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IT
APPEARS HARRY REID AND CHINA STRUCK A DEAL WHICH IS ACTUALLY [I BELIEVE AND
ALL INDICATIONS CONTAINED HEREIN LEAD THAT WAY] IS THE OLD SILVER & GOLD
MINES, THE MICRO ALLUVIAL GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM AND PLATINATE GROUPES,
IRIDIUM, BERIDIUM, 7 STRATEGIC RARE EARTHS.. PROVEN IN VARIOUS ASSAY
REPORTS. THIS BEING THE CASE WHY HAS THE UTILIZATION OF THESE MINERALS
BEEN USED TO PAY THE 'ALLEGED DEBT?" [VKD]
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Abraham I
Lincoln and the Statehood of Nevada
LINCOLN ROOM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY MEMORIAL
the Class of 1901 founded by HARLAN HOYT HORNER
and HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER
(Reprinted from AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION JOURNAL, March and April, 1940)
ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE STATEHOOD OF NEVADA
On Close Division of Public Opinion in 1864 a New Free State was Important — Decision to
Admit Nevada — Great Hopes for Future Expansion — New Constitution Telegraphed to Wash-
ington in Time to Proclaim State and Have its Vote Cast in Presidential Election.
By F. Lauriston Bullard
Editorial Writer, Boston Herald
ON the wall of the Assembly Chamber in the capitol of the State of Nevada there hangs a portrait
of Abraham Lincoln. Its acquisition was authorized by the Legislature in connection with the
celebration of the semi-centennial of Nevada's statehood.
The unveiling took place on March 14, 1915. The painting was placed above the Speaker's chair in
the room occupied by the popular branch of the Legislature in commemoration of the events that
brought about the admission of Nevada to the Union, and, as the Governor said, "to inspire
legislators to give to the people the best that is in them." The anniversary of Nevada's accession
(October 31, 1864) is observed annually as a holiday with more or less formality, and last year was
celebrated with the pageantry of a Diamond Jubilee.
"Nevada or a Million Men"
That the admission of the Silver State was considered a necessity for the consummation of the
policies of the Civil War President is well known, but several important aspects of the situation
at the time are hardly known at all. "Easier to admit Nevada than to raise another million men,"
is the familiar explanation of Lincoln's policy, this on the authority of the account given to the
public in 1898 by Charles A. Dana. The purpose of this article is to bring forward certain neglected
phases of the story and to indicate that the Dana account may not in all respects be accurate.
During about half of the decade of the 1850's Carson County, in the western part of the Territory of
Utah, was occupied only by several groups of Mormons, and emigrants bound for California hurried
through what seemed to them a Valley of Death littered as was the trail by skeletons of cattle and men.
When a clash between the United States and the Mormon authorities became imminent in 1857, about a
thousand Zionists at the call of Brigham Young abandoned promptly the properties in the Valley which
their labor had made valuable and hastened back to Salt Lake. The discovery of the Comstock Lode
precipitated a wild rush for a new El Dorado. On the second day before he quit the Presidency, James
Buchanan signed the Act which transformed Carson County into the Territory of Nevada. In fewer than four
years the Territory was advanced to Statehood. The census of 1860 gave Nevada a population of only
6,857. During the debate in Congress of the Enabling Act for Nevada's admission the population was
estimated all the way from 30,000 to 45,000. Statehood must mean the addition of two Senators and one
Representative to the National Legislature. The Apportionment Act in force at that time established a
population ratio of 127,381 for each member of Congress. In all the succeeding 75 years Nevada never
has attained that population.
But in the middle 60's everybody assumed that Nevada was destined to become a populous and wealthy
State. The frenzied speculation of the wildcat era was subsiding, but sane observers in conservative
publications declared that a mighty commonwealth had been founded on the plateau between the Rockies
and the Sierras and predicted that the stream of bullion which would issue from its mines would pay
the nation's war debt. Senator Latham of California insisted that even by the time the Territory had
qualified for admission the population would exceed 100,000, whereas the Golden State had come in with
a population no larger.
