In Virginia in a murder trial old Jeff will get a shock - he's not allowed to testify as the accused! No rally cry to the South. No defense of secession. Virginian law would muzzle him.
A Glorious Union or America: the New Sparta
- Thread starter TheKnightIrish
- Start date
In Virginia in a murder trial old Jeff will get a shock - he's not allowed to testify as the accused! No rally cry to the South. No defense of secession. Virginian law would muzzle him.
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Six A Peace That Exists Only On The Other Side of War: Part Two
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Six
A Peace That Exists Only On The Other Side of War: Part Two
A Peace That Exists Only On The Other Side of War: Part Two
From “Kearny and the Radicals” by Hugh W. McGrath
New England Press 1992
“The story offered by Joseph C. Briscoe that the “Abandonment and Exile” concept was thought up by Phil Kearny after reading Edward Everett Hale’s A Man Without A Country should be treated as the fable it clearly is. Briscoe’s reputation for dishonesty should not be viewed as solely a symptom of the Hooker Administration but rather as part of a lifetime’s vocation of self-serving deceit…
Both Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner had proposed theories that the Southern States had, in attempting to secede, ceased to exist in their current form. Stevens believed that the Southern States could be treated as “conquered provinces”. Sumner was more measured believing that the states had committed a form of “felo de se” or state suicide. Sumner believed that the Southern States had effectively de-constructed themselves and that the Federal government could now treat them as territories that would have to be readmitted to the Union. Neither of these theories appealed to those who believed secession in any form was unconstitutional, like Lincoln and Kearny…
What Joseph Holt and Phil Kearny now discussed was the legal effect of the attempt to secede on individuals, not states. They proposed the radical theory that those who had pledged their allegiance to the Confederacy had willingly abandoned their allegiance to and citizenship of the United States - A form of individual legal suicide that killed an individual’s nationality. In practice they proposed that Confederates were men without a country…
It was a radical compromise that would go on to divide opinion within the Radical Republican movement…”
Opinion is divided about who first conceived the Doctrine of Abandonment
From “The Rivals – Lincoln and his Cabinet” by Amelia Doggett
Grosvenor 2008
“During the morning of September 10 Holt and Kearny suggested the idea of Abandonment and Exile to the President. The proposal had several facets to recommend it: it did not recognize any right of secession but in fact only confirmed the theoretical legal proposition that an individual could renounce his citizenship of a nation; it bypassed the issue of treason in most instances (but not all) as the Confederates were not United States citizens; prominent Confederate figures could still be tried for treason committed before they formally pledged their allegiance to the Confederacy (capturing many former US officers, congressmen and southern governors) and other crimes such as murder could still be prosecuted; as aliens rather than citizens it would be open to the US government to remove former Confederates from US territory and prohibit their return; and there was nothing prohibiting the government from pardoning Confederates in effect by reissuing an oath of allegiance and naturalizing these “men without a country”…
The President summoned Secretaries Stanton, Seward and Chase to the Soldiers Home that afternoon to discuss further the proposal made by Generals Holt and Kearny…
Edwin Stanton was an immediate convert to the proposal. He highlighted that it would immediately solve the issue of the re-admittance of the Southern States. Records captured in Richmond and throughout the state capitols of the South should allow the organized disqualification of former Confederate soldiers and officials. Until former Confederates were issued with the oath of allegiance and naturalized freedmen and Southern Unionists would form the vast majority of the electorate in the South. A simple revision of the Naturalization Act was required to govern former Confederates…
Seward was again skeptical. The Radicals would require blood, rivers of it to atone for the “South’s war crimes” (Benjamin Wade’s phrase). Before Congress would pass a revised Naturalization Act it would want to know to whom citizenship would be confirmed. Seward did not believe the Radicals would support the notion of pardoning all the “little people”…
Secretary Chase disagreed. The doctrine of Abandonment and Exile would not prevent the trial of Jefferson Davis for the murder of either David Hunter, negro prisoners or Virginian civilians. Nor would it save officers like P.G.T. Beauregard who had conspired with domestic enemies while commissioned officers in the US Army. The Radicals would still have their blood. Furthermore Chase proposed a further limb to the doctrine. Felo de se, suicide in the traditional sense, had for centuries been a crime which had resulted in the confiscation by the state of the individual’s property. Could not then the renunciation of citizenship by an individual, whose express purpose was to wage war on his former nation, not legitimately be punished by the confiscation of his property within that nation…
Chase felt the addition of a confiscation element would be enough to win support of a sufficient number of Radicals in the current Congress, though Seward disagreed…
The President remained concerned. If as was proposed he accepted the doctrine of Abandonment, it would be open to him to press Congress for a revised Naturalization Act that would allow the ordinary folk of the South to be readmitted to the nation as United States citizens. It would also be necessary to effectively exile large numbers of senior former Confederates from the United States as “undesirable aliens”. Striped of their property and with no nationality where would these people go? More importantly, the President was concerned with how they would be compelled to go and how their enforced exile would be policed…?”
