RARE 1861 PEACE CONFERENCE Civil War MILITARY William Warner Hoppin WASHINGTON

THE PEACE CONFERENCE OF 1861 AT WASHINGTON, D.C.

By William Warner Hoppin, Jun.

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Providence, Rhode Island: Standard Printing Company, 1891. First Edition.

4to / Softcover / 27 pp / Poor; covers completely detached, chipped / Few Historical Society pencil markings /

Reading copy of this scarce title pertaining to the 1861 Peace Conference which attempted to prevent the Civil War.

"Read before the Rhode Island Historical Society and the New Haven Colonial Historical Society, 1889-1890."

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The  Peace Conference of 1861   was a meeting of more than 100 of the leading politicians of the  antebellum United States   held in  Washington City , in February 1861 that was meant to prevent what ultimately became theCivil War . The success of President  Abraham Lincoln   and the  Republican Party   in the  national elections of 1860 led to a flurry of political activity. In much of the  South , elections were held to select delegates to  special conventions   empowered to consider  secession   from the Union. In  Congress , efforts were made in both the  House of Representatives   and the  Senate   to reach compromise over the issues relating to  slavery   that were dividing the nation. The  Washington Peace Conference of 1861   was the final effort by the individual states to resolve the crisis. With the seven states of the Cotton South already committed to secession, the emphasis for peacefully preserving the Union focused on the eight slaveholding states representing the Upper and Border South, with the states of  Virginia   and  Kentucky   playing key roles.

Background [ edit ] Main article:  Crittenden Compromise

In December 1860 the final session of the  Thirty-sixth Congress   met. In the House, the  Committee of Thirty-Three   (composed of one member from each state), led byOhio   Republican  Thomas Corwin , was formed in order to reach a compromise to preserve the Union. In the Senate, former Kentucky  Whig   John J. Crittenden , elected as a Unionist candidate, submitted six proposed constitutional amendments that he hoped would address all the outstanding issues. Hopes were high, especially in theBorder States , that the  lame duck   Congress could reach a successful resolution before the new Republican administration took office.

Crittenden's proposals were debated by a specially selected Committee of Thirteen. The proposals provided for, among other things, an extension of the Missouri Compromise line dividing slave from Free states to the  Pacific Ocean , bringing his efforts directly in conflict with the 1860 Republican Platform and the personal views of President-elect Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln made known his objections, and the Compromise was rejected by the committee on December 22 by a vote of 7–6. Crittenden later brought the issue to the floor of the Senate as a proposal to have his compromise made subject to a national referendum, but the Senate rejected it on January 16 by a vote of 25–23.[1]

A modified version of the Crittenden Plan, believed to be more attractive to Republicans, was considered by an ad hoc committee of fourteen congressmen from the lower North and upper South meeting several times between December 28 and January 4. The committee was chaired again by Crittenden and included other southern Unionists such as Representatives  John A. Gilmer   of  North Carolina ,  Robert H. Hatton   of  Tennessee ,  J. Morrison Harris   of  Maryland , and  John T. Harris   of Virginia. A version of their work was rejected by the House on January 7.[2]

In the House the Committee of Thirty-Three on January 14 reported that it had reached majority agreement on a constitutional amendment to protect slavery where it existed and the immediate admission of  New Mexico Territory   as a slave state. This latter proposal would result in a de facto extension of the  Missouri Compromise   line for all existing territories below the line.[3]

A fourth avenue towards compromise came from the state of Virginia. Former president  John Tyler , a private citizen of Virginia, still very much interested in the fate of the nation, had been appointed as a special Virginia envoy to President  James Buchanan   urging him to maintain the status quo in regard to the seceded states. Later Tyler was an elected delegate to the Virginia convention called to consider whether or not to follow the deep South states out of the Union.[4]   Tyler thought that one final collective effort should be made to preserve the Union and in a document published on January 17, 1861, called for a convention of the six free and six slave Border States to resolve the sectional split. Governor  John Letcher   of Virginia had already made a similar request to the state legislature which acted by agreeing to sponsor the convention while expanding the list of attendees to all of the states.[5]   Thomas Corwin agreed to hold off any final vote on his House plan pending the final actions of the Peace Conference.[6]

The Convention [ edit ]

This convention convened on February 4, 1861, at the  Willard Hotel   at the same time that the seven Deep South states that had already passed ordinances of secession were preparing to form a new government in  Montgomery, Alabama . At the same time that John Tyler, selected to head the Peace Convention, was making his opening remarks in Washington, his granddaughter was ceremonially hoisting the flag for the convention in Montgomery. No delegates were sent by the Deep South states, or by  Arkansas ,  Michigan ,  Wisconsin ,  Minnesota ,  California , and  Oregon . Fourteen free states and seven slave states were represented. Among the representatives to the conference were  James A. Seddon   and  William Cabell Rives   from Virginia,  David Wilmot   from Pennsylvania,  Reverdy Johnson   from Maryland,William P. Fessenden   and  Lot M. Morrill   from  Maine ,  James Guthrie   from Kentucky,  Stephen T. Logan   from  Illinois ,  Alvan Cullom   from  Tennessee , and  Thomas Ewing and  Salmon P. Chase   from Ohio. Many of the delegates came in the belief that they could be successful, but many others, from both sides of the spectrum, came simply as "watchdogs" for their sectional interests. Because many of the 131 delegates (which included "six former cabinet members, nineteen ex-governors, fourteen former senators, fifty former representatives, twelve  state supreme court   justices, and one former president") qualified as senior statesmen, the meeting was frequently referred to derisively as the  Old Gentleman's Convention .[7]