The eastern newspapers were commenting on the great progress the Territory had made in four years. The
New York Times stressed "the vast multitudes of emigrants" who were pouring into the region. The New
York Herald foresaw a "future for the new State" that would be as prosperous as its beginning. Greeley's
Tribune described in glowing terms the prospects of the coming State, and indicated that its mines might
pay not only the interest on the national debt but "the entire debt . . . within the present generation." The
Secretary of the Interior in his report for 1864 conceived that the production of the silver regions
"must soon reach a magnitude unprecedented in the history of mining operations." Bishop Matthew Simpson
indulged in gaudy rhetoric to describe the value of the Nevada mines — "the more the mines are worked
the richer they yield." Observers believed also that once the Pacific Railroad should have spanned the
Continent silver would not be the only valuable export of the new State. Agriculture must always be
limited, but several minerals would supplement silver when the mines became more readily accessible and
freight rates receded to a reasonable level.
Nevada Desired Statehood
The people of Nevada wanted to enter the Union. Three months before Congress passed an Enabling Act
they voted four to one for Statehood. During the territorial years a little body of troops organized in
that distant region kept open the sole means of communication between the East and the Pacific coast.
For that valuable war service the Territory borrowed money at the rate of \ l / 2 per cent, per month and incurred a debt for
which the State was not reimbursed until 1929. The government at Washington under all normal conditions
would have delayed action. Nobody foresaw, however, that Nevada would provide the nation with a unique
case of arrested development. Nevertheless, even though the future had been clearly disclosed to the
Administration, Statehood would have been authorized without delay. The Administration was looking for
additional loyal States. Congress passed Enabling Acts for Colorado and Nebraska, territories which also
fell far short
—
This portrait of Abraham Lincoln hangs above the Speaker's Chair in the Assembly Chamber in the State
House at Carson City.
It was painted by Charles W. Shean, New York City, and authorized by the Nevada Legislature at the time
of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Statehood.
Thus Nevada emphasizes Lincoln's connection with the admission of the State at a critical time in the
Civil War.
of the apportionment population. To expedite the admission of Nevada its constitution was telegraphed
entire from Carson City to Washington a few days before the national election of 1864. The people of
the Territory probably understood only in part the reasons for the hurry.
Prior to the organization of the territorial government midway of 1861 there was little government or
none in Carson County. Conditions in that portion of Utah were hopelessly chaotic. During one period
three governments are said to have tried simultaneously to function. The discovery of the Comstock on
June 12, 1859, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, about twenty miles from the California boundary,
made confusion worse confounded. In a short time Virginia City multiplied from nothing to a hurly-burly
of 10,000 miners. San Francisco was the centre of the orgy of speculation that followed. A government
report states that 3000 silver companies were organized in the California city and that 30,000 persons
bought stock in them. "The amount of business done in Virginia City was twice as great as in any other
town of equal size in the United States. It provided more silver in a year than any other mining district
of equal size ever did." Other silver ledges were soon uncovered and other little camps became wild and
unruly towns.
Terry and Stewart; Mark Twain
Within two days of each other there arrived in Carson City two men who represented opposing ideas of
what should be the destiny of that region. Judge David S. Terry, born in Kentucky, had resigned as
Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court shortly before his duel with Senator David Broderick.
He came to Virginia City, according to the not too reliable charge of a San Francisco newspaper, "at
the request of Jefferson Davis from whom he had received a commission to be territorial governor of
Nevada in case it became sympathetic with the southern cause." In 1863 he joined the Confederate army
and fought at Chickamauga. William M. Stewart, who was to become one of Nevada's first Senators, born
in New York, was an ardent Unionist. After ten years in California he established a law office in Nevada and became a specialist in
mining law. He spent four years in vindicating the interests of the original claimants to the Comstock.
In that turbulent period he rode the storm, with Terry as his usual opponent until the outbreak of the
war.
The organization of Carson County as the Territory of Nevada was expected to end what was plainly
an impossible situation. There was an interval of eighteen weeks between the President's approval of the
bill creating the new Territory and the arrival of its first and only Governor. James W. Nye doubtless
owed plus appointment to his friend, the Secretary of State.
The younger Charles Francis Adams, who traveled with him and Seward on a campaign tour in the Middle
West in 1860, described Nye as an able stump speaker and politician, well adapted for the life of the
mining camps, and "a character!" In his annual message of 1862 President Lincoln referred to Nevada as
a region in which "the Federal officers" on their arrival there "found existing the leaven of treason,"
a condition with which Nye was amply equipped to deal. As Secretary for the Territory, another Cabinet
member, Attorney General Bates, obtained the appointment of one Orion Clemens, who in turn named as his
secretary his brother, Sam, whom the world knows as Mark Twain.