From “The King and his Heir – Lincoln and Kearny in the Civil War” by Robert Todd Lincoln II
Grafton Press 1939
“Despite his misgivings the doctrine of Abandonment and Exile was the first proposal put to the President that struck a balance between revenge and reconciliation. It was a proposal that Lincoln felt might win sufficient support in Congress and be one that he could, in some good conscience and as a last resort, support. Lincoln asked Joseph Holt to begin work on a more detailed proposal for review by the full cabinet in December for it was a question that could only be more fully dealt with after the Fall Elections…
The President’s most pressing concern was bringing the war to an end, which meant reaching a conclusion in Texas...
General Kearny had received intelligence from Mexico that the Emperor Maximilian and the French were concerned that Confederates in Texas were offering arms and supplies for sale, primarily to the nearest buyer, the Republican revolutionaries just across the border…
It appeared to General Kearny that either General Kirby Smith or Governor Murrah had seen the writing on the wall and were seeking to realize hard cash before fleeing abroad. Both men were likely to face charges of treason and murder relating to the treatment of German unionists in the west of the state. Kearny had learned that the Emperor’s government had considered buying the supplies to prevent them falling into revolutionary hands but had feared angering the United States Government by doing so. Kearny had also learned that the Emperor had, quietly, offered employment to some of the least tarnished senior Confederate officers [actually it was only John B. Magruder at this point] should they decide to seek refuge in Mexico…
General Kearny saw no reason why the United States should oppose either Confederate supplies or manpower passing south of the border into either imperial or revolutionary hands so long as they did not pass northwards again. General Kearny suggested to the President that the Imperials were best placed to provide sufficient securities and, if the President was considering the doctrine of Abandonment and Exile, a receptive environment in Mexico, already populated by Texan exiles might grease the wheels…”
The Emperor had Mexican, French, Austrian, Hungarian, Belgian and Sudanese troops. He seemed disposed to recruit some former Confederates as well if it would not upset the United States
From “Kearny and the Radicals” by Hugh W. McGrath
New England Press 1992
“As was too often the case with Kearny’s proposals, his ideas about Texas and Mexico, though seemingly simple and elegant, raised serious and immediate practical problems as well as unpredictable long term complications…
Nonetheless the President, increasingly alienated by radicals in Congress and within his own Cabinet, would come to rely more and more on General Kearny and his suggestions. The President undertook to discuss the Mexican Questions further with Secretary Seward and the French minister, Henri Mercier…”
From “Kearny the Magnificent” by Roger Galton
NorthWestern
“It was at the end of three momentous days of debate about the future of the nation that the President invited General Kearny to join him and Mrs. Lincoln at the theatre on the following night to see the Booth Brothers in a special presentation of Julius Caesar at Fords Theatre. General Kearny graciously declined as Mrs. Kearny was still in New Jersey and he had an existing engagement to dine with Major General Custer. The President insisted and indeed extended the invitation to General Custer. Mrs. Lincoln would be only too happy to be escorted by two such gallant officers in addition to her husband. Of course General Kearny agreed…”
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That legal solution is actually pretty sound. One advantage is that Lincoln could probably justify having the Executive on a case by case basis decide that oaths of allegiance to the Confederacy were not renunciations of citizenship (finding that they were coerced, e.g.), which would allow some people to retain citizenship without congressional action.