On February 6 a separate committee charged with drafting a proposal for the entire convention to consider was formed. The committee consisted of one representative from each state and was headed by  James Guthrie . The entire convention met for three weeks, and its final product was a proposed seven point constitutional amendment that differed little from the Crittenden Compromise. The key issue, slavery in the territories, was addressed simply by extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific coast with no provision for newly acquired territory. This section barely passed by a 9–8 vote of the states.[8]

Other features of the proposed constitutional amendment were the requirement that the acquisition of all future territories had to be approved by a majority of both the slave states and the free states, a prohibition on Congress passing any legislation that would affect the status of slavery where it currently existed, a prohibition on state legislatures from passing laws that would restrict the ability of officials to apprehend and return fugitive slaves, a permanent prohibition on the foreign slave trade, and 100% compensation to any master whose fugitive slave was freed by illegal mob action or intimidation of officials required to administer the  Fugitive Slave Act . Key sections of this amendment could only be further amended with the concurrence of all of the states.[9]

Aftermath [ edit ]

In failing to limit the expansion of slavery to all new territories the compromise failed to satisfy hard line Republicans. In failing to protect slavery in the territories up to the point where a territory drafted a state constitution for the approval of Congress the compromise failed to address the issue that had divided the Democratic Party into northern and southern factions in the 1860 presidential elections. The convention's work was completed with only a few days left in the final session of Congress. The proposal was rejected in the Senate in a 28 to 7 vote and never came to a vote in the House.[10]   A less all encompassing constitutional amendment   finally submitted by the Committee of Thirty-Three was passed by Congress, but this amendment simply provided protection for slavery where it currently existed, something that Lincoln and most members of both parties already believed was a state right protected by the existing Constitution. A bill for New Mexico statehood was tabled by a vote of 115 to 71 with opposition coming from both Southerners and Republicans.

With the adjournment of Congress and the inauguration of Lincoln as president, the only avenue for compromise involved informal negotiations between Unionist southerners and representatives of the incoming Republican government; Congress was no longer a factor. A final convention of strictly the slave states still in the Union scheduled for June 1861 never occurred because of the events at  Fort Sumter .  Robert H. Hatton , a Unionist from Tennessee who would later change sides, summed up the feelings of many shortly before Congress adjourned:

We are getting along badly with our work of compromise – badly. We will break, I apprehend, without any thing being done. God will hold some men to a fearful responsibility. My heart is sick.[11]

William Warner Hoppin   (September 1, 1807 – April 19, 1890) was the 24th  Governor of Rhode Island   from 1854 to 1857.

Early life [ edit ]

Hoppin was a native of  Providence, Rhode Island . He graduated from the  Hopkins School   in 1824 and then went to  Yale University   and  Yale Law School . He practiced law in Providence.

Political career [ edit ]

He became active in politics as a member of the  Know Nothing   or American Party. He was elected to the  Providence City Council   in 1838 and served for four years. He later became active as a  Whig , and in 1847 he was elected to Providence's Board of Aldermen, where he served for five years.

In 1853 he was elected to the  Rhode Island State Senate , where he served until 1854.

He was elected Governor as a Whig and served three one year terms, 2 May 1854 to 26 May 1857.

He became a  Republican   when the party was founded in the 1850s, and he was a Delegate to the  1856 Republican National Convention , and campaigned for  John C. Fremont .

He participated in the  Peace Conference of 1861 , which attempted to prevent the start of the  American Civil War   When the war began he was a staunch supporter of the  Union cause , campaigning for  Abraham Lincoln   in 1860 and 1864, andUlysses S. Grant   in 1868 and 1872. During the war, Hoppin was active in efforts to raise troops for Rhode Island's regiments and other activities in support of the  Union Army .

In 1866 Hoppin was returned to the Rhode Island Senate, and served until 1867. In 1875 he was elected to one term in the  Rhode Island House of Representatives .

Hoppin later in life

Hoppin was appointed a federal Registrar in Bankruptcy in 1867, and served until 1872.

He was a hereditary member of the Rhode Island  Society of the Cincinnati   and a 3rd Class Companion of the Massachusetts Commandery of the  Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States .

Death and burial [ edit ]

Governor Hoppin died in Providence on April 19, 1890, and was buried in Providence'sSwan Point Cemetery .

 

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• Type: Book
• Theme: Civil War

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