bondage with all its degradation, its
cruelties, and wrong? No, No, there can be no reconstruction on the
old basis...." Far less degrading and ruinous, she earnestly added,
would be the recognition of the independence of the southern
Confederacy.

[Illustration: Susan B. Anthony]

To the question of what to do with the emancipated slaves, her quick
answer was, "Treat the Negroes just as you do the Irish, the Scotch,
and the Germans. Educate them to all the blessings of our free
institutions, to our schools and churches, to every department of
industry, trade, and art.

"What arrogance in _us_," she continued, "to put the question, What
shall _we_ do with a race of men and women who have fed, clothed, and
supported both themselves and their oppressors for centuries...."

Often she spoke against Lincoln's policy of gradual, compensated
emancipation, which to an eager advocate of "immediate, unconditional
emancipation" seemed like weakness and appeasement. She had to admit,
however, that there had been some progress in the right direction, for
Congress had recently forbidden the return of fugitive slaves to their
masters, had decreed immediate emancipation in the District of
Columbia, and prohibited slavery in the territories.

President Lincoln's promise of freedom on January 1, 1863, to slaves
in all states in armed rebellion against the government, seemed wholly
inadequate to her and to her fellow-abolitionists, because it left
slavery untouched in the border states, but it did encourage them to
hope that eventually Lincoln might see the light. Horace Greeley wrote
Susan, "I still keep at work with the President in various ways and
believe you will yet hear him proclaim universal freedom. Keep this
letter and judge me by the event."[145]

It troubled her that public opinion in the North was still far from
sympathetic to emancipation. Northern Democrats, charging Lincoln with
incompetence and autocratic control, called for "The Constitution as
it is, the Union as it was." They had the support of many northern
businessmen who faced the loss of millions of credit given to
southerners and the support of northern workmen who feared the
competition of free Negroes. They had elected Horatio Seymour governor
of New York, and had gained ground in many parts of the country. A
militant group in Ohio, headed by Congressman Vallandigham, continued
to oppose the war, asking for peace at once with no terms unfavorable
to the