But what do you do with the rest? Who would accept the stateless and how do you make them go?
You don't have to export them, they can be nationals who aren't citizens or even just resident aliens.
Because of that, this TL is likely going to see a fairly different 14th amendment.
Most of the southerners will not end up "stateless/exiled" - the average soldier, like OTL, will demobilize & take the oath and go back to his farm/store/whatever. I'll assume those considered "criminals" will be tried and many get the noose. Senior officers and officials not criminals will get the boot, and TTL I expect that more southerners such as planters, and so forth will decide to leave on their own accord since black enfranchisement, political support, economic support (from confiscations) will be much much stronger.
They really won't have much trouble finding some place to go. Mexico obviously, and as long as they are not "war criminals" fleeing justice various spots in the British Empire will welcome white English speaking immigrants though maybe not so much Canada which was a final destination for many fleeing slaves. Also Brazil, which OTL had Confederate "refugees" and is still a slave economy, maybe South Africa.
They really won't have much trouble finding some place to go. Mexico obviously, and as long as they are not "war criminals" fleeing justice various spots in the British Empire will welcome white English speaking immigrants though maybe not so much Canada which was a final destination for many fleeing slaves. Also Brazil, which OTL had Confederate "refugees" and is still a slave economy, maybe South Africa.
We already know that Cleburne will end up in the Ottoman Empire at some point - maybe he'll take some others with him.
that is a well thought out legal solution. in fact, that is probably one of the best arguments i have read
I wonder how welcome the planter class would be in Britain? The usually pro-southern governing class seems to have abandoned them for the more populist pro-northern stance of the working and middle classes after the death of Hunter and the pioneers.
Thank you very much. I'm glad the logic of the solution isn't just in my head. Now I have work on the reformed 14th Amendment!
Trailers:
1. A Three Part Act - The Booth Conspiracy
2. As Hot As Hell - Texas
3. All For One - The 1864 Election
4. The Blue Eyed Prophet and the Great Exodus - Abandonment and Exile
5. The Emperor Abroad - General Kearny experiences his own form of Abandonment & Exile
That's a very fair assessment. Public opinion at all levels has turned against the Confederates. It's less pronounced at the highest levels of society but still Great Britain itself is not going to be a welcoming environment for any former Confederates.
Are you sure that's a good idea?
There will be no Draka in TTL! Confederate exiles will not be taking any slaves or ex-slaves with them.
I agree; it is an elegant solution.
BTW that chapter was probably one the the best this thread had produced; well done, TKI.
There is one particular thing that came to me thinking about this Doctrine; unlike other proposals that centered around a state's status, this policy is centered on an individual's status. This, IMHO, would seem to me to undermine further the sovereignty of the states; I suspect this is why no one thought of it.
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Seven A Three Part Act
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Seven
A Three Part Act
A Three Part Act
John Wilkes Booth
From “An Uncivil War” by Dr Guy Burchett
LSU 1998
“John Wilkes Booth, an outspoken Confederate sympathizer, conceived a plan to murder President Lincoln in revenge for the crushing of the Slaveholders Rebellion. Booth recruited Samuel Arnold, David Herold, Michael O'Laughlen, Lewis Powell, Edmund Spangler, and John Surratt to help him. He was provided with support by a ring of Confederate agents run by David Preston Parr, who was assisted by Francis Tumblety…
One competing theory that was raised at the time, and that some conspirators were encouraged to promote to reduce their own culpability, was that Confederate Agent, David Preston Parr, originated the idea for the assassination rather than Booth. Parr as the senior Confederate agent in Baltimore had access to funds, and that through intermediary, Francis Tumblety, the plan was coordinated with Confederate agents in Canada…
In late 1860, Booth was initiated in the pro-Confederate Knights of the Golden Circle in Baltimore where he initially came into contact with the Confederate agent David Preston Parr, who owned a China Shop in the city. Parr’s son, David Preston Parr jr was an officer on the staff of the notorious rebel Jubal Early which only helped to increase the suspicion around Parr…”
From “Killing for Love – The Booth Conspiracy” by Laura-Ann MacDuff
McCollum & Hart 2006
“The primary reason for the hatred in the heart of Booth was a personal rivalry with the President’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Booth and the President’s son had both sought to court Miss Lucy Hale, daughter of Senator John Hale of New Hampshire…
Booth’s frequent outspoken support of the south was sufficient to cause Senator Hale to forbid any further contact with his daughter after one of Booth’s more public outbursts on the subject of the death on David Hunter...
