Unit Ten: Freed
people and the Republican Party introduced the alliances and tensions between
freed people and the Republican Party after emancipation. The Unit Ten
educational documents listed on the left feature excerpts of various primary
source documents and firsthand accounts that clarify these shifting political
alliances in North and South Carolina.
The Radical
Republicans were a group of politicians who formed a faction within the
Republican party that lasted from the Civil War into the era of Reconstruction.
They were led by Thaddeus Stevens in the House of Representatives and Charles
Sumner in the Senate.
The Radicals were known for their opposition to slavery,
their efforts to ensure emancipation and civil rights for Blacks and their
strong opinions on post-war Reconstruction. They were also critical of
many policies of both President Abraham Lincoln and his successor, Andrew
Johnson. Throughout the lifespan of the Radical Republican faction, they made
enemies with Democrats, many former slave owners, the Ku Klux Klan, and often
even found opposition from the moderate Republicans.
James M.
Ashley, a Republican congressman from Ohio, made it clear to the crowd at
Montpelier that he had violated the Fugitive Slave Law more times than he could
count. He had actually begun helping slaves flee bondage in 1839 when he was
just fifteen years old, and he had continued doing so after the Fugitive Slave
Act of 1850 made the penalties much stiffer. To avoid prosecution, he and his
wife fled southern Ohio in 1851. Would he now mend his ways? “Never!” he
told his audience. The law was a gross violation of the teachings of Christ,
and for that reason, he had never obeyed it and with “God’s help . . . never
shall.”
in December
1863, Ashley thought it was indeed “necessary” to strike a deathblow against
slavery. He also thought getting a few pieces of his 1861 package into law was possible. So, just after the House opened for its winter session, he
introduced two measures. One was a reconstruction bill that followed, at least
at first glance, what Lincoln had called for in his annual message. Like
Lincoln, Ashley proposed that a seceded state be let back into the Union when
only 10 percent of its 1860 voters took an oath of loyalty.
The Senate
Judiciary Committee then took charge. They ignored Sumner’s cry for racial
justice and worked out the bill’s final language. The wording was clear and
simple: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the
United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
On April 8,
1864, the committee’s wording came before the Senate for a final vote. Although
a few empty seats could be found in the men’s gallery, the women’s gallery was
packed, mainly by church women who had organized a massive petition drive
calling on Congress to abolish slavery. Congress for the most part had ignored
their hard work. But to the women’s delight, thirty-eight senators now voted
for the amendment, six against, giving the proposed amendment eight votes more
than needed to meet the two-thirds requirement.
All thirty
Republicans in attendance voted aye. The no votes came from two free state
Democrats, Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana and James McDougall of California,
and four slave state senators: Garrett Davis and Lazarus W. Powell of Kentucky
and George R. Riddle and Willard Saulsbury of Delaware. Especially irate was
Saulsbury. A strong proponent of re-enslavement, he made sure that the women
knew that he regarded them with contempt. In a booming voice, he told them on
leaving the Senate floor that all was lost and that there was no longer any
chance of ever restoring the eleven Confederate states to the Union.
Now, nine
weeks later, the measure was before the House. The outcome was even worse than
Ashley had anticipated. “Educated in the political school of Jefferson,” he
later recalled, “I was absolutely amazed at the solid Democratic vote against
the amendment on the 15th of June. To me, it looked as if the golden hour had
come, when the Democratic party could, without apology, and without regret,
emancipate itself from the fatal dogmas of Calhoun, and reaffirm the doctrines
of Jefferson. It had always seemed to me that the great men in the Democratic
party had shown a broader spirit in favour of human liberty than their political
opponents. Until the domination of Mr. Calhoun and his States-rights
disciples, this was undoubtedly true.”
James M. Ashley
a Republican Ohio Congressman (1859-1869) and the prime sponsor of the 13th
Amendment outlawing slavery. He was more radical than President Lincoln but
cooperated with him to round up the House votes for the amendment's approval in
January 1865.
All thanks to
Ashley and the Republican congressional leadership, the Thirteenth Amendment to
the United States Constitution—which banned slavery in the United States—passed
the Senate in 1864 and the House in 1865; it was ratified in December 1865.
Overview
and Analysis
The
Republican Party’s Unit Ten (Today's Maga Party in many ways) explored the
complex relationships and evolving political dynamics between freed people; the
Republican Party after emancipation and the solid Democratic Party position
against the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It
highlights the roles of key figures, such as Radical Republicans, in shaping
post-Civil War America, particularly in North and South Carolina.
