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(CSA) Extract 2: The Lincoln/Davis Peace
Extract from 'El reñidero mejicano: Guerra y lucha civil en México, 1866-1885', by Espartaco Lopez Garcia. Chapter one 'Construyendo la hoguera: El contexto panamericano.'
As outlined above, the revisionist tendency to view the War of Resistance and the Social War as part of some epic Great War of the Americas, pitting the forces of progress against those of reaction, is entirely specious. However it is necessary at this juncture to examine in some detail the settlement established between the Northamerican states at the end of their brief Civil War. It is the contradictions within the resolution of this conflict which created a new dialectic leading inevitably to the Mexican wars.
While General Lee's startling victory at Fairfax on the 23rd of August 1861 made it inevitable there would be a partition in some form, the borders and nature of the new entities were far from settled. The resistance of the northern states to conscription, the presence of a Southern army in the vicinity of Washington, and the British recognition of the Confederate state in early September, not only strengthened the Southern negotiating position but emboldened the pro-slavery elements in Maryland, Delaware and Missouri. During the month long peace negotiations in Martinsburg, Virginia, the state legislatures of tiny Delaware and Maryland both declared themselves to be States in Free Association and hastily passed new constitutions. Both stated that "the inalienable rights to Liberty and Property" of the citizens of the states were "outside of the jurisdiction of the United States Government", further stating that US military deployment in the states was forbidden without the consent of the legislatures. This effectively prohibited the abolition of slavery by central government without creating another constitutional crisis.
The situation in Missouri was very different, the population of this vast state was divided between pro-southern and pro-northern elements, with the former in the majority by 3 to 1. However, large parts of the state were, by late 1861, under the effective control of the US Army or, in border areas, militias from neighbouring Kansas known as Jayhawkers. The state government had not seceded but was now under pressure to do so from pro-southern elements. This situation had led to much violence between the various factions during the Spring and Summer of 1861, with notable massacres of civilians occurring at Adrian, Lowry City and Ozark. Complicating the situation, bands of escaped slaves were participating in this internecine violence, leading to much panic amongst whites, southerners and northerners alike. This is the first appearance of that figure which even today haunts the darkest corners of the Northamerican white's imagination; the rebel slave in arms.
Lincoln's determination to keep Missouri is shown by his quiet build up of troops in the area during the negotiations, only noticed and half-heartedly denounced by the Confederates towards the end of proceedings. By that time, Lincoln had ceded all of Virginia, despite the union army controlling 7 or so of its pro-Union western Counties, and Indian territory, as well as promising to respect the pro-slavery status of Delaware and Maryland. In exchange, he refused absolutely to countenance any partition or surrender of New Mexico, with the exception of the towns of Mesilla and Las Cruces and a small barely inhabited area around them, or to give any guarantee whatsoever on Missouri, which would remain a full member of the Union. The Southern delegation accepted this settlement as the best deal that could be obtained without a return to war, though one member, James Seddon, refused to sign the treaty as he viewed it as a betrayal both of the Missourians and the Confederate national interest. The Virginian lawyer gave his opinion as if summarising for a backwoods jury: This peace boxes us in, robs us today of space to grow, tomorrow of space to breathe. That country which does not expand, shall suffer inevitable decay. He who is not busy being born, is busy dying.
There was some merit in Seddon's view. Without Missouri, the confederacy could not expand westwards into the fertile Great Plains, nor could there be any expansion into the Mexican territory taken by the USA in 1848. Upon the signing of the peace treaty, prior to his resignation on Halloween 1861, Lincoln joked 'I will go down in history as the man who lost the south and found the west'. This, of course, meant the Confederacy would have to look elsewhere if it wished to fulfil this perceived imperative to expand, and increasingly it would cast its eyes towards Mexico.
The other result of the Northamerican schism relevant to the Mexican wars is the inflow of French commerce and capital to Louisiana. After the slavers had somewhat dishonestly appealed to the concept of 'States Rights' to justify their secession, several states would push at the bounds of this theoretical autonomy, none more so than...
The Springfield Daily Democrat - 11th November 1861
Lieutenant Clemens horribly Murdered in Jayhawk outrage Liuetenant Samuel Langhorne Clemens, of the Democratic Militia who has so often graced our pages these last months with his
musings on the state of Missouri and the strange and tragic times in which we live, was horribly murdered last week at Dry Wood
Creek near Liberal. It seems Lieutenant Clemens became separated from his men when a patrol was set on by Jayhawkers. His
mortal remains, we are sad to report, had been outraged in various ways, with a savagery more proper of the heathen Komansh
than so-called Christians. Our correspondent reliably informs us that these despicable Kansas savages, negroes and sons of
negroes went so far as to unman Lieutenant Clemens, though whether this were done when he were alive...