During more than two years of the three years and four months that Nevada remained a Territory the
question of Statehood was agitated. In 1862 the Territorial Legislature passed a bill for a referendum
vote, and for the election of delegates for a constitutional convention in case Statehood should win.
In a total vote of 8162 only 1502 were recorded in opposition.
Late in December of that year Representative James M. Ashley introduced in Congress a bill providing
for the admission of Nevada. Precisely in the same form he offered on the same day bills in behalf of
Colorado, Nebraska, and Utah, and a bill for a temporary government for Idaho. These measures encountered
long delay in the House, but the Senate passed the Nevada Act in March, 1863. Nevada duly elected the
convention delegates and they spent about six weeks towards the end of the year in drafting a
constitution. And then, for reasons which will appear, in January, 1864, the people rejected it by
a four-to-one vote, 8851 to 2157.
Territory Faithful to Union
Meantime in more ways than one the Territory was demonstrating its fidelity to the Union. The people
always have been proud of what Nevada did for the Sanitary Commission, the Red Cross of Civil War days.
Its per capita contributions were larger that those of any other State or Territory, despite the fact
that there was a good deal of secession sentiment in Carson City and Virginia City. Nevada's greatest
service was the keeping open of the Overland Trail. The Federal Government early in 1861 withdrew all
troops from the Pacific coast, except one regiment of infantry and three batteries of artillery.
The blockade and other activities at sea reduced heavily the roundabout services between the coasts via
Panama. The Southern Trail, through Texas. Arizona and New Mexico, was in the hands of
the Confederacy. Only the Overland was left. The daily mail service over that route between the Missouri
River and Sacramento remained as a vital link of communication. This was the covered wagon trail.
Moreover, its discontinuance might have meant the shutting down of the mines. Those mines, during the
war and the years immediately following, produced for the government $500,000,000.
In this situation three separate demands came from Washington for the Territory to equip and mount,
subsist and pay, a body of troops for the policing of several hundreds of miles of a trail which was
exposed to the raids of bandits and Indians. Nevada kept the Overland open. About 1 ISO men were
recruited for three year service and many besides volunteered for home guard duty. They kept that vast
region in touch with the East. The Territory borrowed the money to pay these troops and the State
assumed the debt. This constituted a reimbursement claim, the justice of which was conceded for years by
the Congressional committees that examined it, but which was not finally allowed and paid until ten years
ago. The State then received approximately $595,000, of which only $110,000 represented the original
principal.
From this record the great majority of the people derived great satisfaction. They had suppressed
secession, kept the Overland clear, and contributed handsomely for humanitarian funds. When the
transcontinental telegraph line closed the last gap and completed the line from coast to coast the
Territorial Legislature sent a message to President Lincoln declaring that "the last-born of the Nation
will be the last to desert the flag."
Mining Titles Doubtful
One reason for seeking statehood seldom appears in the record. Many mine owners were none too sure of
the legality of their titles. The mining policy of the Federal government was still unsettled. There
was no national mining code. Large sums were available for the development of the industry if and when
investors could be sure that their property rights would withstand challenge in the courts. Law suits,
next to silver, were Nevada's biggest crop, and a most profitable source of revenue for lawyers. Judges
who received relatively minute salaries were sitting in cases involving rights worth millions of dollars. Dr. Mack, the historian of
Nevada, states that the territorial judiciary was "corrupt," that many of the judges were "susceptible
to outside influences." Amidst a mania for the organization of corporations, Mark Twain is suspected of
the authorship of the quip in a San Francisco newspaper that "if two men sit down here to play cards
they incorporate the game." The people believed that condition could not be corrected under the
territorial system. They considered representation in Washington on a parity with the other States to be
essential for their protection. Mining questions during that time were under active debate in Congress.
Why then did the people reject the Constitution which their representatives had prepared? The man
responsible beyond all others for its rejection was none other than William M. Stewart. He served in the
convention as chairman of the judiciary committee. Certain taxation clauses he considered obnoxious, and
when his amendment for their rectification was rejected by the convention he unlimbered all his
formidable artillery against the projected Constitution. He rang all the changes on the charge that it
would "tax the poor miner out of existence." It would kill the mining industry because it would tax the
miner's shafts and drifts and bedrock tunnels whether these were productive or not. At least one
historian, Hubert Howe Bancroft, pronounces this a "pretext," but without stating his reasons.
