Lincoln Lore

Bullelin of T he l incoln Nacional Life Foundation ..• Mark E. Neely, Jr., Editor. Published each March,1973 month by The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46801. Number 1621

THE PRESIDENT AND THE HISTORIAN: LINCOLN AND GEORGE LIVERMORE

Just as the contemporary interest in civil rights has opinion, the story js made even more plausible by the had its effects upon living historians, guiding them to nature of Lher more's pamphlet itself. write on once neglected subjects so an earlier era of Livermore's pamphlet had two parts. The first was interest in civil rights had its efrects upon the subject concerned with the subject, "Negroes as Slaves and as Citi­ matter of historical researc.h. The Civil War directed the zens," and consisted of lengthy quotations from the writ. interests of George Liver ­ ing-s or the founding fathers more (1809-1865), a f rail Massa­ loosely strung to!l"ther by intro­ chusetts antiquarian and book ductory remarks and brief com­ collector, to the subject of the ments by Livermore. But Liver­ "Opinions of the Founders of the more was no antiquarian, for he Republic on Negroes as Slaves, wrote about the past in order to as Citizens, and as Soldiers." influence the present and f uture: Some of the thi ngs that Liver­ In this time of our country's more discovered by careful re­ trial, when its Constitution, search in the published writings and even· its continued na­ of the founding fathers and in tional existence, is in peril, the manuscript collections of the and the people are beginning Massachusetts Historical Society to be aroused to the magni· may well have startled members tude of the work to be done, of t-hat Society present when, all other subjects dwindle into on August 14, 1862, he read his comparative insignif icance. paper concerning the racial atti· Loyal men, of every calling in tudes of that first generation of life, are laying a side their Americans. Indeed, some of his chcs~m and accustomed private discoveries made over a hundred pursuits, and devoting them· years ago would be news to his­ selves, heart and hand, to the torical societies today. common cause. As true patri· Livermore's Hi8tori.cal Re­ ots. then, we, members of the search, as he called the pub­ MASSACH USETTS HI S­ lished version or the paper he read to the Massachusetts His­ TORICAL SOCIETY, should torical Society, is of special in­ do something more than com· terest to Lincoln students be­ ply, as good citizens, with all cause Abraham Lincoln appar­ the requirements of the Con­ ently read Livermore's pamphlet stitution and the Jaws: we - and at a critical time. Charles must study, in the light of Sumner, the RepubHcan Senator history, and by the traditions from Massachusetts, presented of those who originally Lincoln with a copy ot Liver· founded and at first adminis­ more's HU.toYicttl Reaearch. in tered the Government, the November of 1862. The pamphlet fundamental principles on is thought by some to have in­ which it was based, and the fluenced Lincoln's decision, made paramount ob/' ects for which betw·een the issuance of the pre­ From tht: Uncobt Natioftal Lif~ Fot~..UtlO'I'I it was estab ished. Having liminary Emancipation Procla· Livermore rend hi.s paper be fore the Massachu­ done this, it. may not be amiss mation on September 22, 1862 tJells Historieal Soeiet y on Augwt 14, 1862. H e for us to offer the results of and the offieial promulgation of printed it at his own expense for gratuitous dis­ our historical researches to the Proclamation on J anuary 1, tribution u.8 a pa per read before the Soeiety. n ,e others not having the leisure l863, to include a paragraph en­ sewnd edition wos published in the Proceedlng1 or the opportunity to investi· dorsing the US(! of former slaves o f thf> Ma•.-nclw.tetts Hi• torical Society. The Un· ~ate for themselves. as soldiers in th6 Union Army. coin Library and Museum's eopy is a third edition Thus. although the pamphlet This opinion is strengthened by publish ed for the Ne~· England Loyal P ublication was ladened with long extracts the fact that Lincoln consulted Society in 1863 by A. William$ and Company. from original documents, it Charles Sumner about the final 1'he New Eft3land Loyal Puhlicotion Socie ty wu was really a tract for the times. version or the Proclamation on the Bos ton counter1,art of the L 1)yaJ P ublication Nor did Livermore hide behind Christmas Day, 1862. It is also Soeiely located in New Y()rk City. T he Boston historical objectivity: he said he added support by the story that so:-iety l)rinled broudsideg m Oiltly, rare ly publi.sh­ was trying "to ~ascertain who George Livermore had Sumner ing pamphlets as the New York soeie ly did. H ow­ have been unfaithful to the give Lincoln a gold pen to sign ever, John l\f urrny Forbe!, the wealthy UoJSton 'compromises of the Constitu· the Proclamation which was re· m ereh::mt who fo1tnded the New Ena:land group, tion,' and to the principles upon turned to Li vermore as a keep· was especially inte~s ted in the rn is l~ of black which the Union was based, and sake of the momentous his­ re«ime nts; perhap-!5 hi5 intere:st helps explain for which t.he Government was torical event. In the editor's lhei_r publl8hlng Livennore'a pamphJct. established." ln other words, 2 LINCOLN LORE

