



Produced by Curtis Weyant, Linda Cantoni, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from scans of public domain works at the
University of Michigan's Making of America collection.)









[Transcriber's Note: A table of contents has been provided for the reader's
convenience.]




A REPORT

OF THE

DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS

IN THE

SECRET SESSIONS

OF THE

CONFERENCE CONVENTION,

FOR PROPOSING

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES,

HELD AT

WASHINGTON, D.C., IN FEBRUARY, A.D. 1861.


BY

L.E. CHITTENDEN,

ONE OF THE DELEGATES.


NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON & COMPANY,
443 & 445 BROADWAY.
1864.


ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by
D. APPLETON & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District
  of New York.




CONTENTS.


INTRODUCTION.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE.
SECOND DAY.
THIRD DAY.
FOURTH DAY.
FIFTH DAY.
SIXTH DAY.
SEVENTH DAY.
EIGHTH DAY.
NINTH DAY.
TENTH DAY.
ELEVENTH DAY.
TWELFTH DAY.
THIRTEENTH DAY.
FOURTEENTH DAY.
FIFTEENTH DAY.
SIXTEENTH DAY.
SEVENTEENTH DAY.
EIGHTEENTH DAY.
NINETEENTH DAY.
APPENDIX.
INDEX.
INDEX TO THE APPENDIX.




INTRODUCTION.


If I had been guided by my judgment alone it is not probable that
these notes of the debates in the Conference, held upon the invitation
of Virginia, at Washington, in the month of February, 1861, would have
been made public. From the commencement of its sessions, a portion of
the members were in favor of the daily publication of the proceedings.
I was disposed to go farther and have the sessions open to the public;
but this proposition was opposed by a large majority. Strong reasons
were urged for excluding the multitude which in the excitement of the
time would have thronged the hall wherein the Conference held its
sessions. But these reasons did not apply to the publication of the
debates, and a considerable minority were strongly of opinion that the
people should be informed daily, of the votes and remarks of their
representatives in that body.

I commenced taking notes on the first day of the session. For the
first few days, and until the reports were presented from the general
committee, there was but little discussion, and that related to
questions incidental to the general subject. On the 15th of February,
and before the committee reported, Mr. ORTH offered a resolution
authorizing the admission of reporters, which, after some discussion,
by a close vote was laid upon the table. On the 18th, finding the
labor of taking notes greater than I had anticipated, and desiring
that a complete record should be preserved; I introduced a resolution
providing for the appointment of an official stenographer, who should
report the proceedings and hold them subject to the order of the
Conference. I urged the adoption of this resolution as strenuously as
was proper, but the feeling of the majority appeared to be still
adverse to its passage, and it shared the fate of its predecessor. I
then revised the notes already taken, and finding them more complete
than I had anticipated, determined to make as accurate a report as I
was able of the general discussion. I could not then anticipate
whether such a report would be useful to the country or not; but I
thought if the Conference should propose amendments to the
Constitution, and these should be ultimately submitted to the States
for adoption, a knowledge of the motives and reasons which influenced
the action of the Conference as well as the construction which the
members gave to the propositions themselves, might become of as great
importance as the same subjects were in the convention which framed
the present Constitution. I attended every session of the Conference,
and, so far as my strength would permit, made as full and accurate
notes as I could, both of the action of the Conference and the
observations of its members.

These notes were carefully examined and revised immediately after the
close of each daily session. After the passage of the resolution
introduced by Mr. BARRINGER, removing the injunction of secrecy and
authorizing their publication, I determined to write them out for the
press. I was engaged in this work when the rebellion commenced, and
was shortly after called to the performance of the duties of an
official position, which for many months left me no leisure for other
employments.

My notes were then laid aside. As it was known by every member of the
Conference that I had taken them, I was often pressed to permit
selections from them to be made. These requests I invariably declined,
as I desired the publication, if made at all, to be entire, as well as
accurate. As time passed, these appeals became more frequent and
pressing, and claims were made in relation to the course of several of
the members which could only be sustained or refuted by a publication
of their remarks. At length I was earnestly requested to write out one
of these speeches, and after some weeks of delay consented to do so.

After the publication of this speech, which took place about the time
of the fall elections of 1863, previous to which the action of the
Conference had been much discussed, the desire to see a full report of
the proceedings of that body appeared to be excited anew. Letters and
personal interviews upon this subject became very numerous. I finally
determined to take the advice of a number of gentlemen who were
prominent in the convention and the country, as to the propriety of
yielding to this desire, and to be guided by it. I did so, and found
among them a remarkable unanimity of expression in favor of making the
history of the Conference public.

When this question was settled, I desired to avail myself of every
opportunity to secure the highest degree of accuracy and fidelity. I
addressed notes to such of the members as were accessible, asking them
to transmit to me such memoranda of the proceedings of the Conference
as they had preserved. The response to these letters was very
gratifying; not because the materials furnished were very full, but
because so general a purpose was shown by all the members thus
addressed, to furnish me every facility and aid in their power.