Abraham Lincoln and Nevada, 1864
A second attempt to qualify for statehood was more successful. It was more than a movement by local
initiative. It was instigated also from Washington. The party in power needed Nevada. The president
wanted its aid for achieving an amendment to the Federal Constitution that should end the existence of
slavery beyond all argument or cavil. Congress having passed a statehood act, Governor Nye called
another convention to meet on July 4. The taxation clauses were omitted.
Stewart mobilized all his powers to procure the adoption of this instrument, and the people did ratify it in
early September.
In this story of the relations between Abraham Lincoln and Nevada, 1864 is the crucial year. The sequence
of events is of the first importance for understanding what happened. A paragraph of dates should
be useful.
In that year Nevada voted five times. On January 19 the people rejected one Constitution and on
September 7 they accepted another. They chose the delegates for the second convention ; they elected
certain territorial officers, and in turn they elected the officers who would take over the affairs of
the new state. Meantime the other half of the drama was under way in Washington. Ashley in the House had
offered a resolution for an abolition amendment on December 14, 1863.
Abolition amendments were proposed in the Senate on January 11, 1864, and the Committee on the Judiciary
reported what became the Thirteenth Amendment on February 1. On February 24 the Senate passed a bill for
Nevada's admission providing that a constitution should be submitted to the people on October 11.
The House passed this bill on March 17 and Lincoln signed it four days later. The abolition amendment
passed the Senate, 38 to 6, on April 8.
In May both Houses passed an amendment to the Nevada Enabling Act changing the date for the people to
vote on their proposed Constitution from October 1 1 to September 7.
Lincoln added his signature to this bill on May 21. On June 15 the House failed to muster the necessary
two-thirds vote for a suspension of the rules in behalf of the abolition amendment and the Ashley motion
for reconsideration was allowed to lie on the Speaker's desk.
In July the Nevada convention met, and the people duly adopted the new Constitution in September.
The Enabling Act contained an emergency provision that the Constitution should be submitted to the
President, and that he thereupon should proclaim Nevada a State. That proclamation he issued on
October 31. The Presidential election followed on November 8. Ashley called up his reconsideration
motion on January 31, 1865, and that day the abolition amendment passed the House 119 to 56 — a margin of three votes. One of those was cast
by the new Representative from Nevada.
WAR JHBMJl*»W*' r - aOfcJLu**' <$>■ ^trg telegraph
Sheets from telegram transmitting constitution of Nevada, October, 1864. Telegram to Seward above, right,
first sheet at left ; below, sheet prohibiting slavery.
passed the House 119 to 56 to 56 — a margin of three votes. One of those was cast
by the new Representative from Nevada.
Fear That South Might Again Have Balance
of Power
Throughout the war the President was pondering the problem of the reconstruction of the Union after the
victory at arms should have been won. Midway of the conflict Congress began to give serious attention to
the question. A deadlock developed between the executive and legislative branches of the government.
Lincoln, with all his magnanimity, could not forget that he was the titular head of a political party.
As a practical politician he must have contemplated the possibility that when the votes of the
reconstructed Southern States should be combined with the votes of the Northern antiwar Democrats the
control of Congress might go to the men who had fought to destroy the Union or had used their influence
to hobble the policies of the Administration.
With the abolition of slavery the three-fifths rule in the Constitution would become merely a matter
of historical interest, and the South would stand to increase its power in Congress unless the basis of
representation should be altered or the power of the North should be increased. The leaders of the
dominant party in Congress would see to it that the President should be reminded of these matters. New
and loyal States became a primary consideration. Every new State would mean two more Senators and at
least one Representative.
West Virginia having been admitted, the party strategists scanned the mountains and the prairies in
quest of communities that might be organized for statehood. Three Territories offered possibilities.
On the day that the Enabling Act for Nevada was approved the President signed a similar bill for
Colorado to qualify, and four weeks later the Nebraska bill was approved. The party in power had
considered also the possibility of adding Utah, New Mexico, and Montana to the Union.
In view of the criticisms often made of the admis- sion of Nevada it may be noted that at the time
Colorado had a population no larger. The Centennial State had to wait until 1876 for admission. The
people rejected one Constitution and Andrew Johnson twice vetoed a statehood bill based on another.
During the debate Charles Sumner declared that instead of an apportionment population there were not
more than 25,000 in the Territory. As to Nebraska, the people voted against becoming a State in 1864,
and in 1866 a majority of only 100 in a vote of 8000 approved a Constitution. This time Congress
admitted a State over a Presidential veto. At that time Nebraska could not satisfy the apportionment
qualification. For that matter, Idaho did not attain that representation basis until ten years after
admission, and Wyoming entered the Union in 1890 with only a third of the apportionment ratio and never
yet has satisfied that requirement.
