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n already torn perpetual union president lincoln stated this in his first inaugural address the union is much older than the constitution it was formed in fact by the articles of association in 1774 it was matured and continued by the declaration of independence in 1776 it was further matured and the faith of all the then thirteen states expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual by the articles of confederation in 1778 and finally in 1787 one of the declared objects for ordain ing and establishing the constitution was to form a more perfect union above is an excerpt from lincoln s first inaugural address with changes in his hand summarizing the birth formation and the establishment of a more perfect constitution of the perpetual union of the united states courtesy of the manuscript division of the library of congress he pleaded for peace in a strain of equal tenderness and dignity and in closing he said in your hands my dissatisfied fellow countrymen and not in mine is the momentous issue of civil war the government will not assail you you can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors you have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government while i shall have a most solemn one to preserve protect and defend it this speech profoundly affected the public opinion of the north but in the excited state of sentiment that then controlled the south it naturally met only contempt and defiance in that section a few weeks later the inevitable war began in an attack upon fort sumter by the secessionists of south carolina under general g t beauregard and after a long bombardment the fort surrendered on 13 april 1861 the president instantly called for a force of 75 000 three months militiamen and three weeks later ordered the enlistment of 64 000 soldiers and 18 000 seamen for three years he set on foot a blockade of the southern ports and called congress together in special session choosing for their day of meeting the 4th of july the remaining states of the south rapidly arrayed themselves on one side or the other all except maryland kentucky and missouri were drawn into the secession movement and the western part of virginia adhering to the union under the name of west virginia separated itself from that ancient commonwealth the first important battle of the war took place at bull run near manassas station va 21 july 1861 and resulted in the defeat of the national troops under general irwin mcdowell by a somewhat larger force of the confederates under generals joseph e johnston and beauregard though the loss in killed and wounded was not great and was about the same on both sides the victory was still one of the utmost importance for the confederates and gave them a great increase of prestige on both sides of the atlantic they were not however able to pursue their advantage the summer was passed in enlisting drilling and equipping a formidable national army on the banks of the potomac which was given in charge of general george b mcclellan a young officer who had distinguished himself by a successful campaign in western virginia president lincoln at antietam md with gen george b mcclellan in the general s tent by gardner alexander october 3 1862 in spite of the urgency of the government which was increased by the earnestness of the people and their representatives in congress general mcclellan made no advance until the spring of 1862 when general johnston in command of the confederate army evacuated the position which with about 45 000 men he had held during the autumn and winter against the army of the potomac amounting to about 177 000 effectives general mcclellan then transferred his army to the peninsula between the james and york rivers although there was but a force of 16 000 opposed to him when he landed he spent a month before the works at yorktown and when he was prepared to open fire upon them they were evacuated and general johnston retreated to the neighborhood of richmond the battle of seven pines in which the confederates successful in their first attack were afterward repelled was fought on 31 may 1862 johnston was wounded and the command devolved upon general robert e lee who in the latter part of june moved out from his position before richmond and attacked mcclellan s right flank under general fitz john porter at gaines s mills north of the chickahominy porter with one corps resisted the confederate army all day with great gallantry unassisted by the main army under mcclellan but withdrew in the evening and mcclellan at once began his retreat to the james river several battles were fought on the way in which the confederates were checked but the retreat continued until the national army reached the james taking position at malvern hill they inflicted a severe defeat upon general lee but were immediately after withdrawn by general mcclellan to harrison s landing here as at other times during his career mcclellan labored under a strange hallucination as to the numbers of his enemy he generally estimated them at not less than twice their actual force and continually re preached the president for not giving him impossible re enforcements to equal the imaginary numbers he thought opposed to him in point of fact his army was always in excess of that of johnston or lee the continual disasters in the east were somewhat compensated by a series of brilliant successes in the west in february 1862 general ulysses s grant had captured the confederate forts henry and donelson thus laying open the great strategic lines of the tennessee and cumberland rivers and moving southward had fought 6 and 7 april the battle of shiloh with unfavorable results on the first day which were turned to a victory on the second with the aid of general d c buell and his army a battle in which general albert sidney johnston was killed and the confederate invasion of kentucky baffled farragut on 24 april had won a brilliant naval victory over the twin forts above the mouths of the mississippi which resulted in the capture of new orleans and the control of the lower mississippi loyola university honors program students unveil hosted by the new orleans jazz museum and the louisiana historical center after general mcclellan s retreat to the james the president visited the army at harrison s landing 8 july and after careful consultations with the corps commanders became convinced that in the actual disposition of the officers and the troops there was no reasonable expectation of a successful movement upon richmond by mcclellan an order was therefore issued for the withdrawal of the army from the james and general halleck having been appointed general in chief general pope was sent forward from washington with a small force to delay the confederate army under general lee until the army of the potomac could arrive and be concentrated to support him mcclellan s movements however were so deliberate and there was such a want of confidence and co operation on the part of his officers toward general pope that the national army met with a decisive defeat on the same battlefield of bull run that saw their first disaster general pope disheartened by the lack of sympathy and support that he discerned among the most eminent officers of the army of the potomac retreated upon washington and general mcclellan who seemed to be the only officer under whom the army was at the moment willing to serve was placed in command of it