Existing comment:
The Thirteenth Amendment:
Lincoln's initial blueprint for the postwar South was more lenient than the congressional Republican's in its treatment of former rebels. When the "Radical" Republicans insisted on immediate emancipation of all slaves everywhere, Lincoln replied that Congress lacked the authority to do this -- only a Constitutional amendment could make permanent the wartime measure contained in his Emancipation Proclamation. Thus was laid the foundation for the Thirteenth Amendment, passed by Congress early in 1865.
March, 1864:
Into the Wilderness:
In March 1864, Lincoln entrusted command of Union forces -- over half a million strong -- to the slight, mostly silent Ulysses Grant. Grant spent as little time as possible in Washington, preferring to be in the field with his troops.
His aggressiveness produced results, but they also produced record casualties. "Grant has gone into the Wilderness," said Lincoln that spring, referring to a tangled no man's land south of the Rapidan River, "crawled in, drawn up the ladder, and pulled in the hole after him."
"Grant is the first general I've had!" -- Abraham Lincoln |