Walter Coffey's Blog, page 187

John Tyler Takes Command

John Tyler was the first vice president to succeed to the presidency due to death. Tyler set precedents for future vice presidents, despite the Constitution’s ambiguity regarding the matter.

On April 4, 1841, President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after being in office for only one month. This ended the shortest presidency in U.S. history, and it marked the first time in which a president did not complete his term. This raised important questions about the process of presidential succession.

The Constitutional Ambiguity

According to Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 6 of the Constitution, “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President.” Some believed this meant that Vice President John Tyler should assume the powers and duties of president, but not the title of “president.” Others believed that Tyler should assume the powers, duties, and title.

Based on debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, most historians believe that the founders intended for the vice president to merely assume the powers and duties of the president, not the title, until a special election could be held to select a new president.

As President Harrison lay dying, his cabinet decided that Vice President Tyler should become the “vice president acting president.” Tyler would serve the remainder of Harrison’s term largely as a figurehead, essentially becoming just another cabinet member. For all executive decisions, the cabinet and Tyler would each have one vote, and a majority vote would prevail.

Tyler’s Bold Move

John Tyler was elected vice president on the Whig Party ticket, even though his views were more in line with the Democratic Party. Being a southerner, the Whigs had nominated Tyler to garner southern votes. The Democrats feared that Tyler would fall under Whig influence, while the Whigs feared that Tyler would betray them and go with the Democrats. The Whig fears proved to be well founded.

Upon Harrison’s death, messengers summoned Tyler from his Williamsburg home to Washington. Tyler secretly met with Harrison’s cabinet at the Brown’s Indian Queen Hotel, where the cabinet members unveiled their plan for him. To their shock, Tyler had a bold plan of his own: he intended not only to assume the full powers and duties of the president, but to assume the title of “president” as well. Fearing that opposing Tyler would have political consequences, the cabinet reluctantly agreed to allow him to become the official president.

In a show of force to the cabinet and the people, Tyler insisted on taking the presidential oath of office. Tyler’s insistence on claiming “the right to a fully functioning and empowered presidency instead of relinquishing the office or accepting limits on his powers,” coupled with taking the oath, set a precedent for future presidential successions. In addition, Tyler decided to keep Harrison’s cabinet; this set another precedent in which successors maintained their predecessors’ cabinet members.

Tyler’s Legitimacy Questioned

After declaring himself the new president in both title and responsibility, John Tyler now had to convince members of Congress and the people that he was indeed the new president. Many were not so certain.

Several newspapers questioned the legitimacy of Tyler’s claim to the presidency since he was not popularly elected to that position. But to Tyler’s advantage, no major newspaper called for a special election to fill Harrison’s void. On April 9, 1841, Tyler delivered what he called his “inaugural address,” and from then on, more and more people began accepting him as the new president.

Some, especially members of Congress, were still skeptical. Tyler was often referred to as the “acting president” or even “his accidency” by opponents. But Tyler maintained his assertion that he was the full president. When correspondence came to the White House addressed to the “Vice President” or “Acting President,” Tyler returned them unopened.

Democrats feared that Henry Clay, the Whig leader in Congress, would make Tyler his “pliant tool.” Therefore, Tyler spent the next two months trying to convince Congress that he was his own man. On June 1, both houses of Congress passed a resolution recognizing that John Tyler was indeed the tenth U.S. president.

Expulsion and Impeachment

Having been elected on a Whig ticket, the leading Whigs in Congress expected Tyler to endorse their agenda just as Harrison would have done had he lived. However, Tyler shocked the Whigs by vetoing virtually their entire program, including Clay’s beloved national banking system. Tyler may have been willing to compromise, but when Clay derided him on the Senate floor, Tyler vetoed a second bill chartering a national bank.

Eventually, the entire cabinet resigned in protest of Tyler’s vetoes. Tyler was also expelled from the Whig Party, and Congress began debating measures diminishing presidential power such as term limits and veto restrictions. The House of Representatives even initiated impeachment proceedings against Tyler.

In January 1843, Congressman John M. Botts of Virginia introduced nine articles of impeachment against “John Tyler, Vice President acting as President,” which included corruption, misconduct, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. When Tyler agreed to compromise on some Whig measures, the House voted 127 to 83 against impeachment. Nevertheless, this marked the first time that the House had considered such an action.

There were many firsts during and after the presidency of John Tyler. Tyler was the first president whom the House considered impeaching. Tyler was the first to have a veto overridden by a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress. And when Tyler died during the Civil War, he was the first and only president not to be honored by the U.S., having voiced support for the Confederacy.

The Precedent of Presidential Succession

John Tyler’s bold assumption of the full title and duties of president after Harrison’s death set the precedent for future successions. As a result, when President Zachary Taylor died in office just nine years later, it was generally accepted that Vice President Millard Fillmore would assume the presidency. Many of Tyler’s actions were later codified in the Twenty-Fifth Amendment regarding presidential succession, which removed any ambiguity that may have remained.

Mr. Madison’s War

At President James Madison’s urging, Congress declared war on Great Britain in June 1812. This marked the second time in less than 40 years that the United States went to war against the mighty British Empire. There were several reasons for declaring war, with some more noble than others.

Remnants of Anti-British Sentiments

In the first decade of 1800, Europe was ravaged by war as the French under Napoleon Bonaparte fought to control the Continent. Napoleon’s primary obstacle to European domination was Great Britain. Both the British and French continued trading with the U.S., but they also worked to sabotage each others’ trade, thus harming the U.S. in the process.

U.S. officials debated as to whether France or Britain was more to blame. The Jefferson administration (1801-1809) tended to favor France because of their historic alliance with the U.S. against the British in the War for Independence. As such, there was more anti-British sentiment in the U.S. than anti-French.

Causing further outrage in the U.S. was the British policy of impressment, in which the Royal Navy stopped U.S. ships at sea and impressed, or forced, U.S. sailors into British naval service on the grounds that they were British deserters. Americans denounced this practice, feeling that the British were infringing on their liberty just as they had prior to the War for Independence.

However, this anti-British sentiment was not shared by most Americans in New England, primarily because the New England states relied heavily on British imports. A series of boycotts and embargoes were imposed in the U.S., but that hurt U.S. commerce more than Britain or France, and it caused an economic downturn. It also encouraged smuggling as many New Englanders openly violated the laws by conducting an illicit trade with Britain.