general lee elated with his success crossed the potomac but was met by the army under mcclellan at south mountain and antietam and after two days of great slaughter lee retreated into virginia president lincoln availed himself of this occasion to give effect to a resolve that had long been maturing in his mind in an act the most momentous in its significance and results that the century has witnessed for a year and a half he had been subjected to urgent solicitations from the two great political parties of the country the one side appealing to him to take decided measures against slavery and the other imploring him to pursue a conservative course in regard to that institution his deep rooted detestation of the system of domestic servitude was no secret to any one but his reverence for the law his regard for vested interests and his anxiety to do nothing that should alienate any considerable body of the supporters of the government had thus far induced him to pursue a middle course between the two extremes meanwhile the power of events had compelled a steady progress in the direction of emancipation so early as august 1861 congress had passed an act to confiscate the rights of slave owners in slaves employed in a manner hostile to the union and general fremont had seized the occasion of the passage of this act to issue an order to confiscate and emancipate the slaves of rebels in the state of missouri president lincoln unwilling in a matter of such transcendent importance to leave the initiative to any subordinate revoked this order and directed general fremont to modify it so that it should conform to the confiscation act of congress this excited violent opposition to the president among the radical anti slavery men in missouri and elsewhere while it drew upon him the scarcely less embarrassing importunities of the conservatives who wished him to take still more decided ground against the radicals on 6 march 1862 he sent a special message to congress enclosing a resolution the passage of which he recommended to offer pecuniary aid from the general government to states that should adopt the gradual abolishment of slavery this resolution was promptly passed by congress but in none of the slave states was public sentiment sufficiently advanced to permit them to avail themselves of it the next month however congress passed a law emancipating slaves in the district of columbia with compensation to owners and president lincoln had the happiness of affixing his signature to a measure that he had many years before while a representative from illinois fruitlessly urged upon the notice of congress as the war went on wherever the national armies penetrated there was a constant stream of fugitive slaves from the adjoining regions and the commanders of each department treated the complicated questions arising from this body of contra bands as they came to be called in their camps according to their own judgment of the necessities or the expediencies of each case a discretion which the president thought best to tolerate but on 9 may 1862 general david hunter an intimate and esteemed friend of mr lincoln s saw proper without consultation with him to issue a military order declaring all persons theretofore held as slaves in georgia florida and south carolina forever free the president as soon as he received this order issued a proclamation declaring it void and reserving to himself the decision of the question whether it was competent for him as commander in chief of the army and navy to declare the slaves of any state or states free and whether at any time or in any case it should have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the govern merit to exercise such supposed power and prohibiting to commanders in the field the decision of such questions but he added in his proclamation a significant warning and appeal to the slave holding states urging once more upon them the policy of emancipation by state action i do not argue he said i beseech you to make the argument for yourselves you cannot if you would be blind to the signs of the times i beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them ranging if it may be far above personal and partisan politics this proposal makes common cause for a common object casting no reproaches upon any will you not embrace it so much good has not been done by one effort in all past time as in the providence of god it is now your high privilege to do nay the vast future not have cause to la merit that you have neglected it he had several times endeavored to bring this proposition before the members of congress from the loyal slave holding states and on 12 july he invited them to meet him at the executive mansion and submitted to them a powerful and urgent appeal to induce their states to adopt the policy of compensated emancipation he told them without reproach or complaint that he believed that if they had all voted for the resolution in the gradual emancipation message of the preceding march the war would now have been substantially ended and that the plan therein proposed was still one of the most potent and swift means of ending it let the states he said which are in rebellion see definitely and certainly that in no event will the states you represent ever join their proposed confederacy and they cannot much longer maintain the contest while urging this policy upon the conservatives and while resolved in his own mind upon emancipation by decree as a last resource he was the subject of vehement attacks from the more radical anti slavery supporters of the government to which he replied with unfailing moderation and good temper although in july he had resolved upon his course and had read to his cabinet a draft of a proclamation of emancipation which he had then laid aside for a more fitting occasion on the suggestion from mr seward that its issue in the disastrous condition of our military affairs would be interpreted as a sign of desperation he met the reproaches of the radical republicans the entreaties of visiting delegations and the persuasions of his eager friends with arguments showing both sides of the question of which they persisted in seeing only one abraham lincoln ink well used in the first draft of a proclamation of the emancipation proclamation to horace greeley on 22 aug mr lincoln said my paramount object is to save the union and not either to save or destroy slavery if i could save the union without freeing any slave i would do it if i could save it by freeing all the slaves i would do it and if i could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone i would also do that emancipation proclamation signature section of abraham lincoln and william h seward and even so late as 13 sept he said to a delegation of a religious society who were urging immediate ac ton i do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative like the pope s bull against the comet i view this matter as a practical war measure to be decided on according to the advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the rebellion still he assured them that he had not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves but that the matter occupied his deepest thoughts the retreat of lee from maryland after his defeat at antietam seemed to the president to afford a proper occasion for the execution of his long matured resolve and on 22 sept he issued his preliminary proclamation giving notice to the states in rebellion that on 1 jan 1863...