Nevada and Lincoln's Second Term
These States did not come into the Union under emergency conditions. Nevada did. The vote of at
least one additional state was believed to be necessary for the abolition of slavery, and Congress
hurried forward its admission in order to make sure of three more electoral votes for Lincoln's second
term.
Each House twice debated the Nevada bill. In the thirty-seventh Congress the Senate passed it and again
in the thirty-eighth Congress, but the measure failed of passage the first lime in the House. In the
upper chamber in 1863 "Ben" Wade insisted that the criterion for the admission of a State ought to be the rapidity
of the increase of its population and not the present population. "I am credibly informed by the
Commissioner of the General Land Office," he said, "that Nevada's population cannot be less at this time
than 45,000, and increasing with unexampled rapidity." A motion to prescribe a population of 65,000
having been rejected, the bill was passed 24 to 16. The "Yeas" included such familiar names as Harlan,
the two Lanes, Morrill, Sumner, Wilmot, and Wilson of Massachusetts. On that same day the House refused
to suspend the rules so that the Nevada and Colorado bills might be taken from the table.
The Senate in the first session of the new Congress had no trouble in passing the bill again. Wade
reported it from the Committee on Territories on Feb. 16, and it came up for passage eight days
thereafter. The measure required that the Nevada constitutional convention should provide "by an
ordinance irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of the State:
First, that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the State otherwise than in the punishment
of crime. . .
Second, that perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of the State
shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship ; and
Third, that the people . . . agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to
the unappropriated public lands lying within the Territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the
sole and entire disposition of the United States."
A Constitution having been adopted by a majority of legal voters was to be certified, with a copy
thereof, to the President, and thereupon it would "be the duty of the President of the United States to
issue his proclamation declaring the State to be admitted into the Union
. . . without any further action whatever on the part of Congress." There was very little debate.
The Congressional Globe simply states that the bill was passed. In the House on March 17 this bill was
read in extenso. Ashley intimated that the measure needed no explanation further than to say that
"it passed the Senate two years ago and again unanimously at this session." And again the Globe records
simply that the bill "passed."
No Record Vote on Statehood Bill in Senate
That word "unanimously" is important. A recent Lincoln biographer has said that neither House was
willing to have a record Yea and Nay vote taken, that "whether through clerical inattention or by
official arrangement" these votes were not recorded. That the bill was "engrossed, read a third time,
and passed" is all we know. But it does not necessarily follow that the members of the two Houses wished
to dodge publicity. Nobody in either House asked for the Yeas and Nays. In both Houses there were those
opposed to, or not entirely satisfied with, the policy represented by the bill. Yet, on Ashley's
authority, the Senate had "unanimously" endorsed the bill, and Ashley certainly was confident of its
acceptance by the House. Nobody challenged him. He had the votes. It would be interesting to know how
that vote stood, of course, if only because a minority of 48 had been unwilling to allow the bill to
come before the House twelve months before.
Decidedly one would like to have exact information about that vote, because the President himself is
represented to have instigated log-rolling methods and to have authorized pledges of patronage to make
sure the bill should not fail. The testimony of Charles A.
1 >ana on this point is generally accepted. His story first came to the attention of the general public
in 1898 while his "Recollections" were running in McClnre's Magazine.
In the same year they appeared in book form. We now know that these "Recollections" were prepared by
a ghost writer, none other than Ida M. Tarbell. The distinguished editor of The Sun did not want to take
the time and trouble to do the job himself. Miss Tarbell got her material in a long scries of conferences.
Dana was to see the proofs. His death occurred in October, 1897, so that he lived to scan only a single
chapter. He had told this story, however, in precisely the same words, in a lecture at New Haven in 1896.
This address was copyrighted in his name. His son allowed it to be published in a limited edition in 1899.
Charles A. Dana's Account of Vote in House
Dana describes what he recalls as having taken place "in March, 1864" when the question of Nevada's
statehood "finally came up in the House of Representatives." Dana then was Assistant Secretary of War
with an office on the third story of the War Department building which the President visited at times.
