Chapter I, Part II
Texas, United States
18 December 1860
"Dad! Dad," Jonathan was running, "there's something you must know. You won't even believe me."
"Tell me, though, son." Carl looked searchingly at his seven-year-old son.
"The rumours wasn't just rumours. It's true that—," Jonathan looked over his shoulder, at the slaves working on the cotton plantation, about a mile away from him. "The Crittenden Compromise's been accepted by Congress. I seen it in the papers. Seward's tryin' to keep the country's both feet on the ground."
His son knew more about politics than Carl thought. He was a clever boy, for sure. But things were so complicated these days. Carl was not sure himself. This Seward, he was said to have prevented war in the States. Yet there was still uncertainty for Carl every single day: would he be allowed to have slaves on his plantation to keep it running? Without them, he knew, it would be disastrous. And slaves, well, they were just Blacks. He could not understand why the Northerners were so concerned about them. Carl was not the type of person who would let his slaves be punished extremely, have them beaten up if they did not work hard enough. Carl was a laid-back Texan farmer. He treated his slaves well. He treated them as slaves, but not badly. They had enough food, they could have families, they had some spare time. In return, they worked hard for him.
"Okay, so this means the secession crisis is gone. Or for a while at least. Oh, may God help America and help us get rid of both those Fire-Eaters and radical abolitionists."
"Yea," Jonathan hesitated but continued, "And I've read this in the newspaper... Seward said somethin' like this, 'The United States are one country and shall always be. People have often mistaken me to be a hard-line abolitionist. Yes, I've often said that I personally am against slavery, whether in San Francisco or Houston, along the Mississippi or...'" Jonathan had to think. "...'or in New York City even. I think slavery is morally wrong. But today, tomorrow, and the coming years, I will not just be William H. Seward. I will be the President of the United States and my task is to preserve our country. My best friend, and advisor, once told me that it does not matter what I think—it matters what my country thinks, and what my country thinks I think. I do not want war in my own country; there shall not be. Comprises will have to be made. Carefully, more carefully than in the past. But they will be made.' I think that's what he said."
Carl sighed. Maybe, he thought, it would all be over soon.
***
Washington, D.C., United States
18 December 1860
William Seward thought about his inauguration. It had been a historical day, equally as much as this one. He still could not believe how he had managed to have a majority of Congress support his proposal to have his inauguration on the fourth of December instead of March. This would mean—as it turned out to be true indeed—he could change the path America was taking, heading for war.
Seward was tired. It had been a long day. The Crittenden Compromise had been accepted. North of the parallel 36°30′ north, slavery became prohibited. The original compromise had been changed a little though. And he was glad about that, since he had managed to get some controversial aspects out. Seward remembered that the accepted articles were lying in front of him:
ARTICLE I
In all the territory of the United States now held, or hereafter acquired, situated north of latitude 36°30', slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is prohibited while such territory shall remain under territorial government. In all the territory south of said line of latitude, slavery of the African race is hereby recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by Congress, but shall be protected as property by all the departments of the territorial government during its continuance. And when any Territory, north or south of said line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a member of Congress according to the then Federal ratio of representation of the people of the United States, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States, with or without slavery, as the constitution of such new State may provide.
ARTICLE II
Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in places under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate within the limits of States that permit the holding of slaves.
ARTICLE III
Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery within the District of Columbia, so long as it exists in the adjoining States of Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor without the consent of the inhabitants, nor without just compensation first made to such owners of slaves as do not consent to such abolishment. Nor shall Congress at any time prohibit officers of the Federal Government, or members of Congress, whose duties require them to be in said District, from bringing with them their slaves, and holding them as such, during the time their duties may require them to remain there, and afterward taking them from the District.
ARTICLE IV
Congress shall have no power to prohibit or hinder the transportation of slaves from one State to another, or to a Territory in which slaves are by law permitted to be held, whether that transportation be by land, navigable rivers, or by the sea.
ARTICLE V
That in addition to the provisions of the third paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States, Congress shall have power to provide by law, and it shall be its duty so to provide, that the United States shall pay to the owner who shall apply for it, the full value of his fugitive slave in all cases when the marshal or other officer whose duty it was to arrest said fugitive was prevented from so doing by violence or intimidation, or when, after arrest, said fugitive was rescued by force, the owner thereby prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his remedy for the recovery of his fugitive slave under the said clause of the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof. And in all such cases, when the United States shall pay for such fugitive, they shall have the right, in their own name, to sue the county in which said violence, intimidation, or rescue was committed, and to recover from it, with interest and damages, the amount paid by them for said fugitive slave. And the said county, after it has paid said amount to the United States may, for its indemnity, sue and recover from the wrongdoers or rescuers by whom the owner was prevented from the recovery of his fugitive slave, in like manner as the owner himself might have sued and recovered.
ARTICLE VI
No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere with slavery in any of the States by whose laws it is, or may be allowed or permitted, unless there is (i) a majority in Congress that supports the ammendment, (ii) a majority in Congress that supports holding a plebiscite, and (iii) the result of the plesbiscite is at least fifty-five percent in favour of the amendment.
..."
Seward looked at the last part. The added section was not by far as drastic as the original version. Instead of strict compliance to the fugitive slave laws, now it was illegal to rescue or hide slaves, but Northerners would not be forced to help returning escaped slaves to their owners. And an escaped slave that had resided in a slavery-free state for over seven years would become officially free. Seward sighed. It was past midnight; he went to sleep.