Radical
Republicans
The Radical
Republicans were a powerful faction within the Republican Party during and
after the Civil War. Led by Thaddeus Stevens in the House of Representatives
and Charles Sumner in the Senate, they were staunch opponents of slavery and
champions of civil rights for freed people. They played a crucial role in
Reconstruction, often clashing with both Democratic opponents and more moderate
Republicans, as well as Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. The Radical Republicans, were pivotal
in the fight against slavery and the pursuit of civil rights for freed people.
This faction within the Republican Party was instrumental during the Civil War
and Reconstruction, finding themselves at odds with Democrats, former
slaveholders, the Ku Klux Klan, and even moderate Republicans.
James M.
Ashley's Advocacy
James M.
Ashley, an ardent abolitionist and Republican congressman from Ohio,
exemplified the Republican Party’s Radical Republicans' (Mega Today) commitment
to ending slavery was
unwavering. He openly defied the
Fugitive Slave Law and helped slaves escape bondage from a young age and was unwavering
in his belief that such laws were morally wrong. In December 1863, he
introduced significant measures in Congress aimed at
Reconstruction and abolition mirroring President Lincoln's vision.
Legislative
Efforts and Challenges
In December
1863, Ashley pushed for decisive action against slavery, aligning his proposals
with President Lincoln's vision for Reconstruction. However, the path to
legislative success was fraught with challenges. The Senate Judiciary
Committee, disregarding Charles Sumner's appeals for racial justice, simplified
the wording of the proposed abolition amendment.
Senate and
House Votes
On April 8,
1864, the Senate passed the amendment with a significant majority, thanks to
the efforts of church women who had rallied for its support. However, the House
vote was less favourable. Ashley expressed his disappointment at the solid
Democratic opposition, which he felt contradicted the party's historical stance
on human liberty.
Triumph of
Passage of the Thirteenth Amendment
Despite the
obstacles, Ashley and the Republican leadership persevered. Their relentless
advocacy led to the eventual passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which
abolished slavery in the United States. The Senate approved it in 1864,
followed by the House in January 1865, and it was ratified in December 1865.
Foot Note:
On May 22,
1856, the "world's greatest deliberative body" became a combat
zone. In one of the most dramatic and
deeply ominous moments in the Senate's entire history, Democratic Representative
Preston Smith Brooks, an American slaveholder, politician and Democratic member
of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina and a strong advocate
of slavery and states' rights to enforce slavery nationally entered the Senate
Chamber and savagely beat Republican Senator Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts
antislavery Republican senator into unconsciousness.
Representative
Preston Brooks was Butler's South Carolina kinsman. If he had believed Sumner to be a gentleman,
he might have challenged him to a duel.
Instead, he chose a light cane of the type used to discipline unruly
dogs. Shortly after the Senate had
adjourned for the day, Brooks entered the old chamber, where he found Sumner
busily attaching his postal frank to copies of his "Crime Against
Kansas" speech.
Moving
quickly, Brooks slammed his metal-topped cane onto the unsuspecting Sumner's
head. As Brooks struck again and again,
Sumner rose and lurched blindly about the chamber, futilely attempting to
protect himself. After a very long
minute, it ended.
Bleeding
profusely, Sumner was carried away.
Brooks walked calmly out of the chamber without being detained by the
stunned onlookers. Overnight, both men
became heroes in their respective regions.
The
inspiration for this clash came three days earlier when Senator Charles Sumner,
a Massachusetts antislavery Republican, addressed the Senate on the explosive
issue of whether Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a
free state. In his "Crime Against
Kansas" speech, Sumner identified two Democratic senators as the principal
culprits in this crime—Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South
Carolina. He characterized Douglas to
his face as a "noise-some, squat, and nameless animal . . . not a proper
model for an American senator."
Andrew Butler, who was not present, received more elaborate
treatment. Mocking the South Carolina
senator's stance as a man of chivalry, the Massachusetts senator charged him
with taking "a mistress . . . who, though ugly to others, is always lovely
to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I
mean," added Sumner, "the harlot, Slavery."
Surviving a
House censure resolution, Brooks resigned, was immediately re-elected, and soon died at age 37. Sumner
recovered slowly and returned to the Senate, where he remained for another 18
years. The nation, suffering from the
breakdown of reasoned discourse that this event symbolized, tumbled onward
toward the catastrophe of civil war.
"Party-Switch" Myth: FULLY DEBUNKED! | Louder With Crowder
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