Inside Lincoln's Cabinet; The Civil War Diaries Of Salmon P. Chase by Salmon P. Chase David Herbert Donald

Author:Salmon P. Chase, David Herbert Donald [Salmon P. Chase, David Herbert Donald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Modern, 19th Century, Americas, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877), Military
ISBN: 9781786251985
Google: DQa4swEACAAJ
Publisher: Golden Springs Publishing
Published: 2015-11-06T05:00:00+00:00

5 — An Available Candidate — [August 29–October 5, 1863]

BETWEEN October, 1862, and August, 1863, Chase seems not to have kept a diary. These important months formed a period of growing tension within the administration. The replacement of McClellan by Burnside led in December, 1862, to the catastrophe at Fredericksburg. With repeated failure, Congressional outcry against Lincoln’s administration grew angrier, and information was fed to the critics by the disgusted Secretary of the Treasury. To him, as to the other Republican Radicals, it appeared that the blame for the wavering policies and the unsuccessful military strategy of the President rested upon Secretary of State Seward, who had become a symbol of what was wrong with the administration. “While they seemed to believe in my honesty,” Lincoln said of his critics, “they seemed to think that when I had in me any good purpose or intention Seward contrived to suck it out of me unperceived.”

On December 19th a delegation of Republican Congressmen met with the President and demanded that he oust Seward. With characteristic skill, Lincoln avoided a direct response but arranged another meeting at which the Congressmen confronted the cabinet with their criticisms. Chase was thrown into an ambiguous position. He had tried to function both as an adviser to the Congressional junto and as a member of the cabinet. It now became clear that he could not serve the one without being disloyal to the other, and the Secretary on December 20th wrote out his resignation. Lincoln, who already had Seward’s offer to resign, seized Chase’s letter eagerly. “Now I can ride,” he said in his homely fashion; “I have got a pumpkin in each end of my bag.” By compelling his cabinet to assume a united front, he had warned Congressional Radicals that further attacks on Seward would lead to the withdrawal of Chase, and he had notified Seward’s friends that assaults on the Secretary of the Treasury could only weaken the Secretary of State. Then Lincoln refused to accept either resignation. Both Seward and Chase remained in a cabinet where the President had clearly emerged as the dominant figure.

There is no known diary record by Chase of these events, or of his important Treasury Department duties during the first months of 1863. Thanks to Jay Cooke’s staggering promotional campaign, the 5–20 loan was selling rapidly, and the Treasury officials worked overtime to supply the bonds as fast as they were needed. In February, 1863, the National Banking Act was forced through a reluctant Congress. Though Chase was far from satisfied with the provisions of the act, he at once installed as first Comptroller of the Currency Hugh McCulloch, of Indiana, who energetically supervised the new banking system. During these months, also, as Northern armies advanced, the Secretary’s responsibilities for trade with the Southern states became increasingly heavy. Some wanted to cut off all commerce with the seceded states; others advocated unlimited trade with any area reconquered by Federal troops; but Congress decided upon a system of licensing,

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