The “War Hawks”

In 1811, many young congressmen from the new western states entered Congress. These “War Hawks” called for war against Britain, not so much for violations at sea since their states had no sea ports, but because they believed that the British were inciting Indian uprisings in their region. Perhaps more importantly, many of these new politicians sought to seize Canada from Britain and possibly even Florida from Spain, a British ally.

With the anti-British fervor accelerating, President James Madison delivered a war message to Congress on June 1, 1812. Madison cited British impressments and violations of free trade at sea as the primary reasons. The House of Representatives voted 79 to 49 in favor of war, and the Senate followed with a 19 to 13 vote in favor, thus declaring war on Britain. However, the divided votes were an ominous sign that not all Americans would support what critics called “Mr. Madison’s War.”

The U.S. war effort was hampered by an ill-equipped military and dissenters who openly sided with the enemy. Nevertheless, the U.S. emerged from this war more powerful than ever before.

Attempts to Conquer Canada

Almost immediately after declaring war, the U.S. began mobilizing to invade Canada. The British had most of their military units in Europe fighting Napoleon, so only thin garrisons held Canada. Even so, U.S. forces surrendered both Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) and Detroit in August 1812. A U.S. attack on Queenston was beaten back, and an expedition on Lake Champlain failed when state militia units insisted on their constitutional right not to be sent outside their states.

On the other hand, U.S. forces managed to defeat the British at the Thames and Chippewa. Also, U.S. troops burned York (now Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. However, a failed invasion of Montreal in late 1813 ended any U.S. aspirations to conquer Canada.

Battles at Sea

At the time, Great Britain possessed the most powerful navy in the world. Hopelessly inferior, the U.S. revived their policy from the War for Independence by hiring privateers to harass British shipping. And surprisingly, the U.S. navy won an astounding 80 percent of its battles in the war.

The most significant U.S. naval victory occurred when U.S.S. Constitution compelled the British Guerriere to surrender. Constitution’s resilient hull gave her the nickname “Old Ironsides.” Another dramatic victory occurred on Lake Erie in 1813, where U.S. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry declared, ”We have met the enemy and they are ours.”

Conversely, the most significant British victory on water was Shannon’s defeat of U.S.S. Chesapeake off Boston on June 1, 1813. In addition, Britain nearly decimated the U.S. economy by blockading U.S. sea ports.

British Counterattacks

By 1814, the war in Europe had ended and Britain turned its full attention to North America. The British revised their strategy and began sending mass reinforcements in a three-pronged offensive at Lake Champlain, Chesapeake Bay, and New Orleans intended to split the U.S. into thirds.

The Lake Champlain offensive failed when the U.S. navy scored a spectacular victory over the British. In the Chesapeake Bay offensive, the British invaded Washington, DC and burned the White House and the Capitol, partly in retaliation for the U.S. burning of York. This was the only successful attack on Washington in U.S. history, and it ranks with Pearl Harbor and September 11, 2001 as one of the most traumatic foreign attacks on U.S. soil.

However, the Chesapeake offensive faltered when the British failed to take Baltimore. The British bombardment of Fort McHenry outside the town inspired Francis Scott Key to compose “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

By the fall of 1814, the third prong of the offensive was employed when a large British army was sent to invade New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico.

New England Threatens Secession

After two years of fighting, neither side had claimed an advantage, although the British blockade was slowly bankrupting the U.S. Adding to this was the absence of trade with Britain, which crippled the U.S. economy, particularly in New England. Consequently, New Englanders who had opposed the war from the outset began openly clamoring for it to end.

During the war, New Englanders refused to provide state militia to the federal army and maintained communication and illegal trade with the British. This not only provided aid and comfort to the enemy, but it reduced the bargaining power of U.S. negotiators trying to reach a peace. Then in December 1814, disgruntled New England Federalists met in Hartford to discuss seceding from the Union.

The Hartford Convention marked the first major secession movement in U.S. history. The delegates ultimately voted against secession, instead proposing several amendments to the Constitution that would favor them (none were adopted). Although secession was defeated, many Americans were outraged that such a topic would be considered during a war. As a result, Federalists were disgraced and secession would thereafter be associated with treason.

Peace and Victory

In late 1814, U.S. and British negotiators worked in Ghent, Belgium to forge a peace. After conceding that no advantage could be gained by either side, the Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas Eve, 1814. The U.S. withdrew its two major demands—that Britain stop impressing U.S. seamen and acknowledge U.S. free trade at sea—mainly because U.S. officials knew that Britain would honor these demands anyway after having won the war in Europe. Other territorial disputes were referred to commissions, where they stalled for decades.

News of this treaty had not yet reached the U.S. when the British attacked New Orleans on January 8, 1815. A 3,000-man British army attacked fortified U.S. positions commanded by General Andrew Jackson and was severely defeated. This made Jackson a national hero.

Although the Battle of New Orleans had no impact since the war had already ended, it made the “peace without victory” provisions of the Treaty of Ghent more acceptable to U.S. officials. Although nothing was gained or lost, the War of 1812 set many significant trends for the U.S.:

First, the Federalist Party dissolved, as many were repulsed by the Federalists’ opposition to the war. This left the Republicans unopposed in U.S. politics until the new Democratic Party was organized in 1828.

Second, the war created the notion of equating secession with treason, as many declared that the Hartford Convention was treasonous because secession was considered during a war. This concept inspired future politicians to declare that the Union is indivisible and secession is illegal, which ultimately led to civil war when the southern states were prohibited from seceding in 1861.

Third, the war led to the ultimate destruction of Indian tribe power east of the Mississippi River. Without British assistance, Indian tribes were pushed out of the Ohio River Valley, and the Creek Indians were driven out of Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. This war also laid the groundwork for the Seminole Wars that drove the Indians out of Florida and eventually moved all Indians to the West in the “Trail of Tears.”

Most importantly, the war showed that the U.S. could stand up to the most powerful nation in the world. This elevated the U.S. to a level closer to the European powers. By earning British respect, the U.S. would be more respected by European nations in future negotiations. More than anything else, this was why the War of 1812 has sometimes been called the “Second War for Independence.”

The Civil War This Week: May 27-Jun 2, 1863

Wednesday, May 27

In Louisiana, a massed Federal assault on Port Hudson failed, as the attackers became tangled in underbrush and fallen timbers. The Confederates held a strong position atop a bluff that commanded both the land and river approaches to Port Hudson. Federal commander Nathaniel Banks decided to place Port Hudson under siege.

