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VIRGINIA'S ATTITUDE TOWARD SLAVERY AND SECESSION
VIRGINIA'S ATTITUDE TOWARD SLAVERY AND SECESSION
This work is designed as a contribution to the volume of information from which the historian of the future will be able to prepare an impartial and comprehensive narrative of the American Civil War, or to speak more accurately—The American War of Secession. No attempt has been made to present the causes which precipitated the secession of the Cotton States, nor the states which subsequently adopted the same policy, except Virginia. Even in regard to that commonwealth the effort has been limited
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I
I
The story of the American Civil War presents a subject fraught with interest, not destined to die with the passing years. Even the finality of the verdict then rendered on the issues joined will not abate the desire of men to fix with precision the political and ethical questions involved and the motives which impelled the participants in that deplorable tragedy. The sword may determine the boundaries of empire or the political destinies of a people, but the great assize of the world's thought a
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II
II
It is not questioned that among the people of Virginia were men of widely divergent views; Secessionists of the most ultra type, insisting on the state's right to secede, and demanding her immediate withdrawal from the Union; anti-secessionists of the strongest mould, denying the right of secession and protesting against its attempted exercise; Unionists who admitted the right in the state, as a desperate measure of relief, but denying that any such occasion had arisen; advocates of slavery who
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III
III
President Lincoln in his inaugural address declared:—"One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes slavery is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute." Other voices proclaimed that there existed an "irrepressible conflict" between the North and the South in which the abolition or maintenance of slavery was the gage of battle. The two assertions may be combined and the question considered whether Virginia
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IV
IV
Foremost among the laws enacted by her General Assembly after Virginia's declaration of independence from British rule was her celebrated statute prohibiting the slave trade. This act was passed in 1778—thus antedating by thirty years the like action of Great Britain. By this law, it was provided, "that from and after the passing of this act no slaves shall hereafter be imported into this commonwealth by sea or land, nor shall any slaves so imported be sold or bought by any person whatsoever." T
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V
V
The supreme opportunity for suppressing the importation of slaves and thus hastening the day of emancipation came with the adoption of the Federal Constitution. As we have seen, with every increase in the number of slaves the difficulties and dangers of emancipation were multiplied. The hope of emancipation rested in stopping their further importation and dispersing throughout the land those who had already found a home in our midst. To put an end to "this pernicious traffic" was therefore the s
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VI
VI
Despite Virginia's failure to secure the immediate suppression of the foreign slave trade, her sons were active in their efforts to restrict its growth and at the earliest possible moment to drive the slave ships from the seas. In the first Congress under the constitution, April, 1789, Josiah Parker of Virginia sought to amend the Tariff Bill under discussion by inserting a clause levying an import tax of ten dollars upon every slave brought into the country. "He was sorry the constitution preve
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VII
VII
Having by her act of 1778, prohibiting the importation of slaves, provided against any increase in their number from without, Virginia at the close of the Revolution proceeded to legislate with respect to those already in her midst, permitting and encouraging their gradual emancipation. STATUTE PERMITTING EMANCIPATIONS Under British rule, slaveholders were forbidden to manumit their slaves, except with the permission of the Council. [48] In 1782, the General Assembly of Virginia enacted a law, u
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VIII
VIII
The Southampton Insurrection, which occurred in August, 1831, was one of those untoward incidents which so often marked the history of slavery. Under the leadership of one Nat Turner, a negro preacher, of some education, who felt that he had been called of God to deliver his race from bondage, the negroes attacked the whites at night and before the assault could be suppressed fifty-seven whites, principally women and children, had been killed. This deplorable event assumed an even more portentou
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IX
IX
Thomas Jefferson Randolph was the foremost advocate of gradual emancipation in the Virginia Legislature of 1832. In a pamphlet printed in 1870 reviewing political conditions in Virginia he makes the following statement with reference to the subject of emancipation and the influences which hindered its accomplishment after the year 1833: "After the adjournment of the Legislature in 1833, the question was discussed before the people fairly and squarely, as one of the abolition of slavery. I was re
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X
X
The idea of colonization seems to have originated with Mr. Jefferson, who, in 1777, submitted a plan to a committee of the General Assembly of Virginia. In 1787, Dr. William Thornton published an address to the free negroes of the whole country offering to lead them in person back to Africa. In December, 1800, the General Assembly passed a resolution requesting the Governor to communicate with the President of the United States with the view of purchasing lands beyond the limits of Virginia for
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XI
XI
