administered the oath at Lincoln's
second inauguration.

Long since, Lincoln had seen that there had ceased to any half-way
house in the matter of emancipation. His thoughts were chiefly upon the
future. And as mere strategy, he saw that slavery had to be got out of
the way. It was no longer a question, who liked this, who did not. To
him, the ultimate issue was the restoration of harmony among the States.
Those States which had been defeated in the dread arbitrament of battle,
would in any event encounter difficulties, even deadly perils, in the
narrow way which must come after defeat and which might or might not
lead to rehabilitation.

Remembering the Vindictive temper, remembering the force and courage
of the Vindictive leaders, it was imperative to clear the field of the
slavery issue before the reconstruction issue was fairly launched. It
was highly desirable to commit to the support of the governments the
whole range of influences that were in earnest about emancipation.
Furthermore, the South itself was drifting in the same direction. In his
interview with Gilmore and Jaquess, Davis had said: "You have already
emancipated nearly two millions of our slaves; and if you will take care
of them, you may emancipate the rest. I had a few when the war began. I
was of some use to them; they never were of any to me."(3)

The Southern President had "felt" his constituency on the subject of
enrolling slaves as soldiers with a promise of emancipation as the
reward of military service.

The fifth message urged Congress to submit to the States an amendment to
the Constitution abolishing slavery. Such action had been considered
in the previous session, but nothing had been done. At Lincoln's
suggestion, it had been recommended in the platform of the Union
party. Now, with the President's powerful influence behind it, with
his prestige at full circle, the amendment was rapidly pushed forward.
Before January ended, it had been approved by both Houses. Lincoln had
used all his personal influence to strengthen its chances in Congress
where, until the last minute, the vote was still in doubt.(4)

While the amendment was taking its way through Congress, a shrewd old
politician who thought he knew the world better than most men, that
Montgomery Blair, Senior, who was father of the Postmaster General,
had been trying on his own responsibility to open negotiations between
Washington and Richmond. His visionary ideas, which were who