President Abraham Lincoln wired General Joseph Hooker, commanding the Federal Army of the Potomac in northern Virginia, and General William S. Rosecrans, commanding the Federal Army of the Cumberland at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to provide information about their movements.

Confederate cannon at Vicksburg shelled Federal gunboats on the Mississippi River, sinking Cincinnati and killing 40 men. C.S.S. Chattahoochee accidentally exploded on the Chattahoochee River, killing 18. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisiana.

Thursday, May 28

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment left Boston for Hilton Head, South Carolina as the first black regiment sent south. Skirmishing occurred in Mississippi and the Indian Territory.

Friday, May 29

President Lincoln refused General Ambrose Burnside’s offer to resign as commander of the Department of the Ohio. Burnside had drawn heavy criticism by arresting former Congressman Clement Vallandigham for speaking out against the war. Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton had denounced Burnside’s actions because they increased anti-war sentiment in the North.

Saturday, May 30

General Robert E. Lee divided the Army of Northern Virginia into three corps: First Corps was commanded by General James Longstreet, Second Corps (formerly “Stonewall” Jackson’s command) was commanded by General Richard Ewell, and Third Corps was commanded by General A.P. Hill.

In New Jersey, Democrats met at Newark to protest the arrest of Clement Vallandigham. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas.

Sunday, May 31

In Richmond, Robert E. Lee met with Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. To relieve the pressure caused by Ulysses S. Grant’s relentless assault on Vicksburg in the West, Lee proposed a second invasion of the North. This would allow Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to feed off the rich northern farmlands and potentially force Grant to send troops east to stop the advance. Davis was uncertain, and some cabinet members believed that Lee should instead send troops west to relieve Vicksburg.

Davis also discussed the Western Theater with Lee, saying, “Genl. Johnston did not, as you thought advisable, attack Grant promptly, and I fear the result is that which you anticipated if time was given.” Skirmishing occurred in Virginia and South Carolina.

Monday, June 1

In Richmond, Jefferson Davis and his cabinet voted five-to-one in favor of approving Robert E. Lee’s plan to invade the North.

Ambrose Burnside issued a general order: “On account of the repeated expression of disloyal and incendiary sentiments, the publication of the newspaper known as the Chicago Times is hereby suppressed.” This order outraged many northerners, especially since it came so soon after Burnside’s controversial arrest of Clement Vallandigham. Chicago leaders appealed to President Lincoln to rescind Burnside’s order.

Federals heavily bombarded the besieged Confederates at Vicksburg and Port Hudson. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, Missouri, and Louisiana.

Tuesday, June 2

President Lincoln wired General Ulysses S. Grant, commanding the Federals at Vicksburg, “Are you in communication with Gen. Banks? Is he coming toward you, or going further off?” Lincoln wanted the two armies to link rather than conduct separate operations at Vicksburg and Port Hudson.

Having been banished to the South, Clement Vallandigham was sent to Wilmington, North Carolina by President Davis and put under guard as an “alien enemy.” Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

Primary source: The Civil War Day by Day by E.B. Long and Barbara Long (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)

The Gettysburg Campaign Begins

In late May 1863, the two opposing armies in northern Virginia took stock of what their next moves should be after the stunning Confederate victory at Chancellorsville.

In the Federal Army of the Potomac, commanding general Joseph Hooker blamed his subordinates for his defeat. He also commended the troops, though most knew that their loss was due to poor leadership once again. Hooker proposed an immediate offensive to correct the fiasco, but President Abraham Lincoln worried that if such a move failed, it could damage troop morale beyond repair. He instructed Hooker to wait.

Hooker’s subordinates lobbied the administration to remove him from command, but Lincoln said he was “not disposed to throw away a gun because it missed fire once.” In private, Lincoln agreed with General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck that Hooker should be removed before another major battle occurred. However, Lincoln sought to avoid the political implications of a quick removal and resolved to wait in the hope that Hooker would resign.

Meanwhile, General Robert E. Lee, commanding the victorious Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, viewed Chancellorsville in a different light than southerners who celebrated his victory. Lee later said, “I… was more depressed than after Fredericksburg (another Confederate victory last year); our losses were severe, and again we had gained not an inch of ground, and the enemy could not be pursued.”

After the Federals withdrew across the Rappahannock River, Lee met with President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet in Richmond. To relieve the pressure caused by Ulysses S. Grant’s relentless assault on Vicksburg in the West, Lee proposed a second northern invasion (the first had ended in defeat at Antietam last year). This would allow Lee’s army to feed off the rich northern farmlands and potentially force Grant to send troops east to stop the advance.

For three days, Lee urged the administration to approve his plan. Davis was uncertain, and some cabinet members believed that Lee should instead send troops west to relieve Vicksburg. Finally, by a five-to-one vote, Lee persuaded the officials to approve his plan.

Lee divided the Army of Northern Virginia into three corps: First Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet, Second Corps (formerly “Stonewall” Jackson’s command) was commanded by General Richard Ewell, and Third Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General A.P. Hill. By month’s end, Lee’s army was nearly ready to begin its move north, which would culminate in the war’s most terrible battle at Gettysburg.

The Radical Republicans Take Control

The 1866 mid-term elections pitted the moderate post-Civil War policies of President Andrew Johnson against the punitive agenda of the “radical” Republicans in Congress and permanently changed the course of American history.

Post-War America

By 1866, the War Between the States had ended and politicians in Washington were arguing over how to restore the southern states to the Union. There was a stark difference between the president and Congress over how that restoration should be done.

Andrew Johnson, who had become president when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, sought to continue Lincoln’s moderate policies by allowing the southern states back into the Union and restoring their full political rights if they renounced secession and agreed to abolish slavery.

In contrast, Congress was dominated by radical Republicans who sought to punish the South for waging a rebellion against the federal authority. The radicals sought a military occupation of the South and federal supervision of southern elections until equal rights were granted to both blacks and whites in the southern states.

Leading congressional radical Thaddeus Stevens

Thus, the 1866 elections became a referendum over how the northern politicians would deal with the southern states. Victories by Johnson’s supporters would move congressional ideology closer to the founders’ intent of limited government and strict adherence to the Constitution. Radical victories would give the federal government more power over the states and the people.

The Radical Campaign

The radicals sought to win two-thirds of all congressional seats so they could override President Johnson’s vetoes on their legislation. To do this, they launched a bitter campaign that reopened war wounds throughout the North.

Radicals tried to convince northern voters that Johnson was working with unrepentant southerners to nullify their defeat. They noted that Johnson was a southern Democrat who had not been popularly elected to the presidency; he had been nominated to run as Lincoln’s vice president in 1864 to unify pro-war Democrats and Republicans.

