Latest news with #ConfederateStatesofAmerica
Epoch Times
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Southern Insurrection and Lincoln's Suspension of the ‘Great Writ'
For 27 hours, British ships bombarded Fort McHenry, but, as Francis Scott Key eloquently recalled, 'Our flag was still there.' This attack on the Maryland fort took place more than three months before the Americans and British signed the Treaty of Ghent on Dec. 24, 1814. More than two weeks later and 1,000 miles away, the British landed its fleet 60 miles east of New Orleans, preparing to take the city. To maintain order, Gen. Andrew Jackson took the unprecedented step for an American general and issued martial law. Beginning on Dec. 16, New Orleans would be under his military authority. Starting on Dec. 23 and over the course of the next two weeks, hostilities ensued between the Americans and British, culminating in the lopsided victory for Jackson and his makeshift army on Jan. 8, 1815. The British retreated and finally sailed from New Orleans on Jan. 18. The threat was gone; martial law, however, remained. Gen. Andrew Jackson standing on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders during the defense of New Orleans, the final major and most one-sided battle of the War of 1812. Public Domain New Orleans remained under martial law for three months. When a newspaper published an article critical of Jackson's measures, he had the author, State Senator Louis Louaillier, arrested. When U.S. District Judge Dominick Hall issued a writ of habeas corpus for Louaillier, Jackson had the judge arrested. Jackson In mid-March, Jackson received official word about the Treaty of Ghent and immediately lifted martial law. Hall fined Jackson $1,000 for contempt of court—a fine the general quickly paid. His actions raised constitutional questions—questions that arose during his presidential election bids in 1824 and 1828. Less than 50 years later, constitutional questions centering around military authority and the writ of habeas corpus again arose. False Moves Before Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office to become president on March 4, 1861, seven states had already seceded from the Union over the issue of slavery. During Lincoln's inauguration, he His assurances to the Southern states, however, were not be enough to stem the rolling tide of secession. By Feb. 18, the seven states had formed the Confederate States of America and inaugurated its first president, Jefferson Davis. South Carolina had been leading the charge of secession, and now it had its sights set on Fort Sumter, which was garrisoned by 80 federal troops. Related Stories 1/8/2025 8/21/2024 Over the course of several months, Fort Sumter became the focal point between the U.S. government and the new Confederate government. One false move by either side could lead to all-out war. The result was several false moves. Before Lincoln took office, President James Buchanan attempted to have the federal troops at Fort Sumter resupplied. The ship carrying supplies was forced to retreat under fire from cadets at the Citadel Military College. Lincoln was left with the Fort Sumter situation, and his cabinet was split on whether to resupply or surrender the fort. On April 4, Lincoln informed the Confederacy of his plan to resupply the troops. Davis consulted his cabinet. The Confederates chose to attack the fort and force its surrender, before the supply ships arrived. On April 12, at 4:30 a.m., nearly 36-hour bombardment began. The outgunned and outmanned federal troops under the command of Maj. Robert Anderson, fired back, but eventually capitulated. Although there were no casualties on either side during the attack on Fort Sumter, it nonetheless began the Civil War. An engraving of the bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Batteries of the Confederate States, on April 13, on the same day Lincoln advised the Confederacy of his plans to resupply Fort Sumter, Virginia's delegates voted to remain in the Union. Three days after the Fort Sumter attack, Lincoln issued a The attack on Fort Sumter proved to be the Confederacy's false move. Lincoln's proclamation and gathering of 75,000 troops to quell the rebellion was the Union's false move, as Virginia immediately voted to secede on April 17, followed by Arkansas on May 6, North Carolina on May 20, and Tennessee on June 8. With the addition of Virginia into the Confederacy, Washington could now only be supplied overland through Maryland. The state, however, was full of Confederate sympathizers, and it seemed on the precipice of seceding and joining the Confederacy. The Baltimore Riot When Lincoln issued his April 15 proclamation, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment boarded a train the next day for Washington to protect the capital. From Boston through Springfield, Hartford, New York City, Trenton, and Philadelphia, the volunteer regiment was met with cheers from thousands of citizens. It was a very different scene when it reached Baltimore. A mob had gathered, prepared to make the regiment's passage through the city far from a welcoming experience. Since trains were not allowed to pass through the city limits, the soldiers boarded horse-drawn train cars. Citizens, however, had thrown sand and boat anchors onto the tracks, forcing the militia members to travel the rest of the journey on foot. Before continuing, all