By the will of Samuel Gist, his slaves were emancipated and William F. Wickham and Carter B. Page, of Richmond, appointed trustees to acquire land in some one of the free states on which to provide homes for the newly manumitted freedmen. Accordingly, these trustees purchased two tracts of land in Brown County, Ohio, one containing one thousand and the other twelve hundred acres at a cost of $4400.00. [86] In 1819, the freedmen, consisting of one hundred and thirteen from Hanover County and one
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XII
XII
If it be urged that Virginia had reached the conclusion that without the dispersion or colonization of the whole or a large portion of her slave population emancipation was impracticable, it may be acknowledged that to a qualified extent this was true. The position, however, did not involve an abandonment of the principle of emancipation, but rather the insistence that with emancipation should go the work of solving the race problem by a method which gave some assurance of complete success. That
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XIII
XIII
No account of Virginia's record in regard to slavery would be complete which failed to set forth the position of her foremost men with respect to the institution. From a mass of data we have selected the following declarations as fairly expressive of their sentiments. We have not recorded the views of Virginians, however worthy, who were not by birth, training and sympathies, representative of the dominant element of her people. ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS PRIOR TO 1810 Richard Henry Lee, speaking i
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XIV
XIV
ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS, 1832 The anti-slavery sentiments of prominent Virginians, expressed in the speeches delivered in the notable debate which occurred in the Virginia Legislature of 1832, may well be considered in a group by themselves. The speakers were all young men and represented a later generation than those from whom quotations have already been given. Many of them were destined to fill important roles in the political life of the state and some of them, with undiminished influence, s
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XV
XV
The period from 1833-1860 witnessed, as we have seen, the rise and progress of the abolition movement at the North and the growth of pro-slavery sentiment in Virginia and the South. These conditions are reflected in the deliverances of many prominent anti-slavery Virginians, and by a growing indisposition on the part of others of this element to publicly declare their sentiments or to take part in the discussions, which, with growing bitterness, marked the times. ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS FROM 183
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XVI
XVI
An examination of a few of the great number of deeds and wills which are to be found on record throughout Virginia will serve to illustrate the motives of her emancipators and the many difficulties which confronted them. These emancipations may be grouped in three periods,—from 1782 to 1806, from 1806 to 1833, and from 1833 to the outbreak of the Civil War. Each of these periods had its peculiar characteristics with reference to the problem of emancipation in Virginia. From 1782 to 1806 the law
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XVII
XVII
SPECIMENS OF DEEDS AND WILLS, 1833-1860 The deeds and wills during the period from 1833 to the Civil War made increasingly large provisions for the removal and colonization of the freedmen. It may be also noted that arraignments of slavery became very rare during that period. The same influences which almost hushed the voice of anti-slavery orators in Virginia, were effective in banishing from the deeds and wills of emancipators expressions which might give aid and comfort to the men who were da
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XVIII
XVIII
Among the many widespread misconceptions which existed with respect to slavery in Virginia, was the impression that the great majority of her citizens were slaveholders; that the slaves were scattered throughout the state, enriching by their labors every community, and that thus their emancipation was opposed from purely pecuniary motives. A presentation of the actual conditions will suffice to demonstrate that this impression was erroneous. The facts show that the slaveholders constituted a sma
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XIX
XIX
From the foregoing statistics it appears that the slaveholders of Virginia constituted a small minority of her population, and that the slaves themselves were so grouped that the pecuniary advantage of their presence to the state—if any such advantage existed—was limited to certain well defined portions of her territory. That the institution of slavery, however, was a positive disadvantage to the material prosperity of Virginia is proved by the fact that free states, not half so richly endowed w
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XX
XX
But it is charged that while slavery was unprofitable in Virginia, as a system of labor, yet the state had become a "breeding ground" where slaves were reared and sold for profit and that the advantages accruing from this traffic had destroyed all sentiment in favor of emancipation, and so lowered the moral standards of the people that, in 1861, they stood ready to fight for the maintenance of slavery and the inter-state slave trade. Mr. Fiske says: "The life of the anti-slavery party in Virgini
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XXI
XXI
Approaching the subject from another side, and reviewing all the sources of evidence, we may reach certain fairly accurate conclusions. At the close of the Revolution, Virginia was the largest slaveholding state in the Union. There soon grew up the conviction that in the dispersion or colonization beyond her borders of at least a large portion of this population lay the only method of effectually solving the slavery and racial problems. In consequence of this condition, various movements were ev
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XXII
XXII