Furthermore Miss Hale proceeded to enter into an affectionate correspondence with the President’s son who was on active service with General Kearny. Perhaps foolishly in a final note to Booth she told him that it was her “patriotic duty to admire the man who has put on a uniform in the name of duty and risks his life daily for the Union and in the name of freedom…a man who has forsaken great privilege to serve”. A more incendiary statement could not be made to the volatile Booth as the rebellion that claimed his allegiance collapsed…”
Did Lucy Lambert Hale's rejection launch Booth to act?
From “The Booth Conspiracy” by Dr. Guthrie Jameson
New England Press 1981
“Meanwhile, the Confederacy had collapsed. With the surrender first of Longstreet’s army, then the fall of the Confederate capital in Atlanta and finally the surrender of Hardee’s army, the war east of the Mississippi was all but over. It appeared to many, Booth included, that Lincoln’s re-election was guaranteed and that a new radical Congress would “ground the beaten south down under the heel of ****** despotism” (Booth)…
On September 2, 1864, Booth read several articles in which first Lincoln supported the idea of enfranchising the former slaves, and secondly in which several Radical Republican candidates for office made wild suggestions about the fate of the rebels and a defeated south. Furiously provoked, Booth committed to assassination and was quoted as saying:
“Now, by God, though the South may loose the war, in her name, I mean to fire the last shot.”
On September 8, 1864 Booth informed his conspirators that Lincoln would be attending a special play put on for charitable purposes at Ford’s Theatre. The Booth brothers would be performing a one off production of Julius Caesar…”
On September 11, Booth's morning started at the stroke of midnight. Lying wide awake in his bed at the National Hotel, he wrote his mother that all was well, but that he was "in great haste". In his diary, he wrote that "Our cause being as good as lost, something decisive must be done before our power to act is spent forever"…
After three days of almost continuous meetings, Lincoln's day started quietly. John Hay remarked that on that morning, "I never saw Mr. Lincoln so cheerful and happy". No one could miss the difference. For months, the President had looked pale and haggard. Lincoln himself told people how happy he was. The meetings with Kearny and Holt had finally convinced him the war was drawing to a close. This caused First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln some concern, as she believed that saying such things out loud was bad luck. Lincoln himself said that he had “paid her no heed”. He met with his cabinet again that day, including Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, to briefly discuss the issues raised by Kearny and Holt the previous (only Seward, Chase and Stanton had been consulted at the time). It was the first between the President and Hamlin for several days as the President had deliberately chosen not to involve Hamlin in the discussions…
At around noon, while Booth arrived at Ford's Theatre to review any last minute issues with his brothers. Booth had long argued that he would play the larger part of Brutus on this particular occasion and his brothers had acquiesced several weeks earlier. Thus his brother Edwin, long considered the superior actor, would play the lesser part of Mark Anthony…
The famous photograph of the Booth brothers taken several days before the performance
Booth learned from John Ford, the owner, that the President and General Kearny would definitely be attending the theatre that night. Booth determined that this was the perfect opportunity for him to do something "decisive". He knew the theater's layout, having rehearsed there several times since it had been renovated following the recent fire...