Johnson was portrayed as a tool being used to restore the southern white ruling class to power. Some radicals called for Johnson’s immediate removal from office, even though there was no constitutional basis for such an action. Others spread false rumors that Johnson planned to use the military to shut down Congress.

Meanwhile, the radicals failed to acknowledge that the southern states had submitted to all of Johnson’s demands for returning to the Union. And these demands were very similar to those made by Lincoln when he began reconstructing Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee before his assassination.

Vitriolic campaign speeches played on the heated passions of northern voters, many of whom were either war veterans or had loved ones wounded or killed in the war. The largely pro-Republican press also helped spin the campaign message in the radicals’ favor. Moreover, Johnson was largely unlikable and uncompromising. If he was going to sway public opinion, he had to respond to the radicals’ charges.

The National Union Convention

President Johnson sought to rekindle the unity between Democrats and Republicans that had existed in the 1864 election by organizing a National Union Party convention in Philadelphia. The party name was derived from the temporary party organized in 1864 to nominate the Republican Lincoln and the Democratic Johnson to unify the northern war effort.

However, now that the war was over, the unity between the two parties had largely dissolved. Southerners supported Johnson, but they had no confidence that Johnson had enough support to elect pro-southern candidates to Congress. Consequently, businessmen were reluctant to invest in rebuilding the southern infrastructure, which harmed the economy and worked against the president.

Meanwhile, the convention fell flat when the parties could not find enough common ground to establish a national platform. Johnson blamed the Democrats for refusing to forgive his wartime alliance with the Republicans. Thus Johnson, already alienated from the mainstream Republican Party, was now alienated from most Democrats as well.

The “Swing Around the Circle”

Having few political allies in Washington, Johnson decided to appeal directly to the people by embarking on an unprecedented national speaking tour. Being an exceptional orator, Johnson believed that he could convince people to support his reconstruction policies when he explained them in constitutional terms.

Johnson’s main argument was that the Constitution barred the federal government from interfering in the rights of states, including southern states, to govern themselves. This meant that the radicals were pursuing an illegal agenda. However, Johnson failed to take into account that most people cared nothing for constitutional arguments after having just fought a devastating war. To many northerners, Johnson’s argument reminded them of southern rhetoric that had led to the war in the first place.

Nevertheless, Johnson hoped to convince the people to support restoring the Union through reason and conciliation, not through vindictiveness and spite. To do this, Johnson would urge the people to vote against radical congressional candidates.

The national tour was nicknamed the “swing around the circle” because of its circular route from Washington to New York to Chicago to St. Louis, east through the Ohio River Valley, and back to Washington. This was the first speaking tour by a sitting president in U.S. history, and many believed that such a tour would demean the presidency. Moreover, the fact that Johnson was naturally confrontational and argumentative made for a potentially volatile public situation that could appear undignified for a statesman.

Johnson was well received during the first leg of the journey, but radicals soon noted that he was using the same speech at every stop. They began forwarding excerpts to other towns, and by the time Johnson reached those towns, radical hecklers interrupted and recited the speech along with him. This goaded Johnson into angry and sometimes vulgar shouting matches. The press reported these exchanges unfavorably, which emboldened the radicals to plant more hecklers at future stops.

When a heckler in Ohio accused Johnson of preventing blacks from voting in the South, Johnson accused him of hypocrisy because blacks were banned from voting in Ohio: “You let the negroes vote in Ohio before you talk about negroes voting in Louisiana!” Johnson insulted many people with vicious personal attacks on his radical opponents. Some pro-radical reporters accused Johnson of drunkenness, but there has been no evidence to substantiate those claims.

The angry exchanges and personal insults tarnished Johnson’s reputation, and the national tour hurt his cause more than it helped.

Election Results

Andrew Johnson’s efforts to unite Democrats and conservative Republicans and appeal directly to the people failed. In the election, radical Republicans gained overwhelming supermajorities in both houses of Congress, winning 173 of the 226 House seats and 43 of the 52 Senate seats. Republicans also controlled every northern state government, along with Missouri, Tennessee, and West Virginia. These victories enabled the radicals to implement their entire agenda and override any presidential vetoes.

Several factors contributed to the radicals’ victories. One was the perception of Johnson’s failed national tour. Another was the fact that southern states were not allowed to participate in the election, even though they would be most directly affected by the radicals’ impending agenda. Yet another was the false warning spread by radicals that Johnson’s supporters would work with southerners to repudiate the federal debt, which would make U.S. bonds worthless.

Ultimately, northern voters opposed Johnson, the Democrats, and southerners they had fought so hard to defeat and who were perceived as trying to reverse the war’s results. Instead, they sided with the Republican Party that had won the war.

Radicals saw the victories as a mandate to enact harsh policies toward the South. However, the economy played a vital role in the elections. Northerners hoping to resume their normal lives cared nothing about southern issues, instead backing Republicans and the high tariffs that had helped make many of them rich. They did not want to risk their prosperity by voting for Democrats who mostly supported free trade.

The radical victories doomed the southern economy. With its infrastructure virtually destroyed, the region needed investors to fund rebuilding. However, most investors saw that the radical agenda would not be profitable in the South. Consequently, this election helped relegate the South to nearly a century of agrarian poverty and segregation.

The 1866 elections marked the final defeat of the founders’ ideals of limited government and individual liberty. Agriculture was permanently replaced as the lifeblood of the U.S. economy by industry and mercantilism. And the congressional control over southern reconstruction crippled the balance of power in the federal government for nearly a generation.

The Civil War This Week: May 20-26, 1863

Wednesday, May 20

Federal General Nathaniel Banks

Off North Carolina, two Confederate blockade-runners were captured near the Neuse Rive and Nassau. In Louisiana, General Nathaniel Banks’s Federal army began preparing to attack Port Hudson on the Mississippi River. Skirmishing occurred in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Indian Territory.

Thursday, May 21

In Mississippi, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered a Federal attack on General John C. Pemberton’s Confederate lines outside Vicksburg. Confederates destroyed their stores and navy yard at Yazoo City before they could be captured by an approaching Federal flotilla.

