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The War of Northern Independence

Chapter One: Irreconcilable Differences

“Four score and eight years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a idea, conceived in liberty, that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great war for independence, testing whether that our new nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that our new nation might live and finally break away from the tyranny slaveholder. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that our new nation, under God, shall be a new birth of freedom to the world—and that a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Attorney General Abraham Lincoln’s Fredrick Address (1864)

“One cannot imagine the amount of carnage I have seen during the past six years of the war. I’ve seen the bluegrass of Kentucky burned to a crisp. I have seen the newly completed dome of our national capitol building set ablaze by people who would have in a past life protected it with their lives. I have seen my home in Arlington raided by Yankee Rebels. I’ve seen the aftermath of the lynching of Chief Justice Roger Taney. *Yet worst of all, I cannot get out of my mind the image of the women and children that were massacred without cause at Lancaster.

That last image is all I can think of as I sit in this jail cell in the rebel capitol of Boston waiting to be executed. I feel as though I am responsible for it happening. I have failed the United States of America and I deserve to die.” Robert E Lee’s final passage in his journal (1866)

“The Treaty of Philadelphia of 1866 officially ended the Second War of American Independence between the United States of America and the Federal States of America. The treaty stipulated that the Federal States of America would consist of all of the states that seceded from the United States of America two months after Fort Warren, Northern California, Oregon and the western territories north of Kansas. Due to the many pro-Federalists rebellions that were occurring in many regions of the Upper South, it was a agreed upon that there would be plebiscites in the states of Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Virginia also in Colorado Territory and Southern California. Lastly, the United States demanded that a vote take place in Southern California in order to try to keep a Pacific Ocean port. (See Map On Other Page)” 2012 High School History Textbook from Lincoln High School in Seward, Nebraska, Federalist States of America



The Decision That Brought About Chaos

No one is blamed more for the break up of the United States of America than Chief Justice Roger Taney. Taney, an Andrew Jackson appointee to the court and a true believer in slavery, saw Dred Scott vs. Sandford in March of 1857 as his chance to promote the slaveholders cause. The court ruled that black people could never become citizens of the United States because the framers of the Constitution never intended for that to happen. Also the Fifth Amendment barred Congress from making any law that would deprive someone of their property without due cause. This includes slaveholders with their slaves in any state, free or slave. He explicitly makes it clear that slave owners can settle with their slaves wherever they want. This effectively made every state a slave state in the United States of America.

By the end of the year, slaveholders and their slaves had started to move into the southern parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio. Yet things got interesting when the first group of slaves and slaveholders started moving into New England.

The Second Boston Massacre


One of the pivotal events that occurred before the Second Hartford Convention was the riot that occurred in Boston, Massachusetts on August 12, 1858. What started as an argument between a slaveholder and a hardcore Republican in a local pub evolved into an angry mob of Bostonians looking for the blood of slave owners and their slaves. No one knows exactly how the confrontation escalated, but everyone knows that it resulted in the deaths of many new slaveholding residents of Boston and innocent bystanders. *

The next day, all of the newspapers the labeled the riot the Second Boston Massacre, but this time the sympathy was not with the victims. Instead the mob was labeled as patriots to liberty. Also for the first time there were calls for secession from the United States, not as a matter of “state rights,” but rather as a matter of “regional rights.” Many Northerners, especially in New England, felt that the nation had been taken over by the Southerners.

Northern Politics and Secession

Secession would become a divisive issue for the Republican Party. Some like Abraham Lincoln, who was running for the Senate in Illinois, were adamantly against the idea of secession. This was made famous in his now infamous “House Divided” speech. While others like Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts openly floated the idea on the floors of Congress. Secession would play a pivotal role in the 1858 elections, especially in many of the Governor and Congressional races in New England.

Congressional Elections of 1858

The Congressional elections of 1858 ended up being a major bust for the Republican Party. They were only able to gain a couple seats in the House of Representatives. There were many promising seats in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York City, Central Ohio and Central Pennsylvania that they failed to capture. They were still able to gain a plurality of the chamber, but this was due to the Democrats own internal issues over the Dred Scott case. Democrats also remained in control of the Senate, as James W. Grimes of Iowa was the only new Republican.

Many members of the conservative wing of the Republican Party, such as famous Blair family from Missouri, blamed the party’s failures on the events that took place over the summer in New England and the more radical members of the party that were bring up the idea of secession. These radicals began calling themselves Federalists. They stated that their name came about partially as an allusion to the Federalist’s party earlier in the decade and the fact that they believe that Federal government should treat the entire county equally. More of an idea of “regional rights” instead of “state rights” like Southerners would proclaim. They felt that if they continued to be abused by the Southern controlled Federal government that they had the right to secession.

The Douglas-Pennington Amendment

One of the key legislative efforts of the 36th Congress was an amendment to the United States Constitution authored by Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Representative William Pennington of New Jersey. The amendment, if ratified, would reestablish what the status quo was prior to the Dred Scott. Douglas and Pennington worked adamantly over the course of 1859 to get the necessary two-thirds in each house of Congress to pass the amendment. Many of the Federalists in the Republican Party were not thrilled by the text of the amendment as many wanted the amendment to go father, but almost all were willing to eventually give their support.

The vote first came up in the House of Representatives on February 5th, 1860. Pennington was very confident that he had the votes necessary to get the amendment passed. With a coalition of Republicans, Northern Democrats and a few surprising Southern Democrats, the amendment passed the two-thirds threshold with a vote of 166-69. Which were 9 votes more then were needed. Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania was one of the few Republicans that voted against he bill. The famous Federalist stated, “Why vote for a bill you fundamentally disagree with if you know it’s going to fail in the Senate?”

When the vote came up in the Senate, Thaddeus Stevens’ grave prediction had come true. Senator Stephan Douglas knew that the vote would be close, but he thought he would get the necessary votes he’d need out of the South. When the vote was counted, the amendment was a vote short. The total ended up being 43-23 with the surprise vote coming from James A. Bayard Jr. of Delaware. Douglas thought he had his vote, but in the end Senator Bayard was convinced to change his vote by Vice President John C. Breckinridge.

The reaction to the failure of the vote was outrage by a majority of Republicans in Senate. The entire Federalist caucus and even some moderate Republicans stormed out of the camber. While they left they began chanting, “SECESSION! SECESSION! SECESSION!” *
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