The accusation that the people of Virginia of the Civil War period stood ready to fight "no matter whom and little matter how, for the protection of slavery and slave property," because of the profits derived from the inter-state slave trade, would seem to acquit those Virginians who derived no benefit from the traffic. We have seen, from the facts heretofore presented, what a small proportion of the people of Virginia were owners of slaves; and all available data indicate a still less proportio
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XXIII
XXIII
The problems and difficulties which beset emancipation in Virginia may be summarized as follows: First: The legal rights of the slaveholders and their creditors; Second: The moral and physical well-being of the slaves; and Third: The political and social interests of the state. To these inherent difficulties should be superadded the lack of free discussion and the growth of bitterness and reactionary sentiments occasioned largely by partisan and ofttimes criminal instigations coming from beyond
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XXIV
XXIV
Beyond all the difficulties mentioned, there loomed the more portentous problem of the effect upon the state's political and social well-being of the introduction into her free population of a great company of negroes, whether as citizens or suffragists, or mere tenants at the will of their white brethren. What should be the outcome of such an unparalleled experiment as universal emancipation under the conditions existing in Virginia? The results of emancipation in the free states furnished no a
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XXV
XXV
"Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." In these words Lord Macaulay fixes free discussion as a prime requisite to the right solution of problems, however difficult. It was one of the baneful features of slavery and the racial problems attending it that in the period just antedating the Civil War tolerant discussion was almost banished from the arena. As a rule, men of moderate views and sane counsels were driven to the rear, while the Fanatics of t
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XXVI
XXVI
In considering the status of the controversy with respect to slavery just prior to the Civil War, and whether Virginia in seceding was actuated by a desire to extend or perpetuate the institution, it will assist to a clearer understanding if we present in detail the several phases over which conflicts had arisen, and the parties to the same. The right and obligation of the Federal Government to prevent, by legislation, slaveholders from emigrating into the territories with their slaves; the duty
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XXVII
XXVII
With respect to the institution of slavery, itself, in the Southern States, the position of the Republican Party, as a party, was even more reassuring. The platform of the party, upon which Mr. Lincoln was elected President, gave the most explicit assurance of the purpose of the incoming Administration to refrain from any interference with slavery, in the states where it was recognized by law. "The maintenance inviolate," declared that platform, "of the rights of the states, and especially of ea
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XXVIII
XXVIII
The constitution of the United States provides: "2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another state, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be disch
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XXIX
XXIX
THE PERSONAL LIBERTY LAWS Beginning in 1837, Massachusetts adopted the first of the so-called Personal Liberty Laws, which were followed by others of like import enacted by Vermont, New York and Connecticut. The ostensible object of these statutes was to protect free negroes, but as no such laws were necessary until the rise of the Abolitionists and the operations of the Underground Railroad, they were generally accepted as efforts on the part of these states to assist these agencies and defeat
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XXX
XXX
We come now to consider the fourth force or factor with which Virginia had to reckon, namely, the Abolitionists. These constituted a body of earnest, tireless agitators—men and women who had devoted mind and heart to the work of destroying slavery. No consideration of the maintenance of law, the national peace, nor the preservation of the Union availed to moderate their zeal or circumscribe their efforts. Slavery was a sin against God—and to the King of kings they owed their first allegiance. To
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XXXI
XXXI
The disunion sentiments and efforts of the Abolitionists may be traced through the declarations of their leaders and the platforms of their societies, enunciated from time to time, during a long series of years antedating the Civil War. Thus in January, 1843, the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society adopted the following resolution: "That the compact which exists between the North and the South is a covenant with Death and an agreement with Hell—involving both parties in atrocious criminality, and
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XXXII
XXXII
These citations from the deliverances of the great leaders of the Abolitionists will give some idea of the motives and methods which pervaded that fellowship. With tireless insistence they went forward with their labors for the abolition of slavery and the dissolution of the Union, the latter being deemed a condition precedent to the complete accomplishment of the former. Only the action of South Carolina, which brought the nation face to face with a practical attempt at disunion, served to susp
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XXXIII
XXXIII
Our review of the record of the Federal Government with respect to slavery and the attitude of the Republican Party, which had just assumed control of its Executive and Legislative Departments, in regard thereto, is sufficient to demonstrate that, at the time Virginia seceded, she could not have been actuated by a selfish desire to defend the institution against the hostile power of the Nation. There was no rallying of the people of Virginia to resist a threatened edict of emancipation because n