Livermore was researching who was to blame for the legislative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage Civil War. wi11 go, shall never be wanting. [\Vashington to The first section was therefore a commonplace1 if at Robert Morris, April 12, 1786.] times artful, attempt to line the founding fathers up on The present prices of lands in Pennsylvania are the side of the North. Livermore began by refuting the higher than they are in Maryland and Virginia, al­ contentions of the president of the Coniederaey with the thOugh they are not of superior quality; [among other words of jts vice-president, Alexander H. Stephens. reasons] becat~.se there are laws here for the gradua Jefferson Davis had claimed that the North was unfaith­ [sic) abolition of slavery, which neither of the two ful to the original compromises of the Constitution. States above mentioned have at present, but which Stephens had justified secession on other grounds: nothing is more certain than they must have, and at The prevaili1tg idea3 enttrtained by ... most oj the a period not remote. [Washington to Sir John Sinclai.r, leading statesmen. at the time of the formation of the December 11, 1796.] old. Constitution, were, that th.e enslavement of thtJ To Washington and Franklin, Livermore added John Africq,n was in violation of the laws of t~ature; that Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, Christopher Gads­ it 1ua$ 1Q-rt»t{l in principle, soc-ially, "wrally, and pol­ den, Henry Laurens, and others; yet one stubborn fact -itically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal l"emained: uBut still, in three separate clauses, the Con­ with; but the general opinion of the men of that day stitution recognizes the existence of slavery .. . " When was, that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, talking about the Constitution, Livermore had ultimately the institution would be evanescent, and pass away. to rely on things ext-ra·eonstitutionnl, like "spirit": This idea, thouJth not incorPOrated in the Constitution, One thing is certain, that ... the common sentiment, was the prcvaiHng idea at the time. The Constitution, in t·he Convention and throughout the country, was, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the that the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, fairly institution while it should last; and hence no argu­ interpreted and !oithfully applied, afforded a !ull ment ean be justly used against the constitutional guaranty of universal freedom throughout the Union guarantees thus secured, because of the common senti· at no distant day. The purpose of the Constitution was ment of the day. Those ide.at, however, 1t1cte funda.· put into the preamble in no equivocal language, and 1ncntally wrong. They rested up011 the assumption. of for no doubtful purpose. It was "TO SECURE LIB­ eqt(o.lity of f'ates. This wa.s an en·or. It was a $9.ndy ERTY/' and not to protect s1avery .... foundation· and the idea of a government built upon I say that the above was a conventional argument, for it,- when the ''storm came and the wind blew, it fell." it could be found in many ante-bellum anti-slavery Ou1· ·new governmont is fou·n.ded 'U1Xm exactly the speec.hes. Jn fact, one can find Abraham Lincoln using opposite ideas. Its foundation.$ are laid, it$ tonter­ a very similar argument at the Cooper Institute in 1860. ston.t rests, uJ)(nt tlte great truth., th.at the neqro is 11ot This, as much as anything else, makes the case for Livera equal to the white man; tlta.t slavery, s-ubordtnation to more's influence on Lincoln convincing: Livermore's was the 8upcrior race, 18 hi8 nutwrol and ·normal c:ondition. just the sort of argument that Lincoln himsel! might Th.is, our new government, is the first, in tht histortJ have used. oj th.e toorld, bo8ed upcm this great physical, philo­ In the Cooper Institute address, Lineoln attempted to sophical, and "toral truth. turn the tables on Stephen Douglas, who always pro­ Having contradicted the Confederate president through fes~ed to abide. by the compromises of the Constitution. the words of the Confederate vice-pre.sident, Livermore Lincoln said he t'u1ly endorsed Douglas's assertion that, went on in the first section to document Stephens's as­ "Our fo.thers, when. they framed tlte Gov6'rnmen.t undtr sumption that the ideaJs of the Confederacy represented whith 1oc live, uml~rttt()(Xl this quution just as well. and a radical break with the opinions of the rounding lathers. even better, than we do now.'' lJ.e went on to argue that \Vhat followed was a fairly conventional documentation contrary to Douglas's belie!, th>S dictated federal controf of the ease for the foundmg fathers' having thought of slavery in the territories. First he showed that twenty­ slavery a moral evil that should be put on the road to three of the thirty.. nine men who signed the Constitution ultimate extinction as soon as possible. Such eases al­ were. on record as having supported legislation like the ways relied heavily upon emphasizing the importance of Northwest