In Louisiana, a portion of Nathaniel Banks’s Federals advanced on Port Hudson from Baton Rouge, while Banks’s main army approached from Alexandria. Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Friday, May 22

In Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant’s Federals launched a second assault on Vicksburg, but they were again repulsed with heavy losses. Grant lost nearly 3,200 killed, wounded, or missing, while the Confederates lost less than 500. Grant then decided to lay siege to the city in the hopes of starving it into submission.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis wired General Braxton Bragg, commanding the Army of Tennessee at Tullahoma: “The vital issue of holding the Missi. at Vicksburg is dependent on the success of Genl. Johnston in an attack on the investing force. The intelligence from there is discouraging. Can you aid him?…”

In Washington, the War Department issued General Order No. 143, establishing the U.S. Bureau of Colored Troops to manage the enlistment and recruitment of blacks into the U.S. military. Since the war began, blacks had attempted to enlist but had been refused due to a 1792 Federal law prohibiting blacks from bearing arms for the U.S. army.

In Louisiana, Nathaniel Banks’s Federals continued approaching Port Hudson. In Virginia, General Alfred Pleasonton replaced General George Stoneman as commander of the cavalry corps in the Federal Army of the Potomac. The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society held a meeting in London and voiced strong support for the Union.

In Washington, President Abraham Lincoln greeted a group at the White House known as the “One-Legged Brigade.” He told the convalescing veterans that there was no need for a speech “as the men upon their crutches were orators; their very appearance spoke louder than tongues.” Skirmishing occurred in Louisiana and the Indian Territory.

Saturday, May 23

In Louisiana, Nathaniel Banks’s Federals advanced on Port Hudson from Bayou Sara in a heavy storm. In Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant’s Federals began preparing to lay siege to Vicksburg.

In Washington, President Lincoln conferred with army and navy officials about the unsuccessful Federal attacks on Charleston, South Carolina. In Ohio, petitions circulating protesting the “arbitrary arrest, illegal trial, and inhuman imprisonment of Hon. C.L. Vallandigham” for allegedly making pro-Confederate statements.

Jefferson Davis wired General Joseph E. Johnston, who was unable to stop Grant at Vicksburg, that he was “hopeful of junction of your forces and defeat of the enemy.” Davis also wired John C. Pemberton at Vicksburg, “Sympathizing with you for the reverse sustained.” Skirmishing occurred in Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas.

Sunday, May 24

In Louisiana, Nathaniel Banks’s Federals began converging on Port Hudson. General John A. Schofield replaced General Samuel R. Curtis as commander of the Federal Department of Missouri.

Jefferson Davis wired Joseph E. Johnston that he knew John C. Pemberton would hold Vicksburg, “but the disparity of numbers renders prolonged defence dangerous. I hope you will soon be able to break the investment, make a junction and carry in munitions.”

President Lincoln spent the day visiting hospitals in and around Washington. Skirmishing occurred in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Monday, May 25

In Louisiana, Confederates defending Port Hudson on the Mississippi were unable to abandon the fort before Nathaniel Banks’s Federals began surrounding it. The fort commander, General Franklin Gardner, had been ordered by Western Theater commander Joseph E. Johnston to abandon Port Hudson, but Gardner did not receive the order until Banks had already trapped the Confederates in the fort.

Federal authorities in Tennessee turned over former Ohio Congressmen Clement L. Vallandigham to the Confederates. His prison sentence had been changed by President Lincoln to banishment to the Confederacy after his conviction of expressing alleged pro-Confederate sentiments. The Confederates quickly exiled Vallandigham to Canada.

Federals captured the Confederate steamers Starlight and Red Chief on the Mississippi. C.S.S. Alabama seized two prizes in raids off Bahia, Brazil. Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee and Arkansas.

Tuesday, May 26

In Louisiana, Nathaniel Banks’s Federals completed setting up siege operations at Port Hudson. Jefferson Davis wrote to General Robert E. Lee that “Pemberton is stoutly defending the entrenchments at Vicksburg, and Johnston has an army outside, which I suppose will be able to raise the siege, and combined with Pemberton’s forces may win a victory.”

Skirmishing occurred in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri.

Primary source: The Civil War Day by Day by E.B. Long and Barbara Long (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)

The Destruction of the Tea

On December 16, 1773, British-American colonists boarded ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest British tax policies. This act, later called the “Boston Tea Party,” inspired other colonists to resist British infringements on their rights, which ultimately led to American independence.

The incident later called the “Boston Tea Party” stemmed from the monopoly on tea that Parliament had granted to the East India Company. Along with this monopoly came various taxes, which colonists protested because they had no direct representation in Parliament.

There were many other grievances, but most of them derived from these two principal issues. Destroying the tea demonstrated colonists’ frustration with British policies, and Britain’s response would only provoke further acts of defiance leading to an all-out war of secession from Great Britain.

The East India Company

Tea was the most prevalent drink for British subjects, and the East India Company was granted a near monopoly on importing tea to Great Britain in 1698. In 1721, the British Parliament required the American colonies to import their tea only from England, which allowed the East India Company to virtually corner the colonial tea market. The company delivered tea to England, where it was sold at auction and then exported to the colonies, where it was resold to colonial merchants.

By the early 1770s, the East India Company was on the verge of bankruptcy, primarily because it was required to pay taxes on all tea imported to England and exported to the colonies. This caused the price of tea to rise in the colonies. In response, colonists began buying cheaper, smuggled tea from Holland since that tea was not taxed by the Dutch government. East India representatives lobbied Parliament for help.

Parliament bailed out East India by lowering the importation tax to England and removing the export tax to the colonies. Partly to recover lost revenue from the tax decreases, Parliament enacted the Townshend Act, which introduced many colonial taxes, including a tax to import the East India tea. These new provisions were intended to stop the Dutch smuggling problem, but they only exacerbated another issue.

Taxation Without Representation

The Townshend Act was bitterly protested in the American colonies, as colonists argued that, as British subjects, they could not be taxed without the consent of their elected representatives. The colonists were not permitted to elect their own members to the British Parliament, and as such they maintained that only their colonial representatives had the power to tax them. Parliament responded by enacting the Declaratory Act, which asserted the right to legislate for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever,” including taxes.

The protests, boycotts and smuggling continued until Parliament finally removed all Townshend importation taxes except for the tax on tea. British Prime Minister Lord North insisted on maintaining the tea tax to assert “the right of taxing the Americans.” Since all other taxes were removed, the colonists were temporarily satisfied.

But the tea tax harmed the East India Company, causing prices to rise and sales to drop. Again East India representatives lobbied Parliament for help, but the North ministry was reluctant to remove the tea tax because it would signal a victory for the colonists on the taxation issue. Moreover, the tax was used to pay colonial officials in an effort to keep them dependent on Britain rather than their constituents.