the soldiers were ordered to load their weapons and be prepared to fire if fired upon. "Massachusetts Militia Passing Through Baltimore (Baltimore Riot of 1861)," 1861, engraving of F.F. Walker. Public Domain One soldier Lincoln's Infamous Order Fearing more violent provocation from the arrival of federal troops, Maryland Governor Thomas Hicks ordered the destruction of railroad bridges connecting Baltimore to the Northern states. While bridges were destroyed, Maryland secessionists destroyed communication lines with Washington. Hicks, who had long advocated for neutrality between the Northern and Southern states, finally called for a special session to vote on secession. Instead of Annapolis, he recommended the session be held in Frederick where there was strong Union sentiment. The session would begin on April 26. Lincoln received word that a special session would be held, and he informed Commanding General of the Army of the United States Winfield Scott to take measures to ensure Marylanders did not arm themselves against the federal government. Two days after his communication with Scott, Lincoln took an unprecedented step for a president. It was during this week in history, on April 27, 1861, that Lincoln issued the following The writ of habeas corpus, which can be traced back to the Magna Carta of 1215, is a stalwart legal protection against false imprisonment, allowing the arrested person to plead their case in court. Much like Andrew Jackson had done in 1815, citizens could be arrested and held in prison without trial. Just as with Jackson's order, Lincoln's order was deemed unconstitutional. Testing Lincoln's Order Lincoln was aware of the constitutional quandary that came with such an order, but with Congress out of session until July, he was compelled to act. A month after his order to Scott, its constitutionality was tested. On May 25, John Merryman, a lieutenant in the Baltimore County Horse Guards who had assisted in destroying the Baltimore bridges, was arrested, indicted for treason, and held indefinitely at Fort McHenry. Merryman's lawyers petitioned Maryland's U.S Circuit Court for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition fell to Roger B. Taney, who oversaw the circuit court and was also chief justice of the Supreme Court. Taney issued a writ to Gen. George Cadwalader, the arresting officer, to bring Merryman before the court. Cadwalader refused, citing Lincoln's order. Reminiscent of Jackson and Hall, Taney cited Cadwalader for contempt of court. Portrait of Gen. Cadwalader by Thomas Eakins. Public Domain Taney wrote an opinion on the matter called ' Lincoln's Response Before the July 4 session, Lincoln further extended his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to part of the Florida coast and between Philadelphia and New York. When the president stood before Congress, he addressed Taney's opinion, Lincoln relented somewhat, stating, 'Whether there shall be any legislation upon the subject, and, if any, what, is submitted entirely to the better judgment of Congress.' Congress, for some reason, did not pass legislation regarding the suspension of the writ until March 3, 1863. Before then, Lincoln had issued another Regarding the suspension clause, Lincoln Interestingly, since 1815, 600 years after the Magna Carta was created, this suggestion that 'the Constitution itself is silent as to which or who is to exercise the power' continues to be a subject of constitutional debate among legal scholars. Never miss a This Week in History story! Sign up for the American History newsletter What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
USA Today
08-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
From Washington to Trump: Future, sitting and former presidents have visited Mohawk Valley
From Washington to Trump: Future, sitting and former presidents have visited Mohawk Valley When former President Barack Obama speaks at Hamilton College on Thursday evening, he'll be far from the first president — former, present or future — to visit the Mohawk Valley. George Washington himself visited Oneida County in 1783. That was before he became president, but at least six sitting presidents have visited the area: Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Harry S. Truman, Obama and President Donald Trump. Abraham Lincoln also visited Utica days before his inauguration. Here's a history of some local visits by future, current and former presidents: 1783. General George Washington, who would become president in 1789, visited the site of the Battle of Oriskany and later bought land in the region. Feb. 18,1861. The three-car train carrying President-Elect Abraham Lincoln on a 12-day journey from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, D.C. for his inauguration on March 4 stopped in Utica for 10 minutes. Lincoln spoke briefly on non-political matters to the crowd that had gathered in a snowstorm to see him. It was the same day that Jefferson Davis was sworn in as temporary president of the Confederate States of America. 