History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth United States Congresses, 1861-65, by Henry Wilson, 1865.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CONCLUSION.

THE annals of the nation bear the amplest evidence that the patriots and statesmen who carried the country through the Revolution from colonial dependence to national independence, framed the Constitution, and inaugurated the Federal Government, hoped and believed that slavery would pass away at no distant period under the influences of the institutional they had founded. But those illustrious men tasted death without witnessing the realization of their hopes and anticipations. The rapid development of the resources of the country under the protection of a stable government, the opening-up of new and rich lands, the expansion of territory, and perhaps, more than all, the wonderful growth and importance of the cotton culture, enhanced the value of labor, and increased many fold the price of slaves. Under the stimulating influences of an ever-increasing pecuniary interest, a political power was speedily developed, which early manifested itself in the National Government. F6r nearly two generations, the slaveholding class, into whose power the Government early passed, dictated the policy of the nation. But the Presidential Election of 1860 resulted in the defeat of the slaveholding class, and in the success of men who religiously believe slavery to be a grievous wrong to the slave, a blight upon the prosperity, and a Page 418 stain upon the name, of the country. Defeated in its aims, broken in its power, humiliated in its pride, the slaveholding class raised at once the banners of treason. Retiring from the chambers of Congress, abandoning the seats of power to men who had persistently opposed their aggressive policy, they brought to an abrupt close the record of half a century of slavery measures in Congress. Then, when slavery legislation ended, antislavery legislation began. A condemned summary of the Antislavery Measures in Congress, briefly traced in the preceding pages, may perhaps convey to the reader more distinctly their scope and magnitude.

When the Rebellion culminated in active hostilities, it was seen that thousands of slaves were used for military purposes by the rebel forces. To weaken the forces of the Rebellion, the 37th Congress decreed that such slaves should be for ever free.

As the Union armies advanced into the rebel States, slaves, inspired by the hope of personal freedom, flocked to their encampments, claiming protection against rebel masters, and offering to work and fight for the flag whose stars for the first time gleamed upon their vision with the radiance of liberty. Rebel masters and rebel sympathizing masters sought the encampments of the loyal forces, demanding the surrender of the escaped fugitives ; and they were often delivered up by officers of the armies. To weaken the power of the Insurgents, to strengthen the loyal forces, and assert the claims of humanity, the 37th Congress enacted an article of war, dismissing from the service officers guilty of surrendering these fugitives.

Three thousand persons were held as slaves in the Page 419 District of Columbia, over which the nation exercised exclusive jurisdiction : the 37th Congress made these three thousand bondmen freemen, and made slaveholding in the capital of the nation for evermore impossible.

Laws and ordinances existed in the national capital, that pressed with merciless rigor upon the colored people : the 37th Congress enacted that colored persons should be tried for the same offences, in the same manner, and be subject to the same punishments, as white persons ; thus abrogating the " black code."

Colored persons in the capital of this Christian nation were denied the right to testify in the judicial tribunals ; thus placing their property, their liberties, and their lives, in the power of unjust and wicked men : the 37th Congress enacted that persons should not be excluded as witnesses in the courts of the District on account of color.

In the capital of the nation, colored persons were taxed to support schools, from which their own children were excluded ; and no public schools were provided for the instruction of more than four thousand youth : the 38th Congress provided by law that public schools should be established for colored children, and that the same rate of appropriations for colored schools should be made as are made for schools for the education of white children.

The railways chartered by Congress excluded from their cars colored persona, without the authority of law : Congress enacted that there should be no exclusion from any car on account of color.

Into the territories of the United States, — one-third of the surface of the country, — the slaveholding Page 420 class claimed the right to take and hold their slaves under the protection of law : the 37th Congress prohibited slavery for ever in all the existing territory, and in all territory which may hereafter be acquired ; thus stamping freedom for all, for ever, upon the public domain.

As the war progressed, it became more clearly apparent that the rebels hoped to win the Border slave States ; that rebel sympathizers in those States hoped to join the rebel States ; and that emancipation in loyal States would bring repose to them, and weaken the power of the Rebellion : the 37th Congress, on the recommendation of the President, by the passage of a joint resolution, pledged the faith of the nation to aid loyal States to emancipate the slaves therein.

The hoe and spade of the rebel slave were hardly less potent for the Rebellion than the rifle and bayonet of the rebel soldier. Slaves sowed and reaped for the rebels, enabling the rebel leaders to fill the wasting ranks of their armies, and feed them. To weaken the military forces and the power of the Rebellion, the 37 th Congress decreed that all slaves of persona giving aid and comfort to the Rebellion, escaping from such persona, and taking refuge within the lines of the army ; all slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them ; all slaves of each persona, being within any place occupied by rebel forces, and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, — shall be captives of war, and shall be for ever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves.

The provisions of the Fugitive-slave Act permitted disloyal masters to claim, and they did claim, the return Page 421 of their fugitive bondmen : the 37th Congress enacted that no fugitive should be surrendered until the claimant made oath that he had not given aid and comfort to the Rebellion.