On this occasion the President expressed his anxiety "about this vote" which was "going to be close" and
must be taken "next week." Dana cited as Democrats who could be counted on James E. English, of
Connecticut, and "Sunset" Cox, of Ohio. Not enough. More Democratic votes must be had. The President
named three Democrats with whom he wanted Dana to "deal." Dana did not name them. But with the distinct
authorization of the President he was to promise two men from New York and one from New Jersey whatever
they might want, no matter what it might be. Dana quotes the President as saying: "Here is the
alternative: that we carry this vote, or be compelled to raise another million and I don't know how
manv more men, and fight nobody knows how long.
It is a question of three votes, or new armies." Dana "saw" the three men. They were "afraid of their
party." Two of them wanted "internal revenue collectors' appointments," whether for themselves or for
constituents is not clear. The third wanted for a friend "a very important appointment about the custom
house of New York."
Dana gave them his word. They voted "right." Among other details in this comprehensive account Dana
records that the custom house appointment was delayed until Andrew Johnson assumed the Presidency and
that he refused to fulfill "the sacred promise" his predecessor had made.
This episode was reported by Mr. Dana first to an historical organization as an example of Lincoln's
"supreme political skill." What records Mr. Dana had we do not know. It has been assumed always that
a man in his position, with his years of experience as a writer and editor, must be accepted as a
competent authority even though he relied on memory alone. Yet the more carefully one examines the
situation, and the more he studies accessible records, the more difficult he finds it to accept in
every respect the Dana account.
Incidentally, that was anything but an example of "supreme political skill." It was commonplace, the
ordinary practice of politicians in office. Lincoln is described as doing what governors and presidents
always have done ; he used the appointive power to accomplish his purposes. What necessity could there
have been for buying Democratic votes? The full membership of the House then was 183, of whom the
dominant party, sometimes called Republicans and often Unionists, could count upon more than 100.
Schuyler Colfax was elected Speaker by a vote of 101 to 81, which is described by James G. Blaine as
representing "the distinctive Republican strength in the House." He adds that "on issues directlv
relating: to the war the Chief Justice Taney administering oath of office to Lincoln as President.
(From Chief Justice Taney home.
Frederick, Md.)
Administration was stronger than these figures indicate, being always able to command the support" of
several others to whom he alludes. The admission of Nevada was a party policy, yet the Dana account
depicts the clear Republican majority in the House as seriously at odds over what everybody knew was an
important party and Administration measure.
Lincoln's "Million Men"
What about that additional "million" men? Did the President for once indulge in hyperbole? At no time
did the grand total of Union troops number a million. The total enlistments, which must have included
many re-enlistments, for the four years of the war fell somewhat short of three millions.
On New Year's Day of 1864 there were in the service 860,737 men. One year later the number reached
959,460. These totals include both regulars and volunteers, and are divided almost equally between
soldiers present and absentees.
The President presumably was indicating his view that the addition of Nevada would be of great value
for its moral effect and for its implications as to the destruction of slavery.
And what about other witnesses ? Nobody else has tales to tell about the purchase of Democratic votes
for the Nevada bill, but there are several who relate stories similar to Dana's in connection with the
adoption of the resolution for the abolition amendment to the Constitution. For the passage of that
resolution a majority would not be enough. It must have two-thirds in both Senate and House.
Three Votes Needed for Abolition Amendment
Congressman A. G. Riddle, of Ohio, published his "Recollections of War Times" in 1895. He relates that
the votes of two or three Democrats in the House were "absolutely necessary" to get the measure through, and
that Mr. Ashley reported "in confidence" their acqui- sition. A certain member would "largely augment
his chances" for a job he coveted by voting for "the abolishing amendment." Another Democrat would ensure
in like manner his success for a contested seat in the next House. It was necessary also "to secure the
absence of one Democrat from the House on the day of the vote." Riddle intimates that his absence was to
be rewarded by the postponement until the next Congress of a bill which "a railroad in Pennsylvania"
objected to, he being an attorney for the road. Riddle says that he "cannot vouch for the means employed to
secure the Democrats," but that the two in question voted for the amendment, and that "the railroad
lawyer was taken so ill that day that he could not be carried into the House."
To be considered also is the modicum of evidence offered by Congressman George W. Julian, of Indiana,
whose "Political Recollections" appeared in 1884. He alludes to the solemnity of the spectacle "pending
the roll-call" on the amendment, and says: "The success of the measure had been considered very doubtful,"
and depended upon certain negotiations the result of which was not fully assured and the particulars of
which never reached the public.