1865. The funeral train carrying Lincoln's body back to Illinois after his assassination stopped in Utica for several minutes. The German Glee Club, forerunner to today's Utica Maennerchor, sang. April 21, 1884. A 25-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, a New York State assemblyman at the time, arrived in Utica two days before the Republican State Convention began at the Utica Opera House at Lafayette and Washington streets. By the end of the convention, Roosevelt had been elected as an at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, chosen to head the New York delegation in Chicago and drawn notice as an up-and-coming national politician. Roosevelt visited Utica often while serving in the state Assembly. 1887. President Glover Cleveland came to Clinton to celebrate its centennial. Cleveland had lived briefly in Clinton as a boy before the family moved to Fayetteville and then settled in Holland Patent. When he was first elected in 1884, his sister Rose had left her home in Holland Patent to serve as his First Lady for 15 months until Cleveland married Frances Folsom. 1890s. Benjamin Harrison, who left office in 1893, spent much of his time after retirement at his summer home on Second Lake near Old Forge. He and his wife Mary reportedly enjoyed shopping in downtown Utica. Aug. 8, 1908. Roosevelt, in his second term as president, dedicated the Robinson Memorial Library in Jordanville in Herkimer County. The library was a gift to the town from Roosevelt's sister Corinne Robinson and her husband Douglas, who lived in the area. 1912. President William Howard Taft came to Utica to attend the funeral of his vice president, James Schoolcraft Sherman, a two-decade Congressman for the area, who died on Oct. 30, 1912. Oct. 25, 1928. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in a tight race for governor at the time, attended a rally at Mohawk and Bleecker streets in Utica. The really was organized by Democratic Party leader Charles Donnelley and the head of East Utica's Democratic machine, Rufus Elefante. 1948. President Harry S. Truman's spoke in Utica as part of his 'whistle-stop' train tour that summer. He invited Mayor Boyd Golder into the presidential dining car for a chat. 1950s. Ronald Reagan, then the host of the TV series 'General Electric Theater,' drew large crowds when he visited the GE plants in Utica. 1960. Then presidential candidate John F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at Utica Memorial Auditorium and attended an outdoor rally in front of the courthouse in Rome. 1974. Vice President Gerald Ford attended a cocktail party in his honor at the Oneida County Airport along with Utica Mayor Edward Hanna. Ford had previously visited Utica as Speaker of the House to speak to Republican Party groups. And in 1966, then House Minority Leader Ford spoke to 1,200 people at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner at The Beeches in Rome. 1983. Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush visited Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, hosted by his friend U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert. 1988. George W. Bush campaigned for his father during a two-hour stopover at Oneida County Airport that included a visit to Oriskany High School. 2001. Jimmy Carter spoke at Hamilton College. Nov. 9, 2004. Bill Clinton spoke to a crowd of 4,600 at Hamilton College. Another 1,100 watched on closed circuit TV on campus. May 22, 2014. While in office, Barack Obama flew into Griffiss International Airport in Rome, flew by helicopter to a helipad outside Cooperstown and was driven by a motorcade to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown where he gave a 15-minute speech on tourism. Cooperstown schools closed early so students could watch the motorcade drive through town. April 12, 2016. Presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of 5,000 at a rally at Griffiss International Airport. Aug. 13, 2018. President Trump flew into Griffiss again, on Air Force One this time, and was met by a crowd that clapped, cheered and chanted, 'USA! USA!' He met with Brian and Lynnette Wyman, parents of Oneida County Deputy Kurt Wyman who was killed in the line of duty in 2011. Trump then traveled by motorcade to the Doubletree Hilton Hotel Utica to attend a private fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney. Trump supporters rallied on the west side of Genesee Street while a crowd of protesters lined the east side of the street. April 3, 2025. Obama speaks at Hamilton College in Clinton. The information in this article is pieced together from the Observer-Dispatch archives. Much of the information comes from columns written by Frank Tomaino, a former O-D city editor and long-time history columnist who died on Jan. 3.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rudi 'splains it: State control of St. Louis and Kansas City police
Soldiers and civilians exchanging gun fire on May 10, 1861, near Fifth and Walnut streets in St. Louis as the prisoners from Camp Jackson are marched to the Federal Arsenal (From the New York Illustrated News). In the spring of 1861, St. Louis was seething. Seven slave states had seceded by the time Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president on March 4, 1861, but Missouri and seven others hadn't decided whether to stay in the Union or join the nascent Confederate States of America. Missouri sympathizers to the Southern cause of preserving slavery organized companies of 'Minute Men.' The large and recently arrived German population of the city — many with military experience in European conscript armies or the revolutionary forces of 1848 — was stridently abolitionist, organized as 'Wide Awakes' and drilling for