THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER XXXVIII. 1864. POLITICAL AFFAIRS. Chase's desire for the Presidency - The Pomeroy circular — Lincoln's attitude toward Chase - Lincoln's nomination by the Ohio caucus - The Cleveland convention The renomination of Lincoln and Johnson - Lincoln's acceptance - Chase's hostility to the President and final resignation - The appointment of Fessenden-The reconstruction theories of Sumner and Lincoln-The Wade-Davis bill The Wade-Davis manifesto. L INCOLN'S term of office was to expire on March 4, 1865, and in the fall of 1864 an election was to be held to decide whether he should succeed himself or should give way to some one else. Preparations for the nomination were begun in the spring of 1864. Lincoln's political position was quite strong, yet there was considerable disaffection, which had found its head in Secretary Chase whose craving for the Presidency was proverbial and perennial. Chase had repeatedly declared that he was not anxious for that office, but would bow to public sentiment. His private correspondence was permeated with an overweening anxiety for the nomination,* as an instance of which, out of many, witness *See, among other references, Warden, Life of Chase, pp. 560, 563, 565, 573. Regarding this see also William G. Brown, Lincoln's Rival in At lantic Monthly, vol. lxxxix., pp. 226–236. the letter he wrote to his son-in-law, Ex-Governor William Sprague, on November 26, 1863, when the administration of Mr. Lincoln had run scarcely two-thirds of its course: "If I were controlled by merely personal sentiments I should prefer the reëlection of Mr. Lincoln to that of any other man. But I doubt the expediency of reëlecting anybody, and I think a man of different qualities from those the President has will be needed for the next four years. I am not anxious to be regarded as that man; and I am quite willing to leave that question to the decision of those who agree in thinking that some such man should be chosen." * 2 THE POMEROY CIRCULAR; OHIO INDORSES LINCOLN. sas, issued a circular advocating the nomination of Chase.* Late in February the Pomeroy circular appeared in one of the Washington newspapers, whereupon Chase wrote to Lincoln stating that he had no knowledge of the existence of the letter before seeing it in print, and frankly explaining his connection with the Pomeroy committee. He thought this explanation due to Lincoln, and asked him to state if his action would prejudice the public interests under his charge. Lincoln had long known of Chase's candidacy, but he took no notice of it, saying that Chase made a good Secretary and he should keep him where he was; that if he should become President, all right, and that he hoped the country would "never have a worse man." Accordingly, in answering Chase's letter, he said that he was not influenced in any way by politics and that no assault had been made upon Chase at his instigation or with his countenance.§ Chase had regarded the support of Ohio as essential to his candidacy, but asserted that if the majority of the people of the State expressed a preference for another he would cheerfully *See Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. viii., pp. 318-321. † Schuckers, Life of Chase, pp. 499-500. See also Hart, Life of Chase. Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. viii., p. 321; Warden, Life of Chase, p. 574; Schuckers, Life of Chase, pp. 500-501. || Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, pp. 316–317. § Warden, Life of Chase, p. 575; Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. viii., p. 322; Schuckers, Life of Chase, pp. 501-502. This acquiesce in their decision.* preference was indicated on February 25, when the Union members of the Ohio legislature held a full caucus and declared for the renomination of Lincoln. Hence, on March 5, 1864, Chase wrote to James C. Hall that as the Union members of the legislature had selected another standard bearer it became his duty to request that no further consideration be given to his name.† The declaration by the Ohio caucus was only one of many similar indications of Lincoln's popularity. But there were also numerous manifestations of hostility to his renomination. After the abortive Pomeroy circular the action of Lincoln's opponents took shape in an attempt to postpone the National convention. Among his opponents were many influential men, such as Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, George W. Julian, Thaddeus Stevens, Horace Greeley, William Cullen Bryant, and many Representatives and Senators. Lincoln, however, was so confident of his hold on the people that he was not disturbed by the opposition, feeling sure that he would receive the nomination of his party.|| His opponents, however, made one last effort to prevent the nomination. A call was issued for a mass meeting of the people at Cleveland, Ohio, on *Warden, Life of Chase, pp. 560-573. Schuckers, Life of Chase, pp. 502-503. See Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., p. 52 et seq. Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., pp. 461-463. THE CLEVELAND AND BALTIMORE CONVENTIONS. May 31, a week before the assembling of the Republican convention at Baltimore. At the appointed time and place, a few hundred men gathered, adopted a platform, and nominated John C. Frémont and General John C. Cochrane, of New York.* The convention might have passed by practically unnoticed had it not been for the Democratic newspapers which violently magnified its importance. On the other hand, the Republican press received the work of this convention in the spirit of derision, and Lincoln himself was much amused by its proceedings. On receiving an account of it Lincoln is said to have opened his Bible and read the following words: "And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men."+ Late in the summer both Frémont and Cochrane withdrew their names from the Cleveland ticket. As the day for the convention at Baltimore approached, the President was besieged with solicitations to make known his wishes regarding the work before it. To all such inquiries he turned a deaf ear, declining in any way to interfere with or influence the proceedings of the convention. The delegates met on June 7, 1864, and *Stanwood, History of Presidential Elections, pp. 237-239. Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., pp. 40-41; Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., p. 464. 