The Tea Act

Parliament rescued the East India Company again by enacting the Tea Act in May 1773. This saved the company from bankruptcy by removing the export tax to the colonies altogether. At the same time, the import tax on the colonies was maintained. In addition, East India was permitted to sell directly to the colonies without moving the tea through Britain first. Parliament appointed colonial merchants to receive the tea on consignment and then sell it to the colonists for a commission.

British officials thought this act would be celebrated in the colonies because tea would be cheaper despite maintaining the import tax. However the law carried unintended consequences that prompted colonial outrage.

By allowing East India to directly sell its tea to colonial consignees, nearly all other tea-related business was undercut. Merchants buying cheaper, smuggled tea faced financial ruin under this new law. Also, merchants not politically connected enough to be appointed as consignees also faced ruin. And even worse, many feared that if this system could be imposed for tea, it could be extended to other goods as well. This helped resurrect the old dispute over whether or not members of Parliament had the power to tax colonists who did not elect them.

Many colonists argued that retaining the importation tax was an unnecessary provocation. The North ministry countered that the tax was necessary to pay colonial officials’ salaries. In addition, retaining the tax was a symbolic gesture demonstrating the power of the British government over the colonies. This symbol, more than the tax itself, prompted outrage in America. Colonists assembled to discuss not only boycotting the tea but preventing it from being delivered altogether.

Colonial Retaliation

As news of the Tea Act spread, protest groups such as the Sons of Liberty began forcing consignees to resign. In Philadelphia, a mass protest ousted the city’s consignees and compelled the tea ship to return to Britain without unloading its cargo. The tea ship in New York City was forced to turn back without delivering its tea, and the consignees resigned as well. But Boston was a different story.

In Massachusetts, the only colony in which the tea import tax was fully enforced, Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson declared that tea ships would not be permitted to return to Britain until the tea was unloaded and the import taxes were paid. Hutchinson persuaded Boston’s consignees, two of whom were his sons, to hold firm.

When the tea ship Dartmouth arrived in Boston Harbor in November 1773, Sons of Liberty member Samuel Adams called for a meeting at the Old South Church. About 8,000 people heard Adams inform them of Governor Hutchinson’s policy regarding tea ships. A resolution was adopted urging the Dartmouth captain to return the ship to Britain without collecting the import tax. Men were assigned to watch the ship and prevent the tea from being unloaded.

But Hutchinson remained adamant, and soon two more tea ships arrived in Boston Harbor. On December 16, about 7,000 people gathered at the Old South Church for another meeting. As Adams tried maintaining order among the outraged citizens, people poured out of the church and headed for the harbor to protest. Later that evening, about 130 men led by Lendall Pitts disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and boarded the tea ships. Over the next three hours, they dumped all 342 chests of tea into the water.

British Response

While many Boston authorities supported the tea’s destruction, British officials in London were enraged. Governor Hutchinson urged Parliament to suppress the Sons of Liberty. Prime Minister North said, “Whatever may be the consequence, we must risk something; if we do not, all is over.” Consequently, a series of acts were passed, including:

The closure of Boston Harbor to all commerce until the East India Company was reimbursed for the lost tea
Denying citizens of Massachusetts the right to elect their own colonial representatives
Allowing trials for colonial officials accused of harming colonists to be moved to Britain
Extending Quebec and allowing Catholicism to spread there (causing fear among the primarily Protestant colonists)

These and other laws passed to keep the colonies obedient to Britain came to be known in America as the “Intolerable Acts.”

Moving Toward Secession

Samuel Adams publicized and defended the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor. Others denounced the action, including Benjamin Franklin, who declared that the East India Company must be repaid for its loss. Similar incidents occurred in other colonies, though they did not receive as much publicity as the action in Boston.

As Britain attempted to tighten its grip on the colonies, the colonists increased their protests and resistance to the “Intolerable Acts.” Many colonists living outside Massachusetts feared that the punitive measures being administered to that colony could someday be extended to them, and as such they joined the protests. Boycotts were coordinated and colonists began talking of suspending trade with Britain altogether.

The responses and counter-responses to grievances between the American colonies and Great Britain ultimately led to the First Continental Congress being formed in 1775. The Congress petitioned King George III to repeal the “Intolerable Acts,” and when the petition was denied, the colonists engaged in open rebellion against the Crown. This led to the War for Independence and the creation of the United States of America.

The “Tea Party” Name

The term “Boston Tea Party” was not coined in print until 1834. Prior to that, the event was most often called the “Destruction of the Tea.” Since the Tea Party, U.S. activists from various political viewpoints have invoked the name as a symbol of protest. The current “Tea Party” movement in the U.S. has urged a return to the country’s founding principles of limited government, individual freedom and responsibility, and reduced taxation.

The Civil War This Week: May 13-19, 1863

Wednesday, May 13

In Mississippi, General Ulysses S. Grant’s Federals advanced on the state capital of Jackson, which was defended by Confederates under General Joseph E. Johnston. Grant’s forces now stood between Johnston at Jackson and Confederate General John C. Pemberton, commanding Confederates at Vicksburg.

North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis expressing concern about desertion in the Confederate army; Vance attributed the high desertion rate to homesickness, fatigue, lack of furloughs, and inability to enter regiments of their choice. Skirmishing occurred in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri.

Thursday, May 14

In Louisiana, the Confederate garrison at Port Hudson on the west bank of the Mississippi River was depleted as men were transfered to defend the vital stronghold at Vicksburg. General Nathaniel Banks’s 24,000-man Federal Army of the Gulf advanced to capture the fort from the south.

In Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant’s Federals captured Jackson. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his outnumbered forces, along with vital supplies, to the north.

President Abraham Lincoln wrote to General Joseph Hooker, commanding the Federal Army of the Potomac, that “some of your corps and Division commanders are giving you their entire confidence.” Hooker’s subordinates had lobbied the administration to remove him from command, but Lincoln feared the political implications of a quick removal. In private, Lincoln agreed with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck that Hooker should be removed before another major battle occurred, but Lincoln secretly hoped that Hooker would resign.

Friday, May 15

In Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant’s Federals converged on Edwards’ Station, east of Vicksburg. Federals under General William T. Sherman remained in Jackson to destroy supplies. John C. Pemberton decided it was impossible to link with Joseph Johnston. Skirmishing occurred in Arkansas, Missouri, and Virginia.

