee.—General Grant's Military Character.— Assassination of President Lincoln.—His Characteristics.—Cost of the War.—Compared with Wars of Other Nations.—Our Navy.—Created during the War.—Effective Blockade.—Its Effect upon the South.— Its Influence upon the Struggle.—Relative Numbers in Loyal and Disloyal States.—Comparison of Union and Confederate Armies.— Confederate Army at the Close of the War.—Union Armies compared with Armies of Foreign Countries.—Area of the War.—Its Effect upon the Cost.—Character of Edwin M. Stanton.

CHAPTER XXVI. Relations with Great Britain.—Close of the Year 1860.—Prince of Wales's Visit to the United States.—Exchange of Congratulatory Notes.—Dawn of the Rebellion.—Lord Lyons' Dispatch.—Mr. Seward's Views.—Lord John Russell's Threats.—Condition of Affairs at Mr. Lincoln's Inauguration.—Unfriendly Manifestations by Great Britain. —Recognizes Belligerency of Southern States.—Discourtesy to American Minister.—England and France make Propositions to the Confederate States.—Unfriendly in their Character to the United States.—Full Details given.—Motives inquired into.—Trent Affair. —Lord John Russell.—Lord Lyons.—Mr. Seward.—Mason and Slidell released.—Doubtful Grounds assigned.—Greater Wrongs against us by Great Britain.—Queen Victoria's Friendship.—Isolation of United States.—Foreign Aid to Confederates on the Sea.—Details given.— So-called Neutrality.—French Attempt to establish an Empire in Mexico.—Lord Palmerston in 1848, in 1859, in 1861.—Conclusive Observations.

ADDENDUM

ERRATUM

APPENDICES

LIST OF STEEL PORTRAITS.

THE AUTHOR ABRAHAM LINCOLN CHARLES SUMNER STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE HENRY WINTER DAVIS THADDEUS STEVENS BENJAMIN F. WADE ELIHU B. WASHBURNE ROBERT C. SCHENCK WILLIAM D. KELLEY SAMUEL SHELLABARGER JUSTIN S. MORRILL GEORGE S. BOUTWELL REUBEN E. FENTON OLIVER P. MORTON ZACHARIAH CHANDLER HENRY B. ANTHONY THOMAS A. HENDRICKS SIMON CAMERON JAMES W. GRIMES JOHN P. HALE JOHN SHERMAN WILLIAM WINDOM JOHN B. HENDERSON JOHN J. INGALLS FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN CARL SCHURZ JOHN A. LOGAN

MAP SHOWING THE TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF THE UNITED STATES

TWENTY YEARS OF CONGRESS.

CHAPTER I.

Original Compromises between the North and the South embodied in the Constitution.—Early Dissatisfaction with National Boundaries. —Acquisition of Louisiana from France by President Jefferson.— Bonaparte's Action and Motive in ceding Louisiana.—State of Louisiana admitted to the Union against Opposition in the North.— Agitation of the Slavery Question in Connection with the Admission of Missouri to the Union.—The Two Missouri Compromises of 1820 and 1821.—Origin and Development of the Abolition Party.—Struggle over the Right of Petition.

The compromises on the Slavery question, inserted in the Constitution, were among the essential conditions upon which the Federal Government was organized. If the African slave-trade had not been permitted to continue for twenty years, if it had not been conceded that three-fifths of the slaves should be counted in the apportionment of representatives in Congress, if it had not been agreed that fugitives from service should be returned to their owners, the Thirteen States would not have been able in 1787 "to form a more perfect union." These adjustments in the Constitution were effected after the Congress of the old Confederation had dedicated the entire North-west Territory to freedom. The ancient commonwealth of Virginia had, for the good of all, generously and patriotically surrendered her title to the great country north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, which to-day constitutes five prosperous and powerful States and a not inconsiderable portion of a sixth. This was the first territory of which the General Government had exclusive control, and the prompt prohibition of slavery therein by the Ordinance of 1787 is an important and significant fact. The anti-slavery restriction would doubtless have been applied to the territory south of the Ohio had the power existed to impose it. The founders of the government not only looked to the speedy extinction of slavery, but they especially abhorred the idea of a geographical line, with freedom decreed on one side, and slavery established on the other. But the territory south of the Ohio belonged to the Southern States of the Union,—Kentucky to Virginia; Tennessee to North Carolina; Alabama and Mississippi to Georgia, with certain co-extensive claims put forth by South Carolina. When cessions of this Southern territory were made to the General Government, the States owning it exacted in every case a stipulation that slavery should not be prohibited. It thus came to pass that the Ohio River was the dividing-line. North of it freedom was forever decreed. South of it slavery was firmly established. Within the limits of the Union as originally formed the slavery question had therefore been compromised, the common territory partitioned, and the Republic, half slave, half free, organized and sent forth upon its mission.

The Thirteen States whose independence had been acknowledged by George III., occupied with their outlying territories a vast area, exceeding in the aggregate eight hundred thousand square miles. Extended as was this domain, the early statesmen of the Union discovered that its boundaries were unsatisfactory,—hostile to our commercial interests in time of peace, and menacing our safety in time of war. The Mississippi River was our western limit. On its farther shore, from the Lake of the Woods to the Balize, we met the flag of Spain. Our southern border was the 31st parallel of latitude; and the Spanish Floridas, stretching across to the Mississippi, lay between us and the Gulf of Mexico. We acquired from Spain the right of deposit for exports and imports at New Orleans, but the citizens of the Union who lived west of the Alleganies were discontented and irritated to find a foreign power practically controlling their trade by intercepting their access to the sea. One of the great problems imposed upon the founders of the Union was to remove the burdens and embarrassments which obstructed the development of the Western States, and thus to render their inhabitants as loyal by reason of material prosperity as they already were in patriotic sympathy. The opportunity for relief came from remote and foreign causes, without our own agency; but the courageous statesmanship which discerned and grasped the opportunity, deserved, as it has received, the commemoration of three generations. The boundaries of the Union were vastly enlarged, but the geographical change was not greater than the effect produced upon the political and social condition of the people. The ambitions developed by the acquisition of new territory led to serious conflicts of opinion between North and South,—conflicts which steadily grew in intensity until, by the convulsion of war, slavery was finally extinguished.