3 after the permanent organization of the convention was effected the platform was reported by Henry J. Raymond, of New York. The first resolution pledged the members and all Union men to support the Government in subduing the Confederacy; the second approved the determination of the Government not to make any compromise with the Confederates; the third called for the extirpation of slavery and an amendment to the Constitution to that effect; the fourth thanked the soldiers and sailors; the fifth applauded the policies, measures and patriotism of Abraham Lincoln; the sixth urged the need of harmony in the National councils; the seventh affirmed that the Government was bound to protect all those in its service without regard to color; the eighth urged the fostering of foreign immigration; the ninth favored the speedy construction of the Pacific railroad; the tenth declared the necessity for rigid economy in the public expenditures, and that the National faith pledged for the redemption of the public debt must be kept inviolate; and the eleventh approved the Monroe Doctrine.* These resolutions were adopted with great unanimity and then the nominations were made. Every State gave its undivided support to Lincoln, with the exception of Missouri, which, under positive in * For text of the platforms see Stanwood, History of Presidential Elections, pp. 239-241; McDowell, Platforms of the Two Great Political Parties, pp. 21-24. 4 LINCOLN'S NOMINATION; CHASE'S HOSTILITY. structions, cast its vote for Grant. Before the result was announced, however, one of the delegates moved that the nomination of Lincoln be declared unanimous. This could not be done until the result of the balloting was made known. The first ballot showed 484 votes for Lincoln and 22 for Grant. Missouri then changed its vote, and the secretary announced the grand total of 506 for Lincoln. There were several candidates for the nomination for the Vice-Presidency, among them being Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, and Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York. When the first ballot was counted it was found that Johnson had received 200 votes; Hamlin, 150; and Dickinson, 108; the other votes were scattered among various other candidates. Before the result was nounced, however, almost the whole convention turned their votes to Johnson, and on motion the nomination was declared unanimous. The next day the President was informally notified of his nomination, and replied that he "could not conceal [his] gratification, nor restrain the expression of [his] gratitude" that he had been deemed worthy to remain in the Presidential office. "I do not allow myself," he said," to suppose that either the convention or the league have concluded to decide that I am either the greatest an * Stanwood, History of Presidential Elections, pp. 240-242; Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., chap. iii.; Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., pp. 469-470. or the best man in America, but, rather, they have concluded it is not best to swap horses while crossing the river, and have further concluded that I am not so poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it in trying to swap."'* Meanwhile relations between Lincoln and Chase had not been of the most cordial character. In December of 1862, as we have seen, Chase had offered his resignation but Lincoln had not accepted it and the Secretary returned to his duties. A little more than two months afterward a difference occurred over the appointment of an internal revenue collector in Connecticut, but this difficulty was patched up and again Chase retained his office. Later, trouble arose over a collector of customs at Puget Sound, and as Lincoln insisted upon having his own way Chase again tendered his resignation. This time, however, Lincoln compromised the matter and told Chase to think no more about his resignation. Early in 1864 Lincoln desired to make a change in the New York customs house, as many complaints of irregularity and inefficiency had been received. Chase opposed such action and seems to have gained his point, for the collector was not removed nor did he resign, but ill repaid Chase's confidence later, by embezzling a large sum of public Lincoln, Complete Works, vol. ii., p. 532. See also McPherson, History of the Rebellion, p. 408; Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., pp. 75-76. CHARGES AGAINST CHASE; THE CISCO AFFAIR. money and by fleeing in disgrace from the country.* Blair On April 23 Francis P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri, brother of PostmasterGeneral Blair, made an attack in the House on Chase's integrity. charged that Chase had sacrificed a vast public interest to advance his ambition by prescribing trade regulations with the South in a way to provide a fund which would secure his own nomination for the Presidency. Blair read several private letters supporting this accusation and also a communication from the head of a banking institution in New York City in which the charge was made that Chase had given his son-in-law, Governor Sprague," a permit to buy cotton at the South by which Sprague would make $2,000,000," and that Chase had allowed Jay Cooke and Company, the financial agents of the Government, an extra large commission in the disposal of the 5-20 bonds.† Chase might have disregarded this attack had not Lincoln apparently indorsed Blair's words by restoring him to his command in the army as majorgeneral of volunteers. Chase held that this act made the President an accomplice in Blair's offence, but Lincoln disavowed any design of thus wounding Chase.‡ *For divergent accounts see Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., pp. 85-87; Schuckers, Life of Chase, p. 477 et seq. This was denied in the House by John Sherman. See Globe, pp. 1046-1047. Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. ix., pp. 79-81; Schuckers, Life of Chase, p. 480; Rhodes, United States, vol. iv., 476-477. pp. 5 In the summer of 1864, after Lincoln had been renominated, the strained relations between Lincoln and Chase came to a head. Mr. John J. Cisco, who held the office of assistant treasurer in New York City from the beginning of President Pierce's term, had expressed a desire to retire. because of ill-health, but had been persuaded to remain. In May of 1864, however, he sent in his resignation to become effective on June 30 following. The second resignation could not be declined and a successor was sought. As it was an important post a man of special capacity ought to have been selected for the office and, as politics to a great extent entered into the matter, it was desirable that the wishes of the New York Senators be regarded. Senator E. D. Morgan, of New York, suggested three men for the post but they were unsatisfactory to Chase. The latter in turn offered the names of three gentlemen, who declined, and he then resolved to designate M. B. Field, one of the assistant secretaries of the Treasury. This suggestion was opposed by Morgan but Chase would not recede nor could the two compromise upon a third party. On June 28 Lincoln sent Chase a note in which he expressed his reluctance to nominate Field because of Morgan's opposition. In the meantime Chase had induced Cisco to withdraw his resignation, which should have ended the difficulty, but Chase took umbrage at Lincoln's assertions. that the wishes of Morgan should be |