That same afternoon Booth asked a carpenter who had worked on the rebuilding of Ford’s, Edward Spangler, to deliver a message to Michael O'Laughlen requesting he have the guns and ammunition that he stored for Booth ready to be picked up later that evening. Spangler complied with Booth's requests and delivered the message…
At six o'clock that evening, John Wilkes Booth met for a final time with all his fellow conspirators. Booth assigned Lewis Powell to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward at his home, Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen to kill Vice President Hannibal Hamlin at his residence, and David E. Herold to guide Powell to the Seward house and then out of Washington to rendezvous with Booth in Maryland. Booth had planned to shoot Lincoln with his single-shot but with the knowledge that General Kearny would be present Booth resolved to take no chances and would bring one of the Whitney revolvers that O’Laughlen had purchased. They were all to strike simultaneously shortly after ten o'clock that night. Booth would strike when off stage during Mark Antony’s speech in Act III Scene II…
There is evidence to suggest that either Booth or his fellow conspirator Michael O'Laughlen sent a telegram to David Preston Parr requesting a “consignment of China be delivered” to an address in Maryland. This rather innocuous message was taken as a request to have horses and money ready in Maryland. However there is no evidence that either sent the telegram and it is further suspect as it would have been potentially difficult for Parr to make such arrangements at short notice. It was however sufficient to see Parr hanged in any event…
The Lincoln party arrived and settled into the Presidential Box, which was actually two corner box seats with the dividing wall between them removed. The party consisted of the President and Mrs. Lincoln, General Kearny and General Custer. Act I was stopped briefly and the orchestra played "Hail to the Chief" as the audience gave the president a rousing standing ovation. Ford's Theater was full with 1,700 in attendance. Mrs. Lincoln whispered to her husband, who was holding her hand, "What will the Generals think of my hanging on to you so?" The president replied, "They will be jealous of this old executive and wish their own wives here".
The box was guarded by Sergeant Silas Brown, an orderly to Kearny who doubled as a body guard. As messages could arrive for the attention of the Commanding General at any time a full staff officer was on duty outside the box. That night Captain W. H. Paine of Kearny’s staff had drawn the duty…
As Booth approached the box in full costume, Sergeant Brown rose to challenge him. However Captain Paine intervened. Paine was not about to deny entry to the Presidential Box to a premier actor such as John Wilkes Booth - Booth's celebrity status meant that his approach did not warrant any questioning from Paine, who assumed he was coming to call on the President even before Booth said as much...
Booth opened the door and stepped forward drawing the concealed revolver from his toga. The movement had caught Custer’s attention as he turned to see who had entered the box. Custer reported that the revolver caught briefly in Booth’s voluminous costume. Recognizing the butt of a pistol Custer launched himself at Booth calling out loudly. Custer barrelled into Booth as three shots rang out…
In the seconds that followed Booth lost hold of the gun as he and Custer collapsed to the floor. Pushing off Custer he would have seen what Custer reported. The President and Mrs. Lincoln fallen to the floor; blood on their clothes; and General Kearny struggling to draw his dress sword...
Not risking the recovery of the revolver Booth vaulted over the rail of the box down to the stage below (about a twelve-foot drop). Raising himself up he began crossing the stage, making the audience believe that he was part of the play. Booth paused and began to speak. His words would never be heard as Custer shot him with his own gun from the President’s Box...”
Ford's Theatre in 1870
From “Kearny the Magnificent” by Roger Galton
NorthWestern
“As General Custer had called out the President and Mrs. Lincoln had turned and begun to rise. Instinctively General Kearny reached out with his arm and pushed the President firmly downwards as Booth fired. It almost certainly saved the President’s life. The President himself recorded that he felt the first bullet as it passed just above his ear. As Booth fell the second shot struck the rail between the President and Mrs. Lincoln. The third bullet found an unintended target as it struck Mary Todd Lincoln…”
From “The Booth Conspiracy” by Dr. Guthrie Jameson
New England Press 1981
“Edward Berdoe, a young Army surgeon doctor (and literary expert) attending the play, made his way through the crowd to the door at the rear of the Presidential box. Upon entering Berdoe found Mary Todd Lincoln slumped on the floor against the railing, with her head cradled by the President who was “very distressed”. Berdoe discovered Mary breathing but insensible. He lowered her to the floor with the assistance of Paine, believing that she had been shot in the chest. A second doctor in the audience, John Ordronaux, quickly joined Berdoe in the box...