possible action at Turnverein halls. In this installment of Rudi 'splains it, I hope to help readers understand how Missouri became the only state with a major metropolitan police department under the direction of a board appointed by the governor. That's Kansas City. But the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners — four members appointed by the governor plus the mayor — wasn't Missouri's first. And if Republicans running the General Assembly have their way, it won't be the only one. Legislation awaiting a final House vote and a signature from Gov. Mike Kehoe would put the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department under a similar board, as it was from 1861 to 2012. Kansas City's police force was originally put under a state-run board in 1874, and lawmakers at that time modeled it on the St. Louis police board. For the 1861 law, the model, but not the motive, came from Maryland, where it was used in Baltimore to overcome political violence directed by anti-Catholic Know-Nothing politicians. The motive in Missouri — in 1861 and 1874 — was raw political power. Both cities had recently elected Republican city leadership while the state legislature and executive was firmly in the hands of Democrats. Democrats lost control of St. Louis City Hall in the 1858 election. In Kansas City, a reform ticket swept Democrats out of office in 1873. The potential dissolution of the Union in the spring of 1861 added a new layer of tension to the competition between the Democratic Party and the growing Republican Party. And secession-minded Democratic Gov. Claiborne Fox Jackson didn't want the only organized group legally empowered to use force to fall into hostile hands. Not only were the new German-born citizens the most reliably pro-Union population, they were also responsible for giving Lincoln a plurality of the votes in the state's largest county and more than half of the votes the Republican received statewide as he ran fourth among major candidates. Their votes were also essential to the 1858 election of Oliver Filley as the first Republican St. Louis mayor. Jackson's other plans to push Missouri into the Confederacy weren't going well. Delegate elections on Feb. 18, 1861, to a state convention to consider secession hadn't gone as expected, with a majority of Unionists, even if most also supported continuance of slavery. When delegates convened on Feb. 28, they voted to move to St. Louis rather than remain in Jefferson City, where Jackson and secessionist lawmakers could pressure members. So with uncertain municipal elections approaching, the bill establishing a state-run Board of Police Commissioners was introduced in the state Senate on Feb. 26, 1861, and passed on March 2, 1861. The Missouri House approved the bill on March 25, 1861. The Missouri Democrat newspaper, the Republican Party organ in St. Louis, denounced the bill and made sure opponents were well represented in its reporting. 'This bill is, in my opinion, nothing else but an odious and pernicious crusade against the rights and the true welfare of the city of St. Louis — a city that pays more than two-fifths of the whole revenue of the State….,' state Rep. Randolph Doehn of St. Louis said. 'Pretending to be friends of both, they poison, in reality, the good feelings of the state against the city.' The main purpose of the bill, Doehn said, 'is submission and coercion of the Union-loving citizens of St. Louis….it deprives the people of St. Louis the sacred rights that are presumed to be the fundamental franchises of freemen, by rendering the control over their municipal rights into the hands of individuals who have never obtained a position by the free will and fair choice of the independent voters themselves.' The Daily Missouri Republican, the major St. Louis newspaper supporting the Democratic Party, wrote an editorial that rhapsodized gleefully over the political advantage lost to Republicans. 'The Black Republicans are in agony — they have a cold sweat upon them — some of them rave as if afflicted with delirium tremens,' the paper's editorial began. 'The passage of the Police Bill through the House yesterday, and the certainty of it becoming law, has completely paralyzed them. The lopping off of so large a share of the patronage of the Mayor, and the putting of it in the hands where it cannot be used for political purposes, is a death-blow to their plans for a perpetuation of Black Republicanism forever.' 'Black Republican' was a political insult intended to keep the anti-slavery position of the party foremost in the minds of voters. The police bill victory was short-lived, for Jackson at least. On March 19, 1861, the State Convention voted 89-1 that there was 'no adequate cause' for Missouri to secede. It adjourned on March 22, 1861, empowering a committee to call it back into session if circumstances changed. The war came on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, the island fortress in the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor. Lincoln issued a call on states to supply 75,000 men. 