The progress of the Rebellion demonstrated its power, and the needs of the imperiled nation. To strengthen the physical forces of the United States, the 37th Congress authorized the President to receive into the military service persons of African descent ; and every such person mustered into the service, his mother or his wife and children, owing service or labor to any person who should give aid and comfort to the Rebellion, was made for ever free.

The African slave-trade had been carried on by slave pirates under the protection of the flag of the United States. To extirpate from the seas that inhuman traffic, and to vindicate the sullied honor of the nation, the Administration early entered into treaty stipulations with the British Government for the mutual right of search within certain limits ; and the 37th Congress hastened to enact the appropriate legislation to carry the treaty into effect.

The slaveholding class, in the pride of power, persistently refused to recognize the independence of Hayti and Liberia ; thus dealing unjustly towards those nations, to the detriment of the commercial interests of the country : the 37th Congress recognized the independence of those republics by authorizing the President to establish diplomatic relations with them.

By the provisions of law, white male citizens alone were enrolled in the militia. In the amendment to the acta for calling out the Militia, the 37th Congress provided Page 422 for the enrolment and drafting of citizens, without regard to color ; and, by the Enrolment Act, colored persona, free or slave, are enrolled and drafted the same as white men. The 38th Congress enacted that colored soldiers shall have the same pay, clothing, and rations, and be placed in all respects upon the same footing, as white soldiers. To encourage enlistments, and to aid emancipation, the 38th Congress decreed that every slave mustered into the military service shall be free for ever ; thus enabling every slave fit for military service to secure personal freedom.

By the provisions of the fugitive-slave acts, slave-masters could hunt their absconding bondmen, require the people to aid in their recapture, and have them returned at the expense of the nation. The 38th Congress erased all fugitive-slave acta from the statutes of the Republic.

The law of 1807 legalized the coastwise slave-trade : the 38th Congress repealed that act, and made the trade illegal.

The courts of the United States receive each testimony as is permitted in the States where the courts are holden. Several of the States exclude the testimony of colored persona. The 38th Congress made it legal for colored persons to testify in all the courts of the United States.

Different views are entertained by public men relative to the reconstruction of the governments of the seceded States, and the validity of the President's proclamation of emancipation. The 38th Congress passed a bill providing for the reconstruction of the governments of the rebel States, and for the emancipation Page 423 of the slaves in those States ; but it did not receive the approval of the President.

Colored persons were not permitted to carry the United-States mail : the 38th Congress repealed the prohibitory legislation, and made it lawful for persons of color to carry the mails.

Wives and children of colored persons in the military and naval service of the United States were often held as slaves ; and, while husbands and fathers were absent fighting the battles of the country, these wives and children were sometimes removed and sold, and often treated with cruelty: the 38th Congress made free the wives and children of all persona engaged in the military or naval service of the country.

The disorganization of the slave system, and the exigencies of civil war, have thrown thousands of freedmen upon the charity of the nation : to relieve their immediate needs, and to aid them through the transition period, the 38th Congress established a Bureau of Freedmen.

The prohibition of slavery in the Territories, its abolition in the District of Columbia, the freedom of colored soldiers, their wives and children, emancipation in Maryland, Weet Virginia, and Missouri, and by the re-organized State authorities of Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisiana, and the President's Emancipation Proclamation, disorganized the slave system, and practically left few persons in bondage ; but slavery still continued in Delaware and Kentucky, and the slave codes remain unrepealed in the rebel States. To annihilate the slave system, its codes and usages ; to make slavery impossible, and freedom universal, — the 38th Congress Page 424 submitted to the people antislavery amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The adoption of that crowning measure assure freedom to all.

Such are the "Antislavery Measures" of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses during the past four crowded years. Seldom in the history of nations is it given to any body of legislators or law givers to enact or institute a series of measures so vast in their scope, so comprehensive in their character, so patriotic, just, and humane.

But, while the 37th and 38th Congresses were enacting this antislavery legislation, other agencies were working to the consummation of the same end, — the complete and final abolition of slavery. The President proclaims three and a half millions of bondmen in the rebel States henceforward and for ever free. Maryland, Virginia, and Missouri adopt immediate and unconditional emancipation. The partially re-organized rebel States of Virginia and Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana, accept and adopt the unrestricted abolition of slavery. Illinois and other States hasten to blot from their statute-books their dishonoring black codes. The Attorney - General officially pronounced the negro a citizen of the United States. The negro, who had no status in the Supreme Court, is admitted by the Chief Justice to practice as an attorney before that august tribunal. Christian men and women follow the loyal armies with the agencies of mental and moral instruction to fit and prepare the enfranchised freedmen for the duties of the higher condition of life now opening before them.

Source: Wilson, Henry. History of the Antislavery Measures of the Thirty-Seventh and Thirty-Eighth United States Congresses, 1861-1865, Boston: Walker, Fuller, & Co., 1865.