The second installment of the Redwood Empire Civil War Round Table met last week at the Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake.
Twenty people attended the event to hear Zane Jensen”s presentation of “The Secession Commissioners” and my presentation of “Attempts at Compromise.”
Jensen explained the situation that South Carolina faced when it was the first state to declare independence. “They were desperate to get the other southern states to join them, so they sent out commissioners to spread fear of a slave rebellion if they stayed in the Union. Their use of racist language, while common for the time, is extreme by our standards.”
Did the commissioner”s tactics work? Jensen believes so: “In many cases, within a day of the commissioners speaking to a state assembly that state voted for secession,” according to Jensen.
I spoke of Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky who proposed a series of Constitutional Amendments that promised to protect slavery where it was, to allow for popular sovereignty in the southern territories and strengthen the fugitive slave law.
When Crittenden”s proposal got shot down, a peace conference was formed. It was made up by several former Congressmen, governors, cabinet members, Federal judges and even a former President. Ultimately, the Peace Conference was also a failure.
Senator Corwin of Ohio thought he had the solution. Believing that the primary issue was the South”s fear of losing their slaves, he proposed an amendment that if passed, would have become the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and would have forever guaranteed slavery where it existed.
Lincoln endorsed this amendment in his inaugural address, saying: “Holding such a provision to now be implied Constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.”
In the end, no compromise could be found. Level heads on both sides knew what that would mean.
Crittenden”s own family was divided on the issue, one child fought for the North, and one for the South. Crittenden ruined his health trying to find a way to avoid the coming conflict. What it did to his family was devastating.
So what caused the war: States rights or slavery? Folks have been debating this for more than 150 years and it can still create heated, passionate discussions. It”s definitely a lot more complicated than is often commonly assumed. The next Roundtable is scheduled for March 7 at 6:15 p.m. at the Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake.
Phil Smoley
Lakeport