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XXXIV
XXXIV
In considering the question whether Virginia, in transferring her allegiance to the Southern Confederacy, was animated by a wanton desire to destroy the Union and defeat the ideals of its founders, it will assist to a more accurate conclusion if we review her part in the making of the Republic and the spirit which moved her people in the day of separation. If she had been conspicuous in the work of establishing the Union and in promoting its growth and glory, then it were more reasonable to ascr
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XXXV
XXXV
When the Revolution had finally triumphed in the battle fought out on her soil, Virginia statesmen were the first to realize the infirmities of the existing government and the need of a system more National in its ideals and powers. EFFORTS TO STRENGTHEN UNION In 1786, her General Assembly adopted resolutions calling for a meeting of representatives from all the states to prepare such amendments to the Articles of Confederation as would enlarge the powers of Congress over commerce,—foreign and d
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XXXVI
XXXVI
As Virginia had borne a conspicuous part in founding the Union, so, when civil dissensions arose and its integrity was threatened, she was foremost in mediation. At no time were her efforts more earnest than in the troublous days of 1860-61. James Ford Rhodes says: "Virginia, whose share in forming the Union had been greater than that of any other one state, was loath to see that great work shattered, and now made a supreme effort to save it." [355] Following the announcement of Mr. Lincoln's el
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XXXVII
XXXVII
The General Assembly which issued the call for the Peace Conference also adopted a joint resolution providing for a convention in Virginia to take under consideration the problems and dangers of the hour. By the terms of this act, the people of Virginia were to select delegates to the convention, and were to declare by a separate vote whether the action of that body should be binding upon the commonwealth, or whether it should be referred back to them for ratification or rejection. UNION VICTORY
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PART IV
PART IV
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURAL President Lincoln's first inaugural address may be safely reckoned among the most notable of American state papers, both for the purity of diction and the earnest patriotism which pervade it. With a spirit of fraternalism appealing and pathetic, he called upon his countrymen to turn from discord and separation to a new lease of brotherhood and a revival of devotion to the Republic consecrated by the sacrifices and labors of their fathers. The address gave assu
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XXXIX
XXXIX
For nearly a month and a half after President Lincoln's inauguration, the struggle in the Virginia Convention between the advocates and opponents of secession continued—a contest in which the champions of opposing sides living beyond the state sought to make their influence effective. Mr. Rhodes says: "It is easy to understand why both Davis and Lincoln were so anxious for the adhesion of Virginia. Her worth was measured by the quality as well as the number of her men." [376] COERCION THE PIVOTA
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XL
XL
On the 8th of April, the Virginia Convention adopted the following resolution: "WHEREAS, in the opinion of this Convention the uncertainty which prevails in the public mind as to the policy which the Federal Executive intends to pursue towards the seceded states is extremely injurious to the industrial and commercial interests of the country, tends to keep up an excitement which is unfavorable to the adjustment of pending difficulties, and threatens a disturbance of the public peace; therefore,
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XLI
XLI
The relative responsibility for the collision at Fort Sumter we are not concerned to consider except in so far as it may have affected the action of Virginia in withdrawing from the Union. The charge is often heard, that, despite Virginia's professed love for the Union, and her efforts to maintain the peace, she made haste to unite her fortunes with the Southern Confederacy because of this assault by its soldiers upon Fort Sumter. It would seem a most illogical conclusion to all her unquestioned
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XLII
XLII
James Ford Rhodes in his history of the United States, referring to the eventful year of 1861, says: "There were at this time in the Border States of Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri unconditional Secessionists and unconditional Union men; but the great body of the people, although believing that the wrongs of the South were grievous and cried for redress, deemed secession inexpedient.... All denied either the right or the feasibility of coercion." [399] What was the pith and potency of
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XLIII
XLIII
The crisis arose and thus was precipitated Virginia's secession. To many of her people it came as a long hoped for event. They rejoiced that Virginia was now to enter upon a more inspiring career untrammelled by associates divergent in sentiments and hostile in interests. They hailed the rise of the Southern Confederacy as a new nation born into the world, and with eager hearts looked forward to a future which should bring to the people of Virginia and the South a measure of self-government, pea
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abridgment of Debates in Congress. Adams, Charles Francis. Lee at Appomattox and Other Papers, 2nd Edition, 1902. Adams, Rev. Nehemiah. A South Side View of Slavery, or Three Months at the South in 1854. African Repository and Colonial Journal. American Antiquarian Society, Proceedings of. New Series, Vol. V. American Colonization Society, Reports of. 1817-1860. Annals of Congress. Arnold, Isaac N. Lincoln and Slavery, Chicago, 1866. Ballagh, J. C. History of Slavery in Virginia, 1902. Bancroft,
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