A Glorious Union or America: the New Sparta
- Thread starter TheKnightIrish
- Start date
I thnk that this is what i am going to be looking forward too the most, and how this is dealt with.
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine Domestic Bliss: Part One
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine
Domestic Bliss: Part One
Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase
Domestic Bliss: Part One
Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase
From “Chasing the White House – Salmon P. Chase and his Campaign to be President” by Albert Niven
Grosvenor 2001
“For Secretary Chase the victory in the Slaveholders’ Rebellion had only been won because he had personally ensured the Federal Government had remained solvent. His tally of the war was one of battles won and lost certainly, but not in the fields of Virginia or on the banks of the Mississippi, but in the halls of Congress and in the banking houses of New York…
While Stockdale’s surrender ended the war for most Chase continued to fight his battles for what he viewed as the necessary outcome of his four exhausting years in the Treasury Building, a Chase Presidency…
Re-appointed to the Treasury after Lincoln’s re-election Chase was faced with the herculean task of returning the nation’s finances to a more normal footing. He had several objectives: the first of which was to reduce the amount of counterfeit currency in circulation. It was estimated up to a third of all paper and specie in the country may have been counterfeit at this time…
Stanton’s success in ensuring the Secret Service answered to him further deepened Chase’s loathing for the man. The friendship born in Columbus twenty years earlier was dead, at least as far as Chase was concerned. After the swearing in of Chief George Sharpe as the first head of the Secret Service Chase referred to Stanton as “selfish, insincere, a dissembler, and treacherous"…
Stanton had serious concerns about the greenbacks in circulation. He feared his creation had the potential to destabilize the economy and, as its author, his reputation. He declared that no more paper currency should be issued. He sought to consolidate the government’s substantial debt, framing measures adopted by congress which permitted the consolidation and funding of the government loans into 4% and 4.5% bonds…
The prohibition on issue of further greenbacks was not enough. He was confronted in the late Spring of 1865 with rising inflation. The cause: the government's wartime issue of greenbacks. Chase recommended the phased retirement of the fiat paper and a return to the gold standard. Come fall the problem had become worse and he strongly urged the retirement of the greenbacks and a subsequent resumption of specie payments…
Chase’s stewardship of the nation’s finances during the war had been nothing short of superb and, whatever the President’s misgivings about Chase’s personality, he trusted him implicitly on financial questions. Indeed so too did many in Congress. So his proposals met with support. However it would be wrong to say they were ever popular with any faction in Congress. Any reduction in the supply of currency was going to be unpopular during the postwar reconstruction and continuing national expansion…
The Currency Adjustment Act was passed in early 1866, authorizing the retirement of not more than $10,000,000 in six months and not more than $2,000,000 per month thereafter. The Act would be repealed by the 40th Congress after less than $32,000,000 in greenbacks had been retired. Chase’s plan had been derailed by the Supreme Court’s support for the constitutionality of fiat money as legal tender [the cases of Hibbert v Downey and Towler v Van Decker will be reviewed the a subsequent Chapter on the Supreme Court]…
Chase claimed no small hand in drafting Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, though it is now accepted he was merely consulted by Holt and the Congressional drafters. Nonetheless it was during his term in office that the principle was enshrined in the Constitution that, not only was the debt of the so called Confederacy repudiated, but that any debts incurred in the pursuit of rebellion or insurrection against the United States would forever be void for their unlawfulness…
During the remainder of his tenure Chase maintained a firm policy of reducing the nation’s accumulated war debt and the careful reintroduction of federal taxation in the South. He desperately wished to oppose the cost of the post-war expansion of the army but feared crossing Kearny who’s popularity knew no bounds and the Radicals who’s vengeance knew none either…
While he successfully re-established the mechanisms for collecting taxes in the South the depression of the Southern economy meant the revenue was disappointing throughout the latter half of the 1860s…
The compensation for Chase was his perceived control of the Bureau of Collectors and its ever growing revenue. Chase believed he had the measure of Jacob Cox and Cox was happy to oblige him, at least in the liberal appointment of Ohioans. Whether Cox was promoting Chase’s cause or his own was not a question that crossed Chase’s mind… ”