I have found much difficulty in determining what control each member
ought to be permitted to exercise over his own remarks. The most
agreeable course to me would have been, to have written out each
speech and submitted it to its author for correction or revision; but
to this there was a decisive objection. It would have depreciated, if
not destroyed, the accuracy of the report. Although I do not believe
that any gentleman would have been tempted to change the tenor of his
remarks by subsequent events, the view of the public might not have
been so charitable.

I have therefore made my own notes the standard of authority, and have
admitted nothing into the report which has not been justified by them
aided by my own recollection. The manuscript has not been changed or
added to, except by my own hands. The few instances in which I have
availed myself of the materials furnished by others, are distinctly
stated either in the notes or the appendix.

During the sessions of the Conference I was able to secure but little
practical assistance from the members. Although many of them desired
that my purpose should be accomplished, and some were taking brief and
general notes, I soon discovered that an accurate report of a speech
required an amount of labor and a degree of attention to the subject,
which few gentlemen were inclined to give. The work, therefore, was
thrown almost exclusively upon myself. Some idea of its amount and
severity may be formed when it is stated, that the sessions usually
commenced at about ten o'clock in the morning, and with a brief
intermission were continued late in the evening, in one instance as
late as the hour of two o'clock, A.M. The necessity of these long
daily sessions, arose from the fact, that the Congress then in
existence terminated on the fourth of March, and but few days
remained in which to discuss and perfect the report, and to submit it
to that body for its action.

I do not claim to have furnished a _verbatim_ report of the speeches
delivered in the Conference of 1861, but I insist that I have given an
accurate account of all its official proceedings, and the substance of
the remarks made in the course of those proceedings. I think, also,
that I have preserved nearly all the propositions made in the course
of the debate, and generally have presented the ideas in the very
language used. The gentlemen who have critically examined the report,
all concur upon the question of its general accuracy, and I am content
in this respect to rely upon their testimony.

I have suggested these considerations simply by way of explanation,
and not for the purpose of avoiding criticism. I have endeavored to
follow, so far as was in my power, the example of the illustrious
Reporter of the Constitutional Convention of 1787; and while my notes
lack the beauty and felicity which characterize his, I trust they are
not less full and accurate. I submit them to the country as the best
contribution which I can make to its history, at a most important and
interesting period of our national existence.

The three short years which have passed since the Conference of 1861,
have witnessed singular vicissitudes among its members. Many of them
have entered into the military or civil service of the country, or of
the rebellion which it was the avowed purpose of some members of that
Conference to nourish into vigorous life. Death, also, has been busy
with the roll. BALDWIN, BRONSON, SMITH, WOLCOTT, TYLER, and CLAY, are
no more. ZOLLICOFFER fell at the head of a rebel army. HACKLEMAN
sealed with his blood his devotion to the principles he advocated
upon the field of Corinth, and now, while I am writing these pages in
a morning of beautiful spring, when tree, and shrub, and grass, and
flower, are bursting into life and beauty; from the roar of cannon,
the rattle of musketry, and the deadly storm of lead and iron, which
bearing destruction upon its wings is waking the echoes of the
"Wilderness," comes the mournful tidings that WADSWORTH has fallen. In
that Conference or in the world, there was never a purer or a more
ardent patriot. Those of us who were associated with him politically,
had learned to love and respect him. His opponents admired his
unflinching devotion to his country, and his manly frankness and
candor. He was the type of a true American, able, unselfish, prudent,
unambitious, and good. Other pens will do justice to his memory, but I
thought as I heard the last account of him alive, as he lay within the
rebel lines, his face wearing that calm serenity which grew more
beautiful the nearer death approached, after having given so
abundantly of his goods, now yielding his life to his country in the
hour of her trial, that hereafter the good and true men of the nation
would emulate the illustrious example of his patriotism, and would
prize the blessings of a free government the more highly, as they
remembered that it could only be maintained and perpetuated by such
expensive sacrifices.

L.E.C.

_May_, 1864.




PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE,

Washington, D.C.


MONDAY, _February 4th, 1861._

Commissioners representing a number of the States, assembled at
Willard's Hall, in the City of Washington, D.C., on the fourth day of
February, A.D. 1861, at 12 o'clock M., in pursuance of the following
preamble and resolutions, adopted by the General Assembly of the State
of Virginia, on the nineteenth day of January, A.D. 1861:

     _Whereas_, It is the deliberate opinion of the General
     Assembly of Virginia, that unless the unhappy controversy
     which now divides the States of this confederacy, shall be
     satisfactorily adjusted, a permanent dissolution of Union is
     inevitable; and the General Assembly, representing the
     wishes of the people of the commonwealth, is desirous of
     employing every reasonable means to avert so dire a
     calamity, and determined to make a final effort to restore
     the Union and the Constitution, in the spirit in which they
     were established by the fathers of the Republic: Therefore,

     _Resolved_, That on behalf of the commonwealth of Virginia,
     an invitation is hereby extended to all such States, whether
     slaveholding or non-slaveholding, as are willing to unite
     with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the present
     unhappy controversies, in the spirit in which the
     Constitution was originally formed, and consistently with
     its principles, so as to afford to the people of the
     slaveholding States adequate guarantees for the security of
     their rights, to appoint commissioners to meet on the fourth
     day of February next, in the City of Washington, similar
     commissioners appointed by Virginia, to consider, and if
     practicable, agree upon some suitable adjustment.