Although Berdoe was reluctant to act in public, Ordronaux quickly cut away part of Mrs. Lincoln’s dress sufficient to identify the bullet hole in her shoulder. Disturbingly there was no exit wound. Though pressed by the President neither Berdoe nor Ordronaux would pronounce on whether the wound was mortal or not. However Berdoe, and indeed Generals Kearny and Custer, had seen sufficient battlefield injuries to be certain that Mrs. Lincoln’s chances of survival were not promising…”
From “An Uncivil War” by Dr Guy Burchett
LSU 1998
“Captain Paine would later confirm to the Commission of Inquiry that General Kearny handed him a note and ordered him me go to the nearest Telegraph office and arouse the capitol. Paine ran as though his “life depended upon it” and in ten minutes the terrible news was all over the country."
From “The Booth Conspiracy” by Dr. Guthrie Jameson
New England Press 1981
“Booth had assigned Lewis Powell and David Herold to murder Secretary of State William H. Seward. On the night of the assassination, he was at his Washington home in Lafayette Park, not too far from the White House. Herold guided Powell to Seward's residence. Powell was also carrying an 1858 Whitney revolver...
William Seward was visibly angered by the interruption to an important discussion with the outgoing British Minister Lord Lyons
Powell knocked at the front door of the house a little after 10.00pm. William Bell, Seward's butler, answered the door. Powell told Bell that he had an urgent message for Seward from General Kearny, and that he was to personally deliver it. Upon gaining admittance to the residence, Powell pushed past Bell and burst into Seward’s study. To his distress the room was full of guests including Lord Lyons, the British Minister, who had been discussing, among other things, the likely trial and execution of the former British officer Collett Leventhorpe. Seward’s son, Frederick, intervened stepping up to Powell and demanding his business. Powell panicked and, as he sought to draw his gun, Frederick Seward grappled with him. The gun went off. Powell was shot in the foot and, collapsing, was restrained by Frederick and Colonel George Bell of the British Army, another guest in the Seward Household that night. The butler William Bell had initially reacted by crying, "Murder! Murder!" before running away…
Herold hearing the shot waited for a few moments but when it was someone other than Powell that emerged, Herold feared the worst and fled…
Booth had assigned Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlen to kill Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, who was staying at the Willard Hotel at the time. Hamlin detested the role of Vice President and spent as much time as possible away from the Capitol…
The two conspirators were to go to the Vice President's room at 10.00pm and shoot him. They arrived early and spent some time at the hotel saloon. After several drinks they made their way to the Vice President’s room shortly after the appointed hour. Instead of knocking to bring Hamlin to the door, an inebriated O’Laughlen kicked in the door. “We’ve have come for to kill ya, ya damned Yankee dog” roared O’Laughlen…
Hamlin had received several death threats and warnings earlier in the war, as had all members of the Government. However a friend and Union officer from his home state of Maine had warned Hamlin “while the US Government knows you are not important enough to be worth killing, the Confederate Government may not be so well advised” and that he should take steps to protect himself…
Many noted the look of surprise on O’Laughlen’s corpse. “In his cups perhaps he had not anticipated that the Vice President of the United States might go armed about in the world” (McKeever). Splattered with O’Laughlen’s blood, Sam Arnold fired one shot wildly into the hotel room before fleeing…”
Hannibal Hamlin
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So Mary Todd Lincoln's death drives Lincoln to be harsher on the South? Uh-oh.
That said, good to see the conspiracy even less successful than OTL. Nice to see Hamlin getting his own moment of badassness.
That said, good to see the conspiracy even less successful than OTL. Nice to see Hamlin getting his own moment of badassness.
Bravo sir another fine update. This is a great TL, I eagerly await your next update.