Ordinance. of 1787. in which Congress inter­ the Declaration of Independence, which Livermore termed fered with slavery in the territories. He argued, just as "The primal American Magna Charta," and attempting Livermore had by quoting Alexander Stephens, thaL "We to explain the Constitution away. The latter argument stick to, contend for, the identical old policy on the point depended on emphasizing t·hat, as Livermore construed in controversy which was adopted by •our fathers who the preamble, "It was established for the purpose of framed the Government under which we live;' while you securing libqrt·y . ... . " It stressed also that the document with one accord reject, and scout, and spit upon that old did "not permit the word 'slave' anywhere to tarnish its policy, and insist upon submitting !omething new." He text." pointed out uthat neither the word 'slave' nor •slaveryj is The argument relied heavily as weB on the opinions to be. found in the Constitution." that some of the men present at the constitutional con· vention expressed outside the document. Livermore could It was poJemic.al ground that Lincoln had trod before, 9.uote Northerners and Southerners alike on this ques· most notably in his speech at Peoria in 1854. There he tton. Thus Benjamin Franklin wrote to a friend as early had stressed that "the sheet anchor of American repub.. as 1773: licanism" was the Declaration of Independence and the statement that. "the just powers of governments are de· I have since had the satisfaction to learn that a dis· rived from the consent of the governed.)> He had in­ POSition to abo1ish slavery prevails in North Americaj terpreted the Constitution this way: that many of the Pennsylvanians have Set their slaves I particularly object to the NE\V position which the at liberty; and that even the Virginia Assembly have avowed principle of this Nebraska law gives to slavery petitioned the king for permission to make a law for in the body politic. preventing the importation of more into that Colony. • • • This request, however, wm prob9.bly not be granted, I object to it beeause the fathers of the republic as their former laws of that kind have always been eschewed, and rejected it. The argument of "Ne~ repealed, and as the interests of a few merchants here cessity" was the only argument they ever admitted in has more weight with Government than that of favor of slavery; and so far, and so far only as it car· thousands at a Oistance. ried them, did they ever go. They found the institution When he quoted George Washington, Livermore not only existing among us, which they could not help; and they rested his ease on the father of his country but on a east blame upon the British King for having permitted prominent Virginian and slaveholder. Despite his eco­ it.s introduction. BEFORE the constitution, they pro­ nomie stake in the institution, \Vashin£ton thought that hibited its introduction into the north-western Terri­ slavery should and would soon be abolished: tory-the only country we owned then free from it. 1 hope it wiB not be conceived from these observations AT the framing and adoption of the constitution, they that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who are forebore to so much as mention the word uslave" or the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only s.ay, "slavery" in the whole instrument. In the provision that there is not a man living who wishes more sin· for the rec-ovPTy of fugitives. the slave is spoken of as a eerely than I do to see some plan adopted for the abo­ "PERSON HELD TO SERVICE OR LABOR." In that lition of it: but there is only one proper and effectual prohibiting the abolition of the African slave trade for mode by which this ean be accomplished, and that is by twenty years, that trade is spoken of as uThe mi.gra· LI NCOLN LO R E 3

1-·rom tM Lift.co~M. NotloMl !.Ale FOtl"

blnek nboJilionlst. P aul Dt.ut bnr (18724 1906) wus n blnek poet a nd novelis t who ~·on wide eritienl nc-~ laim before World War I. Bis father , an e:t~(:nped !Sla"·e, enlis ted in the 55th Mas,aehuts.eUs Infantry, a black rt g im ent thnt served in the Civil War . Appropria tely for the 8pirit of Lincoln'8 thought, h e i8 p ictured holdi ng a doeu.m ent with words front the D eelarotion or Jndependenee "'t'itte n on it. tion or importation of such persons as any of the States 50,000 bayonets from the loyal Border States against us NOW EXISTING, shall tbjnk proper to admit," &<:. that were for us." By January 1, 1863, though, Lincoln These are the only provision.