'Your requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary in its object, inhuman and diabolical, and cannot be complied with,' Jackson wrote to Lincoln in response to the requisition for Missouri soldiers. 'Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on any such unholy crusade.' At the same time, Jackson was writing to Jefferson Davis, president of the rebellious states, for siege guns and mortars 'to batter down' the 'walls, and drive out our enemies' from 'the Arsenal at St. Louis, now under the command of an Abolition officer…' In his letter to Davis, Jackson apologized because 'Missouri has been exceedingly slow and tardy in movements hereto, but I am not without hope that she will promptly take her stand with her Southern sister States.' Jackson organized a state army called the Missouri State Guard and named Sterling Price, a former governor and Mexican war hero, as commander. The siege guns he requested arrived in St. Louis on May 8, 1861, and were moved under cover of darkness to 'Camp Jackson' at Lindell's Grove on the western outskirts of the city. About 900 members of the Missouri State Guard were gathered at the site now home to St. Louis University. In a pre-emptive strike, Capt. Nathaniel Lyon had marched 6,500 to 7,000 troops — regular Army units augmented by mainly German volunteers organized into regiments — six miles from the Federal Arsenal to Camp Jackson, surrounded the camp and took 689 men prisoner. But as the federal troops were escorting captured Missouri militiamen away from Camp Jackson, a shot was heard and the troops opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing 28 and wounding 50 to 75 more. Former army officer William Tecumseh Sherman, president of the St. Louis street railway company, witnessed the surrender and subsequent firing on civilians. 'I heard the balls cutting the leaves above our heads, and saw several men and women running in all directions, some of whom were wounded,' Sherman wrote. 'Of course, there was a general stampede.' The Camp Jackson Affair, as it came to be known, ended any chance of Jackson securing St. Louis for the Confederacy. By mid-June, Jackson had abandoned Jefferson City to federal troops and in July, the State Convention, sitting in Jefferson City under federal protection, voted to remove Jackson and the entire General Assembly from office. Control of St. Louis had a strategic advantage the Union would exploit throughout the war. By August 1861, James B. Eads had a contract to build the ironclad warships that proved essential to wresting control of the Mississippi River valley from the rebellious states. The removal of officers elected in 1860 put Missouri under Republican control until the election of 1872. It also put the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners under Republican control, leaving no motivation to change the law. The 1872 election was the first to occur after the General Assembly restored the voting rights of former Confederates, who had been disenfranchised by the state Constitution of 1865. Their votes helped Democrats regain control in Jefferson City, overwhelming the votes from men formerly held in slavery who backed Republicans. Black votes, however, helped the reform ticket, endorsed by the Republican Party, gain control of Kansas City's government in 1873. On Feb. 4, 1874, Democratic state Rep. James McDaniels of Jackson County introduced the bill creating the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners. The Kansas City Journal, the city's Republican newspaper, denounced the measure. 'In the first place the people of this city are not aware of having committed any crime for which the right to govern themselves should be taken away,' the Journal stated. The law-and-order problems facing Kansas City revolved around the violence and prostitution associated with gambling, saloons and vagrancy. As the April 1874 election approached, Democrats were trying to blame the crime on the Republican city leadership. The main purpose of the bill, the newspaper stated, was to put Democrats back on the city payroll. But the pay mandated by the bill, ostensibly to allow cuts of as much as 25% to the police budget, were inadequate. 'Men working on the salaries proposed must steal or starve, and as men will be found venal enough to take the positions, with the prospect of perquisites, our police force will become an institution more to be dreaded than the thieves themselves,' the Journal wrote. The bill passed the Missouri House with only 10 votes in opposition and no votes against it in the state Senate. Voters returned Democrats to power in Kansas City in the 1874 election, but only by 73 votes in the mayor's race and, by the Journal's account, only by supplying copious amounts of liquor to working class voters, both Black and white. The Journal also accused Democrats of bribing voters to support their ticket. With the close vote, there was no incentive to repeal the law giving the state control of the local police. And except for a brief period in the 1930s, Kansas City police have been directed by the state-controlled board ever since. As the 1874 bill was being finalized, the Journal warned its supporters that they would be blamed if crime wasn't brought under control by taking away local responsibility. 'We would call the attention of the law and order party to the fact that a metropolitan police bill has passed the house and is now pending in the senate, and will undoubtedly pass that body and become a law,' the Journal stated. 'This will wipe out the issue they are making in the present city contest; the reform they seek will then rest entirely with the police commissioners.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
