The Negro and the Nation: A History of American Slavery and EnfranchisementMerriam, George Spring
History
The Negro and the Nation: A History of American Slavery and Enfranchisement
Merriam, George Spring
African Americans -- History; Slavery -- United States -- History
Prominent in the Senate was "bluff Ben Wade" of Ohio, an old-time
anti-slavery man, radical, vigorous, a stout friend and foe. Another
conspicuous radical was Zachariah Chandler of Michigan. He was born in
New Hampshire, went West early in life, and was a chief organizer and
leader of the Republican party in Michigan. He was a mixture of Yankee
shrewdness and Western energy; patriotic, masterful, somewhat
coarse-grained and materialistic; and, like many of his associates,
better suited for controversy and war than for conciliation and
construction. Of a higher type were three men who stood near the head in
the Senate,--John Sherman of Ohio, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, and
William P. Fessenden of Maine. In the qualities for solid work, few men
of his time surpassed Sherman. He was wise in framing legislation, and a
good administrator,--an upright, moderate, serviceable man. Trumbull, of
Connecticut birth, was well trained in the law and eminent as a
constitutional lawyer. He made his serious entrance into public life
along with Lincoln, and was his near friend and adviser. He was an able
though not a brilliant debater; a man of independent convictions and
thorough courage. Fessenden, like Trumbull, was entitled to rank as a
real statesman. Like Trumbull he had no popular arts, and where Trumbull
was reticent and withdrawn in manner, Fessenden was austere and
sometimes irascible. In private character both were above reproach.
Fessenden had a finely-trained and richly-equipped mind. In an
emergency, after Chase's retirement, he accepted the secretaryship of an
almost bankrupt treasury, and handled it well. His devotion to duty was
unreserved; he was an admirable debater; and he had the high power of
framing legislation. His was the most important work of the
reconstruction committee, and Trumbull, as chairman of the judiciary
committee, had a chief hand in the other leading measures. The Democrats
were few and not strong in leadership; their ablest man was Reverdy
Johnson of Maryland,---highly educated and large-minded. With these were
other senators of repute; and in the House there were abundant men of
mark,--Colfax, Blaine, Banks, Boutwell, Dawes, Conkling, Henry J.
Raymond, Randall, Hayes, Garfield, Bingham, Shellabarger, Voorhees,
Elihu B. Washburn;--space is wanting to name others, or to individually
characterize these.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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