Definite and emphatic in his testimony is a third member of the House, John B. Alley, of Massachusetts.
He contributed an article to the volume of "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln" which was edited by Allen
Thorndike Rice, and published in 1888. According to this Congressman the President sent for two members
of the House and said that the two votes lacking to make the two-thirds required "must be procured."
CHARLES A. DANA, 1819-1897
Assistant Secretary of War, 1863-1865. Editor of The
Sun (N. Y.) for 30 years. (Picture from James Har-
rison Wilson, Charles A. Dana. Harper's. 1907.)
When asked how that could be done, Lincoln is reported to have said : "I am President of the United
States, clothed with great power. The abolition of slavery by constitutional provision settles the fate
for all coming time not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come — a measure
of such importance that those two votes must be procured. I leave it to you to determine how it shall be
done ; but remember that I am President of the United States, clothed with immense power, and I expect
you to procure those votes." This witness concludes his statement thus : "These gentlemen understood the
significance of the remark. The votes were procured, the constitutional amendment was passed and slavery
was abolished forever."
"Log-Rolling" Used?
The historian Rhodes nowhere discusses this matter at length. He was aided in the preparation of his
account of the adoption of the amendment by a son of Representative Ashley. Conceding that many of the
Democrats "acted according to real convictions," and expressing the opinion that no money was used, he
says that "others" of the Democrats "were won over by a process of log-rolling." In estimating the value
of the Dana account it should be noted that he was in Washington in all probability when both the Nevada
vote and the amendment vote were taken. The Official Records of the War .show that Dana was in his office
on March 2 and 15 in 1864 and on ten non-consecutive days in January, 1865.
On the face of the record the necessity for using the powers of the President to buy votes for the
admission of Nevada does not appear. It certainly does appear to have been necessary to use the powers of
the Executive to ensure the adoption of the resolution for the Thirteenth Amendment. The actual sentiment of the
House on the statehood question was not disclosed by the adverse vote of March 3, 1863. On that last day
of the thirty-seventh Congress the Administration lacked ten votes of the two-thirds required to suspend
the rules. Elihu Washburne wanted to have taken from the Speaker's table the bills for the organization
of both Nevada and Colorado. Yallandigham objected and demanded the Yeas and Nays. As of December
1, 1862, the membership of that Congress was: Republicans 100, Democrats 44, Unionists 30, with three
vacancies. The vote on Washburne's motion was 65 to 48. Among the many not voting were several
Republicans. In the melee of a final session many curious things happen. One risks little if he assumes
that on the straight issue of Nevada's statehood the Administration would have won.
Difficulty in Securing Necessary Two-Thirds Vote
At all times there were grave doubts if the abolition resolution could be put through the House. On June
15, 1864, it was defeated 93 to 65, with 23 not voting — 13 short of the requisite two-thirds. After the
election of the following November the Administration had no doubt of what the result would be if action
should be put over until the thirty-ninth Congress should convene.
In his annual message the President dealt with the issue. For the first time the voice of the people had
been heard thereom The new House which would take office in March, 1865, would surely pass the
Lincoln and Douglas at Galesburg
amendment. Why then "should not the present House, which had failed to adopt it at the previous session,
now act upon it favorably ? . . . Why not agree that the sooner the better?" The vote was taken on the
last day of January, 1865. The amendment carried 119 to 5b, with eight not voting, a bare margin of three
votes.
Little wonder that the floor and the galleries were swept with a storm of cheers. Recorded as voting Yea
were 1 1 Democrats from the non-slave States. Of the two mentioned by Dana, and said by him to have been
reckoned as "sure" by Lincoln, English voted Yea and Cox Nay. Of the abstainers six had voted Nay, and
only two had abstained, in the vote of the preceding June.
Nevada's Votes Desired for November, 1864,
Election
While it may not have been necessary to employ log rolling methods to bring Nevada into the Union, the
President and many party leaders were determined that the new State should be admitted before the
November election and they depended on its lone Representative, Henry G. Worthington, for one of the
votes needed for the passage of the abolition resolution. The eastern newspapers make the reasons for
haste abundantly clear. The New York World on the day Nevada was proclaimed a State declared that the
President was counting on the three additional electoral votes to which the new member of the family
would be entitled. The New York Herald expressed similar opinions. The Boston Transcript said :
"There can be no doubt how the three electoral votes of the new State will be cast."
