Although the
election of 1864 had not been an obvious referendum on the
Thirteenth Amendment, the results were afterward claimed as a
mandate for passage of the measure. In the annual presidential
message to Congress of December 6, 1864, Lincoln
called for the current House to pass the Thirteenth Amendment
(rather than wait for the newly elected Congress, which was not
scheduled to met until December 1865, a year away). In so
doing, the president claimed that the popular will for the
amendment was reflected in the election results. That December,
Lincoln also appointed Salmon P. Chase, a
leading civil rights advocate for black Americans, as chief
justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. Senate confirmation gave
Lincoln five appointments on the Supreme Court, which allowed
Republicans to rest easier that their federal policies
concerning emancipation, the Civil War, and Reconstruction would
not be ruled unconstitutional.
Unlike Lincoln’s previous inactivity and
silence while Congress first considered an abolition amendment
in early 1864, after his reelection the president lobbied
intensely for swift passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. His
primary concern was the war, and he believed that emancipation
undermined Confederate morale. The president explained to
Congressman James Rollins, a Constitutional Unionist from the
Border State of Missouri, “I am very anxious that the war be
brought to a close at the earliest possible date … I don’t
believe this can be accomplished as long as those fellows down
South can rely on the border states to help them; but if the
members of the border states would unite, at least enough of
them to pass the … [Thirteenth] amendment … [Confederate
leaders] would soon see that they could not expect much help
from that quarter.”
Secretary of State William Henry Seward and
Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, who oversaw distribution of
the largest number of federal patronage jobs, also lobbied for
passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Congressman James Ashley
of Ohio, who was steering the measure through the House, urged
his fellow Republicans to promote its passage in their home
districts over the holiday recess. In the post-election period,
Congress received numerous appeals for the Thirteenth Amendment
from constituents, state legislatures, and state conventions.
The Border States were already moving
toward emancipation. On September 18, Maryland voters had
approved a new state constitution abolishing slavery, which took
effect on November 1, 1864. A double-page cartoon by Thomas Nast in the December 3, 1864 issue of Harper’s
Weekly includes an inset circular on the upper left
celebrating the freeing of slaves in Maryland. On January 11,
1865, delegates to the Missouri State Constitutional Convention
overwhelmingly approved immediate emancipation in their state.
Even the Confederacy was considering partial emancipation
through a proposal to arm some slaves and grant
them freedom after their military service.
Although circumstances for passage of the
Thirteenth Amendment became more favorable in the post-election
period, the measure still faced an uphill battle. Discussion of related issues in the U.S. Senate during early
January was reported in the January 21, 1865 issue of
Harper’s Weekly (published January 11). In proposing a bill
on January 5 to free the families of black servicemen,
Republican Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts expressed his
doubt that the Thirteenth Amendment would be enacted. The items
in that “Domestic Intelligence” column for January 6, 7, and 9
reveal that the House was focusing debate on the abolition
amendment. On January 13, Congressman Ashley tabled discussion
on the topic until January 31 so that proponents could have time
to find enough votes for passage. President Lincoln and his
administration redoubled their lobbying efforts, and the
amendment was endorsed by Tammany Hall, the major Democratic
political machine in New York City. The switch to support by
Kentucky Democrat James Guthrie, former Treasury secretary and
senator-elect, was influential on some who had previously
opposed the measure.
On January 31, 1865, the House resumed
discussion before a standing-room-only crowd in the galleries
above the floor. When the vote was taken that day, the
Thirteenth Amendment achieved a two-vote margin above the needed
two-thirds majority, 119-56. The galleries erupted in
boisterous applause, which was then joined by congressman on the
House floor. In the final vote,
all 86 Republicans had voted in favor of the Thirteenth
Amendment, along with 15 Democrats, 14 Unconditional Unionists,
and 4 Union men; opposition came from 50 Democrats and 6 Union
men.
Although a president’s signature was not
required, Lincoln signed the proposed Thirteenth Amendment
abolishing slavery in the entire nation and it was sent to the
states for ratification. In signing the document, Lincoln had
both followed and countered the example of his Democratic
predecessor, President James Buchanan, who had signed the
previously proposed Thirteenth Amendment (the Corwin Amendment), which had unsuccessfully sought to protect
slavery at the onset of the Civil War.
In the February 18, 1865 issue of
Harper’s Weekly (published February 8), a poem, “Free America,” celebrated passage of the Thirteenth
Amendment. On the same page, editor George William Curtis
observed that popular sentiment in the North
had finally come around to the understanding that slavery was
incompatible with Union and was “the root of civil war.” He
chastised those in the House who voted against the measure,
comparing them to British and French autocrats of the past. |