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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1960)
MONDAY. DECEMBER S, 1980 8 ;b. MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON CIVIL WAR PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE AwAITED-Wnn the nation uncertain and nervous, a lame' duck Congress met in December, 18(10, awaiting a State of the Union message from President Buchanan. The message was sent Dec. 4 and it served only to alienate every one. Buchanan's attcmpi at compromise fell flat. He incd 10 straddle the issues, secession and slavery, and succeeded only on enrag ing both sides. This political cartoon drawn by Thomas W. Strong, published in early 1861, reflects the opinions most of the peo ple had for Buchanan after the message. (UPI Telcphoto) Buchanan Angers North,South By MEHTON T. AKEHS UPI Correspondent A lame duck Congress met in Washington Dec. 3, 1860, uncertain and nervous. This second session of the 36th Congress, meeting nearly! a month after its successor had been elected, but not yet sworn in, accurately reflected the perplexity of the country. On that winter day In the capital, pigs still wandered in the muddy streets. The un finished dome of the Capitol bore a construction crane like I a waving statute, and this was (he State of the Union: -Five Southern states had started the process ' of seces sion - South Carolina, Missis sippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Hot heads in Ar kansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Louisiana were on the verge of disunion. Texans wore pushing their governor, Sam Houston, staunch unionist and Indian fighter, toward the same de cision. - Abraham Lincoln, presi- mm warn Slab and Rough Blox-Green . Dandy To Burn With Dry Wood Big Double Load or Single Load MEDFORD FUEL CO. Ph. SP 2-2111 - Court at McAndrewi dent-elect and three months away from power, sat silent in Springileld, III., spasmodical ly working behind the scenes, -James Buchanan, lame duck President torn by inde cision and swayed by a South- ern-dominalcd cabinet, pre pared his Stale of the Union message with a two - nibbed pen. -On the rim of the Charles ton, S.C., harbor, Maj. Robert Anderson, USA, strove mighti ly to wall up his ring of forts against the hair-trigger mili tia. North Lethargic Public opinion across the Northern states seemed lethar gic, even paralyzed. When the Congress assem bled, Southern members all were in their seats except Sens. James Chestnut and James H. Hammond of South Carolina. They had indignant ly resigned after the election of Lincoln. But the South Carolina House delegation was on hand in full force, waiting and watching. . Democrats dominated the J ! lfllY 'Pti fl' ... 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They wanted separation, but they wanted it without war and Congress was the arena for maneuver. Compromise, time - honored method of administering the Republic, seemed only a straw to reach for, but all sides were ready to try, at least for the record. President Buchanan's mes sage came by messenger at noon on Dec. 4. Manage Straddles Issue It was a curious one. Bu chanan hoped it contained something for everyone. Ac tually it contained something to alienate everyone. The President argued in one breath that secession was un constitutional and in the next that neither Congress nor the President had the power to force a state to remain in the Union. Although the country was great and powerful, Bu chanan wrote, it did not have the right to make war on a state. If it did have the right to make war on a state, he held "the resulting loss of blood and treasure would make future reconciliation impossible." "The fact is that our Union rests on public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war. If it can not live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish." Why was the country in this predicament?, Buchanan ask ed. Because of Northern anti- slavery agitation, which had harried the South until: "Many a matron throughout the South retires at night in dread of what may befall her self and her children before morning." The spirit of John Brown, hanged this one year and two days, was marching. It wasn t the election of Lin coln, but Northern state laws recognizing the Negro as a man instead of a chattel, that had endangered the South, Buchanan wrote. Unless these laws were repealed, the South, having used all peaceful means for redress, would be justified in revolution. Amendment Sought Buchanan held that federal forts in the South were gov ernment property beyond question and cited the fact that the South Carolina forts had been purchased with the consent of the legislature and the authority over them had been granted to Congress. The President made one recommendation to meet the crisis. He suggested a consti tutional amendment to clarify slavery. This amendment would recognize the right of property in slaves in states wire re slavery existed or where it might exist, guaran tee the right of slave owners in territories until they were admitted as states and declare all Northern laws abridging the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional. Reaction was immediate, all against Buchanan. A half dozen Southern senators quickly arose to denounce the message. Way out west in Spring field, Lincoln made no record ed comment. But his position on the two main points of the message were pretty well known. Where Buchanan was ready to meet the demands of the South for extension of slavery, Lincoln was pledged against it, personally and by the Republican platform Where Buahanan contended that the President must ex ecute the laws but that he was unable to do so constitution ally, Lincoln held that it was the President's duty to do so, Compromise Triad The first of several attempts to find a compromise out of the crisis came the same day Buchanan sent his message. On motion of Alexander R Bolder, Virginia aristocrat elected in opposition to the regular Democratic slate, the House voted, 145 to 38, to set up a committee of one member from each state to consider the perils of the moment. All the opposition votes came from the Republicans. Some of the Southerners abstained. On Dec. 6, Speaker William Pennington made his appoint ments to the House committee which would be known as the Committee of 33. Pennington's choices were unfortunate. While balanced with 16 Re publicans, 14 Democrats and three Independents, Penning ton ignored Douglas Demo crats and his Southern choices were denounced as unrepre sentative. His choice for chairman, Tom Corwin of Ohio, was a strong one. Corwin had con siderable stature. He had been governor of Ohio, a U.S. senator and secretary of the treasury in the early '5"0's. . There would be much talk about compromise before this lame duck session of Congress was ended but .... (Next Week - Desertions from Buchanan br Mb. CAN INSTANT CHOCOLATE : DRINK MIX A REAL Economy DISH PLATE shoot SPECIALS EFFECTIVE THRU WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7TH 111 11 LIMIT RIGHTS RESERVED If Yei, you get ROCK BOTTOM PRICES every NO SALES TO DEALERS 1 day plus those VALUABLE HI en urn nni I IID CTftlSDQ lf e SOIL! Ell UUM-MII urmiew twt DID YOU REALIZE? 1 that it only takes 480 STAMPS to fill a book. j that each filled book it worth $1.00 Cash j or merchandise). . SKg that this meant that for each $48.00 you ipend - -1 . .L-. 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