During that black summer of 1864 Abraham Lincoln for once lost confidence in his own destiny.
Assuming that he could not be returned for a second term, he had every member of his Cabinet sign a
paper, which, as they learned weeks later, contained his pledge to cooperate with his successful opponent
for the saving of the Union. Even as late as mid-October his defeatist mood came back at intervals. One
evening in the War Department telegraph office he wrote out in his own hand and from memory an estimate
of the prospective electoral vote. He allowed McClellan 114 electors and the Administration 117. He did
not count Nevada although the arrangements for its admission had been completed. Major Eckert added the
new State's three votes to the President's total.
For Nevada to be admitted in time it was necessary to modify the Enabling Act and to use extraordinary
means to get the Constitution of the new State to Washington. Congress thoughtfully provided for both
contingencies. The date for the popular vote on the proposed Constitution had been set too late in the
Act. Governor Nye forwarded a memorial to the national capital suggesting that this vote be set forward
four weeks, so that the voters might pass on the Constitution on the day that Nevada would elect county
and territorial officers. Between this date and the Presidential election there would be an interval of
two months. The poll must be canvassed by the Governor, the United States District Attorney, and the
Territorial Chief Justice, and certified to the President in Washington together with a copy of the
Constitution. Also the new State must organize the districts for the national election.
Constitution Telegraphed to Washington
To complete the process of admission, resort was had to the wire. The trip from Carson City to Wash-
ington was no easy journey in those days. On Dec. 15 the first State Legislature elected William M.
Stewart and James W. Nye as Nevada's Senators. They traveled by way of Panama and took the oath of office
in the Senate Chamber on Feb. 1, the day after the adoption in the House of the abolition amendment.
Worthington, elected earlier, came across the prairies to railhead, and was sworn into office on Dec. 21. Both
Secretary of the Navy Welles and Attorney General Bates record in their Diaries that on Sept. 30 Seward,
the Secretary of State, produced at a Cabinet meeting a telegram from Governor Nye announcing the
adoption of the Constitution, and urged that the President accept this notice as sufficient warrant
for the issuance of the proclamation of admission. Other members of the Cabinet deprecated this idea and
Lincoln adhered to the letter of the law. The terms of the Act could be fulfilled only by using the Over-
land Telegraph line, which had been completed a couple of years before.
That despatch is on file in the National Archives. It covers 175 pages and embodies about 15,000 words.
Another copy was forwarded by Overland Mail and express riders, and a third by the roundabout ocean
trip from San Francisco. On March 3, 1865, the Legislature appropriated for payment of the telegraph bill
$3416.77. Two Morse operators tapped-out that immense message by the dot-and-dash system. One was Frank
Bell, the district manager at the time of the California State Telegraph Company. Me was appointed
Lieutenant Governor in 1889 and succeeded to the Governorship on the death of the incumbent. All day
long on Oct. 26 he bent over his key. The message was relayed at Chicago and Philadelphia and was re-
ceived in Washington on Oct. 28. The President issued his proclamation on the last day of that month.
Nevada duly cast her electoral vote for Lincoln and Johnson on the Union ticket.
Nevada Ratifies 13th Amendment
For the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, the ratification of Nevada also was considered imperative.
With 36 States, 27 ratifications would be necessary, and there was apprehension that the amendment might
fail unless Nevada could be counted upon. The day after the House passed the resolution Illinois ratified
the amendment, two more States ratified next day, and three others the third day. Nevada was swift but
distance was against her.
Carson City acted on Feb. 16, providing the fifteenth ratification. By Dec. 9 the reaquired number of
States had acted, among them eight former members of the Confederacy. Before the turn
Lincoln's first portrait, aged 37. Taken when he began riding the circuit. Reprinted from March, 1937,
issue of the Journal.
Of the year three more States had ratified, including one more Confederate State.
The "Battle Born" State
For three reasons the admission of Nevada was promoted by President Lincoln, and all three were war
measures : to ensure the adoption of the abolition resolution in Congress, to obtain a precious cluster
of votes for the President in the Electoral College, and to supply one more ratification for the
abolition amendment.
With excellent reason did Bancroft long ago, and the Federal Judge of the District of Nevada, Frank H.
Norcross, recently, with scores of others between, pronounce Nevada "the Battle-Born State."
Source: http://archive.org/stream/abrahamlincolnst00bull/abrahamlincolnst00bull_djvu.txt
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[Thanks
to Ginger for emailing to me.]