From “The Rivals – Lincoln and his Cabinet” by Amelia Doggett
Grosvenor 2008
“After the jubilation of passing the 13th Amendment Congress quickly turned inwards to re-examine its own workings with the view of meeting the postwar needs of the nation. The first step the House took was to split the function of the mighty Committee on Ways and Means into three parts. The passage of legislation affecting taxation would remain with Ways and Means under the chairmanship of John Armor Bingham of Ohio. The power to regulate banking was transferred to the Committee on Banking and Commerce under George S. Boutwell of Massachusetts. The power to appropriate money, in effect to control the federal pursestrings, was given to the newly created Appropriations Committee. Thaddeus Stevens took control of the Appropriations Committee despite the best efforts of more orthodox Radicals. It was a rare occasion during the 39th Congress that Benjamin Wade did not get his way, but then as Lincoln noted any Senator that stuck his hand “into the embers of the House and stirred them about was liable to get his fingers burnt”…”
John A. Bingham, George S. Boutwell and Thaddeus Stevens
From “The Court of Reconstruction – the David Davis Court” by Robert Yelland Hoke
MacFarland Legal Press 1997
“The Judicial Circuits Act of 1866 reorganized the United States circuit courts and provided for the elimination of one seat on the Supreme Court of the United States upon the death or retirement of the next Justice. It was signed into law in May 1866 by President Lincoln. Davis had proposed a redrawing of the judicial circuit boundaries, reducing the number of circuits from ten to nine. He also believed it made sense for the eventual reduction in the number of seats on the Supreme Court from the ten that had been authorized in 1863 to nine. One for each circuit. The plan had the endorsement of Attorney General Speed…”
From “The Noblest of Undertakings” by T. Peck Williams
University of Virginia 2008
“The work of the 39th Congress in promoting, for the common good, the station of the freedman was constant…
The attempted passage of the Southern Homestead Act of 1866 saw the Radical Republicans split and indeed many conservatives were clearly divided. The proposal, boosted strongly by Oliver O. Howard of the Freedmen’s Bureau, was that freedmen, poor tenant farmers and sharecroppers in the south should have the right to apply for the lands now held under the stewardship of the Bureau of Collectors in the South…
The proposal was that the act should open up over 60 million acres of public and confiscated land for sale in the Southern states. It was to be parceled up into 160 acre plots and homesteaders would be required to occupy and improve the land for five years before acquiring full ownership…
Benjamin Wade decried the proposed legislation. The southern states were in the midst of constitutional conventions which would lead to the presence of Southern Unionists and African-Americans in the 40th Congress. Should not “the loyal men of the Southern most parts of our Union have a say in the distribution of this, their most precious resource – Southern land”. George Washington Julian said it was "repugnant to all principles of justice to charge men for the ownership of land made fertile only by their toil, their blood and that of their fathers." Wade had an eye to winning the support of the republicans who would inevitably be returned from the south in the impending midterms. He was not alone. Fearing a loss of the Treasury Department’s Kingdom constituted in the assets managed by the Bureau of Collectors Secretary Chase and Director Cox put their strength into the balance against passage of the Act. The alliance of leading Radicals, Ohioans and less scrupulous members who saw the Act as the waste of a source of party spoils, saw the Act was defeated…
Howard had accepted the post of director of the Freedmen’s Bureau on a temporary basis. The failure of the Southern Homestead Act was, to him at least, a personal blow. He tendered his resignation to Secretary Stanton immediately following the voting down of the Act. Within a matter of days General John J. Peck was summoned from his Headquarters in Savannah and offered the appointment of Director…
In stark relief to Howard's resignation, Peck’s appointment would be met with passage of the Second Freedmen’s Bureau Bill. As though in recompense for the failure of the Southern Homestead Act Congress promptly renewed the charter for the Bureau. More importantly it was not only refunded but its funding was increased from the revenue collected by the Bureau of Collections. President Lincoln joyfully signed it into law in the summer of 1866...”
John J. Peck - "Shepherd in Chief" of the Fighting Lambs would now become shepherd of a whole race
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I thought you deserved half a chapter as I am late already. A lot of research for me to do outside my comfort zone of the military aspects of the war and reconstruction.