$ alluding to slavery. Thus, was ready; he tacked on to the official Emancipation the thing is hid away, in the constitution, just as an Proclamation issued that day this declaration: "And I afflicted man hides away a wen or a cancer, which he further declat'e and make known that such persons of dares not cut out at once, lest he bleed to death; with suitable condition win be received into the armed service the promise, nevertheless, that the cutting may begin of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations at the end of a given time. [Roy Basler. ed., Th,o Col­ and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in paid lected Works of Abraham Lincoln (New Brunswick: service." In between, Lincoln had apparently read Live-r­ Rutgers University Press, 1963) II, 274.] more's pamphlet. Reading Livermore's pamphlet is almost like reading the As Benjamin Quarles describes it in Linc-oln curd th6 notes for a Lincoln speech. Ntgro (New York : Oxford University Press, 1962), Though the argument was scholarly and the circum­ Charles Sumner sent Livermore's pamphlet to Lincoln in stances of its original presentation far removed from November. Sumner wrote another correspondent that the the seat of power in Washington, Livermore's Histhrical pamphlet had interested Lincoln. On Oecember 24, 1862, Re-search. was not an historical apology for past govern­ Lincoln apparently told Sumner that h• had mislaid mental measures-however much it may sound like one. Livermore's pamphlet, and Sumner gave him his own It was, on the contrary, a carefully structured argument copy on ChristmAs Day. At the time Lincoln was work­ for change, some would have said for revolutionary ing with Sumner on the wordin~ of ihe official proclama· change. When Livermore first read his paper before the tion. Moreover, Brown University O\vns a copy of Liver­ Massachusetts Historical Society, it was by no means more's Historical Research, inscribed by the author to clear that the Lincoln administration would take any the President. measures at all to affect the institution of slavery. The second part of Liver more's pamphlet dealt with the It was even less clear at the time whether free blacks subject of uNegroes as Soldier·s." The approach to this would be allowed to serve in the a rmed services of the subject was the same as that taken in the first part of United States. As recently as August 4, 1862, Lincoln the pamphlet, but the territory was not nearly so fam­ had told a delegation from Indiana offering two regiments iliar. In fact, Livermore was probably doing pioneer re­ ol black soldiers for the Northern armies that he was not eear

National Government at this time respecting the em­ any kind of servitude or slavery. And in case such ploymcmt of negroes as soldiers. Those on whom de­ slave shallr by sickness or otherwise, be. rendered un­ volves the responsibility of suppressing this monstrous able to mamtain himsel€ he shall not be chargeable to Rebellion, must ultimately, and at no distant day, de­ his master or mistress, 1out shall be supported at the eide the matter. In their decision, they will undoubtedly expense of the State. be influenced by a regard to the usage and experience, Livermore also doeumente.d exciting instances of black in this respect, of those who directed our military patriots in the cause of Americ.an independence, from the affairs in the war of Independence, as well as by a death of Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre to the consideration of the probable effect of their action on defense of Colonel Greene by black soldiers at Points our loyal soldierst and on tbe armed traitors who are Bridge, New York in May o( 1781. arrayed against tncm. Everything, of course, was meant as a lesson for the It is -not strange that the President, on whom, more present. "Two or three incidents in the earliest conflicts than on all others,. rests the responsibility of taking the with the British troops/' wrote Livermore, uwill show final step in this direction, should pause a while to con­ how little prejudice there was against negroes at the sider the subject in a11 its bearings, and to allow public commencement of the war, and how ready the citizens opinion to shape itself more distinctly, that his decision, generally then wert, not only to secure their services as when made, shalt have from the Nation a cordial and fellow·soldiers, but to honor them for their patriotism general support. and valor." Be quoted the historian Geor~e Bancroft's Thus did Livet-more rather gingerly approach the prob­ assessment of the place of the blacks in the Revolutionary lem, duly noting Lincoln's stated objections, but address­ experienc.e: ing himself to another argument in a fot-m that he per­ Nor should history forget to record, that as in the haps k-new Lincoln, who professed to ''love the sentiments army at Cambridge, so also in this gallant band (at of those old-time men," would find compelling. Bunker Hill], the free negroes of the Colony had their As in the first part, Livermore had to sidestep some representatives. For the right of the free negroes to official policies and legal enactments, and he even found bear arms in the public defense was, at that day, as uan historiC: parallel, in this: urt may be we-11 to observe, little disputed in New England as their other rights. that what has caused so much complaint in the manage. They took their place, not in a separate corps, but ment of the- present civil war--the appai"ently vacillating in their ranks with the white man; and their names action and unsettled policy of the. administration and may be read on the pension·rolls of the country, side the ai"my with regard to the use of negroes as soldiers­ by side with those of other soldiers of the Revolution. is not without a precedent ... in the