Team of Rivals_ The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln - Doris Kearns Goodwin [210]
Of all who read the draft, it was Seward who had the largest impact on Lincoln’s inaugural address. Seward had read the initial draft with a heavy heart. Though he believed Lincoln’s argument for the perpetuity of the Union was “strong and conclusive,” he felt that the bellicose tone of the text would render useless all the hard work, all the risks taken during the previous weeks to stop the secession movement from expanding. Working on the draft for hours, seated in his favorite swivel chair, Seward wrote a long, thoughtful letter to Lincoln that contained scores of revisions. Taken together, his suggested changes softened the tone of the draft, made it more conciliatory toward the South.
Lincoln’s text had opened on a forceful note, pledging himself “bound by duty…upon the plainest grounds of good faith” to abide by the Chicago platform, without “liberty to shift his position.” Since many seceders considered the Chicago platform one of the touchstones of their withdrawal from the Union, this was clearly a provocative beginning. Even Bates had lambasted the Chicago platform as “exclusive and defiant…needlessly exposing the party to the specious charge of favoring negro equality.” Seward argued that unless Lincoln eliminated his words pledging strict adherence to the platform, he would “give such advantages to the Disunionists that Virginia and Maryland will secede, and we shall within ninety, perhaps within sixty, days be obliged to fight the South for this capital…. In that case the dismemberment of the republic would date from the inauguration of a Republican Administration.” Lincoln agreed to delete the reference to the Chicago platform entirely.
Seward also criticized Lincoln’s pledge to reclaim fallen properties and to hold those still belonging to the government. He suggested that the text refer more “ambiguously” to “the exercise of power.” Lincoln had already planned to change the text as Browning advised, so he ignored this overly compromising suggestion and retained his pledge to “hold, occupy and possess” the properties still belonging to the federal government, including Fort Sumter.
Seward’s revisions are evident in nearly every paragraph. He qualified some, removed rough edges in others. Where Lincoln had referred to the secession ordinances and the acts of violence as “treasonable,” Seward substituted the less accusatory “revolutionary.” With the Dred Scott decision in mind, Lincoln warned against turning the “government over to the despotism of the few men [life officers] composing the court.” Seward deleted the word “despotism” and elevated the Court to read “that eminent tribunal.”
Lincoln had decried the idea of an amendment to the Constitution to ensure that Congress could never interfere with slavery in the states where it already existed. “I am, rather, for the old ship,” he had written, “and the chart of the old pilots.” Lincoln’s stance put Seward in a difficult position; at Lincoln’s behest, he had introduced the controversial resolution that called for the amendment in the first place. Lincoln’s reversal now would leave Seward exposed. Treading carefully, Seward suggested that Lincoln acknowledge a diversity of opinion surrounding the proposed amendment, and that his own views would only “aggravate the dispute.” As it happened, Lincoln went further than Seward had suggested. In the early hours of the night before the inauguration, Congress, in its final session, had passed the proposed amendment “to the effect that the federal government, shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States.” In light of this action, Lincoln reversed his position yet again. He revised his passage to say that since Congress had proposed the amendment, and since he believed “such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express, and irrevocable.”
Seward’s greatest contribution to the tone and substance of the inaugural address was in its conclusion. Lincoln