     _Resolved_, That ex-President JOHN TYLER, WILLIAM C. RIVES,
     Judge JOHN W. BROCKENBROUGH, GEORGE W. SUMMERS, and JAMES A.
     SEDDON are hereby appointed commissioners, whose duty it
     shall be to repair to the City of Washington, on the day
     designated in the foregoing resolution, to meet such
     commissioners as may be appointed by any of said States, in
     accordance with the foregoing resolution.

     _Resolved_, That if said commissioners, after full and free
     conference, shall agree upon any plan of adjustment
     requiring amendments to the Federal Constitution, for the
     further security of the rights of the people of the
     slaveholding States, they be requested to communicate the
     proposed amendments to Congress, for the purpose of having
     the same submitted by that body, according to the forms of
     the Constitution, to the several States for ratification.

     _Resolved_, That if said commissioners cannot agree on such
     adjustment, or if agreeing, Congress shall refuse to submit
     for ratification, such amendments as may be proposed, then
     the commissioners of this State shall immediately
     communicate the result to the executive of this
     commonwealth, to be by him laid before the convention of the
     people of Virginia and the General Assembly: _Provided_,
     That the said commissioners be subject at all times to the
     control of the General Assembly, or if in session, to that
     of the State convention.

     _Resolved_, That in the opinion of the General Assembly of
     Virginia, the propositions embraced in the resolutions
     presented to the Senate of the United States by the Hon.
     JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, so modified as that the first article
     proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United
     States, shall apply to all the territory of the United
     States now held or hereafter acquired south of latitude
     thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, and provide that
     slavery of the African race shall be effectually protected
     as property therein during the continuance of the
     territorial government, and the fourth article shall secure
     to the owners of slaves the right of transit with their
     slaves between and through the non-slaveholding States and
     territories, constitute the basis of such an adjustment of
     the unhappy controversy which now divides the States of this
     confederacy, as would be accepted by the people of this
     commonwealth.

     _Resolved_, That ex-President JOHN TYLER is hereby
     appointed, by the concurrent vote of each branch of the
     General Assembly, a commissioner to the President of the
     United States, and Judge JOHN ROBERTSON is hereby appointed,
     by a like vote, a commissioner to the State of South
     Carolina, and the other States that have seceded or shall
     secede, with instructions respectfully to request the
     President of the United States and authorities of such
     States to agree to abstain, pending the proceedings
     contemplated by the action of this General Assembly, from
     any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms
     between the States and the Government of the United States.

     _Resolved_, That copies of the foregoing resolutions be
     forthwith telegraphed to the executives of the several
     States, and also to the President of the United States, and
     the Governor be requested to inform, without delay, the
     commissioners of their appointment by the foregoing
     resolutions.

     [A copy from the rolls.]

     WM. F. GORDON, JR.,
       _C.H.D. and K.R. of Va._

The Conference was called to order by Mr. MOREHEAD, of Kentucky, who
proposed the name of the honorable JOHN C. WRIGHT, of Ohio, as
temporary Chairman.

The motion of Mr. MOREHEAD was unanimously adopted.

Mr. WRIGHT was conducted to the Chair by Mr. MEREDITH, of
Pennsylvania, and Mr. CHASE, of Ohio, and proceeded to address the
Conference as follows:

My warmest thanks are due to you, Gentlemen, for the undeserved honor
which you have conferred upon me, in selecting me for the purpose of
temporarily presiding over your deliberations. We have come together
to secure a common and at the same time a most important object--to
agree if we can upon some plan for adjusting the unhappy differences
which distract the country, which will be satisfactory to ourselves
and those we represent. We have assembled as friends, as brothers,
each, I doubt not, animated by the most friendly sentiments.

If we enter upon, and with these sentiments carry through, a patient
examination of the difficulties which now surround the Government, the
result will be, it must be, a success, earnestly hoped for by every
lover of his country; a result which will establish the Union
according to the spirit of the Constitution.

For myself, I may say that I have come here with the earnest purpose
of doing justice to all sections of the Union. I will hear with a
patient and impartial mind all that may be said in favor of, or
against such amendments of the Constitution as may be proposed. Such
of them as will give to the Government permanence, strength, and
stability, as will tend to secure to any State, or any number of
States, the quiet and