annals of tho Revo.. He also included some digs at the South: lutionary \Var." Negroes were officially barred f rom the Continental army by this re$0lution earJy in the conflict: Although slavery existed throughout the country, it is a significant faet, that the principal opposition to The officers are to be careful not to enlist any person negro soldiers came from the States where there was suspected of being unfriendly to the liberties of the least hearty and effi cient support of the principles America, or any abandoned vagabond, to whom all of Republican Government, and the least ability or dis­ causes and countries are equal and alike indifferent. position to fur-nish an equal or fair quota of white The rights of mankind and the freedom of America soldiers. will have numbers sufficient to support them. without resorting to such w·retcbed assistance. Let those who South Carolina and Georgia contained so many wish to put shackles upon freemen fill their ranks with Tories, at one time, that it was supposed the British such miscreants, and place their confidence in them. officers, who elsewhere would, by proch\mation, free all Neither negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men negroes joining the Royal Armyt might hesitate to unfit to endure the fatigues of tbe campaign, are to meddle with them in these Colontes, Jest ''the ki_ng's be enlisted. friends" should suffer thereby. George \Vashington came to the black soldiers'-and in­ Livermor-e's historical brief perhaps fell a bit short directly to Livermore's-rescue by writing to the Presi­ of its mark. ln the Civil War Negroes served in black dent of Congress on December 31, 1775: units and most often with white commissioned officers. Black soldiers at first received ten dolla rs a month, three It has been represented t() me, that the free nettroes dollars of which could be deducted Cor clothing; t.he who have served in this army are very much dissatisfied white soldier received thirteen dollars a month plus at being discarded. As it is to be apprehended that clothing. Eventua11y, however, Congress equalized the they may seek employ in tbc Ministerial Army, I have pay of black and white soldiers. presumed to depart from the resolution respecting Prob•bly about 180,000 Negroes served as soldiers them, and have given license for their being enlisted. (officially called "United States Colored Troops") in the U this is disa.pproved of by Congress, I will put a stop Civil \Var. They were used for scouting in cases where to it. they knew the Southern terrain well and for spying A meeting of the general officers of the Continental army where !.hey could pass as slaves. At first they tended to a lso resolved to exclude blacks from enlistment, but in be as.eigned to a great deal of garrison duty. Nonetheless, regard t() free Negroes this was ig-nored, apparentl}r. black soldiers Eaw major action as early as May 27, 1863, Cong·ress decided in Washington's favor on January 16, at Port Hudson, Louisiana. They carried out a fan\ous 1776: "That the free ne~roes, who have served faithfully assault at Fort \Vagner in South Carolina on July 18, in the army at Cambridge, may be re-enlisted therein, 1863, and fought at Petersburg. In all. black soldiers par· but no others." ticipated in 250 actions in the Civil War. More than More importa.nt, various colonies pursued different pol­ 35,000 Negroes died of disease or hostile action during icies in regard to the use of blacks as soldiers. Some the war. Although most black troops served under white rewarded slaves who enlisted with freedom. In Rhode officers, sbout one hundred Negroes became commis­ Island, for example, the General Assembly in February, sioned officers during the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln 1778, never regretted his decision to endorse the use of black Voted and Resolved, That every able·bodied >togro, soldiers in the Union forces, a use which he termed "very mulatto, or Indian m~n slave, in this State, may inlist important, if not indispensable/' to the Union eause. into either of the said two battalions to serve during A(ter about one year's trial of the new soldiers, Lincoln the continuance of the present war with Great Britain: could eay, uso far as tested, it is difficult to say they that every slave so inlisting shall be entitled to and are not as good soldiers as any." receive all the bounties, wages, and encouragements It is always treacherous ground to prove that a book allowed by the Continental Congress to any soldier in­ influenced a man; it is hard to prove even that someone listing into their service. read a book. Stil1, we do know at least that the argument It i.s further Voted and Re3olved, That every slave was the sort that might have appealed to Lincoln. It so inJisting shall, u})On his passing muster before Col. was the sort he might have used himself had he had to Christopher Greene, be immediately discharged from prepare a long speech justifying the clause in the the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely Emancipation Proclamation endorsing the use of blacks FREE, as though he had never been incumbered with as soldiers in the Union armies.