Saturday, May 16

In Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant’s Federals turned west from Jackson to attack Vicksburg from the rear. The Federals confronted John C. Pemberton’s Confederates at Champion’s Hill, about halfway between Jackson and Vicksburg, and the outnumbered Confederates withdrew west after launching a furious counterattack that was repulsed just before reaching Grant’s headquarters.

Democrats and even some Republicans protested the conviction of Clement Vallandigham. Many were shocked that a citizen could be thrown into a military prison for simply exercising his constitutional right of free speech. New York Governor Horatio Seymour said that the arrest “is cowardly, brutal, infamous. It is not merely a step toward Revolution, it is revolution… our liberties are overthrown.”

Skirmishing occurred in Missouri, western Virginia, Virginia, and Louisiana.

Sunday, May 17

In Mississippi, John C. Pemberton attempted to make one more stand against Ulysses S. Grant’s Federals by establishing defenses at Big Black River. However, the Confederates were overwhelmed once more, and they withdrew to previously prepared defenses on the outskirts of Vicksburg.

In Louisiana, Nathaniel Banks’s Federals converged on Port Hudson. Skirmishing occurred in Mississippi, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Monday, May 18

In Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant’s Federals crossed the Big Black River and converged on Vicksburg. Joseph E. Johnston advised John C. Pemberton to abandon the city, but Pemberton decided to stay. President Jefferson Davis called for civilians and militia to join Johnston to help liberate Pemberton’s men trapped in Vicksburg.

In Great Britain, debates in the House of Lords led to demands that Britain defend its shipowners from U.S. prize ships. Skirmishing occurred in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and western Virginia.

Tuesday, May 19

In Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant ordered a general assault outside Vicksburg, but the Confederate defenders were stronger than he had anticipated and the attack was repulsed.

In response to protests against the arrest of Clement Vallandigham, President Lincoln directed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to commute his two-year prison sentence and banish the former congressman to the Confederacy. Skirmishing occurred in Tennessee and Missouri.

Primary source: The Civil War Day-by-Day by E.B. Long and Barbara Long (New York, NY: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971)

The Annexation of Hawaii

In August 1898, a ceremony was held on the steps of the ‘Iolani Palace that officially transferred the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hawaii to the United States. This transfer was in accordance with a joint U.S. congressional resolution declaring Hawaii to be a U.S. territory. However, there is no provision in the Constitution for such an act.

The annexation ceremony

Prelude to Annexation

In the 19th century, the Hawaiian Islands served as a stop for U.S. merchantmen and sailors going back and forth to Asia. Located about 2,000 miles west of North America’s Pacific Coast, the islands were rich in sugar, fruit, and other products. The island government was a traditional monarchy.

In 1851, Hawaiian King Kamehameha III secretly requested that the U.S. annex his country. This would have eliminated the tariffs imposed on Hawaiian goods, thus enhancing the islands’ economy. But Secretary of State Daniel Webster declined, stating that “no power ought to take possession of the islands as a conquest… or colonization.” Webster opposed annexing Hawaii primarily because he opposed slavery, and he was unwilling to add land to the U.S. that could be potentially settled by slaveholders.

Reciprocity and Naval Expansion

In 1875, U.S. and Hawaiian officials signed a treaty of reciprocity, in which Hawaii could export sugar to the U.S. free of charge, provided that Hawaii did not make such a deal with any other nation. The treaty not only ensured that Hawaii would not make any other foreign alliances that could make it vulnerable to annexation by other countries, but it made Hawaii a quasi-protectorate of the U.S. As a result, many U.S. businesses began taking control of the Hawaiian sugar plantations, and soon U.S. interests dominated the Hawaiian economy.

Another agreement granted the U.S. exclusive rights to Pearl Harbor as a coaling and repair station for merchant ships. It was later expanded for use as a U.S. naval base. U.S. naval strategists had been pushing to obtain this port for both defense and commerce; it helped the U.S. to better defend the Pacific Coast and to better compete with the European powers for Pacific trade.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials began stressing the need for the U.S. to build a formidable navy, particularly in the Pacific. Naval War College President Alfred Thayer Mahan was the chief proponent for building up the navy, arguing that it would enhance national security. Mahan also advocated annexing Hawaii and using the islands as a mid-Pacific military base.

Foreign Influence and Overthrow

By the latter part of the 19th century, the U.S. was experiencing the same kind of growing pains that had led to the Mexican War and the acquisition of the Southwest in the 1840s. Many Americans sought expansion, some to increase business and trade, and others to spread the principles of democracy. As such, citizens and politicians began pushing to annex the Hawaiian Islands.

In Hawaii, widespread corruption in the monarchy prompted foreign business interests, led by Walter M. Gibson, to form a movement to oppose the king. The movement forced Hawaiian King David Kalakaua to sign an agreement stripping him of his administrative powers and granting voting rights only to those owning property or earning a certain income. Called the “Bayonet Constitution” because it was signed under threat of armed violence, this transferred much power from Hawaii to foreign interests.

Hawaii’s position was further weakened in 1890 when the McKinley Tariff ended the special duty-free status of Hawaiian sugar exports to the U.S. This harmed the Hawaiian economy, possibly in an attempt to cause a revolt among the foreign interests since the Republican majority in Congress at that time supported annexing Hawaii. At any rate, the foreign interests in Hawaii began pushing for the U.S. to annex the islands to reinstate the duty-free status of Hawaiian exports.

In 1891, Secretary of State James Blaine wrote to President Benjamin Harrison that Hawaii was one of only three places in the world that had value to the U.S. and had not already been taken by a world power (the other two were Cuba and Puerto Rico). Blaine sought to expand U.S. business interests, and as such he favored annexing Hawaii. The chance to snatch Hawaii came that same year.

When Hawaiian King Kalakaua died in 1891, he was succeeded by his sister, Queen Liliuokalani. The queen was a strong nationalist who opposed U.S. annexation. She rescinded many of the provisions in the “Bayonet Constitution,” stopped giving special favors to foreign interests, and issued a program of “Hawaii for Hawaiians.”

To combat the queen’s policies, foreign interests created the Committee of Safety. The committee essentially protected the foreigners as they sought to seize Hawaii from the queen. When the committee expressed concern about potential violence against U.S. citizens in Hawaii, the U.S. minister to Hawaii, businessman John L. Stevens, ordered the U.S. Marines to the islands to guarantee safety.