Part Two to follow tomorrow or Wednesday including:
• Joint Committee on Reconstruction and the Reconstruction Acts
• Southern Constitutional Conventions
• The Midterms
• The Marriage and life in the White House
• The 40th Congress
• The 14th Amendment
• The 14th Amendment Riots and further Proscription (Joint Congressional Committee on Proscription)
• The Southern Economy and the first stirrings of Communalism
Part Two to follow tomorrow or Wednesday including:
• Joint Committee on Reconstruction and the Reconstruction Acts
• Southern Constitutional Conventions
• The Midterms
• The Marriage and life in the White House
• The 40th Congress
• The 14th Amendment
• The 14th Amendment Riots and further Proscription (Joint Congressional Committee on Proscription)
• The Southern Economy and the first stirrings of Communalism
I will cover that again in the next Chapter on the midterms. It was dealt with in some detail (and variety of opinion) in a previous post.
TFSmith121
Banned
So are we going to see The Mecca in this one, except it's
So are we going to see The Mecca in this one, except it's going to be PU, rather than HU?
Not a particularly attractive acronym. Maybe Howard & Peck? H&PU?
Interesting chapter; nicely done.
Best,
So are we going to see The Mecca in this one, except it's going to be PU, rather than HU?
Not a particularly attractive acronym. Maybe Howard & Peck? H&PU?
Interesting chapter; nicely done.
Best,
Please tell me Lincoln isn't getting married?! Let it be Kate Chase - Salmon will explode (totally asb).
Also has anyone read a TL that has Salmon P Chase be anything other than at bit of am arse?
Chase's head would explode. He needn't worry
You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment...
Could you imagine though...Kate Chase and Robert Todd Lincoln.
Would be a match made in heaven.
Both political minds moulded by their father and their own experiences, plus could you imagine the grandchildren.....
Quite possibly a third-generation of Lincolns in the White house.....
Robert Todd Lincoln and Lucy Lambert Hale. His courting of her and winning out over John Wilkes Booth are described in Chapter 127.
Thank you.
Am I to assume this will not end well? Especially since it's a love triangle?
I wouldn't worry. Booth had his head blown off by George Armstrong Custer after murdering Robert's mother.
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine Domestic Bliss: Part Two
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine
Domestic Bliss: Part Two
Domestic Bliss: Part Two
From “The Radicals 1860-1872” by Hugh W. McGrath
New England Press 2001
During the 39th Congress the Joint Committee on Reconstruction continued to “enquire into the condition of the States which formed the Confederate States of America, and report on their progress towards restoration to the Union and the reconstruction of their civil life." There were changes to its membership arising out of the consolidation of the radicals' power. Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts replaced Fessenden as chairman. Wade had wanted the position but, having been chairman of the Committee on Conduct of the War, many of his fellow senators, including many radicals, thought he was trying to concentrate too much power in his own hands. Nonetheless he was chair of the most influential (and feared) of the three subcommittees: the Proscription Review Committee constituted under the Naturalization Act of 1865...
Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts
The joint committee included nine members from the House, and six from the Senate. During the 39th Congress the House members were: Thaddeus Stevens (R-PA), Elihu Washburne (R-IL), Benjamin Butler (R-MA), James F. Wilson (R-IA), Roscoe Conkling (R-NY), George Washington Julian (R-IN), Henry Blow (NU-MO), Aaron Harding (D-KY), and Charles E. Phelps (INU-MD). The Senate members were: William Fessenden (R-ME), Benjamin Wade (R-OH), Jacob Howard (R-MI), George Henry Williams (R-OR), Ira Harris (R-NY), and Lovell Rousseau (NU-KY). Harding was the only Democrat and he had declared himself a Unionist on his previous elections to the 37th and 38th Congresses. General Kearny noted with disapproval that the Missouri representative was the sole Missourian in Congress not to have served in uniform…”
From “The Rivals – Lincoln and his Cabinet” by Amelia Doggett
Grosvenor 2008
“The President’s Proclamation of Abandonment and its endorsement by Congress had made reconstituting the legitimate voters of the southern states simple on paper. In practice a great deal of effort was required to ensure that the wheat (southern unionists, freedmen, spinners and their like who had been re-naturalized) from the chaff (southern veterans, former Confederate and state officials, and others who had voluntarily engaged in expatriation but who had not yet merited proscription)…
As a check on these “reformed” electorates Congress required that each state draft a new state constitution, which would have to be approved by Congress. After Ex Parte Orr (1867) came before the Supreme Court, Congress feared that the Court might strike down elements of the Reconstruction Acts as unconstitutional. This was the first step on the long road to conflict between General Phil Kearny and Chief Justice David Davis…
Chief Justice David Davis of whom more will be heard later
To prevent this, Congress repealed the Habeas Corpus Act 1867, revoking the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over the case…”
From "The Great Constitutional Crisis" by Dr. Lee M. King
Carlotta 1962
The constitutional conventions held in 1866 were held in an atmosphere of amateurism and confusion as inexperienced state “leaders” attempted to satisfy the requirements of the Federal Government for returning to the Union in time for mid-term elections. The conventions assembled under the guise of local authority but in truth it was the Federal government that dictated their actions…
These representatives could not easily replace the experience of the past and thus these meetings often followed the established state protocols, though somewhat restricted by Federal guidelines...
Constitutional Conventions would take place in all the former Confederate States in 1866 and 1867
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln had agreed upon a compromise with the radicals of his own party, though it was obviously objectionable to him. The quick return of states to the fold was balanced against the swingeing disenfranchisement of American citizens...
Qualifications for delegates to state conventions were more restrictive than they had been in previous conventions due to federally imposed rules. They were required to take an oath of loyalty to the U.S. Government; accept the U.S. Constitution; all federal laws; and crucially the Emancipation Proclamation. Finally they also had to swear they knew of no grounds upon which they were expatriated persons - a clear breach of their 5th Amendment rights…
Each convention followed a similar script: the delegates assembled and, as charged by the Federal plan, took up the business of rejoining the Union. They abolished slavery by ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment. They nullified the state's Ordinance of Secession (thus forever denying the state’s right to secede which would have been preserved by repeal). They repudiated any state war debt. Finally they proceeded to write a new constitution…
The Federal mandates imposed upon the Conventions seemed to crush the notion of states’ rights and forever blurred the boundaries between federal and state sovereignty...”
From “The Noblest of Undertakings” by T. Peck Williams
University of Virginia 2008
“In anticipation of the State Conventions the Freedmen’s Bureau conducted massive voter registrations to include black males of the same eligibility as non-expatriated white males. The army was widely involved in this process (the degree largely depending on the sympathies of the regional commander). Once this process was complete, eligible voters, black and white, went to the polls to select delegates to the convention. Since many of the planter class and other conservative white voters in the South had been proscribed or simply expatriated it was the case in several states that first time black voters determined the outcome of elections to the convention. This was particularly true in South Carolina. Throughout the South Republicans, moderate and radical, dominated the conventions over a handful of white traditional conservatives/Democrats…
As directed by the congressional Reconstruction Acts, the conventions proposed new constitutions that included suffrage for black males...
By the time of the midterms several of the Southern States were ready for readmission to Congress…”
Freedmen's Suffrage
From “The Radicals 1860-1872” by Hugh W. McGrath
New England Press 2001
“Many refer to the mid-term elections of 1866/67 as being a further extension of radical power. Certainly more radicals were returned to Congress but much more so in the House than in the Senate. In fact only James McClatchy of California was consistently radical in his voting record and even then he was noted as standing apart from the radical machine as run by Benjamin Wade. Lincoln saw a handful of reliable supporters returned: James W. Nye of Nevada and Henry W. Corbett of Oregon to name but two. Other, less personally loyal but entirely conservative senators returned in 1866 included Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Thomas E. Bramlette of Kentucky and John Sherman of Ohio…
The House of Representatives
Another trend that did not bode well for the radicals continued with the election of General Orris S. Ferry, formerly of the Fighting Lambs of the Army of the James, to the Senate from Connecticut and General James White Geary of XII Corps as Governor of Pennsylvania…”
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