U.S.S. Boston landed in Honolulu Harbor in early 1893, and under Stevens’s orders, the Marines landed on Hawaii to “protect American lives and property in case of riot.” When the foreign interests revolted against the queen, the Marine presence made it impossible for the queen to protect herself. The monarchy was overthrown, and the U.S. flag was raised over the government building.

The Blount Report

A Hawaiian Provisional Government was formed, headed by Stevens, the Committee of Safety, and U.S. businessmen led by Sanford Dole. On February 14, 1893, the Provisional Government and U.S. officials signed the Hawaiian Annexation Treaty. The Harrison administration supported annexation and submitted the treaty to the Senate for ratification. However, the Senate did not ratify the treaty before adjourning on March 3.

The next day, President Harrison was succeeded by Grover Cleveland, an anti-expansionist who opposed annexing Hawaii. Cleveland withdrew the treaty from Senate consideration and appointed former Congressman James H. Blount to go to Hawaii and investigate exactly how the monarchy was overthrown. Blount met with several royalists and annexationists in Honolulu before submitting his investigation’s results.

In the summer of 1893, the Blount Report was issued, which implicated the U.S. in the “lawless overthrow of the lawful, peaceful government of Hawaii.” The report alleged that the U.S. improperly backed the overthrow and ensured its success. The report also accused John Stevens of conducting unauthorized partisan activities, including landing U.S. Marines on Hawaii under false pretenses.

Based on the report’s findings, President Cleveland recalled Stevens from Hawaii and worked to restore Queen Liliuokalani to the throne. However, the queen refused to cooperate unless Cleveland withdrew his offer of amnesty to those responsible for the overthrow. Moreover, Sanford Dole and the Provisional Government refused to relinquish their power. The parties involved were at an impasse.

The Morgan Report

To resolve the stalemate, Cleveland referred the matter to the Senate for further investigation. When it was discovered that the Blount Report contained many factual errors, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee appointed Senator John Tyler Morgan of Alabama, an ardent expansionist, to conduct an investigation of his own.

In the ensuing Morgan Report, Blount’s findings were contradicted by deeming Queen Liliuokalani guilty of her own overthrow because her policies violated the “Bayonet Constitution.” The report urged moderation, opposing both annexation and military intervention to restore the queen. Despite his previous support for Blount’s findings, Cleveland was eager to resolve the dispute and reluctantly accepted this revised version of events.

The matter appeared to end when Congress passed the Turpie Resolution, which stated that the U.S. should no longer interfere in Hawaiian affairs. While this ended the hopes of those who wanted the U.S. to annex Hawaii, it also ended Queen Liliuokalani’s hopes for U.S. support in regaining her throne. The U.S. established diplomatic relations with the Provisional Government, soon renamed the Republic of Hawaii. Meanwhile, Republic officials still held out hope that the U.S. would annex the islands.

Annexation Revisited

When Republican William McKinley became president in 1897, he revived the idea of annexing Hawaii. Imperial Japan had been asserting itself in the Pacific, and when Hawaii refused to allow Japanese laborers onto the islands, the Japanese Imperial Navy sailed by in an act of intimidation. Many in the McKinley administration, including Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, strenuously warned that Hawaii must not fall into Japan’s hands.

In the U.S., big business opposed annexation because western sugar beet interests did not want competition from Hawaiian sugar. Many southern Democrats opposed annexation because they did not want more dark-skinned people as U.S. citizens. Labor unions opposed annexation because it could create a workforce that was beyond union control. But a majority of all other Americans and politicians still wanted Hawaii.

Therefore in 1897, U.S. and Hawaiian officials signed a treaty annexing Hawaii to the U.S. The treaty was quickly ratified by the Hawaiian government, but it lacked the necessary two-thirds majority needed for approval in the Senate. So once again the annexation effort stalled. Until the Spanish-American War.

Annexation Fever

As the war with Spain carried on in the summer of 1898, Congressman Francis G. Newlands of Nevada introduced a joint resolution annexing Hawaii to the U.S. by a simple majority vote in both houses of Congress. The Newlands Resolution passed both houses and was signed by President McKinley on July 7, 1898. In August, the official transfer of power took place as Hawaii became a U.S. territory.

Traditionally, the only way to annex a foreign territory is through a treaty, and under the Constitution, all treaties require a two-thirds majority vote by the Senate for ratification. Politicians bypassed this requirement by simply decreeing that Hawaii was U.S. property with a simple majority vote in both houses. This made the annexation of Hawaii unconstitutional.

Regardless, many argued that annexing Hawaii was vital in establishing permanent naval and commercial bases in the Pacific, which would help the U.S. compete with other world powers. And perhaps even more importantly, annexing Hawaii prevented Japan from taking the islands. President William Howard Taft later designated Pearl Harbor as the primary U.S. naval base in the Pacific, mainly because that port would be easy to defend in case of an attack by Japan.

The Apology

In 1959, Hawaii was admitted into the Union as the 50th state. A referendum had revealed that Hawaiians favored statehood by a 17-to-1 margin, but critics charged that the only choices on the referendum were statehood or territorial status, not independence. The legal issues surrounding the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani were not addressed.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the “Apology Resolution,” which was a joint congressional resolution apologizing for U.S. involvement in the queen’s overthrow 100 years earlier. The resolution asserted that the U.S. was directly involved, and that Native Hawaiians never relinquished their sovereignty. This was based on the findings of the Blount Report, even though that report had been found to contain many factual errors. While the resolution acknowledged historical grievances by the Hawaiians, it did nothing to change Hawaii’s status as the 50th state.

The Death of “Stonewall” Jackson

Southern celebrations over the great victory at Chancellorsville were tempered by news that General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson had been seriously wounded. After being shot in the left arm and hand, Jackson was taken to a field hospital where his arm was amputated below the shoulder. He was then brought to a farmhouse south of Fredericksburg, Virginia to recuperate.

While recovering, Jackson caught a severe cold that developed into pneumonia, which could not be medically treated. On Sunday, May 10, 1863, Jackson’s wife told the general that doctors did not expect him to last the day. Jackson said, “Very good, very good. It is the Lord’s Day; my wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die on Sunday.” Jackson died that afternoon.

Jackson lay in state in the Confederate Capitol as people throughout the South mourned the loss of one of the Confederacy’s greatest leaders. He was buried in Lexington, where he had taught at the Virginia Military Institute before the war.

Robert E. Lee issued General Order No. 61: “With deep regret the commanding general announces the death of Lieutenant General T.J. Jackson… Let his officers and soldiers emulate his invincible determination to do everything in the defense of our loved Country.”